Last On: Ben and Rey continue to argue about the mission. Rey goes on the mission and the Star Dreadnought is stolen.

Chapter 21

Ben didn't think he wanted to go to the hanger to meet the incoming teams, returning from their mission. But yet, there he was, standing on the hanger floor as the shuttles landed. No one made him come, in fact a lot of them looked as if they'd be gladder if he hadn't come. In truth, something in the back of his head wondered how it went. Was Rey alright? Sure he hadn't felt her death, but that didn't mean she wasn't injured.

'Why am I so concerned about her. It's not like she ever appreciates my concern.' Ben thought, as he paced. He noticed his mom giving him a sympathetic look, so he stopped pacing abruptly. 'She shouldn't even be on this mission. If I had anything to say about it. If she's injured, I'll...!'

Just then a shuttle flew into the hanger. Ben looked up with the crowd as the ramp lowered and he saw her descend. Her gaze was frantically searching the crowd for something and coming up short. After confirming with his eyes that she was safe, Ben turned around and slipped out of the hanger.


There was a briefing right after the mission for Rey and the teams. Leia was pleased to hear that the Star Dreadnought was taken and parked in orbit around a nearby moon, waiting for a permanent hyper-drive instillation and a few other things to be finished off. The "prisoners" taken aboard the dreadnought were quickly becoming enthusiastic new Resistance recruits. And what's more, they did all this without any casualties.

'I don't know what I was expecting,' thought Rey as she left the briefing. 'I guess I hoped he'd be over this childish rant, and we could go back to, whatever we were, now that the mission is over. I guess I was wrong. Well, he can have it that way.'

Rey turned a couple of halls and then she saw him. She inhaled, a fury building deep within her.

"What do you want?" Ben said, a touch of agitation in his voice.

Rey turned around and stomped back around the turn she came from. She almost didn't believe her eyes, but there he was again. Rey huffed and Ben turned around when he heard her. A confused expression began to form on his face. Before he could put his thoughts to words, Rey turned around again and went down a different turn in the hallway, only she was met with the same sight.

"Get out of my way!" stormed Rey. As she passed him, he appeared again a few doors down from where she stood.

Ben huffed an annoyed huff. "It seems like we can't avoid this confrontation. So why don't we just out with it."

"I don't have anything to say to you," snapped Rey.

"Your anger betrays you," Ben growled.

"You, childish, son of a nerfherder!" shouted Rey. "I don't want anything to do with you!"

"Well, I don't want any of this either!" Just then as they both released their angry words at each other a crash could be heard nearby from both of their ends. He then disappeared, and Rey was able to continue as if he were never there.


Leia was in her office when Lt. Connix walked in with a worried expression on her face.

"Kaydel, what's wrong?" Leia asked.

"It's Ben and Rey, General. Reports have it they were both screaming at the walls again."

"Nothing's wrong. The force is projecting them to each other's space. They're having a lover's quarrel," reasoned Leia.

"Uh, lover's?" Connix questioned.

Leia put on an innocent smile, as she sipped a hot beverage. "A mother can hope, can't she. Whatever it is, I will not be getting involved. Those two will have to work it out for themselves." Leia paused, but Connix didn't move. "Is that it?"

"No, it's not. Right as they were arguing bizarre malfunctions happened all over. A stack of crates in maintenance suddenly toppled over injuring a man, one of the x-wing's guns fired on it's own right in the hanger, and according to the chef, his surprise casserole just blew up in the oven. People are saying it must be the Force."

"Not the surprise casserole!" joked Leia. Then in a more somber tone, "Fine, send them in."

"Yes, General." Connix quickly left the office.


Less then fifteen minutes later, Rey stuck her head into the office. "General, Connix said you wanted to see me."

"Yes I do, please come in and take a seat." Leia instructed. She noticed Rey's face had a doe eyed innocence, and a nervous demeanor. This was replaced with an eye roll and an angry glare when Ben walked in a few moments later.

Ben barely glanced at Rey before he walked in and took a seat.

Leia sighed. "Thanks to your little outburst earlier there have been fifteen malfunctions." Yes fifteen, the reports kept coming in, even after Connix gave her report. "including one injury, and a loss of more than a day's worth of food supplies. Not to mention hours of repairs that need to be done around the base."

Immediately both of them began to point at the other, and shout about who was really to blame. Leia raised her hand to silence them.

"I don't care who did it. You were both a part, and you will both face the consequences. Dish duty, for three days. Plus I want you to read this." Leia handed them each a tablet with a program labeled 'Conflict Resolution Strategies' loaded. "Rey, C3PO can help you read it, but I want both of you to study it."

Ben took the tablet without a word and left the room. Rey took a moment to say her apologies before leaving.


Later on, Rey was about finished picking at her dinner. She was kinda feeling guilty over the lost food supplies, and wasn't too hungry as a result. A table over from her sat Ben. He appeared to be reading from the tablet his mother gave them, completely ignoring her.

A worker came out from the kitchen and threw an apron at the both of them. "You two are mine for the evening. Come, there's washing up to do in the back."

Three hours later, one thing was clear to Rey and Ben alike. They never wanted to get dish duty again. They both avoided talking to each other and left as soon as they could.


The next morning, Ben was getting ready in his room when Rey appeared in front of him. He was fully clothed by that time, and so was she. Ben was just brushing his hair in front of a mirror.

"I'm not even here," said Rey, and she continued to walk around the room fiddling with stuff he couldn't see.

"Boo!" The Force Ghost head of Luke Skywalker popped out of the mirror, startling both parties at once. "Oh, hi Rey. Just wanted to have a chat with my nephew, if you aren't too busy."

"Luke, can't you see. Busy is what they are both about to be getting." went another ghost who popped out of the same mirror. He winked at the two and tried to pull Luke back through the mirror.

"We're not..." Both Rey and Ben tried to correct him at once.

But Luke would not be pushed around. "Anakin, will you get your head out of the clouds."

"That's father to you, kid," said the much younger ghost.

"Oh, you were never a father!" shouted Luke.

"You're bringing this up now!" the younger one shouted back.

"Father, your Grandfather!" Ben was connecting the dots. Both stopped arguing to look at him.

"You're Darth Vader!" shouted Rey, also connecting the dots.

The younger ghost stepped forward and nodded. "The Vader identity is not one of my proudest. I go by Anakin now. And yes, son. I am your grandfather." Ben looked on in stunned silence.

"Anakin, do you see what you've done to the boy? Now he's confused!" said Luke. It seemed the ghosts had resumed their bickering.

"Oh, he's not confused. You're confused. And I am your father!" said Anakin.

"You didn't raise me!" said Luke.

Rey and Ben watched the two of them argue with stunned silence.

"Is that what we look like?" whispered Rey.

"Are they always like that?" whispered Ben.

"Maybe there's something we could do about it?" Rey reached over and the tablet with the conflict resolution material appeared in her hand.

"Yes, Yes, and please do something." whispered a third ghost who appeared out of nowhere, an older man than Luke. "Anything." He then backed up and disappeared before the other two ghosts could see him.

"Your mom wanted us to learn it, she didn't specify how?" Rey reasoned again.

Ben cleared his throat. He stepped between the two. Rey tried to grasp Luke's arm, but came back with nothing. It didn't matter, they had their attention now.

"Come with us. We are going to have a very long talk. All four of us," said Ben.

"We'll meet in the lounge," said Rey. She left her room, and Ben left his room with two ghosts in tow.


The lounge was a small room with large upholstered seats and a holo view-screen. Ben and Rey both took seats, while the ghosts hovered above them.

"How should we start?" Rey opened her tablet.

"Luke, I heard you say you feel Dar..., Grandfather, doesn't deserve to be called Father."

"What are you doing?" Rey whispered.

"Active listening, chapter three." Ben whispered back.

Luke spoke next. "Of course he doesn't deserve the title. I didn't meet him till I was nineteen. When I watched him kill Ben."

"He killed Ben!?" Rey looked confused.

"Old Ben Kenobi. Obi Wan. Your namesake." Luke specified. "It was on the death star, after we rescued you mother from his grasp."

"I didn't know either of you were my children then. And Obi Wan and I had a long standing feud. It had nothing to do with you," said Anakin.

"Right," Rey winked at Ben. "So Luke, I hear that old Ben was important to you. And you weren't exactly on good terms with your father when you met."

"It sounds like you were on opposing sides," Ben put in.

"Not on good terms, you could say that! He cut my hand off!" shouted Luke.

"I was trying to get you to join me. I put in all that effort, with bounty hunters and making sure the carbon-freezing wouldn't kill you. Only to have you stubbornly fight me off every chance. I was trying to be a father then."

"Maybe we should try this Role Rev… R-e-v-e-r..." Rey sounded out the word.

"Reversal, Role Reversal." Ben corrected. "Lets try it. Grandfather, I want you to describe your interactions with Uncle Luke, from his perspective."

"Luke boarded the Death Star, with two droids, a smuggler, and an old Jedi to rescue the princess of Alderaan. Before they managed to fight their way out, he saw me kill the old Jedi with my lightsaber."

"And how do you think he felt?" Rey led him.

"He felt, he felt like he was loosing a mentor," said Anakin. "And when I severed his hand, he felt an intense pain and a loss of a part of himself." Anakin pulled up his arm to reveal what looked like an artificial limb. "He felt ashamed to be my son, and he didn't know why I was hunting him. I am sorry, Son."

"I can accept your apologies. But I cannot accept you constantly interfering with my family."

"This now," sighed Anakin. "They are my family too. And his own father takes my side."

"That, how can you suddenly become such good friends with the ghost of a man you called 'that lowlife,' and other not so polite terms. A man you begged me to keep away from Leia, up until Ben was born. I don't understand."

"Because he came back," said Anakin. "When he left her that time he had no idea she was pregnant. Then, when he got your message about the baby, he dropped a whole freighter's worth of smuggled goods, worth thousands of credits, to return to her."

"My father dropped cargo. I never heard of this." Ben was surprised to hear this.

"He never told anyone. It was only hours before you were born," said Anakin.

"It took months of searching and going through contacts and contacts just to contact him," said Luke. "I figured he was ignoring the messages."

"Well, I kinda, may be blocked the messages from getting in," Anakin confessed.

"You what!" shouted Luke.

"I knew by then you weren't going to do anything. I was trying to protect my daughter. Anyways, one message slipped through, and that was all it took," Anakin explained.


Ben contemplated that story for the rest of the day. When he went to dinner that night, he noticed Rey sitting alone. She had the tablet open and was mouthing the words as she read. Without thought, Ben joined her at the table.

Rey didn't say anything to Ben, and Ben just sat and watched Rey. After several minutes he noticed she was not turning the page. In fact her eyes were still focused on the same paragraph.

"Open ended questions." Ben leaned over and read out loud where her finger had been pointed.

Rey glared up at him in response.

"Why won't you let me help you?" Ben was getting irritated again.

"Why do you care to?" Rey yelled back.

"Because I care!" Ben shouted. Then Ben's voice became more timid. "I care…I care." His voice was one of realization.

"But why?" Rey asked, tears in her pleading eyes.

Ben looked away. "I don't know."

Rey couldn't take it any more. She got up and ran out of the room, as if she were fleeing Kylo Ren. Ben paused as he tried to think. When his brain failed to give him another thought he got up and followed Rey.

He caught up with her in an empty hallway. "Rey. I don't know why I feel the way I do. Under Luke, I was encouraged to strip away my attachments till only compassion remained. And under Snoke's tutelage, compassion itself was eradicated. But I assure you that I do care. I care that you're clearly smart enough to build an engine and master lightsaber techniques with little practice, but somehow you can't read. I care that you might get killed on a mission without anyone here giving… I care about you Rey."

"I… I am not used to people caring." Rey pushed back her tears. "Ask anyone here. After the Supremacy, when I was injured, you should have seen your mom's eyes when she caught me trying to stitch myself up. It just didn't occur to me that I could ask for care. I am used to taking care of myself. Sometimes, it takes a lot to remember I'm not alone anymore."

"You're not alone," Ben finished.

Alright guys, I realize "I care about you" is not the most romantic of lines. I figure that for a guy who had compassion thrown at him like a bad word, accepting that he does have compassion, that he cares about someone else's interests, is a big step. And for a girl who was abandoned by her parents, who was then surrounded by people with no compassion (my interpretation based on the TFA book's descriptions of Jakku), accepting that someone does care about you is an equally big step.

I hope you enjoyed this inclusion of the force ghosts. I know a lot of their part is more emotional in this chapter, and less humorous. But this chapter is one of the earlier ideas that I had, and I'm glad I could get to it here. Oh, and the older ghost who begs them to help is supposed to be Obi Wan. I couldn't use his name because the characters don't know him yet, not in that face, but I hope it can be guessed by what I have in there.