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Rey was racing through the forest, the sound of blasters and ships flying overhead deafening her own thoughts. As a rule, she wasn’t one to run from a fight, but she also wasn’t stupid and knew that this mission wasn’t about a large strategic win, but tactical information gathering.
Get in undetected, get the code for the first order’s encryption and scrambling cipher, and get out. Those had been Leia’s orders.
Needless to say, it had not gone according to plan, at all. They’d been betrayed, the First Order had been waiting for them. Set them up- trapped them so that the squad had been separated.
Rey had no idea where Finn, Poe, Gaelen, and Lak Manni were, but she would be of no use to them without her X-Wing. Her orange pilot’s uniform was hot and heavy on the humid planet as she ran for her life, and it did absolutely nothing for camouflage. As she was ducking and jumping and blindly shooting back behind her, a voice broke through her thoughts.
“...Rey? REY! What’s going on!” Ben shouted through the bond, hearing the tack of metal as he raced to keep pace with her through the corridors of the Dreadnaught. “Why are you running?”
“Can’t talk right now- kinda busy!” She responded, leaping over a fallen tree and using the force send boulders flying towards the speeders, causing them to crash into each other and explode.
Without hesitating, she reached into her holster and pulled out her blaster, hiding behind a rock as she heard several 74-Z Speeder Bikes pass her unnoticed. Her breathing was labored, mind racing, and hands shaking.
But she could feel Ben crouching right beside her, and that was comfort enough to bring her out of her adrenaline high.
“Rey, what’s going on?” He asked urgently, she could feel his need to protect her through the bond and his frustration at the inability to do so physically.
“W-we were sold out.” She panted. “Someone gave u-us bad intel...walked right into an I-Imperial camp just waiting for us.”
“You’re alone, where is your squadron?”
Rey shook her head, her warm brown locks were matted with sweat and blood and dirt and Force only knew what else. “I don’t know. Poe and Finn took Maani, she was injured in the skirmish at the base. Gaelen...Gaelen r-ran...he ran into the base to h-hold the stormtroopers off. I don’t know if he made it out.”
Ben held her face in his hands, wiping the tear that fell down her cheeks. “How far are you from your ship?”
“Two klicks, maybe less.” She answered, gripping onto his arms.
“I need to know where you are. I can recall the stormtroopers and give you time to escape.”
“I can’t. I can’t do that! I won’t betray my friends-“ She whispered resolutely.
“Rey, you’re outnumbered, out gunned and you don’t have a lightsaber!” He all but shouted back. “You are a sitting duck-“
“No! We agreed- under no circumstances would we divulge our locations. It’s too dangerous-“
“This is beyond that!”
“No, no it’s not! If I tell you where I am and you call a cease fire Hux and the other Generals will suspect something. They’re not idiots and neither is the Rebellion. If I’m the only one to survive this mission it will raise questions and bring me even more into focus, it could expose the bond-“
“I don’t give a damn what anyone else thinks! I am the Supreme Leader and I will end anyone who questions my orders. If you think I’m just going to sit idly by as you risk your life you don’t know me as well as you think.”
“Ben-“ Rey pleaded, gazing at him earnestly.
“I will tear apart the galaxy, burn every planet to the ground, kill anyone standing in my way before I let you die.” He growled, his fear rearing it’s ugly dark head.
This. This is what it meant to be loved by the dark side, by Kylo-Ren. If any harm were to befall her, there would be no quarter, no prisoners.
“No, Ben. I am a member of the Rebellion, so long as I live and breathe there is hope. If you don’t believe in that, believe in me! Believe that I can make it out of here.” She begged, leaning her forehead against his, eyes closed. “If you love me, let me do this. Let me go.”
“I can’t!” He rasped, holding her tight. “I can’t...i-if you got...o-or we’re...Oh, Rey, Force please, please don’t ask me to do this...”
“I have to try, Ben-“
“If you engage them, they will kill you, Rey!”
“Then I will die trying!” She whispered harshly. “And I’m not asking for your permission.”
Wrenching herself from his grasp, Rey ran through the forest, the sound of Ben calling her name faded into the breeze as the bond closed.
Later that night, Rey laid on her cot in a private room of the infirmary in a drug hazed rest. She made it off Vector IX alive (with only a blaster singe to her thigh and several scrapes and bruises) but ended up having to crash land on Hoth (resulting in a concussion and a few broken ribs).
Poe, Finn and Maani made it out alive, though Maani was worse for wear. The droids said if she made it through the night, she’d live- but it would be a very, very long night. Gaelen was presumed dead, the mission compromised. Poe was on a war path to find the leak, the mole that had caused them to fail so spectacularly at what could have been a major decisive victory for the Resistance.
Finn and Rose had both dropped in to see how she was, Leia was reluctant to leave her side at all but Rey had insisted she go and ensure Poe did not do something reckless on his witch hunt.
One lone figure dressed in all black, seated at her bedside, held onto her bare hand as though his life depended on it, refusing to leave her side. Even sleep deprived and haggard from stress he looked beautiful. Rey had been so out of it she’d not realized that she said it aloud.
Ben had merely scoffed, rolling his eyes and kissing her forehead. “You must have hit your head harder than I thought.”
“I’m fine, really...you’re here and I’m not in any pain. All in all, the day didn’t end so bad, right?” She smirked, voice slurred with sleep and pain killers.
Ben frowned. “It certainly didn’t go as planned...but I suppose the end result is all that matters. You, safe.”