The ship hurdled through space at, carrying Kylo and Rey towards Tatooine. Kylo leaned forward in his seat, hoping to spot the Resistance's fleet. So far, he'd seen nothing and his hopes were beginning to fade. Maybe they were too late.
"We'll make it Kylo," Rey assured him.
"You don't know that," he replied. "What if we're too late to warn them?"
"Then we'll help them as best as we can," Rey said quietly.
"And if it's still not enough? What then?"
Rey turned to look at him. "Then at least we tried. At least you tried."
Kylo sighed. "This is all my fault. I can't believe how stupid I've been."
"Well, you have been pretty stupid. I can't argue with that. But this isn't your fault. Snoke planned this, not you. You can't be held responsible for everything the First Order does."
"But I betrayed you, all of you. How can you be so calm, Rey? Why are you so good?" Kylo asked. "How can you just forgive me like that?"
"I haven't Kylo, not yet." Rey's voice cracked, as though she were fighting tears. "I'm sure when this is all over, I'll be furious. I won't even be able to look at you. You put me through so much, you made me hurt in ways I didn't even know I could. But there's no time to dwell on the past right now. You're here, that's what matters."
"I'm sorry," Kylo whispered, putting a hand on Rey's shoulder. "I never meant to hurt you."
"Just forget it," Rey mumbled, shrugging the hand away. "Focus on finding the fleet."
"Rey, we need to talk about this," Kylo insisted. He couldn't just let it go, he had to know how Rey was feeling. More importantly, he knew she had to let it out.
Rey peered out the window, pretending to search for Leia's troops. "I don't really think now's the best time."
"We may not get another chance."
Rey turned to look at him, the anger and hurt clear on her face. "Fine! You want to talk? You want to hear about how you broke my heart? How you completely betrayed me? How I'll never trust anyone again? You abandoned me Kylo, just like everyone else in my life."
"It wasn't about you Rey." Kylo struggled to find the words to explain. "I felt like I was dying…like I was being suffocated by the sins of my past. And Snoke, he kept whispering to me. He knew exactly how I was feeling. He offered me forgiveness, he offered me a home. I felt like I was going back where I belonged."
"You belonged with me," Rey snapped. "I tried so hard to help you and you just gave up. You went running back to Snoke like everyone said you would."
"Rey, please. Try to understand," Kylo pleaded. "You don't know what it was like for me on that base."
"I wanted to Kylo," Rey said sadly. "I tried to get you to talk to me, to open up. But you wouldn't let me in."
"You had enough to worry about." The excuse sounded pathetic, even to Kylo. Why hadn't he wanted to talk to Rey? What had he been so afraid of? Rey would have done anything to help him. She believed in him. Then, suddenly, it all made sense. "I… I didn't want to disappoint you," he whispered. "You had so much faith in me. You believed in me when no one else did. How could I tell you about Snoke? I didn't want to let you down."
"Let me down?" Rey looked caught between surprise and irritation. " Kylo, you didn't have to be alone. We could have figured it out together."
"I thought I could handle it," Kylo muttered.
Rey rolled her eyes. "Well, that went well."
Kylo smiled in spite of himself. "Yeah, I pretty much fucked that up."
"I don't think you could have done any worse," Rey said, beginning to giggle.
Kylo laughed too. It felt good. "Freaked out, ran away. Came back, had sex, ran away again. I'd say I handled it pretty well."
"Top notch decision making," Rey laughed.
"The best," Kylo agreed.
"I'm still mad at you," Rey said. She'd stopped giggling, though her smile remained firmly in place.
"I know," Kylo replied. "You have every right to be."
"Kylo?" Rey's smile was gone.
"Yeah?"
"We should have reached the fleet by now. I think something's wrong."