Force Dyad

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A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly read and reviewed the last chapter.

Chapter Seven-The Moment He Knew

Rey's scream came from a place or terror, telling of a mind lost in absolute fear. It was so loud and desolate that it made Plutt's hired thugs stop in their tracks. They looked at each other uneasily, their weapons slowly lowering. They had been paid to teach some arrogant teenage kid a lesson, not to attack a small child.

"What are you waiting for?" Plutt screeched. "Get him."

While the enraged Crolute began arguing with his paid thugs, Ben tried to figure out what to do. If he wanted to, he could easily dispatch them. It wasn't like he hadn't been trained to fight multiple opponents all at once. But Rey was already so traumatised he didn't want her witnessing anymore violence. She had endured enough. He cast around, looking for something he could use as a diversion, just to distract Plutt and his thugs long enough for them to make their escape. Ben's eyes fell on the white canvas covering one of the dome tents behind Plutt and his cronies. It was loosely fitted and flapping in the hot wind blowing across the sand.

"It's okay, Rey." Ben whispered soothingly. He looked at her face, red and wet with tears, terror in her eyes. It broke his heart. "We're getting out of here. Trust me, okay." He promised.

Ben knew it wasn't supposed to be possible to feel the pain of another, but he felt every bit of Rey's anguish seeping into his skin. He took it in, let himself feel it, and stayed right there to radiate calmness right back at her. Her frightened cries faded into ragged sobs as she looked back at him, her large eyes filled with a trust that no one else in his life ever showed him. Ben suddenly felt ten feet tall and capable of anything.

Plutt and his thugs had reached an agreement. They gathered together and began to launch their attack. Ben adjusted Rey against his hip with one arm, while extending his other out in front of him. His brow furrowed in concentration as he focused all his Force energy on the dome tent behind Plutt. He could feel the invisible energy pulsing from his fingertips. His jaw flexed as he directed that energy on the white canvas. Plutt's hired thugs surrounded Ben and Rey, drawing their weapons as they closed in. Ben increased the pressure, twisting his fingers in a circular motion to wrench the canvas from its moorings. There was the sound of violent tearing as the heavy canvas flew through the air like a giant white bird and fell on top of the bloated Crolute and his shocked thugs. Confused shouts came from beneath the heavy material as they tried to fight their way out, only to become more entangled for their efforts.

"Time to go." Ben said softly to Rey.

Rey's small face was drowning in sorrow yet a spark of strength within gave her enough strength to smile through the tracks of her tears. Ben cupped the back of her head with his hand comfortingly as he carried her back to Grimtaash without once looking back.


Rey was curled up against Ben's side, wrapped in his jacket. She dozed fitfully on and off, letting out a frightened whimper as she relived the horror of her parent's abandonment in her mind as if somehow her brain was unwilling to let the images go, and in its attempt to analyse them, it made her see it all over again. Ben hated to see her suffering. He hoped that after the long days of being so alone, that her pain would ebb now that she was safe.

Ben had been wandering aimlessly in space as he tried to figure out his next move. He hadn't thought about anything beyond rescuing Rey. Now he was faced with a conundrum-go back to the Jedi temple and Skywalker or go home to Chandrila and his parents. Neither prospect was very appealing. He suspected his uncle had already been in touch with his mother. He could only imagine what story Skywalker had painted about his bad behaviour to Leia Organa. It would only further cement her already low opinion of him. Ben wished he could contact his father, he always found Han a little more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt than his mother.

Even though he was only fifteen, Ben didn't feel like a child anymore, he grew up a long time ago. Life with his parents had never been easy, he had been alone for so much of the time, he had become pretty self-sufficient. When his mother had sent him to train under Skywalker his life should have improved-he was surrounded by others, some were good people, like Tai, who cared-but despite that, he had still felt isolated and alone. He had felt adrift, like there was nothing to anchor him to this world, until Rey came into his life. She was his anchor, his reason for being. The small, frightened little girl curled up against him gave him the roots he lacked. No one else could see his vulnerability, only she did. He had worked hard training under Skywalker, even though he had never really wanted to be a jedi in the first place. Like everything in his life, it had just been expected of him. What he wanted didn't matter as long as he lived up to others expectations. Well, he decided, he had failed spectacularly at that.

Rey whimpered again in her sleep and Ben tenderly stroked the back of her head until she calmed down again. She was such a precious little thing. He couldn't understand how her parents could abandon her in such a cruel way. Ben vowed to be everything they weren't and give Rey what they did not - security and unconditional love.


Whether out of a sense of homesickness or nostalgia Ben chose Chandrila. By the time he arrived, night had fallen and enveloped Hanna city in a blanket of darkness. It was strange, being there again after so long. Despite how long he'd been away, he still remembered everything about the place; the manicured gardens, the soft tinkling of the wind chimes that reminded him of summer afternoons. Fallen leaves littered the stone walkway leading up to the house, bathing it in dark red and orange, and Ben stepped on them with a satisfying crunch while Rey dozed against his shoulder as he carried her. The porch light was on, and the familiar yellow glow made the house feel warm and inviting.

As Ben made his presence known, he felt his heart both sink and rise all at once. It was rising with hope that Leia Organa would welcome him with arms open and no judgement, but sinking with the knowledge that her reaction would be the exact opposite. When the doors opened and his mother's warm, loving face was revealed, he held onto the faint hope that she would support him. To his immediate surprise she embraced him in a hug, careful not to jostle a sleeping Rey. She murmured her relief at seeing him safe and well, expressing how worried she had been about him after receiving word from Luke that he had disappeared.

As he walked slowly beside his mother's elegant form in the direction of the drawing room, Ben began to haltingly confide in her about how he had rescued Rey. To his surprise and immense relief, she didn't question him or pass judgement. Instead she nodded her head occasionally as she listened. Ben was elated, he couldn't believe she was taking him seriously, treating him with such care and attention. It was like things had changed in his long absence from home and he hadn't even known. Could it be that his mother had actually missed him?

Ben's elation only lasted until he stepped into the main living area to be confronted with the stern face of his uncle. Skywalker had beaten him back here, had correctly guessed he would head home instead of back to the Jedi temple to face the consequences of his actions. His throat tightened, cutting off his words as the hope died in his eyes as he realised coming home was the worst thing he could have done.


Ben had been banished to his old room while Skywalker and his mother discussed what to do with him. A distraught Rey had been taken from him and placed in the care of the same droids who had borne the brunt of his own childcare when he was a boy. Once again, his emotions turned jagged and his insides tight. Hot tears of disappointment formed in his eyes, ones that no one would ever see, falling fast and thick. He felt the wetness on his skin and each drop as it emerged from his open eyes. That's when he knew he had to take Rey and go. He had already overheard his mother and uncle's hushed whispers as they discussed about separating them-sending him back to the Jedi temple with Skywalker, while his mother worked out what to do with the traumatised little girl he had brought home with him. The word 'adoption' was bandied around. It wasn't a surprise that they had kept Han out of the conversation. They weren't interested in what his father had to say, or him for that matter. Ben had clammed up after they began questioning him in earnest, knowing that they wouldn't believe him anyway, even if he told them the truth.

So now he knew what to do, the feeling was so familiar in a way that was traumatic. He swallowed down his pain, pushed it deep down inside him so it couldn't hurt him anymore. His priority was Rey now. Decision made, Ben waited patiently in his room surrounded by his childhood toys, until he was sure the household had retired for the night. Then he left, making sure to pack a few essentials, before he went to get Rey. He was so attuned to her now that he located her easily. Leia Organa had placed her in a room adjoining hers, just in case she needed anything in the night.

Ben found Rey wide awake and sitting on the edge of the too big bed as if she had been waiting for him. The haunted look in her eyes turned to one of relief when she saw him. "Its okay, Rey. I'm going to look after you. Its just us now." He promised as he adjusted the bag on his shoulder so he could pick her up. She was light as a feather in his arms as he carried her out of the room and out of the house.

The only sound as he left was the door banging behind him, caught by the wind, and accidental though it was, he was glad for the noise. It punctuated his exit from his family's life, the biggest full stop of his life, there was nothing but a blank page ahead.

Ben Solo felt little regret as he walked away.

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.