"She gave you what?" Ben can't believe what his eyes are telling him. No, no, no.
"She said it might help."
"I don't think they'll listen to Kylo Ren," he insists, glaring at his wife as she and Chewie pilot the quadjumper.
"Well, we'll never know until you bloody try. We might not even have other options." Rey's voice catches. "I can't lose Luke and Finn and Poe, Ben."
"You think I can?"
Rey shakes her head. "Ben. I know you're scared. But please."
"I'm scared because there's still darkness in me, Rey! You know that. I can't—if I go back into that mindset—I'm trying to distance myself from it. For Padmé. For my mother. For you."
"Oh yeah, because trying to prove yourself to be exactly what people want you to be has worked really well," Rey snaps. "Try being who you are for a change. And Kylo Ren is part of your history whether you like it or not. Being abandoned is part of mine, and I hate it, but it's there. We're not getting anywhere by pretending it doesn't exist."
Ben closes his eyes.
Like it or not, Padmé will find out.
Chewie snuffles. Evidently he agrees with Rey. Ben's eyes fly open, and he looks at the Wookiee, unable to understand. You'll be looking at me like I'm my father's murderer again.
I'll look like I did that night.
Rey fell in love with you when you still dressed like that. It's just clothing. You were different inside, and that's what mattered.
"Fine," he relents.
Rey leaps up and grabs his hand. "Thank you." It's our best chance for getting everyone out alive. Getting back to Padmé, he hears her thinking.
Ben shrugs out of his vest and shirt, slipping Kylo Ren's dark robes back on. Rey raises her eyebrows as he changes.
"Aren't you supposed to be piloting?"
"You're distracting me," she teases.
Ben finishes and heads over to her. "Aren't you scared?"
Rey bites at the inside of her cheeks. "I'm not particularly thrilled about having to deal with the First Order again."
Chewie growls.
"Thanks."
As they land, Ben clutches his lightsaber. Rey focuses on landing them.
"There's the Falcon," Ben points out.
"I see it." Rey grimaces. They glide to the ground in another small clearing, albeit taking a few trees down with them.
Chewie groans as he stands up, gripping Ben's shoulder and looking at him not as a monster, but as someone he trusts.
I hope this crazy plan actually works.
They don't even make it to the Falcon before tiny stormtroopers swarm them, blasters raised. All three of them raise their hands.
"Who are you?" demands a small boy, blond and freckled.
"Kylo Ren," he says, and he is. He's Ben Solo, but Kylo Ren is a part of him he can't exorcise, not ever.
"What?"
"You're not Kylo Ren," declares a girl. "He's dead."
What is he even supposed to say? "Not quite." Ben spots a downed branch and levitates it. "Now escort us to your leaders."
"You're Kylo Ren," breathes the first boy, eyes wide and jaw hovering open. Not in horror.
In... respect? Awe?
Ben doesn't know if he should feel horrified or relieved, or if he should feel any way at all other than what he does feel, which is a mixture of both.
"Who are they?" the girl asks, nodding to Rey and Chewie.
"My wife, and an old friend," Ben answers. "Take us to your leaders. Now." He strides after the troopers in training, who scuttle to obey. He feels Rey behind him, even though he can't see her. He flexes his hands, looks at the black gloves. They don't fit quite right, not anymore, and yet he's still unnerved that they don't feel even more out of place.
Rey lets out a gasp as they emerge from the forest to see a small girl, hair dark and skin bronze, talking to BB-8 and R2.
"SN-3237!" barks the boy. "What are you up to?"
SN-3237 shrinks. "I was just following orders."
"Whose?"
"Never mind," Ben interjects. "She'll follow Kylo Ren's orders, won't she?" He studies the girl. "Take the droids and take Rey—" He motions to her. "—to the cells where you've kept the Resistance members. Follow her instructions from there."
SN-3237 nods.
Ben glances behind him at Chewie, who nods at him. He trusts me.
Ben just hopes he doesn't get them all killed, because he has no plan, and no ideas.
YOU ARE READING
•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•
Fanfiction*WRITTEN PRE-TROS, POST TLJ* When a ship crashes near the Resistance base, Finn and Poe are shocked to discover Kylo Ren. What does he want? And where is Rey? And as for Kylo, he must decide how much he can trust them with what he knows about Snoke...
