"Rey?!" Ben's voice comes suddenly, half question and half surprise. He's barefoot dressed in what looks like a black cotton pyjama. His face is emaciated, he looks skinnier, weaker, the scar on his face deeper than she remembered.
"Ben..." Rey whispers removing her hood, feeling their minds coming together, recognizing each other only for a few seconds, the connection fading right away to leave her empty again.
Ben takes a hesitant step forward noticing Chewie and Lucas's presence. Recognizing them, anger takes hold of him and Kylo Ren becomes present in front of them, shreds of his black magic emerging around him and surrounding them like a thick mist. "What does this mean?! HOW COULD YOU?!"
Rey crosses paths in front him, protecting Lucas. "How could you think that when I've been rotting inside the dungeons all this time?!" She yells at him, disregarding if her voice gives away their presence.
"WHAT?" Kylo Ren dilutes, the black magic mist fading as fast as it formed, giving way once again to Ben, who looks at her completely disturbed. "All these five years?" His voice comes out broken, his face showing the panic that takes hold of his being.
From inside the room comes an elegant woman, her golden brown hair braided in an intricate bow that is somehow familiar, her long dress in light blue steamy fabric and on her head the characteristic golden band for the Imperial Court's members of staff. "Kylo, you're not going to introduce me to..." Her words seem to deflate when she lays eyes on Rey and Chewbacca.
"Due to the massive prisoners break from the dungeons, our new Governor, the grand general Hux, has decreed a state of alarm in the Imperial Capital. A curfew takes effect immediately to ensure the safety of our citizens until the situation is under control. All visitors should return to the main lobby as soon as possible to claim their..." Rey doesn't have time to finish hearing the message from that ethereal voice when Ben grabs her by the arm and pushes her inside of what turns to be a luxurious apartment. The court lady locks the door after Lucas comes in followed by Chewie, growling guarding the young man.
The back wall is a large window overlooking one of the hospital internal gardens. The last lights of the day precariously illuminate the dark grey walls and polished black stone floor. There're no ornaments on the metal furniture, just a long table surrounded by eight chairs on the left, and in the centre of the room a huge circular glass fireplace surrounded by twelve wide armchairs of black leather.
"How did you escape? Where did you find him?" Ben asks tightly holding her arm. His eyes are completely out of focus as if he's delirious, his magic escaping out of control by his fingertips, slightly burning her skin.
"Kylo dear, remember what the doctor told you," says the woman with a soft voice, placing her hands on his shoulders to hold him, in such an intimate way that Rey feels nauseous. That can't be the safe place Chewie had to bring them to, that doesn't make any sense.
"Stop the act Kaydel! Don't you see she's Rey!" Ben yells looking at her, his eyes shining with what Rey wants to believe's happiness. That's her Ben with that half dimple smile, the same one he gave her when they're alone in the middle of the orchards at the farm outside Hanna City.
Kaydel's eyes are wide open looking at Rey from head to toe. The lady rushes to the huge window and closes the curtains. "You're not in a position to act yet!" She warns him, leaving the living room.
"How did you escape? Where did you find him? How did you locate me?" Ben asks her again, so she's forced to look at him one more time.
"Chewie led us all the way here. Today they opened the dungeons gates. And he's in the cell next to mine..." Rey can't finish talking. Ben lets her go approaching Lucas with big strides. Chewbacca cuts him off, giving her a chance to take off her cape and stand in front of Lucas, knife at hand. "Don't you even think about taking another step!" Rey threatens him seconded by the dog's growl, showing its teeth.
Ben stops looking directly at Chewie: "I just want to make sure it's him."
Lucas removes his hood and moves sideways. "Hello, cousin," says Lucas waving his hand.
"What's going on now?" Kaydel asks re-entering the room, leaving the question in the air recognizing Lucas, covering her mouth with her hands to hold out a cry of surprise.
"I haven't stopped looking for you all these years," Ben adds looking at the young man with a trembling voice, closing this fits tightly.
"Well, you didn't look very well," Rey sentences in anger opening the reward poster with Lucas's face on it. How could he be looking for him if he'd always been locked up, just like her?
Kaydel takes the poster with amazement examining the paper. "Are you sure he's been in the dungeons all this time?" she questions stepping closer to them.
"At least for the five years I've been down there..." Rey responds without turning his eyes away from Ben, who seems so fragile, sick, a shadow of the warrior he once was.
"I've been in the dungeons for over seven years," adds Lucas taking Rey's hand. Feeling it, she holds him tight.
"Seven years!" Ben and Kaydel repeat aloud at the same time. "The assault..." Ben whispers, taking a step back grabbing his chest as if it hurts.
Immediately comes to Rey's mind the memory of one-night at the farm when Ben returned from his assignment in Coruscant smelling of blood and telling Master Obi-Wan Kenobi that his parents had died. Before she can continue remembering the details of what happened, the voice of the woman reminds her to focus on the present.
"If you give me the number of your cell, I can access the files and determine who ordered your capture and under what charges you're convicted," Kaydel asks grabbing a piece of paper and a gold pen from a chessboard.
"My cell didn't have a number," answers Lucas his voice still sounds nervous.
"What about Miss Johnson's cell?" Kaydel insists.
"191715," Ben responds first than Rey, who looks at him in amazement.
"How?" Rey tries to ask, but her voice barely comes out. Why did he know her cell's number by heart? Her headache keeps getting stronger by the minute.
"It's going to be seven o'clock, so we've to turn off the lights following the curfew rules," Kaydel tells them by holding Lucas's hand. "Let me show you the room where you can rest next to your dog. I've got dinner ready, so you can eat if you want to."
Lucas hesitates, and looking at Chewie nodding immediately he turns to see Rey, squeezing her hand.
"It's ok, go with her. I'll be with you in a moment," Rey affirms him with a half-smile. "Don't waste time and eat, we've run a lot for one day."
"I'll save some food for you," Lucas lets go of her hand and leaves a little reluctantly next to Chewbacca and Kaydel, who turns off the lights in the living room.
After that day saturated with light, Rey's eyes are grateful to return to the shadows. After a few seconds, she's able to see better her surroundings, the long table of eight tall chairs by the window, the black leather armchairs forming a perfect circle around the glass fireplace that occupies the centre of the living room, Ben's eyes shining brighter, just a few steps from her. They say nothing, accompanying their breaths with every gasp of air they take, their senses become sharper, allowing her to feel that energy that arose within their being, which seemed to want to unite them once again.
"Rey, I'm deeply sorry..." Ben speaks in a whisper, stepping forward.
"1825 days too late for that," Rey interrupts him, going back one step to keep the distance between them.
"I signed your exoneration a month from..." Ben adds, taking another step to get closer.
"If by exoneration you mean daily torture sessions," Rey cuts it off, taking another step back, moving her hand behind her aware that she should already be near one of the armchairs.
"Daily torture sessions? BY WHOM?" Ben's voice emerges like a roar, his eyes twinkling in the dark, holding her by the arm.
"Stop the act Kylo Ren," Rey harshly tells him, releasing her arm from his grip. "Your loyal Knights of Ren personally took care of my 'exoneration'!"
With an impressive speed, Ben shortens the distance between them, Rey having no more choice than dropping herself over the armchair. He corners her placing his arms on the sides of her body, while she presses her knife against his neck.
"I need you to tell me the truth!" Ben insists once again, bringing his face close enough for Rey to feel his breath on her, even though the knife is lightly buried against his skin.
"And what makes you think I'm lying to you? I've never done it, and now I've nothing left to gain with it," says Rey lowering the knife and dropping it to the ground, surrendering. She had made it three years ago to take her own life, but she never had the courage to use it and much less against him.
"IMPOSSIBLE! They can't have done that! Not without my express order!" Ben sentences with rage, his eyes glowing brighter as Rey's headache becomes more intense, wondering if he's going inside her memories.
"My body can prove you otherwise," Rey raises her left arm, where endless scars shine with the light emanating from the chimney.
"Rey..." Ben falls to his knees in front of her, taking her arm to examine it more closely. Rey sits upright, feeling goosebumps do the pain of her back and the sensation of his hands over her hypersensitive skin. "You're still wearing the same robe." He says between his teeth, releasing her arm to touch her legs, where the shreds in the trousers showed the freshest marks of the last torture session.
"Sadly, the dungeon's shops don't accept broken robes as a form of payment," Rey responds with spite.
"I swear! I never wanted this for you," says Ben examining her, taking off her boots and looking at the frostbite burns on her toes.
"I think that memo didn't reach your minions down there," Rey adds picking up his legs and hugging them against her chest. She had dreamed so many times of seeing him again, but she didn't consider how much it would hurt her.
"What can I do to make you believe me?" Ben tells her with a broken voice, moving aside. "Ask me for anything..."
"Tell me what really happened that day in the throne room," demands Rey cutting him off.
"Rey..." Ben hesitates, trying to get up, Rey lowering her legs and grabbing him by the shoulders.
"I want you to tell me why you imprisoned Lucas? Tell me why you let me rot in that cell for 1825 days..." She insists, forcing him to stay still.
"Things aren't what they seem..." Ben responds incapable of looking at her.
"1795 continuous days of torture," says Rey, unable to contain the rage that comes from her bowels, she catches him by the collar of his shirt and shakes him. "1795 days in which there wasn't an inch of my body that wasn't hurt!" Those words cause Ben to raise his face in a single grimace of pain. "1825 days believing that you'd abandoned me to my fate..." Tears emerge uncontrolled, cutting off her voice. Rey feels his shaky hands grab her by the shoulders, and she curses herself for wanting to throw herself into his arms. She lets go, no longer having the strength to keep fighting, her whole body shaking with sorrow.
"I was there when Snoke gave the order to intercept my parents. I knew he wanted to kidnap Lucas in revenge for what Luke Skywalker had done to him during the Three-Day War, but above all for the prophecy. I had no proof and we're so close to overthrowing him, that I couldn't reveal my identity as Ben Solo... So, I couldn't do anything, just watch them die fighting for us, giving us a chance to succeed. But in the confusion of the assault, Lucas disappeared..." Ben confesses, wiping the tears on her face. "Obi-Wan advised me not to tell you anything and to continue training, hoping that together we could find Lucas. I never thought I'd have to sacrifice you too..." Ben explains bowing in front of her, hiding his face on her legs squeezing her with despair.
"You didn't know we're down there?" Rey asks, her voice breaking at the end; he automatically denies with his head, holding her tightly. His answer destroys as a meteorite her whole vision of those years of confinement. She spent those 1825 days cursing him, believing that he had used her to access power, to let himself be consumed by his hatred, getting rid of her after using her and locking her deep into the dungeons to never to see her again.
"Those imperial guards stormed unexpectedly into the throne room, and since I couldn't find Lucas, I needed to keep pretending to ensure a pacific transition and have more time to find him. The very next day I did everything in my power to secure your release without raising suspicions from the members of the court..." Ben continues his explanation, while Rey keeps her gaze lost in the dark, trying not to collapse upon him. "Despite their protests, the members of the Imperial Court endorsed my exoneration order, as long as you're exiled for life to another province of the Kingdom. You should've left to Chandrila..."
"That must be the nickname of my cell," Rey interrupts him unable to hold her tears back. Knowing that he tried to take her back to the farm, all the memories of those three years together want to emerge from the depths of her mind, drowning her in the melancholy of a life that could've been and that was lost.
"On the day of your release, I gathered some members of the Resistance who're inside the imperial guard to be in charge of your transfer. I was only able to take a few steps toward the dungeons when a suicide bomber tried to kill me..." Ben stops talking when Rey lets out a low cry.
Separating from her, Ben unbuttons his shirt showing her the scar that covers all his chest. Rey sits at the edge of the armchair and, forgetting any prudence, she touches him, feeling under his skin a machine vibrating. "I survived thanks to my powers and that the hospital is next to the Imperial Tower. I've been locked up here ever since," Ben grabs her hands and presses them on his chest, allowing Rey to feel more intensely how that invention helped his battered heart pump blood; but the machine wasn't perfect and he had to constantly use magic on it to keep it running.
Rey blinks several times convinced that this's all a hallucination after another torture session. But every time she opened her eyes Ben's on his knees in front of her, his brown eyes nailed to her, as broken by pain and loss as she's, his body a silent narrator of his battles, his struggle to be himself, his heart literally broken by the leader he has to be and the man who doesn't give up to exist.
"Ben..." Rey whispers as a prayer; in the end, everything had gone wrong. Killing Snoke didn't bring the freedom they longed but increased the military control over the Kingdom. They had sacrificed so much, their dreams, his all family, their own lives, his heart, and all for nothing. Now everything was the same, or even worst.
"Luckily, Kaydel was already undercover inside the court, so she found it easy to request her transfer to serve as my assistant while I was convalescing. However, for that same reason, my control in the affairs of the Kingdom was null. The vice-governor made almost all government decisions until yesterday when the Imperial Court decided to ratify Grand General Armitage Hux as the new governor of the Kingdom," explains Ben cleaning her tears that kept pouring out of control. "Even that I always suspected that Hux was behind every decision that Snoke took, I never imagined he would dare to put a hand on you..."
"Why not?" Rey asks, but before he can answer someone suddenly knocks at the front door. Ben gets up grabbing her by the arms keeping her close to him.
"Go with Lucas and don't move from there. No matter what you hear, don't come out," Ben's voice floods inside her mind making her feel alive again, breaking down the last barriers that kept her true feelings locked up. Nervously she picks up her knife, cloak and boots, while he bottoms his shirt.
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Rey asks him mentally, causing Ben to gaze at her again with a half-smile painted on his face, so warm and soft that makes that weakens her knees.
"Yes, sweetheart. Now go..." Ben responds to her the moment Kaydel enters the living room accommodating the gold band that ratified her as an Imperial Court's member of staff.
"Just a moment please," Kaydel announces signalling Rey to leave.
Seeing Ben standing so fragile, Rey decides she'll not take more risks, crouching wielding his knife behind the door connecting the living room to the rest of the apartment. There's no doubt that he isn't in any condition to defend himself and Kaydel doesn't seem able to fight multiple attackers at the same time. From her hiding place, Rey listens to the door open and three sets of footsteps enter.
"Good evening Lord Ren. Forgive me for getting you out of bed," it's the same voice of the captain who intercepted them in the elevator.
"Good evening Captain Phasma. Tell me, how can we help you at this dreadful hour?" Ben's voice sounds opaque and empty, no doubt assuming the role as Kylo Ren.
"According to hospital access records, two people came to see you this afternoon," says the officer tells without hiding the tone of surprise in her voice.
"That's correct," Kylo Ren responds dryly.
"Could you explain why they didn't stop by the lobby when the curfew was declared..." The captain asks only to be silenced by Kylo Ren's voice, almost like a roar.
"I signed their safe passages myself," Kylo Ren explains, and Rey can swear that the air becomes thinner, as always happened when he let himself be carried away by anger.
"I don't wish to contradict your excellency, but your signature doesn't have the authority to allow two people to roam..." The captain's words tremble just to be interrupted once more.
"Captain Phasma, I can assure you that they've returned to their final destinations following governor Hux orders, as all the citizens of Coruscant did," sentences Kylo Ren with sufficiency in his voice, settling the matter.
"However," insists the officer, but this time is Kaydel who interrupts her.
"His excellency Lord Ren just wanted to do his part and collaborate with this unexpected situation. Besides, I'm sure that if any imperial guard encountered a safe passage signed by the Emperor's Right Hand, they'd also see it that way," Rey can only marvel at how convincing Kaydel sounds, for sure she must have years of experience doing that job.
"You may be right my lady. However, even Lord Ren's obliged to follow protocols," Phasma speaks in a louder tone trying to show that she's the figure of authority.
"Captain, I can assure you that, next time, I'll. If you'll excuse me," Kylo's voice sounds unexpectedly tired and Rey may feel his magic fading. His steps are short and soft, like those of a convalescent person.
"Lord Ren, I'm sorry to keep bothering you, but you haven't given me the names of the visitors in possession of the safe passage sign by your excellency," insists the guard. Rey feels that life escapes from her body and heat rise inside her chest, her mind is once again flooded with magic, stronger and more intense than ever.
"We don't need to know the identity of visitors," Ben and Rey say at the same time, surprising each other by the power in which the spell moves around them and invades the minds of the three guards.
"We don't need to know the identity of visitors," aloud repeat the three soldiers, plunging into an uncomfortable silence.
"Good evening Capitan Phasma. Thank you for your services," Kaydel rushes to add, Rey listening to the woman's gentle footsteps ahead of the guards leaving the apartment.
"Good evening," said the officer, her voice dying as soon as the door closes, Kaydel immediately passing the locks.
"I asked you to wait with Lucas," Ben tells her, offering his hand to help her get up, apprehendingly looking at her.
"But you needed my help," Rey answers, securing her knife in the folds of the robe. She takes his hand marvelled at how quickly they'd treat each other with that confidence that characterized them in other times full of fruits and workouts, studies that extended until midnight and led to kisses in the dark. Her gaze gets lost within his eyes, which desperately look at her and she wants to believe he's pleased to have her around.
"Let's hope they don't come back. Do you want me to serve the dinner?" Kaydel interrupts passing between them, forcing Ben to let go of her hand.
"Don't worry, I can take care of it," Ben answers without turning his gaze away from Rey.
"Don't let him stay up too late. It isn't good for his heart," Kaydel explains to her, taking the cape and boots from the ground, Rey surprised by her sincerity.
"I'll send him to sleep right away," responds Rey nodding, grateful for entrusts her with that information. Kaydel holds her gaze for a few moments and Rey thinks she sees an attempted of a smile on her lips as the woman walks lightly down the hall to what appears to be the bedrooms.
"Let's go to the kitchen so you can have something to eat," says Ben pointing to the hall at the right.
Rey didn't know if all the places she had been today are extremely spacious, or it was a perceptual mistake after being locked in a two-square-metre cell. While eating Ben, he brought her up to date with the Resistance's efforts to overthrow the Empire once and for all. With each passing day, more imperial soldiers refused to carry out the orders of their superiors, and there's already a faint change of stance of the members of the Imperial Court about the idea of independence from the invaders and that life, strange for the majority of the population of the Kingdom.
He told her a little about his assistant, Kaydel Ko Connix, a prominent figure in the ranks of the Resistance, who had worked alongside his mother from a young age, and whom Leia considered an invaluable piece for the organization. Kaydel's the first to successfully infiltrate the Imperial Court, extending her influence and allowing dissident soldiers into the imperial ranks, as well as showing the court members the other side of the Empire and its subjugation of the provinces. She volunteered to help him while he was recovering, worried that his convalescence would slow down the progress the Resistance was making after Snoke's defeat. Knowing each other for so many years made it easier for them to maintain the appearances with the other government officials who came to visit the sick governor at the hospital.
As he spoke, Ben made sure that she tasted all the food at her disposal, until Rey's stomach protested do the abnormal volume of food inside her. She insisted on washing the dishes, enjoying the feeling of freshwater running over her dry and battered hands. When finished, she noticed how white her hands look compared the rest of her skin, she certainly needed a good bath. Before even thinking of say something, Ben asked her to accompany him.
Taking advantage of the darkness that reigned in the apartment, they peek inside the room occupied by Lucas, asleep on the large double bed and Chewbacca lying next to him. On the nightstand a book remains open with the remains of some half-finished fruits. No doubt he should be tired, that'd been a difficult day for him too.
"Come. You can use the shower inside my bedroom," says Ben closing the door quietly, rubbing her back with a slight pass of his fingers, so dim that it feels like the wind passing by.
"It's not necessary, it wouldn't be the first night I spent without taking a bath," Rey sourly sentence, although she can't stop blushing out of shame.
"Please Rey, let us take care of you..." Ben rebukes her, pinching the bridge of his nose; the same gesture he did when she made a mistake in her workouts and got herself hurt. After pausing for a moment, he continues. "It'll be Kaydel who gives you a change of clothes if you prefer it," clarifies Ben in a whisper, so close to her that Rey had to tilt her head up to gaze him directly in the eyes.
Rey's mouth suddenly dries out, one part of her mind still incredulous about everything that's going on and the other willing to throw herself into his arms no matter what. Driven by the mounting curiosity and the inclement need to touch him, she raises her hands to place them over his chest, hesitating at the last moment, fearful that he'll fade away and she'll wake up from that dream. Ben moves forward grabbing her by the waist him and her body betrays her, closing the gap between them. She lets her hands wander freely over his chest, marvelling at how that machine keeps him alive.
"But you have to sleep," says Rey reminding herself over and over again the real reason why she's there, although every second by his side erased the days that have been separated.
"Only if you use the shower inside my bedroom," insists Ben without evident lust, but his heart betrays him within his chest.
"You know I can tear you into pieces if you try anything," says Rey moving away from him in an attempt to maintain order inside her mind, which wandered to more pleasant memories of them discovering each other for the first time under the waters of the stream that crossed the farm's apple orchards.
"I've never been able to forget it," answers Ben with one of his broad smiles that marked his dimples and Rey feels that the whole universe lights up in front of her; realizing that despite all she had lived, what had hurt her the most was how much she had missed him.
Keeping his hand in her lower back, Ben guides her down the wide hallway to the last room. The master bedroom is an apartment by itself with all the necessary amenities for the patient don't have to leave it. At the centre stands a large glass fireplace surrounded by a six-seat black leather sofa describing a perfect curve around it. On the right is a protected double bed behind a glass wall, a machine with hundreds of coloured buttons stands on the left side of the mattress. A large balcony with open windows refreshes the room, its delicate curtains dancing with the soft breeze and letting Rey see at intervals the beautiful internal gardens of the hospital.
In front of the bed near the balcony, a long bench surrounded by some devices that Rey didn't understand its function, pulleys attached to pieces of steel, looked more like one of the torture chairs used by the Knights of Ren down in the dungeons. At the left of the entrance a delicate fountain next to a pantry and a small kitchen, with a round glass table and four steel chairs. On the wall on the other side of the fireplace rest a wooden desk with an armchair, loose papers with no apparent order. Hanging on the wall an oil painting of the orchards around an old farm in autumn, the treetops in endless orange tones. The warmth of the painting appeared dissonant with the rest of the decoration.
On the other side of the bedroom, a double door gives access to a dressing room which leads to a privet bathroom. With a gentle movement of his hand on her back, Ben pushes Rey to enter. All the surfaces are white, mirrors covering an entire wall, in another some tubes come out of one wall, even from the ceiling; equal to the showers that Rey knew on the farm and in which they took refuge together after the long days of training, a time that now seems so distant.
"Inside you'll find everything you need and Kaydel will bring you your new clothes right away," Ben tells her standing behind her, passing his hands over the extension of her arms without touching, almost caressing her, looking at her through the mirror. Rey swears she's able to feel their hearts beating at the same speed, while they speak to each other in the secret language of their eyes, confessing everything that their pain doesn't allow them to articulate into words. "Take all the time that you want. If you need anything else, you can call me, I'll be in bed," adds Ben walking away, leaving her an empty feeling inside her chest.
In all those five years Rey hadn't seen her reflection beyond the shadow of her face over the pile of water inside her cell or when they tortured her submerging her head into a bucket of salty water. The image that gazed back at her in the mirror brake her already broken heart. All visible parts of her skin are cover by scars, welts and burns; her face isn't so battered, or the scars had healed better, her old freckles barely visible. Her hair is a deformed mass tie in her traditional three buns. The robe that used to be grey is an indefinite shade of brown layered with baches of dry blood and dirt. Her trouser looks more like a fishing net, revealing more than it should.
"Miss Johnson, may I come in?" Kaydel looms behind her, waiting at the entrance of the dressing room.
"Come in. I didn't hear you approaching," answers Rey cleaning her tears, she hadn't realized when she started to cry.
"Here you have some clothes for tomorrow. Now you can wear this pyjama shirt," explains Kaydel showing her the piece. "It's one of his, and Ben insisted in offering it to you," adds the lady, placing over the sinks the black cotton pyjamas shirt and fitting the first pile of clothing on a ledge: grey trousers, a white shirt and a black leather vest.
"I have the nerve to bring you my hair products and a pain medication," says Kaydel showing her some elegant bottles next to a dark jar with soothing oil.
"Thank you very much Kaydel. You didn't have too," Rey thanks her ashamed to receive so many attentions, leaving them at the entrance to the shower.
"This's nothing compared to what you deserve, especially after what you've experienced down there," says Kaydel shortening the distance between them. "And he had cried you every single day..." She confesses in a whisper. Rey is surprised by those words, the hatred she had accumulated for him during those 1825 days fading within her soul. "What they did to you is unforgivable and that's why it's important to know who's responsible," concludes Kaydel showing her a copy of her incarceration sheet.
Rey grabs it and begins to read it. Under her name's the list of charges condemning her to life imprisonment: "Material Actor of Emperor Snoke's Murder. Material Actor of the Kidnapping and Disappearance of 'The Chosen One'. Conspiracy against the Kingdom and the Order of the Law..." The list continued, but her sight's drawn to that ornate letter signing the request of a strict interrogation regime and its confinement in one of the isolation cells: "Grand General Armitage Hux, Governor in charge of the Kingdom and Assistant to the Emperor's Right Hand."
"Thank you Kaydel," Rey says meticulously folding the paper and placing it inside the inner pocket of the vest, next to her knife. "Please don't show Ben this..."
Kaydel smiles approaching the shower turning the taps, the water falling from the ceiling like rain: "That's exactly the same thing that Ben asked me to do with you."
"Did he already read it?" asks Rey feeling the urgency to run away; one thing was to be seen like this, another very different was that he knowing in detail what she had endured.
"We'll ensure that each of those responsible pays for their boldness," responds Kaydel taking some towels out of the closet and hanging them by the shower.
"That's precisely what worries me. That Ben once again let himself be carried away by rage and no one's there to save him," says Rey speaking more to herself, unzipping her trousers and dropping them to the ground with resignation.
Kaydel tries to reply but hesitates, turning away when Rey takes off her old robe and the remnants of her wasted underwear. "Can I take away that?" Kaydel asks when Rey walks into the shower.
"Please. And burn it, that's a risk for Ben's health," answers Rey closing her eyes under the water, and breathing slowly begins to meditate.
After living many years in the Jakku Desert, Rey had developed a very special relationship with water. For her, it's the most valuable substance, more than gold or money, running into the depths of the desert and appearing sporadically from the sky. It was on a rainy day when she first discovered that she possessed traces of magic inside her, which were amplified when she could be near a well or stream. Every night she would leave her hut, the remains of a war machine, and sneak into the village fountain so she could be reunited with the force that ran through her blood and made her hear inside her mind the voice of a man who repeated over and over again: "I'll find you and you'll not be alone again. I promise you."
Over the years the voice came to her more easily without needing to be near water. It came especially in the moments of peace that she experienced at the top of the dunes watching the sunset and the sky filling with stars. Suddenly, those connections became bidirectional, allowing them to speak to each other, and so she discovered the name of that wizard who searched for her from the other end of the Kingdom: Ben Solo.
Their connection intensified at night, flooding her dreams with images of places she had never seen: green meadows stretching to the horizon, turbulent oceans where sailboats made their way through giant waves, an orchard where a tall man, brown-eyed and black hair like the feathers of a crow, gazed at her through the corners of time and space, calling her, dreaming her, yearning for her.
Thanks to him, her life became less lonely, enjoying his company and feeling his presence as she cut the immense machines to pieces before the dunes claimed them. Ben guided her inside the bowels of those ships, larger than her town, and he'd tell her where to get the strangest pieces, even teaching her to use the magic that grew inside her to access the highest sites or retrieve the pieces from the bottom of the chasms.
In that forgotten place in the middle of the Jakku Desert, few knew the secrets hidden within the heaven's beasts, and many less dared to delve into the depths of these ships, so it didn't take long for the other scavengers to start spying on her, eager to get hold of the loot the little orphan that leave outside their town brought with her. Rey didn't allow their envy to overshadow those adventures, where magic grew within her and she was able to share her mind with Ben, increasingly deeper and lasting, for seconds feeling like one.
However, all good things don't last long for Rey. Having found a machine part that guaranteed her food rations for a whole year, she received the unexpected visit from the leaders of the village scavengers, who made sure to show her how low her rank was in that place. Even though Rey tried to use her newly discovered powers to defend herself, her fear and inexperience proved more powerful than her magic. They dragged her deep into the desert where she's mercilessly assaulted until the pain caused her to lose consciousness, hearing Ben desperately screams inside her mind. The scavengers left her battered body abandoned so that the vultures would take care of her remains.
When she gains back consciousness, Rey found herself inside her hut, all her wounds treated, her few possessions inside a leather bag at the foot of her hammock. In the corner of her mind, the magic arises with overwhelming rage paralyzing her. That magic was new to her, dangerous, but at the same time strangely familiar. Scared, Rey dressed with her dirty beige ropes and went out seeking that magic that shouted her name, encountering an immense column of black smoke coming from the village. Fearing the worst, she ran with all her might until she stumbled with fleeing children, who pointed towards the square where a tall figure, dressed with a black imperial guard armour, threatening with a long black steel sword and blood-red handle the leaders of the scavengers, keeping them against the broken fountain.
Each one of the curve clay houses of the town was on fire, the brilliant colour fabrics that covered the streets were laying in the ground. The women and the elderly pushed her out of the way, desperate to find refuge on the outskirts, yelling heartbroken at the children to follow them. Rey fights her way through people, trying to reach the source of that energy that shone like a red ribbon and guided her in the confusion. When she was a few steps from the square, she saw in amazement how black flames emerge out of nowhere and surrounded the scavengers, who desperately begged, offering all kinds of riches in exchange for being spared their lives.
"There is nothing in the whole kingdom more valuable than her!" said the man dressed in black and Rey understood he was Ben, but exactly not the same who visited her inside her mind. This was a cold-blooded and violent man, in whose presence even Death paled.
Raising his claymore, Ben was prepared to attack when a child throws himself into the arms of his father, one of the men who attacked her. Not knowing how, Rey ran as fast as the wind and stood between Ben and the men, with her bare hand hitting the edge of the sword without suffering any damage. The hateful expression fades from Ben's face as he recognizes her, reverting the spell he was casting, receiving the sword's blow directly to his face, marking him forever.
Rey opens her eyes and returns to the present. She didn't know how long she'd been under the hot water, but the pain in her lower back and the wrinkles on her palms she knew it's been enough. Takes the soap and desperately clean her skin, as if that could somehow erase the bad memories as well. Using the products that Kaydel left her she manages to untangle her hair, enjoying the feeling of having it down. She gifts herself some extra seconds underwater until, with resignation, closes the tap. The soft, fluffy towels with a delicate lavender scent feel like clouds over her skin. When she finishes, Rey dares to gaze again in the mirror, comforted by the sight of her scars, now less evident than before, her skin pinker, her hair so long that reaches below her buttocks.
Scraps of their first encounter return to her mind, of how the world seemed to have stopped completely when Ben, critically wounded, embraced her with the affection she had never felt in her life: "Sorry it took me so long, sweetheart." His words awakened that magic that slept within her body, allowing Rey to use it freely, extinguishing the flames that threatened to devour the scavengers and giving her the strength to carry him to her hut. After healing his wounds and leaving Jakku in a strange flying ship, Rey promised herself not to let him be consumed by anger, fearful that Ben would lose control again.
The medicinal oil felt like ice on her battered lower back, but after giving it a few minutes, Rey could bend down with complete ease and without any pain. The pyjama shirt is made of a delicate and softest cotton, so light that she hardly feel it touching her skin; he blushes for being able to smelt his scent on the fabric, imagining for a few moments that he's caressing every inch of her body. Because it's one of his shirts, it fit so big on her that it looks like a dress, so she has to roll up the sleeves to use her hands.
Rey enters the master bedroom cautiously, she didn't ask Kaydel where she was going to sleep, although any of the armchairs in the living room would be more than comfortable enough compared to the cot in her cell. The room is completely dark, she can only hear the fire crackling inside the fireplace, now covered with metal plates so the flames can't illuminate the room.
Nervous, Rey approaches the bed where she can see Ben resting over big cushions. He doesn't have his pyjamas shirt on and has several long cables connecting his chest to a metal box next to him, where light bulbs shine at the beat of a subtle beep, which sounds at the same pace as a beating heart. He appears to be asleep, one of his hand's rests on his abdomen, the other's on the bed holding a strange apparatus which has words written on the glass that appears to float between four metal plates; if she remembers correctly, Ben called them 'datapad'.
As much as she wants to reclaim her place under the sheets, Rey looks at the sofa by the fireplace and decides that it'll be her bed for the night, anticipating how warm it would feel being so close to the chimney.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ben's unexpected voice makes Rey leap.
"To the sofa," she replies, feeling the magic fluttering within her again as if's begging her to do something, though she doesn't know what.
"Over my dead body," replies Ben awkwardly stretching to press a button on one of the glass wall surrounding the bed, opening them like doors at each side.
"Don't you ever say that in my presence," Rey rebukes him, clenching her fists tight.
"I'm sorry," adds Ben placing his hand under the cables popping out of his chest.
"Does it hurt?" Rey can't hold herself back, approaching one step to bed.
"It's nothing compared to what I just read," responds Ben turning off the datapad and leaving it on the ledge that extends over the top of the bed. "Don't worry, I've taken care of it."
"All six?" asks Rey while the images of the Knights of Ren making their way into her mind, forcing her to close her eyes to erase them once and for all.
"They swore to protect you while you were down there. Their betrayal's personal to me," Ben explains as Rey shed uncontrolled tears. "Don't cry, sweetheart..." His voice sounds closer. She opens her eyes to discover Ben kneeling in the middle of the bed trying to reach her, but the cables won't let him go any further.
"You need to lie down and rest, please," says Rey, but Ben cast his magic and gently wrap her by the hips, pushing her closer so he can grab her hands. She gets carried away without offering resistance, kneeling in front of him.
"You're not going to sleep on the couch. If you prefer, I can move the heart monitor and stay there," explains Ben desperately cleaning the tears from her face.
"No! You must stay in bed, especially if you need to be connected to that thing," commands Rey trying to get out of his arms, afraid of hurting him.
"Rey, stay..." Ben whispers, squeezing her tighter than his body could have. "Please."
Rey can't keep pretending and clings to his side, incredulous to be there, free in his arms, cursing the ancient gods for separating them. If that was a dream, she would rather live it completely and die in it than re-awaken in her cell within that underground city of forgotten prisoners. "Only if you stay too," whispers Rey in his ear, banishing any prudence on her part. She had spent too many days flirting with her death to keep squandering that gift fallen from the heaves.
Ben hugs her tight as if he's also convincing himself. "Thank you," replies gently kissing her forehead.
With some difficulty, he returns to his place over the cushions, moving the cables to hang from the left side of the bed. Rey slides beside him, marvelling at the softness of the black silk sheets on her legs; lying on her back stretches as far as she can.
"Did the medicine had any effect?" asks Ben holding her left hand to caress her arm, describing small strokes between the scars.
"Yes. Thanks for thinking about it," says Rey turning to see him. He has his gaze on the wall in front of them.
"You don't have anything to thank me for," replies Ben caressing softly her arm, like those nights when she would run away from her room and get under his sheets and he'll lull her to sleep, the only way she could manage dream without nightmares. Some months later it would be Rey who would protect his dreams when he returned from the capital, exhausted from pretending to be someone he didn't want to but whom, with every passing day, became part of himself.
Rey lies on her side placing her free hand on his abdomen. "Do you need to be connected to that machine all the time?" She dares to ask, feeling how that device inside his chest's doing all the work to keep his heart beating.
"To the heart monitor? Only when I'm too tired to use magic or I want to sleep. The heart engine needs a steady flow of energy and my spells don't have a lasting effect on it." explains Ben returning his attention to her, tightly squeezing her hand. "Are you really Rey? Are you really here?" asks with a broken voice, a lonely tear escaping his eye; that's the second time in all her years together that she had sees him cry. His expression of disbelief is as if Rey could see herself in a mirror; she wasn't the only one who had a hard time believing they're together again.
Feeling that now it's her own heart that breaks into pieces, Rey kneels next to him, placing her forehead against his, letting the magic unfolds inside her and reunited with his. "Yes, it's me, Ben. I'm here."
Immediately he sighs, grabbing her face. "You don't have any idea of how I've looked for you..."
"No more than I've dreamed of seeing you again," Rey confesses; because yes, every single night she dreamed of him, with that life they promised each other and reality stole it from them.
Ben pushes her face back so he could see her eyes: "All these years I was comforted by the idea that you were free. That you had decided to go somewhere else to rebuild your life, away from this war that doesn't belong to you. But now, I can't live knowing that I was the cause..."
"Don't say that," Rey silences him placing her fingertips over his lips. They hold their gaze, his eyes shining so brightly while the machine hum at a faster pace. "You always know how to find me. This time it took longer..."
Ben makes her shut up with a kiss, his lips felt like embers over hers. Rey renounces any attempt of rationality and corresponds to him with desire, enjoying the flavour that she has never been able to forget. When their mouths open and their tongues meet, the hum of the machine becomes a high-pitched beep.
"Ben! Are you all right?" asks Rey scared, scaping from his embrace.
"Yes, yes. Just one of the wires disconnected," explains Ben taking the cable which ends in a long steel needle. "Give me a second." With the expertise that develops with the repetition of a task many times, Ben sticks the needle in the exact place of the chest where the cable connects to the heart motor hidden under his skin. Immediately, the sound picks up its rhythm, giving away how fast his heart is beating.
"Kaydel's going to scold us if she hears your heart beating like that," says Rey caressing his chest, worried about how fragile he's.
"Luckily I can silence it," responds Ben shameless pressing a few buttons on the machine to mute it.
"I don't want to hurt you," Rey confesses trying to look away, but he captures her face with his hands.
"The only thing that can hurt me is losing you again," whispers Ben before kissing her, making her moan against his lips, grabbing him by the back of the neck and burying her fingers in his hair, passing one of her legs over his abdomen and sitting on him. Now it's Ben who loses control, making his way over her body opening her shirt with a tug of his hands. Because she no longer feels the pain in her back, Rey bends so her breasts don't graze the cables again when a freezing breeze sneaks down the balcony and causes her to shake between his arms. He stops kissing her reaching the control that closes the glass around the bed.
Rey smiles at the sight of all the glasses become blur when the doors close, feeling her passion taking control of her. "You think of everything," says untying the knot holding his trousers up and gets them out of their way.
"I only think of you," replies Ben as his member rises beneath her.
Hearing Ben saying that, Rey kisses him again desperate to make up the time they've been away in one night. Ben corresponds to her, caressing her in all the places that make her delirious and that he only knows how to find, his fingers manoeuvring expertly between her legs making her lost her mind. She drowns her moans of pleasure inside his mouth, where their tongues fight in a war that none of them wants to win.
Ben grabs her hips and guides her to get up enough so he can make his way inside her. The moment their bodies come together, they both feel as if all the magic of the universe is concentrated within them, the air vibrating around them. Slowly, Rey begins to move, each time faster before, so she's forced to stand on it and avoid disconnecting another cable.
As she changes position, Ben closes his eyes raising his hips against hers, a cry of pleasure getting trapped inside his throat. Rey makes sure that the wires don't get trapped under her knee and accelerates the rhythm, biting her lips to silence her own moans of pleasure when he reaches the exact point that makes her hallucinate. Ben's hands don't stop, navigating her body with the precision of an experienced captain crossing the seas, while she rides him relentlessly, leading them straight to reach an orgasm.
Both find the climax at the same time, and within their bodies an explosion of energy invades them, the magic moves freely through their bodies, their minds connecting and letting them both experience that feeling, re-entrusting each other. They hold their gazes trying to catch their breath; that may not be the most romantic or lustful night of their lives, but they feel more united than ever. Every day they had been separated seems to fade, giving way to an unusual sense of peace.
"I love you," says Ben kissing her, a sweet, soft kiss, one of those who leave their lips wanting more.
"I know," replies Rey both smiling at the same time. "Forgive me for taking so long to find you."
"Don't say that sweetheart," says Ben guiding her to lie down beside him.
Carefully, Rey comes down and settles on his right side, placing her head on his chest, listening as his heart finally beats full of strength, full of life, full of hopes. They no longer feel compelled to fill the silence with uncomfortable words, the bad days of the past blurring with every breath of air shared at two times, with each caress slowing down until they stop.
The drowsiness and tiredness took over Rey, her body feels heavy and her muscles protested over-exercise. The lethargic beats of his heart seem to lull her, singing a secret melody that takes her straight to the lands of Morpheus.
"Promise me that you're not a dream," says Rey with some despair, still frightened of falling asleep and waking up back inside the cell down in the dungeons, in the deepest hole under the city.
"I swear to you," replies Ben in a dull voice, awkwardly resuming the caress he had left halfway on her back. "Sleep sweetheart, I'll be here when you wake up."
"I love you, Ben," adds Rey and his heart leaps inside his chest.
"I know," responds Ben, kissing her on the crown of her head. Rey holds him tight as she gets carried away by that sense of peace that surrounds them, returning her as always to her dream's lands, to those green meadows in the middle of the mist, where Ben waited for her every night they remained apart.
*