Beyond the Stars: A Continuation of The Rise of Skywalker; A Reylo Story

Stay With Me

Rey

Rey had died.

That was, for five minutes; after she had channeled the powers of all the Jedi before her. She had used all of her strength to defeat her grandfather, the evil Sith mastermind Emperor Palpatine.

Rey went out cold.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a tiny boat in the middle of a vast ocean. Dark water and fog surrounded her, though she was starting to see a small strip of beach on the horizon.

A thought then struck her as she felt the wind tugging on her soul.

Rey didn't want to be here in this small vessel fighting the storm.

She stood up, took a deep breath, and plunged into the unknown.

Rey was surrounded by darkness. Cold air seeped through her clothes and collected onto the moisture all over her sun-kissed skin, a mark of her former life on Jakku.

Something bony was underneath her, though it seemed too warm to be a rock or log. She was covered in this warmth now, and that's when she realized that she was alive again.

Her senses were returning slowly. There was the salty air of the caves of Exogol, the humidity brushing against her face. Rey's head was being propped up by what felt like a human hand and there was firm but gentle pressure on her stomach.

Someone else was still in the cave with her.

She began to think. The Emperor had been destroyed once and for all, his worshipers disappearing with him.

That only left one person, that is, if he had survived the fight too.

Rey opened her big hazel eyes.

There he was.

Ben Solo.

She had always felt a deep connection to him even when he was Kylo Ren, and had found herself finding a liking to him; though for a long time she wouldn't admit it and tried her best to hide it. But there was something about the way that he had fought alongside her in Supreme Leader Snoke's throne room that had stuck with her, though it wasn't until Ben came rushing to her aid on Exegol and fully came to the Light Side that her feelings were cemented.

Rey smiled up at him. "Ben," she said softly.

She gazed into his large brown eyes for mere minutes before he pulled her closer to him. Rey gave into all the urges that she had been suppressing for two years. She moved one hand to his head full of black hair, the other to his newly healed cheek, and kissed him.

Ben's kisses had been everything she'd imagined them to be, though there was no darkness that came with them as she had used to fear.

Kylo Ren was gone. Only Ben Solo remained.

They pulled away, but not very far as their foreheads were touching. Ben was smiling, the first time Rey had ever seen him do that since she'd known him. She herself felt giddy too as she grinned at him.

Ben leaned his head back so he could look at her again as she stroked his clean-shaven cheek. There was such an intense longing in his gaze as he took in every inch of her face, Rey didn't need their connection of the Force Dyad to feel it.

She wrapped her arms around Ben's broad shoulders as he held her close to him. His smooth chin felt cool against the bare skin on her shoulder as she rested her head against the crook in his neck.

Rey looked into Ben's eyes once more.

Something was wrong.

He started to lie down on the hard floor of the cave.

"No no no no no." Tears built up in her eyes as she leapt off his lap and grabbed his shoulder. "You can't go just now, Ben. We're only getting started. Stay with me. Stay with me!"

Ben held on to her face and wiped some of the tears away that were streaming down her cheeks. He smiled up at her lazily, the light already leaving his eyes. "Rey." He mumbled before his eyes glazed over and his body faded away from her.

The sob that had started to build up in her chest was released as she hugged her knees to her chest. Disappointment hung over her like a ghost. What was going to be the start of a beautiful way to start off winning the war had just died with Ben.

Rey picked herself up off the floor, grabbed Ben's tunic, hopped into Luke's X-Wing, and flew off to Endor.

She didn't look back once.