Us Against the World

25

Other than the fact we were near Rey, the next thing I felt was that Chewie was aboard the ship. As much as I wished to stay, and wanted to wait for Ben to return, I knew that I owed it to Chewie to help him. He had joined in with me and Ben so many times, reenacting different scenes from his past, complaining on slightly. He had offered me comfort when no one else could. So, as I looked over the room one last time, seeing Darth Vadar's helmet sitting on a podium, the centre of attention in the trophy room, I apologised to Ben in my mind. He wouldn't have hurt me, but he had to understand that saving Chewie was my priority.

It took only minutes for me to find Chewie, manipulating the guards mind to walk away. I had barely run into any storm troopers while I had been locating the wookie, so hiding was the easiest scenario. Any camera's I saw I quickly pulled from the ceiling or interrupted their signal so the picture would be blurred or black.

Once I had opened the final door, Chewie growled happily as I forced all the restraints to open. The large wookie ran over to me, lifting me off the ground in a tight hug, thanking me over and over again. Suddenly Fin and Poe ran in, and I looked at them in shock.
"How are you here?" We all asked each other at the same time. I shook my head, knowing that these were both stories for another time and Chewie and I began to follow them. We would be heading to a hanger. I knew that if they were both here, Rey was probably here as well, most likely retrieving the Sith Dagger that had been in Ben's trophy room, the one attached to his private quarter.

As we made our way out, I drew my saber, deflecting as many shots as I could to clear a route for us to go down. Fin and Poe were firing at any trooper they could, while I pushed away ones that got too close. Chewie got a troopers blaster, helping the boys as we made our way through the ship.

Poe stepped out to a more open area, only to be shot in the shoulder. Chewie quickly took out the trooper as Poe lay groaning on the floor. I pushed Fin out the way and assessed his wound.
"I can fix it, but not here. Can you make it to the ship?" I asked him. Here we were too exposed and we didn't need me to be healing Poe and get injured in the process. We had not rescued Chewie, travelled halfway across the galaxy on a time sensitive mission to be captured aboard Ben's destroyer.

I had barely finished my sentence before a swarm of troopers was on us, surrounding us, blasters raised. Chewie had been free for less than 10 minutes and we were already being held in restraints. The troopers walking with me held me tightly. Something told me that being a Jedi in this situation wouldn't be the best idea, it would result in one or more of us injured and Ben being informed of what was happening inside his ship. It was better to wait.

We were taken to meet the Allegiant General and another General, one that I had seen before.The main one, the older, greying one commanded for us to be terminated and simply walked off, leaving the job to the other General, the one I knew to be General Hux. I was about to listen to the General speak when Ben's voice entered my mind.
"Where are you?" He asked, his voice filling my head and muting every other sound. I could feel myself being pulled around the ship but I couldn't fully see.
"You knew I wouldn't stay in the room." I told him. He couldn't have truly thought I would stay. I had never listened to him when we were children, so he couldn't expect me to start now.
"I should have locked the door." His voice was altered, modified. He had said that out loud with his mask on, the first sentence he had just said in his head. I had heard the irritation in his tone, the anger that he felt at me leaving. I sent him an apology before forcing him out, looking back to see

By the time I could see properly, I was aboard the falcon, Fin frantically filling me in that Hux was the spy and had led them to the falcon and now we were going to a different hanger to save Rey. I ran to the loader door as Poe got us in position. Fin joined me, becoming Rey to jump forward.

Rey ran from Ben who had an outstretched hand and jumped towards the ramp. Fin caught her before pulling her up. Ben looked at me, and although he wore the helmet, I could see his face perfectly. He stepped forward, begging me to come back to him.
"We're supposed to be in this together. Us against everything else!" He called to me. It wasn't the Supreme Leader looking for an apprentice or another weapon. It was Ben begging his girl to come home. My reply was low and I sent it to him, making sure it was for his ears and his mind only.
"Where you're headed Ben, I can't follow. You need to come back to me, before it's too late." Then I felt the ramp closing the falcon flying away, taking me further from Ben and away from the look of complete heartbreak that was on his face. 

By the time the ramp was completely closed and the falcon had jumped to lightspeed, tears were rolling down my face. I had walked away from Ben and it had drained me. I wanted Leia there to hold me, or Han there to tell me everything would be fine, that the lad just needed time. I wanted Luke there to give me some ambiguous advice I wouldn't understand until years later. Instead I sat. I closed my eyes. And I looked to the force.

The force was a strange thing. And when you felt something, you felt it with your entire body. Like when Luke died, there was a great release within the force as his body faded away, a sense of calm that was foreign to our small group. Or there was the other side, like when I saw the dead students. I felt an absence, brought upon by the great loss of many future Jedi; I felt a darker presence and the diminishing of the light as Luke turned away from the force and Ben welcomed Snoke with open arms. The feeling that washed over me as I sat by myself, was one of change. I felt a large shift in the balance of the force. I hoped Leia felt it too because it felt like Ben had finally had a visit from a much needed family member. Even as we retreated from the ship, I could feel the shock, the sadness and the disbelief coming through our force bond, and then the shift. It was a sudden shift, but one that I knew wasn't complete yet.