Finn
Rose frowns at me via the holo as I relay to her everything that happened since the battle on Exegol. While she reacts with horror when I tell her that Rey is injured and remains in a coma, I'm disturbed by her reaction to the situation between Rey and Kylo Ren.
"Huh," she replies with an expression of curiosity, a little furrow forming between her eyes. She is silent and looks off to the side.
"Huh? All you have to say is huh, when I tell you that I have to keep Rey next to that monster to keep her alive?" I feel lightheaded. Rose is always so righteously indignant when things are messed up. To see her have such a tepid reaction to a situation that I find untenable is disturbing to say the least.
"Finn, I know you are stressed, but don't yell at me. I'm trying to think…there are a few things that Rey told me. I guess I just assumed you knew because she told you, or you could just sense it."
I try to calm down. What I need right now is information and I need to have a clear head to hear whatever Rose is going to tell me.
"I've sensed things about him from her, but none of it is clear. Her feelings about him were very strong, but it always felt like chaos and anger and frustration…and disappointment, which is weird now that I think about it. But so much conflict. And darkness. It was like he drew out the darkness in her." As I say those last words it feels like a breach of trust, like I'm revealing something bad about Rey that I shouldn't.
Rose is nodding as I speak, and the look on her face is unsurprised, which makes me feel better about sharing this with her. Like it is less of a break of trust between Rey and me. When she starts talking, I can tell she is choosing her words carefully.
"I don't want you to be upset when I tell you this. I also don't want to mislead you…there are things that Rey told me, but a lot of what I'm about to say I've pieced together from off-handed things Rey said, as well as some things I observed about her when she wasn't really paying attention."
"Okay," I say slowly. "Go on."
"Rey told me once that she felt like she needed to build a wall in her mind to keep out Kylo Ren. She mentioned that something unusual happened between them when she was away from us last year. She didn't go into too much detail, and she seemed kind of upset about it. Did she tell you any of this?" Rose looks at me then, and I can tell she really wants me to say yes, but unfortunately, I can't.
"No, she didn't mention it."
Rose continues, "It sounded to me like they were able to communicate with one another somehow. Even see one another when they were far apart. She mentioned a time when she was on Ahch-To, that she saw a look on his face, and I didn't know what that meant because it sounded like they were in the same room or something. I don't think she meant to tell me that because she changed the subject right away. One time she made a comment about feeling just as lonely as him. I got the impression that they were connected in some way. She never outright said it. And then there was the time…"
I watch Rose look down quickly, and I get the sense that she doesn't want to tell me something. The bad feeling I have about this whole thing reaches a crescendo, but I push her to go on anyway.
"Rose, it's okay. Just tell me."
She looks back up and takes a deep breath.
"You know Rey. She is so industrious…just reliably constant, you know. Always the first one up, the last one to bed. Leia used to say you could set a chrono by her. One morning she wasn't around doing her usual things, so I went looking for her. I found her in her quarters still sleeping and she didn't look well, she was pale and sweating. I thought she might be sick. I was about to go to get help, and then I heard her say something. It was quiet, but I heard it. She said, 'Ben I'm so sorry. Please come this way.' Or something like that. Then she started to cry in her sleep. I got scared, so I backed up and called her name from outside so she wouldn't know I'd been there. She woke up and I walked in. She looked really upset and there was this look in her eyes, like she was lost. I asked her what was wrong."
Rose pauses and I can tell she really doesn't want to go on, but it seems like she is willing the words to come out.
"'I was having a nightmare,' she said. 'Someone I feel…he's lost, and I can't get him out.' I asked her who, but she said she didn't know. She looked very shaken and I was afraid to push her. But I started to put things together after that, about her and Kylo Ren. I don't know how or why, but they are connected. That connection must be why you have to keep them together. I don't understand it, but that is what I think based on what I've seen and what you've told me."
I look at her, and my heart feels leaden in my chest. So, Rey's feelings aren't just conflict and darkness. Some part of her cares. Some part of her cares for Kylo Ren. It makes me feel sick, and a bitter taste comes to my mouth.
"Finn. It will be okay. We'll figure this out. Maz is on her way, and she's bringing the Jedi texts. You guys will figure this out."
"Yeah...," I say and look down on the ground at Rey, wondering if I even know her at all. "This is all going to go great."
Ben
Ben is unsure how he arrives on the rocky windswept cliffs overlooking a vast ocean. He closes his eyes to blink in the forest and when he opens them again, he appears here. The first sensation he feels, before anything else, is the bond snapping into realignment. It thrums like a cord pulled taut that connects everything that he is, mind and body, to a separate point that is not far from him. His other senses catch up and he looks out over the water, hears the waves crash far beneath him, while at the same time he catches a familiar voice speaking.
"Get this whole thing sorted out."
And then silence.
He turns and realizes that he is standing just a few feet away from Rey, who has just looked over her shoulder to look up at him. Their eyes lock. Ben feels what he felt for the first time on Kef Bir. Completion and utter clarity. It is such a relief that he lets out a sigh. Rey does the same and for a while they just stand there looking at one another, as if they are the only two entities in the entire galaxy. He reaches out a hand and she takes it in hers without hesitation. The bond thrums again, more powerfully this time.
All is right and as it should be.
Until it isn't. Until Ben looks over Rey's head and sees his uncle standing there with a bewildered look on his face. Rey squeezes his hand a little, perhaps trying to redirect his attention, but all he can see is the man who he has feared and hated for half of his life.
"You knew he was going to be here," his mother says, walking into Ben's line of sight and standing next to her brother.
"Knowing you have to face something and actually facing it are two very different things," Ben says, his voice quiet. A dangerous sign. Rey intervenes. Without turning away from Ben, she calls over her shoulder.
"Master Skywalker. Perhaps you could give us a little time. There are things we need to talk about."
Ben doesn't break eye contact with his uncle. He simply can't slip the noose of betrayal and rage that seeing this man makes him feel. Rey puts her other hand on Ben's arm and turns to face the twins.
"Leia," she says softly, her voice breaking a little at the end. "I hate to ask this of you, because I am so happy to see you. My heart is broken, and I want to talk to you…but I need time. Can you please give us time?"
Ben's attention is caught suddenly by Rey's agony and all at once he is aware of the grief she feels over the loss of his mother. It is different than his grief, which is all wrapped up in abandonment and guilt and lost opportunities. Rey's grief is uncomplicated; she feels the loss of someone she felt great affection for and held in high regard. They had a deep friendship, albeit one that was informed by their rank in life both as Jedis and as soldiers in the Resistance. Ben looks down at Rey and sees tears shining in her eyes.
His behavior is keeping her from being able to be with his mother.
"Go to her," he says softly to Rey. She looks up at him and when she does the tears spill out of her eyes and run down her face. He wipes away one of the trails left on her skin with his thumb and nods at her gently.
Rey breaks away and almost runs into Leia's open arms. They stay like this for over a minute, no one speaking. Ben chooses to look only at his mother and Rey, not giving his uncle an instant of his attention. He knows he will have to eventually, but for now he just focuses on Rey. He feels an unwelcome pang of jealousy as he looks at the two women and silently laments lost time.
Rey must sense it because she soon releases Leia with a kiss on the cheek and returns to his side.
It is Leia who speaks, Luke wisely choosing to remain silent. "We will try to find out what we can. You may be better equipped to find answers because you share the bond. I don't know what can be done from this plane." She pauses, seeming unsure of how to say what it is she needs to say. "You need to be careful. I don't know if things you accomplish here will have repercussions for your bodies on the physical plane. I'm also concerned that there may be others who now know of the existence of the dyad. They could come looking, and in the mortal realm you are very much defenseless right now."
"What do you mean, others?" Ben asks.
"I'm not sure son. It may be nothing. A mother's intuition. I just can't shake the feeling that somehow we are being watched."
Ben reaches out and feels nothing, no sense of intrusion or danger. But he doesn't discount his mother's warning. Her feelings about things sometimes seem to transcend the Force, if such a thing is even possible, and he knew from a young age that when she had a feeling about something it was time to pay attention.
"Take care of one another," Leia says. She and Luke nod at them.
"Goodbye," Rey whispers, even as they fade away.
Rey
Rey's anger temporarily subsides the moment Ben arrives. The reconnection of the bond is a relief not unlike the feeling of blood reentering a limb when the circulation has been cut off for an extended period. Its essential rightness is something that Rey feels in the core of her mind and body. To be near him, to touch him, it only intensifies the certainty of the lock that holds them together.
Leia's arrival prolongs Rey's distraction, as she is relieved beyond words to see her. It is so hard to wrap her head around what this all means, and Leia's presence is a consolation, however temporary.
Rey's awareness of Ben's rage toward Master Skywalker is a reminder to her that although Kylo Ren may be dead in a fashion, the parts of Ben that were the precursors to that persona are still very much in play. He still possesses darkness, however tempered by his newly found balance.
When her masters finally depart, Rey takes a breath, turning toward Ben and attempting to assuage her own dark side by focusing on the fact that neither of them is actually dead. Yet.
"Ben," she begins, keeping her voice even and eyes averted.
"Hmm," he answers, clearly distracted by something. Otherwise he would feel what is coming.
"What the kriff were you thinking using the dyad to bring me back? Did you not think about what could have happened? You could have killed yourself! You very possibly have!" Her control leaches away with each word so by the end Rey is shouting, though she has tears in her eyes.
Ben is speechless. She senses confusion and a mounting defensiveness. This was not what he expected.
He begins haltingly, "You didn't deserve to die. I couldn't just do nothing…you gave everything to save the galaxy from Palpatine. I was just supposed to accept that and walk away? Are you out of your mind?" Unlike Rey, his voice has grown lower and softer with every word. But this is the paradox of Ben Solo and Rey knows it better than anyone. The quieter he gets the more dangerous his words. And the more manipulative.
They face one another now, and Rey is angry with him, she really is. But there is tension that she cannot name that feels like it is pulling her in another direction, and it takes her a minute of glaring into his dark eyes to realize what it is. When she understands, it pulls her up short.
"What is it?" He growls. He matches her stance so that they are squared off glaring at one another, and everything about this is so familiar, the two of them facing off, getting in one another's space.
"I'm furious at you for risking your life," she begins and stops, gaining control of herself finally. "But I'm also relieved and it's selfish. I didn't want to die. And even though we don't know how this is going to play out I'm relieved it's not over yet. And…" She trails off, breaking eye contact and looking away.
He is silent. She can sense he's still angry for being yelled at for saving her life.
"And this," she says softly, pointing back and forth between them, "I don't know what this is. The bond. The dyad. I feel grateful that we get the chance to figure it out. Because it feels…" Words fail her.
"Like you belong," he states. She looks up and finds him looking a little abashed. She imagines an admission of this caliber costs him, as self-reliance kept him alive. It did her as well.
"Yes," she whispers, looking up into his eyes, that do not look nearly as dark as they did a few moments before. "Like I belong. I've never belonged. I've been accepted and cared for by your mother, by my friends. But I never felt like I belonged. I was always alone on some level."
He holds out his hand. She looks down at it. It always comes to them reaching for one another in one way or another. Reaching to grab and gain control. Reaching to strike with a laser sword. Reaching to test a boundary or lack thereof. She takes his hand, but then pulls him to her in an embrace. They release their hands and wrap their arms around one another, her cheek to his chest, his mouth to the top of her head.
It is strange to hold Ben. The physical sense memories of their various battles are still very real in Rey's mind. She remembers the focus and ferocity with which she attacked him and the brutality that answered her every blow. The hands and arms that hold her so gently at this moment have barraged her with killing blows a hundred times. Blows that she returned with equally vicious intent. But since the moment she sensed his presence on Exegol, she's felt nothing but affinity for him. That he is on her side is an unassailable truth.
"Rey," Ben says softly into her hair.
"Yeah?"
"We have to figure out how this dyad works," he states, shifting to rest his chin on her head. "It is possible that it's the only way we get out of here. Palpatine said it has power over life itself. He was able to take it. Why couldn't we project it? Use it against him?"
"I wondered the same thing. We didn't have much time to work on it. Before Exegol we were…" She trails off, not wanting to talk about their conflicts and break the spell of quiet between them which is comforting in a way she's never known. He must sense it because when he sighs, he settles around her a little more, leans a bit more into her.
"He was strong," she says after a while. "I've never felt power like that before. But in the end, I matched him. Maybe it is because we were related. Maybe it is because I had all the Jedi behind me. I don't know. One thing I do know is that I knew you were still there. I could feel you climbing up the side of the ravine and I felt the dyad. It was still in play at the end. I'm sure it has its own power. We just have to figure out how to harness it."
Ben pulls away slightly and looks down at Rey. She meets his gaze. "Where do we begin?" He asks, his mouth forming a crooked smile.
"You're smiling," she gasps, reaching up and touching his face, fingertips grazing his lips. It is so intimate, but Rey cannot focus on that detail now. "I've never seen you smile."
"That's because it probably hasn't happened in a decade," he states drily, but his lips quirk up at the corners even more.
Rey leans back to regard him, and he releases his hold on her so that now they are standing slightly apart, though her hand is still settled on his arm. She is reminded of his father, but she doesn't say it. Not yet. There will be time for that conversation, but there are other matters to focus on now. For the moment she smiles back at him, and he blinks at her, looking a little stunned.
"Yeah," he says quietly, "That is interesting. Seeing you smiling at me is a little bit like looking at a sunrise. No one has ever smiled at me like that."
This admission has the effect of intensifying her smile and she squeezes his arm warmly. She is starting to feel more than affinity for Ben as she recognizes the beginnings of true affection. It is like she has known him forever, and yet he is brand new. She shakes her head.
"Didn't see this coming, did we?" She asks.
"Not like this," Ben remarks enigmatically. Rey is intrigued by his choice of words, but she says nothing. Another time for that as well.
"I think we should start seeing what we can do on this plane. See if we can push out of it at all," she states. "Master Luke told me Master Yoda and Master Obi Wan appeared to him many times. Maybe we can appear to others as well."
"But there are no Jedi left. Who will be able to see us?"
"I don't know. The are a lot of people who are Force sensitive. I think we can start there. My friend Finn is as good a place to start as any."
"Finn?" Ben asks. "Do you mean FN21—"
"Don't finish that sentence!" She exclaims, her eyebrows shooting up, and although she's not really angry she feels very protective. "He is a person! Not a number, not a Stormtrooper. He is the best person I know as a matter of fact!" She levels a look of indignation at him.
Ben backs up a bit, hands raised.
"All right, my mistake. Finn it is." His features are soft, but Rey can sense tension he is hiding. She lets it go.
She sits down on the ground, crossing her legs.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"I'm going to try to reach out. See what happens."
He sighs and sits facing her, folding his long legs to mirror hers.
She regards him for a moment before reaching for his hands.
"Together then?" She asks.
He gives her hands a squeeze and smiles another crooked smile before saying, "Together."
Elsewhere in the Galaxy…
A tall, hooded woman enters a cavern cut into the side of a dark mountain. Her footsteps are light so as not to disturb the creatures she feels slumbering in the depths. The path is lit with the magick she holds in her palm, its energy crackling sharply along the outlines of the cave walls. She follows a path she's walked thousands of times to a doorway cut into the rock. Upon entering she releases the light in her hand to charge several braziers, throwing illumination on walls covered in runes and drawings. She comes to stop before an alter holding a large tome. She opens the book and runs her finger along the runic writing inside.
She pushes her hood back, concentration etched deep along her sharp features, lips moving soundlessly as she reads the words, turning page after page. She pauses, looking closer at the text, as a dark smile spreads across her face.
"Finally," she hisses.