A/N: hello, thank you so much for the follows and reviews!
There are some other sequel-related references I slipped into this chapter. Please consider this the first Reylo-related chapter in this fic ;)
Hope you'll enjoy it!
- althea_draxus
She was back in the hallway, the one that she had seen in Maz Kanata's basement. It was exactly as she remembered, the arches and the lights. She was terrified the first time it happened, but not anymore. She knew what she would see. There, in the distance would be Cloud City -
Rey froze. The scene she had expected wasn't there. She should have seen it if she turned this way. But where the scene should have been, it was just an endless row of lit arches. Rey took a few steps back, and turned to head the other way.
The strange boy was there at the other end of the hallway, just like in her first vision. But she could see him more clearly this time. He looked to be around twelve, tall for his age. He had the blackest hair she had ever seen.
Rey slowly made her way towards him. "Hello?"
His eyes widened in fear, and he retreated. Rey hurriedly called out, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."
The boy hesitated, but returned Rey's gaze. His eyes were oddly familiar. Where had she seen them before?
She never had the chance to ask, because all of a sudden she found herself in a forest. She looked around for the boy, but he was gone. Rey walked on a bit more, before she realized that the sounds raging in the distance was that of battle. She looked up and saw one after another TIE fighters swooping in, firing at their target. Takodana, she realized. If this was Takodana, then it was just a matter of time.
Rey didn't have to wait long. In that moment, a cloaked figure with a metal mask appeared in front of her, a crackling red lightsaber in his right hand. She drew in a deep, shaky breath. In their first encounter, she was filled with fear. Not anymore. It was as if she could now tap into his emotions flowing through the forest clearing where they currently were. She had anticipated a rush of pride, intent to hurt, malice... but all she encountered was a feeling of deep curiosity and amazement. Was this what he had felt when they met?
He made his way towards her, but no sooner had he reached her, Rey found herself no longer in the forest but shivering in a cave. She was face-to-face with a cave mirror, the one she had seen on Ach-To. She had gazed into it earnestly, hoping that it would show her her parents. She still remembered the answer that she found reflected back at her. She didn't want to be reminded of it again. Rey moved to leave, but then she heard Maz's words on Takodana: "The belonging you seek is ahead."
The surface of the cave mirror rippled. In spite of herself, Rey turned to look at it. It's showing her something different... a clearer silhouette? It looked to be a man. Rey inched closer towards the mirror, hoping to see it more clearly. She ended up staring into the same pair of brown eyes she had seen at the beginning. She stumbled backwards in shock.
She had expected to land on the cold, hard surface of the cave. Instead, she felt the earth. Glancing down, she saw that her hand was clutching at snow. Rey looked around to find herself surrounded by dark slender trees. This place again. She heard the sounds of fighting not too far away from her. Somewhere ahead. But it was the voice that she remembered would come from behind her that mattered the most.
"Stay here. I'll come back for you."
By now, she would recognize it anywhere. It was calm, soft, compassionate.
She didn't want to turn around. She was afraid to see once again that the person wouldn't be there. Instead, she pleaded, "Don't go."
But the voice that answered her now sounded further from her: "I'll come back, I promise."
"No, don't go! Don't go!" Rey turned around, desperately searching for where the owner of the voice might have gone. She ran ahead, through the trees. It was dark, but her feet seemed to know where she needed to go towards. The closer she got where she needed to be, the more she was overcome by an inexplicable, overwhelming sadness. Rey felt like her heart could explode from the pain.
When she finally stopped, she knew that it meant she was where she needed to be. Rey dropped to her knees and found herself sobbing at the sight before her. "No... no..."
She cradled someone's head, resting it on her lap. Her hands desperately caressed the person's face, hair, lips, willing the person to wake up.
"Don't leave me like this. You can't leave me like this," Rey begged. She was now sobbing into the person's chest. "Come back. Please. Don't go... Ben."
Rey was so surprised at herself for uttering the name, she looked up, even if she was still in tears. Once again, her scenery had changed. She had never seen this place before. The snowy forest had given way to a room lined with sleek black and silver panels. The person who had lain dead in front of her was now a black desk, with what seemed like lightsaber parts strewn across it. And she was clutching on to something - or someone's sleeve for that matter.
She turned to see Ben seated quietly next to her, leaned back against the desk. His eyes were closed. Seeing him next to her brought her sobs to an end. She removed her hand from his sleeve and hesitantly reached out to touch his face. Her thumb gently traced the scar she had left him. She whispered, "It was you. It's always been you."
A pair of confused dark eyes suddenly met hers. "What do you mean?"
His response felt so real. Rey frowned. She drew her hand back and pinched herself. "Ow!"
It hurt. She wasn't dreaming. Or at least, not anymore. Which meant that when she touched his face earlier... Rey suddenly felt her face heating up.
Ben Solo simply stared at her, still perplexed.
She quickly looked away. That was when she realized not only wasn't she dreaming, she sure as hell wasn't on the Falcon. Instead she was in a spacious room, tastefully minimalist in its design, black furniture complemented by grey metal accents. In an attempt to cover up her embarrassment, Rey glanced about at her surroundings, observing as much as she could. For a moment, she wondered if she had been here before. The lights and consoles seemed familiar.
"What is this place?" Rey asked. "How did I get here?"
"I'd like to know that too," he answered flatly. "Wait, place?" He finally caught on to her words. It was his turn to look around and behind him. "You can see my surroundings?" He tried to look at what was behind her, expecting to see the nothing he had always seen in their Force Bridge sessions. But his private quarters was a solid vision behind her. His frown deepened upon realizing something. "You're physically here."
Rey turned to look at him incredulously. "What? No, that's impossible."
"Try picking up something from my desk," he suggested, clearly fascinated by this sudden twist in their Force Bridge.
Rey laughed as she reached a hand out to pick a random object up. "See? I can't tou - wait, what?"
It turned out she had randomly picked up a wooden box, but her hand didn't pass through it as expected.
Rey could swear Ben's lips pulled for the smallest fraction of a second into an amused smile. He got up from his seat and headed to a corner of his chambers that looked like a kitchenette. He came back with two glasses and a small pitcher of water. Rey watched him wordlessly as he poured water into each of the glasses, and set one at each end of the small black octagon block that was his coffee table.
Ben gestured at the empty seat across him. "Won't you? Or would you prefer caf?"
"Caf?"
He looked at her for a while. "You've never had caf before." He was being honest, without any intention to belittle her, but still Rey could feel her cheeks flushing again at the words. Ben must have noticed, because he quickly said, "No.. You just had a bad dream. You shouldn't be drinking caf. I'll fix you something else."
Bad dream? How long had she been here? Rey wanted to ask, but then her attention was diverted to the sight of Ben in his kitchenette. Somehow he had put a kettle on and took out a black lacquer box from a cabinet. It didn't take long for the water to be boiled, and soon he returned to where Rey was seated with both kettle and box.
"I never knew hospitality was a strong suit of yours," Rey commented dryly.
"You're a guest, I have to be a genial host." He opened up the black lacquer box to reveal rows of pyramid silk sachet filled with dried leaves and flowers. "Have your pick."
Rey randomly chose one. "You're the Supreme Leader, shouldn't you have droids to do this sort of thing for you?"
Ben's eyes clouded slightly. "I... don't like droids." He dropped the sachet into the kettle and then closed the lid. "It'll take a few minutes to steep."
"Oh, okay."
Silence. Rey fidgeted in her seat slightly. She peeked at Ben who was seated across her. It didn't look like he would say anything. Or to be more precise, there was something he wanted to ask but for some reason he was holding himself back.
She had to say something.
Rey held out the wooden box she retrieved from his desk earlier. "This doesn't look like it matches the aesthetics of your room."
"It's wood."
Yes I know that, Rey thought irritably. She pressed on, "What's inside?"
Ben hesitated for a while, considering whether to divulge the contents to her. Eventually he sighed and mumbled, "My calligraphy set."
"Calligraphy?"
He raised his eyes to meet hers. "Do you know what it is?"
When she said nothing, he took the box from her and set it on the table. He lifted the lid to reveal rolls of parchment, a pen and an ink pot inside. "You use these to write. Although hardly anyone writes this way nowadays."
"So why do you still have it?"
Ben said nothing. He took out the pen and ink pot. Rey's eyes followed his hand as he dipped the pen into the ink pot. He held it out to her. "Try it."
"I... I don't know how to," Rey admitted with a blush.
She had expected him to smirk at her. Instead, he shifted his chair so it was easy for him to demonstrate to her how to hold and use a pen. The tip of the pen danced across the surface of the parchment, and soon the letters appeared: n.
"Try it."
He was insistent. Rey took the pen from it and tried to press the tip down on the parchment. She must have pressed too hard, because what came out was a blob of ink.
"You'll destroy the pen that way." If it was an admonishment, it didn't sound like it. Ben cautiously held her hand, guiding her to lift it up at a higher angle. And then he let go. "Try again."
This time round, the ink flowed from the pen in slender strokes. Rey carefully spelled out her name below what he had written.
"This is rather pleasant," she commented with a shy smile. "I can see why you'd enjoy this."
Ben averted his eyes. "This connection is lasting longer than what we're used to," he said quickly.
Rey slowly put the pen down. She returned her hands to her lap as she replied, "Yeah."
Did he want her to leave? She didn't dare ask. So she said instead, "I should go back." But how?
He provided her the answer. "You...materialized while you were asleep."
Rey nodded. "So I suppose I should go back the same way."
"It doesn't seem like our connection this time round will be broken on its own," Ben agreed. He stood up and walked over to another part of his chamber. He pressed a button on the wall panel. A door slid open to reveal what seemed to be his darkened bedroom. Rey saw the silhouette of a large bed that was more than enough to fit two persons. "You're welcome to use it. You can adjust the lights if...the dark is too terrifying for you."
Rey braved herself to look at his face. He wasn't looking at her. That's a good thing. "What about you?"
Ben gestured to another end of his chamber. The door to it was already open. Rey caught sight of a small alcove. "I'll be in my meditation room."
"O-okay."
He stood quietly as Rey walked over to his sleeping quarters. Once she was inside, he moved to leave. Before Rey could close the door behind him, he turned around to look at her.
"Rey."
It's his eyes, Rey realized. She barely realized that her breath was caught in her throat, or that she had inched forward. They were mesmerizing. It felt like they contained the galaxy's secrets within them. For that moment Rey didn't care if her thoughts were visible to him.
"If it's what you want, I won't ever leave you." His voice was quiet. Soft. Compassionate. He took a step back and inclined his head slightly. "Good night, Rey."