Hi again! As always, thanks to everyone who favourited, followed, and reviewed! Reading your comments really motivates me to write. I hope you like long chapters though, every time I looked it over, it got longer and longer. Now for this chapter, I did actually look at a galactic map and luckily for the story, Jakku is the nearest planet (that we know) to Ahch-To. How awesome is that! Anyway, thanks again, and reviews are love!
3 years earlier…
A persistent flashing light woke Rey from her sleep, blinding in the darkness of the hut. Fortunately, the large, warm body she'd been resting on didn't also respond to the bright light as she picked herself up and lifted her sleeve to see what was happening.
The binary beacon that Leia had given her to find her way home was pulsing red, meaning that she'd sent out her own personal distress code and her friends were in danger. It was the code that was only used when things were so desperate, there seemed to be almost no hope.
Rey's first instinct was just to jump in a ship and fly back to the Supremacy, hoping that the Resistance hadn't travelled so far that she'd no longer be able to sense them in the area. But she forced herself to stop and rethink.
It had taken them so many hours to reach Ahch-To before. Even if she left immediately, it was unlikely she'd reach her friends in time to help. And besides, she had other commitments now. She turned her head to look down at Ben's face.
He was so peaceful in sleep, with all the anger and turmoil vanishing as though they'd never been there at all. If he woke here to find her gone, he'd see it as a betrayal of her promises. He wouldn't accept her explanations, his world was too black and white to accept her own variations of grey.
She left the hut, the cold wind of the planet hitting her hard and focusing her thoughts, and moved towards their ship. The lights lifted automatically as she entered, reacting to her presence. She removed the bracelet and attached it to the main console. With a few commands to the ship, it began transmitting Leia's distress signal across the galaxy.
Hopefully, with the ships modern technology and upgrades, it would be able to reach far enough for her. Hopefully, Chewie would hear their message.
It only took a day from their arrival for Rey to begin feeling the flickering of Ben's consciousness from the other side of the bond. It was faint, his thoughts hadn't quite returned to him yet, but she knew it wouldn't take long for him to be fully conscious again. Clearly, they had underestimated him and how long it would take to break out of Luke's hold.
As childish and undeserved as it was, she felt annoyed with him for cutting her time with her master so short. They may not have always seen eye to eye, and it was true that she still blamed him many things, but Luke had spent the last twenty-four hours slowly guiding her through the basics of blocking her mind from others.
'Imagine a wall in your mind, let it surround your thoughts.' He instructed her.
'She gave him a disbelieving look, 'Is that it? Just a wall?'
Luke rolled his eyes at his young pupil in that annoying way he did whenever he thought she was being purposely obtuse.
'No. It's only the beginning, the first line of your defences. Within your walls you must create a maze, hiding your most precious secrets deep inside it. Those memories with less importance become obstacles, used to trick and divert anyone who would want to delve deeper.'
It was still very early, but at least she now felt that she had the tools to build something with. In time, she was sure she would be able to keep Ben out completely, if she ever needed to.
And so together, they began the task of getting him onto the ship, gently bundling him up in blankets then levitating him up the ramp, paying special care not to jostle his still healing injuries.
'Rey.' She heard Ben slowly groan out her name as they moved him, his voice sounding pained as he did so. It wouldn't be long before he woke up.
She settled him on the ship's lone bunk, concerned that he still looked to be in pain despite not moving, before she headed back outside and turned to face her Jedi master, 'We need to go. But, thank you.'
'It's the least I could do for you both.' His eyes were fond as he looked over the ship that now held his nephew. 'You were right about him. There's still a light there that I'd given up on ever seeing again. Let's hope that now you have him on this path, he can stay there.'
Luke would never understand the depth of her desire to make that happen, not for her own sake, but for the countless lives that could be lost if Ben chose the dark side again. Kylo Ren was someone she would not allow to return to the galaxy.
'And what about you?' She asked.
Luke shrugged his shoulders tightly, 'Ah, you know me. I'll always be here.'
'You won't go back to the Resistance? Leia could still do with your help rebuilding.'
Rey still remembered how excited Leia had seemed at the idea of getting her brother back. It broke her heart a little to know that she hadn't been able to persuade him of his importance to the Resistance. He was a legend, and his legacy had inflamed the hopes of so many across the galaxy.
'I still have much to atone for, my place is here. You're so young, but one day you'll understand.' Her instincts told her that he was hiding something, that he wasn't only talking about his mistakes with Ben, but it wasn't her place to pry further. She could only leave him with these words.
'Then, may the force be with you, Master Skywalker.'
'And with you.' He responded with a smile. It had been too long since he'd last heard those words, and he let the meaning of them wash over him as he watched her walking away. There was light once more in the galaxy, and his only hope was that the balance wouldn't shift once more if they learned of what he and his sister had done to ensure this.
She boarded the ship and prepared it for take-off, harder to do without a co-pilot beside her. They lifted away, and she saw her master holding up his mechanical hand to her in farewell.
'No!' Ben jerked upright in his bunk, flinching from the pain of his cracked ribs before tossing his head around wildly, looking for some unseen threat. It took him a moment to regain his bearings. She looked over her shoulder at him, and once he saw her there he relaxed a little, scrubbing his hand roughly down his face.
'I'm here. How are you feeling?' She asked.
His voice was still rough from sleep and disuse, 'Like hell. What happened?'
'That depends on what you last remember…' She replied sheepishly. She could feel his mind try to enter her own, but the tightening of what little defences she had alerted him to what he was doing. He withdrew. Snoke had always instructed him to never place a rein on his powers and it was a behaviour he'd have to force himself to unlearn.
'We were in the throne room, and there was… an explosion maybe? After that there's nothing.' He took a proper look at his surroundings, 'I've missed something, this isn't the Supremacy. How did we get here?'
Good, he didn't remember anything about their escape or sojourn on Ahch-To.
'It's Snoke's escape pod, well, ship I suppose. He didn't really do things by halves did he?' Ben looked unimpressed by her comment as she became distracted by the modern electronics and tech surrounding them. He supposed it had been some time since she'd seen mechanics like these, if she ever had.
She slowly came back to herself, remembering that she wasn't alone, 'Sorry. I got you into the ship and we got away. Luckily for us, the First Order were too busy with the Resistance and their fleet being destroyed to notice Snoke's ship jettisoning away. I think they might have had one or two questions if they'd seen us. I patched you up as best I could, but you've been out for a couple of days now.'
He looked confused for a second, 'What do you mean, their ships were destroyed?'
'That's the thing, I don't know. They looked as though they'd been torn apart, most of them were just completely split in two. And there was this strange white trail going right through the middle, that must have been what caused everything. But the Resistance don't have that kind of weaponry, so how…?' Her voice trailed off.
He thought it over in his mind, 'They must have jumped their main craft to hyperspace, right through the centre of the fleet. It's the only explanation for the white trail and the destruction of that many ships at once. Their main ship was the only one they had that would have been big enough to do that kind of damage.'
'It wasn't Leia was it?' He could practically taste her fear.
For a moment, it seemed as though he wouldn't tell her. He didn't want to tell her. It was humiliating that even after all these years he still couldn't shake the bond between himself and his mother. But he at least owed the girl this, especially as it seemed she'd saved his life in the throne room.
'It wasn't, I can still feel her. She's alive, somewhere.'
'Is she safe?' She continued.
'I neither know, nor wish to know.' He was ending the conversation there, his mother still a touchy subject for him. His priority now was making sure she hadn't done something foolish of while he'd been unconscious, 'Where are we heading?'
'I don't know, I was hoping that you might have some ideas.'
'So, we've spent the last few days just floating around in space? What were you planning on doing if I hadn't woken up?' His face was a mix of shock and frustration. She'd just been flying around, hoping that they wouldn't be picked up by anyone?
'Don't give me that look.' She said angrily, 'I've spent most of my life on Jakku, what makes you think I know anything about the galaxy? I had no idea which planets would be safe for us, considering that we're fugitives flying a stolen First Order ship.'
Her words sounded sincere enough, but in truth, she hadn't even looked at a map. In the few hours since leaving Ahch-To, her sole aim had been to get away from the planet, hoping that by the time Ben woke up he wouldn't be able to recognise the sector they were in from Luke's unfinished map.
He got up gingerly from the bunk, releasing a hiss as a sharp pain gripped his side. He lifted his shirt to see a large purple bruise mottling his skin. His ribs had been injured, at least severely bruised judging from the pain he was in. Rey got up to support and help him over to the co-pilot's seat, where he pressed a few buttons, and a galactic map appeared in front of them.
Luckily, as Snoke's apprentice, he'd always had a contingency plan formed in case he'd needed to run from the order. He'd seen it as an inevitably, rather than a precaution. He studied the map, working out the best route for them to take. 'It looks like we're here, in the Unknown Regions.' He pointed to the far left of the map, 'I suggest that we head to Coruscant.'
'Coruscant?' She said incredulously, 'You really think we'll be safe there? There are billions of people there, if any of them recognise us, we're dead!'
'Actually, there's over a trillion,' He said absently, 'Look, whatever the Resistance managed to destroy with their stunt doesn't matter. The First Order has ships stationed all over the galaxy to track us with and if we've been sitting here for two days, then they've likely taken the chance to regroup. That means they'll have already sent search parties out to find us. If Hux is in charge now then regardless of where he thinks my loyalties lie, he'll be trying to kill me. With so many people there, Coruscant is the perfect place for two fugitives to blend in.'
She couldn't argue with his logic, though the idea of being surrounded by so many people still worried her.
'Trust me. I wouldn't put you in harm's way, I swear.' He was looking at her straight in the eye, and whatever she was about to say died in her mouth.
'Okay.'
'First we need to get a new ship. If anyone from the First Order finds us in this, they'll take us in straight away.' He searched the map for somewhere they could safely trade a stolen ship but being so far away from the Mid and Inner Rims, their choices were limited.
'There are two planets we could go to. One's called Csilla, but it's not ideal.' He pointed to a planet above their current position. 'It's a bit out of the way, and the people there aren't particularly trusting of outsiders, but that's not my biggest worry.' She waited for him to continue, 'They're smart and cunning. It's not unlikely that if they see us in this ship, they'll recognise it immediately and alert the First Order.'
'Then that planet's out.' She said firmly, 'I didn't drag you out of a burning ship and spend two days patching you up just for us to be captured straight away. What's the other option?'
He was silent for a moment, 'You're not going to like it.'
She raised an eyebrow at him.
'It's Jakku.' All the breath left her in a rush. She'd never thought she'd go back there once she'd left, especially not so soon. She'd left so much of herself behind there, so much of her past.
He turned back to the map, determination set upon his face. He'd sensed her distress through the bond, even though she had hidden it from her face. 'I'm setting course for Csilla.'
But she'd grown so much since she'd left, she knew she was strong enough for this. 'No, no. We go wherever's safest. That's Jakku. The scavengers there won't care where this ship came from, only how much they can get for the parts. And the First Order has no hold there.'
'Yes, it's perfect, except that you clearly can't hold it together. Even the mention of that damn wasteland and you become useless. We're going to Csilla.'
She slapped his hands away from the controls. 'I'm fine.' She said through gritted teeth, 'And we're going to Jakku.'
He once again reached to input the coordinates for Csilla, but his hand froze before he could touch the control panel. She was using her powers to stop him. His hand began shaking with the effort of trying to break her hold on him, but he couldn't. Her raw strength was incredible.
Eventually he gave up, jerking his hand back to his body. He wasn't used to being at the mercy of the force, it had only ever been Snoke who'd held such power over him. He could see the smug grin she was trying to fight, and it infuriated him. He stood up slowly, still mindful of his injuries.
'Fine. Do what the hell you want, but I won't be helping you when something happens.' He leaned in close to her face, his voice menacing and low when he spoke, but she wouldn't be cowed by him. She knew he couldn't hurt her. 'And don't you EVER do that to me again.' He stormed away from the cockpit.
But she couldn't help herself, 'Maybe if you stopped being such an arse, then I wouldn't have to!' She shouted over her shoulder to him, quickly regretting it as she realised how childish she was acting. She sighed, just another conversation between them that had devolved into threats and insults. How were they going to do this?
It took them several hours to reach Jakku, with Ben quickly returning to his bunk. But Rey was grateful for the silence, needing a break from his unpredictable moods. She could hear him tossing and turning from her seat, seemingly in the throes of yet another nightmare, but she was unwilling to go to him. She was sure he wouldn't appreciate knowing that she'd seen him like this.
She landed their ship on the outskirts of one of Niima Outpost's multiple junk trader lots and began moving noisily around the cabin. But, it wasn't until she lowered the noisy hydraulic ramp though that he woke up and began to prepare himself for the planet's surface.
With no change of clothes and only being able to remove their outermost layers due to burning, they were both woefully underprepared for the heat after the cold of space. It hit them like a wall and sweat immediately began beading on their foreheads as they left the ship.
It was only a matter of seconds before they spotted a trader walking slowly towards them. He was human, and Rey recognised him immediately as one of Plutt's associates, often using the parts she'd scavenged to patch up his ships.
She'd been considering leaving Ben to get them a new ship to run an errand, not sure if he would be okay with the haggling that naturally came to trading on backwater planets such as these. But on seeing the trader, she'd made up her mind.
'Can you take care of this?' She asked.
He looked confused, 'Where are you going?'
'We're going to be here for a few hours and I have someone I want to see. I left her without saying goodbye.' She could see his reluctance, 'I won't be far.' She added.
'Don't take too long.' Even though it was completely irrational, he didn't want her wandering around alone, not now she had him with her. But she could protect herself well enough and he could hardly deny her this one thing before she left with him.
She turned, and not far in the distance, she spotted an old woman attending to the few plants she'd been able to grow in front of her home. Syndal was the only healer in the small settlement and had always watched over Rey from afar.
She was also known at the Outpost for being somewhat of a mystery. She had visions sometimes, premonitions. Before, Rey had just believed her to be crazy, but now that she had more knowledge of the force, she was certain that Syndal was a force sensitive too.
She was also the closest thing to a mother that Rey could remember having.
She approached her slowly, and the old woman looked up, eyes narrowed against the glaring sun, before returning to her plants when she saw who it was 'You've been gone for a while. Everyone thought you'd been eaten by the birds.'
Rey laughed, 'Did you?'
'No. I knew better.' Syndal said solemnly, and the laughs died in Rey's throat as she took in her words. At least someone on Jakku had believed in her enough to think she wasn't dead.
'So, where did you go?' the old woman continued.
Rey was unsure exactly how much of her story it was safe to share. Syndal may have been the only person she'd been close to on Jakku, but that didn't mean she trusted her.
'I just… left.'
The woman once again looked up at the young girl before her, her eyes scrutinising and making Rey feel as though her secrets were being laid bare. The seconds felt like hours before Syndal sniffed and continued talking. 'No one just leaves this place, girl. But if you're keeping things close to your chest then that's up to you. Anyway, if you finally managed to get away, I'm wondering more why you've come back?'
'We need a new ship. Ours is… well, let's just say there's some people who might be wanting it back.' Not exactly a lie, but not the full truth either. Better to let the old woman think they'd just stolen the ship from someone than tell her everything that had happened since she'd left Jakku.
'We?' Her tone didn't even sound surprised, more curious than anything else.
'Yeah, just me and a…' How could she finish that sentence? She could barely wrap her own mind around the truth, let alone try to explain it to someone else. It had been a very confusing few weeks. 'He's a friend.'
She hummed knowingly. Not much got past the old woman.
Syndal squinted into the distance, using her gnarled hand to shield her eyes from the harsh midday sun, 'Handsome friend you got there. In this situation, I'd normally ask the girl if she was leaving here willingly, but you can take of yourself. Besides, if you've got someone coming after you over that ship then it can't hurt to have an extra pair of hands on board.'
Rey smiled gratefully, happy that the old woman cared enough to think of asking yet respected her enough not to ask. But she hadn't come here to discuss her current situation.
'Syndal…'
'I know, I know.' The old woman waved her off, before she stood upright, stretching out her back with several loud cracks and moved inside. When she returned a few moments later, she was carrying a small brown sack.
'I couldn't get everything, but what was left behind after the scavengers went through it is in here.'
Rey took the bag from her and peered into it. What was left of her home, fifteen years of her life on the planet all condensed into a sack. There was barely anything in it, and what was there were only the things with no monetary value.
'Thank you, truly.' She said, and the old woman nodded in return.
'Did you…?' Something in the back of her head began to bristle. She sensed him before she saw whatever it was that had sparked his ire. Without a thought, she turned and started running as fast as she could to where Ben was stood, the trader cowering on the ground in front of him. The sand sucked her feet down with every step, making it all the harder to get to him before he did something stupid.
She skidded to a stop in front of him, holding her hands out in front of his face. She looked to his clenched fists, grateful that she'd insisted he leave his lightsaber behind to avoid drawing attention.
'STOP! Whatever it is you're doing, Ben, just stop!' She shouted breathlessly.
'Get out of the way.' He growled. He started to move past her, but his footsteps were faltering. She was using her powers on him again. This time though, he had his anger and the pain from his injuries to fuel his own, and he broke out of her hold easily.
'I told you to never do that again!' He shouted at her.
'You need to stop. This is ridiculous, every time I turn around you're…' He'd begun to move past her again, determined to get to the man behind her. She reached out, grabbing his uncovered hand, and everything stopped.
It was as though she'd been sucked into his mind, seeing everything from his perspective. Their thoughts overlapped, and she could barely tell anymore where he ended, and she began. The trader was no longer cowering on the floor, but rather stood proudly in front of her. He was rambling, extolling the virtues of a ship that, as any trained eye could easily tell, seemed to be missing several key components. It was garbage, and both she and Ben knew it.
Ben's head twisted round, bored by the man who obviously didn't know when to stop talking.
What was he doing? Oh, she thought. He was keeping an eye on her. He didn't trust the people here and he was humouring the trader because his lot was perfectly positioned to continue watching her.
'So, you're taking the scavenger with you?' The trader had finally noticed his customer's disinterest, choosing to change the subject to common ground since he knew that Rey was with him. Ben turned back to him, his face neutral.
'What do you mean?'
'Just that she's a good choice. Girls round here will do anything for a few portions. And that one, she's feisty. I tried her myself, a few years ago. Got what I needed from her, but she's not my usual type. She might work for you though, you look like you might enjoy the challenge!' He began laughing, but Ben didn't join in.
His fun soon ended, his hands moving to grasp his throat. He was clawing at it furiously, his air supply completely cut off by Ben's mental grip on him. He was lifted from his feet, slowly rising to be level with his captor, before being dropped unceremoniously to the sands. Something had caught Ben's attention. It was her, running to him.
And, just as suddenly as it had come, her view of the past ended. She was sucked back into her own mind, her own body, doubled over and gulping down huge lungful's of air.
But Ben had recovered more quickly than her, and he was already storming away. He'd seen something, just as she had, and it scared her to think what it could have been. She went to reach out again but stopped herself. She didn't want another vision to occur if she touched him.
She gathered her strength, still unsteady from her ordeal, and chased him down again. It was a small blessing that, even with his powers fuelling him, he was slower than usual.
'What did you see?' He ignored her.
'Ben, so help me. I will jump in the ship and leave without you if you don't fucking stop!'
That caught his attention, but it made her feel immediately guilty. Using the threat of abandoning him was never something she'd wanted to do, not since she'd felt in the throne room just how deep his insecurities ran.
He stopped, breathing deeply as he tried to control his actions, and she moved to stand in front of him. 'What did you see?' She said, much more calmly this time.
His eyes screwed closed, as though he couldn't stop replaying the images in his head, but despising himself for doing so, 'It was… I saw… some creature. He had his hands all over you. He wanted you.' She knew without him saying the name exactly who he was referring to. It was Plutt.
She wanted to tell him that nothing had happened, that as soon as Plutt had tried to start something with her, she hadn't hesitated to beat him senseless, that she'd only returned to working for him because she'd had no choice and he'd needed her. But she was certain Ben had already seen that in the vision, and yet he was still seething. How could she get him to calm down?
'Ben…'
'He can't have you, you're mine.' His eyes flashed open, and the possession in both them and his voice frightened her.
She tried to put her own feelings aside, wanting her mind to be clear as she finally expressed her thoughts, 'We can't do this. Every time I turn around you're doing… something! Even when you're calm, and you seem happy, I'm worried that something will happen to upset you, and you… you just change so suddenly, Ben. I can't spend the rest of my life always watching you to make sure you're not trying to kill someone. We're just going around in circles.'
The fight left him a little at that. He went to speak, but she stopped him.
'You won't argue with me on this. I know what he did, I was there, remember?' She said with a small, forced smile. 'But you don't see me running to find him, as much as I may want to.'
She took a step closer, finally feeling brave enough to grasp at his still clenched fist. 'You told me in the throne room that I needed to let my past go. And I have. When we leave here today, that'll be it. I won't be coming back again. Everything I'm taking with me is in this bag.' She raised the small sack she was still holding onto, 'A few trinkets that the scavengers didn't even think were worthy of stealing. All the bad memories I have of this place will be buried. But you need to do the same. Can you let it go?'
His reply was instant, he knew that she could ask him nearly anything and he would agree to it, 'I can try.'
She shook her head at him, 'No, that's not good enough. I need you to swear to me that you will. You're not a child anymore, and I won't be your babysitter for the rest of my life.'
'I swear. For you.'
It frightened her, how much she believed his vow. Everything about their situation frightened her, though she'd never admit it aloud. The depths of his emotions were astounding, especially given that they'd only been on speaking terms for a few weeks now. He'd needed someone to place all his feelings of loneliness and abandonment on, hoping that they could fix him, and now they had this force bond between them, she had become his emotional crutch.
But looking back on their times together, even before they'd run away, she couldn't help but think that she was encouraging him, and maybe even doing the same thing.
'From now on, when you feel yourself losing control, you come find me. No matter when it is, or where I am. I won't let innocent people die because you can't control yourself.'
He nodded slowly, knowing that he was being chided but not caring how much she was treating him like a child. 'And what do we do about him?'
She looked down at the trader in disgust. He hadn't moved from the ground, and Rey wondered if that was through fear or Ben's own powers forcing him to stay still. 'Nothing. We leave him, there are plenty of other traders around here prepared to give us a ship. He's nothing to us.'
Ben nodded slowly in understanding, then suddenly crumpled in half. Now that his anger had subsided, he was left with only the pain from his injuries, protesting strongly at his recent exertions. Rey threw his arm over her shoulder, pulling him up to standing with only a small groan for him.
'You should go back to the ship.'
'I'm fine.' He said stoically.
They began walking away, but there was something still bothering him, 'Was he telling the truth? Did he…?' He couldn't even bring himself to say the words, trying to stop himself imagining a young Rey, willing to do anything to alleviate the pain and hunger that came from living in such harsh surroundings.
'No, but would it matter if he was?' She asked, curious as to how he'd reply.
'No.' He said, 'I'm learning to let it go, remember?'
Was that supposed to be an attempt at humour? The small smile she saw on his lips indicated that it was. It was dreadful, she thought. But the fact that he was making an effort was such a step for him, a show that he was willing to try. She was sure it had been a very long time since he'd last been able to smile, and she decided to play along with him.
'I should think so. But you know that ship he was trying to sell you? It was terrible. I mean, really, it was awful! Even a child could have told you it was a piece of garbage.'
'Well then, if you think you can do better scavenger, lead the way.' And for the first time she felt as though he wasn't using that word as an insult, that to him, it was just who she was.