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Chapter Text

Absurdly, the only thing Rey can think to say upon stumbling into the ceremony is “shit, sorry.”

Who knew the First Order hosted weddings - and on some backwater planet, no less? Really they only had themselves to blame for such poor planning and lax security.

It's also a tiny bit her fault for wandering off alone during a mission, but she can think about that later.

About thirty hooded figures swing around to look at the interloper: at the head of the room a man and woman kneel before an altar. The woman had been holding a golden bowl up to the man's lips, but now she's dropped it and with a bang it hits the stone floor and spills. Rey can't quite see in the candlelight, but it looks like wine. She hopes it's wine.

The woman angrily leaps to her feet, screeching at Rey in an alien tongue she doesn't understand, three red eyes blazing, and before she can fully comprehend what's happening Rey finds herself fending off a sword strike with her staff.

“Whoa, I'm not--!”

The would-be bride doesn't understand her either, or perhaps doesn't care: she's taken full offense, and grimly Rey realizes she's going to have to fight for her life.

The situation would be dire, except the other guests do nothing to intervene. They watch, silent, intent, and even the groom has risen to his feet to observe.

It's then that Rey realizes she knows his face, knows those bottomless black eyes and that lush, pouty mouth.

“ Kylo Ren?! ” She blurts, astounded straight to her core, and in the split second she's distracted the bride lands a glancing blow on her arm. Blood spills from the wound and the crowd leans forward, murmuring.

With a hiss Rey forces her opponent back with her powers, a little harder than she'd intended. The alien woman shrieks as she hits the wall and crumples to the ground, then wails and clutches at her side.

Rey almost apologizes again, but fuck that - she started it.

The atmosphere in the chamber shifts: the cloaked figures raise their hands and hum, and Kylo Ren is gazing at her so fiercely she thinks he might actually drill a hole in her head.

Then, as if things couldn't get any weirder, he extends one gloved hand to her and nods. “I accept.”

Rey coughs and blinks, eyes shifting uneasily from the cut on her arm to the creepy figures chanting and urging her forward. “Wh-- what ? What's going on?”

Kylo Ren rolls his eyes and crooks his fingers, and Rey stifles a cry as his power wraps around her and bolsters her toward the altar. Before she can resist she's already standing in front of him, and he looks down his long nose at her and wraps her hand in his tight.

“Poor little scavenger girl,” he taunts, “you have no clue what you've done, do you?”

“Clearly,” she sneers, twisting her hand free. “Why don't you tell me, fast, before I embarrass you in front of your friends?”

“You've interrupted an ancient ceremony of the Sith,” he says with something scarily close to a smile on his face. “Thank you, by the way. That woman is a terror.”

And you're not? She thinks, loudly so he'll hear. By the way his lips curl upwards she knows he did.

“So…?”

“So,” he continues, “by doing so, you invoked your right to challenge the bride for the groom's hand. And won.”

Rey feels like she might faint. When he takes her hand once more, she doesn't pull away - she might topple if she tries. “Oh.”

“You shed blood for me, proof of your desire.” His gaze drifts down to where she's still bleeding, though the worst of it has started to congeal. He swipes his thumb through a trickle of it, lifts it to his mouth and tastes it. When his eyes meet hers again they are burning like coals, and a shiver of awareness streaks along her spine.

“And I accepted your suit.”

Something inside her starts jumping up and down, screaming snap out of it! She leaps back.

“Are you crazy?! Obviously this is all a mistake, and, and - I have absolutely no intention of marrying you! ”

The smug grin on Kylo Ren’s face makes her want to bolt, or slap him. She's leaning heavily towards the latter.

“You already have.”

Chapter Text

“I admit mistakes were made,” Rey offers sheepishly to the room full of gobsmacked resistance members.

Finn is slumped over in a chair, head in his hands. Poe stands beside him rubbing his back, and he slants her a look that clearly says you think?

“That's outrageous!” someone shouts after a beat, and then they're all aflutter at once.

“Is this even legally binding? Who do we have on staff that's familiar with contract law and ancient rites?”

“Is he a good kisser?” one of the technicians pipes up, which is followed by a thump and an oww I was just asking!

“How did you even get away from him?!”

The memory flickers through her mind like a holovid, helpfully labeled How I Got Away From Him . In it she sees herself back in that secret stone chamber, eyes bugging out of her head as Kylo Ren informs her they are now man and wife.

“You're thrilled I see,” he comments dryly as Rey stands there, staring, uncomprehending.

“I...muh…”

The guests are still standing there watching, and there's an expectant air about them. Suddenly she finds her voice and her temper at the same time.

“And what are you lot gawking at?!”

Kylo Ren leans in to whisper: “this is the part where we fuck on the altar, to kick off the orgy.”

Rey goes stark white, and he has the gall to throw back his head and laugh. It's such a startling, rich, human sound, and for a moment he looks almost boyishly handsome. Her heart twists painfully as she recalls who he is, or was.

“They're waiting for this,” he says, a little breathless, and then he's brushing his lips over the corner of her mouth. It's not really a kiss, and she's not really disgusted, though she knows she ought to be. All she can do is gape at his stupid smoldering face and wish she didn't feel affected.

The gathering all clap once and begin to file out, and just like that it's over. Kylo Ren steps down from the altar and offers her his arm, but she scowls and pushes past him.

And on the floor she sees the former bride-to-be, huddled on her side and glaring up at Rey with pure malice.

“What about her?”

Kylo Ren barely even glances at his ex fiancée as he secures the mask back over his face. “You defeated her - it's your right to finish her.”

Appalled, she shoots him a dirty look. “ No .”

“Going to let her live with her disgrace instead. How very Sith of you,” he replies, and his tone is no less approving for being somewhat altered by his mask. Rey scoffs and storms out.

Thankfully there's no one else around outside, and her party will be waiting for her by their ship. It occurs to her that leading Ren to them is probably a bad idea.

“Are you going to try to take me again?” She asks, hand hovering over the lightsaber on her belt.

For a moment he says nothing, and with his mask on he has no expression to read. Her fingers twitch.

“No,” he responds at last. “But we will meet again soon…wife.”

Rey pulls a face, and he snorts, though she has the distinct impression he's amused. Then he turns and stalks away without another word.

Back in the present, Rey thumbs at the silvery scar on her arm.

“He let me go.”

Chapter Text

Objectively, the whole situation was sort of funny.

If being waylaid by pirates during a supply run could be called funny, that is.

“You have the. Worst. Luck,” Finn groans, punctuating each word with the thunk of his head banging against the grimy wall of their cell.

“We're going to be fine,” Rey assures him, though he looks less than convinced. Truthfully her command of the Force is still sporadic at times, and the ship is crawling with goons. She's confident she can take out a few of them unarmed, but all of them? Tricky, tricky.

“Shut up!” The pirate guarding the door snarls, waving his blaster around threateningly.

The Resistance will probably send someone to rescue them, but Rey doesn't know if they'll survive long enough to be saved. They're no one to these men, and once the pirates finished transferring the cargo from Rey and Finn’s now-disabled cruiser they might be shot, or ejected from the airlock, or sold on the black market--

Calm down , she reminds herself, panicking is counterproductive . But it's difficult, as meditation isn't her strong suit and probably never will be. Instead she channels her nerves into a directive: escaping.

Leaning in she whispers, “I'm going to try something. Can you walk?”

Finn is immediately wary - he's been around her and Poe too long. Still, loyalty wins out over self preservation, so after a beat he nods. “Good enough.”

With a stiff nod Rey straightens her spine and projects her voice, willing the guard to listen . “You will open the door and trade places with us.”

He grunts but doesn't outright refuse, and when she tries again it works. The lock turns, the door creaks open, and the thug shuffles into the cell, eyes blank. Finn shoots her a double thumbs up before snatching the blaster from his hands.

“You will sit here quietly,” Rey instructs as she slings an arm around Finn. “Oh! Wait--and you will tell me where the emergency pods are.”

“Aren't none,” the pirate grumbles.

That draws her up short. “What? Why?!”

“S’told us not to bring em, just in case…”

Rey wants to question him further, but Finn urges her towards the hallway. “He's an idiot, clearly. There's gotta be one, and we gotta move.”

The corridor seems deserted, though both keep their heads up and eyes peeled as they pick their way through the underbelly of the ship. Finn leans heavily on Rey, but she can take it. It's slow, frustrating, nerve-wracking going though.

“Can't you like-” he waggles his fingers in front of his forehead.

“Doesn't work that way,” Rey sniffs, even though she's been trying to use the Force to find a route to the hangar for the last five minutes. Maybe she could do it if her skills were more advanced, but at her current level all she knows is that there's someone about twenty feet ahead.

Rey tugs Finn into an alcove, they wait for the patrol to pass before forging on. It's starting to look more and more like the guard was telling the truth, and the ship has no escape pods on board.

There's no way off the rig without a serious fight or a timely rescue.

Rey rubs her sweaty hair out of her face on her shoulder and tries reaching out again. Hopefully Master Luke, or even the General, will feel her and know they need help.

Can anyone hear me? Master?

There's nothing.

Please …

And then there's something: the slightest stirring in the Force, like a ripple from a stone dropped in a pool.

Master Luke?

The ripples come closer together, stronger, and she stretches her senses out like a hand flailing in the dark. Someone takes it, and then she hears a voice - but it's not Master Luke's.

It's Kylo Ren.

I'm coming to you.

Maybe she shouldn't feel relieved, but she does, and maybe she ought to snatch back her spectral hand, but she doesn't. Instead she turns to Finn.

“We're going to be fine.”

Chapter Text

"You got a unique definition of ‘fine’ Rey. As in opposite.”

She can't see Finn, what with the two of them now seated back to back in the center of a circle of armed pirates, but she knows exactly the face he's making as he says it. Turns out that telling him her distress call had reached the leader of the Knights of Ren was a mistake, and also that he's incredibly loud when aghast.

So - after a depressingly one-sided shootout and their subsequent recapture - here they are, somehow worse off than before. She almost snaps this is your fault , but he's wounded and understandably stressed so she gives him a pass.

“He'll be here soon,” Rey mutters back, without a doubt in her mind it's true. She can feel his approach like an oncoming storm, the vibrations of his presence in the Force so strong and loud it's giving her a headache.

Or maybe that's the blaster barrel digging into her temple.

“She wants that one alive,” one of the thugs says pointedly, and the gun is pulled back - slightly. Finn whimpers a little when nobody says anything about wanting him alive.

“Who's she?” Rey dares to ask.

The one doing most of the talking smirks at her. “Our client. It's nothing personal, Missy. You know how it is.”

Rey’s heart leaps into her throat. These aren't just pirates: they're bounty hunters, and somebody's put a price on her head.

The static in her brain reaches an almost unbearable crescendo, and suddenly the ship groans and rocks as another vessel drops out of hyperspace dangerously close. The pirates forget about guard duty as they scramble, alarms start blaring, and Rey's up on her feet reaching for Finn until she feels the business end of a blaster dig into the small of her back.

“The terms are for you alive, not unharmed,” the ringleader says with a hint of sadistic glee. Rey’s lip curls, and she has to grind her heel into the floor to keep it from rocketing up toward his groin.

“Bo-oss!” One of his crew members stage whispers, and then all eyes are on the docking port to see who's come aboard.

A trio of Stormtroopers enter first, blasters at the ready, and then Kylo Ren himself stalks into the room like a wraith. He's covered top to bottom in black, and from the shadow of his cowl leers his helmet, a menacing death's head.

All Rey can think about is the sensitive mouth and smattering of freckles it hides.

The buzzing has turned into an all-over prickling sensation, like when a limb falls asleep, and a shudder trickles its way down her spine. He glances in her direction but otherwise shows no sign he's noticed her at all, his attention on the pirate standing behind her.

“Lower your weapon.” His voice is a rumble of thunder lined with razor wire by the modulator in his mask. The bounty hunter's fear is so potent she can taste it, and the vengeful side of her snickers.

“T-this one's our mark, and she's already caused enough trouble. I'm not lettin’ her outta my sight until the client shows,” the pirate replies.

The visor over Kylo Ren’s eyes is a cold, unblinking stare, and Rey can feel the blaster at her back tremble.

“Are you refusing to comply with a direct command from the First Order?” He asks at length, and he almost sounds pleasant. Somebody is going to die.

“The job went up on the usual boards, we found her fair’n square--”

“You hijacked my ship!” Rey squawks.

“--and we've also done several favors for the Order,” the pirate adds. “So I'm sure a man like you understands - our ability to serve you only grows by serving other clients too, yeah?”

The way Kylo Ren tilts his head reminds her of a puppy, although on him the effect is more unsettling than cute. “I understand that I have given you instructions and you have yet to follow them. Do I need to speak more slowly?”

“What's she to ya anyway?!” The ringleader explodes in a half-frantic yelp. “We checked out her records - she's just some Jakku trash picker turned Resistance errand bitch!”

They don't know? Rey blinks, but there's not really a break in the conversation for her to ask before Kylo Ren decides he's done asking nicely.

He raises one arm and splays his fingers, and the Force around her and the bounty hunter twists unpleasantly. Rey's unaffected, but the man behind her seizes and chokes with a wet gurgling sound.

“Your place is not to question me,” he snarls and makes a squeezing motion. The ringleader convulses and drops his blaster from nerveless, twitchy fingers.

The other pirates seem torn between wanting to defend their boss and not wanting to join him. Finn is staring straight at her, and she doesn't have to read his mind to hear him thinking oh shiiiiiit.

Rey’s no stranger to violence, and these scumbags are certain to get what's coming to them eventually, but she doesn't want to be complicit. It's been a long enough day without adding another traumatic experience to it, thanks.

“Enough.”

The churning froth of Kylo Ren’s rage subsides, though not by much. The pirate is still struggling for tiny sips of air as Rey steps around him to face her...well, he's many things. Rescuer, at the moment, as unexpected as that is.

His gaze settles on her and lingers. This time when Rey shudders it's from a different kind of force, a purely animal energy that he radiates and she responds to: like calling to like, one half-feral heart to another. His display of power on her behalf pokes at something deep down that she'd prefer not to disturb.

Instead she sets her shoulders and says “I'm sure he's got the point.”

They stare eachother down, and that something hums, but then he scoffs and jerks his arm back and the moment passes. The invisible clamp around the other man's windpipe releases, and the bounty hunter drops to his knees and starts sobbing loudly with relief. Rey scrunches her nose and inches away. Pathetic .

Very, Ren’s voice murmurs in her mind, and her eyes snap back to him. He says nothing else, his focus having shifted to telling his men to round up the remaining pirates--

And Finn.

“Uh, wait, I'm not with them--ow--” Finn stumbles as he's hauled up on his feet, once again looking to Rey and mouthing help me!

“He's with me,” she nods, and Kylo Ren shrugs.

“He's also a traitor who has yet to answer for his crimes against the Order.”

Rey’s jaw hits the floor before she collects herself. “I'd say he has, considering the month he spent in medical thanks to you, and--and this isn't how a rescue works!”

“Forgive me, I'm afraid I don't have much experience with them. You're welcome by the way,” he quips, and she rolls her eyes because of course his idea of saving someone involves nearly murdering their captors and arresting one of the victims.

She marches right up to him and cranes her neck to jab her finger at his face. “If you're going to try and take him you'll have to get through me.”

She can honestly hear him smirking. “I doubt this ship would survive the attempt,” he drawls, and she can't tell if he's mocking or complimenting her. Probably a bit of both.

Another thought occurs to her then: “Wait. If he's to stand trial for his crimes, what about me? Are you letting me walk?”

Kylo Ren cocks his head, and she wishes he'd take that ugly mask off. “Are you offering to come?”

“No.”

“Then I'm only interested in the traitor.” The unspoken for now hangs in the air between them.

Taking a chance, she reaches out and rests her hand on his arm.

“Consider it a wedding present to me,” she says softly, peering up at him through her lashes the way Poe does when he's being especially charming. Kylo Ren stills, and for a moment she thinks she's screwed up big time and set off the bomb she meant to diffuse.

“Don't toy with me,” he growls. Under her palm the muscles of his arm tense and flex, over and over as he clenches his fists.

“I would be very grateful to you if you let him go," she grits out.

“Gratitude won't reverse the damage he's done. Besides, his friend Phasma misses him.”

Rey shifts from foot to foot and sinks her teeth into her lip. Finn is too far away to hear the exchange, but he yells her name and shakes his head anyway. He's always been perceptive like that. Unfortunately she's always been stubborn.

“I'll...I'll make a deal with you, in exchange for his life.”

And even though outwardly Kylo Ren appears unmoved, she can tell his interest is piqued. “What can you possibly offer me for a coward whose treachery has cost the Order billions of credits?”

Rey knows what he wants, and it's true: there's information she's privy to that is priceless. Information regarding the Resistance, regarding Luke Skywalker, things that would endanger a lot of lives, a lot of hopes and dreams and futures. They're not hers to give even if she wanted to.

“We have unfinished business,” she begins. Her cheeks are already on fire and she hasn't even gotten to the point.

His hands shoot out and grip her elbows, tight though not painfully so, and his thumb grazes the scar on her arm. “Don't,” Kylo Ren mutters.

“Then what--?”

“If I grant you this...” he falters a moment, “you will meet me at an agreed upon location on an agreed upon date.”

Rey furrows her brow. “That's alright, I suppose, but what for?”

“To talk.” He doesn't elaborate.

It can't be anything too terrible , she thinks. If he wanted me dead he's had ample opportunity, and if he wanted me on my back…well, apparently he doesn't. “ Deal.”

Letting go of her, he turns to gesture at the Stormtrooper gripping Finn’s jacket. “Leave him and see to the others. We're finished here.”

Rey finally feels hope swelling in her chest again. Finn is released, albeit somewhat roughly, and the Stormtroopers busy themselves handcuffing the bounty hunters.

It worked.

Overwhelmed, she does the unthinkable and tugs on his sleeve, because she's not tall enough for this, and whether he guesses her intent or is simply curious he leans down.

His mask is cool and smooth as she kisses it where his cheek would be. “Thank you,” she whispers.

Kylo Ren turns his head so fast his faceplate bumps her nose, and she grunts and rocks back on her heels. His breath rattles through the modulator as they look at one another for the longest instant of her life.

“...Remember our agreement,” he says at last, and follows his men back to his shuttle. The door whooshes shut behind him, and there's no one left but Rey and Finn as they listen to the sound of the First Order ship taking off.

Finn limps to her side and clears his throat, and she coughs and gives him a chipper smile.

“See? I told you.”

He claps a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. “Oh honey.”

Chapter Text

There's only one thing to do after narrowly escaping death and/or dismemberment at the hands of a gang of galactic thugs and making brunch plans your boss's estranged son after propositioning him and getting your feelings weirdly hurt when he turns you down: get drunk as shit.

That's exactly what Rey is doing now, although she currently thinks maybe she should've gone with Secret Option Number Two: find a nice bottomless pit and fall in it, endlessly, forever.

“Tell me again.” Poe bumps Finn's shoulder, both men ignoring Rey’s glare in favor of giggling together at her expense.

“I saved your sorry hide,” she reminds Finn, but he's having too much fun utterly betraying her to listen.

“This one--” Finn waves a straw at her “-- called up kriffing Kylo Ren on the Force ‘net like, oh, baby --”

Rey bangs her fist on the bar in outrage. “You would be dead at least six times over without me!” Poe’s laughing so hard it's almost impossible to hear Finn over him, which is probably why he keeps having to ask for a repeat performance.

Finn shamelessly continues: “Yeah, and! And. Dude actually showed up, choked the boss and tried to arrest me until Rey made out with him--”

“ I did not make out with him!”

The whole room goes silent for a few seconds, a few seconds in which Rey longs for that nice deep pit to open up beneath her and welcome her into the sweet nothingness of oblivion. Because the universe is cruel nothing happens except a few people cough awkwardly, and then the band starts back up.

Slumping over the bar with her head in her hands, all she can do is mutter “I hate you.”

Finn pats her arm. “That's the alcohol talking.”

Poe takes another swig of his beer before setting the bottle down with a wet smack of his lips. “So - this whole thing between you two is legit, huh?”

“I don't know. I guess,” Rey says with a shrug that's more nonchalant than she really feels.

“Or it will be,” Finn adds, shooting her a surprisingly sober glance over the rim of his mug. Rey squints and wishes she hadn't told him so much during the return trip.

“What's that mean?” Poe asks, leaning closer.

“I agreed to meet up with him in exchange for this ingrate.” Rey jabs her thumb at Finn.

“For what?”

“To talk.”

Finn and Poe exchange one of their looks.

“To talk ,” Poe repeats. “Is that what you kids are calling it?”

“He's your age,” Rey shoots back, but Poe just cocks an eyebrow at her. “It's not like that anyway.”

Finn opens his mouth but Poe claps his hand over it. “Good. Listen to me, Rey, I'm speaking from experience--do not ever let the crazy stick it in you. Once you do they're impossible to shake.” Finn looks deeply offended, and Poe quickly adds “I wasn't talking about recent experience.”

“I've no intention of letting him stick anything anywhere!” Rey shrills. This time the bar doesn't bother going quiet: people just start leaving. Groaning she drops her forehead to the counter, uncaring that it's sticky.

“Alright, fine,” Poe relents. “He wants to talk. About what?”

“Dunno. He wouldn't say.”

“He might try to use you to get at us,” he muses aloud.

“I can take him,” she says confidently, although she's by no means mastered blocking her thoughts from invasion, and her lightsaber skills leave something to be desired, and wow she's turning out to be a sad drunk. “I didn't have much time to deliberate, okay? He's not getting anything out of me.”

Poe sighs heavily. “It's not you I don't trust sweetheart. That guy's a four letter word, and I don't mean his stupid nickname.”

“Maybe being his wife grants you some kind of immunity,” Finn offers. “I mean yes, he's a soulless murdering Dark side user, but even they have rules right?”

“I think their rules are of the ‘have fun and be yourself’ variety, though.”

“Great,” Rey huffs. “Can we talk about something else please?”

“Sure. So what's this about somebody putting a hit out on you?”

She drains her glass and signals for another round.

***

The next day dawns bright and mild, and a cheerful beam of D’Qar sunlight wakes Rey by shining like a concentrated laser straight into her eyes.

Fuck you, sun , she thinks, and feels around for the small packet of painkillers she's started keeping beside her bed. Taking them on an empty stomach will only make her feel worse though, so with a groan like an asthmatic Rancor she heaves herself out of her cot and pulls on something vaguely resembling an outfit.

The base never truly sleeps, and the mess hall is always bustling. At this hour it's extra busy as the Resistance converges to fuel up before going about their duties, and Rey shambles into the serving line with the rest of them.

Naturally she's managed to arrive just before General Organa, and it's not that Rey dislikes her - quite the opposite - but gods she doesn't want to have anything resembling a discussion right now, let alone one guaranteed to be so loaded as this.

“Rough night?” The General asks, smiling when Rey grunts. “I meant to tell you sooner, but I'm relieved you and Finn made it back in one piece. We all are.”

“Thank you ma'am, so am I.”

The General jerks her head towards a corner seat and Rey obediently follows and sits across from her. “And I hear you had another run-in with Ben.”

Rey blinks at the name but nods. “Yes, I did. He...he saved us.”

“He certainly is his father's son,” the General grumbles. “Can't ever just say what he means.”

Rey is way too hung over for this. “General…?”

“Call me Leia. Or Mom,” the older woman says with a smirk, and Rey thinks that maybe the General shouldn't be so quick to point fingers at Han.

“I think you have a right to know - there's been a heated debate going ever since you returned with your news.”

“Oh?” Rey struggles to keep her tone ‘mildly curious’ and not ‘nauseated, anxious, and close to dry heaving.’

“Some here believe that this arrangement may be to our benefit. That your, erm, connection with Ben may be useful to the Resistance. That it could be the key to bringing him back.”

Rey nearly drops her nutri-bar.

Leia’s eyes slide shut as she takes a slow breath. “Oh, Rey - I'm sorry, I don't mean to put you on the spot. It's not your job to save him. But--but if you see an opportunity to plant the idea in him, perhaps…”

“I understand,” Rey whispers, and she wonders if it would be out of line to reach over and grab the General's hand. Leia takes the initiative and does it herself, and not for the first time Rey wonders how anyone could reject a mother like this. She can feel her thanks in the way her fingers squeeze.

“And don't take any of his crap,” Leia adds before leaving Rey to finish her meal in peace.

***

It's been a little over two weeks since their return to base and Rey’s feeling antsy.

She's unsure when Kylo Ren plans to call on her, or how. Will he send a transmission? Can he summon her via the Force, the way she did to him?

She's still unsure how she managed that one: she definitely hadn't meant to reach him, but once the connection had been established it was crystal clear, felt as natural as breathing. Maybe he's been listening , she thinks, and bites her lip. Maybe I ought to try it.

So she does.

Rey lies back on her cot and closes her eyes, focusing on relaxing every muscle from toes to nose just like Master Luke had shown her. Inhale, gather up your worries and frustrations;  exhale, and let them go.

The Force flows around and through her as always, but now that she's paying attention she can start to pick out the nuances, the glowing light within herself, the glittering points on the map of the base that are her colleagues and friends. Her mind expands upward and outward until she's looking down at the entire base, and then the planet, and then…

She's adrift in space, a projection of herself that walks the stars like a cobblestone path. There's so much it's immediately overwhelming, so she tries to think of only what she's looking for.

And then suddenly she feels a tugging on her wrists and stumbles headfirst into some kind of vision.

There's a red headed man looking at her, with a permanent sneer on his face like he's scented something that dropped out of a happabore a week ago. He's clearly military, judging from his smart black uniform.

“I thought you were meant to finalize our contract with the Dallo,” he says to her, cold as ice.

Rey opens her mouth to answer, but it's not her voice that comes out: “The Supreme Leader is the only one I answer to.”

It's Kylo Ren speaking, and Rey realizes she's looking through his eyes.

The redheaded man sniffs. “Pity, I'm sure your children would've been a sight. But I suppose it’s not a total--”

Rey’s thrown out of his head just as suddenly as she was sucked in, her consciousness spinning among the stars head over heels until she jolts back into her own body with a gasp.

Something has changed: she can feel his thrumming Force pulse, even though she's sure he's light years away. It's not as strong as when he's in the same room but it's definitely there, like she stuck a shovel in a dry old well and now water is starting to seep out of the mud.

Oops.

Chapter Text

Rey opts to not tell anyone what happened.

Honestly though, it was nothing! All she did was transcend space and time, briefly inhabit Kylo Ren’s body, and now sometimes she can hear his thoughts and feel his emotions oh stars someone help .

Besides, her options are limited. Leia is one, but Rey can't figure out how to explain that she's swapping thought-spit with her son without simultaneously bursting into flames. Nope .

Poe would probably say that sticking herself in the crazy was not what he'd meant, while Finn would mutter something like ‘hey look who was right again, me .’ Hell no .

Chewbacca would offer to dislocate Kylo Ren’s arms, which actually would be great, so she shelves that idea for later.

The obvious answer is to go find Master Luke, but Rey worries that Kylo Ren will follow her to him - or so she tells herself, because in reality she just doesn't want to see him make his Disappointed in You face. It's devastating , and don't ask how she knows.

She's already accidentally married his disgruntled nephew - accidentally Force bonding with said nephew will probably count as her third strike. Ruefully she thinks she might as well tape a poster of Master Luke's frowning face to her wall so she can feel abashed full time and save him the extra wrinkles.

Maybe she really is cursed: most people would argue that being linked, legally and spiritually, to one of the most feared men in the galaxy would qualify as unlucky to say the least. Others might call it fate, but not to her face.

At first she'd hoped the increased awareness of him was a lingering side-effect of briefly being in his head, one that would fade.

If anything it's grown stronger.

She's managed to break some sort of barrier between them and can't fix it, and it seems like Kylo Ren doesn't want to fix it, either.

She can feel it when he decides to focus on her, right before he pushes a particular thought in her direction. The things he chooses to share are odd - the view from the bridge of a First Order ship, which overlooks a glittering star field. A fistful of ashes in a gloved hand. A cat's eyes peering out from a vent. The top-down angle he has of everyone's heads as he towers over them. Blood on his chin when he nicks one of his moles shaving.

They very rarely exchange words, although Rey can sometimes hear him speaking to someone else, low and garbled as though he's underwater. Every so often he'll sneer when she flubs a practice form and recall the way she turned down his offer to teach her, and she'll harrumph and think get lost right back . Once he even mockingly imitates her loud squeaky laugh while she is relaxing with Finn and Poe, and annoying as it is Rey gets the impression he’s in his version of a good mood.

He never tries to do anything dastardly like seduce her to the Dark side or steal sensitive information, which she's been waiting for. Mostly he just lurks in the back of her head and sends her the mental equivalent of holo-snaps, and once or twice she catches herself enjoying it. It's kinda...nice, to not feel alone.

He also has yet to request to meet up with her, and Rey half-hopes he's forgotten about that. The other half knows better, and wonders why he's saving it up like this.

There are moments when she’s privy to things she knows he didn't intend to share too. For all the stomping and posturing the guy does, Rey is beginning to understand that he's really ten percent human and ninety percent anxious wreck.

She knows now when he meets with the Supreme Leader, who she's been told is an alien called Snoke, because then he shuts her out entirely until he's too exhausted by whatever happens in their meetings to keep her away.

One night in particular his pain explodes behind her eyelids so powerfully that she cries out and sits up in bed, drenched in sweat, her hand flying to her face and feeling for what she's sure must be a broken nose. She's unharmed, but he clearly isn't.

The adrenaline pumping in her veins is hers though, and she's forced to admit there in the dark that she's more afraid for him than of him these days. Maybe it's stupid and naïve, but despite everything he's done she doesn't want him to die.

You are stupid and naïve , Kylo Ren whispers back, though it feels more resigned than biting.

She probes at their connection and feels his mind latch on to hers. His anger and agony bleed together and make her temples throb, and the desire to pull back is instinctual - he feels like touching metal that's been baking in the sun all day. He clings tighter at her retreat, almost desperate, and it occurs to her that he's asking for help the way she once did.

Rey has no clue what to say and there's not much she can do from her bed, far away from wherever he is, so instead she thinks as hard as she can of the first time she set foot in a florist's shop.

She remembers the dazzling array of colors and the itch of pollen in her nose when she pressed a cluster of white, sweet-smelling flowers to her face. She remembers buying them and a meal afterwards, an incredible luxury. She remembers putting them in a cup in her room and suddenly thinking of her abandoned shelter on Jakku, which in turn made her cry, but in a way that left her feeling refreshed afterwards. He sighs, and the pain grows fuzzy and distant until she realizes he's fallen asleep.

You're welcome , Rey huffs, and soon follows him into dreaming.

***

The next day she decides to tell someone.

“This isn't something I want a lot of people knowing about, so please…” Rey presses her index finger to her lips.

BB-8 beeps and rocks in place, a little too quick to comply, and she narrows her eyes.

“I'm serious. Not even Poe!”

The little droid is the picture of innocence as he chirps and bobbles his head, so she lets it drop.

“And I need another favor,” Rey adds. “What do you know about a group called the Dallo?”