A/N: Hey everyone! Good to be back with you again:) Thanks to everyone who continues to read and to those who continue to follow/favorite/review and to Leona2016 and FenrisInside for their continuing help! Hope you all like this one- I'd love to hear what you think!
Wishing you all the best and praying you stay safe and healthy until next time!
Ben darted through the streets of Canto Bight with Rey at his side, three steps behind Tal's armored form. The Captain skidded to a halt and disappeared into an alleyway with a quick wave of his hand, beckoning them to follow just as a hail of blaster fire pockmarked the cobblestones before their feet. Rey cried out in alarm and he felt her seize onto the Force to stop a bright streak of plasma in the fraction of a moment before the bolt of red could strike her in the center of her chest. He grabbed her by the neck of her tunic and shoved her into the alleyway in front of him. She collapsed against the brick wall, panting and clutching at her side.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "Were you hit?"
"No," she managed, still breathing hard. "It's just a stitch in my side."
She dug her fingers deeper into the cramping muscle and grimaced.
"Here," he said, holding out his canteen. "Drink."
Her gratitude was a quiet thing in the midst of the chaos of the battle around them, but he felt it nevertheless as she took the bottle and gulped down a few swallows of water before handing it back to him. She gave him a tight smile as she turned back toward the battle, the blades of her staff glittering red in her eyes.
Behind him, Tal was swearing into his comm.
"Come in, Sim," he shouted above the noise. "Come in!"
The comm crackled for a moment before a static-filled voice drifted out, barely audible amidst the sound of blaster fire.
"This is Sim. We're pinned down, Captain. They've got us under heavy fire a few streets down from the Old City. I think some of the local law enforcement is getting involved, but I don't think that's in our favor."
"Roger. Is there any way you could get into the sewers? It won't be pleasant, but it might give you an escape route."
There was a disgusted sound from the comm, then Sim's voice came again.
"I'll give it a shot, Captain, but I don't like the idea of wading through sh-"
An explosion rocked the stone beneath their feet and Ben whirled to Rey, stretching out an arm to drag her further into safety as fire engulfed the entrance of the alleyway.
"Just do it, Lieutenant," Tal shouted. "You're no good to the First Order dead."
"Copy that, Captain. We'll do our best."
The comm went silent in Tal's hands just as another explosion seemed to shake the world. Ben staggered, fighting for balance as the force of the blast threw him sideways. His shoulder slammed against the wall, the pain of it going to the bone. But a moment later, as blaster fire began to sear the air around them, the injury seemed to vanish from his mind.
"We've got to move," Tal said, ducking a plasma bolt. "Now."
They took off after him, dodging the blaster fire and explosions that followed them. Rey struggled along at his side, panting for breath as her face twisted with the pain in her side. Ben urged her forward, pushing her in front of him as he spun to protect their retreat. He was only just in time to deflect the barrage of plasma bolts headed straight for him.
"Get down!" he shouted.
More streaks of red plasma rained down around them, launching dust into the air, and splintering flakes of stone from the buildings around them. Ben flung his arms outward, twisting hard on the Force so that several of the projectiles veered off their courses toward him. Without waiting for another round of fire, he spun on his heel, already tensing to make a run for safety.
Something hissed past his ear and Rey staggered in front of him, crying out in surprise and pain. He knew what had happened even before her pace slowed and her hand shot up to cover her ribs.
"I just got hit," she hissed through teeth gritted in pain.
Ben could feel an echo of the pain in his own chest, though there was no wound to cause it. He saw blood oozing out from between Rey's fingers, staining them a deep red and wetting the dark material of her tunic. His breath caught as fear closed a hand around his throat. But he didn't have time to think about it.
"They're on the rooftops," Tal shouted as another bolt of plasma narrowly missed Ben's head.
Rey ducked another shot and held up a blood covered hand to deflect anything else the snipers above them might send her way. She clamped her other tighter over the wound and began to run again.
They sprinted out from under the shadows of the buildings onto a main thoroughfare, pursued by the echoes of explosions and crumbling masonry. The bright light of blaster fire flickered on the walls and Ben could hear the scream of TIE fighters above their heads as they pursued the Resistance x-wings. Dust stung his eyes and his boots pounded against the street, sending pain shooting through his calves. Rey stumbled and fell, landing hard against the cobblestones. As quickly as she fell, she was up again, both palms torn and bleeding.
He could feel her terror as his own, and it drove him onward even as he wondered how the rest of the troopers were faring. Tal was shouting into his wrist comm again, requesting the coordinates of the group from which they'd been separated. Ben couldn't tell whether or not a message had come through the device, but Tal gave his orders anyway.
"We're on the move two streets east of the city square," Tal said. "Try to get to the rendezvous point at the spaceport. We'll catch up."
As they ran, Ben noticed that the intensity of the blaster fire seemed to be tapering off, and the air about them wasn't as thick with dust and smoke. Tal began to flag, tripping on loose stone and panting for air. Rey, too, seemed drained. He wished he'd been able to convince her to stay behind, but she'd refused. After she'd said she would follow on a different transport if he didn't let her board his, he'd given in. Now, watching her stagger along, gasping and bleeding, he wished he'd fought harder for her to remain in safety.
He took the lead, beckoning them into the shelter of a small alcove in an abandoned building several meters from the road. If they were lucky, they could rest for a few minutes before trying to get to the rendezvous point. Rey collapsed into a sitting position against the wall, her face twisting as adrenaline ebbed and the pain of her injuries began to creep into her awareness.
"How bad is it?" Ben asked her, kneeling beside her.
"It could be worse," she answered, flinching as his fingers explored the wound. "It just grazed me- what I get for not paying attention, really."
Her eyes fluttered closed and he felt her bending the Force around her. Gradually, the blood stopped running and a thick scab formed over the wound. She opened her eyes and tentatively ran her fingers over the spot, the pain easing out of her expression. Ben's fear ebbed by a fraction, but he knew it was still flowing from him through the bond. He knew Rey could feel it, as he could sense hers. She gave him a tight smile and stood up.
"It'll be fine," she assured him, poking her head around the corner to get a good look at the street beyond. "We have a chance to rest. They aren't following."
"Good," Tal muttered, leaning hard against the wall.
He fiddled with the wrist comm for a moment, then tapped one of the buttons. A static buzz filled the air around them, before Tal clicked another button and spoke.
"Sim? Do you copy?"
"I copy, Captain."
"What's your position?" Tal asked.
"We're in the sewers," Sim said. "We got rid of the tail they sent after us, but I'm not sure if they'll send more down. We're in a pretty tight spot right now, sir."
"Keep moving until you find a place where you can get to the surface, then try to get to the spaceport, if you can. We'll meet reinforcements there. Steer clear of the city center. We just came out of a nasty firefight."
"Copy that. And Tal…be safe."
"You as well. See you soon."
The comm shut off and the three stood without speaking for a few minutes, ears tuned to the battle raging in the sky above them. At ground level, the city had gone eerily quiet. The distant sounds of shouts and blaster fire had faded into a tenuous silence. Ben relaxed a fraction, though he kept himself open to the Force, ready for any warning it might give. There was a sudden flux in its flow around him, and he jumped upright, once more on the alert. Out of the silence came the dull staccato of boots running on stone. All three of them spun, Tal with blaster at the ready, and Ben with his hand extended to ward off enemy fire.
The next moment, a figure cloaked in black slid around the corner, face shadowed by a hood. Without waiting for the man to get closer, Tal squeezed off a shot. The man threw himself sideways as the bolt of light streaked past his shoulder. The hood fell back to reveal a mask and helmet with grid-like lines carved into the metal below the single long eye slit. Ben instantly recognized it.
"Tal, stop," he commanded. "He's a friend."
Tal didn't drop his weapon, but he pointed it away from the man who hastily pulled at his mask. Dark hair flopped over Jai's eyes as he yanked it free with the gasp of pressurized air.
"Kylo," he said, relief evident on his features, "thank the Force I found you. I've been searching everywhere."
"Jai?" Ben asked. "What are you doing here? I thought you were trailing Finn-"
"I was. I followed him straight into blaster fire and then lost him trying to keep myself alive," Jai said, with a slight edge to his voice. "I've been looking for you since. Thought I ought to warn you that you're about to walk into a trap."
"Trap?" Tal asked.
"The Resistance holds most of the city west and south of the central square. We still have the spaceport, from all I can tell from the chatter, but we'll have to take the long way around to get there."
"Are the streets safe?"
"About as safe as anywhere else," Jai said. "Take your chances where you will, but I think I know how to get through."
"You have another way?" Tal asked.
"This place is built on a prison. The complex stretches out under the city for almost a click in all directions. We might find a way through there. If not, the level below it is where the sewers run."
"And how do you propose we get into the prisons?" Tal said, a frown on his face. "All entrances and exits are guarded."
Jai gripped the hilt of his saber and grinned fiercely as he ignited the blade.
"Don't underestimate what you don't understand, Captain," he said. "It might be your death."
Tal took a step back, but Ben smiled, laying a hand on the man's shoulder.
"We'll get through alright, Tal. I'm more worried about what we'll meet once we're in the tunnels."
"So, you're coming?" Jai asked.
Ben didn't say anything, letting the harsh crackle of his lightsaber speak for him instead. Rey followed his example, igniting her saberstaff so that the twin blades glowed red in the growing dimness. Night was beginning to set in. They had to move.
"Let's go," said Ben.
They set off into the shadows, following Jai as he jogged through the streets, head on a swivel. They reached their destination faster than Ben had expected and were soon peering around the side of a building for a good look at one of the entrances to the prison.
Tal eyed the doorway before holding up a hand to signal them forward. Jai reached beneath his cloak and drew out something small and cylindrical. Ben saw his knight raising the object to his mouth, arm cocked back and teeth bared to grasp the pin to pull it from the grenade. Ben shook his head violently, making a cutting gesture over his throat. Jai stopped, glancing toward him with a confused expression.
"Don't draw attention," Ben mouthed.
Jai rolled his eyes but tucked the grenade back into its place in one of the pockets of his tunic. Ben's fingers played over the hilt of his saber, now dead in his grasp so that its light would not give them away. Rey stood at his side, her hand clenched around her own weapon, gaze fixed on the entrance before them. He could sense the tightness in her muscles and the nervous energy she was barely keeping in check. The dark side swirled around her, feeding on her anger and her fear, obscuring her in the Force. Something was bothering her, but she wasn't revealing what. It was strange, how she could be both known to him and hidden from him at once. It put him off balance and wore at his already ragged nerves.
Why did she feel so far away?
He was forced to push the thought from his mind when Jai darted across the open space between their hiding place and the prison. His attention snapped to the rooftops, scanning them for any signs of their hunters. Rey followed at Jai's signal, running as fast as she could while nearly bent double. Ben watched her, eyes flicking between her form and the buildings that surrounded them, only letting out his breath when she was safely hidden next to Jai where he stood in the shadow of the wall.
He and Tal followed close behind, coming to rest with their backs pressed tight to brick still warm from the day's sun. Jai glanced at him, seeking approval. Ben ignited his saber and Rey's twin blades hissed into life at the same moment. Jai drew his weapon with them, the bright orange of its blade melding with the flickering red. Ben nodded to the knight.
Jai quickly slipped his helmet back over his head before pressing his hand to the door. A moment later the thick steel portal slid back to reveal a dim corridor sloping downwards, deep into the earth. Ben could make out three shadowy figures standing far down the tunnel, the numbers and letters of their ID codes shining out in the darkness. They didn't seem to have realized that Ben and his small company were not fellow members of the police force. Not yet, anyway.
Without waiting for a signal, Rey deactivated her saber and started forward, drawing on the dark side. She strode right between the guards, not even bothering to turn her head to look at them. There was a slight twitch of her fingers as her voice carried back towards Ben, bouncing from the walls in brief echoes.
"You know us," she said in the strange tone of a mind trick. "You are not concerned that we are here. You will not sound the alarm."
"We won't sound the alarm," muttered one of the guards.
"I'm not concerned, are you?" said another, turning to the man standing next to him.
"No," replied the other.
Rey walked on to another great steel door at the end of the passage. With a wave of her hand, it slid from its place with the sharp hiss of pneumatics. She disappeared through the doorway with scarcely a noise, Ben following close on her heels with Jai and Tal at his back. When he stepped through after her, Ben found himself at a crossway. Two tunnels branched to the left and right while one continued straight ahead. Rey stood at the center, head turning one way, then the other.
"It's the left passage," Tal said from behind Ben, holding up a nav-computer that flashed a bright green through the murk.
They turned left, passing prisoners lounging in many-barred cells. A few called out, but most kept silent. Ben supposed it was either because they were asleep or because they knew no help would come from the strangers passing through their realm with the same silence as the oppressive shadows.
It was the silence that bothered him. He let the Force drift around him, stretching himself out into the dimness to sense the presence of enemies. He could feel them somewhere nearby, drawing closer. Rey, too, had her head cocked to one side, listening hard.
"They're close," she whispered. "I don't know how big of a group it is, but I know it's more than one."
Jai nodded his agreement, and Ben could feel the dark side beginning to take a hold on the knight, cloaking him in cold blackness like the clouds before a winter storm. Anger and fear for the children under his care drove the man forward and past Rey so that he was the first of the group to round the next corner.
"Back!" came his warning shout a moment later, followed by the high staccato of blaster fire. "Get back!"
Red bolts struck the wall and Ben saw the orange flash of Jai's saber reflecting from the smooth floor. Before he could grab Rey to keep her back, she was around the corner, her saber drawn and crackling. With a low curse, Ben leapt after her. A guard met him, blaster up and pointed between Ben's eyes. Ben ducked and thrust his saber up and through the man's chest until he could see the blade protruding from between his shoulder blades. Rey was dodging about beside him, using her saber to deflect bolts of plasma back among the guards in between her deadly strokes. Jai, too, had a man skewered on his saber.
Tal swung around the corner, dropped to a knee and began picking off guards with his blaster. Ben felt a few of the trooper's shots getting a little too close as he pulled his saber free and turned back into the fray. He sought out Rey's shape in the gloom and darted to her aid, jumping over a guard as the man fell with a hole in his chest from Tal's blaster.
They were back to back, as they had once been in Snoke's throne room. But it was different this time. This time, Ben could feel the same darkness within Rey that dwelled inside his own mind. Their thoughts flowed freely between them, traveling through the bond without their conscious realization. This time there was no light to call to him. Ben had only a dim awareness of something closing in over his head. The dark side rolled over him, washing him like a cold tide.
But it wasn't him.
Rey's eyes were wild and yellow as she wrenched at the Force around her. For the briefest of moments, there was only a flicker of light around her fingers. In that one half-second, he understood her intent, even as Rey herself realized what she was about to do. Lightning split the darkness around them, leaping from man to man, its lethal arcs lighting the corridor about them. Jai and Tal ducked away from the bolts, but Ben remained frozen, watching the destruction.
With a crack like thunder, the lightning disappeared and the last few guards toppled to the ground. The rumble reverberated around them for a few seconds longer, shaking the air. Rey stood in the midst of it all, legs trembling beneath her, gazing at nothing. As he watched, she sank to her knees, arms clutched tight to her chest and dazed eyes holding only pain. Ben stared down at her, his shock at the unexpected display of strength paralyzing him.
Slowly, awareness eased back into Rey's eyes even as the yellow coloration drained away. They flickered closed and Ben sensed her drawing on the Force. The blistered and blackened skin grew pink and knit together until all that remained of the wounds were myriad scars that curled over her hands to disappear under the dark sleeves of her tunic.
"And you told me not to draw attention," Jai muttered darkly, glancing about at the carnage.
"There's no way that went unnoticed," said Tal. "The sewers are our best option now."
"I can hear them," Rey said, her voice low and faint. "There's more coming. More than this group."
Ben slid an arm under hers and helped her struggle to her feet. She leaned hard against him for a few minutes as they hurried back through the tunnels. Jai was searching the ground, looking for a hatch that led into the sewers. Rey's anxiety grew as they walked, and Ben began to sense another large group approaching. The sound of many booted feet grew in the passage behind them. There was a sudden shout and a clamor of agitated voices.
"They just found their dead," Tal said.
"There," Jai hissed at the same moment, pointing to a small maintenance hatch whose cover was level with the floor.
He wormed his fingers into a hole on one side and pulled. A dark hole yawned at their feet, metal rungs along one side to lead them down into the belly of the city. Ben felt a shiver go through Rey as she stared down into the blackness. There was something about it that set him on edge too, though he couldn't place the origin of his unease, and he blinked as memories that weren't his own flashed through his mind.
Ahch-To. A cave full of mirrors that revealed nothing but her own face in a cruel mockery of what she most desired to see. A shadowed world where lightning flashed almost continually, and a figure shrouded in darkness.
Dreams and reality tangled uselessly, interwoven and overlapping so he could not tell one from another. He didn't try to understand them. They were out of time. The angry voices were getting closer and Rey still stood frozen on the edge of descent, the dark side beginning to build around her as it fed on her fear.
Tal was already at the bottom with Jai. It was only them now. He gestured towards the ladder, glancing over her to make sure the guards hadn't rounded the corner.
"Go, Rey. I'll be right behind you."
Pale faced and shaking, she managed to nod once before swinging herself down into the shadows. Ben followed her, sliding the maintenance cover back into place so they left no evidence of their escape. He could feel her apprehension growing as she descended deeper into the earth. The fear was draining her, but she clung stubbornly to the last scraps of her strength and resolve as their feet came to rest on solid stone.
There, at what seemed to be the bottom of the world, Ben reached out for her, taking her hand in his as they took their first steps along a path that only led them deeper into the darkness.