It was strong. So much that it pulled at her mind and gave her a small migraine at times. She didn't know if it was affecting him in that way as well, and she wasn't exactly about to ask him any time soon. She had to wonder if it her fault the connection had survived at all. She was constantly aware of it, hiding just beyond her conscious thoughts. As long as she didn't think about it, about him, she was fine with the dull ache it left.

"Rey, what do you think?"

She looked up and saw the entire table was looking at her intently. She froze and glanced at Finn, who subtly nodded his head once. "We should move forward with it. It's a great plan."

Lieutenant Dom turned back to Leia. "We are in agreement then. Shall we adjourn?"

General Organa waved her hand dismissively, and everyone around the table began to stand. Rey pushed out her chair but before she could rise, Leia met her eyes. "You need to start paying attention," she said softly. "This is going to affect you the most."

Rey felt the color rise to her cheeks. "I apologize, I didn't—"

Leia rose from her seat. "No need. Just try harder tomorrow. You are our future, Rey." And with that, Rey was alone in the room.

"Thank you. You saved me in there." She and Finn were walking together down the dark metal corridor.

He grinned at her. "It's what I'm here for, Great Madam Jedi."

"Finn, stop it, seriously." She punched him lightly in the arm. "I'm not a Jedi." She looked away from him, and spoke softly. "There are no more Jedi."

They fell into a comfortable silence as they continued to walk. After a moment, Finn glanced at her, then smirked. "Want to know what you agreed to in there?"

She rolled her eyes. "Probably some idiotic mission for Poe again. What is this, his fourth request to leave this month?" Finn laughed and shrugged. "What can I say, that is one determined man." He paused. "But no. It's actually about me. I'm going to head off world with Rose on her next supply run."

Rey smiled and paused, forcing him to turn to look at her. "Like a date?" She teased.

Finn snorted and reached out, poking her on the forehead playfully. "Like a Resistance sanctioned supply run." Rey rolled her eyes and he held up his hands in mock defeat. "Fine, fine, it's a date. I finally listened to you."

"Well I'm so glad you've bowed to my wisdom. Maybe you can even –"

Suddenly, a sharp pain raced down her side, like someone had just stabbed her in the stomach. Letting out a soft scream, she sunk to her knees, hands pressing against her left side.

"Rey?" Finn reached out a hand but she swatted it away.

"I'm fine. I just need a minute. I'll meet you for dinner tonight, yeah?" She looked up at him, face blank. "Seriously, Finn, I'm fine. Go ahead."

He cautiously stepped back from her, and walked slowly down the hall, looking back over his shoulder twice, before turning a corner. As soon as he was out of sight, Rey's face contorted in pain, and she dragged herself over to the wall, leaning her back against it.

The barrier slipped, just for a second, and her gaze met Ben's. He was sitting across from her on a chair, lifting his arm from a med droid to place gauze on his bloody side. He lifted his eyes and stared into hers. "Rey?" He breathed, almost sounding relieved. Rey was frozen in place. She was sure her face was a mixture of fear and surprise, so she quickly scowled at him. Just as quickly, their gaze broke, and he looked somewhere above her shoulder. "No, it's nothing, continue your report."

Rey squeezed her eyes shut and imagined the Falcon door closing again, keeping her safe inside. She pictured every rivet, every wire that broke their connection that day on Crait and breathed in slowly. When she exhaled and opened her eyes, he was gone. She rubbed her side gently as the pain faded and slid her back up the wall, leaning back on it for another moment. Her headache was back in full force.

It was going to be a long day.

It was dark and wet and muddy, and Kylo Ren was not pleased. "Hux. Do you copy?" Static. "Motherfucker, if you left me on this swamp planet to die, I will cut you into little pieces and feed you to a droid. Do you copy?" Dead air. Kylo pulled his hood further over his brow to keep back the downpour.

They had landed on Derenzil a little over a day ago, and it had been a constant torrential rainstorm ever since. "Fuck!" Kylo threw his comm to the ground and glared at it, wishing it all the ill-will a stupid metal device could have. If Hux wasn't in range, at least one of the troops should have been. He paused for a minute, then lifted his hood back, letting the rain fall onto his face. Looking up at the dark trees, he took a deep breath. "Don't fucking come then. See if I care." He muttered to himself as he picked the muddy comm back up and shoved it back onto his belt clip. "Thirteen hundred meters to go, sir." The metallic voice from the earpiece made him jump. He'd forgotten he'd turned on the tracker an hour ago. Had it already been an hour? He scowled, and continued stomping through the mud.

Derenzil was a resource planet in name only. No one lived here, and no one worked here. There had been factories, rumor had it, back before his grandfather was born, that built some of the earliest of the Nebulon-B Frigates. Old tech, to be sure, but Hux had a team of First Order engineers asking to locate the factory, which meant Hux had been bothering him about it. "We don't need any more fucking ships." Kylo muttered to himself. "We need people who can actually enforce law."

He'd generously offered to come scout the planet with a small team, whom he immediately ditched upon landing. He had been feeling strange lately, like he was claustrophobic on one of the First Order's largest ships. He'd lived on ships like that since leaving to join Snoke, aside from a brief stay at the Capital a year ago. But still, the walls had been closing in for the last three months, ever since she'd locked him out. He pushed his soaking hair back from his face, accidentally touching his scar. He dropped his hand away like it had been burned. Don't think about her. He thought coming here would help. It should be a distraction, right? Dangerous swamp planet?

"Arrived. Nebulon-B Frigate Factory C13-09."

Kylo looked up, and there it was. It was massive, and mostly just steel framework was left, but there were some outlying warehouses that might have whatever Hux's stupid engineers were looking for. He pulled a beacon from his waist and threw it into the air. "Supreme Leader, we have your beacon. Unit 356B inbound." Hux's voice had grown to be more and more grating. Kylo was so sick of that smarmy rat always waiting outside his door, alternating between subtly questioning Kylo's choices or dramatically showing his dedication to the Supreme Leader when others were nearby.

A bit of movement caught his eye, a flash of red so quick he thought he'd imagined it.

"Show yourself." He ordered, pulling his lightsaber from his holster. He scanned the forest edge, reaching out with the Force to sense if someone was there. Nothing…nothing…there! One figure, a man, alone. Kylo began to turn in their direction, but before he could, PEW. A single blaster shot came from the woods, hitting Kylo in the ribs before he could stop it. "Fuck."

Before he could react, he heard the familiar whine of the approaching shuttle. It landed a few yards from him and Hux was out before the ramp was even fully down. "Supreme Leader! We heard shots! Are you okay?" Hux motioned to three of the troopers behind him. "Search the forest. Find the shooter." He barked and moved to help Kylo onto the ship.

Kylo shrugged him off. "I'm fine. I'm going back." He stormed back onto the ship, careful not to favor his left side. The luxury of wearing black is that the blood wouldn't show through for a few minutes, and the last thing he wanted was Hux fawning over him in front of troops. He hated that simpering idiot. "I'm heading back. Call your engineers down here so we can leave this system. They have 24 hours."Hux stepped back towards the ship, intending to go back up, but Kylo smiled coldly. "Stay here. Make sure the area is safe. Wouldn't want anyone getting hurt, now would we?"

Hux glared at him before bowing quickly. "Your wisdom is great, Supreme Leader." The door of the shuttle began to close. "Moron." He muttered to himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Kylo was back in his private room with his medical droid. "I'll have to cut the shirt away, sir."

Kylo lifted his left arm to allow for the droid to move in. As he did, his rib shifted, sending a shooting pain across his entire left side. He winced but made no other reaction. Living with Snoke had taught him that showing weakness of any kind was useless. He was looking down at the shot to ensure the droid was applying the correct septic solution when he felt her.

Looking up quickly, she was there, sitting on the floor on the other side of the room, pressing her hands onto her side. She looked up, and he realized she had pain in her eyes. "Rey?" He didn't recognize his own voice as it slipped from his mouth. She looked at him, her eyes full of hatred, but she didn't break the connection. Three months. Three months since he'd seen her.

A young Sargent entered his room. "Supreme Leader, a report from General Hux." A pause. "Supreme Leader? Should I inform General Hux you are not well?"

Tearing his eyes away from her, he looked up. "No, it's nothing, continue your report." And just like that, he knew she was gone again. Listening to the man give his report, he groaned internally.

It was going to be a long day.