"I heard you wanted to see me."
Huddled against the wall, Ben lifts his head from his knees to see his uncle. He scrambles to his feet.
"Here I am." Luke spreads his arms.
For so many years, Ben looked for Luke Skywalker, hoping to kill him, wipe out the Jedi.
Did you ever really want to find him?
He's here now, and considering the fact that Anakin hasn't been answering any of Ben's pleas, he's Rey's only hope.
"You need to help Rey," he says, so many unspoken words pulsating in his tone.
"Snoke has her."
He nods. "They took her on Jakku."
"I heard the story you told your mother." Luke steps closer. "A krayt dragon, huh?"
Ben almost smiles.
"I guess you did learn something from me after all."
Flinching, Ben stares at his feet, clad in black boots.
Luke sighs. "I was joking, Ben."
"I'm sorry."
"I know you are." Luke sighs. "Why do you need me to help Rey? Don't you know where Snoke is?"
Ben wraps his arms around himself. "No. Not exactly. He moves—he has a Star Destroyer he trains apprentices on. He'll have taken Rey on that. I can't predict where it is."
"And you think I can?"
"I don't know—you've had more years of training in the Force—I thought—I hoped—"
"Why are you so interested in trying to save Rey?"
"Because she's in this mess because of me. Because I abducted her. It's my fault. I need to—I can't have her blood on my conscience. And she saved my life. At King Prana's. I owe her."
Luke studies his nephew's face, taking in the jagged scar. A sign of how depraved he was, forever. As if people didn't already know.
"Snoke wanted her, not me," Ben adds. "I don't know why. I thought you might, with all your studies at the first temple…"
Luke's face pales.
"You know something!"
"I have suspicions." Luke nods at his side. "Is that why they shot you?"
"Presumably." Ben shrugs. "Hux also hates me, so there's that."
"Snoke sensed you helping Rey."
"I suppose. Yes. He must have." He always noticed the Light… he'd say it was because I was weak, and maybe he was wrong about me. But Ben says none of these things aloud. He doesn't deserve any sympathy and he knows it.
It's tearing me apart. I want to be free of this pain.
To be free of it, he suspects he'll have to walk through the pain, and he's so afraid.
But Luke waits patiently, with a soft look in his eyes, like Ben is a small child who was caught attempting to recalibrate C-3PO again.
"She went with them. She surrendered to them. To save me," he blurts out. It really is entirely my fault.
Luke presses his hand against his brow, absorbing the information.
"She's good," Ben pleads. "She's Light. You know her. She sacrificed herself to keep them from killing me, and I didn't—I know I don't deserve it. I can't leave her with them."
"We won't. We'll find her." Luke lifts his head, reaching out for his nephew, clasping Ben on the shoulder.
Ben takes in the lines crisscrossing his uncle's face, lines embedded so deep they almost resemble scars, the weariness in his brow, the hint of red in his eyes, and knows he's responsible for all of it. "I'm so sorry." It comes out a plea, because he doesn't know what else to say, and it sounds so flimsy, as if four syllables can atone for years of pain and dozens of lives, lives Luke invested in, stolen away.
But Luke nods, even though it can't be easy. "I know."
He cannot see daylight from his cell, but Ben can tell when nighttime comes. The footsteps in the hallway vanish, and voices stop calling to each other.
R2 still blips and whirs next to him as he tries to sleep. Ben closes his eyes and, for a moment, think's he's fallen into a dream.
I should have known you'd flee back to your mother and her puny resistance.
Not a dream. Ben sits bolt upright.
Has she forgiven you for killing Han Solo? She might say it, but she really hasn't, and you know it.
How are you in my head? he demands, whipping around to survey every inch of the cell.
I'm nowhere near you. But we two, we're bound by our dark deeds. You don't really think you can ever erase the Dark, do you? You couldn't even erase the Light.
Where's Rey?
With me. She's stubborn.
Where are you?
Aboard my ship. Which you already know. I see—Ben's brain begins to unfurl, and he struggles to block Snoke. Luke Skywalker is no help to you. Do not forget: you chose this. You chose to leave.
Sweat drips down his back. He feels as if an inferno is raging inside his mind. Why her?
You don't expect me to answer, Kylo Ren, and I won't be answering.
He shakes his head wildly. My name is Ben.
Is it now? Snoke laughs. Ben's skull feels as if it's threatening to fly apart and he clutches it. R2 squeaks in concern.
I do have important news for you. About Rey.
Don't hurt her, he pleads, breath coming in quick gasps.
I won't. Not yet. I'll even let you see her.
The pain in his head explodes, and Ben drops to the floor, but he sees her, he sees Rey, clutching a bucket and vomiting.
She's sick!
Because of you, Snoke taunts.
R2 bleeps hysterically, zooming towards the cell door and tapping out some kind of signal.
Snoke laughs again. She's pregnant, Kylo Ren.
And then Snoke vanishes, and he has his mind back, but it doesn't matter because his own mind takes Snoke's last statement and replays it over and over. She's pregnant, Kylo Ren. She's pregnant.
Rey is pregnant.
With my child.
What have I done?
Ben can only imagine the plans Snoke has for Rey, for their baby. It's what you are made of. The Dark, and the Light. He shakes his head. He can't… he can't… This can't happen. He should never have touched Rey, let her touch him… but he did, and he loves her, and fear like he's never known grips him.
A child?
He can't be a father. He has no idea how. Does Rey know how to be a mother? She can't. And yet it's happening, and because of him, Snoke's hold over both of them has tightened.
What have I done?
I'm so sorry, Rey, he cries in his mind even though he knows Snoke won't let her hear it. I'm so sorry. Does she blame him, is she furious at him for putting her in this position?
Ben imagines his mother's reaction, Luke's. Now when he finally has the chance to make things right, he's screwed everything up. Again. For Rey… for the Resistance, even, because Snoke is ecstatic, this he knows.
And for his child
For the first time, he wonders what the parents of the stormtroopers Hux took from birth feel when their children are stolen from them and bred to slaughter and be slaughtered for the First Order.
Not my child. He can't let that happen. His father's grandchild… grandson, or granddaughter…
I'm so sorry, Rey.
He punches himself, punches and kicks the cot. R2 shrieks.
Ben whirls around. "R2," he pleads. "I need to talk to my mother. And Luke. Right now."
"Sorry to wake you up, General—R2 said it was urgent—" Poe hurries along after them.
"What did you see?" Leia barks.
"Ren was sleeping, or so it looked like, then he like got up and fell to the floor, and then he started punching and kicking things," Finn supplies.
"What he said," Poe confirms.
"Oh, dear!" C-3PO follows. BB-8 blips. "Yes, I can come, BB-8, if you can! It's unfair to say otherwise! I look more human than you do anyways!"
Leia and Luke rush down the stairs. Poe taps his blaster, exchanging a glance with Finn.
"Game over?" Finn suggests.
"We'll find out." Poe punches in the code, and they all troop inside. Ren paces, dragging his hand through his hand so hard strands cling to his hand when he pulls his it away. With his face covered in sweat, his scar sharp against his pallid skin, Poe's never seen him look more disheveled. Even when he needed treatment for that infected blaster wound.
"Ben, what's going on?" Leia cries.
"Snoke."
"What about him?" Finn demands.
Ren—Ben—hesitates, as if trying to force words out of his mouth. "He was—in my head."
"Oh dear!" C-3PO laments.
Poe remembers when Kylo Ren ravaged his own mind, tearing through to find the information he wanted. He glances down at BB-8 and remembers his betrayal of the Resistance. At this man's hands. "What did you give him?"
Ben shakes his head. "Nothing! He—he wasn't looking for very much."
"What about Rey?" cuts in Finn. BB-8 whirs.
"He let me see her." Ben's jaw works as if he's deciding what to say. Well, he'd better decide soon, because Poe is sick of waiting and sick of watching Finn's face melt in terror. "She's… okay. For now."
"Is he hurting her?" Luke asks.
"Not physically," Ben mutters.
Leia grips her son's arm. "Meaning—"
"He'll play mental games with her." Ben hesitates again, as if he wants to say something else, but can't. His face is ravaged with even more fear than Finn's.
"Shit." Poe watches R2 bleep sadly.
Ben swallows. "If Snoke can get in my head, he might try again—he might—"
"So killing him is our safest option?" Finn whispers to Poe. No one hears the comment except BB-8, who nods its head, but Ben still glances at both of them. Poe scowls.
"We'll be careful," Leia says. "Could you sense anything about where he is?"
Ben shakes his head. "Not this time."
"Next time, though," Luke says quietly. "If he comes again, you must try to push back."
"Against Snoke?" Ben's eyes are wide. "I will try. But it's practically impossible."
"So, wait," Finn says. "If he can push into your mind from somewhere across the galaxy, can't you push into his mind? Like right now?"
"That's not how the Force works!" Ben snaps.
"How would I know?" Finn throws up his hands.
Ben frowns at Finn like he's studying him, and Poe does not like it. "If you try anything—"
"I'm not! I'm telling you Snoke's communicating with me! I don't want to hide anything!"
Something clouds Leia's face. "Ben, we know." She takes her son in her arms, and Poe's heart aches for his own parents, long dead.
"I'm such a—I'm such a—"
Murderer? Liar? Egomaniac? Poe could have supplied a whole list, but Ben can't finish, and despite himself, Poe's starting to feel sympathy for him and he doesn't quite know why.
"This is all my fault."
"We can make it right," Poe says. "We'll find her."
Ben laughs. "We can't."
"Yes, we can," Luke soothes.
Ben shakes his head. "Snoke is far more powerful than any of us. He'll only let me into his mind if he wants me there, or if I can push into it when he's already there."
"Ben, do you and Rey have a connection?" Luke inquires. "Through the Force?"
Ben flinches. "I don't know. Maybe. I think so. But if we do, Snoke's not letting me access her. Believe me, I've tried."
Finn presses his lips together. Clearly, he's not liking the way Ben talks about Rey. Poe's suspicions rise as well.
When they troop out of the cell, Chewie is waiting for them. He roars.
"It's all right, Chewie. We think," Poe says.
"He saw Rey. She's alive," Finn adds.
Chewie nods, staring at the closed door.
"He's keeping something from us, isn't he?" Leia asks Luke. Poe stops and stares. It's what he suspected too, but he doesn't say it.
"He was telling the truth," Luke replies. "But yes. There's something he isn't telling us—from shame or fear, I can't tell what."
Rey hears the door sliding open, but she doesn't look up. She doesn't want to see Snoke, or that smug, priggish general Hux. She stays curled up on her cot, arms wrapped around her stomach. Protecting Ben's child. Her child.
She still can't quite believe it. Herself, a mother? Ben, a father? The notion of Snoke doing to her child what he did to Ben—turning him against his family—adds ripples to the waves of nausea already surging within her.
Would it be better to lose the child? Should she hope for that?
She can't. She's so scared, and yet she can't wish it away.
Snoke told Ben last night, she knows. Is he happy? Is he scared? She hopes it's a bit of both.
"I have water for you, and food," Captain Phasma says in her robotic voice.
"I don't want anything."
"Don't want or can't have?" The robotic edge melts slightly. Rey peers up at the mask.
"Can't."
"If you have some of the wafers, they might help the nausea," suggests the Captain.
Rey frowns, hands still splayed over her abdomen. She can't feel any signs of a baby except this pulsating nausea. "Have you been pregnant before?"
"No. But my mother had many children. I was the eldest."
"I'll try them."
Phasma hands her the plate. Rey grabs the blue wafers and forces them into her mouth, chewing slowly.
"Do you get to see your family?" Rey asks, even though she suspects the answer.
"No. I hear they are well, though."
Well, that's more than Rey would have guessed. "Do you usually serve Snoke so closely?"
Phasma straightens to her full impressive height. "The Supreme Leader requested his best troops to guard you."
"I'm not flattered." Rey snatches another wafer.
Phasma turns and leaves.
"You were in there a peculiarly long time," Hux observes as Phasma marches back to the control room.
"The girl is ill."
Hux snickers. "Because she's carrying Ren's brat."
"Try and control your glee, sir. It's showing."
"Well, forgive me if I'm relieved the Supreme Leader has finally seen through Ren. If trying to save the girl wasn't enough, knocking her up certainly should be."
Phasma stares through her mask at the stars. She waits, her irritation with this insufferable man growing with every moment. Hux has no loyalty to anyone besides Snoke and the First Order—and even then, Phasma wonders if he's not seeking to use it for his own purposes. Not that Kylo Ren was any better.
She, at least, understands loyalty. To her troops, if nothing else. She remembers that stormtrooper who deserted—FN-2187—with a pang.
I'm in charge now, Phasma! I'm in charge!
She's felt oddly proud of him in that moment. Furious, terrified off his Wookiee henchman, but proud in an almost motherly sense.
Hux begins. "Do you know how many years I've been waiting for the Supreme Leader to realize what Ren is? He's a liability. He always has been. His fits of rages, his personal agendas, his inability to think things through—" Hux sucks in his breath. "And now the Supreme Leader knows. Kylo Ren will never be my problem again."
Phasma has no love for Kylo Ren, but she knows his loss weakens the First Order far more than his temper tantrums and impulsivity ever did. "Will he?"
Hux glances at her. "What do you mean?"
Phasma watches worlds fly by, some tinted white like stars, some gleaming with hints of blue and others sparking with hints of orange. "Why do you think Snoke is keeping the girl?"
"To replace Ren. When she comes around, she may be better."
"When?" Phasma drags herself away from the window. "You're planning on using your brainwashing. On her."
"The Supreme Leader has entrusted me with that task, yes."
"While she's pregnant."
"While she's—it's not going to cause her to lose the child! I will be careful in my selections, Captain Phasma, and you'd do well to remember that my ranking is above yours!"
"Apologies, sir." She resumes watching the planets and stars. "I do wonder, though."
Hux huffs. "What?"
"Why have one Force user, or two, when you could have three? Potentially one who's spent more time with the Resistance?"
"If you're suggesting Kylo Ren is on some kind of undercover mission with them, you're wrong."
"I'm not suggesting that at all. He betrayed us. But the Supreme Leader is wise. If he can persuade Ren to return—promise him something, like the girl, the child—wouldn't it make sense to do that? If he—if you—can turn the girl, surely she can turn Ren back as well?" Phasma suspects that's not the Supreme Leader's plan in any sense, but if she can get under Hux's arrogant skin, she will.
Hux says nothing, but Phasma sees the color flashing in his cheeks. Under her helmet, she smiles.