Chapter 11: Nuances and Nightmares

General Hux stood in the control room of Starkiller base, his eyes scanning over every individual working beneath his command. The base would be operational within a week, and the end of the Rebellion would finally be completed at his hands. It was the victory he had been striving for.

He stood at the front of the base with his arms crossed behind his back, surveying the frosty surface beneath. Covered under the snow was the most destructive weapon the galaxy had ever seen and he commanded it — him — Armitage Hux. It gave him a sense of overwhelming pride. He would surpass Kylo Ren once the Rebellion was finished. Supreme Leader Snoke would be sure to appoint him as his successor and all that lay before him, the entire galaxy, would be his.

If only Brendol could see him now.

Armitage had aspired for such greatness all his life, ever since he had had the forethought to order an assassination on his own father. After his father's dalliance with a kitchen maid, Armitage had paid for the transgression by undertaking years of abuse at his father's hands. Armitage didn't remember his mother or Brendol's wife, Maratelle, but he did remember the beatings he received on account of both of the faceless women. Though it had been his father's sin, he had been the one serving for it — but that was then and this was now.

Patricide agreed with him. It had provided him with the clarity required to embark on the path which had led him here. One upping the great Kylo Ren would be the sweetest revenge. Hux couldn't fathom the power of his so-called Force or understand why the Supreme Leader held it in such high regard. Along with his Knights, Ren would fall. Hux would make sure of it.

"Sir?"

He pivoted to see Mitaka behind him. "Yes?"

"We've located the transport carrying Lord Ren and the girl."

"Girl?" Hux sneered. He was still reeling over the knowledge his favored captain had been bested by a child. "Have you identified her designation? Her name?"

"S-she is a-a Force s-sensitive," Mitaka stuttered. "The one whom Ms. Netal spoke of. There is no surname, but she is human."

Hux glared at the cowering man. Why had no one informed him the adversary was a Force user? He had found it puzzling Ren would align himself with anyone outside of his precious Knights, but the knowledge of this new player's abilities resolved that confusion. Ren may have been powerful, holding favor with Supreme Leader Snoke, but he was woefully ignorant of many things — the feminine mystique included. It didn't surprise Hux the man had chosen to remain close to a girl who possessed the same affinity for his damned Force. She was sure to be an interesting find. Force users were rare. Female Force users had been thought to be extinct.

"Where are they?" he hissed.

"They landed on Cheelit an hour ago, sir. Shall I send a squadron in to apprehend them?"

"No," Hux smirked. He had a much better plan. "Inform the Knights of Ren of their leader's whereabouts."

"Sir?"

"Do it!"

The Shrike had made landfall, docking within an abandoned hangar. Rey watched from a view port, as Sidon brought it down to a stop within the Hive Palace. She had heard stories of this place while in Maz's care. It had been abandoned for years. The planet had all but taken it back. The exterior was covered in overgrowth, the vegetation taking up residence where lifeforms hadn't.

Rey hadn't been anywhere since Takodana. Having the chance to see another planet, so unlike her home and Yavin IV was a treat. She didn't allow the disastrous consequences, which had brought them here, to dampen her mood.

"All clear," Quiggold called over the intercom.

She bounded towards the hull, ready to be off the ship and explore, her mind already racing with the possibilities of what she could find in the old hangar. Perhaps there were some parts she could scavenge to improve the speeder.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Reveth asked, as Rey zipped by her.

"Exploring," she called over her shoulder.

"It's the middle of the night!"

Rey didn't care. The evening didn't bother her. Even if she was far from the castle grounds she had familiarized herself with, this place was no different. She would feel any potential danger before it could find her, due to her Force sensitivity.

She made her way out of the ship and onto the main hangar floor. There were at least four docking stations, impressive for the fortress, as it was nearly undetectable. Not a single vessel, apart from their own, was left.

Moving through the large chamber, Rey scouted for supplies. One pro of having the palace well-hidden and abandoned was the opportunity to steal some tech, which was probably outdated, but she could still work with it. She had learned in her early years on Jakku how garbage could be transformed into whatever one needed to survive.

Rey had never lost her resourcefulness. She hated waste and made every effort to utilize everything she had within her disposal. Whatever she found here would be as valuable to her as the credits she expected to receive upon returning Ben to his parents.

She had left him the second Sidon had announced they were making their landing, leaving him to watch the process from her room. It had been the perfect excuse for her to remove herself from their staring match. Once she was in her bunk, she was able to breathe easier.

Since their near kiss, Rey had found it difficult to concentrate when she was in close proximity to him. Upon admitting to herself she found him handsome, the struggle worsened. She didn't want to think on how she was feeling, how the person she had seen as her brother and best friend was morphing into a crush. She shook her head, as if the physical motion would dispel her thoughts.

It didn't.

Rey didn't know why she was feeling this way. She had never been the type to fawn over a man, even an attractive one. Also, it wasn't appropriate. She was delivering back to his home, back to his royal roots. Once she collected the reward to share with Finn and Maz, she'd be off. It was unlikely their paths would cross again.

After all, what need did Ben Solo, Prince of Alderaan and Naboo, and son of the Resistance need her for?

The Jedi were gone and even if they weren't, she was not fully trained. Rey had no place in his story. There wasn't a future for them. She would take her credits, buy a ship, and find a place to live out her remaining days - away from the heartbreak which he had caused, not once, but twice, and away from this confounding desire he had made her feel.

Distance would clear her head — distance and time. It had taken her years to get over his death and while she had never forgotten him, she had mourned less and less. She would do the same again. She's busy herself with a new life and new adventure. Ben Solo would become a distant memory, the last shred of who she had been she had gone by the name Kira.

She stopped in front of a workbench, noticing the various tools that had been left lying around. It was as if the entire place had been deserted at the last minute. Other details began to become clearer, as she looked around. Crates left half-emptied or never opened, broken glass on the floor, and burn marks were scattered about. It gave the appearance of a hurried escape, not a planned migration off-world. Rey knelt down by the workbench, inspecting a large burn made into the ground.

"There you are." Reveth appeared at her side and knelt down next to Rey. "You're pretty quick for a human."

The Twi'lek was clad in a fitted white tank and gray cargo pants, meticulously tucked into her boots. There was a wide belt around her midsection and Rey recognized a standard issued blaster in the holster. Without meaning to, her gaze drifted to the pirate's cybernetic arm.

"War wounds," Reveth told her, as if losing an entire limb was nothing to be worried over.

"You fought in the Clone Wars?"

"Stars!" She shrieked with laughter. "I'm not that old. No, in the Galactic Civil War."

"Against the Empire?"

"I was purchased by the Galactic Empire when I was a child. My kind had always been revered as exotic. It's why so many end up as slaves. Our bodies are worth more than our labor."

Rey fought back the rise of bile in her throat. She knew slavery was a problem in the galaxy. She had all but been one while on Jakku, until Master Skywalker had offered her a better life, but to hear from someone who had lived through it first hand was causing her stomach to roll.

"What did the Empire want with a child?"

Reveth focused on some unseen item in front of her, her mind no longer on the present. "Twi'leki is near impossible to understand, unless you've grown up speaking it. While the Empire wanted many kind to speak Basic, they had unknowingly created a dying language. When they discovered so few knew of it, they attempted to preserve it and use it as a spy language. Since part of the language is body language, it couldn't be translated or decoded unless the Rebels had their own Twi'lek to translate.

It was hard for Rey to imagine a world where Reveth wasn't part of Sidon's crew. She seemed to be as much a part of the ship as the hyperdrive. As she thought about this, Reveth continued with her story.

"I was young and knew the language. My parents had only ever spoke it. They never cared for Basic. Once they destroyed my village, they locked me up, kept me prisoner for months, until I was completely dependent on them. If I wanted fresh water, I had to relay a message about an upcoming battle strategy. If I wanted a meal, I had to teach a General what specific gestures meant, so they'd recognize critical moves."

Rey tried to picture a miniature sized Reveth in an Empire-issued jumpsuit, with her brilliant blue eyes and crimson skin making her look like a lethal adversary instead of the quivering child she must have been.

"How did you escape?"

"Sidon," she responded, "I owe him my life. He was running weapons for them when his partner Werquay betrayed him. He was trying to double deal and had planned on selling the weapons to the Hutts."

Rey cringed. The Hutt syndicate was ruthless. If you crossed them, you were as good as dead. The only person she knew to have survived was Han Solo and that was due to his wife and brother-in-law's involvement.

"Anyway, weapons weren't the only thing he took when he left the base one day. He managed to smuggle me into a crate. I was fifteen at the time."

"I'm sorry that happened to you." Her words felt weak in the face of the treatment Reveth had suffered.

"It is in the past," the pirate shrugged. She ran her fingers over a wrench on the workbench. "Like this place, the horrors of my former life are only an echo now."

"What do you mean?"

Reveth turned to look at her. "This is Lady Dhol's residence. Was," she corrected herself. "She was the ruler of this planet. She had great power and even greater allies. She even hosted Darth Vader on occasion."

Rey's eyes widened. She couldn't imagine Vader walking through this space, the same place she now occupied.

"But he killed her and her subjects, or at least the ones he could before the rest fled back to Zoth."

"Zoth?"

"It is the J'feh homeworld, where they originally loved before Lady Dhol wanted to expand her network and her power. She attempted to assassinate Vader and he took her life for it."

Rey shivered. Reveth's take has been tragic, but this one felt too fresh, too dark. As if the Hive was haunted by the end of its former owner, the palace creaked and groaned. Reveth didn't appear to notice it, but Rey shivered once more.

"Don't be scared. Lady Dhol made her choice. Before her demise she was a fair ruler, one of the most powerful females in the galaxy. She was revered by many and her people loved her. She had a great legacy. It honors me to be able to be in the presence of her."

While Reveth's admiration was understandable, Rey still felt unnerved. Vader's darkness had caused much turmoil for the galaxy and for his family. It seemed to have latched onto Ben Solo, keeping him tethered to the Dark Side. Once more, Rey was reminded of how she could not figure out how to save him from his fall and ultimately himself. Reveth mistook her expression.

"There's nothing to fear here now. The Firepath chamber is clearly marked, so as long as you steer clear of it, you'll be fine."

With that said, the pirate rose to her feet. She brushed the dirt off her pants, before turning to Rey once more. "When you're done, come back to the hull. We still need to disengage that device."

"Right," Rey nodded, barely hearing her.

Her thoughts were centered on the ghosts of the castle, those which lived here and the one which had just arrived.

Ren's patience was growing thin. Where was she? No sooner than the first mate had announced their arrival, the girl and taken off quicker than a pod racer, bolting from their would-be training room. He hadn't gotten the chance to follow her and moments later was almost run sliver as she darted back out from her room to debark.

His first impulse had been to go after her. The planet was on a similar light cycle to Takodana and it would be getting dark soon. Despite the life reading signs of the ship, he wasn't convinced the Hive was safe, especially for someone like Rey. There was no telling what Dark sider relics could be lurking in the shadows.

He had made to follow her, when a blood red hand pressed to his chest. The Twi'lek woman — he couldn't remember her name, something staring with an 'R' perhaps — gave him a light shove, as she marched past him.

"I've got this, Romeo. You just stay put." She flashed his a shot of her fine white teeth over her shoulder. "Wouldn't want our meal ticket getting lost, now would we?"

Ren didn't appreciate her tone or her word choice. He had nearly had Rey. She had been right in front of him, waiting for him to kiss her and that blasted clone had interrupted. It was as if the entire crew knew what had transpired behind the closed door of the girl's chamber. They had all been eyeing him strangely since.

He returned to the empty cargo room, deciding to practice his forms. Juyo was his typical strategy, as it blended the best of Norman, Shien, and Makashi. Ren had the power both physically and mentally to master all seven forms of combat, but chose to specialize in Juyo, as Darth Vader had.

The once Jedi turned Sith Lord had been an inspiration for Snoke and by extension Ren. His knights and he had studied the great practitioner's form through hills recovered from the Empire archives. Though some had claimed he had become more machine than man, the fluid way in which the Sith had moved was indescribable.

Ren had spent years working to achieve the same easy flow. He was convinced he would never be as gifted as Darth Vader, but he had made vast improvements since beginning his study of Juyo. His Knights still struggles to maintain balance of their mental and physical demands when using the form. Snoke has since commanded them to focus their studies elsewhere, leaving Ren to be the sole practitioner of the nearly extinct form.

Seeing how quick the girl resorted to her staff forms, equal parts graceful and vicious, he suspected she might share his affinity for Juyo. It would certainly make his case stand stronger before the Supreme Leader when he brought her back.

For a time, he lost himself to the movements. He repeated the VII form over and over again, starting over each time he made a slight miscalculation or caught himself losing focus. He needed to maintain balance, but it was difficult when his mind was focused on where Rey had run off to.

Ren worked up a sweat while he let the red-skinned pirate fetch his girl.

His?

As much as he desired to have her as his apprentice and his...lover?... was that even the appropriate term? ...he was surprised by how effortlessly the possessive pronoun came out. It wasn't the first time he had thought that way about her.

Prior to meeting Rey, the only thing he had ever been possessive about was his belt. It was an object from a person he had never met and didn't remember. Being possessive about an actual person was a different matter entirely. He couldn't keep her attached to him at all times, as much merit that idea had. He would need to find another way to remain tethered to her.

Tethered. The bond.

Closing his eyes, he focused on her. He tried to find her within the Force. At first he felt all of them at once, his power seeking out the other lifeforms on the planet, namely the crew. The man he felt the warmth light he associated with Rey. He pushed toward her, chasing the beam.

When he connected to her, she shook with fright.

Rey.

Ben?

Who else?

Reveth told me this place used to belong to Lady Dhol, but her and her court were murdered here by Darth Vader.

He could feel her unease as she spoke to him through their bridged minds. Her light flickered slightly with her fear. He had never met a lifeforms who wasn't familiar with Darth Vader. He was less familiar with the J'feh ruler who had once inhabited the Hive. She had been cunning, but not cunning enough to outwit Darth Vader. Ren considered her foolish for even attempting such an act of treason. It was of little consequence. She and her kind were long gone, having paid the ultimate price for their betrayal.

If you're scared, you should come back to the ship.

I'm not scared!

So stubborn, he mocked her. She didn't respond, prompting him to remind her of her duty. You need to fix the hyperdrive.

Rey didn't reply to his quip or his statement. At first, he thought she had shut him out. Then he felt her signature bristle and move. She was coming back. He smirked to himself, letting go of the bond and heading in the direction of the hull to meet her.

Ithano was already waiting for them along with Reveth and Kix when he walked in. Rey appeared only a minute later, her jaw set tight, obviously still annoyed with his taunt. She brushed past him to take a look at the device, which had been attached near the hyperdrive, behind a crate of supplies.

"That it?" The captain asked, as Rey carefully inspected it, never once touching the tracker.

"Yes." Ren confirmed. "Are all systems powered down?"

"Everything but the life support systems," Kix informed him.

"Then let's get started."

Ren walked the girl through the steps of disabling the tracker. First she needed to press a hidden button on her side to have it release its lock on the ship's hyperdrive line. Then, she had to turn it a quarter way clockwise, before pressing the top button and yanking free. Once it had been dislodged from the hull wall, Ren grabbed a blaster from Reveth's holster and shot the tracker through the middle.

"Hey!" The Twi'lek screeched, while Ithano glared at him for putting a scorch mark on the floor of his ship.

"Consider us even now, Tybalt," Ren smirked at the angry pirate woman. She did not appreciate his dry humor and it earned him a baffled look from Rey.

"Whatever, meal ticket," the Twi'lek grumbled, shoving past him.

"Let's call it a night," Ithano commanded, leaving to power the ship back up. "Kix close up. We don't want any stowaways hopping onboard in the night."

"Yes, Captain."

Rey followed Ithano up the corridor and away from Ren. Her signature was crackling with irritation at his antics. She didn't understand his methods...yet. He reminded himself he had the rest of the week to show her the benefits of his process. He needed to continue to proceed carefully, lest she pull away from him out of defiance. Her stubbornness could not be matched — not even by his own attitude.

Ren wanted to remind her of their agreement to start training in the morning. If they would be staying on Cheelit for the day, they could make use of the castle grounds. The fresh air would be nicer than the stale recycled air of the Shrike, and it would help him work with her in minding her surroundings, since they would be in a foreign location.

"Rey," Ren caught up to her outside her room.

She paused before activating the doors, turning to face him, arms crossing over her chest. She leaned one shoulder against the wall, waiting expectantly for him to continue.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot." He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

He stared at her out from under his bangs, noticing she was staring at him suspiciously. When he didn't back down under her gaze, her face relaxed a bit and she grinned.

"I agree and I appreciate you for apologizing, Ben."

She threw the name in there for good measure, still taking pleasure out of seeing him visibly cringe each time she used it. He wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to fully take on the persona of the man she cared for, but he needed to try — at least until she cared about him more than the ghost.

"It's very noble of you."

Ren scoffed. Was she mocking him? "I am not apologizing."

Rey glared up at him, as she continued to lean against the hallway. "Your mother would be disappointed in your manners. I'll be sure to tell her when we reach the Resistance."

"Which is where, exactly?"

As much as she insisted on acting as though he was the lost prince, she hadn't trusted him enough to share the coordinates to the rebel base. The damned droid still had them, but the mechanical ball wouldn't give them up. Apparently, neither would Rey. He didn't understand her. Sometimes he felt as though he was starting to make progress, get her to open up, then in the next instant she was back to her distrustful self.

"What does it matter? When we get there, you'll know."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine," he barked, pushed to the edge once more by her stubbornness.

He expected her to go into her room, maybe try to smack him again or stomp on his foot, like the child she was. She remained where she was, glowering at the floor, as if it had done her wrong. After several long moments of tense silence, she spoke, her voice much softer and without any harsh undertones.

"Do you miss the First Order?"

"Why do you care?"

Her ask caught him off guard and he was quick to anger. After her venomous outburst in the pub, he doubted she cared to hear his response at all. She hadn't hide her disdain for the organization he served, so why the sudden interest? He skimmed over her Force signature, only to find there was no hidden agenda, only true curiosity on her part. took it as a good sign. Perhaps if he played his cards right, he could coax her over to his side, make her see reason.

She shrugged her shoulders, not looking at him, as she dropped her arms to her sides. Her defensive stance was gone, along with her irritation with him. "It was your home all this time and the Knights were your family."

"They are not my family." At least that was something he could be truthful about with her. "And the First Order was never my home. It's a place I lived."

"I guess that's true," she replied, turning to lean fully against the wall. She twisted her hands in front of her, eyes focused on the wall across from her. "Your real home was always on Chandrilla."

"I don't remember it."

Rey slanted her head up, eyeing him when she heard the pain and guilt in his admission. He hadn't meant to sound so tormented by his answer, but being honest was the best way to ensure she trusted him. Eventually she would come to understand him and why he was where he was. If she started to feel for him, it would only cement their bond.

"Do you remember Yavin IV?"

"No," he answered, honestly. He didn't add that he couldn't remember anything before about eight or so years ago, since the purge on Yavin IV, where the real Ben Solo had died…presumably at his hands.

"I'm sorry."

She was facing him now, eyes full of sorrow. He could feel it in her aura, the despair she worked to keep buried on a daily basis, the effect his loss — his doppelgänger 's loss — had had on her. He didn't want to see her this way. She wasn't the usual spit-fire he had come to know. It was too much like earlier in her room, earlier when he had almost felt like he could be Ben Solo, as long as it meant she would be his.

Ren wasn't the man she wanted him to be. He never would be the lost prince, the shadow of a man she had once loved. He couldn't handle her tears this time. He knew how to handle her when she was full of fire. He had no experience with how to handle someone full of tears. Ren had always been long gone before the time for those came. He dealt his judgement swift and left the clean up to the Stormtroopers.

"I've never felt at home anywhere. Chandrilla, Yavin IV, the Supremacy...none of them have ever been home."

Suddenly, Rey moved closer, eyes fixated on him. "Ben."

Ren had thought by telling her he had no home, she'd let the issue go. As she looked at him, he caught the tears on her eyes, glistening just beneath the surface. His words had made it worse. He hated how quick she was to care — hated it because he knew her feelings weren't truly for him.

They were for the man he was parading around as, the man who was no more than a ghost — and she would never feel about him the way she felt for Ben Solo.

"Why do you care? You're going to drop me off there, collect the reward, and go back to Takodana."

"Everyone has a home, Ben," she ignored his sullen deflection, still battling the urge to cry.

"I don't."

"But you want one."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do!"

"Once again, why do you care so much?"

"Because I'm taking you there, even if I have to drag your Dark-sided Sith ass the entire way!"

She was up on her tiptoes, in his face then, lips pursed together. His jealous anger melted away and he felt the urge to kiss her. She had rebounded from her glum mood and gone right into her petulant anger. She was back to being a spit-fire, a raging fighter, fueled by her emotions.

"I'd like to see you try."

Her eyes darkened at his quip. If it hadn't been for the hiss of chamber doors opening, behind them, he was sure she would have attempted to deck him.

"Thank the stars it's you!" Rey cried, spotting Kix, who was now standing in the doorway of his shared chamber, staring at them both warily. "I can't stay here another minute with this scruffy nerf herder!"

The pirate chuckled at her word-smithing. He left his room to come to her side, placing his hands on her shoulders the way a father would to his daughter when she needed gentle reassurance.

"What did you to do her?" the clone queried, his gaze taking on a hardened look when it met Ren's gaze, over her head.

"Nothing."

Rey rolled her eyes and stormed into her bedroom, muttering something about Ren being a moof-milker. The doors closed behind her with another hiss. Ren took her absence as a sign to retire for the evening as well. He would need to visit the refresher before he could rest. His entire body was still coated in sweat from running through his forms.

"Opposites attract," the pirate said to him.

He froze, eyeing the dark-skinned man as if he had grown another head. He didn't want Ithano's crew to have any more ammunition against him than they already did. He had noticed how careful they were with Rey and how attached they were to her. If he wanted her to join him at the end of the week, he would need to ensure there were no complications such as wannabe father figures.

"Attraction? To that skinny little scavenger?" He needed to put distance between his observation and Ren's predisposition to violence. "You've spent too much time in hyperspace."

"I've seen a great many relationships start and fail in this life, boy. Only the strongest ones last, the ones worth fighting for."

"We aren't fighting for anything. We are fighting against each other."

"If you say so."

Ren shook his head, heading to the refresher, trying to get away from Kix's knowing look and his own conflicted emotions.

Rey had been asleep less than an hour or so when she felt the chill descend in her mind. Like a gripping vice constricting around her, the pressure of a great dark force ensnared her and she desperately thrashed about in an attempt to free herself. It was only after several minutes of frantic attempts, that she propelled her body out of bed and to the floor.

Scaring herself awake, she took a moment to catch her breath, finding herself covered in a cold sweat and trembling. The darkness which had penetrated her mind was not after her. It had been seeking another.

Ben.

Before she could get to her feet to open her door, there was a pounding knock. Rey scrambled toward it, unlocking it with a hiss to reveal the entire crew of the Shrike crowded in the hall outside her room.

"What is it?" She asked, immediately fearing the First Order had found them. Even with the tracker disabled, she was concerned about being found out.

"You need to see for yourself." Sidon gestured to Kix and Ben's room. Rey followed him to the opened entrance, halting in the doorway instantly.

All the objects in the room were floating. Anything that wasn't part of the ship or tied down was suspended mid-air above Ben's sleeping form, slowly traversing in a circle.

"Rey-girl, what is this?"

It had been ages since she had come to Ben in order to comfort him on his nightmares. All the years vanished in the presence of his need. Her body remembered the old routine, as she wordlessly went to his side. Rey sat on the edge of his cot, reaching forward to brush his long hair from his forehead.

"Ben?"

He didn't stir. She noted how tense his face was, his jaw tight and his pulse beating erratically beneath her touch. It was Snoke. She realized then who the shadowy tormentor was, the one who had plagued Ben Solo's dreams since Yavin IV.

"Ben." She tried to lightly shake him by his shoulders. He remained stuck in the nightmare.

Turning to the awaiting pirates, she asked them for assistance. "Can you help me carry him to my room?"

"Kid," Kix started to object, but Sidon held up a hand.

"Let her be."

The clone wasn't pleased. Regardless, he grabbed Ben under his arms, while Reeg took his left leg and Squeaky took his right. Together the three carried Ben into Rey's chamber next door and put him on her bed.

"Now what?" Kix asked, watching as the items in Rey's room began to lift up.

"Now you all go back to bed and leave me to wake him."

"Is that a good idea?"

Rey shrugged. Waking Ben had never been this challenging before. Then again, he had been away from her for so long, pulled into the very darkness that she had feared would take him from her in the first place. She would need to try a different tactic to free him this time.

"It's the only one I have," she replied, honestly.

There was some hesitation, but eventually the crew left her. Once they were alone, Rey crawled into bed aside of Ben. He was curled in upon himself, which under normal circumstances would have made her laugh. His form was large and broad. The position had him taking up the majority of the bed.

She leaned down, bringing her face closer to his than ever before. She called to him, but nothing changed. He was still tense, all the muscles in his body rigid and unmoving. Behind her, all her belongings floated about.

Taking a deep breath, Rey did the only thing she could think to try. She reached out to him through their bond.

The connection was cold and felt corrupted, yet she pressed on. When she found him, it was not a sight she was prepared for. Ben was hunched over on the ground, covered in sweat, breathing erratically. He was clutching his side and when she looked closer, she realized he had taken a hit to his abdomen, which was bleeding profusely into the floor.

"Ben!"

His eyes widened in fear when he saw her. He tried to yell something at her, but the words never came out.

Then Rey felt a sickeningly swell of emptiness and desperation grip her. All of her darkest thought and most torturous sins played through her mind — leaving Yavin IV, lying to Maz and Finn, using Ben for financial gain, never becoming a true Jedi, failing her master — the list went on.

Pathetic nobody. You don't deserve the title of Jedi.

The voice chilled her to the bone. It took everything in Rey's power to pick her head up and stare into the face of the one who had terrorized her best friend for years.

Snoke.

Away from her, Ben remained on the ground, beaten and bleeding. He couldn't even look up at her, too focused on attempting to stop further blood loss.

"What did you do to him?"

What he deserved.

Despite the weight of all her past transgressions and all the things she regretted, Rey felt something shift inside her. Like cracking the vertebrae in back, she flexed the unnamed sensation, until her light broke free of the monster's hold.

The Supreme Leader appeared amused by her effort, though unbothered. He returned his focus to Ben and Rey snarled in protective anger.

"Leave him alone!"

He is mine. Mine to command and mine to mold as I see fit.

Rey didn't believe it. She steadied herself, pushing out the last lingering effects of his darkness until all that was left was her pure light, glowing brilliantly around her.

"You're not welcome here," she snapped, falling into a fighting stance. "Be gone!"

Foolish child. The voice sneered. You cannot save him.

"You're right. I can't," she replied, calmly, taking another deep breath. "But I can help him save himself."

With that said, she focused all her energy on forcing Snoke out. He resisted, but her determination was unevenly matched and she had the strength of their bond on her side. In the next instant, he was gone. The chill left the connection and it was as if he had never been there.

Rey came back to herself, slowly pulling out of the bond until she found herself sitting in her room. All her items had returned to their proper places, no longer suspended above the floor.

"Rey?"

"Ben!"

She threw her arms around him, wrapping him in a rib-crushing hug. He collapsed into her, his body shaking slightly from the severed connection to the Supreme Leader.

"Shhhh." She ran her hands down his back, comforting him the same way she had when she had been a child. "You're safe now. He can't reach you anymore."

"Rey, I need to tell you som-."

"Shhh, it can wait," she hushed him. "You need rest."

Ben didn't argue with her. He settled down on his side, facing away from her, towards the wall of her bunk. Rey laid down on her side as well, continuing to rub his back and shoulders until he had been lulled to sleep.

Then and only then, did she roll to her other side and join him.

In the galley, the pirates were still grouped together. Once their belongings had stopped floating, they had all turned to the Crimson Corsair for instructions. It seemed some of their cargo was more than they had bargained for.

"She's the key to all this."

The crew members looked at one another, unsure. Squeaky shrugged and pulled out a mini holo of their galaxy map.

"Change of plans," the captain announced. "We aren't going to Bespin."

"Sir?" Reveth quirked a brow at him.

"We're going to see an old friend."

Kix stepped forward. "Shall I tell Rey?"

"No," Sidon replied, quickly. "This doesn't concern her."

"But-"

"I promised Maz I'd keep her safe."

"And when she finds out what is to become of her friend?" The clone asked.

"I made no such promises about his safety."

A/N: My continued thanks to reylocalligraphy who amazes me each time she turns a new chapter around in less than a day! She's full of talented insight and creativity.