This was beginning to be feel like a problem.
She watches as he waves hello, in grateful greeting. She waves back, relief washes over her bones. The tension from the struggle drains from her. The giant unnamed beast lie between them. Dead and bloody.
“Thanks— again,” it’s still jarring how soft his voice is. How big and open his eyes are. Clear. His mouth presses together, his throat bobbing. The deprecation and burden follow suit in his expression.
“You know, I’d think you’d at least have blaster trained with Han,” she visibly jars. Cringing inwardly. She watches him. His frozen shoulders and his stunned eyes staring at the dark gravel of the cave…
“I, uh, never got the chance,” he says. And the rest is left unspoken. But she recognizes herself in him, the eyes of a child left to themselves. He stumbles a little as he stands.
Rey is instantly at his side. Ben still shutters when her hands touch him. Both hands on either side of his ribs to steady him. His leg is still twisted. Like the last time they saw each other. In this twisted dark place. A nervous huff leaves his lips. His arm wraps around her shoulder to steady himself.
“Just a little further, if these damn beasties can stop attacking us,” she says with morbid humor. Her eyes scan around them for good measure. She can feel his gaze upon the side of her face…
“Why are you doing this?” It flies out of him. The question. And she feels more adrenaline than the fight with the terrifying beasts on Exegol. From his low voice, and the shake of it, with his eyes boring into her.
And there’s so much she wishes she could say. So much welling inside her. So much that’s been grieving and growing within her since those last moments before he disappeared. And she remembered. Feeling him there, in her hands. His lips on hers. Felt the bond shine and she felt home. Truly home. But mostly— she felt him.
“I didn’t want this without you,” this… Life. The force. The Galaxy leaning on her to lead the future of the Jedi. The adventures. The laughter. Sunrises. The smell of rain. Relief of a fire in the cold. Starry nights.
“I can’t help— I don’t have The Force anymore. You’re no longer bonded to me,” it was a trade. He had to let it die. The part of him he leaned into for so long. The thing he put all his misguided identity into. The thing that kept him from her.
“I don’t care,” it is nothing but the truth that shines between them. Their bond untouchable. Unimportant. Not in the face of this. Them. Their future.
His eyes dart down to her lips. Blood drying on his forehead and jaw. Sweat mixed with dust and grit. And yet— she feels every impulse to kiss him. To mold into him.
“Why don’t we get off this planet, shall we?” She quips. A nervous but mirthful promise. Ben’s lips twist a little in turn.
“Yeah, sweetheart— let’s go home.”
Rey holds back, but she feels it in every fiber of her being— you’re my home.