The Pivotal Moment

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A/N-story set after TROS. AU of course.

Chapter One-Saving Ben Solo

Rey's lips brushed his. Not innocently, like a tease, but hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. Ben was already losing himself, willing to fool himself that she could really love him. If it was a kiss of gratitude, he'd still take it. He didn't care, he just wanted to live in that moment, to let his senses be seduced until he couldn't think straight.

"Ben." Rey pulled away first, the dawning joy on her face compounded by the wide smile on his.

"Rey." He whispered slowly, prolonging each letter of her name as if to savour them.

Rey smiled, her heart fluttering at the sound of his voice as she clasped her hands to either side of his face. Never before had her name felt so wonderful a one, she thought, as she leaned in for another kiss…

But then something happened, something she wasn't expecting. Ben drew in a sharp breath, his smile wavering. He reached out to her and she brought one hand from his face, clutching his, while the other curled behind his neck. A small frown between her eyes expressed her confusion as she watched him suddenly fall backwards.

"Ben!"

Alarmed, Rey kept a tight hold on his hand as she supported his fall. She didn't understand what was happening. His eyes were closing, the light in them dimming.

"No….no…no…"

This couldn't be happening! This was a trick. Ben had saved her life so they could be together. She couldn't lose him now. Rey stared desperately at his face, begging him to wake up, to stop his cruel joke and open his eyes. But Ben remained lifeless. Her fingers were still wound tightly with his. Rey leaned over him, her eyes liquid with tears. She refused to accept that she was losing him. They were a dyad in the force. Two that were one. One couldn't survive without the other.

Rey refused to survive without him.

"Come back to me!" She begged him, just as moments ago she had begged the old Jedi to join with her to defeat Palpatine. But she didn't want old force ghosts, she wanted… "Ben, come back to me!" Her voice cracked, broken, edgy with despair. "You can't leave me now! I won't let you!"

Worse was to come as his body began to fade right in front of her eyes. Rey really began to panic. She let go of his hand and clawed at his shoulders as she used their force connection to keep his mortal body from disappearing into the nethersphere. Her tears suspended on her thick eyelashes as she closed her eyes, her lips connecting with his one final time.

Rey concentrated hard, placing all her energy into her force bond with Ben, willing him to fight and come back to her. She could feel the strength of it flowing through her. She focused on that energy, trying to draw it toward her, hoping to bring Ben's soul with it. The effort to maintain the connection drained her energy reserves. She fought the physical exhaustion, her teeth gritting together determinedly as she battled to bring Ben's spirit back to his body through sheer willpower alone.

But it was never going to be that easy….

If she couldn't bring him back, then maybe she could follow and they could find a way back together. Their unique bond had become so strong that they were capable of transferring physical objects through the force to each other's location. The last time had been when she had transferred Skywalker's lightsaber to Ben so he could defend himself against the Knights of Ren.

This revelation gave Rey hope. She renewed her focus, feeling the force energy flow through her like a bubbling stream. She kept her eyes firmly closed, resting her cheek on Ben's chest, his name passing her lips in a whisper until the whole world around her spun on its axis and turned dark.

Rey woke up to find herself strapped into an interrogation chair. She gasped, looking around wildly, until her eyes fell on a shadowy figure standing in the corner of the room, watching her. She stared and stared as her frazzled mind tried to process what she was seeing. The shadowy figure moved into the light, the metallic glow from his black mask proving as intimidating as the first time she had been confronted with it.

"This can't be happening." She murmured in disbelief.

She was back on Starkiller Base again. The first time she had been properly confronted with Kylo Ren. Her attempt to follow Ben had worked only too well. She had followed him just like she wanted, but back into his past.

Kylo Ren walked forward, studying her carefully, his black cape swirling around his feet as he approached. Rey immediately put her mental barriers up, protecting her mind from him. She had to be careful of her interactions with him. If she let anything slip it could prove disastrous.

"Where am I?" She whispered. The words were like an echo from her own memory.

"You're my guest." Kylo's synthesized voice came from behind the black mask.

"Where are the others?" Even though Rey already knew. She felt like she was acting a part in a play. The words already written for her.

"Do you mean the murderers, the traitors, the fiends that you call friends?" Kylo sneered. "You'll be relieved to know I have no idea." He walked around her. "You still want to kill me." His tone was curious now.

"That's what happens when you're being hunted by a creature in a mask." Rey snapped. She was impatient for him to take the mask off. She needed him to take it off. She was desperate to see his face…his eyes.

Just as she knew he would, Kylo set off the mechanised system inside the mask and opened it, raising it over his head, revealing the young face of the dark prince underneath. Rey couldn't stop the little gasp of surprise at the dramatic reveal even though she knew it was coming. She stared at Kylo's-no Ben's-face, searching for a sign of recognition, something.

"Tell me about the droid." He said, his sultry tone matter of fact.

Rey blinked a few times, forgetting what she may have originally answered him. When she failed to speak, a fine line of frustration appeared between his brows. He huffed out an annoyed breath.

"The droid is carrying a section of a navigational chart. We have the rest. It was recovered from the archives of the empire, but we need the last piece and somehow you convinced the droid to show it to you. You…. a scavenger." He said scathingly. He leaned forward, his dark eyes raking hers. "You know I can take whatever I want."

Rey had a sudden urge to laugh. She kept expecting Ben to suddenly announce he was joking, that the roleplay was coming to an end. It was only when he raised his hand, his eyes focusing on hers that she managed to focus again. She settled back in the chair, a smile playing about her lips as she easily deflected his attempts to probe her mind for answers. He drew closer to her, putting more pressure on, the force of his power butting against hers, before she pushed it back at him.

Kylo's handsome features twisted into an angry scowl as he stepped away from her, putting some distance between them. He was perplexed, confused as to why she was able to resist him. Angry that her mental strength was as great, or nearly as great, as his.

"I know you've seen the map. Its in there. And now you'll give it to me." Kylo's voice and expression hardened as he used the full force of his powers on her.

Rey tensed, fortifying the shutters on her mind as she deflected his attempts to pull the information out of her head as easily as a human swatting a fly. Hand held out toward her, Kylo's jaw flexed as he put more and more pressure on, his frustration growing out of control as she pushed him completely out of her mind, sending him reeling.

"My turn." She muttered.

Kylo Ren wasn't prepared for the mental backlash as Rey invaded his mind. He wasn't quick enough to activate his own shields and she was immediately privy to all his thoughts and emotions. The onslaught of sharing all his secret doubts and fears took her by surprise and she immediately withdrew, the effort leaving them both gasping for breath.

"How the hell did you that?" Kylo demanded roughly. "Only the most highly trained Jedi would be able to resist me like that." He was clearly shaken by the whole experience. "Who are you really?" He demanded, walking around her.

"I'm a nobody. A scavenger just like you said."

You're a Palpatine. A direct descendant of the most powerful Sith that ever lived.

Rey ignored the traitorous whisper inside her head and focused on Ren. He continued to pace, his whole body tense, his expression wondering.

"I wasn't expecting this." He murmured, gazing at her intently with those incredible eyes of his.

Rey felt herself getting lost in those eyes. "This isn't Ben yet…he's still hiding under his Kylo persona…focus, girl, focus." She berated herself internally.

Kylo Ren noticed she was distracted. His hand shot out and he probed her mind again before she was able to prop up her mental barriers. He managed to extract something from her head, but it was something that unnerved him.

"You know who I am."

Rey could have kicked herself. She floundered, wondering how to answer him, then decided to go with the partial truth. "I know you are Han Solo's son. You know I have been spending time with your father."

"He told you that?" Kylo said in disbelief. He sounded surprised, the news seeming to take him off guard.

Rey didn't answer his question. "He misses you, Ben" She said instead.

"Ben Solo is dead." Kylo snarled.

It was an echo of what she had heard him say to Han once before. The memory of when she had heard those words made her skin pale. It was right before he had killed his own father in an effort to cement his commitment to the darkness within him, to try and supress the last flicker of light that refused to be extinguished. Instead his actions had left him more tormented and conflicted then ever.

Rey tried to shake off the bad memory. Han was still alive. She was here. She knew what was coming. With this prior knowledge she could save both the Solo men from themselves. Her heart began to palpitate faster in her chest. Maybe that was why she had been sent back to this pivotal point in Ben's past, to stop him travelling further down the dark path that ended in his father's murder.

"Ben Solo is not dead." Rey said determinedly. "He's right here in front of me. I can sense your inner conflict. Don't be afraid, Ben. I feel it, too."

A silent yearning flickered in Kylo Ren's eyes for a moment-she saw Ben-but then the mask was back. His expression hardened. "I killed Ben Solo. Don't put your trust in Han, he will only disappoint you."

Rey wanted to scream with frustration. For a second, one micro second, she had thought she was getting through to him. But it was never going to be that easy. Their confrontation had thrown him. He was getting ready to leave the room, eager to put some distance between them so he could figure out his next move.

Rey wasn't having that. If she let him out of her sight, then she would have lost her chance to save Han. She would lose her chance to save him. She would make him see, even if it meant holding him hostage. Rey saw Kylo's eyes narrow as if he had gotten a sense of her intentions. He was fast, but Rey was faster. She was out of the restraints; his red lightsaber sparking in her hand as she pointed it directly at his heart.

"Who are you and what do you want?" He ground out angrily.

"I've come to save Ben Solo, just like he saved me." She told him.

A/N-thanks for reading!