Star Wars: Episode X - The Rescue Mission

Chapter Two: Connection

Just as before, something shadowy moved in the distance, and Rey reached out with the Force, hoping to sense Ben as the figure moved closer. And unless the cave itself was deceiving her, she did sense him! The figure stood before her now, and she hardly dared breathe as she watched it put its own hand up to the wall on the other side of her own. The cloudy surface cleared, and instead of seeing only her own face as she had before, there he stood, seemingly as real as anything. He looked for all the world like his father, wearing a cream-colored shirt open at the neck with the sleeves rolled up, a charcoal gray collared vest, brown pants, dark brown boots, and a leather belt with a gray belt buckle just like Han's.

He was smiling at her. Overcome with emotion, Rey was unable to speak for a long moment and could only look at him. Then came a torrent of words that couldn't be held back: "Ben! Is it you? I mean, are you real, or are you a vision that is coming from this cave? You feel real in the Force, but..." Her eyes searched his face. "Why haven't you visited me like the other spirits?"

"Rey. Beautiful Rey." They were the first words he had spoken to her since the two of them had met on the ruins of the second Death Star. The first words he had spoken to her as Ben. They were flowers in spring, a soothing balm to her soul. "I have wanted to be with you since the moment I left you. But it isn't that simple. I'm not dead, but I'm not alive. I'm caught in what I'm pretty sure is the World Between Worlds, a dimension outside space and time. It was mentioned in the Jedi lore that Luke discovered, but none of us knew what to make of it then."

"It's in the ancient Jedi texts that Luke found here on Ahch-To too!"

Ben nodded. "If I had died anywhere else, I think I might just have died. But there was some kind of portal on Exegol, and because the other half of our dyad—you—was still living, and you were still living because of my life force which I gave you, that acted like an anchor which kept me from becoming one with the Force, and instead I was pulled into the portal. At least that's what I think happened. I had no idea at first, but I've had a lot of time here to think about it. Time has no meaning here. I can go anywhere in time and space and stay there as long as I like. Without a body, I have no need to eat, drink, or sleep, and no one can see me. I went back in time to watch my mother grow up on Alderaan. I spent weeks there. I went back in time to Naboo and watched my grandparents fall in love."

"Alderaan and Naboo!" Rey interjected. "I had dreams that I was in both of those places and you were calling me! You said you needed me, but I could never see you. I had lots of dreams like that, but I was always in a different place." She paused, then her eyes widened. "Jakku! Were you watching me too?"

Ben tightened his mouth into a thoughtful expression and seemed to consider his answer for a second before saying anything. "Sort of. I'll explain a lot more later. But the one thing I will say, because you deserve to know right away, is that I found out some important truths about your heritage. Palpatine was lying when he said you were his granddaughter."

Rey gasped and her hand flew to her heart. She hardly dared hope that it was true. She'd heard so many different versions of who her parents were, she had no idea any longer what was true and what wasn't.

Ben smiled at her, happy to be the bearer of good news. "I'm sure you're relieved. And I can tell you with absolute certainty—because I heard and saw it all myself—that this time it's really the truth. Palpatine was pitting us against each other, you know—he wanted one of us to kill the other, and though he preferred me because I was already on the Dark Side and Supreme Leader of the First Order, if I died by your hand, it would mean you were a stronger vessel for his plans. He thought that if I believed you were his granddaughter, it might make me more eager to kill you as a rival. And when I wouldn't, and you came to him instead, he thought that if you believed you were his granddaughter, it would make you more likely to believe it was your destiny to kill him and take on the role you were supposedly born for."