Summary:

Where our dynamic duo fight some kitties, fight each other, and Kylo gets his wish and makes Rey wet.

There were four of them this time and they were much faster than Kylo and Rey. This was a problem.

Kylo had dragged her, yanking on her arm when she struggled to keep up with his longer strides and holding her close as they bolted through the thick undergrowth. They only made it a few hundred feet before the first beast leaped in front of them, blocking off the clearest path.

"Kylo, we can't fight them. They can heal. We need to get out of-"

A crash from behind them interrupts her and another jungle cat makes its presence known with an eerily low hiss of a growl. She doesn't see the other two, but she can sense them. They're crouching somewhere nearby, unseen and waiting for their chance to pounce.

"We stand and fight, Rey," Kylo announces grandly, drawing and igniting his lightsaber.

She risks taking her eyes off their assailants for a moment to glare up at him, but now isn't the time to argue about him telling her what to do.

Rey readies her own blade and she and Kylo immediately move back to back against each other, both of them facing down a different beast. The tigers, the piss cats, the jungle beasties, whatever you want to call them hunker low, tails lashing in unison. A chill runs down Rey's back when she realizes what they're doing.

"They're working together, Kylo. Distracting us so the other two can attack."

Smart kitties. Smart, dangerous kitties.

Quicker than she was ready for it, a flying boulder of fur flashes through the air, slamming into Kylo and knocking him to the ground. The beast snaps, trying to sever its stunned opponents neck with a single bite but Rey's blade is faster. She slashes at its face, aiming straight for the eyes.

The creature leaps back with a bone-rattling howl, blood pouring forth from the blinding wound but already that green energy is surrounding it, blanketing the beasts face like a mask as it trashes in pain.

With a low growl the fourth and final beast prowls out of its dark hiding place. He leaps to his feet, sweeping his blade in a brilliant arch of crimson. The creature dodges but falls back, its ears flattening to its head. The other two join in, circling and snapping, but waiting until the third recovers enough to return to the fight.

"They think they have us now."

Kylo grips Rey's hand as he says it and she squeezes back, feeling exactly the same thing that he is: rage and victory. It's not their own emotions, though, but rather the primitive impulses of the animal minds echoing through the Force back into them.

Both sides circle each other like opposing gears in a watch, Kylo and Rey stepping one way and the cats shifting but never straying in the opposite.

"Which one do we take?"

Which one is the weakest spot? The big one, the angry hurt one, the little pissy one, or the unknown? There were four to choose from, but odds were high they would only get one shot at this.

"The one you hurt," Rey answers, narrowing her eyes at their target.

The beast cocks its head, an angry slash decorating its face but healing with each passing second.

Kylo grips her hand more firmly, and she can feel him synchronizing his mind with her own so they can move as one.

Good choice.

They charge forward, moving as one and racing towards the creature with their blades at the ready.

The beast strikes first, countering them with a series of lightning-fast lunges and swipes of its paws. Kylo counters just as fast, his saber blazing through the air quicker than Rey can follow and drawing blood that she knows will only be spilled for a few moments.

Behind her is noise and she closes her eyes, letting the Force guide her as spins, ducking low and blindly stabbing outward. She lands a solid blow, sinking her blade deep into the chest of whichever cat she'd struck. Then she pushes back, sending a concentrated wave of the force that flings the beast back a few good feet into the grass.

The cat lays there, staring at her with glassy eyes. For a moment Rey thinks that she may have finally killed it, but then that green energy begins to emanate, encircling the front of its chest and buying them but a precious few seconds.

Kylo himself has made similar progress. His own beast has recoiled, curling up on itself and limping back into the forest, a severed limb laying on the ground by Kylo's feet.

"They're healing."

Kylo's voice is strained, his chest heaving breathlessly from either exertion or the shock.

"I told you," Rey hisses, stepping in tandem with him as they edge towards the side of the small clearing that had become their sparring ground.

Her eyes search the shadows for the other two beasts, but she doesn't see them. Perhaps they are stalking them, actively planning their next pounce, or they're waiting to see what the fate of their injured friends will be.

Either way, neither she nor Kylo stick around to see for themselves. They run again, darting into the trees and not bothering to cover their tracks as the flee.

Cold!

It's the first thing Rey can think of as the black waters of the river consume her. They had been chased relentlessly, three of the cats pursuing them without reprieve until finally she and Kylo been cornered by the edge of a low cliff.

Jump or fight and die. That had been their only two options, and yet Rey had still hesitated. She was a desert girl, her kind didn't belong in the water.

Predictably Kylo had taken the choice out of her hands. He'd wrapped his arms around her and jumped, sending them both plunging into the icy depths below

The shock of being submerged hits her harder than the impact itself, the cold shocking her lungs and knocking the air out of her with so great a force that she immediately panics. All she can think of is getting out of here, clawing and flailing and throwing her limbs through the inky wet darkness.

Rocks pound against her as her body gets thrown around, bruising and hurting and making her cry out only to be rewarded with a lungful of blackness. Kylo has his arms locked tightly around her waist but even with their combined efforts they aren't strong enough to fight the powerful current. Every time they almost reaches the surface they get pulled under again and again.

Primal fear sets in quickly as her lungs fill up, and for a second Rey wonders if she genuinely isn't about to die. The last Jedi drowning on an alien world, locked in an embrace with her mortal enemy, their bodies never to be found.

Then cold air hits her face, albeit only for a second. Kylo squeezes her even harder and she can sense him struggle, trying to use the Force to pull them toward the river banks.

Her lungs are burning, filling, and the worst part is that she can't stop herself. The more water she breathes in the more her terror grows, spiraling out of control and snatching away all sense of reason. She needs to get out of here, she needs to find a way, she needs to breathe!

Then she finds her footing, or maybe it's Kylo who does. Either way something changes, half her body keeps moving and half of it stops. For a moment she can touch solidness under her feet. They've reached the banks, but the current keeps trying to suck them both down again.

Kylo shouts at her, but Rey can't stop coughing. She still feels like she's drowning even when her fingers touch gravel. On hands and knees they crawl out of the water, Kylo dragging her more than she's moving on her own.

Then they collapse, laying in still silence face down in the muck. Kylo is shaking above her, half his body weight on her and the pressure oddly helps her because it forces out a torrent of putrid water from her mouth and nose as her body tries to breathe again.

He rolls off, holding onto one of her shoulders to steady her as he pounds on her back with his other hand, forcing her body to begin hacking up everything that it had inhaled.

"I hate-" Rey's throat and nose and eyes burn. Everything hurts. She's from Jakku for kriffing hell, she was never meant to have survive this.

Kylo crouches over her, his hand hovering in and out of the periphery of her view. Sometimes having a bond is really unfortunate. She can hear all his self doubting and all his longing all at the same time.

"I hate-" she tries again, clarity gradually coming back to her as she recovers.

"I know, Rey. I know. You hate me. Got it the first time. Or the next fifty or hundred after that."

He hesitantly wraps his hand around her shoulder, steadying her as she heaves herself up to kneeling.

She coughs into her open fist a few more times, lungs burning and nasal passage on fire from the near-drowning experience. Then she gives him a side-eye and he looks so sad and lost. Literally like a lost puppy who'd been left out in the rain to get soaked through.

"I meant that I hate water," she clarifies, giving in to his emotions just this once. "And you. But I really hate water. I never had to deal with shit like that back home."

She regrets it as soon as she says it. That sharp wound of melancholy that Jakku once had been her home and now a part of her will always be there. Kylo presses his lips into a grim line but stays silent. He can sense it every bit as well as she can.

He strokes her shoulder, then, rubbing it softly.

"Are you okay? Nothing… broken or bent out of shape?"

Rey isn't sure if he meant that last part as a play on words or not, but the corners of her mouth prick up the faintest amount anyhow. Kylo's eyes drift down to them and he blinks before clearing his throat.

"I'll live," she answers after a few seconds of quiet. "You'd know if something was really wrong."

He nods, still staring at her lips. His eyes are quite soft, however, when he lets go of her shoulder to tuck a messy, soggy lock of hair behind her ear.

"We should try to make a fire and dry you out. You're going to get cold if you have to wear wet clothes all night."

Rey accepts his offer of a hand up, and she rises uncertainly back to her feet. No. Nothing is broken. Bruised for sure, but she'll live just like she said.

"It doesn't get cold here. Cooler, but I'll be alright."

"For the kitties, then. Maybe a fire will keep them away."

Something about hearing the Supreme Leader of the First Order use the word 'kitties' brings a smile to Rey's lips, but she quickly squashes it before her dark knight can notice.

"Do you want to sleep here?" the man in question asks, looking over his shoulder at her as he scans the river banks. "How about over there by that fallen tree? It gives us some protection and we could put the fire in front of it to reflect back at us."

We. Us. There's a lot of assumption going on behind those words and Kylo seems to think he can get away with it without being called out.

"I… Kylo, we're not staying together. You go your way and I go mine. That was the deal."

Kylo doesn't immediately respond, but his shoulders begins to tighten and his side of their bond snaps shut so abruptly Rey takes a step back.

Her hands fidget, playing with the straps of her makeshift backpack as her mind races over with every possible scenario and excuse.

She's soaking wet. It's night. They're being chased.

Rey inhales deeply, holding it for a few seconds before letting it go in an audible sigh.

Kylo stays stalk still and she wishes she could see his face. Or maybe she doesn't, because he's either pouting or hurting and Rey isn't sure that she could handle either one right now.

This is stupid. On top of everything else, she still has to deal with his moods. Life is so unfair.

"Tonight, Kylo," Rey finally says, momentarily giving in. "Just for tonight. We'll make a fire, try to dry out, and in the morning I'm leaving."

His fingers twitch at his side, but he still refuses to look at her.

"You need my parts as well. You'll need to stick around long enough to build the signal."

True. Regrettably true. Or she could steal his stash in the middle of the night. Options.

"Those roots will do."

He turns then, looking back at her again.

"The tree roots," she clarifies. "They'll have to do. You start gathering wood for a fire, I'll start clearing us a spot. Deal?"

A little flicker of melancholic happiness shimmers through their connection. She should never have had sex with him. It made him absolutely unbearably clingy.

"Deal, Scavenger. And remember, if you run, I will find you."

Rey rolls her eyes, stomping past him before heaving herself up the low wall of the embankment.

Yeah, that was the other reason she should never have given in. Because he's a kriffing asshole.

"So what do you think it is? It's the Force, right?"

Rey rubs at her contaminated palm. It itches and irritates, but at least it's not glowing anymore.

Kylo watches her from his side of the fire. Which was actually her side of the fire since she had started with sitting opposite of him except he had kept finding excuses to get up and put another branch on or turn their wet belongings over to dry. And every time he did and sat back down, he seemed to end up a little bit closer to her.

He must think he's being really smooth and she doesn't notice. He isn't and she does, but Rey's going to allow this because, kriff it, it's been too rough a day to keep fighting about petty shit like that.

"Definitely the Force, this whole planet practically radiates with it. And it's not exactly the dark side of it either, but edging that way."

Rey looks up at him in surprise. This planet had felt ominous but not exactly threatening, if that makes sense. Kylo taps his fingers against his knee, his gaze alternating from her hand to her face.

"I've heard of this 'green energy' before," he continues. "Lu- Skywalker had once told us about his own master and how he had been trained on a swamp. He'd spoken about how sometimes the Force can become overgrown and bleed into a planet, saturating lifeforms that it normally wouldn't."

Master Luke had told her similar as well, but more of his story had been of the rigors he had faced himself as an apprentice. There had been a slight passive-aggressive note to the tale that she should be more grateful for her easy tutelage with him than she necessarily was at times.

"So… those cats and these plants and everything else. They're not actually wielding the Force, they're… covered in it?"

Kylo shrugs. His fingers twitch again, drawing her attention. Oh. He wants to hold her hand. Yeah, no.

"It's a theory, at least."

"So you're not bothered by it because it's dark, right? Or at least dark-ish?"

He looks down at his own hands, the ones he'd thoughtlessly used to desecrate the bone yard.

"Kinda itches, but… yeah, it's a theory."

Rey spreads her palm and brings it up to her face. Sniffs it. It stinks like pungent river water.

Kylo clears his throat, watching her with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile.

"You can't smell the Force, Rey."

"I know that."

She pouts slightly, and Kylo reaches over, catching her hand and pulling it over towards him.

"Hey!"

She tries to pull it back but he holds it firmly, flipping it over and spreading her fingers flat.

"Shhh, I want to try something."

Rey sighs, permitting this but not having to like it. He wraps his own palm over hers, sandwiching her hand between his.

"What are you-"

"Be quiet."

Rude. Rey scowls, about to start a sharp retort but the words die when she feels something happening. Her skin begins to tingle, but it doesn't hurt like it does when the jungle cats are near. No, this time it doesn't hurt at all, but it does feel odd. Like an energy is being drawn out of her.

Rey closes her eyes, trying to catch the intention behind what he's doing. The dark side of the Force greets her right back.

"Are you… are you sucking the poison out of me?"

"Yes."

She blinks. It doesn't seem to be bothering him at all, but she doesn't like being this close to the Dark. It doesn't suit her.

"And you can do that? Just like that?"

"Yes."

The whole process doesn't take Kylo more than a few seconds, and Rey finds herself transfixed by how he looks. His eyes are open but slitted, and his chin is dipped down. He's concentrating, but not enough to make him furrow his brow in the way that he does when something is a challenge.

He looks a decade younger like this. Maybe that's just the firelight talking.

Then his eyes flicker up to meet her and he smiles lopsided.

"All done."

Rey holds his gaze for a moment. His smile grows. She immediately tries to pull her hand away but he holds onto it.

"Better?" he asks.

It is. Ever since touching that damned thing her hand had been low-key irritating her. Now it feels completely normal. Smooth and warm and Kylo's hands are calloused but still-

"Yeah, it's better. Can I have my hand back now?"

For a second he looks like he's debating her request, but he lets her go after a moment.

"You're welcome," he says, standing up.

With her kneeling like this he towers over her and Rey has to crane her neck to meet his face or she would have been literally eye-level with his midsection. Not that she's thinking about that.

Kylo's grin comes back, widening into a smirk that he absolutely had to have inherited from his father.

"You're not a very good Lightsider, are you?"

And just like that he killed the moment. He's very good at doing that.

"Don't be an ass."

Rey rocks back on her heels, making a show of wiping her palm off on her still slightly damp pants.

Kylo turns, taking a few steps over to their pile of firewood and Rey doesn't have to see his face to know that damnable smirk of his never leaves his face.

"Get out of my damn personal space."

"You're cold."

"I'm not."

"You're shivering."

"That," Rey has to grit the words out from her increasingly tightly clenched teeth, "that is because you're breathing down the back of my neck. I don't like it. Go away."

After their little hand holding moment of eye lusting or whatever the hell it was, Kylo had apparently decided to up his game. And, by that, Rey meant he'd decided to up his antagonism and actually had the nerve to plonk his butt down behind her after putting a log on the fire.

Rey had been able to ignore him for all of ten seconds before his arms had started to wrap around her. He'd done it silently, almost as stealthily as those damn jungle piss cats. Two leather wrapped appendages gently easing into view on each side of her peripheral vision. He'd put his shirt back on so he nearly blended in with the dark of the night, but the highly excited 'can I or can't I?' echoing into her mind had rather given him away.

"Let me have this, Rey. Please. I almost died, remember?"

That was a low blow. Petty and one that would buy him nothing.

"Why did you almost die Kylo? Pick either time to talk about. Both are good ones."

Rey shrugs her shoulders, bouncing them twice when the offending body parts refuse to take the hint.

"I didn't sleep well last night. You can at least let me sit here in peace as an apology."

Rey's eyes bug at that and she starts to sputter, seizing Kylo's hands and forcibly yanking them off of her.

"You didn't sleep- how the bloody hell is that my fault?! You didn't sleep well because you had a concussion because you hit your head because you were an idiot. That was the chain of events, Kylo. Follow it to its origin and you'll see squarely on whom the blame lies."

Rey starts to come up to her feet only for Kylo to beat her to it. This time he has the audacity to hug her from behind, wrapping his arms around her and making her spine immediately turn ramrod straight.

"Kylo!"

He dodges her stomped foot. Her next outcry is stopped before it begins when he buries his face into her hair, rubbing his thumbs against her biceps in a bizarre effort to soothe her.

"You smell good," he mumbles.

The fire flickers, jumping up unnaturally high as Rey's connection to the Force spikes with her rising emotions.

"I bloody well doubt that."

It's the only answer she can give. Her hands latch onto his wrists, fingernails clawing into tough leather, but their Bond lurches, pleading with her not to shove him away.

"Okay. That was a lie. You smell like a mix of bantha wallow and festering river water. But you still smell nice underneath all of that. You smell like you."

Rey closes her eyes and counts to ten. It wouldn't do her any bit of good if she Force-hurls her idiotic bondmate into their bonfire. Actually, it would do her a whole galaxy of good, but their scavenged computer components are drying nearby and might get damaged by his flaming bulk.

"Let go of me."

"Sit down."

"I'll sit down once you let go of me."

Kylo seems to think about it for a moment. He sighs, the breath of it fanning against the suddenly ultra-sensitive exposed skin of her neck and chest.

His arms slide away and he steps back. Rey glares at him over her shoulder before stomping over to their firewood pile and putting the next piece on herself.

"Apologize."

He hangs his head, his expression settling into something approaching contrite. Rey doesn't buy it for a nanosecond.

"I'm sorry," he says, a pout forming on his full lips. "It will never happen again."

Not even for a nanosecond? No, now that one, that one Rey believes for far less.

When Rey wakes up it's the middle of the night and she's warm.

She had fallen asleep cold. Curled tightly up against herself, hugging her knees tightly to her chest and shivering as the dampness kicked up from the nearby river sinks into her aching bones. Kylo had tried to wrap her up in his cowl but she'd rejected it out of both spite and as a slave to her routine of neither needing or wanting him. He had been quite put out when she'd pointed at a spot diametrically opposite of her across the fire and told him to 'stay over there or else'.

Then she's gone to bed shivering and miserable. Feeling as pissed at herself as she was for the day she had endured.

None of that was true anymore, though. Now she was warm and languid, laying stretched out on her side on top of Kylo's cloak, his cowl covering her. No, covering them.

Somehow Kylo had fitted himself up close and snug behind her while she was sleeping and the kriffer didn't only have the nerve to move into her space in the night but he was actually spooning her.

How the hell did this happen? Why didn't she wake up? He must have been very stealthy about it. For such a big, big man, Kylo could be surprising agile when the situation required it. Or when he wanted something from her.

Rey growls, trying to shift away from him only to realize that he was holding her in place, his massive arm slung over her waist. He was so damn heavy that he didn't even have to actively restrain her, simply slumping his weight around her was enough.

It would take monumental effort to wriggle away from him and Rey was feeling lazy and sleepy. And exhausted. It had been a hellish day. She needs to confront tomorrow well rested and with a clear head.

That's reason enough to give in and tolerate her bondmate's presence, right? Like, it would be stupid of her to get all revved up and wrestle away from him now when it's still dark. She probably would get so pissed off that she wouldn't be able to sleep again.

A good, sound battle strategy is required in this situation, and sometimes that strategy involves choosing your battles.

Tonight then, just for tonight, only for tonight… Rey will tolerate her idiot bondmate's presence.

Tomorrow she's leaving. Goodbye, Kylo. Rey's gonna be going, going, gone…

That's the plan at least. Somehow she doubts that he's going to make it that easy on her.

Author's note:

Son of a… I'm a THOUSAND words over my allotment this chapter! GAH! At least I'm updating on time.

For those new to my fics, I tend to write much longer than I probably should and that bit me in the ass a while ago with a story I ended up having to take down. This time I'm keeping a very, very firm hand on the reigns with this fic. I'm aiming to update every Friday or Saturday, though there may be some disruptions in February when I travel.

Yinnyhoo, next chapter:

Aw, Rey thinks she's going to be able to give loverboy the brush-off. Bless her heart. She sure is going to want to, though, especially after the stunt her other half is about to pull. And our duo face a new challenge and get a much needed kick in the shins to get them moving.