SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCH TROS!!!

Everything had gone completely silent. She felt absolutely nothing and knew absolutely nothing. She was cold inside and out. Why was she here? She couldn't remember.

Then there was warmth.

Light was flowing through her. She could feel it coursing through her veins. The heat spread through her body, it's source coming from her stomach. The warmth was familiar and comforting and her body was soaking it up. It was his warmth.

It all came back to her. What had happened before everything went black. The fight with Palpatine alongside her other half, Ben. The Ben who had his palm gently resting on her stomach. The source of the warmth and light, she realized. He was healing her. He brought her back to life. She brought her hand to cover his and looked incredulously up at him.

She saw the relief in his brown eyes that were finally clear from the clouds of the storm of conflicting emotions raging inside of him. But he was at peace now. He had returned to the light. Finally, Ben Solo has come home.

"Ben," she said as she lifted her hand to hold his cheek for a moment before pulling him into her.

Her lips finally met his. He returned the kiss with equal fervor. When they pulled away, she kept him close, looking deep into his eyes. Everything was finally clear, and she could see the love he had for her without him having to say a word. She hoped he could see the same in her. Then, her heart soared as his face shifted into a shy and awkward smile. It fit him perfectly. She wished he had been able to smile more, but that was something she was hoping to be able to fix in the future.

She could see it. A school for force sensitives who are taught how to find the balance within themselves, run by the two of them. She could see their family. But suddenly, that future was snuffed out.

Rey was overwhelmed with horror as Ben's grip on her loosened and she slowed his fall by her keeping a tight hold on him. It was too late though. His body began to fade away, out of his clothes which began to deflate to the ground. Unrestrained tears began to pour out of her eyes. It felt as though her very soul was being ripped in half at his absence, the bond between them severed as he passed into a different place.

"No!" She sobbed, grabbing his clothes off the floor and holding them to her chest. His sent clung to the fabric.

"Bring him back!" She demanded. To somebody. Anybody.

"BRING HIM BACK!!" She screamed, the agony she was feeling in her soul manifesting as she slammed her fist against the ground. After her outburst, her sobs began to quiet down. She finally looked up above her to see the sky above where her friends were fighting through the gaping hole caused by the emperor sending lighting up into the air. Some of the star destroyers were beginning to fall.

This victory was to the Resistance. She may have lost personally, but the galaxy was finally beginning to lose the hold the late Emperor Palpatine had on it. Ben did what he could for the greater good. If he hadn't saved her and went on living, no one would accept him or believe him anyway. The thought tore at her heart.

No matter how much she wanted to get him back and didn't want to leave this place behind for a chance of him coming back, she knew she had to. What was the point for him to sacrifice his life only for her to stay here in this awful place to be crushed by the falling star destroyers? She had all the time in the world to mourn him after this. Struggling to get on her feet, she finally managed to stand.

She called Luke and Leia's lightsabers one at a time and hooked them to her waist. She held Ben's clothes to her chest tightly as she hobbled towards Luke's old X-Wing. She set her course for Ajan Kloss once inside and she took off. Leaving Exegol proved to be rather difficult. She had to dodge falling debris coming from the war occurring in the sky. However, it seemed like the battle was coming to a close as she saw resistance X-Wings begin to ascend through the planet's atmosphere.

She followed their lead, and after making it passed the final layer, the trek through the way she came was intense, and took her complete focus. Once she broke through and was surrounded by the typical sight around her during space travel of stars and planets, she jumped her ship into light speed towards the resistance base and arrived not long after. Finally after landing, she allowed herself to think of him again. The emotions that she suppressed crashed down on her violently like the aggressive waves on Kef Bir. She saw Finn and Poe coming towards her ship as she lifted the hatch up and brought down the ladder so she could climb down. The two of them bombarded her as soon as her feet met the ground.

"That was amazing! We couldn't have gotten to Exegol without your help from the signals coming from Luke's old X-Wing! We followed your path directly and we got there," Poe said excitedly. That's when he registered her face to see the pain and sadness consuming her.

"Did you defeat Palpatine and Kylo Ren?" Finn asked much more gently, noticing her current state.

"Palpatine is gone for good," Rey said, swallowing the lump in her throat.

"That's amazing! And what about Kylo Ren?" Finn asked. He could tell immediately that it was the wrong question to ask.

"He's gone forever!" Rey said, her voice breaking.

"Well that's good isn't it?" Poe asked.

"No it's not!" Rey said furiously.

"How is that not good? He tortured us all, he killed Han Solo, and killed hundreds of others!" Poe said, confused by her.

"You don't understand! You don't understand a thing! You don't know a thing about him!" Rey exclaimed.

"I know enough!" Said Poe, starting to get a bit angry with her.

"Listen guys, lets just calm down, we have a celebration here, can't we just take it easy?" Finn said, trying to calm the two down.

"I died down there. When I beat Palpatine," Poe and Finn looked surprised. "I was dead, but Ben, he brought me back to life. He poured all of his life force into me so I could live, and he died for me. After our fight on Kef Bir, he finally turned. He came to aid me, and things didn't go the way we thought. So don't say anything against him! You don't know what he has been through, the inner conflicts that tore him apart for years!" Rey cried.

They would never understand. She could never tell them about their bond to each other, all those fleeting moments and the romantic tension constantly between them. The pining, and the first time they touched hands in that hut on Ahch- To. The truth of what happened against Snoke. How she wanted to take his hand. The way it felt to have that bond be silenced and shredded as he disappeared right before her eyes.

"I need to be by myself for a little while," she finally said abruptly, but she wrapped her arms around both of them in a tight hug before she left towards her training ground for a quiet spot to reflect on the day's events, and on how she was going to have to live for the rest of her life without being connected to him, without him being by her side.

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-A/N-

This is my first ever Star Wars fanfiction. I'm sorry if the characters were not themselves but I tried my best. TROS left much to be desired for me. I really enjoy all the Star Wars movies, including this one but, the only thing I would change if I could, would be Ben living.

Yes cliche happily ever after, but guess what. We got the same ending we already got. In Return of the Jedi, episode 6, Darth Vader redeemed himself by choosing to kill the emperor, but he was harmed in the process and he died. He became good, but he didn't really get a chance to redeem himself to anybody else other than his son.

Then you have TROS where a similar thing occurs. Ben gets redeemed, and he helps Rey and brings her back to life, but dies before he is able to redeem himself to anybody else. That made me mad because this happened twice. Plus Ben is so much younger than Anakin was, and it would have been so interesting to see him trying to get people to trust him.

I just felt like it was unfair and repetitive to have the same ending. Also TROS was the movie that turned me to Reylo/ Rey x Ben. When I saw The Force Awakens for the first time, I thought FOR SURE Rey and Finn were going to end up together. I didn't really have a preference at this point. I didn't like Kylo because he nothing other than evil to me, because I was younger when I first watched that movie.

Then I remember 2 years ago when I saw The Last Jedi, I was hoping Rey and Ben would become friends and Ben would be good, and I think I subconsciously shipped them at this point but didn't actually realize it if that makes sense. And then I saw this movie and I was like, the needed to have ended up together and be happy, and so I began reading redemption fanfics and decided to make my own, so I have this one which is a reflection kind of, and then I'm having a full on Ben lives one, and then a reincarnation one. Or that's my plan for now, but I'm very slow as those who have read my other fanfics know.

Anyway, thanks for reading this long author's note if you did! Also sorry, I kinda neglected platonic for my crazy dive into Reylo so I'm sorry!