The Chosen Ones

The Decision

One of the things that Rey had forgotten was starting the day with the sunlight. Inside the dungeons, light meant the arrival of the Knights of Ren and the beginning of a new cycle of torture. So, when the first sun's rays of the morning began to make her way through the bedroom, she opens her eyes scared of what may come. She jumps up sitting next to Ben, the glass surrounding them had returned to normal allowing her to see the clarity gradually moving through.

The warmth fills inch by inch the room, the walls taking an orange tone matching the painting of the farm, which thanks to the light looks like an open window. The same happens over the bed, where the rays painted Ben's skin, completely asleep by her side. His heart monitor lights keep flashing at the same rate as his heart without making any noise, slow and steady.

It takes her a few seconds to convince herself that's reality, detailing every surface on which the sun reflected and filled it with life. She smiles to understand that everything that happened yesterday was true, she had managed to escape the dungeons with Lucas, the Chosen One, guided by a dog that had taken them to Ben, who had all this year been seeking them without any luck. Nonetheless, she's free, Rey repeats herself moving her lips, letting that image sink in her mind and bury her darkest days.

Gently, she goes back to bed feeling at ease, enjoying that forgotten sense of security, passing the sheets over their naked bodies so they won't be so exposed, especially if someone comes in to check that Ben's still alive after last night agitation. Despite being tired, she didn't want to waste any moments with him, especially when she can finally see him out of her dreams. She remains motionless, ecstatic about how light gains ground over Ben's body, allowing her to detail the scar on his face, somehow softer than yesterday. Rey lets her eyes wander through the shadows that cast the marked muscles of his arms and abdomen, no as prominent as they were before, a change that doesn't sit badly on him.

Even if she wanted to avoid it, her gaze is drawn like a magnet to his chest, that burn scar still reddish under the scars of the countless operations take away the peace that surrounded them and filled her with apprehension; a feeling that only increased with the spasmodic movements of the three cables every time Ben breathed, nailed to him like needles in a pincushion. Rey concentrates on the subtle movement of the skin caused by that machine hidden underneath, a paradox in itself, the life of a Jedi Wizard depending on the same technology they wanted to expel out from the Kingdom.

"Good morning sweetheart." Ben's voice takes Rey out of her thoughts. He's smiling with his eye close.

"Did I wake you up?" Rey apologizes, leaning on her elbow so she can see his face better.

"You're here," Ben whispers grabbing one of her hands and kissing it gently, sucking her skin for a few seconds. "You're here." Repeats, finally opening his eyes to looking his gaze on her.

"Here I am," Rey replies with a smile so big that it made her cheeks hurt. "Did I wake you?" She insists, watching him kiss the tip of each of her fingers.

'You were seeing the heart engine so intensely that you overloaded it with energy." Ben explains by pointing at the monitor screen, where all the bulbs are flashing in red.

"Really? But I wasn't trying to do any magic." Rey excuses herself, but he rolls to bring his face closer to hers.

"If you're the one who wakes me up, I don't care," Ben whisper, rubbing the tip of his nose over her cheek. "You always look so beautiful with the sun on your skin," Ben says kissing her neck, letting his hand slide over her skin and to Rey's surprise her scars don't hurt despite not having taken the medicine. "You can hardly see them anymore." He sentences separating himself to gaze at her.