The world darkened around Kylo Ren —or, to him, it certainly seemed to.

His open hand was still waiting in the air between himself and the only thing in the room that he could see through the thickening haze that was quickly engulfing him. A slight twitch ran from his wrist out through his open palm, down to the tip of his extended thumb as his hand remained in its self-imposed suspension.

In the blink of an eye, Rey seemed so far away from him. Suddenly lightyears, even though he was sure that she was only just with him. Somehow, as if the reality they had both previously existed in was no longer reliable, there was a separation between them. An unfathomable spans of distance now held her absent from his reach. She appeared somewhere ahead of him, yet based off of scene building around him, very vividly in the past.

His hand trembled and he shook his head to clear the growing confusion in his mind.

She was only just here... Trying to reset his focus, Kylo blinked repeatedly, but the attempt made no difference and his mind fought to hold on to his formerly perceived reality.

Wasn't she? He already began to doubt the validity of his most recent memories. The ones that ensured him she was here. The same that told him she had agreed to stay with him, to train with him, learn from him. But he could almost imagine these to be reality... surely there could be dire enough circumstances in which she would have to accept him as her Master. But then there were the deeper more personal admissions he'd gotten from her. Tender, vulnerable moments where he felt her submit to the temptation of his body and mind. Moments where she'd undoubtedly accepted him, wanted him --though she refused to act on these desires.

  The more he thought on it, the less believable those moments became. Was this his mind tormenting him again? He honestly couldn't remember. The fog muddling his mind was so thick, so determined to keep him from the truth, that he just couldn't see through to it.

Though clearly Force induced, the misconception of the world around him was close to a Force vision, but he knew it wasn't. Purposely his perception on things was being changed. He could sense the distortion of his blurry thoughts and his Force honed senses instantly alerted him that this was some sort of manipulation but his mind wasn't clear enough to understand the what or why of it.

Then the room around him changed. Morphing under his very feet into such a sickeningly familiar scene, that Kylo lost what remained of his ability to maintain awareness of the manipulation taking place.

All at once, the realization of where he was now standing robbed the last of what common sense glued him to reality, ripped it away and left him lost in a memory that tormented him more often then any other of his inner demons.

When he was left alone to long with his own condemning thoughts, left to reminisce on his darkest sins, Kylo would often drown here —in the place of his greatest regret.

Forged and cast in the fiery purgatory of his mind, he'd see her through the haze, every time. Beyond the smoke and ash, her silhouette, ignited by the light that shone from within her, would brightly beam from above. When she'd grace his visions, torments or otherwise, she'd always be just out of his reach. This one was no different and here, Kylo faded into the murkiness below her position.

His darkness, which he could never seem to really tame, would envelope him, surround him and suffocate him the very same way it was beginning to do right now. He could feel the building pressure in his chest, smell the stale recycled air venting up from the guts of the fuming base below. In comparison to all that was taking place around him, he was insignificant.

—Small again. Like that of a boy wearing armor far too big and heavy for the build of his narrow frame and weak shoulders... and he knew the last time that he'd really felt this way...

Immediately he recognized where he was. His confirmation wasn't found in just the recognition of his surroundings, but from the searing pain which accompanied the brand his actions cast in the fire of his own burning guilt. It wasn't the first time that guilt tortured him in a way that was so intense, it became something he could feel physically, but it was the most prominent of all of his suffering and it brought him back to the specific night when he'd first felt it this intensely.

A tragically broken Ben was on the bridge hiding beneath Kylo's armored persona, his mind already tired from lack of sleep and his will already worn down from his ever incessant need to prove himself to his Master, the Supreme Leader. He was already so confused, his choices and decisions always being pushed and pulled between the Light and Dark, but never to be understood in such a simple manner.

Though physically he was too old to be considered such, the boyish part of him was always angry, bitter, and volatile over his abandonment. He lashed out in the face of any confrontation. This should have been what fueled the decision to take his father's life but he hadn't thought of the man as a father since he was a youngling, and the truth was, it wasn't anger that led to the ignition of his lightsaber... It was desperation.

It was a deep, honest need to feel free of the coils of his conscience. He tried so hard to leave his guilt behind, to stand fully in the Darkness —as his Master not only expected of him, but commanded!

  Bellow him, there was a thick mist of smoke and steam, swirling to a close after swallowing the remains of his fallen, biological father, and it hurt to breath.

He knew the planetary beast that fed on him would leave nothing behind. The mech-enhanced planet had become such an efficient war machine that the gullet in which the body of Han Solo was swallowed by —veined with live wires and adorned with nodes of high powered coils, would have generated enough heat to incinerate anything; especially something as delicate as fabric and flesh, should it be unfortunate enough to pass between them on the way to its molten core.

Kylo found his throat constricting as he relived a moment in time which he deeply regretted. The defiant, Scavenger who'd recently challenged him —sent him tail tucked and running back to his Master for guidance, was up on a balcony, clear across the bridge with an entire floor level set between them.

Kylo could see her face as though she were standing only feet from him and how she looked at him then... the horror and disgust she clearly displayed there, was eminent. Well before her rage set in he could visibly see her pain. It was burned into his cortex and it was another guilt that would inevitably keep him up at night. Another blemish on his darkening soul.

  Gods help him, she looked like that to him now. So so far away... so horrified as she looked down on him in disbelief, then hate.

And there he was, lost in his own self loathing. Drowning in a regret he knew he would never be free from. What's worse, he was still reaching for her light like a pathetically weak child.

His anger was there, overwhelming, yet still it was unable to compete with the guilt that followed in its wake; the guilt he felt for slaying his own blood; his real father. Here the powerful emotion was on its own level. It toiled at him painfully slow and forever endless. Like hands, set to work at pulling his ribs from the muscle and flesh that encased them. Snapping each, one by one. Yanking at the protective cage until the blackened, beating organ in his chest was fully exposed and ripe for the plucking.

The crime was committed amongst many others and almost a full years cycle ago, but he was still angry about what he'd done and the guilt would never let him forget. It remained as pungent as the night it happened. And as violent, still silently ripping his veins free from his skin to wrap like rope around his neck, a noose from which he would hang on display for all to see. The patricidal son... unveiled and mutilated for his crimes. Just as he knew he deserved...

The Dark-knight's biceps began to burn from the strain of holding his arm steadfast, his hand still slightly trembling with its need to close off the final inches between he and the girl that was physically in front of him. Though Kylo still couldn't see her there, his palm lowered significantly. The turn of his hand now cresting to parallel the vulnerable line of her soft throat.

She'd seen his sin and fairly judged him for it... His guilt picked at him like a vulture and her past accusations became startlingly loud in his head. 

"You're a Monster..."

Kylo internally cringed and suddenly he could see the intent of his reach manifesting in the Force. She wasn't near him in his mind, but he could still affect her with the touch of his abilities. Even while his palm pressed into her neck and his fingertips settled down along the rung of her spine, there was no anger for her. This emotion was reserved solely for himself. He'd killed and fed his father to the darkness like a sacrifice... all so he could appease his Master and maybe sway the Light from pulling at him so insistently. Her only crime had been her attendance to the awful matter. She reluctantly watched from above, another type of victim looking down on the worst kind of fiend.

-Monster! The word echoed through his skull.

His atrocity had brought the condemnation forth from her trembling lips, and he deserved it! -Earned it, even!

He'd never be human to her. Not after witnessing that. And he'd done it to himself!

Kylo's fury over his own atrocities grew until once again he felt his guilt constricting around his neck. He welcomed it though, looked forward to his own destruction...

He deserved whatever punishment he got.

He watched as his fingers pressed against her throat, his insides twisting with horror and he saw it all from the position of a hapless onlooker. His movements seemed to be someone else's and he found himself in a paralyzing shock, or fear, over it. Even when his thumb pressed down into the soft tissue of her neck, causing the smooth flesh beneath to recede under the increasing pressure he applied, he was unable to stop it, unable to control his own actions.

Kylo fought against the reality his mind was feeding him and he began to rebuild his mental defenses, worked to regain control of himself.

  Ben.... His father's voice boomed from behind him, echoing relentlessly in his head, brining the boy, Ben to the forefront of the battle again.

Anger, regret, guilt, —his insides twisted as the self imposed war between, light and dark toiled away from within. Kylo felt the muscles in his hand spasm as he fought the urge to squeeze out his growing rage. He craved the release of pressure that came with the balling of his tightly clenched fist, but he couldn't have it this time. For some reason that he currently couldn't pin point, he knew he had to refrain from taking this small relief. There was a reason he needed to maintain self-control but for the life of him...

--You're a Monster! The line derailed him again and he lost his mental footing, falling back into his imposed state of delirium...

The shift in pitches... no longer was it his fathers voice calling from behind him, beckoning him to turn and face him on the bridge. It was hers again, only this time, he could clearly see her. In this new scene, the scavenger was ahead of him again. Here, she stood only several feet from him. He'd surprised her, cut her off from her escape, just as he'd hoped too when he set out after her. For a perceptively frail looking thing, she glared ferociously at him. The only distance keeping them apart was occupied by the cold, snowy forest laid between them, and this was the only thing protecting his vulnerable, unmasked skin from feeling the heat of her burning stare.

He knew from the second he saw her that she was going to challenge him in the same way she'd managed during his interrogation of her... and his blood raced from it! Rage wasn't the emotion that fuel injected his veins. It was need. Admittedly, he was enamored by her. --By everything about her... and it thrilled him in ways he'd never known to desire.

He stood before her, cloaked and clad in armor, leader of an army —though he wasn't really sure of how accurate that statement was. To be honest he led the army only at his Master's command and the soldiers under it, were very aware of this. But still, it didn't discourage from the fact that he was a trained, honed weapon. In skill of arms and by Force, Kylo knew he had her both physically and mentally.

What hope had she had of defeating him? Even with the gaping hole in his side? What did she even have to fight for? As far as he'd glanced through her mind, she didn't even know what or who the resistance really was, only some silly child's fantasy of the thing...

Did she fight for her freedom... —from the First Order? From him? —To go back to what? Crawling in and out of old ships like some filthy sand rat?!?

Yet she stood toe to toe with him. She fought against him, eventually on his exact level... And when he offered her as much of a partnership as he was capable of... she spurned him, cut him down and left him for dead on an already crumbling planet, set to implode.

The moment should have broken him. Especially after what he'd just done to his father... but no. Instead it gave him something to reach for. Something to fight for. She had a rage like himself but not the Darkness, and what she'd borrowed from him hadn't consumed her. From that moment all confusion on the matter had cleared.

He wanted her... no, needed her with him. And it didn't matter what she thought of him, he was going to have her by his side!

In the present, kylo's left hand, still latched onto Reys slender hip line, squeezed down hard.

Rey's right thigh spasmed from the growing discomfort of being trapped on her knees below him and she jerked to one side when his fingers bit deeply into the bone of her hip. She pulled at the top of his gloved hand with her own, but he seemed to ignore the fact that she was even there at all.

He was clearly going through something in his head that she couldn't see, which was odd considering how close they were to one another. Usually, whether they wanted it or not, there bond would kick in and one or the other would be forced to callously witness whatever was currently taking place in the other's mind. seemingly un-bias, their bond didn't care whether it was something personal or... intimate...

Shamefully, even while insecure about the current situation she was in, the quick admittance lit Rey's cheeks up with heat. Last night's accidental encounter was the perfect example of how random and unpredictable their Force bond could be.

Rey attempted to shift some weight from one knee to the other but Kylo's grip was too tight to allow for much adjustment. Her mouth was quickly drying, her lips barely open, but her breathing still coming in big gulps. She'd seen him surrounded by Darkness before, but this... this was something else entirely.

His aura had usually appeared dark and smoky, but the color had always been a prism of blacks, like an infinite amount of colors had been fused together until they bled away their individual shades. The absence of Light and color to birth a pure Darkness. A living, stirring thing that moved around him, into him, and out through him.

This was an unusual red, and while there was a smokey hue to it, it wasn't as thick as the Force Kylo usually gathered around him. Further more, there was something invasive that she could see lurking through the windows of his eyes. It appeared to have a connection from somewhere within him, but the energy seemed stuck merely settling around him, like a cocoon, not able to move in and out of him like his normal brand of power. In fact, it seemed fixed at lingering, she noticed. It sat as a stationary thing, registering more like a barrier around him then that of his actual Force.

Maybe that's why she'd felt so cut off from him, even while one hand locked onto her and the other, well she wasn't yet sure what he was doing with the other.

At first, it too only lingered in the short distance between them. He'd bared his hand before reaching back up to her, and honestly, at first she thought he was going to try to read her thoughts again. Admittedly she'd steeled her mind in preparation for his advance. It would have made sense to assume this, she concluded. He'd said she needed to strengthen her mind. The whole lesson here so far had been about shielding her thoughts... and why else would he remove his armor in preparation of touching her?

The tender moment they shared only a few fleeting seconds ago now seemed to come more from her end then his. but for an instant, she thought it was mutual... the desperation on his face when he removed the glove from his sheathed hand...

But then he froze, hesitation and something else clear on his confusion wrought face. His eyes started to change and she knew something was off, but how so, she had no idea. For another long moment he just left his hand between them and she wondered if it was because he was waiting for her to do something. But then the strange Force moved around him, seeped out from him like it had previously been hiding somewhere within him and was now spilling free, unable to re-enter him once released. Rey had never seen or experienced anything like it. But honestly, nothing about the lessons she was receiving today had been within her wheel house.

It hurt that he'd literally just been holding her, sharing some of his strength with her while she rested against him in a sort of Force induced fatigue... and then he was gone. Less then a foot from her and literally grasping her with one hand while reaching for her with another, and then... just gone.

motivated by her exhaustion, Rey closed her eyes for a mere second and when she opened them...  she found him looking at her. Not through her as he previously had, but really, looking at her.

There was something so... broken in the way he gazed down at her in that exact moment.

Staring up at him like a gloss eyed doll, she became absolutely still while he unexpectedly began to move again. She waited, a drop of rain frozen in time, while the shadow of his hand climbed up the rung of her collar bone. She was sure the darkness of his shadow blended seamlessly with the blackness of her armor, she knew wouldn't protect her even an ounce, should he suddenly decide he wanted to hurt her. But the turmoil of his features, she couldn't move... couldn't break her stare, even if it meant she'd be left more vulnerable then she already was.

He looked like Ben, young and vulnerable in the way that he showed his emotions. She swallowed hard on that thought.

It would have seemed ridiculous after everything they'd recently gone through. She never thought she'd see him as Ben again, but his face... there was something so recognizable about how it looked here... torn and lost, just like that night on the bridge.

...Across from his father...

Is that where he was in his mind? Could he even see her here now, kneeling in front of him in the present? The vulnerability in his face... was he, —in his own mind, Ben? And if so, was that why he appeared to be suffering?

Rey didn't understand it and something deep inside of her thought his misery justifiable, but it's mere existence allowed her to find it unacceptable. She couldn't allow it! Set firmly in her resolve, Rey lifted her chin, exposing her vulnerable neck to his seeking hand and the blackness of it's shadow crawled over that too. She couldn't see it of course, but she felt it. In the tugging of her own pulse through her throat as it beat in tune with the lulling pull of his Force under the surface of his palm... she felt it.

And when his skin settled over the armor that covered her neck, his stature rose. He lifted himself higher up on his knees, but she didn't sink beneath him like she expected herself to. She too, lifted up from her heels, fully embracing her weight on her knees to match his pose. Her thighs already burned from holding herself still for so long, but she ignored their ache and remained holding herself steadfast beneath his height.

She didn't understand what was happening but she'd come here to learn and if this was some sort of test then she was sure she could pass, even while under the fatigue she was already fighting. She'd survived through worse in her time.

—Kylo felt his right hand as it ghosted over the fabric of her armor. He was mentally paralyzed in his confusion. One moment they'd been ready to face off in the forest on the surface of the StarKiller and in the next, he'd been kneeling across from her in his training room. He barely felt the pain biting into his knees, but it was enough to tell him he'd been in this position for a good amount of time, not that it meant anything. As far as he was concerned, the scene he was in could change again at any moment. 

To add to his confusion, he had no recollection of this memory. His actions before or after this moment eluded him.

There was however, a familiar thrill that came with being so close to this girl. Almost never did his mind put her in reach when he saw her there. The muscles in his right hand spasmed and he had the distinct urge to squeeze. He could feel the fabric of her top against his skin, but he was sure this was another figment of his desperation playing with his altered reality. Still, driven by his need to secure her, regardless of it only being in his unstable mind or not, he filled his palm with her throat. He didn't want to squeeze to harm her. Only to keep her from fading again, and the response seemed out of his control anyway.

—Panic filled his entirety, but logically what worry was there? She was never close enough to touch. Her face flashed through his mind again. She was staring down on him in the distance, hate and disgust still plain on her disapproving face, and he was assured...

The scene where she was willingly with him wasn't real. He was convinced it wasn't. Couldn't be... He'd never hurt her.

Kylo's thumb loosened from around her delicate throat, sliding along her armor until he found the edge of her tunic. The digit maneuvered beyond the rim of her collar, settling over the skin of Rey's jawline. He stroked along the curve of her soft neck, just below her chin and he pushed further into the fabric that previously separated their skin. It was marvelous when he felt the nervous swallowing of her bare throat against his ungloved thumb.

—Nothing about his hand wrapped around her neck was right, but she was no where near him... His Scavenger was as she'd always been to him; the three words that he most accurately associated with her,

Out. Of. Reach...

Accept, this time she wasn't. His large palm and long fingers were wrapped around her throat, but Rey wasn't scared. And she had no intention of running from him. In fact, she found herself arching her back, pushing her neck further into his wide palm and seeking thumb. He wasn't cutting off oxygen from her throat, wasn't hurting her in any physical way.

The knight above her had control over her for sure, but other then that, his hand held no other threat. No further danger then her short term submission. Perhaps it should have bothered her to be constricted by him. Maybe she should have fought his hold on her, denied the unvoiced claim of possession made by his hand, but starting at the miniscule point where skin met skin, then surging outward to engulf the full surface of his palm... and further spreading still, the Force which had previously been missing between them was now coursing through her.

Whatever was cutting him off from her earlier, it had nothing to do with her end of their bond, and her Force had gathered, now rallying around her to meet even the slightest call of his touch. It came skittering to life beneath his hand, pushing forward and forcing distance between the barrier that suppressed his mind and power. When he'd made the simple contact with her, just his bare thumb exploring along her skin, it was like a spark to tinder, igniting a fire that could no longer be denied.

A bright light grew from beneath the seal of their touch and Rey unconsciously leaned into the familiar heat, stoking the already smoldering embers igniting between them. Simultaneously the inky red hue that clung to Kylo's silhouette began retreating from the place where her Force gathered to meet his touch.

From the crack created by the joining of their Forces, it didn't take but seconds for his own Force to flood back in around him, encircling the pair like water filling an empty space. Rey's eyes rolled in her head and her hands dropped down to hang limply at her sides. His left hand was still tightly encompassing her right hip line, but she couldn't care less; the instant their Force joined together, Kylo's grip slightly loosened over her side, bringing a quick release to any mild discomfort she'd previously felt there.

All at once, his Force pressed over her; into her, from the two places his hands made contact and the same heat that rushed to greet the hand at her throat moved lower to meet the place at her hip where he still held her steadfast. Kylo's breath came in a tight gasp. The world around him came rushing back into focus and he found himself lurching forward, towards the heat of her signature.

He blinked down as though coming out of a deep, dark trance. And maybe he had, because he couldn't remember what exactly led him to this point in time. He remembered bringing his Apprentice here for her first day of training. He even remembered the details of that training, the part where she delved too far into his knight's mind and nearly became lost there. —Especially the part when she collapsed into his arms.

He recalled clearly when he'd felt the fatigue of her tired mind and he offered her aid by strengthening it with his own. From there on, things began to blur, but he had this unfathomable sense of dread; an encompassing feeling of guilt and rejection...

As though a switch had been flipped, everything that had been distorting his mind, all fell away. He felt the invasion of her warmth starting through his hand on her throat. His focus had instantly shifted back to her and he blinked against the brightness of it shinning out from beneath his touch.

Gods above and below, she looked like salvation in his damned hands. Her face was so soft, so content as she arched upward with her back, lifted high on her thighs to push herself further into the palm and fingers that held her firmly around the throat and neck. Her eyes were closed and she'd allowed her head to fall back, her mouth ajar as she breathed deeply through an esophagus his bare thumb rested along.

Kylo's Force pulled for hers, continuing to take what it wanted, to bask in what she so freely offered in troves. He briefly wondered how long that had been going on... surely not long, because he couldn't feel much of her energy moving through him, but even a little was enough to awaken him from whatever had been pulling at his mind.

Still, it was hard for him to understand the picture he was viewing first hand, but even while he was loosing himself in the way their Force ignited between them, he was trying to regain his mental ground. In the meantime, he just kept staring at her, memorizing the way she looked on her knees beneath his height.

Between both hands, he held her in his grip. He controlled her in ways he'd only dreamed of, especially since that morning on the island when she'd wrapped herself around his leg, painting a most tempting and dangerous kind of Master-servant picture in his head...

To his immense surprise she wasn't fighting him. He could see how she reveled in the feel of his control, but his hand around her throat didn't sit entirely well with him either... There was something borderline dangerous about it, particularly because he didn't remember placing it there in the first place. And it had only just occurred to him then, that his Force was still leaching at hers, draining her energy with every second that passed and neither did anything to dissuade it.

  The clearer the picture became the more this whole situation increased his sense of alarm, and the fact that she was allowing it, he couldn't decide how to feel about what seemed like her complete surrender as he drained her... his palm and fingers still around her neck...

Quickly, his hand jerked away from her throat, tearing apart the most pure point of where their Force was physically conjoined. Instantly his alpha roared to life. His muscles screamed in protest and for a quick instant, he felt as though he'd violently reach for her again. He'd already been struggling to keep that barbaric part of himself quiet since the lack of release he'd suffered last night in his private chambers. And if that wasn't bad enough, his Darkness was of the same mind. Even more so since it had been content feeding off of her Light, practically bathing in her essence, and he'd just completely cut of its supply.

  His insides twisted in protest. His inner demons and most prime urges telling him to posses... His chest filled with a lethal dose of adrenaline and his other hand, —maker help him, his other hand sank more deeply into the frail bone of her hip.

He was trying so hard not to hurt her, so desperately to keep himself under control. —And he was failing so miserably.

Why had she let him touch her this way?

His bare hand squeezed it into a fist, remembering all at once how almost tightly, he'd squeezed along the delicate rung of her vulnerable throat.

She had let him! Why?!?  And how could he?!? He wanted to protect her, not harm her!

—Protect.

...This was something his Darkness and Alpha always agreed with him on, and thankfully they wanted to do the same now.

The primal thing that resided so deeply in him, begrudgingly fell in line and reluctantly, his Darkness followed suit, pulling back from her by way of his Force.

—Eyes still closed and suddenly feeling as though her world was falling down around her, Rey's hands shot upward towards Kylo's mass and the comfort of the Force that was pulling away from her. Her hands found a steady wall and she latched onto the thick fabric covering it. Somewhere around his abdomen, she buried them in Kylo's armor, filling her fingers with as much as she could in hopes of steadying herself. As though trying to catch up to the physical response of loosing his touch and the unique brand of his Force that came with it, her heavy head tilted up and her eyes followed suit, groggily opening while her objecting Force rose around her in defiance of their now closing bond. 

Deep brown, met groggy hazel, and Rey's breath abandoned her. She was feeling too overwhelmed, too drugged by the Force that once flowed between them to think clearly. But even in her bewildered state, she could see that he was back. In the clarity of his eyes, Rey knew that Ben had come back to her again...

However, the sudden return of their connection and the draining of her already sparse Force had left her in a catatonic state of euphoria. And there after, when he'd pulled his essence back and cut her off from his power after very greedily draining most of hers, she'd felt suffocated, like his was the air she breathed and he'd stolen it not just from the from the room they were in, but from her very lungs too!

  Her eyes had opened with the expectation of finding confrontation and she went in immediately thinking he'd be the source of it. He'd looked so different only moments ago. First appearing as something unrecognizable, then fractured , and finally desperate in a most dangerous way... but now he was the epitome of familiar to her.

His eyes were dark and dangerous, but not to her... to her their power meant safety... comfort... and other, more primal things yet to be discovered.

Kylo... She recognized the difference between this version of himself and Ben Solo.

A whole medley of emotions surged through her, shinning boldly on the surface of her glossy eyes for him to see. The previous exhaustion was too heavy to be forgotten for long though and the relief she felt in finding him returned to her, quickly bowed under the straining weight of her fatigue. Seeing how he appeared either safe, or done with the latest trial he had for her, Rey finally let herself go, and she crumbled forward, her aching thighs releasing her weight which should have landed her hard —and likely face first, on the ground between them.

To her surprise though, her body didn't move an inch and she remained on her knees before him, her arms heavy and weak, but still extended so that her hands could cling to the front of his armor. As if her movements were set to slow motion, she blinked up at him sluggishly.

Rey wanted to sink into the feeling of his aura around hers, because even though he was now keeping it tightly controlled, she knew the moment she didn't face plant the floor between them, it was only his power that was keeping her upright. If only he'd let her bask in it, she could peacefully rest in the security of his strength, even if only for a brief moment, but alas, the hands of his Force denied her once again, only maintaining enough contact to keep her from falling over like the weakling that he must now finally realize she was.

Her power had been too feeble to stop his Darkness from drinking up the waning pool of her Light, or she'd just been too blind to notice, and maybe that's what his changing eyes and morphing aura had been all about from the start, a trick to distract her with —and boy did it succeed. After the day she'd had, her failure was currently just too much to contend with. Rey was embarrassed beyond belief but to mentally drained to respond properly.

Mortification came with the knowledge that she'd been so satisfied by the contact between them, but so utterly weak under the effects of it. If she had the strength to be more dignified she'd attempt to pull away from him. If for nothing less then to hide her shame at failing so miserably, she'd push him away before the tears building at the corners of her eyes gave her away.

Truthfully though, she hadn't an honest enough desire to flee from him, or the stubborn willpower left to do so. And with his Force wrapped like a blanket snuggly around her, she couldn't retreat no matter how she felt. Not even if she really wanted to, which she wasn't entirely sure of at this point.

So instead of the full escape she begrudgingly needed, but couldn't currently have, Rey put in what —to her, felt like an extreme amount of effort. But was more literally, a pathetic endeavor, to turn her head away from the intense eyes that bore down, into her. Whether it worked or not, she figured the least she could do was make an attempt at retreating from his scrutiny to reserve what little pride, if any, she still had left.

When Rey's chin lowered and she took her gaze away with it, Kylo's hands shifted position, each finding a new perch along either side of her soft, but determined face. From there he guided her line of sight back in his direction. It was so like his Scavenger to refuse him, her glossy eyes closing tightly to disobey him, unintentionally allowing a few renegade tears to break free from their creased corners.

He realized that after all that had happened between the time he retrieved her from her quarters this morning, until now, and as hazy as the last few moments were to him, that he should just leave her be. Give her time to recover from all that she'd endured here today.

But he couldn't just yet. He needed to see her eyes one last time... for what, he didn't really know. Maybe, simply because the primal thing that lived within him demanded her submission one last time before he could let her go. Maybe even because his Darkness needed the closure of physically seeing the effect he had on her internally, and aside from through their bond, there was no better way to find that truth, then through the windows of her un-lying eyes.

Either way, the combination of his Force and his hands, pulled her body upward in his direction.

There was an intoxicating contrast to the feel of his mirrored hands on either side of her head. His fingers feathered into her hairline, the thumb and palm of his right hand, bared and searing into her skin through naked contact. And his left hand, gloved and cool like a salve against her heated skin along the right half of her face. Each had its own unique feel, and she secretly longed for him to never let her go, but she knew eventually he would, just as she also knew that for her own survival, she had to allow it. —And soon, because if he didn't, she was going to die of exhaustion before this day was over.

All she had left was her ability to follow her Force, and that had instantly betrayed her, leading her right back to the face that she'd initially tried to turn away from. At some point while she refused him, he'd risen above her to a standing position and now he was completely bent over her, his dark hair hanging down over the front of his face and his chin was tucked towards his chest so he could maintain his line of sight with her, even through the inky black locks that followed the sharp line of his nose, nearly curtailing over his line of sight.

She was helpless again, but she felt no fear. She was too tired for that and there was no hostility in the way he looked down at her anyway. His eyes searched hers in a manner that made her feel naked, vulnerable, but it was far too late for her to look away again. Everything about him demanded her attention, and Gods help her, because while his deep brown eyes smoldered at her the way they did now, she was more then willing to oblige.

For a long, silence filled moment, all he did was stare at her. —Practically into her.

In all the time he'd captivated her attention, she'd only broken their stare once, and only just long enough to close her eyes so she could take a long, soothing, breath. When her gaze returned to his, he looked transfixed on her. What was transpiring behind those dark eyes left her light headed upon imagining. Thankfully just as she thought she was about to pass out, his jaw slightly moved, breaking the seal of his lips which suddenly drew her attention there, snapping her back into a weakened state of awareness. Just enough to keep her awake.

His deep voice pervaded her mind, melding into her thoughts as though they were initially her own, and when the weight of her Master's mind pressed over hers, she listened intently to the command her Force could feel quickly approaching. His bare thumb dragged languidly across her cheek and their essences trailed together behind his touch.

"Apprentice...," By the tone alone in which he said the word, Kylo more then beckoned her acknowledgment, he demanded her immediate and complete reciprocation.

There was no hesitation when she responded and she knew it wasn't because he'd forced her to do so... not yet, anyway. The weight of his mind still remained against hers, but it remained stagnant. So far the dark knight had applied no mind trick to demand her subjugation with.

Her own mouth moved and though her throat felt hoarse and weak, the word she spoke rang clear as a bell from her open lips.

"Master..." Her chin raised with the word and Kylo Ren pridefully mirrored the movement.

Their faces were level with one another, even as he stared down at her from high above her lowered position on her knees.

He waited another moment, for what he tried to tell himself was simply, good measure, but in all honesty, it was because he didn't want this moment to end. It was only because he knew she needed it to, that he would allow it. She was so tired. So exhausted from not only all she'd been through today, but from his Force, greedily soaking in far too much of hers.

-His fault, He knew to accuse, and the familiar feeling of guilt came back to him, but in this moment, aside from his most recent crimes against her, he couldn't understand why the feeling was so... fresh to him.

He swallowed hard, knowing he had to give her up, at least for the rest of the day and likely all of tonight. He wanted to be a selfish man and keep her here with him... or better yet, take her back to his private quarters... but he knew better, and honestly, he wouldn't want to have her this way. He wanted his full attention returned. Her full passion unleashed, just as he intended to do to her...

For the flicker of an instant, his eyes fell from hers and he caught the full sight of her face trapped between the palms of his hands. One naked and one gloved. In that short spans of time, he imagined how interesting it would be to explore her with the two most accurate representations of his most honest self. The hidden part that he could lay bare only at her feet; the man. And the part she was already fairly familiar with; the monster.

Kylo shook his thoughts free, hoping to dislodge them from his mind before she could find them in hers. His focus darted upward again, locking with the green and gold of her wide eyes just before he finished the command that came with a push of his mind over hers.

"Sleep."

He didn't speak aloud this time. Her bond-mate reserved his voice only for the space in her mind where their dazzling, amaranthine connection bridged them into one... and much like the first time he'd pressed this command over her, Rey fell into his darkly clad arms.

* Woweee! Hell of a first day training, ... but damn, sign me up!!!*

~ As usual, I really hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, if you did please ⭐️ and comment, I love the feed back so much! See you soon my freaky darlings and as always, Happy Reading, Reylos!.~

     -DarkGuardian-