Wow! After this one, we only have one chapter to go and then an epilogue! Thanks so much to all who read and to all who review! I have debated on writing a continuation of this story... so please let me know if that is something you would like to read.

Enjoy!

Chapter 25

"Can I's have a story, Uncle Luke?" Ben asked through his enormous yawn.

They ended their evening watching Ben's holo program together. Ben was thrilled to have his Mommy, Daddy, AND Uncle Luke all to himself for a night. Luke was leaving the next day, so this would be the last time they were all together for a while. Ben thought it a good idea to sit on his Uncle's lap while they watched. His Daddy was feeling somewhat dejected as he sat alone on the sofa, but Ben assured him that Mommy could sit on his lap.

So she did. And once the show was over, the family of four lazed in their chairs, no one making the move to get up.

"What about?" Luke asked as he tilted his head to better see the little boy who was laying on his back on top of him with his legs stretched all the way to Luke's knees.

"Tell him about spending a night INSIDE a tauntaun," the man in the peanut gallery suggested from his utterly relaxed position with his sock-covered feet up on the table.

"What about the time you laughed so hard blue milk came out of your nose." The second voice in the peanut gallery laughed out from her recumbent position on his lap.

"Or…" the man started laughing even before he could speak. "The time you fell in love with your sister!"

Now they were both cracking up and jostling each other with their belly rumblings.

Family… Luke shook his head, teasing back harder. "I think he would much rather hear a story about his Mommy and Daddy and the Millennium Falcon… and Bespin."

"Yes!" Ben implored, his Uncle's words hitting all the little man's sweet-spots for a great story.

"NO!" The peanut gallery shouted simultaneously as they shot up from the back of the sofa, eyes wide with fear that he would actually do it.

Luke reveled in their fear, the power he would always hold over them with that nugget of information.

"Fine, I'll tell him about Tatooine." Luke put them out of their misery and they leaned back against each other, still questioning whether they trusted him.

Luke turned his head back to the boy looking up at him from his position against Luke's arms. He began.

"It was right after we freed Han from the carbon freezing at Jabba's the Hutt's…"

Leia stepped in for context. "Ben doesn't know that story yet."

Luke met her eyes, confused. "Why not?"

She lifted her chin up. "Because he's three, Luke!"

Luke rolled his eyes and started again.

"We were all on Tatooine for… a party. And we were out walking towards the Millennium Falcon when all of a sudden this great big sandstorm came upon us!"

Ben's eyes widened thinking about the giant sandstorm.

"Now I was up ahead with Chewie and Lando…" Luke paused to face the peanut gallery again. "He does know who Lando is, right?"

Han rolled his eyes. "Yes, he knows Lando."

Luke continued. "Lando and I were taking the lead and I turned around… and there was nothing behind me. I couldn't find Han and Leia."

"Where were they?" Ben asked.

Luke shrugged. "I didn't know! I walked back towards where we came from, but all I could see was a cloud of dust. I couldn't even see our footprints in the sand. I called out to them, but they didn't answer."

Luke paused for dramatics.

"I kept walking backward retracing my steps while Lando and Chewie stayed standing on our steady course. Finally… I saw something. It was C3PO and R2-D2. They didn't know where they were either.

"Did you ever find them?" Ben asked, worried for the characters in the story.

Han spread his arms palms up and answered the question. "Yeah, buddy. We're here now."

Leia pulled his arms down and settled them around her waist, waiting for the story to continue.

"I kept walking and finally… I found them."

Ben kept his eyes on his Uncle.

"You know what they were doing? In the middle of our escape… I mean party?"

Ben shook his head.

Luke made the reveal with a mighty build up. "They were… kissing!"

"EEW!" Ben shrieked as giggles came out and he wiggled in his seat.

Luke nodded, agreeing with Ben's assessment. "You're right eew!"

Leia smiled at their antics as Han sent out a threat. "If you keep laughing, we'll do it again."

Well, they kept laughing so Han bent down and tilted Leia's chin to reach him.

"EEW!" Ben shrieked again, the act only elevating his giggles. He jumped down from his Uncle's lap and jumped up on his mother's lap, breaking her away from her other man.

Han lifted his head and countered Luke's retelling. "Hey, I've got a lot of good memories from that day… after not dying."

"So do I," Luke agreed. "But losing you two in a sandstorm was not one of them."

Leia shook her head at her brother. "Yes, what a day that was. And what an ending…"

"You should really get some rest," she implored him when they were safely nestled on the Millennium Falcon and in hyperspace once again.

"Yeah, maybe I should," he agreed, his body feeling like it had been through an entire war in the past two days. He even allowed Lando to pilot them back. That said more than anything about how he was really feeling.

She nodded and gave herself one more moment to look at him. His gray, almost lucid eyes meeting hers. She felt her voice whisper her farewell. "Goodnight, Han."

He gave her a single nod as she turned back towards the cockpit.

"Leia…" His voice rang out as his hand reached out to hers, turning her back to face him as he whispered his own devotion. "Thank you."

She felt like she was in a trance, looking at a ghost, a man she thought she might never see again. Pressing her toes into the ground, she lifted herself, head tilting. She brought her hand to his cheek. He mirrored her, bringing his own much larger palm to rest on her cheek and neck. It felt so right, just like it had when they were together in Bespin. He leaned forward, letting his lips rest against hers. He was back where he belonged.

Luke snuck away from his quarters, undetected, under the cover of darkness. His hood covering the face of the former legendary Luke Skywalker.

There was definitely more activity around the base than there would have been on a typical night. Under his hood, he could see the hustle of people moving from here to there and heard their optimistic comments about how the operation was going. But Luke didn't dwell on them. He stuck to the shadows as he walked onward.

He found his way into a grassy clearing a few paces from the lights and noises of the busy base. He assumed Leia and Han were still wrapped up in the execution of the occupation, and that's why he hadn't seen either of them since his arrival. He didn't need to see them right now. What he needed was space.

He stood out in the open, taking a deep breath. It had been so long, too long, since he felt the deep connection to the energy coursing through and around him. Like a soothing blanket after a nightmare. Like coming home after battle. The Force was strong here. He could feel his sister. That was the first person he tried to reach once he tapped back in. But right now, all he could feel was the flowing energies of the natural elements around him. He felt like he belonged there.

His moment was interrupted. He felt Ben, his nephew, coming closer before seeing him. It was a raw, strange feeling like he had been transported back in time. The figure was all dark, backlit from the outside base lights, as he stepped into the shadows where Luke stood. He would recognize that profile anywhere, but he would absolutely recognize the energies he emitted that were categorically Ben Solo. His presence seemed unusually strong, but maybe Luke was just out of practice.

As Ben stepped closer and Luke's eyes adjusted, he saw another person in front of him. A girl. She was leading him forward. Inevitably approaching.

And so, Luke Skywalker steeled himself for the greatest test of his life, the hardest thing he ever had to do. Facing himself and his biggest failure.

When a young naive Luke entered that cave on Dagobah, he saw a mirage of himself reflected in Darth Vader's mask. And now, he saw himself reflected in the image of Kylo Ren, only this time it wasn't a mirage. He was a piece of the monster he helped create.

But this man that stood solidly, forcefully in front of him now was not Kylo Ren. Ben Solo proved to be stronger than the darkness inside of him and the darkness thrust upon him.

He lived up to the Skywalker blood that ran through him.

Ben stopped walking when he was still a distance away, but the girl didn't.

She continued until she was only a few paces from him, her feet firmly planted and her face open, but tenacious.

"Master Skywalker," she addressed him. "I'm Rey."

Ah, yes. The other partner in the mission. Luke nodded at her, but his real concern was the man standing staunchly behind her, rigid, tension filling his every fiber.

"We need answers and I think you can give them to us," Rey continued, outlining their quest.

Luke took the conversation he could get. "What is this about?"

"It's about me."

He looked back at the girl. "What about you?"

Rey wasn't sure how to answer, wasn't sure what words to use to describe the powers she felt from within. Her head turned as she heard the voice behind her speak what she couldn't seem to vocalize.

"She's strong in the Force," Ben informed his former master succinctly, feeling comfortable sticking to facts and the here and now rather than the haunted past. "Stronger than anyone I've ever encountered."

Luke swallowed trying to keep with the all too casual conversation they seemed to be having.

He let his eyes focus on Rey. He was skeptical at first. Surely he would have picked up on her approach. But when he reached out again to her directly, he saw what his nephew was talking about.

Rey must have seen the way Luke's eyes widened when taking her in. She continued under their new collective understanding. "And Ben and I connect in the Force in a way that…" she paused, trying to find words to describe it. "I've never experienced before."

Luke listened. "What do you need from me?"

Ben took one step forward to arrive on Rey's plain, again, comfortable sticking to information questions. "Tell me about a dyad in the force."

Luke paused, his mouth opening as he nodded, now understanding what drew Ben out with her to talk with him. "I've only heard legends and prophecies," Luke began, searching back through his memory banks of treasured facts from yesteryear. "When two Force-sensitive beings connect in a way that the two become one. One force presence."

Rey leaned in, fully rapt. "We're listening."

Luke turned to address Rey directly. "The power of a dyad is as strong as life itself. The beings share a connection that spans across space and time."

"Do you think that could be what this…" Rey gestured between Ben and herself. "What this is?"

Luke nodded. "If what you're telling me is true, that could certainly be the reason."

Luke may have answered their questions, but it didn't seem to add any enlightenment to either of them.

"I sensed you coming, Ben," Luke tried to offer some more information. "But I didn't feel Rey until I reached to her directly. It did seem like one presence."

Ben swallowed taking in this new information. "What does the prophecy say about the dyad?"

Luke was struck dumb for a moment but then found trust. Trust in his nephew. In Ben Solo. He lowered his tone as he revealed their potential. "It is said that the dyad will hold a power not seen for generations."

That took both listeners aback.

"Will you be training Rey?" He asked Ben.

Rey nodded her head, bringing her back into the conversation and answered. "Yes, I want to use the gift I have and train to be a Jedi."

Luke nodded at the girl, an almost smile ghosting over his face. "You have a good teacher."

And here came those feelings Ben was trying desperately to avoid. He turned his eyes to the ground, trying to muster out the conflict inside of him.

"Luke…" He began. Well, that was a beginning. He reached through his feelings. "I don't think I can ever forgive you for my sake."

He didn't look at his Uncle for the time it took him to muster out the next sentence. "But for my Mom, I will." Now he chose to meet the Jedi's eyes as he caught the exhale of a long-held breath, his head raising with a self-assured saunter.

Luke immediately looked down shaking his head. "Ben," the name whispered like a prayer. "That means more to me than you'll ever know."

He steadied his voice, now slowly working to find the courage to meet Ben's eyes.

"However, I cannot forgive myself yet. Seeing you here helps," He shook his head again as a single wet strand fell from his inner eye. "But not yet."

Ben watched his Uncle. Felt the remorse emanate from his pours. Ben felt an invisible weight lift from his own shoulders, a burden he no longer had to carry. He didn't need any more from this conversation, so with a nod of acknowledgment, he turned his back.

"Ben…"

Luke's desperate voice brought him to another stop and he turned his head to the side to show he was listening.

"I meant what I said." Emotion flooded through Luke's words. "You will be a great teacher and you will bring the best of yourself into this new future you have created."

Ben only hoped that would be true.

"I want for you what I wasn't," Luke continued, his eyes glazing over at the visions he had for himself a lifetime ago. "To live up the legend I never could."

Ben listened then answered using his own convictions to guide him. "I will be no greater or no less than who I already am. If who I am reaches the status of a legend, then I am already there."

And with that, he focused on his path forward, not backward. Ben Solo let the past die. He let it go because he decided to let it go.

He felt Rey following him, but she didn't fall into pace with him until they reached the floodlights of the base.

"You did yourself proud," she tilted her head to try and pull his focus away from the ground in front of him and towards her and her words.

"I talked to him," he continued to stomp forward. "That's something"

She let out a single chuckle, turning her head back to center. "It's more than something."

She let them walk further into the base in silence, respecting whatever not talking was doing with his processing mind. They reached the hanger where they had trained. She felt her eyes glance back at the empty spot and they focused forward again as she heard him speak.

"Thank you, again," he uttered with vulnerable sincerity. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he shook his head and let out an audible exhale. "I feel like one of us is always thanking the other."

"I know that has to stop," she joked with a lilt to her voice. "We can't be this nice all the time."

She got him to laugh. A huge accomplishment by her account

"When does training start?" She continued their conversation as they walked past the building that housed the control room.

"I have a feeling my Mom will want all our time tomorrow," he noted reluctantly. "Helping with the air traffic that is sure to be coming through here."

She nodded. It would be a busy next few weeks for the Resistance and a busy few months to years for Leia and the rest of the galaxy who would be working to install a new order.

"We'll start soon," Ben assured her, seeing the slight disappointment going on in her brain.

She nodded, a pleased smile melting over her face. "Good."

Her stopped motion caused him to turn around.

"I should really get some rest. This is my stop." She gestured to the door that led to the main barracks only a few feet away from where they currently stood.

"Yes, you should," he agreed, nodding with his eyes on her shoes.

She gave herself one more moment to look at him. His dark, penetrating eyes finally meeting hers. She didn't think his eyes had ever looked more intense and his face had never looked more serene than in this moment. She felt her voice whisper her farewell. "Goodnight, Ben."

He gave her a single nod as she turned.

"Rey…" His voice rang out as his hand reached out to hers, turning her back to face him as he whispered his own devotion. "Thank you."

She felt like she was in a trance. The intense stare paired with the energy his mind was giving off made her feel lightheaded and wonderful. It was as if he called her other hand to his cheek. She found the skin there softer than she imagined. Pressing her toes into the ground, she lifted herself, head tilting. Her lips found his other cheek just as soft as they brushed it tenderly.

Opening her eyes, because apparently they had closed, she felt her feet plant fully on the ground again as her head came back to center.

He didn't want her to go, not yet. So he mirrored her, bringing his own much larger palm to rest on her cheek and neck. It felt so right like the prophecy had predicted this long before they ever met. He leaned forward, pulling the last ounce of courage he had and letting his lips rest against hers. He was where he belonged.