He had brought her back to her cell, carrying her unconscious form through the hallways, the shocked and confused expressions of First Order personnel and the avoidance of Stormtroopers surrounding him not going unnoticed by Kylo Ren. Normally, he would become angered at their insubordination, their refusal to leave him in peace to do whatever it was he felt justified to do. Today, however, was no normal day. She had tried to leave him. She had wanted to leave him. That was what would anger him today.
He placed Cara down on her bench carefully, unconventionally so – opting to wait for her to wake up from darkest depths of her sleep. It seemed Kylo Ren, or even Ben Solo, was much too curious for his own good. He wanted to know why. It was imperative, he felt. He needed to know what it was she thought of him. More so than her usual defiant disposition against him, her hungering need to understand him. He needed to know what it was she felt for him. Not just as Ben, but as Kylo.
He picked up a stool and sat across from her, watching her face as she slept. Her eyes fluttered, a mere hint at the dreams she must be having. Her cheek twitched every so often, indicating that these dreams may not have been as peaceful as she may have wanted – as he may have wanted for her. Her dark hair looked thinner than it had when he had first brought her with him, and she shivered, a signal that she was cold. He tried not to let any of this affect him, though. She had tried to abandon him. He would not forget that.
Taking off his mask, he shook his head; more so to clear his thoughts than anything else. There was a small part of him that wanted to let her sleep in peace. It was the weak side of him, the side he hated. The side she brought out in him. He decided that part of him was insignificant. He had a right to know. He was the one who brought her here.
"Show me what it is you're thinking." He whispered to her, slowly pulling his gloves off his hands. He would not need them now.
"Tell me what I need to know." He said again, lightly stroking his fingers against her forehead, pushing a few stray hairs back out of her face.
"Show me." He said, simultaneously pushing his presence into her mind, forcing her to reveal to him whatever it was she was remembering.
"Do you trust me?" Ben asked her, as he led her through the grassy meadows outside the base. It was pitch black outside, and the stars were not bright enough that night to illuminate their path.
"Yes." Cara responded, without even having to think about it.
"Then take my hand, and I promise this will be worthwhile."
She laced her fingers with his, something they had done so often; and yet every time she felt just as safe as she had done all those times before. It would never wear off. Not as long as he was with her.
"Come on." He said, as he tugged on her arm, and she laughed as she stumbled along after him. He had always shown her treasures he had found from inside the base – old relics from the war. They were objects that had intense and emotional histories, histories that deserved to be remembered and ones that would rather be forgotten. She wondered what he could have possible found out here, all by himself.
It was nice to feel a warm breeze caress her face, the lovely smell of the trees surrounding her made her feel invigorated, counteracting her drowsiness. Ben had pulled her out of her bed, sneaking around the base until he had pushed her out the main doors of the compound. She should have been nervous, but she was not. Not as long as he was around.
"Are we almost there?" She said, as she finally remembered that she was barefoot. He had been so excited to show her whatever it was that he had found, she had not even had the time to put on her boots. The sharp blades of grass felt cool and moist against the soles of her feet.
"Yes. Just a few more minutes."
"Where are you taking me?"
"Are you going to try and tell me again that you have no interest in whatever it is that I want to show you?"
"No, not tonight,' she laughed, 'I think my curiosity has gotten the best of me this time."
He let go of her hand, turning to face her, walking backwards as they continued through the fields. He smiled at her, noticing how her eyes seemed to glow in the dark. He had always liked her eyes. They were another mystery to him.
"So any guesses as to what I've found?" He asked her, enjoying the way she was looking up at the stars as they walked.
"I have no idea."
"No guesses, at all?"
"No." She said, just to annoy him. It seemed it worked, as he turned his back on her. She smiled to herself, pleased that she could still irritate him just as much as he could exasperate her.
He stomped onwards, and she was now running to catch up to him.
They both slowed to a stop as they came to the edge of the clearing, as Cara looked around her to see what it was that he wanted to show her. She saw nothing special, nothing that stood out to her that he would be so excited to show her.
"Well? Why am I here?" She asked, honestly confused.
"There's a storm on the way." He said, as though she should know what that meant.
"Alright…"
"Here, come with me." He veered off to the left, towards the rolling hills that were the backdrop for the base. She narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on where it was she was going, but was startled instead as she heard to low rumble of thunder off in the distance.
"Ben, should we really be out here?"
"I thought you said you trusted me." He said, winking at her.
"I do – it's just…"
"What? Are you afraid of a little thunder?" He challenged her.
"No." She said, defiantly. If there was one thing she could not back down from, it was one of his challenges.
"Then just keep following me."
She did, towards the dark mass of the hills where she had no idea what was waiting for her. She jogged to get closer to him, once more grabbing his hand as he led her further away from their home.
Finally, he stopped. Ben suddenly pulled her into a cave she had not noticed before, a cave she could not fathom could actually be there. It was a small alcove cut out into the side of the hills, buried beneath years of moss and tree roots. He pushed her inside, and she had to duck her head as she entered.
"What are we doing here?" She said, genuinely impressed that he had managed to find this place.
"Just turn around and sit down, facing outwards."
She did as she was told, sitting cross-legged on the hard rocks beneath them as she looked outside. She thought he had maybe brought her in here to show her the view; but as lovely as she could imagine it would be during the day, she could barely see anything now.
"Did you just bring me here to show me this cave?"
"No, and even if I had, I know you find it impressive that I found it. This isn't even on the maps of the planet."
She turned to face him, trying to understand what it was she was doing there just by looking at the expressions on his face. It was a useless endeavour – he just sat, staring straight in front of him into the night.
"You're going to miss it." He said, and she suddenly wondered what he was talking about before she heard another enormous thunderclap, this time much closer than when they had still been walking outside. It was a dry thunder, a muggy heat surrounded them, and there was not a droplet of rain in sight. Her head snapped in the same direction that his was in, and that was when she saw it.
An enormous bolt of lightning hit the ground not a hundred metres away from them, illuminating everything in the sharpest and most terrifying light she had ever seen. It was a beautiful sight; she could see every blade of grass in the field and every leaf on the trees on the other side of the meadow. Every dew drop reflected the sight, and suddenly she could see thousands of images of the lightning bolt across her entire field of vision. She sucked in a breath, astounded that she was there to witness a sight like this and a little frightened at the same time.
"How did you know?" She whispered, refusing to avert her gaze in case she got another chance to witness such a spectacle.
"I got lost out here once. It was actually right before I met you." He did not look away from the clearing in front of them either, clearly just as mesmerized as she was.
"What happened?"
"I was trying to run away from my parents. I had heard them talk about me – my mother had mentioned once more that she was worried about what I could become, who I might take after. There was a part of me that wanted to scare them as much as they scared me every time I heard them argue about me. So I decided to run. To hide from them. Let them know what it felt like."
She did not utter a word. Too engrossed in both his story and the view to shatter this moment with whatever thought she might say.
"I ran. Away from the base, as far as I could. It was very hot that day, too, just like today. I did not know what that meant, though. So I just kept running, past the trees, along the hills and into the clearing. I ran so far that my legs started to burn and I stumbled into the grass, rolling a while before finally coming to a stop. That was when the first thunderclap came. I could actually feel the earth tremble beneath me, and I had never been more frightened in my entire life. I ran, but I could only ever see anything when lightning would strike down – that was actually how I found the cave. During one of the lightning strikes I saw the tree roots sway backwards into nothing, and I just ran towards it. All I wanted was to stop seeing this, stop hearing it. So I ran into this cave. I was covered in dirt and moisture and I was shivering because I was so cold. I sat there for hours."
"How long did it take for you to get back home?" She finally asked, breaking her silence.
"My father found me."
She was surprised by his answer, it was not what she had expected. He had always been so self-reliant, independent from his parents in every way. This was a nice side to him, a story that showed her that he had needed his father as much as she wished she could see her parents.
"Thank you for bringing me here." She said, grateful that he had once again shared a piece of himself with her.
"So what do you think?"
"I think it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."
She shivered a little, the sweat from their hike there drying on her skin, making her feel cold and clammy. He felt the tremor go through her body and scooted closer to her, his arm resting against hers as he offered some of his body heat to warm her up. They sat there for the rest of the night, watching the thunderstorm, not uttering a word to each other. They did not need to.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Cara asked him, her eyes fluttering open, her head pounding in response to his abuse of her mind.
"I cannot be sure."
"Then why don't you tell me what it is you're looking for?" She asked him, her voice frail as she tried to sit up.
He was silent for a moment, contemplating the words he was going to say next carefully.
"Do you trust me?" He asked finally, repeating his same question from her memory.
"Do you think you have given me a reason to trust you?"
He did not answer her, waiting for her to answer her own question. He could not answer her. He did not know how.
"I will trust you as long as I believe that there is still a part of you that listens to Ben Solo."
"All the hurt, anger, confusion and pain I have caused you, and you still have the audacity to believe that your little, old friend is a part of me."
"Yes. Are you angry with me?"
"Yes."
"Did you really think I would not try to leave if I had the chance?"
"Ben Solo once promised you that he would not abandon you. I would have expected you to give him the same courtesy."
She knew why he said those words, she knew that he truly meant them. Kylo Ren even, truly meant them.
"He would have understood." She truly meant those words, too.
A/N: Thank you all for the support for this story. It means a lot, and makes it so much more fun and enjoyable to write, I can't even tell you.