Sweeping the sand out from underneath it, The Falcon touched down on the surface of Tatooine.
Two figures emerged from it, one male and one female. They came around the ship to an aging dome-shaped hut. Beside it was a deep well in the ground, half-filled with sand.
"This was my uncle's home." Ben broke the silence.
"It looks like it's been deserted for a long time." Rey replied.
"It can be fixed."
The woman smiled, "You're just like your father."
"How so?" Ben chuckled.
"You both like to fix up old junk."
"So do you, if I remember correctly," he teased and tapped into the bond between them, "And I know I do."
"You're lucky that I like to fix up stuff too, you're going to need my help with this place."
"Am I now?" he smirked.
Rey laughed again, "Yes, I don't think you can do it solo."
Ben shook his head with a smile, "Really? That's the joke you came up with?"
"I've been waiting to make that one for a year now!"
"Hilarious." he sighed, bringing her into his arms. Rey fought against his arms, pushing him back a few inches.
"What? Rey-"
"Do you hear that?" she shushed him, "That whistling?"
"What whistling?"
"Be quiet, listen, it almost sounds like the holocron."
Both became quiet under the rising suns.
Ben finally nodded, "Yes, I hear it. It's not a holocron, it's a kyber crystal, yours."
"How do you know?" Rey gasped.
"Because I can hear it. Normally, I wouldn't be able to but since we're bonded..."
"Are you sure it doesn't belong to you?"
"Yes, it feels like you. Besides, I've found mine already." Ben said.
"You did? Where is it?" Rey asked.
He pointed at the purple-bladed sword at her hip, "You have it."
"When?"
"I heard it as soon as my mother's saber became cold like Luke's."
"Here." Rey unclipped it from her belt, "You take it then."
Ben pushed the lightsaber back at her, "No, I'll get mine when you get yours. From what I've heard, the Tusken Raiders don't take so kindly to outsiders."
"What happened to 'your lightsaber is your life'?"
"Exactly my point." Ben looked down at the blade between them, "You keep it."
Rey couldn't stop her cheeks from growing red at his sentiment and grinned cheekily at him,
"Well, let's go get mine then, I'd love to return the favor."
Ben's face lightened like a little boy on Life Day, its color matching Rey's. His lips twitched to the side of his face in a secret, little smirk.
"Yes ma'am." he said playfully. Rey took his hand and drug him back into the Falcon. Within moments, they were back up in the air, scattering the sand below them once again.
"Just keep listening to the song, it will lead us there." Ben instructed her from the copilot's seat.
Rey did so, tuning her mind to the Force and blocking out any distractions. The kyber crystal still called to her from below, even as the engines of the Falcon whined and pulled her away from the surface. It was faint, but she could still sense the direction it was coming from. She gently guided the ship in that direction though her eyes were closed, careful to not lose the signal.
Ben was silent in the seat beside her, but she felt his presence in both the Force and in her mind. He tracked the sound as well, making it a little easier for Rey to distinguish its location. The ship continued to fly smoothly under her control. It had been about a half hour when the sound suddenly stopped.
"Ben? I think we passed over it." Rey asked within her mind, knowing that disturbing the atmosphere with talk was not going to be helpful.
"I agree," he replied, "Try circling back around."
Rey turned the ship about and flew right where they had been moments earlier. After a moment more of silence, she heard the crystal start to call again, this time much louder than before.
"It's here, beneath us." she said aloud, already beginning to land.
"I know." Ben said, getting up as the ship set down.
Together, the two disembarked from the Falcon and started to search the land beneath it. The sand was not very deep there, yet Rey did not see anything crystal-like peeking out of it. She was once accustomed to finding bits and pieces of machinery out of the dunes of Jakku, now it seemed like she had lost her touch. So she started to comb the sand with her boot in the hope of unearthing the crystal.
Ben copied her, though he had an easier time because his foot was much larger than hers. They continued to look like this for another half hour with no results. Rey stopped suddenly, reaching to feel the Force around her. The song still called as strong as ever but now seemed more precise. Rey put her hand out, summoning the crystal that belonged to her. Ben paused to watch her from the other side of the ship's underside. Sand started to shift a couple feet to her right, yielding a black lightsaber.
She gasped at the dark, twisted arch of metal now grasped in her palm. It was hers, she was sure of it. Only she or Ben could have heard it from across the desert. But now as she held it, the crystal was so sad, so angry, so hurt. It ignited red as she activated it, one shaft out of the hilts' curved cross section and one out of its straight end.
"This is my lightsaber?" Rey wondered aloud.
Ben answered her, "Not your saber, your crystals. That sword must have belonged to a darksider."
"Then how can it be mine?"
"Perhaps the Force wants you to heal the crystals, just as it wanted us to heal the rift in the galaxy. Part light, part dark."
Rey raised her brows quizzically, "How do I do that?"
"I'm not sure, I've only bled one. I haven't restored a crystal before."
"That's something we'll have to answer later, I think we're going to be busy soon," Rey pointed to the blue sky above them, "Look."
In the sky, one ship approached the area where they stood, the symbol of the Resistance emblazoned on its one side. It landed perfectly, giving Rey a good idea of who was behind the controls.
Sure enough when the ramp lowered, Poe Dameron stepped out, followed by Finn and Chewbacca. Ben and Rey glanced sideways at each other and mentally braced for any outcome.
"Don't worry guys, we didn't come to shoot you." Poe held up his hands as they neared them, "Though in my opinion, I would definitely shoot one of you. I was outvoted on that one."
Ben tensed visibly. As the groups came together, Finn and Chewbacca both stepped forward to give Rey a hug. The latter also embraced Ben, whom Rey assumed he saw as his nephew.
"What are you doing here, Poe?" Rey said curtly.
"Ah, can't I just be here to visit?" he joked, obviously trying to avoid the upcoming conversation.
Rey glared at him.
"Ok, ok," he said, stepping back, "I'm here to apologize. Finn and Chewie told me that you were right, Rey, that umm.. 'Ben' here had changed."
She scoffed, "Now you do, huh?"
Poe continued on, ignoring her comment, "So with three of my top officers telling me the same story, I knew that I had to rescind my order for your arrest. Which I did and which is why I'm here. To apologize."
The pilot stepped forward again, reaching a hand out for Rey to shake. She stared at it for a moment, feeling for the sincerity behind his claim. It was there. Ben had felt it too.
"Go ahead." he encouraged her silently.
"You're ok with it?" Rey responded with a look.
"I have to be. I've hurt them, it's only fair that I earn their trust now."
She nodded and turned back to the others. They looked at the couple with wide eyes, not understanding the interaction they had just witnessed.
Rey took Poe's hand, shaking it fervently and then pulling him into a little hug.
"We accept." she told the pilot.
"Good. To be honest, the whole Resistance has been missing you. It will be good to have you back."
Rey looked to Ben again, they had had this conversation prior to landing on Tatooine. He nodded.
"We're not coming back, Poe. We have our own mission, away from the Resistance." she addressed him.
"I'm assuming that your bond is back then." Finn asked, taken aback by her words.
At the same time, Poe exclaimed, "What?! What mission are you talking about?"
"Yes." Rey said to Finn and turned to Poe, "It's going to take a long time to explain, let's go sit in the Falcon."
The five people moved for the Falcon, entering it and heading to sit around in the common room. Rey and Ben remained standing to address the others.
"It first started when I was captured on Takodana..." she began with a deep breath.
~
They were still talking when the suns of Tatooine began to set upon the dunes.
Questions had been asked and answered, secrets revealed, and opinions changed. Ben and Rey had explained what they were and what tethered them to each other. Finn had even told the pilot of his new involvement with the energy that bound the universe together.
"So you're gonna start one of those schools like Luke did? You, him, and Finn?" Poe looked to Rey.
"Not one like Luke's, but the same concept, yes." Ben corrected.
"Here on Tatooine?"
"No. This is just a quiet place to live until the time is right." Rey chuckled. She shuddered at the thought of living in the middle of a desert again.
"Oh." Poe ran his fingers through his hair absentmindedly, "But you'll still be within communication right? Starting a new government from scratch isn't going to be easy."
"Yes." Rey stood, "This won't be the last time you hear from us."
"The suns will be setting soon, you'll probably want to take your ship before the Jawas do." Ben added.
Finn and Poe nodded slowly but Chewie groaned angrily.
"He wants to stay with us." Ben explained to all of them.
"He can, so can Finn if he wants." Poe replied and turned to the ex-trooper.
Finn shook his head, "No, I think I'm going to stay with the Resistance for now and help rebuild. At least until you guys build that school."
Rey grinned at her friend, "Of course."
"Then I guess this is goodbye for now." Poe said solemnly.
"I guess so." Rey agreed. She hugged each of the men, wishing them well on their own missions. They gave her her staff as well as a comm, ready to be used whenever she (or they) might need. Ben even shook the two's hands before they left.
Then Poe and Finn disappeared into the night sky. Soon after, Chewie reboarded the Falcon, expressing that he wanted to check on it after Ben had flown it.
"Who do you think you're talking to, fuzzball?" Ben called after him.
Then he turned back to Rey, his dark hair reflecting the glow of the three moons. Even his eyes shone in the darkness.
"I guess we should fix that saber now." he told her softly.
Rey pulled the crusted hilt from her belt, "Yeah. I guess so."
"I think I found a solution to our restoration problem." Ben knelt down on the soft sand.
"And?" Rey hummed and copied him.
"Instead of channeling hatred and violence into the crystal like when one bleeds it, try channeling peace into it. When it becomes a balance of both the light and the dark, it will be returned to its natural balance, just like you."
"Alright." Rey thought it through quickly and then reached to the other sword at her belt, "And here's yours."
Ben took the lightsaber out of her hand, brushing her skin as he did so. His gaze shot to her.
"Focus, Ben." Rey smiled, even as she had a hard time ignoring the way he looked under the moonlight. She closed her eyes finally, slipping into a deep meditation.
Ben pulsed brilliantly before her as he did the same.
One by one, the sabers in front of them separated themselves into their separate components. They floated between each forcewielder, some from Ben's to Rey's and some from Rey's to Ben's.
Lastly, each took out their kyber crystals. As Rey lifted hers into line with the other pieces, she made sure to think of all good things. Peace, life and love. She breathed it into the crystal, feeling it absorb all of her energy. It was contented at last, in the hands of its true owner.
But even with all the components present, Rey's lightsaber didn't feel right. She concentrated for a moment, debating what it might need.
"It feels like you." Ben had said to her that morning.
So maybe she needed something more personal and familiar to house her crystal.
Rey pulled her staff from where she had placed it on her back after the others gave it to her. She soon had it disassembled too. She moved some of the staff into her lightsaber configuration and snapped all of them together.
Opening her eyes, the lightsaber fell into her hand, warm and comforting. It was like an extension of her own body, something she had never felt with the other swords she had used.
Across from her, Ben sat still, watching her intently. His own lightsaber was grasped in his hand.
They stood up in unison, stepping back from each other to test their new creations.
At once, the swords ignited in a brilliant white glow that rivaled the moons above.
Balance. At last.