The Balance and The Force {Star Wars Ep. X}

s. XXIII

Rey sat alone with one arm chained to her bed. She yanked on it before rolling her eyes. She really didn't enjoy being in this situation.

She reached an arm over, and realized she had been stupid this whole time. Though, was she the stupid one?

She unlocked the handcuff on her wrist using the force before she pulled the chains off of her and hopped off the bed.

She then heard the door to his quarters open and she swore to herself. She hopped back on the bed, but knew Ben heard her get up and get back on the bed.

"Rey?" She heard his voice ring through the room. She sighed and watched him walk into the room. He stared over at her. "You just got out now?"

"You expected me to get out?" Rey asked him and looked him over warily. "What are you even planning? Why is this happening to you?"

"The dark side will always tempt me, Rey." He stepped closer to her.

"Think about our children, Ben." She started as she stepped towards him as well. "They need us. They need to keep the balance in the force and if they see you like this then... Then they'll fall. Everything will fall. You ordered to kill all of those people on the resistance base, and for what?" Rey asked as tears pricked her eyes. "Those people we trained."

"I never got justice!" Ben suddenly yelled. "Nobody ever cared, except you!"

"Ben... Ben you know this isn't you! You kept the dark side locked away for me even though it still tempted you. You told those kids lies by telling them that Alec brought Kylo Ren back, when you did that yourself! You let Alec get into your head, you let him pull you to the dark. You let Kai fall to the dark, and once he came back it was already too late. You were too far gone to care!" Rey yelled at him suddenly. Her hands were balled into fists.

"Those kids are the only thing keeping the force together."  Ben tried to say but Rey was shaking her head.

"All four of us are, Ben." Rey said and stepped even closer. "The Skywalker's never had a happy ending. Never got to be one complete family. We had that for once... We can still have that. You can be good... You know how good it feels to be with your family on the light-" Rey was cut off.

"The light has failed me endlessly, Rey." He said, as he was starting to cry too. "My family never cared for me. The Jedi never... The Jedi... This isn't the path I want to take."

"So you'd rather fall back to the dark? To the place that also hurt you?" Rey asked and reached up to cup his cheek. "We can figure this out together, Ben. But we need to get Anni and Kai and finish this. We can make something new. We don't have to follow the old teachings."

"That's what Kai and Anni wanted all along but I was afraid... Afraid to try-" Ben was shaking his head. He was scared. He hated that he felt this way. He hated how conflicted he was again.

"Ben... You don't need to feel conflicted." She said honestly to him. "But now it's going to be even harder for people to trust you. Do you know how many people you hurt? You destroyed the resistance because you felt conflicted."

"What if we don't need a resistance?" Ben asked.

"Ben, you killed almost-" Rey was stopped again.

"No. A lot of them fled. I let them go..." Ben stopped for a minute before looking around. His eyes then widened for a second. "I don't want power. I just want peace."

"Then, why not use the New Orders trust to defeat them from the inside? You're their leader now... So why not destroy what little they have yourself?" Rey asked before giving him a grin. "Then we can go. We can figure out the force and train those kids and... And we can find balance. Anni and Kai can find balance. We can start a republic and... And we can finally end this. We can finally bring peace to the Galaxy. To the Skywalker's."

Ben looked down at Rey before he nodded in agreement.

It was crazy how Ben's love for Rey could change his mind in the matter of minutes now.

-

  Anni sat in the medical ward staring at the wall. She heard a knock on the door and turned her head to see her father and mother coming into the room. She quickly moved closer into herself and tried to get as close to the wall as possible.

"Anni, don't be scared, hun. We need to get you out of here. We need to go get Kai." Rey said as she walked over to her bed.

"No... No, Mom. He's... He's..." Anni shook her head, she was obviously still shaken up.

"What's wrong, Anni?" Rey asked before watching as Anni's eyes darted between Ben and Rey.

"Anni, I know I made you do something but-" Ben was stopped.

"Do something? YOU MADE ME KILL HIM!" Anni suddenly screamed with fury raging through her.

Rey stopped and looked at Ben for a moment.

"He's not dead... Anni. It was just a trick to get you unbalanced. He's in a cell down the hall and he's fine. Perfectly fine. He's in there with Laila." Ben finally said and put his hands to his sides. "I would never make you kill someone you love like that. I just needed you unstable enough for the time being."

Rey looked at Ben angrily. "You tricked-" Rey stopped herself and shook her head. "Now isn't the time for this. An," Rey turned back to her daughter. "We have a plan. To get the New Order gone for good. We need you to help... We also need you to convince Kai to help too."

An breathed out shakily as she looked between her mother and father.

Everything was going so fast. She didn't know what to do.

"Let me see them first. Ryder and Laila. I need time. There's been so much going on." Anni said as she looked down at her shaking hands. Rey reached over and held them for her.

"An, it's okay. I promise. Everything will be okay. We have time." Rey said to her softly. She squeezed her hands.

Anni looked over at her father and watched as he stepped forwards.

"I am truly sorry, Anni. That I let this all happen it's just-" Ben wanted to explain himself but Anni stopped him.

"That your whole family has neglected you, and the force is unbalanced it's making that conflict come back and you didn't know how to handle it?" Anni explained it for him. Ben stood there and swallowed. He was very nervous. "I know, Dad. I know."

Ben nodded before watching as Anni got up. She still wanted to see Ryder and Laila.

Both Ben and Rey escorted her down the hall to the room Ryder and Laila were in. They were both in a small room with a bed and one cradle for the baby. Anni walked in alone and saw Ryder was gently rocking the baby girl.

Ryder looked up at her, and Anni felt her heart beat fast. He was alive. He was alive and Anni had spent the past two hours hating herself for something that was just some force manipulative bullshi-

She stopped when she realized Ryder had put down Laila in the cradle. Ryder was now hugging her tightly.

"I thought he would have killed you, An. I was so scared." Ryder was shaking just as much as Anni was. Anni hugged him back tightly.

"He wouldn't do that. I know that, Ryder... He wouldn't hurt me." Anni shook her head. "He only wants to help me."

"How are we going to get out of this? Are we sure Laila is going to be okay?" Ryder asked as he gently pulled away to look into Anni's eyes.

"I'm sure that everything will be okay, Ryder. We just have to have hope that it will all end up okay." Anni said and smiled to herself gently.

She was scared. She had been scared.

But seeing Ryder okay just gave her a little bit more hope.