I Wish For This ✶ reylo | ✓

i wish for this

Rey was six years old when her parents sold her to Unkar Plutt as a servant. She doesn't remember them, not really. But she remembers them riding on a horse away from her as Unkar tightly holds her hand as she screams for them to come back.

Her life became then just a game of survival, a game of strategic moves. Servants or scavengers as many of the townspeople called them had to compete for the food, and if you didn't work hard, you were as good as dead. The first two years were hard, and she was only likely only saved by the fact some of the older scavengers had felt sorry for her.

Now, rations were even scarcer among the best scavengers as Unkar had to repay a debt to the Hutts, a powerful crime family.

Perhaps attempting to steal from Plutt hadn't been her best option, but it was the only one she had. Everyone knew the punishment for stealing was to face the mer in well. No one came back alive after being chained to it's stone walls. They only came back in pieces. But her frame was skinnier than ever, her complexion pasty, and it seemed death would be certain either way.

She had snuck into his stores late at night, with nothing but a thin dress, flabby shoes, and small kerosene lamp.

But she had not been careful enough, and one of Plutt's night guards retained her as he struggled against his grip. The Guard had sent for her to be placed in a cell, to face the mer in the well the next day, as Plutt requested to make an example out of her.

"I'm Poe" The man in, the cell next to her said.

"Rey" Her voice was rough screaming at

"What's a skinny girl like you doing here?" he asked as he pets an orange tabby cat sitting in his lap.

She didn't answer, but the cat moved up from his lap and squeezed past the bars into her cell, purring up a storm.

"His name is BB8, but I call him BB," he said as he rolled onto the cot. "He doesn't like everyone, but he sure likes you"

"I stole food from Plutt" she gulped and let her hand fall to pet the cat's side as he rubbed up against her. "I'm going to the well in the morning."

Poe sat up, seemingly interested. "Death by Kylo Ren is not what I had in mind for a young lady such as yourself"

"Who?"

"You don't know the tale of the mer that dwells in the well? There's a whole legend about it." Poe says as he gets up and walks to the division of bars where their cells meet. "Do you want to hear it? If anything, it's a story to pass the time"

Rey thinks for a moment. If she's going to die anyway she might as well have a good story before she goes. She shrugs. "Sure, why not"

Poe sits and leans his head against the bars. "He was a man once. They called him Ben. He was gifted too, with some sort of magic. But it was unstable, and he needed guidance. So he was raised, taught magic, and learned to kill and conquer with his gift. He became bloodthirsty and cruel, and a took on the name Kylo Ren"

"Wait" Rey interrupts as she shifts her body into a more comfortable position. "Who was his mentor then? Was he evil too?"

Poe sighs. "Yes, but he was more powerful magic user than Ren. But I guess he saw a potential for dark magic or something."

Rey nods her head and waves her hand that isn't petting BB for him to continue with the story.

"He tried to overthrow his Master, as one does as an evil magician. But snoke overpowered him and was angry that he thought Ren had potential to be anything. So he cursed him."

Rey's hand slowed to a stop from petting BB's fur. She met Poe's eyes.

He cursed him to live in a well like fish. His legs knotted painfully together into a tail, and his magic bound. He's lived as a legend in this town forever. Do you know why he gets 'fed' prisoners?"

Rey crinkled her brow. "No?"

"It's to sate his bloodlust. He's a monster, he has been for a long time now. I just hope when you go, you go peacefully, Rey."

Rey gulped. "Thanks, I'm going to try to sleep now."

Poe nodded, and as they both went to their cots, BB8 tucked tightly into Rey's small chest, she looked up at the stars and hoped that she wouldn't feel this alone in her last moments.

-------
They woke her early in morning an ordered her to strip down to her breast band and tunic pants as not only would it publicly humiliate her but inform everyone she had committed a crime.

She walked between guards, head down as they walked towards the well. People booed her and threw things at her that the guards mostly blocked but a couple items had bruised he pasty skin.

The well was abandoned by the town. No one dared to go near it, for fear of death but the guards hurriedly chained her and left her there in the break before dawn. She was shivering, the lack of nutrition and clothing not helping her at all.

"Hello?" she whispered. "I'm Rey"

"I know well enough to know who you are scavenger" a deep voice came from inside the well.

Startled, she cautiously peeked inside the well and was surprised to see the face of handsome young man.

"What do I call you?"

"You can call me Ren" he swam closer to her to pull her chains towards him. She did not resist. "I am going to ask you questions. You must answer them truthfully. If you do, which no one has done yet, I'll let you go and I'll grant you one wish"

Rey nodded. Maybe she would make it out of this alive.

"You can be the only one to say you've escaped the mer in the well. If you lie, I'll kill you and no one will see you again. If you try to escape, I will kill you. If you try to kill me, I will kill you" he seemed sad at that possibility.

He grasped her face to pull her in close so they could maintain eye contact.

"What is your greatest fear?"

It wasn't death. She had looked death in the eye on multiple occasions and spit on feet.

She took a deep breath. "Being abandoned again. If I never get close to anyone they can't abandon me."

He pulled her into the well surprisingly gently as he pulled her closer to his body. The water was cold too, but he was like a winter fire, warm and solid beneath her palms.

"You've passed the first question."

She winced at the iron cuffs that dug into her skin, so he pulled the chains apart, but still left the heavy cuffs around her wrists.

"What do you love the most?"

She pushed her ear against his chest to feel his heartbeat, and the comforting thump helped her think of her answer.
"I'm Rey. A nobody, a nothing from nowhere, and I've never felt so alone"

His grip tightened at this confession.

"I loved the idea that someone would come back for me. It's not going to happen now." Tears had started to flow down her cheeks.

"Not to me" He used his thumb to wipe her tears off her cheek. "You're not alone"

She looked at him in surprise.

"What would you wish for?"

She looked at this man, this monster that she had just met that had shown her more kindness than most people she had ever met in her nineteen years of life.

"I wish for this" She pulled his mouth to hers and began to pull him down into the depths of the well as the skin of her legs twisted and knotted to form a tail similar to his.

"Neither are you"