Unbounded : A Reylo Story

Choices

Kylo squinted against the bright light as his eyes fluttered open. He had no idea where we was but by the feel of the hard bed beneath him and the harsh smell of antiseptic chemicals clogging his nose he assumed he was in the infirmary. As his eyes adjusted to the light he knew he had guessed right. Shifting with a groan Kylo tried to raise himself up, only to have warm hands press down on his chest.

Glaring at the figure pressing down on him Kylo let out a snarl that was cut short when he realized it was Rey that was holding him down.

"Ben." She breathed out as she slackened her hold on him, her face etched with worry. Kylo peered up at her, something like joy building up in his chest as he took her in. She was alive.

She was alive.

And standing beside him.

Her face was red and splotchy, as if she had been crying. Which Kylo immediately realized she had been as new tears sprang in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. He forced himself into a sitting position ignoring the pull of his wounds and the pain that seared through him.

Taking her face in his hands Kylo wiped her tears away as she struggled to speak.

"I thought you were going to die." her voice was small, strained. The sound of it making his heart feel as if it would cave in.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to kill me." His voice was raspier than he had wanted. Not as strong. He offered a half smile in an attempt to ease her but her face remained serious.

"You're not invincible." she declared "You could have died from the amount of blood you lost which was very, very much." Fear laced her words as she cupped his arms, squeezing hard enough to let Kylo know how deep the fear of losing him truly went.

" I promised that I would protect you." Kylo did not let his voice waver as he spoke. "Even if it cost me my life."

Rey's face crumpled at the words and looked down, hot tears spilling over his hands. He quickly wiped her tears away and pulled her towards him letting her cling to him as she cried. He held her for a few moments before the sharp pains ripped through him, forcing him to let her go and brace himself on the railing of bed. Neither of them spoke as Kylo tried to breathe in and out, the pain becoming unbearable.

"Lay back down. You need rest, you're still healing." Rey's voice mirrored the concern in her eyes as she wiped her remaining tears away and tried to help him lay back down.

"If I knew" Kylo grunted as he let go of the railing and tried to lay down. "That a few cuts and broken bones would have you nursing me back to health, I would have jumped off a cliff a while ago." He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him as Rey's eyes snapped to his.

"Don't make jokes." She muttered quietly as she pulled back the patch at his neck, looking at the wound critically. Kylo felt his curiosity peak as she bit her lip in contemplation. The minor movement of her mouth made Kylo's eyes drop down momentarily before looking back into her eyes. She looked at him then and Kylo raised an eyebrow as a question.

"I want to try something." She finally said, "I saw it once while I was held in the bunker. I want to see if I can do it as well."

Kylo felt a roaring in his head at the mention of that bunker. Of what had happened and what it did to her. He forced himself to keep quiet as Rey cautioned him to hold still.

Rey placed her palm over the patch and closed her eyes in concentration. Kylo wasn't sure what she was doing but as the minutes passed he felt a tingling start at his neck before it spanned down to the rest of his body. While it was not painful, the tingling became so powerful that Kylo shifted in discomfort as Rey continued her vigil. And just as the tingling became painful it vanished, as if a switch had been flipped. Rey opened her eyes and carefully pulled back the patch. She released a breath he didn't realize she was holding and smiled up at him. She pulled the patch completely away and began on removing the others as well. Kylo waited until she had finished before trying to sit up. He noticed as she had worked that he was not in pain and when he finally sat up and swung his legs off the bed he realized why.