A/N: Thank you for the reviews last chapter! I want to give a shoutout to 'Guest', who went in depth on a couple of points. I really appreciate you taking the time to write all that. It helps me immensely when plot points are addressed and broken down.

I changed the cover art for this fic, but read the author's note below to find out more about it. ;)

Disclaimer: No own, no sue.

Fading Touch

Chapter Two

...

"You're looking well today."

Kylo glances at Hux who's eyeing him with his hands wrapped behind his back. His voice is low enough that the people standing at the other end of the large room can't hear.

"Compared to what?"

"Your…usual self," he says with a hint of distaste that does not go unnoticed. "You've seemed ill and very on edge lately."

"I'm fine."

"Good. I was worried the Supreme Leader's death was affecting you far worse than you were letting on."

'Worried? Tch,' he thinks bitterly. This is the part he's supposed to say his former master will be missed and that losing him was a tragedy. He won't, though. Constantly acting like he cares is wearing on him and mustering up the fake-hurt is getting harder to do. Hux narrows his eyes at his silence.

"She's a curious thing that girl – the new Jedi," he says. "She was able to assassinate Snoke, kill the entire Elite Praetorian Guard, and take you on in a fight only for it to end with you being knocked unconscious."

Kylo can hear the insinuation and knows full well that Hux has been suspicious since he came to in the throne room. He borders dangerously close to knowing what really happened, but Kylo lets him speculate all he wants. The idiotic general is no threat to him and the man can prove nothing.

It's a good thing he has his uses, or he would have been dead weeks ago.

"She's strong with the Force and we underestimated that."

"Yes…underestimating her was the problem. She's very powerful."

"Is there something you want to say, General Hux?"

"There is, actually. You should know that some are looking at the situation with disbelief. I haven't been able to convince those asking of the truth. As your loyal general, I suggest you explain to them what happened. Set their minds at ease."

He doesn't offer Hux an acknowledgment, nor does the general wait for one. He turns to leave because this is the same thing he heard yesterday from someone else and it irritates him. Also, he really can't stand the sound of the cowardly man's voice.

Before he gets too far, Hux adds, "If she is that powerful, she's probably the biggest threat the First Order has right now. The sooner she's dead, the better for us all."

He's not sure if Hux notices, but there's a pause in his steps before he resumes his hard gait a second later.

Looking well is one thing, but feeling it is a whole other story.

His eyes aren't red anymore, which is nice, but he'll take the bloodshot mess he looked back in a heartbeat if he could trade it for what's replaced it. He sees something else in the mirror now, and it's frighteningly close to what a younger version of him-

Wait, no…not him. It's close to a look a younger Ben Solo used to make. Back when the light was all but diminished and darkness hadn't taken him in yet. Lost. Confused. Drowning in heartache. He tries to avoid the girl that causes it, but it's impossible to be free of her. If he's not ignoring her when she's around, the rest of the time is spent trying to not think about the life she denied him.

It's difficult, though, because all he does think about is how different, how much better, things could be if she had just taken his hand when he offered it to her…

"Are you planning on ever speaking to me again?" Rey asks. Her voice lacks contempt, but she's clearly unhappy by the way she's standing with her arms crossed.

One of the stormtroopers looks his way, probably curious about why he's staring at the ground so intently. Turning his gaze back to the glass wall displaying the docking bay, he considers ignoring her until she leaves, but when she steps closer and asks again, he sighs and dismisses everyone in the room.

"No," he says calmly when they're alone. "I don't want to talk today."

"You haven't wanted to the past few days, either."

"It's no different from all the other times we've ignored each other."

"Yes, it is. You're not acting the same." She unfolds her arms and her tone lowers. "You won't look at me."

"Does it bother you?"

She hesitates. "That's not the point."

"Then what is the point of you bringing this up?"

"It's about the other night and…what I saw."

"The only thing you saw," he grumbles, "was something you shouldn't have, and we are not going to discuss it."

"I'm not talking about you crying, Ben."

Ah, there it is…

It takes a lot of effort to keep himself from reacting to her words. She's watching him closely and he's not going to show her how thoroughly unnerved he is to hear her say that.

He's wondered about it since she caught him like that. He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he didn't notice when she showed up, and too ignorant to realize Rey was probably entirely aware of the way he tried to touch her. Though, looks like the 'probably' just turned into a 'definitely'.

He briefly pinches the bridge of his nose, but he's too drained and tired to feel the embarrassment. Now it made sense why Rey flinched away from him. She really did see and feel it all - his loss, his need, the desperation he was looking at her with.

"What did you see, exactly?" When she looks away, cheeks tinted red, he suddenly decides he doesn't want to know the answer. "Never mind. Forget I asked," he quickly adds.

He turns back to what he was doing earlier, staring at the bay of soldiers and ships gearing up to leave for the dreadnaught nearby, and waits impatiently for their link to end. That, or some semblance of anger to make him feel better. He was viciously taught to use it in times of weakness like this, but, for some reason, he can't find it in him right now.

"I think I'm wrong," she says as she steps closer. "I thought you were feeling better, but maybe you really aren't."

"We're done talking about this."

He's not sure if it's the aggressive edge in his voice or something else, but she doesn't press him about it further. Instead, she sighs and both of them stand in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

"What are you watching?" she asks.

"Stormtroopers."

"Leaving for a mission to find the Resistance?"

"Something like that."

"Are you having any luck with your search?"

"You would know if I was."

"Still planning to kill us," she states. Her judgmental eyes bare into him and he turns his head away from her so he doesn't have to see it. 'Not you. Just them.'

"Of course."

"Will you at least look at me when you say that?"

He grits his teeth and won't for a long moment, but he feels he can't escape her right now. When he does turn to look down at her, she's standing closer than he thought and his gaze goes from her narrowed eyes to her lips.

"Of course," he repeats in a mumble.

"The people you're sending out – they'll never find us."

"Yes, they will." There's some news he was given recently, in particular with this subject, that makes him frown in annoyance. "It probably won't take long, either, with your current leader in charge."

"What do you mean?"

"Poe Dameron. The pilot who's now a high ranking general, or so I've heard. He's not very tactful."

"Where did you hear he's our leader?" When he doesn't answer, her voice lowers. "Your information is wrong. He's not leading the Resistance."

"Who is, then? I'm curious to know."

Her brow creases together. "It's the same as it's always been. Your mother."

Kylo freezes as the air around him seems to disappear, and it takes him a solid ten seconds to put his suddenly lost thoughts together. "You're lying," he hisses with a glare.

"I'm not." More confusion settles over her and she subtly tries to reach out and skim across his thoughts. He keeps her out, but doesn't try hard enough to keep her in the dark. "You thought she was dead."

She is dead. He saw that explosion up close and knew full well his mother was on that bridge. Familiar emotions start to slip past his now cracked shell of apathy – the same ones that had him at odds when he realized his mother was aboard the resistance ship in the path of his missiles.

"She survived the attack. Her injuries are still recovering, but she's going to be fine." Rey's expression softens and the hard edge to her voice disappears. "I didn't know you thought that. I would have told you earlier if I knew."

"Doesn't matter."

"She misses you, you know."

He quickly looks away from Rey.

"She says she's lost you, but I know she doesn't really feel that way."

"Enough," he says with clenched fists.

Rey pauses but doesn't listen to him. "I haven't told anyone what you did to Snoke, except her. I told her you saved my life."

"Stop."

"I've been asking her about you lately. She doesn't say much. I think it causes her too much pain, but she told me something last night-"

"I said stop!"

With the harshest scowl he can muster, he steps closer to Rey until he's inches away from her. Startled, she backs up a step but then stands her ground as he follows. He looms over her threateningly and she does her best to look unaffected, but he catches the way her lip quivers.

"What are you trying to do here?" he asks, fuming. "Lying like this. Was your goal to try and get a rise out of me?"

"No-"

"Well, you've gotten it. Are you done?"

She narrows her eyes. "I am not lying to you, Ben."

He tries very hard not to let that loathsome name get to him. She always does this. Always calls him 'Ben' when she's trying to make a point. He can't stand it. "I don't believe you."

"Then see it for yourself."

A memory is offered to him – a straight path right into her mind with a single thought left completely unguarded. It doesn't take him even a second to know it's full of proof, and even less time to decide he's not going anywhere near it. When his forced-indifference crumbles into relief, his glare hardens.

There are so many words on the tip of his tongue he wants to say to her. He's not sure what they are exactly, but the sudden need to yell and rage over his shattered composure is overpowering. He leans closer to her to take the intimidation up a notch, but when his mouth opens to start, he freezes.

Their link has bewildered him from the start. They're always able to see each other with complete clarity, and when they both reached out that night he saw the vision, it was powerful enough that he could feel her skin when they touched.

They aren't reaching for each other like they did that night, and so it shocks him when he can feel her warm breath brushing across his face with every exhale. It not just that, either. Her body heat was pressing against him; warm and very, very real.

"Look," she insists, still offering the memory.

He blinks a few times before whispering his final answer. "No."

She frowns at him and a few long, tense seconds later, she disappears before his eyes. Cold air bites at his body where she was standing only seconds ago.

It's inevitable that he tells the generals under his command that Leia Organa is still alive and leading the Resistance. He spent a night pacing in his bedroom trying to come up with reasons to keep that a secret. But at the end of the exhausting arguments with himself, he decided he'll feel far worse if he doesn't tell them she's still alive.

He's committed to the First Order, or at least, the new one he's going to create. He has to constantly tell himself that to feel good about giving that secret away.

Rey doesn't bring Leia up again, and she doesn't so much as hint she's ever going to either. It's honestly not something he expects. He thought she would jump on the opportunity to use this knowledge to drive her incessant points home. If the roles were reversed, he certainly would. Probably.

He considers himself lucky for a brief time until the way she looks at him starts to change. It's small glances here and there when she thinks he doesn't notice. They're not glares anymore. Instead, her eyes are full of curiosity and ill-tasting pity.

Then it hits him. That infuriating girl…she really has been talking to Leia about him.

His mother is probably telling her things she has no business knowing. Whatever they may be, the one thing he knows for certain is that they're all about Ben Solo, and Rey is the last person he wants those stories being told to.

Due to the news of the much smarter leader back in action, a new proposal for finding the Resistance was recently drafted and sent to him for approval. He's going through it as he sits at the desk in his new, massive bedroom. The light of hyperspace passes the windows as the dreadnought continues on its way to the Core Regions.

His eyes start to look up more from the datapad to check the time every few minutes. It's getting late in the day and Rey still hasn't shown up. It's not normal and it makes him antsier than he'd like to admit.

Giving up with trying to stay focused, he sets the report down on his desk and listens to the faint hum of the ship. It's quiet enough for his tastes, but his room feels too large, even for a commander. No one person needs all this empty space…it's easily big enough for two.

His eyes move over to the bed and he bites his tongue as he looks across the black sheets. He wonders, had Rey taken his hand that day, had she been here with him now, if she would be willing to share it all with him. The ship, the room, the bed.

It's easy to imagine his vision was more than just a simple alliance…

The longer he stares, the more salacious his thoughts become. He's imagined it a couple of times already here and there. It's really hard not to when she's constantly on his mind. Late at night as he lays awake staring at the wall, sometimes he'll run his hand across the silk sheets and pretend he's not the only one lying there.

He'll close his eyes and picture the way he'd easily doze off if she were sleeping in his arms. He imagines the things he might say to her after a long stressful day, and what things she'd tell him about hers. And then at last, he pictures himself wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace, his lips planting kisses on her neck, him pushing her down on those sheets.

He's got nothing else to do and it's really hard to push the daydreams away after he's already let them in, so he indulges himself a little and tries to picture it in a little more detail.

He doesn't get past ideas of foreplay before the star of his lewd fantasies appears.

In a panic, he reigns in whatever emotions or thoughts that might be loose and steels his mind. If she were to walk in on uncontrolled thoughts like that – eh, he didn't even want to think about it. He fidgets in his chair to try to calm his racing heart and somewhat stiff problem down below, then looks over his desk and spots Rey on the floor.

She hasn't noticed him yet (which is surprising) and seems to be too content with staring at something in the distance. She sits cross-legged wearing simple grey desert clothes. Though, he notes it's tighter than her usual. The sight doesn't help his worked-up state he put himself in when he was imaging her with a little less clothing on not a moment ago.

She's oblivious to his curious eyes for a minute or two until she finally turns toward him, jumping a little in surprise.

"How long have you been there?" she asks as she quickly stands up.

"A while. What are you looking at?"

She looks back at what she was before and fidgets like she's not sure she wants to tell him. She lifts her hand palm up and the feeling of water hitting his own follows. He looks down to see droplets slip onto his datapad.

"A storm," she says as he takes his glove off and touches the too-real water. "I like watching them."

"Most people think they're depressing."

"I don't. They're still kind of new to me. I could watch them all day."

"It never stormed on Jakku?"

"Not where I lived. There was rarely ever a cloud in the sky."

He decides to leave his hand free and takes the other glove off as well. "You never left that desert before all of this, did you?"

"I thought you knew that already."

"I don't remember you ever telling me."

"Wasn't it something you took at Starkiller Base?" she asks accusingly.

He looks away and cringes a little at the memory of his attempted interrogation, and how horribly it backfired. "No, it wasn't."

She sighs. "I never left or did anything different with my life until I found BB-8."

"The droid that started it all?"

"Yes."

'Snoke would have found you,' he thinks offhandedly. He supposes he should feel relieved things happened the way did before his former master could find his 'equal' in the light. Snoke probably would have killed her before he ever had the chance to meet her.

"Are we going to be stuck like this for the rest of our lives?" she asks quietly. "Always seeing each other like this."

"I don't know."

"I've been thinking about it; trying to understand. Snoke used it to lure me out. I don't think he intended to keep the link between us."

"You think he knew of a way to stop it?"

"Yes."

"I don't."

"Why?"

"Because-" he falters a little, like he always does when this particular memory comes to mind, "I was supposed to kill you. If he had a plan to end it, I'm sure that's what it was."

Whatever hopeful attitude she had about it earlier diminishes, but it doesn't affect her spark of determination. "You were his apprentice. Has he ever done anything like this before?"

"What's happening to us? No. But…"

"But what?" she presses.

"Snoke was able to communicate with me through the Force. I could hear him and we could speak with each other, but I never saw him."

"Could you ever end the link with him?"

"No, I had no control over it."

She bites her lip briefly. "When did he start speaking to you?"

He leans back in his chair, eyeing her suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

"I've heard stories about it; how Snoke was the one that turned you. But no one knows for certain when it started."

'Leia doesn't know for certain,' he thinks.

He doesn't really want to answer. He's a little peeved that she specifically used the words 'turned you'. He was always destined for the Dark Side. It was going to happen whether Snoke was there to show him a quicker path or not.

"When I was a child." There's a flash of pity in her eyes and he sighs when he sees it. "You can run and tell the general that now. I'm sure she'll be eager to know. Though, she would have known the answer already if she were ever around to notice back then."

"What do you mean?"

He shakes his head. He's already said more than he wanted to. If she wants to know so bad, Leia can explain to her why everyone was always so surprised to find out she and Han Solo had a son. Cast aside because they were too busy fighting an unwinnable war, practically forgotten about, left alone with nothing but the whispers of a stranger in his head.

"This is nothing like the link Snoke and I had. I don't know how it works, what triggers it, or why it's so strong."

"Ben, what did you mean by that?" she asks, completely ignoring what he just said.

"Stop calling me that. It's not my name," he grumbles. "And I've said all I'm going to say about it."

Her lips tighten into a thin line, and she looks back at the storm. "So, you have no ideas how to stop this?"

"None."

Now that he's thinking about it, it's been a while since the last time he sat down and tried to figure this connection out. It's not as aggravating as it used to be in the beginning, truthfully. Rey is still popping in at the most inopportune moments, but it wasn't as terrible a thing as he used to believe. Right now, it's not enough to force his attention on a fix…

Part of him is a little afraid of what will happen if they do figure out how to shut this off…

"You'd end this right here and now if you could?" he asks.

"Of course. I'd rather not see you like this every day for the rest of my life."

He looks to the spot her storm is raging, trying to avoid the painful ache her words cause.

"No, I'm sure you wouldn't…"

Rey is showing up in his dreams now.

He knows it's not really her, just his mind conjuring her up. She doesn't do or say anything to him, but merely hovers in the background watching. Whenever he tries to approach her, she disappears before his eyes like she does when he's awake.

He figures it's just his subconscious getting some sort of sick satisfaction out of dangling something he knows he can't have right in front of him. Though, that's not the worst part about it.

It's contributing to him getting used to her being around. And It's not a good thing. He doesn't notice her during an important meeting, and she hears something she shouldn't because of it.

"Our spies speculate it's a supply line for the resistance," someone says over a holo.

"Then we'll take them out," says Hux.

"No," he interrupts, "if it's a supply line, I want to know where the source is. Capture their leaders alive so we can interrogate them. Where are they?"

"The Voss system, surprisingly."

"Send a small fleet. The Cadinth Run should only take a day to get to from here."

A few more details are hashed out before he dismisses those in the room. He's walking to the door when he finally catches Rey nearby with her arms folded in disapproval.

"I'm busy," he says.

"I can see that."

He's about to leave but stops when he can't help but notice that her glare is more hostile than it usually is. When it dawns on him why that could be, he narrows his eyes. "How much of that did you hear?"

"All of it."

'Perfect,' he inwardly groans. "Are you going to run and tell everyone now?"

"Yes, when they get back." Frowning, he goes for the door again, but she suddenly plants herself right in the way. When she makes it clear she's not going to move, he sighs and decides he'll pass the time staring at her lips. "I've noticed something about you."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"The meetings I've seen you in all boil down to one thing. Killing or hurting people."

"You're probably right," he deadpans and sits back down in one of the chairs.

"That's all you're going to say?"

"It's all there is to say."

Getting visibly irritated, she asks, "Is ruining people's lives all you and the First Order ever discuss?"

His eyes droop half-lidded because it's damn frustrating he can't find it in him to snap at her. However, though the anger is lacking, he's still annoyed. He doesn't have the patience for a pointless argument right now and briefly toys with ideas that'll make her stop glaring at him.

Taking her by surprise with a kiss would probably do it. That would certainly be the fastest way to shut her up…

"Don't like it?"

"No, of course not!"

"Then why don't you come run these meetings yourself?"

"I'm not in the mood to joke right now."

"I'm not trying to be funny, Rey."

He turns away the nagging reminders of the useless promises about doing this again he made himself agree to. But he can't help the opportunity, and he's growing weary of acting like this isn't what he wants. She's probably going to reject him again but…whatever.

She does a valiant job to try and hide it, but it's clear his words stun her. "I thought you took that back."

"I haven't."

She hesitates a moment. "If- If it were my choice, we wouldn't have these meetings in the first place. We wouldn't have the galaxy under a reign of terror."

"We…" He likes the sound of that in her voice. "What would we do, then?"

"I don't know." She tightens her folded arms. "Why are you still offering this to me?"

Because, for some convoluted reason, he feels like she's all he has left in this empty-feeling galaxy. Even though it's the simple truth, it doesn't quite explain it the way he wants, so he does what she did to him when she brought his mother up. He offers an unguarded memory to her.

'This is why,' he says to her through his thoughts.

"What is it?"

'The vision I saw.'

She doesn't look into it and he feels conflicting signs of curiosity and fear building inside her before she backs away from him, cutting him off.

"Are you saying that you would stop these meetings if I joined you?"

"You make it sound like I'm blackmailing you."

"Isn't that what's going on here?"

"No. You'd know that you would just look." She dodges another one of his attempts to show her. "Why won't you take it?"

"I don't want to see it."

"Lying again…I can feel how curious you are."

A blush settles on her cheeks and she fidgets. "I really hate it when you do this."

"You try to get a peek at what I'm feeling all the time. There's hardly a difference."

"Would you listen to me if I asked you to stop?"

"No," he says simply. "That was a decent attempt to change the subject."

She glowers at him. "I said I don't need to see it. Just tell me why."

"I'm trying to."

Something about this topic is getting to her. He's not sure what exactly, but he can feel the control over her emotions start to slip. She's flustered and feeling cornered, even though her stony face says otherwise.

"Have you thought about my offer since I made it?" he asks. When she avoids his eyes and refuses to answer him, he presses, "Tell me."

"Hardly."

"That's not a 'no'." His brow raises in surprise. "You have thought about it."

"I've thought more about what life would be like if you left the First Order with me."

"Don't try to change the subject again." He stands up from his chair and approaches her. She quickly takes a step back. "What did you imagine it would be like?"

"I don't have daydreams of ruling the galaxy," she says with a deeper scowl.

"Maybe not. But you have imagined something about it, haven't you?"

"I can guarantee it's not what you think it is. I have no desire for that kind of power."

"Then what is it? Tell me what you saw."

"Why does it matter?"

"It just does."

He'll blame his persistence for the reason her composure is slipping even more. For some reason, she's starting to panic, and thoughts he wants to hear bubble to the surface. He eagerly pushes against her mind to hear them.

"Don't," she growls as she tries to pull back from his reach.

"You're so nervous. Why are you trying so hard to hide it from me?"

"I'm not hiding anything! I just don't want you in my head."

Her fear heightens even more as he gets closer to whatever it is she's trying to keep him from seeing. However, just as it's within his grasp, Rey turns the reach right around and slams into his mind. He's caught off guard, not expecting the blow at all, and the brief, searing pain shatters the mental link. He flinches and pulls away from her, taking a step back as he does so.

"I said don't."

Before he can utter a word, the door at the other side of the room opens and interrupts them. He quickly straightens up when Hux steps in.

"Oh, there you are." As the general approaches him, he tries to keep his attention level and cool, but his eyes slip to Rey one too many times. "There is someone on the holo for you at the bridge."

"It can wait."

"You want to take this one. It's an angry supplier we can't afford to lose."

"It can wait," he seethes again.

Hux tightens his jaw. "Very well. I'll tell him our new Supreme Leader is busy with," he glances around the empty room, "staring at the wall."

Kylo bounds his hands into tight fists, half tempted to Force choke Hux who seems to be especially condescending today.

"Shall I take the call on your behalf?" Hux asks smoothly. "I have the reputation and experience for negotiations like these. I dealt with suppliers often under Supreme Leader Snoke."

"…"

As much as he wants everyone but Rey to disappear for a few minutes, the idea of the bothersome general getting friendly with his supporters makes his stomach churn. He walks past Hux, who eyes him in annoyance. Before he walks through the door, he looks at Rey one last time over his shoulder. 'This conversation isn't over,' he tells her.

The only response he gets is her turning her back to him.

Kylo Ren is many things, but a fool is not one of them. There's really only one thing he can feasibly believe Rey would get so worked up over to keep from him. She wouldn't shy away the way she did if it was some type of rejection or disappointment. No…she did it because the opposite is true. Whatever she imagined, whatever she was hiding from him, has to do with acceptance, even if the degree is small.

Or so he likes to believe.

She pictured it – the life he offered her. And if her flustered appearance told him anything, it's that…that she might…

'Feel something other than dislike,' he thinks.

Something like that was always too much to hope for. Rey caring for him beyond some pompous desire to bring him to the Light? Her actually thinking about what a life allied with him would look like? Unlikely after all she's said…

But…if there is a chance…

His need to know borders on obsession. It's quite pathetic, really.

It's consumed every thought of his since she disappeared from sight earlier. Even now, in a fitful sleep dreaming about who knows what, he's still thinking about it. Granted, it doesn't help when Rey's been watching him in the background of every single dream he's had the past couple of weeks.

He's coherent enough to know he's asleep. Everything around him is fleeting and hazy. He sees Rey's blurry figure where it usually is, and like always, he follows her when she tries to leave. This time is different, though. He needs to see her face. He needs some sort of acknowledgement she knows he's there before she disappears.

In his desperation, he's able to grab onto her for the first time and whirls her around to face him. Even still, she won't look up at him.

"Rey."

She doesn't respond.

"Rey," he presses.

Still no response.

"Why won't you look at me?" As blurry as everything is, he can still see her stiffen at his words. His hand slides up her arm and he grips her harder. Not enough to hurt, but firm enough to try to keep her from disappearing.

He knows none of this is real, but still he asks the question he can't stop thinking about.

"What did you see?"

Eyes he doesn't recognize finally look up at him. They aren't the warm hazel he's used to seeing. Instead, they're as blue as the lightsaber she stole from him. And for some reason, they feel just as dangerous.

But there's little he's afraid of, so he lets them wrap him up.

He's not quite sure how to explain what happens next. She starts talking to him and he answers her calmly each time. The words are lost in the dreamlike atmosphere and he has no idea if what she's saying is an answer to the question he asked.

Then her lips are suddenly pressing against his.

Whatever wispy train of thought he had comes to a screeching halt. With his eyes wide, her warm hand cups his jaw, then moves back until it's buried in his hair.

He's more than surprised when he realizes it's her that grabbed onto his shoulders and pulled him down. She's the one who leaned up to do this. Not him. Even though he's longed for nothing else but the chance to do this, it's her that decides to kiss him first.

It's just a dream. He knows that, but still…

He closes his eyes and responds but is hesitant to touch anything else besides her lips; still rattled by her practically jumping him. But, again, it's a dream. What reason does he have not to reach out to her when she'd surly deny him if he tried this in reality?

It feels like some sort of drug takes over him as his hands land on her hips. When she shows no signs of pulling away, he dares to bring her closer until they are practically chest to chest. Knowing that none of this is real boosts his confidence and he decides he has nothing to lose.

The pace of their kiss picks up, she clings impossibly hard to him, and he can't help the way his heart pounds against his chest when his hands run up her back to make her shiver and gasp.

The dream takes off from there, morphing into heat, wild desperation, and an intense sense of urgency. He doesn't care that it makes him feel like he's losing control of himself. Such a feeling always left him on edge, but he'll gladly let the devilish hands touching his skin take him away like this.

He pushes her down onto something soft, uncaring of what it was or how they got in this position. The heat between them is stifling, but he needs more of it. He needs more of this not-Rey until he believes these strange blue eyes mirroring his own hungry look are really hers.

He trails kisses down her neck and she digs her nails into his shoulder as another shiver runs through her. His hands are emboldened by the reactions she giving him and he moves them down to touch other things that will make her writhe.

However, she freezes when a distant noise appears, blaring like an alarm.

He groans and tries to ignore it. He kisses her neck again, but she doesn't arch her back the way she did last time. The noise gets closer and much louder until it's all he can hear. Rey's blue eyes open wide the moment they see his, she grabs his shoulders and pushes him off of her.

His eyes fly open to the dark ceiling of his room. The datapad on his nightstand is blinking in tandem with the alarm going off at the message console by his desk. With a frustrated growl, he throws the small sheet covering him to the side and gets up.

He's painfully aware of how hard and sweaty he is as he stomps over to the console. He hits the message line harder than necessary. "What is it?" he spits.

"Sir, we recently received word from the fleet we sent to the Candith Run."

"And?"

"It's completely empty. There are signs the base was occupied recently, but there is no sign of the Resistance."

"You woke me to tell me that?"

"I-I'm sorry, sir. General Hux ordered us to inform you of this development. He wants to know what you intend to do with the fleet now that they've-"

He slams his hand down on the message line again and swears with all he has that Hux is going to regret that. It's one thing if they found the Resistance, but it's another if it's just some empty base! Certainly not worth waking him up and ruining his dream for something as menial as that!

Grumbling, he opens the report on the datapad. He fully expected it to be empty thanks to Rey tipping them off, but his already bad mood drives his anger up a notch. He spends a few minutes reading through it and putting together orders to bring the fleet back here.

Once they're sent off, he leans against the desk with folded arms, but when he notices the sweat on his chest, he scowls and stalks off to the bathroom. However, before he reaches the door, he spots something in his bed that wasn't there before.

Laying in the same spot he was a few minutes ago is Rey. Of all the things he wasn't expecting tonight, this definitely outdid them all. Her eyes are closed and she's breathing slowly. As quiet as he can, he takes a couple steps toward her just to make sure she really is asleep.

Her bed must be in the same spot as his, or something like that…it looks a little too real, even with how strong their connection is.

It's hard to back away from her, especially since he's so entranced by how natural it all looks, but his stiff problem down below still hasn't gone away and he prefers it if she doesn't see and question why. He walks back over to his desk and sits down in the chair because he's not sure what else to do.

There is plenty of room on the other side of the bed, but getting in next to her without her knowing made him feel a little squeamish.

He leans back against the headrest, deciding he'll just wait it out before going to sleep again. The minutes slowly pass and his eyes stay solely on her. He's never seen her hair loose the way it is right now, and it's a look he decides he likes. That, and her simple shirt, bare arms, and slightly parted lips.

He feels a little guilty hoping that his dream will pick up where it left off once he falls asleep again. 'Unsatisfied' was a light word to describe how he feels. And to be left staring at the untouchable girl it was all about is incredibly…frustrating.

He lets out a heavy sigh and closes his eyes. His body relaxes more into the chair and a calm he can only blame on Rey's presence brings him close to sleep. He's drifting off in a doze, nearly dreaming again, when he senses something in front of him.

He cracks his eyes open and Rey is no longer lying in his bed. She's standing close to him, slightly leaned forward with her hand reaching for his face. She stiffens the moment she sees he's awake and quickly pulls back.

She shifts uncomfortably and clears her throat, then asks, "Were you asleep?"

"Almost." He straightens up and eyes the hand that was about to touch his scarred cheek. "Weren't you?"

"Something woke me up." Her eyebrows knit together slightly as she looks him over. "Why are you sleeping in a chair?"

'You were in my bed,' he thinks but doesn't tell her.

"No reason."

"Oh…"

"What were you doing just now?"

"Nothing," she says as she looks away.

She starts to turn around to walk away, but he grabs her wrist to stop her. It's the first time they've touched since that night he saw a future with her a part of it. She weakly tugs to free herself, but he doesn't let go. When her questioning eyes find him, he's the one who looks away as an awkward air settles between them.

"No vision?" he asks quietly.

"No…"

His grip loosens a little, but only so he can bring it down to her hand. It's small and feels fragile compared to his. He could probably crush it without much effort. Lowering his head, he runs his thumb lightly across her smooth skin.

Rey sucks in a breath and successfully gets away when she rips her hand from his. He won't look up at her, but he doesn't need to in order to feel the confusion and rejection on her face. She walks over to the bed without another word, then sits down, facing away from him.

His fingers ghost against his palm, still warm from touching her.

"What did you see?" he whispers.

'A life with me…tell me what you see…'

She wraps her arms around her knees and doesn't answer.

Voices around him mix together as they argue and debate. He stopped listening long ago and stares out the window into the vastness of space, wondering if one of the stars he's looking at is the same one Rey is near.

It barely the middle of the day, but his eyes struggle to stay open as if he's been awake for weeks. For the first time in his life, he wants to go back to bed and spend the day sleeping. A kind of depression he hasn't felt since he was a teenager is setting in and it's dragging him down with a vengeance.

After that display last night and the needy thought he let her hear, he's positive Rey's figured out just how bad this has gotten. At least for him, it was a clear enough sign of how hard he's fallen for her. How much that damn vision has taken over his life and changed him…

"We may have failed with our previous mission, but the Resistance has more than one supply line. It's never taken long for us to find them."

"I've already sent agents out to hunt down the other suppliers," says Hux, "We have ways to get them to tell us where the Resistance is."

"It'll be a simple matter of cutting them off and waiting until they come out of hiding."

"The plan isn't to smoke them out. It's to locate whatever base they're staying at and razing it with cannon fire until there's nothing left but ash."

The image that Hux's words bring on makes his throat tighten. "There's been a change of plans," Kylo says lowly.

"What change?" Hux asks as the people in the room look between the general and their leader.

It's a gamble – one he's not sure will play out in his favor. There's something about the way she didn't want him to hear her thoughts and the way she was about to touch him last night had he not woken up; something about it he can't shake. She said she had no interest in his offer, but…

If even the slightest chance existed, would it be possible to…convince her?

Now that he realizes it, he hasn't exactly tried to sway her. He's just been wallowing in the fact that she already told him no.

Choices are volatile, and minds can change so easily. Even with stubborn Jedi. The Resistance is going to be destroyed – that much is guaranteed, but as for Rey and what her future might be without them…

He hopes there's a way to convince her it could be next to him.

"I want the girl brought here."

"You mean the Jedi?" Hux scoffs. "She's the biggest reason support for the Resistance is building. The moment they heard she's Skywalker's successor, they came out of hiding and rushed to their aide. If any one of them needs to die more quickly than the rest, it's her."

Hux stumbles back as Kylo reaches through the air and Force chokes him. Like always, everyone fidgets nervously and takes a step back from his direction. "Do any of you have a problem with my order?"

Heads shake and 'no, sir's' are mumbled throughout the room. He drops Hux and he falls to the ground panting. The general glares at him and Kylo matches it easily. There's a long, tense minute before Hux says, "None."

"Good. I want her brought here to me. Alive and unharmed."

A/N: I realize there's a lot of what appears to be useless dialogue in this chapter. However, it's not just idle chat. There's a lot of setup going on for future chapters even if it doesn't look like it up front.

Sooooo since I'm Reylo trash, I went and drew some fanart. One is the cover art for this fic and the other is a scene happening next chapter. Go check out my profile over at DeviantArt (same pen name) and both will be in my gallery. I like to draw pics for the fics I write, so there's more coming for future chapters!