AN: I encountered this poem again a couple days ago, and wrote it down as inspiration for some Kylo Ren concept art. I absolutely love this poem and have been doing some rough sketches of where I want this to go. Perhaps I'll be able to share the finished product here, if it's good enough. LOL

Chapter 14

Rey POV:

They were running, faster than ever, faster than she had ever ran in her life. Ben was beside her, a flurry of dark hair and pale skin, and a great comfort to her pounding heart.

"How'd you get here?" she asked, panting and hitching her skirt up to allow her legs to move freely. She cursed under her breath. This dress was not made for running, she thought.

"A fighter," Ben exclaimed, pulling her quickly out of the way of the raining bullets that flew from the blasters of troopers. "Here!" he said, kicking a blaster from a fallen trooper to her.

Quickly switching off the safety, Rey pressed herself into an indentation of the wall, mirroring Ben. She shot quickly, letting the laser hit one of the troopers in the chest.

"X-wing?" she asked, raising her voice and firing again.

"You got it."

Rey paused to shake her head. "You didn't think this through, did you?" She emerged quickly from her small nook in the hallway and with calculated precision, managed to hit another trooper. "Only room for one person in those, Ben."

Ben shot, accurately knocking the last trooper over. "Come on," he said, pulling her from the wall and breaking into a run. The hallway ended abruptly, giving way to two hallways branching off from the first. "Turn here," he told her, pointing to the left corridor.

"Now," he began between heavy breaths, "there are two ways this could pan out. The first one you won't like."

They came to a small room off the side of the hallway. Quickly, they stepped inside, pressing their backs against the wall and waiting for the patrol of troopers, making their daily rounds, to continue past them.

Rey's eyes, meanwhile, were wide with realization. "I'm not agreeing to this, Ben," she whispered harshly.

"I told you you wouldn't like it."

"You're being stupid."

Ben gave her a half-smile, reaching out and, in the blink of an eye, grabbing a passing trooper. With a wave of Ben's hand, the trooper slumped to the floor. Ben reached down and grabbed the trooper's key card. He held it up like a trophy, with a wide grin.

"I'm not stupid, Rey. I'm going to get you home."

"What about you, dimwit? I'm not leaving you here to die. You and I both know that Snoke is furious about what you've done. You're a traitor, and they'll need to use you as an example."

Ben licked his lips, smirking thinly. "Come to care for me, scavenger?" He was smiling at her, but even then, with the humor in his voice, Rey could see a sort of pleading in his eyes.

He wanted her to say that she had.

He wanted her to be honest with herself, and speak the truth they both knew when they looked into one another's eyes.

"I shouldn't have to answer a question you already know the answer to," Rey replied, staring up at him. "Now tell me what the second option is."

"Second option?"

"You said that there are two ways this can pan out. Option A: I leave in the fighter and you stay. Not going to happen. So let's hear it. What's Option B?"

Ben hesitated, furrowing his brow. "Option B is . . . tricky. I'm unsure if it will work. I've heard stories about powerful Force-users who could use their minds as a means of transportation. But they're old stories, perhaps even myths. I don't know what will happen to us. I haven't heard of two people teleporting."

"Either way," Rey told him, "we have to try. The connection between us is strong. If we focus, if we clear our minds, we can do this." She nodded, stepping forward to grab both his hands.

She leaned in to gently press her lips to his cheek. "We've got to do this."

Ben looked at her for a long time, eyes flickering around her face. At last he nodded. "All right."

"What do we do?" she whispered. Her heart was racing, pulsing with adrenaline and on account of their close proximity.

Ben grasped her hands tighter in his own. "Now we close our eyes and focus on one another."

"And then?" When Rey spoke, her voice was little more than a fading breath, a mere ghost of a question that Ben somehow managed to hear.

"You'll picture a place in your mind, focusing your thoughts on that."

Rey nodded. "Let's do it."

All of a sudden, a storm trooper noticed them in the room and spotted his fallen companion. "Hey! You there! Put down the key card and put your hands in the air!"

"Do it now, Rey!"Ben yelled, pulling her closer.

Rey shut her eyes, blood pounding horribly loud in her ear drums. And she cleared her mind. IN a matter of seconds, she was pushing toward Ben, pushing toward the place she had thought of.

The stormtrooper was shouting and stepping closer, she realized in some far off corner of her mind.

And then there was silence.

There was a deafening silence in which her heart beat loudly and the air vents around her stopped gushing frigid winds. It was a silence so deep and heavy she forgot to breathe.

The silence ended . . .

. . . with a loud, shattering boom, like a fire cracker.

Rey squeezed her eyes tight and fell into Ben's chest, refusing to look. Refusing to see what had happened.

But then his breath was tickling her ear, her cheek, shifting the loose tendrils of her undone hair. "Rey," he murmured faintly. "Open your eyes, Rey."

"I like it much better in the dark," she replied softly. Nevertheless she pulled away, releasing Ben's waist to look at what she had done. "It worked," she mumbled under her breath. "We did it."

Surrounding them, encasing them with her beautiful metal body, was the Millennium Falcon.

Rey spun around, eyes wide with realization. Was Ben angry with her for bringing them here, to his father's ship? She watched as Ben's shoulders tensed, as he walked slowly,d deliberately around the ship."

"I didn't mean to--"

"I know."

"Ben, I--"

"They'll find the ship I came in, and it will be empty. They'll have no way of tracking us." He nodded, turning around and meeting Rey's eyes. "You were smart to bring us here. I imagine it was easier to focus on a ship rather than the planet itself."

Ben wouldn't meet her eyes after that. He turned, running his fingers through his dark hair and taking in the sight around him. He, Rey realized, was allowing her to see him like this, though perhaps he did not fully recognize that. He was allowing her to see him like this, weak and scared and sorrowful and full of regret.

Somehow, even when tears formed in her eyes, Rey's heart swelled.

It was then, with his face long and sorrowful, his hands reaching out for the ghost of his father's fingerprints on a doorway, that Rey knew. She had always wondered, in the back of her mind, but now she was certain.

"You asked him to help you." Her voice was soft, hesitant in her recognition.

Ben turned, stepping closer. "I did."

"He did help you, didn't he? He was true to his word."

Emotion was flooding the face of the man before her. Ben clenched his jaw. "Yes," he managed.

Rey swallowed, choosing her words carefully. "He did it for you, didn't he? Flipped on the switch, and let you finish it?"

Ben nodded, blinking away the wetness that was forming in his dark eyes. "Even when he looked me in the face, he loved me. And he did it . . . out of his love for me. Anything--he said he would do anything for me. Rey, he did everything."

There were tears in her own eyes now, tears as she stepped forward to embrace him. Tears as she hung on. Tears when she finally let go.

"Thank you," he said softly, repeating the emotion-filled words he had told his father.

"For what?"

"For believing the truth. For seeing me as I really am, and for accepting me. Thank you especially for not questioning my relationship with Nico." He swallowed visibly then, eyes darkening, as though he was remembering something terrible. "About that. I will tell you everything. I don't like having you question who I am. But I don't want to hide anything from you either."

Rey smiled gently. "Of course," she said softly. "Now, why don't we find this . . . Raz. I may not know exactly who Nico is, but I have a feeling he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

-

The Falcon was tucked in a small corner of a hangar, sandwiched between two fighters and surrounded by rubble. Workers flocked around the hangar, moving pieces of broken glass and shards of steel.

They stepped from the Falcon, moving down the ramp and towards the door. People stopped working to stare, taking in their rugged appearance and wondering how they had managed to appear in a ship. Rey wondered herself.

"I think I know where they keep the prisoners. Likely Raz is a prisoner here," Rey stated, turning to Ben as the door opened, sensing their presence and allowing them to move under. "This way."

Ben grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Yes. Didn't you listen to the tour guide? We're in Sector 5 now. Prisoners are kept in Sector 6. Do you think we need to tell your mother what we're doing? Do we need permission or something?"

Ben shook his head, brows furrowing. "I don't think so. Lead the way."

-

The interface spread before her eyes made Rey shiver. The metal surrounding the screen was dark, and what was on the screen--terrified her.

Casey Graham: A23859 - Manslaughter - voluntary, arson, assault.

Philip Grant: J68623 - Manslaughter - voluntary, harassment, arson, fraud.

These were bad people, she realized. People who could easily hurt them.

Ben meanwhile, was waving his hand and putting the guards surrounding the entryway to the cells to sleep.

Rey scrolled through the list, swiping up and down and watching for "Raz." There were multiple Rachels and Raphaels, but no Raz. But then . . . Rey had an idea. In the top of the screen, in the search window, Rey typed in one word, one name, fingers shaking with apprehension.

And there. There it was.

"Ben," she called, her voice wavering. "I found her."

Ben came closer, raising his eyebrows and reaching his hands out to lean on the panel. "Where?"

Rey pointed, finger quivering at the action, to the name, to the list, imprinted on the screen. She pointed and she watched as the man before her straightened, back tensing as he read the name. His knuckles were turning white as he grasped the edge of the panel.

(Unregistered - offender will not relinquish name) Deist: C20654 - Arson, assault, bribery, conspiracy, disturbing the peace, forgery, fraud, homicide, kidnapping, manslaughter - voluntary, murder: first-degree, robbery.

"Deist," Ben spat. "Nico Deist has a sister."

"He never told you about--"

"No." The word was short and rough in his realization. He paused, just a second, to shake his head. At last he turned, back stiff. "Let's go get her. She's in cell 84."

He turned his back on Rey and began walking down the hall.

And there he was--appearing for the first time in months. There he was--the man she had fought in those snowy woods so long ago. There he was, engulfed in black clothing once again. There he was, stiff and emotionless. And Rey would have none of it.

"And should I walk beside you or ten paces behind?" She raised her voice, angry and frustrated.

Ben stopped in his tracks at his words, running his fingers through his hair as he turned. "What is this about?"

"About?" Rey laughed, shaking her head and clenching her jaw. "It's about you. You've been different, ever since . . ." She trailed off, looking back at the interface, unable to complete the sentence.

"Ever since what?" It was then that his voice softened, just slightly.

Rey looked up, eyes alight with a raging fire. "Ever since you told Nico you loved me."

"Rey--"

She stopped him, putting a hand up to speak. "Let me talk. I know why you did it. Anyone would have in that situation. Nico plays games with people--that much I know. He makes them do what he wants. I know you don't love me. He made this situation, and he wanted you to come find me. He wanted an exchange to be made.

"Perhaps he truly does love his sister. Or perhaps he is merely a man with twisted visions, a man who is somehow connected to you. I don't need to know how. I'm not entirely sure anymore if I want to. Because seeing you like this? Like you were before? It makes me wonder who you really are. I have to wonder why you are so willing to release this dangerous woman without question. Without wondering what will come of it.

"It makes me wonder if, somehow . . . you are still in contact."

She swallowed, unmoving as he stepped closer, silently moving toward her, boots making no sound on the metal floor. He stopped, looming over her and suddenly seeming very large next to her.

"Who I am?" The muscles in his jaw tightened as he spoke. "Who I am is disappointed. I'm disappointed that you would suggest I am still working with the First Order. I'm disappointed that you would doubt my feelings for you."

Silence hung heavy in the air as they stared at each other, battling in their glares. Rey's tongue was frozen in her throat.

"Now," Ben said gruffly, "let's go."

Emotions running wild, Rey walked behind him, watching his tense shoulders move forward. Somehow she did not think she was meant to walk beside him. Not then.

AN: Hey everyone! I am so sorry for not updating sooner. I've been so busy with school, and then I ended up getting really sick. I'm still pretty sick now, but I just had to get something up for you all.

UH OH THEY HAD THEIR FIRST FIGHT (ish)

Feedback? Where do you guys think this is going? Predictions on (Unregistered) Deist?

Oh, such a plot I have planned. :)