When the escape shuttle confining Rey shot from the Falcon, the atmosphere of the ship was tense. They had argued over who should go and retrieve Ben, multiple plans discarded.

In the end Rey just boarded the shuttle herself, as Luke would be needed to fly the Falcon. He was the best pilot of them all. Leia couldn't go, the emotions of potentially losing her son so soon after her husband and dear friend had bubbled to the surface, until she was a steaming, hissing kettle that was about to explode.

Rey had the clearest mind-set for this, but she definitely wasn't calm.

Approaching The Finalizer dock, she could feel the tension in her body spike until she was completely rigid.

The shuttle landed and as the smoke from the thrusters cleared, it revealed the last person she expected to greet her.

Ben.

Flanked by two guards, he stared at her coldly, the only giveaway that he recognized her being the slight widening of his eyes.

Clearly, he had expected Luke or Leia.

As she climbed out, he still watched her passively, confiscating her staff and even as she was beckoned to follow.

Entering the elevator, the two guards retreated, leaving them alone.

The second it started to move, Ben suddenly turned and embraced her, descending his mouth on hers in a passionate and emotional kiss.

When they parted, they rested their foreheads together for a moment before the elevator began to slow.

Quickly, they retreated from one another and Rey smoothed her hair.

When the doors opened, Ben strode out but Rey's steps faltered.

The entirely crimson room was like a huge dome, the walls lined with guards of varying weapons. The obsidian walkway led to a golden throne whereupon a creature dressed in similarly coloured robes lounged. His skin was grey, his bald had revealing the extent of his scar across the one side of his head and face.

"Come child," his voice echoed across the room in a hissing whisper.

Rey quickly stepped forward, rushing to catch up with Ben.

She stopped alongside him only for him to drop to one knee. She looked down at him in shock, but his eyes never wavered from the floor.

Frowning, she returned her eyes to the creature on the dais before her.

She had been alone to defend herself on Jakku all of her life.

She would kneel for no one.

She met his piercing stare, her posture straight.

"Ah," he sighed. "Stubborn child. "

He waved his bony hand and she felt herself lift from the ground, drifting closer to the creature before her.

As she hovered before him, she realised that he could wield the force too. Her confidence began to drain at the realisation.

As his gaze pierced her, he leaned forward as unyielding, obsidian talons clawed inside her mind.

Clenching her jaw, Rey refused to screamed as the stabbing pain in her mind grew, perspiration coating her skin.

As his presence grew in her mind, her meagre training allowed her to realise who he was, pushing back against his unbending force.

Snoke.

"You see good in him," the alien laughed, hollowly. "You're too late, child. He has accepted my offer."

Rey frowned through her ever-growing confusion.

"Rise, my apprentice," he ordered. "Kylo Ren."

Snoke swirled his hand and Rey turned in the air to see Ben stand up straight, his arms held behind his back.

He didn't meet her gaze, didn't even acknowledge her presence. Instead his stare was fixed on Snoke, but she noticed not exactly upon him, more the wall behind him.

Snoke turned Rey back around to face him and she noticed then that his lightsaber rested on the arm of the throne.

"His father was stubborn like you, girl," Snoke hissed. "Never knew when to stay out of business that didn't involve him. I couldn't let him share my secrets, but I also couldn't let his son go to waste. All that potential. A perfect edition to my Knights of Ren."

Snoke grinned as the guards lining the room stood to attention.

The Knights of Ren.

"You, however," He growled, baring his teeth. "You're too stubborn. But you'll be a perfect test of my new apprentice."

The claws gripping her mind squeezed, whimpers beginning to escape her.

"I feel the force as you do child," he hummed with sickening satisfaction. "But I have much more experience. I can kill you slowly and still sense my new apprentices thoughts. I can see them now. He is impressed. He is eager to see an enemy crumble. His mind is overwhelming with darkness."

He curled his sickly, bony hand into a fist and the pain became overbearing.

As soon as she screamed, the pain stopped, the grip suddenly slackening until she felt to the ground in a panting heap.

Looking up, she saw Snoke shocked in his chair before he slumped over the arm, Ben's lightsaber sticking through his side.

Her delirium from the pain faded slowly, but she was aware enough to see the blade travel through the air, slicing the alien's torso in two. The top half fell to the floor with a sickening this, the guards lining the room preparing to attack.

Feeling someone tugging at her arm, she was pulled to her feet, turning to see Ben looking at her with concern.

She realised that the enemy he had talked about in his thoughts had been Snoke. It was obvious, she knew, but so overwhelmed with pain in that moment, she had felt no choice but to believe it.

He passed her the staff, holding his lightsaber in his other hand as the guards began to approach.

They were going to have to fight their way out of this.

In a way, she was lucky she had lived on a hostile planet for as long as she could remember. She would need all of her fighting experience to fight the veterans surrounding them.

Standing back to back, both her and Ben fought back as the guards descended upon them. While he swung at a pair, she became overwhelmed with triplets.

Clutching his thigh, she understood her as though they shared one mind, leaning forward so that she could balance on his back as she kicked one in the face. Ben released an explosion of the force, forcing all of the guards around them back.

As Ben swung down on one, another forced Rey away from him, cornering her.

Swirling her staff in the air, she was more flexible with her attacks, sweeping his feet from under him as he braced to swing at her with his axe.

She swiped once more, hitting his head and knocking him out.

Distracted, she didn't hear one approach behind her until he grasped her in a headlock, forcing her staff out of her grip. It clattered to the floor, capturing Ben's attention.

She struggled out of it and tried to hit the guard but he stopped her hand, clasping it tightly with his hand.

Over his shoulder, she could see Ben force his enemies away before throwing his saber towards her, guiding it with the force.

As soon as she caught it, she aimed it at the guards gut and activated it. Slumping to the floor, the guard left Rey with the buzzing blade in her hand.

"Ben!" she shouted to get his attention, as she threw the blade back towards him.

As soon as he caught it, he swung swiftly at the guards around him as Rey stormed forward and used her staff to assist him.

Once all of the guards were down, they turned to each other and Rey found herself in awe of the pride on his face directed at her.

Catching her breath, she smiled at him.

He didn't registered the pain immediately, only Rey as she screamed out, reaching out towards him as though she was in slow motion.

He fell to his knees, everything being blurry.

As more shots were fired at them, he noticed that Rey had held out her hand and stopped them mid air, her emotions fuelling her adrenaline.

With a swish of her hand she sent the bolts back to their sender, all of them slumping to the ground, including the ginger-haired general he had seen earlier.

Looking down, he noticed that his hand was red, the same liquid pouring from his side. He knew that it was something bad, but his mind seemed as though it had been halted, his thoughts paused as the world became blurry around him.

"No!" Rey shouted, snapping him out of his daze as her face briefly came into view.

He barely registered her pure fear before the intense pain suddenly hit him and everything went black.

The world came back to him moments later as Rey retrieved one of the guard's guns and was firing back at anyone who entered. Her other arm was shaking his shoulder trying to wake him.

"Ben," she spoke, sounding like a whisper travelling through the buzzing in his mind.

"Ben," she repeated more sternly, panic lacing her voice.

"We need to go," looking down at him with concern, she saw his eyes beginning to open, releasing a sigh of relief.

He reached up to touch her cheek, to wipe away the tears there.

He didn't like seeing her scared.

"Please, Ben," she pleaded.

He tried to get up but the pain in his gut made him groan loudly. She helped him get up the second time, until he was standing on shaky knees, putting too much of his weight on her.

Still shooting at the reinforcements that kept arriving, she followed his directions towards Snoke's escape shuttle that he had noticed earlier, shuffling with Ben at her side.

They barely made it into the one-person shuttle before he slipped into unconsciousness once more.

The waves crashed against the rocky cliff beneath him as he stared out at the sea, the salt air in his lungs and the breeze wrapped around him, rippling his robes.

Ahch-To was the only place they could think of to go so that Ben could heal and rest, his scar in his side was still tender but the stitches had been removed since. Rey had stayed by his side the entire time, trying to keep his spirits high, but he was just content that she was with him.

The Skywalker family had since decided to relocate to Ahch-To and rebuild their home, a cosy house that was the size of his own wing of their old house, so that when they squabbled they were never as far away as they used to be.

There was no avoiding their problems anymore.

They had been back to their old family house once, only to collect their things and bury his father and Chewie. His mother carried his father's dice everywhere with her, so that she kept a piece of him with her always.

"You're brooding," Rey teased as came to stand next to him. He could only smirk, unable to stop himself from looking over at her.

She met his eyes with a grin, reaching up to move his hair out of his face as the breeze caught it.

"Is there something you wanted?" He asked, playfully, a side she only ever brought out in him.

"Dinner is almost ready," She smiled as she wrapping an arm around him, the breeze chilling her arms. Feeling her shiver, he wrapped his own arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

"You'll have to drag me," he scrunching his nose. "She uses Thala-Siren milk in everything lately. Milk should never be green."

"I'd be more concerned if she tried to cook one of the Porgs," she laughed even louder when he pulled a face as though considering it before he descended into laughter once more.

"I could drag you, it's no different than when I had to basically carry you to that escape shuttle."

"I will never understand how you managed to get both of us into that escape shuttle, it was only built for one person."

"Didn't help that you were huge and unconscious too," she teased, making him tickle her side briefly in revenge.

Meeting her eyes, he smiled softly at her, leaning down to give her a chaste kiss before sighing.

"It would be a shame to keep my mother waiting," He surmised, staring into her eyes. His eyes flitted to her mouth, noting the small smile there before looking back up into her eyes. He smiled at her as she leaned up, pressing her lips to his in another brief kiss. She began to pull her away, but he placed his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her in for a deeper kiss, the breeze enveloping them making them press closer together for warmth.

Dinner was also an exciting event as news arrived through the radio of the demise of The First Order in the absence of it's senior members, while Rey made Luke's face fall as she also beat him at Dejarik.

Descending into laughter, both her and Ben shared a look, unaware of the knowing stars of the twins at the table.

As two people who had suffered intense grief, they finally found themselves content, having found home in one another.

The End