A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away
General Organa paces back and forth. Finn hasn't known her terribly long, but he has never seen her look as pale, as frail, as shocked as she looks now. Not even when they arrived back with Luke.
"He's pretty insistent that he speak to you, Luke," Poe says, shifting as if his leg's still bothering him.
"Don't!" Finn interjects. Everyone looks at him. "I mean, you shouldn't—don't trust him. He might have something planned. I mean, he can't be helping Rey. We saw him take her."
Leia cocks her head, studying him. "You question him."
Finn glances over his shoulder to see whether Admiral Ackbar or Lieutenant Connix is there. Nothing but blank wall greets him. "Um—" He clears his throat. "Me?"
"And Poe."
"I don't know that—wouldn't somebody else be better? Someone with more experience?"
"Experience interrogating someone? Perhaps. But, Finn, you're the only other one on this base who has experience with the First Order."
She's hoping I can get through to him somehow, Finn realizes.
There's no way.
"We'll do it," Poe declares.
Leia still looks to Finn. He nods. "I'll… do my best."
"We'll be watching," Leia says, gesturing to a series of monitors.
"I can do this," Finn mutters to himself as they head towards the cells. "I can do this."
"Yes, you can," Poe affirms, winking at Finn.
They round a corner, and Finn presses a button, opening the cell doors. Kylo leans against the wall, dragging his hands repeatedly through his black hair. He stops as they come in.
"Comfortable?" Poe asks, breaking the silence.
"Where's Luke?"
"You're not getting to talk to Luke. Not yet. You're talking to us." Finn steps closer. "Where's Rey?"
"That's why I came. Because I don't know."
"We saw you—"
"Yes, I took her from Stewjon," Kylo interrupts. "I did. I—I'm sorry about that, okay?"
"What?" Incredulous, Poe turns to Finn. "What'd he say?"
Kylo's voice comes out a whisper. "I said I'm sorry."
Poe laughs. "Okay. Stop playing games with us."
"I'm not playing a game!" Kylo shouts. Both Finn's and Poe's hands fly to their blasters. Kylo tries again. "Snoke wants Rey for whatever reason. He sent me to get her, and then—a lot of things happened, Rey got sick, King Prana made us work as scavengers and we escaped—and then we went back to Jakku… Rey wanted to talk to someone there. And Snoke came back and he wants Rey. Hux said he wanted to take Rey. Not me."
"I am so confused," Poe mutters to Finn.
"See, this is exactly what I need to speak to Luke! Neither of you will understand. Luke might know why—what it is Snoke wants with Rey." Kylo peels himself off the wall, and Finn notices that his arms are trembling. "The more time we waste, the closer Rey gets to him—and—"
"Why did you have her lightsaber then?" Finn demands.
"She gave it to me." He starts out shouting, then drops to a whisper as if he knows how ridiculous it sounds.
"Are you asking us to trust you?" Finn interrupts, laughing at the absurdity. "Because we have no reason at all to even consider that. Plus, your story doesn't make sense. Rey just decided to go back to Jakku?" Okay, that doesn't surprise Finn overmuch. But: "With you? And that doesn't explain how we saw you grabbing her and dragging her into that ship on King Prana's—"
"You were there?" Kylo gapes at them.
"Yes, and we saw you dragging her into that piece of junk ship!"
His eyebrows swoop together. "If I hadn't grabbed her that thing would've taken her legs off!"
Poe shrugs as if to say, fair point.
"You actually expect us to believe you were helping after you kidnapped her—twice—and tortured her, and killed your own father?" Finn hadn't meant to let that last clause slip out. Oh well.
Kylo grips his side, cringing. "She saved my life, okay? She escaped on King Prana's—she was sick, I thought she needed medicine—but she escaped, and there was this serpent, and she killed it because it was about to kill me, and then King Prana tried to feed us to a krayt dragon and we used the Force to kill it instead and Rey convinced him to let us work instead of becoming food while she repaired a burned ship and then we escaped."
Poe's jaw hovers.
"Are you actually crazy?" Finn demands, dumbfounded.
"That's what happened." Kylo's fingers still pinch his side, and Finn notices color draining from his face.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Poe asks.
"Nothing." He takes his hand from his side, but Finn notices something crimson smeared on his fingertips.
"You were injured in that crash!"
Kylo frantically shakes his head. "No, it wasn't the crash—it's just a graze wound—I'll—"
Poe marches forward. "Help me, Finn." He grabs Kylo's shoulders, biting his lip because he's surely aware that Kylo could use the Force to make him fly across the room if he wants.
"A graze from what, a blaster?" Finn demands, kneeling and tearing at Kylo's shirt. What might have once been a graze wound is a swollen mass of purple flesh, mottled and leaking something yellow and green and sticky. "That," Finn says. "Is infected."
"No—it's just a scar, it's by a scar—"
"I can see the scar, and I can see the wound!" Finn yells. "Hey, General, Skywalker, everyone who's listening—we need a doctor in here!"
The door whirs and Dr. Kalonia rushes in. Behind her, Finn sees Leia.
Kylo shrinks backwards as Dr. Kalonia tears his shirt further. "When did this happen?"
"Two weeks ago," Kylo answers, voice small.
Dr. Kalonia shakes her head. "We're going to have to take him to medical. Does anyone have restraints?"
Poe produces a silver pair. Kylo holds out his wrists, closing his eyes as the handcuffs snap on. Finn grabs one of Kylo's arms as Dr. Kalonia takes the other.
"Fight us, and I'll shoot you," Poe says, though they all know Kylo won't be fighting. Why not, though, Finn still doesn't understand.
As they half-carry Kylo past his mother and out the door, Kylo keeps his gaze glued to the ground. Only when they're about to round the corner does Kylo look back, his face occluded with shame and fear as he looks at his mother.
On board the Finalizer, no one talks to Rey. A chrome-armored captain delivers her meals three times a day. Otherwise, Rey is kept in a small cell, guarded by up to seven stormtroopers. Within the first day, her hopes of escaping are dashed.
Now she has nothing to do but wait, wait to arrive wherever Snoke wants her and face whatever he has for her.
Ben is her only hope. Please be on D'Qar. Please come back for me, she thinks.
Nausea wells within her as she ponders what Snoke might want with her. The feeling overwhelms her, and she vomits her meager breakfast onto the floor. She was sick last night, too. Maybe I'm allergic to the First Order. Maybe that's why I get sick whenever I'm on one of their ships. She smirks at the thought.
Still, anxiety chomps at her. She doesn't want to be sick. She doesn't want to be weakened when she meets Snoke—an event that, according to the few words she can get out of the captain, will occur within a few days.
No. You surrendered.
Does it matter?
Rey hates being trapped. She's always had her freedom.
It does matter. I made a choice.
The door to her cell slides open, and Rey rises as the captain and the black-clad, dour-faced general with fiery hair stalks in.
"Are you sick?" the general asks, nose wrinkling.
"The First Order nauseates me," she replies.
"Say that again, and I'll have you beaten," the general threatens. "I understand Captain Phasma told you that we will be reaching our destination in a few days."
Rey's stomach rolls again and she grabs it. The general backs up in alarm.
Breathing deeply, she asks: "What does Snoke want with me?"
The general scowls. "The Supreme Leader did not tell me. But, in his infinite wisdom, he must have a reason."
"Why didn't he want B—Kylo Ren?" They can't know about her attachment to Ben. Rey is determined not to give them anything they might use against her.
"Perhaps he finally tired of his reckless antics," responds the general.
"You hate him."
"Working with Ren has never been a pleasure," the general concedes.
"Yes," Rey says, watching the way the general's lips twitch, the way he taps his fingers together. "You're jealous."
He gawps at her, the same expression of horror on his face that Rey saw on Kylo Ren's when she saw how afraid he was of never being as strong as Darth Vader.
"If you let me go," she says, desperate and pushing into his mind. "You'll be free to prove yourself to Snoke. If you rid him of Force users—"
"Speak to me like that again, and I'll have you bound and gagged!" he screams, whirling around and stomping out. "Captain, send someone to clean up this mess."
"Yes, sir."
Rey paces the tiny room. What have I done? She'd pushed into his mind—she hadn't meant to—yes, you did—against his will, without provocation—
Rey drops onto the small table that serves as her bed. "Help me," she cries, she knows not to whom. "I don't want to choose the Dark Side. Help me."
Within a week, Ben recovers under Dr. Kalonia's care. He doesn't know what else she's seen—the whip marks, surely.
What does it matter? No one's been in to question him, apparently on orders from the General herself. And no one will let him speak to Luke.
She's got to be there. With him, by now. Or at least soon…
He squeezes his eyes shut, trying not to cry. A purring noise near his head startles him. Craning his neck, Ben recognizes R2-D2 from his childhood.
He shuts his eyes again. Can droids feel? If so, how does R2 feel about him—the child who murdered the dreams of the man the droid gave so much to help and murdered the love of the other one the droid served?
R2 blips and bleeps, and the sounds he makes create a sort of melody that sears Ben's heart. Because he knows this song.
It's the lullaby from Alderaan that his mother used to sing to him, every time he had a nightmare.
The pilot he once tortured—Poe, he's learned his name is—and the stormtrooper who now calls himself Finn enter the room, and R2 quiets but still looks at Ben, who gives the droid a weak smile.
"Dr. Kalonia says it's fine to move you back to the cells," Poe informs him.
Ben squints at Finn. The jacket—wasn't the pilot wearing it when Kylo interrogated him after Jakku? "That's fine," Ben says wearily. "Can I please speak to Luke?"
"We'll see about that." Poe yanks him up. R2 bleeps. "You're coming?"
Another droid, small and round, rolls in and peers up at Ben. The droid.
R2 chatters with the smaller droid, which looks at Ben with suspicion.
They escort him down the hallway, past staring, condemning Resistance fighters. It doesn't matter. Their opinions don't matter. All that matters is saving Rey.
But it does matter to him, and he hates himself for it.
The cell door opens, and as Finn and Poe push Ben inside, he sees another figure waiting for him.
His mother.
"Leave us, Dameron, Finn," Leia says.
"All righty, then," Finn says, backing out.
There's nowhere for him to go now. It's a tiny cell. Ben lowers his head, finding himself stepping backwards until he's up against a wall.
"Ben."
He can tell she's half-expecting him to scream at her, deny his name. But he won't. He can't. He doesn't want to be Kylo Ren.
Ben meets her eyes, and he's crying. Tears stream down his face as he shakes his head, but she's already rushing to him, throwing her arms around him.
She's not rejecting you.
You don't deserve this.
Murderer.
But she's not calling him a murderer or a traitor. Instead, she's murmuring: "My son. My son."
Sobs wracking him, Ben wraps his arms around her small frame, clinging to her as he should have clung to Han on that bridge. "Mother." He pulls away, choking and gasping for air. "I'm—I'm sorry—I—how can you—"
"You're back," she says. "Ben."
"I don't want—I'm not with the First Order any more. I'm not. I can't do it anymore. I know you probably don't entirely believe me, and you shouldn't—it'd be foolish to trust me—but please—"
She pulls back, studying his face, taking in the long scar Rey gave him the night he murdered Han Solo, her husband, his father.
"I know an apology won't make it right," he admits. "Nothing will. But I—"
"You're back. That's as right as your father would have wanted," she says, and Ben cries so hard he can't speak. She smoothes his hair, love emanating from her every move without needing to say it.
"Snoke—he—he has Rey, Mother, he has her," Ben finally manages.
She lowers him to the floor, sitting across from him and clutching his hands as if afraid he'll disappear.
How much have I put her through, these past fifteen years? he wonders.
"Tell me everything." It's not a command. It's an invitation.
He starts from the moment Snoke told him to capture the girl, detailing his deception on Stewjon with a tightness in his chest, Rey's illness, the stop on King Prana's, the krayt dragon, even Anakin's ghost. He describes Rey's kindness, but he leaves out his feelings for her. Rey's a Jedi. If—when—they get her back, it'll be up to Rey to make her choice, and he won't make it for her by bringing up their attachment.
She listens.
Bound in a chair reminiscent of the one Kylo Ren questioned her in on the Starkiller base, Rey's heart pounds as Snoke enters the room. She can't see him yet, but she feels his presence—it's dark, and humming with power.
"So, the scavenger girl. The Force user." His voice is smooth, almost inviting. Nothing like she expected.
"What do you want with me?" she demands.
Snoke appears in her sight now. Tall and imposing, he looks as if his face has caved in over the weight of hundreds of years of evil. Rey tries to recoil, but she can't. Lightheaded, she struggles to keep her face as blank as possible.
"You're afraid," Snoke states.
Dammit.
"Good. Fear is the path to the Dark Side."
"Don't you have Kylo Ren for that?" she spits. "You don't need me."
Snoke shakes his head. "Oh, but I do. Your power is stronger. You're more committed. You won't waver, when you turn."
"Good luck with that."
Snoke's palm rests on her forehead, and pain shoots through Rey. His grin grows wider as her grimace grows deeper.
"I need helpers," Snoke says abruptly. "The Force is so immense, so powerful. Choosing only the Light—you're limiting yourself."
"Isn't it the same if you choose the Dark Side?"
"You've already chosen the Light. If you choose the Dark now, you will become more powerful than you can imagine. Imagine, that little girl who was powerless to find her mother, having all the knowledge in the universe at her disposal—"
"That's not going to work," Rey hisses.
Snoke sighs and raises his hands. Her restraints snap off.
"Get up." It's not a request.
Rubbing her wrists, Rey staggers out of the chair.
"Come with me."
She can't resist. He leads her down a hallway. "Where is your lightsaber?"
"I lost it."
"You gave it to Kylo Ren is what you mean. We'll have to get it back. That's a good lightsaber, a stable one with so much history… used on the side of the Light, and the Dark." He opens the door to a room made of black marble. Pillars rise towards a domed ceiling, a ceiling flecked with crystals that look like stars.
But they're not stars.
"Is this where you trained Kylo Ren?" Rey asks, glancing around. It's majestic, but the cavernous appearance gives it a hollow feeling. Her voice echoes. Ren… Ren… Ren…
"This is where you'll train."
"No." She faces him. "I won't."
"Is that your answer then?"
"Yes?" Is he actually listening? And then she can't move. She's frozen in place, and the same awful panic claws its way through her. Let me go, let me go, move, move move! she screams at herself, more panicked because she knows it's pointless.
You can't fight him.
Snoke approaches her, hands roving up and down her body, never quite touching. "I feel it. Your power—Kylo Ren's pales in comparison. Rey Kenobi, you are—brave too, and resourceful—and—" His hands pause over her abdomen, and he begins to laugh. It's a horrible, bloody, ghastly sound.
He waves his hand, and she can breathe, can move. Gasping, Rey grasps her knees. "You've already invested so many years in Kylo Ren. Why start over?"
"Rey Kenobi. Let's not play games. I can see far more about you than you even know."
He knows. About Ben. Despair latches onto her.
"Did you really think I couldn't sense these things through the Force? These, you see, are the types of things the Dark Side can show you."
"Leave me alone."
"All right." Snoke withdraws, startling Rey. He opens the room's door, and two stormtroopers swoop in to grab her arms. "Now I understand."
Understand what? Rey wonders.
"You'll have time to decide. Approximately seven and a half months, I'd say."
So long? Rey blinks, disconcerted.
"Since it appears you don't know yet," Snoke says as he approaches the door. "Let me be the first to break the happy news to you." He faces her, a hollow grin on his face. "You're carrying Kylo Ren's child, Rey Kenobi."