Gahh sorry this took longer than expected...I made it a longer chapter to make up for the wait!

Listen to me, Rey!

Ben, I told you I'm coming to Storia, and that's that, Rey answered. I have the same right to fight as you and Poe.

Ben mashed his palm against his forehead in irritation. He must have told her to stay out of the fight, too, Ben thought to himself angrily. He scowled at the floor as he paced the length of his room on the Finalizer. Rey, it's different now—Snoke knows about us. He told me to bring you to him. You have to stay away.

This is it—I told you we have to face Snoke together, Rey said. This is our chance to stop him once and for all.

Ben shook his head, never before having felt so provoked by her stubbornness. Rey, I told you, we cannot win that fight. If we go against him, he'll kill you.

How can you be so sure? We haven't even truly tested our powers together. I mean, just sleeping together seems to have an effect on the Force—

That's irrelevant, Ben snapped, though he admitted to himself that she had a vaild point. Still, he couldn't agree to fight Snoke, the one whose powerful Dark abilities he'd witnessed first-hand. I'm not arguing about this again. We can't fight Snoke, I'm not going to take that risk. We'll...we'll just find another way.

There is no other way, Ben, Rey insisted. I'm coming to Storia and then we'll both go to Snoke. Whatever happens, we'll face it all together.

"No, Rey," Ben hissed aloud. He remembered how Snoke had channeled the Dark side of the force through his own hand when he'd visited his mother in the medical ward on Trora. You don't know the things he can do—What if he made me hurt you? You'll be in too much danger.

You're not being fair, she protested. You once left the First Order, after Starkiller Base was destroyed. Why can't you do it again?

It's different now, Snoke knows he can use you against me, Ben said.

If we don't face him, you could be stuck with the Empire forever!

Not forever, Ben said. But even if it came down to that...what's most important to me is that you survive, that you're able to live out your life.

What? So you—so you're actually considering staying? Do you hear yourself?

Ben ran a hand through his hair. Rey, of course I hope for us to be together, happily ever after and all that, but that's all it is: hope. We won't actually make it if we face Snoke. One or both of us isn't making it out of this alive, not if we fight him.

My entire life, hope was the only thing that kept me going. Hope is what kept me pushing through to the next day, it's what kept me alive, Rey said. So if we have even the slightest chance of being able to take down Snoke, that's what I'm holding on to.

There is no hope for us, then, Ben responded sourly, but he regretted his words instantly. The silence felt tense as he waited for Rey to reply.

I'm not going to waste my time hoping for us, then, if that's what you think. If you're not willing to stand up to Snoke, it looks like you'll just have to remain his senseless slave, she shot back. I wish you'd never given me the hope of having a future together.

Ben winced. Frustrated and hurt, he punched the wall at his side, leaving an indentation in the hard material. His knuckles stung.

There was a long silence between them. Ben's chest grew more constricted by the second as he continued to pace his room, his fists clenching at his sides. Rey, he probed. Rey, you have to listen to me. She did not respond.

Ben hissed and slid his lightsaber from his belt, swiftly igniting it. Unable to control his surging temper, he began slashing at the walls around him, grunting with each hard swing.

After a few minutes, he stood to catch his breath, hissing saber in hand. How cyclical this all is, he thought bitterly as he stared around at the sparking, blood-red gashes in the infrastructure surrounding him. Could this really be how he would live the rest of his life, still alone and afraid?

A distant memory of his father flashed through his mind, a day when his family hadn't been fighting. Han had been laughing as Ben had been learning to lift things with the Force, playfully tossing them at his father to catch.

Had his father died to save him, so he could continue his life like this?

Ben disengaged his saber and tossed it aside before collapsing atop his bed, exhausted and spent. As his mind began to settle, he closed his eyes and imagined an alternate future: one where he and Rey lived together, slept together, spent every waking day together. He imagined doing mundane, ordinary things with her like cooking, reading, napping, laying in the sun, tending to Rey's garden. No fighting, no war. No Snoke. It was almost easy for him to imagine these things, as if they too were distant memories...It just all seemed too good to be true.

He reluctantly admitted to himself that Rey could live a life like this without him, but he couldn't bear to think of her ending up with anyone else. No, he was much too selfish for that.

Whatever happens, we'll face it all together, Rey's words turned over in his mind.

Come hell or high water, he thought to himself grimly. He opened his eyes and sat up.

He had to talk to Phasma. He needed a new plan of action.

….

It was early in the morning when Rey loaded into a shuttle with Luke and a squadron of ground soldiers. Poe and Finn had taken their x-wings along with the other pilots, and Leia had accompanied another shuttle. Rey's shuttle was relatively quiet, filled only with the nervous chatter of the soldiers sitting across from her and Luke, and she was glad to be alone for a while with her thoughts.

She still hadn't talked to Ben since their argument last night. If she was going to push through the war without forsaking her sanity, she needed to keep believing in the possibility of her and Ben's future. She was fearful that if she and Ben argued again, his nihilism would sever her own hopes completely.

Ben can't be right, she assured herself, tugging at the thin chain of her necklace. She was mindful to keep the diamond concealed below the hem of her blouse beneath her grey vest. We have to face Snoke, she thought decidedly. It's the only way...I just know it is.

"You okay?" Luke asked quietly, leaning closer to her on the metal bench.

Rey hadn't known Luke was watching her expressions, and she quickly shrugged. "I'm alright. Just anxious, I guess," she said.

Luke nodded and eyed the soldiers opposite them, making sure none were paying attention to their conversation. "What are you and Ben going to do?" He asked quietly.

Rey shook her head absently. "I don't know," she said, only vaguely aware that he was asking specifically about the upcoming battle. She looked down and twisted her fingers together. "We got into a bit of a fight last night," she admitted.

"A fight?" Luke asked. "You should have saved that for today!" he chuckled, and Rey gave him a spiritless smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to turn it into a joke. Do you want to talk about it?"

Rey sighed. "Ben just isn't willing to leave the Empire, or go against Snoke. I don't know how...if he'll ever leave…" she trailed. She swallowed, fighting back tears.

Luke shifted his mouth and nodded slowly. "Well, he's been with the First Order-slash-Empire a very long time," he stated. "I don't know much at all about Snoke, but it's clear that he's powerful in the Force. I'm really not sure how Ben stacks up to him. But I am sure that it would take a lot of strength on Ben's part to leave him."

"But Ben and I together...with our Force bond, shouldn't that make us more powerful than any one Force user?" Rey asked.

"I wish I could answer that...I don't know a lot about Force bonds, especially bonds formed forcefully, like how Snoke seemed to have done it," Luke said, scratching the stubble on his chin. "I suspect I have a bond with my sister, but I don't think it's as strong as you and Ben's. We certainly can't communicate telepathically like you two can."

Rey nodded and looked down at her boots. "Right," she said quietly.

Luke patted her arm in an attempt to comfort her. "Don't be sad. I'm sure you and Ben will patch things up somehow. Han and Leia fought all of the time, believe me, but they always still loved each other. You two will figure out something, Sunshine."

Rey forced a smile. "I hope we do."

….

Ben sat on the edge of his bed in his room on his command shuttle as it was steered towards Storia. His knights were on board, but he wasn't in the mood to talk, even though they would reach Storia within the hour. He still couldn't tear his mind from Rey, but he didn't want to argue with her again; no matter how he reasoned with her, he knew that she would still hold to her beliefs.

He wished she would reach out to him all the same.

BB-8 rolled towards him from corner of the room and beeped slowly, tilting its head. It bumped Ben's shins gently, and Ben rested a gloved hand atop the droid's head.

"Can I do it, BB-8?" He asked. "Is this a horrible, stupid idea?"

BB-8 wavered in place and gave a series of encouraging beeps.

Ben sighed. "I hope you're right."

"Commander Ren, five minutes to orbit on Storia," a pilot signalled to him through the commlink in his room.

BB-8 followed at Ben's heels as he made his way through the ship. Ben nodded towards his knights as he passed them in the ship's central chamber, and they followed along behind the droid.

"Pulling into orbit, Sir," a pilot declared as Ben moved into the control room. "Shields are up, they won't be able to detect us while we're here."

The pilots and officers slid aside timidly as Ben stepped up to the control panel. His mind wandered as he stared ahead at the orangish desert planet before them. Had he not known any better, he would have thought that they were in orbit around Jakku. Jakku, where he had first made love to Rey...

"When shall we make our descent, Commander?" An officer asked, bringing Ben back from his reverie.

"Nightfall," Ben said, repeating Thrawn's command. The Admiral had taken another ship to Storia, no doubt to keep away from Ben and his knights, whom it was obvious he hated.

"Visibility will be poor for the unsuspecting base," Nodin said smugly from behind. "I doubt they'll have the nightvision capabilities of our troopers."

Unsuspecting, Ben repeated in his mind, amused. He wondered how long it would take for the Organa troops from Trora to show up, for Thrawn and the other officers to realize that the enemy had been tipped off by one of their own.

….

The sun was setting on the orange and grey horizon as Rey's shuttle and the others touched down on Storia. The x-wings had all made it to the planet before these larger, slower ships, and they sat empty in neat rows around the landing crafts.

As Rey unloaded behind Luke and the soldiers onto the course, dry earth, she wondered where the Empire troops were. She peered up at the cloudy sky as she followed the others towards the small base ahead. Was Ben still going to fight in this battle? she wondered, and her heart dropped at the thought of not being able to see him, fighting or not.

She tried to push the thought of him from her mind, wanting to instead focus on the battle ahead. She readjusted her grey armguards as she walked, the same ones Leia had given her when she'd first gone to Luke on Ahch-To. She had also strapped her blaster around the pant of her upper thigh, the one that Han had given her. She was glad that she'd kept it all of this time.

As she and the soldiers passed into the open military compound, rain began to sprinkle down from the growing clouds.

"Rain!" A man exclaimed, stepping out of one of the low-tech buildings to her side. "It hasn't rained here for over a year! Can you believe it?" He turned to the men forming around him. Rey smiled at their excitement.

"This is a good sign," another man answered, adjusting the blaster attached at his side. "Hopefully the Empire won't show up and we can actually enjoy it."

"I wouldn't count on it," another said, and Rey saw that it was Poe, stepping out of the same building as the others. He noticed Rey amongst the passing Organa soldiers and waved her over. "Hey, Flygirl! Get over here."

The men around Poe focused on Rey as she approached, and she pretended not to notice their stares. "Shouldn't the Empire have shown up by now?" She asked, looking at Poe.

"Well, the intel that Leia had managed to get about the attack didn't say what time the Empire was attacking, so I don't know," he said. "But maybe they saw all of our x-wings on the way and high-tailed it out of here," he added with a smug grin.

Doubtful, Rey thought, but she restrained herself from disagreeing with him aloud.

"Where's Leia?" Luke asked, stepping up to Rey's side.

"She's inside here, c'mon," Poe said, turning and motioning for them to follow.

Before Rey stepped through the doorway, a man to the side touched her arm, stopping her.

"You're the Lady Jedi everyone's been talking about, aren't you?" He asked in an accented voice. "Sorry to bother, I just haven't seen a Lady Jedi before. I mean I've read 'bout them, in myths and tales, I just've never seen one. You're beautiful," he added quickly, and the men gathered around him nodded and murmured in agreement. "Lovely," another man commented. Rey hadn't seen any women so far stationed at the base, and she wondered if they were starved of female company.

"We're proud to have you fight with us," another soldier piped in.

"And I'm proud to fight alongside you," Rey said, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

Poe stepped back through the doorway and looked at the men gathered around her. "Hey guys, c'mon, we all know she's pretty, give her some space," he said, and the men began to disperse. Poe gave her a teasing smile and waited for her to enter through the doorway of the structure before following her back inside.

They entered what looked like a small military planning room, where Finn, Leia, Luke, and several officers stood around a table. They were staring down at papers covered in rough marks and drawings. The base didn't seem to have any of the holoscreens and digital planning boards that they had on Trora.

Rey mouthed a "hello" to Finn as she entered, and he smiled brightly back at her.

"Leia, you're not going into battle, right?" Luke was asking jokingly. "I thought you were done with fighting since Endor."

"Does it look like I'm dressed to fight?" She asked, smiling and gesturing down to her long robes. "I'm just need to make sure our plans are in order. Just because I wasn't trained as a Jedi or a pilot doesn't mean I shouldn't do my part here. And who knows, maybe I can try using the Force, too," she chuckled.

"We should go over the plans once more," Finn said, flattening one of the sheets of paper on the table before them.

Suddenly, the ground and walls of the structure shook, and several shouts were heard from outside. Everyone around the table looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Or not," Finn said as everyone began making their way out of the room and into the increasing rain.

"Pilots, to the x-wings, now!" Poe yelled, waving to Finn and the others, and they jogged past him as he remained outside of the planning room.

Rey began following behind Luke, who was moving ahead with a group of soldiers.

"Hold up there, Flygirl," she heard behind her, and she turned to see Poe jogging toward her, refastening the top of his flight suit. He slid to a stop just before her. "Promise me that you're going to make it out of this safe," he said solemnly.

"Only if you promise that you and Finn will be safe, too," she said cautiously, but she felt a wave of compassion for him, for how much he cared about her. "Don't worry about me."

Poe stared at her a moment. "Rey…" he began, searching her eyes. He took her hand in his.

The sounds of the increasing rain grew louder in Rey's ears. She knew what was coming.

"I love you," he blurted, squeezing her hand gently. "I couldn't accept the fact that I could die not having told you that. But you already knew."

"Poe…" Rey began, but she was interrupted by Luke behind them.

"Rey! Let's go!" Luke called, and she glanced back at him over her shoulder. As she turned back to Poe, his hand released from hers and slid to her cheek, pulling her face into his.

Rey sucked in air through her nose, taken aback as he kissed her. The kiss was slow, gentle, but it felt rigid. Rey closed her eyes and felt the cool raindrops trickling from Poe's skin to hers, his damp hand cupping her cheek.

After he pulled away, Rey reopened her eyes dazedly, feeling a bit flushed. But when she did Poe was already jogging away to catch up with the other pilots. She took in a shaking breath and turned to catch up to Luke, who was staring at her intently. She avoided his eyes, sensing that he wanted to ask about what had just happened.

"Ah...well, let's go," Luke said awkwardly, and Rey began following him back through the compound. "Stay close by."

A faint screech sounded in the distance, and Luke motioned for Rey to duck under a roof awning. The ear-piercing shriek of the TIE fighter grew louder, and Rey and Luke pressed themselves against the wall of a building as it soared overhead. The ground shook as the TIE shot at a structure near them.

"Bastards," Luke cursed, ducking out from under the awning and waving Rey along. He led her back towards the entrance of the compound, and through the thin fog that was beginning to form from the rain, Rey could just make out the squadron of Organa soldiers ahead.

The sun had now almost completely set, and the sky had turned a deep blue-grey with the gathered clouds, obscuring vision above.

"This is going to be hard with no light," Luke yelled over his shoulder. "So don't stray too far from the base." As they reached the line of soldiers, they shouldered their way into the middle of the group.

"What's at the front?" Rey asked Luke.

"Lots of empire ships have landed ahead, Lady Jedi," a soldier to her side said, one of the men who lived on the base. "Not good to be on the front lines. Especially in this darkness."

Rey closed her eyes a moment, sensing Ben's presence. Yes, he'd already landed. He was near.

The rain was beginning to pour, and Rey had to shield her eyes with her hand to try and see through the throngs of soldiers. The clouds above began a low thundering, but there was a tense silence amongst the soldiers as they waited for Empire troopers to appear in the empty expanse of night before them. Rey was about to reach out to Ben when one of the men at the front began yelling.

"Blasters up! Stormtroopers ahead!" He called just as several x-wings arced above them and soared towards the Empire troops. The soldiers all around Rey cheered at the sight of the ships and began to move forward and spread out, lifting their blasters and turning off the safety switches. Rey hovered her hand over her blaster in anticipation.

"Be prepared to use your saber too," Luke warned, eyeing her hand over the blaster. He slid out the hilt of his saber from under his coat as they moved along with the soldiers. "Let the Force guide you, always. Remember that it will help protect you."

Rey nodded and they both abruptly slid to a stop with the soldiers around them as a TIE screeched overhead. It shot at the ground near them, and the ensuing screams indicated that it had taken out some of the Organa soldiers.

As the soldiers near the blast fled, Rey's eyes widened as she caught sight of the small, muddy crater left in the blast's wake, leaning no evidence of the men that had once stood there. The men around her cheered as an x-wing soared past, chasing down the TIE. She couldn't understand how they could feel any happiness after having just witnessed that.

"Rey, stay aware," Luke instructed, encouraging her along, and she turned back towards the front of the squadron. A bolt of lightning flashed in the distance, and in the instant of its flare Rey could finally make out the faint white forms of stormtroopers in the distance.

"Stars, there's a lot of them," she said, unable to mask the fear in her voice.

"There are, but you're prepared, Rey, don't forget your training," Luke heartened, continuing forward. "You're ready for this."

Rey took in a deep breath, feeling the Force surging within her as she ignited her yellow double-bladed saber. She stomped through the forming puddles of mud, gathering her strength and courage as she heard the powerful blast of a TIE in the distance behind her. The sounds of blaster fire ahead were constant now, though muffled by the sounds of rain and thunder.

A stray shot from a stormtrooper's blaster surged towards them, and Luke jumped forward, igniting his blue saber just in time to block it. A blast of lightning struck, closer this time, and Rey again saw the hordes of stormtroopers just ahead, this time mixed with the orange uniforms of the Organa soldiers. A second lightning blast scourged across the clouds, and Rey caught the outline of the two tall wings of Ben's ship in the far distance.

Ben, she probed tentatively.

Rey's glowing saber cast a faint yellowish light onto the clashing line of troopers and soldiers as she neared them. She watched as Luke suddenly leaped forward to block another blaster shot, and then he was right in the mix of the soldiers.

Rey? I'm here, Ben responded, and Rey let out a relieved breath to hear him in her mind once again.

Rey saw the blue flashes of Luke's saber ahead as he began slicing through the armor of stormtroopers and parrying their blasts. Willing courage, she sucked in a quick breath and lunged forward, both hands clasped tightly onto her long saber as she held it before her at the ready. Blue blaster bolts surged towards her, and she swiftly spun her saber in a windmilling motion to block each of them.

She gasped as a stormtrooper was suddenly in front of her, his blaster raised, and without thinking she shoved one end of her saber forward, plunging it through his middle.

The trooper immediately dropped his blaster and slumped to the ground as she pulled her saber from his flesh. She stared at the downed man, but only for a moment as she sensed more blaster fire headed her way. She swung her saber again to block the shots, more easily this time, and then leapt to the side, bringing her saber down in a swift overhead motion to come crashing down through the shoulder of another stormtrooper.

Where are you, Rey? She heard Ben in her mind, but she was too focused on defending herself to formulate a response.

She continued to drive her saber through the troopers that approached her, one by one. She sensed the admiring eyes of the Organa soldiers around her as they watched her, but she felt no enjoyment in killing, rather a robotic numbness, a fight-or-flight response that seemed more instinctual than anything. After just a minutes of fighting, she'd already lost track of how many troopers she'd killed.

She thought of the crater left in the mud from the TIE, and she felt a pang of anger, perhaps a flicker of spite as she downed yet another trooper. The rain grew heavier and the thunder even louder as the battle continued.

Use the Force...Use the Dark within you.

Rey frowned and hesitated before swinging at the next impending trooper. Ben? She responded.

Rey? Where are you? Ben questioned. I've been sensing you but I can't find you.

Maybe that's for the best, she answered reluctantly. She had no idea how to act around him in the midst of battle, especially with the eyes of the Organa soldiers on her. Especially, she thought, after what had just happened between her and Poe.

No, it's not, Ben dissented. I know you're still upset with me, but I'm coming to find you.

Rey looked around her, searching for a landmark, something to help guide him to her location. Now that the sun had sunk below the horizon, the sky was a deep blue hue, light almost nonexistent save for the flashes of blaster fire and the glow of her own saber in the surrounding darkness.

I don't know where I am, I—she swiftly swung her saber vertically, blocking a shot aimed at her neck—I can't even see anything out here.

Don't worry—I'll find you. We're going to leave this place.

Rey spun her saber and cut through a stormtrooper just as he was about to fire a blast at an Organa soldier to her side. The soldier nodded at her in relieved thanks.

In a flash of lightning, Rey saw the countless masses of stormtroopers in the distance. With a sinking heart she realized that there were way more troopers than there were Organa soldiers. I'm not leaving, she protested. I have to help protect the other soldiers!

And I have to protect you, he contended.

I don't need protecting! Rey parried a series of blasts from a group of stormtroopers headed towards her, and she was about to jump forward to attack them when an unmistakable flash of red caught her eye. She grit her teeth and took her frustration out on the troopers, slicing through one's arm with one end of her saber before piercing through one's chest with the other.

Yes, use the Darkness within. Feel its power…

Ben? Rey asked. Do you only use the Dark to fight? She wiped her soaked hair from her forehead and peered into the distance, looking for the red of Ben's saber. All she saw were throngs of faded orange and white.

What? He asked. No—what? Oh, I see you now. I see your lightsaber. Stay where you are!

I'll stay and fight along with Luke and everyone else, she affirmed. She saw Ben's saber again, nearer now, and in a flash of lightning she saw him—mask, hood, tabard and all—pushing forward through a group of stormtroopers. He held his crackling saber before him, looming forward like a tall black ghost.

The soldiers around Rey began to back up as they caught sight of Ben moving towards them. They began firing their blasters at him, but to no avail; he parried their every shot with graceful ease.

"Hurry away, Lady!" One of the men urged, tugging at her arm before speeding away through the mud with the others.

Rey stood her ground as Ben approached, keeping her saber poised before her.

"Let me fight. Let me help them," she urged, focusing up on his mask's eye slot in the mixing orangish glow of their sabers.

Ben clicked his mask off with one hand and dropped it into the mud carelessly. His dry, voluminous hair quickly straightened as it was soaked with the heavy rain. "Put your saber away," he said, knocking her weapon gently with his. He frowned when she kept it held before her. He quickly swung back his saber in an attempt to knock hers from her grasp, but she swung hers in time and met his in a sizzling embrace.

"I'm not going to do this," Ben declared over their crossed lightsabers. He slid his saber from hers and lowered it down to his side, leaving himself vulnerable to her. He furrowed his brows and tilted his head slightly as he studied her a moment, as if sensing something off. "What's gotten into you?"

"I'm not going to stand by and watch my soldiers die," Rey declared. "They're all going to die if I don't help. There are three times as many stormtroopers as Organa soldiers, don't you see?"

Ben swiped the rain from his brow and looked hard at her a moment, considering. Rey tried to press into his mind, but his face grew pinched and he blocked her out. He released a heavy breath. "This wasn't part of the plan," he growled, and to Rey's surprise he turned around and began stalking away, carrying his saber before him.

Rey followed behind him as he waltzed up to a stormtrooper with a red shoulder patch. The trooper stumbled backwards a few steps in the mud as he realized his commander was singling out him.

"Pull the division out," Ben commanded. "Contact Captain Phasma."

"S-Sir?" The trooper choked out, no doubt confused and terrified at once. His helmet swivelled between Ben's face and the hissing red saber.

"Pull the division out," Ben repeated, his voice lowering.

The stormtrooper remained in place. "Commander, Grand Admiral Thrawn has not ordered a retreat—"

"You'll answer to me," Ben spat, jolting his saber, and the trooper trembled. "Contact Phasma immediately."

"Yes, Commander!" The trooper exclaimed, and immediately spun around. He jogged away, calling to other troopers animatedly as he went.

Ben turned back to Rey. "That's all I can do right now. We need to leave, Thrawn will find out soon," he said, moving towards her. He tugged her arm, urging her to follow alongside him as he began to jog through the mud.

Beaming, Rey disengaged her saber and stumbled several times as her small boots caught in pockets of sinking mud. As they pressed forward, Ben adeptly swung his saber at any approaching blaster fire headed their way. With his free hand, Ben shoved aside stormtroopers and Organa soldiers alike with the Force that stood near, clearing their path.

"Faster, Rey," Ben urged, turning to look at her as she struggled through the mud behind him.

Rey ran as fast as she could through the mud, jumping over puddles and keeping her steps light. But she still lagged behind Ben's large stride. Ben eventually turned around and moved towards her, sweeping her off the ground before not-so-gently slinging her over his shoulder.

"Ben, I can walk!" Rey protested, wriggling her legs and pressing her hands against the backs of Ben's pants as he began carrying her.

"Not fast enough," he said as he picked up a jog. "Sorry, Scavenger."

Rey groaned and stared down at the mud beneath them, her head bobbing with each of his hasty steps. Fat raindrops slid down her cheeks and dripped from her dangling hair, and her face grew hot from the blood collecting in her upside-down head.

After about ten minutes, Rey no longer saw any troopers or soldiers near them, and she assumed that they were now out of the battleground. "Can you put me down now?" She complained, wriggling again.

"Only a short distance left to my shuttle," he said over his shoulder. "Feeling lightheaded?" He teased.

Rey heard the distant screech of a TIE, and Ben's jogging slowed. The screeching gradually grew louder, nearer.

"Kriff," Ben cursed, and he slid Rey forward to hold her to his chest with one arm before collapsing forward to the ground with her. He dropped her onto her back in the mud beneath him and hovered atop her. He quickly spread his black tabard over them just as the TIE sounded overhead.

As the sound faded away, Rey lay panting beneath Ben, his face inches above hers. "Camouflage, that was smart," Rey breathed, looking up into his his eyes. They looked black in the shadowy night, illuminated only by the distant glow of Storia's small moon.

Panting, Ben studied her face and swiped the mud from her cheeks with his thumb.

As Rey stared up into his eyes, she shook her head once as if waking from a dream, fully realizing the ramifications of Ben retracting the stormtroopers. As he'd said, Thrawn would be notified of his betrayal, and no doubt would Snoke, eventually.

Ben rose to his knees, but Rey sat up and grabbed onto his arm, keeping him from standing as she got to her own knees.

"Wait...you're leaving the Empire, then?" She asked cautiously. "I mean, for good?" She slid her hand down his arm guard to his gloved palm, and she felt his long fingers bend around hers.

"Yes," he said resolutely, with a nod of his head.

Rey smiled and reached forward to pull his wet face to hers. She kissed him hard, mashing her lips into his. It took Ben a few moments to react before before he released her hand to cup her face and kiss her back.

Rey slid her hand up into his soaked hair, grabbing a wad of it, pulling his face closer into hers. She heard nothing, felt nothing but the warmth of their contact, the sound of their heartbeats intermixing in her ears as their energy connected through their bond.

When she finally pulled away, Ben stared at her with a humorously disoriented expression.

"Let's go," she said with a smile, rising and taking his hand. He got to his feet and followed beside her, enclosing her hand within his.

This time, though, Rey began to move ahead of Ben as she jogged through the thick mud. Her wet, muddied clothes felt heavy and clung to her skin, but strangely they didn't seem to affect her pace as she ran ahead of Ben. As she outpaced him, his hand slid from hers and he slowed to a walk behind her, breathing audibly.

Rey turned to look back at him, sensing his debility. "What, do I have to carry you over my shoulder, now?" She teased, smiling, but her smile faded as she studied his labored movements.

"We're...we're nearly there…" Ben panted, and he abruptly stopped and bent over at the waist, placing his hands on his legs to catch his breath.

Rey moved towards him and put a hand on his arm. "You're injured?" She asked concernedly. "You didn't tell me—"

"No." He shook his head, but he didn't look up at her. "I'm not."

Rey took a step back from him, feeling a strange, searing energy trickling within her, as if spreading through her veins. She held her hands before her, observing them, her fingers tingling. Her heartbeat quickened, and she felt vibrantly alive with the Force, straight through her core. "Huh," she breathed, placing a hand to her chest.

"We need...to go," Ben panted, rising once again. He rubbed his head and moved forward at a walk.

"Ben, you're sure you're not hurt?" She asked, rubbing his arm.

"I'm fine," he insisted, keeping his gaze down and seeming to concentrate on moving through the mud. "Just tired." A flash of lightning struck far away, and Rey saw that his arms hung loosely at his sides, his shoulders slumped. "Nearly there. Almost there," he breathed.

Rey couldn't help but feel that he was reassuring himself, not just her. Something strange had definitely happened between them, but Rey had no idea what. She felt as if her endurance had been renewed two-fold, whereas Ben appeared to be struggling to take each step. Feeling worried, she wrapped her hands around his arm and urged him along.

"This way!" Rey heard the faint yell of a man in the distance. She flipped her head to look over her shoulder, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Stars," Rey swore under her breath, tugging Ben's arm. He stalked more quickly through the mud with her, but with obvious effort.

"C'mon, c'mon, like you said, almost there," she encouraged, keeping her voice light.

"Hurry, they're this way!" Rey heard the man's voice again.

The faint screech of a TIE sounded, and Rey yanked Ben towards her. As they both lowered to the ground, Ben seemed more than willing to allow himself to collapse atop her in his fatigued state. He rested his head at the base of her neck as the screech of the TIE grew louder, passing overhead and fading again.

"Ben, I can't breathe," Rey choked, pushing his heavy head up.

"Sorry," he groaned, and slowly got up to his knees.

"Seriously, what's happened to you?" Rey asked, rising to her feet. She gripped his arms, helping him back up to his feet.

"I don't…" Ben began to say, and he met her gaze with widening eyes. "Maybe...kriff. Kriff. He knows...he already knows!"

"Who? Snoke?" She asked, pulling him along again. In an burst of lightning Rey saw Ben's ship not far ahead. "We're almost there!" She exclaimed, but Ben was struggling to keep up.

Rey heard the sounds of TIEs and x-wings in the distance, but she kept pulling Ben along behind her. She was comforted that there were still Organa pilots in the sky, and she wondered how the base was holding up. Glancing back at Ben, she wondered if his mother was safe, though she knew he would sense if she was hurt.

As the sounds of TIEs and x-wings grew nearer, Ben stopped and looked up at the dark sky. He looked at her, as if sensing something.

"Ben, get down," Rey urged.

The sounds of x-wings and TIE blasts sounded in the sky near them, and they both jolted as shots were fired at the ground, landing closer and closer to them in the mud.

"Rey!" Ben yelled in alarm, and Rey yelped as he knocked himself into her, shoving her aside into the mud.

Lightning flared as Rey scrambled onto her knees to see Ben raising his hands at the ships above to block the succession of nearing blasts—

But the they kept coming.

Rey watched in uncomprehending horror as a blast hit Ben, knocking him clear over backwards into the mud as the TIEs and x-wings continued overhead.

Rey gasped and wiped the mud from her face on the fabric of her arm guards as she scrambled to her feet. She took in big gulps of air. "Ben!" She screamed, her heart catching in her throat as a bolt of lightning struck in the distance, illuminating the long, dark figure on the ground before her.

She sprinted the short distance to him and slid on her knees to his side. She ran her tingling hands over him as he abruptly grabbed onto her arm. "Where are you hurt?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"R-Rey," he sputtered, attempting to lift his head, but he groaned and dropped it back down into the mud with a splat.

"No, no, you're okay," she assured, scooting closer and lifting his head onto her lap. "Where were you hit?" She hurriedly wiped his hair from his face and ran her hands down his body, feeling for injury. His coat was soaked from the rain, and in the darkness she couldn't tell water from blood.

She nearly growled as she heard the distant voices again of people nearing. She had no idea if they were stormtroopers or members of her own side. Unsure whether Ben had been struck down by a TIE or an x-wing, she didn't know which she dreaded more.

"Ben, show me where, I need to heal you," she pleaded, taking his hand from her arm and placing it into her own. He gripped her hand tightly and slid it towards the side of his stomach. Rey held her breath as he released her hand and she felt the wound through the hole in the fabric of his coat. Ben sucked in a pained breath as she felt the sizeable, slick gash in his skin, much larger than her own hand. She was relieved that the blast hadn't hit him at his center, only seeming to have skimmed his side, but she felt the unmistakable liquid warmth of blood churning through her fingers as she pressed her hand to the laceration.

Rey heard the voices behind them growing nearer, but she knew that she had to heal Ben before he lost too much blood. The nearness of the voices made her chest grow tight with anxious anger. She would do whatever she had to in order to protect Ben.

"Rey, go," Ben groaned, trying to lift himself up again, but she pressed down on his shoulders. Leave me, he repeated in her mind.

"Shh, keep still," she urged, keeping her voice low. She pressed her hand to his wound and closed her eyes, struggling to center her thoughts. Her mind was racing, filled with the infuriating thought that Ben could bleed out right here in the mud, but she focused on the sound of her own heart pulsing in her ears. She felt powerful warmth surge down her arm and through her hand, and Ben gasped in pain as she began healing his wound.

Lightning crackled not far from them, allowing Rey to catch a glimpse of the deep lesion underneath her hand, the thick trails of maroon blood running between her focused fingers. The sight of the gore made her sick with egregious contempt for whoever had shot him, and confusion for why Ben hadn't been able to block the hit.

As lightning struck again, Rey heard more voices. "Look, over there!" Someone called. Rey hissed through her teeth, but she continued healing Ben as his head shifted uneasily in her lap.

"Go, go to the ship," he urged, holding onto her arm weakly as another flash of lightning exposed them.

"I see them!" A voice sounded even closer. "He took her, they're there!"

Rey grit her teeth and turned around, now able to make out the dull orange forms of Organa soldiers. "Leave us alone!" She yelled amidst the low peals of thunder. Animosity brewed within her.

"Get away from him!" A man shouted back.

Kill them, a voice sounded in her head. Destroy them while you can.

Rey carefully slid from under Ben's head and rose to face the oncoming mass soldiers, near enough to be viewed in the dim moonlight. "Turn back!" She yelled, her voice shaking.

Kill them!

The forms loomed forward like orange apparitions. "Move out of the way!" Another man shouted to her. "Get away from that felon!"

"Kill him! Blasters up, get him while he's down!" Another called.

Rey's fists tightened and shook at her sides, her body filling with a fiery heat she'd not quite known before. "Get the hell away from him or I'll make you!" She threatened, raising her palms menacingly. But the throng of soldiers continued forward.

Rey looked down for a moment as she felt Ben grip her calf. He had managed to prop himself on his side.

"No, Rey," he heaved.

Rey shrunk and crouched down as a blaster shot landed in the mud at her side. She growled through her teeth, exasperated at the soldiers continuing towards them, ignoring her threats, aiming their blasters directly at Ben.

Now.

Rey rose to her feet, taking a wide stance and splaying her fingers as she aimed her palms at the approaching group. She leaned forward and released a cry as she felt hot, violent energy surging up to her shaking hands, the power of the Force expelling through her palms and out towards the soldiers. The blast swiftly knocked into the soldiers and they concurrently crumpled to the ground.

"Oh, Rey," Ben gasped weakly behind her. "No…"

Her chest heaving, Rey slowly lowered her trembling hands and turned them to stare at her palms, the strange tingling sensation beginning to leave her. She suddenly felt weakened, exhausted. She dropped down to her knees in the mud, staring at her hands.

What had she done?

Oh no...Stay in the grey, Rey! What's going on, and where's Luke?

Who do you think shot Ben-an Organa pilot or one of his own? Why couldn't he defend himself with Le Force?

Poor Ben just wants to be a housewife. He's so done.