Summary: Three months after the events of Crait, Rey and Kylo struggle to deal with the lingering effects of their bond. (Title comes from Romeo and Juliet by Dire Straits, Spoilers for The Last Jedi)
Chapter 1
The vision was enough to bring her to her knees, doubled over with tears springing to her eyes. In her minds eye she could see with perfect clarity, his pleading eyes expressing loss and want so visibly. And then she calmly placed her hand on the control panel, closing the door between them and severing their connection. As Rey knelt on the cold metal floor of her cabin she wondered why this memory had become so painful. At the time she had felt pride in displaying this powerful self control. And now she only felt like a traitor. Kylo had trusted her enough to fight by her side and she had betrayed him.
When she voiced these concerns to Finn he had said she had done the right thing. And he was right, partially. There was a very small window of time when Kylo Ren had deserved the redemption which she had wanted to assist him in. But that window had closed when he arrived on Crait with the full ballistic support of the first order behind him. He meant to kill them all.
Rey repeated that to herself when she felt this guilt. She reminded herself that he wasn't her friend no matter how tenderly he had looked into her eyes on Aach-to.
Aach-to was another memory entirely, and it was something she tried her hardest to forget. It was difficult due to the fact that when she tried to recall what little instruction Luke had given her, his face swam to the surface of her memory. She couldn't afford to think of the way he so nonchalantly noted the ways of the force. When he had questioned their connection had been the first time she had seen him not full of rage and instead saw him as an inquisitive boy.
Ahch-to was where their connection had begun and she had since learned that their bond was indeed a powerful manifestation of the force. At times since their last connection she felt his presence near her when she thought of him. However she learned that through meditation and focus she could block him from appearing and avoid the confrontation that would ensue. If she kept the wall in her mind erect there wouldn't have to be a confrontation at all. It wasn't that she didn't want to see him, but she couldn't imagine that the interaction would end well for either party.
She shook her head and berated herself internally. She didn't want to see him, she reminded herself. Kylo Ren was her enemy.
Thankfully before her stinging eyes had transformed into Falling tears she was distracted from her thoughts by the intercom on the wall.
"Rey, you're needed in training room A" spoke the disembodied voice from the wall. She recognized it as Poe, the pilot with whom she had become friendly.
She sprang to her feet and pressed the button gingerly. "Yes sir" she said quietly, trying not to betray her state of emotion. Though when she had met Poe his rank had been that of pilot, after General Organa's passing he had taken the position of admiral and she wasn't sure how to address her friend accordingly yet, she settled on 'sir'.
As Rey shuffled around her cabin to find her shoes she reflected on the events leading up to this moment. After she had closed the physical and metaphorical door on Ben... she shook her head and reminded herself he was Kylo Ren still.
The remaining facets of the resistance had taken off in the falcon and sent out distress calls under Leia's order to her remaining allies in the far reaches of the galaxy. They had cruised at light speed for weeks until the first response came. It had been from a colony on a small but habitable moon, the colony were mostly refugees of the clone wars, who had banded together to seek refuge from the turmoil of the galaxy. They had been reluctant to offer them harbor at first, but upon hearing of their dwindling numbers offered them sanctuary in their seldom used craft hangar.
During the following weeks the forty-odd members of the resistance set up shop and regained their strength. Every one but the General seemed to recover their losses and begin preparing for the next steps in the fight against the new First Order. General Organa on the other hand slipped into a state of ill-health and took to her chambers, delegating order to Poe.
Rey had felt when she passed, the force which swirled around her seemed to shudder and grind to a halt momentarily. She had run to the General's cabin, and had Bb-8 fry the controls to allow her access to the room. Poe told her after they laid her to rest that she had confided to him the physical loss of her brother and spiritual loss of her son aided to her quick decline in health and that she was confident she would see them both again after passing.
Rey pulled on her shoes and wiped at her eyes to be sure none of her tears had fallen before hurrying out into the hall. As she neared training room A she attempted to rid herself of the ghostly thoughts that plagued her; however general Organa's memory would never leave her, and she suspected the thought that Ben Solo would return to the Light would would continue to haunt her as well, Despite how she wished it wouldn't.
"Took you long enough" Poe barked as Rey let the door to the training room swing shut behind her. Before she could retort, the door opened again and Finn rushed through it.
"At least I beat Finn here" she chuckled as she walked over to the locker on the wall and plucked her training staff from the shelf. Every time she held the staff she was reminded of her futile efforts to fix the broken saber she kept beneath the bed in her cabin.
"Hey, I was on patrol when I got the call, I had farther to come" Finn muttered, grabbing his own sparring weapon. He lightly hip checked Rey with a smile before they both turned to face Poe, who wore his training clothes and from the slick sheen of his skin it was apparent he had been training alone before summoning them.
"Any luck on that light saber yet Rey?" He asked, flicking at her staff with disdain. "It'd be awfully helpful for our Jedi to have her weapon back. " She shook her head in defeat.
"No, there are just some things I need that I haven't found here." She hung her head, "sorry Poe, I know it's disappointing to have a supposed Jedi on your side with no weapon" while everyone kept calling her that she certainly didn't feel like one, weaponless and un-trained as she was.
She looked up when Poe placed his hand on her arm, it was warm and strong and the way he looked at her filled her with a small bit of confidence. "You're not a disappointment Rey"
"Yeah, it's not like you need a light saber when you can hurl giant rocks at People" Finn laughed, as he nudged her and walked into the sparring mat. "We gonna do this or not?" He said, taking a fighting stance, and Rey mirrored him, shaking off Poes lingering hand on her arm
The fighting style which Finn exhibited against her was swift and regimented, betraying his First order training, but it was no match for Rey's force-heightened awareness.
Every time Finn swung his weapon Rey blocked and countered with precision her opponent was unable to match. Each of her blows were enough to kill if she had been holding more than a replica staff made of plastics.
"That's it Rey!" Poe hollered from his vantage point on the bench against the training room wall. "Watch your feet, keep them in line with his!" He pointed out. She corrected her stance accordingly. The momentary distraction was enough to give Finn a window to lunge in and knock her off her feet.
Finn whooped triumphantly and extended his hand towards her. "That's one for me" he laughed. Momentarily Rey was reminded of Kylo's outstretched hand in the throne room of the Finalizer.
Realizing she was distracted and she didn't have her usual mental barrier up against the connection she and the Supreme Leader shared she tried to center her focus and shake the image of him out of her mind. But it was too late. She felt his presence, the throbbing life force filled with stirring emotions was closer to her than it had been in months. Her head snapped up and behind Finn she saw him.
Authors Note: I hope you guys like this first chapter! I have a couple more written and will be updating very shortly! I haven't written anything in a long time so go easy on me! Much love, A.
