Ben watched Rey go before he closed the door of the Falcon. He felt mixed up on Rey's reaction that morning; he was delightfully surprised to see that she was seeing him in a more passionate way, but at the same time, he was hurt that she would even think he'd take advantage of her. Not that he could blame her. They had their rough pasts; he as Kylo Ren who had made every effort to manipulate and hurt her. She, a girl who had grown up alone most of her life and had more experience interacting with deceitful people than ones who showed her kindness. It made sense she would have jumped to the wrong conclusion, though it hurt just the same. Maybe going with Grodo would help distract her and put her mind in a clearer place. Though if she never met a Hutt before, she was going to be in for a big surprise.

He sat down on the floor and started sorting through the different components he and Rey had collected the other day. This was the first time he would be building a lightsaber of his own. The first lightsaber he owned was his Uncle's, and before that his grandfather. Though he cherished the family heirloom, it never really was his own. As for Kylo Ren's lightsaber… well, anything even close to that would be avoided. He had always found it easy to wield its power, but it never felt quite right, like it was missing something. He was sure that he never was able to use it to its full potential. True, the kyber crystal was artificial, but Ben was still a part of Kylo Ren that never really died, and Ben's persistence prevented the dark side from completely taking over. If Ben was truly dead, that lightsaber would have been a weapon of even more mass destruction than it already was.

Ben pushed the negative thoughts of his past aside. He had to focus on the lightsaber he wanted now, not what he had in the past. There was one design that had always intrigued him: double blades. That is what he was going to make.

As Ben shuffled through the parts, he felt a pull towards certain pieces. The feeling was strange, yet familiar. He closed his eyes and let them call out to him, instructing him where to go. Putting all of his focus on the lightsaber that defined him, he could hear the pieces click and snap together. When he opened his eyes, the nearly completed weapon was sitting in the palms of his hands. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his kyber crystal, and placed it inside the crystal energy chamber. The final touch.

He turned it back and forth between his hands. It felt right, looked right. This was definitely HIS. But a thought that had been nagging at the back of his mind all morning refused to be pushed aside any longer. He dropped the lightsaber and watched it clank on the floor. If he ignited it, what color would the blade be? What if the blade was red and he had just built a Sith lightsaber? It came together so easily, surely the dark side didn't interfere. Right? But what if what came naturally to him was still the dark side, trying to pull him back?

Rey swung open the door.

"We're baaaaaack!" Grodo said from behind her. "My comrades are returning your fuel as promised. As for me?" He gave Rey a little nudge.

"Here," Rey pulled out the pyronium from her pocked and handed it back to Grodo.

"Pleasure doing business with you. See? We all play nice, and there's no problem. Everyone gets what they want. You will come back again, no?"

"Not anytime soon."

"Eh, I figured as much. Well then, this is good bye, friends!" He closed the door and left.

"I'm so glad that's done!" Rey said, the tone of relief apparent in her voice. "Grodo's been paid. We didn't get as many extra credits as I would have liked, but we do have some. I should have guessed that Hutts weren't the most pleasant-smelling creatures, almost worse than a Crolute …"

"Hutts are not known for smelling like roses."

Rey nodded. "I'd still prefer working with Rotta than Unkar Plutt." Ben watched her eyes drift towards the lightsaber lying on the floor by his knees.

"Did you finish it already?"

"I had to make some compromises, but it should work."

"Compromises?" Rey raised a concerned eyebrow. "You haven't tried it yet?"

"No." Ben picked up the lightsaber and got to his feet.

"That's good, because if you made compromises, it'd be best to not try it out. From my research, if you don't build them correctly, they can explode, particularly with parts like the magnetic stabilizing ring. If you don't think it's stable, I'm sure we can find what we need in Tatooine."

"I know it's stable. That's not my concern."

"Oh?"

"I'm concerned that even though we are a dyad in the force and found our crystals together, my crystal could still be red."

Ben watched her slowly mouth the word 'dyad,' before she quickly took his hands into her own.

"Ben, I'm sure it isn't. You're not Kylo Ren anymore."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I am. It won't be red." Ben tentatively looked down at the lightsaber in his hand, Rey's fingers delicately touching it's surface. "I'm sorry about the other night and this morning," Rey continued. "You're Ben, not Ren. I know that, but sometimes I get… confused? I'm not sure if that's the quite right word to describe it. But like you said, we are a dyad, and our crystals have a connection together. If your lightsaber is red, mine will be as well. You won't know what color it will be unless you try." She let go of his hands and took a couple of steps back. "As long as you are sure it's not going to explode."

Ben snickered. "It won't explode. Thanks, Rey." Ben held his lightsaber in his hands, took a deep breath, and ignited it. For a split second, he thought he saw crimson blades coming out from both ends, but then he realized it was actually orange, like a Tatooine sunset. He gave a sigh of relief as he turned it off.

"It worked!" said Rey with enthusiasm "I love the double blades. I wasn't sure what design you would be going for, but I like it. And see? It wasn't red!"

Rey wrapped her arms around him, putting her head against his chest.

"I really am sorry," she said, as he put his arms around her waist.

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

He wanted to say more. He wanted to tell her just how much she meant to him, but all he could do was silently mouth the words from his heart that refused to become sound.


Author's Notes:

Bonus Chapter tomorrow (Saturday, EST)! Trying to get back in the swing of things.