The Foundling

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A/N-thank you for reviewing this story!

Chapter Nine-The Beginning of the End

The revelation that she was Darth Vadar's daughter, coupled with Ben's actions in the aftermath, spelled the death knell for Leia's political career in the Senate. Her son hovering over her political opponent in a threatening manner holding a drawn lightsaber was broadcast across the entire galaxy. The news story was played on a continuous loop for weeks. Her rivals openly celebrated her downfall, while her former allies kept their distance, some deciding to cut ties with her completely.

The way it all came out would overshadow everything she had ever done. Who cared that she was imprisoned and interrogated by Vader? Who cared that her planet was blown up by his aid? She was Darth Vader's daughter. They couldn't hold Vader responsible anymore but they could hold her accountable. Every wrong he did would now be directed at her. The damage was done. At this point Leia was toxic. Nobody would understand why she kept it secret. Allies who still felt empathetic would protect their own interests first. Even if they wanted to, they could not help her out of this. The political momentum had shifted.

After a small scuffle with the guards, Poe and his entourage had subsequently arrived to rescue them. They had fled back home to give Leia time to figure out her next move. She sent out an urgent message to her brother about what had occurred at the Senate. Now that some of the furore had died down, she was preparing to return to the Senate again to formerly withdraw her nomination for First Senator and to seek permission to leave. The one thing she hadn't done, and had been putting off for personal reasons, was talking to Ben and Rey about her ancestry. She had always had difficulty accepting that she had any connection to Vader at all. Bail was her true father and always would be. On the rare occasions that Luke visited, the two of them never talked about that part of their past.

C-3PO appeared at the entrance to her private quarters to politely inform her that Master Luke had arrived and was anxious to see her. "Thank you 3PO." Leia gave the diplomatic droid a wan smile and left to find her brother. She found him in the lounge area in a stand off with Ben. Her son, now well over six feet tall, towered over his uncle.

"How dare you question my actions?" Ben argued heatedly. "I was defending my family."

"You made a difficult situation so much worse." Luke fired back at him. "When will you learn to stop being so impetuous? You are a Jedi, Ben. Do you have any idea how this makes me look? One of my pupils threatening a senator!" He shook his head in disgust.

"Luke." Leia hastily called out his name as she walked toward him with her hands stretched toward him in greeting. Luke cast Ben one last irritated glance, before plastering on a smile and taking his sister's hands in his own. "It's so good to see you, Luke." Leia continued warmly.

"Its good to see you." Luke leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

"Come and sit down. You've had a long journey and must be tired." Leia led him toward one of the plush leather sofas and sat down, patting the space beside her.

Luke settled down next to her, before his eyes drifted to Ben again. "Go and get your things together. You'll be coming back with me." He ordered.

"Like hell I will." Ben retorted angrily. "I'm staying with my family. They need me."

"Ben, please, moderate your language." Leia chided him gently. "Luke is right. Your duty lies elsewhere. Rey and I have all the protection we need. We'll be fine." Her voice softened slightly. "You don't need to worry."

Ben stared at his mother in disbelief. She was dismissing him. He felt rejected all over again. Over the last few days, he had managed to fool himself into thinking that he was part of the family. But it was clear that now he had fulfilled his use, his mother was sending him away again. He hadn't seen much of her since they had fled the Senate. She had kept to her quarters, only granting an audience to Rey once or twice when they became concerned about her mental state. She hadn't asked for him at all. Rey had confided to him that she thought Leia was struggling with the trauma of having her true heritage coming out in such a public manner, and just needed time to process before opening up to them about it. Ben had tried to be understanding, but as time passed, his frustration at her silence grew and grew. He had been about to confront his mother about it when his uncle had arrived so unexpectedly to drag him back to the damn Jedi temple.

Ben stormed outside and headed to the butterfly garden to get some air and talk to Rey. He had seen her heading out in that direction earlier. As he drew closer the garden, he heard Rey laughing. Her laughter was like the summer rain and birdsong too, and every time he heard it, no matter the weather or how low he was feeling, it brightened his mood. He increased his pace in an effort to join her. When he reached the garden, he paused, his brown eyes widening in surprise at what he saw.

Rey was dancing by herself in the middle of the tall grasses. She was surrounded by a swarm of blue butterflies who were dancing in the air with her. A tender smile lit up his face while he watched as her unbound hair spun out and bounced with each graceful movement she made. A slight breeze ruffled the hair on his hot neck and he felt a sudden urge to join her.

Rey was completely unaware that she had an audience. She closed her eyes blissfully as she continued to dance and spin with reckless abandon, her dark dress billowing out around her. Suddenly she felt a warm hand on her lower back and her eyes flew open again in surprise to find Ben standing in front of her. She looked up at him, focusing her gaze on his eyes. They were a deep, earthy brown-the colour of the earth after torrential rains. Something glistened in their depths, something she couldn't quite discern. They held a thousand secrets but also scintillated with a mischievous glint she found infectious. They glowed with a rare humour and playfulness as he took her hands in his and began to dance with her.

The slow beats of their hearts set a rhythm that twirled like a thread binding them together. Rey rested her head on his chest, and let him sway her body around and around again. As they drifted together with surreal grace, their only applause the soft susurration of the leaves from the distant trees, the blue butterflies moved along with them, like ribbons in the wind.

"You're leaving again." Rey guessed sadly. All the joy had gone out of the day as her hands moved around his middle, warm and soft.

"I've been ordered to leave with Skywalker." Ben replied bitterly. He pulled her closer until her body was moulded to his. He could never let another get close like this, but Rey was different. In all this cold universe she remained his staunchest supporter, his guiding light. Their chests rose and fell together as they breathed. Ben pulled away slightly, still holding her close, while he brushed a strand of dark brown hair out of her face. "Rey, I…"

"Ben!" Luke's unexpected rebuke tore them apart. Ben silently glowered at his uncle, aggravated by the interruption. "It's time to go."

Rey could feel the animosity ebbing and flowing between them. For a minute she thought Ben was going to disobey his uncle, he was so tense, another one wrong word from Luke and he would snap. "Ben!" She projected softly in his mind. "Please, try and keep calm." She could feel the fear in her chest waiting to take over. It sat there like an angry ball propelling her toward anxiety. Her feelings communicated themselves to him through their bond and she saw him glance at her wearily, his shoulders drooping with defeat as he allowed himself to succumb to his uncle's demands.

"I was just saying goodbye to Rey." He muttered.

"I'll miss you, Ben." Rey's words were like a soft exhalation in his mind.

Ben took her words and cradled them close to his heart. "I'll miss you, too." He said back to her. He felt the briefest touch of her fingers on his, before she left him with Luke and headed back inside.

Twelve months later;

Ben put his calligraphy set away and stretched out his aching limbs. He let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen his body movements. He shrugged his shoulders and lolled his head in a circle. It was late. In an attempt to quieten his mind and the whispering voices in his head, he had spent the last few hours writing, documenting his latest travels with Skywalker. It had been a tension filled trip. He believed his uncle had only asked for his company to keep an eye on him. Their relationship was getting more strained every day. Ben knew that Skywalker didn't trust him. They were clashing more and more. The other day they had nearly come to blows when he suffered another one of his angry outbursts. Ben had confided to Rey that he didn't know how much more he could stand. She had counselled him to keep trying to connect with Skywalker, to try and find some middle ground. He rubbed the back of his neck to try and ease the tension as he got up stiffly from his chair and slumped tiredly on his bed.

He was becoming more and more concerned about Rey. Even though they communicated daily through their force bond, he sensed that she was hiding something from him. She and Leia had just returned from a dangerous mission to Sibensko. Leia and Rey had disguised themselves as indentured servants who wore heavy robe and veil. They had been accompanied by Greer and Joph, who posed as a Mandalorian and Ubese bounty hunter respectively, while C-3PO pretended to be Leia and Rey's minder. The New Republic team docked their junker ship in an underwater city in Sibensko's southern axis. Using a tracker, Leia detected that Rinnrivin was somewhere in the underwater city. Upon landing, Leia, Rey and their team discovered that they were transporting a cargo of detonators to Hosnian Prime. While Greer and Joph loaded the cargo, Leia, Rey and C-3PO headed into the city

The trio accessed a computer terminal in a cantina. C-3PO downloaded banking records proving that the Amaxine warriors had transferred billions of credits in start-up capital to Rinnrivin Di's cartel over the past seven years. In addition, C-3PO found that Rinnrivin was linked to nameless sources on Centrist worlds. Leia feared that the Amaxine warriors were planning a major military buildup or that a coalition of Centrist worlds was preparing for war. In addition, C-3PO uncovered information about a large Centrist base within the underwater city.

Leia contacted Joph and informed him about the Amaxine military presence on Sibensko. She decided to send C-3PO back with his data to rendezvous with the pilots while she and Rey went to spy on the Amaxine military base. Since Joph and Greer were scheduled to depart in an hour, Leia and Rey planned to stay longer in order to spy on the Amaxines. C-3PO reluctantly left to return to the freighter. Before Leia and Rey could proceed further, they were cornered by Rinnrivin and two of his bodyguards, who had detected Leia's tracking device on his holocube. Since Leia had accessed classified information regarding his operations, the crime lord intended to kill her and Rey.

However, Rey had cut down Nikto's henchmen with her lightsaber while Leia targeted the central strut supporting the hydraulic tunnel above Rinnrivin with her blaster, crushing the crime lord and his remaining bodyguard to death. Leia then reiterated her orders for Joph and Greer to leave with C-3PO. Unknown to Leia, the Sibensko base served as the Amaxine warriors' headquarters and contained their entire army. Leia and Rey had been forced to take a lift down to the Amaxine base and discovered that it housed a squadron of starfighters. They had encountered six Amaxine warriors, who attempted to apprehend them. However, Leia and Rey had managed to flee up a landing platform that took them to the surface of the ocean. They had barely escaped with their lives when Han had arrived and rescued them.

Ben was getting increasingly angry with his parents as they dragged Rey along with them on increasingly dangerous missions. He should have been there to protect her at least, but like always they kept him out of the loop, and he only ever found out afterwards when Rey confided to him how exhausted she was. Han and Leia had reunited for the hundredth time, drawn together once again through the excitement of their dangerous ventures. In the end the mission had been a failure. After boarding Han's racer, Han had shot down the remaining B-wing fighter, which had been chasing them. It crashed into the underwater city's ammunition depot. This triggered a massive explosion that wiped out the entire Amaxine base and eliminated the Amaxines and Rinnrivin's cartel as threats to the New Republic. However, the explosion also destroyed much of the hard evidence on the two factions' financial records, which concealed their link to several Centrist senators and the emerging First Order.

Ben tried to reach out to Rey through their bond, but he hit a wall of silence. He sighed, realising she must be asleep. He would try again in a few hours. He supposed he should try and sleep, too. Rolling onto his side, he closed his eyes, desperate to find some peace. He tried to quieten his mind, to find a safe place in his head where the nightmares couldn't find him. What he didn't realise was that his biggest nightmare was yet to come.

The next time Ben woke, it was to find Skywalker standing over him, his lightsaber poised and ready to strike him down.

Rey woke up with a terrified scream dying on her lips. Adrenaline flooded her system. It pumped and beat like it was trying to escape. Her heart felt like it was going to explode. With eyes wide with fear, she relived the horrifying scene she had just witnessed through Ben's eyes-Skywalker trying to kill him and Ben defending himself.

She had to go to him. Now.

Doing her best not to disturb Han and Leia-who were lying asleep a few feet from her, wrapped in each other's arms in front of the dying fire-she ran up the opened ramp of the Falcon, only pausing once to cast one last desperate glance at the man and woman who had raised her like she was one of their own. With a heavy heart she turned away from them, closing the ramp behind her.

A/N-thanks for reading! Please review.