He was battered side to side by the warm winds whipping around the clearing as he raced towards the safety of the temple. As he distanced himself from the rubble of his sleeping quarters, Ben tried to sense any sign of his uncle. Was he dead? It seemed unlikely, but the force with which the roof had collapsed would have killed any regular being. Luke, however, he was not so sure of.
Ben felt the rage surging through him, fought off the threatening tears. Betrayal slashed at him as the sky began to change colour—from deep night-blue, to grey, to purple, then pink— finally glowing a bloody red. The winds appeared to be stirring the clouds over the temple towards which he still ran. He was then halted in his tracks by the mass of storm clouds which had gathered high above its domed roof. It no longer seemed so safe a place to be. Ben stood, whipping around on the spot, searching for a place to hide from both the storm and his changed uncle, should he be coming after him. Lightning began to shoot down onto the trees bordering the open space, before a blinding bolt came crashing down onto the peak of the temple roof. Cracks of orange light shot down its walls like lava, before a thrumming pause anticipated the explosion which shot Ben backwards through the air. He came crashing down on the dried-solid earth which beat the wind from his lungs. Regaining his senses, he opened his tear-rimmed eyes to see the temple ablaze like nothing he had ever seen before. The thrum and crackle of the blaze roared in his ears as he laid outstretched on the ground. Then, before he had a chance to scream, Luke's face appeared above him, illuminated half green by his lightsaber, shadowed with the red of the sky. Ben shot bolt upright as the blade was thrust into his face.
Rey, sitting up straight in her bed, was glaring at Ben through the dim light of the hut. They both sat mirroring one another, panting, shivering. The fire had reduced to a low glow now, and from outside the distant glow of sunrise crept in through the hole in the side of the roof and around the edges of the makeshift door.
'You didn't do it? It wasn't you who killed the other Jedi'.
Ben looked down on himself, avoiding her gaze.
'I know that was just a nightmare, Ben, but I can tell, I can sense it in you now. Yet you still feel guilty… why?' Rey needed to know. She had been lied to all this time, perhaps not intentionally, but she had been led to understand that Kylo Ren had murdered those young students. She waited, but he said nothing. 'Ben!'
'No', he snapped. But then he appeared to regret it and relaxed back onto his arms with a sigh. 'No, I didn't. I never wanted anybody to think otherwise before,' he said as he looked back into her eyes from across the room. 'Now I want the whole galaxy to know that I didn't do it. How could I have? That temple meant everything to me… It became my home'.
'But Luke didn't—'
'No, that's just how I wake up sometimes'. He smiled at having acknowledged this out loud, then glanced away, looking somewhere between embarrassed and exhausted.
They both shivered again in unison. Rey wrapped her blanket around her and got up to stoke the fire, adding more wood to the rekindled flame. Instead of returning to her own place she walked around the fire towards Ben, much to his surprise, and perched on the side of his stone bench. He moved closer to the wall to provide her with some space, but she only shuffled in further towards him and drew up her legs.
'It's cold… do you mind?' she asked, rather matter-of-factly.
'Of course—,' he stammered as he tried to shuffle even further into the wall. All the confidence he'd had the night before was now nowhere to be seen. Rey removed her boots and leant over the edge of their bed to place them on the ground. As she rose again she was slightly startled by Ben pulling another blanket up around her whole person. 'Here, lay down,' he said shyly, as he gently tucked it in all the way down around her, finally getting to her socks which were now poking out, her toes curled inside them. Rey watched him stop and look at them, suddenly paranoid about her feet. She was about to ask him what was wrong, but then he snapped out of his trance and continued to grab another blanket and place it over them, once again tucking tightly.
Every movement he made could be seen in his back. Rey laid there, mesmerised by the shifting pattern of firelight across his muscles just as she had been before their surrender to sleep. But then he turned to face her, lying down on his side. An even better view, she thought, amazed at this perverse new path her thoughts kept exploring.
Ben internally cursed himself for being weak enough to have had that dream when she was so close. I mean, it's not the worst one I could've had… he remembered. She had sensed it then. Had she looked in on purpose or was dream sharing a consequence of them sleeping together? Ben blushed. Sleeping together. How in the galaxy was it possible for his life to have changed so massively in a single day? He once again considered the hold the dark side must have had on him, on Kylo Ren.
At one time in his life being force sensitive was the only thing he had. It made him stand out from the crowd, it united him with his mother—perhaps distanced him slightly from his father—and he seemed to be better at general things than other kids. Later, he even stood out against the other Jedi students. Now it seemed more of a curse. The only thing he didn't regret using the force for was bringing Rey back to life. If it hadn't worked he might have used it to throw himself back into that pit. Their bond was a strange thing. He had always been a survivalist, living his life to the fullest, and never considered himself even remotely suicidal, but there was something which locked him to Rey. Something which meant he needed to follow her. Does she feel the same pull? he had frequently found himself wondering. He settled down beside her, deep in thought, his body rigid.
'Is everything alright? I can go back to mine if—'
'Please—' he saw her about to sit up and prevented her by wrapping his arm over her waist. She froze, eyes wide, but they immediately softened into a smile which touched her eyes. With that, she turned away towards the fire and shuffled backwards into him so he had no choice but to play the big spoon.
The sheer bliss of having her there was beyond his comprehension, and for a moment he thought his eyes might be welling up. But there was a high level of comfort and calmness that dimmed his emotions into what felt like the first throws of sleep. Ben allowed himself to sink into the curve of her back, his arm draped around her waist, distantly wondering if he had ever been this much at ease in his life.
In front of Ben laid Rey, feeling as equally safe in his arms as he did holding her, and took advantage of her hidden face by smiling from ear to ear until a more promising sleep than before embraced the two of them together.
