•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE LV - ALL I EVER WANTED

"You will hand me your blaster, and return to your work and forget you gave it to me."

Her voice worms its way into Hux's brain, tying his own thoughts and echoing now, in his own voice. "I will hand you my blaster, and I will return to my work and forget I gave it to you," he repeats.

As his fingers close around the weapon, Hux's mind shakes free, and he realizes what he's about to do as his elbow unfurls. He should yank it back, shoot her, keep fighting—

What for?

What's left?

Hux hands over the blaster of his own volition. He'll get another, and he does, on his way to meet with Snoke.

For a moment, he wonders if Snoke will notice, sense somehow, what Hux has done, but the Supreme Leader—Hux scoffs internally at the title—simply tells him to get ready.

"What for?"

"We're going down to Ahch-To."

"Me?" For all of his talk, Hux has never been on a field mission before. It's a deserted planet. Surely it can't be very dangerous.

Coward, sneers his father's voice.

And, maybe this is a sign of Snoke's trust in him. Hux opens his mouth.

You will... forget I gave it to you.

"General?"

"I'll get a ship ready," Hux says.

/////

"You need to revise your plans."

Finn screams. Poe leaps up on top of the seat, and even Luke gasps.

Anakin Skywalker stands in their midst.

"Father," Luke chokes out.

Mother stares at the translucent young man standing in front of the hologram table.

"Grandfather," Ben says. "What—"

"You need to—one of you—" He motions to Luke, to Ben, to Finn. "You need to trap him there. You cannot destroy him by exploding his ship. He'll be protected there. He draws his energy from his own temple, on board."

"There's a what?" Poe asks.

"I never heard of that," Finn says.

"He trained me there," Ben admits, his mind focused on that black, black room.

"So... we can bomb the temple," Poe suggests.

Anakin silences Poe with a glare.

"What are you suggesting?" Luke questions.

"Killing Snoke on Ahch-To."

"I'll do it," Luke volunteers. "Ben, you need to find Rey. She'll want to see you, and Finn—"

"Luke, you can't hold him off on your own," interrupts Mother. Ben watches his grandfather face his daughter, and a soft look comes into Anakin's eyes.

"He won't be alone, Leia. Obi-Wan, Yoda, and I will help him."

"Ghosts can't fight," Leia retorts.

"There are other ways to help," Anakin answers, fingers twitching towards his daughter, but he can't quite lift his hand.

"Are you telling me we're going to have to move faster than we even thought?" Finn demands.

"Yes, that's precisely what I am telling you," Anakin informs him.

"After we get Rey," Ben says, his mind galloping ahead. "And you plant the explosives, Finn, you and I have to head back down to Ahch-To. You know where the TIE-fighters are. We'll meet there. Poe, Mother, you'll have to get Rey aboard the Falcon."

A beat. "Sure thing," Poe says as he and Mother exchange a look Ben doesn't like very much.

"Good," says Anakin.

"Well, I think listening to a phantom is a terrible idea," declares C-3PO.

"Hey!" Lando shouts from the cockpit. "If all this craziness is really what I'm hearing, then we better get moving! Like now!"

Anakin reaches out to his daughter, his hand coming so close to her cheek but not quite touching. He runs it down the outline of her face.

Just like Father, Ben realizes.

"I'm sorry," Anakin says. "For all of it."

"Well," Mother says, lifting her shoulders and with the barest of trembles in her lips. "That's all I ever wanted."