She needed the Wayfinder. It had to be here because time was running out. The sea here on Endor had really been too rough for the skimmer, she'd had to use the Force to hold it on course, and honestly, to hold it together. She was uncomfortable around so much water, so it had been difficult to keep her focus. And then, also, she'd had a moment of guilt over stealing it from people who clearly depended upon it for survival, people who had offered her assistance. But if she didn't get to the Wayfinder, the Emperor would rise again. The Emperor who had killed her parents. Billions of other people as well, but most personally for her, his own son and daughter-in-law. She refused to think of Ben's voice telling her what she'd already known, deep down.
Time was running out. She steeled herself and began climbing the ruins. Her mind kept returning to Jakku. Her parents. Natural, as she hadn't done anything like this since she'd left scavenging behind. Before long, her muscles started to burn from the unaccustomed activity. She forced herself to ignore the pain and thoughts of Jakku and continued upwards.
She thought about Finn, her first and truest friend. Thought about Poe, who was definitely cursing her back on shore. They were like oil and water, held together by mutual respect and their love for Finn. She thought about Chewbacca, hundreds of years old, but still willing to befriend much shorter-lived humans. Everyone he loved had died except Leia, and still he befriended the newer members of the Resistance. Still co-piloted a ship that was his, by all rights. Leia. Her master. A woman who had suffered more than any woman should. Rose. Kaydel. Maz. Aftab. Beaumont. Nien. Snap.
She climbed upward steadily, thinking of the people she was fighting for: her friends, and the nameless denizens of a universe in danger. When she finally reached the portion of the Death Star wreckage indicated by the Sith dagger, she was sweating.
The Emperor's throne stood before her, damaged and contorted, but still recognizable. The door of the vault slid open to the side, almost as though it'd been waiting for her arrival. The arrival of Palpatine's heir. The Wayfinder was floating there, unaffected by the destruction of the Death Star, unaffected by decades in the sea as everything around it rotted, rusted. Then her vision was before her again. Her dark double—she feared—her true self. "Don't be afraid of who you are." The sound of her shadow voicing her deepest fear sent her into a panic. She barely drew Luke's lightsaber in time to block the attack. Their locked light sabers drew them parallel, like mirror images of light and dark. The vision hissed at her, revealing a hideous visage and she tumbled backward, the Wayfinder rolling across the tilting floor straight into a gloved hand.
Ben was here. What she both feared and desired. Her other half, her true equal. She wasn't sure if it was the bond between them, or something else that made her so unsettled when he was near, but she hated the uncertainty he brought her.
She ignited Luke's saber. His eyes stayed locked on her face, his expression earnest. She couldn't tell what emotion she was sensing through the bond, so she pushed the connection away. "Look at yourself. You wanted to prove to my mother that you're a Jedi, but you've proven something else. You can't go back to her now. Like I can't." Again, he was reading his motivations onto her actions. He thought that Leia hadn't known about Rey's parentage. He truly believed Leia would abandon Rey as he felt he'd been abandoned by his parents.
Rey knew that her master had known the truth, sensed it, even as she sensed Rey's uncertainty and conflict—the pull toward the Dark Side. Leia knew who she was, even when Rey herself was unsure. She might be uncertain of herself, but never her master. Her heart hurt for Leia—and for Ben—knowing that despite what Ben thought, his mother would give anything to have him return to her. "Give it to me."
Ben ignored her, holding the Wayfinder out at his side. "The Dark Side is in our nature. Surrender to it." She wondered if that was how he truly felt. That he had surrendered to the Dark in his nature. The conflict inside him was even now threatening to tear him apart. For all he professed to believe that he was the natural heir to Vader, the light within him was strong.
"Give. It. To. Me." She spoke each word through gritted teeth. She would not fail now. Not so close to her object.
He considered the Wayfinder in his hand with a strange detachment. "The only way you're getting to Exegol is with me." He crushed it like it was made of sand, pieces falling from his gloved hand to the floor.
"No!" It was too late. Her map to the hidden planet was shattered on the floor. She leapt at him, swinging the saber wildly, unable to accept that her chance was gone. She needed the Wayfinder to avenge her parents. To face their killer. To save the galaxy. To save her friends. He dodged her wild strikes, moving at the last moment. After one particularly wild swing, he stepped inside her guard, slid an arm around her waist and tugged her close, pressing his lips against hers. She stood still, shocked for a long moment before he lifted his head.
He didn't say anything, waiting for her response. They were both breathing heavily. Her mind was racing. The last time he'd touched her like that had been on board the Supremacy after they'd killed the Praetorian guard. He'd kissed her then. And she'd responded the same way.
She dropped the light saber, the glowing edge gone before it hit the ground, and wrapped a hand around Ben's neck, tugging his face back down to hers. In moments he had himself wrapped around her, his large hands gliding over her body, stoking the heat higher. Objectively she knew this was stupid, he was still her enemy, but she couldn't—didn't want—to stop this. She hadn't stopped it last time either.
She should have been cold. She was damp from the sea spray and sweat, their breath had been visible in clouds of condensation. Instead she was on fire. She wrapped her arm around Ben's neck trying to pull him closer. He obliged her by sliding his hands over her ass and lifting her so she could wrap her legs around him. When he pulled her taut against where he was swollen and hard for her, she moaned against his mouth and he growled in response, dropping to his knees. And then she was under him, pinned to the cold metal floor by a warm male body. His hips were moving, pressing her harder into the floor. Just like last time.
He tore his mouth off hers, "Rey." His voice was even rougher than usual. She knew what he was asking, could feel him through their Force-bond, couldn't forget what they had done before.
"Please." The word came out more like a gasp, but it achieved the desired result. Ben lifted her lower body and yanked her leggings down to her knees, sliding one of his knees between her legs. She shuddered as he dragged his mouth in a hot, damp trail up her neck.
"Rey. Rey. Rey." He murmured her name as he trailed kisses over her collarbone, lifting his head only to tear her top down the front. Once she was exposed, his mouth was on her again, her name a benediction on his lips. She tugged at his belt, finally succeeding in removing the offensive item. She dragged at the bottom of his quilted outer layer and he leaned back to oblige her by pulling it off over his head, exposing yet another layer. Rey let out an annoyed hiss and Ben's mouth quirked up at the corner before he removed the last two layers on his torso, tossing them aside before leaning back over her.
He kissed her again, hard. She kissed him back just as fervently, losing concentration only when his long fingers brushed where she was wet and aching for him. Her back arched instinctively and her hips jolted, though they were stopped from rising very far by his bulk and the knee he was using to press her leggings—in which her legs were still entangled—to the ground.
His fingers rubbed up and down her slit, spreading moisture, before he settled on rubbing near the top, focusing in a way that had her jerking and crying out in moments. He paused every few moments to experimentally dip a finger into her. Finally he brought his other hand between her legs, and while continuing to rub her, started working several of his long fingers into her. She bit down hard on his lower lip and then cried out when his fingers twisted inside her, dragging against a spot that made her hips spasm. He started a combination of dragging his fingers over the spot inside while rubbing the spot outside that had her panting.
"Ben, stop playing with me." Her back arched and she tipped her hips trying to keep his fingers inside. When he continued to toy with her, she tipped her head to the side to whisper in his ear. "I want you inside me."
He bit her throat in response and she moaned again. He shoved his pants down his hips and was inside her. Once he was buried inside her they both stilled for a long moment, panting and staring at one another. They'd done this on the Supremacy as well. Before he offered his hand and she fled. They'd been half-feral on adrenaline and something else. Their bond hadn't died with Snoke, despite his claim of having created it. And it swelled between them every time they touched, every time they moved together, and especially every time they were joined like this.
She hesitated to call it making love, but Ben was so careful of her that she couldn't very well call it anything else either. He'd been sucking a bruise into her chest while she ruminated and when he realized she was focused again, he pulled his hips back and thrust into her, hard. Just the way she liked. He set a rough pace, thrusting into her so hard her back moved on the metal beneath her.
When he realized he was dragging her over the metal, he rolled them, settling his hands on her hips and using them to guide her, to keep up the rhythm. They hadn't done this on the Supremacy. They'd been so wild to have one another that they hadn't truly realized what they were doing until it was over and Ben had spilled himself in her tight heat, his heavy body draped over hers.
The memory of his seed leaking down her thighs had her tightening around him and her movements became erratic. He could feel the direction her thoughts had taken through their bond and his movements became more desperate, his hips lifting off the ground in an attempt to drive deeper.
He was calling her name again, his voice hoarse, over and over. Her hands moved from where she'd been leaning forward, bracing on his shoulders to his wrists, holding onto him while she moved erratically over him, so close to the edge. He dragged her back a little, changing the angle so she was rubbing where she needed it with every stroke. She was making breathy little noises as she worked herself over his length, her movements choppy as she got closer to her peak. "Ben." He rolled them again, being careful to cushion her against his discarded clothing before thrusting deep. She clenched tightly around him and he moaned in her ear and spilled himself inside her again, the sound and sensation pushing her over the edge as well.
It was several long moments before their breathing calmed and returned to normal. He withdrew, and she winced at the feel of him dragging out of her swollen channel. They were silent as they re-dressed. Rey waved a hand over her top, using the Force to twine the fabric back together, making it look untouched.
They locked eyes from their spaces, several feet apart. She could feel Ben's struggle before he lifted his hand to her again, wordlessly. His face twisted as he felt her response. She reached out a hand and Luke's saber flew to her. She ignited it regretfully. She still needed the way to Exegol. Ben's expression changed, the full force of his rage over her refusal on the heels of their lovemaking showing in his eyes. She moved to attack him, needing to regain the upper hand.
He blocked her strike by igniting his saber, then backed up to the hole in the floor he must have followed her through and jumped, eyes still on her.
Without thought or hesitation she followed him, landing among the spray on a part of the wreckage that was large enough to remain above sea level and continuing her attack. He continued blocking but made no move to attack her for several moments, eventually moving to disarm her.
Her name screamed over the sound of the surf by Finn distracted her for a moment and she threw her hand back, pushing with the Force, trying to shove him out of harm's way. She didn't trust Ben with her friends. She used the Force to leap to another part of the wreckage, out of range of Finn and Jannah. Ben followed her. They fought on, the Force allowing them to use the ebb and flow of the sea in their battle.
She caught his saber using the Force, he did the same in turn. They fought each other viciously, drenched from the spray. Ben was enraged now, he was wearing Kylo Ren's face and using his superior strength to bear down on her. And it was working. She was struggling, even using the Force to keep up. Then he stopped, half-turned as though someone had whispered his name, a strange look on his face. She took advantage of his distraction. His saber dropped beside her and she caught it, igniting it and jamming it through his abdomen before freezing herself.
Leia. Her master was reaching for her son. That's what had stopped him at the last moment. Leia was fading. Ben collapsed. Tears streamed down her face as she felt her master's presence for what would be the last time. It was impossible. Leia couldn't die. She was the Resistance. Without her, they were all lost. Without her, Rey felt the pull to the Dark Side more strongly. Without her master's confidence, she felt the pull to Ben more strongly. She looked down at Ben. He knew he was dying. She'd struck a mortal blow. Just as he'd felt his mother's last moments.
Rey knelt beside him and stretched out her hand pulling her life force to the surface and forcing it into his wound. Healing it. With each moment, Ben was able to breathe a little deeper as she repaired the damage she had caused. When he was whole again, his face turned to hers, which was still streaked with tears, perceptible even through the rain. His eyes strayed across her face as though he was seeing her for the first time.
"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." With that, she rose and ran to his fighter, fleeing. Fleeing her past, fleeing her present.