AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 13

It was cold.

Han shivered as he made his way up and down the dark corridors, wrapping his arms around his body, though it did nothing to alleviate the cold. Still, something was pushing him onward – some vague sense of purpose. He was here to do something, but exactly what it was kept escaping his mind.

Damn, it was cold.

His breath came out in clouds as he kept wandering up and down the corridors. He was looking for something – someone, yes, he was looking for someone, someone close to him.

But damn, it was cold!

Up another corridor, down still another one . . .

It was so fucking cold!

Then came a baby's cry.

Han's ears perked up. Yes, yes, a baby . . . he remembered something about a baby . . . the reason why he was here had something to do with a baby . . .

The baby's wail grew louder and louder, echoing off the walls, stimulating Han to break into a run. "I'm comin'," he whispered, "I'm comin' . . ."

Up another corridor and he ran into Ben, stumbling down the corridor and cradling the crying child in his arms, his eyes wide with fear, his face pale. "Dad," he gasped out in a raspy voice, "help me, he's coming!"

"It's all right, son." Han instantly reached out his arms as a steam of memories came flowing into his head. Ben, the baby, a dark presence . . .

They were dreaming!

"Ben, quick, give her to me!" Han shouted.

Ben was clutching the baby to his chest. "No, I can't, I can't let her go, he'll get her!"

Han focused on making his voice as calm as possible. This was a dream, so nothing could hurt them. Right? "Ben, we're dreaming. This isn't real."

Ben's eyes were bulged, staring at Han as if he were a ghost. "No . . . no . . ."

"Yes, Ben." Han forced himself to ignore the jumping in his stomach. "Remember our plan?"

"Plan?"

"Yes." Han stared into his son's eyes. "We were tryin' to get our dreams to connect again, remember? Looks like it happened."

Ben only blinked at him, still cradling the baby against his chest. "What are you talking about?"

"You wanted me to follow you into your dreams," said Han. "Cause I sometimes have lucid dreams. Well I think I'm havin' one right now." He reached over to brush his son's cold cheek. "We're havin' one. This is a dream – nothing can hurt us."

There were tears in Ben's eyes. "How do you know?"

That question struck Han silent. How did he know? What was different here from when he was awake? He still breathed, he still felt the cold, he still saw his son and heard the baby's cries, so what was different?

"I . . . I dunno how I got here," he finally said. "Like, I kinda remember us goin' to bed, but I ain't sure how I got here."

"That means nothing," said Ben. "You could have been knocked out and brought here."

"Well . . . yeah . . . but I don't think that's what happened." His fingers stroked Ben's cheek. "Ben, try to remember. We shared a dream like this once before and we were tryin' to get it to happen again by sleepin' together in the Temple's medical ward? Remember? It was your idea."

Ben was silent.

"C'mon, I know you can remember if you try."

"Dad? What are you doing?"

Ben's voice . . . but it was coming from behind Han. He whirled around and there was another Ben – this one pale and bruised and staring at his father with horrified eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Ben?" Han whispered before looking back at the first Ben, who was now clutching the baby tighter to his chest, a guilty look in his eyes. "Ben?"

"Dad," the Ben voice behind Han said, "what have you done?"

Han's head whipped around to look at the other Ben, who was still staring in horror, his mouth sucking in tiny gasps. "He has her," he whispered. "He has her . . . and you told him!"

Han's stomach flipped and his throat dried. He barely had time to look back at the first Ben before he lowered his eyebrows and stuck out his hand. The next thing Han knew, his body slammed against the wall, shooting pain through his whole body. Shit, was all he could think as the Force pinned him against the wall. Shit, shit, SHIT! How the hell was he so stupid?

How could he have told what little of a plan they had to the wrong Ben?

The real Ben charged at the dark Ben, but the dark Ben only had to flick his fingers to make the real Ben collapse into a heap on the floor. "It's a dream!" Han gasped, still pinned against the wall. "Ben, it's a dream, none of this is real, you can get up!"

"You still don't get it, do you?" asked the dark Ben, still cradling the child in his arm. "You think that in a dream, nothing can hurt you."

"That's cause it can't!" Han spat. "You've got no real power over me or Ben!" He looked down at where his son was still crumpled on the floor. "Get up, son, come on, you can do it!"

Ben just lay motionless, giving no sign that he had heard his father.

"Come ON, Ben!"

Still nothing. Ben lay like a corpse. It's just a dream, Han repeated to himself. Just a dream, none of this is real.

But as he stared down at Ben, he found himself starting to doubt that statement.

The dark Ben, meanwhile, also stared down at the real Ben. "So weak," he muttered, still cradling the baby in his arms. "Afraid of his own power. Afraid of what he could have been. He's so weak that he won't realize his potential, not even to save his daughter."

Han felt his teeth grinding as rage built up inside him. "You're wrong," he growled. "My son's a hell of a lot stronger than you'll ever be! He's stronger than your master, whoever the fuck that is. We drove your master out of his head when he was a kid and we'll do it again! If I have to travel to the deepest, darkest corners of space, I'll find your master and kill him!"

The dark Ben's face hardened into a hateful glare. "Your words are just that – words." He strode over to Han, stepping over the real Ben in the process.

"And you're only a dream," Han spat back.

The dark Ben stepped up to Han, glaring into his eyes, the baby still in his arms.

Then without any warning, he grabbed Han's hand and twisted it around to the point of cracking.

. . .

Han woke up in mid-cry, Ben hovering over one side of him, the medical droid hovering over the other, and his wrist bursting in pain.

"Dad?" Ben was shouting. "Dad, Dad, wake up!"

"I'm awake," Han mumbled, squinting into the light. "Wha's goin' on?"

"Keep your arm still, Mr. Solo," said the medical droid.

"Whaddaya mean?" Han swallowed, trying not to think about the pain in his wrist that was throbbing as if trying to cut his hand off, trying not to remember the dream.

"Your wrist may be broken," the droid said in his usual unemotional voice. "You must allow me to examine it."

Han swallowed again, ever-so-slowly turning his head in the direction of the pain.

The wrist the dark Ben had twisted in the dream.

Blue and swollen.