Author's Note: I'm sorry about the slower updates lately, as you all know, working in healthcare has made my schedule much more unpredictable, not only that but having the kids home means my writing schedule has suffered! (As they look over my shoulder… "Mom what's that? What are you doing? What's that word? Who's Ben?")

I so appreciate all of the understanding and encouraging comments. It keeps me pushing along. Writing this story is a bright spot in all of this for me, and JenniferLadyBug's illustrations make me supremely happy 😊 I know better now than to promise a future date for my next update, but I will promise that the story will be finished. We are nearing the home stretch! Stay safe and healthy!


There was no Dark Side, no Light Side as Rey studied Ben's outstretched hand. The threads of energy connecting them knew no such boundaries.

His fingers trembled, but not from fear. She was certain of it with the Bond wide open like this, his thoughts were as easy to read as her own.

No… she sensed no fear. Only hope. And…

Rey's stomach lurched from the strength of the emotion he was projecting for her.

Love.

The Force coursing between them was so intense, she could practically see it in ribbons of gold and silver, the energy twining between them somehow given form. It rippled and danced in the darkness, and Rey could swear it brushed up against the bare skin of her arm. She could feel the touch of that energy, velvet soft and warm.

And the sound it made was deafening. Not just to Rey's ears, but to her mind as well. Her connection with Ben thrummed to the rhythm of the infinite energy of space and time. The In-Between with the Bond laid bare was… too bright, too loud, too much of everything to take in all at once and Rey wondered how she'd ever turned away from it.

Was this how it had always been? Or had her time in Darkness made it seem so much brighter, like moving into the sunlight from a dark room?

Rey lost track of how much time she'd spent analyzing what was happening between them, startled to find, as she came back to herself that Ben Solo's gaze never faltered as he stood, still reaching for her.

But something grated harshly against these warm feelings spreading through her body. An incessant whisper in the back of her mind, rising up like a glacial tide to swallow her down.

Power.

Yes, that was why she was here. She'd come here for power. As the whisper of that dark promise seeped into the cracks in her mind, a cold, tingling spread to the tips of her fingers.

Before it could take hold, Ben's voice cut through the fog of her tumultuous thoughts. "Please, Rey."

The tenderness behind those words made something inside of her positively bloom. Like a tiny bud of warmth and light unfolding petals of comfort until it illuminated those dark places of her soul.

Rey's eyes stung with the tears threatening behind her eyes, as she lifted her hand from her side, drawn to him as she always had been, and always would be. She pulled off her glove, and slowly, tentatively, she placed her bare hand in his.

The Bond erupted with this contact, resonating through her, filling the core of herself with chords of pure energy. Not an energy of Dark or Light, but one that encompassed all things. It was balance, just as Leia had said.

It gave her the courage to look up at him again. Ben's eyes shone like polished onyx, gleaming with that same love he had professed, and he smiled, pulling her close.

Her mind seemed to detach from her body in that moment, as all of her limbs went numb, weighed down by the frozen chains of darkness still so close, threatening to pull her back down again. Her body sagged with the effort of fighting against the darkness and Ben was there to steady her, strong arms wrapping tight around her waist.

"I've got you," he said, nuzzling into her hair to whisper against the top of her head. "I know you don't feel like you deserve this, like it's too late. But you showed me it's not."

His words only ratcheted the vice around her heart tighter, squeezing the life from her. She remembered. She'd thought that he was beyond saving once, and with the first whispers of the Dark Side churning inside of her on Kef Bir, Rey had made a mistake on those Death Star ruins.

She would never forget the sickening smell of Ben's burning innards as she cauterized them on the end of her saber. His look of pure shock in the aftermath told her everything she needed to know. Ben Solo would never have dealt a blow she couldn't answer. He was incapable of hurting her.

Bile rose in her throat.

"I love you, Rey."

The first hot tear streamed down her face, followed by many, many more as they spilled, unrelenting onto the front of Ben's tunic. She clung to him then, salt and heat and gentle strokes of his fingers through her hair. She let his scent wash over her, inhaling it like a balm to her emotions.

Even in his arms, sheltered and warm, she couldn't keep her thoughts quiet.

She tightened her fist around his robes as she felt her anger coiling someplace deep inside, realizing that they were stuck here, unable to return through the gateway. She'd failed him.

"I can't get you out of the World Between Worlds now," she said. "You should have let me pull you out."

Any remaining rage fizzled as he pulled back to gaze at her, his eyes melting away that icy anger into a warm puddle as she stared back at him. His hands never stopped moving, stroking up her arms as if making up for all that time apart, silently calming her emotions.

"I needed to get you away from Malak's influence," he said. "He manipulated Bastila all those years ago. He knows what to say to tap into your fears."

But Rey still couldn't look at Ben, remembering all the pain she'd caused, seeing it reflected in his eyes. Instead, she turned her head to press her ear against his chest, to listen to his heartbeat, to avoid that penetrating gaze. "I don't deserve this. You… any of –"

"Stop." His voice rumbled a low warning against her body. "Enough of that." He cupped her cheeks in his hands, then. Roughly. More rough than he'd ever been with her before and she sensed a desperation there that he wasn't able to mask through the Bond as he forced her to look at him.

"I know how you feel," he said, his voice cracking on the words. "Hopeless, like it's too late and you're alone."

He pulled her into his chest again, as though he needed her closer to continue this confession. "When you admitted to me that you would have taken Ben's hand, it was like I'd been dipped into a warm bath and pulled back out."

His solid arms around her provided an anchor to the warmth he was projecting, the heat of his love she knew he was allowing to surge down the Bond. He was giving her his strength and she felt the cold teeth of the Dark Side growing distant in her mind as she was wrapped in his protective Light, his energy keeping the rage at bay.

"I love you. I love everything about you." He paused to look down at her, seeing just how far he could bore into her soul with those deep brown eyes of his. "Light. Dark. I love it all."

Something devious lifted the corner of his lip. "I especially love, this," he said, running a hand over the black fabric clinging to her hips and letting his eyes travel down her body the rest of the way. He bent to place his lips close to her ear and whispered. "You look nice in black."

Her toes curled in her boots and she felt a smile pull at her lips. A strange sound lodged in her throat. A laugh. The first laugh she'd managed in days.

Ben smiled down at her, his eyes roving over her face, settling on her smile.

And he leaned down to press his lips against hers. His kiss was gentle at first, but then, as if reaching for something more, something deeper, he cradled her head in his hand and pressed closer. He tasted so sweet, so right, and she whimpered into his mouth, overcome by the sudden shame of having nearly thrown this away. His grip tightened against her hip and in her hair as his rebuke came down the Bond.

Don't.

She obeyed, focusing on his taste, his touch, his Force. It was easy, so easy with him. And she was already breathless, desire tingling across every inch of her skin when he pulled away.

He stared at her for a heartbeat, then tensed, teeth clenching. When he spoke again it was through a throat that seemed too tight. "He didn't touch you, did he? Force help me if he got near you…"

Rey was shaking her head. "No, he …. No. It was nothing like that."

His relief came as the color returned to his face.

She ran her fingers over his shoulders as she looked up at him, her heart still hammering in her chest, but realizing they still weren't safe here.

"The Derriphan is on Ahch-To. The rest of the Sith Fleet has gone to Correllia, with plans to attack Mon Calamari within days."

His fingers traced her cheek and it was as though every touch brought another part of her back to life. She wanted those hands everywhere.

"I should warn Finn," Ben said.

He swallowed, looking down at Rey and she could practically see the confused thoughts flit across his features.

"I won't leave you," he said, taking her hand and interlacing their fingers.

A low voice boomed across the empty space. "Take her with you."

They turned simultaneously to track its source.

A figure with an all-too familiar blue glow stepped toward them. His angular features were deep set in his wrinkled face. A long, white beard trailed from his chin and his gold-trimmed robes skimmed the floor as he strode forward with the confidence of royalty.

She recognized his image from the Mortis Mural.

The Father.

"Don't look so surprised," he said, sweeping knowing eyes over their gaping faces. "You have been chosen by the Force to restore balance." His eyes settled on Rey with those words before moving back to Ben. "You have been chosen, to finish what your grandfather started."

Balance. There was that word again.

"But we're trapped here, how can we do anything if we're stuck in this In-Between?" Rey asked, hating how she sounded like an incredulous child in the face of this ancient being.

The Father dipped his chin to level his gaze at her.

"You," he said pointing between them, "are the Prime Jedi Reborn. When the Force calls for balance, you are summoned to protect it. The Dyad. Two sides that are one."

Rey clutched at her chest with her free hand, as though it could restore the breath that was knocked from her lungs. Prime reborn? Ben's hand tightened around hers. This was apparently news to him, too.

"Where one goes, so does the other. Use the Bond."

Ben made to speak, but then pressed his lips together as though unable to form the words.

"Focus on the gateway in Balance and you may travel anywhere together. But hurry, the spirits of the Sith are close."

The Father took one more step toward them. "Remember, Dark and Light must live together. Find Balance. Only then, will you gain the Sight. Only then, can there be peace."

And before either of them could speak, the Father drifted away on an invisible wind, streams of light carried off into the black of nothing.

When Ben turned back to gaze down at her, the weight of his eyes on her felt heavy and infinite. With this new knowledge of who they were and what connected them… it was almost too much to wrap a logical thought around. But she felt it. Deep at the core of herself, in every bone, in every cell of her being she knew.

It was why they fit so perfectly together.

Two that are one.

Ben reached out to take her other hand, now facing him with interlaced fingers, he spoke. "Focus on the Bond. Don't let go of my hands. Let's go warn our friends."

Rey nodded, her chest warming with his words. Our friends, he had said. It was everything she'd wanted for him. For them. Belonging and love and as she focused on those beautiful golden threads connecting them, she closed her eyes, allowing him to pull her along, her stomach clenching as gravity disengaged and she was whirling and tumbling through space.

When she opened her eyes, it was to find two of those friends in the midst of a full-fledged argument.

"How can we fight that?" Poe was screaming at Finn from the Falcon's pilot chair while the holo-projections of Lando and Maz floated between them on the Falcon's console.

A meeting of generals. A very heated meeting it seemed.

"You won't have to," Ben said. Finn looked up, and he blinked once, twice, as his eyes locked onto hers.

"Rey," he croaked.

"Wait, what?" Poe said, turning his head to scan all across the Falcon's space. He paled and Ben held up a hand, seeing where Poe's thoughts had drifted.

"No, no. Tell him Rey is fine, she's projecting with me. We're both fine," Ben assured.

Finn nodded and relayed the message. "She's alright, Poe. She's alive." Finn stood from the co-pilot's chair. His jaw tensed as his eyes drifted over her, his hands curling into fists.

"Finn – " She wanted to say she was sorry, she'd started to say it for Force's sake, but the words lodged in her throat.

Ben tightened his hand around hers, an anchor to his warmth.

Finn shook his head, knowing her well enough, he probably predicted what she was thinking with no need at all from the Force. "No, it's alright. Let's figure out how to get you two out of there. I'm assuming you're both in the World Between Worlds?"

She nodded gravely.

"Ben said you won't have to fight them," she said. "Not yet at least. Malak and a small crew are on Ahch-To, with the Derriphan waiting in orbit. The rest of the Sith Fleet is still near Corellia," this they'd known. But the next part… "They have plans to attack Mon Calamari within days."

Finn took a long draught of air and she felt him reaching for peace.

"But all of that could change if they find out what happened to me," Rey added. "I'm not sure what Malak will do if he finds that I'm no longer with him."

Finn brought Poe up to speed on the conversation, his eyes widening at mention of Mon Calamari. "We need to warn the rest of the fleet," Poe was directing his statement at the holos of Lando and Maz.

Maz was the picture of calm as usual. "We'll warn them, but I'm not fully prepared to pull out immediately. Those shipyards are crucial if we are to maintain the upper hand," Maz said. "We need to defend them."

"I'm on it," Lando said. "They came once, they'll come again if they're needed."

And Rey knew which "they" he was thinking of. The Free Worlds Fleet. That hodge podge of fighters and freighters, a random smattering of beings from every inch of the galaxy who came together to fight for their freedom. And Rey had no doubt that they would do it again.

"Send out a warning," Rey said. "Though I'm hoping we may not need them."

Ben looked down at Rey, eyes wide. She smiled up at him, enjoying the fact that she could still surprise him.

"I have an idea."

"Rey has an idea," Finn echoed for everyone else.

"Maybe I can convince the Sith Fleet to pursue other goals," she said.

Ben's lip twitched into a half-smile. "And how to you propose to do that?"

"We need to deal with Darth Malak," she said. "If he is dead, if his apprentice rises to destroy him, the Sith acolytes and the rest of the Fleet will follow the next Sith line for that power. Me."

"I should be able to call them off, set them to another task," Rey said. "I've had enough death."

Finn nodded, his lips pressing into a tight line. "Good luck, Rey. You know we're here for you."

"I know."

And with that, Ben's projection began to fade and she felt herself reeling, spiraling down, down, down, back to the black endless nothing of the In-Between.

But this time, she wasn't alone. The infinite emptiness wasn't frightening. Ben Solo was with her and he hadn't let her go since she'd taken his hand.

When they'd both settled on two feet, he turned to face her. "I take it you have some idea of how to get out of here then?" He said, raising an eyebrow in question.

"The Father said it's as simple as focusing together in Balance," she said. "We'll find that balance together and pull ourselves out, exactly the same way you managed to pull me in."

"Well, when you make it sound that simple…" he said.

"It seemed to be simple enough for you," she laughed, stepping in closer to him, sending him the signal he needed to wrap her fully in his arms.

"You really think I was going to let you get away from me that easily?" he asked, squeezing her to his chest. "I've been trying to find you to get you to join me for over a year."

"You are persistent," she said. "I'll give you that."

"You'll give me more than that," he said, his voice low, igniting something visceral inside of her with the promise of his words. Gods. They needed to fight a Sith Lord. She couldn't be distracted by what his voice did to her. But with her body fully pressed against his chest, feeling the hard lines of him beneath her hands. Maybe the Sith Lord could wait one more minute.

Because she needed to do one more thing before they travelled together to Ahch-To.

Rey brought her hands up to cradle Ben's face, running her fingers over the lines of his jaw, the curve of his lip, all the while, letting her eyes burn their message into his soul. She had to ensure that he felt every word as truth. "Thank you for never giving up on me," she said, fingers still stroking the side of his face. "I love you, Ben."

And she sealed her words with a kiss.