Hey guys!

Just a disclaimer: parts of this chapter are references to the Star Wars comics. Specifically one of the Snoke issues, and then obviously references to the movies.

This is the last chapter I had all written up, but don't worry I have outlines for the chapters to come. I'm hoping I can start writing some more action for you all.

Enjoy!

Ben slowly walked into the cockpit. Rey and Chewie were fidgeting with the controls, preparing for liftoff. Rey in the pilot's seat, and Chewie as co-pilot.

Floods of memories intruded on Ben's mind. For a moment he could see his father in Rey's place. The years spent in this space… he took a moment to breathe. The cockpit was too small. Too small for him, and too small for all the memories and dreams and hopes it contained.

He backed out of the cockpit and into the hallway. He leaned against the worn panels and folded his arms, withdrawing into himself.

Rey must have sensed this as she paused on the controls and walked out to meet Ben.

"Ben… are you alright?" She looked up at him. He was staring off into nothing when he flicked his eyes to look at her. He had a way of unintentionally giving away his inner thoughts this way. It's one reason he used to wear a mask. Rey could see through it though. She could see through him, and into him, no matter what.

"Rey…" he breathed, "How much do you remember about your parents?"

Rey was taken aback by the question. She wrinkled her face in contemplation. There wasn't a lot she remembered about her parents. They left her on Jakku when she was only five years old. Yet, she had waited for them for years. Keeping her appearance the same that whole time, so they would recognize her when they came back to get her.

A lost dream now that she knew the truth…

"I mostly remember missing them… needing them." She kept her eyes on Ben's face with concern on her own. "Why are you asking me this?"

Ben's eyes transitioned to wet glass. He quickly looked away, while bringing his folded arms closer to his body. "I remember my parents. I remember… everything." Ben breathed out "Do you think it's too late for me?" Rey grabbed his arm.

"Too late?" She asked.

"Too late…to need them?" Ben's chin began to tremble subtly, yet Ben held the emotion back.

"You're parents?" said Rey

Ben looked down, and Rey knew. She took his hand. Burying her hand into his tightly folded arms.

"Did you ever stop?" She asked

Ben gripped Rey's hand and stroked it with his thumb. He remained silent, but his mind was loud. He thought of Snoke and his manipulative agenda.

Once, as a way to face his fears, Snoke commanded Ben to murder mirages of his family in a dark side cave on Dagobah. He had succeeded in killing Luke. The anger was still fresh.

…but his parents. He couldn't do it…He'd lied to Snoke and said that he did. At that time he couldn't kill them even when they weren't real. Rey shook him out of his thoughts.

"That night on Ach-to…when you told me to let the past die…" Ben looked up and into Rey's eyes as she spoke. "You weren't saying all of those things only about me were you?"

Ben took a deep breath in and then let it go, composing himself. "I thought if I killed my past…"

"You'd finally stop needing them…" Rey finished

Ben looked out towards the cockpit window. The pain of what he did to his parents twisted his stomach in knots. It boiled his skin and made his eyes sting. Rey could feel it and slowly wrapped herself close to Ben in a firm hug, Ben releasing his tightly bound arms to welcome her into him.

"We'll always need our parents." She whispered "And we will always miss them. That doesn't make you weak… it gives you strength."

Rey's soft voice took Ben's thoughts to his mother. There is not a rebel in this galaxy who obeys General Leia's orders more exactly than her son Ben Solo.

Like the moment he almost shot at the command center of the rebel ship. Leia had sensed him through the force… and he sensed it. He sensed her begging him not to do what he was about to do. It was with motherly love, and a motherly sternness he was so familiar with.

He obeyed.

He obeyed when Leia reached out again, begging for his return. Begging him to forget his futile fight with Rey, and come home… oh the pain of being too late.

He thought letting his parents live was a weakness.

That's what Snoke got him to believe.

But when he killed his father… he had never felt like more of a coward. Too afraid to face his mother. It was even at that moment his father fell off that bridge that he felt his mother's unbearable grief.

He had only 10 years with his parents before he was sent off to train with Luke. 10 years of laughing, crying, yelling, and 10 years full of love.

They hadn't been perfect. But now in Ben's distant memory, they were. The biggest heartache he'd ever felt was the day Luke came to get him. Every day after he's been fighting to be loved and accepted. A useless fight, he now realizes. If only he had come home…maybe this would have never happened. Maybe his parents might still be here.

Now, here he was with Rey. Someone who saw him exactly for what he was, and for what he could be. She accepted him. Not Kylo Ren of course, but Ben Solo.

Ben Solo, whose biggest dream as a kid was to be a pilot like his dad.

Ben rested his chin on Rey's head and brought her closer to him. There was no one in this universe he was more scared of losing at this moment in his life than her.

They embraced for a while before they heard a loud trill from inside the cockpit. It was Chewbacca warning Rey it was time to leave.

Rey took herself away from Ben and looked up at him "The past hurts, and it will hurt for a long time. I find it's better to dwell on the future, and what can be. Your parents have fought the good fight, and now it's your turn." Rey smiled and hurriedly climbed into the cockpit. She ushered Ben to a seat "You better strap yourself in. It's a bumpy ride in the outer rim and the hyperdrive has been having issues."

Ben listened to her and climbed back into the cockpit. Her words were flying around in his head. If anyone brought him strength it was Rey. He strapped himself in behind Chewbacca.

Ben became slightly uncomfortable. He hardly remembered the last time he talked with Chewbacca. He knew conversations between them were long overdue. For now, all he could do was sit back for the ride.

Rey begins activating the drive units, she starts the thrusters and lifts the ship into the air and then up into space. It was time for a whole new adventure.