Twisted | Ben Solo

Chapter XXI

--Chapter XXI - "Please"---

I stumbled backward as Snoke's upper half fell forward, my lightsabers deactivating as he hitting the ground harshly. I turned around to see Ben staring at me, his lips slightly parted while a million thoughts raced through his head. There wasn't any time for him to speak, however, as Snoke's eight Praetorian guards quickly surrounded us. Ben used the Force to quickly pull his weapon off the ground before the nearest guard could kick it away. We stood back-to-back, almost touching, as we waited for the guards to make their first moves with their dual bladed staffs of electricity.

"Let's go, you kriffing bitches," I muttered under my breath, and I heard Ben chuckle from behind me.

"Glad to know you still carry a sense of humor." As if on cue, the Praetorians started their attack, charging the two of us all at once. Our weapons activated at the same time, and we quickly fought back. I bared my teeth at my masked opponents, taking diagonal strokes with my longer blade in my right hand and fending off the attacks with my shoto in my left. I had been so preoccupied with the two at hand that I didn't see one sneak up on my right... until I saw Ben's red saber go straight through his chest. As Ben leaned backward into a low position, I allowed his momentum to carry me so that I was arched on his back. I deactivated my shoto blade so that I could hold myself steady by grabbing his hip and kicking the approaching guard on my left. It was as if our reactions were in sync and our minds were one. It reminded me of how I always pictured us after training under Luke: together.

The two of us slowly started to move away from each other to better fight the Praetorians, more arriving at the scene with new weapons to match. I ducked and rolled as a guard brought down a red electric whip where I had stood previously, swinging my blades whenever I could at my opponent's legs to bring them down. Their red armor seemed more protective than the Stormtroopers', but it still held nothing in comparison to the cyber-induced plasma. Once the guards realized I had started to aim mostly from below, they managed to get me caught in a circle. I was blocking off two with their electric staffs, one per lightsaber as my extended arms trembled, when the Praetorian with a whip managed to slice me across my back. My legs began to wobble as I cried out in pain, the tingling sensations going through my body threatening to cause me to collapse. Again, another hit and another yelp that I couldn't help but release.

"Get away from her!" I heard Ben roar, and the next thing sound that filled my ears was the screams of the Praetorian guards as they were sliced in half similar to how I killed their former leader. Ben stepped in front of me defensively with his lightsaber raised almost exactly the way he did when he jumped to my aid against the Oggdos on Bogano. He was panting terribly, but so was I. Still, more continued to come against us. "Are you alright?"

"I'll manage, we just need to- Rey!" I screamed, my eyes catching on her still weak form as a Praetorian standing above her lifted his sharp weapon to fatally strike her down. I tightened my grip on my lightsaber hilts with my thumbs and lunged forward, pushing my hands out with my fingers spread in concentration. The guard was smashed into the wall behind him and fell to the floor in a heap only to be picked up again and pulled in my direction where I slammed him into the floor and stabbed him with my shoto blade in the chest. I immediately ran to the girl's aid, cradling her head as her eyes fluttered as she tried to stay conscious. "Rey, Rey, come on, stay with me." I could feel her faint heartbeat, and I somehow subconsciously knew what to do.