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"Dyad's Blessing, Dyad's Curse"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 48

"NO! COME BACK! COME BACK!"

Ben reached up, stretching his arm as if he could grab the ship if he tried hard enough, but no – they were flying away forever, the ship shrinking in the sky. "COME BACK!" he screamed again, tears blurring his vision, his arm still reaching, reaching, reaching . . .

He blinked and found himself standing in the middle of his prison cell, his arm still outstretched.

It took several short breaths for him to orient himself and even then he wasn't sure what happened. Had he been sleepwalking? Seeing a vision? Why couldn't he tell?

He slumped down on the bunk, knowing one thing for certain: that wasn't his memory he'd just seen.

"Rey?" he whispered, even though he knew he couldn't summon her just by calling her name. He wiped his cheeks, finding that they were wet. "Rey, whatever's going on, we need to find some way to get a handle on it before we completely forget who we are."

She didn't appear, though he still saw the memory of her parents leaving in his mind.

. . .

Flor Greeves didn't hate being a prison guard, but she did hate the night shift for one simple reason: it was boring. Walk up and down the hall, flash your handlight around every space, look into every cell to make sure the inmates weren't up to anything (even though they were always sleeping or at least appeared to be sleeping), repeat for the rest of the night.

She stopped in front of Kylo Ren's cell, perhaps longer than she was supposed to. He was asleep, his body bathed red from the forcefield. The man who'd murdered countless beings – including his own father – who could read minds, choke people without touching them, stop blasterbolts in midair, now looked helpless as a child, curled up almost in a fetal position under the blanket. She wondered just how many stories about his abilities were true and how many were exaggerations.

"No . . . no . . . NO!"

She froze, despite the fact that she'd seen inmates have nightmares before and had been specifically trained to ignore them. Something compelled her to stare at the former Supreme Leader of the First Order thrashing around like a frightened child.

"No . . . DAD!"

Dad? Her eyes bulged. Someone who'd murdered his father in cold blood was crying for him in his sleep?

Suddenly the prisoner gasped loudly, his eyes shooting open. "Rey!" he exclaimed.

Rey? The Jedi who defeated Palpatine and had apparently been visiting Kylo frequently?

Flor gulped. Now Kylo was pushing himself to a slight sitting position and holding up his arms as if he were embracing someone. His eyes were closed, his head leaning forward like it was resting on some invisible support, his fingers stroking the empty air.

Then his head tilted upward and his lips puckered as if he were kissing someone.

Flor stepped backwards and sharply turned around to continue her patrol, but her heart was ramming against her ribs. When her shift ended, she would have to report this to the warden.

Kylo Ren, Ben Solo, whatever he called himself now, was delusional.

. . .

Ben abruptly broke out of the kiss, staring at something unseen from Rey's perspective. "Ben?" she asked, looking in the same direction but only seeing the hotel room's window and its view of the lit buildings and endlessly flying airspeeders.

"Someone saw us," Ben muttered, "well, saw me, at least."

"Who?"

"A guard, probably," said Ben, gulping as he lay back down. "I felt . . . shock coming from them . . . and fear." His wide eyes reflected the city lights outside. "Maybe we shouldn't be doing this."

"Ben," said Rey, lying back down and wrapping her hand around his, "I'll back you up. I'll tell people about the dyad so they know you're not crazy."

"Will that help, or will they just call us both crazy?" Ben mumbled, his fingertips lightly stroking her hand. "People are already wondering if you and I are plotting together to take over the galaxy – maybe that would be just the push they'd need to put you in here as well."

Rey gently raised his hand to her mouth, kissing his knuckles one by one. "Then I'll take that chance."

"Take that chance for someone who's going to be executed anyway?"

"Don't say that!" Rey exclaimed too loudly for the middle of the night, putting her hand on Ben's cheek. "We don't know what's going to happen! Remember, Finn and Poe will argue for a lighter sentence if that information you gave them proves useful, your doctor offered to be a character witness . . ."

"None of that means I won't be executed," said Ben, his eyes glistening now. "Or lynched."

A sudden lump formed in Rey's throat as an image came into her head of Ben seated in a tiny room, an emotionless officer plunging a lethal needle into his arm. Her mind's eye saw Ben's body convulsing, his eyes rolling back into his head, his limbs thrashing into the walls before he collapsed.

"I won't let that happen!" she whispered, squeezing him in a fierce embrace. "I didn't let you die on Exegol and I won't let you die here." Yet even as she repeated the promise she'd made several times before, part of her wondered how she could keep it.

Ben hugged her back, his breath heavy and labored. "I wish we could touch for real," he whispered. "Be together physically without having to worry about you vanishing at any moment."

Rey swallowed as she pulled out of the embrace. "Well if we end up forgetting who we are, then we'll always be together, won't we?" She took a deep breath. "I had another moment today where I thought I was you."

"So did I," said Ben. "In fact, I thought I actually saw your parents leaving."

Rey blew air out of her mouth, again taking his hand for comfort. "We're not getting anywhere by just wondering what this means. I haven't found anything in the Jedi texts and even though I've tried to contact the dead Jedi, they've been silent."

"Jedi have a tendency to not be around when you need them," Ben said with a snort. "I don't think we can rely on ghosts telling us what's going on."

"Then what else is there?"

"I don't know," said Ben, kissing her hand. "Maybe we have to figure this out by ourselves."

Rey did her best to smile at him, though her stomach was still twisting. "Then we'll work together." She planted a kiss on his forehead. "I'll come visit you tomorrow morning – I'll bring D-O too."

"It won't interfere with any meetings?"

"No."

"All right." A tiny smile grew on his face, nearly invisible in the dim light. "We won't be able to touch, though."

"Well we can touch now." Rey gathered his face into her hands and kissed him, letting them savor each other's being. During those few glorious seconds, she could almost forget about Kylo Ren, prison, nightmares, dyads . . .

Almost.

When they pulled out of the kiss, Ben gave her that relaxed smile she loved, lifting her soul for a few more glorious seconds before he disappeared once again.