Disclaimers: All right reserved of the originals "Star Wars" Characters, Names, Places, etc., to George Lucas / Disney. I pledge to return all characters after the story is complete.
Warning: Major Spoilers of TRoS.
Note: This is a Reylo FanFiction (slow-burn)
Be Aware: Concepts contained in this chapter includes TROS novelization.
「Act 30: When has the student become the teacher?」
Ajan Kloss, 36 ABY
The woodland seemed ominously quiet. Ben paused, now even the sound of his own footfalls was silent, and all that could be heard was the susurration of the leaves in the gusty wind. Looking up, he was transfixed by the myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, creating a living roof above him. They were calming, almost hypnotizing, but the longer he stared, the more the leaves looked like eyes staring back down at him, and the boughs seemed to draw closer, blocking out the sunlight as if they were forming a cage around him.
Ben stood there locked in his memories; he had now been living in Ajan Kloss for a week. He was still trying his best not to cause any conflicts. He cleaned his room, kept his appearance clean and neat, ate his food, and spent his days helping fix and repair anything that needed adjustment. Now, most of the spacecraft was repaired and ready to fly again, so he had more free time.
Ben had noted the uneasiness that surrounded Poe. The acting general was seriously bothered by something, and Ben knew it had to do with the information he had provided Poe from the Analyzer. It seemed that soon the Resistance would be called on for a new mission.
His nights were mostly quiet; Ben went to sleep early. Honestly, he didn't wish to sleep at such an early hour because his nightmare would hunt him down again. But he was still trying not to cross paths with Resistance members. Until now, everyone had been civilized and accepted that Ben Solo was to stay on Ajan Kloss. But Ben sensed from time to time bitter gazes filled with hate resting on him. People still called him Kylo Ren, and although that was no longer his name, Ben never confronted them. Because he knew his past was the cause of their reaction.
The old, yellow, and brown leaves rustled in the wind, as the sounds of dead and weak trees creaking at every push the wind gave filled his ears. It was the end of autumn, and the air was colder. Most of the leaves were already gone.
The sight of every living thing coming to an end somehow depressed Ben. Truth be told, it was not the main reason that Ben was falling into a deep depression. As the days passed, Solo was reliving the death he had caused, and his awareness of the damage he had caused only grew bigger. Once, he had admitted to Rey that he was a monster. He had known the truth then, but now he understood the depth of how monstrous he had been.
To Ben, it didn't make sense why people would slowly accept him. In a way, he could understand Rey's openness, but they shared a connection for so long; they knew each other. But Poe and the rest should never forgive or trust him. But it didn't matter how many times Ben told them so; they just supported him further.
Of course, they were only a small group of people. The rest ignored him, and some would gladly have seen him dead. Ben supposed it was good that they didn't know that he would not defend himself if they tried to hurt or kill him.
Rey was once again training deep in the rain forest, and BB-8 had followed her. She still believed that her training as a Jedi was not fully finished. Ben sighed; when would she understand?
Rey closed her eyes, feeling every tree, and fern around her. She reached out for the Force. She inhaled through her nose and sent her awareness into the void.
Rey had to admit that as the years had passed, even though they were few, her connection with the Force had grown stronger. Her body was strong, but her mind was stronger, and she reached out, unencumbered by physical ability. Rey loved to run through the jungle and train with the lightsaber; sometimes, she used both the Force and her sapphire sword.
Deep down, she knew it was time for her to craft her own lightsaber and return Luke and Leia's to them. She had read Luke's Jedi texts, but she still didn't understand fully how to create a lightsaber from scratch. Rey would be a great Jedi someday, and Leia had known it; that was why she had wanted Rey to have her Skywalker legacy.
From time to time, Rey felt her Darkness, especially recently. It was never fully gone; she knew it was now a part of her. She was slowly mastering balance as Ben was, had. She understood now that there could not be light without the darkness. It is the balance that counts.
Rey ran through the thick brown foliage; the red flag in her hand fluttered with each pump of her arms. She bounded over tangled ferns, dodged hanging vines. Sweat soaked her collar, and her thighs burned with effort. She was training again on her own. She did her best. Running through the jungle was not harder than running through the deep desert sand. She could do this all day!
It was the first time Ben had walked so far from the base and deeper into the jungle. He had seen Rey's training through their connection but never from close range. He was stunned as he suddenly noticed Rey running in front of him. She had already taken out the first two training remotes, and she had captured the flags they guarded.
Ben recalled his own training; Luke had had him face these remotes daily. He had called it training; Ben had called it a silly exercise for newbies. Indeed the Jedi had used those droids for decades in their training. But Ben believed that the best training was face to face hand to hand saber to saber will to will, combat. But Rey didn't have the option to fight with anyone else who could wield a lightsaber. That meant that the next best thing she could use was the remotes.
Rey leaped a massive gorge, fought blindly over a narrow ravine while balancing on a tightrope made of vines as BB-8 warbled at her. Ben followed them, curious about her training. Ben strode along at a fast pace, but he didn't have to run; their bond allowed him to catch up with any details he couldn't see physically.
"One to go," yelled Rey, "C'mon!"
At first, Ben thought she was talking to him, but he almost immediately noticed that she was talking to BB-8. Rey was so much pulled into the exercise that she had not noticed that Ben was observing her.
The final remote was faster and trickier, and it eluded her. It was more droid than remote. She had wanted a challenge today, and it was delivered. BB-8 kept following her, beeping complaints every time he had to dodge a tree root. Rey hid a smile. She was impressed by how the droid kept up with her.
The remote stopped then and hovered in midair as if waiting for her. It was so different from the other two. She had once dealt with a remote like it, and she ended up breaking it with a fallen branch. She hoped this time; she would use the lightsaber. The remote hummed dark and low; she felt that hum deep in her chest.
Rey ignited Luke's saber, and bluish light glowed against the brown leaves around her as she stared the remote down. She was going to destroy this thing; this time, though, she would do it with the lightsaber.
"Calm down!" A voice suddenly called, "If you use your anger, you will never hit it."
A blast shot out from one of the ports on the remote and almost hit her shoulder while Rey was distracted by the voice. She turned and saw Ben leaning against a large tree, watching her. "How long have you been here?" She asked him as she turned away and gazed at the remote angrily.
"Long enough to know you are doing it wrong. Use the Force; you are in control here, not the remote!" Ben explained, and his voice was steady and calm.
Rey ignored him; she wouldn't make the same mistake twice. This time she would get that remote. As the remote fired again, she whipped up her lightsaber to deflect the blast and sent it flying into the trees. She turned and gazed at Ben proudly. That little thing would not stand a chance against her.
Ben lifted an eyebrow, "Determination is not the same as readiness, Rey!" He reminded her.
This time Rey heard him and paused, gazing at him in confusion; Leia would have said the same. Funny thing, she thought, Ben Solo sounded like his mother at that moment. But Rey killed the reminisce and went after the remote. But the little thing kept firing blast after the blast and did not indicate being inclined to stop.
Ben shook his head in bewilderment at her reactions. Rey still had a lot to learn. Indeed on Exegol, she had managed to take down the Emperor, but it was with the help of every Jedi that had ever lived. Now she was fighting a training remote, and she was not even using the Force.
"Wrong!" Ben cried again as he was getting closer to her. "Rey, you are taken over by anger!"'
The training remote started to buzz around her, it fired at her multiple times, and she whirled her lightsaber with equal speed, deflecting every single attack. It was much easier these days for her to connect with the Force. But attacking while being calm and peaceful, how was that possible? She could counter the remote, but she couldn't find an opening to attack.
Ben remembered their previous fights, Rey had easily dodged his attacks, but she hadn't easily found an opening to attack him. She needed training and not with the remotes. Dueling with me would be a better help to her weakness, Ben thought, and the thought reached her.
"Patience, Rey!" Ben added, "Wait for your moment!"
The remote seemed to surround her, dazzling her again and again. She wanted to smash it. She couldn't wait. It started toying with her, and Rey became angrier. The remote dodged her hits, and her blade missed again and again. But she went dashing after it.
Ben sighed; she was doing her exercises wrong. Indeed, if she wanted to hone her physical combat skills, this training was enough, but Rey wanted to use the Force. She was not even noticing her surroundings. She only focused on taking the remote down.
"Rey, wait!" Ben yelled at her as she kept running after the remote.
Rey hardly realized what she was doing as raw instinct took over. She threw Luke's lightsaber at the remote and grabbed at a wooden stick. She reached with the Force and thrust the branch into the remote, as she had done before. She lifted her hand for the lightsaber to return it to her hand, but it did not come. She looked around, searching for it.
A few steps away, Ben stood holding the lightsaber and gazing at her seriously, "This isn't the way you should wield a lightsaber, Rey!" He said before noticing that he sounded like Luke. When had the student become the teacher? He wondered.
Rey glared at Ben, still taken by her anger. She faced him and strode towards him, "Really, and what is the right way?" Rey challenged him, "Are you saying you know how it should be done?"
Ben didn't flinch away, and he stood there gazing at her, "You forget that long before you even knew what a saber was, I made the same mistakes as you are making now! I was trying to win by terminating the remote, but that was not the lesson. You have to use the Force, and you have to read your surroundings. If you act upon your rage, you will never manage it."
The jungle around her faded. All went deathly silent as darkness closed in, threatening to smother her. She took a step back, somehow understanding what Ben meant. But her anger was still very much alive, and she wasn't going to ignore him. Maybe she was still mad at him for letting her believe he was dead. Maybe she was still in her angry mode.
"Look at yourself," Ben cried, his voice sounded colder, "You wanted to train as a Jedi. But you keep proving something else. If you keep your training less, like this, you will never evolve."
His words caught her attention. Rey thought he was wrong. Since when did Ben know so much about the Jedi and how they should be trained? But Ben Solo understood the Force better than she did, a voice whispered.
"No, what would you know!" She hissed back. She seemed confused and a moment later, surprised that she had almost forgotten that Luke had trained Ben. Of course, he would know better about the Jedi training than she did. Luke had trained him for years. Plus, Ben was trained by both sides; his knowledge was beyond hers.
"Calm down!" He tried again, "Connect with the Force, and you will know your answer."
Rey gasped and began shaking her head. "No!" She insisted. Her rage rose inside her and took Leia's lightsaber from her belt and activated it. "Fine then, show me how it's done!" She challenged him.
Rey erupted forward and attacked him, swinging her lightsaber. Ben leaped out of the way of her blow and ducked under the next. He wasn't there to fight her. He wasn't even there to teach her. He was the last person allowed to speak about the ways of the Force. Luke had taught him well, and Ben remembered all his training; if he wanted to, he could train her. But he didn't. He wasn't a Jedi; he was a monster who tried to find his way back in the Light. He couldn't be a teacher.
Rey glared at him as she realized Ben was not attacking her, and somehow this enraged her further. He was the one who suggested that she was doing her exercises wrong. He should show her and not escape from this. Rey reached, drew power from the Force as her attacks increased.
Over and over, she slammed, stabbed, and she swiped powerfully till Ben was unable to dodge her attacks any longer. Reluctantly he brought Luke's lightsaber to bear, and they clashed, their blades crackling and humming with energy.
The duel came alive, and BB-8 rolled away further as they traversed a large distance along the forest. Rey continued her attacks. She didn't stop; she didn't let up; she added more ferocity. She wasn't going easy on him. He wanted to show her how a Jedi should be trained, and now Rey kept challenging him.
Ben gave ground. Surely it was easy to win this duel, but Ben Solo was wiser now. He started pressing the attack, but he was still taking his time and seemed calm. As Rey struck, again and again, their blades clashed like cymbals. The impacts shivered into his shoulders and reminded him that he wasn't fully healed. However, it felt better than reliving and rethinking his wrongdoings.
She raged against Ben, the Force opened itself to her, flooding her with new power, and she found herself leaping out of the way, and Ben leaped after her. Their encounter seemed powerful now. Both were serious and kept their ground. Rey struck again and again, but her blade did not break through his guard. She gritted her teeth and attacked him with the Force.
Ben flew backward, caught himself, and balanced himself. He looked at her, "Calm down, read your surroundings, you can break my guard, but you have to focus." Then he advanced and pushed her with his own Force energy.
"Focus!" He cried.
She screamed and launched at him again and again. The fight went on longer; she was faster and a bit stronger than before. But she was not focusing; that was one of her flaws. She was trying to attack him with her rage and not the Force.
Ben watched her and guided her, suggesting her next move. At first, she ignored him, but then her attacks changed. Rey slowly started to calm down. She attacked him again; Ben blocked her. Again and again, she was now seeing his moves clearly. Ben was now attacking her slowly even softly, trying to show her—to teach her.
Rey stared at him. She acknowledged once more that Ben Solo had a much larger capacity than her. She had fought with Kylo Ren before, and their fights were lessons to her. But the way Ben Solo fought it was another level, a higher level. She had almost forgotten how capable he was. Now she knew she was wrong. Ben Solo was beyond what she had imagined. He was much stronger than Kylo Ren, wiser. If she had known what he was dealing with daily, she would have been astonished at the level of his strength.
Rey's thought reached him, and Ben felt ashamed. There was nothing special to admire in him. And the way Rey looked at him and that moment was filled with admiration. Ben stepped back and turned off Luke's saber and handed it to her.
She looked at him confusedly and turned off hers as well. "Why are we stopping?" She asked, puzzledly studying him. She had never seen that part of Ben Solo. After all, she didn't know much about Ben Solo, neither Ben himself had not figured out himself.
"Rey, I am not your teacher," he explained, "and I'm the last person allowed to teach you." He turned around, ready to return to base.
Rey walked after him and blocked his way. "Wait! It hurt my pride to have you try to teach me. But you were right; I don't know anything about how a Jedi should be trained. You, on the other hand..." Rey told him as hope rose in her, "Teach me!"
Ben paused and gazed at her seriously; his hand grabbed her arms without his noticing, "I'm no Jedi! I'm a killer, a monster, Rey! I cannot teach you!" Ben insisted as he tightened his grip around her arms.
Rey narrowed her eyes, "What are you talking about. You saw what you did back there. I don't need you to be a Jedi. But you can help me!"
"No!" Ben told her and pulled his hands off her and walked away.
Rey followed him, "We'll have this conversation again. I am not taking no for an answer!" She shouted.
「 Upcoming Chapter: Act Thirty - One」
More than anything, thank you for taking the time to read this!
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Adelgado28: Yup, I cannot wait for either for the story to slowly start unfolding. It still feels that we are at the beginning. They have a long way to go. ^_^