Rey woke up that morning, having forgotten all about what happened. For a mere second she believed she was at the Resistance, but the wooden walls and ceiling said otherwise. She felt happy and light, but she did not know why. A sudden realization hit her. She turned around and saw her clothes hanging on the chair next to the bed, clean and new. She realized she hadn't worn her sand coloured tunic in a long time. They looked too much like the ones she used in Jak'ku, but she liked how they felt in her hand. She got up and started dressing up, when accidentally her eyes glanced at the mirror that lied at the end of the room. Rey took a moment and went closer to the mirror. She almost did not recognize the woman she saw.

Her hair was long, clean and heavy on her shoulders, but the dirty sand colour had not changed. After the fight, she realized it was time for a change. The triple buns were her lighthouse to the past. And she was done with that. Instead the simple ponytail that held three braids in it suited her better. Although her baby hairs would still frame her face, they gave her a more mature sense to herself. But it would take her a while to get used to the new hairstyle. She saw how her face seemed far more serious, and older, with her cheekbones sticking out and most of her distinctive freckles gone. Her usual olive tone had left her skin, uncovering patches of the somewhat pale skin that she remembered to have had from when she was only a child. In some places, stretch marks from all the lack of nutrition and battle scars had taken place.

A knock on the door, grabbed her attention, followed by a tall familiar energy entering the room.

"Fin!" Rey ran towards him, but the harsh expression in his face left her hanging half way. "What's wrong Fin?"

"His trial will begin now. They say it is going to be exile, but we are all rooting for execution." Finn looked at her, narrowing his eyebrows at the words he spoke. Rey froze. They didn't know. Nowadays Kylo Ren was the (obviously) heavily guarded prisoner of war that they had. Their most elite squad, E.L.T.E would follow him everywhere he went, including three Force sensitives that had learnt some tricks from Leia. From afar, one couldn't even see him through the three layers of guards that circled him. Half of the base had no idea what he looked like. But she could feel how he felt. And it pained her stomach.

No one knows. No one knew apart from Luke and Leia. No one knew that Kylo Ren was sent as a teenager to work for Snoke. None of them knew. Leia had been on hybersleep for longer than six months, and Luke was gone... No one would stand up for him. Rey recalled all the times she sneaked out against any better judgement that she ever had, to see him inside the quarter cell they were keeping him. She remembered all the times she risked their lives, trying to free him. She remembered giving up, and then just visiting him with the swarm of the ELTE, looking at all the scars he took because of her, and for her.

"Fin he saved my life. They can't execute him."

"He is a murderer Rey!" Finn came close to Rey, close enough for her to feel his heavy breathing. "Its so unapologetically arrogant and immature of you to believe that your life is worth the thousands that he has ended! He is a tyrant, he killed-"

"Enough!" Rey shouted to override the words that were coming out of Fin's mouth. "We all have lost people we love in this war Fin-"

"What?" Said Finn, while tilting his head, approaching Rey and forming a sarcastic almost-smile. "No you haven't. You didn't know Poe, or Lorraine or Maika, or-or Jhege, or Wan Ji! And thousands of others! You never knew them, I did!" He shouted. Rey's body felt stone cold. "An- And the thousands of the stormtroopers...They tortured us. Ripped us away from our families, love, future...We have no family!" Realizing how loud his voice was Finn stopped to take a deep breath. "While you were away playing magic with Luke. And what did that bring us? Nothing but a massive mess." Fin's nose was flared, and he was raising his voice even more with each word he spoke. He grabbed Rey's arm and looked at her. "We are all tired playing the games of the big men, fighting the wars of the big men. In the end, we die, we lose our arms, our eyes, our loved ones. It is our loss, not theirs. And you know what Rey, you have been one of the big men. You and your Jedi's magic. So don't you ever dare-" Rey grabbed his hand that was gripping her arm, and used the Force to push him on the other side of the room. He fell on top of the clothes drawer, and the mirror slid on top of his body. Finn didn't protest. He seemed beaten up.

"And you couldn't even spare a few minutes to come to their memorial. Or talk to me after it was all over...You couldn't even do that." He raised his hand and covered his face with his palm. "But you did have time to visit Kylo Ren in prison though. Because you don't know loss. You don't know anger. You're like him now."

"How dare..." Rey shook her head as if she was trying to shake his words away. Looking at him in that state, she struggled trying to find the right thing to do, swinging from screaming at him about her lost life on Jakku to leaving the room and ignoring every thing he had said. Closing her eyes and calling the Force to her side she spoke. "You knew me first of all of them Fin. You know I am not the big man. You know I was forcefully dragged into this war, and you know you voluntarily joined this war. But you do not know me Fin." She took a deep breath, to stabilize her energy levels, and spoke calmly. "We need to go. The trial will begin soon, and I cannot miss it."

Rey calmly entered the big room, surrounded by a heavy gossiping air and an orchestra of thousand voices. The ovally placed chairs formed a half moon, all looking towards, and centered the main podium where Kylo Ren was chained to, as always surrounded by the ELTE. She was looking at him for the first time in months. His hair fell long, heavy and dirt black on his shoulders. He'd lost weight. But he still stood tall and one could easily see his muscular body through his sand coloured tunic. Their eyes met, and Rey felt her heart shake. In that fraction of a second, she remembered herself and how guilty she'd felt when the battlefield that belonged to them two, reminded her of a dance floor, where only their perfectly synchronized flow of the Force existed. Her guilt had almost consumed her. But her awe was every move of one was completing the other. She knew she'd fallen for him. She looked at him now, knowing that all the guilt and shame for loving this man had vanished. In that final battle, where no one else existed but them, their Force had bonded, their souls married forever to each other. Somehow, Rey had learnt to have his presence next to hers, without looking at him. Without looking at him her heart would mimic his, and his hers.

The air in the room became heavier. When she looked at him she felt the sorrow he felt, and the anger he felt. A comical thought came to her, as just a fling of Kylo's wrist of the Force, and he could displace the room from its weak wooden foundations, yet he was sitting calmly there, seemingly vulnerable, shackled. She looked at him, and knew the thought had reached him too, when a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Slowly the room was becoming more and more crowded, until Fin and General Kab'bar came and sat on the last two seats in the front row, chairs painted in a golden brown. Kylo straightened his back, raising his head to match their eyeline. Rey wondered how was it that he carried himself with such grace even in situations like this. He stood tall and broad. Strangely, she couldn't help but feel proud of him. Something that he had apparently sensed, given that the corner of his mouth rose into a slight smile.

Then she heard her name. Her full name. It had been so long that someone had mouthed those three words, that a shiver ran through her spine and ended in her neck with a hit. Her ears muffled every outside noise, her head started spinning and her vision became blurry. A knot in her chest prevented her from breathing. She raised her eyes and saw Unkar Plutt across the room aproaching her in heavily steps with his metal staff, raising it up in the air, ready to hit her. A vision?No! Rey's blood was boiling. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. This is form the past?! No! You are in Jakku! I am not a child anymore!

Rey felt someone touching her shoulder and grabbing her arms. Unkar?! She felt herself breathing heavily and throwing punches, only to be shaken and realizing she was surrounded by Resistance uniforms. She found her chest going increasingly fast up and down, following her heartbeat. Rey remembered she was in judgement court. Her mouth twitched. She had been conditioned to hate those words. She loathed the day she'd have to say them herself, again.

Rey stood up shaking the hands of the guards next to her, and looked around the room, feeling the hundreds of eyes pinned on her, silence being the decaying witness of the heavy judgement that came from them. Her eyes went on Finn and General Kab'bar who spoke again.

"Please proceed, we do not have all day." She swallowed lightly before she made her way out of the audience and presented herself before the jury, a long line of old and young alike, different species and beings that were patiently waiting for her testament. The transition between being the watcher to the watched was a fear she didn't know existed in her.

"Please state your full name with your own voice, as required by the galactic law" said the delegate. Rey felt her muscles freeze and her skin rise. She glanced at Kylo, but she saw that she wasn't the only person petrified by her full name in the room. Rey was confused to realize that she might shed tears. His eyes were wide and filled with...fear?confusion? wonder? Rey couldn't make it what it was but she didn't like it. She didn't like his doubt of her. She didn't like him to be scared of her. But what she didn't like most was saying it. Those words. Nothing good would ever come from those words. She clenched her fists and tried with all her will power to hold back the tears and the shiver that was creeping in her spine yet again. I will kill you myself. The thousand eyes were watching. This staff will be the best you get fro mthose words.The room was holding the breath. Never say those words again.

"I'reyna Daarayn Kenobi Palpatine. The first and only daughter of Brangwen Palpatine and Aileen Wan Kenobi" She said in a full tone, the back of her mouth automatically waiting to taste the metal off from Unkar's staff. Rey held her breath when she realized that no one had moved after those words. Unkar was nowhere to be found with his vile whip and the metal staff. There was no one to punish her for saying it out loud. Strangely the whole room had fallen quiet. The whispers that forever lingered in such a big room were gone. The specks of dust in the air didn't dare interrupt her. Her heart started beating louder and louder in her ears. The judges weren't saying anything, and nor was the delegate. She was waiting for someone to ask her something, but nothing moved. She turned towards Kylo dreading to see his reaction. But he wasn't confused anymore. He was amazed. His eyes were shining and he wasn't trying to hide that soft smile of his anymore.

I'reyna. She heard his soft voice in her head. She looked at him and her upper lip trembled as she pointed at a chained Kylo Ren, on the podium.

"This man," she shouted strongly in her thick accent. "He has sacrificed his whole life for the Resistance. He was taken from when he was but a babe, from his mother's arms to become a Jedi, to save you. He was taken from his home, to be trained in combat, to save you. He was taken from his family, his friends, to be trained in strategy and intrigue, to save you." Rey's voice echoed strong to the very edges of the room and beyond, where hundreds of people had gathered to hear what she had to say.

"He was taken from his world, sacrificing his whole life, to pretend to be someone he is not! To save you! This man has gone through the horrors of the darkness, has succumbed to it, and has come back from it, to save You!" She then turned towards Kylo, who was taken by surprise from her speech. The speech was about him. And she was pointing at him, but no one was looking at him. They were all looking at her, in awe. "You simply cannot, I will do everything in my power for you not to condemn this man to death, or even a life of such manners. I know about isolation. I know all about being away from your family and loved ones to a planet that only tries to kill you. And even though my isolation was not as calculated as his has been, it still hurt. I stay for this man's innocence!" As soon as Rey finished her speech the room started gradually buzzing with whispers and little talks, phrases and words out of their mouths. Rey impatiently waited for the jury to consult each other, alternating between looking at Fin and then at Kylo.

"Quite a speech you gave." Said the General with a strange look on his face.

"I am sorry Rey, but the speech you gave is not on the protocol, and as such, cannot be taken as a real testimony." One of the Rosan planet spoke with pity for her. "We need accurate and precise answers to the questions we will make. Are you clear?" Rey nodded, waiting for them.

"When did you first meet Ben Organa Solo, later to be known as Kylo Ren?" The question came from the first woman on the jury row. Dark, kinky hair and purple skin, Rey knew the woman to be one of the few politicians left from Ar'aar. She had been close to Leia, according to Finn, and she had known Ben. Rey looked inside herself to find the peace she needed to answer their questions correctly. She took a deep breath before speaking the sentence that would wreak havoc in the room.

"I first met Kylo Ren when he was still known as Ben. At Luke's Jedi training academy. I was nine years old." The whispers in the room boosted as if an army of sandflies had just entered the quarters. Rey felt that the spotlight was on her. Everyone was looking at her, scanning her every move, her every thought.

"And why were you there?" The woman asked again. Her voice was calm, soothing, and she seemed to hold no judgement in her questions, only...curiosity.

"I was sent there by my family to be trained by Luke Skywalker. My mother was strong with the force too, and Luke had asked to train me." Rey stated calmly while knowing her words would fuel the whispers even more. "But I never met Luke then. He was but a legend to me. A bedtime story." She too was surprised that she had suddenly remembered so many details of that time, details that were lost for quite a while to her. She vaguely remembered the music and how the rooms in the temple were set, and how she would walk through the hallways. She remembered the smell of the old garden, and the boy who would hang more than often there.

"Rey, I am sure you are aware of the devastation that fell upon that temple. We like to believe that you know of the massacre. Where more than three hundred children aged from nine to nineteen were found dead." Rey took a deep breath and soaked in every word that the woman said. Every word she said, stroke to a single other memory that came to her. "A deed believed to have been done by the very man you are defending. We were later reported that not a single child was left alive. How is it that you are alive, yet claim to have been there?" Rey did not say anything, or hear anything else. The night, the smell, the screaming, everything the woman was describing she was feeling it all again. A vision. No. The burning smell that had violently covered the air. She ran towards the balcony, to see the old garden completely sunk in a sea of orange and red flames. She starts sobbing and shaking. She cries. She asks for her mother. She asks for her father. The door of the room is shut, and she is alone. She keeps hearing screams, little children scream, in anguish and pain, and she can feel it all. The smoke starts getting into her lungs and she can feel the somberness of the smoke overtaking her, but a hand grabs her small hand and leads her through a small door on the wooden floor where there is not much smoke. She can still hear the screams. The door opens and Rey finds herself again in the courtroom. Whispers. Eyes fixed on her. Whispers. What is going on?

"Rey? Miss Kenobi? Miss Palpatine? Would you please answer the question that was made to you? Wait- What are you doing?!" What is happening? She heard the coarse voice of the new General bringing her back. When she truly found herself back to reality she saw three guards holding Kylo down, whereas the whole room was to be calmed by the elderly of the jury. Scared and confused, Rey turned to Fin, looking for answers, but he was too busy commanding the guards that were holding Kylo Ren down.

"Ms Rey! You have solemnly promised to not use the Force while within these quarters! Dare to break that promise again and you will not have our words of the safety of the prisoner. You will risk his life as well as condemning your own banishment!" Rey felt her heart racing out of her chest, while still confused to what had happened. Her knees felt weak. What happened?

"Please answer the question." The same woman from before stated firmly. Her tone had changed. Rey looked at her and tried to remember the question. She knew they asked her why she was alive. But she did not know what they meant to achieve by that.

"I-I was saved by someone. They took me and I ended up in a tunnel beneath the temple. Thats all I remember. I recently discovered that that man might've been Luke, taking me to my parents again, and erasing my memories of the Jedi and himself." She said, the emptiness building up inside her. The jury started consulting each other again. Fin did not partake in them. He was staring at Rey, his eyes filled with anger and grief.

"This man killed all the Jedi children." Finn stood up and slammed his fists on the wooden table. "This man approached the most dangerous being in the Galaxy and supplied him with even more Force to be under his command. This man built and led an army, created from little children taken off their homes, and trained them for one single purpose: to destroy the Resistance fighters, and anyone who opposed their leadership. This man killed his own father, and later is the cause of his uncle's death. How can you still side with this man? Huh Rey?! Answer this question Rey!" Rey did not say anything. He had done those things. He was guilty of every single-

"I did not murder the Jedi children." The deep voice that echoed far in the room came from Kylo Ren. The guards put him down and forced his head into the desk.

"Do not speak until you're spoken to, prisoner!" They spat. Finn was alarmingly looking at both of them, before looking at Rey.

"What do you know that you haven't told us?" He demanded, shouting.

"I don't know!" Rey shrugged, feeling lost and confused herself. This was not something she knew. She kept staring at Kylo, also demanding more answers. "Ask him!" The chaos that fell in the room was hard to be kept down. People started getting up their chairs and coming closer to the podium. The jury was unsettled, and the security guards tripled in numbers.

"Everyone in this room that is not directly connected to this testimony and judgement, must leave the room quietly and in order!" The guards surrounding the jury shouted. But none of the people in the room listened to them. Finally the General got up.

"Fine then. I believe is time to ask the prisoner. We might as well be done with you Rey." He said, while gesturing towards the guards that were holding Kylo down. "Let him speak" They loosened the grip on him, enough for him to raise his head, but they did not release his arms. Kylo straightened his back and glanced at Rey before focusing on growling at the General again. "Please, do tell us about the Jedi Academy. It is a matter of the past, and more than enough years have passed since it happened, but we need to know the truth." The General spoke, more gently this time. The whole room went silent again.

"I did not kill the Jedi. The Jedi were killed by my master of Ren, Kon'hor Ren. But he was stopped and taken down by Luke. Unfortunately for the Padawans, Luke arrived far too late to save his pupils. I was the youngest of the Ren Knights, and I needed to advance forward." While listening to his soothing, yet darkened voice, Rey could not get much of the information together. She continued listening closely to his words, even though most of them triggered her past to become a most undesirable present yet again.

"I was not respected or even looked at. So I took the credit for it. They knew Kon'hor Ren was truly my master, so they did not doubt me. The words were spread loud and across the Galaxy, and Id finally saved myself from the indoctrinations of the Jedi" He finished his sentence with a sarcastic half-smile.

"And what proof do you have of this?" The General asked, speaking for everyone in the room.

"I was with her, we were playing at the New Garden, when he started killing the Padawans." Kylo spoke softly, while gesturing towards Rey. Wait what?! Horrified, Rey looked at him, where no answers were to be found. She did not remember such a thing. How could he do that to her? Why would he lie- Why would he put her in that position? She didn't know. She didn't know anything. Startled, Rey turned towards the jury and hoped that what she was going to do was right.

"I- I am sorry, but I have no memory of this." She said in a flat voice.

"I knew you didn't. But I need to tell you this- Let- Let me go!" Fighting the guard's grip, Kylo Ren stood up, looking at Rey and longing for something. "I was the one who put your hair up in three buns. You were joking at the other Padawans, and how ridiculous they looked with that one little tail behind their ears, so I challenged you to create another hairstyle, more fit for the Jedi. I also gave you a small resistance fighter doll, which I had made some weeks ago before the massacre. Luke told me they gave it to you when they left you in Jak'ku..." Struggling through her throbbing headache and trying to keep her whole attention on his voice and his words, Rey sat down, fearing that her knees would not be able to handle another confession of this caliber.

"...This happened before the fire-After someone shouted 'fire' you ran to your room...Re-Rey, do you remember these?" His voice became soft in the end. Rey's gut ached. She felt betrayed, angry and confused, all at once. She did remember fragments of what he said, when he said them; She did remember the doll, which she'd left in Jak'ku, but...Everything is a massive blur!... She believed to have made that doll herself...She thinly remembered sitting in the New Garden, whilst someone playing with her hair. But she did not remember the details. Why had he never mentioned this before? Why just now?

"Please Rey, answer to the jury. Are any of these true?" The General asked softly. "We need to know." Rey felt her palms sweating. Surely, something of such importance could not fall into the hands of her. Someone that could barely remember her name! Someone that could barely remember her family, and who she was. Someone that could not remember her past. Surely, surely this outta have another solution.

"You can't ask this of me!" She shouted to the room, her eyes almost filled with angry tears, her head shaking. "You cannot put the truth of years of devastation and pain and suffering families in my hands! I dont have an answer for them...or for you! Im sorry, I just can't!" Rey heard her voice echoing. "I dont remember anything, an-and If I do I am not sure. Years of being lost and burnt in that desert, abused and beaten on, my memory is nothing of trust." She felt real tears coming into her eyes. "In the desert we are taught not to trust the mirages, even though they look as clear as your own hand. I am sorry. But I cannot give you an answer." She sat down without looking anywhere else but her hands. She scanned all the scars and the untanned marks, where scabs had formed after the battle. The sun had not touched that part of her skin. Yet.

"Clearly this is more than enough for our guest, as well as the prisoner. We are not torturers here, we strive to be peaceful and orderly beings. And as such, we will leave you be. For now." The General that had been standing up the whole time spoke softly with his rough voice.

"Kylo Ren, the jury will exile you for twenty years, to the farthest planet of the Sanorium System, Kikga, where you will not be given anything to aid with your life there. You can build a life there if you wish, only with the locals. You will not be given technology, or any device of such kind, which might help you establish a connection with someone outside the planet. You will be denied the privileges of a Republic member, which will be cited to you on the way there. From now on, you are stripped of every riches or properties and titles that were given to you in good faith, or that you have inherited from your precedents. For tonight, you will sleep in one of the campsite cabins, as you are no longer a high security prisoner. You will, however, be a subject of surveillance to the three guards that have been appointed to you. You are obliged to answer all the questions concerning your time with the First Order. You will not disclose that information with no one else but our highly qualified team of strategists. You will forever, be in debt of the Resistance for sparing your life on such grounds. Do not forget Kylo Ren, you are still, and will be our was prisoner for the rest of your life. Please make your way out. And we wish you the best of luck. Thats all."

"Rey," He then faced Rey, who had been staring at a blank point in space for the whole time. She raised her eyes to meet his, and straightened her back. "You are free to go. You will however be approached my many historians and researchers that will try to find the truth behind Kylo Ren's words. If there is any case that proves otherwise, he shall be condemned to execution. As for now, you still own the Millennium Falcon, as it was given to you by Han Solo, and was approved by our retired General, Leia Organa Solo. You are free to go." He ended his statement, and gathered around all the devices that were projecting her data and details before. All the judges got up after him, and followed his lead, by switching off every device that projected the case. Rey looked around, but Kylo Ren was gone. Rey looked at Fin, waiting for his gorgeous smile, but she was now, certain that smile was gone forever, along with Poe Dameron. He did not even look at her, but headed straight for the door, following the General. Soon the room was empty. No more whispers.

Authors note

Sorry this one is so long guys! But this is one of my favourite chapters of this fic and I hope you enjoyed it. Only two more chapters left :)

xx

KingPink