AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 19

Ben couldn't move, couldn't open his eyes, could hardly breathe. His wife and daughter were somewhere – he felt their presence through the Force – but he couldn't tell where. The invisible pressure was consuming him, enveloping him, pressing down as if it wanted to compress him into nothing.

He couldn't even tell if he was screaming or not.

"Dad?"

The voice shot into his darkness like an arrow, unfamiliar, yet he felt an instant connection with it.

"Dad, open your eyes."

It was like the voice suddenly granted him new energy. Though the rest of him still couldn't move, his eyes snapped open, revealing the source of the voice.

A young woman stood before him, black hair tied back in a ponytail, eyes glowing an inhuman yellow, dressed in a black bodysuit and cape, the mask worn by the dark Ben tucked under one arm, the silver hilt of a lightsaber dangling from her belt.

"It's all right, Dad," she said in a silky voice. "You don't have to worry."

Ben's insides turned to ice. "No . . . no . . ."

"Dad, you just don't understand." The woman was smiling – not a wicked grin, but a gentle, daughterly smile, as if she were merely telling her father that yes, she loved the boy she was dating even if her father didn't like the way he dressed.

"Sweetheart, don't do this . . ."

"Dad, look at you," she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "You grew up so afraid. Afraid to sleep, afraid to dream, afraid of things that went bump in the night. Afraid of your own mind. Do you really want me to grow up afraid like you did?"

"Of course not," Ben gasped out, his dry throat hurting with every word, "but you don't have to be afraid."

"You're right, I don't. I never did. Unlike you, I don't fear the dark side. I realize how useless it is to weigh our actions by these abstract concepts of 'good' and 'evil.'" Her yellow eyes stared into his. "The power of the whole Force flows through me, not just half of it."

"Honey, that's Snoke talking, not you . . ."

With that, the woman dropped the mask, called the lightsaber to her hand with the Force, and ignited it, revealing the fiery cross-shaped blade Ben had seen in his dreams. "What do you know about me? I'm not even born yet!" She stepped back and pointed the blade at him, the tip inches away from his throat. "You call me sweetheart and honey, but you haven't even named me yet. You've only decided that you love me because you contributed half my DNA."

"We do love you, sweetheart!" Ara called from somewhere, probably still pinned against the wall like Ben was. "Even if you did turn to the dark side, we'd still love you!"

"Well that's a really stupid love, then," the woman said without looking at her mother. "Love based on genetics and nothing else."

"Exactly," said Snoke in a low, hissing voice. "See your daughter, Solo. Strong. Confident. Powerful. All the things she couldn't be with you."

"SHUT UP!" Ara yelled.

Ben wanted to yell with her, to curse Snoke for all he'd done and all he was still doing, but the heat of the flaming blade and the glare of his daughter's yellow eyes silenced him.

"I could kill you," she muttered. "I could kill you and feel nothing.

It took a painful amount of effort against the pressure, but Ben still managed to shake his head. "I don't believe that," he whispered.

Snoke was cackling. "This has gotten beyond pointless. Apprentice, kill him."

"NO!" Ara screamed. "Sweetheart, you know you don't want to do this."

"And what do you know about what I want and don't want?" their daughter snarled. "You don't know anything about me!"

"Sweetheart, listen," Ben gasped. "He just wants you for your power. He cares nothing for you."

"Enough!" shouted Snoke and with that the pressure released Ben, sending him collapsing to the floor. Instinctively, he took in a large breath, large enough to make his lungs hurt. Still his daughter's lightsaber hummed in his ears. Maybe she was about to kill him. Maybe he should try to get away, but his muscles felt like they were dissolving. Everything hurt.

"Hey you, get away from my boy!"

That voice. That voice. The voice that comforted him as a child, gave him strength as an adult, made him laugh, always let him know he wasn't alone.

"Who are you?" the woman exclaimed.

Despite everything, Ben almost felt like smiling. "He's your grandfather."

"WHAT?" Snoke screamed.

There was no time to respond before Han slid down to Ben's side, grabbing his hand. "Are you all right, son? Did he hurt you?"

"Not too much," said Ben. "Listen, that woman there with the lightsaber, she's my daughter!"

"What?"

"I don't understand either, but we have to help her!"

Now the woman's lightsaber pointed down at both of them. "Hiding behind Daddy, are you?"

Han stared up at her, cocking his head. "Hey, if you're really my granddaughter, then . . . then you and I are gonna have a lotta fun together after you're born. I'll take you flyin' in the Falcon, we'll go out for ice cream, we'll go to pod races together, all the stuff I did with your dad when he was a kid, I'll do with you too. Doesn't that sound like more fun than bein' that guy's slave?"

"I am NO ONE'S slave!"

"You're right, you're not," Ara intervened, slowly crawling up to them. "You can choose who you want to be right now."

"But you want me to choose to be weak and terrified – like my father!"

"Yes," said Snoke. "They want you to be weak. Look at your father right now, trembling and sniveling as we speak."

"HEY!" shouted Han. "Whoever the hell you are, you DON'T talk about my Ben like that! He's damn stronger than you'll ever be. You know why? Cause unlike you, he ain't afraid of love and emotion. He gets scared sometimes, yeah, but he knows that's okay! He knows it doesn't make him weak and it's all part of bein' human."

Snoke chuckled as if it was all a big joke. "This is ridiculous. Apprentice, kill them, starting with your father."

Ben couldn't deny that he was indeed trembling and that the lightsaber's heat was making sweat drizzle down his face. "Is this what you want?" he asked in a small voice.

"Listen to your father," another familiar voice said. "Is this what you want?"

All heads turned and there was Leia, stepping up to her family with a fierce look on her face, Luke and Rey close behind her.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, her voice almost as small as her father's.

"Your grandmother," said Leia. "And this is your great uncle and your cousin."

"Oh, this is lovely," said Snoke, now descending from the throne and walking up to the family. "Your minds are stronger than I realized, but no matter. You all still embarked on a foolish endeavor." He strode over to his apprentice and stroked her shoulder with slow, deliberate movements. "As you can see, my apprentice needs none of you."

"No, I don't," she said, though Ben thought he detected a hint of hesitation in her voice. Was that real or just wishful thinking?

"I drove you out of Ben's mind," Luke said, his eyes narrowed at Snoke. "I'll drive you out of her mind too!"

"Really?" asked Snoke. "And just how will you do that if you never wake up?"

With that, he shot out his hand in Luke's direction and the Jedi Master went flying, smashing his head against the wall and collapsing in a heap.

"DAD!" Rey screamed, running up to her father and gathering his unconscious body in her arms.

Snoke laughed again. "See how easily distracted attachment makes you?" With a flick of his fingers, Rey was choking, her eyes bulging, her face paling.

"Stop it!" Ben yelled before his cousin collapsed on top of her father.

Leia, meanwhile, turned her attention once more to her granddaughter. "So you want to be a monster like him?" She gestured wildly in Luke and Rey's direction. "Is this what you want your life to be?"

But it only took another flick of Snoke's fingers to send Leia crashing into the wall too.

"LEIA!" Han shouted, but another Force-push from Snoke pinned him to the floor.

"You're weak," the apprentice whispered, "you're all weak."

"Listen," said Ben, "I once thought like you. I thought my family was too weak to fight the thing in my mind and that I needed Snoke's help to overcome it, but I was WRONG."

The apprentice kept glaring down at her father, but the lightsaber was starting to tremble in her hand.

"L-look," Han gasped out from the floor, sounding like he was struggling with every word, "this asshole just wants a tool. He wants you so he can take over the galaxy, and what do you think he'll do once he's got the galaxy and doesn't need you anymore?"

"Yes, listen to your grandfather," Ara said in a raspy voice. "Snoke won't love you. He'll care nothing for you. You have your whole life in front of you – literally your whole life. Now's your chance to choose what kind of life you want."

The apprentice swallowed.

"We all love you, sweetheart," said Ben. "Call it love based on genetics all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that we all love you."

Snoke groaned. "Enough of this. Apprentice, kill them NOW."

The apprentice swallowed again as she raised the lightsaber over her head . . .

. . . and plunged it into Snoke's chest.