Chapter Twenty-One:
The hum of the Millennium Falcon bursting to life is a dim buzz in Rey's ears. She should feel something as they rise through the planet's atmosphere and burst into hyperspace, tearing away from the world she's grown accustomed to, but her mind is centred and focused here and now. On the unconscious form of Kylo Ben—that's how she's thinking of him now, as two souls contained within one body. Leia instructed her to keep that piece of Ben repressed, so she will try.
Laying her hand upon Kylo's, Rey reaches out with her mind, through the force, trying to break the obstruction that stops her again and again from beaching his own thoughts. It's an impossible task that leaves her panting as she pulls away at last, admitting defeat for the moment.
"He is going to wake up, right?" Rose asks. She's seated at the small table with C-3PO and R2-D2.
"He should," Rey says, but there's little she can grasp onto to convince herself that it is a certainty at all.
Artoo whistles tempestuously.
"Now why would you say something like that, Artoo," Threepio chides him.
"What did he say?" Rose asks.
"He says it would be better if he didn't."
Rey frowns down at Artoo. "He has too much of Luke in him."
Artoo whistles again.
"He takes it as a compliment," Threepio tells them.
Rey manages a smile at that. "I'll be right back."
Leaving Kylo in good hands, Rey heads for the bridge. Finn, Poe, and Chewie are holed up together. Their loud voices guide her in, but they swiftly fall silent as her presence comes in. Not before she overhears their exchange:
"...bring more trouble than we need."
"Maybe we can leave him on Ahch-To."
"And how would we pass that by..."
Finn's last word goes unsaid, but Rey needs only one guess to figure the name that would have left his lips.
"No, you wouldn't be able to get it past me," she informs them with a smirk.
Finn laughs nervously. "What's that?"
Rey leans against the frame of the passage. "We are not abandoning him on Ahch-To."
"Shame," Poe sighs. "Is he awake yet?"
"No, but I'm hoping he will be soon."
"Shame. I rather like him asleep."
Poe's flippant remark steals a laugh from Finn. He tries to stifle it under Rey's withering glower, but Chewie's rough har-har-har keeps his grin on.
Against their humour, Rey's anger swells. A tide she doesn't keep in. "I know he's not been the best of people"—Poe scoffs—"Fine, he's been a real monster. I'll admit it. But he can change. And I want you to give him a chance to prove it to."
"We're traveling together, aren't we?" Poe gestures at the outer world of hyperspace. "That's trusting."
"But if you treat him like he's evil, you'll assure he stays that way."
"But he is evil," Finn says. "He's killed—"
"I know." Rey kneads her brow. She doesn't know what words to find to convince them that Kylo deserves the chance to make amends for the horrors he's wrought, to prove that he can be a better man than he's been. "Just... Try to give him a chance. There's a war within him. Leia explained to me before we left. There's a part of him that is Ren, but a part of him that is Ben."
Amusement lights up their faces. She smirks too. The rhyming is funny. But this is serious. She clears her throat. "He's trying to become Ben again. It's hurting him. But he's trying."
Poe and Finn exchange a look. In silence, they exchange thoughts, before turning back to her.
"And you think that if he becomes Ben it erases everything he did as Ren?" Finn asks, highly sceptical.
"Not erases, but it means he's a different person. Someone worth having on our side."
Skepticism blazes across Poe's face, but Finn gives a curt nod. "Fine. I'll give him a chance."
It's the same half-hearted reluctance he gave to Leia, and Rey can't help feeling that they're running around in the same circle, going nowhere new.
But Poe strikes the final chord as he meets her gaze. "For you, Rey, I'll give him a chance, but let's make it clear now. If he threatens this mission and the Resistance in any way, I'll do what I have to do, and I won't lose a wink of sleep over it."
#
Unaware of the conversations encircling him, Kylo slips further into the blackness of his own unconscious self, into Ren. There's nothing but an empty void, and then, a mirror appears.
The reflection within it is his, and yet not his.
Ben cocks his head to one side, surveying him in turn. "Huh. You don't look so tough from this angle."
Ren glowers back at him. "Well, misleading appearance and all that. Who are you supposed to be?"
"The light to your darkness. The Jedi to your Sith. The—"
"I get it!"
Ben rests a hand against the mirror. A crack splinters at the soft touch.
...
the sleeping Kylo tosses, a spasm of pain creasing his face.
...
Ben quickly withdraws his hand. The crack disappears.
"What are you afraid of?" Ren asks.
"Of killing us."
"I'm stronger than I look," Ren reminds him.
Ben gives a solemn shake. "You're holding on by wispy threads now, I'm afraid. Your demise is inevitable. Mine remains to be seen."
"Cocky shit like your father," Ren mutters. He extends a hand, reaching out with the Force.
Ben falls to his knees, spluttering as Ren's chokehold tightens, squeezing the life out of him. "If you die," Ren says, slowly approaching the mirror, "I live."
"If I die, you will never be free," Ben chokes through. "And Rey..."
Ren loosens his grip, intrigue flashing across his face. "What about Rey?"
Ben coughs as his air passage opens up once more. "She needs me. Not you."
Ren staggers back as a red jet of lightning sparks between him and the mirror.
Hux's face, red and pulsating, appears in the smoke and flames. "... where are you going, Ren? ..."
...
Kylo twists violently in his sleep. Rose rushes to his side, grabs hold of his arm, trying to still him. He flings her off with a burst of strength. She sprawls upon the floor.
...
Hux's face looms larger, demanding, red eyes blazing. "... tell us ..."
Ren falls to his knees, ears pressed against his head.
Behind the mirror, Ben shrivels, fading out of existence. His voice, a low cry, echoes dimly before dying away with him. "... don't tell them ..."
But Ren's lips are pried apart by the force of the Sith as this internal turmoil weakens his resistance. "Ahch-To," he rasps...
...
... Kylo surges awake, gasping and panting, he retches, but it's only a dry heave, empty though it is taxing.
Rose staggers to her feet, clutching her shoulder. "Ben...?"
He turns to her with bloodshot eyes, his face gaunt and pale. "We're in trouble."
AN: New chapter up in time. I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. I'll be sad when it's over :*(