A/N Ok well I wrote this little drabble in about three hours and proofed it once so sorry if there are any mistakes. Enjoy.
Rey is curled up in a ball on the sand-covered floor of an empty room, of a long-abandoned farmhouse. The deserts of Tattooine have begun to reclaim this space decades after the scavengers stripped the house and outlying buildings for anything of value.
She wakes to the sound of a sandstorm and mechanically rises to shut all the windows and doors against the punishing wind and sand.
She knows this life, has been lived before.
The endless days of survival, waiting for someone whom she knows will never come.
Rey is lost and she knows it. She has pleaded with the Jedi of the past to guide her, but has been met with nothing but silence.
When she first arrived at Luke's old home on the desert planet, Rey was full of hope that dimmed the sorrow in her soul and kept it at bay. She started to prepare to pass on her basic knowledge of the Jedi, clearing away space for anyone who wanted to learn and studying hard to be able to answer their questions when the time came.
But no one came.
Even Finn, the only other force-sensitive she knew of, was off with Poe and Chewie, busy cleaning up the mess that the Sith Emperor Palpatine had left in the Galaxy.
Her hope started to fade as her grief and sorrow started to seep in.
That was weeks ago, when the hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach began.
And the dreams.
Rey now lived for those dreams; the stolen glimpses of a life she could have had.
Rey stretches her arms over her head as a big, warm arm slides across her stomach, tugging her closer to the even warmer body spilling over the other side of the bed. She grins and lets Ben pull her into his chest and nuzzle sleepy kisses to the top of her head. Rey slips a leg over his and sighs contentedly as she soaks in his warmth and scent.
"Stay with me." She murmurs into his shoulder, her hands sliding up, across his hard chest.
"Always." He rumbles into the soft skin of her throat.
Rey wakes again, reaching for him and finding nothing but cold sand. The tears form in her eyes before she even opens them and Rey curls tighter into herself, trying to staunch the pain from the gaping, jagged wound in her soul where the other half used to be.
The days and nights bleed together until Rey is a walking shade. A shadow of the person she was as she ignores the concerned beeps of BB-8 beside her, pestering her to eat something and get up from her bedroll in the corner of an empty room.
A ripple in the force is what makes her turn and heavily sit up to find a presence forming in the room. For a moment, her heart leaps at the outline of wavy locks on a tall frame but confusion sets in as an unfamiliar face solidifies before her.
Rey stares at the force projection and he gives her a lop-sided smile.
"You must be Rey." He says in a friendly tone and looks around the room as he strolls around the room.
"This place has seen better days." He comments, but Rey just stares at him and he takes a longer look at her, taking in the pallid complexion and gaunt frame. The man's face tightens.
"My grandson inherited a stubborn streak, thinking he knows what's best for everyone."
Rey's brow furrows slightly but she gives no other reply and the man sighs loudly through his nose.
"He's more like me than I want to admit, but he did what I couldn't."
He pauses to study Rey again for a moment.
"I'm Anakin, by the way." He says and Rey speaks finally.
"I know who you are. Why have you come here?" She says in a deadpan tone.
"Because my stubborn grandson refuses to and insists it's better for you."
Rey's pale face goes ashen.
"To help you move on without him."
Anakin crouches down to level his eyes with Rey's.
"I had my doubts, so I came to see for myself."
He sighs again, resignedly.
"We really are a family of overly-dramatic fools."
Anakin stands again and gives Rey a sad smile.
"It was nice meeting you Rey."
He says and then his image fades from the room.
Rey is so numb that she doesn't even question the visit. BB-8 whines at her but Rey just rolls over and tries to go back to sleep; to find Ben in her dreams again.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
A sharp smack to the back of the head is the first thing Ben Solo feels as his spirit is shocked back into a physical form.
"This is the last of my force energy, Ben. I'm giving it to you. Don't make the same mistakes I did."
He hears his grandfather's warning as Ben sucks in a gasp and then coughs violently through the sand in the air. He throws his arm over his face to keep out the dust, but his disorientation makes him stumble as he tries to rise amidst the swirling sand and wind.
"Kriffing sand." He says and hears a faint chuckle as he kneels in the desert, cupping his hands over his face. He stays bent over in the sand for what seems like hours before the wind starts to die down.
His naked skin feels dry and burned from the swirling sand, but as the air clears he opens his eyes to see a domed structure in the distance. Ben staggers to his feet and moves towards the shelter.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rey's skin feels itchy and sensitive and it irritates enough to move her from her bed. With a great effort, she rises from her bedroll on the sandy ground and walks towards her water canteen on the table, taking a long drink as BB-8 shakes the sand from his gears and rolls towards her in question.
There's a rising tension in her body and she glances at the droid.
"I'm sorry BB-8. I haven't been taking very good care of us." She says with shame and then breaks off a small piece of a ration pack to slowly chew on.
Her hands are shaking slightly as they clutch her slightly distended stomach, her head is pounding in pain and her muscles seize as she moves. Rey frowns as she recognizes the signs of malnutrition.
She's not sure where her new resolve has come from, but as she munches on the tasteless rations, she starts walking. Another sandstorm has just passed, and Rey finds herself trudging out into the half-buried courtyard. The feeling in her chest seems to wriggle and Rey's heart rate rises.
Her brow furrows and the feeling intensifies. BB-8 beeps at her in question when Rey drops the ration in her hand and starts climbing the sandslide with rising urgency. In her weakened state, it takes her a lot longer than it should, but finally Rey heaves herself over the edge and rolls to a kneeling position.
The feeling inside her is pulsing now, pushing her to stand, to raise her head and look.
She recognizes the feeling inside her only a moment before she sees the figure in the distance, stumbling towards her.
Shock freezes her limbs for only a few seconds before she starts walking, and then running towards him. His name falls from her lips as she sprints, stumbles and then lurches to her feet again to see Ben collapse in the sand.
She runs faster, spurned on by disbelief and hope as she falls to her knees before him.
"Ben. Ben." She can't stop saying his name as she cradles his head in her lap.
Rey tilts his face up to look at him and his weak smile has tears springing to her eyes.
His voice is no more than a croak as he whispers her name and lifts a hand to her face.
Rey is sobbing as she rolls him over and drapes his heavy arm over her shoulder and heaves them both to their feet, half-dragging them towards the homestead.
Ben remembers only Rey.
Her face swimming above him, telling him to move and then they were sliding down the sand.
His consciousness is slowly becoming more aware that he's lying on the ground and water is dribbling into his mouth. He splutters once and lifts his head, cracking his eyes open to find Rey's beautiful face hovering over him again.
They stare at each other for a very long time until Rey places a tentative hand on his jaw, her breath catching audibly.
"You're… here."
Ben can feel the smile on his face as he covers her hand with his own, tugging it over so he can place a small kiss to her palm.
Rey is laughing through her tears as she leans down, moving their hands so she can kiss his lips.
The soft, wet kisses seem to revive him, and Ben shifts up into a sitting position to better kiss Rey as he holds her beautiful face in his hands.
An interruption in the form of BB-8's happy beeping and blooping, breaks their kiss but they continue to grin at each other until Rey grimaces and holds a hand to her stomach. She smirks apologetically at him but moves away towards the ration packs spread across the table in the outside room.
"Sorry. Hunger pangs. I've got to start eating more." She says as she goes.
Ben's brow furrows as he rises from the ground, holding the thin blanket against his nakedness, as he tries to hold on to a memory niggling at the back of his skull.
He has just gotten to his feet when the memory takes hold and he falls to his knees again, a gasp tearing from his chest.
Rey whips back around and hurries back over to him, skimming her hands over his arms and face, searching frantically for the cause of his distress.
"Ben?"
Her eyes are probing his for answers as he forces the words from his mouth.
"I remember why I died."
Rey's eyes turn soft as she caresses Ben's face, running the fingers of one hand through his hair.
"The Emperor—" She begins but he cuts her off.
"No, Rey."
He's shaking his head as the memories flood back to him of Rey's dead eyes and her broken body on the stone floor of the Sith temple; his shock and grief and then his resolve to save her.
Ben cups his hand to Rey's face and ghosts a kiss across her lips as his hand drifts down to her hip.
He remembers his surprise and redoubling determination to sacrifice himself if he had to.
Ben looks at Rey and sees her confusion. He smiles as the shock starts trickling away and he tucks a stray wisp of hair behind her ear.
"It took my entire life force to save all of you." He says and sees that she still doesn't understand so he tries again.
"You protect more than just the balance, Rey."
He holds her eyes as he slides his hand from her hip to her subtly distended abdomen.
"A thousand generations live in you now."
Rey's eyes go wide as comprehension dawns and her hand slides down across her stomach as his did.
"Oh."
XXXXXXXXX
Rey's mind goes blank before it lurches forward at incredible speeds. All the pieces fall into place as Luke's cryptic words repeat over and over in her mind.
The words that Ben unwittingly repeated a moment ago.
She is the protector of not just the Jedi way, but the next generation of Jedi themselves.
Rey sits back onto the sandy floor, her eyes glazed over as her new reality settles around her. Ben's hands help her sit back and he waits for her reaction.
"But… how?" She says finally, looking into Ben's face.
"We never…" She begins and then a blush blooms over her face as she glances down at the blanket clutched to his lower half and then back up to his face where he's smothering a smile.
Rey watches the tips of Ben's ears turn red as he tries to answer her.
"I think when I healed you, I transferred too much of my life force to you. That's my best guess."
She sees his eyes dart sideways and his face fall into concentration for a moment.
"Although by some accounts, my grandfather was conceived by immaculate conception."
Rey still feels stunned but she lets out a long breath before she slowly climbs into Ben's lap. His arms wrap instantly around her, and she feels his chin rest on the top of her head.
"This is more daunting than it was to be the last Jedi."
She says as she experimentally runs a finger over her stomach.
"I'm sorry little one." She whispers and Rey feels Ben stiffen slightly, causing her to tilt her face up to see his raised eyebrows.
"Ben?"
He looks down at her and smiles indulgingly.
"Two. There are two, Rey."
One last jolt of shock runs through her and then Rey finds herself starting to chuckle.
"Immaculate or not, that Skywalker blood is strong."
She watches Ben's face split into her favourite crooked grin before she reaches up to kiss him again.