DYAD.

i can't let him die

The Resistance, at the sight of Kylo Ren's impending TIE silencer, did not prepare for what they were about to witness. The Resistance had won, but at what cost?

They gathered on D'Qar. They cheered and yelled and embraced, and then the silencer was seen from the tree tops, barely above the clearing, coming in quickly, too quickly at that. The trees were blown back by the intensity of the landing. Nobody aimed their blaster and nobody said a word, but they worried collectively. Who was in this TIE silencer, landing at the base? Was it Ren himself, here to destroy them?

The silencer was not supported by a fleet; it was alone and would not withstand the numbers the Resistance had. Thus, they knew something was wrong.

There was not an awakening in the Force, but yet, a disturbance.

Heads turned as the silencer landed roughly, scraping and pulling the dirt and grass from the ground.

Rey popped the silencer's hatch, sweat dripping from her temples, scars and wounds caressing her skin. The Resistance was silent, shocked by seeing her. They were prepared to cheer for her, but her face showed sadness, anxiety and stress. Something was very wrong.

"We need medical," she shouts, as the crowd of celebrating Resistance fighters focus on her, "Now!"

A hover stretcher is brought at the mere sight of Rey. Now people are shouting, running, scrambling. Celebrating with Poe in the distance, Finn sees Rey.

Finn struggles through the crowd. "We need a doctor!" He yells, his throat coarse. He notices her wounds and his heart rate climbs. His mind races.

He approaches Rey, but she is too distraught. Medical team members surround her quickly. "No, no!" She pushes them off from her, ignoring her wounds. She turns, signaling to the fighter, "He needs help. Now!"

While Ren's silencer was designed for him and only him, there was a seat behind, rather, a compartment. When the medical team climbed to reach the hatch, there lay Ben Solo's seemingly lifeless body. Rey was unable to pull him from the hatch, but dragged his body through the rough terrain on Exegol. She was exhausted and depleted. All she needed now was help, and lots of it.

On Exegol he had collapsed before her. She struggled for breath, for words, for anything—but could only cry over his body as she cried to him.

"Ben? Ben... get up, Ben..."

Her hands ran loosely but anxiously over his body, searching for a sign of life. Something felt wrong in the Force. The dyad, as Ben had described it himself, felt... off.

Now she was standing in the midst of a scared, bustling crowd. The lifeless body they saw lying in the cockpit of the silencer was not Ben Solo, the Ben Solo that Rey knew—it was Ren.

"It's Ren!" A pilot from the Resistance remarks shockingly, as if she had never lay an eye upon him before—as if he was a myth.

Ren was a war criminal. The Resistance was not obligated to help him.

Gasps riddles the crowd. Finn stood before Rey, but all she could focus on was Ben. He had known about the Force bond that she and Ren shared. Finn was more open, more accepting towards helping him. The others were not.

She whipped her head behind her, her eyes locking with a medical team member standing above the hatch of the cockpit. Rey's eyes begged. "Help him," she shrieked, "Please."

Few of the doctors looked at each other nervously before eventually nodding at one another, working together to lift his body & place him upon a holo stretcher. Rey watched helplessly. Finn's grasp kept her grounded her mind raced, as she scrambled to go with Ben and push through the crowd.

She wasn't pushing. She was standing still. Her ears were ringing and her surroundings were blurring. Medical droids approached her to assess her wounds. They began picking and prodding. The holo stretcher whirred past her, doctors on either side attempting to save Ben's life. She stared ahead.

The stretcher entered the base building and Rey stood watching him disappear. She knew she should've followed, but could not get her legs to move. She felt sickly; almost as lifeless as Ben. What was she to do now? Wait?

She felt a tiny sense of relief, though, that the Resistance was comprised of people good enough to see the redemption in Ben as she did, to see a helpless man who needed help. They saw General Leia Organa's son in the man that lay in a charred black shirt:
without a mask, without a cape, without even his stuttering, spitting red lightsaber. He was Ben again, and surely the Resistance could see it.

She could not help but worry, aside from her other piling worries, that the Resistance would attempt to arrest him: They would bring it to the board and aim to have him punished for his irreversible war crimes during his time in the First Order. She feared she was losing him now and could barely stomach the thought of losing him again.

Suddenly Rey heard a voice calling her from a distance. It was far away and small.

She stood in a bubble, a silent bubble in the dead center of commotion. Everyone around her was whispering, still celebrating, but pondering. Why is the Resistance helping Kylo Ren? Ren had been a perpetrator, a criminal, a murderous snake—so why help him?

Rey heard the voice again. Rey... Rey!

"Rey!"

Finn stares, his hands grasping her upper arms, his eyes piercing through hers. "Rey," he says again, firmly. "Can you hear me?"

She hears him now. Her surroundings focus. She is at the Resistance base. "Finn," she whispers, ultimately defeated and weak.

"Rey. What happened on Exegol? What happened to Ren?"

Her lips quiver. "Ben," she corrects. "He's hurt."

"But he—"

Rey interrupts. "No," she says strongly. "He saved my life on Exegol. I died defeating Palpatine. Finn, he gave me his life, and I—I owe him this," she continued. "I owe him his life back. I can't let him die like this," her voice cracks, "I can't let him die." Her eyes dampen. Finn stares helplessly.

Her voice broke in between every word. "He isn't Ren anymore, Finn," she pleas, "they have to help him. They have to save him."

Finn, noticing that Rey is clearly emaciated and delirious, softens his tone. "Okay," he says, almost comforting himself rather than her. "Okay." He whispers. He looks at his feet, gathers his courage then looks back up at Rey, sliding his grip off from her arms. She wants to help him, helping him is what she wants and needs right now. Finn would not let himself focus on anything else. "Okay. They'll help him."

She swallows. Finn blinks, his eyes darting to & from her wounds as the medical droids attempt to bandage her. She still stands, having not moved, looking empty. Finn struggles to watch her like this. He takes her shoulder.

"Come on," he says. He attempts to walk with her, but she is loose. Her knees buckle. "Okay," he breathes, wrapping his arm under her to carry her, "Okay, come on, Rey. Let's go."