'Ben...?' Rey asked hesitantly.
She glanced around the ruin of The Supremacy, stopping at the dark-haired man as he approached the broken throne. She could feel his conflict through the Force; despair, fatigue, and uncertainty mingling with a strong undercurrent of relief as he surveyed Snoke's corpse.
He was free of the Supreme Leader's whispers and empty promises. But what was the price for his treason? Rey didn't know how to answer that.
'It's time to let old things die. Snoke... Skywalker...' he said, his words trailing off as he turned to her.
Ben's eyes locked onto her and Rey inhaled sharply. She no longer could see Kylo Ren in his face, but the grieving and scared son of Leia and Han.
She longed to reach out to him, give him some sense of comfort, but she knew that if she did, the walls would go up and Ben would be re-buried beneath the First Order.
She was frozen onto the spot as she watched him walk slowly towards her.
'The Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels. Let it all die.' He faltered. 'Rey?'
A brief flicker of indecision flashed across his face, but when their eyes met, she saw resolve harden his features. He had come to a decision. He raised his hand.
'I want you to join me.'
Her stomach heaved as his words registered.
No.
'We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy,' his words spilled out, her initial silence fuelling his hope.
'Don't do this Ben,' she said quietly. She couldn't let him do this. He didn't know what he was asking, or what he was hoping for.
'Please don't go this way,' her voice broke on the last word.
Panic streamed through their bond as he took in her fear.
'No, no! You're still holding on. Let go!' he commanded.
She could see Ben slip and disappear under the mask of Kylo Ren, the worry and fury that was rolling through their connection pushing the dark-haired man away from the light and into the darkness.
Ben... she called, trying to muster a soothing wave of energy to flow into him. She didn't want to lose him to the monster that Snoke had created.
But her calm was met with chaos. He was surrounding himself in a veil of darkness. Her breath caught in her throat as felt the white slivers of light and reason wash away at the rising tide of anger.
'Do you want to know the truth about your parents? Or have you always known, and just hidden it away?' he asked.
She flinched as she felt him prod at her mind, dragging up the scorching heat of the desert and the bleached sky as she watched her parents ship disappear into the cosmos.
Remember them.
She felt his voice along their connection as he forced her to relive her darkest memory.
She felt the itch of tears, but she willed herself not to cry.
'You know the truth. Say it,' he said. His voice was softer now, coaxing.
A single tear slid down her face.
Why was he doing this? Couldn't he feel her pain? Her entire being was begging him to stop.
She wanted to hurt him, kill him, leave him. But she was rooted on the spot as he walked towards her.
'Say it.'
He stopped.
She didn't know who she was talking to anymore. Ben or Kylo. They were one and the same.
His words and voice was like honey and poison, forcing her to go into the deepest recesses of her mind and pull the truth from where she had been hiding it.
'They were nobody,' she said. Another tear ran down her cheek.
'They were filthy junk-traders. Sold you off for drinking money,' he said, his tone nonchalant as he dismissed her parentage with a single shrug. 'They're dead, in a pauper's grave in the Jakku desert.'
She felt a sob escape.
He was right. How couldn't he be right. He knew everything.
It was like her soul had been bared to him, and was slowly being ripped apart. Her dreams of reunion, her need for family. Gone and scattered to the stars.
'You have no place in this story. You come from nothing. You're nothing,' he said. His words were final.
She could feel his gaze on her as she broke eye contact.
What a fool. She cursed herself inwardly. Why did she think she was special...? Why did she think she was anything at all? She was just a desert rat from Jakku.
She heard him breathe in, and wondered what part of her past he was going to flog next.
'But not to me,' he said.
Her eyes flew to his face as she heard his admission.
Surprise. Shock. Confusion. Hope?
Their bond pulled to each other as her emotions clouded her judgement.
What was he saying?
'Join me,' he said again.
She looked down as he reached out again, offering his hand. She hesitated.
Who was this man? Ben, Kylo, something else? He knew her. He knew her past and wanted to know her future.
She couldn't fight the First Order. But his words came back to her again.
'It's time to let old things die. The Sith, the Rebels. Let it all die,' he said.
But what would that mean. Something else, something better? She thought back to Leia, Poe, Finn. The Resistance were dying a slow death. Their people were being killed by those with larger and more organised forces. Why did she have to be on the losing side? They were her family, but she knew the battle raging outside of The Supremacy was ending.
How much of her new family would still be alive? And if they had to die, where would she be? Lost again.
But if Ben wanted to let the Sith die, where would Kylo Ren go? She knew that Ren was born out of darkness and destruction, but if he had no leader and no direction, what would happen to that? Would it kill him, or could it be cured?
She felt hope flare up. Could Ben be restored? She reached out through their bond, gravitating towards his Force energy. She knew he felt her doing so, his hesitancy showing as his protective walls start to close around her before letting her in. She just had to know if there was any chance.
She could see black vines of darkness twisting their way through his very being. Cancerous spores that were slowly infecting him with turmoil and self-loathing. But there, in the very centre, was a shard of pure light. She gently touched her own energy to it, and watched it spike and glow brighter.
Would this be enough?
'Please,' he whispered, pulling her away from him and back into reality. She watched him swallow as he moved closer. Through their bond, she could feel his desperation.
He didn't want to be alone anymore.
And neither did she.
'Yes,' she said, and grasped his hand with hers.
Author's Note: This is the first fic I've published or written in a long time, so please bear with me. Huge thank you to my editor 'Across the Stars' - whose never-ending support is all I need.
Publish schedule: Every Saturday, but chapter 2 (titled 'Protect the scavenger') is coming on Wednesday.
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Usual disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and I claim no ownership over the world of Star Wars.