AN: So I haven't published anything on here since 2008, but after watching The Last Jedi on opening night (and again a week later) I felt compelled to write this and actually publish it. The only warning is for movie spoilers, but other than that it's rated T for semi-suggestive themes. Reviews are welcome, as well as general Reylo talk. Enjoy! :U

***Also, please note that chapters 1 and 2 were meant to be one-shots, but then my muse hit and I decided to keep it going. So chapters 3 and on have a connecting plot and story arc that will lead to lots more Reylo fluff (and eventual sexiness).

****The Connection Between Stars****

Rey awoke slowly in her bed, feeling a familiar sense of otherness drown out the noise of the ship around her. In her grogginess she assumed they'd finally landed and docked, otherwise why couldn't she hear the usual hum of the engines? But then a second later the rest of her brain woke up and she opened her eyes to see one Ben Solo lying asleep not a foot away from her on the bed that seemed much smaller when she'd gone to sleep earlier.

The damn bond again. It picked a hell of a time to connect them.

She stiffened but didn't otherwise move, afraid to wake him. Her eyes flickered to where her still-broken lightsaber and a small blaster sat on a shelf near the door. She called the blaster to her and hid it beneath her blanket. She wasn't taking any chances should Kylo wake and become violent with her. Their last conversation through the force had ended in a heated yelling match, with the man actually grabbing her arm as she turned from him in fury, trying to end their pointless argument about whom would be turning whom to what side of the force. They had already established they could touch each other through the force, so what was it to say they couldn't hurt each other, or even kill?

Yeah, she definitely wasn't taking any chances. Even if she knew Ben Solo would never hurt her, the part of him that was still Kylo Ren was all uncontrolled rage and violence.

Plus she was still recovering from a nasty blaster wound to her neck. She'd gotten distracted in battle when Finn had almost been blown up by a stray bomb, and a trooper had taken advantage of the opening. The field medic managed to apply bacta to it and save her from lethal blood loss, but she was still feeling a little weak and the phantom pain from the memory of the battle tickled at the edge of her senses. All that was left physically was a light scar, but in reality she'd almost died and that weighed heavily on her mind. She needed to be stronger, quicker on her feet. She couldn't let anything distract her. People's lives depended on her.

A deep sigh from the sleeping man drew her attention back. He was lying on his side, his massive form and broad shoulders taking up so much space in the closet-sized room (although, Rey couldn't tell if it was her imagination or did it seem like there was a hazy image of another room beyond him? It was like she was looking at her room through a pane of transparisteel that had a different image faintly reflected on it.). His dark hair framed his head like a black halo, a few wayward wisps across his eyes trembling with every exhale. He wasn't wearing a tunic, again, much to her slight embarrassment, and his skin was a soft grey in the hazy light of the tinted viewport at her back.

You could just kill Kylo right now and end the war. A voice whispered in her mind. It would save your friends and the galaxy.

But no, she knew it wouldn't. Someone would step up in his place and then they'd still have a war and she'd have a gaping hole in her soul where her connection to Ben used to be.

Rey dragged her thoughts from that dark place and continued to observe Ben's sleeping form. He looked so peaceful, but she could see the paleness of his skin and the circles beneath his eyes. He was still struggling with himself. Still struggling against the light she knew he had in him.

She sighed sadly. "Oh, Ben…." It was barely a whisper, but the man's eyes flew open at the sound, and suddenly they were each trapped in the other's surprised gaze.
His lips parted as his eyes swept over her face, at their hands lying so close on the bed between them, her bare arms, and then lingered on the faint scar on her neck.

"Rey." He breathed. He reached out towards her neck and she immediately grabbed his wrist to stop him, shuddering as a humming current passed between their touching skin. The sudden thought that he was trying to strangle her dissipated when he murmured "You were hurt."

She frowned, and he appeared to come to his senses and tugged his hand back. She released him, slightly relieved to not have that humming swirl of connection that always seemed to happen whenever they touched. Her hand tingled and she fisted the blanket near her pillow, pulling it up a little higher. She was wearing a tunic, but she still felt naked lying in bed next to his much less clothed form.

She scoffed. "No thanks to your troopers. Tell me, was it really worth the effort of trying to take that city when your army killed most of the people and burned half the buildings down in their efforts?"

He scowled, but his eyes were still raking over her exposed upper body, going back to the scar on her neck more than once. He was obviously ignoring her, and that annoyed her to no end. He couldn't just keep running away from what he was doing with the First Order— what he was destroying in his efforts to restore order to the galaxy.

"Well?" She probed, not at all finding it ridiculous that she was trying to goad a man into another fight while both of them were underclothed and lying next to each other in bed.

His eyes snapped to hers once again. "You were hurt." He repeated and Rey rolled her eyes but he continued, his voice heavy with some emotion she didn't want to identify. "You almost died. I—" He swallowed, jaw clenching and nose flaring as he breathed. His tone was hard. "I felt your life-force ebbing away. You need to be more careful."

She narrowed her eyes. "Oh, so you actually don't want me dead? You know I wouldn't have to be more careful if you would just put an end to this whole bloody war in the first place."

His eyes blazed. "None of this would be happening if you'd just—" He ground his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his palm to his brow as he turned to lay on his back. Rey could feel a small pain behind her eyes and knew somehow he must be having headache. The bond. She wondered if there were things he could sense about her and tried not to let her nervousness of their rather vulnerable proximities project. She buried it beneath her annoyance instead.

They laid like that for a moment, silent except for their breathing, the air thick with the frustration that rolled off of the both of them like palpable waves.

He sighed, breaking the quiet with the low timber of his voice. "Just be more careful."

"Why?"

He propped himself up on his elbow, exposing more of his toned chest and abdomen and giving himself some advantage as he loomed over her. "Because when I felt you bleeding out it felt like I was dying too!" He was angry, but there was also something else seeping through in his expression as he looked down at her. His voice was choked with it as he softly implored her. "Please, Rey…"

"Don't." She whispered, curling in on herself slightly as if it could protect from the sound of his voice.

"Don't what?"

She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them they were lit with indignation. She propped herself up on her own elbow, mirroring him, although he was so much bigger than her that she still had to look up at him. "Don't pretend to give a damn about me when you're the reason I'm in danger in the first place. If you'd just stop giving in to the darkness and accept the light within you—"

"You really don't know when to give up—"

"—that we both know is there, we could be together."

His eyes burned holes into her own, flickered to her lips for a fraction of a second and then back up. He leaned forward slightly and it took everything in her not to lean away in turn.

"You're right. We could be together. But you ran away."

She wanted to smack him but kept her grip on the blanket.

"Because you've gone down a path that I cannot follow, Ben!" A shiver ran through her as a wave of deja vu came over her. She shook it off. "Don't you see that the dark side has only ever brought you pain and loneliness?"

He shook his head. "No, the people I thought I could trust and rely on are what have brought me pain and loneliness." The accusation in his eyes made her look down, guilt and sadness twisting painfully in her chest.

She breathed, trying to steady her emotions. "I'm sorry that you feel like I've abandoned you, Ben." She looked up, pushing as much honesty and sincerity into her voice and expression as she could. "But know that I'm still always here, and I still want to help you."

His jaw tensed, eyes hard. "No. You left me. You abandoned me after I chose you over everything. I defied my master, killed my master, for you, Rey. So that we could be together. And you ran from me when it came time to sacrifice in turn."

Her voice rose with her anger. "My friends were being attacked! The Resistance was in danger! I couldn't sacrifice their lives!"

He shook his head, face stormy as he looked away. "Still holding on to your weaknesses."

"My friends don't make me weak, Ben. My love for the people I care about makes me stronger— stronger than the dark side will ever make you."

He looked like he was going to actually strangle her this time, but instead he just glared daggers at her for a few moments and then suddenly stiffly laid back down, turning his back to her as he pulled the blanket up.

She frowned at the expanse of his back, confused. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He snapped. "I'm tired. I haven't slept well in weeks, and I'm done with this conversation. So either shoot me in the back with that blaster hidden by your side or let me sleep until this vision ends."

She froze, slightly embarrassed that he'd found out about her weapon and incensed that he was just writing her off like that. The nerve of this guy!

She opened her mouth to yell at him some more but a glance at the chrono on her wall told her that she should probably try to sleep too. They'd been woken up in the middle of the night by their bond, and she knew she could use the rest too. A wave of exhaustion hit her, and she remembered that she was technically still anemic from the blaster wound. They'd given her a packet of some foul-tasting powder she was to mix with water that would help her body make more blood, but taking it would require her to somehow climb over Ben and she was not going to do that.

She huffed in annoyance and resignation, pulling out the blaster and turning as she laid down so her back was to him. She placed the weapon on the sill of the viewport and closed her eyes.

There was no way she was going to fall asleep with him still there, but if he was going to give her the cold shoulder then she was going to return the favor. The connection would probably end soon, although it had already gone on longer than most of their other ones.

After a few minutes of tense silence where they still remained connected she heard him move and she stiffened.

"Rey?"

"What?" She grumbled. When he didn't reply she looked over her shoulder to see him on his side facing her again.

His eyes were searching her, something resembling concern glinting in the half light.

"The wound on your neck…?"

Her stony expression softened. She rolled to face him, tucking her hands beneath her pillow.

She sighed after a moment of contemplation. "I'm fine. Luckily the medic was close enough by that I didn't completely bleed out." Her voice lowered. "It was a pretty close call though. They patched me up, gave me medicine for the blood loss. I'll be back to full health in a day or two." She shouldn't be admitting her weakened state to him, but he seemed so genuinely concerned for her. Surely he wouldn't take advantage of her, especially since he'd admonished her for getting hurt in the first place.

He looked at her for a moment as if he wasn't sure he could trust her word. Then his hand came up slowly, slow enough to give her time to stop him again if she wanted to. She looked at it but made no move to grab his wrist again. His dark eyes were on her own, sensing her, and when she didn't stop him he let his fingers slowly push the hair obscuring her scar back behind her neck. Her skin burned and tingled with electricity where the pads of his fingers trailed over the healed wound. A heat bloomed throughout her limbs and she was grateful for the semi-darkness because she knew her face was aflame. She'd never been touched with such intimate gentleness before. Such wary reverence.

He took careful notice of her scar, brushing his thumb over it as if he could wipe the mark away. She eyed his own scar, the one she'd given him in that dark place on that dark planet all those months ago. She found herself hesitatingly reaching over and placing two fingers on the end of it where it curled on his chest. His lips parted with a small woosh of breath, stilling his hand at her pulse. His eyes were on her face but she traced her gaze along the scar and followed with her fingers, stopping when she reached his cheek.

She realized as she looked at the damage her saber had done that he had never said anything to her about it. Had never promised to exact the same thing on her, or seem embarrassed or self conscious of it. It was almost like it wasn't there to him. Like it didn't matter. But why? Why had he not been angry with her for marking his face like this? For almost taking his eye? For almost killing him?

"Ben." She whispered, not trusting her voice. "I'm sorry—."

His hand left her neck to wrap around hers and she thought he was going to push it away, but instead he held her hand to his cheek. His eyes fluttered closed and the hum of their connection sent goosebumps down her arm. She could see the same happening across his skin.

"Don't be." He whispered back. His eyes slowly opened, a haunted look making his demeanor almost emaciated. "I deserve far worse."

This wasn't Kylo Ren she was talking to. This was Ben Solo, remembering all the terrible things he'd done in his life. Remembering how he'd killed his own father.

Rey wasn't sure she'd ever be able to forgive him for that, even if he was remorseful. But when she thought back to the torture Snoke had inflicted upon her, and remembered that Ben had been his victim for decades, she had to wonder if he hadn't already paid for his sins ten times over. Maker only knew what tortures he'd been put through as Snoke's apprentice. She imagined any failure was met with some horrible punishment of the mind, and she was at once glad that Master Skywalker had not treated her that way.

But the old Jedi wasn't entirely perfect either. Luke's moment of weakness all those years ago had led them all to this after all.

"Perhaps." She said simply. "Perhaps you do. But…" She bit her lip. "Your life has been full of so much pain and darkness. And loneliness. Aren't you tired of it all? Don't…don't you deserve to be happy too?" With me, on the side of the light?

"No." He murmured and released her hand, fists clenching on the blanket. She pulled her limb back safely to her chest, closing her fingers around the echoing warmth and electricity from his skin. "I don't believe I will ever feel happy again." He paused, conflicted emotions swirling around him. Rey kept quiet, feeling that there were words yet he wanted to say.

"But if I was," He continued softly, his face open and vulnerable, searching her eyes, "I have a feeling you would be there for it." Rey gave him a soft smile, her heart weeping in the face of a dream that may very well never come to pass if he should stay on his dark path.

"For now I will settle for this." He sighed, eyes closing. "These small moments of peace that only ever happen when I am with you."

Rey snorted, and Ben's eyes flew open, guarded.

"Last time wasn't so peaceful." She mumbled wryly, remembering the panic she'd felt when he'd grabbed her arm and her surroundings had warped. For a moment she'd been terrified he was somehow going to pull her into his side of the connection, but then she'd wrenched herself free and the vision had ended.

"No, it wasn't." He agreed, features turning into something self-deprecating. Rey could feel his scorn directed at himself and felt compelled to make him stop, but didn't know how.

"I didn't mean to hurt your arm." He softly confessed.

"You didn't." Rey lied, and the glint in his eye told her he knew it.

"I felt the ache, Rey."

She scowled, not wanting to seem like she's always the one hurting their connection.

"Well you need to stop hitting things with your fists. I can feel it in my own whenever you go on a rampage."

His jaw tensed as his face clouded. "The change in leadership has not been going smoothly. But they will all submit eventually."

"And what if they don't? What if they find out you're the one who killed Snoke? Don't think that I've at all forgotten that you painted a giant target on my back when you told them it was my doing."

Again Ben glanced away from her glare, a look of thinly masked regret and sadness causing him to look younger than his 30-odd years. How was it a man ten years older than her still seemed like such a lost child?

But still, her words were the truth. He'd been angry at her for getting hurt but he hadn't made it very easy for her to not get hurt by making her out to be the one who'd assassinated the Supreme Leader. Now the entire First Order was out for her head with a ruthlessness that was terrifying.

"I can't tell them the truth." Ben admitted quietly, shamefully. "It would cause chaos in the ranks. A Civil War, even. No doubt General Hux would lead the charge against me, the traitorous snake."

"Technically you're the traitor." She reminded him, and his eyes found hers once more. There was no animosity though, just an acceptance of the truth.

"Yes, I am." He murmured, and Rey remembered that day in the rain on Ach-To when she'd called him a monster and he'd said the same thing. Perhaps his lowly opinion of himself was one of the reasons he couldn't accept the light within. She needed to remind him of that.

"But you saved my life." She added. "So I think it balances out a little bit." She tried to smile reassuringly but he didn't seem to return the sentiment. If anything he grew more serious.

"I would do it again in a heartbeat." He intoned with a blazing conviction that made her whole body warm. His jaw worked, as if chewing on words that were difficult to say.

Finally his resolve hardened and he spoke. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He whispered and her heart clenched at the confession. "I only wish I wasn't the worst thing that happened to you."

"You're not." She whispered back, tears welling in her eyes from some sudden billowing of emotion within her. She reached across and grabbed his fist. He went still as she needled her fingers into the cracks, opening his palm and sliding her digits between his, locking their hands together. The force gusted around them for a moment as the connection hummed anew and their emotions rand wild, then a deep sense of peace and calm settled over them like a warm blanket. Within that the force felt content. Balanced.

In that moment two lonely children found strength and belonging in each other, and for just that moment everything was alright.

There was no First Order, no Resistance, no looming death threats, no past, no future—just the two of them, locked together by their hands and their heavy gazes. It was like that night in the hut on Ach-To multiplied by a thousand. By ten-thousand.

Ben's lips parted, the awe in his dark eyes from looking at their joined hands replaced with a deep longing when he looked up at her lips. Rey flushed at the heated intention, her heart pounding.

"Rey," he said, and it was like a caress. He began moving, as if to prop himself up and lean over her, as if he was going to kiss her, and she knew that she couldn't let him do that, but by Maker did she want to in that moment, but the decision was taken from her when a loud noise echoed from across the connection and Ben jerked his head around as if seeing something, and as she released his hand in a hurry he disappeared.

The hum silenced. The connection receded to the back of her mind where it waited. She felt the emptiness though. Not only in her still-warm hand, but in her heart and soul. She didn't realize how out of sync she felt normally until he was there to help put things back in order.

Tears dripped down the sides of her face as she rolled to her back, gripping the blanket at her sides with white-knuckled fists.

Oh, Ben, why can't you just accept the light so we can end this torture?