Ben threw the last piece of one of the tiny huts off the cliff and into the ocean. The island caretakers stared at him with the same kind resigned disappointment that they had so consistently expressed toward him over the weeks since his awakening on their beach.

Yet despite his quiet and solemn moods, every morning he woke to find some sort of fresh food to cook over a fire left on his doorstep. On his first morning they had quietly ushered him toward an empty hut with a non leaky roof, robes folded and gently placed on the cot and a long sturdy piece of driftwood nearly as tall as him. A few days later, comfortable boots and a scarf.

He wondered if they would be so kind if they truly knew what he had been, who he was, but their simple hospitality went more toward gentling his spirit than he realized.

So today, on the 12th rainy day in a row, when he had felt the Dyad string pulse and passed through their connection without thought, protected her, then returned in a dismal cloud of self pity, they said nothing to him. But instead left a small bundle of firewood and freshly caught fish.

The first night after their bond re-awakened, he saw her again. No matter how intensely he tried to focus on closing their link, it remained wide and bared open.

Two souls in one.

Ben looked up and there she was, dark eyes shining with something he was afraid to name, the fire glinting in her hair. She was thinner, more tan, bundled up; back was against the wall.

Rey was observing with similar rapt attention, noticing the length of his hair and the looseness of his clothes, the scarf and his bare feet and bowed head.

"You are real." She said softly, afraid that speaking too loudly would cause him to run away or dissipate like the water vapor she harvested. She didn't move though, sat in a cross legged position and waited. Nervously tapping her calf; the cold nights made her ache.

"Are you alright?" His eyes darted down to the bandages on her leg, reaching out before catching himself.

Too obvious. He thought nervously, already annoyed with himself.

She ran her fingers over the carefully wrapped linen and gently nodded, jumping right in to her true intent. "How are you alive?"

It wasn't a question he had an answer for. One moment he was lost in the haze of darkness, knowing that he had fulfilled a purpose perhaps set for him since the moment he was born; the next he was soaked and confused and on the beach of this island. He had been alone and in the eternal night for who knows how long before waking up.

Not quite death, not quite life.

"I… am not sure." Ben admitted quietly, avoiding her gaze still. "I was not for a very long time. And then I woke here. Though I haven't been able to use the force until…"

"Today." She finished, "Where are you?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter, I can't leave and I don't have any way of telling you where I am, even if I wanted to. It's better this way—"

During the self deprecation she stood, crossing the small space between them before closing her eyes and gathering the Force around them like a cloak. Then kneeling before him, and reaching out, slowly gathering all she could before reaching forward to touch his knee gently.

"Show me. Please."

Her voice echoed through his mind, filling his entire existence with light. He could feel the Force rising around them, seemingly stirred up by their closeness.

"Show me where you are. Let me find you."

It wasn't a request, it was a command. Perhaps she was his empress after all.

Rey saw through his eyes the cliffs and oceans, the caretakers, the huts, the Jedi emblem he meditated on and practiced with his staff across every day. She felt his self-loathing, fear and guilt. All of the emotion bound up in memories, a flare of memory, her face. Strange to see one's self in someone else's mind, cold and blueish. Rey felt the anguish, she watched her own eyes open. But before she could pry into that deeper feeling, he caught her hand physically and pushed her gently from his mind.

He softly held onto her hand, just like he had in the moments before leaving her on Exogol.

"Rey." Finally, his voice barely a whisper, "Leave me. Don't come here."

"You can't mean that" She nearly shouted, wrenching her hand from his and stepping back. "You're alive and well and within range of me and you're telling me not to take your hand. Ben—" Her voice broke, and he looked up for the first time since they had connected.

Please.

They both said.

And the bond slipped.

Rey Skywalker walked into the outer room where Finn and Poe had been getting something together to eat. She knew they'd been talking about what had happened the night before, putting up a heroic act that they hadn't been listening to what sounded like a one sided conversation going on in her small room.

She braced herself. "I know what you're going to say."

Finn crossed his arms. "You're going to Solo. Aren't you?" He broke in, Poe smirked at her face.

"Oh. Yes." Her mind scrambled at the turn of events. "I'm going to take the Falcon. And I'm going to ask that you not tell the Resistance that he's alive. Not yet."

"We're going with you." Poe spoke for the first time, "I know you two have some sort of connection, and we trust you. I can't claim to understand the Force like you two do, but I do know that I wouldn't want anyone I care about walking into what could be a trap, alone."

She opened her mouth to argue.

"Maz knows we're with you." Said Finn, and she was impressed by their ability to argue with her seamlessly. These months since the Resistance fell have only brought them closer she supposed. "They know we needed a break; some time with family."

That word again, it nearly broke her. With all that had happened between her and the lost Solo, and then the grief and joy of finding him. She didn't deserve the two men standing in her life, smiling at her. Trusting in her. Believing her.

Finn had his hand on Poe's shoulder. He'd leaned over and said something quietly while she had been musing.

"Besides, we rigged the Falcon last night just in case you tried to leave without us"

Ben stood on the edge of the cliff and forced himself to breathe deeply. Seeing her had shaken him to the core, stirring something that he had not allowed since waking on the beach.

Something bothered him, other than the nagging certainty that her reconnection with him would bring doom on her chances of a normal life. A worrisome something that he hadn't been able to gather information on until he saw her.

His connection to the Force was there, but until she had called out to him in pain, he had been unable to reach for it, unable to grasp it and mold it to his will. It was as though he were a young Padawan still uncertain of the best way of pulling the breath of the universe into his lungs.

Initially he had thought it was something to do with his resurrection. Rising from the dead was somewhat unprecedented in the history of Jedi. But his knowledge of Darth Sidious and the return of Emperor Palpatine was limited. Then it turned to concern over the Sith and Dark Side being the catalyst of his return caused fear and darkness to cloud his spirit.

Since that realization he had refused to use the Force or to seek it out, fear that it would draw them to him yet again like it had as a child. Though in his deepest heart of hearts he wasn't sure if even he tried to use it, anything would happen.

However, when he came to her merely a day cycle ago, he had reached out to the force and it had curled into his hand with the same ease of his youth. Like in years past he was a prodigy; the child of Han and Leia; not quite a prince, not quite a Jedi.

The feeling evaporated when their bond had relaxed, and again he was left to meditate.

Something had changed, their tether was restless.

Be with me.

The islands of Ach-To were not something she would have thought she would return to. After her tumultuous time of training and then the momentary lapse in self-faith she had felt after the revelation of her birth the island's natural remote fortress had seemed like the best course of action.

After all it was the ancient home of the Jedi's most sacred texts. A place of deep and dark power, not quite light, not quite dark. Neutral ground to her troubled soul.

"It's almost as ridiculous as going back to a desert planet to live out your days as a wise and noble hermit after saving the known galaxy."

She gaped at the form of Luke standing in his way inside the Falcon. He looked rested, amused, fond. If the cheekiness in his voice was any indication, he was at peace.

"Staying on Tatooine is the best option."

"For whom?" He snorted

"Ben is alive." She ignored the question. "I found him."

"I know." He countered. "Leia told me."

"How much do you know?"

"Not much. Just take your time Rey. You can't lock yourself away like I did, there are things coming that you must achieve together, just like it was intended from the beginning. But you must help him back into the light, like he has helped you back from the dark."

"What does that mean?"

"In time, you will see. Trust the Force"

"Rey—" Finn's voice interrupted. "I think we're here."

He heard the Falcon descending through the clouds, a hulking, familiar metal bird of prey. She looked the same as she always had, when she landed he half expected to see his father, stride down the metal gangplank all swagger and confidence ready to exaggerate his way through another adventure.

The Son of Solo stood high on the cliffs. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but as soon as she caught sight of him she raced up the worn path practically flying in her excitement, failing to stop before him she bounded forward threw her arms around him.

He hesitated, Rey filled his senses and overwhelmed him, but he fought the doubts that rose their ugly heads and allowed himself to pull her close; bending slightly to tuck his head into her shoulder.

She pulled back first, tilting her head up to take him in, smile blown wide. A smile she'd shown others but never bestowed entirely onto him. She stayed like that for a long time, still unable to process his heart beating; his hands uncertainly shifting in the folds of her robes. Just taking in the moment that was stolen from her on Exogol.

"Hello Ben"

His face went through a series of emotions, as though anything outside of the normal negative, emotions themselves were still so foreign. His name, the last words he'd heard before falling into the darkness of what he assumed was eternity.

"How long?" She asked finally, feeling the awkward nervousness rise in him. He was conscious of the fact that he was meeting his "enemy" outside of a conflict, battle or death. The Force also made both acutely aware of the two very concerned looking pilots trying to act like they weren't watching them so closely through the Falcon's view screen.

"How did you get here?" She asked again, trying to keep her voice casual.

He shrugged, breaking eye contact and pulling back. He felt so exposed here on the rocks, no helmet, distance, or First Order between them.

"42 day cycles since I woke on the beach. Before that… nothing. Just darkness and silence."

She did quick math in her head, he'd woken up on the beach less than a week after their victory at Exogol. During her first time of consistent rest in the aftermath. She'd finally had time to grieve him then, and when she did she had poured out the full sorrow of their bond into the Force.

Ben heard her, her thoughts whirring past him like fightercraft. She wasn't being careful around him anymore, practically an open book for him to read. He looked up to find her tilting her head at him, watching.

Shame.

"I'm sorry," He corrected. "I wasn't… it wasn't on purpose… I haven't really gotten the hang of not—"

"Being my enemy?" She finished for him, still smiling, eyebrows again quirking, unsure.

"REY"

Moment broken by a very flushed looking Poe Dameron, he turned his head to speak to someone unseen (Finn she assumed). She felt Ben tense nervously.

"Yeah?" She called back, working to keep her stance light. As much as she loved the two men in the ship below them she was absolutely unsure of how they were going to react to anything related to Ben Solo.

"Finn says the Resistance asked if we'd drop by a mining colony to check on some reports of leftover slave holdings. He says if we leave now we'd have time to stop off and pick up some supplies."

"You're leaving?" Ben tried to keep the disappointment from his voice, knowing that this had been inevitable. There was no way that she was going to stay, it was just so much harder after seeing her.

She turned back and nodded, "You should get packed—"

"Did you ask if he— Is he packed?" Poe was still watching, shrewdly.

Startled, the taller man ran fingers through his hair. "What?"

She smiled at him, feeling foolish and self-conscious because she couldn't seem to stop smiling. "That's why we came— to come get you. You didn't really think I'd come all the way to you to leave you on Ach-To did you?"

She confidently reached forward, grabbing his hand, trying to further solidify the notion. Seeing as well as feeling the conflict in him. He had no possessions on this island other than the simple clothes he had been given. He was panicking, the guilt, the resistance, his darkness.

Ben

And she turned, and held his onto his hand, and descended the cliff with the giant in tow.