Title: Chiaroscuro
Rating: PG-13/T
Originally posted: 7th August 2021
Originally written for: firelord65
Characters/Pairings: Rey/Ben
Notes: for AU Exchange 2021 at Dreamwidth and AO3

It was a strange experience to be betrothed to a person you had never met. Stranger still to be married and still have no idea what the bride was like in looks or personality.

For the longest time, Ben Solo was happy to live in ignorance about the woman he must one day grow up to marry. He knew it would happen someday, that he was a bargaining chip in his family's best attempts to keep peace and balance in the galaxy, but the less he had to think about it, the better he had liked it.

His upbringing was happy enough. Mother, father, uncles, all who loved and cared for him, raising him to adulthood and helping him to hone all the skills of a Jedi Knight. They believed his proper education in the Light Side of the Force would be enough to protect him, to keep him safe from his one-day wife, the future Empress who knew only the power of the Dark Side.

So far, after a month of wedded life, Ben still hadn't actually met the woman in question.

Of course, she had been at the wedding, but in her long black robes that obscured her figure, and a hood and veil of the same shade hiding her face, he had not seen much of her. She spoke only when she must at the ceremony, a minimum number of words, giving away nothing in her tone or inflection. She was a mystery in all ways but two. Ben knew she was called Rey, a name he found he liked the moment he first heard it spoken. He also knew that she was the love of his life.

That second point came as such a shock, on the day of the wedding, when gloves must be removed and their hands placed together, a part of the ceremony not to be avoided at any cost. The moment his own tanned fingers pressed against her pale flesh, something happened. An absolute tidal wave of so many feelings, emotions, and random thoughts flowed over him for as long as the connection lasted. When it ended, it was as if a part of himself had been ripped from his body and Ben was left wanting.

From that day to this, he had waited, assuming at some point she would summon him, come to him, something, but she never did. Rey seemed to have no interest in knowing her husband any better. Nobody seemed all that interested in him at all. Ben was given his own apartment in the palace grounds, supplied with food, clothing, books, anything he might require, but no company. No people that actually cared that he was there. Not one word from Rey... until tonight.

"You will prepare yourself for the coming of her majesty, the future empress," he was told without preamble. "She will be here in one hour. Be ready to receive her."

Though Ben tried to ask questions, he ought to have known already that he would receive no answers. He was told only what they chose to tell him and no attempts to reach out with the Force and manipulate anyone ever seemed to have any effect.

It was if there were walls at every turn in the palace, dark and foreboding walls that could not be penetrated. Physical and mental both, keeping him out of everything. That didn't mean the Force brought Ben no comfort. He could still feel its peace when he meditated, he just couldn't connect with anyone else, not even his family who he knew would be reaching for him too. He felt so very alone, in his own little bubble of existence. That was to change, on this night, when his wife finally paid him a visit.

She was in the hallway outside of his apartment now, Ben was sure of it. He could feel something so similar to what had happened on their wedding day, though not half so strong as when their hands had actually touched. Reaching out with the Force, he hoped to make some kind of connection, to let her know he was ready to receive her, but she gave nothing back. It was like trying to commune with that same dark wall that kept him out of everything else in the palace.

Nevertheless, he knew she was there. Her and no-one else. As far as Ben could tell there was not one person anywhere else in that whole sector of the palace, just him and...

"Rey."

Her name came from his lips unbidden, just as she stepped through the door. Scrambling to his feet, he faced her, the same dark figure that had stood beside him on the day of their marriage. The same mysterious being that had been nowhere near him from that day to this. He hardly knew what to say to her, how to behave in her presence, and then, her hands rose to remove her hood, revealing her face to him for the very first time.

A smile came to Ben's lips without his hardly being aware of it. Of course, he had considered her looks. It was her spirit he was in love with, the connection they had that was so intoxicating, but he had wondered. Now he saw her and she was beautiful. As stunning in face and body, as she shed her dark robes, as any woman he had ever seen. Her physical appearance perfectly suited the shining light he saw within her when their hands met at the wedding. It was a light he had never expected in one so supposedly committed to the dark.

"You were not what I expected," she said without introduction or pretence. "I always knew I was to be tied to the one they called the Prince of the Light, the Saviour of the Skywalker Line," she said, the smile that twisted her lips then making Ben wince. "You... you were not what I expected," she repeated, the wrinkle in her brow suggesting she didn't understand it herself.

"I could say the same," Ben admitted, shaking his head. "You were only ever referred to as the future empress and... and I confess, the thought of you was always a little intimidating."

He wondered if she would be affronted by such a remark, or perhaps even flattered. She seemed to be neither, in the end. The confusion came off of her in waves so strong that even one with the most basic sense of the Force could've felt it. Ben wondered how he could be such a mystery to her, how she could possibly feel so overwhelmed by his presence.

After all, they were in the palace of her people, under the rule of her grandfather, the Emperor. She had seen Ben at the wedding, knew his name, his face, his legacy. She was at every advantage, and yet, in the presence of the husband she had been charged to marry, she seemed to come undone. All her focus, her supposed strength and power, to keep a grip on it took so much of her concentration. Ben could feel such conflict in her, something he had never expected. He wanted only to help her, but hardly knew where to begin.

"You don't have to worry," he said gently, daring to move one step closer, reaching out to touch her hand, but she recoiled before he could make contact.

"Don't," she warned him, face hardening, eyes flashing fire. "Don't," she repeated, meeting his gaze. "Whatever it is you did to me at the ceremony, believe that I shall overcome it," she told him firmly. "Never underestimate the power of the Dark Side."

Her cold tone made Ben shiver, though he was not afraid of her, not her attitude or her threats. The Dark Side was of no consequence to Ben, he did not fear being seduced by its power. He knew how much the Light could overcome. Perhaps Rey knew it too, or suspected at least. If not, why be so scared of his touch, of his possible influence?

To placate her, Ben drew back his hand, brought his arms to his sides, even went so far as to clasp his hands behind his back. She visibly relaxed, though still eyed him cautiously.

"You came here to tell me that you will overcome what happened between us at our wedding?" he checked.

"I did," Rey replied, lifting her chin. "That so-called wedding means we are bound by law and tradition and politics. I wouldn't want you to think it meant anything else."

"I know what it meant." Ben nodded, gazed locked onto her own. "I also know that we are bound by far more than those things, Rey. When you put your hand in mine... I know you felt it, and it was nothing that I did, I wouldn't know how to-"

"Do not lie to me!" she yelled through anything else he might have said. "You did something. You and your stupid Jedi tricks! It has to be or else..."

If he had to guess, Ben would swear she was fighting tears, perhaps not of sadness, perhaps only borne of frustration, but the result was the same. The pain in her heart, the conflict in her mind, it was pulling her down, tearing her apart. He so wished to ease her suffering, not because some archaic practice made her his wife, but because somewhere deep inside, Ben knew she was so much more than that. So much.

"Rey," he said, daring to move a little closer, decreasing the space between them to practically nothing at all, only mildly surprised to realise she had allowed it so easily this time. "You can trust me," he promised her, unclasping his hands, holding one out where she could see. "You can trust yourself. Trust what you feel, because I feel it too."

Though he was sure of himself and all that he said, Ben could hardly keep the shake out of his voice. The strength of what was between them was such, the vibration of it seemed to shake the whole room, even as Rey slowly lifted her hand up to meet his own. He watched her breathe in and swallow down hard a moment before she finally dared to touch him again.

It was as it had been a month before, on that first day, when they had joined hands to be proclaimed husband and wife. What existed between them was so much more meaningful than such words could ever be. Though Ben could not put a name to it, nor ever explain in any of the many languages the universe offered up, he knew what he and Rey shared was profound. Love, yes, but even more than that. A deep connection like no other, a balance the like of which the galaxies had never seen.

When her fingers tightened around his own, Ben let his arm slide around Rey and pulled her closer. Their foreheads were pressed together, tears on her cheeks dampening his face too, as the world around them faded out. All they knew was each other, the pleasure and pain brought forth by the strength of the bond between them.

"How can this be?" she asked, so softly he might never have heard if not for the fact they were so close. "I feel as if I've known you all my life. That everything I am is within you. That everything you are is within me. What does it mean?" she asked, looking up at him in earnest, wide eyes shining.

"The Force is with us," he told her gently, planting a kiss on her forehead. "It binds us somehow. I can't explain it, but... but I feel it."

Rey nodded, an agreement that she felt it too. That of all people, she was the only one who truly understood what it was to feel this way. What was between them was like nothing else, and though it had the power to take them over, Ben suspected it never would. Perhaps it was only just the means for the two of them to take over everything else, together.

"Ben," she said then.

His name from her lips was like a prayer, and then those same lips were pressing firmly against his own. Her hands at his cheeks, her body wrapping around his own. He pulled her to him, kissed her deeply, the two of them sinking to the floor in a tangle of limbs and a heat of passion, the like of which neither one of them had ever known.

For tonight, they were not just husband and wife, but all at once truly lovers and soulmates, children grown and hearts recovered, two spirits in the Force bound forever and ever, never to be undone. A perfect balance and contrast of light and dark, with a future ahead of them both as bright and as terrifying as tomorrow would allow.