I know it's been a long time. I hope you all enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.
Ben sleeps on the floor of their little room, while Porg1 sleeps on her wounded ankle acting as a warm pad for it. Rey spends most of the might awake, wondering how the other workers fared, about the families of those who they didn't manage to save. She wished she could have stayed behind, helped more. But the fear was too large.
Kylo Ren was a boogeyman, Rey herself was something not easily understood and no one quite trusted her anymore. She could only hope that the people they'd left behind would be okay. Ben shifts and jerks on the floor. Nightmares, though he's good about keeping his reactions small even when he's unconscious. Rey can guess what they are about today.
Loneliness is a horror that's bigger than the boogeyman because it's real. She and Ben are two of a kind, even on opposite sides. To be left alone, be the last, have no one there who can possibly know what hurts and motivations courses through your veins, is terrifying. His loss would be a hole that would echo through the rest of her life and never give her a reprieve. And the same was true for him, if she were to die.
"Sleep," she whispered to him, "I have the watch."
After a few movements his nightmare induced motions calm and he falls back into peaceful rest.
They're forced to reprogram the tech in Ben's face to restructure his appearance again. It's not fun but it has to be done. But since her own identity is blown, Rey has to get the tech as well. They manage to scrape up enough for the tech and then Rey braces herself while Ben implants it.
It hurts like hell and unlike Ben she can't keep silent. She grits her teeth and screams behind closed lips until he's done. He treats her wound and she falls into an exhausted doze with Porg1 snuggling up in concern, next to her.
The next few weeks are strange. Rey's face keeps shifting on her, giving her an odd molded appearance as the tech goes to work. Several times she wakes up to find parts of her face disproportioned to each other, her nose to big or her ears a tad bit too small.
"It's fine," Ben tells her as she pokes uncertainly at her face. "That's how it is. It'll even out."
"I guess," she says. "So what colour hair do you want now?"
He goes blond this time, (not actually his choice) and Rey cuts her hair down until it's as short as his and goes for a deep red. She looks strange and feels oddly exposed with her hair so short but she learns to deal with it. The resulting transformation leaves Ben looking almost delicate, (he always does, no matter what face he wears) and Rey looking tough and hard. They're an odd pair to look at and Rey think they probably should have accounted for that. People remember odd pairs.
Still there's nothing to do about it now so they do their best to fit in and take jobs that keep them fed but barely more than that. They rarely stay in one city for long. Since the mine, the search or them has been re-energized and they have to be careful. They even have to keep Porg1 under wraps because he's a dead giveaway. There are exactly two people in the galaxy who have porgs: Chewy and Rey.
Needless to say Porg1 isn't happy about it, and his and Ben's temper clash on occasion which makes Rey blow up at both of them. The fact that they're all tired of traveling, and hiding and of being worried about being found doesn't help in the slightest.
But on the days when Rey feels like she just wants to sit and have a good cry just to get all the frustration out of her system are the days when Ben holds her hand tightly in his and gives her courage to keep moving. The days when she achingly longs for a place she can call home are the ones that Porg1 snuggles up to her and makes her feel like she's in her own personal bubble.
The days when Ben is plagued with guilt because they're all on the run because of him, are the days when Rey hooks her arm through his and tells him she couldn't ask for a better friend. The days when Porg1 misses Achc-to are the days when Rey snaps of leaves from trees and gives them to him to remind him of the beautiful green hills.
She's seen Ben humming Porg1 to sleep as he smooths down his feathers and seen Porg1 singing Ben to sleep while threading his beak through Ben's hair.
It's on the worst days that they realize how much they all help each other and it's those days that help them get through the mundane ones full of grumpy humans and grumpier porgs, all trying to scratch out a living while not being caught.
Life, Rey thinks, is really strange.
Tell me what you think!
Have a nice day/night!