"Yoda thinks the less time we spend in the living world, the longer we'll remain on the other side," said Ben.

"He doesn't know," said Rey. "He said as much half a dozen times during our last conversation. He has no idea."

Ben's sad smile caused her throat to tighten. He'd resigned himself to fading. Already, the edges around his shoulders were smudged.

"None of us know. We never did in life, either. We do the best we can. It's all we can do."

She wouldn't complain. She wasn't the one who's last shadow of life was slipping away. But this was so unfair. All of it.

"Rey." He reached for her, but his hands made no contact with the tears that slid down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I sometimes think it would have been easier if I hadn't come back to see you."

"I'm glad you did." I'll take you any way I can get you. Even dead.

"Take more risks. It will be OK." And he vanished.

Rey stood there for a long time, just breathing. What else could she risk? None of these ghosts made any sense. She felt the change in her surroundings before she opened her eyes. The breeze of Ahch-To abruptly stopped. The sandalwood scent of Kylo Ren's soap and the lack of sunlight was enough confirmation that she was with him again. She kept her eyes closed.

"Why aren't you called 'Darth'?"

"I'm no Sith."

Rey frowned. "I don't understand the difference."

She knew right where he was, even with her eyes closed. She didn't use the Force enough for tasks her other senses performed. He moved toward her, silent on bare feet. When he stopped in front of her, she reached out and brushed her fingers down his cheek.

Take a risk. Ask better questions. Right.

"The Sith are essentially Dark Jedi," he said, his tone softening at her touch. "They're a religious order, with as many rules as yours. The Ren are soldiers."

Rey still didn't see the difference. She supposed there was more gray area in the array of evil organizations that she just hadn't considered.

"You refuse to join me, yet you come here."

Her first instinct was to ask what he meant. But this situation patterned the others. This person she was with was most definitely Kylo Ren. The things he said didn't make sense to her, though. She opened her yes.

And immediately wished she had kept them closed. He had apparently just gotten out of the shower, because he was bare save a towel tied loosely around his hips, his dark hair still wet and dripping.

"You missed the shower. You would have been welcome."

"When was the last time you saw me?"

He raised his eyebrows. Annoyed, and confused. She waited. He turned, walked to his desk, and retrieved the necklace he had snatched from around her neck at the 42-year festival on Pasaana. He dropped it into her outstretched hand.

"I'm coming for you. Right now."

Rey's breathing had became shallow and rapid. Her face was pale, and she felt a little lightheaded.

Of all the times to solve a mystery. She had known for months now that the bond worked through space and time. She just hadn't understood what time meant. Time! She was still connected to this man. But they were not always in the same timeline when they met. Which meant this was Ben's past. And her present.

Which meant that he knew about this. He knew about these encounters. He had specifically asked her how many times her strange 'dream' had happened. He had known, and he hadn't told her anything about it. Yoda probably knew, too. They probably all did. A bright flash of anger brought her round.

Kylo Ren was watching her with a wary expression. "Rey?"

Ben had told her not to worry about these encounters. They must not end badly.

She took a step toward him, and he actually backed up. She must look a fright. Take a risk. She dropped the necklace to the floor. It clattered in the silence.

This time, she backed him into his bed. He sat down, and she shoved him back. Then she crawled on top of him, straddling his hips, and pinned his arms above his head. She had no doubt he was stronger than her, and that he wouldn't tolerate this treatment if he didn't want it.

She kissed him. It was soft, and hesitant, and meant only as a test. In a blink, she was beneath him, and the kiss had become something rougher and more desperate. Time was short, and they both knew it. She could find herself back on Ahch-To at any moment.

"I want to go slowly," he said between kisses. "I want to take my time with you. To kiss every inch of you."

"Then do it."

"We don't have time."

If you only knew how true that statement was.

She helped him with her clothes, enjoying his frustrated growl when he couldn't get them off fast enough.

He stilled above her. "Are you sure?"

There was Ben. His big, bad dark lord face had finally been replaced by who he really was. Just a man who had covered up his fear and vulnerability with a mask and pretended that had cured it.

She pulled his mouth back to hers, and kissed him slowly, with all of the passion she felt for him. He sighed and melted into her. Permission given.

She hooked her legs around him and reached down to guide him. As he slid into her, she shivered and dug her fingernails into his back. He gasped against her neck, and slowly, gently, began to move.

She caught his earlobe between her teeth. "I'm not breakable. No need to be gentle."

And he wasn't. Her body moved with him, and she stopped focusing on who she was, and who he was, and when he was, and allowed her hands to explore his body without any thought for how fleeting this was. Of how this was likely the only time she would ever have this with him.

The blessed bond allowed her to remain long enough to wring every last bit of release out of him, and for her own body to unravel in glorious waves.

"Promise you'll tell me about this," she murmured afterwards into his chest, as she lay wrapped in his arms. "Promise."

His fingers, which had been tracing gentle circles on her back, stilled.

Before he could answer, she was plunged into the cold of her hut on Ahch-To, her clothes in a jumbled mess on the floor, her body screaming at the loss of contact with his skin.