Rey had returned to meditation, seeking the next Jedi Master who would guide her. A slight crease appeared between her eyebrows as she concentrated, her mind more restless than normal. She drew a deep breath in and released it, dropping her shoulders and relaxing her muscles. For a moment, she still felt nothing. But then, she sensed a presence.

"Rey?" I know that voice. Her eyes shot open, and she saw Ben standing before her, his dark eyes intense.

She scrambled to her feet. "Ben, I don't have time for this right now, I've got more important things to do."

"Rey, listen to me, I found another Dyad here on Dantooine. You have to come and-" As though struck from behind, his head bobbed, and he started to sway. Rey reached out and grabbed his hand to keep him upright, but he vanished.

She stared at the spot he had just been in shock. Then she huffed in frustration, muttering "Damn it, Ben" under her breath as she snatched her bag from where it rested against the wall and sprinted out to the X-wing. She climbed into the cockpit and shoved the headset onto her head.

"Ben Solo, one of these days you're going to be the death of me," she muttered as she powered up the thrusters and took off.

Ben came to slowly, his bleary mind struggling to make sense of what had happened.

"He wakes, mistress," a gravelly voice said to his left.

His eyes blinked open to see a roof of wooden beams above him, firelight dancing over them, and he tried to sit up, only to be stopped by cuffs around his wrists and ankles. He turned his head to look around and saw that he was surrounded by shadowy figures.

"You will release me," he commanded them.

A sultry chuckle sounded from behind him, and he tried to twist his head to see its source to no avail. "I'm afraid your mind tricks will do you no good here." He sensed the Force winding through the air like a snake, binding each member of the circle together.

"Who are you?" Ben asked, flexing his muscles to test his bindings. The knotted rope dug into his skin, but showed no signs of giving.

The figure behind him stepped to his head and leaned over him. She was the only one without her head covered by a hood. He couldn't make out many of her features in the semi-darkness, but he saw silver eyes and a flash of pointed teeth as she spoke. "We are the guardians of these sacred ruins that you have desecrated with your filthy presence."

"I was led here by the Force," he replied. "Two ancient masters, Ashe and Chiara, wanted to teach me here." A hiss arose as he named them, beginning at the female at his head and rippling around the circle.

"You dare to speak their names? You, who have dishonored their legacy with every action of your miserable existence?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You think we don't know who you are? What you have done?"

His heart pumping in his chest, he replied, "My name is Ben. I've come here for guidance, that's all."

Another hiss rose from his captors.

"Yes, Ben is the name your parents gave to you, but it is not your true name."

A deep-seated, nameless fear rose in his chest like vomit.

"Why don't you tell us your true name?"

"Tell us…" the others whispered.

"Ben Solo is my name," he said through gritted teeth.

"You lie!" they hissed in unison.

Glaring straight up at the ceiling, he repeated, "Ben. Solo. Is my name."

A sudden pressure exerted itself on his mind from all sides, as though spears were being pushed into his brain. He squeezed his eyes shut and cried out, his back arching off of the table.

"Say it!" they shrieked, whether with their voices or inside his mind, he could not tell.

The pressure increased, puncturing his thoughts and fragmenting his senses.

"Say it!"

A guttural scream tore from his throat and his arms strained against the knotted ropes until his wrists were rubbed raw.

"SAY IT!"

"Kylo Ren!" The name thrust its way between his lips and hung heavy in the smoky air above him. The pressure gave out, as though it had never been there, and Ben was left weak and trembling, his breath stuttering in and out. His brows came together, and a tear slipped from the corner of his eye and into his hair.

The female's expression was hard, her gaze unforgiving. His pain did not move her one bit. "There, that wasn't so hard." Her voice seemed to stab into his mind, and he winced, turning his head to the side. She smiled, an empty, cruel expression on her, and lowered her mouth to his ear.

"Now, Kylo Ren," she murmured, clipping the words off with her pointed teeth. "You will die."

"I'm not who you think I am," his voice wavered out. "I'm not him anymore." Even he didn't sound convinced. Still he turned his head back and opened his eyes to look at her. Silver and black, merciless and pleading, dry-eyed and tear-filled. The two gazed at each other as the silence stretched out. "Please." The word was no more than a whisper.

The corner of her mouth lifted in cold amusement. "No." She stood straight. "You are what you have always been, and that is a child of light who gave himself to the darkness. You should have died years ago so that the galaxy could have been spared, so that we could have been spared."

Ben shut his eyes again, a breath shuddering in as her words struck him, so much like the words he himself had said to Ashe only a short time before. But he gathered the scattered pieces of his consciousness and mustered enough energy to ask, "What did I do to you?" He had to know.

Her lip curled in disdain. "Why do you wish to know? So you can gloat over us one last time before you die?"

"Just tell me." His voice was hoarse, rasping out of his throat. Those three words carried so much force, so much desperation, so much pain, that even the female was taken aback.

She smoothed her surprise away and said, leaning close to his ear again, "As you wish. Your last memories will be of the agony you've caused." She placed her clawed hands on either side of his head, turning it upwards. He did not resist, only his eyelids fluttering in response. She shut her eyes and bowed her head as each of her hooded followers raised a hand over Ben's body.

He stiffened as the vision began in a burst of light. In flashes, he saw stormtroopers patrolling through the forest, ragged people hiding behind trees and in caves. The female's knife-edged voice echoed in his mind. "During the final years of the Empire's rule, we welcomed the Rebellion into our homes, allowing them to establish a base here. We longed to see the Empire fall and the return of democracy and peace." He watched the stormtroopers flee and the people celebrate. "When news reached us of Sidious' fall, we rejoiced. We drove the remnants of the Empire's army from our planet and began to rebuild, just as the rest of the galaxy did."

He saw an old X-wing land in the clearing he and Rey had landed in. Then he watched as his uncle climbed out, a very young Luke. "In gratitude for our aid to the rebels, Master Skywalker came to us, offering to train some of our young in his new Jedi Temple. We accepted, for we had long desired our people to learn the ways of the Force from a true master, not just the tales and superstitions passed down through generations of our ancestors." He saw mothers embracing their children tearfully before releasing them. "Our children strongest in the Force were chosen to go with him, and we saw them off with high hopes, believing that Master Skywalker had the power to restore all to the glory it once held." The children ran off to a transport ship, packs almost as large as them bouncing against their backs. "We were wrong to trust him."

The vision shifted in a blur to a place Ben knew well: Luke's rebuild Jedi Temple. He began to realize what was coming, and he fought to turn away, but the female only gripped his head harder, her nails digging into his flesh. "Luke Skywalker allowed you to train among our children, despite the growing darkness he must have sensed in you. Perhaps you remember them." Flashes of faces passed in front of his eyes. He recognized them, but did not know their names. Her nails dug even deeper into his face. "They burned to death the night you razed the temple to the ground. You murdered them in cold blood. This, Kylo Ren, is why you deserve to die." She released him, and his eyes flew open, his breaths shaky.

"Any final words?" she asked mockingly.

Silence fell, only broken by his trembling breaths. Then he spoke, the words stammering from his lips, broken and awkward. "I'm sorry." Another tear squeezed out of the corner of his eye. "I can't explain what I did or justify it, and there is no forgiveness for what I've done." His breath slowed as he came to a resolution, and he locked gazes with the female, his eyes empty. "I do deserve to die."