They weren't along very long before the hatch to the hold opened up again.

A woman stood in the doorway, but it wasn't Rey.

Ben rose up from the cot. He stood up straight and clasped his hands together so they wouldn't shake. He couldn't meet her eyes. He couldn't say a word.

"Ben."

Her voice sounded older than he remembered- there was a tremor there that hadn't been there before. Age or illness- he was positive that it was not due to emotion. He had never seen his mother shed a tear in his life. He was sure she wasn't about to start now.

You can do it, Ben. Dex tried to stand back … tried to somehow find the balance that would allow Ben to speak to his mother and yet be there for him if he needed it. God knew that this wasn't going to be easy for him.

"Mother." He knew that his voice was shaking more than hers.

"I didn't believe Rey when she said that you had come back with her. I was positive that you were lost." Her voice cracked. "I gave up on you, Ben."

"I understand." And he did. How could she have held onto hope for him- he had no hope for himself. "I don't blame you." He laughed bitterly- and it turned into a sob. "I've done so many terrible things. And it was all for nothing- I'm not just a monster, I'm a fool."

"You came back for her." Leia began walking towards him. She was walking with a cane. Somehow that seemed horrible to him- that the indomitable Leia Organa should have to use a cane.

He walked towards her, wanting to catch her if she fell.

Leia held her hand up. "You came back for her, didn't you?"

"Yes." He looked away. "I thought it was too late- that there was nothing else I could do. But … but I had help."

"Rey helped you."

"Yes."

You don't have to tell her about me, Ben. If you want to, you can. But you don't have to tell her about me.

"I offered Rey a throne. I wanted her to stand by me in the First Order. I would have made her empress. I knew she didn't want it- I knew that she wouldn't stay- but I didn't have the strength to just walk away. I was on the verge of fighting her for Anakin's light saber. But … something happened."

"What happened?" Leia stared at him.

"I had help. A friend helped me find the strength to do what I wanted to do all along."

"A friend?" Leia stared at him skeptically.

"I think it would be best if I showed you." Ben removed one of his gloves and dropped it onto the cot. "Take my hand, Mother."

There was hesitation- and Ben didn't blame her for that- but in the end Leia took his hand.

..**..

And then they were inside Dex's "apartment."

Dex stared at the two of them in surprise. He had known that Ben was going to do something... but he hadn't expected this.

"Mother, this is Dexter Ferris." Ben coughed nervously. "He's my friend. You can call him Dex."

"Pleased to meet you, Dex ..." and then Leia glanced down at herself. "Well … this is unexpected."

She was no longer old. She was young … quite young in fact. And she was wearing an outfit that Carrie Fisher had made world famous.

The metal gold bikini.

"Dex!" Ben scowled at him and hurriedly wrapped his cloak around his mother.

"How is this my fault?" Dex protested. "You're the one who decided to take us all back into your brain."

"This is your space. It's my mind, but this is the corner of it that you exist in. You shape it- and that means anyone who comes here reflects your mental vision of who they are." Ben scowled. "So stop fantasizing about my mother!"

"Um … er … sorry, Mrs. Solo. General Organa? Your Highness?" Dex took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm babbling. Terribly sorry about that, ma'am."

"It's all right, Dex. I can sense that it wasn't intentional." Leia smiled and glanced down at herself. "And to be honest, it feels good to feel so youthful again. Though this is not exactly my favorite outfit. Maybe you can do something about that." She smirked slightly. "Though I wouldn't mind staying young a while longer."

Dex closed his eyes. .When he opened them, Leia was wearing the uniform she wore on Hoth.

"Much better," Leia approved. She handed Ben his cloak. "Now, just who are you, Dexter Ferris and how did you come into my son's mind?"

They told her.

"You saved my son," Leia said when they were done. "I can't thank you enough."

"No I didn't." Dex shook his head and smiled over at Ben. "Ben saved himself. Ben saved you. I may have helped him- gave him an extra moment- but he made his own choice in the end."

"I've done so many terrible things." Ben sat down on Dex's couch.

"But you've made another choice, Ben." Dex grinned at him. "And I can't wait to see where this takes you."

"Us," Ben told him with a half-smile. "You're along for the ride whether you want it or not."

"I find all this hard to believe," Leia said watching the two of them together. "Dex doesn't feel like a Force Ghost- and its obvious that he's from some world I know nothing about. He has knowledge of our lives that should be impossible for a stranger to know."

"I'm from another universe," Dex affirmed. "That has to be it." Or else this is all some strange dream my dying brain is having.

"Are you positive you're dead, Dex?" Leia asked him.

"I was hit by a train. There's no way I could survive that. I don't even want to think about what my corpse looks like." And Amy will have seen me... He flinched from the thought. "I'm sure that I'm dead. What I don't know is why I'm here."

"The Force brought you to us." Leia was absolute in her certainty. "For some reason, it wanted Ben to go with Rey- and it chose you to help him make that decision."

"Why would the Force choose me? I'm nothing special."

"You are to me." Ben clasped his shoulder.

"Dex ..." Leia paused. "Ben has a lot of power. Don't you wish that you had power like that?"

"No." He didn't even have to think about it.

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't get me what I want. What I need." Dex sighed.

"What is it you want?" Ben asked him. "If there's any way I can help-"

"You can't, Ben." Dex sighed. "I want a second chance with Amy. And she's in another universe- and in love with another man so even if I were there- even if I were still alive- she would never be with me."

"She cared about you," Ben told him gently. "I could see that in your memories. She cared about you strongly." Again he almost smiled. "I recall someone telling me that I should tell Rey how I felt about her, even if she didn't care about me the same way."

"Yeah. But that's you. My advice is only good when it doesn't apply to me." Dex smirked. "Okay, okay. Truthfully … it's not even that I want Amy to love me like I love her. I just want her to know that I loved her. That's what I wish I had- a chance to tell her."

"You don't want to live again?" Leia asked Dex. "You didn't feel the slightest urge to steal Ben's body?"

"I couldn't do that." Dex looked surprising that she had even thought to ask him that.

"That may be why the Force chose you. There is nothing in this universe that you want-"

"That's not true. I want Ben to learn from my mistakes. I want him to tell Rey that he cares for her." It wasn't for him to tell Ben's mother that the former Knight was in love with Rey. That was up to Ben. "I don't want him to make my mistakes."

"You want to help my son."

"Yes."

Leia frowned. "We need to to get to Ahch-To. Luke risked his life to save us on Crait. We need to make sure he's alive- and then maybe he can help Dex."

"Help me?" Dex asked her in surprise. "Help me what?"

"Help you live again."