AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"Dyad's Blessing, Dyad's Curse"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 15

A loud gasp brought sudden pain to his throat. His eyes opened to a light shooting directly down into his pupils, causing him to instantly close his eyes once again, though blinding spots followed him into the dark. His head ached, his arms ached, his legs ached, everything ached, in addition to something irritating and invasive stuck up his nostrils. Attempts to move only resulted in his wrists and ankles slamming against bruising restraints.

Where am I? What's happening?

He remembered a forest, a cliff, a lake . . .

His parents . . .

"Ben Solo, you mustn't struggle or you will hurt yourself."

The voice was low and unemotional – a droid. He forced his crusty eyelids open once again, blinking and blinking until he could make out the blurry gray face of a medical droid.

"Wh-wh . . ." That was all that came out before a torrent of dry coughs exploded out of his mouth.

"Calm down, Ben Solo," said the droid. "You have been in a coma for weeks. You will need to drink some water before you can speak."

You have been in a coma for weeks. As the coughs calmed down, leaving him with a burning throat, those words sent reality crashing on him. Exegol, Rey, Palpatine. Death, revival, kiss. Han, Leia, Luke, Anakin, Padme. Sleep, dreams.

Waking.

He was awake.

His breath sped up as he realized that he was strapped to a hospital bed, his muscles feeling stiff and useless as if they hadn't moved for ages.

"Ben Solo, you must calm down," said the droid, holding a glass of water up to his lips. "Here, drink this. We will explain everything soon."

He drank, but even the cold water hydrating his mouth and throat couldn't keep him from trembling. A familiar presence was filling his senses, as solid as if she were right by his side. His sore eyes blinked, blinked, blinked as they slowly looked to his side, bringing the one who brought him out of the comfortable dream into his vision.

Rey.

. . .

For a moment, Rey was back on Crait.

The moment when he'd looked up at her before she shut the Falcon's door on him – that desperate, vulnerable, hurt expression, it was back on his face now. She reached for his hand, wanting to squeeze it and let him know that it would be all right, but he vanished before she could touch him, leaving his face pressed in her mind.

Her breath shortened, her hands trembling. "Ben, come back," she whispered, even though she knew that merely calling to him wouldn't make him appear again. Though he'd said nothing to her, she had felt his shock, his terror . . . his devastation. His eyes seemed to be screaming What have you done? as if he'd wanted to stay asleep forever.

Maybe he did.

She slowly rose to her feet, staring out the window. Somewhere there was the hospital where Ben was. Should she try to catch an airbus to the hospital right now? Would he even want to see her? Would she be allowed to see him now that he was awake and potentially a threat?

"Ben," she whispered, "please come back." Maybe if she focused on him, pressed his image into her mind . . .

Nothing.

Should she try to visit him in person now? Would there even be any airbuses going to the hospital at this hour? Would seeing her help him or just make things worse?

Suddenly she felt an urge to talk to someone about this, but who would understand?

Maybe . . .

She grabbed her pants from the edge of the bed, yanking them on as she left the room, the hallway lights briefly disorienting her, the hard floor cold against her bare feet. There was one person – someone she didn't know well, but who might understand why she did what she did.

. . .

"Lando?" she called, knocking persistently on the door she thought was the general's. "Lando, wake up, I need to tell you something."

It seemed like ages before the door slid open, revealing a yawning Lando in a gray shirt and pants that looked like they had been hastily thrown on. "Rey? What is it, and why couldn't it wait until morning?"

"I woke Ben up," Rey sputtered out.

Lando's eyes bulged, all traces of sleepiness suddenly gone. "What?"

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, I think you'd better."

Once Lando led her into his room and turned on the lights, the two sat on the bed and Rey found the story of her bond with Ben bursting out – Snoke linking their minds, neither of them able to control when the other one appeared, each one of them saving the other by transferring their energy, all the way up to how she woke him by giving him her energy for the third time.

Lando didn't speak for several moments after she finished – instead he just stared at her, his mouth twisting and crinkling his mustache.

"So now I don't know if I did the right thing," she added.

"Not gonna lie," Lando finally said, "I don't know either."

"Didn't you say that you wanted him to wake up?"

"Yeah," said Lando, glancing downward and scratching the mattress as if he needed a distraction, "but what happens to him now that he's awake?"

"I won't let the Resistance execute him."

Lando looked back up at her, an eyebrow raised. "Finn and Poe bein' your friends doesn't mean he won't get executed. It might not even be up to them – or Pooja, for that matter. The new government will have to get sorted out before his fate's decided and who knows how long that'll take?"

Rey felt her heart sink. "You're a war hero – surely your word will mean something!"

"Yeah, I can speak up on his behalf, but I dunno how much my word means these days. Fact is that I didn't join the Resistance until the very end cause I . . . couldn't stand the idea of killin' my own daughter."

Rey gulped. "Like how Han ran away because he couldn't stand killing his own son."

"Yeah." He sighed. "The First Order had a way of tearing families apart."

"Well we're going to bring some of those families back together."

"If this stormtrooper-reunion program gets funded." Lando sighed again. "This whole thing would be easier if Han, Leia, and Luke were alive. Their word would damn well mean something."

Sorrow was flowing off of him, making her wish she could say something to help him. The man had lost three of his best friends in the last year, all in some degree because of Ben, yet still he cared about Ben.

"Maybe we could visit the hospital tomorrow. You and me."

Lando suddenly seemed to find the opposite wall very interesting. "I dunno if he'll want to see either of us. It's not like I've talked to him at all in the last seven years."

"I know," said Rey. "But . . . I don't want him to be alone."

The older man took a deep breath, though he still didn't look at her. "Well . . . I guess we could try."