Saving the Monster

Chapter 50

"Snap!" Rey cried as she rushed past the stormtrooper to where Snap Wexley was restrained. Snap lifted his head slowly, his eyes wide with surprise,

"Rey?" Snaps voice was weak, pained. His face was covered in dark bruises, his lip was split and he had a dark red stain of blood in his hair.

Rey knelt next to him, taking his hand when he weakly lifted it towards her. "Snap listen to me, I can try to get you out of here, but you can't tell anyone at base that you saw me here, that I was involved in anyway"

Snaps brow furrowed, "I don't understand, why are you here?"

Rey shook her head, she didn't have time to try and make him understand, and besides it wouldn't help. "There's no time to explain. Give me ten minutes, that's all I need"

Still clearly baffled Snap nodded, and then Rey was gone, marching down the corridors as if she knew them, heading back to the man who held the key to Snaps freedom.

She found him, sat on the bed in his room, his hands on his knees, his eyes on the floor.

"Ben?"

Rey's voice lifted his head and his eyes fixed on hers.  When she said nothing, Kylo stood, "I gave you your time with the prisoner, now I need mine"

He went to push past her but Rey grabbed at him, her fingers hooking onto the gathered fabric of his tunic sleeve, "Ben wait"

She felt him freeze in place and then very slowly turn to face her. 

"I need you to release the prisoner".  His eyes never left hers as she spoke and she shrank back slightly as his eyes became dark.

"Why?"  he asked, a slight tremor in his voice.

Rey swallowed, "The man you have captive means a lot to the resistance.  When they thought he'd died because of me, of my decisions, I saw the hate in their eyes.....I....I live with that...I....". Rey broke off into a sob, her hands rising to cover her eyes, the horror of what has happened coming back to her.

Rey cried there, her hands over her eyes, her shoulders lifting and falling.  She had to right at least one of her wrongs, "I have to put some of it right, I just have to" Rey managed through her tears, her voice muffled by her hands.

Rey heard him move. Gloved fingers sliding on top of her hands, encircling them and lifting them away from her eyes, and then he was there, so close again that she coukd smell him, warm and clean.  His hands gripped hers still, holding them down by her side, "She won't have you back. My mother, she won't take you back now. It's too late for you, just like it's too late for me. You don't need to do this for them"

Rey shook her head, "Im not doing it for them, I'm doing it for me, I'm doing it to prove to myself that there's light in me still". Rey's voice quivered and she sniffed, her head hanging.

She heard the man in front of her take a sharp intakeake of breath and then let it out noisily. She felt his hands sliding up her arms and then he leant in to her, his breath hot on her ear, "He can go, he can take an escape shuttle, I will oversee it personally, you have my word"

Rey pulled back from him, her eyes wide with surprise, "Really?"

"Yes", Kylo answered softly

Rey moved forwards then, her arms encircling his waist, her head landing squarely on his chest, "Why are you letting this happen?" Rey whispered.

She felt Kylos head come down to rest on hers, his hands resting on her lower back. He turned his head towards her, his chin scratchy against her face, then neck, "Because I don't want you to feel like I did, like I do. The light is still there just below the surface....". He paused as if wondering whether he should say more. Rey leant back from him and watched him struggle. He swallowed hard and then leant his head on hers again, whispering into the soft strands of her hair, his breath warm on her scalp, "the light is one of the things that makes you so beautiful"

Rey's mouth fell open and she moved back enough so that she could cradle his face in her hands.  His eyes were filled with emotion as they swept over her face as she took in exactly what was happening.  He, leader of the First Order, killer of many, monster to all, was letting Snap go, not because he wanted to, or because he deemed it the right strategical move, but because she had asked him to, because she had told him how she felt and he in turn had said something so pure, so unexpected that now Rey could feel nothing but love for him.

Love?  She thought, her eyes widening in surprise.  Really?  Did she love him?  It didn't matter now, all that mattered was what he was willing to do for her, and she loved him for it.

Rey brought her lips to his again and found them warm, familiar, soft and unashamedly needy as he responded, his hands sweeping up her back until one rested on her shoulder blades and one on her neck.  Rey broke the kiss, anxious not to loose herself in the moment, anxious to keep her word to Snap.

"Ben?".  He remained as he had been for a moment, eyes closed, lips parted.  Slowly his eyes opened and he swallowed hard.  For a moment he seemed confused, as if the kiss had erased their previous conversation from his mind, but then he nodded at Rey, smoothed his tunic, and left.

Rey sat down on the edge of his bed and, for the first time in what seemed like a long time, Rey felt a smile creep across her face.