At first, she was sure she was dreaming. Then, as she began to drift back asleep, Abia Solo heard the sound again. It was the sound of crying, and it echoed throughout the palace. She crawled out of bed and followed the noise to her little brother's chamber. He was sitting up in bed, trying to muffle his cries by burying his head in his knees; but it obviously didn't do any good.
"Ben?" She whispered.
Little Ben Solo quickly looked up and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "Abia? What are you doing up?"
"I heard you crying, and I wanted to see if you were all right." Abia explained.
Ben turned from his sister. "I wasn't crying."
Abia smiled and sat on the bed next to Ben. "Is it about tomorrow?" She asked.
Ben couldn't fight it anymore, he began to cry again and wrapped his arms around his big sister.
"Why can't Uncle Luke train me here? I don't want to leave!" Ben sobbed.
Abia stroked her brother's hair. "It's all right. Coruscant isn't that far away; you'll be home again soon."
"Mommy and Daddy don't love me anymore. They'd want me to stay if they did." Ben sniffled.
Abia sat Ben upright and grabbed him by the shoulders gently. "That's not true! Mother and Father love you deeply. That's why they want you to leave, so that you can be the best Jedi Knight that they know you can be."
Ben's bottom lip began to tremble again, and Abia realized that she shouldn't had been so firm. Sighing, she gave him another tight hug.
"Uncle Luke will take great care of you, I promise. Besides, I'm sure the council wouldn't mind if we wrote to you."
"It's not the same." Ben said.
Abia pondered for a moment, before removing a chain she had around her neck. "I want you to have this necklace. That way you'll always have a part of home with you."
Abia slipped the necklace around Ben's neck and the little boy finally dried his tears and smiled.
"Remember Ben. No matter where you are and what you do, I'll always be your big sister. I'll always love you."
20 years later...
Abia walked away from the crowd that had gathered around her father's funeral pyre. Once alone outside, she fell to her knees and sobbed quietly.
"You should be inside." A voice said.
Abia turned around and saw her mother's most trusted pilot, Poe, standing a little distance away from her.
"I won't watch my father turn to ash." Abia managed to say.
Poe walked up to Abia and touched her shoulder. "I understand how you feel."
Abia shrugged him off violently and rounded on him. "No you don't! You've never lost a parent! You've never sat up at night, crying like a child, hoping that perhaps he'll come running to comfort you if you do! Trying to assure your mother that everything is fine, when you know it isn't! You don't have to live with the knowledge that your father was murdered by-"
Abia stopped herself before saying anything else. She shoved Poe away and started back towards her home.
"Where do you think you're going?" Poe asked.
Abia swallowed hard, not sure if it was the grief or the idea of what had to be done. "I'm going to find Kylo Ren and bring him to justice."
"You mean kill him?" Poe asked.
Abia looked over her shoulder at Poe. "I wish that I had an answer for that."