Snapping shut the communicator, Rey refocused on the road, gripping the wheel tightly, hearing the Falcon engine roar. Leia's voice still rang in her ear, calm but tight, quiet but afraid. She hadn't asked after her brother, and Rey hadn't told her that she'd failed. Just that she was on her way back. It was true. She just had one stop to make, and it wasn't too far away. She could feel it… could feel him.

.

It was a dank and miserable place, set back off the road, windows boarded up. A casualty of the war, no doubt. Pulling around the back, she parked up beside the machine that would have confirmed the occupant of the house even if she couldn't feel him. Sleek and low, the single-rider speeder was completely black, drawing the eye against the dusty surroundings.

Leaving the car she'd adopted next to the far more modern machine, Rey walked hesitantly up the steps to the back door, suddenly nervous as she hadn't been on the journey. Refusing to hesitate, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

It was dark and cool out of the sun, the interior of the house coming into view slowly as her eyes adjusted. The room was empty, dust covering every surface, cobwebs gathered at the ceilings. Cautiously, she stepped forwards, towards the two doors. One led to a hallway, even darker, just as abandoned. The other went through to the other room looking out the back of the house. It was dim, the figure in front of the window blocking most of the light.

"I never did forget the sound of that engine," he said, as she walked into the middle of the room. "Why did you come?" The words were edged with a bitterness that made Rey frown.

"For you."

He stiffened slightly, or maybe that was just her imagination, the light playing tricks with his silhouette. Turning, he walked ever so carefully over to her, standing with several feet between them. His face was blank, his eyes dark, but they were rimmed with red.

"For you," she repeated. Raising her left hand, she reached carefully towards him. So close, she could almost feel the bond, running from her life to his. It may have been tethered at her wrist, but she could feel it throughout her body, in every piece of her body.

His hand rose to meet hers, his gloves gone.

They weren't watching the horizon this time, eyes fixed on each other.

"We have to go," Rey said eventually.

His eyebrows drew together and for an instant, he looked like Kylo Ren again. It was gone at once, leaving Ben. Intense, focused, but still Ben.

"You're right," he said, breaking the link between their hands as he walked back to the window. "We'll take the Falcon, go north. They won't find us. We can get out, start our own world, rebuild everything the way it's meant to be. No Sith, no Jedi. Just us. We're one within the Force, we can be one outside it too."

"One within the Force," Rey murmured. What had Luke said? We are all one within the Force. "Ben," she said, louder now, breaking through his pacing and planning. Stepping into his path, she grasped his arms, halting his movement.

"We have to go back," she said.

For a moment, he just stared at her. Then his face shut down, wiped clean of emotion. He stepped backwards, away from her, out of reach.

"You're kidding."

"If we leave now," Rey said, "the universe will be divided forever. There won't be anything left to rebuild from. Everyone will be dead."

He just looked at her, and her hope slipped.

"I promised your mother I would go back," she said, blinking hard. "I want you to come with me. Please."

Something twitched, a light flickering in his eyes.

"My mother?" he asked. "But she's…" He did not finish the sentence.

"I spoke to her this morning," Rey said, frowning at the expression on his face.

"But… I… I felt her, during an attack and I couldn't… it wasn't me, but… there was an explosion… She's gone."

"No," Rey said, shaking her head. "She's alive, she's with the resistance. They're hiding, but they won't be able to stay forever, we have to…" her voice trailed off as all colour drained from Ben's face. "What?" she whispered, suddenly afraid. "What is it?"

"They can't hide," he said, eyes never leaving her. "There was another plan."

.

.

It was chaos, but controlled chaos. A maelstrom, with General Organa at the centre. Orders dispatched, messages to send, requests for supply inventories. The words flew back and forth around her, but the movement never came too close. Until one. Always that one.

"General!"

Her head snapped up, watching the mop of unruly hair dodging through the crowd. Reckless to the point of being dangerous, but always reliably present. Poe's hand brushed Finn's as they passed, a move both calculated and desperate, hidden and revealing.

"What news?" Leia asked, ignoring the brief exchange between the two young, so very young, men.

"They're coming."

Leia stared at him. "What?"

"An hour out, at most."

Leia blinked. How? How could they have found them so quickly? No one was supposed to know about these caves. No one had known where they were coming until they'd already set off. This was supposed to be a place to regroup, to have some time. There was no other way out.

"General?"

Someone was talking to her, but there was someone else. Someone who'd been absent, even though they'd never left, always inside… Coming to her feet, she looked past the pilot, past the deserter, past the fighters.

His hair was long and scraggly, his beard grey, but his eyes were the same as they'd ever been; sharp, watchful, full of emotion.

When Rey hadn't said anything, she'd been so sure… but he was here now. That was all that mattered.

The room was silent, the chaos turned to frozen stone, all eyes watching the newcomer approach her. Even Poe stepped aside, not seeming to notice that he chose the direction that put him closer to Finn.

"You took your time," Leia said, but there was a smile on her face as she reached out to him. Her brother took her outstretched hand, crouching down in front of her chair.

"I wanted to bring you a present, but couldn't decide what to get," Luke quipped back. The humour didn't last long, and his eyes turned to the pilot. "An hour out?"

"If that," Poe replied.

"You'd better get everyone ready then," Luke said.

There was a second of hesitation before everyone sprang to obey him. Everyone except his sister, whose hand tightened on his.

"There aren't enough of us," she said quietly. "And there's no other way out."

"You're forgetting," Luke said with a wink. "I'm a legend."

"Where's Rey?"

The girl had been the one to contact her, but it was her brother who had arrived, apparently alone.

Luke gave no answer to her question, simply standing up and striding away, leaving Leia almost as worried as she had been before he arrived.