Ben looked at her, curious about what she'd said, but he was sure she was the type of person he should not be accepting help from. He didn't trust easily, and this was quite bizarre.

"Did Rey send you?"

"Nope," Rose said, peering up at him curiously. "You're ugly for a prince," She said.

The direct way in which she said it reminded him of a child, and he couldn't find it within himself to be offended at it.

"Thank you," He said simply in return. "Why do you want to help me, exactly?"

"I don't like your uncle," She said, grabbing his arm and dragging him into the cot. "And anyone with a brain in their skull would probably feel the same,"

She looked over the cottage with an appraising eye.

"Not the sort of digs I would have guessed for a prince,"

"You mentioned his girls?"

"Oh, you haven't figured that out yet?" She turned, dropping herself into a cross legged position in front of the fire.

She reminded him of the acrobats he'd seen in a fair once when he'd been a boy. Light on her feet and in total control of her body. She pulled a pouch of something out of her jacket, rolling it into a cigarette of sort. She grabbed a lit piece of small firewood from the fire, lighting her cigarette and puffing smoke like a dragon before tossing the stick back into the fire after it had a chance to burn her hand.

He sighed. Apparently, since she was holding all of the cards, he was going to have to wait for an answer.

"He plucks us up off of the street and trains us to do various things," She admitted. "He feeds and clothes orphans, but it's always at a price," She murmured. "Only way I got away from him was by pretending I'm dead,"

"I wish I could say I'm surprised, but I didn't realize it went any farther than Rey,"

"Rey got lucky, she's one of his favorites," She smoked away, pulling her knees up to her chest. "He's got her sister, you know," She glanced at him sideways.

Ben felt a twinge of guilt, recalling what she'd said. You don't understand, Ben.

"They're not really sisters, but they've been together since they were girls so it probably feels like they are,"

"Last time we saw you, you didn't recognize her,"

"No, but even in that ridiculous getup you were in, I recognized you," She admitted. "And it dawned on me a few days later who she was,"

"Alright, so, tell me,"

"Luke's the one who's been burning the outer townships," She said. "He's got Snoke heading most of it, paying him a king's ransom to lead the kids, but I think he's doin' something else with a lot of them,"

"Why do you think that?"

"They've been disappearing,"

"And you care, why?"

"Because, I was that kid once," She admitted. "They don't deserve whatever it is he's doing to them,"

"Any solid reason you have to give that I should believe any of this?"

"Nope, but what other choice do you have?" She hopped up. "Your mother isn't going to make it for very long in these surroundings, and honestly, neither will you," She tossed the cigarette into the fire. "It didn't take me long to find you, and I know Luke is more well connected than I am. He's got someone everywhere,"

Ben knew she was right. It would be almost impossible for him to disappear unless he boarded a ship out into the isles, and who knew what his fate would be out there.

"You took a good step in getting her out of there," She said. "Now let us help you so it wasn't all in vain. You've got to be better than the alternative," Meaning Luke, he assumed.

Rose held out her hand. After a few moments, Ben reached out and shook it.


Ben didn't feel good about his decision, but after a few miles of watching Rose with her men and women, he felt more at ease. She treated them with respect, and though she was commanding, she earned respect in return. It reminded him a bit of his mother, in fact. His father had only been good at burning bridges, but his mother had often been the one repairing them. Rose was right, it was hard to hide him, but they did so in another pony cart that was attached to a pony who looked as if it had survived the last few centuries. Rose told Ben to fold up and hide in the dark, and he did so, his mother being carried along in much the same way.

They made a rather more convincing troupe of vagabonds, but not all of them traveled in the clump with them. He never saw them, but he knew that they were being followed by the rest of her troupe, wherever they were. Occasionally, to keep up with the charade, they would stop and play instruments for coin before rattling off to the next town.

Eventually, they stopped in the big city where Ben and Rey had eventually found her. Ben was stowed away into a dark warehouse before he was told it would be alright to get out of the horse cart. He was glad for the freedom, stretching his limbs and raising his arms high above his head in a leonine stretch, trying to work free hours of rattling around in the back of the horse cart. His shoulder throbbed, reminding him of the still healing wounds that lay there.

Rose gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, her face half covered in black grease paint. He assumed it was part of her costume when they stopped and begged for coins. She lead him through a winding labyrinth that reminded him of the secret passageways back home. Finally, they came up against an interconnected unit of housing, and he realized that this was where they disappeared to when they disappeared. Ben found his mother was well cared for, put into a warm room with an attendant that would see to her. Ben didn't want to leave her alone here, but Rose convinced him that she was safe, safer than she'd ever been in the palace.

His own room was close to his mothers, which gave him a sense of relief. It was sparse, but he found himself more at home there than he ever had been in the sprawling palace chambers. He wasn't sure he would ever want to go back, but it quickly became clear that Rose had other plans for him than to let him stay away.

There was some fussing over what was to be done about how obvious he was. Should he walk with a limp? Should they take off one of his hands? What about a hunchback? In the end they decided it would be a mask, and he should never speak. Rose was less hopeful about his ability to sneak around unnoticed, and stick to the shadows, so in the event that he was ever seen at least his face would not be seen, and his voice would not be heard. The mask reminded him of the one he'd worn at the ball, though it was black in color with an unsettling smirk painted just-so to the lips. He would be a terror in it, tall and cloaked.

Rose was pleased with his knowledge of poisons and powders, and decided that it should be his major weapon of choice. She said that from what she had heard, he had never been good with a sword, and perhaps he was just brutal enough to deal damage with daggers and poisons. Snoke would have called him a coward, but Ben found that the more distant he got from the palace, the less he cared. Snoke could call him a coward with a knife sticking from his back and his eyes burning with toxicant.

Ben was fitted with clothing that would easily disguise what he carried with him, and most of the weapons he found himself now strapped with. Rose had taught him what she could, she told him his problem was not with skill but with how willing he was to hurt someone else. She seemed exasperated, but surprised that he lacked in the particularly brutality that Snoke had tried to instill in him. She said smoke and mirrors might suit him well.

She seemed to have a good deal of experience with this.

Ben was introduced to more people than whose names he could remember, but a few stood out. Most notably, Dameron, who he had last seen working at the palace. Poe had explained he'd been a part of this for longer than he could remember, after Snoke had killed his mother. There seemed to be a bit of a chance for a bond, there, but there wasn't much time to trade stories about how awful Snoke generally was.

There was Pik, who looked like a rat and had been given his namesake because he was good at picking locks. There was Tory, Lory and Bill, triplets who all had hideous facial deformities - their skills lying in mischief and manipulation. There was Sylph, a ghost of a girl who personified her name in a way no one ever had. She too had been one of Luke's girls, and she was more dangerous, he was sure, than Rey was. Ben felt strangely accompanied, as if he finally had others standing at his back. Rose was most certainly the leader, but they didn't treat him like a Prince. They treated him like Ben.

A few weeks passed before Ben brought up his uncles' holdings, explaining that they had found nothing when they had gone.

"Do you think you might have been prevented in seeing what was there?" She asked. "Sounds like you didn't get that far,"

Ben had to consider it, how lucky it was that Rey had found him right at the moment where he'd nearly been about to die. If she was with Luke, why had she saved him?

"It's possible," He said.

"Show me where it is,"

Ben pointed it out on the map, and Rose stuck a dagger in it. They had a flare for sticking daggers into things.

"Makes sense, this whole area around here is where he trains his orphans," She looked thoughtful. "It could be he's using this place to produce that poison,"

"So, he's going to poison all of us? One by one?"

"Probably not. He wouldn't have anyone to sell it to, then," She said blandly, a half smoked cigarette hanging out of her mouth as she regarded the map.

"He's going to poison anyone who kneels to me," He said, sadly.

It all seemed to be connecting to Ben. He'd financed this whole damn thing by taking lost children off of the streets, indenturing them to him, and then using them to create poison - it turn selling the poison to men like Brendol, who likely had a very good use for it. Rey, the maid who had poisoned his mother, the woman who had tried to poison him - they had all come from Luke. He wondered if what Rey had said was true, if she hadn't meant to kill him - or if she'd only been a stand in until she found the right moment to kill him.

Luke didn't just want the throne. He wanted the whole damn kingdom - and he wanted to obliterate whatever was left of the Organa's in his wake.

So why play the games? Perhaps it was just all part of the fun.

Luke seemed to enjoy letting his enemy know they were beaten.

"I think you should go back," Rose said.

"What?" Ben was surprised.

"Well, you have somewhat of an upper hand. You have your mother, and you have that weird stone thingy, and he doesn't know where either are," She paused. "I think the kingdom is just as divided as you are, Ben. It's not guarantee he would win a vote, but I think you might be able to convince Rey to tell you what he's up to,"

Ben scoffed. He must have been obvious.

"Didn't go so well the last time you saw each other?"

"Putting it lightly," He said, quietly.

"Well? Will you do it?"

"Fine," He muttered.

"Good, Sylph and Pik will go with you, and I'll take the others to this conclave," She pointed to the dagger.

"Make sure you dig," He said, strangely.

"What?"

"Dig," He repeated, but he didn't give her more of an answer.


It was to take place at night. He kissed his mother's forehead, thinking if it was the last time he saw her he should pay his respects. The thought of going back into the palace filled him with anxiety, but he saw the necessity in it, the hopeful tick that made him think that he could just make Rey turn away from his uncle. Rose had said to bargain, if she told them what she knew, what she really knew, they would help her get her sister out of whatever trouble she was in with Luke.

There had been parties every night since he had disappeared, or so he'd heard in town. People thought he was dead, which would work to his benefit. He dressed in his mask and his cape and decided that though this was silly, it might be the best chance he had at going unnoticed. He carried with him powders and poisons, and a brutal curved dagger with a serrated edge that was at home, strapped to his thigh instead of his boot. Mostly it went unseen, beneath the bilious folds of his cloak. It was a practical cloak, with more pockets than he thought he would ever have use for.

Getting into the palace was easy, there were so many drunkards he was sure that some of them thought him a fanciful performer, and he even did a few steps of a jig and presented a flower he'd quickly plucked to a giggling woman just to keep up with appearances. He kept out of the sight of the people who might recognize him on sight, but the rumor had worked better than he had thought. He came dangerously close to bumping into Finn, who seemed to look right through him.

He had to give Rose some credit.

The others had disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and Ben knew they were tasked with trying to loot through Luke's chambers to see if his uncle was really dumb enough to leave anything important there. Maybe he had grown too cocky with his recent accomplishments. It was Rey he sought, his heart pounding at the thought of seeing her again. He forced himself into a chilly calm, he could not let her get the best of him any more.

He dipped out into the ballroom where the parties were most often held. He took a quick assessment of the room, finding that it was lightly guarded, and his uncle had already taken his place at the throne. His supposed cousin sat there beside him, and to his other side was Rey. He was not surprised to see that she looked irritatingly lovely in a low cut gown that resembled the color of blood and clung to her frame, slinging itself into a sort of mermaid tail. On her neck were the glittering pomegranate jewels. He wondered if they had been a gift from his uncle.

He intended to cut them off of her.

She caught sight of him, or at least glimpses of him. He kept moving, and it would appear as if he was in multiple parts of the room all at once. It was enough to have her leaning out of her seat, trying to get a better look at him. Finn seemed to notice, leaning down to presumably ask her if everything was well. She nodded, whispering something before excusing herself and leaving the chair.

He kept an eye on her before dipping out into the hallway, disappearing down another corridor. She followed all the way, and eventually he heard the clack of her heeled shoes against the flooring as she tried to keep up with him. It felt good to have the upper hand, for once, and he quietly admitted he was enjoying the game of it. He lead her out on one of the balconies. He had to have lived here to know about it, but she doubted that she thought he was anyone else but Ben. He kept to the shadows, and when he heard her burst out onto the balcony, out of breath, dim light streaming out behind her - he reached out for her and took her into a firm grasp. She struggled, and he clamped his gloved hand down over her mouth, hushing her like one might an upset child.

She tried it all, stomping on his foot (which he deftly avoided), biting his hand, which he gave no signal of how much it hurt - and finally he was able to get her turned around. His fingertips dove into the hair at the nape of her neck, grasping it and pulling her head backwards. She looked up at him with gritted teeth and wild eyes, and he pressed his dagger to her fine throat.

"You wouldn't," She breathed out, her tones low. She seemed to be considering whether or not she wanted to shout for the guards, but it was a fifty-fifty chance she'd be heard.

"Wouldn't I?" He purred back, sliding the very sharp blade down the V of her dress before he hitched it underneath the glittering necklace.

"Go on then," She pressed back against the blade.

What he did next surprised her, he could tell it by the look on her face. He cut the necklace with his sharp blade, stepping back into a fighting stance when he heard the jewels go rattling all across the balcony. She couldn't see him smiling, but he was sure she could hear it.

"A gift from my uncle?" He tossed the dagger back and forth, playfully. He felt invincible, as if it didn't matter if he died anymore. "He's got lovely taste in jewelry,"

He expected to see her go scrambling after the jewels, but she didn't - she merely tossed away the remnants of the necklace before they began circling each other like predators. She was looking at his shoulder, and he anticipated her when she tried to drive her hand into it. He ducked back, pushed up against the balcony with his cape swinging out behind him.

"You've gotten better," She said, though it didn't seem she was really in a sparring mood.

She didn't give him much time to recover before she attacked him again, but he could tell she was limited by the dress and she didn't appear to have any sharp objects on her. He slashed her, pleased to see the silk split wide across her finely shaped thigh, baring it to the night air. He laughed, jumping backwards to get out of the way of her swinging. He didn't ever push back, and he could see her growing more and more frustrated with it. Now she might know how he felt.

He managed to side step her again, grasping her and spinning her out as if they were dancing. He pulled her back against his front, bending over her and trying to strong arm her so that she couldn't flail out anymore. He had her at a disadvantage, he knew, but he was glad for it that time. They were both out of breath by the time he pulled her tightly against him, his cloak swallowing her up even as she struggled. She was like a wild, stray feline.

"Enough, enough," He growled, using brute strength to still her for just a moment. "Don't you want to know what I'm doing here? You did chase me all this way,"

"This doesn't suit you, Ben," She murmured, through her teeth.

"I don't believe you know what suits me," She used the moment to try and stomp on his foot again, but he managed to avoid it, again, sending them both backwards, sprawling nearly over the balcony.

He pushed her away, sending her stumbling forward. She recovered quickly, but by the time she had he was standing on the balcony, looking down at her. This had been fun, but he knew his time was growing short.

"What are you going to do, jump?"

"I suppose I could," He wobbled, playfully, looking back and down before he caught himself. He saw her start forward, and he knew he had her. She cared about him.

"I come with a proposition, lady," He said, holding out a rolled up document wrapped in a purple ribbon. "I believe you'll recognize the hand," He said, tilting his head. "And I believe you know how to get a message back to it's writer,"

In the moment it took her to look down at the relayed message, Ben had dropped down into the lower terrace so quickly and quietly even he was surprised at himself. The mask afforded him with all sorts of confidence. He heard her scramble to the edge of the balcony, his names falling off of her lips like a whispered prayer (concern obvious there within), but he was already halfway down the hallway by the time she would realize he wasn't sprawled on the tile below.


Ben felt pleased with himself by the time the three of them reached the compound, having skated through the streets with as little as notice as possible. He felt as he had when he was a boy, when the world was still full of hope and possibilities. He felt brave, and invisible - and it made all the difference.

Rose was there to meet them, and he thought at first she had news about his mother, but she merely wanted them to relay what they had found, each of them. Sylph went first, pulling all of the papers she'd found out of her satchel and spreading them out. It was hard to make sense of what she'd found, but they could all tell it was a map of some sort. The ink was red, as if it'd been drawn by blood ink. Ben wouldn't have been surprised if it was. Pik had gone with her, and they had only found the map, and a key.

Someone had interrupted them before they'd finished their scourge, and they were forced to make an early exit.

Rose finally turned to Ben.

"And you?" Ben took a moment to untie the mask from his face and shake his hair out.

"I gave her the letter,"

"Good, and no worse for the wear, I see," She said. "Then all we have to do is wait,"

They waited longer than Rose had been perhaps expecting. Almost a week passed before they heard any word from Rey, and they had, all of them, been expecting to have to consider another avenue. Rose and the others poured over the map, trying to make any sort of sense of it, but thus far they'd had no luck. It featured lines and clusters, and there wasn't anything to indicate what was up or down.

The letter was retrieved that morning, and was in Rose's hands by afternoon. It wasn't a long message, and in Rey's hand: I want to see Ben, alone (alone was underlined three or four times). He will know where to meet me.

Ben looked it over and considered it, and Rose seemed to be thinking it over.

"You think she'll try to kill you?" She asked.

"It's possible," He admitted, balling it up and tossing it into the nearby fire.

"If I'm to go alone, then I had better go alone,"

"No, you better not," Rose said.

"She'll know," He admitted. "Isn't she an old hand at all of this?"

Rose looked caught, at that.

"Fine, but take everything in your nasty little arsenal with you," She said, and her word was often law around here.

Rey hadn't specified on a time, so Ben suited up and left. He wore the mask, which had now become his little bit of control, and he made his way to the woods where they'd met as children. Maybe she was planning on re-enacting that fateful day. He hadn't been expecting it, but he saw her standing there in the middle of the clearing with her back turned to him. Her hair was down her back, having been curled. There was a wreath of flowers weaved up into it, and he felt he might almost laugh at the sentimentality of it. She could not expect him to believe anything she might say, not anymore, but he was struck by the oddness of her beauty and the fierce clarity of her standing there.

Hadn't it been what he'd wanted, all those years?

He cracked a branch under his foot purposefully, and she turned around quickly to look at him. It was hard to read her face, but he was thankful she could not read his. She seemed to have a direct line to him, and whatever he was feeling she seemed to know just by looking at him.

"Take that thing off, you look ridiculous,"

Ben didn't respond, he only gave her a deep, respectful bow - his arms spreading out at his sides before he slowly came back up and shook his head abruptly. He was good at playing the part of a court jester. It came easily to him.

"How am I to know you're Ben?" She asked, defensive.

Ben slowly drew his hands out in front of him, removing one of his gloves. There in the meat of his hand was a purple marking in the shape of a bite mark. He tilted his head curiously before sliding his hand back on. She pressed her lips together before drawing forward a few steps. Her gown reminded him of a maiden, bethrothed to a knight of old - suede and doe brown with a glittering gold chain swung around her waist. It brought out the hazel tones in her eyes. Ben took a careful step back, holding his hands up to her. He felt it was important to keep his distance.

"Are you really expecting me to interpret this mime show while we have this conversation?"

Ben nodded his head in response, resolutely. Her irritation with it only spurned his desire to do it. He knew that if he broke down, he would break down all at once and let her come rushing in past his defenses again. This was much easier...for him, at least.

"You have no idea what you're doing, Ben, getting caught up with Rose,"

He remained silent, waiting for her to say something that he might find important.

She continued on.

"I could have kept you safe,"

"I am not yours to keep safe," He said, his deep voice muffled by the mask he wore.

"Ben," She said, exasperated. She took another step closer, her hand reaching out quickly in an attempt to rid him of that mask. He lashed out, gripping her wrist tightly before she could finish the motion.

"Why have you called me here?"

"Come home, Ben," She murmured. "I can still...I can still keep you safe,"

"Until when, Wildflower? Until he realizes what you've been doing and it comes down to me, or your friend?"

She looked shocked.

"Or should I say, your sister?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Rose," He admitted. "It makes sense now, what you've been doing. There's someone else involved,"

"You still don't understand," She said, yanking her wrist away from his grasp.

"So, enlighten me," He dropped his hand to his side. "You've brought me this far,"

"Only if you promise to take that thing off,"

Finally, he relented. He untied it and spirited it away into his cloak. She seemed relieved when she saw his face. He managed to keep it emotionless, and blank.

"He spent years telling me what an evil scourge you were on the world," She admitted. "And when I met you, I thought I believed it. And even after you'd lived, he continued to tell me how much better it would be if you died. And when I displayed just a moment's hesitation, my sister disappeared," Rey said, looking at him. If she was looking for empathy, she did not find it there. "She's been missing for years," She said, dropping her eyes to the ground below. I don't even know if she's still alive, but I have to try to keep her alive until I at least know for sure,"

She took another step forward. This time he stood his ground. She reached for his hands.

"I didn't know that my feelings about you would change so completely," She admitted.

She dropped the jewels that were left from the necklace into his hand, where they sparkled against the dark backdrop of his glove. "You gave this to me," She said, her voice sad.

Ben didn't remember giving her the necklace. He hadn't even thought it seemed familiar, but now that he saw the jewels glittering away in the palm of his hand, flashes of memory came back to him. He'd asked his mother for it one day, and after some waylaying, she had given it to him. A boy of twelve asking for something so fine, only his mother would lack in the care of it to give it over to him. His memories surrounding that time were as foggy as his current thoughts.

Ben released a sigh, thinking that this grew more complicated by each passing breath he took.

"Help Rose find her," He finally said, looking at her in that hopeful way that he once had when he'd been a boy. "Help me take my kingdom back,"

"What you're asking me to do," She sniffed. "Do you think he won't realize?"

"I think you have a good chance of making sure he doesn't," Ben wasn't stupid enough to believe that his uncle might think he was dead, but maybe there was a small kernel in his uncle's brain that believed it. The more comfortable he got, the lazier he would get.

"He wants me to marry him,"

Ben felt like he'd been punched in his gut, and all of the air went out of his lungs.

"Of course he does," He said breathlessly, taking a step back and turning so she wouldn't see his face.

"Ben?" She ventured after a few moments. He turned around, having schooled himself.

"Tell him you'll marry him. Use it to your advantage," He said. She looked as if she'd been punched herself. "The more information you can weasel out of him while he has his guard down, the better. We can find your sister and get her free of him, and then maybe you might have a chance of being free of him,"

"But how will I ever be free of you?" She asked.

Ben looked down to the ground. He wanted to run away from her. He didn't want her to be this close. He thought of her outstretched fingertips digging themselves into the flesh of his beating heart. He kissed her this time, his mouth connecting with hers in such a way that felt that if he could only devour her whole, he would. It was fierce, and she pushed back against him with equal ferocity. If they could only devour each other whole. He felt un-tethered, his fingertips grasping the hair at the back of her neck, guiding her head back with a slight tug so that he could have more access to her mouth. She gave him a pleased moan in response, though he could taste her salty tears now running down her cheeks.

Ben heard a rustle, and then a snap. He broke himself away from her, inhaling a huge breath of air while she did the same. He took one moment to look at her, her mouth kiss swollen and pretty pink before he disappeared back the way he came. He called - find me when you make up your mind - and was gone, leaving her standing there alone in the wood.


zorro kylo. revelations. kiss porn. comment/share if you like! it really helps me to keep going.