Padme saw Ben, sitting on the ground by the tree. Carefully, she approached him. He looked up at her and smiled, but then noticed she held a lightsaber in her hand.
"Why do you have a lightsaber in your hand?" he questioned her.
"I figured since you were desperate to find yours, that I would bring you one of mine," she responded in a harsh tone. "Ben, do you recognize this lightsaber?"
She drew close enough to him so that he could look at it, but stayed far enough away so that Ben could not grab it from her. His eyes widened. It was Vader's lightsaber!
"How did you get it?" he asked nervously.
"How do you think I got it? I killed Vader, remember?" Padme turned on the weapon. It glowed a bright red color.
"Were you ever going to tell me, Ben? Or were you just using me?" Padme yelled at him.
"What? Padme, I love you!" Ben replied, never seeing her this upset before.
"Then why didn't you tell me you're on the Dark Side?" she barked angrily at him.
"Because I knew you would react this way!" Ben grumbled softly. He was hoping Padme wouldn't attack him.
"So what happens now? I'm Light, you're Dark. We're supposed to be enemies!"
Ben bravely rose to his feet and said,
"You are certainly not my enemy, and I am not yours. The Force is what balances the Light and the Dark. You are not fully Light, just like I am not fully Dark."
Ben tried to step towards Padme. She pointed Vader's ligthsaber in his direction.
"Don't come any closer!" she threatened him. She was scared, Ben knew this.
"I will not hurt you..."
"How can I believe you?"
"Because I would have already if I wanted to!"
"Maybe you are just waiting for the right opportunity."
"Padme, please listen to me. I will tell you everything about me, just like I promised you after the first time we kissed," Ben softly told her. "Do you remember our first kiss?"
"Of course, I do," she replied, as the memory filled her head. She turned off the lightsaber.
"Are you going to tell me everything?" she wondered.
"Yes," Ben promised. "Please sit with me."
They sat on the ground. Ben leaned against the tree and Padme faced him.
"You already know that Duchess Satine was my grandmother, and that her daughter was my mother," Ben began to explain. "You know how I was conceived. But there is more to my family history."
"Go on," Padme uttered flatly.
"I only found out myself a couple of years ago. I was told not by the man that was my father figure, but by people who despised me."
"What did they tell you?" Padme saw the pain in Ben's eyes as he spoke.
"Besides what you already know, they told me who my maternal grandfather was. Apparently, he did not know the Duchess was pregnant. Otherwise, he would have left the Jedi Order for them."
"Who was your grandfather?" Padme asked, getting an uneasy feeling in her stomach.
"His name was Obi Wan Kenobi," Ben whispered softly.
"Obi Wan Kenobi was your grandfather?"
"Yes. That is why I took his last name, to honor him."
Padme was shocked. Obi Wan was the one to encourage her to face Vader on her sixteenth birthday, not realizing that the Emperor was her grandfather.
"Hearing this turned you to the Dark side?" Padme questioned. She remembered her grandfather killed Obi Wan on the Death Star.
"No. What I am about to tell you did," Ben uttered, before he cleared his throat.
"My father figure, who hid the truth from me... I found out he is Vader's son," Ben explained.
Padme's face went pale. He was talking about Luke!
"Who was your father figure?" she asked, not wanting to hear the answer, but needing to know if her suspicions were true.
"My father figure was Luke Skywalker. A man you greatly admire."
Padme closed her eyes. Ben was Luke's student! He was the one who broke into her home, who destroyed Vader's castle, who probably killed Vanee and murdered the Jedi...
She blocked any of her thoughts from being read by Ben. Now Padme could never tell him who she was.
"When I found out, I was furious. I was mocked and ridiculed by the rest of the Jedi," Ben confessed, the tears brimming in his eyes.
"So what happened after you found out?"
"I killed them in anger. I pledged myself to the Dark side, and vowed to get revenge on Luke and his family. Now you understand why I hate Vader so much. Speaking of him, Obi Wan wasn't the only family member of mine he killed."
"I don't understand..."
"Yes, you do. I saw the video, Padme. My father was in the room, with you and Vader. Vader killed my father, before you killed Vader. He was the medical doctor..."
Padme rose to her feet and stepped away. Ben's father was the doctor that tortured Vader! The man she had killed with Vader's lightsaber...
"I need to go! I can't listen to anymore of this!" Padme screamed. She took a few steps before Ben ran in front of her and blocked her path.
"Move, before I use the lightsaber!" she growled in anger.
"Please, just listen to me!" Ben begged her. "I don't want revenge anymore. I hate being on the Dark side!"
"Too bad for you. You made the choice, now deal with it!"
"I don't understand you. You had compassion for General Hux, after all he put us through. And yet you are upset with me?"
"At least I knew where I stood with Hux. I knew he wanted my power and my body. With you, I don't know..."
Ben pulled her close and passionately kissed Padme. She quickly broke off the kiss.
"I love you!" he told her. "I can't make it any clearer with my words or my actions!"
"Ben, I'm sorry. I don't trust you," Padme admitted ruefully. "I saw the look in your eyes, as your stabbed Hux. I don't want to see that look when you look at me!"
"Padme, I could never be that angry with you..."
"Never say never. I never thought you would be on the Dark side. But you are. You have had almost two years to return to the Light. But you haven't, because you hate Luke and Vader."
"No! I can't go back to the Light because I hate myself!" Ben shouted at her. " I hate the person that I have become. Even Luke has forgiven me for what I did. It is myself that I cannot forgive."
"Then you need to decide what you want to do. But if you stay on the Dark side..." Padme paused, her heart breaking. "Then I cannot be with you."
Hearing those words coming from her lips devastated Ben. His worst fear came true. He could protest, and try to have her see his point of view. But he knew it would be pointless.
"I understand," he finally said, with sadness in his voice. Padme thought he would put up more of a fight, to keep her by his side.
"This is a decision you need to make on your own, Ben. You cannot do this for me. You need to do this for yourself. I will give you time. When you have decided, let me know. For now, we should only contact each other about First Order business."
"Agreed," he whispered solemnly. Padme knew everything about him, and now, he lost her.
"Goodbye, Ben," Padme sighed, before kissing him on the cheek and running away from him. Ben could only watch her leave, his eyes full of tears. She fled, tears of her own streaking down her face.
