Inside Sara's private quarters

It was late in the night, Sara and Hope were meditating before going to sleep. They had their legs crossed, arms resting on their thighs, eyes closed, and were both floating about ten centimeters above the floor.

"I can sense grandma... she's still in the command room." said Hope.

"Yes."

"She is sad, mommy. She misses someone..."

"Yes, baby. She misses her husband and your dad. Specially your dad, she misses him a lot."

"I miss him too." Hope spoke so softly that Sara almost didn't hear.

"So do I, dear." Sara replied, feeling a big amount of sadness coming from her daughter; she had felt it before, but it seemed to be growing since Leia had started telling her stories about Ben.

They slowly sat back down and opened their eyes.

"Sometimes," Hope continued, softly. "I feel... a power, similar to grandma's but different, stronger. Is it dad? Can I sense him?"

Sara looked at her daughter, trying not to show concern.

"Have you been trying to look for him, Hope?" the little girl didn't reply, looking ashamed. "There's nothing wrong if you have, dear. I think it's natural that you want to get in touch with him. It's just that..." she sighed, thinking of her next words: "Your father is around bad people right now, and I don't want them finding out about you. They might want to use you because of who you are."

"That's because of grandma's dad, isn't it?"

"What do you know about him?" Sara wasn't liking the way that conversation was going.

"3PO said he was evil."

"Yes, he was."

Sara noticed that Hope wanted to ask one more thing, so she waited, but the kid changed her mind. Hope silently stood up and walked to the box where her bedtime tiara was, she put the jewelry on her head before lying on the bed.

Sara followed her daughter and sat beside her on the bed, running her fingers through her daughter's black hair, just as the little girl liked.

"Mom," Hope whispered after a while. "Is my dad evil?"

Sara closed her eyes, feeling a lump in her throat; so that's was what Hope had wanted to ask a few minutes before. She sighed, not really knowing what to say to her daughter.

"He has made some mistakes but... no, I don't think he is evil, baby." she finally replied.

Hope seemed to be satisfied with that answer, she turned on her side and fell asleep.

Sara, on the other hand, stayed awake for another hour, worried about her daughter using the Force to look for Ben.

Early next morning, as they were having breakfast, Sara and Hope felt a sudden awakening in the Force.

"What was that, mommy?" Hope asked her, surprised.

"That, dear, was someone getting in touch with the Force for the first time."

"But they were scared."

"Yes. Whoever that is, they didn't know they were Force-sensitive and might have found out in an unpleasant way; that's probably why they were scared." Sara picked up her sandwich and continued eating, "Whatever that is, it's nothing for you to worry about. Let's finish breakfast and I'll go find your grandma to discuss it with her."

After finding C3PO (and forbidding him from telling her daughter any stories about Darth Vader) Sara left Hope under his care and went looking for Leia to discuss the awakening they had felt. But the base was already bursting with movement; near the corridor that led to the Command Room, she saw Poe Dameron – barely recovered from the torture session – running towards the X-wings parking area.

"Poe! What's happening?" she asked.

"Maz's Castle is under attack! And BB 8 is there!" he ran to his black X-wing.

And Sara ran to the Command Room.

"General. What's happening at Maz's?" she asked, running towards Leia.

"Poe's BB 8 unit is on Takodana with Han, Chewie, an ex-stormtrooper and a girl from Jakku."

"An ex-stormtrooper? What? We must help them!"

"We will. Poe is leading a squad to protect them from the First Order and we'll send the Transport ship to bring them all here."

"General." suddenly the concerned voice of Taslin Brance came through the panel's intercom. "They have blown up the Hosnian System."

Leia and Sara stared at each other.

"What do you mean?" asked Leia. "The whole System?"

"Yes. Cardota, Courtsilius, Hosnian, Hosnian Prime and Raysho have completely disappeared. The Republic command — the entire — it's all — gone." he sounded shocked and horrified.

Leia closed her eyes, Sara got closer to her and held her hand.

The sound of the X-wings taking off filled the quiet room.

"General." Taslin's voice returned to the intercom. "Some TIE-fighters have arrived on Takodana. And an Upisilon-class shuttle has just landed."

"That's..." Sara started.

"Ben's ship." finished Leia.

"We must go there right now, the X-wings alone won't be able to fight the Knights and Ben."

Leia just nodded and called someone trough the intercom:

"Is the transport ship ready?"

"Yes, General." someone answered.

And the two women ran to board it.

On Takodana

The Resistance transport ship entered the planet's atmosphere and prepared to land. Sara was standing at a window, looking down at the battle field; the sight of the trees burning and the Castle being destroyed made her blood boil; that was the place that had accepted her when she had nowhere to go; as strange as it might sound, the Castle was like home for her. She tightened her grip on her lightsaber and turned it on. Everybody on board fell silent. Leia just looked at her, she could feel the strength of Sara's rage surging.

The transport ship landed and, as soon as the doors were opened, Sara ran outside and killed every stormtrooper that crossed her path.

She fell down on one knee after cutting the tenth trooper in half, feeling sorry for all of them. She looked up and saw many others trying to run away from her, she stood up and reached out her hand, using the Force to immobilize them; then she walked to each one and finished them off. Afterwards, she looked around and saw Han and Chewbacca having a hard time defending themselves from the troopers.

She was ready to run towards them to help, when she saw a strange woman running into the woods. Sara stopped and decided to follow her – sensing that that woman had been the one responsible for the awakening she had felt earlier.

Sara turned her lightsaber off and walked into the woods, passing by the trees she knew so well, looking for the stranger; she found her in a clearing. The woman was looking around, terror in her eyes; she was scared of something and aiming her blaster towards every sound she heard.

Sara was planning on how to get close to her without getting shot when Ben appeared. He must be looking for her. He might have felt the awakening just like I did. She heard the blaster being fired repeatedly and saw his masked figure walking towards the strange woman, avoiding her shots with his red lightsaber. He used the Force to stop her from firing.

"The girl I've heard so much about." Sara heard him say, in a deep, robotic voice. "The droid, where is it?"

Sara saw Ben nearly touch his lightsaber to the woman's ear, and felt divided between interrupting and exposing her alliance to the Resistance or waiting a while longer – inadvertently allowing him to hurt the woman.

Ben moved closer to look the stranger in the eyes and reached out his gloved hand to read her mind.

"The map. You've seen it."

"Sir." called a stormtrooper. "Resistance fighters have arrived, we need more troops to look for the droid."

"Forget the droid. We have what we need." he made the woman fall asleep, and a stormtrooper carried her out of the woods.

Sara left her hiding place a second too early.

Ben sensed her and quickly turned around, seeing her standing there in a Resistance uniform, her hand on her lightsaber's hilt. Four years they hadn't seen each other, and they were on the same planet where they had lived together, less than two miles away from the place they called home. Sara couldn't stop her heart from beating madly in her chest, her inner light being immediately drawn to him, as his darkness reached her.

Sara. You've decided to join the fight. he finally spoke in her head.

You've forced me to make that decision. she replied, trying to control her feelings. Stop this madness, Ben. Leave Master Luke alone!

Supreme Leader Snoke wants him dead. He wants to end the Jedi.

The Jedi will never end. And you know that!

Yes. I know. But I do what I have to do to survive. he sounded tired.

Sara stared at him, confused.

You don't want to do this anymore. she suddenly realized. You want out.

There's no way out.

There's always a way into the Light, Ben. I'm here for you. Never forget that. she said, trying to make him understand that not all was lost.

He nodded and turned around, walking into his ship, the door closing as soon as he'd entered.

Sara watched the ship take flight, Ben's sadness still touching her heart. Once the Upisilon was out of sight, she walked back to the Resistance transport ship, her thoughts on him.

"Sara!" suddenly someone shouted.

She looked up and smiled, walking towards Han Solo, being received with a hug.

"So now you're one of us?" he said, breaking the embrace.

"Yes. I couldn't keep on pretending that I didn't have to pick up a side anymore. So, I chose this side." she replied. "Have I chosen well?" she joked.

"We are very fortunate for having you on our side, dear." said Leia, walking out of her ship.

"I saw him, Leia. I saw Ben." Han said, sounding sorrowful.

"Me too." Sara said. "He kidnapped a woman in the woods."

"He got Rey!" they heard a man desperately shout while running towards them. "He took her!"

"We know, kid!" Han shout back. "We all saw it!"

"We must rescue her!" the man continued once he reached them, he was panting. Then he looked at Sara, noticing the lightsaber hilt on her waist. "And who are you?"

"Sara Antilles."

"My ex-daughter-in-law and a Jedi lady, so show her some respect." said Han.

"We should go." Leia said. "We need to send a message to every corner of the Galaxy about the Hosnian System."

"Has anyone seen Maz?" Sara asked.

"Yes, she's safe, don't worry." Han said. "But the Castle will have to be nearly completely rebuilt."

Sara gave a last look to the levelled Castle and walked into the ship.

The Millennium Falcon landed on D'Qar a few minutes after the transport ship.

Han walked out of his ship and saw Sara and Leia talking to a pretty little girl; Sara's daughter, he presumed, so he approached them, his eyes on the girl – she looked familiar, but not because she looked like Sara, no, it was something else.

"But who do we have here?" he asked, kneeling on the ground to look Hope in the eyes.

The girl immediately ran to hide behind her mother's legs.

"This is Hope, my daughter." Sara said. "It's ok, dear." she said to the little girl. "This is Han, Leia's husband."

"This is my grandpa?" Hope asked.

Han looked at Sara, furrowing his eyebrows; then he smiled, suddenly understanding why the girl looked so familiar.

"Of course, I'm your grandpa!" he was extremely happy. "Look at you! You look so much like your dad!"

Hope walked from behind her mother's legs and hugged him.

"It's so nice to meet you, grandpa! Mom says I remind her of dad too."

"Yeah, you have his smile." he looked at her face. "Can't believe my stupid son made such a pretty thing like you!"

"Han!" exclaimed Leia, disapprovingly.

"It's fine, grandma. Mommy explained to me that dad has made some mistakes, and that they don't make him evil, just stupid."

Leia and Han looked from Hope to Sara, impressed with the little girl's understanding of that situation.

"Oh!" Hope exclaimed, breaking the tension, as if she had suddenly remembered something: "Wait until I show you the beautiful tiara grandma gave me!" she continued in a whisper: "But it's a secret you can't tell anyone that I have it."

"What? You gave that tiara to her? Already?" he asked Leia.

"It was only gathering dust inside a box, Han; Hope takes excellent care of it." Leia said, knowing he would make a scene about it. "She cleans it every night and wears it to sleep."

"To sleep!? She wears a billion credits tiara to sleep!" he whisper-shouted.

"It's very pretty, grandpa." Hope didn't understand why he was so shocked by the news. "I'll let you wear it for a while if it'll make you happy."

Han laughed and let his newly discovered granddaughter pull him into the building.

But the sweet taste of the Resistance's victory on Takodana didn't last long. Less than twenty-four hours later, the First Order had found their base in D'Qar and begun charging their weapon on the Starkiller base to hit the planet and obliterate the Resistance.

They gathered in the Command Room and the former stormtrooper, Finn, gave them details about the base:

"In order to fire the weapon and sustain life on the planet," he explained. "The Starkiller uses a thermal oscillator; if we destroyed it, it would destabilize the planet's core and blow up the base."

"How do we do it?" asked Taslin. "They have powerful shields all around the planet."

"We first disable those shields." Finn said.

"Can it be done from here?" Leia asked, already fearing the answer.

"No, I have to be on the base and do it before the weapon is fully charged."

"I'll take you there, kid." Han said.

"Han, these crazy plans never go the way we think." Leia argued.

"But they work, one way or another." Han replied.

"When have they ever?" Leia said, adding: "And don't say the Death Star."

In the end, it was decided that Finn, Han, Chewie and Sara would go to the Starkiller Base to disable their shields and make the attack on the thermal oscillator possible.

Getting onto the planet was the easy part; once inside, they found and subjugated Captain Phasma. Finn ordered her to disable the shields, and she did, but that made alarms sound off and they had to be more careful than before.

"What do I do with her?" Sara asked, her white lightsaber on Phasma's throat.

"Is there a garbage disposal?" Han asked.

Finn showed them the way and they threw Phasma into the garbage disposal chute.

"Now, we find Rey, and leave as fast as possible." Finn said.

Fortunately, they didn't have to look for long, two corridors down they saw the woman, Rey, climbing a wall on the other side of the building, so they went towards her.

With the shields down, the attack on the oscillator began. But TIE-fighters appeared too soon, stopping the X-wings from completely destroying the oscillator.

The five of them, still inside the base, decided to change the plans and blow the oscillator themselves. Rey and Finn went out to get some bombs from the Falcon, while Han, Chewie and Sara waited for them, hiding close to the oscillator.

Sara sensed when Ben entered the large room. He walked past her hiding spot, unable to sense her presence. But she decided to show herself.

"Ben."

He turned around to face her.

"What are you doing here?" he walked close to her. "Why did you join the Resistance?" he said in that robotic voice the mask gave him. "Don't you realize how dangerous..."

"I had to." she interrupted. "Maybe one day you'll understand." she felt uncomfortable talking to him in that mask. "Take that off, please. You don't have to use it with me."

He hesitated but raised his hands to remove it.

Sara felt her heart skip a beat once his face was uncovered. The same long hair, pale skin and dark eyes she had always loved – only he had a haunted look in his eyes, one that she had never seen before. She searched deep into his mind and found out what was haunting him.

"You can't do it." she said, feeling scared for him. "There'll be no turning back if you do what Snoke has ordered you to do."

"I know! But what choice do I have?"

"You have made nothing but wrong decisions so far. Ben. Don't do this!"

He turned his back on her, putting the mask on and walking to a long metal bridge without another word.

Han walked after him.

"Ben!" he shouted.

Sara had to stop herself from running after them. It wasn't her place to warn him, the destiny of Han Solo and the entire war lay on Ben's hands.

And that wasn't a comforting realization.

Sara saw when Ben removed the mask for his father, she saw Han touch his son's face, while they both held the red lightsaber's hilt. Suddenly she heard Ben whisper into her mind: Will you help me?

Yes. she instantly replied.

You must attack me after I incapacitate him. He said.

Ok.

Ben closed his eyes and turned the lightsaber on, hitting Han somewhere she couldn't see, wounding but not killing him.

"No!" Sara heard Rey and Finn shout from somewhere above. Chewie growled as well. But she was too busy running to the bridge, her own white lightsaber in hand, ignited. She jumped over Han's body going straight to attack Ben. They clashed, white and red lights colliding ferociously. It was a controlled fight but they had to make it look real, there were stormtroopers around. She slashed his right sleeve, hurting his arm. He tried to hit her on the side, but missed.

Chewbacca gathered Han's body into his arms and ran outside.

"Sara!" Finn called her. "We have to leave! The bombs!"

"Go! Get Han to the base!" she shouted as both laserswords hummed against each other.

If you stay, I'll have to make you my prisoner. Ben spoke in her mind.

"I know." she said out loud, deflecting another one of his blows and attacking him; both lightsabers were touching again, being pushed against one another.

The reddish light reflected in their eyes as they stared at each other intensely.

You better defeat me now. We have to leave before the bombs explode. she said in his mind.

So you better let me.

She smiled, even after Snoke's training, he didn't feel he could beat her. She pretended to lose her strength, falling onto the floor on her knees and weakly pushing Ben away with the Force. He gave two steps back and she got up, trying to run for the door. He made her stop, immobilizing her with the Force.

I'll have to knock you out. he said.

Do it. I'll let you.

He did and held her unconscious body in his arms before she could hit the floor.

Then he called his Upisilon crew to pick them up. He wouldn't let Sara get anywhere near Snoke. He would postpone that moment for as long as possible.

Notes: This is an important point in this fanfic. I considered, at first, going full canon and let Ben kill his father, but, after two days of writing this nonstop, a happy ending began to show itself as possible. However, for it to happen, Ben could not kill Han – for I don't think he would really deserve a happy ending after committing patricide.

Four more chapters to go!