Temptation Of Grey

Chapter 5 - The Nightmare

Rey returned angrily to the hut. "What a kind of ungrateful, arrogant fellow he was," she thought. "I think, he should walk around in his broken clothes for the rest of his live!"

She began to stash the supplies she had brought with her and decided not to get upset about this ...ahh damn... this crazy man!

After a while, the front door opened. Ben entered the cabin and said, "I've secured the spacecraft and the surrounding area, we should not experience any surprises tonight, there's no one to be seen far and wide." She did not turn around, but scrubbed the dirty dishes in the sink with devotion. It didn't work .... the thing with not being upset.

"Don't you talk to me anymore?" he asked softly. She paused, turned to face him, and froze.

Ben was still standing at the front door, his dark hair ruffled by the wind, and looked at her. The torn clothing was gone. No mask, no cloak, no black uniform anymore. The new clothes fit him perfectly, from the boots to the dark tight pants and the bright shirt to the brown leather jacket. A weapon belt completed his equipment. He looked like a completely new person in the new clothes. He looked a bit ... like his father! Rey could not take his eyes off him, she could only stare.

He was a bit confused because she did not say anything and looked down irritated: "I swapped the robe for something more practical, I thought you can't wear these clothes anyways, because they're too big for you," he raised his eyebrows because she was still silent, "Ähm...have I committed another discourtesy? What's going on, Rey?"

She finally managed to release her stare, dropped her eyes to the floor, and said, "No, no, it's all right, this or that dress makes no difference." She blushed slightly, "I was just surprised, that's all."

He frowned, and a moment later she felt his mind trying to penetrate her thoughts.

"LET IT BE!" she exclaimed, startled and angry.

"I just want to know what's going on in you right now." he said looking innocent at her.

"Usually someone politely asks a person if she wants to tell you what's going on inside her and does not try to secretly suck the thoughts out of him!" She gave back angrily. "You can ask me, if I tell you something is another matter."

He looked at her unsatisfied: "I'm not used to asking someone "politely"."

She raised an eyebrow: "Then it's high time for you to get used to it."

He narrowed his eyes in frustration for a moment, then relaxed and returned half amused, half annoyed: "I'll try."

Rey took this statement as the best possible excuse she would get from someone like Ben and was satisfied with it. She was far too exhausted to continue arguing. The last days and the care and concern about Ben's recovery had left their mark. She almost closed her eyes to tiredness.

Ben registered her condition through her connection without reading her mind. "You should take the bed tonight, I have rested enough the last days." he said factually, "I'll use the chair."

She did not argue, which confirmed that she was in desperate need of sleep. She lay down on the bed, her head resting on the pillow, which he himself had used a few hours ago.

He forbade himself to pay any attention to her and sat down on the wooden rocking chair from which he could watch the surroundings through the window. But he could not prevent all his senses from being focused on the bed behind his back. He listened to the soft rustle of her movements on the bed and her breath, which was slowly getting deeper and more regular as she fell asleep.

Rey lay down on the bed. The sheets and pillow smelled like Ben. Strangely, she found this pleasant and reassuring. His presence in the little hut and the fact that she would be defenseless as soon as she sleeps did not worry her. Her instincts simply told her that there was no danger to her coming from Ben. She knew who he was, she was aware of what he had done in the past, but just as surely she knew she was safe at that moment.

She closed her eyes and within minutes she fell asleep.

Rey opened her eyes abruptly and took a few seconds to get used to the new lighting conditions. She was no longer in that bed in this cabin, but back in the blood-red expanse of the throne room. She was crouching on the floor, her hands tied again with steel handcuffs. She pressed her clenched hands onto a bundle of black clothes at her feet. No, that was not a bundle, this was Ben, a completely unconscious Ben bleeding from a deep wound below his ribs.

She turned her palms over and saw that they were red with blood. She looked up in despair and froze in horror. Snoke was alive ... he was alive and stood near her with a cruel smile on his face, watching her with amusement.

"Your sympathy will not help my former student, young Rey. He has made a decision against his master and wanted to cheat on me." Now his eyes became icy cold and he assessed Rey with a scrutiny: "What is it about you, little scavenger, that the mighty Kylo Ren is turning back into a miserable young man?"

His eyes froze inwardly at Rey. "Well, we'll find out, I'll dissect your mind until I get to the bottom of this question, and if you survive that torture, you'll become my new student, if you don't, there's nothing left from you as an empty, soulless shell. "

He laughed meanly, "But first I will finish my work with my discorous student, so go away from him!" Snoke reached for her and Rey felt the tremendous onslaught of his dark power. However, the fear for Ben was too great, so she managed to resist the attempt to be thrown off him and continued to cling to his clothes.

"You can't hurt him again, he's already injured, I will not allow that!" she screamed in pain. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind by two pairs of relentless hands and pulled up. Two of the red guards forcefully removed her from Ben.

Snoke grabbed Ben's head and bent it unnaturally far back: "Now, my young foolish student, you'll die!"

"No, Ben! Please no ... let him live, please!" she yelled, writhing in the relentless grasp of the two guards. She could not let that happen, she could not stand it! "No!" she screamed again and again.

"Rey, wake up!" someone called her ear. She was held by strong arms and shaken, "Rey, wake up! It's just a dream!" She was still squirming uncontrollably, but then her consciousness finally emerged from the nightmare and she opened her eyes to stare right into a worried pair of other brown eyes.

She shouted, "It was Snoke, he was alive ... there was so much blood ... your blood, he wanted to kill you because you helped me, I could not stop it, I could not ..." She trembled uncontrollably and tears ran down her pale cheeks.

He just stared at her unable to reply. He was amazed that someone felt so much for him that it interested her, whether he lived or died. He had thought throughout his life that there was no one who could care for him. And now there was this beautiful woman, who perceived the thought of his death as a nightmare.

Rey jumped up abruptly and wrapped his arms tightly around his big shoulders. She clung to him like a drowning man. He froze for a moment, but then lifted his arms slowly and he closed tightly around her delicate still trembling body. "I'm here," he murmured, "I'm alive."