New Balance: The Rise of Skywalker AU

Their Wants

Get up, fighter.

Come on.

It's not the end yet, kid.

-+======

Pain. Excruciating pain.

All nerves and muscles in his body; numb to the point of no movability. If the dense air around hadn't already been hard to inhale, it sure is now. All the man could hear was his own ragged breathing as his chest heaved slowly.

A strike of lightning hit near him from above this rocky pit he had taken a plunge into. But he didn't move an inch, his body had felt like it had shut off.

Vision was something he couldn't achieve either. Everything was set at a blur. To move eyelids halfway open or look around was the only thing he could do. His pupils were binocular lenses, trying to focus in on the only thing he could see—his hand laying face down on the ground.

His eyes fixated on this hand as the sound of his breathing had halted for a split moment before his lungs started inhaled dirt. He choked and coughed once the pain in his entire right side had made him clench the hand he so desperately needed holding.

If everything could just be over with like he wants. If only he could take the girl away from everything happening and just hold her. It's all he wished, but realizing this only since two hours ago was tormenting.

For a second, he swore death seemed so close. Death was currently greeting this man laying on the rock floor with open, bony hands telling him 'welcome' with a crooked grin.

The thought of death in this very moment was something Kylo Ren would never—

No. Ben.

He wants to go by Ben now.

The amount of times Rey had called him by that name, he believed it was all a reach to try and shake him. He believed she was trying to expose him to the world that Kylo Ren was just a show and Ben Solo was a weakling.

It was the name that he was afraid of—the name he desperately just wanted erased from memory not long ago.
But now he wants to hear it again.

He wants to hear her say it again.
But only this time, look at him with not a sliver of sadness, heartbreak, or loss. All those other times she had upturned eyebrows and wore a longing face like she was hoping for something she'd never receive.

It was all those times where Ben Solo now regrets ever becoming a disappointment to his father, ever trying to turn away his mother, ever attempting to convince Rey to the dark side.

Ever attempting to convince himself.

If being here and helping the girl of whom The Force drew him constantly to, maybe he could finally prove to his father that Ben Solo is indeed alive like he foretold.

He had gone through lengths to try and get back to Rey. This strong connection he has with her was practically his guide the entire way. He just knew she was in danger, he could feel it.

And he could feel that same troubled feeling even now.

It was like a spark that had caused a pit to grow in his stomach, a chill going down his spine that made his legs turn stiff. Almost like a cry for help banging in his heart. The only thing he could think of doing at that moment?Getting to her.