AN: I don't own Star Wars and this was written for a fic exchange with a friend. It's no secret that the Star Wars sequels are a storytelling mess with some ideas coming out of nowhere and others being dropped without explanation and others seeming to be the result of the filmmakers being unable to make up their minds. One of the things that had SO much potential to be explored was the Force dyad between Rey and Ben, but unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't have the idea until the trilogy was almost over. I mean, look at how the movies portray their bond.
The Force Awakens: No Force bond, Kylo just wants Rey for his apprentice.
The Last Jedi: Force bond that Snoke claims is the result of him linking up their minds.
The Rise of Skywalker: Now the Force bond has been retconned into Rey and Ben having been connected in a dyad all their lives.
So yeah, pretty inconsistent. This fic will be a bit of an exploration into Rey and Ben being connected from the beginning (I say a "bit," because I only intend for it to be three or four chapters long – I've already got enough long writing projects I'm currently working on).
"You're Not Alone"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 1
For once ten-year-old Ben was jolted awake by something that wasn't a nightmare. It was . . . what was it? He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, blinking around the dark bedroom. The silhouettes of his toys and furniture against the windows were exactly the same as they always were. Nothing had changed . . . and yet something inside Ben was telling him that everything had changed.
His first thought was to ask the voice in his head about it, but something pulled him back from doing so, a sense that the voice didn't need to know – at least, not right now, not when he had no idea what this thing was. The voice might get angry if it turned out to be nothing.
He got out of bed and made his way to his parents' bedroom even though he knew that they probably wouldn't have any idea what was going on, his father being Force-deaf and his mother always hesitant to push herself in the Force. Still, they might have some ideas on what to do about it.
Upon opening the door to his parents' room, Ben was greeted by Han's loud snores, a sound he always found comforting. He remembered that when he was little, he once thought his father's snoring could scare the nightmares away, though that notion was quickly proven wrong. He tiptoed over to the bed and nudged his mother's shoulder. "Mom? Mom, wake up."
Leia groaned, rolling over to face her son as her eyes slowly opened. "Ben?" she mumbled. "What's going on? Did you have another nightmare?"
Ben shook his head. "No, not a nightmare, something else."
"What?" Leia asked, her eyes widening as they often did when talking about the Force.
Ben gulped. "I dunno, really. It kinda feels like something new came into the galaxy, something important. Did you feel it?"
Leia shook her head as Han stirred, giving a big yawn. "Mmm, wha?" he mumbled. "Did Ben have a nightmare?"
"No," said Ben, climbing onto the bed so his father could see him. "I just sensed something." He explained it as best he could to his father, which was more difficult since his father couldn't feel the Force.
Han's mouth twisted in thought. "Hmm," he said, "maybe you're feelin' something that'll be important later, I dunno. We could talk to your uncle Luke about it."
"No," said Ben. "I don't think we need to do that. I don't think this thing is bad." In fact, it felt warm and comfortable. "And if we tell Uncle Luke, he might wanna take me away."
Both his parents were silent after that, giving each other uncomfortable looks. Ben knew his mother didn't want to send him away and his father was absolutely against the idea, but he also knew they were afraid of what might happen if he didn't learn to control his powers. After a few minutes, they simply gathered him up in a hug, sandwiching him between them, as if that would protect them all from the future.
Many parsecs away, on a world Ben had never seen, a baby girl named Rey had just been born.
. . .
Three-year-old Rey didn't know why Mommy and Daddy were always afraid or why they never stayed in one place for long, but she knew they were always there to give big hugs and kisses whenever she got scared or sad. Sometimes she wished they could just find a place to live and stay there forever, but something inside always told her that it wasn't going to happen.
They were leaving again tomorrow, going somewhere else Rey had never been, but once again she didn't know why. Mommy had just tucked her into the small cot she used as a bed and left behind the curtain that separated the two tiny rooms where they were currently staying.
That was when she saw him.
A boy, a black-haired boy older than her, just appeared as if out of thin air. He stared at her, blinking, as if he didn't know what was happening.
Though Rey was only three, she still knew that grownups always said "Don't talk to strangers." But this boy . . . he didn't feel like a stranger. In fact, he felt like she already knew him even though she didn't think she'd ever seen him before. She decided it was okay to wave.
"Hi," she said.
The boy slowly, hesitantly raised his own hand to wave back. "Hi," he said in a deep voice. "Um, are you lost?"
"No," said Rey.
The boy looked around. "Then how did you get here?"
Rey looked around too. "I'm in my bed. I got here cause Mommy tucked me in."
Now his eyes bulged. "No, no, you're in the forest by the Jedi Temple. We both are!"
Rey looked around again, imagining big green trees like she'd seen in pictures. "Are you playing pretend?"
The boy let out a frustrated groan. "What's going on?"
"You're here with me," Rey said. "You angry?"
"No," said the boy, again blinking at her. "No, just confused." He blinked at her again as if he were making sure she was real. "What's your name?"
"Rey."
"Rey, that's a nice name. I'm Ben."
Rey smiled up at the boy. He seemed nice even though he was cranky. "Hi Ben," she said, giving him another wave to show that she was nice too.
"Hi."
"Rey?" Mommy suddenly called. "Who are you talking to?"
"Ben," said Rey.
Mommy pushed aside the curtain. "Who's Ben?" Her voice suddenly sounded scared even though Ben was nice. "Is someone in your room?"
Rey was about to introduce Ben to Mommy, but when she looked back at the spot where he was, he was gone. "No," she said.
After Mommy kissed her goodnight again, Rey could hear her parents talking in a panicked manner behind the curtain. She heard the words "it was probably nothing" and "imaginary friend."
Imaginary?
Did she imagine Ben?
. . .
Fourteen-year-old Ben was heading to his hut, wiping sweat off his face after a long lightsaber practice session when the little girl who'd been appearing to him on and off for the last year appeared to him once again.
"Ben!" Rey shouted, running up to him and throwing her arms around his waist.
"Hey kiddo," said Ben, patting the girl on the back. Though by now she'd appeared enough times to convince him that she wasn't a dream or a weird Force vision, he still wasn't sure exactly how it was possible. "How's everything?"
"We moved again."
Ben frowned. Rey never told him the exact circumstances she lived with (likely because she didn't know herself), but he had caught on that they were always moving because her parents were running from something. "I'm sorry. I'd invite you and your parents to live here if I was allowed. We're out of the way – whatever your parents are running from might not find you here." Yet even as he spoke those words, he sensed that they might not be true.
"Is it pretty?" she asked.
Ben looked around at the trees and grass and sky, all alive with various animal species. He gazed past the student huts at the Jedi Temple, massive and inviting. Yet though he'd lived here for over a year, his heart still associated home with his parents' apartment – his mother's Alderaanian décor and his father's collection of starship parts, picnics and rides on the Falcon and his parents' hugs during long sleepless nights.
"It is pretty," Ben said. "But it's not home."
. . .
"COME BACK! COME BACK! NO! COME BACK!"
"Rey?" sixteen-year-old Ben called. "Rey?"
She'd manifested in the distance, a tiny figure among the trees, her body yanking forward as if fighting some invisible hand trying to pull her back.
"COME BACK!" she screamed again. "COME BACK!"
"REY!" Ben broke into a run, charging towards Rey and whatever had her in its grip. Would he be able to pull her away? Would she end up in his space if she did? He didn't have time to worry about the answers to those questions – he just kept running, running, running!
"Rey!" he gasped out. "Rey! I'm coming! Rey!"
But before he could catch up with her, she vanished.
. . .
Ben spent the rest of the day trying to meditate, reaching out with the Force until his head hurt, breathing as deeply as he could until his lungs hurt, desperately searching for Rey, but as usually happened when he tried to meditate, he found nothing. It wasn't until late at night when she appeared again, her body doubled up over herself, shaking with rough, inconsolable sobs.
"Rey?" Ben asked in a soft, gentle voice, reaching out to her. "Rey, it's me."
Rey looked up, her tear-filled eyes blinking at him in the darkness, then she threw herself into his arms, sobbing into his nightshirt. "They're gone!" she wailed. "Mommy and Daddy, they're gone!"
"What?" Ben exclaimed. "They're dead?"
Rey shook her head. "They flew away! They're gone forever!"
"What?" It was the only word he could utter.
"They flew away!" Rey sobbed again. "They left me with a mean man who says I'm gonna work for him if I wanna eat!"
Ben's ears buzzed. Though he didn't know the names of Rey's parents or why they were always moving, he'd always assumed that they were trying to protect her from something. But this? How could this possibly be justified?
Throwing away their daughter like garbage.
"I'm here," he whispered, squeezing her close to him, trying to send comfort through the Force. "You're not alone." He gulped, the memory of his own parents leaving him unwillingly entering his mind. "I miss my parents too." But his parents still kept in touch with him and visited him when they could – it was completely different from what Rey's parents just did.
Wasn't it?
They lay down together, Ben doing his best to comfort the child even though he knew there was no true comfort when something like this happened. Still, he kept his arms around her, whispering that she wasn't alone until they both fell asleep.
When he woke up, she had vanished.