Luke Skywalker's apparition stood with such glee smiling between the two. "That's me! The one and only Jedi legend!" A distinct smile was planted on his lips.
Ben furiously rubbed his face and eyes with his palm. Perhaps trying to rub the vision away. His free hand pounded angrily against the armory's lockers. Rey beamed at Luke, brushing herself off excitedly.
"You know what guys? I am so happy for you!" Luke clearly wasn't paying attention to Ben's tantrum in the background. "You know when I saw you leave to go get him Rey...I just knew something was bound to happen...and I don't even have foresight! I should really start telling people that I have that power now."
"Are you alright? What are you doing here?" Rey couldn't tell if it was insulting to speak to him in that manner.
Luke's grey beard trembled in delight. "Well, apart from being dead...I'm great! Can't complain. Keeping busy. Y'know same old Jedi stuff."
"What do you want Skywalker?" Ben hissed at him as Rey slapped his forearm in retaliation.
"That's not any way to speak to your uncle now, is it?" Luke gave him a dirty look. "Y'know, for being all harsh he really does have a soft spot for you. Do I have to look like her to be treated nice around here? I'm already dead, relax!" He pointed at him accusingly.
Ben flushed pink and turned his head away, in anger and embarrassment.
"Alright, alright." Luke held up his hands in defeat. "I came to help and to send a message. I'm the messenger from the great beyond apparently."
"A message from who, Luke?" Rey prodded, now curious.
"From your parents, kid." He ushered his head towards Ben.
Ben looked back at Luke's blue manifestation. His hands finally lowered lazily to his side as his eyes widened. Rey looked up at him, worried.
"Well, first of all, your dad said good job holding down the strong lady and on this ship too! He knew you could get a girl if you had just a bit more confidence. But she clearly fell into your lap and you almost messed that up...but hey...who am I to talk? And your mom wanted to tell you to stop your goddamn running. You literally have a castle waiting for you where you were born. Now, go get yourself cleaned up for your new lady and take her home." Luke took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.
Ben bit his trembling lip. Words unable to produce.
"Thank you, Luke." Rey answered for him.
"Oh and one more thing," He raised a transparent finger in the air causing Ben to wince, "they just told me to tell you that they still love you very much. Even after your angsty Vader fan club phase. I added in that last bit."
Ben's eyes watered but failed to produce any tears. Rey grabbed hold of his hand tightly.
"Alright, well I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Luke winked in Rey's direction. "I'll see ya around, kiddos!" He waved goodbye at them and disappeared in one fell swoop.
"Are you alright?" Rey now turned towards Ben, grabbing his hand and supporting them in hers.
He lowered his head, ashamed. "I don't know." Ben confessed, a tear streamed down his cheek. "I"m contemplating everything. Every decision I made, or will make. I-I-I just don't know…"
"Slowly." Rey reassured him. "They don't hold anything against you. They're at peace and they're together."
"Right…" Ben whispered, attempting to convince himself.
"The dead never truly leave us, Ben."
"Clearly." He said disgustingly. "My mistakes are just going to haunt me at every corner."
Rey smirked. "And I'll be there with you at every corner." She lifted his jaw and placed an adoring peck on his full lips. "Guess you're going home." She spun around and headed back to the co-pilot's chair. Ben lazily followed behind, resting his hand on his forehead, he mindlessly flicked buttons, revving the Falcon's engine. Realization hitting Rey. "Where was your home?"
"As a child? Chandrila." He muttered as he lurched the Falcon forward into hyperdrive.
_
From the cockpit, a dark and desolate planet could be seen. Rey thought it would be a weird destination for Han and Leia to settle but made sense in the fact that it looked isolated. Yet, something seemed off.
"Ben...?"
He didn't answer. His blank stare was focused ahead. They lowered, getting flashed with pellets of green moisture, smoke emitting from the windows of the Falcon.
"This isn't Chandrila." She realized plainly. "Of course it isn't." Rey hunched over, trying to see through the acidic rain. There was no humanity, no fauna, no life. "Where have you taken us?" Her tone of voice more impatient.
Ben shot her a quick glance and nudged his head forward.
Rey squinted her eyes, trying to see through the dark. But what she was looking at, was the whole view. An immense black fortress surrounded by beachy sand, unwelcoming. It looked decrepit and uncared for. She noticed a complex network of defences surrounding the perimeters of the scattered ravines.
Rey's insides lept, eerie and uncomfortable. "Ben." Her tone was now commanding.
"We're home." He finally answered, wishing she hadn't. He prepared to land the ship at the top of the fortress.
Rey's eyes fell, disappointed. "This isn't home."
The ship thudded violently. He turned to stare. "You said home is anywhere I am. This is me, Rey...whether you like it or not. Accept it or don't. This is me."
Rey's eyes watered, pleading to turn back. "We're in the middle of nowhere."
"It's better that way." Ben stood up, towering over her small figure slumped in her seat. "Don't think just because Skywalker showed up it changes my mind about them. My past stays in my past. This is what I have now...you're all I have...and these walls are the safest in the galaxy."
He outstretched his thin fingers, hoping she'd fill them. She stared at them, in contemplation.
"Promise me something." Her voice now shaking.
"Anything." He whispered so softly as his eyes faltered to her parted lips.
"That if I feel uncomfortable...we leave." She eyed him seriously.
Ben's eye twitched. "Yes."
She trusted him. Took him by the hand as he opened the doors to the Falcon. They stood atop the highest peak of the tower, the grey skies plastered with lightning and fog.
"This is Bast Castle. We're on Vjun." Ben stared at her as she paced taking in the view. "It was left to me...to the only blood of Skywalker left in the galaxy."
She looked back at him in surprise. "This was Luke's?"
"My grandfather's." He clarified as Rey's eyes fell to the obsidian that encircled their feet. "He called it the Black Diamond."
Rey's eyebrow arched. "How do you know that?"
Ben looked away and cursed under his breath. "He told me." He found himself unable to lie to her. He hoped the wind carried his words away from her ears.
Rey rushed forward, grabbing him by the black cloth that enveloped his body, pulling him roughly to her. "What do you mean he told you? Ben!? What haven't you been telling me?" She shook him violently, unable to process. "Was this part of your plan?"
Ben's nose flared, as he looked at her with pain in his eyes. "Of course not. I care about you, I love you. You know that. How could you-" He rubbed his fingers through his long hair.
Rey looked at him with mixed emotions.
"Just come inside, Rey. I'll explain everything." His tone was worried, afraid to say the wrong thing.
Rey walked ahead of him, not before shooting him a dirty look. She made her way to the elevator, which looked unused "Keep talking." She said while pressing the doors closed.
She saw the view as they descended. Definitely not what she considered a homey environment. She couldn't see past the fog. They were clouded, anyone unable to find them. Was this good or bad? She didn't know.
Ben cut the silence. "It was my grandfather's secret sanctuary. Built for him. His personal home when he wasn't on assignment."
"You think by not calling him Darth Vader, it'll change the way I see this place? Your parents had apparently left you a perfectly good home waiting for you on-"
"Chandrila is plagued by the Resistance. We'd be dead if we set foot on that planet. I'd be dead." Reiterating the fact that he was the one in hiding.
Rey folded her arms. "Is this is where you've been hiding?"
Ben hesitated as he watched the doors open in front of them showing an immense hallway, adorned with marble and obsidian. A luxury that wasn't apparent from the outside. "Yes." He finally answered.
Rey walked slowly out of the elevator. A small gasp left her lips, one she was unaware of. The main hall was vast and the ceiling was as high as the tower they landed on. Up ahead she noticed a throne with a large, circular window above it. The symbol engraved was strange but familiar. Though dark and grey outside, it shone a bright light blinding them, casting a ray cutting through the shadows.
"Not really on the run then?" She remembered his words when she met him on Ahch-To.
"In a manner of speaking." He clarified. He turned now acing her as she continued to revel in the sights. "The Resistance is after me. The New Order wants me dead. I am outnumbered with enemies. My name is whispered through the galaxy and until recently nobody has seen me since Crait. Believe me when I say this is the safest place we can be."
"Luke lived alone. Locked himself away for nobody to find. He ran, ran from his mistakes. No matter how much he wanted to fix them." She walked ahead and noticed a throne in the distance, dusty and intact.
Ben walked slowly behind. "Nobody asks questions before shooting. I wanted him dead, with every amount of Force in my body I would have made it happen. People will do the same for me. They'll think I've held you hostage. They'll never understand. I don't care if they do."
Rey heard footsteps. A faint echo that reached her sensitive ears. She jerked her head and noticed five shadows appear, encircling the throne.