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 Five
At Ben's question, Temiri was taken aback; he looked so shocked and felt as if he were dreaming. There was no way, he thought, that they wanted to take him in.
There definitely was a catch.
"What's the catch?" he demanded, a childish determination that Rey found herself amused by.
"There's no catch," Ben answered. "We're just asking if you'd like to come with us."
Temiri's lips thinned as his eyes flew from Ben's face to Rey's as his arms wrapped around himself. "People who ask that take kids, and we never see them again."
"But could they do what we can?" Rey countered. "I promise, Temiri, we're not those people." She kneeled down next to Ben, matching her height with the child. "I know how it's like out here, being alone for as long as you can remember. I grew up on Jakku, raised to be a scavenger – it was all I had known. Told to trust no one but yourself, wondering where your next meal was going to come from. But I didn't listen and became friends with people who were able to show me more of the galaxy – of life. So don't be afraid, I promise we won't hurt you."
"I…" He seemed unsure but looking back up to them, he stayed quiet for a minute before nodding his head. "Okay."
"I–Wait, really?" Rey, for some odd reason, was taken aback. She had been preparing herself to argue for a chance, to somehow prove that they were here to help, and wasn't expecting a quick yes.
"Yeah."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Are you–"
"Rey, stop before you change the poor kid's mind," Ben said amusingly, placing a hand on her shoulder. He stood up, Rey following suit, and looked at Temiri. Temiri seemed uncomfortable but somewhat hopeful – a brightness in his eyes that Rey swore was not there five minutes ago.
"But before we go, can we do something?"
"Of course."
"Can you help my friends? Most of us were taken from our homes and families, and while we don't remember them anymore, I know that we deserve more than...this," he said, motioning to the entire stable. "Please."
"We'll do what we can."
Upholding her promise, Ben stayed back while Rey returned to the ship, calling for her friends. Once she connected with Finn, she explained her situation and of the kids, and he was more than willing to help. Children being taken from families was a sore topic for Finn, and if it was up to him he'd help all the children in the Galaxy if he could, to ensure that what happened to him and the other stormtroopers would never happen again. That dream may have been unrealistic, but helping these kids here find homes and have a safe life, this was something that could do. So he promised to send aid and a delegation to Canto Bight as soon as he could, his own experiences at the city also fueling his quick decision.
Thankful, Rey said her goodbyes and began her walk back to the stables when she tripped on her dress. She reached out, preparing to catch herself when she was suddenly thrust into a vision.
She fell onto sand. Throwing her head up, there were two suns setting, the sunset tinging the sky into a mirage of orange, red, and yellow. In her hands was a single lightsaber, one she had never seen before, and she watched as she turned it on. Two soft yellow beams shot out, one from the top and another from the bottom, and at the two voices that called out to her from behind, she suddenly felt so warm – so full of love, of life.
"Rey!"
Then suddenly, hands were on her shoulders, bringing her out of the vision as she was being pulled up from the ground. No longer was the sky in the colors of a sunset and instead of the warmth of the setting sun, the coldness of stars and the moon shined down on her. Her eyes shot open and looking at her worryingly was a familiar pair creased with worry.
"Rey, what's wrong?" Ben asked, also looking around to see if there had been some attacker. "What happened?"
Once she got her bearings, Rey groaned and looked to her burning hands, cursing. They were all scratched up, little beads of blood bleeding through the thin layer of dirt. It was nothing serious, just a pain to deal with. "I just tripped, that's all," she reassured, despite sensing an oncoming headache. "I had a vision of some sort– I don't know, I have to think about it."
"Are you sure?" Ben asked, helping her stay up as she swayed on her feet, her headache aggressively thumping in her skull.
"Yeah." Smiling, she gave the good news. "Onto good things! Finn said he'd send a group for your friends, Temiri." She then turned to him, who was watching the buildings all around them in awe. He wasn't quite listening to what she was saying but he smiled at what she said. However, she suddenly frowned when she realized something. "We...we were so adamant about asking if you wanted to come with us that I forgot to ask about your parents," she said. Although she had an inkling that they weren't around, she still felt like it was something that needed to be asked.
"They…" Temiri's face fell as he clutched the bag he held in his hands tighter. "They died five years ago. I was four."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
Inhaling deeply, he shook his head. "It's okay."
It wasn't okay, but she knew that this conversation would end here. There was no point in going further into painful histories, especially when it was relating to a death. He wasn't ready and forcing someone to talk about it, especially to someone you didn't know, would have been traumatizing to an adult, let alone a child.
So, in lieu of the sad conversation, Rey unexpectedly linked her arm with Ben's with a wide smile. He made a grunt of surprise – something he was doing quite frequently as of late – and allowed himself to be led back to the ship, which happened to be only a few minutes away. "Time for an adventure, wouldn't you say?"
0O0
In the beginning, living with a child was rough.
For Rey, it was the fact that she didn't really know what she was doing. She had asked her friends for advice but whatever answer they gave, it was something she already tried or knew. She was, for a lack of a better word, way over her head. And another problem presented itself as time went on. A problem which was quite trivial, she knew, but it was still one nonetheless.
The issue?
The bed.
It wasn't like there wasn't enough room for Temiri; there definitely was. It was more that they had to rearrange the rooms – Rey had given Temiri hers, the largest on the ship, which she had no problems with. Hell, she believed that the kid deserved it. The problem that surfaced was that she found herself during late late nights either in the cockpit or engine room, she would drag her feet to her old room by instinct, forgetting in her half-asleep mind that it was no longer hers. Then she'd find herself practically crawling all the way to the other side of the ship to her new room.
But the solution to this problem was a quick and simple fix.
You see, Ben's room was much closer to Temiri's – it was right next to it, in fact – than her new one, and one night, Rey happened to have said, fuck it. After standing in front of Temiri's door, she walked only a foot away from her old room and knocked on Ben's door, her mind too tired to care about the repercussions of this decision.
"Rey?"
"I'm tired and too lazy to go all the way back to my room. Yours is closer to the cockpit." Kind of pushing herself past him, she said, "I'm sleeping in here with you tonight."
And, well, that was that. His room became their room, and sure, it was awkward in the beginning once Rey woke up, finding herself staring at Ben's back, but after living with someone who was her soulmate for the past year, it wasn't a difficult adjustment.
For Ben, however, living with Temiri was a much different story than Rey's, particularly in the beginning. Although it was his idea to bring Temiri in, at the end of the day, he was still terrified of himself – of the darkness that was too ingrained in his soul and mind. On a daily basis, he found himself anxiously tip-toeing around the child, unsure of what he could say or do, scared that he would somehow hurt the child with his words or actions.
Yet, once Rey began to sleep with him in his room, he voiced some of his concerns during their late-night talks. With her help, in the following months, he became more confident, no longer fully controlled by his fears. He learned to live with them, to grow around them.
And life for Temiri? Well, living on a space ship when he had only known the stables was a life adjustment alone, and to add to the new setting, he was now living with adults he didn't truly trust. Yes, he knew in the time that he lived with them that they cared and wouldn't hurt him like those who came before, but he was naturally suspicious – a result of the life he was forced to live on Canto Bight. He assumed that every mistake he made would result in being kicked out, thrown away like he was nothing, which was the reason behind his decision to keep an emergency bag of rations in his room.
One day, Rey had gone into his room to look for him, only to be saddened but just how...bland it was. The bed was neatly made, there were no clothes strewn about anywhere, and the books that they had gotten for him were neatly set on the small desk, pencils and pens placed carefully in a holder. A clean room, yes, but there was no life, no way to tell that it belonged to a nine-year-old boy. Curiosity got the best of her and she slid open the thin closet in the corner of the room; a bag fell out and while she felt bad for snooping around, she opened the bag. Inside, she found clothes, food, money – all of the essentials someone would have needed in an emergency.
Only, this wasn't an emergency bag.
It was an escape bag, ready at any moment's notice. Rey quickly recognized this and felt her heart fall, but carefully placed it back inside while her mind began running with several thoughts. After speaking about this to Ben, she decided to carefully pull Temiri aside a few days later.
"Temiri–"
With wide eyes, Temiri tripped over his words as he rushed out, "I'm sorry, whatever I did I'll fix it–"
Taken aback, she furiously shook her head. "What?" She rubbed her arm as she said, "No no, you didn't do anything wrong. I just...I wanted to ask you something."
"I...oh, okay." He began to pick at the hem of his shirt, a nervous tick she recognized. "Yeah?"
"I want you to know that I'm so glad you're here with us, okay? And that if you need anything, you can ask us." She wasn't one for physical displays of affection but she still pulled him into a hug – of course, with his permission – and continued, "I don't think you understand just how happy it makes me, knowing that you're here." She tightened her hug, hoping that it expressed what she wasn't quite able to say to him. Every emotion she felt, from thinking about how she was a kid, alone on a vast planet with no one to hoping to help a child in similar need out of that situation made her squeeze him even more.
"...Me too, Rey," he said in her ear. The swell of emotion in Rey's chest caused a tear to escape her eye, and as she pulled away, she found herself tearing up even more. She was wiping furiously at them though, laughing at the same time.
"I'm serious Temiri, I want this place to feel like a home for you."
"...It does, I promise." Then with a smile, he said, "I even love BB-8. He's amazing!"
After her conversation with him, she saw Ben facing his own fears a few days later, talking to Temiri with BB-8 nearby. He was anxious, their bond loud with so many different types of emotion that all belonged to Ben, and she hoped that he knew how proud she was that he was ready to speak to Temiri, to bare his own heart out to the child they were now taking care of.
Rey knew it went well when Temiri hugged Ben of his own accord. She was spying on them – so she was a little nosy, could you blame her – and she saw Ben falter for a few seconds. His face softened, though, as he returned the hug in his own clumsy way. She later found out from Temiri that Ben had told him about being Kylo Ren – a name that struck fear in most of the galaxy. Yet, Temiri had reassured her; he saw Ben as Ben Solo, the man who saved him, and not as Kylo Ren. Despite being a child, he understood, and Rey couldn't help but think that the Force was aiding them all.
With time, new routines developed, and although none of them admitted it nor realized it, they were slowly becoming a family – of sorts.
The events that would conspire today, however, would cement that even more.
The three were not on the Falcon today. They were back on Vandor, where Rey had picked up Ben a little over a year ago and had been living in a motel in Fort Ypso for the past week. To anyone watching, it would seem like they were a family, and they purposely did so – it was the safest way for them to travel not only through the city but through the galaxy as well.
While Rey's actions were familiar to all due to her association with the Resistance and the Jedi, her face was not; and Kylo Ren never took off his mask, so no one truly knew how he looked underneath it. They both kept their first names but changed their last names to whatever suited them when they traveled.
And of course, BB-8 came along with them. He quickly became a companion to Temiri more than Rey – and of course, she didn't mind that at all. She just hoped that Poe wouldn't be too upset that he would have to fight for his droid's attention a little more than before.
The reasoning they found themselves on this planet again was because Ben, upholding his promises to the Resistance, had gotten information about the former FOSB – First Order Security Bureau – that had stationed themselves here on the outskirts of the Sloo System.
"The FOSB?" Rey asked, tinkering with a lightsaber. She had begun building one after asking Ben for help, and remembering her vision, came up with an idea of a double-bladed lightsaber. Although she had yet to find a kyber crystal, the core of the lightsaber was almost done.
"They were the First Order's intelligence agency, operating a spy network that spanned all across the planets that the First Order had a hold on. I knew that we had a few stationed here before the collapse of the Order, but I wasn't sure what happened afterward. I needed concrete evidence before confirmed anything – I didn't want to waste any time coming out all the way over here only to be wrong." Looking at the hologram of a man in his hand, he growled, "Out of all the people to live, the director of the FOSB was the last person I wanted surviving Exegol. He's probably one of the most ruthless and sadistic people I've ever met." Then, muttering darkly, Ben added, "And that's saying something."
"And you're going to stop him?" Temiri asked, sitting on the edge of the bed, a tablet in his own hand.
"I'll try. But for now, I think it's time we find something to eat." Ben slid his arms into his large coat, and with this Rey placed her project aside and did the same. "We've been cooped up in this room a little longer than what I'm comfortable with."
"Can I choose where we go? Rey chose last time!" Temiri was quickly shoving himself into a winter coat, clearly a size too big, before running to the door.
In the six months they traveled together, he had grown. His hair was longer – starting to look like Ben's if you asked Rey – and he was taller. He was eating properly and had gained all the weight that he never had due to malnutrition from Canto Bight, and all in all, he was healthy. Yet, while physically he had changed, mentally, he was almost like a different person as well. No longer was he the shy, timid child they had met. Now that he felt safe with them, he grew more into his character. He had a stubborn streak that gave Rey a run for her money and he was loud, both in action and voice. Not to mention, he was smart. He quickly picked up on the Force lessons that Rey and Ben gave separately, and was breezing through the schoolwork that Rey had been given by those she befriended in a system a few weeks back.
"Sure, why not." Rey grabbed a beanie and shoved it on Ben's head, ignoring his grumbling, as she quickly followed after Temiri out the door. "Wait up for us!" she called out, looking back to see Ben locking up the door to their room.
Then, suddenly, the world stopped. The snow froze midair, the sounds of the wind stops, as Rey's entire body went stone cold – and not from Vandor's winter air. The air had an electric charge in it, making the hair on Rey's body stand. Everything happened in slow motion: she turned around without thought and began to run to where she saw Temiri; he was innocently making snowballs in his hands, standing next to BB-8. She screamed his name with Ben's voice echoing throughout the cramped road when he turned around towards them. His eyes widening, Rey reached out her hand, pulling him towards her.
She whirled back around and saw a man–
Not enough time to block–
She pulled Temiri behind her–
Ben calling out her name–
Pain–
A familiar roar of rage–
She felt numb–
Her chest–
Finally, time slowly returned and she found herself unable to...breathe? Coughing, she suddenly felt weak: she fell to her knees, forcing herself to look down, she saw a knife sticking out of her chest.
"Rey?"
She saw Ben standing over a body but all she could think about was Temiri. She managed to catch herself with one hand on the ground, blood slowly dripping out of her mouth, as the other she kept on her chest. The red left such a stark contrast to the blinding white snow, she thought.
Rey felt Temiri next to her, trying his best to hold her up, then she was suddenly in Ben's arms, his voice ringing in her ears.
"Rey!"
Only–
Darkness.
0O0
Rey shot up with a gasp, her eyes flying open with a hand on her chest. She was in an unfamiliar room, wearing unfamiliar clothes, and the beeping from the machine on her right told her immediately that she was in a hospital.
"Patient, you must remain still–" Rey ignored the medic droid and threw her legs over the side of the bed, preparing to search for Ben and Temiri when the door flew open, ending it before the search even began. Ben rushed in, still wearing what he wore earlier, while Temiri stood stiffly by the entrance, BB-8 beeping sadly behind his legs.
"Rey!" Ben stopped her from getting up as his words rushed out of his mouth in a wave. "Don't– you can't move right now. You're healing from the wound–"
"I'm fine! I feel fine!" Grabbing Ben's hand, she quickly asked, "Are you okay? You weren't hurt?"
"I was okay, don't worry," he reassured. After allowing Rey to do a silent search of his body, he watched as she reached out to Temiri. "Temiri, please tell me you're okay – you're not hurt? Come here–"
"–I'm fine." His voice was hard, emotionless; and Rey, taken aback, looked back up to him. His face was grim as he slowly nodded his head, confirming what she had thought: Temiri blamed himself for Rey's injury.
Oh, did that upset her. "Don't you dare think that–"
"You wouldn't have gotten hurt if it wasn't for me."
"Temiri, come here."
"It's my fault–"
"Come here."
"I–"
"Don't make me use the Force." Narrowing her eyes, Rey threatened, "You know I will."
Temiri thought about her words wisely before he begrudgingly walked over, and Rey could easily see through the facade he was presenting to them both. When he reached her, she quickly looked over his body until her hands stopped at his face, forcing him to look at her. "Thank god you're okay," she softly said with her palms resting against his cheeks, startling the child.
"W-What?" He had expected her to be angry, to yell; not this. "You almost died."
"But you would have died; I couldn't have lived with myself if you were the one that had gotten hurt."
"But…"
"No buts." Smiling at Temiri one last time, she turned to Ben. "And you–" He was closed off to her right now in their bond and if that was due to whatever drug running in her system or if it was him, Rey wasn't quite sure. All she knew was that it made her upset. "–thank you for healing me." Although her instincts wanted her to fire off questions, she instead pulled him down to where she was sitting and kissed him on the cheek. "If you think I couldn't tell that you healed me then you're wrong."
"I– How?"
"Stupid, did you really think I wouldn't know? Why do you think I feel fine?" To showcase this, Rey stood up despite the angry protests from Ben, her legs as strong as any typical day. In fact, she felt...great. No pain in her chest, no body aches, nothing. She felt like she could run a marathon if anyone had asked her too.
"But seriously, I'm okay." Turning to the boys – her boys – a sense of relief washed over her. "I'm just glad that you two are okay."
She allowed the droid to do whatever testing it needed and as she did, Ben explained what had happened.
The men that Ben had been hunting, the FOSB, had gotten word that he was searching for them. Quickly recognizing the couple, they had been scouting when they then realized that Temiri was in their care.
One of idiot spies thought it a great idea to attack their child.
When Rey ran after Temiri, Ben had turned in the opposite direction and quickly found the attacker. He quickly attacked the man and in his rage, nearly killed him, but managed to hold himself back. Instead, he ran towards Rey, catching her in his arms. His mind bombarded him with the traumatizing images of her death on Exegol all those months ago, but he knew that he couldn't let himself fall into that pit of memories. Instead, he recalled the feeling of healing her with the Force. With his emotions at such a high, he had not expected the Force to react to his will to save her but much to his surprise, it did. To this day, he continued to believe that he was too dark to truly embrace the light, to be able to use the Force as Rey could, yet today's events helped prove to him that while he was not fully in the other side, he was going forth in the right path towards his redemption, towards the light.
"I want off this godforsaken planet," Rey demanded, glaring at the droid drawing her blood. "I want you to find those bastards as soon as possible so we can leave."
Chuckling, Ben quickly finished his story: while she was unconscious, he went looking for the remaining FOSB. Much to his surprise, only a handful of people remained, and one of them was the director. Ben made quick work of them before firing off the information to the Resistance, returning to Rey's side as soon as he could.
"Where too, then?" he asked.
"Tatooine."
05: End
A/N: At this point, I don't know what's happening with this story. Originally, I had planned on it focusing only on Rey and Ben as a dark angsty story – but clearly, it isn't anymore. The month I've been away seemed to have changed the course of this entire plot and idk how I feel about it. While Remembrance is not really the story I planned on writing, I'm not entirely disappointed by it either. It's more mixed than anything. Although, I will admit that I'm having difficulty writing in each individual's voice. I can't really get a good feeling on how to write Ben or Rey for some reason but uh, I mean, we're here already so no stopping it now.
The story is rushed, that I know. In an ideal world, I'd go more in-depth during the months Rey was with Ben, make it more of a romance like I originally planned. Write more about them becoming a family and whatnot. But I also wanted to finish this story in six chapters - originally, I had planned five. So we sacrifice some pacing, I guess. In my next story about Reylo, that's what I'll do, make it more Ben-centric, but for now, this is what I've got.
We're in the home stretch now.
Anyways, thank you so much fireelfmaiden1 and Marianita-chan for your reviews. That, plus the followers I gained, are really inspiring me to finish this story.