Hi! Thanks again to everyone who's reviewed, favourited, and followed this story. I'm always nervous when a new chapter goes up and it makes me so happy to see that people are actually enjoying the fic. This was originally planned as just a one-shot, but now I think I've got most of a plot fleshed out for a full story. If you have any ideas you want to add to the mix though, go ahead and tell me!

So, please, please, PLEASE review and let me know what you think :D

(To make things easier, from now on, chapter titles that start with FB are flashbacks starting from the point that Ben and Rey are in the throne room)

3 years earlier…

There was a blinding white light and a searing pain that flooded her entire body as they were knocked far across the throne room. Rey's head collided hard with the floor and her vision swam for a moment. Her whole body shook as a secondary explosion threw heat and chunks of debris in her direction. Her powers responded automatically to slow down the slices of metal, giving her just enough time to roll her battered body out of the way. The dust and wreckage that was thrown up from the ground caused her to cough and wretch violently. Her head was pounding, and as her vision finally came into focus she spotted Ben a few feet away, sprawled out on his side on the ground. She dragged herself up onto her knees and crawled to his side.

He didn't stir at her presence, 'Ben, BEN!' She shook his shoulder, but he wouldn't move. Rey couldn't even feel him across their bond anymore. The room was collapsing around them and she threw herself over his head, protecting him from a shower of sparks raining down from the ceiling. She flipped him onto his back, pressing her head down onto his chest, and felt his heart beating gently against her ear. He was still alive. She grabbed his face between her palms, staring straight at him.

'Ben, please. We have to leave now' She leaned her forehead against his and a tear slid down her face, 'Please.' There was no movement beneath her and she no longer had the option to wait for him to return to himself. The room, possibly even the entire ship, was disintegrating around them.

She dragged herself up from the floor, stumbling a little as her head continued to swim, and grabbed onto one of his arms. She gave him a harsh tug, trying to get his body across the floor and into Snoke's escape pod, but he didn't move an inch. His body was so much larger than her own. She tried again, harder, wrenching her arms and adding to the multiple aches and pains she was already feeling. His body jerked with her efforts, but beyond that he still wouldn't move.

As she stilled, a dark thought flashed through her mind. Maybe she could just leave him here and escape by herself? It seemed unlikely that he would make it out of this place without her help, not in the state he was in. She could finally be free of him; free of his darkness and free of his constant hovering presence at the edges of her thoughts…

No. Rey would never be able to escape him. She needed him like she needed air to breath. Even if she could force herself to run from him in this moment, somehow, she knew that his memory and his absence from her life would haunt her until the day she died.

Rey closed her eyes for just a moment, the room continuing to collapse around her as a tremendous steel beam destroyed, then broke through, the ground nearby. She gathered the force around herself, focusing on the still man lying before her. His body slowly raised into the air, legs bent at an odd angle and fingers trailing against the filthy ground. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. She moved him as quickly as she could across the room to the shuttle, using her own body draped across his to shield him from the worst of the chaos around them.

She got him to the ship and placed him as carefully as she could into the co-pilots chair, before throwing herself into the seat next to him. Her fingers reached up into her hairline, feeling the blood gathered there coating her fingertips. Her head felt as though it were made of lead, heavy and sluggish and fighting against any movement she made. But she couldn't worry about that now. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts elicited a yelp from her, but at least the pain helped to alleviate her lethargy. They needed to get out of here.

She began tapping away at the panel in front of her, initiating the launch procedure. There was a hiss from the outside hydraulic arms as the shuttle detached itself from the Supremacy and ejected into space. As it travelled further away from the ship, Rey was finally given a moment to see the devastation that surrounded them.

Downed ships littered the entire area, white streaks still visible where something big had cut through them like a knife. Explosions continued to burst forth from the ships as the onboard fuel supplies caught fire and the electronic systems failed to control the damage. She knew that if she were to look closely enough, she would see the multitude of bodies that had certainly been sucked into the vacuum of space. Whatever had happened here had been a massacre.

She leant back in her chair for a moment, the sight of the carnage giving her a moment of pause. This was awful, but at least the resistance was safe. Rey knew that their numbers had been decimated in the time since she'd left them, she'd seen with her own eyes the First Order fleet firing on them after all. But with this destruction they would now have a break, a chance to rebuild and secure themselves before the next wave of attacks inevitably happened. It would be some time before either the Resistance or the First Order were ready to continue their war, and this was of some consolation to the fleeing Rey.

Suddenly she felt something stroke against the edge of her conscience. It was feather light, only a whisper of another mind.

'Rey' He groaned.

'Ben, shhh. I'm here.' He tried to lift himself up in his seat but could only let out another groan as he dropped straight back down. His arm was now left to trail down awkwardly at his side, almost certainly dislocated, and he couldn't have been himself at all if he hadn't noticed it before. She took a moment to take in the full extent of his injuries. His clothes were covered in scorch marks, from both the Praetorian blades and the burning debris that had fallen on them. His lip was split, blood running down to his chin and she was pretty sure his nose was broken. She ran her hands down his chest to check further, and the wince he gave as she passed his ribs told her that at least one had been damaged badly.

She brushed his hair away from his sweaty forehead. He felt too hot. 'Rest.'

'Where are we heading?' He had never been one to relinquish control easily. But for the first time, she found herself glad for his weakened state. There was only one place she could think of that, for the time being, would be safe for her and the infamous Kylo Ren, and she certainly didn't want him to find out where it was they were going.

'Somewhere safe.' She replied. He was too tired to question her further, he would just have to trust her.

'Are you okay?' His voice was beginning to slur, but his concern for her still caused a lump to form in her throat.

'I'm fine, now rest.' She fuelled her final words with a small push of her force powers, and in his state, he was powerless to resist her. His head slumped down onto his chest.

She programmed the coordinates for Ahch-To into the ships computer. She would need to keep Ben unconscious during the duration of their stay there, he wouldn't forgive her if he found out she'd taken him to his uncle. But she couldn't think of any other options. Once the First Order found the body, them missing and Snoke's shuttle gone, it wouldn't take them long to figure out what had happened to both Ben and his former master. They were fugitives now, but for some reason it didn't scare her as much as it should have.

The computer finished its calculations and she watched the shuttle cockpit turn a pale blue as it made the jump to hyperspace. She risked another glance over at her partner, seeing the slight movements of his chest as he breathed. It surprised her how glad she was of this, as her eyelids slowly fell closed and she dropped further down into her seat.

'Rey. Rey, come on.' She felt someone tugging on her, then her body was lifted into a pair of strong arms. Her head hung backwards, and the scent of the ocean filled her nostrils. She opened her bleary eyes and saw the upside-down waves of a calm ocean nearby.

'What are you even doing back here?' The voice mumbled to itself, 'Of all the stupid, reckless…' It trailed off as sleep claimed her once again.

The next time she woke the world was much darker, something that her throbbing head was very grateful for. She knew her surroundings immediately, they were in Luke's old hut on Ahch-To. A fire crackled merrily nearby, warming the small space, as Luke pottered around. It was crowded with two of them there, and the low bed she lay on had been shoved haphazardly against the sloping walls. She lifted her hand gingerly to her head, the blood had caked into her hair, but at least she was no longer bleeding freely. Luke sensed her waking up, turning to look her in the eye. His face gave away nothing of his emotions and his walls were firmly up around his mind.

'Where is he?' She asked guiltily, her voice quiet.

'He's safe. I fixed him up as best I could. It's been a few years and I'm a bit rusty, but he'll live. Not so sure how happy I am for that, but there it is. What were you thinking, Rey, bringing him here?' Rey felt like a child being scolded by a parent. Didn't he understand that she hadn't exactly had a galaxy of options open to her when she'd chosen to return to Ahch-To?

'I don't know, I just… I needed somewhere safe for us and this was the first place that came to mind.' Luke's shoulders sagged, what little fight left in him expelled in a single long breath.

'Well, he's unconscious for now and I'll try to keep him like that for as long as I can. You both need to be away from here before he wakes up though.' Rey nodded. She knew that no matter how deeply Luke had put Ben under, he was still a uniquely powerful force user. His own powers would inevitably break through the fog covering his mind, and she needed to have him back on the ship and far away by then.

'I know.'

Luke made his way around the fire, coming to sit next to Rey on the small pallet, 'Why are you both here, Rey?'

How could she even begin to explain everything that had happened to her master. She rubbed at her forehead in frustration. From that first time seeing Ben in her hut, to the force vision they'd both seen, to the sudden and inexplicable need she felt inside her to see him safe; she could barely wrap her own mind around her life now, let alone share it with someone else.

'It's called a force bond.' He said. Rey was speechless; how did he know about this?

'When you leave here, get Ben to help you with your defences. It's like watching a holovid, the way you're shouting your thoughts into my head.' He said with a small smile. Her mouth closed with a snap.

'Then how…'

He held up a hand to silence her, 'They're rare, in all the texts I've come across I've only ever heard of a handful. Usually they require a lot more… I don't know,' His hand twirled in the air as he tried to find the right word, '…interaction, than you two have had. If you're looking for answers as to how it happened, I can't help you. You've only known each other a handful of weeks, as far as I know this should be impossible.'

'I already know how it happened.' She said angrily, 'It was Snoke. He told us that he was the one who created the bond.'

He put his hand gently on her shoulder, instantly soothing her rising anger. 'Then he lied, Rey,' Luke said quietly, tilting his head to look at her face more closely, 'he's incredibly powerful but he could never manipulate a force bond like that. They're a product of trust and understanding. They need the light to be created and to survive.'

'You mean, he was powerful. He's just dead now.' She knew that a true Jedi shouldn't gain as much pleasure as she did at the memory of Snoke's body split in two, but for now she couldn't find it in herself to care. She was glad he was dead. He had underestimated both her and Ben, and now he lay dead before his throne, his eyes left wide in surprise at the betrayal of his most faithful apprentice.

Luke's face was frozen in shock, his thoughts running too quickly. She may have had great potential inside of her, but she had only been training for a number of weeks. How had she managed to bring down someone as ancient and powerful as Snoke?

'Ben killed him.' She said suddenly, interrupting him, 'I was completely at his mercy, I couldn't move and Snoke had my lightsaber. Then he ordered Ben to kill me, and he could have done. It would have been so easy for him. But he chose to kill Snoke and save me.' She stared at Luke accusatorily, 'I told you there was still light in him.'

He took a moment to absorb everything he'd just heard, 'Rey, one good deed doesn't erase a history of darkness.'

'Just as one mistake doesn't darken a lifetime of light.' She said to him pointedly. She knew that his misgivings about Ben stemmed from his own failings, and her words hit him harder than he would have liked. The air became awkward and heavy around them, and Rey decided to move on to something a little less morbid.

'So, what exactly should I expect from this bond? Am I suddenly going to fall madly in love with him or something?' A wry smile came to her lips.

'Nothing quite so drastic I'm afraid.' Luke replied, 'From what I've read it's like… like the other person becomes a piece of you. Your feelings become clearer to one another. It'll be easier for him to see into your mind, not that that isn't already pretty easy.' She nudged his body with her own in fake annoyance and they both laughed, though hers was tinged with nerves. This bond sounded terrifying to someone who had always been alone as she had, being so vulnerable with another person was not in her nature.

'Does it mean we'll be stuck together? I'm not entirely certain that's something either of us could survive. I mean, if you count every conversation we've had so far, most have ended in either shouting, an argument or in serious injuries.'

'Search your feelings, Rey. What do they tell you?' She huffed slightly. It never was easy with Master Skywalker.

She closed her eyes, centring her feelings on the man still unconscious in the nearby hut. She couldn't get anywhere near his mind, Luke had put him into a deep sleep to give them at least a day or two to recuperate. But just knowing that he was nearby, that he was safe with her and his uncle spread a rare warmth through her heart. It was the same addictive feeling she'd felt in her vision of the two of them together. She would be unwilling to ever give up such a feeling.

Her eyes remained closed as she began trying to explain how she felt, 'I think of him and it feels… right? As though I've been missing something and now I have it, and it's up to me to keep it safe.'

'Rey, you don't need to say it aloud, just continue like this and I'll sense your feelings.'

She thought of Ben further, this time the darker things he'd done. The fear she'd felt back on Takodana when he'd held her unmoving in his grasp. Seeing his masked face in the interrogation room, knowing that he was about to take from her her secrets, her insecurities, her memories. Seeing him kill… no, she didn't want to dwell on that. It made her grit her teeth, her own darkness rising and screaming at her that such a monster deserved to have been left behind to die on the Supremacy. But her heart twinged at this thought, it needed him by her side. She knew that she couldn't survive without him, he was as much a part of her now as she was of him. It would a lot of take her time though to reconcile her head and heart, if she ever could.

'You're torn, Rey.'

'I'm scared. How will we ever be able to find peace together? We hate each other.'

'You need to learn to understand one another.'

'Understand?' She scoffed, 'I thought you hated him for what he's done? He murdered your students, his own father. He burned down your temple and stopped the Jedi from returning, and you want me to what… sympathise with him?'

He took a moment to collect his thoughts, and his voice was quiet and contemplative when he began to speak, 'I may not condone what he's done, but I've had many years to come to understand his reasoning, as warped as it's been. And you wouldn't have gone to try and turn him if you weren't beginning to feel the same way.'

He was right. She knew that their time in each other's heads had created something between them, something that had nothing to do with their bond. When he'd kissed her in the throne room, she hadn't wanted to push him away, she'd wanted to pull him closer. He'd been grabbing onto her tightly, unwilling to let go for even a second, and she'd felt the hard lines of him pressing closely against her much softer curves. Their bond had opened up and she'd felt the need emanating from him, coming at her in strong waves. An awkward cough brought her unexpectedly from her thoughts. Judging from the small blush on Luke's face, she'd been projecting again, and quite loudly. He chose to change the subject to something a little less embarrassing for the girl than his nephew.

'So, what are your plans for when you leave here?' He asked.

'I don't know. The plan was to run, I didn't really think of anything beyond that.' She admitted. Luke sighed and got up from his seat next to her. Clearly, they were going to need some help if the two of them wanted to remain hidden permanently. He pulled out a small memory chip from a nearby desk drawer and handed it to her.

'Here.'

She turned it over in her hands, there were no discerning marks on the chip, 'What is it?'

'A map. There's a system marked on there, deep in the outer rim. Leia, Han and I stumbled across it during a mission years ago that… well, let's just say that Han was in charge of that particular mission.'

'So things didn't go according to plan?'

'Exactly.' Luke chuckled.

'We were stranded on a planet there for a while, Nocoma I think it was, and we got to know the area pretty well. When we eventually got the ship working again and made it back to the rebellion, Leia made it her mission to clear the planet from the few navigational charts it was actually mapped on. Said she might need it one day for another rebel base.' That sounded just like the legendary General Rey had heard stories of in her childhood; driven, determined, and always prepared for anything. At least she could be sure that if Leia had had any hand in preparing the planet then it would have the basics necessary to make it inhabitable, if not comfortable.

'So only you and Leia know about it then?'

'Yes, so don't go there unless you don't mind her finding you. I'm only giving it to you because I can't imagine you staying out of the fight for long.' No, he was wrong. She'd promised Ben that they would, and she would try everything to keep her word. But it wouldn't hurt to keep the chip, just in case.

'Thank you, Luke. I'll keep it safe.'

'Good. Good.' His eyes trailed off, his mind clearly distracted by something as it often was, and he turned to leave the hut.

'Luke?' She had one more question that had been burning in her mind since she'd woken up. He stopped but didn't turn back to her, 'What's it like, seeing him again?'

Rey could see his shoulders shift slightly as he took in a long draw of air. She felt her throat tightening, the tears beginning to form behind her eyes as her master's strong feelings leeched into her mind.

'I've missed him.' He could only give her this. He had failed Ben, even before that night, by always keeping him at a distance from both himself and the other students. Now it was too late. He didn't deserve her pity, and Ben didn't deserve to be weighed down by Luke's lingering feelings of guilt. He carried on out of the hut, leaving her alone to her thoughts. It took her only a few heartbeats before she was up on her feet and heading to Ben's hut.

She pushed aside the curtain at the entrance, and the heat hit her almost immediately. Luke had set the fire roaring in the small space and sweat quickly began beading on her forehead as she moved to sit beside her partner. He looked so peaceful in sleep, even with the multitude of scars and bruises that currently littered his face. The space between his eyes had lost the deep groove that was usually settled there, and his mouth was no longer downturned in anger. It was as if she were seeing only the younger Ben Solo, before Kylo Ren had taken over his life.

His long hair was once again plastered to his forehead and curling handsomely around the edges of his face. Rey didn't think she'd ever get over seeing something so ordinary and human on him, she couldn't imagine him having a 'bad hair day'. But that was what he was, just a man. An incredibly powerful man who had made terrible, disgusting choices in his life, but still just a man. A man that her life was now inextricably tied to.

She leaned forwards, close to his ear, not wanting anyone to hear but him. Her words came out in a low, shaky voice, one that was still filled conflict and doubts, 'I swear, Ben. I will try my best with you. I know it won't be easy; neither of us are exactly known for our friendly personalities, but I will try. This bond makes me feel better, less alone in the galaxy. I don't want to lose that because you're too busy being, well, you know how you can be.' She released a breath that brushed over his face, 'Just… just promise me that you'll try too.' She collected herself for a moment, finding that calm space inside herself as Luke had taught her to do, gaining the courage to lie down by his side. If Luke could admit that he'd missed his nephew, could begin to forgive the past after everything he'd done, then she swore that she would try too.