Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 23: Conflict

Green, reptilian skin covered spiny cheekbones with wide set eyes; the face bore no resemblance to the man it initially appeared as. A glance at the other body observed the same cheekbones and Rey knew that was the only confirmation she needed. She pulled her knees up to her chin and covered her mouth; deep in thought, feeling mislead and aimless. Where she thought she finally had answers and connected with the only people that may have once cared about her, now that path was empty and void.

"What are they?" her voice quiet and almost childlike.

Ren retrieved his lightsaber from the chamber entrance, and then wrung out his cloak over the water.

"Clawdites. Shapeshifters."

Rey noticed he was unreadable, and guilt began to trickle into her conscience. "Kylo...I'm sorr-"

"We need to leave" he cut her off abruptly. The bond pulsed rhythmically with his tension.

Rey wanted to crumble and weep; she'd wasted time chasing the very thing that stole all her time on Jakku. The scratches on the wall that kept track of all her days since being left behind were for nothing. Turning down a job with Han Solo who had treated her so kindly, all because she 'had to get back home', was for nothing. Finally, she'd been sidetracked from her recruiting mission and taken on a wild goose chase only to turn up empty-handed once again. 

There's absolutely nothing here.

"Before I pulled you from the water, the female Clawdite said 'it was finished'. She eluded that you were lead here for a reason."

Her spiralling thoughts went silent as they tried to comprehend the events leading up to this moment. She lifted the hand against her mouth away to see the blood still weeping from the wound in the palm, co-mingling with the water continuously dripping from her clothes.

"It's your greatest weakness, searching for them everywhere. In Han Solo, and now in Skywalker."

Ren looked from the corner of his eye at her as he sensed the memory of his own voice in her mind. "I tried to warn you."

When Rey didn't answer, he continued. "It will be dark soon. Tyrus should be waiting for us."

"To take me back to my friends?" she asked with a touch of sarcasm.

A moment passed before he answered coolly. "If that is what you wish."

She wanted to throw her hands up in frustration at his response. He'd obviously been practising staying calm and collected since their interaction in the hanger bay on the base, perhaps a trait also needed acting as The Supreme Leader.

"Is that what you want?" she said hotly.

Ren turned to meet her gaze, and was about to answer before he decidedly sidestepped the question. "What I want is to discuss how foolish you were for following Armitage Hux out here."

"I know it was!" Rey exclaimed, "so we can add 'fool' right next to 'nothing' on the list of compliments you've graced me with."

Ren's eyes flickered angrily at her and he burst forward in five lumbering steps to where she sat on the ground. She leapt up instantly, teetering on her heels as the dizziness plagued her again but remained upright to meet his smouldering gaze with a defiant one of her own. Rey had a fleeting notion he might strike her, but as they stared each other down just inches apart she perceived that he wasn't even looking at her eyes. There was no attempted prodding of her mind and any rage that presented initially was now obsolete between the two of them in the chamber.

Rey realized that it was her lips his eyes were studying intently with the same hunger that radiated from him in the elevator in Snoke's ship. There was a peculiar feeling in Rey's belly and she suddenly had the urge to look into his mind but resisted for fear of what she might find there. She could see it again in this moment; the molten intensity that was Ben Solo still existed inside the man standing before her, evidently when he couldn't seem to stay in the personification of Kylo Ren.