Betrayal: A Reylo FanFic

The Dark Side

Rey laid back, staring toward the dark ceiling and cradling Ben's head on her abdomen. Her fingers trailed and tangled idly in his hair, and she felt his thumb languidly stroking her arm. She felt peace, contentment, and, before too long, the incredible irony of that fact. She knew now exactly where she belonged, and she had meant it with all her heart when she'd told him she loved him. But it remained that she was a prisoner, as was he, and that their fates were not their own. The longer she pondered this, the more her trepidation grew.

"What will happen now?" she asked timidly, feeling as though she were breaking an unspoken rule by invading the aftereffects of their discovery of each other by worrying about anything outside of this room.

Ben sighed softly but made no other indication of his intention to respond. She could feel his reluctance to answer, as well as his efforts to gently shield her from his thoughts on the matter.

"Ben...?" she prodded gently.

"I'm fairly certain they intend to execute us," he said quickly before taking a long, shaky breath. "It will be a very large, very public affair. And it will be broadcast across the whole of the empire."

Rey felt the world go still around her, even the breath in her body and the beating of her heart. Silently, she railed against the injustice of fate, that she should only find this bond, this connection in these circumstances, here at the end. Then she took control of her errant emotions with a slow exhale.

"Why?" she wondered, then clarified her question. "Why so public?"

"You are the last Jedi, and I'm the supreme traitor," he said with a twist of irony in his choice of words. "Hux and the Knights can't afford for our punishment to be anything else, lest they lose control of every star system. Their control depends on our death."

Rey felt her breath shuddering within her chest and she held Ben's head tighter against her.

"What do we do?"

Ben lifted his head then, half rising at her side to meet her gaze, his eyes conveying surprise and perhaps mild chastisement.

"We fight," he answered her in assuring tones. "Together. Just like we fought Snoke."

"We had weapons then," she protested, "and—"

"We had each other," he corrected, dismissing her fears with a gentle smile and a hand to her cheek. "That's all we need."

She turned her face away, foolishly attempting to hide her tears from him. "I think you've stepped a little too far toward the Light, Ben."

"I can't help it. That's where you led me."

She looked him in the eye again, searching for his strength and willing it to seep into her. Overcome by her emotions for him, she reached out to him with a kiss, drawing him toward her and losing herself in him, if only momentarily.

"I've only just found you," she murmured, her voice breaking as tears escaped her eyes. "I can't lose you now."

"You won't," he assured her, leaning close so that their noses touched. "Believe in me, Rey. Believe in us."

She nodded, wanting desperately to do exactly as he suggested, but she kept thinking about the Knights and their training in the Force, not to mention the thousands of armed stormtroopers and Imperial troops that would surely be at a public execution of the magnitude Ben described.

"Together, we can overcome anything, Rey. Do you feel that? The galaxy has never seen what you and I can accomplish together."

"The galaxy doesn't have you to lose if I fail."