hear my plea (and come save my life)

chapter i

Rey shocks awake.

There's nothing left of the dream that woke her.

Except—

There it is again. Energy radiating in the center of her being. Something calling to her, as natural as the Force, echoing inside of her. Again .

It was happening more frequently now, almost every night, and therefore getting harder to ignore. It had been easier when it started almost four months again. When it had only happened once or twice and she was busy with the Resistance flushing out the dregs of the First Order and trying to figure out how she was even meant to keep the legacy of the Jedi alive. But now…

Rey frowned, looking out the small window beside her cot at the sunrise peeking over the jungles of Yavin 4.

Trust the Force , she hears a voice from one of the countless Jedi that try to guide from the afterlife.

Easy for it to say. It had been difficult to trust much of anything since—

Rey shook her head. Breakfast. Breakfast was what she needed.

After a ration pack and a strong cup of caf that makes her grimace, Rey feels clear headed enough to begin her day.

After a delay caused by BB-8 and D-0 and a suspicious loose wire, she sets about finding Finn. And she does. Glaring furiously at rocks.

"I'm sure I'm doing this wrong."

She smiles at the mulish quality in her friend's voice. "You're not. You managed the pebbles fine, remember? Stop trying so hard."

He stops glowering at the rocks to give her a sardonic look. "Stop trying to lift the rocks to lift the rocks?"

Rey shrugs, "That's the Force for you."

She settles across from Finn, crossing her legs, shutting her eyes, andpo allowing the Force to lift her into the air.

"Show off."

She bites back a grin at Finn's grumbling. She lets the Force surround her, the life of the jungle singing to her senses, and begins to meditate.

Find me, a voice whispers.

A light at the corner of her consciousness bleeds out. She sees the far Western Reaches of the universe and past them a flash of stars in a twisting nebula of red and violet. Two moons to the side of an emerald planet.

Find me, the voice repeats.

Wide open fields, dotted with creme and pink flora. Sunlight shimmering off water. A hand, wide and strong, wrapped around her own.

Find me. It is time.

"Rey! REY!"

Shocked by Finn's panicked voice, her eyes pop open. There's a sheen of sweat over her skin and even with the great heaving breaths she is taking, she can not manage to catch her breath. She drops back down to the ground. Rey realizes that in her meditation she has lifted a boulder, one twice her size and she lets it fall, it's weight shaking the earth.

Finn looks between the boulder and her. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't understand, what is calling you? And why do you need to go try to find a random voice? Rey? Talk to me!"

Finn's tone is enough to make her pause in loading the Falcon.

"I don't know Finn. That's why I have to go. Something is out there and it needs me. What if someone is hurting and I could help? I have to know."

"Fine." Finn's mouth twists as if tasting something unpleasant. "Then I'm coming with you."

She shakes her head. "No. Poe and Rose need you here. Plus, we don't know when Jannah will be back with Lando. You're needed here."

He looks ready to argue but she is quick to cut him off.

"I'll be fine." Rey gives him her most ernest smile. "I promise."

Finn gave a sigh before reaching out to hug her. "Radio every day to check in okay?"

She nods against his shoulder. "I will."

If convincing Finn was difficult, telling BB-8 took twice as long. The droid was eager to accompany her but she knew Poe wouldn't want to separate from the unit when she isn't sure how long the mission will take. But now, in the silence of hyperspace, she wishes for the comforting beeps and chirps of her small friend.

The quiet is always the worst with the way it makes the torn edges of the Bond she had shared with Ben impossible to ignore, the hollowness that threatens to eat away at her. It was Palpatine who ripped the bond from them and that, after Ben's death, still stands empty in a way that threatening never to be filled.

It also makes her think of Tatooine, of the month she spent there. The silence of the sands, waking from nightmares of Ben's lifeless form with sobs in her throat. She had remembered the sweetness of his smile, the softness of his lips, and the way he's tasted of sweat and dirt and the Force. She had relived the moment, the breathtaking moment when she'd awoken in Ben's arms and thought finally until it had threatened to break her.

So she had buried it, same as the lightsabers, in the sand and tried to move on. But it's moments like these where she is alone that she wonders, had she managed that at all?

It takes time to locate the planet from her vision in the archives, and longer yet to get there. It was past the Western Reaches almost in the Outer Rim with only the label of PT-364. Rey wonders what the locals call it.

When she hits atmosphere she is struck by the strength of the Force here. It lays heavily on this planet. Not so much as Ahch-To, but still. Was that why she was called here?

She doesn't spot any cities or large outposts as she flies over. Unsure of where to begin, she casts a net looking for life signatures. The planet isn't heavily populated, she feels a couple of larger groupings of individuals (settlements or towns, perhaps?) but mostly there are small dotting of people spread out.

As Rey focuses, she is able to pick up an energy. It's stronger than the rest, the Force wrapped around it. She follows it like a beacon until it leads her to a vast forest. Setting the Falcon down in a meadow, as close as she can get to the forest, Rey wishes in vain she had brought along a speeder bike. But as she grabs her pack and lightsaber, she can't feel too disappointed by the notion of a hike through the woods. Being surrounded by lush, living things is an experience that never stops filling her with wonder.

The trees are tall and wide with silvery bark while the forest floor is covered in ferns and moss in ranging shades of blues and greens. Beams of pale sunlight shone through the branches of the trees and Rey takes in the loveliness of it all.

Seeking out the Force signature, she winds her way through the woods. She wonders at the energy, why it calls to her, what it wants. Could it be a place, an artifact, a person? A child?

Leia had told her the way the Jedi council of the old Republic had taken Force sensitive children from their homes as young as possible as to properly train them. Rey isn't sure if, or how she is going to carry on the legacy of the Jedi but she knows she will never separate children from their families.

She isn't sure of the cycles of this planet but she guesses to must be about mid-day as she stops to rest and grab a jogan fruit from her pack. She's been walking for close to two standard hours and Rey could feel the energy stronger now. It pulsed within her body.

Find me. Find me. Find me.

Anticipation had flooded her system and with it an edge of anxiety. What would she find?

After finishing her fruit, she stood and wiped her fingers off on her pants. Rey pushed aside her apprehensions. There wasn't any turning back now, there was only ahead.

It wasn't long after that she came upon a homestead, a stone hut with a lean-to barn and wide garden off to one side. Curious, she looked around. The energy seemed to be coming from around here.

"Well I haven't seen one of those in nearly 80 years." A gruff voice says in standard.

Rey starts and turns to the voice. A humanoid male, older, with a wide barrel chest and deep purple skin has come around the side of the barn, holding a hoe in one hand. With his free hand, he points down at the lightsaber attached to her belt. "What's a Jedi doing in these parts?"

"I'm Rey." She starts, giving him a polite smile. "How do you know about the Jedi?"

"In 300 years you learn a thing or two. So what brings you here?"

"It may seem odd…"

"In my experience Jedi usually are."

Rey wonders if she should feel annoyed by the comment but since she silently agrees, she lets it slide. "I was following a Force signature, like an energy, and it led me here. Do you know of anything that might explain why?"

Instead of the confusion Rey expected, the man seems to almost instantly understands. "Ah, well…"

A rustling comes from behind her and the man peeks around Rey to say. "Yeled, there you are. I see you got the firewood."

There it was, the energy, stronger than ever before and prickling at all of her senses. It must be this individual, this Yeled. But along with the energy, the leftover edges of the bond she had shared with Ben warms. It feels like a faint echo of what it was like before.

Rey turns and freezes. Then, just like before, everything else seems to fall away until it is only him. Just him .

There, standing mere yards from her, is Ben Solo, wearing a light colored tunic and looking as if it was an everyday occurrence to show up over a year after your death holding an armful of firewood.

"Ben?" She hears herself whisper. Everything feels unreal, reality soft and dreamlike around her. There no way. How could this be?

She doesn't even realize she has moved until she's in front of him. He looks solid and brimming with life, his dark hair curling over his ears and the moles on his face forming constellations that she aches to trace.

"Ben." She repeats.

His dark eyes are resting on her in something akin to a wonder that she's sure is reflected in her own. Rey raises her hand, reaching out to touch his cheek, no longer scarred from their lightsaber battle years before.

Her fingers are almost touching him, she can feel the warmth radiating off his skin, when his voice, as deep and lovely as she remembers, stops her and shatters her world anew.

"Who are you?"

Notes: I'm honestly still processing TROS but the one thing I am sure of is that I have loved these two dums since 2015 and I will give them the happy ending they deserve.❤️❤️