p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben sat in quiet meditation. He couldn't be sure how much time had passed or if any had at all. He kept his dark eyes closed and his breathing slow and even while he reached out to the Force, hoping he might feel something. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"His entire body ached with yearning as he sought out Rey in the depths of his mind. Since their first meeting, she had been there at the edge of his peripheral vision. When they were adversaries, he could almost feel her breathing down his neck as she trained to end him; He knew that she, too, had felt him. She had learned quickly how to seal off her end of their connection to keep the monster she feared was hunting her at bay. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"When they were connected it was almost as if there was a tether between their minds. He hadn't felt that since Palpatine had sent him careening into a rocky abyss on Exegol. He knew she had still been alive when he fell and knew that she lived once more, but no matter how he searched for the rope that would lead back to her, all he could find were the frayed ends of his own. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"It was still dark. Still quiet. Ben opened his eyes. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"A trail stretched out before him. Ancient markings and shimmering ribbons appeared, tracing paths into nothingness. He had asked the Force for answers; perhaps this was its guidance./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He stood, his body still feeling heavy and sore and his leg dragged a bit as he walked. Whispers coaxed him onward, but they all spoke simultaneously and he could not distinguish one voice from the next at times. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben's breathing became labored the further on he walked and his side pained him. He placed a hand on his bare skin and felt lumps beneath it as if they were pushing out from the inside. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Those are ribs/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", he told himself, wincing as his fingertips grazed the bruised flesh. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Show me/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"," he heard a whisper that took his mind off of the pain. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Show me," /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"a different voice; his own voice. "/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Grandfather."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;""Show me my parents," /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey whispered. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben broke into a hobbling run in the direction of her voice. He arrived a moment later before another of the gleaming windows and there, just out of reach, stood Rey. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Rey," he spoke her name as though if he said it too loudly she might flee. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"His voice was soft and inflicted with as much warmth as he could muster. His eyes were brimming with tears as he stared at her. She was alive and whole, but her eyes told the story of a woman who was alone and afraid. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey stood on the other side of the hazy portal, her clothes and hair drenched and eyes wide with fear. She stepped closer and then looked back. She snapped her fingers and then looked to the front. She was breathing heavily and Ben could tell that she was terrified, but of what he was unsure. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Could she see him? His limping, bloodied form might be peering out to her from the darkness around him, he considered. He felt a sense of Deja Vu as he watched her come closer still and it struck him then that he was seeing Rey in the past. She was on Ahch-to in the cave where the darkness had lured her to./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"The scared young woman on the other side was nearly pressed to the portal now. Ben stepped forward to meet her, hoping to feel the warmth of her as they neared. Instead, he felt something impeding him from taking that next step forward. He gazed down into her hazel eyes and wanted to scream and punch through whatever force field was keeping him from reaching out and sweeping her up into his arms, kissing her, and telling her that she'd never be alone again. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She had reached out to him after this, he remembered. Why had she come to him? Rey placed her hand against the surface and Ben mirrored the gesture, his large hand eclipsing hers. Tears streamed down her face. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""You're not alone," he whispered to her, unsure if she'd hear the words. "I'm with you. I'll always be with you." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben's eyes clenched shut as tears streamed down his cheeks, his hand still pressed to Rey's. He opened them and looked back to her face, but when he did he found that she was no longer there. Instead, he peered out on a snowy wood. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""That lightsaber," he heard a ghost of himself scream and he winced. "Belongs to me." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Come and get it," replied the stormtrooper who had broken his programming and rebelled. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"The red and blue of their lightsabers clashed against the falling snow and he watched as trees were decimated by their uncontrolled blades. Rey lay on the snow, her skin flushed from the cold; her body limp at the foot of the tree that his former self had flung her into. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben screamed, furious at this vision of himself. He had been so lost in the grief and anger that he himself had caused and it had made him lash out at her. He stared at her motionless form, waiting to see her stir. He knew that she would, but as the moments pressed on, he became anxious at her lack of movement. Some reckless abandon stirred within him and suddenly, with all of his might, Ben flung himself into a run and found himself bounding through the barrier and into the snow. He collapsed beside Rey and placed a hand on her snow-covered cheek. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Rey, sweetheart, wake up," Ben begged. He tapped gently at her cheek, hoping to stir her back to consciousness. "Please. I'm so sorry. Wake up."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She stirred slightly. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""You've gotta get up and fight," he told her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Something inside of Ben knew that he couldn't stay there to help her. He wasn't sure if Rey or the others could see him or what kind of consequences there might be if they could. He helped Rey sit up as she blinked back to life. His hand rested on her upper back and he felt a surge like lightning beneath his fingertips. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Who," she began as she turned around, her eyes meeting his. "You?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He panicked. Ben looked over his shoulder at the portal and then back to Rey. He could see the confusion on her face as he realised that she could indeed see him. Ben crouched down once more beside her and leaned in. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Stay here," he said softly. "I'll come back to you, Sweetheart. I promise." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He planted the lightest of kisses along the wisps of hair at her temple that had come loose from her buns and then shoved himself back up to his feet, running as fast as his broken body would allow back through the portal./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben collapsed into darkness on the other side once more. Turning back, he watched Rey bring herself up to her full height and stretch out her hand, reaching for Luke's lightsaber. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He closed his eyes, her image burned into his memory and the smell of her hair still fresh. He quieted his mind and drew on the Force, feeling it flowing through him. When he searched for Rey again, he smiled as he felt their bond spark into existence once more. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;".../span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey awoke with a start. She had been dreaming of Starkiller Base and the fight in the forest. Something had been different, though. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"Ben/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", she thought. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Ben was there/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"That was silly, though, she realized - Ben had always been there. She placed a hand to her temple and suddenly and vividly recalled Ben's lips grazing the skin there as he whispered to her. Tears fell down her cheeks and Rey tried to control her breathing. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"It was just a dream, /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"she reminded herself. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Just a dream/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey sat up and realized that she was asleep in her quarters aboard the /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Millennium Falcon/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". Chewbacca and Poe were manning the cockpit while she and the others on board had gotten some rest. The jump to Naboo wasn't terribly long, but the process to pack up the base and move on had taken a lot out of them all physically. Rey had lost herself in manual labor and busy work to forget how much she dreaded leaving the place where she had trained under Leia. This was a time to rebuild, not to be sentimental, she kept reminding herself./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She stretched and climbed out of bed. Finn still slept soundly at the other end of the bed; his feet resting to the side of where Rey's head had been. Rose was curled up on a small cot, as was Kaydel. They were both still sound asleep. Rey contemplated sneaking into the galley for a bite to eat, but she tucked into a ration bar from her pack instead. The main hold was just as crowded and she'd hate to wake anyone. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"A small creature fluttered towards her and Rey smiled as it landed at her side./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Are you hungry, too?" She asked the Porg. "Of course you are; you lot are always eating, aren't you?" /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey broke off a portion of her food and offered it to the tiny bird, it's big eyes gleaming at her in gratitude. She smiled and patted it on its feathered head. They were strange creatures, but she supposed that they were growing on her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Right then, off you go." Rey told the Porg. "You'd better not go waking up the others for more snacks."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She settled back under the blanket that she'd brought with her from Ahch-to. It and the Porgs, however unintentional their rehoming to the /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Falcon/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;" had been, were her sole souvenirs from the island that held the first Jedi temple. She'd go back one day. It seemed as good of a place as any for a Jedi to train and she had a candidate in mind to start with. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Unable to fall back asleep, Rey drew upon the Force to find her balance. She fell into a pattern of deep breathing, her eyes closed and palms open and facing upwards as if waiting for something to land in them. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"Be with me/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", Rey repeated her silent plea as she breathed in the recycled air of the old freighter. She had tuned out the soft snoring of Finn beside her and the rustling of the Porgs in their nests. There was nothing now but her and the Force. It surrounded her, tendrils of its energy lifting her up off of the bed where she had been sitting cross-legged. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"I'll come back to you sweetheart, I promise." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey's eyes snapped open and she collapsed back to the bed with a soft thud, her breath hitched somewhere in her throat. She touched her face and found it wet with tears and her heart burned with something she had not felt in far too long. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Ben," she gasped, reaching out again to feel for him in the Force. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Tears streamed from her eyes as she found the tether that had bound them together and realized that there was once again a spark of life emanating from it. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;" /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"His entire body ached with yearning as he sought out Rey in the depths of his mind. Since their first meeting, she had been there at the edge of his peripheral vision. When they were adversaries, he could almost feel her breathing down his neck as she trained to end him; He knew that she, too, had felt him. She had learned quickly how to seal off her end of their connection to keep the monster she feared was hunting her at bay. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"When they were connected it was almost as if there was a tether between their minds. He hadn't felt that since Palpatine had sent him careening into a rocky abyss on Exegol. He knew she had still been alive when he fell and knew that she lived once more, but no matter how he searched for the rope that would lead back to her, all he could find were the frayed ends of his own. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"It was still dark. Still quiet. Ben opened his eyes. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"A trail stretched out before him. Ancient markings and shimmering ribbons appeared, tracing paths into nothingness. He had asked the Force for answers; perhaps this was its guidance./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He stood, his body still feeling heavy and sore and his leg dragged a bit as he walked. Whispers coaxed him onward, but they all spoke simultaneously and he could not distinguish one voice from the next at times. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben's breathing became labored the further on he walked and his side pained him. He placed a hand on his bare skin and felt lumps beneath it as if they were pushing out from the inside. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Those are ribs/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", he told himself, wincing as his fingertips grazed the bruised flesh. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Show me/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"," he heard a whisper that took his mind off of the pain. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Show me," /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"a different voice; his own voice. "/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Grandfather."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;""Show me my parents," /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey whispered. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben broke into a hobbling run in the direction of her voice. He arrived a moment later before another of the gleaming windows and there, just out of reach, stood Rey. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Rey," he spoke her name as though if he said it too loudly she might flee. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"His voice was soft and inflicted with as much warmth as he could muster. His eyes were brimming with tears as he stared at her. She was alive and whole, but her eyes told the story of a woman who was alone and afraid. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey stood on the other side of the hazy portal, her clothes and hair drenched and eyes wide with fear. She stepped closer and then looked back. She snapped her fingers and then looked to the front. She was breathing heavily and Ben could tell that she was terrified, but of what he was unsure. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Could she see him? His limping, bloodied form might be peering out to her from the darkness around him, he considered. He felt a sense of Deja Vu as he watched her come closer still and it struck him then that he was seeing Rey in the past. She was on Ahch-to in the cave where the darkness had lured her to./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"The scared young woman on the other side was nearly pressed to the portal now. Ben stepped forward to meet her, hoping to feel the warmth of her as they neared. Instead, he felt something impeding him from taking that next step forward. He gazed down into her hazel eyes and wanted to scream and punch through whatever force field was keeping him from reaching out and sweeping her up into his arms, kissing her, and telling her that she'd never be alone again. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She had reached out to him after this, he remembered. Why had she come to him? Rey placed her hand against the surface and Ben mirrored the gesture, his large hand eclipsing hers. Tears streamed down her face. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""You're not alone," he whispered to her, unsure if she'd hear the words. "I'm with you. I'll always be with you." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben's eyes clenched shut as tears streamed down his cheeks, his hand still pressed to Rey's. He opened them and looked back to her face, but when he did he found that she was no longer there. Instead, he peered out on a snowy wood. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""That lightsaber," he heard a ghost of himself scream and he winced. "Belongs to me." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Come and get it," replied the stormtrooper who had broken his programming and rebelled. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"The red and blue of their lightsabers clashed against the falling snow and he watched as trees were decimated by their uncontrolled blades. Rey lay on the snow, her skin flushed from the cold; her body limp at the foot of the tree that his former self had flung her into. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben screamed, furious at this vision of himself. He had been so lost in the grief and anger that he himself had caused and it had made him lash out at her. He stared at her motionless form, waiting to see her stir. He knew that she would, but as the moments pressed on, he became anxious at her lack of movement. Some reckless abandon stirred within him and suddenly, with all of his might, Ben flung himself into a run and found himself bounding through the barrier and into the snow. He collapsed beside Rey and placed a hand on her snow-covered cheek. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Rey, sweetheart, wake up," Ben begged. He tapped gently at her cheek, hoping to stir her back to consciousness. "Please. I'm so sorry. Wake up."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She stirred slightly. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""You've gotta get up and fight," he told her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Something inside of Ben knew that he couldn't stay there to help her. He wasn't sure if Rey or the others could see him or what kind of consequences there might be if they could. He helped Rey sit up as she blinked back to life. His hand rested on her upper back and he felt a surge like lightning beneath his fingertips. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Who," she began as she turned around, her eyes meeting his. "You?"/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He panicked. Ben looked over his shoulder at the portal and then back to Rey. He could see the confusion on her face as he realised that she could indeed see him. Ben crouched down once more beside her and leaned in. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Stay here," he said softly. "I'll come back to you, Sweetheart. I promise." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He planted the lightest of kisses along the wisps of hair at her temple that had come loose from her buns and then shoved himself back up to his feet, running as fast as his broken body would allow back through the portal./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Ben collapsed into darkness on the other side once more. Turning back, he watched Rey bring herself up to her full height and stretch out her hand, reaching for Luke's lightsaber. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"He closed his eyes, her image burned into his memory and the smell of her hair still fresh. He quieted his mind and drew on the Force, feeling it flowing through him. When he searched for Rey again, he smiled as he felt their bond spark into existence once more. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;".../span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey awoke with a start. She had been dreaming of Starkiller Base and the fight in the forest. Something had been different, though. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"Ben/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", she thought. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Ben was there/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"That was silly, though, she realized - Ben had always been there. She placed a hand to her temple and suddenly and vividly recalled Ben's lips grazing the skin there as he whispered to her. Tears fell down her cheeks and Rey tried to control her breathing. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"It was just a dream, /spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"she reminded herself. /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Just a dream/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey sat up and realized that she was asleep in her quarters aboard the /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Millennium Falcon/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;". Chewbacca and Poe were manning the cockpit while she and the others on board had gotten some rest. The jump to Naboo wasn't terribly long, but the process to pack up the base and move on had taken a lot out of them all physically. Rey had lost herself in manual labor and busy work to forget how much she dreaded leaving the place where she had trained under Leia. This was a time to rebuild, not to be sentimental, she kept reminding herself./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She stretched and climbed out of bed. Finn still slept soundly at the other end of the bed; his feet resting to the side of where Rey's head had been. Rose was curled up on a small cot, as was Kaydel. They were both still sound asleep. Rey contemplated sneaking into the galley for a bite to eat, but she tucked into a ration bar from her pack instead. The main hold was just as crowded and she'd hate to wake anyone. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"A small creature fluttered towards her and Rey smiled as it landed at her side./span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Are you hungry, too?" She asked the Porg. "Of course you are; you lot are always eating, aren't you?" /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey broke off a portion of her food and offered it to the tiny bird, it's big eyes gleaming at her in gratitude. She smiled and patted it on its feathered head. They were strange creatures, but she supposed that they were growing on her. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Right then, off you go." Rey told the Porg. "You'd better not go waking up the others for more snacks."/span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"She settled back under the blanket that she'd brought with her from Ahch-to. It and the Porgs, however unintentional their rehoming to the /spanspan style="font-style: italic;"Falcon/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;" had been, were her sole souvenirs from the island that held the first Jedi temple. She'd go back one day. It seemed as good of a place as any for a Jedi to train and she had a candidate in mind to start with. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Unable to fall back asleep, Rey drew upon the Force to find her balance. She fell into a pattern of deep breathing, her eyes closed and palms open and facing upwards as if waiting for something to land in them. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-style: italic;"Be with me/spanspan style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;", Rey repeated her silent plea as she breathed in the recycled air of the old freighter. She had tuned out the soft snoring of Finn beside her and the rustling of the Porgs in their nests. There was nothing now but her and the Force. It surrounded her, tendrils of its energy lifting her up off of the bed where she had been sitting cross-legged. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""/spanspan style="font-style: italic;"I'll come back to you sweetheart, I promise." /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Rey's eyes snapped open and she collapsed back to the bed with a soft thud, her breath hitched somewhere in her throat. She touched her face and found it wet with tears and her heart burned with something she had not felt in far too long. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;""Ben," she gasped, reaching out again to feel for him in the Force. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;"Tears streamed from her eyes as she found the tether that had bound them together and realized that there was once again a spark of life emanating from it. /span/p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;" /p
p style="margin: 0px; text-indent: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; font-family: Palatino; min-height: 14.3px;"span style="font-family: Palatino-Roman;" /span/p