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BB-8 had had a friend, once. A partner, like their dads. The friend’s name had been BB-9E, and they had been inseparable and close as can be.
(But the thing about closeness is that betrayal hurts all the more.)
BB-8 had shared the experience of a Soul-Bonded, once, them with Poe-Pilot and BB-9E with Kylo-Ben. R2-D2-Dad had always spoken happily about being Anakin-Skywalker’s Soul-Bonded, despite the flesh-being’s actions. They were especially happy because theirs and BB-9E’s Soul-Bondeds felt about each other what BB-8 and BB-9E felt.
(It was not fate, and it was not luck, and all it left was broken hearts.)
BB-8 had had a very close partner, once. They had even spoken to BB-9E, one single time, about returning home for something available in the Droid Colony and nowhere else.
(And now they are glad they did not because they might have lost that too and it might have even permanently corrupted their emotions coding all the more.)
BB-8 had had a heartbreak, once. Through bits and pieces and nothing more. Because all that Kylo-Ben had left behind was ashes, and BB-8 had desperately tried to convince themself that BB-9E was destroyed.
(But they had known the truth. That BB-9E had gotten one too many parts of ZT-32’s bad programming. They had shrugged it off… but they had been wrong.)
BB-8 had been shocked, once. They had been shocked because they had <i>known</i>, but they had not been sure. And Poe-Pilot and Senator-Princess had looked equally heartbroken, for how human flesh-beings process emotions.
(Far away, BB-9E chirps happily at their new black paint job and Kylo-Ben bows low before Snoke and BB-8 can practically stimulate it precisely.)
BB-8 had thought they could fight BB-9E, once. But they had expected time to prepare. Kylo-Ben was not there, and BB-8 is grateful for that, for Poe-Pilot’s sake. But, for some reason, BB-9E was. And BB-8 had escaped, had won, but not really.
(They could not forget how <i>different</i> BB-9E had become. And it hurt.)
BB-8 had thought that they did not love BB-9E anymore, once. But they had been wrong. Everything had been wrong, but it had still been <i>BB-9E</i>, and BB-8 doesn’t know what to do with that. They could fix the programming, of course, but that would go against so many other parts of it that only their sister and R2-D2-Dad had ever really protected since millennia ago. So they don’t.
(It hurts like you would not believe, but it takes something back for their people so BB-8 takes that pain and tries to shape it like R2-D2-Dad had done after C-3PO-Dad had had their first years together erased or like flesh-beings do all the time and it does not entirely work, but they have no choice. And somehow, every time they meet BB-9E, they know that their former friend and partner had not forgotten, either.)
A very, very long time ago, BB-8 had believed that they would have a partnership like their dads. But it has been so long ago that they have cleared most of the thoughts from their memory banks to make room for other things. Because free droid love is so rare, but their dads had had each other and R2-D2-Dad’s Soul-Bonded and lots and lots of luck.
An equally long time ago, BB-8 had thought that nothing could hurt those from the droid colonies, and certainly not each other. But, again, they were wrong.
And they are not lucky like their dads and sister. Yes, they have gotten in and out of plenty of dangerous situations alongside Poe-Pilot and his squadron, but that is not the same as luck.
And so, here they are, fighting for the resistance. There is something on the verge of appearance, they know, but they have no idea what it might be. Maybe it has something to do with this Quest for Luke-Skywalker…
A ducks waddles past, and BB-8 has only enough time to process how out of place that is until they sense it.
They were not lucky, but their pilot had been, never having had to see his ex-partner while BB-8 had fought BB-9E many times… but here he is.
Kylo-Ben.