***Author's Note***
Okay, so this one's a little shorter than the last, but it's no less of a doozy. Some more important plot revelations here. Hope you like!
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Ben woke with a ragged cry, and struggled to sit up. When he found himself unable to, he panicked and began to struggle. Shhh, my love. Shhh. It's just us. You're okay. Ben jerked when he heard Rey's thoughts. You need to lie still, my love. Ben complied, and as he felt his panic abate, he realized it was Poe and Finn that were holding him down, and he relaxed further. "I'm alright," he croaked. "You can let go now." He felt the restraining hands release him; Ben looked to his right and saw Rey kneeling beside him, deep in a trance. As he watched her, she stirred. "Where are we?" Ben asked.
"We're on a shuttle. After you fell, Finn and Poe carried you here; you were badly wounded, and we were afraid we would lose you. I've been trying to heal you. Oh, Ben, what are we going to do? We don't even know where we're going at this point."
"How many shuttles made it?" Rey looked uncomfortably away. "Rey? How bad is it? How many did we lose?"
"Only four shuttles made it, Ben."
Ben's mind went blank for a moment. "Four? There should have been three times that many! What happened?"
"After you fell, it seemed like the number of Stormtroopers doubled, and maybe they did. But I saw Phasma carry Ren off, and we barely managed to escape, ourselves. We lost many of our Force-Sensitives, and so many more of our regular forces. We took a significant hit today, Ben. I don't know what to do, and we don't know where we're going." Rey's face crumpled in despair. Ben reached out and took her hand.
"It's going to be alright, Rey. I just need to reach my mother." Ben closed his eyes and felt himself sink into the Force. He pressed his consciousness out of himself, and reached, searching for his mother. At last, he found her. Mother? It's Ben. Where are you? Ben felt Leia's surprise, and then relief at Ben's thoughts. Ben? What's wrong? I sensed a terrible disturbance in the Force. What's happened? Ben sighed. We'll discuss it when we arrive, Mother. We need to know where you are. We have wounded, including myself. A wave of pain rolled through his from his gut wound. Alright, we're on Tagoria. Please hurry, and be safe.
Ben woke and looked at Rey. "They're on Tagoria."
Rey hurried to the cockpit and informed the pilot. Just then, Ben realized Poe was not flying the shuttle, which seemed wrong to him, somehow. "Poe? Why aren't you the pilot? Are you alright?" Ben looked up at Poe, getting a good look at his face for the first time since he woke. There was definitely something wrong with him; he looked waxy and pale. Slowly, Poe pulled his right hand forward. Except there was no hand.
"Looks like I get to join the cybernetic club, doesn't it?" Ben looked stricken. "Hey, don't worry about it, okay, buddy? It's fine. Really; it's fine. It'll make a great story for the ladies." Poe winked. "Just...note to self...Don't take on somebody who's got a light-saber if you don't have one, yourself. You tend to come away missing something." Poe laughed, and Ben had to smirk, just a little, at the image of Poe charging a Knight of Ren with nothing but his good looks and charm. "Well, when you went down, I felt Rey's knees buckle next to me. I grabbed hold of her, knowing it couldn't be good news, and started trying to make a hole. I got Finn's attention, and between the two of us, we managed to take down enough Stormtroopers to get our group out. Rey seemed to come to her senses then, and she grabbed on to my hand, I grabbed Finn's wrist, and we held on for dear life. That girl can run. She seemed to know right where you were, and headed directly to you; that's when we saw Phasma carrying off your...Ren...and I thought Rey was going to pass out. She got us to you, though, and what we found made her go bone-white. You had a terrible gash across your gut; it was so bad we could see your intestines. We thought you might already be dead, but Rey swore you weren't. Just then, we found ourselves surrounded by Knights. Lucky your Uncle was there, or we would have been killed. There were a couple of Twi'lek Force Users, and a few others besides; between them, they managed to handle the Knights. Rey didn't have the time or energy to focus on the attack, so your Uncle told her to just worry about you. She did some...Force...thing...and told us to pick you up and carry you to the nearest shuttle; said she had to keep physical contact with you, or she'd lose you. We barely made it to the shuttles, First Order hot on our asses, and got you laid down, when I heard somebody shout out behind me; I looked, and saw your Uncle had fallen; he had a pretty bad gash across his face. I didn't think about what I was doing, or I might not have done it; anyway, I charged the Knight that did it, and managed to distract him long enough for Luke to recover. That's when it happened. The Knight twisted his light-saber, and then there was this searing pain, and oh, look! No more hand. But Luke survived, which is way more important; we helped each other into the shuttle, and off we went. That's pretty much everything you missed while you were out; Rey's been working on you ever since."
Ben struggled, trying to sit up. "Where's my Uncle? Where's Luke? Where is he!?"
"Relax, nephew. I'm here." Ben heard a shuffling as Luke worked his way towards Ben. Ben gasped when he saw his Uncle's face. The gash Poe had referred to stood out shockingly where Luke's eyes had once been. "It's alright, Ben. I don't need my eyes to see, and I don't need to see to fight. It hurts, yes, but I will survive. If Poe hadn't given me the time to recover, I have no doubt that I would be dead now. He saved my life, and for that, I am eternally grateful." Luke placed his hand on Poe's shoulder and smiled. "Master Obi-Wan once taught me that the eyes can deceive you, and not to rely on them; I learned long ago how to fight blind. I'll be fine, Ben. Although your mother will likely make a fuss. Ah, well, what can you do?" Luke chuckled. "The important thing is that we survived with as many as possible."
Just then, Rey returned from the cockpit. "How are you feeling, Luke? I'm sorry I haven't seen to you."
Luke waved her off. "I'm fine," he said. "Just a little tired. Now that we know Ben will be alright, I think I'll take some rest. Sleeping will be interesting now. I think that will be the most difficult thing to adjust to."
"You're talking like you'll never see again," Rey sputtered.
Luke walked over to Rey and took her shoulders in his hands. "Rey. Look at me; I have no eyes left. They were utterly destroyed. The Force can do many things, but it can't make something from nothing. It can build on what is there, and it can repair something that was damaged, but it can't created something from nothing. If it could, Ben and I would have natural limbs. I am perfectly fine with not seeing through my eyes. I have the Force, and I have my family. That is what matters to me. Get some rest, Rey. You're going to collapse if you don't."
Rey nodded and laid down next to Ben. Within moments, she was fast asleep. Ben wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, shivering. He didn't want to think about what had happened on D'Qar. Not yet; he wasn't ready. Instead, he reached for Rey's sleeping mind and allowed it to lull him into a restful, dreamless sleep.
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***Author's Note***
Phew. Okay, my writer's block has officially been unblocked. Hope you liked this one. I wanted to show that nobody got out of this battle unscathed. As ever, let me know what you think, and thanks for reading. ^_^