Chapter Text
Rey.
Rey couldn’t tell if the words were his or if it was simply a manifestation of the Force calling out to her in her head. When she first heard the call, Rey had assumed that it was Luke Skywalker finally calling out to her in surrender. The pull that she felt through the Force was insistent and desperate; it fought for her attention constantly. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out that the message coming through the void was nothing like Luke’s Force signature.
It was him. Ben Solo. Rey was sure of it. And for some reason he was calling out to her, pulling at the edges of the Force and begging her to come and find him. It wasn’t the first time that he had tried to reach out to her. Ben Solo and Luke Skywalker both had been using the Force to annoy Rey’s thoughts ever since she had abandoned them three years ago. But this was the first time that Rey had received any kind of message from either of them.
Come and find me.
Rey had no interest in Luke’s nephew - the powerful Jedi Knight and Luke’s right-handed Apprentice - but she couldn’t deny the fact that he would make a promising war prize if she could successfully capture him. She was certain that Ben knew where Luke was, and even if she was unable to make him yield this information to her, she could still kill him and save the galaxy from one more useless Jedi Knight.
However, Rey wasn’t exactly eager to come face-to-face with Ben Solo - the man she had betrayed and left for dead over three years ago. She had no idea what his intentions could be in calling out to her after all this time, but none of them could be good. he had given her coordinates to a deserted area on Takodana in the Western Reaches. Rey knew that there were known Resistance sympathizers in and around the planet, but she wasn’t afraid to toe at the edges of enemy territory. In fact, she couldn’t suppress a wicked smile as she began her descent onto the lush green planet. She actually hoped that some of the Resistance pests would appear out of the woodwork and be foolish enough to get in her way.
As she gently broke through Takodana’s atmosphere there was suddenly a sharp image in her mind - a peaceful clearing full of green trees and sparkling sunlight. Here, said the voice in her head. Rey’s brow furrowed slightly as the ground below slowly rose to meet her. So much for being met with a surprise attack - judging by the image in her head, Ben was completely alone and waiting for her in the middle of nowhere without any added defenses. What the hell was this idiot planning?
Rey was cautious as she neared the spot she was being pulled towards. She was flying a First Order TIE fighter, so she wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. She was wary of any possible snipers on the ground, who would be able to immediately recognize her as the enemy and possibly give her trouble. However, Ben Solo really had picked a secluded spot and - whatever his reasons - Rey was momentarily grateful to him, as Takodana welcomed her with open arms.
In fact, the area below her ship was so secluded that she had to search for several minutes before her keen pilot’s eye was able to find a break in the trees large enough for her to maneuver through the fauna and land on solid ground. Even then, the TIE fighter barely managed to fit through the thick foliage, and Rey brought down a rain of tree branches and leaves with her as she descended.
Rey killed the TIE fighter’s engines and sighed heavily, closing her eyes and opening herself up to the Force. His Force signature was crystal clear now - shining bright green through the ether. He had sensed her arrival and was pulling more insistently now. Come, come, he urged impatiently. Rey scowled and glared out the window at Takodana’s colorful fauna. What the hell did Ben think he was doing? He was hassling her, just as he had done back when she was a child. The implied condescension made the hot ball of frustration in Rey’s chest flare.
She punched the button on the console to lower the ship’s landing ramp and shoved herself out of the pilot’s seat. This better be good, she thought to herself, reaching out with the Force to convey her annoyance to Ben.
The air outside on Takodana’s surface was humid, but not stiflingly so. Everything smelled of dirt and plants and nature. Rey actually liked the peaceful sensation of the forest, but she didn’t pause to enjoy it. She couldn’t be distracted or swayed from her mission by such petty, insignificant things. her double-ended red lightsaber ignited at her side as her solid black boots landed on Takodana’s surface. Come out, come out, she thought tauntingly, giving her own forceful tug to the Force. Where are you, Benny?
The crackling, uneven energy of her lightsaber wavered along her right side, occasionally glancing across any fauna that got in Rey’s way. Rey liked the way that the plants - so green and vibrant with life - would wither away from her saber’s touch, disappearing into black ashes at her feet. Her footsteps were confident as she moved forward, and she was able to maneuver easily through the woods.
Ben’s Force signature remained constant - a glowing green beacon through the trees, patiently waiting for her to find him. A low-hanging branch scraped against the black hood that Rey had drawn up over her head. Its hooked fingers wheedled their way under her thick hood and ensnared themselves in her loose brown hair. With a grunt of annoyance and a flick of her lightsaber, Rey sliced the twig in two. She was still fidgeting with unknotting the twig from her hair when she finally reached the clearing where Ben was sitting in a classic lotus position, meditating peacefully.
Rey was momentarily struck by the strangeness of finally facing Ben Solo. It had only been three years since she and her Knights of Ren had destroyed Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy, but it seemed to her as if it had been a lifetime ago. When she looked down at the pristinely meditating Jedi, flashed of that dark and rainy night immediately swelled to the forefront of her mind. It wasn’t the helpless screams of the terrified young faces of Luke’s Padawans that made Rey’s pulse skip through her veins. It was something far more troubling - a memory that she had thought she had rid herself of a long time ago.
“Why Takodana?” Rey grumbled aloud, skipping any pretense as she finally managed to release the rogue twig from her hair, and the unwelcome memories from her mind.
She watched as a slight smile turned up the edges of Ben’s mouth, but he didn’t reply. In fact, he didn’t even move. He simply sat there, meditating - seemingly at ease despite the fact that Rey stood no more than ten feet away from him with her dangerous saberstaff fully ignited. Rey cocked her head slightly as she silently inspected him. He had grown since she had last seen him. Not in height - Ben had been a solid 6′3″ from the time he was twelve-years-old - but in his face and the way he held himself. He seemed more … tired than she remembered.
His dark hair was longer, and it curled down around his ears and neck. He also had a thin layer of hair around his mouth and chin, showing that he hadn’t shaved in a while. He had taken off his brown boots and they were resting beside him alongside the hilt of his own lightsaber. His breath was rising and falling in measured rhythm as he remained completely still, even as the wind blew through his hair and made the forest dance around him.
Rey told herself that she observed all of this as a hunter observing her prey, but with dark memories still fresh in her mind, she wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. She could feel his attention on her as she padded quietly around him, simply observing. She twirled her saberstaff idly around her body, but Ben was not disrupted by the dangerous whomp whoosh sound that it made as it cut through the air around him. The crackling, uneven red light seemed to mirror Rey’s own energy. There was something sparking just under her skin - was it annoyance or excitement?
“Well?” Rey finally asked through clenched teeth, breaking the unbearable silence. “Are you going to tell me why you have this insane death wish?”
“Why did you come?” Ben asked suddenly, completely ignoring her question. He didn’t even twitch from his meditative position and his eyes remained closed.
Rey scowled even though she knew that Ben would not see it. She allowed a few moments of silence to slip between them as she continued to pace her steady circle around the meditating Jedi. “Wasn’t it you who called me?” she asked finally, deciding to follow his lead and answer his questions with further questions.
“Years of ignoring me,” he muttered, as if to himself. “I’ve called out to you before. Why now? Why did you finally come?”
“You finally have something that I want,” Rey sneered, stopping dead in front of him. She spread her feet into a fighting stance and readied her double-ended weapon. She saw Ben take a quick intake of breath and her sneer widened into a wicked grin.
“So?” she prompted him. “Are we doing this the easy way or the hard way?”
“I’m not going to fight you,” Ben sighed heavily, finally opening his eyes to regard her. His eyes roamed slowly from the tips of her black boots to the top of her head and Rey watched him take her in with a secret swell of pride. She knew that she was beautiful - a powerful, full-grown woman now, and not the scrawny, awkward Padawan that he probably remembered. However, when he met her gaze, a flash of some emotion crossed over his face. Was it sadness? Pity?
Rey’s grin fell into a growl and she gave her saberstaff another artful spin, the red glow illuminating Ben’s features. “Face me, Jedi.” Her voice was low and poisonous.
Ben gave a slow shake of his head. “I will not fight you, Rey,” he repeated. His voice was tinted by the same soft emotion that his eyes were, and that made Rey furious.
Her left hand snapped forward, her black-gloved fingers reaching towards the Jedi Knight, who was still sitting in his meditative position on the ground. Ben let out a small gasp and his eyes widened as Rey used the Force to immobilize him. “Should have fought back when you had the chance,” Rey hissed as she felt Ben fight against her. He was no match for her - not now, when she had this much anger and frustration to fuel her connection to the Dark side.
Once again Ben’s eyes rose to meet Rey’s and she actually heard his voice through the Force as he reached out to her, as clearly as if he had spoken aloud. Rey, please. You don’t have to do this. Rey took a step closer, thrusting her arm as she pushed Ben back with the Force. “No second chances,” she reminded him, her voice filled with iron and hate.
Rey smiled as she watched Ben’s throat clench uncomfortably under her oppression and then she began forcing her way through his mind. He did a very good job at creating barriers against her, but she was always able to find a way around them. You’ll have to do better than that, she thought to herself, hoping that Ben would hear her. His mind was filled with memories from Luke’s Academy - memories of who he used to be. Memories of who she used to be.
“Still so fixated on the past,” Rey muttered aloud, gritting her teeth against the unwanted images flooding into her mind. “When will you grow up, Benny?” Rey knew that he hated the nickname, but unfortunately the name elicited even more memories of the two of them as young Padawans. Rey growled out loud, thrusting the useless images aside and digging deeper.
“Rey … don’t …” Ben gasped, fighting desperately to keep her away from what she was seeking.
“You know where he is, don’t you?” Rey hissed. It was not a question. “You know where Luke Skywalker is hiding.”
Ben winced as she took another step forward and increased the pressure she was pushing down upon him. He had always been the only one who could even come close to matching her power. Being able to overpower him now simply fueled Rey’s determination to get what she wanted out of him. “Show me where he is!” she demanded.
A shudder shook through the Jedi Knight as he mustered the last of his strength and attempted to push Rey back out of his head. She felt his power like a solid iron wall, fighting her back. The Force roiled around Rey like a thunderstorm as she felt her grasp on his thoughts weakening. In a last-ditch effort to maintain the upper-hand of this situation, Rey snatched her hand away from Ben’s face, stealing away the breath of his consciousness. Ben’s eyelids fluttered over his dark eyes and he crumpled to the ground as he blacked out.
Rey was panting like an enraged animal as she looked down at the unconscious Jedi. It would be so easy to kill him, she thought to herself. Just one quick swipe of her lightsaber and she would easily be able to impale him straight through the heart, or render his head from his body. Maybe then the nightmares would stop. Maybe then she would finally be able to put Ben Solo behind her.
But she couldn’t. It wasn’t just that he had information that she needed - she could uncover other ways of finding Luke Skywalker. It all came down to that strange, soft look that Ben had given her. As if he knew the Darkness within her - the blood she had spilled, the anger she felt, the childish way that she greedily hungered for power - and yet he still believed her to be good. Ben had always said that he saw the Light within Rey. She wondered if he still could.
She certainly couldn’t.
The Darkness rolled around her like a living thing. A hungry animal waiting to pounce on and devour its prey. With the Dark side of the Force it was always kill or be killed. Rey reached out to the Darkness, glad that no one was around to see the way her hand shook. One wrong move and the angry beast could easily decide that she would be its next prey. The Darkness lent her its strength and she used this power to lift Ben Solo off of the forest floor.
With his arm around her shoulder and the Force supporting his weight, Rey was able to easily drag him back the way she had come, towards where her TIE fighter idly stood.
But restraining Ben proved much more difficult than lifting him, since Rey found that she hadn’t exactly prepared for this hostage scenario to happen. Luckily, she was able to find a handful of loose wiring in one of the storage cabinets on the ship, which were meant to be used in case of emergency for electronic patch-ups. She used these to strap his wrists and ankles to the gunner’s chair, which sat directly behind the pilot’s. She made sure that they were tight enough to prevent him from moving, but not tight enough to leave marks. She didn’t know why she allowed him this convenience, but she didn’t pause to dwell.
She stored his lightsaber alongside her own on her belt and tossed his abandoned boots underneath the control board. Rey let out a small noise halfway between an amused snicker and an annoyed grunt as she realized that Ben’s long legs allowed for very little space in the TIE fighter’s cockpit, and he barely fit in the small gunner’s chair.
In all, it was a rather cramped space, but it was all that she had. The ship had been more than enough space for a lone pilot, but it wasn’t exactly conducive to act as an interrogation chamber. When she left the First Order, she had needed a small, fast ship that no one was likely to miss for a while. The First Order knew of Rey’s plan to seek out Ben Solo and retrieve data leading to Luke Skywalker, but they didn’t know that she had her own secret motives for coming to Takodana.
The First Order had always been a means to an end for Rey. Simply put, they had the supplies and manpower that she needed in order to fuel her expedition to find and destroy Luke Skywalker, and that was enough to make her loyal to them. For now. The Order and Rey had similar goals, but each had a very different way of going about them.
Rey knew that the First Order had bigger plans for the galaxy besides killing the last of the Jedis, and the First Order in turn knew that Rey was a rogue agent who had only one mission in life: to destroy Luke Skywalker. Neither party had any illusions about the other, but they continued to help each other in order to complete their shared missions.
Even her loyalty to Supreme Leader Snoke went only so far. Rey owed much of her strength and training to Master Snoke, but both knew how the Rule of Two worked. One day, the Master would terminate the Apprentice or the Apprentice would overturn the Master. Life on the Dark side of the Force was extremely simple to understand. Rey would help Snoke as best she could, but both knew that there would come a day when she would refuse to bow to Snoke’s will. In the three years that he had been teaching her she had already grown immensely, her power nearly matching his own. One day - perhaps one day soon - she would end Snoke and take control. Until then, she was cautious of tip-toeing around the border of obedience, but certainly not afraid to do whatever it took in order to achieve her own ends.
Ben Solo groaned in his sleep, tearing Rey away from her thoughts of the Order and how long it would take for them to come searching for her. A frown darkened her captive’s expression and she watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. Rey crouched before him, elbows on her knees, and watched his fitful sleep. She wondered if he still had nightmares, too.
“Oh, Ben,” she sighed aloud, her voice surprisingly soft in the small space. She was glad that he wasn’t conscious to hear her. “Why did you do this?”