Force Dyad

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A/N-thank you very much to everyone who kindly read and reviewed the last chapter. There is a time jump of three years in this chapter.

Chapter Twenty-Three-Moving On

Finding himself the husband of an important politician, Han Solo spent a good portion of his free time becoming a successful racing pilot. In the years after the end of the Galactic Civil War, Han also became the co-owner of a shipping company and developed a reputation for being a vigilant and responsible boss. Outside of his work, he often raced for charity and sponsored several piloting matches-his favourite being the Five Sabers race.

The Five Sabers was a prestigious piloting championship held on Theron. As its name suggested, the contest was comprised of five stages: the atmospheric dash, the orbital sprints, the lunar relays, the sublight relays, and hyperspace orienteering. While the first two stages were mainly watched live or in full, the latter three were best watched in post-race edited footage, due to them lasting hours, days and weeks respectively.

There was also another version of the Five Sabers, called the Junior Sabers, which didn't carry as much prestige, but instead provided a great introduction for the younger pilots hoping to compete against the older and more experienced pilots one day. Han's recruit-Greer Sonnel-was one of the competitors who flew for the Crystal Cairn team. However, her championship run came to an abrupt end when she was forced to retire early when she was diagnosed with the potentially fatal bloodburn syndrome. Han needed to find someone to take her place fast, and when his only son dropped in to visit him one day, bringing Rey along with him, Han knew he had found the perfect replacement.

For the past three years running Ben had been the Junior Sabers champion. Much to his chagrin, he found himself suddenly thrust into a spotlight he didn't want and never asked for. As the son of the famous Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon, and one of the great leaders of the Rebel Alliance, he was suddenly faced with another type of pressure that wasn't that far removed from the same pressure he had felt trying to live up to his mother and uncle's legacy.

After his first win, Ben had been determined to just walk away and move on. He had never intended to stay and get caught up in his father's world, but he could not have predicted the outcome of letting himself be persuaded by Han to take part in the Junior Sabers-and that was the relationship Rey struck up with his father.

Rey absolutely adored and idolised Han Solo like the father she never had. And in turn Han Solo had become equally as fond of her. They quickly built up a father/daughter bond that Ben could only envy. Over the next three years he found himself isolated all over again. In his early youth, Ben's parents had led active lives in their respective professions. Han, a smuggler before joining the Rebellion, was unable to stay in one place for long, while Leia became occupied with routine senatorial duties. In his younger years, before he was sent away to train under Skywalker, Ben had aspired to become a pilot like Han. He had inherited his piloting skills from his father. As a child he had often enjoyed playing with the lucky gold dice that belonged to Han and often followed him around, idolising him in much the same way Rey was doing now.

The irony of his current situation wasn't lost on Ben. He was now the pilot he had dreamed of being as a child, but Rey was the one who had his father's attention and his love. Han had even gifted her the lucky gold dice. She wore them looped on a thin chain around her neck as she followed Han around, learning everything she could from him.

Ben remained the outsider, his relationship with Han as distant as always. He sensed his father's continued struggle to connect with him the same way he had in his youth. Even though Ben tried to close the gap, he couldn't forget the way his parents had allowed their busy professional lives, and their decision to send him to be trained by his uncle, had left him feeling abandoned and unwanted. Resentment began to take hold of him again which soured all of the accomplishments he'd made. He was now one of the most skilled pilots on the racing circuit and was due to take part in The Gauntlet- a mysterious and extremely dangerous annual race, in which many young pilots were selected to partake in the Five Sabers championship. The Gauntlet was sponsored by Han Solo himself, who occasionally participated in the races, and who was filled with pride that his son was certain to be one of those selected.


Ben climbed out of the Ossifrage-an RZ-1 A-wing interceptor that was once owned by Greer Sonnel, and which Ben had modified to race in The Gauntlet-and headed toward his temporary quarters. He pulled his helmet off his head, releasing his inky black hair to fall around his shoulders. As always, he hid behind a fake smile as he interacted with the other young pilots. He had gained quite a fan club. He always thought that life would be easier that way. To be kind to others, compliment them while in reality all he wanted to do was the opposite. But that would only make his life harder, which prevented him from doing so.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he finally managed to get away from them, but his glum mood still didn't lift. After corresponding with his wife, Han had confided to Ben that his mother had expressed a desire to retire from the Senate. This had puzzled Han, since his wife had devoted much of her life to politics. Leia had told him about the fractured state of the Galactic Senate and how frustrated she was becoming with it all. Han had invited his wife to take a break and travel around the galaxy with him, Ben and Rey for three months. Much to his surprise, she had readily agreed, citing that she needed a break from her senatorial career.

Ben was absolutely dreading her visit. Their last face to face interaction had not gone well. Leia had been displeased when he had abandoned his jedi training and abruptly left the academy with Rey in tow. She had called him irresponsible and demanded to know what he was going to do with his life now. When he told he was going to be competing in the Junior Sabers, her response had been scathing. "You really think you'd enjoy the life of a racer? Bouncing around from one system to the next, working on ships, never knowing where you're headed next? And Rey? What about her future? You're being selfish, Ben."

Thinking about this just soured Ben's mood further. By the time he came across his father working on the rear engines of a starship, he was struggling to hide his annoyance.

"Hey, Ben, how did the practice run go?" Han asked when he caught sight of him.

"Same as usual." Ben said through gritted teeth. "Where's Rey?"

Han raised his eyebrows at his son's harsh tone but didn't call him out on it. "Hey, kid, time to take a break." He called out loudly.

Rey rounded the corner and her face broke out in a happy grin. "You're back!" She cried. Like Han, she was dressed in a pair of grey overalls, and covered in oil and grease. She was becoming quite a skilled mechanic. Her waist length brunette hair was done up in long braid, which she had wound around and pinned on top of her head.

The fake smile Ben had been wearing earlier turned into a real one as soon as he set eyes on her. Since turning thirteen Rey had experienced a growth spurt. Still skinny for her age-she was transitioning from a child into an adult-and it still continually surprised Ben how quickly she was changing. "Hey." He greeted her, feeling his former tension draining away. "You ready to go and get something to eat."

"Oh." Rey's face fell. "I can't. We haven't finished up here yet. We'll be another two hours at least."

Ben felt his irritation beginning to build. "You shouldn't even be working on this ship. Did you attend lessons today?"

Rey scratched the end of her nose in annoyance. "Don't lecture me, Ben." She huffed. "I don't need any schooling. I'm learning much more here. Han says so."

"Of course, he would say that." Ben muttered under his breath as he raised his forefinger and pointed it at her in frustration. "You need to continue your education, Rey. Its important. Tomorrow you're going back."

"No." Rey argued. "Stop trying to tell me what to do."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Han asked as he came up and stepped in- between them.

"You had Rey working here instead of attending lessons." Ben turned his ire onto his father instead.

Han shrugged dismissively. "Don't get so worked up. She's getting a much better education here than listening to them dried up old droids in that school. They're worse than old C3PO." He laughed dryly at the reference to his wife's diplomatic droid. "I never had a formal education and it never did me any harm. Isn't that right, kid?"

"That's right." Rey agreed with a conspiratorial smile.

Ben hated it when they colluded with one another. His flash of annoyance turned to resentment. He felt like he was being pushed to one side again, like his opinion didn't matter to Rey, when in the past everything he said and did had always mattered to her. As she'd grown older and asserted her independence, he felt like she was slipping away from him. She didn't need him in the same way she used to and Ben was struggling to adapt to the change. "Do what you want." He said to her, turning and walking away.


Under a sky of perfect midnight velvet, Ben stared up at the brilliant array of stars above him and pondered his future. He felt a raindrop fall against his skin, followed by several others, but he didn't have the heart to go back inside his quarters. He moved over and sat on the edge of the roof, crossing one leg over the other, leaning back on his elbows to observe the night sky as he admitted to himself, he was unhappy, and felt as isolated and alone as he had at the jedi temple. Once again, he was sacrificing his own wellbeing and enduring a life he didn't want for Rey's sake. He wanted to move on, but knew that this time she wouldn't follow. She was settled and happy, more so than she had ever been under Skywalker's tuition.

Ben didn't know what to do. Soon his mother would be arriving and he knew he would feel more smothered than ever. He was desperate to break free of the chains binding him to his family, and knew the only way to do that was to move on, but that would mean leaving Rey behind. Even contemplating such a thing made it difficult for him to breathe. Ben felt a spike in his heart rate and he was forced to take in huge gulps of air.


Like she always did when he was struggling, Rey appeared. She dexterously slid down the roof tiles until she reached him, using the soles of her boots for traction. She didn't say anything, just sat silently next to him as she studied his side profile in the light coming from the stars. Rey knew him well enough to realise if she tried to talk about his feelings, he would deny it and try to change the subject. She was fully aware of his unhappiness, of the lies he spouted to hide it, faking smiles and words, trying to convince everybody as well as her that he was perfectly fine. Whenever he smiled, something felt wrong, it didn't reach his eyes, she could see the pain coming from deep inside his soul and knew she was part of the problem. Selfishly, she had tried to ignore it because she was happy staying with Han.

"I'm sorry." Rey whispered, her lower lip trembling slightly. He would never know how many times he broke her heart whenever she saw the sad look in his eyes, the corrupted fake smile he put on a daily basis, denying himself the right to be honest about the way he felt. "I should have attended lessons today. I'll promise I'll go tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter, Rey." Ben said hollowly.

His lack of interest frightened Rey. She looped her arms around her knees and rested her chin on them. "Don't say that?" She replied anxiously. "You sound like you don't care. And I need you to care, Ben. Your opinion is the one that matters to me the most."

"Does it? I thought it was Han's." Ben responded dully as he thought about his father.

"Well, you're wrong." Rey continued in a low voice. "I know I haven't behaved well lately. I don't know what's wrong with me. Every time someone tells me to do something, it makes me want to do the complete opposite."

A glimmer of a real smile chased away the sadness in Ben's eyes for a moment. "I remember feeling that way once. It's called being a teenager." He bumped his shoulder against hers.

"Am I rebelling?" Rey said in wonder. "Is that what I'm doing?"

Ben laughed at the puzzlement in her voice. It was a sound she hadn't heard in so long, Rey wanted to bottle the memory. She shifted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. "Even if I don't always show it much lately, you are the most important person in my life, Ben." She confessed honestly.

Relief flooded through Ben as her sincere words quietened the traitorous voice whispering in the back of his mind that persisted in telling him the exact opposite. Life was challenging enough, without making something big out of a minor issue. Ben knew he had overreacted. He had let his old fears cloud his judgement. Calm returned as well as his self-respect. "You are the most important person in my life, too." He assured her.

"I know." Rey whispered, smiling as she looked up at the glistening stars above.

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.