Thank you all who followed, faved, and reviewed the story! major-fangirl-in-here17: I'm glad you enjoyed the battle! I really try to envision what is happening and then write it so it makes sense. I actually have the whole story outlined and I am guessing it is going to be around fifty chapters, so there is going to be a lot more development with the plot, relationships between the characters, and more politics as the story moves forward. melodicechoes: I hope this chapter is what you waited for! Thanks for appreciating how I write!
Now, everyone strap in cause A LOT of stuff happens in this chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve:
Light flashed across Kylo's helmet, blinding him for a moment while. The girl had swung her plasma blade right at his head. The masked malfunctioned, forcing him to let go of his hold on her. He gripped the sides of the helmet, pressing at the release mechanism as he listened to the scavenger sprint up the remaining steps and into the onslaught of rain.
The mask refused to budge.
He twisted it, scraping the metal against his skin and yanked it off his head. The slice across the helmet was ominous as he glared at it.
If the girl had applied any more pressure, she would have killed him.
Kylo pulled his shawl from around his neck and dropped both items to the floor. His mask clanked down the stairs, falling silent once it hit the cavern below. He took the stairs three at a time, emerging into the pelting rain of the storm.
The Falcon was straight ahead.
He froze, waiting to see the engines fire up. Nothing happened.
The ship was silent.
He skulked forward, striding through the beating wind as his stare snapped to the left. A small, dark figure was running up the island steps, straight for the sounds of blaster fire from above. The girl was no coward, but her heroics would lead to her downfall.
She should've fled on the Falcon while she had the chance, he thought as he went after her.
Kylo's long legs let him skip every other step, allowing him to close the gap between him and the scavenger quickly. His latched onto her through the Force and ripped her away from the stairs, causing her to soar in the air and tumble onto the steep hill off to the side. She clawed her body upright, turning to face him straight on.
Her soaked sleeveless shirt and grey capris were plastered to her body, showing her every curve and muscle as she tensed for a fight. She reignited the lightsaber, but this time, both ends shot out a citrine colored blade.
Kylo hesitated on the slope, eyeing the double-bladed weapon. He never had the pleasure of dueling against a saberstaff, and the girl held it to her side like she knew how to handle it. A sly smile played across his feral features as he stepped up to the challenge.
"Your face," the girl said, stunned. "The scar. You didn't have that in the dreams."
The churning wind threatened to topple him over, but he remained standing as he stalked forward. He wanted her to get a closer look at her handiwork, but instead, she spun around and bolted up the slope. He commanded the Force to pull her to him and was surprised when she only slid back a few feet, regaining her advancing momentum.
The scavenger was indeed a quick study if she was able to learn how to block Force telekinetics in such a short amount time.
Even attempting a Force stun on the girl was not guaranteed to work again.
Kylo hiked after her, his legs pumping as he sprinted up the steep slope. The girl disengaged her saber as she climbed over a short rock wall, darting out of sight. He Force jumped, clearing the cliff side with ease and landing directly in her path.
She slid down into the mud, attempting to halt her advancing movement before getting too close. Kylo ignited the saber as he swung down at the filthy body before him. The girl rolled to her side, his lightsaber hitting the ground, sizzling in the murky water. She swept his feet out from under him, his back meeting the hard ground, the impact expelling the air from his lungs. He deflected her incoming strike and kicked her hard in the ribs, her legs staggering to back up as she clutched at the side.
Pain flared up his midsection, like he was the one who had taken the blunt blow.
Kylo cursed to himself, realizing their connection was transferring her pain to him.
Mud covered his whole backside, causing his robes to be a weighted burden as he stood. While the girl knelt on one knee, still holding her stomach, he unbuckled his belt and tore off his outer robe. He squared off at her in his pleated under tunic, pants and boots. His left hand slicked his hair from out of his face, but the constant barrage from the downpour made his vision blurry regardless.
He attacked the girl directly, and this time, she didn't run.
Steam rose off of their blades as they both spun and lunged at each other. Kylo had to be twice as quick to duel both sides of her saber while trying to also gain the offensive lead.
She blocked the side swing to her back, redirecting his saber into the air. Her laser staff went for his knees, but he thwarted her advance. A bombardment of thrusts and parries ensued, both of them grunting against each block.
Kylo lost his footing on a loose rock, and the girl made use of the advantage by striking at his forearm. A burning ache shot up to his shoulder. Kylo hugged his arm to his body, seeing a singed hole in the tunic right above his wrist. Anger fueled his muscles as his hard swing made the girl lose hold of her saber hilt, causing it to fly against the boulder to the side. She called it back into her hand, but before she could ignite it, he backhanded her across the face, causing her to stumble.
Fire pulsated in his jaw and his vision blurred. It felt like a hammer had struck him on the right side of his face. He wobbled from side to side.
Retrieving his composure, he charged at the dazed girl, needing to desperately end this ongoing conflict.
All his life, the light inside of him had always been so in-tuned with the emotions of others. Kylo couldn't handle it anymore. He needed to be fully immersed into the dark side to prevent any sentimentality from influencing him. Killing the girl was how he was going to accomplish that.
He would finally be free from caring. Free from the guilt.
The girl attempted to block his slicing swings, but she was too slow. He slashed at her midsection, burning her skin from her left hip, diagonally up to her ribs. She grabbed her stomach as he mirrored her same movements. He paused, gasping for breath from the torment racking his abdomen. A stream of water fell from his nose while he looked down at the muddied soil.
His spine straightened and he saw her horror-struck eyes looking at him. She forced herself to grip her saber, letting the bottom half of her shirt flap open in the wind, revealing the black saber burn and the bottom portion of her chest wrap.
The sound of engines made them both glance upward to see a fleet of First Order ships. Fear resonated from the girl as she watched the armada near the island. Off to the side, a convoy of X-wings swarmed in, engaging a portion of Tie fighters into an aerial fight.
()()()()()
"Ben."
Her voice was hoarse as she caught the man's attention. His lips curled up in a snarl, looking nothing like the man from her dreams. This was the monster Kylo Ren. When she'd first set eyes on him in the cavern, her plan of trying to reason with him had been tossed out into space.
It was all about survival now, but her body was slowly losing steam.
Loud blasts echoed over the island as the dog fights progressed above. He came at her and she tried to block him, but the blunt force of his blade just pushed her further back. He was exceptionally better than the last time they'd fought, and Rey started to realize just how lucky she'd been that he was injured on Starkiller.
This time, there would be no pleas to become his apprentice, no admissions of his desire to not kill her.
Her arms were weak and her legs were barley holding her up as she backed away from the nightmare before her. Every part of her body ached, and she was no longer able to block out the continuous sting of agony. A sob racked her body as she couldn't deny her epiphany any longer:
She was going to die on this island.
"Ben, please," she begged. "Don't do this. Killing me won't change anything." But her words bounced off of him as he kept advancing, each parry against his swings causing her to gasp out in disbelief and pain.
She'd come to care for the man called Ben. It was torture that every time she looked up at that monster's twisted expression, she saw his face.
Life had dealt her a cruel blow by leaving Rey on Jakku at such a young age. She never had the opportunity to truly live like those people in her fairy tale books. There were so many things she wanted to experience before she checked out of this existence, and now, her time was up way sooner than she thought it would be.
It tore at her knowing that Kylo Ren was going to be the last person she would ever see. Killing her was going to destroy any remnants of Ben there was hidden behind that dark exterior, and that thought made her more terrified than the actual knowledge that she was going to die.
She gradually heard the clash of waves as he backed her up against the edge of the cliff, just like when they were on Starkiller.
Rey couldn't let him do this, but her strength was spent and she had no idea how to stop him from destroying them both.
But then... a thought.
"We could leave this place, Ben. You and me." His face remained sinister, but his body stopped from proceeding forward. "We could leave this war behind and go somewhere far away." A crack of lightening lit up the rocky terrain surrounding them. She couldn't believe what she was saying out loud, but she found that she absolutely meant it. It was selfish of her to be willing to leave Luke and Chewie behind, but if anyone could survive the battle unfolding on the island, it was a Jedi Master and a Wookie.
That's what she willed herself to believe, anyway.
Her breathing was heavy as sharp cries left her lips. She was crying, but the evidence was hidden behind the constant rain pour. As she sobbed openly in front of him, his face slowly slackened, as if he'd been living in an illusion and he'd just become aware of reality.
She attached the saber to her belt as her arms wrapped around her middle, the freezing wind and rain only now starting to make her shake. "I've only seen brief glimpses of you Ben, but I feel like I've known you my whole life... and I wish I didn't have to give that up." Her voice quaked as she took a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself with some sense of dignity at the end.
"If you feel like you have to do this, then do it. But I want you to look me in the eye as you kill me."
She tried to stand tall in the face of her upcoming fate, but her stomach burn screamed at her to stay slumped over. Instead, her eyes sharpened onto his, waiting for him to charge.
()()()()()
Kylo's mind was racing from what the girl had proposed.
Her offer had bore a striking resemblance to that of Han Solo begging him to come home. His resolve had faltered slightly on that bridge, but he didn't lend too much credence into Han's words. That man had abandoned him and lied to him, and Kylo had done too much up to that point in his life to turn back.
He didn't hold the same amount of animosity for the girl as he did for Han. He'd only just met her a mere week ago, and the only thing she'd done to him was scar his face and make him question his decisions. It was hardly enough to make him hate her on the same level as he despised his parents.
If it weren't for their bond, he would've thought she were lying in an attempt to save her life. But he could feel the sincerity behind her words. After everything he just did to her, all the pain he inflicted and the way he made her cry, here she was begging him to leave with her.
No, she isn't begging me.
She's begging Ben.
There have been strange moments in his life where birds looked to be flying slower, trees bent at an odd shape, like they were pixelated. Not real. Now, his life was at a point where everything stopped, the rain, the wind, the fight overhead– yet he kept breathing, kept looking at her.
At Rey.
A second later, everything continued, but who he was before was now gone.
So many times over the years, he'd thought about leaving this dark life behind him. However, as he committed more and more atrocities, it made him fall deeper into the pit of his infinite self hatred. There was no way out and no one to help him with his inner conflict, but Supreme Leader Snoke.
He thought of his father on that bridge again. Ren had desperately wanted to believe that by committing patricide, he would free himself from the light that was his lineage. Killing his father would make it impossible to reunite with his family, and he needed that to not be an option in his life anymore. He couldn't have anything to fall back on.
But standing there in the rain, all he wanted was to be that little boy again, sitting in his father's lap on the Millennium Falcon, when they actually had a relationship. His master was wrong when he said killing his father would bring him closer to the dark side.
All it had really done was make the light in him stronger. He couldn't deny that anymore. Was tired from trying.
He stared at the girl, admiring the strength she was showing even though she truly believed she was going to die. His eyes roamed across her body and her now loose hair, seeing how completely beaten she was.
He'd done that to her.
Exhaustion swept over him.
He despised this person he'd become and the path he was on, but he'd kept going, thinking there was nowhere else for him to go. But now, a different path had made itself known when he desperately needed it. A path, he realized a few days ago, he'd secretly wanted to take, but thought it impossible since he believed the girl to detest every fiber of his being.
As it turned out, she completely abhorred the monster within, but yearned for the man who was once Ben Solo.
The girl, standing bravely before him, was his equal in every possible way.
She always had been.
Ren lowered the saber to his side and switched it off. A piece of truth hit his mind before he could deny it: he belonged with her, and that feeling of belonging was more pure and more real than anything he'd ever felt with Snoke. In what kind of capacity he would play in her life, he didn't know and he did not care. His very soul felt content with leaving his current path and being by her side.
A Tie fighter swooped down and fired it's laser canon between the two, flinging them further away from each other. Heat blasted against his face and he grunted as his body made contact with the dirt. He moved his jaw from side to side, trying to relieve the ringing from his ears. Gradually, he found his bearings as he teetered to his feet.
He turned his head and found Rey slowly raising herself up.
Movement off to Ren's left caught his eye. One of his knights, Theon, was sprinting towards the girl, his curved sword raised and ready to strike her down.
Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he launched his body at the knight. Seconds before Theon swung his weapon, Ren grabbed at his wrist and shoved the saber straight through the man's back. Rey jumped from the sudden appearance of the red blade sticking out of the knight's chest, scurrying back to the cliff edge, completely unaware of the impending danger.
She didn't stop.
Her hands shot out as her foot hit the open air. She tried to regain her balance, but her momentum had been too fast and she disappeared, plummeting down into the depths of the ocean.
"Nooooooo!" Ren screamed, disengaging the weapon and tossing the body aside. He ran to the ledge and sunk to his knees, searching among the dark and violent water.
He couldn't see her.
Ren's lungs started to burn, panic rising in his throat as he realized Rey didn't know how to swim.
She was drowning, and he was feeling it.
He was reliving his nightmare.
Tearing off his gloves, Ren pulled his pleated tunic over his head, leaving him in his black sleeveless undershirt and suspenders. Something off to the side shimmered, grabbing his attention.
It was her lightsaber.
He snatched the hilt and hurriedly unclasped the braces. He placed both the lightsaber's against his outer thigh, wrapping the suspenders around the two hilt's and tying them in place. He didn't have enough time to come up with a better plan than that.
Ren rose to his full height and eyed the distance between him and the sea. It was a long way down, but he didn't have a choice. He wasn't going to lose Rey mere moments after deciding to leave with her. He ran a good twenty feet away from the edge, wheeled around, and with all the strength he could will into his legs, gave himself enough momentum to launch himself into the cold air.
Wind rushed into his ears as he braced himself for impact, straightening his body to shoot down into the black water. The shock of the cold sea almost made him take an involuntary breath, but he forced back the urge. His arms stroked upwards, bringing him to the surface. His water-laden boots were making it hard to swim, but he didn't want to kick them off, nor did he have time to make sure he still had both the sabers.
Waves crashed over him, trying to pull him under, but he fought to stay afloat.
"Rey!" he yelled, spitting out a mouth full of salty water. "Rey!" He kept screaming her name but he never got a reply. Terror gripped him as he could feel her life slipping away. He dove under the water, frantically searching, praying he would see her.
Everything was dark.
A streak of lightening illuminated the sea below and for a second, he saw her floating under the water, nearing the jutting rocks. Her image was taken from him as she disappeared behind the curtain of black. He kicked and pushed himself over in that direction, his arms circling, trying desperately to find her. Something solid hit his hand and he grasped it, tugging it to him. Her body floated up against his torso as he wrapped his left arm around her waist, swimming up to the surface with his right.
A gale of spindrift hit his face as he broke to the surface, taking in huge gulps of air. Alarms rang in his mind when he didn't hear Rey gasping for breath. He searched along the base of the cliff until his eyes fell upon a shoreline in the distance.
He twisted to float on his back and positioned Rey to lay on top of him. His hand shot out, using the Force to propel them backwards to the beach. It took three more Force pushes till he skidded onto the pebbly sand.
Placing Rey quickly onto the ground, Ren shoved the brown hair out of her bruised face. Lips blue, she remained still and unresponsive.
He lowered his ear above her nose, not feeling or hearing her breathe. With his hands, he tilted her head back, opened her mouth, and forced in two sharp breaths. He then started giving her chest compressions. Unwillingly, his eyes roamed over the grotesque saber burn across her bare stomach.
He shook from the knowledge that he did that to her. That he quite possibly was going to lose her.
"Come on!" he shouted down at her.
Time ticked by and the rain just kept on pouring. Every time he cycled through the breaths and compression's, he could feel a part of himself dying. If she did not wake, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep on living. The bond between them was bending under the immense pressure of death, and soon, it was going to break, cutting him off from her forever.
Up on the cliff, he'd made the choice to join her and now it was suddenly being taken away from him.
He'd caused this to happen.
He was death, and everything he touched shriveled up and perished.
He stared at the hands pushing on Rey's chest. These were the hands he used to kill his own father, the man who helped create him. Even if he was a neglectful parent, Ren should have at least respected the man for giving him life. Instead, he let his master use and manipulate him into thinking he could never leave the First Order, that his destiny was to follow his grandfather's footsteps in bringing security to the galaxy. He knew his father was right when he'd spoken to him on that bridge, but he didn't actually accept it till right now.
"That won't save her." A young girl with strawberry blonde hair and palw skin stood in front of him, looking down at an unconscious Rey. The rain fell through her, her ghostly visage softly glowing against the darkness.
Ren stopped with the compression's, shocked and confused over seeing the little girl. Then his eyes drifted to Rey's pale features, suddenly knowing what he needed to do.
He cupped her small forehead with one hand while the other palm hovered above her chest. His heavy breaths evaporated into the chilly night air as he closed his eyes to concentrate. Envisioning the water in her lungs, Ren commanded each ocean particle to move with his hand. Steadily, his palm drifted up her sternum, passed her neck and to her mouth, the water following the meticulous movement. With a sharp motion, his hand tightened into a fist and his arm shot out into the air, pulling the water out of her lungs and falling upon the sand.
Rey's eyes snapped open as she gulped in big bursts of air, her limbs thrashing in panic.
Ren scooped her under the arms and sat her upright, letting her cough into his neck and shoulder as he held her.
Glancing up briefly, he searched for the little girl.
She was gone.
He would have to think about that some other time, though. The list of things he needed to work through was quickly piling up and he felt it weighing heavily on the back of his mind, but all he wanted to do right now was focus on Rey.
She stiffened, slowly drawing back, craning her head up to lock eyes with his. Realizing who it was that was holding her, her eyes filled with terror and she ripped herself out of his arms, scooting and dragging herself across the rocky beach.
"No. Please." He stretched out his hand, eyes pleading for her not to be afraid. "I won't hurt you." She froze, growing confused. "I'll never hurt you again. I swear it on my life."
Rey's brows shot up, her mouth slackening.
He tried to press the truth behind his words through their bond and from the way she relaxed, the message seemed to have been received.
The sudden cry that came from his mouth startled him, but he couldn't stop the tidal wave of emotions that hit him full force. He sat back on his heels, feeling the sabers against his thigh as he hung his head in his hands. Sob after sob shook through his body and he lost all sense of control. He was so overwhelmed to see that Rey was alive, that witnessing how she reacted to him cemented his one belief: he was a monstrous human being with nowhere to go.
A soft hand touched his own and lowered it to his lap. Rey gazed at him with those big, soft hazel eyes, her fingers brushing the hair from his face. Her bottom lip and cheek were severely swollen, and a light trickle of blood flowed over her left temple.
His hands hovered close to her wounds, not sure if he should touch her or not. "I'm… so… sorry…" he said in between erratic breaths.
Those words did not seem to be enough to convey how he felt, but he didn't know what else to say.
She threw her arms around his shoulders and he buried his face in the crook of her neck. He held onto her and pulled her closer, crying into her wet hair.
In the midst of the rain, there was nothing but Rey…no past, no future, nothing but their bodies holding onto one another. Time had no connotation and materials had no affluence and other events held no interest.
The continuous rubbing of his back transfixed him, making him feel like a small child as he concentrated on her small palm. She... was comforting him, even though she was the one who had drowned, not him.
He pulled back and cupped her face gently, gazing at her passionately. "Are you alright? How do you feel?" She held onto the wide hands cradling her cheeks and gave him a shy grin before wincing from the welt on her lip.
"My throat feels like I just swallowed a bucket of sand and my chest feels bruised, but I'll live. Thanks to you." Her voice definitely sounded scratchy to his ears.
Thumbs caressing her cheek as guilt spread throughout his body, his breathing began to even out. Stars, he didn't even stop to think about the amount of pressure he applied behind those compressions. He'd put all his weight behind his hands and was shocked to hear she only felt bruised. More than likely, she'll feel worse later.
He did this to her.
"This is all my fault. I–"
"Stop. Your guilt is starting to overwhelm me." Her eyes blinked in short successions as she shook her head in between his calloused hands, attempting to fight off the bombardment of his emotions. "What matters is that you saved me." Her hand slid through his hair and then came back to trace the scar across his face.
"I couldn't lose you," he confessed. "Not after you gave me a way out. Not after you... saw me."
The feel of her fingers on his skin felt so good, so right. "We've both hurt each other," she admitted. "But that part of our lives is over. Now we move forward. Together. Agreed?" He nodded, unable to speak. She'd used the words we and our and together. They'd be together.
For the first time in his twenty-nine years of existence, someone had genuinely included him in their plans for the future, and he couldn't believe his luck that that person was the beautiful woman staring right at him.
()()()()()
A thunderous shock-wave rippled across the island from an explosion overhead.
Ben and Rey glanced up to the massive cliff side, seeing the sky glowing in the distance. Rey'd been so caught up in the moment that she completely forgot that there was a battle unfolding on the island.
But the distraction had been a good one.
She couldn't believe Ben had saved her in the end and was now kneeling before her. The last thing that ran through her mind before she blacked out was how she'd never again see Ben look at her like he did in their dreams. Then, her mother's face flashed into her thoughts right as the dark abyss swallowed her whole.
Rey went back to studying Ben's bloodshot eyes.
Something had always been absent from Rey's life. She continued to feel that way even after she started to train with Luke. But now, with Ben's wide palms on her cheeks, she felt complete. He was that missing piece of the puzzle she never stopped searching for, and she could sense just how perfectly he would fit into the enigma that was her life.
Now she needed to make sure he stayed Ben.
If he didn't, it would break her.
"We need to get out of here," she said, new vigor in her voice. "Help me up." Ben snaked his arm around her waist and hoisted her to her feet, but her vision suddenly became fuzzy and her knees gave out from under her. Ben quickly caught her, hoisting her up in his arms and holding her close, giving her some much needed warmth.
Rey held her head, feeling like it would fall apart if she didn't.
"My ship shouldn't be far from here," he told her. "I landed it on the only strip of beach the island offered." She nodded her head, focusing on not passing out. Her body seemed to be catching up to how much damage it had taken, and it was now punishing her for letting it happen.
Ben walked over to the rocky bluff so they weren't out in the open, jogging in the direction of his ship. Rey could tell he was trying not to jostle her around by going at a slow pace, which she did appreciate... but she wanted to get out of here.
Right when she was about to tell him to start sprinting, Ben's boots slid across the sand as he came to a full stop. Rey peeked out from under her hands to see the reason for the pause: a man, standing only twenty feet away. He wore a bright orange jumpsuit with the overlay of a white vest, holding some sort of cloth against the side of his dark brown hair.
He seemed as surprised as they were to run into another human being.
Rey dropped her hands, fully looking at the man she recognized. "Poe?"
Poe stepped forward, squinting his eyes at her. A huge grin spread across his face once he comprehended who had said his name.
"Rey!" He ran to her, dropping the bloodied cloth on the sand and hugged her awkwardly while she was still in Ben's arms.
Ben's grip on her tightened.
"We were so worried about you!" Poe pulled away, rambling from excitement. "Skywalker and Chewie were caught battling those warrior guys and we didn't know where the hell you were."
"Are they okay?" she asked, heart skipping a beat.
"Oh, yeah. They're fighting with the rest of the Resistance, last I checked." She couldn't help but relax upon hearing the good news, but now she grew curious as to how the Resistance knew to come here in the first place.
"Why are you here?" she asked.
"Well, apparently Kylo Ren is still alive and kicking," Poe said bitterly. "Artoo sent us a distress call that you guys needed help against him and his knights. We flew in just as the First Order arrived. I called for more back up, but my ship had already taken a hit by then and I had to eject." Poe's eyes popped wide open. "BB-8 ejected as well and I've been trying to find him. Have you seen him?"
"What!?" Rey exclaimed. "He's somewhere on the island?"
Poe nodded wildly. Rey began to panic for the little droid, that he might be lost or worse... gone. During their adventure together, she'd grown so very fond of BB-8. Protective, even.
She craned her head up to Ben's, meeting his eyes. "I think I can stand on my own now."
"Are you sure?"
She bobbed her head in assurance. He lightly placed her feet on the sand, still holding her waist to catch her just in case she fell.
"Holy shit, Rey," Poe breathed out, eyeing her, bewildered. "You look bad."
"It looks worse than it is." She felt another wave of guilt and regret wash over her from Ben as she tried to make her injuries seem less serious.
But she knew they were bad.
"Who did this to you?" Poe asked, demanding an answer. "Your shirt is hanging on by a thread and your stomach... it's burned! And your face..."
She tried to close the two ripped sides of her tunic closed, but the wind kept pulling them open. Ben's grip left her waist and she glanced back to see that he was taking off his undershirt and carefully placing it over her, helping to snake her arms through the sides. The rest dropped almost to her knees, making it look like she was engulfed by an oversized black dress.
At least her midsection and part of her chest wrap weren't showing anymore.
But now Ben's shirtless torso was demanding her attention and Rey needed to look away before it became too obvious that she was ogling him.
Poe stepped up to her, pushing the question. "Seriously Rey, what the hell happened? Did you fight Kylo? Where is he?" Rey was now wishing she hadn't ran into Poe, because she had no idea how to explain the situation to him. Ben was a statue behind her, letting her figure out how she wanted to handle the growing problem.
The left side of her ribs suddenly ached and she placed her right hand over the throbbing, trying to lessen the pain.
Loud blasts and explosions filled the silence as Rey tried to find a good explanation. She watched Poe finally look at Ben. He scrunched his eyebrows in confusion.
If only the Force could make you become invisible….
"Who are you? I know everyone in the Resistance, but I don't recognize you." The tension in the air thickened as Rey placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Poe." He tore his questioning gaze from Ben and glanced down at her. She took in a big gulp, forcing it down her constricted throat. "This is Ben. He saved me from drowning."
"Drowning? Why were you in the water?" His eyes went from her to Ben, his blinking rapidly increasing. She knew this was not going to turn out well and she wasn't prepared for it.
"Who are you?" Poe's voice was loud as he directed the question firmly at Ben. Poe tried to take a step around Rey, but she held her grip on his shoulder while at the same time hugging her ribs with the other.
"Poe, I need you to calm down." Poe's jaw tightened as he became visibly angry. She turned to Ben, seeing his eyes take on a dark and threatening stare, which was not helping to calm the agitated pilot.
"Some of our ground troops found Kylo Ren's mask in that library." Poe let that little fact hang in the air for a moment. "You aren't with the Resistance," he stated more than questioned.
This time, Rey waited for Ben to answer. She tried to pick up his emotions, but she was now getting nothing.
"No."
"Who are you?" Clearly, Poe knew who he was, but he needed Ben to say it.
Rey moved her body so it was directly between them.
"You know who I am," Ben told him. Poe froze for only a fraction of a moment before pouncing at the man. Rey pushed Poe back, not knowing where her strength was coming from, but thankful that she had any at all.
"Stop! Poe!" She yelled over the booming sound of thunder. Poe shuffled back, looking between the two with a glint of fury in his eyes.
"Rey, you need to get away from him. He'll kill–"
"You don't understand the situation." She pointed at him, her voice taking on a defensive tone.
Poe froze, dumbstruck.
"I don't understand? This guy is a fucking monster! He tortured us both, killed his own father, and had a hand in the annihilation of the Hosnian System. Billions of people's lives are on his hands!" Hearing Poe lay out Ben's crimes definitely made her stomach tighten. She couldn't defend the awful things he's done, even though she could feel Ben's immense regret suddenly hit her.
That was when she knew that no one was ever going to fully understand what was going on between her and Ben, except for the two of them. She realized if she tried to explain it to other people, they would think he'd somehow brainwashed her or had her under his control.
Then they would try to take her away from him, thinking they were saving her.
Rey wasn't sure how it happened, but a blaster pistol appeared in Poe's hand, pointing directly behind her. Ben grabbed Rey's wrist, moving her back with him.
"Yeah, lets see if you can freeze a blaster bolt this close to your face." Poe's features contorted, his chest rising and falling at an accelerated rate. Ben slowly lifted his opened hand, making Rey think he was going to use the Force somehow... but nothing happened.
"I don't want to hurt you, but if you keep pointing your weapon at me, I will." Although Ben was trying to keep a calm exterior, his voice was deep and threatening.
Rey needed to wring this whole situation in before it became a blood bath.
"Poe, you need to find BB-8, remember?" Poe's anger started to shift to worry as she reminded him of his precious droid. "We can help you search for him."
"What?"
"What?"
Both men snapped at her at the exact same time, albeit for different reasons.
"I'm not having him help me with anything!" Poe shook the muzzle at Ben, but his grip seemed to be faltering. Ben ignored the pilot as he stepped in front of Rey, his back now facing Poe, not caring about the weapon as he gently placed his hands on her arms.
He gazed at her, concerned. "You don't seem to understand just how injured you are. You need to get to the ship and forget about this droid."
Rey lifted her chin in defiance. "I do understand, but I can't leave here till I know BB-8 is safe. So you can either come with me, or you can go to the ship and leave."
Ben was taken aback with disbelief. "You think I could leave you? After everything that just happened?" He shook his head, water droplets flying off his raven locks. "I go where you go."
The side of her lips turned upward, showing the dimples in her cheeks.
"Looks like you'll finally find that droid after all," Rey said. Ever so slightly, she saw the tiniest grin form on his face.
Smiling didn't seem to come too naturally to him.
She was would have to fix that.
()()()()()
"What the fuck is going on here Rey?" the man asked in a not too kind tone. Ren turned back around to face the puzzled pilot.
His bare chest and back left him exposed to the elements, which he wasn't used to. He liked feeling completely covered, but Rey was more in need of his undershirt than him. At least Poe's blaster pistol was at his side now, though Ren could see that he was still itching to use it.
"Ben left the First Order," Rey said confidently.
His weight shifted between his legs as Poe eyed him up and down.
It was surreal to hear those words be spoken out loud, for he never thought he would become a deserter. He couldn't help but still feel very loyal to the First Order, and he had to stop himself from instinctively contradicting Rey. But now, he technically was a traitor. He had purposefully gone against his master's orders to kill the girl, and was now trying to protect her.
No matter what Snoke did to him in the future, he would never hurt the girl again.
Rey. I will never hurt Rey again, he mentally corrected himself. He was still trying to get used to using her name instead of calling her girl, or scavenger, or garbage picker, or any of the other litanies of degrading labels he'd given her.
And the fact she kept using his birth name made him increasingly uncomfortable. But the way she would say it seemed reverent, like it was something special to her. He didn't know if he should take that away from her or not.
"Since when?" Poe asked incredulously.
"Uhhhh…" Ren watched Rey stumble over the technicalities of how long he'd been a traitor. "I guess since fifteen minutes ago?" she answered somewhat timidly.
Sounds about right, he thought as he ran his hands through his soaked hair. Poe scoffed, not impressed in the slightest.
"Look, you two can stay here and glare at each other all you want, but I'm gonna go find BB-8," Rey declared, turning on her heels and marching off in the direction they'd originally been going. Ren instantly followed suit, knowing she wouldn't give up this quest to find the droid until it was complete.
He got the sense that she was just as stubborn as him when she wanted to get something done.
He heard the pilot curse before running through the mud to catch up. "I've already gone this way. There's no way up the cliffs." Poe spoke directly at Rey, ignoring Ren's looming presence. If it helped the pilot stay calm, he could ignore Ren as much as his heart desired.
He noticed Rey starting to clutch her side more fervently, grimacing every time she moved. The way she wobbled while walking made him conclude that she had at least one broken rib, possibly two. Ren had never really interacted with women before, but he somehow new if he brought up heading to the ship again, she would snap at him.
They needed to find this droid as quickly as possible so he could look over her injuries before they worsened.
"I have an idea, but you," Ren nodded to Poe, "are not going to like it. But it will get us up the cliff side in a matter of seconds."
Poe crossed his arms, trying to hide his intrigue behind the disgust he outwardly showed toward Ren. He took Poe's silence as means to continue. "I Force push you up and over the cliff." Both Poe and Rey were flabbergasted by the crazy idea, but Ren thought it was the best option they had.
Poe started to argue about trust and the possibility of Ren killing him on purpose, but Ren cut his tirade short. "You want to find your droid or not? This is the fastest option."
"And what makes you so sure you can do it?" Poe challenged.
"I did it when I arrived here." Ren countered. The purpose for landing on the beach had been to conceal his arrival and once off the ship, he didn't want to waste time trying to find a path that led up the precipice.
So he'd taken the shorter route.
"Ben's right." Rey chirped in. "Lets do this. I can go first."
"You're actually going to go up with me," he explained. "I'll push the pilot up first."
"Great." Poe rubbed his face and stared at the ground, weighing his options. "This is just great."
Ren was growing impatient and needed to move this plan of his along. "What's it going to be, pilot?"
Poe's stare broke away from the sand and went directly on Ren.
Poe muttered something indecipherable under his breath and nodded his head. "Just do this quickly before I change my mind."
My thoughts exactly, Ren mused.
His hands came up, raising the pilot's body to levitate in the air. Force Telekinesis could drain a lot of strength from the one implementing it, so Ren decided to shoot Poe directly into the air and stop him before he hit the ground. Trying to guide the pilot slowly onto the cliff might not leave enough immediate Force energy to get both him and Rey over the rocky ledge.
He shot Poe into the cold, rainy air, watching him arch up and over the ledge before carefully lowering him the rest of the way.
Ren closed his eyes, inhaling a deep breath.
"Our turn?" Rey's excitement was evident on her innocent features, and he wondered if she enjoyed participating in such high-stake activities. Her eagerness to get up the cliff certainly made it seem like she did, and he couldn't help liking that about her.
"I'm going to need you to wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist. I need to concentrate the push from both my hands and feet to make it up there." Her eyebrow arched as she appeared to be thinking over his instructions. She walked up to him, and he noticed a small limp in her right leg.
When did that start?
As time continued to pass and her adrenaline continued to lessen, she was starting to reveal injuries he didn't know she had acquired.
She wrapped her arms around the front of his neck, burying her head in his hair and swung her legs around him, clasping her boots together against his lower back. A small grimace escaped her lips as she adjusted herself to get a tighter hold on him.
He froze in place as she basically climbed his body like a tree. He'd meant for her to get on his back, but he must not have made that evident to her. The position she took on him felt extremely provocative, which clearly escaped her notice. It also didn't help that he was shirtless and could feel her pressed up against his bare skin.
"Will this work?" she whispered in his ear.
"Uh huh." His voice hitched in his throat, which hopefully alluded her.
Putting her position on him aside, it was still extremely weird to have someone so openly touch him. Even after everything that happened, she seemed completely comfortable in wrapping herself around him. He kept expecting her to start screaming and running away from him in terror.
The girl really was strange if she already trusted him so much.
But then again, he was odd in his own right.
"Hurry up!" Poe yelled down at them. "It's a complete shit show up here!"
"Hold on as tight as you can," Ren muttered. Rey lifted her head, craning her face to his as their noses almost touched from the closeness. He rubbed her back as they gazed at each other. "Ready?" She nodded and put her head back onto his shoulder. He craned his head up, concentrating on the cliff above.
He took a deep breath and put as much power behind his push as he possibly could. His left arm clasped onto Rey's waist, pulling her tightly against him as they soared up into the night. They arched over the cliff side, beginning the descent to the ground. His right palm shot out, slowing them so he could gently place his feet on the terrain.
Up ahead was utter chaos.
A full-blown battle had taken over most of the island, while the aerial dogfights had moved over to the ocean on the opposite side of where they'd been. Craters blanketed the once peaceful landscape and bodies were lying everywhere. Rey released her hold on Ren and stood by his side, eyeing their next obstacle.
Looking at the scene ahead, it seemed highly likely the droid was now pieces of scrap metal.
Ren was tempted to just swing Rey across his shoulder and get the hell out of there, even if she was kicking and screaming. But he couldn't take her away from something that was so important to her.
He pulled both the lightsaber's out of the tightly woven suspenders against his leg and offered her her saber hilt. She looked up at him as she took it, showing him silent gratitude through her eyes. Hopefully the weapons weren't too water logged and would still function properly.
Rey grasped her lightsaber, readying herself for an attack. If Rey wasn't going anywhere, neither was he.
"So, pilot." He addressed Poe to his right. "You have a plan?"