Ben froze as he stared across the long courtyard at Luke, who returned his gaze with equal surprise. But Ben sensed Luke's building antagonism, and he debated turning around to run the other way. No. I have to face him. It's now or never, Ben thought, but he was well-aware of the potential for his own mortality at the hands of Luke, the uncle and mentor he had betrayed. With a heavy sigh, Ben took a step forward, continuing to stare across at his uncle. So be it.

Luke swiftly drew his lightsaber, igniting it before him with lowered brows. He began moving towards Ben at a fevered pace.

Ben slid out and ignited his own crackling saber, but with much less surety.

Luke used a sudden Force-jump to swiftly breach the gap between them, and Ben's balanced was jolted as his uncle's saber came crashing down upon his.

Ben slid his saber from Luke's, ducking away from one of his uncle's hard swings. Luke swung his saber with breakneck speed, and Ben struggled to focus on what was happening, on reality itself as his mind shifted between Rey and his mother.

Luke slashed madly against Ben's saber, attempting to knock it from his grasp, but Ben managed to maintain his hold on the weapon despite his unsound focus.

"How dare you come back here to kill your own mother!" Luke growled, jabbing at Ben fiercely as he pushed his nephew towards the center of the courtyard. "How could you!"

Ben shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around Luke's stinging words. He ducked under another swing of his uncle's, dashing around a bench to get away from his uncle. He didn't dare to make any of his own offensive moves against Luke.

"I didn't—that's not what I wanted!" Ben exclaimed as Luke lunged at him. Ben clashed his red sparking saber against Luke's defensively. "I didn't come here to kill her!"

Luke seemed to ignore this, his hits only growing stronger. Ben had never dueled someone as masterful as Luke, and he began to lose energy. Ben grew disoriented, dizzy, unable to parry Luke's quick, hard hits. Luke's saber made contact with Ben's shoulder, his arm, and even grazed his side at one point, but Ben was too numb from what had happened to his mother to even feel the searing pain of the plasma.

Suddenly, Luke shot his hand out at Ben, sending him flying a few yards away. Ben landed heavily onto his back, the wind knocked out of him. His saber landed a ways away from him.

Ben didn't bother to call it back to himself as Luke surged towards him, standing over him with his saber aimed down at Ben's chest, poised to deliver the final blow.

….

Chewie suddenly released a thick, piercing roar from the side of the courtyard that shook through Luke's very core. Luke froze. He glanced across at the Wookie, who was snarling at Luke in ferocious dissent.

Still standing over his nephew, his saber pointed downwards, Luke's chest heaved as he regathered his breath. His mind began to unfog as he stared down into his nephew's eyes, searching. In them he did not read fear or cowardice; rather, what sent a shock up Luke's spine was the acceptance he recognized in his nephew's eyes, his concession to his own death. Slowly, shakily stepping away, he realized Ben had the fixed assumption that his own uncle would kill him.

As Luke staggered backwards, staring across at his prone nephew, he saw him again as the shy, wistful boy he once had been, when he had trained under him. Ben stared back at Luke, bewilderment and surprise spreading across his features as he craned his neck up from the ground.

"Sir?" Luke heard behind him, and he turned around to see a concerned Poe, surrounded by a group of other pilots and generals. Luke wasn't sure when they had all gathered, whether they had seen the entire fight, but they all appeared to be confused at Luke's sudden mercy.

Luke shook his head in dismay, at his attack on his own nephew. How could I have allowed hatred into my heart? He wondered in alarm. Staring across at Ben again, he did not read malice or ill-intent in his eyes. They were not even the golden-orange color of the Sith. He has not come here to kill, Luke realized, his expression softening slightly. He is not the same, but he is not completely lost.

Ben propped himself up on his elbows as he blinked uneasily across at Luke and the others.

"Is that—"

"That's his nephew?"

"Solo's son?"

Luke turned around as he heard anxious murmurs behind him. Chewbacca, Poe, Finn, and a group of generals and pilots had gathered at the edge of the courtyard from where Ben had appeared.

"Sir," Poe pressed, stepping forward and raising his blaster. Chewie growled at Poe, who glanced at the Wookie. A few officers behind Poe moved forward, despite Chewie's growls of warning.

"Poe, wait," Finn pressed, eyeing the Wookie.

"Arrest him!" One of the generals exclaimed, pointing across at Ben.

But the men immediately stopped in their tracks as Luke threw his arm out, glaring at everyone and signalling them to freeze.

"Let—him—go," Luke commanded, and the men wavered under his deep tone.

Luke turned and watched as Ben scrambled up to his feet, moving backwards and away from his uncle slowly. He searched Luke's face, seemingly looking for permission.

"Go," Luke said, nodding his head in the direction of the opening to the X-wing hangar behind Ben. "But don't come back," he added, dropping his voice.

Ben's face twitched in apparent pain, and he turned, whisking around the corner and out of view.

"But, sir!" Admiral Ackbar yelled. "He is a danger to us all!"

"Sir, Luke, we can't just let him go," Poe exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. Luke shot him a disapproving look as the pilot clicked the saftey off on his blaster.

The other pilots and officials began to move past Luke, eyeing him as they moved towards the hallway where Ben had left.

"Leave him!" Luke urged, but the men pushed past him, beginning to sprint after his nephew. Luke began to move after them, but stopped, realizing that he couldn't go against his own people. He had the sense that the Force was with Ben. But judging by what he had seen in his nephew's eyes, he wasn't sure if Ben had even the motivation to save himself.

Luke sensed an approaching presence behind him. He turned and was surprised to see Rey jogging up to him. Her hair was loose, blowing freely in the breeze as she ran towards him into the open courtyard.

"Luke! What's going on?" She exclaimed, sliding to a stop before him. "There's shouting, people running—where's Ben?"

Luke hesitated to speak. Her concern for his nephew was clear. He shook his head, not wanting her near him again. "He's gone."

"What?" She blurted, confused. "No, I sense him! He's here!" Her eyes searched the courtyard and came to rest on something to their side. Luke followed her gaze and saw the hilt of Ben's lightsaber lying in the dirt. Rey looked back to Luke in alarm. "What happened?"

A pang of guilt rang through Luke as he placed a hand on her arm in paternal reassurance. "Rey, he can't stay here. He can't be accepted by the others—after all he's done? They see him as a danger, as Vader incarnate."

"But he's not!" She exclaimed, pulling away from him. She looked at him seriously. "You know that, you should defend him! You out of anyone!"

"Rey, he killed all of the other Padawans," Luke said, flinching.

"No he didn't!" Rey exclaimed.

"Rey, I saw it with my own eyes," Luke responded flatly.

Rey's mouth quivered as she appeared to consider this. "You saw your own father redeemed," she said, remembering the stories Luke had told her about Anakin and his transformation into Darth Vader. "Why not Ben?"

Luke was about to speak, but he cut himself off at the sound of blasters behind him. Rey's eyes widened and darted past him, and she began to move away from him.

"Rey, don't go after him, you belong here," Luke called as she jogged towards the hallway leading to the hangar.

Luke followed her as she sprinted through the corridor, through the large X-wing hangar. He followed her to the crowd that was moving quickly down the long tarmac, shooting ahead towards an X-wing that had just begun its ascent up from the pavement.

….

Her heart pounding in her chest, Rey sprinted ahead through the lines of X-wings as she saw various pilots climbing into their ships on either side of her, and people jogging ahead, firing their blasters at an X-wing lifting from the ground. Ben, she sensed.

"No!" She yelled, surging forward. As she caught up to the crowd, a man directly in front of her fired a shot at the X-wing, landing a small hole in its side. Rey pushed the man aside with her hands and, using the Force, angrily ripped it from his grasp, sending it flying several yards away.

She continued forward, continuing to Force-pull the guns from the grasp of those who fired at the ship. "Stop! Put down your blasters!" She yelled, somehow finding power enough within her to use a mass mind trick. The pilots, generals, and officials all immediately dropped their weapons, at her command, turning to stare back at her.

Rey pushed forward through the confused crowd, staggering to a stop underneath the ship as it rose above her. Ben, no! She pressed, waiting for him to respond to her. Ben, you can't leave me!

Rey heard running footsteps behind her, and she turned around to see Poe approaching with a large blaster gun. "That's my ship!" Poe exclaimed, aiming his gun up at the vessel.

"No!" Rey yelled at him.

Poe aimed his weapon up at the ship, then lowered it, his expression dejected as his gaze remained focused above. "No, BB-8!" He bemoaned as the ship sped up into the sky.

Rey stared up at the ship in confusion and despondency as it climbed up towards the clouds. Ben, why? She urged. Why?

Rey, this is where you belong. This is where you will be safe, Ben responded.

Rey's heart skipped a beat as she heard him respond, and tears slid down her face as she began to understand. This was your plan from the start, she realized, to leave me here...you lied to me. I trusted you!

She didn't hear Ben respond again, and she shifted her attention to a group of X-wings that darted into view from the side of her peripheral vision. They were heading upwards towards Ben's ship. Rey gasped as they began shooting at Ben's X-wing, tailing it.

Closing her eyes and tightening her fists, Rey surged the power of the Force within her, bringing all of her strength surging to the surface, before letting out a strong breath, pushing it upwards towards Ben through the direct path of their bond.

Rey took in a shaking breath, weakened from having sent Ben all of her own strength. Her eyelids drooping, she stumbled backwards into Poe's waiting arms.

….

Ben struggled to even his breathing and focus his distraught mind as he steered the X-wing ship out of the Azalea system. He wasn't used to flying a one-man craft, and the controls were unlike anything that he had flown before.

Eyeing the X-wings tailing behind him, he scanned the controls in front of him, finally locating the lever he was looking for. He yanked it, the stars around him appearing to stretch as the ship surged forward into hyperspace.

When he pulled the ship out of hyperspace a short time after, he lowered the ship to a cruising speed, turning on the ship's long-distance communication and typing in a signal code.

Ben hunched forward, taking in a deep, uneven breath. Luke wants me dead. Now my mother's gone. Both of my parents. Gone, because of me. His eyes welled with hot tears as he attempted to wrap his mind around the loss of his family. He gripped the ship's steering wheel for support as he grieved, his chest shaking with each breath. Now Rey—oh, Rey...I've broken your trust, he thought dismally.

Ben rose his head, wiping the tears from his face as he stared at the distant stars ahead. You don't belong with me Rey, you'll be in danger. It's better for you to stay where you are protected, to stay away from me. It's better for you to hate me, he concluded. Squeezing the steering wheel in a spasm of deep affliction, he clenched his jaw, thinking of Rey's sweet, innocent face as he'd laid her down to sleep in the grass. I'll make you hate me.

Ben jolted at the sound of rapid beeping behind him, and he flipped around to see a BB-8 unit in the droid slot behind his cockpit. It quivered its head as it looked at him, bleeping in alarm. Is that the same droid I was looking for before…? Ben wondered. The droid beeped again, but Ben turned around, not bothering to answer it.

He sat up quickly as the X-wing's communicator blinked, and he pressed a button to turn on the transmission.

"Kylo Ren. I knew you would come around again," Nodin's voice sounded over the intercom.

"I'm in the vicinity. I'm in an old Resistance X-wing, I'll lower my shields so you can locate me." Ben pressed the ship's security field off.

Soon after, a large freight shuttle came into view ahead of him. Ben steered the X-wing towards the shuttle as the droid behind him bleeped in clear protest. The freight ship's front opened, and Ben's X-wing was slowly engulfed into a massive, dimly-lit hangar. He landed the ship as the hangar's door closed to the outside.

Ben took in a deep breath before opening the cockpit's top, peering into the dimness of the hangar. "Nodin?" He called out. He turned at the sound of the BB-8 unit's nervous trill.

Suddenly, the lights in the hangar were all turned on, and the droid bleeped in rapid succession.

Ben flipped around, his heart stopping as he found himself surrounded on every side by hundreds of stormtroopers, all of whose blasters were trained directly on him. His mouth dropped open in shocked horror as his eyes came to rest on a dark figure amongst the crowd of black and white.

Barely able to speak, Ben shook his head in consternation. "Nodin...how? Why?" He exclaimed.

Nodin took a step forward, gesturing out to Ben. "You've been too distracted, Ren. You are destined for greatness, but you've let compassion get in the way," he said. Ben flinched as he was reminded of Snoke's previous mention of Ben's compassion. Had Nodin been conspiring with Snoke?

Nodin stepped to the side, along with several stormtroopers, as an all-too-familiar blue figure parted through the crowd towards Ben. "We meet again, Ren," the Chiss male said.

"Admiral Thrawn," Ben returned in disgust.

Thrawn nodded his head once, looking Ben over. "I remember training you when you were just a boy. Back on Drecenia. You remember, don't you?"

Ben's face quivered as he remembered how terrified and lonely he'd been on the snowy planet. To him, at the time, the planet had been a place of nightmares.

"You remember when I would throw you out to those Nexus?" Thrawn continued with a sinister chuckle. "You learned how to fight them...well, eventually."

"What do you want?" Ben snapped, gritting his teeth.

"Supreme Leader Snoke has requested that I train you again. Maybe this time your training with me will stick," Thrawn said sharply, narrowing his dark red eyes.

Ben clenched his fists at his sides, wishing he had his lightsaber, some method of attack.

"Ren, brother, come, it is time," Nodin said, gesturing for Ben to follow them. "You have no weapon."

"I'm no brother of yours," Ben snapped, glaring at Nodin.

"Take him in. If he won't come of his own accord, put him out," Thrawn said flatly to the troopers, turning away and heading out of the hangar.

A squadron of stormtroopers with Z6 batons marched towards Ben, and he considered attacking them. But eyeing the weapons they yielded, and unable to find the will within himself to resist any longer, Ben reluctantly allowed them to shove him forward through the line of troopers. What need have I to fight them any longer?

Ben heard the droid bleep several times as he was led away, and he turned to look at it, considering it. Perhaps..."Wait, the droid," he said urgently to the troopers around him. "It may be of interest to the Empire, since it was from the Organa headquarters." The troopers around him nodded, and he glanced back, watching as a few of the stormtroopers moved towards the orange and black X-wing ship to get the frantically-beeping droid out of its compartment.

As Ben was shoved out of the hangar, being pushed towards an uncertain future, he glanced back once again at the bleeping orange BB-8 unit, hoping he could find a way to get it back. He realized that if this was the droid he had been looking for, he knew who it would have been in contact with. The droid could be his one, last connection to Rey.

That concludes this episode, Padawans! What will the future hold for Ben and BB-8? When will Rey come into contact with Ben again? Can Luke forgive his degenerate nephew? Thanks for reading! I hope you've had some fun with this story, I definitely have.

***Update*** The sequel is now posted as a new story, it's titled Star Wars Ep IX: Rise of the Grey.