The Redemption of Fate ~ A Reylo Story

8

Rey was enervated, but more than that she was grimy, covered with sweat from head to toe. Her lightsaber training was her energy's last rope. She spent all of it until she was weakened.  It was a method to distract her from the memory of Ben. He deserved to be alive, he deserved to be free of pain--and selfishly, he deserved to be there, with Rey. She deserved to at least feel his presence, if anything else.
Rey wearily made her trek back to the campsite, lightsaber in hand, casting enough brightness around her to keep her from going blind in the pitch darkness of night.
Everyone was asleep, even Rose who's tent was nestled besides Rey's. Typically, she stayed up until a little past midnight, but her torch had been blown out.

Rey undressed herself, throwing off her sweat-soiled garments, relieved to do so. She covered herself with a drab robe that Rose lent her from a seamstress a of couple tents down. It was a scratchy, earthy sort of material, but it provided warmth, and Rey was happy to have it. She fingered its rough pockets and sat down on her sleeping-bag bed, looking beyond her feet at the blanketed ground. Fatigued, she sighed. She missed the company of BB-8, now with his owner, Poe. She missed any company, really. As her pondering thoughts mused on, a sudden blue hue ignited in her peripheral vision. "Rey." A hungered, yearning call of her name, that rolled off his tongue like velvet. A cooing, thirst. A dire, desperate need. One that belonged to her, one that loved for her, one that had cared for her from the very beginning.

Rey snapped in the direction of the masculine voice. Her eyes widened, heart skipping beats, breath sucked from her lungs, tears forming in her eyes. She thrusted herself from the bed in a flash and met the blue glowing force ghost: Ben Solo. His body was translucent, the background of Rey's tent visibly seen right through Ben's body. A darker blue outline formed around his outer ghostly self, fizzling and popping from the nanoscopic molecules that held Ben's ghostly form together.
Rey tentatively reached out to Ben, unaware if she could feel him or fall through him. But before she could register, Ben's spectral arms were wrapped around her body, squeezing her back, as if he were touching her with his once-human skin.
"B-Ben. . ." Rey could hardly muster the words; weeping shook her violently. She could hardly breath, hardly swallow the saliva in her throat. 

Ben was trembling, too. Tears leaked from his own face, but didn't wet Rey's skin. He clenched his jaw, willing the tears to stop, willing his voice to remain steady. "Rey. . . I-I'm so sorry"--they pulled away from the ethereal embrace--"I tried--I tried to reach you sooner."
He softened at her wet, tear-moistened face, her anguished soul in desperate need of relief. The way she shook her head, choking out the words: "No, d-don't be sorry. I tried to reach you myself. . . I lost all hope. I thought I'd never see you. I couldn't imagine--" Rey groaned at the miserable sound of her voice cracking, breaking into a symphony of sobs. "I wanted so much to even feel you with me, and--and now you're here. . . I-I can't believe. . ."
Ben lifted a quivering finger, sweeping it under her eyes, taking away the wetness from her face. "You don't know how badly I tried to reach you. Every moment I did, I tried. And look, you're here now. I'm here, with you."

Rey blew out an exhausted breath, as if Ben being there had alleviated every hurt in the galaxy. Every mass amount of weight from every planet. Ben mended her heart--just his presence, his spectral eyes gazing into hers with an unimaginable passion. Any fatigue she felt was devoid in her body. Ben's company was more invigorating than plunging into a freezing pool of water. It was more miraculous than life itself. More lovely than any other element in the galaxy. It was pure and divine and surreal.
Rey's fingers tenderly stroked through Ben's ghostly hair. It lacked the thickness, even the softness, it merely felt like voluminous matter, but that didn't matter. Nothing else could matter. Nothing else ever would.
"Ben," Rey murmured, "there's so much to talk about. . . So much, it's overwhelming."

Ben nodded, then took Rey in his arms, which were just as muscular and consoling as they once had been. "Later--we'll talk about it later." His voice was warm. Soft, yet deep--powerful. His eyes trailed down Rey's body, then back to her captivated eyes. In less than a second, Ben's lips crashed onto Rey's. She propelled herself closer to Ben, until the tips of their noses were touching. Tenderly, passionately, they kissed, having forgotten everything they had ever known.