Force Destiny

Reunion

Rey trembled. The temperature on Tatooine seemed to have lost all its warmth as the twin suns disappeared beyond the horizon. "I kept what?" she breathed, tilting her head to search his eyes. Ben seemed genuinely shocked when she pushed herself out of his embrace, her entire body trembling in anticipation. "All this time I kept what?"

The apple of his throat bobbed apprehensively. Her heart thrummed harder because she found recognition in his eyes. He knew what she was asking him. "This," he said, his fingers wrapping around the material at her wrist. "The piece of my cloak I tied in your hair."

"You," she swallowed. She feared giving voice to the words; she feared having hope. "You remember that?"

He nodded.

She exhaled shakily. "What else do you remember?" He quietly studied her for a moment, working his jaw.

There was a howling in the Force around her, but it didn't drown out the screaming in her mind. Just tell me! His next words could change their lives—they both knew that—but all he could do was stare at her. "Please," she whispered.

"Everything."

His words crashed into her harder than the wall of snow in the avalanche. Her hand to flew to her mouth in disbelief. Rey searched his eyes, his face, for the truth and found only honesty. It was everything she had dreamt of for months, torturing herself with the "what ifs." All at once, she couldn't breathe. "No, you can't," she gasped in air as she tried to steady her spiraling emotions. "You can't just say something like that; you can't give people hope like that. What do you mean 'everything?'"

"'You would kill me. Knowing nothing about me?' Those are the first words I remember saying to you in the forest of Takodana. And I remember my last words to you on that escape craft. 'I'll come back to you, sweetheart, I promise.' I remember that, with my last breath, I tried to stay with you, so my soul ended up connected to these," he lifted his open palm, the dice reflecting the last orange rays of light. "'I remember when you gave them back. 'For luck,' you said, and there was this spark, and I remembered my father saying that to me as a kid. Then...I remembered everything else...and realized I was alive."

"Ben?" It was a name she never thought she would say to him again.

His warm hand came up to caress her cheek as he smiled gently. "It's me, sweetheart." Her knees buckled as the weight of his words settled over her. Collapsing to the ground in a heap of emotions, she allowed the sobs to come. He followed her down to the ground, holding her against him. He was warm and alive and real under her fingertips. All she could do was cry, repeating his name over and over. With her fingers fisting the material of his shirt tightly, she refused to let him go as her pain, her yearning, and her unfettered love poured out with her tears.

Ben was real and warm underneath her. His chest expanded and contracted against her cheek, the sound of his heartbeat thrumming strongly in her ears. The bond was gone, but the Force around her still vibrated with the intense connection between them. The familiarity of his energy soothed the deepest sorrows of her soul. She squeezed him tighter, but then she realized how tense his muscles were.

She had begged for this moment; she had convinced herself it was impossible. Her thoughts were rattled with fears that it was a dream or an illusion or a manipulation of the Force. It couldn't possibly be real. After forcing herself to face her denial and accept that he had died, then accept that he was someone else, it was difficult to have hope again. There was a profound conflict she felt in accepting the truth. It would kill her if it wasn't real. But the steady vibrations in the Force assured her. Her relentless prayers had been answered. This was Ben.