Disclaimer: I own nothing here, but you know what I always say: Speak softly and drive a big tank!

Point of Light

AN: So I like to think Rey unlocked her Rock-Lion powers when she protected Finn against Kylo on Starkiller base, though she was obviously unaware of it at the time. It is the "something inside me is awake" thing that she tells Luke about, in my headcanon anyway.

Review Responses (for the last two chapters):
To Guest: Sorry, no M rated content here, but fluff I can do! ;) Also, I'm glad you're enjoying the story so much!

To MKNOX1973: I had to use google translate to understand your reviews but I really appreciate them! Thank you for reviewing despite speaking another language. Just goes to show how Star Wars can bring us all together no matter our differences! :)

To ReyloShipper: I am happy you enjoy my story so much! I do have another story in mind, but we'll just have to wait and see if I have any gumption left after I finish this one...

To ToughSpirit: Indeed! Ben is a tough boy though, nothing gonna keep him down long. :D

To BlackBoxForever: Bribery? My good fellow, I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about. xD Also, I see Rey as less of a leader and more of just a bossy female when she's pissed, but that's just me! Haha. (And really, what's the difference I guess?)

I think that's everybody... Enjoy and try not to choke on the fluff!

Chapter Twenty Eight – Pledge


Ben wasn't entirely sure how to reply to Rey's implication: that she was in effect scavenging his positive traits amidst the negative; that she was drawing out the best in him. In a way, he supposed that was true, if only because he felt a profound contentment in her presence, a foreign feeling that he had not known except for splotchy flashes of memory from childhood.

Even though they had only been affectionately holding each others faces for a few seconds, Ben could feel a number of eyes lingering on their exchange from around the medbay. Although it didn't bother him the way it unnerved Rey, he was becoming more and more exhausted the longer he remained standing and could scarcely think of anything aside from escaping to their shared quarters where they could continue... whatever this was in peace and privacy.

For the same reason, any clever remark he may have normally had eluded him. Thankfully, he knew an effective way to make her back down from her determined venture and he was shameless enough to employ the tactic without hesitation. He leaned in closer, wordlessly intent on kissing her pale ruby lips even though he knew she would object to the intimate display in public.

As he expected, Rey's expression blinked into a stern one and she tensed in his hold, shifting her hands to his chest to resist. "Oi, now hold on Ben, I think you injected one too many of those stims earlier." She eyed him carefully and he could feel her gently probing his thoughts. She relaxed a little, her smile returning with relief to find him completely cognizant. "Oh, right. You're just tired then?"

"Could be the stims too." Ben shrugged indifferently, relenting his pursuit for a kiss despite a roaming desire lingering for it. He gave her a playful look and lowered his tone suggestively. "But if it's all the same to you, I'd like to take you to bed now."

Bristling against him, Rey's response was delayed as her mind revolved around his meaning. "I'll allow that comment," she said, clearly contending against an inappropriate smile as she gave him an equally playful shove. "But only because I feel like I could sleep for a full rotation myself."

Ben didn't hesitate to act on her prompt and finally moved to exit through the medbay's double doors, effectively evading their former debate about his mother. It wasn't that he couldn't work up a plausible argument on the matter, he simply just didn't have the patience or desire to address it at present. Especially not when he could instead be lying comfortably in his bed with his betrothed nestled blissfully beside him.

His much anticipated daydream was quickly snatched away, however, as they stepped out of the medbay and into the bustling hallway outside. "Ah, Supreme Leader, Prime Leader," a nearby trooper greeted, apparently having been standing guard there. "Good to see you're both alright, but I have urgent matters to discuss with you."

Ben's gaze hardened as he noticed an oddity in the way the trooper tried to speak softly despite his helmet's amplifier and the way he seemed to glance around suspiciously, as if he expected to be targeted by a sniper in the passing stream of soldiers at any moment.

"Thank you for standing guard, Zeroes," Rey said and moved closer to the trooper before Ben could work up a reply. "What is it?"

From the floor came a warbled string of beeps before the trooper could even begin explaining himself. Ben and Rey looked down to see BB-8 teetering on his axis anxiously. You left me outside. I intend to inform my master about this...

"Sorry Beebee," Rey apologized as she knelt down to check his antenna, as if it were a compulsive habit. "I didn't mean to leave you out here. Things got a little crazy, ok?"

Don't let it happen again, the droid grumbled with an unusual amount of insolence before pivoting his optics up to Ben pointedly. Why don't any of these soldiers speak droid? Obviously, the mech and the trooper had spent a long time standing vigil together, though any conversation they had was apparently one sided.

Scowling with annoyance, Ben ignored the query and turned back to the trooper. His patience was wearing thin and his fatigue was taking its toll. "Urgent matters, trooper?"

"Er, yes sir, sorry sir," Zeroes replied with a snap of a salute as Rey regained her height to listen as well. "My squad and I have been hearing a lot of dangerous chatter among the higher ups and we believe these attempts on your life so far were just the beginning." He spoke slowly and paused to take another nervous glance around, making sure no passerby lingered long enough to hear more than two or three words.

"We think something big is coming, something really drastic this time," Zeroes paused again, more for effect than discretion. "One of my squad-mates is currently in contact with a suspected conspirator who seems to be recruiting volunteers for a "special" job within the next standard cycle. If our squad is chosen, I'll try to send you a warning with whatever information I receive. However, any further direct contact will be too dangerous..."

For Ben, nothing the trooper said was surprising, except for the fact that he apparently had a squad of loyal soldiers working undercover for him. Although he couldn't check on the rest of the squad's moral, after momentarily peering into the Force and noting Zeroes' stalwart blue intentions, he wasn't about to question his words. Especially when Rey seemed to trust him so resolutely. "Take the droid," Ben replied, catching Rey's apt attention. "When you discover something important, send him to us with a message."

"This droid, sir?" Zeroes indicated BB-8 and he seemed to visibly wither at the suggestion. When Ben nodded the trooper tipped his helmed head down dubiously. "I might need to give him a new paint job, then."

Rey cringed a little at that, though Ben caught the flash of a telling smirk on her face. "Poe won't like that."

"Do it," Ben affirmed automatically with another nod. Any loss for that damn pilot was a win in his mind.

BB-8 let out a long, forlorn whine in response. That does it, I am officially offended.


Ben couldn't remember the last time he was so grateful to reach his quarters. It was all he could do not to collapse on his bed as soon as he laid eyes on it. Stims were a double-edged blade in that although they offered immediate energy and stability they also took heavy loans on stamina. Therefore, his mind and body felt ten times heavier than normal and he wasn't even sure he could handle crossing over to the fresher, much less manage a shower.

Unfortunately, there was a much more pressing issue at hand than his personal hygiene. He moved to his computer terminal, noting with a glance how Rey's eyes also lingered on the bed before meeting his, as if she were in the same dilemma as him. He had to immediately quell a brief fantasy about sharing a shower session with her before it had a chance to materialize fully and incur her wrath. Instead, he forced himself to focus on the task before him and started up a communication to the Finalizer.

The action caught Rey's attention and she eased closer curiously. "You're releasing Finn early?"

"If I wait until tomorrow, he might not be alive to release." Ben nodded as he proceeded to give the Finalizer's captain strict instructions to keep the release quiet again. "Remember Captain, should anything happen to the prisoner, your fate will be the same as his." The silence that followed spoke for itself and Ben didn't wait for the officer's stammering reply to finish before cutting the call.

Rey was beside him before he could even turn his head to regard her. "Thank you," she said and gave him a peck on the cheek, as if it were a reward for good behavior.

"You deserve so much more than this." He leaned into her, attempting to nuzzle her hair but she drew back coyly.

"What are you offering?" she asked, expression alight with amusement as she poked at his side playfully. "Half the fleet?"

He knew she was mocking him but oddly enough he didn't care. Although her suggestion was meant to be a joke, he wished it wasn't. He wished she would willingly take up the mantle of his equal, to help him right an Order spiraling out of his control... If she did, maybe he could find a way to get rid of Hux once and for all, without it blowing up in his face. "And if I was?" he was asking the question before he really gave the notion proper thought, his curiosity piqued. "What would your first directive be?"

Rey blinked at him in surprise for a good long moment, her expression first turning thoughtful, then wry with mischief. "Well, I think it might do everyone a lot of good to go on a prolonged and indefinite vacation."

"Half the fleet, away on paid leave," Ben repeated, humoring her in a dull monotone. "The other half would be left in chaos."

Rey narrowed her gaze with a clever grin. "Not if you send your half on vacation, too."

"The entire fleet," he said through an amused huff. What she was suggesting was ludicrous, of course, but her light mood was contagious and he found himself playing along without much thought. "The Order would be broke in a matter of days."

"Worth it," Rey replied without hesitation, head held complacently. "I would be the most loved leader the Order has ever seen."

Almost involuntarily, Ben released a low chuckle, a reaction he was not accustomed to, feeling such an intense affection for her that it threatened to overwhelm him. He reached for her waist, his desire to pick her up right there and carry her to bed effectively overriding any former intentions for a turn in the fresher.

"Oi!" she yelped and reared away from his reach, clearly having other ideas, though her impish expression alluded to an amusement all her own. "Good sir," she snapped with mock indignation. "If you don't mind, I would appreciate a chance to change out of these scorched and torn clothes first."

Relenting and too tired to entertain any thoughts of pursuit, he watched her retreat to her room, the door hissing closed after her. Ben didn't move from his spot for a moment, brooding that maybe he didn't even need a shower after having spent some hours submerged in bacta water. He was genuinely surprised when Rey reemerged from her room a second later, an astonished look about her as she stared down at a device in her hand, as if it held a reality she was too frightened to know.

She met his prying gaze before he could voice a question. "I completely forgot," she said. "Maz gave me this comlink before we separated. She said it's programed with her personal code..."

Ben studied her and the device for a moment, once again forcing his fatigue to the side in deference to his fiancée's needs. He could sense her trepidation and fear about the unknown, about what she might discover if she made the call. Her mental torment was palpable and throbbing, as if she were balancing precariously on a dangerous precipice over an infinite abyss.

"I don't know what to do," she admitted, peering up at him with the most miserable expression.

Ben realized after another moment of hesitation that she was waiting for his response, for his reassurance of all things. He blinked at her in a brief daze of astonishment. Rey's fierce independence was her greatest strength, therefore the fact that she had started relying on him for anything seemed like a foreign concept.

On the other hand, he mused with a content smile, he rather liked the idea of catching her if she fell.

"Make the call," he told her gently and motioned to the long range transceiver on his computer terminal. "It will haunt you forever if you don't."

Rey nodded, her movements sluggish as she snapped the comlink into the transceiver's housing and punched the corresponding keys to initiate a transmission. A few tense seconds of static lapsed before a fuzzy blue image blinked in front of them. The hologram wavered and crackled before it finally materialized into the personage of an old but feisty looking Maz Kanata, complete with orange skin and silver goggles.

"Hey there, kiddo!" the diminutive alien greeted exuberantly, as if she had been expecting the call. Her calculating eyes shifted to Ben with a sneer. "I see your prince survived."

"Maz, you're alive!" Rey exclaimed, her voice cracking with surprise and anxiety as she ignored the jab at her counterpart and leaned closer to the holo. "Is Chewie okay? Are you safe?"

"Oh yes, yes we're fine dear," Maz replied with a wry smile, her head turning slightly at the sound of a Wookiee's grumble in the background. She chuckled and gave Rey an expectant look. "In case you didn't catch that, he says you own him ten thousand."

Ben felt Rey's relief flood his senses like a dangerous chemical in his bloodstream, giving him the distinct, dizzy sensation of nearly passing out. He didn't realize what he was feeling was actually her symptoms until she staggered to brace against the terminal just before her legs gave out from under her.

He caught her, but just barely and more due to his quick reflexes than his own fading consciousness. He shifted her limp weight in his arms to ascertain her unconscious state and to check for a steady pulse.

"Poor thing, she must be exhausted," Maz commented from the holoprojector. "You'd better put her to bed." She fixed Ben with a stern glare. "And so help me boy, if you try anything, you'll have to deal with Chewie... again!"

The pirate queen didn't even give him a chance to reply as a resounding Wookiee roar of agreement lingered even after she abruptly cut the transmission. That was fine. Ben didn't exactly feel capable of working up a response to their threats anyway. As it was, they would need to get in line if they wanted a piece of him.

As for the accusation, he couldn't even spare the energy it would take to entertain such impure intentions, since it was taking everything he had just to remain standing with Rey's extra weight. The handful of steps to his bed suddenly seemed like a mile long trek, though the reward of finally settling in beside his bedmate was well worth it.

Rey was still sleeping soundly when he pulled the covers up to her shoulders, her brows were relaxed, her breathing stable. He held her close and nuzzled into the crown of her head, finally allowing his thoughts to drift into a sleepy awareness.

A sudden, hazy realization blossomed in his mind as he phased from reality to dreams. His newly discovered contented state decided that as long as he could have Rey sleeping beside him every night, nothing else mattered. And that maybe, giving the Order a vacation wasn't such a bad idea after all...


An astral plane of stars surrounded him and he stood on the curious solid surface of placid water as it perfectly reflected the cosmos above. He could sense the presence of the man behind him like an electrical thrumming in the back of his head. Frowning deeply, Ben made no attempt to start the inevitable conversation.

"Try not to screw this up, kid," the other man grumbled, his familiar voice low and gravelly. "Finding a girl with enough determination to tame you wasn't easy, you know."

"Old man," Ben acknowledged through a low grumble of his own, sensing he stood back to back with the other man. "Don't even pretend to think you actually orchestrated everything that has transpired up to this point."

There was a significant pause and a convenient change of topic. "She smiles too much."

"I agree," Ben replied in a monotone. He didn't need to hear his voice or turn around to know the man's identity standing behind him. He didn't like to admit it, but could not refute the reality that a part of his father's heart would forever remain in his own. "A flaw that should never be corrected."

"Hmm," the other man sounded out a smile. "Guess she has to make up for your deficiencies somehow."

Ben scoffed bitterly. "Even in death, you deride me."

"Old habits," the older man admitted guiltily. "The way you treat her though... It makes me think that maybe- Maybe I didn't fail completely as a father. Maybe you were paying attention when it mattered."

Ben scowled and clenched his fists, unable to bite back the scathing reply on his tongue. "You mean when you were actually home? When the two of you weren't arguing? When you weren't watching me as though I might be a Gundark in a child's body?"

There was another long delay to the other man's response, so long that it took all of Ben's willpower not to spin around and pin him with a sharp glare. When his father's reply finally came, it was deep and laden with sadness. "Yes... Between all that."


Ben woke, feeling both agitated by his dream and confused as to why Rey was not tucked comfortably between his arms. He turned onto his back to check the chrono on his nightstand, noting that he had only been asleep for a couple hours. Before making a conscious effort to look for her, he could just make out her form in the dim lighting as she approached from the fresher.

He guessed that she had awoken some time ago, long enough to take a shower, judging by the way her damp hair brushed across his face as she slid over him to take her former position beside him. He found it absently amusing how she could have simply circled around and entered from the other side of the bed but instead chose to climb over him, as if she were checking his level of awareness.

Although still groggy from dreaming, he was not so delirious to ignore her silent inquiry. "I'm awake."

Rey lay on her side, facing him, and although it was too dark to see her expression fully, Ben could at least sense a prominent thread of shame in her mind. "Did I... actually faint, earlier?"

Was that it? Was that really all she felt ashamed for? He had to stifle both a scoff and a sigh. If only his own shame and guilt were related to such trivial matters. "You were still drained from healing me... It was a taxing day on both of us."

"Hey," she murmured and inched a little closer, her tone concerned. "What's wrong?"

Not turning to her, Ben frowned at the question. It astounded him really, how she could so easily discard her own mental issues and latch onto his. He could feel her probing for his thoughts gently, trying to get a hint at his internal struggle. He would admit to having a strong urge to confide in her, to work through his doubts and anxieties.

It had been a gradual process, not something that occurred to him all at once, but ever since he had rid himself of Snoke's residual corruption the shards of guilt had begun plaguing him even more. It wasn't as though he felt regret for all his atrocities; most were necessary for the greater good. But some... Some were not.

He was still convinced that the Order was the means of salvation for the galaxy, though he would no longer deny the wrongness it had wrought along the way. The wrongness he had wrought.

"That's good," Rey said softly and reached a hand up to coax his face towards her. "Now let me help." She had apparently followed his thought pattern enough to at least get an idea about his mental torment.

He scowled against the misery writhing around in his chest, against the anger from his own judgments, against the fear of disappointing her. "How can I ever expect to make up for the things I've done?"

Rey didn't respond at first, but he could sense her careful consideration, could feel her intent gaze on him even if she couldn't see his face very well. He imagined her eyes softening as she projected a powerful sense of proud relief at him, as if she had been waiting with a coiled anticipation for such a question. "By doing everything you can. By helping others for the rest of your life. By never turning your back on those in need."

"That sounds a lot like a Jedi pledge," Ben replied with a jaded scrutiny. "A life of servitude."

"A meaningful way of life," Rey corrected gently, though she did not deny his claim. "A path I will gladly walk with you."

Ben tried to study her in the dim lighting for a long moment, noting how her eyes took on a fascinating blueish-white glint. He suddenly found himself at the edge of a precipice, overlooking an unknown drop and presented with two choices. Remain where he was, remain as he was, living with that gnawing guilt for the rest of his days. Or, move forward, towards progress, trusting in the one person he had allowed himself to love wholeheartedly...

"Tell you what," he said compliantly, realizing his decision had already been made before he even thought it through fully. "If we manage to survive this so called "ambush" tomorrow, then I will agree to this pledge." He turned his gaze away from her and dropped his tone, his thoughts suddenly dire and brooding. "Otherwise, I'll either be dead or... I'll have lost all reason to live."

"Ben," Rey grumbled at him, as if she were losing patience with him. She gave his chest an annoyed swat. "You just had to remind me about that." Clearly agitated now and seeking reassurance, she positioned her torso over his and loomed over him, her long damp hair brushing his face again. "What are we going to do about it? How are we supposed to prepare for something like this?"

"We won't worry about it right now," Ben replied firmly and raised his hands to either side of her face in a silent request of his own. "We'll think of something in the morning."

Releasing her worries through a bothered sigh, Rey yielded to his touch amiably and eased down to meet him in a brief, tender kiss. When her lips parted from his, too soon in his mind, he had to forcefully keep himself from pursuing more. He wanted so much more of her, a desperate need that was becoming more demanding every waking hour.

Ben was pleasantly surprised when she returned for a longer, deeper kiss, one that sent a charge through his veins and a thundering in his heart, along with that familiar though curious spark of energy crackling between them. He felt her complacent smile, knowing she was preparing to set a limit on their heated exchange.

With a clever smile of his own, he wondered what the odds were of persuading her otherwise.