Author's Note: I still don't own anything, nor am I making any money from this. Leave a review if you're enjoying the story so far! As always, thanks for reading, lovelies! xx P.S. foul language warning!

Field of Vision

Chapter Nine

Inside the infirmary, Leia sat and waited with her son next to Rey's bed. Ben held onto the sleeping Rey's hand like a lifeline, attempting to stroke life back into her as he watched the steady rise and fall of her chest taking in each breath. During the meeting, Rey had exhausted herself Force-projecting an image to keep Ben calm against the rising tensions in the room. She had learned the theory of how to do this from Luke and from her endless studying of the Jedi texts, though she'd never practiced it on a smaller scale before trying it out on Ben for the first time. Rey knew firsthand how dangerous his rage could be, and knew if he'd lost control, their entire purpose for being there would have dissolved.

"So she'll be alright?" Ben asked the med bot as it prepared to leave. The droid beeped its response, but Ben had little clue how to interpret its code. He turned to his mother, impatient.

"For the fifth time, yes Ben, she'll be fine. She just needs rest," answered Leia.

This was new for Leia, seeing her son this way. Not only had the boy grow into a man while they were apart, but Leia noticed at times he demonstrated little habits that were mirror reflections of her and Han. She didn't know if it was possible for him to maintain healthy relationships again after his descent into the Dark Side, but his connection to this girl went far deeper than she'd realized. Suspecting stronger forces were at work beyond what she was aware, it made her proud to see her son acting so selflessly for a change. It gave her hope again.

"I'll arrange for Rey to sleep in her own private quarters once she's feeling better. And you… well, we still gotta figure out what to do with you," said Leia, gently placing the palm of her hand across his cheek.

"Ma…" Ben whispered, closing his eyes briefly as he leaned into her warm hand and grateful for the help.

Leia looked sad as she sighed, though in her heart she was happier than she'd been in years, all because she had her son back. But at what cost? There was still the matter of how to fit him into the equation of the Resistance. Her greatest fear was that he would never be accepted by either side now, remaining wild and untethered.

"What am I going to do with you, dear boy?" She asked a little more urgently, staring back into his brown eyes and seeing so much of herself in him.

A long and pregnant pause settled between them, soaking in each other's presence. Tears filled his eyes as he suddenly admitted his secret fear. He hadn't planned on ever addressing it again, but the feeling bubbled up like a hot spring inside him.

"Don't send me away again," Ben's trembling voice was barely audible to his mother sitting next to him.

Leia's heart swelled with pity, remembering how she had sent him away to train with Luke with no safety net. She thought she was doing the right thing by sending him away, but at his age then, she was mistaken thinking that he needed to be a Jedi more than he needed his parents. Leaning forward to pull Ben into her embrace, Leia didn't need the Force to realize he yearned to be nurtured again. After suffering years of abuse from Snoke, he needed a change. He needed this.

She cradled his head against her chest as they held each other, his big arms almost swallowing her smaller, aged frame. Being held by his mother with such raw desperation after so many years spent apart was all he needed to know she wouldn't give him up again.

"I promise I won't," she said, determined not to let her son down again.

xx

Once Rey woke, she was given strict orders to rest from both the lead medic and General Organa with no room for debate. Rey insisted she was fine, but that didn't change their minds. She was stuck in the infirmary. The little stunt she had pulled left her mind and her body dangerously exhausted. The effort of such a feat had drained Luke to the point of his demise, and if had Rey pushed herself any further, she risked doing the same. But, growing up on Jakku taught her how to survive, better than any other teacher. It also taught her patience. Her survival skills had saved her, pushing her limits to perform the illusion that prevented Ben from lashing out against the Rebels. Armed with new confidence that her abilities had surpassed even what Leia had expected, Rey was more than ready to resume her Jedi training. Secretly, Rey hoped there was a possibility that Ben could step into a teacher's role and demonstrate more of his abilities, despite how dark they could be.

While Rey waited to resume her training, she read to keep her mind sharp. Leia gave Rey the sacred Jedi texts to continue reading while she recovered, but it was hard to read when Ben visited her during every waking moment that wasn't spent breaking down the First Order with his mother and her commanders.

Once given a passing bill of health two days later, Rey immediately resumed her training. There was so much more to learn. Leia also decided to give her son a much needed break from his newfound duties, who in that same two days' time already proved himself capable of delivering good intel and insight into First Order operations. After only one successful mission to destroy First Order outposts along their supply bases, the Rebels realized Ben's word was good, and began to extend a portion of their trust to him.

He'd been let off the proverbial hook, but despite the success of their latest mission, not everyone was willing to risk their life for a mission based off the word of a turncoat. Many Rebels still harbored a deep distrust of Ben, especially the fighter pilots. And every once in a while, his mother had to bring the hammer down on their personal rebellions against her order. He didn't like being caught in the middle this way, and chose to spend as much time out of the spotlight as possible, training with Rey in the jungle.

xx

Amid the distant yet constant crescendo of mechanical noises from the fleet repairs and the swelling humidity of the jungle, Ben tried to calm his mind enough to mediate. While waiting for Rey to finish the training course, Ben sat crosslegged in the shade of a large tree. He tuned out the sensory input of his surroundings as much as he could, trying instead to focus on tapping into the Light side of the Force. Narrowing his focus on the one shape that appeared before his mind's eye over and over again, Ben forgot all about where he was when the vision of Rey became clear.

He was getting distracted, thinking about the shape of her approaching him. All other thoughts departed his conscious mind as he lingered over the way her hips swayed when she walked, the smell of her skin in the morning after another night spent like it was their last….

"Hey, Poe! I found him!"

Voices he didn't recognize jolted him from his reverie; realizing he just spent twenty minutes thinking about Rey.

"Look at this asshole," said Poe, emerging through the jungle undergrowth with another man approaching Ben from the opposite side. "Finding some quiet time, your supremeness?"

Slowly, Ben stood up. He didn't want a scene, not when he was trying his damndest to prove to everyone that he belonged there. A third Rebel had joined the fray, another bitter pilot from the looks of him.

"I did," said Ben, turning to walk away without another word.

"Hey, who do you think you are—," Beaumont called after him. Ben continued to walk away, his stride much larger than that of the shorter Rebels' in pursuit. Ben didn't know where he was headed, just that he wanted to get away before things turned ugly.

"Hey! I'm talkin' to you, you piece of shit!"

Ben stopped. His fists clenched at the insult, trying to keep his cool. Maybe if he gave them what they wanted for a bit, they'd leave. But the Rebels kept following him, taunting him like schoolyard bullies.

"You didn't think you could just walk in here scotch free, did you? Oh, but I forgot— mommy's in charge. Well, she can't protect you forever," Poe threatened Ben, his words were laced with bitterness. "Hey! Look at me when I'm talkin' to you!"

Ben turned around, his expression was menacing and his shoulders hunched like a feral animal. He didn't like how the small man disrespected his mother.

"Yeah, there he is," said Poe spitefully, running up to launch his fist into Ben's jaw.

Ben stood his ground as he took the hit. He didn't stagger or flinch, just stared harder and meaner at the shorter man.

"You caused a lot of grief here, buddy," Poe growled as he threw another punch at Ben's cheek.

Ben was so much larger than the Rebel pilots, towering over them as they squared up against him. He flexed his jaw, but was otherwise unfazed from the sucker punches.

Poe started throwing fists while Beaumont kicked out Ben's knees from behind him, sending him crashing to the ground. All three Rebels kicked and punched Ben while he was down, and it took all his remaining self-control to not lash out against them. It would be so easy though, to unleash his rage and Force-choke the life from them. Ben knew they had a right to be angry at him, hell, he tortured Poe at the very beginning of all this. Of course he was angry and wanted his revenge; Ben at least understood that, and even respected him for it. For all that Ben knew, the fearsome mask of Kylo Ren was still the only thing they saw in him.

Suddenly, one of them kicked Ben hard near his liver, knocking the breath out of him. So far, he'd been able to tolerate their little kicks and punches, but this kick hurt. He felt all of the man's anger transfer through, hitting just the right weak spot. Ben coughed while crawling on all fours, spewing blood on the ground.

"What d'ya know… I felt that one," Ben goaded them on, grinning wide with blood smeared teeth. He spat on the ground at their feet, his wild eyes daring them to continue.

Poe's anger peaked like a bull being taunted, yelling as he and others continued beating down Ben mercilessly. Ben fought against the pain and grit his teeth while his attackers continued, growing weary of this game. Finally, Ben stood up, about to unleash his anger when suddenly a familiar Wookie roar echoed though the air behind him stopping all three in their tracks. Before Ben had a chance to react, a blinding sharp pain thrust down on his shoulder, knocking him out.

xx

Going through Leia's latest training course on Ajan Kloss was her most challenging one yet. But the difficulty Rey encountered was not due to her inability to perform; it was a result of her own distraction. She could sense Ben's enticing thoughts drift through their bond and distract her as she ran the course. Rey tried to dodge the fast-paced laser droid even as she felt Ben's telepathic caresses spread across her body, allowing for more than one stinging laser to hit her. Determined to make good marks and prove to her master what she'd been learning while away, Rey ran through the course twice.

When she finished, she expected to find Ben where she left him, but he was gone. Her irritation only peaked at his absence; she needed to give him a piece of her mind for distracting her. Rey wandered back through the jungle, hoping to find him somewhere along the trail. But when she heard Chewie's angry growl echoing from a nearby distance, convinced she heard him use Ben's name, she turned around and ran. Unsure of what she'd just overheard, Rey hoped that Chewie wasn't about to start tearing limbs from his godson without hearing his side of the story first. But, Wookiees were stubborn—especially that one.

When Rey finally ran into Chewie, she wan't expecting to find him kicking Poe in the chest as he tossed another guy overhead and into some nearby shrubs while a third pilot cleared out as fast as he could to avoid the Wookiee's wrath.

"Chewie?!"

Rey's attention diverted from the angry Wookiee to the body laying on the ground. It was Ben.

Rey shrieked, calling his name. But Chewie came over and shooed her away, hoisting Ben's huge, unconscious body from the ground and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"What happened?" Rey kept after Chewie, but he only answered, "Ask him" as he pointed to Poe lying upside down against a tree trunk. She rushed over to Poe in this bizarre turn of events. Moments ago, she was just happy to have completed the training course without endangering herself. But now, she had to forget celebrating her own accomplishments to handle what looked like a schoolyard scuffle.

"Poe, are you alright?" Rey asked, trying to maneuver Poe into a more comfortable position. There were long scratch marks across his neck and chest where Chewie must have grabbed him.

"Damn, that Wookiee can do some damage," said Poe, grunting as he sat upright. The other guy finally got on his feet again, but took one look at Rey before running off like a coward.

Rey was getting impatient. "What happened."

Poe looked nauseated, and not because he just got his ass kicked by a full-grown Wookiee. He withered under Rey's penetrating stare, feeling immense guilt for what he'd done despite his anger over having been ordered to accept the presence of his former torturer here.

"I may have made a mistake…"

xx

When he woke, Ben felt like he had the hangover of a lifetime. His head throbbed and when he tried to move, his shoulder twitched in such pain he had to lie back down. He stank of sweat, dirt, and blood, and still had the coppery aftertaste of the latter in his mouth. He willed his swollen eyes to open and investigate his new surroundings. He was stiff from lying flat on his back while his lower legs hung off the edge of a too-small cot in a closet-sized room… with bars. He was stuck in a Rebel cell, staring back into the disappointed eyes of his mother.

"Glad you're awake. You wanna explain yourself?" She said, hands folded in front of her.

Slowly, Ben sat up, trying not to let it show how much pain he was in.

"Yeah, you ought to ask the short guy who started it. Your 'ace' pilot." Ben answered, darkly, thumbing the dried blood off his split lip.

"I've already spoken with him… in fact, he's getting seriously demoted because of it."

Ben huffed in bitter amusement. These Rebels do anything out of line and they just get demoted. Since the moment he found himself aligned with them, the stark contract between the discipline of the Rebels and the First Order felt astoundingly unbalanced to him.

"You know, someone of his rank would've been shot without hesitation for such behavior in the First Order. And all your so-called commanders arguing you was incredibly disrespectful to your leadership. Disobedience isn't rewarded in the First Order. I'm surprised to see that you tolerate that now… when you never allowed me to be that way."

Leia hardened her stare. "Just tell me your side of the story, Ben," she said with icy indifference. "Then we can talk about how different we are."

Ben exhaled, feeling every bruise along his ribs burn as he breathed. "I was alone, meditating, or trying to, while waiting for Rey at the end of the training course. They had already decided to stir up trouble when they approached me, and I tried to walk away, but I knew they weren't leaving without a fight." Ben paused to glance at his mother, reading her reaction. "I know why they're angry, I get it. So, I let them have their fun, just this once," he added with a glimmer in his eye.

With a stab of wistful sadness, Leia watched her grown son mimic the same reckless abandon his father once had.

"Chewie said you were antagonizing them," she added.

Ben laughed spitefully, recalling his Wookiee godfather's angry roar just before he blacked out. "He hit me, ma!"

Leia's face was expressionless, unrelenting, like she always was when he got in trouble as a boy.

Ben gave in; there was nothing he had to hide. Honestly, he was proud of himself for showing such restraint. "Yeah, I spat back. But I never laid a finger on them."

Leia seemed satisfied for now, and turned to leave. But, Ben didn't like being kept behind bars like a wild animal.

"Why am I in here?"

"You're in there because a cage is the only safe place I can keep you right now. Not until people begin to understand."

Ben frowned. He really wasn't fond of cages, especially now that he had tasted freedom. With a pang of regret, his thought's returned to Rey, remembering how he was supposed to meet her at the end of the training course. "How long?" He asked urgently, but his mother only shrugged noncommittally.

"And don't be mad at Chewie, he always was your most responsible parent," said Leia, feeling somewhat sentimental. "I'm sorry my men treated you this way, son. This isn't what you deserve."

Ben scoffed, "Yes it is. I deserved that and more, and you know it." Ben's temper suddenly flared, something didn't feel right here. "And why haven't we talk about -it- yet?"

Leia stood unmoving, watching her son. "Talk about what?"

"You know what!" Ben yelled, "Dad!"

"Do you want to talk about what you did?" Leia asked, her own heart carefully guarded.

Ben realized his hands were shaking again, his tell-tale sign of fear and anger, and a precursor to worse behavior rising within him. She was treating him like a child.

Ben launched himself off the too-small cot, ignoring the dizziness, and walked towards the wall of bars separating him from this mother. "I feel like we should," he said calmly.

Leia's gaze dropped from holding her son's, turning to finally leave as a med bot came wheeling around the corner into the cell. "Then we'll talk about it soon. Let this droid help you, please. You should see yourself."

Ben felt like a part of him had been ripped away as he stared after his departing mother. Now probably wasn't the best time to have that conversation. Still, it hurt that she was avoiding him like this. Perhaps he was asking too much of her too soon. There was nothing more for him to do now but wait.

xx

The med bot held up a small oval mirror for Ben to soak in his reflection before it began the arduous process to heal his wounds. His mother was right; it wasn't pretty. His bottom lip had a fat split down the middle, and his left eye was swollen shut with a bloody mess on his temple. The skin of his left cheekbone was split open, and as the med bot helped him lift his shirt, he found multiple purple bruises peppering his sides.

The med bot began its diligent work on Ben, applying Bacta to cure his open wounds. Some of it dripped in his mouth from the application to his lip; it tasted horrible. Ben sat awkwardly as the droid poked and prodded him with materials, just waiting for it to be done already. But when he saw Rey skid down the hallway looking for him, Ben could've leap out of his seat. She called his name with a sigh of relief once she slowed down enough to finally discover his location, instantly infuriated that he was behind bars.

"Well that won't do," said Rey as she watched the med bot tend to him.

"What won't do? The bruises or the bars?" he asked, holding up his thick arm for the droid to tend to the bruises on his rib cage.

Rey stayed until the med bot had finished, eyeing Ben's bruises along his pale, muscular chest. Soon enough, the med bot gathered its kit and exited the cell, re-arming the gate behind it. She waited to move forward until it had floated on down the hall and out of sight. Ben wasn't sure what she was waiting for, until he watched her hand slip onto the keypad, punching in the entry code to release him.

"Can you do that?" He asked, grateful but skeptical.

"Of course I can. Now, c'mon, unless you want to stay." She raised her eyebrows at him, twirling her fingers at him.

xx