Chapter 18 – An Outlandish Idea

Kylo spent the ride back to D'Qar trying to stay as far away from anyone that he could. He felt like a failure. They'd went to Lothal with clear goals: Find and rescue this Palpy character for Rey, and then capture prisoners from the Knights of Ren. But when they'd got there Palpy was not amongst the knights recent prisoners, and he'd nearly killed all of the Knights. He was just gripped by a rage when Ap'lek called him a pet. No, that wasn't it. Kylo knew Snoke treated him as nothing but a beast of burden. He used him for his own interests, and intended to dump him when it suited him. Such was the way of the dark side. So then what set him off?

"Once a beast goes tame, he's never going back to the wild again." Ap'lek's words came back to Kylo, and that was it. The point where Kylo had been filled with such a desire to crush that voice, he stopped hearing the world around him.

But it wasn't something new to him. No, he'd heard that message since his days with Luke. "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, until it consumes you." Luke often warned. And Kylo had gone down the dark path a long time ago. So why did this statement bother an already hopeless man? Was there a part of him that wanted the hope? Wanted to be Ben Solo again?

And then there was Rey. But there wasn't Rey all the same. She appeared to him, and stopped to look up at him with the same surprised confusion on her face as on his. She wasn't upstairs in that room with them. Yet she was. He could feel her presence with the force in two locations at once. Such a feat is impossible, and yet…

There were so many questions going through his mind, he'd almost missed it when the crew member knocked on the door to the compartment he was hiding in. "Just thought you should know, we're landing now, sir."

"Yeah, thanks." Kylo called out. His questions would have to wait.

As he was stepping off the ship, Kylo saw Rey on the other side of the hanger. Her eyes were red from crying and she looked like she was still seconds away from releasing more tears. Chewy had his large paw on her shoulder and appeared to be trying to comfort her.

Kylo walked over to her with a hesitating stride. "Rey, I'm s…"

He didn't get the chance to finish, as her dams burst and she stepped away, crying into her sleeve.

Chewy then looked down at Kylo and hummed words to comfort him. Then Chewy reached up to a planter that was hanging above them both. He picked a flower that was growing there and handed it to Kylo.

"No, I don't think that'll help." Kylo tried to refuse.

Chewy didn't listen and continued offering the flower, until Kylo gave up and took it.

Next, Kylo was pushed two feet forwards by the large Wookiee, towards Rey.

"I'm going, I'm going," he protested, then took a deep breath. "Rey, I'm sorry we couldn't find him." Rey turned back to look at him, and Kylo suddenly found himself tongue tied. He quickly handed her the flower, then he looked away embarrassed.

Rey turned and put her head on his shoulder, surprising Kylo. Several moments later, when she pulled away there was a wet spot from tears on his shirt. "Thank you. I'm sorry, I know this mission was not all about me. We did get a prisoner, and if they can get him to talk, maybe. Do you think they'll get him to talk?"

Kylo breathed heavily. He wanted to tell her yes, to comfort her in some way, but after the last failure he didn't want to lie to her. "He's a Knight of Ren. Resistant to most methods of interrogation, even torture." Rey sighed and Kylo was distressed to make her feel that way. "But there are a few methods I can try. Dark side techniques."

Rey's eyes got really big. "Ben, I couldn't ask you to use the dark side." She shook her head.

"It is the only way." Kylo paused for a moment, and Rey looked down. "I'll talk to my mother," he decided.

On the other side of the hanger, Luke walked up to Han and Leia with a worried expression on his face. "That did not go well. I told you he shouldn't go."

"What went wrong? You're both back safe, and you've gotten a prisoner," said Leia.

"We almost had zero prisoners. While we were in there, they said some things, and Ben got so mad that he went to the dark side. I almost…" Luke stopped short. "But then the strangest thing happened. He stopped, and he said her name." Luke looked over to the other side of the room, to where Rey and Kylo were talking. "I don't know how, but I think she was somehow projecting herself into the room with us. But only he could see her. Though to do such a thing while fighting downstairs, and surviving it is – is unheard of."

"A force-bond moment, I expect." Anakin's force-ghost appeared behind them. Luke turned to look at him in shock. "They've had them before. I don't know why you're surprised."

"What do you mean they've had them before? And what is a force-bond moment."

Anakin sighed. "Do you remember when you began to bring other students to your temple to train with Ben?"

Luke did remember. He had accepted Ben some years before this as his first student. But to bring back the Jedi Order, as he thought was best to do back then, he'd need more than one student, and he'd need a permanent temple. Fellow students would also help Ben to feel less lonely, as Luke was learning his nephew was prone to.

Luke had sent messengers out to gather a small group of students he'd selected from different worlds, and he'd gone down to the site of the new temple to supervise its construction. Ben was in the old space station, a temporary home, and was told to wait for the students to arrive.

"Ben?" Luke called out as he stepped out of his shuttle, once he'd returned from the new temple.

"Master Luke, Master Luke!" Ben yelled, and Luke ran to see what was wrong.

Ben was pale and pacing. "I'm sorry. You said to look after the younglings, but I must have missed her arrival. Some how she's climbed up into the vents and… and…"

"Wait. Who climbed into the vents?" Luke asked, as his eyes scanned the room to count four younglings.

"The youngest one. I think she's five. She was so scared, so I tried talking her through it. I said I'd be on the other end when she got through, but I've waited, and waited. She hasn't come out, and she won't answer me either. I can't find her." Ben was near pulling his hair out.

"Whoa. There were no five-year-old's I sent for. Yin is the youngest initiate I selected." Luke motioned to a ten year old girl, seated with the others. "In fact, all the initiates I've selected are here."

"But I heard her?" Ben looked up at the vent again.

"Use the force, Ben. Do you sense any other living thing up there?"

Ben closed his eyes and opened up his senses. In a moment he shook his head. "No, master."

"Ben had insisted on leaving food out for three whole days for the little girl in the vents. I suspected it was another symptom of his loneliness, an imaginary friend. Are you telling me the girl in the vents was real? That it was her?" Luke asked his father's force-ghost.

Anakin nodded. "That was before I'd found her. And admittedly it did worry me. A little girl crawling around in the dark, scared and alone. I suspected she wasn't safe, and had a new sense of urgency to find her."

"But. How?" Luke walked closer to his father.

Anakin sighed loudly. "What have I been saying all along. They're a dyad. Force bonded."

Luke blinked. "That's real. I thought it was one of your outlandish ideas."

Anakin looked up proudly. "Not so outlandish after all. You should listen to some of my ideas."

Luke rolled his eyes.

This chapter includes a bit about how the Force Bond occurred earlier than TLJ. It is based on an idea I had swimming in my head for a lot longer than this story. I hope you like it.

I also post this story on AO3, under the same username. Just wanted to remind you of that so you can read it where you prefer. There are things I like better about both sites.