D'Qar's sun is setting when Rey pulls the ship out of hyperspace and into the planet's atmosphere. She lands smoothly in the docking bay, and her head lulls onto the control helm as she finally rests. Her pulse is hammering through her veins while she grabs hold of Kylo. His deadweight is almost too much for her to carry, but she manages to drag him to the hatch as it releases and light floods in.
She jumps to her senses when the smoke clears and she sees twenty blasters pointed at her head. "Don't shoot, please!" She shouts as she touches her hand to the lightsaber in her pocket. A figure step forward through the dust.
"Rey, is that really you?" Rey would recognize that voice anywhere, and in a rush of emotion she lets out a choked laugh.
"It is, it is me, Finn," she says, and that's all it takes for him to rush up toward her and pull her into a bone crushing hug.
"You're alive! We couldn't find you when the battle started to turn for the worse and- and they said we had to turn back. I didn't want to leave you, but we had no choice, Rey." He holds her at arm's length, inspecting the cuts littered all over her body and the healed gash across her forehead. "What happened to you? You steal a First Order shuttle and end up here all beat up."
"I'm okay, I just- we need help."
Finn's confusion is evident as he looks around for the other person she refers to. "We?" Rey steps aside to reveal Kylo, unconscious and leaning up against the hatch of the shuttle. Finn visibly recoils from the two of them while she bends down to check his pulse. He is barely holding on.
"Please, Finn, he'll die if he doesn't get help." Her eyes are pleading with him to trust her, to keep from pushing her away.
"He would deserve it. Since when do you care about him more than us?" His hurt is evident in the shakiness of his hands as he spits his words.
"I don't, you're my family, Finn. But all of you left me behind, and I was forced to find a way to survive. But he helped me. He helped me escape, at the risk of his own life, so don't you dare tell me that he deserved to die. Because I owe him my life."
Finn meets Rey's eyes, flicking between her and Kylo quickly, until his eyes come to rest on the wound on his side. Finn jerks his head toward Kylo with a sigh. "Take him to the medbay. Come with me, Rey."
She lets out a sigh of relief as he grabs her by the arm, the tenseness in his shoulders relaxing just a a bit. "Thank you, Finn, for understanding."
He stops and turns back toward her, grim expression softening as she offers a small smile. "I trust you, Rey. I may not trust him, but I know you have your reasons. Now, we need to get to General Organa, and fast."
"Oh, Rey, thank the stars you're alright." Leia's eyes light up when Finn bursts through the door, Rey in tow. She stills at Rey's solemn expression.
"He's here, General Organa. He's hurt, but he's home." Leia's knees buckle underneath her as she collapses into sobs. Rey stands beside her, holding her as she drops slowly to the ground.
"If Han were here, he would tell me to stop wasting time and go talk to him," she says. Leia laughs breathlessly, and it's like the relief washes twenty years from her face.
"We can go together," Rey assures her with a warm smile, and the two make their way to the medbay.
The walk is short but tense, as though all of the nerves are flooding back to her.
"What do I even say to him?" Leia shakes her head vigorously, trying to convince herself to turn back. "I was never prepared to be a mother, I wasn't good enough for him. I failed him, he won't want me."
"He needs you more than you know," Rey tells her, and Leia puts on a brave face as they are led to Kylo's room. The force of his presence overwhelms Leia, and she resists the urge to fling herself at her son.
His eyes flutter open and the first person he sees is Rey beaming down at him. He reaches up to grasp her hand and pulls her down into a kiss, rushed and frantic, like he'll never get to feel her again. "You did it, Rey. You got us out of there."
" We did it, together. We made it." He smiles softly, pain still tracing his features but he winces through it. His face drops as his gaze moves behind Rey and falls on his mother, so much older and more tired than Kylo remembers. But she looks at him with such sorrow in her eyes that he can't bear to look away.
"Ben," she calls, and it's like a plea, or a prayer, or a question. And he doesn't have to speak to let her see all of the regret he wears so shamefully on his face, but he does it anyway.
"I'm so sorry, for everything," he says, and without warning Leia's hugging him tightly as their tears run freely, dripping onto the medbay sheets. "You shouldn't forgive me, I've done so much wrong, and Dad-" He chokes on his words, unable to go any further.
"I know, he would forgive you, I know he would, he would. We were never enough for you, I know that now, and there hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't wished-"
There's a crashing sound as a bacta bag clatters to the ground, stand and all, and in rushes Luke, the calm and composed Jedi Master, robes astray and eyes wild as he searches the room. His eyes meet Kylo's and for a while Rey doesn't think they'll speak at all, but Kylo croaks out the first words.
"Hello, Uncle," he says, but Luke is still frozen to the ground, looking as if he's seen a ghost. But he never breaks Kylo's stare, the air between them almost magnetic.
Rey watches as Luke fumbles for words, unformed apologies dying before they pass his lips. Instead, he lets his eyes speak for him. And that is enough.
"Ben," he whispers, and soon Leia is clutching at his sleeve and pulling at him as if she can't bear to see her family apart for another instant.
"Luke, come on, please," she pleads, and then he breaks. Leia Organa does not beg.
He takes a reluctant step forward and Kylo sits up a little more, wincing as a sharp pain shoots through him. Leia shifts away, pressing her hand to his back gently as he struggles to stand. Kylo is on his feet, but his legs are weak beneath him as he shakily extends his hand- an offering.
"Uncle, I'm-" Kylo goes rigid as his hand is brushed aside and suddenly he need not stand on his own any longer, because Luke is hugging him with such force that even Rey winces at the sight.
Rey smiles as Leia joins them. Kylo dwarfs them both, but somehow with their arms wound tightly around him, she thinks she sees flashes of Ben. Young and vulnerable, but loved, so very loved. It feels almost like an intrusion to stay.
She walks slowly from the room, and Kylo's eyes linger on her form as she disappears through the door.
"We need to launch an attack as soon as possible, before Snoke moves planets. Rey, you've slowed them down, but they'll be on the move soon, so we don't have much time."
Leia paces the floor of the command center as a map of Malachor is pulled up.
Luke speaks up from the corner of the room. "From what Rey has said, the majority of the base is underground, so we can't launch an airstrike until we take out Snoke. This might be our only shot, so we've got to do this right."
Rey is on her feet, pointing to a section of the base highlighted in red and enlarging the image. "Snoke's chambers lie near the center of the base, about here," she says, gesturing to a cavernous section of the underground. "We could call in an airstrike on the farthest end of the base once we touch ground, that way we can distract the 'troopers from our mission without blocking off our way to Snoke."
"Good idea, Rey," Luke says with a proud grin spreading across his features, warming Rey's cheeks with satisfaction.
"We need to gather our ground troops as quickly as possible," Leia says, and Finn shoots to his feet immediately.
"I'm on it, General." He's off and around the corner by the time Leia lowers her voice and turns to Rey with a somber expression.
"We have to leave Ben here, Rey. He's not even strong enough to walk, let alone fight against Snoke. I don't want to leave him, but it's our only option here." Rey nods, taking it in but her breath hitches. She doesn't know if she can face Snoke without Kylo, without his silent presence beside her or his gentle reassurance at the back of her mind. It seems like too much, but Rey can't let Leia down, or Finn, or Luke, or any of them. She is only Rey, but that will have to be good enough.
"I'll talk to him," she tells Leia and darts away to the medbay once again, dreading what she has to tell him with every step, but she continues on, until his face brightens at the sight of her.
"You're back," he says, and pulls her into a tight embrace, keeping her there until Rey can't stand not telling him any longer.
"They're going to attack Snoke's base today, and they need me to come with them." The abruptness of the statement makes Kylo tense around her, arms tightening against her skin.
"We'll go together, then. I can help you," he assures her, far too eagerly, and he jumps up to push himself off the bed. But his arm is far too weak to support his weight and there's a tearing sensation in his side, as though he's tearing his muscles apart with every sharp movement.
"You can't, Kylo, you're not strong enough right now. Snoke will be angry and he'll tear you apart, and I can't bear to watch that. Not again." Kylo sighs, sinking back down into his pillow with resignation.
"If you go, anything could happen to you, Rey. I can't lose you." The intensity of his stare burns through Rey, and she feels it again, that needy emotion that she can't explain, scratching up at her and threatening to burst through her skin like a dam blown apart.
"I'll have the pelt, and Luke will be with me the whole time."
"We both will. If I can't be there physically, I can do my best to help you through our bond."
"Thank you," she tells him, and she bends down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. He leans into her touch, needy, until she has to pull away. Finn is standing in the doorway, a conflict of emotions passing over his face as he looks on at the scene.
"It's time to go," he tells her, and a short look passes between the two men, one of a mutual agreement to protect, and Finn nods at Kylo firmly.
"Wait," Kylo says, catching her hand as she turns away, and presses a kiss to the center of her hand, and Rey feels him push all of his compassion and power and emotion toward her in one great wave. "May the Force be with you, Rey."
He lets go of her wrist and nudges her forward with a firm glance, and she strides toward the door, renewed.
"Let's go," she says to Finn, and as the two walk out into the blistering heat of D'Qar, Rey wraps her pelt around her shoulders, and she sets her sights to the sky.