Rey hadn't been able to sleep that night, even if she was beside Ben. The night before his breathing had been enough to lull her into sleep, but the way her mind was running wild wouldn't let her settle.

And the world between the two of them had been so incredibly silent that Ben wondered if he had done something to upset her, but in reality Rey couldn't find any words to say to him. The whole trip back to Naboo had been tense from growing emotions and the way that the others had avoided the two of them like the Candorian Plague only made it harder.

And now Rey stood there, tall and with hands clasped behind her back to keep herself from grabbing Ben and dragging him back to the Falcon.

Ben had finally been able to get some better clothes from where they had stopped to fuel and wash up and he was holding himself with a familiar air. One that was a mix between Ben Solo and Kylo Ren, one that seemed more fitting for the prince that he was instead of a resistance fighter or a Supreme Leader.

Guards met them at their ship and lead them to the throne room, eyes sharp on Ben. Ben's strides were more confident than Rey wanted them to be. She felt like her own feet dragged across the purple carpet as she stayed towards the back of their group.

They came to stop before the throne, each one lowering themselves to their knees in front of the young girl. Rey had always been so curious to see what avant garde thing the queen had on, but today Rey couldn't even note the color of her robes and didn't care about how many plom bloom bushes were decorating her head.

"Ben Solo," Queen Cordella said, rising from her seat and coming to stand in front of the set of stairs that would make her level with the rest of her people. "The lost Prince of Alderaan."

"Your Highness," Ben said, voice steady. Rey glanced up to see him with his head bowed down much lower than the rest of them.

"I hope you understand what position you are putting me in by claiming sanctuary in my palace." Her tone held a small darkness to it despite its colorlessness.

"I do."

"And I hope you also understand that just because your mother was a dear friend to my people that does not mean that the same courtesy is extended to you."

"I do."

"Sabin, will you please show the generals and crew as well as Master Skywalker to their rooms?"

The handmaiden moved forward and a panic set into Rey's bones that sent her heart humming. She looked up and to the others who were already on their feet. She jumped to hers and without another thought, stood in front of Ben, arms out, in some hope to block him from what was coming.

"What are you doing?" Ben hissed through his teeth, eyes dark as they stared daggers into her. Rey glanced back at him before turning back to the queen. "This is not your fight."

"I am not leaving this room, Your Highness," Rey said, making the room's atmosphere become far more tense than it already was. Everyone around the room was glancing at each other nervously.

"Rey," Poe said warningly, ready to drag her away if he needed to.

"I can assure you, Master Skywalker, that no harm will befall him in my palace." Rey tipped her head to the side, eyes searching Cordella's face. Rey was certain there was a hint of amusement to her voice. "Please retire to your room. I will call for you when I have need."

Rey's resolve crumbled and her arms that had been outright lowered to her sides. "Your Highness-"

"Your concern is not something I take lightly, Rey. I will call for you when I need you and I will have need of you. Just not at this time. Do I make myself clear?"

Rey gave a firm nod, not fully understanding what the queen meant, but knowing that she had something planned. She never would have called her Rey in front of her advisors if it didn't mean something.

"Forgive my outburst, Your Highness." Rey bowed her head and could feel the curious look from Ben in her back at her sudden change of tone. The queen nodded and Rey strode over to the rest of their group to be led away by Sabin.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Poe demanded in hushed tones. "Just because you love him doesn't mean you get to pull shit like that. Especially in front of the doshing Queen of Naboo."

"She has something planned," Rey muttered. "Can she decide the fate of him?"

"No," Finn answered, moving closer to hear their low voices. "It's a democracy, not a dictatorship. If the crimes were strictly against Naboo then she could decide, but since his are more extensive the senate would have to vote on it. "

"So what does she want with Solo?" Poe questioned, not that he cared if the man ended up hanging by his toes in a dungeon somewhere guarded by Sarlaccs. And maybe he was being harsh, but he had never wanted to see a man crash and burn so hard. Above all, a man who didn't deserve a second chance. Ben Solo was not someone who deserved that second chance that they were all giving him.

"I'm not sure," Rey answered softly, hands clutching to her pant legs.


"Master Skywalker has gone into great detail about where you have been, Prince Solo."

"You can drop the title, Your Highness," Ben said, slowly rising to his feet at her motion to. "I'm no prince."

"She spent a great deal of time in my archives and relayed to me all of her findings."

Ben was more than aware of that fact, though he didn't dare say it out loud. But him having been there for all of the meetings with the queen did nothing to help him figure out what in the worlds she was leading this conversation to.

"She told me about all of your character. The good and the bad, Prince Solo." Ben winced at the title. He didn't deserve that title. He never had. His mother was the only royal and he was no better than a smuggler like his father. Ben took a step back as the young teen came to stand in front of him, her actual size much smaller than him, but her head dress of flowers was easily taller than him. "So which are you? A Supreme Leader of The First Order, the Prince of Alderaan, a Resistance Fighter, a Jedi, or a war criminal?"

Ben found the question imposing and struggled to find a correct answer while deep blue eyes stared back at him in earnest waiting. "I'm no longer the Supreme Leader of The First Order," he replied slowly, testing the waters. But Cordella simply stayed silent. "And I may be a prince by blood, but I have no right to any claim. My mother's planet no longer exists and her people are gone with it. I am not in good enough standing with the Resistance to be counted among them." Those eyes bore into him and he found himself having trouble coming up with the right words. "I do not want to be held under the title of Jedi. I lost that title long ago."

"And the last one?" she finally asked, turning away from him, eyes still burning.

"I am a war criminal, Your Highness. It is the only accurate term to describe me."

But the words didn't make him feel small. Quite the opposite actually. There was a pressure taken off of his shoulders at the admission. It was all he was and all he was sure he would ever be, but it fit. It was him and he would accept whatever punishment came from it.

"Then I may have use of you yet, Ben Solo."

Ben's head cocked to the side in question and he waited in silence as she ushered everyone to leave the room but him. He watched nervously as the others filtered until just the two of them stood in much too large of a room. The silence was deafening and Ben wasn't sure if it was right to try to break it.

"I have a task for you," Queen Cordella said when she was satisfied with how alone they were. "My people and advisors will not approve of this, which is why I wanted to speak to you privately. I fear they do not understand what leverage you could hold and only see a monster."

Ben flinched as the familiar word left a bad taste in his mouth. He could hear Rey shouting it at him, each time harsher than the last. It was a word that he never wanted to be compared to ever again if he could help it.

"What exactly is it you want me to do?" Ben questioned, chancing a few steps towards the teen in a hope to somehow read her eyes as they were the only thing that provided any content into her emotion save for the occasional smile that was soon dismissed.

"I am sure you are aware of the ship that attacked my planet several days ago."

"Yes, I am."

"I have been informed that that ship belongs to the Supreme Leader of The First Order. Rey has also made it abundantly clear that though the Emperor is gone, The First Order is still active and very strong."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Ben didn't like where this was going. He wanted desperately to put that part of his life behind him and move on. He wanted nothing to do with The Finalizer, The First Order, the war, and definitely not Wayzac. He had come to terms with a lifetime of imprisonment, but this was too much. And besides that, he wanted to keep Rey as far away as he absolutely could from Wayzac. He didn't want that portal's image to be true. He wasn't sure what he would do if Rey were hurt in any way.

"Master Skywalker."

Ben spun around at the name, having been too deep in thought to have noticed Rey enter the room. Her eyes met his and he bit his lip. She had been crying. He wanted so badly to reach out to her to somehow comfort her and understand what had upset her so thoroughly that she had cried. She came to stand beside him and he took a step closer to her in hopes that it would be enough for her that he was still right here.

"I believe that you are well aware of what I am asking from both of you. We spoke about it before your last departure."

Ben looked between the two women trying to recall the conversation that the queen was referring to. He must have been in the netherworld to have missed this moment. How much else had he missed while exploring?

"You want us to dismantle the first order," Rey answered, voicing the idea that Ben had already known.

"And why do you need me?" Ben asked in confusion. He was nobody. There was nothing more he could do that one of the others couldn't do better. He had watched the jedi, the stormtrooper and the pilot take down almost the whole Imperial Star Destroyer Fleet single handedly. They didn't need him. No one needed him.

"I don't need Ben Solo," Queen Cordella clarified, eyes bright. "I need Kylo Ren."


"This is insane!" Finn said before Poe even had the chance to get the words from his mouth. "He's been thought dead for months, they're not going to accept him back."

"I'm right here," Ben said to the three of them who seemed to be ignoring him. His eyes went to Rey desperately, hoping she would help him enter the conversation instead of being left out, but she didn't even glance in his direction. His chest grew tight and he turned his attention to a stray string that was loose on the sleeve of his new shirt. He leaned against the mantle of the large overly gaudy fireplace and played with the strand.

"I think it will work if he can play the part," Rey defended. Her voice sounded as if she were saying everything in more of a habit or obligation than really believing them. "And it's just one transmission. He's not going undercover."

"This is not happening. I do not care what the queen says," Poe growled, hand coming through the air as if he were slashing the idea away. "She's just a stupid kid. She doesn't understand."

"Yes, she does," Rey interrupted. "Her parents were killed by the Knights of Ren." Rey could see Ben flinch in the corner of her view but she did her best to ignore him. She was sure she would crack if she looked at him. She had been ready for him to leave and be in one place that she could visit. She didn't expect him to leave and be somewhere where she couldn't follow, somewhere he was in danger. And he would be in danger. "She is just as much a part of this war as we are."

"He is not worth the risk," Poe said, pointing to Ben.

"I can hear you," Ben tried again, effectively ignored once more.

"I think we need to think this through," Finn said in his normally cautious way. "It could work."

"How do we know he won't just use this chance to leave and never come back?"

"Poe," Rey warned.

"He could be wanting to go and take back over The First Order. We would be no match for him."

"Poe-"

"He is not worth the risk, Rey! He is going to betray us and-"

"No, I'm not!" Ben yelled before he could stop the outburst. His hand slammed onto the mantle, the loud sound making the other three fall silent. Rey watched as his hand shook and became a fist covering his mouth. He looked so lost and Rey's heart tried to dig through her ribs to go to him. "We're doing this."

Poe laughed sarcastically. "There is no we."

"Then I will go myself," Ben said, voice more steady than Rey thought it would be with how badly his hands were trembling.

"Ben," she whispered, getting to her feet. She tried to take a step towards him, but he stopped her with a simple wave of his hand in her direction. He didn't look at her, eyes set on Poe.

"This is the only way that we are going to bring down the first order," Ben explained, fist lowering back to the mantel so his words were no longer muffled. "It has to be done from the inside and if none of you are going to help me then I will figure it out myself. I haven't needed anyone before."

Rey knew the words were aimed at the pilot, but they still struck her deeply, too close to home for comfort. Tears again stung her eyes for the second time today as her chest concaved in on itself.

Ben pushed himself from his prop and took a few steps closer to the group. "And I don't need anyone now."

With those words left to haunt the air and his eyes, he left the room and Rey swore she could almost see Kylo Ren's cloak fluttering behind him.

Rey shot Poe a dark look and his face turned to one of innocence. "What?" he asked with a shrug.

Rey rolled her eyes with a scoff and raced from the room, leaving Finn to smack the back of Poe's head.

"Ben!" Rey called as she looked up both hallways to see which way he had gone. His tall figure stalked down the hall in strong strides, his hand running through his hair and messing it up so badly it fell into his eyes with unruly dark curls. Ray sprinted to catch up with him. "Ben!"

"Not now Rey," he cautioned, keeping his steps steady and quick.

Rey ignored the warning in his voice and took his arm, turning him back to look at her. The movement was easy and Ben would never admit that he let her take control, wouldn't admit that he really was weak and was just putting on another mask.

Rey's eyes shined with tears and it pained him to think that he had been the one to cause them this time. His hand rose to her face, gently caressing her cheek, his thumb catching a tear as it fell. He sighed through his nose and rested his forehead against hers, eyes closing.

"You don't have to do this alone," she muttered, licking her lips and swallowing, trying to stop the desert that was forming in her mouth. "I can go with you-"

"No." His voice was sharp and Rey's eyes dragged over his face trying to read any hint of emotion that was there, cursing the fact that he was keeping his eyes closed. She was sure it was on purpose so she couldn't read him. "You are not coming with me."

"Why?" she demanded in so cold a tone that Ben opened his eyes to meet hers and he really wished he hadn't. "Because you don't need anyone?"

"No, that's not-"

"Because you made it perfectly clear back there that-"

Her retort was abruptly cut off as he pulled her close and into a kiss. Ben did his best to push his own tears back at the position he had put himself in and what it was doing to her, to them. He had never wanted to hurt Rey in anyway and he so desperately wished he could hear her bubbled laugh instead of her small sobs.

He pulled back, leaving both of them breathing hard and eye to eye. He brushed his fingertips over her cheek, trying to memorize the feeling before he shoved his hands back into those unsympathetic leather gloves.

"I have my reasons, Rey. Please, do this for me. Stay here where it's safe." He shuddered as the image of Wayzac torturing Rey replayed in his head like it did every time he closed his eyes. There was a deep set hate that was gnawing at his bones that he was trying to keep out of his voice so she didn't hate him anymore than she already did. "Please do not follow me and please do not do anything stupid while I am gone."

"You're not going alone," Rey gasped out, her heart speaking before her mind could stifle it with doubt. Her hands took his upper arms, fingers running over the fabric frantically, unsure if she should grab hold of him and beg him to stay or to let him go. "I won't let you."

"Rey-"

"No!" The word echoed down the hall and neither of them cared that there were eyes watching them now. Anyone could watch, it wasn't going to change what either one of them were feeling. "I'm not letting you go."

The next word was so broken, so desperate in its beg that it caught Rey's breath in her throat. "Please."

Rey blinked several times, the word burning into her mind. She had heard the same broken please before and those same afraid eyes were looking at her now. A please that asked for everything she could possibly give him. A please crying for trust. A please that this time she couldn't find a way to refuse.

With a small nod, Rey dropped her grip from his shirt. His forefinger gently lifted her chin so she was still looking at his face. His eyes flickered between hers for the first time truly noticing that her eyes held a million hues of color in them and he wished he could stay here in this expanded moment of personal eternity in the heaven that was her eyes.

Rey's heart stopped in distress as he placed a lingering kiss on her forehead before releasing his hold on her and turning away swiftly, returning to his stride up the hall before disappearing around the corner.


"I'm going after him," Rey muttered, rising from the overly large wooden dining table that had been entirely silent.

Both Finn and Poe looked up from their hardly touched plates, watching her leave the room, neither daring to follow her.

She had sat in her window earlier that day and watched as Ben had left in an x-wing, being the only thing that any of the Resistance had to let him use. She didn't realize how badly it would hurt to watch him go. She couldn't exactly name the feeling that was clawing at her chest since then but it made her so antsy that she had to follow.

"Rey!" a voice called after her, but she couldn't stop. She was going to go crazy if she had to sit and wait for things to unfold. "Rey! Slow down." Footsteps echoed as the person ran to catch up. Rey felt her arm yanked back and she stumbled as she was turned around by a much stronger grip than she thought the small woman could possess.

"Rose," Rey scolded, pulling her arm free of the grip. "I'm not staying here, there's no point in trying to talk me out of it."

"I'm not," she said, trying to catch her breath from her sprint with hands now on her hips. "I want to come with you."

Rey's annoyance dropped, her tense shoulders relaxing and letting her stand upright. "You what?"

"No one can talk you out of anything you have your mind set on Rey. We all know better," she teased. "But if you're going to go, then I'm coming with you. Someone needs to look out for you and it's perfectly clear that you're on your last nerve with at least Poe."

"He is so irritating!" Rey grumbled, hand going to her head. "What is his problem?"

"He's just scared. We're all scared."

"He should find a better way of showing it." Rose simply shook her head with a small smile. "What about Connix?"

"She's been hanging out with Beaumont Kin since we got back."

"Any chance you'll stay if I tell you it'll be dangerous?"

"About as much a chance as you listening to Ben," Rose answered with a defiant look in her eyes. "When do we leave?"

"How long will it take you to pack?"


"What is your problem?"

Poe dropped his fork, sending it clanking onto his plate, propping his chin on his folded hands before looking at Finn with an expectant look and raised eyebrows. "You too?" he demanded curtly.

Finn gave Poe a dark look and Poe only returned it before getting to his feet. "I am not going to sit here and-"

"Why do you hate him so much?"

Poe froze, voice sharp. "You're kidding, right?"

"He's changed. Can't you sense that?"

"No! I can't!" Poe shot back, voice bouncing off of the walls. "I'm not some crackpot con artist who can move rocks with my mind."

"If you don't trust him then why did you help Rey find him?" Finn got to his own feet, hand pointing towards the door as if that were the direction that Ben would have been.

"I didn't think she'd actually find him."

"Even after what he did for us back on the base?"

"That could have been anything," Poe tried to excuse.

"You know it wasn't!" Finn shot back. "You know as well as I do that he saved us from those blaster bolts. Are you just jealous?"

Poe scoffed. "Of what?"

"That Rey is with Ben?"

Poe's face scrunched up and he shook his head as if he could rattle the sentence out of his mind. "No! I have Zorri."

"Do you now?" Finn said, unable to stop the hint of a laugh in his voice.

"Knock it off," Poe grumbled, beginning to pace.

"Then what about Ben do you hate so much?"

Poe's pacing stopped abruptly as if he had hit a wall. His hands went to his head, fingers tangling into his curls. Finn waited silently, eyes on Poe's back. He could see Poe's hands trembling as they fell back to his sides. Poe didn't turn around, but Finn was sure that the pilot was crying.

"I grew up in a family that was very prominent in the Alliance. My mother was a pilot and my father was a pathfinder. They were always gone on missions. My grandparents took care of my little brother and me."

"You have a brother?" Finn asked curiously.

"His name was Cole." Finn didn't need Poe to turn around with watered eyes to understand after the word was. "I took care of him, looked out for him. We were only about a year apart. He was always a trouble maker. Ever since I could remember he was the reason we got in trouble."

Poe slowly came back and took a seat at the table. He lowered his head into his hands with a deep breath. Finn's hand reached out, but he quickly pulled it back unsure if the same methods used to calm Rey would be of any help to Poe.

"We both drifted apart," Poe continued, not looking up from the grain of the wood. "I went and learned to fly with my mom. My brother ran away a few months after I left. No one had heard from him for about three years.

"By that time I hadn't met Leia yet and I hadn't left The New Republic. I was asked to fly a mission to OR-Kappa-2722. We were supposed to find a First Order sympathizer who was large in the senate. Let's just say that The First Order had caught wind of the plan."

"I don't remember ever hearing about this," Finn muttered, but Poe still didn't move and Finn could see some small pools of tears on the table from Poe's silent crying.

"Probably wanted to keep it under wraps. If the Senator was exposed then the First Order would lose their footing in the Galactic Republic."

Poe finally looked up, his fingertip resting on his lips. His eyes were red from the crying and his cheeks were damp, but he still didn't make a single sound or sob. It had been a long time since he had really thought about his brother. Everything had been moving so fast that Poe really hadn't had the chance to come to terms with what had happened and once Kylo Ren had died, he thought he could just ignore what had happened. But now that Ben Solo was alive, every time Poe looked at him, he felt this hatred burning in him. A hatred that he hadn't been able to heal through yet, a wound that was just as fresh as the day that it had been carved into his heart.

Finn stayed quiet and waited patiently for Poe to work through his feelings and by the way his eyes continued to shift, he was pushing through more than a few. Finn understood the gist of what had happened, but it would be a lie if he didn't admit that he was curious for the details. He wasn't going to push though. If he had learned anything within the first few moments of meeting Rey was that people had to work through their issues on their own before they asked for help.

"Umm..." Poe rubbed at the back of his neck and cleared his throat loudly before sighing. "That night was the first night that I had ever met Kylo."

Poe could see the night so clearly, so etched into his mind. The senator had gone into hiding and it was his job, with a small team, to find the senator and bring him back so that he could be tried for his corruption. But when he had entered the star system, there had been an ambush. He had to shoot down several Tie Fighters.

Poe did make it to the surface of the moon and his small team had only had one casualty. They located the senator, but he had been under protective watch by Snoke, which in turn meant that his guard dog was the one doing the protecting.

The room had a deep tension to it, something about the masked man that controlled everything was haunting. Kylo Ren stood there, tall and proud, cape scraping the floor as he walked and voice mechanical when he spoke.

And behind Kylo Ren...

Poe recognized him immediately despite the fact that his face had two large scars down it and across his nose that looked to be from some sort of animal attack. But it was clear as transparisteel that it was Cole. The brother that had been missing for years, disappeared off the face of the galaxy.

Poe had had so many questions and it ate him up every night that he hadn't had the chance to ask them, one of those questions being how he had become Kylo's first in command.

Fighting broke out, blasters going off in every direction and one mass hum from a red saber.

Poe hadn't been watching, hadn't been paying attention to what was behind him and...

"Kylo came after me," Poe continued on. "Cole shoved me out of the way. Cole had gotten in the way of Kylo and Kylo saw that as betrayal."

Kylo's words were still ever present in his mind, that doshing awful muffled and distorted voice.

I expected better from you.

"He pulled my brother to him with the force and ran Cole through with his saber."

Finn could finally put two and two together. He hadn't understood why Poe was always so harsh with any conversations that circled around the force or lightsabers. This would damage anyone in the same situation, not just Poe.

"I was pulled out and left the New Republic, did the spice running for a bit before joining the Resistance with Leia." Poe's fist slammed onto the table and he stifled a cry. "All because of that fucking man!" His voice echoed around the room for what felt like an eternity. And maybe it was. It could have been for all Poe knew. His eyes burned as did his throat and he was exhausted, most likely from crying. "That is why I hate that man." Poe's tone was clipped and his hands became fists. "The shit he did to not only my family, but so many others..." He couldn't finish, couldn't find and formulate the words.

"Does he know?"

"I don't want to find out."

"Maybe-"

"No," Poe cut off Finn. "There is nothing in this world that will ever change my mind. I will forever hate Ben Solo."