Legalities: Star Wars, nor any of the characters living in a galaxy far far away, belong to me. They remain the intellectual property and real world property of the wonderful actors that portrayed them, George Lucas, and now Disney. I am however, grateful I get to play in their character rich world. Enjoy the story.

Chapter Six

Whispers

His world was comprised of nothing but agony; Ben Solo was really starting to hate waking up. Over the past several months it had ceased to be anything but a painful disappointing experience. This was no exception, at the moment his head was screaming in vehement protest and his body hurt absolutely everywhere. For the first several seconds he was also confused, what had happened? Where was he? What had he done now?

That last thought wasn't a normal one for him. Ben always knew where he was, the Force had ensured that. He swallowed the sticky thickness inside his throat; which meant he'd been unconscious for some time. With a sinking feeling, he tried to reach out to the Force and discovered that he couldn't wrap his mind around it. This was akin to being blinded, at least for him. Since before he could remember, Ben Solo had always felt everything through the Force; and losing it was like cutting off a vital part of himself, and it sent fear coursing through him.

If he was having problems sensing the massive powers of the Force, then something had caused it. Jedi and Sith didn't just lose their abilities due to pain. Sometimes they were dampened by it in the case of Jedi, but in the case of the Sith, pain was an amplifier; a focuser. And at the moment Ben was in serious pain.

Vaguely he recalled slipping into unconsciousness, but he couldn't quite recall why. The memory of those moments was still cloudy and shrouded in uncertainty. With a mental heave, he sent his mind traveling along the well-worn paths that made up the connectivity of the Force, but they were wispy, like smoke. He'd never felt anything like it before.

Ben recalled the untold times that Snoke had crushed his ability to use the Force. Anything he'd been teaching his apprentice a lesson about obedience or inflicting the penalty for failure. But other than those moments, he'd always felt both the dark and the light side of the Force. It had been the only consistent thing in his life.

He hadn't realized just how isolating that would feel just as everything flooded back into his traumatized mind.

Rey. Loss. Death. Pain. Alone. Isolated. Pain. Rey. The crushing emotions repeated over and over, colliding into a painful cacophony of tragic realizations.

Ben tried to shift his shoulders, hoping that inflicting physical discomfort would stop the painful onslaught of memories. He was flat on his back with his hands bound painfully underneath him. A burning sensation licked along his forearms toward his head, and he understood with rising anger that he was being drugged. It was the drugs that had muddled his mind.

Which explains my inability to tap into the Force. He thought, the frustration feeding his growing anger. He didn't know who had him or what had happened, nor did he know what happened to Rey's…he couldn't even finish that thought. Struggling to get past the remnants of his foggy head, Ben forced his eyelids to slip apart.

Kriffing hell, the lights were too bright, he blinked several times, ignoring the burn of tears that slipped past his control before the surrounding area came into focus. He chalked the reaction up to the intensity of the pain stabbing lightsabers through his head. The far bulkheads were familiar, and his breath caught as he realized, I'm on the Falcon.

Ben tried to sit up, but apparently the damn chains were also attached to something behind him which prevented that quite neatly. Tilting his head, he sighed. His gaze searched for anyone, any being that could tell him what the hell was happening. But as he scanned the limited area, it was obvious that he was completely alone in one of the small lockups inside his father's freighter.

His larger frame had been shoved onto one of the small medical beds and then locked away in a cargo compartment, presumably to protect the occupants of the ship. Which meant they knew exactly who he was, and he was likely being returned to stand trial for his many acts of violence against any number of worlds. Not good. The only question would be which world achieved his extradition.

Ben's body trembled with increasing pain as a wave of bunching and coiling muscle tried to tie him into a knot. The knife-like stabbing sensation inside his skull intensified causing it to rival his physical discomfort.

With some effort he tried to remember what could have led to his current predicament. He recalled finding Rey on Exegol, and then trying to save her.

No, that's not right. I did save her, and I defeated the Knights of Ren before we faced the Emperor, together. But then Palpatine had realized that their combined life forces were the key to his reanimation. With a shudder he could almost feel the sheer torture of those last moments. It had felt as though his body and soul were being torn into pieces and then folded inside out before being burned. The memory of Rey's agonized scream of pain confirmed that she had been every bit as affected as he had been.

And then he'd fallen. But that hadn't been the end, oh no, because Ben Solo didn't know how to quit. It had never been an option for him. Snoke had, quite literally, beaten that into him from the moment he'd made the decision to abandon the Jedi training. And yet as bad as all that had been, it had been so much better than the isolation he'd suffered at the hands of his own parents. And all of it had been due to their combined fears.

The only person that hadn't truly feared him had been Rey. An incredible sense of failure upon realizing that she was dead eclipsed every other pain he was feeling. He had desperately tried to use the Force bond between them in order to allow his lifeforce to pass into her; Ben remembered being denied the ability to do that. Denied by a power or a presence, by something…

He could only assume that the Force had determined that he wasn't worthy of such a gift. Having the clarity of just how badly he'd failed the people he'd loved hurt in ways that eclipsed everything else he'd experienced.

By his own actions, he'd lost his father, then his mother as she'd tried to save him, and now Rey. He truly was alone. And all of it was a direct result of choices he had made.

And yet, despite these choices, the Force had sent him Rey. But he'd fallen so far off his destined path that it had then stolen her back leaving him to suffer through his life in loneliness and isolation.

Although, at the moment, the chances were very good that he would die soon; probably in an extremely slow, very public and insanely painful way. So perhaps he would simply cease to exist when that happened?

Ben swallowed again, his eyes blurring with unshed emotions that were both new and so old he could scarcely remember them. He hadn't expected everything to be forgiven just because he'd realized his mistakes.

A whoosh of the pneumatic door focused his wandering thoughts. The man he knew as FN 2187 walked through the door. His dark eyes were keen and wary as he took in the prisoner at his feet.

"What happened?" he asked.

Ben blinked sluggishly. The amount of drugs coursing through his system were playing havoc with his cognitive abilities. He could sift through his disjointed thoughts but gathering them into any reasonable data was proving harder than he'd anticipated. Apparently the former stormtrooper wasn't feeling very generous, or patient. He stepped forward and pointed a blaster at Ben's head.

His voice shook as he asked his question again. "What happened?"

"The Emperor is dead." The restrained man managed past his pulsing head, he could actually feel his heart thumping behind his eyes.

"Yup. Kinda figured that. We're all still alive." FN 2187 shuddered. "Most of us are still alive."

"Rey." Ben said softly. "You want to know about Rey." His words were broken and nothing like the way he'd spoken as his time with the First Order.

"Well I sure as hell don't care about how you survived." The blaster didn't waiver and it didn't drop from where it was ready to drill a hole through his skull. Ben wanted to sigh, but it felt like too much effort.

Pulling in a breath, he continued like he hadn't heard anything the former stormtrooper had said. "Palpatine. He tossed me over a cliff, by the time I climbed out…Rey was—" he couldn't finish. Ben didn't know what had happened. He only remembered the events leading up to the moment he'd been lifted from the ground a second time and then thrown away like a piece of irrelevant trash.

"Rey what?"

No matter how much he tried, Ben couldn't quite bring himself to say she was dead. Not out loud. "FN—"

"That's not my name."

This time Ben did sigh. "It's the only name I know."

The other man bristled, "My name is Finn."

The ship shuddered and the jarring pain that rocked Ben's body caused him to bite his lower lip. The metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth. Finn's dark eyes snapped up and he rushed out of Ben's makeshift cell. Another sharp change of direction slammed Ben against the ends of the restraints. He felt his left shoulder pop out of the socket. Burning pain slithered along his arm and made him wish, and not for the first time, that it had been him that had died inside the citadel.

He was hanging half off the shelf bed, his weight and the agony of his body holding him in the painful position he'd landed in. Something else must have hit the Falcon, because it dropped so suddenly that he found himself momentarily floating before he collided with the metal edge above him. Blinding pain above his right eye and the hot rush of blood meant he now had another injury to contend with.

Biting back the pain, he ground his teeth together as the freighter evened out and he landed in a heap of tangled black clothing and injuries.

Did you really believe we could be so easily defeated?

A multitude of voices speaking as one penetrated his mind and sent razor sharp shards of Force lightening lancing through his head. Ben couldn't have stopped his involuntary cry of agony if he'd had to. He'd believed that if he couldn't access the powers of the Force then that would mean that others also couldn't use it against him. He was very very wrong.

By drugging him, Finn and Rey's other friends, had eliminated Ben's ability to shield his mind; leaving him open to psychic attacks. He couldn't protect himself and he couldn't fight back. He was helpless against the powerful mind-Force that had sought him out.

The Sith are not so easily broken. A thousand generations have been freed by the Jedi's actions today.

He wanted to ask what they meant. But the turbo door hissed and both Finn and the little BB unit entered. Finn's eyes widened at Ben's twisted expression of pain and the awkward position he was lying in. He swallowed when his eyes dropped to the broken angle of the imprisoned man's left shoulder and the fresh blood welling from a long gash above his eye.

"What happened?" He started to move forward, like he was going to help. But the sudden halt to his steps meant he'd obviously figured that might not be the wisest course of action. Finn looked down at the BB unit. "Get Chewie."

The little droid beeped several times and then quickly rolled away. Ben tried to force his body to scoot back against the metal wall. But a slight grunt of pain and the twitching of his legs was all he could manage. The large wookie came around the corner and growled at the sight of Ben's semi-conscious state. He sent an accusatory glare at Finn.

"What?! I didn't do it. I have no idea what happened to him." The look Chewbacca shot back was a clear 'I don't believe you'.

Ben? He barely heard the whispered voice bearing his name; but he knew exactly whose voice it was. As his mind started to slip past awareness, "Rey…" he breathed just as he descended back into the world of the unconscious.

Finn's head jerked up and his mouth dropped open. "What did he just say?"

Chewie roared back and it was pretty obvious that he'd heard the same thing and was every bit as troubled as they were. They both knew that Rey's body was lying under Finn's coat in the medical bay. And she sure as hell wasn't walking around having one-sided conversations with half-dead First Order scum like Kylo Ren. So why was he breathing out her name like some sort of whispered prayer? Like she meant something to him?

Finn knew he'd felt something when they'd pulled Rey from Kylo's arms and carried them both on board the Falcon. He still didn't know exactly what that had been, but it had felt like Rey. Her light. Her compassion. Her…just her. He wasn't sure when he'd started to recognize the unique signature of her presence, but he had. And Finn had felt it when they'd first brought the injured leader of the First Order aboard their ship.

It had been that gentle urging presence that had ensured he addressed the worst the Ren's injuries. But looking at the broken unconscious man beneath him, Finn wondered if there was more going on here that feelings and urgings. Kylo was sensing something that he shouldn't be able to.

The drugs pumping through him were designed to disconnect a Force user from that cosmic power. And it was highly effective. He'd heard about it during his time as a stormtrooper, but there was very little need for it because most of the Jedi were already dead and Kylo Ren had been the only apprentice to Snoke.

Looking over at Chewie, Finn pulled in a breath. "We need to get that arm back in the socket." His own shoulder twinged in sympathy at what must be an extremely painful dislocation. A soft series of growls appeared to be an agreement from the Wookie. He pulled the key to the locks and opened them allowing the chain to slip from the cuffs. Both of them were still firmly in place on Ren's wrists and the yellow drugs still pumped into his veins. Which meant he was at least a bit less dangerous?

Finn wished he actually believed that. He'd seen the apprentice to the supreme leader in action on many occasions and he would never call Kylo Ren, with or without access to the darkside, not dangerous.

The large Wookie carefully grabbed Kylo's left arm and then pulled at an angle. The loud pop of the joint slipping back into place was sickening. The dark-haired man never so much as twitched at what had to have been a significant amount of pain. Something weird was going on and Finn wanted to get to the bottom of it and that wasn't going to happen with Ren unconscious.

Recalling Poe's vehement string of curses at Finn's explanation as to why they'd brought Kylo with them, he wondered if he could actually keep his own people from sending a blaster bolt through the man's head. That same feeling of protectiveness settled over him and his breathing caught at the intensity. Only Rey's essence was this strong; at least for him. For reasons he couldn't understand, she wanted Kylo Ren alive and unhurt.

Taking a deep breath Finn nodded to the empty room, "Okay Rey. I'll keep an eye on him." It was a promise he wasn't sure he could keep, but he would try. For her? He would try.

XXXX

Rey watched with a sinking heart as Ben's eyes rolled up into his head and he slipped away from the waking world. He was hurt before getting tossed around by a powerful mind-Force and now he was worse. Hadn't he earned a break?

She'd felt the same overwhelming presence he had, and it had scared as much as it had him. What were they dealing with? It had taken both of them to defy Palpatine and Snoke, how could they stand against another rising darkness when they were separated by her death? This wasn't how she'd seen this whole sacrifice thing going.

To save Ben and the rest of her friends, Rey had been willing to give up her life. But now she was trapped, watching as they struggled and unable to do anything to help. Watching as Leia's son had tried to reconcile the incredible guilt and emotional pain, pain he carried with him had been disturbing for her. Because Rey could actually feel what he did, and it was awful. She didn't want this type of afterlife. She'd expected to pass into the Force, like master Skywalker had. But no, she was being denied that peace and she didn't understand why. Hadn't she done exactly what the Jedi had asked? She'd stood against her lineage and she'd proven worthy as a Jedi, hadn't she?

So why was she trapped watching the man she'd fallen in love with suffer, her friends deal with her death, and bearing witness to the rise of a new dark power?

A distant voice answered her silent questions.

"Because you are the only one that can."

TBC…

Author's Note: Thank you for reading and reviewing, I so appreciate your continued to support. This story is kind of writing itself, new ideas and paths keep popping up and I'm quite enjoying the creative journey. I hope you are too. Just for your knowledge, I have no intension of returning Ben Solo to the darkside and I will reunite them in the real world before their journey ends. And yes, I fully intent on giving them some sort of happy ending, the one denied to them at the end of the Rise of Skywalker.

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