He stands alone in the middle of the enormous chamber, shuddering. He takes the hilt of his new lightsaber from his belt, turning and tilting it anxiously in his hands. His clammy palms leave a faint sheen on the dark metal.

He sucks in a breath as the hulking hologram flickers on before him. He clumsily shoves the saber back into the hilt at his side. Building courage against his racing heartbeat, his eyes shift upwards to the glowing apparition.

"Kylo Ren," the voice booms. "Your first mission approaches. You shall join the militant ranks and the other Knights to oversee their collection of new Stormtroopers."

Ren hesitates to speak, his eyes shifting away. "I do not yet feel ready, Master," he says.

"Nonsense!" The Supreme Leader bellows. "Your training has gone well. You shall use your powers with the Force to punish those who resist us."

"But...those who are innocent? I...I..." He trails, an obvious tremor in his voice.

The Supreme Leader leans forward on his mighty throne, sneering down at Ren. "Anyone who resists us is our enemy. Your weakness displeases me. It comes from your upbringing. Your father."

Ren flinches, turning his face away from the Supreme Leader. As if he could hide the moisture welling in his eyes.

"You have only begun your training, and already you have great promise," Snoke said, raising back up to his full upright posture. "But perhaps you are correct. Perhaps you are not yet ready."

Ren looked abruptly up at the Supreme Leader, a youthful flash of hope in his eyes.

Snoke pointed a giant finger down at the young boy. "You shall continue your training on Drecenia, with the new legion of Snowtroopers."

Ren jolted, his head shaking. "Wha—Drecenia? No, not there," he protested.

Snoke raising his head defiantly. "To teach you discipline and strengthen your resolve, it must be done. Guards," he prompted, and a large group of stormtroopers marched into the chamber, heading swiftly towards Ren.

Ren looked nervously between the approaching squadron and the Supreme Leader. "No, please, not Drecenia!" He begged, a tear streaming down his face.

"Until you can learn to overcome your juvenile attachments," Snoke hissed, his hologram beginning to flicker from view.

"No, I don't want to go!" Ren cried, struggling against the troopers as they roughly forced his arms behind his back. "I want to go home!"

Ben jolted upright in the small bed, panting and sweating. His eyes hastily searched the room for danger, but he let out a shaky breath, relieved that it had just been a nightmare. He rubbed a hands against his head, wiping the perspiration from his hairline. Not just a nightmare, he reflected. A memory.

He stretched slowly as he got out of the bed, pushing the dark flashbacks out of his mind. His thoughts began to focus instead on recent hours, when Rey had come to his bed. Ben sighed deeply, running a frustrated hand through his hair. It had taken all of his willpower, all of his being to refrain from kissing her, from keeping her in his bed, from bringing her back to it after he'd pushed her out. It went against all of his overwhelming impulses, but he knew what he had to do.

His body stiffened at the wanton images floating through his mind, of Rey in his arms, her body bare and soft against his own. Her warm breaths against his face, her lustrous eyes gazing up from beneath him.

Ben clenched his fists, attempting to force the thoughts from his head, but it was to no avail. Soon, he thought, leaving his room. Soon I won't have to worry about restraining myself around her.

He found Rey at the front of the ship, and he swallowed as he watched her gazing out of the front window. His face felt hot, and he hoped it wasn't betrayingly red.

Rey turned slowly as he entered the control room, a warm, closed-mouth smile spreading across her face. Ben's heart beat harder in his chest at her loveliness, and he blinked dumbly, only managing a feeble smile back at her.

Her smile began to fade as she strode up to him. Ben sensed an uneasiness about her. "Listen, Ben, I'm sorry about bothering you, before," she said, rubbing her hands together. "I really don't know what came over me."

Ben shook his head, his brows furrowing. "No, Rey, don't apologize," he said, unable to keep himself from stroking her cheek with his thumb. He slid his finger under her chin, tilting it up as he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Never apologize to me." His brows lowered as he began to sense something in the Force—a familiar presence.

Ben rose, his gaze flickering to the window behind Rey as the faint glint of a planet caught his eyes. No, the presence of two, he recognized, his eyes focusing on the tiny dot of Trora. Luke and Leia.

Rey turned around, following his gaze, and then looked back up at him. "We're nearly there," she said softly, searching his face.

Ben's eyes moved from the faraway planet to her face and back again, confliction knotting painfully in his chest. It's for the best, for Rey, he concluded, studying her face.

Rey clearly sensed his upset feelings, but she misjudged them. "Ben, don't worry about all of them right now, okay? I told you, it's going to be fine. I'm right here, I'll always be at your side," she said, rubbing his sleeve.

Ben looked askance, unable to meet her gaze at her last statement.

"Hey," she cooed, gently turning his face back to hers with her finger. "It's all going to be fine."

Ben's face softened as he gazed down at her, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead before going over to the controls. Rey moved to his side, watching his movements. Ben pulled a lever and the ship immediately slowed and quieted.

Rey shot him a confused look. "What are you doing?"

Ben continued shutting down the ship's security and power systems. "We can't take this ship down to the planet, it's an Empire vehicle—they'd probably try and shoot us down," he said, gazing intently at her. "We'll have to take the escape pod."

….

"Poe!" Luke exclaimed, marching towards him out on the Star Fleet tarmac. "We need these X-wings manned, now."

Poe slowly stepped down from the X-wing fighter he'd been servicing, blinking against the sunlight at Luke as he approached. "But Luke, Sir, the ships are all undergoing their monthly repairs," he said, puzzled.

"I don't care. If they can fly, get the other pilots out here and going," Luke commanded, stopping directly before Poe.

Poe was taken aback. "Yes, of course, Sir—what's going on?"

Luke stepped closer to Poe, his eyes narrowing. "I sense him. Ben Solo. Or Kylo Ren, whatever he calls himself now," he said bitterly. "I fear the Empire may be following behind him, he must have given them our location. He must be leading an attack."

Poe's eyes widened immediately at Rey's mention. "You think he has her still? Is she headed here, too?" He questioned anxiously.

Luke sensed Poe's deep concern for Rey, and he sighed, placing his human hand on Poe's shoulder and squeezing it. "I sense her as well, yes...but...I'm not sure she'll be the same Rey as before, my boy," he said, watching as Poe's face dropped. "She may very well have been turned to the dark side."

….

As Ben steered the small escape pod down through Trora's atmosphere, he refrained from looking over at Rey, who was huddled at his side. Though he felt great anxiety over running into someone he knew on the planet, dreading crossing paths with Luke, Ben was most distressed over Rey. It's for her, it's best for her, he repeated to himself in his head, shielding Rey from these thoughts.

"I can't wait to see my friends again," Rey beamed, leaning into his side. "They're all so wonderful, you'll have to meet all of them. I'm so close to them, they're like family to me." Ben's face twitched at her words, faint claws of jealousy creeping up his chest. Rey leaned away from him, watching his face. "Although...Finn, you've already...met. But he is kind, Ben, I'm sure he'll find understanding."

Ben almost snarled at the trooper's mention. He remembered seeing the trooper cradling Rey in the snow on Starkiller base, the rage that had seized Ben's body as he watched the man hold her. His thoughts flickered back to Zephus, when he'd seen the pilot swing Rey in his arms. He was revolted by the men's pathetic, false desire for her. She is mine alone, he thought possessively.

Recalling that he was about to leave Rey on Trora, Ben realized that in his absence these men would probably descend on her soon enough, if they were here. Ben felt utterly sick to his stomach.

"You look so pale," Rey observed, leaning into him again, and he let out a breath. He tried his best to not focus his thoughts too much on the other men.

"I'm fine," he said flatly as he began to descend the ship into a forest clearing. He was landing the ship well away from the planet's main base to avoid detection. On the way into the planet, Ben had used the Force to push away the planet's security radar sensors.

After the small pod had landed, Ben led Rey out into the green forest. She walked close at his side as they headed towards the Organa base, and Ben felt Luke and his mother's presence grow ever stronger in the Force. He grew increasingly nervous.

Perhaps sensing his anxiety, Rey slid her small hand into Ben's, looking up at him with bright eyes. Glancing uncertainly between their hands and her glowing face, Ben reluctantly closed his hand over Rey's. He felt the connection of the Force through their hands, flowing like a warm fluid between both of their bodies.

"You'll like it here, there's lots to do," Rey said encouragingly, clearly trying to keep the mood light. "And there aren't any dangerous creatures in these woods," she added with a coy smile.

Ben smiled back at her, figuring that he might as well go along with the teasing, despite the growing pain constricting his chest. "No Nexus, then?"

"Nope."

"Thank the stars. Stormtroopers?"

Rey laughed. "No, none of those."

Ben released a mock sigh. "Good, I was tired of those. What about Rancors?"

Rey glanced up at him confusedly. "I don't even know what those are."

He smiled to himself. "That's probably for the best." He glanced up nervously through the trees ahead as he saw the side of a building not far off. His face began to flush.

"I feel your tension," Rey said, squeezing his hand. "All will be fine, Ben," she reassured.

His chest heaved, and he blinked back the moisture threatening at the corners of his eyes. As they neared the edge of the trees, he slowed to a stop, pulling her hand to bring her in front of him.

She blinked up at him with a shimmering light in her eyes, but the light appeared to fade as she studied his face. "Ben, it's okay, I'm right here," she said, clasping his other hand.

He shook his head, his gaze shifting as he tried to will the courage within him, faltering as he met Rey's concerned expression.

"I love you, Rey," he said, a tear sliding down his face. "I love you more than anything. I have to protect you. You know that, right?"

She reached up and wiped the tear from his cheek with her finger. "I know. And I love you, Ben. You have brought me belonging, fam—" She cut herself off as she gazed up at him. "What are you feeling, Ben? Tell me," she said, worry in her voice. Searching his eyes further, he knew that she realized that something immediate troubled him. "What's wrong?" She asked seriously.

Unable to speak, shuddering slightly, Ben traced his finger over her lower lip, sliding it under her chin as he tilted her face up. He kissed her deeply, sucking in a breath as his hand moved towards the back of her head. It hovered there, hesitating. Another tear sliding down his hot cheek, Ben broke gently from Rey's mouth, his face just an inch from hers as he met her warm, compassionate eyes. "I love you," he breathed against her mouth, and with that, he waved his hovering hand behind her head, rendering her unconscious.

He caught her swiftly in his arms, lifting her bridal style as he had done various times before. He held her tightly to his chest as his tears slid from his jaw to her chest, and he remained like that for several long moments, unable to part himself from her, going against his every instinct, against the very drive of the Force.

He carried her a ways a way from the escape pod, far enough that she wouldn't be able to find her way back to the pod easily but near enough to the base that it could be seen through the trees ahead. Shifting her in his arms, Ben removed the dark jacket he wore, spreading it out on the ground blanket-like beneath the shade of a tree.

Pressing a final kiss to her forehead, Ben carefully laid her down on his jacket, adjusting her limbs so that she would rest comfortably. He gazed down at her a few moments, taking her all in, before he tore himself away from her, from the pull of the Force.

As he solemnly trudged back the way he'd came, he felt the distinct feel of the Force pulling at him again, but from a different direction than where Rey was. He stopped, turning over his shoulder towards the base, considering.

Moving to the edge of the tree line, he looked and sensed for anyone nearby, finding that the area was empty for now. He wasn't sure if it was the Force or his own intrinsic drive that pushed him forward, out of the forest and ahead towards a bright, empty hangar. The presence in the Force was familiar but it was one he hadn't felt so strongly in an incredibly long time: his mother.