Summary: Rey saw the darkness in him, but she also 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.

Quick A/N: I lied, this chapter isn't the action I promised. It was at first but...it just did a complete 180 and became something totally different. Sorry!

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

"Even if you know what's coming, you're never prepared for how it feels."
Natalie Standiford

Keep Marching On
05: Fall

Rey knew the Jedi Order and its laws were flawed. Luke told her his opinion on it quite vocally and after reading the ancient texts that mysteriously found itself on the Millenium Falcon, she understood why the late Jedi Master tried to end it with him. But with the First Order large at hand in the universe and Kylo still entrenched in the dark side, she couldn't help but choose the Jedi because it was simply the better of two evils.

That didn't mean she hated the light – no, in fact, she understood the light, related to it much more than the dark side. She saw its power and benefits, saw its lure, and she also saw flaws in the system. But just like Luke had said – there needed to be a balance in the Galaxy, and it was clear that she was the other half of that scale. Light and dark, Jedi and Sith, Kylo and her – a balance required for stability.

It was just that everyone believed her to be fully light, that she could not go over to the "bad." The Resistance all thought she would be their savior, their shining beacon to help guide them in the darkness that was the First Order's reign – they all said she was their last hope against Kylo Ren.

"I'm really not," Rey muttered to herself at this thought, her brows furrowed as she practiced her forms with her staff on a new planet, the first one the Resistance found themselves occupying after days of traveling.

The planet she found herself on was one that was similar to Ahch-To, where an ocean of water surrounded her with the Rebellion hiding out in a series of caves and abandoned buildings all throughout the area. She was overlooking a cliff at the moment, her mind not following her body during training.

Raising the weapon above her head, Rey shook her head at the strange whispers that had been bothering her for the past hour. Her initial thought that it was Kylo, that their bond had awakened once more, but something was off about the whispers. They weren't like the typical feeling she got whenever she met with him and it was persistent, not stopping despite having an hour passed. It was an unfamiliar pressure in her mind as well, a strange force trying to pull her attention away from what she was currently doing.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Rey dropped the weapon to her side, turning her head towards the enclosure that housed the rebels.

"...Come," the whispers repeated over and over again from the cave. "...Rey." At her name, the voice was loud and near – quickly throwing her head to the side with the expectation of seeing someone next to her, she saw no one, only furthering her confusion.

"Who's there?" she called out.

"...Follow my voice."

As if a switch had been flipped, Rey suddenly found herself enthralled at the voice. Her mind went blank as she began walking in a trance-like manner to the cave, having almost no control over her body.

"...Closer."

Carefully stepping over her sleeping comrades, she stopped. In a sudden rush, whatever that came over her left, leaving her to stand unsteadily on her feet in front of her bag.

"...Open it."

She raised an eyebrow at the demand. Whether she listened to the voice or not, she already knew what was in the bag; searching through it would reveal nothing new. It contained just her bare necessities, which were her blaster pistol, a journal, her goggles, and –

And Luke's lightsaber.

Something strange came over Rey when this realization hit her. She threw herself into the bag in a frenzy, rushing to open it and retrieve the broken saber. After taking everything out of it, her hand froze above the weapon, it's blue crystal hidden inside the broken metal pulsating with energy. A second later, she carefully picked it up and held the two pieces of the lightsaber in each hand while the voice returned with a new request.

"...Fix me."

Rey knew it wasn't her best idea, but she couldn't help but want to touch it and the moment her finger connected with the glowing crystal, the cave all around her bled away as a strange warmth spread throughout her body. She stayed silent, mostly out of shock and fear, until her surroundings stopped moving and revealed two men she did not recognize on an icy tundra, clearly on a different planet. She felt vulnerable in just her clothes in the snowy landscape but...she didn't feel a thing, not even the bite of the cold wind that should've been bothering her. Taking a step forward towards the men, she quickly paused when she sensed great strength from them bothered.

Who were they?

Before she could think further, though, she saw from her peripheral vision a transparent arm. In a panic, Rey quickly looked at it and the rest of herself, only to see that her entire body had become transparent in a ghost-like manner. A scream built up in the back of her throat but it immediately disappeared when the two in front of her began talking, not bothered in the slightest by her sudden appearance. "Anakin, are you sure you'll be okay?" the older man asked, his face slightly hidden by the cloak he wore.

The younger of the two, whose face was slightly hidden by his own cloak, let out an annoyed groan before answering, "Yes, Master, this won't be the first time I'm doing this. I'll just...go in and get the first crystal that calls to me."

It was at this point that Rey noticed that she left no footprint, allowing her to believe that she wasn't actually here and instead, this was a vision like the one she had the first time she touched the lightsaber at Maz Kanata's castle. She opened her hand and took a look at the smooth crystal, its metal holdings mysteriously gone, asking it, "What are you showing me?" It was clear that this was some sort of vision, but of what, she didn't know.

It pulsated blue as a response was heard. "...The beginning."

The beginning? Rey frowned but watched as Anakin went into the cave, his Master following close behind. She thought the older man was going to accompany him but she was wrong – he simply lit a fire after Anakin disappeared into the darkness and sat down, closing his eyes. He crossed his legs over each other and began meditating.

Just...who was he? Something about him seemed familiar, but she was sure she had never seen nor heard – wait, no, that's it! The Master's voice, it was the same one she heard in her vision all those months ago!

But that didn't really answer her question –

"...Answers will be given later. Just watch."

Then, as if Rey was watching in fast forward, the day turned into night and back again into day again, the man remaining at the entrance of the snowy cave in some sort of meditative state.

"Master, are you there?"

The Master quickly opened his eyes and stood up – but eerily enough, Rey saw him staring into her eyes with his unnerving similar ones – which was impossible, this was a memory, she wasn't really there – before whirling around. "Anakin!" he called out in a cheery tone.

The young man, whose voice revealed how drained he was but at the same time his happiness, held up a lightsaber. "My new one, I've got it." With a press of a button, the sound of the lightsaber being released echoed throughout the cave he began swinging it around.

"It suits you," the Master said with a proud undertone to his voice.

At this, Anakin snorted. "It looks the same as my first one."

"Well let's just hope that you don't lose this one." Then, with a final look towards where she stood, the vision bled away into a new one. She now found herself standing in a dark cave, only the light of the glowing stones around her illuminating the enclosure.

It was...beautiful, she had never seen anything like this before.

"Okay, you got this."

Whirling around, Rey found herself standing silently behind Anakin – the difference was that this time, he was alone with several strange but familiar metal pieces floating in front of him, his brows furrowed together in concentration as he stared at a crystal being circled by said metal.

"What's this?" she asked her own crystal, her eyes never wavering from the sight in front of her.

A pulse of warmth spread throughout her body once more as it answered. "...My creation."

The kyber crystal, like it had stated earlier, wanted Rey to fix it, to make it whole once more. It wanted her to do something that she knew she could do – something that she was good at. Moving around Anakin, she sat in front of him and watched as he began assembling his lightsaber slowly, but carefully. She studied the metal pieces and made sure to keep in memory what part went where – she even began thinking of how she would repair the pieces that were broken in half.

This was where Rey was in her prime – fixing and creating anything that was mechanical. She loved the way she would get lost in the sounds and feelings of metal, of tinkering – it was the closest thing she associated with the word home.

Hours must have passed and she didn't even notice – the only reason she had to reorient herself was because Anakin finished building the lightsaber. Seeing the completed creation, she saw that it looked identical to the one she had held until it broke, which made Rey wonder, just how old was the weapon, if it had been Luke's when he was younger?

"...Old," the crystal responded to Rey's silent question, seemingly knowing what she asked.

She stood up when Anakin did and began studying his face – something about him was just so familiar, she just couldn't put her finger on why.

It was only a second later that she had an answer.

"Anakin Skywalker, you did it," he muttered to himself proudly. And with that, the vision suddenly ended, bringing Rey back to the present.

Skywalker?

"...Ben Solo's grandfather was the beginning of my story and now, you are the next chapter. Make me proud to call you my wielder, Rey."

The crystal pulsated once more after telling her this and while the blue continued to shine, the warmth that it radiated ebbed away until Rey was holding a nothing but a cold, silent, shard.

Digesting the new information she had, Rey turned her head and expected to see people milling around, as hours passed in the vision, but looking around, not even a minute had gone by. People were still sleeping all around her and the sky was still in its early morning stages. Turning her attention back to the crystal, she now knew what needed to be done. She set her mind to this new task, not bothered in the slightest with how long it might take just to actually fix the thing.

Days passed into a week, and during this, Rey found herself nearly ready to chuck the damn thing out into the ocean because of how much it frustrated her. Several pieces were broken beyond repair that with no amount of hammering or tinkering could fix. On the bright side, though, she was able to replace many of the said broken pieces with several abandoned equipment Rey found in the Falcon. It was...surprising, to say the least, finding items that fixed a Jedi weapon in the ship, but she wasn't going to complain.

Two weeks would pass from that fateful day in the cave when Rey found herself standing on the edge of a cliff, a newly repaired lightsaber in her hands. Gripping it tightly with both hands, she shifted her right foot back and brought her left foot forward with a straight back. Then, lining the weapon to the side of her body, she pressed the button that would reveal whether or not her hard work had paid off.

A blue aura surrounded her as the heat from the plasma blade radiated next to her face. Glee quickly flooded her system at this because it meant she had –

"I see you've fixed my grandfather's blade."

Stance forgotten, Rey whirled around and pointed the blade at the sudden newcomer. She didn't know why she was shocked at this point – the bond had uncanny timing whenever it connected them. "...You," she breathed out. It had been weeks since she saw him, the last being that night when she saw him asleep.

Kylo stood in front of her, the blue lightsaber merely inches away from him. There was a look on his face that made Rey cautious, though, as he had an eerie calm to him that she had yet to ever experience.

It was an eerie calm that did not suit him.

"Ah, yes, me." He ran a hand through his hair as he smirked at her. "Your dutiful force bond companion."

Pulling back, she turned the lightsaber off and narrowed her eyes. "Ben, don't be like this." She took a hesitant step forward, her arm outstretched in an attempt to reach him. They were barely a few feet apart, yet it felt like she was standing at the edge of a chasm with him on the other side. "Why won't you have a civil talk with me?"

He laughed at this, bringing her even more on edge. "I'm not the only reason as to why we can't seem to have a normal talk – we're both to blame if you want to point fingers."

Without holding back, Rey grabbed his clothed arm and gripped it as tightly as she could without inflicting any pain. "I'm not the one who's holding back anger and pain. You're blocking me out when I'm probably the only one at the moment who can understand you right now. You need to open up more."

He towered over her as he sneered, "Don't pull that kind of bullshit on me, Rey. You constantly try to get into my head even when we're not connected like this, and it's getting annoying." In a show of power, he grabbed her wrist and bent down to intimidate her. "I'm sorry that my rage is making me such a disappointment to you and your Jedi morals."

Luckily – or unluckily, if one thought differently – for him, Rey wasn't one to back down from a simple glare. She matched his anger with her own as it fueled the words she said. "You're pathetic, you know that? I've given you so many chances to just talk, and while you stand there wallowing in self-pity, not realizing that there are those who want to save you, I'm standing here! Me, Ben – the one person who hasn't given up on you and has no plan to!"

"Shut up," Kylo growled, tightening his hold on her arm. However, Rey wasn't done in her rant and continued forward in her attack.

"You've done things that are unforgivable, but I want to be here for you!" She pleaded, "Just let me in, please."

For once, Rey sensed the force telling her to stop talking, but it was too late – the damage had been done. Eyes closed and body tensed, he roared, "Shut up!" Kylo had cracked under the force of her words and when she tried to pull out of his grip, he gladly let her go and shoved her away– just not with his hands.

The force rippled around him and shot out in all directions, pushing everything away from him. For the first time, the effect of the blast affected even where she was – the grass and stone all around her blasted away.

Rey raised her arms to protect herself in case something came hurtling towards her but it did nothing but push her back. In an attempt to stop herself from falling off the cliff, she dug her heels into the ground but it proved pointless because, within seconds, she was losing her balance on the edge.

Kylo opened his eyes just in time to see hers, widened in fear. For a split second, he mistook that look for fear towards him and what he had done, but he quickly saw that he was wrong. With arms outstretched and falling backward, Rey looked at him for help as her mouth opened with a cry.

He didn't think about his actions nor did he care – Kylo's body moved on its own as he shot forward, reaching for her, despite not knowing what her surroundings were. He fell to his chest as he connected his hand with hers, allowing him to see wherever she was – thankfully, just in time as well. He found himself looking down at Rey with one hand braced against an edge and his other holding onto hers. She dangled in the open air, her hand in Kylo's the only thing preventing her fall while jagged stones awaited her at the bottom of the cliff like jaws of death.

The anger and hostility between them were gone as worry for her overpowering any hateful thought in each of their minds. "Hold on Rey, I got you." Kylo tried using the force to help pull her up but it was useless – he couldn't use it here, despite blasting her away with it only a minute prior. "The Force – you need to use it!"

Various emotions played throughout her eyes as she shouted at him, "I-I can't concentrate!" If there was a rope of some kind, she would have been able to easily get back up – all those years climbing forgotten star destroyers made sure of that. But when her lifeline was a person who was wearing gloves, it limited her options.

"Concentrate on me, then," he said through his worry. Gritting his teeth, Kylo quickly let go of the edge and grabbed onto her arm with his other hand. She needed to hurry – he could feel her grip on his slipping. "You need to hurry!"

Rey grabbed onto his arm with her other hand in a way that seemed familiar. "What am I supposed to do with it?! I've never used the Force like that before!"

This was not the time for a lesson in using the Force, but Kylo needed to give her one anyway. "Like a slingshot, imagine yourself getting a boost from beneath you," he tried explaining, his mind more preoccupied with not trying to let her slip. She seemed to get the gist of it and she quickly closed her eyes. Seconds that felt like an eternity passed as she was slowly slipping down his arm. "I don't want to rush you but Rey, you need to hurry!" he warned.

"I...I can't do it! There's too much going on – I can't!"

Fuck. "Rey, you need to hold on –" Then, in slow motion and without any warning, she slipped out of his hands; for a moment, everything was silent. In an intimate moment, his eyes locked onto hers, various emotions bleeding through their bond, but it was intensified by the look Rey was giving him. It was one so full of fear but...trust, that it nearly caused his heart to break once more.

How? How was she able to look at with such a look? After everything he's ever done – and said – Rey still thought that there was good in him.

And now he failed her – she was going to die.

Kylo reached for her once more and at this exact moment, instead of falling, Rey suddenly shot up, landing halfway onto the ledge. With her right hand she gripped the ground and with her left, she latched onto his arm. Their faces were not even an inch apart and for a split second, they just stared at each other – but Kylo, bringing himself out of the stupor, placed his arms underneath her arms and pulled her up, shielded her in his arms as he fell backward onto the ground.

"...I did it."

They both were breathing heavily and there was a large rock digging into his spine, but she was safe. Rey's arms were wrapped around him with her face hidden in the curve of his neck in an intimate way no other ever had before. She was shaking in his arms and he wasn't sure if she was crying or not – and in the back of his mind, there was that thought of this being a bad idea, but he could hardly care when she was safe. He simply pressed a cheek against her head and held onto her tighter.

"...You did."

At this moment, Kylo never wanted to let go.

A/N: Uh, hi? I hope you guys liked this chapter. I know I promised one with action but the chapter wanted differently so this was born. I hope it was good and that I wrote them well. I couldn't post a chapter yesterday like I wanted because I was at Disneyland all day, so I hope that the length of this one makes up for it! Actually, this chapter had a totally different ending to it and Kylo actually never appeared, but while I was writing the original it just didn't seem right. Then boom boom Kylo appeared and Rey nearly dies lmao. Anyways, I promise to make sure the next one is the action-packed one.

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews:

cresswellshipper17: ( ´艸`) I'm glad that I was able to pull them off connecting – it was really hard since I've never actually written a story without an OC in it. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to portray both of the characters properly. I had considered splitting the chapter into two and posting Rey's perspective of Kylo in the other, but I realized that having it in one connected them much better. I'm happy that you saw the way I tied in that one scene in the movie with the chapter too - that scene was actually the inspiration for it. （*´▽`*)

Allied Hero: Thank you so much for your two reviews :3 And that's literally how I felt at the end of TLJ too ಥಥ I was asking Kylo "WHY!" at what he did!

Manwathiel: I'm happy that my chapter was a perfect way to wake up to your morning, that's probably one of the sweetest things anyone ever said to me in a review! (￣∇￣) It was a hard chapter FOR SURE thought and I'm just glad I was able to do it successfully!

duke15atm: You're too nice (*´∀｀*) Thank you so much for another review! ＾ω＾I hope you enjoyed this one!

Well, this is the end of this A/N so please please review and fav/follow!

Until next time!~