—Chapter 31: Manifestations—

The Millennium Falcon was parked in the hangar of the Republic flagship Akbar, getting some much needed attention after its narrow escape from the surface of Malachor. Poe was antsy about not participating in the battle raging outside, and so he was digging around in the bowels of the ship trying to feel like he was doing something useful. Meanwhile, Chewbacca worked outside with his plasma torch, calmly making repairs to the radar dish. Malfi was in the cockpit, sitting in the second mate's seat, staring out the transparisteel window at the activity beyond. More X-wings were returning than were going out.

"I just heard from Temiri."

The sound of Finnie's voice made Malfi nearly pop out of her seat. Visibly startled, her attempts at feigning nonchalance would've failed miserably with anyone, but against her Force-sensitive best friend, there was simply no chance. "Oh?" she said, as casually as she could muster. "And what did he say?"

"He said they got him, and they're ready to return," said Finnie, studying her friend. Malfi didn't look as relieved as one would've expected.

"All of them made it out okay?" she asked, with poorly concealed nervousness.

"Yup, all of them," said Finnie, looking Malfi directly in the face. Finnie's eyes were clear as could be, and utterly unreadable.

"So, Rey, Ben, and Temiri…"

"Yup," she said, letting the simple answer linger in the air for a moment. Malfi looked like she might be sick. "Oh, and Ren, of course. He's fine too, in case you were wondering."

"Oh!" exclaimed Malfi, color returning to her face. "Was he there too? That's… just crazy!"

"You. Little. Liar," said Finnie, full of false indignation. "I knew you were lying, but I thought, 'Hey, I'm new to this Force stuff, maybe I'm wrong here—I mean, Malfi would never lie to me, right? Malfi would never lie to another living soul!'" Finnie gave Malfi a piercing, accusatory stare, but one that was just over the top enough that Malfi had to doubt its sincerity.

"Are you… angry? Or happy?" asked Malfi, with genuine confusion. The Force wasn't offering any hints.

"Oh, I'm pissed," said Finnie, with that same exaggerated umbrage. "I mean, that you would put the life of a little boy in harm's way, just so he could help his mom and go looking for his daddy, and then not tell anyone about it, so they'd just leave it alone and let him do it while they ran for their lives, fighting imperial dickheads and barely escaping their own miserable fates… I mean… you bitch!"

Malfi continued to study the face of her friend, searching for any hint of her true feelings. With growing certainty that the indignation was all an act, a smile crept across her face. As it did, it started creeping across Finnie's face too, and soon, the two girls were laughing hysterically.

"You almost had me there," said Malfi, wiping her eyes.

"Don't get me wrong," said Finnie, sitting down in the seat next to Malfi, "I actually am a little irritated that you didn't tell me, but I guess I get it. Besides, you saved me the tough choice of having to decide if I was going to let you get away with it or not. Ren deserved to be involved in what his mom was doing, but no sane adult would've let him try. Five-year-old kids don't go storming into Sith temples, I don't care how wise to the Force they are."

Malfi nodded. "I know. It was a hard decision for me to make, believe me. He asked me to cover his tracks for him, and I just couldn't say no. During the dogfight, everyone was too busy to question why he wasn't there with me, and ever since we were rescued, I've kept out of sight. Until I knew he was safe again, I just couldn't…" Malfi sighed. "I didn't like lying to everyone about it though."

"And if that little gamble had failed…"

"—I'd have spent the rest of my life hating myself for it."

"Mm-hmm," agreed Finnie, looking out at the bustling activity inside the hangar. "That took guts," she said.

Malfi looked out where Finnie was looking, at the dozens of fighters, mechanics, strategists, engineers, and nurses, all busily hurrying from one place to another, and sighed. "It's what I could do," she said, almost dolefully.

Finnie looked back at her friend, at the expression she wore. Malfi, more than anyone else here, doubted that she'd really earned her place on this little excursion. She doubted her own worth, and what she brought to the table. But she brought more than she could ever know.

"So tell me," said Finnie. "After so long on that damn turret, I was practically videoblind and my aim went to shit. Tell me how I could've used the Force to improve my accuracy."

Ever since he'd learned that he'd be flying a shuttle to collect not two, not three, but four people, Poe couldn't hide the betrayal he felt at having been duped so spectacularly. Malfi had been safely keeping her distance and was now in the back of the shuttle with Finnie at her side. Poe, on the other hand, was in the cockpit flying angry, and Finn was talking him down.

"Let it go. It all worked out, didn't it?"

"That's not the point! She tricked me into leaving a helpless kid in a cultist's den. He could've died there, and I would have been responsible! I shut the hatch and took off without him on her word!"

"Except maybe the part about Ren being 'helpless', that's all true, and you're absolutely right to be pissed off," said Finn. "If this had gone sideways, you'd have had a lot of explaining to do. Rey would be beside herself, and you'd have carried that guilt for the rest of your life. However…" he said, letting that word hang for a bit.

Poe side-eyed him warily. When Finn didn't immediately continue, Poe barked at him. "However, what?"

"However, it's exactly the sort of thing you'd have done in her place, had it been your decision to make."

"Oh, come on!" protested Poe. "That's just—! I mean—! Man, fuck you!" Poe cursed his friend, but it had no teeth. Finn was right, and Poe knew it. Behaving recklessly, acting on instinct, even lying to his superiors if it was for the greater good. Acting with his heart, rather than his head—that was Poe's bread and butter. "God dammit," he muttered sullenly.

Finn had to smile. "She's going to make one hell of a leader, don't you think?"

The journey back to Dendrokaan was long. Rey was desperate to get Ben back to their home, to their cabin, and to their bed, to try to make up for the eternity that their souls had spent in isolation from one another. However, she was hardly the only person here who was anxious to see that Ben yet lived and breathed. Besides, there was a lot to talk about—this was, after all, Ben's first chance to learn all that had befallen his family, his students, his friends, and the Republic—and Simeon—during all the time that his spirit had spent clinging to this plane of existence.

When he was finally allowed some time just to himself, his wife, and his child, he felt ten years older.

On the Akbar, the three of them shared a small suite. As they entered, they were greeted by a tight, modestly furnished living space, equipped with a kitchenette and a door to a private refresher. Another door off to the right housed a full-size bed in a cramped sleeping chamber. As they entered, the lights came on, and the door swished shut behind them. The three of them stared at the relatively cozy military family's quarters—and they just breathed. Ren turned to his father and hugged his leg. Rey looked down at him and smiled, before kissing Ben on the cheek and heading for the refresher. Ren, exhausted, yawned deeply before peeling himself off his father's leg and stumbling toward the sleeping quarters. Ben thought the sight of him tottering off to bed was the most precious thing he'd ever seen.

Ben stepped up to the kitchenette and ran the water, filling his hands with the cool, clear liquid. After drinking deeply, he splashed the remainder of the water on his face and studied himself in the mirror over the sink, one of many hung with the intention of making the small suite seem roomier.

That was the face he remembered. He'd created it, whole cloth, from nothing. With the help of his family and their stunning resonance with the Force, they'd made life—living tissue for his spirit to fill. What they'd created was more like himself than any clone manufactured by any army could hope to be. Through the Force, he'd been given a second life.

Ben took a breath, letting it fill his lungs, committing the feeling of his inflated chest to memory, then slowly letting it out, blowing the air between his lips as he watched himself in the mirror. When he was finished, he turned around.

And there was a ghost. From the open refresher doorway, the amazed and dumbfounded expression on Rey's face let him know that she was seeing it too, so he knew to trust his eyes. Neither of them had ever seen this man before, but he was familiar, all the same.

"Ben?" said the ghost, looking right at him, prompting a simple nod. "And you're Rey?" he asked again, turning his head to look at her. It was so subtle that it almost didn't register, but she, too, nodded back. "Hello," he said, offering a polite greeting in response to each of them. "And was that," he said, gesturing to the closed bedroom door, "my great-grandson?"

Ben shuddered. "A—Anakin?" Rey gasped.

"He's beautiful," Anakin said, still staring toward the sleeping quarters. "I've waited so long… to see what had become of my family." He turned back to Ben. "Thank you."

"I…" said Rey, stuttering, "I should give the two of you some time. Don't rush. I'll just be in with Ren." She had to resist the urge to curtsy, or perform some other honorific, before awkwardly giving them leave. She met Ben's eyes as she walked away, and gave him the subtlest of encouraging smiles. He was loath to see her go, but understood what she was giving him.

"She's remarkable," said Anakin, after she'd left. "A spirit as bright as yours. As bright as Padmé's."

"She is. She means everything to me," replied Ben, swallowing a lump in his throat that made it hard to speak. "How… How is this happening?"

"You mean, how is it that I'm here? After all these years, choosing this moment to make my first appearance?"

Ben nodded.

"Well, it wasn't a choice, exactly," he said. "I've been trapped until now."

"Trapped?"

"Yes, by Palpatine. My former master… For years, he's been holding my spirit captive. He's not capable of forgiveness, and he doesn't forget grudges. Viewing my final actions as a betrayal, he would've held my spirit in his clutches for the whole of eternity if he'd been able—long past my ability to hold on to myself. If you hadn't come along, he'd have tortured me for the rest of my existence."

"So that wasn't you I'd been hearing in my head years ago? Or in my dreams recently?"

"No, I'm sorry. I'm afraid whatever you heard was a lie. A fabrication used to try to manipulate you, I'm sure. I swear to you, this is my first time ever laying eyes on you. Of speaking to you. Of hearing your voice…"

"But you're here now," said Ben, declaratively.

"Yes, I'm here. Thanks to you. And I am in your debt far beyond that. As I lay dying, I repented for my many sins, but when I left this world, I left it worse than I found it. I regret that my children, all of my descendants, have had such a debt to repay. But you redeem me. And for that, there is no amount of thanks I could give that would ever begin to measure up to what is deserved. If there is anything I can do with what little time I have left, I would ask you to tell me what it is."

Ben thought about that. He had so many regrets of his own, and alleviating those regrets was his only true want in the world. His present was an embarrassment of riches—it was his past he would change, if he could.

Anakin read the conflict on Ben's face. "Is it… your past that bothers you?" he asked, trying to provoke a request. "Perhaps I could help make amends somehow?"

Ben wanted more than anything to take back what he'd done to his father, but he knew he couldn't. And his father would never stand before him as a ghost for Ben to even beg forgiveness from. There was no changing how he'd left things with his father. "I don't think there's anything you could do," he said. "I would have you talk to my father, but he wasn't Force sensitive. He is unreachable."

"No one is unreachable, save for those whose spirits are destroyed through some foul art. All life stems from the Force, and all life goes back to the Force. He might not have been able to manifest his spirit, but it would've passed through this plane, nonetheless. If you would have me relay something, I would see it done."

This revelation astounded Ben, and he shuddered, taking a shaky breath. "Then tell my father… I loved him. And I'm sorry for what I did—it's my greatest regret, but I'm trying to pay it back. And tell him… he has a grandson. Tell him… he wants to fly. He has that same look in his eyes…"

"I promise you, he will get the message. And your mother?"

Ben's lip quivered. "My mother… already knows. But you can tell her I miss her, every day."

"I will pass it along. Goodbye, my grandson. Thank you."

"Goodbye… grandfather."

Anakin's spirit faded away, and Ben was left alone in the quiet confines of his front room. He took a step toward the sleeping quarters, but his legs felt like lead. With great effort, he was able to cross the small room and enter the sleeping quarters, where he beheld his wife and child sleeping soundly in the large bed. On one side of the mattress, she cradled their son, but she'd left ample space next to her for him to slip in under the sheets.

Ben disrobed quietly and settled himself down gently upon the mattress. He nestled himself in and around Rey, laying his head on the same pillow she was using. Inhaling deeply, he smelled her hair, her skin, the traces of soap still clinging to the clothes she'd gone to bed wearing. He felt like his life had been given a reset; that tomorrow he would wake up, and he'd be a different person.

Honestly, I prefer that you remain the same person you were before. I didn't go through hell and back to bring home some other guy…

Ben couldn't help it—he started laughing. He had to bury his face in the pillow to stifle the noise from waking Ren. He was giggling uncontrollably.

Rey smiled. So did you have a good chat?

You were listeningyou know that I did.

Rey frowned. She'd hoped her eavesdropping hadn't been obvious.

It wasn't obvious. I just know you. I got to talk to one of my ancestorsin what world would Rey of Jakku not want to listen in?

You got me. I heard the whole thing. And you realize what this means, don't you?

What do you mean, 'what it means'? he asked.

I mean, this whole thing with Anakin. When this all started, we thought we needed to save him. It was the risk to his spirit that motivated you to act. Since it was Palpatine all along, it looked like that had all been a lie, but in the end, it wasn't. Anakin's spirit really was in jeopardy. You really did save him.

Ben took a moment to consider that. It had been lost in the tumult, but she was right. All of this, from the very beginning, had been about saving family.

I love you, Ben.

He tightened his arm around her, burying his face in her hair. I love you, Rey. I always have, and I always will.

I know. Let's just sleep now. Tomorrow, we'll be back on Dendrokaan, trying to slip back into our normal lives. We'll need to be well rested for that.

Ben sighed, subtly nodding his head into her shoulder. He was going to need rest for 'normal' to feel normal again. 'Normal' sounded fantastic, and he wanted it back as soon as possible.

After a few breaths, in and out, they were both asleep. It was deep, and it was dreamless.