The Pivotal Moment
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A/N-thank you for reviewing this story!
"The world was on fire and no one could save me but you…"
Chris Isaak from the song Wicked Game
Chapter Fifteen-One Journey Ends and Another Begins
The pain that once burned like fire had faded away to an icy numbness. Black filled the edges of Rey's vision and the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own heartbeat. It was so loud it drowned out the sounds of Ben battling the last of the Praetorian guards as they sought to avenge their dead master. Her breath came in shallow, ragged gasps.
So, this was what it was like to die?
She had died before. But it was nothing like this. This was something different. In Exegol she had served her purpose, the Jedi abandoning her in her last moments of life, her body an empty vessel once Palpatine had been defeated. Her last thought had been of Ben as she toppled to the ground.
Then nothing…
Nothing until he had used up the last of his life force to revive her.
But this time she could hear voices. People swarmed all over her, former Jedi, trying to help her, she realised. They wanted to save her. If she could have, Rey would have laughed.
"Where were you when I needed you on Exegol? Where were you when Ben needed you?" She mumbled through bloodless lips. "You used me to kill Darth Sidious and then you left me! You left Ben! You let him die to save me!"
Rey felt every bit of the despair and suffering of the world that took everyone she loved away from her. Her parents, though she would be joining them soon enough, and Ben…
"Ben." Rey murmured. A solitary tear ran down her cheek, dissolving like bitter salt when it reached the corner of her mouth.
This time she was going to be the one to die. She was going to be the one ripped away from Ben. The sick irony stole her last breath. She closed her eyes in defeat, her fragile, human heart beating one last time.
Ben fell to his knees next to Rey, the dead bodies of the Elite Praetorian guards scattered around them like a pack of fallen dominoes. He inhaled a trembling breath, sweat accumulating on his hot skin. His midnight black hair clung to his scalp in damp tendrils. His dark brown eyes turned almost black with anguish as he touched Rey's icy skin with shaking fingers.
"Rey?"
Her eyes stayed closed. No colour returned to her chilled skin.
"Rey?"
Ben picked her up, cradling her against his shaking body. Oxygen was slowly being ripped and snatched from lungs already scarred with a thousand unformed regrets. Every waking minute was pain. As he pressed her precious body against the vulnerable flesh of his body, his heart shattered into a million pieces. His surroundings blurred into the new sick reality that only the broken could see. He was broken.
Vainly he tried to summon the voices of the Jedi, begging them for help. But unlike Rey in her last moments, they stayed stubbornly silent. Rey was gone. He couldn't feel her. Ben knew he didn't want to exist in a world where he couldn't find her.
While cradling Rey's inert body, Ben placed his hand on her stomach, and closed his eyes. He breathed deeply, evenly, calling out again to the Jedi again, both past and present, begging them to help him.
"Be with me! Help me to find her!" He murmured over and over. "Please…"
And finally, they answered him….
Ben opened his eyes to a world of heat. In every direction he looked he saw nothing but desert. The cruel sun beat down, its one malevolent eye unblinking, and the sky was its co-conspirator, with not even a wisp of cloud to soften the harsh rays. The heat was so strong that Ben could barely breathe in the haze it created. He stood up, his boots sinking low in the soft sand. His clothes were sticking to his skin and felt confining. In desperation Ben tugged his heavy black tunic over his head and dropped it onto the hot sand. He was desperate for shelter. He couldn't stay exposed like this. He would die. As he looked around again all he saw were a few rocks, but none of them were large enough to offer him shade. He was going to have to walk. Ben moved forward, each step he took sunk into the searing sand, the air thick and hazy, each breath he took like drowning in larva.
He was confused, weary, delusional. His last memory was of cradling Rey's lifeless body in his arms as he begged the Jedi to help him find her. Instead they had sent him to this barren hell. A hot wind stirred the hair at the base of his neck while the sun's never-ending rays beat down on him mercilessly. Salty sweat rolled off his brow and stung his eyes. Ben continued moving forward, putting one foot in front of the other, heading in no particular direction, just desperate to escape this fresh hell and find himself back with Rey.
The sun moved across the sky, but Ben was barely aware of it. He was half mad now, with thirst and hunger. The stiff, dry, desert breeze blew sand into his eyes, his hair stiff with salt. Ben's tongue felt like it was coated in fur and his lips were chapped and dry. His throat was so parched that he could no longer utter Rey's name. His whole world had narrowed to nothing but putting one foot forward in front of the other as he continued on his journey to nowhere.
After another few tortuous hours of slogging through the sand, Ben was finally done. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell.
Nineteen-year-old Rey, on her way home after yet another scavenging expedition, saw him fall.
In order to survive on Jakku, Rey became a scavenger in the employ of Unkar Plutt, trawling through the junk fields of the Starship graveyard which was littered with the remains of starships and other military technology from the Battle of Jakku. The battle had left the ships trapped in sand in varying conditions, and finding working parts was essential in order to earn food portions, the only thing that was up for trade in the Niima outpost. The trades were made by Plutt, who traded leftover Republic and Imperial rations in exchange for whatever Rey and other scavengers were able to recover. Rey learned that parts that could be repurposed were the most important; anything that could not be put into another ship was worthless to Plutt.
She had been out on another scavenging expedition when she came across the stranger. This wasn't her normal route home, but something inside her had drawn her in this direction. Rey stood over the stranger's inert body, sighing heavily. She normally avoided interacting with anybody, a necessary side affect if she wanted to stay alive. She knew from past experience how badly things could go wrong if you crossed paths with the wrong person.
Some of the scavengers that Rey worked for were kind to her, such as Ivano Troade and Mashra. Others, whose names she refused to speak, were not kind, and even viewed her as their property. As Rey's skills as a scavenger grew, she came to realize that while other scavengers needed her, she did not need them. She struck out on her own, utilizing the skills she had to scavenge and survive, but no one took her seriously at first. She was aided by Plutt himself, who told other scavengers to leave Rey alone and would send his thugs after those who did not. Rey did not want his help, and the help was not out of generosity. Rather, Rey was the best scavenger Plutt had and he wanted to continue utilizing her as a source of acquisitions. Rey gained a reputation in Niima Outpost for using her quarterstaff to defend herself, which also kept most people from bothering her—save for the occasional new scavenger who did not know about her, or were so desperate for supplies that they did not care.
The stranger didn't look in any fit state to fight. Still, as a precaution, Rey used her quarterstaff to prod him. He emitted a slight groan. Rey prodded him again. The stranger rolled on his back, his eyes cracking open slightly as he stared up at her. The sun was so blinding that he was forced to shut them just as quickly.
Rey scowled, feeling irritated that she was going to have to abandon her plans to take her new finds to Plutt and help this man instead. The guy wasn't even dressed properly. He had on a thin black shirt, which clung to his chiselled frame. She tried not to stare at that as her gaze travelled to his heavy boots. He didn't appear to be carrying a weapon.
"Idiot." She mumbled under her breath. "I can help you as far as the Niima Outpost, then you're on your own." She stated harshly.
The stranger was roused out of his stupor by the sound of her voice. Re-energised he sat up abruptly, the sudden move causing his head to spin. He shook it a few times to clear it, before staggering slowly to his feet, raking his hand through his luxurious black locks as he gazed at her like some kind of angelic apparition.
"Rey." He whispered her name so reverently that she was taken aback. "I've found you."
Before she had time to register that he knew her name, the stranger stepped forward and tried to wrap his muscular arms around her. Rey let out a very unladylike oath as she used her quarterstaff to defend herself from his embrace. She jabbed him sharply in the chest, winding him.
"Damn." He wheezed as he fell back on the sand.
"How do you know my name?" Rey demanded fiercely as she jabbed him in the knee this time.
Ben was half delirious with happiness. If this was some kind of fucked up dream, he was past caring. He now realised he was on Jakku, Rey's home world. The Jedi had answered his pleas after all. He had found her again, but not in the way he expected. He was back in her past. A soft smile parted his lips as he fell back in the sand and gazed up at her confused face.
"Hi." He said before he passed out cold at her feet.
A/N-thanks for reading. This is a time travel fic after all. Their journey was never going to be easy.
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