Chapter 3

Leia Organa, the General, pulled back from the hug with her brother and cast her gaze upon Rey as she noted the confused and heartbroken expression within those brown eyes. She wanted to hold her the way they had after the death of the man she loved, but she didn't know if it would be warranted, if her suspicions were right. "He told you, didn't he?" she asked, but it was Luke who nodded and responded to the question, Rey too lost in her thoughts to get any input in her racing mind.

"I did. You can't expect to win this war without informing your daughter of who and what she is, as I have a feeling that she will play as much of a key role as you," the old man spoke, casting his gaze upon his niece and the lost yet determined expression on her face. "She also deserves to know, after all those years on Jakku, away from the life she could have had that was stolen from her by the actions of her brother after mistakes on my part. She has had to live her life in a lie for far too long now."

Holding onto her brother's gaze a few more seconds, Leia Organa finally dared to blink and cast her eyes upon Rey. She nodded. "Let's go inside. We have much to tell you."

Turning, the General set off for her quiet quarters, not a word spoken among those following her. Luke and Rey, Chewie and BB-8, followed her in silence.

Without words, everyone took a seat in the quiet, semi-dark room, one where they felt most comfortable and that allowed for space yet enabled them to speak openly about the things that had to be said. When the silence was not broken by anyone, Leia at last took a deep breath and turned to the young girl seated across from her at the large, oval table.

"I never intended for it turn the way it did. Please believe me," she spoke. "Your father and I danced around each other for several years before finally deciding to get married. I will admit that that decision was fueled by us discovering that Ben was on his way. We always loved each other, but, as I am sure you can imagine from the short while you knew him, your father was a free soul and was not ready to 'settle down'. Ben being on the way made him realize that maybe it was not such a disaster to get married. It is a comfort to me to know he died representing the two things he stood for: justice and his family. One would never have been able to get the adventure and the need for action from his soul, but he was always a great father."

Swallowing, the old woman pushed back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes, making them appear glazed as the lower rim of her eyes held small rivers of tears she didn't know she would be able to stop once they started. "Ben was an intelligent and promising child, and from when he was very young, he showed an interest in what his uncle did, learned about the Sith and the Jedi, and also showed a fair bit of aptitude to control the force. Unfortunately, we were not the only ones who saw that."

"What did that have to do with me?" Rey spoke up when it remained silent after that, Leia reminiscing that time of her life and how the pride had turned into fear after discovering the sort of people who had approached her son just a little too late.

Luke Skywalker, seeing the state of his sister, reached for her clasped hands in her lap and squeezed the top one, taking the answering upon himself. "We tried very hard to hold him back, but the First Order had already meddled with his brain so much that it was impossible to get through to him. I think we all still hope but also sort of know that there is something good in him," Luke started, blinking to his sister for confirmation that she felt the same in a small, short nod, "but it is hidden somewhere deep, and we didn't discover how to get to it in time, before he rebelled and chose the First Order over his family, power over control. He was just fourteen when he turned his back to us and wanted nothing more to do with 'the weak who seek to control what is meant to lead to power'. Those were the words he spoke, but they were not his. We knew that with Ben among them, the First Order had gained what they had desperately wanted for years."

A grunt from the corner coming from Chewbacca pulled everyone's attention to him temporarily, and it was clear in the way he had his head cast down and the solemn expression on his face that he remembered the despair from then all too well, and the loss, the fear, the sadness. The General's voice, soft and full of pain from losses then and now, resounded, continuing. "Ben made sure to tell us how much he hated us for having forced him to control his power, the thing that could have made him greater than anyone, and he made threats that implied that the First Order would look for us first. We knew there was truth in them. You were so young and innocent still and couldn't risk anything happening to you. We made for this system first before we decided that your father would bring you to safety. I never saw him again until the two of you popped up again. It is strange how you left together and came back together. I recognized you by feel rather than appearance. You have grown into such beautiful and astounding young woman."

Rey swallowed, not quite knowing how to respond to the words spoken or the love clearly emanating from her mother's eyes, nor the foreign feeling of love she felt herself for the woman sitting across from her right that second. "Why did he never come after me? Or did he?"

"I am not sure if he tried, but I am sure that he tried harder to get to us than to get to his sister," Luke spoke, drawing Rey's attention to him. "I don't believe he ever realized that you could be a danger to him. I think he always made the mistake to think himself supreme to you."

"I am a potential danger to him?"

"Yes," Leia and Luke spoke in unison.

"I doubt he, too, realized who you were until he recognized the force within you. If he doesn't know who you are now, he will discover very soon, with or without help from others in the First Order," Luke spoke. "He won't put up with a sibling, least of all a female, controlling the force with an ease he has never known the same way. He will want to do everything to eviscerate you now. It is the approach towards the force that makes you stronger. You look at it from a control perspective, letting the force use you, while he wants to use the force. Therein lies his biggest mistake - his and the entire First Order's. They don't understand the Force, and I doubt that they ever will."

Nodding slowly, Rey let her mind process the information she had just received. It was quiet for a long time, not even Chewbacca or BB-8 letting their presence be known, which was unusual for both of them. "Were you ever planning to get me back?" Rey whispered.

"As soon as we believed you would be safe, yes," Leia whispered, sincerity lacing her words and the look in your eyes. "You were a conscious decision for us, and you were very welcome. Having to let you go to protect you felt like the only right decision, even if it was harder than most things I've ever had to do or that have ever been forced on me."

The silence was deafening following that statement from the General, Chewie's low miserable grunts barely scraping the surface of the emotional tension that hung in the air between the brought-together family members.

Casting her gaze up and looking from her mother to her uncle, the two saw the girl's face harden with determination, apparently having had enough time to process what had to be processed. Leia's heart ached as it reminded them both of Han Solo. "How do we stop the First Order and get my brother back?"