Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Luke Skywalker, dedicated to the ways of the FORCE and the JEDI, has mysteriously vanished—his whereabouts, unknown to his family and closest friends. Leia Organa and Han Solo’s twin children, Jaina Solo and Ben Solo, are all at odds with each other due to Ben’s sudden turn to the DARK SIDE. Ben, now named KYLO REN, has helped create the cruel and fascist regime, the FIRST ORDER, with the help of a mysterious SUPREME LEADER SNOKE and the cult, THE KNIGHTS OF REN. Kylo Ren and the First Order will not rest until they find and destroy all of the Skywalkers and the remaining Jedi.

Have no fear! With the help of General Leia Organa and the RESISTANCE, the REPUBLIC is determined to find Luke and restore peace, justice, and tranquility to the galaxy. On a secret mission to Jakku, one of the most skilled Resistance pilot fighters finds an old ally who might know a thing or two about Luke.

The First Order’s Star Destroyer sent out a dozen pods full of determined stormtroopers. The existence of this First Order, however, was built out of resistance to the power of the Republic. These stormtroopers were like no others seen before—they were not of the same caliber as the ones from the Empire; no, these soldiers were, in the eyes of the generals and captains of the First Order, of the utmost perfection: they were raised to serve the regime, they were brainwashed, or, if shown to be dedicated and loyal enough, were everyday citizens like you.

On the desert-filled planet of Jakku, local civilians and villagers all shout and cry out in the middle of their small town. Fruit from fruit stands was knocked down, fabric was tossed everywhere, and small babies were wailing in the arms of their parents. Poe Dameron, a skilled pilot of the Resistance, was scurrying across Jakku, trying to find someone.

“Alright, BB-8,” he said, looking at the rolling orange and white droid beside him, “Leia said Wedge Antilles was old…white…tall, right?”

BB-8 did a series of excited beeps. Poe walked into a small tent, relieved to find the old man sitting on a bench. He gave Poe a slight smile.

“Sit, we do not have much time.” The pilot did as said, glaring around the dimly lit room. Wedge Antilles handed Poe a small device wrapped in a black cloth. “This will make things right. I’ve seen too much not to do something. Without the Jedi, there can be no balance of the Force.”

Wedge Antilles nodded his head and stood up to look out the curtain. “They’re here, son. You have to leave—go. Go!”

Poe Dameron ran across the village with the device tightly wrapped in his hand. Out of the pods came the stormtroopers—their armor, advanced and more practical than in the past few decades. They hit their shots with accuracy and force.

“Come on!” Poe yelled. “BB-8!” The two friends ran to their X-wing, only for it to be shot down by the First Order soldiers. 

The stormtroopers held on to villagers as hostages, quickly burning down everything that they ever knew—the fruit stand, their houses, their shops, their schools—everything was gone, burning to ashes before their eyes. They couldn’t understand why such a government would do that; they were people too. They had goals, dreams, lives, ideas, too. 

As they destroyed anything and everything in their line of sight, Poe’s stomach sank. There was no way he could survive such a disastrous scene, no matter how optimistic he was. Unwrapping the black cloth, he opened up BB-8’s compartment drawer and placed the device in it. “It’s safe. Get as far away from here as you can—I’ll come back for you. I promise.” Poe grabbed his gun and started to fire away at the stormtroopers as best as he could. 

As the bloodshed and fire spread around the village, a stormtrooper rushed over to his fallen soldier. That was his best friend, FN-2189. They spent their entire lives together. 

“No, no…” the stormtrooper whispered as he leaned over the other. He held him tight, only for his dearest friend to hold his helmet, letting streaks of blood fall on him. This isn’t right, thought the stormtrooper. So he ran to hide behind a box, fearing what was to come next as he looked up into the sky to see the ship of Kylo Ren. In a brief distance, two stormtroopers held Wedge Antilles and brought him up to Kylo Ren’s ship.

Kylo Ren slowly walked out of the dock, his robes all black, with his cape swaying in the wind. His fist balled as he heavily walked toward Wedge Antilles. 

“Look how old you have become,” Ren said. His voice was muffled yet clear—his mask intimidating and cold; there was no emotion in that mask, but so much emotion in that vulnerable voice. “You know what I’ve come for.”

Wedge Antilles, in this moment, decided to be smart; presumably not a good move. “I know where you come from.”

Kylo circled him. “You have the map to Skywalker. You are going to give it to me.”

“No.” Antilles eyed him. “You have risen from the dark side, and you, sir, cannot deny the truth that is your family.”

The glimmers of the fire grew taller. Kylo briefly chuckled and ignited his bleeding, red, and almost unstable lightsaber. “You’re so right!” With one slash, Wedge Antilles was gone, his body split in half on the ground.

A small shot from a blaster flew its way to Kylo. In mere seconds, however, Kylo stopped the gravity of the bullet with the Force, only to turn around and see a young man. The bullet hung in the air, without recoil. Kylo turned to view him as the man was kicked to his knees.

“You have it,” he said to him, “search him. Now,” Kylo said to the soldiers.

The stormtroopers patted him down. “Nothing, sir.”

Annoyed yet still slightly hopeful, he needed to find where that map of Skywalker was. “Put him on board.”

As the man drifted away, Captain Phasma, an elite stormtrooper, approached Ren. “The villagers, Sir.”

“Kill them all,” said Ren as he walked away, his cape flowing as bullets blasted into villagers. A strong push contracted in his mind, causing him to look back at the chaos ensuing behind him. One stormtrooper with red streaks on his helmet looked up at him. That one, thought Kylo, was odd. But he kept walking to his ship, needing to find Skywalker. 

Chapter Text

Jaina Solo made the jump into hyperspace and held control of the ship. Zekk, her mission partner and childhood friend, sat as her co-pilot, but rarely did anything to help with the actual control of the ship. 

“My goodness, Zekk, are you seriously going to do nothing?” Zekk threw a ball in the air and kicked his feet up on the control board. “No, stop, don’t do that—you’ll mess up the controls.”

“Relax,” he said, kicking his feet off. “I’m not doing anything because you know what you’re doing better than I do.”

“Right…” she said, clearly irritated and annoyed. She held her head, feeling a pounding pressure on it. Jaina sat back in her chair as the dark and starry reflection of space reflected in the ship. Hyperspace always made her feel dizzy and sick, but it was something she learned to suppress sooner rather than later.

Out of the window, a group of pods and small ships flew west.

“Scan those ships,” she demanded, quickly turning the ship west. “Now, Zekk!”

“Jeez, jeez,” he said, “relax.” 

Jaina made the ship go faster—she didn’t care if those ships were the First Order, the Resistance, or simply people fooling and playing around. Something was pulling her towards it, and telling her to go after it, so she did. 

“Nothing is popping up,” Zekk said. Jaina looked towards him, her face turning pale. They both knew that this was what they were looking for. That this was who they were looking for.

“Wonderful. They’re First Order, it has to be.” Before going even faster, she slowed down. “We gotta be smart about this,” she mumbled. “Take over the ship and pilot it, would you?”

Zekk nodded his head. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her mind crafted an image of a TIE fighter, with her placed as the pilot, and Zekk sitting in the seat to shoot around. And so their small and outdated ship soon morphed into a TIE fighter. Jaina quickly flew into the ship dock, dodging any sort of confrontation that could have happened. The ship landed smoothly. Jaina stepped out of the cockpit, her tan cape draped against her shoulders. Coincidentally, it used to be her mother’s when she finished her Jedi training. A moment of grief welled up in her chest as she thought of her past. The cape was given to her as a gift on her eighteenth birthday. Ben got Luke’s cape. 

Zekk came out of the ship and stood next to Jaina. The star base’s lights were overly saturated—its white lights glared onto the shiny black and white marbled floor. Halls upon halls were scattered on each wall. She had no clue where to even start searching for his brother. 

On the level below them, a young man was cuffed and held by two stormtroopers. Luckily, it seemed like some soldiers were occupied. Jaina slowly walked over into the hall, hiding behind a wall to hide from some stormtroopers. She grabbed the blaster that was sitting in her holster and shot two. Zekk got the other. 

More stormtroopers came from the other side. Others from above. More from the same side.

“Surrounded already,” he whispered. 

Jaina brushed her loose hair behind her ears and revealed herself from the corner. She took her lightsaber from her belt and ignited it. A light purple hue lit up the side of her face as she used it to block the blaster bullets. The weapon glided through the stormtrooper's armor. She quickly pushed the saber out of the trooper's hands and slid it back into her belt. 

She ran to the other side, hoping to find an elevator. Zekk fought off the others with his green saber, using a blaster to finish the last one off. 

“Shoot,” Zekk said, backing into the wall. “We didn’t think this through at all.”

“It’s fine,” Jaina said, looking around. A stormtrooper came running towards them. Without hesitating, Jaina hit them. 

“We gotta turn back.” 

The look in Zekk’s dark eyes told her that he was serious. All Jaina did was move forward in an attempt to find a way out of these endless bright halls. She took a deep breath and looked around her surroundings to try to find an elevator of some sort. A pounding pressure and ringing noise filled her entire body—her brother was near; he had to be. 

Blasters and gunshots went off, but, surprisingly, not at them. Jaina looked over the window to see a TIE fighter trying to escape the premises. She wanted to know more, but there was no time. There was no doubt that, eventually, the two would be caught. It was only a matter of when. Jaina walked over to the body of the trooper, took the radio device, and held it to her mouth. 

“The hell are you doing?” Zekk yelled. He tried to reach for the device, but Jaina pushed him away.

“Tell the commander, or the general, whatever he is, that I need to speak to him. Now, or I’ll shred this place to pieces, got it?”

She completely turned off the device and crushed it with her foot. 

“You are insane.” 

“But you still stick around all the time,  don’t you?” Jaina shrugged her shoulders and walked off, tightly holding her blaster. 

“Hah…”

Jaina’s headache grew stronger. She ran down the hall, only for her head to pound until her eyes strained; this feeling—this, this connection she had with her brother was never this painful. 

“Go…” she said to Zekk, holding her head. “You need to go.”

Zekk put his hands on his hips. “What?”

“It’s not—I’m…I need to find him. Alone. I don’t know why, I just…”

“Why the switch up? Jaina—” He reached for her shoulder, but she swatted it away. “Look, we both want the same thing.”

A vision flashed in her mind where she saw Zekk lying on the floor, lifeless and cold. 

“Go,” she said, her voice deepening. “It’s an order. Find a TIE ship, and go back to Hosnian. Please.”

Zekk turned around without a word. Jaina took a step closer as her head pounded even more. She found the elevator, clicking its button to go up. As she stepped into the bright white capsule-like elevator, a strong wave of remorse, anxiety, and darkness itched over her skin. With that, a small voice in her head appeared. “Leave, Jaina.” 

The voice grew louder, more desperate, and clearer in her head. “Jaina!” the voice yelled out. It seemed to have a filter over it, but she sensed who it was.

“Stop!” Randomly, her finger selected a button; but she knew it wasn’t random; nothing was with the force. “Oh, you’re not winning this,” the muffled voice said. The lights in the elevator began to flash, and the button switched to the first floor, where the docking ships were. 

Before she could touch the button again, she ended up on the same floor she began on. Slowly, the elevator opened up to reveal a series of loud and deep screams. A tall man in all black robes and a mask walked out of a small room and quickly mentioned something to a man beside him.

“It’s in a droid. A BB unit. 

A redhead stood beside Kylo. “Well, then, if it’s on Jakku, we shall have it soon.”

“I leave that to you,” said Kylo, “take care of that pilot. And find that droid.”

After the discussion of the droid, Kylo made contact with Jaina. He quickly grabbed her arm, pushing her aside into the hall. With that, her headache soon eased.

Chapter Text

Jaina looked around the premises of the First Order Base, getting lost in the repetitive halls. There was no escape. As she was quickly grabbed by Kylo Ren, all she saw was a blaster-like shot hit her, and then her eyes faded black. 

Slowly, her eyes faded in and out, only to be stuck in a confined room. Her head pounded as the room kept spinning, but it eventually steadied as time moved on. 

“Hmmm…” she mumbled, looking around. A small skylight on the ceiling showed snow falling. Her eyes narrowed down in front of her, only to see a masked man kneeling in front of her. “Where are we?” she quickly asked, picking her head up. She was strapped to a chair in the middle of the room, her legs cuffed to the legs of the seat.

“You’re my guest,” he said.

Jaina tried to fight the chair off, still loopy from whatever shot her before. “Is this necessary?”

“Of course.” He looked to the side, then looked back at her. “You shouldn’t be here, Jaina.” His voice was distorted and insincere. “But you are.” He stepped closer to her. Instead of leaning her head away, she lifted her chin to look at him. “Why?”

“To understand why my brother left.” It had been years since he left Jaina, Luke, and their parents. The talented Solo tried to reach her hand for her blaster, but it was gone. On the right side of her hip, she looked down, happy to see her lightsaber still there. However, if it was there, that meant her brother didn’t take it for a reason. 

Finally, Kylo stood up. 

“You all mean nothing to me,” he said, using the force to push her into the wall behind the chair. 

Quickly, Jaina’s heart began to race. This wasn’t how she thought this would go. Kylo reached his hands to his mask and lifted it. There stood a tall man with the same dark brown eyes and dark colored hair as Jaina; there stood someone who, somewhat, resembled Ben Solo. 

“You look frightened,” said Kylo.

And she was. There was an odd nature to his voice and demeanor—an odd look to his face, despite it nearly mimicking her own. Everything about him made her question if that was her brother at all. Severely did she underestimate her brother’s newfound power and loyalty to the dark side of the force and this illegitimate First Order.

“Still not much of a talker,” he said. “That’s fine. But you will tell me the truth.” The cuffs around her arms and legs tightened. How did he do that, thought Jaina. Jaina simply turned her face to not to look at him. “Fine,” he said. “We will play that game. I know the Resistance sent you here to get that pilot.”

Jaina quickly looked at Kylo. What in the world was he talking about? A pilot? She wasn’t a part of the Resistance—it was too risky considering her dedication to the ways of the Jedi, and her former allegiance to the Jedi Council as a Master. 

“No, I’m not—what are you talking about? What pilot?”

Kylo shook his head. “Come on, you know who. Tell me about the pilot.”

“Ben.”

“Who is the pilot?!”

“Ben!”

Kylo used the force to pick up her blaster on the counter behind him. He released the safety button and pointed it at her. Jaina’s heart stopped entirely, her eyes widened, and her breath quickened. 

“I don’t know…” she softly said. “I don’t know anything about a pilot, Kylo . And I don’t care about one, either.”

“No!” Kylo threw the blaster against the wall. “Who sent you? Han Solo sent you?” he asked, leaning closer to her. 

“Goodness, why would you ask that? You know he’s going to come for you himself if he must. This…this Sith thing that you’re doing? I don’t understand it at all.”

Kylo, rather dramatically, groaned. “Did your mother send you?”

“ Our mother,” she corrected. She scanned the room for a way out. 

Kylo stepped closer to her. “Did your mother send you?” She shook her head no. “Skywalker?” She shook her head again. “Who, Jaina, who?” 

“No one!” She yelled, using her force powers to try and push Kylo away. But he stood his ground and planted his feet on the floor. 

“Tell me the truth,” he said. Jaina took a deep breath and clenched her jaw. “You know I can take whatever you want.”

“Your tricks don’t work on me, and you know that.”

Jaina tried her best to keep her composure. She knew that whatever he was learning from Snoke—whatever that was, anyway—was powerful and rather painful. Kylo stood beside her. His hand hovered over the side of her face. A sharp tingling pain erupted all over her mind. She pushed her head back and tensed her muscles, not letting him get inside her head.

“Jaina…” he said. “It’s so dark in there, isn’t it? Locked away on Coruscant…hiding away from us …from me , aren’t you?” 

Tears slid down her cheek. “Stop it! How are you…how…?”

“Han Solo doesn’t check on you…Leia doesn’t either…but Zekk does. Every evening.”

Jaina turned her head away even more, struggling to breathe properly. Her breaths corresponded with Kylo’s hand. For a brief moment, she tuned out Kylo’s rambling entirely and thought about Zekk. She closed her eyes and focused on her feelings to see if Zekk made it out alright—if he made it out of this hell. But it was empty—it was nothing but silence—frozen emotions—an empty, black void—a steady yet empty pulse.

“There it is,” Kylo said. “You brought Zekk here, but he’s gone; vanished. He doesn’t care about you. Who else do you have, Jaina? Skywalker—he doesn’t care about you, and you know it deep down. He only gave you all that attention back when we were training, because, well…he saw your potential; potential that you no longer possess. But you go to him, anyway, don’t you? And he’s gone, now…gone.”

Jaina started to panic. “Where is Zekk? What’d you do to him?”

“That is none of your concern. But you do know where Skywalker is.”

“No…I don’t…no…no stop!” She yelled.

“You came here to kill me with Zekk, that’s why you brought him! That—that Jedi!” he raised his voice. “Where is Skywalker?!”

Taking advantage of his anger, Jaina used the Force to resist Kylo’s mind tricks, and try to reach into his head. There, all she saw was a vision of Darth Vader, and a dissolved version of his mask. 

She used all of her might to push him away and started to scream. In a swift movement, she tuned into her force powers to escape the restraints. She fell to the ground, weak and shocked. In front of her stood Kylo with a red, unsteady, and frazzled lightsaber. It looked as if it were to break or fail at any second. Jaina reached for her purple saber and ignited it.

“I’m giving you one last chance. Where is he?” Kylo asked.

Tears slid down Jaina’s face. She stood up and held her saber tightly. “That is none of your concern,” she said coldly, lunging at him. At that moment, she knew he didn’t want her to walk out of that room alive. "You will never be him," she said, taking a deep breath.

Jaina struck at him with her saber. Successfully, Kylo blocked her shot. She swung again, trying to get leverage on him, but his hits were too strong. She used all of her strength—all of her past training—to get another swing on him, and it sent him off balance. She hit again, and the static of Kylo’s saber flickered onto her arm. 

She tried to move out of the corner he had her in so she could have more space in the room, but it was nearly impossible. Kylo pushed her back into the corner with the Force. He then used that same leverage he had to force-choke her. Jaina dropped her saber as she was lifted off the ground. As she scraped at her neck, she tried to kick him, but it was no use—he just moved out of the way and backed up. 

A succession of coughs erupted. “St…op…” she pleaded, tears falling down her face. 

Kylo’s eyes welled up with tears before he completely let go of her. He retracted his saber and watched as his sister fell to the ground, gasping for air. Jaina got a look at him as she tried to get more air, but was soon knocked down by him. He kicked her head and took a step closer. That red saber was all she saw as her head rested on the cold marble floor. 

“Go,” he yelled, retracting the saber again. “Go take your ship…” he said, his voice soft. “Go to Coruscant. If you value your life, don’t let us cross paths again, ever.”

Jaina continued to cough and gasp for air. She picked up her saber and gathered the strength to get up. As she limped toward the door, she got one last look at him; that was no longer the twin she once knew and loved.

Chapter Text

Kylo Ren watched Jaina limp out of the room, her hand holding down her injured head and arm. Blood dripped from the side of her head and mouth. “What did I do?” he asked himself. Stains of blood and broken glass were scattered across the room, remnants of the fight he got in before. He tried to convince himself it had to be done, but did it? He exited the room and stormed down the hall to a dark, barely lit room. The doors shut and locked behind him, as he sat in a chair in front of a table. 

A disheveled Vader mask lay out on the table. Waves of stabs seemed to tickle his brain and heart, until all he could think about was Jaina. 

The twins, from an early age, were inseparable. If someone needed one, the other one always knew the whereabouts of the other. 

“Look,” Jaina said, running over to her brother. It was a little after dark, and Jaina ran into Ben’s room with a small animal. 

He was sketching something in his journal before turning around to see his sister. “Ew, what is that?”

“It's a Gizka.

“Looks like a frog.”

She chuckled and sat on the edge of his bed. “Isn't it adorable!” It was a small, green, and reptile-like animal with two legs. 

Ben took it from her. It hopped onto his desk, standing there, doing nothing. “How did you even get this?”

“Zekk gave it to me.”

The Gizka hopped off the desk and onto the floor. “We can go get more if you want…it's on Lehon. Zekk's there," she said with a slight blush.

Zekk was a few years older than the twins. He hated consistency; whether that was following through on Jedi training, taking care of things, or finding something steady to do, he hated it all. So he'd fly all across the galaxy, finding new and abandoned planets. Ben never understood her sister's connection and friendship with Zekk, but he shook it off, as long as she was happy. Crossing his arms, Ben stood from his desk and walked over to his droid by the door. He asked it to show him a map of the planets. In the darkness of the night, a blue hologram filled that side of the room.

Jaina looked at the map and pointed to the planet. "It's right there." She then picked up the small creature and put it in her tote bag. “Come on. We can make it there and back if we leave now. Father and Mother are sleeping.”

“Not like they'd notice, anyway.”

“Don't say that–you know them, they're just busy.” 

All Ben did was shrug his shoulders, open the door, and let her walk out first. Jaina walked down the hall and peeked over her parents' door to see if they were sleeping or not. 

“And we're clear,” she whispered. The twins started to walk down the stairs, but were soon stopped by a high-pitched voice. 

“Where are you guys going?” asked their younger brother, Anakin Solo.

The twins looked at each other and then back up at Anakin. Do we lie? Jaina asked with the Force. Kylo shook his head.

“We're going out flying,” he said. “It's too dangerous for you.”

Anakin pouted. “But we have training tomorrow with Uncle Luke. You can't leave!”

“Shhh…” Jaina said. She inched up the stairs and grabbed Anakin’s hand. “You can come with us. But only if you promise not to tell Mom and Dad.”

The young boy nodded his head. Even though he was not much younger than the twins, he was easy to win over and bribe if needed.

“Race you to the loading dock!” Anakin said, rushing passed the twins down the steps.

“Ah!” Ben said with a smile, “we can't let him beat us…”

“Two's better than one,” she said, jumping up on his back. “Go! Run! He's gonna get there first!” 

Ben ran down the steps and made his way to the loading dock where their ships were. 

Kylo Ren shook his head, trying to erase the memory. “I should have finished it…” he whispered, kneeling his head to the floor. To him, Jaina was consuming his mind too much–all because he let her go. 

 “I feel it again…” Despite having his mask back on, tears slid down his face. That feeling—that feeling of despair, of hope, of agency falls back into him. “The pull to the light. Supreme Leader senses it…Jaina senses it. Show me again, Grandfather,” he pleaded, looking at the grey skull-shaped mask. “Show me the power of the darkness. I’ll let nothing stand in our way. Show me, please,” he pleaded, “and I will finish what you started.”

Kylo shut his eyes as he stood up from the mask, knowing what he had to do.

A dark shadow from a hologram projected in, once again, a dark room. Such interior designs and aesthetics were never a strong suit within the Empire, or what has come after it. This figure, who went by the name of Snoke, yelled at him.

“Your sister beat you?!” Snoke screamed, clenching his fist.

To appear as if he were not lying, Kylo embarrassingly shook his head. 

“This is why you should’ve killed her! Years ago, I told you this! Now there is another Skywalker on our hands—you could’ve ended this years ago, Kylo!”

Kylo shook his head. “I am sorry, Supreme Leader.”

“You need to destroy the Resistance! Before they get their hands back on Solo and Skywalker.”

A presence entered the room. Kylo turned to see that it was no other than Armitage Hux; he, personally, never cared for the snappy and uptight general. 

“We got the location of them, Sir. We tracked their ship to the Illeenium system.”

“Good. Ready the weapon for Hosnian and the planets that belong to the Republic.”

Annoyed that the Supreme Leader was taking Hux’s side, Kylo spoke up. “I can get Solo—I can defeat her. All I need is your guidance.”

Snoke leaned down. “Bring her to me, first,” he said, his hologram fading away.

Stormtrooper FN-2187 led Poe to a jail cell. The fierce pilot tried to resist, but it was no use. “Turn here,” he said with confidence, as the two were tucked away in a tight alleyway. During his whole mission on Jakku and his order to kill the civilians, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Something clicked in him, then, that this was not the way—this was not the right path he should be taking, and he was ashamed of himself that he did not come to that conclusion any sooner.

“Listen carefully. If you do exactly as I say, I can get you out of here.”

“What?” Poe said, blood dripping down from his mouth and the side of his head. FN-2187 took his helmet off. “I need to escape. You can fly a TIE fighter, can’t you?”

“You’re with the Resistance?” Poe asked, lowering his voice to a whisper. A slight smile came across his face, and he was happy to know General Leia had sent someone to him.

“What, no, no, no. I’m getting you out.”

Disappointed, Poe shook the stormtrooper's hand off his arm. “No, I’m not flying anything! Why are you helping me, huh?”

“Because,” said the soldier, “I can’t see you—or anyone else suffer for doing what’s right.”

“Fine,” said Poe.

“Yeah?” Poe asked with a smile. 

The pair walked towards the shipping dock.

“Okay, stay calm, stay calm,” 2187 repeated, a gun pointed at Poe.

“I am.”

“Oh, no…I’m talking to myself.”

The two walked near the TIE fighter. Right ahead of them was a young man and a young woman in tan attire, wielding lightsabers.

“Looks like we got some time to get away,” said FN-2187. “Any idea who that is?”

“Some Jedi,” Poe said, hopping into the TIE fighter. “Maybe those are the Resistance that Leia sent…”

“What?” FN-2187 asked, curious. 

“Never mind, I trust those two. We gotta get out of this. Can you shoot?”

“Yeah, blasters.”

“Oh, okay,” Poe messed with the system, trying to get ready to fly. “It’s the same principle.

“This is complicated…”

As Poe tried to escape the TIE fighter, a safety tether was stuck to it. Stormtroopers began to shoot at them, but Finn blasted them. A stream of guilt came across him—those were his friends, his brothers. But he had to go. 

“I got it!” Poe screamed, flying out. “We gotta take out some of those cannons.” The TIE fighter flew through the stars as Finn tried to shoot the cannons from the Star Destroyer base. 

“Yeah!” he said, successfully shooting one. “Did you see that!” The trooper smiled.

“Hell yeah, I did! What’s your name?”

“FN-2187.”

“F…what?”

“FN-2187. That’s what they called me.”

“Oh, well…FN, huh? I’m just gonna call you Finn. Is that alright?”

“Finn, I like that.”

Poe smiled and worked with the controls to go faster. “I’m Poe, good to meet you, Finn.”

“Good to meet you, Poe.”

Finn turned around to face him, giving him a warm smile.

Back on the Star Destroyer, Hux communicated with other generals about the escape. Soon, to Hux’s annoyance, Kylo Ren came walking into the control room.

“Is it the Resistance pilot?” Kylo asked.

“Yes, he had help…from one of our own. A stormtrooper—”

“I already know.” Kylo walked away from Hux while he was still talking. “FN-2187.” 

“Sir,” said a general, “the cannons are ready.

“Fire!”

Poe yelled at Finn to shoot the cannon from the Star Destroyer. 

“Where are we going?” Finn asked as Poe flew towards a desert-looking planet.

“Jakku, I need my droid.”

“What! No!” Finn turned around. “We gotta get out of this system, I can’t go back!”

“This droid is important.” 

"Huh?" Finn groaned. "No droid is that important."

"Oh, it is; a BB unit, one of a kind. It has the location of Luke Skywalker."

"What! You've got to be kidding me, we’re going to die out there!”

"Hey, pay attention to those TIE fighters! They're on our—"

Suddenly, a blaster shot hit the ship. The ship wrecked on Jakku, leaving the two men stranded in the desert. Finn ran over to a dark, cloudy scene, where a fire started to emerge. Poe had to be near.

“Poe!” Finn yelled, finding his brown jacket. “Poe!” The ship was engulfed in the sand. “Poe…” he said, watching the ship go down. What was he supposed to do now? He was stranded, had no one, and didn’t know how to fly a ship. And all he had was a jacket.

Chapter Text

Every muscle in Jaina’s body was sore. It had been a while since she picked up her lightsaber to fight someone. The only times she used it were when she was practicing with Zekk, and that was once in a blue moon. A few TIE fighters were shooting from behind her, but she easily dodged them and shot back. There was one, however, flying in the distance in front of her, and she sensed a familiar and warm hum in her chest. Jaina rested her head against the seat, trying her best to ignore her wounds.

So Jaina flew a bit faster, with more focus as she navigated around the shots coming at her. Everything seemed fine. Up until the TIE fighter in front of her got shot. 

“What the hell!” She yelled out, shooting the other TIE fighters behind her. The ship went crashing down on the planet, which she could only assume was Jakku. 

Jaina landed on the planet and scanned the sky for a crashed ship. She must have landed too far away from anything. Besides, she thought, Jakku was abandoned—why would Zekk, of all places, land over there? The more she flew around the area, the more she panicked. It was becoming harder and harder to tune in to the Force, let alone trust her feelings. Once again, everything was silent. It was too quiet. Zekk was her friend. Her partner. A reminder of what once was existed through the Jedi Council. She lost Ben. She was trying not to lose Luke. She couldn’t lose him, too. 

As she scanned the desert further, a crashed ship sank into the desert. She landed her ship and quickly hopped out of the fighter. 

“Zekk!” She yelled, running towards the damage.

A young man in half of a stormtrooper uniform appeared in front of her. Jaina held her head down. How could she be so stupid—that TIE fighter was a stormtrooper. 

The man turned towards her. He held on to a brown jacket over his head to dodge the wind. But none of this made sense. Every feeling, every emotion, every thought that lingered in her mind when Zekk was near flowed through her body. 

“Where is he?” she asked the man, trying to reach for her blaster in her holster; Kylo took it. Instead, she circled him.

“Poe? I don’t know…” Finn said. “Hey, wait.”

“Poe? No, I’m not talking about him. I don’t know who that is. I’m talking about Zekk. You have him, or you did, I know you did.”

“I don’t know a Zekk.” Finn scratched his head and bit his lip. “Wait a minute…you’re the Jedi we saw back on the Starkiller Base. Poe said you’re with the Resistance!”

Jaina squinted at the man in a stormtrooper outfit. She had no clue who this Poe was, nor why this man was approaching her. “Are you going to shoot me or something?” she annoyingly asked, eyeing his attire. He didn’t have a blaster or weapon. 

A sharp pain clouded her head and shoulder. “Shit…” she muttered under her breath.

The stormtrooper walked closer to her. “Look—”

“Get away.”

“Hey, look—”

“You’re treading on some mighty thin waters, Stormtrooper.”

The Jedi walked away from the scene towards her ship. But the stormtrooper followed her closely. Jaina pushed him slightly with the force, realizing it took a lot more effort and concentration than it would for someone who wasn’t force-sensitive. Jaina turned around, seeing the Stormtrooper fall to the ground. 

“Who are you?” she defensively asked, staring him down. The stormtrooper stood up. Jaina aimed her saber at him. “Talk.”

The soldier put his hands up. “FN-2187”

“What?”

“Finn, my name is Finn.” Jaina looked behind her, making sure no one was around. She looked back at him. “I escaped the First Order with Poe. He’s some pilot for the Resistance, I think. He’s looking for a droid?”

“A BB unit on Jakku…” she said. 

She deactivated the lightsaber. This was something unprecedented: a former stormtrooper who escaped, willingly. A stormtrooper who escaped the years of manipulation, brainwashing, and propaganda. And if that wasn’t shocking enough, the man was force-sensitive somehow. She shut her eyes and quickly opened them. The wounds on her shoulder and the side of her head still hurt, but everything started to piece together. That pilot Kylo kept pestering her about was Poe.

“I don’t get it,” Jaina said to him. She lent him a hand. Finn didn’t take it. 

“Are you going to shock me or something?” he asked, his hands still placed in front of him.

“No, I’m helping you.”

Hesitantly, Finn took it and stood on the ground. 

“Why does the First Order want the BB unit so bad?” Jaina asked, putting her hand in her pocket. She began to walk further into the desert to go back to the ship. 

Finn followed behind her and slid Poe’s jacket on. “It has a map to Luke Skywalker. I thought all that Skywalker stuff was a myth.” 

Jaina stopped in her tracks. She didn’t think the First Order would be daring enough to try and track the Jedi down; if that was the case, and what this stormtrooper was telling her was true, she needed to leave. If Kylo saved her, he wasn’t going to try and save her again from the wrath of that fascist regime. 

Wind from the desert flew around her eyes. She used her cape hood and walked faster. I could’ve sworn the ship was right here. 

“Where is my ship?” 

For miles, all they saw was sand. With her luck, this was bound to happen to her. Her brother let her go, and now she was trapped on a deserted planet, with a stormtrooper, and a droid that the First Order would kill to get. 

“We need a ship,” Jaina said, picking up her pace through the desert. Finn didn’t protest, supposedly happy to get off Jakku. 

After what seemed like hours of walking and searching for any sign of life, a small village appeared. A small orange and white droid rolled over to Finn, running over his foot.
“Ow!” Finn exclaimed, holding his toe. The BB-unit did a series of beeps and continued to roll in Finn’s direction. “That’s the droid.”

Jaina looked at it, then looked up, seeing a dozen TIE fighters shooting at the village. Finn and Jaina ran through the sand with the BB-8 unit rolling behind them, trying to get a head start. A large and oddly shaped ship was conveniently docked on the sand near the village. And if this odd planet couldn’t get any weirder, it was no other than the Millennium Falcon.

“Come on,” Jaina yelled to Finn, running and dodging the fighters. She was able to use the Force to make two of them collide with each other to buy time. I’m getting dragged into this fight again, she thought.

The ship seemed almost abandoned from the last time she saw it. As kids, her, Kylo, and Anakin used to go around flying when their father all the time. “This way, come on, we don’t have that much time!”

Finn sat in the seat where the shooters were. “You know what you’re doing?”

“Yes, of course, and you?” 

“Uh…” Finn messed with the controls. “Yeah!”

The ship soon took off, with sand and dirt flying off the windows and front. Jaina always loved flying it—it was faster than her own, and bigger. “Shields!” she shouted, reaching above her to flick the switch up. The steers were a bit hard to turn, which was expected in a ship so old. It was a shock that it was still flying. 

Eventually, the pair shot down the TIE fighters and were able to make a brief escape into space. She put the ship on autopilot and met up with Finn.

“Whoo! How’d you learn how to do all that?” he asked. “That was impressive.”

Jaina let out a forced smile. “My family.” 

The droid unit followed the two through the ship. Annoyed that she didn’t have her blaster, she searched the benches and cabinets in the lounge area. “Wonderful,” she stated with a huff. Almost every blaster was gone. Her father made sure to always keep backups in there, but the looters on Jakku must have taken them away.

“Alright.” She scanned the ship and found an oversized black jacket. “What’s the plan for this droid? We can’t both get caught in the crossfires of the First Order, so. We gotta get this thing to the Resistance.” 

“And you know where they are?” 

Jaina shook her head no. All contact with her parents had been lost after Kylo turned; she didn’t know much about what the Resistance was doing, let alone if her mother was still in charge.

Finn bent down to BB-8. “Come on, you gotta show us where the Resistance is.”

At first, BB-8 was hesitant, rolling away and shaking its head. After enough pestering from the two, BB-8 revealed that it was in the Illenium system. 

“Perfect,” Jaina said with a sigh. “That’s in the outer rim. I think I can get us there.”

“Sir,” a general said, approaching Kylo Ren. Kylo took his hood off and briefly turned around. 

“The droid unit escaped in some ship on Jakku.” Kylo gave his full attention to the general. That couldn’t be. “Reports…” The general cleared his throat. “Reports say that FN-2187 helped in the escape.”

A headache swarmed him. He couldn’t let the droid get away—the map to Skywalker was the key, it was the map to being a real Sith. The key to power. He pulled out his lightsaber, its blade crackling with fire. He broke the communication system of one part of the ship, angry, but nearly embarrassed to notice that the general was still standing beside him.

“Why are you still here?!”

The general put his hands behind his back. “FN-2187 got help from a woman.” 

Kylo force pulled the man in front of him and lifted him to the sky, choking him. “A woman? What kind of woman?!” 

The general grasped and clung to his throat. “Presumably a pilot…” he coughed…“we’re…not sure…yet…it might be some villager on Jakku, or—”

That was all Kylo needed to know. He let go of the general, watching him fall from the ground. Kylo walked over the limp body, needing more guidance from his master. He froze in place before feeling an odd disruption in his mind. His master, of course, would know.  

Jaina went back to the cockpit and navigated the ship towards where the Illenium system is. “Alright. After we get there, I’m leaving,” said Jaina. “ With the ship. Got it?” 

Finn nodded his head, not protesting. “Why are you on the run?” 

She looked at the stars and nearby planets, trying to form some answer. “I’m not on the run—”

“You kinda are.”

“Just—I…”

The soft and nostalgic hums of the Millennium Falcon nearly calmed her. Finn was a fresh face—someone who didn’t care for the First Order, or the Resistance, or the Jedi; a fresh face that, she believed, was strong and resilient. They stared at each other for a moment as Jaina felt a strong tension of elusiveness. A force-sensitive stormtrooper, she whispered in her head. 

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” said Finn.

“No, yeah, it’s just…” Jaina looked back at the space. “It’s just rough,” she said, trying not to frown. She had no one to turn to. “Living life like this, you know? Going down a path you don’t want to—or, not that you don’t want to, it’s just that you’re forced to. You just know that it’s best for you.”

Finn took a deep breath and put his hand in Poe’s jacket. “Yeah…” he said, fidgeting with the zipper. “Are you always this abstract and distant?”

“I guess,” she quietly said, taking a deep breath. “But I’m sure it’s nothing compared to what you’ve gone through as a stormtrooper. Must’ve been tough.”

“Yeah,” he said, “the mission on Jakku was my first one. I couldn’t stomach killing all of those innocent people.”

Jaina rested her arm on the armrest and nodded her head. 

“Can I,” asked Finn, “ask you a question?” 

“Depends on what it is.”

The dice hanging on the top of the ship made her smile. Maybe her family would be reunited again. Someday. 

“Are you a Jedi?” he asked with a slight smile on his face. 

“Yes…? I was. I mean, I still am, but it’s complicated.”

“Is it some secret thing? I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“No, but it’s better if you don’t.”

A brief moment of silence was instilled between the two. A giant spaceship, however, engulfed the ship. 

“Oh no,” Jaina said. She hopped out of the chair and picked up the BB-8 unit. She unlatched a trapdoor, pushed Finn in there, and then the BB-8 unit. From afar, she heard a few footsteps. Her heart stopped, then jumped back up with excitement, then fell back down. Jaina could never forget those heavy yet soft steps. 

She unlatched the door from the inside and lifted her body out. A large and animal-like figure came walking out of the corner. Beside him, as always, was an old man with greying hair, a white button-up, and a blaster.

“Oh my,” said the man. 

“Wawooo!” Chewbacca exclaimed, dropping his bowcaster.

The man lowered his blaster. Slowly, he walked over to where Jaina stood and engulfed her in a hug. He gently held her head. 

“Jaina,” said Han Solo, “I thought we lost you. You’re okay…” he said, hugging her closer. “You’re okay.” 

Everything began to crumble. It was her first time seeing him since Kylo’s fall—she couldn’t stay with him, or with her mother, it was too dangerous. If Kylo found one of them, he would have found all of them. 

Finn stepped beside her. 

“Who’s this?” Han said, letting go of the hug. Jaina swung her arms over Chewie and smiled. 

“Oh, right.” Jaina stood between Chewie and Han. “Finn, meet my dad. Dad, meet Finn. This is his ship.”

“Nice to meet you, kid.” Han tucked his blaster away.

“Thanks, you as well. You’re the rebellion general?” he asked, gasping.

“Eh, something like that. Hey, bud, did you have my ship this whole time?” 

“No,” said Jaina, “it was on Jakku. We need to find the Resistance base—the droid knows where Uncle Luke is.”

Finn shook his head. “Luke Skywalker is your Uncle?”

Jaina didn’t answer Finn and instead looked over at her dad. Before they could all converse and check in on each other, one of the doors opened. Chewie growled. 

“Who else is in here?”

“No one.” 

The crew ran over to the side door, seeing a young man with armor and gear walk in. 

“Hey, you can’t be in here. You’re trespassing,” said Han, pointing at him with his blaster. Chewie copied the actions of Han, as per usual, and aimed his bow at him. The BB-8 unit rolled in behind him.

“Nice ship you got here,” the man said, “and that droid. The First Order is looking for one just like it…and two fugitives. Right there.” The man pointed at Jaina and Finn. Some people started to gather behind the mysterious man. 

“Wow,” Han put one hand on his hip, “first I’ve heard of any of this stuff.”

The man pointed his gun at Han. Chewie hit one person in the group and Han another. 

“Go, move the ship!” Han yelled to Chewie while trying to hit the group with a blaster.

A blaster shot headed its way towards Han. Jaina used the force to stop the bullet and hit the man in the shoulder. She pushed him out the door of the ship, just in time as the ship began to fly off. 

“Thanks,” said Han, taking a deep breath. 

“Uh-huh.” 

People started to shoot at the Millennium Falcon. “Shoot, come on, come on…” he yelled to Jaina. The two ran over to the cockpit.

“Finn, Chewie, be on standby in the shooters!” she yelled.

Jaina and Han sat in the pilot seats. 

“Shields,” Han said. 

Jaina flicked the ship and started to calculate the jump to hyperspace. “Here,” she said, doing it herself. The ship got into hyperspace in seconds, successfully escaping the spaceship base. 

“Wow…I forgot how good of a pilot you are.” A bittersweet moment, it was, between the two family members. Jaina smiled at him and took a deep breath. Han put his hand on her shoulder. “I missed you,” he said. 

The blue and white specks of hyperspace oddly calmed her down. “I know. I did too.”

The young Solo couldn’t look at her father for too long. He shared too many features with her brother, reminding her of the fight. But the elephant in the room was too large, too tall to ignore. Being in the cockpit with Finn was easy enough; she could put on a front. 

There was no masking with the sight of her father resting on her. Tears started to grow in her eyes. “It’s my fault, Dad,” she whispered, looking over at him. Delicately, she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. “I was being stupid…and impulsive…and—and Zekk and I went to find Ben.” Han stood from his chair and engulfed Jaina in a hug. “I couldn’t reach him, Dad. I don’t know where he is anymore.” Tears stained her tan pants. “I should’ve tried harder—I wasn’t thinking properly, and now I’m in this mess with the droid and…”

“Shh…” Han gently said. “It’s alright, Princess. Did you see him recently?” he asked, patting her back.

“No…” she said. If she told him the truth—if she told him how much she messed up—how much he threw her around like some toy, she knew that he would never try to talk to him face to face. “I’m sorry—”

“Shh…” Han repeated. “It’s going to be okay, Princess. We’re gonna get out of this mess, alright. We’ve always gotten out.”

Han placed a kiss on his daughter’s head.

Chapter Text

Ever since the first fight with Kylo, she couldn’t feel his presence anymore. She couldn’t reach him at all, no matter how bad she tried. And her force powers weren’t the same. For a brief moment, she thought that he somehow—physically—took the Force out of her when he was messing with her mind. But that couldn’t be the case; she still had them, and maybe it was because she was slightly injured or not in tune with herself as she usually was. When she tried to find Zekk, it led her to Finn—a random force-sensitive soldier, who now lends himself to the Resistance. 

She couldn’t even feel Zekk when she thought of him, if that was worrying enough. It did not matter if she couldn’t reach Ben; he, for all she had seen, was too far gone to redeem. However, Jaina brought Zekk into her mess—into her own personal mess and family drama. And she paid for it. She needed to find Zekk, not get some droid to the Resistance. Besides, Luke Skywalker was nearly impossible to physically track when it wasn’t on his terms. He was there, in the Force, of course, keeping in contact with Jaina and Leia. Luke was off—not entirely on his own—doing his own thing, trying to rebuild the Jedi. 

“I need a pod to go to Coruscant.” Jaina adjusted the jacket on her shoulders and turned to look at her dad. “Please.”

“Why? You’re not going to help us? 

Han patted Jaina’s shoulders and sat in the pilot seat. “Chewie!” he yelled before turning back to his daughter. 

“That’s in the opposite direction, kid.”

“I know…I just can’t do this. I’m not fighting this fight again; I'm not my usual self.”

Confused, he opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. Chewbacca walked over to Han. 

“Can you get a pod for Jaina? We’re going to Coruscant.”

Jaina shut her eyes and crossed her arms. It was time to fight for herself. That was something that she had never truly done. She lost too many people she once loved. Zekk couldn’t be one of them. 

As Chewie prepared the pod and Han steered the ship back to the core planets, she walked out of the cockpit. Finn knelt beside BB-8, asking it some questions. Jaina sat on the bench. 

“Hey,” he said, standing up. “Chewie said you’re leaving?” She clenched her jaw and nodded her head. “But we could use your help.”

“It’ll be fine. My father knows people in the Resistance. You’ll get the droid to them in no time. I just have some personal things to worry about. Then maybe I’ll join the cause.”

Finn nodded his head. “Well, it was nice meeting you.”

Jaina stared at him and questioned if it was worth it to ask about his force-sensitivity. Instead, she opted for something simpler, feeling that it was not the right moment. Besides, she didn’t think Finn had it in him to be an actual Jedi, or train like one. There was a high chance that all of the indoctrination from the First Order was still inside him. 

 “May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you,” he repeated with a smile. 

Coruscant was where Jaina was the most at peace. As she walked through the bustling city in the brisk of the night, a wave of odd nostalgia flew through her veins. Flying pods and cruisers flew above her head. It was the planet that reminded her the most of home, of when she would visit her parents at times when she wasn’t training with Luke. Of diplomacy, of the Republic, of the Jedi Council, that which she was once crowned the ‘Sword of the Jedi,’ by Luke.

The sky above her was pitch black, with only the city lights brightening it. 

In her penthouse building, she immediately walked to her porch and sat on the ledge. Heights used to scare her as a child. One mistake and she could plunge to her death. But she trusted herself enough, now, not to make such a foolish mistake. She closed her eyes, looking up at the bright moon.

A vision of her grandmother flicked through her mind. Her long, brown, and grey curls slung over her shoulders. Jaina always felt the presence of Padmé Amidala on Coruscant and when she visited Naboo. Naboo was such a calm and beautiful place—she adored rolling through the grass fields and swimming around in the lakes with her siblings. 

She tuned back into her vision, seeing a tall man approach Padmé. His face wrinkled and Jedi robes adorned him. He stood beside Padmé and gave her a soft kiss. That, of course, was no other than Anakin Skywalker. She’d come across him through the Force more than her grandmother, of course, with Anakin giving her wisdom and guidance. 

Anakin turned to Jaina, making eye contact with her. It wasn’t the time to have this conversation, thought Jaina. Afraid, Jaina opened her eyes and gasped for air. She looked around and was back in her apartment on Coruscant. 

“Jaina,” said an assertive yet soft voice. 

Jaina opened her eyes, still in the apartment in Coruscant. She looked around to see her grandfather, but not her grandmother.

“Stop running,” he said. A ghost-like figure sat beside her. 

“I’m not.”

“You are.” He looked around at the scene of Coruscant and back at his granddaughter. “

“I don’t know what to do.”

He adjusted his posture. “You know what to do, you are running and hiding from it.”

She knew he was going to critique her, but it certainly was something she needed to hear. “I can’t find him. I can’t find Zekk or Ben…”

“You’re not trying.” Anakin stood up, appearing in front of her. “You’re not going to find either of them here. “What are you trying to do, Jaina?”

“I’m trying to…I don’t know…”

“There is a war going on.” Jaina looked down at the city, seeing families stroll through the calm evening. “Your mother is doing her best—she’s holding this fight on her shoulders. The Jedi are disappearing.” She shook her head. Tears flew down her cheeks. If she joined this fight, there was no turning back. 

“It can’t be rebuilt without Uncle Luke.”

He used the force and took her saber from her. “Maybe it can’t. But you can. You’re running away from it, Jaina, because Ben told you to. You’re letting him get what he wants. Don’t give in.”

“He’s going to kill me if I step any closer to the First Order, you don’t understand.”

“I understand more than anyone, my child.” Anakin playfully threw her saber and caught it. “Then don’t let him. He’s still in there behind that mask.” He stepped closer to her, held her hand, and put the saber in it. Her grandfather sat beside her, resting his hand on hers. “Don’t let go,” said Anakin. “Don’t give in. You need to go,” whispered Anakin. 

With that, her grandfather disappeared into the distance of the night. As Anakin was fading into the Force, she saw Finn flash in her mind, and a blue lightsaber. She knew what she had to do, and she couldn’t let go of it for the sake of the galaxy and the legacy of her family. The lightsaber clicked into her belt, and she jumped off the porch ledge, heading for her ship. 

Chapter Text

Jaina got in her ship and steered it towards the atmosphere, needing to leave the planet. As she maneuvered the ship, all she could think about was her past—the last time she saw Ben Solo , which was the burning of Luke’s Jedi temple.

It was the middle of the night, with the rest of the Padawans sleeping. Jaina, however, couldn’t sleep, leaving her to walk out of her sleeping quarters and head downstairs for a drink. Ben had the same idea. He sat on the counter of their apartment, drinking a green bottle of beer. She sat beside him and looked out the window, enjoying the aesthetics of the planet Ossus.

“Hey,” she whispered, yawning.

“Hi.”

Ben hopped off the chair. “Finish that,” he said, looking at the beer bottle. “I don’t want it.”

“Thanks.” She took a sip of it. “Going back to sleep?’

“No.”

“Oh.” She looked over at him. His eyes were cloudy, and his face was red. “Are you alright? You look sick.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he stuttered over his words. “I just need some air.”

Jaina knew when he was lying. Especially since he had been using that excuse of “I need air” for days now. He’d leave, take his ship, and not come back until sunrise. 

“You don’t have to lie to me. Didn’t think I would have to say that out loud.”

Ben clenched his fist, then unclenched them. “I know.” 

Afraid and worried for him, she stood from the chair and stood in front of him. The two glanced at each other, then looked away, the conversation having an awkward and tense nature to it, which had never happened with the twins. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

A toy ship fell from the staircase. It was Anakin who stood in the middle of the stair railing with a shocked face. The toy fell on Jaina’s shoulder. 

“Hey!” she shouted, picking up the toy X-wing and throwing it back to Anakin. “You should be in bed.” Even though her little brother was almost twenty, she still felt that he was a small child. 

Ben stepped away from Jaina and headed towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Anakin asked, running towards the door. He used the Force to fly the ship around towards Ben. 

“Just for a walk,” he said, opening the door. 

Anakin shut the door with the Force. “Anakin…” Jaina groaned, walking towards him.

“Can I come? I wanna go flying with Tai…”

Tai was another Padawan at the Jedi Temple. 

“No.” Ben turned around to face his siblings. 

“Ugh.” Anakin let the ship drop to the ground. “Why are you going on a walk? Are you going to meet up with some girl again?” 

“What?” Jaina looked at Ben and then at Anakin, amused. “Girlfriend? You didn’t tell me about her.”

Ben slightly blushed. “No, I just want to get out of here.”

Anakin laughed at the siblings and sat on the edge of the steps. “Don’t act all innocent, Jaina. I know why you and Zekk are always escaping to Naboo together…”

Jaina crossed her arms and—gently, of course—force pushed him into the wall.

“Ow!” Ben and Jaina shared a glance, laughing at their little brother. Anakin stood up and rubbed his head. “Well, I’m gonna go flying with Tai and Hennix. You guys should join.”

Ben didn’t say anything.

“No, no. I’m tired. Go,” she said with a warm smile. Anakin pushed Ben out of the way and left the apartment first.

Ben looked over at her and rubbed his eyes. “So, you and Zekk are a thing now, huh?” he said, sitting on the couch. 

Jaina bit her lip to hold back a smile. “No…yes? I don’t know, we haven’t really discussed it.”

Her brother softly laughed and stood up to walk to the door. “Well, he’s better than Kyp Durron.”

“Anyone is better than Durron.” She sarcastically rolled her eyes and walked towards the stairway. 

“Do you want to go with me?” he asked. “I found something that you might like,” he said, twisting the door knob.

“No, I’m tired. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right,” he said, heading out the door. 

After tossing and turning, Jaina finally fell asleep. But it wasn’t for long. The building started to shake and crumble to the ground, with rubble flinging all over the place. She fell and was flung around like a rock skipping on water. 

“Help!” She yelled out, hoping someone would come for her. She landed on the rock-hard ground, tumbling and tumbling on stone and dirt. The sight in front of her was horrid—like a war zone. The living quarters she spent so much time in were burned down. The temple stood tall, but flames engulfed its exterior. Windows from the building were filled with red and orange fire. Clouds filled the air. 

“Help!” she screamed again, with cuts and bruises all over her body. Embarassed, she was still in her nightgown, confused and hazy from sleep. Jaina crawled over to the burning temple, the heat making her face drip with sweat. 

Dead bodies were scattered on the premises, and she could barely recognize the corpses that were being burned to shreds. This had to be a dream, she thought. Jaina clenched the soil for some kind of grasp as her army crawled closer.

“Ben?!” she cried out, wanting to find him. “Anakin? Uncle Luke? Where’s everyone?’

Tears mixed with her sweat to create a poisonous mixture on her face, her eyesight clouded by the ashes and smoke. The fire only inched closer and closer, causing her to have to try and stand up to walk away from it. In the distance, she saw a body lying on the ground. She didn’t have to see it any closer to know who it was already. With all of her might, she ran over to it and collapsed beside it.

“Anakin!” she screamed, holding the body. “Anakin…come on, wake up!” She hugged him, his body cold to the touch. As she looked at her younger brother further, a large lightsaber wound was struck through his chest. “Anakin!” she shouted. “No, no, no…”

To the left of her was a small ship, being burned into flames. “Come on…” she said, holding his hand. “Please…wake up, come on…”

As she held her brother's lifeless body, her body grew flushed and scared. A warm flash engulfed her—mistakenly, she thought it was the fire. But it only ended up being Ben. She looked up into the distance and saw her brother.

“Ben? Ben!” she said, looking at him, then at Anakin. “Where are you?” she asked, wiping her tears. Drops of her brother's blood fell on her face. All she could feel was a stabbing feeling in her stomach and arm. She looked down at her body, seeing that it was cut and bruised from the fall. 

“Ben…” she repeated, with a tearful smile. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” He walked closer to her, kneeling in front of her. “Anakin’s gone,” she said, crying. He reached for her face and wiped her tears. “Someone killed Anakin…and, and did this to the temple while you were gone—it’s my fault, I didn’t sense something was happening, I don’t know—”

Ben’s eyes glared at her with a certain type of skepticism, then they relaxed. Jaina senses that he was distant, different, and not surprised at the damage around them. “Do you know who did this?” she asked. “We gotta alert someone and tell them—where’s Uncle Luke?” 

Her brother stood up, not saying anything. Suddenly, her surroundings turned into a black void. This wasn’t something new—they were able to channel each other’s presence in the Force, a trick they learned as young Padawans. This time, however, it was different. Her brother looked menacing, shocked, and frightened. Still, he stayed silent, looking at Jaina. 

Everything around her was falling apart—there was no more burning fire. Anakin’s body wasn’t in front of her. It was pitch black, with only her brother in front of her, with a scar on his face.

“What did you do…” She backed away from him, but he only stepped closer. “Where am I?” She tried to escape the hole she was in, but she couldn’t; in the reflection of Ben’s eyes was the fire from the temple. A mixture of guilt, remorse, and anger flickered as the twins stood face to face. 

No words had to be exchanged in them. He did this—her brother, her twin, destroyed everything they knew. She took a step closer to him and shoved his chest, pushing him back. Forgetting that he physically wasn’t there made her angrier. “How could you?” she shouted. “He’s our brother!”

“He tried to kill me!” he defensively said, his voice echoing in her head. “Anakin got in my way. And now you are too.”

“Your way?” she questioned, “What are you talking about? Have you lost your mind? You killed our brother! Burned down our home—our temple—our lives! You killed so many people, Ben—they were our friends!” Tears clouded her vision, and her brother was only a foggy vision, reminiscent of what once was. “I can’t forgive you for this—”

“Well, you don’t have to!”

“Shut up.” Jaina slapped him in the face. “Where the hell are you? There’s gonna be a huge bounty over your head when I get to you.”

The surroundings around Jaina began to lighten up. She was back at the temple, fire surrounding her, and Anakin’s dead body by her feet. 

He pointed at Anakin. “Look at this,” said Ben, “Look around!” Dramatically, he swayed his arms around the temple.

Jaina refused to look down at Anakin and the burning temple, and instead, at Ben. 

“I said, look!” he yelled. She looked down, seeing her brother’s skin drenched in dirt, blood, and ash. 

 “I could’ve done this to you!” Ben said. “But I didn’t because I know there’s more out there for you—there’s more for us out in this galaxy that doesn’t involve the Jedi, or our family. You can leave everything behind you, Jaina, and start something new. I know someone who’ll help us.”

Jaina’s hands and limbs began to shake, her head becoming dizzy. More blood dripped down her arm. What was wrong with her brother? Was she dreaming—or worse, dead? 

“I saved you…” Ben wiped his face. “You almost died under the rubble, but I helped you!” He screamed, his words mumbling and mushing together as they usually did. 

“What…?”

A moment of silence rested between the two. Sparks from the fire began to hit her face and body. 

“Go,” Ben said. “Just go.”

“Where are you? I’m not going to leave until I find you.”

“Go!” he screamed, fading away from the Force. 

Carefully, Jaina picked up Anakin’s body and limped through the crime scene. In the distance, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 knelt on the ground. Luke’s face was full of tears, his eyes were dreary and dilated. As she made it over to him, Luke engulfed her in his arms, holding her tight.

“I thought I lost you,” he said, his voice still soft, nostalgic, and calming. 

She wrapped her arms over him tightly and cried even more. “They’re gone,” she said, clinging to Luke. “Anakin’s gone—Ben, the temple, everything. It’s all gone.” 

The ship left the core planets. After a while of flying, however, Jaina heard a loud boom. At first, she thought there was something wrong with her ship. She turned her ship around, only to see pieces of the planet of Coruscant falling into the depths of space. Now, that was a line the First Order couldn’t have—and shouldn’t have crossed. Her brother told her to go back to Coruscant, and she did. Now, the planet is gone; the Republic was there. Democracy lived there. It was all gone.

This was war. She needed to fight this for the home she just lost, the civilians that just died, and for the family she lost on this awful journey.

Chapter Text

Han and Leia locked eyes with each other, their smiles balancing off each other’s happiness. Even though it had only been a week since they last saw each other, it certainly had been seven days too long!
Han first hugged her as Leia leaned into his chest.

“I missed you,” she softly said, standing on her toes to kiss him.

“I know.” He chuckled, hugging her tight once more. “I know.”

Leia looked over to Chewie walking out of the loading dock of the one and only Millennium Falcon. “I see you found the ship.” 

“I know, isn’t she a beauty?” The two chuckled at each other. “Anyway, any news on Luke?”

“We’re working on decoding the map and sending out signals to the planet he’s on. It’s only a small piece of where he could be, but I’ve been sensing him more,” she said, unable to hold back her smile. “He’s going to help us, I know it.”

Solo put his hand on his hip. “Great, that’s wonderful. Oh, look,” he said, watching Finn step out of the Falcon. “We recruited a new member.”

“Thank you, we need all the help we can get.”

“I know…but get this…” Han wrapped his arm around Leia, walking into the base. “He’s a stormtrooper.”

“Oh my, that is a new one, isn’t it?”

“Uh-huh. But guess who found him in the first place?” Resistance workers and volunteers sat at computers, finagling with systems and codes. 

“Who?”

“Jaina.”

Leia stopped walking and turned towards her husband. A shocked and almost concerned frown spread across her lips. The two family members weren’t particularly close—it was always Jaina who stuck by Han’s side, always piloting a ship or engineering a new tool. But as Jaina got older and more interested in the politics of the Jedi Order, was when their bond grew—but it never lasted, not for long. 

“Is she alright? Where’d you see her?”

“Yes, she’s alright. She’s back on Coruscant. Just shaken up a bit…”

“Why?” Leia fidgeted with her hands. Han held them tight.

“She lost Zekk.”

“Oh my…” Leia looked around and then back at her husband. “We can’t lose her, too, Han. I should’ve been there more for her, and Anakin, and Ben, I—”

“No, no. Stop, you did all that you could.” Han rubbed her shoulder. “It’s okay.”

She took a deep breath. “Deep down, I know he’s still there.”

Han nodded his head. Leia looked towards the door of the base and saw a figure with a long, hooded cape. Han and Chewie exclaimed with excitement, and Han ran over to hug him.

“Luke, kid! How are you?”

“Han!” Luke hugged him, then Chewie. 

Luke walked over to Leia with a bright smile, watching her eyes twinkle.

“Luke!”

The twins hugged each other, ecstatic and electrified that they were all together.

“There’s so much to catch up on,” she exclaimed with a smile.

“So much,” he repeated. They held each other's hands, looked into each other’s eyes, and smiled. 

Finn eyed a familiar man with dark brown curls and a bright smile.

“Poe?” he yelled out, watching Poe glance over to Finn. He stopped his conversation to go over to Finn. Poe hugged him and held him close to his chest. The ex-stormtrooper never felt this welcomed and warm, ever. It was the first time he felt loved in his life.

“Oh my gosh, I thought I lost you!” said Poe, “I landed on Jakku, didn’t see you or BB-8. I thought you died in the fire.”

“Me too.” Poe held onto Finn’s shoulders and gazed into his eyes. “Is that my jacket?” he asked with a chuckle. 

“Oh—” He motioned to take it off, but Poe put his hand on his chest to stop him.

“Keep it. You look good.” Finn’s heart warmed. “Come on, buddy. Let me show you around.”

On the snowy mountains of the First Order base, General Hux stood outside, his breath glistening in the cold. He admired the field of armies and loyal stormtroopers that stood before him. Someday, this army—this entire army—would be his own. 

But little did he know that Supreme Leader Snoke’s other apprentice, Kylo Ren, stood with his arms crossed by the window, gazing down at the procession. His mask was off, and his windows were cracked to hear Hux’s speech. The deep red first-order flags flew high behind him in the wind. 

“The Republic will soon be dead! Everyone shall bow to the First Order!” Kylo observed the bright red light in the sky. But before he could reach out to the light—before he could reach out to himself and his wants—Hux yelled, “fire!” And the weapons that were en route to the Core planets took off.

“General,” said a Resistance technician, “we just got word that the First Order is going to attack Coruscant and Hosnian—”

“What?!” Leia sat up and looked over at Han, Luke, and the technician. “The Republic is there! We must send out distress signals to the entire senate and Republic—to whoever is on our side.”

“We’ve been on it, we’ll send more, Ma’am.” 

“Awoooo…” Chewie moaned with a frown.

Han looked over at his companion and at Leia, his eyes wide. A hand rested on his heart. Jaina, he thought. Leia looked over at her husband, connecting the dots about their daughter and Coruscant. 

“She’s strong,” Luke said, walking over to the small family.

Without thinking, Leia snapped at him. “Strong enough to survive a planet exploding?” Leia rushed over to the Resistance members at the computer, folding her arms. “What do we have?”

Luke kept his mouth shut about his sister. He instead turned to Han and crossed his arms.

“I can’t lose her,” said Han.

Luke put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I still feel her in the Force. She is alright—peaceful, even. I promise, she will be alright.”

Finn and Poe ran into the room, disrupting Han’s small freak-out. They walked over to the round table and watched the Resistance gather. 

“We need to send squads out to the First Order,” said Leia, looking at the map of the First Order Base and its alleged weapon. “Then, some pilot squads need to go to the Core planets to see if we can fend off those weapons. Another crew will evacuate as many people as possible” She knew the pain it was to lose an entire home—an entire family; and that was not going to happen again. “And if all else fails,” she said, stuffing her hands in her vest pocket, “then we send all of our forces to Coruscant and Hosnian with the little time we’ll have. The First Order’s pilots will be on us, so be ready for whatever wrath they so see is fit for us; but I want Starkiller Base destroyed. I’ll be in contact with the Republic.”

Poe stood beside Leia. “Copy that. Finn and I will head to the base.”

“That’s right,” said Leia, “you were a stormtrooper. You should know how to disable the communication systems, right?”

“Uh…” Finn looked at Poe, who nervously shook his head yes. 

“He does,” Poe said. “He’s the best chance we've got to navigate the First Order base.”

BB-8 and R2-D2 spun around each other; they were the only bit of hope and joy left in that room. 

After the Resistance fighters disbanded, Han, Luke, and Leia caught up. 

“If they’re going to the First Order, there’s a chance we can get Kylo,” said Luke, “and end the war. I need to go—Ben is in there, Leia.”

“No—it’s too risky. They’ll outnumber you. Besides, they want you more than any of us.”

“Wow, not me,” Han joked.

Leia and Luke looked at him with a ‘now is not the time’ face. “You need to stay here,” said Leia. 

“Hey, hey,” Han interjected, “if Jaina couldn’t reach him, no one can.”

In a way, Han was right. Though Jaina was almost too close to Kylo—their bond was too close and too connected, which, of course, was a good thing. That meant she could still bring him back. But if Kylo dismissed Jaina, then there would be a chance he could dismiss Han; but just seeing him—empathizing with him—could be enough for their son. 

“No…” Leia said, shaking her head. “But you are his father. You could try to reach him.”

Han looked over at Chewie before gazing back down at Leia. The two hugged each other. Han kissed her, then her cheek. 

“Bring him home,” Leia whispered. 

Luke looked over at Han. “May the Force be with you.”

Han smirked, but then took his blaster out of his holster, playfully twisting it around. 

The twins looked at each other as Leia rested her head on his shoulder. The Millennium Falcon took off, with X-wings following close behind it. 

Chapter Text

Jaina’s beloved ship, the Jade Sabre, only took around a dozen people. She got who she could—families on the street, and someone from the Jedi Academy she knew back when they were teenagers. Tenel Ka—Jaina’s closest friends—was one of them.

Tenel sat in the co-pilot seat. Jaina put the ship into hyperspace and flew out of the core system. As much as she wanted to take these people to a safer planet, far from the planets dominated by the Republic, she had to bring them to the Resistance. They would—somewhat—be safe there, under the supervision and guidance of her mother.

“I can’t believe they’re attacking us,” Tenel said, adjusting her dress. She was the queen of Hapes, a small planet in the inner room. “It makes no sense—and for Ben to be at the top of it all…I don’t understand.”

Jaina took a deep breath, trying not to snap; deep down, she knew Ben couldn’t be the one who commanded all of this, could he? Instead, she nodded her head and gazed over at her friend, wondering why she wasn’t in Hapes. 

“I know, it’s rough,” said Jaina. “Why were you on Coruscant?”

“A diplomatic trip. We’re trying to get more allies and sponsors from the Republic.”

“Oh, I see,” she said, raking a hand through her hair. “You’re about to get more. We’re heading to the Resistance base. It should keep you safe.”

“No,” said Tenel, “absolutely not. I need to get back to the Hapan system as soon as possible, and warn my navy about what the First Order did.”

What use was it to argue with a queen? At the same time, however, she needed Tenel—she needed her and the small number of Jedi on that ship to somehow come victorious in this war. But she didn’t want to push her, so she pulled the ship out of hyperspace and headed to Hapes.

After the trip to the outer rim planet, D’Qar, she landed her ship on the Resistance base. Jaina walked over to the family, first, that she helped get off the planet. 

“Is everything going to be okay?” the panicked mother said, holding close to her baby. A man stood beside him, who she presumed was her husband, was holding on to a little girl’s hand. 

“Yes,” said Jaina, with a calm face. “There’s no telling when the core planets will be safe to return, but I assure you that you are in good hands here.” She led the family and the others out of the ship, seeing people rush to the ship.

The feeling of her mother in the distance of D’Qar somewhat calmed her. Her stomach bubbled and throat tightened. Luke was here, she instantly thought, a flush of particles waving through her body. She turned around, seeing her mother and Uncle walk over to the ship. Some grey hairs were tied back into a low bun. The sun hit her face, lighting up her eyes. Luke beside her wore Jedi robes, with an illuminating and optimistic flight as he took a step.

No words needed to be said between the two. Leia hugged Jaina tight. 

“Jaina…” she said, pushing her loose hairs behind her ears. Jaina was only an inch or two shorter than Leia, but everytime the mother and daughter were behind each other. 

“I’m so sorry,” she said—and truly, Jaina was. She abandoned her own mother after Ben left the Jedi Order. It was too much to bear, to be in mourning of her brothers with her family.

“Don’t be.”

Jaina looked down at her mother and held her hands. Just as she had seen her last, she wore a light green vest, and a white shirt and pants under it. 

A bright smile spread across her lips, and Luke’s.

“Uncle Luke,” Jaina said, “I haven’t forgotten about you.”

“I know you haven’t.” 

Jaina hugged him. “How’s Ach-to? And the padawans?” asked she, hugging him. 

“They’re wonderful.” Luke looked over at the ship and people walking by. “Getting stronger everyday. Who’s those people you brought?”

“Refugees,” Jaina said, turning around and seeing the panicked people. “Coruscant’s under attack.”

“We know. We’re doing everything that we can. Crews are on board to the planet and the First Order base to hunt it down.”

Jaina nodded her head, trying to sense if Zekk was on the planet. She walked over to the weapon area, grabbing a blaster and putting it in her holster. 

“You haven’t seen Zekk, have you?” she asked, trying not to seem panicked. 

“No, he hasn’t stopped by.” 

“Where’s dad?” She looked over at her mom and Uncle right behind her. 

Luke sat down, looking over at Leia. “He took the Falcon to the First Order.”

“What?” she put her hand on her hip. “Alone?”

“No, with Finn; he told me about him. They went with some other pilots."

That was such a terrible idea; Finn knew nothing, Poe was reckless and ignorant, and her father was—well, her father. He knew things, of course, and was smart and talented in combat, but there was no doubt that he surely wasn’t the man he was thirty years ago.

Jaina zippered her vest and slipped some ammo in her cargo pants. “I need to go with them.” She made her way to the ship.

“Let me come with you,” urged Luke, standing up.

“Luke, no,” Leia said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “There is no telling what Ben could do to you. It is too dangerous.”

“Since when was such a mission or fight too dangerous for you?”

Leia stood there, not answering the question. Instead, she just shook her head and told her a firm ‘no.’ Tired of all of the familial bickering, Jaina left for one of the changing rooms.

Leia took a deep breath. “I have a bad feeling about all of this. I need Han to come back—I’ve tried to message him but he’s insistent on going there.”

Her brother held her hands. “We’re going to win this fight. It might take years, but we will win.”

Jaina walked outside and headed towards her ship. Her family followed close by. Her mother, who she was saddened to leave already, held her face in her hands. She had changed into a white battle bodysuit, black boots, and a tan vest. It was the only thing in the closet; and it was her mother’s of course.

“Please stay safe,” she said, “avoid him as much as possible, Jaina.”

“I know, Mother.”

No one needed to tell her that, especially not her mother. Though she knew that Leia’s force powers were much stronger and more equipped than she was—despite Ben being her twin. 

Leia placed a kiss on her cheek, and took off a tan and fleece travel cape. “It is cold on Illum.” Gently, her mother swung it over Jaina’s shoulders.

Luke maneuvered his cape around, and unlatched a lightsaber. The hilt had thick black stripes. He handed it to her. 

“For good luck,” said Luke with a warm smile. 

Jaina held the saber, and a flash of memories slid through her head; images of Ben, of Anakin Solo, her grandfather, Vader, Kylo all pictured in her mind in seconds. 

“Thanks…” She gasped for air and  latched the saber on her belt. 

“May the Force be with you,” said Luke and Leia. The twins turned to each other with a small smile and laugh, their joy bouncing off each other. 

A ping of sadness waved through her. That could’ve been her and Ben. In fact, that was her and Ben at a certain point in time. 

“May the Force be with you,” she said, hopping into the ship. “I love you, Mom. I love you as well, Luke.”

“I love you, more,” Leia said, watching her turn on the ship.  

Princess Leia stood in an empty room. R2D2 highlighted a holographic call from the Republic chancellor, Mon Monthma.

“Your units said the First Order is attacking the core planets?” Monthma said, pacing back and forth the room. “Is that true, General Organa?”

The chancellor was dressed in a long white dress, her red hair lighting up from the sun, and jewelry draped along her neck.

“Yes, there would be no occasion where it’d be fit to lie about such a thing.” 

“Now is not the time for witty comments, General.”

“Drop the niceties.” At a point in time, Leia looked up to Mon as a mother figure and a friend. But her ignorance to see what is going on annoyed her. 

“Why didn’t anyone warn me about this?”

“I confronted the council years ago about all of this. The First Order is trying to be the empire. They have bases all over the galaxy, and are building up their military power faster than we can imagine. Mon, I need help. I am doing this all by myself—there is no government, no Republic to help aid me in this. I am asking for your help. This used to be what you’d do in the Rebel Alliance Mon, don’t you remember? You were in my position.”

Mon folded her hands in front of her and looked around, then back at her old friend. “I am very sorry, but the Republic has its hands tied; with donors, sponsors, and new council members, they are never going to support my decision to help the Resistance. They believe that you are a terrorist organization, an illegitimate party that wants to steal the Republic’s power.”

“We are not terrorists.” How dare they think that about a group that is trying to uplift freedom, peace, and liberation for all, as a terrorist group? Though she was not surprised or shocked, as this had happened in the history books, and with the Rebel Alliance.

“I know, Leia, but the Republic does not want to intervene in a violent and bloody war between two regimes that have no legitimate power, I am sorry, Leia.”

Leia closed her eyes and leaned on the wall beside her. “You are the Republic. I am coming to you, not your sponsors or donors; I am offering the Resistance’s support. We must combine forces to help dissolve the First Order. People are dying. Planets are going to be bombed any minute now. Have you no compassion?”

“The minute we combine any such forces with a military power like the Resistance, is the minute democracy falls once more. Goodbye, Leia. I wish you the best in this fight.” Mon gave her a warm smile.

“So you are handing over the galaxy with a warm smile and open arms? This is not how we want to leave the world.”

“Goodbye, Leia.”

Leia rushed out of the room, and was only met with her brother.

Luke crossed his arms. “I need to go back to Ach-to. The Jedi need my help.”

“So you came here for emotional support?” Leia mimicked the actions of her brother. 

He laughed. “No, I came here for you and Han; I felt something, Leia, in the Force—”

“I did. I still do. Luke, we need your Jedi here. The Republic won’t help combine our efforts. They have no interest in the war.”

Her twin nodded his head. “There’s only a handful of Jedi knights and Padawans on that planet. They need more training. Perhaps we can get more recruits—”

“No one here is force sensitive.”

“So?” Luke said, putting his hand on his beard. 

Leia took a look around the Resistance base, seeing people roam around. The direction her brother was pointing at seemed like a plausible one. And, as Leia always does, she had a backup plan if that didn’t work out.

Chapter Text

Han, Chewie, and Finn walked out of the Millenium Falcon onto the snow. Snow piled on top of their vision and caused the walk to be slower than it needed. 

“Alright,” said Poe from the communication system. “I have eyes on Starkiller. Keep walking North.”

Just hearing his voice made Finn’s heart calm down. 

Han, Chewie, and Finn gazed down from the mountain at the base. It was grey and camouflaged with the scenery. 

“We should be able to get in through that entrance right there,” Finn said. Poe’s jacket was barely enough to keep him warm. 

“Great, what’s the plan,” said Han. “How do we get to the shields?”

Finn gave a nervous groan. “So, that’s the issue. I don’t know how to exactly do that.”

Chewie kept an eye out for any possible soldiers or drones in the sky.

“Look, kid—the fate of the government is counting on this. Coruscant could be destroyed!”

“It’s okay. Poe’s smart…the Resistance fighters know what they’re doing.”

Poe looked over on the other side of the mountain where the other army fighters were. 

“We’ll use the Force! Aren’t you guys Jedi?”

“Ahhhrgh…” Chewie growled in annoyance.

“That’s not how the Force works!”

Chewie groaned once again and the crew ran over to the base. The crew shot down stormtroopers as they made their way to the base. 

“All units on lockdown,” said a voice on the intercom unit. “I repeat, all units must be on lockdown; intruders have entered the building.”

“Oh no…how are we going to get to the shields?” Han asked, hiding in between the columns. Stormtroopers stomped through the buildings, but Chewie easily shot them down with his bowcaster, causing them to fall on the ground. 

Finn looked around. The one person that he despised more than anyone was in that room somewhere. In truth, Finn was only there because Poe volunteered him to, but also because he wanted to confront Captain Phasma. If that was why he was there, then, he needed to finish the job with Captain Phasma. She was the reason he ended up in this position—that he was so brainwashed and far gone that he couldn’t consent to being a stormtrooper. 

“I know what to do. We’ll get the Captain.”

Han looked at Chewie and then at Finn. “If that’s the only way—”

The door in front of them soon shut down and completely closed. A stormtrooper rushed over towards them. 

“I found the intruders!” A stormtrooper yelled. Han quickly grabbed him by his neck, kicked his gun out, and put his own blaster by his head. 

“Unlock those doors,” Han said, whispering into his ears. 

“No—help!” he screamed. 

Finn looked at the stormtrooper, trying to identify him. But he couldn’t. 

“Do you value your life?” asked Han.

“Yes.”

“Unlock those doors. Now.”

Slowly, the trooper nodded his head. He walked over to the door, scanned his ID, and stepped aside. With no hesitation, Han grabbed the stormtrooper's ID. Then, Han ducked under and walked in the door, and shot that same stormtrooper without looking back. Finn’s heart loosened. 

“Why’d you do that?” he asked, looking at the dead soldier and back at Han. “He helped you.”

“Yeah, and?” Han aimed his blaster in the empty hallway.

“We would’ve been caught if it wasn’t for him!” Chewie groaned and rolled his eyes.

“What he said.” Han walked down the corner

Chewie shot down a couple stormtroopers from the corner, covering for his friend and Finn. The crew walked towards the door, with Finn leading to where Captain Phasma’s office was on base. Soon, the lights started to flicker in and out. As they hurried up to walk over to the office, the lights completely stopped.

“What the hell?” Finn lowered his gun and widened his eyes, trying to get a better view of the base.

“Come on!” Han huffed.

“I think we go this way…” Finn said, making a left. The group hit a dead end, and bumped into a wall. “No, the other way—”

In the dark, a figure walked through the hall with a blue saber igniting the way. 

“Another Jedi! Just when we need one!” Finn shouted, his eyes burning while he looked at the blade.

The figure walked past Finn, and went straight to where Han stood.

“Dad, are you alright?” she said, waving her saber in front of her to have more light. In the dark, Han’s slight smile and teary eyes lit up. 

“I didn’t think you’d help.”

“I know, I wasn’t going to,” she said with a deep breath. “But I changed my mind.”

“Like always.” 

“Yeah.” She turned over to Finn, seeing him in his classic jacket. “You know where to go?”

“I can’t see shit.”

Jaina looked over at Him. “You don’t need to see. Trust your instincts—you know where to go.”

Finn took a deep breath and used the minimal blue light to see where he was going. The crew walked for a few halls, almost getting to Captain Phasma’s office until they got a hologram call from Poe.

Finn answered, stopping in the corner of the hall. “How’s it going up there?”

“Not good. The TIE fighters are outnumbering us, and I would say that weapon is going to blast any minute now.”  Pews from his X-wing surrounded the background of the call. “General Organa is sending another crew, we’ll be on it—”

“You spoke to her?” Han quickly said. 

“Yeah. She said she’ll get back to you in a few for an update. Finn, are you alright?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” he said, looking straight down at the hologram with a soft look.

“Positive.”

“Alright. See you on the other side. Good luck with those shields.”

The crew moved as the hologram turned off. Captain Phasma’s office was right up ahead. Finn looked through the glass. There were no stormtroopers on the door. She wasn’t there.

“She’s not in there. Now what?”

Jaina peeked over at the office. “I can get us in the room. You know how to disable the shields, right?” she asked, looking at Finn.

Han answered for him, “no, he doesn’t. You know what job he had back here?”

“What?” Jaina asked, looking between the two.

“Sanitation!” 

“Sanitation?” Jaina said, looking over at Finn, visibly upset and angry. She slid her saber in her pocket.

“Sanitation,” Han repeated, keeping an eye out for stormtroopers. “Maybe we can camp out here until Captain Phasma comes out,” said Han. 

The Force flowed through Jaina, and the only thing she could think of was Coruscant. An image of Zekk falling over on the planet and a boom shook through her mind. Instantly after, then, Leia called Han on his comm system. 

“Princess,” said Han, “tell me there’s some way to hack into the shield system.”

Leia glowed on the hologram. She had her hands folded in front of her. “No.”

“Okay, okay,” he repeated. Jaina stood beside her dad, waving to Leia. 

“And there’s no way to stop those weapons from destroying the core planets. We’re evacuating everyone that we can.”

“Shoot,” Jaina said, putting her hand on her head. 

“I’m sorry, Leia,” Han said softly. 

“No time to grieve, that is for later. We need to figure out how to get those shields disabled. Then leave, please. As soon as possible. Don’t worry about Kylo. There isn’t enough time.”

Han nodded his head. “I love you.”

“I love you, Mom,” Jaina said, putting a hand on her second lightsaber. 

“I love you all.” The hologram faded.

Brisk light came in through the window on the ceiling. It was bright red from the base charging the weapon. Coruscant was going to be destroyed, just like that. That was where her home was. Where the government was. Sacred temples and languages and cultures rested on that planet. Innocent civilians lived there. A hammer slammed down on her heart. 

“There’s gotta be a way to disable that thing,” Finn said.

Jaina didn’t answer and instead walked in the opposite direction. 

“What’s wrong, where are you going?” her dad asked.

“I need to go back; I need to help the evacuation troops.”

“Jaina, there’s a crew already on that. We need to disable those shields and get out of here. That’s the task on hand.”

“I need to help them! That’s my home!”

“Jaina, you need to listen to me.”

‘You need to listen to me,” she snapped back.

Han huffed and looked down at her daughter. “It’s too dangerous. You’re not going down there.”

“It’s too dangerous here! You shouldn’t be here, Dad. This isn’t your fight! If Ben were to walk through these halls, we’d both be dead, and you know that.”

“Jaina!”

“What?” she asked, backing away.

“Don’t act like this.”

Finn and Chewie looked at each other. “Guys,” Finn said, uncomfortable from the fighting. Jaina looked over at him, force pushed both Finn and Chewie into the hallway. She then locked the door on them.

“You’re going to die out there!”

“I don’t plan on dying.”

Jaina took a deep breath and folded her arms. “I’m sorry. I can’t watch people die for nothing.”

Han stepped closer to her daughter and engulfed her in a hug. He stroked her hair back, kissed her forehead, and patted her back. “I love you, kid,” he said. “Don’t forget it.”

“I won’t.” Jaina unlatched her lightsaber out of her belt and put it in his hands. “Take it,” she said, tears flowing in her eyes. 

“Don’t do that.” Han shook his head. “Don’t cry.” She  gave him the saber. Han took his free hand and wiped the tears off her cheek. “I’m not taking this magic wand thing,” he said, handing it back to her.

“Take it,” she said, “please. Just in case something happens to it.”

Jaina backed away from the hug and force pulled the door open.

“Arghhh!” Chewie groaned.

Finn walked over to her. “What’d you do that for?”

She didn’t answer, and looked back at Chewie, Finn, and her father. “Thanks, guys. Go get those shields. I’ll see you back on base.”

With that, Jaina ran in the opposite direction, and headed to her ship. 

Finn and Chewie walked closer to Phasma’s office, seeing stormtroopers walking that way. They entered the room and walked over to the comm system. 

“Why is your daughter so damn unpredictable and impulsive?”

“Ahhrgh!” Chewie groaned in agreement. 

“I don’t know, that’s how she’s always been. How do we do this?”

Finn looked down at all the buttons. “No clue—”

“Hands up!” Captain Phasma yelled, pointing a gun at Finn. Stormtroopers behind her pointed guns at Han nad Chewie. It was a three versus three—they could handle it. 

Chewbacca shot first, causing Phasma to move her gun over to the large figure, leaving her exposed. Chewie and Han moved out the way to shoot the other stormtrooper, and Finn ran over to get rid of Phasma’s weapon. 

“Undo those shields,” Finn said, raising his gun to her head. “Now.”

All Phasma did was give a slight laugh and smile under her mask. “FN-2187,” she said. 

Han and Chewie stood behind her, guarding the door and pointing a gun at her.

“You’ve always been quite smart,” Phasma said. “I thought putting you on the battlefront would be good for you. To test out your intelligence. But you choose differently.”

“Undo those shields or I’ll kill you.” 

Slowly, Captain Phasma walked over to the system, and fiddled around with it. “This is a big mistake. You won’t get through with this terrorist attack,” she said, looking over at Han and Finn.

Finn looked over at Han, then at Phasma. “Come on, let’s go. We gotta get out of here.”

The crew walked out of the room, and Han shot Phasma’s foot. “She’s not gonna go anywhere.” Phasma fell to the ground in pain, blood seeping out on the ground.

Han, Chewie, and Finn ran out of the room, making their way towards the exit. A message from Leia came through. 

“Han, Finn, and Chewie disabled the shields,” General Organa said. “Poe and Black leader, position for a full attack on the base once Han and his crew escapes.”

The crew ran across the first order base, dropping detonators on the ground and walls. They made there way to a cat-walk like room, with open floors and moving bases.

“Here, I’ll do this last one. Head over to the ship and bring it back to that entrance.” Han pointed up to the sky, where a large window showed the snowy planet. 

“Are you sure?” Finn asked. 

“Yes.” Han took out the lightsaber from his jacket pocket. “Take this. Put it on the ship.” He gave it to Finn.

The two ran out of the room up to the window, opening it and running out in the snow.

Chapter Text

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben walk into that mysterious and dimly lit room. But he couldn’t tell the others that this, really, is why he wanted to go on the base. He needed to see Ben for himself—to see what he became. Kylo Ren walked across the long bridge, fog illuminating the room.

Han had no choice but to follow him. 

“Ben!” he screamed. 

Stormtroopers loaded their guns at Han. Kylo turned around and faced him. 

“Han Solo,” he flatly said. “I’ve been waiting for this day.”

Han scrunched his fist together and stared at his son. “Take that thing off.” He walked down the bridge. Red lights filled the room. The father and son didn’t exchange words with each other, at first. The window opened, and there revealed Finn and Chewie. A massive light beam lit up the small family.

“Take it off,” Han repeated, “I want to see the face of my son.”

Kylo did as his father told him, pulling the mask off and throwing it on the ground. “Your son is gone.” His sharp jaw clenched. “He was weak, foolish, and emotional like his father. He’s gone.

“Who told you that, kid?” Han stepped a little bit closer. Kylo’s face, which beamed red from the lights, was now tinted blue. “That’s what that Snoke person is feeding you. It’s all lies.”

Kylo scrunched his face together, and quickened his breaths. He only told Jaina about Snoke. Han stepped closer. 

“You’re still in there, Ben,” Han said. “Let go of this. The Supreme Leader is only using you for your power, kid. Once he has what he wants from you, he’s going to get rid of you.”

“I’m not your kid.”

Han took another step closer, closing the distance between the two. “Come on, Ben. Don’t go down this path.”

“It’s too late.”

“No. Come on, come home. Jaina’s there…and Mom.”

One side of Ben’s face lit red, and the other was trapped in the dark, with blue lights hitting his shoulder. Tears got clogged in Ben’s face.

“I’m being torn apart…” His speech slowed down, his voice shakier than the wind ejecting from the window. “I wanna be free of this pain, D—” He shut his mouth, looking down at the ground. “I know what I have to do, but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it,” said Kylo, the red fading out of the room. “Will you help me?” Tears finally fell down the cheek. And in that moment, Han got a glimpse of Jaina inside of his son. His children were hurting. Their lives were being torn apart.

“I know,” Han whispered, stepping closer. “I’ll help you with anything, son. You know that.” 

Ben unlatched his saber and opened his hands out to his father, offering it to him. Han let out a small smile, grabbing the saber. Han gripped onto the saber tighter. In a quick moment, the red crackly saber ignited, lunging its way through Han’s chest. His father gasped for air, looking up at his son. Kylo clenched his jaw to not frown, though tears attacked his cheek, falling on his lip.

“Naaarghhh!” Chewie screamed.

Kylo pushed the saber further, and leaned closer to his father. Han reached out his hand to touch Kylo’s face, wiping away the tears. He leaned further to his son, but it was too late.

“Thank you,” Kylo whispered, pulling the saber out. 

Han tipped over the bridge, falling into the foggy abyss. Kylo’s hands shook as he held his saber, looking down into the fog. The darkness had consumed him. Before he could react, a bowcaster bullet hit him right below the rib. 

Chapter Text

A chill ripped through Luke and Leia’s heart. Her body grew cold, and tears struck her face. She fell into her brother’s arms, uncontrollably crying. Luke comforted her the best he could, but he, himself, was grieving the loss of his best friend. Leia’s head grew hot, and her heart raced. This had to be some nightmare.

Chewie continued to shoot at the stormtroopers, with Finn at his side.

“Set the bombs!” Finn yelled. 

Chewie reached inside his bag, pressed the remote, and watched as the bombs started to go off, one by one. A part of Finn’s heart broke watching his fellow stormtroopers die and fall to their death—but there was no time to mourn, no time to grieve. He had to do something about getting out of this base, the sooner the better. Below him was a weakened Kylo Ren, crouched down and looking up at the two.

“We gotta go.”

Chewie and Finn ran out in the snow, dodging the snow covered trees. But the falcon wasn’t there—it wasn’t where they put it. Chewie looked at Finn and looked around. Finn squinted his eyes, unable to see the ship. It was gone. As they ran through the woods to get away from the fiery scene, a familiar hum and buzz from a lightsaber faced them.

Snow below them glimmered red from his saber, his face covered in sweat from the heat of the fire. All he did was stare Finn down. Chewie raised his bowcaster at him, but Finn swiped him away from the force.

“Stay out of this,” he said to Chewie, not breaking eye contact with him. “We’re not done yet.” Kylo groaned from the blaster shot. “It’s just us…now,” he said, “Solo can’t save you.” Aggressively, Kylo groaned and patted his rib, pushing the blood out the wound. 

The snow turned bright red. His clape flew from the wind. Finn backed away, watching Chewie take a run for it. But Kylo, slowly, walked over to him, playfully swinging his lightsaber. 

“Traitor!” he screamed, tightening his hand over his saber. “Your allegiance is to me! To the First Order!” 

Finn’s heart hammered down as he was able to feel his heartbeat in his ears. The former stormtrooper reached for the saber in his jacket, activating it to his side. Immediately, Kylo recognized that specially crafted hilt. He felt the presence of the light—of what his grandfather stood for before he turned into a stronger, more powerful, more wise persona of Darth Vader.

Kylo pointed at it with his saber. “That lightsaber,” he said, his eyes widening and teeth grunting, “is mine!”

Finn charged towards Kylo with the saber, but all Kylo did was move out the way, quickly dodging and deflecting the shots. In a matter of seconds, Kylo managed to have Finn on the ground, yelling in pain from the cold snow and saber attack. Using this at his advantage, he walked away, feeling a stabbing and tingling feeling on his rib. He punched his side, pouring more blood out. 

Kylo now walked while deflecting Finn’s shot, cornering him into a tree. The red and blue sabers created a purple look into the atmosphere. Happy that he had such an easy battle and victory, Kylo slightly smiled at Finn, the snow piling on top of his dark suit and hair. Kylo Ren shoved the side of his saber into Finn’s shoulder, watching him scream and shout in defeat.

“You want me to stop?” Kylo asked, looking straight into Finn’s eyes. 

He felt something in him—in this stormtrooper that used to listen to his commands; he felt it back on Jakku, and the feeling was stronger now. Somehow, someway, the Force chose to inhabit him—some nobody that the First Order swept up to be a soldier. 

“Ow!” Finn yelled, continuing to scream in pain as the saber fired deeper into his shoulder.

“You’ll never be a Jedi,” Kylo whispered into his ear, pulling the saber out. “I can teach you the ways of the Force. Embrace the dark side, Finn. You are meant to be here.”

When Finn didn’t say anything, Kylo let go, backed away, and knocked the saber out of his hand, watching it fly in the snow. Finn fell on the ground, and Kylo struck him in the back. The grandson of Anakin Skywalker deactivated his saber and used the force to reach for his grandfather’s. It quickly found its way to his hand. Now, it was all his. Kylo, of course, had questions about where it came from—if Luke was somewhere near—or if some distant relative of his grandfather had it. But he didn’t care. He twirled the saber in his hands, feeling a rush of old memories and future visions clash into his mind—they came too fast to even process what they were. 

The snow forest of Illum was quiet. Almost too quiet. Kylo latched Anakin’s saber on his belt and grabbed his own one, igniting it and slowly walked further into the woods. The trees above him whistled and hummed with the melody of his red saber. Instinctively, he reached for the hilt of his grandfather’s saber, but it was extremely hot to the touch—as if someone lit it on fire. 

Kylo looked down at the saber, seeing no signs of fire or heat exhaustion from the weapon. The wind and snow fell down on his face a little harder, causing his face to bleed red. He looked up into the moon-lit sky, seeing nothing.

He walked the forest with his saber at his side, his eyes scanning every inch of the forest. 

“Run,” a deep-pitched voice said, its sound echoing through the forest. He only recognized that insufferable and deep voice from his late younger brother, Anakin.

“Anything, kid…I’ll help you with anything, son,” his dad said. 

The breath in the trees blew harder and softer, and everytime he looked up and around, nothing was there. He was just paranoid. 

“My son…” Leia cried out. Another voice, more deep and agile, whispered out, “He’s still in there!”

Kylo spun his saber, looking around. It was just him—it was his head, messing with him. All he needed to do was make it to his ship and go to Snoke. He’d know what to do—he’d be happy for him, for the progress he’d been making to fully commit to the dark side of the Force.

“Who do you think you are?” a deep voice echoed through—he didn’t know who it was; he only heard it in visions. Perhaps, Kylo thought, it was Anakin Skywalker.

“Run.” Anakin Solo cried out once again. “Or hide, Ben.”

“Run,” Jaina Solo said. “Get a head-start. They’re coming. He's coming, I see him! Run...run...”

It was in his head—it was in his head. Kylo took a deep breath, walking faster as he tried to tune out his voices. 

“You were my friend!” another deep voice said. Zekk. 

“Enough!” Kylo screamed, twirling his lightsaber around. He circled around the small forest, his saber keeping him safe from anything that would jump out. “You can’t hide from me!” he screamed. 

Suddenly, a dark figure jumped out of the sky, onto Kylo’s shoulders, gripping him from above. 

Chapter Text

The figure flung down from the sky, wrapping their legs around Kylo’s neck. 

“Oh, I’m not trying to hide,” a soft voice said with a slight laugh, “you are.”

The planet rumbled—the Force power and pure anger from Jaina Solo was too much for such a small and secluded planet to bear. Snow tumbled on the twins as their presence was brought together. A purple lightsaber ignited, and Jaina aimed it for Kylo’s neck. 

Using his free hand to grab onto his neck, he tried to make his sister let go from choking him. Jaina tightened her grip on her brother, trying to push the saber into him. When that didn’t work, she looked down to see the blood that dripped out of her brother’s rib, and kicked it with her boot. 

“Augh!” Kylo screamed. He flipped his torso over and slammed Jaina’s body into the snow, watching her grunt in pain. Quickly, since he didn’t have much time until he knew his sister would jump back up, he punched the side of his rib.

Jaina got right back up and force swung her saber over to Kylo, but it barely hit him. She then ran over to him, harshly hitting her saber at him. She didn’t care if her anger and emotions took over her in this battle; she didn’t care that such anger was not the ‘Jedi way’; this was war, and it had to be treated as such. 

Kylo hit her shots, and easily, Jaina deflected them, but found herself in a tricky position—her brother was pushing her backwards into the forest, making her unable to see the rest of her surroundings. The Jedi twin used the force to jump over her brother, allowing her to have a better understanding of her surroundings. 

“You killed my father,” she yelled, wiping the snow from her eyes. Her mother’s tan cape flowed in the wind, mimicking her brother’s black cape.

“He was my father, too!” Kylo screamed, louder than her. He always tried to one up her. “And I didn’t kill Han Solo.” Jaina looked around in disbelief, then back at Kylo. Before she could speak, he answered for her. “He did it for me. He killed himself,” Kylo said, clenching his jaw. He put two hands on the hilt of his lightsaber.

He was lying. His father would never do that. “Liar!”

“You don’t want to believe me, that’s fine.” He stepped closer to her. Jaina circled around, pointing her blade at her. “Then don’t believe me, Jaina. But he doesn’t care about you.” He let out a soft smile, watching her tear up. Slowly, Jaina stumbled on the snow and the tree behind her. Her ears began to rung; a similar feeling to when she was back on the ship arrived in her head. “If he cared he wouldn’t have done it. He’s a coward!” Kylo screamed, his words echoing through the forest. “He’s a coward that you’re still attached to!”

Suddenly, a stinging pain and stabbing sensation engulfed the left side of her rib. She looked down, seeing blood staining her tan suit and the white snow. Jaina looked over at Kylo, who had a slight smirk on his face, with blood, sweat, and tears staining his face. 

“No,” she said, holding the side of her body. “No.” She shut her eyes, wincing from the pain. “Now isn’t the time.”

It was a Jedi trick they did as children—an intense force connection that mended their thoughts, intentions, feelings, and bodies. He felt her pain. She felt his pain. He saw her visions. She saw his visions. 

“I told you not to come back.” 

Jaina looked down at her hand, seeing it covered with blood. She took a deep breath, tried to ignore the pain in her body, the pain in her heart, and the dark thoughts from Kylo that swelled in her head. They didn’t need to exchange words to express their hatred—their confusion—their fear.

“You’re scared,” she thought, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“No,” he replied in his head, the tip of his saber dragging on the snow. Blood filled the small battleground as the twins still circled around each other. 

“You killed my brother.” She wiped her nose, causing blood to smear on her face. “Anakin. Now Ben. You killed Zekk. My father. Who’s next, Kylo? Me? My mother?”

Her brother didn’t think, his only thought being swayed by his intense anger, fear, and sadness. Jaina watched as he slowly lunged over to her. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth, his hair was wet and sweaty, and his eyes were dark and faded; her brother, who she once loved and looked up to, looked like a vampire.

“You’re the vampire,” he thought in his head. “You don’t love me. You don’t love anyone.” He took the moment to hit his side more as blood dripped out of his side. Jaina winced at the punch, holding on to her own body. 

She looked over at him, her hair messy and filled with snow. “Stop doing that.”

Jaina felt in her that he was going to attack. The lightsaber battle continued. Parts of the planet were falling apart and crumbling, the snow grew harder and almost swelled like a blizzard. Somehow, Jaina thought that they were causing this destruction. 

“Yes,” Kylo answered. Kylo hit his saber at her. Jaina lunged in the opposite direction, trying not to get hit. “Look at what we can do together,” he said, finally speaking. 

Jaina struck her saber harder at him, causing him to lose balance for a short minute. This wasn’t something that the universe wanted—them fighting, or them forcing connecting thoughts and feelings; it was not right. Quickly, she hypothesized that it was the fact that they were manipulating the light side and dark side of the Force to become one—the balance was thrown off but simultaneously perfectly balanced. 

Kylo bent his body over, coughing and banging more blood out his body. Jaina gasped, watching her own blood pour out. Her mind grew hazed and dizzy from the amount of pain—it was doubled. 

“We’re going to die out here,” Jaina thought, her lips dry from the snow.

“No…” Kylo thought. He grabbed the hilt of Anakin’s lightsaber, igniting it and pointing it at her. “You are.”

Shocked as to how he got it, exactly, she tried to reach into Kylo’s head. Briefly, she saw a battle between him and Finn. 

“Finn is dead,” Kylo said to her, wielding Anakin’s saber. 

Jaina’s jaw dropped. She dug her boots into the snow, staring at Kylo. Her brother smiled, thinking about how much anger was consuming Jaina. She ran towards him, quickly blocking the shots from both sabers, jumping and missing his shots. Kylo continued to back her into corners and trees in the woods, but Jaina kicked Kylo’s stomach, backing him away. 

The pain from Kylo’s wound engulfed Jaina. He stared at her, annoyed and upset at the advantage she had. With full speed, he ran towards her, grabbing her arms and pushing her to the ground. 

“Get off of me!” she yelled. Kylo, repeatedly, kicked her stomach, hurting both of their wounds even more. Once he couldn’t take the intense pain anymore, he stopped himself, leaning over the snow to pat more of the blood out. Both of their heads grew lightheaded, dizzy, and airy. More of the planet crumbled and shook.

Jaina cried while she laid on the snow, causing Ben to shed a tear. But she stood up, trying to get her balance back. Soon enough, though, Kylo used both of his sabers to push her onto a cliff of a mountain. 

“It’s over,” he said. 

Jaina shook her head and tried to push him off her. “You…took everything from me!” 

Her twin’s face lit up purple from all of the lightsabers. The heat from the weapons caused both of their faces to burn and sweat. 

Kylo narrowed his eyes on her. “I told you to not come back.” 

All Jaina could think of was ‘stop.’ But he didn’t listen. She needed to get out of this merging of the Force with him, but didn’t have the energy to concentrate—nor did he. They were stuck in an endless cycle of hatred, of love, of nostalgic memories, of appreciation for one another. 

Kylo took away Anakin’s lightsaber from the mix, pointing it at her wound. “Stop,” she thought. “Ben…” Jaina grunted. “Just do it. Kill me,” she softly said, “kill me!” She screamed. “You took everything from me!”

A series of dark thoughts and a mysterious figure floated around in her head and mind; she couldn’t, however, decipher if it was her thoughts, or Ben’s thoughts, or Kylo’s, or some outside forces. Snoke , thought Kylo. End it. Prove your devotion to the dark side, do it now, and you will become the most powerful man in the galaxy. 

She looked into his eyes, watching Kylo shake his head. Kylo pushed one saber into the wound. The twins screamed in pain, and he quickly withdrew it. But he pushed the saber against hers, trying to get her to fall. 

If Jaina let him do this, he would. So Jaina looked at him once more, deactivated her saber, and leaned off the cliff of the mountain. She, however, didn’t intend to fall to her death—the Force was always on her side. Kylo let his guard down, held his hand to grab her, but it was too late. Feeling the impact of the fall on his heart and body, he used the force to stop Jaina’s fall, and threw her against the snow on the other side of the mountain. 

He was weak. She knew he couldn’t do it. Jaina, nearly injured from how much force her brother used to throw her, rubbed the knot out of her head. 

Kylo hovered over her, striking his saber over her. She used the force to stop it, but was too weak to fully stop it. A burning sensation sliced the side of her arm. More blood dripped down her arm, stomach, and leg. 

She limped out of the snow and lunged at him, hitting a piece of his cape and gear off. But she didn’t stop there, no, she hit him again, hitting his bullet wound. She watched as Kylo fell to the ground in pain. 

“Ahgh…” he winced, coughing and recovering his breath. 

Anakin’s saber fell out of his hand. She grabbed it and aimed it at him. Jaina hit him once again, hitting his arm. Kylo slammed his fist into the snow, blood splattering over her and Jaina’s body. In a final ditch moment, her brother used the side of his sabor to slice his hand, causing Jaina to feel the pain and deactivate her saber. He rested his head in the snow, exhausted and in a painful amount of pain.

Soon, Jaina couldn’t take it anymore. Tears corrupted her eyes, causing her to lean on the ground, holding the wound on her side, arm, and hand. 

“Ah, ow…” she groaned. The snow was now deep red, soaked in a pile of deep red blood. Footsteps from their battle crawled throughout the forest. “You…” she said, leaning over to grab her saber and activate it. “You did this to yourself…”

Jaina stood up, the light from her saber causing her to see more clearly. But the pain from the wounds caused her to collapse. Kylo coughed up blood onto the snow, and tried to crawl away from his sister.

“I hate you,” he thought.

A stabbing pain surrounded her heart. He didn’t mean that.

“I do.”

“I miss him…Dad…” Jaina said. “I don’t have a body…to bury…you killed him…”

She looked up in the sky, seeing the Millennium Falcon. Slowly, the presence of Finn began to wake up. Kylo looked up into the sky, his nose and ears bleeding. Jaina held onto her side, her hands fully red. 

As she waited for the ship to land, she saw a red saber in the distance of the blizzard shaped snow. She looked at Kylo, confused and frightened. A tall figure, presumably a Lethan species, with two braids, a black combat outfit, and tattoos came from the distance. She didn’t know who that was. But Kylo’s thoughts and body was calm—aside from his physical pain and emotional anger at his sister—he knew who that was.

The presence of the woman caused Kylo and Jaina’s force connection to momentarily slip. The pain, now, was a little more bearable. Jaina stood up in the snow, ignoring her migraine and throbbing pain. 

“Jaina Solo,” the woman said, smiling and pointing her saber.

Jaina got into a fighting position, igniting her grandfather’s saber and her own purple blade. Her eyes grew orange and yellow. She smiled at Jaina, looked down at Kylo, and smiled back at her. A Sith. A full-blown Sith Lady.

“I’ve heard so much about you…” she said.

The Sith lunged her saber over at her. Jaina blocked her shots, but the Sith used the force to push her aside to the other side of the breaking mountain. It seemed like she wasn’t interested in such a fight. Grateful yet confused, Jaina watched as the Sith grabbed Kylo’s limp body, dragging it over to a ship. 

Jaina kneeled on the snow, looking at the Millenium Falcon beside her. But she paid more attention to the Sith load Kylo in the ship and flew off the planet. What had her life become? She lost everyone she had ever loved. And Kylo—and the First Order wouldn’t stop. 

“Jaina…” Poe screamed. 

“Ooo…ahhh” Chewie sadly moaned, resting his hand on her shoulder.

Jaina, now a mess of blood and tears, stared at the empty snow, their blood the only sign of their fight. Poe and Chewie forced her into the ship—she wouldn’t even get up, wouldn’t say anything, except scream and cry for her Father—for Coruscant—for her brothers. Her feet dragged into the snow, kicking and resisting Poe and Chewie. 

What had she done? This was her fault. If she stayed with her father, none of this would’ve happened. Jaina let out a yell, trying to connect her to Ben, so that, eventually, when he cared, he’d hear what he had done to her—to his family. 

The dark side, now, was in full force, awakened from the remnants of the empire.