NOTE: This is a fanfiction idea I had merging elements of The Time Traveler's Wife with Star Wars The Force Awakens. However the roles are reversed. Rey will be the one stepping through time and Ben Solo/Kylo will be the one waiting and searching for her. Through every step she'll discover that her actions are changing things - for better and worse.
WHISPERS IN TIME
Prologue
Not much is known about it, but Stepping is what they call it. It's a technique that no Jedi has ever managed to do, at least not more than once. Rey was an exception.
"Rey, these are your first steps."
Chapter 1
"Where am I?" she blurted out as the wind and snow rushed against her cheeks. Getting the breath knocked out of her, she gave the place a look around. She knew it. This place, how could she forget? It haunted her dreams nearly every night. This was Star-Killer Base. The place where she watched the horror that was Kylo Ren murdering his own father, and critically wounding Finn, he first friend, right before her eyes.
"W-what's happening?" she breathed out as he mind tried to take hold of the situation. Was this her daily nightmare, or was this some sort of vision she was having? She wasn't entirely sure. All she was knew was that the winter air was cold on her face and limbs. Whatever this was, she was here. Vision or not.
Just then she heard the crunching of fresh snow from behind. Before she could even turn around to look, she heard him clear as day, "We're not done yet."
Whipping around she saw him there between the trees - his black robes blowing and his thick raven hair pasted to his forehead and face. His eyes glared over at her as they gleamed with a coldness she had never really felt before.
"You're not leaving. I won't let you," his words sent a shiver down her spine as a glint of fear rose up in her chest. Something was off. A small gasp escaped her lips as she looked to her side. Finn wasn't there. Finn was always there or at least he was in her memories.
She bit her lip uneasily. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Not in visions. Kylo, he was seeing her. Talking to her - interacting with her.
"Where is Finn?" she asked him, her heartbeat picking up in her chest.
"You mean the traitor, FN2187?" he all but teased as he took a step closer to her igniting his red saber, "I killed him. Just as I killed Han Solo moments before."
Rey's heart was now pounding as the fear and adrenaline began to kick in. "Y-you're a monster!" she yelled out through gritted teeth, as tears welled up in her eyes for her fallen comrades. She couldn't save them. Not here. Wherever the hell this place may be. She was alone and unarmed.
"It's just us now," he called back as he pointed his blade in her direction, "The Supreme Leader wants you and he will have you. I'll see to it myself." The words seemed to linger on his lips for a bit as if he was contemplating the thought. Did he really want to hand her over? Or was there something more? Something he himself wasn't so sure on.
Hearing his words Rey took a step back, her eyes locking onto his. "Or?" she demanded trying to stay calm was she readied herself to run.
"You'll join your friends." He retorted his brow furrowing a bit.
This was it. Fight or flight. At his words she bolted and began to run through the snow covered forest a quickly as her feet would carry her. As she ran she could her him yelling her name in the distance – he was following her. It was Takodana all over again, only this time she was defenseless in their game of cat and mouse.
Just then the ground began to rumble and trees began to fall and snap as she made her way farther into the woods. Just when she thought she lost him the hissing from his lightsaber filled the silent void.
"We don't have be like this!" he called over to her his voice cracking slightly, as his eyes, once cold, all but pleaded her to stop. "All you have to do is come with me… Rey."
"Come with you? To that thing!?" she shouted back enraged, "You. You killed Han and Finn! Why would I go anywhere with you?"
"You can't run from me," he told her as he caught up to her once more. "I can hear your every thought. I can see your every move, before you make it. You're not leaving, Rey! Not this time," he told her as he swung his blade at her. She dodged it, but only by a hair.
"This time?" she breathed out as she looked back up at him, her eyes wide with confusion. "W-what do you mean?"
Hearing her question Kylo Ren froze in his tracks, his eyes looking at her in the same manner as her own. He was surprised? But why? What did he know that she did not?
Just then she felt something on her shoulder as the world around her began to disappear. Kylo Ren took a step toward her, his gloved hand desperately trying to grab her own.
"Rey!"
"Rey, Rey!" She heard Luke call out as he gently nudged her shoulder. Slowly, she began opening her eyes. As she did so she noticed she was no longer sitting in her meditation position, but instead was slumped over on the floor of the hut. Luke Skywalker, her Jedi Master, peering down at her with concern - his good hand comforting on her shoulder.
"Are you alright?" he inquired as he helped her sit up right on the barren hut floor.
"Yes." Rey replied a bit breathlessly as she began to take in her surroundings. Her eyes jumping side-to-side. She was back. Back in the warm hut on Ahch-To far away from the raging snow storm that was Star-Killer Base and Kylo Ren.
"What happened? Did you have another vision like the one you mentioned in Maz's Castle?" He asked. Shaking her head from side-to-side Rey looked up at him confusion written on her face. "No. I mean I'm not sure. I was back on Star-Killer, but things were different. It was almost like I was re-living the events, but it was different."
"As you said. How so?" Luke inquired as his eyes watched her a bit nervously.
"I was there. Physically," she replied as she thought back to all the other times she had felt a force vision. It was always a solo experience. She was always on the outside looking in, one could say. But this one…"I was interacting with other people instead of just watching the scenes play out."
"They could see you?"
"Yes. Everything was playing out just like it had on Star Kill Base, but things were different. Han and Finn. They were both gone," she cried out her voice shaking as she looked up to her master, "He killed them, Luke. Both of them!"
"He?" Luke breathed out. Though he knew he didn't have to ask, he could feel it. She meant his nephew Ben, his fallen padawan. Feeling the guilt he always had for his nephew's actions, he slowly got to his feet and turned his back towards her. Taking notice of him, Rey too quickly got to her feet.
"Luke?" she breathed as she latched onto his robotic hand. "Kylo. He said he could hear my thoughts. That he knew my every move. Is that really possible?"
Pausing Luke turned her way once more, his concern growing with every word. Just what was going on? He wasn't quite sure himself. He had heard about force bonds, but when would Ben and Rey have had time to forge one? Feeling her eyes on him he answered her, "It is, but it's rare. Something like that would be referred to as a force bond. Though I have only just read of them."
Biting her lip at his answer, Rey's eyes looked down at the ground."He also said something. It was strange to me. He told me that I wasn't going to leave this time. But when I asked him what he meant about 'this time' he didn't answer me. It was almost as if he was just as surprised as I was. Before I got an answer I woke up here."
"Time? As in you had left before?" Luke added. "Interesting indeed. Is this the first time you have had this sort of experience?"
Rey gave a nod in his direction. "Luke, what do you think it means?"
Stroking his beard in thought for what seemed like a lifetime to Rey he finally answered. "I think we need to have a meeting with Maz."
"Maz?" Rey questioned, though she knew deep down that if Luke wasn't sure Maz could at least shed some light on the matter or a hint of some kind as to what's going on.
"We'll leave at dawn in three days time. As for today just get some rest, Rey." He instructed before heading out of the hut, his own mind turning the possibilities.
"Alright," she replied before retiring for the evening.
The sun was warm on her face as she opened her eyes. She wasn't quite sure where she was, but it was clear she was no longer in the hut on Ahch-To. Instead she was on a crowed city street, people running every which way. Shouting merrily as they did their day-to-day business. Rey had never seen such a lively place, unless you count Maz's but that was only one building. Not a large city of this caliber. Mesmerized by the scenery Rey continued her walk in the streets. Nearing a corner she turned still confused on where she was until she felt it - a sudden bump and a mere glimpse of a young boy falling to the stone ground.
"No," she heard the boy shout out as the two of them had collided. Startled by the reaction Rey instantly look down at him.
"I'm so sorry," Rey shot out, "Are you alright?"
With a soft smile on her face she bent down and held her hand out towards the fallen boy. He groaned a bit, before looking up at her. He glared at her at first as he looked from her face to her hand. The moment she saw his face free of his tousled hair, she felt the wind get knocked out of her.
She had seen this child before. In the hallway in her visions, the visions she had been having all her life even before she touched the lightsaber at Maz's Castle. He was always looking back at her – terrified and alone. Just when he would begin to come towards her she'd be pulled out of it just as quickly as she had been pulled in.
Feeling his hand in hers, Rey finally snapped out of her daze and pulled him up just in time as things began to disappear once more. She felt the weight of his hand in hers fade away as she returned. His answer was distant as she was waking up, but she still heard it in the back of her mind.
"I'm fine."
Her mind was racing as she sat upright, the blanket of the bed falling to her side. "What was that?" she asked herself as she looked down at her right hand almost in disbelief.