Bonded in the Silence: A Reylo Fanfiction

Chapter 31: Undoing

"Mom," Ren choked up as a sense of relief washed over him at the sight of her again. "I've wasted my life, and I'm sorry."

Leia reached out to touch his face, the illusion of her hand rested lightly on his burning cheek, its coldness soothing.

The princess leaned in closer. "You're not lost anymore. The Force has brought you and Rey together for a reason."

"The Balance." Anakin murmured. "What I started must be finished. The time is near."

"Ben," Luke stepped forward. "you are the last of that mighty Skywalker blood. Palpatine needs the power you hold in order to live on. He needs Rey's too."

Ren blinked, his mouth agape. "I don't understand."

"The raw strength I saw in you both is unique and rare. A dyad in the Force. Something that hasn't existed in thousands of years."

Anakin smiled. "Where two are one, and one gives life to the other."

"Your bond" Leia whispered. "In the desert. You were both in the dream."

"Palpatine has haunted the steps of the Skywalkers for generations" Luke emphasized. "Don't let him be the final word on our story. You can choose your fate, and Rey as well."

Ren was overcome by too many emotions; to be graced with so many hopeful words from his family, and it was almost too much to bear.

If only I could say I'm sorry to...

"Han knows, Ben." Leia nodded her head. "He knows.

Ren reached for her hand desperately one more time, but it passed through as he expected.

Anakin's ghost loomed over him. "Who are you?" he simply asked.

Ren looked at the apparition with confusion. In the back of his mind, he heard a voice softly talking.

You're not alone.

"Are you the apprentice of Snoke?" Anakin cut through his thoughts.

Neither are you.

"No" Ren answered.

"Do you serve the dark side?" Luke's voice roared next, his eyes twinkling with their blue aura.

Ren's fingers trembled against his thigh.

It isn't too late.

"No."

"THEN WHO ARE YOU?" Anakin bellowed, his voice layered with unseen voices crying out in unison with him. The sound pounded Ren's ears, its purpose to nearly drive him mad; the tone rang without fail, relentlessly delivering the question until he answered truthfully.

Dropping to his knees and clapping his hands over his ears, he screamed the answer at the top of his lungs.

"BEN SOLO!"

Silence followed his shout, and his ragged breathing was the only sound he heard in the room. When he opened his eyes and dropped hands from his ears, only his mother's ghost was present.

"If you love Rey, you'll do anything to protect what she loves. Goodbye, son."

And then she was gone.

Blinking in disbelief at what just transpired, a single tear rolled down his face, body shaking with adrenaline, and something else inside him that he hadn't felt in a very long time.

The absence of fear, anger, and hate.

*

When her cell door opened, Rey was lost in concentration while perched on her knees in the center of the room.