Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Forty One: Familial Feelings...

Ben tried to push the memory of the dream out of his head. But the harder he fought it the deeper it imposed itself on him. He sat there in the pilots seat listening to Rey and BB-8 checking and repairing the damage to the electrical systems. He just sat there quietly looking out through the large view port windows of the Falcon out onto the churning waves of the vast horizonless sea. He thought about how much the water resembled the twisting spirals of the sand dunes on Jakku. He thought about everything that had changed in his life, how he had changed, but not into the person he had been before. That person no longer existed, just the same way as Rey wasn't the same, the world had changed them both. It had made them something new, something unique, they were more than the missing elements of each others spirits. More than two people fighting the same battles and walking the same path. They had been changing since that first day in the forest. And now they were here...together....this is where she belonged. Right there next to him and that was enough, it was enough to know neither of them were alone anymore.

"You've never been alone, Ben. Not ever...I mean, I know I wasn't always there, but you have to know..."

Ben: I know, Dad.

"She's really something isn't she?"

Ben: Yeah, you were right...She's still got it where it counts, after all this is over though I'm going to have to do a complete rebuild on the ignition systems and the core processors for the altimeters. And then there's...I swear if I'd have known what they were going to do to her...

"Sounds good, kid. But...uh, I was talking about the girl, Ben."

Ben smiled looking away and fiddling with some of the various switches trying to distract himself. But he couldn't hide it from Han. No one would ever know him as completely as she did.

"You know, you two aren't bound to this place, these rules...the choices we made. You and Rey, you've got your own lives to think about and plan out for yourselves. I know you don't think there is anything else, and maybe we're to blame for that. But what good is for the door to be open if you're too afraid to leave the cage, you know? You're the only one that can walk through it, but you don't have to do it alone. It's time to let old things go...don't be afraid of changing...of choosing who you want to be, of what you want your life to be. We all did what we felt we had to do. For the galaxy, for the family....for the people we loved and cared about, but perhaps we should have thought about the consequence of the choices we were making. And who would have to carry them after we were gone. We did the best we could, but...not even a Jedi can see that far into the future. Somethings just are, Ben, somethings happen whether we fight against them or we accept them. I need you to know that...and remember it. Because whether you believe it or not the true power in the universe isn't the Jedi, the Sith, the good or the bad, light or dark side. It's us. People, like you and me, and like your mother and Rey....People are what change. What matters the most when you're lost are the people around you, Ben. You hold onto each other and you face whatever comes along....together. They're what reminds us of the good and the bad, and that no matter what mistakes we make....we can always change it. I need you to remember that?"

But Ben knew the Darkness wouldn't let him go easily, there was always a bill, and at the end of the day you had to pay what came due. Ben would be more susceptible to the Darkside having already succumbed once before. But the more he listened hearing the smile in her voice as she worked with the droid. The sounds of her enjoying this...enjoying the simple things a life not bound to fighting, whether it was their nature or that of another. He knew there was something stronger than the Darkside. He could feel it inside him growing with every new inflection in her voice, every new twitch or habit he discovered, all of them so small and insignificant but also personal. He couldn't see the world without her beside him. She...She was everything, the only thing he had left. It was her love which had saved him, that beacon of HOPE blazing in her chest, lighting her up against a past of nothing but lies and pain. Love was stronger than any Darkness because it never faded, never failed, and never feared.