Once the others have gathered in Leia's apartment, Rey shares her theory with the group.
"If this is true," Poe says darkly, "and Virya's been the primary target all along, then Rey is way more danger on these missions than we'd originally thought."
"We should pull the whole operation," Finn says. "We've had too many close calls already. And now we know they'll come for her at the ball."
"What? No," Rey protests immediately. "If we pull it, everything up until now would have been for nothing. We'll be right back where we started."
"And if the next assassination attempt takes you out, we'll be even worse off."
"It won't. I've managed to survive so far. The only difference is now I'll be ready."
Poe sighs. "I don't love this. But Rey has a point. It might even make our job easier."
Finn looks at Poe like he's sprouted a second head and started screaming in ancient Sith tongues.
"Think about it," Poe says, "she's spent so much time chasing shadows at these functions. At least now we know that whoever is behind the murders will be coming after her. She just needs to show up."
"Sorry, I missed the part where you think the mission got easier," Finn says. "Because from where I'm standing, our strategy just deteriorated from sending her in as a spy to sending her in as bait."
"I'm not a helpless damsel, Finn."
"No. You're not. You're our best fighter and one of the last Jedi in the universe. Today, I literally heard a Senator Kiran call you our Rey of Hope. If anything happens to you-"
"All those are also reasons I can't just sit on the sidelines. Besides, I'm not going in alone." Rey glances toward Ben, who sits in an armchair staring into the gas fire. He hasn't said a word since he's arrived, hasn't met her gaze once, though Rey's eyes keep skating the room to look for his. It might be her imagination, but there seems to be a darkness growing in the stillness of his frame, distilling in his blackness of his eyes.
"Oh, right." Finn says. "How could I forget, you're partnered up with someone who can't use the Force at all."
"Finn-"
"He's cut off from the Force, and the next time you use it you might turn into a walking bomb! Yeah, this seems like a great plan."
The words are a slap in the face. Even worse is that when Rey opens her mouth to counter, there's nothing she can say.
"They won't be completely alone," Poe reminds Finn, "because we'll be there too. That was your plan, remember? You were okay with that."
"Yeah, that was back when this was a spy-mission. Not a bait-mission."
"Ben?" Leia's interrupts what is fast becoming an unproductive argument. "What do you think?"
Ben stares into the fire, almost as if he hadn't heard the question.
"You're not okay with this," Finn says. It sounds more like a threat than a statement. "There's no way you can be okay with this."
"I agree with Dameron," Ben says. "Her going to the Frost Ball is the best option we have."
Finn stands. "Well, I guess I'm the idiot. I can't believe I actually started to believe you'd changed."
"Finn," Poe starts. "Calm down."
"If you'd really changed, you wouldn't let her knowingly walk into a trap this dangerous. But I guess you're still letting your darkness dictate your decisions." Finn strides across the room and slams both hands on the arms of Ben's chair, leaning down into his face. "It's all about the ends, right? And you don't care who gets hurt in the process. It was like that when you lead the storm troopers. And it's still like that now. At the end of the day you're not Ben Solo. You're still just Kylo Ren."
"Finn," Rey snaps.
"You are an idiot," Ben confirms calmly. "The one who keeps leaning into the darkness again is you, and you convince yourself it's the light. Turning a blind eye to the bigger picture, all for the sake of your personal feelings."
Finn straightens. "What in the Force are you talking about?"
"Think about it. If we pull the mission now, the First Order rebuilds," Ben says. "Maybe not in a month, maybe not in three. But sooner than later you'll have another war on your hands. She died to win the last one. Or don't you remember the feeling of her life slipping away in the Force?"
"Shut up," Finn spits. But Rey sees the uncertainty in his eyes, to her immense relief. Somehow, Ben is always able to open Finn's eyes when he's straying down the darker path.
Ben stands, forcing Finn to take a step back. "We can fight this all night. But at the end of the day it's not our decision. Rey?"
She blinks. "Yes?"
"You're the one risking your life. You should be the one to decide."
"Rey," Finn says, bordering on pleading now. "We could find another way. Just think about it. Please."
But she doesn't need to think about it. There is only one choice she, a Jedi, can make. "I'll go."
Finn recoils. Then, defeated, he turns and walks out Leia's door. Poe watches him go, arms crossed and mouth grim. But he nods solemnly to Rey, giving her his unspoken support. Ben just keeps looking through her instead of at her, his expression closed tight.
"It's a brave choice, Rey," Leia says. "One worthy of the Skywalker name. I know Luke would be proud."
Rey glances at Ben, wondering what those words will trigger for him. But his face remains locked in its military reserve. He turns to Leia the way one might turn to a commanding officer. "If we're finished here?"
Leia nods. Her son sweeps from the room.
Rey hesitates only a moment before going after him.
#
She knew Ben had a long stride, but she's surprised to see how far he's gotten with only a brief head start. She catches a glimpse of black rounding a corner and breaks into a jog to catch up. She starts to call out but his name lodges in her throat. After how the day has gone, she isn't sure he'd wait.
"You think I made the right choice, don't you?" She's a little breathless when she falls in beside him.
If he's surprised she followed him, he doesn't show it.
"I don't think it wasn't even a matter of choice."
"Because Finn's wrong. There is no better way."
Ben turns sharply down a narrow stairway and starts to descend. Rey is forced to fall back and follow at his heels.
"Right?"
"That," Ben confirms, footfalls heavy as he descends multiple levels. "And because that's just who you are."
Rey's chest tightens. What did he mean by that? A Skywalker? A Jedi?
Before she can decide which to ask, Ben throws open a door on the lowest level. Rose stands before an unmarked door with her blaster, raising her brow as Ben and Rey come bursting in from the stairwell.
Rey pauses. She'd assumed they were going to the usual empty storage room.
"Thought you were done with her," Rose says, looking around Ben to slant a questioning glance at Rey.
"I wasn't."
"Does Leia want me to-"
"Go finish whatever you were doing in the generator room. This won't take long."
Rose only hesitates a moment before stepping aside and pressing her thumb to the lock. The door blinks green and Ben hauls it open. Rey jams her boot into the door's frame to keep it from closing in her face.
"Everything okay?" Rose asks under her breath. "He seems broody. Like, more broody than usual."
"I'll stay with him," Rey assures. "Don't worry."
"Okay," Rose nods, looking unconvinced. "I'll check on the generator. Back in ten."
"Thanks," Rey claps the other girl on the shoulder, then follows Ben inside.
#
Virya's chambers aren't at all what Rey had been expecting. She'd always imagined the beautiful, elegant woman inside a beautiful, elegant space. Perhaps that had been naive, but Rey honestly hadn't envisioned Virya suffering for anything less. So she's surprised to find a room that had clearly been used for storage before it was halfheartedly converted into passable living quarters. It was spartan. Cold, iron walls framing a cold, iron floor. It reminded Rey of the abandoned wrecks she used to shelter in on Jakku. Someone had dragged down a mismatched folding chair and wobbly card table. There was a metal utility rack spanning one of the walls, intended for hanging power tools but now serving as a makeshift closet. A dozen elegant pieces that Rey recognized as the Seamster's handiwork were arranged as carefully as prized art.
Virya sits on her bed, which is actually just a stack of crates pushed into the corner to keep a soldier's bedroll off the floor. She looks up when Ben enters, putting aside the notebook she'd been writing in. Even with no makeup and a simple shift dress, the woman is like an oasis. A thing of beauty in a barren wasteland.
"Back so soon?" Virya slides from the bed in a way that's vaguely sensual. Rey swears that it's deliberate. The other woman only makes half an attempt at concealing her disappointment at Rey's presence. "I see you've brought a tag along. That's unfortunate."
Rey opens her mouth to return that Virya's existence is unfortunate, but Ben gets there first.
"Did you know?"
Virya stills like a fox that's just caught scent of a wolf. "I know a great deal of things, Lord Ren. You'll have to be more specific."
"Did you know," Ben says, the edge in his voice laid bare now, "that you were the target of the assassination attempts?"
Virya tips her head. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about."
And suddenly, Ben is across the room, shoving Virya into the wall. Hard. She braces, barely in time to save the back of her head from being concussed.
"Ben!" Rey startles. "What -?"
"Don't lie to me, Virya," Ben snarls. "Force help you if you're lying to me."
Rey falters, uncertain. If this is just a very convincing scare tactic, the worst thing she could do would be to interrupt before Virya gave in. But if it isn't, if Ben really is as close as he seems to crossing over into violence…
"I'm giving you a chance to tell the truth," he menaces. "You won't get another. Did you know whoever was behind the murders would come for you next? Did you know that by posing her as you, we were sending her to the Inner Circle with a bloody fucking target painted on her head!?" Ben grips Virya's shoulder, pressing bruises into creamy skin. His other hand flexes at Virya's throat, an inch from her windpipe.
Anyone would struggle. Anyone's gaze would dart around the room, searching for escape. But Virya remains completely still, staring Ben dead in the eye. "As I said, my Lord, I don't know what you're talking about."
Her cold steel response doesn't seem to appease Ben. If anything, the grimace on his face sharpens until it's almost a snarl. But it's the familiar dark flash in his eyes that decides it for Rey. She has to stop this now, before it goes too far. She crosses the room and covers Ben's hand with her own.
"That's enough, Ben." She pushes Ben's wrist down from Virya's throat. "I believe her."
For a moment, he resists. For a horrible, tense moment, Rey sees the rage flare and thinks he might try to shake her off. Might try to squeeze a different story from Virya's throat. But then he looks at Rey. Their eyes meet, and she sees the black fire gutter, shrinking from a blaze to an ember. She sees him finding his way back to her.
Ben lets Rey lower his hand from Virya's throat, then interlocks their fingers and grips, as if she is a lifeline.
Across the room, the door bangs open. Rose stands gripping her blaster, glaring daggers at Ben. "Hey," she says sharply. "What's going on in here?"
"We're fine, Rose," Rey says without breaking eye contact with Ben. "Right?"
Ben's jaw flexes but he releases his grip on Virya's shoulder.
The woman half staggers, half slides across the wall. And for the first time, Rey catches a fleeting shadow of fear in the woman's expression.
"If you're lying," Ben tells her, his voice quiet and cold, "our deal is off. You won't have my protection. In fact, if I find out you're lying, you should run. Because I'll be the first one to come for you. Am I making myself clear?"
"Inescapably," Virya says. The acid is nearly enough to hide the hurt in her reply. Nearly.
"Good," Ben says. Then he turns on his heel to leave, still holding tight to Rey's hand.
#
When they get back to the dorms, Rey doesn't even stop by her own room. Ben is still gripping her hand, even though anyone might see them. He tows her inside his apartment and doesn't let go until the lock clicks behind them.
He walks over to his desk and picks up a copy of the text Rey had discovered, the one that told of the terrible power and suffering of a dyad. Ben stares at it as if he's never seen it before. Then with sudden violence, he hurls it into the wall. It falls in a papery heap, spine broken, pages like damaged feathers.
Rey stands in silence by the door as Ben shovels his hands into his hair and sits heavily on the edge of his bed, elbows propped on knees. She waits a long moment before crossing the room to stand beside him.
"So I guess you really didn't want me to go to the Frost Ball after all," she guesses. "Despite what you said to Finn."
"I forced myself to be rational in front of the others," Ben says into his lap. "But everything he said is how I feel inside."
Rey lays a hand on the nape of his neck. It's the first time they've touched since their failed attempt at intimacy. It's like a deep draw of water in the middle of a desert.
"It'll be alright. I've faced danger before."
"You had the Force before," Ben says. "Now even that's a risk to your life. And I'm the reason. I distorted the dyad. I came up with the idea of you being a spy. I thought I'd broken free of this curse, but everything I touch still turns to ash. Maybe I should just turn back. We can repair the dyad, save your life, and bring balance to the Force. And I can return to the dark where I belong."
"Shut up," Rey says, "we're not doing that."
She pulls gently and he doesn't fight her. He lets her guide him until his forehead is pressed to her navel.
"See? Still solid. I haven't turned to ash. And I'm not letting the Force separate us again. You're on the side that you want. The side that you chose. You chose me, and I chose you, and neither of us are going back on that choice. We'll deal with the Inner Circle. Then we'll deal with the dyad. Alright?"
Ben wilts, leaning into her touch. He wraps an arm around her waist. Loosely at first, then tighter, as if she is the only thing anchoring him to the world.
"I'm sorry we fought today," Rey says softly, sifting fingers through the dark hair at the nape of his neck. "I won't ask you to forgive me. But I want you to believe that I'm sorry."
Ben just holds to her, so Rey lays her hands on either side of his jaw and tips his face up into the light.
"Believe me?" she asks.
He answers by pulling her down into his lap and tipping her face for a long, slow kiss.