Salvation

Chapter 28

Rey's fingers lightly on her stomach. For years, she watched women give in to men on Jakku for so little to almost nothing. She watched men just take what they wanted despite being told no. She fought off prying eyes and unwanted fingers from her own body for several years from the moment her body developed. She valued her body and kept it as safe as she could. It was the only thing she had ever been able to claim as her own. She may not have wanted to kill but she had no problem hurting someone badly for trying to touch her. In fact, had she been unrestrained when Hux ventured his cold fingers on her skin, she was sure she would have sliced off his hand. 

But what had changed inside her to allow someone in? She turned to look over at Ben, who was sleeping peacefully beside her. He lay on his back, his head turned towards her. A very faint whistle sound would blow out as he exhaled. Rey smiled lightly, carefully brushing some loose curls off his face. The moonlight shined from the window bouncing off his pale skin giving him a glow.

It was his first time.

She felt it through their force connection when they were physically tangled together inside and out. They kept their most intimate parts from others and only shared them with each other. But she just couldn't figure out why exactly. Why open herself to him?

She carefully slid away from him and as quietly as she could, got up from the bed. She grabbed a grey tank top and a pair of leggings that stopped at her mid calf and exited the room.

She approached the roaring sound of the waves. She was enchanted by how even in the moonlight, the ocean looked just as mesmerizing as it had in the sun. Even through the wooshing sounds of the water over lapping, there was still a peaceful kind of silence.

She walked a little closer till she reached the wet part of the sand. Her toes sinked into the sand gently. She waited until the water slowly reached for her and yelped, jumping back at the feel of the ice cold water hitting her.

"Becareful, the water looks peaceful but its strong. It can pull you in to your death like a siren." Bens voice startled her.

"A what?" She turned to him in confusion. He only had his black loose pants on, his upper body goodly beautifully. She blushed at the site of him.

Of course he sensed her feeling and smiled. "A siren. It's folklore that they tell children. Fairytales." He stepped closer to her. "You okay?"

"Yes of course." She replied quickly.

"I mean...what we did..." He stammered. He wasn't sure what to say.

"Oh. I don't understand..."

"What don't you understand? Were you aware of what we-"

"No, no I know what it is! I just don't understand how it ended up happening."

He looked at her with a huge sense of puzzlememt. He tilted his head trying to figure out how to make sense of what she was trying to say. She caught on to him quickly.

"I kept to myself for most of my life. With the small exception of letting some friends in, but physically...that was mine. I had so many men try to touch me and...." She closed her eyes and tried to calm and anger that was beginning to boil at the awful memories that started to form.

He stepped forward and took her hand, facing her palm up and tracing her lines on her palm with his fingers.

"I know what you mean now. Rey, what we did is something that most people take for granted. They treat it like something you can just toss away. But I was taught to value it. Save it for someone who meant something even more than you can ever imagine. I just never cared much about it. Truthfully I let hate and anger consume me. It was far from my mind. But you came and just...changed everything."