Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 32: Enemies

Author's Note: This took me longer than I anticipated - but I realized that I had never written any kind of fight scenes previous to this in my fanfiction! So this was a bit of hard chapter to articulate with so much going on at this point, and I'm warning you that it might be a bit raw on the first read, I'm going to come back around and edit it or fix things I'm not happy with later! Thanks for waiting!!

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"I'll tell her" Ben mumbled to himself in the dim light of his cell. "I'll tell her everything."

On Jakku, when he'd met four-year-old Rey all those years ago, the brightness of her spirit and intense longing for her family made a significant impact on him. Despite her abandonment, there was a buoyancy in her eyes he could never forget, and it awakened in him a desire to protect that he had never experienced before.

At fourteen years old, a spark was lit deep inside him to preserve the light that still existed inside that little girl.

Hope.

Only one term of endearment came to his mind when he knelt beside her, Han addressing Leia with it whenever danger was imminent and tensions were high. It was his own personal way of calming her fears.

"I'll come back for you, sweetheart, I promise."

In the few short years before he would turn to the dark side, Ben thought about the little girl ever so often, wondering if her family did come back for her, or if she simply lived on a poorly existence on the lonely planet. Plans would pop up every year, that upon graduation of Luke's temple training he would take a ship and visit Jakku to find her, and keep his promise.

By the time he was in Snoke's company, he'd given up the hope that he would find her. Or rather, any hope at all was tortured from him.

Kylo Ren was born, sweeping battle after battle with a staggering victory, bringing cities to their knees. Nothing would stand in the way of his duty to the First Order, or his birthright as the grandson of Darth Vader.

He could hardly believe it when he'd sensed the familiarity once again in the young woman on Takodana, a scavenger with the same clothes and hair fashioned just like the little girl he had left behind on Jakku.

"Don't be afraid, I feel it too."

On the inside of her mind, the story of her daily life was laid out for him to see, including her dreams and nightmares.

"So lonely, so afraid to leave...at night, desperate to sleep."

Guilt dogged his every encounter with her thereafter, knowing that he never fulfilled the promise he uttered to her. He tried to shake it off because he wasn't sure if she even remembered him, this girl who haunted his dreams.

The girl who had taken his lightsaber as her own.

Who slashed his face..

...reached for him...

Came for him. Trusted him. She even showed compassion for him.

Life with Rey if she turned to the dark side, would never be the life he actually wanted with her. The part of her he loved the most, was what would have to be sacrificed.

The version of Rey he'd seen during their training terrified him; the woman he loved was obsolete in the being beneath the Sith robe.

A dark Rey would be the death of them both, as she had seen while unconscious.

"Patrol two-seven, reporting for rotation" a synthesized voice stated outside the cell at that moment. His reflections interrupted, Ben leaned against the door to get a better listen to what was transpiring on the other side.