The emperor sat up in bed.
Rey.
Rey was crying.
He could hear it.
He threw himself out of the bed and didn't pause for shoes or cowl. He called his lightsaber from the bedside table and it flew into his hand. He rushed through the doorway into his sitting room. The attendant droid waiting there jolted upright, "Imperial One, can I get you-"
"Get out of my way!" Ren pushed past the droid, hardly slowing down for the door to fly open. When he was in the corridor, he began to run.
She was still crying, her sobs a rushing, stumbling agony of sound against his ears.
The metal floors were cold and hard on his feet. He didn't notice.
His footsteps were like thunder against the deck.
An officer in a dark gray uniform stepped into the corridor. His eyes fell on the emperor and he stumbled back the way he had come, the door snapping shut behind him. Ren didn't slow.
He rounded the corner into the hallway that held her recovery room. Azalon stood before him, her saber at the ready, "My Lord-"
"Out of the way!" He snapped and she stepped aside sharply.
He couldn't fail her again.
He hurried to the bed, leaning over to check her frantically for injuries. His lightsaber fell to the floor, forgotten. In the faint light of the sick room, Ren could see her eyes squeezed shut and the sheen on her face- sweat maybe or tears.
"Rey-"
In her sleep, she shook. She twisted on the bed, her head moving this way and that like she was searching for something.
"Rey!" He dared to reach out and put his hands on her arms. She was cold to the touch and slick with sweat. The moment his fingers rested against her skin, she sat up with a sob. He saw her pale face and wet eyes in a blur of motion before she threw herself into his arms, weeping.
He gripped her fiercely. Pulling her into his lap, he wrapped himself around her like he could make his body a shield against whatever harried her in sleep. Tremors chased their way through her body and her breath was an unsteady wind against his neck. He tried to make his own breathing slow and deep as she warmed in his arms. Her fingers pressed into the skin along his spine.
When the shaking in her hands finally abated, he murmured, "What did you see?"
Rey shoved him away.
His heart howled within him.
Her hard gaze was a thin shell for the terror underneath, "I can't go back there- I won't! I'll die first!"
Ren reached out to touch her again, the brush of a bird's wing against her bare arm, there and gone. She flinched and he withdrew quickly, "You don't have to go anywhere you don't want to go. It was just a dream."
Her lip twisted, "Nothing is ever just a dream," She stared at the window and its view of black space, "Not anymore."