"Master Luke!" yelps C-3PO. "He's back! Oh, R2!"
R2 blips and hums, glancing at Ben, who nods.
They leave the cell that Ben's been confined to ever since the brawl—a month ago now. Mother, Lando, Chewie, and the droids at the only ones who visit him now. Poe hasn't come, not that Ben expected him to, and Finn hasn't come either, not even to seek answers.
Ben's not surprised, though, when Chewie and Lando show up within the hour. "Luke and Maz want to see you," Lando informs him.
Ben sighs.
Sure enough, Luke greets him with folded arms and a deep scowl.
"I'm sorry," Ben says.
"Give the child a break, Luke," the small orange creature Ben vaguely remembers from one of his father's trips on the Millennium Falcon interjects.
"Hmph." Luke leans against the wall, and Ben notices his mother perched on a bench, next to Finn, who won't look at him, and Poe, who glowers at him.
"Have a seat," Mother invites him. Lando guides him to a bench that faces the others.
"I am sorry to tell you I have no news of the girl," Maz says. "But all of my contacts are on the lookout for any signs of the First Order. I should expect to hear from them soon. Or else I'll send my boyfriend after them." She jostles Chewie with her elbow.
Ben wrinkles his nose.
Maz removes her goggles and peers at Ben, creeping closer. Ben jerks back.
"Oh, that's not good," Finn crows. "She did that to me once, too—"
"Ah," Maz says softly. "I see it now. Why you tried to run."
"I was trying to save Rey."
She nods. "It's what Han would have done."
Ben gulps.
"Shouldn't you tell them?" Maz asks. "Just what are you waiting for? Why are you keeping it all to yourself?"
Shit. Shit, shit, shit. "What are you talking about?" he asks weakly.
Maz puts her hands on her hips. "They all know you're keeping something from them. Despite what you think, you're not an accomplished liar, Ben Solo. Manipulation, yes, you're skilled at that only because you're so complicated. But I can see you. I see your eyes. I've seen that look thousands of times over."
"You can tell that I'm hiding something just by looking at my eyes?" Ben demands.
"I can tell what you're hiding—or should I say, who—by the Force. But in your eyes: you're afraid. Not just for yourself, although that's there." Maz purses her lips. The room is dimly lit, and yet Ben can tell every single person in the room, every droid, is watching him. "Child, when are you going to stop being afraid?"
He shakes his head.
"This is not something you should be ashamed of," Maz informs him.
"That's easy for you to say," Ben retorts.
"Quit stalling, Solo."
He's really going to have to do it. There's no way he'll be able to refuse now. Chewie's massive hand comes to rest on Ben's hair as if to say, you're not alone.
Ben presses his fists against his side, probing, and then enlists them to cover his face as he leans over, his voice coming out a muffled whisper. "Rey's pregnant."
For a moment he wonders if anyone heard.
"What?" Luke asks.
No one else speaks. Good grief, does he have to say it again?
"Did you—" C-3PO begins tentatively. "Did you say Rey's pregnant?"
He nods. "She's pregnant."
"And… you're the father," Luke states.
"Yes."
"Oh my!" C-3PO gasps.
"What the—" Poe starts to yell.
"I love her!" Ben's hands fly away from his face as he stares at Poe. "I love her."
BB-8 blips wildly. R2 purrs. Well, at least they seem excited.
"And she loves you." Poe sounds dubious. Lando's expression is mildly amused. Mother just looks stunned.
Ben shakes his head. "Heaven knows why."
"Yeah, how many other girls have you told that to?" Poe snaps.
"None! There's never been anyone, aside from her! I love her!"
Finn rushes at Ben, slamming his fist into Ben's face. Chewie roars and pushes Finn to the floor.
"Finn, that won't help anything," Mother says.
"Snoke wants your kid!" Finn yells. "He does, doesn't he? Far more than he wants her, or you!"
Ben nods.
"This is kind of important information, Ben," Luke snaps.
"I can't—I couldn't—I didn't want you to think—she's training to be a Jedi. It's her destiny. When she has the baby, I'll disappear if necessary. I won't stand in her way. I—"
"You should have just told us!" Luke shouts.
"Agreed," Poe says.
"How far along is Rey?" Mother asks, her voice the only calm one in the room.
"Seven—seven and a half months. I think. Snoke's taunting me, sending me images of her—he knows that I love her and she loves me. That's why I tried to go—he says he'll let her die if she doesn't turn to the Dark Side, he'll take our child and raise him—or her—"
"There is no way we're letting that happen," Finn puts in. "Right?"
"Right," Lando says.
"Right."
"Right."
"Right."
"Right."
"Right," sighs C-3PO. The other two droids bleep. Chewie roars, and their support overwhelms Ben.
"So," Poe says. "Who kissed who first?"
Ben curls his lip up in disgust. Poe returns his look, unabashed, until a grin spreads across his face. "She kissed you?"
"I'm not discussing this." Ben's face burns.
"Okay," Luke breathes. "Okay."
"That does put a time limit on us," Mother says. "Especially if Luke's theory is true."
"What theory?" Ben asks.
"Snoke only wants one Force user. He wanted Rey instead of you. When she has the child, he'll want the baby instead of her," Luke says.
It was a trap, Ben realizes.
"We'll hear soon. I know it," Maz says confidently.
Maybe it's the fact that his secret is finally out, or maybe it's because Ben distinctly sees a twinkle of joy in Mother's eyes, or maybe it's because it's actually true, but Ben feels something, too. Hope. It gives him courage—not the nihilistic kind Snoke's offer held out before him, but the real kind, the kind that drove Han Solo, that drives Rey, Luke, and Mother.
"There's something else we have to talk about," Ben says quietly, nodding at Finn.
Finn stares blankly at him. "What?"
"During the fight. You called for the lightsaber, and it came to you."
"No," Finn insists, shaking his head. "You sent it into my hand."
"No," Ben says. "I didn't."
Every head in the room swivels to look at Finn now.
Finn chortles. "You know I can't use the Force, Ben."
"I know you can," Ben counters. "The lightsaber wouldn't have answered your call otherwise."
"But you've seen how hopeless I am at lessons."
"I feel your energy," Ben insists. He does. Hidden at first, the more practice Finn's had, the more he feels the thrum of the Force in his friend.
Maz peers at Finn.
"Stop it," Finn snaps.
"You have the Force?" whispers Poe. "Man, do I have it?"
"Sorry," Ben says. "No."
Poe shrugs. "Seriously, though, Finn, why is that so hard to believe? You're the first stormtrooper who ever escaped the First Order. Who ever tried to leave. Maybe the Force was guiding you."
"I think you have a new pupil," Ben tells Luke, who nods, studying Finn as if he's seeing him for the first time.
"The disturbance in the Force," Luke says to his sister. "Now I know what it is."
"The child?" Leia asks.
"Think about it, Leia. Snoke's got a veritable—he thinks this child is the answer to his problems with continually training Force users, only to have them disappoint or wear out their use. If he takes the child and raises him, or her—the child will have the blood of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padmé Amidala, Leia Organa, Han Solo… Snoke was obsessed with Ben because of his heritage. Think how obsessed he must be with this child."
It's like Ben all over again, Leia thinks. When she was pregnant, she knew. She knew Snoke was after Ben, and for all her attempts to protect him, she failed.
"The child's even more perfect than Ben was," Luke whispers. "The bloodline… Snoke wants to create a grey Jedi, Leia. Because he still thinks they can exist. He doesn't understand that the Dark Side refuses to coexist with the Light. The Light can acknowledge the Dark, but can't work with it."
So the child is destined to fail, too, Leia realizes.
No. She will not let it happen. Not to her grandchild. She's seen the suffering wrought upon her son, and it's too much.
"I spoke to many ghosts in the temple," Luke confesses. "All of whom told me what they could, which is limited. They prefer to let me figure things out."
"Well, that's worked well," Leia says sarcastically.
"Yes, but they did reveal that Snoke is obsessed with mastering the Force. Conquering it. He himself is so consumed by the Dark Side that he's weakened. He needed Ben, until he found out Rey existed. I suspect his whole plan was to pit them against each other and see which one was stronger, but when he realized Rey helped guide Ben back to the Light, he realized it was her and wanted her… but I don't know why he wanted Ben back, then."
"To kill him," Leia supplies. "Snoke doesn't want his trainee living free."
Luke nods. "My guess is he plans to use Rey until the child is old enough to be powerful on their own…"
He'll probably have the child kill Rey, Leia thinks in disgust.
No. Maz will help them find Rey. And Leia's grandchild.
Look at you. Delivering food trays to a prisoner. The rank of General, reduced to servant.
Go away, Hux barks at—at himself? His father? Snoke? Who knows. Does it even matter?
The truth is that Hux doesn't have to bring Rey her meals. He opts to, for reasons he can't explain, and that pisses him off, because he can't explain it and Hux at the very least has always been able to explain his own actions.
How he'd loved ordering Phasma to do it at first. A low duty for the lofty officer whose barbs about his inadequacy always struck Hux harder than he pretended. He should have realized the woman would fall under Rey's spell, though. She cared enough to personally memorize the numbers of every individual stormtrooper. She cared, and that was dangerous.
Don't you care, now?
Hux kicks at the door as it opens. "Here," he snarls.
"What's put you in such a mood?" Rey asks. As if she cares.
Stop! Stop! Everyone stop caring!
You're losing it, teases his father. You're going mad. Soon Snoke will see…
"Nothing," Hux says. "Nothing at all, except your perpetual stubbornness and refusal to—"
"Tell Snoke I'll try to learn. After the baby. Not before."
The words are so unexpected Hux slumps. No. Strand up straight. Make me proud, boy, dammit! "You're going to learn the Dark Side?"
"I'll try," she repeats. Her eyes are rimmed with red, but she's not going to cry. Not in front of him, because she's impossibly strong and Hux hates her for it.
Why?
The Supreme Leader will be so pleased—he'll believe you've done it—
Why?
"Why?" he demands.
"I don't want to leave my child in that creature's hands," she snaps.
Hux deflates. "So you don't really believe in the First Order. You don't really want to learn the Dark Side."
"Of course not."
"But you will anyways." To save your child.
She'll come to believe in it, he reassures himself. Once Snoke's ensnared her. It will work.
But she's looking at him with such disgust Hux doesn't know if he believes that. For Hux's entire life, he's been guided by principle, by discipline—all values thrust upon him with his father's whip-like tongue and iron fist. And this girl, who believes as righteously in her cause as he does in his, is going to break her principles to save her child. Unless she's playing him, which Hux can't rule out.
How weak. How pathetic. It should confirm everything Hux believes about the Resistance—compassion will be their undoing.
Except, it doesn't.
Because Hux finds himself comparing Rey to his mother, to his father. When did they ever sacrifice anything for him?
They were devoted to their cause!
He's always thought it a strength, that they put their work above everything else, even him.
No, you didn't. You despised him for it. You still despise him for it. Him, and her.
"What if you're lying?" Hux asks, grasping at any possibility he can.
"I'll tell you the location of the first Jedi temple. That should be enough to convince Snoke." She pauses.
He folds his arms. "By all means, keep me waiting."
"Ahch-To."
Hux storms out of the room without another word. He needs to report this to Snoke. Immediately. The Supreme Leader will be pleased. And maybe reconsider how expendable he thinks Hux to be.
What if it makes you even more expendable?
He won't need you.
Yes, he will. I can turn anyone now.
But you never convinced her. Love for her child convinced her. If even, because Hux still isn't entirely sure she isn't tricking him.
Weakness.
Or not.
Because Hux realizes that he has no idea what love even is. How can he hope to understand, to control it then? Is it something he even wants to control?
Snoke thanks him for the news, but offers no praise. Hux bristles.
I am expendable. Simply because I don't have the Force. It doesn't matter what else I have. None of it will ever be enough.
"See to it that we move closer to Ahch-To," Snoke orders. "We will crush the temple, and then Luke Skywalker will know that Rey is ours."
Hux goes to the control panel and punches in the coordinates, his hands stalling over the encryption key.
What are you doing?
Go to hell, he snarls at his father's voice.
The coordinates fly out among the stars, speeding their way to the other Star Destroyers in their fleet, minus the encryption.
"It's good that you told them."
Muscles aching after his morning spent training with Finn—or, giving Finn the opportunity to take our any pent-up fury on him—Ben searches his cell for the ghost.
His grandfather, young and whole, without a mask, sits on the floor.
"Are you going to disappear again?" Ben demands.
"Not unless your mother comes."
"Why are you so afraid of her?" It's strange to consider, Darth Vader being afraid.
Anakin smiles. "I'm not afraid, Ben. I don't know if she'd want to see me. I tortured her. I destroyed her people."
"I thought she could never forgive me for what I did," Ben admits, cautiously lowering himself to the floor. His heart pangs as he remembers. "I did—what you couldn't even do."
Anakin sighs. "That's debatable. I thought I'd killed my wife for years, decades. That guilt was enough to teach me that I could never do it again. Not to my son."
"Padmé?"
"You and Rey remind me of her and me. Though hopefully you will have a happier ending, for both of you, and for your child." Anakin scowls at him. "It's a good thing that admiral, the red one, noticed your starfighter escape. I understand your spirit. It was a noble sentiment. But going to the Dark Side to save someone—it doesn't work. At least, it didn't for me."
Ben stares at him. "You tipped them off."
"I only needed to draw their attention to their radar screen for them to notice you running towards the starfighter."
Ben presses his hands against his face. "I don't understand. If you've always been there—pulling me towards the Light—why did I feel empowered in the Dark Side after calling to you on the Finalizer?"
"Snoke," Anakin says simply. "Your former master is quite skilled in deception."
"Where is Rey? You can travel the galaxy. Where is she?" It's been almost a month since Maz's appearance, and time is steadily running out.
"In a place neither Obi-Wan nor myself are familiar with. Apparently. We cannot travel to places we do not know the location of. Believe me, grandson—we've been looking for her. And we will find her. I won't let the Dark Side do to you and Rey what it did to me and Padmé."
So many questions swirl in his mind. "If you've been there—why haven't you revealed yourself before?"
"Because you were always appealing to Darth Vader, not to Anakin Skywalker. You were not ready to accept my help." Ben doesn't know if a ghost's eyes can flash, but if they can, Anakin's definitely do, and he sees traces of the commanding man that must have been Darth Vader.
"Ben!" Finn shouts from behind the door. "Why does this thing take so long to open?"
Anakin nods at his grandson. "I'll see you soon." He disappears as Finn bursts into the room.
"We know where Rey is!"