She burns. Her vision is red, consumed by the fire in front of her. Movement seems to be impossible although she tries. She reaches out her arm, trying to grasp anything that will give her leverage to get up but there's nothing. All she sees are flames. This might be the end, she thinks. It's fitting for her to die by fire.

Rescue won't be coming for her. They don't know she's here. Ben had called for her. She'd felt his pain and heard him call her name through their bond. Although it had been dangerous, she'd come for him. And walked directly into nature's destruction.

There was no way she could've known the planet was unstable. The ground had cracked beneath her feet, smoke had billowed, lava had streamed, and she'd caught on fire. It's mostly out by now, although she thinks the bottom of her tunic is still steaming.

The worst part is she can still feel him. She knows he's probably gloating now, satisfied that her soft feelings had resulted in her downfall. It had been her damn hope. Still. She would do it over again. Nothing was worth it if they jaded her.

Rey finally manages to get her hands underneath her, trying to push herself up. It doesn't work, and she falls onto her chin, her teeth clinking painfully. It's hopeless. He'll raise a toast, she thinks, and smirk as if he's so much better than her for being dark. She can see him in her mind and it makes her burn.

"Rey."

His voice in her mind sounds like a croak and she wonders if he's still feigning pain. She sends back anger, as much as she can. She wishes she could hate him.

"Rey!"

More insistent now. Is he trying to make a fool of her now? Is he trying to see if she'll reach out to him even as she feels the ground rumble beneath her? It won't be a lightsaber that takes her down or a blaster. The very planet under her feet will result in her death and it's not fair. If she could move, she might have a chance but she can't.

"Too stubborn for your own good."

Rey gasps as she feels hands suddenly on her and she twitches, trying to fight whoever is touching her even as her body aches with pain.

"Stop moving," he hisses and she realizes suddenly that he's not on a ship watching the planet burn. He's not lifting a glass to her demise. He's here. Grabbing her under her arms to hoist her onto her feet and then holding her up when she almost falls. "Where's your ship?"

Rey stares at him, blinking rapidly and wonder if she's imagining him. His mouth is twisted into an angry scowl and she can see smeared blood on his scarred cheek. Unconsciously, she reaches up, as if to wipe it off but he grabs her wrist.

"Rey," he says, his voice more insistent this time, his fingers digging into her burned skin. "Where's your ship?"

It should probably worry her that there's little pain in her wrist now. Her entire body is red but at least the flames are gone from her. They're still feet away and he glances that way nervously.

Right. Her ship.

"Gone," she whispers hoarsely and the short word has her body shaking with coughs. His grip on her is the only thing keeping her even semi-upright and she grips the front of his shirt. "Lava. Didn't know."

His eyes close as if his hope is gone before he opens them and straightens. "Can you walk?" he asks but she can't respond and he takes that as answer enough.

She can't even make an angry noise as he lifts her into his arms, although she can feel when he winces in pain of his own. Her arm crooks around his neck, her cheek tucked against his shoulder as he cradles her against his body. It gives her time to trace the bloody line down his chest. "W'happened?"

"They wanted both of us destroyed at once. I didn't want you to be caught in this. Didn't you hear me warning you?"

She tries to think, although her mind is fuzzy. "Heard you call my name," Rey whispers, her eyes falling closed and all she can feel is his body bracing her, trying not to hurt her more. "Came for you."

When he doesn't respond, she opens her eyes and sees the pained look on his face. She reaches up, cupping his cheek and he spares her a glance, an eyebrow raised.

"Thought it was a trap."

"It was," Ben responds, wincing as he starts walking up steps into a run-down building. The walls are cracked and crumbling and she thinks going in there looks almost as dangerous as staying out with the lava and fire.

"Thought you trapped me," Rey clarifies, her eyes closing again because keeping them open is too much. She doesn't know how he's carrying her when she can feel his pain still so acutely.

Ben looks at her again, his lips tightening, but he doesn't say anything else. Perhaps he can't speak anymore. She knows she can't as she slips in and out of consciousness. She's barely aware as he sets her in a small ship that looks even older than the Falcon and plays around with wires. The flames are licking at the building and she's fairly certain they're going to die. She thinks she offers to help him before she passes out again.

When she finally wakes for more than a few moments at a time, she cries out, the pain making her body shake.

"It's okay," Ben tries to soothe her, his hand stroking gently through her hair.

She can feel the sweat all over her body and she imagines she can feel her body still sizzling. She's burned. Badly. "Help," she whispers through dry, cracked lips. Even on Jakku it had never been this bad. She'd always had protection of some sort against the sun and there was always water if one knew where to find it. Rey learned early on where it was.

"I know. I know, Rey. I'm sorry. We ran out of fuel. I'm trying to contact the Resistance for help but I'm not sure it was even sent. This ship is…"

Rey groans as he trails off. Even if the message had been sent, it could take hours or even days to reach them depending on how far away they are. She forces her eyes open, tears streaking down her burnt cheeks when she does.

Ben reaches up to gently wipe the tears away. "I'm going to try to explore," he says quietly and they both look out the front window.

They've landed in a field of some kind. Not far from them is a dense forest. It reminds Rey of her first time seeing this amount of green. She'd been with Han, then. She'd met Ben on that planet, if you could call it meeting.

"The foliage means there must be some sort of water somewhere. I just have to find it."

Although Rey knows she needs water, feels like she will die without it, she shakes her head, reaching out to grasp at Ben's wrist. "Don't leave me," she whispers, the words taking nearly all of her effort.

Ben looks pained as he grabs her hand with his free one. Rey shivers as he brings it up to press to his lips. "I'm not going to sit here while you die, Rey," he says quietly, his breath warm against her already hot skin but she doesn't care.

All she knows is that she doesn't want to die alone. She doesn't want to die without spending the last few minutes that she can with him.

Later, she might blame it on the fact that she thinks she's going to die but she lurches forward, her lips hitting his haphazardly. Ben freezes underneath her for only a moment before he groans, pressing forward, his hands hovering over her burned skin.

Kissing him is everything she had thought it would be and more. The pain dims as she leans even closer towards him, emotions overwhelming her. Ben doesn't let the kiss deepen, pulling away before they can get carried away and she's never seen his eyes so clear before. Perhaps he feels the same desperation as she does now that their potential to die is so high.

"I'm going to try as hard as I can to save you, Rey," he tells her quietly, pressing another short kiss to her lips.

Rey doesn't even have time to argue before he's leaving the ship. She thinks about getting up but the pain returns quickly and she doesn't realize she's passing out again.

Hands on her makes her wake up again and she breathes out hard at the pain. "Ben?" she croaks, the word barely discernible.

"You're going to be okay," Poe Dameron assures her and she snaps her eyes open, looking around and gasping with pain. Ben's not there but Finn and Rose are, the latter with her back to them and a blaster in her hand. "We're here. We're going to-"

"Ben," Rey interrupts him, knowing she's not going to be conscious for much longer and she can't leave without him.

"What's she saying?" Rose asks, glancing back from her position near the door.

Rey does her best to sit up, wincing as she does. She tries to lick her lips, unable to speak. Her lips and throat are too dry and she can only shake her head. "Do you- water?"

Finn seems to read her mind, handing over a canteen that she drinks from eagerly. "You look horrible. What happened?"

That's not important, though, not now that Rey's had a drink of water and can talk again. "Ben, he's here."

"Who's Ben?" Rose asks, her forehead creasing as she looks between Rey and the open door to the ship. "I see somebody."

Rey nods because she can feel him too and it comforts her to know he's on his way back, although she worries how the rest are going to react. She's doing everything she can to stay conscious, knowing she needs to be awake to mediate their meeting. "Ben."

"Wait, Ben as in-" But Poe doesn't finish because Rose is suddenly lifting her blaster in a warning.

"Move or be moved."

"Ben!" Rey calls, her vision black around the edges. She digs her nails into her palms to keep herself awake, not wanting a confrontation between them. She's calling him. That means she wants him here. They need to trust her.

Finn looks at her, their eyes meeting, and he looks so concerned that she opens her mouth to say something again.

But Rose gasps and Rey's attention is drawn back to where Ben is waving his hand, pushing Rose away. It's a surprisingly gentle movement, with Rose simply sliding across the floor, not even losing her balance.

"Get back!" Poe says, attempting to lift his own blaster but Ben looks at Poe, raising his eyebrows and Poe can't move.

Finn doesn't even attempt to move, looking between Rey and Ben with a furrowed brow as Ben approaches her.

"I see the imbeciles at least gave you water," Ben says, looking Rey up and down. She can see immediately the way he's clenching his jaw and she lifts up her hand, silently asking him to take it. Ben hesitates only a moment before he does, letting her tangle their fingers.

"Don't fight them, Ben," Rey whispers, not even able to look into his eyes because her own are so fuzzy. He lets out a frustrated breath, opening his mouth to say something but she interrupts him quickly. "Please."

Then she passes out again.

This time she wakes up with feeling back into her formerly numb body. Her eyes open slowly and it takes her much too long to remember why she's in the medbay.

As soon as she remembers, she realizes something is very, very wrong. She can't feel Ben and she panics, sitting up and wincing because her skin still feels like it's pulled too tight over her body. But she needs to find him. Had they fought? What was wrong? Was Ben- No, she wouldn't even think that.

She can barely breathe as she headed for the door, very nearly colliding with Finn, who is coming in.

"Rey, what are you doing up?"

"Ben. Where is he?" Rey asks, looking Finn up and down and finding no injuries on him. So, the two of them hadn't fought at least. That's good. But what about Poe and Rose? Had Ben hurt one of them? Had they hurt him?

Finn's face turns downward in a frown as he rests gentle hands on her shoulders. "Did somebody tell you he wants to talk to you? It can wait, Rey. You're not well enough to get up yet."

"He wants to talk to me?" Rey's voice is too high and she knows it's because of her fear but she can't regulate it. Nothing matters to her right now the way that Ben does. He'd saved her. "He's alive?"

The frown is still there but he's looking confused now, the same as he'd had when they'd first come for her. Finn isn't stupid. He can obviously see that there's something going on that he's not aware of. "Yes, he's-"

"Where is he?"

Finn shakes his head as Rey tries to move around him, grabbing her arms to keep her in place. She scowls at him and he simply raises his eyebrows in response. "Relax, Rey. You're hurt. You need to go lay down."

"I'm not going anything until I see him," Rey snaps, pulling herself out of his hold. She's not willing to hurt him, not willing to hurt any of their friends, but she has to see Ben.

Finn's eyes meet hers and she almost wants to look away, knowing he's seeing something deep in her own. Finn was the first real friend she had. He knows her in a way that likely nobody but Ben ever will. So, she's not surprised when he simply nods. "Fine. Follow me."

Now that she knows she's going to see him, Rey's starting to feel the pain but she's determined. She tries to reach out for her, see if she can feel him but there's nothing. And that's what keeps her upright as Finn leads her down hallways.

Rey breathes out as another door slides open and she sees finally him. Leia is standing next to what looks like a cage of energy. Her and Ben both look up as Rey comes into the room, her eyes only on Ben's as he stands up from the small chair he was sitting on.

"You're alive," Rey breathes. Finn had told her but she hadn't been able to believe it until now, looking at him in front of her. She has a startling urge to cry and she swallows it down. "I couldn't… I can't feel you. I thought-"

Ben closes his eyes momentarily, taking half a step towards her until he's as close to the cage as he can get without touching it. "I should've had somebody tell you. It's the force cage. That's why. I'm fine."

Rey nods as she approaches him and she gets so close she can almost feel the cage in front of her. She has no idea what it's made of but she knows better than to touch it. She looks over at Leia, shaking her head. "Why is he in the prison? He rescued me."

"He's been uncooperative until he's had a chance to talk to you."

Rey looks back at him, raising her eyebrows but he looks stubbornly back at her, his arms crossing over his chest. "I'm not here for the Resistance, Rey. I have no intentions of helping them with their goals. My only plan is killing Hux."

"And we'd help you if you help us," Leia says at Rey's side but Rey knows Ben's answer before he says it. She doesn't need to be able to feel him to read the emotions in his eyes. Now she can see what Leia's been dealing with the entire time.

"I have no interest in the Resistance's help and I won't help you," Ben says simply, his own eyes locking with Rey's. He seems to be trying to read something in them and she wonders if he finds it. Is it sadness? Disappointment? Because she's feeling both of those right now. She doesn't regret kissing him, just as she doesn't regret opening her heart to him back on Ach-To or any other intimacies they've shared. But he constantly reminds her that he's not ready to be good. She can't make him.

"We don't need your help. You should stand trial for your crimes and be exiled in the best-case scenario for you," Finn snaps from behind Rey's back. She had almost forgotten he was there and she glances over her shoulder. She knows she wouldn't be able to let them hurt Ben, just as she wouldn't let Ben hurt her friends.

"I'd like to see you try," Ben responds, his eyes barely flickering to Finn over Rey's shoulder before he's looking at her again.

Rey's eyes narrow although she doesn't look away from him. She's looking for something in his eyes too but she's not finding it. "Ben…"

"I'd like to talk to you alone."," Ben says. Rey turns, looking at the other two inhabitants of the room but she can already guess what they're going to say.

"No," Finn says, confirming her speculations. She's not surprised that he'd be adverse but he doesn't understand. He doesn't know that Ben wouldn't hurt her.

"You don't get to make her choices," Ben snaps and Rey feels her careful patience snap.

The way the two of them are glaring at each other makes her want to slap the both of them. "Neither do you," Rey says to Ben, her jaw setting. "Finn, Leia, I'd prefer to be alone with him. He's in the Force Cage anyway. He can't hurt me."

Rey knows that he wouldn't anyway and judging by the look on Leia's face, she knows it. It only takes Leia gently persuading Finn to get them to leave and Rey breathes out, feeling less like she has to put up any appearances. She doesn't speak, though, not willing to break the silence in her frustration.

"You should still be laying down," Ben finally says, moving to sit in the chair again and she can see he's making an effort not to look like a petulant child.

"I had to see you. Finn told me you were alive but…" Rey shakes her head, not wanting to think about how scared she'd been. Even now, looking at him, Rey is really realizing how much she's appreciated being able to feel him lately. Even when she was alone, she wasn't really. He was there.

Ben nods and his hand twitches, as if he's going to reach out for her before remembering that he can't. He looks just as lost as she does and she feels her anger at him melting away. Without his emotions in her head, it's hard to remember but she knows him. He may pretend to have it all together but he doesn't.

"You came for me," Ben says, avoiding her eyes as he looks somewhere beyond her shoulder. She freezes, not sure where he's going with this and wondering if this was what he'd wanted to talk to her about. "Why?"

"What do you mean, why?" Rey asks, waiting patiently until his eyes meet hers before continuing. She doesn't know if it'll be easy to explain but she wants to try. There's something she can say that'll ease the doubt in his eyes. "I thought you were hurt. I wanted to help you, protect you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

The way Ben looks at her makes butterflies erupt in her stomach and her mind goes directly back to the kiss. "You kissed me because we were going to die."

"I kissed you because I didn't want to die without you," Rey corrects, leaning towards him and she so badly wished she could touch him, even just his hand.

"Rey…" Ben breathes and this time he does lift up his hand, reminiscent of the first time they had touched. "I can't stay. You know that."

Rey does know that is the problem. She knows that saving her isn't enough. Finn was right. Ben would be put to trial and even with Leia's influence there's every likelihood that he could be put to death. Rey knows she can't let that happen.

"What do you plan to do?"

The question isn't exactly clear but Ben obviously understands what she means. There's a certain look of defeat on his face as he shakes his head.

"My time in the First Order is over. Hux has turned them against me. Even the Knights…" he falters, lowering his eyes for a moment before he looks back at her. "I plan on killing Hux and destroying everything he's ever worked for. After that, I don't know."

"What if I come with you?" The words are out of her mouth before she really thought about them but as soon as she says it, she knows it's what she wants. The Resistance are her friends and she'll come back to them but Ben… Ben is more than that. Ben is her home. Wherever he's at is where she wants to be.

"I don't plan on doing things nicely."

Rey shrugs her shoulders, smiling slightly because she knows. She'd been made aware of how he felt when he'd been willing to sacrifice the Resistance to bring about the rule of the First Order. "I know. I know you'd like to just burn it all to the ground but… maybe we can work together so you don't have to."

"Conserve some of the First Order?"

"I'm more concerned with the Resistance," Rey admits. She understands that Finn had proven that Stormtroopers could be broken of their thought processes but Rey can't stop herself from being selfish sometimes. And she's feeling dangerously selfish right now. "If we can bring down the First Order, conserve the Resistance… I don't want to rule, Ben. I just want a quiet life without war."

And that's the most she's ever admitted, even to him. It's the truth in a way that she rarely even lets herself think about. This life isn't for her. Rey wants peace, the chance to have something in her life without constantly fighting for it. She wants this with Ben.

Their lives haven't been easy. Don't they both deserve it?

"Things aren't that easy, Rey."

"I don't need easy," Rey responds angrily. She doesn't like when he underestimates her and she glances around, needing to be closer to him. Not being able to feel each other is starting to drive her crazy. The control system immediately escapes her and she glances over at him, raising her eyebrow.

"The blue button," Ben tells her, equal parts suspicion and curiosity in his tone.

Rey clicks it and the force of him re-entering her mind almost knocks her off her feet. She breathes a sigh of relief because he's there again. Rey had taken for granted the fact that she could feel his emotions, even though they were muted before. They're connected now. If she lost him forever… she doesn't know what she'd do. The emptiness in her head and her heart would drive her crazy.

"If it's what it takes, we burn it," Rey tells him, holding out her hand to him.

Ben looks at it and she can feel everything. She knows that she denied his hand before, twice. This time, she's holding out her hand to him. Not Kylo Ren, not Ben Solo, not yet. But she wants him, however he is.

Ben sets his hand in hers and steps forward, his other arm wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her body against his to kiss her breathless.

"I'll burn with you this time," he promises her.

She knows they have to go before any alarms are set off to notify them of his release. She'll come back, she vows. This isn't goodbye forever. It would be nearly as hard for her to say goodbye to Finn as it would be to say goodbye to Ben. But Ben is who she wants to be with and if they can end the war…

Rey kisses him again before hand in hand they walk out the door.

They'll burn the First Order to the ground together.