Who Ben is Now

Sleep

They had caught me. After years and years of hiding from the First Order and keeping my sensitivity to the force a secret, they had finally caught me.

And I wasn't going down without a fight.

For almost two years I had hidden in the forests of Yavin, desperate to live in isolation so as not to capture attention from the Order or the Resistance. The fight going on between them was so bloody, so deadly that I was desperate not to be a part of it. The force was not very strong in me, but it was indeed present. I did not want to be torn apart by the pull of the light and dark; the constant internal conflict that so often tortured the Sith and Jedi.

And the worst part? I thought that I was going to get away with it. I thought that I was going to be able to hide my abilities during a time in which the few souls left with the force were being sought out by both sides of the fight. It seemed like there was no one in the galaxy that had any idea about the force's presence within me.

But of course, I had forgotten about him.

Ben Solo. The boy that I had spent so much of my early childhood with. The only person that I had ever trusted enough to discuss my affinity of the force with. He had known.

And he had not forgotten.

It must have been very early in the morning when they had arrived, for sunlight had not yet reached through the cracks of the hut that I usually slept in. I had woken up, however, to the sound of a large vessel landing in a clearing several hundred feet away.

Living in hiding for so long had made me easily frightened. In all reality, I had no idea whom it could be that had landed just outside the area I called home. Regardless, a surprise visit by anyone was not welcome, so I quickly sprang from my small cot. Panicked, I grabbed the one weapon I possessed, a slightly dull knife, and exited the hut.

Through the densely scattered trees, I spotted a large ship. Although I could barely see the details of the vehicle, it did not look friendly. I could hear my heartbeat thump in my ears as a strange, loud hissing sound erupted through the woods. Within seconds, a door had opened from the front of the ship. A long, angled piece of metal stretched out to connect the ship's entrance to the ground. What happened next sent shivers down my spine.

I watched, paralyzed with fear, as a brigade of Stormtroopers came marching out. There were quite a few, perhaps forty, and they were all heavily armed. But that was the least of my worries.

After the Stormtroopers had exited the ship, a dark, cloaked figure appeared from behind them. He was dressed completely in black and his face was shrouded by a metallic helmet. For a moment, I thought that I was looking at Darth Vader. However, I quickly reminded myself that said man was long gone.

It was only then, as the terrifying being turned to gaze out at the lush forest, that I thought to run.

I darted in the opposite direction, desperate to escape. The trees seemed to whiz past me as I fled, pushing my legs to their limit.

"The First Order has come for me," I thought.

Suddenly, shots began to fire in my direction. I chanced a look back at my attackers, finding that the troopers were hot on my tail. Desperately, I pushed myself to run faster. Unfortunately though, it seemed that there was not much more speed that I could obtain.

After almost another whole minute of running, I found myself face to face with the river that I usually got my water from. I dropped my knife to the ground.

"Shit," I cursed out loud, knowing that the water was deep. I had never been a good swimmer, but it seemed that crossing the river was my only hope. I pushed all of the fear within me aside, knowing that I had no other choice. With a final breath, I leapt into the water.

My idea had quickly proven to be flawed. The shock of the cold water suddenly surrounding me had been enough to knock the air from my lungs. The water was too blurry to see anything, and I could barely tell down from up. Using the strength I had left, I clawed my way back to the surface, gulping for air when my head finally popped up from the water.

I tried to swim. I really did. But the current was impossibly strong. What had looked like such a calm and gentle river from the surface was actually a powerful beast underneath. I kicked and kicked and moved my arms desperately, attempting to make my way to the other side. But it was too late. Someone else got to me first.

All of the sudden, I could no longer move my limbs to stay afloat. It was as if some invisible monster was holding me in place. I attempted to cry out, but even my lips seemed unable to move. I thought for sure that I was going to sink to the bottom of the river like a heavy anchor, but in actuality, I began to float backwards.

The other side of the river grew farther and farther away as I was pulled right back to the spot that I had jumped in. When I felt the muddy bank of the river against my back, a set of arms pulled me up and hoisted me to the solid ground above.

There, standing above my frozen figure, was the cloaked man from earlier.

He was surrounded by Stormtroopers on all sides, and they all had their weapons pointed straight at me. I could feel the cold and muddy water dripping off of my body and onto the forest floor, but I still could not move to dry myself. It seemed that the cloaked man was using the force to keep me in place.

The man looked down at my shaking form. I wondered what kind of hideous monster was hiding behind that mask. Whatever this being was, his power was causing my body to radiate fear. If I could move myself at all, I would probably have been cowering in terror.

He spoke with a voice that reminded me even more of Vader. His helmet seemed to change his tone to be robotic and low. "TN1815."

Was he speaking in code? I didn't understand. The man did not take his eyes off me, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Stormtrooper approach the man's side.

"Inform General Hux that we have found the girl. Prepare a holding cell for her."

My stomach turned into a queasy pile of mush. They were capturing me. They were taking me on board.

The Stormtrooper obeyed his leader's orders. I watched, terrified and helpless as the masked man brought his other hand up to the side of my head.

"Sleep," he told me.

And I did.

A/N: Hello. :) My name is Alexa and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read the first chapter of my new story. Originally, this had been put up under a different name, but I decided to revise the story and basically start over completely. I'm very satisfied with the layout of this chapter. If you like the work and would like to read more, please please give a comment, send a message, or add the story to your list. It would be much appreciated. :) I plan to update quickly if people like the story, so please let me know. Thanks!