21 ABY
Another disastrous training day for Ben Solo, 16. Only this time he had no problem with the rocks, but with an older student, Gael. They had been training with their recently built lightsabers and the older boy made a comment about Sara's white lightsaber and fighting technique, how she was fierce and strong in battle but so calm and collected when they weren't training, "I'd love to tame all that fierceness. It doesn't hurt that she's beautiful too," said Gael. Those words were enough to make Ben lose his control; he attacked his opponent with too much strength but not enough expertise, nearly cutting the boy's left hand off with his laser sword.
"Solo!" shouted Master Skywalker. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Many students ran to Gael's side, and so did their Master. But Sara ran towards Ben.
"What happened?" she asked in a low voice.
"He said things that... made me so angry and I... I lost control." Ben looked a little scared. "Did I cut his hand off?"
"I don't think so." Sara said, looking towards Gael. She held Ben's arm. "You can't do these things, Ben. The others will get scared of you." she lowered her voice even further. "Have you been hearing that voice again?" he nodded. Sara closed her eyes and sighed. "You can't..."
"I know." He interrupted.
"Sara." Master Skywalker had approached them. "You can go to your cabin, I need to have a word with Ben." he looked at his nephew, and Sara could sense a mixture of fear and love in her Master's aura.
She left them alone and went to her cabin.
Sara was getting ready to leave to go have dinner with the others when Ben entered her cabin.
"He knows it." he said, sitting on her bed.
"Who knows what?"
"My uncle... Master Luke, he knows about my conflict, he fears it."
"Did he say that?" she sat beside him.
"No, but I could see it in his eyes and in the way he spoke to me." he took her hand. "I don't think he knows what to do with me."
"I sensed his fear earlier too." she admitted. "Did you tell him about the voice you hear?"
"No. But I think he knows about it somehow."
"You should tell him."
"He wouldn't understand."
"He can help you, Ben."
"We've been here studying and training for six years, and he hasn't been able to help me so far. Why do you think telling him about the guiding-voice would be helpful?
"Guiding-voice?" she repeated, trying to understand the meaning he had given that strange voice. "You can't be serious. You're thinking of a strange man's voice that enters your head whenever you're alone as a guiding-voice?"
"Yes. He has helped me way more than my uncle." Ben got up from the bed and paced the small cabin.
"Can you hear that voice when you're with me?"
"You know I can't." he sounded annoyed.
"And don't you think that's strange — to say the least."
"Look," he stopped pacing to face her. "I know what you think that is. I understand your fears. But I can't see so much difference between Jedi and Sith."
Sara stood up and walked towards him.
"Ben, don't do this." she pleaded. "Don't go that way... I won't follow you."
"I know. That's what keeps me from leaving this place. You. See how embarrassing that is?" he nearly shouted. "The power the voice offers me is limitless. But I can't see myself without the peaceful feelings you give me." he held her head between his hands and touched their foreheads together. "I don't know what to do." he whispered over her lips. "And it's tearing me apart."
"Don't go where I can't follow you." she whispered back.
And he kissed her. Not lightly this time, but passionately; tongues touching, shyly at first, but getting more confident with each move against each other. Her hands worked their way through his shoulder-length hair as Ben's hands ran down her spine, pulling her closer until there was no space between them. They kissed and touched until they were completely breathless and wanting more. Then, they pulled apart and opened their eyes, staring at each other; both with a mixture of desire, fear and love in their eyes.
"We should go to dinner before someone comes looking for us." she said. He nodded, not wanting to let go of her waist. "Ben, we can't walk into the cafeteria like this. You have to let me go." she smiled, touching his face, not really wanting him to let her go. He tried to take her lips again, but she stopped him. "If we start this again, we won't be leaving and then we'll have to explain to Master Luke why we missed dinner." he reluctantly let her go and they walked to dinner hand-in-hand with silly smiles on their faces.
After dinner, Ben returned with Sara to her cabin. They just lay down on her narrow bed, enjoying each other's company. Sara lay on his chest hearing his heartbeat; only the flames in the small fireplace lit the room.
"I wish life was always like this." said Ben.
"It can be. One day Master Luke will consider us ready and we can go somewhere and live our lives just like this."
"Will you marry me?" he blurted. "One day, I mean."
Sara raised her head to look him in the eyes.
"Are you serious?"
"Never been more serious in my life."
She lay on top of him and kissed him, tongues meeting sensually. His hands went down her body, feeling her curves, making him ache for her. Sara pulled his shirt up and trailed kisses on his chest, going down his bellybutton and further down up to the hem of his pants, then back up to his mouth.
"You haven't answered me yet." he murmured, between kisses.
"Yes." answered, smiling. "I'll marry you, someday."
Ben rolled them on the bed, getting on top of her, between her legs. He ravished her lips, going down her neck, leaving bite marks all over her skin; one of his hands found her brassiere-clad breasts under her shirt, the other caressed her thigh. He rubbed himself against her center, and Sara moaned against his lips.
Sudden knocks on the door made they jump apart.
"Sara," it was Master Luke's voice. "Do you happen to know where my nephew is?"
The two teens looked at each other, shocked and embarrassed for having been caught in such position by their Master.
"Yes, Master." she replied trying not to laugh out of sheer embarrassment.
Ben quickly fixed his hair and clothes, looking down to the obvious erection between his legs.
"Thank goodness these pants are loose." he whispered.
"I'm still here and I can hear you, Ben." they heard Master Luke say from the other side of the door.
Ben kissed Sara once more before opening the door.
"Master, this is all my fault. Sara..." he began.
"Stop, Ben." Luke interrupted. "Right now, I'm here as your uncle. You don't need to explain anything to me. I've noticed you two have got even closer in the last couple of months." he looked inside the cabin, at the embarrassed girl on the bed. "Good night, Sara."
"Good night, Master Luke." she replied, blushing further.
They closed the door, leaving Sara alone and she stuck her face in the pillow, laughing at the huge hilariousness of what had just happened.
Two weeks later
4 a.m.
Sara was awakened by the sounds of screams and explosions. She grabbed her lightsaber and quickly ran outside. What she saw was something out of a nightmare: the Temple was burning, red flames going high towards the sky. Some kids ran past her, crying.
"What's happening?" she shouted at them.
"Fighting, near the Temple!"
"Who's fighting?" she felt her heart clench, she feared she already knew the answer.
"Your boyfriend!" shouted Gael, running towards her. "He has really fucked up this time! I saw Master Luke entering Solo's cabin and a couple of minutes later the place went down and your boyfriend ran out from the debris, his lightsaber in hand. I helped our Master out of the levelled cabin."
"Where's Ben?" she asked.
Gael pointed somewhere behind her; far in the horizon an Upisilon-class shuttle was taking flight.
Then Sara knew she had lost him.
Notes:
1. The destruction of Luke's Temple actually happened in 28 ABY, according to the Wookiepedia, and not 21 ABY (Canon).
2. About Sara's white lightsaber: there's nothing Canon about lightsaber's colors so I took one of the Legends explanations that fits my story: the white lightsaber is linked to the Gray Jedi, who believe there is no dark or light side of the Force, that it cannot be used for good or evil – just used. So they can train in both dark and light side.
The term Gray Jedi, or Gray, had two meanings. First, it was used by Jedi and Sith to describe Force-users who walked the line between the light and dark sides of the Force without surrendering to the dark side, and second, it described Jedi who distanced themselves from the Jedi High Council and operated outside of the Jedi Code. However, those who were considered to be true Gray Jedi met both qualifications and did not belong to any particular Force tradition. (Legends)