"Finn!"
He is the first thing Rey sees as the shuttle ramp lowers. Loyal, courageous, big-hearted Finn. Her first ever friend. Rey gives him her biggest smile. Just seeing Finn gives her hope that everything will turn out alright in the end.
From the moment they first met, Finn had wanted to protect her, to help her, to hold her hand through the dangers that surrounded them. She knows that Finn would gladly have been her one true love. But that had seemed terribly unfair once Rey had decided to keep Kylo Ren's baby. She would not let Finn raise his enemy's son as his own. Especially knowing how he had argued against her decision.
Finn looks nervous now, shifting his weight side to side and wiping his palms on his fatigues. He's holding a blaster in his hands. In fact, she's surrounded by blasters. Rey spies at least six of them, all pointing right at her.
Instinctively, Rey's hands go up.
"Don't shoot! Finn! Finn—it's Rey! Don't shoot!"
"Rey!" Finn jogs forward to stop at the bottom of the shuttle ramp. "Rey, is it really you?"
"Yes, yes, it's me. Finn, it's me." The relief on his face melts her heart. She has missed Finn. She has needed a friend. "Can you lower the weapons?"
"Rey, we thought you were dead! They told us that you were dead. We saw pictures and-"
She's grinning at him. "No, we're alive! Han is with me." As if on cue, the boy peaks out from behind her cloak and skips down the ramp, oblivious to the danger. Several of the blasters are now following Han.
"Lower your weapons!" Rey's voice is sharp now. Instantly, she's in mother-bear mode. "He's a child!"
Finn nods. "It's just a precaution, Rey. We weren't sure it was really you. You're supposed to be dead and that's a First Order ship and you know old Akbar. He thinks everything is a trap." Finn looks back at her for confirmation. "This isn't a trap, is it?"
"Of course not, Finn. It's just me and Han on board, I promise. There's no one else. This is not a trap. Please lower your weapons."
Finn nods and motions to the Resistance fighters to stand down. The weapons are lowered, but kept at the ready. Satisfied, Rey runs to bear hug Finn.
"Thank the Maker you're alive!" His equally enthusiastic welcome lifts her feet from the ground. Once he sets her down, Finn is grinning ear to ear as he overwhelms Rey with rapid-fire questions. "What happened? How did you survive? Where have you been? Are you okay?" Then he stops abruptly and squints at her. "You're different, Rey. You look different. I almost didn't recognize you."
Suddenly, Rey is self-conscious and she reaches to smooth her hair. Finn had known her as the desert scavenger in a sandy tunic and boots. And then later with the Resistance in a mechanic's greasy coveralls. But always with her hair in a tight trio of buns and her signature arms wraps. Rey gives Finn a nervous smile. "It's just the hair and the clothes. Don't let it bother you. I'm still Rey."
It is the wrong thing to say because Finn now begins to study her in earnest. Seeing her elaborate hooded cape embroidered black on black with the First Order insignia. It's the only outer garment she owns and space is cold so Rey had grabbed it without thinking. Both the cape and the red gown that peaks from underneath are the work of Coruscant's costliest atelier, and apparently even an ex-stormtrooper can recognize their luxury. Suspicion dawns in Finn's handsome face.
"Oh, no, Rey." Finn's eyes are wide and he's shaking his head in disbelief. "Tell me you're not—you didn't go to—tell me you are not with him." The 'him' needs no explanation.
But Rey is looking away, searching for where little Han had gone to. The boy is nearby talking to an older man who squats beside him in a pool of sandy robes. Han shows the man the small toy spaceships from his father that never leave his hands.
Rey frowns. On Jakku, she had learned very quickly that any stranger is a potential deadly threat. But her young son knows no strangers. Han lives in a tightly controlled world where virtually every person wears a uniform and works for his father.
"Rey?" Finn wants an answer.
But Rey's attention is still on her son. She calls softly to Han and beckons him back. "Stay with me please." Reluctantly, the boy returns to her side. One toy ship is clutched in his hand, the other levitates slightly over his open palm.
The old man rises to his feet and Rey feels his gaze settle on her. He strokes his sandy grey beard thoughtfully. Something about the man makes Rey uncomfortable. "Stay with me, Han," she repeats as she reaches down to grab his small hand and pull him close. "And don't talk to strangers."
"Rey?" Finn will not be put off any longer. "Are you with him? I mean with him?"
She turns back to Finn, knowing he will not understand but unwilling to lie. "I live with him. But it's not what you think."
Finn's dark eyes widen at this information. "Not what I think?" Then what is—"
"Finn, not now. Please." Rey cuts him off. "I promise to explain everything." This is not the time or place for that conversation. "Please I'd like to see General Organa. Is she here? Can I speak with her? I don't have much time. Finn, this is very dangerous for me."
Finn gives her a hurt look and steps back. His tone is curt now. "I'll go see." Then he motions back to the guards. "Keep an eye on them both," he orders as he departs the hangar bay. "But set for stun."
Once again, six blasters are aimed at her.
Rey eyes the guards and then sighs in resignation. It's a security precaution and of course she understands it. She has arrived unannounced in a First Order shuttle after all. But, still, it depresses her. The First Order had pointed guns at her. Now the Resistance points guns at her. Was neither side of this war safe for her and Han?
Once Rey had hotwired Kylo's command shuttle and jumped out the Naboo system, she had not known where to go. None of this had been planned. So she had spent a good half an hour staring out into deep space at a complete loss for what to do next. Now what? Rey had only wanted to get away. Away from the First Order, away from that dreary castle and, most importantly, away from Kylo Ren.
Kylo . . . the memory of last night is burned forever into her brain. Mine. How that word had scared her. Rey has no idea what Kylo had meant by it. But she had been afraid to stay and find out.
So she had fled to the Resistance. To the only people who wouldn't automatically turn her back over the First Order. To Finn, her only friend in the galaxy and the keeper of her secrets. Once he had begged her to confide in General Organa. Now, over three years later, Rey is finally ready to take Finn's advice.
And then Rey will figure out what to do next.
"What is your name, son?" It's the creepy old man asking. He has walked closer to them and once again he squats to be on level with the boy. Rey frowns. None of the guards seems to mind that this man has approached them. Whoever this guy is, he has status in the Resistance.
Han is levitating his toy ships again. There is no point in Rey telling him to stop. The boy can't hide his unconscious use of the Force. It comes naturally to him and asking him to stop will only risk a tantrum. Rey has bigger battles to fight just now.
"Sheev." Han answers. "My name is Sheev."
"What?" Rey is only half listening, her mind back on Finn. She needs to make things right with Finn. "Han. His name is Han," she answers absently for her son. But she tightens her grip on his little hand.
"Sheev." Han repeats with stubbornness that only a two-year-old can convey. "Daddy calls me Sheev."
Rey's ears prick up at the word 'Daddy.' "Don't be silly, Han. You are confusing this man. Han Solo. Your name is Han Solo." Rey glances apologetically at the older man. "Forgive my son. He's only two."
The old man looks from her to the boy and then back again at her. "He looks just like his father."
That remark gets Rey's full attention. She focuses on the old man for a long moment and suddenly Rey feels threatened. Very threatened. She reaches down to gather Han in her arms. Rey is about to say something when Finn reappears and motions for her to join him.
Finn refuses to look at her as he leads them to a small conference room. And that hurts. Inside General Leia Organa stands waiting. The old man from the hangar bay quietly slips into the room behind Rey.
Finn's face is a thundercloud but at least General Organa is smiling at her. She envelopes Rey in her arms with a warm, motherly hug. "Rey, I'm so glad to see you." If the General is surprised to see Rey with a child, she doesn't let on. "We saw horrible pictures. We thought for certain that you were dead."
"That's what the First Order wants you to think," Rey responds. Of course, Kylo would want the Resistance to think that she and Han were dead. So no one would come looking for them. "Kylo wants us alive and with him."
The General is beaming at her and it feels strange. Almost overly familiar. But for a few tense conversations years ago, Rey has only known Leia Organa from afar. To Rey, she has been the stately veteran, an intimidating figure of respect and admiration. The heroine of the Rebellion, destroyer of Death Stars, architect of the New Republic and leader of the Resistance. But looking at her now, Rey can only think of her as Kylo's mother. Rey knows too many intimate details of this woman all filtered through the bitter memories of her estranged adult son. And all Rey can think is that she never wants Han to think of her the way Kylo thinks of General Organa.
Beside the General stands the old man from the hangar. What is he doing here? Again, Rey's sense of unease increases. "General, could you and I have a moment alone with Finn? This is personal."
"Rey, it's alright," Leia Organa smiles to reassure. "This is my brother. Luke—"
"Skywalker," Rey finishes for her. That mythical name drops from Rey's lips with undisguised dismay. Her eyes narrow as she turns to look anew at the old man. So this is Kylo's uncle Luke. The man he has sworn to kill."You're the Jedi," Rey whispers. The old man nods politely at her, but says nothing. His milky blue eyes seem to look right through her. To see the truth of her and little Han and last night with Kylo Ren.
He knows. I think the Jedi knows everything.
Alarm bells are ringing in her head. The danger of Rey's rash flight from Bast has just increased ten-fold. Kylo will kill her if he learns that she has brought their son to meet the galaxy's last Jedi. Kylo might disdain his mother, but he hates his uncle. He hunts his uncle.
As if sensing her reaction, the General reassures her. "Rey, there's nothing that you can share with me that my brother can't hear." It's smoothly said and there is no way for Rey to reasonably object. Not when she's here asking for their help. Leia Organa smiles again. "We're all family here."
It might have been an innocent remark, but the words take the breath from Rey's lungs. Does she already know too? "Oh, stars!" Rey gasps as she starts to back away. Her mind is racing as she looks from the General to the Jedi to her son. Kylo's stories of the Jedi snatching Darth Vader's children leap to the forefront of her mind. Rey is starting to get a bad feeling about this.
"I think we should go. Yes, we need to leave. This was a mis-"
"Rey," General Leia's voice has the steely note of a woman long accustomed to command. "Stop. Don't run from us." She gives Rey an encouraging smile, full of compassion. "Please, sit. Let us help you. We can help you."
Rey doesn't sit. But she does stop backing towards the door.
She looks down at Han, seeing the two-year-old who had been excited to wake up aboard his father's starship wrapped in his favorite blanket. The little boy who can use the Force but still can't use a fork. His father has grand plans for him, but all Rey really wants is for Han to be with her and for them to be safe and happy. And maybe the General and the Jedi can help with that.
Right now, she needs all the help she can get.
So Rey takes a deep breath and plunges forward. "This is my son. His name is Han Solo and he is two." Rey looks the General in the eye as she bluntly reveals, "He is your grandson, General."
"Sheeeev, Mommy," Han tugs at her to skirt. "Sheev."
Leia Organa exchanges glances with her brother. The General is quick to follow up. "So when you left the Resistance after the Starkiller, you went to my son?"
Rey looks to Finn, wondering if he had revealed her secret once the Resistance thought she was dead. But Finn refuses to meet her eye.
"No. I went back to Takodano to work at Maz Kanata's cantina. She was rebuilding and she hired me on. I worked there until Han turned two. That's where Kylo found us. He took us and we have been living with him ever since then."
Rey can see the General mentally doing the math. "Then you must have been pregnant when you left us. I don't understand, Rey. Did you know Ben before the Starkiller?"
Ben? Who's Ben? Oh, right. Kylo Ren was once Ben Solo. Rey can only think of him as Kylo.
"No. I was his prisoner for a short while on the Starkiller." Rey bites her lip, supremely uncomfortable with this information. This trauma is her private pain. It is not something she ever wishes to voice aloud, especially in front of Han and the stranger Jedi. But it doesn't look like she has any other options. So Rey swallows hard and looks away. "Prisoners don't get to consent," she explains softly, cringing at her own words.
Rey hopes that she has been sufficiently vague to keep Han in the dark. The child is unnaturally perceptive. She wants Han never to know the circumstances of his conception.
The room is silent for a long moment before the General speaks. "I see."
There is so much pity in those two words that for a moment Rey fears she will burst into tears. Behind the General, Finn half-raises clenched fists for a moment before dropping his hands back to his sides. The Jedi does not react. Skywalker just stands there staring at her like he can see what she's thinking. At least Kylo doesn't look so obvious when he reads her thoughts.
The story tumbles out now, Rey's words spilling forth in a rush of pent up fear. "It was a secret. Only Maz and Finn knew. When Finn was captured again, Kylo Ren interrogated him. He found the secret in Finn's head. That's how Kylo knew where to find us. He killed Maz and then he took us. And now I have to live with him or I lose my son. And he—he-" Rey stops to take a fortifying breath. She can feel her composure slipping fast. "General, I want you to know. I don't know what will happen to us. But if someday the Resistance runs across Han, I want you to know. Don't kill him. Whatever happens, none of this is his fault." Rey rambles on awkwardly. "It's not his fault who his father is."
Leia Organa's face is full of compassion. "Rey, you should have told me." Finn's face is a scowl at the General's words, and Rey knows Finn is remembering his long ago advice to her. "I could have helped you, Rey. Let me help you now-" Leia Organa is reaching for her now, but Rey instinctively backs away, her hands coming up to fend off the embrace. Rey is extremely uncomfortable. Right now, Rey just wants to speak her peace, get a ship and then leave as soon as possible.
Seeing her skittishness, the General quickly backs away. Maybe it's because she's a woman and a mother herself, but Leia Organa seems to be the only person in the room who understands Rey's extreme state of anxiety right now. "You're safe now, Rey. Ben can't hurt you here with us. You have escaped and you are safe."
"There is no escape from Kylo Ren." This comes out as a wail, but it is the unhappy truth. Rey feels a tear spill over onto her cheek. She hurries to brush it away. If the tears start falling, Rey fears she will melt down into hysterics for her predicament. "But I'm going to try."
"Why are you living with him?" Finn explodes hotly. His face looks so anguished. Rey feels her heart sink. "You know what he is! You know what he's done! You were one of us-part of the Resistance. You fought him! He attacked you! Rey, how could you?"
"With him? Finn, I'm not with him! I've been his prisoner for months." Rey's reply matches his indignant tone. This judgy, angry version of Finn is a stranger to her and its confusing. "This was never my choice and it's not my fault."
"Right," Finn's sarcasm is as biting as it is uncharacteristic. "That's why you show up here flying his fancy shuttle and looking like the queen of the First Order-because you don't have a choice. I've been in the First Order, remember? And I've been their prisoner. I know how Ren treats prisoners. And his prisoners don't look like you do, Rey." Finn looks her up and down again and then asks, "Just what are you to Kylo Ren?"
Does she really look that different? Rey is taken aback by this question, but the General and the Jedi seem to think it's fair game. What's the answer? Well, it's far more complicated than Finn would ever suspect. And Rey does not want to get into any of that.
"I'm his prisoner, Finn!" Rey snaps back. It's the truth, after all. "Kylo may give me everything I could possibly want, but he won't let me leave with my son. That makes me his prisoner."
Finn isn't buying it. "There's more to this, Rey, I know it."
Rey blinks, hurt by and angered by Finn's quick assumptions. "I am trying to stay alive. For myself and for my son. So don't judge me!" Can't Finn see what an impossible situation she and Han are in? This is not at all how she had expected Finn to react. His expression is hard and it goads her on. All the stress and confusion of the last twelve hours is getting to Rey. "Do you like the dress, Finn? It has a high neck in the back to hide the scar from the slave collar implant they put in me!"
"Rey—" The General tries unsuccessfully to break in.
"Oh, it's nothing but fun with Kylo Ren," Rey is growing more bitter by the moment. Frustrated that Finn won't even try to understand what she has been through these last months. He's her friend—he's supposed to understand. "Last night I knocked teeth out of one of his knights who had the gall to ask Kylo for me! Like I was one of the girls they hire and pass around."
"Oh, so you're sleeping with Ren now?" Finn's face is a mask of betrayal. General Organa shoots him a warning look but Finn pays it no heed. "You are, aren't you?" Finn keeps arguing like he and Rey are alone in the room without an audience of the two most powerful figures in the Resistance.
Now everyone is looking at her but there's no way Rey is going to answer that question. It turns out that she doesn't have to. Her face flames bright red to silently confirm Finn's accusation.
"That's enough, Finn." General Organa steps in to end the awkward silence. Then she turns back to Rey. "You're safe now. Rey, you and Han are safe now here with us."
"No, General," Rey shakes her head ruefully. "We will never be safe. Kylo Ren will burn down the galaxy to find Han if we don't return and there will be a trail of blood lightyears wide in our wake."
"You sound like you're going back to him!" Finn instantly accuses. "Are you going back to him?"
"I don't know where we are going," Rey retorts. Unhappily, that's the truth. She has no plan other than to get away. "But we can't stay here. I'm through with war. I'm not fighting for the First Order or the Resistance. I have Han to think about."
But Finn won't let up. He keeps pressing. "After all this time, I find out you're alive. You're alive and you're with him!" His voice is rising. "I offered you better than this, Rey!" Finn looks so hurt and bewildered by what he has learned. Finn is a good man and it's not like him. But he lashes out at her. "What is it like to live with him, Rey? As his—his—"
"Finn, don't-"
"Whore!"
Rey winces at the word. Beside her, Han screams and thrusts both hands out before him. Instantly, Finn flies hard into the far wall and crumples to the floor. It was a mighty Force-push and it had been done by a two-year-old.
"Han!" Rey yells down at her son in horrified disbelief. Had Han even understood the meaning of that word? He couldn't have. Could he? "Han, stop!"
"Enough!" shouts General Organa. "Finn, be civil or you will need to leave. And please remember there is a child present."
Little Han stamps his foot and tosses his head defiantly. The boy is every inch his father in this moment. As Finn struggles to his feet, Han points right at him. His baby voice and grammar do not obscure the intensity of his words. "I not like him, Mommy! Can I hurt him again? Please, can I?"
Rey stares down at her child. Not for the first time, she feels an overwhelming sense of dread for Han's future. Knowing that very soon she will be powerless to control her Force-strong, headstrong son. Han only seems to listen to his father. And for all she knows, Kylo is in his head this very second. Rey never really knows when they are talking to each other, although sometimes she suspects.
"Leave the boy with us." Luke Skywalker speaks for the first time. After all the screaming and emotion, his calm words sound like a whispered secret from a trusted friend. He waves his hand slightly as he repeats himself and Rey hears the Jedi in her ears and in her mind. It is almost seductive, his urging. And for a moment, Rey can only think to agree. "Leave the boy with us." Leave the boy with us. Leave the boy. Yes, I will leave the boy. Wait—what?
Rey blinks away the thought and turns outraged eyes on the Jedi. "Mind tricks, Jedi?"
Luke Skywalker does not deny it. "The boy belongs here with us. On the Light Side. With the Resistance."
General Organa jumps in and it becomes a two-pronged attack. Her voice too sounds calm and reasonable. "It's safest for Han, Rey. And he will be with his family."
"Kylo and I are his family!" Had she actually said that? Well, it's true—in a way.
Finn scowls at her.
General Organa shakes her head ruefully. "Rey, Ben will make Han into a monster. He will make him Sith. In a few years' time you won't recognize your boy." The Rebellion's famous princess sighs with heavy regret. "Trust me, I know. I lost my own son to the Sith. If you love Han, then please leave him here with us."
The Jedi agrees. "Han will need to be taught the ways of the Force, Rey. Or he will be a danger to himself and to others." Luke Skywalker looks pointedly at her. "Already, it seems, you cannot control him."
This criticism hits home, but Rey brushes it aside. "He's two! Even normal two-year-olds are difficult to control at times. Han is mine. He stays with me."
Leia Organa, the trained diplomat, smoothly turns that argument. She smiles and speaks in a soft, welcoming tone. "Rey, we want the both of you here with us. On the good side. Han would grow up with you and his extended family here with the Resistance."
"No." Rey is firm. "That will never work. And our presence would only endanger the Resistance." She will be damned if she lets Han be trapped into being an emotionless Jedi like Kylo was. Plus, they will raise him to hate his father. And if there is one good thing about the bizarre relationship they have with Kylo, it's that Han adores his father.
Suddenly, it's clear to Rey that the Resistance is not the answer. No, she will have to take Han away from all of the Skywalkers—the Jedi and the Sith—if they are to be safe and to be free.
So Rey starts to bargain. It's an old habit from Jakku. "I need a clean ship. I'll trade you the shuttle I stole for an untraceable ship with clean codes. Han and I will make a run for it."
The General considers for a moment and counters. "I can get you a clean ship, Rey. But first the boy stays with us. It's for the best. Trust me, you will thank us in the long run." Leia Organa steps closer and bends over Han. "Han," she smiles down at the young boy. "I'm your grandmother. I'm your Daddy's mother. Would you like to come and live with-"
"No!" Rey snatches up her child. "I'm not leaving Han with you." Leaving Han is non-negotiable. "The shuttle is encrypted but I broke the code to hotwire it and to disable the tracker. I'll give you everything you need to do a data dump from the shuttle. It's Kylo's personal ship. You can probably get a com to Leader Snoke at home directly from it. It will be full of useful information for the Resistance."
The Jedi speaks up and affirms his sister's position. "The child is more important to us than your ship. Rey, Han is something very special. So, I'm afraid that this is not just about what you want for your son." Luke Skywalker's face is eye level with hers. He is not a tall man, but through the Force Rey senses his enormous power. Maybe that's what makes him so creepy. "There are larger forces at work here. Han cannot be allowed to become Sith. We will not lose another Skywalker son to the Dark Side. I'm sorry, Rey, but we cannot allow it."
Rey stares at the long lost Jedi and full awareness dawns. This is why Kylo had warned her about his family. This is why Lady Vader looks so sad in her portrait. Because the Jedi steal children. Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker want to keep Han. And they are not going to take no for an answer.
Kylo had warned her. She should have listened to him. She should have trusted him to be truthful where Han's safety is concerned. But now, thanks to her stupid idea to flee to the Resistance, she and Han are caught in the middle of the Skywalker clan and their never-ending Force war. Rey had been a fool to come in good faith to tell the truth and to ask for help.
But it's becoming harder for her to tell who is friend and who is foe.
Rey's eyes flash and she is through with all dissembling. "I know why you want Han. I know the history—I know what you Skywalkers have done to the galaxy! It ends with Kylo Ren. There will be no more split families and endless wars and raising sons to kill their fathers in the name of the Force. At the very least, I will spare my son that heartache. Han is mine! You cannot have him. He will not be your pawn."
The Jedi is calm in the face of her outburst. In fact, all his zen-like chill is damn annoying. This was the man who had stared down Darth Vader and his Emperor, Rey remembers. Of course, arguing with a Jakku nobody wouldn't rattle him.
"If you run, you will have to keep running. You'll spend your life alone on the run one step ahead of the First Order." Luke Skywalker says this with kind condescension. Like he is patiently explaining the obvious to a small child. "That's no way to raise your boy. You and Han are better off here with us where we can protect you." The Jedi's milky blue eyes bore into hers and for a moment his intensity reminds Rey of his nephew. "If your boy becomes Sith, then he is certain to kill his father. The Sith apprentice always kills his Sith Master. That is the way of the Sith. One way or another, your boy will kill Ben. It's just a matter of time."
Is that true? That can't be true. Rey doesn't trust Skywalker after that mind trick. But even if the Jedi is right, that's a problem for another day. And so what if the Resistance doesn't want Kylo's shuttle. She can sell it for parts and get enough to buy a small ship. Selling the hyperdrive alone ought to net her what she needs. Sure, it will take longer and have more risk, but Rey will find a way to get a clean ship from somewhere. If anyone knows about starship part sales, junkyards and unmarked, off-grid ships, its Rey of Jakku.
"We will run. I'll take my chances," Rey tells them with more confidence than she has. "I survived Jakku. I might just survive Kylo Ren."
"Then you give us no choice, Rey." Skywalker reluctantly nods to his sister and she speaks into a comlink. "Send them in." Several of the armed guards from earlier suddenly appear in the open doorway. The General nods to them and her meaning is clear. If she doesn't give them Han, then the Skywalker twins will take him by force.
Of course. The Jedi steal children.
Oh, Kylo, she thinks, I should have trusted you.
Rey's mouth hardens into a tight line. The Resistance doesn't know it, but stealing Han might just be their undoing. "You can't hide him from his father. Don't you understand? Kylo's in his head! All of the time. They have a connection—some sort of mental bond. They talk to each other in their heads. If you try to keep him, you will only endanger yourselves and the rest of the Resistance."
"If we can't keep him, then how are you going to keep him on your own?" Skywalker counters. It's a fair question and one that Rey hasn't quite figured out yet. With each passing moment, she feels more and more hopeless about her options.
While she hesitates, the General gestures to her troops. "Take this woman and her son to a holding cell for now." Kylo's mother sighs heavily and meets Rey's eyes. "Trust me, you will thank us for this later."
Like Hell she will. Rey's eyes narrow. She will be damned if she will escape being Kylo's prisoner only to end up a Resistance prisoner. She looks down at Han and suddenly the answer becomes clear: the help she needs right now is from Kylo. And just like that, Rey switches sides again.
"You're making a mistake! I'll prove it to you." Instantly, Rey is on her knees holding Han's sweet face in her shaking hands. "Han, listen to Mommy. Talk to Daddy. Get Daddy's attention now. Now! Please." She can see his mouth moving as he mimics the words he has said in his head. "Good. Tell Daddy we are coming home. Mommy was wrong and we are coming home." Rey shakes Han slightly as she speaks, willing her son to understand the urgency of the situation. After a moment, he nods to her. "Good. Now, ask Daddy to tell you something about FN-2187. Ask him about the traitor. And tell us aloud what Daddy says."
Han nods. Then he starts speaking. The words are Kylo Ren filtered through a toddler. "Daddy hurt him with his red sword. Cut his back. He's a trai-tor to the First Order. All trai-tors must die." Han is speaking in halting breathes, like he is translating from another language for them. "Mommy, Daddy says don't go home. Meet him on the Fine-all-izer big ship. Like this one!" The boy grins as he raises his toy star destroyer for all to see. "The bad guys will track your ship, Mommy. Don't go home."
Rey glances up at the General and the Jedi. Skywalker's mouth has a grim set. His sister looks horrified. This was working, then.
Rey presses forward. "Han, listen to Mommy. If ever you are separated from me or from Daddy-if ever anyone takes you from us, tell Daddy in your head. Tell Daddy where you are and who you are with. Keep talking to Daddy. He will come for you. Daddy will save you. He will bring his armies and his spaceships and he will save you."
Han nods to her, looking scared. It breaks her heart. "Daddy will save me," he repeats. "Daddy loves me. Mommy, I want to go home now. I want to see Daddy."
Rey clasps the boy to her, rocking him back and forth in her arms. "Oh, Han. I'm so sorry for this. All of this." She stands, still holding the boy. "Now try and take him from me," she dares the Jedi and the General.
"You win, Rey," Skywalker concedes. "The responsibility for that boy's fate now rests solely on you now." He gives her a long, disappointed look. "The consequences are on your conscience. For him, for you, for everyone that you will hurt by this."
Those words hang heavy in the air for a moment. Rey looks at angry Finn, at the frustrated General, at the uncertain Resistance guards waiting to take her to a cell. How did this go so wrong? She's one of them, don't they understand that? Wait-is she one of them?
Skywalker peers at Rey and his mouth twists in a grimace. "Is he training you?" the Jedi asks quietly.
"No," Rey's tone is bitter. "I don't want anything to do with the Force. I hate your Force."
"How convenient for old Master Snoke." The Jedi manages to make her refusal to learn the Force sound like she is complicit with the Sith. "I am glad that you never came to me for training, Rey. I would have refused you. Your feelings do you credit, but you are trapped by your attachments and making bad decisions. That kind of selfishness can lead to a dark place."
Yes, the Jedi forbid attachments . . . just like Kylo had explained to her. Rey is starting to think that the Dark Side has the better argument, at least where love is concerned.
"My love for my son is not selfish!" Rey snaps back. She's also starting to understand how Kylo ended up hating his uncle. The man's smugness rankles. Maybe she ought to be giving the Last Jedi more deference, but Rey suffered to protect the man who today had wanted to take her child. All Rey can think is that if she had given Kylo the map to Skywalker three years ago, none of this would be happening now.
"You haven't proven yourself to such be a great teacher, Luke Skywalker." Rey gives the Jedi the withering look she used on rival scavengers back on Jakku. "I wonder if you are even worth all the lives that were lost searching for you. A lot of people died for your map."
General Leia purses her lips into a hard line, disapproval radiating off her. "Finn will show you back to your ship, Rey. It's time for you to leave." The General pauses and adds as an afterthought, "Thank you for telling us the truth." There is little enthusiasm in her words. If Rey wasn't certain that the General knew her secret before today, she is now.
Finn too is frowning at Rey. Despite his anger, he's still concerned for her. Because he's Finn. "Wait—is it even safe for you to go back, Rey?" Finn turns to the General and the Jedi. "She stole his ship and she stole his kid. Kylo Ren is not going to be happy about that. He's not the forgiving sort of guy, you know."
The General snaps back at Finn. "A few minutes ago she told us Kylo wanted her and the boy."
"You're staking your life on this, Rey." Finn looks very skeptical. "Maybe you should just send Han back in the shuttle and then you make a run for it."
There's no way she's sending Han back alone to his father. But in her mind, she can hear Kylo warning her that if ever she tries to leave he will take Han from her and throw her in a cell.
Kylo Ren does not issue idle threats. Just ask Chandrila.
"Well, Rey?" General Organa is impatient for this interview to be over. Beside her, Finn looks increasingly alarmed at her hesitation.
Running from Bast Castle might just be the worst decision she has ever made, Rey thinks. She closes her eyes and the memory of how this all got started replays in her mind. She and Kylo are naked and tangled in each other's arms. Kylo is stroking her hair and vowing that she is his. Scaring her with the lure and the threat of his Darkness.
If Rey is lucky, that's what she is going back to—Kylo's bed. And if she's unlucky, well then there is a prison cell somewhere with her name on it and she'll never see her son again. And if she's really unlucky-no, she's not even going to think about that.
"I'll take my chances," Rey informs the three of them coldly. Right now, she needs to get Han away from the Resistance. She doesn't have to follow through on Kylo's instructions to head for the Finalizer. She can still make a run for it.
Leia Organa is satisfied. "Then it's time for you to leave, Rey." Her eyes wander over to her grandson and her face softens. She adds, "And thank you for naming him Han Solo."
"Sheev!" Han whines. "My name is Sheev!" He is tired, out of his routine and it is way past naptime. "I want to go home, Mommy." He's tugging hard on Rey's skirt. "I want to go ho-o-o-me."
Rey looks down at her beloved son and decides.