Wow the feedback on this story that I'm getting is simply amazing! Thank you all so much!

For the Guest Reviewer and Skywalker-Dynast – your reviews pushed me to finish writing this chapter so I could surprise you ; )

Jedi Alex Colbent – My story takes place directly after the events of The Force Awakens

This is the chapter that I've been most nervous about. I've obviously taken some creative liberties to make my fan theory work, but I tried to have it fit within canon as much as possible. I hope you all enjoy it!

"You bastard!"

The sheer intensity of her rage through their linked caused Kylo to lose his concentration, allowing the dueling-droid he was sparing with to make contact with his arm, searing black fabric and flesh. Pain coursed through his body. He had been taking his time with the droid to build strength, but now he quickly dispatched it. Groaning, Kylo belted his lightsaber, and griped his wound. He had never felt Rey's emotions like this before. There was anger, enough to rival his own on a bad day, but other emotions as well; sadness, confusion, surprise, betrayal. She knew.

Flinging open the door to his room, he wasn't surprised to see her there. Rey stood rigid, her hands bawled up into fists, tears streaming down her face.

"Take that ridiculous thing off!" she yelled in frustration. Kylo simply stood there looking at her for a moment, before finally relenting, and reaching up to take off his mask. He watched her silently, waiting.

"He's told me. Luke, he's told me everything." Rey managed through clenched teeth.

"And what is it that you think you know?" Outwardly Kylo managed to feign indignance, though she could feel the torrent of emotions begin to roll off of him.

"Oh spare me the act!" Rey scoffed. "You've lied, about everything…Ben Solo."

Enraged, Kylo strode towards her. He leaned down till his face was only inches from hers.

"Ben Solo is dead!" Each word was spoken slowly, punctuated with venom. Rey laughed bitterly

"That was the plan wasn't it?"

-Earlier-

"Please, I can explain!" Rey stammered as Luke walked towards where she stood at the cliff's edge.

"How long have you been in contact with Kylo Ren?" He asked her simply. Rey was confused. She couldn't sense any anger from Luke, only concern, and sadness.

"Since I arrived. Something happened to us. He was interrogating me on Starkiller Base, trying to get the map to your location. He went into my mind, to try and get it, but he didn't learn anything I swear! I looked into his mind, fought him off, I kept what I knew from him!" Rey's voice was desperate. She thought Luke would yell at her; tell her to leave, that he didn't want to be her teacher anymore.

"So now you're linked." Luke seemed to be speaking to himself, looking past Rey entirely. "Has he told you anything?" He wanted information on the First Order?

"No, no I haven't seen anything. I haven't gotten anything useful against the First Order I swear to you." Luke's brows furrowed, and he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Would he think she was a traitor? That she was working with Ren? Finally he let out a long sigh, his eyes closing.

"Rey, I'm so sorry, I've lied to you." He looked up at her then, his eyes apologetic. "I've lied to you since you arrived here, and I've been lying to others a lot longer than that." He looked utterly defeated. A man burdened by too many things.

"Wha-what?" Even as Rey asked, she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Sit, we need to start at the beginning." Hesitantly Rey walked over to Luke, who had taken a seat on the large stone. The scene around her no longer felt calming. The constant crashing of the waves was beginning to make her anxious. She felt as if she were drowning in uncertainty. "After my father's death, I sought to establish balance. I wanted to create a new generation of Jedi. I went to many Systems, looking for children who were sensitive to the force, to train them. I brought them all together, made them my padawans. Among these children, was my sister's child, Ben." Luke paused momentarily at the mention of his nephew. Rey didn't understand why he was telling her this. She already knew the story of Kylo Ren, Leia had tearfully explained her son's fall to the dark side. Luke collected himself, and began again. "Ben was always very gifted. Leia sent him to train with me when he was still young, and he was quite upset about it for a long time, he felt abandoned. To comfort him, I would tell him stories. Stories about my past, my training, stories about Han, about Leia, and about my father." Darth Vader. The image of the burnt helmet she had seen via Kylo came to Rey's mind.

"But Darth Vader was a monster!" Rey said confused. Why would he tell the boy about Darth Vader?

"Darth Vader was a monster yes, but Anakin Skywalker was not. My father had a destiny, to bring balance to the force. His love for my mother drove him to the dark side. After she died, he let the darkness consume him. He did terrible things, I know that Rey. But in his final moments, my father chose to embrace his destiny and turn to the light. He killed his Sith master, saving my life, saving countless lives. My father died Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader." Rey sat in stunned silence.

"But Kylo he…he wants to be Darth Vader?"

"In a way yes. He clung on to the stories of my father. Of the Jedi who was born to bring balance to the force." Luke said, his eyes hardening. "One day Ben came to me. He told me that Snoke was reaching out to him through the force. He was trying to seduce Ben to the dark side, seeing his potential. Ben's training, it took another turn after that point. I saw-I saw an opportunity…" Luke seemed unable to say the words. Realization struck Rey like a blow to the chest.

"You let Snoke have him." Rey whispered in horror.

"The First Order was growing. There was still so much terror in the galaxy, so much darkness. It's our responsibility to bring balance; to right the atrocities committed. Ben agreed to it completely. Snoke is smart. He never lets anyone close to him. He's always hiding in the shadows, sending his puppets to do his dirty work. This makes him nearly impossible to kill. As his apprentice, Ben would have access to Snoke, our only chance at ending the Sith."

"But Leia?! And Han! H-he murdered his own father!" Rey exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She felt uneasy, like she had been caught in one of the waves, tumbling endlessly. Luke didn't meet her eye.

"We agreed that the only way this would work, was that it had to be as convincing as possible. No one could know. Rey, Ben couldn't just pretend to join Snoke, he had to truly give himself over to the dark side. It wouldn't work any other way; Snoke would be able to sense it. I had to have faith in him, to trust that he wouldn't be consumed with the darkness like my father was for so long. You and I are the only ones who really know what happened. Leia and Han never knew. To anyone else, Ben Solo was seduced by the darkness, and became Kylo Ren. And truly for all I know, he may very well have joined the dark side. Killing Han...it was either a test he felt he needed to pass, or Ben really is lost to us." For the first time, Rey felt angry with Luke.

"So you let them believe their son betrayed them?! You sent a boy on a suicide mission!" She yelled, her voice cracking as tears began to spill from her eyes. Ben had only been a boy. How could he agree to this? He gave up his life, his family. The world would only ever see him as a monster, like his grandfather. She realized all at once that the loneliness she had felt on Jakku was only a fraction of what it must have felt like for Ben. She had deluded herself for years believing she had a loving family that would return for her one day, that all she needed to do was wait for them. Ben, he had a family who loved him, a home. Despite that, he chose to give it all up, to sacrifice his soul for the greater good. She wondered how isolating, how torturous that had to have felt.

Suddenly Rey remember the vision that she had after touching Luke's lightsaber.

"When we were at Maz Kanata's castle, your lightsaber called to me, it showed me a vision of Kylo Ren slaughtering Jedi." She had told Luke of her vision before, but he hadn't said much. Now she understood why. Luke's eyes began to fill with tears.

"Kylo Ren came to the temple with his Knights of Ren. Snoke had ordered him to destroy the remaining Jedi. It was a test, one he had no choice but to pass. We tried to defend ourselves, but they were all too young, too inexperienced. He killed them. I would have been convinced that Ben had fallen to the dark side, had he not spared my life, and…" Luke looked at Rey pointedly. Her brows furrowed in confusion, not understanding. "Rey, do you truly not remember?" She stumbled backwards, shocked by his words. She felt like she was going to be sick.

-Now-

"Yes, that was the plan." He said sneering at her. "Ben Solo had to die, so Kylo Ren could be born. It was the only way to fulfill my destiny. I must bring balance to the force! I will finish what my grandfather started! It's my family's legacy." Rey could only shake her head in disbelief. Surely there had to have been another way.

"You gave up your soul."

"Yes." He agreed solemnly. "It had to be done."

"You've known this whole time who I was."

He shook his head, gaze softening slightly. "No, I had no idea who your family was. I only knew they weren't coming for you."

It had been just after Ben left to join Snoke. Luke brought a small girl to the temple. Luke explained to Rey that Obi Wan Kenobi came to him through the force. Told him that in a moment of weakness, after the fall of the Jedi, he had sought comfort with one of Padmé's handmaidens, Sabé. He had gotten to know the handmaiden, who assumed the position of decoy for the real queen, while stranded together on Tatooine. Obi Wan met Sabé again during Padmé's funeral. He never knew that she conceived a child during their night together.

Later in life, Obi Wan's daughter, Rey's mother, joined the Resistance. Unfortunately, Rey's parents died at the hands of the First Order, shortly after her birth. Through the force, Obi Wan led Luke to his granddaughter, who was already showing great potential. Luke took the young child to be raised as a Jedi.

"Why did you save me?" Rey's voice was weak, exhausted. There had been too many revelations, too many lies.

"I was never supposed to see you again." He said, speaking mainly to himself. The truth was out, and suddenly he had the urge to unburden himself to her, as if it would cleanse his blackened soul. Slowly, he reached out and took Rey's hand, raising it up to rest on the side of his face. She didn't pull away. He wasn't trying to read her mind this time, he was opening his up to her completely.

Flashes of a boy with dark hair, crying, holding on to his uncle, saying goodbye. "I'll make it right, uncle Luke, I promise! I'll be the greatest Jedi that ever lived!" The boy had taken on the weight of his grandfather's failure. He would become the new Chosen One.

The boy is given the burnt helmet of Darth Vader. It is meant to act as his display of admiration for his grandfather, a ruse to fool Snoke. Rey sees it as a cruel parting gift.

That boy, older now, with a different name. He walks through the rain, in the ruins of his old home, cutting down Jedi in his path. Rage, pain, darkness coursing through his veins. He thinks of Darth Vader. That is who he must become to fulfill his destiny. He must not think of Anakin Skywalker. He must not think of his parents.

He enters a stone building, bodies litter the floor where his Knights have purged it of the young Jedi padawans. He looks at their faces. He feels dizzy, his hands shake.

A cry. He hears it coming from outside. The rain is coming down heavily. Walking around the back he sees one of the Knights of Ren alone, cornering a child. His lightsaber is up, ready to end her life. She cries, terrified. Kylo doesn't think, he plunges his lightsaber through the attacker's chest. He had been weak. He let the light in.

The child is still crying as he walks up to her, terrified of his appearance, of his mask. It was better that way. She should only remember him as the monster that he is. He waves a hand past her face, and the girl is asleep instantly. He picks her up, carries her until he finds the Knight he's looking for, one especially good at manipulating the mind. "Take the child. Wipe her mind. Place her somewhere the Resistance will never find her. She is strong with the force, she may be of use to us later." Inside Kylo feels apprehension as he hands the child over. He still wants to protect her. Weak.

Ben Solo must not be allowed to exist.

Years pass. The boy was a man now. Colder, more ruthless than he ever had been. He is full of doubt. After all this time, he had never been able to accomplish what he had been sent to do. He was a failure. He wondered if it had all been for nothing. He had given up everything for the Jedi, for the light. Why should he tear himself apart? He replaces his doubt with anger. He lets the darkness in.

"Ben..." His name comes out as a whimper. His emotions are so strong, she can barely speak. The tears he sheds are hot as they hit the hand she still has on his face.

He was breathing hard, desperately trying to hold it together. He had managed to bury himself for so long in the darkness. Rey embodied the part of himself that he wanted to forget. The weak little boy, who only wanted to save everyone. He had become accustomed to the darkness. Hiding his regrets, the things that would haunt him forever. Rey's light exposed things he didn't want to see. He didn't know if he could survive facing his demons.

All of Rey's anger seemed to go away as she looked into his eyes, dark and full of despair. In that moment, Kylo Ren was gone. He was the boy again, lost and afraid. Rey was reminded of herself. Of the many nights she had felt as he did now; scared and alone. She wasn't sure why, but she had an overwhelming urge to comfort him.

She moved her hands to the back of his neck, and pulled him close. He was taller, so she could only rest her face against his chest. Ben stood there for a moment holding his breath, stunned and unsure how to take her sudden affection. Her warmth spread through his body. It had been years-another life entirely-since anyone had shown him an ounce of tenderness; had treated him like he was human. His sigh was one of relief as he slowly wrapped his arms around her.

They stood intertwined, momentarily enjoying the comfort they had both longed to feel for some time.