AN: If they saw each other's future in the touch of fingertips, what could they see when they kissed? (Crying emoji). TRoS spoilers.
Wise men say
Only fools rush in
But I can't help falling in love with you
Shall I stay?
Would it be a sin
If I can't help falling in love with you?
Like a river flows
Surely to the sea
Darling, so it goes
Some things are meant to be...
Take my hand,
Take my whole life, too
For I can't help falling in love with you."
Can't Help Falling in Love (partial to the Fleet Foxes or the Kina Grannis covers)
If what he observed - the infinite universe of possibility when they touched fingertips for the first time - nothing can prepare Ben Solo for what the bond shares when they kiss.
Prompted by her, his lips alight on Rey's sweet mouth, and the seconds pass slowly, but in them, he bears witness their future. Of all that could be. Of all that will be.
That she would turn, and so would he, is undone. As if it never existed. A timeline that disappeared somewhere into the ether to an incomplete time and place. There is no longer dark and light. The shape of things to come includes his improbable ascent as Ben Solo. At first, a simple life, then one encompassing the entire galaxy with Rey always at his side, becomes clear.
He sees his other self with her. Happy. Joyous. Content. A lifetime together forged from all the darkness that came before.
He watches their tender moments, the absolute infatuation. A romance that shakes the very heavens. A dyad, unbroken. Adventures across the galaxy. Fights and laughter. Finding their way in the new world - one without Jedi or Sith.
And from their union, children. Gifted. Talented. Loved.
Had he air in his lungs (that currently seems to be occupied by Rey's warm embrace - not that he's complaining), he would gasp. Such a future never seemed possible.
And now, the sun begins to fade on his vision.
It's not time, he wants to say.
It's not fair, he knows.
It's not what Han sacrificed himself for.
It's not what Luke or Leia died for.
They made their choices so he could live. So that he might have this glorious future with Rey. United.
Instead, as the dark settles in around him, and his lips finally break from Rey's, he sees her smile and returns it, perhaps the first genuine emotion of his adult life.
Although his time is now fleeting, just moments left with his beloved, he hopes to be reborn to some life in the future. Some alternate universe where all that he has seen is possible.
His eyes close, and his last thoughts are of Rey's warm hand, clasping his.