5. Chapter 5
Sweat beaded on Rey's brow as she reached for the outcropping above her. It was just barely out of range. She expended a little extra energy to boost herself with the Force and grab it. Heaving herself up, she managed to dig her toes into the side of the wall and climb a little higher. She threw a glance over her shoulder to make sure Ben's floating body was still right beside her. It was greatly taxing her, to keep him hovering as she climbed. Even though this sort of thing came naturally to her, after a lifetime of scavenging on Jakku, this would have been a challenge under the best of circumstances, which these were decidedly not.
For reassurance, she had found a cord amid the rubble on the floor and used it to tether Ben to her, each end of the cord looped around their waists. A sort of physical depiction of their metaphysical bond. It at least kept him close to her, though it wouldn't do her much good if she lost concentration and dropped him—he would likely take her tumbling down with him. And so the journey had been an arduous one. Luckily for both of them, it was almost over. They were nearly at the top.
She sent him over the edge first, allowing his weight to be a sort of anchor as she made the last leg of the climb. She dragged herself onto the surface and rolled onto her back, breathing heavily while Ben bobbed like a balloon above her.
"It's a good thing you're unconscious for this," she told him. "I don't think you'd find this very dignified, even if you have changed."
She wondered what Ben Solo's sense of humor was like. She couldn't wait to find out.
After another moment of catching her breath, Rey struggled to her feet. She was running on fumes now. The thought of sinking into the cockpit of the X-wing and letting her flying skills take her the rest of the way to safety was a light at the end of the tunnel. But there was one not-so-small problem she had to solve before she could do that.
The X-wing was waiting, right where she'd left it. The TIE fighter that Ben must have flown in stood at attention next to it. Logistically, Rey knew it would make more sense to take the fighter—but there was no way she was leaving Luke Skywalker's famous X-wing on Exogol. The cockpit stood open. Rey braced herself on the side of the ship, panting slightly. This next test would not be one of strength, but one of humility.
"Why do you insist on being so large?" she said chidingly to Ben.
There was no way around it. Luke's ship wasn't a tandem X-wing; there was only room for the pilot and an astromech. She would have to fit them both in the cockpit together.
She clambered up onto the nose of the X-wing and untied the cord from each of their waists. Then she carefully drew Ben over the cockpit, angling his body so he was more or less upright, and then lowered him gently into the ship. She assessed the situation from where she stood on the ship. He certainly took up a lot of room. It was something she took for granted, being small and able to sit comfortably at the helm of most ships. She suspected Ben, as Kylo, had had ships custom made to suit his size.
They had no such luxury now. At least, Rey consoled herself, there would be no witnesses to her actually getting in the ship—but there would be plenty when she was trying to get out. Gingerly, she slid into the cockpit and onto Ben's lap. Her legs did not quite fit the way they should, so her knees jutted up slightly, and she had an awkward angle at the controls. It was crowded, but it would do the job.
"Not exactly how I would have liked this to happen," Rey told the unconscious Ben, closing the cockpit and gearing up the ship for launch. "But I'll take it."