Chapter Text
"Benji!"
Ben's eyes shoot open from his meditative trance and he whirls around to find a small, slender shape silhouetted in his doorframe.
"Go away," he snaps, "I'm busy."
The child is unrelenting. "Too busy to play?" He sighs, exasperated, and crouches down, opening his arms and letting the little girl cheerfully leap into them. He hefts her up with a grunt.
"You're getting too big for this, Rey." She snickers, a playful gleam in her eyes.
"Maybe you're just not putting enough effort into your exercises!" Ben snorts at that, letting her down. "So can we play? Please?"
"I don't really feel like playing today," he mutters, turning away. He doesn't need to see her, though, to feel her disappointment.
"You never feel like playing anymore," she says sadly. Not an accusation, just a melancholy observation. Something tugs at Ben's heartstrings, and he pushes it away. There's no point trying to make his cousin happy at this point.
But he can't help himself. As she dejectedly makes to leave, he calls out, "Rey?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
Her spirit rises, just a little, at the words. "I love you too, Benji!"
He doesn't think about how that is probably the last time he will ever hear those words in his life.
If everything goes to plan, she'll be dead tomorrow.
Each death feels like another hole being ripped in Rey's heart. Rain pours down, and the burning embers of what was once her home reflect in the puddles that build.
Masked creatures stalk the Temple grounds, ruthlessly slaughtering everyone in sight. Rey wants to scream until her voice gives out, wants to claw at the ground and make everything just stop, but she can't.
"Hide here," Mommy had said, "I love you, sweetheart."
Mommy was coming back. She had to.
She curls deeper into the small bunker her mother had crammed her into, trying to stifle her sobs in her sleeve.
She senses the ceiling above her beginning to crumble, feels the heat of the approaching inferno, and knows she has to move. Mommy will find her wherever she goes, she thinks. She has to run.
The outside is even more horrifying than the inside. Rey can barely see through her tears, through the torrential downpour. Lightning cracks across the sky, thunder rumbles. The grass, usually a bright, emerald green, is soaked with muddy rainwater and blood. Distant screams echo through the field. The Force seems to be sobbing right along with her.
And then she feels him. Benji. He's right outside. She wants to cry out in relief, he will fix everything, take her to Mommy, let her cry into her shoulder like he has so many times before. He will play games with her, help her keep the nightmares away.
Something moves behind her so she flings herself down, next to a body, playing dead herself. The body is cold, stiff, and it takes all of Rey's strength not to wretch as she recognizes one of the Padawans Daddy had been training: Jaden. Jaden, who once played catch with her while she waited on Daddy to come home from a mission.
Where is Ben?
Unsure, she reaches out with the Force like Daddy had taught, trying to feel the warm glow she recognized as her cousin. But all she feels is darkness, cold.
"BEN!" screams Mommy's voice, and Rey's heart almost sings with relief.
She runs out of her hiding place, wanting to hurl herself right into his arms, but he's turned away, hood pulled over his head, standing absolutely still, looking directly at Mommy. One of the masked creatures is locked in a fight with her, but then she spots her. Horror crosses her expression as her eyes shoot from Rey to Benji, and the masked one takes advantage of her distraction, driving his sword right through her heart.
Rey can't hold back her blood-curdling scream as Mommy slumps to the ground, tear-streaked eyes fixed right on her. She collapses, shock and horror rooting her in place.
Her scream makes Ben turn, but it isn't Ben she sees. His face is covered with the same mask the others are hidden in. And then, Rey's world shatters again.
"You did this," she realizes, a soft whisper, ice running through her veins. "No . . . no, no, no, NO!" He takes a step forward, but she staggers back in terror, eyes fixed on his armor-clad form.
The creature, the one who killed Mommy, sees her then, and begins stalking towards her.
"Run!" screams Mommy's voice in her mind, but Rey's feet don't move. Her head is swimming, she feels utterly numb. The creature seems to move towards her in slow motion, and time stops.
Then, it begins again with a vengeance.
In a single breath, Ben ignites his lightsaber (but Daddy never taught him how, and Ben had promised to let her help him make one). The masked creature is right in front of her when the jagged red blade sears through his chest, and he collapses in front of her, dead.
They stand there, in the rain, surrounded by the bodies of the Jedi Rey somehow knows he killed. His lightsaber hums between them, but she doesn't look at it. She can only stare, broken-hearted, at his mask.
Then, another scream rings through the air, and he unfreezes, arm shooting out and grabbing hers. She struggles against his grip screaming, but he doesn't let her go, dragging her back towards the Temple, past Mommy's still form.
"Be quiet!" he growls, voice changed by his mask, almost robotic. She pays his order no heed, not caring what happens to her. They reach his room, untouched by the death surrounding the Temple, and he shoves her in. "Stay here," he commands, voice laced with the Force. Rey resists, pushing him out of her head, and he sighs.
Rey slumps against the wall, pictures of her mother's glassy eyes and grass red with blood running through her mind as he waves his hand across her face, forcing her into blackness.
Redemption is a curious thing.
It's both glorious and ruinous, painful and fulfilling, beautiful and ugly. It tears your soul to pieces, and if you're lucky, it rebuilds it into something fresh and new. Something worth fighting for.
Someone worth fighting for.
The Resistance base is on the moon Dxun, orbiting Onderon. The harsh jungle, still harboring ghosts from the Mandalorian Wars, is the perfect place for a base, built around ancient temple ruins predating the Old Republic itself.
Kylo Ren has heard the legends many times over from the archives of the Empire. Snoke has told him many times of the Old Sith at the height of their power, of the Sith Academy on Korriban, of the true Sith.
He thinks of Revan as he brings his ship in to land in the jungle, his shaking hands almost sending the shuttle into a tree. All of that power, what did it feel like? Was it enough for him? At the end, did he have as many regrets as Kylo has now?
Is this redemption? he wonders as he leaves the shuttle behind, letting the Force guide him through the dense jungle. He hears a rustle behind him, and with a single slash of his lightsaber, a young boma lies dead at his feet.
He can still turn back. He can return to the shuttle and go straight to the First Order, back to Snoke and the Knights of Ren. He can tell them the location of the Resistance base and gain his master's favor with a single transmission.
But then he imagines Rey, so young with so much hope in her eyes despite all that she has seen, all that she knows. He thinks of her faith in him, however misplaced, and he can't be the one to crush her. She has effectively broken his will, changed his soul, and he cannot go back. Not now.
He refuses to think of his mother and uncle, undoubtedly there on Dxun. He can feel their Force signatures, strong and warm, and Rey's- a candle, a sun. He latches onto her, letting her light guide him home like a compass. True North.
He emerges near the hangar bay, cautious. He knows he could very well be shot down on sight, and childishly wishes Rey was there to tell him how the surrender of the most wanted criminal in the galaxy works.
As if on cue, he catches sight of her familiar three buns by a black X-Wing, engaged in light conversation with the Resistance pilot from the town on Jakku, the one FN-2187 helped escape. He says something, wagging his eyebrows, and she laughs: a light, melodic sound that reminds Kylo of his mother.
He finally lets his mental shields collapse, and Rey feels it instantly, clutching at her heart in shock. She turns and her eyes find him instantly. Her pilot spots him at the same moment and makes for his blaster, shouting in panic, but Rey holds him back, intently murmuring something to him. He looks at her with wide eyes, blaster still trained on Kylo, but nods slowly.
Rey approaches him deliberately as Poe rushes into the base, presumably to fetch-no. Not now. She stops an arm's length away from him, eyes wild with hope and fear and so much more.
For one long moment, it's just the two of them standing there, staring at each other in absolute silence. Her mind is open to him, elation and worry emanating from her all at once.
"You came," she whispers, finally. Her lips stretch into a bright smile. "Kylo-"
"No," he interrupts. "Call me . . . call me Ben."
Kylo was destroyed. For the first time on Starkiller Base by the tender caress of his dying father and the burst of strength from his dear cousin. Again on Jakku, with the single whisper of a childhood nickname. For a third time on Mustafar, an intense argument in his mind's eye.
And finally, totally, on Naboo, at the grave of his grandmother, in the city where his family's story began.
The shouting begins as others finally see him, rushing towards where he stands with blasters drawn. Rey turns, shielding his body with her own, and he stands perfectly still. Perhaps if he is lucky, they will give him what he deserves.
But it's one clear, echoing roar for silence that stills everyone, commands them into quiet and order.
General Leia Organa emerges, and Ben falls to his knees. He is so undeserving, so broken. He cannot look at her, cannot bear to take in the heartbreak in her eyes. Rey crouches at his side, a small hand gently coming to rest on his shoulder. Comfort, such a foreign concept to him.
He hears her bootsteps come to a stop before him, but still cannot raise his head to behold the face of the mother he ruined, abandoned in a desperate search for power.
"Ben . . ." Her voice is low, raspy, ragged with emotion but still as dominant and regal as it ever was. "Sweetheart, look at me."
"I can't," he croaks.
"Look at me," she repeats, gentle and soft. Rey's hand gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"I'm afraid," he whispers into Rey's mind, shame and self-loathing coursing through his veins like ice. How can he dare to look upon the face of the woman who raised him, the mother he betrayed, the widow of the man he killed? How can he, a slave of the Dark Side, look someone like her, who survived the annihilation of her planet and death of her one true love, who leads the Resistance single-handedly in the face of constant tragedy, in the face?
"Just look at her," Rey's thoughts reply, loving and sweet, "You'll see everything you need."
So, with his hands fisted at his sides, tangled hair caking in his face, Ben Solo looks up at his mother for the first time in nearly twenty years.
Rey is the one to formally arrest him, guiding him once again to a simple prison cell in a secluded corner of the base. Soldiers and pilots send him hateful looks and sneers, not caring that he is the one who surrendered to them.
"Enough sympathy," Ben sighs at her side. "I deserve this."
"It's not about what any of us deserve," Rey says echoing her words to him from Naboo. They continue on in silence for a few more moments before arriving.
"I knew you would make the right choice," she says softly. "Welcome home."
Redemption is a painful thing. His first night at the base, he is plagued by images of slain Padawans, sounds of screams, and the taste of his uncle's tears. He feels a ripple through the Force, as Snoke's fury erupts into a massive explosion of power that echoes across the galaxy.
Redemption means guilt. And guilt means pain. So much pain.
Rey senses his agony, as she always does, and sneaks into his cell quietly when he wakes. She carries a small plate of desserts and wears a tired smile.
"When I first got to the base," she says softly, "I'd never had treats before. On Jakku we just had scavenged rations. No flavor, really. No sugar."
"You had eaten desserts before, actually," Ben corrects, voice just barely there. "I would sneak you small cakes at the Temple, and your father would pretend not to notice." Rey's smile is like a sunrise, bright and warm, eyes delighted at a new piece of her past being revealed.
"Well, consider this returning the favor," she says, pushing the plate towards him. He takes a small cake, very much like the ones he remembers her loving as a child, and pops it into his mouth. She lets him eat in silence, leaning against his cell wall, studying him curiously. "How are you?" she asks finally. He glances up.
"I don't know," he answers honestly. He hasn't let himself really think about where he is, what he's done. In a split-second decision, he renounced everything he has stood for, everything that defined him. He's forgotten how to be Ben Solo.
Rey nods grimly. "I felt that way when I first started training. Everything's so terrifying and new, but not new at the same time." Ben sighs.
"I've forgotten how to not be Kylo Ren," he admits, "The Dark Side has been the only thing keeping me going for so long."
"I don't think so," Rey disagrees thoughtfully. "I think that spark inside you is what has kept you going. I think you've been building towards this for a long time."
He casts his thoughts back to his darkest moment on Starkiller Base, murdering Han Solo-his father. How frenzied with power he had felt, how fractured his soul was. The ripping, searing pain of loss right in front of him. The small part of his mind screaming in agony, and the unconscious decision to never sink so low again, Snoke be damned.
"Besides," Rey murmurs, breaking his reverie, "I think our true selves are like muscle memory: they're never forgotten, really. Just need a little exercise."
"Wise words," Ben says with a hesitant smile. "I always did wonder how you could still be so good, after everything."
Rey shrugs, as if her infinite kindness is nothing at all. "Anger never did me any favors. I seem to remember you defeating me the one time I did let it rule me."
"Only time I ever did."
"I like to think we're even now," she says. "You choosing this, choosing yourself? That's a far greater victory for you than any battle could ever be."
Ben smiles. "You sound like your father." Rey returns it.
"You're starting to as well."
In the morning, Luke summons her to his quarters. She brings the same cakes she brought Ben last night, finding that sugar can placate practically anyone.
But he doesn't look angry when she carefully enters his quarters. His eyes open from his meditating and he gives her a gentle smile.
"Nobody has tried talking to him yet," he says casually. "But I'm guessing that his surrender has something to do with you." Rey nods. "And your months on Naboo?"
"I captured him," she admits softly. "I remembered you telling me to make my own choice on how to deal with him. And the only choice I could see was . . . bringing him back."
"That wasn't your first choice," Luke points out.
"That was before."
"Before what?"
"Before my memories started coming back." Luke blinks, surprise covering his weathered face, and she continues. "I've been remembering short moments from being young. Mother's face, tossing pebbles with the Force, being carried through the woods on your back . . ." she trails off, uncertain.
"And Ben?" Luke finishes softly. She nods. "I never knew how to tell you how close the two of you were. I never understood it myself."
"When I began to remember him, our time as children, I couldn't just kill him. It was impossible. And I could see it, you know? Through our bond, I could see the good in him. And more than anything, I knew I wanted to bring Ben back." She chuckles humorlessly. "Killing him would have been easier."
"I thought the same thing about my father," Luke says with sympathy. "I do wish you would have told me."
"I didn't want to disappoint you," Rey admits, "-if I failed. If he escaped, or would not turn back to the Light."
"Oh, Rey," Luke murmurs, pulling her into his arms and holding her close. "Nothing you do could possibly disappoint me. You are a far better Jedi than I am, and a far braver person."
Rey burrows into his embrace, warmth filling her. Years of loneliness fade away, and she centers on this feeling right now. Completeness. Home.
Redemption is not something he deserves.
His trial is a short, simple affair. He listens to each witness who offers testimony in silence, and truly listens.
"Don't hide from the pain you inflicted," Rey had said before the trial, his most regular visit aside from his mother. "Listen to it. Accept it. Vow to never let it happen again."
"It wasn't just Resistance fighters who lived in terror of him," says FN-218-no, Finn. Rey would be angry if she caught his mistake. "He abused everyone under him, created an atmosphere of slavish terror. We all feared having to deliver news of mistakes that were not even our fault. We weren't allowed to be humans, even."
"He tore into my mind," says the pilot. "He took everything from my brain, and he relished in my pain. He commanded the slaughter of an innocent village full of women and children."
He offers no words to defend his actions. There are none. Everything he told himself in the past is hollow, useless. He is hollow, useless, and he says as much.
"There are no explanations, nothing that makes it make sense," he says. "I wanted power. Snoke made me believe our way was the only way, and I didn't have the strength to realize how wrong I was."
Rey is the only one to testify on his behalf.
"From what I understand," she says calmly, "He was manipulated from childhood. Snoke invaded his mind, twisting and warping him from a young age. I cannot imagine that.
"I am not excusing his actions in the slightest. He was a killer, a monster. But Kylo Ren is not who is really is. I've been in his head, I know it. He's just now coming back to us. He wants a chance at redemption. And we're the good ones, right? Shouldn't we at least give him a chance?"
"And if he betrays us?" asks Admiral Ackbar, one of the judges. Rey answers without hesitation.
"I will kill him myself."
He pleads guilty to all charges, and is sentenced to a lifetime of service under supervision. Rey volunteers to keep an eye on him, which relieves him. He doesn't know if he could survive living under the harsh hatred he inflicted upon the others who could watch him.
He is shocked by how many Resistance fighters approach him after with forgiveness in their eyes.
"I've seen you fly in battle, mate," a pilot says, "I'd love to learn some of your tricks. Just no Dark Side, alright?"
Finn shakes his hand.
"Leaving is hard," the former Stormtrooper says knowingly. "If you ever need to talk about it, find me." Ben nods, moved into silence. He catches the pilot's eye, and the curly-haired man just gives him a nod.
Acceptance.
Ben becomes Rey's responsibility on evenings. His time is split between strategy meetings on mornings with his mother, meditation and training with Luke, and whatever she feels like doing when the sun goes down.
"What is he like around you?" Poe asks while she helps him make some minor repairs to his X-Wing. "Pass the wrench, please."
"What do you mean?" she asks, placing the tool in his waiting palm.
"Does he smile? Make jokes? Or is he as grumpy and quiet as he is when I see him in strategy meetings?" Rey chuckles.
"He's terrified in those," she explains. "I think he's scared of letting his mom down with what information he has."
"Can't be worse than killing her husband," Poe mutters. Rey elbows him. "Sorry, sweetheart, I couldn't help myself."
"I'm sure you say that to all the girls," Rey teases. Poe winks.
"Really, though, what is he like? I'll admit to being morbidly curious about the guy. Reformed Sith and all."
Rey pauses, considering.
"He's shy. Probably more timid than anyone I've ever met, which is weird, because back in the First Order, he was fearless." She shrugs. "He's really clever, though, but in a funny way. If he ever smiled I bet he'd be hilarious."
Poe smiles. "So you like him, then?"
"Well yes, he's family."
"By blood or by feeling?"
"Huh?"
"Well, someone can be family by blood and mean nothing," Poe explains. "But I think real family is a feeling. You and Finn? You're just as much family to me as my folks." He holds his hand out. "Pass a screw, please."
Rey picks a screw up and decides to have a little fun with it, sending it floating to the pilot using the Force. He rolls his eyes at her, but she's too busy grinning over being considered his family to notice.
"You're my family too," she comments. "You and Finn." Poe smiles.
"Good to know."
"And I think Ben is becoming more like family each day," she adds, an afterthought. Poe studies her for a moment, then nods.
"Well, maybe I should see him more. Your family is mine."
Rey reaches out and gives him a quick, tight hug, and marvels at how she's gone from being an isolated scavenger to a Jedi surrounded by people who love her.
"Actually," she says with a smile, "I think I have an idea."
Usually, Ben's evenings with Rey are spent tinkering with ships. She shows him how to fix things that are torn apart, instead of destroying them himself. It's oddly cathartic for him, she knows, fixing things with her, feeling useful in a small way instead of charging into battle.
"What needs fixing today?" he asks when she slides into his room. She grins.
"Nothing, actually. We're going to spar." This gets his full attention, and he turns to her with wide eyes. There's a childish eagerness in her gaze, a twinkle in his eyes she has never seen before.
Scratch that, she has seen it. As a child.
The memory emerges, unbidden, of Ben mildly teaching her the basics of Shi-Cho with twigs, letting her win every time. Ben catches the memory as well, and his lips twitch into the barest hint of a smile.
"I won't go so easy on you this time," he warns. Rey grins.
"Good." She tosses him a small staff, the size of his lightsaber, and pulls out her own staff. "Let's go."
She brings him to the courtyard where Luke trains her in the morning. To her surprise, Luke is standing there, waiting. Rey doesn't mind, prepared to hand the reigns over to him, but he waves her off.
"I'm just curious," he says mildly, "I haven't been able to see your fights."
"Probably for the best," Ben mutters, slightly embarrassed. Rey smiles smugly. Luke just shakes his head.
Rey spins her staff expertly, a challenging glint in her eyes. Ben smirks and settles into a comfortable stance, open and fluid.
"Niman?" Rey inquires. He nods.
"And you'll try Djem So," he replies. "So predictable."
"You couldn't beat it before," she tosses back. Ben twirls his own staff experimentally.
"Kylo Ren couldn't," he muses, "But maybe Ben can." With that, he surges forward, and Rey is thrown back several yards by a massive burst of energy. She lands with a thud, a bit stunned. She looks up, and Ben looks almost bored.
"Smart money's on the Sith," comes a teasing call from behind her. She glances back, and Poe is standing there, arms crossed, watching curiously. "Sorry, Rey." Finn comes forward, standing beside him.
"I'll take that bet," he says to Poe, offering a small smile to Rey. "My money's on the Jedi."
Rey winks at Finn, and springs back up. Ben is waiting for her, twirling his staff with a rare smile on his face.
She decides to play comfortably, charging at him with her staff, imagining the sands of Jakku around her. He's not accustomed to fighting against her double-bladed style, and stumbles a bit, but he's smart, so he soon figures her out.
Ben Solo utilizing Niman is a sight to behold. He moves fluidly, like air and water, all grace and completely comfortable. The Force does not just flow through him, it becomes him. Rey tries to find any breaks in his defenses, but he senses every move, and whenever she gets too close, he pushes her back swiftly.
Rey senses a small crowd gathering around their little battle and it takes all of her focus not to peek and see who exactly is among them. She feels her father, still watching with pride. Poe and Finn, trading barbs and cheering her on.
Ben has obviously figured out her tactics, so she makes a split-second decision and slips into Ataru. Might as well give this little crowd a fun show.
Ataru is all flips and acrobatics, which proves a little difficult to execute with her staff, but she figures it out soon enough. Ben is taken aback by her sudden shift and increased use of the Force, and she capitalizes, getting a few pushes and kicks in.
She wonders, slightly winded, how much time has passed since they started sparring. She's exhausted, and can see the sweat building on her cousin as well. He has more endurance than her, however, so after landing a kick to her gut, he aims his staff at her heart.
"Want to call it here?" he asks, breathing hard. Rey nods, a bit miffed but very relieved, and takes the hand he offers her, letting herself be pulled up.
She doesn't expect the applause that breaks out, and looks out in surprise to see that the small crowd has grown, completely surrounding the courtyard. General Organa has taken a spot by Luke, watching her son with misty eyes. Poe's entire squadron is gathered around him and Finn, watching them in wonder.
Ben's expression of shock is almost endearing.
"Well look at that, Benji," she whispers to him, "You're winning them over."
Redemption, it seems, has a routine. After that day, Ben sees a noticeable difference in his treatment on the base. Everyone: the pilots, technicians, commanders . . . they are making a conscious effort to truly accept him into their ranks.
In some ways, he hates it. Despite the intelligence he feeds to them through his mother, the fight doesn't feel like his own. Their joys and heartaches feel distant. Even Rey cannot make him feel like a part of it, despite how hard she tries.
She's still the hero. He is just a defector.
"Rey said I might find you here." Ben doesn't turn, recognizing the voice of Finn, his cousin's Stormtrooper. Just barely buzzing with the Force, gifted enough to have the sharpest instincts of all his peers.
The gardens are quiet. Near the edge of the camp, all Ben can feel when he comes here is life, teeming around him. So different from Starkiller Base or a Star Destroyer.
"I come here to be alone," Ben says, hoping the other man takes the hint and leaves. But Finn either doesn't catch on or doesn't budge, sitting down on the stone bench beside him.
"You know, this planet used to be a Mandalorian stronghold," he comments. "We found some very, very old archives when we started repurposing the place. Records dating back over a thousand years."
"Fascinating," Ben says blandly.
"In the archives were some histories," Finn continues, ignoring his brusque tone. "Stories of a Jedi Civil War. Ever study that?"
Ben remembers Luke trying to piece together the history of the Jedi Order from broken records scattered across the galaxy, only managing to make a very basic outline of events from a few books, holocrons and recovered data archives. And, of course, Snoke's own recounting of the wars.
"I know the basics," he says. "Darth Revan and Malak broke off, and there was a war that almost wiped out the Jedi completely."
Finn smiles. "Well, our records found the ending of Revan's story." He pulls a small datapad out from his jacket and hands it to him. "I think you'll find it helpful." He stands and begins to leave, but pauses, turning. "I'll be honest. After everything, I never thought you could be redeemed. But, um, I'm rooting for you." He turns again, but this time it's Ben who stops him.
"Why?" Finn turns. "Why would you support me? I almost killed you."
Finn shrugs. "Rey loves you," he replies, like it's the easiest thing in the world. And suddenly, a lot makes sense to Ben.
"And you love her," he surmises.
"Yeah," Finn says, smiling. "Just so you know, Revan was even worse than you, in a way. He wasn't manipulated or raised into anything. He just wanted power. So if he can find a way to make things right, I think there's more than hope for you."
"The Jedi Council wiped his mind and sent him on a mission to find these Star Maps," Ben explains to Rey, who listens fervently. "While searching, his memories came back, and he saved the galaxy anyways."
"What happened after?" she asks.
"He disappeared past the Outer Rim. Never seen again." Rey frowns. Something about Ben seems to cling to those words far too much for her liking.
"You're not planning to disappear on me, are you? I just got you back." Ben doesn't reply, so she scoots closer to him, looking him square in the eyes. "Ben. Tell me you're not leaving."
"I'll stay until the First Order is gone," he snaps.
"No!" Rey snaps right back. "You'll stay longer than that. You'll have a life."
"What kind of life do you expect me to have?" Ben demands. "Do you expect me to meet someone? Someone who doesn't care that I used to be a Sith, someone who doesn't care that I have genocide on my hands? Do you think that once the Resistance is no longer needed, I'll have a place with the Jedi? The Republic?"
"You'll have a place with your family," Rey insists. "I didn't have you come here because I wanted to use you. I had you come because I wanted my cousin to be home. You can't just run from that when this is done."
Ben smiles sadly. "And you can't make me stay."
Rey opens her mouth, intent on telling him just how she was going to make him stay (it involves ropes, mind tricks and a chokehold Chewie taught her), when Poe rushes in, eyes grim.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a big problem."