The Force Prodigy
PROLOGUE
Author Note : Hey Guys ! Surprisingly enough, I have the opportunity and the desire to write again. It's been so long, and I'm afraid I lost the real motivation to finish my other fanfiction about Obi-wan and Siri (let's pray it will come again).
Yet I've been dying to experiment a bit with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and let's say I am absolutely not satisfied with TROS : totally anticlimatic, no coherence whatsoever etc.
Anyway, I think I've managed to write a good fanfic about Obi-wan going back in the past : let's do it with my boy Ben Solo.
Of course, there're already plently of those fictions, all fantastic so I recommend you to read it.
For now … Enjoy !
The chaotic weather of Kef Bir seems to settle as the man, standing above the wreckage of the drowning Death Star, stared at the TIE Whisper flying away from the battlefront. Kylo Ren smirked for a brief moment as he realised the scavenger had stolen his ship, probably running back to the Resistance.
And yet, was there any Resistance left ? His mother was gone. She sacrificed her own life to bring his son into the Light, away from all the lies and deceptions he suffered from.
In instinct, Kylo brought his hand to the hole in his black robes, touching his unarmed skin. If his body was free of any pain, his mind was in a turmoil as violent as the waves crashing against the wreckage.
Why had Rey healed him? Why would she do such a thing? Why had his mother loved him right up until her last moment? Snoke had lied about that.
Snoke had lied about all of it. All those voices in his head, torturing him throughout the years, they had promised him that a moment like this could never happen. They don't care about you. Just their precious New Republic. And later, just their precious Resistance.
All lies.
His mother had sacrificed herself to reach him. Then Rey had healed him, at great cost to herself. In spite of everything he'd done. He had failed to kill the light within himself because it had been all around him all along. In Rey. His mother. Even…his father.
"Hey, kid," came a voice. The familiarity was like a lightsaber through his gut. He turned. Han Solo stood before him, untouched by ocean spray. He looked exactly the way Kylo remembered him last—except his features were calm. At peace.
"I miss you, son," he said.
Kylo blinked. This couldn't be real. "Your son is dead," he choked.
"No …" Han smirked and took one step closer, "Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive."
He let his gaze roam his father's face, his jacket, the blaster holstered at his side. Everything felt so real. He could even smell the gear lubricant Han Solo had always used to keep the Falcon's converters running.
"You're just a memory," he said.
"Your memory," said his father. His eyes were so full of love. They were like daggers. "Come home," he urged.
"It's too late." It was something the voices in his head had always said. It's too late for you. They'll never take you back. But this time it was true, because: "She's gone."
"Your mother's gone. But what she stood for and what she fought for…that's not gone."
He stared at his father, afraid to believe his words. Afraid of his own memory. Afraid of what he was feeling.
"Ben," his father said.
"I know what I have to do," Ben Solo admitted, his voice tremulous. "But I don't know if I have the strength to do it."
Han raised his hand to Ben's cheek. Ben remembered it exactly. Rey had been right; he hadn't been able to shake the memory of the warmth of his father's palm, the calluses at his fingertips, the acceptance in his eyes.
"You do," his father said. Han Solo still believed in him. So had his mother. So had Rey. "You're not alone my son."
"Rey is gone, I do even know where she went," Kylo confessed weakly. He couldn't find her yet. He could only feel her anger, her guilt, and her hate through their wonderful bound. All of this because he pushed her too far, too deep into the dark.
Han was only smiling, watching something behind his son, gazing into the ocean.
"Ben," a new voice spoke, a deep and caring masculine tone coming from the netherworld of the Force.
The young Solo stared at his father in incomprehension. When the latter nodded gently, Ben allowed himself to slowly turn his head to stare at a man, a blue hue around his body. A Force ghost.
The ghost seemed around his age, perhaps even younger than he was today, but Ben could only see a reflexion of his own self : the ghost had curly hair too, strong feature even completed with a scar above his right eye.
Ben had seen him so many times in holopictures, in the holocron Luke had stored at his temple, but it was the actual first time he was able to communicate with him. Despite all his calls, all his pleas for help, he chose to appear only now.
"Grandfather," Ben whispered, fighting the rising anger in his chest to yell at him. Why now ? When all was lost ?
"Welcome back Ben," Anakin Skywalker smiled and he tilted his head. "I am glad we can finally speak."
"Why are you here ?" the former Supreme Leader asked. "Do you know where Rey is ?"
"I am sorry my boy," the Jedi replied. "I am not here for Rey. I am here to guide you. To help you."
"Why didn't you manifest yourself sooner ? Why didn't you save my mother !"
"Ben …." Anakin's face seemed to darken with guilt. "Palpatine kept me all these years away from you. From our family. I couldn't reach you : his powers had too much grip on your soul, from the very start. I am sorry."
"I must go back to Exegol," Ben grabbed his lightsaber, holding it so tightly it was hurting. "I won't let Rey face such monster. I don't care if I die doing this."
Anakin smiled again, gently reaching for the black weapon. "If you go to Exegol, you will die, Ben."
"But Rey will live ?" The Ghost nodded sadly. "Good. Then I am going. Will you help me ?"
"You deserve to live happy, free and in peace. You deserve to live with Rey, » Anakin poured his eyes into Ben's. "You do not have to die. There is another way."
Ben was hesitant : the more minutes he wasted on Kef Bir, the more likely Palpatine would regain control of the First Order. If he rushed now, back to the SteadFast, he could still pretend to be the Supreme Leader, and destroy Sidious once and for all.
Yet, his heart beamed at the prospect to live with Rey, away from all of this. It was all he ever wanted : her, at his side. No matter the title, no matter the power. He had been lying to himself too long : he didn't want her to join the darkside, nor become his Empress. He just wanted Rey. Rey from nowhere.
"I'm listening, Grandfather," Ben finally said, his resolve founded again.
"What if you can go back to the beginning ? To redo everything ? To correct the wrong and prevent the First Order ?" Anakin asked. "Will you fight, my brave grandson ?"
Hope and courage rose in his damaged heart as Ben listened carefully. "Will Rey be safe ? Will it save everyone ?"
"If you do this," Anakin squeezed his shoulder a bit. "You will prevent everyone from dying. You will be the best of us."
Ben smiled and felt his father hand on his other arm.
"You are stronger than you think," Han said proudly. "You are better than Snoke and Luke ever told you. You are my son."
"Dad …" Ben didn't have the strength to fight the tears rolling on his checks now.
"I know," Han simply replied, his eyes full of love.
The young Solo turned his gaze back to the JediGhost : "What do I have to do ?"
Anakin took three steps back, and extended his right hand toward the sea. The Force radiated around him as the war drums in the battlefield of Mustafar.
"Jump," he simply explained, mischief in his voice. "Trust in the Force. Trust in yourself."
The former Supreme Leader walked slowly to the edge of the metallic hull and stared at the bottomless ocean raging down below.
"Ben …," a gentle voice called, belonging to a caring woman, spirited and kindhearted. « Come home my son."
Taking a long and deep breath, Solo turned one last time to stare at his kin : "I will finish what you've started." And after receiving the approval look of his father and grandfather, Ben Solo, finally pushed himself over the cliff.
Ben never felt the fall, and he couldn't actually figure out why his body seemed so soft. He assumed he would at least feel the Force intervene around him, but all he found was darkness. He was surrounded by thick layers of blackness and yet, the Force washed over him more calmly than it ever did. His body felt weird though, he wasn't in pain or exhausted anymore butt everything seemed … more intense.
Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself in a warm yet simple bed, wearing a white apparel around his skin. He could smell exotic woods in the air, and a subtle odour of green oats nearby. A smell he knew by heart as panic threaten his mind. He was in his padawan hut ! Everything was there. His compass, his calligraphy tools, and his lightsaber. His Jedi lightsaber hilt, shinning with silver and vibrating so powerfully off light. But if all of it were true, then …
Ben Solo quickly rolled in his bed to check near the door of his private quarter only to find Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. He remembered all too well : his eyes deformed by fear, his trembling mechanical hand around his weapon.
Ben Solo watched for the second time his uncle ignited his lightsaber, casting a green light on the walls of the humble shack. Ben had always considered this lightsaber as a true symbol of power, hope and restrain. But not tonight, not again. Green had been the colour of Ben Solo's death, of Alderaan's destruction, of the Death Star. Of the Darkside …
But as Luke raised his blade in a moment of pure instinct, Ben Solo understood. Ben Solo remembered what his love had explained. He could still see everything, the images Rey had shared through their bonds. Ben knew what Luke had been thinking. Ben knew how Luke would react this time.
So Ben Solo, Jedi Padawan once more, closed his eyes.
"Be with me".
Author Note : And we'll finish on this cliffhanger obviously ! Force it does feel good to write again, I hope you'll enjoy this little chapter for now. I plan to post the next one in a couple of days, perhaps even tomorrow if I am finished.
Until then, please let me know how you feel about it, I alway appreciate feedbacks.