Star Wars - Series Fan Fiction ❯ "You're not alone... " ❯ A call for help ( Chapter 5 )

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A/N: I decided to take things into a spin of events that to my understanding still stay in effect with what happened in the movie. I came across a bunch of critics on the internet about so many things, and one of them was how Rey went and got so powerful out of the blue and also hoy she began caring about Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) way too quickly, forcibly even, and so I’m filling those gaps. This is a journey of our heroine growing stronger and our anti-hero Kylo Ren growing on her. Please be honest with me if I get out context or make a mistake in my writing, I try my best to re-read everything, but I sometimes don’t catch my own flaws.

Thanks!  

 

Ch. 5

 

             He could not bring himself to do it. But someone else had, he had been “weak”, he had cared too much, and it didn’t matter that his mother was dead, because he had not been able to do it himself. Kylo had forgotten what it was like to weep, he had forgotten what it was like to be in such agony his mind found itself subdued by that very pain. His ship took him back to the Dreadnought where he immediately boarded and without saying a word made his way back to his chambers. He realized he was desperate to look into a mirror, he needed to see what he looked like right now, and when he finally came across one he felt a pang of guilt wash over him in a massive wave. Back at him stared swollen eyes that were the reincarnation of his mother’s. Even there he found accusation, fingers pointed at him for what he had chosen to become.

 

-“I’m so sorry…”- but he had not done it. Why then? Why did the pain subdue him like this? Surely Snoke was aware of his mental state, and he had nowhere to hide because he had opened the door to Snoke himself, the door to the deepest parts of his soul. The dark master knew and Kylo Ren still had not resolved the conflict inside. He needed Rey, and he needed her now, her energy and strength, some answers for all this madness. Falling to his knees on the bathroom he reached out for her.

 

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            Rey had just torn in half a rock with the saber that almost killed one of the island natives. Luke had thought it time for her to take a small rest before she got banished from the sanctuary. When she came to think about it, Luke was not really doing much in the ways of teaching her, he was just physically draining her out, and she noticed that he deliberately avoided anything that implied the use of the Force, and she knew that he was still shaken by what had happened on their first attempt at meditation. She could not deny the annoyance it brought that he was being that way that he did not trust her and was not hiding it a little, but also in a way she understood that sometimes, too much rawness can make anyone sick. She needed to train, physically before she could start handling herself mentally in an efficient way that would also not scare the crap out of master Skywalker. Rey ran across the fields, she climbed the mountains with no gear; she exerted herself in every possible to attain a level of control that would be new even to her. She simply wished she could swim as well. It didn’t matter how hard she did the rest of things, because in the end when they were mastered she would still be scared to go into the water, because there is no way she could fight the raging waves of the ocean and get out alive. She always dreamed of this place, heck, she even knew this place from a dream, but never in her wildest dream had she imagined actually being here. And now she was, overcoming all the obstacles the island had to offer but one, an important one. Swimming. She looked around to see if anyone was looking, but there was not, she was left alone, to her own devices and personal mission.

-“Okay you can do this…”- she discarded her vest and boots and looked into the abyss beneath the cliff. There was nothing left to think about, because she had been here plenty already to memorize every rock, every step and possible landing spot, even places where she could hold on to in case her swimming got overpowered by the waves. She had no excuses but the fear. She closed her eyes, and behind her lids she could still the fierce ocean, and hear the roaring of the waves. I can’t do this… she was paralyzed again, with fear, just the way she had been when she had first encountered the cloaked figure of Kylo Ren in that forest.

 

You have to stop looking back dear, it’s time to move forward and trace your future, and the past can’t offer you anything else…

 

That voice, it sounded so familiar and even when still unknown she found something inside her ignite and she dashed forward, opening her eyes and letting the adrenaline take over her body. She was afraid, but that was okay, she was after all growing up. It all happened so fast, she had been running, dashing, feeling overcome with adrenaline and security, the next she had been in the air, flying, falling and free of the restrains from fear.

 

-“Woooooooooooooohoooooooooo!!!!!”- She could not help herself. She felt so proud, she had needed this, needed it for so long. And then she was submerged. The water was cold, not numbingly cold as she would have expected it to be, but it still bit into her heated skin as it made contact. She remained motionless for a moment; the heaviness of her body left her entirely as she found her body embraced by the water. It was an alien feeling to her, because never in her life as far as she could remember had she felt so much water around her. Rey remained unmoving, allowing her senses to enjoy this new feeling, forgetting she had to breathe. She opened her eyes and was greeted by a blurry picture of so much blue. The vision around he was peaceful but it was also beginning to unsettle her, because she knew and understood the power of the ocean, and how she was just a spec inside it. She began moving her hands and legs, trying to make it up to the surface and breathe, it had been way too long now. She took a deep gasp of air when she resurfaced only to find herself to be crashed by an incoming wave that shook her under water, spun her body like an old rag tossed aside. She needed to breathe again, but found it hard to do when the waves just kept coming and thrashing her about.

 

Rey!

 

She heard her name being called; perhaps Luke had seen her fall into the water. She was beginning to panic, in between the hope of having been seen and maybe helped out, she was also feeling scared that the water only dragged her further down. Unable to contain the scream that bubbled up Rey opened her mouth and water went in, choking her, filling her lungs. Please help! She had tried to scream her thoughts but to no avail, only to further complicate her current situation. She felt her body growing tired of struggling to swim upward, and she did not have the airtime to stop and consider her options as to what she should do now. Slumping down on her weight she began to sink. She felt arms wrap themselves around her torso and lift her up and before she had time to realize what was happening her head was out of the water and she could breathe. Life had come back to her, she felt it spring back up her spirit and hope. She was being dragged to a rock nearby, a rock she had analyzed to be of help in situations like this but had completely forgotten about in her panic. The water swung her in an unnatural way towards the rock and when her hands touched the surface of the rock and she knew she could safely pull herself up. Rey stopped to look back and see if Luke was just as safe as she was. But she did not see him, maybe he had being dragged away by the waves, maybe he was drowning, just as she had been drowning. She could not remember well what had just happened, but she was certain someone had pulled her up; she knew someone was there with her in the water.

 

-“LUKE!”- She called for him, because she knew that jumping back into the water would only be suicidal in her current state. She cursed herself for feeling so weak at the moment and for tiredness.

 

-“Luke!!”- She screamed again, but nothing. A panic unlike the one from drowning began taking over her.

 

-“Oh please please come on out!”- She whispered the words as she looked in every direction possible, the spot she had previously been, the way the waves came from and the rocks on the perimeter. Nothing. She could not stay here and just wait, finding a resolve in herself Rey went ahead and climbed up, after all she was way better at that than she was at swimming definitely. Surely Chewie or Artoo could be of some help, maybe something she could use as rope to get back. When she reached the top of the cliff where her boots and vest lay, she saw Luke, heading her way with the Wookie and Artoo by his side. He looked worried and in a haste. For a moment Rey could not believe her eyes.

 

-“You alright? I heard you screaming”- Luke’s look of concern was rather clear and the Wookie seemed to share the feeling. She stayed silent for a moment and wondered if maybe she had drowned and was a spirit of sorts, or if she was hallucinating. Luke noticed this and made his way to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder Rey was brought back to reality in a flash. It had not been Luke in the water with her, of course not; the old man was not around when she had taken the dive, because she had wanted to be alone in order to perform her personal ritual of ridding herself of fears. She looked at Luke’s blue yes and shook the momentum from her mind; she needed to find calmness in herself in order to explain what had happened to Luke and to herself as well.

 

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-“How did you find me up here? I mean, I wasn’t exactly hiding, but why did you come?”- Luke sat across from her, taking a bite from the fish on the stick he was holding. Luke didn’t stop eating but waited until he was done chewing to answer.

 

-“I heard you call”- he simply said. Rey was astonished. How could he have heard her from where she had been? As if reading her mind Luke took another bite of the fish, and after swallowing, answered with a gesture with his hand pointing at his head. She understood immediately, but she had no idea how that had been possible.

 

-“You called for help, with your will, and the Force deems you important enough to transmit your message. I probably wasn’t the only one who heard it you know”- Luke kept eating, and there was something about what he had said that made her uneasy but it also intrigued her.

 

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Kylo gasped. He was lying on the floor of the bathroom; he had awoken suddenly gasping for air and with his clothes soaked. He remembered faintly being here looking at his own reflection and calling for Rey, reaching out for her and then feeling a sudden burst of joy, followed then by intense fear and panic. He recalled hearing Rey call for help and his own growing desperation at his inability to make out where her calls were coming from. He had summoned all his inner strength to pinpoint the location of her fear and he had found himself submerged deep in water. He was also surrounded by a blurry version of the world that lied underwater and in the distance he saw the scavenger girl, struggling to swim up, her limbs frantically fighting for her survival to no avail and then finally her body, tired of the struggle sinking. He made his way to her as fast as he could, forgetting completely that what was happening just made no sense at all. He wrapped his arms around the slender form of Rey and swam up. He saw a rock not so far away from him and he made his way to it holding awkwardly onto her. Just what hell were you thinking?? When he reached the rock Rey had already gained consciousness and a moment he was there dragging her into the rock and the next he was gone. Trapped in a vortex of darkness that swallowed him back to where he had come from. He sat up and looked at his hands, felt the chill of the hip’s cold creep into him.

 

-“What the hell was that?”- he had been where Rey was, or had he dreamt that? It made no sense that he would have, but it also made no sense that he had just saved Rey from drowning.

 

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Kylo. Ben…

 

He opened his eyes. He was lying on his bed, on the ship, but he had heard her call him. This time he was sure it had been Rey; he could recognize her presence. He sat up on the bed and looked around. She was not there, but of course she was not there, she was calling her, but from her mind, with that “bond” that had developed between them and the Force.

 

-“Rey?”- he closed his eyes and focused on where the voice was coming from. He found himself sitting across from Rey. She was there, looking straight at him. She had acknowledged his presence even before he had realized where he was and she seemed to be waiting for him to acknowledge her.

-“How is this happening?”- he sounded genuinely curious and that made Rey relax herself a little. She smiled a little, and Kylo realized that she had completely lowered her guard to him.

 

-“I have no idea, but I’m starting to feel glad it’s this way”- she began saying as she tied her loose hair into her signature buns. Kylo watched her in silence and wondered what she meant by that, his mind not tying her words with what had happened earlier today. After she was done with her hair, she broke the silence between them.

 

-“Thank you”- her words were simple, brief, but so honest Kylo could not help his heart from skipping a beat. It all came in a flash to him then, the way he had saved her form drowning without any hesitation. He blushed and looked down at the floor. The fire danced in the room, the flames making the only sound between them.

 

-“It would have been tremendously underwhelming to have you die by drowning”- Rey lifted an eyebrow and fought a sassy remark. Sensing the discomfort he proceeded to look around, he still could not see where he was, only her, wrapped around a blanket, with her hair tied back now and her eyes like open books.

 

-“Why were you in the water?”- He needed to ask the question. At that she blushed and looked down. He didn’t really feel like making her uncomfortable, but he had no idea what more he could say to tear the silence between them.

 

-“I was trying to overcome the way it scared me. I mean, I had never seen an ocean before… Well, that I can remember, but I wanted to…”- she didn’t know what else to say.

 

-“I touched you, I was able to make physical contact with you, how is this happening?”- Rey didn’t mind that he hadn’t commented on what she had just said, but it did bother her that he sounded annoyed about their connection.

 

-“Does it bother you that much that we’re connected?”- At her question Kylo Ren was back to her. He briefly wondered if it did bother him to have this connection to her. He would assume it made him worry too much and rendered him helpless, he also thought it a weakness. Yes, yes it bothered him, but how could he say that when Rey sat across from him, all alone, wrapped in that blanket and looking as lonely as he was feeling. She frowned, because in this connection their thoughts were nor theirs alone. He felt bad and embarrassed, because she knew exactly what he was thinking, and without any other words she looked down and began settling down to go to sleep. Kylo Ren stared at her, as she became a cocoon inside her blanket, and he said nothing because he didn’t need to. Rey got and decided not to press further into it, and in a way he respected that very much from her.

He was gone again, and the cold crept back into his quarters. The warmth from wherever she had been left him, and the soothing effect of her presence vanished as well.