Summary: Rey saw the darkness in him, but she saw the light. She just hoped that when they met again, she would see Ben Solo and not Kylo Ren standing in front of her. Set after The Last Jedi.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any characters affiliated with it.
Cover art by elithien, permission to use her art was given.

"Unto a broken heart
No other one may go
Without the high prerogative
Itself hath suffered too."

Unto a broken heart, Emily Dickinson

Keep Marching On
03: Rey

Rey loved the rain.

She stuck her arm out into the pouring water from underneath the overhang that protected her from the rain and felt it fall into her open palm. The feeling of the hard droplets was reassuring and somewhat peaceful in this time of chaos. It was a calm that she needed after this past month, filled with fighting and hiding from the First Order.

"Is this your first rainstorm?"

Rey felt the connection fit itself into place as Kylo stood behind her. She thought that she would feel some sort of animosity towards the man after their last encounter, but she found herself surprised as she didn't have it in her to curse him or to ignore him, to feel mad. She was just...living in this moment because she wasn't sure when she would get another.

"No, it isn't," was Rey's answer after a few seconds of thinking. Her first storm was when she waited those long hours for Luke to open his door and accept her as a disciple. There were many afterward on that same island, but this was the first one she was able to enjoy to her heart's content.

The two hadn't seen each other during the duration of the month and Rey couldn't help but think during this time that their...connection, whatever it was, had disappeared. That maybe, just maybe, Snoke had been right and he was the one who forged it, and that with his death, it had severed.

But deep down, feeling him behind her, gave way to relief – that he wasn't dead or that...no, she wouldn't go there. Not today, not when there was no anger and no raging emotion going on between them.

"Ben…" Rey slowly turned around and saw Kylo standing a few feet away from her, his hands folded behind him, his back straight and opposing as he looked down onto her.

"What, Rey? What do you want to say?" He tilted his head as he met his dark eyes with her light ones. She was getting deja vu – they had been in the same position before when she confronted him about his father – when she had called him a monster. "Do you truly think that you can change me? Ben is dead, I killed him when I killed Han Solo."

At the mention of the former smuggler's name, Rey felt a flare of anger that quickly dissipated into pity. "You can say that for as long as you need to, but we both know that isn't true." The pain she saw in his eyes told a different story – killing his father had created an imbalance within him.

An imbalance that she vowed to fix.

Kylo cocked a smile. She couldn't help but feel her heart skip a beat at the way he looked – she had never seen him with a smile before. If the circumstances were different...no, she wouldn't – couldn't – think that. "I'm a monster, remember? After all, you were the one who called me that, if I recall correctly." He took a menacing step forward, breaking his stoic stance, bringing the two closer.

"...You know what?" At this, Rey moved closer as she firmly planted herself into the ground in front of him, not caring about the dangerous aura that now surrounded the man. "I stand by that. Kylo Ren is a monster," she growled. All the death that surrounded him...what Snoke had done was horrible, cruel, manipulative – she hated it, she hated that vile creature of a man.

Rey took no pleasure in the pain she felt through their bond at the words she said, but she had to continue. "Ben Solo, though, is not." Despite not being that short of a person, he was far too tall compared to her and she was forced to turn her head up to simply face at him.

Their eyes bore into each other – her searching for a lost man and him searching for the girl he saw in his vision. As they stayed still in this position for a few seconds, the air around them felt charged with something they both didn't understand.

Rey wouldn't give up on him – even if everyone did, she would never stop trying to bring Ben back to the light. He wasn't lost forever.

Something in her eyes must have revealed that because there was a sudden spark of anger from the man in front of her. She should have taken a step back, she should've seen what he would do, but she stayed where she stood and allowed Kylo to grab the side of her face in a bout of anger. His hand was bare without a glove as he tightened his hold – thankfully, though, not hard enough to where she would feel pain.

They hadn't touched through the bond since that night they touched hands; she never forgot how it had felt, how exhilarating it had been. The same emotions rushed throughout her as flesh met with flesh – anger, annoyance, satisfaction. But hidden behind those feelings were hints of confusion and...fear.

Fear from them both.

Rey was breathing heavily as he bared his teeth at her. Seconds passed before he opened his mouth. "How do you think this is going to end, huh? Me going to the light, to follow that damn Jedi order? Why should I when I don't owe you or the Jedi anything!"

Rey quickly grabbed his hand and pulled it away from her face, her anger matching his own. "This ends when you wake up! You think that no one cares for you anymore, that no one understands you!"

"How dare you –"

"Don't lie to me Ben," she snarled, "We both know that whatever this thing is, it's telling me how you truly feel." Shaking her head, she threw his hand away and took a step back, severing herself off from him. Her most inner thoughts were hers once more. "Your mother believes that you can be saved and so do I. I just hope that you pull your head out of your ass and realize it before it's too late."

Although Rey had no control over it, the connection between them broke soon after these words without warning, leaving her alone under the cliff. She continued to breathe heavily as her face tingled from his fingers on her cheek moments earlier. Placing a hand over where his had been, she turned back to the rain. Then, without a care, she took an unsteady step forward into the downpour, getting herself soaked. The cold that seeped through the water and clothes felt reassuring, helping ground her tumultuous thoughts, as she turned her face to the sky.

It would be a long road to redemption, that Rey knew for sure. But she would go down that path with Ben no matter what the consequences were because she knew that her vision was the one that would happen in the end.

Not his.

Never his.

A/N: Another short one but don't worry, chapter four is coming soon after this. I wanted to write for chapter three more but I felt like this was the perfect place to end it. I hope I'm getting the characters and their personalities correct because this is actually one of the first times I'm not writing through an original character.

I think you're gonna like the next chapter – because I sure as hell know I do.

On to another note – you guys are fucking amazing! I got so many new followers and the reviews, oh my god, the REVIEWS! You're the best! I can't thank you guys enough 3

Thank you again for the reviews, HinaLyka, Yami Naty, Sage McMae, Rapunzel3, duke15atm, SqueakyDolphin6, LoveFiction2017, Guest 1, and scarletvixenwthorns. You're amazing!