Note from the author:
*hangs head in shame*
Checks date of the last chapter. Ha! December. Geez, that's bad. I mean the whole world has changed since then.
Hoping all my readers are well and healthy and keeping sane in these very difficult times.
If you've happened to browse at the chapter count, you may find that my chapter count has expanded.
"What?" You say. "There was only supposed to be one more chapter?"
Yeah. About that. It turns out that chapter was ridiculously huge.
So I've relinquished control to the story gods and let the story play out in the time that's needed.
But here's the good news. This story is FINISHED. The next four chapters are ready to publish, although I'm going to publish them every four days to give me time to finish polishing up the edits for the final two.
Chapter 30 will be an amazing piece of artwork that I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE WITH YOU!
Is there bad news. Well, yes. My lovely beta has had surgery and instead of trying to find another one I'm going in blind.
What does this mean?
Well. Here's the deal, I may be of the shiny adhd variety with a little bit of dyslexia thrown in for good measure. What this looks like for me is skipped words and silly mistakes no matter how many times I read it. The editing I go through (hence the long wait time) on these fics is ... extensive. I pretty much read through and edit on three different backgrounds and different texts and then I do an audio edit listening for mistakes.
And I guarantee you there will still be mistakes so please be kind.
Anyway, I present to you: the beginning of the end.
Crimson Lane - Chapter 24 - Waiting
Crimson Lane - Chapter 24 - Waiting
"I always wanted you. Even when I did know what I wanted. Even before I knew you. It was you. You were the chapter that I didn't know the words to, but always knew it existed. and when I finally found it and began to read. I knew I was home."
Lightning charged through Rey's body. In the shadows, Ben's beaten form writhed forcing himself closer to her. He would never get close enough. He couldn't save her … not this time.
"Sorry." Those broken words choked out blood-stained and breathless.
Rey's eyelids flew open to see coloured lights and buttons, luminous green numbers ticking over with an unsteady blip: 147bpm, 148bpm, 149bpm.
Flashes of light speared through the window in sweeping curved patterns and beneath it all, the constant drone of rolling tyres on the road.
"Stop!"
She ripped at the wires hooked and stickers dotted around her chest until a gentle pressure at her waist made her pause.
"It's okay." The words were gentle as warm fingers coaxing her to lie down.
Rey slumped back into the gurney. "Leia…"
The older woman dabbed a warm washer at her brow.
"You passed out. But you're safe now."
"Ben!"
The heart rate monitors raced again. The last she had seen of him his head had been slammed into the pavement, police officers piling on top of him to secure him in cuffs — all the while, he'd never taken his eyes off her.
"Why—" she struggled to breathe, grief bearing down on her. "Why did he do that?"
"There was nothing you could do."
"No! We had the drive. Dom removed everything there was about him. He could have walked free and no one would have known who he was."
Leia's face paled. "Did he know this?"
"Yes! I told him—" Rey had to stop, each breath was catching in her chest, her stomach muscles clenched as she tried to hold back the tide of emotion threatening to bare down on her. "It was me—"
Rey's words were lost in a rush of heaving sobs, as she scrambled to wipe the tears and snot away from her face.
"He wanted this, Rey. He wanted to make it up to you, to me, to everyone."
"But he didn't need to. There was nothing to make up for!" She cried. "His sacrifice was pointless. I wanted him here with me, not—"
She tried to breathe, to slow, but it felt like her whole chest was caving in.
Leia pressed a hand onto Rey's stomach holding the bond between them, she didn't urge her to stop crying or soothe her. Instead, she just waited penitent and strong for the storm to pass.
Everything had been pent up inside of her for so long, and it was freeing to cry, and swear, to hate him for what he'd done—and love him.
Her tears emptied until there were none left to give. She grieved for everything: her parents, Plutt, Snoke, Kylo Ren...Ben. At some point in the night, she thought she heard Leia's cries too but when the squall had lulled, Leia looked just as resolved and strong, her only tell a small smear of mascara at the edge of her eyes.
Rey watched as Leia dabbed it away with a small mirror, her pose stoic and thoughtful.
You're always ready, Rey thought.
Leia stayed beside her as she fell in and out of consciousness, administering drips, adding blankets, checking monitors until at last Rey fell into an empty sleep.
Morning.
Sunlight filtered through sheer curtains. Rey blinked, once, twice, slowly waking into a warm, sunlit room. The smell of sea salt and wicker filled her, while from outside she heard the gentle hush of waves colliding on the sand, seagulls crying and quiet voices muttering as shadows passed along the bi-fold doors.
Through a crack in the curtains, she spotted a lighthouse on top of a rugged cliff, and beyond, the curved line of the horizon where the turquoise sea met a cloudless sky.
She pushed down on her hands, shuffling back against the headboard to get a better look. Every muscle in her body ached, the bruises raw and black from the night before.
The spacious but had a homely feel to it, with a white-glass desk, galley kitchen and tropical-style bathroom. There were suitcases by the door that did not belong to her. To the far right, a pair of wardrobe doors hung open, and inside was a line of summer dresses.
Did she have a vague memory of stumbling in here, last night? Of Leia sponging the blood from her face as she curled up naked on the bathroom floor with nothing but a towel slung over her shoulders.
She couldn't even remember climbing into bed…
"Good morning!"
Leia appeared, carrying a couple of tops, pants and wide-brimmed sun hats.
"You can have these and the ones in the wardrobe until yours arrives. They were my mother's. They may be old, but most of them are coming back into fashion now."
Leia held up a halter-neck dress with a low back, layered in pastel rainbow colours. "Beautiful, aren't they?"
Rey nodded, noticing for the first time how the nut-brown shade of Leia's eyes matched her son's and the way she walked with a sense of purpose and regality—it reminded her so much of Ben.
"Have you heard from him?"
"Nothing yet. His uncle will let us know as soon as there is any news."
"Luke is with him?"
She nodded. A senator's nod. It gave nothing away.
"Why not you?"
Rey regretted the words as soon as they left her lips. In response, Leia's back straightened and her smile dropped.
"I didn't mean anything by that. I just—you want to be with him, don't you? You shouldn't stay here on my behalf. Especially since—"
She stopped, unable to speak the truth—especially since I should be in there. Not him.
Whether the senator saw something in Rey or she believed her words, she came by the bed, indicating for Rey to shuffle over as she sat
"I do want to be with him. Of course, I do, after all these years I've gotten my son back." Leia smoothed her hands over the cotton blanket with a kind smile. "But Han and I are under strict orders."
Oh, no. Rey sat forward, feeling ill. Surely — surely — he wasn't making them stay for her.
He wouldn't.
She cringed, he really would.
Leia held up her hand in protest. "Before you say anything. We're happy to do this. The Knights of Ren are still out there, Armitage Hux, God knows who else."
Snoke… Rey added in her mind.
A couple strolled past the room, laughing as a man tried to grab his partner. Leia turned her face towards the scene, they both did, and Rey wondered when she might feel light enough to laugh again.
"Ben wanted this, Rey. You are—" Leia's mouth twitched with a fleeting smile. She must have been so used to wearing a mask that, even now, when it was just the two of them, she held back.
Leia cleared her throat, and tried again, her eyes sparkling with emotion. "You must know how special you are to him." Leia reached her hand out covering Rey's, the gesture made her chest feel heavy. "And that makes you special to us."
Rey sat back, resting her head against the back of the bed with her eyes to the ceiling, blinking. She had a splitting headache, the tiredness was creeping back, but there was a thought blooming in her mind, and in her heart, like a star in the night growing brighter the more she focused on it. Ben had given her freedom, but far more than that, he had given her a family.
After all this time of being alone, fighting to survive on the scraps of rubbish Jakuu, sold and abused and hunted—it seemed they cared for her, Han, Leia and, above all, Ben.
Her voice choked a little at the realisation. "Thank you."
"Get some sleep." Leia squeezed her hand again before she returned to work, filling the wardrobe, lining the bin, adding towels, toilet paper, even a fresh vase of flowers on the coffee table.
Rey watched the most respected woman in the country fuss over her like she was her own daughter with a strange feeling in her heart. At last, she succumbed to the whole-body fatigue threatening to envelop her, slipping back between the sheets and staring out at the ocean beyond until exhaustion claimed her once more.
Afternoon
Rey sat in her bed, rubbing her eyes, feeling as though they had been glued shut for the past few hours. The sky was still light, though flecked with glowing embers of sunset, and the air was warm and humid.
Wrapping the bed sheet around her body, she went to the bathroom and stood before the green-glass basin, where she splashed her face with water a few times before catching her reflection in the mirror. There were bags under her eyes, and every part of her face was pale, from the faint blush of her lips to her sallow cheeks. Stepping back, she dropped the sheet to the ground.
What a sight. When had she become so skinny? Rey ran her hands over a bumpy ribcage, and down to her protruding hip bones. The bruises were everywhere, explosions of blue, yellow and brown blotches across her torso, legs and arms. She turned to see her back, marked with welts, like two wide-set fang bites. Her right eye socket sported a shiner of a black eye and along her neck was a faint red line where Phasma's knife had cut her.
In a way, she was grateful that he would never see her like this. That she was saved from his tortured expression as he blamed himself for each and every mark on her body like he'd dealt them himself.
Turning the shower on, she curled up beneath the water flow until the tiles were flooded and the water went from hot to lukewarm, to stone cold. She wasn't sure how long she lay there, gradually freezing as the cold water sprayed over her, mesmerized by the way the soap suds and clear swells funnelled into the drain. Once her lips turned blue and she was shivering, she turned the tap off, still staring at the black hole in the tiles, the one that swallowed everything.
She was free now. Free of debt, of the threat of Snoke's henchmen and their promises of pain, free of sex work, the brothel, and every nightmare she once had.
It should be enough.
It had to be.
For what Ben had done, it had to be enough.
Searching for her strength, she rose to her feet, squaring her shoulders, raising her chin and staring grimly at her reflection.
Breathe.
She forced herself to do it, just one breath in and one breath out.
It wasn't going to fall apart now.
Ben was gone, but he was not lost and damned if his sacrifice would be for nothing.
Evening
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Rey strolled the promenade, past retirees playing cards on Balinese-style furniture, weaving through the cafe that sat outside her bedroom door, dotted with white umbrellas and drinks served with miniature umbrellas and flamingo stirring sticks, eventually she neared the resort-style pool where blissful couples caught the last rays of the sun in their lazy honeymoon daze.
Leia and Han were up ahead, sitting at a round table, hunched over, their lips moving quickly. Rey breathed a sigh of relief as Han waved to her, his smuggler's smile beckoning her to join them.
As she came closer, she noticed another man sitting with them, he had dark skin and a smile so bright it looked like he belonged in a teeth whitening commercial. He was an older man, late 70s perhaps, but he certainly didn't dress like it. He wore canary yellow, with a lime-coloured cocktail in one hand, and a gold-handled cane in the other, and as she met his gaze, he let out a deep resonating laugh.
"Well, well, well, so this is Ben's girlfriend?"
"Lando!" Leia hissed, swatting him in the arm.
"Han's words, not mine."
"Don't blame me." Han quickly shoved his gin and tonic to his lips. "I'm only telling you what Ben told me."
"Honestly, the two of you! I'm sorry, Rey, these Solo men rarely think before they speak." Leia gestured to Lando. "This is an old friend, Lando Calrissian, Ben's uncle for all intents and purposes."
"Pleased to meet you," Lando reached out and took Rey's hand in his own, gently pressing it with a kiss.
"And complete cad, I'm afraid," Leia added.
Rey laughed, sitting down with them. Truth be told they had lost her at "girlfriend". She was amazed at how such a simple word could have such an effect on her. Despite everything, she sat there smiling sheepishly, holding onto the normalcy of it.
They watched her expectantly, as if waiting for her to perform or beguile them with her charm. Rey suspected this was the first time they'd ever had to deal with a "girlfriend", and she had no idea how she was supposed to act like the lover of a recently incarcerated son who had given his freedom up for her.
After a full minute of them watching her with smiles plastered on their faces. Rey stretched her arms out and pretended to relax. "This place is beautiful."
"Why, thank you." Lando gave a nod.
"It's yours?"
"Sure is. My own personal paradise."
"You're own personal tax haven, more like," Han scoffed.
"That too."
Rey poured herself a glass of orange juice from a carafe and sat back with her legs stretched out, allowing herself a rare moment to take it all in, the heat, the sound of the waves, the ocean breeze...
"Wait!" She bolted up. "Are we on Bespin?"
Surely not. Surely she would have noticed going on a plane or boat…
"We sure are," Lando replied with a wink.
"How do I not remember coming to an island?"
"You were well and truly out of it by that point," Han told her.
"Han flew you out here by private charter. We figured it was the safest way. Not that there's anything official about you leaving the mainland, mind you," Leia said.
"And she calls us the scoundrels," Han teased.
"You are," Leia quipped.
"I'm amazed." Rey slumped back in her chair, astounded and a little overwhelmed.
Leia signalled for the waiter, as she did Rey noticed a copy of the Hosnian Herald under Leia's palm.
"Can I look at that?"
Leia and Han exchanged glances, her hand still glued to the paper.
"What is it?"
"Don't look at me." Lando raised his palms in the air. "Ask no questions, hear no lies."
Han said. "Show her."
Rey took a deep breath. "Snoke's not dead."
"He is." Leia pushed the paper over to her. "Now."
Rey pulled the paper over to her end of the table and tried to swallow down the sick feeling climbing up her throat. Snoke's repugnant face looked back at her with that bald head, squinting eyes and a crooked smile. Next to the image: Respected CEO Alastair Snoke dead after medical emergency
"Medical emergency?"
"So far. Poe's managed to keep the original details under wraps. I'm not sure for how long."
"How is this even possible? He was dead."
"The paramedics stabilised him on site. They rushed him to hospital that night." Rey's memory flashed with the sight of his limp hand swaying beside the gurney.
"He never made it to the hospital," Leia continued.
"Stabbed thirty-seven times in the chest, and they found his ambulance wrapped around a tree about two blocks away from the general hospital," Han added almost scoffing. "Plus, the old raisin's cock was—"
"Han! Spare us."
Rey could barely believe her ears. "How?"
Leia shrugged. "No one knows."
Rey thought about Phasma slipping into the ambulance behind Snoke. Her cool, cruel wink to Rey. Something she'd assumed was a threat… Shit.
Phasma had finally gotten her revenge.
"So what does this mean for the case?" Rey asked, trying to reign in her hope.
"A reduced sentence possibly? Manslaughter, instead of murder. Perhaps even self-defence if we're lucky."
"It shouldn't even be a manslaughter charge, " Rey grumbled. "The man was a murdering psychopath, not a celebrated CEO."
"It will all come out in time. We must have hope," Leia said.
"When can I testify for him?"
Han choked on his gin and tonic, erupting in a coughing spree.
"You're not!" he said between coughs.
"Like hell I'm not, I was there!"
"It's not our decision, kid," he replied gruffly, folding his arms like he was secretly on Rey's side.
"Leia?" Rey asked.
The senator squirmed in her chair. "He thinks you'll do something foolish."
"He can't be serious!"
She wanted to scream, and cry, and kick him in the shins for putting her in this position. How dare he force her out of this? Rey folded her arms, grinding her teeth and glaring at the head waiter Threepio who was loitering around their table waiting to clear the used glasses.
"What does he think I'm going to do?"
"Rey," Leia almost laughed at the question. "He knows very well what you'll do. You've already proven that you're willing to throw your life away for him, hell, you've already done it."
Rey glowered, wishing Ben was here so she could yell and shout and call him a bloody-minded idiot for the position he was forcing her into. Accepting his charity, his family, while he was sacrificed.
"I'm going to kill him for this."
Leia almost choked on her wine, failing to hide her amused smile. "I'll let my brother know when I speak to him again."
Rey's heart clenched. "You've heard from Master Luke?"
"Master Luke? Now I've heard it all," Lando said with a chuckle.
Rey blushed, forgetting that to most adults he was plain old Luke. It made her feel like a child, and perhaps she still was, clinging onto old titles.
"He called this morning—"
"And?" Rey was deathly still. "Is he okay, is he—"
"He's fine. Recovering … he misses you."
The words hit her like a fresh blade to the wound; it was a real and living thing now that throbbed with pain in her heart, the muscles and arteries felt like they were being crushed in a vice.
Was this their relationship now, fleeting messages exchanged through Mas— Luke for everyone to speculate on.
Rey swallowed the bitterness of the situation.
It was better than nothing, she supposed.
"You can tell him that I miss him too."
One week ...
Not without argument, Rey surrendered her mobile phone in place of a new one, a better one. At least it didn't have a cracked screen and the microphone actually worked.
The first number she dialled was Finn's. Standing out the front of her room, watching the waves lull across the sand, she paced, waiting for him to answer.
It rang out.
She was about to hang up when there was a click, followed by a hurried, breathy voice on the other line.
"Finn?"
A child was laughing in the background, and then another female voice, excitable, familiar almost.
"Yeah, yeah. Hold on, Penny-Rose!"
Rey furrowed her brow in confusion. It sounded like him but — "Finn, is that you?"
"Rey!" he shouted, and then was Rose squealing: "Oh my God, is that her?"
Rey jerked the phone away from her ear as there was a loud crash like they had dropped the receiver.
"Finn? Rose? Are you still there?"
"Rey! We've been so worried about you! Are you okay? Where are you?" Rose said in a rush. "I'm so sorry, we thought you'd left the brothel. I can't believe we left you there. I can't—"
"It's okay. I'm fine. I'm just glad that you're okay. I was worried about you too," Rey said, and then paused before adding. "So, you're staying with Finn now?"
"Oh, Finn! He's great, he is—" Rose laughed, her attention deviating to whatever was going on in Finn's apartment. There was clapping and even more hysterical laughing from Penny Rose. To Rey, it sounded as though someone was bounding around the room like a buffoon.
That would be Finn.
Rey's laughter subsided, feeling as though she was intruding on something intimate and special. She smiled at the picture in her mind, of Finn and Rose together, in their little found family. The thought filled her soul with happiness, but she couldn't help but feel the barb beneath it all. A pang of longing at the injustice that their happiness and companionship was so far away from her own reality.
"It's descended into madness here," Rose laughed. "I'll pass you over to Finn."
Rey waited as Rose tried to convince her daughter to walk to the park. In response, there was a shrill tantrum, followed by the sound of a door closing, and then, silence.
Finn cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. She's exuberant."
"Three-year-olds often are."
"I meant Rose."
Rey smirked. "So, you and Rose…"
"Oh, it's nothing. You know, she wasn't feeling safe where she was."
"Right." Rey twisted a strand of hair around her finger with a knowing smile.
"And I like kids..."
"You do?"
"Yeah, you know, at Maz's house, I thought they were kind of cool. And, well, Penny Rose's a good kid, and they needed a place to stay."
"So, she's your flatmate then?"
"Umm. Something like that. "You… you don't mind, do you?"
"Finn, I couldn't be happier. I love you both, I only wish I could have introduced you under better circumstances."
"Yeah, well—" he drifted off in thought. "Shit, Rey, if I had known—"
"Please, don't. I asked you to get Rose out. You did that."
Rey could hear Finn pacing. "When Poe told me what had happened—"
"You helped me, you helped Rose. That's all I care about."
"I don't think I'll ever forgive—"
"Will you stop? I don't care about that," Rey snapped. It was rude, but she didn't have time for his self-postulating "There's something I need to know—"
"Anything."
Rey's heart pounded. This was the one thing on which so much of her and Ben's future depended.
"The USB Drive. Dom was supposed to get it to Poe."
"He did."
Rey breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you know if…" she bit her lip, hating the question. "Was there anything about Kylo Ren on there?"
Finn stopped pacing, even stopped breathing by the sound of it.
"Don't know. Poe has let no one else look at it yet. He's playing his cards very close to the chest."
Rey nodded, forgetting Finn wouldn't see it. She hoped that was a good sign, the less people who knew about Kylo Ren and what he had done the better.
"You… ah... really believe in this guy?"
A wave of anguish rose in Rey's chest. The world would always question and doubt Ben. He had earned that she supposed, but the truth of it still hurt.
"From what Poe says, he's been pretty messed up ever since he was a kid," Finn continued, encouraged by her silence. "Even if he didn't do some of that stuff, it still—"
"Stop it!" Rey snapped, and for a microsecond, she hated him for doubting something she knew to be so true in her heart. But Finn would be the first of many and that's something she had to accept. No one was on Kylo Ren's side.
"He's a good guy, Finn."
"But this case, these charges—"
She wished he'd shut his mouth. Whatever he was going to say, she'd already told herself.
"It could be a long time, and even then—"
"Then I'll wait."
Finn let out an exasperated sigh.
"It's not up for discussion. You don't know him, Finn, but I do. I do. He's... good. He's changed." Dear God, she was choking up again, her voice unstable and undulating, breaking just when she needed to be strong. "I don't want you to ever question me on this."
"Rey—"
"I mean it. Ben Solo made the right choice in the end. He deserves a life, even if the world doesn't think he does. Even if you don't think he does."
"Rey, wait, I didn't mean—"
"Just like you, and Rose, and everyone who has ever had life screw them. He deserves a chance!"
Her voice broke in a sob and she forced herself to stop before her emotions spilled out.
"Okay, peanut," came the voice on the other end, subdued and resolved. "Okay."
Ten days
Rey's bruises wilted into sallow smudges. Her clothes arrived along with a few trinkets from home: her travel posters, a couple of treasured CDs and her old university textbooks.
The latter had come with a note, written in a loose script, small indistinct letters, hurried and imperfect.
You'll make an amazing journalist.
B—
She breathed it in, hoping to catch hints of his spicy aftershave and citrus shampoo. Everything about Ben had smelt sharp and bold. But there was nothing; no memory she could cling to.
Beneath the note was an unsealed envelope containing a blank application form from the University of Coruscant.
Rey pressed it to her heart as she curled up on the small sofa, looking out to the ocean. She watched the rise and fall of the waves, tracing her finger over his writing…
He'd never planned to come back with her.
The thought washed over her and she found herself crying once more. They were silent tears, subtle, easily wiped away if someone came by. She allowed herself this much-the odd cry, away from prying eyes. It was the only way she could expel the hurt, just enough to keep going on.
It has been a week since she'd read the article about Snoke, and for the most part, she'd spent her time restlessly. In the mornings, she'd wander for a few hours, over the hills, along the beach, through the township, exploring the markets. The humidity and heat landed heavily after lunchtime and then she'd spend time with Leia and Han, catching up on proceedings from the mainland, as well as exchanging fleeting messages to be passed on via Master Luke, and receiving them in turn. She longed for a phone call, but he hadn't been allowed that privilege and Ben ensured there was a no letter policy between them while addresses could be traced back to her. There was rarely any meaningful news about his case: the Knights of Ren were still at large, as was Armitage Hux, and no word on the date of trial.
Evenings were the worst time for her. It wasn't the grief, or anger that got to her, but more of an overwhelming feeling of malaise.
It usually hit after dinner, when she stared at the dirty dishes trying to find the motivation to move, from then she slumped from the couch, to the bed, to the kitchen table feeling useless and drained of purpose.
Rey eased into bed, wearing nothing but her underpants and a singlet top. She munched on a bag of chips as she flicked through the television channels.
Leia encouraged her to make friends in the resort and do what the "young people" do. She was terrible at it. Rose, Finn, Jess, they all had their little quirks, they were all different to her but they fit together like pieces of a puzzle.
God, she missed them.
And Ben—
Don't think of him…
Suddenly, the shrill ring of her mobile phone came at her like a sledgehammer.
She grabbed it with lightning speed.
"Ben?"
There was laughter on the other end.
"Rey, I'm going to hazard a guess and say you were waiting by the phone."
"Oh, Poe. I thought—"
"Yeah, not him. Sorry."
A cool breeze blew in from the ocean, bringing a hint of rain in the air. It buffeted the curtains and swished her papers onto the floor as Rey scrambled to get them.
"Is there any news?" she asked, trying to hide the disappointment from her voice.
"A shitload. Not much regarding your boy though."
She swallowed down a lump in her throat. "Yeah, I figured as much. How are you doing?"
Poe grunted as though he were kicking back and putting his feet up for the day. "Yeah, okay, still got this damned cast on. Itches like hell. How about you?"
"Finn said you got the drive. Have you had a chance to go through it yet?"
"There's my girl. Straight to the point," Poe said. "Yeah, I've got it. Dom dropped it over that night although part of it seems corrupted and some files seem to be missing—"
Poe went silent, no doubt baiting her to slip up.
Rey met his silence with her own. Another gust of wind-battered through the doors, and a whoosh of raindrops pattered the tile floor.
"What do you expect me to say?" Rey grabbed a white bath towel and ran it along the floor where the rain had come in.
"Specifically, I thought there would be some evidence that pointed towards Kylo Ren's involvement in all this."
Rey stilled her hand pressed firmly on the towel.
"Are you going to pursue it?"
She waited a beat for him to answer.
"No, Rey. I'm not."
She breathed again.
"It's still an uphill battle though. There's a couple of years' worth of correspondence and images to go through on this drive, meanwhile, the paper isn't going to write itself."
"I know, you're already doing so much. I saw some of your pieces in the paper."
With the rain mopped up, Rey stood by the doors, loathe to close them again. There was a full moon ahead; she wondered if Ben was looking at the same moon and thinking of her as she was thinking of him.
She wondered if he could even see the sky.
"So, when are you coming back to work?"
"Work?" Rey asked, genuinely confused. "Do I have a job?"
"I already told you, help me crack this case and there will be a job for you at the end of it. As far as I see it, the case is cracked, we just need to tie up some loose ends."
"You're offering me a job?" Rey asked, gob-smacked. "I don't even have my degree yet!"
"I expect you to get it still. It's just a part-time gig and it doesn't pay much."
"But I'm on Bespin and you're—"
"I'm not sure if you've heard, there's this thing called the internet—"
"Very funny," Rey quipped.
"You wouldn't be the first off-shore writer I've hired. I'll send you the files tonight and you can begin combing through to see what you can find. We're looking for everything you can get on that bastard Snoke to bring him down. By the end of this, I want Snoke and the First Order to be a smokey hole in the ground, okay?"
"You got it," she beamed.
"This is our chance, Rey. We can show the world who Snoke really was, and maybe you can help your boy in the meantime."
Two Weeks
Rey's chin fell to her chest, her fingers pressing down on the keys half asleep: Oijqewfpjiasjf
"Look back."
Her eyes fluttered, drifting between sleep and wakefulness. Her mind waded between dreams and thoughts. Snoke's ring of deception, blackmail, murder, extortion, torture... She left no speck of data untouched as she tied the information together, finding how far his influence had spread and how many pockets he'd lined to get there, and of whom. Between the work she, Finn and Poe had done, that criminal and his legacy would be destroyed.
She had spent most of her days researching loose ends, tugging on them, following where they led her and after dinner, after she had said good night to Leia and Han, she returned once more to her laptop, combing the information again with fresh eyes, looking for everything they could use to help Ben, to prove he too had been a pawn like so many others.
She worked until her wrists ached and her eyes were blurry, falling asleep slumped over her laptop.
"Look back at me."
Rey was jarred awake by the sound of his voice.
The television was blindingly white against the darkness of the room, her eyes strained and squinted as snowflakes floated around the tragic hero. She had opted to let North & South play in the background while she worked. It seemed fitting; sadness, romance and, above all, hope.
That's what she needed most now.
They hadn't heard anything from Ben or Master Luke for the past three days now, and to be quite frank, that worried her. Leia had called her brother, Han had even sent an email. But there was no response. It was strange, disconcerting. Rey had tried to push her worry away, it had been part of the reason why she'd stayed up watching movies as she worked.
Rey spread her fingers over the bed covers trying to find the remote. Unable to find it she hung over the side of the bed, searching through piles of clothes on the floor, takeaway boxes and used tissues.
There. She grabbed it, half-hidden beneath the tissue box and pressed the sticky power button over and over again until the screen turned black.
Rolling back into bed, the fluorescent numbers of the alarm clock glared back at her. 1.30 am. She grimaced, huddling down between the bedsheets when there was an urgent knock at the door.
"Just a minute." Rey switched on the lamp beside her bed and checked that her black camisole and pyjama pants were clean enough to answer the door.
This time the door rattled and the knocking came again more furtive and urgent.
"Threepio, if this is about the broken spa filter again—"
She unlocked the door, pushing it open.
But something wasn't right.
The air was sharp out here, a few degrees cooler than her own room, smelling of wool carpet, disinfectant and something else — something familiar that she couldn't place, an old memory locked away. The fluorescent hallway lights were off and without any windows, the room was pitch black.
If there was someone out there, she couldn't make them out in this darkness.
It wasn't right.
Rey's heart raced as she yanked the door closed but it jarred on something, a strong hand gripped around the edge.
"Wait!" The voice was low and gravelly. She opened it just enough for the light from her room to illuminate the man beyond.
"Hey, kid."
"Master Luke!"
Rey threw her arms around him and squeezed like he was the closest thing to hugging Ben.
"Easy there," He let out a pained groan at the fury of her embrace.
From somewhere in the shadows, there came a low chuckle. Rey's heart lurched and she pulled back from Luke. Straining her eyes to find the source.
She knew that voice. She knew that voice.
"Where is he?" Her words were desperate as she peered past Luke like she was searching for air to breathe.
There was a shift in the darkness and Rey's eyes pricked with tears as he came forward, like a ghost emerging from the underworld.
Warm light splintered across his face and body in warped patterns, tracing his outline with an unsteady but radiant glow. With each step, parts of him came into focus: the wavy hair, broad shoulders, eyes, full of intensity and yearning.
Rey gasped, every breath felt like it was burning in her chest. He was here, in the flesh, within reach.
As Ben towered above her, his lips parted and with a slow inhale, he smiled.
"Hello, Rey."
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