THE BOND was still there. Even after Snoke's death, it thrummed and thrived between them. If she poked it hard enough, she could see his disappointment, his despair. His anger.
Rey didn't think there was any coming back from this, this knowledge, that they would not, could not, kill each other. For they were so alike, yet so different. Two sides of the same coin. A balance.
One cannot live without the other.
She let her fingers run over the cooled kyber, the heart of a lightsaber, the last relic of her master. She had wrapped the crystal in a leather cord that hung securely around her neck, a way to keep track of it until they had resources to build a lightsaber of her own.
"Rey, she wants to speak to you," Poe had said, out of breath, BB-8 pooling around his feet making a series of beeps and chirping noises.
Her face paled as white as a sheet. She gripped the kyber crystal around her neck and gulped, eyes still on the pilot in front of her. Unshed tears swam around in her eyes. "Are you sure?" She'd asked him.
He nodded quickly and gave her crushing hug that she quickly returned. This man, who she had met not only long ago had become one of her best friends. They often debated who was the better pilot. They both knew it was Poe.
When she reached the room she was out of breath, and sat against Leia's side by her bed. She was propped up with some pillows with an tubes in her nose attached to a oxygen tank and wires monitoring her vitals.
And she was dying. This woman, who had stood against so much, fought her toughest demons, and lost some of the people closest to her, was dying of heart failure.
And there was nothing the resistance could do but keep her comfortable. The first order had decimated most of their medical supplies and crew. But if there was anything to know about Leia Organa it was she wouldn't give up until she knew it was okay to. That everyone would be okay without her.
She grasped Leia's hand in her own. "Hello, General," she rasped.
"I wanted to thank you," the General said, running her fingers over Rey's. They were calloused, rough and scarred after years of scavenging had toughened up her hands. "For not giving up on him,"
Rey nodded.
"But don't let saving him consume you. If it comes down to it, you do what you have to do."
Rey's eyes close and a single tear rolls down her cheek. This feels like a goodbye and she isn't ready. This woman has been a mentor to her. If you don't know what to do, Leia was the woman to go to.
"Promise me."
"I promise." A strangled sob left her chest. "I'm not ready, General,"
Leia smiles a sad smile. "We're never truly ready to lose the ones we love. We just have to keep going," Leia winces as she takes a deep breath. "But you're not alone, dear girl."
Rey breathes out a deep breath.
"I'm going to rest, the medics think that will help the pain"
"Sleep well general." Rey squeezes her hand.
Leia Organa dies the next day in her sleep, and whole resistance mourns her loss.
Rey weeps harder then she's ever weeped in her entire life.
He can feel her grief rolling down the bond in waves.
Rey
She opens the bond and he's overwhelmed with her grief as he can see her sobbing as she huddles into a tight ball in her room.
"Rey?" He whispers, and he can see the exact moment she realizes she not alone.
"What do you want Ben?" She grips the kyber crystal hanging around her neck tightly. "Or should I even call you that?"
He flinches but doesn't answer her bait.
She sniffles and he gets his first good look at her. Her eyes are swollen, puffy and red, her nose looks irritated and her hair is a mess. She's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen.
Who made her cry like this? His anger latches onto the idea of killing whoever made her feel like this.
Rey's voice shakes him out of his anger induced thinking.
"General Organa is dead."
His eyes widen and his mouth is agape. His face quickly turns impassive as he slides down the wall to sit next to her.
His mother is dead. If he had loved anyone in his family, it had been his mother. He couldn't even kill her when he had the chance.
"How?" His voice sounds hollow. Rey grabs his hand.
"Heart failure." His eyes close and he tilts his head back against the wall. "We didn't have the supplies to treat it.
"I'm alone now" he says, and in this moment he is Ben, who just wants his family to love him, all of him. His light and his darkness.
Gentle hands grasp his face, and he opens his eyes to see Rey, his Rey, looking up at him.
"You're not alone" her fingers trace his scar. "I'm here."
He places his lips against her hairline and she relaxes at his touch. She tangles her legs with his, and places her head against his chest where he's sure she can feel his heartbeat.
"Stay" she says.
"Okay." He whispers in her ear. And she falls asleep, feeling safe as his heart beats beneath her ear. Kylo watches on, and watches her sleep gently combing his fingers through her hair.
Soon enough he falls asleep too, and they stay wrapped around each other, in safety.
But wakes in the morning, he's alone in his own quarters on a first order ship. The stars bathe him in light, and he looks across the galaxy wondering if Rey is near any of those stars.
If he's ever loved anyone, it's been this girl, this scavenger.
"Neither are you," he whispers as he looks out into the galaxy.