Rey finds Leia's hidden wardrobe in Varykino Retreat, containing Padme's wedding dress among other things. The dress triggers a powerful vision and Rey happily succumbs to it.
Rey wakes up from the meditation and slowly descends on her feet. She has the look of a child waken up on the morning of the Festival of Light and picks the saber up with outmost awe. She fears she might break it in two or disrupt it in some other way. But the beam is steady and the buzz it emits is almost barely audible.
Across the energy beam, she sees Ben's awe-struck face. He smiles.
„I should really wake up right now", she says with child-like sincerity.
„What makes you say that?", he asks, genuinely amused.
„It cannot be... all of this", she whispers merrily, just holding the saber in front of her like a delicate butterfly that would somehow escape if she moved too violently.
He smiles and walks slowly towards her. It's that moment she reiterated in her mind, but now, there is no ominous crimson glow around them, the dead bodies lying scattered as a testament to their brutal strength and the walls of the craft crumbling around them. The morning is early and bright, and it lights up the white-walled room around them.
She lets him place his bare hand across hers and across the hilt. Nothing – except the warmth of that touch, and the reassurance. Jakku children told stories of knights of the old pledging their loyalty to their princesses – it is a simple-minded comparison, but it is stuck in Rey's mind. Something genuine and uncorrupted about the whole thing makes her think of those fairy tales.
Finn's wide-eyed face protrudes from the half-opened door.
„Can you believe this?", she exclaims, smiling brightly and wild with joy, again like a child eager to show her most precious toy and most precious possession to her friend.
She pulls the saber gently from under Ben's grip and turns to Finn. A part of her is a definite show-off: she gains courage to spin the blade around her, letting the plasma beams buzz and sing and make a whipping sound. The years of quarterstaff use pay off beautifully – both Ben and Finn observe her with awe.
„I really can't", Finn says eventually and smiles almost as brightly as she. „Rey – Rose is awake since early this morning. Kay contacted us some minutes ago".
As they pack to leave, which fills both of them with sort of tender sorrow – no one wants to leave this place that harbors so much light and substitute it with the old road of uncertainty and war – Rey senses something new. It is wall, or something behind it. Another chamber – hidden, but built in between two rooms. She glances at Ben, but he is seemingly unaware. That is something built after his time spent here and he can't pick that energy right away.
„I don't know", he says, sincerely. „Why don't you ask Poe?"
Rey waves with her hand. „He's too preoccupied with other things. He already thinks we're just a bunch of disoriented kids he needs to be nanny to".
He grins – in a way, she is so right. But her natural inquisitiveness doesn't let her be. Just 10 minutes, she thinks. It will be enough. The presence is growing stronger, although it's muffled. It's like a desert flower she saw here and there on cacti of Jakku – for a long time, they are nothing more than unsightly lumps on the plant, and then, suddenly, they would burst open into opulent colors and majestic forms. A stark contrast to the unforgiving environment of the ravished planet.
Rey goes to the wall that felt so inviting and places her ear against it.
It is probably the effect of the saber re-activated, but she feels the gentle pull of the Force to one particular point. She presses the apparently empty wall, and as she suspected, it is a touch screen very similar to Ben's.
„You really don't know what this is?", she asks. „The design is very similar to yours".
He shakes his head, genuinely perplexed.
Small door barely opens, functioning on drained batteries. Both Ben and Rey have to push in to open it completely. Behind it, a windowless chamber appears. The air is perhaps five years old, no more. He has already deflected from the new Jedi order. No way he could know about this place, but it dawns on him immediately who built it.
„Mother", he whispers, and his voice trembles.
Rey's throat closes – the chamber is in semi-dark, even with the bright light of that day, and she activates the glow rod to illuminate their path.
First she can't recognize what those things are, hanging neatly placed and packed from reels spanning from wall to wall. But Ben knows.
„Her possessions", he says in a low voice, glued to the entrance. „And Padme's. Whatever she found. I didn't know she moved them in here".
Rey is already inside and glances over her shoulder at him. He is practically crucified at the door.
„Amazing the First Order didn't trash this whole place down", she says, trying somehow to pull him from this miserable state. „Or the Master of the Knights of Ren – I heard stories. He was a tyrant. And then a young Jedi saved him, to dismay and delight of many".
„Fairy-tales, kid", he says, smiling palely, but appreciating her effort.
She comes back to him and takes him by his hand.
„Come", she whispers. „You need this. She made all of this with the hope you'll once come back. Why would she use the same design you did?"
In the dim light it's hard even for her to tell for sure, but she can almost swear his eyes are welling over with tears.
Reluctantly, he enters.
„The dress she wore at the celebration of defeat over the Empire, when the first Death Star was destroyed", he mutters awkwardly and points to a delicate textile hanging under shiny synthetic wrappings.
Rey is amazed. These were the things that were the material of fairy-tales. Not in a million years would she believe she would be plunged into this world of Resistance fighters and princesses and dark knights. I surely, positively must be dreaming, she says to herself and for a moment, even forgets about his pain. Another thing, resembling wings of a giant butterfly pressed gently together, attracts her attention. She comes closer to inspect the intricate fabric, a sort she never saw before (then again, her pinnacle were her Jedi tabard and grey woolen hood, reinforced to sustain rain – and that's all). It's lace, and it's white. She is really wonderfully clueless, despite all her Jedi insights. Not to embarrass herself fully with her complete lack of knowledge, she lets the object speak for itself.
The thing – the dress, because it is what it is, she thinks and blushes over – pulls her into what feels like a vision of past. A young Jedi knight stands before her, smiling gently and passionately at her. Something about him resembles both Luke and Ben... she holds and blushes some more. Rey's eyes fall on the scabbard – it's the Skywalker's saber, no question about it. She darts a glance to the lake underneath, and sees not her face, but a face of a beautiful young woman, almond-shaped eyes, dressed in this lavish lace dress with an elaborate head-piece.
Although she feels like she crashed on someone else's memory, the environment isn't threatening at all. She was placed here with a reason. Nothing happens coincidentally in the Force.
„I really should not be here", she murmurs automatically in her vision and in that chamber.
At first, Ben thought she fell asleep on her feet – it happened to him multiple times, and he remembers the toll the construction of his saber took on him. But then he realizes where she is standing.
„Rey", he tries to call her, gently. That object isn't connected with good outcomes, and he is weary of loss.
„Rey!" , he raises his voice and tries to shake her shoulders, although very gently. She doesn't need to see that vision until the end. Her lack of knowledge is a blessing, not a curse.
In the vision, Rey practically tries to excuse herself and leave. It's almost comical, she thinks and looks at the ornaments of her dress – pearls and complex embroidery. She never wore something like this and it looks downright awkward on her and feels unnervingly real. Her hands, hardened with years of rough work, act against the delicate strands of the lace with the grace of desert burdocks she used to plant for nutrition and as a water source on Jakku. And as she raises her gaze, the Jedi knight kisses her. Gods of the galaxy. She managed this better on Takodana.
And another embarrassing realization – is she actually being kissed by Anakin Skywalker? This is just... beyond ridiculous. She suspected the Force had a sort of twisted humor before, but this takes the trophy. The fact she was graced with rebirth of her saber probably had to be balanced out with this mockery. As she scrambles to glue herself from the man, as piously as she can, given he is Anakin Skywalker after all, she realizes the man is taller, although dressed the same as his predecessor.
It's Ben. Longer hair and beard than she remembers, but it's him. Smiling at her. Their foreheads practically touching.
Rey can't discern if it is for better or for worse and shudders.
„Are you alright, sweetheart?", he asks her gently. Sweetheart. Like that voice, again. It seemed as if all her senses, memories and all her imagination come back at her to mock her and to taunt her. She was a nothing and a scavenger, now she's this – sweetheart. It would all be so surreal, hadn't his tender breath on her forehead felt so real – then again, everything so far felt so real, her rough hands included. Only she would come to her own wedding in a beautiful dress and with unkempt hands and nails.
Then it dawns on her. She has mere minutes on disposal and a phantom can't make objections, after all.
„This is a dream, and I'll wake up", she says to the phantom and smiles, caressing his scarred cheek. The scar looks older and fainter in that vision, so she's completely positive she's safe with what she's about to do. He smiles back at her and winks: „You always say that".
She leans into him and stretches to the very tip of her toes. She kisses him back and is rather satisfied with both her skills and his reaction. Whatever happens in the future, he is healed and he enjoys the simple contact of their lips and just a bit of her tongue. Seconds later, she realizes she is actually levitating some centimeters over the ground. Rey giggles into his mouth. A Jedi wedding isn't something covered by the ancient texts. Uneti tree didn't burn for nothing. She closes her eyes and they kiss again, for what feels a lot longer than few seconds. Time holds to a standstill and Rey almost forgets how to breathe. Her hands go deep into the folds of his dark Jedi robes and her heart swells with pride of how handsome and noble and steadfast he is. She doesn't care if the vision is just a projection of her clandestine wishes or a glimpse of a future; she simply needs him and his gentleness so much.
„Rey", his voice now sounds more passionate and more startled.
„What", she utters and opens her eyes to the twilight of that chamber and to the realization she is actually kissing Ben, in reality of the present moment.
He didn't recoil back, but he's looking visibly uneasy and a question looms over his head. Given what he thinks about the visions, this one took him off his guard. He didn't peel her off only because he was afraid it would somehow harm her, that's how deep her trance appeared.
„You called me Anakin", he says and frowns. It is mostly concern about the meaning of the vision, but there is also a pang of wounded ego. After all, he was a vain young man still. „Your exact words were: I'm sorry, Anakin, but I have to leave now".
Rey opens her mouth to explain, but realizes it is too late to explain all in great detail now. She pulls him back before he has the time to protest and lets him into her mind. She refrains from kissing this time, but it is formidable tasks given his lips seem so inviting and so sensual, the previous contact drawing blood into that region.
She expected the vision would act soothingly and optimistically on him, but it's quite the opposite – he frowns and tenses. His gaze darkens and he says nothing.
„Do not trust the visions, even when they come from the Light Side", he says eventually. „The whole Jedi council full of well-meaning Light Siders misinterpreted the prophecy of the chosen one and it gave birth to the destroyer of the worlds, to Darth Vader. The man you so affectionally called Ani before".
He goes one step back and frowns some more.
„Let these things stay here", he says rather dryly. „They are here with a good reason".
And before she has the time to retort, Poe's voice echoes from the communicator.
„It's time", he says. „Our allies on Naboo informed us Theed is swarming with new squadrons. The whole system is being scanned, as far as Tatooine".
„You heard the General, Master Solo", she snaps back, ashamed and wounded by his scolding tone. Her rucksack is already packed and her saber is finished. The mission is complete as far Naboo is concerned.
„Rey", he says and tries to soften the effect of his words, but she is stubborn, ashamed and hurt.
She almost pushes him as she storms of from the chamber.
Ben stays there for some time, pondering on his lack of manners and his inaptness in kissing. He let her do it only because he was weak and afraid he'll hurt her. And in the end, he hurt her even more.
He puts his hand on his head – no, he let her do it because it felt so exhilarating. First there was the rush of anxiety threatening to sway him away completely. And then her compassion poured from her into him like a waterfall and he couldn't let go. He didn't want to. The sensation of her soft lips surpassed all his languid daydreams. The tug of her hands on his clothes made him tremble with fear and with yearning. He remembers too well the feeling of her back against his in the Throne Room – she didn't merely use him as a support and as someone to watch over her back. Rey was grateful for what he did – amazed and in shock. Her eyes, both pleading and fearless as she was dispatched by Snoke to be executed by him, revealed she was not afraid to die – she was only afraid of dying with the knowledge he was the unredeemable Jedi killer. Her longing for him to be Ben Solo urged him to become what she wanted, or at least the closest thing to it. She kicked two Praetorians violently and he felt her ribs pressing against his. Her hand grazed his hip. And her saber crackled high above his head. There was nothing more beautiful and more terrifying than her intense fragility of that moment. The whole thing haunted all of his nights from Crait to Coruscant incessantly.
He'll take all the scrolls and datapads and give them to her – he will pass the knowledge and it will eventually make her trust him again. He was, after all, a sort of historian of the Jedi order. Probably the worst one (he smiles to himself bitterly), but still the only remaining one in the existence. And what little time he has left with her, he won't squander foolishly like he did this time.
He snaps back into reality and throws another look at the chamber with a sigh. Then he remembers and goes straight to a crate Rey didn't have time to inspect (he grunts at her scavenger's inquisitiveness now). He takes what he thinks might redeem him just a little. It is good his mother left it here – but then again, why would she take it with her or leave anywhere else? That episode of her life was over a long time ago. The small object holds great emotional value and reflects the best moments of his dysfunctional family.
It belongs to this house of mist and memories and longing.
Leia left it for a reason. This place is either a tomb of all of her hopes for the future, or a time capsule she hoped to be re-opened when the time is ripe and her heirs of a sounder mind. He can't know for sure, considering all involved are dead, so he has to take that risk. Perhaps he'll really ask the pilot turned general for some insider information.
Chewbacca growls through the communicator.
„I'm coming", he says, packing all the things in a bundle.