•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE XXVII - WE'LL FIND HER

"I heard you wanted to see me."

Huddled against the wall, Ben lifts his head from his knees to see his uncle. He scrambles to his feet.

"Here I am." Luke spreads his arms.

For so many years, Ben looked for Luke Skywalker, hoping to kill him, wipe out the Jedi.

Did you ever really want to find him?

He's here now, and considering the fact that Anakin hasn't been answering any of Ben's pleas, he's Rey's only hope.

"You need to help Rey," he says, so many unspoken words pulsating in his tone.

"Snoke has her."

He nods. "They took her on Jakku."

"I heard the story you told your mother." Luke steps closer. "A krayt dragon, huh?"

Ben almost smiles.

"I guess you did learn something from me after all."

Flinching, Ben stares at his feet, clad in black boots.

Luke sighs. "I was joking, Ben."

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are." Luke sighs. "Why do you need me to help Rey? Don't you know where Snoke is?"

Ben wraps his arms around himself. "No. Not exactly. He moves-he has a Star Destroyer he trains apprentices on. He'll have taken Rey on that. I can't predict where it is."

"And you think I can?"

"I don't know-you've had more years of training in the Force-I thought-I hoped-"

"Why are you so interested in trying to save Rey?"

"Because she's in this mess because of me. Because I abducted her. It's my fault. I need to-I can't have her blood on my conscience. And she saved my life. At King Prana's. I owe her."

Luke studies his nephew's face, taking in the jagged scar. A sign of how depraved he was, forever. As if people didn't already know.

"Snoke wanted her, not me," Ben adds. "I don't know why. I thought you might, with all your studies at the first temple..."

Luke's face pales.

"You know something!"

"I have suspicions." Luke nods at his side. "Is that why they shot you?"

"Presumably." Ben shrugs. "Hux also hates me, so there's that."

"Snoke sensed you helping Rey."

"I suppose. Yes. He must have." He always noticed the Light... he'd say it was because I was weak, and maybe he was wrong about me. But Ben says none of these things aloud. He doesn't deserve any sympathy and he knows it.

It's tearing me apart. I want to be free of this pain.

To be free of it, he suspects he'll have to walk through the pain, and he's so afraid.

But Luke waits patiently, with a soft look in his eyes, like Ben is a small child who was caught attempting to recalibrate C-3PO again.

"She went with them. She surrendered to them. To save me," he blurts out. It really is entirely my fault.

Luke presses his hand against his brow, absorbing the information.

"She's good," Ben pleads. "She's Light. You know her. She sacrificed herself to keep them from killing me, and I didn't-I know I don't deserve it. I can't leave her with them."

"We won't. We'll find her." Luke lifts his head, reaching out for his nephew, clasping Ben on the shoulder.

Ben takes in the lines crisscrossing his uncle's face, lines embedded so deep they almost resemble scars, the weariness in his brow, the hint of red in his eyes, and knows he's responsible for all of it. "I'm so sorry." It comes out a plea, because he doesn't know what else to say, and it sounds so flimsy, as if four syllables can atone for years of pain and dozens of lives, lives Luke invested in, stolen away.

But Luke nods, even though it can't be easy. "I know."