Master of Mine

Chapter 3: You

Her pounding heart leapt into her throat. Rey slammed into the water, raging waves welcoming her in. Cold seeped through her clothes, her loose hair, her mouth, her nose. Every inch of her skin enveloped in salt and ice. Her lungs burned for air and she kicked against the heavy weight dragging her down. Reaching for the ray of lightning she saw above the rippling surface.

She broke through. Gasped.

Rain fell like bullets on her head as she spat and choked. She wiped away water from her eyes to see, to find her way back to shore. But only panic spread through her blood. A colossal wave towered behind her, sinking her back down. Spinning her around. Suffocating her. Please, she begged. Her frightened tears bled into the water around her. Her stinging eyes followed another blast of lightning in the sky. She forced her legs to keep kicking, keep fighting. Master Luke was still up there. She had to help him. She -

Another furious wave came crashing down, knocking her into the rocks below her feet. The ocean toyed with her, beating her, carrying her away. It was pulling her out farther and farther, away from the island. She was going to die. Alone.

Rey shivered with realization, fear tightening her chest. She screamed for help, and only the water answered. It filled her mouth and ran down her throat. Fighting her back. The surface pulled further and further away. She reached up for it, her hand getting darker and darker the more she sunk down. Bubbles burst from her mouth. Please, was all she could think as the weight dragged her drown further. Down she floated, hearing another clap of thunder vibrate through the sea. More waves shook the darkness around her. Rey closed her eyes, more tears blending into the black water. Mother. Father. Please.

Something wrapped tight around her waist.

A claw, a tentacle, she thought, cold numbing her fingers and toes. The dreaded sea monster Master Luke always talked about had come to finish the job. She let it keep taking her, hoping the pain would only last a second. But the claw only pulled her up. Her eyes still closed, she felt it drape her across skin, bone - someone's shoulder. Luke had come to save her.

Her arms dangled in the water as he carried her up, one arm tight around her waist. She felt the jerks of his body as he kicked against the water with ease. The old man could swim, she'd give him that.

They broke through the surface. Luke gasped and slipped an arm under her legs, light rain coming down on them. He held her close to him, as if afraid she would fall in again, and carried her out of the water. Rey, half-conscious, nuzzled her face against his bare chest, hearing the frantic beating of his heart.

He set her down on the soft wet sand, still holding her. "Rey?" he panted, his breath landing on her frozen lips.

She opened her eyes, choking out more water into the sand. She gripped his arm to keep from falling back and froze at the size of it. Luke's skinny, old arms had grown twice their size. His wide chest, rising and falling to catch his breath, was littered with scars. It warmed beneath her touch when she looked into his eyes. Those dark, gentle eyes. They studied her face; saw the blood warming her cheeks.

"You?" Rey gasped, shivering in Kylo Ren's arms.

"Me," Kylo said, trembling.

"Ben."

They looked up at the hooded figure emerging from the dark, standing over them. The saber he held bathed the beach around them green.

Kylo Ren froze when Luke pointed it at him. "Let her go."