Rey's ship landed lightly in the short grass. She could see now the outlines of the resistance base through the visor of her helmet.
   She scooted out of the small cabin, and strode in the middle of the clearing. Her helmet was in her hand, as if she was too anxious to let go of it.

   She squinted through the trees for any sight of movement. But there was none. Have her friends not celebrated? Her head turned this way and that as she jogged uneasily to the forest, and old decorations crumbled under her feet.

   Suddenly, a cry startled her, and her head jerked up in the direction where it came from.

   "Rey!" Finn shouted happily, and tears burst out of his eyes.

   "Finn!" she cried in her turn and ran toward him, arms spread open.

  She collided with him, almost crushing him to the ground. Then Poe popped up from the drape of trees and joined their hug, placing an arm around Rey, and one around Finn.

  Rey had missed those moments so much. Yet they were so rare, only when they did not bicker.
   She squeezed her eyes to stop some tears of joy from falling.

   "I thought we lost you!" Poe exclaimed. But then he drew back, and Finn after him. "You didn't join the celebration." his face turned more serious.

  And his eyes looked her up and down. She had changed her clothes, that was true, and Ben had helped mend some of her wounds.

  "What happened?" Finn frowned too. "I couldn't feel you!"

   Rey looked at him, puzzled." But I'm here now, and that's what matters. " She smiled sheepishly.

   But Finn's face remained serious. And she couldn't understand what was wrong. She cocked her head to the side.

  " What? " it troubled Rey to see him like that.

  " I still can't feel you. " his frown was even deeper now. "Rey, what on earth happened?" Finn asked again, and took a pace toward her. Instinctively, she drew back.

   And that made Rey think about it. She had always had a sense that he was force sensitive, even if little. Was Ben not feeling the force either? She realized she needed to ask him.

   What could have happened? She kept asking herself. I fought Palpatine... And then I died... And then Ben healed me... And I healed him. But it still did not make sense. Which one of these actions could have broken her force connection? Or was it because so much had happened in such a short time?
  
   Not even realizing, she kept backing up, her eyes aimed to the ground. She closed her eyes, and tried to feel Finn, because he was the closest to her now.

   Nothing.

   Desperately, she took two nervous breaths and tried to feel Ben this time. Before the fight, they could be able to feel the other's whereabouts.

   Still, nothing.

   She couldn't feel him at all. How was she going to find him now? Her breath became shallow, and small tears streaked the corners of her eyes.  She couldn't hear her friends' shouts at her either, and, not even realizing it she turned on her heels and plunged into the forest, in the opposite side from the camp.

   "Rey!" Finn kept shouting after her.

   But she was oblivious to his words. As she ran, she let the thin branches whip at her face and brush the tears away.
   The tears were now clouding her vision, and her breath that came out in shallows was slowing her down. She stumbled once on a root, but got up quickly, half jumping, half dragging herself through the mud.

   She didn't stop until she came to a large boulder and hid behind it. She rested a moment and leaned on the stone to catch her breath. Her head slammed on the hard surface.

   Exhausted, she let herself slide to the ground. Her shaking knees folded beneath her, unable to hold her weight anymore.
   And only then did she let her tears fall in torrents across her face.
  
   How could she not have the Force? She was nothing without it. All she did, all she had achieved, was because she had had the Force. But now... She really was nothing, as she had always been told she was.
   
   But at the sound of footsteps thundering closer, her head jerked up. She didn't have the strength to talk with them now. And she could tell they were even more. Her fist curled around a fern she had felt around her.
  
   Suddenly she realized she still wore Leia's lights abed strapped at her belt. The other one was with Ben. Maybe it will work! She thought eagerly as she took it.

   Strange, though, that when she touched the hilt, she felt nothing, when in the past a soft humming would pass through her. And worse, when she tried to ignite it, nothing happened at all.

   She was in the depths of despair. Frantically, she pressed and pressed the button, first lightly, then with anger.

   But to no avail. She heaved a growl and flung the useless hilt across the small clearing. But it didn't get too far, for it hit a tree and fell in a thick bush of grass.

   For some moments she stood there, alone, head buried in her knees that were drawn up to her chest.
   Her friends had not seen her when they passed by. She had heard them though, calling her name. But instead of answering, she squeezed her tiny frame into the sconce the boulder had beneath.

   But after all she decided she would head back. She needed someone's counsel before she went back to Ben. If she ever found him again...now without the force.

   She went to retrieve the lightsaber she had thrown away and sprinted away from the place where she had left her tears and dark thoughts.
  
   Evenfall caught her when she was still trudging to the base. It looked the same as it had when she had left for her quest. And she spotted her small cave where she used to study the broken lightsaber that now was with Ben. I just hope he's safe, she murmured under her breath as she remembered about him. The thought that she couldn't sense him was like a storm inside her stomach.

   She had been the one to tell him to meet somewhere farther from the resistance base on this planet. But there were so many people in the galaxy that wanted him dead, and so many allegiances that would gladly pay an assassin for Ben's head, she now feared she had gotten him into their hands.

   It was the second day since Palpatine's defeat, so it was the second day of celebration. But she couldn't find her place there. Instead, she made herself way through the partying people, trying not to draw too many eyes on her.

   Her mind flew back to the previous night spent in that cave with Ben and watching the people celebrate. He had been so scared when she had first tried to touch his face and was conscious about it. Snoke had made him fear it so much, she thought. But she vowed she'd help him. I'll show him what affection is. I'll show him how to embrace it.

   But suddenly someone grabbed her hand and spun her around on the rhythm of the music. She didn't even notice there was a music playing. Nor the small ewoks that made it with their wooden instruments.

   "Come on, Rey, have fun! You were given a se on chance to celebrate!" Finn said in her ear as he held her from behind.

   She let him lead her in the dance, but her mind was in a different place.
He spun her around two times among the tables that were set in the clearing to its middle, where the ewoks were playing a merry song.

   Rey's head spun from the wheeling, and Finn caught her in time. She laughed as she placed her palms on his shoulders for a better support, and he lifted her off her feet.

   She understood that the party was made especially for her when men and children and women all came to make a circle around them and to cheer her.

   But all of a sudden, all her merryment was gone. She didn't not want to dance with Finn, did not want to stay in his arms. She wanted it to be Ben in his place.

   "Stop." She told him, but he was too happy to hear. "Finn, stop!" she said it louder this time, and pushed away.

   He shot her a puzzled glare. "We were having fun!"

   But she took a few steps back, and her little fierce look was back.

   "Rey, tell me, what happened?" Finn pressed her on.
  
   "I need a little bit of time alone." her voice broke, as if she was about to throw up. And a bolt of pain shot through her head.

   She turned on her heels and stormed to the building. The trails of soft silk attached to her tunic flapped after her in the air.

   As she neared the crowd, every single child wanted to hug her, or talk to her, and everyone blocked her path.

   "Please, let me pass." She said in a small, weak voice, as the burning pain in her head made her features twist.

   But to no avail.

   "You heard her!" Finn came behind her and grabbed her arm, supporting her as he saw she was in difficulty. "Let us pass!" and this time the crown parted, and made them way to pass.

   They were halfway to the wooden base when he muttered under his breath "Those fools have no idea what you've been through!"

   And suddenly a "Raawrrrgh!" made Rey flinch, only to realize it was just Chewie.

   "Chewie!" she squealed and threw herself in the wookie's arms. He wrapped his furry paws around her, purring in her hair.

   "I missed you!" Rey sobbed in his chest.

   The music rang now faintly in Rey's ears as Finn drove her to the door.
    Once at the doors of the base, Rose and Poe came to help her.

   "Let's get you up to your quarters." Rose said as she rubbed Rey's back.

   Back in her wooden chamber at the first floor, Rey almost felt like home. But something was missing. Not something, but someone.

   Finn helped her sit on the edge of the bed that creaked under their weight.

   "I'll go bring you a tea." Rose offered. "To calm you a bit."

   "Thank you." Rey made herself smile.

   When the girl was gone, and Finn remained alone with Rey, he turned to face her.

   "Rey, I know it." he said as if he had woken up from a dream. "I know you can't feel the force." he was saying it as it she had hidden it from him until now.

   "I've just discovered when I arrived here this morning." She snapped.

   But all of a sudden, he sounded rather concerned. "I'm sorry... Where have my wits been...?" he tried to apologize. "But what happened to you last night? Had someone attacked you?"

   She rolled her eyes. "I defeated Palpatine, of course not! Who do you think I am?"

   "It's just that... There were still dark creatures in the galaxy... Like Kylo Ren."

   The sound of that name on Finn's lips made her want to slap him. But she had the sense to restrain herself. She was the only one who knew that Ben had turned. She was the only one who truly knew him.

  " He's dead." She lied. But in a way, it was true. Kylo Ren did die on Kef Bir, when she had stabbed him. And Ben was reborn.

   "What are we celebrating for, if not for his death? His, and that of his bloody master!"

   You have no idea that I celebrated with him last night. I celebrated the death of Kylo Ren too. And the return of Ben to the light. To me, she wanted to say but swallowed the words. It was folly if she spoke them aloud. Not only they would consider her a traitor, but they'll go hunting for Ben.

   "And... What will you do now that you don't have the force?" Finn asked.

    "I don't know." She answered plainly. But she knew. Maybe Ben could help her.
    
    "Anything you do, just don't give up, Rey." and he took her hands in his. "It's not in your nature to give up." he looked deep into her eyes.

   But just then Rose burst in, carrying a plate with a small cup of tea.

    "Oh..." She stopped and let out a gasp. "I didn't mean to interrupt..."

    "You interrupt nothing." Rey told her as she snatched her hands away from Finn's.

   The older girl stepped in and set the plate on Rey's small wooden table. It was lightened by a lamp, and it was way too crowded with jedi textbooks.

   "Thank you." Rey told her.

   "You need to rest." Rose said.

   Rey knew Finn would have stayed more, but she needed to take a bath. So Rose helped her, and the cool water calmed the headache a bit.

    Then she changed in a light night gown, and stepped to her table, aiming straight for a book. But Rose stopped her.

   "Tomorrow. You need to rest now." Rose took Rey by the arm.

   She took her tea and sat on the edge of the hard bed. The warm fragrance of lemon and mint flooded her nostrils.

    "If you ever need any help, I'm here for you. We're here for you." Rose squeezed Rey's hand as she sat on the bed face to face with her.

   Rey thought for a moment to tell Rose about Ben. Maybe she would understand, as from girl to girl. But when she tried to speak, she couldn't voice those words.

  " I'm glad to be with you again." She smiled. Though she knew it won't be for long.
  
   "Tomorrow, we'll leave the day to talk about anything but the battle." rose said. "Maybe go to have breakfast there, in the forest."

   "We have won this battle..." Rey began, looking at the white coverlet. "... But the galaxy is full of threats."

    "Don't think about it now! Be happy that we are free at the moment!"

    But she had to tell someone the truth. "Rose..." she began, squeezing her eyes. "I beg you to understand me... I need to know what happened with my force sensitivity first of all."

   And she could tell her friend was visibly disappointed.

   "I know..."

   "But we'll be all, together. Very, very soon. I need to go and ask Maz what happened."

   Rose nodded, and stood up. "You need to rest now, Rey." She patted her friend's shoulder. "Good night."

   "Good night, Rose." Rey replied.

   Her friend left, and turned off the lights. But Rey's lamp was always a flame flickering in the dark. And the moon's light protruded through her large window, casting a silvery light across the floor.

   Rey set the tea on the nightstand and huddle into her coverlet. But after half an hour of tossing, her sleep passed in a fleeting moment, so she gave up and stood. She took the cup of tea in her hands and walked on the large terrace that overlooked the forest.

   There was no celebration this night, only the soft rustle of the leaves and the wind whistling softly past her ears that tugged at her thin, long dress.
   She inhaled deeply the fresh smell of  grass as she walked slowly to the rail.

   And strangely, she wasn't cold. She even felt a bit warmed by something. And she imagined his arms wrapped around her.

   "Ben, it this you?" she asked looking up at the shimmering stars. But no one was there, except for her.
 

~Thanks for reading!~

A/N: As always, feedback is welcome:)). This chapter took me a lot to write, for I had it unplanned.