Chapter Five: Feelings

Disclaimer: I own nothing here, but who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?

Rey wiped at her wet eyes and tried to compose herself as she marched down the detention center hallway, leaving a brooding Kylo to wait by the door. She hadn't intended their exchange to be so emotional, but she couldn't help it. Her heart would always ache so terribly whenever she thought about Han; the father she never had. The father Kylo took for granted.

She took a deep, calming breath and drew herself up to focus on her task at hand, which was finding Finn and Rose and ensuring their safety. She passed cell after cell, all of them housing various prisoners, both human and otherwise, until she came to a halt, suddenly standing in front of a sullen Finn hanging his arms through the bars of his cell.

He raised his head slowly at her approach, obviously not anticipating to see her standing there. "Rey!" he shouted quite loudly and placed both hands on the metal bars as if to pry them apart just to get to her. "Is it really you?"

Rey chuckled lightly, the pain in her chest finally dissipating at the sight of her best friend. "Yes, Finn, I'm here."

Finn's brown eyes flashed with excitement as he turned to throw an exclamation over his shoulder. "Hey Rose, it's Rey! Rey's here to bust us out!" He turned back to Rey and nodded his head towards a control panel just down the hall. "That's where they control the cells-"

"Finn-"

He kept on. "-so all you gotta do is use some of your Force influence on the operator and-"

"Finn!" Rey interrupted more forcefully as Rose came forward. The dark haired woman appeared to have been sleeping on one of the bunks in the cell but at the sight of Rey had instantly sobered to wakefulness. Rey smiled at them both but quickly frowned at what she would have to tell them. "I'm not here to break you out, I'm sorry."

"What?" Finn asked, clearly confused. "Then how are you even here?"

Rey figured it wouldn't do any good to hide the truth from them, since they would discover it themselves sooner or later, just as Poe had. So she told them everything, hoping Kylo would give her enough time to explain this time. He did, and idly, Rey had to wonder why he seemed to have so much more patience with this visit compared to her visit with Poe.

"His apprentice?" Finn nearly spat the words with contempt after hearing her explanation. "Tell me you're joking."

"Well," Rey hesitated with a wince, not caring for the title herself. "I'm more of a guest, so long as I don't cause any trouble. Poe thinks I'm being manipulated..."

"Well he's right!" Finn snapped and rattled the bars in frustration. "You can't trust that lying snake!" His eyes went wide suddenly and he looked her over carefully. "He hasn't hurt you or... anything, has he?"

Rey felt an uncomfortable blush burn her cheeks at the implication and shook her head fervently in response. "No, he's hardly touched me." She sent a wary glance back down the hall, but Kylo hadn't moved from his place by the door, and she doubted he could hear anything from such a distance. "He- He wouldn't hurt me."

"You," Rose said softly, as if something just occurred to her but she needed another moment to process it. Both Rey and Finn turned to her expectantly. The former maintenance worker had been unusually quiet until then, though Rey had felt her calculating eyes throughout the exchange. "You have for him!"

"What?" Rey reared back a bit. It had merely been an exclaimed observation but it seemed more like an accusation which she felt she needed to debunk forthwith. "No, I-" But she couldn't, her own words catching in her lungs as the same realization hit her like a blow to the head. "I ."

"You ?" Finn nearly howled, indignant as his gaze flipped between the women but ultimately landed on Rey. "Are you ?"

"No dummy," Rose scolded lightly as she prodded him with an elbow. "She's in love."

"Yeah!" Finn huffed. "With a lunatic. That makes her !"

"Now hold on a minute!" Rey replied, feeling as though her face had shifted another shade entirely. "I never said I was !"

"You don't need to," Rose replied through a grin. "It's obvious."

Finn slammed against the bars, attempting to display his frustration with the both of them. "Rey, don't let him fool you. He's just trying to get you to let your guard down and then-"

"And then what?" Rey snapped, feeling exceedingly agitated by the whole conversation. She needed time to process her own feelings and having Finn shouting at her wasn't helping. "If he wanted to kill me, I'd be dead already."

"Rey," Finn sighed out, apparently feeling just as frustrated. "I just want you to think about what you're doing."

"Keeping you from being executed is what I'm doing!" Rey felt her fists shaking at her sides now. She needed to leave before she said something she would regret.

"Is that what he told you?" Finn persisted, ignoring any of Rose's attempts to make him back off.

"You don't understand my circumstances at all," Rey murmured dismally.

"Maybe not," Finn said, his eyes meeting hers earnestly. "But, do you realize how many people he's killed? He even killed his own father! He almost killed !"

"I know he has a lot to answer for," Rey sighed out in reply but set her jaw in determination. "But if I can help turn him, then we could win the war by tearing the First Order apart from within. Don't you see? No more sacrifices, no more fighting. No more ."

"I'd like to believe you Rey," Finn said sadly, unconvinced. "But you're being deceived. You do remember who trained him, don't you? Who his master was?"

Rey didn't reply but dropped her gaze to the floor, fists still shaking at her sides in frustration. He could be right, but she felt so sure of her own theory, and she wasn't ready to give up on it yet. To give up on Ben, who she was sure was just lost in a dark realm and in need of a guide to light his way home.

Her prolonged silence seemed to spark a sense of urgency in her female friend and Rey was surprised by the fire in her tone. "Enough, Finn!" Rose yowled and shoved him away from the gate. "Can't you see she needs to sort this out herself?"

"Alright!" Finn growled in frustration but wasn't about to challenge his cellmate. He sighed and sat down on the floor, trying to make himself as resigned as possible as he sent Rey a worried look. "Just, promise me you'll be careful?"

Rey chuckled despite all the raging emotions surging through her mind. Finn and Poe seemed to be on the same wave link, and she was grateful for Rose's understanding. "I promise."

Back on the Supremacy, Rey could practically feel Kylo's curiosity as if it were her own. She hadn't said a word to him other than, "Let's go," after her visit with Finn and Rose and he could no doubt sense a number of her writhing emotions as she strode beside him, only a step behind.