"Leia, you and Han need to get up here. Now."
"Is it Ben?" she demands, shoving the glass of wine she poured for herself away. She and Han had a fight earlier that ended with him storming out of the house. A fight over, in part, their son.
Luke's breath is ragged. "Yes."
Leia's chest tightens and burns. "Is he all right?"
Her brother hesitates. "We'll talk when you get up here. I really can't say any more, Leia. Please. Drive safely."
"Luke! Don't you hang up on me—don't—"
Click.
"Shit," Leia says, staring at her phone and dialing Han. "Pick up, you nerfherder!"
"If you're going to talk like that, I might just hang up," her husband answers.
"Han, Luke just called. Something's going on. Something's wrong—very wrong. Ben." Leia's tongue grabs words and flings them into the phone, grammar be damned.
Chewie whimpers in the background. "I'm on my way. We'll go up there. We'll fix this."
"How?" she demands, but she hangs up before he can answer.
She never should have sent him away. That's when she lost her son. And Leia's spent years trying to resurrect her son, breathe life into whatever he's become, because she doesn't recognize him in so many ways and yet he's the baby she carried for nine months, the child who kissed her goodbye when she dropped him off at school for the first time, the boy who used to pick dandelions from their neglected backyard for her whenever she and Han had an argument. Don't be sad, he would say.
And that's all Leia wants to say to her son now, even knowing what he did to his father: don't be sad.
The latest she heard from Luke was on Saturday, when he texted them a video of Ben and Rey, both beaming and excited for their prom. What happened?
Whatever it is, it's a lot more serious than being caught with pot or alcohol or sneaking off campus.
Please just be okay, Leia pleads. Please be okay, Ben.
It's well after midnight by the time Leia and Han pull up at the school. Luke dashes for their car, almost as if he's been waiting for them even in the spring drizzle, and he's crying.
Oh, God no, Leia clutches the car as she watches her brother cry in Han's arms. Chewie howls.
"Ben's missing," Luke tells her.
"How?" Han demands.
"We don't know. He and Rey Kenobi are both missing. We think they snuck off campus and went—well, we really don't know where. But we doubt they're still in town." Luke ushers them up the stone stairs carved into the hillside, towards his office.
"Why would they leave town?" Leia asks.
"Sit down," Luke says as he enters his office. Artoo lifts her head off the desk and rushes to Leia, embracing her.
"Why?" Han asks.
"You'll need to," Luke says. They obey, and Luke tells them about Snoke's injury, about what he said about Rey attacking him. "We tried to track their phones. Apparently they've switched them off."
"Oh hell," Han says, leaning forward and gripping his knees.
"I think we might be able to find them before Snoke calls the police," Luke says carefully. "We'll have to wait until morning, but as for their friends—they all claim they're in the dark, but I have my doubts. We'll interview them more thoroughly tomorrow. Poe Dameron, Finn Storm, Ben's roommate Brendol Hux, Jessika Pava, Snap Wexley. One of them, if not most of them—I'm sure they know more than they're telling."
"Have you called Kes?" Leia inquires, her hand gripping her forehead.
"I don't think there's any reason to, not yet. We did send an email around to all the parents, letting them know the bare bones of what happened and that we're handling it."
"Why would that girl attack Snoke?" Han demands. "That makes no sense. Have you seen her? She's tiny."
"I would have said Rey wouldn't hurt a fly," Luke confirms. "None of it makes any sense." He doubles over. "God, I'm so sorry, Leia. You told me to look after him. I failed. Masterfully. And I'm the one who sent Rey to work with Snoke today…"
"It's not your fault," Han reassures him.
"It's not," Artoo echoes softly.
"We do have security footage," Luke adds. "Not inside the office, but outside… Leia, Han, Ben went into that office too. After Rey. They're in there for maybe three or four minutes together, and then they both run out."
"Are you suggesting that Ben might have attacked Snoke?" Han asks.
"I don't know."
Artoo clears her throat. "We're going to find them, Luke. And we're going to find out what happened. Whatever it is, I doubt very much that either Ben or Rey are capable of—"
Is he? Leia wonders, remembering Ben's revelation over spring break, about what he'd done to Han. That was cruel.
Does it matter?
Even if he was involved in attacking Snoke, she wants him home. She wants her son back.
"Get that dog out of here," Snoke growls.
"The dog," Han states coldly as Chewie lifts his head. "Is staying."
"I don't even have to let you stay," Snoke retorts.
"They're desperate for information," Maz says quietly. "It might not be a bad thing to have them here." The woman's already told them that she's seen Ben for two sessions, and mostly what he spoke about was wanting to work on his anger issues.
Snoke snorts. "Fine. And so you are aware, I've called all of their parents—and guardian, in Finn's case, and requested each of them head here. And if we don't find them by four o'clock today, I am phoning the police and pressing charges. Should that happen, their parents will need to be here, because there's no doubt they'll all be interviewed by the police as well." A smile cuts across this face. "Besides, their parents' presence will hopefully remind the kids to do the right thing."
"Pressure them, you mean," Leia mutters, although she agrees with Snoke that they need to be informed.
"All five of them will be pulled from their first period class," Luke reiterates. "Artoo will watch them in the office across the hall, and we'll interview them one at a time."
"Why would he do this?" Han groans.
"Maybe it doesn't even entirely have to do with what happened to you," Artoo suggests to Snoke. "Rey's a conscientious kid—maybe there was something else going on—"
"Like what?' Snoke sneers. "Like she's pregnant?"
"What?" Leia gasps.
"That's pure speculation," Luke snaps. "We have nothing to suggest that, and it's unprofessional of you to—"
"I did catch the two of them in some manner of undress after prom," Snoke says. "Maybe that's why she attacked me."
Maybe you think too much of yourself. Leia purses her lips.
"Don't scowl at me," Snoke reprimands her. "I'd be well within my rights to call the police on that girl and your son right now. You should feel grateful I'm giving them a chance."
The first bell rings. Artoo leaves to gather the kids.
"We should talk to the roommates first," Luke murmurs to Snoke, who rolls his eyes but nods.
Artoo escorts a redheaded kid Leia recognizes into the room. "Hello, Hux," she says with a smile that the boy doesn't respond to.
"I have no idea where he is. They are. I last saw him in physics," Hux recites. "I already told Threepio this—I don't see why—"
"Hux, we know," Luke interrupts. "We just want to know whether or not Ben may have said anything—anything about Mr. Snoke, or—"
"He literally never spoke about you," Hux says, looking smugly at Snoke, whose eyes flash. "Except when you were still mentoring him and he'd say he had to meet with you or whatever."
"Threepio says you two didn't get along," Luke ventures.
"We didn't. He's messy. I have OCD. I need a clean space. He liked to antagonize me. But he's been nicer lately… this semester. Since he started dating Rey."
"Did she ever spend the night?" Snoke asks abruptly.
"No!" Hux shakes his head.
"Drugs? Alcohol?"
"Okay, he smoked last semester, but he stopped." Hux sighs as if this is all just a waste of time.
"If there's anything you know that could help us find them, Hux, please share it," Maz encourages.
"I doubt it's relevant… but he had an old girlfriend. I don't know who she is, though. He never really mentioned her." Hux frowns.
"How do you know—"
"Remember that rumor that went around, the one you suspended Mitaka for?" Hux asks, glancing at Leia and then looking straight at Luke. "It wasn't a rumor. It was true. Ben told me, and I promised not to tell anyone—"
"But you told Mitaka," Luke finishes, clenching his fists and sighing.
Maz groans. "So he really did have an STD."
Leia bites her lip to keep from gasping. Han's face flames red next to her.
"He denied it," Luke says lamely, glancing at his sister with an expression of guilt.
After a few more questions, during which they have no success prying out any information Hux might have on this mysterious girlfriend—who Ben never mentioned to either her or Han, Leia's certain—Snoke dismisses Hux.
As they wait for Artoo to bring Jess in, Maz taps Luke on the shoulder, and he turns to them. "I'm so sorry."
"What," Han says, his voice shaking in rage. "Happened?"
Luke explains about the bullying, how Ben begged him not to tell them.
"He's a kid," Han snarls. "You shouldn't have—"
"I didn't think it was true!"
If it was true, why couldn't her son tell her? Leia buries her face in her faces, wanting to cry, but her eyes are like deserts. They can't conjure up any moisture, and the only thing she tastes on her tongue is how furious she is at herself.
How alone must Ben have felt?
Why couldn't he turn to her?
You sent him away.
"He never mentioned that to me either," Maz says. "Or any other girl besides Rey."
Artoo raps on the door and a pretty Asian girl enters. Jessika Pava.
She gives the same answers as Hux: she hasn't heard from Rey, Rey never mentioned wanting to leave, Rey isn't involved in drugs, Rey is definitely not pregnant.
Luke cocks his head, studying Jess. "Let me see your phone."
Jess hands it over.
"Unlock it."
Her fingers enter the code and she pulls up her messages and phone calls. Luke stares at the screen.
"Nothing, see?" Jess asks.
"That's exactly it, Jess," Luke says, leaning back. "Nothing."
"I don't—"
"You and Rey text quite a bit, apparently." Luke scrolls through. "But you haven't texted her at all since yesterday morning. Not a 'where are you?' or an 'are you okay?'"
Jess turns pale, and Leia's heart leaps.
"I don't know where they are!"
"Maybe not," Maz agrees, exchanging a look with Snoke. "But I'm betting someone in your friend circle does."
"Have you been to Naboo before?" Rey asks as she shimmies into her jeans come morning.
"It's where my grandmother's from."
"Really?" Rey glances at Ben, who's applying eyeliner before the mirror.
"And it's where my grandfather's buried… and your grandfather."
"Really?" Rey asks, pausing with her mauve t-shirt in her hands.
He nods. "My mother used to make me go on the anniversary… but she stopped. Years ago."
"Do you want to go today?"
He shrugs into his black sweatshirt. "Do you?"
"Yeah," Rey says. "Kind of."
"We won't have a lot of money after the taxi ride," Ben confides. "Like for food or—"
"We'll figure it out," Rey assures him. Even if that means going back and turning herself in. Don't think about that yet.
They arrive at the graveyard, the sky overheard and the air surrounding them gray and thick and spitting at them. Ben pauses by a group of dandelions and picks two. He lays the first one at a gravestone marked for Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala.
And then he takes her to her grandfather's grave. Ben Kenobi, the tombstone reads.
"Ben?" Rey queries.
Her boyfriend shrugs. "He changed his name, too." He offers her the dandelion, and Rey drops it at the grave. Tears sting her eyes as she covers her mouth.
"Rey?" Ben wraps his arms around her.
"I just… my mother. I've never been to her grave. I don't even know if I would want to," Rey sniffs. "Not after she abandoned me to Unkar Plutt." She buries her face in Ben's shoulder. "I hate her sometimes, Ben. I don't want to… I know she had her own demons. But I still hate her."
He presses his cheek, sticky and cold from the weather, against hers. "It's okay, Rey."
"It's not okay. I don't want to hate her."
"See Maz Kanata?" he recommends.
Rey laughs. "Maybe I should. If we go back. I'm scared, Ben."
"Me too," he admits.
Who are you? Rey asks the plain beige stone. Would you be proud of me, here? Would you like Ben? Would you like me?
That's not the question you should be asking, she thinks suddenly.
Who am I?
Finn follows Poe back from the cafeteria, where Artoo chaperoned them and refused to let them speak to any other students. Phasma broke the rules, of course, and came over to kiss Hux and wish them all good luck. Artoo didn't seem terribly annoyed, however.
Beebee-Ate casts them all a look of worry. Finn can't believe they haven't pounced on the kid yet.
He'd promised Ben they'd fix this. How can they when they're trapped?
The moment they arrive back in the tiny office they're confined to, Finn's pasta revolts in his stomach.
Lando.
Kes Dameron.
Brendol Hux.
Jess's mother and father, both of them, and Snap's father.
We are so fucked, Finn thinks.
"Let's try this again," Snoke sneers from the doorway. "Hux, I'll see you and your father first."
"And you better be straight with them—" His father starts to threaten.
"I already told you everything I know!" Hux yells.
"We will see," Snoke muses before gliding down the hall. Finn feels like giving Hux the Hunger Games salute as the boy stumbles along behind him.
Finn trudges over to the open seat besides Lando and sits down.
"What do you know, kid?" Lando asks.
Finn shrugs.
"Not gonna work," Lando says. "Finn, this is serious. Far more serious than you know. Leia and Han are distraught. You need to tell them everything you know."
"I can't tell them anything," Finn says, blasé, as if he doesn't have anything to tell.
Lando narrows his eyes. "Think long and hard about that, kid."
Finn shakes his head, feeling as if he's being strangled. He's trapped. What can he say? What can he do?
Snoke tried to rape Rey… He's been raping me.
Finn's gaze darts across the room to Poe, who sits next to his sullen father. Poe bites his lip, so many phrases, so many unspoken words, no doubt running through his mind, but what can he even say?
Hux and his father return to the room and Jess leaves with her parents. Then Snap and his father. The afternoon light crawls across the wall, and Finn knows the deadline Maz mentioned is ticking down.
If only he could talk to Maz alone… she might be able to help.
Mr. Dameron's phone rings, and he answers, stepping out of the room. Poe shakes his head as he watches his dad go.
And then Mr. Dameron bursts back into the room, grabbing Poe by his arm and yanking him upright.
"What the—" Poe yelps.
"That," Mr. Dameron informs him. "Was the bank. Reporting unusual activity on my credit card."
Poe blanches and Finn's stomach starts to throb. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no.
"You used it for them, didn't you?"
Poe looks to Finn as if asking for him to save him, but there's nothing he can do.
"Are you sure?" Artoo asks.
"Quite. Come on," Mr. Dameron growls, hauling his son out the door. "I think we need to give Leia and Han some good news."
"Kes, you can't—" Luke starts as Dad pushes Poe into the room.
"All right, all right," Poe snaps irritably.
"Poe has something he wants to tell you," Dad says.
"No," Poe retorts, crossing his arms as Snap's eyes widen. "I don't."
"Poe!"
"You don't have the right to yell at me!" Poe screams at his father, all the frustrations, all the questions he's buried over the past months clawing their way out. "You never talk to me anymore! The only time you come up here to see me is when you find out that we're all in trouble! Ever since Mom died it's like I've lost two parents instead of one! Why would you care if I used your credit card? You don't care if I do anything else! Why would you care if I got drunk, had sex, smoked crack or even if I fucking died?" Tears stream down his face, and he doesn't even care that Ms. Organa must hate him now, because his father clearly hates him, can't stand the sight of him, wants to forget him, and it's killing Poe. You used to care. And now you don't. Why don't you? Why am I not enough for you to keep caring?
"Poe," Maz says gently.
He doubles over, sobbing loudly, and still his father doesn't come.
"Come here," Maz says gentle, her papery hand taking his own and leading him out of the room, where he crumples onto a bench and presses his fists against his knees.
Dad hates me.
So will Rey and Ben, when they realize he's gotten them caught.
Finn won't, but it's not enough. Poe gulps in air. Maz returns—when did she leave?—with a cup of water, but Poe can't drink it.
Thanks to everyone for reading! Two more chapters left :)