A Mother's Love
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Chapter One
Leia watched her brother approach, clad in black jedi robes. Here, at the end of all things, he had finally made an appearance. A quick flash of anger consumed her-why had it taken so long for him to come? But the anger soon faded into weariness, she was just too exhausted. Everything she had fought for had come to nothing.
She watched as Luke raised his hands-one flesh and blood, one mechanical-to reach up and pull back the hood covering his face. Leia was surprised to see that his hair and beard were only showing a hint of grey. She had imagined him to look so much older, the ravages of the years taking their toll like they had on her and Han. It had been so long since she had seen him in the flesh, his bright blue eyes held the same sense of determination and empathy she remembered.
It made Leia wonder if her tired mind was playing tricks on her. "Luke." She greeted him with no little enthusiam.
"Master Luke!" C-3PO interrupted with evident delight.
Luke nodded at the protocol droid and smiled. "Good to see you, 3PO."
"Leave us, 3PO." Leia waved her hand dismissively.
"Of course, General." C-3PO had the grace to sound embarrassed by his intrusion. Now was not the time for small talk. It was difficult to know the proper etiquette for long vanished masters who'd somehow conjured themselves halfway across a galaxy. He finally shuffled away to give brother and sister a semblance of privacy.
"Why now, Luke?" Leia asked. There was no accusation in her tone, just the same dullness with which she had greeted him.
Luke swallowed thickly, his expression grave. "I came to face him, Leia. But I can't save him."
"Of course, you can't." Leia replied bitterly. "Not since you were the one who drove him to the dark in the first place." She watched as her brother's face changed in an instant, the guilt he hid deep inside darkening his blue eyes to indigo. "What you think I didn't know?" She challenged.
"You've been in communication with Rey." Luke guessed correctly.
"Yes."
"What did she say exactly?" Luke hedged.
"Enough." Leia fired back, finally showing some signs of life. "If you had concerns, then you should have come directly to me. Or you should have spoken to him, not invaded his mind."
"That is not how it happened." Luke knew he sounded defensive.
"You know, I held onto hope for so long, waiting for you to come back, to do something, to inspire the galaxy. But now I know. My brother is gone."
Luke emitted a pained gasp, her harsh words pierced him to the core. He held her gaze, his own desperately pleading for understanding. But there was no understanding in Leia's brown eyes, only disappointment and regret.
"No one is ever really gone. And certainly not me. I'm here now, Leia. I'll take care of everything." Luke promised quietly, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead as he took her hands in his. He was taken aback when she snatched them out of his grasp.
"No!" Leia said, rising slowly to her feet. "I'll be the one to take care of things. Just like I always do." She turned away from him and began to walk with unhurried steps into the light pouring into the Resistance's refuge, and through the shattered door, and onto the surrounding plain.
"Leia, stop!" Luke cried in astonishment. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To save my son." Leia called over her shoulder, her warm brown eyes determined, the life finally coming back into them.
Luke's attempt to stop her failed completely as he lost concentration and vanished into thin air like a ghostly apparition.
Kylo sensed her before he saw her. He stared down at the lone figure on the plain in disbelief. It had been so long since he had seen his mother, she looked so tiny, so frail, but the pace she set was as resolute as the expression on her face. She appeared unconcerned that she was walking into the teeth of enough firepower to level a good-sized city. He couldn't fathom what she was thinking-was she sacrificing herself to delay things in order to distract him long enough to give the Resistance more time to escape?
Whatever her reasoning, it was a reckless enterprise. She was merely delaying the inevitable. He tried to ignore the lump lodged in his throat as she continued her approach. He felt all eyes on him, waiting for his response. But he remained mesmerised, frozen at the sight of her reckless bravery.
Hux, standing next to Kylo, looked at the new Supreme Leader with utter contempt. He was itching to take over, to show Ren up for the useless individual he really was, but the pain in his throat every time he swallowed from the last time Ren had Forcechoked him, served as a timely reminder to hold his tongue.
"Stop!" Kylo finally ordered.
His command was swiftly relayed, and the mighty line of First Order walkers came to an obedient halt. They were barely four hundred meters from the shattered door and the Resistance soldiers huddled within. Instinct told Kylo that Rey wasn't inside with them. He hated the sense of relief this gave him that the scavenger was out of immediate danger.
Hux glanced at Kylo's face again and saw indecision-and longing.
Indecision meant weakness-and opportunity.
"Supreme Leader?" Hux asked, careful to keep his tone that of an obedient underling, though his mind remained calculating. He knew that Ren was a slave to his emotions. And those emotions were at boiling point right now. "Shall we advance?"
As the Falcon raced back toward the battlefield, Rey felt a gnawing trepidation take hold of her heart as she sensed Leia's intent through the Force-it came through clear and strong. She was going to attempt to save her son by any means necessary, even it meant facing the same fate as her husband.
"Leia, no!" Rey murmured in panic.
She hurried up the ladder from the gun turret and joined Chewbacca in the cockpit. Dread knotted her stomach as she saw the massive crack in the shield door and the lines of First Order war machines so close to it. And standing in the middle of it, so small but so brave, was Leia Organa Solo.
"Chewie, get down there now!" Rey pleaded.
The Wookie barked his agreement as he swung the Millennium Falcon around in a wide arc and began to make the descent.
Kylo felt a slight tremor in both of his hands as he continued to stare down at his mother's diminutive figure from his lofty perch. He had never felt so terrified in his life.
Hux eyed Ren with disdain. "We are awaiting your orders, Supreme Leader. If you're ready to get moving. We can finish this."
"Sir…" the Shuttle commander added tentatively.
Kylo raised his eyes to both of them almost unwillingly. He knew this was a test of his leadership and he was already failing. "Bring me down to her." He commanded the pilot. "And don't advance forces until I say."
"Supreme Leader, don't be distracted." Hux urged. "Our goal is to kill the Resistance! They're helpless in the mine, but every moment we waste – "
Kylo was tired of Hux's weasel words. He harnessed the Force, used it to seize his arch rival, and hurled him into the wall of the command shuttle's cabin. Hard enough to shut him up, or maybe even kill him. He didn't care much either way. His whole focus was on the upcoming confrontation with his mother.
"Bring me down." He ordered again.
"Right away, sir." The shuttle commander agreed hastily.
The command shuttle descended, its huge wings folding upward. It landed silently in front of Leia, like a black raptor ready to crush her. She didn't even flinch. Not even when, with a hiss of hydraulics, the ramp lowered and she got her first glimpse of the son that she'd hadn't seen in years.
Her little boy was now a man, of course he was. Tall and intimidating, dressed all in black, muscular and fierce, he looked every inch the warrior. His messy black hair blew back from his face as he strode purposefully to meet her. The closer he got to her, the more intensely he blazed in Leia's sense of the Force, almost radiant with power. That power was fed by emotions so strong; they darkened the Force around him. Anger, uncertainty, mixed with an overwhelming sadness threatened to steal the breath from her body. But amongst all of that, Leia sensed fear in her son. He was afraid. Afraid of her, of what more she could say or do that might break him completely.
"Mother." Kylo said scathingly. "Did you come here to say you forgive me? To save my soul, like my father?"
Leia's eyes filled with tears. She knew there was no chance of reaching him with mere words. It was actions that counted now. So, she did the only thing she could. The one thing she had been longing to do ever since she had lost him to the darkness.
Stepping forward with arms open wide, Leia Organa Solo embraced her son.
Poe had to be held back by several of the Resistance soldiers from running outside after Leia. He was forced to watch the confrontation through a pair of quadnocs. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, stretching Leia and Kylo's shadows across the plain.
"Let me go." Poe said through gritted teeth. "I won't let her face him alone."
"No." Finn said from beside him. "We need to go."
Poe wanted to hit his friend; he couldn't understand how Finn was so okay with this. With bitter tears stinging his eyes, he glared at Finn. "This is not the way. I won't run and hide like a coward."
"Oh, so you'd rather be blasted to death out there. How is that helping Leia or the Resistance? She's sacrificing herself so we can live and carry on the fight without her. She's trusting us to make the right choice. Are you really going to be one to let her down, to let her sacrifice be in vain?" Finn argued hotly.
Poe slumped in defeat. Deep down he knew Finn was right. He studied the two figures standing in front of the command shuttle for a long moment. "You're right." He finally admitted. "She's doing this for a reason. She's stalling him so we can escape."
Finn put his hands on Poe's shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes. "We should go." He said again, giving his friend's shoulders a gentle squeeze.
"Yes." Poe glanced around at the other exhausted Resistance soldiers-at the few who were left. "We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn down the First Order. Leia's doing this so we can survive. There has to be another way out of this mine."
"We'll find it." Finn answered with a determined smile. "We always do."
The ridgeline above the mine had been reshaped over the millennia by salt glaciers, grinding away at the mountains to leave behind a cracked landscape of crags and knobs separated by deep fissures. As the Falcon swooped gracefully above them, Rey and Chewie had a bird's eye view of what was happening down below on the open salt plain. To their astonishment, they saw Leia embrace the tall figure of her son. They collectively held their breath as they awaited his reaction, expecting him to push her away, or worse. But to their relief, they watched, as in slow motion, Kylo's arms found their way around Leia. He was hugging her back, hesitantly, holding her like she was made of fine porcelain.
"Oh, Chewie." Rey whispered hoarsely, grabbing hold of his furry arm for support, for Leia had achieved what she could not.
Through the Force Rey could feel the Resistance General pouring all the love she held for her son into Kylo. And through the bond she had with him, Rey could feel him reacting to it. It was all so overwhelming. She felt like she was intruding on a very private moment, but there was nothing she could do to prevent that intrusion. Rey could feel the intensity of the love that Leia held for her only child in her heart. It was a sacred thing. And would never change. She had literally walked through the gates of hell to show Kylo she was there, that she was willing to sacrifice, even her life, to catch him if he should fall.
Tears blurred her vision as she reluctantly tore her eyes away from the emotional reunion happening on the ground, to once again focus on the enemy filling up the horizon. What she saw filled her with dread. The First Order were lining up their weapons to fire.
Kylo had lived most of his life in anger. He'd felt so deeply angry with everything and everybody. With the unfairness of it all. He'd struggled for so long, to reject his legacy, to kill the past. He was so close to achieving what he'd set out to achieve. The pain that had come with it, the brutal suffering of his soul he had deemed a necessity. There was no other way to learn what he had learned. The anger had been the driving force behind it all. But the time had finally come, in this day, in this moment, when he was finally able to let it go. To feel hope for the first time. The emotional reunion with his mother on the battlefield opened his heart for long enough to allow him to feel her love, to realise that she had never given up on him like he had long been led to believe by Snoke. Kylo could feel her maternal love like a burning light through the Force.
Eventually they took a step back from one another. Kylo and Leia regarded each other in contemplative silence, their eyes glowing with moisture, as they slowly let the enormity of their emotional reunion sink in. Around them drifted flakes of salt, light as ash.
"I failed you, Ben." Leia was the first to speak, her voice trembling. "I'm sorry."
"I know you are." Kylo paused as he felt something piece his consciousness. He felt an awareness of Rey, of their bond opening. He saw her in his mind, her hazel eyes wide and panicked, her lovely face stricken. "What is it?" He asked.
"You're being betrayed. They are readying their weapons to fire. You have to move." Rey warned him.
It was only then that Kylo heard the hiss of the hydraulics as the shuttle closed its ramp and began to take off in readiness. He saw his mother looking up at him in confusion. She felt Rey's presence in the Force but couldn't see her or talk to her like he could.
"What is it?" Leia asked.
Kylo looked into her warm, brown eyes with such deep sorrow that she immediately understood. "I'm sorry, too." He said sadly.
Leia raised her hand to cup his cheek, much like Han had done before her. Kylo closed his eyes, leaning into her touch, while he quickly shielded her with his body as the first of the First Order guns fired on them.
A/N-thanks for reading!