•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE LXXI - THE DARK SIDE

"Hey," Ben greets his uncle as he enters Luke's sparse room. Not that he expected much in terms of decorations. His uncle dwells in solitude and simplicity.

"What's wrong?" Luke responds, taking a seat in a bare wooden chair.

Ben sits on the edge of the bed, tracing the coverlet. "How did you—"

"You're not subtle, and when you asked to talk, I knew it wasn't going to be about how happy you are." Luke crosses his arms. "Tell me."

"The other night—when Padmé was crying, I took her out so Rey could get some sleep—I took her for a walk like... like—like my father used to do with me." Ben gulps as he watches Luke's face twist in pain.

It will never stop. The wound you caused will bleed forever.

"What am I going to tell her?" he blurts out. "That's what Ackbar asked me. So many people here—they still think I'm a monster. I was. I admit that. But what am I going to tell my daughter? That I murdered her grandfather? Along with—who knows how many other people, innocent people?" He's clenching his fists, and his knuckles ache.

"Ben," Luke sighs, wincing as he climbs to his feet and puts an arm around his nephew. "You're going to tell her the truth, of course."

He shakes his head, sparks flying inside and burning him. "What kind of burden is that for a child, though?"

"One I wish Rey's grandfather had told me," Luke says softly.

Oh. "What did you think? When you found out?" Ben asks, studying his uncle's face.

"Well, I found out the wrong way. From Darth Vader himself, after he sliced off my hand," Luke quips, holding out his cybernetic hand. "In truth, Ben? I was horrified. And then I knew that I loved him. I spent my entire childhood wondering about him, and now that I knew—I couldn't leave him to that fate, the fate Obi-Wan and Yoda were convinced he couldn't escape. He was my father, and I loved him and I hadto believe he loved me, even if there wasn't much evidence for it, because—because the alternative was too damn horrible to think about. It might have been foolish, but it worked out. And in his last moments, he saved me." He grips Ben's hand with his cybernetic one. "When you tell Padmé, she'll have a million questions. She won't like the answers. She'll probably throw it in your face at some point, but you—you love her. Rey loves both of you. And Padmé will love you too, even if she's angry with you, as I'm sure she will be."

Ben bites his lip. He thinks of the conversations he's had with Finn as Finn kneels on the floor, playing with Padmé, the moments Finn's confessed to Rey that he's struggling not to be angry at Luke, even though he knows what happened was not Luke's fault, and finding out Luke is his father is hardly horrifying.

And Rey understands, because abandonment chafes at both of them. And at Ben too, because abandonment comes in more colors and forms that simple absence.

Padmé won't be abandoned. Never. Ben will not send his daughter away, and Rey agrees.

"Should we go to the meeting?" Ben manages at last.

Luke nods, squeezing Ben's shoulder.

The Resistance gathers in a small room with a hologram map—the map of the entire galaxy. BB-8 whirs at Ben as he enters. He glares at the droid, which happily stings him for no good reason.

"Control your droid, cousin," Ben orders Finn as BB-8 slips behind Finn's legs.

"Oh, he's not mine," Finn insists. "He's just my fiancé's."

"Your what?" Rey shrieks, balancing a babbling Padmé on her hip.

Finn winks as Poe flushes, but takes Finn's hand. Ben grins.