"So give me all your pain
And love will set you free
Give me all your shame
Put all your weight on me
And I'll be the stone that you need me to be"
- Jaymes Young | Stone

Rey's heart was beating hard in her chest as she scaled the ramp of the X-Wing. The Force spirit of Master Skywalker had confronted her with the uncomfortable yet undeniable truth she had needed to face for so long. It was not like she didn't want to fight this fight until the end, it was just that only now she really, truly felt like she wasn't alone anymore.

As she stood in the cockpit hastily checking on the controls of the spacecraft that had slumbered on the ocean floor on Ahch-To for so long, relief flooded her. Rey squeezed her eyes shut as a soothing comfort and a painful ache overcame her at the same time. For the first time in a long time she allowed herself to process the emotions whirling inside her. It was true, all the people she loved were always with her, wherever she went. Yet, there was only really one person she needed at her side for what she was about to do, what she was about to face. Before she knew it, a sob escaped her and Rey doubled over in agony, her hands tightly gripping the driver's backrest for support. It felt like there was one last piece of the puzzle of her life missing, and she knew it was him, knew it deep down in her heart. Rey felt the blood rushing in her head and the thoughts racing through her mind while she tried to make peace with the fact that she had failed to turn Ben Solo, finally snuffing out the hope she had spread in his mother, his uncle, and most importantly, in herself. Her body was trembling uncontrollably now, her tears hitting the still wet floor in an irregular staccato.

With all the noise in her head she only noticed the familiar, all-encompassing, deafening silence of the bond as she locked eyes with Ben. Rey drew in a sharp breath, only able to make out so much through the veil of her tears. She blinked hard a couple of times, standing up and desperately trying to reign in her emotions, never taking her eyes off of him.

Him, her beautiful, broken monster.

He had barely dried off the harsh, cold saltwater from their last encounter on the Death Star, the hole in his tunic a painful reminder of her emotional turmoil. Still, the lack of his cape, belt and gloves made him look so much more like the Ben she felt like she had been so close to uncover, so close to his acceptance of his true form. His gaze and fierce stance conveyed exactly what she needed to see, eyes full of compassion and mirroring her pain. He didn't say anything, but the way his right hand was curled in a tight fist expressing to Rey the compassion she so desperately wanted to see him being capable of feeling, to prove to her he still had light in him. On Kef Bir, her rage and exasperation had caused her to los control over her mental barriers, leaving her mind completely unguarded for him to see right through her. She hadn't thought of closing it off again.

Rey started to shake her head, struggling to accept the cruelty of the force's timing with the bond. 'Rey' her head snapped up, not at her name, but at the sorrowful, breathless tone of his voice. As he beheld her, a single tear slipped free and made its way down his cheek, over the scar she had given him what felt like an eternity ago. The sight made her heart break into a million pieces. How many times had he seen her cry, had endured her pain impassively despite feeling everything the same way she did? To see him like this only consolidated the feeling of finalization that had been looming in her chest. This could be it, this might be the last time she would ever see him again.

Sudden panic gripped her insides and without thinking, she closed the distance between them. Her eyes roamed his face, his appearance, as if trying to take in everything at once so that it would be engrained in her memory forever. So many words left unsaid, so many possibilities of a future together fading and coming down to this moment, right here and right now.

'Ben' she managed to get out between shaky breaths. 'I am so sorry, for everything' she studied his chest, trying and failing to come up with words. 'Don't be' He said, softly. 'There's no reason to be' She couldn't believe his words, searching his eyes for the truth. But she was only met with determination. 'You know what you need to do' Desperation was welling up inside her at the prospect of their principles not ever aligning, but he cut her thoughts off 'I know you do, and I believe in you' she searched his eyes again, and this time they were also filled with love. She wanted nothing more to tell him the same thing, but he beat her to it again. Lifting his left hand to her cheek so softly she didn't know if she was dreaming, he searched her eyes and their bond for all the things he had hoped to find in them. With a smile so small only she recognized it, he whispered 'I know what I have to do'

With a blink, all sound came crashing over Rey like a wave on Kef Bir, and Ben was gone. She took a deep breath, feeling so light she didn't know if she was floating, connected the charred Wayfinder to the navigation system of the battered X-Wing and started up the engine.

Hey you guys, long time no see! I'm very much down a rabbithole and I think I've found myself a new OTP haha. This is my very first Reylo fic as I've just recently discovered this pairing. As much as I love-hated the ending of TROS, I just have the greatest passion for enemies-to-lovers, yin-and-yang, Pride-and-Prejudice kinda relationships with a very unhealthy dose of tragedy and so I felt Bens death was warranted (regarding the saga and its' themes as a whole). So yeah, I'm hooked. Writing is truly a hobby for me, so I do not know if and when I'll write something again and if it will be a new Scorose story. I have also migrated to AO3 if you want to follow me there, all my stories have been reuploaded there under the same username, so do say hi if you feel like it :) I hope you enjoy!