Reylo: These Violent Delights

Chapter 14: Stuck in Jabba's Quarters

WARNING: Physical assault (Force-thrown into a tree TFA style)

—

"Ooomph."

By the time Rey landed on her feet, it felt like she had fallen for a lifetime. She groaned, sinking hard and fast into this freezing, dismal world she had constructed. It took her a moment to realize she was standing in a heap of snow—something she almost hated as much as sand. It stuck to her eyelashes and chilled her to the bone as she stood in the middle of a thick forest, stupidly looking all around for Kylo, who had been sucked through a black hole...inside her mind?

"What in the galaxy is happening?" she muttered to herself, squinting like an idiot as though it would help her see through the dense wall of trees in front of her. The wind started to whine with a low, ominous howl, and she pinched herself, desperate to wake up. But her body responded stubbornly. She felt a pull, but not the same chaotic pull she'd felt toward Kylo. It wasn't maddening. It was comforting. She couldn't explain it; she didn't recognize this feeling in her, this innate knowledge, but it propelled her forward down a winding path of freezing terrain.

But the deeper she went into the forest, the more uneasy Rey felt as the sky deteriorated into darkness. And by the time she found Kylo on his knees under a thicket of trees, the light was almost gone. "Hello?" she whispered, but it evaporated into nothingness, just like her heavy cloud of exhales in the frigid air.

He didn't turn toward her, but she could see the profile of his face under the sinister glare of the sky. Unlike when he was sitting with her, he was wearing his battle attire sans his robes. She squinted as she studied him—this was definitely the Supreme Leader, but he looked different. Younger, slimmer, his face more gaunt and without a scar, and no longer exuding the power she had just been admiring by the lake. Instead, he looked defeated and afraid.

Rey tried again. "Kylo?"

Still, he didn't respond as he remained hunched over, blood oozing through his gloves and spattering red droplets onto the snow at his feet. The sight of them pulled her closer, but her legs were heavy and sluggish, and she froze in terror as the light through the tops of the trees faded into nothing but an ominous, red glow. Something terrible was about to happen. She felt it.

She reached for Kylo, this man she wanted to hate yet felt the need to warn, but a massing pressure of sound and sensation closed in around her. From every angle, through every tree branch and snowflake, Rey heard it: panicked voices, synchronized steps, the whine of a ship, a loud slam, the pounding of a heart, then—silence.

She could not see, she could not hear, she could not feel. She felt shut out from something that she did not understand. This nothingness...it panicked her, as though she was stuck at the top of an inhale, waiting in suspense for release. And when that exhale finally came, her senses returned to her. One by one. Rey could see and hear again, but it was different this time. Instead of panic, she felt calm. Resolve. And the sounds were no longer overlapping into an indecipherable mess. They were clear and moved in a progression that told a story she recognized but wished she didn't.

"I know what I have to do, but I don't have the strength to do it. Will you help me?"

"Yes. Anything."

The weighted clunk of Kylo's helmet, the unclipping of his weapon, the whistling of wind, the twisting of leather, and then—the violent, crackling hum of his lightsaber and an animalistic, piercing wail of agony, followed by two broken, desperate words...

"Thank you."

A ghost of a hand cupped Rey's face, so gentle and full of unconditional love and heartbreak, and the pain that had been numbed barreled toward her, and fast. She fell to her knees, her mouth twisting around a throaty scream.

With a fierce whip of his head, Kylo set his raging gaze on Rey from the center of the forest. "I told you not to follow!"

She couldn't speak. All she felt was pain originating from inside of her as the cold air frosted her lungs and froze the tears on her cheeks. She tried to tell him she didn't want to be here, but her mouth hung open in muted agony.

He strode toward her with fast, aggressive steps. "WAKE UP!" he yelled, and with an outstretched hand, he propelled her into the air, sending her back crashing against a tree.

Rey screamed as she plummeted to the ground, and she closed her eyes in fear, but the landing was soft. When she got back on her feet, she looked around at the ever-shifting trees and the strange globs of snow falling from the twisted, crimson sky. Any other instance and this otherworldliness would frighten her, but all she felt was relief.

This is just a dream. I'll be okay. Everything is okay.

But as Kylo beelined toward her, his anger was palpable. "I don't want you here, Rey," he seethed with malice, "you need to leave. You need to WAKE UP!"

"I can't," she tried to shout, but her voice didn't seem to work. "I can't. I'm sorry!"

"You should be sorry," he snarled, towering over her with wild eyes. "You aren't supposed to be here! You shouldn't have followed me!"

As though his wrath sparked a rage inside her, Rey lurched forward and screamed at him. "Then put me back where you found me!"

"I can't! It's too late for that!"

"No, it's not!" she screamed, slamming her fists into his chest. "Stop hiding on Exegol and come face me in person, you coward!"

With a guttural yell, Kylo swung his lightsaber above his head, clasped both hands on the hilt, and drove all of his weight downward. The blade pierced the snow, and the ground beneath them cracked open with a deafening roar. Trees, snow, and rocks all fell inward as the chunks of land they were standing on split apart.

Panicked, Rey tried to scramble away from the crumbling earth, but an avalanche of snow carried her over the edge. She fell facing up, watching with horror as the dreamworld above collapsed within itself. Just as the sky came down, meeting her as she free-fell beside soil and trees and snow, she slammed her eyes shut and screamed inside her head.

I want to wake up!

Down she went deeper into the molten core of this tumultuous manufactured hell, simultaneously falling up toward consciousness and light and life. It wasn't until Rey heard those words again, wrapping around her like chains, that she was able to wake up.

"Thank you."

Gasping for air, Rey shot off her mat in a cold sweat. She trembled as her heart raced, ragged breaths tumbling from her lips. She looked down at her body—just to make sure it was intact—before scrambling to the corner of her cell. She clutched her knees to her chest, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating. Even with her pulse returning to a steady rate, she couldn't find it within herself to move.

Hours passed like this. Hours. It wasn't until the lights flickered on and a Stormtrooper came sauntering in to collect her that she was able to force her back off the wall. "Get up, scavenger scum. The Supreme Leader requires your presence in his quarters."

As she shakily got to her feet, the nerves swimming in her stomach were not subtle.