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2 Years 2 Months Earlier…

The rock shifted under her fingertips as she slowly peered her head around the edge of the wall. She wiped away the sweat collecting on her forehead with her other hand, cursing the humidity, and pulled out her binoculars.

One soldier guarding the hole on the East side of the building. Another, reclining on the wall above him. Neither in a position to use their weapons at short notice if they happened to be ambushed by two powerful force users.

Rey put down her binoculars to input her notes into the datapad. For such an infamous and supposedly deadly mercenary group, she was so far unimpressed.

For the past two weeks she and Ben had been separated and scouting out the Blue Suns headquarters by themselves, making note of numbers, guard positions, weaponry, and anything else they could find out that might help them in infiltrating the building.

It was a task made more difficult by the fact that they could only act during the day. All varieties of criminal flooded the city at night, using the enormous maze of rubble and destroyed buildings as the perfect cover for their illegal dealings.

And looking up, Rey could see that after just a few hours the sun was already beginning to set over the city. Why couldn't the mercenary group have just chosen a planet with longer days? And just like clockwork, she began to feel the familiar tugging on her mind, telling her to wrap up whatever she was doing.

In front of her was a security camera on the wall, one of many dotted around the perimeters of the compound. It was one that, thanks to Rey's interference thirty seconds before, was no longer working.

A staticky crackling came through the first soldier's comm link, and he had to bang it against the wall several times before a voice finally managed to break through.

'Dill? You there?'

He grunted in response.

'Camera forty-two is down. Go check it out.'

Another grunt, and the soldier reluctantly got to his feet.

Rey took another look at the datapad she was carrying and noted that between her disabling the camera and the soldier heading to fix it, there was about a forty to forty-five second window. She just hoped that when it came down to it, it would be enough time for her to sneak inside.

Collecting her equipment, Rey pulled away from her spot and clambered down from her perch on the upper floor of an old house.

It was a long run to the outskirts of the city, where their ship had been well hidden within a series of rocky outcroppings, but she didn't mind. It gave her time to relax and unclutter her mind, and the feeling of the breeze against her skin was the perfect balm to the planet's humidity.

Besides, after two weeks spent hunkering down in corners every night, hoping not to be spotted by the locals, Rey was looking forward to sleeping in a proper bunk again.

By the time she reached the ship it was already dark, and she could just make out its hulking form amongst the shadows. The door slid open loudly, and she slipped inside.

What was immediately obvious to her was that Ben had been masking his force signature before, because now the feeling of him surrounding her hit her like a tidal wave. It felt more like home to her now than even the Resistance had in her short time with them, and she allowed herself a moment to draw strength from it.

'Did you get what you needed?'

His voice brought her back from her thoughts, and walking into the main hold of the ship, she could see him in the cockpit, his back to her.

'Everything is on there.' Rey threw her datapad down on the table. 'And it's good to see you too.'

He turned his head slightly to look at her, and she just caught the smile tugging at the corner of his lips. It caused her to smile in return, and she walked over to where he was standing, laying one hand on his shoulder. He had his lightsaber in his hand, a small screwdriver poking out the hole that ran the length of the black casing.

'What are you doing?' She asked.

'Checking the wiring.'

'Have you been having problems with it?' She gently took the saber into her own hands, looking into the hole at the many various wires within. 'It looks fine to me.'

'I know. But something's going on at the camp, and I want to be prepared.'

His smile disappeared, his face turning pensive. She closed her eyes, feeling the anxiety and pent up energy radiating from him in waves, as well as his attempts to conceal it. She dragged her arm down from his shoulder, over his back, and left it circling his waist.

'We have time, Ben. They have no idea that we're here, and as long as we're careful we can spend as long as we want scouting their camp.'

'No.' His voice was firm. 'The number of mercenaries based in the city has dropped drastically in the past few days, and I haven't heard anything about a mission important enough that it might be pulling them away.'

'That's not good.' She murmured against his arm.

'No, it isn't. Which is why we're moving on them tomorrow.' He pulled away from her and headed into the main hold, leaving her standing shocked, arm still outstretched, in the middle of the cockpit. Eventually she regained her voice and ran after him.

'Tomorrow? Ben, that's too soon.'

He pulled out a small holo projector and placed it in the middle of the table. A plan of the area began to spin slowly in front of her, but it wasn't like the ruins that existed there now.

'Do you recognise anything?'

She looked through the hologram at his serious expression, bathed in blue, and rolled her eyes at him. He clearly had no plans to listen to her objections. And she'd learnt from experience that all she could do now was to try and stop him getting himself, or even worse, both of them, killed.

Focusing on the map, it took her a moment to understand their position. It had clearly been made before the attack that had turned the city to ruins, so while the buildings were generally in the same places, they looked completely different.

'This one.' She pointed to a large house on the projection. 'There's an entrance here, but large parts of the walls have been destroyed, which means that it's easily defensible from the inside. There are two guards on it at all times, increasing to four during the thirty minutes when they change over.'

He nodded.

'And this one,' She pointed to another portion of the map, 'has multiple security cameras to deal with the height of the building. The mercenaries themselves can't get up there easily, but the cameras alone give them a good view of the area around it.'

They spent the next several hours talking over the map, pointing out areas of importance and collating all the information they'd each managed to gather on their own, until they were finally prepared with a plan.

'I'll go in from the South,' Ben pointed out his route on the map, 'and take this street straight up to the main courtyard. That's where the main command offices are located. We'll meet there.'

She was confused.

'We can cover more ground and clear out more of the mercenaries if we split up and take separate paths. Then there will be less reinforcements for them to call on if things go wrong.'

He pushed a button on the base of the projector and the map disappeared, and it took Rey a moment to adjust to the darkness around them. The ship was old and to save energy there were only a handful of small battery powered lamps dotted around to light it.

'And less of them to come after us when we're done.' He added as an afterthought.

That caught her attention, and his intentions were clear. 'You're going to kill them.'

'Anyone one that I find.'

She wasn't surprised and she didn't need to explain her thoughts on the matter; they'd had the same conversation multiple times and she had yet to change his mind. He walked over to her, placing his hands on her upper arms and looking straight into her eyes.

'I won't regret it, and I won't be apologising to you for it. You do things your way and I'll do them mine.'

To him, it was clear that the conversation was over, and he turned his back on her for a moment, before coming back with a small, shiny disk in his hand.

She placed a finger on it gently, moving it this way and that, and gasped. 'Where in the galaxy did you get that?'

'I got it when we stopped to take in supplies on that planet in the Aldorus system . And we have more of them. A lot more of them.'

As it always did when they connected themselves through the force, the world turned silent for a moment, and as she looked to her left, she could see him crouched beside her.

'You're in position?' He asked quietly.

She nodded back.

'And it's all clear?'

Rey lifted her head up for one final check of the area and nodded again.

He reached out to take her hand in his and gave it a small squeeze. 'Then good luck.'

You too. She mouthed back at him.

She felt his hand disappear from her grip and forced herself to concentrate. She slowly breathed in and out, in and out, widening her senses to get a greater feel of the base in front of her. She wouldn't be able to keep it up for long, but long enough to get inside without raising the alarms.

Her first point of attack were the security cameras dotted around the outside of the building. There were two directly in front of her, and she held out her hand, focusing on the wires that connected them to the building. One by one she pulled them out, until the lights went dead, and they hung down limply on their brackets.

Taking her chance, she dashed across the empty land that ran the perimeter of the compound and skidded behind a wall, disturbed dust flying up around her face. She focused on it and held it, floating, in the air. As it hovered, she placed one of the small, metallic disks on the wall, making sure it lit up before getting back to her feet and making her way towards a small side entrance. As she moved, she released the dust, using it to cover the marks she'd left on the ground.

Behind the door she could feel two of the mercenaries, but before she could make her move, it slammed open. She had only a second to act as one of them made his way angrily through, and in her panic, she took her lightsaber and smashed the handle of it as hard as she could into his face.

He went down. Hard.

His friend inside called out to him and rushed over, his own weapon drawn, and it was just the opening she needed. Rey lit her lightsaber and swiped at his legs. The gash was deep enough that he also fell to the floor next to his partner, and when he was down, she quickly placed her hands to his temples and used her powers to knock him out completely.

A quick sweep of the area told her that there was no one else in the immediate vicinity, and she took a moment just to re-centre herself. She'd moved too quickly, not taking the time to focus on where exactly in the room the guards were and their intentions. It was a mistake she was hoping not to repeat.

She'd just been lucky that the second soldier had been dumb enough to face her instead of sounding the alarm.

But there was little time for her to think on it, and she made her way over to the entrance on the other side of the room. According to the map it led to what used to be an alleyway, a long, open space where she'd need to keep her guard up all the way.

Rey opened the door and pressed herself against the wall on one side of the alley. Above her she could hear the occasional stomp of boots as the guards patrolled the top of the walls, but they were looking for intruders, never considering that someone may already be inside.

She shuffled down the alley, every so often bending down and placing another of the small disks against the wall. She kept her senses alert every step of the way, hoping more than anything that no one would catch her. But when she'd almost made it to the other side, she felt the lifeform moving distinctly towards her.

Her reaction was immediate, and her hand flew out into the air before her. She focused her mind on the soldier, honing in on its intentions and moulding them to her will. Its footsteps faltered, and she could feel it becoming less and less sure of itself. Slowly, it put both feet back on the ground, considering its actions before turning on the spot. It began to head back the way it had come, its stride becoming more confident with each step.

It was only after Rey was certain that the creature had gone that she finally let her hold on its mind fall away. She slipped slightly down the wall, wiping away the sweat falling down her face and trying to relax her harried breathing.

How did Ben find it so easy?

She managed to gather herself quickly, aware of the guards still above her, and continued towards the centre of the base.

Fortunately, the rest of her journey to the courtyard was uneventful. Yet this worried Rey more than if the path had been completely littered with mercenaries. Over the two weeks she'd been scouting, she'd seen hundreds of them going back and forth across the compound. And now, suddenly, they were gone.

Even when she reached the very edge of the central courtyard, it was empty. The birds above her screeched, the light breeze rustled the scrub that had popped up in places, but she couldn't hear a single person.

Something was wrong.

She tried to focus on the bond, to blow it wide open so she could warn Ben to stay away. But before she had the chance, she spotted his dark figure cutting across the other side of the courtyard.

'We've spent a long time trying to find you both again.'

The voice echoed through the space, and when Rey looked up, she saw a figure that hadn't been there before stood on the dais at the top of the courtyard. It was dressed in armour from head to toe, but unlike the common soldiers Rey had seen so far, it was in perfect condition, the sun above reflecting off the polished blue surface.

'You may as well come out. We've been following you since the moment you entered the compound.'

We?

Rey looked over at Ben and saw him slowly nod at her. She stood from her position, as he did, and pulled her lightsaber into her hand, igniting it before she stepped out into the courtyard.

'And you're the commander here?' Ben asked.

'I am. Welcome.'

It was all the information they needed. Ben twirled his lightsaber in his hand, and Rey lifted her own. He was getting ready to move.

But then he stopped.

Two shadowy figures appeared behind the commander. Rey recognised their style of dress immediately; it was the same as Ben had worn before he'd left the First Order.

But even if she hadn't noticed that detail, the waves of darkness radiating from them would have told her all she needed to know. It was almost suffocating just to be this close to them, and she could feel Ben in her mind, fighting with her to keep them at bay.

'That's them.' He said quietly, 'The Knights of Ren.'

'I know.'

Ben stepped behind her to whisper in her ear, but his eyes never left the figures.

'If we want to get out of this alive, we'll need to work together. Open your mind to me Rey.'

'It is.' She replied, but she already knew that she was lying.

In trying to keep the Knights out, her instincts were screaming at her to close her mind to everything. He was forcing himself through the gaps to help her, and no matter how much she wanted to let him in, she didn't know if she could.

'No, it isn't. Don't be afraid, I'm here. I'll help you.' He stayed behind her, taking hold of her left hand in his.

'And so, the traitor finally makes himself known.'

'You've done well keeping yourself hidden for so long.'

Their voices were hollow and grating, and she could feel the heat of Ben's fury in her mind as the two Knights spoke, the grip on her hand tightening. But he was trying to hold it back, focusing as much as he could on her.

'You can do it.' He whispered.

'The Supreme Leader took you in when you had nowhere to go.' The Knights spoke together, as one voice. 'He honoured you as his apprentice. He would be sorely disappointed to see you give everything up for this.'

'Snoke twisted my mind.' Ben bit out. 'He used all of us to get what he wanted.' His hand was crushing hers. 'And the last thing he saw was Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber cutting his body in two. He. Is. Dead.'

Their response was quiet.

'For now.'

As one, the Knights ignited their lightsabers. They leapt high into the air, landing only a few feet in front of them, and their crossed sabers flew down in an arc towards them.

Rey's instincts took over, self-preservation blowing their bond wide open in desperation, and now she could feel Ben in every part of her mind. Just as she could feel herself in every part of his.

And as one, Rey and Ben responded in kind, holding their own weapons aloft to stop the oncoming attack, before they both kicked out their feet into their opponents' chests.

They stumbled backwards, and out of the corner of her eye she could see the small smirk on Ben's face. He was enjoying the rush of a true fight, one between powerful force users, and the excitement flooded her own thoughts.

But the Knights didn't stay back for long, and as they attacked once more, they all finally broke apart, taking the battle in two different directions.

The Knight fighting her was clearly well trained. His blows were precise and rained down on her with little chance for her to catch her breath between them. But with their bond open, she had access not only to Ben's strength and his thoughts, but also a lifetime of training overseen by the two most powerful force users in the galaxy.

With this knowledge somehow inside her head, her saber seemed to move with a life of its own. Before she could even consider her actions, she would be blocking a swipe or twisting her body to enact her own attacks. It was as though she had been training for years, not months.

And she could tell that she was gaining the upper hand.

With every cut of her lightsaber, he grew angrier, and it was this that made him weaker. His own movements were growing sluggish, and his actions less considered, and with one final push, he was thrown to the ground several feet away from her. She walked up to him, standing over his body. He was trying to get to his feet, but her powers were great, and she held him firmly trapped on the ground.

'The two of you will never be safe.' His voice was strained, and he forced the words out. 'Duna Ren is coming for you both, she will kill you. And when she does, we will finally join our master in the force.'

Rey raised her lightsaber above her head, poised to make the killing blow, but it wasn't her mind controlling her actions. Her hands seemed desperate to kill, but once her mind had caught up with what was happening, it began fighting it, screaming at her not to move her body.

She looked over at Ben, whose stance seemed to mirror her own. All except his face. He was focused completely on the Knight at his feet, pure hatred written across his features. Then she looked up at the commander, still standing motionless on the dais. It was as though time had frozen as she fought harder and harder against whatever was trying to control her actions.

And from behind her, there was a sudden explosion.

They needed to leave.

The noise seemed to have distracted whatever was in her mind, and she was finally able to lower her saber, running towards Ben but keeping her hold on the Knight.

'Come on! We have to go!' She shouted. More explosions began, moving closer and closer, but he wasn't moving.

She couldn't think of what else to do, and threw herself at him, hooking an arm around his waist and trying to drag him backwards. But he was too strong for her, and despite her best efforts he wasn't moving anywhere.

A sharp pain suddenly lanced through her leg, and she stumbled, only managing to stay upright because of her hands still on Ben. She looked down to see blood slowly blossoming out through the fabric of her trousers, and a quick glance to her side showed the cause. A mercenary, his blaster held out and pointed directly at her.

But he didn't shoot again. His entire body had gone still, except the hands that had moved to his throat, grasping it at wildly. She could hear the loud choking sounds echoing around the courtyard, but it wasn't just him. She looked around and saw several other soldiers who'd appeared at the edges of the courtyard all clutching at their throats too.

And it was with one resounding crack that they all suddenly fell silent. Their bodies slumped before falling to the ground completely, like marionettes having their strings cut.

She saw Ben's arm outstretched towards the first soldier, his hand clenched tightly in a fist. Then another explosion, this one at the edge of the courtyard and throwing rocks high up into the air. His hand flew to the direction of the rubble, holding it in place just as Rey had done earlier with the dust on the ground.

But instead of letting it down as she had, it moved rapidly across the sky, until it was hovering ominously above the Knights.

Ben pulled her closer to his side, forcing them both to step back several paces, before finally letting go of the rocks. They crashed down to the ground, and all Rey could do was close her eyes against the sight of the Knights being crushed by the weight. But she couldn't stop the sight of the small river of blood escaping from under the rocks and slowly flowing down across the ground to where they stood.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Rey pulled herself up to her full height, moving her hands from his waist, up to his face.

She pulled his face down so that he was finally looking at her.

'We have to go.' She whispered.

There was a beat of silence. 'Okay.' He said quietly, before picking her up into his arms and turning away from the carnage.

There were more explosions, this time coming from the South side where Ben had been. Chunks of rock and debris were thrown across them, and she raised her arms to protect Ben's head from them. But she needn't have done anything, as they were all stopped in the air above them, only dropping when it was safe to do so.

And as she looked back through the clouds of dust and rubble, all Rey could see was the shiny blue armour of the Blue Suns commander making its way undamaged in the opposite direction.

Ben held her close to his chest as he made his way quickly to the ship. They'd placed bombs all over the compound, but it wouldn't be long before the survivors started making their way out of the rubble. He wanted them to be long gone before then.

He lay her down gently on the bunk before making his way over to the cockpit, grasping tightly to his side with one hand.

Throwing himself down into the pilot's chair, he started the sequence for them to take off. He could still hear Rey's groans of pain over the engines, but he tried to block them out, focusing instead on just getting them as far away from the system as he could.

But his mind wouldn't stop turning over the events in the compound. Where before he'd been certain about what needed to be done, now he was filled with questions.

Why had the Knights joined forces with the mercenaries?

What part did Duna Ren play in all this?

Why had they been so easily killed?

And why had half of the Blue Suns all disappeared, when their goal seemed to be to see him and Rey dead? Where were they?

Hopefully he would have time to discover the answers to these questions, but for now he had to take care of Rey. He noticed how tight his grip on the controls had become, and released them slowly, flexing his fingers. He got up and walked over to Rey, picking up the med kit on the way and sitting beside her injured leg.

He slowly peeled away the material of her blood-soaked leggings, and immediately saw a large laser burn making its way across the side of her thigh. It had caught her quite deeply, but a quick scan of the wound showed him that she would survive, just with a large scar on her leg. He heard a sharp intake of breath as he pulled at a place where the fabric had gotten stuck, but without medication there was little he could do to help her with the pain, other than by distracting her.

'Stop moving.'

'It hurts.' She groaned.

He took a deeper look inside the wound, his fingers pressing in deeply and he could see her fingers shaking at her sides as she held herself up on her elbows. He couldn't see anything that would cause permanent damage and so he reached for the bacta, hoping that the soothing sensation of the gel would help her a little.

'I haven't set any real coordinates into the navicom.' He said quietly, 'I just told it to get us out of there. Any suggestions?'

She groaned as he touched her again. 'Maybe somewhere with an ocean.'

'And lots of beaches?'

'No. Beaches mean sand. I want rocks and forests and lakes, and no sand.'

He chuckled slightly. Above him, he could hear her release a shaky breath.

'Ben, I need to ask you something.'

Noticing the serious expression on her face, he stopped the movement of his fingers on her thigh. 'Anything.'

'Back there, when that Knight was on the ground, were you…' She trailed off, almost afraid of the answer, 'When we were fighting, did you… were you controlling me or something?'

He looked back down, scooping more of the bacta onto his fingers and rubbing across her wound. 'A little, during the fight. And after… I knew you didn't have the strength to do it. He would have killed you in a heartbeat if he'd had the chance; it was why they were there in the first place.'

He could still feel her gaze burning into the back of his head. 'You're not a killer, Rey. And in that moment, I needed you to be.'

There was silent, until he felt her fingers on his chin, lifting his head up so he'd be forced to meet her eyes.

'Don't do it again.'

He was silent as he thought on her words, but eventually he nodded at her. He took hold of the hand still under his chin, puling it away and placing it in her lap, before twisting to fetch the bandages behind him.

But now that the adrenaline was wearing off, he wasn't prepared for the pain that shot through his side. Rey noticed immediately as his hand instinctively flew down to place pressure on it.

'What is it? Move your hand, let me see.' She pulled his hand away roughly from his side, but where there was a large gash in his clothing, there was no blood to indicate that there was a problem.

Her hands tugged at him a few more times, before giving up and moving to pull at the collar of his coat. 'Take this off.'

He was reluctant, but Rey was making it very clear that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. So instead, he slowly helped her to remove his layers of clothing, suppressing the groans that threatened to come out whenever he pulled at the injury.

It took several minutes to carefully remove his many layers of protective clothing, but eventually they did, and he heard Rey's gasp as she finally saw what had happened.

He felt her fingers dancing carefully across the skin around the wound.

'You should have said something.' She was angry with him.

He looked down to his right side, where he saw the large burn cut across his skin. Luckily, the saber had cauterised the wound so he'd barely lost any blood. There was little that could be done with such an injury now, other than to clean it and make sure it didn't get infected.

He held her leg still so that it wouldn't be jostled as she leant over to grab the bacta and bandages. Her fingers were light and delicate on him, and they gave him something to focus on as she quickly got to work.

Looking down at her, he could see the concentration on her face as she cleaned and dressed his side. Her own injuries had been completely forgotten as she focused entirely on taking care of him, and he reminded himself that he still needed to bandage her leg when she'd done with him.

But there was more than that. There was a bruise forming on her temple, and several smaller scrapes decorated her face. Even her hands looked raw, and he could see red lines where she'd been gripping the lightsaber too hard.

She was a fighter; they both were. And they'd once again used their skills to keep each other safe.

She'd taken his knowledge, and used his techniques and learnings, and even his control over her at times, to hold her own in a fight that she should never have had a chance in. And in turn, she'd kept him calm and grounded, her own light flowing through him and giving him a focus he'd never experienced before.

The fight was far from over, but neither of them were alone anymore. They had each other, and the thought of it hit him with force.

'Hey.' He said quietly. She looked up.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips lightly against hers. She was still for too many heartbeats, before he finally felt her pressing back. She began to move against him, pushing both her mouth and body closer to him. Her hands, still covered in bacta, left his side and wrapped themselves around his neck, and he responded by pressing his against the sides of her face.

He felt her tongue press tentatively against his lips, but he wasn't planning to let her in. Instead, he moved his mouth away from hers, pressing light kisses across her cheeks and up her jawline. Her small gasps were the most wonderful sounds, and he wondered what noises he could wring from her if he moved his kisses down to her neck.

But in moving, Ben twisted his side, tugging the wound painfully. He pulled away from her, instinctively curling in on himself, and it took a few seconds for him to get his breath back. Rey pulled her hands away from his neck, trailing the blue gel messily across it.

He looked up. 'You've got bacta all over you.' She laughed breathlessly.

He smiled back at her.

'I really don't care.'

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