Hey guys! I'm going to publish here a Reylo story that I've been posting on AO3 as well! Hope you enjoy! Xx

Pain. So much pain.

I want to be free of this pain.

Little pinpricks of light crowded his vision, while his whole body was on fire. His mind was scattered, the physical agony too strong. Yet, there were moments – fleeting moments – when his consciousness surfaced and the pain doubled, because consciousness brought visions and memories along, and those visions and memories were excruciating.

Will you help me?

Yes. Anything.

Rey woke up with a start and sat up, frowning. The voices she had just heard in her head… she thought she recognised them, but now that she was awake they escaped her. Rey lay back down and closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.

In the morning, after she woke up, she wolfed down her breakfast and began her physical training with more enthusiasm than usual. But when she switched to her meditation exercises, Rey struggled quite a lot. She couldn't shake off the uneasy sensation she had felt the night before. Luke noticed, but kept his questions to himself.

I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me?

Yes. Anything.

Rey trembled, thinking desperately No… I don't want to know, I don't want to see...

She didn't want to hear those voices again. Now she knew what they were. They were Han Solo's last words, right before he had killed him and… Rey didn't really know how to react.

I'm being torn apart. I want – I want to be free of this pain.

Kylo Ren sounded tormented. He sounded desperate. Suddenly her vision filled with images: Han's chest being speared by a bright red light, his hand going up to caress his son's cheek for the last time, Kylo Ren's eyes filled with tears, his face full of doubt and anguish.

Then, abruptly, mercifully, the visions stopped. However, Rey didn't wake up. She was sucked in by a strange darkness. A darkness pierced by a single, thin beacon of light. She instinctively grasped at the beacon and followed it, and soon after she found herself in a dimly lit room; looking around, Rey thought it looked familiar, and after a moment she understood why. In the centre was a chair, very much like the one she had been strapped to on Starkiller Base, and there was someone in it.

Rey approached it cautiously and gasped. Tall, too tall and huge to fit comfortably in the chair, Kylo Ren lay unmoving, with his head dangling at a strange angle, hair dishevelled and damp. He was half-naked, and he looked very worse for wear: a deep scar ran through his side, and a myriad of purple bruises covered his chest and stomach. The only indication that he was alive were the shiny tears rolling silently down his cheeks.

Incredulity appeared on Rey's face. Stunned, she observed him for a while, wondering if she could let herself be a tiny bit compassionate towards him, but she blocked that thought immediately. He didn't deserve it. He may appear extremely vulnerable right now, but he had killed his own father, the parental figure she had always longed for. She could hate him freely, unabashedly. He had made it so easy, it was as if his darkness called to her and demanded her rage to feed it. So what if he was being strapped to a chair and tortured?

Suddenly something changed: Kylo Ren stiffened and she instantly knew he had sensed her presence. He slowly lifted his head and saw her; however, his gaze was delirious and feverish, and Rey held her breath, waiting for his reaction. Surprisingly, he gave a frustrated moan and started bashing his head against the seat back. Rooted to the spot, Rey helplessly watched him hurt himself as the same words escaped his lips over and over: "Stop – tormenting me – you're just – you're not – real – go – away!"

Horrified, Rey turned away from him, and in a flash the vision disappeared and she woke up.

Shaken and covered in cold sweat, she got up and walked out towards the nearest cliff, inhaling deeply and letting the salty breeze cool down her skin, until her unhinged heartbeat slowed down. What the hell was that? Had that been real, or just a nightmare? But why would she dream about something so terrible? Kylo Ren had clearly been delirious with pain and fever, and he had thought she wasn't real. Was he having visions too? There were so many questions.

"Rey… have you had a bad dream? I can see that you're unfocused," Luke observed the following day, after Rey failed to use the Force during training twice in a row. She huffed, frustrated.

"Yes, last night I… I had visions. But they're visions I'd rather forget."

Luke stared at her intensely, and then he seemed to have come to a decision. "If you so wish, we can forget them, for now. Come. Pure physical training will distract you and tire you out."

Kylo Ren woke up in the room that had become his cell on a narrow, hard bed, a searing pain in the back of his head. He sat up, feeling dizzy and confused. He didn't remember much of what had happened after Hux had had enough of pummelling him and had left him unconscious.

He remembered the nightmares. They always haunted him, especially after a torture session. But he could swear he had woken up at some point, feeling a presence beside him, as if a Force-sensitive individual had entered the room and brought in a gust of salty ocean air. He had almost felt the coolness of the breeze on his feverish skin.

Right then, his traitorous mind inexplicably brought forth the image of the girl. He grimaced, trying to squash the thought of her. He automatically lifted a hand and traced the thin scar she had left on his face during their duel. Desert rat, he thought, clenching his jaw.

Then he summoned the Force and proceeded to knit back together the ripped skin at the back of his head, wondering how Hux had managed to hit him there.

Luke followed through on his promise to tire Rey out. He subjected her to a physical exertion that left her weary. That night when Rey went to bed she fell instantly asleep. But something was wrong. She felt a pull towards darkness again. She saw the flickering beacon of light, she followed it and found herself in a cell. Or maybe a bedroom, she wasn't sure. The walls were bare, there wasn't any furniture except for a bed and a chair. A very tall figure clothed in black was leaning against the farthest wall. Kylo Ren's head was down, and he looked like he was in pain. When Rey swallowed nervously, he lifted his head. His gaze was clear now, and she instantly knew that this Kylo Ren, even though he was hurting, had nothing vulnerable about him. He showed mild surprise in seeing her.

"So, you're not a figment of my imagination after all. What are you doing here?" he asked, coldly.

"I don't know" she replied.

"How are you even here?"

"I don't know."

He frowned, looking at her.

"You did something. When I interrogated you back on Starkiller base. What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!"

He snorted. "You incompetent girl! You don't know how to use the Force, and you– you opened a– a channel between us when you went in my head!" His face was twisted in rage.

"I didn't mean to do that! How can I stop it? How do I break it?"

"I have no idea" he scoffed.

"I don't want a– a connection with you. You're a monster!"

He clenched his jaw. She felt a wave of regret that wasn't her own, but it disappeared before she could say anything about it. Had it… had it come from him? Regret? She squinted at him.

Kylo Ren screamed, enraged. "STAY OUT OF MY HEAD! I DON'T- AH!"

He doubled over in pain, clutching his side. Rey made an instinctive step towards him. He sensed it, and lifted an arm to stop her. "Don't come any closer. Go away. LEAVE!"

Rey closed her eyes, and a moment later she woke up.

During breakfast, Luke looked at her and saw that her mind was still uneasy, so he asked Rey about it.

"I had visions again."

"What did you see? Tell me, Rey,"

"I saw Han's killer" she said softly, looking down.

Luke flinched. "You saw Ben?"

"Yes… Ben. Kylo Ren. Han's son." Rey lifted her face, her eyes full of unshed tears. "I don't want to see him! He killed Han! I hate him, but he said that I've created a connection between us with the Force when I entered his mind, and– and I think he's been having visions of me too! Please–" Rey took one of Luke's hands in hers. "Please help me get rid of it!"

Luke listened to her plea in silence, a frown on his face.

"Rey… what was he doing?"

"W-what?"

"When you saw him, what was Ben doing?"

"He was… I think they are torturing him. One time he was delirious with pain, and he was crying, and another time he was in his right mind but still in pain. Why would they do that to him, to one of their own?"

Luke didn't answer, turning his eyes towards the horizon, seemingly lost in thought. Rey knew better than to disturb him, so she composed herself and waited. After a few minutes Luke spoke again: "Rey, I know too little about what happened when he interrogated you to know if your connection can be broken without damaging you. I could teach you how to shield your mind from his, but it will take time."

"Alright, I'll do anything. Just- just teach me."

"Rey… listen to me. It will sound preposterous to you but I don't think that this… bond between the two of you is a completely negative thing. You said he was crying. Have you any idea why?"

Rey was stunned into silence. How could her link to Han's killer be a good thing? But she trusted her master, and she tried to reflect on what he had asked her.

"When I had the visions for the first time he didn't… he didn't look exactly happy after– you know. And while we talked I– "

"You what, Rey?"

"I felt regret. But it didn't come from me, so I guess I was feeling what he was feeling? Do you think it's possible? That he feels regret? Him?"

"I think the fact that Ben is being tortured, and that he feels regret… it could be a sign."

"A sign? A sign of what?"

Luke gave her a little smile. "A sign of hope."