Darkness Rises & Light To Meet It

Connection

Not long after their less than convenient encounter earlier did they connect again. He had been listening to her talk for hours. Something about this connection seemed deeper than the ones before it.

He could feel every emotion and every intent she had. It swallowed him whole and he found himself not wanting her to stop. Not wanting her to leave. Loneliness was all he had known the past years. Emptiness. Rey had known years of loneliness as well, after her abandonment on Jakku.

Ben Solo had never felt this deeply before and it scared him. He was supposed to be dead. Snuffed out of existence like the weakness he was, but with every encounter with Rey he broke more. The pull to the other side was growing and it felt like compassion.

No. This had to stop. This could never go anywhere. Compassion had no room within him. It was weakness and it ended in tragedy.
Ren wrestled with himself as Rey continued to tell her tale. Her voice snapped him out of his internal fight between Ben and Kylo Ren.

"I thought I'd find answers here, on this island, I was wrong." She looked up at him tears streaming down her face, she was completely broken and he felt for her. So much so that tears began to fall down his own cheeks as well, but he didn't care. "I have never felt so alone."

The way that she spoke, felt, looked at him made him want to gather her up and hold her. He would not do that, instead he finally spoke. "You're not alone."

Ben did not recognize the voice that came when he spoke. It was full of emotion. Compassion. They shared each other's thoughts and feelings in this moment. Intimacy in its highest form.

"Neither are you." The tears stopped as Rey looked deeper into his eyes, hers flickering with the light of the fire. "It isn't too late."

Those last four words were shattering. How could she say that? Believe that? But she did, he sensed it. With every fiber in her she felt like there was light left in him. She no longer saw the monster. She saw him.

She saw Ben Solo.

Suddenly, he glanced down. Rey had extended her hand out to him. Ben looked back at her in disbelief. Where did she see that light in him? How did she know it was not too late to save him? If he could even still be saved.

She just waited. Hand open hovering over the fire. Breathing deeply he removed his right glove and slowly extended his hand to meet hers. He knew he could not touch her, they were projections but something pulled his hand forward.

Rey's hand was so delicate compared to his monstrous hand. It would swallow hers up.

Closer.

Their fingers were almost touching, so close if it were possible. Taking another breath he tried to press the tips of his fingers to hers and was taken aback when they met each other.

Images flashed through his mind. Unclear but there. He could barely make out the images as they flew threw him and he wondered what they meant. One image he caught.

Rey. She was standing there...next to someone. Then the figure turned and it was... it was him! He and Rey stood side by side. Together.

He blinked and he saw Rey again, sitting in front of him. Wait in front of him? He could see her surroundings. Their surroundings. He was sitting in front of her on a rock beside the fire in the hut she was in. Before he could say anything Luke appeared screaming.

"Stop!" Fear. That's all Ben sensed from his former teacher. His uncle. His would be murderer.

Then everything vanished. The last thing he picked from Rey was anger towards Luke and... and her intent.

No. No. No.

The damn scavenger wanted to come to him! Give herself up. He stood quickly mind swirling. If Rey came to him. He would have to bring her to Snoke, like he wanted. The supreme leader would be cruel, he would kill her.

Fear swallowed him whole.