The Balance Between Us - A Reylo

Chapter 34

Finn

"How long are we suppose to wait here and watch?" I asked Kerra impatiently.  We had been stood silently sential, as the Knights had Rey and Ky-- Ben in their grasp.

Kerra had her ear pressed against the glass and her hand against the wall. "They know." Was all she said.

"Know what?" I grumbled in confusion blaster at the ready.

"They can sense the children."

I vaguely remembered a distant conversation with Rey about something similar but there was a block on my mind. A closed door with a lock so damn tight that it might as well have rusted shut. "Rey's?"

"Yes." Kerra answered me sharply. "But we don't have time to go into all that."

I popped my head up over the rim just enough to get a look of what was going on. Rey was being held by a Knight with a vibroknife to her throat whilst the other Knight seemed to be tormenting a rather restless Ben. Their voices were muffled but I could just make them out, "... You have been busy, Master. Breaking vowels and betraying your brethren."

"I betrayed no one but myself the day I chose to go to Snoke."

There were cold laughs rumbling around the room. "I wonder what our great Supreme Leader would say to this." The knight gestured between Rey and Ben.

"Then it is just as well he isn't here to witness this." Rey remarked breaking a string of silence that had captured her.

I saw the knife tighten closer to her throat, "Quiet, Jedi Scum."

Ben had his lightsaber poised at the Knight that was circling him.

"Maker, Kerra. How long do we wait?"

She looked at me and then glanced back at the mess occurring on the other side of the glass. A mess that threatened the unity of the Force, a resolving unlike one that had never truly been accomplished. A balance that would help bring peace. But these two remaining Knights of Ren threatened this peace.

"Start entering the house now. But you have to be silent."

Rey

The knife tightened around my throat, I could feel the hot metal scoring my skin, burning the flesh there.

"What do you value more, Master?" Zira Ren asked Ben. He scrunched his face up in confusion. She laughed at his ignorance, then said, "Your harlet of a Jedi, or your unborn child?"

"I will not choose between them. I'd rather die."

"No, Ben!" I yelled in response to his answer.

"That can be arranged." The Knight holding me growled.

Zira Ren prowled closer to me, brandishing her lightsaber of choice: it was a rounded hilt dressed in black, the plasma a deep and dangerous. She lowered the weapon towards my abdomen - I felt my body cower back as much as it could whilst other parts of me desperately searched for a means of survival.

"No!" I heard Ben caterwaul, as he lunged for Zira Ren. She pivoted just in time to block his advancing attack. They sparred for a few moments when I suddenly felt the knife released from my neck.

Ben

I grunted and groaned in defiance as I fought off the Knight who had succeeded me in ruling this galaxy. A knight who had been trained relentlessly by myself whilst Snoke oversaw any divets in their training that needed to be amended. It was like fighting myself, Zira's form, stance, attack and block; the routine, angle of swings, waiting for the opportune to attack, locating weaknesses. A truly impossible task.

A flash of movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. Rey, her warm brown hair and hazel eyes. Her tanned skin and the dusting of freckles on her face. The only equal I could ever have or ever want in terms of power and compassion. Like me, she was driven by loneliness and the need to survive, to find belonging outside of abandonment. We are one in the same and nothing, not Zira Ren or Vitani, the First Order, non of it, could change that. Together, we defeated Snoke and the Praetorian Guards... together, we could end the imperialist control of the Knights of Ren.   

"You fool." A gravelly voice entered my mind, "Did you honestly believe you could ever be rid of me? I am rooted deep inside of you, I turned your heart, I hold it tightly in the abyss of darkness to which you sent me, Young Solo." A shiver ran up my spine as the voice crawled and clawed at my mind. I doubled over in pain, if there were screams, I didn't hear them, I only heard Snoke.

"She doesn't love you, no one loves you. You cannot be loved, Jedi Killer, murderer of hundreds of women, men and children... Your father! Who could show you such compassion?" My fingers lost hold of my lightsaber. It was as if I was a five year old boy again hearing the bone splitting voice of Snoke, the epitome of darkness and pain and torment. I clawed at the outside of my head, gritting my teeth and fighting the urge to tear myself apart.

"Hmm, yes. I can feel your fears, your pain. You betrayed me, boy, and for that you will pay!" My body convulsed under immense heat and pain as I was electrocuted from the inside. I groaned and yelled in excruciating agony begging for it to stop. Laughing, a malicious, evil laugh full of dark intent sounded in my ears. I was beyond the point of knowing if it was in my head or not.

Warmth. A hint of warmth spread on my arm. I opened my eyes. "Hey, kid."

It couldn't be possible, I had to be hallucinating. "Father?" I asked timidly, shamefully.

He smiled, "It's me alright." He sighed. "You have to fight him, fight Snoke. Save Rey, save your family. Don't give up, Ben."

"I don't deserve to live." I argued.

My father grimaced at the statement. "Screw that! You're my kid, I may not have been the best dad but you deserve a chance to rectify my mistakes."

I looked away from him remorseful. "How can you say all that? I killed you."

"And I forgive you. I knew what I was getting myself in for the moment I said yes at the alter. Now get up and fight Snoke. Kill those Knights and raise your family, or so help me, I will kick your ass!"

Rey

I watched as Ben's body thrashed about on the floor, Zira watching and laughing. He jerked suddenly and went still. An aura grew about him, a warmth that I only ever felt whenever Luke visited me.

Feeling the grip from Vitani Ren loosen, I dared to kick out and attack her... only to find there was no one there. Instead, her body was lying lifeless on the floor, a pool of scarlet liquid oozing from her carcass.

I turned back and saw Zira stood over Ben ready to stab him, her saber spewing red fire. My mouth opened to shout to him, but nothing came out, and in the blink of an eye her saber came crashing down....