AN: It's a (funny) torture from Ben's point of view, not a real torture...you will see...at the end... ;)
Chapter forty one - Embarrassing torture of the past
So sweetie, now that you look even more adorable, do you want us to find and save this Rey?" Leia put the mirrors away in her Ben-bag.
"Yes, please...she is...no will be so lonely..." Ben grabbed and hugged the Rey-pillow on the bed, so at least that wouldn't be lonely and he didn't dare to admit that he was not under any circumstances going to show up in front of his Rey, with his hair braided like that, as she would most likely make fun of him.
KR: My Vader wouldn't make fun of me...he loved to undo it to see my flowing hair...
Not sure about Rey...I think she would at first...seems to be that type...
KR: So uncivilised...
"I will see what I can do."
Ben was stunned. He had not expected that answer from his mother, considering how he had yelled at Luke till he was blue in the mouth to do something about her and destroyed his office in rage to get to Rey.
"Really? Thank you mom, you are the best!" His smile lit the room as he hugged her.
"Hey...we were going a trip...and maybe checking her...birthplace out..." Luke pouted that he didn't get any credit for that.
"Yes, maybe," Ben glared at him for only given him a small piece of hope unlike his mother, who promised to do something about Rey.
Erm...
KR: Did she ever...?
I'm not sure...would Rey still have been on Jakku then...?
KR: Doubt it...meaning...she...
Lied.
"Anything for you, my little boy." His mother smiled at him.
"I'm not little..." Ben pouted.
"You will always be my little boy," his mother dove into her bag, like she was in treasure hunting.
"Always...?" Ben furrowed his brows, not happy that he was supposed to be stuck as child forever, never to be able to know or do anything forbidden...or anything his mother didn't want for him. Maybe not even get Rey...
"Always. Oooh, this one brings back memories. I wonder if you can still fit in this," his mother pulled up a small garment that was so bright, it lit up the room. The flowing fabric changed colours after how light reflected on it and his uncle pulled the curtains open with the force to make the sunlight shine in, so the clothing could really be enjoyed.
"Mom, it's a dress!" screamed Ben like she didn't know that already. He scrambled away from it on bed, like it could burn him or that he could get trapped in unwanted destiny...or get trapped in it again. He looked out the window and hoped that none of the knights would see this or they would laugh more than usual at him.
His mother had a devious smile like a super villain. "I know, it was your grandmother's. Those Naboo dresses are so gorgeous and you look so cute in it! I mean, cuter, you are always cute...my cute little princess." She grabbed him and took off his nightshirt to put him in the dress instead.
"Help me, uncle!" His arms stuck out of the dress sleeves like a man drowning in sea or quicksand.
"Stop struggling, you will ruin your braiding!" scolded Leia and pulled down slowly the dress over his head, to not ruin it. "Don't you dare...I have spent too much time on it already," as she had too many times had to begin and redo the braiding.
"Leia...are you sure that's wise...going after this girl...?" said Luke, who did nothing to help Ben from his mother, as usual or rather stop his sister from crossdress his nephew. He shut up, the moment Leia gave her fiercest glare for bringing that up, the glare that no one dared to say anything against, while she put struggling Ben in a dress, like he was her little doll.
"I mean...what if she was...you know..." said his uncle and his mother pulled dress all the way over Ben and smoothed it over. Ben looked down in horror that dress still him perfectly and that fact made his mom so happy, that her mood didn't even change when her brother hinted the slightest at Vader.
"You are right, maybe this isn't just a game. It could be a darkside vision...at least something is confusing our poor boy so terribly, that he speaking about some past life, he never even lived," Leia said while looking adoringly at her little pouting son in his grandmother's dress and with his braiding to match. "Look, how cute he is? Are you an angel?" She pinched his cheek and turned to her brother. "Luke, doesn't he look cute?"
"He really looks like an angel," said Luke and smirked. "He's super adorable like this..."
The kriff, can they know if I never lived that life? So controlling! It's my past, future and present!
KR: Yeah!
I mean...I don't even know...if that was my past...life...I mean...
KR: So pathetic...you are adorable in that dress...and with that braid.
Shut up! Why the kriff are they dressing me up like their doll?! I'm sick, that's just abusive...
KR: I will pretend I didn't hear that nonsense and please apologize to everyone for making light of other people's suffering...and you kind of been through worse...just minutes ago...
I'm sorry...wait...what! Why I'm listening to you! You have no right to lecture me! You, of all people!
KR: I'm your grandmother.
You weren't around. You can't just know start to...erm...raise me...? The kriff is happening here! You are not my grandmother! Stop saying that!
KR: I wasn't around because I died and you look so adorable in our old dress...
Ours...? Ehehehe...I'm really losing it in here...
KR: It's like looking in a mirror...in the past...except this time...with our children...
?
KR: I wonder where our other dresses are...the adult ones I mean...
I hope...lost in space somewhere.
KR: Hey!
That's my only hope...
KR: You know, I meant that Rey would probably look cute in it.
Rey? That's a surprise...but I don't think she likes dresses.
KR: How can you be so sure? Have you asked her? No, you don't know anything about her...
I'm afraid you are right...I wonder if she would like it...
KR: You know for that rude remark about the state of my dresses, I hope I can find one and make you put it on...as a punishment.
That's awfully mild coming from a darksider...and wouldn't that...ruin them...? Because of my size?
KR: Hmm...I wouldn't chose my favourite one, you jerk...
I wonder if Rey wants me to braid her hair...those buns looks messy as...!
"She is not darkside! Her name is Rey of light but with an e!" shouted Ben like the name should convince everyone where her alliance fell and especially with that spelling.
"You gave her that name," reminded his uncle him.
"She is my lightside!" shouted Ben and looked angry at the dress, like it was keeping him away from her. He looked at the sunlight inside the room, like that was nothing but fake light to him. Not his light.
"Aww, look at my little princess," his mother cooed and fawned over him and didn't comment on his Rey obsession, as she had her own obsession to deal with.
"You mean prince!" snarled Ben, that she was trying to change him into the daughter she never had.
"You can be both, sweetie. You are my everything," his mother hugged him, like that would never change.
"I want to be a smuggler!" Ben tugged at the collar of the dress.
"Don't rip the dress! I warning you..." His mother eyes shot daggers at him and reached for the hairbrush to use in a complete different way.
KR: Don't rip it.
You...are scaring me...
KR: Good.
"Please...I don't like this...dad doesn't like this," pleaded Ben, as he hoped for a small reprieve.
"I don't care what he likes, he's not here to say he doesn't like this," snapped his mother and crossed her arms defiantly.
"Well, I don't!"
His mother leaned down at him. "You liked this in the past. Is it just because your father doesn't like this...? Is this some toxic masculine bantha poodoo he has been filling your head with? Boys can't wear dresses? His boy?"
"Leia..." said Luke, to finally intervene in some way.
Ben grew frightened when his mother got into her politician form that was unstoppable and no one could argue against. "I...no...dad isn't like that...I think...please...can you at least call him...and ask him...?"
"Why should I...? It's not like we can reach him anyway..." His mother had barely finished her sentence when they heard a urgent ringing from the holoviewer.
Dad...?
KR: Who else...?
"My little bandit is sick?! Is he going to die?!" shouted the holo Han hysterically the moment Luke answered and looked frantically around the room. "Luke, where is my boy!?" He turned to glower at him, like Luke had done something to Ben, so he was nowhere to be found.
What's up with that reaction...? He cares...?
KR: So stupid.
What's that supposed to mean?
KR: Nothing...
Sheesh mom, really frightened him...why is he frightened...?
KR: Stupid, stupid...stupid...
"He's alright now. Where have you been? It's been a week!" scolded Leia in calm voice, despite it being her fault that he was so hysterical.
"A week? No, it's only been couple hours...alright? What was wrong with him? You said he was deadly ill! Where is he?" Holo Han twirled on the viewer to glance around the small room. "Where is he?" Somehow he missed him, even though he was right in front of him, that must be because his eyeline went over him.
"No, it just a flu and if he and my brother follow my schedule, he will never be sick again...and they will follow it," said Leia and frowned at nephew and uncle who gulped and nodded. She took the holoviewer from Luke's hand, to get Han down to their eye level.
"That's...a relief..." Han smiled, but his eyes widened in shock when he finally found his son. "What the kriff is my son, wearing?!" his father's gruff voice grew an octave higher, as he took in his new appearance, like Ben was dressed as Darth Vader, instead of in an innocent dress.
"He likes this," said Leia and smirked smugly, as she fitted him with a necklace she hand found in the Ben-bag.
"I doubt it." Han's look flitted between his wife and son with a frown. His eyes landed on his son, that was in great distress.
"Daddy save me!" yelled Ben and waved his hands, like a damsel in distress or princess locked in a tower. Like his mom and uncle were monsters keeping him prison and torturing him for fun.
"Don't you think he looks cute like this...?" said Leia surprised and little deflated, that she would have to stop her dressing up game.
"I never said he didn't...he's adorable..." his father grinned. "Especially with that braiding."
"Traitor!" Ben took the brush by his side and used it like a weapon, as he threw it through the holographic image, like he was stabbing his father with and it landed on the wall with almighty crash.
"BEN!" His mother looked shocked by his outburst, even though both of his parents also had that temperament...and his uncle.
Luke shook his head, like he had never lost his temper in his life. "Such temper."
Holo Han looked behind him at where the brush hand landed on the wall and back at his furious son with a frown. "Hey...I'm trying to help you, son. We are not your enemies. Please, obviously he doesn't like this. I don't want him to do things he doesn't like..."
"I don't want to be here!" shouted Ben, as if he hadn't already made himself clear enough. The angry brush throwing was more to protest that he was being kept against his will, than over the fact that his father thought he was adorable in a dress.
"I'm sorry...I can't help you there, kid..." His father looked sad by that fact, even though he had been the one to put him there...and leave him...
"I don't like it either, but he has to learn...that he can't get everything he wants...and that we knows what is best for him..." said Leia.
"I'm being torn apart!" yelled Ben.
"Please, Leia," begged his father and even Luke, seemed to think she was pushing it too far.
"Fine, I was just teasing him anyway..." she put the holoviewer on the nightstand to pull Ben out of the dress, but when Ben was about to sigh in relief, she pulled out other garments instead.
"No, not a onesie again!" He pleaded.
"Leia..." said his father sternly.
"It's for his health. It will help him sleep. I have a baby wookie one." Leia held up that type of a onesie for his father to see, who nodded in approval.
"Yeah, put him in that."
Leia began to dress him in that onesie.
"DAD!" Ben glowered at the brush on the floor, like he wanted to throw it at him again, for being such a disappointment to him. For always letting him down. For never being there, when he needed him...for never helping him...
"Sorry, but you are too adorable in that. I wish your uncle Chewie could see you..." Han smiled, as if he was thinking about the wookie witnessing that and worse, showing the upcoming pictures to everyone on Kashyyyk. Waroo, Chewie's son and Ben's friend, would have field day.
"Well, I don't!" growled Ben, which fit his baby wookie look, so no one took him seriously, like he was only cosplaying, especially not after Leia put the hood on him, over the braiding. So he was adorably mad.
"I can take pictures, so he can see it later." Luke found a camera in the Ben-bag.
"He would love that," said Han thankful for the gesture.
"You are all turning against me!" shouted Ben aghast.
"Ben..." said his mother with a warning.
"Stop being so dramatic, Ben. Smile for me..." Luke held the camera up to take a picture.
"NO!" Ben turned away with the most cross expression he could muster and folded his arms.
"Ben, don't be so difficult," scolded his mother. "Turn back now." She turned him in the right direction, before he could get the chance to do the right thing, himself.
KR: They really are torturing you...
Stupid family...I'm not your plaything! And none of them sees how miserable I am...like always...
"I HATE YOU ALL!" Ben jumped up in the bed and got his toy saber from the duffle bag with the force pull. He held the saber in front of him, threateningly while he shielded the Rey pillow behind him, like she was in any danger when in truth, she wasn't even on their radar. Only him...and his darkside.
Stupid family...
KR: Stupid family
"BEN!" shouted his mother and his uncle looked shocked.
"I'm...so sorry..." Ben fell on his knees and his chest heaved. His vision got darker. "I...didn't mean it...please...you have to believe me..." his voice choked up. "Please..." He grabbed the pillow in a tight embrace.
Leia and Luke stared at him, as if they weren't sure how to deal with his sudden darkside outburst.
"Hey, he is sick. Let our poor boy rest," said his father and seemed to be the only one of his family, with some sense of reason and seemed to see how Ben was truly feeling, even though he was not even present in person.
Luke and Leia looked guilty for not paying enough attention to their charge and his mother helped him get back to bed, where he still was grasping onto the pillow for dear life. She took his saber away and put it back in the bag.
"We are sorry, we got a bit carried away..." She removed the hair clasp and put it back in her hair, to make him a bit more comfortable, but didn't want to undo the braiding just yet or undress him from the baby wookie onesie. "We just wuv you so much. You are just too cute. Get some rest, cutie." She kissed his head and then went straight into strict mode to interrogate her husband. "Han, you still haven't answered me where have you been! We have tried to reach you for ages!"
"So, now I'm allowed to come for a visit...?" scoffed his father.
"As long as you won't try to take Ben away...from his important training," said Luke and Leia nodded.
Take me away...? Why would he do that...?
KR: You are so thick...
"He's my son," growled Han, like the siblings were stealing him away from him by using some master plot, only known by them.
"No, he's ours," said Leia and Luke nodded, like they all shared ownership of Ben.
"I want to be taken away!" yelled Ben to make his opinion known.
KR: I took you away...
That is not what I wanted!
"I know..." His father hung his head, like he wanted to honour his request, but for some reason couldn't. He tried to reach out to cup his son's cheek with his holo hand, that went through Ben, like a ghost. "But, daddy is here now."
Dad...?
KR:...
"Han, where have you been!? Why didn't you call straight back? Answer me!" Leia glared at him and interrupted the father-son time before it could begin. "Do you have any idea, how worried I was!?"
His father withdrew his holo hand to meet his wife's stern gaze. "I'm sorry, honey...I had...an accident."
"Accident...? Are you okay?" Her stern frown was replaced with a worry and Ben and Luke looked shocked by the news.
"Yeah, I'm now." Han seemed to find the floor more interesting as his family, as he kept his eyes trained on it.
"What happened?" asked Leia, bracing herself for the worst.
Han looked up, deep up into her eyes. "The Falcon got stolen..."
"What?!" screamed Leia like a dear family member had got kidnapped. Luke looked devastated while Ben was thunderstruck and felt as if his soul was being ripped out...
No way...he sent me away for trying steal it and then he lost it himself!
KR: That's bit unfair...
Next up: Unhealthy relationships of the past...
Padmé's dresses were lost in hyper space in the Poe Dameron comic...they got thrown out by some bad guys to get a revenge on Leia...will we ever see those pretty dresses again? Will Kylo...find them in 9?
