Part XXI

Surfacing out of the Force was like when Rey took her first gasping breath after falling into the dark water on Ahch-To. Both of their chests were heaving against the other and slowly Ben lowered her to her feet. "Come," he said simply, needing to move before the Darkness of this place pulled him back under.

Taking Ben's outstretched hand, Rey followed behind him. "If this is a Jedi Temple, why is the darkness so strong?"

"It wasn't always a Jedi Temple," he said without turning his head as they started to walk up some stairs. "This is sacred ground and the two sides of the Force have been fighting over it for eons.

"The Jedi would build and the Sith would tear it down, putting up their own monuments. Pieces were left behind, dark relics buried deep inside of the mountain that this place rests upon. But not all of the darkness came from the Sith."

"What do you mean?" They had come upon a mezzanine that stretched the length of the temple's ziggurat base.

"I told you before, and Luke even agreed, that the Jedi Order had to end. They were corrupt with power and involving themselves too deeply in government. I've always wondered what was worse…darkness disguised as righteousness by the Jedi, or blatant dark deeds at the hands of the Sith."

Rey knew his question was not one that needed to be answered and they approached a set of golden doors and Ben pushed a button, causing the doors to open and they stepped onto a lift. "There are five spires," he informed as the lift seemed to be ascending forever. "We are in the center spire…and this," the doors opened, "is the Jedi Council Chamber."

The room was round, wide windowed gave a three-hundred and sixty-degree view of the surrounding city. Rey crossed the dusty room, seeing that inlaid into the floor was a dark brown circle with what looked like golden sun rays coming off it. Around the room were seats…thrones of different shapes and sizes.

"Anakin stood in that exact spot," Ben said, still lingering by the lift doors. "He was judged by the Council, they were unsure if he was the Chosen One and if he should be trained as a Jedi. I've been wondering what would have come of the Skywalker's if the Council had said no.

"If Obi-Wan hadn't stepped up to mentor my grandfather, Anakin would have never met Padmé, they would have never fallen in love, married in secret. They would have never had Luke and Leia. No me…and possibly no you." He was convinced that the Cosmic Force brought Rey about when he started to shift towards the darkness, even at age nine, Snoke was already paving Ben's path to the Darkside.

Rey reached out her hand, wordless asking him to join her at the center of the room. Thankfully he removed his gloves on the way and slid his warm hand into hers. "But he was trained, and he did meet Padmé," she placed her hands on his chest, "and they did fall in love and make two amazing…if not misguided children."

He wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his clutched hands at the small of her back and she spoke again, "And the Force brought about you and the Force brought about me. And the Force brought us together, as it was always fated to be."

They were both quiet for a long time, holding on to each other and listening to…feeling the Force, but it was Ben who broke the silence, "My grandfather was part of Order 66, Palpatine's plan to rid the galaxy of Jedi…Anakin…he killed younglings with little more than training sabers to protect themselves."

Ben had his chin resting on the top of Rey's head as she buried her face in the thick fabric of his surcoat, "When Luke tried to kill me, when I pulled the hut down upon him, it set about a course of destructions Snoke was in my head, praising me and prodding me along. I gave them a choice to follow me…to let Luke's flawed ideas die with him and start a new Order of Force users. Seven joined me, the rest…Snoke ordered their deaths and just like my grandfather, I wielded my saber against younglings."

Rey gripped at the back of his coat harder and silent tears escaped her eyes and bled into the fabric on his chest.

"I was so scared, so ashamed, but I was also so angry, and the hate that filled me tampered down the Light that was trying to stay ablaze within me." His voice became thick and a few tears ran down his face.

"We are all capable of doing the unimaginable when we are desperate enough," Rey offered with a sniffle as she looked up at him.

His gaze was still forward, lit by the afternoon sun streaming through the windows, he couldn't look down at her, feeling her pity through the bond was enough. "That is why I have to do better. I have to be better than Anakin, than Luke, than my mother and father. I have to be more just than Palpatine and Snoke. I can't be ruled by Darkness and I refuse to let my hands be sullied with any more innocent blood."

As much as Rey felt a purpose with the Resistance, to bring a peaceful end to the war, she had also been a part of settling the internal conflict of Kylo Ren and Ben Solo. Each day he became more and more like the man the Force had shown her of their future. Each day she loved him anew and with a greater intensity.

"We are not the sins of our family," she reminded him in a soft voice.

Ben just gripped her tighter in reply, and while he knew that he couldn't account himself to the past digression of Anakin, his uncle, or his parents, he had also spilled the blood of younglings, one no older than eight, and his soul had relished in the powerful darkness that had overwhelmed him at the time.

Since becoming closer with Rey he had lain awake many nights thinking about his sins. He thought about his own child, his and Rey's child, being cut down by a dark force, and the fear would give him the sweats and he would feel the lost souls of those he had ended. He doubted his worth as a father, questioning if he even deserved to feel the joy of a little hand wrap around his large fingers. How could the Force allow his spawn to exist when he had shown such disregard for life in the past?

These weren't fears that he ever verbalized with Rey, but he knew that she felt his hesitation through the bond. While he dreamed…almost willing to hope to see Rey one day full with their child, he also feared his dark legacy and corruption of his damaged soul.

They released each other soon after and took the lift back down to the main ziggurat, wandering the halls and training quarters. "So what will you do with this place?" Rey asked as they walked through the Room of a Thousand Fountains, a large greenhouse area at the center of the Temple that was lush with overgrown flora.

"I'm not sure," Ben mused, climbing over a rocky structure. "I don't want to level it, for it still holds great power within the Force. Perhaps a new training center, allowing those who are Force sensitive to come out of hiding and be taught about the gray area that their Emperor and Empress exist and flourish in."

Rey thought for a long moment and then smiled, "I like that idea."

Ben chuckled to himself, "Who would have thought that the infamous Jedi Killer would open an academy."

Stopping her forward movement, Ben had to bow his body around hers to not knock into the back of her. Rounding in a swirl of red cloak, Rey gave him a hard look, "You have to forgive yourself for your past."

Staggering on his feet, Ben righted himself but gave her a sour look.

"You are not that person any more. Like your grandfather, you were under the influence of an evil man." She placed her hand on his chest, "I know your heart Ben and it tells me that you don't want to hurt people. Your heart still bleeds for what happened at the academy and that shows that you regret your actions. It shows you have empathy and that you're not a monster."

Ben felt the lump in his throat swell, "I don't want you…our children, to be scared of me, to be ashamed of me."

Rey saw the lost boy inside of the hulking man standing before her. The boy who was starving for love and for the family that he felt was denied him, stared upon her with sad deep eyes. "I love you and our children will love you. Trust in me and trust in the Force," her voice was kind and sure.

He pressed his lips together, contemplating her words but not fully believing them. He feared being a father like Vader, so cloaked in darkness that he didn't even recognize the familial bond to Luke, or like Han, too busy being the hero in everyone else's worlds that he forgot about the son who was his biggest fan. Snoke had even tried to call Kylo 'son', mostly after an agonizing punishment and Ben shivered at the thought of ever treating his own offspring in such a way.

But he would do as Rey said. He would put his trust in her and in the Force. Ben was created for Rey and she for him. The Force doesn't make mistakes. The future they had was not one of pain and disappointment. He had to believe that one day he would have the vision that was dangled before him.

So he sighed and relaxed his shoulders, allowing the power around him to once more flow through every atom of his form. After a quick pause, his body went rigid again and he looked up at Rey, "It's started…"

Confused, Rey asked, "What's started?"

"The mission."

"How do you know?"

Ben reached out his hand and Rey readily took it as they started to walk back out of the garden towards another one of the Temple's large halls. "Alister and Jix were at the academy with me. We have trained together for over a decade and there is a bond between Master and Knight."

"Like our bond?" Rey asked.

"No, what we have is more than what has ever been documented about Force bonds, but I can get small glimpses from them, slight feelings, messages of the sort."

"How is it going?"

Ben smiled, "It's not that detailed, but we should head back to the apartment and await their report."

Rey agreed and they headed back down to the speeder. The ride back across town was uneventful and they were soon again in the enclosed hangar and taking the elevator down to their apartment.

Ben helped her out of her cloak and dress and thought about taking her, but she was too keyed up and would most likely find it insensitive to have sex while her friends on both sides were in danger. It also didn't help that she took his discarded tunic and slid it on over her only panty clad body. "Your smell calms me," she said offhandedly as she paced into the fresher.

He just chuckled and shook his head before leaving the sleeping quarters and walking across the apartment to his office, surely there were dozens of memos awaiting his attention since Rey's impromptu arrival.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later he was alarmed by a crashing sound from the kitchen and he quickly made his way out of his office to investigate. He ended up leaning up against the corner of two walls, looking at his Empress standing on the bench top rummaging through the upper cabinets. "What are you doing, sweetheart?"

Rey wasn't startled by his voice, of course, she knew he was there, "Looking for a mixing bowl."

Pushing off his leaning spot, Ben walked into the kitchen and opened a door and pulled down a stainless steel bowl, holding it out to her. "What do you need a mixing bowl for?"

With the ease of a minx, she jumped off the counter top and onto the floor, taking the bowl from his hand. "Rose told me once that when her mother was stressed she would bake."

Now Ben leaned his rear against the bench top, crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms across his chest with an amused looked on his face, "So you are going to bake…"

"Yes," Rey said, going though the shelves again looking for the ingredients that her datapad displayed.

Ben held out his hand and a container of sugar flew out of a cabinet into his waiting palm. "Have you ever baked before?"

Rey used her own powers to pull the sugar out of his hand, "I made your birthday cake, or have you already forgotten?"

"I remember…but rehydrating something from a ration pack is different than baking from scratch."

The tension was rolling off Rey in waves and Ben's snark was not helping, "Not all of us had mothers to learn this kind of thing from and I'm perfectly capable of following instructions."

"It's called a recipe…"

A measuring cup came flying across the kitchen and just as he had dodged the saber in Snoke's throne room, Ben just shifted his head to the left as the cup whizzing past his ear. "It's called get the kriff out of my kitchen," Rey shot back.

Ben chucked again, holding up his hands in surrender as he retreated back to his office. That was possibly their first fight as a couple and Ben thought she was absolutely adorable.

Rey used the Force and called the measuring cup back to her hand with an angry huff before staring to scoop sugar into the mixing bowl. She knew she was acting irrational and taking her stress and frustration out on Ben, but his teasing didn't help.

Twenty minutes later she threw open the doors to his office and stormed in, moving to the couch by the lit fire and flopping down with an attention-getting sigh.

Sitting in his chair with his feet propped up on the deck, Ben just moved his gaze from the datapad in his hands to where he saw her feet sticking up over the armrest of the couch. "Done already?"

She sighed again, "There are two pans of brownies in the oven."

Her tone was more relaxed and he turned off his tablet before standing and walking over to the small sitting area, going down onto his knees by the couch. "Do you feel any better?"

The arm that was laid across her face came away with a lackluster jerk and her rolled her head to the side to look at his still slightly smug, slightly concerned expression. "Not really…maybe baking isn't my thing."

A smirk grew on his full lips, "Sabers or sex?"

Rey couldn't help herself at this point and let out a hardy laugh as he suggestively raised his eyebrows at her. "The brownies will be done in twenty minutes and I don't want them to burn."

"So sex," Ben said as he grabber her left arm and leg, dragging her off the couch and onto the plush carpet.

"Ben!" She giggled.

He was already pushing the large tunic up her body, "What?"

"When have we ever been able to finish in less than twenty minutes?" She continued to laugh as he dragged his shirt off over his head.

He rid her of the white panties she was wearing and threw them haphazardly over his shoulder. "That sounds like a challenge," and he ran his thick fingers down her already slick folds.

Now her eyes burned just as hot as the fire that raged beside them and she pulled a wicked smile, pushing herself up off the floor and making him collapse on his back. She pulled at the training pants he put on after returning home and his erection sprang free, hitting his toned stomach with a heavy slap.

Rey climbed on to his lap and had his hard cock sheathed fully within seconds. She groaned not only at the slight pain of adjusting to his size but also the sheer pleasure of being joined with him.

She rolled her hips slowly at first as he cupped her breasts in his palms and swept his finger tips across her pebbling nipples like a blind man reading braille. As her body adjusted, stretching and becoming slick with her arousal, Rey started to ride him with more vigor, rubbing her clit on his pelvic bone with each up stroke.

Ben could feel his tip flicking the spot deep inside of her that makes her eyes roll back as her fingers dug into his pecks. She as grabbing at his skin, trying to bear down on him harder, so he wrapped his large hand at the base of her throat, pushing down on her collar bones, as he used his other hand to guide her hips at her frantic pace.

Head thrown back, crying out yips of pleasure with each pull of his hand, Rey could feel her orgasm building. "Ben…oh, Gods…I'm gonna…oh…fuc…" and her walls clamped down hard on him as her mouth fell open in a breathless gasp.

"Fuck," he finished her sentiment and added through gritted teeth, "you're so tight." As she fell forwards on to his chest, her body finally starting to spasm, he gripped both of her hips, dug his heels into the carpet, and thrust up into her as quickly as his body would allow him.

From an outsider, it may have sounded as if Rey was being tortured, grunting and screaming as if her mind was being ripped into, but as Ben placed heated kisses to her shoulder and moaned into the crook of her neck, she basked in the sweet torment.

A few more jerking thrusts up into her pulsing and slick heat had Ben joining her in bliss. Her body went limp on top of his and Rey wondered if she had orgasmed through his entire go at her. It had felt as if it stretched on forever as he continued to rub the spots that made her mind melt.

As they lay, chests heaving and sweat-soaked against each other, Ben heard a faint beeping from the next room and chuckled. "Your brownies are done."

Rey just groaned, not trusting her own legs to stand. So Ben just kissed at her temple and rolled her off of him, hopping up, slipping on his pants and happily jogging towards the kitchen. All she could do was stretch out on her back, legs, and arms falling where they may as she tried to regain control of her extremities.

She closed her eyes and just listened to the crackle of the fire for a long few minutes before Ben came back in, placing a lingering kiss on her lips before sitting on the floor and propping his back up against the couch. "You taste like chocolate…" she accused, turning her head to the side to look at him.

"You're pretty good at the whole baking thing," he replied, shamelessly licking at his fingers.

"You stole some of my brownies," she said in jest. "Those are for the guards and the Knights when they get back."

Ben had to laugh at the thought of his fearsome Knights sitting around the table being served brownies by mama-hen Rey. "Well we can't make sweets an everyday affair," he poked at his bare abdomen that was just tight cream colored skin stretched over toned muscle. "Wouldn't want your Emperor to get out of shape."

A sparkle set in Rey's eyes, "I know other ways to keep your figure…"

"Oh," he played along.

Finally feeling back in command of her body, Rey sat up on her knees and crawled over to him, kissing his chocolate tinged lips, "Yes…" she kissed him again. "Sabers," she whispered against his lips before she sprung to her feet and raced from the office towards the bedroom to put on training clothes and collect her weapon.

Ben was quick on her heels but took a few more large strides when he heard her scream.

When he came upon the living room he had to hold back a laugh. His stark naked Empress was crouched behind one of the sofas while Davin stood by the front door, looking up at the ceiling and his skin was about as red as a Corellian apple.

Davin's gaze shifted for only a moment when he saw Ren enter the room, "Apologies Emperor, but there has been news from Jix."

Ben pulled a throw blanket off the back of one of the sofas and wrapped it around Rey's shoulders giving her some modesty. "I think you should be apologizing to the Empress," his tone was light as he felt worse for his poor guard for the embarrassment of the situation.

Now wrapped in a blanket, Rey stepped out beside Ben and Davin faced them both, bowing at the waist, "I am sorry for the intrusion Empress. We are not used to Ren…entertaining."

Rey almost wanted to laugh, Davin was the human embodiment of 3PO, and this was perhaps the most awkward moment of his life. "I'm glad to hear that the Emperor doesn't often have naked women running across our home." She looked up at Ben with a smirk and almost felt bad as Davin turned red again. "But what is the news from the mission?"

"Only that they are alive and are headed back to the city, but Cale had to be taken to the med bay."

Covering her mouth with her hand, Rey sucked in a breath. This is what she had been most worried about and she knew that the Knights were instructed to not instigate violence, which meant that Poe had disregarded her request for a civil takeover. "Do we know his condition?"

"No, ma'am. Just that he is alive and being tended to."

"Thank you," Ben said in a dismissive tone. The guard bowed and started for the door before Ben called out again, "Oh and Davin, when the Empress is in residence, please ring the comm and wait to be let in."

"Yes, sir," Davin said with one final bow and blush as he exited the apartment.

There was a long quiet pause in the apartment and Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pressing his lips to the top of her head, "Are you alright?"

Rey knew that he wasn't asking about the mishap of Davin seeing her naked, but rather the report from the mission. She didn't know how to answer, not really sure how she was feeling about it, but her Ben knew what to do and just held her tighter.

"I sent a trauma team on the retrieval ship just incase something like this happened."

Her eyes were tear brimmed as they looked up at him, "What if he is so wounded that he can't serve on your guard or no longer train as a Knight?" Her express was one of horror at the thought of being the cause of dashing someone else's dreams. "I shouldn't have allowed him to go…he wasn't ready…"

Ben shushed her, bushed the hair back from her head, "I have the best team working on him and Luke and Vader were able to still train with prosthetics if it comes to that. He would have been insulted if you held him back, he wanted to go, and this won't be his last turn in the med bay. "

She bit her lip and nodded as a tear slid down her face so Ben continued to console, "Being a Knight of Ren means being ready to lay down life and limb at the orders of their Master…or Mistress," he stroked a wet trail across the apple of her cheek. "Cale knows that and in a few hours will come walking through that door bragging about the scar the Resistance gave him."

Rey had to laugh at this and reached up, tracing the scar that she gave him. "Right of passage I guess," she mused with a soft smile.

"Perhaps," Ben agreed and kissed her forehead. "Do you still want to train? We still have a few hours before they will be back on Coruscant."

She nodded and they walked together back into their sleeping quarters and dressed in comfortable clothing resembling Jedi robes. Not bothering to attach her saberstaff to her belt, she just carried the two-foot long hilt in her hand and waited for Ben out by the entry landing.

When he exited their chambers, he was looking down and fastening his belt around his waist and when he looked up, Rey was smiling at him. "What?" He asked in a light tone.

Rey shrugged and pink tinted her cheeks, "You're just really handsome."

He barked out a laugh, his hair falling into his face and he used his right hand to push it back before raising his left hand as well and tying his hair back with a band concealed around his wrist. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

They exited the home and took the elevator one floor down, "What's on this level?" Rey asked as they entered a brightly lit hall.

"Guard's quarters, guest quarters, some offices, and a training room," Ben answered simply, placing his hand at her back and guiding her to the left and down the long hall.

The training room was large with a polished black floor. There was a matted area for hand to hand sparing and cubbies off to the side with gear and training weapons. She walked across the room to a wall of windows, boasting the same view as from their apartment above. Ben had done a wonderful job building a home for them and she couldn't wait for the time when they could truly share it as…

"Rey!"

Her thoughts were interrupted and her attention was grabbed by Ben urgently calling her name and she turned just in time to ignite her saber and deflect a blaster bolt. Shocked, with her eyes wide and her chest heavy, she looked up to see the smug look on Ben's face and the smoking gun in his hand.

"What the hell Ben?" She exclaimed, retracting the blade on her saber.

"You need to learn to stop blaster fire," he shrugged. "And besides, it's set to…" he looked down at the side of the firearm, "…yeah, it's set to stun."

Rey's eyes went wide again and she yelled across to him in disbelief, "You weren't even sure if it was on stun?"

"I was ninety-five percent sure…" he replied with a smirk.

She cocked her hip to the side, "Even on stun they hurt."

Ben rubbed at his arm, "They hurt, even more, when they are set to fire. Now quit complaining and get into a ready stance."

Rey hardly had time to square her feet before another blue bolt of energy was shot her way and she again used her saber to deflect it. "You aren't being fair."

"When was the last time your enemies fought fairly?" Another bolt was sent down range.

Gritting her teeth, she knew he was right. There may come a day when she would be fighting at his side, or at the side his Knights and she needed to be prepared for the unexpected. With a second snap and hiss, the other side of her saber came to life.

Ben studied her, she had gone to the Dark for strength and focus, and he wanted her to stay in the middle, in the between, and still be able to fight effectively. He lowered the blaster for a moment, "Do you trust me?" He called out to her.

"With my life," Rey said lowering her saber to hang at her side.

"Close your eyes…"

She gave him a discrediting look but slid her lids closed.

"I want you to use the Force and feel the energy around you…"

He was speaking through the bond to her, his deep voice echoed in her mind and a shiver ran down her spine. But she did as he instructed, relaxing her thoughts and felt the ebb and flow of each particle around her.

A click, a release, a feeling of energy being displaced, a heat the rose in her as if sounding an alarm, a breath of air, and the sound of that energy being abruptly halted.

Rey opened her eyes and saw the still raised blaster in Ben's hand before she tuned her head and saw the scorch mark on the window just over her right shoulder. Her relaxed breathing started to race as she realized that he had just shot a blot within inches…or maybe millimeters of her head.

But his lesson had come across. By reaching out with the Force, she could feel the disturbance the bolt of energy caused as it dissected the particles around it.

"Good," he said aloud as he saw in her mind that she figured it out. "The goal is to sense the displaced energy and be able to stop the bolt before it gets too close."

Rey nodded and deactivated her saber, held it out and allowed Ben to call to it, and he set it upon a bench by the weapon storage. "Again," Rey instructed.

Ben marveled at his warrior Empress and lifted the blaster in her direction.

Sometime later, there was a buzz from the comm and Ben used his hand in a swiping motion to open the door. Davin walked in, adverting his eyes for a moment just in case but then took in the scene around him.

His Emperor was pointing a blaster at the Empress, and she also had her hand outstretched, a blue crackling bolt hung in the air between them. His head moved from his master to his mistress a few time before he cleared his throat, "They have broken atmosphere."

"Thank you, Davin," Ben said lowering the blaster and moving to return it to the weapons case.

Rey flicked her wrist and the blot went flying behind her into the duraglass wall with a sturdy thunk. As she crossed the room, she held her right hand out again and her saber landed in it's desired place. "We should go meet them on the landing deck."

"So we shall," Ben replied as both himself and Davin followed her to the lift.