Force Dyad

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

Chapter Twenty-Six-Adjusting

The shocking revelation of Senator Leia Organa Solo's true parentage and her only son's public reaction to it, dominated every headline and news cycle for weeks. The fact that it was all done in the Senate chamber, not just for the pubic record, but for the cameras, just made the surprising reveal much more dramatic. The most respected person in the room, held a deep, dark secret and her political opponent held incontrovertible truth that the universe's greatest villain had a daughter and that she was the centre of the New Republic.

The way it came out began to overshadow everything she had ever done. Who cared that she was imprisoned and interrogated by Vader? Who cared that her planet was blown up by his aid? She was Darth Vader's daughter. They couldn't hold Vader responsible anymore but they could hold her accountable. Every wrong he did was now directed at her. The damage was done. At this point Leia was toxic. Nobody could understand why she kept it secret. Allies who still felt empathetic still distanced themselves from her in order to protect their own interests first. Even if they wanted to, they could not help her out of this. The political momentum had shifted.

Her familial connection to Darth Vader may have cost Leia her political career but it nearly cost her son his sanity. He was now equally as despised as his mother, deemed guilty by association. He was no longer welcome anywhere. Old friends that he had made through the racing circuit shunned him. The other young pilots who had once idolised him and come to revere him, turned their backs. His face was so well known-having been broadcast across the entire galaxy on a continuous news cycle for weeks-made it impossible for him and Rey to settle anywhere for long.

Whenever Ben was forced to appear in public when they needed to stop for essential supplies such as food and fuel, he wrapped himself in a long black cape with a deep hood, in an attempt to hide his easily recognisable features so the world around him wouldn't realise he was Ben Solo. He even practised modulating his voice, changing its depth and tone, in order to further his disguise. He also toyed with his name. It was essential that he didn't give his true name when negotiating for supplies or mingling in public, so he came up with a new moniker-Kylo-a mixture of part Sky and the ending of Solo.

As the weeks progressed, Rey was getting increasingly worried about Ben's state of mind. Any attempt by his parents to communicate with him were met with a wall of silence from Ben. He refused to engage and was still too angry to forgive. He firmly rebuffed Skywalker when his uncle asked him to return to the jedi temple for a face-to-face discussion. It was like he wanted to cut all ties with his family permanently, to completely erase his past and even who he was as a person. He barely slept, became more and more withdrawn, even with Rey. He was sad and melancholy one minute, then angry the next. His mood swings were increasing in intensity and it frightened her because she was finding it difficult to reach him, or to help him through his emotional crisis.

Desperate for help, Rey reached out to the one person who had always remained their one true friend and supporter over the years-Magda.

"I don't know what to do anymore." Rey whispered through a veil of tears. Magda's holo-image flickered slightly in front of her as she spoke.

"Where is he now? Let me speak to him." Magda asked.

"He's sleeping for once." Rey confided. "I don't want to disturb him. He has such troubled dreams and never rests for long. He's been getting a lot of bad headaches, too. Meditating used to help but not so much now. Ben struggles to concentrate. He's in a bad way, Mags. I'm so worried about him."

"It's going to be alright, child." The female Mon Calamari's tone was soothing. "Bring him here."

"He won't come."

"Then don't give him a choice." Magda replied firmly. "Start the journey while he's asleep. You know how to pilot Grimtaash alone. If he wakes and starts to protest, tell him how determined you are to come and spend time with me. He won't deny you what you really want, Rey. He never has."

"K.'" Rey agreed quietly. She didn't like deceiving Ben but she was getting desperate. If Magda could get past Ben's stubbornness and make him realise what he was doing to himself, the risk would be worth it.


Ben woke up with a sore head after suffering yet another nightmare. The voice had finally managed to infiltrate his dreams, it now had a name and a face and was truly terrifying. Ben couldn't believe the towering, twisted and ugly creature that went by the name of Snoke, was actually real and not something conjured up from his worst nightmares. Snoke had revealed himself to be both wise and cunning, manipulating Ben now he was at his lowest point. He boosted Ben's fragile ego, whispering words of praise regarding Ben's inherent potential for limitless power, where Skywalker had done nothing but criticise him for the same thing in the past. Snoke took advantage of Ben's alienation from his own family, encouraging and manipulating Ben to use his raw, untamed strength in the Force to explore the dark side of the Force, telling hm he was certain that he was capable of achieving a level of power to that of his late grandfather, the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Ben climbed wearily into the cockpit to find Rey sitting in the pilot's seat, skilfully steering Grimtaash through the remnants of a meteor storm. One glance at the console's navigational system showed him they were en-route to Trask. He frowned heavily, absently rubbing his aching forehead as he settled in the co-pilots seat beside her. He noticed Rey give a nervous glance in his direction and it upset him that she seemed so tense around him.

"We never talked about going to Trask." He said testily.

"I decided to go." Rey tried to keep her voice steady as she concentrated on the view screen in front of her. The void of space spread out before her like a dark blanket, the stars dotting the blanket in an intricate pattern. "I want to see Magda."

"That's not a good idea." Ben leaned toward the console, intending on adjusting their course.

"NO!" Rey practically shouted. "I want to see Magda and you can't stop me." She was so on edge that she had difficulty keeping her composure.

Ben's eyes turned stormy, revealing the depth of his pain and hurt. Rey's lower lip trembled slightly as she looked back at him, no longer hiding how upset she was. "I need to see her, Ben." She implored. "I miss her."

"Fine." Ben replied morosely. It didn't take him long to cave in to her demands when he saw how upset she was. Magda had been correct in her assumption that he would do whatever she wanted even if it cost him. It didn't make Rey feel any better, but at least he wasn't putting up too much of a fight. They didn't speak another word to each other until they reached Trask as Ben fell into another one of his brooding silences.


The rain fell in an orchestrated rhythm when Grimtaash landed in the black-market port in Trask. Fog embraced every square centimetre of ground as Ben and Rey made their way toward the Traveller's Inn. Ben was cloaked all in black, his handsome face hidden beneath the voluminous hood of his cape. The outfit, including his weight and height, made him appear an intimidating figure. Rey walked fast beside him, taking two steps to his one in order to keep up with his longer strides. The poncho she was wearing was drenched with water, adding to the misery she already felt.

Rey rested her hand on the rough paintwork that coated the front door of the inn and pushed. Rough wooden splinters cut into her palm; shards of black paint crumbling to the floor. The hinges squealed as though they were a warning, but their plea was silenced by a wall of noise from inside. The sound of laughter and loud voices was overpowering. A sharp smell of drink wafted towards her, like black plumes bellowing from the windows of a burning house. There was even a hint of sick tainting the fragrance of the room, coming from some of the patrons who had clearly overindulged. In the midst of this chaos, Rey caught sight of Magda bustling among the tables, taking orders and keeping control.

As soon as Rey saw the female Mon Calamari, her face broke out into a relieved smile. "Mags!" She called out, raising her arm above her head to capture Magda's attention. She ignored the oath Ben muttered under his breath at the way she was attracting attention.

Magda motioned to one of the other servers to take care of her tables and then began to make her way toward them. When she finally reached them, she didn't bother to hide her surprise at the obvious changes in both Ben's outfit and his demeanour. "You clearly weren't exaggerating." She said to Rey.

Ben scowled from inside the confines of his hood. "What do you mean by that?" He demanded in a low voice. He was annoyed by the fact that Rey had been talking about him with Magda behind his back.

Magda wasn't intimidated by his sharp tone. She looked at him sternly. "Out the back. Now." She ordered.

Ben's scowl intensified. He didn't like being ordered about, even by one he considered a close friend. He could feel a lecture coming. He was about to issue a retort when he noticed the tension on Rey's face. Feeling guilty at his overreaction, Ben refrained from saying anything further. Instead, he complied with Magda's request and headed for the living quarters at the back of the inn, with a relieved Rey following close behind.


As soon they stepped foot in the large kitchen, Rey was swamped by the rest of Magda's family. Ben watched as the younger Mon Calamari accosted Rey and took her off with them to another part of the inn, leaving him alone with Magda. It was obviously done on purpose. He sighed, finally lifting the hood off his head and revealing himself to the female Mon Calamari for the first time.

Magda studied his pale face, noting the dark circles under his eyes, and the way he tried to hide his true feelings behind a mask of indifference. "Sit." She commanded as she turned away to pour them both a drink.

Ben reluctantly lowered his weary body into one of the chairs placed next to the table. He tensed and braced himself for the lecture he knew was coming. Magda handed him a glass of whisky and sat across the table from him, nursing her own drink. Ben's fingers closed around the cool glass as he endured her scrutiny with an impatient air.

"Do you have any idea how miserable you're making that poor girl?" Magda said brusquely. "She tearing herself to bits because she's so worried about you. And from the state of you I can see why."

Ben's fingers clenched so tight around his glass that it nearly shattered. "Has she said that?" He asked tensely, the guilt eating away at him again.

"Yes." Magda remained brutally honest as always. She wasn't going to spare his feelings. "I hardly recognise you, Ben. You've always had a melancholic air about you, but this is something else entirely. I can't imagine what you suffered when your mother's familial connections were revealed to you so publicly."

"I never knew." Ben ground out.

Magda sighed. "I am sure your mother had her reasons, but it's not fair that you are being punished for it. You need to confront her about it, instead of letting it fester away inside of you. Or, if you can't do that, you need to find a way to make peace with it. Your wallowing is leading you down a very dark path, Ben. It's not just affecting you, its affecting Rey, too. And I know that's the last thing you want. I know what she means to you."

Magda's frankness cut right to the heart of the matter. The guilt sat not on Ben's chest but inside his brain. What he had done he could not un-do. He had sworn to always protect Rey, to keep her safe, but instead he had inflicted his emotional pain on her and made her suffer, too. For the last few weeks, he had been barely holding on to the shreds of his sanity.

Ben bowed his head and choked on his own despair. "I'm so tired, Mags. I don't know what I'm doing. I hate myself. I feel so hopeless."

"Nothing is ever hopeless, Ben." Magda topped up his glass when he drained it. "You need to take some time out. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere far away from all the mess, to give yourself time to think and revaluate things."

"Where? Everyone seems to know my face. I can't get any peace anywhere." Ben dug his hands into his thick hair and pushed the inky black strands away from his face.

"I know a place." Magda said quietly. "It's remote, far enough away from civilisation for you to find some peace there. In the meantime, Rey can stay here with me."

"No." Ben shook his head obstinately. He wouldn't, couldn't leave her behind. "Where I go, she goes."

"I see your stubbornness hasn't improved much." Magda chided him. "Talk to her about it. But it has to be her choice to go, Ben."

"I know." Ben murmured as he raised the glass to his lips and took another fortifying sip of the whisky.

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.