"I'm sure you want to know everything," Ben said with a sigh.

"That would be helpful," Luke said. "How long has Snoke been haunting you?"

"Ever since I can remember," he said with a bitter laugh. "I don't remember a waking moment without him crawling in my mind."

"I should've known," Luke lamented. "I saw him when you were fifteen, when your mother sent you away. . . "

"She knew for much longer than she told anyone," Ben snarled, sounding resentful. "I could feel it in her panic every single time I mentioned the monsters. . . But that doesn't matter now, does it?"

"She was trying to keep you safe!" Rey cried. "At least you have a mother who didn't leave you on a desert planet!"

"At least your parents cared enough to protect you from Snoke!" Ben shouted back. "Your parents loved you enough to make sure he could never reach you!"

"What happened to you was never Leia's fault!" she shouted. "If it was anyone's, it was Snoke's!"

"Let's try to be a little calmer," Luke suggested, and an aura of calm trickled to his two apprentices. "Ben. I admit, I should have done better. I tried to save you and you know it."

"Where were you when he put me in the Embrace of Pain?" Ben seethed. "Where were you when he crept into my mind, telling me that no one cared about me? Where were you when he showed me what would happen to the galaxy if I didn't join him?"

"I was trying to find where he had taken you," Luke said. "Ben, I didn't want to leave you."

"What's the Embrace of Pain?" Rey interrupted.

"It's a living torture device from beyond this galaxy," Ben informed her. "It breaks you until you become what Snoke wants you to be. His apprentice, his slave."

Rey couldn't imagine it.

"I can't change that it happened to you," Luke said. "But it does explain what happened. How in six months you returned as Kylo Ren. What did he show you, Ben?"

"Never mind that," he snarled. "It won't matter, anyway, we'll all see soon enough."

Rey could see the images that he was seeing suddenly. Luke wielding a red lightsaber. A galaxy torn by war. Ben stabbing Luke. A girl who seemed all too familiar sitting on a throne, a dark man beside her.

"Rey! What do you see?" Luke asked.

"A future in which you were evil and there was this girl sitting on a throne. . ." Rey whispered.

Luke looked to Ben. "Is that what you saw?"

"Yes."

"Who was the girl?" Rey asked.

"You." His voice was calm and contemplative. "On the Throne of Balance. You'll be deciding the balance between the Light and the Dark."

"Why would I be any kind of deciding factor?" Rey asked.

"We were friends," he said. "Isn't that enough?"

"We're not now," she said defensively.

"No, we're not," he said, decidedly angry. "But there you have it. I turned to stop a prophecy. Happy?"

Luke said nothing and stood. Then he embraced his nephew. Rey could only watch as the former dark knight started to sob.


"Why do TIE-Fighters scream?" Ben asked a little Rey. The small girl, only five or six, was staring off at the sky as a small freighter took off. Kyp Aster's personal ship, the Kyber Heart.

"Well, because of the way the thrusters react to-"

"No, because they miss their mothership!" he cried, his eyes alight with glee.

The small girl, being quite literal, frowned. Then a giggle escaped. "You don't know anything about ships."

"Hey, you thought it was funny," Ben pointed out.

"Only because it was so stupid," Rey retorted. She turned the pilot doll over and over in her hands.

"Cheer up," he said. "They'll only be gone for a week at most."

"I know," she said. "Doesn't make it easier."

"Are the dreams coming back?" Ben asked, looking concerned. "The ones about the desert?"

The girl nodded solemnly.


Rey awakened, remembering just a little bit more. She thought she'd never be able to decide what to feel about Ben Solo.