For a moment, her shadowed form simply stood in his quarters as they appeared in his subconscious, the deep hood of her Jedi cloak pulled up over her head to hide her face. Outside the ship, the impossible storm continued to rage, generating all sorts of thunder and lightning as the dark clouds churned and writhed among each other.
Once upon a time, such a natural phenomenon would have frightened her younger self, driving her into his room and bed at the first flash of lightning or rumble of thunder. Yet, with time, she no longer was afraid.
Because fear couldn't exist in the life of a Jedi.
She stayed awhile longer, watching the two slumbering forms illuminated from the glow of a distant planet outside as they laid together in his bed, his larger body dwarfing her own adolescent one. She had wanted to see his face, proof that nothing about him had changed but he had somehow managed to keep his features in the shadows, not doubt by his own bidding.
They were in his subconscious now and he would always be partially in control of his own dreams.
Through the Force, she was able to feel a warm, content feeling that radiated out of the duo and she paused for a moment, allowing her eyes to close as she drank in the feeling of his old Force aura, how it felt before the Dark Times. How it felt when he was still Ben Solo.
A few slivers of it managed to creep through the fissures in the dark shell, tiny bits of light but, nonetheless, they shone brightly.
And with those thoughts, she turned away from the sight and slowly walked into the darkness lingering at the back of his quarters and back into her own mind.
Returning fully to her own body, she allowed her eyes to slowly drift open and found herself once more seated on Rey's bed, the girl lying next to her, resting peacefully now that the terrors haunting her dreams were no more.
Silently, she eased herself from the bed and just like in the dream, she slipped away into the night.
The glowing numbers on the chronometer in the corridor said that it was still extremely early on Ahch-To but, but, despite that, she still felt the drag of exhaustion beginning to pull on her mind. So, forgoing the early morning meditation, she reluctantly returned to her room but paused just long enough to check on her Master and touch against the pool of his own mind, only to find that it was smooth as glass, serene as ever.
Slowly, she climbed into bed and adopted the same position that she had in Rey's bed, her back leaned back on the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her. And there she sat, hands placed in her lap, head bowed, her eyes closed. A soft furrow knit her brow.
Sage didn't like hurting people. It was plain and simple.
No matter their crimes or the horrors that they committed. It just sat wrong in her chest and caused an undefinable, sour feeling in her consciousness like someone had come in and left a shadowed stain, one that was not so simple to remove.
The only time she had ever hurt someone was when it was absolutely necessary; when an opposing force was threatening the well-being of Master Luke, the New Jedi Order, or even herself.
Still, despite what he had done, it didn't sit right with her, how she had almost automatically thrown what little anger she did harbor directly at him, expressing her frustrations so freely. Torturing him mentally, in his dreams of all things, came so easily to her. After all these years, it was still his weak point and she had played upon this old bit of knowledge to inflict some sort of slash back at him. And she knew it was wrong. It was wrong.
And it was Dark.
Despite the Darkness and the appeal that it held in regards to him, it wasn't working; her few attempts to find the block and link in her Padawan's mind. His signature was not resonating strongly enough in her mind for her Master to find the tie between the two of them. And that was the problem that she needed to remedy.
So, the young Jedi sat on her bed in the same position as she contemplated her options, her mind half asleep from exhaustion and strain. And it was not just her own that she felt. No... she felt Rey's, Master Luke's... his own fatigue and they were all pulling and weighing her down, threatening to pull her further into the haze of slumber.
Time was beyond her mind and as the minutes wore on, her body began to relax more and she began to slip to the side, the search in her mind tedious and slow.
How could she possibly find a solution to her problem? What more could she do? When she had used fear and darker dreams, it had almost felt like his subconscious was retreating, fleeing away from Rey's own mind and back into his own because... because... He was trying to escape the nightmares.
Happiness, Sage.
The frown once more returned to her brow and her eyes drifted open as she heard the quiet voice break through the dull murmuring in her mind.
Mentally, she checked herself and found that the walls around her mind were still erect and standing strong, not a single blemish upon them. And both the Master and her own student were asleep.
Good dreams. Contentedness. Peace. Warmth. Things that he yearns for.
The voice came once more, soft, so as to not startle her but firm enough that she actually listened to what it had to say. And then, she felt a presence at her door.
Turning, she blearily blinked back at the cloaked figure standing in her doorway, the deep set hood of his brown Jedi cloak obstructing her view of his face. She sat up a little straighter and tried to focus but her eyes were extremely heavy with the need to sleep, her mind dulled and the pool of her thoughts was too thick to wade through. Why he was wearing his cloak indoors in the middle of the night was beyond her.
"...Master?" She called to him quietly, one of her hands raising to scrub at her burning eyes.
He didn't respond for a moment.
Go to sleep, Sage. You need your rest.
Wordlessly, the man moved into the room and he pulled the covers up from the foot of her bed. A warm hand braced itself on her upper arm, gently pushing in a silent command that she should lie down.
"I can't. I need to... I need to..." She couldn't organize her thoughts as she turned her head and gazed up at the shadowed face above her.
Shh.
The female found that she couldn't fight against him so she lay down anyway, her cheek coming to rest against the softness of her pillow. Her eyes almost immediately slipped closed and she barely registered that the man had pulled the blankets up and over her, effectively coddling her in the warmth of their heaviness. A moment later, she kicked her one of her feet out from under the covers and a warm yet quiet chuckle registered in her mind.
It was quiet for awhile then and she briefly wondered if the man had left but then a hand reached out and was gently stroking her hair, the man's touch light and careful. And, as he was doing so, she was cradled in the warmth of the Force once more.
It was only a few brief moments before the young Knight was asleep and it was only then that the Jedi's touch faded away into the night.
Rey panted heavily as she leaned against the water trough, her clothes sticking to her sweaty skin as she eyed her own flushed expression in the water below. Without hardly hesitating, she plunged her fingers into the cool depths and scooped a few handfuls into her mouth before splashing some up onto her face, her skin relishing the chill the liquid held.
After calming herself a bit as she remained standing there, arms braced one each side of the tube, she couldn't help herself when she jumped, Sage having suddenly appeared out of nowhere at her side.
"Here..." Raising her arm, the Knight offered a cup and a protein bar to her Padawan. "It's time for a break."
The brunette readily accepted them without protest and she watched as her Master dipped her own cup into the water before crossing the room and taking a seat on one of the training mats, sitting in a long rectangle of floorspace that was illuminated by the sun.
Rey followed and mirrored the older girl, placing herself just beside her so that they could gaze out across the vastness of the training room.
For a while, they sat in silence together, the two females content with the quiet. Or rather, Sage was. Rey most certainly wanted to talk, to ask more about the agenda for the day. To just learn more.
And yet, she found that she didn't have the energy to so she just resolved herself to practically shove her food into her mouth and remain quiet, her dark eyes staring unseeingly at the mat before her.
Again, Sage hadn't been to her lectures that morning with Master Skywalker, going against what Rey was told even yesterday. Even now, the young pilot could sense a definite shift in the older girl, a sort of unbalance that hadn't been there before the previous day but was now evident. She was quiet, more so than usual, and appeared more thoughtful as well.
Maybe she needed to meditate more.
"Master?" She could hardly stop herself before she was speaking, her voice coming out as a hoarse croak from disuse. Rey didn't need to talk much during either the lessons or the training. She just listened, practically in love with the sound of other people's voices. Living a life of near isolation can do so.
The woman hummed quietly in acknowledgement.
"Can ask why you weren't at my lessons again this morning?"
Sage looked over at her then and paused in her chewing and she lowered the protein bar in her hand, her blue eyes holding her student's hazel pair, "I was doing research down in the library."
The brunette expected her to provide more of an explanation but the Jedi simpy faced forward once more and her jaw resumed working once more, "Oh... Okay."
It was quiet for a beat before her Master was sighing heavily and swallowing thickly so that she could speak.
"I know that I said that I would be there today and every other day from henceforth and I promise, I will be. But, right now, something larger and more important than your training has called for my attention. Now, Rey, I want you to understand that you are just as important. More so than anything else. Usually. But this... It could perhaps be life threatening to all of us if I don't take care of it soon." The younger girl felt her eyes widen slightly and she opened her mouth to speak but was silenced when the blonde raised a hand towards her. "However, know that I am close to finding answers and that once more, you shall have my undivided attention when this... mess is resolved."
Rey gazed at her for a moment before nodding slowly, her eyes lingering on her for a beat before she looked away. She decided not to press further about the subject matter of the research. If she was meant to know about it, Sage would have told her. So, she let it be for the time being.
Sighing, she unfolded her legs from where they'd been crossed in front of her but as she did so, she couldn't help the quiet hiss of pain that snuck from between her lips as she straightened out the sore appendages, wincing in the process.
She felt eyes upon her, "Sore?" Rey nodded, continuing to grit her teeth as she leaned back on her hands, her shoulders beginning to burn in the process. "It goes away after awhile." The older girl assured her but then after a moment, a wry grin pulled at her lips, "Or, maybe, you simply get used to it."
They'd been at it for the better part of the afternoon, going through a number of rigorous activities that made the scavenger's muscles burn and ache almost continuously. She'd been put through the ringer, having had to run through an obstacle course many times already that day in hopes of targeting a number of muscular systems in her body at once.
And, despite living on Jakku, Rey hadn't ever sweat so much in her life and the salt on her skin was foreign and uncomfortable on her person.
She began once more nibbling away on her protein bar and while she did so, Rey couldn't help but stare across the room at the far wall where a long and large inscription had been carved into the wall and was being illuminated by the sunlight filtering in through some of the view ports at the top of the room.
"Do you understand what it means?" The girl turned to look over at her and appeared confused. "The writing upon the wall?" She motioned back to where Rey had been staring.
The young scavenger was quiet for a moment, her slowly starting to burn with embarrassment, "No."
"It's the Jedi Code." Sage explained, thoughtfully chewing on her protein bar for a moment as she contemplated the meaning herself. "How we are meant to live and operate as an Order or... what is left of an Order..." It was quiet for a moment and Rey simply observed her Master as she sat illuminated in the sunlight. "Would you care to read it for me?"
Rey felt the color that was in her cheeks drain instantaneously, "Oh... Uh..." Sage looked over at her then, her brows furrowed softly as she continued to chew away on her snack. "I can't... Well, I can't read."
The blonde's frown deepened, "You can't read Basic?"
The younger girl looked down and away from the other woman's concerned gaze, "I can't read at all." Her cheeks burned bright pink. "No one ever really taught me how."
She could feel the Knight's cool gaze upon her as she stared at the ground before her. An audible sigh left the older woman and she shifted slightly in place, her boots shuffling against the mat for a moment.
"There is no emotion, there is peace." Rey looked over at her Master after she'd spoken, only to find that the Jedi had her eyes closed and her head bowed. "There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force." Finally, her eyelids drew back to reveal the gunmetal blue irises that stared almost unseeingly at the mat between her feet. "These are the worlds of the Old Order... That is, or rather, was, the code of the Jedi."
"Is it somehow different now?" The younger girl asked quietly after a few moments.
"Master Luke decided that sometimes repressing parts of the living psyche is not wise. That it could potentially lead to darker paths." Her eyes grew distant as she raised her head to stare across the room. "So, we address and control such emotions; keep them within reasonable bounds and allow ourselves to actually feel them." Sage rose to her feet, "Do you remember the verses?" Rey nodded before following her Master's lead, standing once more. "Good. Ingrain them into your memory. Use it as a mantra of sorts when you feel yourself at your weakest points." The younger girl bobbed her head once more in understanding. "Now, let's go for a run."
The brunette couldn't withhold the groan that came from her mouth.
Sage just laughed, "Oh, come on! It's not that bad!" She lightly jogged toward the wide, arching entrance to the room.
"Maybe for you it isn't!"
"She can't read."
There was a resounding thud and the dust on the transporter wing shifted and part of it floated down to the ground below, "Ow!" She had to rub a hand over the lower half of her face to disguise the smile that so badly wished to display itself. A moment later, the older man ducked out from beneath the vehicle's wing, nearly his entire torso covered in both dust as well as grease and lubricant. "She can't read?"
"Master, you're filthy." Sage couldn't help the small break in her voice as she fought to contain her laughter. And then a thought struck her then and she sobered a few degrees, her arms crossing themselves over her chest. "Wait, is this why you decided to give me a Padawan? So that you may come in here and tinker during our afternoon training sessions?" She chastised him lightly, her eyes sparkling as she leaned on the ship beside her.
Reaching for a rag, the Jedi Master simply formulated his words for a moment before replying, "I've been a little busy for last near 30 years of my life. I figured that I deserved a break."
He turned then, draping the rag over his shoulder before he turned and walked up the ramp into the interior. The woman followed behind him, swinging inside so as to continue their conversation, "We've been here for ten years. Alone, may I remind you. You didn't once think to say, 'Sage, go off and meditate for a bit. I'm going to clean out the thrusters on the shuttle for a few hours'?"
"You are worth a lot more to me than a few hours of peace." She raised her head from where she'd been looking at one of the old consoles and her eyes softened at the implications behind his words. The older Jedi just continued to go about the task at hand, "Despite the Old Ways, I seem to have become rather attached to you."
It was quiet for a moment and Sage shifted awkwardly on her feet, "Just as you too are and I guess, always have been... important in my own life."
Luke briefly glanced at her as he squatted down to pull a panel off of one of the computer modules. However, after a moment, he looked away and went back to work, the panel coming off with a bunch of wires attached. "You said that Rey can't read?"
"Yes." She blinked back into reality and straightened out her back. "We were down in the training room and she was staring at the Code. I asked if she knew what it meant and if she could read it and she said that she couldn't read at all. That no one had ever taught her how."
"Very well." He grunted as he reached up inside the console and yanked down a clump of wires. A few of them were frayed and the once vibrant colors were faded with age. "Then that's just another subject to be added to her lessons."
There was a whir and a chirp and suddenly R2 was rolling in from the cockpit at the front of the transport. When he realized that his Master was not alone, he let out an exceptionally long babble and a delighted chirp at his female companion.
Sage smiled down at him, "Yes, hello, R2."
He let out a another string of beeps in his binary language and briefly rotated the dome on his head so that his radar eye could sweep across the Jedi Master.
The female laughed. "Yes, I think he knows that he's covered in filth." He responded with another series of chirps and ended it with a whir. Sage's brow furrowed softly, "Don't scold me!" She pointed at the older man. "Yell at him! He's the one who hasn't cleaned the shuttle in decades!"
"Excuse me..." Came Skywalker's muffled voice as the upper part of his body nearly disappeared into the console he was working on. "There was nothing ever holding you back from cleaning it yourself."
"Except you." She smiled slightly. "If I recall, you at one point told me to stay out of your shuttle because you said that you wanted to clean it and said that I wouldn't do it right."
It was quiet for a moment as the man stilled. "Did I really?" A snort of laughter came from the young Knight when she heard her his muffled words.
"I can promise that you did."
"Fair enough."
She took a moment to look around the vehicle, taking note of the fine layer of dust that had seemed to have settled over every flat surface. "Would you care to have help now?"
"No."
There was suddenly a hiss, a spark, and a snap that came from inside the console, followed by a yelp and quiet grumbling from the Jedi. Small ribbons of smoke began to curl up from beneath the metallic module.
"R2!" She squeaked, diving forward and grabbing hold of Luke's legs in an effort to pull him out. At the same time, the little droid was rolling over, one of the hatches on his body flipping open as a nozzle shot out and then hissing filled the air as he began to extinguish the fire with the foaming chemicals, spraying them all over the console and the Jedi Master in the process.
When the smoke ceased to raise from the seams of the dashboard, it was quiet for a moment before the older man was removing himself from the machinery, white foam covering his person. Nonetheless, he seemed fine beside that.
He reached up and wiped some of the foam off his face and out of his beard, "Thank you, R2."
The female just continued to sit there on the floor between his feet, one of her brows slowly quirking itself as her lips began to twitch with the beginnings of a grin. "Perhaps you should call it a day, Master."
He glowered at her for a moment but nonetheless resigned himself to her suggestion, "Perhaps you are right."
His lightsaber hissed and crackled as he now simply stood in the snowy forest on Starkiller, the helpless scavenger trapped on the ground below him like she had been for the last two nights. It was the same in all aspects, the hunting and chasing. His successful capture of her. And now all he could do was wait.
It was through Rey that she had come to him or rather, his uncle sent her to him as some sort of sick form of retaliation. Still, dare he say that he hoped she would appear again before his eyes, illusion of his mind or not.
He glanced down briefly at the girl on the ground below him and he was pleased when he saw terror and fear still reflected in her eyes which were illuminated by the scarlet glow from his weapon.
Ren wondered briefly how long it would take for her to become strong enough to stop him, to end his rampage through her dreams and thoughts. She was so utterly weak, it causes his blood to boil at the thought of how she was able to humiliate him so thoroughly.
However, he was wretched from his thought process as a child ran by him, a flash of rich, blonde hair glinting in the light of his saber. A high pitched but nonetheless delighted squeal of laughter also filled the air and then she was turning back, her face lit up with a wide grin.
She raised her arm and waved at him, "Hurry up, Ben!"
The Knight paused a moment but then moved to take a step forward at her call. However, he nearly tripped as his hip was suddenly shoved out of the way by another small figure.
He couldn't help it when his eyes widened under his helmet and he absolutely froze. For his eyes were trained upon the young, dark haired boy that had forced his way passed him, clad completely in a set of child-sized, dark brown Jedi robes. The little boy had a crooked grin of his own upon his face as he moved towards the girl.
She hadn't been talking to Ren, evidently.
His mouth opened slightly in shock and when he was able to briefly tear his eyes away from the children, he found that the scavenger was missing, the ground where she once lay revealing no mark of her leaving or ever even being there.
"We're going to be late!" He looked back to the two children. The blonde was scolding the boy slightly, stomping one of her tiny, booted feet in protest.
"No..." The dark haired boy said as he approached her. And then all of a sudden, he was taking off running. "You're going to be late!"
"Hey, that's not fair!" She gave chase.
His saber retreated back into the hilt with a hiss and a click, shrouding the surrounding area once more in the dull light from the moon that Starkiller had been passing at the time. He could still faintly make out the shapes of the children as they raced away, their laughter and voices carrying through the chilly air.
He couldn't stop himself from following them. And, suddenly, the scenery was melting around him.
He instantly felt the heat and how it so readily scorched the earth below his feet. How his boots sunk into the sand with each step he took. His eyes burned behind the visor, the change in lighting so quick, he couldn't see for a few moments.
However, after a moment of allowing his eyes to adjust, he was able to make out that there was what appeared to be a domed dwelling rising up out of the endless ocean of red sand that stretched before him, reminding him very much of his recent endeavors to Jakku. Behind him, he could faintly make out the sounds of ships and the dull murmur of other lifeforms.
He glanced down at the ground and found that two sets of tiny footprints had imbedded themselves into the sand and so he continued forward, following the trail that they had left behind. It led around the house to the front and after following the trail for a few moments, he stalled in place when his eyes fell upon the two taller figures standing out in the heat.
They were both similar in height and stature but their clothing was significantly different and defined them by economic status. One wore the clean, white robes of a Jedi Master, his heavy brown cloak tossing in the wind. The other man bore a tattered, faded red tunic and an equally worn pair of beige pants. Their hair, both of a light, fair color, was being tossed about their heads by the strong winds that crossed the planet. Both also had significant beards upon their faces.
The two men held each others gaze for a moment before the man closest to the little dwelling sighed and nodded his head, his eyes casting themselves downward briefly.
He turned back around and faced the dwelling, "Sage...?"
It was quiet for a brief moment before a tiny figure was appearing in the open doorway, a head adorned with hair matching the silky strands atop the tattered man's head popped out into the sunlight.
Kylo Ren held his breath as he watched the man beckon her out of the dwelling with a wave of his hand. Peering briefly around him at their visitor, the little girl hesitated for a moment before her big blue eyes raised up to look at the scruffy man once more. Gathering her courage, she leapt leaping away from the door, only to run the short distance across the sandy courtyard so that she could clutch tightly to his leg. Once settled securely at his side, she pulled her own tattered shirt up, the dirty white clothing obviously too big for smaller frame as it kept sliding off her shoulders.
"What is it, Daddy?" She gazed up at him and the man reached down and brushed some unruly hairs from her forehead.
"There is a man here that I would like you to meet, sweetheart." He told her, briefly glancing up at the other man. "He's a Jedi. Do you remember the stories we read them about in the book?"
"Yeah..." When she realized that the man was watching her carefully with his own gentle eyes, she hid her face in her father's pants.
"Well, this man's name is Luke Skywalker and he's a Jedi Master." Exchanging a brief glance with the other man, he knelt down beside the girl, lightly pushing her away so that he could be eye level with her. Her shirt began to slip from her shoulders again and he frowned softly as he noticed this and replaced the fabric in its proper place. "He came to visit us because he says that you're special."
"Very special." The other man spoke up, his mouth curling into a kind smile when the two turned to look at him.
"But, we already knew that didn't we?" She nodded in answer. "He asked me if you wanted to be a Jedi." The little girl briefly glanced at her father before looking back at the stranger over her shoulder, her eyes lighting up with pure elation at the prospect. Her father carefully brushed more hair away from her face, his brow set in a soft furrow as he watched her eyes light up with excitement, "What do you think about that, sweetheart?"
"I can really be a Jedi, Daddy?" She whipped around to face him, some of her wild hair gently brushing across his face.
"That's what Master Luke says," He smiled at the brightness in her eyes. For it wasn't often that he got to see it.
She grinned. "I wanna be a Jedi!"
"I am pleased to hear that." Luke said, bending down slightly so that he was more at her level.
"How many other students do you have?" The tattered man asked him.
"Only one other, my nephew." Luke glanced to his side and when all he found was an empty space, he glanced behind himself, maneuvering his robes out of the way and taking a step to the left to reveal the small, dark haired child that was clinging to the heavy fabric of his cloak.
His brown eyes were wide as he was revealed to the two others and he was just about to duck back behind his uncle but, as if sensing his thoughts, the older man placed a hand on his shoulder and gently guided him around so that he stood in front of him.
"This is Ben."
For awhile, the boy just stared up at the other, strange bearded man before his gaze fell to the other child. She was gazing back at him with her own big blue eyes, her hand fisting into her oversized shirt and struggling to keep it on her smaller frame.
Kylo could only stand there, his dark cloak nearly sweltering as it billowed freely in the hot desert winds that danced across the distant dunes, that familiar tug in his chest returning from the night before.
This is where it had all started.
"You need to go with Master Skywalker now." The man pressed a kiss to the side of his daughter's head and then turned her around so that he could hug her tiny body tightly.
She simply stood there for a moment and let him embrace her, simply blinking. After a beat, he drew her back and held her by her shoulders, "You get to come, too, don't you, Daddy?"
His closed his eyes and shook his head, "No, sweetheart."
"Why not?"
He glanced up briefly at Luke, "I just can't, baby."
The child herself glanced back at the Jedi, a frown marring her normally sweet features. "Then, I don't wanna go."
He reached up with his dirty, weathered hands and gently cupped the girl's cheeks, turning her to face him once more. "You have to, Sagey. This is a chance at a better life for you."
Kylo knew what was coming next without even having to watch.
Sage's chin began to quiver and her eyes began to water up against her own will and hot tears began to drip down her dirty face. She began to sniffle and her tiny hands rose to sloppily wipe at her eyes, her little shoulders jerking as she released quiet sobs.
"Oh, baby... stop." Her father said softly, his brow furrowed gently as he watched her.
"Is it-Was it because I-" She continued to sob, her body continuing to shake as she sniffled. "You don't want me anymore?"
"No... Oh, Sagey. No." He pulled her tightly to his chest, his arms constricting around her. "It's because I want you more than anything in the galaxy. It's because I love you so, so much that I'm doing this." He pressed a kiss to the side of her head as she continued to cry, her tiny arms wiggling out of the man's grasp so that she could throw her arms around his throat. The man felt his own eyes tear up, "Master Skywalker can give you a better life than I can."
"I don't wanna go, Daddy..." She buried her face in his shoulder.
"You have to, baby." With his own teary eyes, he looked up at Luke and nodded. The Jedi returned his gesture and gently maneuvered Ben to the side so that he could take hold of the little girl's shoulders.
"No!" She screamed as he began to pull her away and out of her father's grasp. Little Sage continued to protest, struggling almost desperately to get away from the Jedi.
She was able to twist free of his grasp but he was able to snag her wrist during her escape. And then, suddenly, she was turning on Skywalker and leveled him with a glare, her blue eyes having solidified into ice and darkened.
"LET GO OF ME." Her voice resounded throughout the entire area and everyone in the vicinity froze as she let loose the command.
For a moment, Luke's own eyes seemed to glass over and it was then that Ren could feel the strange feeling of static in the air, the unintentional prickling at the back of his mind as the mind trick tried to find a hold in his own subconscious. It was then how he remembered how terrifying she'd been as a child.
Then, it seemed that the Jedi Master's will proved to be greater than the girl's powers and he shook himself out of his stupor and took hold of her arm anyway. He bent down and scooped her up into his arms despite her protests.
"No! No! Let go of me!" She cried, wriggling in his grasp in an effort to free herself. "Daddy! Please!"
"Come along, Ben." Luke said quietly down to his nephew who watched the events unfold with an anxiousness as well as confusion in his eyes. Together, the three of them headed back towards the ship landed a few short meters away in an open plot of desert, the young boy trailing behind his uncle and the girl.
Ren allowed his head to swivel in the direction of the farmer who had stood up and had taken a few steps after the trio. Tears of his own dripped down his face into his beard, "Never forget that I love you, Sage!"
"DADDY! PLEASE!" The man could do nothing but turn his head away as she continued to cry out for him, the pleading sounds tugging so harshly on both his heart… and Ren's.
They were gone then, disappearing onto the ship and the transport lifted into the air, leaving Beheboth behind.
The scene around him faded then, the desert loosing its color as everything faded to black around him. However, another the world quickly lit up once more.
"You're nothing but a sand rat!"
A chorus of laughter filled the air following the remark and Ren turned his head to the right and found a group of children, four of them; three boys and Sage.
He remembered the names of the boys: Brairv, Torc, and Salth. They had all been the same age as Sage, only a year younger than him, all of them evidently Force-sensitive. They had been recruited by Skywalker days after they'd taken Sage from her father. And all three of them were cruel little beasts.
Ren remembered this memory almost too well.
"Why are you so skinny?"
"Why would the Force pick someone like you?"
"You're never going to be a Jedi Knight!"
Those and many other jabs were made at the little girl as they poked and shoved her in the ever tightening circle they were forming.
And, having recalled how this memory proceeded, Ren glanced to the side and found that his younger self was standing, hidden behind a nearby rocking outcropping, watching the events unfold.
Torc pushed Sage to the ground. She had bumped her nose when she fell and it began to bleed, the scarlet liquid dripping down over her lips and chin. Her eyes watered and a few tears slipped down her cheeks. The boy got right up in her face, completely uncaring of the damage that he'd done, "You're always just going to be a mangy, little sand rat!"
"SHUT UP." There was that voice again and for a moment, everything seemed to freeze as the girl's voice broke out through the air. her eyes blazed once more as she lashed out with her hand. All the boys froze and it was easy to see that she had them already so easily under her powers.
"LEAVE ME ALONE."
Almost robotically, the boys turned and left, their eyes hazy as all three of them sauntered off to who knows where, all the while under control of the mind trick. Both him and his younger self remained.
For awhile, Ren was tempted to go to her then, to lift her up and set her back on her feet but then he remembered.
"Are you okay?" She looked up from her place on the ground to find that the dark haired boy was above her.
For a moment, she looked surprised at his appearance but then her facial features morphed into a look of distrust and anger. "Why? Are you here to call me a sand rat, too?" She held out her hand towards him like she had done to the other boys and he backed up quickly and held up his hands so as to keep a little distance from her.
After watching his actions and realizing that, perhaps, he wasn't going to torment her like the others, she lowered her hand and turned over slightly so that she could sit on her rear instead of her side. She sniffled before using the back of her hand to wipe at the various liquids on her face.
"No." He shifted nervously in place, having felt the energy come from her when she sent the boys away. "It's just... It's not fair that they teamed up on you." He hesitantly offered a hand down to her.
She scowled at him for a long moment but nonetheless accepted the peace offering and he helped pull her up from the ground.
"They're just a bunch of scruffy nerf-herders." She said, glaring in their direction as she dusted herself off, her Jedi clothes still a little big on her thin frame.
Young Ben had no idea what a nerf-herder was. He smiled anyway, "Yeah, they are." However, after a moment, he grew serious once more, his brow knitting in concern. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I've been in worse fights." She admitted, still using her hand to wipe at the blood on her face. "Plus, they won't bother me for awhile."
"Because... you used the Force on them, right?" For a moment, the girl looked confused by his words. "You made them go away by using the Force to control their minds." He elaborated but could still tell that the girl was lost. He tilted his head slightly and gazed at her with curiosity in his eyes. "How'd you do that?"
"I don't know." She admitted quietly, frowning at her sleeve that was now stained an unsettling, rusty red. "I just thought that people always did what I told them."
"I'm pretty sure that it was the Force..." He insisted, admittedly showing off a bit to impress her. "It was pretty amazing."
Her head snapped up from where she'd been brushing more dirt off her clothes. For a moment, she looked wary but when she saw the sincerity and the way that he offered her a small, shy smile, she herself grinned coyly, "Really?"
He smiled a bit wider and shuffled his feet slightly, his own cheeks burning a little pinker. "Yeah."
The memory faded once more, leaving a rather calm, contented feeling in Ren's chest. Blackness once more faded around him and something was tugging in his chest, willing him to move along but he only got about three steps before her voice broke through the air once more.
"Ben?"
He simply turned back around to gaze at where he had just been standing and the cooler wind blew across the top of the lake and caused his cloak to gently dance in the playful breeze. He could see a pair of figures a few yards away and it was now that he knew to approach them.
When he drew near enough, he could see that the both of them much older now in their teenage years, much further along in their training. The Force aura that surrounded Sage was so familiar to him that it was as if he could feel the roots of their bond regrowing and taking hold in the back of his mind once more, a phantom feeling filling the void that currently resided there.
Currently, they were sitting back to back with one another surrounded by the luscious, cool grass alongside one of the gorgeous lakes in the quiet back country of Naboo. The sun was just setting and the two moons began to cross the sky, the inkiness of sky settling in for the night that was to come. They were supposed to be meditating and clearing their minds as part of a their training after having dinner with his parents in their estate.
They'd been taken along to visit Leia and Han, seeing as how Luke needed to speak with his sister but then had to suddenly leave on urgent business, leaving the two young Padawans to their own devices for the time being.
However, a heavy weight had rested itself on Sage's shoulder, temporarily drawing her mind back to the present world.
"Ben?" When she received no response, she allowed her eyes to open and glanced back at the boy behind her. His eyes were closed and it was his head that was rested back on her shoulder, his soft hair tickling her neck.
Her lips twitched momentarily and she reached out to his subconscious and found that his mind was calm with the serene flux of sleep.
"Ben…" She grinned but shook her shoulder nonetheless.
He just grunted in response, shifting slightly in place but kept his eyes closed, evidently content where he was.
"We're supposed to be meditating." He huffed again and the female just shook her head, amused with her companion despite his disobedience of their Master's commands. "You lazy piece…"
Choosing to ignore him so that she may continue with her own meditation session, she straightened out her back, earning a grumble from the man behind her, but bowed her head once more and allowed her mind to empty itself once more.
She was vaguely aware of the slow passage of time and was only alerted of the change through the slow but not uncomfortable drop in the atmospheric temperature.
Ren was content to view the memory in regular time and he took a seat near them, only about two feet away from Sage. His eyes were ever intend on her face, burning it once more freshly into his memory.
For a long while, contentedness was the only emotion present in the entirety of the dream, even in the Sith himself.
It was hard for him to admit that he missed the brief, albeit enjoyable trips to visit Naboo and his parents' summer home. How he used to spend summer days out swimming in the lake and then at night, he would sneak out and lay in the cool grass along the shore, the night birds singing their songs and the bioluminescent bugs blinking like stars in the night.
But this memory, this one was the first time Sage had come with him.
"Do you think your parents like me?"
Ren, who had staring off admiring the night and the stars in the vast sky above them, looked back to Sage after she'd spoken. Her head was still bowed and her eyes were still closed.
"They always did like you." His modulated voice filled the air in answer and yet, the female acted as if she hadn't heard him.
Instead, his weaker self slowly opened his eyes but his head remained thrown back on her shoulder. "Does it really matter?" His voice was rough with disuse.
It was quiet for a moment, "I… don't know."
Solo sighed and sat up for a moment, only to maneuver himself to one side so that he could lay flat on his back among the soft grass beside her. "Well, evidently it does because you seem awfully worried about it."
She allowed her shoulders to slump now and she unfolded her legs a bit, unfurling them from where they'd been crossed in the lotus position. Her eyes opened and she stared blankly at the space between her feet.
"Stop it, Sage." He grumbled slightly, raising his hands to rub at his eyes. He could unintentionally feel the prickling anxiety in her mind through their connection. "You're going to worry the both of us sick. It shouldn't matter what they think."
"You're right... It shouldn't."
It was quiet for a moment and the boy groaned in frustration as he felt the concern persist in her mind, "Sage."
Her head snapped down to the side so that she could level him with a serious look. "You weren't nervous about meeting my father?"
"Yes but not as nervous as you were when we landed at the port this afternoon."
"That's not fair, Ben." She glowered over at him. "Your father is a renowned war hero and your mother, stars, your mother is a general and a princess-"
"And you're on your way to being a Jedi Knight, so?"
"So, I'm just saying, in comparison, your parents are these… great and legendary people and my father is a poor moisture farmer. I'm just a moisture farmer and you're technically a prince-"
"Stop it." She was cut off when Ben suddenly sat up and leveled her with a look so serious that she was stunned into silence. Unable to hold his intense look, she turned her head away, shame still evident in the rippling in her mind. "Sage, look at me." When she didn't do as he asked, he reached up and gently touched her jaw so that he may turn her face for her. Blue eyes unwillingly met hazel ones. "None of that matters anymore. None of it matters anything anymore. One day, you are going to be great Jedi Master. And that is how you'll be known and not by the fact that you are the daughter of a moisture farmer. And, no matter what my parents or anyone else thinks, you will always be my friend."
It was quiet for awhile after that. His hand fell from her face but Ben just continued to watch her, a soft furrow in his brow as he reached out and wrapped a comforting warmth around her presence with the Force. Sage turned her head so that she faced forward and away from him once more.
"Now would have been a good time to tell her." Kylo Ren spoke out into the thick silence, his dark eyes continuously trained upon her face as he simply relished in her spirit, his chest aching painfully when he discovered the opportunity that had presented itself to his past self. How there was a confession that needed to be spoken in this stretch of silence, feelings once hidden so deeply that needed to be brought to the surface for her to see.
"She offered me a dress."
Both versions of himself blinked back to reality. "What?"
"Your mother… when we first arrived, she offered me nicer clothes, a dress to wear to dinner after Master Luke left." Sage admitted quietly, her eyes downcast.
The teenager took a moment and glanced down, taking note of the fact that she was still in her old Jedi clothes. Not that Ben would have exactly missed the fact if Sage had been wearing a dress. There was no way he would have missed that.
"Why didn't you wear it?" He himself had changed into comfier, finer clothes than the ones given to the Jedi to wear. The tunic he wore was exceptionally soft, almost silky in nature. The pants he wore were also of a fine, expensive material. They'd both left their boots back on the balcony of his room where they'd snuck out from.
She ducked her head, "I… Ben, I couldn't-"
He felt his lips twitch as he felt her stomach flutter with embarrassment and he could just barely make out the flushing of her cheeks in the moonlight, "Why not?"
For a moment, this seemed to have her a bit stumped for a proper answer. And then she turned her head and found that the dark haired boy was giving her a lopsided, triumphant grin when he realized that she was at a loss for words.
"If there was an attack or something, I couldn't fight in a-"
"That is the lamest excuse in the book, Sage. Nothing could ever possibly happen out here in Naboo. We have amazing security around here. You just can't think of a real reason." He chided her.
And then he unintentionally saw it in her mind. She'd been hiding it from him behind the defenses she had put in place but evidently it had jumped to the forefront of her thoughts and accidentally presented itself to him when the conversation started once more.
Sage knew that he saw it, too. And she knew that after the conversation they just had, an argument was sure to take place. So, she climbed to her feet and was about to leave when Ben reached out and grabbed her wrist to keep her there.
"You don't think you were worthy of wearing such fine clothing."
She closed her eyes tightly but didn't deny his words as he had pulled them directly from her mind. The blonde said nothing, just continued to stand there with the boy holding tightly to her wrist and a shameful burn low in her chest.
"What must I do to prove to you that you are not defined by your past?" He asked her quietly, his dark eyes staring up at her pleadingly.
She failed to answer him and even when he searched her mind, he found it to be void of a proper answer. However, he did find that pain and humiliation were an abundant emotion.
Sighing, he tugged her back down so that she was once more seated on the ground beside him. Ben pulled her to his chest and embraced her in the tight circle of his arms. He pressed his forehead against her own, his own eyes squeezing shut as he felt the emotions rippling the flux of her mind spike suddenly through their touch. The girl's own hands fisted tightly in the back of his tunic as she clung to him.
"Out of the two of us, Sage. You are the one most deserving and worthy of finery." Both Ben and Kylo Ren spoke the same words and it was without a single thread of doubt that both men knew the statement to be true even after all that had happened.
For a moment, the two Padawan remained as they were and it was at the same time that they carefully pulled away from each other. Ben gazed down at her and could still feel the once near crippling anxiety rolling through her mind but after his comforting words, it was not as severe as it had been before.
"And... I guess... if it makes you feel better, my father truly does like you." He offered her a small smile when she looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "He likes how you aren't afraid to sass him right back." This truly did draw a small smile from her and she ducked her head. A triumphant grin covered Solo's own features when he felt her mood lift ever so slightly because of him. " But, you should know you passed the ultimate test." She offered him a mildly confused look. "Uncle Chewie is the one you really have to worry about and he already asked me when we can adopt you so..."
Sage grinned and leaned in once more to bury her face in his shoulder and Ben couldn't help but reflect the amusement on her face in the form of his own dopey smirk. She once more wrapped her arms around his waist. He returned the gesture, pulling her close again.
"Thank you, Ben." She whispered into his silky tunic, her eyes slipping closed in bliss.
He rested his cheek atop her head, shifting his grip so he held her more snuggly to him. "No problem, Sagey."
And, for a moment, Ren swore that Ben Solo was staring back at him with his own dark eyes as he nestled his nose into the soft golden strands atop her head, almost as if the specter of his old self was taunting him with such wonderful and haunting prospects of a life he could have continued to live should he have stayed aligned with the Light and with Sage.
So, there you go, guys! Finally got this done!
This chapter was a long time coming and I'm so glad I finally got it done. Happy Easter, everyone!
There's going to be more sections of the dream in the next chapter. In my opinion, the best one. One that causes all sorts of fluffy feels so you have that to look forward to.
I honestly can't wait to write it.
Love me some angsty angst.
Thanks to all who reviewed, commented, left kudos, or favorited/followed. You guys are the best and reading your notes that you've left behind on my new chapters seriously makes my life.
So... YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, READ AND REVIEW!
Love,
Blue