Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 25: Between

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Ren exited the cargo hold, his side bruised and sore from the new staples in it. He'd lifted his tunic before opening the door to view the flesh, puckered and purple around each staple, the skin red and inflamed.

Freen was seated in the common area, and turned to see him as he passed through to the pilot area.

Tyrus stood to the left of Vurdan, who was just rising out of his chair to flick a switch on the navigational controls into the upward position. He turned a dial three clicks to the right and nudged Alwick who was passed out with his head back in the chair. He stirred, and seeing Ren standing there, bolted out of his chair and stood upright, dark bags underneath his eyes.

Ren looked out the porthole to see the planet of Takodana, still scarred from the attack on it from the First Order when he had first acquired Rey.

"How long has it been?" he asked.

"About seven hours" Vurdan answered. "It gave us a chance to make the journey. We've been sitting just above the planet's atmosphere for thirteen minutes now."

Ren nodded, slowly looking back over his shoulder at the door to the quarters. The bond gave away nothing in that moment.

Vurdan followed his gaze. "Lass is still sleeping, and hasn't hardly stirred either from the sounds of it."

There was a rustle as Freen left the common area to join them at the head of the ship. Drawing his dark hair back behind his shoulders, he moved to stand at Kylo's side, the height difference showing a few inches between them.

"There's something different about her; I sensed it when she boarded. Her force signature has shifted. But the fatigue..." he shook his head as he trailed off, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, "it's like there's a slow drain."

Ren looked back out the porthole. "I'll need you to take a look at her hand. She has a peculiar puncture and was unconscious when I finally found her in an old Sith command chamber down there."

Tyrus shifted his weight to the opposite hip. "Why would he bring her there of all places? I'd never heard of that place before."

"All Sith have their secrets" Freen said with his cocked at an angle.

Ren put two fingers to his temple. "I dispatched two Clawdites posing as her parents. They said something was 'finished' so that is eluding to a procedure or ritual perhaps."

The group was silent, each one working through their own theories on that piece of information.

Alwick raised his hand timidly, before saying in a low tone "I think...he wants her power for himself."

Vurdan leaned back to stretch his back, adjusting one of his head tails thoughtfully. "Grooming a new apprentice doesn't follow that procedure, Alwick."

"No, not as an apprentice. I mean what if he is going to need a new body when he's done with Hux?"

Tyrus and Ren both turned to each other. "The kid might be on to something" Tyrus said with a shrug.

"Hey! I'm the same age as Free-"

"Palpatine mentioned something" Ren continued over Alwick's protesting, "he said there had to be a blood transfusion between his old body and Hux."

Tyrus cupped his chin in thought. "But Hux isn't a Force-user, so maybe that was the only way in that circumstance. It could be...easier with Rey."

The images of the bodies in the abandoned medical room underground came up in Ren's memory. Rey's father had been much more recent than her mother. She'd passed away at least a decade before Rey's father. Perhaps her father had been the force-sensitive one. He decided to keep his knowledge of the bodies a secret for the time being.