May the Force be with you!
Disclaimer: all characters belong to Lucasfilm™ and Disney™.
…Poe Dameron had never been to Ahch-To, whether or not it was the final resting place of Sir Luke Skywalker, who was the brother of General Organa, and as such – a very important part of the Resistance, (part time). Rey had been there, once, to train under Sir Luke, but right now and here, with the latter Jedi being dead, (apparently, though it was different with the Jedi, sometimes), Rey wasn't here anymore either. She had gone to other parts of the galaxy, it seemed.
That is not to say that Ahch-To was abandoned either, even with Sir Luke dead, and Rey absent. In fact, there was a Force user there, one that was very familiar to Poe, and right now? The two men were eyeing each other in an unfriendly way.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Poe bitterly asked Ben Solo, (at least, he supposed that it was Ben Solo. Kylo Ren had a decidedly different style to him).
"Yes, I am. I died, but since I was making plans about that beforehand, I came back," Ben shrugged.
"…You made plans to die and come back," Poe said slowly as his hand stopped halfway to his blaster. Somehow, he was not so sure that shooting Ben Solo would accomplish anything anymore. What if he comes back again-?
"Yes, I did plans, and no, if I died again, it would take me far longer, if ever, to come back, so please don't shoot me," Ben sighed as he looked at his childhood friend. "Why are you here? Where is Rey? Isn't she the Jedi?"
Poe blinked as he belatedly remembered that even before he went full Sith, Ben Solo was never particularly easy to get along with, and now that he went full Sith and back again, he was even harder.
"…She's gone," he focused on the important part, with an effort. "She's gone, and we thought that she might come back here…"
"Good for her," Ben did not even appear to be gloating, which only made everything worse. "Now that Palpatine is gone for real, it's time for the Republic to begin to return to what it initially was."
"What are you talking about-?" Poe sputtered.
"Before Palpatine took over and started the Clone wars," Ben did not back down, "the Jedi were many things, from investigators to negotiators and more. Never generals and army leaders – that was Palpatine's manipulations. Now that he's gone, it's time for things to return to normal."
Poe opened his mouth.
"What did you do to make her leave – made it easier for her to leave?" Ben asked in his turn.
"Jannah," Poe muttered sheepishly – some habits were hard to break, especially when the patterns never had been.
"Don't know her," Ben nodded sagely.
"She's a former trooper of the First Order who helped us against you-"
"I've met him. His name is Finn. He is also a man, and identified himself as one. Dameron, what did you do-?"
"Nothing! It's a different Stormtrooper!" Poe sputtered. "There was more than just one when your First Order began to go-!"
"Good," Ben nodded, apparently agreeing wholeheartedly with Poe, (which only made the other man more aggravated). "Palpatine never cared about anyone other than himself and Snoke was just a hollow shell in which he hid-"
"Oh, now you're all knowing-"
"Yes, well, I should've figured out how to tell you earlier, even if you would only make a bad situation worse," Ben, apparently, had also remembered their childhood friendship in a less than rosy light. "Rey fixed it, instead – and yes, she's a wonderful glorious woman, and now that she's gone-"
"She isn't gone-"
"She is gone from the Resistance-"
"I give you that," Poe muttered sheepishly. "Did you have to hand the rump First Order to Finn and Rose?"
"Hey, I had Snoke's bloodline checked – he really was the Tico sisters' maternal grandfather," Ben shrugged. "Might as well give his legacy to the rightful heir, now that both he and Palpatine are gone."
Poe looked at him, or rather – glared at him. Ben stared back at him with a placid gaze that was more Skywalker than Solo and the one that Luke actually used to annoy Han back when the pair were friends with each other, (and also alive).
"…Anyways, again, Rey isn't here, so you can go," Ben shrugged. "It was nice to meet you, again, really. Maybe we'll try it next month, or better yet – next year?"
"…I think that you should come with me back to the Resistance instead," Poe said slowly as he pointedly kept his arms ahead from the blaster. "And not for the reasons that you think-"
"Why do you need Jedi, anyhow?" Ben did not appear to be too impressed by Poe's show of peace. "You have all the tools. You have the Resistance behind you. You have the remainder of the First Order with you. The galaxy is already at the beginning of a period of peace. All you need to do is to usher it in. What's the problem?"
"We don't know how," Poe sighed… even as he eyed Ben critically. "Let me guess. You wanted to make it like your uncle and split?"
"I'm a different person from my uncle," and boy, was not the last word loaded with vitriol – clearly, some things still got under Ben's skin, no matter what, "but I just assumed that between all of you, you all would be able to succeed where my mother and her cohorts failed. I guess I was wrong. What did you need Rey for? Or me, for that matter?"
Poe looked away first this time. "We're not sure. It's just that- it's just that we thought that having a Jedi might help with all of those fat cats and other douches of Coruscant-"
"Ah," Ben nodded in understanding, as he had spent the initial part of his childhood and life on Coruscant, and had hated it. "I think that I'm beginning to understand." He looked up into the sky and beyond into space. "Maybe I should go with you. In addition, for all sorts of reasons, I think that I might now where Rey is. Shall we go and collect her on the way to Coruscant?"
"I like the way you think, old buddy!" Poe said brightly as he clapped Ben on the shoulder.
Ben glared.
"Just like old times," Poe continued happily. "Shall we go now?"
"Yes," Ben said curtly, and away they went.
End