Arken's Exchange

Rey tests out a unique Force enchantment on Poe

Written for May 2025's Year of the OTP Challenge. Prompts: "we're dating? since when?" and "body swap" Rated Teen. Mostly clean fun, but there's a bit of inuendo.

When Rey woke from an incredibly deep sleep, she knew immediately that there was something wrong. Before she even opened her eyes, she felt she was not in her quarters at the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss. Her mind quickly searched through her memories and she knew she had gone to sleep in her room the night before, though it had been a little later than usual, and she had been more than a little tipsy at the time. Did something happen afterwards that she couldn’t remember?

She opened her eyes and looked about her. She recognized the room she was in as one of the larger bedrooms in the barracks, the ones that were assigned to officers. It had a small window, a tiny dresser, a closet, and a ‘fresher. The room was bare of anything really personal, though she could see the orange color of a flight suit in the crack of the slightly opened closet door. There was a holo on the dresser, of a man and woman she didn’t know but who looked vaguely familiar.

She sat up and felt shock roll through her. She was naked! And… “What the frick?!” she said out loud.

In Poe Dameron’s voice.

She threw the covers off, only to quickly throw them back over her lap, covering up something she had never expected to see. Her heart was racing as her brain tried to work through what the hell was going on.

She and Poe had gotten drunk last night, but it hadn’t been a celebration. It had been because of a challenge. Poe had dared Rey to drink a whole bottle of Desert Bloom after she had bragged she had never gotten drunk no matter how much she drank, and she in turn had dared him to drink a whole bottle of Dragonberry Rum. Knowing that neither had anything important planned for the next day, the challenge had occurred with bets laid down by several of their compatriots. Leia had asked security to ensure neither her second-in-command nor her jedi-in-training would be allowed off the base until they were sober, then she had rolled her eyes and gone to bed. Finn had also been disapproving, but he still bet on Rey to drink her whole bottle without passing out.

Rey didn’t remember who had won. Or if either of them had. However, she did remember talking about Arken’s Exchange. It had been a tall tale in one of the Jedi texts she had brought back with her from Ahch-To, one she hadn’t believed but had been fascinated with nonetheless. She had remembered learning the simple incantation to the body swap ‘spell,’ which could only occur between two Force wielders. She remembered explaining it to Poe about half-way through her bottle, and she remembered reciting the invocation, but that had been that.

Or so she thought.

However, if it had actually worked, and she was now in Poe’s body, that meant…

She threw off the covers again and jumped out of the bed, heading for the closet with the intent to get dressed. She reached for the door and opened it, forgetting that all of the closets had full-length mirrors inside the doors. Suddenly, she was face to face with a naked Poe Dameron. She stopped short, staring at the image staring back at her, the familiar brown eyes wide with confusion and anxiety. She couldn’t help it; her gaze dropped downward.

Broad shoulders, well-muscled arms, firm chest that was surprisingly hairless, toned but soft belly, and… Rey couldn’t help but focus on the one body part she had long been curious about. She was far from an expert, having only seen holos of naked human males before, but he looked quite satisfactory to her. She started to wonder how compatible he would be with her own body.

Her thoughts made what she was looking at twitch and she jerked her gaze away, turning to grab trousers and a shirt from the closet. She quickly closed the door, hiding the mirror, and opened the top drawer of the tiny dresser. She grabbed socks and underwear, both worn with holes. She wondered if he could mend clothing himself or if he found someone to do it; she was sure he would have no trouble finding someone to do it for him, as well-liked as he was around base. Something told her, however, that he was quite capable of doing it himself, he just… never thought about it. Or more likely, he would think about it as he was pulling on the clothing, then forget about it again until the next time he got dressed.

She quickly pulled on boots, then as she started to leave the room, she glanced over at the ball droid plugged in and charging next to the dresser. She grimaced, but then left BB-8 where he was; he was powered down and would probably not even notice his master was gone for quite a while.

Quickly, Rey left the barracks, heading toward the caves on the far side of the clearing. Rey had taken one of the smaller caves for her own, next to the one Leia used as her quarters. She passed a few people who gave quick, half-hearted salutes toward her, and she nodded in response, glad that Poe was very casual in his relationship with the men and women under his command; she would have no clue how to act otherwise.

As she got closer to the caves, she saw Leia leaving her quarters and head toward the stairs that led to her office area, where Kaydell was waiting for her. Where was Rose, Rey wondered? She was usually at Leia’s right hand of late. Then she remembered that Rose was supposed to go on a supply run with Finn and Klaud. She ducked back a bit, not wanting either Leia or Kay to see her, then quickly moved to her doorway. She almost typed the code in without thinking, then stopped. She knocked softly.

“Poe?” she asked, once more startled as Poe’s voice spoke in her stead. “It’s me.”

“It’s open,” she heard herself say in a muted voice. Oh, this was so bizarre. She pressed the door release and walked in as it opened, closing it behind her immediately.

She looked at herself sitting on the edge of the bed, looking listless and confused. Only it wasn’t her.

“Are you okay?” she asked herself. Poe. She asked Poe.

Poe looked at her, eyes wide. “No, actually,” he said, sarcasm heavy in ‘her’ voice. “I’m not.”

Rey took a deep breath, noting that he was wearing her favorite pair of leggings and a sleeveless tunic. It wasn’t the oversized shirt she wore to bed, and she knew she had changed into that last night. Which meant he had changed clothing before she got here. She couldn’t help but wonder if he had studied her naked form in the mirror like she had his. She felt her face heat; he probably couldn’t believe how skinny and pale she was. No boobs, almost all muscle, no curves.

She focused on ‘Rey’ again, realizing he was glaring at her now. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I honestly thought it was a story. Not real.”

“How did this happen?” he asked. “I thought only two Force users could do this?”

Rey shrugged. “You really don’t realize how connected you are to the Force, do you?”

He brought up his hands to cover his face, rubbing it. “It doesn’t matter,” he grumbled. “What matters is that it’s only temporary, right?” He lowered his hands and looked at her.

“I… I don’t know,” she answered.

“You don’t know?” he asked, anger in ‘her’ voice now. “You don’t know how to reverse this? Or if it has a time limit?”

“When I first discovered it, all I focused on was the incantation of the exchange,” Rey admitted. “I just scanned the rest and I don’t really remember it.”

“But you can find it? Right? In one of those books?”

“Yes!” Rey confirmed.

“And where is the book?”

“It’s in Leia’s office.” Rey turned, ready to head out the door, but then stopped. She looked back at Poe. “But…”

“She’ll know,” Poe finished. “She’ll take one look at us and know something is off.”

“Maybe we should just admit it to her? Let her help us?”

“We’ll never live it down,” Poe grumbled. “Kriff, I don’t want anyone else to know!” Suddenly, he perked up. “Where’s my droid?”

“I left him powered down,” Rey told him. “I didn’t want to confuse him.”

“I trust him to keep quiet,” Poe said. “He could get the book for us.”

“How is he supposed to carry it?” Rey asked, folding ‘his’ arms.

Poe shrugged and sighed. “How about Finn?”

“He’s with Rose and Klaud.”

“Oh, yeah,” he breathed. “Not sure I want him to see us like this, either.”

“I bet he’d look at you a lot different,” Rey smiled.

“He’d probably like the way I look now, you mean?”

Rey paused. “No, I thought… I thought the two of you…”

Poe shook his head. “He’s not into me, if that’s where you’re going,” he explained. “He’s been crushing on you since day one. Although Rose is holding his attention a lot lately, probably because you’re not into him.”

“I… I’m sorry,” Rey said softly. “I know you like him in a different way.”

He shrugged. “It’s not the first time I’ve been interested in someone who will never look at me that way.” He focused on her, staring at her intently. “I always seem to fall for the wrong ones.”

Rey swallowed. This conversation was becoming far too serious. “We need to get that book,” she said softly, changing the subject back to their situation.

‘She’ nodded. “Right.” He paused. “Do you think one of us can cause a distraction, get her out of the office? So, the other can run in and grab the book?”

“I should be the one to get the book, since I know which one the information we need is in,” she agreed. “But what kind of distraction?”

Poe’s expression brightened. “Lieutenant Shargrass was supposed to have an eval on his assembly work today, just before lunch. I can comm Leia and tell her he wants to do it now. She has to go to the workshop for that.”

“That’s not going to mess up Shargrass, is it? Her showing up early?”

Poe shook his head. “Nah. He’s confident with his technique. He should be fine.” He cocked his head. “Only… you’re going to have to be the one to comm her.”

Rey sighed. “Oh, yeah.” She fished Poe’s commlink out of her trouser pocket, glad she remembered to bring it. After confirming with Poe what to say, she keyed it to connect with Leia’s. “General Organa?” Poe was always formal with her in a public setting.

“Commander Dameron!” Leia responded. “I’m surprised to hear from you so early this morning!”

“Uhm, yeah,” Rey answered. “I woke early and couldn’t go back to sleep,” she improvised, pleased when Poe nodded at her approvingly. “Lieutenant Shargrass wanted to know if you could do his eval now instead of at eleven hundred?”

“I’m not doing anything right now, so I don’t see a problem with that,” Leia answered. “You sound funny, Commander. You should try and get some more rest. Rey hasn’t even come out of her quarters, yet.”

“Yeah, I’ll try,” Rey responded.

“Oh, and if you see Rey before I do, congratulate her, will you?” Her voice was a bit snarky now.

“I will.” Rey keyed off the comm and frowned at Poe. “I won?”

Poe laughed and shook his head. “I vomited before I reached the bottom of my bottle,” he said.

“Huh,” Rey sighed. “I don’t remember that. I don’t remember much.” She laughed suddenly. “Why did we do that?”

“Because we can’t stand the other getting the last word,” Poe responded, then he rolled his eyes. “I have never met anyone that makes me so competitive, Rey. Even when I was at the Academy.”

Rey shrugged as Poe stood and moved toward the door, cracking it open and peering out. “It’s not my fault!” she argued. “You’re the one always daring me to do something.”  

He glared back at her. “You could always say ‘no’.” He looked back outside, then opened the door completely. “Okay, she and Kay are gone. Go get that book, then let’s get to my room so we’re not so close to the office.”

“How about we go to the clearing instead,” Rey said. “More privacy there.”

“Yeah, okay,” he nodded. “Go!”

Rey slipped out past him, then moved as quickly as she could to the stairs leading up to the office area. Her boots made stomping noises on the wooden staircase even though she tried to keep her tread light. She was not used to wearing such footwear, and the body she was in simply moved different than she was used to. She quickly went over to the wooden chest by the desk and opened it. The books lay inside. Now, which one was it in?

She grabbed up one of the newer versions, one that was written in an older form of Basic, then opened it to flip through, making sure it was the one that talked about Arken’s Exchange. “There!” she said out loud.

“Studying to be a Jedi, Dameron?” a voice said behind her. She stood and spun around to see Beaumont standing at the top of the stairs, his eyebrows high.  

“Uhm, no, uh…” Think, Rey. Think! “Rey isn’t feeling good, obviously, and asked if I could get her one of her books to take to her.” She paused. “Rey says since I lost the bet, I had to serve her today.”

Beau laughed. “Good for her!” Then he shook his head. “I knew I should have bet on her.”

Rey shrugged, then reached to close the chest before heading for the stairs. “See you later, Kin.” She had heard Poe say that to Beau before. Hadn’t she?

“Later, Dameron.”

Rey rushed down the stairs and headed toward Poe, who was waiting behind a tree next to the caves. “I didn’t have a way to warn you,” he said. “Sorry.”

“It’s all good.” Together they turned toward the jungle, heading away from the base and the possibility of running into more people. When they finally reached the area Rey used to meditate and train with Leia, she breathed a sigh of relief. She moved to a shady spot and lowered herself to the ground, reminded yet again she wasn’t in her own body when it wasn’t quite as easy to sit on the ground as it normally was. “Poe, you need to do some stretches or something.”

“Hey!” he argued as he sat next to her. “I’m not a youngling anymore!”

“You’re not old, either!” she shot back. She opened the book in front of them, quickly flipping the pages to the one she was looking for. “Here it is!” She used her index finger, which was much bigger than she was used to, to point out the section. “There is a reversal, but it also just rights itself after twelve ebits.”

“Ebits?”

“One ebit is about three standard hours.”

Poe shook ‘her’ head. “We can’t wait that long.”

“Okay,” Rey said, agreeing. She focused on the phrase written down to reverse the exchange. “Here’s the reversal. It’s a little more in depth than the one that started this.”

“I didn’t think the Force worked with ‘incantations’ and ‘spells’,” Poe said, looking at her intently.

Rey realized just how close they were sitting. “It doesn’t, usually,” she said softly. “Which is why I didn’t believe it would work.” She swallowed. “I’m sorry, again. I’m guessing you can’t wait to get out of that body?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. It might actually be interesting to be the most beautiful woman on base for a day.”

“Whaaa?” Rey was speechless.

“But I prefer looking at her, than being her.”

Rey swallowed. “Uhm, I like looking at you, too,” she admitted. “In fact, I had a hard time looking away from the mirror this morning.” She felt her face heat. Why did she tell him that?

“Were you naked?”

Instead of answering, she turned back to him. “Are you going to tell me you didn’t check me out in the mirror this morning?”  

“Oh, I did,” he nodded. “For a very long time. Had a hard time keeping myself from touching, too.” He shrugged. “But it just felt wrong.”

“I know what you mean,” Rey whispered. “You’re…” she stopped herself this time. “Never mind.”

“Uh-uh! You can’t stop there. I’m what?”

“You’re beautiful, too,” Rey said quickly.

He smiled, and Rey suddenly realized she wanted to see HIM smiling at her, not herself. “Let’s fix this!” she said, turning back to the book.

The incantation was just a group of words. They weren’t in Basic, though she couldn’t have told anyone what language it was. Probably whatever Arken spoke, whoever that was. Rey closed her eyes and called the Force to her, letting it fill her, the sensation warm and tingly. She opened her eyes and began to recite the words.

Nothing.

Rey looked at Poe, who had a look of wonder in ‘her’ eyes.

“I could feel that,” he said softly. “But…”

“It didn’t happen right away last night, either,” she said. “Maybe it only happens when we’re relaxed in sleep?”

Poe looked back toward the base, then turned to Rey once more. “I don’t want to go back right now. Maybe we should try and nap here?”

“I am really tired,” she admitted.

They both situated themselves so that they were laying on their sides facing each other, not touching, but close enough to do so.

“What if this doesn’t work?” Rey asked softly.

“Then we’ll have to go to Leia,” Poe answered. “Rest, Rey,” he told her. “Rest.”

She closed her eyes, sure she wouldn’t be able to relax with her mind as unsettled as it was. But she felt her body become limp, and then a strange heat that she recognized as a surge from the Force. She opened her eyes, very aware she was lying on her other side now.

And she was facing Poe.

His eyes opened slower, and as he focused on her a lazy smile crossed his face. “Hi,” he said, and it was so good to hear his voice when he spoke and not when she spoke.

“Hi,” she said back, smiling.

“Let’s not tell anybody this happened.”

Rey laughed. “Just between us, huh?”

He nodded. “We can talk about it when we’re alone on our next date…”

“Wait! We’re dating?” Rey asked. “When did this happen?”

“I’d like to think last night was a date,” Poe grinned.

She snorted. “Yeah, right.” She put her elbow on the ground and propped her head up on her hand. “Well, from now on, no alcohol. Okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll make you dinner, instead. At my place, so we have privacy.”

“You don’t have anything to cook with at your place.”

“Yeah, well I can cook in the commissary kitchen, and then we’ll go to my place.”

“People will talk.”

“Let them.”

Rey felt excitement roll through her as they smiled at each other.

“Just one thing, Rey?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t test out anything else from those books on me, okay?”

“No guarantees, Dameron.”

THE END