Author's Note: Here it is! The final chapter. Details on the sequel at the end. Shout outs to all my new followers and commenters: WolfheartsFury, VerdenErIdiotisk, Elisaski, and UniqueBirch9. ♡
*briefly inspired by 'Wild Things' by Alessia Cara*
"REY!!!!" Ben screamed, reaching for her as Hux commanded for her execution.
There was a loud bang as the doors to the room burst open and a cloud of smoke billowed through. His head turned at the commotion.
"GO GO GO!" Poe was shouting as he, Rose, and Finn came running through the smoke, shooting their blasters at the troopers.
Ben looked back towards Rey and he saw her bathed in an eerie blue light.
'Save her, Ben.' he heard in his head. He had to get to her and quick.
Ben staggered through the smoke and blaster shots, trying to get to Rey.
'I.... I can't.' he thought.
'Trust the Force.' The voice said again.
"I SAID KILL HER!" Hux screamed at the troopers, who had obviously become distracted at the arrival of the Resistance. When he realized they weren't listening to him. He angrily stomped over Rey's body and grabbed the baton off the floor as it lay next to the fallen body of the trooper who had wielded it against Ben.
He turned around and made his way back to the throne. He hovered above Rey and activated the electricity of the baton. He held it with both hands and raised it above his head, ready to strike.
'NOW BEN!' said the voice. Ben grunted as he reached for Hux with the Force. The baton clattered out of Hux's hands and Hux was raised up off the floor.
"Solo..." Hux began to choke.
"You should have never ignored my orders, General." Ben growled as he limped towards Hux's hovering figure. His hand open and shaking.
"And you should have never called her a bitch, you bastard." Ben said.
He clenched his open fist shut and crushed Hux's windpipe, the crack of his vertebrae echoing in the room. Ben flung Hux's lifeless body to the side and rushed towards Rey.
"Rey? Can you hear me?" Ben asked as he gently picked up her head.
"She's lost a lot of blood, but she is alive." said a voice. Ben looked up, alarmed to see the ghost of Luke standing above them.
"Uncle?" Ben asked as he cradled Rey in his arms. Luke just merely nodded to him.
"The others..." Ben said, as Poe and Finn were still fighting off the last of the troopers.
"Trust in the Force Ben." Said another voice. Ben looked up to Luke's right.
"Grandfather?" Ben gasped.
"Go now." Anakin said. Ben heaved himself off the steps, using the Force to lift Rey up.
"She needs medical attention!" Ben shouted to Poe.
"BB-8!" Poe shouted. BB-8 whirled his head around and stopped zapping a fallen trooper.
"Rey is injured! Go with Ben!" Poe instructed. BB-8 gave a squeal and zipped out of the room after Ben.
In the docking bay, Ben lifted Rey's body into the back portion of Poe's X-Wing. BB-8 hoisted himself up into the ship and started the engine.
"Punch it BB-8." Ben said to the droid as they took off from the cruiser.
XXX
Ben landed the X-Wing on the Eravana, a tall woman running up to meet him. BB-8 beeped rapidly at her.
"The medical ward is this way." the woman told him. They rushed Rey down a hall and into a small room with a metallic table in the middle. Ben set Rey on the table, and leaned back against the wall, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he tried to catch his breath.
The woman looked up at him, her eyes narrowing.
"Benny?" She asked. Ben's head snapped back up. Only one person had ever called him that. He studied her face slowly.
"Bloom?" Ben asked quietly.
"I should kill you now." Bloom told Ben as she attached an IV bag to Rey's arm. BB-8 gave beeps of protest.
"But BB-8 says Poe still needs to kick your ass. So I'll refrain." Bloom tore open Rey's burnt linen, exposing the blaster wound and Ben felt sick at the sight. Bloom immediately began tending to the wound. A few moments later, C3-PO entered the room.
"Ms. Calrissian, there is an incoming message from the First Order cruiser." He informed her. He turned as he spotted Ben, who quickly tried to hide his face with his hair.
"Oh! Oh my! Ben Solo! I mean... Kylo Ren!" C3-PO said, startled.
"It's Ben." Ben told the droid.
"Oh! Oh, of course!" He said, giving sort of a nod. R2-D2 wheeled himself into the room, making it feel tiny and cramped. His projector whirred to life and he began the incoming transmission.
"Attention passengers, this is your Captain speaking." Poe announced. Bloom rolled her eyes.
"Yes Captain?" Bloom asked the transmission.
"We have successfully captured the cruiser." Poe announced proudly.
"And the First Order?"
"Most of them have been taken care of. We still have some prisoners on board. Did Ben make it back?"
"Yes. He's here with Rey."
"Is she going to be okay?" Poe asked. Bloom looked down at Rey's unconscious body on the table.
"I hope so." Bloom answered truthfully.
"We're going to dock the cruiser. Send Chewie so we can evacuate." Poe said, ending the communication.
"You heard him." Bloom told C3-PO.
"Yes ma'am." C3-PO said, nodding to Bloom and exiting with R2-D2.
Bloom looked over at Ben.
"I'm going to get the medical staff. There isn't much more I can do for her." She told him. Ben nodded.
"And you should get yourself checked out as well."
"I'm fine." Ben told her.
"Suit yourself." Bloom said with a shrug and she exited the room.
XXX
Rey woke with a start. There was a bright light above her and she squinted her eyes. She went to move her hands to shield her face but one of her arms was restricted by a handful of clear tubes that wrapped around her hand and wrist.
She raised her head, and looked around. She was in a white room that looked familiar. Her heart began to race when she realized it was the medical ward in the hangers on Naboo.
"Ben?" She called out to the empty room.
There was a scuffle outside the door and Ben burst in, shortly followed by Poe, Rose, and Finn.
"Rey!" Finn said happily.
"You're awake!" said Poe.
"How are you feeling?" Rose asked.
"She asked for ME." Ben said to the others, a grumpy look in his face. Rey sat up, wincing in pain as she did so.
"What happened?" Rey asked.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Finn asked.
"I remember being shot by Hux. And after that.... Nothing." Rey said, she gingerly reached her un tethered hand to her side where she felt thick gauze and padding around her middle.
"Well, after you left in the elevator, I stayed behind with the other Resistance members and we fought off the rest of the Stormtroopers." Finn said.
"Then Rose and I went back to disable the weapons system." Poe said.
"You did it Rose!" Rey cheered weakly. Rose beamed.
"And Hux?" Rey asked, looking to Ben.
"He's dead." Ben said. "The First Order is no more."
"We've commandeered their cruiser. We've offered the remaining First Order members the chance to join the New Resistance." Poe continued.
"And?" Rey asked. Poe shrugged.
"A few decided to join. The others we're going to send to the prison on Coruscant."
Rey leaned back against the pillows on her bed and sighed.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't help more." Rey told her friends.
"Don't say that." Said Rose. "We won! We kept Leia's promise. Naboo is safe. "
"We still need to finish removing all the crashed TIE fighters though." Finn reminded Poe and Rose.
"Don't remind me." Rose said. "I'm still exhausted from that battle."
Rey lightly laughed.
"May I have a moment with Ben?" Rey asked her friends.
"Sure." Rose said, grabbing Poe's arm in one hand and Finn's in the other. "Come on boys."
She dragged them out of the room as they stared daggers at Ben. Poe used his free hand to motion to Ben that he was watching him as the door shut behind them.
Ben stepped forward to the bed and took Rey's free hand in his.
"Are you okay?" He asked her quietly.
"Yes. You?" She asked.
"I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you." Ben said.
"They shielded me, Ben. Luke and Anakin. Did you see them?" Rey asked him. Ben nodded.
"They kept you safe until I could get to Hux." he told her. Rey sighed and she closed her eyes.
"You were wrong." she said to him.
"Excuse me?"
Rey giggled and opened her eyes again.
"You thought I was joining you against the Resistance. You were wrong."
Ben frowned.
"Does it even matter anymore?" He asked.
"Of course it matters. We fulfilled our destiny Ben." Rey said, squeezing his hand.
"I knew there was still light in you." She whispered to him. "I had hope for you."
Ben smiled slightly before leaning down to kiss her.
"You're my new hope." He said.
XXX
It was now eight months after the First Order was forced to disband.
Lieutenant Connix was chosen as the General of the New Resistance. Poe had been promoted to Commander again. Rose was given Connix's old position as a Lieutenant. Not to be left out, Finn was given the rank of Captain.
Rey had been offered a role as a Commander with the New Resistance, but she politely declined.
"I'm meant for something more." Rey had told Poe when he had offered her to be his second in command.
"I understand." Poe had told her.
The New Resistance continued to host ground operations on Naboo. The Queen granted them permission to expand the hangers into a full fledged base.
Bloom had returned to Cloud City a few months after the new base had been established. She promised Poe she would start up a New Resistance base there as one of their main allies. Other planets did the same, vowing their allegiance.
On a sunny day, Rey was packing up the Falcon as it sat on the fresh tarmac of the Naboo base.
"Tell her we said 'hello'." Finn told Rey as he helped load multiple boxes of supplies onto the ship.
"I will." Rey said, smiling to Finn as he passed her a crate.
"And let us know when we can come visit." Rose said.
"Of course. You'll be our first guests." Rey assured her. Rose reached out for her and Rey wrapped her friend tightly in a hug.
Poe came out of the Falcon.
"That's the last of it." He said. He propped and arm on Rey's shoulder.
"Are you sure you have to go?" He asked her. "The job is yours if you want it." He told her for what felt like the hundredth time.
Rey laughed.
"Maybe if this doesn't turn out." She told him. He winked at her.
"Deal." He said.
"Hey, we doing this or what?" Ben said, poking his head down the ramp of the Falcon.
"Coming!" Rey called to him. She wrapped each of her friends up in a hug and gave BB-8 a scratch under his chin. She went up the ramp to the Falcon, waving goodbye as the ramp closed and the doors hissed shut.
She made her way to the cockpit where Chewie and Ben were prepping the Falcon for take off.
"It'll be okay." Ben said to her, sensing her emotions. "It's not like you'll never see them again."
"But what if this doesn't work out?" She said, trying to hold back from blubbering. Chewie roared.
"Chewie is right." Ben said, flipping a switch on the dash of the Falcon. "Trust the Force."
Rey sighed as she looked out the front of the Falcon as they began to depart Naboo.
After a jump through hyperspace, they landed on Takodana. Chewie growled at Rey and Ben as they made their way off the Falcon.
"I can't promise she won't come looking for you." Rey told Chewie as they disembarked. Chewie roared back at her, causing Ben to snicker.
"We'll be back soon." Rey told Chewie as he shut the door after them.
Ben and Rey walked up to the restored castle belonging to Maz Kanata. It had been almost a year since the First Order had attacked the structure, leaving massive portions of the castle destroyed. While Maz had been out adventuring, the workers she had employed to fix it up had brought almost all of the castle back to a functional building.
Rey pushed open the doors to the castle, one of Maz's droids nodding to her.
"Where is she?" Ben asked looking around the dimly lit establishment.
"REY!!!" Maz cried, popping up from behind a counter. She leapt over the counter and held open her arms.
"Hi Maz!" Rey said, leaning down to hug the woman. Rey straightened herself.
"Finn and the others say 'hello'." Rey said, relaying their message. Maz gave Rey a funny look.
"Ah, but where is my boyfriend?" she asked.
"He's back at the Falcon." Rey said.
"Still traveling in that hunk of junk?"
Ben snickered. Rey shot him a look.
Maz quickly grabbed for Ben's hand, pulling it down hard so he bent over.
"You destroyed my castle." She said to him.
"I - uh." Ben stuttered. She let go of his hand and made a beckoning motion to the two.
"This way." Maz said, turning back to the counter she had leapt over, grabbing a tray of drinks.
Ben and Rey followed Maz to a table in the back of the castle. There was a map spread out on the table that was printed on old yellowed paper. It was ripped in several places around the sides and the edges curled up.
"I found it like you asked." Maz told Rey. Rey leaned on the table, gazing at the expanse of it.
"These are all the Jedi temples?" She asked.
"What's left." Maz replied. "I've marked where they've been destroyed." Maz said. She pointed a finger at Ben.
"You've destroyed a lot of things." she said to him. Ben frowned.
Rey frowned as well as she scanned the map, flattening it out with her hand as she examined it.
"There aren't many left." She said sadly.
"Isn't that the point?" Ben spoke up.
"But how can I start a training academy if there are no viable temples?" Rey said over her shoulder to Ben. Maz just smirked.
Rey walked around the edges of the table, back and forth, smoothing the map as she went.
"What about this one?" She asked Maz.
"It's on the other side of the outer rim." Maz said. "But it could work."
"Lothal?" Ben asked, his voice objecting. "There's nothing but farms there now." He said almost disgusted.
"Then its perfect." Rey said. Ben made a face.
"Can you get me the coordinates Maz?" Rey asked, starting to roll up the map.
Maz nodded and walked off.
"I think you'll like it there." Rey said to Ben. Ben just crossed his arms.
"You're lucky I like you." Ben told her defiantly.
"You more than like me." Rey said, walking up to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "You'd do anything for me." She said. Ben grumbled.
"This academy is your idea." Ben reminded her. "I can't just let you go off in the galaxy by yourself."
"You'll help too." Rey said. Ben made a face again. Maz had returned. Rey handed Maz the map in exchange for the coordinates chip that Maz held out to her.
"If you know of anyone sensitive with the Force and in need of guidance, please send them to me." Rey told Maz. "I plan to be doing some scouting as well."
Maz nodded. She took Rey's hand and patted it gently.
"I admire your enthusiasm to train a new generation of Jedi." Maz told her. "You will do great things."
"Thank you, Maz." Rey said, smiling.
"Take it easy now." Maz said, letting go of Rey's hand. "Stress isn't good for the baby."
"The baby?" Rey and Ben said at the same time.
Rey looked up at Ben and he down at her. Both their eyes wide.
"Yes. The baby." Maz said, pointing at Rey's stomach. "You did not know?" She quickly adjusted her giant glasses back and forth.
"Oooops." Maz said, giving a shrug to her shoulder, smirking slightly.
Ben fainted.
END
Please look for the sequel - 'Solo - a Reylo Family Fan Fiction'.
Thank you so much for reading this story! I hope you've enjoyed it immensely. Please don't forget to comment and vote!