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The streaks of hyperspace exploded to reveal a small bluish-green planet floating in the Core World. White clouds rolled along, exposing the lush earth beneath.
Rey guided the Millennium Falcon towards her destination. A shift in the Force told her she’d been correct in her coordinates.
He was here.
As the freighter drew closer to the planet’s surface, Rey gasped. Despite her time on Takodana, D’Qar, and Ach-To, she still wasn’t used the overwhelming green of most planets.
Turquoise waters covered much of the planet, the remainder was thick forests and mountains. The waters were so clear she could she the ship’s reflection as they soared over.
Rey maneuvered carefully into a break in the treetops. The Falcon lowered and landed neatly in a large grove of ancient trees. Safely landed, she sighed and looked at the co-pilot seat next to her. Empty, except for her small sack of belongings…and an old lightsaber.
She’d managed to repair the weapon, barely. It wasn’t the same as before. The lightsaber was not some random piece of ship scrap she could clean and scour into something remotely useful. It was an old weapon, passed down from a father, to a son…and then into her hands. Despite her best efforts, now it was jumpy, crackling like blue fire when she ignited it. Just like Kylo’s.
No, just like Ben’s, she corrected herself. Or was he still Kylo?
Rey shook her head as she picked up the lightsaber and attached it to her belt along with her blaster. She’d tried to avoid thinking of him in the months that had passed since Crait, but he was everywhere, evading her thoughts, even her dreams.
The Force Bond had not reignited, though, and for that she was grateful. She wasn’t ready to see him again.
So perhaps coming here was not a wise decision.
But what choice did she have? Finn, Poe and Chewie were away, gathering what rebels they could to rebuild the Resistance’s numbers. Leia was doing her best to manage what was left, but she was weary, Rey could sense. The loss of her husband and brother so close together, as well as everything that had happened with her son…it had worn the General down. She was tired, her presence in the Force diminished from what it had been. Rey had not dared to bring it up, but she could feel it anytime. She feared the beloved Resistance leader was not long for this world.
Rey breathed in the moist air as she descended from the Falcon. This world was cool, but not cold. The scent of rain lingered in the air. Rey took another deep breath. She loved the scent. It was a smell completely new to her until recently. Anything to do with rain, with plants, with life was new to her. So much of her life had been wasted in the barren graveyard that was Jakku.
Rey walked into the woods, the soft ground sinking slightly from the weight of her boots. Why had she come here? She asked herself.
A small voice in her head answered. You want to see him again.
Heat moved up Rey’s chest and caused her cheeks to flush. I do not!
Yes, you do. Why else would you be here? Why else take off when you sensed him here? It’s the Supremacy all over again.
Rey groaned inwardly. Fine time for her conscience to kick in.
She kept walking, not knowing where on this planet she was going, yet still knowing that it would lead to him. And when she found him? Then what?
She was angry at him. But mostly disappointed. She’d gone to the First Order to save him, convinced she could make him turn. They’d fought together. And in the moment when he ignited his family’s lightsaber to take out the last of Snoke’s guards, she’d been so sure he was going to turn. Come back with her. They’d be together, never alone again.
But it had all gone so wrong. Luke had been right. It hadn’t gone the way she thought. Ben had offered her the galaxy, a life at his side, but with terms she couldn’t in good conscience accept.
He asked her to turn against her friends, to leave them for dead. He wanted to destroy all the past, to create something new, and yet…
Rey took a deep breath, blowing out her frustrations. She paused to look at where she’d come to. She’d gotten so lost in her thoughts.
She was standing at the edge of the woods. In front of her, a slight cliff dropped down onto a blue-green lake. A small waterfall rushed down from a creek into the lake below. Above, the sky was a light blue, marred only by the occasional cloud and the sun shone brightly. It was beautiful.
Rey smiled. How nice, she thought, to live on a planet life this. It was so breathtakingly beautiful, so full of life.
If I was left on a planet life this, instead of Jakku, I really wouldn’t leave, she thought.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar presence. It had been months since she felt it, but it was unmistakable.
Ben.
She turned to her right. There, along the waterfall, she saw him. He was gazing out over the waters of the lake. He looked much like he had that last time she saw him. But there was a deep sorrow hovering around him.
“Ben”.
He turned to see her. His gaze was the same from the woods when she called the lightsaber to her, when they stared at one enough in the elevator, the brief moment their eyes locked after he killed Snoke.
And for a moment, there was only silence.
“Rey”.
He breathed out her name like the final words of a dying man. She sensed his relief, his hope that came with seeing her again.
Ben stepped forward, hesitantly. When he first heard his name, he thought he might have imagined it. But he felt her arrive on the planet. This was not his imagination, nor a connection with the Force. This was her in front of him, here and now, as he’d dreamed of for months.
The wind blew thought the trees, carrying the scent of rain away. The leaves rustled, the only sound around them.
Rey had thought of Ben, had even dreamed of him, more times than she cared to admit. She’d thought, over and over, what she might say of do if she saw him again. But now all those thoughts were gone.
They stood and stared in silence.
The Resistance would expect her to kill him. He was the Supreme Leader, she was the last Jedi. They were supposed to be enemies.
It would be considered the right thing to do. The Resistance would call her a hero. But how could you harm a man when you knew his deepest secrets, when he knew your past and your fears? How could you kill someone when their death would be like splitting your own soul in half?
Tears blurred Rey’s eyes as she looked at him. She pulled the lightsaber from her bag and dropped the sack on the ground.
“I’m sorry, Ben”.
The words came from her mouth without thinking and she wondered what she was apologizing for. Turning him down on the Supremacy? Or what she was about to do?
Rey ignited the lightsaber. The blue blade crackled and hissed like an angry demon.
Ben stared with wide eyes as she came towards him. Instinctively, he drew his own weapon.
The two sizzling blades met in a shower of purple sparks.
………………………………….
Ben’s blocked her attack and pushed back, knocking her off balance. Rey stumbled and felt the ground shift beneath her feet.
Then it disappeared. Rey felt her heart leap into her throat as she fell backwards. She through out her arms, the lightsaber flying from her hands, as if she might somehow catch herself.
But there was nowhere to land.
In a heartbeat, Rey fell back; the air rushed around her.
Cold enveloped her and her body ached as if stabbed by a thousand blades. The lake, so serene from above, was cold and dark beneath. Water rushed into her mouth and nose. Her lungs burned.
Rey flailed helplessly as she sank deeper into the deceiving waters. When she fell into the cave on Ach-To she’d managed to get out of the water by grasping the side of the pool and climbing out. Climbing she was good at. Swimming, not so much. Here, there was nothing to grab.
On the ground above her, Ben felt Rey’s panic. She was suffocating, terrified. She couldn’t swim.
She’d spared him twice, on both Starkiller and the Supremacy. He couldn’t leave her now. Without another moment’s hesitation, Ben dropped his lightsaber and dove in after her.
It had been a long time since he swam, yet it came back him so naturally. One of his earliest memories was as a young child, when his parents taught him to swim during a family vacation in the countryside. Just a few brief days of happiness before his parent’s responsibilities pulled them away again.
But there was no time to dwell on that. Rey needed him. She’d sunk into the depths of the lake, her body since having gone limp as the lack of air drove her unconscious.
Ben wrapped one arm around her and kicked upwards. They broke through the surface of the lake, the only disturbance on its otherwise still waters. Ben pulled Rey towards the rocky beach that ran alongside the bottom of the cliff they’d fought on. She was lucky she fell into the water and not onto the rocks.
As the reached water shallow enough to stand, Ben lifted Rey into her arms and carried her onto the beach.
“Rey!” Ben laid her down gently. She was cold and pale.
Ben reached out with the Force, felt her life, faded but still there.
“Breathe, Rey!”
Rey began to cough, spitting out water and gasping. Ben turned her gently towards him so she wouldn’t choke.
“B-Ben!” Rey gasped and coughed again.
“You’re alright. You’re safe”.
Rey took a deep breath and sat up, focusing her eyes on the man kneeling next to her. They were both soaking wet.
“You…you saved me. After I…” Words escaped her, so she did the only other thing she could think of. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “Thank you”.
Ben stiffened against her. “It’s alright”.
She didn’t know if the water on her face was from the lake or her own tears. “I’m so sorry, Ben”.
Rey reluctantly withdrew from the hug. She could feel, even without the Force, that Ben was uncomfortable. Of course, he wasn’t used to such affection. The thought made her heart hurt.
He helped her up and they silently made they way back up a natural worn path that ran up the cliff. Back under the safety of the trees, Ben put together a fire. Rey sat as close as she dared, grateful for the warmth. The sun would set soon, and her damp clothes made her shiver. She knew she’d need to change eventually, but her only other clothes were back in the Falcon.
Ben watched her from where he sat across the fire. “This is just like in the hut”.
Rey looked up from staring into the flames. “Hmm?”
“You…dripping wet. The fire. Sitting across it from me. All we need is a heart-to heart, some hand-holding, and my uncle showing up to ruin it”.
“Don’t mock that moment, Ben. It meant something”.
“Clearly not enough. Whatever you saw in your vision—”
“Was enough for me to come for you. I saw you turn against Snoke and you did! I thought…”
“You thought I’d turn back to the light”.
“You thought I’d stay with you”.
Something flickered across his voice, an emotion just briefly brought to the surface. But whatever his face refused to show, his eyes still did. And Rey didn’t need to see; she could feel the pain radiating from him.
Rey stood up and moved around the fire to sit next to him. The firelight drew attention to his chiseled features and the damp, dark hair that clung to his forehead. Rey had a sudden each to reach up and brush it away from his eyes.
Ben turned to her. His gaze was hungry. Since becoming Supreme Leader, his loneliness had only increased. His thoughts and dreams of Rey, and the faint hope of being with her again, were all that kept him going. To be so close to her now…and to have come so close to losing her for good…
Her eyes were soft and hopeful. The same gaze she’d given him in the elevator. She was so beautiful and fierce.
Rey watched Ben expectantly. Their eyes met, and she was reminded of their moment on the elevator, before the doors opened to the throne room. So many emotions had raced across his face. Confusion. Pain. Loneliness. Longing.
For her. All the confusing emotions he’d felt then, and still felt now, were for her.
Back then, realizing those emotions had terrified her. But not anymore. She was not quite so naïve. But neither could she now deny her own feelings for Ben Solo.
“Ben” she whispered. She tilted her face up, closer to his. Outwardly she was clam, but inside she was anxious, her heart racing.
Her heart beat faster and louder until she could feel it pounding in her ears. Ben leaned closer to her and they both trembled despite the warmth of the fire.
They leaned closer and closer—it seemed they would never touch—and then, Rey felt the warmth of his lips on hers.
So soft, hesitant.
Rey reached up to run her fingers through that soft, damp hair. Ben’s strong hands embraced her, his fingers trembling against her skin.
Feeling bolder, Rey deepened the kiss. Ben was still hesitant, but then he relaxed and allowed his passions to take over. His kiss was every bit as fervent as his fighting, like a wild beast unleashed and uninhibited.
Rey wondered whether the feeling of breathlessness she experienced was from her near-drowning earlier or the kiss.
She gently pulled Ben onto the soft forest floor and continued in their kiss, deciding it was most definitely the latter.