Hello, all! I think it's about time we got off Ahch-To, don't you? Let's dig back into the story!

"No, Rey!" Ben hollered, clambering to the remaining edge of the cliff. He slid to a stop at its brink, seeing only the powerful waves crashing against the stone face far below. No one would be able to swim through those waters, much less someone who'd never learned how to swim.

Rey! He called through the Force, but there came no answer. Wasting no time, Ben tore off his coat, tunic, and boots, leaving only his armguards and their connective strap.

"No! Stop him!" Thrawn ordered from behind, and Ben shoved his arm out behind him with a snarl in an attempt to send them all flying back.

Ben! I can't—

I know, I'm coming, Rey! He thought. Gritting his teeth, Ben kept his eyes on the horizon and launched himself from the cliff's edge.

Just as he leapt into the frozen air, a sharp blast made contact with his upper arm, and he let out a groan. Gripping his arm in midair, he finally looked down at the furious, roaring waves as he tumbled downwards before the cliff face. The sea air shooting into his face and bare torso felt like a barrage of icicles.

As his body tilted upside-down, Ben tried reaching his arms overhead to brace his impact with the water. He managed to choke in a breath just before he was enveloped in the icy oceanic tomb.

Ben opened his eyes to deep, dark blue, too dark to see anything but the faintest streams of dawn light filtering through the surface between the passing waves above. He thrust his arms out hard to swim towards the light, but let out a bubbling yelp as sharp pain shot down his right shoulder and arm. His chest shrunk in towards his spine with crushing weight as the air shot out of his lungs, and he swam desperately towards the surface with his left arm, keeping his right held close to his side.

Ben...

As he breached the surface, Ben gasped for air, managing to choke out Rey's name. He felt her presence near, but could not place where she was in the liquid void. He swirled in place, searching for her head amongst the waves. He was forced to duck back underneath only moments later as a thick wave passed by.

His body was shaking, he realized, whether from the chill of the water or the adrenaline of the fall, he was not sure. Likely, both. The rapid thudding of Ben's heartbeat made him feel heavier in the water, weaker, and he feared that he'd drown before he ever managed to find Rey.

But as he breached the surface again, catching his breath, his fear quickly channeled itself into fierce resolve. "Rey? Rey!" he called, projecting his voice across the water. He felt for her again through the Force and dove to his side as he sensed her there. Another thundering wave approached, and he dove under, arcing his left arm before him as he propelled himself towards Rey's Force presence. As he resurfaced, he caught a glimpse of a splash just ahead of him.

Ben paddled madly towards Rey, ignoring the burning in his right arm as he swam with both arms towards her. He dove forward, managing to grip the cloth of her blouse, and yanked her into his embrace. He shoved her above the surface of the water.

"Rey, breathe! Look at me," he urged, holding her face before his. Her eyelids drooped, and a soft groan came from her quivering mouth, blue from the cold. He positioned her over his shoulder and hooked his right arm around her, paddling with his left. "Hold onto me, Rey!" he instructed, but her shivering form was nearly limp against him as he paddled back towards the cliff face.

Ben looked over his shoulder as he caught sight of an approaching wave behind them, the silvery white of its forming crest catching in the rising dawn light. "Hold your breath, Rey! Hold on!" he yelled, and pulled her under with him. He thrust her above him as soon as the wave passed, holding her tightly as she coughed and sputtered. "That's it, breathe, Rey!"

Ben paused in his swimming as he watched the recent wave smash against the cliff face. He would need to find them some other place to climb ashore—but where? With only the formidable cliffs in view, Ben hugged Rey tighter against his shoulder, chose a direction, and pressed on.

He kept a wide berth from the cliffs to avoid being swept up with the waves as they crashed against the stone cliffs. He swam hard, never breaking his pace despite the singe of his arm as he pulled Rey along through the water. He hissed in pain with each stroke, but he didn't let it slow him. Couldn't let it. Not if he was going to save them both from hypothermia.

"Rey, stay awake," he urged. "Hold onto me." But all he heard was the chattering of her teeth.

….

Ben did not know how much time had passed when at last he came across a rocky beach, but the sun had risen well above the horizon and broken through the clouds. The ocean and the island with it were bathed in a soft, post-rain glow.

Ben moaned with pain and utter exhaustion as he struggled to his feet in the bouldered shallows, needing both arms now to carry Rey out of the frozen sea. His legs and arms shook as he brought her up onto the shore peppered with multi-colored pebbles. "Rey," he panted as he lowered to his wobbling knees. Gingerly, he laid her onto the pebbles, his heart rising to his throat as he saw her closed eyelids and bluish face in the sunlight. He gripped her shoulder, jostled it as he leaned over her. "Rey," he uttered, more urgently. She was breathing, but only shallowly. Willing the last of his energy, he pressed repeatedly on her chest with his good arm.

Help me, he thought, begged, reaching out through the Force to—he didn't who. He hunched over her as he pumped her chest, shutting his eyes hard for a moment to fight back tears. His right arm hung at his side, numb and useless. Please, give me the strength. Give me the strength to save her.

He lowered to Rey's mouth, pushing his air into her body and feeling her chest rise beneath his.

He rolled off of her, letting out a weak huff of relief as she abruptly coughed, ejecting water from her mouth. Ben sat up to pat Rey's back, helping her to rid her lungs of the seawater. With eyes heavy and mouth agape, Rey looked at him. Ben laid back and pulled her onto his chest, holding her to him with his good arm as they both panted.

Rey pressed her cheek against his bare chest, draping her left arm weakly across him. Every muscle in Ben's body pulsed with soreness and sharp pain, and he felt cold, colder even than he'd been in the ocean, and he held Rey tighter against him as they both slipped out of consciousness.

….

Rey's eyes blinked heavily open as she felt her body lifted from the ground. She heard a deep, low groan above her. Ben.

She licked her lips, still stiff from the cold of the sea. "Wh...where…?" she began.

"To find Luke," he panted.

Rey shivered against his chest, barely able to keep her tired eyes open as he carried her up a series of steep rocks. Ben moved slowly, nearly tripping several times, and she wrapped her arms around him to keep steady. As the sounds and scents of the shore grew muted, Rey's senses picked up on something metallic and sickly-sweet.

"Y-you're injured," she realized, searching for the source of the blood. Ben merely grunted in response. "Wh-what happened?"

"S'fine," he mumbled, shifting her against his arm. But not more than five steps later, he stumbled again, barely keeping them both from falling.

"Ben, what's wrong?" she questioned, sliding from his grasp. Her legs felt wobbly and weak as they hit the ground, and she coughed, finding her chest sore. She watched as Ben lowered to a knee, face lowered. "Oh, no….Ben," she breathed as her eyes catching on the bright red soaking through the fabric of one of his arm guards. "Let me see," she urged, moving towards him, but he turned away, shielding his injured arm with the other.

"Leave it," he said, shaking his head. He attempted to stand back up, but his legs gave way and he lowered to his knee again.

"Ben, j-just let me heal you," she pressed, moving closer again, but he frowned up at her.

"No, you're too weak" he protested, keeping her at arm's length with his good arm. "You'll use up all of your energy," he panted. "It's too dangerous."

"But you're so pale," she noted, leaning around him and clenching her throat as she saw the trail of blood he'd left behind. She made a small choking sound. "Ben, I'm got to find L-Luke so he can help, okay?" She lowered, her legs wobbling. She cupped his jaw in her hand and kissed him. His lips were cold. "I'll be right back. J-just—stay right here."

"Rey…" Ben began but appeared unable to protesting as he shut his eyes and slowly lowered to the ground to rest. His placidity worrying her, Rey began making her way up the hill.

Finding her body too weak to run, Rey walked with long strides as she stepped over rocks and shrubs on her way up the hill. Would she even find Luke at the top? She hadn't even heard anything since she and Ben had made it out of the water—had the Empire fighters left?

Rey thought she heard the click of metal, and she flipped around in her tracks. Behind her, she only saw boulders. I'm just being paranoid, she thought. She turned back around, and froze.

"Pleasure running into you again."

….

"Ben." A jostle. "Kriff. Ben, wake up, kid, come on."

Ben opened his eyes to a pair of brown boots on grass, and shifted his gaze up to his uncle's scrunched face.

"Kriff, kid," Luke huffed, placing his hand on Ben's cheek. "You aren't in good shape. Come on, you have to get up. You have to drink."

Ben's mind was a whirls as he tried to push himself up from the ground. His arms were too weak, and he let out a groan. Luke lifted him up from his shoulders, and Ben hissed as pain shot up his right arm.

"Sorry, sorry. But you have to sit up. Kriff, kriff."

Gritting his teeth, Ben allowed his uncle to help him up into a seated position. His ears were ringing, his head pulsing. He blinked, hard, his gaze barely able to focus on his uncle's face. He felt his uncle push a cup against his mouth, and slowly, he drank.

"Mm. This doesn't look good," Luke stated, gingerly shifting the loosened wraps over Ben's arm wound. "You've lost a lot of blood. Too much. Here, hold still."

Ben grimaced as his uncle lifted his injured arm and began wrapping something around it. He groaned, his head bobbing weakly to the side as his uncle fashioned a tourniquet with a strip of cloth above his wound. "Luke…" he hissed.

"Sorry, it had to be done." Luke squeezed his good shoulder reassuringly.

"Luke...Rey?" he panted, leaning over onto an elbow and managing to look up at his uncle. Luke's mouth shut tight, leaving his mouth a thin line.

"I...couldn't find her."

Ben took in a shaking breath and slumped onto the ground as his consciousness slipped from him again.

…

Ben's mind was wild with dreams, visions. He felt as if he were tossing and turning as he saw flashes of colors billowing before him like drapes.

He felt something underneath his head, cradling it. An arm? You're a dad. His mother's voice, unmistakably. Just think, hotshot. Someday you might even be a granddad. Ben strained to focus his mind, to listen.

Speak for yourself, sweetheart. His father's voice, now, he realized with a pang. I ain't ever getting that old.

A swirling greyness formed before him as the vision shifted into something else.

Ben, what are you doing? His father again. Around him, small toys and objects floated through the air. Where did you learn to do that? C'mere, kiddo. A smile flashed across his father's young face. This was a memory, not a vision, Ben realized. He had the sensation of being lifted and was filled with a childish joy. Think you can do that when you're grown, so I don't have to go around carrying heavy things when I'm an old? Han beamed at him, his head tilting as he looked up at his son. You want to go around with me on the Falcon one day, don't you? Ben heard a high-pitched giggle. A child's. His. I'll teach you how to fly it. Believe it or not, your daddy made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. Hey, maybe one day, with your help, I'll even be hauling rathtars. Flying and smuggling runs in your blood, Benny boy. Don't you forget that.

Ben, a soft voice chimed. His father's face faded away, and he swivelled around in place, searching. Ben, the voice called again. He calmed as he turned to see a woman in a long dress standing before a balcony rail. Ben's heart swelled as she turned her face and smiled at him, her eyes sparkling.

Where are we? He asked her.

Rey extended a hand out toward him, her smile brilliant. Come here, Ben, she invited. Come see.

Ben moved toward her, reaching out to take her hand, but to his frustration the vision swirled into greyness again before their hands met.

As the vision swirled away, Ben saw three circles. Small circles. Two brown, one straw yellow. The shapes wouldn't come into focus, and he stared at them, trying to discern what it was he was looking at. As he stared, something unfathomably powerful tugged in his chest. He instinctively reached out to them, but they swiftly faded away into nothingness.

A soft whiteness took place before him. Slowly, he became aware of his body, prone. He flexed his fingers.

"He's coming to," a male voice said. He remembered this voice. Hurried footsteps scuffed against hard flooring.

"Good thing Leia isn't here to see him like this," Luke said quietly.

"Kylo Ren, can you hear me?" The other voice spoke.

"Don't call him that, his name's Ben," Luke said.

"Sorry, you're right. Ben, can you hear me?"

Slowly, Ben blinked his eyes open. His vision was hazy, and it took a few long moments for everything to come into focus. "What...where...am I?" he exhaled. A man's face came into focus—Rey's friend. The one he'd fought on Starkiller. FN-2187. Finn.

Shutting his eyes again to process this, Ben felt incredibly weak, and a bit cold. Was he laying on metal?

"I'm here, Ben," his uncle assured, stepping into his line of vision as he reopened his eyes. Ben stared up at his uncle, noting a series of scratches marking his face.

"Where...are we?" Ben tried again. He turned his head to the side, wincing at the sting in his neck and right shoulder.

"We're on the Falcon, Ben," Luke said above him.

Ben narrowed his eyes as a tall brown creature came into view behind his uncle. "Chewie?" he rasped. The wookie gave an acknowledging grumble back.

"Chewie, why are you here?" he asked, blinking confusedly. Was this another vision?

"He carried you here. Maker knows I'm not strong enough to do that," Luke said.

Ben attempted to sit up, but stopped as his head throbbed and pain shot through him.

"Keep still, kid, it's best if you just stay where you are," Luke said, raising his eyebrows concernedly.

His right arm throbbed, and he hissed. He turned his face to the right, and as his vision came into focus again his eyes widened. His right arm was an unrecognizable, mangled mess of exposed bone and bloodied tissue. He tried to lift the arm, but he couldn't lift it. Only his fingers responded. He stared at his arm as it lay limply at his side on the metal table. "Kriff...Kriff," he panted, beginning to panic.

"Breathe, breathe," Luke instructed. "It'll heal, it'll just—" He sighed. "It's going to take time. We need to get you to a bacta tank as soon as we get back to Trora."

Ben narrowed his eyes, looking up at his uncle. "Trora?" he repeated, taken aback. "But we were just—" He cut himself off, the memories of the past day resurging through his mind. The stormtroopers, Thrawn, Rey—Rey!

"Where's Rey?" Ben insisted, flipping his head around to scan the room. "Where is she?"

Luke placed his hand on Ben's chest. "Ben, I need you to calm down, we're going to figure it all out—"

"Where is she?" Ben pressed, looking to Chewie and Finn for answers. Then he remembered. She'd gone off to look for Luke. "Oh, no," he exhaled, his heart rising to his throat. "What happened?"

"Ben, you need to calm yourself, you've lost a lot of blood," Luke said. "We've already got the Trora fleet going after Rey, they're going to get her back. They were tracking the Empire ships, and that's how they knew to come to Ahch-To. They knew we'd need their help."

"'Get her back?'" Ben repeated. He shook his head, staring up at the ceiling in shock. His eyes back shot to his uncle. "Why are we going to Trora? Turn around, Luke, we have to go back!" he exclaimed.

"Ben, we can't, we need to heal your arm. You need to go to a hospital," Luke said, and Chewie whined in agreement. "There's nothing you can do right now, Ben."

"No, no, turn around," Ben pleaded. Groaning, he forced himself up with his good arm, feeling an immediate rush of dizziness.

"Ben, lay back down," Luke insisted, pushing on his chest, but Ben shoved him away with his good arm.

"Turn this ship around or I'll do it myself," Ben threatened, glaring around at the other three.

Luke held his hands out in supplication. "Ben, listen to me. You're weak and your arm is useless, it would keep you from being able to do anything to help her," he explained.

Grimacing, Ben looked back down at his mangled limb, his chest heaving. He concentrated again on moving it, again finding that he could only barely move his fingers. He swallowed.

"Then cut it off," he said.

Chewie gave a surprised growl, and Luke's eyebrows raised.

"What?" Luke asked.

"You heard me," Ben said, furrowing his brows. "Cut it off."

"No, Ben, it can heal with time," his uncle insisted. "You just need to get back—you just need time."

"I don't have time," Ben hissed, shaking his head. "Luke, I have to go back for Rey, or she isn't going to make it. You said it yourself, my arm's useless. Cut it off."

Luke and Finn looked horrified.

"Ben, I can't do that," Luke insisted.

Ben frowned and looked to Chewie. "Come on, Chewie, it would be easy for you. I know you've ripped out arms before," he said, but the wookie whined and shook his head, backing away.

Ben slammed his good fist onto the table. Would he have to try and do it himself? On the verge of panic, Ben looked to Finn pleadingly. "Finn," he panted. "Please."

Finn's eyes widened. "I'm not going to chop off your arm," he dissented.

Ben thought for a moment, recalling their duel on Starkiller. "I sliced up your back. Yeah, you remember that. Now's your chance to get back at me," Ben said, but Finn shook his head.

"But Rey—" Finn began.

"Will be saved if you do this," Ben finished. "Finn, I deserve this. You know I do. It would only be right if you do it."

Finn swallowed, looking to Chewie and Luke, who stared blankly back at him. Finn turned his gaze back to Ben's and sighed. "He's right."

"Right? How?" Luke asked, narrowing his eyes.

"We need to go back for Rey," Finn said, looking back to Ben. "All of us." After a moment, he turned to Chewie. "Can you find me a knife of some kind?"

Chewie released a long, disturbed sound and shuffled out of the room. I'm not going to be a part of this.

"Master Luke, I managed to find some medical supplies, even a tourniquet, and—oh, goodness me! If young master Ben hasn't awoken!" C3PO exclaimed as he stepped into the room carrying a tray of tools and antiseptics.

"Threepio," Ben murmured in greeting, his attention catching at the droid's red arm. What had happened to his arm?

"Finn! We aren't really doing this, are we?" Luke exclaimed. He frowned sternly at Ben. "And once your arm's off, what do you expect to do then? You'll only have one arm to fight with, that won't be any good."

"Master Ben's arm is coming off?" Threepio questioned confusedly, his head swivelling between the two of them. He turned to Finn for explanation, but Finn just threw up his hands. "I believe I have missed that conversation."

Something in Ben's mind clicked. He stared at threepio, then looked over at Luke and Finn.

"You weren't just a fighter and a sanitary technician in the First Order, were you, Finn?" Ben asked.

Finn shook his head. "No, I worked for a while in the medical ward too, but—no, you're crazy!"

"What? Oh, Maker, surely you don't mean—how would we..." Luke looked back at C3PO, and Ben and Finn did the same.

The droid looked between the three of them, lost. "What's going…I don't..." He lowered his head, following the three's gaze. "Oh, dear. Not again."