8. Chapter 8: Distance

8. Distance

Rey stepped into red. One moment she was just walking down the hall with Rose, and the next Kylo's lightsaber nearly sliced into her stomach and she froze and felt the fear, thick and bitter, that she should not be here now.

Kylo was fighting for his life. She saw blaster bolts, saw Kylo's eyes blazing. There was an agonizing burning sensation in her hip and she tasted his desperation and fury.

He didn't spare her a glance, which she was glad of for his sake. She darted back out of the way of his saber and froze, helpless, watching. She wanted to help, but she couldn't even see where he was, what he was facing. It ached, just standing there immobile – and she couldn't even make a sound because the last thing she wanted to do was break his concentration. It occurred to her he might be fighting a platoon of Resistance soldiers, but couldn't find it in herself to care.

Kylo spun around in a shower of sparks and took off down the corridor – without even thinking, Rey ran after him. She had to know what happened to him, she had to keep him in sight, even though she knew she could do nothing for him. Her hip slowed her down and she realized that was his pain. He had to move faster, she felt that, so she latched onto the pain and pulled. Instantly she had to stop because her own pain doubled, but she felt Kylo's lessen and she smiled grimly. That, at least, she could do. He ran faster, and she started after him again, limping but determined to keep up.

He drew up short suddenly, terror slamming into her from him, and he raised his lightsaber, panting, exhausted. The focus it was taking him to ignore her and fight must be monumental. She stopped just behind him.

"I don't know how to help," she said, wishing she could see past him.

"You can't. It's fine," he said, grinning darkly. It wasn't fine, but Rey just focused on keeping his pain away and stepped out of the way of his saber. She considered praying, but what would she pray to?

Suddenly the weapon was a blur as blaster bolts streaked towards him. Rey felt one sear his shoulder, gasping in concert with him. She gritted her teeth and took that pain too. This time, she thought Kylo noticed, but he couldn't stop, couldn't look at her.

Then he started to move forward against the onslaught. She wanted to tell him to stop, but she just followed. Watched him block every shot of the blasters until they started coming from behind him, all around him and she screamed because she felt every time he was hit and he was going to die and she wouldn't be able to do anything.

But Kylo felt different now, felt determined. If he'd had a goal in this fight, he must be accomplishing it, because she felt him gain a sense of triumph, even as his movements started to falter and slow. She frantically pushed energy at him, a feeling of strength. Please.

She felt him shove outward with the Force so powerfully she felt the ripples of it, and he burst into a run. Just as he did, Rey felt the connection snap closed and she screamed. "Ben!" She felt her pain lessen and she knew as it did that he would feel the full weight of it crash into him. She stood panting in the hall, sweating, and, she realized, crying. She flinched when someone grabbed her arm, but it was just Rose.

"Rey? Are you okay?" Rose asked, anxiously. She knew about her connection with Kylo by now. "What happened?"

"I have to talk to Leia," Rey said fiercely. "I have to talk to Leia right now."

She ached all over but she took off running for the command center, and Rose ran after her. She knew this couldn't help Kylo but maybe Leia had answers, maybe they could call off the attack and save him.

Leia came out to meet her, looking worried, and grabbed her arms, which was good because Rey wanted to be moving, wanted to run more. "What happened? What is it?"

"He's dying," Rey said, knowing that may not be true but terrified that it was. "He's fighting someone and he's dying and I couldn't help, I couldn't… I couldn't do anything."

Leia pulled her straight into a hug and stroked her hair, and Rey wanted to scream at her because this was urgent, they had to do something- but instead she just started sobbing from the remnants of pain and fear.

"Slow down," Leia told her gently. "Start again."

"It looked like he was fighting a whole army," Rey said. "I took some of the pain but he's injured and I don't know if he got away. Is there a Resistance force somewhere? Another base? Has anyone said they're under attack? We need to stop them, we need to-"

"I haven't heard anything from anyone. You know as well as I do that we don't have enough fighters to send them all over the galaxy right now."

"Maybe it was his own troops," Rose suggested timidly. "I know that seems unlikely, but it makes more sense than if it were ours."

Rey pulled away from Leia and nodded. "Maybe. That might make sense – maybe they figured out he killed Snoke."

"It's possible." Leia sounded cautious, and Rey sensed a bit of her fear, although she looked as calm and commanding as she ever did. "A military coup in the First Order could be an opportunity, or it could just make everything harder for us. Thank you for telling me, Rey."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Rey asked, although she knew the answer. She just hoped Leia would tell her something else.

The general smiled sadly at her. "I don't think so."

Rey nodded, and felt Rose take her hand. "I'm sure he's okay," Rose said to them both, and Rey was glad she did, because she couldn't forget the feeling of the blaster bolts slamming into Kylo's shoulder and back.

"You're right," she said to Rose firmly, because she didn't want Leia to have this to worry about. She tried to project certainty. "I'm sure he made it." Leia smiled at her tiredly, knowingly, and Rey dipped her head. "I'm going back to my bunk," she said, and escaped.

There was a deep ache in her muscles where Kylo had been shot, and she wanted to cry still because she was afraid for him and she had no way to find out whether he was alright. She went back to her bunk and sat down, clinging to her blankets, reaching out with the Force and wishing she could make the connection again. But there was no answering brush of Kylo's feelings against hers, and she sat there for hours waiting, until Finn and Rose came to distract her from her fears as best they could.

A/N: Okay so this plot point was very important to me and I'm glad I wrote it, but as ever I'm not confident in the fight scenes. Fight scenes are hard.

Thank you guys for pointing out to me last chapter that Rey had lived in and AT-AT instead of an X-wing. I didn't actually check, so I didn't remember. Also, thanks for the review in general!

Please review!