AN: This was written and occurs post-TLJ
The planet the Resistance rested on was ancient and quiet and jungle. It was a waiting game now. Rey found herself constantly among the trees. She had even fashioned herself a treehouse where she would go to study the ancient texts she had taken. She pored over one that discussed the art of the saber, but it was difficult to translate, and the depictions did not help her. She held the splintered saber halves in her hands, meditating, trying to feel the Force's will.
All went quiet. "Hello, Ben," she whispered, not opening her eyes.
He hesitated to answer. "Hello, Rey."
She opened her eyes, then. He was folding himself to sit across from her. She was intrigued that he would take a seat on the floor with her. His eyes bore into her.
"You don't know how to fix this, do you?"
He furrowed his brow. "I am doing what I can to bring peace and order to the Galaxy—."
Rey shook her head and held up the saber pieces in her hands. "I meant this."
His face relaxed, and he grew confident. "Show me."
She focused on the pieces and made them separate from each other. In the center of the floating pieces, the two halves of the kyber crystal circled each other.
He studied the damage. After a long time, he retrieved his own saber from his belt. He held it in both hands, and it began to float and disassemble. She noticed that it had been repeatedly repaired, but that observation was forgotten as soon as the crystal was revealed. It was glowing red, in the shape of a heart, with a large gash spiderwebbing down the middle.
"Half a crystal is no good," he told her softly. He frowned, and his own crystal cracked apart. He looked up at her as he moved a piece to her. She gasped when a very solid half of his broken heart fell into her open hand. It was heavy, hard, and cool. She held it up to catch the light. It was brilliant. Refracted shapes sparkled on the walls of her little haven.
"May I?" He asked, nodding to the crystals Rey was levitating.
She nodded, moving one towards him. She watched in awe as he carefully plucked it out of the air. He examined it in his own light, little blue prisms moving across his face. He brought the other half of his own kyber crystal up to it and surrounded both with his large hands. Rey felt waves of the Force course through her soul. Ben seemed to be glowing. There was a pull at her heart, and the half piece in her hand began to glow and raise up to meet the other piece of the legacy saber's kyber crystal. Ben looked up at her, the strain showing in his neck and clenched jaw. She reached out and took the pair of crystals in her own hands. The Force crashed upon her in wave after wave.
"Rey!" Ben called out, and she was suddenly aware that her own Force energy was being pulled into the pair of crystals. She focused, copying the pattern she felt emanating from Ben across the Force Bond. She knew what he was doing. She felt guided as she merged the crystals into one. There was a sudden flash of light and searing pain bit her hands, making her scream.
Another light flashed from Ben's gloved hands, and he gasped, dropping the now glowing purple kyber crystal onto his lap. He promptly reached out, taking her pained hands into his own, and slowly pulled them apart to reveal a little purple heart of kyber crystal, the exact same as the one that had now fallen to the floor in front of him. He made a shushing sound as he took the crystal from her palms and set it on the ground in front of her and held her burned hands in his gloved ones. She felt tears in her eyes at the pain, but she let him move the force around them to calm her soul and calm her pain and calm her burns.
"Do you have bacta?" He asked.
She shook her head, feeling her bottom lip tremble.
"You, get a bacta kit," he ordered someone unseen to her.
"Thank you..."
Ben nodded, rubbing his thumb over the side of her hand. "You did very well," he commended.
She nodded, looking down at her burned hands. Suddenly, he pressed his forehead to hers.
"I'm sorry. I've never done that before. I didn't know it would burn," he apologized.
She felt her heart skip a beat and her stomach flutter. Through his ears, she heard the beeps of a small mouse droid. He pulled back and collected the bacta from the kit and started to apply it to her hands.
"You'll need a new casing for the lightsaber," he said conversationally. "I could have one made for you, if you would like. These look much more stable than mine." He looked into her eyes. "It won't require stabilizing cross guards."
Rey smiled and nodded. "Will you help me build it?"
Ben genuinely smiled. "It would be an honor."
Once her hands were wrapped, she leaned forward quickly, catching him off guard as she gave his cheek a kiss. "May the Force be with you," She implored.
His ears turned bright red. "May the Force be with you, always," he echoed.
She leaned forward again, but he was gone. She looked down at her carefully wrapped hands and noticed that she had her own heart in front of her legs, but she had his heart in front of her, too.
AN: This was originally posted on AO3. Hang out with me on tumblr at Burnt-Kloverfield(my main) or PullToTheLight(my Reylo sideblog).