Kylo Ren stood watching as Snoke threw Rey around the throne room and then dropped her right at his feet with the instruction to kill her. Before meeting this woman, Ren would have been able to run her through without thinking twice about it, but now… with everything they had shared from their Force bond, their hopes, fears, regrets… and something more, Ren found himself hesitating. He found that for the first time since he couldn't remember, he was actually feeling. Ben Solo was feeling.

Kill her, she is the enemy! She dares to defy you! She is nothing, she has no one, put her out of her misery, Kylo Ren thought.

She is something! She saw something worth saving in me. She cares about me! I have someone in this universe that understands! Shot back the part of his being once known as Ben Solo.

She makes you weak you fool! Your compassion is your weakness! She is a weakness! Destroy her!

Just like that Ben was back on the bridge overlooking the bottomless pit on the StarKiller base. Just like that he was holding the lightsaber to his father's chest. He was trying so hard to fight but there was too much pain from the past. Han Solo had never understood his son, never been able to deal with the gifts he had been given. He had been more interested in smuggling and speeder racing than he had in being there for Ben when the whispers of darkness started to creep in. He had sent him to Luke. Luke, his uncle, his family who had contemplated murdering him as he slept. Ben hadn't been able to resist his darkness in that fateful moment on the bridge. but now…

Rey had opened up something in him. Something that made his fractured soul feel whole. He had connected with her on a level that he had never had with anyone. They truly were two halves of a whole, lost children looking for a place to belong. When he had touched her hand he had seen her past, had seen the pain of being abandoned by her parents, the horrible, lonely life she had on Jakku waiting for a family that she knew deep down would never come back for her. He had felt her desire to belong and…. he had seen what they could be together, and though he couldn't admit it until now, he wanted what he had seen.

He pulled himself back to the moment and looked at Rey. She really is beautiful, he thought, and not just physically. She was a true light in the Force. Ben then heard Snoke mocking Rey, berating her for foolishly believing that the monster known as Kylo Ren could be saved.

"You think he can be saved? Foolish child! I know his every thought," Snoke snarled at Rey. She looked up at Ben helpless yet with a look of hope in her eyes. Kylo pointed the lightsaber at her saying, "I know what I have to do."

I am going to kill her!, Kylo thought.

No, I don't want her to die, Ben thought desperately.

Why do you care? Kylo sneered back, Do you think that she truly cares about you? Do you think she feels anything more than pity for you? You murdered your own father! Killed countless others! Do you think there is any chance that she will ever love you Ben?

Your right, Ben shot back bitterly, I became a monster. I let my fears, doubts, and insecurities about who and what I was take over. I killed my own father! I let you and Snoke control me and you have taken everything from me. You are not taking Rey!

You are a fool! She is nothing! A scavenger! A nobody! Her death means nothing! Kylo roared.

Your wrong Kylo, she's everything to me and I am done letting you control me! Ben thought firmly.

Ben continued to point the saber at Rey. He was about to risk everything for this girl. If it didn't work… well at least he died trying to do the right thing. As Snoke continued to speak, Ben subtly shifted Rey's lightsaber so that it was pointing towards Snoke's side. He listened as Snoke spoke the last words Ben hoped to ever hear from him.

"and now he turns on the lightsaber and kills his true enemy!" Snoke screeched.

You have no idea thought Ben Solo with satisfaction.

With a twitch of the Force, Ben activated the lightsaber. It pieced Snoke through the middle killing him. Ben twitched his fingers again and the saber flew through the air to land in Rey's outstretched hand. She rose to face him with an amazed look on her face. Ben sensed the Praetorian guards rushing in to attack the two and ignited his fiery lightsaber. He felt the Force flowing between him and Rey and it was neither Light nor Dark. There was only harmony and balance.

He and Rey stood back to back in a ring of red robed Praetorian guards. Ben brought his blade up to block the 1st guards strike and could hear Rey deflect and attack from behinds as well. The two moved as one unit to take down the first two guards. The second wave charged them. Ben threw a vicious kick to the guard attacking him, then swung his leg behind him just in time for Rey to grab his thigh and propel herself into a kick that knocked down the 4th guard. The two were soon separated by the rest of the guards rushing them at once. Ben found himself fighting harder than he ever had in his life. His sizzling lightsaber cut through guard after guard. As another guard fell with Ben's weapon buried in his chest, Ben caught a glimpse of Rey fighting a guard on the other side of the room. She moved with the precision and grace of a dancer. She blocked several strikes from the guard then would respond with a counter attack. Ben watched the deadly dance in awe when he suddenly heard Rey scream out in pain as her opponent knicked her right shoulder, drawing blood. Ben felt a surge of blinding rage as he heard her cry and moved to help her. Unfortunately, two of the remaining guards chose that moment to rush him. He blocked a deadly swing that would have cleaned his head off then countered by locking blades with the guard and using the cross guard of his lightsaber strike him in the neck, killing him. The remaining Praetorian used the moment where Ben's weapon was stuck in the other guard to attack knocking Ben away from his lightsaber. Ben dodged swipe after swipe from the guard but without a weapon he quickly found himself trapped in a head lock by the guard's blade. Ben could feel the air being forced out of his windpipe, by the steel pressing into his chest. This could be it, I might die here, Ben thought. He strained his head as hard as he could until he could lock his eyes on Rey, If I am going to die, I want her to be the last thing I see. To his horror he saw now that Rey was also in danger of having a weapon driven into her neck. The two locked eyes for a moment that seemed like an eternity. The question hung unanswered between them. Is this the end?

The moment passed a Rey's face set in fierce determination as she dropped her weapon and ducked. She caught her lightsaber a moment later a cut the guard clean in two. She then turned to face Ben seeing the mortal peril she was in "BEN!" She screamed shutting off the lightsaber and tossing it to him. Ben caught the weapon and ignited it right into the guard's face. He felt the guard go limp and the pressure around his neck cease. He took a deep breath as he extricated himself from the dead guard's arms. He turned to face Snoke's throne looking at the body of his master that was now at his feet. The throne sat empty. It was his for the taking.

I am finally free of him, Ben thought, I am free, finally, completely free. I can make my own path.

Yes, freedom, agreed Kylo, The galaxy is yours now. You can be Supreme Leader, You can have anything you want. I made you strong. Don't' you see the dark is more powerful. It has placed you on the throne. It can give you anything you have ever wanted.

Ben didn't know what to feel in this moment. He realized that for the first time in his life he could do whatever he wanted. There were no parents to please or try to earn affection from. There was no Uncle that wanted to make him a great leader yet refused to accept Ben for the feelings and powers that he had. There was no Snoke whispering that it was his destiny to be a new Vader, to destroy the Jedi. There was just himself. Ben Solo. A lost soul that wanted more than anything to belong. Belong. That truly was all he had ever wanted. That was all Ben Solo or Kylo Ren had ever wanted. He turned at that moment to look at the girl who had given him his greatest wish. Rey. She really was the most beautiful thing Ben had ever seen. Not just physically but her light in the Force. She was everything he could never be. Kind, Forgiving, looking for the best in people even after they betrayed her, harmed her, tried to kill her. Ben Solo had embraced the dark looking to belong. How ironic that this beautiful creature of the light had connected to him so profoundly.

I want her, Ben thought, I want her to stay with me. I want her to love me. I want her to want to love me. I want her to save me.