Chapter Text
Rey coughed into the ground, the pungent fumes wafting around her in the humid air. She was decidedly no longer on an airship anymore where mere moments ago she had been looking out the windows to the world below before a flash so bright blinded her vision and she was falling, falling, falling. But the world below had been the ocean as far as her eyes could see. It was her first time seeing it from up high, higher than the birds fly. She should have known. She should have known not to trust an airship owned by Mr. Snoke, but she had been determined to speak to his protégé Ben Solo who would be on board. Neither her own mentors Luke and Leia and Han nor her parents and friends could convince her not to do it.
"You fell for a pair of pretty eyes," Luke had scoffed. A pair of pretty eyes? What on Earth was he talking about? There was absolutely no way Rey would ever think about Ben Solo's eyes that way. What an absurd notion. So what if they had kissed? Once! It was one time. And it had nothing to do with why she was trying to get him out of the awful First Order business of Snoke's.
Thoughts of accidentally kissing Ben Solo would have to wait due to Rey's current predicament of lying face first on solid ground. How did she get into this position? Surely the airship would have fallen into the ocean with no survivors, including herself?
"Rey?" A deep voice croaked out, coughing. "Rey?"
Oh great. Ben Solo was here too. Because of course he was. Well, now was as good of a time as any to talk to him. Rey cracked an eye open and then the other. Green. Green everywhere. England was green, but not this kind of green. "Are we in a jungle?" She asked, sitting up with a groan. Tall, huge palm leaf trees rose high into the bright sky and the ground was covered in thick leafy grass in places leaving patches of visible dirt, which is where Rey found herself sitting stunned.
"I don't think so," Ben answered hoarsely. "It's not possible." He smacked himself in the face, glaring around. "These bugs are terrible!"
What was left of their airship sat in a heap of hissing, smoldering metals. It no longer even looked like an airship anymore.
"Where is everyone else?" Rey stood with a groan, brushing her dirty hands on her red skirt. Not that it helped. That was dirty, too. "The other passengers? The crew? Do you think they're–"
Ben shrugged as he also stood, planting his hands on his hips. "Everyone else was either in the dining room or their quarters. We were the only ones by the window."
"I was alone."
"No. One of the crew told me where you were. I was coming to see you when–" Ben cut himself off, either because he started wildly waving in front of his face or because he didn't need to vocalize what happened next. They crashed.
Rey couldn't think about the others. If they were on a different part of the airship, then– "So what does that mean for us?"
"We're stranded in a jungle that shouldn't exist?"
"It obviously exists," Rey argued with an eye roll, gesturing all around and... the bugs found her and she swatted at the air. "We're here. Our airship must have drifted towards the southern part of your country before we crashed."
"Florida?"
"Yes! That one! So, not stranded for long. We eventually have to hit a beach or town or something and get out of this godforsaken humid forest."
Ben scoffed. "That's your plan? To walk through here just like that?" He snapped his fingers.
"Well when you put it like that, but yes." Defiant and determined to prove him wrong, Rey jutted her chin out. "We're not in the ocean or on an island so as I said, not exactly stranded."
"Then lead the way, Miss Not Stranded." Ben waved his arm with a flourish, bowing deep.
"Fine."
"Fine!"
"I will!" And with that, Rey marched off towards the widest opening in the trees. Or, at least, she tried, but her foot slipped and she wobbled in place to catch her balance.
Ben was right there to steady her, wrapping an arm around her and gripping her elbow. "Easy there, sweetheart."
"Don't call me that," Rey halfheartedly bit out, not moving from Ben's hold. His lips are right there.
"Those aren't exactly stranded in a Florida jungle shoes," he whispered against her mouth, his breath warmer than even the humid heat surrounding them. "Let me help you."
"This isn't helping," she whispered back, still not moving.
Ben's lips ghosted briefly over her own before he backed away. "Just don't lead us to a a swamp, sweetheart."
Rey brought her fingertips to her lips, catching her breath she hadn't realized she lost. "Swamp?"
"Yes. Swamp." Ben took her hand, leading her carefully through the brush. "Florida has swamps."
"Really?" The tingling shooting up Rey's arm almost made her dizzy, something she couldn't blame on the environment but entirely on her tall, infuriating, not stranded here companion. "How do you know? Have you been here?"
Ben cracked a smile. "I have now." His rogue-ish grin glanced her way.
"Ha ha, clever," Rey humored him.
This environment was unlike anything else. Rey had always loved the vibrant lush green of life. Rolling grassy hills, vines climbing a wall, trees rustling in a breeze... but this was a different kind of green. The palms on the tall trees were pointy and the wide bushy grass blades appeared sharp enough to cut. The air was thick with humidity, causing Rey's red dress to cling to her, but at least it was one of the lighter garments she had packed. It could have been worse. She could be wearing a wool coat right now feeling even more sickly green. Rey did not care for this green. She wanted to be back to the green of her home. The only other place in America she had been was New York, a place bustling with people. It was a different kind of jungle. How soon until they found other people in this Florida?
Just then, Rey's stomach grumbled. She had no intention of skipping breakfast this morning, but her plan to wait for the dining room to empty had caused her to miss it. "Soooo, um... you don't happen to have any food on you, do you?" She was hungry and it was not beyond her pride to ask for life sustaining food. "Like any toast in your pockets?"
The incredulous look Ben gave her from the corner of her eye was unmistakable. "Why would I put toast in– Wait, nevermind."
"I would do it, if I had pockets in this dress." Probably an unfortunate habit that Rey developed in the orphanage after the Great War before her adoptive parents Jyn and Cassian found her. She snuck as much food as she could.
Ben pulled her to a stop. "If we're not as stranded as you think, then we should reach someplace like Miami by lunch."
"I didn't eat breakfast," Rey confessed. At Ben's raised silent eyebrow, she continued. "I was waiting for all your mobster friends to leave. You keep horrid company."
Ben leaned towards her, eyes dangerously narrowed. "Do you think you can save my soul?"
"I know I can."
An electric-like current charged through their linked hands, a crackling sound Rey swore she could hear over their silent standoff. But the moment quickly passed as her hand abruptly grew cold when Ben let go.
"Wait here!" He pointed, walking away.
"But where are you going?" She yelled at his retreating back, spinning around with a huff and hugging herself for comfort. Now she was alone in this jungle filled with strange bugs, tall trees, air so thick with water she could almost swim, and, "Is that a cliff?" She walked slowly forward, watching her step so as not to trip. When she got to the edge, she stood at the top of a large crevice. "Well, not going this way!" Rey rubbed her eyes, blinking rapidly, because even more surprising was the sight of Ben Solo hunched over a bush on the other side. "BEN!"
Ben's head snapped up towards her voice, his eyes widening. "I told you to wait!"
"I didn't go far, but how did you get to the other side of this crevice?"
"What crevice?"
"The one you crossed!" Rey pointed at it. "Is there a bridge?" She looked left first where a mountain stood tall in the distance with a thin stream of water falling from the top and then to the right where a thick rope draped across the crevice. "Ben how did you cross that?" He didn't answer because he was... gone. "Ben?"
It felt like hours with how her heart thumped with nerves, but Ben calling her name moments later with a tap to her shoulder still tore a scream from her and she clutched at the fanned sand colored fabric on her collar. "You scared me! Where did you come from?"
Ben's breath came out in gasps. "Why did you follow me?" He rushed out, ignoring her question in favor of asking his own. "I ran looking for you after you disappeared!"
"I disappeared? You disappeared!"
"We're obviously exhausted–"
"And deliriously starving!" Rey interrupted at another rumble of her stomach.
"Right," Ben chuckled. "I think I found some berries before you showed up."
"I didn't show up. You showed up," Rey argued.
"Must you always disagree about everything?"
Rey stubbornly crossed her arms. "What else have I disagreed on?"
"The fact that we're stranded who knows where, for one."
"We're not!"
"That my parents will never take me back."
"They will!"
Ben mirrored Rey's position, crossing his own arms. "We should probably find water."
Rey turned, looking over her shoulder. "Oh, it's–"
"Don't you dare!"
"Will you let me finish!" Rey snapped. "Water is that way." She pointed in the direction of the waterfall she had seen. "See? I'm not always disagreeable."
Ben's eyes bounced between Rey's eyes and her still pointing finger before he stepped forward, sleeve of his rolled up shirt brushing the very tip of her finger. "Oh there is a–"
"A what, Ben?" Rey turned around, stepping next to him near the edge of the cliff and nudging him with her elbow. Surprisingly, the gentle push jostled his normally solid self.
His eyes were locked on the mountain in the distance where water gushed from the top. "I don't think we're in Florida."
"What?" Rey laughed. "Of course we're in Florida. Where else would we be?"
"We should go back to the crash site." Ben gulped as he backed away from the cliff's edge.
Rey let him grab her hand and pull her away. She couldn't tell whose palm was sweaty from nerves or the humidity or both. "Ben! You're scaring me! Whatever was in those berries you found, I don't want them!"
He had to have eaten questionable food that made him act even stranger than usual. There was no other explanation for his behavior. Ben's hair swept the top of his collar as he shook his head. "I didn't eat any of those yet and neither are you. We need to leave."
"Leave?" Rey questioned, incredulous. "To where and on what airship? We're stranded here!"
"Rey," his stern voice sent a shiver up her spine, "I'm not playing this game anymore. We'll figure out a plan–"
"But we have a plan! All we have to do is walk through this jungle to Miami or whatever city–" A dip in the ground cut her off with a screech. "Slow down!"
Ben did a double take, eyes widening when he saw Rey stumbling behind him. "Rey!" He stopped, holding her steady with a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Rey gave him a look. A look loaded with obviously not alright feelings with a big helping of confused.
"I'm sorry, it's just..." Ben dropped his arm from her shoulder to groan into his hands. "We're not in Florida. Maybe this is a dream. Or a–" A hard pinch to his bicep from Rey cut him off. "Ow! What was that for?"
"If we're not in Florida, then where are we?" Rey crossed her arms, angry. Not necessarily at Ben, but at being stranded with him of all people in a jungle. "This has to be Florida."
Ben shook his head no. "Florida is flat, Rey, and our airship wasn't even near a coast to begin with. If we get back to the crash site, maybe we can get out of here or at least figure out where here is."
"There is nothing left to fly, Ben. We didn't even crash with the whole ship. It's unrecognizable."
"I know, just... We're scientists and you're smarter than you know, no matter what all the men in our field say."
Rey softened at his words because Ben always believed in her, even if he had an awkward way of showing it like that time he proposed. "Are you asking me to marry you again?"
Ben cracked a smile as he tugged her arms loose, linking their fingers together. "Maybe. Would you say yes this time?"
"Maybe." Rey drifted closer until her chest brushed against his. Not that she wanted to. Her body was moving against her will, of course. Traitor. "You still working for Snoke and those thugs who think I'm only good enough to be your trophy wife? Will your parents be invited to the wedding?"
As she spoke, their faces had inched closer together, their lips only a breath apart. A sigh apart, courtesy of Ben's apparent frustration at her second refusal. Him backing away caused her to whimper as her lips, traitors like the rest of her body, attempted to follow his. But he was too far away now, perhaps for the best considering nothing about their situation had changed.
They walked silently back to the crash site after that, though their hands remained linked. Or maybe not so silently because just a touch louder than their crunching footsteps on twigs and the rustling trees was Ben's voice, non-stop chatter as if he were voicing his inner monologue. It was a random string of sentences about being in a nightmare and what could have gone wrong on the airship, but Rey had to stop him when his words shifted to her.
"Will you stop talking?" She eventually snapped at a vivid description of all the places he wanted to touch her under her dress.
"What? I'm not saying anything!"
"This," Rey gestured at her red dress, "is not coming off for you anytime soon."
Ben jumped away as if burned, his eyebrows high up in his hairline. "I don't know how you know that, but it's not like it's any better than what you've said!"
Rey scoffed. "Excuse me? I'm a proper woman of class!"
"Ha!" Ben's eyes grew wild with excitement over whatever juice he felt he had on her. "You were just talking about how you wish you could be under me on our wedding night! Feel my weight press you down! I could vividly see it in. my. head," he punctuated each word with a jab of his finger to his forehead. "I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't want to embarrass you, but..." he chuckled without humor, shrugging a shoulder.
Rey's jaw dropped in shock. She was barely aware she had been thinking that, let alone saying it.
"Well it's not gonna happen now, sweetheart! You can stay stranded here for all I care!"
"Ben!" Rey called to her angry stranded companion as he stomped off. Actually stomped off like an overgrown toddler. She struggled to jog after him, the effort especially difficult on the uneven ground while wearing heels and a skirt more worn to accentuate her figure than ease of movement. But she caught up to him and latched onto his arm, dashing around his large frame to his front and crashing her lips to his. It took him a moment to catch on, but when he did, his crushed her to him in his arms and met her in a searing kiss.
"Does this mean you'll marry me?" The idiot ruined the moment after they separated and caught their breath.
Rey halfheartedly smacked his shoulder, earning her a series of kisses along her chin. "Can we... can we get out of here first?"
Ben's hands had just dipped indecently below her waist, his long fingers brushing her behind when she heard noise in this distance. Was that voices?
"Ben, stop," Rey whimpered, reaching behind her to smack his hands away. "Ben!"
"Don't wanna," he mumbled into her neck. "Want your vision to come true."
"Ben, it will have to wait. I don't think we're alone."