Conflicted: A Reylo Fanfic

The Force

NO.

Rey saw Ben give up. She watched the expressive eyes she loved so much sorrowfully bid her farewell as he lifted his head high and slipped his lids closed, ready to accept his death. Despite their inability to connect through the Force, she knew he had judged his survival to be subsidiary to hers and that of the lives she carried within her, that he fully intended to die so they didn't have to. She just wasn't at all willing to accept it.

NO.

Without conscious thought, Rey reached down deep inside herself and called upon her innate ability to access the Force. Immediately, pain caused by her irrational attempt to thwart the nullifying effect of the bindings assailed her. But, whereas she had allowed the agony to stifle her efforts down in the cargo bay where all this started, now she welcomed it. Instead of fighting the pain, she embraced it, used it, craved it for its ability to drive her connection with the Force higher and deeper. As the pain intensified, so did her strength, and so she pushed harder, trembling with the searing agony wracking her body.

NO.

Her focus drawn so thoroughly inward, Rey was only vaguely aware that both Cerisse and Sarniel had paused, noting the change in her demeanor. She stood rigid, her eyes dry of the tears that until now had graced her countenance without reprieve, her expression harsh and unforgiving. Her body quivered with suppressed power, struggling to be free of its unnatural constraints, but her jaw remained tightly shut, confining her to utter silence.

NO.

Still, it was not enough to free her. Rey now endured well beyond the limits of human capacity for physical suffering, and yet she strove for more, willing the sorcery of the bindings to break before her body did. A distant corner of her mind acknowledged the danger she taunted, the price of failure being death. With every moment that passed, her abuse of the Force risked damage to her corporeal body that her rapidly depleting energy reserves rendered unrecoverable. But the greater part of her consciousness disregarded that matter entirely and instead only thought...

NO.

The first inkling of her physical limitations came when a trail of blood appeared, oozing from her nostril. Instead of relenting, however, she persevered, pushing and pulling the Force all around her as the bindings continued to fight against her. A sudden weakness overtook her as a fresh spike of pain drove through her head, and she dropped to one knee. Noting the gleam of triumph in Cerisse's eye as she observed Rey faltering, Rey spoke for the first time, her voice low and ominous as it renewed her conviction to disavow Cerisse's victory.

"NO."

Driven to her last resort, Rey turned inside, reaching deep into her own body, to her womb, where two precious lives barely begun lay nestled and safe. There, she found two infinitesimal sparks of light, so small but so brilliant, and she implored them to succor her. Without hesitation, they responded to her call, pressing their own access to the Force into her, lending her their strength. Rey sucked it in, drawing heedlessly and recklessly upon that additional power. And with supreme effort, she rose arduously to her feet and, at last, felt the first cracking of the bindings about her wrists.

"NO!"

Her eyes widening as she watched Rey arise, Cerisse tore herself from her stupor. In sudden panic at the recognition of the very real danger the furious Jedi presented, she turned to Sarniel, shouting frantically, "Now! Kill him NOW!"

With a bloodcurdling scream, Rey's bindings broke apart and the sudden rush of power flashed out from her body as the release of the nullifying effect tore through every occupant of the room. Her eyes glowing red, Rey fixed Cerisse immobile as she advanced menacingly. Her power freed, Rey flung one hand behind her, freezing Sarniel in place before he could carry out Cerisse's bidding. Her gaze yet focused upon Cerisse, Rey flicked her wrist in three quick gestures, and Ben's cross-bladed lightsaber obeyed her command. With its first swipe, it removed Sarniel's head from his body, striking him down with ridiculous ease. The second descended toward directly toward Ben, efficiently severing the Force-inhibiting binders from his wrists. And the third landed the weapon squarely in his outstretched hand.