She felt it when he woke up. She had managed to lug him off of the TIE fighter and onto the Millennium Falcon, where he had passed out either from the wound or his exhaustion. She had no idea how he had managed to forge a connection between them on his own. It hadn't been done before.
She turned to where he lay on the cot in a spare room in the Resistance base. It was surreal to watch the man who used to be Kylo Ren waking up in a Resistance base. His shirt was folded neatly in a pile beside the bed, and a white bandage wrapped around his shoulder, keeping the healing salve pressed against his wound.
"Rey?" He blinked, lifting himself carefully up into a sitting position. "Where am I?"
"Babali. You're with the Resistance." She said, standing up from the table she had been seated at. She moved over to him. "General Leia has granted you a pardon."
He paused for a moment, then nodded. "Thank you." He said.
Rey blinked in surprise, and he offered her a small, timid smile.
"For coming to get me. I didn't expect Hux's betrayal." He murmured.
"How did you manage the connection?" She asked. "I didn't think you could control it before."
He shook his head. "I couldn't. Something has changed." He said, avoiding her eyes as he stood and leaned down to pick up his black shirt.
Rey couldn't help but smile at that. Something had changed. Something fundamental if it was enough for him to start a Force connection with her whenever he liked.
"Leia wants you at our meeting. She's waiting for you to wake." She said.
Ben frowned, "That seems like a bad idea." He faced her, running a hand through his dark hair. "Won't the rest of the Resistance be unhappy with me being there?"
"She's granted you a pardon." Rey explained, moving to the door and looking back at him. He followed her as she left the room and stepped out into the dingy metal corridor of the Resistance base.
"And what is left of the Resistance knows who you are to each other."
Ben nodded again seriously, and Rey smiled. "Relax. You're here with people who care about you."
He looked at her in surprise, and that small smile pulled at his lips again. "And who might they be?"
She blushed, despite herself, and was saved a reply when they reached the main antechamber of the base. Leia was leaning over a console, her walking stick in hand, and she looked up when they entered.
Her smile was bright and genuine, and meant only for Ben. Rey stood back as he moved towards her, the two of them stiff and uncertain, but not lacking in warmth for one another.
It was interesting to see Ben this way. Rey wondered if he had always had this softness within him. It was as though he was a whole other person. Or perhaps she was just seeing him differently.
Leia called the meeting, and as the rest of the Resistance filed in, Rey noticed the moment each of them spotted Kylo Ren standing by the General's side.
She was standing just beside him, both of them facing the group and as people walked in Rey could see the shock in their faces, and then the hatred in their eyes. Poe and Finn were no different. Even Rose's expression was dark as they took their seats around the table, close to where Leia stood.
The meeting began as the small crowd hushed and Leia stepped forward. "Welcome to you all." She said, "We have devised a plan moving forward. As you know, a few of us were sent out to look for supplies, as well as allies, for our cause. We had little luck, but managed to acquire a few refurbished fighter jets from a generous former ally."
There was a smattering of applause, and Rey felt Ben tense beside her. He stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes on the table in front of them.
"As you all can see, we have a new presence among us. My son, Ben." Leia said softly. There was a deafening silence before she quickly moved on.
"What remains of our leadership has put all they have into this plan. The First Order is weak, led by a man that not many respect and that has just carried out a mutiny against their former Supreme Leader."
Rey heard Ben heave a soft sigh, his eyes lifting to meet the unfriendly stares from the rest of the Resistance.
She almost expected Poe to get up and start shouting, but the pilot was silent where he sat beside Leia.
"The return of my son and Hux's ascension mean that we now have some hope in defeating the First Order once and for all."
There were murmurs of excitement around the table. The possibility of ending this made the air electric.
"Ben and Rey are our two Jedi."
Ben stiffened at the term, but relaxed when Rey nudged him gently in the side. There was no term yet for what he was.
"Together they will be able to infiltrate the flagship of the First Order, which Ben knows intimately, and take Hux down, leaving the First Order leaderless and unable to rebuild itself."
Rey blinked in surprise. This was the first she had heard of this plan. Ben didn't move, showing no surprise despite the fact he hadn't known either. The room practically buzzed, these people who had gone so long with little hope at all were now placing their trust in her.
Rey glanced to the man at her side.
Not just her, but Ben as well.
Could she trust him? He wouldn't betray them, would he?
As if he could sense her attention on him, he turned his head slightly to meet her gaze. His dark eyes were almost black in the artificial light of the antechamber, but that soft smile - so new to them both it seemed - graced his lips.
She returned the smile, feeling just a little reassured, but not allowing herself to be wholly convinced.
Ben hadn't had the chance to explain to her what he was thinking. He'd had a change of heart, but she didn't know what that meant for either one of them.
Leia kept speaking, going through the specifics of their plan. A general took over, assigning teams of soldiers to accompany Ben and Rey on the fighter jets.
Poe spoke up, "So, how are we meant to get into the ship? We can't exactly blast our way through."
Leia nodded, "Very true. Ben." She looked to him to take the question.
Rey frowned. Ben hadn't even been briefed on the plan and now he was to help create it?
"I have a mastery over the Force." Ben said, his low voice silencing the room. He kept his eyes on Poe. "I can use it to open the hangar doors."
"Really?" Rose piped up. "Can you do it on your own?"
Ben tensed, his fists clenching behind his back. But after a moment, he calmed. He nodded slowly, "If I can't, I have help." He looked to Rey, just a glance, but it was enough to make her realise that she was one of his only allies here.
She smiled, "We can do this. We've fought side by side before." She said.
The group murmured softly, not knowing that Ben and Rey had defeated Snoke's Praetorian Guard together.
Leia turned back to the crowd, "Does anybody have any other questions?"
Nobody spoke up, and the meeting was dismissed. There was a chatter in the air, people rushing around to get things prepared whilst the fighter pilots stayed back to organise their approach.
Rey caught Poe's eyes before she could leave, and the pilot came over, accompanied by Rose and Finn.
"What are you thinking?" Poe demanded.
It seemed both Finn and Rose felt the same, because Finn crossed his arms angrily over his chest.
She looked at her friend beseechingly, "He's not the same Kylo Ren as before."
"You thought that once before, remember?" Finn said.
Rey cringed, remembering her blind faith in Ben before he had betrayed her and taken her to Snoke.
"It's different this time." She said firmly, straightening up and gathering her resolve. "You need to trust me. I know it's different this time and I won't ever put the Resistance in danger."
Rose was the first to smile at her, though it was worried. "Alright, Rey. We trust you."
She left the antechamber after saying goodbye to her friends, and she went to find Ben.
He was in the spare room he had woken up in, and she entered unannounced.
"Are you nervous? Or glued to my side for some other reason?" He asked, not looking up from the blaster he was fiddling with.
She ignored his comment. "You shouldn't play around with that." She said, coming to sit across from him at the table. "And yes, I'm nervous. Aren't you?"
"No."
Rey watched him curiously. "I know we can do this. Don't think I don't believe that."
"I know you do."
She frowned, "What's going on with you, Ben?" She asked. "What side are you on? You can't have jumped ship that quickly."
He looked up at her and set the blaster down. "I haven't. There are no ships to jump."
"What?" She shook her head as if to clear it so she could better understand what he was trying to say. "What are you talking about?" She huffed.
"I mean," He paused, watching her closely. "That there are no sides. No light, no dark. Or rather," He frowned, tapping the table in thought. "Both."
Rey closed her eyes for a moment, reining in her impatience. "Ben, can you try to make sense?"
He sighed, "I'm just starting to figure it out myself. But, what if there aren't meant to be sides. What if to bring balance to the Force it isn't just an equal number of Sith or Jedi? What if it's the balance of light and dark within us? Within one Sith, or one Jedi, or one whatever you want to call us."
Rey met his eyes, and let the idea fester for a moment. She let it play out in her mind. "But then," She shook her head, "Why did everyone who came before us keep this system? Why did they keep the Jedi and the Sith? Who are we to change things?"
"We are what is left of them."
She paused, and nodded. He was right about that.
"Don't you think that perhaps the very balance we are all seeking is meant to come from within each one of us. It doesn't make sense to me, to have to pick a side, when you can be both." He said.
Rey mulled over what he had said even as Leia came in to speak to her son, and she got up to give them some time alone.
He had a point, and the thought was somehow more comforting than the dichotomy she had had to live with before. But she was nervous about the responsibility the two of the had to carry this on.
This was not the right time. They had a fight to prepare for.
Rey spent the afternoon training, her nerves getting the best of her and making her paranoid about faltering during the mission. She used her staff, and practiced with her blaster outside in the clearing nearby the base.
She felt him before she saw him, a tugging behind her navel that alerted her to his presence.
"May I spar with you?" He asked, already gripping his staff tighter in his hand.
"Where did you get that?" She asked, wiping the sweat-soaked hair from her eyes.
"The base," He hesitated, as though he would rather not call the ramshackle metal huts a base, "has a decent armoury." He shrugged a shoulder, then followed through the movement and removed his outer layer, leaving him in his dark undershirt.
"Do you want your lightsaber back for the mission?" She asked, getting into an attack position.
He shook his head decisively, "No." He leapt forward, and immediately she parried his attack as he pushed her back. "I don't need it." There was a hint of arrogance in his voice, that she felt compelled to mock.
"Oh? You think you're just as good without it?" She teased, spinning her staff into a sweeping undercut.
He blocked it, his body twisting to reach. She knocked his staff upwards, taking the opportunity to pass at his neck, but he was quicker than she expected and he danced backwards out of reach.
"I know I'm just as good without it. I trust the Force." He said.
Rey grinned, "Trust the Force that I'll beat you black and blue with my staff."
A spark of mischief glinted in his eye, and he leaned into an offensive stance.
"You wish."
