What She's Worth (Reylo)

Chapter 11

Seven. Seven years. That was how long it had been. Yet in all that time, Ben never forgot its face—from the dark, beady, soulless eyes, down to the smallest cracks which branched off from the large scar that seemed to cut the creature's head in half.

He quickly stepped in front of Rey and held the lightsaber before him in a ready stance, both hands tight around the hilt.

"Oh, my dear boy..." The creature shook its malformed head and grinned, the pale, gray skin of its cheeks stretching to reveal tears and holes in its flesh. "Such bravery...such foolishness. Did you really think you could run away from me forever?"

Ben didn't reply. He couldn't trust himself to without stammering. He couldn't even get his hands to stop shaking.

The creature slowly levitated towards him and he backed away on instinct, teeth clenched, sweat forming at his brow. The creature cackled—the first time he'd ever heard it do so—the sound echoing through the darkness, making it seem as though it were everywhere. Ben's knees buckled but he quickly got up to his feet and reached behind him for Rey, only to grasp at air.

He spun around. She was gone.

"Looking for this, my boy?"

Ben turned back to the creature and watched in horror as it opened up its cloak to reveal Rey, who was now wearing the same dark cloak as the monster beside her. Her eyes—those hazel eyes which had looked at him with adoration for so many years—now blazed with fury, almost glowing yellow and red in the darkness.

"Y-You...what have you done to her?!"

"You did this to me, Ben." It wasn't the creature, but Rey who answered, her voice in a hiss and practically laced with poison. "Your darkness has touched me, consumed me, and now this is what you have forced me to become."

"N-no!" Ben shook his head. He was starting to feel sick. He wanted to run to her, to shake her back to her senses but to go near the creature...to go near Rey when she glared at him with such hatred...it was too much. "Rey, this isn't you! That monster, it's controlling you."

She cocked her head and smiled. "Is it?"

Ben's eyes widened. No, no, this couldn't be real. It couldn't. This wasn't Rey. And the creature...it was...acting strange. Less eloquent. More bent on terrorizing rather than manipulation. What was going on?

The world around him suddenly came alive in a blaze of light. He held up an arm to shield himself, blinking hard until his eyes adjusted enough for him to see his uncle, holding a hand in the air, light radiating from his palm and across the surroundings like a protective dome.

"Get Rey and run!" Luke commanded. Ben deactivated his saber and turned every which way, eventually finding Rey behind him. She was back in her padawan robes, but she remained dazed and unblinking. The hatred he had seen earlier was gone, but her expression was still unsettling.

Without another word, Ben scooped her up in his arms and ran for the stairs, taking two steps at a time until he reached the meditation chapel and fell to his knees, gasping for much needed air as he rocked Rey in his arms.

"You're gonna be fine...you're gonna be okay. You're okay, sweetheart. You're okay..." he mumbled as if in prayer, unsure if he was reassuring himself or Rey, one hand stroking her hair as though she was nothing more than an infant.

After several moments, he pulled back to look at her face, relief washing over him when he saw her blink at him with those hazel eyes he had known for all of his years in the academy. He watched the beginnings of a smile form on her face, and he started smiling back until he saw her gaze wander towards something behind him. He wasn't even able to turn and look before Rey's expression evolved into one of sheer fright, her screams so deafening, he let her go in shock.