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“Ben, I’ve made it to Tatooine.”
“Were you followed?”
“No.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
Luke’s presence can be felt at the homestead on Tatooine.
The feeling brings Rey comfort. It seems they had more in common than Luke ever wanted to admit.
When Ben arrives he doesn’t say anything about it, instead he scoffs and isn’t short of complaints about how sandy and sickenly beige the place is. Rey takes Ben’s candor with ease. To her it’s a sign he’s doing okay. For the most part.
He’s not Kylo Ren anymore. He’s not the Supreme leader anymore.
The First Order has disbanded.
The Resistance doesn’t need Rey to be their savior anymore.
What happens next is a mystery to the both of them.
They work together to get the place running, turning on the power converters, filtering the water through the pipes, preparing living quarters and the refresher, they set out Rey’s training gear, hide their ships under tarps, and most importantly, set up sensors up top to warn them of intruders.
When they’re not working their sabers lay in a crate where they can always see them.
Rey and Ben don’t intend to stay long, it’s the last place they will settle, but for the time being it’s a safe place.
Rey goes to Anchorhead. Alone. Not many were privy to the former face of Kylo Ren, but they can’t take the chance of him being noticed. Rey wears a cape to hide Leia’s saber which is clipped at her hip and keeps the hood up over her head.
There is a market with an abundance of sellers, she discovers fresh meats, vegetables, fruits, and bread—real bread. By force of habit, Rey tries to barter, and then she remembers the credits Ben gave her. He gave her more than what she knows what to do with. It’s different, being able to get exactly what she wants without having to ration or worry about what’s for dinner tomorrow.
She can’t say she hates the security; she’s never going back to her old life.
On the days Rey is gone, Ben works out. He runs laps around the homestead until he hits the dirt. He does various exercises from pushups to lunges to lifting heavy objects around the homestead. Sometimes Rey comes back to broken and shattered objects. Other times sweat had soaked through his tunic and Ben goes down for bed early without cleaning up.
He doesn't know how to live without order and a routine.
Maybe that was Kylo. Or maybe it's still within him.
Because he certainly doesn't know what Ben is now.
But he's got nothing but time to find out.
"I didn't get to say goodbye."
He doesn't cry. Instead, he's angry. He's disappointed. It’s a side of Ben that Rey has never seen before.
"She was my… She was my mother. I at least owed her a goodbye."
He knows he owed her even more, but what can he do now? He can't bring her back.
Rey's hands cradle his face, soft and protecting against his skin. They always find little ways to touch each other, to stay anchored; it feels better.
"I didn't get to say goodbye to her either… Ben, Leia loved you. She didn't just save you that day, she saved everyone. Now she’ll live in us. We’ll do right by Leia by living.”
He doesn’t know how he’ll be able to accept that. But Rey has a point. He won’t Leia down again. Not anymore.
They train. Before Exegol they were enemies, on opposite sides fighting against each other. Sometimes they forget that they’re on the same side now and get lost in the fight. Ben will push Rey to the ground, he'll deflates out of concern, but Rey bounces back up and goes on the attack. Ben doesn’t tell Rey that he’s proud of her for it. She knows what she’s doing.
When they’re not on the move it’s a struggle for the both of them to let go of what they know to be in sync. Ben refuses to go back to the way of the Jedi. Rey wants nothing to do with the power that helped to create Palpatine and Snoke. But it’s important for them to stay on track.
They concede that it might be time for a new order to the Force.
They have nightmares. In them, Rey is young, watching her parents murder, but instead of her parents downfall being at the hands of her grandfather’s supporters, she’s sees Palpatine’s face over them. He looks right at her and laughs. He says one day she’ll be next. Ben is haunted by a decade of darkness and wrongdoing, manifesting more scars on his body as punishment.
When they wake, they cling to each other with promises and reassurance until they feel safe to face the day.
Rey starts a garden. She creates a few spaces that are blocked in with pieces of wood and fills it in with fertilized dirt. One block is seeded for flowers. A second block will grow herbs to put in broth. Rey waters the gardens diligently; it’s hard for her to stay away.
"Sweetheart, they won't grow any faster with you watching them.
Ben calls her that to reassure himself he's not alone. Rey lets him because she wants his love.
"I've never seen plants grow before. I want to see them bloom."
Ben's arm goes around her and pulls her in close to kiss her temple. She leans into him, resting her head against his chest, letting herself relax.
They’re content.
The Force hums around them.
When the Twin Sun’s start setting, Rey and Ben go up top and face the skyline. The sun is warm on their skin. The wind flows around them. There are no problems in the galaxy that they have to worry about. Peace surrounds them. The Force is pleased.
Ben and Rey turn to each other and take each other’s hands in their own.
A swirl of red materializes and wraps around their hands. The red pushes until their skin sticks together. They breathe deep and the red disappears inside them.
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
In the distance Leia and Luke smile at them.