AN1: I can honestly say that exploring the role reversal between Luke and Ben is absolutely amazing. Let's see where it will lead ;) Thanks for reading and don't be shy to leave a comment ;)
Chapter One
Padawans were generally the last to know when something important had happened. Rey found it particularly annoying since she was a senior Padawan and had all the responsibilities and none of the privileges of a Jedi Knight. She was patrolling the sleeping quarters, making sure the younglings were not out of their beds after the curfew and wished for her shift to end.
That's what you get for talking back to Master Windu, she thought to herself and headed down a darkened hallway. Rey was one of the few senior Padawans in the secret Reeata Temple, and they usually took turns with the younger ones, a chore not particularly liked by anyone, and the Masters knew. Assigning one of them this duty was a form of punishment.
It wasn't that the older Padawans disliked the children, no. For Rey, being around the kids was hard seeing that she had called the Coruscant Temple her home originally, like the rest of the Jedi on Reeata. She remembered the spacious hallways, rooms full of light and laughter with high ceilings, the lights of the city outshining the stars, Master Yoda's jokes, Windu's humor hidden behind his strict mask.
That was another lifetime ago. The Coruscant Temple had burnt to the ground, and the Jedi lost five-sixths of their young ones in that attack and had to flee the capital. Rey was one of the younglings to survive, last of her line, and her life had changed drastically from that moment. Fifty years ago, there had been six thousands of them, thriving in great Temples across the galaxy. Now, there were five hundreds of them, hiding in secret locations behind heavy gates and shield generators. For the first time in five hundred years, the Jedi were on the defensive. Yoda wasn't joking anymore, and Master Windu's health was quickly deteriorating.
The only thing that brought comfort to her, who had lost her entire family in the war, was the Sith were experiencing equal losses, both religions driving each other to the point of extinction. The dwindling numbers of Force-sensitives on both sides had been the reason for a truce offered by Vader himself.
Rey wondered how long the ceasefire would hold. The Sith couldn't be trusted. They didn't care for anything but themselves, and their only goal had always been destroying the Jedi, even at the cost of their own existence. There had been a time when the Order fought for the Republic, for peace and prosperity of the whole galaxy. They were fighting for survival, now when the Republic had turned a blind eye to pleas of their once protectors, the Senate declaring that religious disputes belong to them alone as long as both fractions remain loyal to the Republic. She understood their reasoning. While the Order fought in broad daylight, the Sith operated in the dark of the night, serving the Republic as spies and assassins on missions no one was supposed to know about. How could anyone believe even for a second that they were doing it without any secret agendas was beyond Rey. It was so obvious.
Her dark thoughts were interrupted by a faint tremor in the Force, and she followed it into one of the rooms. The inside was illuminated by the soft bluish light of the moons, and Rey treaded lightly into the room, observing the child sleeping fitfully on the cot. Of course, it had to be Temiri. He was particularly strong with the Force, and a bit of a troublemaker.
The boy was having a nightmare.
"Shhh, it's alright, it was just a bad dream," she whispered and gently touched the child's shoulder. Even as she was speaking the words, though, she got the feeling that he was not experiencing a simple nightmare. "Temiri?"
"Rey?" He jerked awake and sat up, wide brown eyes gazing straight into her, gasping for air. A chill ran through her when she saw the seed of truth in his gaze, the power of the Force fading from him quickly. "I saw him coming! He's coming here!"
"Who is coming, Temiri?" she asked slowly and reached to grab his other shoulder urgently, forcing the boy to look her in the eye. "Tell me, it might be important. Who is coming here? Is he dangerous?"
"It's him, the son of the Betrayer!"
Betrayer's son. Rey clenched her teeth and turned her face away for a moment to master her expression. When Temiri started shaking, she sat next to him on the cot and nudged his shoulder with hers. Pushing all of her emotions away for the moment, she soothed the child, projecting peace around them like a large comforting bubble. "If Starkiller is coming here, let him come. Don't worry about that. I won't let him hurt you."
A Skywalker would never again have the opportunity to massacre innocent younglings; only over her dead body.
"But you don't understand, Rey! He's coming for you!"
Rey chuckled and shook her head. She couldn't sense any trace of the Force in Temiri's words – it was just a child's imagination talking. "I'll handle any Sith the life throws at me, I promise. Why don't you try to go back to sleep? I've heard Master Yoda has some special plans for your class for tomorrow."
As she was talking, she tucked Temiri back under the covers. The boy was an orphan and strangely mistrusting of strangers, but when Rey and her Master had come to bring him to the Temple, he had taken an immediate liking to her, while simultaneously disliking Ben on first sight.
"Alright," he mumbled, eyes already closing. "Will you wait until I fall asleep?"
"Sure." One can mistake us for siblings, she mused. They shared the same eye and hair color, had similar personalities and the same fate. Perhaps that had been the reason why they got along so well. Rey even planned to take Temiri as her apprentice one day, if the boy would agree.
It took him only a few minutes to fall asleep. Rey tiptoed out of the door and then broke into a run, heading for Master Yoda's rooms. Children were the only ones that in their innocence were able to fully understand the vision they were experiencing, and if Temiri was saying that Starkiller was coming, then he was coming, and it was her duty to report that. Then there would be time to ask questions how the Sith Lord could know where to find them.
She was just running down the staircase leading from the students' wing of the Temple to the inner courtyard when something stopped her in the tracks.
The Force whispered a warning at the back of her mind. Someone was approaching the main gate, and after a moment, she felt their presence. It was like a cloud had moved across the skies and blocked the moons; it wasn't an entirely dark, aggressive presence of a Sith but it wasn't a light presence of a Jedi either.
She shuddered and changed directions, heading for the gate with her lightsaber in hand. Master Yoda certainly had felt the shift in the Force, hadn't he? Her Master would notice that something was amiss. She wouldn't be facing the immediate threat alone. Rey ignored her apprehension, locked it firmly away from her mind and heart.
The closer she got, the stronger the intruder's presence became. The color was electric blue, and the power it contained resembled a raging blizzard. She had felt the same amount of strength only once in her life in the Betrayer, when she had felt as her grandfather's presence had dissipated into the Force and as her brothers and sisters at the Temple had been dying one by one, their lives snuffed out cruelly like a candle's flame in the wind.
To Rey's shock, the gate was pushed open with the tremendous use of the Force, the massive blocks of durasteel moving slowly but steadily until the gate was wide open. Then she felt as the shields around the entrance flickered and went down. He had disabled them from there?
She stopped and peered into the shadows at the other side.
There was a cloaked figure, one hand still raised. The mist was swirling around him, and his eyes shone from under the hood with his power.
Unconsciously, Rey swallowed, and her hold on her lightsaber tightened.
"Who goes there!" she raised her voice even though she knew perfectly well his identity. Force signatures ran in the families, and she would recognize a Skywalker's even half dead.
"Who asks?" The voice sounded amused, and he lowered his arm, walking in. She could feel his eyes on her. "Aren't you a little young to be running around after the curfew, Padawan?"
"Stop where you are. That's the last warning you're going to get, intruder!" Rey's lightsaber came to life, coloring her face blue.
"Don't be silly, girl," he snorted dismissively and raised his hands to remove the hood.
Well, he asks for it. Rey's expression remained calm and focused as she lunged at him, aiming at the knees. She could have just as easily go for the neck but decided against it. Her attack was unexpected and quick, but he managed to jump backward, growling. The hood slipped away from his head, and in a split of a second, the light of a red blade was illuminating his face.
He had a short, neatly trimmed beard, mussed up light hair and evenly cut features, the handsome bastard. Rey didn't dare to blink as her eyes bore into his. There were a surprise and a fair amount of irritation, and she felt his power swirl around him wildly, but she didn't look away, captivated by the depths of his gaze.
"Oh, so the kitty has claws," he said, and something in those depths shifted. His eyes flickered all over her face and then wandered down briefly. His lips turned into a sly smile. "Tell me, now that you have my attention, what are you going to do with it?"
Under his scrutiny, Rey's cheeks had heated up, and she felt a shiver ran down her spine. Her heartbeat picked up, her stomach clenched. She raised her chin defiantly together with her blade. "It's called dueling. You must have heard of it."
"You are too young to die, little one."
"I'm pretty sure you're not much taller than me," she said, and to her utter frustration, he turned off his lightsaber and tucked it back into his belt, spreading his arms wide.
"I'm at your mercy but using the lightsaber on me would be a murder, at least from my viewpoint. What's your name?"
"I asked first and still haven't gotten the answer."
"My, my, aren't you a feisty one? I wonder, does it transfer to other aspects of your life?"
He was grinning, fine lines of his face becoming prominent at that moment. The look in his gaze was intense and telling her what her body had already registered. The physical attraction had been instantaneous; the moment their eyes had met, something had sparked up between them.
"What's going on here?" A voice interrupted whatever answer Rey was about to give.
She startled and turned her head, ashamed that she had been so wrapped up in the confrontation that she had lost track of her surroundings. Her Master was approaching with long strides and was closely followed by Master Yoda, who was levitating on his usual metal disc.
"Uncle?" Ben stopped close to Rey, putting his left hand on her shoulder and gently nudging her to step aside. "What are you doing here? How did you get inside?!"
"Ah, I wondered when I'd see you, nephew." The man who was known as Starkiller, or Luke Skywalker once upon a time, had stopped smiling and looked up into his nephew's face. His gaze traveled between Ben's expression, over the hand he had on top of Rey's shoulder, and landed on her.
"Hope you don't mind me dropping by, sonny." He said with another slight smirk, and then he turned his attention to something behind them. "Ah! Master Yoda! So good to see you again!"
With that, Skywalker strode away from Rey and her Master, outstretching his hand. "There's something I need to discuss with you and what's left of the Jedi Council. Perhaps you could invite me inside for a cup of hot chocolate, hmm?"
"Skywalker changed much, you did not. Me you follow, then. Much to discuss, I sense, there truly is. Come, come!"
At that point, Rey felt stupid with her lightsaber still raised as the Temple Guards accompanied the unusual pair, and turned it off. Without looking at her Master, who was silently seething, she asked innocently, "So, I guess your uncle hasn't mentioned he'd like to visit?"
AN2: I feel I should also warn you that this story starts with Rey having a dangerous crush on Dark Luke. Ben starts off as a brotherly figure and only as the story progresses, more romantic feelings will develop. Also, Rey is a Padawan close to becoming a Jedi Knight, her age is 20, Ben's 27 and Luke is 46… And a powerful Sith warrior usually keeps himself in shape 8) That being said, please let me remind you that celebrities like Jeremy Renner, Jude Law, and Jared Leto are all in their mid-forties, and damn, it's perfectly natural to develop a crush on someone who's looking like that;)