Hope (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo x Original Character)

The Beginning

14 ABY

Chandrila

A nine-year-old Ben Solo sat on top of a small hill near his house, looking over the beautiful, peaceful landscape of his hometown, Hanna, at twilight. He didn't want to get inside; his mother was too busy organizing an important dinner with for important family that he had no interest in knowing, much less having dinner with. And they would bring their eight-year-old daughter with them. A girl. He was going to have to be polite and treat her well, or else - those were his mother's words. Not to mention the clothes Leia had made him wear: those were formal clothing, she had explained, and the situation asked for formal wear. All he knew was that they were too tight and made it impossible for him to play, much less run. Can this night get any worse? he thought.

"Ben", he heard his mother calling. "Come inside, our guests will be here soon."

He slowly made his way towards home. As he reached the front door he saw the lights of a family-size Landcruiser entering the front yard.

"They're here." Leia said, happily. She looked at her son and fixed his clothes.

"Why are you so happy about it, mom?"

"They are old family friends, dear. And they have just moved here to Hanna, their house is two blocks north from here. General Wedge Antilles is the only Rebellion pilot to survive both Death Star runs. And Iella was also part of the Rebellion as an intelligence operative, and she even performed deep undercover work for months at a time. Now she works at the New Republic Intelligence Service. And their daughter is Force-sensitive, just like you."

Ben was impressed by all of that, but before he could say anything, his mother was already walking towards their guests. The tall man was the first to get out of the Landcruiser, his wife next and then their daughter. Ben was immediately taken by her: long curly brown hair, creamy skin and the bluest eyes he had ever seen - it was as if she was a magnet that pulled him and he, inexplicably, wanted to be pulled to her.

"This is my son, Ben," he heard his mother's voice introducing him. "Son, these are our guests, Wedge and Iella Antilles and this is Sara, their daughter."

"It's nice to meet you all," he quickly looked at the adults and then back at the girl, as if he were afraid that taking his eyes off of Sara would make her disappear. He approached her and reached out his hand. "Hi."

"Hello," Sara replied with a smile, taking his hand for a quick shake.

"Mom said you're Force-sensitive." he blurted as they walked into the house.

"Yes. My mom said the same about you." she observed him closely. "I can sense it in you. You're very strong with the Force."

"How can you tell?" a skeptical Ben replied, stopping to look at her.

"I just feel it. It's like reaching out for something, but with feelings. My dad taught me that."

"He's Force-sensitive too?" Ben asked as they walked into the TV-room.

"No, but he's a great friend of your uncle, Master Skywalker. He's mentioned my powers to your uncle and he has helped dad teach me some things about the Force since."

Ben sat on the sofa and Sara sat beside him. He felt jealous, his own uncle had been helping that girl but not him. She noticed his feelings.

"Hey, you don't have to be jealous, you know. I've heard dad saying that maybe your uncle will begin a new Jedi Praxeum, a new Temple to train new Jedi. I'm certain you'll be the first one to attend."

"That is if my parents let me go. My father is not... well, he doesn't really like this Jedi thing."

"Your mom will let you. My mom said Princess Leia is Force-sensitive too. She will understand that you have to go learn with your uncle."

"Will you go?"

"Of course!" Sara exclaimed. "It would be egoistic not to learn how to use the powers bestowed on us. We can use them to help others."

"We can also use them to make others do what we want."

"That's not exactly the Jedi way of thinking, Ben." she looked at him intensely. "Let me show you something," she sat facing him, and touched his hand; he immediately felt some energy spreading from his hand towards his chest, going into all things around him. "Can you feel it?" she whispered, still looking at him.

"What should I be feeling?" he whispered without really knowing why.

"The Force. Isn't it cool? This was something my dad said Master Skywalker had sent as my First Lesson. It took me days to really feel it all. Meditation helped me a lot."

Jealousy tried to arise again, but Ben was feeling too peaceful and connected to the world to fully have that feeling. He looked at Sara, he could feel the Light inside of her - it washed over him like slow waves caressing a quiet white-sanded beach.

"I can feel something different..." she whispered, closing her eyes and strengthening her grip on his hand. After a minute, she slowly shook her head sideways. Sara let his hand go and opened her beautiful blue eyes. "I saw your conflict. It doesn't make you evil. You were born with it, it's a part of you, there's no need to feel ashamed of it."

"That's not what my mom thinks." he sounded resentful.

Sara looked at him with empathy. And he felt glad that she didn't pity him.

"Kids," Iella Antilles called them from the corridor. "Ah, there you are." she looked at both of them, noticing that something was going on. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes, mom." Sara replied, getting up and walking towards her mother. "Is dinner ready?"

"Yes, Leia asked me to look for you two." she kept on looking from her daughter to Ben.

"So, let's go." Sara said. "I'm starving!"

Iella just nodded and the three walked to the dining room.

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After dinner, the adults sat on sofas in the backyard porch, watching the two kids talking in the distance, sitting at the top of a small hill.

"It looks like those two hit it off." said Wedge.

"Yes. And it's weird... in a good way, of course." said Leia. "Ben doesn't have many friends of his age. But he and Sara are talking like they've known each other for years."

"I think they had some sort of moment earlier, before dinner." Iella said, making her husband and Leia stare at her with questions in his eyes.

"But they're kids." said Leia.

"No, not that kind of moment. Just... as if they had finally met someone whom they have something in common with. Neither of us is Force-sensitive," she looked at her husband, "So Sara has no one that understands how she feels; we try our best but, I know that she misses some kind of camaraderie that we can't give her. I believe that she's found it now." Iella finished with a smile.

"Don't be so hard on yourselves. I'm Force-sensitive and I haven't been able to help Ben." Leia paused, looking at her son in the distance. "He has some... issues with his powers." she sounded insecure. "He feels ashamed sometimes. And I don't think I've been able to help him overcome them."

"Sara has a special gift." Wedge whispered. "Maybe she'll be able to help your son."

"I hope so." Leia whispered, her eyes on the young couple that laughed on the top of the hill.

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Notes:

1. Forgive any grammatical errors, English is not my mother language. And let me know if anything sounds terribly wrong, please.

2. As I am new to the Star Wars world - and it's a HUGE world - I've been checking everything on Wookiepedia, so most chapters will have notes from things I've looked up on that website.

3. On this chapter we saw Wedge and Iella Antilles, they are real Star Wars Canon characters and they can be found on Wookiepedia, I only altered their personal stories a bit to fit my desires.

4. I expect this fanfic to be 14 chapters long (and I have most of it written already). Thanks for reading it and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.