Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

8| The Past Lives On

Aboard the Millennium Falcon, the Resistance waited patiently for Maz's ship to arrive. They hoped that she would come soon, they were running dangerously low on fuel and supplies.

Rey was in the small room alone, looking through the window, out at the starry space that surrounded the Millennium Falcon. Suddenly, she felt a tremor in the Force. She grabbed her ray gun, then she turned quickly to see Kylo standing behind her. She slowly put the ray gun down, knowing that if she fired it, it would do nothing but go through him and blast a hole in the Millennium Falcon. That would certainly do the Resistance no good.

She had learnt that fighting was pointless during their Force connections. She could just ignore him, but she didn't want to. She wanted to understand him. She had questions, and he was the only one who could answer them.

"Hello, Ben," she said.

"Hello, Rey," he replied.

"You were going to tell me why you want me to let the past die?" she asked. She had been curious about it since their last Force connection had been interrupted.

"Yes," he replied. "I told you to let the past die because when I looked into your mind, for the map to Skywalker, the only thing I saw of your past was pain. I didn't want you to keep holding on to that. As I told you after we fought the praetorian guards: when we touched hands, I saw your past. But I didn't just see your past, I saw the pain that your past caused you, the pain it still causes you."

Rey opened her mouth to speak, but he continued before she had the chance. "Don't bother denying it, Rey. I can see the pain in your eyes. I know it too well. My past has caused me nothing but pain. The only way to get rid of the pain is to forget the past, let it die, kill it if you must."

"You can't kill the past, Ben. It's a part of us," she answered.

"Ben Solo is dead," he heard a deep voice in his head. "Don't let her fool you."

"I have killed my past, I have killed Ben Solo," he said before he could stop himself. He didn't want to say it, not to her, but he had become so accustomed to saying it that he just said it out of habit.

"You and I both know that's not true," she answered gently.

He was surprised that she didn't react with fear this time, but with something else. It almost seemed like compassion, but he wouldn't dare to believe that she would have compassion for someone as terrible as himself.

Kylo looked down, trying to hide his emotions from her.

"I have," he insisted.

"No, you haven't," she answered, in stern yet kind voice.

He wasn't used to her, or anyone speaking to him in such a kind way. As much as her harsh words had pierced, her kindness stung him in a different way. It filled him with a deep guilt. He didn't deserve her kindness.

"You say that you've killed your past, but you live in fear of not becoming like your grandfather. You are holding on to the anger that your past has caused," she said. "And killing your past only makes it worse."

He looked down. He didn't know how to respond, she's right he realized. He was still holding on to his past, in his own way.

She stepped towards him. "Ben," she spoke quietly.

He looked at her, hearing her speak his name.

"The only way the pain will go away is to learn from the past, to accept it, and to hope for the future," she said.

"What hope is there?" he asked.

"You saw the past, but I saw the future," she said. "I saw the hope it holds."

He looked into her hazel eyes and saw the hope in them.

"Not just for me, but for you too Ben," she said.

"But I cannot see any hope...not for me...not anymore."

"Ben, hope is like the sun," she quoted Leia. "If you only believe in it when you see it..."

"How will you get through the night?" he finished.

Rey gave him a puzzled look.

"My mother used to say that to me," he explained, with a sad smile.

Rey smiled. "She's the one who told me that. She hasn't given up hope for you... and neither have I."

"Why do you still have hope for me?"

"When you told me about my parents, you were right. I've always known the truth, I just didn't want to face it. I was hiding from my past, just like you. I knew my parents would never come back, but I never gave up hoping that they would. I know you can still come back, so why would I give up hope for you?"

"Because there is none."

"There is you just can't see it yet. It's night, but the sun hasn't vanished yet," she replied.

"The girl's hold on him is stronger than I imagined. This will be harder than I thought." The Dark Figure said to himself.