Warm seawater curled over her toes. Past the white water Kylo Ren stood with his head barely breaking the surface. Rey called out to him, and to her surprise he tried to swim towards shore, but the waves kept pushing him under. She swam to him and clung on to him tightly in the churning water until they were both spat out on the shore. He spread out on the dull sand, Rey's white-robed legs twisted over his like a mermaid's tail.

Even though it was him and not a figment of her dream, she brushed strands of hair away from his face and traced part of his scar with her thumb. His black-swathed chest heaved under her other palm.

Rey forced herself to open her eyes and got out of the tent. She paced in a slow circle, rubbing her face with her knuckles. This had to be the work of the dark side, mixing up her emotions and making her feel—she couldn't even think it. This was Ach'to all over again.

She sat down to meditate, pulling away from all living things except the one thing that connected them all: the Force. Nothing mattered but the light of the Force that guided her and kept her above all things crude and material. She reached up higher and higher, but could not quite reach up all the way because she was being pulled down by the shadows that framed the light. Her fingers remembered the touch of his skin, and she squeezed her fists to focus, but it was too late. Blood rushed from her head to her heart and she could almost smell the light musk of his scent when he carried her to the tent. Lightheaded, she folded over her knees and counted to ten.

She thought of what she had read and what Kylo Ren told her about the dark side: these emotions were overwhelmingly powerful. She accepted that, but she still yearned the light for perspective. Her feelings may be strong, but she couldn't let her crush on him possibly jeopardize everything she had worked for. So she made a deal within herself: she accepted this crush and her feelings, but would leave it all behind in the caves.

No one would ever know about her secret, especially not Kylo Ren.

Within hours Rey felt closer to finding her crystal than ever when she used the Force to break part of the tunnel wall. The rock crumbled before them, revealing a secret passage that devoured what little light entered it, including the light from the lamp Rey held out.

"Do you feel it too?" Rey whispered, her mouth suddenly dry.

"Yes."

Something very old and evil lurked within, as well as her whimpering cry of her crystal. Kylo Ren put a hand on her shoulder, and Rey realized she had been shivering.

"I had been so afraid of what would happen if I didn't find my crystal that I didn't think—" she babbled, then took a deep breath. She held out Luke's lightsaber and turned it on, the blue light burning strong against the darkness. "Let's go."

Kylo Ren walked right behind her as she led them down the gradual slope of the narrow tunnel, the light barely piercing the darkness. Rey's focus on the path ahead was pecked at by the nagging thought that he hadn't mentioned anything at all about their shared dream, but those worries disappeared when the tunnel walls widened into a massive cavern. The whole room was lit up by the gleam of built up clusters of dark purple and blue crystals that flowered from the concave ceiling. Much of the floor space was taken up by a lake of black water as smooth as glass that did not reflect the light from above.

The light in her lamp flicked back to life, and Rey turned off her lightsaber. She felt a creeping sense of dread as she approached the lake.

"It's down there," she said, her crystal's song ringing in her ears as she walked along the bank, her hand over the water's surface. "I can feel it. It's so close."

"Call it to you with the Force," he said after he dropped their gear. "It should fly right into your hand."

"That's what I'm doing, and it's not…it's not working."

Rey kicked a pebble into the water and waited for the ripples to clear off the surface. The water was strange, but everything about these caves were strange. She kicked off her leather shoes and dipped a toe in the water. The lake was cold, but not unbearably so.

"You're not going to go swimming, are you?" Kylo Ren asked.

Rey took off her lightsaber holster and piled it with her shoes. "I've learned how to swim since Ach'to. I'm just going to take a quick look to see where it is, then go from there. Can you set up the tent?"

"I should go with you."

Her heart banged against her ribs, but she quickly told him, "No, I'll be fine. I won't be in there for more than a couple of minutes. There's no sense for you getting soaked too if I won't be in long."

Kylo Ren clenched his jaw for a moment, but he didn't argue. Rey took several deep breaths before wading into the cold water, the mud flowing between her toes like silk. Instantly she felt her crystal's warmth radiate throughout the chill of the water. Once she had to tread water, she took a deep breath and dove down.

A pinprick of pale yellow light stood out amongst the pitch blackness. She kicked as hard as she could to the rocky lake bottom. The light grew brighter between the claw-like rock formation that trapped her crystal. She tried to get the crystal to break free and come into her hand, but it wouldn't budge. Desperately she grappled the edges of the stone and commanded them to break. The floor trembled as she pulled the stone apart just enough for her to grab the crystal.

The crystal flew into her hand and buried itself in her palm. She admired it for a moment, then tried to take a breath but inhaled water instead. In her panic she tried to swim up but all was black and there was no up and she all should do was flounder and not know if the darkness before her was from the lake or if she had passed out, until she felt something grab her by the middle and pull her.

Rey coughed up water when she surfaced, and her arms flailed until she hooked them around Kylo Ren's shoulders. She shut her eyes and laid her dizzy head on his chest, where his heart thumped in time with her wheezing. She let her legs float above his as he treaded water.

"That was longer than a couple of minutes," Kylo Ren panted, and the cavern echoed with their laughter.

When she finally caught her breath, Rey lifted her head and moved her left hand between them.

"Look," she said, opening her hand to show him the crystal.

He smiled at her treasure, the crystal's light brightening his face.

"It suits you," he said, looking at her with warm eyes.

She tightened her grip on his shoulder. His hand pressed against her back, securing her to him. His legs brushed against hers as they floated like two lilies in the lake. Rey curled her fingers around her crystal, but the light never left his face as he leaned in and kissed her.

Her mouth stung as if she had been shocked when he broke away. The color drained from his face as he murmured, "Rey I haven't…I haven't been completely honest with you."

"Neither have I," she said, and brushed the hair away from his eyes, curved his cheek with her finger tips, and traced the bottom of his scar with her thumb. He looked at her as if she had enchanted him, and she felt a smile coming on.

She wove her fingers in his hair and pulled him to her. She kissed harder than he had, riding on a new wave of energy that coursed through her veins. He grabbed her with both hands and they submerged. They surfaced sputtering and laughing as they swam to the bank, barely out of the water when he cradled her with one arm and kissed her again. She curled up in his lap, her hand holding the crystal joining his.

Kylo Ren kissed her hair and pressed his cheek against it. Rey breathed in his scent, listening to his pulse in his neck. And so they embraced each other as long as they could, blissfully and eagerly forgetting the universe around them.