Sorry I took so long for this chapter guys. It just didn't want to develop the way I wanted it to. It's still not quite right (in my eyes), but as I have been told by some I am my own worst critic. Let me know you thoughts! Thank you all again for such amazing comments! Pretty sure I have at least 10 more chapters in my head so I hope you are all in it for the long haul!

And I still own nothing, all rights to Disney.

Chapter 22

Rey had never felt so uncomfortable around Ben as she had as soon as Tsaro left. On one hand, they had shared a surprisingly wonderful night together on Malastare that had changed her and had seemed to change their relationship. Yet on the other hand, Tsaro seemed to imply she should be feeling guilty about their closeness. She sat in her chair, lost in her thoughts, the silence dragging out between them, getting more and more uncomfortable.

Ben could feel Rey's mind working. He would have been able to sense it even if they didn't have a bond, but yet he sat silent. Tsaro had seemed to toss a big bucket of cold water over him as she parted causing things to seem strained from their previous night and now being alone again.

"It's getting pretty late." Ben said, hoping that would initiate some kind of conversation as he glanced at Rey who was staring intently at the fire, feeling her thoughts as mixed and troubled as his seemed to be.

"Hmm…" She said, eyes remaining on the flames.

Ben frowned, he wasn't good at this, this feelings and talking thing, although he was painfully aware that they needed to talk, so he took a deep breath and swallowed around the lump in his throat.

"Are things okay between us?" He rushed out quickly, his voice quiet and unsure, as he studied his hands in his lap. His anxiety was rising as he even said the words.

Rey closed her eyes for a second, feeling his fear and worry trickle through the bond and she turned to look at him, "I think we are okay. I definitely don't like thinking I should feel bad about last night," she said and hesitated as he looked up and met her eyes, "Because I don't."

Ben's face remained passive but his eyes filled with relief, "I don't feel bad either." He commented, his voice steadier, her face softening as she smiled slightly.

He felt like he should say something more, but he didn't know what. Even though they had this deep connection and had been orbiting around each other for months, it felt like they were rushing head long into something that he had no experience with.

Rey took pity on him as she felt his mind struggling with the emotions, "It is getting late. Let's get some rest. Tomorrow will be trying on both of us I think." She suggested and got up to start her night routine.

Ben huffed a small, thankful breath out and followed her lead, watching her carefully as to where exactly she was going to head to sleep.

Rey hurried through getting ready for bed, as she kept her thoughts calm and to herself. She was tired from all of their excitement, but yet, really just wanted to curl up beside Ben's warmth. She hadn't been able to fully shake the vision of him being taken over by the darkness, and she needed to just feel the tender side of his heart for a little to ease away the last of her fears.

She had made a quick trip to the wash hut, instantly missing the refresher from the ship and Malastare, and had elected to change in their hut while Ben slipped out to wash up as well. She had taken her shirt off, and was standing with her back to the door in just her chest wrap when Ben came back in.

"Oh, uh, sorry." He fumbled spotting her topless and rummaging through her pack on her bed. He quickly studied the floor and moved to his own bed.

Rey chuckled slightly and turned to see his ears bright red as he kept busy with anything he could and she walked over to him, clean shirt in her hand, "Ben. It's alright. I think we have gotten past that point now." Even though her stomach fluttered and she felt incredibly exposed, she knew her actions would speak volumes to his uncertainty.

Ben slowly lifted his eyes, trying to focus on not staring at her perfect, milky white skin and the thin material covering her chest. He could see her breathing pick up as he regarded her, her pulse matching his, but yet she stood there, vulnerable.

He took a step forward and slipped the shirt out of her hand, gathering the hem and pulling the soft material gently over her head. She slipped her arms in and he straightened it out down over her wraps, fingers grazing the bare skin of her flat stomach.

Rey smiled at his gentle gesture and placed her hands on his chest, staring at his beautiful hazel eyes, "Thank you." She breathed and pushed herself up on her tiptoes, while sliding her hands up and around to the back of his head.

Ben responded automatically, tipping his head with her slight pressure to touch his lips to hers, his eyes closing as they did while his fingers wrapped around her slight waist. She kissed him softly, keeping her pressure barely enough to touch him, but as his fingers tightened, he felt her body melt into his, and her fingers tangled tightly into the curls at the base of his head.

Rey breathed him in, and everything he had become to her in that moment. He had become her gravity, her focus in the middle of all of her loneliness and pain, drawing her in, centering her, and she moved away from the kiss for a moment.

"Do you know what you are to me?" She whispered against his mouth as he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her small frame against his.

Ben frowned a little, lost in the feel of her and not quite sure where she was going with her question, "No…" he whispered back, holding off on leaning in the millimeters to kiss her again so he could hear her answer.

"I'm not waiting anymore for someone to show up and take me home. You, Ben Solo, are my home." Her whisper heavy with the emotions she was feeling behind it.

Ben's breath caught, his heart slamming in his chest at her words. He was her home. Never had anyone said anything to him that could have meant more, touched him deeper, or filled a longing so completely in his soul than she did with such a simple statement.

He reached up and brushed a few strands of her hair out of her face, leaning his forehead on hers, "I…I just…" He mumbled at a loss for how to respond.

Rey smiled as his feelings were completely clear in his mind, yet he struggled to articulate them so she took a small step, forcing him back as he tried to come up with what he wanted to say and was taken off guard by the backs of his knees making contact with the bed. The unexpected force, and momentum her weight added, caused him to sit heavily, and she went with him, one knee coming up to rest along side him as she half sat on his lap.

Ben landed with a small, "Oof." As Rey came to rest in his lap with a bit of a grin, breaking some of the emotional heaviness in the air and a awe filled smile broke across his face.

Rey shifted her other knee to rest on the outside of his other thigh and sat back on his knees lightly, moving her hands to his chest and giving him a small shove, her grin light and playful.

Ben let her push him back against the mattress, "How do you do that?" He asked, realizing that he had actually voiced his thought out loud instead of just in his head.

Rey frowned in confusion for a moment, "Do what?" She asked at a complete loss for what he could be referring to.

"How do you always seem to know what I need to hear?" He asked, deciding to continue his train of thought out loud as he was now curious to what her answer would be.

Rey blinked for a moment and then chuckled lightly, "I didn't know that I did that." She said surprised then shifted so Ben could get himself fully on the bed and she laid down half on him, arms on his chest, with her chin propped on her hands as she thought.

"I guess," she began, her brow knitting with her thoughts, "I guess, I feel it. You are always there in my mind and I get a sense for what you need?" She said, unsure if that was exactly it. In truth, she had never really realized that she was anticipating his needs. It just seemed to come naturally.

Ben had tucked his hands behind his head and was looking down at Rey thoughtfully, "It's a little unnerving, to be an open book to someone." Frowning as he said it.

"Hmmm, I don't think you have a choice at this point." Rey said with a lift of her eyebrow at him and a cheeky grin.

Ben's frown deepened and a small amount of doubt edged around his mind, "This won't change right?" He asked softly, reaching down to tuck her hair behind her ear.

Rey's heart melted with the uncertainty in his voice and the tender gesture. She moved up slightly and wrapped her arms around his middle as best she could and laid her head n his chest, "We are always changing, but I will always be here" She said holding tight to him, feeling his heat radiate though to her.

Ben let out a contented breath and pulled the blanket that had been pushed to the side over them as the night air was cooling while the fire died. Her weight was comforting on his chest and soon he felt his eyes close as he drifted off to the feeling of her steady breathing and her arms wrapped around him.

Ben was startled awake by the sound of a thunderous crashing and he opened his eyes, immediately having his lungs spasm in a fit of coughing. The island was in ruins around him while the peak where the temple was had broken apart with lava starting to spew up into the sky.

Ben got up, Rey's weight no longer felt and coughed again, his lungs burning so hard he vomited from the intensity of it and he looked around, desperately searching for Rey.

"Rey?!" He called in between coughs as loud as his lungs let him. The Lanai were scattered everywhere, and as he stumbled in the smoke a debris, he came across the bodies of people. Young people, dressed in the robes of the Jedi, twisted and broken as if they had been tossed around carelessly, the memories of Luke's temple rising bitterly inside of him.

REY! He yelled through the bond, feeling nothing but emptiness and isolation as the ground shook so violently it knocked him off his feet, and he landed hard, his shoulder slamming into some rocks that had been part of a hut.

He groaned and got up, looking towards the peak as a dark, inky cloud seemed to pour down the mountain slowly. While he watched, a figure seemed to appear on the hill, and Ben recognized Rey immediately from her stance, lighting her saber, its gold light sparking brightly in the distance.

Rey, NO! He yelled just as tendril of the dark matter reached where she was. Her saber being tossed away as if it were a flee and she rose up in the air, feet dangling as smoke clouded his view again.

He blinked, eyes watering as he reached out to feel for her and suddenly she was there, small as if she were the size of a doll. His power was immense and he reveled in the feel of it as she seemed to flail in front of him.

A laugh bubbled up as her eyes went wide in fear and a voice echoed in his mind, See? It said in a soft purr, You crave the power. You want what I can give you, and you won't let anything stand in your way Not even HER! The voice rang in his head as head as Rey's head snapped to the side with a sickening crunch and her limbs dropped lifeless.

NO! Ben roared and sat up, the room completely dark and silent. He frantically looked around and dragged a shaking hand through his sweat soaked hair spotting Rey, curled up in a small ball on the edge of the bed, still fast asleep.

A shutter ripped through his large frame and he covered his face in his hands in a desperate attempt to stop the rising tide of emotions and tears that were threatening his eyes. His breathing catching as he tried to control a sob as shame and grief flooded him.

Rey shifted beside him reaching out to find him sitting up, "Ben?" She whispered in confusion, her voice thick with sleep still until she felt his suffering and snapped awake.

"Ben?!" She said urgently, sitting up to place a hand on his back. His clothes were soaked though with sweat and his whole body was trembling, chest heaving from his contained tears. She shifted as he remained where he was, flipping around so that she was facing him.

"Ben, talk to me. I can help you." She whispered gently and tried to move his wet hair out of his face.

Ben raised his eyes to meet hers in the nearly pitch black room, unable to say anything he opened his mind and let her see it all.

Rey gasped with the images as they flooded over her, ending with the snap of her neck causing her to jump in its ferocity. When here eyes focused on him again, she saw his pain, guilt and tears, in a reflective stream down his cheeks.

"You aren't safe around me." His tone heart breaking with seriousness and the fear he felt deep down that the dream was revealing.

Rey moved his hands and squished herself into the space between his legs and wrapped her arms around him tightly, "You have never hurt me, and you never will." She said vehemently.

Ben wrapped his arms around her middle, clinging to her as he tried to calm himself. "It felt like before. When the darkness consumed me, like being torn apart. Desperate to be free of the pain so I lost myself in the dark." His voice choked, and muffled in her chest his arms tightening further.

"I can't…" He shuddered and took a breath, "I can't be responsibly for killing someone else I love." He whispered.

Rey could feel the dampness of his tears on her shirt as he struggled with controlling his emotions while replaying the moment of her death in his head on a torturous replay.

Rey just held him, letting her presence calm and ease him till the tears stopped and his breathing returned to normal. Only then did she let him go, as she got up and got a cloth, and pored some of the still warm water from the kettle on the coals into a bowl.

She sat back on the bed, wetting the cloth and wringing it out and gently wiped his face, trailing the warm rag down his neck and then doing the other side.

"I only have a couple memories left from my parents," She said softly, wiping along the back of his neck and across his forehead again, before rewarming the rag and wringing it out again.

"And I have one of my mother, doing this for me, after I had a bad dream." She finished, showing him the hazy memory of soft hands and a warm, damp rag being drawn across her cheek.

"I always thought it was a dream, but now I know it was real." She added, smoothing the rag again over his cheek and back down his neck, his eyes fluttering closed with her tender touch.

Ben felt his mind calm with each pass of the cloth over his face and neck, as if she were washing away the nightmare itself until he opened his eyes and reached up, taking her hand and the cloth.

"I need to change my shirt." He said softly, at a loss for anything else to say in the moment. He felt about as wrung out as the cloth she had been using and like he had barely slept before the dream started.

Rey shifted off the bed and took the bowl to the table as he pulled off his sweat soaked shirt and pulled on a clean one. When he turned, Rey was behind him. She reached up and cupped his cheek in her hand, and he couldn't help but lean towards its warmth.

"I feel the conflict still inside of you, but it's not what you think. I can see that. You won't become the darkness." Rey said to him firmly as a hard truth.

Ben sigh with frustration, "You saw it too when you had your vision." And he moved back to the bed, sitting down hard on the mattress.

Rey turned and followed, sitting beside him, "I was right about you turning to the light and I am right about this. If you can't believe me right now, I will believe for the both of us." She said with finality as she stared at her hands in her lap.

"I can't lose you either. Please, don't think you could do that." She said quietly reaffirming what she had told him before when their roles had been reversed.

Ben closed his eyes and saw the moment of Rey's death by his hand again and remembered how he wanted to destroy the darkness for what it did and it had separated him in that moment when a new thought broke through and it dawned on him.

"Rey, our wall is failing." He said, his eyes opening in realization. "This wasn't just a dream, this was the darkness." He said and turned towards her, relief starting to fill him up as he took her hands in his. The darkness was just showing him what his worst fears were to distract and scare him, and it had worked.

Rey looked at him, her eyes showing the fear as she started to comprehend what he was saying, "Do you think it has something to do with us finding the holocron and bringing it here?" she said starting to try to put details together.

Ben tilted his head in thought pondering her words, "I hadn't thought of that. Maybe that's why Tsaro took it to the counsel?" He suggested voicing his thoughts.

Rey thought for a moment and shifted slightly on the bed before looking towards the door and window. The sun wasn't even starting to come up yet and she figured they must only have been asleep for a short time before he had been woken up.

Her resolve firming, she crawled onto the bed in her meditative position and waited for him to do the same. He moved slowly, almost reluctantly into place, placing his hand over her heart as she did the same to him.

The force didn't rise as quickly between them as it normally did, the grey taking its time to form around them as the breathed in unison. Slowly they floated into the space between and Ben opened his eyes, meeting Rey's soft look.

Something feels wrong. She said, brow knitting as she looked around them trying to find the source of the discord.

Ben glanced around as well before he spotted the mirror come into view, Rey, look. He said, concern lacing through his voice.

Rey looked over to the wall, and it was cracked in multiple places a thick black, inky substance oozing through like tendrils. The edges of the wall having more sliding slowly down the sides and around the base.

Rey turned took a deep breath and a serious look filled her face, the grey mist gathering around her like a gradually building thunder storm. The grey mist roiling and ominous as she built it up around her, slowly rising to the height of the wall as beads of sweat spread across her forehead and her hands rose, lifting it higher.

Ben, I need your strength...Rey said, her breathing coming in short pants.

Ben focused, joining his mind with hers, merging their power and feeling it draw up between them as Rey turned to face him, her hands resting on his chest, eyes locked with his as the power seemed to hit them.

Rey buckled against Ben's chest as he wrapped his arms around her, building the power between them, moving the grey to the mirror wrapping it in a tight cocoon that swirled and started shrink around the mirror as their bond tightened through them, Ben's eyes shutting against the pull of power.

A wind picked up around them, lifting them in the between, Rey's voice raising above the sound of it in their ears as it ripped from her a yell, followed by Ben, throwing back his head with his own roar.

YOU CAN'T DO THIS!Reverberated from the mirror through the both of them as a wave of the force rippled out of them both, dropping them back to the mattress in the hut, both panting and exhausted.

Ben lifted his head to see the window and door blown open, the fire and coals completely out, and all the furniture knocked around in the hut as if a storm had blown through the room.

The predawn light was filtering through the room and Rey lifted her head to regard Ben, "You're bleeding." She said weakly, her body hurting everywhere.

Ben reached up to his nose where a trail of blood was making its way down his face, his head was throbbing and he wiped the blood on his sleeve, arms heavy with fatigue and he groaned, with the effort to raise himself up to a sitting position.

"Did we..." Rey asked he voice fading away as she tried to sit up as well and failed, collapsing on her elbows again.

Ben reached over and drew on the rest of his strength to pull her into his arms and she leaned heavily on his chest.

"Did we destroy it?" Rey asked with a fleeting hope edging her voice.

Ben leaned back against the wall, the bricks seeming slightly loose as he did, "I don't think so. That would have been too easy." He replied, his voice bitter.

Rey huffed soundlessly against his chest, "That was easy?" She said her voice heavy with sarcasm.

The cold air was seeping into the hut, and Ben shifted, "We need a fire." He said softly, moving Rey to edge himself carefully off the bed. He moved slowly, his whole body feeling heavy, and headed to the door as it half fell off the hinges. He wedged it back into place for the time being and closed the window before righting the furniture the best he could.

Rey pulled herself up off the mattress and moved to sit beside the fire, shifting the coals till she found a few warm embers left, and leaned over, blowing on them till they glowed and put on the small kindling to start up a fire.

It jumped to light with a little coaxing and Rey just sat for a moment, soaking in its heat while Ben righted their chairs.

"Come, sit." He said offering her his hand and he helped her up and into the chair before moving back to the table for a moment and returning with her crate of fruit. "I think this would be a good time for this." He said setting it on the table beside her chair and sitting heavily in his own chair.

Rey sighed a little with happiness, "That's a great idea. Thank you. Here, take some." She said opening the lid.

Ben smiled and took a large, orb that was bright red and dotted with black soft spikes, "These are actually my favorite." He commented lightly as if voicing a passing thought and bit into the soft flesh, a small smile turning the corners of his mouth up, the juice trickling down his hands as he did.

They ate in silence for a little bit, letting the natural sugars of the fruit work through their bloodstream, boosting their energy for a bit as the sun started to light around the frames of the hut.

Rey licked her fingers and glanced back at the, now, half empty crate, "You good?" she asked as she lifted the lid to replace it again.

"Yes. Remind me to thank Finn for his gift next time we see him." Ben managed with only a small hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Rey chuckled a little, "Sure, but only if I can see his face when you do." Laughing she got up to the bowl of water she used earlier and wet the rag again wiping her hands as she yawned.

Ben followed her lead and cleaned his hands, her yawn causing him to yawn into his sleeve as well, and he drug a hand across his face in exhaustion.

"Tsaro said she would be coming in the afternoon. Do you think we should try to sleep?" Rey asked looking him over critically and taking note of the dark circles under his eyes.

"I don't look that bad." He said with a scowl, catching her thoughts, making her smile with her guilt and slip her arms around his waist.

"No, you don't." Her voice soft as she pushed up on her toes trying to hint she wanted him to lean down and kiss her.

Ben paused for a moment, his eyebrow raising as he caught her thoughts. He shifted quickly, scooping her up with one arm under the backs of her knees and one arm around her ribs, causing her to squeak in surprise as a full grin spread over his face.

"Ben!" Rey only half protested as he carried her to the bed and set her down gently, realizing his strength may not have been fully replenished.

He crawled in beside her leaning on the slightly wobbly wall, "Hmmm, I think we will need some repairs." He said as he laid down, pulling the blanket over them.

Rey shifted so she was curled in against his chest, head tucked under his chin, her arm wrapped around his waist comfortably, "We need to talk to her about what happened in the grey too." She added, her eyes already feeling heavy with his warmth surrounding her.

"Hmmmm." Was his only response as Rey felt his breathing slow, and his mind slip into the gentle pattern of sleep.