Thank you for being along for this long, long ride. This fic has run its course, and I'm happy to say The Last Jedi sparked an idea and that I'll be posting a new Reylo fic soon.

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They said we were crazy

They said we were trash.

They called it abuse, or, worst yet, incest.

They refused to see the truth.

The war is over.

We won.

Reylo is canon.

Rey grabbed the commands and tried to alter their course, but the ship wasn't responding. "They put a magnetic beam on us. They're going to board the ship."

"It's the First Order," Poe yelled as he tried to make sense of the various beeps coming from the console.

Ben stared into space, extending his mind to see into the incoming ship. "No."

Poe craned his neck around and arched a suspicious brow. "How do you know?"

Rey watched the sensors in front of her. "They're ignoring my hails. It's a big freighter. Most likely pirates."

"What should we do?" Finn asked.

Poe handed each of his companion a gun and motioned for them to follow him to the ship's hatch. "We fight."

Finn and Poe took cover behind a console on the right, while Rey mirrored their move on the left.

Ben stood in plain sight as the whizzes and clicks of the enemies' efforts to hack their latch open echoed around them. He pursed his lips in disgust at the blaster in his hands. Blasters were imprecise and unreliable. They also reminded him of his father.

Rey met his eyes and frowned. Don't even think about it.

It's already done, I'm not risking our lives to spare your friend's feelings. His lightsaber, safely hidden at the bottom of his bag, ripped through the fabric and flew into his hand, igniting exactly as the ship's latch opened.

Four heavily armed aliens, dressed like a band of dangerous smugglers or slave traders would be, fired instinctively at the sight of the eerie weapon. Laser blasts echoed through the air from both sides, the red blade catching the strays, and the first wave of intruders was soon lying on the floor, dead.

Poe was still processing what he was seeing when a guttural scream tore his throat and bile invaded his mouth. He pointed his blaster to Ben who whipped around to face the resistance pilot with a defensive stance, backing toward the doorway leading to the other ship.

Rey put herself between the two men and held out her hands, hoping to deescalate the situation. A flurry of shocked and angry beeps came from BB8 as the droid rolled angrily towards Ben.

Finn couldn't believe what he was seeing, all he knew was Poe was now pointing his blaster at Rey, and that had to change. "Poe I'm with you man, believe me, but let Rey speak before you do something stupid."

"She kissed him," Poe hissed.

"What?" Disbelief couldn't even begin to describe the expression on Finn's face.

"I saw them, last night, groping each other like teenagers. She's not to be trusted. This is a trap."

"Rey?"

Rey shook her head and pleaded Finn with her eyes. "It's not a trap. It's complicated."

Finn motioned to the opened hatch. "Can we uncomplicate things before more of them come?"

Ben's low voice made Poe's fingers blanch around his blaster. "They weren't expecting trouble, probably thought we were Republic merchants. It'll be easy enough to take control of the ship and turn off the beam."

"He's right," Poe acknowledged begrudgingly.

"Stay here and guard the ship. We'll shut off the beam." Ben backed away and disappeared from view.

Rey pressed her fingers briefly to Finn's arm. "I'll explain, after." She turned on her heels and followed Ben into the freighter.

They encountered little resistance as they moved as one through the dirty vessel towards the bridge. When Ben caught a well-aimed blast an instant before it ripped through her skin and beheaded the captain, Rey regarded the red lightsaber with interest.

I need one of those.

A grin tugged at the corner of Ben's mouth. The prospect of teaching Rey to duel filled him with heat and longing. He grazed her arms from her shoulders to her hands. "Let's leave now, you and me."

"What about Finn?"

"We'll disable the beam. We'll be long gone by the time they reach D'Qar."

Rey's hand shook as she pulled Ben down for a languid kiss. Her heart was torn, but she'd already decided. "Okay."

Ben's eyes widened in surprise, and Poe's voice thundered from behind them.

"I knew it!"

"Calm down, both of you, please." She sighed. "I know this is a lot to take on, but this isn't a trap, we were really stuck on that planet, and…"

"You fucked? That's not a favorable argument Rey.

Rey's lips thinned. "I'm not liking your friend, Finn. What can I say to make you believe me?" she asked, turning all her attention to her friend, discerning that Poe had personal history with Kylo Ren and probably wouldn't be swayed. Finn would understand, she was sure of it, after all, he'd worked for the wrong side too. Okay, not on this scale, but he had to try to understand.

Poe threw her a pair of cuffs. "You can start by putting handcuffs on him, while we figure things out."

She crouched down to pick them up.

Do it.

Yeah?

It'll calm them.

She shadowed Ben every step of the way as Poe forced him back into their ship and sat him down in one of the rooms. She did not trust Poe at all.

"What now?" She asked Finn.

Finn and Poe exchanged a pointed look. "Give us a second to talk it through," Finn said.

The two men closed the door behind them and retreated to the front of the ship.

They locked the door, Ben murmured through the link.

Half an hour passed, and Rey's jitters multiplied. It's taking too long.

A deep frown twisted her face when she heard the ship land, and her anxiety was only heightened by Ben's haunted face. The unruly energy around him thrashed as if he'd been plunged in boiling water, and a cold sweat gathered on his forehead.

Poe marched in, his blaster pointed at Ben. "Get up."

Rey jumped to her feet. "Where are we?"

Finn placed himself between the two as Poe motioned for Ben to walk forward.

They had landed in a desert, the bright light of the sun assaulting her irises as the hatch opened. "Keep her here." Poe said to both his friend and his droid. BB8 looked utterly confused. He trusted both Rey and Poe entirely.

Poe motioned for Ben to get off the ship with his weapon, and Ben obeyed.

Finn's hand closed on her upper arm. "It's for the best, Rey." His quiet, determined voice curdled her blood. The Force whispered to her what they had planned.

"No. You can't."

Rey, calm down. Ben said through the tether.

They're delivering you to Luke Skywalker.

I know, it's okay.

How can you say that? Do you really think he'll let you live?

Do you think I couldn't break free if I wanted to?

Why aren't you?

This is how it has to be.

But why?

With a forceful shrug, she freed her right arm and planted a mean hook into Finn's unsuspecting face. BB8 let her pass. She ran off the ship, closing the distance between her and Ben, discerning as she got closer to a second ship the form of her lover kneeling on the ground, Poe holding a blaster to his neck as a hooded figure watched over the scene. She threw herself in front of Ben.

"Please, stop, give me a chance to explain."

Finn came up behind her. "I'm sorry, she's confused."

"Shut up, Finn," Rey spat.

Luke was no longer looking at them or hearing them. He was staring deep in the eyes of someone he thought he'd lost forever.

"There's nothing to explain," the resonant voice of Luke Skywalker echoed through the dunes.

His strained words contrasted with his relaxed stance. Rey frowned as the Jedi considered Ben the way only a long-estranged friend does.

Luke spoke through the Force. You've come back.

I have. I know what you have to do, I know what the price of my sins is.

Luke had never seen Ben Solo so at peace as his old apprentice knelt in front of him in atonement, expecting him to be his judge, jury and executioner. Ben's Force signature, in the past so unruly and unpredictable, was anchored through the girl.

Anchored into the light.

Luke suspected his nephew couldn't even begin to fathom how changed he was. A lonely tear of joy reflected in the eyes of the old Jedi, as he couldn't control his emotions completely at the miracle he was witnessing. Sins cannot be paid for. They have to be redeemed.

Ben's throat tightened. Maybe you can forgive me, but nobody else will.

You do not get to decide what others can or cannot forgive.

What if I can't? What if I fall back to the darkness?

Doing the right thing is the most difficult thing in the galaxy, Ben. We are all afraid to fail.

Luke took everyone watching the quiet scene by surprise as he said, "Drop your weapons, the girl is right, Kylo Ren is already dead."

Poe and Finn looked at each other, unsure, but relented and dropped their weapons.

Ben Solo lives, Luke whispered into the Force.

Rey heard it. She heard it very well.

"Wait! What?"

Ben SOLO? Are you fucking kidding me?!

Her surprise mingled with anger over the bond, and Ben knew he was in deep trouble.

The End

My past has tasted bitter for years now,
So I wield an iron fist
Grace is just weakness
Or so I've been told.
I've been cold, I've been merciless
But the blood on my hands scares me to death
Maybe I'm waking up today

I'll be good, I'll be good
And I'll love the world, like I should
Yeah, I'll be good, I'll be good
For all of the times that I never could.