Rey's scream filled the room with a seismic charge of dark energy, rippling out from her like a shockwave. Ben hadn't felt power like this from her since he had last provoked her to rage in the desert, leading her to believe she had killed Chewie.
He felt her channel all the strength of her being in a fraction of second. She drew on her rage at Engell, her terror for the child's life, and then she went even deeper. The feeling of watching his father plummet to his death on Starkiller base, the loss of both her masters, the aching hollowness of an empty stomach on Jakku, and the piercing silence of loneliness. All these things she bore down on in a matter of milliseconds, before anyone in the room had a chance to know what she was going to do. But Ben knew. He had never felt her wield the dark side so effortlessly like this before, and so quickly. In a past life, Kylo Ren would have been in awe of the power she had just brandished. But now, that awe was replaced by apprehension. He knew all too well what summoning that kind of pain did to a person.
Ben cringed at the sickening sound of every vertebrae in Engell's neck shattering at once. The child Engell held captive plopped to the ground and scurried back to hide behind Jesba and Fadda. Engell's lifeless body crumbled to the ground with a thud. In the next half a second, they passed through the eye of the storm as everyone stood motionless.
Then, the shots erupted. Volcanic blasts of incinerating laser fire zoomed past their heads. Rey brought her saber to life, her eyes glowing a bright sapphire from the blade, and lunged like a cat towards a group of attacking stormtroopers. He heard Chewie roar a battle cry and fire his bowcaster, sending one stormtrooper after the other flying back into the walls of the large room with a thud.
Ben ignited his saber and whirled to Lando, Rikk, and Chewie. "Get them out here!" He nodded to the children. "Now! We'll handle this!"
It had been a while since Ben had really used his saber and it felt good. He bridged his mind with Rey's so they moved as a single unit, deflecting the fire and slicing through plastoid armor like butter.
A blow landed on Ben's back, painfully forcing the air from his lungs and sending him stumbling forward. Rey's peaked worry was a bright presence as she glanced in his direction. He whipped around and faced a trooper who had ditched their blaster for some sort of primeval mace. Ben's knuckles turned white around the hilt of his saber as anger roiled in his head. He flung his free hand out, wrapping the force around the trooper like an invisible rope. Ben violently yanked the rope towards him, sending the trooper flying helplessly through the air until his torso was skewered onto Ben's saber. Ben grunted, pushing the body off then turning for his next victim.
The fighting continued in a dissonant, deafening noise of blaster bolts on sabers, cracking plastoid, and sizzling flesh. He sensed Rey's movements as if they moved through each other's limbs, striking down their attackers as one. The troopers began to form a circle around them, pressing forwards. Ben felt the familiar pull towards Rey like a magnet at his back. He obeyed the pull of the magnet and retreated to the center of the room until he could feel the reassuring heat of her back against his.
They continued to fight, the circle around them thinning. He sensed her anger begin to simmer again as her arms tired. She drew on him for strength and he gladly pushed it to her as she stepped forward, brutally kicking one of them backwards. She growled as she lunged at the stumbled trooper and sliced through the armor.
Ben sensed the gap just as soon as it happened. Then he felt a burning pain like someone stuck a red-hot iron against his thigh. He could smell his flesh burning too, but in the next second he realized he hadn't been hit. A blast punctured Rey's thigh and her leg buckled from under her as she yelped in pain and dropped to one knee.
Fuck! She screamed through their bond.
Ben reared, calling on all his strength. He sent the remaining three troopers in front of him flying back into the wall, their heads crushing against the stone. He turned and jumped in front of Rey, sending another trooper back and then finally, slicing the last one in half with a viciously powerful swing. He exhaled sharply, sheathing his saber and melting to the ground to kneel in front of her in one fluid movement.
Her face was crumpled in pain as she groaned and held her leg. He frantically, but gently, cupped his hand under chin, commanding her eyes to his. "Give it to me." He demanded. She shook her head stubbornly, her lips pursed tightly together as she cringed, but it was too late. He was already inside her head, weaving his way through her like it was his own mind. Ben could handle pain, he was an expert at it. But he could not bear hers, so he took it from her with a strange relief. He felt her pain slowly subside as his grew, the red-hot iron returning to his leg.
Her breath slowed. Ben pulled out of her head and threw up a mental curtain so she wouldn't sense his pain. Her thoughts had been so loud, screaming at herself and wondering how she had let this happen. Ben couldn't wait to get off this damn planet to just be with her and quiet her mind.
A sea of shattered stormtrooper armor surrounded them and the air was permeated with the smell of cauterized flesh. Then, as if reading his mind, she said in between breaths, "Let's get the hell off this planet."
Jesba and Fadda were dead. They didn't even make it out of the communal home before they were shot down. Though Ben didn't know them, he admired their bravery. They held off the troopers as long as they could while Lando, Rikk, and Chewie rushed the children out to safety. Miraculously, none of the little Aki-Aki were hurt. Ben half carried Rey out of the home and they were met with a bunch of tiny creatures staring up at their new protectors with gleaming, innocent eyes as if to say "what now?"
Chewie already liked them, Ben could sense it. And Lando would never leave them there in the now abandoned city. And to top it off, they didn't have the fuel resources to spend anymore time on Pasaana scanning for other communities, at least not this trip. They were about to return to Chandrila with far more than they had bargained for.
Chewie, in his worry for Rey, returned on the Falcon with Ben and to help co-pilot them off the planet. They gathered up half of the children and Rikk and Lando took the other half back on his ship.
Rey had retreated quickly back to the quarters she shared with Ben. She insisted on "being alone for a while", which Ben hated, but begrudgingly respected. He helped bacta-patch her leg, which she had vehemently refused Ben's pleas to let him heal her. He sensed her self-depreciation, as if she felt she deserved the wound. Rey was punishing herself, but he knew there was more to it than that. He knew it wasn't even what she had done to Engell, but how she did it and how the darkside seemed to infiltrate every cell of her body in the blink of an eye. Again, the darkside scared her, her lineage terrified her, and it was tearing her apart.
Once they were sailing through hyperspace, Ben flicked the switches to set the Falcon on a steady course for Chandrila. He sighed and sat back in his seat, crossing his arms and working his lower lip as he stared at the ribbons of blue and white light.
Chewie grumbled a question.
"It's Rey." Ben said. "To say I'm worried about her is an understatement."
Chewie adored Rey, loved her. He moaned an agreement then another question.
"She wanted to be left alone but I don't know how much more I can take it. We're connected," Ben tapped his forehead, "I can feel everything she's feeling right now."
Chewie grumbled.
"Yeah, at least I have that." Ben nodded then stood. Chewie muttered another question as he turned for the exit.
"I will. I know." Ben said. He paused and hesitated, then extended a shaking hand to the Wookie's soft, furry shoulder. "Thanks. It's...really good to fly with you again."
Chewie roared softly. Ben smiled then turned to leave.
The main cabin was filled with the Aki-Aki children scattered throughout the area, some cuddled together on benches and others sat on blankets and pillows they had laid out on the floor. Ben's brows furrowed at the ground as he walked carefully to the center of the cabin, worried he may step on one of the tiny creatures. He stopped to look around at all of them.
"It's ok, you're safe with us. We'll figure this all out, I promise." The children were silent as they blinked up at him. "Uh...right, language barrier." Pity for the strange beings filled him. They had not only just lost their home, but their planet too, and not to mention the last known people of their town, and now they were on a ship with people they didn't know and couldn't communicate with. Instead, he pushed out a reassuring energy through the force to their curious little minds, hoping to give them some peace.
The intensity of Rey's conflicted thoughts beat against his mind and pulled his attention away from the children. Ben's smile faded away as he walked towards the door to their quarters. He cracked the door open, entering slowly and saying nothing as he shut the door behind him with a click. The small room was dimly lit, but he could see Rey laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. To his consolation, she turned her head against the pillow and smiled ruefully at him as he sensed her relief at his presence.
She sat up slowly, wincing slightly as she turned to face him on the bed. Ben took two giant steps to cross the room and knelt on the floor in front of her on the bed.
"Don't move." He said.
She shook her head, "Ben, I'm fine. Nearly healed."
Ben frowned at the ridiculous bacta patch wrapped around her thigh. He took her strong hands from her lap, wrapping them in his. "Chewie wanted me to tell you he hopes you feel better. He's worried about you."
She smiled until it made her eyes wrinkle. Her hair draped freely down her shoulders now, chocolate brown wisps framing her face beautifully. He reached up and stroked a piece of her hair in his fingers, then cupped her cheek as she leaned into it. Soft tears danced down her cheeks as she closed her eyes. Ben frowned again and wiped them away quickly with his thumb.
"Talk to me. What is it you're afraid of?" He practically pleaded with her.
Her eyes opened as she stared into his expectantly. "Can't you tell?"
"My love, I can sense your thoughts, not read them."
She paused a moment before speaking. Then finally, "I don't understand." She swallowed and her eyes fluttered more tears down her beautiful cheeks. "I feel the darkside now more than ever. I thought Exegol was the end of it. I thought that part of me died with Palpatine...but it's gotten worse."
Ben was silent as he gripped her hands tightly, encouraging her to continue.
"The vision on Ahch-To in the cave when I was bathing. Little moments here and there. The dreams...oh, the dreams...and what I just did to Engell-"
"Engell was evil." Ben reminded her.
"And what about me?"
"You are not evil and you never will be. You are good, pure-"
"I executed her, Ben! That's not me. None of this is me, I don't understand..." Her face crumpled as she shook her head and brought their hands to her forehead. More tears streamed down her face and her whole body shook in between sobs. "I'm doing things I didn't know I was capable of, somehow tapping into darker and darker avenues of the force without even trying." Her pain was like a dagger in Ben's heart, tearing his flesh slowly down to his stomach. Seeing her like this was more painful than anything he could physically feel.
"You've been completely alone in this. The force cannot be navigated alone and without someone guiding you..." He reached up and wiped away the wetness on her cheeks, a constant battle he was losing. "I told you once, the dark side is in our nature. But so is the light."
Ben sent images of her parents into her mind. They were her own memories that they shared through their dyad, but she needed them. Her parents were good, nothing like Palpatine and she didn't have to be either. He sent her memories of Luke and Leia, her masters, reminding her that they still trained her despite the knowledge of who she was. Ben felt her relax and her thoughts grew more quiet and calm.
Ben continued. "I'm sorry I haven't been there for you through this. But I am now. No more prison, no more of us being apart. We already know what it does to us. I'm no master but I can help you with this. Let me help you."
Her eyes were almost apologetic as she whispered, "We should have never left Ahch-To."
Ben shook his head, "You don't mean that. Your friends, think about Finn, Poe...you need them in your life, you want them in your life. They're a part of this too." He watched the understanding melt across her features and she thought of the happiness and light her friends brought her. A community, a sense of belonging that she never had.
He squeezed her hands again, willing her eyes to his. They stayed there a moment, staring beyond each other's gaze and deeper into their connection. Together, they could do impossible things. They had seen it once before, the first time they touched hands. They just had to work together, to be together as one.
She nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
He stood and moved onto the bed, laying down on his back and beckoning her to follow as he guided her slowly down. He sighed at the warmth of her as she snuggled against him, resting her head in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his arm tightly around her and began to rub his hand up and down her waist.
"Rey." He looked down at her, tilting her chin up with his hand so he held her gaze again. "I won't let anything happen to you. Ever. You won't lose yourself."
She smiled weakly up at him, her eyes flicking to his lips. Ben tilted his head down, kissing her forehead and breathed deep so the scent of her filled his senses. He mumbled against her skin and squeezed her tighter against him, "I promise."
