My Love, My Bonded

Chapter Fifty

Warmth. That was all Rey could feel at that moment. Pure, sultry warmth that helped her balance on the line of consciousness as she felt the silk sheets slide across her skin and the familiar weight draped across her waist. Instinctively, she nuzzled her head against the pillow she was rested against, letting out a sigh of relief.

She was rested but not tired, just comfortable in her surroundings as she tried to lull herself back into the dreamless sleep she was in. The years of having a strict sleep schedule prohibited her from falling back into that haven so she slowly opened her eyes.

Rey found herself safe in her room, the light flitting through the blinds lazily as she peered down to see the pale yet muscular arm she was accustomed to seeing on her in the mornings. She smiled. Life was good.

It had been a difficult yet very rewarding few years for Ben and Rey. As soon as they were able to get to safety from the explosion, they were whisked away from each other so their wounds could be healed but strangely enough, they both were totally fine besides some mental trauma that cast them both into some much needed therapy. She didn't even know what that was and certainly wasn't comfortable talking to a stranger about her feelings but soon she hit a wall and broke down. Ever since then, she couldn't believe that she hadn't had one for so many years.

Overall, Rey was happy they were alright. The First Order, however, was not. The management attacked Ben as soon as they got the chance, going as far to have a whole trial against him for allowing such a huge disgrace to happen, all when a Resistance member was on board. It was brutal, lasting several months until they finally couldn't handle him and cast him away as their leader. He was told never to show his face to them again. So that's exactly what he did.

Rey and Ben vanished to the Resistance, where they kept him at an arms length. They didn't accept him into their family until the First Order crumbled, only a few days after the new leader, Supreme Leader Hux, was crowned. He lept into action, guiding them where to go to access the weapons they could know use, who would fight against them when they tried to create a new democratic government and any extra information. When they found all this knowledge to be true, he was welcomed with open arms into their little society.

The only person besides Rey who welcomed him in instantly was Leia. She smiled proudly at her boy when he arrived although he couldn't meet her eye. It took weeks but finally, they were able to sit down and have a discussion. Ben wouldn't tell her the details of how it went, although she wasn't entitled to know, but she knew that he was heavily impacted and that they both came away from that conversation as better people.

Two weeks later, Leia succumbed to her fatal injuries and joined her husband and brother. Ben was crushed, as was Rey, and the Resistance held the greatest funeral they could muster for the fallen general. People mourned for days, weeks, months and it was hard to gain their footing. But they survived, stronger than when they fell.

Shortly after her death, Connix, Poe and Ben worked tirelessly on forming a new effective form of government that would help ensure no more outbursts. It couldn't look the same as the First Order or the Empire but it couldn't look the same as the New Republic, as that had broken down to. They figured it out and soon, Rey, Finn and Rose joined the three of them to help spread this to as many solar systems as they could, to get as many people and governments involved in this new way of thinking. Not all of them agreed but many understood the need for one and were brave enough to put their trust into it.

Once they were able to create an assembly of people meeting consistently, Rey became the advocate for problem solving. Her and her team would travel to planets unexpectedly to see what needed to change. They then would create a plan on how to do this, present it and see which of their representatives would support this motion or not. Her first presentation was child slavery and slavery as a whole. She passionately defended this case until every representative gave her the green light to go ahead with the action. The plan would then go off to Poe and his team who would make it happen.