Hi everyone! this is my first ever story so pls be gentle with it. this is not super canon reliant, but follows like basic characters and plotlines that have been occurring in the sequels. it starts roughly around the landing on Kef Bir in TROS. if i mess up dates, names, translations, etc. pls forgive me i'm trying my best out here.

Chapter 1

I woke up in a cold chair, the unforgiving steel causing my tailbone to feel painfully numb. My eyes were open but not clear; it was like I was peering through fog. I immediately tried to move, but steel bars wrapped around me like a cage, from my feet to my chest right at my collarbone. Also, I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I was willing my limbs to move, or even to flex my fingers, but the reactions were delayed and weak. I tried to connect with the Force, but it pulsed weakly around me and then retracted back into my head, like a rubber band snapping back. In my hazy state I was attempting to recall how I had ended up here, and thought in the back of my mind, Had I been drugged?

The last thing I remembered was being on Kef Bir. I was alone, searching for the wayfinder. It wasn't too long before I felt his presence-a sudden shift in the energy around me, the ominous anxiety he brought along with him. The fear and the hatred welled up inside me as Kylo Ren and I conversed and battled, coming to a peak when I finally stabbed him. But then the instant regret, the greater fear that he actually would die...using my life Force to heal him...being so, unfathomably relieved when he opened his eyes again even though I had made it a personal mission of mine to end him to save the galaxy.

But then I remembered him looking so bewildered and mystified, until suddenly I was falling onto the rocks, the waves crashing around me, fainting. The last thing I remembered seeing was his face looking afraid, his arms reaching towards me. Probably so he could save me for this torture, squeeze out all the information I knew about the Resistance, probably probe my brain for memories I'd rather keep hidden and use them against me until I was given the mercy of death, even though I resented it being at his hands.

So here I was, I guess. Probably given some drug to hinder my ability to connect with the Force, which would make the torture easier if he had better access to my mind. I wondered how long I had been out. There were no windows in the small room, just myself on this chair and the fluorescent lighting that hurt my eyes, illuminating the black and grey metallic walls. I was cold, shivering every few moments and being grateful I was at least dry. I was parched, too-my mouth was so dry it felt uncomfortable to even open it, let allow attempt to swallow. And try as I might, my grogginess was not really fading away. I still struggled to command motor functions and the Force was still out of reach.

My eyes were shut when I heard the door slide open, maybe an hour later. I was at least able to twitch my hands reflexively, and could crane my head around as I liked. I snapped them open, preparing to see some stormtrooper here to administer more drugs or maybe cart me somewhere else, somewhere my screams may not be as easy to hear.

But instead, my eyes trailed up the towering figure of Kylo Ren, clad in black, warped helmet on. I couldn't even see his expression, but an icy fear began to run through my veins.

She had acted so...strangely on Kef Bir. One moment, she was battling me unforgivingly, the next she impaled me with her lightsabre, but then suddenly she was...healing me? I didn't understand. How could she be using the life Force so early on in her training? And why would she be using it on me, after succeeding to fatally wound me? And her face had looked so concerned. Maybe because she realized that by healing me, she was just inviting death for herself. Fear had overcome her features, probably because she knew she was contradicting her duty to the Resistance.

Then she had fainted, and I thought she had died. Converting life Force was definitely exhausting, but I didn't know healing me would kill her. I felt relief-why, I couldn't really understand-when I felt her pulse beating methodically in her neck. For reasons I couldn't understand even further, I picked her up and carried her back to my ship. Getting back to the Supremacy with her awkwardly huddled in the back was slightly nervous, as I was constantly worried she'd wake up and attack me or that she would die and I wouldn't realize. When I got back to the mothership, I explained I had taken her as a prisoner. She had been seen to by some on-board medic who had, against my better judgement, drugged her. He claimed it was to keep her asleep until preparations for her interrogation were settled, but probing in his mind I could tell he apparently thought I could handle her better if she was weakened. I'd have to see to his employment status later on...I couldn't have such insubordinates even in the medical ranks.

I had spent the last few hours attending the usual meetings, until my schedule was taken care of and I could go see how she was fairing. Although I detested how this scavenger girl resisted me, I still had to tolerate her. If I had any hope of truly fulfilling the dyad and luring her to the First Order, I had to be diplomatic. Except for when she was yielding her sabre against me; then I could be aggressive.

Now I had to be diplomatic, though. After all, she was strapped to a chair and in a drug-induced haze. As I walked to the chamber that was basically just a closet, I probed the energy in the room to feel if she was able to connect with the Force in a meaningful way. After a quick moment, it was obvious she was trying, but it was quite futile. At least she was awake now-it had been hours. It was nearly evening now.

When I entered the room, she looked at me warily. Her eyes were wide with fear, for herself I could tell. Not like on Kef Bir, when it seemed like she was afraid for me...but that was preposterous.

She was pale and her lips were a shade of pink too cool. There were occasional beads of sweat rolling down her face, onto her neck and into the fabric on her chest. Gods, I thought, Had no one even brought her water?

"I'm just here to talk," I assured her. It was obvious by probing her thoughts-which she was trying to shield-that she was prepared for the worst. Visions of torture by my hand and her corpse on the cold ground were flooding her mind. Did she really think I would do that? I was at least going to attempt to persuade her to join me first, of course.

She was shaking. From fear, I figured. She licked her lips, and attempted to speak. It came out as a weak croak. She coughed, swallowed hard and tried again, clenching her eyes shut for a second. When she reopened them, her gaze held more steel than it had.

"About what? Me finding the wayfinder, stabbing you, or just Resistance information in general?" Her voice was strained and weak, but her sarcasm was still there. It never faded when she spoke to me.

"Well, in regards to the wayfinder, we've obviously confiscated it and it's doubtful you'll ever see it again," my voice sounded so monotone through the mask. "As for stabbing me," I thought about what I should say on that matter. Should I ask her why she healed me? Should I berate her for being so weak? Should I even thank her? "The medics checked the wound and it's fine." I lied. They didn't check my wound-they didn't need to. "And I'm not here to pry information out of you. I'm here to talk and later on, if you cooperate, move you to a different chamber."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "Take me to a different chamber? So you're not going to torture me here?" I was irritated now-if I was going to make any progress in recruiting her, she had to trust me to not torture her.

"No," I grunted out. "I'm not planning on torturing you. I'm actually here to discuss your...options." I said, enunciating options a bit too clearly. "Meaning, you really only have a few. You can either join me and let me train you in the ways of the Dark Side, or be interrogated and, most likely, ultimately disposed of." I sounded very matter-of-fact, aided by the mask. If I was going to get her to trust me, I had to start with honesty, right? Even if the truth was harsh.

She looked at me with that cold gaze again. She set her jaw in a rigid position.

"I would never join the Dark Side," she spat out in a low, gravely voice. "So go ahead-torture me. Try your best. I'll die before I help you." The exertion of speaking so harshly was obviously taking a toll on her physically; she couldn't stop shaking and she was drenched in a cold sweat.

I nodded. As much as I wanted to gain her trust, I wanted her to agree to being trained, and I was already running out of patience.

"Are you sure about that? On Kef Bir, you seemed to not know what you wanted. The Dark Side is calling to you, Rey," I pointed out. It was true-her visions of herself in her grandfather's robe were enough evidence. "You only need to follow its call." Her expression did not change, and it was obviously telling me no. I could be a hell of a lot harsher if that's what it took.

"You know you've considered it before," I told her. "Now would be the opportune time to join me. You're friends in the Resistance would understand-they'll figure out you've been taken prisoner and assume you're only doing what you must to stay alive." Which wouldn't be far from the truth.

"My friends know I'd rather die. I will not join you." She said it with so much finality it was pissing me off. My fists clenched on their own accord.

"I am trying to help you, Rey," I was speaking slowly, willing her to understand. "But if you do not accept my help, I will have no choice but to destroy you." It was true. The Order would expect it.

She was still steeling at me, but suddenly her eyes widened. She looked down at the floor, and now I could tell her mind was mulling something over. I poked at her mind, but couldn't quite make it out. I wasn't even sure she knew what she was thinking about. It was taking on the shape of...a compromise?

She was biting her lower lip, her eyes closed. I was standing there confused, probably looking moronic. After a couple of minutes, I still couldn't decipher her thoughts, but she released her lip and took in a deep breath. She opened her eyes and looked right into mine, almost as if she could see through my mask.

"What if I agreed?" She whispered. I was actually taken aback-I honestly figured it would take much more persuasion to win her over.

"That would be in your best interest, yes." I said coolly. I was still trying to figure out what she was thinking, and why she had suddenly changed her mind. She looked way, nodding to herself it seemed.

"I have stipulations, though." What? She was on my ship, and she had stipulations? I could kill her so easily now, she had to realize that, right? She was in no place to be making demands. My nostrils flared and I exhaled sharply.

"Excuse me?" I scoffed. She looked back at me. She looked much more sure of herself now, and her voice was gaining some strength back. She nodded once.

"Stipulations. To joining you." She said it as if I had just misheard her, instead of giving her a chance to backstep on making the mistake of making demands at me.

I scoffed harshly. "Like what?"

"If I join you," she began nonchalantly. "I want you to train me as a dyad. Not just using the Dark Side of the Force." I started to shake my head, but she interrupted me, and I could see her arm flex, as if she wanted to raise her hand in protest.

"Let me finish, I'm not done talking." She commanded. "I want to learn how this works." She nodded her head vaguely to the space between us. "I want to train with you to explore it. And then, maybe, I will allow you to train me in the Dark Side of the Force." She finished.

"This sounds like a compromise," I spat out. "So what do I get in return? Other than the gift of your presence." I said sarcastically through gritted teeth. She seemed indifferent to how I was reacting, as if she thought this was going to work her way.

"You can kill me," she shrugged awkwardly in the iron cage of the chair. "You can use me however you wish, get whatever information you need and then you can put an end to this." She once again gestured to the space between us. I pondered this for not even a full minute. This idea could work, maybe. After all, more time training would give me more time to manipulate her and persuade her to join me completely.

"Or I could just do that now and save myself the resources." I told her pointedly. She nodded at this, again looking away to get lost in thought.

"I know. But your chances of convincing me to join you are non-existent, but could rise to a low percentage if you agreed to this." I hated that she had a point. I didn't hate the idea. Being able to train with her would not only be helpful, but would also be satisfying for me. Finally, a worthy component.

I thought about the logistics of her idea for a moment. It could work-I would have to tell the committee that she was being trained in the Dark Side of the Force, of course. She would have to have as little contact as possible with anyone else on the ship, lest she try to escape or tell them about what was really going on. That was fine, the droids could take care of her. The rest was fairly straightforward.

I couldn't believe I was agreeing with her on this. I was allowing myself to be swayed. Snoke would've called this weak, now Palpatine would call this idiotic.

I peered down at her. She was looking at me patiently. "Fine." I grunted. "But you must hold up to your side of the bargain-we will be training intensely and if this doesn't go the way I expect it to," I said slowly. "You will wish I had just killed you now." She swallowed once, but otherwise looked unfazed.

"That's fair." Was all she said. I nodded, unsure of what to do now.

"I'll, um, go get some stormtroopers to take you to your chambers." I said before turning and exiting, not waiting to see or hear her reaction.

I was the mighty supreme Kylo Ren, and suddenly I was compromising with scrappy scavenger girls. What was happening to me?

When he left the room, I exhaled and began to breathe shallowly. It had exhausted me to hold my ground in my weakened, drugged state. But I did it-I managed to get him to agree to my compromise.

It had simply occurred to me when he had told me my 'options.' I knew if it bought me time, it was buying him time too. I could pretend like I was falling into his trap of joining the Dark Side-which wouldn't be easy, seeing as he could basically read my mind-meanwhile I could be all the while showing him the perks of the Light. Training together would be going both ways. Except I was going to be much more influential; if he could agree to my compromise, didn't that mean he was also a little bit interested in learning about the Light? He had totally side-stepped my healing him on Kef Bir, and I figured it was because he wasn't able to do it, as Luke had explained it was a benefit of the Light Side only.

This snapped me back to a more unclear truth: I had healed him. Saved him from death. For a moment I had been so appalled but what I'd done, and an ancient fear ran through me, truly terrified that he would die. I couldn't understand it. I was trying to tell myself that it was because I could not murder him, no matter how much he was my enemy. But I had been able to kill in cold blood other First Order members. It was too contrarian. Why was he, arguably one of the worst people the Order had to offer, any more difficult to get rid of than other Order members?

I tried to stop the thought as soon as it sprouted, but I couldn't just shut it down. It was because when I stabbed him, I could feel something in my soul shift. Like some part of me was becoming hollow, or dying altogether. It scared the hell out of me, and I thought it was simply because I had never been able to handle the requirements of war as easily as some of my comrades. But then when he began to open his eyes again, I felt more whole again. It wasn't my kindness that motivated me-it was something deeper. Something I couldn't explain. Maybe it was just the dyad connection, and I was overreacting because I had never felt it move like that before...

Focus, Rey, I told myself. I couldn't be contemplating a Force connection right now. I needed to focus on my strategy for surviving. If I didn't get him to join me, I would end up dead. I had agreed to that parameter. If my plan failed, I hoped the Resistance would know I tried. I hoped Finn and Poe would be able to forgive me for straying on Kef Bir and ending up as a prisoner of war. And for allowing Kylo Ren to penetrate my mind, giving him access to all the information I had on the Resistance. I would try to resist, of course, but I figured it would eventually happen-I couldn't keep him out forever.

If my plan worked, though, that would be somehow even trickier. We would have to escape, which would be no small feet-I'm sure the Order would rather crumble than let this dyad out of their clutches. We'd probably both be killed. If we managed to escape, though, I wasn't even sure I could take him back to Ajan Kloss. Would the Resistance believe him to be a spy? Would they want to punish him for his crimes, even though he might want to join them? Would he even want to join them? Accepting the ways of the Light and joining the Resistance didn't have to be mutual. But if he showed no interest in joining the fight against the Order, it certainly would only add fuel to the fire of revenge that my party had already been kindling for years now.

And Palpatine. We had managed to kill Snoke together, but I imagined he helped only because he realized Snoke got in the way of his climbing the ranks. He probably had much more loyalty to the Emperor. And although I tried to deny it, my grandfather. Just thinking those words made me shudder violently. But I hade to focus. I could wallow over my unfortunate lineage later. Right now, I needed to think about my plan. Maybe once he accepted the Light, he would feel as compelled to kill the Emperor as I was. If he wasn't, well, maybe I'd have to stab him in the back. Literally. But my mind quickly refused that idea. No, after seeing and feeling what I did on Kef Bir, feeling his life force slowly fading and my entire being cracking, I knew I would never be able to resort to that. It'd hurt me too greatly, and I was too selfish to allow it. Although we may hate each other, we were a dyad-one cannot live without the other, I supposed.

I'd take it one step at a time. Step one, keep him out of my head, away from my true intentions. I would need to recharge a bit before I'd be strong enough to do that. Even though I was a prisoner, I hoped that they wouldn't starve me to death. The more I thought about it, Kylo Ren wouldn't allow that-no, Ben wouldn't allow that. If he was going to train me, he'd know I need adequate fuel if we were going to be able to do anything serious. And I had to start thinking of him as Ben-if my plan was going to succeed, I needed to humanize him. I needed to remind him of who he really was, not what the Sith was trying to make him.

I was thinking of nothing important on purpose when I felt a flicker in the energy outside of the door. He entered the room with two stormtroopers, armed even though I was too weak to try anything. I was the enemy though, so I guess precautions were inevitable.

He stood at the door silently while the troopers messed with my chair. I honestly felt too exhausted to really do anything, even move when the iron bars retracted into the chair, essentially freeing me. I guess I didn't need to care about moving, because the troopers hauled me up by my arms, and began to drag me out of the room.

Ben led the way, not looking back at all. My feet were dragging on the floor, and I could hardly keep my head up. We weren't marching along for too long before we approached a white door. There was some sort of key pad next to it, and Ben fiddled with it for a minute before the door opened. I was drug into the room, and let go with a slight push, which would have threw me on the ground if I didn't manage to clutch onto the side of soft chair that was pushed into a desk.

As I regained my balance, I surveyed the room. It was sterile-looking. The room was entirely white, complete with dim lighting and black décor. By décor, I mean the chair, desk, and a bed that actually looked super comfortable to me right now. There was another white door that I assumed led to a bathroom. And a narrow, tall cupboard I actually wasn't sure of. Ben must've noticed my surveyance, because he spoke for the first time since this second meeting.

"There's no weapons in here, obviously," He said, as if I hadn't noticed. I shot him what I hoped was a glare, but in my state was probably just an off-putting glance. The guards were now side-by-side in front of the door leading to the hallway, facing into the room. Ben stood a couple of feet from me, just looking at me. I was just staring back, still clutching the chair.

He cleared his throat once. "A droid will be in here with food. Don't fuck with it, because it won't help you and we will know. You can drink from the tap in the bathroom. Another droid will come later with clothing, which I'd suggest you put in your closet," he gestured to the tall cupboard, "to keep this room tidy. I'll be back tomorrow to check in." And with that, the guards parted for Ben to exit, and followed promptly.

I sort of collapsed onto the floor, the weight of my exhaustion fully hitting me now that I wasn't being held up by a chair or stormtroopers. I lay crumpled up like a wad of paper, not really thinking of anything until I heard the suction of the chamber door opening. It shut behind the servant droid quickly, as if to ensure I wouldn't sneak past it. I didn't even really acknowledge it, but I watched from the floor as it slid a tray of food onto the desk and walked back out, leaving silence in its wake, except for the soft hum of the ship. Pride was not going to get in my way of survival, so I pulled myself into the soft chair and began to eat. There was a generous slice of meiluroon fruit on the tray, along with a small glass of bantha milk and some sort of roasted meat I wasn't entirely sure I recognized. I couldn't care, though. I needed to eat, I couldn't clearly recall the last time I did. Also, it was doubtful Ben was going to poison me. That would not serve him at all.

I scarfed down the food, feeling a bit more aware of myself and felt the Force pulses stronger now. I knew another droid would be back, but I wasn't sure when. I walked to the bathroom, feeling that whatever they had drugged me with was pretty out of my system by now. Just by standing in front of the door, it opened. Curious, I shuffled to the door that led outside. I stood in front of it, pressed on it with my fingertips. It didn't budge. Figured. I was a prisoner, after all.

I went back into the bathroom and saw I had a shower, and tested it out to see if the water ran hot. it did, thankfully, and I nearly sighed with gratitude as I grabbed a white, sterile towel from a shelf and set it on the toilet. I stripped off my dirty robe and rags, unsalvageable unfortunately. I'd have to wear whatever Order-esque garb I was given. Nothing personal for myself. I would be sad if I wasn't so damn tired.

I let the warm water ease some of the tension in my muscles before I began to wash myself clean, getting rid of the dirt and sweat and sea salt. Once I felt clean enough, I turned off the water and began to shiver before I managed to towel off completely. This ship was cold. Fitting.

There was even a robe on the shelf, which I donned and waited, still shivering, hoping the droid would arrive soon with warmer clothes.

I sat on the edge of the bed, my chin on my knees, my arms wrapped around my shins. My wet hair was doing nothing to aid my mission on warming myself. I was surprised I couldn't see my breath when I exhaled, since I felt so cold.

Eventually, the droid showed up, identical to the last one-maybe it was the same-and set two large parcels on the desk. It exited sqiftly, and I was left to my room again. My room, I thought. No, it wasn't, it was just a holding cell. My room was back on Ajan Kloss, shared with a couple of my comrades.

I got up and opened one of the parcels. It was stuffed with black and grey clothing, from athletic shirts to thick sweaters. In the next parcel, it was stuffed with basic undergarments, and some thing I guessed were sleepwear. They were all soft, not at all like the linen robes I usually wore to bed. I was grateful nonetheless.

I started putting the clothing away, keeping out what I needed for this evening. At least, I guessed it was evening, but it could honestly be closer to morning considering I had no idea what time it was. I started to look on the walls for a clock, and found a small Holo one flashing the time up. 0100. Damn, it was late.

After dressing and putting up the rest of the clothes, I climbed into the bed. It was surprisingly comfortable for a prison cell bed.

I needed to be careful tomorrow. No thinking about my plan when Ben was near. Although we'd be training together, I needed to put as much energy as possible into keeping those thoughts safe and out of his reach. I'd blame my incompetence in training on remaining weak since today's ordeal, and would come up with a better excuse later. Again, one step at a time.

It wasn't too many minutes until I was already in a deep, dreamless sleep.

Until suddenly my mind was tilting on its axis, and I was seeing something in my minds eye I didn't recognize. Not one of my recurring dreams. Or nightmares. I was both watching the scene as an omniscient presence, but also as one of the people involved. It was Ben. I was in Ben's head. I was witnessing as he was being tortured by Snoke, being forced to believe in Sith lies about the Dark Side and remembering memories that caused him pain. Luke not believing in his strength. His parents letting their worry cloud their judgement of what he was meant to achieve. It was all too blurry, like the images were sliding by too quick, I couldn't grasp on to them. I watched as Ben writhed and clenched his teeth, threatening to shatter his jaw it seemed.

Suddenly, Ben woke up with a start, nearly yelling as he came out of the dream. I awoke with a start too, like we had been dreaming together. Which wasn't really true, I was just a spectator.

Rey? Ben was suddenly asking in confusion. It was like other times we met on this bridge between our minds, via the Force. I could see him sitting up in his bed, shirtless, his hands propped behind him to keep him up. His brow was furrowed and he was nearly panting.

Sorry, I-it wasn't intentional. I didn't mean to intrude it just sort of happened. I explained, which was true, Honestly, I was looking forward to a peaceful sleep, so this interruption wasn't welcome.

Ok, he said, pinching the bridge of his nose now. Well, can you get out, now? He said, agitated.

You know it's not that simple, I bit back.

Ok, can you try? He obviously wasn't getting it. I did try, though, to at least prove my point. I attempted to snap the rubber band back, but it wasn't closing. We were still on the bridge.

I can't, you know that. I said, trying to be patient. He needs to be able to have a little trust in me if my plan was going to work at all.

He sighed. Yeah, I know. We sat in silence for a minute. He hadn't looked at me, yet I was still staring at his face. I looked away, feeling like I was invading his privacy too much. Wasn't it bad enough we had to hear each other's thoughts sometimes, did we have to have this visual gateway, too?

We were still silent until I felt him looking at me. I snapped my eyes up to meet his. His expression was blank.

What? I asked.

Nothing. He said quietly. I needed to work on setting up some sort of diplomacy between us. I needed to show him I could be a good ally.

Are you...are you ok? I asked softly, still holding his gaze.

He was suddenly scowling. Why do you care? I bet it was a real pleasure, getting to see me tortured. Reminding me why you want me dead. I flinched slightly.

If I wanted you dead, I would've left you on Kef Bir and skipped happily back to my base. I told him. I was being honest, which seemed like a good place to start.

He seemed to be chewing this over, because his scowl dropped.

Ok, fine, that's fair. He muttered. There was a pause before he spoke again. Why did you do that, anyways?

Damn. I really didn't want to try to explain myself to him when I couldn't even explain my reasoning to myself.

I...I don't know. I couldn't just leave you. It felt...wrong. Worse than wrong it felt..., I was stumbling in my mind for words. Terrible. I whispered. Maybe honesty could work in my favor? If he was capable of it, maybe he'd pity how pathetic I was.

Yeah, well, murder can do that to someone, I guess, he said nonchalantly. Although you've had no issues with it in the past.

I was losing patience. I glared at him.

Who says I've had no issues with it? I said through gritted teeth. It was true, each time I had done it I later felt remorse. Deeply. No matter what side they were on, it was still devastating to my soul. The only time it didn't was when we killed Snoke.

So the brand new 'chosen one' is having second thoughts on being the ruthless martyr of the Resistance movement? How fitting. I always knew you were weak, but thought it wasn't this bad. I hated myself for it, but I felt tears of anger prick my eyes.

You don't know what you're talking about. I said, fighting through the tightness in my throat.

Sure I don't. But I can feel your weakness even now as you think about it. As you get angry at me. He quipped. This was going to be much more difficult than I thought. If he was trying to persuade me to his side, he was doing a shoddy job of it.

It's not weakness, I spat. It's compassion. You should try it out sometime. I was hoping we could be civil, but I felt like my grip on that was loosening. I told myself to calm down, that he was doing this to me on purpose. Making me angry was only aiding in his mission to drag me to the Dark Side, which was clearly not going to happen.

He frowned and turned his head to the side, mocking me by pretending to think about my suggestion. Yeah, maybe. Except compassion doesn't get you power. It gets you hurt. It almost sounded like he spoke from experience. Maybe a younger Ben did have a heart.

I'd rather hurt over my misdoings than be heartless. I said. He furrowed his brow.

I figured you'd try to refute me, he said in what seemed like a disappointed tone. I shrugged. I was too tired for this.

I'm just being honest. If we're going to be training together, we need to be able to be truthful with each other. This was nearly true, except for my hiding my whole deviant plan from him. It wasn't exactly lying, more like...hiding.

He nodded thoughtfully. Yes, I agree. Honesty would be a good place to start. This, he gestured vaguely to the space in front of him, dyad alliance needs to be built on trust. Trust to be honest and not try to kill or cheat each other. I nodded.

Agreed. I confirmed. He only nodded again.

I think it's best if you try to sleep, he said. I raised a brow at him.

What about you? I asked. Aren't you tired? He shrugged.

I don't sleep much. He admitted. I frowned.

You need to sleep. You must be exhausted from today. You know, almost dying? I said, hoping he would not veer off into another conversation about my healing him and focus on what I was actually suggesting: he needed rest.

It doesn't matter, he brushed it off a bit forcefully. Now, go to sleep. You're going to be getting up in a few hours, so you'll regret it if you don't take this chance now. He did have a point. I bit my lip and nodded once.

Fine, I sighed. Are you just gonna be here? It felt strange thinking that he was just going to be here, watching me sleep.

I'll try to leave or whatever, but I'll mostly be catching up on work. Work? It was probably close to sunrise. He reached out of my view and his hand returned with some sort of Holo device, and he began reading whatever was on it's screen.

Ok, I said. Well, goodnight, I guess. Or morning. I rolled over, my back facing him, and shut my eyes. I could suddenly feel him looking at me.

'Night. He said. It was silent except for our breathing, my growing steadier as I sunk back into a deep, peaceful sleep.

I'll try to update this regularly. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!