Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 35: Crossing

Everything was a blur on the journey from the sub bridge to the escape pods, the air filled with the sounds of energy rifle's discharging constantly as the shots pinged off the walls. Ben was exhausted from healing Rey's wound, his energy drained from the life transference; but he managed to hold her up against his chest as he hurried through the halls.

Glancing down at her face every so often, he couldn't help but notice how peaceful she appeared now that her color had returned, unconscious in blissful rest. Despite the thrum of longing in his heart, Ben hoped desperately for her to stay asleep.

Blasterfire blew past his head as he neared the end of a corridor, Alwick and Vurdan covering him from the rear as he finally arrived at his destination.

A row of escape pods on the upper level shone in their ejection shafts, the space void of anyone at all. Ben hustled forward, still clinging to Rey tightly as he engaged a pod to open.

The door hissed aside and he was about to step in when Finn appeared with a blaster rifle, his shoulders tense and poised, before relaxing as he saw them both.

"Rey!" he cried, sadness overtaking his expression. He laid a dark hand on her forehead, but she didn't stir. "Will she be ok?"

Ben's expression was unchanged as he motioned for him to take Rey from his arms.

"She just needs rest."

Finn sighed, turning to Ben with a disappointed look as he leaned the rifle against the wall of the pod. "It's about time you got here. The pod is prepped to leave, Poe has the Falcon, we were just waiting for you two."

Reluctant to let her go, Ben bit the inside of his lip as the former stormtrooper clumsily accepted her, struggling to hold up Rey's bodyweight against his own. Her head flopped against his shoulder, but she remained unconscious and oblivious to what was happening around her.

There was a look of relief on Finn's face as he held Rey, bringing her into the escape pod.

Ben cocked his head at an angle to listen outside the corridor; Vurdan and Alwick were still defending against the endless stormtroopers. They appeared suddenly, ducking into the corridor as the blasterfire ceased only moments before.

Vurdan flicked his headtails back behind his shoulder as he stretched his back out. "I think I'm getting too old for this."

Sweat pouring off his brow, Alwick collapsed against the wall. "How much longer do we have to keep this up?"

"Get on the pod, we're leaving now" Ben ordered.

Alwick peeled himself off the wall to join Finn in the escape pod. Vurdan followed behind, stopping to take a long look at Ben, uncertainty on his face.

Ben stood silent, meeting the knight's suspicious gaze. Vurdan grunted in confirmation before finally moving into the pod.

The knights buckled up in the chairs as Finn struggled to release a bench seat with one hand while holding Rey that was stored against the wall. As he awkwardly made a third attempt to drop down the bench, Ben stepped backward, hovering just outside the path of the door, and pressed the eject button on the wall adjacent to it.

Finn's head snapped in his direction as the pod and interior doors closed in front of Ben's face, only the porthole visible now. He leaned forward to peer into it; the silver, dome-shaped vessel floated away and Finn's face came into view from the porthole, Alwick and Vurdan close behind him.

Ben's breath fogged the glass, but he rubbed his shirt sleeve to clear the haze immediately.

Finn stared angrily at him as the distance grew between them. With a deep scowl, the former stormtrooper mouthed a single word.