Ben, I'm coming.

What?

It had been devastating saying her goodbyes, especially to Finn and Chewie. Returning to her quarters, she had dropped the pieces of the Skywalker lightsaber into the pouch on her belt, collected a few remembrances of her time on the Falcon, and clasped Ben's cloak around her throat. She knew that somewhere on the Falcon, Poe, Rose, and Finn's heads were bent in rapid conversation, and before long, one or all of them would be beating on the door of her quarters demanding to talk this through again. She was done talking. Ben was alone on the Supremacy, and she could feel the darkness closing in around him.

I think we'd better try this from your quarters, and you'd better help me.

Through their bond, Rey could feel Ben's surprise and unease. Why are we doing this now?

There's something on the dreadnaught, and it's coming straight at you. Can't you feel it?

Ben took a deep breath, and Rey could feel him push his feelings out, scanning the fabric of the Force as it was woven between the souls of the dreadnaught. Are you sure? I can't feel anything.

I know it. Whatever it is, it's strong, and it knows how to hide its presence, especially from you.

Are you sure you want to do this?

Rey closed her eyes to the Falcon, and pushed her consciousness closer to his. Within a few steps, she was able to see Ben, and she stepped into his embrace and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. As she gathered her power and wrapped it around Ben's consciousness, using him as an anchor, she drew further and further away from her physical reality on the Millennium Falcon. Rey began to tremble, and Ben drew her more tightly against his body, pressing her head into his chest.

Rey dug her fingers into the thick fabric of Ben's coat and concentrated on the rapid thump of his heart against her ear. She could smell the cold astringent odor of the dreadnaught, and she locked her every sense on Ben's reality. Rey imagined her toe scraping across the floor of the Falcon, and just as she was about to draw it away, she felt the door to her quarters open, and Finn stood there gaping at her.

She cracked her eyes open, and she could see Finn as though he stood in Ben's quarters rather than in the corridor of the Falcon. Almost there . . . Finn stepped towards her, and she could tell by the horror on his face that he must see Ben. Finn reached out to grab her . . .

"Good bye, Finn."

Rey ripped her toe away from the floor of the Falcon, and a sensation like slamming full force into a concrete wall met Rey's consciousness. With the shock of the impact, Rey released Ben, and she flailed against the barrier. Without warning, it gave way beneath her weight, and Rey felt herself plummeting into nothingness.

Ben! Rey called out for Ben frantically, and though she could feel his panic as he tried to reach out for her, he was always just beyond her grasp. She heard Ben screaming her name as from a great distance.

Use the Force, Rey! It is still there, flowing through you. Rey recognized the voice of the old Jedi from Tallus Sept, and his calm sliced through her panic.

Rey opened her eyes and saw that though she fell through a great black void, all around her were fine threads of energy. She breathed deeply, forced her heart to slow, and she reached out again for Ben.

Let go, Rey. If you want to reach Ben Solo, you must find your own center first.

Rey closed her eyes and breathed. As she calmed her mind, she was able to slow her fall, and she began to feel more in control. Rey sensed that her consciousness had been shattered, without anchor or reference, and she began to draw it back together. As it came wisp by wisp, she realized that the energy threads around her were the same as those within, and as she grasped them and pulled them tighter together. Her fall further slowed, and she sensed Ben's presence drawing closer.

Soon, she felt the familiar warmth of Ben's consciousness within reach of her own, and she pushed herself towards him. Rey felt Ben reaching out, and she could sense that his grip on his own physical reality was precarious, so far had he extended his own consciousness into the void that enveloped her. Finally, she felt the touch of his mind latch onto her own thoughts, and Ben frantically clawed her consciousness towards his.

Rey crashed through a fine barrier that shattered around her like ribbons of glass, but this time, Ben had wrapped his consciousness around her like a band of iron. Every fiber of her body burned and screamed in agony, but she clung to Ben and fought her way towards him. Gradually, the haze of searing pain receded, and she hung limply in his arms, barely supporting herself. Shakily, Rey placed her foot down on the immaculate black floor of Ben's quarters, and the harsh overhead light and a blast of cold assailed her senses as she snapped fully into her new physical reality.

Rey squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her face into Ben's chest while she tried to catch her breath. Her skin felt raw, and the texture of his coat rasped painfully against her hypersensitive skin. She could feel her legs tremble with the effort of supporting her, and her clothes were soaked through with sweat.

"Am I here?"

Ben sighed in relief. "You're here, but it was a close shave. If you'd have tried that alone, I don't think you would have made it."

Rey tried to release Ben, but her legs nearly folded beneath her. Ben scooped her up and carried her the few feet to his bed. After setting her down, he knelt before her and took her face in his hands. Rey had squeezed her eyes shut against the glare of the overhead lights and her teeth were chattering audibly.

"Look at me. Rey! Look at me!" Rey blinked bleary eyes, but finally focused on Ben. "You need a teacher. You've got to let me teach you to control your power before you try to channel the Force like that again. It was all I could do to hold you together as you came across—for a moment, I thought you were gone." Rey nodded and dropped her head against Ben's shoulder, and her head throbbed. Ben spread trembling hands across her back. "Promise me you won't try to travel again without my help."

She nodded and crossed her arms tightly across her chest against the cold as a fit of hard shivering wracked her frame. "I promise. Where else would I go?"

Ben stifled a nervous laugh and squeezed her tighter, his hand against her damp hair. He extended a silent prayer of thanksgiving to whatever powers had allowed her to safely cross the impossible distance that had separated them.

Rey shivered. "I'm ffffreezing! Is it always so c-c-c-cold here?"

Ben gathered the cloak more tightly around her. "Space is cold generally, but this isn't the Falcon. Mother hated being cold, so the Falcon's life support is cranked nearly to the very top setting for both humidity and temperature. I'm not sure how Chewie tolerated it all these years. Here, there are thousands of troops running around in heavy plate armor. If the temperature and humidity weren't kept very low, the storm troopers would drop with heat exhaustion. Why do think I'm always dressed like this?"

Rey cracked an eye open to take in Ben's high-necked quilted coat, cloak, and gloved hands. She let her eyelid drop and shrugged. "To emphasize your natural sense of intimidation and evil . . . ness."

She couldn't see it, but she felt his eye roll through their link, which felt raw and tender. He huffed in annoyed amusement. "Yeah, well, besides that, it's uncomfortably cold on a First Order vessel." Ben stroked a hand down her trembling back, and he continued hesitantly, "Rey, you aren't going to be comfortable in your desert clothes here, and besides, you're wringing wet."

Ben released her reluctantly. She drew the cloak tighter around herself and watched Ben cross to the wall of his chambers and press his fingers against a hidden drawer. When he returned, Ben handed Rey a stack of clothes and nodded towards the nearest door. "If you can stand, you should shower and change. In just a few hours, we will have to endure an audience with Hux, and I expect it to be extremely unpleasant."

Rey looked long and hard at Ben. "We."

Ben nodded. "I can't keep you locked up in my quarters. If you're going to be here, you have to be with me, at least for now. We are safer, stronger together. Isn't that why you came?"

Rey glanced down at the stack of black clothes and spread her fingers across them, oddly touched. They were finer than anything she'd ever owned before; in reality, she could tell they were of even better quality than his. The band of kyber around her finger sparked against the harsh lights. Rey nodded. "That's why I'm here."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Half an hour later, though feeling stripped and hollow inside, Rey was much steadier on her feet. She found Ben poring over dispatches, a long finger pressed against the monitor as he followed a line of data across the wide screen, and Rey noticed that he had discarded his gloves. When he glanced up, his heart skipped a beat.

"Where did you get these clothes? They fit as though they were cut precisely for me."

Ben sat back in his chair and she could feel through their bond that he was trying press down his bubbling pleasure. "They were. When prisoners are processed, they are scanned for things like explosives and weapons. The computer takes very detailed biometric measurements as well so that they can be positively identified even if their remains are . . ." Rey raised a brow in silent question. " . . . difficult to sort out. I had hoped for some time that you would eventually come to me," Ben looked down at his hands, suddenly embarrassed, "so I had them made for you, hoping that the day would come when you would be here and need them."

Rey crossed the room and bent to wreath her arms around Ben's shoulders. "How long have you had them in that drawer?"

Ben refused to meet her gaze. "I had them made not long after I was assigned to the Supremacy. I couldn't imagine you wearing a First Order officer's uniform, so I had padawan clothes made for you."

Rey turned Ben's face back to hers with a finger on his chin. "Thank you. I'm grateful to be warm again." She broke into an uncertain smile. "Although I think that the entire top layer of my skin has been scoured away."

Ben pulled Rey down into his lap and kissed her. "The way the First Order does things is far harsher than you will be used to." Through their bond, Rey could feel Ben's gratitude that she had chosen to come to him. He stroked a finger across her hand, lingering over the band of crystal. "I hope that the transition won't be too painful."

Rey stroked a thumb over the contour of his face. "It's nothing."

Ben kissed her slowly, gently, savoring her presence. Drawing back reluctantly, he commented, "You need to eat. I can sense that travelling exhausted you." Rey took one of the ration packs Ben had laid on the console and peeled it open. She drew out a thick fragrant orange wafer, but before she could take a bite, Ben snatched it from her fingers. "Not these. Don't ever eat the sweetened ones. These are loaded with chemicals intended to make the storm troopers more compliant and subdue their ability to make independent decisions."

Rey looked dubiously over the rest of the ration pack. "Anything else?"

"No. The rest is fine." Rey tore open a tube of some kind of gelled protein and tasted it. She grimaced at the flavor, slightly bitter and salty, but ate it anyway. Ben grinned in amusement. "The rest of the rations are either bland or oddly flavored, probably to make the sweetened wafers more appealing and ensure that the troops eat them."

Rey shrugged her indifference as she ate the tasteless wafers of dried plant material. "Except for the few times I was successful in catching game on Jakku, I ate First Order civilian rations for most of my life. They're almost identical to these," she poured the powdered bread into the dish of water he had set aside for her, "except without the liquid protein and sweetened wafers. The portions certainly aren't as generous as these though. I doubt I can eat it all—I'm used to only having a quarter or half portion a day."

Ben kissed her solemnly the temple. "Eat it all-you need it. I promise, you'll never go hungry again."

Rey laid her head on Ben's shoulder and watched the bread rise from the dish. She was surprised that the portion was nearly twice the size of the loaf made by civilian rations. Ben plucked it from the bowl and broke it open. Rey was surprised to see that it steamed. He spread something from the ration pack across the bread and handed it to her.

It had become too much effort to lift her head from Ben's shoulder, and her eyelids felt as though they were bolted shut. She guided the bread to her mouth and was surprised at the creamy, salty flavor of whatever Ben had put on the warm bread.

"Mmm . . . what is that?"

"Some kind of cheese. It's loaded with protein and accounts for nearly all the fat in the rations."

Rey's hand floated to her lap, and she turned her nose into the warmth of Ben's collar. She took a deep breath and went nearly boneless with contentment. Her belly was full for the first time she could remember, and with her body pressed against Ben's warmth, she felt safe. Though she'd nearly shattered her own consciousness to do it and it felt as though her body had been pressed through a sieve, as she drifted off, Ben smiled when he heard her last conscious thought. Home.