Chapter 1: Wherein shit happens, but Only on the Metaphysical Level
Ben Solo had never been ordinary. From growing up with two war heroes as parents, to being named after a Jedi turned hermit, everything he did was extraordinary. So it didn't really occur to Ben that hearing voices in your head was an unusual occurrence. The voice wasn't always there, so he didn't really notice the occasional thoughts that weren't his own or other situations like that. Most of the time he wrote it off as part of the 'force' as mysterious power that his Uncle and Mom could use.
Soon Ben found out that he could use it too, and he was sent off to go train with his uncle. His uncle was, to say the least, an unusual teacher. His Mother had once told him that most of what Uncle Luke knew he found out for himself, so Ben wasn't surprised that his uncle was more than a little awkward when trying to teach him the force. Luckily there were a few other padawans to distract his uncle from him.
One day Uncle Luke was, once again trying to show Ben how to properly meditate, when Ben noticed something weird. There seemed to be some sort of weird connection in his brain. He didn't know where it went, or what is was, but he decided to investigate it...when his Uncle wasn't around.
That day had seemed to have gone on forever, and Ben had never been happier to be done with basic training.
Late that night while his Uncle was sleeping Ben tried again to feel that connection, and then he heard a voice in his head. The voice sounded female, and young; whatever it was, it sounded his age.
"I wonder how many portions I will get tomorrow," the voice was saying, "I still don't completely understand how this place works, but until they come back for me I'll do my best and work hard."
Ben had no idea what was going on, but he tried to talk back to the voice, "Hello?" He tried to ask mentally. He wasn't sure how these things worked, but if Luke could do it, then so could he.
He heard a mental scream from the other side, and held his head in his hands. "That hurt!" He said, but there was no response, then he realized he had said that aloud. He said it again, but mentally this time, and then he heard a slightly scared response.
"Who are you," the voice suddenly turned to anger, "And what are you doing in my head?"
Ben scoffed, "I'm not telling a mysterious voice in my head who I am, and I want to know what you are doing in my head."
The voice then sounded rather defensive and said, "In your head? I think it's the other way around, and you're the one who spoke first, so how did you do it?"
Ben shrugged, even though the voice couldn't see it and thought, "I saw this sort of connection in my mind, and followed it, and I could hear some of your thoughts…I have no idea why though."
The voice sighed, "Well, I guess there isn't anything we can do about it, I mean, we are probably light years away from each other. You could anyone in the galaxy, or a creepy old man or something."
He let out a huff and said, "I am not some creepy old man, I'm only twelve years old."
"Your twelve? Well I'm about ten standard years, so I guess we close to the same age."
Ben was surprised this girl was so young, but then he said, "I guess we are. So...what now?"
He could literally hear the confusion in the girl's voice, "I guess we go back to work, I mean, I have a lot of stuff to do, and I suppose we are stuck hearing each other's thoughts."
Ben agreed, "I suppose we should, although for me It's nighttime."
"Well, goodnight then," the voice said. And with that the mental connection sort of shut down, as if powering down a droid.
At this point most children would either run screaming to the nearest parental unit or perhaps naively go back to sleep. Ben Solo did neither. He sat there and thought about what this might mean. The voice could be an enemy of Uncle Luke's trying to get through his uncle through his nephew, but then why would they masquerade as a ten year old girl. There were much better disguises.
And to add to that fact, he was the one who had discovered the voice, not the girl, so he obviously had more control in the connection. He shook his head and tried to get back to sleep.
Ben turned over on his side, and tried to fall asleep so his lack of it wouldn't be seen as easily in training tomorrow. He decided that it make be fun to have someone to talk to. Someone outside of his weird family that is.
…
Rey had only been on Jakku for a few years, but she had already settled into a routine. Everyday she would go out to different crashed ships and scavenge with a few others who had taken her under their wing.
She was young enough that the others at the scrapyard felt bad for her, and they tried to help in the best way they could; by teaching her. Rey could only figure out the most basic of languages spoken. At the trading post, but she picked up fast on mechanics and engineering.
Unkar Plutt sometimes allowed her to check out the ships that could still run. He still had a soft spot for her since she was still so young, but Rey knew that would change as she grew older, so she took advantage of it while she could.
The other Junkers would also tell the young girl stories to cheer her up, but since they didn't know very many child friendly stories she mainly heard tales of smugglers.
Everyday the work was hard, and she couldn't find much, but she did her best and kept going, hoping one day her family would come back for her.
It was one of the harder days and Rey was 50 feet up a ladder on an old imperial cruiser when she heard the voice. She immediately screamed and almost fell. Strangely enough, her scream wasn't aloud. It was if she had thought the yell very loudly.
Soon enough the voice in her head was holding a civil, if slightly stilted, conversation with her. He didn't seem like a bad person, so Rey saw no harm in talking to him. And she was also very lonely and starved for companions her own age so she spoke back. It wasn't as if they could be closer, after all they were on different times, so they had to be quite far from each other.
After the voice left Rey saw at the top of the ladder and took a moment to collect herself. This could be a dangerous undertaking, but there was also the chance that she could make a friend, someone who could listen to all her problems.
With resolve Rey nodded and decided to keep talking to the voice, after all, how much harm could the voice do?
