AN: Thanks again for reading and reviewing!
"Without a Heart"
By EsmeAmelia
Chapter 17
"Kylo Ren . . ."
The cross-shaped blade activated, its red glow illuminating her cousin's face.
Rey grasped her grandfather's lightsaber, staring into her cousin's eyes.
"That lightsaber still belongs to me," Kylo growled.
Rey squeezed the lightsaber tighter, her thumb lingering over the button. "Where's Han?" she demanded.
A wicked grin crept across Kylo's face. "What makes you think he's here? Didn't you see him die?"
Rey bared her teeth. "Don't lie to me! I know he's here."
"I cut him through the chest, remember?" Kylo was relishing in his words, his eyes glowing eerily in the saber's light. "Then he exploded into millions of pieces when your Resistance destroyed Starkiller Base." His grin grew wider. "Would you like to hear how much he suffered just before he died?"
With that, Rey's lightsaber was activated and with a loud growl, she swung it at her cousin.
Kylo easily blocked her attack. "Rey, Rey, Rey, I'm surprised at you. You know we're cousins now, don't you?"
"I don't care!" Rey snarled, swinging the blade at him again and once more clashing against his saber, the light from both blades squinting her eyes.
"So you would kill your own cousin?"
"Yes!" Rey yelled. "I will if you don't tell me where Han is now!"
"Is that what your father's been teaching you? That senselessly killing is the Jedi way?" He slid his lightsaber away from hers, taking a few steps backward. "He has been teaching you, right? He surely wouldn't refuse to train his own daughter in the Force."
With those words, Rey couldn't keep herself from trembling.
"Ah," said Kylo, "so he hasn't been teaching you. How sad. Leaving his daughter defenseless . . ."
Another scream emerged from Rey's lips as she once again leapt at her cousin and he once again blocked her.
"We could do this all day," said Kylo, "but it doesn't help your precious Han Solo."
"Where – is – he?" she growled.
"He was stabbed through the heart," said Kylo. "How do you think he could survive that?"
"I don't know," said Rey, a bead of sweat drizzling down her face, "but our grandfather was set on fire and he survived!"
Kylo smirked. "Clever girl. I can see why Snoke wants you."
"Snoke?" Rey exclaimed. "Is he here?"
"He was, but he left as soon as he sensed you coming." His grin seemed to grow even more sinister. "Just like your father."
Rey attacked again.
Kylo blocked again.
They stood again with their blades crossed, the hum vibrating in Rey's ears.
"You have so much potential," said Kylo. "Too bad your father will never help you reach it."
"It's because of you that he won't!" Rey spat. "You killed my mother! You killed the Jedi! You put Finn in a coma!" She pressed her blade into his, filling the chamber with a hiss and bringing soreness to her arms. "And you tried to kill your own father!"
"Han Solo needed to die!" Kylo spat back, glaring at her through the crossed blades of red and blue light. For several moments the cousins stared at each other through that gap between blades, as if each were waiting for the other to move.
"But . . ." Kylo finally said, ". . . suppose he was alive . . . what would you do to save him?"
"Anything," Rey answered without hesitation.
The sinister grin was back on his face. "Just what I wanted to hear."
. . .
[Han, this might hurt,] said Chewie.
Han gave a slight shrug. "I've been in some form of pain ever since I woke up here – a little more won't make any difference."
Bit by bit, Chewie slid one arm behind Han's back and another under his knees and carefully lifted him up. Han flinched in pain at being moved, but the machine in his chest still seemed to be functioning. "Thanks, pal," he whispered, wrapping his right arm around the Wookiee's neck and resting his head on his chest.
Chewie's chest was still as strong as it always was, still as soft as it always was, but something felt . . . empty now, as if an important part was missing. At first he thought it was because of the breathing machine – but then he realized that he wasn't smelling the thick odor Chewie usually gave off.
He swallowed, trying unsuccessfully not to think about how it felt like some element of Chewie's comforting presence had been cut away forever. What other familiar things would feel incomplete now that he was missing his sense of smell?
"Han?" Leia asked. "Are you all right?"
Han gave a tiny, forced grin. "You're really askin' me that?"
"You just seemed to space out for a minute," said Leia.
Han swallowed again, his grin automatically fading. "Well . . . there's somethin' else you guys should know." He glanced into his wife's eyes. "Since I can't breathe anymore . . . I can't smell either. Yeah I know, it ain't like I'm blind or deaf, but I still lost one of my senses . . ."
Leia instantly ran her hand through his hair. "Honey, I understand. You've had to adjust to a lot – we'll all have a lot to adjust to – but right now we need to get out of here."
"Find Ben first," said Han.
Leia took a deep breath. "All right, we'll find Ben – but first we need to find Luke and Rey."
"Rey?" Han exclaimed. "I told you not to let her come!"
Leia sighed. "We tried, but she's her father's daughter – she stowed away."
"Well then we gotta find her before . . . wait, Luke? You guys actually found Luke?"
Leia nodded. "He'll be happy to see you."
. . .
The threesome crept up and down corridors, sneaking around stormtroopers and guards. Perhaps it was because he wasn't used to being moved, but Han was already feeling a cloud in his mind. Several times he realized his eyelids were drooping and he had to blink himself back into wakefulness. Stay awake, he repeated to himself. Stay awake . . .
Finally the hum of a lightsaber echoed from around a corner. Leia froze, blaster pointed in front of her, and Han tensed up, wondering if this could be Ben.
Would Ben be as wrathful with his mother as he was with his father?
But the light that came around the corner was green, not red. In another moment, 3PO and R2 emerged from around the corner, along with a man who was older and more disheveled than he was when Han had last seen him, but he had no difficulty recognizing him. He imagined that his heart would be jumping if it was still in his body, much like how it had jumped when he and Leia were reunited after their long separation.
"Luke?"
"Han?" Luke stared at his brother-in-law, as if trying to figure out whether or not he was imagining things. Maybe the kid even wondered if Han was a ghost – he had seen ghosts before, after all. How long had it been anyway? The last several years blurred together in Han's mind as if nothing important had happened until he found Rey and Finn.
Finally he decided to break the silence.
"Why the hell did you grow a beard?"