A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback on the last chapter, lovely readers! As a little "thank you" from me, I'm posting the next chapter early! I sincerely hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!
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When he had joined the First Order all those years ago, Ben Solo had ceased to exist, and Kylo Ren had risen to take his place. Snoke and the other Knights of Ren had been the only ones who knew of his birth name, his parents, and the immense burden he carried—the Skywalker legacy. But now? Now the galaxy knew.
Standing on the bridge of the Finalizer, he contemplated a field of twinkling stars that stretched far beyond the limits of his physical sight. Endless. Infinite. But always there. He clung to it as a point of stability and familiarity as the rest of his world came crashing down around him.
Ben could feel the gazes of his subordinates burning into his back—could hear their questions, their doubts, their accusations. And though they did not speak them aloud, their thoughts crowded his mind like a chaotic chorus, each voice clamoring to rise above the others. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he shut and bolted the doors of his mind, forcing them out and willing that they be silent. He needed to think, and he did not have much longer to do so.
They were coming—Hux and the Knights of Ren. Somehow, the former general had released the recordings onto the HoloNet, and Ben knew that he had not acted alone. The question was: how many of his own knights had betrayed him?
Hearing the doors to the bridge hiss open, he slowly turned and saw Hux marching confidently into the room, hands clasped behind him. Following closely behind him were the Knights of Ren, and every head turned to stare at them. The six Praetorian Guards who lined the central platform glanced uncertainly at each other before placing their armored hands on their weapons.
"My, my!" Hux gloated with a nauseating grin. "What a tangled web you find yourself at the center of—Ben Solo."
A series a murmurs rippled amongst the officers stationed at the consoles below them, and Ben's lip curled as he surveyed their suspicious expressions.
"Now the galaxy knows the truth. You betrayed our Supreme Leader and murdered him, not only to take his position for yourself, but to save a girl! The same girl who played a part in destroying Starkiller Base, who joined the Resistance and continues to be a prevalent thorn in the side of the First Order. A Jedi!"
Ben swallowed but remained silent.
"Well?" Hux pressed. "Have you nothing to say in your defense, Jedi Killer?"
Raising his chin and assuming the most contemptuous countenance he could muster, Ben met the former general's cold, ruthless eyes. "Shouldn't you be in your cell?"
"We decided to release him."
Ben's gaze shifted to Cassus as he stepped forward, the hilt of his double-bladed lightsaber grasped tightly in his gloved hand.
"Is it true?" asked Valdis, and though her face was concealed behind a mask, he could hear the disappointment in her voice. "Did you really do all of this for a girl? For a Jedi?"
"I'm doing what's best for the galaxy," Ben answered steadily.
"Ha!" Cassus scoffed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "In your brief time as Supreme Leader, you have already relinquished much of the control the First Order fought to gain. Instead of unifying the galaxy under one banner, you are encouraging independence and playing are weak, Kylo, and that weakness will be your undoing."
The other knights drew their sabers but did not yet ignite them, and Ben's right hand drifted toward the crossguard hilt hooked to his belt.
"This is the end for you, Solo," Hux spat. "An end that was far too long in coming."
Stepping back, he allowed the knights to advance, and the Praetorian Guards wavered. Caught in the middle of this mad struggle for power, where did their loyalties lie? Where should they lie?
Bracing himself for the battle to come, Ben saw Cassus' finger shift to activate his twin blades. But before they could spring to life, a blinding flash of electricity burst from Valdis' fingertips and sent Cassus careening into the far wall. Stunned, Ben stared at her as she switched on her purple saber and looked his way.
"Go!" she ordered. "Get out of here while you still can!"
He wanted nothing more than to stay and fight, but he knew in his heart that his time with the First Order had come to an end. No stormtrooper would willingly follow the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa into battle. If he was going to escape—if he was going to live to fight another day—he had to do it now.
The Praetorian Guards turned on him, having made their decision at last, and Valdis flung her lightsaber into the back of one of them. The violet blade broke through his red-armored chest as he dropped to his knees, and Asra leaped into action. Snatching two of the grenades that were fastened to her shoulders, she pulled the pins and then tossed them into the midst of the personnel on both sides of the bridge. Many of them had already grabbed their blasters and were preparing to fire on their Supreme Leader, but then they were engulfed by flames.
Ben's black cloak billowed behind him, propelled by the combined forces of the simultaneous explosions, his red saber growling as two Praetorian Guards challenged him with their crackling weapons. An electro-chain whip hissed and snaked through the air, but before it could strike him, Ben thrust out his left hand and redirected its path. It caught around the neck of the second guard as the first sought to regain control over his weapon, his instinctive recoil ripping off the head of his own comrade.
Capitalizing on his remaining opponent's moment of shock, Ben lunged forward and impaled him on his snarling blade. Then he threw him ruthlessly to the ground and headed for the doors. But three Praetorian Guards and six Knights of Ren remained between him and the exit, and only two of them were on his side. Valdis was keeping Cassus and Morvis occupied while Asra dueled Tanith and Deroph with her yellow saberstaff. That left the three Praetorian Guards to him, and he knew that he needed to deal with them quickly if he was going to escape the Finalizer before it was too late.
Extending his left hand again, Ben lifted one off his feet in an invisible, iron grip. Then he clenched his gloved fingers into a fist, instantly crushing the life out of his enemy. As another guard charged toward him, Ben threw the armored corpse into him and sent both crimson figures tumbling off the platform. Now only one remained.
The last Praetorian Guard came at him with a double-edged vibroblade, and he could hear the weapon humming as it rose to meet his own. He brought his saber down with brutal force, striking again and again as he drove his foe backwards. Locks of black hair clung to his damp forehead, his breaths coming hard and fast as he flew into a blind rage.
The guard's defenses did not hold for long, and Ben finally knocked him off balance. His adversary's arms flailed, leaving his chest exposed, and Ben delivered a sharp kick with the heel of heel of his boot that shoved him to the ground. Landing hard on his back, the guard dropped his vibroblade and was unable to recover before Ben thrust his saber into his vulnerable torso.
All of the hurt, the pain, the betrayal—they were the emotions he channeled. Once again, those whom he had once called allies had turned on him.
"Kylo!"
His head snapped to his left, and he saw Valdis struggling to hold her own. She was outnumbered, and her strength was waning.
"Go!" she repeated urgently. "Go now!"
You know what you have to do.
He blinked, realizing that her final words to him had not been spoken aloud, but had echoed inside his mind. It was clear to him then that she knew far more than she had ever revealed to him, or to anyone else for that matter. Perhaps she recognized the path he was meant to walk more than he did.
Ben's insides twisted into knots, his teeth clenched so tightly that his jaw ached. If he stayed, he could help Valdis and Asra defeat the other knights. Together, they could win. But the victory would be temporary, for Hux would have the entire ship alerted to their treachery by then—if he had not done so already.
He had to go now, Ben reminded himself. He could not wait a second longer.
Thank you.
That was the last message he communicated to them before deactivating his lightsaber and fleeing the bridge. Once in the corridor, he launched into an all-out sprint, determined to reach the hangar before Hux was able to organize enough soldiers to stop him. He could hear his voice speaking from the intercoms now, demanding his immediate detainment.
"Lock down the escape pods! Seal the hangar!"
Ben could only hope that the inevitable chaos caused by a former prisoner now giving orders would result in a delayed or possibly even a nonexistent response. The First Order was crumbling from the inside, fraught with coups and unreliable leadership. It was tearing itself apart, as if seized by some kind of madness. Was it fate? Or was it a failure of ideology?
Reaching the hangar at last, Ben quickly located Valdis' modified TIE and raced toward it. The heads of at least a hundred officers, stormtroopers, and technicians turned his way, but none of them made a move to seize him until one man stepped forward and brandished his blaster.
"Stop him!"
Red bolts of energy peppered the hulls of the small fighters surrounding him as Ben ran. He could hear the hangar doors starting to close and knew that he had approximately ten seconds remaining to fly out of here. Quickly climbing the ladder and then kicking it aside, he opened the the round hatch of the Interceptor and dropped into the cockpit. His gloved fingers flew over the controls, lights blinking to life and a low hum filling his ears.
Then the TIE screamed into the air, streaking toward the rapidly shrinking opening. Dread settled in Ben's gut, his eyes widening as he began to realize that he was not going to make it. The gap was getting too narrow. If he just had a few more seconds…
His grip on the control sticks tightened as he prepared to crash the ship. Better to do it inside the hangar instead of colliding with the durasteel doors.
But then something miraculous happened.
The doors stopped. The Interceptor slipped through, and then he was flying in open space. Ben released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding and leaned back against the seat, his fingers relaxing ever so slightly. For just a moment, he felt an exhilarating rush of triumph, but as suddenly as it had come, it was violently extinguished.
His chest tightened, an invisible blow trapping the air inside his lungs and causing a dull ache just behind his ribs. Grimacing, he forced a painful inhale and an equally agonizing exhale. There was a new emptiness inside him. Two spaces that had been occupied for as long as he could remember were now yawning voids. Echoes of lives now lost.
Valdis and Asra were gone.
A cry of grief and anger tore from his throat as he slammed his fist against the interior hull of the ship. They had died because of him. Because of Hux and his betrayal. Because of Cassus and the other knights who had turned against him. He would avenge their deaths, and when he did, those traitors would receive no mercy from him. They would know nothing but the wrath of his blade.
Gazing out at the vastness of the universe that lay before him, the realization suddenly dawned on him that he had nowhere to go. No one to turn to. He had nothing left. No master. No cause. No army. No family. He didn't belong anywhere. He was an outcast—an exile. Claimed neither by the light nor the dark.
Fighting to swallow the lump that had risen inside his throat, Ben reached out and punched a series of coordinates into the navicomputer. He didn't know why he did it. He did not recall making a conscious decision to seek refuge there. But an instinct that transcended rational thought compelled him to.
Activating the hyperdrive, Ben braced himself as the TIE shuddered and then launched into a swirling mass of blue light.