Bonded

Chapter 9: Not Alone

CHAPTER SUMMARY: Rey finally learns why Kylo Ren killed his father.

The boy races down the hall of the ship, panicked, searching.

Where is it? Where is it? It has to be here somewhere.

He runs into the lounge, sliding under the hologame table.

No, not here. Maybe it got stuck somewhere in the seat?

The boy starts patting it all over, feeling for bumps. He crawls on top of it, sliding his hands all over the back, the top.

Nothing.

He crawls back down to the floor, searching around the base of the seat, the crevices behind it.

Nothing.

Now he's really starting to panic, chest tightening, heartbeat racing.

Where is it? Where can it be? His dad's gonna kill him. He's just gonna KILL him.

Suddenly, the boy stops cold.

He hears his dad coming down the hall.

He immediately scrambles up and around the corner, straight to the bunks.

He drops down, belly to the floor, and starts searching under the first bunk, hands sweeping wildly in the darkness.

But he finds nothing but a carpet of Wookie hair.

He shoots up and races to the other bunk, dropping to the floor and reaching under the bed.

Nothing.

How can this be? It has to be on this ship! It has to be SOMEWHERE!

His eyes begin to feel hot, tears pushing to the surface. He squeezes them shut, trying to fight them off, but it's no use. A few escape down his cheeks and trickle along his jaw.

He scrambles to his feet and grabs the sheets on top of the bed, dragging them all over his face to wipe away the tears. He sniffles, preparing to blow his nose.

"Hey, Ben?" His dad's voice fills the annals of the ship.

Uh oh.

"Ben?" He yells a little louder.

The boy flings the sheets back on the bed and begins walking down the hall, wiping his face with the backs of his hands. He shoves them in his pocket before he rounds the corner to the lounge, eyes downcast, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.

His dad is with Chewie in front of the technical station, their backs to him. He catches sight of him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, Spud," his dad starts absently, not really looking at him. "How'd you like it if we didn't go straight home, if we made a little stop along the way?" He turns slyly, eyes alight with mischief.

Suddenly, his face falls.

"Hey." He walks over swiftly, kneeling before him. "What's wrong?" He brings a hand to his cheek, thumb stroking the corner of his eye.

The boy takes a deep breath, fresh tears beginning to well. He tries to look anywhere but at his father, to the ceiling, down the hall, the technical station—

And that's when he sees it.

He gasps, immediately racing towards the gold gleaming in the light. He reaches up for the object dangling from above, his small fingers just barely able to grasp it. He pulls and the chain slides off the hook. He gazes down at the object in his palm.