Equilibrium (Reylo)

Thirty-Three: Red Rey

Ben was falling.

He fell so swift and hard that as eternal as it felt it was a quick fall. His knees buckled under him, landing on his bones that shattered against on the glossy black marble floor. His shoulders slumped over, his head faced down.

Ben twisted his wrists to try to reach for his own lightsaber, but he simply couldn't. He lifted his hands and found his wrists chained in hand-cuffs, similar to the ones they used on Rey when she turned herself over to the First Order.

He tried to move up from his spot but felt the heaviness of hands weighing down on his shoulders, the reason why his neck was inclined. He only realized he was kneeling once he heard loud steps of a person walking towards him. Just a few feet away stood someone, only able to see two brown boots belonging to the person standing above him.

Then, he heard the ear-shattering igniting of a lightsaber rip through the air as sharp and bold as a clap of thunder. The sizzling heat from the sparks fleeting off the lightsaber radiated against Ben's face. He looked up and found the red lightsaber right before his eyes. The end of the lightsaber lifted away from him, his eyes following as it trailed along the person who wield the long weapon.

Ben traced her outfit, unable to make sense of just whom the person was wielding a red lightsaber. It was in dark tones, unlike the bright clothing she normally wears. But the longer he saw the weapon in her hands, watching her twist the staff, the red hue highlighting her golden skin frightened him.

What is she doing? This isn't her.

It was Rey. His Rey.

But not exactly.

His scavenger stood above him with a long red staff, her own lightsaber that symbolized she belonged to the dark side. He couldn't dare peel his eyes away from hers, seeing how vicious her eyes were. How the red glint inside those hazel orbs darkened into a dark brown like tree bark.

What happened to his sweet, sensitive Rey? The one with sunlight in her hair and fire in her eyes. Not like the malice in her eyes right now. What happened to the girl that sacrificed her life to save him? What happened to the girl he kissed in the rain?

All those memories of what they did after the kiss come back hard in a rushing wave. What his hands did, what his body did, how she reacted. . .

"Rey, what are you doing?"

She stopped twisting the staff, keeping it at a low enough angle so with one swift movement, she could cut his head off like cutting through paper. Her face remained calm, rage held back behind her eyes. The image caused his stomach to churn. "I've changed," she answered, low and callous that the fierceness rising in her throat sharpened like a blade.

"This isn't you," he told her, afraid to moved that it would urge her finish the job.

"Isn't this the person you wanted me to be?" she asked, so subtle that the irony punctured a hole through him.

"No!"

"You and me." She scoffed, a bitterness in her tongue  like bile. She took a step closer to Ben, lifting the staff above her head so swift it landed down inches from his knees. "You and I. . .ruling the galaxy. Aren't those your words?"

He didn't blink, shock overwhelming him. Of course she'd try to patronize him. They tended to do that to each other. "No, no! I. . .I don't want that. I don't want to rule the galaxy anymore."

"Then what do you want?"

"I only want you."

"The girl you want is weak," she spat, as if she weren't talking about herself.

"No, she isn't!"

"She was afraid of the power you were offering her," she insisted, raising the end of the staff so it hovered above his shoulder, the heat beating against his neck.

"Because she's the strongest person I know," he countered, staring at her dead in the eyes. "She doesn't need any kind of power to prove it."

"Well, I do have you on your knees," she noted, like she were stating something about the weather. "And what do you have?"

"Please, don't do this," he begged, leaning forward only to be yanked back by whatever was holding him down.

A wicked smile demanded to break at the edges of her lips, but she twitched them back to her ruthless look, staring him down like he was nothing more than a rodent.

"Rey, come back." Desperation ran deep in his veins, he needed her to snap out of this. He needed her back. He plead to her, "Come back to me."

Then it was all gone in an instant. The staff was gone. Rey with red eyes was gone. And he was somewhere else, awoken from his nightmare. Ben felt himself lying on his bed, his bare chest heaving with sweat. He raised a hand over his face, feeling more sweat damp against the crown of his head and eyebrows. He sat up, finding the bleeding of pink and purple from early dawn through the small crack in the curtains that covered most of the three large windows in his bedroom.

Ben balled up his hands on the duvet, feeling the different materials of silk and lace bunched up in his fists. He released the fabrics after hearing a soft moan come from behind him. He whipped his head to inspect where it came from and found Rey, stirring in her sleep to face the opposite direction of the windows. She grabbed the hem of the blanket, pulling it over her bare shoulders right up to her chin.

He hovered over her, watching her breathe so delicately that Ben could only tell she was breathing from the small lift of her chest before it dropped back down.

That was when he truly knew he wasn't dreaming anymore.