Hi again!
Wow. I really wasn't expecting such Hi again!
Wow. I really wasn't expecting such a response to the last chapter. I got more reviews than ever and they were amazing, but people seemed to be genuinely worried! If it makes you feel any better, I can say that you're going to be getting a whole load of answers in chapter 14!
Anyway, on with chapter 13. I'm sorry for the delay, I've had so much difficulty with this chapter. I've ended up just putting one song on repeat and sitting here for the last 5 hours to edit it lol. So please let me know what you think in the reviews, I love reading your comments. Thank you!
2 years 10 months earlier…
Rey didn't know how long they'd been sat there, but she did know that she didn't want to move. The heat of him under her hands and his heart beating so close to her own- she hadn't realised how much she'd needed him until now. With their bond open, their feelings became so much more vibrant and could flow freely between the two of them; it was as though her world had turned from black and white back to technicolour.
But in spite of what she really wanted, she knew they wouldn't solve anything this way.
'Where do we go from here?'
Rey's voice was quiet, her question a whisper in his ear. She didn't want to startle him; he seemed so fragile sitting in her arms.
And for a few moments, he chose not to move, feeling at one with her yet knowing that, if she chose, it could end at any time. If he could, he'd make it so that this moment never ended. Eventually, though, he pulled back from her, and she could see the tracks that ran down his face.
'That's your decision to make.'
'If I told you I wanted to leave, would you force me to stay?'
'Never.'
The answer was so certain, and she didn't doubt him. He was so desperate for her to stay, she could almost taste the fear he was projecting out to her. Yet she knew that if she chose right now to go, he wouldn't stop her. He'd tried to before on Starkiller, when she'd rejected his offer to be her teacher. But he wouldn't now.
Maybe the Jedi she'd met had been right. Ben Solo was changing. It was slow and painful, but he was changing.
'I'll stay with you.' Her answer was a promise. 'But this has nothing to do with the bond, or the force, or the fact that half the galaxy seems to want at least one of us dead.'
And for the first time there was hope, mixed in with his fear and anxiety. He finally looked up into her face and she could see his eyes, blown wide with disbelief.
'You're choosing to stay?'
She could feel the weight of his question. Until her, he'd never had someone in his life who'd chosen to stay with him. Or at least not someone who had done so for any reason other than his powers. And yet here she was, not only doing that, but doing it for a second time. Even after everything he'd done to her.
She nodded her head lightly, barely able to believe herself that this was the choice she was making.
'I am. I'm choosing to stay with you, because I want to. I think we need each other.'
He smiled at her. It was small and weak, but so honest in its happiness. It was the smile of a young boy, one who had never been tainted by Kylo Ren or Snoke, and her hand raised to cup the side of his face. Her thumb brushed over it slowly, tracing it and committing it to memory.
But slowly, the smile faded, and his face took on a much greater intensity. He was staring straight at her as her thumb came to rest directly on his lower lip.
'Don't look at me like that.' She spoke quietly.
'Why not?'
He was so different now. It was like the man from just a short time ago had never existed. As though he hadn't tried to hurt her again, and it was so confusing to see.
'What happened to you before?' The words came out before she could even stop them, and Rey could see in his eyes the moment he withdrew from her. He was shutting her out and she didn't want him to.
'I felt it before, when you…' She didn't want to mention what had happened again, didn't want to see him close himself off further. 'You can't control it, can you? The darkness inside you, I mean.'
There was a war going on across his face and his emotions. He didn't want to talk about it to her, to give her any reason to feel unsafe and leave him again. But surely, he owed her this much?
'Most of the time I can. Skywalker spent years training me to keep it out, though he wasn't entirely successful.' There was an angry smirk on his face, and his hands were gripped tightly into fists, pressed into the sides of his face.
'But Snoke trained me to use it, to release it whenever I could gain an advantage from it. He wasn't a believer in teaching control. Anything that could hold me back from mastering my powers was considered a weakness. It's made it nearly impossible to stop it, and when it sees an opportunity, it takes over.'
His voice became quiet, reluctant to admit his own weaknesses or that despite his demands that she let the past die, he still couldn't let go of his own. Every day it controlled him. 'I can still hear his voice in my head when it gets too much for me.'
Rey considered his words for a moment. She'd made a choice, and she wanted to do whatever she could to understand him.
'I want to hear it.'
His response was instantaneous. 'No, you don't.'
She pulled one of his arms gently away from his head, tugging it over to rest in her lap. She was with him now, she wasn't going anywhere, and with reluctance, he slowly opened his mind and his memories to her.
She could see herself from his perspective, it was the night in the throne room. She could see his hand extended to her, before her own rose to meet it. The scenes began skipping as he raced through the memories, not wanting to relive them, but inside his head the voice was sharp and clear.
'Kill her. She will only slow you down. With her by your side, they will find you. You are weaker now, and they will kill you in her place.'
'You had everything with the dark side. The power you held, it was magnificent! You should be ruling the galaxy! You are the Skywalker heir; it is your birth right. And if she will not willingly rule with you, then take her! Force her hand, you have the power.'
Rey snapped back to her own mind, looking around anxiously at her surroundings to prove to herself that she was back, but the voice continued to echo in her mind. She forced herself to keep holding onto him, not to pull away, but she couldn't repress the shiver that went through her body and the goose bumps that followed in its wake.
This man before her had been so abused for so many years, that even now his tormentor was long dead, he still couldn't remove the voices from his head. It was as though Snoke was a part of him now.
'We're going to do something about this. Together.' She said, her voice hard and determined.
'I won't turn to the light, Rey.'
She could see that he was trying to train his face into neutrality, looking so much like his diplomatic mother for just a second. But his ever-expressive eyes told Rey a different story. The light side terrified him. The last time someone had tried to get him to turn it had ended with him waking to his uncle holding a lightsaber above his sleeping head.
'I know. And it was naïve of me to ever think that you could. The dark and the light run through both of us, I've seen it. We both need to learn to accept it, Ben. All of it.'
But he shook his head violently, her answer not enough to completely dispel his fears.
'And if I hurt you again? What happens the next time I can't control myself and you want to leave again?'
'I won't.' She swore, gripping his hand ever more forcefully between her own. 'I… I know myself better now. This is where I need to be, because I'm the only person in the galaxy who can help you keep the balance within yourself.'
Rey was certain in her response. He was like a child, one who needed constant reassurances that he wouldn't be left alone again, and she needed him to believe her.
'You're the only person in the galaxy who can draw my powers out. You force me to my limits and show me everything I can do. I need to keep going with this, with you as my teacher. I need you to show me how to use every part of myself, both the light and the dark.'
It took a lot of time and promises and reassurances, but Ben had finally been willing to let Rey out of his sight for long enough to go and collect her things. He'd wanted to go with her, but he needed to learn that she was her own person. He couldn't be with her all the time if they were going to learn to be an effective team in the future.
She took her own speeder over to the room she'd been renting for the past month. There wasn't even that much for her to fetch, only a single bag of things she'd bought during her time away. But with how little the two of them had and the clues her belongings could leave, she didn't think it was a good idea to leave anything behind.
She pushed her shoulder hard into the door, forcing it open, and walked inside.
But immediately, she could tell something was wrong. A quick glance round showed her that nothing in the room was out of place, but somehow the energy there was off. It didn't feel anything like her own.
She needed to grab her bag of things from the other side of the room but refused to take her eyes from the door. Her steps backwards were slow and measured, as though even disturbing the air around her would alert whoever it was that had been there in her absence. Her eyes darted left and right, looking for any traps on the ground around her as she bent slowly to pick up her backpack.
And she straightened just a cautiously as the scant light that had been filtering through the door was suddenly blocked by two very large shadows.
'Hello.'
Two humans strolled through the door, probably men judging by the height and build, and wearing matching blue suits of armour. They almost looked like those the storm troopers wore, but with additional designs and insignias painted all over.
Her hand slowly moved to rest against the lightsaber at her side, the other shrugging the bag further onto her shoulder to distract their attention away from the weapon. It would be possible to take them out using just her force powers, but still being so new to her skills, she felt more comfortable with something solid in her hand.
'I think you have the wrong room.' She tried to sound convincing, but they didn't move.
Ben. She spoke only his name over their bond, hoping that whoever it was that had found her hadn't also reached him.
His response was immediate, sensing the thin thread of alarm that had wound its way through her. She could feel his own panic rising, but she tried to push it aside, knowing it would do her no good in the situation. He was safe, and hopefully would stay that way at least until she could contact him.
'So, you're the one the First Order wants so badly.' The trooper closest to her said.
'I don't know who you're looking for, but you have the wrong person. I'm no one.'
The second of the men took a small round disk from within his armour. Pressing a button, a holo flashed to life, hovering above the disk, and spinning round slowly. It was slightly grainy, but the image was undoubtedly her- probably taken from cameras placed in Snoke's throne room, judging by the state of the clothes she was wearing.
The same soldier walked towards her, before circling her like a predator. His mask moved up and down as he stopped behind her and took in the full length of her, and the grip on her lightsaber reflexively squeezed tighter.
When his voice came out, it was quiet and considering.
'I can see why he wants you though.' A gloved hand came up to grasp a lock of her hair, bringing it closer to his masked face.
The other guard had remained in place but was clearly becoming increasingly encouraged by his friend's actions. His body was leaning forward and inching towards where Rey stood, his footsteps small and slow across the hard ground.
'He? Who's he?'
The hand on her hair suddenly forced itself towards her, grabbing a large chunk of hair near her scalp and pulling her backwards into his body. She could feel his mask pressed into the side of her head. Her heart was racing, and her breaths were coming fast.
She could feel the anger flowing through her, rushing into every limb. She'd been holding herself back, forcing herself not to strike while there was still a chance they would just leave, but her grip on herself was quickly slipping.
His other hand reached around her waist, holding her to him like a snake, thinking her unable to defend herself.
Clearly, the First Order had been withholding information.
Rey's saber turned the small room blue, and she moved quick as a flash to slice it across the man's upper thigh.
Blood sprayed across her clothing and his grip on her dropped to grab onto his injured leg. She used the opportunity to draw her blade up to his throat, holding it there as a warning. Her free hand reached out to the other guard, throwing him hard into the wall with only a quick glance from her. He fell to the floor with a sickening crunch of his armour, but she could feel that he was far from dead. Just unconscious.
Rey turned to the man below her, could see his chest rising and falling rapidly in fear of the weapon pressed tightly to him. His skin was hidden, but she could imagine the jackrabbiting of his pulse in his throat.
'Please.' He begged. And it almost made her smile to hear his pleas. A voice in her head, the same one she'd heard on Starkiller wanted her to kill this man. He certainly would have done much worse to her had she not had the ability to protect herself.
But she wouldn't.
Rey knew that she was many things, but she wasn't someone who killed when there was another option available to her.
She used her powers to force him to sleep, at least taking pleasure from the fact that his leg would cause him no small amount of pain when he woke. She ran for the only exit, darting through it and towards the speeder she'd left parked outside.
But surrounding it were several more of the men, examining it and anything that might have been left inside.
Her steps faltered, and she turned to change direction as discreetly as she could. But they'd already spotted her, one head jerking up at the sound of her, followed by another and another. A chorus of shouts rang out, and heavy footsteps began chasing after her.
There was no time to think; she just ran.
She was lucky to have the advantage of speed over those following her, honed after years of hard living, and helped by the heavy armour they sported. She ducked and weaved through the crowds that filled the streets, hoping to get lost amongst them, before darting into a nondescript alley off the main street.
Rey pulled her communicator from her bag, hands shaking with the exertion of running through the city and the adrenaline coursing through her. She was relieved when he picked up immediately, hopefully it meant that whoever it was chasing her still didn't know where he was.
'What's going on?' He demanded.
She tried to keep her voice even, any wavering would have him doing something stupid to find her. 'There are people here. Bounty hunters, I think.'
'How did they find you?'
She shook her head on instinct as she spoke. 'I don't know. But they were waiting for me when I got here. They said they were working for the First Order.'
His own answer was immediate. He'd been planning for such a situation since the moment they'd arrived on the planet. Probably even from way before then.
'Then we need to leave. Don't come back here.' Ben considered their options for a moment. 'Head straight to the ship, I'll meet you there.'
Going back to the ship was a risky move. If they'd found her so easily, then who was to say they hadn't also found out about the ship they'd stored in the nearby garage. But unfortunately, there was no time for their customary argument.
'There!' A masked voice shouted out from the other end of the alley, and Rey didn't need to look to know what they were shouting about. She vaguely registered Ben's voice shouting at her to run from the other end of the still open comm line, as she jumped up from her place against the wall and ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction.
As she moved back out into the main street, her head darted back and forth, searching out for some sign that would tell her exactly where in the city she was. But the whole place just seemed to blur into one enormous road filled with people.
Blaster shots rang out behind her, and the rush of people throwing themselves to the ground caused her to fall too. There were screams all around her; some people managed to get to their feet quickly and began running from the men, but others stayed down on the floor, just hoping they wouldn't be singled out. Whoever these soldiers were, they weren't afraid of hurting innocents.
Rey raised herself up on shaky arms, turning her head to look behind her. There were more of them now, explaining how they'd caught up to her. They were stepping on people in their haste to reach her, and several were already raising their blasters and aiming them at her head.
She turned on the lightsaber still in her hand, lifting it up over herself to deflect their shots and allowing the force to flow through her and dictate her movements. Using her other hand, Rey managed to get herself back onto her feet. But she stumbled repeatedly as she tried to get through the crowds still huddling on the floor.
These were the lower levels, there was no law enforcement to help her here.
Shots continued to fly past her, and while her lightsaber was deflecting many of them, it seemed inevitable that one would eventually break through her defences.
And when it did, it caught her on the side of her stomach, scraping past her from back to front. She strangled the scream that wanted to be let out and forced her legs to keep moving. With this new distraction, her focus was wavering.
Rey continued to run, but there was only so far she could go. She could see what was ahead of her and it was the end of the market street.
She continued, until she hit the waist high wall that marked the boundary between the market and a seemingly never-ending drop on the other side. She could hear the screams of people behind her rising into the air as the hunters came closer and closer, but there was nothing around that could help her.
She gripped onto her lightsaber, bringing it up to her face and lighting it. She closed her eyes momentarily, collecting the force around herself in preparation. If she was going down, then it wouldn't be without a fight.
'Rey!' A voice called out from far behind her, and she spun round to see who it was.
An older Twi'lek man sat inside a speeder, which quickly drew closer and closer until it was hovering several feet above the ground next to her. He jumped out, running up to her as she shielded her eyes from the air being blown around her by the speeders engines.
'Get in!' He shouted.
'Who are you?' She shouted back, trying to be heard over all the noise.
'A friend sent me. He told me to give you this.' He pushed something small into her palm, a necklace of sorts. 'Now go!'
Rey had no choice but to listen, as the old man placed a hand on her back and shoved her towards the still hovering vehicle. She jumped inside, giving him a quick look back as he slipped into the crowds unnoticed, and sped away. She could see the blaster bolts flying past the windows in flashes of green, but fortunately she was a good enough pilot to ensure that none of them hit her.
Typing in the location of the garage into the nav computer, Rey took a moment to relax back into her seat. As long as the hunters hadn't taken note of exactly what kind of vehicle she was driving, she should be safe enough until she reached her destination.
Who was the man who'd just risked his life to save her? Why would he save her? Rey didn't have any friends outside of the Resistance, and if it had been them getting involved, she had no doubt that they'd have used the opportunity to take her with them. Not to let her escape.
She looked down into her hand, seeing the small necklace resting there.
A pendant hung down on a black leather cord; a small, beige square with the sides cut out and patterns marking the whole thing. It looked to be hand carved, possibly by an inexperienced hand judging by the symmetry lacking in the design.
But it was unique, and Rey could feel the warmth emanating from it. She had no idea what it was, or why she'd come to be in possession of such a thing, but she had no doubt that it was an artefact of the light side. She pulled it up over her neck, letting out a small groan as the action managed to pull at her injured side, and tucked it down into her shirt.
It felt good against her skin, and Rey took the chance to close her eyes and sleep for a while.
Finally, she saw something she recognised. Just ahead of the speeder was the garage and from the outside at least, there didn't seem to be anything amiss with the building. Rey reached down to her belt to grab her communicator, but the twist of her body sent a sharp pain through her side. She ignored it, continuing her search, only to find that it wasn't there.
She let out a groan as she remembered back to the last time she had it in her hands. It was in the alley, and she hadn't put it back when her conversation with Ben had been cut short. She'd definitely had it when she'd started running, but it must have slipped out of her hand when the hunters had started shooting into the market crowds.
There was a tiny part of her that hoped Ben hadn't made it to the garage; he was going to kill her when he found out she'd lost it.
She left the speeder outside, getting out of it as carefully as she could without causing further damage to herself, and made her way slowly across the walkway.
There were spots of blood on the ground behind her, creating a trail right up to the main hangar, and Rey pressed her hand more tightly into the wound as she walked. She gritted her teeth against the pain and looked around for the garage manager, hoping that he would be able to tell her quickly where their ship was being kept.
She only managed a few steps forward though, before a pair of hands grabbed her around the waist. Her instincts kicked in, and she lifted her arm to elbow him in the nose; if she was lucky she would be able to break it, even with her diminished strength.
But one of the hands on her waist shot up to grab her arm before it could make contact.
'It's me.' Ben whispered into her ear, and she breathed out in relief.
Turning to look at him, she could see that whatever group it was that had been chasing her hadn't managed to find him. He still looked terrible from their time apart and earlier confrontation, but a quick check of his face showed Rey that there were no new injuries for her to worry about.
She sagged slightly in his arms, and his eyebrows pulled together in confusion. He pulled his fingers away from her waist, noticing for the first time the blood that coated them. His expression turned thunderous, and she could feel his anger and need for revenge vibrating through both his body and his mind.
Rey placed her hand on his chest, hoping to anchor him to her and remind him that they had more important matters to deal with than revenge.
'Not now.' She said quietly. 'Where's the ship?'
He forced himself to focus on the feel of her against him, her calming presence helping to soothe his rage before it went too far, and took her hand, pulling her along behind him. He'd already prepped the ship while he'd been waiting- it had been something to distract him and had stopped him from running out into the city in a vain attempt to find her.
They climbed on board, and his deft hands on the controls meant they were quickly up in the atmosphere, where Rey finally had a moment to move away from the cockpit and tend to herself.
Ben was right behind her though.
He'd had to relinquish control of the situation and trust her when he'd told her to make her own way to the ship, and it was something he neither liked nor was used to. Especially when they'd already been apart for so long. But now that she was back by his side with her promises to stay, he was reluctant to do so again. He would be there to help her now.
He knocked away her hands, lifting her shirt up slowly and peeling it away from the wound as gently as he could. It made her wince in pain as it pulled at the drying blood, but a quick check showed him that it was superficial. He pulled out a bacta patch from a small box of supplies, and any pain melted from her expression as he applied it to the area.
But they had more pressing concerns, and Rey's eyes lifted to meet his.
'Where do we go from here?'
'I don't know.' He responded. He didn't like not having a plan in place. 'Until we know how the First Order learned about this safe house, none of the others are secure.'
She grabbed tightly onto his hand, her eyes full of determination and never leaving his. She didn't need to say anything, he could feel her strength, her force of will coming at him from her side of the bond. She was pushing her feelings onto him to reassure him.
They were in this together now.
'We lost them.'
The masked figure spoke quietly into the communicator. Defeat was not something they were used to, and it was a shameful thing to be forced to admit to a client, even one as odious as this one. Around them, other soldiers in similar blue armour were waiting for commands, now that the chase was over.
The response from the other end of the line was slow in coming, and when it did, it was angry.
'You lost them?' The man's voice was staticky and a little difficult to understand, but it was clear that he was barely stopping himself from screaming down the line. 'We gave you the film, the location, everything! All you needed to do was to bring them to us!'
The figure showed no sign of movement at the anger directed towards it, though the other less experienced soldiers in the area had begun shifting awkwardly from foot to foot. Their leader levelled their gaze towards them, and they stopped immediately when they noticed the unforgiving stare.
Their leader continued, 'You didn't tell me the girl was a force sensitive. Had I known, I would have sent more men after her. This is as much your fault as it is mine.'
'Can I assume that you have a plan in mind to catch them again?' The man asked, sounding slightly less angry, but more frustrated now with how things were progressing. He clearly hadn't wanted the bounty hunters to find out about the force powers they were fighting against.
The figure was silent for a moment, considering how to phrase their response. 'We're working on it now.'
But in truth, they had no idea how to capture such a girl. They'd never fought against Jedi before. Other than the legendary Luke Skywalker and the dreaded Knights of Ren, the galaxy believed force sensitives to be a relic of the past. A myth told to children to help them sleep at night.
'The resources of the First Order are at your disposal.' The man continued. 'Take whatever you need to find them. I want them brought in alive, do you understand?'
'Yes.' The figure understood, but they needed to be sure they had all the facts before they committed any troops to facing such an unknown threat. 'And can I assume there isn't any other information you're keeping from us?'
The man's voice turned dark. 'Careful. There are many other bounty hunters who would kill to be in your position, captain. I do not expect you to fail me again.'
And with that, the leader of the First Order was gone.