Force Destiny

New Understanding

"You wanted to see me?" Rey asked as she entered the room. The Force was stronger there than anywhere else in the temple. It felt as if Leia was blanketed in it. Rey feared what Leia could sense in her through its energy. As if she had not been conflicted enough, how could she look her bondmate's mother in the eyes and lie about secrets significant to the Resistance? Rey wondered what Leia would do if she found out about their bond. Or the vial? Would she force her to leave the Resistance? How could Rey call herself a member of the Resistance when she carried those secrets?

"Yes, Rey, I wanted to inform you about the disturbing news myself," the older woman said gently. Rey swallowed in dread. Since their last connection, Rey had an uneasy feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. When she was summoned by the protocol droid, Rey assumed the conversation likely revolved around Kylo in some capacity. She hadn't considered that, as leader of the Resistance and Kylo's mother, Leia would likely find out first if something terrible had happened to him.

Rey wrung her fingers anxiously. "Yes, General?"

"Please, call me Leia." If not for her failing voice and her fading presence in the Force, Rey would not have realized how dire Leia's health situation had become. The woman exuded strength, poise, and hard-earned wisdom, but her body was failing her. Could she die? Would her last days be spent grieving her son as well?

"Yes, Leia?" she asked as steadily as the panic inside her would allow.

"Rey, we received news that the First Order has issued a bounty for the Millennium Falcon," the general said carefully. "For the time being, we are stuck on this planet until we receive help from our allies."

Rey's first reaction was to release the breath she was holding in relief. Kylo was okay. He was issuing bounties, but he was okay. Then the implications began to set in. With the secrets she had been keeping from the Resistance, the decision to leave to protect them only strengthened. That choice, however, had been taken away from her in an instant, and she shuddered to think of the choice she would be forced to make. "No one can leave?"

"I'm sorry, but not right now." Leia sighed, and a flash of pain crossed her eyes. It was strong enough that Rey could feel it in the Force around her. Instead of crumbling from her pain, the woman seemed to gain more strength from it. "And there's more. A bounty has been issued by... the Supreme Leader for you as well."

Rey shook her head, refusing to believe that the man that held her hand so she could see the rain and saved her from falling to her death had issued a bounty on her. "Ben? Ben issued a bounty on me?"

Leia seemed taken aback by the use of her son's given name, but Rey was too distracted to focus on the implications. How could he do this, after what happened between us on Kamino? I thought he was changing. I thought he was just scared. After everything, how could he care so little to want me dead?

"The man that did this is not Ben anymore," Leia said. She wasn't angry, but rueful. "As he demonstrated on Crait, he will kill us all if he gets the chance. We must not forget that."

"He wants me dead? Why?" Her voice was quiet, the words spoken more to herself than the woman studying her carefully.

You know the answer, the voice whispered. He never cared. You are nothing to him... Just a means to an end.

"That is a good question." Her perceptive eyes studied Rey, and she wondered what exactly the woman knew. "What we do know is he issued a five million credit bounty for you. That is as much as the rest of us combined." Rey felt small under Leia's searching stare. What could she say? She couldn't tell her the truth, though she wondered what her advice would have been. Would she expect Rey to give up on her son?