Rey

They slept together in the medical bed with their daughter nearby once more before Leia came. She drew Ren away and spoke to him; and to Rey's surprise he merely nodded. No argument. He rocked Leila for a long time afterward until Rey called to him. She couldn't wait any longer.

"What did Leia say?" She asked nervously.

Ren sighed, brushing the pads of his fingers across their daughter's forehead. "She said I needed to leave soon. I agreed."

Rey's heart fell. In the smallest corner of herself, she had hoped, maybe, that he'd stay…

"I see," she said.

She felt his fingers brush against her cheek, and she turned her head to look up at him. He sighed.

"Don't look at me like that," he said.

"I will," she said firmly, and a ghost of a smile passed over his plush lips. Rey felt herself reaching out to him with the Force, curious to understand the sadness behind his eyes.

But the door opened, and Han appeared. "Hey kid," he said to Rey, "Ten minutes."

She nodded and he came in, approaching the end of the bed. His eyes were all for his granddaughter.

"Do you want to feed her?" Rey asked, and she Ren frown.

"I can-" Ren started, but then fell silent. Rey and Han both stared at him, and then Han shrugged.

"I guess I can, if you need me to," he said gruffly, but went to the small bassinet without waiting for a response. He grabbed a bottle Rey had already filled with her milk and scooped up Leila.

The room was filled with the smacks of the baby's lips, and Rey smiled to see Han so invested with her daughter. Leila had the family Rey never had.

Ren looked only at Rey, his fingers smoothing back her hair. He usually wasn't so tender with her in front of others, but he seemed unsettled, so she didn't question it. She reached for his hand instead, letting him intertwine their fingers together.

"She's a good girl," Han said quietly as the smacked slowed into sleeping silence. He smiled at Rey and Ren. "You two made the prettiest baby I've ever seen."

Rey beamed and Ren took the sleeping baby from his father. He looked intently into the little face for a long moment until Han cleared his throat. Then he laid her in the bassinet by the bed.

"You better head to the loading dock," Han said. Ren nodded. He strode over to Rey, kissed her long and hard, and then followed his father to the door.

His shadowed eyes glanced back at Rey, flitting over to Leila, then back again.

"I love you," he said, so quietly that Rey could barely hear the sweet words. And then he was gone.

The silence was too quiet.

Rey cast a longing look at the child in the bassinet by her bed. She was so small, so perfect. But still Rey felt a little emptiness. And unsettled, like she had forgotten something. Still, she told herself sternly that Ren's departure couldn't affect her like this. She had a child to look over now, and she must be the most important thing in Rey's world now.

Rey laid down to sleep, but just as she was drifting off, something crept into her head, something dark. A moment too late, Rey realized it was not from her imagination.

Ren, on their dock. Striking out with his lightsaber. Leia, crying out, her tears lost in the rain outside. And Han eyes wide and pained. Ren's eyes were wild, and all Rey felt was pain.

She awoke, gasping. A vision, clearly happening soon. She had to stop it, she had to get to the loading dock! She hit the buzzer with her hand to call a droid, and when one appeared she left it with the baby. Just as she swung out the door, she reached out and summoned her idle lightsaber to her hand. And then she ran faster than she had before, her heart racing for no reason other than fear. It beat in her ears like the tick of a chrono.

She arrived at the dock, lungs burning. Without explanation to Finn, who was waiting for Han to return, she ran out the door into the rain. She heard him follow her, but gave no return to his call of her name.

She was only a few feet out the door when she spotted the three of them: mother, father, and son by Ren's plane. Her lips opened to call out his name, but the flash of the red lightsaber ignited. She was too late.

"No!" She screamed, the sound echoing Leia's own cry. Still unable to stop, Rey raggedly ran to Han's already sagging body. Just as it hit the ground did she touch his arm.

"No!" She screamed, looking at Han's ashen face, crimson from the lightsaber's glow.

Leia sank to the ground and cradled her husband's head in her lap. Rey saw Han's lips move briefly before his eyes slipped close and his body went completely lax. A sob came deep from Leia's throat.

Ren looked shocked and devastated, something Rey hadn't expected. She saw his lips form her name but no sound came out. She looked up at Ren, tears streaming down her face. "How could you? How could you?"

Rey struggled to her feet and put her hand on her lightsaber, which she had grabbed in her departure. "How could you? He loved you!"

Ren swallowed and looked at her through the dark, wet strands of his hair. "I can't control myself…Snoke said…one less attachment…you're not even supposed to be here!" Rage suddenly contorted his features. "He said you'd be strong enough!"

Rey's lightsaber activated and despite the shaking of her hands she held it, ready to strike. "You are a monster!" She yelled, voice hoarse and trembling. "This is unforgivable! You've killed your own father, who loved you…who loved me. Will you kill Leia next? Then me?" She tensed, ready to strike.

Leia lurched over and tore Rey away and held her in her arms. The saber dropped to the ground. Rey sobbed and struggled.

"Not in your condition," Leia said, her voice choked with tears. Finn, who had been stunned at the sight, raced over to the two women.

"Take her inside. I'll handle my son. This is my fight."

"No!" Rey protested, tears streaming down her cheeks without abandon. Rey felt Finn's arms envelope her and she stared into Leia's face. Her expression was steel, her breathing heavy. Even in the rain her tears were evident. Her braided hair made a dark crown around her striking but worn features. Her dark eyes, like her son's, were filled with pain and determination.

"Leia!" Rey called out, struggling as she was dragged away. She watched the older woman lean over and pick up the saber and take a familiar stance that Rey had never seen her take before. "Leia!" She screamed, a guttural sound ringing out as she realized that she may never see the woman alive again if she failed. Then the door shut, and they were gone.

Ren

Ren had never felt such pain. It replaced every other emotion in his body. He could barely even see.

Part of him screamed in fury. Rey hated him for this, she hated him! He knew she would, but he hadn't been prepared for the pain. It was his worst fear come true. Rey wasn't even supposed to be here!

His mother looked devastated and suddenly aged. Old, tired. Burdened. But when she picked up Rey's lightsaber, Ren took a step back from his father's dead body reflexively. He had never seen Leia look the way she did.

"You have destroyed that girl's life," she said. "She gave her love to you and you have betrayed it. She loved Han almost just as much as I do."

Ren gritted his teeth. "I had to do it," he yelled. "She doesn't need to understand!"

She would never understand. Ren had seen to that.

"You must kill Han Solo if you are to prove your loyalty to me. Sever your bonds. Prove to me you are a worthy apprentice."

"And the baby? And Rey?"

"Let them play with the Resistance for now…we will discuss this in the future, Kylo Ren. But first, let me remind you of my strength."

The pain had been nothing compared to this.

"No!" Leia's voice rang out and she stepped closer to him. "You have truly turned your back now. I saw you with her, and I thought…I thought you had a chance, Ben. But I will not let you do further harm. You are my son, and I will not let you go any farther with this."

"You abandoned me, you never loved me!" Ren said, her words ringing in his ears. His mouth tasted like metal. But he had to follow this to the very end. Regardless of what he felt. "Neither of you did! Han Solo never even wanted me! You do not control me!"

Leia's eyes narrowed. "You are lost, Ben. And you will soon learn the pain I have endured. If you continue, I will do everything in my power to ensure that you will never see your daughter again. You've killed her grandfather before her life has truly begun, and you will not taint her life."

Ren's eyes widened. His perfect daughter, the symbol of everything he and Rey had together. Leia would take it all away from him!

No, no. He had done this. He couldn't forget that! The darkness waited to eat him whole.

Give in.

He swung his lightsaber and it connected almost instantly. He fought with aggression and pure, ragged power. All he could was strike against his mother again and again and again. Not even to try and underhand or disarm or even cleverly injure. If any of his blows had landed, his mother would have been sliced in half.

But somehow, Leia held up perfectly against his angry strikes. Although she was older now, he could see how light on her feet she must have been when she was younger, for her moves were elegant and precise. She seemed a little rusty, a little unpracticed, but still skillful.

"Join him, Mother," Ren hissed. "Let me be free from you both."

"You are letting yourself be influenced," Leia shouted above the rain pelting their numb skin. Ren could tell she was solely focused on disarming him. She wouldn't hurt him. "Even my father had good in him! There's always a chance to turn back."

"I hate you! I don't want you! All you've ever done is cause me pain!" Ren yelled, danger beating in every cell. His moves were less and less refined, and his wound was marring him. The more his mother provoked him, the less control he had. The darkness called.

"I love you, Ben! Han and I both did! You've always been loved!" She told him, her voice shaking.

Ren's eyes were narrowed as he focused a strike right at his mother's face, where he could stop her lies.

No, not lies.

"I've never loved you!" He screamed, and their blades met. The light shone in both of their eyes, and he saw the tears and tenderness in hers. His heart skipped a beat as he remembered her rocking him to sleep, protecting him from the whispers of those who were suspicious of him, touching his cheek gently before she left him that last time.

"I'll see you again, Benny. Listen to Luke, and when you're as strong and as skilled as I know you can be, we'll go home again."

Was it the rain, or was the stinging in his eye a tear?

The blue and red light moved, and with a deep inhale and a careful roll of her wrist, Leia quickly swung her blade back and then forward to catch him off guard. He faltered, and with a move so fast that he didn't realize it until it was too late, she sliced right through his wrist, effectively disarming him.

The pain that shot through his arm and throughout his body was indescribable. He howled with this new pain and fell to his knees, clutching his severed limb. He could barely think, all he could see was Luke's skeletal, robotic hand. Just like Anakin's.

And now his.

The glow of Leia's saber blinded him, and he looked up, startled. Would his mother kill him? He had underestimated her. He thought that she wouldn't be able to physically injure him, her son, but she was stronger than he had thought. Hadn't he done the same to Rey?

He was just a fool. All he had wanted to do was protect them. But all he could do was destroy. He knew that now. There was no good in him. He had left it behind with Rey and his daughter.

"Leave!" Leia ordered. Her crown of braids, dark from the rain, had become undone and now lay down her shoulder. She looked both old and young, worn by the agony he felt from her, but young from her stance and fire. Yes, he had underestimated his mother. She had made a different choice than Luke, but she was just as powerful.

Ren scrabbled back and glanced towards his lightsaber, which his hand still lay curled around. But his mother pointed the saber at him.

"Leave now!" She repeated. "And don't—don't you ever come back!"

He swallowed thickly, nodding his head. With his only arm left, he dragged himself to the pilot's seat. He slammed on the auto-pilot, kicked the ship into take-off, and watched grief overtake his mother as she crumpled to her knees over his father's body.

It was done.