Darkness Rises

Chapter 12 Stronger

Rey had watched as the child's body was dragged from her cell. She didn't move from where she was lying on the floor. Her mind was completely numb. The image of the child's parents falling to the floor after she had pulled the trigger was seared into her mind. When she closed her eyes, she saw the girl's blue eyes staring. Rey couldn't even cry. She felt herself being swallowed by a black hole of emotions. She felt like she was sinking, drowning in an inescapable abyss. She felt the force as it moved around her, it was Ben.

"Maker, Rey, what has he done to you" Ben's voice was filled with anguish. He reached for her hand she just lay there. He gripped her hand, but she couldn't feel it. "Rey, talk to me, let me help you, please"

Her eyes were burning but no tears came. Finally, she turned her head to face him. His eyes bore into hers willing her to speak to him, but she remained silent. She knew that if she opened her mouth she might not be able to close it again. There was so much anger and hatred running through that she didn't dare unleash that on Ben.

"Rey, Finn and Poe and I are coming for you we will get you out of this place"

"Ben, I killed them, innocent people, I shot them in cold blood" She felt the truth in her words eating away at her. "I didn't have a choice, Hux made me, but I can't their faces out of my mind." Her fist clenched at the thought of the General. "I hate that man, I wish more than anything I could slice him to pieces!"

"Rey, it's not your fault" Ben squeezed her hand. "none of this is your fault, Hux would have killed you if you didn't. He's wicked and he will do anything to get break you."

"Maybe I should be dead" she whispered, she glanced at Ben and immediately regretted it. His face was twisted into a fierce glare. She dared not speak those thoughts out loud again. He certainly wouldn't be happy knowing she wanted to disappear into the Force.

"Rey, don't you ever say that, EVER" He hissed his words at her. She could feel his anger, but she could also feel how afraid he was, it caught her off guard, was he afraid of her.

"Ben, why are you afraid?" She sat up trying to read his face, but he looked away.

Rey reached forward, she placed her hand against his chest. "Ben please don't be afraid of me I'd never hurt you" now she whispered, the thought of Ben afraid of her was almost worse than the hatred she currently felt for herself.

"Rey, I am not afraid of you, I'm afraid to.....I'm afraid for you. I know how seductive the dark side is and I know what Hux is trying to do. He wants you to lose yourself, to fall into darkness, he wants to control you."

Rey stared in horror. The thought of Hux dictating her actions was worse than death. She didn't know how powerful she was, but she did know that whatever power she did have, if Hux had his way, it would be used to destroy.

"I will never be used to serve them" she could feel herself becoming angrier by the minute. How long would she have to at the mercy of so many. She had spent so much of her life serving others to survive. As a scavenger she had essentially served Unkar Plutt, bringing him parts in exchange for measly rations, and now Hux would attempt to make her destroy people in exchange for what she didn't know. This was stopping now, she refused to be a pawn in anyone's game any longer. Neither the First Oder nor the Resistance would control her life. "I am not his to control, this bastard is going to pay."

Ben didn't answer at first, he only smiled at her the sudden change.

"There she is, my Rey" He lifted her hand and placed a gentle kiss on it.

"You know that's the second time you've referred to me as yours in some way, I'll have you know that as much as I tolerate you, I won't hesitate to correct your thinking. I belong to no one." Rey smiled mischievously at Ben, she actually enjoyed being called his, but she wouldn't tell him that.

"You know I can feel your emotions, you can't lie to me." Ben winked, and she rolled her eyes, of course he knew.

"Whatever" she said dismissively. "So how did you convince both Finn and Poe to help you? That had to have been an interesting conversation." She couldn't quite picture the three of them getting along. There would definitely have been some sort of fight for dominance between Poe and Ben. She smiled at the thought of the two men attempting to threaten the other. Poe was cocky and Ben, well he was just tall and intimidating in general, though Poe would take that as a challenge.

"Well Finn was on board the minute he realized what you had done, Poe on the other hand took some convincing, though as soon I mentioned an explosion he was quick to agree to help."

"That sounds like him, what an idiot, he always wants to blow something up. Rey laughed, Poe was always itching to either fly his X-wing, blow something up or do some combination of both. "What about Leia, how does she feel about this plan?"

"Well she didn't really have a choice, we kind of made the plan without her permission." Ben's eyes were gleaming, Rey could feel his excitement.

"Well look at you already corrupting my friends" She laughed again, trying to picture the three of them, Poe and Ben arguing over who would do what, while Finn just sat lost.

"Ha! This was all Dameron, he's the one who didn't tell the General."

"Dameron huh, you know his last name, I didn't know that" Rey was surprised, perhaps these men were getting along better than she thought.

"We actually grew up together, his parents were a part of the Rebellion, we used to be friends I suppose. Not that any of that matters." Ben's eyes darkened at the memory and Rey could once gain feel his conflicting emotions.

"Ben, I'm sorry, I didn't know, Poe is a good man I'm sure one day you two might be able to consider each other friends again, assuming that is a path you want to take" She smiled hoping she was reassuring him.

"I suppose" was his only response. "that is if he doesn't get court marshaled for helping me without permission.

"Idiot, he's so impulsive. Well, either way please be careful, I'd like to see all of you again" Rey leaned back against the cold wall. She felt a shiver run up her spine, has much has she hated it the heat of Jakku would have been better right now than the icecold confines of this cell.

"No promises." Ben winked again before he faded away, Rey smiled, her two friends and, whatever Ben was, were coming to save her. Now all she had to do was not piss Hux off too much, but the ginger was so easy to annoy, and she may not be able to help herself. She steeled herself against the nervousness that crept into her stomach. She wasn't going to let herself be weak anymore.