Rey stood in front of the window of the large starship, a strong feeling of déjà vu overcoming her. She felt as if her time on Zephus had been some kind of dream, wondering if she had really even been there just two nights before.

Since they'd left the planet, Rey had felt a faint but nagging void within her. She felt as if she'd left something behind, forgotten something, but she'd forced herself to suppress this feeling—at least, as much as she could.

After Rey had made it to their campsite, Poe and the three Organa soldiers had questioned her to no end about what had happened, where she'd been for the past week, but no words would formulate in her head; she'd been in too much shock to speak. Not only was she exhausted, but Rey had felt an emotional conflict within her as Kylo Ren's vision repeated in her mind. Maz had been the only one who perceived how overwhelmed Rey was, and, also sensing her fear, she had ordered the men to leave Rey alone and pack up the campsite immediately.

The entire group—Luke, Finn, and the other Organa soldiers included—were now traveling at full-speed to the Azalea system, to the Order of Organa's headquarters. Rey had told Maz, Luke, and the others only the basics of what had happened to her; the kidnapping, the drugs, Kylo Ren's rescue, her staying at his house, their lightsaber battle. She hadn't told them of her near rape, the memory still too fresh, too real in her mind.

Rey also chose not to tell them about the alleged Force Bond and the vision that Kylo had thrust into her mind.

As the days passed by on the ship, Rey had avoided talking to everyone as much as she could. Poe, Finn, and the others sensed this, and they reluctantly stopped asking her questions about Kylo Ren. Even Luke had stopped inquiring.

It wasn't until several full days had passed on the ship that Rey decided to approach Maz. She found the small woman sitting on the edge of her bed in her sleep chamber, watching the stars pass by out the window.

"I was expecting you to come to me sooner or later," Maz said quietly without turning around.

Rey sat down in a chair across from Maz. "There's something I want to know more about," she said hesitantly.

"Go on," Maz prompted, still facing the other way.

"It's about Force Bonds, I don't know what you know about them. You won't believe this, but Kylo Ren claimed—"

"That you share one," Maz interrupted, turning around.

Rey's eyes widened in astonishment. "You knew?"

"I guessed," Maz said, rising from the bed. "I have been thinking a lot about our last conversation. About how you said that you both felt a connection to each other's minds. I suspected... but I didn't actually think…" she trailed off.

"Why?" Rey asked. "Why a Force Bond? He said it's something that either forms between a master and an apprentice, or someone forges it. Kylo claimed he didn't forge it."

"I can't imagine that he would," Maz said thoughtfully, then nodded. "I believe he is right, I do not think a Force Bond can arise any other way...so someone must have forged it."

"But who? And when?" Rey asked, growing exasperated.

"Those are very good questions to which I do not know the answers," Maz said, shaking her head slowly. "But what I do know is that a Force Bond is a very powerful thing. More powerful than you may currently realize."

Rey grimaced as she considered this."Well, I'm not going to let it get it me," she said, rising.

"Rey," Maz urged, "this is not something you can fight. This is something that is a part of you, whether you want to accept it or not. It is as much a part of you as it is of Ben."

Rey felt perturbed at hearing Kylo's real name. She couldn't think of him as having such a commonplace name as Ben; it seemed so trite.

"How can I get rid of it?" Rey asked, frowning.

"The bond?" Maz asked incredulously. "You cannot."

"What? So I'm stuck with this forever?"

Maz sighed. "As I said, you cannot fight it. You and Ben share something very deep, something that even I do not fully understand, in my thousand years of knowledge about the Force...Whatever the reason is that this bond was formed, you must learn to embrace it."

Rey's thoughts raced as she tried to make sense of the fact that she couldn't get rid of the Force bond, of the small but distinct yearning she felt in her mind. "Maz, I'm afraid," Rey said.

"'Afraid?' That is not the Rey I know. A Force Bond can bring you great strength, even wisdom. Perhaps in time you may come to realize this."

Rey nodded, not fully believing what Maz said, and left.

….

"Leia," Rey exclaimed as she met the General's open arms. After about a week and a half of speedy travel, Rey, Luke, and the others had made it back to the Order of Organa's headquarters in the Azalea system. Leia had requested to speak to Rey in private almost immediately.

"Rey, Luke and Maz have told me what you have been through. I am so very sorry," Leia said, breaking from the hug. Rey thought she looked frail, weaker than before. "They told me that you were with my son," she said, her warm eyes searching Rey's.

"Yes, with Ben," Rey said gently, sitting across from Leia in the small meeting room.

Leia looked pained, and Rey felt an overwhelming pang of sympathy for her, she who had lost her son and, in turn, her lover.

"But, Leia...he saved me," Rey said, wanting to bring her some consolation. "He helped bring me back to health."

Leia's brows knitting together in surprised concern. "He did?" She asked.

Rey nodded. "He cared for me," she continued, reflecting on Kylo's subtle but discernible concern for her. "And then...he let me go."

Leia seemed lost in thought as she stared at the wall past Rey. "Perhaps he really is not so far gone into the dark side," Leia said. "He at least is no longer working with the First Order...or under Snoke," she added.

Rey tilted her head in confusion. "What? How do you know that?"

"We have some sources that are able to give us information about the First Order, though the information we receive is very limited," she said, sighing. "About a year ago we received several reports that Ben had gone missing from the First Order. All this time, Snoke has been looking for him."

"So...he's gone rogue?"

Leia nodded. "Yes. But now you've found him."

….

"The time has come for us to establish a new Galactic Senate," Leia declared, looking around at the group of commanders and leaders within the Order of Organa.

About a month had passed since Rey's arrival to the Organa headquarters on the lush planet of Trora, where she'd slowly begun to return to her former self. Poe and Finn were of course ecstatic that she was no longer so quiet and reclusive, and she had spent most of the past month with them.

Luke, however, had remained noticeably distant from her. Rey wondered whether this was because of his realization of her and Kylo's Force Bond, or due to his overall distress over the attacks that had begun to occur on the Organa Star Fleet.

"The attacks on the Star Fleet are becoming more frequent—and more deadly," Leia continued. "We need an organized, formal governing body to make military decisions as well as to enforce the law in the star systems within our control." Leia's serious gaze moved to Rey.

"As the Chancellor of the Order, I would like to elect Rey Kenobi as a member of the new Senate, to preside over our own Azalea system. Of course, if she accedes to this nomination," Leia said, nodding towards Rey.

Rey's eyes widened and her mind raced as everyone's eyes were on her. A senator? Of the Organa headquarters? This was, of course, a major honor, one that she herself did not think she deserved. But Rey wondered how she would possibly be able to balance both her position as a senator and her apprenticeship under Luke.

"I gratefully accept this position," Rey suddenly declared, to her own surprise.

Leia smiled at her as would a proud mother, and Rey watched as everyone else around the table smiled, too. They had clearly been eager for her to accept the position.

Rey smiled to herself, flushed with gratitude at this newly bestowed honor. But a part of her was upset as she realized that she could no longer be a full-time student of Luke's. Her true desire was to master her skills with the Force, to serve the Order of Organa as a fully-fledged Jedi Knight.

Right after the council meeting, Poe and Finn had both ran up and hugged Rey, giving her their ardent congratulations, but she could only bring herself to smile at them half-heartedly.

...

Later that evening, Rey found Luke speaking to Admiral Ackbar in the dining hall, and she stared at him, signaling him to speak with her. He said something to the Admiral, who nodded, and Luke made his way over to her. His expression was solemn.

"Rey, congratulations again on your new position," Luke said, but his tone was flat. It was clear he knew what she wanted to discuss.

"Luke, how am I to continue my training if I am to oversee the Order's headquarters here, if I am to preside over three whole planets?"

"Rey, this is something I had been meaning to discuss with you, but I feared that if I told you beforehand, you would have declined the position." He sighed heavily, looking into her eyes concernedly. "Rey, I can no longer take you as my apprentice. I cannot teach you full-time, as I had before."

Shock spread across Rey's face. "Wait—you mean, you aren't going to teach me anymore, at all? But how am I going to learn more about the Force, to stop the First Order, to—"

"There are other ways to fight the First Order. The most important things right now are protect our star systems and to spread democracy. The Force will still work in ways of its own."

"But we need greater protection, we need Jedi," Rey protested. "They're the most powerful."

"What we need is a government. Our Star Fleet is already powerful."

"But not powerful enough. Fighter pilots are dying every day, even as we speak," Rey said. She suddenly thought of Poe, wondering how long it would be until he himself would be sent to the front lines of the brewing battle.

"Rey, you must listen to me. The Star Fleet is what we have, and so far it's been a sufficient form of defense. I attempted to train many Jedi through the last Jedi Order, and—what came out of it?" He asked, looking at Rey knowingly. "I will not form a new Jedi Order, and I will no longer train you as a Jedi. You have already learned a lot, and you should be content with just this. I will not risk having to put you in the face of danger."

Rey saw that Luke was visibly shaken, his eyes moist with developing tears. Not for the first time, Rey felt that Luke looked at her as a daughter, filled with the concern and love of a father. He sighed again and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I know you will excel as a senator of the Order, Rey." With this, he walked back to Admiral Ackbar, leaving Rey despondent.

….

About two months had passed since Rey's election as Senator of the Azalea system, and she had been bogged down with organizing meetings with military generals, overseeing the training of new Star Fleet pilots, and assigning patrols to new and distant star systems, all while under the careful direction of Leia. She felt as if she had been transferred from the guidance of Luke to Leia, from Jedi apprentice to student of politics.

Rey felt as if the bulk of her duty as Senator was to maintain peace and civility within her own system, having to listen to residents' complaints and fulfill rather repetitive tasks. While Rey was content with what she was doing, she continually felt that her life was lacking, her innate desire to learn more about the Force unsatisfied. She knew deep in her heart that this yearning would never go away.

One day, after many long and mundane meetings, she found herself knocking at the guest room of the headquarter's base on Trora. Rey heard soft footsteps before Maz Kenata appeared in the open doorway.

"Ah, I was wondering when you would come to me again, Senator," Maz said brightly. She had come to spend a few days on Trora. Maz gestured for Rey to enter the room. "How is your new position, by the way?" She asked, looking at Rey curiously.

Rey felt quite sure that Maz already knew the true answer. "Well, it demands a lot of time, more than I thought it would. I mean, I know of course it's an important job."

"But, how do you like it? Do you enjoy it?"

Rey hesitated before answering, and hung her head. "Oh, Maz, I'm so honored that Leia gave this position to me, but it's not what I want. I'm...I'm not happy," she admitted, looking glumly over at Maz.

Maz cracked a smile for a moment. "Hah. I knew it. As soon as we had left Zephus those several months ago, Luke told me he was going to stop training you. He is afraid of the Force Bond you share with Ben. That this bond will bring you to the dark side."

Rey scowled. "Does he really think I'd join the dark side?" she asked incredulously.

"I know you wouldn't, Rey. And Luke originally didn't think Ben, would, either," Maz said, looking at Rey knowingly.

Rey thought for a moment. "Why did Ky—Ben join the dark side? Wasn't it Snoke?"

Maz thought for a few moments before answering. "Yes. That, among other things, I believe. Snoke is incredibly powerful in the Force. But so is Ben. So are you."

"Leia said Ben is no longer with the First Order, with Snoke," Rey said.

"She is correct," Maz said, looking at Rey expectantly. She then shook her finger up at Rey. "You weren't born to be a mere senator, Kenobi. I know what it is you want, what you desire most truly. I see it in your eyes, child. And you sense as well as I that the Force is needed to break up the First Order. That only a trained user of the Force can stop Snoke."

"How...how did you know?" Rey asked, feeling a deep stir within her. She sat down on the bed behind her, bewildered.

Maz ignored Rey's question. "You want to learn more about the ways of the Force. You want to hone your skills. But," Maz continued passionately, "you need a teacher."

Rey stared at her for a few silent moments, allowing Maz's words to sink in, her breath quickening. She rose from the bed, looking down at Maz determinedly. "I know what I need to do."

….

Somewhere far from the Organa headquarters...

"Sir, we have word of the location of Kylo Ren," Captain Phasma said as she approached General Hux aboard the Finalizer Star Destroyer. "There are reports that rebel forces have come into contact with him in the Narrok system, a small planet called Zephus."

Hux scowled at the ground upon hearing his rival's name. He had been overjoyed when Kylo had suddenly gone missing nearly a year ago, hoping the capricious figure would never return.

"Send a large fleet to search the planet immediately. Waste no time." Hux reluctantly declared, looking up at Phasma. "I shall notify the Supreme Leader."

Hux made his way through the ship to the large communication chamber. He signaled on the long-distance transmission and waited for Snoke's giant hologram to appear.

Several minutes later, as Snoke's form flickered on before him, Hux strained to steady himself; the gargantuan figure never failed to send a cold shiver down his spine.

"General Hux," Snoke greeted slowly in his booming voice.

Hux bowed. "Supreme Leader. We have word of Kylo Ren in the Outer Rim, we are sending troops there as we speak."

Snoke narrowed his eyes, nodding once. "When we have secured him, bring him directly to me," he snarled, and with that his hologram disappeared.

Hux nodded at the now empty chamber before turning on his heels, stomping out of the room. Finally, he thought, smirking to himself. Kylo Ren will be crushed.