Work Text:
Ben sat in bed, staring at one of the Sacred Jedi Texts. He had been reading it, but it was obscure and abstract enough that his brain felt tired, and he was mostly analyzing the different handwriting styles to understand the sequence of annotations in the margins. Rey was next to him looking at her own text, snuggled up against his side. Their bond was a quiet presence in his mind, amplified and steadied by her reassuring touch.
It had been a year since she had brought him to the base on Ajan Kloss. Now it was becoming more like a town, as more and more people joined the Resistance, or the fledgling New New Republic, or whatever it was becoming.
Ben was astonished to feel a presence on his other side, and looked over to see the shimmering blue form of Anakin Skywalker. Ben didn't remember a lot from when he had briefly died on Exegol, but knew that Anakin as well as Luke and Leia had specifically helped him come back. Since then, the Jedi ghosts had left him and Rey alone. Until now, apparently.
Anakin smiled at him. “Ben. You are reading from the past, but you need to look to the future. Do not ignore the wisdom you carry in yourself. It is worth passing on.” Before his words had fully sunk in, he was gone.
Ben blinked. Had he been dreaming? Rey was looking toward where Anakin had been, so probably not.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"My grandfather. Did you hear what he said?" Ben asked.
"I did. It sounds like he wants you to teach. Do you have thoughts about that?" Rey's presence in the bond was gentle and curious.
Ben sighed. "I — I don't know if I can. I have no good examples." He could feel tears in his eyes.
"Ben," Rey said, very quietly. "Look at me, my love."
He did. Her hazel eyes were full of so much adoration. It sighed through the bond, filling up the parts of him that were still cracked and broken.
"Trust yourself," she said.
"I want to," he said, hoarsely. "I wish I could."
"Trust yourself," she said again. "You are good. You would be such a great teacher." He could feel the determination radiating off of her.
He remembered all those times growing up when Snoke, or rather Palpatine, would deliberately erode his trust in himself. When something felt wrong, and Ben would call attention to it, and the dark voice that was his constant companion would say No, no, it's not like that at all. When it would remind Ben of all his failures, of all the errors in judgement that a child, a young, growing, learning person makes. No, you see, you were wrong about that, that is why you should trust me ...
Ben kept nothing from Rey. The bond was open between them, and he knew she was seeing what he remembered. There were tears in his eyes, and tears in hers too.
"Ben," she said again, pulling him into her arms. "You survived. You are not what he tried to poison you with; your heart belongs to the light. You are strong; you survived. You're safe now. I love you. You don't have to teach, ever, if that's not what you want. If you did, though, you would be so good at it. You would have so much to offer."
He nuzzled into her neck and let her comfort him. He could sense her light reaching out to him, reassuring and steadying him until he could find the light in himself again.
“Thank you,” he whispered, and she held him tighter in response.
*
A few days later, he, Rey, and Rose sat in the Millennium Falcon's kitchen, drinking tea after a long day of repairs. Although Rey was respected as the Resistance's Jedi, she preferred to work for them by doing maintenance on ships and anything else that was broken. Rose did far less hands-on maintenance now she was Commander of the Engineering Corps, but she still liked to stop by and see how things were going.
Rose also had become someone many Resistance members turned to when they needed to talk to someone. When she needed a sympathetic ear herself, she turned to Rey or Finn, and lately to Ben.
Ben had offered her tea one evening half a year ago when Rey was finishing up the latest of the endless repairs the Falcon required. He had listened to her until Rey joined them, and a long time after that. Since that evening, tea in the Falcon's lounge had become a regular thing for Rose, Rey, Ben, and often Finn.
A holocall came through from Finn — away on a mission, still working to help former Stormtroopers break free from their conditioning. He was one of many Resistance members helping children who had been taken by the First Order reunite with their families, or connect them with families willing to adopt them if that wasn't possible.
The four of them caught up for a while, and Rey and Ben were about to leave to let Rose and Finn have some time to talk in private when Finn said, "I think we found more Force sensitive children. And some adults too."
"Oh?" asked Rey.
"Yeah," said Finn. "I've been listening, and reaching out with my feelings like you and Ben showed me. All of the adults and most of the kids will be coming back with us to Ajan Kloss, although I'm hoping we'll find their families soon." Finn hesitated. "Were you two thinking about teaching Force sensitives? Other than me, I mean? Because I know we found a couple on Canto Bight, and now there are these others." Their lessons with Finn were informal, generally a time for shared practice or sparring.
You don't have to, said Rey through the bond.
I know, beloved, thought Ben. Out loud he said, "Maybe? People respect Rey, but I don't know if they would trust me."
"I'd make sure they did," said Rey fiercely, grabbing his hand.
Ben grinned at her. "I'm not sure it works like that."
"It could be good," said Finn's holoprojected form. "For people to see that you came back."
"This is what we want to do," said Rose. "Heal. Repair. Build something new. Give people second chances. Not repeat the old mistakes."
"We would have to do something different from what the Jedi did, for sure," said Rey. "I don't want to take kids from their families. I want to make sure we train people no matter the age they find out they're Force sensitive."
"At Luke's Jedi Academy, there was so much competition among the students," said Ben. "It wasn't a good atmosphere. I wouldn't want that."
"It could be more of a network," said Rey. "Teach a few people who then teach others."
"Luke admitted to me once that he didn't study with Obi-Wan or Yoda for long at all," said Ben.
"And I certainly didn't study for long with Luke, and only a year with...with your mother," said Rey quietly. "Ben, you definitely have the most formal training between the two of us, and more than your own teacher had."
"I'm not a good advertisement for the old system, that's for sure."
Rey squeezed his hand again. "You're fine. The system wasn't great." You're perfect, my love, she said through the bond.
Ben smiled at her. He thought of his grandfather saying his own wisdom was worth passing on. I'm willing to try this if you are, beloved, he said through the bond.
I am, if you're sure, Rey responded.
I'm sure.
"Are you two having a conversation the rest of us can't hear, again?" asked Rose. She sounded both exasperated and amused.
"Yeah, sorry," said Ben, running his hand through his hair nervously.
"We'll do it. We'll teach," said Rey.
"Both of us," said Ben.
*
When Finn returned with the newest additions to the Resistance, Rey and Ben began. They started out with group meditation sessions that Rey, Ben, or Finn would lead, with the Force sensitives sitting, or sometimes dancing, or running through saber forms with sticks in their hands. Sitting still to connect to the Force didn't work for all of them.
Sometimes they walked through the jungle to listen to the life there. Occasionally, they would try levitating pebbles, but it wasn't the most important part. Rey, Ben and Finn emphasized that Force was the energy of the Universe that one could connect to, that one was already connected to, and not a power to be possessed.
Sometimes their lessons would have an audience, and occasionally new beings joined in as they or those around them realized they were Force sensitive.
One day, a human couple dropped off a little boy. Ben guessed that he was 9 or 10, maybe small for his age. He wouldn't look at Ben.
Ben sat down near the boy, but not so close he would feel threatened. “Hello there,” he said. “I'm Ben. It's good to meet you. Do you want to tell me your name?”
He didn't say anything.
Ben deliberately relaxed, spoke even more softly. “Your parents said you can use the Force.”
He nodded at that, and looked up a tiny bit. “I throw rocks sometimes,” he said. “Without my hands. When I'm upset. My parents are afraid of me.”
“I'm sorry to hear that – that they're scared. I will never be afraid of you.” He said it to this boy and to anyone else like him, because he wished he could have heard it.
The boy looked up at that. “Really?”
“Really. If you throw rocks, I'll just catch them. Here, try it.”
The boy shook his head and looked down. Kriff. He was afraid of a trap.
“Ok, sorry. You don't have to. See, look here.”
Ben picked up a pebble in his left hand, tossing it in a lazy arc toward his right. He called on the Force and froze the pebble above his right hand, then plucked it out of the air. He saw that the boy was staring at him. “See?” he said.
“But what if I do something bad?”
It felt like his heart was tearing. “It's not the end,” he said, trying to keep his voice light. “Trust me, it's not the end. You can always choose something different.”
"How do you know?" the boy asked, accusingly. He squinted at Ben. "You're so...shiny."
Ben could feel Rey walking closer, and the love and approval she radiated.
The boy looked up at her, squinting. "She's shiny too, but you're the shiniest!"
"I wasn't always shiny," said Ben. "But I had people to help me. I wasn't alone, and you won't be either."
"Really?" asked the boy.
"Really," said Ben.
Rey sat down next to Ben slowly and took his hand. "We promise," she said.
Ben thought he saw a blue form flicker in the corner of his vision, but when he glanced that way, it was gone.