A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for the reviews and for the follows, everyone! Your wonderful feedback is what encourages me to keep writing this story.

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Ben's eyes snapped open. Immediately, he was bombarded by a relentless pounding inside his head, and he grimaced as the sirens continued to scream. He was on his back, staring up at a fractured ceiling. Smoke curled above him.

"Rey," he breathed suddenly, bolting upright.

A sharp stab of pain pierced his skull, causing him to regret his abrupt movement. Blinking forcefully in an attempt to clear his vision, Ben saw flames licking along the floor and climbing the walls. Part of the room had caved in and blocked the door to the hangar, chunks of rock and shards of metal scattered in every direction. Amidst the debris lay an unmoving, half-buried figure, and his heart lurched inside his chest as he scrambled to his feet.

Tearing through the wreckage and tossing aside everything that prevented him from reaching her, he fought to keep his balance, the entire station groaning and quaking under the duress of relentless orbital bombardment. The Adamus facility's structure was doubly reinforced to endure the regular and often extreme pressure exerted by the mining vessels and other machinery, but the shell of rock encasing it was not so durable. It was only a matter of time before it was breached deeply enough to ignite the volatile oils that ran through its cavernous veins, and when that happened, the resulting explosion would not only annihilate the station and everyone on it, but its shockwaves would start a chain reaction that would reach the farthest edges of the asteroid field. He needed to get out of here—and fast.

Rey's cheeks were smeared with dust and dirt, and wet, sticky blood coated the fingers of his glove as they grazed her right temple. But she was alive. He could hear her heart beating, feel it inside his chest as if it were his own. A relieved exhale escaped his lips as he leaned further down, slipping one arm beneath her shoulders and the other under her legs. Then he stood, gathering her to himself and ensuring that her head was cradled securely against his left shoulder.

Both her lightsaber and his had been thrown far from their hands when the first blast came, but Ben recovered both of them and hooked them onto his belt before approaching the northern door, which had been sealed shut in accordance with emergency procedure. Luckily, its access panel remained intact, so he was able to enter the code to manually override the lockdown.

Advancing as swiftly as he could manage through the labyrinth of corridors that lay beyond, he was unable to keep himself from glancing down at Rey's serene features every so often. It had been so long since he had last held her in his arms, and everything had changed since then. Everything and yet…nothing at all. They still stood on opposite sides of the war. There was still no peace in the galaxy, and he was beginning to wonder if there ever would be. As a result, he never had the luxury of seeing her like this, and he was going to savor every second of it.

Occasionally, he encountered fleeing First Order officers, administrators, and even stormtroopers, but most of them never took any notice of him or the woman he carried. They were heading for the escape pods, and so was he. Ben knew there would not be enough of the small vessels to bear them all to safety, but he was prepared to do whatever was necessary to get Rey into one of those pods.

HHHHHHHHHH

When he finally reached the launch bay, he found the entrance blocked by a frantic and panicking crowd. Wildly, they clamored and pushed and shoved and desperately clawed their way toward the pods, whose numbers were rapidly diminishing. Gritting his teeth, Ben waded into the midst of them. Jostled to and fro by their blind madness, he did his best to shield Rey from the worst of it, but a sharp blow from behind suddenly sent him to his knees.

All he saw was white, and he nearly lost his grip on her. Bodies slammed into him from every side, nearly trampling both of them, but Ben sensed that there was a far more immediate threat looming.

"You! You brought this upon us! This was your doing!"

The man's voice was filled with fury, every other sound fading away as Ben focused only on him. He heard the blaster slide from its holster, the click as the safety was switched off and a finger reached for the trigger. Anger flared inside him, the Force swirling around him like a violent storm.

The blaster fired, but the momentum of its projectile immediately came to a screeching halt. It hovered between Ben and his attacker, red and pulsing and crackling. He remained on his knees, Rey still in his arms, and without moving a single muscle, he reversed the bolt's direction and sent it straight through his enemy's chest. Only a burning hole was left in its wake, and he heard a dull thud as the man's lifeless body dropped onto the floor, his blaster clanking and spinning across the polished black surface.

Slowly, Ben stood, and as he raised his bowed head, he saw that the crowd was parting around him. Many of the onlookers who had witnessed the incident were cowering in fear, for they had now realized that the Supreme Leader himself was among them. Breathing heavily, he moved toward the last remaining escape pod as the others jettisoned into space.

"Get out of my way," he growled, and all in his path shrank back from him.

Opening the hatch, Ben entered the pod and then closed and sealed it behind him. Gently, he lowered Rey into one of the passenger seats and buckled her in. Then he stepped over to the pilot's chair, sat down, and activated the launch sequence. The pod roared to life and shot from its station as if it had been fired from a cannon.

Jolting forward, Ben braced himself against the console, and when he glanced up a moment later, he saw a field of flame and debris. Escape pods were being blasted apart, pieces of them slamming against the viewport. The pod shuddered, and he fought to keep it steady. Large green bolts flashed before his eyes, and he looked to his left.

There, floating amidst the void of space, was the Finalizer. Its relentless bombardment of the station continued while its lighter artillery assailed the fleeing pods. Hatred and resentment swelled inside him at the sight of it. So it was true. Hux had finally decided to play his hand.

Gripping the controls even tighter than before, Ben clenched his teeth and focused all of his attention on surviving. They were hurtling toward imminent planetfall, the scarred surface of Adamus swelling until it filled the entire viewport.

When they broke through the atmosphere, the pod trembled violently, the controls growing hot. Sweat beaded on his forehead, the muscles in his arms straining. Before them, there was nothing but white, an immaculate blanket of snow that would not remain so for much longer.

"Hold on, Rey," he muttered. "This is going to be a rough landing."