She stared at the ceiling, her mind running in useless circles. Although her room had been prepared for with plumes of flowers and freshly turned down sheets, she hadn't even bothered to confirm what she already knew: that blaster-proof door was locked from the outside.

They had loved her, once - called her their hope. The last Jedi. They used to whisper about her amongst themselves, spreading tall tales of heroic feats. Now, they still whispered, but not in reverence. No, now it was questions and doubts and inconceivable rumors that the more steadfast souls adamantly denounced.

It was worse to hear them defend her, because a few of those rumors were true. And although she didn't think of them as sins, exactly, she knew with every fiber of her being that she had done things that were subversive to everything and everyone she thought she knew - thought she loved - only a few short months ago.

As she lay here now with her head spinning, she could not be sure what sin was or if it even existed. If it did exist and was as immutable as some believed it to be, well then she was as good as dead to the Light. She should have gone up in flames along with the Jedi temple.

She never was a Jedi - let alone the last. The only one who could bear that title was locked up somewhere else on this ship, suffering at the hands of justice. Although he was shielding her from this, she could feel the vibrations of his pain through the Bond.

God help her, she could always feel him. He was dark as deep space. But also like that realm of the unknown, he kept going and going. The more she looked, the more she found. He was power; he was danger; he was passion and he could love - immeasurably - of this she was sure. He was everything. And although he still scared her sometimes while in the wilderness of his wrath, he was hers - undoubtedly.

And as her hand rested over the flicker of him that grew inside her, she was Rey. Just Rey, scavenger of Jakku. She was nothing but her quick mind, her even quicker body and the Force that fueled it, and a hope - a hope that burned eternal for someone to call her own.

She was nothing, but it was enough. Because for the first time in her life, she had found someone who thought she was somebody - not a weapon or a means to an end, but someone's end worth fighting for.

She was Rey of Jakku, and she was going to find a way out.

"Rey?" He had felt her presence but was unsure as he squinted through the darkness. "Is it you?"

"Yes."

"Come here." He had been working on using a different, less commanding tone with her, but he had to admit the last few hours had worn him down. Like many times before, he wished he had his mask. As she crossed the cell to sit beside him in a few wary steps, he composed himself in the Force.

"You look terrible," she said without jest as she explored his battered visage and torso with unreasonably sad eyes. "Did they torture you?"

"Not very well," he scoffed, managing a smirk.

The back of his head was resting against the unforgiving wall and he could still barely see her between the dark, his hanging hair, and his half-shut eyes. Everything hurt, but he knew what he had to do.

"That charlatan wouldn't last a minute on Starkiller Base."

He awaited her usual rebuttal but didn't get one, so he turned his head painfully to really look at her, only to find tears streaming down her cheeks in earnest. He could take on just about anything or anybody, but this, he could never take.

"Hey," he took her face in one hand and held her eyes with his. "Stop that. ... It's okay."

"No, you stop," she pushed back, suddenly indignant. She arrested his hand from its task of wiping her tears and pulled it toward her stomach. He wasn't sure if this was intentional or some act of the subconscious.

"It's not okay," she spoke fervently, wet eyes shining.

"But it is," he said with forced simplicity and a shrug. "I deserve this. I deserve to die tomorrow. You know that - you know me."

"That is not true, Ben Solo!" She was fierce now and fighting her climbing voice. "If you say that - if you believe it - it means that all we have is wrong. That all I've given you is wrong!" Her hands held his flat against her warm belly. "I refuse to believe that you - we - this - is bad! I will not apologize for believing in you, Ben. Not ever!"

Ben never knew how to deal with the deep seated discomfort that her impassioned speeches caused him when he was the subject. He had hoped that, someday, he would break through a few of his chains and be able to reciprocate, to give her what she so wanted and deserved. Now, he knew there would not be time. His whole life had been spent backing further and further into a corner, beaten down by those he once trusted until he'd become a raging, feral thing.

In the fleeting moments spent with Rey, he could only imagine a future growing old with her, and by the end of that future he was quite tamed - a different man. A better man.

Yet, he always knew it was a dream. He had done far too much and still not enough, and, at last, it was too late. Rey didn't deserve this end, but he did. No matter what she told him, he knew it to be true. He could bask in her light until his dying breath, but it would never be enough to redeem him.

Ben had no desire to explain all this too her now, nor did he have the strength to supply any equivalent words of passion, so he diverted her attention.

"You know, if you'd have kept it together back at the hangar, we wouldn't be in this mess." He immediately regretted his words as the beautiful ire fell from her face. He tried more gently: "You should have listened to me, for once."

It was true that a deep rage moved within him as he remembered the string of unfortunate events that was yesterday. Well, all but one event - that had been the most singular moment of his life: he and Rey, flying away. They had left everything they'd ever built to crumble; years of fighting, toil, and pain - thrown it all down like a saber on the floor. He'd realized in that moment that he had never before known freedom, only because he knew it right then.

But, of course, it was over quickly. ...

The dogfight could have lasted forever: they were grossly outnumbered by X wings that refused to fire a fatal shot. When there was, at last, a severe blow delivered accidently (or on purpose) by a frustrated pilot, it rattled the TIE fighter and rattled some sense into Ben. He looked at Rey, her eyes full of hope, as always, and knew she would never give up. For the first time, he knew what he had to do.

He called it. She had no say in the matter. And as they were towed to the rebel ship, he remained steady through her verbal and physical blows in convincing her of what she needed to do. By the time they had docked, against all odds, she had agreed.

It was a glorious fight - it truly was. He gave it everything, because he believed it to be his last, and because Rey was watching, safely in the arms of that scoundrel Poe. He hated this ending, and he was going to take as much rebel scum with him as he could to prove that point.

Considering their numbers, it was easy - for a while - dropping body after body that came his way. He was literally seeing red, so delicious was the dark. But then he took a shot to the shoulder, and then another, and the tables began to turn. He was submitting now to his fate. His body was still fighting - it wouldn't stop until he was stone dead - but his mind and spirit were ready.

He thought of Rey and reached for the Light.

But then something was wrong. She was screaming. It was primal and frankly terrifying. He looked just in time to watch her rake through rebel after rebel, cast in the unearthly green glow of her blade. He knew it was wrong - that it would ruin everything. He even hated her for it. Yet, it would be such a sweet death, fighting alongside this woman. She was truly magnificent in her fury.

His eyes never left her until they saw no more. ...

"I know this was my fault," Rey spoke with sincerity, after a pause. "I failed you."

"That's not what I -"

"After all your training, I still failed you. It won't happen again." Her promise was delivered with an intensity that made him uneasy. Following a gut feeling, he examined her more closely and noticed the lightsaber strapped to her side.

"Rey," he probed cautiously. "How are you here?"

God, her face was always so easy to read. He would miss this, too. Right now, it was very sheepish and a little bit proud.

"Is this the Bond?" he pressed when she didn't answer him.

"No," she replied, suddenly meek under his prying gaze.

"Are you a doppelganger?" He had not known that she was capable of pulling something like this off, but he wasn't surprised. She'd surprised him too many times already with her seemingly boundless abilities.

"I don't know. Maybe," she said, entirely unsure.

"You're not."

"What do you mean?"

"You've been holding my hand all this time. You're not a doppelganger."

"Oh."

"Then what are you?" He was genuinely curious now. She wasn't dark enough to create a Force Phantom - he was quite sure of that. He tried another approach: "How did you get here?"

Rey frowned. "I don't know, really. I just sort of closed my eyes, and I focused everything on you. … And then, I was here."

Could it be that this was something completely new? he wondered. Had she really developed an entirely new form of astral projection just by thinking about him? She never ceased to amaze him.

Then suddenly, his intrigue was clouded with concern. He remembered Luke after Crait and how he had simply disappeared from the Force.

"How do you feel?" he pressed, gaining back his intensity for the first time this evening.

"I feel like. … like I'm here. Completely. I can sense my body back in my room, but it feels very far away." A sliver of fear entered her voice. "I - I'm not sure I could get back if I tried. … Ben, ever since we - well, you know - ever since then, I've felt a new energy inside me. It's this power - it's getting stronger every day. ... I don't know what it is, or if it's good or bad, but I can do things I don't understand. Things no one would understand."

Ben took this information and filed it away for another day, if he ever saw one.

"Rey," He did his best attempt at gentle yet authoritative. "You need to go."

Apparently, he failed, because she smiled back at him in response. It was a smile dripping with mischief. "Do you really think I would project all this way in corporal form just to give you a goodbye kiss?"

"No," he resigned.

"Now when I scream, they'll come running. You do what you can with the Force, and I'll do the rest." She stood up, lit her saber and drove it into the wall, proving beyond doubt that the weapon was far more than a projection. Her grin widened almost madly in the glow of flying sparks.

"That's enough!" he commanded over the grinding noise of light against metal. "Put it away before they hear you."

"Seriously?" she shut off the blade and placed a hand condescendingly on her hip while she stood over his rather pathetic form. "I know you're in pain, Ben, and you're tired. But you can pull it together for one last fight. The stakes have never been higher."

"It's not that, Rey," he said, though her words had renewed his awareness of his very real pain and fatigue. "They've been injecting me with something - to weaken the Force."

She frowned at this but seemed undaunted. "That's alright - you're strong. And they'll be so surprised when they see me that we'll practically be able to walk to the hangar bay."

Ben rubbed his bruised brow gingerly with one hand. "And what will you do with your actual body when we fly off into the sunset? Just leave it to rot?"

"No," she answered with feigned patience. "We'll get you off the ship, and I'll return to my body until you're feeling well enough to come rescue me." Her serious little mouth flickered a smile at that last part.

His eyebrow raised involuntarily, and even that hurt. Damn him. Damn her and her dreams and this whole plan.

"I'm assuming you told them while they were interrogating you that you held me captive and raped me or something," continued Rey.

"Yes," he confirmed. He'd told them he had messed with her mind, too, just for good measure.

"Good. There'll be no question of my insanity, then. All will be forgiven."

In all honesty, it wasn't a terrible plan. It could even work, maybe. And if they'd had nothing to lose, he might have jumped on her train of optimism and ridden it all the way to paradise. But to him, at least, they had everything to lose. To him, there were only two things in this universe more important than his own life, and they were both in this cell with him. He had realized back on the TIE that he would not risk them - not for anything.

And so, although it broke him a little to shut her down, he couldn't let her go on like this.

"The Resistance isn't what it used to be, Rey - you know that. Leia's dead; Chewie's gone. Hell, even your traitor friend and his tiny girlfriend took off."

She bristled. "Yes, I know."

"You don't fit in here anymore," he pressed on more forcefully. "Who do you think will protect you? Poe? Yeah, that guy you sliced into at the hangar bay. Do you think he'll stick out his neck to protect you now? No." Ben shook his head for emphasis. It was crucial that she understood this. "No. ... The tide is shifting, Rey. It's a new era. Ordinary people don't believe in us anymore. The Sith and the Jedi are dead - the heroes and the villains are dead! It's just us now - and what are we? We're something to be feared, Rey. And if they fear you - it doesn't matter what used to be - they will eliminate you just the same."

Rey's buoyant demeanor had been visibly sinking throughout this vehement speech. Eventually, she sank all the way down to the floor beside him again and didn't speak for a long time. Ben found it hard to look at her, like he was sitting next to someone he'd killed. When she finally did speak, her voice was flat and empty:

"So, you're not coming with me, then?"

"No. … I'm sorry."

"But I had a good plan," she whispered as a current of emotion began to breach her throat. God, this might kill him before the rebels did.

"Yes, you did," he soothed, though his own voice was beginning to crack. He reached out and pulled her close, breathing in her hair as she laid her cheek carefully against his chest. She smelled like the heat of a sun. He allowed himself to quietly meditate on that observation for a moment, refusing to allow the thought to creep in that he would never hold her like this again. There would be no urgency here - only quiet perfection that could outlive an eternity.

"Ben. … What will I do?" Her simple question held utter despair. He felt the hot streaks of her pain run down his chest and prayed to whatever creator may be for strength to carry him through this night. The flood dams had been opened and there would be no more pretenses.

Ben sighed deeply and summoned his voice of authority while he stroked her hair.

"I'll tell you exactly what you'll do: tomorrow, you're going to attend. You're going to apologize for your little 'episode' yesterday, and you will insist that you attend. And, when the time comes, you're going to stand there with everyone else and look avenged. You're not going to cry, or scream, or pull any of that nonsense you did in the hangar. You'll stand there and watch."

"I can't!"

Ben held her at arms length in front of him and gripped her like she would otherwise break apart. He looked into her eyes with an intensity he knew scared her a little, but he had to be sure of this plan if he was going to arrive at any semblance of peace. Everything depended on this.

"You can, and you will!" He softened a bit as he realized she was shaking. "You will because you have to," he said. "For you, for me, and for him."

Those last words seemed to summon something within Rey. It was as if, suddenly, she understood. She bit her lip to stifle the tears and agonizingly rearranged her face into something resembling bravery. She was scared and determined and heartbreakingly beautiful. That was his Rey, his hero.

"Will you do it?" he asked her, as a master would call on his pupil to take on a new challenge.

"Yes," she said. "I will not fail you."

"Good." He brought her back to him and resumed stroking her hair, resolving to never let her go.

"When it's over, you'll lay low," he added. "No Force tricks, no meddling. Just a scared little Jedi mascot recovering from an ordeal. ... And for the love of God," he remembered, "don't let them know about any of your unusual abilities!"

"And after that?"

"After that, you get away. When they let you out, go openly and quietly. ... Go to Ach To. Or Tatooine. It doesn't matter where. Just get away."

"Ok."

With all of that covered, he let out a deep breath. He had never known a more capable person than Rey. And although he would never fully comprehend the Force and its motivations, he was faithful that it would preserve her. It had brought them together, after all. With all that considered, it didn't make sense for her to die. Not now.

This thought provided him some comfort, and he allowed himself to succumb to his exhaustion. He laid his head back and let his mind drift through every sensation that was Rey, here in his arms. ...

"How do you know it's a 'him'?" she asked softly, unexpectedly.

"Hmm?"

She sat up and faced him. "Just a minute ago, you called it 'him'."

He returned her gaze and placed his hand back over her belly. There was a slight bulge there, so minute that only someone who knew what it was could detect it. But Ben knew every ridge and valley of her body most intimately from his fair-fortuned travels, and to him, it was entirely new feature. And beneath that entrancing swell of pearlescent flesh, there was a glow that was his son.

"Can't you feel it?" he asked her.

"Feel what?"

"Our son. … Our son, Rey." It felt so strange to say it.

Her face grew radiant as she hung on his words. "What - what do you feel?"

His hand still flush to her belly, he closed his eyes. When he began to speak, he seemed far away: "I feel light. … darkness. Violence. … and peace. But most of all, there is balance. ... So much power, in perfect balance."

He opened his eyes and found her alight and full of wonder. She was so young. And she would forever remain young to him.

"He's perfect, Rey. He's going to be so much like you, and nothing like me. But he'll have all my power and yours, and so much more. … He's going to change everything - I can feel it. End all of this. ... He's going to do everything we couldn't."

He read her face like a book as it turned from teary-eyed joy to somber realization, and then she seemed to realize something else that made her eyes widen with bewilderment.

"I love you, Ben!" she cried out in strangled desperation.

"I know," he said. Though he would never understand why.

And with that, he took her - there on the cold, hard floor. And despite his protesting body and her protests that he shouldn't, he gave all that was left of himself to her, so that she had to bury her face into his neck to keep from crying out, until the very end, because he loved her. Against all odds, he loved her.

"I love you, too," he told her as they held each other on the floor. She smiled at the vibrating rumble of his voice and planted another kiss on his swollen lips. Then she laid her head back on his chest and wound a small hand through his fingers.

"Are you afraid?" she asked him.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "But not for the reasons you think."

"I know."

"You do?"

"Yes. … Because I know you, Ben Solo." He couldn't help but smile at this, though she didn't see it.

"Well, then you must know that I will find a way back to you. … It doesn't matter if I die in the Dark or the Light, I will come back to you if there's a way."

"I know."

He tried to conceal a shudder as he sighed, but it was no use. "And you must know that you have to go now."

"Yes," she barely whispered.

Raising himself up to kiss her forehead and hold it against his, feeling all of the things pass between them that he'd never thought he would be able to feel, he uttered the only prayer he knew: "May the Force be with you."

"And also with you," was her reply, silent tears running down to mingle with his. He brought her back to the floor, quite sincere in his conviction to never let her go.

She entwined a hand in his hair as she clung to him, as if it were the only comfort she had in the universe. He liked how safe and contained she felt in his arms and had the untimely realization that he also liked being alive.

"How will I get back?" she finally asked.

"Close your eyes."

She did.

After a moment, he said, "Think of the future. … Think of our son, and of old things dying. … Think of Ach To and the changing tides. … Think of all that will come and is meant to be. … And then you'll be gone."

Hi friends. This was a one-shot scene from my predictions of how Episode IX will play out, and I demand an award if I'm right. I'm a relatively new fan (the sequels brought me into the fold), so go easy on me. Let me know what you think, and if you really want a backstory summary, I might do it.

Also, if you're looking for some musical accompaniment while reading (who isn't?), might I suggest "Fade into You" by Mazzy Star. I get a lot of angsty alt-90's vibes from these sequel movies characters, which I can appreciate as an angsty alt-90's kind of gal. I mean was "Creep" written by Kylo Ren? Because his anti-establishment attitude, neediness, and low self-esteem is literally a Radiohead song. And Rey keeps leaving him "High and Dry".

Thanks for reading and... may the Force be with you.