Author's note:

I'm back! This one's kind of rough, written very very late at night and I may well change the ending of it on thursday or friday when I have more time. Until then, let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Chapter summary:

Where Rey gets the fright of her life, our duo are reunited, and Kylo discovers that Rey is one thirsty, thirsty girl (totes canon).

Story:

An odd sort of restlessness took over Rey's existence.

Once Kylo had woken her up, made her look around so he could see through her eyes, she'd been completely unable to get back to the sleep she so badly needed.

By now Rey was more than exhausted. She was fully at the end of her rope in mind, body, and especially the aching void in half of her soul. All she wanted to do was sleep forever. Never wake up if it meant leaving that warm little bundle Kylo had left her in inside her mind.

And yet, despite everything that had happened since she had left him, Rey was suddenly too tired to sleep.

Kylo was now completely gone from her mind. The empty, aching void was back. He had shut her out so utterly, so wholly that he might as well have ceased to exist.

Or maybe she's the one who has ceased to exist. The concept stirs in the back of Rey's psyche as she wanders the narrow cave that lead her away from the water's edge. Her feet may be stepping forward forward forward but her thoughts remained a million miles away.

So maybe she's dead.

Maybe?

It would make sense. Explain why she feels so outside herself, like she couldn't command her body to stop moving now even if she tried.

So what if she had really drowned back there, back in the river? Somewhere she heard it takes the brain quite a while to die from drowning. It would certainly account for a few things. Like how weightless she feels, how disaffected.

This is unnatural.

Why does she keep walking? If she's dead, can't she finally be in peace? Is she condemned now to wander, aimlessly stumbling down these cavernous subterranean halls?

But she can't stop, can't be in harmony and one with the Force, because she's compelled. The cycle loops and loops on itself. Every time she stumbles and falls, she doesn't even feel it. Doesn't register any pain from the bruises forming on her knees or the cuts and rasps on her fingers as she claws back against the rock walls to come up to standing.

The whole cave is glowing now. Not just the stalagmites or the flowers or plants, but the walls themselves now. The passage is blazing, like she's literally walking through that metaphorical passage of light separating life and death.

Find me.

Oh, it's Kylo now. His voice is back in her head even if his presence is not. How odd.

There's a wind at her back, pushing her forward. The further she goes, the stronger it becomes. Something in the far recesses of her mind is warning her, telling her not to go on. The feelings of need are changing, turning into something closer to dread. Dread and sadness and… unbelievable regret.

So this is what dying is like? It hardly seems fair. Rey has done plenty in her short life that she regrets, but nothing that ever provoked such a strong feeling of-

Kylo. This is his regret, isn't it? Could it be?

If it is, that means… that means she was wrong. That he's dying and she's being pulled down with him?

Rey tries to turn then, spin around and start running the other way. Flee back from this bright, strange tunnel that her spiraling mind has conjured.

The winds snap her back, turn her head so fast her neck aches. They start to buffet her then, pushing and slamming against her back, nearly lifting her off her feet.

Find me.

That impulse again, this time much more insistent. She has no choice with this. Rey lets herself be shoved forward, fighting each step but knowing that it's a losing cause. The passage bends ahead of her, brilliant green light shining from beyond the turn like a beacon.

Rey screams when she sees Kylo.

He's laying there, an unmoving shape of darkness surrounded by a growing pool of red. All around him is that green energy, spitting and twisting like a fractal trapped in a crystal.

Every limb of his is bent in a way that is wholly unnatural. Rey runs to him, panic making her nearly blind and unwilling to believe what the Force is showing her. Above him is a distance. A high distance.

He… fell. He fell to his death? It seems impossible. Illogical. He should have been able to stop himself. Kylo was too strong, to powerful to die in such a way.

And yet the truth is laying right there in front of her.

Rey kneels shakily, almost collapsing against his lifeless form. He fell face first, but she has to see this for herself. She catches his shoulder, turning him over with an unnatural ease. He should be heavier than this. He weightless, almost. She can flip his whole ruined body without even the slightest effort. She holds her breath, turning him-

The face that looks back at her is not his.

It's someone else. Someone older, Master Luke's age perhaps. No one she recognizes.

Rey gasps when the dead hand flies up, catching her wrist and holding her when she tries to drop him and run. The body changes, transforming from Kylo's bulky strength to that of a reed-thin cadaver. Bones jut out, pulled tight over acute emaciation.

"Who are you?" she shouts, the wind picking up and howling in her ears.

The lips of the face don't move but the eyes open. They glow green, staring at her with a terrifying power.

The hand on her squeezes tighter, holding on as she struggles to free herself. Above him, whoever this- the apparition is, are words glowing into the rocl. The same words she saw written on the cavern wall hours earlier.

This is a trap! She's fallen for it, and now-

Rey pushes with the Force, screaming blindly as the wraith takes her hand in his. Something is pressed into her palm, stinging her and pulling her strength away. It's the kyber. The piece of kyber she picked up earlier. Somehow that is what lead her to this point.

"STOP!"

She screams the words, shoving at the ghastly form. The creature holds tighter, pressing another impulse into her mind. Find me. Rey howls, the pressure in her head rapidly becoming unbearable.

And then it ends.

All at once her mind goes 'pop'. And then there's silence. Silence and darkness.

She can't see anything. Nothing. Absolute nothingness.

Is this death? Is this it?

"Rey!"

Kylo's voice. She can't see him. Pressure on her shoulders. A rattling of her bones.

"Rey!"

She falls limp, collapsing into the abyss. Not welcoming it, not at all, but accepting of it.

Rough fabric scratches against her cheek. Something shakes her. Two somethings. Shakes her hard.

"Rey! Open your eyes!"

Open? How-

Oh.

That's why sh couldn't see anything. Because she had her eyes closed.

It takes a few moment before her brain can re-circuit itself into remembering how to raise her lids.

It's dark, mostly. Just the dim of the glowing rocks and the sound of running water and Kylo's wide-eyed and shocked facing gaping down at her. For a second his is the most welcome, most captivating face she's ever seen.

"Ben?" she asks, her voice hoarse.

He stares dumbfounded. Then huffs.

She notices then that he's trembling, a thin sheen of sweat shining on his brow.

Rey reaches up, lifting her hand to touch his face and prove to herself that he's real. The kyber falls out of her palm, landing on her chest. His skin is smooth to the touch. Damp and warm and very much alive. Her stomach flutters when she traces his lips.

Kylo blinks at her, his expression betraying every emotion to clearly.

He's desperately relieved to see her. So is she. Their Bond hums, nearly glowing with giddiness at their reunion.

Then Rey suddenly realizes that she's staring at him while laying on her back and she jerks herself up to sitting, nearly headbutting Kylo with her frantic movement.

"Rey."

He's still holding onto her shoulders the squeezing her just like that… whatever the karking hell that thing was. A shiver runs down her spine at the memory, cooling the brief joy of reunion. The happiness at seeing him there in the flesh beside her disappears like smoke.

There's blood under her fingernails. She only noticed it now, when she took a moment to look over herself. It was Kylo's blood. Long welts are streaked down his arms, the sleeves of his shirt ripped nearly into shreds.

"Did-" Her voice sounds so brittle, had she really been screaming or was that also just in her head? "Did I do that? To you?"

Kylo stares at her, his eyes wide and wild. He looks down, staring at the tracks on his forearms, then back at her. He slowly lets go, rocking back on his heels to crouch next to her.

The river is behind him. She's still laying on that little rocky shelf where she'd fallen asleep. That was all- No, that wasn't a dream. That was something else.

"Yes, Rey. You did. You were screaming in my mind. Howling and shrieking. I couldn't see you. I tried to reach you but I couldn't, and I when I got here you weren't alone."

Rey cringes in on herself, wrapping her arms tight around her knees and trying to banish all traces of what she had seen from her mind.. Rey can still feel her heart pounding, adrenaline thundering in her veins as the memories of a dead phantom play out despite her best efforts.

"He- There was someone. A...being. I don't know."

It's all she can say. Nausea begins to grow in her, gnawing a her insides. She had been so scared. Terrified of a dream. This was ridiculous. She should never have let it rattle her so deeply. She's the Last Jedi, for kriffsakes...

"Rey."

Kylo says her name softer this time, one of his hands leaving her shoulder to stroke her face, soothing her into looking up at him.

"What happened?" he asks, his eyes both imploring and suspicious.

Rey doesn't know where to even begin. Start from the top? No. No, she can't handle that right now.

She jerks her chin to of his grasp, not missing the pinch of hurt that reaches her from his side of… yeah, of their connection. He's back in her head where he should be, but his walls are still up. That can only mean one thing: he's still pissed off at her.

"I had a vision," she says, her mouth dry. "A… dream. I saw someone. He was dead, but… Kylo, did you block me? I couldn't feel you at all. I thought you were dead."

Kylo blinks, his expression pulling back to an unreadable stoicism.

"You were the one blocking me, Scavenger. I heard you screaming and screaming in my head, but you were still shoving me out. I had no idea what was wrong or why you were so… you sounded like you were dying. I ran back here as fast as I could but it took me so long. When I finally came you were clawing at the air, howling as this green shape hovered over you."

Rey looks up then, staring at the rock wall above her head. Nothing. No strange symbols.

Kylo begins to pull away and she snatches his hand, closing her eyes and pressing his knuckles against her forehead. She tries to remember how the symbols looked. The image is foggy, hazy, but she pushes it against Kylo's mind.

When she opens his eyes he's starting at her with such an expression of slack-jawed confusion it would be comical in any other circumstance. Their Bond buzzes louder when they touch, turning itself into an annoying distraction demanding attention after their neglect to it.

"That's the old Jedi script," he says, his voice dropping to a whisper. "How did you-"

"It was on the wall. And in my dream. But also on the wall. Earlier, before the earthquake. These symbols were carved there like some sort of inscription. Do you know what they say?"

Kylo stares at her for a long moment, his eyes searching her own.

"I saw salvation as I lay dying."

Rey blinks at him. She pushes herself more upright, her hand letting go of his. She can't decide if that's more confusing or more morbid.

"That's what it said?" she asks quietly. "Are you sure."

"Yes. And there was no earthquake, and no inscription on any walls, Rey. I'd been following your footprints, right up until you apparently jumped down into a hole in the ground. I think you might have been hallucinating for some time. You were… gone from me for too long."

Wait. How long had she been asleep? Her nightmare had felt like it had only been minutes. How deeply had she been swept up in it? She'd said before that every part of her seems exaggerated in this caves. Every emotion heightened, every fear increased. Now it seems like that scope has extended even into her unconscious mind.

A shiver rolls over her again, and she instinctively tugs on their Bond for reassurance. It's there again, strong and steady as always.

Kylo's hand falls to her knee, rubbing it in circles. Even if he's blocking her out, he must be able to sense her unspoken fears. He leans closer and she swallows, another urge rising to meet the anxiety.

There was that too. This need for him. It hadn't gone away like she'd silently prayed it would.

"Rey..."

She'd been staring at her feet. Staring at the shadows. Anywhere but at him.

"Rey, why did you run away from me?"

That's why she didn't want to look at him. For every unanswered question she has, there are a dozen more unresolved impulses. And what he just asked her comes first and foremost to her list of things she'd rather not answer or contemplate.

Still… she had almost died. Drowned like the foolish desert rat she is. And then her mind had been invaded by a creation she couldn't even begin to understand.

In short, it had been a tough day. One that Rey badly wants to forget and replace with some other, any other, more pleasant memory.

"Can I have a hug?" she asks, snagging her fingers around Kylo's tattered sleeve when he starts to pulls away.

"Rey."

Oh he sounds angry now. His earlier gentleness as she'd woken up from her terror has faded far too quickly.

Before he has a chance to shove her away, Rey pushes drags herself to him, half crawling up his body and burying her face against his chest. She's not crying. She refuses to cry. She wants to, but she won't. But she will take every ounce of comfort she can squeeze out from her grumpy, short-tempered other half. By osmosis, if necessary. If he won't do the right thing and give her this.

Kylo doesn't return her embrace. He kneels there, letting her hold onto him but not touching her himself. It makes her heart hurt. Why can't everything just go back to how it was before? When he was devoted to her and he was the one begging for crumbs and not the other way round?

When she pushes at him with her mind, he's still blocking her out. Still. A lump starts to for in her throat, but she swallows it down. She picks up his arm herself and drapes it over her shoulders, snuggling herself in snug against him. Kylo is really here. He's solid and he's warm and he's a living thing. That's what she needs right now.

"Have you learned your lesson, Scavenger?" he finally asks, his voice heavy and his soul a welcome lead weight in her mind.

Rey stares abjectly at the now dirty and dusty black fabric of his shirt. She learned… she learned that she's not good at understanding her own feelings, let alone those of someone else. She's learned that she can't trust herself. She's learned that… that she won't know peace unless they drop their walls and let each other in.

"We are-" her voice wavers before she can control it, "we are stronger together."

For a few seconds all she can hear is the sound of his breath through her hair His heartbeat next to her ear.

"That's not what I expected you to say, Rey." His voice is a quiet rumble that makes her eyelids flutter. "But it's much better than I'd thought. And you're right, we will never survive this planet alone."

He wraps her tight then, hugging her properly. Both his arms envelope her, his hands cradling her head against his chest. Rey sighs, all the tension of these last terrible hours beginning to ebb away.

"Supreme Leader," she mutters, knotting her fingers into the fabric of his cowl to hold him close.

"Scavenger," he returns.

With that, he opens his mind to her. Memories flicker through psyche, edges of scenes and emotions not her own. Kylo running. Kylo raging. Kylo… making a promise to himself. The second she tries to hone in on that reflection, he snatches it away from her.

"You made me chase you, Rey. You closed off our Bond and you shut yourself away and I didn't know if you were living or dead. That was very, very cruel of you."

She shakes her head, the way his fingers sink through her hair is both possessive but not unwelcome.

"I didn't. Not… okay, at first yes, I did. But then I think it was all the kyber. It was blocking me. Or maybe it was the Thing. I don't know. I wanted you, too, after a while. I really did."

The movement of his hands slows to a stop. She can feel the deep resentment that he's trying to bury down. The bitterness mixed with profound relief at her being safe and back with him.

"I'm not sure if I believe you."

He pushes her away before she realizes it, shoving her back gently but firmly until she's sitting and he's looming over her. In his hand is the kyber, the piece that she found earlier right before the earthquake. She should warn him about it, that it might somehow be a part of all this, but she feels him in her mind, poking at her memories before she can stop him.

"There was no earthquake, Rey. I told you that."

She swallows, shaking her head. No, no, that had been real… Hadn't it?

Kylo turns from her, pacing away. His movements are sharp, precise. That brain of his is working deviously, she can just tell that it is. But he's still blocking her. Whatever he is thinking, he's keeping to himself.

Rey rises to her feet, eager to level the playing field between them. Her legs so stiff she has to stand up in stages. Gods, how long had she been out for?

"So now what?" she asks.

Tentatively she moves closer to him. They need to talk about this. Need to get through this animosity festering between them.

Kylo shakes his head, looking at her over his shoulder with an open scowl.

"That is the second time you've asked me that since you ran away, Scavenger. Why don't you answer it for yourself this time? What is it that you want to happen?"

Rey flushes, immediately remembering the last time she had said that. They had been separated then, and she had been so lonely. So needy. Her desires had clouded her judgment and she gave into them. She had just- He had touched her through their connection and-

"No."

Kylo turns abruptly to face her, his eyes narrowing. Rey's heart flutters, untrusting of the look in his eyes. He had made a promise to her then, too. One that, when he takes a step forward, closing the distance between them, makes her pulse start to rise.

"No what?" she asks, her eyes quickly darting over him.

I'm going to find you, Scavenger.

Those, or something approaching those words, had been the last thing Kylo had spoken to her before he'd thrown her out of his head. He had purred them into her mind where they now resided, burning lurid and full of deep implication. His words were both a threat and a promise. Rey didn't even know which one she wanted them to be anymore.

"No, Rey, you had done all of that. You had shown up in my head wanting me. I had nothing to do with the choices you made. How you chose to tell yourself over and over so charmingly about how I was nothing to you-"

Rey swats his hand away when he reaches for her face. This is all wrong. All of it.

She tries to turn away, but he grabs her chin firmly, the seam of his glove imprinting against the soft skin of her lip. He steps closer again, bringing to stand with barely a space between them. Rey finds herself rooted to the spot, warring emotions winning out over her ability to verbally defend herself.

"You told yourself," he continue, "that I was just a dirty secret. Someone you could use and discard as you pleased. And then you flung yourself into my arms with abandon. You, Rey. You did all of that. I simply offered a helping hand with your lies."

She should slap him. Should push him away. Use the Force to discipline him for touching her without permission.

Rey can do none of that, though, because a heat is starting to bloom within her. Having him here, really here, so close… He had come to her. Even after she'd thrown him away, he had still come for her.

"Rey?" he asks, and her eyes can't help but drift to his lips. "If you have something to say for yourself, now is the time. Now before it's too late."

No Go away. I don't want you. I feel nothing.

The words won't come. She should say, put him back in his place, but she can't. Not when his thumb strokes her bottom lip, lightly tugging on it. The smooth leather of his gloves has a tactile feeling that had been so muted during their previous interlude. Now it's all she can feel, distracting her mind from the growing dangers of being so close to him.

"I don't want you," she says robotically when he steps forward.

She can't back down. She can't think.

"Liar," Kylo whispers, dipping his head low.

Rey trembles, curling her hands into fists and digging her nails into her palms to keep from reaching for him. She's suddenly absoutely dizzy with desire, so much blood leaving her head so quickly that she wavers unsteadily, only his grip on her keeping her legs from buckling.

"That good, Rey? I haven't even touched you. Yet."

His breath is warm against her lips. He's so close. So close.

"Don't-" she has to lick her dry lips to speak properly, "don't remember this. Let's forget all about it tomorrow. That's the only way."

Kylo's mouth, dominating the center of her vision and focus, curls up into a smile.

"No, Rey. I won't be used by you. If you want this, you'll admit that you want it. You'll admit it, and you'll make this up to me."

Her breath catches when he pushes his thumb into her mouth. The edge of his glove pushes between her teeth, drawing her jaw down. Rey frowns, not fully understanding, but when he starts to pump his finger in and out of her mouth the meaning of his words becomes more clear.

Rey shakes her head slightly and he pulls away so she can speak, tracing her lip with his now wet fingers.

"What do you-"

"Be creative, Rey. You're a clever girl. Figure out how you make can make up for all of this hell you've just put me through."

This is the point where she knows that she should say 'no'. Push him away, possibly for good this time.

But their Bond won't let her. Her soul won't let her, and neither will any other parts of her. Rey can already feel herself start to ache, the need to touch him growing with each passing moment of indecision.

"What's it going to be, Scavenger? The choice is yours, but I expect you to honor it. No more changing your mind when it's convenient or your conscience takes you away from what you know you really want."

Is she so transparent? She must be, she practically writhing in his arms, her legs squirming together to ease the growing pressure between them.

Their Bond surges up, sensing the growing weakness in her resolve. It's all the prompting that Rey needs, the rest of her objections and justifications flying out into nothingness as she reaches up and drags his lips own to her own.

Rey devours him, her hands suddenly everywhere at once. She claws at his hair, nipping angrily at his smirking lips when he refuses to open for her.

Gods, does he still have to be difficult now?! She's giving him what he wants!

Not quite, Scavenger. Not quite.

His voice hums inside her head, the sound of it resonating through her. Rey kisses with an even greater passion, messily moving her lips over his until he opens and lets her slide her tongue inside his mouth. His hands move around her, lifting her and supporting her weight as she wraps her legs around his hips.

Kylo quickly takes over the dominant role then, walking her backwards until her back hits the rock wall, effectively pinning her in place. He kisses slower and deeper than she'd done to him. It's too intimate. She doesn't want slow intimacy. What she wants, what she needs, is a release. A physical expression of her overwhelming desire. What he's trying to coax from her is something more cerebral. Another fucking mind game of his.

He pulls away then, grinning widely and not even trying to mask his triumphant look as he sneers at her.

"You've finally figured it out, then," he crows, wiping his mouth off on the back of his hand. His black gloves come back slick with their shared spit.

A whimper forms in her throat, her mind still battling but losing to the needs of her body. He's here with her now. He came for her and now they're reunited. They should celebrate this.

"See something you like, Rey?" he taunts. "Do you enjoy your handiwork?"

She hadn't realized she'd been staring. But of course he was in her head. Prowling around and following every shameful line of thought as it came to her. His lips are swollen, flushed from her frantic bites. The sight of it of it does something profound to Rey, arousal unlike any she's ever felt sparking through her.

"Kiss me," she demands, her voice shaking from the strain of fighting this.

"No. Ask nicely."

She glares at that, her nose wrinkling. Kylo and his kriffing head games. She hated him for it before. She… wanted him. Wanted him so so badly. But she still won't say it. Not that. She won't let him have that.

When she leans up, trying to take his lips with her own, he pushes her down. Waits with a sharply arched eyebrow. Her cheeks bloom with both need and shame.

For a moment it seems like he's about to take pity on her. He dips his head, his lips ghosting over her. Rey opens, flicking her tongue against them in anticipation.

And he pulls back again, drawing out an enraged cry from her instead.

"Say that you want me, Rey. Say it and mean it."

She grits her teeth, shaking her head. His arrogance, his cocky nastiness, somehow only fuels the flames of her lust, but what he wants is too far. She won't do it.

"Have it your way, then," he says with a shrug.

His hands start to let go of her, her body sinking when it's only her own arms supporting her

"Kylo!" she shrieks, grappling with his neck.

He pauses, mid drop. She glares up at him, tears of frustration pricking at her eyes.

"Have I gone too far?" he asks.

She nods. The words refuse to come out, but when she chokes her way through pushing them into her bondmate's head his expression softens.

"Do you want me to be nicer to you?" he asks, lifting her again.

There's a lightness to his tone, a playfullness that she had missed before. That makes it easier, this touch of Ben peaking through all the arrogant dark smirks and erotic aggression.

Rey glares, pouting but not denying anything. With a chuckle he brings his hand back, effortlessly holding her up with just one arm, and presses his fingers against her lips.

"Open," he commands, and this time she complies.

The leather of his gloves has a tangy, earthy quality. It strange, this odd sexual ritual that he's making her do to stroke his own ego, but the dark glint in his eyes distracts her. Kylo watches with fascination as he finger-fucks her mouth, pumping two then three of the digits in and out until a trail of saliva leaks down her jaw.

The way he's looking at her makes this worthwhile. He looks like a man on the edge. Like she's finally pushed him too far and now his control will snap at any moment and he'll just… just take her. Take her in any way that he chooses.

"How kinky," he purrs, his fingers sliding wetly out of her mouth. "You really have a very active imagination for a Jedi. When I said that I meant it: I will have you again. Is that you want?"

It's a trick question, and a clumsy one at that. She shakes her head, holding onto the last threads of rational thought as his hand traces her cheek before gliding down her neck. She had expected him to- her cheeks burn harder, an image of his guiding himself into her mouth flutters through her mind before she can stop it.

Kylo laughs, his hand darting inside her tunic, leaving a trail of wetness along the valley between her breasts. He reaches the waistband of her pants and stops. Rey bites her lower lip, looking at him with pleading eyes.

"Tell me something, Rey," he opens the knot of her cloth belt, slowly working the layers of fabric apart. "Are you always such a ball of repressed need? The more you deny yourself, the worse it seems to become."

Rey knows that she's proving his point for him, rolling her hips eagerly to make his movements between their bodies easier.

"I'd thought about or first time together a lot since you'd left me," he continues, "and I think I've found your greatest weakness. Or your second greatest weakness, perhaps."

Rey blushes all the harder when his hand darts inside her pants, stroking her now very wet and swollen folds. She shivers, leaning back slightly so she can have room to grind against him.

"And what-"

Her voice breaks when he finds her clit, rubbing it between two fingers and making pleasure shoot through her so sharply her eyes almost roll back. "And what is that?" she manages to gasp.

This is all happening so fast. Not fast enough. He should be inside her by now. She needs to feel him inside her soon.

"Intimacy, Rey. You're so desperate for it, but you're also terrified of it." His hand moves, letting go of her nub and shifting lower. "You try and tell yourself that our lovemaking was meaningless, but every time you try to prove this to yourself you fail completely."

"Is that so?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. "You sound so sure about- oh- OH!"

Before she can continue her protest, he slides a finger inside her. Rey throws her head back, moaning loudly, her voice echoing off the cavern walls.

Kylo gives her only a few seconds before he continues, his finger pumping leisurely in and out of her, that naughty seam of his gloves enhancing every sensation.

"You want me because you know how I feel about you, even if you won't admit to it" His tone is casual and almost dismissive as he fingers her. "But this is also what you fear most in the world. That's why you can't even bring yourself to ask for pleasure. You have to feel like it's thrown upon you so you can let go."

The… karker… kriff! He's psychoanalyzing her now? The man is insane!

And how is it possible that it feels so much better than when she did this to herself?! Her walls flex greedily, relishing the sensation of having another do this to her. Of having him attend to her for the second time.

"More?" he asks.

Rey whimpers, shaking her head from side to side. The gesture saying no but every other part of her meaning exactly the opposite.

Still, she has to clench her teeth from the sweet blend pleasure and pain as a second finger slides into her nearly-virginal passage. It burns. It aches. It feels like it's not nearly enough.

"K-Kylo."

Her voice is constricted, an all-encompassing urge to just give herself to him filling her. This has to be right. Nothing bad could ever feel this good.

"Rey."

His eyes are dark, nearly fully dilated as he watches her squirm on his hand. They hadn't had time to do this before. On the ship their lovemaking had been hurried and attentions were distracted. Then the second time he hadn't even really been there with her. Now… now he's here. He's here and this is real and it's everything to her.

Rey can barely suck in enough air to speak.

"Yes Kylo, I want you," she gasps, his thumb flicking at her clit as she gives into him.

His movements against her and within her slow. She stares at him balefully, begging with her eyes and hoping that will be enough.

"Do you really mean that?" he asks.

Is this… permission? He wants permission. If she says yes now, they'll… they'll make love again. And this time will be different because she won't have the convenient excuse of death to hide behind.

"Yes."

She stares into his eyes and for a second all she can see is Ben. For less than a second, she can feel her heart try to give into him. Let this happen. It will all be alright. They were bonded for a reason, after all...

The moment is fleeting. Kylo comes back with a vengeance, smirking meanly down at her as he pulls his hand away.

Rey blinks at him, her heart pounding in her ears.

"I'm glad you finally said it, Rey," he kisses her temple, his wet fingers stroking her cheek as her mind reels, desperately trying to play catchup.

"What-"

"Oh we're done for the evening, my darling. Or did you assume I'd forgive you cutting me out of your head the second you spread your legs for me?"

He drops her then, setting her on her feet and her legs almost immediately buckle, making her slump against the wall. Rey trembles, shock and rage both hitting her at once. He turns to walk away, a swagger to his step that was exactly like she would expect from a Supreme Leader.

"KYLO!" she screams, her hands clawing into the rock wall. The room shimmers slightly, bits of debris shaking down from the ceiling as her control of the Force wavers.

Kylo pauses mid-step, glancing up. Then Rey catches herself and it subsides. She snatches her pants back up, dragging both sides closed and triple knotting it while glaring daggers at the back of his head.

"Where the hell do you even think you're going?" she asks as he continues to walk away, heading toward the far end of the cave opposite the river.

"To mediate, darling. Feel free to continue on with our fun, just try not to be too loud about it."

If he'd had the nerve to say that when they first landed on this planet, Rey would have tried to gut him. Instead she grabs the nearest rock, a good solid one the size of her fist, and hurls it at him, throwing her whole bodyweight into the move.

Kylo dodges with a simple, barely detectable cock of his head to the side. Clearly a man used to having things thrown at him.

"Nerf herder!" she shouts, though a million other insults play out in her mind.

Just before he turns, disappearing from sight, Kylo calls out to her one last time.

"Oh, and Rey? If you're gone when I come back, you won't like what happens next."

The next rock smashes against the wall behind him. Rey doesn't bother with a third. Then she waits until he's far enough away to scream into her knees.

Piece by piece she puts her mental barricades up. They're back together now. If he wants to talk to her, to apologize for being the galaxy's biggest prick, he can come to her and use his words. Otherwise she doesn't want to hear anything else from him ever again.

Author's note:

Can anyone guess how and why they're going to end up boinking? I feel like I've left massive, 10 ton billboard sized hints about it. We've got two people on a jungle planet who are reluctant to get horizontal because of all they're massive issues both real and perceived. And yet, this fic will not be complete without vigorous Tab A into Slot A action. Or maybe even Slots B and C, who knows? Haven't written it yet! But however could all this be possible and happen? Hmmmm…..

next chapter:

It's time for everyone's favorite chapter! And this time our duo get to have their E-rated shenanigans in the same space as each other!

Comment replies:

First a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who wished me well last (non) chapter! You guys are so kind and seriously just the best! 3

Now, to reply to the comments from ch12:

pobrediabla - I'm glad you liked this chapter! Rey is warming to kylo but as you've just read in ch14, there are definitely limits to how much progress they can make! As for the location, that's explained in the next chapter or chapters when Kylo shares his side of what had been going on for him.

kfulmer7 - thanks for commenting again! the enrgy was a big part of what had been blocking them. more on that to come next chapter :)

nightreader10 - just when rey thought she'd reached her darkest moment... kylo swoops in and makes things worse. he's good at doing that, isnt he ;) anyhow, thanks for commenting!

Aranthera - thank you, hope you liked it! :)

sydkiwi - well they're defintiely not alone down here, though maybe not everything rey saw is exactly what she thought it was?

littlesmith - thank you! hope you liked this chapter!

Misschiff0 - I'm glad you're enjoying this! thanks for commenting! :)

Shestoolazytologin - oh rey's definitel sick of that river, too bad for her because this aint the last they're seeing of it! thanks for commenting!

Missing A Muse - hopefully this chapter cleared up a lot of that for you. kylo WAS trying to reach her, especially at the end, but there was... interference.