A/N: I am a mega fan of the Ben/Rey happily married, everything-works-out-fine-after-Episode-IX trope, but this fic was written because I wanted to explore what it would be like if Ben and Rey got married before Snoke corrupted Ben to the Dark Side, if he had grown up before that happened, and what that would mean for them if/when they lost each other because of misunderstanding and greed. What would happen if they believed the other to be dead, and what that would lead them to do…to become.

This fic is named after two-part Muse songs titled The 2nd Law: Unsustainable, and The 2nd Law: Isolated System. I would recommend giving them a listen while reading, Unsustainable for the beginning portion of the fic, and Isolated System for the latter portions. They played a large part in capturing the mood I wanted the fic to convey.

Enjoy!

The Second Law

Chapter 1: Entropy

Then

"Ben?"

He had been drifting, lost in thought somewhere far from where he stood at the edge of the window, and it was her soft voice alone that caused him to flick his eyes sideways to escape the thought that transfixed him.

She glanced at him cautiously, her hazel eyes dark in the shadow of the curtain, hesitantly stepping closer. Ben found her gaze, and there was something there, though it was something Rey couldn't quite grasp to truly analyze.

"Yes?" He replied, offering her a half smile, but it did not reach his eyes. It did not convince her.

"Where have you gone?" She asked, keeping her hands at her side, neglecting herself the opportunity to offer him a comforting touch, something she knew was custom between people of their circumstances. But she was still learning, even after all she had done to educate herself on what it meant to be a wife.

It had not started as a proposal of marriage formulated from love, she understood that much. Ben Solo had been the problematic offspring of Senator, now General, Leia Organa and the smuggler, Han Solo. He opposed his parent's cause, mocked the values the foundation was built on, and was no friend to any ally of his parents. That meant Rey. He was simply existing in the same vicinity, at any moment capable of leaving…and yet, he stayed.

When Han Solo found her somewhere in the Outer Rim, piloting the Millenium Falcon—what was once and always would be his ship, but was stolen from him by Gannis Ducain, a time long before she had acquired it—she had been a convincing enough co-pilot and smuggler, so much so that Han asked her to voyage back with him to Hosnian Prime to meet with Leia regarding the Resistance and have a place to belong. But Rey declined, claiming it wouldn't be long before she would need to get back to Jakku, she had already been away too long. She would go back to waiting.

But along the way, they caught themselves in the crossfire of Aqualish gun traders, and after, were forced to refuel and collect themselves from the damage. By then, when Han offered her again, she agreed, though still not offering a permanent stay, despite having grown to like Han and his company.

With that established, however, on Hosnian Prime, the days turned into weeks, and soon weeks turned into months, with Rey becoming too busy with what it meant to be a part of the Resistance; she hadn't found the chance…not like Han did. He had always said he was a better smuggler than a husband…a father.

Han had returned to space, and Rey had stayed, appealing to his wife and arguing with his son.

Ah…Ben.

It was months before Leia pitched the proposal, hoping to permanently keep Rey, and offer Ben the gift of companionship. But the pitch was met with distaste and laughter on Rey's part at the preposterous thought.

Rey had met Ben an unfortunate number of times, each one beginning unbalanced and coarse, and all ending in a mutual agreement: they would furthermore not socialize to make matters worse. And yet, each time after that agreement, it happened again like a cycle. She hated his arrogance and he despised her ignorance. None, save his mother, would believe them an eligible match.

Though soon, the challenges became less frequent, and the interactions less equipped with equal annoyance from both parties. Rey saw Ben for the complex, conflicted man that he had grown into, and Ben understood her sorrow at being abandoned, and the hope that still stemmed from within. They found that the only person that could truly understand them was the other. Rey found that offering him a chance for understanding had benefited their interactions, it had made him become bearable.

They learned to enjoy their shared time, the often meetings, never orchestrated but always appreciated. For he would often find her, dusting her hands of soot, fixing some part of the cruiser that needed it, but she didn't mind the company, she would admit she admired his voice as he spoke to her, finding it was softest when he did. And she would find him in times of lesson, listening intently to the captain ramble on about methods not pertaining to her current train of thought as she took a seat by Ben in the hangar, reaching in her pouch to pull out a scrap from her breakfast, knowing damn well that he hadn't eaten (a habit he wasn't keen on breaking). Gripping his hand with stealth, eyes on the captain (as they were not allowed to have food in the hangar or past the door frame of the cafeteria), Rey placed the small bit of pastry or fruit or whatever she had managed to scavenge into his palm and curled his fingers, pulling her hand away with a knowing smile to compliment her transparency, keeping her eyes straight ahead. He turned to look at her, his fingers stinging from the phantom touch of where hers had once been. They didn't talk about it. But it became a ritual. Ben would keep her company as she worked, and she would bring him breakfast.

When he had kissed her for the first time, it could have easily been interpreted as an attempt to get her to shut up, but he really just wanted to feel how soft her lips were, even as she slung insults at him in the corridor after he had said something about her height or her nimble hands or the way she never shut up. His attempts did get her to shut up, though. She kissed him back with equal fervor, running her fingers through his soft black hair in return, gripping tightly and trying to hold on while everything around her was spinning.

The marriage was diplomatic, like all things Leia Organa constructed, but by the time she had offered again, Rey and Ben were no strangers to their feelings, and there was agreement written in Rey's features; not because she would be marrying into royalty, but because of Ben, and what he had grown to mean to her.

It had only grown since.

Where have you gone?

"I'm here," Ben answered, looking down at her stiff hands and reaching for one, not denying himself the pleasure of the warmth of her touch as she had. Rey moved closer, instinctually, studying him as his gaze returned out down to the tall grass of some hill deep within the valleys of Chandrila.

"No, you're somewhere far from here," Rey curled her fingers tighter into his grip. Her response was armored, as if she could prove she knew what he was thinking, as if she could hear the whispers that filled his mind with doubt, as if she could possibly know that Snoke was waiting for the prime moment to take all of Ben, and hope, and everything with him.

Rey had never felt a touch as his before, and while she knew he hadn't been with a woman before—not like this—he worked expertly and with a certain finesse she couldn't quite describe how he had come to know. It was as if his fingers, and strokes, and touches had all had a previous practice subject. Or maybe it was just because he loved her.

"Kiss me," she begged, her mouth turned down slightly in a frown, but her cheeks and ears and neck all flushed a pretty pink color as he had worked his way down her abdomen with soft, searing breaths and kisses that left an invisible trail that she would probably dream about later.

Ben cupped his palms on either side of her waist and inched himself up so that he could return his mouth to hers and capture all of her greed to match his need. His fingers made effortless play to her sides, tantalizing her skin and causing Rey to exhale a soft sound that sent shivers down his spine and blood rushing to his—

His mouth practically bruised with the urgency that was flowing through him, needing to touch her all over and in any way that pleased her; all for her, always for her. Rey arched her body closer to his, finding that she could fit in more if she just pressed and pressed, molding herself into him so that no inch of her was left untouched.

Ben's fingers drifted lower down her neck, ghosting along her collarbone and falling to her breast, kneading upward and teasing, enough to make Rey make a whimpering sound against his lips. He smiled darkly, pleased with the effect his touch had on her, as his lips moved from hers to her cheek and down to her neck. He sucked against the sensitive skin there, softly grazing his teeth down to her shoulder as Rey's nails raked down his scalp and to his shoulders to grip, to hold on.

She might have said something but it was too soft to tell, the noise disappearing quickly into the darkness. His thumb softly brushed the inside of Rey's thigh, finally having moved his hand from her breast and lower, pushing apart her legs so that he could—

"Ben…"

There it was. His name came out of her all winded and breathless, like he had already done all that he could to fulfil her needs. He hummed against her mouth, perhaps to question what she wanted, where she wanted him to touch her, when she wanted him to stop toying with her and actually begin.

"Ben," Rey practically whined, her mouth tearing from his, and he stilled. Rey peeked at him amidst her touch-drunken stupor, when it became apparent to her that something was wrong.

Even married, even after the other times prior they had been together like so, Ben was still estimating she would reject him and everything he offered. His eyes searched hers, her face softening as she watched him battle against his thoughts. She wondered how he still hesitated believing her desire to keep him; as if she had married him for less trivial reasons.

She brushed her hand against his cheek, watching his conflicted eyes.

"No…I—I just…the bed. Take me—"

Now. Begin now, it seemed.

He nodded.

Ben leaned back from their space on the floor and stood, lifting her with him. Upon placing her down on the bed, her hair splayed a pretty pattern below, and she looked up at him, naked, and flushed, and waiting. It made him twitch down below his abdomen. There was no room for doubt. He needed her. All of her.

And as he crawled over her, with her reaching up to continue exploring all parts of him, he found that he could never find enough of her body.

He would never have enough.

Rey woke before her husband, finding the delicious ache between her thighs no longer foreign and a welcomed feeling since their visit to Chandrila. As she would learn to associate Chandrila with wide fields of green and valleys of wild life, she would also find it would also become synonymous with Ben and their nights as man and wife: continuing to join in love, even if the initial consummation had long since been established.

He had slept facing away from her, turning at some point in the night. She knew this, because she had fallen asleep encased in his arms with his spent breathing warming her neck.

She lifted her fingers to softly ghost along his spine, finding he had no blemishes, no scars to trace with her fingertips. His smooth skin was warm against her touch, and she realized then the cool nature of her fingers.

That roused him, and he grumbled something in deep vibrato. Rey smiled small, enjoying his distaste for mornings as a small contribution to his character that she was still learning to know and love.

"Do we have to go back?" Rey whispered, not entirely sure if Ben had been listening or heard her, or if she was saying it to him or the quiet room or herself. She lifted her head, propping herself on her elbow to peek over at Ben. He had closed his eyes again, and sleep had consumed him once more.

She watched his brow tense in his sleep, and his lips turn down, and wondered what he was dreaming about, assuming it wasn't filled with sweet remembrance. Her smile dimmed, and felt her stomach tighten. Where did he go? In dreams? In thoughts?

What tormented him?

Rey rolled to lay on her back once more, staring up at the canopy above, splaying her fingers over her stomach, suddenly feeling an unwarranted type of dread coursing through her veins.

The shuttle ride back to Hosnian Prime, back to their lives, was a silent one, with Rey taking the time to chance occasional glances over at Ben. He paid her no mind. He continued staring out the passenger window, the same look on his face as before when he was lost in dreams, and Rey silently resented the fact that there was something he wasn't telling her.

Are you not his wife? He vowed to trust? A voice whispers softly, and Rey wondered if it was perhaps her own conscience, her own thoughts. She looked away, deciding she wouldn't entertain her own resentments. They were fabrications of her own insecurities and doubts.

The shuttle met back to their residency, and immediately Ben left to tend to the needs that awaited him. He did not even unpack. Rey found herself alone for quite some time until his mother came, welcoming her new daughter with almost sad eyes.

"You two should have stayed on Chandrila," Leia merged her hand in Rey's as she sat. "You look unhappy to have returned."

Rey hesitated responding, not wanting to seem ungrateful, but eventually nodded. Agreed. "We were happy there." It seemed.

"Perhaps you should consider making a life in the valley. Ben doesn't need all of the capital duties he tries to manage, and you have shown you hold no interest in politics. The Resistance will eventually expand to the outer regions and settle on more secluded planets. You and Ben could lead the expansion. Settle down." Leia's words made Rey stiffen, but she looked up, imagining.

"He's too immersed here. His life is here." Rey countered, shaking off the thought.

Leia shook her head. "You should be his life now, not his career."

Leia stood and paced. "Besides, with kids—to have a child grow up here, when the First Order only further tries to implement their power upon the capital…" Leia trailed off, and Rey couldn't help but drop a hand to her abdomen.

"We haven't discussed children." Rey lifted her hand and used it to straighten her tunic, brushing away any debris. "And besides, that's not for a while."

Leia glanced over to her, her face hard to read. As if she knew something Rey did not. "Rey—"

"Mother," Ben's voice startled the pair of them, Rey having to turn fully from her seated position, straining her body to witness him, while his mother merely had to shift her head. Leia recollected her composure first.

"Welcome back," she began, and Ben nodded, his expression still distracted though Rey still couldn't pinpoint the reason. He inched closer into the room and out of the shadows.

"Don't grow used to it." Ben gripped his gloves firmly in his palm, the ensemble not fully finished without them on. "Skywalker has requested my presence on Ryloth."

"Why?" Rey asked before she could stop herself, catching Ben's attention as he turned to look at her. She wished she could have fathomed why his eyes softened suddenly. She would have cast her eyes down, but his stare kept her transfixed.

"His Jedi Academy has lost more Padawans to First Order influence since we left. He has requested I assist him in Ryloth to keep them from straying."

Rey watched Ben's eyes fall to his hands when his mother interjected.

"So, Luke has convinced you to return! That is a great honor, Ben. You were his best student."

Ben turned his eyes to his mother, his face mirroring his distaste, "I never finished your brother's faulty academy."

She shook her head, ignoring the way he phrased the sentence…your brother's…"That doesn't mean you weren't the best…before you left." Leia persuaded, stiffly.

Rey looked up at Leia, watching her face shift from pride, to worry, to questioning, so quickly she wondered if she had interpreted her correctly. She wondered if Ben saw it too.

"I'd like to be with my wife now," Ben said, his voice low. All the talk of the past clearly something he did not want to toy with. "Alone."

Leia nodded, and moved past Rey to Ben, pausing when she was near enough to make Ben stiffen. "When you see Luke…tell him…" Leia paused for a moment, looking up. "Well, you know…"

Ah.

He did know. Ben watched his mother with a side glance, knowing exactly what she wanted to say but hadn't.

May the Force be with you.

"Same to you." She offered. And with that, Leia touched her son's shoulder giving him a smile, one that he did not return. He offered no response.

When Leia had left, Ben's eyes returned to Rey, and for a moment neither of them moved.

Rey was the first to escape her frozen posture, standing slowly and moving until she was close enough to Ben to touch, only she kept her hands at her sides.

"How long?" She might have whispered, or was it was her own thoughts being so loud that her words sounded muffled in the mix? Ben watched her face.

"I don't know." He hated the way her eyes fell at his response, though she would never admit that the knowledge stung to understand, and he knew better than to try and pry it out of her.

"Why didn't you finish?" Rey inquired, suddenly remembering. "If you didn't, how do you have a—"

"Lightsabers are made during the training periods, they aren't relics won for completing the trials." Ben returned, hoping he hadn't sounded too pompous when addressing what she didn't understand. Rey lacked an education on the ways of the Jedi, only familiar with myth, but that didn't mean that Ben had to address her incompetence on the subject.

Rey just nodded, seemingly unoffended. "Well…what's missing? What is incomplete with your training?"

Ben never talked about his training. He had all but renounced it, and Rey never inquired about it. He had a lightsaber, she knew, locked away somewhere deep in a place she didn't know, and didn't intend to…Ben was allowed his secrets.

But this was a wound she assumed wasn't healed. He desperately lacked the means to tend to it.

"Skywalker's teaching ensured there remained gaps in the knowledge of what it meant to be a Jedi. Could be more things than I can tell." Ben did not try to hide his disagreement.

"But you're going back?"

He nodded.

Rey watched his face, and Ben stared down at her, the embarrassment of his past and frustration written in his eyes. She wondered if what he lacked made him feel incomplete. If it made him angry enough to solve it. Or if he would insist on burning his past away, clearing for new growth through the destruction.

And then he stiffened, as if someone had called out to him. He looked down, shifting his eyes away from her. Rey reached out but couldn't find him, he was already backing away.

"I leave in the morning."

That was all he said. He backed into the shadows, but it seemed to Rey he was already gone.

Lost are you, young Solo…

Ben opened his eyes slowly, as if not to address the monster too quickly in the hopes to not illicit a violent response.

Rey was asleep at his side, softly making sounds as she breathed, her bare skin a soft creamy color under the blue moonlight. She slept curled, fetal, never moving once she found comfort in dreams. Ben had held her close just before dreams found him, not knowing when he would get to hold her again. But at some point he had drifted from her.

He looked away, sitting up gently and making slow movements to fool all assumptions that he was trying to make his way out of the bed. And he did so with success, Rey being none the wiser, lost somewhere deep in slumber and ignorant of the voice that crept through his mind.

Skywalker has denied you your legacy fulfilled.

Ben searched the room. I'm tired of this, reveal yourself, He willed, making himself stand and brace himself. The voice began visiting him in the day, something that he was not used to, but it was not initially frequent. Though, it always came at night, that he could count on, predictably rousing him from dreams of screaming and horror.

Must you see me to believe the truth? The voice echoed as if it surrounded him, but it was in his mind, he was sure.

What truth? Ben mulled, finding that no matter where he moved in his domain, the voice was always the same volume, the same hiss.

Your victory, young Solo. Do you deny yourself the triumphs of your own destiny? Do you then allow your parents to neglect you, your uncle to suppress your success, your wife to muddy your family lineage with children spawned from a worthless—

Enough, Ben's jaw clenched at the mention of Rey, and the voice halted, contemplating before continuing.

But…she could be royalty, I would ensure you that privilege first. The voice offered, I told you before, your power is too great to deny yourself what I can give you, what I can teach you.

Ben looked over to Rey.

She is already royalty, Ben argued.

Yes, but by marriage. She would have power formulated from her strength and not just her relation to you. I see her power, ah yes…the voice pausing as if to relish in the thought…almost as raw and untamed as yours.

Ben curled his fingers into fists, trying to tame his increasing heart rate. She is strong in the Force…Untrained, but stronger than she knows. He agreed. Could she learn to control her power?

Yes…you would teach her, and I would ensure she wants for nothing. Look at me…

Ben turned, his eyes finding a dark corner of the room, the one that he imagined the voice came from. But instead of seeing emptiness as he had grown so used to finding during their conversations prior, his eyes landed on a shadowed figure, barely visible enough in the darkness, only a slight outline, but a cold, nonetheless powerful presence. He froze.

You will learn the power and respect of the Dark Side, young Solo…the shadow inched forward to reveal a warped face, white and hollow as it was, with piercing eyes that transfixed him. Become my apprentice, and you will be more powerful than you ever dreamed…correct your family line, and finish the legacy of your grandfather, the great…Darth Vader…

Ben stared at the form that made up the voice he had heard in his mind for so long, the one that tested him, offering him the things he simply needed. Ben couldn't move. He couldn't breathe.

When Ben finally turned his gaze away to Rey, contemplating, searching, concluding when it all became too much, the decision had been made.

You know what you must do.

Then the voice was gone, the warped face was gone, and the hiss that had lingered in his ears for years had evaporated into the atmosphere without a trace.

Rey stiffened with the kiss, her instincts warning her not to enjoy it, the pain would simply be too great. But Ben nipped and pushed a not-so-subtle warning at her to kiss him back as his lips parted and she could feel how much he desperately wanted the kiss not to end because of the pain she felt; that he felt.

So, Rey reached her fingers up to graze the waves of raven hairs that resided just behind his ears, and wrapped them behind his neck to pull him in deeper. No more fighting, she had decided, and the Force that channeled through her and him sang with agreement, sending ripples of shockwaves all the way to her toes as he softly brushed his fingers down the length of her neck.

She was sure he was frowning against her mouth, but she didn't open her eyes to see, she was afraid the moment would end.

But Ben eventually pulled back and nestled his head in the croon of her neck, having to stoop low to do so.

"I won't be long," it was the only thing he could think to say. His arms wrapped tightly around her, holding on when he knew he shouldn't.

Rey tried to keep from trembling, and suppressed the tears that threatened an appearance. Morning had come as she knew it would, and Ben was set for departure. The inevitables kept stacking against her.

She brushed his hair and held him until he pulled away, readying himself to turn.

"When I return…things will change for us," he began, and Rey looked up at him where he stood, not quite understanding. His eyes, the ones she had learned to know and found her home in, were shadowed as Ben stepped away. "You will have everything you want, everything you ever needed."

Rey remembered her last look to her husband, and how she couldn't help but frown, her response being, "I already do."

A month into Ben's departure she understood what had begun happening. What had begun growing. The unwarranted nausea becoming too suspicious for her to ignore, and the knowing looks Leia gave her were enough for her to put the details together to form her own conclusions.

Leia consulted her the best she could, but Rey needed to tell Ben. She couldn't waste another day in shock. It was time she began preparing.

But Ben hadn't responded in weeks.

The transmissions sent out with nothing coming back to confirm they had even met their destination. Nothing from Luke. Nothing from Ben. Not even a Padawan answered to update in their absence.

"This silence worries me." Leia hardly admitted her doubts, and Rey had to clench her hands tightly in one another to keep from letting the panic set in.

The resistance hangar on D'Qar was much less homely than her residency on Hosnian Prime, but she couldn't linger in it for much longer without driving herself mad with worry. And Leia had offered her temporary companionship as she awaited word back.

"And still no news from Han?" Rey had forced herself up and paced to keep her edge off.

Leia shook her head. Han, who made frequent visits away from Hosnian Prime and Leia and Ben, was not someone Rey had expected to report back with much of anything. Ben had once griped about his father's lack of presence in his life, and Rey had come to understand how greatly Ben had been alone without his father for most of his life, even if Ben didn't care to talk about it much. He did, however, build up resentment.

If he was found, Ben wouldn't be glad for his father's presence…even then…but if he wasn't found…If he….

Rey felt the panic seize her, having to clutch the rim of the chair for support. Leia moved to her side quickly, her hand immediately finding Rey's stomach.

"Rey, what is—"

But Leia was interrupted by a loud siren, a shrill three sounds before the lights began to flicker and another round of shrill sounds commenced. Leia made her way to the window as fast as she could.

"That signal...It would alert us if ever the First Order were to—"

But before she could finish there was a loud pound on the door and Rey turned so quickly she would have lost her balance if Leia had not rushed to her side.

They were still for a moment before they heard a familiar voice call out.

"General, Rey, are you in there?" Poe's voice was urgent behind the barrier. Rey quickly found her way to the door and it slid open. She stepped out, feeling Poe's hand firmly grip her elbow.

"We need to go!"

Finding Poe's eyes, Rey saw the fear, a look foreign on the pilot. Leia followed in suit, tucking something in her pocket and gripping Rey to move her out of the entryway.

Poe wasted no time, pulling them, startled as they were, and they rushed down the hall in an almost fashionable unison, the rest of the militia on the base following in turn. It was complete chaos outside, however, and Rey watched as pilots quickly began taking off. The Resistance's response to whatever danger had occurred had been almost instantaneous.

"Poe, what is happening?" Rey finally asked, her eyes searching the hangar, looking for what she could pilot that was vacant to help.

Poe turned his head briefly to shout as he ran. "First Order is firing their superweapon on planets! A distress signal was made from Takodana. Han, he's—"

Rey felt Leia stiffen beside her. "Han is there?"

Poe didn't respond, he ran up to the wing of his X-wing Starfighter and turned to urge them to the row of escape shuttles with his hand.

"Get yourselves to safety." He shouted, "We can't be sure where they are firing next. It's not safe here." Poe climbed up and strapped himself in. Rey and Leia moved backwards quickly, finding themselves far enough away that when Poe's engine roared, and exalted him upwards, they had moved back enough to just feel the gusts.

Leia gripped Rey's arm, wasting no time.

"We need to get you on a shuttle, now. Get you out of here—"

"No!" Rey argued. "I can help!"

"Rey, you know what is happening. And that child needs you more than this moment does— And if planets are being targeted for destruction, the safest place for you is space." Leia shook her head, as if she couldn't believe she had suggested it.

"Leia—"

"Go! Now! I'll send for you soon, watch for my signal." Leia was done arguing, she pulled something from her pocket and curled Rey's fingers around it. She turned and left, urgently connecting with Connix and out of Rey's sight.

Her eyes turned down to her palm, uncurling her fingers, and watching the beacon glow brighter, then dim, rhythmically fluctuating.

Go up there…and wait? No.

It wasn't long before she found the ship her eye had noticed earlier as they ran, and got it to launch, deciding very well that she wasn't going to sit around, awaiting a signal for safe return.

She was going to fight.

A/N: I wanted to include much more into this chapter, but this is a good place to leave off, otherwise the chapter would have been 10,000 words long before we got beyond the backstory of what happened.

Oh well. See you next time!