authors note:

I'm going to have to miss next week's update, so here's a double-sized chapter to make up for it. I hope you all like it!

Kylo and Rey moved quickly throughout the morning, heading in no specific direction other than away from where they could sense the creatures lurking.

Very few words were spoken as they walked. Kylo tried a few times to engage her in conversation, but he stuck to safe topics like what she would need to be able to make a transmitter. In truth, Rey didn't know. Theoretically building such a thing was possible, but the odds of it not only working but any signal it transmitted actually being received by someone was… very grim.

Still, they apparently had the rest of their lives here on this cursed planet to figure it out, so there was always that.

By the time noon came around at the sun was high in the sky it was simply too hot to continue. Kylo had insisted they stop for a while though Rey would have preferred to keep going and put more distance between them and the beasties. However, now seemed to be as good a time as any to try and get their transmitter ready so she reluctantly set up an impromptu workstation along a wide gravel stretch of the riverbank.

"Tell me if you need anything."

Rey grunts in response, not bothering to look up at him.

They were both getting hungry and that made Rey angrier and more irritable than usual. Kylo going out of his way to be nice to her had only intensified her feelings of annoyance.

That, and the fact that he was once again running around without his shirt. This time under a guise of going wading in the river to see if he could try to catch some fish. He was currently waist deep, waiting as still as a statue with only the tips of his fingers manipulating the Force against whatever critter had caught his eye.

He was also very wet. Hair slicked and wet, muscles of his back glistening under the intense sunlight. Not that Rey was looking. Or at least she wasn't looking where she should be.

"Oh godsdamnit!"

In her carelessness and wandering eye Rey keeps severing the same connector wire over and over again. She swears that she's been working on the same section of the transmitter for nearly half an hour and, once again, that is all his fault. Maybe if he was actually good at hunting, she wouldn't be so hangry right now. She'd be able to concentrate better. Maybe if he wasn't so wet she wouldn't have to keep stripping replacement wiring from their very limited supply.

A loud splash comes from the river and Rey sighs, slamming down her fist with the multitool against the ground as she glares at her bondmate. Her bondmate which has currently disappeared below the surface of the water.

If he's just fallen in, she's not going after him. Loverboy is on his own.

A few seconds go by and Rey's eyes narrow. Nope. She's not going to do it. Not going to do anything.

Then Kylo emerges, soaked from head to toe and triumphantly carrying a… a black something in his hands as he strides over to her.

"What in all the hells is that?"

"No idea. But it was moving so it must be edible."

Rey scowls at the offending critter. It is a wide black tube that appears to have fins on one part and eyes on the other. The doomed creature looks up at her balefully before Kylo drops it on the ground and quickly dispatches it with a rock.

"You know that's terrible logic, right?" Rey edges the transmitter components away from the man thoughtlessly dripping over them. "We have no idea what's poisonous here. We should just… eat grass or something."

"Grass could be poisonous, too."

Kylo yanks the multitool out of Rey's hands with the Force without asking and she has to fight the urge to throw a rock at him. He flips open the knife part of it and begins to prod at the black fish-like animal. Rey sighs and starts reorganizing their collection of parts, spreading them on in columns on Kylo's now very dusty cowl.

"Sushi?"

A black fillet served on the point of the knife extends into her field of view.

"Gods, Kylo. It's probably still warm."

"Then you know it's fresh. Here, try it, I'm sure it's not so bad."

Rey watches with a raised eyebrow as Kylo takes a bite of his own piece. He makes a show of chewing it for a few seconds before his face visibly pales and he straightens, walking stiffly in a circle.

"That good, huh?"

"Indeckscrapple."

Rey thinks that he said 'indescribable', but it's hard to tell with him chewing like his mouth is full of hot coals.

She picks up a piece for herself and sniffs it. Not too bad. It smells like river water, mostly. Her amusement increases she she's treated to the show of her bondmate pacing and chewing, his hands clasped tightly behind his back and a sort of military precision to the stiffness of his legs. She takes a cautionary nibble, and-

Again… not so bad.

"It tastes like mud, Kylo. You'll be fine. Stop being such a prima donna diva about everything."

Said diva glares back, but he's still working on his apparently unacceptable first piece so Rey cuts herself another slice and tries to chew it quickly with the minimum of actually tasting it.

"Come over here and help me," she gestures at the exposed circuit board in front of her, "I need another set of hands."

There are times that she and Kylo work very well together. Fighting a room full of Praetorian guards. Screwing on a dying starship. Defending themselves from a hungry gang of jungle cats. All of those cases involve them doing something with a minimum of talking.

Kylo has apparently figured out this phenomenon himself because he stays uncharacteristically quiet as he watches her work. He hands her parts when she tells him to, but otherwise is silent and simply observes as she manipulates the finite components into an object approaching a transmission device.

Every now and then Rey will look up, glance at him, but he's always looking at her and not the progress she's making.

"You're going to get a sunburn if you don't cover up."

She snaps the last capacitor into place, tapping on each connector point with the edge of her multitool to make sure nothing is loose.

"How do you think they keep finding us?"

Rey blinks, looking up and not having realized he was standing so close to her. Truly Kylo has an amazing way of creeping unnoticed. For such a big man, it's a remarkable talent.

"The kitties? Well, obviously they can track you. Because you're the idiot who ruined their ancestral burial ground or whatever the hell that bone yard was back there."

"But it doesn't happen all the time. We were fine last night until the morning. We're fine now."

Rey sets down the transmitter and turns the power cell over in her hands. He has a point. If the cats seemed to know exactly where they were, why weren't they attacking right now? Or before when they were sleeping and easy targets?

"I don't- There's so much going on here that doesn't make sense, Kylo. Those cats. The green Force. Even that old rebellion fighter, what was he doing on this planet?"

Kylo flicks random shapes against the dirt with the tip of the multitool. Rey rolls her eyes and takes it away from him before he can gunk it up.

"Sometimes I think we were brought to this planet for a reason."

No, Kylo. We were brought to this planet because you crashed us here.

Rey keeps that thought to herself, though. She has forever to lord it over him when he's done something to piss her off. Far more important now is finding a way to get them off this world.

"You included me in that."

Rey pauses, one end of the powercell hooked up but she's hesitating on fully connecting it. If she's done anything wrong, or one of the parts is too damaged and she didn't realize it, this thing will literally explode in her face.

"Included you in what?" she finally ask, visually double checking every final detail.

"You said 'getting us off this planet'. Us as in you and me."

Oh gods the kriffing asshole was in her head again.

Deep breaths Rey. Control yourself. Don't smack this idiot upside the head with the delicate circuit board. That would be a poor choice.

She takes a few measured, deliberate seconds to calm and control herself. Then a few more after that when she can feel Kylo watching at her, his offensive presence nudging at their bond to make sure he has her attention.

"Well," she says tightly, "it seems like we're stuck together so we might as well work together. For now."

Kylo's arm creeps into view, fingers extending like he wants to hold her hand. She smacks it away, throwing a good sting into the flick of her wrist, and the limb retracts.

"We crossed a door back there when we were reunited by the crashed rebel ship." There's an almost grandiose tone to his voice, as if he's letting her in on a detail that's both very important and very obvious. "I thought about it then but didn't say it. That point was the start of the next stage for us."

What the… no. No matter. The man is mentally unwell. His words are nonsense. She needs to learn to not trouble herself with them.

"Kylo? Shut up please. And hold this up for me." She grabs his hand and places it on the raised end of the power cell. "When I tell you to, go push it down into this bracket right here."

She taps on the spot to show him then stands up, scurrying back a few feet while he stares at her with open confusion.

"Why are you all the way over there?"

"Oh no reason. Now do it."

Kylo looks at her. Then back at the transmitter. Then back at her. Rey huffs,crossing her arms impatiently. The suspense is killing her with each passing second.

"Go on, then," she prompts. "Go ahead. Make yourself useful."

With a shrug, he drops the cell into the bracket. Rey cringes as it falls.

And nothing happens.

"Huh..."

She waits, hugging herself tighter and taking another step back. Kylo looks up at her, frowning when he notices how far away she's gotten.

"It's like the Millennium Falcon all over again," she mutters.

Why didn't it work? It has power. It should have done something big. She'd been bracing herself for something big.

"Rey?"

Reluctantly Rey stomps over, kneeling down next to the malfunctioning object.

"It has a light on," Kylo points out, turning the transmitter over to its side.

It does, actually. All three signal lights are on. So… it's working?

"Is it doing anything?" Kylo asks, catching her thoughts.

Tentatively she picks it up, still half expecting spontaneous detonation.

"Um… yes?"

Kylo exhales sharply and lunges for her, wrapping her in a tight hug before she can realize what he's doing let alone stop him.

"That's incredible, Rey! I didn't think you'd have a chance in a million of figuring out how to make this work!"

Rude . Rey elbows him hard off of her, muttering under her breath for him to keep his hands to himself.

"It's turning on, Kylo, but it's not… it's trying to send the distress message I wrote, but the signal isn't getting through. Here, look here-" she points at one of the dials. The needle of it is floating just above the leftmost line. "That's the projection distance. For this to clear the atmosphere it's supposed to be at least in the middle. Or better all the way to the right."

Kylo's hand goes back to her shoulder, steering her so he can get a better look. She has to fight the temptation to kick his shin to make him back off creeping on her.

"I think maybe..." she trails off, pondering all possible reasons for the interference and what they can do about them. "Yesterday, I saw a mountain range in the distance. Not like huge peaks or anything, but they looked pretty high. All of this," she waves her free hand around in a circle, gesturing at the world around them, "maybe that's getting in the way? Like how the-"

"How the grass dulls our powers? Or how everything on this damn planet seems to feel strange?"

Rey narrows her eyes at the interruption, but yeah, that's what she meant. There was also the fact that the Resistance had known of this planet, at least on some level. She hadn't paid much attention during her mission briefing, but obviously the interest in this world dated back to the old Rebellion days.

"So what now?" Kylo asks.

She hands him the transmitter, mostly so that he has to let go of her to hold onto it, but also so she can take the powercell out just in case.

"So now? Now I guess we go up. Go climb some mountains. Maybe if we get high enough-"

"The signal will be able to push through the lower interference."

"Stop interrupting me."

Rey sends a push of irritation through their bond at him. She stoops down to wrap up the powercell and the remaining equipment in his cowl.

"Sorry."

Kylo grabs the bundle from her before she can throw it over her shoulder to carry it on her own. Fine. Whatever. Choose your battles, Rey. It's not like he'd know how to operate it even if he runs away with it when she's not looking anyhow.

Rey sighs and dusts her hands off on her pants. First things first, before they set out, they need to establish some ground rules.

"Okay Kylo, if we're going to be traveling together for any extended period of time-" her eyes narrow when his light up, "then you need to be clear about one thing: we will work together only to survive. You are nothing too me. I am nothing to you. We are simply two strangers who had the supreme misfortune to be stuck together on this damned jungle rock, got it?"

She had expected him to object or maybe look hurt or offended. Instead, he smiles. An odd sort of half-smile. She can't tell if he looks amused at her words or happy that she's officially announced their cooperation together. Either way, his expression right now annoys the living crap out of her.

"Kylo! Say you understand. Say we have a deal."

He regards her for a moment. Again she's reminded that he's not wearing a shirt. That's also highly, highly annoying.

"Fine, Rey. Deal."

She scoffs. That was too easy. He's not even trying to hide it. But there's no point in trying to argue; the jungle kitties could come crashing in at any moment and they've got places to be.

"Great," she bends down to pick up the fish-like thing and wrap in a large, glossy leaf. "Let's get going. I think the mountain is-" She starts to gesture at a direction over her shoulder, but Kylo stops her by lightly catching her wrist.

"Rey, when are we going to talk about it?"

She scowls and peels his fingers off of her one by one.

"Talk about what?"

"What happened up on the ship."

Her eyes widen and she freezes for a second before roughly yanking her arm free.

"Never, Kylo. Never work for you? Sure works for me. So, new addition to the rules, we don't talk about that ever. And you're forbidden from thinking about it. And stay out of my head. And stop just," she flutters her hand at him angrily, "stop just constantly fondling me. You have your own personal space. Stick to it."

Kylo's lips turn into a thin line. He looks like he wants to argue the point then thinks better of it.

"Anything else you want to add to that list, Rey? Anything else you need to get off your chest?"

"Nope. My chest is- oh wait, there's that. New new addition to the rules: unless you're, like, actively swimming or something, cover the hell up. The last thing I need to deal with is you getting third degree burns."

It's his turn to scoff. When his eyes blatantly roam over her, Rey turns on her heel and stomps away.

After a few moments of him presumably watching her ass, or possibly stewing in quiet rage, Kylo bounds after her.

Good. Enough of this. More than enough. It's time to cover some ground.

Water became more of a priority when they had left the river.

The day was hot, much hotter than the last three, and now they were trekking up the steadily rising foothills through the jungle to the distant mountaintops. It made for a rough, slow, and exhausting hike, and one that was getting progressively worse as the slope became steeper and harder to ascend.

The landscape was changing unhurriedly, giving them minimal sign of their progress. Slightly more apparent was the new types of foliage transforming from the lowland jungle denseness to a slightly more open forest. In this stretch it consisted of mostly pale blue trees with white leaves that shimmered like snow in the heated breeze.

"Have you ever heard of a Gypsy well?" Rey asks when they come to rest in the shady bend of the narrow creek they'd been following as they climbed.

Unlike with the river where the water was fast moving, this little stream was largely stagnant with only a sluggishly rolling trickle down the center.

Kylo drops their pack of supplies and rolls his neck, shrugging in his way of answer.

He, being the stubborn lughead that he is, had maintained his insistence on carrying the lions share of their supplies throughout the whole journey. His excuse had been that he didn't trust her not to take them, but Rey was left with the sneaking suspicion that he was trying to be a gentleman. That was far worse than a thief, at least in her book.

"It's a well, basically," she explains. "I had to do them sometimes back on Jakku when there was a water source but it was contaminated. There I had to line the well with charcoal from my fire, but here the ground isn't sand and it should do the work for us."

Kylo watches as she goes over to a spot of damp soil near the edge of the creek and begins to dig with the sharpened end of a stick.

"What's that going to do?" he asks, annoying her further by making no move to help her.

"Filter it. The water, that is. There's clay and carbon in the ground so, yeah, the water that comes out of here should be good to drink."

"Won't that taste like mud?"

"Uh-huh."

"But-"

"You'll live."

Rey digs deeps, 'accidentally' sending a wet splatter of muck in Kylo's direction and finally prompting him to come over. He stands above her, watching as deep brown and opaque stream water begins to fill the hole.

"I'm not drinking that."

Rey smiles to herself. Poor Ben Solo, Prince of Alderaan. His spoiled privilege is starting to show in the most amusing of ways.

"Then you're going to get really thirsty, and then you're going to get really sick."

She carefully scoops the top few layers of muddy water away with her hand, revealing a marginally cleaner source underneath. Then she bends down, drinking directly from the impromptu well with her mouth.

Movement shifts at the back of her head. Kylo is holding her hair back. It's… it's a totally unnecessary yet kind of sweet gesture.

It's a favor she won't be returning for him though, especially after he starts to laugh when she sits back up.

"You look like you have a beard," he comments, airily gesturing at her chin.

She swipes it with the back of her hand. It comes away muddy brown, but what did he expect?

"Drink up, pretty boy. I'm going to go scout up the hill and see if we can find a better way ahead."

She can feel the weight of his stare as he watches her, an odd sort of reluctance gripping her through their bond as if he's afraid to let her out of his sights for even a minute.

"Leave our stuff where I can see them, Rey. Don't even think about taking them with you."

Rey casually flips him off from over her shoulder as she leaves, throwing in an extra wiggle to her hips out of spite.

The rest of the daylight had been spent in quiet drudgery.

Up the hills, down the hills, carry the equipment, drink some dirty water, try not to pass out from heat exhaustion. The routine was as repetitive as it was miserable. Whoever coined the term "jungle paradise" was either a certifiable idiot or the closest they'd ever been to a jungle was the pages of a datapad because the reality of this place is that it totally sucks monkey balls.

However, despite the physical hardships of enduring this planet, the landscape was undeniably beautiful. Everything was full of life and color and vibrancy. The exact, diametric opposite of the spectrum from Jakku. Here every color was accentuated. The blues were more blue, the pinks more vivid, the greens positively electric. Everything was a more luminous version of itself.

And now that Rey could actually see more, she could almost appreciate the strange beauty of the landscape. The higher up into the foothills that they got, the sparser the heavy jungle foliage became, affording them the occasional view of an endless prismatic landscape sprawling below.

"Come watch the sunset with me."

They had made camp in the early stages of the evening. Water was still an issue, but the nighttime fire had been made, dinner had been eaten, and what little they had for bedding had been laid out. Laid out with each bedroll Rey having ensured was a separate and deliberate distance from each other.

"Come on Rey," Kylo tries again, watching her more than the colors of the sky above them. "It will only be for a little while. Just until the stars come out."

Rey's first instinct is to say no. Shoot Kylo down out of principal. Their relationship is one of civil tolerance and strictly survival-required cooperation, not sitting together and watching a Kodachrome ski of golden orange as it turns into purple.

And yet, when Kylo gently takes the circuit board she had been fiddling with away and offers to help her up to her feet, Rey doesn't resist.

She does, however, dodge his attempts to hold her hand and walks out into the clearing at the top of the hill beyond their camp, leaving Kylo to throw another log on the fire before hurrying to join her.

She stands at the edge of the field, taking in the sights and enjoying the day finally returning to more pleasant temperatures as the start of night begins. Sunsets here seem to last forever. Maybe it's because the sky is always colorful, or maybe it's that, the higher up they go, the more the clouds seem to glow with their own light.

How long are they going to be stuck here on this planet? Forever? Tomorrow? And, if they somehow even manage to get rescued, what happens then? Will it be her side or his? Kylo won't let her go without a fight, she's sure of that, but what if it's the Res-

"Flower for your thoughts?"

Rey raises an eyebrow, eyeing the white and red striped bloom Kylo offers when he sits down next to her.

"Flower for my thoughts? What does that mean?"

She doesn't take it and he shrugs, reaching out to tuck it behind her ear. It smells sweet. Pleasant and enticing, and Rey feels the knot of tension that had taken up a home between her shoulder blades begin to slacken.

"It's a saying, Rey. It's supposed to use a coin, but I didn't have one. What I mean is, what's on your mind? You seem… pensive."

Rey sighs and turns from him, laying down against the soft grass and propping herself up on her elbows to watch the show. It's odd how she's already getting used to having her Force energy dampened by this planet. When she first touched any of the plants here it would tingle, creating a strange prickling sensation that ran along her skin and separated her from her 6th sense. Now, though, it feels almost peaceful. Soothing, even. Kylo is still here, their bond is still here, only the Force is less noisy about the whole business between them.

Kylo watches her, his eyes quickly skimming over her form before returning to her face. Perhaps it's simply the light, but she could almost swear there was a hint of color to his cheeks.

"Did you just check me out?" she asks, turning her attention back to the sky.

Rather than answer, Kylo sits down next to her, his hand accidentally brushing against hers. Rey clears her throat, trying to think of something to say.

"I kind of like it here. I mean, I hate it, but-"

"But you also kind of like it."

"Yeah."

The sky is more of a magenta now. Or a fuchsia. A hot, hot pink that looks so strange reflected against Kylo's pale skin and dark hair. She smiles and he blinks, looking surprised.

Oh. He thought she was smiling at him. Maybe it's for the best their bond is somewhat subdued, because, if he realized she thought he was odd looking, he probably would have been a little hurt.

And then her heart skips a beat when he reaches under her head to pull her hand out and place it on her chest. He wraps his palm flat over it and this is too much, far too familiar to be tolerated.

"Kylo, we had an agree-"

"I want to talk about it, Rey. We're adults. We should be able to talk about this like adults."

Rey knows what he's going to say and he's right but she still can't bring herself to look at him. She looks anywhere instead. At the sky, at the trees, even at the blue grass ringing the edges of her vision as she lays here. Anywhere but at her other half.

The silence between them grows, but Kylo waits her out. She fidgets underneath his hand, trying to ignore how his thumb rubs her palm in circles. It's nothing. A nothing touch. For kriffssakes, she's hugged his own damn mother and it had endlessly more affection that a boring old thumb circle.

"Rey..."

"I don't have anything to say, Kylo."

Suddenly the sunset isn't so pretty. Or maybe it is, maybe it's fluorescent rose and emerald swirls, but she doesn't want to be here anymore.

Kylo lets go of her hand when she jerks it away, but he catches her shoulder when she tries to heave herself up and stomp back to their camp.

"Rey, please. We can't keep dancing around this. Let's clear the air."

Despite his objections she stands up, glaring at the fiery crescent of the setting sun. Behind her, she can hear Kylo rise and join her, his heavy boots crunching in the grass.

Already their connection fuses stronger, flowing freely between them once more.

She sighs and closes her eyes. He doesn't touch her, but he waits.

"Fine, Kylo," she snaps, her control finally wearing thin, "you want to talk about it, let's talk about it. Let's talk about how you tried to murder me. Let's talk about how you stranded us here. Let's talk about how you… you..."

Rey can't bring herself to say the words because it's still too soon. She hasn't prepared a pretty enough lie to herself to keep her going through the rest of her days.

"Rey."

She hates the way he says her name. Says it like it means something to him.

"What do you think about what happened, Kylo? You did this. You did all of it. So what do you have to say for yourself?"

He recoils when she turns to face him. Rey feels a thread of guilt pierce through her shields at his miserable expression.

"You hate me," he says.

No. No. He doesn't get to play the pity card. Not now and not ever.

"Keep going."

Rey has no intention of making this easier on him. At least not until she knows where her own head is at, which apparently isn't an action she's capable of achieving when she's around him.

Kylo shifts from side to side. He puts his hands in his back pockets and Rey wonders what he's so obviously trying to hide from her.

"You're angry," he continues. "You think that I lied to you because I wanted sex. Because I only wanted sex. You think that I… that I took advantage of you."

Gods he's so thick-headed. Yes, the sex was a piece of the equation, but, to Rey, it was a very small piece. Something that was not necessarily undesired, but the time and the place and the how couldn't have possibly been more wrong.

"Didn't you, Kylo? Didn't you take advantage of me?"

The clouds start to shift as the evening wind picks up. It ruffles Kylo hair and the growing purple hue tints his skin a slightly ghostly shade of pale.

"Yes. And I'm sorry. I know that's not enough, but I want you to know that I am."

Anger and sadness rise up in her equally, threatening to well over into tears of pure frustration. Tears that she absolutely refuses to allow to fall around him.

Her thoughts fall to the distance between them. In a strange way, they're closer than ever before and yet still so very far away. Something has to give. Something has to break. It won't be her, though. She won't let it.

"Kylo, I don't..." her voice fades and she turns away, staring directly into the setting sun.

"Rey."

His hands fall upon her shoulders and she sighs, not finding the strength to keep pushing him back.

Then she tries to speak again and her eyes sting from the wind in the air and nothing more.

"Kylo, we are bonded."

"Yes."

"And we can't change that."

"We can't."

The hands on her pull back, guiding her until she's flush with his chest. It's almost a hug. Almost. Suddenly Rey can't trust her voice at all anymore.

So why did you do it?

She speaks the words into his mind. That's the real question. Forget their lovemaking, that had only been a side effect. Why did he put them through this ordeal when he could have reached her in a million and one different, better ways? Why nearly kill them both?

When he rests his heavy forehead against her shoulder she stares out into the horizon, watching the very last sliver of the sun set against the far hills in the distance.

"I suppose," his voice rumbles against her skin and Rey's breath catches for a moment, "I snapped. I just snapped. I was losing my mind without you, and then we found out where you were and I completely lost control. I thought that if we met in person, just the two of us, that I could… I could… kriff, I don't know what I thought, Rey. I just wanted to be with you."

She closes her eyes. It's the only way she can fight this. She can't be here now with him. This was a horrible idea. She should have never allowed it.

"That's an excuse, Kylo. It's all an excuse. What I want is an explanation."

The hands on her shoulders tighten. Rey reaches up and grips him with her palms, unsure if she's trying to pull him off her or offer him some strange, half-assed form of comfort.

"Maybe," he says in a low voice, "maybe I thought that I could convince you to stop hating me. If all I ever was to you was someone you don't hate, that would be enough. I could live like that."

Rey's heart hurts for him. A real, genuine pain in her chest that must surely be reflected through their bond from his own agony. You're nothing to me. She had told him that this afternoon. At the time she'd thought he'd laughed it off, but now she's starting to realize how deeply Ben holds everything in. How far below the surface he buries himself.

Her feelings surge, rising higher and higher to the surface before she just can't stand it anymore. Their bond tugs at her from every direction, demanding that she does something about the pain radiating off of her other side.

"Kylo, I don't hate you." She makes herself say the words. They taste bitter as they leave her tongue. "Part of me wants to hate you. Part of me really, really wants to. But if I did, I couldn't have saved you. I couldn't have healed you like I somehow managed to."

She blurts it all out, leaving the meaning for him to sort through on his own. Moments go by. The sky grows darker by the minute. They need to go back to their camp before the fire goes out.

But they also need to settle this. That's more important. That's why she doesn't fight him when he wraps his arms around her and hugs her from behind, his breath ticking her ear as he kisses her temple before letting her go.

"But you tell me you hate me all the time, Rey."

Rey sighs deeply, her shoulders slumping and relief filling her at both the slight change in mood and her having a modicum of her own personal space back.

"Sometimes I do Kylo. Sometimes I find myself filled with thoughts about you. Sentiments of such profound anger and rage and frustration. Sometimes I want to throttle you or give you a new scar or-"

"Wait," Kylo stops her building rant with a hand to her elbow and this time she immediately pulls it free as she faces him. "Rage, anger… scarification? Pray tell, my dear Rey, exactly which part of the Light Side is this? Was that left out of the sacred Jedi texts or did I miss that lesson?"

Oh yes, there he is. Back to the beginning full circle. Kylo temporarily acting like a decent human being lasted about as long as she'd expected it to. Maybe she likes this version better because at least she understands him. This is the cocky, provoking asshole Kylo that she knows best. At least this one she knows how to deal with.

"You do that on purpose don't you?"

She really doesn't need to ask. This poor, simple, arrogant boy couldn't be more obvious.

He doesn't answer, either, and Rey turns and finally starts walking back to their camp, calling back to him over her shoulder.

"Kylo? I'm going to sleep now. I'm going to sleep, and I expect you to maintain a respectful distance from me at all times, understood?"

Even if she's facing away, she can feel him smile. Yeah, that little moment they had is gone. Good riddance. It only served to confuse her from her goal of getting the hell off this rock and away from him.

"And if I don't?" he challenges, following her and infuriatingly matching her step for step as she works her way back through the knee-high grass to their distant smoking fire.

"And if you don't, I'm really going to do it. I'm going to give you a new scar and this time I'm going to be aiming a hell of a lot lower than your face."

Rey won't look at him as she goes, she categorically refuses to. But, if she didn't know better, she'd swear their bond was circling around them both and pulling the noose even tighter.

Author's Note:

Also, I'm going to have to miss next week's update because I'm traveling, but ch8 will be up 2 weeks from now sometime between the 14th and 17th so I hope everyone will check it out when it's ready! :)

Next chapter:

Where our duo discover that the single biggest threat to their survival is each other.