Authors Note: You guys are awesome! Reviews are so much appreciated and I'm happy you're enjoying this so far! This chapter sheds some light on where Ben has been this past year, but still doesn't fully reveal the whole sinister plan in place. You're going to learn all about that at the same infuriating pace Rey does (sorry!). Also not fully telling you what went down between Rey and Ben before he left either, so bear with me! Slow burn guys, even if it kills us!


Ben looked at his Father once more, than his Mother, before turning to Luke (but not Rey, not even a glance at Rey). "To warn you," He said simply. "They're coming"

Rey rolled over on the bed, willing sleep to come to her.

"Who is coming?" Leia asked, her voice high with an unfamiliar emotion. It was fear. Han comfortingly grabbed her shoulder.

Sweat began to pool on her back, making her quest to sleep all the more uncomfortable. The windows were open, but weren't helping, and she was even wearing her skimpiest nightgown. But she still couldn't sleep.

Ben looked slowly to his mother. "You know who. They're coming for you, for all of us."

"How? When?" Luke demanded.

Rey groaned loudly and slammed her fists down on the mattress. Why had he come back? Why in such a dramatic manner? Couldn't he have told everyone the news in the privacy of their own homes and not some ball?

But that really wasn't what was bothering here. No, what was really keeping her up, was Ben's mysterious part in all this.

"I don't know exactly when or how. I just know they're going to strike, soon."

Han narrowed his eyes at his son. "And how, exactly, do you know all this Ben?"

Finally, a bit of human emotion entered the young Solo's face. His cold indifference faltered, if only for a minute, and the grim line of his lips curved downward. "Because…I was with them, for some time."

"With them?" Leia exclaimed. "What does that even mean?"

"We should leave," Luka advised and Rey felt his hand at her elbow. "We shouldn't be discussing this here."

Rey rose from the bed and rubbed her eyes. It was still too late, but at the same time too early, and she was unsure what to do. An irrational-extremely irrational-part of her felt like going to the stables and preparing BB8. To saddle him up and head straight to the Solo manor and demanded answers of the youngest family member.

He never enjoyed sleeping and, though she wasn't entirely sure, Rey would bet her soul that Ben was up and awake just like her.

Rey knew she should have been quiet and let Luke lead her out of the ballroom. But Ben's presence, her own confusion over everything, had her heeled feet glued to the tiled floor. "Poe said we were going to war," She heard herself saying. "That people called the First Order were going to go to war with us."

Ben's eyes snapped towards her. "What does he know?" He demanded, his voice blatantly cruel. "Tell me, now."

"Are you serious?" Rey asked incredulously.

"The two of you, enough." Han ordered and now he was grasping his son by the shoulder. And he was not being gentle. "We're leaving, now."

But despite their departure from the ball, the conversation Rey thought was going to happen, didn't. Luke sent Rey home, despite her protests, while he left with the Solos to their manor. So, technically, the conversation did happen-just without her.

She'd been trying to sleep ever since.

Luke had come how after four long hours, she heard the horse in front of the manor and the front door slam shortly after. But she hadn't gone down stairs to face him. She had been too mad, too drunk, and too exhausted-not tired apparently, just exhausted.

But now she was restless. And so confused. No one had given her answers tonight, just way too many questions.

Rey groaned.

It was going to be an extremely long night.

Luke was sitting at the dining room table the next morning when Rey, grumpy and bleary eyed, emerged for breakfast. There was a full plate of food forgotten in front of him, and a newspaper that wasn't opened. Rey noticed his hands, curled into fists, placed calmly-too calmly-against the oak wood.

"Good morning," Rey greeted hesitantly. Per usual, she took the seat to his left.

"Morning," Luke replied, not exactly looking at her. "Sleep well?"

"No, not really. There was a lot on my mind."

"Understandably so."

Rey sighed. "Is that all you're going to say to me?"

"For the time being, yes."

"Luke, that isn't fair-"

"Rey," He interrupted and his tone made her flinch. Luke never took such a stern manner with her. "Not now."

Any other day, she would have remained silent. Eaten her breakfast and then left the table to go read a book or ride with BB8. But not today, not after the night she had.

"You can't keep me in the dark. I'm not a child. If war is coming I have every right to know."

Luke closed his eyes. "Rey, there are things you don't understand-"

"Then tell me!" She demanded, jumping from her seat and all but banging her fists against the table. "Help me understand!"

Luke turned his weary eyes on her. "Not when you're acting like this."

"Like what?!"

"A child."

Rey let out a groan. "You're impossible! And you know what, if you're not going to give me answers, I'll find someone who will." She turned her back on him then, her hair whipping against her face by the force of the motion. She was just so mad. She couldn't think straight she was so angry.

Later, Rey would blame her pumping blood and pounding heart for the foolish decision. And the fact that Luke, who had always treated her and spoken to her like an adult, was shutting her out. No other reasons would make her go to him for answers.

Rey was in the stables preparing BB8 when Luke rushed in after her.

"Don't go. Not to him." He pleaded, not even needing her to say where her destination-or rather, who her destination was.

"Why not?" She asked curtly, fastening the belt on BB8's rustic white belly.

"Because we don't know where Ben stands right now!"

"Stands in a war I don't know anything about? I guess that makes no difference to me does it?"

"Rey" Luke intoned. He reached forward and grabbed her hands, making her pause her frantic actions. "Please, trust me. I will tell you everything in due time, I just…I need more information first."

That was the wrong answer.

Rey pulled her hands from his. "If you're waiting for information, that means you're strategizing what to tell me, and what not to tell me. I don't need half truths Luke."

His blues eyes shown with desperation. "Trust that everything I do, I do for your own good."

Rey couldn't look at him, not when he was looking at her like that. He might actually convince her to stay if she dared glance up. She shook her head and grasped her horse's saddle. "I'm sorry, but that's not good enough right now."

The Solo manor, only a fifteen minute ride away, was the finest in the country. It had large, massive walls made of fine marble and brick that looked like they belonged more to a fortress than a family's home. And while it was extremely daunting looking, the inside differed greatly from the out.

Looking at the manor, you would think its occupants were getting ready for war. But inside, it was like a museum. Han, in his day, had been a world traveler and was more often gone from home than there. Naturally, he had accumulated a mass of souvenirs from the various places he had been. Marrying Leia had slowed him down somewhat, but there were still certain times of the year Rey would expect to not see her Uncle for long periods of time.

You could definitely call the inside messy, but Leia Solo lived there as well and she definitely prized fine order and beauty. So the manor, in a way, was split in two, some rooms overflowing with different odd objects while others were fit to host kings and queens.

It had always been like some fun game to Rey. She loved exploring the manor, seeing what she could find, who she could pretend to be, or where she could pretend to be. Ben was never really into such games and would rather hole himself up in the library or training grounds. But, once in a while, even more than once if she was being particularly devious, Rey could get him to play with her.

But now was no game. And she needed to convince him of something much more important.

As Rey rode up the large yawn, she noticed the usual lively shrubbery was looking a bit off. Perhaps, unattended was a better description. Which was odd, since she knew the Solos employed gardeners to attend to such matters. But the plants either looked to be wilting, and in desperate need of water, or wild, and in want of some much needed trimming. And the usual fountain, placed right in the center of the yard with three large marble layers that were known to always overflow with clear, cold water, was quiet and still today.

Rey frowned, but kept on her way.

"Lady Skywalker, what a pleasure to see you!" C3PO, the family butler, greeted her brightly from the other side of the front door. "We were not expecting you today!" He obliging stepped to the side and swept his arm for her to enter.

"Ah, surprise visit I suppose," Rey answered distractedly, looking around to see if anyone else was coming to greet her. "Who is home 3PO?"

The butler promptly closed the door and faced her with his usual polite smile and perfect posture. "I'm afraid Lord and Lady Solo left some time ago on some business. Young Master Solo, however, is in his room. Would you like me to announce you?"

"Oh no, um, I'll just go up myself. As, ah, a surprise." She hoped her smile was convincing enough.

3PO nodded his head. "If you deem it fit Miss. I will be quite tight lipped on the matter!"

"Thank you 3PO! I owe you!" And before he could answer her, because he undoubtedly had something else to say, Rey spun on her heel and began climbing the stairs.

It was massive home with an abundance of rooms, but Ben's was quite easy to find. It was the closest to the stairs, due to his own request when he was old enough to even ask for such a thing. His parent's room was a bit deeper in, and his had originally been placed right next to it, so the change was partly due to that fact. But the main reason, Ben grudgingly admitted to her one day, was that it was the only room that didn't have trees obscuring his view of the night sky.

It only took seconds for Rey to be in front of the large, white and gold trimmed door. She raised her hand and hesitated, questioning if she really needed answers so bad that she couldn't wait for Luke.

But even if she did wait, there was always the worry Luke would keep things he didn't deem "safe" for her. With that in mind, Rey rapped quickly against the wood.

No one answered at first. And when she knocked again, still no one answered. While Ben was quiet sneaky, C3PO was very efficient. If he said Ben was in his room, then Ben was in his room. Which meant he was ignoring her, because there was no way he was still sleeping.

"Ben," Rey growled, turning the door open. "Don't you dare ignore me."

The room was different from when she had last been in it. Which, thinking about it, was basically a year ago. There was less…things. Personal, decorative things a person naturally accumulated over the years to decorate their personal living space with. Ben's room now was barren, empty of anything personal save books lining his shelves, and closed notebooks on his desk. His bed was made, as it always was when he wasn't in it, and the curtains pulled back to let the morning light in.

Rey frowned at the emptiness of it all.

Ben had the desk chair pulled over to the window and was sitting on it quietly as he gazed out the pane. He didn't even turn to greet her.

"Ben," Rey growled.

"Rey," he replied back, still not moving. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

She slammed the bedroom door behind her, and got even more infuriated when it didn't even cause him to flinch. "I think you know."

"Actually," His head moved a fraction of an inch, just so he could give her a sparring glance. "You could be here for quite a number of reasons. So you are going to have to be specific."

Rey almost flushed at the implication, at the memory of that night in the library, but she thankfully kept it at bay. "I want to know about this war and the First Order."

"And Uncle won't tell you?"

"No, he won't."

"So what makes you think I will?"

"Enough!" Rey strode forward and placed herself directly in front of him, blocking his incessant sky gazing. "I don't know why you're acting like this and I frankly don't care. Just tell me what I want to know and I'll be on my way."

"Tough, strong Rey, always running headfirst into a fight." Ben mocked.

"Why did Luke say we don't know where you stand in all this Ben?" Rey demanded in response, wanting to hurt him like he was doing to her. "How do you know anything about the First Order?"

His eyes flashed dangerously. "You wouldn't understand."

"If one person tells me that one more time-"

"Well it's true. You come over here, demanding answers from me, when the last time we saw each other you all but ordered me out of your life!"

"If I recall, you were the one telling me you were leaving!"

He jumped up from the chair, and knocked it over in the process. "Go home Rey. I don't want to talk to you."

"Well too bad, you're going to."

"This, all of this, is much bigger than you and I."

She couldn't help herself if she tried. She was just so damn infuriated. Rey's hands shot out and pushed hard against Ben's chest. He staggered back only a few steps, as he was much larger than her, and gave both a nasty and surprised look. "How very mature of you."

"I can't help acting like a child if everyone treats me like one!" She exclaimed. "Let's start with an easy one, where have you been the past year?"

Ben shook his head. "If only you knew that is most certainly not an easy question."

"Ben"

"Naboo, at first." He gritted out, probably just to stop her increasing anger and frustration. If she lashed out again, it wasn't going to be a simple shove to the chest. "I visited the old home of my grandmother."

Lady Padme Amidala had once been duchess of the Southern land of Naboo. It was a picturesque country located right along the coast, with large swelling valleys of green, lush grass and beautiful plant life. The people were peaceful, and affluent, and every home looked like they could house royalty. Before the scandal came out of Padme's affair, she had been the youngest duchess in the history of the land. She had been kind, beautiful, benevolent, and anything anyone would ever want of a woman of her station.

Her story than, was always considered a tragedy.

Her once home was currently in possession of the present Duke and Duchess of Naboo with no ties, or claim of ownership, to any member of the Solo or Skywalker family.

"They let you come in?" Rey inquired, not exactly knowing the current Duke and Duchess, but knowing they were under no obligation to acquiesce to Ben's request.

He nodded. "Yes, and stay for how long as I wanted. My family may have no claim to the home, but they respect my mother and father regardless."

"So you were in Naboo just doing what exactly?"

He shrugged a bit helplessly. "Nothing really. Visiting other families, and at night, well…I wasn't really in a good state of mind if you can recall."

No, she'd rather not.

"My late night visits to some unsavory places, though, cut my trip short. The Duke and Duchess discreetly told me it was time to go."

"So then what happened?" Rey prodded.

Ben sighed and bent down, grabbing the chair to right it. "Well, while still in Naboo, and before I was told to go, I met someone. A man by the name of Hux. He was…interesting."

"How so?"

"Well, he was very generous with his wallet. If someone is constantly buying you drinks and seats at card games, you don't ask a lot of questions. And I didn't, at first, and neither did he. I thought he was a generally kind-or perhaps, bored man. Until one night…" Ben sighed and closed his eyes as some memory came to him.

When he didn't continue right away, Rey asked a little impatiently, "One night what? What happened?"

Eyes still closed, Ben blindly sat back down on the chair. He looked so tired. "Rey…I have a headache."

"No, you're not getting out of this. On with your story."

"He asked me about my family." He spat out. "Nothing substantial or suspicious. And I should have seen it coming since everyone knows who my parents and uncle are. It wasn't like I was hiding who I was either. So it was innocent, at first. What they were up to now a days, questions about the war from long ago and their part in it. Nothing I wasn't used to."

"I'm waiting for when things go wrong here."

He glared at her. "That happened after I was told to leave. It was all rather abrupt, too late in the day, so I was going to spend one more night in an Inn and then leave the next day. Which meant I spent one more night hitting my local haunts. I ran into Hux and told him what had happened. Apparently he was leaving the next day as well, to Mustafar, and asked if I would like to accompany him."

"Mustafar?" Rey exclaimed. "Why would you ever want to go there?"

Full of dry and barren mountains in the East, Mustafar was nothing but a wasteland. Years ago, before the war their parents fought in, it had once been a great mining land, bountiful with gems and coal. It had been sucked dry though, used to its breaking point, and now was completely useless. Today, it was filled with nothing but vagabonds, criminals, and other unsavory sorts.

Someone like Ben Solo shouldn't have even been a mile within its vicinity.

"Because I had nowhere else to go Rey." He answered tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I didn't want to come back here nor anywhere else I could run into any of the family. I needed to be away from….everyone."

He hadn't needed to say her. Rey knew he meant it.

"And Tatooine, though certainly a good place to disappear for a while, was out of the question. It was much too far for someone on my budget. So here was this man, seemingly harmless and offering to pay every expense, so of course I said yes."

Rey had the sudden urge to sit as well, but didn't want to go anywhere near the bed. So she settled with leaning against the window sill. "So what happened at Mustafar?"

"A lot of me passing out, to be honest." Ben admitted, and with some shame, Rey noted with satisfaction. "But then Hux introduced me to…Snoke."

"Snoke?" Rey echoed, the name bitter on her tongue.

Ben nodded. "A man of wealth, but no title. Powerful, yet not having the kind of power people of status we know to have. Interested in politics, but not really having a hand in them. That was Snoke in a nutshell, half this and half that, never completely anything. Always in…shadows."

"Ben," Rey whispered. "What did he do to you?"

He swallowed thickly and his hands, lifeless at his sides, slowly squeezed into fists. "Nothing I didn't let him do."

"Ben," Rey pleaded, no longer bearing to dance around what had to be the important issue at hand. She fell to her knees in front of him, not caring how it made her look. She needed to know what was going on. Needed to know about the war, about this Snoke. Needed to know how this man made Ben look so sad and so angry at the same time. "Please, tell me what happened."

Ben looked at her, but it looked like he was seeing straight through her. Seeing someone or something that wasn't there, something that was miles away. "I told him things Rey," He whispered, strained and defeated. "About our country, the ins and out of it. Who was important and who wasn't. About my parents, about Luke, about me…about you."

"Me? What would he want to know about me? I'm no one."

"To him you weren't."

"What did you tell him Ben?" Rey demanded.

"It was so hard to remember the earlier days," He explained. "I wasn't in a good state of mind. You know I wasn't. I was angry, sad, confused…I hated the world and I just needed-"

"Needed what?" Rey snapped and promptly rose to her feet. She didn't care how upset Ben appeared to be. She didn't care that when he had left a year ago, he had been in a very bad way. It wasn't an excuse for this. "Someone to whine to? To pour your heart out to? Why would you ever tell some stranger about us? Your family?"

"How do you not understand?" Ben asked, too quiet for her liking. "I thought, of everyone, you would understand."

She wanted to smack him, not empathize with him. "What did this Snoke do with the information Ben? Why did Luke say we weren't sure what side you were on?"

"Because what Snoke wants, what he stands for…I believed in it. That maybe it all started out with me being drunk and desperate and just fucking wanting someone to listen but then I-he made sense to me."

"What sense? What does he want?"

"To end this all!" Ben exclaimed. "This Lord and Lady bullshit. This social hierarchy of hypocrisy! My grandmother who lost everything because she loved a man below her station! That one person is better than another person just because they so happened to be born at the right time and place."

Rey blinked. Once. Twice. And then she had to replay his words again, just to make sure she was getting it right. "So…" She began, slowly, unsurely. "Let me make sure I heard you correctly. This…Snoke…is upset he's not a Lord. And has some thing against people with titles. So he's starting…a war? A war where people will fight and die and this makes sense to you?!"

Ben shook his head. "You're not-it's not just that. You make it sound so frivolous-"

"Because it is! Ben do you hear yourself right now? This can't be it. There must be something else-"

Ben reached up and ran a hand shakily through his hair. "I can't talk to you about this Rey. You should go."

"What about the First Order? Is Snoke the one in charge? Do they want the same things? Ben please-"

"Rey! Just go!" He snarled, standing up and towering over her. "I can't talk to you about this."

"Don't!" She begged, finally some of the fear and apprehension that she had worked so hard to contain coming to the surface. It was very easy to be angry and confused, but it took more for Rey to allow herself to be upset and afraid. And in front of him no less. "I don't understand and I can't understand how you're just pushing me away like this!"

A mirthless laugh bubbled up from his throat. "Me pushing you away?" He asked incredulously. "Rey, you pushed me away! Or do you not want to remember the truth anymore?"

Tears pricked hotly at her eyes. No, don't cry. Do anything, but don't cry. "That's not-no, you're not remembering it right! Don't you remember what you said to me?"

He shook his head and stepped back. Stepping back from her, the truth. "I can't do this. I left because of this. Of people wanting and expecting things that I can't give!"

"So run away then," Rey hissed, burning furious when she felt a lone tear fall down her cheek. "You seem to be good at that. Maybe this time around you'll stay away for two years."

His dark eyes seemed to harden even more so then they already were. "You can be so vicious when you want to be."

"Well, guess I learned from the best. Why did I even think to come here and talk to you? I don't know what possessed me! You and I haven't been you and I in so long. The Ben Solo I knew left long ago and he apparently has not come back. I need to go talk to someone who I actually trust and who cares about me."

A beat of silence passed before Ben barked-barked-out an ugly and loud laugh. The bastard actually looked truly amused about something. "Let's see," He wheezed, smiling widely but it was the smile of a cruel man. "I think I can guess who you're talking about. Luke, you've already told me, won't talk to you. And sure as hell my parents are going to do the same. Your little lover boy Finn is clueless about this whole thing so it only leaves one more, Lord Dameron!" He clapped his hands gleefully. "Am I right? I know I'm right. So he's the one you trust and who cares about you. How sweet. I saw how cozy you two were at the ball."

No, that's impossible. Ben couldn't have seen, couldn't have even heard Poe's confession. The scene on the balcony could be the only thing he was referring to, since she and Poe hadn't acted any differently than they usually did inside the ballroom. If you were just happening to come up the main drive, Rey supposed you could see if anyone was on the balcony. And she and Poe had been pressed right against the banister…

"You know nothing." Rey seethed. "And I don't have to stand here and listen to this." She made to leave the room, because obviously this conversation was heading nowhere productive, but his hand, quick and strong, on her arm made her stop.

She glared silently at the offending appendix but Ben paid her no heed. If anything, his grip tightened at her silent indignation. "Tell me, when had that become a thing? How long did it take, exactly, after I left before he started courting you?"

The obvious answer was that Poe wasn't courting her. That they weren't a thing. That maybe Poe had feelings for her, but Rey barely had the time to wonder if she had any for him. Of course, she pointed none of these things out. "None of your damn business!" she chose to say, and tried, and failed, to pull her arm free.

He was grabbing her so roughly that she was sure the skin was going to bruise.

"Answer the question Rey." He demanded.

"Of course you would think it had something to do with you!" She spat. "That it actually couldn't happen until you were out of the picture!"

Ben leant forward, pushing his face close to hers. "What are you saying? That it happened while I was still here? You know, that actually makes sense. Is he why you were so eager for me to go? So I could be out of the way for you and Poe?"

"You're a bastard!" Rey cried and her free hand, the hand not being held down, flew out a punched-not slapped-punched Ben straight across the face. He immediately released her and staggered back, shock written across his face.

Ben knew Rey could fight, but it had never been directed at him. At least, not in their adult years.

"Stay the hell away from me," Rey warned, her last final words to him, before storming out of his house and the manor.

Of course, she should have known (she had known) the whole thing would be a mistake.

When Rey sat down back on BB8's saddle, she found she didn't know where to go. Her family was shutting her out, Ben was no longer Ben, and she really just didn't feel like seeing her friends with everything new between them.

To her horror and after such a very long time, Rey, found she was once again truly alone.