Everything happened at once. One second Rey was surging forward and the next he felt himself torn away. Light burst around him and he almost lost himself in it, becoming indistinct for a moment before being shunted back down. He felt like he was falling, tumbling head over heels towards… Something. And then he hit the ground.
Ben groaned, his whole body ached as if he'd been on a week long bender. The world spun around him and his attempts at rising were only making it worse. He struggled to roll over on to his back, shielding his eyes with his arm, everything was too bright, too sharp.
Rey awoke suddenly to the sound of movement near her. She slowly pulled herself up from the clear ground of the path, glancing at where the portal had been. It was gone now. Closed. A groan pulled her attention over to her other side and she froze.
It was BEN! She watched him roll over onto his back, tossing his arm over his eyes as he winced. She reached for him with the force and instead of finding his presence inside her it now resided next to her. Her whole body vibrated with hope.
"Ben..?" her voice was shaky, scared, joyful.
He squinted at her from beneath his arm, "Yeah…?" What was wrong? Something was wrong. It pulled him out of his haze quicker than anything else could and he jolted upright only to immediately regret it. His head throbbed and he moved his hand to cradle it,"Ow…"
Rey crawled towards him on her hands and knees, reaching out to touch his face, cradling his cheek. When her hand made contact she felt a thrill of pleasure, felt their spirits intwine again, Ben's eyes snapped up to hers, he felt it too. She watched as the reality of it dawned upon him, his face going from shock to confusion to jubilation in a matter of a second.
He had his body back! His body! He breathed with his own lungs, his own heart beat steadily in his chest, it was euphoric. He placed a hand over the one Rey held to his face and then sprang forward to capture her lips in a soft kiss, his other arm moving to gather the rest of her against him.
She kissed him back, lips moving to trail across his cheek, she kissed his temple, his forehead, his eyelids, his nose, and then went back to his lips.
"Ben…" she murmured when they parted once more, her hands moving over his face and down to his shoulders, confirming that it was true, that he actually sat before her. Full and whole as he'd once been. Her smile was wide and he returned it with his own, pressing his forehead against hers.
"How?" He marveled, trying to figure out what had just happened to him.
"I... I couldn't watch you die again. I had to do something. I just reacted. I grabbed you and pulled you here…" Her words trailed off and her eyes widened, "That is why you disappeared. I did it. It was me, here, now, pulling you away. This, this is what happened!"
They sat in each others arms, just staring at one another, for what felt like a long time. Rey noticed that he was still covered in the wounds from their battle on Exegol. Her fingers trailed over a cut on his left cheek and he grimaced.
"Can I heal you?" she asked quietly, dropping her hand to grip his arm.
"Are you strong enough? Last time…" he looked worried, hesitant.
"I feel fine. Better than fine actually. I feel." She examined it, closed her eyes and let the force blow through her. It felt like it had before. Before she'd died, before he'd been taken from her. She felt strong and solid and whole.
When she opened her eyes her expression was confident, "I can do it."
"All right, but stop if you feel anything unusual. Okay?" He cupped her cheek, running his thumb gently across it.
Rey nodded and sat back on her knees, closing her eyes and taking a deep cleansing breath before the grip she had on his arm tightened. She directed her living force into him, just a sliver of it, searching out his wounds and knitting them back together. A broken bone in his leg, orbit, a rib, multiple soft tissue injuries. Slowly they all melted away. She heard Ben suck in a breath, opening her eyes to see if she'd been successful, finding his face unmarred and healthy looking.
Ben moved his arms and legs, finding that they felt… Fine. Like nothing had ever happened. He smiled widely, leaning forward to capture Rey's lips in a thankful kiss. When he pulled away he went to stand, taking her hand to pull her up with him.
He felt a little wobbly, it had been awhile since he'd actually walked. Rey put her hands on his chest to steady him, "Whoa, take it slow," she said, wrapping an arm around his waist, "Lean on me if you have to until you feel better."
Ben did just that, wrapping an arm over her shoulders, leaning slightly against her. "Now what?" he asked, looking around them, "Where do we go from here?"
"Maybe back towards the door we came through?" she suggested, pointing to their left.
Ben nodded and they began to head in that direction. They continued to pass portals, moments in time, a few drew more of their attention. In one Ben caught a glimpse of a young Luke Skywalker. Then, he felt a soft pull towards a portal ahead, a gentle tug, like a child pulling on his sweater, leading him away. Ben stepped away from Rey to follow it, curious.
Rey watched Ben move away, a confused look on her face, "Where are you going?" she followed him, a few steps behind, as he approached a portal, stopping a few paces before it.
The image in the portal made her shudder, it was a scene she remembered all too well; a scene she'd tried to forget, tried to push to the back of her mind. Before them stood Kylo Ren and Han Solo, on the bridge within the thermal oscillator on Starkiller base.
She watched as Ben stared into the portal. His shoulders shook and she could feel tension rolling off of him. Rey moved forward to stand beside him, lacing her fingers between his and giving his hand a squeeze, "You don't have to watch this." she whispered.
Ben shook his head, releasing a few tears in the process, "I have to."
Every part of his being wanted to leap towards Han and rip him from there, pull him to safety. Undo the horrible, unforgivable, thing he had done. His free hand lifted to touch the portal and he felt Rey tug on his other arm.
"Ben… We can't. We can't save him," she plead with him, trying to pull him back.
"He doesn't deserve to die, it was a mistake!" Ben shook with his conviction, every cell in his body wanted to do something. Anything!
"If you save Han you doom yourself! Ben you can't save him... We can't save him. He died to save you! Don't you see that?" She moved to stand between him and the portal, pushing on his chest. His eyes had gone glassy and he was transfixed by the portal before them, Rey gave him a shove, "If you save him I die! Don't you see? His death was the catalyst for your return from the darkside. Without his sacrifice you'd still be Kylo Ren and I would probably be dead. Is that what you want?"
The thought of Rey gone was more than enough to pull his gaze away, he looked down to her, looked away as Kylo Ren ignited his lightsaber right through Han's chest. He let out a shaky breath and leaned his forehead down against hers, "You're right," he breathed, "He did it to save me. He knew what I was going to do and let me do it…"
Rey lifted her hands to wipe the tears from his face, "He loved you. They both did."
"I know…" he whispered, looking up with a sniff as the portal behind her went dark.
"Come on," she said, "let's get out of here."
They walked further, hand in hand, Rey leading the way back towards where they'd first entered. In the back of her mind she could feel an insidious darkness, could hear a voice that she had hoped to never hear again. Of course she'd hear him here. If he was dead he was part of the cosmic force now. His awful laughter echoed behind her and made her shiver and quicken her pace.
Ben could feel it too, Palpatine's presence seemed to follow them like a shadow. He heard Vader, Snoke, Ren. They all encouraged him to go back, to save his father, and tried to pepper doubt in his mind. His hand tightened on Rey's, "The sooner we leave this place, the better."
"Agreed," she said, pointing to a portal ahead, "It's that one, come on." Rey picked up her pace, running towards the portal now. The voices grew stronger, louder, angrier behind them and it only spurred them to move faster. Ben scooped Rey up into his arms, "You're sure this is the one?" he asked her.
"Yes!" she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Ben nodded and ran straight through it, closing his eyes and bracing for impact. Once again something pulled them through and then roughly spit them back out again. Ben managed to keep Rey in his arms, landing upon the floor of the cave in a crouch.
The voices blinked out of existence when they landed and the portal immediately closed behind them. The stone wall now looked as it had when they'd first found it. Ben stood slowly, gently setting Rey back down on the ground. When she had her feet under her she turned to look back at the wall.
"Well that was… Eventful." He said, dusting himself off, a finger catching on the hole in his sweater.
"This place is… No one should have this power." Rey said, looking up at him.
Ben nodded, knowing what she meant, "It needs to be destroyed."
She dug in her pack for the thermal detonators she'd brought with them, you know, just in case. Rey stuck them to the roof of the cave with Ben's help and then they moved back, backing right out of the cave before she detonated them. It was quick and efficient. The cave collapsed easily in upon itself as Rey and Ben stood in the rain and watched, hand in hand.
No one would ever use this entrance to the Vergence Scatter ever again.