Chapter Text
It had been 999,999 years since the Salt Stone Volcano last erupted.
Ben Solo had the job of Head Volcano Temperature Tester, just like his father Han Solo before him. It was a very important job that had been handed down from generation to generation, and Ben had taken over from his father only twelve months before. The Solo Family took the responsibility very seriously - well - nearly all the Solo Family.
Ben might be a Solo in name, but sometimes he felt like anything but that - not that it meant that he felt that close to the Skywalker side of the family either. At twenty years old, Ben was part Temperature Tester and part Jedi - therefore he didn’t really feel like he belonged… anywhere.
Most of the time, Ben wished he could hang out like his friends Poe and Finn. They didn’t have responsibilities. They didn’t have a stupid boring job, measuring the stupid boring temperature of a stupid boring salt volcano. Poe and Finn got to do fun things like ride their bikes, swim in the river and watch awesome shows on the HoloNet.
Just recently though, the stupid boring volcano had started doing decidely non boring things. Like deep grumbling and rumbling, like it had a stomach ache. The temperature had started to spike too, sometimes getting so hot that Ben couldn’t even get to the sensors to take a reading.
It seemed to Ben that he was either going to be bored to death, or cooked to death by a sea of boiling salt.
Being the Head Volcano Temperature Tester was the worst , Ben thought to himself.
The village elders whispered that the volcano erupted once every million years, which would go a long way to explaining the recent trouble. But the village leaders were not so sure. To them, moving the entire village based on a whisper was not very clever.
So, they decided that Ben should take double the number of temperature readings, which they ignored double the amount of times.
“The village has been here for thousands of years,” the village leaders would say.
“If we left, where would we go?” They would ask.
The only good thing about his job was Fluffy, his pet Varactyl. Fluffy was his best friend, as well as the only beast that could climb the tough terrain up the side of the volcano to the temperature sensors. His strong limbs ended in clever five-toed feet that gave an excellent grip on the rocky cliffs and peaks.
Fluffy had come to him as a young hatchling, wild and untamed. It had taken a long time for Fluffy to accept and trust Ben as his master, but Ben had been patient and gentle - with the firm manner such a creature needed. Not to mention a pocket full of treats.
It was time for Ben to get Fluffy ready for his morning trip to the volcano. Ben admired Fluffy’s beauty as he fixed his saddle. He had blue-green plumage and skin, and a magnificent beaked face and a long, powerful tail. When he first started training Fluffy, the beak and tail had been the bits to avoid - for the tail could whip around and leave a nasty bruise. His beak was also lightning quick, and would steal Ben’s sandwiches when he wasn’t looking, his legs galloping away at a pace that Ben’s human legs could not match.
Ben was very tall, but Fluffy still towered over him as he pulled the saddle underneath his chest. Fluffy rumbled a low growl of happiness in his throat to see his master. He nudged him gently with his beak, eager for a treat or a pat.
“Soon, buddy, soon,” he laughed, as he pushed his long wavy hair from where it had fallen into his eyes. He had Fluffy’s favourite food, broccoli, stuffed into the pockets of his white Jedi robes. He was a good and loyal steed, but he knew better than to give up the treat before he had finished getting Fluffy ready for his journey.
Fluffy shared the stable with the handful of other varactyls owned by the local villagers. Generally, varactyls were well behaved animals that kept themselves clean and tidy. Ben’s soft brown eyes narrowed, however, as he looked across the stalls to the one varactyl that could be depended upon to make a mess.
Muddy.
Muddy was sleeping as per usual, curled up in a ball like a gigantic pussy cat. Also, like usual, she was covered in mud, dust and something else that smelled like his father's old socks. She was the same beautiful colour as Fluffy, and just a slight bit smaller, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Fluffy was obedient and calm, Muddy was excitable and cheeky.
Muddy seemed to sense Ben was looking at her in disgust, twisting her neck around to stare back. She gave a sharp trill, as she looked down her nose at him. Ben couldn’t speak varactyl, but of course Fluffy could.
By the way the feathers stood up on the back of Fluffy’s head, Ben was pretty sure whatever Muddy had said, it was a rude word.
He stroked Fluffy’s back to calm him down. “There, there, boy. No broccoli for Muddy today. Just ignore that filthy creature,” he said softly.
“Muddy is NOT a filthy creature!” Came an indignant voice behind him.
Ben turned around to respond. “Muddy stinks, Rey. Did you let her play with Uncle Han’s old socks again?”
Rey huffed, she might only be nine years old compared to Ben’s twenty, but she wasn’t going to let him talk about her pet like that. She narrowed her hazel eyes at him, her freckled nose wrinkled in disgust at what her cousin had said.
She stomped past Ben and Fluffy, giving her cousin a glare. She walked over to Muddy and gave her a big hug.
“Don’t listen to that mean Ben. You smell lovely.”
Muddy was clearly very pleased to see Rey. As soon as Rey had pulled Muddy in for a hug, Muddy had bowled Rey over, licking and butting Rey gently with her big dusty head. Muddy’s back legs also seemed to have a mind of their own, wiggling madly back and forth like a puppy dog, and her long tail banged loudly against the walls of the stall she was in. Rey laughed and did nothing to correct Muddy’s mischievous behaviour, as per usual.
In his opinion, nine was too young for the responsibilities of looking after a varactyl. But Uncle Luke and his father thought it was time, and Rey had certainly made her desire to have her own varactyl known. She had spent over a year begging both men for one, and on her ninth birthday had squealed and clapped her hands with delight when her father, Luke, and her Uncle Han had given Muddy to her as her present.
Ben had to admit though, Muddy loved Rey more than anything. So while Muddy might be cheeky and stinky, she was always happiest when with Rey, and they often were found curled up together in a warm place, fast asleep instead of doing their chores.
Ben rolled his eyes. “Well, are you going to play with Muddy all day, or are you coming with me?” He asked impatiently.
Rey stopped laughing and quickly got up off the ground. She was now covered in dust too, and bits of straw stuck out of her ponytail.
“Ok, ok. I’m coming,” she replied. She quickly ran over to grab Muddy’s saddle from its hook on the wall. Rey might be small compared to her pet, but she was easily able to clamber around Muddy to get it on. Muddy, for the most part, was well behaved, only giving the occasional lick or head butt.
While Ben was waiting, he gave Fluffy the broccoli from his pockets and a nice scratch behind the feathers on his neck.
Finally they were both ready, their varactyls saddled and their bags packed.
“Have you packed your lightsaber?” He asked. He felt uneasy this morning, like there was something strange in the air. He wanted to make sure that they were fully prepared in case of anything unexpected.
His cousin might have only been nine, but she was more than capable of defending herself with her weapon, and he wanted her to be ready to help if he needed her.
“Of course I did,” she scoffed, quickly changing her attitude when Ben gave her a stern look.
“Where are we going first?” Rey asked curiously. Muddy was becoming impatient now too, she swayed her back, eager to go. Rey laughed, gripping the handle of the saddle tightly as she was bounced about. Muddy was always up for fun and adventure, and Rey was, too.
“We need to go up the north side of Salt Stone this morning,” he said. “One of the sensors has shut down. It’s in a tricky spot, so I am going to need your help. Dancing Darth Vader, Rey - are you finally ready to go?” He huffed.
He wanted to get the job over and done with so he could hang out with Finn and Poe later down by the river. He figured that Rey would probably come to the river too, and while technically he should be annoyed that she would tag along, she was pretty good company. It made his boring job just that little bit easier.
Ben and Rey often went out to check the sensors together. In their wisdom, his ancestors had put them in some pretty odd places that Ben couldn’t get into because of his size. When he was Rey’s age he was able to accompany his father to do the testing, and was very useful because he was able to use the force to get into nooks and crannies that non sensitives could not. But now as a young man, he was big and broad and towered over his friends. Rey was small and nimble, so together they made the perfect team. Because she wasn't a Solo, she could never officially work as a Temperature Tester, which Ben thought was a real shame because she liked it much more than he did. She also knew as much about the volcano as did his father - in fact - maybe even more.
She gave a quick salute to show she understood. “Assistant Volcano Temperature Tester is ready for duty,” she said. Muddy also gave a quick grunt to indicate her agreement.
Rey then gave Ben a cheeky smile. “See you at the top!” she called out as Muddy galloped away.
“Hey!,” Ben yelled in surprise. “That’s not fair!”
All he could hear in response was the sound of Rey’s laughter echoing down the alley that lead out to the main road of the village.
He gave Fluffy a nudge with his leg and they were off.
The path to the volcano was weedy and overgrown, long left neglected. Villagers rarely visited the area these days, because in addition to the rumbling and grumbling that came from under the ground, some days the air was, well… really really stinky.
It was very strange, because in the past the forest around the bottom of the volcano had always been the best place to play. Ben remembered playing hide and seek and making tree forts with the other village children when he was around Rey’s age.
But over the years, villagers had come back talking about disgusting smells and strange rustling in the bushes near the volcano.They would then feel really sick and have to go to bed without any dinner - even if it was chips and nuggets.
The village elders had spoken in low whispers that the volcano was haunted by a scary, stinky ghost, and while the village leaders had scoffed at such a silly suggestion, they decided that perhaps it was best if the children didn’t visit the forest anymore.
Ben and Rey were now getting very close to the bottom of the volcano. Rey was still in the lead, having had a good head start, and also because she was much lighter than Ben. This meant that Muddy was easily able to jump over the rocks and boulders that Fluffy had to dodge around with Ben on his back. Both varactyls knew the way, having done it many times before.
Rey had been giggling the entire journey, delighted that was she was still winning the race. Ben was technically the better rider, and Fluffy was definitely better behaved than Muddy as far as varactyls went - which meant if she wanted to win the race she needed to resort to cheating.
But Ben liked to win, too, and also had a few tricks up his sleeve.
He lifted one hand up from the saddle, sticking his fingers in his mouth to release a piercing whistle, then shouted “Muddy puddles!”
Muddy suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and looked around frantically for the muddy puddle Ben was talking about.
“No! MUDDY!” Rey yelled as she desperately tried to get control of her varactyl.
Muddy was not called Muddy for nothing.
“Leaping Lando Calrissian!” Rey shouted as Muddy spotted a gigantic muddy puddle in the middle of the path up to the volcano. Muddy gave a shrill sound of delight as the creature jumped into the mud with a huge splash, and Rey had to quickly jump off to prevent being squished. Muddy rolled onto her back, squelching and squirming with delight, getting even more filthy and disgusting than before.
Rey sat waist deep in the puddle, her arms crossed in anger and disgust.
“That’s not fair, Ben Solo!” she yelled. “I’m telling Uncle Han when I get home.”
Ben had Fluffy circle the edge of the puddle, chuckling at Rey’s discomfort.
“Then I will tell your dad that you cheated. Pretty sure that Jedis aren't supposed to do that,” he retorted. “See you at the top,” he said with a smirk as he gave Fluffy’s reins a small tug.
It was his laughter now that echoed through the forest as Fluffy sped away.
While the path on the way to the volcano cut through a lovely forest, the journey up the side of the volcano was far more treacherous and bare. Ben gripped the pommel of the saddle tighter as Fluffy began to scale the steep rocky cliffs up the side of the volcano. He wasn’t afraid of heights, and he knew that he could use the force to protect himself from injury; rather it was the story Rey would tell his friends if he fell that he was trying to avoid.
He could hear Rey whooping Muddy along behind him, so he urged Fluffy on faster. If she beat him this time he wouldn’t be able to live that one down either.
The ground began to give way as Fluffy stumbled over a particularly loose pile of rocks, and Ben shouted in surprise. “Yodelling Yoda!” As his grip on the saddle pommel slipped, he suddenly fell backwards and started tumbling down the cliff. It took him a moment to regain his thoughts, and he quickly created a force bubble around himself to stop from falling down any further. The force bubble was full of the dust cloud he had created as he tumbled down the cliff, and it stung his eyes and made him cough as he breathed it in.
He looked back up the cliff to see Fluffy looking down at him with a puzzled look on his face, giving a small call as if to say “What are you doing down there, Ben?”
Rey had caught up to him by then, stopping so she could check if Ben was alright. Her concern quickly turned to glee as she realised that he wasn’t hurt, only very embarrassed and very dusty.
“Last one at the top is a stinky sarlacc!” She yelled as Muddy easily scrambled up over the rocks and dirt.
Ben shot himself up and over to Fluffy with the force, bursting the bubble with a loud pop as he landed back on the saddle.
“Go boy go!” He urged, but Fluffy was not having any of it, and much to Ben’s annoyance the Varactyl careful made his way up to the top of the volcano.
Rey was already hollering and cheering for her win, clearly very pleased with herself.
“I beat you Ben, even though you cheated!” She sang out. Muddy also looked very happy to have come first as well, giving a loud call to Fluffy. Fluffy snorted through his beak in response.
“It doesn’t mean anything,” Ben muttered. “I’m still the boss of you.”
The smile quickly fell from Rey’s face, she knew she had pushed her luck too far.
“Ok Ben,” she said. “Let’s go then.” She climbed down from Muddy and gave her a pat. “Stay here girl, I won’t be long.” She soothed, Muddy never liked being away from Rey for very long.
Ben had also gotten down from Fluffy by this time too. He fished a stalk of broccoli from his pocket for Fluffy to chew on while Ben was gone.
Ben looked down into the mouth of the volcano, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the hot red salt lava in the middle. From all the steam coming from it, it looked like the salt lava was a bit hotter than yesterday. It swirled and churned as if being stirred by a giant with a gigantic wooden spoon.
Maybe his job was going to go from boring, to dangerous, he thought.
“Stick close to me, Rey.” He said.
Rey was also peering down at the salt lava. She chewed her bottom lip with worry.
She nodded in agreement. The fact that she didn’t complain or argue with her cousin showed how scared she really was.
“It looks really bad Ben, like it might go crazy at any moment. I’ve been reading about...”
Ben walked over and put his arm around her. “Hey, it’s going to be ok, kid. Let’s work fast so you can get back to the village and tell my friends that you beat me to the top.”
Rey gave Ben a smile at his joke, momentarily forgetting what she was talking about. “Yeah, Poe and Finn will laugh at you soooo hard.”
They both grabbed their backpacks that were hooked to their saddles and set off down the path around the mouth of the volcano. Rey stayed close to Ben as he had instructed.
As they came up the door that led down into the caves and tunnels where the sensors were, Rey gulped nervously.
Ben touched the door with the back of his hand to test how hot it was.
“It’s warm,” he told Rey, “but it’s not too bad.”
Ben pushed the door open, quickly putting up his hand to stop Rey from barrelling through. “Rey, stay behind me, like I said.”
Rey looked a bit put out, but seemed to think better of arguing with him about it.
As Ben stepped into the corridor, he noticed that the temperature was definitely hotter than last time - but there was something else different, too. There was a heaviness to the air, a sort of underlying sourness within the enclosed space of the tunnel that was quite unpleasant. The lights that threaded across the roof of the tunnel flickered and zapped, as if the electrical current powering them was being switched off and on again.
He reached around to his belt to feel for his lightsaber. Feeling the warm metal hum under his fingertips, it gave him comfort that if something did happen, at least he had his weapon to protect him and Rey. It was weird, because in the few months that Ben had been Head Temperature Tester, the only creature he had ever encountered down here was an angry Rey after she got stuck in a small tunnel trying to reach a sensor one time. Plus, if there was a salt lava eruption, it wasn’t like his weapon could protect them from it.
Rey interrupted his thoughts with a sharp prod in the middle of his back.
“Come on slowpoke,” she complained. “I thought we were supposed to be in a hurry.”
Ben knew that Rey was only being bossy because she wanted to get into the volcano, but he didn’t like her tone all the same.
Ben grunted and made his way down the dim corridor, the flickering lights casting eerie shadows on the wall.
He was sure he heard a soft rustle coming from behind the wall. He came to a sudden stop, swiveling his head in the direction of the noise, causing Rey to bump him from behind.
“Hey!” she exclaimed in protest, rubbing her nose.
“Shhhhhh!,” Ben replied sharply. “Listen…”
They both stood still, waiting in anticipation for the sound to come again, but it didn’t.
“Ben, are you hearing ghosts again? Is Grandpa trying to contact us?” Rey teased.
“Be quiet,” Ben grumped. He started moving carefully down the corridor again. He wished he could ignite his lightsaber, but he had the feeling that Rey wouldn’t let him or his friends forget it if he did.
“Come on,” he muttered. “The sensor is down this way.”
As they headed deeper into the belly of the volcano, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else down there with them. Like there were hundreds of little eyes watching them as they made their way to the tunnel.
They came into a big cavern with many tunnels leading from it in all different directions. Ben pointed to the roof
“The sensor is up there, behind that ledge. Think you can reach it?” He asked.
Rey craned her head in the direction he was pointing.
“That’s easy,” she scoffed. “Just because your sausage fingers are too big to reach in.”
With that, she flicked her fingers to create a force bubble around herself, levitating towards the roof of the cavern, and she corrected her course to float over the spot that Ben had pointed to.
“It's so hot up here,” she said. “There really is something wrong with this volcano, it’s too hot - we need to cool it down. I’ve been reading and...”
“How can you cool down a volcano? That’s impossible,” he said, perhaps too quickly. He was becoming impatient to fix the sensor and get out of there. He was becoming more uneasy by the minute, which tended to make him shorter with Rey than he would have liked.
Behind him, he heard the same rustling sound from the tunnel earlier. He whipped around to see if he could locate the source, but there was nothing there.
“Well, I have this idea that if you take the…” Rey continued, as she tried to reach up where the sensor was.
Ben was starting to get really creeped out now, his fingers rested on the hilt of his saber in readiness.
“Rey….” he called out. “I think we need to get out of here…”
Rey grunted in return. “I can... almost reach it… oh!” She exclaimed in surprise. “It looks like something has… eaten the wires?”
Ben turned his attention from the dark tunnel to Rey up above him. He could make out the edge of her force bubble from behind the ledge “What?”
“It looks like.. some kind of creature has been trying to eat it,” Rey repeated.
“Just remove it from the wall and let’s get out of here!” Ben yelled. Between the rustling noise, and now the strange thing that had happened to the sensor, Ben knew something weird was going on. They needed to get back to the village right away to talk about it with his dad and Uncle Luke.
He could hear Rey working the sensor off from the cavern wall as it was in a very tricky spot. He was just about to force bubble himself up to the roof next to her, when he heard her shout out with victory after she finally was able to pry it off the wall.
She floated down to the ground again, and handed the sensor to Ben for him to inspect it.
He momentarily forgot how badly he wanted to get out of there, as he turned the sensor over and over in his hand. It was a white box with several red buttons that Ben would press to get temperature readings, with silver wires that came out the back that connected to the generator power supply. Rey was right when she said it looked as if an animal had been chewing at the wires, as they were all frayed and bitten.
But nothing lives down here , Ben thought. Nothing can survive on salt, can it?
Rey had been looking intently at the sensor too, when she suddenly clapped one hand across her face, while giving Ben a big whack on his arm with the other.
“Gross!” she cried out in disgust. “You farted!”
Ben was startled by her outburst, but a foul smell was suddenly going up his nostrils, too. It was like trash had been left out in the rain, rolled in mud, and then a rancor had come and taken a poop on it.
“Did not!” he yelled. “Whoever smelt it, dealt it!”
“Everyone knows that whoever denied it supplied it!” She shot back.
“Well, if it wasn’t you.. and if it wasn’t me… then who was it?” Ben wondered worriedly.
Rey’s eyes got very big as she spun around in a circle.
“Do..do..do you think that it might be… them?” She stammered as she pointed around the cavern.
Ben looked at what she was pointing at, and quickly reached for his lightsaber. With a stamp of his foot, he ignited his weapon, the crackle of the blade echoing against the wall of the cavern.
The green light from the saber illuminated the dark tunnels around them, and he realised that hundreds and hundreds of colourful spiders, each one about as big as his hand, were watching them. They were strangely beautiful, but frightening at the same time, each one a dazzling array of bright neon colours. Yellow and orange zig zagged across their bodies, from which blue, purple and pink striped legs were attached. They had green heads and looked like giant creepy candies - not that you would ever want to put one in your mouth.
The strangest thing about these already strange creatures was their long pink and orange tails, like a scorpions. Ben squinted his eyes to look at their tails more closely, it was almost as if… green stink lines were rising from them. Ben wondered if that was the reason for the horrible smell.
“Get behind me, Rey,” he shouted in panic.
She backed up against him, her own saber at the ready, its blue light bouncing off the green radiating from Ben’s.
“What are we going to do,” she said fearfully.
“We are going to stab our way out of here!” He shouted, suddenly launching into a sprint. He lifted his saber over his head to strike at the nearest spider, but as he brought it down, to his shock it crashed into Rey’s, she had sped in front of him whipping around to defend the spiders from his attack.
The force from his blow sent her flying backwards, and the colourful spiders spread out to avoid being trampled on, like a stinky, rustling, colourful wave.
“Pickled Palpatine! What are you doing ?” He said incredulously, moving his blade to the side where it wouldn't hurt her.
“No! You can’t hurt them!” She replied, regaining her balance. “They haven’t done anything to you or me! They are just smelly, colourful spiders.”
“Well, fine! Then how do you propose we get out of here, then?” He asked, swinging his blade around to protect from an attack from behind. The spiders moved away to avoid it, as if they were afraid of it.
“Look! The tunnel to the door is clear!” Rey pointed.
Ben saw that she was right, the tunnel that lead up to the outside world was blessedly clear of spiders.
He didn’t need to be told twice, Ben pushed Rey forward into the tunnel. He turned to see what the spiders were doing - it was almost as if they were in attack formation, their scorpion tails poised to strike.
They stumbled as they ran, a green cloud of disgusting gas began to swirl around them. Rey began to cough and splutter. Ben grabbed onto her arm, pulling her with him. He put his hand across his nose as his eyes began to water. Another, stranger sensation began to take over him as well, like a stiffness spreading throughout his body. He propelled them faster, relieved as he could finally make out the sunlight framing the door that led to the outside.
Rey was slowing down considerably by now, her legs were not nearly as long as Ben’s, plus she hadn’t thought to cover her nose as the cloud had begun to overtake them.
Thinking quickly, he scooped her up and flung her over his shoulder. Rey squealed, pummelling at his back in frustration.
“Put me down!” She tried to shout, but her voice was getting hoarser by the moment.
Finally he reached the door, grabbing the handle to wrench it open. As they crashed through it, the sunlight burned their eyes, after having just come from the dark tunnel.
The fresh air was a welcome relief, but Ben knew they were not out of danger yet. The spiders could still come out and get them - and he wasn’t sure about what exactly the green gas was, but he was sure it was dangerous.
Ben dropped Rey back onto her feet, looking at her with concern. Her eyes were ringed in red and she was still coughing and spluttering.
“Rey, do you think you can make it back to Muddy?” He asked.
She nodded, still coughing and spluttering. Ben realised she wasn’t well at all, so he scooped her up to take them back to their varactyls. Ben constantly looked behind them to make sure they were not being followed.
They had to get back to the village - and fast.