Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

18| The Voice

Rey had finally fallen asleep.

At first her sleep was empty, but then it was filled with a dream. A familiar dream, one she had dreamt before.

She stood in a snowy forest. It seemed familiar somehow.

Not far away she could hear the sound of a battle. Blasters being fired, and screams filled with pain. Battle cries, and the clashing of weapons. There were so many voices, all crying out in pain and death.

Behind her she could hear another voice.

That voice. A voice so calm and gently amidst so many voices crying out in hate and anguish.

She had heard it so many times.

Stay here. I'll come back for you.

Rey looked around the snowy forest. She looked through the trees, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Where are you?" she asked and began to run towards the sound of the voice.

I'll come back, sweetheart. I promise.

"I'm here! Right here! Where are you?" she asked, her voice desperate.

There was no response so she continued to run, only to stop suddenly as a dark figure appeared from behind a tree just in front of her.

Now she realized why the forest was so familiar. She remembered seeing this before when she first touched Luke's lightsaber. Then she had screamed and fell backwards at the sight of the figure. But now, she recognized him...

...It was Kylo Ren

"Ben?" she whispered.

Suddenly the voice came again. "Rey!" it screamed. The voice sounded afraid and in pain. All she wanted to do was run to the speaker and comfort them, they way they always seemed to comfort her.

Rey opened her eyes, to find herself in her room on the Millennium Falcon.

"It was just a dream," she told herself.

But as she sat up, she heard the voice again. "REY!"

She looked around, there was no one else in the room.

"Rey!"

She stood up and went out of her room.

She realized that she was hearing the voice through the Force, not with her ears. So, she answered, not with her voice but through the Force. "I'm here, I'm right here!"

"Rey!" the voice came again.

She ran through the halls towards it, hoping against all hope that for once she would actually get to see the one speaking to her. "Where are you?"

"Rey!" the voice screamed in her head, again.

She could sense the voice coming from around the corner. She ran towards it and rounded the corner, only to almost smack into Ben who was running towards her.

Rey gasped. She was still on edge from her dream and she quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming at his sudden appearance.

He sighed in relief as he saw her. "Rey," he whispered, his familiar voice was filled with relief. He grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

Rey was too shocked to move at first, but slowly, she hugged him back. "It is you," she whispered.

"Yes it's me, Rey," he answered, releasing her. He reached up and softly touched her face.

She reached up gently grasped his hand. "It's always been you," she whispered.

"What has?" he asked, confused.

"The voice," she replied in a whisper.

He stared at her for a long moment, then a small smile appeared in the corner of his mouth. "You heard me?"

Rey nodded.

"I had a vision of you in the Force, years ago," he said.

"Really? I had a vision of you when I touched the lightsaber," she answered.

He looked into her eyes, and smiled a little. "I tried to find you, but I couldn't. For years I looked for you, but I had began to think that you were just a dream," he paused for a moment. "Snoke had spoken to me through the Force, every since I was very young. So I decided to try to speak to you through the Force. But, I never knew you could actually hear me ... sweetheart." He smiled shyly as he said the last word.

It was a bright warm smile, one she thought she would never see on his face. Seeing him smile made Rey feel happier than she had in a long time. She squeezed his hand and smiled back at him. She looked into his dark eyes for a moment. "Are you okay?" she asked, remembering how terrified he had sounded only moments before.

He nodded. "Now that I know you're okay."

Rey hugged him. He had been the one all along who promised to come and find her. He was the one who had comforted her during her lonely years on Jakku. He was the one she had been waiting for all those years.

She remembered what Maz had told her: "the belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead." She still didn't know exactly what that meant, but she knew that she wasn't alone, and that she never had been.

(I got some inspiration from The Force Awakens novelization for this chapter)