He knows Ben Solo.
He suspects that he knows him better than anyone alive- better even than Leia with her mother's heart and Rey with her lover's heart. Leia has always loved her son, but her life and personalty did not lend itself to domesticity, and her time with Ben was shorter than it should have been. Rey is a young woman in love with a man who's come out of the darkness, but for all the hell she went through growing up on Jakku she does not know what it is to do terrible things.
Chewbacca does.
Han might have understood his son … but in all the years that Chewbacca knew him Han had never truly done terrible things. He had done shady things- things that the average citizen of the galaxy would be aghast over- but Han Solo had never killed a sentient who didn't threaten Han or something Han cared about. He had never taken innocent life.
Chewbacca has.
And so when Ben comes back- when Chewie is convinced that it is Ben who has come back and not Kyle Ren- he knows that he will be needed.
And so he waits.
Ben holds up well at first. He spends many hours speaking with Leia and Poe Dameron, sharing his knowledge of the First Order's strengths and weaknesses. He spends more hours training with Rey, showing her what he can of the Force.
Chewbacca does not go to him. Ben does not go to Chewbacca. They circle about each other, and do their best to ignore each other.
The ghost of Han Solo stands between them. The echo of an ignited light saber piercing the heart of the man who had loved them both as family- a father's hand touching a son's cheek … the rage and grief (and shame … yes, shame … because Ben was his boy too and he should have been able to keep him safe) and the guilt of a bowcaster bolt that did not kill and should have … or should have never been fired in the first place because if he had gone instead of Han Ben might have come sooner ….
And yet he knows Ben Solo.
His boy is still there in the eyes of the man … Ben had always been temperamental, prone to angry bursts … childish tantrums that had been backed with the power of the Force … and yet each time Ben had acted out there had been remorse … honest remorse. Ben didn't want to hurt people … he did not want to be a monster ….
His boy is holding on by a thread … trying so hard to be a good man, to earn the trust and forbearance (forgiveness is never going to be an option) of the people he's chosen to join. And yet … and yet there is an accusation in almost every eye … whispers of condemnation among those who know who Ben Solo had become … the life that he had left behind when he came to them … and Ben hears them even if Leia and Rey do not. He hears, and he says nothing even when the "accidents" star to happen.
A falling crate here … a malfunctioning engine there … the occasional poisoned meal …
Nothing fatal, of course … even those who hate Ben the most are not so foolish as to attempt to murder their General's son … their Jedi's lover … but they certainly have no problem trying to make his life hell.
It's nothing new to Ben.
And Chewie's seen it before.
Chewie knows that better than Leia because he was the one to dry the boy's angry tears when he was sent home for fighting … for protecting himself because no adult ever did or would. Chewie was the one to comfort him when he would return home with a bloodied lip or a black eye … and Chewie was the one who would drag Threepio along to warn Ben's tormentors- or their parents- when Han and Leia was conveniently too far away to interfere.
And yet this time … this time he does nothing … says nothing to Leia, to Rey … he watches and tells him that this time Ben deserves these things done to him because of the evil that Kylo Ren did …
that this time Chewie will not save him because Ben killed Han and he cannot forgive that ….
It's a decision that lasts until he comes across Ben kneeling in the hallway outside the Resistance Base Mess Hall, clutching his stomach in sheer agony and throwing up blood...
He carries his boy- and he knows nowthat Ben will always be his boy because you do not give up on family- to the infirmary. And once the medical droids sedate his boy and begin pumping his stomach … once they tell him that Ben will live … once that is done, he goes to Poe Dameron.
"This stops now."
"I don't know what you mean, Chewie." Poe's face is a study in innocence.
"Ben. This torture. These stupid little … pranks. They can say whatever they want about him, but the next time someone tries to hurt Ben I will kill them. No matter who it is- a cook, a mechanic …" he picks up Poe by the front of his shirt and holds him so his feet dangle off the ground … "a leader of the Resistance. I will end them."
He drops Poe and turns to go.
"Chewie … he killed Han Solo. He tried to kill us. How can you defend him? After all the evil he's done, how can you protect him?"
"He's family."
And he is.
No matter what evil Ben Solo has done as Kylo Ren, he is still Chewie's boy. He is still family. And he will never turn his back on family.
Ben is asleep when he gets back. It's the first time Chewie's seen his boy asleep since he was a boy. Ben had always been a restless sleeper- Snoke tormenting him, Chewie knows now … and then his memories of waking up to Luke with a light saber over his head ….
Chewie growls over the memories …
And Ben wakes up.
There's fear in Ben's eyes when he sees Chewie. It hurts. Even though it makes perfect sense that Ben would feel that way, it still hurts that they had reached a point where Ben would look at him like that. "I'm not here to kill you."
"I know that." Ben closes his eyes and lays his head down on the pillow. "I am not going to die, am I?"
"Sorry to disappoint you." He reaches out and brushes his boy's hair out of his face. "You're a Solo. It'll take more than a bad meal to do you in."
"But not much more. Kriff, I hurt."
"It'll pass."
Ben sighs. "You aren't going to tell Mom, are you?"
"Do you think I have to?" Leia isn't a fool.
"I'll talk to her. She has to just let me handle it ..."
"You haven't been handling it. You've been letting it happen."
"I deserve it." Ben closes his eyes. "Things would have been so much better if I hadn't woke up before Luke tried to kill me."
"You really think so?"
"Dad would be alive. There would still be a Jedi Academy."
"And you never would have met Rey."
Ben says nothing for a time. "I can see the face of everyone I killed. The Jedi Academy students. Lor San Tekka. That village on Jakku. Dad … You have no idea what it's like to live with the things I've done, Uncle Chewie ..."
And in spite of the despair in Ben's voice, Chewie finds himself smiling. He was "Uncle Chewie" again.
His boy was still in there.
"Did your father ever tell you how we met?"
"He said the two of you were captured by the Empire. That you helped each other escape..."
"That's true … as far as it goes."
"There's more?"
"Yes. There's more." He takes a deep breath. He has not told anyone this story in his entire life. It was a secret that Han Solo took with him to the grave. "The Empire kept me in a pit. They called me 'the Beast.'"
Ben's eyes narrow and his lips compress in anger.
Chewie takes another deep breath and looks away. "They fed me prisoners."
"What-?"
"The Empire kept me in a pit and threw down the bodies of their prisoners for me to eat." He clenches his fists. "And I did."
Ben reaches out and takes one of Chewie's hands and squeezes it. Chewie smiles; his boy is strong. Not as strong as a Wookie, obviously, but he was definitely no weakling. He squeezed Ben's hand back gently- for a Wookie and says the next part.
"They weren't always dead."
He's done his best to forget those dark, hopeless days. Often they attacked him- trying desperately to stay alive by killing him first- and sometimes they were wounded, dying, in great pain when they were tossed to him ….
But not always.
Sometimes they had begged for their lives … eyes wide with fear and terror … begging … pleading...
It did them no good.
The Empire called him "The Beast" and by the time they had started sending live bodies to him he was fast on the way to becoming one. He was going mad …
And then Han Solo had spoken to him … had spoken to him in the language of Chewie's people.
Han had an atrocious accent. It was horrible to listen to him …
But hearing the speech of his people … albeit from a human of all creatures … had brought him back to himself.
"You didn't have a choice."
"I had a choice. I could have died. I could have let myself starve to death."
He had tried that, at first … sitting in the pit trying to ignore the smell of putrefying flesh ….
He can still remember the first time he actually took a bite of sentient flesh … he had wanted to throw up, but he forced it down …
"You didn't have a choice. Not like me. I chose to become Kylo Ren. All those deaths … all the evil I've done … I could have made another choice."
"You did."
"Too late."
"It's not too late." He squeezed his boy's hand again. "You can't restore the lives you've taken, Ben- neither can I. Some sins are unforgivable. But we can try to do better in the future."
"Does it get easier?"
Chewie sighs. He wants to give his boy an easy answer … but Ben's no fool and he deserves better. "No. You'll never forget them. But you learn to live with it. It doesn't get easier, but it gets better."
"How can you forgive me?" There's desperate hope in Ben's voice.
Chewie closes his eyes. The truth is, he hasn't forgiven Ben yet- but he knows in his bones that he will. "You're family."
"We're family." Ben squeezes his hand once more and closes his eyes as his head hits the pillow again.
Ben killed his father … killed Chewie's best friend. Chewie had shot him with his bowcaster. They had been on opposite sides of a war …
But they were still family.
And in this moment, that's all that matters to either of them.
Author's Note: I was jonsin' for some more Ben/Chewie interaction so I went ahead and wrote it myself. :D