Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 22: Exhale

Ren pointed the end of his humming blade at the man. "I don't know who you are, or even what you are...but you're not her parents. The bodies are still down here."

The man's face expressed uncertainty and he looked back at his companion who shook her head slightly with a serious expression. He pulled out a small cylinder and engaged it to open; it extended into a spear with prongs on the one end. They lit up, electrified with a deadly charge.

"Hold him off until it's finished" the female warned, treading water at Rey's side as she continued to float on her back.

Till what's finished?

The man backed up into the water till it was just past his knees, and Ren had enough forethought to see this would not be an easy fight; if the lightsaber dropped at any point in the water it would short out entirely and be of no use to him.

He disengaged it as the short-haired man looked on in suspicion, and Ren directed it with the force back toward the chamber opening where it landed on dry floor. Without hesitation, the man charged him with the pronged spear aimed at Ren's abdomen.

Ren twisted out of the way, grabbing the shaft with both hands as the prongs narrowly missed his midsection. They wrestled momentarily for control of the spear, causing the end of it to scratch the water's surface and release a hiss of steam. Ren yanked it sharply towards himself and when the man stumbled to maintain his balance, an elbow smashed into his face. He recovered, and released the spear before diving at Ren, catching him around the hips to knock them both down into the water.

The man was stronger than he anticipated, and an agile fighter. Perhaps even a bounty hunter at one time. With water up to his neck, Ren attempted to gather his feet beneath him and stand back up, but his opponents' short stature gave him the upper hand. The man had a firm grip on his collar and stood over him in an instant, driving a knee into his chest and sinking Ren below the surface.

Clutching at his throat with one hand, Ren reached up with the other and envisioned his fingers closing around his opponent's windpipe, effectively squeezing it with an ample amount of force. He counted the seconds as he held his breath, hoping his enemy went unconscious before he did. The shadow of the man wavered above the water and he released Ren's collar while taking a step back. Ren stood up to inhale finally, as he watched the man's eyes grow wide and fearful. Grunting as his face turned blue and his eyeballs bulged, everything went slack as the light died in his eyes, and his face transformed into something else as his body flopped into the water next to Ren.

Turning him over, he was shocked to find that the face of the man was no longer human, but almost reptilian in nature with a mossy green shade of skin and tight, rigid features.

A Clawdite, of the shapeshifter species.

He turned to the deeper water where Rey was, realizing that the woman must also be a shapeshifter. Since the body of Rey's mother was entirely decomposed, it would have been impossible to exactly replicate all of her features from the skull alone. The Clawdite could get close resemblance, but not a complete copy.

The woman stared angrily at him from the water, furious with the outcome of her partner's fight.

Rey's hand suddenly released from the arm of the chair leaving a streak of blood against the steel before it slid into the water alongside her floating body. Ren watched in horror as the female Clawdite pushed on Rey's chest and pushed her deeper, efficiently sinking her under the water.

"It's complete" she said, her eyes shining with victory, "but unfortunately for you, if Palpatine can't have her, then no one does."

Waste no time.