Rey skidded to a halt as she walked down the slope. It was full of tiny pebbles, and they only made her slip even more. Ben followed close behind her and proppeled himself on the outlined rock that bordered the path.

The morning sun hit them straight in the face, promising another good day. And a crisp wind blew up there, on the tops of the mountains, flapping their cloaks in the wind and snapping them against their backs, yanking them from behind. Yet Rey was tired. More tired than she remembered ever being. And in spite of that harsh wind, she could sit right there and take a good nap.

Her hand went up to rub the sleep that threatened to creep in her eyes off. It was not far, until they rounded a corner and almost bumped into the large head of the fathier that ate what rough leaves could be found in that barren land.

"Whoa, hello there." Rey said drowsily as she took a few paces back and almost toppled over a bigger rock. But Ben was there to catch her.

"Easy." he said as he helped her to her feet.

"Thanks." She managed a low mumble, drowned by a yawn.

She had to admit it, she felt drained. Not only regarding her energy, but the little Force she had got left, too. And she didn't even realize how she clung to Ben as they made their way to mount the fathier.

"Need help?" Ben asked as she placed her hands on the animal's back.

She shot him a glare and wanted to object, yet no words came out of her mouth. Instead, she only scoffed and let out an exasperated sigh as he placed his hands on her waist and lifted her in the air as if she weighed nothing more than BB-8. She tried to kick with her legs, yet she was up in the saddle before she could even say a word.

Still she felt like she was not ready to leave, in spite of the tiredness that overwhelmed her.

"Ben," she said softly as she could feel him ready to jump behind her.

He tilted up his head to look her in the eyes. "Yes, Rey?"

"We should not leave." She insisted, this time convinced on her words. And she could see how troubled Ben was as he frowned up at her. "I think... I think I can feel another force-signature around. Please, Ben," she insisted, her eyes softening. "We need to know what it is."

And he reached up and took her hand. "We can't risk it Rey. What if it's something bad?"

"I know it's not." and her voice had a hint of coldness in it again. But he responded patiently with a squeeze on her hand.

"I'll go." he said as he nodded, looking in her eyes.

"I'm coming too."

Rey had no mind to wait for him there. She knew there was nothing bad going to happen, yet they needed to stick together and Ben was as tired as she was; she could see it even thought he tried not to seem so for her own sake. And then there was the fathier... Well even thought she had been up in the saddle twice, she still wasn't used to the animal. Every time she was up at that height, see lived with the sensation that she would tumble forward over its head.

So she jumped quickly and followed Ben.
She jogged until she caught up with him. His head jerked up as he heard her steps behind him and the low rumble made by the pebbles that rolled down the slope.

And she walked in front of him and took up the lead. "Over here." She said as she rounded a gathering of four small pines.

Her paces led her farther down the steep path until she came to a sudden halt, causing Ben to almost bump into her. And her head turned this way and that. What was there that she needed to see? She couldn't sense anything.

But she could feel the force stronger now. Whatever it was, it had to be close enough now. And instinctively, she took a step back.

"I can feel it too." Ben said, and threw Rey a furtive glance. "Stay here, I'm going in those bushes to see."

And he made to go. But Rey grabbed him by the arm. "I'm coming with you!"

And there was that boldness that defined her once again. The Rey that would get into all possible trouble or adventure. The Rey that would never abandon those she loved, no matter the circumstances.

She walked slowly, her steps barely making any noise, eager for any sound. But there was only the soft humming of the force... Until it wasn't so soft at all.

"Ben" she said as she stopped and turned her head left. "I think I heard some cries."

"Where?" he walked to her side.

"Here, in those bushes."

Bordering the steep and barren mountain road, there were a bunch of small pine bushes that concealed the stones underneath. Rey marveled at the toughness of the trees' lives. How could they survive in such a stern land? How could they live on those hard stones? And their lives reminded her of her own. The toughness of Jakku was represented by the barren land, by the rough stones. And the pines were her. They clung to every bit of water as she had, back when she was just a little girl; they resisted every strong wind and every storm exactly as she had resisted her own damn life.

And she found herself squatting down and patting the needles of those pines and stroking them softly as if they were the little frightened Rey back on Jakku, squirming in the old woolen coverlet when the coldness of the desert night would take over the heat of day.

But now she felt a hand brushing against her cheek. And not the imaginary hand that has soothed her all those years on Jakku, but a real one. And she rose her eyes up to see Ben, as if she had forgotten he was there, with her.

"Are you alright?" he asked as his knuckles brushed against her soft skin soothingly.

"Yes, I am." She smiled.

"I could see that you were troubled. Did something happen?" he tilted his head to the side, and made to squat next to her.

"No, I'm alright." She said as she sat up abruptly and took him by surprise.

But the same cries drew her attention again. And she turned her head back to the bushes. She could hear them better now...and the voice belonged to a little child. Whimpers, as if it was in pain.

"Ben, we need to help him." She looked up at him, and was gone in an instant, wading through the small trees. Her narrow form left a trail behind her.

And as she approached the place, the sobs intensified. The Force guided Rey to a small clearing, and when she bent the layers of pines aside to make herself place to pass, the face of a little girl of a different species was revealed.

She gasped as the child looked up at her, and she could feel a strong force-signature in the back of her skull. She didn't even hear Ben's heavy footsteps as he came behind her, and had the same reaction as Rey when he saw the child.

"Ben, she has the Force." Rey said, still not taking her eyes off the child.

The little girl looked strikingly familiar to the jedi Ahsoka they had seen in the cave. Only this one had to be barely seven years old. And a ragged dress covered her frail body, and her blue eyes were full of fear, brimming with tears as she looked upon the man and the woman looming over her.

"We'll get you out of here, child." Ben whispered in a soothing voice. Which surprised Rey. It was true, she had never seen him around children. But how did she expect him to be, if not good and gentle, after all the care and love he was showing her, and not only her? It was still something new, something strange, but he was changed. He was the opposite of what he used to be.

Then he turned his face to Rey. "Remember when Ahsoka told us about her granddaughter? I think we have found her."

And at the sight of him, the little child seemed to relax. And her even smaller voice startled Rey even more. As if it was not what she expected. "I know you. You're Ben. Ben Solo."

Ben frowned slightly at that, though he must not have realized it. "Yes, it's me. But how...?

"My home has been this cave, with the force ghosts. I was able to see them almost all the time. And they told me that when the time comes and the hope will arise, the jedi named Ben Solo will come to rescue me. Him and the other jedi named Rey." and her eyes finally turned to the chestnut haired woman standing in front of her.

Ben threw Rey a glance. And she returned him the same lost look, and shrugged her shoulders.

"What is your name, child?" Ben asked in a gentle voice.

"Annika." She answered. And she tried to sit up, but slumped back on the ground.

"She's almost starved to death, poor sweet thing." Rey said.

"And it's not only that." Ben said eagerly, and stepped in the middle of the bushes, where the child was sitting on the ground. "Her foot is locked beneath those rocks." he said as he examined it closely and squatted down to be almost at the same level with Annika. "May I?" he gestured to her foot, and she nodded.

With deft and sure hands, he twisted it carefully and wrenched it free from the grasp of the rocks. Annika stood up, and mumbled a "Thank you."

Her voice was so thin and small. Yet it was a wonder she still knew how to talk, after all those years of living in that deserted place.

And as she followed Ben out of the little clearing, Rey could see she was trembling. The wind was tugging at her little dress and was yanking her behind, yet the girl seemed just used to that.

But when Ben turned to keep the bushes aside for her to pass, and noticed how badly she was shivering, he unclasped his heavy brown cloak, squatted down and wrapped it tightly around her. So small she was, the cloak brushed the ground as it trailed behind her.

"Better?" Ben smiled and rubbed her shoulders.

And the little girl nodded. But it was Rey who paid better attention this time. "Ben, I think she will trip on the folds of your cloak."

"Oh yes, you're right." and he scooped Annika up in his arms where she found refuge against the sharp wind that bit at her face as she buried her head in Ben's chest and huddled in the thick cloak. And he found himself confused. What was he supposed to do now? Instead, the answer came almost naturally. "You're alright now." he whispered, and he felt a need to nuzzle her head. And it was the first time Rey saw his soul. His real soul.

Rey followed right next to Ben, and held out a hand to tuck the cloak under the child's chin.

"Where are we going?" Annika asked.

"To a place where we can learn to use the Force." Rey answered as they trudged up the slope, and back to the fathier.

"I have the force." Annika said as she suppressed a yawn. "But I don't know how to control it."

"The force is not your instrument, little one." Ben told her, and she tilted her head up to meet his eyes. "I learned it the hard way. Still, how does it come you have lived here all your life?"

"The ghosts have always been with me. And i thought they were all I had. Me and your mother were best friends. And with your grandfather, too. He always said he knew you would turn, even though many of them insisted you were completely consumed by the dark." and her sparkly blue eyes seemed to pierce through Ben's soul. Both him and Rey had thought that Annika was a little child, in need of a family. But she was wise beyond her years. And beyond Ben and Rey, too.

"And, tell me, Annika, what does your name come from? I might have a guess..." Ben began.

"They named me after your grandfather, Anakin. My grandmothermother's best friend. And a great jedi. And they said that you would carry his legacy."

And Ben seemed utterly surprised by that.

"No, it cannot be..."

"Yes, it is. You two are the chosen ones." Annika answered, and Ben looked at Rey. And there was both sadness and longing in his eyes. Sadness, for the pain he had been through, the pain experienced when he had lost her. And longing for something that was never going to happen.

But Rey could already feel Ben bond with the child.

"Is Rey your wife?" the child asked Ben, all of a sudden as she caught them staring at each other.

"Oh..." Ben's eyes remained locked on Rey's.
He didn't know what to say. He knew the right answer was "No, and she'll never be." but his heart ached to say something different.

"We are jedi." he said at last, yet his eyes didn't turn to the child cradled in his arms, but looked at Rey as if trying to read through her. "And no, she is not my wife. For it is forbidden for a jedi knight to have any attachment. My grandfather has proven it right."

And Rey could not do anything but agree. Yet her heart was shredded to pieces. But what happened next, what Ben said, tied her heart back together, and set it apart again, for she knew it was never going to happen.

" But I wish she were... " Ben gulped down a lump of tears in his throat. "...my wife."

And Rey tried to stare into his very soul. Could it be true? Of course it was! The moment he had said it, she had felt him experience the same sensation as she did. The same dying wish that was never going to come true. The same realization that, from now on, they'd have to shield their feelings from each other.

"I know it is forbidden." Annika jerjed them up. "Yet my mother had had a son. Who had had me in his turn. And she never surrounded to the dark side."

"Well, I've been prey to the dark side once." ben said with a hint of regret in his voice.

"That was only a mistake." Anikka replied.

And she kept bragging about how the force had been her mere companion all those years all the way back to the fathier. How it had helped her feed upon it to survive, how she would go into the cave and speak to the ghosts and find refuge in the cold days.

Ben took a few long strides, and Rey bolted up the slope to keep up with him.

When they reached their place, Rey swung herself in the saddle with Annika between her and Ben. Her arms snaked around Ben's waist as she clung to him, squishing the child between them, it barely has some air.

"I'm sorry." Rey whispered to her. "But I need to do this. Or we'll jump straight ahead over Ben."

And before he spurred it to go, she lunged her head and placed a discreet kiss on his jaw, so Annika wouldn't notice. And he responded to it by turning his head slightly in her direction, as to catch a little glimpse of her face.

It was evening again by the time they reached the base of the mountains. It was little left until they would arrive at the falcon, and a bit more to the first settlements of the natives of that planet.

And suddenly Ben reined the father in, and drew to a halt. Rey watched as he looked longingly over the horizon, where a vastness of hills covered in grass shone in the sun. Annika was fast asleep in her arms, still huddled in Ben's cloak. Though it wasn't cold anymore down there.

"You'll miss this place." Rey noticed.

"Won't you?" he asked back, his eyes lost somewhere in the forests ahead.

"I will."

"Can we stay a little more? We haven't halted the whole day..."

"Sure."

Rey wasn't eager to go back. Instead, she even wanted to spend there as much time as possible. And she would have liked to stay more...

Once all three of them dismounted, Ben tied the fathier to a tree and they headed down the valley. The grass was short and soft, and spotted with tiny colored flowers.

Annika let out a squeal of joy and let go of Rey and Ben's hands, breaking into a run. Rey shot Ben a glance, and the two of them followed, chasing the little one. And as they caught up with her, they tackled her down, and it resulted in all three of them laughing their hearts out, lunged in the grass.

Ben propped himself on one elbow, and looked upon the child's face.

"Have fun, little Anni?"

She laughed in response and Rey propped herself up, too, facing them both. Ben was happy. Anni, as he had called her, was happy, too. And neither of them had had great childhoods. But aside from happiness, a sadness mingled with it.

The three of them were perfect together, as if they were a family. And for a moment, she had even let herself dream of Ben and Anni as her most loved ones.

She realized she had been staring somewhere between them only when Ben met her eyes. She loved to behold them, her family.

"Maybe we should go." Ben suggested as he reached out a hand to touch Rey's one that was splayed in the grass.

"I guess we should. It's getting late." She agreed and stood up, followed by Ben, and then Anni. Knowing that the child was force-sensitive, too, she tried to hide as much as she could from her feelings. But sometimes they would overcome her, and she would let her guard down. She was but a young girl after all, whose life had been harsh and stern and stripped of love and a family.

She wanted to deny it but... A family was all she'd ever wanted.

Ben
The only sound in the valley was the distant rustle of the forest, and the wind sighing warmly against their skin.
But suddenly, a strange sensation made Ben's head snap back and forth. Because a great danger in the force tingled at the back of his skull.

Author's note: I know my chapters are very, very long... Still I hope you have the patience to read^^

Try not to miss the clues I'm dropping here!

And many, many thanks to frcefan69 for great comments and help!!
Go check out their story that explores Ben's redemption! It amazed me with its character insight!