Where we belong

Meeting again

Rey had walked around the hangar of the Hoth base the last few days trying to appear busy while she was actually eavesdropping for information. This way she had found out, that in a few hours time a small crew would fly to Varonat to buy new stocks.

At first she had thought about simply asking them to take her with them but then she had had that conversation with Leia.

-flashback-

Rey knocked on the door of the generals office.
"Come in!", she heard and opened the door.
"Good morning, General! You wanted to see me?" Leia looked up at her and smiled. "Ah yes, Rey! I'm glad you came this fast. Come on, take a seat! We have important things to discuss." So Rey sat on the chair across from Leia.
"I'm really sorry, it took me so long to take time for this conversation. It's long overdue, but you know how things were these last weeks..." Rey smiled at her. "I know", she answered.
"So...I wanted to ask you about your time on Anch-Too. What was it like with my brother? What did you learn? I want to know all about it!" And so Rey told her, leaving out the parts about Ben and her. She hadn't talked to anyone about their connection and somehow it didn't seem right to do so now.

When she had finished, the two women sat in silence for a long moment. "I'm sorry for your loss, Leia. He was special to me, too."
Leia smiled sadly. "It's alright. Like you said back then: There was peace and purpose in it." She took a deep breath and smiled a little wider and more cheerful. "So", Leia went on, "let's get to the heart of things. My late brother taught you some really important things. Needless to say that you and your abilities are most precious to us now that you are the last that was trained in the ways of the Force. Given this situation I must ask you to stay at the base and thereby hidden. You know from Luke that it is possible for other Force-users to detect you when they come near you. The security system of the base should keep you hidden even from them. I don't have to tell you, what my son could do should he detect you and us." Rey felt guilty and even a bit aggitated by her words. That would make her journey to Varonat almost impossible. And that journey felt really important and essential to Rey. Nevertheless she nodded in agreement. "Of course."

-end of the flashback-

Rey felt even more guilty now that she thought about her promise again. But the urge to get to the planet felt more important still. It wasn't like she didn't believe Leia or that she thought herself above her order. But the Force seemed to leave her no choice since it was unrelenting in its visions. And after all she would just have a little look around the planet and be back in a few hours time. No one would know or suspect anything.

So in the early morning hours when the base was still quite and only very few people around she went to the hangar and hid herself in the ship that would fly to Varonat. She didn't have to wait long before the crew came and her journey began.

---

When they arrived on the planet Rey waited for the crew to leave the ship. Then she left the ship herself when no one was looking and vanished behind a few huts at the edge of the market. She almost instantly began to sweat. The air was hot and sticky and felt all strange after the icy air on Hoth. But Rey recognized it to be the same as in her visions. Looking around she detected the place where the huts met the forest.

Rey could almost feel the Force tugging at her. So she made a beeline to the forests rim and went straight into it.
Rey walked through the thick underbrush and marveled at her surroundings. True, she had seen forests before, but never one like that. The tugging feeling in her chest grew stronger and Rey followed it trusting in the Force.

When she had walked for a while two things happened at almost the same time. The tugging feeling in her chest stopped and she could hear the sound of something flying above her. Rey looked up and all she could see through the trees was the blurred shadow of a ship with smoke and flames surrounding it. Rey hesitated for just a second. The Force had wanted her to see this and whoever was on board of the ship would need help. She probably was the closest person to them as well. So she ran after it.

---

Kylo was doing what he could to soften the landing but he knew with that much damage he would crash anyway. He could see a little lake to his left and tried to stir there. The water would soften the impact. Since there was nothing else left to do now, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the Force.
The impact came shortly after it and Kylo could feel his head and right arm hitting something hard. Then the TIE came to an abrupt halt. He exhaled shakily and immediately began to crawl out of the cockpit since the TIE fighter already began to sink. He swam through the lake until his feet met ground and stumbled the last stretch to the edge of it. He felt shaky and could see blood dropping from his forehead and arm but otherwise he seemed fine.

That was when he heard branches breaking near him. It was almost as if he was in the vision again. He turned towards the sound and began to walk there. When he came closer he could feel something, too. There was someone with the Force ahead of him. He moved faster and came to sudden halt.

There she was. It was really her.

Rey had frozen in her tracks and simply stared at him. For a long moment they just stood there. After he had thought things through a lot in the past weeks he had come to the decision to let her take the first step. But she just stood there and he could see tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "No", she whispered now. Then slightly louder: "No." She turned on her heels and began to run away. He was slightly caught by surprise. He hadn't imagined it to be like this at all. That she wouldn't be happy to see him, yes maybe. But not that she would just turn around and run without another word.

After a moment he began to run after her. "Rey!", he screamed. He could still hear her eventhough he couldn't see her. Then he heard the sounds of engines above them and saw a ship leaving the planet.
"No!" This time she wasn't whispering.
She was screaming.