Summary: He pleaded to the stars but his whispers reached no ears but his own, the echoing of his cries the only witness to his pain. But they were a dyad in the Force, the power of life itself, so one was never meant to live without the other.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any characters affiliated with it.
Cover art by elithien.

"No later light has lightened up my heaven,
No second morn has ever shone for me;
All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee."

Remembrance, Emily Brontë

Remembrance
Chapter One

Rey could feel the stars above, the Force of the thousands of Jedi's that lived before her lifting her up to the unknown, as she used the last of her life to destroy the vile creature that had inflicted pain upon the galaxy throughout generations. Opening her eyes, she saw the fear growing in Palpatine's eyes as the sabers in her hands hummed with power – never had she felt more powerful than at this moment. His screaming rang in her ears as his own power betrayed him, lightning flying all around them.

And with one last push, with one last stand, the Sith's tyrannical reign was no more.

His body fell before her in a smoking heap as she herself felt the power she held within flicker, until it suddenly rushed out of her in a way that left her gasping for air. She staggered a few steps back from the force of it, the sound of the lightsabers falling from her hands echoing across the collapsing chamber. There was a ringing in her ears as her vision began blurring, her body feeling weak – weaker than she had ever felt before in her life, as she fell to one knee. Whatever strength she possessed mere moments ago was nonexistent as her body started to fail, the Force no longer aiding her.

It's time, she tearfully thought, her legs and arms growing numb.

Rey knew that if she tried to hold on, that there may have been a slight chance for her to recover from this battle, to continue her journey, but as soon as the thought appeared, she dismissed it; this time, she knew that she was done. There was just...no more fight left in her to continue on. Her friends were safe, the Resistance lived, the Sith were dead. Whatever connection she had with Ben was severed – empty – the Force no longer responding to it, leading her to believe that the fall had killed her other half. With Ben gone and her role in the Galaxy fulfilled, a heavy coldness grew in her chest that she knew belonged to death. Death was an unwelcome friend of hers, following her every step as it haunted even her dreams.

Today, she would not welcome its embrace with open arms like she once believed she would; but she understood that what she had done here, that her final stand was a choice with dire consequences that no other would have survived as well. So she would go not angry but...sad. Perhaps with more time and strength, she could have saved Ben earlier. Maybe she could have even told him things she always wanted to, but never could because of the war that waged between them.

So with one last look at the crumbling Sith throne, she fell to her other knee, only to collapse forward onto the cold stone, no longer possessing any strength to catch herself; and as she took her final breath, her last thoughts were of the man who came to save her, of the man that would forever have a hold on her like no other, a bond that transcended even the Force. Palpatine had been wrong – she did have a family; she wasn't alone.

And so Rey fell as Ben rose.

As her spirit passed into the Force, Ben climbed like he never did before. He felt the very moment she died and it nearly cost him his own life – he lost his grip on the rocks from the pit he had been thrown into, as a sudden emptiness that wasn't there before flooded his mind and soul. It was inhumane the way this loneliness felt, and instinctively he knew that this darkness meant that Rey was...gone – but it couldn't have been real – no, he thought as he pushed himself up, she couldn't be dead.

Finally, what had felt like hours but only mere minutes, a hand shot up from the hole. He heaved himself onto the stone, crawling out from the depths of Exegol. There was no break for him as he staggered forward, his attention going straight to the unmoving body amongst the rubble, unable to turn his eyes away. Pain laced his every step as he dragged his broken leg, and he fell more than once, barely catching himself, but nothing mattered to him more than being at her side.

Unbeknownst to him, though, his very existence kept her tethered to life through their bond. So with every step he took, with every fall to the ground, he reached for her, for Rey. He called to the stars, to any who would listen for the woman he loved because she couldn't leave him, not when there was so much he wanted – no, needed – to say, because she was the only person who had and ever would understand who he was.

Why he was.

The sheer exhaustion that racked his body and the pain from his leg was no comparison to the pain he felt now, the emptiness of the Force bond breaking his very soul. This emptiness; he had never experienced anything like it before and to know that life without Rey was this?

It was torturous loneliness like no other.

When Ben finally reached her moments later, he fell to the ground as the only thing going through his mind was her. He checked for a pulse, for anything, but the eyes that once looked at him with light, with anger, with deeper emotions that he had wanted to explore more of with her were nonexistent. Instead, the spark of life in her eyes that had drawn him in and brought him back to life, from the brink of complete and utter self-destruction, was replaced with a cold and blank lifeless stare that nearly stopped his own heart.

Ben felt a sob grow in his chest but held it back as he maneuvered Rey's body into his lap, gently holding her. He threw his head around, hoping – praying – that there would be someone that could help them. Holding her against his chest, where there should have been a heartbeat against his own, there was none, only an unmoving chest with no sign of life whatsoever.

Please, he pleaded to the stars, but his whispers reached no ears but his own, the echoing of his cries the only witness to his pain.

Ben looked down, back into her death glazed eyes, as the realization of what he knew he needed to do settled heavily into his chest. For her, he would do anything – just as he had promised her months ago, he would give her the universe if she had taken his hand. And...and today, she did, as they fought Palpatine together.

For the only woman who would ever hold his heart, he would gladly give his own to save her.

He allowed himself a second of selfishness with the tight embrace he gave her, rocking her in his arms, as he begged for her to forgive him for the decision he was about to make. Then pulling back, he sat up straight and closed his eyes, placing a hand on her stomach while reaching for the Force within – he was already so drained from this fight, and he knew that to bring her back, he would have to give everything. He forced himself to feel in a way he hadn't in so long, to reach out to the Force and the Light to heal, to call out to Rey's spirit to bring her back to him.

They were a dyad in the Force, the power of life itself. One was never meant to live without the other, and with all the power Ben held, he unknowingly restored a balance to the Force that hadn't been seen in millenniums.

He was aware of the very moment Rey came back before she even took her first breath – the bond that had fallen silent between them came alive, flourishing under the power that once connected him to her. With a jolt of life and a gasp of air, she painfully grabbed his hand, centering her back to life.

At this, Ben's eyes flew open, melting into the warm brown eyes that greeted him. She looked at him with confusion at first, but it quickly went away as she smiled, gazing at him in a way that made his slowing heart beat a little stronger, helping him stay a little longer to be with her.

Rey slowly pulled herself up in his lap, bringing her closer to him, when he came to the realization that what he felt for her wasn't just love; it was something so much more, so much deeper. With her, he felt whole, his soul no longer at war with itself.

With her, he felt true unadulterated happiness.

"Ben."

His name on her lips, the light in her eyes – if only he had more time.

Rey gently placed a hand against his face, staring deeply into his soul, before closing the distance between them with a kiss. It wasn't thought out, she hadn't planned on doing it, but some part of her yearned for the connection that only she could have with him. She kissed him hard, never wanting to let go. Seconds ticked by before they did break apart, as they looked at each other with an intensity like no other, she continued to tenderly touch the side of his face because she wanted to just feel him, because she thought he had been dead and–

She just...never believed she would be where she was now, with him.

Ben looked back at her, cradling her face, as he felt more alive than ever. Here, with her in his arms...there were no words to describe how he felt. It was love, happiness, contentment; it was just pure joy knowing that she chose to be with him, even if he could not stay. But his body felt weak, his spirit faint, signaling to him that his time was up. There was so much he had wanted to say but did not have the time to.

So instead, he opted for a smile, his first in such a long time, and hoped that it conveyed all of which he wished he could have said.

Because Ben started falling, and Rey began screaming.

Rey could only watch as one second, he was with her here, smiling, warm and strong and alive, and the next, his eyes fluttering as he fell backward, a numbing echo replacing the life in their bond. She could only scream his name as she tried to catch him, but she had no strength in her to carry his weight. She softened their impact to the ground as much as possible and proceeded to grab his shoulders when she saw the edges of his body begin to flicker.

And the moment she felt his spirit beginning to slip away into the Force was when her mind went blank.

Rey didn't know what she did nor how, but with all the power within her and the voices of the Force, she pulled. She pulled and pulled and pulled on that tether that connected them to each other, keeping the man she loved here with her in her arms. They were a bond – a dyad bond, stronger than life – and without one, there could be no other. She screamed and cried, she felt the ghosts of the past all around her: they were spirits of the familiar and unfamiliar surrounding her.

Rey turned to them and begged.

Out of anyone, he deserved redemption for his past actions. Here, today, the decisions he made alone proved that he was not what everyone had believed him to be. She had been right. Ben deserved a future, a life beyond the prison that the darkness had shackled him too.

The spirits saw...and they listened. Out of the many gifts they had given today, they had one last one to give.

Life.

Life for the man who had brought Rey back from the dead at the cost of his own, and life for the two people who deserved nothing less than a happy future with one another.

They poured power into her and Rey let herself be a conduit as the Force flowed through her and into Ben. Seconds passed when she felt the surge of the power dwindle, and like earlier, it suddenly rushed out of her, leaving her to gasp for air. Then, a sudden wave of weakness slammed down onto her with no warning, leaving her with no choice but to fall onto Ben's unmoving body, still devoid of life.

Did she fail? Was it not enough?

Was he truly gone?

She remained where she was on his chest, weakly cradling his face in her hands as she felt herself begin to fall under the darkness of unconsciousness, tears streaming down her face. Her body screamed in agony, from both the mental and physical strain that was placed upon her today, but she found that she didn't have it in her to care. Without him, a part of her would always be missing.

Unconsciousness called to her and she unwillingly felt herself fall under its spell, but the final thing Rey witnessed before passing out?

A single heartbeat from beneath and two dark, familiar brown eyes meeting her own, her name ringing in her ears.

01: End

A/N: Am I happy that Reylo is canon? Hell yeah, I am, because this fandom has given Reylo shippers so much shit from the beginning.

Am I upset that Ben is dead? Hell fucking yeah I am, and for now, fuck you J.J. Abrams and Disney. We all know that there were reshoots and that Ben was most likely NOT supposed to die. He should have been with Rey at the end, goddamnit.

Anyways, the next chapter will be up soon so stay notified by following!