Chapter 15: Chains

Author's Note: Thank you for all the votes and fans who have commented to their appreciation for this fanfiction! One such inspired reader, who is also a stunning artist, has commissioned some artwork to bring extra life to this story! Her instagram handle is @hal.issa_art and she is fantastic.

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"I think those might be infected."

"I've had worse." Kylo winced, and pointedly turned the scarred side of his face toward her. She pressed her lips together and looked away. "Rey, there's something you need to know..."

"We may not have much time," Rey interjected, "I don't know how long the bond will stay open for me to figure out how to free you."

"I'm sure if I died, it'd be preferable to the Rebellion."

Rey's hands went to her hips. "It's not preferable...now can you tell me what these are?".

"Lower your voice and i'll explain." He sharply spoke in a whisper. Her mouth clamped shut in response, and he could see her annoyance breech the surface.

"This is something else. Snoke devised it specifically for me. If my wrists move, it drives itself deeper."

Rey knelt beside the bench, her hands resting on her thighs with attentive posture as she leaned in close to study the damage. The breath escaping her pursed lips grazed an exposed wrist as she took a closer look; the sensation made him feel light-headed, but that could have easily been the blood loss. The force bond must be stronger when they were in the same place, he wagered.

Rey sat back onto her feet, lost in thought as she touched her chin with her knuckles.

"If it...was made specifically for you," she mused out loud, "then is it possible that it operates on your...you know...those things inside you that make it possible to use the force?"

Ren raised an eyebrow at her.

She shrugged her shoulders in frustration, "In your blood! You've got to know what I'm talking about."

"You mean midichlorians?" he answered, amused at her persistence of knowledge.

"That's it," she snapped her fingers in confirmation, "I couldn't remember what exactly the word was mentioned in the Jedi texts..."

"The Jedi texts? You have them?"

"Possibly" she played it off, "now...is it possible these are linked to your midichlorians, or your force signature?"

"I've never encountered anything like this before. After what I've seen recently though...anything could be possible."

"What if I can throw it off somehow...mask your force signature and make it believe it's not you?" Rey's eyes were overflowing with hope; her ingenuity and resourcefulness piqued.

Ren considered her suggestion. "How?"

"Perhaps if I..." she pressed two fingers to a smooth portion of the bar expecting it to react, but nothing happened.

"That's not right either.." she muttered to herself. At first she appeared discouraged, but like all broken things found she continued to search with her hands, touching every part of the bar's surface.

What felt like an hour passed by, and Ren was infinitely fascinated watching Rey problem solve, admiring the thoroughness of her exploration. In the midst of his thoughts, the bar wrenched and shrieked of its own accord and he hissed in pain until it abruptly stopped.

He looked down to see Rey staring at it in surprise with both her hands in the air.

"I....all I did was touch your hand."

Disappointed he did not feel the contact, he motioned for her to continue her prodding.

Rey drummed fingers on her right thigh as she considered his bonds. Racking her brain, she conjured up all her experiences with the force and recalled what she could from the texts.

How do I get the force from my body into his?

The recent memory of Freen freezing her in motion on Tatooine, along with the sensation of the force inside her body, travelling through her joints...

An idea popped into her mind suddenly.

"I'd ask you to hold still, but you won't have to."

Without allowing him time to react, she laid both her palms down on Kylo's hands, and the bar warped in reaction. Closing her eyes and ignoring Kylo's groan, she called on the force in as peaceful a beckoning she could muster. Rey visualized it trickling down her arms and running like water onto Kylo's hands. It entered his body in through the wounds, passing into the bloodstream where it clung to cells, permeating the barriers to push inside the nuclei. The midichlorians filled with the force signature from Rey's body, and each cell body vibrated in response.

Ren's eyes squeezed shut the initial moment the barbs quivered in his flesh, but now everything in his body locked shut as if it was chained. There was a different energy inside him; a yellow glow behind his eyelids that left a pleasurable warmth in his soul.

Rey's voice was an echo in his mind, beginning far away and gradually peddled closer.

Light.

Hope.

Peace.

Overtake the darkness...release him.

Ren experienced a nostalgic moment of euphoria; he'd been touched by it before when their fingertips connected in the hut on Ahch-To. The feeling was warm and welcoming, flooding his veins with a sense of belonging. That magnetic pull once again yanked from within his chest, and if he wasn't frozen in that moment, his body very well may have leaned into the touch.

He opened his eyes, and was met with Rey's concentrated gaze; he decided she was the most beautiful in these moments where her determination shone through. Her eyes were welling up through holding steady breaths.

She feels it too.

The air of the cell was filled with small sucking sounds as the barbs retracted from the inflamed flesh; nerves alighted in a frenzy as all sensations rushed in. The bar slithered back and forth over itself, eventually rolling limply off his hands. The bar turned solid before it hit the floor, and it rang loudly.

He expected Rey to release him from the force hold, but her face changed as she refocused somewhere else.

What are you doing? He thought out loud.

There's toxins in your hands from the lack of blood flow, she answered with a look. If I don't attempt to heal you, it'll rush to your heart and kill you.

Ren blinked in panic. That's too advanced...you're not strong enough to attempt it with no experience.

Shaking her head, her mind answered him. I'm just returning the favour...for saving my life. I never did say thank you.

With that thought, she shut her eyes again and gripped his hands tightly. A burst of cold overtook his flesh, the interstitial fluid being wrung from his fingertips and hastened toward the punctures.

Ren was mesmerized by the invisible pressure kneading the vessels to bring forth small gushes of pus and blood out of the wounds. A strange relief washed over him as the pain diminished effectively, and it was a moment before the streams finally ebbed away to nothing.

His hands, crusted with old blood, looked almost normal as the redness faded and the wounds began to close up.

Rey teetered noticeably on her knees, her back struggling to keep her upright. Her eyes were trying to open, head nodding as if an unnatural tiredness fell upon her.

In his frozen state, Ren called out to her through the Force.

Rey, you can stop!

Rey tried to straighten up one more time, but the fatigue took her as she began to topple backwards; her hands released their grip on his.

The Force-hold on Ren broke with the loss of contact and he reacted instantly; lunging forward off the bench with an outstretched arm, he caught the front of her tunic in a fistful of fabric. Hands aching considerably from the damage, he hauled her in close to him.

The shock of the prior event was still being processed, and as he knelt on the floor of the detention cell, he felt overwhelmed wrapping his head around the current one.

Rey, the scavenger of Jakku, was lying in his arms.

Eyelids half-open, her will was attempting to overcome her body's tiredness, and he suspected the Force-bond may only remain open until she succumbed. The crook of his arm supported her neck as he gathered her up against his chest.

It was suddenly feeling very warm in the cell, and he tried not to think about how the curve of her thigh felt with his hand placement.

"I won't turn" she mumbled weakly as she tried to raise her weary head.

Ren resisted smiling. "Rest...you'll need your strength for what we may face."

A yawn erupted from her. "You sound like Luke. Facing destiny..."

"Luke Skywalker?"

"Uh huh" she turned her face into his chest. "He told me that yesterday. Anakin was there too." She trailed off at the end of her sentence, and he realized she had fallen asleep.

Ren gazed down at Rey's peaceful face in disbelief, digesting her last words as the soft sounds of her breath rose and fell inches from his face.

Studying her intensely, he securely gripped her with the arm under her neck that clutched around her rib cage, and released her thigh with the other. His right hand trembled nervously as it drew near her jaw, stopping just short of it with his fingers splayed open.

"You know I can take whatever I want."

He frowned at the recollection of his former words spoken in the interrogation room on Starkiller Base, reflecting on the naivety of his past self. The truth was that he certainly could not take whatever he wanted. It was proven time and time again, that anything in the presence of Rey that he reached for would not be taken by force.

In the forest, the lightsaber had flown past, right into her hands.

In the throne room, he reached to her with the only offer he would accept, and she would not give in.

In that very same throne room, he would reach one last time for the lightsaber that was once his and again be denied.

Ren was certain Rey would turn after seeing the vision of her parents, but after everything, he wasn't sure if he wanted her to.

Lowering his hand from Rey's face, his chest ached with disappointment in failing to quench the curiosity of her soft, tanned skin; his awakening conclusion was solid and clear. No matter how desperately the heated desire for her to join him...he was only cheating himself if it was not her choice.

Ren rose up from the floor with Rey cradled in both arms, and carefully lowered her onto the bench, which was too short even as her boots dangled off the edge.

She sighed in her new position, head tilted at an angle but her deep breathing stayed constant. Ren continued to watch her until the connection finally closed, and then Rey faded away like a ghost.

Now we wait till morning, he thought, propping himself sitting up in the corner of the room. Now free of pain, the waves of sleep came unhindered; Ren did not fight it, and proceeded to nod off in his uncomfortable position.