Here we are again! I can't seem to keep away from this story, although I managed to get some awesome sledding in with the fam today. Have to say, I have really enjoyed writing the last few chapters. They were pretty much all in my when I started writing and now that they are here...it's been awesome!
Just have to say again, you regular peeps are AMAZING! All the love for this story has been so incredible and has totally kept me going. Keep it coming, the good the bad and the questions...some of the things actually have tweeked my story cause they are great!
Since Disney hasn't come knocking to offer me a job...sigh...just putting it out there...all rights to them. I own nothing.
Chapter 21
Finn arranged to have the ship take them to Takodana to see Maz right away, even though Poe had been pissed at him for doing it since the counsel had only let Ben off Ahch-To to go to Malastare. He was pacing outside the chamber doors debating on if he wanted to knock or just go in to announce their pending arrival when the door jostled and Rey appeared.
"I need to teach you to control your thoughts," Rey said lightly as she opened the door for him to enter, Ben having gotten up and gone to the refresher.
"Why does everyone keep telling me that?" Finn muttered, entering the room. He spied the holocron on the bed, along with Ben's light saber.
"You built a new saber?" He said taking a couple steps towards it, then realizing it wasn't Rey's, even though his hands desperately wanted to pick it up.
Ben came out of the washroom, cleaned from his quick jump in the refresher, keeping his arm tight to his side as it was still pretty tender.
"I threw mine away." Ben said with an off handed tone as he grabbed the holocron and pulled a jacket over his shoulders.
He struggled to get his arm through the sleeve and Rey moved to help him, "Mine is over there." Rey said with a nod of her head in the direction of the dresser where hers sat on top, "Just don't light it in here."
Finn's eyes lit up and he went over right away to pick it up, studying the design closely as he turned it reverently over in his hands. "Its lighter than the other one." He said more to himself than anyone else.
The ship shuttered and Fahdar appeared at the door, "We have arrived at Takodana." She announced and ushered the to the ramp.
Even with Ben's new hair cut, his light colored clothes and the fact he ad worn a helmet for most of his time as the Supreme Leader, they decided that it would be better to be cautious and he donned a jacket that had a deep hood that he pulled up over his head, obscuring most of his face.
Rey had pulled on a full length cloak and lifted the hood as well, Finn following behind as they descended the ramp and made their way to Maz's temple. Since Ben had last levelled her establishment, she had slowly been rebuilding, adding on and repairing what had been left by his troops, making the walkway up to the main doors a jumble of supplies and workers.
They eyed the groups of people gathered around the different tables, almost every race in the galaxy seeming to be represented in the dimly lit, smoky interior. Rey's gaze nervously shifted around until it landed on Chewie and Poe, sitting with Lando at a table in a dark alcove. She directed the other two over and squished herself in on the one side, sandwiched between Chewie and Ben.
"I hear my boyfriend is here and he didn't even come to find me!" Maz's voice boomed over all the other noise as she shoved and weaved her way through the crowd to the table where they all sat.
She paused for only a moment when she saw Ben's face, shadowed by his hood, with Rey beside him, "I had heard you both had made your way finally to me as well." She said softer to the group, a waiter appearing at her elbow with trays of food and drinks for them all.
She eyed Ben carefully, a serious look coming over her face, "There will be no trouble this time from you?" She stated more than questioned Ben.
"We have just come to talk Maz." He said politely watching her suddenly shift her lenses back and forth before crawling up on a chair beside Ben, reaching out and cupping his face tightly in her hands.
Ben took no actions to stop her or move away as she studied him closely, then crawled across his lap to treat Rey to the same actions.
"You both have woken something very old." She said ominously as all heads turned in her direction at the table.
Finn had been the only one that had been given all the details prior to this moment, and Rey could feel Bens anxiety over those details being shared in entirety with the group. Maz got back down off of Rey by electing to crawl across Chewie's lap and throwing him a saucy grin as she did, before she settled in her own chair.
"Come, come. Show me what you got." She said as Rey and Ben glanced at each other doubtfully and then around at the large crowd of people milling about.
"Uh, Maz, this might be better for a private place." Rey finally said feeling Ben's tension rising by every moment.
"Nonsense child, get on with it. You are in my house." She said firmly and waited for them to comply.
Ben took a breath of frustration and glared at the small woman, pulling out the holocron cube and setting it in front of her.
She immediately switched her lenses around, adjusting them as she leaned forward to study the cube, "This is very old." She breathed and finally picked it up. Considering her age, for her to call something old was a feat in itself.
The cube seemed to hum as she touched it , turning it over slowly in her hands, muttering to herself in a language no one seemed to understand. Her fingers deftly touching the designs that were carved into the outside of the box until it sounded with a pop and it opened up, the designs glowing green.
The whole table seemed to let out a collective, "Ohhhh." As it hummed and whirled faintly.
"This cube is from before the Jedi. Before the Sith." Maz said in a low tone, turning it in her hands slowly.
Ben and Rey's anxiety was instantly forgotten and they leaned forward with anticipation and hope as to what was in this holocron.
She pressed a couple of symbols and a beam of green light appeared, symbols scrolling in a display in the beam. Maz clicked a couple more lenses in place, "In the time before, when the universe was still young," Maz started to narrate as the symbols continued to scroll.
"All was bound in light and dark. Harmony ruled, as balance was respected by all. In this time grew a race that coveted the power that one could gain by living in symbiotic balance with the dark and light. Not understanding how those connected were servants to a higher purpose."
Ben glanced at Rey as Maz read the words, his hope slowly ebbing away with her retelling of the story saved on the cube.
"The race was drawn to the dark though, serving its purpose and thwarting the lights work to balance the universe until chaos threatened. A dyad was born to the time of fear and separation. Born to a mother of light and a father of the dark, they were the original dyad pair. Created in secret by the light of hope on a dark world."
Shouting broke out between a group and Maz turned her attention away from the cube for a moment to yell at a couple of her bartenders to break up the fight.
She turned back, pressing a couple symbols and the beam shifted for a moment as she muttered, catching up to where she had left off.
"The dyad were found out by the dark race, separated and isolated for their life and the darkness grew, devouring worlds and all life in them, giving the race its secrets for service, till one day the dyad found each other again."
"They raised an army to meet the darkness on a dying world of fire, casting it away to the far regions of the universe. It was beaten and small, but the light knew, it could not have balance without the dark, so the dark race was scattered to the stars, to prevent its rise to great power again."
The cube flickered and the beam of light turned off as Maz set it down, the green glow ebbing away. Rey and Ben blinked in disbelief.
"Is that it? Is there more?" Rey stated reaching over to pick up the cube.
Rey had never actually touched the cube yet and her hand jolted as she picked it up. He vision blurred, the room tilting as everything shifted in front of her. Bodies scattered in piles, the castle in ruins as the sky cracked and thundered, red and angry, as if it was a living thing.
She stood searching, only to find her friends broken and cold, their eyes lifeless as they lay over and under sections of rubble. Her breathing was erratic as the enormity of what she was seeing seemed to come crashing in on her and she spotted a lump of grey clothes on the top on a hill, kneeling.
"Ben!" She screamed and ran forward, the distance between them seeming to stretch out impossibly, then snapping her forward to the top of the hill.
"Ben?" She said panting and placed her hand on his shoulder. His head lifted slowly, cuts and scrapes all over his face, his hair wild and his eyes…his eyes deathly red, glowing, a malicious smile spreading across his face as he rose, seeming to grow to an impossible height over her.
"He is MINE!" His voice boomed, dark and growling, deeper than it had ever been. "I warned you he would accept me! Now, you will be mine too and I will finally snuff out the light!" the dark Ben roared, raising his hands to he red sky, drawing it to him. It gathered at his fingertips and his hands came down, aiming the red lightning at her.
Rey screamed, covering her head, the cube dropping to the table as everyone stared at her, Ben immediately wrapping his arms around her, having shared the vision moments after it was over.
Rey's world had shifted again as she felt arms surround her as she screamed, and she was enveloped by Ben. His scent filled her lungs as she was crushed against his chest, his heat immediately radiating to her as he whispered in her ear, lips brushing her skin as he did.
"Shhhhh, Rey, its okay. Shhhhh." He said trying to impart every ounce of calm in her, the others staring, mouths open, concern filling their faces.
Rey took a shuddering breath as tears created a wet spot on Ben's shirt, her nerves slowly easing with his gentle soothing. She slowly moved away from him, meeting the eyes of the group.
"I saw….the darkness." She said flashing a disgusted look at the cube, as if it had shown her everything on purpose.
Maz shoved Ben's arms away from Rey with a curious look and sat on the table in front of Rey, clasping her hands between her small ones.
"Oh, child. You have had a glimpse of the cube's past." She said soothingly as she patted her hand. "What has been, may not necessarily come to pass again." She added in an incredibly gentle tone , wiping away the tears from Rey's cheeks.
She turned to Ben and reached out her hand to him, "We must start looking though. We need to get those who have balance and train them." Giving a firm nod as if a plan had been formed.
"Finn, you must work with Lando and Chewie. Find all those who are rising and sensitive to the force. Gather them to Ahch-To. It is time for the Lanai to fulfill their obligation." Maz finished as Rey and Ben looked at her astonished.
"Wait, Maz. I don't understand. What do you mean the Lanai have an obligation?" Ben said shaking his head at the shear amount of information in her words.
"They will tell you, young Ben." She said, patting his cheek with a grin of finality, "Why are you all sitting around?! Get a move on!" Maz said clapping her hands together and snapping everyone's attention back as if they were in a trance.
They all shifted and got up, not quite sure what she had ordered them to do, and started to make their way back to the main doors. Ben had grabbed the holocron, touching it lightly first as if it might show him visions as well, but when nothing happened, he stuffed it back under his cloak as they headed out.
A few sets of eyes followed them as the went, but a dark glance from Maz discouraged any followers. Ben and Rey made arrangements to go back to Ahch-To on the Falcon, as there had been an emergency counsel meeting called, which required the Nubian ship to return.
Fahdar met Ben and Rey at the bottom of the ramp with their bags and approached the pair with her head bent, "Lord Ben, Lady Rey," She started formally, "The others may not know who your family is, but my family has been serving the Royal House for many generations." She said softly having turned to Ben.
"My grandmother told me stories of your grandfather, and how he desperately loved Queen Padme. You and Lady Rey will always have a house on Naboo. When you can rest, I would be pleased to ensure it is ready." She added blushing as she spoke of Anakin and Padme.
Ben was taken aback by her words while Rey, had only gleaned snippets of Ben's family history, hadn't realized that his grandmother had been a queen, she had been told she was a senator, but not Queen of Naboo.
Ben recovered his surprise, "Thank you Fahdar. I appreciate all you have done for me and Lady Rey." He stated with a bow of his head to her.
Fahdar turned quickly to Rey and leaned in a little to whisper to her, "You are lucky to be loved like that." She said quickly, blushing. She gave a quick bow and rushed back up the ramp as Rey stood speechless for a moment.
She turned, looking at Ben for a moment, deep in thought, "So, does that make you a Prince?" She said and he rolled his eyes at her.
"Let's go." He said grabbing their bags, careful of his arm and turning to head to the Falcon, Rey trailing behind with one last look at the shiny ship.
Poe was waiting for them in the main hold as the ship took off, "Which one of you is going to fill me in on what just happened back there?" He stated with a very grumpy tone.
Rey looked at Ben as he raised his eyebrow at her in a silent debate as to who was going to talk to Poe, ending with Rey sighing and heading over to the table to sit down heavily. Ben smirked and headed to drop their bags in the crew quarters for the time being and then wandered to cockpit where Lando and Chewie were chatting.
Rey watched Ben head towards the cockpit before she turned to face Poe, Finn walking over and settling himself at her side in silent support.
"I have told you that Ben and I are force bonded. A dyad in the force. But as we trained on Ahch-To, we learned of a dark force called the Great Darkness. This was what the storey Maz told us was about." She started, leaning slightly into Finns warmth as she explained.
"We discovered the darkness was trapped on the island, and it was trying to get out. If that happens…." Rey said with an exhausted sigh, "You heard the story. It devours planets."
Poe dragged a hand over his face and then raked both of them through his hair, "So, what Maz is suggesting, is that we need an army of Jedi? And that will stop this darkness?" He asked trying to sort through all of it in his mind.
"No, not Jedi. Ben and I have discovered that, like the story, there needs to be balance. There needs to be light with dark for one to truly have the power needed to defeat this. We need to find those who are sensitive to the force and then teach them balance, not Jedi or Sith alone." Rey explained, unsure of how they were going to actually do it.
Finn piped up at this point, "When we find these people, we are supposed to bring them to you on Ahch-To?"
"I guess so, and then we need to have a long talk with our Lanai caretakers, from what Maz was alluding to." Rey finished the vague plan uncertainty.
"Great. This should be easy." Poe muttered, his voice thick with sarcasm. "Wait, what was that vision you wigged out about?" He asked, his face back to confused.
Rey shivered next to Finn with the memory and he slipped his arm around her, "Maz said it was a memory from the box, from the past. Everyone and everything was dead. I was alone and the planet was burning. Then I saw a figure on a hill, and when I reached them…..they were the darkness, come to get me." Rey said quietly, omitting the fact that she had seen Ben in her vision.
Poe and the counsel were just starting to put a little bit of trust in Ben after all the information he was giving them, but it would be all to easy for them to turn that around and see him as the bringer of this planet destroying darkness.
Finn shifted uncomfortably beside her, sensing that she wasn't telling the whole truth about what she saw, but decided to let it go for the moment with Poe there. "So, in the past the balance didn't win?" He asked, voicing the large elephant in the room.
"Let just hope we don't repeat the past." Rey said quietly as they lapsed into thoughtful silence.
Ben hesitated at the entrance of the cockpit, not quiet sure if he would be welcome there as he listened to Rey's voice drift down the hall as she filled Poe in on what they had learned on Ahch-To. He was about to turn back when Lando spotted him hovering.
"Well, come on kid. It's about time you made your way up here." He said, leaning back in his co-pilot chair and glancing at Chewie with a smile.
Ben moved forward and sat awkwardly behind Lando, the stars blurring by as they moved along at light speed. Lando turned his chair and eyed him for a moment.
"How long has it been kid?" He asked waving his hands in the air, gesturing to the whole of the cockpit.
Chewie growled with a bit of a howl and Ben nodded slowly, as his eyes shifted up in thought, "Yeah, that sounds about right." He said agreeing with Chewie's comment that it had been shortly before his tenth birthday that he had been in the cockpit of the Falcon.
"It looks just the same, except the seats seem smaller." Ben commented more to himself than the other two.
Chewie howled again and Lando laughed. Ben couldn't help but grin, "I did get big." He responded and leaned back into the seat thinking about how he had always had to sit right on the edge of them to reach all the controls even though he was tall for his age.
The alert sounded and Lando glanced at Chewie who nodded at him so he got up and moved, "Have a seat kid. You should at least do this once." He said gesturing to the co-pilot chair.
Ben got up with a tentative glance at Chewie and moved to sit as Chewie grumbled and howled a little more saying, "Get a move on pup or we will miss your stop." He said with a chuckle.
Ben tossed him a dirty look and hopped into the seat just in time for the button to start flashing on the console. Chewie barked at him, "Do I need to do it for you?" As he used to when Ben was a child.
"I got it, I got it." Ben retorted, reaching over and flipping the switch. The Falcon shuddered and dropped out of hyper space, Ahch-To appearing as a watery blue ball in the distance.
Ben was able to appreciate it for about 30 seconds before the Falcon jarred and bucked, alarms going off as warning.
Chewie roared and Lando shouted as Ben yelled, "Kriffing hells,what was that?!" As a ship passed over them firing and Rey, Finn and Poe jammed themselves into the door frame.
"Get on the guns, now!" Chewie roared at the three as Ben flipped a switch and took the controls.
"Angle the reflectors Chewie." Ben ordered and banked as the Faclon bucked with more shots.
Rey beat Poe to the ladder and started to climb down to the ventral guns as he took off to the dorsal gun, Finn swearing for not moving faster and missing out, the ship rocking again, throwing him into the ladder.
"Two coming around." Rey commented into the headset, the gun priming and her seat moving to swing around with her movements on the control.
"I got four more closing in." Poe said firing up his gun and settling in, the controls beeping as he tried to target the incoming ships.
"Six? Great, hold on!" Ben said slamming the controls, the Falcon shuddering and rolling as shots rattled off the reflectors.
Rey started firing as a ship passed, her lip between her teeth in concentration, the chair swiveling as the ship passed while she fired. "Two coming back for another shot." She announced, watching the ships bank, split and come back for another run.
Ben had gotten them to the planet's atmosphere and dove towards the water as Chewie yelled at him, "You know this thing isn't waterproof!"
"I know! Just keep an eye on the deflectors!" Ben growled back, punching it around an island and back up into the atmosphere, rocks exploding on the island behind the ship as the ships fired.
Poe swiveled around as they cleared the small island and lined up one of their pursuers, taking him out cleanly, "Whoo! One down!" He hollered.
"Don't get to excited there's five more!" Rey chastised him in an annoyed tone, continuing to fire on two in her sights before clipping one, causing it to hear off and spiral into the second. "Yeah, gotcha!" She said triumphantly.
Ben skimmed the water heading for a larger grouping of islands, alarms blaring and Lando braced himself as he had headed to the back muttering, "Come on old girl, hold together for me." As he needed to fix the stabilizer causing the alarm.
"Rey, Poe get ready, I'm going to line them up for you." Ben said, eyeing a small space between two of the large islands.
Chewie growled and howled at him, "You aren't going to fit."
Ben flicked him a look, punching and alarm button off and hitting the speed, "We will fit," He said, then muttered, "I'm pretty sure." At which Chewie whined.
Ben turn the ship at the last second slipping between the two rock faces, the banked the ship around the bigger one on the left jamming the nose up and punching the speed again, slamming him and Chewie into their seats with the force of the maneuver.
Rey and Poe were thrown forward in their restraints with a collective yell and then slammed back as the ship dove again to the island putting the last two ships in line for Poe and one for Rey who fired immediately, taking them out.
Finn and Lando listened to the hollered as they put out sparking electrical fires that had broken out in a couple systems, while they braced themselves in door frames.
Ben leveled out and headed back over the water to their island, Chewie hitting him on the back proudly, "Not a bad bit of flying, pup."
And Ben let a deep breath, and huffed with a chuckle as Rey appeared in the cockpit, and wrapped an arm around Ben, giving him a kiss on his hair, "Nicely done. I'm going to help do repairs." She said, flashing a smile at Chewie as she left.
Chewie stared at Ben until he finally responded with a, "What?" In a slightly defensive tone.
Chewie chattered, "Has the pup finally got a mate?" In a teasing tone and Ben glared at him while he could feel his ears going red and managed to chuckle out a huffing laugh.
Ben started the landing procedure, spotting Tsaro in her garden as he began his approach to the clearing at the edge of the water, her head raising to watch the ship pass over and lower behind the hill.
They set down, Ben shutting down all the systems and then headed to see what the damage was that the others were working on.
Rey and Poe had managed to reroute the worst of the issues while Lando and Finn put the final small electrical fire out, and identified the few other damaged systems. Chewie talked with Lando about the damage as Ben headed to get their bags.
"You guys can stay here to make repairs." Rey was saying as Ben rounded the corner back into the main hold.
Finn beamed, and Ben scowled, realizing he had hoped to be able to get back to their regular bubble life again, at least for a little bit, before others started arriving in mass.
"We need to get to a space port for the parts, and while we are there, we can start what Maz wanted us too, but we appreciate the offer. My lady." Lando said gallantly, sweeping her hand up and placing a kiss on the back of it as she laughed.
Rey felt Ben's relief and she shot him a look before turning to Poe and Finn, "You both be careful. Let me know when you have any information on who attacked us." She said, giving them both big hugs.
Ben knew the jealousy that rose up was unfounded, but he still found himself struggling as he watched Rey wrap her arms around both men tightly.
Poe moved to face him, "Ben. Nice bit of flying. We will be in touch." He stated stiffly and held out his hand.
Ben hesitated for only a moment before giving it a firm, return shake, "Sounds good. And thank you for the help." He added, equally as stiff.
Chewie hollered and wrapped Rey in a big hug, pulling her up on her tiptoes before setting her back down.
"I will see you soon Chewie." She grinned and headed to the lowering ramp. As Finn, Poe and Lando headed to the cockpit giving Chewie and Ben a moment.
Chewie howled softly, "You can co-pilot with me some time if you want." He offered, looking uncomfortable in the moment.
Ben gave him a small smile, "Thank you. You can come any time here." He offered back, holding out his hand as a peace offering.
Chewie regarded it for a moment, then crossed the space, crushing Ben in a hug. They stayed that way for a moment, Ben swallowing a lump of emotions in his throat, before moving away to go down the ramp, his bag and some coms equipment in tow.
Chewie tossed one last howl, "I expect you to behave yourself with your new mate." He teased, and Ben felt his face flush as he strode down the ramp to see Rey grinning at him, making him blush harder.
"Mate?" Rey said, unable to help herself, and laughed at the attempted withering look Ben shot at her in response.
As they crested the hill, the Falcon rose and headed out over the sea and up into the atmosphere. Rey paused to watch it lift out of sight with a small sigh, then jogged to catch up to Ben. With R2 staying with the others, Poe had arranged for some com's equipment to be set up so they could communicate easier as they searched for the force sensitive people.
The equipment bumped along side Ben as he made his way back to their hut in the cool, late afternoon air. When they got inside, Tsaro already had the fire going and a pot of tea off to the side of the coals and Ben sighed with relief as he put the bags down, rolling his sore shoulder a little.
Rey shut the door behind her and set down the small crate Finn had given her at their departure on the table before opening it, her curiosity getting the better of her and let out an excited giggle. Inside there was a small assortment of fruit for her that she liked along with cooling packs to help it last.
She grabbed a small red orb and bit into it, her eyes closing for a moment to savor the sweet juicy treat. "Mmmmm, so good." She stated, thinking out loud.
Ben watched her devour the fruit and look longingly at the crate before closing it tightly with resolve, his lips slowly curling up as he watched her simple joy. She headed over to him, licking the last of the juice off her fingers and Ben's temperature involuntarily jumped up, his eyes lighting with fire.
Snatching her hand deftly as her face flashed with a questioning look, he raised up the middle finger she hadn't gotten to.
"Uh, my fingers are dirty." She said nervously, catching the look in his eyes and the heat through their bond.
Ben just raised his eyebrow at her, bringing the finger to his mouth and repeating her motion, his tongue slipping over the digit as he held her gaze.
Rey's knees went instantly weak as her finger popped out of his mouth and he licked his lips, her stomach clenching and a tingling shot ran from the finger straight down between her legs.
Pulling her close against his chest he dipped his head down, nose almost touching hers, "Those are very sweet." He breathed, his voice low, almost as a growl.
The door banged open, startling them both as Tsaro came in with her wheelbarrow, glancing disapprovingly at the two as they stepped apart with her intrusion.
"Fruitful trip you had?" Tsaro commented as Rey blushed and Ben cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"We have lots to tell you." Ben said, pulling out the holocron and setting it on the table.
"And we have some questions too." Rey added as she sat and Tsaro handed her a tea, Rey nodding her thanks.
The three settled in around the fire comfortably, and talked late into the night about the story the holocron told and the plan to start bringing the force sensitive people to Ahch-To. Tsaro had many questions about what Maz had told them, and Ben finally handed her the cube for her to examine closely.
The language was familiar to her as well, and it wasn't long before she had figured out how to activated it, and read the displayed words at Maz had. When it was done, and the light faded, she started to examine some of the other markings.
"Young Masters, I be permitted to take to Lanai counsel?" She asked squinting her eyes at a few of the markings at the bottom.
Ben glanced at Rey with a little trepidation, "If you think there could be more," he stated carefully as she ran her hand over a few more of the markings.
"More a possibility." She stated under her breath vaguely, then looked up at the dark window. "Late now. Will see counsel in morning, then we train afternoon." She said with a groan as she rose and tucked the cube into the rags in her cart carefully before she moved to leave.
She turned to leave, tossing a critical look at them over her shoulder, "More to discuss tomorrow, I think."
Ben shifted in his chair as her tone was that of a chastising parent, while Rey ducked her head, looking down at her hands as if she should have something to feel guilty about, but wasn't quite sure what that was. Tsaro shut the door and headed of into the dark night.
