Tormented • Kylo Ren/Ben Solo

| 06 |

•••
"I'm a mess, I'm a loser, I'm a hater, I'm a user, I'm a mess for your love, it ain't new"

24 ABY

It will only get worse.

Victoria immediately woke up from the nightmare with a huge gasp, struggling to breathe.

She let out a choking sound as she coughed. Hot tears streamed rapidly down her cheeks and she began trembling.

Her mother's dead body, lying in a pool of blood.

Her father screaming her name.

Stormtroopers marching towards her in such a cold, emotionless manner.

Damon's confused expression.

Stefan's cries and wails.

The voice that echoed in her head that worse will happen to her in the future.

She shakily sat up, staring at her bedroom wall. She heard Ben's hurried footsteps as he ran to her, as he always did whenever she had a nightmare.

He entered the room in such a hurry, his eyes wide in panic. Victoria could see his eyes adjusting to the darkness of the room before they settled on her.

There was a heavy silence as Ben stared at her frazzled state.

"Oh, Victoria." He sat down next to her and enveloped her into a huge hug.

She resisted for a moment not wanting to seem weak. But this was Ben. He'd never judge her for crying about a nightmare. He'd hold her and comfort her until she felt safe again.

So Victoria Salvatore wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed onto his shoulder.

Ben simply held her tighter, more firmly. As if that would assure her that he wasn't a fragment of her imagination.

"It's okay, angel. You'll be fine. You'll get through this. You're a fighter, Victoria. You're stronger than this."

She nodded numbly. "Okay." Her voice was weak and shaky.

Ben pulled out of the hug and wiped away her tears with his thumb. "Was it the same nightmare as last time?"

She sighed and gave him a solemn nod.

"Are you comfortable with telling me what it's about yet?"

Victoria shook her head.

"That's okay. Just tell me when you're ready."

Victoria nodded and a long, tense moment of silence past.

"You know that it's just a dream right? It can't get to you." Said Ben. Victoria nearly cringed at the awkward interruption to the quiet and reluctantly nodded again.

"Do you want me to hold you?"

She stared at him for a moment and took in his beauty in the moonlight. The way his inky hair shined in the dim light. How his eyes sparkled with desperation for her to say yes. She felt like a kid falling for him from the very begining all over again. "Please."