A/N - Welcome back to the story!
ndavis77 - Haha yeah, I didn't want their reunion to be too much of a fight. Ben has changed a lot, after all.
ldsrsc - Me too! I really wish the movies would have gone that direction, but oh well!
Rey was finally asleep, but it had only been a matter of time before exhaustion won out over her stubborn nature. She'd fought against it for a while but had finally succumbed to the requirements of her body. She was curled up on the stone slab, her head in his lap, her hand curled around his thigh.
He trailed his hand across her silken hair, letting it slide through his fingers. Luke was watching him with interest. Though there was tension in his eyes, his posture remained casual, and he retained his mischievous air that Ben remembered from his childhood.
"I never suspected," Luke murmured. "If only you had met earlier. If she had been at the academy with you… where is she from?"
"Nowhere," Ben replied, recalling Rey's response when he had first asked that same question.
"Everyone is from somewhere."
"She lived alone on Jakku for most of her life," Ben added.
Luke paused.
"Oh. Yeah, that is nowhere."
Ben chuckled slightly. For a moment, he was almost able to forget his Uncle's betrayal as they joked like old times.
Rey stirred, her hand constricting on his thigh. He gazed down at her fondly, and Luke let out a small laugh.
"If only your father could see you now," Luke chuckled. "Dragged into a rebellion by a girl. Turning your back on your old life for love. He'd be proud… and exasperated."
Ben had no doubt that what Luke said was true. But there was one problem.
"I never said I would turn my back on my old life," He insisted. "I am here for Rey, but I never agreed to fight the First Order."
"Ben, you may think you can stay on the sidelines, but that's just not the truth. You think you can go the next five, ten, fifty years watching her risk her life?" Luke asked.
Ben was silent. He knew deep down that his Uncle was right. That didn't mean he was ready to admit it.
"You're only in the beginning stages of this," Luke folded his hands before him and stared unflinchingly at Ben. "Do you think it's going to get easier as time goes on? It only grows; the bond will become something so intense that it will take everything you have to get through one second without her."
"I can take her somewhere far away," Ben told him, hating the desperate edge to his tone. "Somewhere Snoke will never find us."
"If you thought that was an option, you would never have come here," Luke told him firmly.
Ben turned his attention back to Rey. He wouldn't deny his Uncle's words, nor would he confirm them. He hadn't left the First Order with the objective of ousting his former master from power. He hadn't gone after Rey because he had decided that he was going to fight, hadn't pulled her free of her friends with the intention of leading a rebellion. He had just planned to get her somewhere safe, get her to someone that might be able to shelter her, and to try to live a peaceful life with her.
Somewhere along the way though, he had realized that there was nowhere safe for her, and no one that could protect her, except for him. And if he was going to keep her safe, then Snoke would have to be removed. A new power, and a new world system, would have to be established.
"This will be an interesting fight," Luke pondered. "The prophesied dyad, taking on the First Order as Gray Jedi, neither siding with the light or the dark, but fighting in the name of balance. Imagine the consequences of such a thing."
"Or imagine the wonder of it," Ben tensed. He hadn't realized that Rey had awakened until she spoke. Her eyes were still dark and swollen from sleep, but they gleamed with hope as she sat up. "Imagine the freedom that would come if such a tyrannical, ruthless reign was over."
Luke smiled.
"Looks like it's time for us to go."
A/N - Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
As always, please leave a review with your thoughts, suggestions, and predictions, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
~ Elizabeth (FanOfDeliciousFlavour)