Interlaced - Reylo one-shots/drabbles/etc

let's not pretend

set right after the events of the last jedi

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"Chewie! I need help!"

The Wookie thundered through the metal corridors of the Falcon , coming eye to eye with Rey, who was crouched under a panel on the side wall. Hands caked with a greasy film and strands of hair escaping from her buns, Rey worked to get the wires back in their correct places. The battle on Crait had been won, but a stray shot from a TIE fighter had dislodged a component of the defensive system.

Chewie grumbled deeply as he bent down to her level, passing her tools.

Eyes flickering back and forth across the panel, Rey used her previous knowledge of ships and transports to meticulously reconnect wires and flick the right switches into their correct patterns. There was an incessant beeping somewhere aboard the Falcon, as well as the constant murmur of the voices of the crew that were on board.

Leia. Finn. Poe. The last of the Resistance.

Rey could only take a minute second to consider what it meant for them, their future, before drawing her attention back to the panel.

Chewie growled lowly above her somewhere, handing her another tool and offering a small string of advice.

"Yes, yes," Rey grumbled. "Okay. I got it."

A last flick of a switch and the beeping silenced, along with the thundering of Rey's heart.

They had escaped the First Order and were drifting far away deep in hyperspace, but the idea of being stuck again made Rey's chest tighten.

Ben.

He had been on her mind as soon as she had closed the door to the Falcon , cutting off the bond.

Snoke had been lying. The bond had never been formed, or even created by him. It was of their own doing, and the Force was still trying to bridge their minds and souls. Even now, Rey wondered what he was feeling.

She had closed the door because she knew in that moment that if she had lingered any longer, seeing the tears sparkling in his brown eyes, that she would have run back to him.

Isn't that what he had wanted? What they both had wanted?

They understood each other when no one else had. They had both experienced deep pain, a sense of longing, and loneliness that was nearly unbearable. But sitting across from Ben in the firelight of that mossy stone hut on Ach-To, she was finally able to bear it in a way that felt healthy. That felt right.

Because she had someone to share it with. Someone that understood exactly what she was feeling.

When she had seen the compassion, the care, that Finn showed the girl named Rose once they were all safe, Rey wondered if she had made the right decision to leave.

Her mind came back to her at another one of Chewie's growls, one that told her they were going to be okay.

Rey stood, letting the Wookie grasp her in his big furry arms just momentarily before sweeping aside to head back to the cockpit.

"Leia?"

The General was sitting in Han's old seat, her hands clasped firmly in her lap, her eyes reflected in the starlight that lay beyond the window.

"Leia, are you okay?" Rey asked softly, coming to sit in the copilot's seat. Chewie was gone, somewhere deep inside the ship; probably messing with the leftover porgs from Luke's island.

Luke.

Rey swallowed, holding back tears. She didn't love him, not like she had loved Han and Leia. It was different.