Chapter 1
The Finalizer: Runaway

They were planning to kill him. As Kylo stared out the viewport of the Finalizer, this thought stayed at the forefront of his mind.

Even without the Force, Kylo would've been able to sense it. Hux wasn't gifted with great cunning. It was plain as day that Hux wished to supplant him. The troopers were loyal to Hux. A coupe was only a matter of time.

They feared him, but after his embarrassing defeat on Crait they did not respect him. They saw him as a petulant child. They barely tolerated him as Snoke's second in command, let alone his successor.

Kylo was going to burn it all down.

And then... What? What would he leave in its place?

Ben thought of Rey. How much easier it would have been has she been at his side? Then, everything would have made sense. Everything made so much more sense when he had been with her. Even if he questioned their bond, he never questioned her. He had never allowed himself to be so open to anyone and yet... It had felt natural. Right.

What was he supposed to do now?

Ben didn't care about the First Order. If he were honest, he never cared. He had wanted to please his master, the only one who had ever believed in him, who had never abandoned him. The very master he'd cut in half.

For her.

Rey had believed in him. Believed that there was something of worth.

But even she had abandoned him eventually.

"Supreme Leader."

Kylo looked away from the viewport, turning to face General Hux.

"We've intercepted a ship. VCX-100 Light Freighter. We've detained the Captain on suspicion of smuggling and possibly collaboration. The cargo was... Suspect." General Hux took a step towards Kylo.

Holding his head high, Kylo took a deep breath. He was still adjusting to being consulted on such matters. "Why are you bringing this to me? Is it not something you can handle?"

"The Captain was armed." Hux held out the weapon. "With this."

With gloved hand, Kylo accepted the lightsaber. He held it in his hands. He had not seen it for years, but it was so familiar to him. There was no mistaking it. Leather-clad fingers curled around the hilt. "Take me to her."

Kylo stormed after Hux towards the cellblock. As they moved closer, Kylo thought about his helmet. He had been going without for months. Now, he regretted the decision to destroy it.

Two Stormtroopers flanked the cell. "Leave," Kylo growled. The troopers did not hesitate to scatter. Kylo turned his smouldering gaze towards Hux. "I said leave." He flung out his hand, sending the General flying down the corridor.

He turned his attention back to the cell, dimly aware of Hux scrambling away. He pressed the controls, the cell door opening with a whoosh.

It had been years since he had seen her, but she did not look much different. He walked slowly into the cell, eyeing the slight, green-skinned woman. "Captain Syndulla."

She raised her chin defiantly. "Supreme Leader Ren, is it?" Her Rylothian accent was thicker than he remembered. She had spent time with her mother's people since he'd seen her last. "You've gone up in the world."

Her blue eyes drifted to her lightsaber. "If we are to do this, I would like for that back. Make it a duel rather than an execution."

Ben looked at the lightsaber and flinched slightly. He was taken aback not by the request, but the idea he would execute her. It disturbed him that it hadn't been his first instinct. "You're smuggling now? Hardly fitting a Jedi."

She shook her head slowly. "Not much is expected of a Jedi anymore."

"You're smuggling for the Resistance."

"I'm smuggling for a lot of people," She retorted.

"You don't even bother to deny it." Kylo held out the lightsaber, extending it towards her slender throat, still unignited. She closed her eyes, grimacing. "You're very brave. And very stupid."

"I have very little to lose," She whispered. "By your reputation, I have been living on borrowed time for quite a while."

It would have been so easy to ignite the blade, to slice open her throat. Instead, Ben withdrew the saber. Without another word, he turned and stormed out of the cell.

Hux was lingering. "Supreme Leader..." He approached hesitantly.

"Confiscate her cargo. I will deal with her personally."

Kaila Syndulla.

Ben laid back on his bed and wondered the last time that name had come to his mind. He supposed he hadn't given her a thought since he'd joined Snoke. He wondered why he hadn't. She was an obvious target. She and Ezra Bridger had been the only Jedi he knew of with Skywalker in exile. They were good at keeping a low profile. It made it easy to put it out of his mind.

He remembered when he first met her. He had been seven and another nanny had left his parents' employ. It was difficult to find someone to deal with a rambunctious, Force wielding child. Whenever he drove one off, he ended up left with Threepio, which was never fun. But that time... That was when he met Kaila. She was a skinny twelve-year-old who looked like she would crack after an hour with him. He'd laughed and tried to topple a shelf of knick-knacks. She'd simply raised a hand and lifted him off his feet. She turned him over in the air.

"Listen kid, we're going to have some rules around here. You can't mess with me."

He hadn't met anyone even close to his age who could use the Force. His uncle had been searching for potential Force sensitives, but it was very slow. They had all gone into deep hiding. Kaila had been under his nose the whole time. She had been born not long before the Battle of Yavin, the daughter of Jedi Kanan Jarrus. He had been killed while General Syndulla was pregnant. Master Bridger- the only person capable of shielding a Force-sensitive child- had hidden with Kaila in a colony of Twi'lek refugees, while her mother fought with the Rebellion.

While Luke did eventually find more Force sensitives- some even closer to Ben's age- Kaila remained his confidant. Unlike the others, she knew what it was like to be left for the war.

"We are children of the Rebellion, Ben. Consider yourself lucky you were born when hostilities were over."

The children of the Rebellion. What miserable people would bring children into the world, only to abandon them to a cause?

He felt a stab of anger. The children of the Rebellion were abandoned. And some of the children of the Rebellion abandoned people too.

Kylo raised his head and looked to the lightsaber, on the table across the room. He should have stormed back into her cell and taken her smug, green head off.

Ben was having trouble sleeping. He hadn't had a proper night's rest since Crait.

No, before that. Since Jakku. Since the droid and confronting his father and...

"Rey..." The name slipped out of Ben's lips before he had a chance to stop himself. It didn't matter if he said it audibly. He was screaming it across the Force.

He grimaced as he felt like he was tossed against a wall. The air was knocked out of him from the jolt. It felt so unnatural. Ben could feel the connection. Even if Snoke had caused it, his death had not ended it. He was still tethered to Rey. But she refused to allow him in.

She was talented.

Ben remembered the look in her eyes the last time he saw her. That cold determination. That disappointment.

It had been worse when they had actually been together, in the throne room on Supremacy. She had believed him in. But he'd let her down.

Kylo clutched at his chest, fingers digging into the flesh. What was he feeling? What was this sick, disgusted sensation going through him like waves?

He had been feeling like this for weeks. He'd first felt it in the moments after he killed Solo.

He rose from his bed and donned his robes. He grabbed his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He needed to do something. He wasn't sure what. He paused for a moment, seeing the twisted remains of his grandfather's helmet.

He shook his head, ignoring the shame that washed over him at the sight. He strode out of his chambers and into the corridor.

Kylo's first thought was to go through with it: to go to Kaila's cell and kill her. She was his past. Hadn't he been telling Rey to let go of the past? Why was it so easy for him to say it to her, but impossible for him to actually do it?

Then, the memory of his father's touch on his cheek came unbidden to his mind. Caressing his face before he careened into the abyss of Starkiller Base.

Ben thought about his mother. He hadn't been the one to do it, but he felt like he had. If he hadn't led the team in, his wingman wouldn't have taken out the bridge. He as well as killed her, even if he hadn't been the one to fire.

He should've killed Kaila. She was a Jedi. She was a threat.

Then... Wasn't Rey also a threat?

He heard voices.

"Shouldn't we clear this with the Supreme Leader? That's a lot of credits." He didn't recognize the voice. One of the uniformed plebes.

"That girl murdered Supreme Leader Snoke." That voice he recognized: Hux. "We cannot allow this. Supreme Leader Ren would tell you the same. I want every bounty hunter in the galaxy looking for her!"

Something else coursed through Ben: Fear. Hux was targeting Rey. Of course, Ben had told Hux that Rey had killed Snoke. Of course the First Order would want her dead.

Ben closed his eyes and reached through the Force. He needed to tell her, to warn her.

When he was greeted by the wall again, his body seemed to move on autopilot. He walked back to his chambers. He grabbed his pack. He shoved spare robes in, his holocrons. He stopped at Vader's mask. His hand reached out towards it.

He abruptly moved his hand away and picked up Kaila's lightsaber. He slung his pack over his shoulder and strode back into the corridor, to the lift.

As he was walking down the corridor to the cell, he thought of FN-2187. The traitor. He had done this. He had done exactly this.

Ben shook away the thought and stopped in front of Kaila's cell. He opened it. She raised her head from the hard bunk, looking at the lightsaber in his hand.

He threw it to her and she caught it deftly. She rose to her feet. "So we're doing this?"

"Come with me," Ben demanded.

Ben heard her footsteps behind him. He walked with determination towards the lift. Hux had told him which docking bay the Ghost was being held in. He was Supreme Leader, he had the codes to get anywhere he wanted.

He heard the stormtrooper ahead, but he also heard the thrum of Kaila's lightsaber coming to life behind him. "You arm me and then are stupid enough to turn your back on me?"

Ben snatched up his lightsaber and ignited it. He slashed it across the Stormtrooper before he even had the chance to fully round the corner. He pushed the body aside savagely, looking over his shoulder to the Twi'lek. "If you see anyone, kill them. Don't hesitate. They won't."

When they reached the lift, Ben disengaged his lightsaber. Kaila- obviously reluctant- did the same.

"Do you mind explaining to me what is going on?" She demanded.

Ben cocked his head. "You said you smuggle for a lot of people. You're going to smuggle for me."

Kaila sneered. "I'd rather die."

"That can be arranged."

Kaila pulled back. She took a breath. "And what exactly do you want me to smuggle?"

"Me."