Star Wars: A dyad in the Force 「A Reylo FanFiction」

Act 24: Defying Rey - Renege upon

Disclaimers: All rights reserved of the original "Star Wars" Characters, Names, Places, etc., to George Lucas / Disney. I pledge to return all characters after the story is complete.

Warning: Major Spoilers of TRoS.

Note: This is a Reylo FanFiction.

「Part IV」

「Act 24: Defying Rey 」

「Renege upon 」

Your tears don't fall, they crash around me

Her conscious calls, the guilt of coming home

This battered room I've seen before

The broken bones heal no more, no more

With my last breath, I'm choking

Will this ever end I'm hoping

My world is over one more time

...

Would she hear me, if I called her name?

Would she hold me, if she knew my shame?

There's always something different going on

The path I walk is in the wrong direction...

Millennium Falcon, 36 ABY

"You're alive?" Rey snarled, making no effort to hide the betrayal in her voice.

"I am..." Ben admitted.

Rey was enraged. The problem wasn't that he didn't understand—it was that he acted as though he didn't care. After all the pain they had gone through together, Rey had believed that Ben—even as Kylo Ren—had grasped her perspective. The bond they shared should have allowed him to read her like an open book, yet he had decided to lie for the first time in the most crucial moment. "Why did you let me believe you were dead?" she demanded, trying to keep her uncontrollable anger in check.

"I'm sorry, but I had my reasons," Ben answered distantly; she knew he was avoiding confrontation.

Would the truth imprison her, or would it set her free? One thing he knew for sure, the truth would hurt. Facing the truth, facing reality, was the hardest challenge that could be overcome. He knew that as a certainty. Many people ran from it, hid away, and tried to forget about it. However, he knew that no one could improve themselves without facing the truth, even when it hurt them.

Ben had spent an entire year hiding his existence from Rey. He had used his remaining strength to keep their connection closed. He had believed it was safer that way, not for himself, but for Rey.

But now he knew he had been running, fleeing from the truth. Lying to himself, pretending that he could make everything right by hurting himself.

Rey's rebellious fighting spirit would never have allowed anyone to hurt Ben Solo if he had returned from Exegol with her. He had known that in his core, primal part of his being, so he had stayed away. Rey had spared his life many times; she had even saved his life at the cost of her own. He knew—he knew it well, too well—that she would compromise everything and everyone to protect him now that he had turned from the Darkside.