"Rey."

Abruptly waking from a sound sleep, Rey allowed her eyes to quickly adjust in the darkness of her chambers. Still half-awake, she raised up on one elbow, and slowly shifted her gaze around the room, searching for the unknown source that had just uttered her name. The radiance of the moonlight illuminated her quarters; revealing no one present nor evidence of anyone having been there prior to her awakening.

Rey scoffed, certain as to have heard the voice in questioning she dug her palms into her tightly clenched eyelids in hopes of easing the growing bewilderment and frustration. With a heavy sigh as she blinked once again, readjusting to the darkness Rey did one last glance around the room. She presumed that it must have been her subconscious talking from within before lowering herself back under the warmth of the covers.

The sudden onslaught of hushed whispers abruptly shifted her attention towards the door of her chambers. Furrowing her brows Rey leisurely pushed the sheets from her legs, swinging her feet from the bed side onto the cold flooring she gradually made her way across the room. Pressing her ear hesitantly to the door, she listened tentatively in hopes of discovering the sources of whom - and where - the voices were coming from. Silence from the other side was all that she heard.

Worrying her lip between her teeth, Rey allowed curiosity to take over as she slowly opened the door, peering into the dimly lit corridor to only see no one within the vicinity. Tentatively, she glanced down both ends of the hall as she made her way to the balcony of the grand stairwell, occasionally looking over her shoulder to ensure no one had been following.

Gripping her fingers tightly around the cold railing of the balcony, Rey leaned over the edge carefully to better inspect the vast openness of the lobby, revealing that none of the palace's staff was nowhere within sight. Exasperation overwhelmed her as she sighed. She retreated back towards her chambers before the daunting timbre of the specters returned, revealing themselves as coming from the known sectors of the West Wing and beckoning her to follow.

Bearing in mind the prior events of the evening her instincts told her to stay put, but she begrudgingly found herself ascending the western stairwell once again. One thing remained apparent to her: the atmosphere felt different this time.

It wasn't as heavy or suffocating, but more at an equilibrium, balanced, than it had been the prior evening.

The whispers resonated louder with each stride closer towards the western chambers; speaking in an ancient tongue that had been lost for centuries. The translation of such had still remained indistinguishable, but one phrase stood out from the rest as she pressed her hand to the chambers' door.

Save him.

Rey blinked, stunned by how distinctly clear the words had come across, as if they were precisely what she was meant to hear. Swallowing hard she slowly turned the doorknob, carefully nudging it open to reveal the unchanged panorama of the West Wing's distressed interior. Immediately directing her attention towards the master bed, she expected to see Kylo in recovery.

Yet, he wasn't there.

In fact, the coverlet was exactly the same as she had seen it that prior evening: blanketed with the same thin layer of dust from prolonged periods of being undisturbed.

Frowning at the realization she wondered where else he could be. Surely he was in no shape to be up and about on his own? A sudden wave of nausea washed over her as the dreadful thoughts of 'what if' things had taken a turn for the worse.

She made her way through the chambers, narrowing her eyes to better distinguish the silhouettes of objects hidden within the shadows. Upon approaching the balcony, she felt the unmistakable, beckoning pull towards the kyber crystal. Biting her lip again, she hesitated before reaching her hand to the proverbial glass bell jar, her fingers merely inches away before the presence of an unseen figure caused her to pause as he approached from behind.

"Rey."

Her heart skipped a beat, her breathing becoming more rapid at the recognizable intonation she had grown accustomed to hearing in her dreams: deep, soft, and irrevocably pained. Retrieving her hand from the jar, Rey swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat, and slowly turned to face the man behind her.

However, as she did so the dream abruptly ended.

Gasping in short, staggering breaths as her eyes rapidly shifted across her now brightly lit quarters; deciphering from what was real and what was pure fantasy. With a palm of her hand pressed to her forehead, Rey inhaled a couple deep breaths to regain her composure before rising into a sitting pose on the bed. The sky's warm hues of pinks and oranges informed her that it was within early morning hours of the day as she directed her attention to the light drifting inward. Closing her eyes whilst exhaling a deep, heavy sigh she ruminated over the happenings of the dream.

Rey scoffed. None of it made sense now; other than the fact that whenever the voice appeared to her it was always within the palace's vicinity. This time the dream had brought her something new to decipher: save him. Whoever 'he' was, exactly, she remained stupefied of the knowledge.

Speaking of he...

Biting her thumbnail in thought, Rey lowered her eyes to the white chaise lounge near the window; settling her gaze on the black fabric which the lightsaber had been placed upon. She hadn't heard anything regarding Ren's condition since the evening before. She debated countless times in her head about going to see him.

But what would she say – what could she say that wouldn't make the situation more complicated than what it already was?

She never took into consideration that maybe he didn't want to see her. That maybe the only reason he had been more civilized was that she returned the life debt she owed him now – at least it sounded more plausible that way in her mind. Reasoning with herself, she began to wish that she had taken the opportunity to go back to Jakku: worrying over the grim possibility that her parents had come looking for her while she went on a wild goose chase searching for Finn. 

Groaning in frustration, she pinched the bridge of her nose, to ease the growing tension behind her eyes from the adverse onslaught of feelings. Deep down, she knew the aspirations of her parents coming for her were fruitless. Finn had reassured her countless times that they were never coming back for her. Yet that tiny voice of doubt would always make itself known, always being assertive in listening to her instincts that one day she would find her belonging in the least expected place.

As always, no matter how many times she tried convincing herself to leave, her thoughts continuously drifted back to one person. That sudden and almost strangely familiar pull she felt to Kylo Ren was a sign blatantly showing her that the belonging she had spent her life searching for was here, with him. Snorting to herself, she would always ponder over how preposterous it sounded.

He was her captor. He was the one who had forced her to run from the palace in the first place. The same 'he' whom she had sworn she would never have anything to do with after witnessing the horrific things he was capable of doing. And yet after one act of heroism, Rey found herself wanting to know more about the mysteries behind him.

After a few minutes of absentminded staring, nearly boring a hole through the chaise lounge, a diminutive knock at the door broke her from the chaos in her mind. The nature of the rapping didn't require the need to question who it was, she acknowledged the foreseen guest with a touch of tranquility in her demeanor, "Come in."

Maz's tiny figure appeared in the doorway, holding Rey's clothes in her arms that had been collected for washing from the evening prior. "Good morning, Rey," Maz greeted in her usual warm, affable tone. "And early as promised," she stated as a matter of fact with a slight gesture of her arms in regards to the clothing she was holding, whilst setting the pile down at the foot of the bed.

Rey acknowledged Maz with a satisfied smile, expressing her gratitude with a simple 'thank you,' whilst harboring a sense of concern behind the transparency of her façade. Furrowing her brows, Rey palmed her clammy hands against the delicate fabric of her nightgown, pondering over the thoughts she had been continuously at odds with upon her awakening moments ago.

"How – how is he?" The trepidation behind her timbre resonated through a series of unsteady, shaky breaths from the anxiety she felt swelling within her chest.

Cocking her head, Maz smiled at Rey's concerned demeanor. "Lord Ren will be just fine, but his injuries will take some time to heal: bacta can only do so much when it comes to blaster wounds, I'm afraid."

Rey sighed in relief at the assurance behind of Maz's words. Now that Kylo's absence in her dream wasn't due to the unimaginable happening, it helped soothe the discomforting pressure swelling in her chest. Biting her inner cheek, Rey returned her gaze to the woman in front of her.

Maz's tiny hand lying upon hers as she spoke the words Rey had been hesitating to ask, "Would you like to see him?"

The answer should have come without hesitation, and yet it was one that Rey struggled coming to terms with. To say that she didn't want to see him would have been traitorous to the core of her well-being. Diverting her attention over to the lightsaber, Rey prolonged the mulling over Maz's offer a moment longer. Hesitantly, catching her lip between her teeth, she nodded 'yes' in response. 

----------------------------------

The walk to the West Wing felt like an eternity, compared to the countless hours Rey spent trekking through the scorching desert sands of Jakku on her daily scavenging missions. Those missions, however, now seemed like leisurely stroll. Although, the living conditions in the palace by far exceeded the life of a lowly scavenger, she also hated the length of time it took to get from one end of the palace to the other.

Upon entering the West Wing, like in her dream, she noticed the atmosphere was far lighter than it had been before - as if a veil of peace and serenity had been draped over the entire western sector of the palace. Frowning, what nagged at her the most was why she found herself continuously fussing over what Kylo would say to her when she had been perfectly capable of handling herself with him the previous evening. The slightest bump of the lightsaber at her hip with each stride was a constant reminder of where she was going.

Too engrossed in her thoughts, Rey nearly crashed into the tiny woman in front of her, who had stopped at the door of Kylo's western chambers moments prior. Maz glanced back at Rey with a bemused look on her face, snorting a nearly inaudible 'hmph' as she quietly opened the door.

Breathe, just breathe.

Ironically, she had been repeating those words more often than usual nowadays. Her heart pounded against her chest, further stimulating the butterflies rising in her stomach. She paused momentarily at the threshold to regain her bearings before following the woman into his chambers. Quirking her brows in astonishment at the master bed, it had been fully restored to its original beauty. The distinct ringlets in the chestnut- stained woodwork peered through its advent appearance, with no visible signs of cobwebs or dust as there had been prior; other than the bits that glittered against the ray of sunlight forcing its way through the drawn shades.

Rey's eyes immediately diverted to Kylo, who had remained undisturbed of their presence as he slept. Biting her lip Rey glanced at Maz, who was already standing at the far end of his bedside gesturing for her in approval to approach him.

The moment she found herself at his side Rey couldn't help but notice how human he now looked, unlike the 'creature in a mask' she had referred to him as a few days earlier. And for reasons unknown she found herself wincing at the recollection of her words. Ren had been completely stripped of his usual black attire – aside from his mask and gloves– the robes had been replaced with an unadorned long-sleeved shirt in dark gray linen, its wide V-neck form exposing the steady rise and fall of his bare chest. The coverlet had been pulled to the top brim of his waistline, but not enough to fully conceal the hem of his casually brown trousers.

As if acting on pure instincts Rey leisurely placed her hand onto his, which had been draped across his mid-torso while the other lay flat at his side. The irresistible urge to reach for him compared to the likes of a magnet being drawn to its other half, causing an electrifying spark to surge through her upon his touch.

For a brief moment, Rey remained ignorant of the benevolent gesture before logic forced her to recoil her hand into a fist. Scowling at the momentary sense of frailty, Rey quickly retreated to the terrace for a breath of much needed fresh air. Hugging her arms around her torso, Rey welcomed the frigid winter breeze as she tried to regain her senses. Whatever these feelings were, and why she was feeling them, had provoked the desire to run as far away from here as she could.

"I need to get back to Jakku." She confessed in between shuddered breaths, sensing the approaching woman from behind. "I've already been gone for too long. I don't belong here – with him," she declared while turning to face the woman now standing before her, "or with any of this." Her lip quivered, blinking back the tears that threatened to shed from her eyes. Although the more she spoke, it seemed the words were meant to convince herself rather than Maz, who had been listening intently from afar at her sudden outburst.

Maz cocked her head, considering Rey's words carefully before approaching her with a comforting look in her eyes. "When you've lived as long as I have, you see the same eyes in different people. I see your eyes – and you already know the truth."

Rey winced at the impact of Maz's words. If she had known any better, she would've guessed Maz had the ability to see right through her.

"Whoever you're waiting for on Jakku," Maz gently pressed on, "they're never coming back." Knowing that Maz meant well, the words still managed to sting every time. She was right. Rey had known the truth for years, but finding the strength within her to let go had been something she always refrained from coming to terms with.

Rey squeezed her eyes shut in hopes of regaining any ounce of her composure before Maz's words brought her away from her inner turmoil.

"But," she started, briefly directing her attention towards Kylo, "there is someone who still could."

Rey glowered at the implication behind Maz's words. "How? I have no place in any of this," she argued, her eyes frantically searching for the logic behind Maz's reasoning.

Maz issued a knowing look as she folded her arms to her chest, "Rey, do you know how long it's been since Ren has cared about anything – or anyone?" pausing momentarily to scrutinize Rey's softening expression. "Whatever happened last night, you were able to reach a part of him that no one has seen in a very long time. There's something that he sees in you."

"Then tell me what happened to him," Rey demanded, unintentionally cutting into Maz's assertion but the continuous deflection of answers was wearing down her patience.

Although her voice was tender, Maz could still hear the gleaming hint of aggression behind her words. With a heavy sigh, Maz pondered over her choice of words carefully. The entirety of Kylo's history still remained hers not to be told but hoped that of which she could provide would be enough. With a gesture of her head to follow her back inside, Rey hesitated before rejoining Maz within Kylo's sleeping quarters.

"Supreme Leader Snoke has been after his powers for years," Maz spoke softly, a sense of melancholy behind the tranquility of her words, "grooming and manipulating him since before he had the ability to crawl in hopes that he would become Snoke's blunt instrument – a weapon for the First Order."

Rey furrowed her brows, a quizzical glare behind her eyes urged Maz to press forward with the story. "When it appeared that Snoke had succeeded in his plan of luring him to the darkness, the consequences of Ren's actions had been –," Maz paused briefly to think over her words, her gaze entirely focused on Kylo's sleeping form as she furrowed her brows, reminiscing over the events that had wholly damned him to his present state of misery. "- the consequences had been somewhat different from what we imagined."

Rey glanced down at the woman beside her, absorbing the brevity behind Maz's words as she recalled Kylo's words to her in his state of rage: Do you realize what you could have done?

All of which had been after his discovery of her close proximity to the crystal. Inhaling a short gasp of breath, her mouth gaped at the sudden discovery of what it all meant.

"It's a curse, isn't it?"

The stunned moment of silence hanging in the air had been more than enough to confirm Rey's suspicions, prompting the inability to resist her rising enthusiasm at seeing some sort of positivity within the midst of sorrow.

"Then there must be some way to break it," her eyes grew wide with excitement whilst unable to control the rising eagerness in her tone.

Before Maz had a chance to answer both of their gazes shifted directly to Kylo as he began to stir in his sleep, resonating a near inaudible tone of discomfort through his mask. Rey held her breath, certain that her sudden change in vocals had caused him to regain conscious. After a few moments of silence, Rey exhaled deeply in relief that he hadn't woken.   

Stealing a knowing glance in Rey's direction, Maz perceived time was rapidly approaching for her cue to leave. "I'll leave you two alone," she insisted gently. "I'll send word for a service droid soon to check on him."

Rey began to protest at Maz's sudden departure, but the door closed before she had the ability of finding her voice. With a heavy huff in defeat Rey diverted her attention back to Kylo, who had remained unmoved since moments prior. Apprehensive, she quietly made her way to the relatively small overstuffed chair at his opposite bedside. The sudden descent of awkward silence, prompting her to rub her clammy palms along her side. Her hands clumsily bumped the lightsaber holstered at her belt. Carefully unfastening it, she placed it atop the small nightstand near his beside before taking her seat.

Lacing her fingers in her lap, she uncontrollably began bouncing her legs, as a result of the rising anticipation of Ren's awakening. Her eyes darted nervously across the room, humming the harmonious tune she had always used to calm her anxiety as she did so. The small beam of sunlight prompted her to focus attention at the drawn shades of the window.

Figuring that it wouldn't hurt to let a source of light in, Rey rose from her seat to carefully push one of the linen drapes aside; allowing the suppressed rays of sunlight to cast away a portion of darkness within his chambers. Turning her gaze back to the room behind her, she smiled at the difference in which lighting had done to the room's entirety. While a hint of sadness still remained hidden among the shadows, it had been enough to suppress the melancholy atmosphere and bring forth a sense of warmth and charm.

Still humming the tune to herself, Rey found her gaze shifting back to the royal portrait above the fireplace, folding her arms across her chest whilst studying each face attentively. She found her gaze always ended fixated on the sad eyes of the young boy: wondering who he was and the story behind those expressive windows to his seemingly troubled soul. Too engrossed within her observations, she jumped at the modulated voice breaking the prolonging silence in the room, quickly turning her focus to Kylo whose gaze remained fixated on her.

"That tune –," a glimmer of genuine curiosity reverberated through the tranquility of his voice, "how do you know it?"

Rey blinked, her mouth gaped in dismay at those being the first words he had chosen to say since their prior evening together in the forest. She half expected him to go on a full-blown rampage over landing him into this state of anguish, but where there had once been anger in his aura now reflected a sense of serenity.

"Um," she started, pushing stray hairs behind her ear whilst stumbling over the right words to say within her wholly state of bewilderment. "Actually, it's kind of a long story." Cautiously she approached the chair at his bedside, her gaze remaining fixated on his as she took her seat.

Ren shrugged, clearly expressing his indifference given the current state he was in, "I have time."

Rey considered him momentarily, intrigued as to why he had a sudden piqued interest over what she had to say regarding an insignificant part of her life. She recalled the moment few days prior when he had incessantly rummaged through her mind, regardless of whether or not she wanted him to know what that particular memory entailed.

And yet here he was, allowing her to express whatever she deemed necessary at her own accord, rendering her utterly confounded at his sudden change in demeanor. Furrowing her brows, she quickly cleared her throat, realizing that Kylo was still patiently waiting for an answer.

"I grew up in an orphanage on Jakku; when I was about five-years-old my parents brought me there. They promised that they wouldn't be gone long, that it was just a temporary arrangement while they traveled among the more perilous planet systems: for business dealings." Rey paused briefly to collect her thoughts, realizing she had been absentmindedly staring at her fidgeting thumbs in her lap.

Returning her gaze to Kylo, she noticed that his focus had not once left her position; listening intently as if it were the most important thing he had heard at that moment, giving her the audacity to carry on with her story.

With a heavy sigh, Rey shifted through the memories that she had purposely and willfully rendered forgotten. "Anyways, I started having nightmares, nothing out of the ordinary that a typical child didn't have at that age." She abruptly added for safe measures, not wanting to go into detail over what they had been really about. "And I found this music box while rummaging through the trash in the alleyway behind the orphanage one day," a small smile spread across her lips at the memory of her once prized possession. "It didn't work, naturally, so I had to scrounge up some spare parts but I did eventually get it working again – and it was beautiful," furrowing her brows Rey couldn't stifle the sudden wave of sadness that washed over her.

"Was, you say?" he gently pressed, insuring her that he was still paying attention over her insignificant sob story of an inanimate object.

Rey snorted, blinking back the tears that had started brewing behind her eyes, she scowled over the fact that he must've considered her a pitiful sight. "You see, at the orphanage none of us were allowed to have any belongings of our own, nothing that couldn't be shared amongst the other children," she shrugged. "It's just how the head master – Unkar Plutt – managed the place. I managed to keep it hidden for about a week, listening to it only at night to help me sleep after perpetual night terrors," her face flushed red with embarrassment at the confession. "And as you can probably guess, Plutt found it and destroyed it," she sniffed whilst rubbing her hands under her eyes to dry the few noticeable tears that had insisted on flowing down her cheeks. "I'm sorry - it's a stupid story, really."

"No, it's not." The assurance behind Ren's tone had been enough to bring her gaze towards him once again, "I'm sorry for what you went through." On the outside his gaze had been shielded behind the expressionless façade of a mask, but the sincerity in his timbre was blatant enough to bring a grateful and gentle smile to Rey's face.

She was almost astonished to find that he was someone who understood what she went through. If she would've been told a few days prior that opening herself to Kylo Ren would be near therapeutic, she probably would've rendered them unconscious with the end of her quarterstaff. But now she would've considered herself a liar if she denied the fact that his words weren't comforting – even if they were from her sworn enemy a few days prior.

"Thank you," she smiled genuinely. "I mean – times weren't always so bad. They did get better. Finn arrived at the orphanage, and he gave me the courage to finally leave." Upon her mentioning Finn, Rey couldn't suppress rolling her eyes at Kylo's sudden change in demeanor. Balling his hands into fists, he stiffly shifted his weight against the pillows only to elicit a groan of discomfort. At that point, Rey wasn't sure if it was entirely him hearing the name of the former prisoner, or at the jolt of pain shooting through his abdomen.

As if on cue, a firm knock came at the door before a service droid appeared, rolling a trolley cart of medical supplies into the room. Rey couldn't have been more grateful for its perfect timing. And, for reasons beyond her comprehension, Rey found herself volunteering on the droid's behalf to take over. Although Kylo felt otherwise about the unexpected gesture, "Do you even know what you're doing, scavenger?"

Rey scowled at the insult, now offended that he found her wholly incapable of changing a couple bandages. "Well, I did manage to take care of myself on a back-world desert planet. I'm pretty sure I can manage this, your highness."

Clearly not reassured with her persistence, Ren wordlessly rolled his head towards the window, seeking a momentary distraction with his well-being now held at the mercy of a scavenger girl whom he was holding prisoner. Rey proceeded to roll the lower hem of his shirt up, further enabling her to tend the wound at his lower abdomen.

Unable to resist, her eyes roamed freely. Rey couldn't help but assess every imperfection on his skin. While his skin was pale, untouched from the rays of sunlight, she couldn't help but gaze at the impressive lines of muscle she found. A wave of embarrassment flushed across her face at the realization of her staring, clearing her throat, she proceeded to carefully remove the bandage from his wound.

The feeling of her fingertips brushing his skin sent a shiver coursing through his body. Balling his hands into fists Kylo tensed at her every touch, unintentionally intensifying the pain of the wound on his abdomen. Although the pain was a momentary distraction from her touch. Clenching his jaw, Ren closed his eyes in hopes of rendering his focus on said pain, only to be proved as a maddening endeavor in the end. He couldn't tear his mind from the delicious burning sensation her every touch left on his skin. A heavy reminder of the years he had rendered himself starving for another person's affection.

Finding himself so wrapped up in her touch, he failed to notice her removing the bandage, followed by the excruciating pain as she pressed the warm cloth to his injury. His roar echoed throughout the general vicinity of his chambers as he grasped the fitted sheet below him. "THAT HURTS!"

The deafening roar was enough for Rey to jolt herself back from him in reaction, her heart nearly leapt from of her chest at the sudden alarm of his voice. "Well if you would hold still it wouldn't hurt as much!" she snapped in defense to his unexpected outburst.

His chest was heaving, taking in deep gasps of air as the pain began to pass before enabling himself to retort at her accusation, "If you wouldn't have been in here this wouldn't have happened in the first place, scavenger!"

Rey glowered at him, enough to perpetually burn holes through his mask if it were at all possible. Tossing the rag down on the trolley next to her, she folded her arms before continuing her rebuke. "Well excuse me, your worship!" she spat, hurling the words out in distaste. "If you wouldn't have frightened me I wouldn't have ran away!"

Kylo attempted to counter but found himself coming up short with a good enough comeback to her remark. With a heavy grunt in defeat, he snapped his focus towards the window; as if it were enough for him to escape from her fiery gaze.

Rey couldn't have rolled her eyes any further into the back of her head if she wanted to. Snorting to herself in triumph, she reached for the rag from the trolley, refreshing it with the water from the mason bowl before returning her attention back to the wound. Carefully, she removed the excess blood from around the tenderized area of the wound before tossing the rag bag into the bowl, placing a fresh bacta patch over his lesion. Pursing her lips, she stole a glance at Ren before diverting her attention to the wound on his shoulder. Brushing the collar to his shirt aside, she carefully removed the existing patch before reaching for the drenched cloth at the trolley.

Wringing the excess water from the rag Rey pushed his shirt collar aside once again, proceeding to gently dab its warmth over the tenderized skin of the wound. This time, she remained fully aware of the abrupt clenching of his fists, pausing momentarily in order for him to regain his composure over the dire discomfort.

Returning the rag to the mason bowl for a fresh batch of water she nearly jumped at the abrupt sound of Ren's modulated voice breaking the silence. "Rey, why are you here?"

Arching one eyebrow, she stole a quick glance in his direction from askance, wondering if he had come down with a sudden case of amnesia since the previous night in the woods.

"Well, I am your prisoner," she retorted, a bemused smile playing across her lips as she wrung the remaining water from the rag. "Or have you forgotten that trivial detail?"

Carefully pressing the rag to his shoulder once again, she forced her attention on the task in front of her, desperately trying to avoid his gaze she felt boring through the side of her head. Her muscles stiffened at the abrupt movement as Kylo's gloved hand seized her wrist, quickly diverting her attention towards the emotionless gaze of his mask.

"That's not what I meant," he countered, enforcing the hint of disdain behind his tone. "Why are you here – right now?"

In truth, Rey lost count of how many times she had asked herself that same question. Until now, she had never needed to come up with a definite answer. Blinking, she quickly averted her attention back to the gloved hand that now had hers firmly pressed to his chest, using the steady rhythm of his heart beat beneath her fingers as a distraction from his gaze while searching for a suitable answer.

Unsure for a moment, she settled for the most apt reason she could conjure within the moment and hoped that it would be enough to satisfy his inquiry. "I just – I wanted to thank you," she paused, darting her eyes back at him to ensure she meant every word to its entirety, "For saving my life. It's the least that I can do to show my gratitude."

Rey held her breath as Kylo continued to hold her gaze. She noticed his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed heavily, clearly uncertain as to what he wanted to make of her response. A deep sigh of relief escaped her lips as she felt him ease up on his grip, releasing her hand before wordlessly diverting his attention towards the vicinity of the fireplace. Furrowing her brows at his unexpected silence, Rey returned her attention to the wound at his shoulder.

"You're welcome."

Rey blinked, his response had been so inaudibly low she almost felt the need to question him. Glancing at him through her peripheral, she felt the sides of her mouth curl up into a smile.

---------------------------------

Over the course of a few days, Rey found herself voluntarily visiting Kylo's chambers. For the most part, they engaged in the occasional small talk: he would ask simple questions about her life on Jakku while Rey, in return, obliged him with the answers. While Kylo never said much on his behalf, he proved to be an excellent listener, always being attentive to what she had to say whether it was of significant importance or not.

Where he had been rude, coarse, and unrefined in the beginning, Rey began to see a kindness behind his façade. And no matter how hard she tried to deny it, she had grown to harbor an indecipherable fondness for him.

On her way to his chambers one morning, Rey took a detour from the usual route and ventured downstairs anxious to see what more the palace had to offer rather than the East and West wing sectors, and the kitchen. Passing the servants' quarters, Rey came across a room in which Rose had claimed to be a training room.

Weapons of various sorts and sizes lined the walls: one resembling that of her quarterstaff immediately caught her attention. Figuring that Kylo would still be resting at this point Rey strode over to the weapons rack without haste, retrieving the staff from its place. Holding the weapon in her hands once again gave her a peaceful sense of familiarity in a place that was still new and foreign.

Somehow, she had lost her own upon arriving at the palace. Familiarizing its weight in her hands, Rey proceeded to fall into her usual routine she had developed during her time on Jakku: parry, jab, spin, repeat. Too engrossed within her concentration, she failed to notice the lone audience member she had attracted at the doorway.

It had been nearly a week since Kylo had been able to exercise the muscles in his legs. After the fateful night in the forest with the stormtroopers he rendered himself temporarily relegated to his chambers. Seeking solitary confinement wasn't necessarily new to him; he had begun to grow bored, restless, and agitated at the lack of mobility from being confined to his bed during his convalescence. Grimacing at the remaining dull ache in his abdomen, Ren forced himself from the prison of a bed, heading straight to the welcoming vicinity of his hyperbaric chambers.

Nurturing the still tender but almost healed blaster wounds, Kylo pulled himself into his usual dark attire before making his way down the familiar halls of the palace. Stalking through the lower corridors, a series of huffs and puffs drew him towards the vicinity of the training room. While observing her from afar, Rey remained ignorant of his presence as she engrossed herself with concentration of the routine. Cocking his head, he intensely studied her every movement until the opportune moment presented itself for him to casually intervene.

"You're doing it wrong."

Startled by his unexpected presence, Rey jumped at hearing his voice, breaking her concentration as she furrowed her brows at seeing him up and mobile. "Excuse me?"

"You're focusing the strikes with too much emphasis on your arms," he stated coolly as he approached her, although she couldn't ignore the hint of pride projecting from his voice. "The real power comes from your hips. If you're meaning to incapacitate the enemy, you certainly won't be achieving it your way. If anything, you'll probably just piss them off even more," he stated as a matter of fact with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

Rey cocked her head, taking the nobility behind his criticism into consideration as she extended the staff towards him. "Well then your worship," her mock coming across as a playful jab in demeanor, "Humor me?"

Ren chuckled, gladly accepting the simple challenge as he took the staff from her, momentarily reacquainting the weight of it in his hands. While the quarterstaff wasn't his proclaimed weapon of choice, he had been proficiently trained in the art as well as rendering it during training sessions with his knights. Striding over to the far wall of the training room, Kylo retrieved a remote device from a shelving unit, activating it to summon the hologram of a sparring droid at the center of the room. Rey carefully observed his movements from afar, recognizing some of them from his attacks against the stormtroopers. In the end, the droid had been no match against him, leaving the droid behind in shambles on the floor as he approached her.

"As I said," he goaded, wincing from the exertion but his tone was laced with a hint of arrogance, "it's all in your hips."

Rey couldn't stifle the smirk from playing across her face. He definitely had her on that one. "Okay, so show me. How do I do this?" she replied with a sigh whilst accepting the staff back from him.

Leisurely making his way behind her, Kylo brought his arms around her, engulfing her petite form with his broad and muscular frame. Being this close to him, Rey could feel his power radiating from within; the feeling itself was intoxicating.

"Your hands, here," he stated whilst showing her the proper holding technique of the form, his gloved hands covering hers. "Now," bringing his hands to her sides, he gradually moved them down to her waist, "lead with your hips to emphasize the impact."

Rey's breath hitched at his touch, and for a moment she felt her muscles freeze in place. Feeling the rising flutter of butterflies in her stomach, Rey momentarily directed her attention up towards his, her pupils blown wide and her mouth slightly agape as she looked at him through her eyelashes.

All the while holding her gaze, Ren could have sworn he recognized that glimmer of attraction within her hazel eyes but for his own sanity he concluded that may have been a bit of a reach.

Blinking abruptly from her flustered daze, Rey refocused her attention at his words and less on where his hands were currently positioned. Nodding curtly in acknowledgement of the instructions, she proceeded to fall in line with his movements as he guided her through the correct procedure of the form.

Pleased with her improvement, Kylo summoned the training hologram once again. "Alright, scavenger," his tone mocking hers from earlier, "let's see what you've got."

Rey took a deep inhale of breath as she focused on the materializing hologram ahead, replaying the motions over in her mind before physically falling in suit. After a few series of strikes and a powerful blow to the droid's abdomen, she too rendered it lying in shambles. Pleased with her new and improved ability, Rey excitedly strode back towards Kylo who had been observing from behind.

"Impressive," he acknowledged with praise. "Remember to keep your back straight next time – don't slouch," he gestured with his hand at the small of her back. Rey nodded in acknowledgement to his words, but internally she was coming completely undone at his touch. His hand lingered momentarily longer before taking his leave from the facility.

It wasn't until after his absence when Rey noticed the inexplicable hollow ache in her chest.

Whatever this was - unable to put a specific name with the feeling she was experiencing – it was something that she had definitely never felt between them before.

No, this was something different, something new, and most assuredly something that absolutely terrified her.