The Love Of The Dark

3. Carbonite or Death

Three months after they had first met, Belle one afternoon knocked upon the door of the Solo-Organa household with a package in one hand. Ben had opened the door to her and grinned, any negative thoughts vanishing into nothing.

"Belle!"

"Hello, little Solo. Is your mother in?"

The boy gestured a thumb behind him. "She is in her office." A gentle breeze blew through the young woman's waist length hair as the sun became visible through the moving clouds. The light reflected onto the brooch upon Belle's robes, pulling the boy's attention from her eyes, to the trinket. "Why is your bluebell gold?"

Belle also looked down at the golden flower. "Like I said, my mother had gifted it to me, but I didn't want it to die. So, in the middle of the night, I crept down into my master's workshop and melted down some gold. It felt like cheating death."

"Mother said my grandfather tried to cheat death."

"Well, he obviously didn't have enough gold." The two shared a smile until a voice came from behind the boy.

"Ben, who is at the-" Belle remained silent as Leia pulled her son into her embrace and away from the young woman. "You are not-" Belle only raised the package a little higher. "I told him not to send you." The woman spat, her eyes flicking up and down the young woman before her.

Belle blinked and swallowed down the tears as she set the parcel down upon the floor of the home before taking a few steps back and bowing slowly. Leia moved forward and used her foot to move the parcel away from the door before she slammed it, the windows of the little home rattling in their frames.

Belle took a shuddering breath and turned to leave as the woman inside the home turned to her son, her finger pointed sharply in his face. "I told you never to speak to her. She is dangerous. A monster. You must never-"

Before the woman could finish her sentence the door of the home shuddered and exploded, sending splintered pieces over the trio. Belle looked back at Ben and Leia before bolting for Luke.

The man berated her for not staying to help, but both of them knew Leia would rather have been assessed by someone other than the young woman. When Luke did approach his sister and his nephew, the young boy stood apart from his mother completely unharmed, but Leia herself was covered in scratches and splinters from the wood that littered the entryway of her home. Despite Ben's insistence, Leia blamed the young apprentice and begged her brother to remove the monster from their lives.

That night, after a service droid had put Ben to bed, the boy almost immediately clambered out of his window to run barefoot to the temple. The warm wind whipped his dark hair as his eyes watered, his vision blurring and causing him to trip only once as he neared the back entrance of the building.

The boy snuck in through a secret gap he had discovered and used regularly to watch the older jedi training. But this time, instead of a lesson, Ben found only a circle of onlookers as between them stood Luke, an item in his hand. The jedi stood over the girl who kneeled before him, her head hanging in shame as her tears fell directly to the floor beneath her.

Ben crept nearer as Luke berated the girl and eventually the boy saw exactly what his uncle was holding. "You don't deserve any of the kindness you have been shown, you don't deserve the sanctuary of this order, and you don't deserve this braid."

"I didn't do anything." Ben heard the woman beg.

"You attacked my sister and her son. You-"

"No!" Belle's head shot up to look the man in the eyes. "I didn't do it, it wasn't me. Please, master, please don't send me away."

"I am no longer your master." Luke said firmly as he reached for the hilt of his lightsaber. "And I am not sending you away."

As Luke ignited his weapon, Ben wormed his way through the legs of the onlookers and bolted to stand between his uncle and the girl, his feet slapping on the stone as he screamed an inaudible word. Before the saber could strike, Luke halted his swing as Ben stood before him, the boy's cheeks red as his chest rose rapidly.

"You can't kill her." Ben said firmly, his eyes glaring at his uncle. "Mom was being cruel."

"Ben." Luke snarled through gritted teeth. "Move."

"Strike me down too uncle." Luke visibly hesitated, his brows twitching. "Mom called her a monster."

"Ben, she cannot control her feelings, a jedi must-"

"A jedi cannot control everything."

"Ben."

"You cannot kill her. It is not the jedi way."

"I cannot allow her to live. She is too powerful. She-"

"I did it. I exploded the door. Not her. Does that mean you are going to kill me?"

Luke visibly pulled away and turned off the saber. "I could never hurt you, Ben. But she-"

"She didn't do anything."

"She isn't-"

"Why must she die?!"

A quiet voice from behind the boy caused him to turn. "Little Solo, I am not-" Her words halted as blue eyes met green once more. "I have killed people, Ben."

"Well, I forgive you." Ben said boldly, his words causing the young woman to release even more tears. The boy's eyes flicked up to his parents in the crowd, his gaze resting for a moment on his father. "Maybe there is a way that you could go away for a while? Not that I want you to. But when I learn how to be a jedi, I can teach you the ways."

"Little Solo."

"It's okay, I'd happily teach you, and we can be friends."

Belle released a small sob through a smile and resisted the urge to rest her hand on the boy's cheek. "You are so full of heart, Ben."

"Carbonite can keep you as you, and then when I am older, I will find you and wake you up. I'll teach you how to be a jedi."

"I doubt your uncle will allow you to find me."

"But I will!" Ben insisted, moving forward to rest his hands on the young woman's shoulders. "I will find you."

"I hope so little padawan, I really do."

Luke came from behind his nephew to drag the girl up off the floor by her arm as Han came forward to restrain his son. Before Luke could drag the girl from the room, he turned to his nephew, his face dark. "You will be my apprentice and you will behave, or you will never see her again."

Ren snapped from his dream and felt the cold, wet trails of tears on his cheeks. His head whipped around to look at the carbonite frozen woman again and resisted every urge he had to move over to her and touch her face. He choked back a sob before moving into his fresher to seek warmth under the water of his shower, the man unwilling to return to his dreams.