Rey pulled the Jedi text onto her lap and quickly flicked through the pages until she found the pages that she had been reading, the pages about force bonds. Rey let her finger trace across the page until she found where she had got to, and then she began to read:
The stronger the force connection, the more that can be done from across the galaxy, for example, force users may be able to communicate or, in the very strongest of connections, touch.
Force users may learn to initiate a force bond session. All force bonds are ultimately brought about by one of the parties thinking of the other and therefore unwittingly seeking the others light and connecting. In light of this, should a force user choose to initiate the bond, they can do so by meditating and focusing all their energy into locating the other parties light.
Rey put down the book on the desk and went and sat cross legged on the floor with her eyes closed. She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember exactly what the book had said, focus all your energy looking for their light? Rey wasn't entirely sure what that meant but she tried it anyway.
Over and over she tried unsuccessfully to find him and, finally, weak from hunger and thirst, she gave up, crying out in frustration. She had to warn him, she just had to. But first she had to eat.
Rey rose wearily to her feet and pulled one of her stash of ration packs out, tearing the top of the packet and shoving the food into her mouth. She drank from a flask that she kept filled with jogan juice, wiped her mouth and took a deep breath, ready to try again.
A knock at the door and Rey's head snapped up, her breath escaping in an irritated huff. "Rey, you in there?" It was Finn, his voice hoarse with worry.
Rey wanted to scream at him to leave her alone, his presense at her door making the weight of what she was about to do seem so much worse. But instead she rose to her feet, walked over to the door and pulled it open.
Her friend stood there in the fading sunlight, his brow furrowed, "Where'd you go? You ran out on the meeting?"
Rey fiddled with the hem of her tunic, she hated lying to Finn but quite honestly the truth would not only hurt him, but would also probably end their friendship. "I'm tired, still not quite recovered from last night"
Finn glanced past her, at the discarded ration wrappings, "You wanna rest and then join me for supper? You need to eat Rey, tomorrow is a big day....you...."
Rey cut him off, she knew what tomorrow meant, tomorrow meant that she had to warn Ben today, right now. "I will. I'll see you in the mess hall as soon as I freshen up, I promise"
Finn looked less than convinced, but nevertheless he turned on his heel and left. When he looked back at Rey's hut a moment later, Rey had disappeared and the door was closed.
Rey re-read the Jedi text as soon as Finns footsteps had echoed away, she had no time to waste. Then she sat down, just as she had before, cross legged, her hands in her lap and she poured every last ounce of her concentration and knowledge of the force into finding him.
A warm glow behind her eyelids and then a shape, hazy and dark. She concentrated a moment more, before hearing the humming begin and opening her eyes.
He was stood with his back to her, fully attired as Kylo Ren, complete with the helmet that Rey disliked so much. Rey went to open her mouth and then stopped. He was already talking, and he didn't sound happy.
It took Rey a moment to realise that he was talking to someone other then her. "Do it now!" He barked, turning then and walking quickly away, to Rey's eyes right over to the other side of her hut. He stopped there with his back to her, breathing hard, his shoulders rising and falling a few times before he spoke, his voice still agitated, but softer now, though still distorted by the mask, "This really isn't a good time"
Rey shifted, trying to imagine what was going on where he was. Whoever he'd been talking to or what he'd been talking about had clearly upset him. "I have to speak to you" Rey said, taking a step towards him. When he didn't turn Rey sighed impatiently, "Ben, it's important. I came to warn you, I......"
Kylo turned then, "You came to warn me? Did you do this?"
Rey swallowed, "Yes. I need to speak to you urgently".
Kylo took a step towards her, "How did you do this? How did you control the force bond?"
Irritated by his lack of concern about what she had to tell him urgently, Rey pressed on, "Look, it doesn't matter. Ben listen to me, we know where your base is, we know the layout, we know that tomorrow at 12o'clock you will have nearly all of your troops, ships, droids and leaders out in the open, we know you will be unprepared, and we know where you will be, alone in your private quarters". As Rey finished speaking she felt hot tears on her cheeks and she wiped them away. This was too important to risk him not fully understanding the message.
Kylo stood still for a moment and then reached up and lifted off his helmet, the mechanism hissing as it came off. "How do you know all of this?" he asked, the slightest tremor in his voice
Rey stepped closer to him as she spoke, "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you get out before they attack". Rey decided against telling him about the traitor who was operating right under his nose, it would definitely mean an end to inside information for the resistance if she did.
It was Kylos turn to walk towards her now, stopping just a few feet away and gazing down into her eyes, "Why warn me?" He asked, his voice soft, his eyes even softer.
Rey's words tumbled out of her mouth before she'd even had time to think, "Because no one has ever looked at me like you do, because you are the only person in the whole galaxy who is the same as me and because.......". Rey trailed off, her voice breaking.
Kylo took another step towards her, "Because what?" He asked, his eyes roaming her face, hers doing the same to his, taking in the tired eyes, the slightest hint of stubble, the angry scar that she had given him all that time ago in a snowy forrest on Takodana.
Rey sniffed, wiping at her wet cheeks, "Because once you told me that I was nothing, but not to you". Rey's eyes that had been fixed on a spot near her feet as she spoke those words, rose then to look at him.
Kylo was looking at her intently, his shoulders rising and falling just as they had after losing his temper with someone on his side of the bond, although this time it was different. His lips parted and Rey watched him swallow hard.
Against every fibre in her body Rey allowed herself to ask him the question that she had wanted to ask him ever since Snokes throne room, "Did you mean what you said about me being something to you, or was it a lie, to get me to join you?". Rey realised that she was shaking as she trailed off, dreading his answer in light of what she had just done for him, because of him.
If it was even possible, without touching, Kylo stepped even closer, his eyes fixed on hers, "Rey, I've never lied to you".
His words seemed sincere and as he spoke his hot breath hit her skin, sending a deep shudder through her. His face was so close to hers now, closer than it had ever been and the realisation that she wanted nothing more than to lean in and kiss him, sent a dark shudder through her.
He apparently felt the same as his voice was breathless when he spoke once more before the bond broke, "You're everything to me", he whispered in her ear, and even when Rey was left alone in the hut, the warmth of his breath on her skin stayed with her.
In fact that night as she settled down to sleep, she found herself thinking not about tomorrow's attack, nor about her traitorous act, but about him and what it would've been like to kiss his lips.
