Chapter 8: Departure

I woke with her walls around me
Nothin' in her room but an empty crib

Luke awoke to the bright midday sun shinning in his eyes, something he was surely not used to. On Ahch-To the sun was always hidden behind the clouds that were constantly hovering over the planet, but it was never hard to tell what time it was. He never slept in this late, not when he was a boy on Tatooine, not when he was training to be a Jedi or working for the Resistance. He was growing old and his journey to the little island planet took quite a toll on him.

He got up to get a glass of water and some rations he brought noticing how truly hungry he was. When he finished his small little midday breakfast he headed outside the cabin to find Rey training with his nephew. He stood back and watched, Ben was a good teacher, probably a better teacher for Rey than he was. Luke could feel the light radiating off of Rey and on to Ben, and he could feel the peace Ben had when he was with her, she was his salvation.

Luke stood watching for a good half an hour. When they had moved on to sparing he felt a twinge of fear for his young apprentice, but as he watched he saw how Ben wasn't hurting her but helping her. He would stop he and critique her form and her fighting style, he would show her the best ways to trick her opponent, how to get out of their grasp, and to fight smart and strong; stuff that Luke couldn't do with his old body.

When Kylo noticed the old mans presence his peace went away and a cold facade replaced it. Rey felt a disturbance within B3en and looked over to the hut following the directions his eyes were going. She saw her master standing at the threshold of the cabin before he started to walk over. Ren's unease grew with every step his uncle took, but Luke would never notice, he would never understand his nephew, at least that's what Kylo believed.

"Master," said Rey quietly as she did a slight bow for Luke, which he returned. It took everything Ren could not to scowl at her words. Rey could feel his disgust but chose to ignore it.

"I watched you spar Rey, I would give you pointers but it seems like Ben did a good job at that," spoke Luke. Rey and Kylo stayed quite, her eyes never left Luke, whose eyes never left Ben, who was doing all he could not to look back.

"Thank you master." He nodded back to Rey. "Have you eaten? If not I can get you something."

"Yes I have, thank you Rey."

"Well I'm going to get some water, I'll be right back," Rey said as she took her leave.

"You've grown so tall, you almost look like your father but you have your mothers eyes." Said Luke though he knew his nephew didn't want to here.

"I'm going to get some water," said Kylo, not wanting anything to do with Luke.

"You can't run away from your past, and you can't run away from your family. You think we hated you, you think we didn't care, but you couldn't be more wrong. We cared too much. We were scared of losing you, and not just to the dark side. And we thought we were doing what was best for you, clearly we were wrong." Ren froze after hearing what his uncle had to say. He didn't want to think about his family and the hurt he grew up with, but deep down he knew everything that Luke had just said was true.

"Han was always away with Chewie somewhere in the space because he believed he wasn't good enough to be your dad, but that didn't mean he didn't love you. Leia was trying to make the galaxy a better place for you to grow up in, that's why she was always away with the Resistance. And I was there to watch over you when they couldn't and to train you to be the best you, and I could have done a lot better," Luke paused to take a shaky breathe. "So much had happened and was happening when you were growing up in this dreadful galaxy, we tried to save you from it only to end up hurting you. No matter what happens Ben, we'll always love you."

Kylo stood there not daring to look back at the old man behind him whose eyes were drilling into his back, whose words were cutting his soul and making silent tears fall down his face. The wetness on his face disgusted him, he was Kylo Ren of the Knights of Ren and he doesn't cry. But he knew that man, that monster, was fading away and that Ben Solo was slowly returning.

"She has helped you far better than we could ever had. She is the light that burns away the darkness in your heart. Don't lose her." Said Luke, his voice was a quite whisper upon seeing Rey come back towards them.

"I don't plan on it," said Kylo right before Rey got to their place in the sand.

"I brought you some water," she said holding out a glass to Ren. Thank you, he reached out for the cup ghosting his fingers along Rey's hand before grabbing the drink. A slight blush graced her cheeks making Ben smile and the light in his heart glow.

"Ben if you don't mind I would like to speak with my apprentice," yet again Luke was whisking Ben away for another one of his students. He walked away not looking back at Rey who was now by Luke; as he stepped into the cabin he realized how hungry he was and got some of the rations Luke had brought. He set the water Rey had given him and the food on the small table and sat down. He glared at the food remembering how many times his dad would drop of supplies at Luke's Academy, he only came because it was asked of him not that he wanted to see his son. Then Ren's mind drifted to what Luke had told him; anger, frustration, and sorrow bubbled up and he couldn't think straight, so he just sat there.

Rey watched as Kylo walked away, she didn't like the sight, especially not when she could see exactly what he was thinking and feeling. She turned back to her master whose old eyes had the tiniest bit of concern showing. "Walk with me Rey," Luke said as he started walking without her.

They walked along the coastline for a little while and were quite a distance from the cabin before Luke spoke up, "I was a lot like you when I was younger, I was untrained but I knew I wanted to become a Jedi. Rey you have a lot of potential, you are very strong in many ways, but I don't think I can train you anymore."

"Master-" Luke held up a hand for her to stop.

"I am to old and broken down to continue on training you. I cannot spar with you or train with you in ways I would like to. There is someone I believe you could learn a lot from and who could learn a lot from you." Ben. "Since my nephew has been here he has turned away from the Dark side because of you, it may take a while for him to be fully light but with you it will be possible." Luke stated.

Rey stood there not knowing what to say. She felt like she was going to throw up and she could hardly breath. "I will be going back to the Resistance to work with my sister, and I want you to stay here for as long as you can and continue training with Ben. If you ever need anything you know where to find me," he finished.

"When will you be leaving?" Rey finally was able to speak up, but she could still barely breathe.

"Tonight." She nodded the feeling of losing her breakfast was coming back to her. "Let us go back to the cabin."

Luke felt sorrow over what he had just told her, but he knew this was the right choice. There was not much he could do to train her and he could help more with his sister and the Resistance.

Rey, she heard a faint whisper in her head. I guess you heard all of that, she said back. I'm so sorry, but if you let me train you I will do a better job then he ever could have, he answered. A silent tear rolled down Rey's cheek and she was happy that Luke was walking behind her.

When Rey walked into the cabin Kylo stood up from his chair by the table, Rey could feel the concern flowing off him like a tidal wave, then a great disgust when Luke walked into the room. It's fine, she called out in his mind but the hatred didn't fade away.

Rey walked over to the cabinets with the canteens of water and found one that was almost empty. "I'll be right back," she said, Ren stepped to follow her, she shook her head no and walked out.

"Congratulations you've managed to throw away your best student," Kylo hissed at his uncle.

"I did this for her," Luke said calmly, almost feeling the sting of his nephews words.

"What a wonderful excuse."

"I cannot train her anymore Ben. I am old and not as strong as I once was. I know she will do better under your tutelage. She is very powerful and I believe she will learn more from you than she can from me."

"So many people have let her down, her family, the Rebels, me… but she was really hoping, I was honestly hoping you wouldn't have been next to follow," and just like that he walked out to find Rey.

When he found her she was sitting on the rocks by the little stream. The stormed that had brewed during her walk with Luke had finally spilled over; it was a quite storm but a deadly and horrible one nonetheless.

"Out of all the people why did it have to be him? He was my last chance to find out who I was and maybe where I came from, who my family was. Now I guess I'll never know," a sob racked her body making her shake from head to toe.

Ben got down beside her and held the broken girl before him in his arms; his family had brought him so much pain he hated that it did the same to her, his little light. He kissed her head and held her close, he could feel all the sorrow and pain and anger she was feeling and it made his heart break for her.

"I can train you Rey. I won't try to turn you over to Snoke or to the Dark side, you are to good for that, you are to good for me. But if you let me, I will help you." Ben said to her. He would do anything for his light.

Her crying faded away, but she was still shaking like a leaf in a storm that was her emotions, so he sat with her. When the hurricane within her had faded away she turned her head to face Ben and placed a soft kiss on his cheek, thank you, she whispered in his mind. Anything for you, he answered back.

Hand in hand they walked to the cabin to find Luke piling all the stuff he need back into his tiny ship. Rey's heart sank but she kept walking, she felt a little better feeling Ben's hand intertwined with hers.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Rey asked her old master when they got to his ship.

"No I believe I got it all," he said with a weary smile. "I left many of the rations here, you have food for quite a while. If you need anything Rey, you know where to find me." Luke hopped into his old ship and was off leaving Ben and Rey the only ones on the island again.

They stood there watching Luke and his ship fly off into space. Ren turned to see Rey, her eyes were glossed over with fresh tears that have yet to fallen, she was broken now more than ever. Rey looked over to Ben and he could see the hurt buried deep within her. Come here, he whispered in her head as he held out his arms for her. She rapped her arms around his torso and buried her head in his chest.

She cried. She cried for everything she had lost. But he held her. He held her close to him, so she would know he was hers and she hadn't lost him.

Are you hungry, she asked when she couldn't cry no more and she was able to think straight. He nodded and gave her a small smile. They walked in to the cabin and went into the kitchen grabbing some rations for their little lunch. At the table Rey noticed Ben's shirt soaked in the front by her tears, "Sorry for your shirt," she chuckled trying to make herself fell a little better.

He laughed, he hadn't felt how wet his shirt was, all he could think about was Rey and trying to make her feel better. "Want to go for a swim," Ben blurted out.

"What?" was all Rey could say.

"There's an ocean over there and it might help to take your mind off things."

"Okay," Rey gulped, she didn't tell him she couldn't swim. Ben got up from his seat and took two steps to get to Rey, he held out his hand for her. She grabbed his hand and noticed the smile on his face grew wider and brighter when she did.

When they got to the water Rey froze. "Ben I… I don't know about this; it seems kind of like a bad idea."

"Don't worry it's fine," he said. His eyes were on the ocean, but when he felt how nervous she was his eyes darted to her.

"I can't swim," she whispered looking down at the hole her foot was digging in the sand.

"Well then I'll teach you," he said with a contagious smile on his face.

And he did. She was very scared at first of the big threatening waves but after awhile they weren't so terrible. When she got the hang of it after a couple hours of him helping her, she really like it, she felt like she was flying. He didn't mind how long it took him to help her, seeing her happy was worth everything.

At one of the First Order bases General Hux is still trying to locate the missing Kylo Ren.

"I demand to know where is he!" Hux shouted at the pathetic workers doing nothing. Well let's see how they're going to like what Snoke has in store for them yeah, he thought to himself.

"Sir this might help us," said on of the lower ranking weasels. "I've charted Kylo Ren's ship as far as I could, and it stops at an unknown system. And about 4.7 hours ago an unlicensed ship was seen coming from this planet here."

"Okay, so what," Hux interrupted.

"By the looks of it this ship was built around the time of the Empire right after the Clone Wars. Why would a Rebellion ship that is probably too old to fly go to a deserted planet? Well maybe it's not deserted anymore," finished the not complete waste of a space lieutenant.

Hux, I have heard what you found. Investigate, threatened Snoke. He may not have threatened him exactly but anything he says or does is, you can bet the stars on that.

Authors note: Hello my beautiful readers! Yet again I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, but as always I hoped you like it and please review :)