"Are you alright?" Rey said to Finn once they were far enough away from the fighting. She reached up to help him remove his helmet, but he shot away from her.

"What's going on?" He cried; his voice partially distorted by the stormtrooper helmet. "Who are you?" She could feel the fear rolling of of him, swallowing him whole. She could hear his breathing, sharp, quick intakes, and was worried he might pass out.

"Hey, hey," She said, approaching him slowly as though he were a wounded animal, liable to strike, her hands held in a placating gesture. "I'm not here to hurt you - I want to help you."

Finn only scurried back further, his head whipping around wildly, surely looking for a means of escape or defense.

"Please," Rey begged, her tone plaintive. "I'm telling the truth."

Finn stopped and shot up to his full height, possibly in an attempt at intimidation.

"What is going on?" He practically growled through the mask, emphasizing every word.

Rey pondered how to answer that question. Don't worry, we know each other from an alternate future and we are best friends, we're always saving each other like this! Didn't seem like it would go over well. She sighed.

"You don't want to be a stormtrooper - right?" She said and Finn took another step back. "You don't want to kill for the First Order, do you?"

Finn was silent for a long moment and then shook his head. He removed his helmet and stared at her for a moment. He was sweaty, disoriented, and distressed, but it was Finn, it was really Finn. Rey could feel tears welling in her eyes but blinked them away, they would be too difficult to explain - as if the rest of this wasn't.

"How did you know that?" He asked, sounding almost breathless, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Why do you care?"

"I can't really explain how I know, it's just…"

"Just a feeling?" He asked, cautiously. Rey nodded slowly. Understanding seemed to dawn on his face, that and maybe acceptance.

Rey suddenly began to wonder what Finn had been about to tell her as they were sinking on Pasaana. For a horrifying moment, she had thought it was some confession of love. She did love Finn, like a brother. The more she had thought about it though, she began to wonder – was Finn force sensitive?

"Yeah, like that." Rey agreed and Finn's face softened. He looked down at her lightsaber hilt which she had clipped back onto her belt before whisking Finn away from the fray. He lowered his voice and looked around as though there were anyone around that could hear him "Are you a Jedi?" He breathed.

"I am." Rey said, straightening her posture. It was always Rey's first inclination to shrink away from the title, but she was a Jedi, she was all the Jedi.

Finn's eyes widened, at first Rey thought it was in awe but then she realized it was fear. He took both of her shoulders in his hands and stared at her intently.

"That guy you're with, he's…" But a low voice from behind cut him off.

"I'm what?" Ben asked, his voice dark. Rey could feel darkness rolling inside of him, she could also feel him trying to center himself, trying to push it away. Finn only sputtered in response, backing away from Rey, from Ben, from both of them.

"Ben, are you alright?" Rey asked, stepping towards him. Ben looked down at her, his eyes dark and stormy.

"I'm fine," He lied. He was obviously lying, and Rey was getting tired of it.

"Stop lying to me." She said sternly. "You never lied to me before, why now?" Ben looked at her, his eyes growing cautious before he turned back to the town.

"We need to find Dameron, he's had his fun leading this revolt, but we've got to go -"

Ben's thought ended abruptly as a shadow was cast over the entire valley. Something huge was blocking out the sun completely. Rey slowly turned her head to the sky to see the massive Supremacy floating above their heads. She heard Ben's breath catch, she could practically hear his heart going wild, or maybe that was her own.

"No," Finn cried as he stumbled backward. "No, no… Why is the Supreme Leader here?" He shot a look over to Ben, but Ben's focus was caught too intently by the ship flying over their heads.

Rey grabbed both of their hands and started sprinting towards town. As she neared the edge of the town, she could see a small figure, growing larger by the second, running towards her group. Poe looked a little worse for the wear, a small cut on his temple that was bleeding, and the sleeve of his jacket was torn, but he seemed to be alright.

"What the hell is going on?" He called out to them, pointing at the huge ship dominating the sky above. "That's the First Order flagship, what is it doing here?" He turned to Finn and flashed a smile. "I'm Poe, by the way, nice to meet you."

"FN-2187." Finn said, sounding clearly confused and out of breath. Poe shook his head and furrowed his brow at the man in stormtrooper armor.

"FN-2… No, we'll have to work on that." Poe said.

"Later." Ben snapped. "We need to…"

Ben was cut off by a half dozen TIE fighters screaming overhead, firing at whatever targets they could hit. Poe cursed under his breath.

"Yeah, okay, we've got to go." Poe said, gesturing them all towards where they had left the Falcon.

"We can't." Ben said tensely. "Hyperspace tracking, they'll just follow us wherever we go." He shook his head and sighed.

"WHAT?!" Finn and Poe both cried in unison, confusion and terror etched onto their faces.

"He's here for me," Ben said, his lightsaber igniting beside him. Rey noticed Finn filch out of the corner of her eye. "I'll distract them. Get the ship up and in the air, I'll figure another way…"

"Absolutely not!" Rey said firmly. She turned to Finn and Poe, point towards the ridge where their ship was hiding. "Poe, take Fi – FN-2187 back to the Falcon. Leave. We'll hide out here, we'll find a way to signal you."

Rey turned back to see Ben already walking off into the danger alone, the battle between the dwindling stormtrooper battalion and the revolting miners was still well underway. She ran after him, her own lightsaber singing to life by her side.

"Ben!" She called out, but he ignored her. "Ben, stop!"

Ben just flung a hand out behind him, pushing Rey back gently with the force, her feet skidding across the rocky surface of the asteroid below their feet.

"Rey, stop." He did not turn to look at her, but he did stop walking away. Rey called on the force to turn him around in his spot. He eyed her, annoyed.

"Ben, stop sacrificing yourself!" She demanded.

"Rey, Snoke is here," He pointed up to the sky above them. "He will kill us, you have got to get out of here!"

"You would rather he just kill you, then?" Rey asked. Just then, she noticed a squadron of stormtroopers approaching them. She blocked the first shot and dodged the next.

"Yes." Ben growled through gritted teeth before turning his attention towards the approaching troopers. "You won't die again; I won't let you."

Ben leapt into the air, coming down with a hard strike that slashed through two stormtroopers at once.

"I won't let you die either, Ben. You can't keep sacrificing yourself for me. We're a dyad, we need to work together." Rey said, reflecting three blaster bolts back to where they came from, hitting two troopers directly in the chest. They feel to the ground, lifeless. "I can't lose you again either."

He turned to look at her for just a split second, his eyes soft, the muscles in his jaw working on something.

"You remember what happened on Exegol… after?" He asked, almost too softly for the moment. Before Rey could answer, Ben twirled around, swinging his lightsaber with his body, cutting down four troopers that had tried to surround him.

"I saw it," Rey said, working her way through the growing number of troopers, struggling to get closer to Ben. "At Maz's place. I won't leave you alone." Relief flooded through her as she felt her back pressed to his. They worked best together; they were a team. "And I won't let you leave me."

Rey could feel Ben cringe at the words, but she didn't have time to understand. They were surrounded, trooper after trooper coming at them, others shooting at them from afar. Rey worried that it was more than they could handle. Rey felt Ben press his back against her as he pushed back a whole line of troopers with the force.

"I can fight, Ben, you don't need to protect me." Rey said, trying to shove some humor into her strained voice. Her lightsaber swung around her wildly, deflecting and reflecting shot after shot. "You of all people should know that. I don't recall ever losing to you."

"What are you talking about?" Ben roared, swinging his lightsaber to the left to cut down an approaching trooper. "That is," he grunted, driving his lightsaber in to the chest of a second trooper. "That is not true!"

"What? Starkiller, I won," Rey said, whipping her blue lightsaber around to block a few more shots and to parry an incoming attack.

"I was badly wounded on Starkiller, and," Ben leaned over, allowing Rey to arch herself onto his back to deliver a kick, she pushed out with the force sending a line of troopers skidding across the ground. "Very distracted." He added with a grunt.

"I won on the Death Star," He said, picking up a few stormtroopers and sending them into a group of their comrades.

"Oh," Rey said, ducking the swing of a stormtrooper's electrified staff. "I'll have to remember winning involves getting stabbed in the stomach."

"That's not fair," Ben roared, bringing his lightsaber down again hard. "I had you pinned down, I was distracted!"

Rey was about to chide him for being distracted far too often when both of them were suddenly and violently lifted into the air, their arms and legs stuck pin-straight, their lightsabers clattering to the ground at their feet. Dark fingers of the force curled around them.

"Bring them to my throne room." A terrible chill ran down Rey's spine as she felt the familiar, deep, gravely voice run over her. Just out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the faint blue flickering hologram of Snoke, just his mangled face was visible. He's not even here, she thought to herself. He had this much control over both of them and he wasn't even there.

Someone below that Rey could not see clamped heavy metal binders around her hands and wrists. She could feel Ben struggling against the force, against Snoke. She wanted to tell him to stop, to soothe him, but she couldn't move, couldn't form the words.

Just as instantly as they'd been raised, Ben and Rey dropped to the hard ground below. Rey hit her head on her metal cuffs on the way down. She could hardly stand as two rough hands grabbed her from either side, raising her up. She couldn't walk properly, had to be dragged. She was seeing stars, the world around her was a dizzying, blurry mess.

By the time Rey could see properly, she and Ben had been carted off in a command ship and they were surrounded by troopers on all sides. Ben's head was lowered, his hair curtaining off his face. He was breathing heavily.

"Ben," She said softly. He looked at her with watery eyes, eyes that screamed an unspoken apology. "We did it once before, right?" Her mouth trembled into a semblance of a smile.

Ben's eyes grew dark and dangerous with intensity, he nodded once briskly, and that was all the confirmation she needed. They would kill Snoke again today, or they would die trying, but either way, they were in this together.

Fourteen, Ben counted fourteen stormtroopers surrounding them in the command ship, one of them was a captain and the captain had their lightsabers. The muscle under Ben's left eye twitched unconsciously as he worked his jaw, teeth grinding each other flat. They could probably take them, probably, Ben thought, but the probably was the issue.

He chanced another glance at Rey. She was looking down, her head nodding subtly side-to-side, blood trickled down slowly from her temple. She very likely was suffering from a concussion. Ben was unsure how many he could take out on his own, he was already physically exhausted, not to mention encumbered by the binder cuffs around his hands, though those would be easy enough to remove.

She was intent on killing Snoke, Ben knew that, and he agreed that it was what they probably should do, but the idea still struck him with a bone-deep fear. He had been able to distract and mislead Snoke last time. He had used Snoke's own arrogance and mis-placed faith in Kylo Ren against him, but that wasn't possible this time. Ben considered for a moment pretending to be Kylo again, lead Snoke to believe that Ben had merely been deceiving Rey in order to bring her to Snoke, but he knew that this was unlikely to work. How would he explain Starkiller in that case or stealing all of that sensitive information?

No, they would have to fight Snoke without tricks, without deception – and they would probably die. They would die and all of this will have been for nothing. Well, not nothing, Ben sighed. His father was alive, his mother was alive, the New Republic was still alive which meant that even without himself and Rey the Resistance stood a chance.

When the command ship landed in one of the hangar bays of the massive Supremacy, Ben was forced to his feet by rough hands grabbing him at each side. He tried to shrug them off instinctively which only earned him a blaster butt to the stomach causing him to double over, mostly from the shock of it. Rey shot him a sympathetic yet warning stare. Save your energy, he felt her say through the bond.

The hangar was filled with rows upon rows of stormtroopers, all in even, neat lines facing Ben and Rey; a hallway of white plastoid-composite armor and blaster rifles. They were certainly putting on a show for his homecoming. Ben wondered who had orchestrated this display, Snoke or Hux.

Ben's question was answered as they reached the end of the hangar. The man stood tall in the mouth of the hallway leading to the throne room elevator, his uniform as crisp and tidy as ever, his ginger hair combed back perfectly, his face schooled into a cold yet smug grin. Ben's stomach turned at the sight of him, he knew how much Armitage Hux was enjoying this.

With a quick, curt nod from Hux, Rey and Ben were forced hard onto their knees. Ben wondered how many times Hux had dreamed of Ben in this exact position, at his mercy for once. Ben calmed himself with the image of Hux's face growing red as he choked and gasped for air while Ben had declared himself Supreme Leader. That was not a time Ben remembered fondly, of course, nor one he liked to think of often, but his hate for Hux at this time overwhelmed the shame and sting of rejection that normally accompanied memories of the throne room incident.

"How the mighty have fallen, eh Ren?" The pale-faced man sneered, he was enjoying this too much, that was very clear. "I had heard you'd turned tail and run, but I had to see it for myself." Hux's smile only grew wider.

"Don't test me, Hux." Ben said lowly, but it was an empty threat. Unfortunately, Hux seemed to realize this and only continued grinning.

"I've always known you were a sniveling coward, Ren. Hiding behind a mask and your ancient religions." Hux snorted. "It's good to finally see definitive proof of it - Traitor." He spit the last word like it was poison.

"You're one to talk." Ben grumbled under half choked-down laughter. He knew he shouldn't antagonize Hux, not in his current position, but he couldn't get over the irony of it. Hux had been the traitor last time, he'd been the spy for the Resistance, the mole in the First Order. Ben still didn't know why, and oh, he'd wanted to, almost as much as he'd wanted to be the one to finally kill that little worm.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean." Hux said, his mask of superiority and smug satisfaction slipping for a moment to reveal true confusion, and then turned his attention to Rey.

"And who are you, Jedi girl?" Hux stroked a gloved hand over her cheek and Ben lunged forward, only to be held back by the troopers at his sides.

"Don't touch her." Ben growled. Hux smiled wider, white teeth showing behind parted lips.

"Have I struck a nerve, Ren?" His hand did not leave Rey's face. She stood still as stone, her eyes never leaving Hux's face, even as he turned to Ben.

"It's fine, Ben." Rey said, her voice soft and smooth, comforting, but it did not ease Ben's tension. He wanted to throttle Hux, wanted to slam him into the wall, run him through with his lightsaber. He was shaking with anger.

"Ben, is it?" Hux said, returning his attention to Rey. "How much do you know about your companion, girl? Do you even know who he is, what he's done? He's a monster." Hux said, lingering on the last word, drawing it out, savoring every syllable.

"I know everything I need to know about him." Rey said, spitting in Hux's face. He seemed taken aback by that for a moment, too shocked to act, but then he reared back and slapped Rey across the face, hard. After the slap, Rey rose her head to meet Hux's glare with one of her own, cold and calm, her cheek already glowing red.

With a flick of his head, Ben lifted Hux into the air and slammed him face-first into the wall. The butt of a blaster rifle collided with the back of Ben's skull and Armitage Hux dropped to the ground, clutching his face, blood pouring from his nose like a faucet. He stared at Ben, wide eyed and surprised, maybe a little afraid. Ben hoped that he was afraid.

"I don't need my hands free to kill you, Armitage." Ben said, his voice nothing more than a low growl.

Hux sprang to his feet and towered over Ben, blood spilling down his front. His face was turning red and he was shaking, most likely with rage. Snoke was right about one thing, Hux was a rabid cur, crazed and wild when angry, unpredictable. His eyes screamed for blood and vengeance, he was very nearly frothing at the mouth.

"I almost wish you would live to regret that, Ren." Hux said, his voice raising in anger. Blood-filled spittle rained down on Ben's face but he did not flinch, he never broke eye contact with the general. Hux shook his head, composing himself, he smoothed his hair back, the blood on his hands smearing into the ginger locks. "But I can be content in knowing that you won't. Take them to the Supreme Leader." Hux pushed past the stormtroopers that hauled Ben and Rey to their feet, quickly striding from the hallway as the troopers led them towards the elevator.

Ben and Rey were nearly shoulder to shoulder in the elevator, he looked over at her and was transported to a past that would never happen, an elevator ride so similar to this one. On that ride, he had already made up his mind, he would kill Snoke and he would do it with her - though he'd ended up doing it for her, to save her life. He had thought they were on the same side, that she would turn and join him, that they could create something new from the ashes of the galaxy once everyone who opposed them had been crushed into star dust – but he had been wrong.

Rey had been on Ben's side; she had been since they touched hands across time and space. She had seen the good in him and wanted to help him. Even after closing the door on him literally and metaphorically after Crait, she never truly gave up on him. She had been on his side, but hadn't been on hers, he had only cared about himself. That was different this time, they were truly on the same side, they were on the same team. Maybe they could do this, Ben tried to convince himself even as a terrible doubt coursed through his veins.

Rey looked over at him, her eyes shining, though not with tears. She looked peaceful, confident. He wanted to reach out to her, to take her hand, to soak in some of her peace, but cuffed as he was, that was impossible. He stared at her and offered a small, sad smile.

"This feels familiar." He breathed. Rey nodded and laughed quietly, solemnly.

"No talking." A trooper shoved Ben from behind with his elbow.

There were only four troopers in the elevator with them, who were horribly and unknowingly outmatched. Ben shot Rey and meaningful look and she nodded quickly. In an instant, he swung his arms around, the heavy metal cuffs colliding with the top of one of the trooper's helmets. Ben heard another trooper fall to the floor on his right as Rey dispatched them. Ben turned to the trooper on his far left, knocked the blaster from his grasp and dug the bulky cuffs into the trooper's throat until he felt the man go limp. This trooper had been the captain carrying their lightsabers, which clattered to the ground.

When Ben whirled around, ready to help Rey, he found that she had already incapacitated both of her troopers. With a flick of his fingers, their binders came undone and joined the troopers on the ground. She offered him an exhausted smile and rolled her eyes.

"Was that all together necessary?" She asked, rubbing her wrist.

"Four down." Ben said, trying his best to keep his tone light. She did not need to know how very, very terrified he was of Snoke. She probably did already know though; she knew everything about him.

Rey took another step closer to him, her eyes looking up into his. I should kiss her, he thought, his heart racing. It was very possible that this would be the last chance he ever got, might as well take it, right? Very slowly, Ben leaned forward and, if he was not mistaken, Rey began rising to meet him. The elevator doors opened, and they were frozen in place, not by fear, but by the invisible hand of the force.

Ben and Rey whirled around, frozen and floating in midair, to face Snoke. His dis-formed face was screwed up into a misshapen scowl, black robes trimmed with red and gold billowed at his feet. With the slightest flick of his fingers, Ben and Rey flew towards him, falling to the ground, on their knees, their bodies still frozen in place. Their lightsabers flew from the elevator floor onto the armrests of Snoke's throne, one on each arm. Ben almost smiled, remembering the last time he had Snoke in this position, the satisfaction of slicing his former master in half.

"Ah," Snoke began, his voice rolling through the room like a boulder. "The prodigal apprentice returns." His malformed lips twisted into a cruel smile

"You've run back to those who abandoned you, those who sent you away with your would-be-murderer, with your tail between your legs." Once, those words would have hurt Ben. His feelings of abandonment had been one of the many knives Snoke had used to carve up his psyche into easily managed and manipulated pieces, it didn't work anymore. "You are weak, Kylo Ren, in all of the ways I have always known you to be. Perhaps that merely reflects poorly on me as a master."

"You were a poor master." Rey said, her voice straining against Snoke's hold over her. Ben wondered how she found the strength. "You underestimated Ben Solo, you always have."

"And who is this little spitfire you've brought with you?" Snoke growled, raising Rey higher into the air, her arms and legs as stiff as boards. "The young Jedi girl, I've heard quite a bit about her – though not nearly enough. Where do you come from, girl?"

Rey tilted back, her face screwed up into a pained grimace. She screamed, her voice a horrible, ragged thing. She twitched slightly, fighting against Snoke's influence, but it was no use. Ben reached out through the bond, to do what, he wasn't sure, but he was blocked.

"Jakku?" Snoke purred. "A lonely sand-covered wasteland. And you were alone, too, weren't you, girl? Abandoned." Rey continued to shriek, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"NO!" Ben's scream ripped at his throat, tearing it raw. Snoke's attention did not waiver.

"Trained with Skywalker? Ah, clever man, he's hidden himself well. Don't try to hide his location from me, I will find him."

Ben fought against the hold that surrounded him, his entire body shaking with the effort, his face going red.

"You – you've been here before…" Snoke's eyes narrowed, his expression puzzled. "How is that?"

In his confusion, Snoke's hold over Ben wavered, only for a moment, but it was long enough. Ben reached out through the force to turn his lightsaber hilt, he did not have the luxury of time on his side, so it swung around quickly, the metal on metal scrape of the hilt twisting on the throne arm screeched through the room. Ben went to ignite the blade but it was too late, Snoke had regained control.