Keep Him There

Snap

That morning, as always, Rey was up with the sun. She had readied quickly, planning to mediate as she once did in the mornings on Ach-To.

Creeping out her door, she found the whole base to be asleep. Not that she blamed anyone, many of them hadn't gotten to sleep in since before the war.

But no matter how hard she tried, Rey couldn't bring herself to do so. Sleep was a rarity even on Jakku, a waste of precious scavenging hours. With the Resistance, sleep was even lower on the priority list, with everything from missions to inventory reports needing finished first. But there were no reports now.

So instead, Rey trained.

She was silent as she crept out her door, stopping to lock it before she left. It was another habit she carried from Jakku, never leave your belongings in the open.

As she finished up sealing it, the door beside her whooshed open. Leaning on the doorframe was Ben, his leg completely healed after spending a few nights in the bacta suit.

"Does everyone in the Resistance take so long to get up?" he asked her, a smirk across his face, "I've been up for hours."

"Have you now?" Rey smiled back, "We're not all accustomed to your regimented schedule, Ben.

"Yes, I see. I don't know how you guys ever managed to beat us."

Rey's smile fell off her face, "Because we had hope, not fear, holding us together. I wish you'd stop comparing us to the First Order. We're not them, and neither are you. Drop it."

"You're right, sorry." Ben replied. She searched his face for a moment. He had meant it.

"Where are you going?" the man began again, nodding to the bag at her side.

"Practice, would you like to come?"

"Better than staying here. Let's go."

Quiet again, the two walked out of the dormitory and into the bright morning sun. Rey led Ben to the same place she had trained with his mother. It was not terribly far of a walk, but far enough that once there she should be able to concentrate.

In less than a half hour, Rey and Ben reached the clearing in the forest.

"What would you like to practice first?" Ben bounced on the balls of his feet.

Rey took off her satchel, reaching into it and pulling two lightsabers out of it. One that belonged to Luke and the other, Leia.

She tossed the latter to him, "Might as well start off with combat practice."

Ben nodded, standing to position himself. A huge grin lit up his face as he did so, eyes silently daring Rey.

"Are you sure you want to test the abilities of the Supreme Leader, Rey?" 

Rey grinned back at him, just as confident in herself.

"Tested them three times, beat them three times."

Ben took a step back, "Technically it was only one time, the other two were a draw."

"Oh shut up!"

And then she launched at him.

Parry. Thrust. Block. Parry, parry. Block. Thrust.

Rey moved through the forms like water running in a river. A blur of white, brown, and blue. Ben was right there with her, with a slightly less agile (but more powerful) technique.

They continued until Rey's heart hammered in her chest and her lungs burned. Cold seeped into her toes, into her legs, into her stomach. Something wasn't right.