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We're past the point of no return.


The moment their transport touches down on Ahch-To, Rey turns to Finn, unable to keep quiet for a second longer. "Are my parents expecting me then? Have they been with the Resistance long? I can't believe they recognized me on the holonet. I can't believe I was on the holonet." She pauses, biting her lip. She hadn't meant to just…blurt everything out like that. What happened to the stoic girl who spent years on her own in the desert? She never would have been so open, so vulnerable, with total strangers. Even with Kylo —

Just the thought of him sends guilt and heartbreak shooting through her. Rey shakes her head, forcing away the memory of him calling after her, his voice so desperate that it brought tears to her eyes. She can't think about Kylo now. If she does, she will ask them to bring her back to the Steadfast, and then all her plans will be for nothing.

"Well?" she asks, her knee bouncing up and down anxiously.

Finn gives her a tight-lipped smile. "First, you have to speak with General Organa. We'll worry about everything else after that."

Rey frowns. "But my parents — "

"Rules are rules, kid," Poe interjects. He removes his headset, setting it on the console before him. "Nobody joins the Resistance without talking to the general."

Rey huffs under her breath, but she chooses to let it go. For now. She waited fourteen years to see her parents. What's a few more hours, even if it feels like those hours will kill her?

She follows the two men out of the ship and into a nearby structure. It's a simple building made of gray stone, with arched doorways and bright interior lighting. A woman waits for them at a table in the far corner, her hair braided in an elaborate crown atop her head.

"General Organa," Poe says, gesturing behind him, "meet the new Jedi. New Jedi, meet the general."

Rey takes the woman's offered hand, but she glances back at Poe. "I'm not a Jedi."

Poe shrugs. "I'm just repeating what I've been told. We'll leave you two to the debriefing."

He turns and begins to make his way back outside. Finn gives Rey another strained smile before following his friend, leaving Rey alone with the general.

The woman scrutinizes Rey with a cool, dispassionate look. It makes Rey uneasy, and has her gripping her hands nervously.

After several moments of awkward silence, General Organa speaks. "Have a seat, Rey."

Although her assessment was cold, her voice is warm, almost sympathetic. It makes Rey relax, if only a little. She settles into the seat opposite the general, folding her hands in her lap.

The general sighs. "I understand that you've spent some time with my son."

Her son? Finn said he used to be a stormtrooper, so it can't be him. "Poe is — "

She breaks off abruptly when General Organa laughs. "Poe isn't my son," she explains, "though he certainly could be, with the way he drives me crazy. He's a good man, though. Impulsive, but good." Her smile fades. "I was talking about Ben."

"Ben?" Rey shakes her head. "I'm sorry, General. I've never met anyone named Ben."

"Please, call me Leia." She sighs again. It makes her look older, somehow — older, and exhausted. "He hasn't called himself Ben in a long time. You would know him as Kylo Ren."

Rey gasps. Kylo Ren? Her phantom is the leader of the Resistance's son? Her mind reels as things begin to fall into place. Leia Organa — daughter of Darth Vader, wife of famed smuggler Han Solo — twin sister of Luke Skywalker —

Realization comes crashing over Rey. Luke Skywalker died at his Jedi temple over ten years ago. But it was no tragic accident, despite what the holonet said. Kylo killed him. The man he was talking about, the one whose death changed Kylo's eyes — that was his uncle.

Kylo Ren murdered Luke Skywalker.

In self-defense, Rey reminds herself. Kylo said that Luke would have killed him.

What kind of family is this? Rey might know little about family, but she knows that they are not supposed to kill each other.

She tries to school her expression, but Leia sees right through her. "He wasn't always like this," the general says apologetically. "He had such a big heart as a child — so sensitive. The littlest thing could make him cry. A sad holoshow, a lost droid, a baby bird with no mother…" Leia trails off, her eyes misty. "But the darkness in him kept growing as he got older, and I didn't know how to help him. I thought my brother could…"

"Fix him?" Rey finishes. There is something bitter and angry unfurling within her the longer Leia speaks. "He wasn't light enough for you, so you sent him away."

The irony of this conversation is not lost on Rey. Here she is, accusing her phantom's mother of abandoning her son because he wasn't light enough — and isn't that what Rey just did to him? Yes, she did it to save the Resistance, but she only had the idea in the first place because she saw his darkness as something wrong. Something to be feared.

Leia looks ashamed at Rey's bluntness. "I didn't think I could give him the help he needed. Now, I see that sending him to Luke was wrong." She looks at Rey's dark clothing, her gaze searching. "Did he hurt you, Rey?"

"No." Kylo would never hurt her. He promised, and Rey believed him. "He — he doesn't want to be at war. He wants the galaxy to find peace, and he thinks that the Resistance is standing in the way of that."

Leia nods. "Finn told me that that's why you reached out to us. But I still don't understand how my son came to know you in the first place."

Rey doesn't have the words to explain the strange connection between her and Kylo. Still, she tries. "I've been dreaming of him my whole life. He's always there, inside my mind, when I close my eyes. Somehow, he found me on Jakku, and he brought me to the First Order." She swallows hard, looking down at her hands. "He cares about me. He had a vision that I would help him bring the peace he wants, but it's…"

"It's more than that," Leia finishes quietly.

Rey nods. It's beyond embarrassing, having this conversation with Kylo — Ben's — mother. Though her phantom never said it in so many words, Rey knows that his intentions towards her are romantic. She'd be lying if she said she did not feel the same way about him. It's why their distance now is so hard to bear. Whether it was the result of the Force or their own loneliness, the connection between them was immediate, intense, and all-consuming.

Rey never believed in love at first sight. Now, she is not so sure.

"I knew he wouldn't attack you if I were with you," she says quietly.

Leia gently places a hand on Rey's arm. "Thank you, Rey. From what you've told me, that wasn't an easy decision."

Rey blinks away the familiar burn of tears, giving Leia a small smile. She won't allow herself to cry for him. For them. She spent so long on her own that three days in the company of her phantom should not be enough to break her heart.

"We have a room ready for you," Leia continues, "and we could certainly use an extra hand around the ships once you've settled in."

"And my parents?"

Leia furrows her brow. "Your parents?"

Rey swipes a stray tear off her cheek. "Finn said they were waiting for me. I'd like to see them before I rest, please."

The confusion on Leia's face fills Rey with dread. "Rey…I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. Finn told you that your parents are with the Resistance?"

"Yes. In the training room, when I — " Rey breaks off abruptly, her heart pounding.

She had been doubting her decision. The pain in her phantom's voice, the way he promised to protect her — it almost derailed her plan to protect the Resistance from his wrath. But then Finn said that her parents were alive, and they were waiting for her. How could she ignore that?

Isn't it strange, though, that Finn didn't tell her about her parents until she began to doubt?

Leia squeezes Rey's arm. "Rey?"

She panics. With none of the gentleness she used on Kylo, she reaches for Leia through the Force, blindly grasping at the general's memories and flipping through them like pages of flimsi. She searches for Poe, then Finn and Poe, and —

There.

The conversation is muted, as if Leia is trying to shield it from Rey, but Rey still hears the truth.

"She'll give us the codes, get us inside…" Finn looked to the general. "We just have to get her away from there. That shouldn't be a problem, given her Force abilities."

Leia nodded. "Whenever she's ready, you have my permission to move ahead with this. Is there anything else? Any loose ends to the plan?"

Poe had been pacing nearby, and at that, he interjected. "Before we bring her here, we need to break her trust with Kylo Ren completely. Otherwise, we could be leading him right to us."

"How can you do that?" Leia asked.

Poe frowned. "I don't know yet. But we'll figure it out, right, Finn? There's gotta be something important to her, something that'll make her come with us no matter what he says."

An awful kind of realization had crossed Finn's face. It made Leia uncomfortable — what could he be thinking of, to make him look like that? — but his expression quickly changed before she could say anything.

"Yeah," Finn said. "We'll think of something."

Though Leia had half a mind to question him further, she decided to let it go. Trust was important, especially with the newer recruits. She would just have to believe that Finn and Poe wouldn't do anything to harm Rey.

Rey falls out of the memory with a cry that is half rage, half heartbreak.

They lied to her.

How could she have been so blind? Kylo was right to want to destroy them. The Resistance is cruel. They don't want peace; they only sow discord and rebellion in a galaxy that needs order.

She'd finally found someone who cared for her. He promised to stay with her, to never let her go, and she gave it all up for this? For a lie?

She's unaware that she has been saying all this out loud to Leia — screaming it — until two pairs of hands grab her arms roughly, pulling her back from the general. Rey can hardly see through her tears.

"Take me back," she demands. Or maybe she pleads; she can't quite hear herself anymore. "I want to go home."

"To Jakku?" Finn asks incredulously. He and Poe hold her arms as if she might try to break free and attack Leia.

"To Kylo Ren!"

The room goes silent. Leia is staring at her, her expression carefully neutral, but Rey can sense her surprise through the Force. Finn's and Poe's emotions are a wild mix of confusion, disgust, and horror.

"Take me back," Rey repeats, in a whisper this time. She holds Leia's gaze. "I'll make him stop. I don't know how, but I will. I promise. I have to go back, Leia. Please. He needs me."

Leia approaches her, waving a hand at Finn and Poe to release her. They hesitate a moment before obeying. Leia clasps Rey's hand, her own eyes full of tears. "They've already moved on from their last location. We have no way of tracking them. I'm so sorry, Rey." The general releases her hand. Then, tentatively, she raises her arms, enveloping Rey in a careful hug.

Rey lets out a sob, overwhelmed by pain, anger, and the general's unexpected kindness. She returns the embrace.