Ben was the first to wake up. The coolness of the morning and the light that shone through the leaves roused him from his sleep.

He felt the cold prickle at his skin, and instinctively dove his shoulders down beneath the cloak that had fallen somewhere to their chests during the night. And then his numb arms felt Rey's presence hugged between them, and his mind sharpened, bringing back all the memories from that night of splendor as his face was buried in her hair, their legs entangled.

Her back was flush against his chest, and he hugged her tighter to shield her from the cold. Ben closed his eyes and inhaled her scent and his lips pressed against her shoulder.

But he did not want to wake her up. Not yet. And not when he could feel her stir, snuggling in his arms for warmth as a shiver passed down her spine. Not when his moments were counted.

His palm that was placed on her stomach right beneath her breasts pressed her against him, then slid up to her shoulder, and finally to her face. She whimpered softly before his lips nuzzled her jaw, clearly lost to a different world.

What are you dreaming of, my sweet love? He wanted to ask her. But he had made sure the bond was closed, not to wake her up by any chance. She needed that sleep now more than ever. She needed to clung to that dream that stirred her, if it was a good one. And he knew it was. He knew what it was, as her mouth stretched in small smile when his lips touched her skin.

He felt like he was now holding his galaxy, everything he had always fought for, even when he had no idea about it, even when he was seeking power. This part of his life was fulfilled, the love that had always missed from his heart. And his forgiveness was a bit more filled of that void in his soul. But to fully forgive himself, it was too late.

Slowly, he propped himself on one elbow and taking the cloak off his chest, bundled Rey in it, before placing a loving kiss on her temple.

As his hand groped for his pants thrown in the grass, the dew drops that grazed his skin made him shiver. He stood up, dressed, and reached down in the heap of clothes for his tunic and belt.

But right when he was done buckling the belt, the dew that had seeped into the fabric began to take its toll. His mind told him to go and gently wake Rey up from her sleep. But he was not ready, not yet.

His gaze remained trained in the distance, amidst the ancestral trees of the planet. His redemption was not here, he knew it. It lay in the middle of the war, alongside the resistance his mother had built. In the fight to stop the darkness he had started.

The wind stirred a lock of hair against his cheek, and he sighed heavily, the weight of the day suddenly much bigger than it had appeared earlier. Where was the joy he had felt at the touch of Rey in his arms, at the memory of their night? He was aware it had passed. And that it would never come back, no living something like this again. And that there was nothing he could do to change his fate, no running away.

He turned, and his once again sad gaze fell on the girl that slept peacefully in the bundle he had made for her. What would his last words to her be? He had no idea... Not in a million years could he tell everything that she was to him. More than his dyad in the force, more than his soul mate, more than his lover...

Slowly, he paced to the cloak that held for blanket and crouched next to Rey. At first he had meant to gently shake her shoulder. But he found himself easing on his back, wrapping his arms about her protectively, hugging her to his chest. And he knew she was waking up. And he wanted to do something to stop it, wanted to drift himself back in a sleep next to her and inhale her scent and forget about the world.

Rey
She felt his breath was warm against the back of her head as he dreamt. Or he did not? No, he was awake, she knew that in the numbness the morning brought with it. She had felt his warmth leave her at some moment, before it came back against her.

Rey knew she had to wake up. And she knew what came with it.
She yearned to turn around and let Ben know she was awake, to let him see her face. But she couldn't. Not when her eyes were beginning to wet, not when her heart beats were beginning to quicken, that dread pooling in her stomach again.

She realized she was a bit sore, too, as she tried to stretch her legs. It brought a smile on her lips. Though he had been so gentle... too gentle, too caring. Not to hurt her, not to know she was in pain, not to make her bleed. And she was now grateful for it, grateful he had not listened to her pleas.

A deep sigh, rooted from the depth of her soul escaped her as she was trying to suppress the tears that were now trickling down her face, hot against the chill of the day. She bit her lip to stop herself, but it was already too late.

"Rey?" she heard him whisper against her hair, and his thumb stroked her arm slowly.

But she did not turn, but rather wanted to bury her face in the cloak and in the loose sleeves of his robes as he hugged her.

"Rey, are you alright?" he tried again. And this time, she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. He moved so he could turn her to him, hold her in his arms. But his had left her arm when he felt her opposition.

And she tilted her head to him out of her will, allowing him to take a glimpse at the tears that streaked her cheeks.

"Rey..." he said when he saw her, his voice filled with sorrow. "Don't, don't cry for me." and began to kiss the tears away from her face.

Their foreheads met as he nestled her in the crook of his arm, and allowed her a moment to spill her sorrow. But as his thumb had brushed the last of the tears away, Rey stood up, drawing the cover up to her chin, rather hugging it.

"I don't want to leave you crying in the world." he said as his hand reached for her face. "I want to know that you're grateful for the moments we've got to spend together." and then he faltered. Because he knew, he was aware it had not been enough, as he stared into her eyes. And there words that pained him, but which he needed to tell her. Noses brushing, and as his thumb caressed her cheek, his eyes were loving and firm, both at once. "Listen to me, Rey." he whispered soothingly. "I know it's hard. But I want you to be happy. I would have made you the happiest woman alive, have I had a better chance."

"I know... But the world would darken without you." She croaked.

"I want you to live your life, to have the family you've always wanted, to have children..." when he stopped in his tracks, for he remembered the awful truth he had found out just a matter of hours ago. "Sorry..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. Sometimes I forget about it myself." the ghost of a sad smile touched her lips.

He kissed the top of her head and made to stand up. He went and handed her the clothes, helped her lace the straps and the tunic around her chest. She was still astonished at how deftly he knotted her garments, tying them around her at the perfect fit, not too tight, but not too loose either.

She pulled on her pants and then he held a hand out to her and helped her up to her feet.

When he draped the cloak over his shoulders, he looked once more around. And so did she, before her gaze followed his, analysed the galaxy of emotion that churned in his eyes, watched as he was struggling to breathe.

Chin tilted up to his head, she tugged at his arm. And he lowered his eyes to her. Her hand slid into his, and they started away from the clearing, away from the lake, and toward the resistance.

They walked back in silence. A heavy dread hung over them, and Rey's stomach was tied in a knot. Their paces were slow, as if they were approaching death, slaughter. And it was, in a way, the slaughter of her soul.

And suddenly, as her mind was beginning to quicken, to act under that instinct of survival imprinted in her, a mad plan flashed in Rey's head. She stopped and pulled at his hand, taking him completely by surprise.

His eyes moved up and down her face, as he could not understand the sudden surge of joy that had brought that grin full of hope back across her lips. He did not know whether he ought to be happy, or to stay quiet, for life had taught him that expectations hurt the most.

"We could take a ship and fly off!" she almost cried with joy as her voice was trying to remain a whisper. "We could run away."

He smiled down at her, before taking both her hands in his and bringing them to his lips, raining kisses on her skin. "Rey... The ships are monitorized." he stared back into her eyes, and saw the hapinnes begin to fade. "And I'm a convict." he extended his right arm toward her. Rolling his sleeve up to his elbow, Rey noticed a small yellow bruise on his forearm, right above his wrist.

She peered at it. And her hand reached out, her fingers gently traced it. A tracking device, she thought. She should have remembered, she should have done something by now. But how did ner fellows not find them in the night, when they were searching? Oh yes, she did that Force trick again! And that was the reason of the tiredness, of the suffocating sensation she had felt when she was hiding with Ben beneath the cloak. And she knew that no force would hide them forever from the whole galaxy.

"So that's why I can't leave. They'd find me anywhere now."

Her eyes rose up to him, almost in anger. "Why, why did you let them do it?"

"I had no choice in the prison, Rey." and she knew there were more things he would have said. Things that maybe she wouldn't like.

"They have starved you..." She reflected, the truth of it still hard to swallow as she turned to face the road.

Again, they started at the same steady pace. And as they went, their fingers brushed, and Rey interlaced hers with Ben's. He gave her a soft tug, like the one his force made whenever she tried to reach him from a galaxy away.

Her mind was finally free as the rooftops of the resistance base were forming in the distance, above and among the trees. Not free, but rather numb, now that the only way to escape was gone. Until this morning, she had clung to the hope that a solution would light her path in the last moment. But she was just fooling herself.

It was not until the fretting sounds reached her, that she felt something was wrong. Her hand tightened on Ben's, and her head snapped in that direction with a gasp at the low rustle of the bushes that bordered the path .

She stepped back and almost made Ben stumble, when the face of the person cleared before her and she realised it was just Finn.

He stopped in his tracks, her astonishment reading on his face, too. His hand rose numbly in the air, pointing at the man standing behind Rey.

His eyes darted from Ben, to her fingers that hung from his, and realised what was the situation, what had happened between them.

The sound of a ship passed right above them, and their heads snapped up to see it was a TIE fighter soaring across the sky. Ben opened his mouth to say "Run!", but never made it. For the ship crashed with another, sending a booming noise above them.

Ben's eyes widened in terror, and he pushed a numb Rey and Finn in the confines of the forest.

Molten pieces of blackened iron were raining right on the place they have stood in just moments before.

The World was going mad around them, but they continued to stare at each other.

"What... What is this?" Rey tried to piece it all together, eyes darting frantically here and there. But Finn's stare cut daggers at her, and at the man whose hand was on her shoulder.

"The first order! They've found us! He did it... He betrayed us! And I told you, told you not to trust him!"
Rey's gaze wavered from Ben to Finn, and from Finn to Ben. "Ben...?" she asked in a thin voice, almost cracked with tears, as she couldn't believe it at all. And her eyes pleaded with him to tell her it was not true.

"Rey, I've been with you all the time... You know I couldn't have done it."

She had trusted him, had given herself entirely to him. Yet how could the final order have found out about the resistance base, if not from Ben?
But what reason did he have to do it? Wasn't he the one who wanted atonement? Wasn't he the one that the final order called "Traitor"? Or maybe it has all been a game... A dirty game they've played on her.
But when the shock of it had passed, memories came back to her mind. No, it was not him. It couldn't have been him. It was that man she and Anni had ran away from, just a couple of days ago.

"Ben, I..." She gazed into his eyes, but the next moment was forced to snap to the direction a "Pew" came from.

"Run!" he yelled and grabbed her hand, and she got hold on Finn.

Head bowed down and brows furrowed in fear and anxiety, she tripped on a root. She flinched at the sound of a blaster. But it was somewhere far off in the distance, close to the base they were approaching.

Finn did not seem to care about the rivalry anymore as they crawled their way through the trampled trees. And once they were in the clearing, Rey saw the hell break before her eyes.

Members of the resistance were being shot and butchered by the troops that emerged like ants from the two great ships landed at the borders. Shrieks and yells and the booming of cannons rose high above in the sky, and the rooftop of the base was burning. Trees had fallen to the ground, and Rey left Ben's grasp and hurried to help a little girl locked beneath it.

"It's alright, I got you." She kept whispering as she squatted down and smoothed her golden hair out of her eyes.

"It hurts!" she whimpered, her eyes wide with fear, her face the color of curdled milk. "My leg hurts..." and she reached a hand out and Rey grasped her and struggled to drag her out, when Ben came in her help with Finn close behind.

The child closed her eyes tight during the process, and her fingers dug into Rey's arm as she clung to her.

But it was Ben that noticed the stormtrooper, a blaster aimed straight for Rey.

"Rey... Hurry... leave it to me." he blurted out. But it was too late.

A cannon shook the ground from the sky, and the explosion landed near the fallen tree, sending them flying backwards.

Rey was hurled against a tree and landed on her belly. The fall drew the air out of her lungs. For a moment she could not remember how to breathe. And she thought she was dying, slowly fading from the world as her vision was beginning to blur, her heartbeats to slow...

But suddenly, she felt a frantic touch on her shoulder, a shake to remind her it was not over yet.

"Rey..." Ben croaked. "Rey, wake up. Wake up!"

She blinked a few times, and her eyesight came back, gaze fixed on the place where the tree had once been.

"That girl..." and she scrambled on her knees. "Tell me she's not..."

But Ben held her, and his eyes told her what she did not want to hear.

"I'm sorry, Rey. She's gone."

She felt tears form behind her eyes. And she wanted to pay them back for this, for taking an innocent life down with them. Ben felt her anger well up inside her. And his hand caressed her shoulder in the place where she was hurt.

Suddenly, a surge of power passed down her spine, as another shot crashed in the tree next to her, probably a missed target. She took her courage in her hands, and with the help of Ben and Finn stood up, steady on her feet.

"I'm not leaving without my Saber." She told Ben as her eyes were fixed determinedly on the burning base.

"Rey, no." he said.

"Are you mad!?" Finn grabbed her arm, but she elbowed them both away and edged forward.

Ben darted to her side, and took her hand, dragging them both toward the building, crawling beneath pieces of destroyed ships and splintered trees.

Together, they ran straight for the hidden door at the back of the building. But while she kept an eye trained on any blaster, on any danger that could erase them from the earth, the other searched for any known figures. For Rose, for Poe and for Anni.

She heard Finn's paces thunder behind her and turned to him, shushing.

"Rey," Ben said as he exhaled a breath when they squatted beneath a crooked cowl. "Do you know where are the sabers?"

Her head snapped to him, and back to the door. No more than ten feet until there, she thought. It could do, if they were quick enough to pass through the rain of shots.

"Maybe in Poe's office." She gave Ben a late reply.

"Yes, you're right." Finn confirmed. "I'll lead you straight there, just let us get to a ship."

"Fine." Rey said, her eyes trained on the door. "Keep your blaster at the ready." and standing to her feet, she darted to the door. She would have loved to feel a weapon in her hand. But the speed was the only thing that would save her now.

She never looked back once, until her hand spread out and reached the door, pulling her inside the corridor, against the wall. Ben was next, and she held her breath as a blaster fired halfway to the base, when he reached the entrance.

She reached out for him and he caught her hand. His hair was matted from sweat, and his breath was ragged as her fingers caressed his face. She looked at the slaughter and realized the loss, and she knew she could not allow the Final Order loialists to take more loved people away.

Finn finally reached them, blaster held at ready, under his arm. Rey reached out and touched his arm, a wordless need to know he was well.

Together, they started down the corridor. Rey knew where Poe's office was. Or so she had thought, when she found herself beginning to wander aimlessly along the walls.

"Let me take the lead." Finn stepped before her and Ben and faster than any of them has thought, he dove into a large, crumbling room.

"Move fast, move fast!" Rey kept whispering through irregular breaths as she could hear the building creak, as she knew a cannon blaster could fall upon them at any time.

She went straight for the desk, where he kept his most secured things locked. Her fingers fumbled at the box, but it was locked. She gritted her teeth and let out a drowned groan.

"Ben!"

His head snapped to her, and then turned to Finn. "Do you have the keys?" he asked him, more harshly than he had intended.

But Finn shook his head. Ben hurried over to Rey, aggressively snatching the blaster from Finn's hands in his way.

"Stay back!" he ordered them as he set the gun on the lock. "It should work," he said more to himself, closing one eye, focusing the target.

The clangor of metal, the splinter of iron, the clattering of shreds raining to the ground, and the box was unlocked.

Ben hurried to pull it open, and retrieved the two weapons hidden inside it.

"Rey, yours." he said as he handed it to her.

And she felt a surge of power, felt the need to embrace the thing to her chest. So that's what she did.

"Thank you!" she whispered to Ben.

"Now come on!" Finn urged them, instinctively seizing Ben's arm. "Do not think this unwanted event excuses you from your sentence, tormentor!" he whispered to his face.

But if it hurt Ben a bit, he showed none of it.

Once out in the air, Rey drew in a long breath.
What next? For all their ships were being blasted off moment by moment. Until the well known shouts reached her. The first time she heard Rose.

And a smile spread on her face as she tugged at Ben and Finn to follow her uphill, into the forest. There was the Falcon, indeed, hidden away from the main base.

Edging away from the madness, she took a glimpse of Kaydel, of Poe and of Anni's head in the commander's arms, amidst a crowd of wounded people that were stumbling and rising and stumbling again. She felt like a weight has been lifted off her soul at the sight of them alive. For some moments, she had dreaded for the worst.

Her heart beats began to quicken. Both from the ride and from the sudden happiness that surged through her.

But the cannon that blew the earth out behind her made her flinch and scream. And for a moment she was frozen in place. Finn and Ben grabbed her arms, and hurried with her to the group.

"Come on, Rey, there's not so much." Ben panted.

But she couldn't help but look back as he pushed her forward. Her instinct told her to run away, yet all she wanted was go to the base, to the dying people out there. But she knew there was not so much space on the falcon to save them all.

Escape is only for those who can, she remembered the words a rude scavenger had once told her, after he had beaten her and left her bleeding in the sand.

She glimpsed the ship in a clearing, when a shot hissed past her ear.
She stopped, and threw a glance over her shoulder. Her eyes were wide with fear, her legs ready to give in. She had seen death, decay before. But now it affected her as it never did.

"Run!" she heard Ben's heavy breath behind her.

And something told her she had to escape.

The branches whipped at her face in her hurry to reach the clearing, as her hands cut savagely through them. And Ben brought up the rear, shooting the stormtroopers hidden behind trees as he ran.

But she had never expected their escape to be easy. White clad soldiers surrounded them from everywhere, shooting people as they were trying to get into the ship.
Her hand went to her saber. But it would be unwise to draw it here.

"Rey!" she heard Poe yell.

And she wanted to answer, but her voice was gutted. He handed Anni to Rose as they climbed in the ship, and, with his blaster shooting around, ran for Finn, Rey and Ben.

No, you fool! She would have yelled at him.

But a stormtrooper caught hold of her arm and she spun away from him, darted for the rampart.
No, she thought as the shuttle was coming down, slowly. She did not have much, yet the mud was slowing her down, and the roots were making her stumble in her haze. I have to run faster.

"Run!" she heard Ben yell behind her as he pushed her forward.

She turned to see three soldiers pounding after them, the missed shots splashing mud in their wake. And Rey ran.
But suddenly she felt Ben's hand slid from her back, and heard a loud thud as he fell on his knees, a groan of agony losing though the storm of pews.

"Ben!"

She could not run away. Not now, when his life was at stake as he was clutching his side, a red thread trickling down his tunic and dripping to the ground.

One dark clad knight came behind him, grabbed his arm and forced him up. And Ben fought for his freedom. But his strength was deserting him, breath by breath.

She darted to him, and hit the knight in the head with the hilt of her sword with such power, he fell limp to the ground. But they were surrounded.

Finn stopped in his tracks as he realized Rey was not following. He turned around, and saw her stranded.

"Reeeeyyy!" he yelled.

"Leave the traitor and come with us!" Poe barked to her across the clearing.

Ben rose his eyes to her, as he was held in place by his old fellows, his hands shackled at his back, a last advertisement for her to run to the ship.
But she had vowed she would protect him in turn, back then when Maz had made them the last jedi.

She turned around and saw Finn coming, but it was too late. Ben was already being dragged up toward the rampart of a TIE fighter.
Panting, heart threathening to jump from her chest, she turned her head around and glimpsed another knight, swinging a pole-axe in the air.

Were they not dead? She wondered.

But before she could rise her Saber to strike, the axe took her in the back of her head.

~*~

A/N: Well, I should have told you these previous chapters were like a break between two horrible classes.

If you were wondering why Ben and Rey did not run after she had freed him, here's the reason.

At first, he believes that his redemption is fulfilled by saving Rey. But then he discovers a wider range of it, and thinks about the resistance, realising that he has to pay for his deeds. After all, is his the place of his redemption really on the stairs of the palace with the sword above his head?

Seems ironic how Ben is saved from the resistance by his old fellows. And again, I thank you for all the comments and reaction, and I advise you to do so, for they make my day. I'm glad that you've found my story interesting until this point, and I hope you'll stay with me to see what things will look like in the end.

This part of the story is coming to an end, there are a few more chapters to go. I haven't decided yet whether to make another book or to publish it in this one as well. Like, if you have done this before, any advice is welcome😊