The Trials Of A Binary Star

The Savior

Ben's world was quiet. Too quiet. It was getting harder and harder to hear her—her aura in the Force, like sunlight and rain, was slipping away. Rey was fading. Ben shifted her limp body in his arms and placed his hand beneath her head. With a shaky inhale he lifted Rey up and took in the sight of her. Oh god. Rey's eyes were closed like she was in deep sleep, her skin frighteningly ashen and her lips still as stone. The rise and fall of her chest was so subtle it made Ben let out panicked breaths from his nose. But it was her deteriorating presence in the Force that made Ben's stomach lurch with panic. If it faded away completely he would be bereft— again . He didn't know if he could live in a world where he didn't feel Rey's presence, it was too painful to imagine.

A trembling sob was ripped from his chest with such violence he had to rock back and forth to catch his breath. Once he had his hysteria under control Ben drew Rey his chest and embraced her, his chin resting between her shoulder and neck. He desperately reached out to the Force, for fortification, for help. But now that he was free of the Dark side Ben's efforts were clumsy and unpracticed at best. He reached out, desperately trying to grab onto the wisps of Rey's signature, her soul, but they escaped through his fingers like sand. Please, please. This couldn't be happening. Ben had finally found himself, he had finally found her and now Rey was leaving. Why did everyone always try to leave him behind? He couldn't bear to let her die this way. He couldn't bear any more loneliness. Maybe that was why Ben suddenly felt a calm wash over him.

No. This wasn't going to happen, he wouldn't allow it.

The world didn't need or want him—it never had. But Rey was sunshine and rain and she was wanted, even loved by the world. The answer was simple in Ben's mind. He would give his life to her so Rey could live and more importantly, live free of the burdens of their past. Suddenly reaching into the Force became the easiest thing in the world. Ben brought her away from his chest and placed his hand on her small abdomen. He never could believe how small she was, but feeling it under his fingertips was something new entirely. How could someone with such power and heart feel so fragile?

Ben pushed his distracting thoughts aside and closed his eyes. He released a breath, this one determined and steady, and once again invoked the Force. Ben could feel its power, feel the energy connections all around him like electrical currents. The rebels fighting like hell above them, his own energy, and even the stars past their tiny human conflict. In a way, it felt like experiencing the Force for the first time again. He had forgotten how strong and warm it was when he used the Light. The Dark by comparison had always been slithering and cold—a push, not a pull.

Enmeshed within the Light, Ben reached again for the frighteningly scant remnants of Rey's soul, gold and ethereal as gossamer wings. But then he saw a great, black mass beside her—a nothing , an emptiness neither good nor bad. It was shaped like the grotesque mix of an insect and a cyborg, inky blackness dripping from it like a cape. In one hand it held the brightest portions of Rey's soul, and with the other, it extended its other knife-like fingers out to what remained of her, intent on ingesting every last piece.

Ben ignored the panic he felt—this was why he was here. The Dark quickly attempted to utilize his fear and seductively began to whisper in the back of his mind. Use me. Use me to save her. It's the only way. As Kylo he would have obeyed its call like a child. He would have used his protective anger to lash out with vengeance at the creature. But Kylo was no more and the whispers no longer tempted him as they once had. Instead, Ben went and placed himself between Rey's soul and the darkness, his will like iron but his intentions calm and steady.

The creature paused for a moment but then released an angered shriek, its body clicking and shuddering. The hold on Rey's brilliance tightened and Ben again ignored the terror that tried to overtake him. He stood firm. Even when it tried to move around him to get to Rey, Ben blocked each thrust and parried every lunge. Frustrated, the creature let out another otherworldly shriek. Then suddenly it grew even taller until it was the height of two men, and it's dark intent spilled from it like a sickness. It wanted Rey, and it would not be denied.