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Rey felt his physical pain when they caught him, before their bond was muted by the Force-suppression collar they placed around his neck. She cursed herself for not having been there when he surrendered; she would never have let them do this.
With his Force-signature gone, she had to rely on her scavenging abilities to get through the Resistance camp undetected and into the deep humid jungle to find him. The night was dark under the trees and the creatures were chanting loudly, but the trail was there. She adjusted her heavy bag on her shoulder and pushed through.
So she made her way towards her enemy. Kylo Ren, the Jedi Killer, former Supreme Leader of the First Order, the murderer of his own father, the war criminal who waged a war against his own mother for years, the man who hurt and hunted down her friends as well as herself.
The boy who was twisted and dragged to the Darkside, the apprentice who was betrayed by his uncle, the pawn who was used by his dark master for his dark purposes, and the man who told her she wasn’t alone.
Others could never understand her reasons, and she was too weary to explain anyway. Rey was the Last Jedi. She had a duty to the galaxy, she had to lead them into this new era of peace and prosperity. She didn’t have the luxury to choose her own path for herself anymore, nor who she cared about.
But she was going to anyway.
In the wide, circular clearing ahead, the moon shone on one large tree in the middle. Tied to it, was Kylo Ren.
Ben.
He was sitting on the floor with his legs spread in front of him, bare-chested. Heavy chains bound his hands and his body against the rough tree bark. He was filthy and bloody, with several cuts on his face and torso. His head was down but he lifted his gaze when he heard her.
She would never get used to what his eyes did to her. But this time, it was not the murderous intensity that Kylo Ren would look upon his enemies with, nor the longing way Ben would gaze into her eyes in the immense, unbidden compassion they shared. It was simply apathy and acceptance.
She approached him cautiously, as she would a wild mudhorn. He kept his gaze on her all the while, until she was crouched beside him on the ground.
“Ben…”
He let his head drop, his dishevelled hair almost hiding his face.
“I’ve come here to help you.”
His lips parted and out came a deep sigh and he blinked slowly, with a vacant stare.
“I’m going to free you, then damage the binds and spread this over and around them,” She swiftly reached inside her bag and pulled out a large bottle filled with animal blood. “They’ll think some jungle creature took you. There’s a ship waiting for you that way, I put in as much fuel as I could, it should be enough to take you wherever you want to go.”
There was suddenly outrage in his eyes, almost anger when they met hers. And although she couldn’t feel it through the bond, it burned her cheeks and made her throat a little tight. But she steeled herself and waved her hand.
The chains fell from his body and he gasped, looking at them on the ground.
“Stop.” He bared his teeth and she froze before she could will the Force to remove the collar.
“Ben--”
“Put them back.” He said, his voice quivering.
“I will not--”
“Put. Them. Back.” He demanded through gritted teeth.
She stared at him. “Do you not wish to be free?” Rey asked him. “Do you want to die here in this jungle of exposure?”
“Put them back.” He was begging now, even if his voice sounded harsh, as he took the restraints in his hands and shook them towards her.
It wasn’t the first time she offered him her help and not the first time he refused her. She sighed, wondering if there would ever come a day when they would agree on something.
She didn’t budge, so he continued. “If they find you here, your reputation will be ruined. If they find out you helped the greatest enemy of the New Republic escape, you will never be a Jedi.” His voice had changed, like he was bargaining with her.
“Whether I’m a Jedi or not is not up to them.” Rey said.
“It is more than you think.”
“They won’t find out.” She said firmly.
“They might.”
Rey lifted her chin. “Then so be it.”
“You don’t care?”
“I do, but this,” she gestured to his wounds and chains. “This is not the way of the Jedi.”
“Oh,” he let out a humourless, bitter laugh. “This is very much the way of the Jedi.” Ben spat every word, the bitterness in his voice making her shiver. But she kept her gaze unchanged.
“No, not anymore.”
He chewed on his lips and shook his head, rubbing the bruises on his wrists.
Her eyes danced over his face, taking in every bruise and cut, and it made her heart tighten in her chest. She had bacta patches in the bag but they would take a long time and time was something they didn’t have.
The lid of her canteen squeaked open and she offered it to him. He stared at it for a moment with hunger, and licked his chapped lips. However, when she approached him, his face hardened.
“No.” He said sternly. “It will be faster this way.”
“Ben…”
“Put these back, I’m begging you.” His voice shook with despair; she had never seen him like this. “Leave me here and go back to your friends, to your New Republic and your Jedi Order. Or better yet, take my grandfather’s lightsaber and finish it. Quickly. Although a quick death would be more than what I deserve.”
“No one deserves to die, Ben.” Rey said. “Not even you.”
His eyes softened then and his shoulders dropped.
“Don’t be kind to me, Rey.” He shook his head, as if her words had hurt him.
“I’m not being kind,” Rey said. “I’m doing what is just.”
“By helping a murderer.”
“Yes.” She said simply.
His eyes were reprimanding, unbelieving. “Why?”
“Why?” She repeated. “Because I know the regret you carry. I know how much you want to atone. But redemption does not equal death. I am a Jedi and the Jedi are peacekeepers. I will not kill my enemy in violence. I will show him compassion. I will show him that he’s worthy of life. Even if others won’t see it.”
The outrage painted on his face was slowly giving way to the usual, deep misery he was drowning in, and she wanted to reach out, but maybe they were past this.
Rey wished she could feel him in the Force, like she was used to. His missing Force-signature was a void in front of her, like a dark blur among a colourful painting. It bothered her deeply, but not only because she couldn’t sense his emotions, but because his presence brought her comfort, she so selfishly thought.
But the quiver that shook his body and his parted lips indicated that her words had touched him deeply. Still, she didn’t understand why he held on.
“I have no choice.” He said as if he read her mind.
“You do.”
“There is no other way,” he said. “There is no turning back.”
“You know as well as I do that there is.”
“You’ve seen it, Rey,” Ben whispered to her. “You’ve seen the Darkness.”
“Yes, but I don’t fear it anymore,” Rey said. “I want to understand it, look at it. Welcome it.”
“You cannot control it. It will take a hold of you and then… you’ll be lost… ruined. Like I am.”
“If you are lost and ruined...” Rey asked. “Then why did you surrender? Why did you dismantle the First Order? Why are you here ready to die for your crimes?”
His face contorted with pain and shame, he looked away from her despite her kind eyes. He didn’t answer; she supposed words couldn’t translate what he was feeling. But there was no need.
“You are being naive…” He said threateningly, trying once more to hide behind his mask. “What makes you think I won’t go around killing every single being in the galaxy? What will keep me from rising to power again and hunting you down?” He sunk his hands into the ground, like a predator ready to jump on his prey.
“You’ve made that promise before.” She countered, challenging him with her calmness.
“What makes you think I won’t go through with it?”
Rey was looking into his eyes when she answered. “Because of your heart.”
A choked sob came out of his throat and he hid his crumbling face on his hands. Rey immediately wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him, and he accepted it, leaning against her and letting himself cry.
His skin was hot despite the night chill and she held him, not minding the dirt and the blood. She only wanted his suffering to stop - she wanted all the suffering to stop - or at least for him to find a way to heal. If she could help him, maybe it would mean that she could help to heal the galaxy, and her own wounds in her own time.
At the end, there were tears in her eyes too.
Ben was right, if anyone saw them, everything would be lost. But she stayed there, comforting her greatest enemy. It was a silly thought now: enemy. They might have been once, but not anymore. The Force had other plans.
He sat up again. He was close, sitting on the floor beside her, face red and puffy lips that he didn’t try to hide this time. She stared at him for a few seconds, until his weary eyes met hers once more.
Wordlessly, she offered her canteen again and he took it, gulping the water eagerly until it was empty, stopping only to take a breath. He looked a little ashamed as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
They exchanged a look. There, she saw certainty.
Rey opened her bag and took a cloak and handed it to him. His hand shook as he took it and put it on. They got up. Rey grabbed the bottle of blood and gave him the bag, filled with more clothes and credits. And another thing.
“My lightsaber?”
“It’s in the bag,” Rey answered. “Hold on…”
He couldn’t feel it with the collar on. She breathed in as her hands reached up to his neck and she commanded the lock to turn.
As the device dropped to the ground, the intensity of their connection flooding her senses made her close her eyes. She was hit with his emotions, so strong and almost overwhelming, as it always was with him. When she opened her eyes again, she saw furrowed brows as he took in a breath, like he was in pain. But he wasn’t. He was… content, grateful and anxious.
He looked into her eyes and took a step further, and her hands that were still hovering over his neck came dangerously close to his face.
“I wish…” His words were lost in a sigh he didn’t manage to contain. Rey wondered if their wishes were the same. Somehow she suspected they were, but she feared that they would never have the chance to find out.
“Go, Ben.” Rey said. “Don’t look back.”
There was a spike of anguish through the bond, he didn’t even try to hide it. But he nodded and swiftly took the bag, turning around to leave. But then he halted and turned back. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She smiled softly and nodded too.
She watched Ben Solo disappear into the darkness.
***
Rey was considered a brilliant Jedi. She was revered as the only Jedi who had brought balance to the Force, uniting both sides. There was no more Dark, no more Light, only the Force.
She built the Skywalker temple and began to raise the new generation of Jedi into the balance. The Last Jedi, as she was known as since the beginning of the war, swept the Galaxy, searching for Force-sensitives beings who were in need of guidance. She and her students averted many conflicts that could have turned into wars had they not been there.
Rey was, however, a bit odd. At times she would suddenly stop talking, as if being called by someone, but there was no one there, and she would excuse herself. All Jedi were eccentric like that, people supposed.
Years later, when the Galaxy was at peace and the Jedi Order firmly restored, a tall, masked man showed up at her temple. He was always beside her, following her on every dangerous mission. He was an impressive warrior and carried a dark blue lightsaber. Rey was also evidently known for her incredible skill in combat, but together, they were invincible.
But the masked man would always keep it to himself. Even when he began to help around the temple and research the old Jedi texts, putting together an impressive library.
Some say he was her lover, some say he was just another Force-sensitive she found on a random planet, others say he reminded them an awful lot of Kylo Ren. But it was impossible, of course, Kylo Ren had been executed for his crimes, before the war had even ended.
When asked, she said he was just a friend and that his name was Ben.