Rey closed her eyes as Ben's fingers trailed across her arms. He started at her shoulders then slowly made his way down her biceps, past the scars from her childhood on her forearms, and rested them in her palms. She could feel a dull current in the wake of his touch, as if remnants of the Force clung to her skin.
"Don't go," Rey breathed into the silence. She felt Ben kiss her shoulder in response.
"I have to,"
Rey turned around to face her husband. The sky was clear that night, the stars illuminating what could have been darkness on Ben's face. She could see the reluctance in his eyes, but also a sense of determination.
"Somebody else should go," Rey said. "Whatever it is you're looking for on Coruscant, other members of the Resistance are capable of finding it themselves,"
Ben pulled Rey closer and wrapped his arms around her. "But I've been to Coruscant before," he said, "And Luke knows the layout of the old Jedi temple,"
Rey pulled away. She knew she was being difficult, but in that moment she didn't care. "What do you think you'll discover in the ruins of the Jedi archives that Luke missed all the times he visited before?" she asked. "If you're bound to find anything, it will only be trouble,"
"I have to try," Ben said. "This new era the Darkness spoke of could be here in weeks, maybe even days,"
"Or years, for all we know,"
Now she was trying Ben's patience. "Look," he said, some of the anger creeping into his voice, "I know you're used to waiting around for things to happen like on Jakku and all, but not me. When someone threatens my family, I refuse to sit idly by,"
Rey thought of the vision she saw when she touched Luke's lightsaber in Maz's castle all those years ago. Come backā¦
"And I refuse to have our child separated from her parents," Rey shot back.
Ben's expression softened when he realized she was thinking about her own past. "It won't be like that," he said. "If there's one person who can stand against the Darkness should it decide to speak again, it's my Uncle Luke,"
When Rey didn't respond, Ben added, "I know you said you heard the Darkness whisper for you to 'surrender'. But to me, it said much more. There has to be a reason why it chose who it spoke to, and why it said what it said. All I know is we won't find the answer here on Endor. Perhaps the key to the future is still hidden somewhere amongst the past,"
