Chapter 4

A Safer Place

Ben Solo, in the guise of Kylo Ren, knew something was wrong when he felt the Finalizer lurch forward. Sealed off from the rest of the ship, he had been sitting quietly on his throne in the company of his royal guards, looking over reports on a holopad borrowed from a lieutenant he passed in the hallway. The officer's angry expression still stuck with him. Was he part of the coup as well? Maybe not, but he probably wanted Kylo Ren gone like so many of his staff. Tension coursed through the destroyer like a poisonous gas, and Ben did not want to be around when a spark finally set the whole thing off.

Sleep had not been his friend the night before. Nightmares plagued him as they always did, and most of the time passed in tosses and turns. At first, he blamed the lurch on his tired mind, but looked up when his gut told him otherwise. This was a jump to lightspeed.

His squad of guards shifted uneasily. They had noticed the anomaly as well.

"We weren't scheduled to move out yet, were we?" Edric asked, his voice muffled under his black mask. Usually Snoke would have punished the guard for talking out of turn, but Ben never minded additional conversation in this lonely place.

"No, we weren't." Ben stood up and walked a few paces toward the door but turned back to look at his guard.

"They were only supposed to send two destroyers to the Outer Rim, yeah? So why are we going?" Eloisa ran her hand up her spear.

"Maybe for reinforcements?" suggested Sestro.

"Possibly," answered Joran, his voice rough with confusion. "But they would have known how many ships were necessary in the first place."

"You're absolutely right," said Ben. His right hand drifted to the lightsaber clipped to his belt. Something was most definitely wrong here.

The room moved forward once again. They were now out of lightspeed and over Nov Sensum with the rest of the invasion force. If what Hux and Armeena was true, Ben was to fight with the rest of the troops, then perish as he was blown up by his own men.

The doors to the throne room chirped. The Supreme Leader froze, then relaxed and opened the doors with a wave. He would think of a way out of this, all he needed was a little time.

Penma and two stormtroopers walked briskly inside. The colonel had her hands behind her back in a gesture of upmost confidence and wore a smile so acidic that it took Ben everything not to cringe. Her intent was indeed malicious, even an amateur in the ways of the Force could sense that much.

"Supreme Leader Ren, we are in need of your excellent piloting skills once again," she simpered. "There are many more Resistance ships than we initially calculated. Your abilities can easily turn the tide."

Boarding his TIE fighter and flying out into battle guaranteed a premature death. He could perhaps get away in the chaos of the Resistance encounter. His escape shuttle was just on the other end of the ship, untraceable to insure the Supreme Leader's safety. If he could get there without getting blasted he was home free, wherever home ended up being.

"I'm sure our troops are capable of handling the situation, colonel. I still need to go over these reports." Ben walked as calmly as he could back to his dark throne where he took a seat and resumed work on the holopad.

This answer did not seem to satisfy Penma's suggestion. Her smile curled into a grimace as her stormtrooper escorts stiffened. "Supreme Leader, we cannot have you sitting in here all by yourself. We need you on the front lines assisting your soldiers."

"I don't have to if I do not wish to." And he didn't. There was no way he was going into battle if he had the power to stop himself.

The small woman let out a high-pitched sigh, her expression going sour. She shook her head slowly, her blond bob rippling around her face.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this," Penma lamented, pulling out a small blaster out of the holster on her belt and aiming it at Ben's chest. The stormtroopers raised their blasters as well. Armor clacked behind him. To his horror the royal guards moved in front of him and all of them drew their various weapons. Two guards stood behind each trooper and the rest attended to the colonel. It was nine to one.

Ben clenched his teeth and held up his hands in surrender. He had considered his guards the closest things he had to friends. Their betrayal rocked him more than he wanted it to. Now there was absolutely no one he could trust besides Rey, and even she was unwilling to help him.

"You all are making a huge mistake," he growled, anger flaring up.

"The only mistake we've made was putting you in charge," Penma sneered. "Bring him to the bridge. Hux will want to take care of this lunatic himself."

Ames and Sal forced Ben's hands behind his back and the tip of Ame's sickle pressed into his lower spine. His lightsaber was unclipped from his belt and given to Sal. All ten of them then trudged out of the throne room down the long, brightly lit corridor.

They were halfway to the elevator at the other end when Eloisa stopped in her tracks, forcing the rest of them to cease. Ben looked up, startled by this new development. Something in the air had changed. Penma almost walked right into the guard but stopped herself at the last second with a brutal look on her face.

"What is the meaning of this? We're only wasting time if we keep standing—"

She never got a chance to finish her sentence. Eloise pulled back her fist and launched it squarely into the Penma's livid face. The colonel crumpled to the ground like a droid powering down. Ben managed to look around just as Edric whacked one stormtrooper upside to head with his shield. Ames took the other down with the butt of her sickle. Sal placed the lightsaber back into Ben's hands as he joined up with the rest of his peers, all standing expectantly in front of the Supreme Leader.

"I never liked her," Ames sighed, tilting her head toward the unconscious Penma.

"We need to hurry, sir. They'll be sure to send more troopers after us when we don't arrive," Sestro urged.

Ben was stunned, his mouth gaping slightly. "I thought you all wanted me dead."

"If that was the case we would have taken you out already," said Edric and the others nodded in agreement.

"We're only loyal to you, sir, no matter how much trouble you might get into," Joran explained. "Harm won't reach you as long as we're here."

"Thank you. I owe you all one." Ben reattached his lightsaber to his belt. "I need to get to my escape craft in the private hanger on the twelfth floor. Will you take me there?"

"Of course," Sal answer and he, with the rest of his colleagues, unsheathed their weapons. Ben nodded in gratitude and the group marched to the elevator.

The elite black shuttle Ben was to fly sat at the ready about a hundred feet from where the large elevator doors opened. The seven stepped out cautiously, but no sign of intruders could be detected. The seven moved quickly across the shiny black floors of the small hanger. Ben's red cloak slithered behind him. Freedom was so close he could taste it.

"Here they come!" yelled Edric, his shield already out and humming with energy.

Tens of stormtroopers rounded the corners of the hanger. Blasterfire flew through the air like a horizontal rainfall. Kylo drew his lightsaber just in time to block two lasers from hitting him in the stomach. The scar Chewbacca had given him on Starkiller still burned sometimes and he didn't want another wound in the same place. The escapees picked up their pace with Edric staying in the back to absorb stray blasts from the assault of troopers.

"I need help!" the guard shouted back to the rest of the group. "All of the others, go!"

Sestro and Sal ran back towards their comrade, blocking shots and slashing at the enemy and forcing some of them back.

Ben, Joran, Ames, and Eloisa reached the shuttle. The doors hissed open as Ben hit a switch on the side of the ship, revealing a clean dark interior. Before he could move inside, a bolt of red light flashed in his peripheral. Eloisa's head was in the line of fire.

"Watch out!" he shouted and held up his hand. The blast stopped in midair, buzzing and shifting just inches from the guard's face. She jumped back, and Ben could release the blast safely into the armored ship, sparks showering down.

"Thank you, sir!" panted Eloisa, surprise in her voice.

"I wasn't just going to let you die, was I?" he asked. He couldn't see, but he felt a smile form under her mask. He climbed into the shuttle and switched off his lightsaber.

"Where are you going to go?" Joran asked over the din of the stormtroopers.

"I need to find someone, and I'll see where I can go from there."

"It's that scavenger, isn't it?" Ames asked. It may have been a trick of the light, but he thought a smirk crossed her face.

"Yes," Ben replied. An embarrassing heat rose in his face. Rey was somewhere in that tangle of fighters outside, he knew it, and he had to find her before she could get herself hurt.

"Before you go, take this." Joran pulled something small and blue out of his uniform and handed it to Ben. It was a tracking beacon. "We will see each other again. When you need our help, we'll find you with this."

"But…"

"We'll find a way out of here once you leave. Don't worry about that," Eloisa assured him. "We're your friends. That's why we're doing this for you."

Enormous gratitude welled up in Ben's chest and he nodded to his guards in appreciation. He then ran towards the front of the ship while Joran closed the door behind him. Leaping into the pilot's seat he started the engine, his heart soaring at the rumble of the engines. Slowly the ship hovered forward and out of the hanger, the wings unfolding to their full length. He couldn't get a look back at his guards. He could only hope that they would survive Hux's wrath and escape somehow as he just did.

TIE fighters swooped after him the moment he left the hanger. Green lasers flew around him, and he turned the shields to maximum capacity. However, he spotted a group of Resistance and First Order ships clashing and he decided to fly through it. Leaning hard on the controls, he baited his pursuers and pulled them into a death trap. One by one each fighter exploded behind him, destroyed by the X-wings that shot at any enemy within range.

Finally, the shuttle cleared the battle and raced off. Ben was outside the clutches of Hux and the First Order for now. Now there was nothing stopping him from plugging in some coordinates into the hyperdrive and running away from this huge mess. Rey would meet him in that somewhere if he got the chance to speak with her again.

After establishing an orbit around Nov Sensum, everything became quiet, the noises of the ship hushing. His scar ached. A rush of both relief and nervousness ran through Ben's mind, as this change meant only one thing. Rey was here somewhere.

When he turned around in his seat to greet her, a horrible sight met his eyes. Rey lay on the floor, dirty and dusty, her clothes singed. She was totally unconscious from what he could tell. Her light brown hair was spread around her face, not up in her usual bun or buns. She needed his help, and fast.

But how could he help? They had touched hands before, even though lightyears separated them. There was a chance that some first aid would translate over through the bond and keep Rey in a stable condition when they disconnected. He ran to the small silver box in the cabinet above Rey's head.

A distinct pain began to creep up in his left arm for seemingly no reason. He hissed through his teeth at it, but this was not his pain. Something had happened to Rey's arm in the same spot. The Force was telling him what was wrong, and he suspected a broken bone was to blame.

Grabbing the first aid kit, he crouched down next to her, grabbing an instant cast from its contents. It had been so long since they had touched each other's hands through the bond. Ben could only hope that he could help her heal. He gently laid a hand on Rey's shoulder.

Sound returned to Ben's ears, the rumble of the shuttle and the beeping of the controls bursting to life. This usually marked the end of a Force session, but Rey still lay in front of him, knocked out and hardly breathing. His hand almost seemed stuck to her. His breath stopped for a moment. She was here in the ship with him somehow, physically here. He couldn't fathom how, but right now that wasn't a concern.

Moving quickly, he unpackaged the instant cast. It resembled a roll of gauze soaked in a substance that would harden when exposed to the heat of a lifeform's skin. He took Rey's arm up to a workable level as gingerly as he could and wrapped it up. He had never noticed how many scars she had on her fingers.

The opposite wall was affixed with a comfortable bunk. Placing Rey's casted arm on her chest, he put his arms under her back and legs and lifted her up. With no pillows in sight, Ben unclipped his cape and balled it up. He placed the soft fabric under Rey's head, hoping to insure a more comfortable sleep. He couldn't help but look down at her face as he carefully set her down amid the sheets. Seeing her vulnerable and hurt like this pierced his heart.

Ben walked away from her and sat heavily back down in the pilot's seat. He placed his head in his hands and breathed out. The bond he and Rey shared didn't reveal their surroundings to one another. If the Force allowed him to pull her over to his side something terribly wrong must have happened on her end. Reuniting with her topped his list of priorities, but things turned out in a way he hadn't expected. Despite her worrying condition, part of him reveled in her presence as he had before.

A loud gasp a few minutes later shook Ben out of his thoughts. He moved his hands from his face just as Rey slammed back down into the bunk.

"Rey?" he asked softly, moving towards her.

"How… where am I?"

"I'll try to explain later. Even I don't really know what's happening, but you're on one of my escape craft for now. You're safe." At least they could now both be confused about this new development.

"But how did I…" She attempted to sit up again but cried out.

"You need to rest. I'll try to find us a safe place to land," he urged, holding out his hand to keep her still. Her pain distressed him.

Nov Sensum was where they needed to go. The shuttle couldn't be tracked by conventional means and any officer would assume a desperate jump to lightspeed as far away from the destroyers as possible. If the Force was watching over them, Hux's forces would pass them by as they hid out on the surface of the remote planet. Rey would rest and heal, and they could continue on their way.

Ben grabbed ahold of the controls and swerved towards the planet's deep blues and greens. Soon plump clouds began to appear, and then the outline of lakes and forests. A mountain range formed below them, surrounded by tall, silvery evergreen trees. Two suns shone in the sky, one white and one yellow. It appeared to be nearing evening.

One large lake caught Ben's attention and he made a beeline for it. Fresh water would be crucial to their survival here. Luckily there was a small clearing by this lake he could land the shuttle and he prepared the ship to settle there.

Leaves scattered and trees waved in the wind the shuttle generated as its landing gear deployed and settled upon the grassy space. Ben opened the hanger doors and a wave of fresh air entered the cabin. It was a bit chilly despite the brightness of the two suns.

Rey was still fast asleep in her bunk. Ben passed her as he walked outside into the sunshine and a gorgeous sight met his eyes.

The shuttle was embedded in a mountain valley. The lake a hundred feet away mirrored the blue glow of the sky. Yellow and purple wildflowers dotted the ground around Ben's black boots. Some of the mountain tops glistened with snow which had yet to be melted. Everything had a new and crisp look to it. A world for new beginnings. Something in the Force told Ben this, and he put his hands behind his head to drink it all in.

As far as Ben knew they had plenty of emergency ration to last them a couple weeks. Fuel for fires stood all around them in the form of tall trees. The lake provided a source for water, food, and washing. To be honest they couldn't have found a nicer place to hide and wait.

"Where are we? What's going on?" asked a voice thick with drowsiness.

Rey had wandered out of the shuttle and now squinted in the brilliant sunlight. Soot still covered her face and clothes and the arm with the instant cast hung limply by her side. The lengths of fabric she usually wrapped around her torso were loose and trailing behind her. All in all, she was a pathetic sight.

"We're on Nov Sensum. Rey you should be resting—"

"Don't tell me what to do," she murmured, waving his suggestion away with her good hand. She slowly walked up to him and stared him straight in the eye, light brown meeting dark.

"I want an explanation and I want it now. Why did I turn up in your ship as mine was burning down?"

Ben chewed at his lip. "You appeared in the shuttle as I was flying away. Your arm was broken so I tried to help you, and I touched your shoulder and you appeared there, physically."

Rey shook her head in disbelief and turned away from him. "This can't be real. I knew what we had was strange but… I never expected it to go like this."

"Well, that makes two of us."

Rey looked back over her shoulder at him. "What do we do now?"

"We wait for you to heal up and then we can think of something," he said, his voice trailing off towards the end.

"I need to find the Falcon," Rey stated, wobbling a bit on her feet. "The Jedi texts and my staff are in there somewhere… I need to contact my friends…"

She started to sway dangerously. Luckily Ben ran to her side and caught her before her face hit the dirt. Her skin was hotter than it should have been.

"You need to lie down," he warned her. He picked her up in a bridal carry and transported her back to her bed on the shuttle. She didn't even attempt to struggle, she was so tired.

"Brings back old memories, doesn't it?" breathed Rey into his shoulder as Ben picked his way over the twigs and roots back to their ship.

The first time they had met in the flesh he carried her off in the same fashion to bring her to Starkiller Base and interrogate her. Come to think of it, the trees surrounding them resembled the ones from Takodana.

"Unfortunately, yes," he answered her.

But now things were different. She was in his arms not as a prisoner, but as a friend in need of care and rest. At least he thought of her as a friend, he was sure the feeling wasn't mutual. But perhaps it could grow to be, if Rey wanted to make that decision.

Once Rey lay quietly in the bunk once again, Ben ventured out by the lake, taking a metal canteen with him to carry water. The wind had picked up a bit, creating miniature waves on the surface of the lake. The color of the sky deepened to a navy blue right in front of his eyes. A deep red stripe lay atop each mountain peak as the suns dipped lower and lower. Admiring the view, he placed the canteen into the lake to fill.

That's when he noticed the lights from the top of the nearest mountain peak. They got brighter as the light slowly dimmed, a soft spattering of yellow on the darkening plane. No traces of civilization made themselves apparent when they had landed in the clearing. The inhabitants up there kept themselves well-hidden during the day.

Villagers meant a market and a market meant food and clean water and supplies. Ben scooped up what lake water the canteen could carry and walked quickly back to the shuttle, planning to tell Rey the good news if she happened to be awake.

And awake she was. Sitting cross-legged on her bunk, a ration wrapper already lay in her lap as she chewed a hearty hunk of jerky. The bread and dried lakeweed had already been devoured. Her mouth stopped moving as Ben walked in and shut the door behind him. Her cheeks were full of food and Ben couldn't help but think of a small forest creature. Rey quickly swallowed her food as if slightly embarrassed.

"I have some good news," he announced quietly, taking a seat in the pilot's chair.

"Can you take me back to the Resistance?" Her eyes widened in anticipation.

"Not yet. But there's a settlement in the mountains right by us. I can go tomorrow and get us new supplies."

He opened a small compartment in the wall next to him. A sizeable bag, filled with credits, filled the space inside.

"Hopefully we can get some help for your arm, too," he added. Her face had fallen at news about not contacting her friends, and he added this thought the try and raise her spirits.

She bit her lip in disappointment and put her good hand on her cast. "I haven't gotten hurt like this before. A broken arm or leg is basically a death sentence on Jakku, so I was always careful." She met his eyes with a fear Ben shuddered to see.

"Well, you're not there anymore. You're with me for now, like it or not, and I'll do what I can to keep you safe."

She sighed in acceptance of his words, but that look of primal fear still lingered on her face. "To be honest with you, that's the last thing I expected you to say to me the next time we met. On Crait, I thought you'd try to skewer me as soon as you had the chance."

"So, you knew we were going to meet again?"

"Not like this, but yes. It had to happen sometime, despite me not wanting it to." She took another enormous bite of jerky and chewed viciously.

Ben leaned forward in his seat and pressed the tips of his fingers together. "Well, I for one am glad we're not trying to kill each other."

"Same here, my arm would not be doing me any favors," she mumbled through her food. She handed him the rest of her stick of meat. "You want the rest of this?"

Scavenger manners never really went away, it seemed. The corners of his mouth moved upwards as he refused politely. She shrugged and stuffed the rest in her mouth.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked after a few moments passed. Outside the windows the sky had turned completely dark, stars shining like pinpricks of light through dark fabric.

"Because you needed help and I was there at the right time."

"Well, I know that, but why all of this?" She gestured at her cast and at the brightly lit shuttle they both occupied on a remote planet away from harm.

Instead of answering he held out the canteen of water to her, which she accepted with slight hesitation.

"I will get my answer." She took a quick sip and brushed her wrapper and crumbs off the blanket.

"Thank you, by the way." She held up her casted arm.

"Anytime."

Ben got up, flipping off the main cabin lights, and moved to the spacious padded bench on the opposite wall from the bunk. Rey had pulled the thin blanket over her and closed her eyes. His hands folded in his lap. He leaned back against the cushions of the headrest and shut his tired eyes, ready for another restless night. He knew the nightmares would come back. They did every time. But as his gaze drifted over to the girl nestled in her bunk, a feeling a peace fell over the cabin like cool silk sheet. Perhaps this time would be different. Perhaps this time things could finally change for the better.

Author's Note: Sorry for the longer periods between uploads. School's finally fully kicked in so I write when I can. Thank you all for your support!