Kylo Ren burst through his chamber doors.
"Your vessel is ready, Sir," a voice cracked over the comms. The speaker unit on the wall sparked and exploded into flames as he passed.
The bridge doors flew open in front of him just as troopers entered from the entrance on the opposite side of the room. Phasma stood conspicuously by Hux, holding her rifle at ready. Whatever pain she experienced from her burns on Snoke's ship, she never let on. She was always a warrior, always a survivor.
Hux's face matched his flaming red hair, his skin unable to hide his anger and anxiety in that moment.
"Ren, good of you to join us." Hux quipped, feigning indifference.
"You did not have orders to fire on that base!" Kylo Ren shouted, reaching his hand menacingly toward Hux.
Hux tilted his head slightly and in unison the troopers raised their rifles to ready, trained on Kylo Ren. It was obvious that Hux was trembling but he was not giving in.
Hux sighed, still maintaining his act, if not convincingly, "You see, Supreme Leader," his voice dripping with sarcasm, "my objective here is to maintain order in the galaxy and quell any, ill-advised rebellion. Your hesitation cost us the advantage as it was, two groups of rebels escaped and jumped to light speed before we could trace them."
"You had my specific order not to fire on any Resistance bases without my direct approval." Kylo Ren growled.
Phasma's clipped accent sounded tinny as it permeated the vocal modulator of her mask. "Could we focus on the task at hand; the rebels have escaped once again. Send a team down to scan their hardware on the surface, attempt to decode their systems and determine their strategy."
Hux straightened his uniform slightly, as if goading Kylo Ren to strike. Guards emerged from the doors behind Kylo Ren; Hux smiled slightly, his eyes were rimmed in red as he raised one eyebrow slightly, "With your...permission...Supreme Leader."
Rey sat down and took Leia's outstretched hand, their fingers folded around each other's palms. Leia sat; half reclined in the med bay of the Millennium Falcon, dry now and covered in a soft blanket.
Rey glanced behind her, noticing the others had filed out the door quietly.
"My son, Ben," Leia whispered.
Rey nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. She could tell Leia's time was short but there was so much left to say, and ask, and learn.
"Ben needed me and his father," she shook her head. "I never should have sent him away. My work in the Senate seemed so important, and Han always needed to be free to live his own life." Her eyes closed slowly for a moment. "I told myself Luke could help him more than we ever could. I always sensed the confusion in Ben; I thought Luke could help give him direction."
Rey felt any words she could find in her mind completely inadequate, her mouth went dry and she swallowed pensively.
"I tried to turn him back." Rey said, her voice quaking, remembering how she had thought Ben had come back to the light for a few glorious moments while they fought off the Praetorian guards on the Supremacy. She looked down at Leia's hand in hers; he had refused to stop the attack on the Resistance ships. That's when she realized that he was still entrenched in the dark side of the Force.
"It wasn't your fault," Leia met her eyes and gave a consoling smile. "It wasn't Luke's fault or mine...not really. My son is responsible for his own choices, his own fall to the dark side." Leia sighed and nodded, "Snoke may have tempted him, but he chose his path freely. Only he can choose to come back."
Rey bit her quivering lips, "I still see him," she whispered.
Leia nodded, "I know." She took full breath, feeling the air and the Force welling up inside her. "And when you see him again, I want you to tell him something."
Rey started shaking her head as if she could somehow hold back the inevitable, but Leia focused on her eyes, stopping Rey's refusal instantly.
Rey wiped the tears off her cheeks.
"Ok," she nodded, promising with everything inside her to make him listen to her, one more time, even if it was hopeless.
"Your son is dead."
Kylo Ren sat up in bed, the dream of his father dying; sacrificing his life, always drove him to wakefulness.
Kylo had spat those words at his father. Snoke had such a tight grip on him then, he was almost convinced they were true. No one had called him 'Ben Solo' in such a long time. He often felt like that part of him died the night his uncle, Luke, tried to murder him in his sleep. That day on Starkiller Base, he had felt Han, he had known he was there before he had even seen him.
His father, who had loved him. His father who could never bring himself to be present. He who had never found where he belonged himself couldn't offer belonging to anyone.
His mother, Leia was so strong she had never minded. Leia found belonging in her work, she always had. She was strong enough to let Han go. She hated to see him climb aboard the Millennium Falcon, but she managed. Ben, on the other hand, always felt adrift and alone during his father's absences, like his life was a in a random loop and he was always waiting. He waited for his father to come home and then waited for him to leave, but hoped foolishly, that this time he wouldn't
He pushed himself out of bed, it wasn't worth trying to go back to sleep anymore.