Chapter 11: Safe Here

"We must be close nearby.

Hope cannot find our own way

Through dark, it's cold, I'm told it's gray.

There's a light that never grows dim."

Anberlin, "Safe Here"

"Master Luke? How is it possible?" Rey looked up from her hands, which were now beaded with sweat.

Her stomach turned over at the thought of her teacher catching her again with Ben. She knew that the former Jedi Master would have something antagonistic to say about their now intimate relationship. He'd warned her before about opening herself up to the Dark Side due to her fondness for Ben, for "a pair of pretty eyes" as he'd said. Even though she'd been able to resist the pull, she braced herself for his inevitable condemnation, ready to defend their love if need be.

"Nevermind that. What in the HELL are you doing here, old man?" Ben's frustrated expression had completely changed. "I don't have anything to say to you that I haven't already said."

Rey could feel his anger surmounting toward a pinnacle like a switch had been flipped on inside his being. His body began to shake violently and his hands formed into fists so tight that his knuckles paled to white. She placed a hand on his bare shoulder, and he vehemently shrugged her off.

"Just leave me alone, Rey. Please."

"Well, kid, I sensed a disturbance in the Force and had to come check it out for myself," the ghost of Luke Skywalker began, stepping into the captain's quarters. He had shorter hair than Rey remembered with a well-groomed beard, wearing dark Jedi robes with a white tunic underneath. He looked younger, not the haggard, aged man she'd known before. "I just didn't expect that this is what I would find. The two of you together, playing house while the Resistance was being completely wiped out. I thought you said you were going to destroy her, Ben, not press her against every surface you could find."

Luke held out his hands toward the bed, spreading them apart in an exaggerated attempt at a joke. His eyes then peered over at Rey whose mouth was still agape in disbelief at his sudden appearance. She swiftly snapped out of her trance and stood up to meet him. Her hand darted out and swept through the figure in front of her. Luke's image flickered slightly, and Rey's breath became trapped in her throat.

"Amazing," Rey noted, running her hand back through the aura again. "Will this happen to me after I die?"

"If you're done violating me, Rey, I would like to get on with why I'm here," Luke said, walking over to his nephew.

Rey snatched her hand back and watched as Ben sat on the bed, gritting his teeth, sweat pouring from his forehead and hair. She tried to calm him through their bond, but her efforts only worked briefly. His anger was too elevated for her to reach him at this point. She just hoped he wouldn't snap and say or do something to Luke that he would regret later. This was a second chance at atonement which both of them desperately needed.

"Ben." Luke's ghost knelt before him and placed what seemed to be a solid gloved hand on his knee. It was the hand Luke had lost in battle against his father, the one that had been replaced with a mechanical surrogate. Ben's head shot straight up, refusing to turn toward his uncle.

The image reminded Rey of a moment back on Jakku when she was a teenager. A little scavenger boy had been weeping after his toy was stolen by a gang of older boys at Niima Outpost. He couldn't have been more than five years old if Rey's memory served correct, his sweet face filled with melancholy tears. His father had knelt before him, wiping away his tears, and assured him everything was going to be all right. It had made Rey tear up at the time, and now seeing Luke and Ben in the same position, she couldn't stop the tears from blurring her vision again.

"Look at me, Ben," Luke demanded, gently patting his knee. Ben's face turned, his hate-filled eyes leering at his uncle. "I want you to know that I forgive you for everything you've done. For destroying the temple, for killing my Padawans, for joining Snoke and the First Order, for killing Han. I forgive you… I know that's not who you truly were… you were scared and I wasn't there to help you as I'd promised your mother."

Ben looked back down at the floor, his bottom lip quivering. He sucked in a sharp breath and forcefully blew it out, his jaw clenching. The walls of the Falcon began to rattle with the racing, conflicting emotions coursing through his body. Rey feared he might ultimately destroy his father's ship in anger before Luke's visit was all said and done.

"I'm so proud of you, Ben… for coming back to the Light," Luke continued, his voice calm and soothing as if he was oblivious to the ship shaking around him. "I thought Rey was foolish for thinking she could help you turn, but now, I know that I was wrong. I thought she was just smitten by your good looks, which we all know you inherited from me, but she was right all along."

Luke turned to give Rey a soft smile, and she returned his gesture, biting her lower lip in nervousness, as several tears rolled off her cheeks and moistened her tunic below. Rey let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and wondered if she shouldn't leave them to sort everything out on their own.

"And I'm sorry too. For ever thinking about ending your life. You were like a son to me, Ben. I failed you in so many ways, and I'm sorry." Luke held his head down as if he were ashamed of what he'd done in the past.

Ben was silent, brooding in distress at his uncle's words. Rey could tell that he was about to blow and wanted so desperately to go to him, but her legs were failing her. Besides, it would seem like an unwelcome intrusion.

"Luke." The whisper broke free from Ben's lips along with several beads of sweat. "I'm… s-s-sorry. I'm so sorry."

Suddenly, the captain's quarters stopped quaking, and the room was filled with an overwhelming sense of calm. Before Rey could even blink, Ben fell into his uncle's arms and miraculously, they became solid, immediately wrapping around him with a tender fierceness. There were no lightsabers, no First Order, no Resistance, no Jedi, no anger; there were only an uncle and his nephew. It was a beautiful, unspoken moment of truce.

"Ben, I'm so proud of you." The words were muffled, but Rey could hear them distinctly. Her heart broke into a million pieces at the sight of Ben and his uncle embracing, something she'd never thought she would see. "And Leia is too. I'm sure of it."

Slowly backing out of the threshold, Rey thought she should give them some privacy, only to have Luke call out to her.

"Don't even think about it, Rey." She froze in the doorway, her eyes widening in surprise. "Come sit down. I have something I need say to you as well."

Rey steeled herself for several agonizing minutes as Luke continued to hug Ben, knowing that he was possibly about to scold her like a naughty child who had been caught eating sweets without permission. Slowly, she forced herself over to the bed and sat down beside Ben.

"My darling, Rey." Luke pulled away from Ben, but kept hold of his left hand. Rey's heart pounded like a drum in her chest as Luke grasped ahold of her right hand and placed it into Ben's. "This man loves you with everything he has. I can see why the Force has brought you two together. The second he touched me, I could feel his love for you, and I can feel your love for him, Rey. I feared the two of you coming together because I knew what would happen, and it terrified me. My father and my mother both had an intense, passionate love for one another, but it ended in sadness and unspeakable tragedy. I couldn't let it happen all over again, not to my nephew and my learner. But now, I know, as with everything, I was wrong about that too."

"Thank you, Master Luke," Rey said, lacing her fingers together with Ben's. She looked down at their hands bound together. Ben pulled them up to his lips and kissed them sweetly, his sweat mixed with his tears wetting her knuckles.

"Thank you for your blessing, uncle," Ben finally spoke and placed his free hand on Luke's shoulder.

"I always taught Ben and my other learners to avoid distractions like romantic love, but maybe there is a gray area after all. The two of you together are bringing balance to the Force as we speak. It has already begun. I can feel it. It's the moment I've been waiting a lifetime to see." Luke's image started to falter, and Ben's hand slipped through the air, almost causing him to stumble.

"Luke, don't leave us yet. We need your guidance," Ben beckoned to him, frantically trying make his uncle stay.

"You don't need me. You have each other. That's all you need now." Luke's voice was beginning to wane. "Oh, and before I go, I left you something in the Jedi temple, under the mosaic. Run your fingers along the black stones of the Prime Jedi's saber. It's been waiting for you a long time, Ben. The island caretakers have taken great care of it in my stead. Now, put a shirt on and go get it."

"Master Luke!" Rey's tears welled up in her eyes once more as Luke's ghost winked at them and then vanished into thin air.

Ben and Rey looked at each other when the moment had passed. Through their bond, they both knew there was no time to lose. Ben grabbed his black tunic, and they raced, hand in hand, out of the Millennium Falcon and up the twisting steps to the Jedi temple.

~.~

Entering the cave-like room at the top of the staircase, Ben halted his feet, the fading echoes of their steps dissolving within the chamber's walls. Rey stood still beside him as her hazel eyes fell upon the stone Jedi mosaic in the middle of the room. The rays of the late afternoon suns shone down on it in spectacular form as it had only yesterday, the black and alabaster stones gleaming masterfully amidst the darkness of the cave.

Cautiously, Ben stalked over to the stone artwork, kneeling on the raised platform before it, almost worshipfully. Reaching out his hand, he let his forefinger trace a soft line through the small pool of water down the top of the Jedi's lightsaber all the way to the hilt. He drew back his hand and waited, peering down at the image of his face reflected in the still water. When nothing happened, Rey began to walk toward him and placed a hand tenderly on his right shoulder.

"Maybe you should try again?" Rey assured him.

Ben patted her hand and went to repeat the motion when the earth around them unexpectedly began to tremble. Immediately, he stood and pulled her into his arms as if to shield her from the inevitable rain of debris when the mosaic in front of them violently splintered and collapsed in upon itself.

Then, the rattling of the temple came to an abrupt stop. Raising her head from Ben's shoulder, Rey stared in awe at the broken stones that had once formed the intricate image of the Prime Jedi. Ben noticed it too.

In the middle of the destroyed mosaic sat a small, wooden box covered in sooty, gray dust. From the looks of it, the wood appeared to be far along in age, an ancient relic from the Jedi of long ago. The lid was decorated with tiny shards of colored glass meticulously fashioned into the image of lightsaber with powerful wing-like emblems radiating out from both sides. The sight of it took Rey's breath away, and she could hear it calling to her, just as she'd heard Maz Kanata's curio box calling to her on Takodana.

Letting Ben take the lead, Rey watched as he knelt down and took the box into his strong hands. The box appeared rather dwarfed by the massiveness of his hands as he lifted it upward. Unfastening the leather strap that sealed the box shut, Ben carefully opened the lid, but something in Rey's heart told her that he already knew what lay inside its confines.

Ben soon hoisted the gold and silver object in his large palms, flipping the switch almost instantaneously and illuminating the entire cave in a greenish hue. The deafening hum of the plasma blade reverberated off the stone walls, and the wooden box fell to the stone floor, forgotten.

An electrified chill erupted down Rey's spine as Ben turned to face her, holding the very lightsaber that had once been fashioned by his uncle, Luke Skywalker. Through their bond, she knew what the object was without ever having to be told.

Ben's chest heaved frenetically as he peered down at the laser sword in his grasp and then back at Rey. His expression reminded her of the one he'd wore the moment he'd murdered Snoke, when she'd grabbed her saber in midair and looked back at him in astonishment at what he'd done.

"Luke's green saber," Ben finally broke the silence between them, nervously laughing. He twisted the hilt in his hand to get a feel of its weight, the blade buzzing as it cut through the molecules of the air. "He kept it hidden here for me all this time. It's as if he knew I'd come here all along. He never gave up on me after all."

"You mean, your saber." Rey languidly sauntered toward him, basking in the emerald glow of the plasma blade. She ran her fingers along the shaft to gain a better look. "Luke has passed it on to you. It belongs to you now."

"First comes the day
Then comes the night.
After the darkness
Shines through the light.
The difference, they say,
Is only made right
By the resolving of gray
Through refined Jedi sight."

Ben's eloquent recitation of prose left Rey utterly speechless as he held his newly-acquired saber in his right palm.

"It's a verse from one of the Jedi texts you let me borrow," Ben answered her silent question, lifting the saber vertically toward his face. "For some reason, that particular rhyme stood out to me, almost as if I'd heard it before. Maybe in another time, another place, another life."

"It's beautiful, Ben," Rey forced herself to speak. "What do you think it means?"

"It means the only way to bring order to the galaxy is through the 'resolving of gray' - perfect balance between the darkness and the light." Ben paused and drew in a sharp breath. "Luke was right. It's us, Rey. We're the gray."

"Oh, Ben," Rey said, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her skin rippled in gooseflesh at his words. She knew in her heart that he was right, what she'd known all along. Together they would bring ultimate balance to the Force, and according to Luke, they already were. It had been foretold by the Jedi of long ago. "How do we finish it then? I mean, how do we completely balance the Force?"

"I don't know exactly," Ben replied honestly. "It must have something to do with us coming together, defeating the First Order together, and then maybe finding and training a new generation of Jedi like you said before."

"Right." Rey frowned, wiping away her tears. "That's doesn't sound complicated at all."

"You're telling me," he said, switching off the blade. "This is all so overwhelming, Rey. First, the Falcon, then Luke, now this."

"I know." Rey sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. He pulled her close, the saber pressing into her back as he continued to grasp it firmly. "And tomorrow, we're heading back to the Resistance. It's all overwhelming for me too."

Their foreheads magnetically pressed together as they always did when they embraced. The connection between them grew stronger, and Rey could feel his apprehension, his worry, his anxiety about returning to the Resistance. He worried mostly that they would imprison her or worse, hurt her, for aligning herself with him, the dethroned Supreme Leader of the First Order. He didn't care what they did to him; he deserved anything they threw at them for letting Hux murder his mother, General Organa. Just the thought sent her anxiety skyrocketing throughout her entire being, but she quietly soothed them both through their bond. She knew that together they could overcome anything placed in their way. Somehow, someway, they would succeed and peace would finally be restored to the galaxy.

"You don't know how happy you make me, Rey. You completely balance me, you bring Light to the Dark Side of me." Ben reached up and cradled her chin with his free hand, still resting his forehead against hers. He placed the saber in its rightful position on his belt, claiming it as his own. "I was so terrified that you were going to realize you'd made a mistake and go running back to the Resistance without me. I still am terrified. I keep thinking you're gonna disappear."

"Ben, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere without you. As you said, you can't bring balance to the Force without me," she said, kissing the tips of his fingers as they brushed over her lips. She captured the end of his forefinger with her mouth and sucked on it gently.

Ben's eyes flared with longing at her gesture, his breath becoming uneven. His Adam's apple bobbed as he loudly gulped.

Rey whispered against his fingers, peering up at him seductively, "I'm all yours."

Fuck, Ben's lips mouthed the word, the sound becoming lodged in his throat. Rey knew that he could feel the all-encompassing desire that now rushed through her veins.

Before she could register what was happening, Ben had her pinned inside an alcove underneath the towering walls of the temple, her legs bound around his waist. His lips devoured hers as she raked her nails down his muscular back through his tunic.

"I want you, Rey," Ben growled, breaking apart from her swollen lips. He pulled down the neckline of her tunic, hungrily taking her right nipple into his mouth. His wet tongue lapped around her nub several times before he sucked on it roughly. "I want to worship you, my beautiful gray goddess, right here in this fucking temple… on my knees."

"Oh, yes, Ben, please," Rey moaned loudly, feeling the wetness growing between her legs at the thought of him on his knees in front of her. She hastily unfastened his trousers and reached under the constricting band of his undergarments, freeing his glorious erection.

"Please…" She begged again. Her hand ran up and down the length of his shaft, and she felt him grow harder in her grasp with the motion.

"Damn, Rey." Ben immediately fisted her trousers, yanking them downward, and Rey shucked off her boots, kicking aside her pants.

With one swift movement, he then ripped away the barrier of her undergarments and motioned for her to skim down the rock wall into a squatting position. She was ever so happy to oblige. Coming onto his knees, he placed his arms between her legs and under her thighs and took on her full weight so that she needed no other support. His hands strongly clasped her bottom, holding her in midair, and propped her legs on his shoulders.

"Oh, Force, you smell amazing." Ben moaned between her legs, selfishly inhaling the scent of her arousal. "May I worship you, Rey?"

"Please," she whisperingly besought him, almost gasping at the thought, and tilted her head slightly backward in anticipation.

Ben slowly kissed up her left thigh, his tongue just grazing her delicate flesh. The light scruff of hair on his chin sent a trail of fire down her skin as he went. Rey squirmed at the sensation and impatiently bucked her hips toward him. Unable to take the tension any longer, she forced his head to her moist center, and he snickered, the vibrations of his laughter almost sending her plummeting into bliss.

"So impatient, my little scavenger."

Softly, Ben began to trace her folds with his tongue, teasing her just above the spot where she wanted him to be. She pressed his head closer to her core in urgency, pleading with him to taste her even deeper.

Sensing her need, Ben plunged his tongue into her pulsating heat and then lapped it up and down her clit rapidly at a steady speed. Rey's body writhed in intense pleasure as he repeated the same pattern several more times. She soon soared over the edge of her peak, gripping the edges of the rocks around her in sweet release. He had made her come in only a matter of seconds with his tongue.

"You taste so fucking good, Rey." Ben licked the remaining juices from around her center and stood, wrapping her legs around his waist once more.

Quickly, he immersed himself deeply inside her. Their bodies lingered in that position for several excruciating seconds, Rey's core throbbing at the sensation of him buried within her. It never ceased to amaze her how he could fit so flawlessly inside her.

"Rey," Ben breathlessly spoke, looking at her with such tenderness. "I'm so in love with you."

His thrilling words left her completely speechless even though she'd heard him say it many times before.

"I know," she simply replied, and he smiled wider than she thought his face could allow, realizing that she was repeating his parents' gesture. She had never been more sure of anything in her life. She could easily imagine herself shrouded in Ben's warm, loving arms for the rest of her existence.

But what would that mean for them when they returned to the Resistance? Her future and Ben's future were still unknown, but Rey decided to push away those terrifying thoughts for now and focus on the present. After all, the present was all they had.

"I've never felt this way about anyone before," Ben confessed between heaving breaths as he began to pull in and out of her, plastering her against the rocky surface. "I never thought I'd be capable of loving anyone."

Rey responded by greedily wrapping her lips around his, darting her tongue searchingly into his hot mouth and tasting her juices on his tongue. He was right; she did taste good, and she devilishly sucked his lips, relishing in her own essence. Ben moaned as he felt her delight in the taste on his lips, beginning to move more urgently against her.

Her eyes whipped around to the back of her head as her hips rose up to meet him. It felt amazing, so much better than the first few times they had made love. The way Ben held her and touched her, Rey felt so treasured, as if she were the most beautiful woman in the entire galaxy.

Rey clutched Ben's waist to her with her right leg, rubbing her clit rapidly against his body, the saber on his belt hitting right under her thigh. Soon, she felt her release building once more, and she could sense through their connection that he was almost there too.

"Come with me, Ben," she whimpered, latching her hands onto his shoulders.

Ben's warm brown eyes locked into hers, and he moved impossibly faster against her. Through their connection, they felt each other's pleasure heightening, spurring them into their shared moment of bliss.

"Fuck," Ben lustily grunted as he came hard inside her, gently nibbling her shoulder. "I love you, sweetheart."

She followed him in satisfaction soon after, riding out the surges of her orgasm as they swept over her like the crashing waves against the sand. She screamed out his name at the top of her lungs and grit her teeth together in order to breathe, her cries of ecstasy echoing off the cave walls.

"Mmm," Ben hummed, caressing her mouth with his lips as her orgasm subsided. "Good?"

Instead of responding, Rey dejectedly slumped against the temple wall, the uncontrollable tears refusing to be suppressed. She held her head down unable to speak amidst the unexpected shift in her emotions.

Ben immediately pulled her into his arms, already knowing the trigger behind her sudden sadness. The weight of everything beared down like a ten-ton boulder on top of Rey's shoulders, suffocating her to the point that she could scarcely breathe. Her mind raced with unrelenting thoughts: the abandonment of her parents, the hardships of her former life as a scavenger, the awakening of her Force abilities, the foreign intimacy she shared with Ben, and now the seemingly-impossible task of defeating the First Order. She felt as if her mind was being stretched too thin, threatening to snap and rip her body and soul completely apart.

"Shhh," Ben soothed her, cradling her in his strong arms. "I know, sweetheart. I know."

"Ben, I don't know if I can do this," Rey cried amongst her gasps for air, burying her head in his chest, her tears dampening his black fabric of his tunic.

"Rey, if there's one thing I've learned about you, it's this," Ben whispered calmingly, moisture rimming his brown eyes. "You're a survivor, a fighter. You never let anything or anyone stand in the way of what you want, what you know is right. I mean, look at me."

Ben drew back, so that he could gaze upon her face. He lifted his large, calloused hands and erased the tears from under her hazel eyes with his thumbs.

"You helped me turn back to the Light," he said assuringly. "You never gave up on me when I didn't think it was even possible myself. You saw the man behind the mask and I will forever be grateful. You're my savior, Rey. My salvation, my everything."

Rey sniffed, smiling slightly as he held her there in the ancient Jedi temple. The optimistic look on his face coupled with his words made her heart flutter with unabiding hope.

"I can't do this without you. I won't do this without you," Ben added resolutely. He reached down and pressed a firm yet affectionate kiss to her forehead, sending all of his love and unwavering confidence in her through their bond.

"I love you, Ben," Rey simply replied. She placed a soft kiss to the hollow of his neck and relaxed once more against his chest. With her faith restored, she knew they could defeat any obstacle placed in their way.

"I love you too, Rey," Ben reciprocated, resting his head on top of hers.

Sometime afterward, Ben dressed and carried her out onto the ledge where his uncle had given Rey her first lesson in the ways of the Force. He rested her body gently on the rocks of the precipice facing the horizon and draped his arms lovingly about her shoulders. The couple then watched in reverence as the twin suns of Ahch-To descended on them for the last time.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought in the comments. We're going back to the Resistance in the next chapter! So excited to get to this part of the story. ~Dazzy xxoo