AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!
"The Pull to the Dark"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 15
Neither Luke nor Rey nor Chewie spoke while Ben told them what had happened, but their eyes bulged in fear. By the time Ben finished, the humans had gone pale while the Wookiee's fur was bristling.
[We need to kill it,] Chewie growled. [Whatever it is, we need to kill it before it can hurt our family even more.]
"And how do we do that?" asked Rey. "We don't even know what it is!"
Luke, meanwhile, glanced over at Ara – still silent, still staring. "Maybe we've been going about this the wrong way," he muttered.
"What do you mean?" asked Leia, who was sitting on the edge of Ara's bed and holding her hand, as if that would snap her out of whatever state she was in.
"I mean we've been working only one or two at a time," said Luke. "Maybe . . . maybe to defeat this thing, we need to all fight together."
"And . . . how do you suggest doin' that?" asked Han.
Ben gasped before Luke could answer. "No," he said. "No, you're not all going in my mind!"
"Maybe that's the answer," said Leia.
"No!" Ben waved his hand in the direction of Han's broken wrist. "Look at what it did to Dad! Something worse could happen next time! I'm not risking all your lives."
"And what about Ara?" Leia shouted, gesturing at her still-silent daughter-in-law. "What about the baby?"
"I'll fight the thing by myself," Ben muttered.
"That's crazy!" Luke, Leia, Han, Rey, and Chewie all exclaimed in unison.
"Maybe it is, but I don't have a choice."
Han winced, maybe in pain or maybe in frustration or maybe both. He gestured at his son with his good hand. "C'mere, kid." He patted the edge of his bed. "Sit with me for a minute before you do something stupid."
Ben gave a loud groan, but he obeyed, sitting on the edge of Han's bed, careful not to push his father off.
"Now look, son," said Han, "me, your mom, your uncle, Chewie, Lando, all the rest of us, we all sacrificed a damn lot so your generation wouldn't have to live under an Empire. You think any of us could've done it alone?"
"This is different."
"No, it ain't." Han stared into his son's eyes. "Listen to me, buddy. We risked our own lives and we risked each other's lives." He held up his broken wrist. "You worried about this? Well the thing can break my other one if it wants. It can break every bone in my body if that's what it takes to save the baby."
"Mine too," said Leia. "Ben, the thing we're fighting is bigger than any of us. You need us – all of us." Again she gestured at Ara. "She needs all of us too. They both do."
Ben felt his eyes moistening up. "You don't know what that thing can do. You don't know what it's like to have that thing in your head – none of you do!"
"You're right, we don't," said Han. "All the more reason to get rid of it together."
A chill spread through Ben's body, numbing his limbs. Abruptly his focus went down to his hands, but he still felt his father's hard gaze on him, silently telling him that they all needed to risk their lives and maybe even their sanity in order to have a chance against the thing. Yet despite the confidence in Han's words, fear was flowing off of him, Leia, Luke, Rey, Chewie, all of them. No, no, the word pounded within him. No. He couldn't let them do this . . . he wouldn't . . .
"How would we do it?" Rey asked, as if there was nothing in the world to joining all their minds.
"We're not doing it!" Ben insisted.
"But what if it's the only way?" Luke asked softly.
"Yeah," said Han, putting his good hand on his son's cheek, letting Ben feel his calloused fingers. "What if it's the only way? We don't know what this thing is, but we do know it's got its weaknesses – look at how Luke drove it out of your head when you were a kid."
"But now it's back . . ."
"And so are we."
Now tears were streaming down Ben's cheeks, drenching Han's fingers. "I can't . . . I can't let you . . ." A sniffle interrupted his words as Han's thumb brushed his eye. Part of him wanted to just collapse into his father's arms as if he were still that little boy, let those strong, loving arms seal him away from the outside world, away from the dark presence . . .
Away from his unresponsive wife?
Away from his child who might be in danger right this minute?
What if it's the only way . . .
He forced himself to swallow a sob and took a long, deep breath, the kind of full, relaxing breath Uncle Luke had taught him, in through his nose and out through his mouth, and looked into his father's eyes. "Maybe Uncle Luke's right. Maybe it is the only way, but . . ."
"You're scared," said Han, patting his son's cheek. "It's all right, we're all scared."
Now Ben looked back at Ara, whose eyes met his without any sense that she saw him. Maybe he had caused this by impregnating her with his child. He slid off Han's bed and made his way to Ara's, always looking into her vacant eyes for some sign of awareness but finding none.
Those beautiful sky-blue eyes . . .
Once he reached his wife, Ben ran his hand over her forehead. "I'm sorry, Ara," he whispered. "Maybe I could have done something to stop this, I don't know. And . . . and if what we're about to do makes things worse, I'm sorry about that too. I don't know if you can hear me right now, but just know that I love you and the baby so very much." After kissing his wife's head, he took another of those relaxing breaths and looked at his uncle. "All right, how do we do this?"
. . .
"Focus on her, Ben," Luke said as Ben squeezed Ara's hand. "Reach out to her. Feel her."
Ben did so, closing his eyes, and letting his energy flow to her, concentrating on her soul's signature in the Force, pressing his wife into his mind: her infectious smile, her content sighs as he rubbed her feet, her soft kisses, even her scent of sweat and grease when she came home from work.
"Are you ready?" asked Luke.
"Yes."
"All right. Remember, keep your connection with her when I put her to sleep."
Ben focused on maintaining the connection, and when Luke told him to open his eyes, there was his wife, her head nestled on the pillow, sound asleep, looking peaceful, though Ben knew her appearance was deceiving.
Where was her consciousness now?
"It's all right, Ara," he whispered. "We're coming." He leaned over and kissed her cheek before joining Luke at the next bed in which Rey was lying, fear in her eyes despite the brave front she was trying to put on.
"Rey," Luke said, unable to keep the fatherly worry out of his voice, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to."
"I want to," Rey insisted. "I want to help."
"It will be dangerous."
Rey gave a tiny grin. "Come on, Dad, you and I both know that you wouldn't accept being left out of this either."
"All right, all right, you got me," said Luke, kissing his daughter's forehead. "Just try not to do anything stupid."
"Agreed." Rey pulled the covers over her shoulders and closed her eyes. "I'm ready."
Ben reached for his cousin with the Force, concentrating on memories of holding her infant self when he was ten years old, babysitting her when she was little, watching her grow up into the young woman she was now. Meanwhile Luke gulped, casting a nervous glance at Ben before waving his hand over his daughter, putting her to sleep.
Now the two made their way across the room to the bed where Leia lay. Once Ben reached her side, she immediately sat up and placed her hand on her son's cheek, gazing at him with sorrowful eyes. "Ben, I'm so, so sorry."
Ben felt his eyes widen. "For what?"
Leia's eyes lowered as if she were ashamed to look at her son. "For not stopping this earlier. For not telling anyone what I sensed when I was pregnant, letting my work take up my attention, being so afraid of our heritage . . ."
"Mom," Ben interrupted, "stop. You don't know if you could have stopped this earlier or not. None of us know what might have happened if we'd done things differently. You can't beat yourself up about it."
A small smile formed on Leia's face. "My son. My wise son. You have no idea how proud I am of you."
Ben wrapped his arms around his mother, feeling her soul link with his before he even got a chance to link his with hers. Her memories flowed into his head – he saw her point of view looking down at him as a baby, watching him learn to walk while holding Han's hands, hugging him goodbye when he left for his training. His eyes welled up as he felt her fierce, fierce love flow through him.
"Are you ready?" Luke was asking.
Leia nodded as she reluctantly let go of her son and lay back down. "Ben, whatever happens, I promise I'll do whatever I can to save the baby." With that, Luke waved his hand over her and she was asleep.
Now they headed for the next bed. Han was sitting up in bed and talking to Chewie, who was ruffling his friend's hair. [It's all right, Han,] the Wookiee was saying. [I'll be watching over you guys, and so will the droids.]
"Yeah, well no offense, but I trust you a lot more than those droids," said Han.
Chewie laughed before ruffling Han's hair again. [Remember to wake up, all right?]
"We'll try, buddy."
Chewie roared an affectionate good night before turning his attention to Ben. [Watch over him, will you?]
"I'll try," said Ben, before Chewie ruffled his hair too and stepped aside so Ben and Luke could approach Han's bed.
"So . . ." said Han, taking a deep breath, "this is it."
"Yes," said Ben, feeling a pull in his stomach as he looked at his father's broken wrist. "Dad, you don't have to . . ."
"Don't give me that bantha shit, son," Han interrupted. "Our dreams connected twice for a reason. I dunno what that reason is, but I ain't stayin' behind."
Again Ben's eyes welled up as he squeezed his father in a hug. "We will wake up," he said, assuring himself as much as he was assuring Han.
"I know we will," said Han, embracing his son with his one good arm. "We've got the best doctor in the galaxy lookin' out for us, after all."
They lingered in the hug for several moments despite the urgency of the situation. It wasn't until Luke cleared his throat when they finally broke the embrace.
"Han, are you ready?" Luke asked.
"No," said Han, lying down and nestling his head in the pillow, "but go ahead anyway."
Ben swallowed again as he raised his hand over his father and reached to Han's soul with the Force, concentrating on their shared memories. Han's big Dad hugs after Ben had nightmares. Their play lightsaber fights when Ben was little. Han applauding as he observed Ben's training – all those years Han had spent here so he could be there for his son. Han teaching Ben how to fly the Falcon. Han giving Ben his lucky dice at his medical school graduation – Ben quickly squeezed his pajama pocket to make sure they were in there.
Finally Luke waved his hand over Han's head, putting him to sleep. Ben had thought that connecting with his whole family at once would be overwhelming, but no, it was as if each new connection was linking with all the others, creating one big connection.
Without a word, Luke and Ben made their way to the remaining empty beds and they each climbed into one. Ben's heart was drumming against his ribs, but he made no attempt to calm it as Luke looked into his eyes.
"Remember," he said, "at the same time."
Ben nodded and they both reached out for each other. Their souls seemed to link instantly, completing the large chain in Ben's spirit.
"Three . . . two . . . one . . . now!" Luke said.
Ben only had a second to send the Force out to his uncle to put him to sleep before he felt grogginess overcome him.
Then Ben was asleep as well.
