Jacen was getting angry, too, he had to admit. As much as he liked Kyp, he was still some new kid. He had been trying to figure out how to use the Force on his own for years because Rey refused to train either of her children.
When Jaina told him about her plan to go looking for kyber crystals, however, he insisted on one last intervention. To try and resolve this through communication before going to action. That was what Jedi were supposed to do, right?
He thought of the blue pointy-eared ghost that sometimes appeared in his room at night. He said all sorts of things like that, but in a weird way. Jacen preferred him greatly to the dark withered man that appeared in his dreams.
He forced the thoughts out of his mind and screwed his courage to sticking place as he and Jaina approached Rey's quarters. However, the door was locked, and all viewing portals were turned off. He and Jaina exchanged a look.
Then he heard it. A male voice in there. He couldn't make out what he was saying, but his incredibly single mother had a man in her room.
Thanks for sending me that mental image, Jaina thought at him.
Sorry, can't help it, he thought back, feeling a bit guilty. Maybe we should go—
NO!
Jacen hands clamped his ears, but it couldn't block out the deafening sound inside his head. He admitted to himself that he should've known Jaina would be more stubborn.
I am NOT stubborn!
Sure, Jaya.
I'm NOT!
Are too!
NOT!
Are too!
Before they could continue the argument, the doors to the Last Jedi's quarters, and Rey burst out, fully-clothed— Jacen couldn't thank the Force enough— with no lover in sight.
Jaina saw her moment and pounced. "We need to talk."
"Now," Jacen added, knowing his mother would try to delay the conversation.
Rey sighed. "Alright. Come in."
Jacen and Jaina exchanged a confused glance. They were sure they had heard a man in their mother's room.
But it was still an invitation to talk, and neither of them were going to turn that down.
Jacen and Jaina entered the room, and Rey flicked on the light, sitting down on her perfectly made bed.
"Sit," Rey said.
The two teenagers obeyed.
"Why is Kyp Durron being apprenticed to you when we haven't been apprenticed at all?" Jaina demanded.
"Because Kyp needs to be trained," Rey said. "You two still have some time."
"Then when?" Jacen asked, his voice calm.
"What do you mean?" Rey asked.
"When will we be ready to be Jedi, then?" Jacen asked. "When we're seventeen? Eighteen? Nineteen? Twenty-five?"
Rey sighed again. "When I feel certain you really want this life."
"Of course we do!" Jaina cried. "That's all I've wanted!"
"I remember when you just wanted to be an X-wing pilot," Rey said softly. "And your father was pushed into being a Jedi when he didn't want to and—"
She covered her mouth, and Jacen could sense her guilt. He couldn't help it. He was curious. She so rarely talked about her father. He wondered if he could see a face in her mind—
"No."
Her voice was calm, but he was physically pushed off the bed with the Force from hitting her mental shield so hard.
Jacen got back on the bed, and watched his mother fumble for her words.
"I'm not ready to talk about Ben," Rey said. "But I might. . . I might be able to make a deal with you both."
Jacen and Jaina didn't have to communicate in any way. They both were intrigued and ready to hear whatever it was Rey had to say.
"I'll let you train as Jedi on two conditions," Rey said. "One, you make your own lightsabers, and beat me in a match— working together."
"Deal," Jaina said in a heartbeat.
"Yeah," Jacen said. "There's something else, isn't there?"
"I'll tell you the truth about your father if you can prove that you can keep a secret," Rey said. "I'm going to tell you about a frequency I know, one that will gain you any ally in the galaxy. Leia taught it to me, so I'll teach it to you."
She projected the number in their minds— 218.7
"If you can keep it a secret for at least two weeks, I will tell you who your father is," Rey promised.
Jacen's dark brown eyes widened. "Really?"
Rey nodded, and opened her arms. Both twins crawled over to let their mother embrace them like she did when they were little.
"You are getting older," she admitted. "I'll even take you to a special place."
All the light that his mother brought vanquished the moment the lights went out and he closed and locked his bedroom door. He threw his tunic to the ground and flopped onto the bed. Already, he felt the gnarled fingers reaching his back as he grabbed a blanket to try and shut him out.
"Don't hide from me, little one."
The voice was cold, and sent chills down his spine. There was something undeniably ancient and dark about it.
"Go away," he said, sounding remarkably like a small child.
An evil laugh echoed through the walls, feeling like a hammer against Jacen's skull. His connection to Jaina was closed in this nighttime terror, and he couldn't even reach out to her for solace. He couldn't comfort her.
He lay there, unable to sleep as all sorts of visions and terrors came to torture him. All he could do was wait for the sun to come back, and with it, hope that things would get better.