Rey awoke several hours later to Ben gently shaking her shoulder. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, really. She'd sat on the bed waiting for Ben, but the lights had been dimmed and she had been so tired, she couldn't help herself. If the dark circles under Ben's eyes were anything to go by, he hadn't slept at all. It had to have been over a full day since they woke up in this time, he had to be exhausted.
"Sorry," Rey mumbled sleepily. Her voice was thick, and her limbs felt heavy as she lifted herself.
"Don't worry about it." Ben said, sitting beside her. "What I said was true, we have had a long day." Rey gave him a groggy smile.
"You should get some sleep too." Rey said. Ben looked at her and shook his head with a sleepy smile.
"I'm fine, really. We're almost there, anyway. That's why I woke you."
"You should have woken me sooner." Rey curled her legs into her chest and hid her face behind them. "What are we going to do? No one is going to recognize me. How will I explain knowing the location of the base?"
"Well," Ben started, running a hand through his hair. "Maybe a Resistance member or recruit told you?"
"Ben," Rey sighed. "I don't know how things were run in the First Order, but the Resistance doesn't just go around telling everyone and anyone the location of their top-secret base."
"Yeah, a very well-kept secret." Ben muttered under his breath. Rey kicked his side, but not too hard. Ben laughed an apology. Yet again, Rey was amazed at how much younger Ben looked when he laughed or smiled.
"Seriously, what are we going to do?" Rey cupped a palm over her eyes.
Ben sighed beside her. Rey peaked out between her fingers to see Ben staring intently as his own folded hands, hair shielding his eyes like dark curtains.
"Maybe we tell them the truth?" He suggested. Rey shot up at that.
"Are you serious? They'll think were crazy – they'll never believe us."
"We'll just have to find some way to make them believe us. I've been thinking about it and I don't see another way of explaining the Sith fleet and the Emperor to them without coming clean." Ben's shoulders slumped forward.
Rey took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. Ben was right, she knew that, but the idea of explaining everything seemed an insurmountable task, especially when she and Ben hardly understood what was happening themselves.
"You're right. But I think we should try to speak with your mother in private about it first." Rey admitted. "This should be on a very need-to-know basis." Ben huffed out a small laugh, something Rey was realizing he did a lot.
"I hadn't planned on briefing the other generals upon or arrival anyway." Ben said, his mouth forming a half-smile that so reminded Rey of Han.
It was then that Rey noticed Ben's black and chrome mask sitting beside him on the bed. She scrunched up her face at the sight of it.
"Why are you keeping that thing?" Rey had almost added 'Good memories?' but stopped herself before she made that mistake.
Ben quirked an eyebrow at her, seemingly confused, before looking to his right at the mask beside him. He sucked in a breath in realization, picking up the mask.
"I was storing this in it." He pressed something on the side and thin, black data stick slid out from a hidden compartment.
"Why was it in your helmet?" Rey asked, tilting her head.
"It was the most secure place to keep it," He began, but then he sighed and rolled his eyes. "… And, my clothes don't have pockets." Rey cracked up at that.
"Your clothes don't have pockets?" She wheezed. "They really were form over function in the First Order, weren't they?" Ben did not respond to this, just shook his head and chuckled.
"Come on, lets get out there. We'll probably be dropping out of hyperspace soon." Ben stood and offered her his hand as he had done earlier in the cockpit, and once in their lives before, a time Rey did not particularly care to revisit now.
Normally, she would find the gesture unnecessary at best and insulting at worst. She could get up herself, thank you very much. However, she knew that Ben knew she could get up by herself. He knew exactly how strong she was, like no one else did. He knew her like no one else did. Rey took his hand and stood.
They took their seats the cockpit just as the Falcon entered realspace above D'qar. As they pierced the atmosphere above the base, they received a communication asking for identification. After a bit of back and forth, Han finally said,
"I need to speak with General Organa. It's her husband, Han." Han sounded tired and more than a little anxious.
They were given landing permission almost immediately. After landing, the four gathered by the ramp as it lowered. Han gave his son a quick nod and a pat on the back before descending with Chewie. Rey stayed back with Ben. She could tell how tense he was just by looking at him. She wanted to hug him, let him know that everything was going to be fine, but she knew that she had been overly physical yesterday and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Instead, she offered her hand, which he took, and led him down the ramp and into the waning daylight.
Rey heard the general before she saw her. Just as when she saw Han, Rey's heart swelled with joy. Rey hadn't been back to the base after the battle, but she had felt Leia's loss all the same. It had torn at her in almost a physical way. She had felt as though she had lost a mother and she had felt the same pain in Ben as he had lay dying as the waves of Kef Bir crashed around them. Seeing the General in front of her, alive and in the flesh, looking healthier than ever, brought a huge smile to Rey's face.
Ben squeezed Rey's hand and she could feel his anxiety flow through her. She looked back and shot him a warm smile, one that he tried to return, but it only looked pained and sad. She squeezed his hand back.
Leia had been too focused on greeting Han and Chewie when Rey and Ben had descended the ship's ramp, but as they drew nearer, Han nodded in Ben's direction and Leia turned around. Recognition hit her instantly. Leia's eyes few open wide and it looked for a moment as though she may faint. Apparently, Han saw that too as he steadied Leia by grabbing an arm, but she shook him off, shooting him an indignant look in the process.
Leia ran to her son, throwing both of her arms around his waist and hugging him tight. Rey let go of Ben's hand and stepped away towards Han and Chewie who were also hanging back. This moment didn't belong to any of them.
Rey could tell Ben was tense and uncomfortable at first. His arms stayed straight and firm at first, pinned down by his mother's arms. After a while though, Ben melted. His back hunched, his arms reached around his mother and held her back. They stayed like that for a while.
"Hey, kid." Han whispered into Rey's ear, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. Rey turned to face Han, he grinned at her softly. "I wanted to thank you for bringing our boy home." Han placed a hand on Rey's shoulder.
"No," Rey tried to shake her head. "I didn't…"
"Listen, deny it all you want, but I know that you had something to do with it. I don't know who you are, or how you did it, but I know that you were a part of it." Rey smiled at that. She wanted to say that he and Leia had also played a significant part in helping Ben see his way back to the light, but Han wouldn't understand, not yet. "You mean a lot to him, I can tell."
Han turned back just in time to see his wife and son break their embrace. Rey's face fell. Rey knew that she meant a lot to Ben and he meant a lot to her. It was the nature of their bond. What had Han meant, though, when he said that he could tell? Rey was ripped from this line of thought by a gentle hand on her shoulder, one that she knew all too well. She stared down into the kind, brown eyes of her former master, Leia. Rey smiled.
"Dear, my son tells me that we have a lot to discuss…" She turned back to face Ben who was standing right behind her, towering over the diminutive woman. "In private, apparently." Leia smiled slyly at her son.
Leia ushered them through the base and into a private meeting room. It wasn't much to look at, plain concrete walls, exactly what Rey had come to expect from a Resistance base. She was fine with it, it felt like home to her, or as much like home as anything else had. Ben seemed a bit more uncomfortable, but he had other reasons to be as well. Rey could see him fidgeting with the thin data stick in his hand.
Han followed, at Leia's insistence. Ben had agreed and Rey had said nothing, she knew he was trustworthy, though she was wary of his understanding the situation. Leia understood the force while Han seemed to have a tenuous grasp at best. Leia and Han sat on one side of a long table and Rey and Ben sat at the other. Rey began to feel as though she were being interrogated, and she supposed she was. To the two across from her, Rey was basically an unknown element, and Ben, while he was their son, had been a high-ranking member of the First Order as of just a couple of days ago.
"So, what is it you need to tell us?" Leia prompted, folding her hands on the table in front of her.
Ben took in a deep breath but said nothing. Rey looked at him, wondering if she should start the conversation, but he looked just as lost as she felt at that moment. Rey turned back to Leia; an apologetic smile slapped on her face.
"Sorry, we're not really sure where to start." Rey said, laughing nervously.
"The beginning is usually as good a place as any." Leia said, smiling.
Rey and Ben looked at each other and each let out a short, awkward laugh.
"That might be a bit more complicated than it seems." Ben said, exhaling deeply.
Leia said nothing in response to that, but looked from Rey to Ben quizzically, one eyebrow raised. Rey sighed, she may as well get it over with, rip off the metaphorical bacta patch.
"Ben and I are from an alternate timeline."
The air left Ben's lungs as Rey spoke. He heard the crazy. Fear pierced his heart, maybe she had been right, maybe this had been a mistake. The two across from them were certainly looking at Rey like she were not firing on all thrusters. Ben opened his mouth to defend Rey's position, or completely go back on it, he hadn't quite decided yet, when she spoke again.
"I guess it would be easier to say that we are from the future… a future, one that we are currently trying to prevent." Ben sighed, shaking his head. That didn't sound any saner.
Leia tilted her head and looked between Rey and Ben for a moment, her eyes narrowed and quizzical. Ben knew that look. Leia had always been able to see through anything, every lie, every piece of mis-information. Ben had never been able to get away with anything as a child, it had always seemed as though Leia had known what he was planning before he had even done it, sometimes before he knew what he was even planning to do himself. Part of that was obviously the force, which had allowed Leia to read her small son like a book, the other part was that she was his mother. He relaxed slightly, relived that they had decided to go with the truth, even as crazy as it sounded.
"You'll have to excuse me," Leia said, ever the diplomat, "if I find that very hard to believe." Han laughed.
"Hard to believe?!" Han asked pointedly, looking at Ben. "It's a bunch of bantha dung! Ben, what's going on here?"
"She's telling the truth," Ben said, finally finding his voice. Rey shot him a look that was a confused mixture of annoyed and appreciative.
"Okay," Rey sighed heavily. "Listen, I know this sounds… impossible, but just hear me out." Rey took a deep breath and collected herself. "Before yesterday, Ben and I were alive just over a year in the future from now. We both, well, we died and woke up here – or, now, I suppose. I'm not sure if this is an alternate timeline, if this is the past. Honestly, we're completely in the dark about what is happening."
"All we know is that there are terrible things about to happen and we want to try to prevent them." Ben slid the data stick across the table towards his mother. "The First Order has built a planet-killing weapon. They call it Starkiller Base, the plans are on that data stick. They are set to target the Hosnian system about a week from now, but once they realize I've defected and stolen the plans they will probably push the date up as soon as possible, though I am fairly sure the weapon is not currently fully operational."
Leia regarded her son in silence, reaching tentatively for the data stick between them. She looked as though she has seen a ghost, her face was white as a sheet.
"There's other information on there too, military planning and positions. The rest of the map to Luke. I took everything I thought would be valuable." Ben finished. He noticed Rey looking over at him, here eyes wide in something like awe. He shot her a confused look and she turned away, facing Leia.
"Last time, the First Order found the location of this base by tracking a reconnaissance ship back here, so I would caution against sending one of those, I would imagine with the information I have provided it will not be necessary." Ben lowered his head and with a slight shake added, "It ended very poorly for the Resistance last time."
"Well, thank you, Ben. I'm sure this information will prove very useful, and I do appreciate it." His mother cleared her throat before continuing. "I can sense that the two of you are telling the truth, but I'm having trouble understanding, I suppose."
"I'm having trouble believing." Han mumbled under his breath.
"I know where Luke is." Rey sputtered almost too quickly for her words to be perceived.
Both Han and Leia looked at her, wide eyed, mouths agape.
"I know where Luke is because you sent me to get him last time. I can find him now, we don't even need the map." Leia stared intently at Rey as she continued. "He told me why you never finished your Jedi training."
Whatever Rey meant was left unspoken, but Ben's mother seemed to understand. She nodded, accepting that Rey was telling the truth.
"You were right." Rey said, solemnly. Ben's mother exhaled deeply and some light in her eyes dimmed. She looked very quickly at Ben and then back to Rey, taking the younger woman's hand in her own. "But we can stop it this time, we can fix everything." Rey sounded like she was almost pleading.
"Sweetheart," Leia began, her voice was low, almost grave. She looked stricken. "I'm not sure that's how these things work." She patted Rey's hand.
"Then why are we here? Why did this happen?" Rey's voice broke on the question. Ben wanted to reach out to her, to his mother. He could see that they were heartbroken about something, but he had no clue what. He looked up at his father who looked just as lost as he was.
Leia Organa pulled back, folding her hands in front of her once more. She studied Ben and Rey from over her nose, another look Ben knew all too well. She was sizing up not just the two in front of her, but the whole situation. Ben's mother's mind was always working, always figuring something out, and even after nearly thirty years of being her son, Ben had no idea how it worked.
"I can't tell you why this happened. I'm no Jedi master," Leia chuckled, amused at the thought. "I doubt even Luke could explain what is happening. There are some things about the force, I think, that are impossible for us to understand until we become part of it." Leia sighed. "What I do know, is that you kids are telling the truth, I believe you. I also know that we need to get to work on a plan to stop this cataclysm you mentioned." Ben's mother stood; the data stick he had given her clutched in her fist.
"Wait!" Rey cried; one hand reached out towards Ben's mother. "There's something else we need to tell you. Something…" Rey paused, considering her choice in words. "Really big."
Rey looked at Ben, her eyes full of fear and worry. He knew what she meant, the very thought of it hung around his heart like a stone. It was the dark cloud that hung over both of them, that hung over the galaxy. Rey breathed in deeply.
"Palpatine is alive – the Emperor, he's alive." Leia sat back down at that. Her expression nearly blank, but her eyes held deep fear, confusion, disbelief. "He's behind the First Order, behind Snoke, behind all of it. He always has been." Rey looked down into her lap and took a deep breath in. "He's after -"
"Both of us." Ben interrupted. He couldn't let Rey take all of the burden like that. He knew how badly finding out she was a Palpatine had affected her, he knew because he had told her, and he had told her to elicit that exact reaction. He knew what it would do to her mind and to her soul, the darkness and pain that it would stir in her because the same thing had happened to him when he learned Darth Vader was his grandfather. "Palpatine needs both of us."
"Why?" His mother whispered. "Why does he need the two of you?"
"We're a dyad in the force – two that are one." Not for the first time, Ben wished he knew more about what a dyad actually was. It was such a rare thing, and there was very little literature about it – and he had looked. "The power of our bond, it's like life itself. The Emperor can use it to restore himself. His body is decaying, he is dying. He needs us."
"If he doesn't – if he can't get to you," Ben's mother looked him directly in the eyes, her own were swimming with tears. "He'll just die?"
"The main problem is the Sith fleet." Rey added solemnly. Ben awkwardly took one of his mother's small hands in his own.
"He has thousands of ships – thousands of star destroyers, all of them are equipped with Death Star technology." Leia deflated at this; her shoulders slumped. Han pounded a fist on the table, mouth set into a hard line. "I'm sure those ships are already completed; he's only waiting on us. I don't think he knows that we know about him yet, but as soon as he does…" Ben trailed off, he knew he did not need to finish the thought.
After a moment of quiet, Ben's mother sat up straighter. She looked over at Han and took her husband's hand, her other hand still clasped in Ben's. The three looked between each other silently, connected, a team, a family once again, united by a common foe if nothing else in this moment. At some point during the conversation, the color had drained from Han's face, but with one look from his wife he also steeled himself. Something inside of Ben softened, his mother was the strongest person he knew.
"A fleet like that, it could destroy the galaxy." Han breathed.
"We've beaten him once before," Rey said, sounding almost like she was trying to convince herself as much as Ben's parents.
"I think we just need to do it without dying this time." Ben laughed in a failed attempt to ease some of the tension in the room.
"We need to find Luke." Rey said, plainly. Ben flinched at the sound of his uncle's name. He could feel his face fall. He wanted to say something, wanted to protest, but he knew that Rey was right. To Ben's surprise, Rey looked at him with a sympathetic smile and placed her hand on one of his own. He rubbed a thumb over her knuckles and relaxed some, though he was still grinding his teeth.
"That, I agree with." Leia stood again and paused, as if waiting for some third shoe to drop. When neither Ben nor Rey spoke to stop her, Leia sighed. "We've got quite a bit of work ahead of us. For now, I need to go debrief the other generals on the Starkiller Base situation. Ben," Leia looked to her son. "I'm not sure how much I will need to tell them to explain how you were able to get this information but thank you. It will be very helpful."
Leia's smile deepened the wrinkles around the corners of her eyes. Ben's heart sank. She was so much older than he remembered. He had already lost so much time. He tried to return her smile, but he knew that the look he gave her was too sad to truly be called a smile.
"No," Rey protested, standing beside Ben. "No one needs to know about… You'll only be endangering Ben. Tell them he was an officer or something, they don't need to know -"
"I don't care what you tell them," Ben said, his voice deep and toneless. Rey sighed at that. She seemed as though she wanted to say something else, but Ben shook his head.
"I will do what I can." Leia said, turning her attention to Rey. "Ben is my son, I will do what I can to protect him, of course. But I can't compromise the lives of an entire system either." Ben could feel Rey shrink back in her seat. "Ben, you look exhausted, please go get some rest."
With that, Leia left the room, Han trailing close behind. Ben could hear his father growl "What the hell was that, Leia?" Before the door closed behind them. Ben sighed deeply.
"That was easy." He drawled. Rey laughed which lifted his spirits some. Ben stood, his muscles aching with exhaustion. He had to keep going.
"Come on," Rey said, also standing and gesturing for Ben to follow her. Ben huffed, but knowing nothing about their surroundings he had really no choice but to follow her. Enemy territory, he thought dryly while a sly smile played across his lips and he bit back a laugh.
This place was dilapidated, falling apart at the seams. The base, as it were, seemed to be nothing more than a series of concrete bunkers built into the hills, connected by a series of underground tunnels. The walls were cracking around them, great chunks were missing from the floor and ceilings of many of the tunnels. Ben had never been to any of the other bases, nor did he know where they were, but to think this was the main one, the best one? The idea was unbelievable. How could this group possibly beat the First Order and the Sith fleet, how had they?
Rey led Ben to another small underground room. It was sparsely furnished, a few uncomfortable looking cots and footlockers lined the back wall. The room was empty, save for Ben and Rey.
"Your mother is right; you need to get some rest." Rey said, leading Ben by the arm to one of the beds. Ben pulled his arm out of her grasp, a little more harshly than he had intended to.
"I'm fine." He growled. "There's too much to do." Ben could feel the anxiety growing in his chest, it was scratching at him, clawing to get out, just as the twin evils of Snoke and Palpatine scratched at his mental barriers, desperate to get in.
"Not right now," Rey reached out tentatively. Ben flinched subconsciously but did not move when she placed a hand on his arm. "You're exhausted, Ben. You can't keep going like this." Ben laughed.
"I've gone far longer without sleep, I'm fine." He insisted. Ben had not had a good night's sleep in over a year. When he was able to fall asleep, it was restless, filled with nightmares. He'd watched his father falling from the walkway on Starkiller Base more times than he could count, Rey had left him alone on the Supremacy, nearly as many times. Nightmares full of fire and screaming and blood haunted his subconscious. It was Rey's turn to laugh.
"Yes, I know." She said, looking up at him and shaking her head. "You've really been in top form the past few months, I can tell." Sarcasm dripped from her words. An old, angry beast roared to life in Ben's chest. He wanted to smash something. He balled both hands into tight fists and set his jaw. He would not let the darkness inside win, not this time.
"Rey, stop." Ben warned, his voice tight. He could feel the muscles under his left eye twitch.
"No, Ben." Rey said, planting herself on the bed in front of them, crossing her legs under her and patting the mattress in invitation. Ben's breathing was quick, deep and angry. He could feel his nails biting into the flesh of his palms, suddenly missing his gloves. "You'll be useless like this, you'll get yourself killed. You need to rest."
"I CAN'T!" Ben roared, his voice deafening even to his own ears. He instantly cringed at his overreaction. Rey did not flinch, her face was schooled into a calm, even expression. She patted the mattress again gently, her hazel eyes never leaving Ben's face.
Ben collapsed onto the mattress beside her, his elbows on his knees and his hands buried in his hair. His breaths came in deep and thick. He was exhausted, he had been for so long, but he couldn't sleep, not now, not when it could endanger everything.
"I can't," he breathed, his voice no more than a whisper. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rey raise an arm and hesitate, only momentarily, before placing a hand on his back. Ben felt some of his tension ebb instantaneously.
"Why not?" Rey asked softly as she rubbed slow, concentric circles on his back. Ben sighed deeply.
"They're trying to get in," Ben breathed, feeling almost relieved to say the words out loud, to have someone else know. "Snoke and Palpatine. I'm keeping them out, but if I fall asleep, I don't know if I can." Ben could feel his voice cracking over the last few words.
"Oh, Ben," Rey said, her voice thick with emotion. She pressed her forehead to Ben's shoulder and his heart quickened. "You need to sleep, you need to try."
Rey let go of him and Ben felt a coldness wash over his body from the lack of her touch. She scooted back so that she sat at the head of the bed, her legs still crossed underneath her. She reached out for Ben and pulled him down, resting his head on her lap. Ben lifted his legs onto the bed, which was far too small for his height.
"Please try to sleep." Rey said, sounding almost desperate. "I won't leave you, I'll stay right here." She ran a hand through his hair, massaging his scalp. It felt like her hand was shaking slightly.
Ben sighed and closed his eyes and, despite the worry and anxiety boiling in his gut, he fell asleep almost instantly.