Rey shuffled through her options. The only choice she had, true to herself and everything she stood for, was to take herself, and the Sith with her. She might finally be united with her parents, become entirely one with the force— become a part of nature itself and enclose her friends in safety through the rest of their journeys. By sacrificing herself she could restore peace to a galaxy long torn apart by hatred. And what would life hold for her now? Jakku, her only real home, had lost all purpose. Leia had joined Luke. So had Ben.
Then she heard them, the voices.

Kylo's eyes were squeezed shut with the pain in his arms. He couldn't hang there for much longer. His mind grappled with the force but it was difficult, especially in this weakened state, to focus on himself while he could still feel the effects of Palpatine's invasive probing of his mind, and sense what was still happening to Rey. That was inspiration enough. He lifted, half with his arms, half with his mind, just enough to get a foothold on the craggy surface which suspended a plane of dark emptiness. As he pushed up and away hard with his legs, the dark force which he'd been resisting gave way like the flick of a switch, launching him up through the air and down, flat on his back on the rubble. Winded, Kylo pushed himself up onto his elbows and found his bearings, locating Rey amongst the rubble and dust. While he'd been holding on for his life in the pit he saw blue-white flashes of lightening reflecting around the walls of the temple, the moaning of what sounded like that of a thousand dead men, and the guttural screaming of one ancient being. One thing was for sure, Palpatine was gone. Kylo had felt the darkness evaporate, a dragging weight lifted from his mind. He dragged himself over to Rey. Just above his right knee had been punctured when he was thrown against the crags of the chasm, and there was a deep, seeping gash on his right shoulder. He positioned himself over Rey and swung her up and over, into his lap. Her eyes were open but not looking, her body limp, her aura distant.

Rey felt as though she were being dragged backwards through a gallery of her life. Like the first time she held Luke's saber, she began falling through time and place. Her life on Jakku, abandoned, alone. Meeting BB, Finn, Han, Chewy, and Poe. Leia… and Luke. Her brief training on Ahch-to; she had come so far since then, in such a short time. Fighting the dark side of the force— of herself. Fighting with Kylo Ren in the forest, on the old Death Star. Ben. She had brought him back. No, that wasn't true. It was Leia who brought Ben out of the darkness. Rey had merely healed his body, shared her life force with him. She recalled the heat she had felt beneath her hands as she rid him of his wounds. The scar on his face she gave him at their first battle. She could feel this heat seeping through her now, only warmer, deeper, and all over from head to foot. Her flight backward through her memories slowed and Ben's face, straight and solemn, swam in darkness before her eyes. Her ears hummed as if she were under water, and it appeared as though Ben lay below the surface. Rey was drawn closer to him, his face becoming clearer and clearer. She then realised he wasn't below water at all, he was above her, cradling her. She could feel his arm under her back, his bare fingers supporting her neck.

Kylo placed his right hand on Rey's stomach, as she had done to him when healing his fatal wound. Closing his eyes he began forcing his energy into her. It was a warm feeling, but less pleasant than being on the receiving end. Instead of a filling, revitalising sensation, he felt drowsy, drained. But there was also a sense of good in what he did. It was a feeling he could barely recall but which had been present in his youth. Kylo didn't want to exist in a galaxy without her. How could he after this? The force bond visits, which he never hated— even those most inconvenient ones— gave him a deep thrill and excited something within him out of the mundanity of First Order life. The time in between was filled with a loneliness which dragged at his nerves. The bond briefly let the light creep in, but as she vanished, the darkness washed back into the void like the waves of Kef Bir.

Rey had to wait before she could move any part of her body. She could think the words with all her might but they would not come out, at least that she could hear. Mere seconds felt like an age, and as soon as she reached the surface of this invisible prison all of her energy went into reuniting her mind with her body. The only word she could summon was his name. She looked down her body to see his splayed hand spanning her stomach, and realisation fell upon her at once. All the Jedi that ever lived had joined within her. Together they had destroyed Palpatine. Ben had been thrown… how was he alive? Looking back to his face, and then over his body— the blood. He was spending his remaining life force on reviving her. Had she been dead?
'Ben! Stop—'

Kylo felt himself fading away, but hearing that voice meant his sacrifice had worked. He opened his eyes to see Rey's glowing face, filled with horror, searching his body for wounds. He looked down as he sensed her warm hand rest on his, feeling a radiating sensation travel up his arm and into his core. His eyes were pulled back up and she was looking into his face now. His stomach turned with a pang of regret that he would never have the chance to prove his worthiness, to show that his mother's sacrifice had been worth it, having dragged the darkness from him almost completely. It was difficult to say whether it had changed him entirely, as he felt no different in his bitterness. Simply tired. Tired of the darkness, of being alone. And Rey telling him as she healed his body that she wanted to take Ben's hand— that had confirmed the way he felt about her. Before, he had been certain he only wanted her power— for her to sit beside him while they ruled the galaxy in a united force. Existing as one, and repaying the galaxy for how it had broken them both. Now it was clear to him what he had really wanted. The pull which Snoke had used to lure him to the dark side all those years ago was nothing compared to the magnetic force which naturally projected from Rey. All he could do was hold on to her now. But it was too late.

She found his dark eyes and saw in them the pain of what he was doing, and perhaps something else lay in them too. Rey had found his hand with hers almost instinctively and begun returning the energy he was still trying to push from himself. She felt not just revived, but like she could run the Jedi training course twice over. There was no need for him to die, she was sure of it. If they both had to crawl out of there on their last breath it would be worlds better than only one of them surviving. Remembering the wounds to his knee and shoulder, she reluctantly withdrew from holding his hand. She sat up in his lap with his body flush against her side, placing one palm over his shoulder and the other over his knee. The heat between them was a comfort which removed any doubt that Rey would not succeed in keeping the two of them alive. It was like the force bond, only with less tension present between them, and much less space, both physical and mental.
'Be with me'. She willed, not the past Jedi this time, but Ben, to join forces with her. 'Be with me'.

Kylo could feel the pain seeping away from the closing wounds. She had risen in his lap and wrapped one arm around his neck, reaching his opposite shoulder. Her other hand which had left his was now on his knee, which was a kind of intimacy he had never known. Almost every part of Rey was touching him. The hand he had been supporting her back with was left unoccupied by her rising on her own, and so automatically it had wrapped itself around her middle, bringing her body against his. All of a sudden he felt a presence in his mind, a thought other than his own. It reminded him of Palpatine's suggestion, that every influential voice he had ever known had been projected by him. Only Palpatine's power had disappeared from the atmosphere and this lacked the chill of darkness. Again, like everything about Rey's aura, it was contrastingly warm. He could feel her inviting him to share her mind as he began to feel stronger. Like the hand he had offered her so many times, she was reaching out with her bright, clean soul. He closed his eyes again and let himself seep into her.

In their mental unity, Rey could see, hear, feel him breathing, thinking, and most importantly, healing. She had done it. She no longer felt as though she could take on any strenuous movement, but the triumph she felt, not to mention the relief, was a healer in itself. She could sense his awe. He felt it too. She opened her eyes and the scene around them was not of the dark, hellish atmosphere of Exogol they were in, but a new place. A place Rey had never seen before. On a grassy mountain side under a blue sky, overlooking an arboraceous metropolis filled with golden, temple-like buildings topped with blue domed roofs. The city was surrounded by water, and enormous waterfalls gushed from various crevices in the wooded cliffs. It was breathtaking, and took Rey back to the tranquillity of her forest on Ajan Kloss.
'Wait'.

Kylo opened his eyes.
'Where w—' began Rey, curious as to where she had just been.
'You're alive…' He cut in. 'I'm alive— how— what have you done?' His body now strong enough to prevent himself from falling back had caused him to be more aware of the potential dangers of their surroundings. His jolt had stopped the vision and put and end to Rey's brief retreat into tranquillity. She pulled her face away from his neck, where it had rested itself during their bond, and stared into his eyes. The position in which they sat now suddenly made her feel somewhat self-conscious, and she moved to get up. Rey was weak, but strong enough to remain seated upright across his thighs, and so probably able to stand. Raising her hands she checked his shoulder and knee. They had healed a great deal, enough to move him to the safety of Luke's Fighter, but they were still open and were at risk of becoming infected.
'We have time. Palpatine is gone, did you..?'
Rey was alarmed by the gentle pressure he retained her with, but didn't try to resist him. 'Yes, I was afraid killing him would draw the Sith into me, but the force… all the Jedi— they came to me instead. We did it'. She remembered the two of them locked in his Palpatine's draining grasp. It felt like hours had passed when it had only been a matter of minutes. So much had changed in such a short period of time and there was a lot to catch up with. Rey was also aware that this was the first conversation she had ever had with Ben where he wasn't trying to bring her over to the dark side. It was bizarre, as though with Leia's sacrifice she had drawn the darkness from him, but also matured him. She then recalled how he had behaved during his battle with the Knights of Ren. Even his stance, his gait had altered. The way he handled Luke's saber as it cast him under a fresh light, opposed to his usual sinister red glow. This was really Ben. If he now offered her his hand again she wouldn't hesitate to take it.

So that was what Kylo could hear as he held on for dear life to the rock face. Rey had just destroyed the Emperor and the Sith while he had hung over a hole in the ground. Pathetic. He couldn't keep this thought from appearing on his face, and Rey took it as something else.
'Ben? We need to talk. Properly. You've been through so much. Leia— your mother… let's get back to the base…'
'Which base?' Kylo frowned at her. The first order was destroyed, there was no base for him to go to. It then occurred to him that she was referring to the rebel base. She stared questioningly back at his puzzled face, and it clicked with both of them at once. Everything really had changed.
'You can come back with me — With us! You can come back to the rebel base. Become acquainted with everyone… properly.'
Kylo exhaled in amusement. She means introduce myself without holding a saber across their throats. 'I don't think that would be— they will need time'.
She looked away in embarrassment. This made Rey angry, but she understood all the same. Finn and Poe would definitely take some convincing, and they were her best friends. Winning over everybody else on the base would be harder than ending Palpatine. 'Fine, we'll just go somewhere else,' she said, swinging her eyes back up to him and trying to sound unfazed. Kylo blinked at her. Just go somewhere? With Rey?
'Can you stand?'
'Can you?' he scoffed back.
'Let's see, shall we?' she raised her eyebrows, placed her hands gently on his frame and pulled up onto her feet. Without thinking, Kylo placed his hand on her lower back to propel her up. As she straightened her legs her behind brushed over his palm and he felt a spasm in his chest. She turned towards him with a blushing face, which could have been either from his touch or the exertion of getting up, and offered her hand to him. Kylo began to smile, which felt strange. All this happiness and normality after years of hatred and loneliness, it suddenly dawned on him that he now had a friend. Her outstretched hand reminded him of the many occasions he had offered her his own, each time to be rejected. Not because she didn't want to take his hand, but because she was fighting for a better cause. His smile vanished before it was broad enough to be recognised.
Ben needed to use all fours to get to his feet, so Rey let her hand dropped back to her thigh. She watched him, poised to help, as he raised himself until he once again towered over her. He was a whole head taller, and wider for that matter. Rey had never sized herself up to him before, there had never been time. Now they stood before each other under the dim light of the stars, shining in from between the craggy temple walls. Now they had all the time in the galaxy. 'Are you ok?' she asked delicately, seeing the winces he was trying to conceal.
'Yeah, but I could use some sewing up. I imagine my ship has been destroyed along with the destroyer fleet—'.
'Come with me,' Rey interrupted. She didn't want a repeat of the conversation they just had which suggested he would be going off on his own somewhere. She pulled the two lightsabers from where she had dropped them through the air, catching one in each hand. She attached Leia's to her belt and, seeing that Ben had no means of carrying it, did the same with Luke's. 'I want to stay with you in case you take a bad turn. We can go somewhere safe until the air has cleared, away from both sides. Ahch-to! There's shelter and resources and nobody else but the Caretakers'.
'But your friends, they will want to know you're…' Her real friends, he thought. They are her priority.
'My friends can wait. We both need to heal,' What Rey wanted more than anything was to get the two of them safely away from Exegol. 'Come with me, Ben' she said, once again offering her hand. Why did she keep doing this, after the lashing she gave Finn for it during their escape from Jakku? This was different. She had wanted to hold Ben's hand for a long time.

Kylo took her hand in his and gripped it tenderly. Before anything could be shared between them Rey had set off in the lead towards the elevator platform, the huge black walls climbing towards the sky on every side. Kylo limped behind her trying to keep up, although she didn't walk all that fast. Feeling faint, he tried to keep his mind in a state of meditation as he walked to lessen the pain which still struck chords randomly throughout his body. During this state of quiet he picked up on something else. It was a feeling of calm, mixed with relief, but also a little confusion. It was Rey he could feel. Not only in his hand, but in his mind. It was a beautiful sensation and made him subconsciously squeeze her hand again, which appeared to spike her confusion.
'Are you alright?' Rey turned her head to look at their hands, then her eyes quickly shot up to his face. 'We're not far now'.
Kylo wasn't alright, but he gritted his teeth and nodded. Soon they came into view of the platform and the chain which he'd launched himself down. He glared at it in resentment.
Together they mounted the platform and rose to the planet's surface. It took slightly longer to make it out into the open with Kylo's limp, but they made it eventually. What he wasn't expecting to see was his TIE fighter in flames. 'Crap'.
Rey dropped his hand and jogged over to Luke's X-Wing. It appeared to be untouched. Turning back, she tried to look solemnly at him, but couldn't refrain from laughing aloud. Kylo was frustrated, but couldn't find it in himself to be angry. Seeing her laugh was like witnessing a sunrise after spending too long on Bray.
'Looks like you'll be squeezing in with me then,' she said through a smile. 'You're a bit heavy for me though, you'll have to drive'.
Speechless, Kylo hobbled over to her fighter. He stopped, stared at it for a moment, and considered how this could possibly work. 'It's not going to work,' he resolved.
'Of course it will,' said Rey dismissively, turning again towards the ship.
'We're not both going to fit in there. There's only one seat!' he blurted in frustration. He needed to get off Exegol. He felt like the planet's darkness was gradually swallowing him whole.
Rey blushed as though had been been told off, and he immediately felt guilty for snapping. But her blush made more sense when she turned to unlock the ship and said, 'We can if I sit across your lap'.
Kylo raised his eyebrows, looked at her glowing cheeks as she busied herself opening up the ship, looked at the single driver's seat, then back at her. 'Uh…' He had no idea what the correct reply was.
'I can put my weight on your good leg, and can probably still drive if you aren't sure—'
'I know how, I just…' he blundered. Just what? It was the only way. And besides, she had just been sitting across his lap for about ten minutes and nobody had died. Quite the opposite actually. 'OK. But it's going to take me a minute to get up there'.
'If we use the force we can both support your weight'. As she said this Kylo felt a lightness in his body, like somebody had sucked the gravity from the planet.
'Hey! Wait a minute, no. You're too weak, you need to preserve your energy in case we need it,' he said, not intending to sound as short as he did. Rey stepped back apologetically, looking to the ground about her feet as gravity was restored to him. This wasn't a good start—this planet was toxic. No wonder the Sith thought a vergence existed inside it. The sooner they were away, the better. Kylo stepped beneath the door and gripped the ledge above his head. The pain in his knee while walking had taken his mind off the wound in his shoulder, but this brought it back with full force. Exhaling for clarity of mind, he closed his eyes and said 'Ok I'm sorry for being stubborn. Will you help me? But just a little. I'll pull up and use the force too. Don't tire yourself out for me'.
Rey looked up at his back and smiled. She walked over and stood behind him, placing her hand on his lower back as he said aloud, 'Ok, one, two, three—'
Their combined force plus the little strength he had in his arms and legs pulled him up with only a slight struggle. As his body elevated towards the cockpit her hand brushed down his back and across his behind. Was that to get him back for earlier? His feet landed on the seat with a light thud. He sat down, trying not to turn red, and adjusted the seat as far back as it would go. Reaching over the side, Kylo extended his left arm down towards Rey. Her returned grin shifted something inside of him. He would embarrass himself a hundred times over to see that face light up before him. He smiled back, gently using the force to lift her onto her toes as she had done to him. She grinned and shoved the side of the fighter as if she were nudging him in the ribs, and reached out for his hand. Using his huge arm as a willing rope, she walked up the side of the fighter and gently stepped in around his legs. She then lowered herself down into place on his left thigh. Kylo's heart pounded to be so close to her once again. When Ray was settled into his lap, he reached over her shoulder for the hatch of the fighter. Not previously realising just how little room there would be in the bubble, fit only for a single person, he tugged it down over their heads. Clearly being more aware, Rey leaned forward into his neck just in time for the hatch to slam down, which would have cracked her on the back of the head if she hadn't jolted forward.
'Sorry! This is a very small space, are you going to be alright?' he asked the top of her head.

Rey exhaled in relief that she'd avoided the bump, then smiled into his neck. Pulling away she gave him another grin which spread into more laughter. 'This is a very small space. I believe we look quite ridiculous. We're going to have to land somewhere where nobody can laugh us back off the planet'. Her smiles were infectious and it pleased her even more to see Ben grin back at her. They looked into each others eyes for a few moments, Ben's face only a few inches away from hers. She saw the grin relax into another look of puzzlement. Saw his eyes drop to her mouth. Would he? Should she? But then he looked straight forward, wrapped his arms around her to reach the controls, and started up the ship. This shook Rey out of the trance she had fallen into, and she settled lower into his neck once again as to not block his view of the sky ahead of them.

Kylo had to drag his stare away from her face before he fell into it. He wanted to kiss her. But at the same time he wanted to be as far away from Exegol as possible. He wanted no other memories but the death of Palpatine to be connected to this dark desert planet, and he intended never to visit it again. Kylo distracted himself with getting to know the fighter's controls. How long had he wanted to fly this damn thing, until he joined the First Order and was given ships of his own to manage. Now it just felt like an old rust bucket. Looked like one too, where had it been all these years?
Rey huddled down into his neck so that he could see the dashboard before them. In order to keep herself hunched in this position she wedged her right arm under his left and wrapped the other around his front. This felt extraordinary. Nobody had held him like this before, so closely, it was like she was hugging him. Maybe she is hugging me, he thought, silently flattering himself. Would that be so impossible? Yes, it was. Kylo Ren was not worthy of Rey's affection, not even her regard. After all he had done— everything that had happened because of him... These were the dreadful thoughts filling Kylo's head as he became familiar with the controls. Lifting the ship from the ground, he turned it back in the direction she had come from. He flicked on the radar, locating Ahch-to. Rey clearly held a lot of value in that tiny planet. He raised them up and out of the atmosphere, put them on the trajectory of her last journey, and launched the fighter into hyperspace. Judging by their pace on the radar, they would be travelling for about fifteen minutes. Being off that planet lifted a heavy weight from his chest. This feeling of freedom left only one sensation on his front now, and that was the rise and fall of Rey's chest on his.
'Are you okay?' He whispered, not entirely sure why. It felt like a sacred moment that shouldn't be ruined by speech, but he needed to know she was okay.

Rey raised herself out from her tucked position and looked out of the window, as if she had just woken up from a deep, haunted sleep. She felt different. Clean. Like she had been released from the prison that was Exogol. Her heart, or at least some place deep in her chest, was pounding for something she could not put her finger on, until she found it. Her eyes were pulled round by what she could only fathom to be the force, and her eyes locked with Ben's. He was glaring at her, the look on his face somewhere between how he looked before taking off, and like he was about to cry. He didn't cry. Instead he went to smile, but at the last second his lips parted slightly. His eyes dropped to her mouth as they had done before, only now there was nothing else to distract him. Rey could feel his emotions radiating from him. What she would give to hear his thoughts, but now was not an appropriate time to start probing his brain. Instead she placed her left hand around one side of his head and stroked the hair at the base of his neck, never taking her eyes off his. They appeared lighter every time she looked into them, not necessarily in colour, but in weight, like a shadow was lifting from within them.
He had asked her how she was, and in all honesty, she had no idea. 'I'm weak,' she whispered back. Rey dropped her eyes and slowly closed the small gap between them, placing her parted lips tenderly over his.