Ordered

Chapter 11 - In Which Kylo Ren Lay Dying

(Chapter Rating: T?)

The torture was madding. The burns, the agony that raked over every nerve in his body, it would not cease. He convulsed, as the fever would not leave him. He'd known pain, but never the sort without eventual relief. If they owned no medicine, no analgesics, no narcotics, no exotic spices, he wanted, craved the release of his life. Would the pain never end? Would nothing ease it away? They tried mounds of ice. He didn't want their damn frozen water. It barely helped before it faded away and ran down his body, soaking the unfamiliar bed.

He finally lowered his will to begging, "Kill me." He muttered it over and over, as though it would save him. The prayer was not answered. Her light touch could not smooth him now as it had before.

"If you won't do it, I will!" Rey's voice was fierce, "I can't stand it."

"I could no more kill my nephew than my own sister! No, Rey," Luke paused, conflicted, while urgently trying to silence her plea on Ren's behalf. "The light calls to him yet. Destiny is not to be denied."

"He suffers!" Rey fired back at her Master, "Listen to him!"

However, Luke was firm in his merciless decision, "Rey, we owe him this one debt. Long ago, he saved our lives. His power is still needed."

"Look at the gash on his skull!" He felt Rey lift the cloth she had pressed on the side of his head. She willed Luke to see the full extent of the damage. Ren wished she would stop touching him.

"I overdid it," Luke's voice was regretful with the familiar Skywalker melancholy. As usual it didn't last. His uncle urged them to stay in the fight, adding, "We have to trust the Force. There has to be something else." The Jedi thought it over before snapping his fingers, "I'll go to the shuttle and see if there's a First Order medical kit."

Ren hoped Skywalker would haul up the liquor cabinet, but he couldn't muster the strength to ask for it. Soon he faded in and out of consciousness. He could not force his eyes to see. The struggle against the torment was remarkably consuming. It took his senses far and away. The darkness and the light raged over him. He was barely able to follow their argument. Their voices were fractured, the sounds nonsensical.

He wished Skywalker would allow the girl to kill him. After all, he had honestly pledged to her "until death do us part."