When the Time Comes

Chapter Three

She tossed and turned in her bed. Two weeks had passed since they separated, and she hadn't had a restful night since. She had nightmares of him being close enough to grasp, he would reach out to her and she would try to keep him with her. Then in a second, he was ripped away. The last thing she would see was his eyes, longing and sad.

She wondered if he was tormented this way, probably not, he didn't seem to care the last time they were face to face. Starting her physical relationship with him had been the worst decision she had ever made.

She refused to call him Ben anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to call him Kylo Ren either. Instead she used him, his, and he, to refer to him. Saying his given name and his adopted name would hurt to her core.

She felt him reaching out for her every so often, she was so tempted to take down the wall and fall back into his arms, but she remained defiant. She had even mastered keeping him out in her sleep, what little sleep she got.

They were on their way to a hideaway, a planet off the beaten path of the First Order. There, maybe she could truly forget him. Lose herself in her training and the objective to win the war.

Ben POV

He was more feared than ever, probably because he threw himself into his role as the Supreme Leader. Storm troopers ducked away every time they crossed his path, there was not one person left in the galaxy that wasn't afraid of him.

Save for one, but he pushed that out of his mind.

"Hux!" He shouted. The irritating general immediately appeared before him, always lurking nearby to make sure he could fulfill his master's wish without punishment.

"What is our progress?" He demanded.

"We lost them I'm afraid, somewhere around here." Hux pointed at the map of the system they were in.

"Dammit, find them!" Ben shouted in the general's face, who immediately started barking orders.

They were tracking down the rebellion. He was determined to end this, maybe by ending it, his torment would end. She was a weakness he couldn't afford. He would snuff her out and be done with it. Slaughter the rebellion, capture his mother and lock her somewhere for the rest of her days. Somewhere she wouldn't be a martyr but wouldn't be killed either. That was a line even he wouldn't cross, his mother would remain alive. She would not die at his hand.

Rey POV

When they finally arrived she felt better to be in open air and no longer trapped in the metal confines of a ship. She felt like she could stretch out and try to forget the man who had a hold on her.

Until night, when she was left alone. She had been right about forgetting him, but only during the day. At night she was left to her own devices. She beat herself up inside, wondering why it was so hard to forget someone she was supposed to have no connection to. She was sleeping with him, that's all it was. She didn't even linger after, she dressed and severed the connection. It was supposed to be simple, but as a young adult with no prior experiences with this sort of thing, she was starting to realize that maybe it wasn't that simple.

She had been studying the ancient Jedi texts she had stolen without Luke Skywalker's knowledge. Without him here, she was on her own. She knew people looked to her, she was now known across the galaxy as The Last Jedi. Her, a scavenger from Jakku, now bearing the weight of the survival of everyone and the victory in the war. Sometimes it was too much to bear and she was a breath away from letting him back in and losing herself. But she couldn't allow it, it was better to break it off sooner rather than later. The next time they saw each other, he would likely be trying to kill her. That hurt more than anything she had ever felt, and her parents had abandoned her. She could see the truth of it in his mind, he didn't bother to hide it from her.

Everything around her was a ticking time bomb. The end was near, she could feel it. That was the price she paid for being so in tune to the energy around her, she could feel the tension. She wondered how many of the faces she saw would be gone before long. How much time did she have left with Finn or Poe? How much time did she herself have left?

All she could do was train herself the best she could to try to ensure the survival of the rebellion.

It couldn't have been a week after they landed, she was midway through a book of the texts, when people were scattering. She immediately set out to find General Organa. This couldn't be it, he couldn't be here. She wasn't ready.

"General!" She said as she arrived on the ship. They were using it as their base, as this planet hadn't been inhabited for who knows how long.

"They're here." She said, ferociously working at a screen. Whether to leave the planet or mount an attack, she wasn't sure.

No! Rey thought to herself. She wasn't ready, for any of it. If she was captured, she would be brought to him. She was sure no one would be permitted to kill her, the thought of him personally seeing to her death was frightening.

"Rey!" General Organa was trying to get her attention. "Listen to me, go to the commons, we are forming a plan there."

With that, Rey left the room in a hurry. She stopped to grab the lightsaber she had tracked down and been toying with to make it work. She had paid a hefty price for it, everything she had, even though it wasn't working properly. She hoped it wouldn't fail her.

Ben POV

"Supreme Leader, we've found them."

He was elated at the news, the rebellion had been found on some god forsaken planet, uninhabited, until now. They were using it as a base, thinking they were out of the First Order's reach. Well that was about to change.

"Prepare my ship, I will lead the charge. Don't follow until I give the order." He instructed the general, who gave him a nasty look. He knew what Hux was thinking, but he didn't care that he was letting his personal matters interfere. This was something he needed to do.

He mentally prepared himself. He knew what he was facing. He was taking what storm troopers could fit on his ship, and he would personally make sure The Last Jedi was wiped from existence, along with anyone's hope. As he dressed, he continually told himself that he could do this. He needed to. The last thing he had to do was slip on his brand new helmet. This would be the first time he wore it, after he destroyed his last one he had a new one made as quickly as possible.

He steeled himself and reached for the button to open the door to his bedroom. But he stopped. If it came down to it, could he kill her? He couldn't keep her prisoner, there would be a never-ending rescue mission to retrieve their greatest hope.

No, he would have to. He would do it himself, just as he had killed Han Solo.

He marched to his ship and instructed the pilot to take them to the uncharted planet. Under his mask, he didn't have to worry about keeping up a facade for the men at his command. He was able to express his emotions to himself, he was on a roller coaster of them. Fear, rage, concern. And doubt, that he could follow through with what he needed to do.

Minutes later, they landed. The door opened and gave way to a wild scene. Vegetation was everywhere. He wondered if any wildlife occupied the planet. Those weren't his worry, the rebellion ship was a few hundred yards away, but any number of them could be hiding, waiting to launch a surprise attack. He wondered where she was, probably stowed away to be kept safe.

This was it, here and now, everything would end.