Meet Me in the Grey (Reylo fanfiction) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 14: Slow Changes

A note from your humble author: This is certainly a slow paced chapter compared to the last one, but I figured you guys could use a breather and there's some important dialog that needs happen to set up the next chapters.  

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It was a beautiful dream. He dreamed that she had come to rescue him. He could see her face; he could touch her one last time. And then he died, for surly he had been swallowed into the black oblivion, the all consuming darkness that awaited him. But perhaps death is only the continuation of a dream, because he felt warmth on his skin, he heard wind in the trees. He opened his eyes and was in an unfamiliar room. The window was open and sunlight streamed in. He was in a bed and beside him – was her.

She appeared to be sleeping curled up in an uncomfortable chair beside his bed. She looked so beautiful in the warm sunlight.

Was this death? Was this heaven?

All he knew was that he wanted to reach out and feel if she was really there, but the moment he moved, even though it was just a tiny bit, he could instantly tell that his body was insufferably weak and filled with pain. He let out an involuntary groan.

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She heard him move and groan and it stirred her awake. She immediately jumped up and went to his bedside.

"Don't move, you'll only make yourself worse," she ordered.

He regarded her with weary eyes and confusion. "Am I dead?" he asked.

"Not quite," she answered, with a small smile. "I don't want you to freak out right now. It's not good for you, but you might as well know that you're currently in the medical ward of the resistance." She watched as a panicky look crossed over his face, and she could feel him tense up through the bond. "I said don't! You're okay; no one here will harm you. You're safe. Almost no one here even knows who you really are. Just your mother, Master Luke, Chewie, and Maz Kanata...and the pilot Poe Dameron...and my friend Finn, you fought him once, I don't know if you remember...and...me."

"Just? I think you just listed half the resistance!" he groaned and closed his eyes as his slight outburst brought on a migraine.

She frowned. She could sense the light in him was stronger than ever, but there was still a lot of volatile darkness in him as well. The last they had been able to speak to each other he was desperate to escape both the First Order and the Resistance. "I wasn't the only one who came for you. I couldn't have done it on my own. They were the ones who helped me...who helped you."

He gave a bitter laugh. "Why would they want to help me?"

"Because I told them the truth," she confessed, preparing herself for what would undoubtedly make him angry.

"YOU WHAT?" he shouted, but quickly regretted it with another groan of agony.

"Ben, please," she pleaded as she reached for his hand above the covers. She was relieved when he did not pull away from her. "I know you think the worst of everyone here, but all those years...they didn't know what was happening to you. They didn't understand, but even then, your mother and uncles never stopped loving you."

He stared into the ceiling trying to be remote. "I killed him...I killed my own father. I've slaughtered so many. I have no right to be here," he said as his eyes grew red with unshed tears.

"They know. They know all that, and it still didn't stop them from putting together a rescue mission to bring you back. They've missed you so much. The only reason they're not here in this room right now is because they figured you weren't ready to deal with family just yet. You did nearly die. Master Luke and I had to use the force to heal you just to get you this far."