A crimson arc of fiery plasma was the last thing Rey saw before the holo projection abruptly ended. She instantly reached for him through their bond. Her voice calling to Kylo Ren across their flowing line before he violently disconnected himself from her there too.

What Poe had said was cruel. Just as unnecessary as Ren destroying the device that he'd used to allow her to witness, true to his word yet again, the release of her friends; Friends she would likely never see again. Honestly, if it meant meeting against them on a battlefield, she hoped she'd never set eyes on anyone of them again. If she did she'd be forced to decide between the broken man she was Force tethered to or them... Obviously Rey would never intentionally hurt them. For that matter she'd never allow anyone to harm them either.

In their earlier negotiations when he'd pointed out how quickly those same friends would attack him at every vantage, Kylo had, she had to begrudgingly admit, been correct. It was with good reason that they should but Rey also wouldn't stand by and do nothing if they meant to compromise the safety of her bond-mate. The very idea left her feeling personally threatened.

Maybe it was the bond that attached them so deeply. Maybe their Force signatures had already began to fuse together or maybe it was as simple as she felt he deserved just as much protection as he gave... In the end it didn't really matter. The facts still remained facts, no one was going to hurt Kylo Ren without first going through her!

She truly must be going insane...

Rey exhaled a long drawn out sigh. It brought no relief from the heartache and anxiety that had taken up residency in her chest so she tried closing her eyes instead. Unsure of how else to bring comfort to herself she began the process of meditation. Breathing slowly, deeply in and out while focusing on nothing but the sounds coming from her nose had mouth Rey concentrated on letting it all go. Letting the negativity and anxiety run down her being like harmless droplets of beading water.

After all of her focus... all of the determination she could muster and she still couldn't get past the pain that swept through her, from his end, at the mention of his father. The remnants of that pain had drilled itself into the place where her heat beat behind her ribs, burrowed in deep and latched on. Now it was stuck there. It didn't seem fair that she was angry at Poe for so maliciously bringing Han up but she was.

Rey had a strong desire to follow the thread of energy that led to Kylo. She felt an unbelievable urge to comfort him. She had no idea of what to do or say if she did make it through but she felt anything would be better then leaving him alone to lick at his wounds, self inflicted as they may have been. Maybe she could tug and pull until he opened up but more likely she'd just waste the energy that she should be focused on conserving. She knew if Ren meant to keep her out of his head there was no way she was getting in.

Truthfully she was as surprised as she was grieved by how easily he took to cutting her off the way he did. Since the temple the short time spent completely shut off from each other had been hard on her. She felt... empty. She'd grown comfortable with the presence of him in her head. There was always a soft buzz. A lulling hum from somewhere that used to be towards the back of her mind which had since shifted to the center stage. It was buried somewhere deep in a place untouchable to anyone other then him but unless the flowing strand of energy was left open to thrive, even that hum wasn't enough to keep her satisfied when their connection closed.

Choked out laughter bubbled up from Rey's chest. The idea of missing the random snarky remarks that seemed to always lay in wait at the tip of Kylo Ren's tongue was ridiculous at best. She'd spent months trying to keep him out of her head. Months trying to find a way to break the bonds that roped them together, yet she was here again, missing his presence in her mind.

A weak gasp escaped up the channel of Rey's throat and she almost broke into hysterics as she swallowed back a sob.

What was going on with her? Why couldn't she keep it together? Why should it bother her so much that Ren of all people reacted so emotionally to the mentioning of his father. It was his fault that he was gone! Her defensive reasoning exclaimed.

Her anguish shifted into a flare of anger and she rubbed the heels of her palms into the beds of her eyes, twisting and turning until the sting behind her tears went numb. She was doing a miserable job at meditating. Failing in every sense of the word just as she had on the island under Luke's instruction. It was another way she'd failed the great Jedi and likely to be another way she would fail her new Master too.

A defeated sigh escaped her half parted lips and Rey pulled her bent legs to her chest. Once more she found herself wrapping his cloak more tightly around her body.

——

"You dare...?"

Kylo Ren's Force aura squeezed around him. Suffocating swells of Darkness crept along his arms and shoulders with a life of their own as he looked down on the knight who'd not only trespassed where she didn't belong, but dared to approach him without the full guise of her armor on.

With her helmet removed one long blond chain of braided hair rested over her right shoulder to creep down along her purposely unflattering armor. Her skin, pale like his from years of being deprived of any natural light behind the confines of her own helmet, glowed iridescently under the lights over head. Lights that he hardly ever used himself. His eyes preferred the comfort of the shadows. Without the shelter of his helmet dampening his natural senses the world always seemed less tolerable; too loud and too bright.

The young woman before him sensed his displeasure long before she dared a glance up at him. She didn't need to visually seek him out to know his eyes were burning into the top of her skull but her eyes betray her anyway. Bright blue sapphires twinkled with open admiration as she chanced a glimpse at his masked face.

Taken to one bent knee before him, her Master stood tall above her. Erect in an immovable fashion. His spine straight with the confidence of an alpha poised to be bowed before and she would reverently comply even if it weren't expected of her. Below the tower of this man she felt breathless. At almost six foot herself, she was not a short woman but the authority that her Master commanded, especially from this point of view, made her feel so small, so insignificant that she hardly felt her own value at all even while his Force coursed through her being.

It was not just his height or comportment that gave her this response. His power was unmatched by anything else she'd ever seen. Even the Supreme Leader lacked something undefinable that she found vigorously thriving in her Master.

The Master knight looked down at his warrior, his arms twitching with discomfort while his fists slightly shook with unrestrained emotion. Too much was coming to the surface. Too much was boiling over, sloppily spilling down the confines of his control. If he couldn't bring himself down to a simmer and soon, he was going to be left with another mess to clean up. Kylo took in a deep steadying breath and his knight shook under the strange sound through his vocoder.

She could see the wavering restraint running through the tense length of his arms. Slight tremors cut paths through his spasming muscles and she could trace these twitches through his armor. Matching his reaction with her own tremors she too shook... with her fear. She didn't need to use the Force to feel the power that permeated from him. So powerful was her dominant that she could see his essence lingering along the length of his massive form.

He must appear so physically menacing to a non Force sensitive eye. She though, looking on him in awe. Still not a fraction of how he appeared through her Force capable lenses...

In a display of his Force visible wrath, thick black shadows encircled him like smoke and his knight could only look on in with that awe through the thin blanket of her thin golden lashes. Lost in her admiration her chin lifted higher.

Still the most beautiful thing she's ever seen.

Kylo shifted from one foot to the other. It was hard remembering that it was not her fault. Her being here was out of her hands. This anger he felt was not for her but his own Master. Why of all prospects under his Master's control, had he chosen one of his own knights for this task? The lack of honor in this decision left a volatile bile thickening in his throat.

Ren side stepped his third, dismissing her physically even before his words hit her ears. "Leave me." Even as dismissive as they were his words came softly.

His knight rose with alarm. "Master, the Supreme Leader, He-"

"I will shoulder whatever punishment comes from your dismissal." He cut her off just as casually as he'd released her from any obligation to... oblige him.

"Forgive me Master, it's just that..." When every muscle in him stilled her words froze like ice in her throat.

Ren stopped in his tracks, his body suddenly stiffening, visually seeming as solid as a statue. Then his boots silently pivoted in place and his marble like form followed suit. No doubt at the cost of the skin from his back, he was releasing her from this task and yet she pushed forward. The matter was handled. She was free from her charge, what more needed to be dealt with?

Sensing his growing irritation she spoke with more urgency. "You've taken care of us for so long.... of... of me for so long."

The thoughts accompanying her words were fresher in his mind then he wanted to admit. Sharper due to a recent memory he and Rey had shared on his uncle's island retreat.

He remembered her entering his small dorm. Tears slicked down her young face as she, to embarrassed to speak of the recent assault against her, begged him to view the horrible experience she left on the surface of her thoughts for him to find. He really didn't want to relive that moment for a third time...

"Enough." Kylo's reaction was sharp, his tongue like a blade set to cutting through memories best left forgotten.

But his third, led forward by her pure determination, was persistent in her case. Pleading against his argument of her own volition. Her own desires heading the charge of her appeal. "Master we can feel it. The suffering you silently endure. The anguish of your split conscience warring between the light and the dark and..." She paused as though not sure how to navigate through the rest of her argument. "And the girl... how she torments you. How you long for relief."

That was his breaking point. The cut off of his patience. Unconsciously his arm lifted. His Force swelling around his already opening fist as the hand of his Force grabbed for her at the throat.

She made no move against his will. No attempt to release herself from his hold or his oncoming wrath.

"We, those chained to you; your— six." His third worked through the grasp of his hand around her throat. Her windpipe under the crushing force of his power was closing, making it hard to speak with out the rasp his suffocating hold brought about.

Ren pulled her close to him, her feet dragging along the durasteel under foot by the tips of her armored boots. "Shall I release you from those chains, Third?" He questioned menacingly, his Force lifting her further from the ground.

"Never!" She replied without hesitance.

The certainty in her eyes and the conviction of her response gave his rage momentary pause. Kylo knew he could squeeze the life right out of her and she'd never even twitch to stop him. It was this knowledge that brought him back down. He held her in his anger for only a few second longer before setting her to her feet. Though she wheezed when she breathed she held her own under the hight of his shadowing Darkness. To her credit, even when the tendrils of his black rage reached for her, she didn't falter. She stood un compromised by the release of his temper.

"We suffer with you Master." She continued brazenly. "Allow yourself some reprieve." Her voice, matching her shaking hand trembled as she reached for his forearm.

Kylo reared back, hissing under his helmet, pulling from her as though her touch were acid about to assault his armor covered skin.

"You come to me speaking of the past and the present as though I've forgotten. Speak of a care you think I've shown as I've looked after you... all of you! And in the same breath you would ask me to commit the very atrocities against you that I once saved you from? Abuse the power I have over you just like..." Ren was heaving in his outrage. His chest was rising and falling yet no air was reaching his lungs and he was quickly growing dizzy. "Like that—"

His knight passionately interjected in his defense. How could he even compare himself...

"—Ben... you're not him. Nothing like him!" Her hand came up to block her mouth but the name left her lips before she could stop herself. It had been years... so many that she couldn't actually label the time with an accurate number. So many since she'd been allowed to say his real name out loud or since she'd seen his alluring face. But she remembered those deep brown eyes swirling with power, blood splattered across his pale skin from what he'd physically done to her assailant. She remembered the dark of his ebon hair curtailing the defined set of his jaw as he locked his teeth together in anger.

Beautiful...

Now his Force rose like a wave around him. His rage pouring over with his power sent her obediently dropping to a knee once more. She knew the face that was hidden behind the mask of his helmet or at least... she had, once a long time ago. Yet she didn't know him in that same light now. It had been to long. Surely he'd grown into such a captivating man, but there were those who's aesthetics were physically effected by their power, especially within the dark side. She didn't care though, she longed for him regardless.

"Never say that name again!" He growled and the weight of his Force pressed over her, crushing her bent frame further to the floor.

"Y-yes Master." She submitted to his will without resistance. "Pl-please allow me to- to assist you like you did for me."

On a snap his Masked face lowered in her direction. "I'm in no need of assistance."His Force twisted around him and she knew the risk in her plea only increased.

"You want her!" She hastily exclaimed, hanging the bait between them and hoping it would be tempting enough that his desires would take over and she'd be safe from his Darkness once more.

His fists clenched in a mixture of deadly annoyance and fueled agitation. She was failing to keep her own desperation to herself and expeditiously loosing any control of the situation she may have had. If she wasn't careful he'd slip right over the edge. They were so in tuned that she could see the red coming even before he could and he was getting closer.

"Yes, you're progressing," Despite the painful grip of his Force still squeezing tightly around her and slowing her ascension, she pulled herself up from the ground. "But she still resists." His Third desperately continued. "Mas—" Her air supply was dwindling. The more she spoke the tighter his grip on her became. He was crushing her, his Force constricting more tightly around her with every passing second. "Master, I can- help you... not as your kn-knight..." His third was sputtering now, running dangerously low on the oxygen needed to survive let alone to present her words with.

He hesitated at the mention of what she was to him; his knight, his responsibility. It was a hard reminder but it was not her fault that she'd been put in this position. He shouldn't be so callous with her, so violent. His knights were his but they were his comrades and within reason, and in private, they were allowed the reins to speak freely around him. No matter how compliant she seemed with this task, her being here was still his Masters doing. Again he released her and the second her feet touched the floor they were carrying her forward. Her knees half buckled and his hands shot out to stabilize her. The second she had her bearings enough to stand on her own he released her.

Her eyes watered from suffocation and the red ringing around her bright blue irises only made their color stand out more. She straightened herself. Squared her shoulders off to his and locked her spine in place.

"I stand before you un masked, under no pretenses, and under no impulses. You would not be taking anything I am unwilling to give." She chanced another step closer, her fists clenching and unclenching at her sides.

"Foolish girl." He shook his head dishearteningly. "You would not be here if it were not for the push of my Master."

Kylo began to turn away. His shoulders already half facing the fresher when she called out to him again.

"It's true! With out the encouragement of the Supreme Leader I would have never been brave enough to..." She paused, waiting for him to acknowledge her and when he didn't she pressed on with more gusto. "To approach you in such a manner." She finally confessed.

The Master knight slowly turned. In honesty he was taken back by what she was saying. He should be the last person surprised by her feelings. It was his job to know his Knights better then anyone. Especially his six. They literally could not be more apart of each other then they already were. How had he missed this?

She was bashfully facing the ground, her eyes purposely averted from his as if to hide her shame but it was he who felt should be ashamed. How long had she felt this way? Why hadn't he sensed it sooner? What had he done to bring this about?

Then, like the overhead lights clicking on, he understood. It was not of her own nature to feel this way, this was his power. The amount that always hummed though his six and now the desires brought about by his Scavenger being so near... his Third was simply responding to those feelings. He shook his head pointedly.

"No, this is only a response to the bond that binds you to me coupled with the pull of my desires." He bowed his own head shamefully. It hadn't been his intention to string his knights along with his feelings for the girl he so openly coveted.

His knight's head tilted up to meet his face, helmet or no, she knew where he was looking. She could feel the shame she'd brought about in him. She was sure he thought he'd somehow influenced her emotions. Ben solo through and through...

"Master," Her hand lifted to the cool steel that encased his head but he flinched away.

It was not surprising to her. She'd been with him long enough to understand how uncomfortable any kind of contact made him. It had been so long since anyone was allowed to touch him. His Master forbade contact, especially of this kind. When he did receive comfort or affection it was through the manipulative hand of the same creature who denied him any kind of companionship. Verbally his Master would break him and verbally his Master would build him back up. The only physical contact this man knew was abuse and her heart, beating only because of him, also repeatedly ached because of him.

He was a wounded animal. Always expecting to be marred by any hands who sought to touch him. If only he realized how powerful he truly was, he would never shy from another hand again but years of conditioning had scarred the boy she trained with at the Jedi academy and as a man his first instinct was to bite at reaching hands. It made her wonder how he'd even progressed this far with the girl who'd somehow managed to catch his attention to the point of fixation. He was awkward as a boy and had killer instincts as a man. She wondered how he'd gotten this girl so comfortable with him in such a short time. Especially since this was the same girl who nearly killed him some months ago.

Had he removed his helmet? Had she fallen for the endless pools of the eyes she knew hid beneath.

"Your desires can not influence that which was always there." She delicately explained, defending the feelings she knew were real.

Kylo's neck crooked. His tilted head slightly leaning to one side as he intently studied the face of his Third. She couldn't possibly believe what she was saying...

With out another preemptive thought his hand reached for the side of her head. He gently cupped along her temple and he closed his eyes, he didn't need them to see inside of her mind. She leaned into his hand and deliberately surfaced the thoughts and memories she knew he was looking for.

She let him view every moment he left her cheeks flush. Every rush of heat she'd felt as he brushed passed her, every time they moved together during their training and more importantly the first memory that changed everything for her. The boy Ben, with blood on his fists and Darkness in his power brimming eyes. His Third let him see her as Lana once more. She let him watch as he tenderly tucked the young girl they'd been friends with into the safety of his cot. She let him view himself from her wide eyes as he rose with the intent of dispatching what was left of the man who'd repeatedly victimized her. Ben had permanently put a stop to it and he'd even asked if there were others who'd harmed her as well. Lana was mesmerized by him. Instantly infatuated. She shook her head and watched as he passed by, his suddenly imposing form exiting through the doorway that seemed to shrink around the sudden growth of his unleashed Darkness.

He pulled back from her mind in a rush. His eyes flickering over her heated face. Tears brimmed her eyes and her breath came in hard gasps but it wasn't from the Force of his mind prob. He'd been delicate enough. He stepped back from her then. This was not what he'd been expecting... he truly was terrible with women.

For a moment he'd forgotten who he was to her, forgotten how inappropriate her feeling were towards him, not that she could be blamed. They were developed so long ago that her suffering really was his fault. Had he known he would have left her. Certainly he would never have bound her to him in the way that he had. He could have let her rest peacefully.

Kylo felt an entirely new guilt to the weight of their chains. He should have noticed what seemed impossibly obvious now. As a Knight she'd given him no inclination, but as the girl Lana... the signs were defiantly there. After Kira had been taken from him he closed himself off. Practically left this poor girl behind with the memory of his young friend. He wondered suddenly if she knew who the girl was that he'd brought back with him... if she somehow realized that his Scavenger and Kira were one in the same.

Suddenly his knight felt dangerous to him. Something about this situation seemed to make the fine hairs along his arms and neck stand on end.

"To one another, we will never be more then Knights." He said sternly, as though this were his official decree.

"Of course not." She bowed her head solemnly. "If I ever thought things could be different I would not have waited so long to approach you Master. But you must see now why I wish to help you." She stepped further into the heat of his body. "I can offer you comfort and experience." Her trembling hand raised and she carefully pressed her palm to his armor clad chest. He tensed but she explored further, running her fingers down the fine toned lines of his hidden abdomen until she found the v cut between his hips that led like a map to the center of his frustration.

She looked up to him, her eyes searching the unexpressive lines of his black and silver mask. He was breathing heavily. Her words were only just sinking in when her hand traced lower. "Woman like a confident man." She moved lower still, her fingers skimming the surface of what she'd dreamed about having since she was a young angsty teen. Her lips parted and in her own rush of desire she became short winded. "I can feel it. You're so pent up. So much rage and desire burns in you." It was then that her hand confidently cupped him. She gripped her Master in her palm and he groaned at the unexpected touch. She was wet in an instant. "I can help you find release." Her voice lowered with the weight of her lust.

Kylo Ren sucked in a sharp breath. Everything she offered should have been tempting. She was beautiful, seductive and willing. She knew what she was offering and she certainly knew how to bring his thoughts to what she was suggesting. He swelled under her hand and he should have found enjoyment in the touch. The gentle warmth that he'd been denied for so long she now freely offered him without conditions. Her hand squeezed along as much as she could fit in her grip and she began a rhythmic petting. An obvious intent came from the repetitive movements of her hand over his stiffening manhood but regardless of his bodies response he wanted nothing to do with what she was brazenly suggesting. He clenched his teeth at her touch.

His hand shot out and he grabbed her wrist in a painful lock before pulling it to the side of his body. "You think I don't know how to bring release to myself?" He hissed condescendingly. "Is it that you think I don't understand how a woman's body works?" He leaned over her then. The cool steel of his mask brushing against the heated surface of her skin. "Or is it that you think I don't know how to unravel a female?" He seductively taunted her eliciting a faint gasp from her gaping mouth.

Partially from his crushing grip on her wrist and partially from his nearness, his Third whimpered. "I can read minds... remember." He practically teased her with his words. His voice was low and dangerous, even more so through the distortion of the vocoder in his mask and his knight responded shamefully. She stepped closer to his body, pressing her chest flush against his in an attempt to prolong the comfort of being so close after longing for him for so many years.

Kylo flung her hand away and stepped back from her. She practically withered before him. Her knees turned in and she internally shrunk. It was only the little dignity she had left and the respect she had for him that kept her from sinking to her knees at his rejection.

He'd seen it in her mind. As badly as she wanted him, a concept he just couldn't wrap his head around, she really only wished to help him. Of course as fleeting and as one sided as it would have been, she would have found comfort in his acceptance if he chose to take her up on her offer but he couldn't blame her for that. He pitied her. It was a weak response but he understood her feelings. Her emotions were resonating through him and it would surly be felt by the other of his knights as well. The bitter sting of her pain was familiar to him. He felt it every time his little scavenger turned him away.

"Collect yourself." He demanded coldly. "You're of no use t me if you can't think with the mind that's kept you of value until this point." He knew this was harsh but he needed her to snap out of this and quickly if he were to protect her reputation from the other knights they were tethered to. He had no idea how they would handle this side of her. He wasn't sure how to handle it himself.

Her mouth opened at his cruel words. Her eyes blurred with held back tears and he had to swallow hard to keep himself from recoiling at her unhinged reaction. He'd never seen her falter. Never witnessed anything but loyalty and calculated strength from his Third. It was unnerving, how feminine and fragile she suddenly looked. Kylo raised his hand and she stepped back in fear. He clicked his tongue to the roof of his mouth in dissatisfaction but the sound didn't register through the modulator of his helmet. When the piece that completed her armor rested firmly in his hand he stepped closer to her.

"Enough of this, it's time to collect yourself now. You are my Third," He raised his arm out to her, offering the helmet she'd chosen to accept years before. "Your worth to me goes beyond anything you could physically offer." Her chin raised at his words and he was hoping it was in understanding of the compliment that he was paying her.

She watched him from beyond the shine along her helmet, her eyes wide and circular in their astonishment. He bent his wrist, raising his hand higher and her watery blue orbs shot down to the helmet he held out to her. She took the piece in both hands and pulling it tightly to her chest, her eyes moved to his masked face once more.

"Are you my Third?" He asked sternly but the question was meant to sit openly between them. The power of whether she remained a Knight or not was left in her hands.

The woman once known simply as Lana, loyally replaced the helmet over her face. Her Master responded with the intensity that she'd grown to expect from him. The Master knight of Ren stepped close to her now, his hand raising to cup the curve of the ancient metal that with the mere act of its adornment, completely altered her identity.

"Are you still apart of us... A part of me? Do our oaths still stand... or do you seek release?"

His warrior took to one knee before him. "So long as you need me, I am yours to command Master." She solemnly declared, her head bowed once more in obedience.

The Master knight let his hand return slowly to his side as he watched her through the curved slit of his mask. "Good! Now get some rest Third, I'm sure I'll need your council soon enough."

The head of his warrior shot upright. He didn't need to see her face to know she was surprised and when she sprung to her feet he was quick to set verbal limits between them. He wouldn't chance her getting the wrong idea about their arrangement.

"I'll expect your insight in certain cases and situations." She nodded too quickly and Kylo raised his hand before she let her mind wander in to an auto response. "Nothing physical will transpire between us. Do you under stand?"

"Yes Master, of course."

He briefly nodded and though he was certain she understood it took him a silent moment before he was sure he'd done enough to convey the boundaries of their working relationship while not damaging the roles they held as Knights. "Then you're dismissed."

Tucking the length of her braid into the thin hook at the back of her helmet, his Third rose. She looked proper again. To any passerby the thick armor folded over her breast would conceal the fullness of her femininity. Her hips were hidden beneath the triangle of fabric that squared off any curve to the eye above it. Even the pads of her shoulders where straightened and elongated to make her appear wider in form. Finally, with her helmet returned to its proper place, her countenance was once more erased by the anonymity the confines of the helmet provided.

Very few knew what she looked like underneath and he was thankful for that. It made her exceedingly good at her job, his rogue. She could come and go as needed and no one would so much as recognize her. Commonly referred to by his other knights as Keypad for the checkerboard squares cut into the lower section of the faceplate of her mask and her uncanny ability to crack nearly any code she was challenged with, she was among his most valuable assets and he wanted to keep her that way so long as she'd agree to stay.

Kylo nodded to her back with approval and he was sure to let her feel the pride he had for her on her way out. She looked as she should now. Not a girl or a woman or even an identifiable male. She looked like a knight. An enigma to any on looker. He was much more comfortable with her in this guise. Much— more comfortable.

The second the door sealed shut Kylo's hands were on the sides of his helmet. The release came with a hiss that sounded too loud for the small hydraulics and it took everything he had not to throw the damn helmet across the room. Instead he slammed it down on a table specially made to hold the piece that he was growing more weary of by the day. He eyed the detailed mask disdainfully.

Today had not gone the way he'd hoped it would have. He supposed all in all everything went as smooth as possible but,

"Kriff! Just—Kriff!" Kylo spat out loud to no one.

If he broke it all down in the simplest of descriptions; He'd acquired his Masters approval to have Rey in whatever way he desired, a feat which he'd never thought possible until it happened. He'd gotten her outfitted to First Order standards, mostly, also pretty unbelievable. She'd agreed to be his apprentice and though it was with strings attached; he'd kriffing done it! This was so unbelievable that he still wasn't sure if that was real or if he'd made it up in his head... but he digressed. They'd finally arrived on his Destroyer, though not without making a scene the second they departed his personal shuttle and now, holy kriffing Force, now she was in a room almost precisely below his!

Of course he'd had to deal with her rag tag friends and their release, he wished he could have passed on having to personally handle that but it needed to be him to be done right. And to top of the day that had as many positives as it did negatives, he'd had to handle whatever that bantha dung was with his Third...

"What the kriff?!?" Kylo swore one last time before he began stripping away the layers of gear his armor was comprised of.

He unclasped his belt, so lost in his own thoughts that he settled for just dropping it at the foot of his bed before moving on.

He'd hoped for a good long break in the fresher. Maybe he'd even take the chance to relieve some stress brought on by having his Scavenger so close and the way they'd interacted in his shuttle during the trip here had left him aching. Maker the images he'd conjured in her mind had tormented him since he'd shared them and when she'd kept that idea lingering between them...

Budding frustration spread further through him. His fists crushed the air at his sides. She was just beneath him, a place he'd been fantasizing about since the first time he'd crushed her weight to his chest and carried her to his shuttle. Sure it wasn't in the same context but his body didn't give a damn about what logic his brain pestered it with.

His fingers hooked along the underside of his tunic and he worked the thick material over his shoulders and head. He shook out his hair, working free the dishevelment of the already helmet tussled mess.

She could be sleeping...

If she was it would be sooo easy to slip inside of her head and manipulate her dreams. They'd unknowingly done it to one another before, but he was pretty sure that was against the rules they'd recently set in place. He wasn't hiding behind that though. He knew better then to pretend he was. If he had the energy left he'd tamper with her sleep fogged mind so quickly...

After unclasping the buckles that held his armguards in place he peeled the thick pleated armor away. Cool air assaulted his leather free arms and Kylo unconsciously shivered in response.

She'd said she wanted space but there was nothing physical about advancing on her in her dreams. After all, it's not like he'd really be in the same room with her.

Not really.

He angrily shook his head as if the force of the act could shake the lecherous ideas free from his mind. His thumbs hooked along the waistline of his trousers and he ran them along the front circumference while he thought about whether he should even dare removing them or not. He'd been practically stuck at half mast since she'd woken up in his lap almost a week ago. He'd been kriffing looking forward to relieving some pent up frustration since he'd found her scrubbing her thighs in that damn wash hut. The same hut she'd worked at his injured and bared torso in. And since then he'd shamelessly flattened his body to hers at every chance he got.

Gods above and below, he wanted to think about that while he spent time in the steaming heat of a long shower. Instead the hand of his Third was the last thing to touch where he needed release and for makers sake, he couldn't get off now! What in the freezing winds of Hoth would that say about him?

His thumbs pulled away from the rim of his trousers and he howled in angry frustration. His hands ran through the thick waves of his hair and finally giving into his defeat, Kylo plopped down on the edge of his bed to work at removing his boos. His fingers nimbly pulling and plucking at the straps one foot at a time as he mindlessly freed one foot after the other. He peeled off his socks and in a fashion not at all like himself, he threw them to the far end of the room. Only seconds after he flopped back onto the bed he was already contemplating hunting those socks down to better deposit them in the wall shoot by the washroom. He pulled his lightsaber from his waistline and toyed with it in his hands. The weight and texture was a comfort, something solid and familiar to hold onto as he ignited and disengaged it repeatedly. Sometime along the way he'd lost himself to his random thoughts.

Perhaps if he could bring himself to stand he could at least step into the fresher for hygienic purpo—

"Ren..." Her voice crept like a whisper through their glimmering string and Kylo flew up to a seated position so quickly he almost skewered himself with one of the exhaust ports that formed the cross of his saber. He quickly extinguished the blade.

In the comfort of his now completely dark room he waited in what felt like an endless silence, only blinking occasionally to clear the red halos that had been left in his retinas from the bright burning glow of his previously lit plasma blade. He knew it was impossible for him to hear her with his physical senses yet there he sat, his eyes squeezing tightly shut as his ears strained for the relief of any sound that could convince him that what he'd just heard was real, that she'd just called out to him in what must have been the middle of the night.

He wondered at what point he'd let their bond slip open, even as slight as the access to each other was there bond was now ajar.

"I um, I hope I'm not bothering you..."

His heart flipped in his chest. He was sitting, previously laying, half clothed in his bed and she was reaching for his mind with hers... Maker the endless scenarios he was already working up in his mind left fire burning in his veins.

Wait... why was she reaching for him? His damned logic had to go and ask a sensible question when all he wanted to do was stew in the mixture of his perversities and exuberance.

"I'm sorry I-I shouldn't have bothered you. I just, when I could feel you again...I could tell you were still awake and... I'm sorry."

She sounded so... alarmed? So uncertain? No, insecure! That was definitely it. She was insecure about speaking with him, or maybe about how he'd handle her after earlier...

"What...? No!" He close to yelled. "I mean, no. You're not bothering me." He quickly edited his response, this time answering her in a calmer manner.

She was silent for longer then he liked and for an agonizing moment he thought maybe she had decided not to bother with him after all.

"It's kind of embarrassing but... I really wanted to get cleaned up and I... Well I don't know how to work the panels on the fresher. They're far more complex then those at the Resistance base." She defended herself rather hastily.

A deep relieving rumble burst free from the confines of his chest. His eyes literally teared at the corners he was so happy to hear her voice again. For a moment he though he'd scared her off. —And for once today the problem was a simple one that required an equally simple solution.

He thought about how to explain it to her but doing so made him realize what she was asking, which lead to him imagining where she was right now...

Was she already in the cleaning station? Already undressed? He was careful not to project his private thoughts but his instantaneous response was a whole other issue.

"I can show you how." Even through his thoughts his words sounded suggestive.

He spit it out between them before he thought about how it could be interpreted and it wasn't until her blush ran through their bond on the wings of the erupting butterflies in her stomach that Kylo realized just how that sounded.

"I mean— what I meant was..." He quickly closed his eyes and passed the images of the activation panel and the different operational settings she could choose from between their minds.

She was silent another long moment and Kylo flopped back along the bed certain this time she'd cut off their connection. He threw his arm up over his eyes and sank into the cool comforter beneath his fevered back and shoulders. If only this bed could swallow him whole.

"That did it. Thank you... Master." Her words, even between their flowing line which was for some reason now glowing brightly between them, were breathy and quick. All except the last.

The way she said Master through their bond, the way it floated gracefully from her mind into his... if the two were in the same room right now it would be him on his knees before her!

Kylo cleared his throat as though it would help the way she mentally heard him.

"Don't worry about the hot water. The ship's engine room puts off an endless supply of heated water. So you know- no worries there." He sounded kriffing chipper... spewing off stupid facts about the damn correlation between the engine room and heated water supply.

What the Maker's fiery wrath was he talking about? Why would he say that? What the kriff would she care about the heated water supply for? Kylo chastised himself for blundering like an inexperienced youngling.

Still fidgeting with his lightsaber, kylo released a deep sigh. Regaining his lost composure the dark knight tightly bottled up his nerves long enough to fix his gaffe.

Hoping to have enough subtle innuendo as to not sound like it was to intentional but rather an innocent miscommunication should she take it as perversely as he secretly intended it to be, Kylo chose his next words very carefully.

"Apprentice... Enjoy yourself." His voice strummed through the hauntingly quiet space between them, vibrating across their bond in his naturally deep baritone.

He'd made sure to send a whisper of his Force pulsing through their connection. Just the slightest trace of himself, a feather of a touch really. Hopefully enough to rouse her imagination or at the bare minimum to cause an innocent chill to run along her spine the way his fingers longed to.

*Hey guys n gals.... so— what did you think? I really hope you all liked this chapter. It was a very important one and I'm very glad I finally got it done. There was a lot to plant in this one and I'm wondering how many of you caught on to what I hope was an oh $hit moment but we shall see. If you didn't that's ok, I'll flush this plot out a lot more before the end creeps up on us, and don't worry there's a lot more to come. I was going over plot with my husband and realized while I've laid a ton out, there is still a lot that has to happen before I can even think about writing out our ending. I'm as overwhelmed by that as I am overjoyed because I really didn't think it would be this long of a story, let alone at about the half way mark. I hope you guys see it through to the end with me! I'd love the company! 😘*

~As always, ⭐️Vote⭐️, Comment and discuss!~

-DarkGuardian-