The first order of business was getting the helmet off of Ren. Then, while he was still unconscious, they activated the restraints on the medical table in the infirmary of the Jade Sabre.

"If we took off the helmet, shouldn't he be on our side?" Rey asked.

"I want to make sure we know what we're dealing with," Mara said grimly.

"Besides, it was really hard to take him down the first time," Jyn reminded her. "I don't really care to do that again."

"Ssh, I think he's waking up," Han hissed. Jyn double-checked her blaster, as did Han. Cassian had left to keep Bodhi company, as he was disappointed that he always missed all of the fun.

When Ben Solo came to, he was as angry as a mynock.

"Where am I?" He strained against the restraints, but couldn't shake them. "What's going on?"

"Ben, Ben, it's okay, we came back for you," Han said, giving Mara a "told-you-so" look. "Just calm down, and we'll take off the restraints—"

"It's a bit late for a rescue," Ben snarled. "You don't know what I've done, what I've been through, and you didn't even bother to come for me!"

"That's not true," Rey said. "We've been looking for you—"

She looked inquisitively to the adults.

"Since the night you burned the Academy down," Mara said.

"Why not before then?" Ben demanded, looking to his father. "Why did you only go looking when the galaxy finally noticed you had a problem on your hands?"

"Because we didn't tell him!" Mara shouted.

The infirmary was silent for a few moments as Mara closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts.

"We didn't tell him that you'd gone missing, because we didn't want him to worry," Mara said. "He didn't know the truth about you going to the Academy, the why, until two months ago."

"I didn't know Leia was afraid, and I didn't know about the dreams until you told me— smuggler's honor, for whatever that counts," Han said. "I thought that Luke and Mara could help you more than I could. I thought the Force was just hokey— I never knew what to do with a kid who had it."

"You don't say."

Hints of the wry and sarcastic boy from the holo journals began to leak through.

"Look, kid, I— I'm sorry," Han said. "I wanna do it right, this time."

"I can't." Ben shook his head. "Snoke knows— he's inside my head, he'll punish me enough for this—"

"We can help with that," Mara said.

"You don't deserve to put up with that, Ben," Jyn said softly. "Whatever Snoke did to you—"

"He invaded my mind— just like Palpatine did to his Hands," Ben said bitterly. "There was the Embrace of Pain— so many things, I'm not sure I remember it all."

"You never deserved it," Jyn said. "No one knows that you're Kylo Ren, yet."

"No, but the galaxy will never accept the Jedi spawn of Vader." He looked straight to Mara with a malice that chilled Rey to her bones. "Not even Luke."

Mara looked uneasy. "What are you talking about?"

"Before the mission, to see where the others had gone?" There was a wicked glee in his voice, a cathartic factor. "He went invading my mind, just as painfully as Snoke does. And he didn't like what he saw too much, because he tried to kill me."

All the color drained out of Mara's face as she, Han, and Jyn all exchanged a look.

"No, no, that can't be true," Mara whispered.

"Did you ever really believe that the exploding hut in the middle of the night was just an accident?" Ben taunted.

Rey bit her lip. This was bad.

"I never knew— I'm sorry," Mara said. "So you then went straight to Snoke?"

Ben's smirk faltered. "I would have forgiven him. Luke killing me wasn't what drove me over the edge."

"Then what did?" Mara folded her arms over her chest.

The smirk returned, and all the adults leaned in closer, worried about what they would overhear.

"I was working on my mission when it happened," Ben said. "When the galaxy made up their mind about me, and I decided I would be the bad guy, if they wanted it so badly."

Something was wrong with that statement, Rey realized. The adults must've agreed, for they all shared puzzle looks.

"Don't you get it?" The wicked glee returned, stronger than ever. "I didn't destroy the Jedi Academy. That's what they want you to believe."

"Who?" It was the only thought that Rey could express.

"The same people who tried to kill my mother for being Vader's daughter— the New Republic."