Finn woke with a start, he thirsty, so thirsty, and hot, really hot. He frantically unstrapped himself from the seat and looked around for Ben, he quickly spotted him not far away, it seemed like he was still asleep, and Finn rushed over to him, remembering how injured he was when they escaped from the Finalizer.

"Commander Solo?" Finn asked, gently shaking Ben's shoulder. He didn't make any indication of waking, "Ben?!" Finn called and shook his shoulder a bit harder.

Ben groaned as he slowly opened his eyes, "Finn?" He asked groggily.

"Yeah, it's me Finn. Here just let me..." Finn trailed off as he unclipped the safety belts holding Ben upright.

Ben fell to the sandy ground, and it was only then that Ben realized exactly how badly he was injured. He recalled how they cut into his side, and feeling for his ribs he felt that the wound was still open and bleeding quite a bit, he also suspected that he had a concussion from the repeated hits to the head, and then on top of all of that his leg, which was hit with a blaster bolt the night he was taken, had been left untreated. Those weren't the extent of his physical injuries, nor did they include the psychological ones, but those were the major problems Ben knew he would have to deal with in the search for BB-8 on this planet.

Ben gritted his teeth and tried to stand, he was about to stumble and fall, but Finn caught him, "Woah there, are you alright?" Finn asked.

"My leg is... bad. I'm gonna need your help moving around." Ben said.

"Alright, where are we going?" Finn asked.

"Towards the nearest outpost, there at the very least we might be able to get a ship." Ben explained.

Finn nodded, and they began their trek, although they stopped every one in a while in order for Ben to momentarily rest and for Finn to remove pieces of his hot armor.

"So, how long was I on board the Finalizer?" Ben asked Finn.

"Two weeks." Fin replied and Ben hummed in understanding. "Comm-" He was about to start but the Ben sent him a look, "Ben, thanks for getting us out of there."

Ben looked at Finn strangely before saying, "You're the one that got us out of there."

"Yeah, but you could've just killed me and escaped on your own, but you didn't, you brought me along with you. You saved me, you're a hero!" Finn exclaimed excitedly.

Ben pushed down a smile and said, "I didn't save you, and don't call me a hero."


When Poe found out that Ben was captured by the First Order on a mission that he was supposed to have been on made him upset, scratch that, very upset. Poe was supposed to take that mission, and he had told Ben about it over lunch in the mess hall, Ben seemed concerned for him since it would be very dangerous. The next day he was told that the mission had been re-assigned, and honestly, Poe was relieved... until he discovered that Ben had taken it himself. Poe and Ben had been very close when they were younger, before he went to train with Luke at the Jedi academy.

Poe remembered a kid who he was always taller than, who had anger management problems, and who knew more than was good for him. Ben's favourite game to play with Poe was space chess, Poe remembered the first time he beat Ben. They were 9 and Ben started accusing him of cheating and started yelling at him, and young Poe swore he would never play with Ben again, but the next day Ben came up to him and apologized and asked him to play, and Poe said yes.

They used to talk about how they would be the best pilots in the resistance one day, and they would compete with each other on the flight simulators. They wanted to be roommates and stay up all night playing space chess and they promised they would always be there for each other. After a few years the two of them became as close as friends could be, they were brothers.

Then Poe's parents died when the boys were 12, and not much before that Ben told him that his parents were sending him away to Luke. Within the span of two months Poe had become completely and utterly alone. But then General Organa offered him Ben's old room, and Han Solo taught him how to fly the Millennium Falcon, and he found some new friends. Through all that time though he never felt like he had begun to take Ben's place in the Organa-Solo's lives, that was until Ben came back for a week when they were 16.

Ben towered over Poe, his dark hair and pale face made him look intimidating. Ben screamed at his mother and father, saying that they sent him away and found a son that they liked better, a son that wanted to help Leia with her work, or a son that followed all the rules that could be laid out.

Han came to Poe after that and told him that that wasn't what had happened, and asked if he thought it was, Poe told him he didn't, but deep down Poe knew that Ben was right, and Poe knew that Leia and Han knew it too.

That was the last time Poe saw Ben until a year after the destruction of the jedi academy when Ben miraculously appeared on the doorstep of the resistance unharmed. The relief Poe felt at seeing his friend, no, his best friend safe after all that time was beyond measure. Of course their relationship never went back to the way it had been before, but they bantered with each other in the halls, occasionally shared a meal in the mess hall, and they had, on several occasions flown into battle with each other.

Poe had seen, more than many others, exactly what Ben Solo was capable of, and so while Poe was afraid for his friend, he knew that he'd be okay. Because a long time ago they promised each other that they would never leave without saying goodbye.


Finn and Ben were nearly at the outpost, Ben was losing strength fast, and Finn was almost carrying him at this point, and Finn was beginning to become exhausted.

"Water?" Finn asked a passing creature, who simply garbled something back.

Then Finn heard a glorious sound, a creature slurping up water, he slowly turned, Ben's arm wrapped tightly around his shoulder. "Ben, Ben. Water! Water!" He exclaimed to Ben excitedly.

"Uh-huh." Ben mumbled nearly incoherently, but regardless tried to put one foot in front of the other.

Finn carefully put Ben down so he was leaning against the water pit and Finn quickly and greedily slurped up water, not particularly caring that there was some hippo-like creature sharing the watering hole.

While Finn was drinking, Ben was watching a girl in the market, and his eye's widened when he saw BB-8. "Finn, Finn!" Ben said, gently hitting Finn in the back until he turned around, "That's the droid!" He said, pointing.

Finn quickly helped Ben up and they quickly hobbled over to the girl, who was being approached by some shady looking characters, however there was no need to fear as she quickly took care of them.

BB-8 looked in their direction and then started to frantically beep at Rey, "Who? Them?" She asked it, looking at Ben and Finn. "This droid wants to know what happened to his friend." Rey said to Finn.

Finn looked at Ben who just let out a slight moaning noise, pained from the fairly fast movement, so Finn told her for him, "He was captured by the First Order."

Rey looked between the two men with curiosity, "So you're with the resistance then?" She asked, she then glanced down at BB-8 who was looking up at Ben very worriedly.

Ben was looking attentively at something, he then elbowed Finn in the side and pointed to a pair of stormtroopers beginning to turn the corner. They approached someone who then pointed a finger at the three of them, plus BB-8.

"Uh oh." Finn said.

The Stormtroopers fired at them, and Ben stopped the blasts mid-air, allowing them time to move out of the way, but once they were clear he let them go and collapsed in Finn's arms, that last use of energy was all he had left.

"Ben, no! Now is not the time!" Finn cried, and BB-8 nudged Ben and made sad beeps.

"Quick, get your friend up! We need to move!" Rey said, running over to them and helping Finn lift Ben.

After zig-zagging through the market and nearly losing Ben a couple of times Finn cried, "We can't outrun them!"

"We might, in that quad jumped!" Rey cried and pointed to a ship in the not to far distance.

"We need a pilot!" Finn cried over all the noise.

"We've got one!" Rey gestured to herself.

"You?!" Finn asked in confusion, Rey sent him an angry look, "What about that ship?" Finn asked, pointing to a smaller freighter.

"That one's garbage!" Rey cried back.

They were almost there, dragging Ben between them, but then the quad-jumper was suddenly blown up, and Rey looked around and said, "The garbage'll do!"

Quickly they ran to the frieghter and got on board.

"The gunner position is down there!" She said as they put Ben in the co-pilot's seat and strapped him in, not wanting him to fly all over the place.

"Have you ever flown this thing?!" Finn called to Rey.

"No, Ducain just sold it to Unkar last week!" Rey called.

"Great..." Rey could hear Finn say. She would show him.

Rey took a moment to examine her unconscious co-pilot, when BB-8 told her that his friend was a Commander in the resistance she wasn't picturing someone so... young and so dark looking. She admired him though, to be tortured by the First Order, she shivered, it was nearly unthinkable.

She looked away from him and focused on getting them out of there.


Ben was having a dream. He dreamed that he was on the Falcon with Luke, and his parents, except they were all young. There was another man there, although no one seemed to see him, and now that Ben thought about it, no one seemed to see Ben either.

"Who are you?" Ben asked the old man.

"I've been called many things over many years." He replied cryptically, "Your uncle calls me Old Ben, but your grandfather knew me as Obiwan."

Ben's eyes widened, "I've heard stories about you, you were a great jedi."

"Yes, I suppose I was once." Obiwan looked over Ben thoughtfully, "You are... an enigma to me truth be told. You use the dark side of the force for the good side of the galaxy. I've never seen it before."

"To me, it's never been a light side and a dark side, just the force, and you can choose how to use it, what side you use it for is irrelevant." Ben explained.

"I wish you had been alive to tell your grandfather that, it might have just saved him." Obiwan said, "Just as it has saved you."

Ben squinted his eyes, the scene was becoming blurry, and all of the sudden Luke, Leia and Han were all staring at him.

"Ben wake up!" Leia yelled.


Ben sat up quickly and gasped in pain.

"Ben! Thank goodness! We're about to be boarded by the First Order, what do we do?" Finn asked frantically.

Ben looked around and was confused about where they were, but ignored it for the time being, "Where's my lightsaber?" He asked Finn and Rey watched in amazement as Finn pulled it from his jacket, "Thanks. Now, both of you go to the pilot module, I'll deal with as many of them as I can and try to clear the ramp, then hopefully we can blast the hangar shield." Ben paused, "If not, you need to take the map and destroy it." Ben said the last part directly to Finn.

"Ben, you can barely stand, I'll stay here with you." Finn said.

Ben turned to Rey, "Alright, take BB-8 with you."

Rey nodded and ran up the hallway to the pilot center.

Ben and Finn pressed themselves against the wall next to the door and as they heard it open, Ben froze the two people that entered and at once recognized them both and let them go. Ben's hands were shaking and he dropped the lightsaber Finn looked at him with concern as he started coughing and bloody dots were left on his hand.

"Ben!" Han cried and Chewie made a distressed roar. He was so beyond overjoyed there was no word to describe it, not only did he get the Falcon back, but he got his son back, alive. But as Han inspected him closer he realized Ben was not looking good, and when the young man in front of him started shouting orders to Han and Chewie, Han listened.

"He needs to lay down!" Finn cried, "His leg is really bad," Finn reported, "Ben what else is wrong?"

"My side..." Be said weakly and trailed off as he shut his eyes tightly in pain.

Finn rolled Ben onto his side slightly, and then it became quite obvious what was wrong, there was a deep, long gash on his right side going across his rib cage.

"Oh Ben." Han said, reminding himself of Leia.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Finn asked with confusion.

"I'm Han Solo, Ben's father." Han replied, that was the first time in a long time he had said the words, and the first in even longer that he didn't add his title at the beginning.

"Wait, like the war hero?" Finn asked.

Han was about to say something, but then Rey, who no one had even noticed had come down from the cockpit, said "Han Solo! So this is the Millennium Falcon! The ship that made the Kessel run in 14 parsecs?!"

"It was 12!" Han said back before turning his attention to Ben.

"He's not doing so good." Finn said.

"Chewie, can you help patch him up?" Han asked.

Chewie replied, "I'm no doctor."

"I know, I know, but something's better than nothing, Chewie look at him." Han said

Chewie carefully bent over and picked Ben up, it suddenly hit him that it has been 14 years since Ben allowed Chewie to pick him up.

"Chewie..." Ben muttered, barely conscious.

"Relax kid, I got you." Chewie said, and Ben shut his eyes, for the first time in two weeks feeling safe to fall asleep.