Author's note: I know I said that I would start posting this in February, but life happened. So here it is. This is the same story I was posting on Ao3. I do plan to finish it. This may take some time though. I will post at least one chapter a week.

Chapter 1 - Through the Portal

"Falcon's back!" came the cry across the jungles of Ajan Kloss.

Finn jumped up from his meditating spot just outside camp and started running in the direction of where the old, reliable ship was touching down. Rey had left with BB-8 nearly a standard month ago on what she had said was a private Jedi mission. A few days after Exegol, Finn had told her of his force sensitivity. At first, she had been elated, but as the days wore into weeks, her excitement had dwindled. He almost wondered if maybe it was that information that was the reason she had left, but now she was back. There was a moment where he was concerned that she wouldn't come back at all.

"Rey!" he called out as soon as he saw her descending the ramp.

He could sense that the hug he gave her was happily received but not as enthusiastically reciprocated. Her arms clung loosely to his shoulders in a mock imitation of the hug she had given him on Crait. She seemed distant and tired. Even her presence in the force felt different. It had felt that way since Exegol. Broken. Finn was convinced that it was because of whatever he sensed happen to her while she was down there.

"Hey," she said quietly when she backed out of his arms, "here is something you might be interested in. You will have to build one of your own eventually."

With that said, she held out what appeared to be a part of her quarterstaff. Finn's eyebrows pulled together in confusion at what she was showing him. Her quarterstaff was nothing new to look at. He had seen it a thousand times. In fact, he had been on the receiving end of a blow from it when they met. Why would she be showing him this?

As if she knew what he was thinking, she gave him a sly smile and fingered a spot on it that seemed to swivel. Now that had his attention. Nothing on her staff had ever moved before. In her hands, it had moved things and people just fine; but nothing on it had moved. He watched as she spun that particular piece and a bright yellow blade sprang to life. She had built a lightsaber!

"Wow," he breathed. "That's amazing Rey!"

"We will use sticks to help you train for now, and later we will go find your kyber crystal so you can build your own saber," she said with the closest thing to a happy smile that he had seen on her face in a while and proceeded to turn off her lightsaber.

A sudden loud voice broke the peace of the jungle. "Where is my droid?! Please tell me you didn't drop any trees on him."

Rey rolled her eyes hard as she turned a pinned Poe with a longsuffering glare like a parent would a trouble making kid.

"BB-8 is fine. Oh, so is the Falcon, by the way," she snarked. "Didn't blow either of the sub-alternators."

They just stood there and stared one another down for several tense seconds. Hands were planted on hips and feet were squared up in a dominant stance. Finn grimaced as he looked between his two stubborn friends. Rey, he knew, was just being this way because she was tired of Poe trying to impress her. Ever since Zorii told him to take a hike, he had turned all his attention on Rey. Unlike all the other girls on base, she was not swayed by Poe's charms.

Finally, Poe broke eye contact and relented with a huff.

"Was your mission successful?" he asked. It really appeared to Finn that he was only asking to be polite. All the actual signs that he was listening were nonexistent. A romantic relationship would never work there.

Rey replied in the affirmative before trudging back to her quarters on base. Another few months and they were finally going to be on a different planet where they could better help set up a new government. Until then, it was more of these cave or hut or ship type sleeping arrangements. Finn was happy about the coming change and so were plenty of the others. Rey didn't seem to care one way or the other. In fact, she seemed to not care about much recently. It was so odd for her to be that way.

The months following her return to Ajan Kloss saw her descend further into whatever emotional depths she had been floundering in. Finn and Rose were slowly reaching their wits end on how to help their friend.

During the day, Finn trained with Rey. It was a steady cycle of meditating, sparring, reading from the ancient Jedi texts, eating, meditating, and taking laps through the training course. It was a much needed routine that seemed to keep her out of her head a little and away from whatever thoughts seemed to cause her pain.

These patterns during the day worked right up until Finn said or did something that he didn't even realize was wrong. They were usually innocuous things like how he hoped his lightsaber was blue, or teasing that she needed a boyfriend, or getting excited about his own dates with Rose. He would say things like that, and she would almost shut down. It made him wonder if maybe she was just upset that no one asked her out; when, truth be told, she had been asked out many times. Finn figured that the issue had to be that the right person, whoever that was, had not asked.

Once the afternoon came around, Rose and Rey would work on the ships. There were always little things that needed to be repaired, and, after Poe took a ship for a flight, there were always big things to repair. The girls got in a comfortable pattern of work. They hardly said anything other than what was needed to get the job done.

All their efforts to help Rey came to nothing, however, when one of two things occurred.

The first issue always happened around dinner time. Rey had caught Poe's eye the moment he saw her on Crait and had managed to hold it even while Zorii was around. Everyone knew it was because Poe was attracted to powerful women and not because he was genuinely interested in Rey for who she was. So, without thinking about whatever Rey was dealing with, Poe would insert himself into every situation at dinner and flirt unabashedly with her. All during that, Finn and Rose would watch Rey grow more irritable while Poe made a loud fool of himself. They really did love and respect Poe. He was a great military leader, but when it came to women, he needed a lesson or two.

The second problem always occurred after lights out. At first, her friends had been blissfully oblivious to Rey's issue; but Rose stumbled upon it when she accidently fell asleep in Rey's quarters one night after she had walked her from the dining area and away from Poe who was one more loud word away from having his nose relocated.

"He is getting on my nerves, Rose," Rey vented.

"I know, Rey," Rose consoled. "But I have to ask just because I am curious. Why are you turning him down? Feel free to tell me to take a hike if you don't want to talk about it."

Rey cast her eyes around the room for a minute before the fell back to her lap and tears started to slowly drop through her lashes and down onto her face and hands.

"My heart is not available, Rose," she stated simply.

With that said, Rey turned on her bunk and fell asleep. Rose stayed in the room with her for a while before falling asleep herself in the chair by Rey's desk area, heart hurting because she caused her friend to cry.

A few hours later, she was awakened by the sounds of Rey moaning and occasionally screaming in her sleep. Rose jumped up and went to Rey's side to shake her awake. When her eyes opened, they were wild, but that wildness quickly changed into heartache and tears. Rose held her as she poured out her emotions in sobs. The only words that ever came out of her mouth were "gone," "Exegol," and "why."

Rose left Rey once she was sound asleep and took the information to Finn who in turn took it to Poe. Together, they decided that something should be done to help Rey. Whatever had happened on Exegol had hurt her deeply, and she needed help. Rest. Quiet. Someplace that she could heal.

With that in mind, they arranged for others to watch over command for an extended period of time so that they could take Rey to the one place that no one would bother at – Ahch-To. Chewie had told them enough about the planet that they were fully convinced that going there would be a good thing for Rey.

It took some convincing, but they soon had her, her things, their things, and the droids loaded onto the Falcon; and they were hurtling their way through hyperspace on their mission of mercy for their friend.

Two Weeks Later

"Hey, guys," Rey called tiredly, "I'm going to go meditate on the cliffs for a little while."

"Okay, Rey," Rose acknowledged kindly. "Let us know if you need anything."

Rey walked away from her friends and toward the area that had caused her such trouble when she first came to this planet. The cave's call was just as loud now as it had been then. At that time, she didn't understand what all was going on, but she knew now. The whole planet was a vergence of the force, and all of that power seemed to center right there at the cave. This time, she was feeling that call; but the pull felt different. She couldn't explain how it was different; it just was.

Settling down with her legs criss-crossed in front of the hole that led into the cave, Rey slowly closed her eyes and reached out into the force. She felt the life around the island, the darkness of the cave, the light of the sun, the roughness of the sea, and the calm of her friends. Worse, she felt the rough edges of her own soul caused by the break that occurred when Ben died and was separated from her.

Without even meaning to, her thoughts in meditation drifted to him. He was such a strong presence in the force. Dark, yes; but also warm and comforting. His presence was like a fluffy, warm blanket. Before Exegol, when he was still Kylo Ren, that darkness was oppressive; but, when he came for her and protected her, when he was Ben again, his presence felt like home. A home she had for maybe an hour before it was ripped away from her.

Not for the first time, she wondered what he was like before Kylo Ren. Did he really want to be a Jedi? Was there a specific thing he enjoyed doing? What was he like? Would he have been interested in her in the same way? Would they even have become friends had they met back then? None of those were questions she could answer because he had been handed over to Snoke on a silver platter by those he should have been able to trust. If only things had been different! How she would have loved to know Ben Solo!

Rey, once again, cried bitter tears over that loss. It was unfair that she was called upon to constantly lose her home and family. She was honestly scared now to get too close to her friends for that very reason. That thought alone had cost her many nights worth of sleep and some moments of wakefulness. Some days, she would close her eyes and see Ben lying there dead; other days it was Finn, Rose, Poe, Kaydel, and others.

Suddenly, through the cave there came an echo that grew more and more insistent that she couldn't help but acknowledge it. A voice. It sounded like Ben! Rey's head popped up and her eyes sprang open. She couldn't discern what he was saying, but she was sure that it was his voice. Jumping to her feet, Rey ran to the edge of the hole and jumped in without a single thought other than getting to the other half of her dyad.

The island was rumbling around her, and her friends were calling out her name, but Rey paid no heed to any of them. Her focus was solely on that voice. Not even the splash caused by other bodies landing in water after her dragged her attention away from her target.

Once again, she found herself standing before the mirror in the cave. Whatever was calling to her was on the other side of the mirror. If she could just reach it…

Tentatively, Rey reached out both physically and through the force and touched the mirror.

The force roared around her and pulled hard. She felt herself hit ground hard and heard as others landed near her. Her chest hurt, and she was heaving for air. When she got the first full intake of air, she noticed the tears sliding down the side of her face. It wasn't the first time that she had the wind knocked out of her, but it was certainly the worst.

The sound of coughing finally drew her attention to her friends who were sprawled out on the ground behind her clearly having the same breathing issue she had. Poe and Rose seemed to be having the worst trouble with it. Finn was just lying on the ground staring up at the sky like he was completely lost.

Rey quickly realized that maybe they were completely lost. She didn't recognize her surroundings. They clearly were not on Ahch-To anymore. In place of the oceans was a veritable ocean of trees and grass. Unlike the blinding sunlight of their island retreat, there a vast expanse of stars glittering from their place in the night sky. In the distance beyond the trees were the lights of what appeared to be either a settlement or a large building.

"What happened?" Poe inquired breathily reaching up to cradle his head in his hands.

"No idea," Rey replied evenly. "But we are going to need help figuring out where we are. Looks like our best bet for that is on the other side of those trees."

"My head is a mess," Finn grumbled. "What is going on? My senses feel like they are on overload."

"I have just as much of an idea now as I did ten seconds ago," Rey said a little snappier than she intended. After she took a breath to settle herself down, she had to agree with Finn. Even her senses felt slightly overloaded.

"Well let's get moving," Rose suggested. "If I stay here much longer, I am likely to vomit. Must move."

They all stood shakily and attempted to walk towards the lights. The first few steps were challenging. They stumbled over their own feet, complained that whatever planet they were on had to be spinning too fast even though they knew they were just dizzy, but they eventually found their footing before they got too close to the trees and their large roots that were sticking up dangerously far.

This would be an ideal place to train, Rey mused to herself.

Coming to the edge of the woods, they were met with a sight that left all but Rey in awe. Rey recognized it immediately, but the last time she saw it, it was in flames. At the outskirts were several small huts clearly made for one person to live in. In the center was a large building that was square at the base with many spires reaching toward the sky. At the center was a tall dome. There wasn't a single scorch mark nor was there the smell of smoke anywhere near the building. If it weren't for the force, she would have been convinced that this was not the same place she had seen in the vision she had when she first touched the Skywalker lightsaber.

In the blink of an eye, however, Rey's senses cleared, and she became overwhelmingly aware of three things that confirmed where she was but left her wondering how. The first thing she became aware of was that there were many people nearby who were force sensitive. The next thing that caught her attention was a familiar presence. One she hadn't sensed in nearly two years.

"Master Skywalker?" she whispered wonderingly while she gazed open mouthed in full recognition of his perfectly intact Jedi training temple.

The last thing she noticed sent her to her knees as she sobbed uncontrollably. The painful, jagged edges of her soul were slowly closing up. She was whole once more.