AN: Woohoo, as promised, I managed to finish this one way more quickly! Thank you all for your support! You guys rock! Hope you are all enjoying the summer! A special shoutout to my friend UnknownSeven7. Your comments always make my day! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! You rule! This one is specially for you! Even though it's a tad bit angsty :S, but it's all build up for major fluff! I promise. ;)
More of little Ben vs Luke...who will win? ;) And Kylo vs Ben...
Chapter thirty: The dream girl, boy or Vader...?
"How should I know if I knew him...or her in past life? How is it possible to know such things...?" Ben put the milk bottle back on the desk and jumped back into the sofa to continue working on his Rey essay or rather comic, since he had hardly written a word except for the love poem and the family tree.
"I meant for your essay. Hypothetically. But, don't worry about that now. Let's continue tomorrow." His uncle took everything away, the notebook, the pencil, the ripped out pages and the calligraphy, despite Ben's loud protests, who wanted to draw more Rey, preferably until he met her in real life and could be with her forever.
"Go to your room and straight to sleep. I will keep the notebook here and your set, so you won't be tempted to continue your story...without my guidance." Luke locked the precious items in his desk and pointed at the door.
Ben pouted, but knew better than to risk the fish oil, so he left the uncomfortable sofa and went over to the door. "I...did dream about her. Rey is the real chosen one...the one I told you about."
"Why do you think she is the chosen one?" asked his uncle curiously.
"I saw in a dream, how she was abandoned by her family...on Jakku..."
So I did dream this about her...? I didn't make this up...I really saw her future...
KR: I told you, I had heard about her...
Yes, but not from me!
KR: I didn't hear about her from you...technically I wasn't born yet...so to speak...still just a voice...inside your head...giving you great advice! Like now! But you never listen to me!
You never give great advice...okay maybe sometimes. But, then who told you about her? Snoke?
KR: You will see...
Luke's mouth twitched, like he wanted to give her future guardians piece of his mind or chop them down with his green saber. He took a deep breath, since as a Jedi he wasn't allowed to interfere in any way and it was enough for him to deal with his naughty nephew, which constantly was testing his Jedi patience.
"I know, I saw your picture. That's sad to hear...not sure why that qualifies her to be the chosen one though. Your grandfather, Anakin, didn't exactly have a shitty life..." Luke corrected himself as he thought it over. "Or wait, he was a slave...but it wasn't such a bad slave master. He even allowed him to compete in podracing..." He looked deep in thought, as he was probably imagining those fast things with a child behind the wheel. "Which, kind of was too dangerous for a kid, come to think of it. Doesn't matter, we are not talking about that, but your dream girl..." He turned to Ben, with his most serious expression. "You have to be careful of dreams, they can deceive you. They can give you false information and make you do things you wouldn't have done otherwise. Like going after a potential dangerous girl."
"Can I go and pick her up?" Ben smiled hopefully, since he hadn't heard a single word of his uncle's lecture or warning.
KR: You are just as obsessed with Rey as a child, as you are as an adult...
And you Vader...but, then how come...I don't remember any of this...? Is this really the truth?
KR: Trust me...it is.
How could I forget Rey?! My precious Rey...?
KR: I'm shocked as well...
His uncle took a deep breath, like he was trying to calm himself down, but it didn't work, since he still ended up shouting at him:"I told you dreams can deceive you, do you never listen to me? And no, we are not leaving...you are not leaving! Stop asking!"
"Can I call dad and have him pick her up?" pestered Ben, as he had only one thing on his mind, or two.
"You are not fooling me, you want to call him to have him pick you up," Luke frowned at him sternly, as he saw right through him.
"Of course, but I also want to go and...personally save that girl...I mean Rey...my Rey." Ben smiled dreamily, as he imagined that rescue happening.
"Is that what you said was only between you and your father...saving this girl...? Rey." asked Luke in disbelief and most likely tried to think about Han's reaction to Ben chasing down some girl across the galaxy, from literally his dreams.
Ben nodded, full of conviction, like he was sure his father would approve of his methods since he was known for doing crazy things for the girls he loved. "Yes...she is the real chosen one...I'm sure of it..."
"We don't even know if this Rey exists...for all we know, this dream could represent yourself," snarked Luke.
"Myself?" Ben went white, like he was about to throw up and despite his obvious discomfort, his uncle didn't seem to notice anything or thought he was just acting, so he carried on lecturing him. "You are such a drama queen, that you probably feels like you are a..little innocent girl, that the family abandoned in a desert, instead of the truth, that they left you to be safe with me in a important training against the darkside, as you are the chosen one! Ben...?" Luke's voice trailed off, as Ben suddenly staggered on his feet and ran towards the fresher in the back.
"Are you okay?" yelled Luke after him and grimaced in pity, as he heard him empty his stomach with loud guttural noise.
I'm allergic to being called the chosen one...or when someone dares to imply that my Rey is not real!
KR: I'm allergic to being called a Jedi...
Who is calling you a Jedi?
KR: You called me the Last Jedi!
Oh, right. Hehehe.
KR: NOT FUNNY!
"It must've been all the blue milk...and the fish oil and the soap water..." said Ben as he re-emerged and held his stomach in great pain and misery. Luke took him into his arms, lifted him gently up in the sofa and helped him lie down to rest. He wiped the sweat of his brow with a towel and popped a mint into his mouth, to help him get rid of all the bad taste in his mouth.
"My poor child. You might be getting a cold as well after a sleepless night...you really need to get some sleep. Don't worry, you can just fall asleep in here and then I will carry you back to your room." His uncle pulled a blanket over him and tucked him in. "Get some sleep, my child." He kissed his sweaty forehead.
"Want to...stay...no leave...Rey...not leave her...get her..." mumbled Ben like deranged man around the chewed mint.
"Ben, you are not making any sense." Luke pulled a pill bottle from the medical bag. "Take this pill and try to get some sleep." He handed him a pill and a glass of water.
Ben obeyed in a first time ever and he even opened his mouth to show his uncle, he had indeed taken it.
Luke patted his head in approval."Good boy." He pushed him gently down and pulled the blanket around him. "Artoo is in charge of watching the little knights, so I better go and check up on them. He can only zap them for misbehaving..." His mouth drew in a thin line. "I wonder if that classifies as child abuse." He shook his head with a careless smile. "Nah, they can take it. You better be asleep when I return..." Luke said warningly, before he left the office.
KR: GO TO SLEEP!
No.
KR: Sigh, so difficult...so naughty...
I'm not naughty! You are!
KR: NO YOU ARE! Just look at what you did to the Last Jedi office...
Me...?
KR: Yes, you...
Oh, o...
KR: So naughty...
Shut up...
Luke didn't return until the sun began setting in the sky and his office had gotten darker. Sunlight peered through the skies, which lit the office with small streams of light. A furious scribbling and the humming of the Imperial march, indicated that Ben was still wide awake in spite of his uncle's strict command.
"Ben Skywalker, why are you still up. I told you..." His uncle turned on the lights and stopped in mid-lecture when in full light, he saw exactly what his nephew was doing. "Is that a star map? An really ancient one?" He looked towards his desk drawers, that had obviously been broken into forcefully, as there were splinters strewn on the floor and then back at his naughty nephew. "Did you just break into my desk?! BEEEN!" Luke stormed over to him with his most fearsome expression, like he wanted to chop him down with a lightsaber for being naughty. He rolled up his sleeve and growled at him, showing all his teeth.
"I can't sleep," said Ben, who didn't look guilty in any way or frighten despite his uncle looking like a rampaging wampa who wanted to devour him whole for breaking his stuff.
Instead, Ben focused on drawing multiple lines between planets with a pencil on a big open map, like he was possessed. Once in a while, he erased the lines and drew new ones, as he was trying to draw the perfect roadmap. One of his line drawing, cut right through the paper with the sharp pencil and made a small hole in it. "Oops...sorry..." Ben looked a tiny bit sorry, for ruining the map, but still continued his map making which a bit easier, know that his uncle had turned on the lights.
"Why can't you sleep...? Didn't the sleeping pill work?" Luke, who looked human again even though he was still mad at his antics, stared disapproving at his work or rather destruction and the fact that the Rey notebook, was back at his nephew's side, which he had locked up. It was open up at one of the countless Rey drawings.
"I have to save Rey. My light...and dark." Ben counted the planets between theirs and Jakku. "So far away..." He looked distressed at one of the little Rey drawing in his notebook that smiled so innocently at him and had no idea about all the work he was putting into for her. "Why so far away...?" He threw the pencil away and his uncle caught it as it shot past him, before it landed on the wall behind him.
"Ben, worry about yourself. She isn't real..." Luke confiscated the map. "Stop stealing my things...and breaking my things." He glowered at the drawn lines on the ancient map and the hole the pencil had made.
He rolled the map up and hit him lightly on the head with it. "Bad boy, no drawing on things, that don't belong to you." When Ben didn't react in any way to the scolding or swatting as he was too busy thinking about saving his Rey from across the galaxy, his uncle added furiously. "That's it, you are getting a timeout. That should teach you to behave." He tugged him off the sofa and towards a corner.
"I wasn't the boy...erm girl, I saw her! In my dream, but it felt real! And I told you I know his...I mean her name, Ani...I mean Padmé...Rey..." said Ben as if that would explain everything, when he struggled against his uncle's firm hold and tried to get his precious notebook from the sofa by reaching out to it.
"No, talking in the corner." Luke drew out his chair from under his desk, put into a corner and plumbed Ben into it. "Sit here and think about what you did." He put away the troublesome notebook, his set and the map into a desk, but thanks to Ben's break in, he couldn't close the drawer completely. He growled. "You better fix this, or there will be trouble." His uncle moved in front of the desk and leaned against it, since his chair was occupied at the moment and the other chair was too uncomfortable for his back. He glared at his naughty nephew for putting him in that awkward position.
Ben didn't care about the anger being directed at his back, since he was stuck in another world. He drew a invisible circle, clockwise with his finger on the wall, all the while chanting:,,Ani, Padmé, Rey..." He stopped and drew a circle, counterclockwise. "Padmé, Ani, Rey," Stopped to draw another clockwise. "Ani, Padmé Rey," And again counter clockwise. "Padmé, Ani, Rey..."
What the...
KR: That's creepy...
What does it all mean?
KR: Probably nothing...
I hope so...
KR: So stupid.
What, you know what this means?
KR: Maybe...
You are just bluffing as usual.
KR: Maybe...
Sigh...
"Ani, Padmé Rey what...?" interrupted Luke his chanting. "Or Padmé, Ani Rey?"
"No, just Rey I think..." said Ben, who finally got out of his trance and looked over his shoulder, despite not be allowed to move or talk while in the corner. But since he had broken all rules, his uncle didn't even comment on it.
Luke narrowed his eyes. "Then why do you keep calling her Ani...and Padmé? Your grandparents names? Or well, your grandfather's nickname."
"I don't know." Ben looked lost.
"Hmm...and she has no surname."
"Yes..." said Ben in drawn out voice, like he wasn't sure if that was the truth.
"That's weird..." commented his uncle.
Ben jumped up and turned backwards in the chair to glower at his uncle. "It doesn't matter! I can give him...his...her my surname...I mean she was in great distress! We have to help her! I love him...her!" He gripped the chair back tightly, like it was some kind of rope to his dream.
"Lov...? What do you know about love...? You are just a kid." Luke smirked and shook his head over his nephew's silly outburst.
"I have really strong feeling for him...her, Ani...Padmé, Rey...Padmé...Ani, I mean Rey...she's my soulmate," said Ben desperately and shook the chair.
What's wrong with me? Why do I keep confusing genders and calling Rey, Ani? Or Padmé...? Or Padmé, Ani...Rey? Oh...I know, it's because of you!
KR: Me! I told you, I only think of Vader!
Then why...?
KR: That's obvious...because you are stupid.
That's...maybe just because I was a kid...who was sleep deprived...and because I drank some soap...some some fish oil and tons of blue milk and got sick after it...and took a sleeping pill...
KR: Maybe...
Or because Rey is very similar to Anakin, grandad...when he was boy.
KR: Maybe. But, how come you know how he looked like...?
Old holos.
KR: There are no old holos. They were all destroyed when Vader was born. The emperor wanted that...stupid emperor...
Then..I must have compared him, to how uncle Luke looked like as a child.
KR: Hmm...perhaps...but that doesn't explain why Rey is similar to them...
It's just a coincidence...
KR: Then why do you keep calling her Ani...? Or Padmé? She also does look a lot like her...remember, how she looked on the painting in grandfather's castle. Which he painted after memory...so talented! He captured me perfectly!
You?
KR: I meant her, dummy.
Sheesh..everything is so confusing in here!
KR: Tell me about it...
"Oh...okay...so you want to go to Jakku now?" asked Luke, like he was afraid of the answer.
"YES!" shouted Ben, as if that was the only truth that mattered in the whole galaxy and shook the chair that violently, it nearly fell over.
Luke grabbed the chair before he could hurt himself. "I can't believe you want to go to a far away planet to save an imaginary...boy...or a girl..."
"Rey is a girl," shot Ben at him.
"Whatever. Are you out of your mind?"
No, I'm stuck inside my mind...
KR: That kind of...means the same thing...
"No, you are! I have to go! NOW!" Ben stood up and tried to jump out the window in search of Rey, without even opening it first, but his uncle caught him in his foolish mid-jump. "You should be more worried about saving yourself and the only way to do that is to follow my teaching." Luke carried him back to the sofa. "You are so tired after the long night, you are starting to hallucinate. It could also be a side effect from the pill. Stop fighting it and go to sleep, now." He pulled the blanket over him.
Ben sat up and crossed his arms in defiance. "I already took a nap, but then I had to wake up and now I can't fall asleep again."
KR: Hint, hint...
Shut up...
"So you were asleep...why can't you go to sleep again? Because of the knights? Were they bullying you...? Don't worry, I put them in detention and I also gave them an early bedtime," said his uncle and put a comforting hand over his hand.
"No...not this time...not their fault..." said Ben sadly, like he would've preferred that over what was really the case.
"Was it something in your dreams? The girl? This...Rey? I'm telling you, stop worrying about her!" Luke glared at his desk where the notebook was kept, like it was all it's fault, even though he had suggested the essay to begin with.
Ben shook his head. "No, not the girl...not Rey...not this time...I dreamt dad came and brought me back home..." He twisted the edge of the black blanket in his hand and he tried to control his voice, as he got choked up.
For some reason Luke looked guilty. "Oh...and what happened then...?" He gave him a encouraging look. "In the dream, I mean."
"Mom was ecstatic to get me back... The corner of his mouth turned slowly upward as he remembered the dream.
"She was?"
Ben nodded and rambled on: "Of course, she cuddled me and said she would never leave me and then we made bantha burgers and I was about to eat ice cream cake and then we were going to go on a vacation to Naboo...I love Naboo, but the day after...not the same day. That would be silly, as it was the middle of the night...and was I supposed to go to sleep...in a dream...weird huh?"
Luke gave him a sad smile. "That dream sounds wonderful. Don't you want to go to sleep and keep dreaming that...dreamy dream?" He petted his head, as if that would help him get good dreams.
KR: For once I agree with him...I can make that dream reality for you...again...
I knew it, you just stole my cute...erm dream...
KR: I don't steal...I borrowed it...and doesn't everything kind of belong to me as well, as I live here in your brain...?
NO! I have the intellectual copyright.
KR: What about creative commons?
NO!
KR: Cheapskate.
"But that dream ended with dad leaving me here...and me screaming after him to come back..." said Ben and looked directly at his uncle, whose face crumbled and he stopped petting him.
"That doesn't sound so good...but perhaps you will dream something else next time," he pointed out.
KR: Remember IN my version that doesn't happen! So take it! Your happy childhood!
No thanks...not without my Rey...
KR: I can add her!
That's not the same...
KR: It can be! And even better, we can jump right ahead were you two are married and have...the children! Plus, you rule the kriffing galaxy! You will be emperor and empress!
Really?
KR: Yes.
Hmm...let me think about it...
KR: Excellent...
How about no...
KR: What?! Why?!
You know why.
KR: No! I don't!
Then you have to find out.
KR: Oh...really...?
The tables have turned.
KR: Oh, have they...?
Yes.
KR: That's what you think...asshole.
That's not nice...
KR: I'm done being nice.
Oh...I'm so scared.
KR: Oh, you will be. You will be...
So stupid...
"In that same dream, I dreamt about Rey...she was being abandoned...at the same time as I was being left behind by dad. She yelled at...someone...to come back. Her family, I presume," said Ben through his teeth and clenched his fist, like he wanted to forcechoke them for treating his precious Rey like that. "Stupid family..." He stared ahead as he pictured their horrible deaths and grinned evilly.
"Oh...that's strange...the timing I mean of the Rey dream...who would do such a horrible thing to a child?" said his uncle innocently, as if he wasn't keeping a child against its will to train it as a Jedi instead of allowing it to become a cool smuggler, plus forcing it in a torturous Darth Vader rehab, but worst of all keeping it from saving their dream girl from a fate worse than death, as in intense loneliness since she wasn't with her other half, like she was destined to be.
You would!
KR:...
What, Kylo are you sulking...? Here, I'm dissing Luke's parenting skills, your favorite past time...or well belittle the Last Jedi and you don't even join in.
KR...
Kylo? Is this part of your tactic...to scare me...? Hello...Kylo?
"I don't know...or was that a vision...of the future?" asked Ben, as if Luke had the answers to everything.
"I can't tell. But you really should go back to sleep, you look exhausted...maybe you will get some answers that way..." replied Luke.
I know I wanted you to shut up...but it's far too lonely...in here. You are the only one I can talk to...sadly...
KR:...
Please talk to me...please don't leave me alone...
"You are right...I should go to sleep...it was such a wonderful dream...except the ending, hopefully I will dream more about...my Rey. She needs me. She is so lonely...so desperate to sleep..." Ben sniffled over her fate and rubbed his face with the heels of his hands. "My poor love..."
Sigh...what's wrong? I don't want to talk to myself...I mean...I'm sorry...for whatever I did...and you are the scariest person I know...
KR: Really?!
No. But I got you to talk!
KR: Fine, you win. I don't understand why don't you want to rule the galaxy with Rey!
Oh...that...
KR: That is a huge deal!
That's because I don't want to miss out a single second with Rey, so no I don't want to skip ahead in some dreamworld, thank you very much...
KR: There is simply no pleasing you!
I wouldn't mind ruling galaxy though...
KR: Oh...that can be arranged...in this world I mean...
Really? Sounds nice, let me think about it...
KR: That's better than nothing...
Rey is not nothing!
KR: I wasn't even talking about her?!
"I highly recommend it...going to sleep I mean...I'm not so sure you should be obsessing about this Rey...like that." Luke chewed his lower lip, hidden under his beard, as if he wasn't sure if he should continue the story or not.
"Why not?"
His uncle met his eyes. "That's kind of what...drove your...erm Vader to the darkside...love...or well, losing it..."
Despite the serious topic, Ben's face lit up with excitement as it always did when Vader was brought up. "Really? Tell me more."
"No," said Luke with an icy expression and put up the "Never Speak about Vader" wall again.
"Why not?" pouted Ben, as he tried to pick on the ice wall with an ice pick.
"You know why. It's forbidden," said his uncle and put up a stronger wall to enforce it.
"Why is it forbidden?"
"You know why!" thundered Luke, with the darkest look in his eyes.
KR: Vader turned to the darkside to save his wife from dying in childbirth. A perfect husband.
And then killed her...for betraying him for bringing Obi Wan.
KR: HEY! Stupid Obi Finn snuck onboard, I would never betray...!
You...? Wait Finn...?
KR: I like to imagine what I would do in situation like that with grandpa...roleplaying...how to avoid being choked by him and getting to rule the galaxy with him. A happy ending...with our children...who would of course turn dark with us, no lightside nonsense!
Oh...okay...your children...ahaha...but what about Finn...?
KR: I would have fought with my love against stupid Obi Wan Finn! We would've of course killed Darth Sidious, since as a team we would've been unstoppable! And then we would have ruled the galaxy as husband and wife! Forever! I mean our children would've course inherited it...Skywalker rules! Except Luke, he sucks...oh wait...in this example he would be my son...but he would be darkside, so that would be cool! Picture perfect!
You...really want to marry grandpa? But, you said you didn't...and I thought you wanted him to be your father...? You even said I was the one with a crush on grandpa...or grandma...and what about Finn?
KR: It's just a game...don't take everything so literally. That's why I threw in the traitor...since he is a traitor...like stupid Obi Finn was.
And where does Rey fit into this...? She better be a part of your game...you better not leave her behind...don't exclude her...she will not be alone! Oh no...you don't mean she is...!
KR: She is Vader of course...who else could she be...? There are only three characters in this story...except Luke and Leia of course but they are not born so they don't count...until later...
Wait...what...that means that you are...Padmé...? Grandma...?
KR: Yeah, of course, Vader offered her to rule the galaxy with him. Who else could I be? But this time around, I would be force sensitive...and so dark! And cool! We would be the power couple, like we were always meant to be!
Shouldn't it be the other way around though...you know because of our genders...? And because you are...mini Vader...doesn't Rey fit better as Padmé...? Not that I want you to have her as your wife...but it's just a game so...
KR: No, I want to be with grandpa, not be him. Be like him! It's not the same, you moron! Be with him forever!
I'm not sure who you are anymore...or anyone...
KR: Erm...me neither...I think I'm losing my mind in here as well...
What! Don't you dare! I need you!
KR: You need...me?
Yes, to get back!
KR: Oh...that...
I need to get back to Rey!
KR: Sigh...you basically have the same goal in your past...and here...
You do as well. Except I have met Rey...and I really just need to escape my own head instead of travel to a far away planet...to save her...
KR: Good luck with that...have you made your decision about ruling the galaxy with Rey?
No...I'm still thinking. I want to finish this...whatever this is...first.
KR: Fair enough.
"No, why? You really can't talk about...him either...? Then shouldn't you take in fish oil as well...?" Ben grinned and made a grab for the medical bag, which contained the hated fish oil.
Luke grabbed his hand. "Your grandfather was killed by Vader. Show some respect!"
"Oh...right...sorry..." Ben hung his head in shame.
He really pulled out the card, killed your grandfather, is your grandfather...
KR: Just like stupid Finn Obi.
Obi-Wan, his name was Obi Wan Kenobi.
KR: I know that...
"But you said...he who must no be named, loved you...like a son then...? Did he turn to the darkside for you...?" asked Ben carefully, as he scaled the ice wall and tried not to fall down to his death, by asking the wrong question.
KR: Hahaha, in his dreams. Vader turned for me!
You...?
KR: Yes, in past life.
I thought he turned to save grandmother from dying...
KR: Erm...that is true...
Then how do you fit in there?
KR: I have no idea, but somehow! He told me that...
He told you that?
KR Yes!
Then he must have been lying...
KR: Grandfather never lies to me! He's the only one of my...erm your stupid family who doesn't do that!
O..okay...but you know that he never really talked to you...
KR: What do you mean?
It was all your imagination. Snoke just made you think that his helmet spoke to you...
KR: Erm no...he did talk to me! I even saw his cool form! Rey is the one, who is your imagination...
NO! You are!
KR: Sigh...you will never learn...but then you do admit that you...created me...
NO, I did not create you!
KR: Then what am I?
I...don't know...I think...Snoke created you...
KR: Really...?
Or Luke for be being such a prick to me...all the time...
KR: Hmm..
Or they did it...together...
KR: Luke is working with...Snoke..?
Maybe...indirectly...kind of...
KR: And I thought you couldn't get any dumber!
Hey!
KR: Or maybe you made me to accommodate the darkness in your heart because of your family's..betrayal...
Which betrayal...?
KR: Which...? There are more then one...? Erm...at least you have me to deal with your...stupid family...
Deal...with them...? Hey, I'm the only one who gets to do that and I'm the only one who gets to call them...stupid!
KR: Okay...you have some serious problems dude...
Don't I know it...I seems to have made you...
KR: HEY! I love Vader!
What does that have to do with anything?!
KR: It has everything to do with everything!
Okay...
KR: Open your eyes and see the truth!
Are you trying to brainwashing me into joining a cult?
KR: Maybe...
So stupid...
"Ben, no Vader." Luke looked at him warningly and pointed at the medical bag with the fish oil.
"But..."
"NO!" His uncle made the No Vader wall unclimbable by putting thorns on it. "Let's change the subject shall we? Even this could be a dream...who knows...? All of this could be one dream...am I even awake now...? I better not be sleeping and you are still here annoying me in my dream and stealing away precious resting time by keeping me awake. Though I wouldn't put it past you, to prank me like that...in a dream...did that make any sense..?" Luke chuckled at his own joke.
Ben growled and jumped of the sofa. "Don't worry, I'm leaving."
"Good...to sleep you mean?" His uncle escorted him to the door.
"Yes..."
"Good." His uncle opened the door with a flick of his finger.
"AND I plan on sleeping forever until dad comes back for me...and with my Rey...this time." said Ben dramatically, as he strode outside.
KR: Who do you think you are? Sleeping beauty?
She was waiting for a prince, not her father...to bring her the princess...erm prince...to wake her up...
KR: You are such a princess...
Princess?
KR: Yes.
Wait, then that means Rey is the prince...I mean the princess, because obviously I'm the prince! I think...
KR: Sigh...back to Rey again...which you created...
I DID NOT CREATE HER! Or you...or anyone!
KR: Then she is Anakin...or Vader reincarnated...or Padmé...
So..those are my only options...either I made her...or she my grandad...or grandmother...reincarnated...?
KR: Pretty much.
That's...are you really saying that I'm in love with my grandad...? Or grandmother...?
KR: Or she is your sister...or cousin.
I don't know what is worse...
KR: Or she is just fiction.
That's by far the worst option!
KR: But just think about it...like grandfather, she grew up in a desert, was a slave, good with machines, awesome pilot, speaks all languages...and is unbelievably strong with the force for someone untrained. Has a great affinity for both the light...and the dark...not mention her explosive temper! I don't really see that much likeness with Padmé, except what she looks like...plus she seems to like monsters...a lot...
Holy sith! That means Rey is grandpa Ani!
KR: Right?
No! Rey is Rey...and probably had shitty parents who left her to fend for her own life...
KR: Sounds boring...
You are boring...
KR: I'm not boring! Why do you keep calling her Ani? Or Padmé?
Erm...I don't know...
KR: So stupid...
I'm not stupid!
KR: She could be your future cousin or sister, if Luke is your real father...that would explain the similarities...Luke got some woman pregnant, he called his baby Rey, because he got the idea from you, you heard how much he loved that name...and later left her on Jakku...because of reasons...yeah to protect her from you when you turned dark! Into awesome me, I mean!
Will you please stop with your stupid Rey parentage...and origin theories! They all suck!
KR: Hey, there is nothing wrong with speculations...it's not like there much else we can do around here...
And whose fault is that?!
KR: YOURS!
No, yours! You are keeping us here!
KR: No, you are! If you would just accept the fact that your dreamworld is way better than your reality, I could leave here...
I'm not going to life in some stupid dreamworld!
KR: Not even if you get all your wishes...?
Nothing compares to the real world...no matter how hard it will be...nothing is better than the real Rey...
KR: Then prepare yourself for more pain!
You're such a pain!
KR: NO, YOU ARE!
Luke groaned and dragged him back inside the office, before he would attempt that Sleeping Beauty thing and closed the door with a flick of his finger. "Ben, don't be ridiculous...that will never work. Your father can't come here without my permission. I told you I have a force shield." He whispered that bit conspiratorially, as it was some kind of a galaxy secret, that no one was supposed to know about.
"Doing the impossible or the illegal has never stopped my dad. That kind of is his thing. So what's really stopping him now?" said Ben in a challenging voice and crossed his arms with a frown.
"I meant that he doesn't want to come..." Luke lifted him back into the sofa, that Ben never seemed to get far away from. But he didn't seem to get away from anything or towards the things he wanted, anyway.
"Why...?" pressed Ben, as Luke hadn't really answered his question.
"Why do you think?" said Luke without meeting his eyes.
Ben frowned in concentration and then he gasped. "You mean...he still hasn't forgiven me?"
"Forgiven you...for what?" asked his uncle in his teacher voice, "I'm not going to give you the answer, you already know it, what is it, think, stupid child!"
"For...stealing the Falcon?" Ben gulped, like it was his greatest sin and crime and he looked out the window, where it was getting darker by the minute.
"He send you away for it." Luke looked him dead in the eye. "Well...from a certain point of view." He shrugged, while Ben felt gutted by the news.
KR: Told ya. Paiiin...
No...
KR: This is the truth-truth. The painful truth...
I don't believe this...he's lying...dad said...he would never...he didn't...he did come to bring me home! He doesn't hate me! Not for that...but most likely for all the bad stuff I have done...today...but he didn't hate me for that!
KR: Him coming for you was just a dream...remember...all just a...bad dream...and he hates you now...for everything...
All just a dream...everything is just a dream...nothing is real...anymore...not even..my Rey...? What about grandpa...and grandma...how do they fit into all this...? What is their connection to my Rey? And Vader...what's going on!? I don't understand anything...
KR: At last you understand...but this not over yet...
I should've have known! AND YOU DIDN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING!
Ben drew a deep shuddered breath. "What...but he said...and he calls me his little bandit...and...the toy...what he said...it was just a dream..."He grabbed his head in panic and started hyperventilating as the world came crashing around him.
The toy...I don't remember it...and that candy...those must be the key to everything...this is ...the truth?
KR: Do you never listen to me? I told you that cute him coming to bring you home memory was fake..or erm a dream...can I go back to the present now and get the map?
No...I don't understand...and you are never going back alone!
KR: We shall see...
Luke put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down and get back to reality. "More importantly you were sent here for looking and acting, way too much like a mini Vader. You know what Vader did to us...that is to me, him and your mother..." He continued merciless his lecture.
Ben nodded seriously, but still had hard time getting his breathing under control.
KR: He didn't do anything to you, you ungrateful little twat!
He cut off his hand...and held his friends, my parents as hostages to lure him into a trap.
KR: And offered him a deal of a lifetime! Which he turned down! What a loser! If Vader would offered it to me, I would say yes in a heartbeat! This time around!
Of course you would...what this time? Has he ever offered you to the rule the galaxy? The kriff! He's just a melted helmet! He can't rule the galaxy!
KR: Erm...I'm not sure why I said that...I guess I'm getting tired...
Then get us out of here!
KR: I can't!
Liar! Stop messing with me...and Vader took Luke straight to the emperor!
KR: He was his boss, what was he supposed to do? And that didn't happen until way later...and he killed his boss for him! Love remember...
Love? Are you talking about love?
KR: I can't talk about love?
That's not very Sith-like...
KR: I'm not a Sith.
Then what are you?
KR: I don't know...
"Ben, I will give you a permission to ask about Vader...this time," said Luke when he saw his nephew had something to say, but didn't know how to say it, as he kept opening and closing his mouth with a pop. "Breathe, son." He rubbed his back. "I don't want you to pass out. No need for that, please calm down."
Ben took a deep breath as instructed and another, before he managed to ask his question, when his uncle had lowered his defences some. "But, why are they so afraid of me turning into a...mini Vader? Are you...?"
Luke sat down beside him and pulled him into a one arm hug. "Son, you have no idea how much we don't want you to turn like him. It would be total nightmare for all of us. You would be even more pain in the ass than you are right now...my little padawan."
KR: No one asked for your opinion!
Yeah...
"I'm not a pain in the ass," grumbled Ben offended and pushed him away, but Luke held firmly onto him.
"Oh really... so you have not being naughty and not listening to anything I have said to you...?" Luke pointed at the crack on the floor, after one of Ben's outburst and the splinters on the floor, after Ben's break-in.
Ben huffed. "Okay fine...but your are a pain in the ass as well." He turned away from him to avoid eye contact, but Luke lifted him up into his lap and embraced him tightly and whispered softly into his hair.
"I'm trying to protect you...you are making it really hard for me...my little padawan. Like sneaking into my bedroom...and putting yourself in great danger...you have to stop that."
Ben sulked, where he was trapped in his uncle strong embrace. "I understand Vader scares you...but, no matter how much I will be like him...I will still be me right...? It's not like there is any connection between us...beside you having been his enemies...and him somehow being connected to Rey...maybe. But, I am only fooling around, it's nothing serious...it's just a pretend play...I am just a kid...it's not like I can change into him...can I...? Or Rey...she is lightside...I think. Except in my essay, you wanted me to make her darkside. It's your fault! Besides it's Kylo who are doing those things...not me..." He looked pleadingly at his uncle, like he hoped he would give his case another chance.
KR: Cue, telling the truth about your...my awesome family connection to Vader...
Which he never did...
KR: Because he's a prick...
You keep yammering about your family relation to Vader, yet you deny having any relations to my mom or Luke. How does that make any sense? And how can Rey be Vader as well...is she speaking through the helmet...?
KR: I...shut up! Don't take my grandpappy away!
Sorry...
KR: Besides blood is not everything, our connection goes way deeper than that! Your own blood can betray you...hurt you...like our own son and daughter did to poor Vader!
Poor Vader...? Did he tell you this? Wait...our...? Sigh...not again...
KR: NO, of course not. Grandfather would never admit how hurt he was by their actions. So it's up to be me, to get his revenge! The one he loves the most!
So stupid...
"Is Kylo the one trying to reach out to this Rey...Vader...?" asked Luke, as he took that information in.
"No, that's me...or maybe him as well...I'm not sure...but the Vader part must be Kylo," said Ben honestly.
KR: I don't deny that...
The Vader part is all you.
KR: Is it...really?
And the Rey is all me.
KR: But she is...
SHE IS NOT VADER!
"If it only was that simple...you are forcesensetive, anything can happen, you have to be a good padawan...no the best there is. You are the real chosen one! So forgot about going home for a while and focus on your training. Remember you still have to get your lightsaber, you must earn it first...through hard work and obedience. That's only way for you to get back home...and possibly get...this Rey..." lectured his uncle.
KR: The chosen one turned to the darkside..he never mentioned that...important detail...
No he didn't...but Rey will not turn.
KR: Again, you mean.
I'm not listening!
As the clouds gathered to hide the last bit of the sun outside, Ben started shivering in his uncle's hold.
"Ben...?" Luke called after him, but Ben was already deep and lost in his dark thoughts.
"Dad really left me here...as a punishment...? He send me into an exile...?" Ben shivered, as the temperature dropped inside the room and in his soul.
"I would hardly call this exile...it's a cool, but strict Jedi training...and you will get your own lightsaber...some day..." said his uncle in the hope of reaching out to him.
"I stole the Falcon, so dad wouldn't leave me or mom...and he doesn't even talk to me, except he said those hurtful words..." muttered Ben, on the verge of crying.
"Wait, what hurtful words...I thought he hadn't even talked to you then...? Is that why you nearly turned to the darkside...? What did he say?" asked Luke, who had completely lost the plot again.
"He also sent me away for it..." spit Ben out bitterly, as he watched the sun fully disappear behind the clouds.
"What did he say?"
Ben gazed helplessly at his uncle. "I don't understand anything...why did he leave me here...I'm so cold...does this mean dad hates me?" A single tear ran down his cheek.
"What? No, of course not...why would you even think that...? What did he say to you?" pleaded Luke and wiped the tear away with his thumb.
A dark shadow passed over Ben's face. "He said that I were no son of his and that he didn't care what I would do."
I don't remember him saying that!
KR: Well, you have been misremembering a lot!
Next up: Confusing parental messages...
All aboard the pain train! But it won't be too long and there will of course be loads of family fluff (in between)! But also family drama and silliness! Is Ben misremembering or is this something else...? And is Luke...hiding something? And what the kriff is going on with Kylo? Is he losing his mind...inside Ben's mind? Until next time...I will update as soon as I can!
