Imperial Shuttle, Ilum

Kylo arrived first. Not surprising considering Rey would be flying in whatever stolen vessel the Resistance could manage to scrounge up.

Adjusting the craft as it settled onto the stone outcropping, Kylo reached up switching a lever that pulled in the landing strips and then he leaned forward to initiate an engine hibernation protocol, which would protect the ship from the sub-zero temperatures on this planet.

Finishing that, he reclined back in his seat with a pensive sigh, allowing his thoughts to resettle on their favorite distraction. When would she get here? An hour, a day? He wanted to hold her in his arms, not a projection, but her.

The flourishing warmth, the feelings of peace and security, to Kylo's astonishment they remand, only increasing in magnitude every time he let his thoughts stray back to her.

Being together like that… Kylo he… No… Ben.

His thoughts derailed for a moment.

That's what she called him. Despite the fact that he'd shed his given name, the way she said it spread tingling warmth through his body. It was his name, but he hadn't seen himself as Ben for a long time. Though, neither did he fully see himself as Kylo Ren anymore… rather, something in-between. Just Ren seemed like a good compromise between the two.

Mulling this over, Ben found with surprise that he didn't really care. If his ultimate goals were being accomplished, people could call him whatever they wanted.

Shrugging that away, Ben unfurled his mind, scoping out a huge area. He would know before the ships sensors when she arrived.

Rey…

Another rush of heat flooded him at the memory of how she'd kissed him. So eager and receptive, he'd never expected that. And he certainly hadn't expected his own reaction to be so overwhelmingly feverish. He'd always been prone to impassioned outbursts but the energy that coursed through him at the mere thought of her—that was different.

It was exhilarating and incredible and if they'd continued that kiss, he would have torn her apart. Ben could still feel it: a massive energy that threatened to break away from him. It begged release. He was practically vibrating with it.

A mischievous grin spread across his face. On this planet there would be no repercussions if he… liberated some of the dammed energy.

Rising, Ben placed a hand on the ceiling and leaned in closer to the frontage window, observing the desolate, white world just beyond the ship.

Yes, this would do perfectly.

He stepped back, positioning himself deliberately, eyes shut and arms slightly extended. Focusing once again on expanding his mind out, out, out further still, feeling nothing but stone and snow.

Then he reached for the energy. It was there, roiling just below the threshold of tolerance. Now that it was about to be freed, the energy seemed to shove at his restraints, seeking in gap in his defenses. Protecting the ship was almost more than he could accomplish as wave after wave of raw energy tore from his chest.

It bombarded the surrounding landscape. Columns of stone were annihilated and snow hurtled aside in a blast radius several parsecs wide.

When he fell to his knees, Ben realized he was screaming and the sound choked off abruptly. On all fours, panting, he ran a trembling hand through sweat-dampened hair as a laugh threatened to break free from his constricted throat.

It was wonderful! This release of pent up energy… but it wasn't enough. He shook his head, an ironic grin and a dry chuckle escaping him as he staggered to his feet.

Disregarding the fact that violent outbursts virtually never solved his problems, they were consistently satisfying. And, without consciously choosing to, he'd used both sides of the Force. It had felt incredible, natural. The clamoring roar of energy was now reduced to an ebbing buzz, still there, still threatening, but governable.

Easing back into the pilots seat, Ben groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face.

Never had he experienced a rush of power so great. It most certainty related to his submersion into both aspects of the Force but… did it have anything to do with his feelings for Rey?

Now he sighed, leaning forward, elbows on knees.

With no frame of reference, exploring these new feelings and abilities needed to be handled with care and patience. Not exactly his strong suit.

He inhaled slowly.

For her sake, and the sake of his sanity, he would have to try.

Carefully, slowly, closing his eyes, Ben opened his mind and extended his senses. This time, simply feeling the surrounding energy, allowing it to flow fluently around and through him.

.

.

.

The moment she entered the atmosphere, he knew. His consciousness flew to meet hers like a meteor caught in a stars gravitational pull.

He touched her mind gently, not letting his exuberance override caution. A radiant glow was her response to his careful probe and he felt his face light up in an answering smile. Sensing another through the Force was rarely distinct, coming into close physical proximity made it clearer, but Ben had never experienced the clarity he did when connected to Rey through the bridge.

Now though, the bridge was not connecting them, so his awareness was reduced to more normal parameters. Somewhat frustrating considering the clarity they'd been experiencing thus far.

And unless it connected them on it's own, it took a great deal of concentration and will to maintain the Force Bridge. With the exception of the brief period in which they had faced the Praetorian Guard, it seemed the bridge wasn't active when they were together.

The ship came into view and Ben was surprised at the quality of it. Used yet well maintained, it obviously had belonged to someone wealthy.

Her piloting became noticeably ginger when she approached the perimeter of destruction around his own ship. A sheepish grin snuck unto is his face as she finally landed some meters away. Embarrassment made his ears burn but all thought flew away at the sight of her.

Rapidly striding to his own ramp, he punched a sequence into the control panel and lowered it into the snow.

Treading down the metal in heavy winter boots, he took his first steps into the crunching snow, letting his gaze briefly sweep the horizon before landing on his counterpart. She was similarly paused on the ramp of her own ship, wind tearing at her thick clothing, pausing in her steps as he came into view.

Without thinking, Ben swept one arm up in a simple motion that, not only removed the deep snow in a direct line between him and Rey, but also condensed it, arching it, and created a massive, hollow tunnel connecting them.

Their gaze locked.

The hand that had been holding her hood in place lowered, revealing shiny brown hair, back in its costmary triple bun. She smiled widely, glancing down, testing the new grounds firmness, before she began racing towards him with bright, cheerful eyes.

Maybe he ate something bad earlier because it felt like there were maggots in his belly, squirming uncontrollably. She was so radiant. His legs moved forward without his permission and then she was there, really there in his arms. No words seemed good enough to express his relief.

He just stared down into her eyes while she beamed, giddy, warping her arms firmly around his waist.

"Hi," She said humorously, maybe testing if he was still capable of speech.

He wasn't.

A twitch of his lip was the only warning she got before he swooped down and captured her mouth in an exuberant kiss. The Force flared up around them in response, wind and snow arching wildly in the enclosed space.

Her face was pink from something other than cold when he pulled back and Ben felt a flare of pride. Having virtually no experience did nothing to discourage Ben's first foray into romance. And it was wonderfully reassuring to see notable signs of success.

He picked up her gloved hand, "Come."

A bubble of excitement surrounded them as he led her into his ship.

"All the supplies we'll need are here," He indicated two stacks of materials at a small workstation in the hull. "All that's left is the crystals."

"I have some materials of my own." She added, nodding in satisfaction as she picked up and inspected various parts.

His eyebrows rose, "You've done some research." It wasn't a question.

She glanced sidelong at him, setting a converter down. "Of course. The texts I have are very old, so I didn't have a reliable location for the Kyber and I couldn't leave the Resistance for long enough to search all the systems listed. But I have a good idea of what's need based on Master Skywlakers lightsaber."

The atmosphere in the ship darkened considerably as Ben's face turned stony and closed off. He couldn't help it.

Rey glanced down at the table, face resigned, as if she knew he would react that way at the mere mention of their former Master.

"So thank you for helping me… I couldn't have done this on my own." Her sincere, brown eyes came back up to meet his.

"You would have found a way." He responded with utter certainty and her face turned questioning as he brushed past her into the cockpit. Sitting down in the pilots seat, Ben activated a holo-map of the stone caverns they would be traversing.

He felt more than saw as Rey approach from behind.

"Here is were the main hub of crystals reside. And here is the only entrance." He gestured to the two points approximately six inches apart. Rey leaned forward to study the layout, eyes carefully searching for details, the blue glow lighting up her face like a Jedi of old.

Ben had to look away, teeth grinding, hands clenched.

"This will take more than a day…" Her eyes were engrossed, arms folded with a hand resting on her chin.

"I have everything we'll need." He said briskly, rising to his feat and transferring some of the database information, including the map, into a small device.

Feeling her careful Force probing as well as an assessing eye, Ben swiveled to catch her gaze. She didn't falter, surprising him with an unreadable expression, though he already knew she was worried about his cold attitude towards her.

Without warning he dropped to his knees in front of her. "Give me your boot."

"What?" She jerked back.

"Your boot… give it… to me." He held up an empty hand and she eyed him, suspiciously shifting her weight onto one foot and reaching for the other.

He lunged forward to grab her booted foot; startling her but not enough that she lost balance. Of course she didn't, He thought, realizing belatedly that he wanted to unsettle her, make her lose that flawless control.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was lowered in firm accusation and he could see her stance was tense and ready and she was struggling not to kick him with the foot he'd snatched. It was the reaction of a fighter; someone who'd spent their life in hostile circumstances and he cursed himself for erroneously fancying her a girl.

She was so kind and gentle it was deceptively easy to forget.

She was a warrior.

And she was not about to be intimidated by his fumbling tactics.

He dropped her foot and raised his hands in a placating gesture.

"Your shoes sounded too light on the metal so I wanted to inspect them closer. They're decent for dry travel but not for melted snow, which is what we'll mostly be sloughing through." Ben rose to his feet and gestured behind him. "There's a coating we can apply to the material to make it more suitable."

She eyed him for a moment, tasting his feelings of remorse perhaps, before she relaxed out of her semi-crouch and nodded. Brushing past him to the work station were she easily found the compound he had mentioned

He was such a fool. How had he thought that would go? That she would become uncertain and flustered, squeal and protest but only half-heartedly and he would get to see her blush.

Ben inhaled deeply, observing her back, starting to feel familiar frustration building up. They weren't children but Ben's only experience with flirtation was preadolescent!

She was just so good at everything. Even though he knew she had absolutely no experience in romantic interactions, she still seemed calm and confident around him. Yet he was so uncertain about how to proceed.

A part of him was jealous of her, he realized—her ease, her grace.

He would have to work on that too.

Ben sighed wearily, letting out a gust of air, head slumping forward.

Patience.

There would be no certainty in down this path, not right away. He would just have to be open to the Force… and keep making mistakes with hopes of learning something from them.

First lesson: Rey was a warrior like himself and should be treated as such.

Coming to a conclusion like that made him feel more in control and satisfied, anger trickling away. Ben raised his head slowly.

If Rey had felt the chaotic ramblings of his emotions, she made no comment on it, striding back over with her earlier liveliness. She grinned up into his somewhat petulant face, seeming to understand without words.

"Are we ready now?"

Ice Caverns, Ilum

Rey took the lead, surprised and flattered when Ben had offered her his red saber to melt the snow in front. He seemed to be behaving well now that they were traveling; maybe he got the awkwardness out of his system on the ship.

Rey grinned to herself. She could tell how hard he was trying, to be amiable, to be thoughtful, and the gesture made her heart rise up into her throat. It was just like him… to obliterate all her expectations and make an honest effort at cordiality.

"You got here quickly. I half expected you to show up in a Twi'lek puddle jumper." His deep, dry voice echoed in the cavernous passageway and Rey laughed.

"We haven't been idle. Every member of the Resistance is industrious and motivated. You'd have to restrain them with the Force to stop their determination." Rey realized how proud of them she was. Her family.

"So they stole a smuggling vessel. Inspiring." Ben's tart remark had her swiveling around, defensive.

"They did not! It was a trade." She protested righteously.

"You couldn't afford that ship even if you prostituted the entirety of the Resistance. And you didn't limp away from Crait with anything else of value." He shrugged as if stealing was the only solution.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. There was nothing she could assert here that wouldn't give away the Resistance position. And regardless of the blossoming relationship between them, Rey wasn't about to risk the lives of all those on Baskarn on an argument with Ben.

She grit her teeth and turned to slash the snow in front of her with a bit more force than necessary.

The truth was, in addition to all the extra pelts Rey had helped acquire; they had traded one of the Yrashu's hunting ships for the vessel she'd flown here. It was the nicest thing she'd ever touched, and to be frank, she was still feeling a bit guilty about having it.

"You're just jealous because mines prettier." She huffed out as they moved forward.

"It's true. First Order ships are built for economy not style… and they're hideous."

That startled a laugh from Rey. She glanced back at him and he quirked a brow, smirking lips reflecting the light of the red saber.

Ships. This was something they could talk about.

And they did.

Hours past happily discussing recent advances in both ground and space travel. Favorite models, handling preferences (Ben being oddly flustered for that part), and personal designs, Ben turned out to be a stimulating and thoughtful conversation partner.

And he didn't belittle her if she hadn't heard of a particular new model or had incomplete knowledge about the latest systems.

After that, Rey had extended her left hand out behind her in a silent invitation and the two had been happily clasping hands ever since.

Now they walked in amiable silence, occasionally bringing up the map and deliberating on the next direction together.

Even though Ben had been here before it was only once and some time ago, and apparently the cave system had changed dramatically since his previous excursion.

"It's part of the old legends. But really it's just the caves expanding and contracting due to atmospheric pressure shifts." Rey was picturing a young Ben crouched over a holo-pad, determined to unravel the secrets of this planet.

"You're not far off," And she startled when she realized he had seen the image. A tiny quirk of his lip told her he found it amusing and she smiled sheepishly.

"I was the same. Wrecks almost always contain a few discarded data-pads, and even though they were worth more than most of what I scavenged, I hard a hard time giving them up."

This time, he sent her an image. A visualization of Rey, younger, dwarfed by the hull of the ship she was curled up in, feverishly reading through a stack of data-pads.

She chuckled, glancing back to smile at him, "Close. But I never had that many at a time. I would read as much as I could and usually have to sell them within the first few days. It's too dangerous possessing something of value like that."

Ben said nothing but she could feel indignation billowing off him like steam. What is he fuming about now?

"What are your favorite things to read?" She asked to get them back on a safe topic. Dropping his hand to wield the saber with two as they came across a particularly large ice boulder.

Although, maybe it wasn't that safe… the feelings wafting off Ben now were muddled and dark. They walked together in silence for a while and Rey was contemplating what subjects would be safe for them when Ben spoke up again.

"I used to love stories about the Old Republic, in the time before the Jedi." His deep, deliberate voice was captivating and almost hypnotic in this enclosed, subterranean world. "Then Force users were unpredictable, chaotic and dangerous. At least, that's how the annals present them. Uncultured ruffians who desperately and unknowingly craved the Jedi Order to bring meaning and direction to their savage lives." Ben scoffed. "Unadulterated historical bias. Some desired more structure, it's true, but most were free souls who accomplished extraordinary feats without the rigidity or constraints that the Order preached."

Rey didn't say a word. She was occupied processing this novel information.

"They exist, few though they may be. Accurate records of the time before the Jedi" At once sounding both bitter and wistful, Rey couldn't help but turn to observe his expression. It reminded her of looking up at the stars from the Jakku sands and imagining a different world, a better world.

Rey halted and reached for his hand again.

"Well, now it's the time after the Jedi. And maybe together, we can do something different." Ben raised his shaggy brows at her in question.

"No more Jedi, no more Sith. Maybe, if people want, we can make both philosophies public knowledge and learn both ourselves, deciding which parts we agree with and which we don't." This seemed like the natural solution to Rey but Ben's face took on an unreadable expression.

"That could be very dang—"

Both spun their heads sharply to the right as a low rumble sounded through the small space. The wall was perceptibly vibrating, a light powdering of snow shimmering down in waves.

Without a verbal command they both turned to dash forward, using the Force to plow through the slush ahead. They ran, blasting snow in every direction and soon had to angle their bodies sideways to get through thin spots as the ominous rumble grew louder and closer.

The duo had left the large, cavernous spaces long ago and was now squeezing through a narrow but immensely lofty corridor. Snow flew into Rey's eyes and down her neck but she was used to minute particles harassing her. Ben had it worse, he was behind and closer to the grinding, deafening roar that cold only be cruiser-sized boulders toppling over one another.

Rey turned a corner and thrust her outstretched hands into the wall, shoving off violently to propel herself forward with a grunt.

They pushed faster as pebbles began to rain down, ducking and sprinting and breaking up snow but Rey could hardly hear Ben's pants over the cacophony and she knew they were barely keeping ahead of it.

Maybe he was thinking the same thing because she felt him grind to an abrupt halt. Looking back in shock, Rey saw his firm, deliberate stance, raising his arms towards the danger, tumbling boulders breaking through the walls just beyond his feet.

Then, in a massive display of power, Ben halted the forward momentum of the rock.

It was as though an invisible barrier had risen up at his command, the stone that collided with it becoming floating and still. Then it began to fall, directed by Ben's hands back the way they'd come instead. Rey belatedly joined it, erecting a towering stone fortification that would direct the slide away from what remained of the passage even after they'd gone.

Ben lowered his arms panting.

"That was amazing!" Rey exclaimed. Despite all her recent experiences, she was still in awe at the power of the Force. And to see Ben do something that wasn't evil with it…? Amazing.

Unexpectedly, he reached out and cradled her cheek in his hand, deep brown eyes warm and honest.

"It's something I learned from you." He said with a small, endearing grin.

Rey's eyes pooled with salt water as a warm bubble of happiness spilled into her chest. Lunging forward, she brought their lips together in a fervent kiss.

He responded immediately. Bringing his arms around her in a snug hold while she stroked his cheek lovingly. Warmth rose between them as the kiss built up a passion and intensity that had been lingering within them since the moment she'd landed.

Ben squeezed, making her frame rise up slightly, pulling their bundled bodies as close as possible. Through the thick folds of their winter gear every touch felt muted and indistinct and the space between them impossible to breach.

Rey become completely lost when Ben skillfully teased her mouth with his tongue, just as she'd done to him before.

Insistent pressing at the seam of her lips had Rey automatically parting them and without further ado, his tongue delved in, eager and exploratory. She gasped, fire lacing up from her belly. Why were they wearing so many layers? It was too hot in here. Rey felt stifled.

Unexpected desperation to feel him with bare skin blotted out any hesitancy she may have had. Rey ripped off her gloves and burrowed free hands into his tousled hair, stroking, tugging and exploring with relish. Ben groaned against her lips and she, elated, immediately pressed the advantage, darting her tongue in and teasing the roof of his mouth.

A kind of frantic intensity seemed to take over him and he pushed her back into the wall, warm gasping breath spilling onto her neck as he pressed provocatively into her. There was a bit of inexperienced fumbling as he lavished attention on the sensitive skin between her shoulders and jaw.

Gasping, Rey couldn't manage to hold still while that was happening so she grasped at his long, dark hair and tugged firmly back, exposing the white flesh of his neck to her wandering lips.

She could hear his chaotic breathing above and then, sharply, something falling!

Instinct took over and they both dived to the side, still clutched in the other's arms as innumerable small pebbles fell from above. It was a small, brief slide probably caused by the aftershocks of the larger one. The two Force users lay side by side and watched as the rain of debris petered out to a fine dusting of eddying snow.

Their eyes met, and a slow grin spread across Rey's face, then a giggle escaped, then a laugh. Ben's answering chuckle was deep and amused as he watched her collapse into a fit. To Rey, the whole situation was wickedly ironic and consequently hilarious.

Here they were, the galaxies last powerful Force users, so busy kissing they were almost taken out by some pebbles.

Shaking his head with a grin, Ben sat up on one elbow and pulled out the holo-map as she wiped a tear from her eye.

His face became calculating and then he turned to her in excitement.

"We're close."

AN: I really wanted to get into some more 'normal' aspects of their relationship this chapter. I thought it was important but sorry if it wasn't as exciting. As always, feedback is welcome!