Bond (Kylo Ren x Rey)

Bare

Rey looked down, picking at her fingernails. What did this all mean? Would this connection be forever? Could it be intensified? Eliminated?

Instead she carefully asked, "Could we maybe test it? The bond, I mean."

Kylo Ren's dark eyes met hers, and a jolt of pure electricity coursed through her. How was he making her feel this way?

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"Yes," he replied. His curious nature couldn't help wanting to know everything about a subject. It had been that way since he was a child, eagerly gobbling up every bit of information his mother could give him on the planets she had visited.

"Okay. I'll focus on a memory in my mind, and you see how easily you can access it."

Readjusting his seated position a bit closer to hers, Kylo tried to find his center. It was difficult to do when their knees were almost touching and he could sense her warmth from inches away. However, he shook the thoughts from his head and focused in on her Force signature. Channeling his energy, he realized their minds were connected as if on a string. Like waves upon a shore, his consciousness was able to touch against hers. She seemed to be beckoning him in, inviting him. With a small push he was no longer with Rey in their quarters.

He was on Ach-To.

Rey was laughing.

Kylo looked over to see her lying in a patch of  deep green grass  and covered in Porgs. During one of her only relaxing moments on the island, she had nicked a small bag of seeds from one of the Caretakers and decided to indulge the little birds. However upon sitting down and reaching a hand into the small canvas bag, the Porgs descended on her food, knocking her backward onto the grass and spilling the little bits of food all over her. Now Kylo was observing the chaos that had erupted as an entire flock of birds had collected around and even on top of Rey as she giggled at the brush of their feathers and the nip of their beaks. What he was seeing was pure happiness. Bliss. She was completely distracted for a moment from the harsh world she had been sucked into. Then the scene blinked out.

Kylo opened his eyes to see Rey looking back at him. Her eyes were soft. She had let him see a moment of weakness and laid her mind bare. And he was caught off guard.

"Your turn."

What was he going to show her? He didn't have a memory like that. A happy one. He had always been tormented by the rift between his parents and the weight of his legacy during the day and in his dreams at night. He then reached into his mind for a neutral one. A boring First Order meeting from years ago, sure. Kylo wasn't going to show his vulnerability.

----

Closing her eyes, Rey zeroed in on the man in front of her. The Supreme Leader. What memory was he going to give her? Shoving the question away, she focused on Kylo Ren's mind. For a couple minutes she was locked out. Like he didn't truly want her in. Gathering a bit more effort and punching her way through his feeble attempt at a barrier, she was able to gain access. Kylo was sitting at a long table with military professionals surrounding him on all sides. The general with the flaming red hair was speaking in a way that reminded her of small children puffing their chests out to seem larger and more important. She could sense Kylo's ire from across the room, causing her in turn to become agitated.

Suddenly she heard shouting. Rey was no longer in the board room. The pale walls that now surrounded her seemed like a home. Huddled next to her was a small boy with a mop of black hair listening in on the verbal sparring match in the next room.

"Han, you can't just take him on your crazy fool's errands! He is a child," Rey detected General Leia's distinct voice from beyond the room.

"Well maybe if you were home at all I wouldn't have to take him with me! But no, your love for politics has taken over your concern for your own family," Han grumbled.

The child next to her, Ben Solo, had silent tears sliding down his cheeks as he sprinted off into another room. Rey followed, but found herself in a different memory entirely. She was in Supreme Leader Snoke's throne room again. Goosebumps appeared on her arms, apparently unaware that this was only a memory. Looking over to the dark throne, Rey saw Snoke looking down at his kneeling apprentice. Kylo Ren.

In a gravelly voice, Snoke boomed, "My apprentice, blood of Vader, you have disappointed me again."

Before she could even blink, Kylo was thrust up into the air by an invisible hand. Immediately he started writhing in pain, as if electric shocks were shooting down his limbs. Screams erupted unbidden from his form as his airborne body jerked in a phantom wind. She couldn't take it anymore. Rey didn't want to see his pain, his torture. She collapsed onto the floor unseen and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them, her cheeks were damp from fresh tears.

Kylo Ren's face was hard as stone, and his eyes were on fire.

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Let me know your thoughts! This was kind of a hard chapter to write.