Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of the recognisable characters of the franchise. This story is purely for entertainment.

A/N: This is my idea of what I'd have liked to see happen in the last movie. I wrote it a year ago, long before TROS came out. I tried to stay true to the Star Wars universe but allowing the characters to grow. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do. As it is my first fanfic, constructive comments are very welcome.

Chapter 1

Rey stared incredulously over Finn's shoulder across the communal area. She froze when a mere second earlier she suddenly felt Ben's presence and then saw him where the wall should be– standing with his hands resting on something invisible. From his stance she assumed it was some kind of table. He seemed at first focused, looking ahead and nodding as if he was listening intently to someone or something. She barely managed to register his stiffening silhouette when he rapidly turned his head towards her. Their eyes met. Only for few seconds. But she immediately knew he resented her. For not joining him. For not understanding…He had the same look in his eyes when she saw him last time, when they were boarding on Millennium Falcon. She closed the door and the link was gone. She believed it was gone for good. She now realised how foolish she was. Nothing seemed straightforward when The Force was involved. Now she closed her eyes and focusing on the Force she tried to close this link between her and Ben. She didn't know if she succeeded or if it was he who did it but she knew he was gone a moment later. Ignoring Finn's worried questions and his hand trying to stop her, she just left the main hub leaving her food untouched. With her head aching and buzzing with thoughts she tried to push away for the last 15 hours, she quickly started walking towards the medical room.

It wasn't really a medical room and it wasn't her room as well. Even with just a handful of them surviving the last battle with the First Order, there was not enough space on the Falcon for such luxuries as having a separate room for oneself. It wasn't really a room to start with. It was a rear cargo hold. With Rose still unconscious they decided to turn it into a medical room with a bed for Rose created out of the metal boxes they found on the ship. With not that many people visiting Rose it became the quietest place on the overcrowded ship. Even the Crew quarters - mostly occupied by Leia and the droids - during meal times was being used solely as a very busy kitchen. Everyone else apart from Leia and Rose, were supposed to sleep in the front cargo hold. But to be honest not many of them slept there. Most of them didn't sleep at all.

Rey entered the medical room and waved at Quan Bei – currently the only medic in their group. She quickly got used to his quiet ways and now in particular she appreciated the fact that he was not going to ask any questions and most definitely didn't expect any chit chat from her. She chose the only available corner next to the door and sank to the floor. She hugged her knees and rested her forehead on them. For the last, very long 15 hours they were all trying to get to terms with their current situation. After the excitement caused by their lucky escape from Crait wore off, they were forced to face the reality. The resistance was almost non-existent. No one answered their distress signal. They lost. Their hope was almost gone. Rey could see it in everyone's faces. Even Poe's. So many of his friends died for what seemed like nothing. She felt like an outsider. She didn't spend enough time with the Resistance to get to know people and for others to get to know her. After her failure with Ben and with Luke Skywalker gone as well, she felt as if she was alone again. She was surrounded by half-truths and weird perceptions of her that everyone on Falcon started sharing. Her chest tightened. Ben was right. She was nothing. And yet because she moved away those stupid stones and supposedly killed Snoke, everyone treated her as someone special. She knew she became their last hope and she felt like a fraud. They didn't know the truth about her connection with Ben and about her moments of being drawn towards the dark side. How could she even start explaining the fact that she fought together side by side with Kylo Ren (she cringed thinking about this name) and that it felt good. But now that she was sure the link between them was still working, she knew she had to talk to somebody. Someone needed to know. She sighed. She knew she had to talk to General Leia Organa.

...

Leia was tired. BB-8 and R2D2 were still unsuccessful in their search for any old maps and data about the old Rebel's base on Dantooine. Being cut off from the rest of the world meant limited information they had access to and the task was proving to be very challenging. On top of that, she just had another unpleasant conversation with Poe. Yet again she had to explain to him why she decided on a current course. Why of all places she knew about, she chose remote and forgotten by everyone planet Dantooine in the Outer Rim? The easiest answer, the one she again gave to Poe, was that she chose it for that very reason - because it was a remote and forgotten place. They needed to rebuild The Resistance – almost from scratch. He angrily claimed that going to Dantooine was the last nail to the Resistance's coffin rather than any sensible solution. It pained her that she had to be very harsh with him, mostly because she was partly agreeing with him. And yet in her heart she just knew that that was what they should do. Some kind of instinct was telling her to hold on to hope that the tide would change. She had to grab it – whatever it was. She suffered so much. Her life was like a never-ending battle – first with The Empire, then trying to protect the New Republic and finally with the First Order. When was it going to end? She lost Han, her brother and her son. And now being again on Millenium Falcon was proving to be very emotional for her. She sighed again. She was so tired…

Her train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by a shadow of someone coming to the door. She gently smiled recognising Rey. She wanted to talk to the girl anyway. She slowly got up and asked the droids to take a break and wait outside until she finished her conversation with Rey. Rey patted BB-8 consolingly as she passed it in the doorway but the droid looked disappointed when the door closed in front of him.

'Please sit down' – Leia said with a smile and hand gesture encouraging Rey to enter deeper into a room. There were no chairs in the room so Leia suggested to treat the nearest bed as a settee.

Rey hesitated for a moment before taking her seat. Leia sat down next to her.

'General Organa I…' – girls voice trailed as if she was struggling for words. She looked so vulnerable and exhausted.

'Please call me Leia' - Leia smiled encouragingly – 'With so few of us left there is no point in keeping the formalities…for the time being.'

Seeing that the girl was still not ready to talk, she continued – 'I must say I am truly happy you came as I am worried about you. Or I should rather say that quite a few of us are worried about you. '

She could see surprise on the young face. – 'Yes, you do have friends here. And we are all…concerned. I just heard from Poe a story of you barely eating and spending a lot of time on your own...Apparently it is possible in this crowded place.'- Rey didn't react to her little joke so she continued – 'And this morning some people also witnessed you behaving weirdly in the main hub. What is happening child?' – She stopped and waited observing Rey's face. She could see Rey's eyes welled with tears but the girl forced them back.

'Gen…'- Rey stopped and corrected herself – 'Leia…there is something very important I need to talk to you about.'