"Where the kriffing hell are we again?" The words are muttered as Ben Solo stomps off away from their little group.
"Earth?" Rey ventures. "That's all I could find out about it in the nav computer on the ship. Fairly primitive, haven't figured out faster than light travel, though they've apparently been to their moon and sent some sort of probe to a nearby planet."
Ben whips around to stare at her. "And so we're stuck here?"
Rey shrugs. "They have some tech. I may be able to cobble something together to repair it."
Chewbacca roars behind her.
"I've got it," she mutters.
Chewie roars again.
"We're not trapped here," Rey says, whirling on the great big beast. He starts to roar something else when she holds up her hand. "We need to keep moving or we will be." She has no illusions. They'd just barely landed the Falcon in a small clearing in the middle of what appears to be a simply massive forest. If they don't keep moving, if they don't find shelter and food, they're going to perish there in the woods on this primitive planet.
She can't even imagine what the people of the world might think if they came across Chewie's corpse. He's over two and a half meters tall, true, but Ben tells her that he's seen the occasional human that tall. But he's covered in hair and doesn't resemble anything on the planet. Not so far that she could tell in her very quick search before they abandoned their ship.
"Can we just keep moving?" Ben mutters.
"Of course, King Ben," Rey shoots at him.
"That's Prince Ben. I'm not a King."
Rey rolls her eyes.
Chewie lets out a roar of laughter, and Ben turns back with a glare. "Why don't we alert everyone that we're here?"
Rey just sighs. It's been like this ever since the three of them took off in the Falcon. Without Han, their little group tends to fall apart. She doesn't know what it is about the old smuggler, but he manages to hold them all together really well. He's the glue, apparently. But he fell on their last mission and broke his ankle. Bacta had been helping, certainly, but he admits that he's getting too damned old for this thing and while Chewie certainly disagrees, Rey and Ben know it's true.
So they've gone off on their own. And it's been near-constant bickering. Chewie and Ben having shouting matches over who's going to pilot the ship. Ben and Rey trading barbs because they both think they're right. Her relationship with Ben is complicated to say the least, and sometimes the fact that his mother is a princess and general, that she had been trained to rule from birth, really comes through in the way he's so imperious at times.
They finally move off in silence.
Ben takes the lead, with Rey in the middle and Chewie drawing up the rear. They've fallen into that somehow, usually with Han walking near Chewie. It's a defensive thing, protecting the team at all costs.
The trees are starting to thin when she hears the first voices. "Over there!" someone is shouting and there's a flurry of activity from somewhere to their left. "I swear I saw one!"
"You always say that and then it's just some overly large black bear." There's a bit of amusement to the woman's voice, but also exasperation.
"No this time I really mean it," the first speaker says. He sounds young, Rey thinks. Young and idealistic.
"Hunters?" she asks Ben as he hangs back a little, and steps closer to her.
"I have a bad feeling about this," he murmurs.
Chewie roars something softly.
"There!" shouts the first voice that they had heard. "Didn't you hear that?"
"Bear!" says the woman.
"That didn't sound like a bear," comes a third voice that they hadn't heard before. "When a bear vocalizes…"
"Enough!" the woman says. "We know what a bear sounds like."
"And it didn't…" the young man starts to say.
"Come on," Rey says. "Let's keep moving."
They take a few steps when Ben reaches out a hand and stops her. "We need to hide."
"Hide?" Rey asks.
"Yes, hide."
"From who? A few of the primitives native to this planet?" She takes a step closer to Ben.
"Clearly you don't know what people can do," Ben responds with.
Rey makes a huffing noise. "Are you saying I'm naïve?"
"You spent your entire life on Jakku until…"
"Yeah until you captured me and dragged me away," she points out.
"You were on Takodana. I didn't take you away from Jakku!"
Chewie growls something at them. Rey's pretty sure it's a warning, but she doesn't heed it. She can't. Because Ben is rounding on her and it's on. She doesn't know why they're like this, really. They're the last two known Force users in the galaxy, besides his uncle. And Luke is still hidden away on his island meditating or some such nonsense. He's refused to join them, and so Ben has been left to teach her and she's left to…well…flounder a bit.
They spend a lot of time together.
Too much, really.
Sparring.
Eating meals together.
Sitting out on the beach and meditating, finding their place in the Force, feeling whatever this weird bond they have is.
They…
Well…
She doesn't know.
They're still shouting at each other when she becomes aware of the voices again. Chewie lets out a worried sounding roar, and then three people are crashing through the woods into the little clearing they're standing in.
"And another thing…" Rey is shouting at Ben. He's close, towering over her, His face is strangely blank, which she knows means he's hiding something. She's trying to delve into the bond, trying to sort out her feelings from his, when she hears Chewie roar again. "What?" she says, turning on him just as the native Earthlings break through the clearing.
As one, the three of them stop.
"Holy shit," one of them says. She recognizes him as the young, somewhat idealistic young man she'd heard before. The guy in the camp of that was not a bear.
There's a young woman with them, and she stutters out a couple unintelligible words as she stares at…not them. She doesn't seem to care about Rey and Ben, and Rey hears Ben curse next to her when he must realize the same thing she does.
They don't care about them. They might not dress like the people of this planet, but they're human.
It's Chewie. They're staring at Chewie.
"I told you it wasn't a bear," says the third man.
For a moment, Ben and Rey just stare at the other trio.
The other trio stare at Chewie.
"Ben," she whispers.
"On it."
As one, they move to reach to their belts and pull out their lightsabers. They don't know what these people will think about seeing a Wookiee, what they'll take back to the rest of the planet, but she doesn't want to find out. Her thumb hits the switch.
And nothing happens.
Ben does the same and then curses.
"What's happening?" Rey whispers.
"This planet is a natural Force dampener," Ben says by way of explanation.
"Kriff," Rey mutters.
One of the guys in the other group pulls out a weapon and points it at them. His look, so affable and awed a moment before, has turned hard, calculating. "I'm not afraid of your little sticks." He waves the weapon at them. "We've been hunting the Sasquatch for years. So we'll just take it off your hands, if you don't mind."
Ben snarls something incoherent and rushes at him. The guy turns the weapon on him, and she can see his finger massaging the trigger. She has no idea if there are safeties on these weapons, but if there is, she doesn't think he has it on. "Ben," she whispers, putting out a hand to stop him.
"Yeah, stop your boyfriend," the guy says. "Before he does something really stupid."
"Kevin," the woman of the group says. "We don't want to kill anyone."
"I will," he says, rather firmly. "If I have to, I will." His eyes flick over to the woman for just a moment before returning to Rey and Ben. "You know what this means, Carrie. We've been hunting this thing for years and I finally have proof. I'm not crazy."
"We get it," the other guy says. "But…"
"But nothing! It's coming with us. There's no bargain to be made here."
Rey steps forward then. "Chewie is not for sale," she says, holding her hands up. "And he won't be going with you."
"You named him?" the woman, Carrie, asks
"That is his name," Rey says, her eyebrows drawing low over her eyes.
"You named him Chewie?" Kevin asks.
The Wookiee in question roars, and Rey shrugs. "He says his real name is Chewbacca." Chewie roars something soft at her. "And he'd very much like for you to put that weapon down."
They're gaping at her.
"You can understand it?" Carrie looks genuinely curious.
Kevin looks irritated, weapon still pointed at them. "Of course they can't. They're bluffing. God, you're such idiots." He takes a step closer to Rey, and she tries to reach for the Force to push him back. It doesn't work. Of course it doesn't. But Ben steps in between them and grabs his arm.
She doesn't see the second man until his hand comes up, his own weapon coming down to hit Ben hard in the temple. He goes down far faster than she'd thought he would.
"We don't need to kill them," the other man snarls at Kevin.
The last thing Rey sees is the man's hand coming up. There's a searing pain in her temple and then nothing.
"Rey?"
She can hear the voice.
She can't see anything.
"Rey?" it says again and there's a feeling of something touching her shoulder.
"Mmmph…" She's pretty sure those were words she was trying to say.
"Rey, come on…kriff…Rey?" Something pushes more insistently at her shoulder. "Wake up. They took Chewie."
"Chewy?" she murmurs. "What's chewy? Brownies? I like those. Make me brownies." Her eyes still won't open. It's like something has glued them shut.
The hand on her shoulder goes to her face, touches her cheek lightly. It's a small caress. She likes the feeling of the large warm hand as it cups her face there, and she leans into the contact. "Mmmm…"
And then one of the person's fingers is on her eyelid and prying one eye open. She tries to pull away, with no luck. Her eye tries to focus. Everything above her is blurry…a pale face, dark hair.
She groans. "Ben?"
"Rey, oh thank the Force. Wake up. They've taken Chewie. I don't know where he is…" One of his hands reaches behind her shoulders and helps her to sit up. The room spins.
No.
The world spins,
They're in a forest.
It all comes rushing back…the crash landing, the men with their weapons. "Those people," she manages to get out. "They took Chewie?"
"They must have," Ben says. "He wouldn't have gone on his own."
"But why?"
He shrugs, and she's thankful that his face is starting to become more in focus. "They were going on about his being some sort of sasquatch. I don't know what that is, but they seemed to think it was really important. Or…amazing. Or something. I couldn't quite figure out all of their reactions."
"But one of them thought it was important enough to kill for," Rey realizes.
Ben nods. "Can you stand?"
"I…I'm not sure…"
"I could…help you?" he offers, and she feels something come down through the bond. It's muted, but even the Force dampening on the planet seems to not be able to break it completely. Worry, she realizes, embarrassment, fear that she'll reject his offer.
She doesn't.
She can't, really. "Okay," she finally says. It's not like they haven't touched before.
It's not like she hasn't wanted to touch him despite her trying to ignore all of that. They bicker like two toddlers trapped together, but their bond is there, the connection is there. It causes a jolt of electricity each time one of them so much as brushes up against the other. And now, with his arm around her, one hand holding hers as he helps to pull her to her feet, she feels that warmth flow through her.
This is right, says the Force.
This is good, it tells her. She sways a little bit toward him and she's not sure if it's because she's dizzy or because the Force wants her to be closer to him.
Or maybe because she wants to.
Think on that later, Rey…there's no time for this now.
"We have to find Chewie," she blurts out.
Ben is still close, arms still wrapped around her. "I think that goes without saying." The words are dry, but the ghost of his breath across her cheek makes her shiver. "Can you stand on your own?"
"I think so?" she ventures.
Ben releases her slowly. One arm coming off of her, steadying her as she sways just a little. She brings her arms out to the side as he releases her.
"I'm okay," she says.
He looks skeptical.
"I am," she reiterates, looking around her. The sun is lower in the sky than when they were knocked out. Rey has no idea just how long they were out for, has no idea how long the days on this planet last, but she knows that doesn't bode well.
"Alright," Ben says. "The first thing we need to do is determine the direction they went in." Rey starts to move, but he holds up a hand. "Don't…don't move. Look around you."
"For?"
"The path they took. There were three of them, plus Chewie. And Chewie is not small. They'll have crushed leaves or broken…"
"Or broken the tops off a bunch of plants?" Rey asks. Now she does move, and it's clear as day. Chewie was somehow managing every once in awhile to rip the top off one of the large stalk-like plants.
"Clever," Ben murmurs as he comes up behind her.
"Follow the path then?"
"Absolutely." Ben waves his hand in front of him. "Ladies first," he says with a grin.
"So ladies go into danger first?"
"Or the man draws up the rear and protects them."
"So either way we're screwed."
"Will you just get moving?"
She laughs then and she's thankful that Ben laughs with her. They don't get to do that much.
They'd come across what appeared to be a hiking path not long into their following Chewie's trail through the woods. After scouting in both directions, they found more plants with the tops ripped off, evidence of Chewie's path.
Rey doesn't know how they haven't noticed the deliberateness of it all, but she suspects they've rather severely underestimated their Wookiee friend.
Their walk is quiet, really almost peaceful if it weren't for the missing member of their party and the weapon they both remember being pointed at them. They walk in silence for what feels like hours. Rey watches the sun as it slowly moves down toward the planet.
She's gauged that they don't have much light left when Ben suddenly stops. "We need to find shelter."
"We can't leave him," Rey says.
"We have no choice at the moment," Ben fires back with. "We'll lose his trail overnight."
"But…"
"Rey," he says as he rounds on her, reaching out to grip her by both upper arms. His watches her for a moment, eyes hard. And then they soften. "I know you're worried about him."
"You're not?" She searches his eyes. He grew up with Chewie, or so she's been told. He's like an uncle to him, perhaps more a father figure than his own father. It takes her a moment, but she sees the glimmer somewhere in his eyes. Her shoulders relax. "You are."
He doesn't respond.
Of course he doesn't.
But they agree to look for someplace they can set up camp for the night. It may be one of the first things they've ever agreed on.
She wakes sometime in the middle of the night, the fire they had lit now nothing more than embers. It's a little chilly in the forest, and it takes her a moment, but she remembers laying down close enough to Ben that they could use his cloak for warmth. But not too close. They had kept a separation between them and after a long look, Ben had rolled over so he was facing away from her. It's safer this way, he had mumbled. She had lain awake for a long time after that, watching the fire dance until her eyes watered.
She doesn't remember falling asleep. And she's not sure what wakes her up exactly. She's warm, despite the lack of a fire, and it takes her a moment to realize that sometime during the night they had shifted positions. Ben's body is separated from hers by mere millimeters, but his arm is draped over her, a warm heavy weight holding her in place.
When she shifts, the arm tightens and pulls her back against him. She stiffens for a moment, but then goes pliant. She likes the feel of him there, spooning her. He's in her heard. He's a part of her, but she's managed to keep them separate somehow.
They go on missions.
They spar.
They fight together.
She sees Ben watching her sometimes with a look she's not sure she's quite ready to face, his lips parted and his eyes wide. He often looks like he wants to say something, but she always pushes him away just before he can get the words out.
She doesn't want to know what he's going to say.
And yet she does.
"Rey?" he whispers, and she feels his breath ghost across the back of her neck. When she doesn't respond, he repeats her name. "I know you're awake."
"I am," she confirms.
"You can't escape from me now," he murmurs.
"Ben…" She starts to shift.
"Why do you run?" His voice sounds strangely needy. "Every time…you run."
"I don't…"
"You do. Even now you're trying to get away from me." His arms tighten around her. "Rey, please…"
His whispered plea breaks her and she turns over to face him. From this close, she can't really see his eyes. They're just dark blurred pools in the leftover light from the fire. She whispers his name and is not surprised at all when his head dips and his lips touch hers.
Briefly.
So brief.
The kiss is almost over before it begins, and she finds herself strangely craving more. She almost moves back into it, but he pulls back.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you, Rey."
"You…" she starts to say. "You're attracted to me."
He laughs and oh, does she wish she could see his smile. "It's more than that." He kisses her again and this time it's deeper. Still soft, still slow. "So much more," he whispers one more time against her lips before tucking her face into his shoulder.
"Ben…I…"
"It's okay," he interrupts with. " You don't have to say it. I know."
She falls asleep with his lips in her hair and the feeling of safety enveloping her. She's safe there, in his arms. No matter what happens, she's safe.
They're woken up around dawn again by the sound of heavy footsteps and an angry roar. Ben is up on his feet in seconds. He reaches for his lightsaber before cursing. They're unarmed, lightsabers useless and their ability to access the Force muted. Their bond is strong enough to get through, but anything else is unlikely.
Rey is up alongside him and facing whatever threat is upon them.
But then – "Chewie!" she shouts.
The creature roars.
Rey turns to Ben and there's a furrow between his brows. She looks back at the creature. "No. Not Chewie," she murmurs.
It roars again, and this time she realizes she recognizes the language. Shyriiwook. The creature is a Wookiee.
A Wookiee who is not Chewbacca. A bit smaller than their friend, with darker fur and dark eyes. Rey doesn't know how she missed that.
There's another roar. "Your name is Siahbaaamesh?" Ben asks. "Can we call you Siah?"
She makes a soft query.
"Yes, we can understand you," Rey answers. "Both of us. I'm Rey," she offers up. Siah nods at her. "This is Ben."
"How did you end up here?" Ben asks.
There's a haunted look on the Wookiee's face. Her story is not so dissimilar than theirs, really. She and her companion had crashed on earth. He'd been killed in the crash and she'd been injured. Humans had stumbled across her as she buried her mate under the tree near where they'd landed. She'd gone on the run.
They'd…wanted her…wanted to take her, talked of experiments and finding out just what she was.
It had been four Earth years since they'd landed there, their ship not repairable. And she'd been hiding in the woods ever since, a hunted, haunted thing. All alone in an alien world that wants to take her apart and see how she works.
"You're the Sasquatch," Rey finally surmises. Siah cocks her head to the side and gives a soft growl. "Bigfoot? Well, I suppose that makes sense considering…"
"Those people," Ben interrupts her with and she shoots him a look. "The ones that have been…hunting?...you. They've taken our friend."
Siah's eyes narrow and she lets out a soft, worried sounding growl.
"Yes," Rey says in answer to her growl. "His name is Chewbacca. We need to get him back."
Siah looks from one to the other and growls something at them.
"We'll be leaving the planet as soon as we can fix our ship," Ben says.
Another soft growl.
"Yes," Rey says. There's no hesitation, no worry. "If you want to join us, absolutely."
She does. Of course she does. This is her chance to get off the planet, to go home. She may have lost her mate, but she has family on Kashyyyk, others she knows and loves. Others, Rey has no doubt, who have been mourning their loss all these years.
Family, Rey realizes. Family who want her back. She has to push back the tears at that thought. No one ever came for her. No one cared. But Siah has others who care about her, and she can only imagine the joyous reunion they'll have once she's safely back on Kashyyyk.
Siah motions for them to follow her and the three slip off into the woods.
Siah knew right where she was going, running the woods like she'd been there her whole life. She tells them, in soft tones, how she's managed to avoid these groups of people. These ones, she says, are the worst. They come every couple weeks, with their weapons and their loud voices and then chase her through the woods until it's dark and they get tired and go home. Siah is smarter and bigger and faster than they are. They're stupid, she tells them. Stupid and loud and easy to avoid. I will tear them limb from limb when we catch them.
But there are words she's not adding in there. She's been on the run so long that she barely knows how not to be. She's tired. Tired and snappish and Rey points out that maybe removing these people's limbs is not a good idea. But we're leaving, Siah points out, and Rey finds she can't really argue with her on that.
They hear the group before they see them. The argument over just what to do with Chewie is intense. The guy who held the weapon to their heads if arguing for a YouTube video before they do anythingelse. He wants his 15 minutes of fame as the guy who finally found the Sasquatch.
The guy who knocked them out wants to turn Chewie over to the government. But not before they ask for enough money to set themselves up for life. "Surely the government will pay for this thing."
Siah growls.
"What was that?" the woman with the group says. Then – "I told you this was a bad idea. What if there are more of them?"
She sounds terrified.
We can use that, Ben's voice comes in her head. Her eyes meet his and she nods. They can, absolutely. He knows it. She knows it.
"Siah," he says to their new Wookiee companion. "Do you have a weapon."
Siah mutters something and waves at Ben's belt.
"They don't work here," he says.
She growls something again and this Rey doesn't understand. She's pretty sure it might be a Shyriiwook curse. It comes through her mind with the same garbled sound that others hear when Wookiees speak. With a sigh, Siah produces a small knife and hands it to Ben,
He turns it over his hand a few times, tests the blade against the tip of his finger, and then nods. "It'll do." He takes a few steps toward where they can hear the voices. Rey follows close behind with Siah just behind her. The trio of Sasquatch hunters are standing at the juncture of two paths, with two of them shouting and gesturing toward one while the other, the guy with the weapon, is moving slowly toward the other.
He still has his weapon trained on Chewie.
Chewie looks well, at least. Pissed. And the fact that he hasn't torn them limb from limb says a lot. They've managed to tie his hands together with some sort of cuff, and she watches as he pulls at them once in awhile with a soft growl.
"Sure wish your buddies were here to tell us what you're saying," he mutters.
Chewie throws up his arms and the guy jumps back, weapon at the ready.
"Follow my lead," Ben says.
Rey doesn't have time to even contemplate what he means before he's rushing forward. He moves swiftly when he wants, crashing through the branches. The guy with the weapon barely has time to look before Ben is on him. The man is unarmed in moments, the weapon kicked away. Get it, comes his voice in her head.
Rey dives on it, pulling the weapon up and holding it out toward the others. She has no idea how to wield it, but she suspects it's not so different from a blaster and so her finger hovers over what appears to be the trigger.
And then everything goes to hell.
The other two people rush Ben.
Siah comes flying out of the bushes, screaming something completely incoherent, even to Rey with her understanding of Shyriiwook.
"There are two!" the guy that Ben's holding, Kevin if she remembers right, shouts.
The other two draw up short for a moment. But then Siah roars again, and Chewie joins in. He sounds almost gleeful over it.
"You will release my friend," Ben says, the knife point digging into Kevin's neck a little.
"Never. He's mine."
Ben digs in a little further.
Chewie roars something at Rey and so Rey rushes at Kevin, her hand delving into his pocket before he even has a chance to protest.
"What the kriff, Rey?" Ben says, and she's almost sure there's…jealousy…there. She's going to have to unpack that one later. She's been suspecting there's something there with Ben lately. The way he always seems to be watching her, how he ends up on the same teams as her. His father mysteriously deciding he'd had enough of traveling and suggesting Ben take his place on this mission? It's all so been so suspicious, but she hasn't wanted to delve into it. Until last night…Did he really kiss me? Did I really kiss him back?
"Keys," she says, holding them up before reaching for Chewie and undoing the cuffs binding his hands together. He takes a moment to shake them out and then he's grabbing one of the other men, roaring something in his face.
"Wh…what was that?" the guy says.
Ben shrugs. "He says he's going to rip you limb from limb for this."
The man blanches, takes a step back. "That…um…that seems a bit extreme?"
Ben shrugs again. "You did keep him hostage. Wookiees don't take so kindly to such things."
"Wookiees?"
"Did you think they were really called…what did you call him?..a sasquatch?" Ben shakes his head with a little snort of derision.
"Bigfoot," Rey adds in with a little bit of a laugh.
Only the woman is by herself at the moment, and she looks like she's about to hoof it right out of their little clearing. She's not stupid, Rey realizes. She can see the way she looks from Siah to Chewie, then to her and Ben, before inching her way back and away from them.
Rey keeps her hand on the weapon she's found herself with and then waits until Siah catches her eyes. When she does, she nods toward the woman and is relieved to see that Siah catches on right away, rushing across the clearing to grab the woman by the arms.
"Please don't kill me!" she shouts, practically collapsing at Siah's feet. Only the Wookiee's strong hands keep her upright.
Siah roars something.
Rey laughs.
"What?" the woman asks. "What did it say? I can't understand."
Ben shrugs. "It's of no matter. You've lost," he points out. His knife is still at Kevin's throat and there's a feral gleam in his eyes. Rey is pretty sure that he would kill the man if given half a chance. But he meets Rey's eyes, and sighs.
His hand comes up and he hits the guy hard in the temple with his fist. Kevin goes down like a sack of potatoes, the knife grazing his neck and leaving a little trail of blood as he falls.
"Oops," Ben says.
"You killed him!" the other man shouts.
"Hardly," Ben responds with, wiping the knife on his pants. "If I had killed him, he'd be in pieces."
"Ben," Rey hisses. There are times these days that she forgets just how intimidating he is, days she forgets who he was. He's not that darksider, anymore, but there are times…
He shrugs. "He'll be fine when he wakes up."
Chewie roars something and the other man joins his friend on the ground.
"Yes," Rey says. "I know you didn't rip off his arms…yes, I'm proud of your restraint."
That seems to be the moment Chewie really notices their new Wookiee friend. He exclaims something in Shyriiwook that Rey doesn't quite catch, and then he's rushing at her. The two giant furred creatures stare at each other before breaking into a flurry of growls and roars. They're chattering away in Shyriiwook, the words going by so fast that Rey can't quite figure out everything they're saying.
She hears Siah's story, something about where they're both from, how Chewie has come to be traveling with these humans. And then Chewie claps her on the shoulder. She does the same to him, and Rey finds herself tearing up a bit.
Chewie doesn't get to meet his own kind very often.
There's something touching about seeing them together.
Chewie, so long separated from those of his own kind.
Siah, knowing she's going home at last.
An arm comes around her and pulls her in close as she watches them, and she turns to look up at Ben. There's a soft look on his face, his lips curled up just slightly at the edges. She doesn't see him smile often, and for a moment she forgets to breathe.
"Come on then," Rey says. "We have a ship to fix."
Chewie growls his agreement quietly.
Siah nods and the two Wookiees walk off together.
Ben and Rey follow a little more slowly. She starts to move away from him as they walk off, but he winds his arm even tighter around her, keeping her close. She stops for a moment and looks up at him.
We have a lot to talk about, she thinks.
He's watching her with an intensity that makes her shiver a little. She's sure her thoughts must have broadcast loud and clear to him. Their bond continues to grow, and the more time she spends with him, the more drawn to him she is, the clearer it all seems to her.
"We do," he says quietly. "After we get off this Force-forsaken planet." The last is mumbled and she finds she loves this little bit of grumpiness from him. It's so…human.
"Agreed," she says.
They move off together, rushing to catch up with their Wookiee friends.
"Do you think it will fly?" Ben asks. He's sitting behind Rey, who's taken the co-pilot's seat next to Chewie. She always offers Ben the spot, but he shakes his head. He knows how much she loves flying the Falcon, and she supposes it should mean something that he lets her take that spot.
"Fire her up, Chewie," Rey says.
He doesn't say anything, just flips a few levers, hits a few buttons, and…
They all hold their breath.
It comes online.
"It'll fly," Rey says, with a sigh of relief.
"Punch it, Chewie," Ben says.
He does, and as the ship lifts off, Ben's hand, warm and solid, comes to rest on her shoulder. She twists and looks back at him.
He smiles at her.
Her stomach does that little flip again.
And then they're off, heading first for Kashyyk to reunite Siah with her people, before heading home.