Chapter 1: Across the Stars
Rey was beaming into the eyes of Ben Solo, the man who had just saved her life... and the man she had fallen in love with. Her dainty hand caressing his cheek and brushing stray locks of raven hair out of his face, twining the strands through her fingers, she felt her heart would burst if she did not do something to confess, express, her love.
And so, surging forward with resolve but also thrilling terror, Rey pushed her lips fiercely against his in a desperate kiss.
Cradling his face in her hands, the Jedi felt strong, calloused arms tighten about her slim waist, splay up her lower back and pull her closer, as Ben enthusiastically returned her kiss. Stiffening a little in surprise at his exuberance, Rey happily closed her eyes. Her jaw went slack, her mouth falling open and her lips parting as she felt his tongue slip in to softly touch hers. She would have moaned around his tongue, if she had any voice with which to talk. With how fiercely Ben was kissing her back, the pressure of his lips on hers, she probably wouldn't have been able to make sounds anyway.
She had no idea if her kissing technique was admirable - had only ever seen a few couples embracing in Niima Outpost to understand what a shared kiss meant. But even if she was atrocious at plundering his lips, Ben held her like it was the best kiss of his life.
At last, after what seemed like a pleasant eternity, the couple dreamily broke apart, their arms still around each other. Rey's radiant smile dipped just a bit questioningly, asking if it was all right, to kiss him.
Ben's answering, toothy smile was all she needed to know.
Then, all at once, Ben keeled over backwards, Rey's shining eyes dimming in loving concern as she held him, lowered him gingerly to the stone floor. He was waning in the Force, she could feel it, and the possibility, the heartbreak, of losing him forever terrified her so that she felt drained of all energy. Exhausted herself. And so, lying next to him, curling nearly on top of him so that her head rested on his chest, over the steady beat of his heart, Rey murmured, "I'm right here, Ben. Let's lie here... we'll fall asleep together. Drift away together." Stand together, die together, her grandfather had said. If they died together like this, so be it. At least he was with her.
Hours later, the harsh glare of a spotlight illuminated the nearly dead couple curled together in a close embrace, followed by a loud voice:
"WE FOUND THEM!"
In operating rooms just down the hall from each other, Ben and Rey squirmed in shared physical agony as medical droids labored to patch up their wounds. Keep them alive.
The Dyad hummed faintly, tethering Ben and Rey to the living world. For as long as one lived, so too would the other.