Star Wars Episode IX: Force Link ✔️ (Editing)

31| Not Meant To Be Enemies

Hux and Phasma were working on tracking Maz's ship. Kylo didn't know how long it might take for them to track her down, she had a big head start on the First Order.

He decided to train while he waited. He needed to be ready to face the Resistance. He knew it would be unwise to face them unprepared.

He put on a blind fold. He needed to practice relying on the Force, instead of his sight. Not that it was very hard for him, his helmet could be hard to see out of at times, so he had to rely on the Force. He took out his fiery red lightsaber. He began swinging his lightsaber in large arcs in front of him, hitting only air.

He swung his saber to the right and was surprised to find that it struck something. He quickly removed his blind fold and looked to see that his red saber had struck the blue blade of another. He looked farther to his left to see that the saber was wielded by the girl. She pulled off her blind fold and looked over at him.

"Rey?" he asked, a little surprised by her sudden appearance.

She looked at his lightsaber cautiously, keeping her own ready incase he attacked. He quickly retracted his lightsaber, so she would know that he had no intention of hurting her.

She seemed to relax a little, but did not retract her own weapon. Ben looked at it. "I see you have a new lightsaber," he said.

She offered him a small smile.

He looked at the lightsaber more closely. It looked familiar. "It looks just like my old lightsaber, the one that belonged to my grandfather."

"It is," she answered. "I fixed it."

"You fixed it?" he asked sounding surprised.

She nodded.

"May I see it?" he asked.

Rey hesitated, she didn't know if it be wise to hand over her weapon to the enemy. But then she remembered that she had fixed the lightsaber for him. Reluctantly she retracted the lightsaber and slowly handed it over to him.

Rey watched as he took the lightsaber and examined the hilt. He could just see the cracks where Rey had welded it back together. It was broken, torn apart, just like him. He pressed the button on the hilt and the blue blade shot out.

Rey took a few steps back.

He swung the saber through the air, testing its balance and weight. The blade was less stable then it had been, and there were cracks on the hilt, but beyond that it was just as he remembered it. He retracted the blade, then rubbed the hilt with his fingers. He would love to have the saber once again, but he handed it over to Rey.

"You're good at fixing things," he said with a smile.

"Thank you," she answered shyly. She was surprised that he had complemented her. But she was even more surprised that he had returned the lightsaber to her willingly. "Life just seems so much simpler when you're fixing things."

He nodded. Life did seem similar when he was fixing things, like the lightsaber he had made for Rey. But there were some things that he just couldn't fix, like his broken heart.

"Is it the same crystal?" he asked, thinking about the broken crystal he had found.

"Yes, well half of it anyway," she answered.

"Where's the other half?" he asked, already knowing the answer, but not yet willing to share it with her.

"I don't know. I think it fell out in the throne room," she answered.

He nodded. "How did you figure out how to fix the lightsaber?" he asked, knowing that she didn't have much training.

She didn't want to tell him about the Jedi manuscripts, she knew that if she did he probably look to destroy them. But she didn't want to lie to him, he had told her the truth so far. And their bond was becoming stronger, she could feel it. She knew that if she wasn't honest, he would probably sense it. "I let the Force guide me," she said. It wasn't a lie, the manuscripts hadn't really helped, it had been the Force that showed her how to fix the lightsaber.

He smiled. "You continue to surprise me."

"So do you," she answered. "You came out of nowhere."

"So did you," he replied. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that the Force is playing tricks on us."

She smiled at that.

"What were you doing?" he asked, noticing the blind fold in her hands.

"Practicing," she answered.

"So was I," he replied. "Would you like to practice together?"

She hesitated. She gave a suspicious look, she still didn't trust him completely. She could sense that he didn't want to hurt her in this moment. But she could also sense that he wanted to be with her, what if tried to turn her to the Dark Side and she wasn't able to resist it this time?

"Please," he whispered. His dark eyes pleading with her.

"I suppose we can," she gave in. "But remember, this doesn't mean that I'm letting you teach me."

He nodded, but was a little disappointed deep down. Even though he doubted that there was anything that he could teach him that she didn't already know.

Rey ignited her lightsaber and got ready.

Ben smiled and ignited his own fiery lightsaber. He waited for her to make the first move. After a moment she lunged at him. He quickly blocked her lightsaber with his own.

Rey swung her lightsaber at him again, hard and quick. But Ben deflected it easily.

As Rey quickly swung her lightsaber at Ben, he sensed something familiar inside of her. Anger, it was not as strong in her as it was in him, but he could still sense it.

She swung her lightsaber at him again but he quickly pushed it away with his own.

"Rey?" he asked.
"Yes?" she answered, lowering her lightsaber.

"How did you learn to use the Force?" he asked. He had wondered about since their fight on Star Killer Base. He had sensed that she had had no training, but was strong with the Force. Yet she had beaten him.

"I first discovered the Force when I touched this lightsaber," she said. "But I first learned how to use the Force when you were looking for the map in my mind. I saw your mind, I saw your fears. But I also saw your training."

"You saw my training?" he asked, that explained why she seemed to know all of his fighting patterns and was able to counter act them.

"Yes," she answered.

A faint smile appeared on Ben's face. "I thought you said that I couldn't teach you," he said. "But it seems that I already have."

She smiled. "I suppose you're right," she answered. "Shall we continue?"

He nodded, lifting his lightsaber. Once Rey was ready, he swung his lightsaber at her.

She moved quickly to block it. Then she began to strike him with her lightsaber. He blocked her each time, but eventually she broke through his defense and her blade hit him in the left arm.

He gripped his arm with his right hand.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. They were only practicing, but she had really hurt him. She hadn't meant to, but she had lost control of herself.

"I'm okay," he said. "It did hurt, but look it's not bleeding." He moved his hand from his arm and Rey was surprised to see that there was no wound. The black cloth of his shirt hadn't even been cut. Her lightsaber had gone through him, like the blast she had shot him with during their first Force connection.

Ben held out his hand to her. Slowly she reached out, until her fingers touched his. He gripped her hand gently. "Strange," he said. "Your lightsaber went through me. But I can feel your hand, as if you were really here." He squeezed her hand tighter. "It's almost as if the Force won't let us hurt each other during our connections."

"Maybe we're not meant to be enemies," she said.