Save for the resonance of water trickling down the riverfront, the forest went uncomfortably silent the minute Rey learned there was a small chance she could recover her wings. In response to Ben's revelation, every creature within hearing range of the conversation seemed to have held its breath in anticipation to listen to what she had to say.

But to Ben's dismay, Rey never responded; at least, not the way in which he had wanted her to react.

Her expression was, quite frankly, unreadable. He winced as it suddenly dawned on him the moment Rey took three steps back from him that he had gone against the elder fairy Maz's wishes. In return, he was also left feeling ashamed.

Shoulders squared rather tensely, Rey folded her arms over her chest, lashes rapidly batting as she just stood there across from him in utter confusion. The longer he was forced to endure that tortuously awkward silence, Ben felt more and more like a tortoise wanting to retreat inside its shell for comfort.

No, you can't hide from this one, Solo...

But - damn it! Upsetting her even more was the last thing he had wanted to happen. Come to think of it, they'd never even fought before - until now, that is. He had his own lack of judgment to thank for that.

Thankfully, in the midst of wagering war with himself, Ben was relieved when Rey took it upon herself to resume conversation; whether that was good or bad was yet to be determined.

"I- what?" Rey stammered, her voice rose a smidge higher at the final word. In the background, birds carried on singing carols, tempering the mood only by a little.

Swallowing with difficulty, Ben cleared his throat. "I - It's possible that -."

Rey raised her palm in demand for silence, and he immediately clammed up like an animal obeying its master. "I know what you said," she hissed, as her extended hand retreated to the crook of the opposite arm. "What I want to know is how ?"

Nervously running both hands through his raven locks, Ben sighed. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't." Shrugging, his arms proceeded to cross over his chest. "I was just repeating what Maz told me that day I visited her. I didn't know what she meant by it at first, but it makes sense based on what you saw in the vision."

Rey scoffed. "She said that?"

He nodded. "In a weird, sort of cryptic way - yes."

"So, you've known all this time and you now felt the need to tell me about it?"

Again, Ben swallowed thickly. Ensuring Rey that Maz had specifically requested not to inform her was an option if he were to place blame on the kooky elder, but he knew better than to stoop to that level of childish behavior. Chewing the inside of his left cheek, he glanced down at his feet as Ben shifted weight.

"I wasn't deliberately trying to hurt you, Rey," he murmured to the earthy terrain that his eyes were trained on. His heart ached at the prospect of betraying her in any sort of way. Then he gave her judgmental glare a tentative look, and her hazels were no longer rigid and icy as they were before. "I just didn't want to get your hopes up."

Gods, it was a lousy excuse... But apologizing wasn't necessarily Ben's forte.

He recalled what his mother used to say whenever Leia found him stealing strips of gator jerky from a jar inside their kitchen corner cupboard. He'd throw out whatever white fib that came to mind first in order to elude punishment.

Years later, he could still hear what his mother usually said next, as if she were currently the one scolding him herself and not Rey: Benjamin Solo, you're expressions never cease to betray your emotions.

In other words, he might as well had ' I'm guilty' scribbled across his forehead.

"False hopes or not, you should've told me," Rey chided. While there was still a gleam of anger to her reprimand, her gaze lacked its initial ferocity. Ben let himself relax upon noticing that, and his large wings drooping in motion with his muscles surely made the discomfort he had harbored all the more apparent. "You knew and yet you still found it appropriate to keep it from me. Had our positions been reversed I would have told you and not have kept it a secret."

"I know," he whispered. Taking a cautious step towards her, Ben bridged the gap between them, causing her neck to crane some as he drew closer. "And I'm so, so sorry for keeping it from you. I just couldn't watch your heart break any more than it has from this."

Rey sighed. "I know," she said quietly. "As much as I hate what you did, I know you meant well by it."

Ben shook his head. "No more lies," he affirmed, and then a weak smile teased at the corners of his mouth. Rey's did, too. "So - what's the plan?"

Rey took a breath, quickly wiping the tears beneath her eyes away with a knuckle. "Simple," she quipped. "We get my wings back. End of story."

"Okay," Ben grunted. "I agree, yes. But we can't just go barging into Hux's home when we don't know what he's capable of. He's had plenty of years to hone his abilities. We need some sort of plan."

"He took my wings," Rey spat, the venom in her tone punctuating every word. "I'll burn the whole damn tree down if I must."

Ben blinked in surprise. "At least let me scout the place first."

Her scowl deepened. "Why?"

"Because what if this ends up being a trap of some sort?"

Rey rolled her eyes. "It's not a trap, Ben," she groaned agitatedly. "Don't be ridiculous! It's likely he'll be out hunting with Gwen anyways, and even then I still think it's best that neither of us goes alone."

Sighing heavily, Ben began massaging the back of his neck with a hand, the other hanging free at his side. "Rey..."

"No!" She snapped. As she spoke again her voice and features gradually softened. "You're vulnerable as the raven. Armie has shot you once before - and missed on purpose. Don't think he'll be making the same mistake twice if he should find you snooping about."

Ben grimaced. She made a good point.  "Fair enough..."

Rey nodded. "Besides..." she added while closing the distance between them completely and wrapped her arms around his waist. In turn, Ben's hands settled on her biceps. "I think we'll be stronger if we stick together."

"And I want to believe you." His thumbs were thoughtfully tracing circles over her bare arms. "But Rey, you're just beginning to test your powers. If anything happened to you -."

Rey cut him off by pressing her pointer over his lips. When she was certain that he wasn't about to protest, her hand fell to his chest. "If I remember correctly, you told me that if I was able to succeed with levitation, I could do anything if I put my mind to it - and I did."

Seeing that Rey wasn't about to relent any time soon, Ben's jaw clamped down on his cheeks and closed his eyes before bowing his head.

"Good," she asserted. The grin on her face reflected the measure of satisfaction in her timbre when his eyes opened. "Let's do this, then."

Weeks prior, Ben would have lunged at the opportunity to destroy Hux in every way imaginable without giving the notion a second thought. But now...he couldn't help but fear the worst. Every scenario should the mission happen to fail flashed through his thoughts.

Would she be willing to take the other fairy's life if push came to shove?  And if so...would his love be enough to save her then, too?

**

Nearing the realm's less than pleasant outskirts, the large sycamore came into view as Rey and Ben carefully tread through the scattered limbs of toppled trees. Along the way, they passed the occasional skeletal remains of deer and coon, marking a graveyard-like pathway directly towards the front doorstep of Hux's gloomy homestead.

How could I have been friends with such a horrible monster for all these years? Rey thought to herself.

Her stomach began to churn as a warm breeze carried the harrowing stench of death and decay through scraggly shrubs and thorny vines to her nostrils. Enacting on instincts to repress the sudden urge to vomit, she raised a hand and covered her mouth.

"So, this is home sweet home," Ben dryly remarked as he trailed a few paces behind her. 

Unable to trust that her stomach wouldn't lose its contents from breakfast earlier, she simply nodded in response. Moments later she mustered the courage to speak and removed her hand from her mouth. "Yeah," she snarked, sparing a glance over her shoulder at him. "Isn't it charming?"

Ben snorted. She heard him mumble something like "Can't say he hasn't changed" under his breath, and she remembered then that Ben had also grown up with Armie back in the marshes. He never had much to say in regards to his childhood, but she could only begin to imagine how cruel Armie was to Ben in his youth.

Pausing in her tracks just before reaching the sycamore's entrance, Rey spun around to face him, extending a hand so that when Ben stopped it was pressed flat to his naked chest.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his brows furrowed with heavy concern. "Is Hux there?"

Rey's head shook no . "No, I just - I just wish that I'd known you back then," she stated in a voice that was a hearty mix of sorrow and regret. "Instead of us meeting years later, under the worst circumstances. Neither of us would've had to be alone for as long as we've been - and maybe, I wouldn't have been so eager to make friends with him ."

Lips curved ever so slight, Ben cradled her jaw between his palms, and the kiss he gave her aroused a blissful sigh from her lungs. Keeping the hand on his chest planted there, Rey lifted the other and laced her fingers through the remarkable soft layers of hair behind his head. Her mind began to spin with every caress of his mouth against hers as the kiss grew deeper.

She'd almost forgotten the location in which they were standing as the kiss dwindled to soft pecks, and found herself mourning the loss of his touch when their mouths drifted apart. As Ben continued to hold her face long after the kiss had ended, Rey couldn't help but become mesmerized by those soulful eyes of his.

His eyes - gods, their depths seemed endless; like he had been a part of this world for centuries rather than a few decades.

"We can't change what happened in the past, Rey," he murmured in a mystic manner. "Even the most powerful fairies aren't capable of changing what could have been. But what we can do, is better ourselves. We can bury the past. And we can grow beyond what we've learned from our own experiences."

That was something she hadn't expected to hear. As a matter of fact, she wasn't quite sure at first what to make of his advice. "So - forget and move on as if nothing had happened?" She scoffed. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

"To move on? Yes. But to forget, no - not really," he explained earnest. "The good. The bad. These things happen because they're meant to shape us. But allowing those tribulations to consume you means that you've chosen to let them define who you are inside."

The words hit her like a runaway chariot carrying a hundred tons of sweating dynamite. Reflecting on the day's prior events, she realized that he hadn't just spoken about fairies and woes in general: everything was about her .

And everything was so painfully true.

Her anger and bitterness towards others rose from her inability to cope with the scars from her past. Adding in the loss of her wings, she was merely the shadow of a fairy - with untamed, newly awakened powers - roaming aimlessly in the ashes of the aftermath.

What made it seem worse was the fact that Rey couldn't say whether or not revenge would ever be enough for her to move forward, and she wondered if this had all been a test. Which led her to believe that this happiness she was currently experiencing, was but a sheer taste of what she could actually have with Ben if she would just learn to let go.

She needed to forgive those who had wronged her. She had no other choice but to let go.

And she did.

The minute Rey closed her eyes and said the words out loud, it was as if the universe had been waiting this whole time for her to say them. With her eyelids tightly sealed, she was unable to witness the brilliant golden aura surrounding her illuminated figure. Simultaneously,  Ben was sent stumbling backward in shock. For a fleeting yet satisfying moment, her heart was pumping an intense, fiery heat akin to streams of liquid magma through her veins. The oxygen filling her lungs had never felt so light - weightless, almost. And carefree.

It was the same feeling that used to succumb her while soaring through the clouds.

"Rey," Ben breathed, his voice airy and laden with amazement. "Sweetheart, open your eyes."

Acquiescing to his request, Rey's eyes turned moon-shaped upon seeing those familiar tawny feathers with specks of gold in their quills on her back. "Oh, my gods, Ben!" She squealed in wholesome delight, clapping her hands as a smile brighter than the sun blossomed on her face. "My wings!"

Laughter erupted between them as Rey excitedly threw her arms around Ben's neck. He hugged her tightly while hoisting her body upright against his. The small celebration was cut short though when the sound of voices coming from a patch of trees in the distance caught their attention.

Armie and Phasma.

"Rey," Ben said, drawing her vision back to him, still clinging to one another in the act. His expression was knowing, much the same as hers.

Drawing a shallow breath, Rey gave the thicket a final look and nodded assertively without so much as giving the notion a second thought. Ben was apprehensive when her gaze returned to his.

"Okay," she smiled. "Let's go home."