They rode out the storm in Rey's room, studying the Jedi texts together. It was so bad they would hear the howling from the wind and the rain beating against the side of their base. If they looked out the small window, they could see it happen. It was nearly as dark as it was at night, and every so often a lightning flash would illuminate everything around them, followed by a boom of thunder that shook them to the core.
Rey was a little disturbed by the storm, having lived on Jakku her entire life, she wasn't accustomed to such things. She and Ben sat on the floor, him leaned against the bed, and her leaned against him, back to chest. Every time the thunder sounded, she would jump a little.
"It's perfectly normal, in fact it could be worse." Ben said over her shoulder.
"Yes, well to me it sounds like chaos. My shelter on Jakku would hardly hold up to this." Rey reminded him.
He kissed her shoulder as she tried to decipher the ancient language on the pages.
And that was when the power gave out and the emergency lights came on, dimly lighting everything.
"Of course." Rey said, standing up. "I can't stay in this room all night, I need to move around. This storm is driving me insane."
She held her hand out to help Ben up.
"And where are you going to go?" He asked. She shrugged in response.
"Let's go train."
Ben agreed and followed her out of the room and down the hallways into the training center. Others around them were also roaming around, restless and needing something to do.
They reached the training center and Ben instructed her to take out her lightsaber. They had worked on it together and gotten it working properly, now when Rey trained by herself, under Ben's careful instruction, she used it to get a better feel. A wooden staff didn't feel quite the same, so they only used those when they practiced fighting against each other.
They trained well into the night, to the point of exhaustion. Rey was ready for bed after hours, and Ben agreed. They both showered again to rid themselves of the odor of sweat, and then retired to Ben's room for the night.
And once again they were woken up far too early.
The power was back on, the storm had ended, but sirens were going off. Rey and Ben woke up and dressed quickly and hastily, then set off to find Organa.
"Ben!" She examined as she ran up to them, finding them first. "We have to get out, the First Order is here but we're not prepared for an attack. The storm did us no favors, take Rey to the front of the base, we have an escape plan."
She ran off to retrieve and wake more people after hugging her son and Rey.
Ben pulled Rey by the hand to the front of the base, a difficult feat for her considering the difference in their size and the fact that she had a bag hastily packed with the Jedi texts, her lightsaber, and a few other important things.
They finally made it to the front and were escorted out. They were told that the city was sending out decoys to distract the First Order and allow the rebellion a chance to escape, hopefully unnoticed. Rey was sad and grateful at the same time, the people here would pay dearly to save her life and everyone else's so they could have a chance to win the war.
As soon as everyone was inside, they were whisked away and off the planet before the First Order could take notice.
Ben, exhausted from getting barely any sleep, fell asleep along a couch almost immediately after takeoff. Rey was too full of adrenaline to do such a thing, and ended up sitting at a table and fiddling with her blaster. That was until General Organa took a seat across from her.
"We will make sure the people of that city know how grateful we are to them for this." Organa assured her.
"Thank you, General." Rey said.
The general smiled. "I think at this point you can call me Leia."
Rey was a bit thrown, but she guessed they had both been through a lot. Between Han, Luke, and now Ben.
"I feel like I never expressed to you how grateful I am that you gave me my son back. Not just that he's physically here, but who he is, right now, it's who he's always been. When he was growing up he was such a loving and gentle young boy. He always had his temper, I thought that came from his grandfather. But I should have been there for him more. He was always begging to come with me, but I didn't think he could handle it. All of the traveling and duties was weary, I thought he was better off away from it, and then I thought he was better off with Luke."
"He loves you, he always has. Even when he was Kylo Ren, I could see it in his mind. I think he was just lost and needed to know you still cared for him." Rey said, staring at Ben's sleeping form.
"He needed a little more than that." Leia eyed the girl. "Caring for someone else like he cares for you seems to have pulled him back into the light."
Rey blushed, she still couldn't believe that she was able to turn him.
"I think he's always wanted for someone to care for, and to care for him in return. He didn't realize it but it was always there. He's the one who made the choice."
"I'm happy he has you. I can see it in his eyes that he loves you very much. Has he told you? I'm sorry if I'm prying but I see so much of myself in him. His father," Leia smiled at memories, "well his father was very full of himself where I was very stubborn with my feelings. Sometimes I worry that it effects my son."
Rey smiled, she may not have known Han Solo long but she could see how cocky he was.
"He has actually made it known, and I love him as well. Ben was rather stubborn when we first began to see each other as more than enemies. The man killed Snoke and still wanted to rule the galaxy for himself, I thought he was as hard-headed as they come."
"General, we need to have a word." A commander approached them.
"Rey, why don't you come with me?" Leia offered. Rey nodded and followed her, assuming Ben would find her if he woke.
They arrived to a room filled with leaders of the rebellion.
"Here's what we've got. General Hux is now the Supreme Leader of the First Order." A middle aged man spoke up.
Rey scoffed, and they all looked to her.
"Hux is a hothead, he's out for self gain and that could be his downfall. He's got an ego the size of the entire galaxy." Rey informed them.
"You're right. In our experience with him, he doesn't make the best decisions. He doesn't think for the entire Order, he thinks for himself. He is currently on the Finalizer meeting with other generals, according to an inside source. This is a chance to cut off all the heads and then strike while they're weak." The man continued, looking around for approval.
"Do we even have the manpower for this?" Leia questioned.
"You left that task to me." A woman stood up. "I offered to bring in more recruits while you oversaw the girl's training. I am happy to report that we have increased massively and they have all been in training long enough to go through with this. We can end this war. We can take down the leaders of the First Order and the negotiate a surrender."
Rey felt a hand at her waist and then felt Ben next to her.
"I can offer any information you need about the generals and the finalizer. Anything you need, I'm more than knowledgeable." He offered himself up.
"I like that." A third person piped up and pointed to Ben. "Who knows more about the First Order than the former apprentice and successor of Snoke?"
Ben grimaced a little at the memories but everyone in the room smiled and nodded to each other.
"Good, then Ben, you will help plan the assault." Leia touched her son's arm.
And so they started planning away, they had a full day before they landed at the new base that would be command central for what would hopefully be the battle to end the war. Ben talked them through weak points on the finalizer, new updates made to strengthen and where any new cannons were. He went through each individual leader and informed them that none would be willing to surrender and would fight to the last man standing. Sadly, this meant that none of them would probably be allowed to live. Leia didn't like taking lives, she considered it below them, but not at the potential cost of millions more.
They spent hours talking it over, even when it was time for meals they ate while making battle plans. Ben was determined to end this, to finally live in peace.
