Ouroboros

Five

Five.

The grip around his neck tightened and Ben felt himself clawing at the steel-sinewed Wookiee arm that held him in its grasp. Chewbacca was glaring at him and howling what were definitely not greetings and he kicked and mentally clawed for the Force but it was still walled off by the drugs. All he could manage was a small gasp and realise that this must be what it was like when he Force-choked those annoying subordinates.

The Universe was definitely trying to repay him for all of his misdeeds...

"Chewie!" Finn's voice cut across the furious yowls and the Wookiee spared him a glance before continuing to strangle the former Supreme Leader of the First Order. Rolling his eyes, he took a deep breath. "Chewie! He's with me!"

The Wookiee stared at him, his hand still tight around the throat of the man who had killed his best friend. The son of his best friend. He gave an inquisitive growl. And even though he didn't understand Wookiee, Finn could gather the gist of the question.

"Okay, so I'm sort of...kidnapping him...but I need to get him off here-and fast," Finn offered, casting an apologetic look at the Wookiee. "Please. I think...it may help Rey." Growling, Chewie hoisted Ben a little higher...and then flung him hard across the passageway, the impact echoing through the ship with a resounding clang. Gasping for air and rubbing his throat, Ben slowly looked up.

Okay-I can really see why Hux hated me so much, he considered silently as he gradually levered himself to his knees. And the others. But then I sought fear rather than loyalty. Snoke wouldn't have suffered any other way. The young General had closed to a couple of feet from the Wookiee and was speaking in a low voice, offering an explanation. Absently, he listened in, having learned to understand Wookiee when he was much younger. There had been a time when young Ben had craved his father's love and approval, when he would have done anything if his father had shown he loved him, if he had stayed. So he learned Wookiee so he could understand Chewie, he learned the systems of the modified freighter and he certainly learned how to fly so one day, he could make his father proud. Except, of course, his father and mother had sent him away, rejecting him for the power that he had no say in inheriting.

Shoving the familiar black feelings aside, he rose and stumbled towards the cockpit, the way recalling all sorts of memories. He took a deep breath at the doorway before he moved forward.

And found himself hauled back by a roaring Chewie. His throat still bruising from the Wookiee's welcome, he raised his hands and allowed himself to be shoved back into the passageway.

"Okay," he conceded swiftly. "So who's going to fly?"

"Me," Chewie told him firmly. Ben rolled his eyes.

"You need two pilots for the Falcon," he reminded the Wookiee.

"I can manage just fine on my own," Chewie roared at him.

"Better with a co-pilot," Ben pressed.

"You are not sitting in his seat!" the Wookiee told him with finality.

"Then..."

"I am not sitting in his seat either. It's his seat."

"You're being ridiculous," Ben groaned.

"You killed him!" Chewie snarled. "He wanted to bring you home-to Leia. He still loved you. And you murdered him in cold blood."

"I know."

"He was my brother. Wookiee honour demands I kill you."

"Join the line," Ben retorted. "Pretty much everyone else in the Galaxy is ahead of you. And I recall you had a good shot at it on Starkiller Base."