"You're kidding." Dex stood up and glared at Luke. "Is there anyone on the whole freaking planet that isn't going to show up? What's next, a kriffing porg- and wonderful, you guys have me saying 'kriffing' now."

"Dex?" Rey asked, putting a hand on his arm.

"Sorry. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed right now." He glanced back at Luke. "So aside from trying to make yourself sound clever, there a reason why you just said that everything I said was wrong?"

"You think your life is over. That you're dead and there is no way for you to get back home. That is not true." Luke sauntered into the room and looked it over. "Interesting place. You really came from far away, Dexter Ferris."

"Yeah. How the hell are you here? I can't imagine that Ben's comfortable with letting you rummage around in his head after what happened between the two of you at the Academy."

Luke looked unhappy. "You know about that?"

"Saw it twice, actually. Once in Imax."

Luke frowned.

"Look. I'm starting to get uncomfortable with this conversation happening inside Ben's head when he's not present. Can we take this back outside?"

"All right, Dex." Rey smiled at him and gave him a quick hug. "No matter what happens- whether or not we can get you home- thank you for being there for Ben- and for me."

"Anytime." Dex smiled at her. "Trust me, Amy would never forgive me if I didn't do everything I could to make sure you two crazy kids didn't wind up together."

Rey smiled. "I would like to hear more about this Amy."

"Like I said, she's amazing. You saying that would totally make her day." Dex smiled. "She's your biggest fan."

"Children," Luke said with a trace of exasperation. "If we're going to go, let's go. I'm definitely not getting any younger."

"Least not till they recast you," Dex murmured to himself.

"What?" Luke asked him in confusion.

"Never mind. I was rambling." Dex headed towards the door. "Let's go."

..**..

They met in Luke's private hut.

Ben was there, of course- or Dex wouldn't be either. Leia was also present. Glancing around the room, Dex realized that everyone present was Force Sensitive: Luke, Ben, Rey, and Leia. No one who wasn't was present.

Except for Dex, of course.

Ben kept staring at Rey who would smile shyly at him and look away. It was kind of cute- but extremely aggravating for Dex as he had no choice but to be a part of the whole love struck stare thing. Rey was certainly pretty, but Dex was fast approaching his limit for sappiness.

"Get a hut you two," Luke finally drawled.

Ben looked quite prepared to take his uncle up on that- and so did Rey, really- but Leia came to the rescue. "Maybe you should tell us how we are going to get Dex out of Ben's body before Ben and Rey start spending quality time together."

The reminder that Ben was currently hosting another person's mind seemed to dampen Rey's ardor a bit. "Yes. We really do need to see how to free Dex."

"I agree," Ben said with a heavy sigh. "All right … Uncle Luke." It was the first time he had called Luke that since that ill-fated night at the Academy. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm kind of curious to hear that myself," Dex admitted.

"Dex's presence was not an accident. Someone brought him here." Luke was sitting cross legged, staring at the small fire at the center of the hut.

"That seems reasonable," Ben allowed. "Dex is not Force sensitive. He could not have done this himself."

"Trust me, if I had been heading for somewhere, it would have been here," Dex admitted. Though I probably wouldn't have fared too well if I had wound up in the body of Magneto or Professor X.

"I thought you 'shipped' us," Ben murmured with a smile.

"After the last movie, I definitely saw the chemistry, but Amy is the one who was a hardcore shipper for Reylo."

"Reylo?" Leia asked.

"Rey and Kylo," Dex explained. "It's a shipping term."

"What exactly is shipping?" There was a light of curiosity in Luke's eyes. The Jedi Master was a scholar. Learning new things was a source of pleasure for him.

"Shipping is when fans … people who enjoy a particular form of entertainment … feel that two characters should be together romantically. Sometimes it's an obvious couple. A lot of times it's not. On my world, thousands of people believed that Ben and Rey were meant to fall in love and be together. They wanted to see it happen. Amy … someone I cared about a lot … was a very big shipper for Kylo and Rey. She drew art about it."

"What kind of art?" Rey asked, curious.

"We may not want to know," Ben cautioned her.

Dex smirked. "Most of the time it was pretty innocuous."

"Most of the time?" Ben asked.

Dex shrugged their shoulders. "There were a few pieces I don't feel comfortable talking about in front of your mother."

Leia laughed. "I could tell you stories, young man."

Images of Leia in her slave girl outfit filtered through Dex's memories. "I know."

Please, Dex, Ben reminded him painfully. That's my mother. I do not need to see that.

Sorry, Dex apologized. "So getting back to the point … you think that someone or something sent me here to help Ben and Rey?"

Luke nodded. "Yes. Whatever it was, it had to be immensely powerful. It tore a hole between our two realities. A tear like that … it will not disappear immediately. I believe that it would still exist. We just have to find a way to send your consciousness back through it."

"The problem with that is that Dex doesn't have a body in his universe any longer," Ben pointed out. "If we send him back through that, he'll become one with the Force."

"It's okay, Ben. We both know that I don't belong here. If that's what it's going to take to free you and Rey to move on ..." Dex wasn't sure if there was an afterlife in his universe, but he was not afraid to find out.

"There has to be another way!" Ben insisted angrily.

"We could transfer Dex's consciousness to a cloned body," Rey suggested.

"I don't have a body here for you to clone," Dex pointed out. "I've read books about a universe similar to this one- cloning Force Sensitives in that universe caused a feedback that nearly drove Luke's counterpart insane."

"That would be a short trip," Ben couldn't help but say.

Luke snorted, but didn't disagree.

"So it's not like a Force Sensitive could donate a body for me."

"Maybe a droid body-" Rey suggested.

Both Luke and Ben shook their heads. "No. Dex doesn't have a human brain we could insert into a cyborg body. We can't just pour his mental essence into a Droid body like blue milk into a bottle."

"Thanks for bringing up a mental image I really didn't need to see again," Dex muttered.

"There may be another way," Ben murmured. "Darth Plagueis-"

Dex slapped him with his own hand.

"Dex!" Ben cried out in shock.

"No!" Dex shouted. He slapped Ben again. "You are not going there. No Darkside tricks! No Sith bargains! No one is sacrificing their soul to save my life! That's what happened to Anakin. I'm not going to let you do that, Ben! Don't even think about it!"

"Dex, could you please stop beating my son up with his own hand?" Leia asked quietly. She laid a hand on their face. "Ben, he's right. The Darkside never delivers on its promises. You know that. We can't lose you again- and worse, what if it corrupted Dex too?"

Ben sighed. "I'm sorry. I just can't- We can't just let Dex die."

"We won't," Rey said in a determined tone of voice.

"Guys, I keep reminding you," Dex said in a tired tone of voice. "I'm already dead."

"Are you through?" Luke asked them in a cross tone of voice. "I have a plan, you know."

"Hide away from everyone and make questionable dietary choices?" Dex asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"I'm starting to regret wanting to save you, young man," Luke muttered.

"Let the Jedi Master speak," Leia said in a placating tone. "Now that Luke has finally decided to do something, we shouldn't try to discourage him."

"You're not helping." Luke glared at his twin.

"Neither are you so far." Leia smiled innocently. "Now stop obfuscating and tell us your plan."

"As I said, we don't have to open a hole between our universe and Dex's. It should already exist, and maybe always will. I think it's possible- just possible- that when we send him back, we can send him back before he died."

"But I won't remember what happened, will I?" Dex asked.

"I expect your current memories will merge with your past self. So armed with the knowledge that you already died, you can take steps to prevent it-"

"How far back can you send me?" Maybe if I go back to New Year's Eve ….

"Just a few minutes before your death," Luke apologized. "Even to accomplish that, it will take the combined efforts of all of us here."

"Just a few minutes," Dex murmured. So no do over ...

"You could still save yourself," Rey said in an encouraging tone. "You just have to avoid what caused your death."

The only way I can save myself would be to let that boy die- "I can't."

"Why not?" Rey demanded. "We're offering you your life, Dex! Why are you so dead set on throwing it away?"

"Because Dex died saving someone else's life," Ben told her softly.

"And if he doesn't do what he did before, someone else will die." Luke sighed. "I'm sorry, Dex. I thought we could help you."

"You can. You can send me back a few minutes?"

"Yes. That I think we can do."

"That'll be enough." Maybe not enough time to live, but time to talk to Amy one last time. To tell her how I felt …

"Amy," Ben murmured. "You'll go back- even it means dying without another chance like this- for her. To see Amy one last time."

"Yes. You're not surprised are you?"

"No. I know exactly how you feel." Ben glanced over at Rey.

The young Jedi blushed. She looked at both of them- and somehow Dex knew she was looking at both of them. "Are you sure about this, Dex?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll do anything I can to make this work."

"We all will," Leia promised.

Luke smiled. "And if the Force is with us, we'll all live through the effort."

Dex blinked. "What did you just say-?"

"I should start making preparations," Luke murmured. "I suggest the rest of you get some sleep. You're going to need your strength for what's to come."

And without a backwards glance, the Jedi Master shuffled out of the hut.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Dex muttered. But in spite of the warning bells Luke's last words had sounded off in his mind, he still felt the first glimmer of hope he'd known for himself since he arrived in this strange universe.

Amy …