Note: Hey again everyone! Here's a new chapter of War. :) Thank you to Annaelle for the wonderful beta work, as always! I've also updated Mitzvah and Haze, in case you missed that! My brain is on fiiiiiire. In a good way.

I also know that some people have expressed a bit of confusion at where and when some of these scenes take place, so I'm going to try and go back and see if there's a way to achieve that which I'd be satisfied with.

For this chapter it starts just under two years before the events of the 'Present' attacks across the First Order. Hope that helps a bit!

Have a great weekend all! xoxo

Past

Breathe.

Just breathe.

Ben stared at the helmet in his hands.

It was almost like it was staring back at him with a will and mind of its own.

It was… it was awful.

What in the stars had made him create such an ominous mask, and instill in its creation darkness so deep his stomach roiled as soon as he came within a few feet of the blasted thing?

Snoke.

That was what had made him create it. Who had made him create it.

And he needed to be stopped.

Ben breathed in again, clenched his eyes shut, and then let the breath out as he donned the mask of Kylo Ren once more.

The first time he'd stepped onto the Finalizer again after having left Rey—no, don't think of her, you can't afford to think of her now or you'll crack—two days before, he'd nearly crumpled under the distress surrounding him in the Force.

Only Savat's brief touch of her elbow to his had saved him from revealing everything in that very moment. Yes, he had been prone to violent tantrums before, but this would have been… well, it would have been something else entirely to see the great and evil Kylo Ren fall to the ground and cry.

"I did it."

Those were the first words out of Rey's mouth when she barreled into Luke and Leia's shared sitting room.

Stunned silence met her before—

Leia broke into tears, soft sobs escaping her lips. Luke looked panicked for a moment but then got up and moved to kneel in front of his sister, gathering her into his arms and soothing her with whispered words.

Over two years ago Rey would have felt like an outsider; an intruder. But now?

Now Rey darted across the room and embraced the woman from the other side, resting her cheek on Leia's back and holding her tight.

"It'll be okay," she whispered. "It'll be okay. I'll make sure it is."

Rey believed every word.

Jessika glanced at Rey as the young Jedi shut the door to the fridge, a pile of leftovers teetering precariously in her arms. Rey caught the look and laughed as she asked rhetorically, "What?"

Jessika knew something was up. Rey had been secretive for a while now, but it had only intensified in the last month or two, and she was curious. Finn and Poe had noticed as well, even through all of their newfound happiness at being together at last, but Jessika… she just couldn't leave well enough alone. She cared for Rey.

"Where were you?" she asked bluntly, then held up a hand before Rey could protest. "Look, I know you have to keep things secret, so never mind the where—are you okay? You're being safe, right?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side as Rey's tanned skin reddened slightly. Curious, she thought.

"Yeah… uh, I'm okay. I just. Um, we're trying to get some information that could, could—" Rey mumbled.

Interesting.

Jessika took pity on the younger woman and smiled in a way she'd learned from Poe early on in their relationship—completely disarmingly. "It's okay," she added. "I get it. I'm just glad you're okay."

Rey smiled tentatively back, relieved.

"You'd tell me—tell us—if you weren't though, right?" Jessika pressed.

"I…" Rey swallowed, and she looked like she was about to cry. "Yeah. Yeah, I would—will. I will. Thank you."

Jessika took half the pile from Rey and turned towards the counter, letting the other woman compose herself without prying eyes.

Ben began to unravel the minds of his Knights immediately. He traveled to their ships under the guise of inspections that he conducted every quarter anyway, even if it was a month earlier than he had been scheduled to do so.

"Surprise inspection," he had shrugged to Hux when it was pointed out to him.

As if he weren't fully aware of what he was doing.

And as he traveled… if he took a detour here and there… well, it was no business but his own.

Sometimes it paid to be powerful.

"Rey?"

"Hm?" Rey opened her eyes and squinted against the sun shining from behind Luke.

He crouched down beside her, pushing a strand of her hair behind an ear. "You're blocking me out, little one. You're blocking us all out," he reprimanded gently.

She blinked a couple of times and then smiled apologetically at him. "I'm sorry, Luke. I've just been… I have too many emotions swirling around inside of me and I… well, sometimes it's easier just to push them down." She paused, then widened her eyes. "Only temporarily though, I promise!" she hurried to reassure him.

"I know. And it is," he agreed solemnly, as if he understood.

No, she knew he understood.

Ben threw off his helmet and gloves as soon as he broke through the first of his Knight's mental blocks. He gripped Nova's face between his two large palms and swiped futilely at the tears coursing down her cheeks.

"No, no, no, are you okay Nova? Please tell me you're okay. You're going to be okay, I promise," he fretted. He pressed his forehead against hers. "I didn't mean to hurt you, please, I know you'll be—"

"Kylo."

He winced at the name, but stilled, and then pulled back so he could look her in the eyes.

She smiled at him through her hiccoughs. "These are happy tears, I promise. Thank you." She closed her eyes, and a faraway look passed over her features. "Thank you," she whispered.

The first time he saw Rey again was on a battlefield a half month later, and he pretended he didn't see her 'saber flashing far across the expanse between them. He growled and made a show of anger when he was told about "the girl", and started towards her last known position—but oh so slowly.

He felt the fluttering touch of her mind to his as the Falcon suddenly screamed overhead before exiting the planet's atmosphere.

Ben opened his own mind to hers as if he were a flower craving the sun, and her happiness at the simple trust he showed her felt like home.

Ben watched as Oltyn Ren's mother ran across the park of their small village—the very village he had been taken from—and threw herself at the man by his side.

Oltyn had barely stepped out of the ship when she had started to run towards him, and Ben had been able to see every single emotion in rapt detail from where he stood.

Surprise. Trepidation. Fear. Resolve. Joy. Love. Sadness. Love, again.

There was even anger, and Ben knew exactly who that anger was directed at.

He knew all too well, for he felt it as well.

He shared everything with Rey. Every time he saved a new mind, every time he reunited a family—or, at least, brought closure to those who had none, not anymore—he shared it all with Rey.

Everything he had was because of her.

Everything he had was hers.

As she was his, she said.

He believed her.

Leia quietly issued the order to her ranking officers that Kylo Ren was not to be killed. Captured, yes. Killed, no.

If they had anything to say about women and sentimentality for their sons, they chose not to express those thoughts to her face. But she was good at her job, and was slowly and inexorably pushing the First Order back nearly by force of personality alone, it seemed.

They were gaining ground, they were winning, albeit slowly.

So no one said a word.

They could give her that much, for everything she'd done for the Resistance.

Everything she'd done for the galaxy.

They could reevaluate at a later time if need be.

The second time he saw her, she was with her friends. The girl, Jessika if he recalled correctly from Rey's stories, walking backwards as she tugged at both of Rey's hands, and Poe with his arm around the former stormtrooper's… around Finn's shoulders as they smiled at each other.

She didn't know he was there because he had shut himself down so tightly for this mission. As he did before he fulfilled each task Snoke set him to complete.

He kept it that way—he didn't want to taint her with what he had to do.

All to keep his cover.

All for the cause.

All for her.

He held tightly onto the sound of her laughter, wrapping it like a blanket against the numbness and cold of playing his role.

"Ben," a voice whispered, and it took everything in him not to startle.

He continued further into the Resistance outpost, making it appear natural when he turned around slowly to look behind him, as if he were looking for someone.

He kept his eyes up and searching even as she approached and passed him, all without calling attention to the… to the enemy within their midst.

As soon as he followed her into a room and the door was shut, she was in his arms. Ben breathed her scent in deeply, happy to hold onto the woman for the first time since she had freed his heart, his mind, his soul.

"I missed you," she mumbled into his chest, breaths warming him even through the shirt he was wearing.

"And I you," he replied as he buried his head in her hair. "Being with you through our link is not the same," he grumbled.

"No it's not," she agreed, and then tilted her head back enough that he could capture her lips. It was soft, familiar, and it felt like they had kissed a thousand times—without it ever growing old—rather than this only being the second kiss.

Only the second time they've held each other, touched each other, since the ravine when she freed him.

He poured everything he felt into the kiss, into her, and she gasped and responded oh so deliciously, pressing herself more firmly against his front and practically into his arms.

Oh…

Oh, how much he would do for her… He would give her the sun, the stars, the galaxy—he would fight the Maker if it meant he could keep her from harm…

"Hey," she gasped as she pulled away from him. She narrowed her eyes at him, and he pulled himself upright. "You can't keep me from fighting," she tutted. "Your thoughts are broadcasting so loudly to me I'm surprised I don't have a headache!

All Ben could do was laugh, and laugh, and soon enough she cracked a smile and joined him.

"No, I can't," he said seriously after their laughter died down. "I wouldn't even dream of stopping you."

"Your mother would have your hide!" she returned with mock petulance.

He paused, all thoughts of laughter falling away. "She would," he said seriously.

Rey quieted as well, and then asked after a few moments of silence, "Are you ready to see her?"

Ben's head began to shake before he could even process her question fully, and Rey's gaze softened before she hugged him hard again, burying her face in his chest. "That's okay," she murmured.

They stood like that for long minutes, and then Rey pulled back. "I have to go, I'm so sorry. I was due at my ship over fifteen minutes ago as it is!" She smiled up at him, however, and wrapped his mind even more firmly against her own. "I'll see you again?"

At his silent nod, she pressed her lips against his, her hand lingering at his cheek as she pulled herself back, and then she left the room.

She didn't even ask why he was there.

Anath gasped and thrashed as he pulled her, inch by inch, from within her memories. Out from the shadows of the false memories, rather.

She was the hardest one yet, even more so than the first, and he knew why immediately.

She had a twin.

The bonds of twins were almost impossibly hard to break, especially those wrought through with the Force. He had seen it time and again between his… between his mother, and his uncle. Between Leia. Between Luke.

They had been nigh inseparable.

Snoke must have thought they were worth the trouble, and from what he had seen of Anath's fighting skills, he could see why.

And now he knew who her brother was—

"Naseer!" Anath screamed, her voice quaking near the end and trailing off into whimpers. She fell to the ground, clutching her head. "Naseer…"

She cried until she had no more tears left, and Ben let her. He had seen into her mind enough to know that she would not tolerate sympathy from anyone except her twin.

Finally, she looked up at him through the fall of her now-tangled black hair, eyes rimmed in red from tears and exhaustion.

"Where is my brother?" she asked with a deadly calm.

Ben did not even blink. "We can find him together, Anath," he said as he extended his arm towards her. "I will help you, if you will let me."

Satisfaction and happiness—and a deep and desperate desire to see his mother and uncle, more than ever before—welled up within him as she took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.

The more Knights he saved and pulled from the darkness, the safer he himself felt.

He wasn't alone anymore.

Ben felt a nudge against his mind, light spilling in and mixing with his own muted light.

He smiled. Well, not as alone.

'Rey…' he said to her, heart to heart.

'I'm always with you,' she replied softly.

'I know.'

He could just picture her smile, and he couldn't help but to smile in return.

No one around him on the bridge could tell.

Well, perhaps there were some good things about the mask.

Not all of his Knights could be saved. Some had nothing within their minds to be saved from.

He made sure to be careful of those, and passed on the information to Rey, so that she could be careful as well.

He didn't know what he would do if she got hurt.

They spent every spare hour they could together within their minds.

And in their dreams, it was as if they had never parted.

It was as if they had become one, and he never wanted to stop being one.

"They cannot be saved. There is nothing to save them from but themselves; from their own darkness."

Mathas and Kara Ren looked up at him from where they were sitting, and he could see the agony written upon them both with his eyes and through the Force.

"Are you sure you cannot save our bond-brothers?" Kara asked quietly, just to be sure, and Ben did not fault her for questioning him.

Sometimes he even questioned himself.

Ben knelt in front of them and held onto a hand from each of them. He stared them in the eyes, tears gathering at the corners of his own, and answered them with all the gravity that he could. "I'm sorry Kara. Mathas. Your bond-brothers are lost to you. I am truly sorry. All I can promise you is that Snoke will pay for what he has done."

And he would—oh he would. Ben would make sure of it. Rey would, too.

It was a start, at the very least.

Mathas hid his face in his bond-sister's hair, his shoulders shaking. Kara breathed in deeply, clenched her eyes shut, and then said, without a shadow of a doubt: "We will stay here so that they do not suspect anything."

"He will pay," Mathas growled, face still hidden.

Ben nodded, and shut his own eyes to offer prayers to the Maker. "He will pay," he intoned.

Ben stared into the screens around him, weeks later, careful of his next words. He was sure that these transmissions could be broken into, though who would dare…

No. He knew who would dare. It was better to be safe.

"You remember the orders I gave you in person, yes?" he asked.

There were nods and murmurs of assent across the dozens of images displayed as holograms surrounding him. He made sure to turn slowly, eyes meeting each and every one as he did so.

Only those trusted were here. Only those whom he'd been able to save from Snoke's rapture.

"We'll meet in a week at the location I will send to you. Then we can see… where we are at."

They all nodded once again.

"I'll see you there."

Rey startled as the first Force signature revealed itself, quickly followed by a number of others, some cloaking those without power in addition to themselves. They were all Force and life signatures that she did not recognize, and she desperately tried to still her fingers where they drummed against her thigh. She looked up just in time to see a shadowy figure let itself into the cave complex where she was meeting with Ben and his Knights.

She would be meeting them for the very first time, and she was nervous.

Why? she asked herself. It wasn't like she had anything to prove to them—did she?

But no… the way that Ben had spoken to her about them through their link, the things he had shared with her in their dreams, in the minds, about these people as he had gotten to know them again, more and more, as he helped to unravel everything Snoke had done to them… It was like they were family.

And yet, did they really know her?

"Rey?"

She blinked. Lost in her thoughts, the Knights had been able to approach her. Foolish—foolish! They could have attacked her, killed her, during her inattention!

Quickly regaining control of herself, she smiled at all those whom she recognized from Ben's shared memories. They were all there, even Ben, his signature muted as he met her gaze from the back of the lit cavern where he stood beside a smiling Savat. Rey smiled, sending affection his way, and feeling it returned right back at her.

"Yes?" she replied finally, after sweeping her gaze over the lot of them.

A woman in well-fitted combat gear, guns strapped to her thighs, stepped forward, tugging a scarf down from off of the lower half of her face, and held out her hand. As soon as Rey went to take the proffered hand, murmuring, "Hello Cisley," as she went, the dark-haired woman reached forward and pulled Rey into a hug.

"Well met, sister, and thank you," the older woman whispered into her ear.

Rey buried her face into the woman's long locks, hiding her tears as the other Knights—as her and Ben's family—gathered around her to offer their own greetings and thanks.

She felt safe. Whole. At peace.

She felt complete.

More than ever before.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

"No," he replied. "No, but I need to do this anyway."

She held his large hands between her smaller ones, rubbing over his knuckles softly as she attempted to soothe him.

It helped. Oh, how it helped, and he wished he could stay here like this, with her, forever. Forget the war, forget the pain, the suffering, the… darkness.

But—

No. That was not him.

That was not her.

She made him more than he'd ever been before.

He made him want to be better.

Ben stood, kissed her soundly on the lips, and left before he lost all courage.

Staring at the wall in her and Luke's sitting room, Leia was barely able to control her breathing. It had been years since she had a problem like this, and she mentally harangued herself for the weakness. She had gone through a long and bloody war without succumbing to her emotions like this—why couldn't she get ahold of herself now?

She would need every scrap of stability, of nerves, of calm for this encounter.

Leia Organa was about to see her boy. Her sweet, sweet child, lost to her so long ago…

But no, he wasn't her sweet boy anymore, was he?

No.

He had been changed. Captured and changed, and no matter that he had his memories back now, and no matter everything Rey said about who he was now in the two months since he had returned to reality, she had to acknowledge the fact that the experiences had changed him.

He was a different man now.

She had to believe it was for the better, but she also had to prepare for the worst.

This mother could not afford to let her son down again.

She simply could not.

She breathed in, held it, and was about to release it when—

"Mother?"

Leia whirled around, hand flying to cover the soft gasp escaping her lips, all thoughts of composure simply gone.