Pain. Searing pain. Like Rey had never felt before. One minute she was perched on a destroyed ship, fingers extended to reach a part wedged in a seam. And then weightlessness, nausea, and a ripping. It felt like her arm was being torn off. And then her neck jerked, her head cracked on something and a ringing in her ears.

Then nothing.

Rey could only see blackness, even when she opened her eyes. She experimentally tried to move her fingers, and then toes, but nothing wanted to cooperate. It was like the weight of the world was pressing down on Rey and all she could do was take shallow breaths. The breaths became faster and she felt her heart racing. The weight just seemed to get heavier at this, so she calmed herself, focusing on each part of her body and relaxing the way that she would during the long nights in the AT-AT. Horrid nights when her mouth was parched and her stomach cramped in hunger. As she finally began to relax, she took in her surroundings and noted that it was not the oppressive heat of daytime or the biting cold of nights in Jakku. She honed her ears to listen for anyone who might be sneaking up on her and only felt one person on her periphery. She didn't feel a sense of danger from them, but she'd learned the hard way not to trust others.

A pain shot through her head, and she thought that her skull might be crushed. It was different from the weight of the darkness, Rey mused through the throbs of pain, but it was worse somehow. Heat and pressure started to build even more until it felt like her body contracted and released in waves. She tried to bring her hands to her face to place her thumbs over her temples, which would sometimes ease the pain of a headache, but they still refused to move.

She focused all her might on her fingers, now wanting to gouge her own eyes out but it still wouldn't obey. She had to hope that her gut instinct was right and that the person meant her no harm because sleep was dragging her down. With all her might she pressed against the pressure, and the pain, and it lessened enough that she could succumb.

The next time Rey was aware, she still felt that presence. It was warm and since she was still alive and in no more pain than before, Rey had to trust that for now she wasn't in danger. She felt a spike of anger? Pain? Fear? She wasn't entirely sure what it was, it didn't feel like her own, but in this strange state of being, Rey wasn't sure of anything anymore. The presence she had sensed disappeared, and at first she was afraid because it was a constant, but then another surrounded her. One that was different but somehow familiar. Then she felt warm again, almost like she was being submerged in water. But that couldn't be, water was never something you could spare for more than drinking or an occasional splash to clean your face. She relished in the feeling, but still missed the warmth of the other person she'd sensed on the periphery. She felt a charge, a tingling, when near them, something that was so familiar in a way that she couldn't quite place in her foggy state of mind.

The pain returned in force and she focused once again on making that pulse that eased the pain, if only a little.

Disgust, shame, anger-burning anger. Evil snakes over her and it makes her want to vomit. She can't hold up the pulsing that keeps the pain from suffocating her and it rushes all in at once. Rey gasps and feels like all the energy, all the blood is rushing from her body.

Then, blessedly, nothing.

She opened her eyes to darkness once again. Rey thought she'd never miss the searing, bright light of Jakku's sun, but somehow this complete black was worse. At least at night, she could eat her portions under the twinkling of the stars. Always watching and hoping that any ships she saw were her parents coming to get her. Even after so many hard days that stretched into years, she still held out hope. That her parents didn't want to leave her on this forsaken planet to starve, and they were coming back.

Somehow, the ever present gnawing in her stomach-demanding that she feed it for all the abuse she put her body through-was absent. She absently wondered why and she spread out her awareness again. This state of mind was making her lax. She spread out her awareness, and shrank back at all of the people she could sense. Rey could still sense her anchor, the person that made her feel… safe? Which made no sense, because the only thing that ever made her feel safe was herself and her staff. The people felt familiar somehow, like the one that made her feel warm, a gentle caress her and there, her hand, her hair, a light brush on her cheek.

While Rey had built up some amount of trust in that presence, three others were daunting. There was the one that she associated with water, another that for some reason made her want to chuckle, and another that made her feel… strange. Waves of ice and heat washed over her, helping somewhat with the pain that still engulfed her. It skirted against the bubble that she'd figured out how to make against her mind, focusing those pulses into a tangible thing, to protect her from the pain. She let it in and felt a measure of relief before it shrank down, and withdrew altogether.

Rey didn't realize she'd been missing the physical touch of her phantom person, but once it was there again, she sighed in relief and could no longer stay aware.

Rey was submerged, not in water, though in what she couldn't say. Glass, murkiness was all around. She scanned her surroundings and could see the blurry outline of a person. The long black hair was familiar, and even though she couldn't make out the specific facial features, she recognized him. She remembered his touch, and raised her hand to the glass. As he approached with his hand raised, something pulled on her, hard, and the blackness returned.

She cursed and tried to move again. She knew that she'd moved her hand, her head, but now it was useless. She cast out again for her surroundings and only found her ever constant companion. But one that she could now put a name and face to.

Ben.