Us Against the World

32

"What does being a Jedi mean?" Luke asked the group of students. Ben and I were sitting at the back, the other kids trying to get as close to Luke as possible. They were all ready with their hands up, eager to answer and eager to impress. Ben and I were used to seeing Luke, but for the other students, the novelty was yet to wear off.
"Fighting the dark side."
"Using the force."
"Being the strongest fighters." All answers were literal. All Jedi could use the force, but it wasn't theirs. The force had been around since the beginning and flowed through all things, good and bad, dead and alive. To each answer, Luke shook his head. When no one else had an answer, I raised my hand.
"Being a Jedi means sacrificing everything so that no one else in the galaxy has to. It means fighting for duty and not for the glory of war. It means connecting to the force as an equal, not as someone who can use it." Every student looked at me. They turned facing me. All the others were Ben's age or older, making me the youngest in the class. When Luke confirmed that I was right, all the others looked down, disheartened that they had been wrong in front of their master.
At the end of class, Luke held me back, claiming that he wanted to talk to me. So, all the other kids ran off to do other duties or to just relax back in their own huts, leaving me and my master alone.
"The force is within you, Lowla. The force has waited a long time for someone like you. You can do the impossible." Luke said. I had no idea what the man was going on about.
"What do you mean, Master Luke?" I asked. Luke smiled, and then looked at something behind me. It was clear that whatever he said was not meant for now, it was something that would be understood later.
"You better go, Ben is waiting for you." I turned to face Ben, seeing him trying to hide but failing miserably. I ran to him, pushing him slightly before running off, feeling him chasing after me. This was common for us. As I looked back at my master, I saw the outline of another man, one that looked younger than Luke and someone I had never seen before. Just as I was about to go over or think more about the blue glow that surrounded him, Ben tackled me to the floor, our laughs carrying around the temple.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed the small layer of dust on me. Then I looked up and I could see the stars shining brightly over me. I felt something on my head, like the ghost of a kiss still lingering where it had been placed. I sat up, seeing the dirt staining my white clothes and feeling small cuts littering my body.

I heard crying.

I turned to see Ben, lying on the floor, looking in a much worse state than me. Rey was kneeled beside him, tears falling down her face. I stood and walked closer, ready to embrace him. Instead I stopped as Rey turned to me and I knew then, the absence I felt belonged to the missing piece of my heart. Ben was gone.
"He saved me. He gave his life force for me." Rey sobbed. That kiss I felt on my head I knew who it belonged to. Ben had kissed me goodbye, probably looked inside my head to see what I was remembering as well, before he did the right thing. He made up for every wrong thing he did by saving Rey, trying to show everyone that the Ben Solo I loved was back.

I felt my tears but I didn't feel like I was crying. Rey edged away slightly as I moved his head onto my lap, cradling it as if he were just sleeping. That's what everyone said, right. Just imagine them sleeping. But they weren't sleeping. If Ben were sleeping he would be holding me, pulling me closer. If Ben were sleeping he'd wake up now, but he wasn't.

"Use the force, Lowla." I heard that same voice come through. The same voice that I knew was my family. This time, I felt like I knew who it was, and it wasn't my grandfather. It was a femine voice, one that sounded warm and kind. My mother.

I placed his head back on the floor and moved to his side, lying my hands on his chest gently. If he could do it for Rey, I would do it for him. Closing my eyes, I thought of our bond, I called it. It was floating around me, Ben's soul surrounding me as I pushed it back to his body, using our bond and half of my own life force to pull him back to me. He couldn't leave me yet. MOre tears ran down my cheeks, falling onto Ben's long-sleeved shirt he was wearing. It looked so much better than the ridiculous First Order robes.

Then, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back and saw my grandfather standing there, his eyes closed. A pulse of energy ran through me, coming from him as he gave me strength. I smiled. Then I felt hands cover my own and when I looked directly in front of me, a woman in a long dress was knelt there. Her hands covered mine as she looked at me. My mother used her force to send another pulse through to Ben, pulling his soul back closer to his body. Finally, a blonde hair woman held Obi Wan's hand and a man held the shoulder of my mother. The man had Mandalorian armour on, but his helmet off, letting me see the beauty of them both. I knew they would have been amazing parents and they were an unstoppable couple. The added power surged through me as I drew on our bond to get Ben back.

A sharp gasp filled the air and every person that had allowed their blue light to fill the darkness disappeared with one last smile. I looked down to Ben to see him looking back at me, tears in our eyes. Quickly, he pulled me to him, connecting our lips like it was our last kiss. I had lost him. For a moment I was alone, without my soulmate. But now, he was back and I felt his overwhelming love.

We had won the war.

We had survived.

He pulled away and admired me, using his hand to brush over my scar lovingly as I did the same to him. We were both dirty. Our clothes are full of sweat. We were exhausted. But we were together.
"I spoke to my parents." He told me. When he had gone, he had managed to see his parents and I knew they would have given him guidance, advice.
"And what did they say?" I asked him, holding him close to me. I knew that after this, we would face issues, but we were alive. Ben was back beside me and whatever was coming our way, we would face it together.
"They told me to marry you."

"And I did." Ben said, coming into our living room and standing behind the armchair I was in. It had been many years since the events on Exegol. I was sitting in the armchair that was in our living room, my 3 grandchildren sat in front of me, hanging off every word that I spoke as I recounted the battle.

We had been blessed with an amazing life. After Exegol, Ben did exactly as his parents told him to and married me in the same place his father and Leia married, in the forests of Endor. The ceremony consisted of the two of us and a few wedding guests to light up the ceremony with their blue glow. We had found a house, in the middle of nowhere, but near enough to civilization that we could be contacted if needed. It had a large garden that we taught our children the ways of the force and how to handle a lightsaber, though they never needed to. It had a living space big enough for our children to return home with their children and we could all sit comfortably. Every aspect of the house we had planned was featured.

"When can I use a lightsaber?" Quil asked. He was our oldest grandchild at 9 and had displayed signs he was force sensitive. Ben had been delighted and offered to teach him every week when they came to visit, teach him to control his abilities and how to use them to create mischief for his parents and good for everyone else. He belonged to Ani, our daughter that had blessed us a year after the battle.

Every year, to commemorate the Battle on Exegol, Ben and I hosted a party for the resistance fighters and their families to rejoice, celebrate the liberation of the universe. Ani Leia had been the first child of the heroes that fought in the battle, and a year later was joined by Poe's son. The two grew up together, grew close and ended up married. Ben joked that Poe would have never thought he'd be family with Kylo Ren. Poe agreed, but said he was proud Ben Solo was part of his family.

Three years after Ani, her brother was born. Owen Han Solo. He was the child that was constantly stuck at my hip. It wasn't until he reached his late teens that he gained more confidence. He had taken to Poe's flight training as if he was the X-Wing itself. Owen now lived the furthest any of our children lived away, living the other side of the galaxy. We knew though, he would be at our house quicker than our youngest child that lived on Endor with us.

Lula was named after my mother. She was the purest soul out of our children, seemingly inheriting my force connection. Ben had loved training her the most, even though he wouldn't admit it. I knew, and Lula knew that she was better than her father with a lightsaber. Despite her abilities, she chose to become a medic and was now the best medic on the planet and probably in the galaxy. I guessed that was due to her ability to force heal. She had decided to take on the name Kenobi, something I was proud to hear.

Ani had two children, Lula had one, and Owen's wife was pregnant with their first. Our life had become perfect.

Chewie hobbled in from the kitchen, holding a drink in his hand. The wookie had finally started to look aged, grey fur scattered across his once dark coat. I stood, allowing him to sit in the arm chair, my grandchildren immediately asking if they could see the falcon. My family were scattered around the living room and images littered the shelves, showing the resistance fleet, showing Rey and I laughing to each other and one of Ben and Chewie hunched over the gameboard of the falcon, locked in their own world.

I felt arms wrap around my waist and I turned my head to see Ben. He was looking into the room, at our children and their partners and their children. This was a sight that at one point, Ben never thought he would see. "We did well, didn't we, Mrs Solo." He said to me, kissing my head in the same way he had done when we were much younger. When bending down I didn't get accompanied with a groan of pain. A time when dueling would last hours rather than minutes. Since the day we had wed, Ben couldn't get enough of calling me by my new title. "Yeah, Ben. We did."