Chapter 2: With Open Hands
The med-bay on the Falcon
I ran along side Chewie as he carried Leia down to the Falcon's med-bay. He kept growling her name to try and keep her conscious. As we ran Poe, Finn and the rest of the Resistance on the Falcon stopped what they were doing and followed us.
"Rey," I heard Poe call my name.
"Poe…" I stumbled over my words. "… she just… she just…"
I stopped just shy of the med-bay doors as one of the Resistance medics rushed into the room. I felt Finn place his hand on my shoulder.
"She's a fighter Rey," Finn said. "She'll pull through this…"
He was trying to comfort me but the shaking in his voice gave him away. This was one battle Leia wasn't going to win. I glanced over to Poe as he rushed up beside me and Finn. Connix in toe she looked as white as a ghost.
"Should I inform the fleet?" she asked him.
Poe gulped hard, "We'll wait…"
He looked over to me and Finn.
"Any word…" he asked his voice hopeful.
I tried to think of the right words to say. He was about to become the new leader of the Resistance.
"… Rey…"
Poe's voice began to fade. I knew this sensation. All the sound around me faded and I began to hear his heartbeat.
Vader's Palace on Mustafar
Louder and louder his heartbeat became until I saw him, Ben as clear as day. He was on a planet of molten fire. His towering fame was over looking the fiery landscape. I heard him inhale sharply. Had he felt my presence? I began to panic.
"Mother," he whispered as his head snapped over his broad shoulders.
There was a sadness in his eyes. In a flash I watched him rush out of his chambers. His massive body walked right through me. As our bodies clashed I felt the pain seeping off him. He was afraid for her. I followed behind him.
Through this blacken temple was walked until we reached a room with a sphere in the middle of it. As Ben approached it, the sphere opened. I felt a furious mix of the dark and light emanating from the opened sphere.
Ben said a pray under his breath, "Show me my mother… please."
The pain rolled off him in thick waves. I walked towards him. Tears rolled down his cheeks as his hands balled into fists.
"What do you want of me!" he shouted. "She is my mother… Let me see her!"
He was pleading with the Force to help me. My heart broke as I felt the it not planning on giving him add. Why had the force allowed her to see him like this? Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Luke standing beside me.
"As powerful as he is he still never learned the Force doesn't bend to ones well," Luke sighed.
I looked over at Luke, he was glowing with a bright light.
"Leia's dying," I answered. "He loves her so. Why did he shoot the flag ship? He did this to her."
Luke shook his head.
"He didn't," Luke replied. "And the officer who did, he dealt with personally."
I shudder as I could only imagine what he did, and it wasn't pleasant.
"… Why is the Force making me see this?" I asked.
"Because sometimes the Force needs us to see everyone can be saved," Luke replied. "Neither me, Han or Leia can save him. We made him because we didn't see he was just a boy who wanted to be loved for who he is. Not for the power he has."
As Luke spoke I felt a pull towards Ben. I walked towards him. Slowly I began to see the layers of darkness fade from about him until I saw him. The Ben from that night on Ahch-To. I stepped into the opened sphere and I wrapped my arms about him.
"Ben," I whispered.
Gradually I felt him wrap his arms about me.
"… Is she in pain?" he asked his voice trembling. "If I hadn't hesitated… I could have…I could have stopped the gun fire from… She would be…"
"I know Ben," I cooed.
The sound around us started to fade. I hold onto him tightly. I didn't want to let him go. His pain was overwhelming him. No one should feel this way.
The Falcon, my father's ship
"She knows too…" Rey's voice rang in my ears
My closed eyes opened. I found myself no longer in my grandfather's meditation chambers on Mustafar. That old rusted smell, I was father's ship. My eyes trail across the withered bulkheads of the Falcon. How many years had it been since I set foot on this ship? Five year, a sense of shame fell upon me. I didn't deserve to be here.
Did Rey pull me here? My thoughts rushed to my mother. Where was she?
"Mom," I called in a soft whisper.
I felt her fading fast. I ran toward her. Running through the Resistance members I finally found her. She was in the med-bay. Uncle Chewie was at her side. I've never seen him so afraid in my life. I slowly entered the room.
"I knew you would come," she said.
My mother struggled to lift her hand.
"I'm glad you did," she continued. "I knew its you sending us all those coordinates to stay out of the First Orders line of sight. I knew you had too much of him in you…"
"Who is she talking too?"
"Maybe it's Luke?" I heard Rey's voice.
I bowed my head.
"I love you," she continued as I walked towards her. "I might not have shown it the way you needed it but as you've seen how politics work first hand…"
I let out a soft laugh, "They just don't…."
"Listen to literal reason," She added.
I knelt beside her. I saw the very life leaving her.
"I'm doing what is best," I said.
"I know," she replied. "There is something out there coming for us. I've felt it."
"I love you Mom," I whispered.
"… I forgive you Ben…"
"Ben? Who the hell is that?"
"Master Ben is Leia's…"
My mother's life faded into the force after she spoke those words. I never thought I would hear them. I linger at my mother's side until I felt Rey standing behind me.
"… Let it go C3P0," I heard Rey say.
She touched my shoulder.
"Thank you Rey," I muttered as tears fell down my cheeks. "Please take her to Naboo. My Grandmother's tomb is where she would want to be buried."
"I will Ben," she replied. "I will…"
My mother and Rey both faded from view. I was once more in Vader's chambers. One of my Knights of Ren came up to speak to me but I sent them away with only one order.
"Prepare my ship," I ordered. "I'm going to Naboo."
