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andaneum · 7 years ago

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No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 7 FB

3 years earlier…

The sight of Coruscant’s upper levels was something Rey knew she’d never be able to forget. The whole planet was one giant city, teaming with life forms from all corners of the known galaxy, and some from even further beyond. It radiated energy, the force pulsing all around them, neither dark nor light, but seemingly at peace in a place where every kind of presence was pressed together as one.

Ben had switched their ship for a speeder once they’d arrived on the planet, leaving their own transport in an easily accessible garage, and the open cockpit allowed Rey to feel everything so much more closely. The city was flashing by them in a blur so Ben slowed the speeder a little, giving her more of an opportunity to take in the world around her.

‘Was it how you imagined it would be?’ Ben asked.

Her response was quiet and distracted. ‘I never could have imagined this.’

Despite the loss of prestige that had come with losing its status as the galaxy’s capital during the fall of the empire, it was hard to tell that much had changed. The buildings still gleamed in the sunlight and an endless stream of ships still descended through the atmosphere to make port.

‘How can so many people live here? Surely the planet isn’t big enough to support everyone.’

They began to fly down between the skyscrapers that covered the planet, day turning to night around them as the light was chased out by shadows. It took them some time to arrive at their destination, innumerable levels extending outwards, seemingly into a whole other world beneath the shine and polish of the surface.

‘The city reaches deep down into the planet. There are thousands of levels, I doubt there’s anyone alive who knows exactly how many there are. The further down you go, the worse it gets.’ He spoke as though he hated the planet, but how could anyone hate such a place? The force signatures of a thousand lifeforms pressed in on her from all sides, yet she didn’t feel suffocated by it. Rather, it felt as though the planet was merely the starting point for countless adventures and opportunities.

‘Will we be going all the way down?’ Her voice was excited as she turned to face him. It was like looking at a pet, eager to explore the world with their owner.

‘No.’ He hated refusing her and feeling her disappointment leeching into his mind but keeping a low profile would be the key to their safety. He had no doubt that the First Order would find them at some point, but he planned to keep them far from their door for as long as he could.

From that point onwards, their journey was taken in silence, until Ben eventually stopped their speeder on a wide walkway outside a small store. They hopped out and onto the street, which Rey quickly regretted as she realised the walkway hadn’t originally been grey, but rather years of grime and dirt had turned it so. She looked around, noting that much of the area was painted in the same filthy colour, and when she glanced up, there was no sun or sky to improve the view.

Ben’s deep voice brought her back to the present, and his hand on her lower back pushed her toward the store, ‘We’ll get what we need from here. Put your cloak on and keep the hood up.’

They hadn’t been able to acquire many supplies from Jakku with the money they’d earned from the sale of Snoke’s much superior escape ship, but fortunately Ben had insisted that they at least had something to hide their faces.

And it was this train of thought that lead Rey to an important realisation, ‘What about money?’ Rey asked. Being a scavenger wasn’t exactly a high paying career and she certainly had none to speak of.

‘Don’t worry about it. I have plenty.’ His voice was guarded, and his words suggested that the conversation, in his mind at least, was over.

But to Rey it certainly wasn’t.

‘How do you have money with you? Where did you get it from?’ Her voice was harsh and judgemental, as though she already knew the answer but just needed the confirmation.

Ben looked around before pulling her sharply into a doorway several stores down from their destination. ‘We don’t have time for this, Rey. We have half a galaxy looking for us, and right now my priority is getting us somewhere safe.’ His breaths were coming hard, and his gaze was steely, ‘Where the money comes from is not important at the moment. If you want to shove your morals down my throat, then do it later.’

‘Fine.’ She jerked her arm from his grip, knowing that she’d probably have a bruise there by the morning. She knew he was right, and it made her angry to admit it, ‘But I don’t like it.’

After that it didn’t take them long to get the supplies they still needed. They could use their powers to deter anyone who might be overtly taking an interest in them, but Ben was still uncomfortable for them to be out in public longer than was necessary. Once they’d finished, their provisions including as many dehydrated meals as they could carry since neither had much clue how to cook, Ben directed their speeder towards their new ‘home’.

He landed outside what looked like a large disused warehouse, built into the never-ending wall that made up the under levels of the city. The metal it had been fashioned from was stained and tarnished, and the door squealed loudly in protest as Ben pushed it to the side and rust rained down on their heads.

‘Where are we?’ She asked. Even her old AT-AT seemed as though it would be preferable to this.

‘A safehouse I prepared. No one should try and bother us, I doubt they’ll think to look for us in a place like this. If we don’t draw attention to ourselves unnecessarily then we’ll be safe for a while.’ The look he threw in her direction was pointed, and her only reply was a cheeky smirk.

She walked inside, noting that it wasn’t that much more appealing than the outside had been. It was one huge room, with what she would guess was a refresher through the only other door. The ceilings were high, but with no natural light flooding in, it felt more like a prison cell than a home. The furniture didn’t help her impression, it was sparse to say the least.

‘What do you think?’ He asked. She was sure he wouldn’t want to know her answer.

There was little to look at, though one thing did catch her attention. To her right, the floor changed, going from a drab grey concrete to a large raised platform of wood. It was the only part of the old warehouse that looked even remotely new and inviting. Surrounding the edges of the platform and pushed back against the wall was all manner of training equipment; staves and staffs, basic armour, training dummies and much more.

They worried her as much as they excited her. Being trapped in such a small space would be difficult for even the most patient of people, and neither her nor Ben were well known for that trait. Adding weapons to the mix didn’t seem like the best idea to her.

‘To be honest, right now I’m more worried about us killing each other than being found by anyone. This place doesn’t exactly look like it was built to keep two people caged up in close quarters.’ She answered him honestly.

His own reply seemed almost cautious, and as she turned to face him she noticed that one of his hands had come up to rub fiercely at the back of his neck. ‘No, well. When I arranged for this place to be made available to me, I wasn’t planning on there being someone else with me if I ever needed to use it. That’s why…’

He trailed off, his hand motioning to the room around them. She was confused for a moment, before her face began flushing a deep pink as she came to the realisation that the reason the room looked so bare was because it only contained one of everything.

She ducked her face, trying to hide her rosy cheeks from his view and asking another question in a poor attempt to distract them both, ‘When did you have time to prepare all of this?’

Her distraction seemed to work though, as his hands dropped to his sides and his eyes glazed over, losing the shine that the fires of his emotions usually kept lit within them.

‘After I left Skywalker,’ He began, trying to keep any hint of emotion from his voice and his mind. ‘I went straight to Snoke. I knew he’d always wanted me for my power, but I hadn’t realised just how far his ambition extended. Once I’d learned to adequately shield certain parts of my mind from him, I began building a network of safe houses for myself. I have several such places spread across the galaxy.’

He looked over to see her expression. She wasn’t judging him or even worse, pitying him, she was just listening to him. It was a relief. Her understanding was appreciated, but her pity would have been too much for his already broken pride to take.

‘And you’re certain that no one knows about them?’ She asked.

‘If Snoke did manage to learn of them, he never let on that he knew. And he won’t be telling anyone now,’ Ben chuckled darkly to himself. ‘If the First Order had any knowledge of them then we would never have made it through the door. Besides, the credits I’ve been using would be difficult to trace, even if they did know where to begin.’

‘Because you stole them from the First Order, who in turn took them from the people they’ve conquered.’ She said matter of factly. He knew enough of her personality by this point to know that she wouldn’t give up the matter until he’d answered her suspicions.

‘Some of them.’ He replied honestly. ‘But not so many that they’d be easily traceable.’

His answer didn’t appear to bother her as much as he thought it would have, especially given the reaction she’d shown outside the store. But he worried that his next admission may not go down so well, ‘Rey, I’m a prince, a prince of what was once a very rich planet. If the decision hadn’t been made for me, one day I would have been king of what was left of the Alderaanian people. I’ve always had wealth follow me wherever I went. That didn’t change when I left to train with Skywalker.’

He paused to try and gauge her reaction, but both her face and the bond between them were quiet, ‘Does this bother you?’

She shook her head, vehement in her denial and eager to assuage his fears, ‘No, I just…forgot who you were before you left your family.’ The difference in their statuses was stark, yet it surprised her how little it concerned her. ‘I’m coming to realise how little titles matter. You’re a prince, I’m a scavenger, yet we’ve both ended up in the same place.’

‘As fugitives?’ She nodded in response, and she could feel their bond humming in contentment. He liked it when she remembered how similar they were. Or at least, how similar he thought they were.

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Rey couldn’t sleep.

The buzz and hum of feeling so many lifeforms surrounding her had started out as something fascinating for her to explore in her mind, the feel of each a one unique thing that she wanted to never forget. Now though, all it was doing was keeping her from falling asleep.

Ben, of course, had fallen asleep beside her almost instantly, though she supposed that he was used to the feeling of having others around him. They hadn’t spoken so much about his past, but she assumed he’d grown up in cities and planets just like this one and being in the First Order didn’t exactly give one a sense of privacy either.

‘No, no… don’t.’ His calls, at first, had been soft, barely audible, but now Rey could hear Ben’s pleas clearly from the other side of the bed. His tossing and turning had not helped with her attempts at sleep, the bed shifting violently beneath her.

It hadn’t taken them long to organise their sleeping arrangements, with each taking one half of the only bed in the room. It wasn’t ideal, but they’d spent several days now in tight quarters on various different transports, and by this point it seemed almost trivial for them to share such a small space. Or at least that was what Rey kept telling herself as they’d both slipped silently into bed several hours earlier.

She turned over to see what was disturbing him, propping herself up on one arm. His face was covered in sweat, his hair hanging limply and plastered to his forehead. Occasionally his head would thrash to one side and his arms would jerk, but only slightly, as though attempting to protect himself but completely unable to.

Whatever it was, she could feel his distress growing inside her own thoughts as his mental barriers became unable to hold back his demons any longer and they began to shatter. He needed to wake up.

‘Ben.’ She whispered, but he didn’t respond. She repeated his name, this time a little more loudly, but still there was nothing.

She reached out to him, trying to move his hair out of his eyes and hoping to wake him gently. But the moment her fingers made contact with his skin, he awoke with a sharp gasp, his hand rushing up to grab her wrist tightly.

His eyes darted around wildly, and his other hand shifted, almost as though it were reaching for the lightsaber normally attached to his belt. She’d seen him like this before, on their journey to Jakku, but at the time she’d passed it off as a nightmare brought about by the shock of what he’d recently done. But maybe these nightmares were more frequent than she’d originally believed.

Rey sat silent and motionless, watching him as he slowly returned to his senses. His breathing calmed and the hand not still holding her rose up from his side to rub at his eyes, wishing away the dreams that plagued him.

It took some time, but eventually she felt it would be okay to break the silence, ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

‘No.’ He was used to dealing with his nightmares on his own, and the fact that she’d seen him so weak and vulnerable was already enough to agitate him. What grown man couldn’t control himself to the extent that he was still at the mercy of his memories? It was as though he were a child again.

But he should have realised that it wasn’t in her nature to just let things go, not when her misplaced belief that she could help everyone reared its ugly head.

‘Was it Snoke?’ She asked.

‘Not tonight.’

‘Then what happened?’ What was with this girl, could she not take a hint? Maybe growing up on that backwater stink hole had made her oblivious to social cues such as knowing when to leave things alone.

He threw himself back down on the bed in a show of irritation. ‘You know, you do ask a lot of questions. It’s maddening.’

She chuckled to herself. He must be feeling better if he was back to insulting her as usual. ‘I know, and it won’t get better any time soon I’m afraid.’

He took the hint that she wasn’t planning to leave him alone until he’d shared his thoughts with her and began. ‘It was Luke. That night he tried to kill me. I see his face above me, and I can’t… I’m helpless against him and I can’t fight back against his power. During the day I can keep the memories at bay, but at night…’ He trailed off.

Rey nodded solemnly. For all her badgering, she did understand how difficult it must have been for him to share, and that in return he deserved her comfort, no matter how likely it was that he’d fight against it. ‘You know he can’t hurt you here.’

‘Of course, I’m not a child who needs to be coddled.’ He replied, resenting the way her words made him feel just a little better.

But Rey chose not to rise to his taunting, they were just the words of a man who had been badly shaken by his nightmares. Instead, she decided to do the one thing he really hadn’t expected.

She scooted her body down the bed and pressed herself closely against his side. Her head and one arm came to rest on his chest, and she was glad she couldn’t see the expression of shock that was no doubt on his face. His bare chest radiated heat against her cheek, hints of sweat still remaining on his skin. She closed her eyes, hoping above all things that he wouldn’t push her away.

He didn’t, though at first neither were able to relax their muscles or calm their minds enough to actually fall asleep. This kind of contact with him wasn’t something new for Rey, after all she had woken up on Ahch-To in the same position against him. The difference was that this time he was conscious too.

‘I won’t let anyone hurt you again. I swear.’ She whispered to him. She turned her head and pressed a small kiss to the centre of his chest. Their bond flared with both apprehension and happiness, though neither could tell from which side the feelings originated.

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But by morning, everything had returned to how it was before. Their days continued in much the same pattern, an endless cycle of waking, eating, doing chores, and sleeping. If Ben had any more of his nightmares he certainly didn’t share them with her. She knew that he’d appreciated her efforts to help him, but he was still unused to any human contact that didn’t involve pain. It would take him some time to process this new step in their relationship, and if she was being honest with herself, she appreciated the time apart as well.

For two people so used to freedom, or at least the twisted version of freedom they’d both had before leaving, being confined did not sit well. Ben had taken to pacing the room for hours on end, rolling his shoulders occasionally when the tension became too much. Whereas Rey had taken to doing whatever she could to ignore his pacing, knowing that telling him how irritating she found it would only spark another argument.

They rarely left the warehouse, only occasionally doing so to replenish their supplies and take in the atmospheres of the cantina and bars around them. It was only from these visits that they could find out any information about the First Order; with its previous rapid expansion it was a hot topic for the bounty hunters and pilots who frequented such establishments. Yet even these outings were becoming fewer and further between as Ben’s paranoia at being found only grew with his mounting tension.

After three weeks of the same routine grinding her down and breaking her spirit, Rey had finally had enough.

‘I want you to start training me.’

Ben looked up in surprise from where he’d been meditating on the floor of his practice area. He hated meditating, but the strain of being almost constantly trapped in their warehouse for the past several weeks had taken its toll on him.

Rey stood up and walked over to him, her body creating a long shadow that grew over him as she moved closer. She took out her lightsaber from where she’d clipped it onto her belt and began bouncing it up and down in her hands. It felt good to hold it again, and if the pulsations it sent to her through the force were anything to go by, the lightsaber was just as happy to be of use again.

However, upon seeing his grandfather’s lightsaber in her hand and understanding exactly what it was she had planned for them both, Ben’s answer was unequivocal.

‘No.’

Rey’s mouth fell open, ‘What?’ She really hadn’t expected that response.

‘What happened to wanting to be my teacher. You were determined on Starkiller, and now that I’m the one to suggest actually do something about my training, you say no!’ She shouted in astonishment.

‘Exactly. Besides, I thought you had been training.’ In her free time Rey had been practicing some of the skills she’d learned on Jakku, she knew that with the First Order following them it was a good idea not to allow herself to be complacent. Ben had thought it to be a good idea, and the only reason he hadn’t joined her was because he hadn’t wanted to encourage her and cause himself an awkward conversation. A conversation it seemed he was going to have regardless of his caution.

‘By myself, yes. But it’s not the same as having someone who knows how to handle a lightsaber and can point out your mistakes’ Rey replied.

She could sense his reluctance, and it pleased her to know that even with a lack of training she was becoming much more adept at picking out and interpreting his moods and feelings, seeing as they were her constant companions.

And so, when she spoke, it wasn’t a question, but a statement of exactly how she knew he felt about her training, ‘You don’t want to train me with a lightsaber.’

Ben sighed in response, rubbing at his forehead as though she were a headache he needed to get rid of, ‘You’re asking me to train you because you’re bored, and you’re tense. You hate being cooped up here.’

He spoke to her like a child, and her response was sullen. It didn’t help her case, but it certainly made her feel better.

‘You know I don’t like you reading my thoughts.’

His response was terse, ‘I know you feel like that because I feel the same, not because I’m inside your head. Do you really think that us fighting is the best idea? Are you in the right frame of mind right now to control yourself? Just look at yourself.’

She looked down at herself and saw exactly what it was he meant. Her whole body was stood tense and rigid in its position in front of him. Her hands were clenched, one tightly wrapped around her lightsaber and the other grabbing her thigh tightly in an unconscious attempt to keep her emotions from boiling over. She took a small breath and hoped he wouldn’t notice when she allowed herself to relax a little. It was too embarrassing when he was right.

When she spoke, her voice was quiet, knowing that she probably wouldn’t be able to convince him now, ‘I think it could help relieve some of the stress.’

‘And cause some serious injuries.’ He responded quickly.

She considered his position. Maybe them just going at it with lightsabers wasn’t the best idea, but that didn’t mean that they needed to sit at opposite ends of the room doing everything they could to avoid provoking each other. She wanted to find a way for them to communicate, and he seemed to prefer that the method she chose was peaceful.

‘Then how about you teach me some less… violent techniques. Luke wasn’t able to teach me much before I left him, but you can.’ She suggested.

She could tell he was curious, her proposition had clearly peaked his interest, ‘And what exactly did you have in mind?’

A smile grew on her face, she had him. ‘You know, meditation, controlling things…’ Her mind went blank, and it scrambled for something, anything, ‘…floating rocks, that kind of thing.’

‘Floating rocks?’ Now he was the one smiling.

‘You know what I mean!’ She said, clearly exasperated with both him and her mind’s inability to speak basic in any way more complex than a child. ‘Is that a yes or a no?’

He sighed. ‘Sit down in front of me, facing me, and cross your legs.’

She did as he instructed, noting that his seeming aloofness and attitude to training her reminded her a lot of his uncle. But she would keep the comparison to herself, he wouldn’t appreciate hearing it.

‘Close your eyes.’ He said calmly.

‘Now, reach out…’

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Their uneasy truce lasted a week.

‘That’s it, I’m done. Take out your lightsaber.’ Ben said suddenly one day.

Rey had been sitting on the floor against the bed, flicking through yet more news stories on her holopad. She’d read them before, but it’d been preferable to speaking to Ben. She’d felt his tension growing over the bond for days, and she’d purposely been staying out of his way in case he broke. Now she could feel that it had reached its peak.

‘What?’ She asked, both surprised at the abruptness of his request and yet unsurprised that it had come to this. He was pacing in front of where she sat, like a predator stalking its prey, and it struck her how much their positions had reversed over the week.

‘I’m done with this. We’re both going crazy being locked up here, and if we don’t do something to address this situation then one of us is going to crack.’ He growled.

Part of her agreed with him, but with how he’d made her beg for training, she wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

‘I’m sorry, but what was it you said? I won’t train you with a lightsaber just so you can let off some steam.’ She’d tried to imitate his voice, but the attempt just left her coughing and spluttering by the end, her vocal chords unused to making such a deep sound.

But he was too wound up to be amused by her attempts at levity, ‘While normally I would stand by that, I think we both need something a bit more stimulating than… floating rocks. If we don’t do something soon then I worry we’re going to do more damage to one another than a few training scars.’

‘So, you mean fighting?’ She asked.

‘Sparring.’

He looked her in the eyes. Maybe if he was able to convince himself that this actually was training, he wouldn’t feel so guilty at giving into the temptation of fighting her to release some of the pressure in his mind.

She chose to ignore his correction, ‘I may hate you Ben, but I’m not going to fight you.’

She wished she could take back the words as soon as they’d left her mouth. This was what he was worried about, the wounds he knew they’d inflict that were worse than training scars. His body stiffened, and his response was almost beseeching, ‘You don’t hate me.’

She was silent for a moment, guilt washing over her in waves, before replying quietly, ‘No. But I still won’t fight you.’

Rey saw his point, she’d made the same arguments days before, but something felt different now. She looked away from him, hoping it would put an end to the conversation.

The crackle of his lightsaber filled the air and she couldn’t help herself. She rose to his challenge.

Their fighting styles were similar, even if Rey’s was a much rougher version of that of her partner. She’d picked up a lot of her knowledge from her short time in Ben’s mind on Starkiller, unintentionally absorbing parts of his training and augmenting them with her own fighting techniques learned on Jakku.

They were well matched in the beginning. When he struck out at her with his superior strength, she found it difficult to parry, but her own blows were landing perfectly. His large form made him an easier target to strike against, and it was taking much of his concentration to defend against her attacks when they came.

But as the fight went on, it was clear that the tides were turning in his favour. The anger and frustration of being on the defensive mingled with dark memories of his defeat on Starkiller. The humiliation he’d felt and was still feeling fuelled his rage, which in turn fuelled his powers. He was acting on instinct now, his moves coming before he even had the chance to think about them. This was the power of the darkness, channelled through him, and he had become merely a vessel of its will.

He landed blow after blow against her saber but she was just as stubborn as him, hated defeat as much as he did, and she refused to give up yet. If only she could centre herself, focus and channel her energies…

And in her moment of weakness, with him lost in the heat of the fight, the darkness inside of him took its chance to strike.

His mind threw itself into hers, dark tendrils reaching deep inside and latching on tightly. The pain was secondary to her emotional turmoil as they sought out any darkness they could find and dragged it violently to the surface. Snatches of memories and thoughts she’d hidden away rose unbidden inside of her, and her heart felt as though it was shattering with every single one she was forced to relive.

Her knees buckled beneath her and she fell to the floor, hands clutching at the sides of her head. She screamed, her eyes squeezed closed as though desperate not to see the images flashing through her mind, and it was this that finally made Ben realise what he’d done to her.

He instantly drew back, his face a mix of shock and horror. It took Rey some time to realise that the grip on her mind had disappeared, but when it did her instincts kicked in and she scrabbled back across the floor from him. She continued until her back hit the wall and she couldn’t move any further, but even then, her nails began clawing at the walls, desperately searching for a way out.

‘Rey.’ She could sense his intentions.

‘NO!’ She screamed at him. ‘Don’t come near me!’

His eyes flashed wildly, barely able to believe what he’d done.

‘Rey, I…’

Impulse made him take a step towards her, hand outstretched to her as it had been in Snoke’s throne room. But this time, she didn’t take it. A sharp fear drew across her as she saw him come closer and her instincts kicked into overdrive. She got to her feet, still shaken from their fight, and ran straight past him, making sure that her body didn’t brush up against his as she did so. She wanted no part of him to remain on her.

Chapter 8

#reylo #reylo fanfic #reylo fandom #fanfic #star wars #star wars fanfic

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andaneum · 7 years ago

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No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 6

Present Day…

Poe was half buried underneath a mass of tangled wires when his commlink finally alerted him to a new message. The General had returned from her mission and was requesting his presence in her personal rooms.

He threw the wiring off his lap, frustrated with the lack of progress his distracted mind had been making with the new ship. He didn’t like Leia going off on missions alone, and he’d been checking his comm almost constantly since she’d left. Inaction didn’t suit him, and Finn had been forced to distract him more than once- not that he’d complained at the time.

‘Hey buddy, you got this?’ He called out to BB-8, pointing to the section of wiring he’d been working on. BB-8 beeped in response, popping out his lighter and lighting it in an imitation of a thumbs up. It was not the first time Poe had wondered where in the galaxy he’d learned that. He truly was one of a kind.

Having confidence in his droid to continue preparing his new x-wing, Poe ran from the hangar and through the corridors of their latest base. It was fortunate that after almost three years stationed there, he knew exactly which route to take to avoid people, otherwise he undoubtedly would have had a lot of apologising to do.

The door to Leia’s rooms opened automatically as he arrived, obviously she’d been anticipating his eagerness to see her. He walked in, seeing her sat at the circular table in the middle of the room, one of the few luxuries she’d accepted as a Resistance General.

‘Poe, I’m glad you came so quickly. Please, shut the door.’ She said.

‘General, is this about the mission? Because you know I can…’

Leia held up her hand to silence him. She’d heard his opinions so many times now as to why he should be allowed to help, she could probably have recited the arguments in her sleep.

‘We’ll get to that later. For now, I just need to know that what I’m about to tell you will not leave this room.’

His whole body grew rigid as he stood to attention before her. This was clearly a serious matter for her and so he would act accordingly- as a soldier speaking with their superior.

‘Of course, General.’

But Leia didn’t appreciate it when he acted properly. Even though his actions were earnest, Poe doing things ‘by the rules’ was so rare that it almost felt like he was mocking her.

‘Good, good. Now take a seat.’

He sat down and took his first good look at the woman sat across for him at the table. She’d only been gone for a few days, yet somehow, she looked years older. Her right hand was making soothing circles on her temple, an attempt at staving off one of her all too familiar headaches.

She was silent for a while, occasionally opening her mouth to speak, before closing it suddenly, unable to find the right words to start off their conversation. She was trying to be delicate, but in this situation, maybe the straightforward approach was what was most needed.

‘I went to see my son.’

Poe had not been expecting that.

‘You met with Kylo Ren? Alone? How did you even know where to find him? It’s been years since anyone’s heard from him.’ His shocked tone would have been insulting if it hadn’t also been so amusing. He did seem determined in life to see her as an old woman in constant need of his protection.

But he was also her most ardent supporter, and deserved answers.

‘After she left the Resistance, Luke gave Rey a map to a planet in the Unknown Regions. He told her that if she ever wanted my attention, then she should head there. About a year ago, I finally received a signal from the planet that she’d arrived. I knew that if she was there, my son couldn’t be too far away.’

‘Then you were right, she’s with him?’

When Chewie had first told them about Rey’s disappearance after the battle of Crait, it was only Leia who hadn’t been worried. Somehow, it seemed that she’d always known Rey was safe and with her son, despite having no evidence to prove it.

But then his mind turned to a bigger problem.

‘Man, Finn’s going to be crushed.’ He said, more to himself than anyone else.

Leia reached forward to take the young pilot’s hand in her own, squeezing it tightly.

‘I know. Just as I know you don’t agree with my decision to include them in this, but we’ll need their help if we’re going to infiltrate the First Order undetected.’

‘General, I’ve told you. I can do this, just let me take my squad up and we’ll get you onto that ship no problem.’

She’d hoped that being forced to involve Ben and Rey in their plans would have alerted him to the seriousness of this mission, but it didn’t seem to have had an effect on his impetuousness. He reminded her so much of Han sometimes.

‘I’m sorry Poe, but this requires a more delicate touch than you’re used to. We all need to put our pride aside and think about what could happen if anything goes wrong. You know there’s more than just one life at stake here.’

Leia could see clearly from his expression that he still wasn’t happy. Poe had given his life to the Resistance, as had his parents before him, and for so many years it had been Ben’s goal to destroy them. It was a lot to ask him to forget the past and work with the enemy, but she was grateful that he’d at least been willing to hear her out.

‘I see that there’s little point in arguing with you on this, Poe. Look, I received a communication from Rey as I was returning to the resistance. They’ve agreed to meet with me and I want you to come with me.’

That caught his attention.

‘And Ren’s okay with you bringing Resistance members with you when you meet?’

She grinned slyly, ‘Quite the opposite. I was told very specifically to come alone.’

Poe’s grin began to match Leia’s. It was good to know that she wasn’t just capitulating because Ren was her son. And he did always enjoy seeing her rebellious streak displayed so proudly.

‘Besides,’ She continued, ‘I imagine that compared to the fleet Ben’s no doubt expecting for me to bring, one lone pilot will be a bit of a surprise for him.’

Poe chuckled, but Leia’s smile slowly vanished from her face, as it often did when she thought of Ben and how much he’d changed from the little boy she’d known, ‘I also need someone to keep me in line. He may have done terrible things but he’s still my son, and our last conversation didn’t exactly go to plan. I don’t want it to happen again.’

He held on more tightly to the hand still in his, comforting her as though she were his own mother.

‘Well if he’s expecting a small army to be waiting for him, maybe another person wouldn’t hurt- you know, besides you and me.’

‘Who do you have in mind, or do I even need to ask?’ She didn’t. Before Poe had walked through the door, she’d known this question would be asked.

‘He wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t at least try. They went through a lot together and he… he doesn’t like to talk about it, but I know he still misses her.’

She thought it over once more. She couldn’t risk the mission, but she also couldn’t hurt Finn more than he already would be by Rey’s reappearance.

‘Very well Poe. I can’t imagine I’d be able to stop you both anyway. Just make sure he can control himself while we’re there. I know there’s no love lost between you and my son, but for Finn it’s much more personal. We need these negotiations to go well and that won’t happen if we attack them on sight.’

‘Yes General.’

She gave him the stern look that she only reserved for direct orders, ‘I mean it, Poe. You’re in charge of him down there.’

‘I’ll make sure he understands.’

She nodded, happy that he seemed to appreciate how much rode on their success, and they continued to talk about the situation for a while longer before Poe was eventually dismissed to return to his quarters.

------------------------------------

He was shocked to say the least. Leia had ordered him to be prepared to leave first thing in the morning, not that he believed he’d get any sleep before then. And how would Finn take the news that he now had the chance to see Rey again? Poe had never met the woman before, but he’d learned quickly that she meant the world to him.

He made his way to their shared quarters slowly, his mind exhausted from all the information Leia had forced on him over the hour-long meeting. Battle plans and strategies and secrets bounced around in his head, but it was a relief when he saw Finn just lounging around as though nothing had changed. And it hadn’t for him, yet.

Finn looked up from the holopad he was reading as Poe walked in, grinning widely.

‘Hey. Look what I got from Rose.’ He said, holding it up to show the book he’d been reading on it. To anyone else on the base it would barely have been worth mentioning, but three years on it still gave Finn so much joy to have the freedom to do what he wanted in his down time.

Poe kissed him on the forehead as he moved past him, lingering a little longer than necessary, and threw himself down on the edge their bunk. He sat with his legs spread wide, his elbows resting on his knees and his face lowered into his hands.

‘Finn, look. We need to talk about something.’

Finn looked up, realising the seriousness of the situation from Poe’s body language, and turned off the pad.

‘Okay, what’s up?’ Finn asked, before Poe let out a huff of air and groaned loudly into his hands.

‘I… I don’t even know where to start with all this. I can barely wrap my head around it myself, but first thing tomorrow I’m to report to Leia for a mission. And she agreed that you can come too.’ He said, quickly adding, ‘But only if you want to.’

‘Well, can I at least know what this mission is first?’

‘We’re heading to Endor for some… delicate negotiations.’ Poe’s vague explanations weren’t exactly filling the other man with confidence.

‘Okay, you’re still not giving me too much to go off here.’ Finn teased lightly, hoping to diffuse some of the tension Poe had brought into the room with him.

‘It’s with Rey.’

There was a beat of silence.

‘Rey? But I thought… we haven’t…’ He began, but stopped to try and get his thoughts into some semblance of order.

‘I know.’

Finn hadn’t heard a word from Rey in almost three years. She’d gotten in contact when she first disappeared, telling him that she was safe and not to worry about her. But after that, there had been nothing from her. It had broken his heart.

‘She, oh man…’ Poe tried to continue, ‘Leia got word about a year ago that Rey was okay. Apparently, she headed to this planet Leia knew about, somewhere deep in the Unknown Regions, and settled down there for a while.’

‘Wow. I can’t believe… just wow…’ Finn’s mind was everywhere. He hadn’t even been sure she was still alive, let alone that he’d get the chance to see her again.

And he wanted to see her. So much. But as the seconds ticked by, Poe giving him the space and silence he needed to think, his hurt and confusion over the situation only grew. Why hadn’t Rey contacted him? She’d known how to three years ago and since then the Resistance hadn’t needed to change bases. As his first friend, the first person who had ever cared about him, she meant more to him than she could ever possibly know.

And Leia. He’d gone to the General so often in those initial few months when he’d been finding his place, knowing that she’d been one of the few people who could empathise with him. She knew how far he’d have gone to find any information regarding his friend.

‘Why wasn’t I told about this a year ago?’ He asked angrily.

‘Leia said she knew you’d just run after her, she didn’t want you getting yourself killed trying to find her. And I hate to say it, but I agree with her’

‘Rey wouldn’t hurt me.’ Finn’s tone warned Poe not to argue with him on this.

‘Maybe not, I don’t know. Never met the woman. But Kylo Ren wouldn’t hesitate if he thought you were getting in the way.’

Finn looked confused, why did Kylo Ren have anything to do with it? Unless…

‘She’s been with him this whole time, hasn’t she? She let us think she was dead and she’s been with him? Chewie said he’d sent her to him, during the Crait mission. I assumed after she contacted me that something had gone wrong and she was hiding from something, that she didn’t want me getting involved or hurt. But instead she… she just stayed with him?’

Three years with a maniac like Ren, whispering in her ear and trying to change her. Would she even be the same person anymore, how could she be? He barely registered as Poe continued talking.

‘Looks that way, but we won’t know anything for sure until tomorrow. I don’t even think the General knows that much of the story at the minute. From what I heard, Ren wasn’t too excited to see her again.’

He looked over at Finn’s dazed, teary eyes; he didn’t need Leia’s rumoured force powers to know that this news had devastated him. And while Poe was certain that seeing Rey again would be a good thing for him, he wasn’t going to push the younger man into doing something he didn’t feel ready for.

‘Like I said, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Hell, I only asked Leia if you could on the off chance you might.’

Finn rubbed his eyes, clearing away any tears before they had the chance to fall.

‘I… I don’t know. I’ll think about it, I have until the morning to decide, right?’ Finn clasped his hand around the back of the other man’s neck, drawing him until his forehead rested against Poe’s temple.

‘But, for what it’s worth, thanks. It means a lot to me that you’d get me in on this.’

‘Anything for you.’ Poe answered.

-----------------------------------------------------

The mood in the cockpit was subdued as they entered through Endor’s atmosphere. The jungle appeared through the thick clouds as a vivid, verdant blanket, spreading out beneath them.

Only a few years earlier, green had been a colour Rey had only dreamed of. And even now, so many years and hardships later, she still treasured every moment she spent surrounded by it.

But Rey didn’t like feeling Ben’s emotions so faintly- the constant low-level storm she associated with him was almost as soothing as a lullaby to her now.

‘Are you okay?’ She asked quietly, placing her hand on his arm. After so long spent alone and without human contact, she knew that her touch was the best way to distract him from his thoughts.

‘I’m fine.’ He raised a small smile, but she could see that it didn’t reach his eyes. It was a gesture done solely for her benefit. He’d only agreed to the meeting for her and Anakin and she appreciated it, but it didn’t make it any easier to feel him concealing his feelings from her in the hopes that he wouldn’t appear weak.

Emotions that, despite his efforts, she felt spike as he recognised his mother, already waiting for them on the planet’s surface.

‘She’s not alone. We told her to come alone.’ He said hotly, though he’d never truly expected her to comply.

Rey could also sense it, a familiar presence that stood out clearly in her mind, warming her with a sense of home and belonging that she’d only felt recently with Ben and Anakin. ‘It’s Finn’ She said quietly, ‘and… someone else.’

‘Can you sense more than three down there?’ With her past links to the Resistance, it would be easier for her to sense if others were hiding in the forest.

She opened her senses to their surroundings, allowing a wave of life to wash over her. It was dizzying, overloading her senses, but so beautiful to be able to feel so much energy at once. And at the centre of it all was Leia and Finn. How badly she’d wanted to see him and talk to him over the past three years.

When she replied her voice was dazed, as though she were drunk on the feeling of her own force powers.

‘No, there’s no one else.’

Rey was slow to come back to herself as Ben landed their ship in the clearing Leia had chosen for their meeting. She looked down at the child cradled in her arms, blinking rapidly as if only just realising he was there. ‘What shall we do about Anakin?’

‘I’ll put him to sleep. If I don’t, he’ll no doubt end up destroying the ship.’ Rey didn’t like the idea of Ben using his force powers to compel the boy to sleep, but she knew they had little choice.

Anakin’s own powers were growing by the day and being apart from his parents, even if only for a few minutes, often left the boy upset and prone to angry outbursts. Though, unlike most one-year olds, his distress had begun to manifest itself in malfunctions and breakdowns and smashed objects.

Ben could sense Rey’s agreement to this, then the question that seemed to always be on the tip of her tongue. ‘You don’t need to ask me again. We need to do this. You said it yourself, we can’t keep running forever and we need them if we’re going to stay safe.’

Rey stood from her seat, leaning down to kiss him as she moved past. The kiss was slow, their lips gently moving over each other’s, and she poured into it all the gratitude she felt towards him for doing this. She was so proud of him.

They eventually parted, before putting Anakin to bed and finally lowering the ship’s ramp.

Poe saw Finn begin to move at the sight of her, but he put his arm out to stop him moving or doing something impulsive.

They stopped at the opposite side of the small clearing, several metres away from the rebel group, yet still too close for Ben’s comfort.

The only sound they could hear was the trees rustling in the wind, neither side wanting to be the first to speak. It was one of Leia’s classic power moves, something she used to control negotiations, and it grated on Ben’s nerves.

His voice rose out, loud, clear, and full of authority.

‘You wanted us to talk again, you agreed to this meeting, and yet now you stay silent? What do you want from us?’ He could not keep the venom from his voice, despite how fervently Rey had asked him to be civil.

‘We need help.’ Leia replied.

‘We already know that.’

Leia sighed, he wasn’t planning to make this easy for her. But then again, when had her son made anything easy for her? She decided then to just get straight to the point, who knew how long Ben would give her to speak.

‘The First Order has captured the Falcon, Chewie along with it.’

Rey stood frozen, but if Ben felt similarly then he wasn’t letting it show on his face. He held no love for the Wookie, and he still had the scar on his abdomen to prove the feeling was mutual.

Leia continued, ‘We need your help in getting him out of there.’

Ben sensed there was something she was keeping from him. Not Rey, just him.

‘You’re hiding something. If it was just a simple rescue mission you wouldn’t be asking for our help. It’s overkill.’

Leia turned to address Rey. ‘When they took the Falcon, Chewie managed to get an encrypted distress signal sent to us. It’s how we were able to find out so quickly what had happened. He included a message, here.’

Leia held up her hand, and within was a small scrap of paper.

‘We managed to decrypt it, and part of it was meant specifically for you.’

Rey’s brow furrowed in confusion. Why would Chewie be messaging her? She moved to take the paper from Leia’s hand. It was torn in a ragged line at the top, close to where the hastily scrawled handwriting began. Probably an attempt to keep the rest of the message a secret from her and Ben. She moved back to his side and he read the paper over her shoulder.

Rey, I’m sorry. I didn’t hide the books like you asked. I thought they were safer on board the Falcon with me. I was wrong.

He was talking about the Jedi texts.

Now she understood why they’d come to her and Ben for help. Even with no force training, it wouldn’t take Hux long to realise how important those books were, and the security surrounding them would be tight. It would be an extremely difficult mission, but their force powers would help them greatly.

And they had no choice if it meant getting Chewie to safety and the Jedi texts away from the First Order.

Rey looked up from the paper, ‘Do you know where they’re keeping him?’

‘We believe he’s on the Finalizer. After the destruction of the Supremacy, Hux made it his new flagship. It’s heavily defended, but fortunately for us it doesn’t have the same firepower that Snoke’s ship had.’

‘Then that’s where we’re going.’ She said decidedly.

But in her determination to retrieve the books, Rey had almost forgotten that Ben was even there, and that she was signing him up for a mission to save someone she knew he hated. She looked up at him, anticipating seeing him trying to contain his anger.

Instead, she saw a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth. That was strange. Why would he be happy about this?

But she didn’t have much time to think on it, as Leia’s words drew her from her musings.

‘What will you do with Anakin while you’re gone? When I came to you before I didn’t factor in that you would have a child you’d be leaving behind.’

‘Anakin? Who’s Anakin?’ Finn spoke for the first time since they’d arrived on the moon.

Rey looked sheepish, this was information that he should have known, that he would have known if she’d been able to keep in contact with him. ‘He’s our son, Finn.’

‘You have a…’ Ben cut him off mid question.

‘He’s not your concern.’ He growled. Too many people were learning of Anakin’s existence, and it set him on edge.

Finn moved to speak again, but a quick look from Leia was all it took for Poe to move in front of Finn and turn to face him.

‘Not now.’ He whispered.

Leia looked at Rey, imploringly, ‘He should be our concern. Rey, leave him with us, you know he’ll be taken care of with his family.’ She opened her mind as she spoke, so that Rey could see her intentions clearly. Leia wanted her to know that she was speaking to her as a grandmother, only concerned with the safety of her grandson.

But Rey didn’t need to hear Ben’s thoughts to know that leaving Anakin with the Resistance wasn’t an option.

‘Thank you, Leia, but he’ll be taken care of.’

Leia tried not to let the pain of rejection show on her face, but the hurt had settled deep within her chest, a knife held against her heart. An awkward silence once again descended on the clearing, as she tried to keep her mouth closed and her tears at bay.

But it wasn’t so silent in Rey’s head, with Ben’s voice appearing in her thoughts.

The traitor hasn’t looked away from you since we arrived. He wants to speak with you.

He then spoke aloud, ‘General, now that we’ve agreed to help you, I wish to speak to you in private.’ Leia nodded heavily.

Rey knew that Ben was using Finn as an excuse to be alone with his mother and not have her involved, but in the moment, she didn’t care. As the two Skywalkers walked up the ramp of the Resistance ship, Poe’s hand lifted from where it had been resting on Finn’s arm, holding him back.

The moment his light restraint was lifted, they ran straight to one another, throwing their arms around each other’s shoulders. There was no thought behind the gesture, only instinct and desperation.

It took Rey a long time to notice that she wasn’t the only one crying, but as they eventually pulled back from one another she still felt the need to explain her tears.

‘I didn’t know if you’d come. I thought you’d never forgive me for leaving.’

‘I don’t know if I do. Until this morning, I wasn’t even sure if I could make myself come here.’ He couldn’t help himself, and he threw himself at her again, pushing his face into her neck and breathing in the scent of her. She smelled the same, and she sounded the same, and she felt the same. ‘But I’ve missed you so much.’

Since his desertion of the First Order, he’d heard people talking about him often. They thought he was too naïve, too nice, for the galaxy. Rose had even gone as far as to scream it into his face once when she was particularly angry with him.

Maybe they were right. But here he didn’t care. Rey was his first ever friend, the first person in his life he’d truly cared about. She may have hurt him with her silence, but he understood that she’d had her reasons, and he knew that he would forgive her anything because she was his friend.

Rey smiled through the warm tears dripping onto his neck. ‘I’ve missed you too. And I’m so sorry Finn.’

Eventually, he forced himself to pull back from her, holding her at arm’s length. ‘Let me look at you. You look the same.’

‘It’s only been three years.’ She laughed.

‘I know, I know.’ He was too happy for rational thought, it was just too good to see her again.

‘Finn?’ He heard a quiet voice from behind him, one that was reluctant to interrupt his happiness.

‘Oh yeah!’ Finn ran back to where Poe was standing, grabbing his sleeve, and dragging him over to meet a beaming Rey.

‘Poe, this is Rey. Rey, Poe. He’s my…’ His voice trailed off and his hand began to fidget as he tried to think of the right word. ‘Boyfriend’ just didn’t seem to encapsulate what they were to each other.

But after a few seconds, Rey decided to save him, ‘I get it Finn.’ She laughed. And she did. She and Ben were in the same position and she’d recognised Finn’s conundrum as soon as his voice had stopped. How could you describe someone who’s everything to you, without an official title like ‘husband’?

She reached out her hand, ‘Pleased to meet you, Poe.’

‘Likewise.’

------------------------------

‘I’m glad you’ve decided to help us.’ Leia stated. They had gone inside the Resistance ship, but the small space was dominated by Ben’s large body and it unnerved her.

‘It was Rey’s choice to do so, not mine.’ He said absently, toying with a blaster someone had left behind on a previous mission.

‘Yes, she seems quite determined.’

‘Why wouldn’t she be?’ He turned to face the woman before him, ‘The Jedi texts contain a lot of information that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. It’s hardly a revelation that she’d be desperate to get them back.’

Leia’s eyebrows rose sharply. She was surprised that Rey would have mentioned the Jedi texts to Ben- especially as their previous meeting suggested that Rey hadn’t disclosed everything to him, such as Leia’s connection to Nocoma.

He snorted at her with derision. ‘Don’t give me that look. She told me about them a long time ago. She also mentioned that she asked the Wookie to hide them somewhere safe if she didn’t return. I wonder why he chose not to?’

She chose to ignore his question, wanting to find out more about their relationship, ‘It’s good that you have no secrets from each other.’

He laughed darkly, ‘Oh, we have secrets. For example, I’ve yet to tell her that it was you who contacted the First Order and told them where we were, mere days ago.’

Leia’s reply was calm, he was an intelligent man and she’d expected him to work it out quickly, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Neither of us have time for your games, General. Someone contacted the First Order and told them that we were leaving Nocoma. They sent TIE fighters to search the system. It was just pure luck that it was them who found us, and not the destroyer that had brought them so far out.’

‘And why do you think any of that was me? If that happened after I left you, then it was a coincidence.’ They both knew her words were just lip service, a denial she was expected to make in this game of chess they were playing.

‘I told you, I don’t have time for games.’ He snarled at her, ‘Coincidences like that don’t just happen, and you are the only person in the galaxy who both knew where we were and had something to gain from the attack. You needed to speak to me again if you wanted help for the Resistance, preferably after Rey had had a chance to soften my resolve I imagine.’

He breathed deeply, calming himself a little after his tirade, ‘Though I am surprised you were willing to risk your own life to get me here, it’s not really your style. You must have known there was a chance I would kill you for this.’

At least he was being honest with her, ‘I thought that the benefits outweighed the risks if it meant securing your help. We need those texts back, before the First Order get their hands on any force sensitives who could use them.’

‘You really don’t know anything, do you? If the First Order has those texts, then the Knights of Ren will already be trying to translate them, if they haven’t already.’ He replied.

Leia chose to ignore the slight. ‘We believe that Hux purged the Knights of Ren shortly after becoming Supreme Leader.’

‘No. Their actions became less overt, but Rey and I made sure to keep an ear out for any news or rumours, so we could keep one step ahead of them. It’s obvious that they’re still out there, if you know the signs.’

‘Then it’s worse than I imagined.’ She said quietly, her mind already buzzing with the implications this news could have on the Resistance.

‘Yes, and it’s the only reason I’m not fighting Rey and her determination to help you.’

His answer surprised her. He’d been in hiding with Rey for so long now, most of the galaxy had assumed them dead. Why would the Knights of Ren not have thought the same?

‘You think they’ll come after you, even after all this time?’

‘The First Order has been hunting us since the moment we left, having the texts will only serve to embolden them. I don’t think they will, I know they will.’

Yes, let her think that that’s why you’re helping, because you want to stop the Knights, Ben thought to himself. In truth, when he’d first read the Wookie’s message, he’d been worried, believing the loss of the Jedi texts to be a massive blow to his own plans. But now that he’d had a chance to think, he wasn’t so sure.

For now, though, he needed the Resistance’s help, and that would be so much easier with the General tied on a string.

‘You don’t realise how lucky you are.’ He said pointedly, ‘Rey’s smart, and if it wasn’t for her fondness and belief in you she would have easily put together the pieces and realised that you were the one to contact the First Order.’ Leia schooled her face into a picture of neutrality. He wouldn’t have chosen to speak to her in private if he was going to reveal anything to Rey, so where was he going with this?

‘I actually admire your tactics, General. You knew exactly which strings to pull to manipulate me into considering helping you. Maybe you have more darkness inside of you than you let on.’

‘Ben, everything I do is…’

Her words trailed off as he leaned in close to his mother’s face, his much larger form looming over her until they were practically standing nose to nose. ‘But if you ever do something like this to my family again, I will not hesitate to tell Rey that it was your actions that put her son directly in the path of the First Order, and she will not lift a finger when I strike you down where you stand. Have I made myself clear?’

‘Perfectly.’

Chapter 7

#reylo #fanfic #reylo fanfic #reylo fandom #star wars #star wars fanfic

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andaneum · 7 years ago

Text

No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 5 FB

3 years earlier…

A persistent flashing light woke Rey from her sleep, blinding in the darkness of the hut. Fortunately, the large, warm body she’d been resting on didn’t also respond to the bright light as she picked herself up and lifted her sleeve to see what was happening.

The binary beacon that Leia had given her to find her way home was pulsing red, meaning that she’d sent out her own personal distress code and her friends were in danger. It was the code that was only used when things were so desperate, there seemed to be almost no hope.

Rey’s first instinct was just to jump in a ship and fly back to the Supremacy, hoping that the Resistance hadn’t travelled so far that she’d no longer be able to sense them in the area. But she forced herself to stop and rethink.

It had taken them so many hours to reach Ahch-To before. Even if she left immediately, it was unlikely she’d reach her friends in time to help. And besides, she had other commitments now. She turned her head to look down at Ben’s face.

He was so peaceful in sleep, with all the anger and turmoil vanishing as though they’d never been there at all. If he woke here to find her gone, he’d see it as a betrayal of her promises. He wouldn’t accept her explanations, his world was too black and white to accept her own variations of grey.

She left the hut, the cold wind of the planet hitting her hard and focusing her thoughts, and moved towards their ship. The lights lifted automatically as she entered, reacting to her presence. She removed the bracelet and attached it to the main console. With a few commands to the ship, it began transmitting Leia’s distress signal across the galaxy.

Hopefully, with the ships modern technology and upgrades, it would be able to reach far enough for her. Hopefully, Chewie would hear their message.

-----------------------------------------------

It only took a day from their arrival for Rey to begin feeling the flickering of Ben’s consciousness from the other side of the bond. It was faint, his thoughts hadn’t quite returned to him yet, but she knew it wouldn’t take long for him to be fully conscious again. Clearly, they had underestimated him and how long it would take to break out of Luke’s hold.

As childish and undeserved as it was, she felt annoyed with him for cutting her time with her master so short. They may not have always seen eye to eye, and it was true that she still blamed him many things, but Luke had spent the last twenty-four hours slowly guiding her through the basics of blocking her mind from others.

‘Imagine a wall in your mind, let it surround your thoughts.’ He instructed her.

‘She gave him a disbelieving look, ‘Is that it? Just a wall?’

Luke rolled his eyes at his young pupil in that annoying way he did whenever he thought she was being purposely obtuse.

‘No. It’s only the beginning, the first line of your defences. Within your walls you must create a maze, hiding your most precious secrets deep inside it. Those memories with less importance become obstacles, used to trick and divert anyone who would want to delve deeper.’

It was still very early, but at least she now felt that she had the tools to build something with. In time, she was sure she would be able to keep Ben out completely, if she ever needed to.

And so together, they began the task of getting him onto the ship, gently bundling him up in blankets then levitating him up the ramp, paying special care not to jostle his still healing injuries.

‘Rey.’ She heard Ben slowly groan out her name as they moved him, his voice sounding pained as he did so. It wouldn’t be long before he woke up.

She settled him on the ship’s lone bunk, concerned that he still looked to be in pain despite not moving, before she headed back outside and turned to face her Jedi master, ‘We need to go. But, thank you.’

‘It’s the least I could do for you both.’ His eyes were fond as he looked over the ship that now held his nephew. ‘You were right about him. There’s still a light there that I’d given up on ever seeing again. Let’s hope that now you have him on this path, he can stay there.’

Luke would never understand the depth of her desire to make that happen, not for her own sake, but for the countless lives that could be lost if Ben chose the dark side again. Kylo Ren was someone she would not allow to return to the galaxy.

‘And what about you?’ She asked.

Luke shrugged his shoulders tightly, ‘Ah, you know me. I’ll always be here.’

‘You won’t go back to the Resistance? Leia could still do with your help rebuilding.’

Rey still remembered how excited Leia had seemed at the idea of getting her brother back. It broke her heart a little to know that she hadn’t been able to persuade him of his importance to the Resistance. He was a legend, and his legacy had inflamed the hopes of so many across the galaxy.

‘I still have much to atone for, my place is here. You’re so young, but one day you’ll understand.’ Her instincts told her that he was hiding something, that he wasn’t only talking about his mistakes with Ben, but it wasn’t her place to pry further. She could only leave him with these words.

‘Then, may the force be with you, Master Skywalker.’

‘And with you.’ He responded with a smile. It had been too long since he’d last heard those words, and he let the meaning of them wash over him as he watched her walking away. There was light once more in the galaxy, and his only hope was that the balance wouldn’t shift once more if they learned of what he and his sister had done to ensure this.

She boarded the ship and prepared it for take-off, harder to do without a co-pilot beside her. They lifted away, and she saw her master holding up his mechanical hand to her in farewell.

---------------------------------------

‘No!’ Ben jerked upright in his bunk, flinching from the pain of his cracked ribs before tossing his head around wildly, looking for some unseen threat. It took him a moment to regain his bearings. She looked over her shoulder at him, and once he saw her there he relaxed a little, scrubbing his hand roughly down his face.

‘I’m here. How are you feeling?’ She asked.

His voice was still rough from sleep and disuse, ‘Like hell. What happened?’

‘That depends on what you last remember…’ She replied sheepishly. She could feel his mind try to enter her own, but the tightening of what little defences she had alerted him to what he was doing. He withdrew. Snoke had always instructed him to never place a rein on his powers and it was a behaviour he’d have to force himself to unlearn.

‘We were in the throne room, and there was… an explosion maybe? After that there’s nothing.’ He took a proper look at his surroundings, ‘I’ve missed something, this isn’t the Supremacy. How did we get here?’

Good, he didn’t remember anything about their escape or sojourn on Ahch-To.

‘It’s Snoke’s escape pod, well, ship I suppose. He didn’t really do things by halves did he?’ Ben looked unimpressed by her comment as she became distracted by the modern electronics and tech surrounding them. He supposed it had been some time since she’d seen mechanics like these, if she ever had.

She slowly came back to herself, remembering that she wasn’t alone, ‘Sorry. I got you into the ship and we got away. Luckily for us, the First Order were too busy with the Resistance and their fleet being destroyed to notice Snoke’s ship jettisoning away. I think they might have had one or two questions if they’d seen us. I patched you up as best I could, but you’ve been out for a couple of days now.’

He looked confused for a second, ‘What do you mean, their ships were destroyed?’

‘That’s the thing, I don’t know. They looked as though they’d been torn apart, most of them were just completely split in two. And there was this strange white trail going right through the middle, that must have been what caused everything. But the Resistance don’t have that kind of weaponry, so how…?’ Her voice trailed off.

He thought it over in his mind, ‘They must have jumped their main craft to lightspeed, right through the centre of the fleet. It’s the only explanation for the white trail and the destruction of that many ships at once. Their main ship was the only one they had that would have been big enough to do that kind of damage.’

‘It wasn’t Leia was it?’ He could practically taste her fear.

For a moment, it seemed as though he wouldn’t tell her. He didn’t want to tell her. It was humiliating that even after all these years he still couldn’t shake the bond between himself and his mother. But he at least owed the girl this, especially as it seemed she’d saved his life in the throne room.

‘It wasn’t, I can still feel her. She’s alive, somewhere.’

‘Is she safe?’ She continued.

‘I neither know, nor wish to know.’ He was ending the conversation there, his mother still a touchy subject for him. His priority now was making sure she hadn’t done something foolish of while he’d been unconscious, ‘Where are we heading?’

‘I don’t know, I was hoping that you might have some ideas.’

‘So, we’ve spent the last few days just floating around in space? What were you planning on doing if I hadn’t woken up?’ His face was a mix of shock and frustration. She’d just been flying around, hoping that they wouldn’t be picked up by anyone?

‘Don’t give me that look.’ She said angrily, ‘I’ve spent most of my life on Jakku, what makes you think I know anything about the galaxy? I had no idea which planets would be safe for us, considering that we’re fugitives flying a stolen First Order ship.’

Her words sounded sincere enough, but in truth, she hadn’t even looked at a map. In the few hours since leaving Ahch-To, her sole aim had been to get away from the planet, hoping that by the time Ben woke up he wouldn’t be able to recognise the sector they were in from Luke’s unfinished map.

He got up gingerly from the bunk, releasing a hiss as a sharp pain gripped his side. He lifted his shirt to see a large purple bruise mottling his skin. His ribs had been injured, at least severely bruised judging from the pain he was in. Rey got up to support and help him over to the co-pilot’s seat, where he pressed a few buttons, and a galactic map appeared in front of them.

Luckily, as Snoke’s apprentice, he’d always had a contingency plan formed in case he’d needed to run from the order. He’d seen it as an inevitably, rather than a precaution. He studied the map, working out the best route for them to take. ‘It looks like we’re here, in the Unknown Regions.’ He pointed to the far left of the map, ‘I suggest that we head to Coruscant.’

‘Coruscant?’ She said incredulously, ‘You really think we’ll be safe there? There are billions of people there, if any of them recognise us, we’re dead!’

‘Actually, there’s over a trillion,’ He said absently, ‘Look, whatever the Resistance managed to destroy with their stunt doesn’t matter. The First Order has ships stationed all over the galaxy to track us with and if we’ve been sitting here for two days, then they’ve likely taken the chance to regroup. That means they’ll have already sent search parties out to find us. If Hux is in charge now then regardless of where he thinks my loyalties lie, he’ll be trying to kill me. With so many people there, Coruscant is the perfect place for two fugitives to blend in.’

She couldn’t argue with his logic, though the idea of being surrounded by so many people still worried her.

‘Trust me. I wouldn’t put you in harm’s way, I swear.’ He was looking at her straight in the eye, and whatever she was about to say died in her mouth.

‘Okay.’

‘First we need to get a new ship. If anyone from the First Order finds us in this, they’ll take us in straight away.’ He searched the map for somewhere they could safely trade a stolen ship but being so far away from the Mid and Inner Rims, their choices were limited.

‘There are two planets we could go to. One’s called Csilla, but it’s not ideal.’ He pointed to a planet above their current position. ‘It’s a bit out of the way, and the people there aren’t particularly trusting of outsiders, but that’s not my biggest worry.’ She waited for him to continue, ‘They’re smart and cunning. It’s not unlikely that if they see us in this ship, they’ll recognise it immediately and alert the First Order.’

‘Then that planet’s out.’ She said firmly, ‘I didn’t drag you out of a burning ship and spend two days patching you up just for us to be captured straight away. What’s the other option?’

He was silent for a moment, ‘You’re not going to like it.’

She raised an eyebrow at him.

‘It’s Jakku.’ All the breath left her in a rush. She’d never thought she’d go back there once she’d left, especially not so soon. She’d left so much of herself behind there, so much of her past.

He turned back to the map, determination set upon his face. He’d sensed her distress through the bond, even though she had hidden it from her face. ‘I’m setting course for Csilla.’

But she’d grown so much since she’d left, she knew she was strong enough for this. ‘No, no. We go wherever’s safest. That’s Jakku. The scavengers there won’t care where this ship came from, only how much they can get for the parts. And the First Order has no hold there.’

‘Yes, it’s perfect, except that you clearly can’t hold it together. Even the mention of that damn wasteland and you become useless. We’re going to Csilla.’

She slapped his hands away from the controls. ‘I’m fine.’ She said through gritted teeth, ‘And we’re going to Jakku.’

He once again reached to input the coordinates for Csilla, but his hand froze before he could touch the control panel. She was using her powers to stop him. His hand began shaking with the effort of trying to break her hold on him, but he couldn’t. Her raw strength was incredible.

Eventually he gave up, jerking his hand back to his body. He wasn’t used to being at the mercy of the force, it had only ever been Snoke who’d held such power over him. He could see the smug grin she was trying to fight, and it infuriated him. He stood up slowly, still mindful of his injuries.

‘Fine. Do what the hell you want, but I won’t be helping you when something happens.’ He leaned in close to her face, his voice menacing and low when he spoke, but she wouldn’t be cowed by him. She knew he couldn’t hurt her. ‘And don’t you EVER do that to me again.’ He stormed away from the cockpit.

But she couldn’t help herself, ‘Maybe if you stopped being such an arse, then I wouldn’t have to!’ She shouted over her shoulder to him, quickly regretting it as she realised how childish she was acting. She sighed, just another conversation between them that had devolved into threats and insults. How were they going to do this?

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It took them several hours to reach Jakku, with Ben quickly returning to his bunk. But Rey was grateful for the silence, needing a break from his unpredictable moods. She could hear him tossing and turning from her seat, seemingly in the throes of yet another nightmare, but she was unwilling to go to him. She was sure he wouldn’t appreciate knowing that she’d seen him like this.

She landed their ship on the outskirts of one of Niima Outpost’s multiple junk trader lots and began moving noisily around the cabin. But, it wasn’t until she lowered the noisy hydraulic ramp though that he woke up and began to prepare himself for the planet’s surface.

With no change of clothes and only being able to remove their outermost layers due to burning, they were both woefully underprepared for the heat after the cold of space. It hit them like a wall and sweat immediately began beading on their foreheads as they left the ship.

It was only a matter of seconds before they spotted a trader walking slowly towards them. He was human, and Rey recognised him immediately as one of Plutt’s associates, often using the parts she’d scavenged to patch up his ships.

She’d been considering leaving Ben to get them a new ship to run an errand, not sure if he would be okay with the haggling that naturally came to trading on backwater planets such as these. But on seeing the trader, she’d made up her mind.

‘Can you take care of this?’ She asked.

He looked confused, ‘Where are you going?’

‘We’re going to be here for a few hours and I have someone I want to see. I left her without saying goodbye.’ She could see his reluctance, ‘I won’t be far.’ She added.

‘Don’t take too long.’ Even though it was completely irrational, he didn’t want her wandering around alone, not now she had him with her. But she could protect herself well enough and he could hardly deny her this one thing before she left with him.

She turned, and not far in the distance, she spotted an old woman attending to the few plants she’d been able to grow in front of her home. Syndal was the only healer in the small settlement and had always watched over Rey from afar.

She was also known at the Outpost for being somewhat of a mystery. She had visions sometimes, premonitions. Before, Rey had just believed her to be crazy, but now that she had more knowledge of the force, she was certain that Syndal was a force sensitive too.

She was also the closest thing to a mother that Rey could remember having.

She approached her slowly, and the old woman looked up, eyes narrowed against the glaring sun, before returning to her plants when she saw who it was ‘You’ve been gone for a while. Everyone thought you’d been eaten by the birds.’

Rey laughed, ‘Did you?’

‘No. I knew better.’ Syndal said solemnly, and the laughs died in Rey’s throat as she took in her words. At least someone on Jakku had believed in her enough to think she wasn’t dead.

‘So, where did you go?’ the old woman continued.

Rey was unsure exactly how much of her story it was safe to share. Syndal may have been the only person she’d been close to on Jakku, but that didn’t mean she trusted her.

‘I just… left.’

The woman once again looked up at the young girl before her, her eyes scrutinising and making Rey feel as though her secrets were being laid bare. The seconds felt like hours before Syndal sniffed and continued talking. ‘No one just leaves this place, girl. But if you’re keeping things close to your chest then that’s up to you. Anyway, if you finally managed to get away, I’m wondering more why you’ve come back?’

‘We need a new ship. Ours is… well, let’s just say there’s some people who might be wanting it back.’ Not exactly a lie, but not the full truth either. Better to let the old woman think they’d just stolen the ship from someone than tell her everything that had happened since she’d left Jakku.

‘We?’ Her tone didn’t even sound surprised, more curious than anything else.

‘Yeah, just me and a…’ How could she finish that sentence? She could barely wrap her own mind around the truth, let alone try to explain it to someone else. It had been a very confusing few weeks. ‘He’s a friend.’

She hummed knowingly. Not much got past the old woman.

Syndal squinted into the distance, using her gnarled hand to shield her eyes from the harsh midday sun, ‘Handsome friend you got there. In this situation, I’d normally ask the girl if she was leaving here willingly, but you can take of yourself. Besides, if you’ve got someone coming after you over that ship then it can’t hurt to have an extra pair of hands on board.’

Rey smiled gratefully, happy that the old woman cared enough to think of asking yet respected her enough not to ask. But she hadn’t come here to discuss her current situation.

‘Syndal…’

‘I know, I know.’ The old woman waved her off, before she stood upright, stretching out her back with several loud cracks and moved inside. When she returned a few moments later, she was carrying a small brown sack.

‘I couldn’t get everything, but what was left behind after the scavengers went through it is in here.’

Rey took the bag from her and peered into it. What was left of her home, fifteen years of her life on the planet all condensed into a sack. There was barely anything in it, and what was there were only the things with no monetary value.

‘Thank you, truly.’ She said, and the old woman nodded in return.

‘Did you…?’ Something in the back of her head began to bristle. She sensed him before she saw whatever it was that had sparked his ire. Without a thought, she turned and started running as fast as she could to where Ben was stood, the trader cowering on the ground in front of him. The sand sucked her feet down with every step, making it all the harder to get to him before he did something stupid.

She skidded to a stop in front of him, holding her hands out in front of his face. She looked to his clenched fists, grateful that she’d insisted he leave his lightsaber behind to avoid drawing attention.

‘STOP! Whatever it is you’re doing, Ben, just stop!’ She shouted breathlessly.

‘Get out of the way.’ He growled. He started to move past her, but his footsteps were faltering. She was using her powers on him again. This time though, he had his anger and the pain from his injuries to fuel his own, and he broke out of her hold easily.

‘I told you to never do that again!’ He shouted at her.

‘You need to stop. This is ridiculous, every time I turn around you’re…’ He’d begun to move past her again, determined to get to the man behind her. She reached out, grabbing his uncovered hand, and everything stopped.

It was as though she’d been sucked into his mind, seeing everything from his perspective. Their thoughts overlapped, and she could barely tell anymore where he ended, and she began. The trader was no longer cowering on the floor, but rather stood proudly in front of her. He was rambling, extolling the virtues of a ship that, as any trained eye could easily tell, seemed to be missing several key components. It was garbage, and both she and Ben knew it.

Ben’s head twisted round, bored by the man who obviously didn’t know when to stop talking.

What was he doing? Oh, she thought. He was keeping an eye on her. He didn’t trust the people here and he was humouring the trader because his lot was perfectly positioned to continue watching her.

‘So, you’re taking the scavenger with you?’ The trader had finally noticed his customer’s disinterest, choosing to change the subject to common ground since he knew that Rey was with him. Ben turned back to him, his face neutral.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Just that she’s a good choice. Girls round here will do anything for a few portions. And that one, she’s feisty. I tried her myself, a few years ago. Got what I needed from her, but she’s not my usual type. She might work for you though, you look like you might enjoy the challenge!’ He began laughing, but Ben didn’t join in.

His fun soon ended, his hands moving to grasp his throat. He was clawing at it furiously, his air supply completely cut off by Ben’s mental grip on him. He was lifted from his feet, slowly rising to be level with his captor, before being dropped unceremoniously to the sands. Something had caught Ben’s attention. It was her, running to him.

And, just as suddenly as it had come, her view of the past ended. She was sucked back into her own mind, her own body, doubled over and gulping down huge lungfuls of air.

But Ben had recovered more quickly than her, and he was already storming away. He’d seen something, just as she had, and it scared her to think what it could have been. She went to reach out again but stopped herself. She didn’t want another vision to occur if she touched him.

She gathered her strength, still unsteady from her ordeal, and chased him down again. It was a small blessing that, even with his powers fuelling him, he was slower than usual.

‘What did you see?’ He ignored her.

‘Ben, so help me. I will jump in the ship and leave without you if you don’t fucking stop!’

That caught his attention, but it made her feel immediately guilty. Using the threat of abandoning him was never something she’d wanted to do, not since she’d felt in the throne room just how deep his insecurities ran.

He stopped, breathing deeply as he tried to control his actions, and she moved to stand in front of him. ‘What did you see?’ She said, much more calmly this time.

His eyes screwed closed, as though he couldn’t stop replaying the images in his head, but despising himself for doing so, ‘It was… I saw… some creature. He had his hands all over you. He wanted you.’ She knew without him saying the name exactly who he was referring to. It was Plutt.

She wanted to tell him that nothing had happened, that as soon as Plutt had tried to start something with her, she hadn't hesitated to beat him senseless, that she'd only returned to working for him because she'd had no choice and he'd needed her. But she was certain Ben had already seen that in the vision, and yet he was still seething. How could she get him to calm down?

‘Ben…’

‘He can’t have you, you’re mine.’ His eyes flashed open, and the possession in both them and his voice frightened her.

She tried to put her own feelings aside, wanting her mind to be clear as she finally expressed her thoughts, ‘We can’t do this. Every time I turn around you’re doing… something! Even when you’re calm, and you seem happy, I’m worried that something will happen to upset you, and you… you just change so suddenly, Ben. I can’t spend the rest of my life always watching you to make sure you’re not trying to kill someone. We’re just going around in circles.’

The fight left him a little at that. He went to speak, but she stopped him.

‘You won’t argue with me on this. I know what he did, I was there, remember?’ She said with a small, forced smile. ‘But you don’t see me running to find him, as much as I may want to.’

She took a step closer, finally feeling brave enough to grasp at his still clenched fist. ‘You told me in the throne room that I needed to let my past go. And I have. When we leave here today, that’ll be it. I won’t be coming back again. Everything I’m taking with me is in this bag.’ She raised the small sack she was still holding onto, ‘A few trinkets that the scavengers didn’t even think were worthy of stealing. All the bad memories I have of this place will be buried. But you need to do the same. Can you let it go?’

His reply was instant, he knew that she could ask him nearly anything and he would agree to it, ‘I can try.’

She shook her head at him, ‘No, that’s not good enough. I need you to swear to me that you will. You’re not a child anymore, and I won’t be your babysitter for the rest of my life.’

‘I swear. For you.’

It frightened her, how much she believed his vow. Everything about their situation frightened her, though she’d never admit it aloud. The depths of his emotions were astounding, especially given that they’d only been on speaking terms for a few weeks now. He’d needed someone to place all his feelings of loneliness and abandonment on, hoping that they could fix him, and now they had this force bond between them, she had become his emotional crutch.

But looking back on their times together, even before they’d run away, she couldn’t help but think that she was encouraging him, and maybe even doing the same thing.

‘From now on, when you feel yourself losing control, you come find me. No matter when it is, or where I am. I won’t let innocent people die because you can’t control yourself.’

He nodded slowly, knowing that he was being chided but not caring how much she was treating him like a child. ‘And what do we do about him?’

She looked down at the trader in disgust. He hadn’t moved from the ground, and Rey wondered if that was through fear or Ben’s own powers forcing him to stay still. ‘Nothing. We leave him, there are plenty of other traders around here prepared to give us a ship. He’s nothing to us.’

Ben nodded slowly in understanding, then suddenly crumpled in half. Now that his anger had subsided, he was left with only the pain from his injuries, protesting strongly at his recent exertions. Rey threw his arm over her shoulder, pulling him up to standing with only a small groan for him.

‘You should go back to the ship.’

‘I’m fine.’ He said stoically.

They began walking away, but there was something still bothering him, ‘Was he telling the truth? Did he…?’ He couldn’t even bring himself to say the words, trying to stop himself imagining a young Rey, willing to do anything to alleviate the pain and hunger that came from living in such harsh surroundings.

‘No, but would it matter if he was?’ She asked, curious as to how he’d reply.

‘No.’ He said, ‘I’m learning to let it go, remember?’

Was that supposed to be an attempt at humour? The small smile she saw on his lips indicated that it was. It was dreadful, she thought. But the fact that he was making an effort was such a step for him, a show that he was willing to try. She was sure it had been a very long time since he’d last been able to smile, and she decided to play along with him.

‘I should think so. But you know that ship he was trying to sell you? It was terrible. I mean, really, it was awful! Even a child could have told you it was a piece of garbage.’

‘Well then, if you think you can do better scavenger, lead the way.’ And for the first time she felt as though he wasn’t using that word as an insult, that to him, it was just who she was.

Chapter 6

#reylo fanfic #reylo #reylo fandom #fanfic #star wars #star wars fanfic

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andaneum · 7 years ago

Text

No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 4

Present Day

The ship’s communicator slowly came to life, and the unmistakable voice of Bazine Netal began to bleed through the static. It was overlaid with the ships onboard translation device; a tinny, robotic sound almost drowning her out when she began to speak,

‘What is it you want? Do you have something for me?’

‘Not for you, for the First Order. I have information. I know the location of Kylo Ren.’

-----------------------------------------

Rey tracked Leia’s ship as it disappeared behind the thick clouds, before making her way inside. Their home was small, barely large enough for the three of them, with only a main living area, bedroom and refresher. Every day it seemed to become more and more cramped, especially now that Anakin was able to crawl around it without having constant supervision.

Ben paced the main room furiously, his eyes half crazed and a sneer spread across his face as he occasionally grabbed a random item and threw it into a nearby bag. His fists were clenched, ready to strike out.

‘I know what you want from me, I don’t even need to hear your thoughts to know exactly what it is you want. Your pity for those weaker than you was always one of your biggest flaws.’ He was like a wounded animal, lashing out at anything that came close. Any conversation or thought he had that touched on his early years caused this reaction and Rey had learned long ago not to take offense when he became like this.

‘I would hardy call it a flaw Ben.’ She placed Anakin on the rug at the edge of the room, enjoying the small, toothy grin he gave her as he realised she’d sat him amongst his toys. Then, one by one, she began removing the items from the bag her partner had begun to pack, ‘And clearly you don’t know me so well if you think I want us to just leave here and fly straight to the Resistance. We need a plan.’

‘The plan is that we leave tonight. Pack your things, get them on the ship.’

She stared at him incredulously. He was tempestuous and impulsive in his decisions, but to leave their home for no reason other than the fact that Leia knew where they were? It was rash even for him. ‘And go where? This is our home.’

‘No, this is where we’ve lived for the past year. It’s nothing more. Our home is the three of us. If we stay here, then we might as well invite the whole Resistance here to join us.’

‘Wait, what? Ben, just stop for a minute.’ She grabbed his arms, stopping his relentless movement. ‘She said that the war was coming for us, that the Resistance needs us. You don’t think we should at least hear her out?’

His face spoke as if the answer was obvious, ‘No. Why should we? She’s a Resistance General and she wants soldiers for her war. Gaining two powerful force users would be nothing more than a prize for her. Of course, she’s going to say anything she can to get us on her side.’

‘She’s also your mother.’

Rey regretted her words immediately. His anger flashed through her, red hot. He hated being reminded of his family and seeing his mother had shifted his emotions far closer to the dark than she liked.

Her eyes flickered quickly over to Anakin, he was so sensitive to both of them and she didn’t like it when he was affected by his father’s temper. Luckily, the boy seemed to be entirely distracted by the toys in front of him, with several now floating gracefully in the air.

Ben raised one of his arms to hers, gripping it tightly, ‘No, she isn’t.’ His voice was low and menacing, one that she hadn’t heard directed towards her in a very long time. ‘She’s many things but that isn’t one of them.’

He looked deeply into her eyes, and she could feel his mind reaching out and trying to breech her own. It was his automatic response when he felt threatened, almost as natural to him as breathing, and she wasn’t sure if he even realised he was doing it anymore. But like he’d already said, he didn’t need his powers to know what she was thinking. He knew her far too well by now.

‘This isn’t just about listening to what she has to say, is it? You agree with her, you want us to go back to the fighting.’

She shook him off, ‘Whether I agree or not is irrelevant. I think that something’s happening out there. I told you what the traders have been saying, the First Order are growing every day. We’d be fools to think they’d just leave us alone now, especially if they hear we’ve been contacted by the Resistance.’

‘And whose fault is that if they do?’ His voice was rising louder with every word, his emotions and feelings of exasperation hitting her with increasing force. ‘By finding out where we are and coming here she’s put us all in danger.’

‘I’m sure she took precautions to make sure she wouldn’t be tracked.’ She said with a sigh, ‘She wouldn’t have lasted this long if she made rookie mistakes like that. Besides, she’s a General and the Resistance fighters love her, they wouldn’t dare betray her by tracking her ship. They aren’t like the First Order’

‘After everything’s that happened, you don’t think there might be one or two people there who would be willing to go through her to get to me?’ He scoffed, ‘Not one person who would be willing to martyr themselves if they thought it would make them a hero? They’ve been trying to kill me since the day I first left Luke, why the hell would they stop now?’

His tone was patronising, only serving to make her anger flare to match his, ‘Because they might be dedicated to the cause, but they’re not stupid. They know that coming against us would be suicidal.’

They glared at each other, both far too stubborn to admit the other may have a point in this argument. Their unwillingness to bend had been the cause of many stalemates in their relationship and it seemed this would just be another to add to the list.

He threw up his arms in frustration, before brushing past her. ‘We’re not discussing this right now. I want us gone by nightfall, before she has the chance to bring any of her Resistance fighters here.’

‘She wouldn’t do that, Ben.’

He spun to face her again, his eyes blown wide in disbelief. She’d spent five minutes with the woman and her Resistance three years ago, and yet she was acting like one of her soldiers, sworn to defend her. How could she be so naïve? ‘You have no idea what that woman’s capable of. You think she became the leader of those thieves and murderers because what… because she’s a princess? Because she’s a peaceful diplomat? She doesn’t care about us, either of us, we’re expendable to her. She’ll do whatever it takes to get the results she wants.’

‘Not to us, she wouldn’t.’ And as Ben stormed away from her, Rey could feel a small part of herself that resented Leia’s fresh involvement in their life. The same part of her that thought that maybe, she’d only been defending the General because once they began fighting, it was her default setting to just argue with whatever Ben had to say. It had been a long time since they’d fought like this, and they’d been happy on Nocoma, just the three of them. And now here she was, fighting to get them back into the war they’d left behind just because Leia had asked her to.

---------------------------------------

Their ship, an old First Order cargo ship, stood stark and silhouetted against the night sky. Since ‘inheriting’ it almost a year before, Ben had spent a lot of his time working on it, both because he enjoyed it and because it helped to calm his stormy nature. The onboard trackers had been the first thing to go, as well as anything else that could link it back to the First Order. By nightfall, the few possessions they’d chosen to take with them were safely stowed onboard, and the ship lifted away from the planet’s surface.

Rey was silent in the co-pilot’s seat, trying to keep her emotions at bay. She could barely believe that only that morning she’d woken as though it were any other day, peace being a luxury they’d fought so long to obtain. And now here she was. Yet another home she had created for herself that she was being forced to leave.

Ben reached for her hand over the console, squeezing it tightly, ‘Maybe one day we’ll come back here.’

They both knew his words were just a lie meant to comfort. ‘No.’ She said resolutely, ‘We won’t.’ Deep down, she knew that leaving was the logical choice, and they had benched their argument for the time being, but it didn’t make it any easier to let go of her anger towards him.

It wasn’t long before the planet disappeared from view.

They sat in silence, each preferring their own company to each other’s for a while, before Anakin began to fuss in his seat in the main part of the ship, his whimpers soon becoming full on wails. Ben made to move from his seat, and she put her hand out to him.

‘Stop, I’ll get it.’ She needed some time away from the ship controls. At least then it wouldn’t feel so much like she’d had a hand in their leaving her beloved planet.

She walked over to him, and he began waving his fists at her, desperate for attention. She released him from his seat, holding him to her closely. His mind was open, and it only took a second to realise that something was wrong. She dug a little deeper, trying to find whatever it was that was distressing him so greatly. She found it quickly enough.

‘No.’ She suddenly gasped.

The distinctive whine of tie fighter engines rang through the ship, and she saw two of them shoot past the front view screen.

Ben’s hands grip on the controls tightened. She felt his fear, knowing that it mirrored her own entirely.

‘They won’t just attack us for no reason.’ Rey said, though at this point she wasn’t sure if she was talking to Ben or herself, ‘They don’t even know who we are. For all they know we’re just traders or something.’

The fighters banked round, heading straight for the back of the ship where there was less likely to be a strong defence. They were so far out of First Order territory that it would have been nearly impossible for them to get here without a star destroyer nearby to help. And the First Order wouldn’t have sent a destroyer out into the middle of nowhere unless they had a good reason. There were no coincidences here.

‘They know exactly who we are. Strap him in then get up here.’ He shouted.

Their own small vessel was equipped with weaponry, but only the basics given to all First Order cargo ships, plus what little Ben had been able to trade for from their remote planet. The shields were slightly better, but if the star destroyers managed to reach them before they had the chance to jump to lightspeed, then they’d have no chance.

As the first shot hit the hull, Rey fell to her knees, Anakin pressed tightly to her chest. Everything began shaking violently, as the fighters began to press their advantage, chasing and firing continuously on their small ship. Ben’s force and piloting skills would give them a small advantage, but without a strong arsenal what could they do?

Anakin’s small hands clung desperately to her shirt, as he pressed his face tightly into the crook of her neck. The ship began dodging and weaving as Ben tried to avoid the approaching tie fighters’ shots, throwing Rey across the room. He would apologise for that later.

‘Get him strapped down, now!’ Ben roared from the front of the ship, fighting his own battle with the controls. She staggered to her feet and grabbed onto the nearest seat to steady herself. Anakin’s hands still had a tight grip on her, but she forced herself to ignore his cries as she removed him and forced him down into the seat. After strapping him in securely, she made her way on shaky legs to the cockpit.

‘Now take over.’ He said to her unexpectedly.

‘What?’ What the hell was he planning?

‘Just listen to me for once and do it!’ Rey replaced him in the pilot’s seat, as he jumped on as co-pilot. She’d never flown the ship before, and it took her a moment to acquaint herself with the layout of the controls. A moment too long though, as another shot hit them from behind.

‘Can you actually fly the damn thing!’ He shouted, and she automatically turned to respond, stopping herself before she could.

He’d gone silent, his face scrunched up in concentration and sweat beading on his forehead. It was only then that Rey realised she could feel his powers flowing through her. He was using them to start pushing back at the fighters. It wasn’t enough to stop their engines, but it was certainly enough to throw off their aim as their speed and trajectory became erratic. His fingers were dancing across the control panel in front of him and a mechanical whirring began under their feet.

‘What’s going on?’ She asked. Even with his help, it was taking all of her skills to avoid the constant shots of the fighters.

‘Not now.’ He ground out, ‘When I tell you, reverse the thrusters and keep the ship steady.’

He wanted her to just fly in a straight line? They’d be dead in seconds with the number of shots the fighters were still firing at them, hoping that with quantity they would hit something. She was putting all her faith in him, hoping that whatever crazy plan he had would actually work. ‘Okay.’ She said determinedly.

The whirring finally came to a halt with another juddering thud. Another shot hit the ship, sending them both forward in their seats and destroying the last of his concentration.

‘Fuck!’ He shouted, ‘Now!’

She slammed the thrusters into reverse, the whole ship seeming to come to a stop. The fighters carried on, flying straight past them. Their courses were straightening out now that Ben had lost his control over them, their pilots regaining their bearings. But it was too late. Lasers began rapid firing from their ship, directly into the tie fighters. Within seconds, both had exploded in a shower of sparks and metal.

Rey slumped back into her seat, grabbing a short moment to relax. They were safe for now, but it wouldn’t be long before more arrived to check on their missing comrades. Ben jumped up from his seat, swaying slightly from the exhaustion that always came with overextending his powers.

‘Get us out of here.’ His voice was disturbingly absent, as were his emotions from Rey’s mind. He turned from her and stormed away to the back of the ship.

She set them to full power, but with no course heading entered. They still hadn’t discussed where it was they were going to go now that they had abandoned their home, but she knew that that conversation would have to wait until later.

With the chaos finally over, Rey noticed that Anakin’s cries continued to echo, and she ran to him. She brushed his hair off his face, there were a few small bruises but nothing serious. It could have been so much worse, and she let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She began murmuring to him, trying to calm him down. Ben was suddenly behind her, watching his son closely as she stroked soothingly over his injuries.

Rey sensed Ben’s lightsaber even before she heard the distinctive crackle of its shattered kyber crystal, as it roared to life behind her. The red light cast an eerie glow in the tight space of the ship. His hand was gripping the handle tightly, desperate to strike out and destroy something, anything within reach. His knowledge that doing so could damage their ship irreparably and hurt both her and Anakin was barely holding him back.

‘Rey.’ He called out quietly to her for help. He needed her.

She ran to him, ignoring the heat of the lightsaber now held close to her thigh, and pressed her hands to his face. She pulled him down to her, forcing their foreheads together and opening her mind to him.

Through the bond she sent waves of her own energy, hoping in some way to calm him down. She knew that he wouldn’t hurt them, not intentionally anyway. But he had lost control before, and in these moments, she understood that it was taking everything he had to restrain his emotions.

Rey had only heard the voices once before, at the beginning of their relationship. They wormed their way into his head and screamed at him in his darkest moments; a remnant of his time with Snoke that they both knew he’d be fighting for the rest of his life.

‘Kill her. She will only slow you down. With her by your side, they will find you. You are weaker now, and they will kill you in her place.’

‘You had everything with the dark side. The power you held, it was magnificent! You should be ruling the galaxy! You are the Skywalker heir; it is your birth right. And if she will not willingly rule with you, then take her! Force her hand, you have the power.’

But Ben had told her, not long after Anakin had been born, that over the time they’d been together, the voices had slowly changed. They didn’t want him to hurt her anymore, or their son. Instead their anger had been turned against the rest of the galaxy, ordering him to kill anyone who would try to touch his family. It was almost a noble sentiment, but she knew that following it would undoubtedly lead him on the path to the dark side once again.

‘I’m here. We’re here. We’re all safe.’ She murmured quietly to him, stroking his hair with one hand.

‘They’ll never stop coming for us, will they? And I can’t… I can’t protect you both like this.’

‘Ben, you can. You do.’ He breathed deeply for a moment, taking in the sight of her before him. Even with bruises forming, her hair dishevelled and bathed in the red glow of his lightsaber, she was so beautiful. She was his light, leading him through the darkness of the galaxy and he would do anything to keep her safe.

He suddenly pulled away from her, powering down his lightsaber and heading towards the cockpit of the ship. Despite clearly wanting to be left alone now, she followed right on his heels. He was frustratingly mercurial. There was silence for a while, Ben was deep in his own thoughts, but eventually Rey felt she had to disturb him to ask the question that had bothering her most.

‘They wouldn’t have shot at us if they weren’t certain that it was us on this ship. Hell, they wouldn’t even have been in the area, we’re hours away from the nearest First Order base. How did they know?’

‘I don’t know for sure.’ He replied pensively, ‘but I have an idea. Contact the General, we’re going to speak with her. Somewhere remote.’ He paused for a second, looking at the galaxy map that had appeared in front of them, ‘tell her we’ll meet her on Endor. If she wants our help, then she’ll get it, but I don’t want the Resistance involved, only her.’

---------------------------

Ben looked down at his family, cuddled together on the single bunk. Rey was curled up tight, her back pressed against the wall. It was a habit, she’d told him, that she’d developed to deal with the cold nights on Jakku and had just never grown out of. In between them lay their son, sprawled out on his back. His tiny breaths were muffled by the fist pressed into his mouth, and Ben gently pulled the hand away. It took him a moment longer than necessary to let go. Anakin’s forehead scrunched up a little at the disturbance, but within a matter of seconds Ben could feel that he’d fallen back into a deep sleep.

He threw off the blankets and stood up, rolling his stiff shoulders that had been cramped for too long in the small bed. He was only wearing his black sleep pants and the ship felt much colder away from the warmth of his family. He wandered over to the front view screen, looking out into the darkness of space.

Somewhere out there, there was a war raging. Both sides wanted him dead, and neither could be trusted to take care of Anakin if the unthinkable were to happen to both himself and Rey. Their son was powerful, too powerful. The little boy had been manipulating the force since before he’d been born.

Ben could still remember the first time he’d felt the tiny fledgling mind brush up against his own, as if the child had suddenly become aware of the outside world and was desperate to explore it further. It was the same sort of power that had drawn Snoke to himself all those years before.

He had been a fool to think that they could just run away and leave the galaxy. Life was rarely that fair, even to those like Rey who had unquestionably earned their peace and happiness.

Ben had already made his decision. He was going to protect them, even if he had to destroy the galaxy to do so. His soul was already stained black by his past deeds, but her and Anakin were innocents. No one would take them from him, and he would give them the lives that they deserved.

And the first step to that was contacting the Resistance…

Chapter 5

#reylo #reylo fanfic #reylo fandom #fanfic #star wars #star wars fanfic

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andaneum · 7 years ago

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No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 3 FB

(To make things easier, from now on, chapter titles that start with FB are flashbacks starting from the point that Ben and Rey are in the throne room).

3 years earlier…

There was a blinding white light and a searing pain that flooded her entire body as they were knocked far across the throne room. Rey’s head collided hard with the floor and her vision swam for a moment. Her whole body shook as a secondary explosion threw heat and chunks of debris in her direction. Her powers responded automatically to slow down the slices of metal, giving her just enough time to roll her battered body out of the way. The dust and wreckage that was thrown up from the ground caused her to cough and wretch violently. Her head was pounding, and as her vision finally came into focus she spotted Ben a few feet away, sprawled out on his side on the ground. She dragged herself up onto her knees and crawled to his side.

He didn’t stir at her presence, ‘Ben, BEN!’ She shook his shoulder, but he wouldn’t move. Rey couldn’t even feel him across their bond anymore. The room was collapsing around them and she threw herself over his head, protecting him from a shower of sparks raining down from the ceiling. She flipped him onto his back, pressing her head down onto his chest, and felt his heart beating gently against her ear. He was still alive. She grabbed his face between her palms, staring straight at him.

‘Ben, please. We have to leave now’ She leaned her forehead against his and a tear slid down her face, ‘Please.’ There was no movement beneath her and she no longer had the option to wait for him to return to himself. The room, possibly even the entire ship, was disintegrating around them.

She dragged herself up from the floor, stumbling a little as her head continued to swim, and grabbed onto one of his arms. She gave him a harsh tug, trying to get his body across the floor and into Snoke’s escape pod, but he didn’t move an inch. His body was so much larger than her own. She tried again, harder, wrenching her arms and adding to the multiple aches and pains she was already feeling. His body jerked with her efforts, but beyond that he still wouldn’t move.

As she stilled, a dark thought flashed through her mind. Maybe she could just leave him here and escape by herself? It seemed unlikely that he would make it out of this place without her help, not in the state he was in. She could finally be free of him; free of his darkness and free of his constant hovering presence at the edges of her thoughts…

No. Rey would never be able to escape him. She needed him like she needed air to breath. Even if she could force herself to run from him in this moment, somehow, she knew that his memory and his absence from her life would haunt her until the day she died.

Rey closed her eyes for just a moment, the room continuing to collapse around her as a tremendous steel beam destroyed, then broke through, the ground nearby. She gathered the force around herself, focusing on the still man lying before her. His body slowly raised into the air, legs bent at an odd angle and fingers trailing against the filthy ground. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. She moved him as quickly as she could across the room to the shuttle, using her own body draped across his to shield him from the worst of the chaos around them.

She got him to the ship and placed him as carefully as she could into the co-pilots chair, before throwing herself into the seat next to him. Her fingers reached up into her hairline, feeling the blood gathered there coating her fingertips. Her head felt as though it were made of lead, heavy and sluggish and fighting against any movement she made. But she couldn’t worry about that now. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts elicited a yelp from her, but at least the pain helped to alleviate her lethargy. They needed to get out of here.

She began tapping away at the panel in front of her, initiating the launch procedure. There was a hiss from the outside hydraulic arms as the shuttle detached itself from the Supremacy and ejected into space. As it travelled further away from the ship, Rey was finally given a moment to see the devastation that surrounded them.

Downed ships littered the entire area, white streaks still visible where something big had cut through them like a knife. Explosions continued to burst forth from the ships as the onboard fuel supplies caught fire and the electronic systems failed to control the damage. She knew that if she were to look closely enough, she would see the multitude of bodies that had certainly been sucked into the vacuum of space. Whatever had happened here had been a massacre.

She leant back in her chair for a moment, the sight of the carnage giving her a moment of pause. This was awful, but at least the resistance was safe. Rey knew that their numbers had been decimated in the time since she’d left them, she’d seen with her own eyes the First Order fleet firing on them after all. But with this destruction they would now have a break, a chance to rebuild and secure themselves before the next wave of attacks inevitably happened. It would be some time before either the Resistance or the First Order were ready to continue their war, and this was of some consolation to the fleeing Rey.

Suddenly she felt something stroke against the edge of her conscience. It was feather light, only a whisper of another mind.

‘Rey’ He groaned.

‘Ben, shhh. I’m here.’ He tried to lift himself up in his seat but could only let out another groan as he dropped straight back down. His arm was now left to trail down awkwardly at his side, almost certainly dislocated, and he couldn’t have been himself at all if he hadn’t noticed it before. She took a moment to take in the full extent of his injuries. His clothes were covered in scorch marks, from both the Praetorian blades and the burning debris that had fallen on them. His lip was split, blood running down to his chin and she was pretty sure his nose was broken. She ran her hands down his chest to check further, and the wince he gave as she passed his ribs told her that at least one had been damaged badly.

She brushed his hair away from his sweaty forehead. He felt too hot. ‘Rest.’

‘Where are we heading?’ He had never been one to relinquish control easily. But for the first time, she found herself glad for his weakened state. There was only one place she could think of that, for the time being, would be safe for her and the infamous Kylo Ren, and she certainly didn’t want him to find out where it was they were going.

‘Somewhere safe.’ She replied. He was too tired to question her further, he would just have to trust her.

‘Are you okay?’ His voice was beginning to slur, but his concern for her still caused a lump to form in her throat.

‘I’m fine, now rest.’ She fuelled her final words with a small push of her force powers, and in his state, he was powerless to resist her. His head slumped down onto his chest.

She programmed the coordinates for Ahch-to into the ships computer. She would need to keep Ben unconscious during the duration of their stay there, he wouldn’t forgive her if he found out she’d taken him to his uncle. But she couldn’t think of any other options. Once the First Order found the body, them missing and Snoke’s shuttle gone, it wouldn’t take them long to figure out what had happened to both Ben and his former master. They were fugitives now, but for some reason it didn’t scare her as much as it should have.

The computer finished its calculations and she watched the shuttle cockpit turn a pale blue as it made the jump to hyperspace. She risked another glance over at her partner, seeing the slight movements of his chest as he breathed. It surprised her how glad she was of this, as her eyelids slowly fell closed and she dropped further down into her seat.

-------------------------------------------

‘Rey. Rey, come on.’ She felt someone tugging on her, then her body was lifted into a pair of strong arms. Her head hung backwards, and the scent of the ocean filled her nostrils. She opened her bleary eyes and saw the upside-down waves of a calm ocean nearby.

‘What are you even doing back here?’ The voice mumbled to itself, ‘Of all the stupid, reckless…’ It trailed off as sleep claimed her once again.

-------------------------------------------

The next time she woke the world was much darker, something that her throbbing head was very grateful for. She knew her surroundings immediately, they were in Luke’s old hut on Ahch-to. A fire crackled merrily nearby, warming the small space, as Luke pottered around. It was crowded with two of them there, and the low bed she lay on had been shoved haphazardly against the sloping walls. She lifted her hand gingerly to her head, the blood had caked into her hair, but at least she was no longer bleeding freely. Luke sensed her waking up, turning to look her in the eye. His face gave away nothing of his emotions and his walls were firmly up around his mind.

‘Where is he?’ She asked guiltily, her voice quiet.

‘He’s safe. I fixed him up as best I could. It’s been a few years and I’m a bit rusty, but he’ll live. Not so sure how happy I am for that, but there it is. What were you thinking, Rey, bringing him here?’ Rey felt like a child being scolded by a parent. Didn’t he understand that she hadn’t exactly had a galaxy of options open to her when she’d chosen to return to Ahch-to?

‘I don’t know, I just… I needed somewhere safe for us and this was the first place that came to mind.’ Luke’s shoulders sagged, what little fight left in him expelled in a single long breath.

‘Well, he’s unconscious for now and I’ll try to keep him like that for as long as I can. You both need to be away from here before he wakes up though.’ Rey nodded. She knew that no matter how deeply Luke had put Ben under, he was still a uniquely powerful force user. His own powers would inevitably break through the fog covering his mind, and she needed to have him back on the ship and far away by then.

‘I know.’

Luke made his way around the fire, coming to sit next to Rey on the small pallet, ‘Why are you both here, Rey?’

How could she even begin to explain everything that had happened to her master. She rubbed at her forehead in frustration. From that first time seeing Ben in her hut, to the force vision they’d both seen, to the sudden and inexplicable need she felt inside her to see him safe; she could barely wrap her own mind around her life now, let alone share it with someone else.

‘It’s called a force bond.’ He said. Rey was speechless; how did he know about this?

‘When you leave here, get Ben to help you with your defences. It’s like watching a holovid, the way you’re shouting your thoughts into my head.’ He said with a small smile. Her mouth closed with a snap.

‘Then how…’

He held up a hand to silence her, ‘They’re rare, in all the texts I’ve come across I’ve only ever heard of a handful. Usually they require a lot more… I don’t know,’ His hand twirled in the air as he tried to find the right word, ‘…interaction, than you two have had. If you’re looking for answers as to how it happened, I can’t help you. You’ve only known each other a handful of weeks, as far as I know this should be impossible.’

‘I already know how it happened.’ She said angrily, ‘It was Snoke. He told us that he was the one who created the bond.’

He put his hand gently on her shoulder, instantly soothing her rising anger. ‘Then he lied, Rey,’ Luke said quietly, tilting his head to look at her face more closely, ‘he’s incredibly powerful but he could never manipulate a force bond like that. They’re a product of trust and understanding. They need the light to be created and to survive.’

‘You mean, he was powerful. He’s just dead now.’ She knew that a true Jedi shouldn’t gain as much pleasure as she did at the memory of Snoke’s body split in two, but for now she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She was glad he was dead. He had underestimated both her and Ben, and now he lay dead before his throne, his eyes left wide in surprise at the betrayal of his most faithful apprentice.

Luke’s face was frozen in shock, his thoughts running too quickly. She may have had great potential inside of her, but she had only been training for a number of weeks. How had she managed to bring down someone as ancient and powerful as Snoke?

‘Ben killed him.’ She said suddenly, interrupting him, ‘I was completely at his mercy, I couldn’t move and Snoke had my lightsaber. Then he ordered Ben to kill me, and he could have done. It would have been so easy for him. But he chose to kill Snoke and save me.’ She stared at Luke accusatorily, ‘I told you there was still light in him.’

He took a moment to absorb everything he’d just heard, ‘Rey, one good deed doesn’t erase a history of darkness.’

‘Just as one mistake doesn’t darken a lifetime of light.’ She said to him pointedly. She knew that his misgivings about Ben stemmed from his own failings, and her words hit him harder than he would have liked. The air became awkward and heavy around them, and Rey decided to move on to something a little less morbid.

‘So, what exactly should I expect from this bond? Am I suddenly going to fall madly in love with him or something?’ A wry smile came to her lips.

‘Nothing quite so drastic I’m afraid.’ Luke replied, ‘From what I’ve read it’s like… like the other person becomes a piece of you. Your feelings become clearer to one another. It’ll be easier for him to see into your mind, not that that isn’t already pretty easy.’ She nudged his body with her own in fake annoyance and they both laughed, though hers was tinged with nerves. This bond sounded terrifying to someone who had always been alone as she had, being so vulnerable with another person was not in her nature.

‘Does it mean we’ll be stuck together? I’m not entirely certain that’s something either of us could survive. I mean, if you count every conversation we’ve had so far, most have ended in either shouting, an argument or in serious injuries.’

‘Search your feelings, Rey. What do they tell you?’ She huffed slightly. It never was easy with Master Skywalker.

She closed her eyes, centring her feelings on the man still unconscious in the nearby hut. She couldn’t get anywhere near his mind, Luke had put him into a deep sleep to give them at least a day or two to recuperate. But just knowing that he was nearby, that he was safe with her and his uncle spread a rare warmth through her heart. It was the same addictive feeling she’d felt in her vision of the two of them together. She would be unwilling to ever give up such a feeling.

Her eyes remained closed as she began trying to explain how she felt, ‘I think of him and it feels… right? As though I’ve been missing something and now I have it, and it’s up to me to keep it safe.’

‘Rey, you don’t need to say it aloud, just continue like this and I’ll sense your feelings.’

She thought of Ben further, this time the darker things he’d done. The fear she’d felt back on Takodana when he’d held her unmoving in his grasp. Seeing his masked face in the interrogation room, knowing that he was about to take from her her secrets, her insecurities, her memories. Seeing him kill… no, she didn’t want to dwell on that. It made her grit her teeth, her own darkness rising and screaming at her that such a monster deserved to have been left behind to die on the Supremacy. But her heart twinged at this thought, it needed him by her side. She knew that she couldn’t survive without him, he was as much a part of her now as she was of him. It would a lot of take her time though to reconcile her head and heart, if she ever could.

‘You’re torn, Rey.’

‘I’m scared. How will we ever be able to find peace together? We hate each other.’

‘You need to learn to understand one another.’

‘Understand?’ She scoffed, ‘I thought you hated him for what he’s done? He murdered your students, his own father. He burned down your temple and stopped the Jedi from returning, and you want me to what… sympathise with him?’

He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and his voice was quiet and contemplative when he began to speak, ‘I may not condone what he’s done, but I’ve had many years to come to understand his reasoning, as warped as it’s been. And you wouldn’t have gone to try and turn him if you weren’t beginning to feel the same way.’

He was right. She knew that their time in each other’s heads had created something between them, something that had nothing to do with their bond. When he’d kissed her in the throne room, she hadn’t wanted to push him away, she’d wanted to pull him closer. He’d been grabbing onto her tightly, unwilling to let go for even a second, and she’d felt the hard lines of him pressing closely against her much softer curves. Their bond had opened up and she’d felt the need emanating from him, coming at her in strong waves. An awkward cough brought her unexpectedly from her thoughts. Judging from the small blush on Luke’s face, she’d been projecting again, and quite loudly. He chose to change the subject to something a little less embarrassing for the girl than his nephew.

‘So, what are your plans for when you leave here?’ He asked.

‘I don’t know. The plan was to run, I didn’t really think of anything beyond that.’ She admitted. Luke sighed and got up from his seat next to her. Clearly, they were going to need some help if the two of them wanted to remain hidden permanently. He pulled out a small memory chip from a nearby desk drawer and handed it to her.

‘Here.’

She turned it over in her hands, there were no discerning marks on the chip, ‘What is it?’

‘A map. There’s a system marked on there, deep in the outer rim. Leia, Han and I stumbled across it during a mission years ago that… well, let’s just say that Han was in charge of that particular mission.’

‘So things didn’t go according to plan?’

‘Exactly.’ Luke chuckled.

‘We were stranded on a planet there for a while, Nocoma I think it was, and we got to know the area pretty well. When we eventually got the ship working again and made it back to the rebellion, Leia made it her mission to clear the planet from the few navigational charts it was actually mapped on. Said she might need it one day for another rebel base.’ That sounded just like the legendary General Rey had heard stories of in her childhood; driven, determined, and always prepared for anything. At least she could be sure that if Leia had had any hand in preparing the planet then it would have the basics necessary to make it inhabitable, if not comfortable.

‘So only you and Leia know about it then?’

‘Yes, so don’t go there unless you don’t mind her finding you. I’m only giving it to you because I can’t imagine you staying out of the fight for long.’ No, he was wrong. She’d promised Ben that they would, and she would try everything to keep her word. But it wouldn’t hurt to keep the chip, just in case.

‘Thank you, Luke. I’ll keep it safe.’

‘Good. Good.’ His eyes trailed off, his mind clearly distracted by something as it often was, and he turned to leave the hut.

‘Luke?’ She had one more question that had been burning in her mind since she’d woken up. He stopped but didn’t turn back to her, ‘What’s it like, seeing him again?’

Rey could see his shoulders shift slightly as he took in a long draw of air. She felt her throat tightening, the tears beginning to form behind her eyes as her master’s strong feelings leeched into her mind.

‘I’ve missed him.’ He could only give her this. He had failed Ben, even before that night, by always keeping him at a distance from both himself and the other students. Now it was too late. He didn’t deserve her pity, and Ben didn’t deserve to be weighed down by Luke’s lingering feelings of guilt. He carried on out of the hut, leaving her alone to her thoughts. It took her only a few heartbeats before she was up on her feet and heading to Ben’s hut.

She pushed aside the curtain at the entrance, and the heat hit her almost immediately. Luke had set the fire roaring in the small space and sweat quickly began beading on her forehead as she moved to sit beside her partner. He looked so peaceful in sleep, even with the multitude of scars and bruises that currently littered his face. The space between his eyes had lost the deep groove that was usually settled there, and his mouth was no longer downturned in anger. It was as if she were seeing only the younger Ben Solo, before Kylo Ren had taken over his life.

His long hair was once again plastered to his forehead and curling handsomely around the edges of his face. Rey didn’t think she’d ever get over seeing something so ordinary and human on him, she couldn’t imagine him having a ‘bad hair day’. But that was what he was, just a man. An incredibly powerful man who had made terrible, disgusting choices in his life, but still just a man. A man that her life was now inextricably tied to.

She leaned forwards, close to his ear, not wanting anyone to hear but him. Her words came out in a low, shaky voice, one that was still filled conflict and doubts, ‘I swear, Ben. I will try my best with you. I know it won’t be easy; neither of us are exactly known for our friendly personalities, but I will try. This bond makes me feel better, less alone in the galaxy. I don’t want to lose that because you’re too busy being, well, you know how you can be.’ She released a breath that brushed over his face, ‘Just… just promise me that you’ll try too.’ She collected herself for a moment, finding that calm space inside herself as Luke had taught her to do, gaining the courage to lie down by his side. If Luke could admit that he’d missed his nephew, could begin to forgive the past after everything he’d done, then she swore that she would try too.

Chapter 4

#reylo #fanfic #reylo fanfic #reylo fandom #star wars #star wars fanfic

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andaneum · 7 years ago

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No Longer ALone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 2

The small homestead sat quiet and alone at the bottom of a green and rocky hill. It was a primitive thing, made of the same grey stone that covered the entire area and seeming to almost disappear into the craggy landscape. A thin trail of smoke wound up from its single chimney stack, visible only for a few moments before it merged seamlessly into the grey skies above.

Looking down at the humble, timeworn house she knew that she had finally found a home for herself, one that meant so much more to her than some old piece of imperial garbage left to rot in the Jakku sun. The three of them hadn’t been there long, not even a year, but to her this place was everything.

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Ben was sat on top of the hill, right on the very edge. When they’d first arrived on the planet, a choice that had been made by desperate fugitives whose first child was ready to be born, she had often found him sat just like this. Her heart would always jump in fear seeing him so close to the edge. But as they’d grown closer and the arguments had come less often and less fiercely, she’d learned that this tiny slice of danger was his way of centring himself. He had too much energy to just… sit. He needed something to focus on and it was unfortunate for her that it just happened to be meditating while sitting mere inches from a cliff edge.

She moved as close to him as she was willing to with her young child in her arms and stood, admiring the view. From this hill she could see for miles around. The ocean stretched away from the bottom of the cliff, it’s waves crashing brutally against the rocks. The sky was grey and filled with clouds, but on good days it was as blue as the sky on Jakku, only without the accompanying deadly heat.

There were few inhabitants here, mostly other humans who knew to keep their business to themselves, and those who did lived far enough away that it had been months since they’d last seen anyone. This planet may not have been their first choice for a home, but they had become happy here.

Ben slowly opened his eyes and stood, moving away slightly from the edge. He found it hard enough to concentrate on his meditation as it was, but it always became even more so when his family’s intense force signatures were nearby. Not that he would ever complain, he found more serenity with them than he ever could through meditation.

It was only when his senses began to prickle, as they’d been doing for several days now, that he found he needed the solace of the cliffside. It usually meant that something was out of balance in his small world.

He moved to stand in front of her, and she automatically handed the sleepy child over into his arms. The young boy barely stirred, his eyes drifting closed as he snuggled into his father’s strong chest. They knew that despite having only recently woken up, it would still be a while before the child was ready to interact with the world. Rey stroked her hand across her son’s back. He was so like his father, from his looks right down to his personality. It worried Rey at times, when she felt flashes of the darkness hovering at the edges of her family.

‘How much easier is this whole parenting thing when he’s sleeping?’ She joked. A small smile spread across Ben’s face, once a rarity but becoming increasingly common as the years went by.

‘Maybe he just has too much of his mother in him. I’m sure if he’d been born a full-blooded Solo then he’d cause no trouble at all.’ He replied. He had such a morbid sense of humour, but it still made Rey grin straight back at him.

‘And how are you this morning?’ She asked, knowing that something was bothering him if he was meditating here.

It had always been difficult for him to express his emotions and feelings in words, they were too violent and erratic. Instead, he opened his side of the bond to her, allowing her to feel that sense of unease that had once again been bothering him since he had woken up.

‘What do you think it could be?’ she asked quietly, trying not to wake her son.

‘I don’t know, hopefully nothing. It doesn’t feel bad exactly, just…’ His voice trailed off as he tried to find the words.

‘Wrong?’

‘Yes.’ He pulled her closer with one hand on her waist, his lips meeting hers. It was a gentle kiss, with their son caught comfortably between their bodies, as his lips moved languorously over hers. After a moment, their lips parted, their breathing slightly heavier and their foreheads pressed together. He loved this woman. Their relationship had not always been easy, they had fought hard in the beginning and lightsabers had been lit on more than one occasion. But although they did not always agree, or even agree often, he never doubted the depth to which she knew him, understood him. She understood him even when he could barely understand himself.

‘We should still be prepared though. Is the ship ready?’ He asked.

‘It should be, but we can check on it when we get back.’ They had been either running or hiding for so long now that they had learned to always have an escape route mapped out.

‘Good, I won’t let what happened last time happen again, Rey. I swear it.’

‘I know, Ben. I…’ Both their gazes suddenly shot skywards. Something was coming close. Both their lightsabers were back at the house, and with a quick glance to one another they bolted down the gravel path that cut up the mountain. Ben was careful not to jostle the boy too much, but he still gave a small whimper as the bumpy ride woke him.

They’d almost made it to the house when suddenly Ben stopped, halted by a force he recognised only too well. He knew exactly who it was that was in the ship above them and he wouldn’t need his lightsaber to face them. He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning back his head and allowing their presence to wash over him. A sharp pain bolted through his chest, they had been found by the one person that he could not fight and who he had hoped never to see again.

‘We won’t be needing our sabers.’ He said.

‘I know.’ Clearly, she had felt it too. He knew that he shouldn’t be surprised given how close she’d said they had felt in their few moments together at the resistance base. Guilt hovered at the edge of his conscience as he remembered the event that had forever connected the two women in grief, but he pushed it violently away. It would serve no purpose here to allow himself to be weakened by any residual guilt he still felt, especially when he could also feel his anger rising. It was a much more powerful emotion to have in his arsenal.

He had no weapon in his hand, yet his stance was defensive. He silently handed the boy over to his mother.

‘Take him inside, Rey’

‘Ben,’

‘I won’t argue with you. Inside, now’ She stepped forward, taking his arm and squeezing it gently. A promise that she would listen to him for now, but if she sensed anything happening she would be at his side.

It took a few moments of tense waiting before the shuttle broke through the thick cloud cover, but when it did they could see that in calling it a ‘shuttle’ they were being charitable. It was an odd blend of parts, taken from whatever ships they could be scavenged from at last minute. He could sense the sole person on board as clearly as if they were stood right in front of him.

It finally touched down on the surface of the planet, clouds of steam billowing from it. The mighty hull door opened, and the ramp extended, the steam momentarily obscuring the identity of the person within and projecting an eerie silhouette into the air. The figure began walking towards him. It had been more than fifteen years since he’d last seen her and, in his opinion, it was still not long enough to prepare him for seeing her again. Leia.

She was shorter than he remembered, her stature and walking cane creating a much less imposing figure than she’d been in his youth. Her clothes were still regal, as was her bearing, but it was clear to all that as hard as she may fight it, her age was beginning to catch up with her. But there was a reason that Ben had sensed her arrival for so long and from so far away. Her presence in the force still shined like a beacon of light, almost blinding to someone as inclined to the dark as he was. She stopped just before him.

‘General.’ He spoke through gritted teeth.

‘Ben.’

‘How did you find us?’ She remained silent for a moment, her face stony. This was the only reason he had allowed to land on the planet and speak to him, he needed to know who it was that had given away their location to their enemies. Rey would ask him to show them mercy, but he knew that when he found them he would take his lightsaber and cut them down where they stood. Years away from the dark influence of Snoke had calmed him somewhat, but he would never be a merciful man.

‘We need you and Rey…’ She tried to steer the conversation back to where she wanted it to go.

‘How?’

‘Ben, I need you to listen, please. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t urgent’ Ben began pressing his mind against the defences of Leia’s. He knew she could feel him; she may not have trained as a Jedi, but he had never questioned how much raw potential the General held. Rey would no doubt have something to say later about such a casual use of his darker powers, she never had understood the occasional necessity of entering a weaker mind. But this was no weaker mind. The General’s walls held firm against his pushing and Ben quickly realised that he would get no answers this way, at least not without inflicting pain. Rey would see that as unnecessary.

He straightened as his mind pulled back, ‘You are not welcome here, General. Get back in your ship and leave.’

‘The resistance needs you, Ben. I need you’ His anger flew through him and he was powerless to stop it, coursing through every nerve ending in his body. He could feel the fire spreading through his mind, taking over his senses. His mouth twisted into a sneer, his eyebrows moving low over his eyes as they narrowed in her direction. His body crouched almost imperceptibly, a natural defence mechanism. Rey flinched as the wildness of his anger cut through the bond, taking a long breath to calm her own emotions before placing the sleeping child in his crib and running outside to its father.

‘You need me?’ He hissed, ‘That’s what you have to say to me? That you need me!’ Leia wouldn’t back down, she had come here barely expecting her son to even allow her to land, so that he would see her and speak to her ignited hope within her chest.

But his anger would not be stopped, ‘And where were you when I needed you? I spent years with that monster’s voice in my head, twisting my thoughts. From the moment I was born he was there. And you did nothing!’

Rey had reached his side, grasping tightly on his arm to hold him back as he had inched closer and closer to his mother, ‘Ben, please… stop.’

Leia had barely moved at the force of his anger, only her face betrayed her emotions as she tried to reason with her son. They needed him and Rey too much for her to leave without even the hope that they would help, ‘We thought we were doing the right thing for you, Ben, I swear. I felt Snoke even before you were born, and I knew he would try to manipulate you, to take you away from us. I thought I could shield you from Snoke’s influence, but I didn’t realise how strong he was.’

‘You knew about him?’

‘I was trying to keep things from your father, I didn’t think he would understand and he would only have made it harder for you. It was when I realised that I couldn’t protect you myself that I sent you to Luke. It was a last resort, Ben. I never wanted you to leave!’

He scoffed at her, his face still twisted into a sneer, ‘You’re still lying to yourself. You never sent me away for my own good, you were never trying to protect me. You only wanted to protect Han from me. You sent me away so that he would never have to deal with me or my abilities. You had a choice between him and me, and you chose him’

‘No, I… I didn’t.’

Ben suddenly straightened. Rey could feel his intentions flowing through the bond, as if his actions and his words were becoming her own. She had become adept at locking him out of her mind when she needed to, but when his anger took over like this she was powerless to his strength. His words were aimed to inflict maximum damage on his mother, he wanted her to feel as guilty for her failures as he felt about his own,

‘Luke never told you what happened that night, did he? The night I destroyed his temple?’

‘What?’

‘He feared me, just as you feared me. He didn’t want to protect me either, he wanted to protect his glorious legacy from me. You two were always so similar, always playing the heroes. And then one night I woke up to find him standing over me. His face…’ Ben’s breath caught for a second. The face of his uncle haunted him even now, ‘he had his lightsaber in his hand, ready to kill me as I slept’

‘He wouldn’t…’

‘He did’ Ben hissed.

Leia looked to Rey, disbelief painted on her face, ‘Rey?’

She didn’t want to be the one to say it, but she owed Ben this, ‘I’m sorry Leia, it’s true. Luke told me himself’ Rey knew there was more to the story than either of them were saying, like how badly Luke had come to regret his momentary lapse in judgement. But when it came to this chapter of the Skywalker Saga, Rey was unwilling to be kind to her master’s memory. He had almost killed Ben- his student, his own nephew! He had created Kylo Ren, and Rey would never forgive him that.

‘Ben, I… I’m sorry. But it’s different now, we…’

A strong cry called out from the house behind them. They all turned, and Rey raced toward the noise. Ben heard his mother’s breath catch behind him. She had felt his son, his distress at his father’s uncontrollable anger, then waking to find his parents nowhere in sight echoing through the force. Ben was not surprised. In truth, he was more shocked that she had not noticed him earlier. His force signature was so strong, and he burned so brightly, that Ben was certain that under less stressful circumstances she’d have felt his power before she had even landed.

‘Is that…? Is that your son?’

The moments stretched between them. He had never wanted her to find out about this. Regardless of how this conversation played out now he knew they would need to leave this planet. Rey would be devastated, this had been their son’s first home, but they couldn’t stay if the resistance knew that there was now a third powerful force user here.

Leia leaned around her son to look behind him. Rey was walking towards them slowly, comforting the child in her arms. He was still sniffling a little, his tiny hand rubbing at his eyes, his hair rumpled from sleep and his head resting against his mother’s shoulder. She stopped beside Ben, a small smile gracing her face. It may not have been under the most ideal of circumstances, but for just a few moments this legendary family that she had both inherited and helped to extend, was together.

‘Rey, go back inside.’ But of course, she wouldn’t listen to him.

Ben could see the tears in Leia’s eyes that were threatening to spill over. She reached a hand out as if to touch the child. He subconsciously moved his body so that he had almost placed himself completely between the General and his family. Her hand stopped mid-air, her fingers closing tightly into her palm. It was a petty use of his powers, but he didn’t want her touching his son. He would not allow her the chance to hurt him too. He let her go and her hand dropped morosely to her side.

She took a breath, steeling herself before looking up, directly into the onyx eyes of her son, ‘You cannot keep running forever, Ben. The ways of the force may be a mystery to someone untrained like me, but you knew it would never just leave you in peace. You’re both too powerful for that. And now your son…’ her eyes flicked back to her grandson’s dark hair, his dark eyes, so like his father, ‘It was not difficult to find you both, and if I could do it then so could others. I came here for your help. If you do not wish to help for my sake, I understand. But if you will not fight for me then do it for your son. Once they learn of him, they will come for him.’

Ben leaned forward, directly into the General’s face. His own still painted with his fury and mistrust. She could feel it radiating from in waves, rippling out through the force. For a moment the darkness that surrounded her was almost suffocating.

‘You need to leave… now’, he hissed, before turning on his heel and storming back to the house. Trying to manipulate him using his son was exactly the kind of tactic he would expect from the legendary resistance General. She was NOT his mother, and she had no right to demand his help.

Leia turned instead to the young woman left behind, ‘Rey, please. Speak to him’

‘I can try, but you know he holds no love for the resistance.’

‘You mean he holds no love for me.’ She countered, her smile forced and pained, ‘You must know how close the war is to your doorstep. This place is isolated, but you cannot have been completely closed off from the rest of the galaxy. I know you’ve been listening to the rumours, you wouldn’t just shut yourself away; it would leave you too vulnerable. You aren’t like that, either of you.’

‘What can I say, scavenger instincts’, Rey responded, smiling lightly, ‘I know what’s coming. But I also know that three years ago, Ben chose to leave it all behind, and I know how much re-joining this war could cost him. I can try to convince him to help you, but I will not make this choice for him.’

‘Then would you consider re-joining the resistance?’ Maybe if she had been asked that before, even just a year ago, her answer might have been different, but now the resistance, the war, was just a far-off memory for her.

‘Not without him. I’m sorry, Leia, but I have others to think of now’

‘I understand.’ Leia’s hand reached out once again to her grandson. With no one around this time to stay her hand, she began stroking through his thick, black hair where it curled slightly above his ear. His eyes were trained on her, mistrustful around this stranger yet feeling comforted that her presence in the force felt so similar to that of his father.

He looked just like Ben, it was startling to see the resemblance. It made her heart twinge with regret. She had lost her own child, sending him away when she should have kept him close to her. Maybe he had been right, maybe she had done so to make things easier for Han… or maybe she had done so in the vain hope of protecting him... Or maybe her reasoning just no longer mattered. She had lost him and with him she had lost this family he had created for himself, before she could even have the chance to know them.

‘You know, he looks just like Ben did at this age. He’s wonderful, Rey, truly. He’ll grow to be a strong one, I can tell.’ Rey knew that the General was being kind, but she still felt a pang of fear at the thought of her strong son one day being forced into their war.

She could also feel the General’s emotions in the air, mixing with her own; they were filled with pain, and longing, but more than anything else they were filled with hope. Rey had never known Leia to not feel like hope,

‘His name’s Anakin.’ Leia’s eyes widened at Rey’s revelation. After so many years fighting and surviving it took a great deal to truly shock her, but hearing that name after so long certainly did. Rey smiled slightly as she remembered having almost the exact same reaction when Ben had originally suggested the name,

They were sitting in the cockpit of their small craft, the lights of hyperspace painting the edges of their cabin a pale blue. It was the third time in as many months that they had come close to being found and the constant running was beginning to stretch her nerves thin. ‘How about Anakin?’, he said quietly, distracted by the readings on the screen in front of him.

‘Anakin? As in Darth Vader, Anakin?’ Her eyes widened, and her eyebrows shot upwards towards her hairline. Had he really just suggested naming their child after a Sith Lord?

‘He was considered a Republic hero before he turned, you know. I thought you might like that.’ His sarcastic tone told her exactly what he thought of her belief in democracy and the ideals of the Republic.

‘For someone so desperate to forget the past, Ben, you seem strangely determined to remember certain parts of it.’

She could admit now that that had been a cheap shot, but their earlier relationship had been turbulent even at the best of times. Their morals and ideals were so different and there had certainly been moments when she regretted reaching out to him, rather than leaving him behind in Snoke’s ravaged throne room. But not anymore; her home, her family, her entire existence revolved around him and Anakin.

‘An interesting choice. I hope it’s a name he can live up to.’

‘So do I’ Rey could see the pain in Leia’s eyes just as clearly as she had felt it. When they were on the resistance base she had been kind to her, even though her husband had just been killed and Rey knew that she was partly to blame. She also knew that it was Leia who had authorised Finn and Han to go to Starkiller to rescue her, despite the obvious risks the mission had entailed. She wouldn’t be able to face herself if she let her leave here with nothing. She gripped the older woman’s hand tightly in her own, ‘I will try Leia.’

Leia nodded in return, ‘Thank you, for helping him. I know… it couldn’t have been easy to stay with him after everything that happened’

‘It wasn’t’, Rey admitted, ‘But I don’t think we could have avoided this destiny, even if we’d wanted to’. Leia nodded solemnly, before throwing her arms around them both. It was not the sort of dignified action that Rey had come to expect from the older woman, but rather the actions of a woman who had spent too long alone and without her family.

‘Take care of him for me, Rey’, she whispered, ‘He needs you.’ She let go of Rey slowly, trying to make the embrace last as long as she could. She did not know when she would next get the chance to be with her family or if they would even be safe anymore. She had felt echoes through the force, something dark was coming towards them, and it scared Leia to know that they could all once again be directly in the line of fire.

Chapter 3

#fanfic #reylo fanfic #reylo #reylo fandom #star wars

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andaneum · 7 years ago

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No Longer Alone: A Reylo Fanfic Chapter 1

When Ben offered the galaxy to Rey, he never thought she would say no to him. But what if she'd said no because she'd had a better offer for him to consider? They run, leaving everything behind and creating a new life for themselves. That is until they learn that running isn't so easy when the galaxy needs you to return to the fight...

3 Years Earlier...

The blue glow shot from the end of the lightsaber, spearing the guard’s helmet. He dropped to the floor, dead, as Kylo rose to his feet. His eyes never left Rey’s, anchoring him to the present as everything he had done hit him full force.

He had spent his whole life under the influence of others. First his parents, then his uncle, the Jedi, the expectations people had of his bloodline, all while suffering that dark voice dragging against the nerves in his brain. But now, the silence was deafening, screaming through his brain that somehow, something was different, something was wrong. He had killed Snoke. And now his master’s voice was gone, Kylo’s mind finally his own, and he had no idea what to do next.

Rey turned from him, her eyes releasing him and allowing him to take note of his surroundings. The bodies of Snoke’s elite Praetorian guards were scattered around the room, the curtains burned away entirely to show the full extent of the massacre still occurring on the tiny transports before them. Blood stained the ground in ever-growing pools, released by those unfortunate guards who had not been killed by lightsaber, but by their own blades and spears. The grotesque, disfigured body of his former master was split in half, one hand still resting on the arm of the throne. Kylo did not regret what he had done, not for a second, but the lack of guilt did not allow him any comfort. He was a ship set adrift on a stormy sea. He no longer had a place in the galaxy, nothing to anchor him but those eyes. He needed her by his side.

The galaxy would never understand them, the power they wielded, even his own family had abandoned him to it’s mercy. But she would not, she never would. No matter his actions, no matter the extent to which her hatred of him grew, she would never judge him for his abilities. He had seen inside her mind and knew how she felt for him, the compassion she had for him that mirrored his own for her. But how could they be together? There was a line that divided them, a question of morality, and it seemed that neither would ever be willing to give even an inch to the other. She may have seen the light that still burned within him, but she was blind to how much that light relied on the darkness. Instead she seemed determined to drive out the darkness, to mould him into another Jedi, as she perceived herself to be. He knew that he would never survive such a transformation.

And yet he’d seen their future, it was a vision he would forever have burned into his mind. It had been of the two of them together, almost childlike in it’s simplicity. He could not tell you where they had been in his vision, at what point in the future it was, any real details other than that they had been together. He had felt their bond, alive and burning like a fire in their minds, always together no matter how far apart they were. He hadn’t killed Snoke for her, the pull and influence his master had had over his mind had been too strong to be destroyed by a mere scavenger. But for this trust and belonging he had felt in their joint future? For the hope that such a future might come to pass? He would see the entire galaxy in flames to ensure that it did.

‘The fleet,’ she called, ‘order them to stop firing. There’s still time to save the fleet’. Her words barely registered. There must be something, anything that he could say to get her to remain with him.

‘Ben?’ He would be her future, no one else needed her like he did.

‘It’s time for old things to die. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the rebels, let it all die.’ He turned to watch her reactions, stepping closer and closer to her. It was all he could offer her and yet it was everything, he would give her the galaxy, the planets, the moons, the stars. Now that Snoke was dead it was all his to give, he was the most powerful man in the galaxy and it was all in his power to give.

‘Rey’, his hand, reaching out for her as though reaching out to tempt a wild animal, ‘I want you to join me’.

‘We can rule together, bring a new order to the galaxy.’ He would bring the galaxy to heel. People would bow at their feet and they would become untouchable. And together, they would have the power to destroy everything that had come before, to wash away their past lives and their past sins and begin anew, away from the cruel legacies of their parents. Yet, somehow, seeing the look forming on her face as he spoke, she seemed almost… he could barely place the emotion. Was it sadness? Anger? Disappointment? He was offering her the chance to erase everything, to rule the galaxy by his side, why would she not take it from him?

‘Don’t do this Ben, please don’t go this way.’ He could feel his emotions roiling under the surface, monsters fighting against their restraints and begging to be released. He could almost hear Snoke’s deep, resonating voice again, whispering in his ear. She would resist you? A scavenger! You offer her the galaxy because you are weak. You offer her your supplication because you are weak. You accept her refusals because you are WEAK! His brow furrowed as he tried to block out the voice ringing inside his own head. She was still trying to convince herself of her allegiance to the light, she would never accept him, his darkness, until she had let go of what she had been taught.

‘No, no, you’re still holding on. Let go!’ He knew what it was that she truly couldn’t let go of. It wasn’t the general, her traitorous friends or the resistance that she was clinging to so fiercely, but the vaguest memories she had of her parents. He had felt it within her, the resolve to be ‘good’ in the hopes that this would earn her the return of her parents. It was the ideology of a child, an ideology he himself had adhered to once, long ago, and one that she needed to be set free from. It was the greatest gift he could give to her, even more so than the death of his master. He would free her from the shadows of her parents, as he had been, and the hope that they would ever return for her. He would show her how similar they were to one another.

‘Do you want to know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known?’

He slowly began to walk towards her, if he was to speak the truth of their connection aloud then no one else in the galaxy would hear it.

‘You’ve just hidden it away.’ This secret, this thing that bound them together would be theirs and no one else’s. The world may only see her as a scavenger, in truth she WAS only a scavenger, but to him she was so much more than that. She was a kindred spirit, someone else who had known the betrayal of a family and he wanted no others to know of this truth that they shared. It was something that belonged to them alone.

’You know the truth, say it’ He moved closer, towering over her as if trying to physically press the answers out of her.

‘Say it’ He whispered.

‘They were nobody’

‘They were filthy junk traders, who sold you off for drinking money.’ Her breath caught at the revelations he was laying before her. It was breaking her heart to finally admit what she’d always known, yet all he could feel was gratitude to the drunkards who had brought her into the world. In leaving her behind on Jakku they had made her his equal. They had bestowed upon her the same pain that he had been forced to bear for so many years and planted within her a darkness that would never leave her.

‘They’re dead, in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert. You have no place in this story.’ Finally, her sobs began in earnest. Tears created streaked lines that ran through the dirt and sweat covering her face. Yes, it would hurt her now, but in time she would become stronger for it. They would become stronger for it as she left everything behind. She would come to realise that she would have a place in the story, from then on. Her connection to him would make her a part of the story.

’You come from nothing, you’re nothing.’ A flash of red cut sharply through the pain he could feel coming from her side of the bond. She was angry at him and her eyes narrowed slightly even as her tears continued to fall.

‘But not to me.’ And that was what had confused him most. He was a prince, heir to the most powerful bloodline in the galaxy. He shared the blood of Sith lords and Jedi masters, of Queens and so-called ‘war heroes’. She was a filthy Jakku scavenger. She shared the blood of drunkards, people who would pawn away their child in the hopes it would earn them just a little more sustenance for their addictions. Who knew what other secrets lay in her family history; peasants, addicts, criminals, the worst that society had to offer no doubt. And yet to him she could never be nothing.

‘Join me’ Kylo’s hand reached out to her, just as hers had done for him only hours before. Everything in him was screaming out to just take her, but he knew that would not work this time. Before Starkiller, before the bond, before she had touched him and caused his visions… maybe. Now though? She was no longer afraid of him; her powers had manifested themselves into a raw strength he had only ever felt within himself. Her eyes flicked to his hand and it subconsciously opened further to her. He was so desperate for her to stay, he would say anything to make her stay.

‘Please’

------------------------------------------------------------------------

She’d seen their future, it had been solid and clear in her head. They’d been together, their bond washing away the loneliness that had been the only legacy left to her by her parents. And even though she had begun to build a new family around herself, it would never be the same. They would never understand the thin line she walked, the balance that held the galaxy together and the force that flowed through her, becoming just another facet of her own being. Even Leia, a woman with the potential of the Skywalker blood flowing through her veins, refused to understand. When her own son had manifested these abilities, she had chosen to send him away rather than deal with the growing darkness within him. Leia and Han had been the cause of so many betrayals, just as her own parents had been, and Rey felt the echoes of Ben’s lingering pain through their force bond. In so many ways, they were the same.

Rey reached for Kylo’s hand, her own small fingers encompassing his much larger ones. She held onto his wrist, her eyes leaving his to look down at what she was doing. Moving to the hem of his glove, peeling it slowly down his hand until it was bared to her. She would not speak to Kylo, masked and covered and disguised.

‘Ben,’ her eyes flew back to his, ‘come with me’.

‘No’ His hand suddenly gripped hers, causing her to flinch at the unexpected burst of pain, and she could sense his feelings rushing out through their bond; the rage and anger and betrayal that Kylo… no, that Ben felt. He had sacrificed everything for their shared vision of the future. His master lay dead on the floor behind them. Yet what had she given? Dragging him back to the resistance, back to the general, she would have everything, and he would have only her to cling to. They would never accept him back and he would never accept their skewed moralities, their belief that only theirs was the correct path.

‘You’re right, Ben,’ his grip on her hand loosened slightly, ‘I’d never ask you to go to the resistance. You don’t belong there; but you don’t belong here either.’ She gently pulled on his open hand, pulling him a step closer to her and looking up into his face. His eyes, where only a moment before they had been alight with rage, were suddenly blown wide open. He looked so vulnerable in that moment. He was no longer in charge of their negotiations, was no longer the one offering her everything. Instead it was Rey, a mere scavenger, who held all the power.

‘We’ll run, as far as we need to go to be safe from them all. If we can’t live in each other’s worlds, then we’ll create our own. Just please, order them to stop firing.’ This was it, this was what she would give up to be with him. Her burgeoning family; Finn and Leia and Chewie, even BB-8, she would leave them all behind her but at least she would know that they were safe.

‘Let it all go, Ben. Snoke, Luke, Leia, Han, the First Order, all of it.’ There was a pause, ‘Please’.

For a moment, everything was still. She could feel her pulse racing loudly in her ears as he considered her offer. He turned slightly away from her, extending his free hand to pull the Skywalker lightsaber towards him. Every nerve ending in her body was screaming out, a residual scavenger instinct of never allowing herself to be unarmed, especially in the presence of someone so dangerous and unstable. But she tamped her feelings down. She would trust him.

He rolled the lightsaber over and over in his palm, it was instantly familiar and practically singing in his hand. Only a short time before he would have destroyed her to get his hands on his family lightsaber. But he now knew that it wasn’t his anymore. He had his own lightsaber, cracked and unstable and roughly made, but undeniably his. He handed his grandfather’s lightsaber over to its rightful inheritor, studying her face closely as he did so and seeing it relax at feeling the familiar weight in her palm. He almost roughly grabbed her chin, still not used to human contact that didn’t involve violence and humiliation, and tilted her face upwards to meet his gaze.

‘Together?’ He whispered. She knew what he was asking of her, he was trusting her with everything he was. All the parts of Kylo and Ben that made up the man before her- the darkness, and the light. He was trusting her in the same way he had trusted his parents, and then his Jedi master, and then Snoke. She had the power to destroy him and he was asking her instead for her help to rebuild, to fix the parts of himself he had thought gone forever. She smiled at him warmly.

‘We’ll never have to be alone again’

He dragged her to him, lips crashing together. It took her a moment to overcome her shock, but she quickly responded, throwing her hand and the lightsaber it clutched around his neck. Rey knew exactly what this was, there was no romance behind this, no lust momentarily clouding his mind. This was need, a pure need to be with someone who would understand his torment and to no longer feel alone in the galaxy. Kylo had been right when he’d peered into her mind on Starkiller.

You’ve been so lonely; every moment on Jakku had been so terrifyingly lonely, but not anymore, she refused to be alone anymore.

Don’t be afraid, I feel it too; words said in a different time with different meaning, yet now she understood them perfectly.

His own free hand curved around the back of her head, grasping her to him as his thumb moved fiercely and erratically against her cheek and jaw. Their lips were clumsy against each other, their grips too tight and their pulses running too fast. But in that moment, neither cared. This was their future. Together.

Chapter 2

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