*AN: This is the last chapter ladies (and gentlemen? Do I have any male readers? Let me know.) Just wanted to prepare you. We're almost there.*

**Last time on WO: Ben and Luke are faced with a room of mirrors showing "maybes" for their futures. Ben passed the most important with Rey and got the artifact. **

Rey's eyes opened and she bolted up in bed. "Where's Ben? He feels lost." She rubbed her eyes and her hand hurt. Kriff, Both of them do. Rey thought, but pushed it down for another time. She was in the Falcon and had no idea why. She just felt strange things through the bond. "He's hurt, Leia." She said, meeting Leia's eyes.

Rey felt a strange pressure in her mind, and an overwhelming desire to sleep. She had a weird flash of raising her hand and using the force to choke someone. She squinted and it was Han. "Stars, Leia. What did I do? Is Han ok? Is Ben okay? He's hurt. Badly." She once again felt the pressure and grabbed whatever it was and pushed it away. She didn't have time for the sith if that was what it was. She felt so disoriented, Ben's feelings, her confusion, trying to stay awake.

"Leia? Are you doing that? Stop, we need to help Ben."

Leia stared at Rey. She didn't seem dark like she had before. Nothing dark was radiating from her and she seemed genuinely confused and worried for Ben. Which made Leia worry for Ben. "Han?" she called, wanting to have some muscle since the force sleep and sedatives didn't seem to be working on Rey. Not that he could stand against the Force either.

She would tell him to try to contact Luke and Ben to see if they needed help, whether it be rescuing them or hopefully picking them up with a successful mission. And then get him back in the cockpit with Chewie.

She hated to think of her son in pain, and whatever else Rey was feeling to have her so upset. She decided for now that she would let Rey stay awake. She motioned for the droid to back off with the sedatives but if Rey showed any signs of losing it, they would go at her hard to get her back under.

"How badly Rey?" Leia asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"His throat, his face, his arms, legs, stars, I can't find much that doesn't hurt. And his heart, he's so burdened, frustrated, angry and oh so sad. Leia, it hurts." Rey wiped tears from her face, and winced, she'd briefly forgotten about her own pain while dealing with Ben's.

Rey tried to send healing and comfort through the bond, but it was closed tightly. "What is going on? Where are we and where is Ben?" Rey said, her voice forceful.

Leia hesitated. "Ben and Luke are in the temple, searching for the artifact. We just got off planet. Everything went according to plan on our end. The Aki Aki helped with the ship and determined they couldn't do anything for you, so they sent us to the nearest planet with a good med trauma unit."

Rey had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Then her vision blurred and she could see a room torn to pieces. There was glass and wood everywhere and at the center, she was lunging towards Ben with a fashioned spear and it barely pierced his skin before she saw black. "But why?" she said in a small voice.

She knew though. She saw her set her hands on fire. Then one hand choking Ben, the other wrenching his arm hard enough she heard a pop. Mostly naked over him and him begging her to stop. Blue bolts from her hands into his body. Ben begging her. The darkness whispering to her, claiming her. She'd lost days and was so far gone that they'd moved up their trip to Onderon. Ben was hurting. Because of her. She emptied her stomach until she was dry heaving.

Then the bond stretched, and Rey couldn't feel Ben. It wasn't like when they put walls up, it was a blankness, a sense of emptiness where he should be. Surely she would know if he wasn't alive… right?

"Leia. I can't feel him. Leia! Somethings wrong. I don't feel his pain, I don't feel his walls, he's not there," Rey exclaimed, her voice rising in pitch with panic.

"What do you mean 'he's not there.' Did the Damerons pick them up?" Han said, hoping for the best. His son couldn't be gone. They'd just started to fix things. Han knew he screwed up with Ben, going off for months at a time, and not trying hard enough to connect with his son.

"I don't feel him in the bond. Leia, I would know if he… If he didn't make it?" Rey said, from her spot near the trash bin.

"No, he's alive. Luke too. There wasn't a disturbance in the force, and there would be a huge one if either of them didn't make it," Leia said. It was a comfort but it didn't abate her worry about what they might be facing that would cut off a force bond.

"Okay. Okay. I am going to see if I can contact the Damerons. They can do some recon. If they don't see anything, we'll comm Ben and Luke. I don't want to disturb their… artifact findings, but we might ought to," Han said, relieved to have something to do. He was glad his son was alive, and everything else would work out somehow. Plus, he didn't really know what to do with the pair of crying women.

"Shara? Do you have Ben and Luke?" Han called over the comlink.

"No, did they contact you?" Shara answered after a beat.

"Negative. Rey, she's awake and light again, we think. Rey thinks they are in trouble."

"We've pulled back a bit, so the Aki don't see us lurking. They are regrouping, which might make extraction… interesting. We'll do a sweep, make sure they haven't been captured, or the temple isn't in shambles. Or…"

"Shut up Poe," Shara said. "Give me the damn comm. We'll check it out."

"Copy," Han answered. He turned to Chewie. "Let's land. Just in case we need to go back." Chewie chuffed and punched in a landing sequence.

"Ben?" Luke said, shaking his shoulders. His nephew being unconscious was something he was weary of seeing. He pushed healing but he didn't feel it did any good. The artifact had clicked together, and Luke had felt an immense blast of light. Part of it seemed to rebound into Ben and the rest dissipated, Luke sincerely hoped it was to Rey. Although Ben still being out was slightly worrisome.

Luke assessed the room, the mirrors were gone save for one. He picked up Ben with the help of the force and although it was ungainly since Ben was so much taller and had a bigger build than Luke, they made steady progress to the remaining mirror. He peered through the mirror and saw a secluded balcony jutting over a section of the temple. He couldn't see over it or much besides a narrow peek at what they might be facing, so he clicked the com five times fast. "We're ready to fly. Sending our beacon. Let me know when you're one minute out. Ben is… not awake right now."

"Copy," Shara's voice crackled. "Headed your way already."

Ben opened his eyes to see Poe. His arms were around him, and he had an uncharacteristic worry line between his brows.

"You finally have me in your arms, and you're this unhappy?" Ben said, voice cracking and rough. It still surprised Ben how it irritated his throat whenever he spoke.

"Buddy! Welcome back. I saved your ass. Well, mom helped. But still," Poe replied, his charming smile back in place.

"Luke?"

"I'm here. How are you?"

"Good, I feel… Light. Force. Rey! Where's Rey? Is she…"

"She doesn't believe us that you're okay. We're taking you to your girl," Poe said. "She's feisty, that one, I like her."

"Did we get out okay? The Aki?" Ben started to ask.

"Alive, every single one of them. Shaken, and they will probably tighten up security to no end," Luke answered.

"Please tell me you didn't forget something because I'm an ace pilot, but trying to be stealthy while hauling your heavy sleepy ass is not easy," Poe joked. He'd finally let Ben go, and he pushed to a sitting position.

Ben searched the bond and it was a sweet relief. It was wide open, and it led him right to Rey. His Rey, so full of light and life. She was worried, in pain, feeling regretful, and ashamed but she had lost the haze of darkness, and it was just her. 'Sweetheart?' He tried to send his thoughts to her. It didn't always work, but he hoped it would. Even so, he sent love, comfort, reassurance and forgiveness through their connection.

'BEN? Force, Ben! I'm so sorry. I love you. Where are you? I'M SOR…' Her voice boomed through, but he'd never heard something so sweet. Her thoughts had cut off, but he now felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

"Are we almost there? I need to see her," Ben said, his desperation apparent.

"Two minutes, hang in there dude," Shara said. "I'm glad this worked out, and we could help. Poe is of course disappointed but he says you are happy and in love with Rey."

"I am, Shara, I am."

When the ramp finally touched ground, Ben was off. The Falcon was close, but not close enough. Rey was in his mom's arms and he couldn't get to her fast enough. She turned, and smiled so big. When she started running he braced to catch her. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed everything she could reach.

"Ben, I'm so sorry," she said, when she pulled away. Then she really saw him. The right side of his handsome face was now bisected with a dark, angry scar. It was well healed, so Rey was confused about how that worked. Unless he had been in the temple for a long time and she had been sleeping for an equal amount. But she didn't think he looked any older and they had still been in space so close to Onderon. But that was a conversation for later. Because then she saw his neck, it was black and blue, and she knew that things had to have happened there too. There were handprints, but they were far too big to be hers. She still felt guilty about that. She would never hurt him while she was in her right mind, but it was something that she would have to carry.

His cloak and tunic was wet with blood, the scent strong. She probed with healing but again, nothing was a new injury. She sent healing to him, and though it did little, it still made her feel a little better. She couldn't stop the tears though. They were a strange mixture: tears of happiness and relief that they were in each other's arms again, but ladened with sadness at how she'd hurt him and his family.

"Rey, stop sweetheart. It's not your fault," Ben whispered, pulling her close to his chest. He probed the bond, and revelled in the fact that it was wide open for him. Her beautiful light was back and their connection was as strong as ever. He would pay any price for that. The physical pain would fade, and the emotional trauma would too especially since he could see that his family was alive and Rey was unharmed.

They settled into the Falcon and curled up together in Ben's bunk. Their time back to the academy was a mix of quiet connection, and Rey urged him to tell her what happened in the temple. He was reluctant; both to relive it and to place any burden on her. He could tell though that it was something that she needed, and he knew deep down that he did too.

It was a bittersweet journey but they were together and they had conquered the dark.

THE END

**AN: The will be an epilogue. Don't worry, I can't leave our favorite awkward space couple virgins after all. What kind of mature Reylo author would I be if I did?

Besides that, let me know, is the ending okay? I was nervous but I felt like the meat of the story was over, and the last line just felt like it was time.***