The weight of a helmet going from hand to head. Hazy flashes of jungle and frozen light.
"Your final test begins now."
The sudden shift in perspective from upright to the ground. The look of fear in her brown eyes when she lifted the faceplate.
"…I can't go any further. You know why."
"Possibility isn't a certainty."
"…it's too close for me."
The cold silence of limbo, endless blackness interrupted only by a faint haze of smoke every so often. And then…
"No."
Piercing blue eyes snapped open as their owner wheezed a breath through a desert-dry throat. Slow, labored breaths slowly brought him back to consciousness, making him intensely aware of his body's frailty. Fierce hunger gripped him, making him groan weakly even as he forced himself to sit up. Dizziness seized him for a good five seconds, and when it passed, everything came rushing back. Memories. Sensations.
Pain.
He nearly collapsed to his knees again when he felt it, instead slumping against a nearby wall—strange, he didn't remember being indoors when…
How long had it been?
A question for later.
His body demanded nourishment. His mind demanded answers. His soul demanded rest. Yet as he shuffled over to the nearby window and looked out at the rising suns, he knew he'd slept long enough.
…
"Rise and shine!"
The order was punctuated with a not-so-gentle rapping of knuckles against the bars of his cell. Ben looked up and to the side from where he laid on the cot, seeing Finn Caden's now-familiar beskar.
Ben didn't reply except to look back at the ceiling.
"You want to lay around all day, or do you want to do something actually useful?"
He blinked. "That depends on what you have in mind."
A faint whir of air alerted him to something being thrown his way. His right hand snapped up and caught the object on reflex. He blinked again, eyes widening as he saw the lightsaber in his fingers—his lightsaber. Ben sat up and stared at Finn.
The Mando huffed and nodded to him. "Thought that might get your attention." He waved to the guards on either side of the door. "Disarm the charges. I'm taking temporary custody of the prisoner."
They eyed him warily, but nodded and tapped in the disarm code. The door clicked open right as Ben was climbing to his feet. Finn took the saber back from him and locked his hands together with shock binders. Then he waved for Ben to follow, and he did without a word. Ben didn't bother asking where they were going.
All things considered, he'd been treated…fairly, he supposed. Being the former leader of the Resistance's mortal enemies hadn't exactly endeared them to him, even with all the intel he'd provided in the days since his capture. The base was abuzz with activity, figures of all shapes and sizes bustling about with heavy loads and datapads. He didn't recognize anyone in the crowd.
Finn kept moving until they approached one of the side exits to the camp, the gate guards eyeing his prisoner with alarm. Nevertheless, they opened the repaired gate and let them pass. It was about twenty meters outside the camp that Ben finally spoke up.
"Does Dameron know you're doing this?"
Finn huffed and kept moving. "I said I'd keep you alive as long as you were useful. Spilling your guts about the First Order seems to have eliminated that particular trait."
Ben's jaw tightened. "So, you brought me out here to kill me?"
A derisive snort answered him as they entered a clearing with a few Resistance fighters around, crates stacked in haphazard patterns. Ben observed the space, noting the vaguely circular arrangement to the containers and personnel. A fighting ring?
Click.
Ben looked down to see his cuffs drop into Finn's grip. His lightsaber was passed back to him. Finn took several steps back, and Ben followed him toward the center of the ring.
Ben blinked. "So this is an execution. You seem to have stacked the odds against you."
Finn stared at him from behind that helmet, and a surge of annoyance flared through him. He pulled the helmet off and set it down on a nearby crate. "Relax, di'kut. I'm not gonna kill you. Loathe as I am to admit it, I actually need you."
Ben frowned. "For what?"
Finn pulled a familiar crossguard saber from the back of his belt and held it up to the light. "Teaching me how to use this. The balance, the heft, the rhythm—it's all different from anything I've trained with."
His head cocked curiously. "Why ask me?"
"Because Rey's not exactly a master with it, and…" Finn frowned, "there isn't anyone else left."
Ben frowned again, questions still unanswered. He left them that way and squared up, igniting his unstable weapon. Finn followed suit with his own pristine arctic blade, holding it high and tight against his shoulder in a two-handed grip. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Ben absently took in the stares of the tense personnel around them. He quickly blocked them out to focus on the fight, raising his lightsaber out in front of him to point at Finn. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, eventually pacing around his opponent in a circle.
Ben stretched out to probe Finn's mind, looking for any stray thoughts or weaknesses. The faintest brush of his perception hit him with a torrent of turmoil and emotion—not surprising given his recent losses. Otherwise, there was nothing. No hints, no vulnerabilities. The Mandalorians had trained him well. Ben smiled grimly.
An expression that promptly vanished when Finn snarled and quickly closed the distance.
…
A few days prior…
The fallout of Rey—of Darth Sidious' rampage could not possibly be overstated. The detonation of the general's quarters was bad enough, given that the explosives had knocked out one of the main power generators. The lightning burst that set the canopy aflame had spread the fire across sixty percent of the base, meaning they were very much visible from the air. That wouldn't have been nearly as much a problem if an analyst hadn't remembered that Rey asked for a comms. terminal after she started acting weird.
The system itself was partially slagged by the flames and a few other explosions, but what they were able to recover was a record of transmission to an unknown frequency. Poe didn't need to be told of the First Order's new management to know what that meant for the secrecy of their base. What no one had expected was the fact that when he gave Ben Solo a visit to pump him for information, he'd actually sung like a bird. Not that anyone liked what he had to say. Hundreds—maybe thousands of warships on standby, if this Sith cult had kept even more from his knowledge.
Needless to say, the base quickly descended into something like ordered chaos. Every moment was laced with frantic energy as they worked to pack up the essentials and get moving before the First Order wiped them off the map. It was no surprise, then, when the Mandalorians similarly packed up their ship. The shocking bit came when it fired up its engines days before the base personnel were ready to move.
Poe made his way to the Kote be Aliit's hangar and cast about for any sign of the Mandos. The first one who entered his line of sight was the one he wanted to speak with.
"Xel!" he called, jogging up to him. "What's going on?"
The older Mando stopped short, sighing as he handed off a small crate to one of the twins. "We're going home."
Poe froze, eyes wide. "Home? To Mandalore?"
By the look in his dark blue eyes, it didn't sound like this was just a visit he had in mind.
"W-Why? I mean—" Poe huffed and vaguely waved toward the brig, "—you know what we're up against. We need you now more than ever, and after all that crap you said last night about being family, you're going to—"
Xel turned to him sharply. "My son is dead."
Poe immediately stopped talking.
"If even half of what our prisoner said is true, you and your Resistance are now hopelessly, hilariously outmatched." Xel frowned deeper. "And I refuse to lose another child to a war that can't be won."
He gulped. "And Finn?"
Xel's eyes softened a bit. "That's his choice." His gaze flickered to Poe's right. "Always has been."
Poe slowly turned to see Finn standing there, helmetless and tense. His gaze turned this way and that uncertainly, slowly returning to his father. His jaw tightened perceptibly.
Xel smiled a little and nodded. "I understand."
The twins filed off the Kote in single file, approaching the group with tight expressions. Poe exchanged a long look with Keili as she waited for Tei to let go of their brother. When he looked away, Poe saw Xel's hand extended to him and took it firmly.
"Good luck…general."
Poe looked up from the hand to see those eyes staring back at him knowingly. There was something there, almost akin to pity. But Poe knew better. Xel respected him too much to pity him.
Poe shook his hand and nodded grimly.
"And may the Force be with you."
He turned to see Keili there, uneasy hesitation in her eyes. Poe smiled and nodded to her. She managed a small return smile, then quickly looked and turned away toward the ship. Poe's smile vanished when the ramp of the Kote retracted. There they went, some of the last allies who might actually make a difference.
"It's all gone," Poe whispered. "Everything's…gone."
Apparently, he hadn't been quiet enough for Finn not to hear.
"Not everything," Finn said.
By the shake of his voice, even Finn didn't seem to believe that.
Poe shook his head. "I don't know how to do this."
Finn didn't reply. He just put a hand on Poe's shoulder until the general was ready to move.
…
Present
Finn was thrown back just seconds into his assault, already feeling his exhaustion build. Those around their makeshift fighting circle flinched at the sight of him on his knees in front of their longtime enemy. Ben didn't press the attack, but looked down at him with a slight frown.
"Do you feel what you're doing wrong?"
Finn's lips pursed. "I'm…" his head shook as he climbed upright, "there's too much power. I'm putting everything behind each swing."
Ben nodded slowly. "Exactly." He raised his lightsaber in front of him. "Feel the weight, the heft."
Finn mimicked his movements and activated the weapon. "The blade's…weightless."
"Exactly. And it does all the cutting for you. Putting more energy into a strike is pointless unless you're trying to hammer through defenses, and even then—"
"Only in short bursts."
"Exactly." Ben took a step back and spun his saber. "Try again, and watch before you strike."
Finn frowned a bit. There was some deeper meaning behind those words, but he couldn't quite see it yet. So he raised Jayc's lightsaber in both hands and paced around his opponent. Finn tensed up briefly, his steps halting as he prepared to attack. Then he saw it: Finn had both hands on his lightsaber for better control and power, whereas Ben only had one. Finn held his high, Ben had his at his side. Though the high stance would probably be better for quick ready and guard, one hand on a relatively weightless weapon would give Finn more flexibility and agility.
So he switched and let his armed hand drift, pointing diagonally down and toward Ben. Ben smirked faintly and lunged forward. Finn swept his blade up to deflect the strike. His inexperienced grip made the maneuver clumsy. Ben punished it with a shallow graze along the front of his breastplate, enough to make the beskar screech but not enough to do actual damage. Finn nevertheless grit his teeth and stepped back to realign himself. When he was ready again, he nodded.
Ben came back in with two horizontal strikes—high, low, from opposite directions. Finn matched him with opposing momentum, feeling the shock of the blows travel up his arm, though significantly diminished when he stopped fighting after the initial contact. Instead, he used the momentum of Ben's strike to shift his guard toward the next incoming attack. The collective force batted the red blade away. Finn pressed the attack with an upward stroke Ben snapped his head away from. He slapped Finn's next swipe away effortlessly, along with the next two.
Finn frowned and took a moment to breathe and reassess. Which was about when Ben lunged and shunted his weapon aside, his quillon blades humming dangerously close to Finn's neck. Finn hissed and spun away, sweeping his arctic blade in a spiral to keep him back. Ben pressed in, ducking beneath one of the spins and punching Finn in the gut. He followed up with an underhanded swipe at Finn's face. He barely blocked it in time, feeling panic and frustration rising within.
Then he saw it.
Immediately after the underhand strike, Ben switched to an overhand grip—with two hands—and brought the saber down hard. Finn deactivated his saber and rolled away just in time, reactivating as soon as he was upright. Ben used his lightsaber like a baiting tool, one hand for the majority of strikes, almost like he was testing the waters. Then, when a vulnerability was exposed, he switched to two hands to maximize his destructive power and hammer through any resistance. Well, two could play at that game.
Finn growled and rushed him with a barrage of fast, one-handed strikes from every direction. Every time his blows were deflected, he rolled with it, conserving energy and using Ben's resistance to maintain his speed. It was working. Ben was on the back foot, undoubtedly holding back, but still…
"Survive."
Finn froze for the briefest instant, dark eyes flickering from Ben to the space just behind him.
Scarred, pockmarked skin.
He swung again on reflex, shunting away Ben's counterattack and pressing with another hard strike.
"Survive."
Tear-streaked cheeks and honey-gold eyes.
Both hands clenched around the hilt of Jayc's lightsaber, hammering the red blade over and over.
"Survive."
One last smile, bloodstained and sad, before it was forever buried under a thousand tons of rock.
Finn's arms—his entire body—stopped suddenly, as if seized by invisible strings. It was then that he inhaled sharply and looked down, really looked at what he was doing. It was then that he saw Ben Solo on one knee, staring up at him with wide eyes, no lightsaber, and both hands up in focus.
The only thing keeping Finn from splitting him in half.
He blinked rapidly, shaking his head and drawing back as he felt his body go numb. His throat was raw—he hadn't even realized he'd been screaming. For the first time in this bout, the apprehensive stares from passersby were directed toward him, not Ben. Ben himself stood up slowly and shared a long look with Finn. Neither spoke. Ben kept looking at him for a second or two, then reached out to retrieve his lightsaber and spun on his heel to start walking into the jungle. Several other fighters moved to stop him, but Finn put a hand up.
"Leave him."
They all stared at him like he was crazy, Ben included.
Finn's jaw tightened as he met Solo's eyes. "Where is he gonna go?"
Ben stared at him for another second, frowned deeper, and kept walking.
…
She wasn't difficult to find.
Even if they hadn't shared a Force bond, the utter maelstrom of turmoil and conflict lit her up like a beacon. By the time Ben found her, he was just starting to build up a sweat—surprising, given that he'd actually been exerting himself before and was wearing his full tunic and cloak.
"They let you out?"
Her cold tone stopped him short. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground, facing away from him, so he couldn't see the look on her face. He suspected he'd interrupted her meditation.
Ben gulped and eyed her warily. "Not them. Just Finn."
That got a little more life out of her. "Why would he…" She let it trail off along with her thoughts.
Ben flipped his lightsaber from his belt. "I'm the only one left who could teach him how to use this."
Rey finally looked over her shoulder, her face giving away nothing. She just hummed and faced forward again.
Frowning, he pressed on. "And in the process of that…I discovered something about him that I hadn't expected. Something our conflict—and his emotions—brought out in him." His eyes narrowed. "I think deep down, you know what that is."
Rey stiffened and turned to face him, her voice taking on a faraway tone. "He's…Force-sensitive."
Ben nodded.
She huffed and climbed to her feet, pacing. "That…that would explain so much about him. How he's always been a fast learner—"
"How he always seems to know when you're in trouble." Ben waved to himself. "How he survived against me on Starkiller."
Rey's stared at him. "And why he defected in the first place."
Ben's eyes widened. "Jakku was his first combat op." He huffed and looked around aimlessly. "Being around that much death for the first time, feeling it, instinctively…" his head shook, "it must've been—"
"Jarring," she finished. "So incredibly jarring, it broke through whatever brainwashing he'd grown up with."
Ben nodded.
Rey stared at the ground, then looked up at him. "Why tell me this?"
His lips pursed tightly. "His connection is weak, weaker than the average adept and certainly weaker than us, but…" his head shook, "it's still worrisome."
She kept staring.
"During our spar, he lost focus, got…caught up in an intense emotion, probably triggered by a memory." He frowned. "Finn lost control and let his anger take over. He even managed to disarm me."
Rey smiled sardonically and turned away. "Good for him."
Ben's jaw tightened. "You don't get it. If he's vulnerable to uncontrollable bouts of emotion, couple that with a Force connection and—"
"Wait, wait." She held a hand up. "You're worried about him losing control?" Rey laughed sardonically and paced off, head shaking.
His lips pressed into a thin line. "Why aren't you?"
She snapped around so fast it made him flinch. "Because he's stronger than me!"
Ben's body went cold.
"You have…no idea how much he's grown."
She was getting closer with every word, unreasonably close—and angrier.
"How much he has had to work to fight back all the hatred he carries inside—especially of you." Rey flashed a nasty smile. "Frankly, I'm surprised he even let you live, much less let you out." She jabbed a finger into his chest. "That in itself should be enough of a hint to how strong he is, and you think…" She choked and shook her head, fighting back emotion.
"Everyone can fall, Rey. You know that better than most."
Suddenly, she smacked his chest with the bottom of a fist. "He didn't even fight back!"
Ben blinked hard. That had hurt.
Tears streamed down her face as her voice shook with every word. "He didn't fight, didn't run, didn't even flinch when I tried to—" Her head shook hard, hands covering her face as she recoiled.
"That wasn't you."
"Exactly," she choked, staring at the ground. "I wasn't even there and he just…stood there."
Ben took a long moment to gather his thoughts and let her calm down. "He had faith in you."
Rey looked at him with sharp hazel eyes. "That's the worst part." Those eyes rapidly filled and spilled over. "Do you have any idea what that's like?"
Ben blinked, and for just a moment, everything was dark except the faint light streaming in from somewhere above. His eyes widened.
No.
"To look at someone, someone you care about more than anything…"
Different hazel eyes stared back at him, older, wiser.
"…and know you could cut them down, right then and there…and they would just smile and forgive you?"
A flash of red, a look of sorrow, a weak hand on his face.
Ben blinked rapidly and flinched, and all was back to normal.
Rey stared back at him with bitter eyes, shaking her head with a sardonic smirk. "What am I saying? Of course you don't." She snarled and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Because you don't care about anyone but yourself."
Ben gulped, trying to steady his voice. "Rey—"
"So don't bother trying to turn me against him," she snarled, getting up in his face.
His eyes widened. "No, that's not—"
"Because when it comes to doing the right thing…I will always trust him over you."
Ben stiffened and closed his mouth, not making to follow when she shoved her way past him. He just stood there, fists clenched, and stared at the leafy ground. He didn't notice when his breathing had gotten heavy, or when regret had turned to rage. He certainly noticed when his lightsaber screamed to life like a stuck beetle and began slashing everything around him to burning shreds. His own roars quickly joined the chaos. And then, rage quickly gave way to guilt, and guilt to despair.
He came to a stop some time later, heaving for breath and staring into the empty jungle with the sizzle of that accursed blade in his ears. Ben looked down at its roiling length, the flickers of light arcing off the blade like rabid animals chomping at the bit. He snarled and turned it off, whipping his head around to find a particularly sturdy-looking boulder. Another scream surged from his throat as he raised the weapon, swinging with all his might to smash its hilt against the rock.
Ben's shoulder was nearly wrenched from its socket when a firm grip stopped him mid-motion. Firm…and yet…
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
His brown eyes widened dramatically, slowly turning to the right to see what—to see who was holding him back. Ben's jaw dropped a moment later.
"…Anakin?"
The ghostly, translucent apparition arched the eyebrow sitting over his scarred eye, slowly releasing Ben's hand when it became clear he wasn't going to do anything reckless. Anakin paced around the clearing, taking in all the destruction, and turned back to Ben with an expectant look. Ben stared at him for a good five seconds before his shock turned to anger.
"Now…now you show up?"
Anakin's eyebrows shot upward.
Ben gesticulated wildly. "A few days ago would've been good too! There was lightning and fire everywhere—it was fantastic!"
Anakin blinked slowly. "You done?"
Ben's jaw tightened. "Why weren't you there? Your own daughter—"
Anakin's gaze and tone sharpened to a razor point. "Don't—you—even."
He immediately shut up.
"I may be on your side, kid, but I'm dead. It is not my responsibility to do your job for you."
The jab stung more than he'd expected it to.
"Besides which, I'm the only reason you're still alive to throw a tantrum." Anakin leaned in. "Who do you think woke you up in the middle of drowning?"
Ben's eyes widened.
Anakin sighed and lounged on a fallen log, leaving the clearing in silence only interrupted by the crackle of the dying flames and periodic whistling of birds.
"Why now?" Ben asked softly. "Why come to me now?"
Anakin took a deep breath, staring off into the distance. "After our last conversation, I figured it would take something pretty drastic to snap you out of your idiocy." He smiled ruefully. "Unfortunately, that stubbornness runs in the family." A shrug. "You weren't ready to listen." He turned to Ben expectantly.
Ben swallowed and felt his anger leech away, leaving only regret and pain in its wake. He sat next to his grandfather, slumping over as if completely devoid of energy. "I can't stop hurting them."
Anakin let him speak.
Ben dragged his boot through the leaves. "No friends. No allies." His fists clenched. "No family." His head shook. "No trust. And I deserve it."
Anakin gave him a moment, then took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah. That's how he works, you know. Promises satisfaction in return for devotion, and you give it despite every instinct and crisis of conscience…until there's nothing left for you except that path. Good news and bad news, Ben."
Ben turned to him.
"The good news is it only took you seven years to figure out the truth instead of my quarter-century."
He blinked. "And the bad?"
Anakin smiled ruefully. "The bad news is you don't get to do your good deed and punch out." He met Ben's gaze. "You have to stick around to pick up the pieces. See this through. And doing that is going to require you to make the hardest decision of your life."
Ben stared at him expectantly.
Anakin put a hand on his shoulder, the ghostly presence still carrying weight to it. "You need to forgive yourself."
Ben looked away, stared at the ground. "I can't." His head shook. "I don't know how." He released a shuddering breath. "I don't even know where to begin."
Anakin hummed thoughtfully. "Well, you can start with this."
Ben glanced down to see Anakin twirling his crossguard saber through the air.
Anakin caught the weapon and bounced it in his hand. "Why do you want to destroy it so badly?"
He frowned deeply. "It's tainted."
Anakin arched an eyebrow. "Come again?"
Ben stared at him. "Do you have…any idea how much blood I've shed with that blade?" He got up and started pacing. "How many innocent lives it's claimed? Lorr San Tekka, Han—" he stopped himself, took a breath, "—my own father." He swallowed hard. "That weapon is a physical reminder of everything I've destroyed."
"Hm…only because you allow it to be."
Ben frowned and looked at him.
Anakin stood and twirled the hilt. "Bereft of some ascribed significance, a lightsaber is just a weapon, and a weapon is just a tool. Do you know how many innocent people I killed with my lightsaber? Dozens…hundreds of Jedi, unarmed civilians—" Anakin's gaze sharpened, "children." He waved to Ben. "By your logic, Rey would have to toss her lightsaber into the deepest pits of Kessel to be free of its 'taint.'"
Ben's lips pursed tightly.
"And yet, my son used it to protect people, for years, and now it's passed to her." Anakin frowned and held out the lightsaber. "Symbols only have as much meaning as we give them."
Ben's jaw tightened as he hesitantly took it back. "I can still feel the imprint, the memories."
"Getting rid of the saber won't fix that."
He blinked and met the ghost's eyes.
Anakin tapped his chest. "You carry all that inside you." He breathed in deeply. "But, if it really offends you that much, you can start by replacing the heart you're ready to fix."
Ben blinked, lips parting. "The crystal."
He nodded.
Ben stared down at the saber and shook his head with a huff. "My ship is locked down, and…where would I even find one?"
"How should I know?" Anakin shrugged. "I don't have all the answers." He turned and walked off into the trees, stopping short to look over his shoulder. "But the Force has a fair few…for those willing to listen."
Ben blinked, and he was gone. Frowning, he took a deep breath and sat on both knees, his lightsaber laid on the ground in front of him. Another breath, another moment. The sun was beginning to sink toward the horizon when he closed his eyes. For the first time in days—no, for the first time in years, he opened himself to the living Force. It was rough and choppy, unwieldly and stilted. Like trying to start a conversation with an estranged family member. He could've laughed at the comparison.
Ben let his consciousness drift away, his tense body slowly relaxing as his hands loosened. He hadn't even noticed they'd been clenched. He felt the jungle around him: the trees and vines, the birds nesting above, the small critters hiding in the undergrowth. Some of them began to skitter out into the open, intrigued by the strange aura surrounding the foreigner. Ben breathed slowly, in and out, in and out. He let his mind wander, guided by subtle touches here and there, barely perceptible. Then the darkness behind his eyelids flashed with a snapshot of something.
A memory he knew couldn't be his.
His dark eyes opened. He stood up, grabbed his lightsaber, and started hiking into the jungle. He heard grunts and shouts of effort, tones of instruction in a familiar voice, the clash of lightsabers.
"I can't go any further. You know why."
Ben blinked, looking toward the source of the voice, as if he would be able to see her. All he saw were old crates overgrown by vines. He swallowed and coughed, hotter than he remembered being a second ago. He unhooked his cloak and left it hanging from a branch along with his gloves. The sun was going down. It should've been getting cooler, not hotter.
"It's too close for me."
Ben removed his outer jacket to wipe his face with, then discarded it, leaving him in black pants and a short-sleeved tunic. Clicks sounded from the invisible apparition, like machinery being dismantled.
"For safekeeping," she said.
Then he stopped and blinked rapidly, taking in his surroundings. Among clusters of vines and shrubbery, nestled somewhere few would even notice, was the mouth of a cave. Swallowing, Ben ducked inside, carefully climbing down into a well-lit space. The chamber was round and not particularly large, with a hole in the ceiling bathing the center in the warm glow of sunlight. In that center was a low, rectangular pedestal, like an altar of some sort, with red and white cloth laid over it.
And a single, pale blue kyber crystal in the center.
Ben stopped short when he saw it, jaw slowly dropping as he knelt before the altar. He reached down hesitantly, feeling his entire body shudder the moment he touched it.
Kind brown eyes. Flowered hair. The aroma of lilacs.
His breathing quickly became ragged, face twitching with restrained emotion as he finally understood. This was her crystal. She had dismantled her lightsaber when she left the Jedi and left this here for someone else who needed it more. Ben cradled it with both hands, holding it reverently as tears streamed down his face. Somehow, he found his voice, cracked and ragged though it was.
"Mom…I'm listening."
In one hand, he kept the crystal. In the other, he lifted his lightsaber. Then Ben closed his eyes and let the Force flow through him.
The outer plates of the saber clicked as they shifted apart, hovering off the surface of the weapon. The cracked red crystal within glowed fiercely compared to the one in his hand, as if it were a blazing furnace out of control, mad with the power of all the lives it had claimed.
"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it."
Ben flinched.
"Will you help me?"
His jaw clenched as he ripped the crystal from its mounting. He could almost hear a scream in the faint whine of the weapon.
"Yes. Anything."
Leia's kyber crystal slowly levitated into the lightsaber's housing, settling into place with a satisfying click, like it belonged there. The plates closed behind it, locking in the weapon's new heart. The red crystal slowly drifted into Ben's bare left hand. The moment it touched down, he could see it all in horrifying clarity, as if he'd been transported back to that moment.
Snap-hiss!
The look of shock in his eyes, the sag of his aged features. The weak hand against Ben's cheek. His father fell into the abyss, the blade seething and hissing as if its bloodlust wasn't even close to quenched.
He didn't know when he'd started screaming. It quickly turned to a furious roar as his hand clenched into a fist around the crystal. More and more force laid onto the corrupted crystal from the innermost parts of his being, pressing in on all sides as his grip tightened ever more. Until…finally—
Crack!
Ben's eyes snapped open as he stared down at his left hand. Slowly, it opened, revealing the shattered fragments of the crystal and a nasty cut on his palm. He used the Force to pick out the jagged pieces and bound the wound with a strip of cloth he ripped from his tunic. When it was done, he picked up the lightsaber and held it in front of him. His eyes shut, and he focused, feeling the gentle hum of the crystal inside.
"Do you know what that is?"
Ben shook his head, eyes still closed.
"This kyber crystal is one of a very rare species. The old Jedi archives recorded only a handful of discovered members. They called it the 'Mantle of the Force.' It enhances everything already inherent to its lightsaber—and in turn, its wielder."
Ben opened his eyes to see Anakin looking back at him.
"So, there's one question you need to ask yourself. Without Kylo Ren, who do you want Ben Solo to be?"
He didn't have time to answer before a faint rumble shook the ground, the crack of a distant explosion snapping his head toward the mouth of the cave. He could just make out plumes of smoke rising from the direction of the Resistance base. Ben's lips parted slightly as he turned back around. Anakin was gone.
His grip tightened around the lightsaber.
…
Finn knew the lecture was coming as soon as he heard Poe's stomping steps.
"You let him out?"
Finn flinched and braced himself, turning around to see about the expression he expected.
"I know I agreed to keep him alive, but that is not okay."
Finn frowned. "He has knowledge and skills we can use—"
"Not on this side of a cell."
"Listen—"
"We've spent almost two years running from him, and even more than that doing everything possible to avoid him because none of us stood a chance of stopping him—"
"Exactly," Finn interrupted.
Poe blinked.
"He didn't have to come quietly that night. Even with Xel and the others there, I have little doubt he could've escaped if he'd really wanted to. Besides which, those cells are solid bars. Even with proximity charges, he could just force his way into another cell and bust out that way." Finn's lips pursed. "If he wanted to kill us all, do you really think we could stop him?"
Poe frowned and looked away. "I'd prefer not to tempt fate."
It happened like a lightning strike.
Before either could say anything more, an explosion in the middle of ops one floor down laid them out on the ground. Finn couldn't even begin to estimate the casualties; he hadn't been paying attention to how many people were down there. His first thought was that Sidious had left behind one last explosive surprise, but they'd gone over the whole base with a fine-toothed comb and been occupying that space for days with no incidents. Then he heard them: the distant screech of TIE engines.
Finn put on his helmet and looked up to the sky. The macrobinoculars built into his visor zoomed in on the approaching black dots. His eyes widened. Those weren't any TIEs he'd ever seen. Sleek, slim, with layered triangular wings and red trim. Green plasma spat from the spherical cockpit module, crisscrossing the base with explosive fire.
"Everyone get to cover!" Poe screamed over the booms. He grabbed a nearby comlink and shouted into it. "Chewie! We need an anti-air team in position, now!"
Finn frowned. He didn't know much about flying, but they needed to get air cover before leveling the playing field. If they tried to launch fighters now, they'd be taken out before getting halfway off the ground. By the third strafing run, Finn and Poe had rallied most of the surviving command staff and were moving toward the armory. Next to the collapsed general's quarters, it was the most secure building in the area. That was about when Finn noticed the larger craft descending into the flaming section of the base.
It looked vaguely similar to the First Order's AAL-1971, but darker with a smaller cockpit profile. Finn moved himself between the fleeing personnel and the transport a moment before its belly opened. In the fading sunlight, he could see them: stormtroopers clad in armor red as blood, with T-visors vaguely reminiscent of his own.
Finn took the first shot with his EL-16.
His target flinched with the impact against his chestplate, then raised his blaster and fired back. Finn ducked the first two rapid shots, then took a third to the chest before putting two more bolts in him. This time he went down. Only to have his death answered with a hailstorm of more blaster fire from the rest of the platoon. Finn drew his pistol in his offhand and unloaded his weapons as he withdrew with the last survivor. He grunted as something found a gap in his armor, then turned about and sealed the door behind him.
Poe was shouting on the comlink while arming himself. "What do you mean it's not—fierfek!"
Finn blinked. "Chewie?"
His head shook. "Pinned down in requisitions. He's got some survivors hunkered down there, but they deployed another two squads right on top of 'em. We gotta grab whatever we can use and get over there, now!"
"We're with you, general," Rose said as she hefted an antique Z-6 rotary cannon.
Finn was slightly amused at how the weapon dwarfed the diminutive mechanic. His amusement vanished when his instincts screamed danger. The sealed door began hissing. He whipped around to see the durasteel glowing from a plasma torch cutting through. Everyone in the armory faced the door, guns trained and ready to light up anything that broke through. Given how the First Order threw bodies at problems until they vanished, he didn't doubt they would shove dozens of troopers through the hole until Poe and the others were dead.
Then he heard the faint whine from a rock wall on Poe's left—a wall he remembered being unusually thin.
"Down!"
Finn lit his jetpack and tackled his friend right as the breaching charges went off.
The ringing of his ears was the first thing he became aware of once everything stopped moving. The second was the ruptured seal on his helmet—and the jagged piece of rock sticking in his shoulder. Grunting, Finn took off his helmet to get a better grip on the shard while his other hand groped around for his pistol with shaky fingers. When he pulled it out, there wasn't much blood. Must've been a superficial injury. His eyes widened when he saw the armored silhouettes step into the gap made by the explosion. All around were the bruised and bloodied bodies of his friends, prone and helpless.
He still couldn't find his blaster.
Poe was trapped underneath his armored body, but maybe that was for the best. The troopers raised their weapons at the motion of one with a clawed sigil on his helmet. Finn sucked in a breath and threw both arms up to shield his face.
The squad fired. The hum of their bolts filled the air.
And stayed there.
"Get up."
Finn's eyes slowly opened.
"Did you hear me?"
They went double-wide at the sight before him: a dozen bolts of crimson plasma, hovering, sizzling midair, threatening death against Finn and his companions.
And the black-clad figure standing between them, hands splayed outward and shaking with effort.
"I said," he grunted, "get up!"
Ben Solo snapped his body forward, and the bolts reversed course, nailing every shooter with a killshot. Finn hadn't noticed they'd been frozen earlier. Breathing heavily, Solo made his way to them, pulling someone to their feet with a hard look in his eyes.
"You're not dead yet, which means this fight isn't over." He stood in the breach, looking at them all as they slowly got their bearings. "So get up." His hand flickered to his side.
Snap-hiss!
Three blades of blazing cyan sprang to life from the crossguard hilt, lighting up the settling dust with a bright, gleaming aura.
"Get up," he shifted the saber, pointing outward, "and fight back!"
Then Ben Solo charged out toward the enemy, alone. Finn and Poe exchanged a brief look. Poe was the first to break the silence.
"Huh."
…
The first Sith trooper—oh yes, he knew who they were—to come across his path got a lightsaber through the back. The other three next to him snapped their attention to Ben just in time to see him rip it out. Two more fell before the last managed to get off a hastily-aimed shot. Ben deflected it and two more before reflecting a fourth into his faceplate. The haze of the dust caused by earlier bombardment was clearing fast, revealing dozens of Sith troopers occupying the ops center. They all opened fire at once.
Ben's lightsaber turned into a cyan spiral of light as he shielded himself from the onslaught. Two more troopers fell to reflections before a blue bolt streaked from behind and nailed another headshot. Ben glanced back for an instant to see the Resistance forces running out, shouting a wordless battle cry. He smiled and pressed forward, using databanks and crates for cover.
Truth be told, he hadn't even tested his lightsaber before showing up to save those idiots. On activation, it could've fizzled out for all he knew. Yet there it was, blazing and bright, with a blade as stable as any he'd ever seen. Mid-deflection, Ben was ambushed by two troopers who'd hidden in an alcove, charging at him with slim electrobatons. Blaster fire echoed around them as he dodged between the pair, deflecting their attacks and countering with a spinning slash at the offhand of one. The trooper's gauntlet—which he now noticed was thicker than the standard trooper's—deflected the strike and allowed him to counterattack.
Ben shunted the baton aside and took his head off. In the same motion, he spun around a thrust by the other and slashed his chest from hip to shoulder. A warning came from behind in time for him to spin around and see a third that had snuck up on him.
Snap-hiss!
An ice-blue blade emerged from the trooper's chest. He was ripped off that blade a moment later, revealing Finn in full armor. The two held each other's gaze for a long moment. Finn nodded to him, and Ben nodded back with a predatory smile. Then they both turned toward the enemy and charged.
Blaster bolts deflected off Finn's armor and Ben's blade as the Mando pumped shots with his offhand Glie-44 and cut down anything that got too close with his brother's lightsaber. It was mere moments before they'd taken back the ops center and pushed the Sith strike force back to their landing zone. One near the rear of the enemy force—an officer, if Ben had to guess—put a hand to his helmet. Ben frowned, suspecting what he was—
And there it was.
Heavy fire came from above as thick green plasma pounded the ground between the Resistance and the invaders. The strafing run didn't claim anyone in the immediate, but it seemed that was an off-the-cuff shot, not very well aimed. The second run would be much more accurate.
Ben flicked another bolt away and raised his voice. "Finn! I need your jetpack!"
To his credit, the Mando didn't even hesitate before taking Ben's empty hand and launching into the air. A flight of TIE Daggers turned about on the horizon, making their way toward the base.
"You sure about this?!" Finn shouted over the wind.
Ben gulped. "No!" He waited another second or two for them to get closer. "Boost! Now!"
Finn triggered a burst from his jetpack, shooting them up another dozen meters or so, and let go of Ben. He left his saber inactive and braced for impact. A moment later, he landed feet-first against the viewport of the lead fighter. Even in that black-and-red armor, he could see the pilot's shock. The hatch was popped and the pilot thrown out a second later. When the lead fighter peeled off, the others tried to realign their targeting systems to it. Ben's intimate knowledge of TIE systems allowed him to adapt quickly, wheeling around behind the group and vaping two before they could adapt.
These fighters were far more maneuverable and responsive than even the TIE/SF models the First Order had, almost as good as his own TIE Silencer. He frowned at the implications, then got back to clearing the skies.
…
Rey was terrified.
In the days that followed the funeral, she had tried to take Leia's last words to heart.
"Find a reason," she'd said. "You're not alone," she'd said. Leia and Xel both.
But Xel and the twins had left with barely a goodbye, leaving her to pick up the pieces and figure it out on her own. If she'd said more than a few sentences to anyone in the past few days, it was a lot. Her long meditations had yielded nothing but more questions and memories she didn't want to relive. Her thoughts and mental state had steadily deteriorated until she was so extremely irritable that even Ben's revelation—the motivations of which she knew she'd misunderstood—had set off her temper.
Her anger was so thick and suffocating that she'd barely even noticed the first explosions.
By the time she got back to base, smoke was pouring from the rocks and foliage. Everything was chaos. Red-armored bodies that were vaguely stormtrooper-esque were scattered about along with less-armored Resistance fighters. Rey closed her eyes and forced her tumultuous mind to focus. She latched onto the beacon of Poe's presence and rushed to his side.
The general whipped his head toward her with an exasperated look. "Where the hell have you been?!"
Her lips pursed. "I'm here now. What do you need?"
Poe frowned. "Gotta cut off their air support. We need air power of our own, but the TIEs are too heavy to launch fighters."
Rey looked up, saw one TIE being pursued by a cluster of others. "Ben," she whispered.
"Yeah, I don't even want to talk about that situation yet."
She bit her lower lip. "The fighters might not make it, but the Falcon's shields should be strong enough to withstand takeoff."
Poe nodded. "Gonna need a gunner."
"She's got one!" shouted Finn as he touched down nearby.
A smile twitched at her lips briefly. "Let's go."
They ran toward the Falcon's hangar, one of the few locations that was generally untouched by the Sith incursion. It was lower than most of the other launch pads, so better shielded from scans and fire. As soon as Rey settled into the pilot's seat, she put on a headset and primed the engines and shields.
"Dorsal gun?" she asked.
Finn's voice came back over the link. "That way you can stay low."
Rey smiled then, feeling a bit of the pall lift off her shoulders.
Just like old times.
She disengaged the ship's safety measures and punched the throttle. They rocketed from the hangar at top speed, faster than the TIEs could track. Finn's top cannon erupted with the rapid-fire of the quads, drawing several fighters off Ben's hijacked one. Rey waited for them to peel off and get closer, giving Finn some time to pepper their formation with rapid fire. Green turbolasers quickly answered, splashing against their deflectors three or four times.
"Ready?" she called.
"Punch it!"
So she did, slamming on the throttle and vertical maneuvering thrusters. The Millennium Falcon roared with the thrum of its engines as it performed a sharp J-turn that gave Finn a clear lane of fire from above. Three TIEs were shredded by the quad cannon before they even knew what was happening. The rest of the formation scattered, weaving back around like a swarm of insects. Rey flipped the ship back upright and arced between two mountain peaks, drawing them in closer. The rapid bdapps of Finn's cannon fire served as a backdrop for her frantic maneuvering.
Frowning, she flicked her fingers over a lesser-used set of controls on the pilot's side: the manual override for the gun turrets. In situations where a gunner wasn't available, Han had configured the Falcon to be able to fire the cannons from the cockpit—at drastically reduced accuracy, but still. Hopefully it would be enough for what she had in mind. The ventral cannon warmed up at the touch of the controls, Rey keeping the yoke steady to align the targeting computer. When it didn't quickly resolve, she huffed and focused in the Force, letting it guide her instead.
A flash of warning caused her to twitch the yoke partway left, just managing to dodge incoming fire from above. Then she felt it and hit the firing controls. The ventral cannon erupted in rapid fire, scoring deep gashes on one of the Sith landers below. In fact, the tail end of her turbolaser burst managed to slice through the safety shielding on its power core, consuming the retreating platoon of Sith troopers in a blue-orange fireball. Despite the solid hit, she could feel something was wrong.
"Rey!"
Her eyes snapped up and to the side at Finn's warning. Then she saw it: the TIE Dagger being pursued by three others. They were among the last enemy birds in the sky, at least of this wave, thanks to Finn's expert shooting. The lead Dagger took a nasty hit to the wing, and another to the engine block. Its shields had failed with the first hit, and the second was quickly threatening to burst it into flames. Rey didn't hesitate.
The Falcon's engines roared to max as she sped toward the doomed vessel. Halfway there, she spotted its top hatch opening. A dark dot leapt from the cockpit a split-second before a final laser burst exploded the ship. The figure was completely limp, in no condition to course-correct—and it was a long way down.
"Finn!" Rey shouted. "Get to the top hatch!"
"Got it! I left the cannon in forward position!"
She smiled and adjusted course to match Ben's uncontrolled descent.
"Ready!"
Rey punched the throttle, panic surging in her veins at the rapidly approaching ground. She breathed in and let the Force flow, guiding the ship until Ben's body was out of her line of sight. Those TIEs were getting closer. Rey juked the yoke sideways, spinning the ship so the top hatch swallowed Ben's limp form. A grunt later, and Finn shouted down the hall.
"Got him!"
Her lips spread in a predatory smile as she yanked the yoke and sent the maneuvering thrusters into overdrive. The Falcon went from a sharp dive to a sharp climb faster than the TIEs could anticipate, lining all three up for an extended barrage of fire that incinerated the lot of them. The Falcon roared over the peaks surrounding the base, just missing the jagged rocks. She brought the ship around for one last pass to confirm the skies were clear, then headed back home.
…
The moment the ship set down, Finn started dragging Solo down the gangplank.
"Medic!" he called. "Need a medic over here!"
Rey quickly followed at a brisk pace, frowning at Ben's unconscious form. He was covered in dust and soot, with a few cuts and burns visible where his clothes were ruined.
A Resistance fighter with a medic patch came at Finn's call and stopped short at the sight of who he was holding. That hesitation vanished a moment later, and she set about her job, relieving Finn. The Mando frowned down at Solo, conflicted emotions pulling at him until he shook his head and made for what was left of the command center.
"Poe!" Finn called. He blinked when he saw another familiar face. "Chewie! You made it!" He clapped the Wookiee on the shoulder.
Chewbacca rumbled a reply, waving around.
Finn frowned. "I'm sure you did the best you could." He turned back to the general. "Poe, what's the story on the ground?"
Poe's lips pursed tightly. "Not great. We lost a lot of good people in the initial assault. Good news is, we repelled the rest of those commandos thanks to your air support. Even managed to take a few alive. They're sitting in the brig right now." A frown. "What's left of it."
"And the bad news?"
Rose stepped up to an intact holoterminal and hit a few keys to bring up a projection of the planet. "The bad news is we have no idea where those fighters came from. They're more advanced than anything the First Order has, so they're probably hyperdrive-equipped, but if they were supposed to wipe us out, I don't think they'd have sent so few without at least a Destroyer for backup."
Finn shrugged. "Okay, so?"
She waved at the projection. "This is the most recent long-range super-atmospheric scan we have. Notice anything?"
He stared at the projection, seeing only Ajan Kloss. "No?"
"Exactly."
Finn blinked. "No support ships."
"That we can see," Poe corrected.
"So if we try to evacuate, and they have a Destroyer already in place, they could shoot us out of the sky before we get anywhere."
"Pretty much, yeah."
Finn frowned. "Something's not adding up. If they had that kind of firepower, why even bother sending in ground troops? We're almost completely exposed without the canopies, and these mountains wouldn't hold up forever to orbital bombardment." He looked at the other two. "What are they waiting for?"
Neither had an answer.
Poe shook his head after a while. "Whatever their deal, we need to move. But first we gotta find a way to verify whether we have a clear lane outta here."
"I think…"
Everyone whipped around at the weak voice, seeing Ben Solo limping toward them with Rey serving as a human crutch.
"…I can help with that."
Poe stared at him with a deep frown. The entire command center ground to a halt. The general looked at Rey, seeing the same uncertainty in her eyes Finn did. Then he looked to Finn, and Finn gave him a slight nod. Poe sighed hard, muttering something under his breath, then looked to Ben and raised his voice.
"We're all ears."
AN: And so Act II begins! I think I'm going to plan weekly releases every time I finish a full story arc from here on out. So expect new chapters next week and the week after to round this one out.
Now that the stage and all the players are set, it's time to ramp things up. This story is going to be moving at a pretty fast clip from now until the end. I don't yet have everything mapped out, so that's probably going to slow me down a bit, but I have no intention of stopping until it's done.
Ben didn't really have much "screen time" in the first act, but that was mostly to establish my take on each of our other characters. Act II will have him playing a much bigger part overall, in part because I think he's an interesting character, but also because I felt that Episode IX made his redemption feel cheap and not well-earned. He's not going to find his way back to the Light overnight, or maybe even at all. Exploring that journey was a missed opportunity that I intend to capitalize on.
As for Anakin's presence…well, suffice to say there's more to that than meets the eye. His manifestation in Heir Apparent was a warning to Ben, but also an invitation. That'll make more sense as the story unfolds.
Hope you enjoyed this premier chapter of Act II and are looking forward to the next.
Drake out.
Musical Inspirations:
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- Finn's Confession: "The bad news…"/baby steps/answers for those willing to listen
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- The Birth of the Twins and Padmé's Destiny: start-1:24—listening to the Force/journey through the jungle/the cave of memories, 1:24-2:34—entering the cave/memories of Leia/"I'm listening", 2:34-end—a change of heart/fatherly scars/shattering the crystal
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Infiltration: start-1:14—lightning strike/Sith invasion/retreat, 1:14-2:01—armory discussion/arming up, 2:01-end—plasma torch/breaching charge/firing squad
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
- I Can Fly Anything: start-0:28—"Get up"/frozen bolts/"…fight back!", 0:28-0:56—"Huh"/ Mantle of the Force/Resistance backup, 0:56-1:16—crossfire/vs. the Sith legionnaires/mutual nod, 1:16-1:48—two Knights/clearing the base/push to LZ, 1:48-2:48—Sith officer/air strike/jetpack flight, 2:48-end—hijacking a TIE Dagger/clearing the skies
- Scherzo for X-Wings: start-1:03—Falcon takeoff/drawing attention/set-up, 1:03-1:43—destructive J-turn/mountain maneuvers/hitting the lander, 1:43-2:01—Finn's warning/deep dive/hatch prep, 2:01-end—hatch swallow/sharp turn/clear skies