Two weeks earlier...

Thunder cracked through the skies of Yavin 4, a frequent event on the rainforest planet. The Resistance had set up base in an abandoned Jedi temple, the Millennium Falcon parked nearby.

Rey didn't need the Force to guess what the people she cared about were doing. Rose had taught Finn how to do simple mechanical repairs, and in return he'd spent the last few days coaching her on blaster accuracy. She'd spotted them earlier that day in a makeshift blaster range, gripping each other in laughter. Their carefree nature had warmed Rey's heart, even as she felt isolated from it. They hadn't noticed when she'd slipped away.

General Leia Organa and Poe Dameron were inside the base, poring over star maps and debating strategy, with the General smiling in her fond, motherly way. Chewbacca was in the Falcon, trying to figure out what to do with the porg family who'd taken up roost inside, chewing the seat cushions - Rey had suggested eating them, but he was more reluctant than she'd have thought.

Artoo had just recently met Beebee, and the two of them had been terrorizing Threepio lately with their reckless antics. Just that week, she had spotted Beebee climbing the stone walls of an ancient temple with his bungee cables, at Artoo's whirring suggestion! The anxious protocol droid was probably lecturing both of them, and berating Artoo for being a negative influence on children.

Rey herself was sitting cross-legged in a grassy clearing, some distance off from the others. She didn't relish the solitude, but she was used to it, and she had found that she could feel the Force stronger when she did. Now, it hummed around her, weaving through her fingertips and the gargantuan trees shielding her. Alien wildlife trilled and squawked around her, seeking solace from the imminent rainfall. Insects buzzed, leaves rustled - life was everywhere, and in that moment, she felt intrinsically connected to it.

The broken lightsaber lay in the grass before her, neatly cleaved in two pieces. Rey had racked her mind for days now, trying to figure out what to do. How did Jedi normally receive new lightsabers, when there was no one left to teach them? Her first attempts to contact Luke had amounted to nothing. His presence was absent, a part of the farthest reaches of the Force which she could not touch. She knew, with a certainty she couldn't explain, that he would only appear if he wished it.

So, she meditated.

It did not come easily for her. Her focus was scattered, and though she could touch the Force itself, and feel it swirling around her like a river, she didn't know what to ask it, or how. So, in between combat drills with her staff, she had made an effort to solving her lightsaber problem, mostly by sending out questions to the void. Would she have to search across the galaxy for a replacement? Was it worth attempting to fix it herself, and risk breaking it further? She had repaired speeders before, but a blade of molten light felt a little outside her wheelhouse.

Either way, this was her problem, and she was determined to fix it. The rest could fall into place when she was armed again.

Rey's eyes had fluttered shut, deep in concentration, when the sounds of the forest had abruptly silenced. She suspected what was coming next before it happened.

She opened her eyes, and saw him.

As before, his surroundings had been hazy, but as clear as day, she saw Kylo Ren - Ben - sitting stiffly in a high-backed chair. Whether it was a throne, similar to the one Snoke had commanded, or merely situated in a meeting room, she could not immediately tell, but it was clear that he was watching something intently across from him.

Dark circles surrounded his deep brown eyes, and his black hair was mussed. He had none of the cold elegance she had seen when he'd met her at her escape pod, despite the fact he was now donning a grand black robe, a crimson cloak wrapped around his broad shoulders. For all the regal bearing he held, right now, he just looked tired. In spite of herself, she felt a twinge of pity. Their was no hatred in the continuation of their Force bond, merely a sense of weary acceptance.

He chose to become the new Supreme Leader, he could have left the First Order, she reminded herself, but it couldn't escape her notice... He's suffering.

For a moment, his gaze flicked to hers. A quiet acknowledgment of her presence, nothing more. She had the impression he wanted her gone.

"I don't want this either," she retorted.

She could hear a vague, fuzzy murmur in the distance, and perked up with some interest. "Someone's talking to you." She got up from the grass, stepping forward. It was a futile gesture, but as she willed her mind closer to hers, she felt herself approach him, wherever he was.

I have to be careful, Rey realized, dimly. She couldn't allow herself to appear in the middle of a First Order battle cruiser, like Ben had on the island.

She felt as if she had hit a sudden snag, like a wall erupting between them, but she waved it off. It now felt as though she were wading through wet sand as she approached him. Rey couldn't help but feel a touch offended. He had been the one to relish this bond, to eagerly search its limits, and now he had the nerve to attempt to push her away?

As she pressed forward, she heard the speaking voices around him far clearer. A clipped, Imperial accent was droning in the distance. As she focused, she began to pick up stray words - Resistance base, the General, tracking scan, at least two hundred members.

"You're afraid I'll learn something." She peered back at him in wonder, while he stared past her, his lips drawn in a hard line. She could sense his twinge of annoyance, and nearly laughed. Even with the anger and hurt she had been nursing from the moment she had shut the Falcon door in his face, a part of her realized she had missed this. If he wouldn't truly open up to her anymore, then she had earned this, in some regard.

Soon, it was as if she stood next to him. The hairs on her arms stood on end as she leaned over his shoulder. A shudder passed over his body, and he suddenly stood up from his seat, startling her into jolting away. Would she have been able to feel the stiff material of his Sith raiment if she hadn't moved back?

"This meeting is adjourned," he stated tersely, his deep purr of a voice echoing beyond her. He exited the room, his boots thudding on a hard metal ship bay.

As Rey followed him, she attempted to peer back behind them, through the haze, at whoever he had been with. She could vaguely discern a group of figures, but they were gone in a flash, as if shrouded in mist. Whoever these people had been, would she have been able to see them if they weren't Force sensitive?

She successfully followed him back to what must be his quarters, and he whirled around the moment he had any privacy, cloak billowing around him. "Snoke is dead. Shouldn't you be gone?"

Irritation pricked her, and Rey scowled up at him. "You know I have no control over this."

He frowned, turning away, and leaning against what was presumably his bunk with a sigh. "I thought these were... Aftershocks. That they would go away soon."

They had continued to catch glimpses of one another in the ten days it had been since the Battle of Crait ended, often a handful of times each day, but they had coldly ignored each other, pretending nothing was going on. Rey's brow creased, and she said nothing. It was clear to both of them that this strange connection wasn't going anywhere.

He continued. "...But they aren't. It should hardly surprise me at this point that he lied." He sounded hollow, exhausted. Rey watched him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You look ill," she said bluntly.

He glowered back at her. "I've been busy."

"I can tell."

They met each other's gaze for a moment, willing the other to look away.

Through gritted teeth, he said, "If you're not willing to have an actual conversation, then there's no point in this."

"The same goes for you... But when you're ready to talk, I'll listen."

"We're on the same side, and once you realize this-" He cut off abruptly, frustration evident in his eyes. They were still at a stalemate. She watched him disappear with a heavy sense of remorse.

I should hate him. I should be furious with him.

Rey now stood in the middle of a clearing on Yavin 4, rain pelting her hair. She knew, with a great resolve, that she couldn't hate him. He was right. They were on the same side. She had seen within him, and he her, and they understood what the other was going through better than everyone. She just had to guide him down the right path...

They think we have two hundred members, she realized. What a joke. At that moment, the Resistance scarcely had thirty bodies defending their base, and half of them were injured. Shoving the broken lightsaber parts back in her pack, she walked back to the temple.