Chapter Text
Rey was wrenched from the consuming darkness of the Otherworld by a warmth at her waist. Feeling returned to her limbs in a pinpricked rush as she summoned her hand, reaching for the warmth. It was a palm spread across her stomach. Who's? She inhaled deeply, and the palm twitched in surprise.
Rey looked up. Ben's dark eyes met hers with shock so full of hope it banished the vestige numbness from her frame. It was his hand—his warmth—she touched.
"Ben?" She breathed, gazing at features both familiar and foreign. There was a softness she'd never seen in his brow, an unguarded parting to his mouth, a reverence in his glove-free hold. Raw relief spread across his face, rounding its shadowed angles and exposing the man caged away long ago. He cradled her neck as she straightened to sit, and Rey let her fingers travel through the air, hovering near his cheek.
Searching this new face—so different from the one she'd first seen in Starkiller's interrogation room—Rey surged forward. Ben rushed to meet her, kissing her in trembling celebration.
They had done it. They had defeated the Emperor. Together.
Ben pulled her closer, and Exegol's cold ruins fell away. The idea of him was nothing compared to the reality. His mouth was triumphant, but tender—she had saved him from the dark side, and he had brought her back from the Otherworld. The press of his lips strengthened as he deepened the kiss, brushing his nose against her cheek.
Rey wanted to savor the contact, to live forever in a single moment, but the urge to memorize him—to make Ben's soft joy eclipse the rage of Kylo Ren—had her pulling away.
She roamed his features, proving to herself they were real, and felt herself smile in wonder. He stared back, flitting over the lines of her nose and jaw with the same hint of awe. It was like he'd never seen her before. Like he'd waited his whole life to feel the elated acceptance in her gaze.
Ben matched her smile with one wide enough to show teeth, and Rey's heart leapt. The promise it held, a future without black robes or masks, left her nearly breathless. They had both been right; he had turned, and when the moment came, she had stood beside him.
For a beat, they just smiled, buoyed and proud, sharing something they'd never shared. And then—without warning—Ben's expression went slack and vacant. He grew heavy in her arms, and Rey bent to catch him as he fell, resting his head on the stony ground.
Horror doused all else as she gaped down, uncomprehending. He began to fade before her eyes, and she immediately grabbed his shoulders, calling to him through their bond.
Ben! She cried. Don't go! Stay with me.
Nothingness answered, and she clung tighter, even as she felt him give way in her grasp.
I need you, her mind pleaded. Stay, Ben. Please!
From the murky swells of her despair, a current stronger and more raging than the just-won fight with Palpatine, a voice responded, sounding far away.
You did it Rey, you saved me.
Tears welled and spilled down her cheeks, dripping salty tracks into her mouth. So, stay for me, she urged. I don't want to be alone.
Let me go Rey.
No!
I won't really be gone—.
NO! She screamed inwardly, not wanting empty Jedi mantras. They'd bring no comfort when she left this nightmarish hellscape. Hunting through the invisible threads of energy in the air, still charged and weaving around them, she searched for his signature. The one she'd felt on Ahch-To, Crait, and Pasaana. Finding it with a small gasp, Rey concentrated on its dimming ebb, visualizing herself hauling him back to her plane. I won't let you!
Waves of Force shook as she anchored him in their frothing churn, dragging him to shore.
The voice didn't answer, but the shoulders she gripped lost their translucent haze, returning to reality in tangible layers that grew more solid.
Rey blazed with hope, using her power to yank the last of him back from the brink in a desperate seize. She watched him, and caught movement beneath his closed eyelids.
"B-Ben?" His name was more tremulous this time, laden with crowding anguish.
He opened his eyes, weary and worn. "You're not alone," he murmured. "I'm here."
And then she was hugging him, and sobbing, and the dark confines around them blurred as everything else ceased to matter.