Hello! This is the first time I've written for this ship (and the Star Wars fandom) so I'm kind of a bit nervous. This started out as plot bunny (that's been bugging me for almost half a decade now) but it didn't move past conception (as an original story), until I discovered Ben and Rey. And so without further ado, here's my first foray into the world of Reylo. I hope you like it! XOXO

P.S. There's a prologue so don't get thrown off by the weird chapter numbering. This will earn its MATURE rating in the later chapters. Also, this work is unbeta'd and all mistakes are mine. No copyright infringement is intended. And, finally, all follows/reviews/comments are always welcome! Please be kind. ❤️

Prologue

The high morning light felt like an insult upon her red-rimmed eyes. The morning sun was just too stark, too bright— her darkest sunglasses notwithstanding — for what to her, was a most dreadful day. Today, Andromeda Regina Huxley, or Rey to the very few who were dear to her, was losing her best friend, Ben, and there was no escaping it or the heartache that awaited her because of it.

He may have been her older brother Armie's friend first, but to her, Ben had always been her dearest. They've always been close, and had only become closer especially after Armie had been shipped off to London to start University a year and a half ago.

Their families had been thrown together by their fathers having worked alongside each other for decades. His father had been an F1 racing champion, while hers owned and ran the team behind it. They were virtually raised together, with Armie, Ben and her being but a year or so apart in age and always being dragged along to wherever the race schedule brought their parents. But growing up was hard, as she was finding out. She was barely 16 and her life felt as though it was already horribly falling apart.

Everything changed six months ago, when Ben had tragically lost his dad, Han, in a car accident. They had been sideswiped by a drunk driver in a collision that was so great, the car had been left lurching on its side. Han had been able to get his son out but his injuries were too great for him to survive. He had died in the hospital.

Ben, who had woken up after spending almost a month in a coma, had a hard time believing what happened. It was hard enough for him to have lost the chance to say goodbye to his dad. It was worse still to have his presentation as Alpha complicate all that.

Rey sighed. She had tried to help him and his mother, Leia, through it, but Ben had been inconsolable, angry, and stubbornly set on destroying his life. He withdrew from everybody. He had fallen in with a bad crowd, and if it wasn't for the courtesy extended to him by way of his mother's royal ties, he'd have been thrown in jail after having been caught in a drug raid.

In her desperation, Leia had staged an intervention and it was last night when everything came to a head, as an unwilling Ben was confronted by what he thought was the ultimate betrayal.

"Oh, no, no, no. You don't get to do this, Mother!" Ben spat as he saw the people Leia had gathered. Unfortunately, she had been the only one his age.

"Benjamin Bail Skywalker Solo!" His mother had shouted back, as he stormed away from the crowd and made his way up to his room. "You come back here right this instant!"

"No!" He bellowed, "I wish you had died instead of dad!"

And that singular pronouncement had Rey standing up from her spot on the chaise and following after him.

"I told you to —"

But Rey cut him off before he could even finish, "Shut it! I'm not leaving you! You can't make me."

At his indignant silence, she continued pressing forward, "For the past few months, I've let you run roughshod over your mother, over me. But that ends now. How dare you speak to your mother like that?"

"Do you even hear yourself, Ben?" She said as she roughly turned him towards his wardrobe mirror. "Do you even see yourself?"

Ben swatted her hands away, and screamed as he turned on her, "You don't understand!"

Rey took an involuntary step back. He had never raised his voice at her. Ever. And that tiny bit of fear that registered on her face had immediately taken the wind out of his sails.

"Leave, Rey," he said as he slumped by the foot of his bed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes to keep his tears from escaping. He was exhausted, defeated, and had zero fucks left to give. "Just leave."

Rey would not let him drive her away again. And so she went to him and hugged him as close to her as he would allow.

"It's all my fault, Rey. Mine. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," he sobbed.

"Oh, Ben," she lamented, taking his hands away from his face and settling them around her waist instead. She cradled him and laid a kiss on the top of his head as he desperately clung to her. It was the first time she'd seen Ben cry after his father's death and she was determined to be there for her friend.

And now he was set to leave with his uncle for Alderaan-Naboo, a small Eastern European country and home to his family's royal seat, just to get some distance from all this.

"I'm leaving," he said, his rough voice startling her out of her dreary thoughts. He had taken a seat beside her on his mother's garden swings. He kept staring away from her, probably in an effort to make this as painless as possible.

"I know," she answered as she studied him through her shaded glasses. His dark hair was dishevelled but better kempt than his recent usual, his eyes which were probably as red and swollen as hers were framed with black wayfarers, and his face, though gaunt, was cleanly scrubbed and had gotten back a little of its color. It was probably the first time he'd been sober in a while.

Leia had called her this morning, informing her of his decision to leave. She'd bet that it hadn't been a pleasant conversation between mother and son, but lately, nothing with Ben ever was. Leia thanked her for Ben's coming around and pleaded with her to come see him before he left.

It was a painful, but necessary goodbye. Rey knew that. Ben needed to leave more than he needed to stay, and he needed her to put on a brave face and see him off.

"I've been saving this for your birthday. But since I'm sure you'll be off partying in the French Riviera or some other exotic location with your model friends by that time, I'm going to give it to you now," she said hoping that her voice came off as teasing.

"Rey..." Ben said, looking at her then, almost speechless, as she pushed a cloth-covered parcel into his hands.

"Come on, open it," she prodded.

He carefully lifted the cloth, opened the box, and found a set of pens and nibs — vintage by the looks of it, but all of them in good condition. "Where did you find these?" He asked, as he ran his fingers thoughtfully against the ornate scrollwork on the pens' metal barrels.

"In an estate sale a while back. The original owner came here at the turn of the century. His grandniece said that this set had been handed down from father to son, through three generations. They were poets, I think."

"These are beautiful, Rey," he said as he gave her a hug. It was the first one he had initiated in a while and the fragility of it threatened to break her resolve.

"Promise me you'll put these to good use, okay?" She murmured as she quickly slipped out of his embrace. If she didn't let go of him then, she never would. So she placed her palm against his face instead, in an effort to preserve their connection for a few more precious moments, "Write to me or something, yeah?"

"Yeah, I promise," he answered, pressing his cheek into her palm in an instinctive bid to soothe them both.

"Take care, Ben," she said, as she fondly traced his cheek with her thumb, before standing up with a wistful smile and leaving him with a final wave goodbye.

Thanks for giving this a chance! ❤️ I would really love to hear what you think about it. Kisses!