Star Wars Episode X: The Shroud of The Dark Side

Chapter 15:Ben Solo

Ben and Rey finished eating dinner and changed into Jedi robes. They got into different ships just to be safe, and flew to Naboo. Landing outside the palace at night Rey jumped out of her ship and asked a guard where to find Padmé's grave. He pointed her in the right direction and she started walking in there. Ben jumped out of his ship and followed her. Rey slowed down to give him some time to catch up and together they walked to her grave. There was a large tomb for her, and a ton of flowers. They were still fresh meaning that even though it had been many many years since she had died people still were coming to pay their respect. Rey put the flowers down and Ben walked up and kneeled down by the tomb. He put his hand on his grandmother's statue and closed his eyes.

"Help me. I can't do this. There's so much riding on everything going perfect in the coming months to stop the galaxy from falling into full scale war and I can't do this stuck at home. I need to come out. I need to be free. If in any way you can hear me, please send help..." Ben had to stop talking, his voice started to break. Everything that was happening and stressing him out came crashing down at once.

Rey kneeled beside him. "How did she die?"

"She died of a broken heart. The betrayal of my father was too much. She died right after me and Leia were born."

Rey and Ben stood up and spun around to see the force ghost of Luke Skywalker standing there smiling at them.

"Ben. My brave boy. You did it. I knew you would come back to us. I'm so proud of you." Luke walked toward them with a warm smile on his face as he looked at his nephew.

"You're proud of me?.. After all that I did? I'm part of the reason that you died. Me and Snoke baited you. You died because of me. The academy died because of me. Darth Caedus is here because of me." Ben was very confused at the sudden love from his uncle.

Luke shook his head. "Ben, I forgave Anakin Skywalker who did much worse than you did for much longer. What you did was terrible. But just like Vader, you fell from the light. Snoke did that to you. I'm here to talk to you about Darth Caedus."

Ben sighed. "It seems like every force ghost is here to talk to me about Caedus."

"Yes, he is a great threat. Anakin told me about meeting you. I'm glad you could speak to him. But on topic. Jacen didn't turn to the dark side because of you. He turned because of Rey." Luke finished and pointed at Rey.

Ben and Rey looked at each other confused.

"Me? What did I do?" Rey asked, alarmed.

Luke shrugged. "You were born. He's your half brother. Palpatine's son was busy after his father died. He had a few children. I think you and Jacen are the only two. Jacen is Jacen Palpatine."

Ben thought about it. "That's why he thinks he's the rightful heir of the sith. His grandfather was the lord of the sith for so long, that he thinks that he should be able to just take the galaxy."

"Yes. He left the Jedi academy to try and find his sister so he could kill her. I told him that if he left with those intentions, that he should not come back." Luke explained.

"Did.. did you know it was me?" Rey asked.

"No. I didn't know about your lineage until I had passed away. Anakin told me. I still would have helped you. So would Leia." Luke told Rey.

"So he wanted to kill Rey to make sure that he had easy access to the throne." Ben tried to put it all together

"That's how he knew who I was. He knew my name. He knew that Ben and I are married..." Rey nodded at Ben.

Luke paused. "It's a good thing he never found you. You need to stop him. Things will only get worse." Luke walked over and smiled at the statue of his mother. "It's nice to see her. I should visit more often."

Then he disappeared. Rey and Ben looked at each other.

"Well this was a journey and a half." Ben looked down and took her hand.

"We should go... I need to think about this." Rey muttered.

"Yea. Let's go." Ben agreed.

He looked around to make sure that no one else was nearby and then started walking to their ships. They got there safely and took off. Making it back to Tatooine, Rey stood outside staring at the night sky. Ben walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"You ok?" He asked

"Yea. It's just. A lot. I didn't know my family for so long and I just wanted to know them. But then I find out that a lot of them are horrible people. My grandfather, my brother, who even knows if my parents were good people or not. Just because they hid me from my past doesn't mean that they did it for me. What if they did it for themselves. They never came back from me, never sent any messages, never did anything to help. They died. I don't even know their names. All I know is that the family that I know all tried to kill me. And if you go back further, My great grandparents were known to be bad people too. Not murders maybe, but racists, and misogynists. They were scummy politicians. Everything in my life is set out to be horrible, from my lineage to where I grew up." Rey looked at Ben with tears in her eyes.

Ben grabbed her shoulders. "You are not evil. You are one of the most good people that has ever walked this galaxy. It isn't about your family. It's about you. You are a great Jedi. And you will be a great mother. Because of you our children will be wonderful people. It's ok." He smiled at her.

Rey sighed and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. She leaned into Ben and they stood there for a while. Ben took a deep breath. He felt bad for Rey. His family, while it has a dark spot with Darth Vader, Much of his family were heroes. Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo. Rey had nothing. Well she had Sheev Palpatine, but that's not much.

"Come on. Let's go inside." He took her hand and they walked inside. Ben smelt like a dead Bantha that was rolled in his own poop. They took a shower and Ben went outside one more time. He checked on the Moisture farm and let the wind dry his hair. It was funny, he felt like he was in some weird movie and that his hair would move in slow motion. In reality he probably looked like an idiot, but they don't have any neighbors so he let himself enjoy this moment. Ben was enjoying the cool air, and then he felt a cold chill up his spine. Spinning around Ben thought he saw a figure a ways out. He squinted trying to see who it was more. The figure moved closer. A red light shined from the figure. Ben froze. It was Darth Caedus. He ran back inside and ran into the room. Rey was braiding her wet hair.

"We have to go. Where is my lightsaber!" Ben yelled, panicking.

"Wait what? What's going on?" Rey was very confused

"Darth Caedus is here. We should go." Ben said this all very quickly.

"Are you sure?" Rey looked at him like she didn't believe him.

"I'll show you." Ben ran outside and pointed. "There. Nope nothing is there."

Rey looked at him. "I'm going back to bed. You're seeing things." She turned away and walked into the house. "Go to bed!"

Ben looked back at where he thought Caedus was and checked again. He walked around the house one more time to make sure.

"It's in my head. I'm seeing things." Ben muttered to himself. He looked into the sky and saw a ship flying. It flew over the house, not close enough to do anything, but it was close enough for Ben to know that it was a ship. Was it Darth Caedus? Or was all of this happening taking a toll on him. It had happened during his time with the First Order too. He would see hallucinations, like the few times that he saw Luke, and Han, and Leia. That's what it was. He was seeing things because of the pressure. He walked inside and laid next to Rey. He put his arm around her and fell asleep. It wasn't a nice sleep. Ben would start the worst nightmare that he had ever had.