He freed FN-2187 and his girl, let them go with one message: “Tell Rey I don’t choose the light or the dark. I don’t choose the Jedi or the First Order. None of it. I choose her.”
It must have taken about a standard day for the escapees to reach the Resistance, because Rey came to him the next night. Ben felt the hum of her presence in the Force, a chill across his skin, before he saw her.
She was sitting on the floor, legs drawn to her chest, watching him with wet, wary eyes.
“You choose me?” she asked. “What does that even mean?”
Ben sat before her, close enough that he could touch her knee. “It means I’m done with fighting to figure out where I belong. I know where I belong, and it’s with you.”
Rey bit her lip, her tears falling now. He’d made her cry so many times, and he hoped to never do it again.
“You couldn’t have figured that out a year ago?” she asked.
“I did,” he said, sharply enough that he regretted it immediately. Then softer, “I asked you to stay with me.”
Rey pulled away, breaking contact but not their connection. “No, you asked me to abandon the light and become, what, Supreme Leader Rey? Do you hear how ridiculous that sounds?”
It sounded beautiful to Ben, but that opportunity had passed, and he wasn’t sorry for it anymore. Not now that his fury had waned and he could see more clearly. He’d wanted his master’s power and Rey’s love, but he hadn’t understood then that it was impossible to have both. Whatever affection she held for him would have wilted under the weight of darkness, and they would have lost each other.
“I’m sorry,” Ben said, “but I want to change. I want to be a man who can walk beside you.”
Rey trembled, shaking her head a little. “How am I supposed to believe you?”
Ben touched her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin. She felt so real, so present, even though she was only half here and light years away.
“You don’t have to believe me,” he said. “I’ll prove it.”
jbbartram-illu
prguitarman
baratheonpilled
tangentwithtanner
