Star Wars- In another Life.

Chapter 32- Another

Ben lay upon Rey's bunk, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep; his mind was full of thoughts running unchecked, but not about Sidious, Exegol, the Wayfinder or Mustafar. He was happy; he felt so grateful to be here, on this planet, with the Resistance, his family, but most of all, with her- Rey. He had lost all hope that he could feel like this again, the way he'd felt when he was a boy on Chandrilla; so content, a true sense of belonging- loved. Beneath the blanket, their limbs were entangled, and his fingers were lightly tracing the soft, bare skin of her back. Ben's hand gently moved from the curve of Rey's back across her hips to where her loose hair fell about the nape of her neck. Occasionally, he twirled a strand through his fingers before releasing the silken threads to softly dance across her skin. He was too content to sleep, too overjoyed. He wanted to stay in this moment forever and remember how fortunate he was.

"Ben."

A whisper called to him, stirring him from his bliss; he knew it would have to end eventually and that it would be sooner than he would've liked.

"Ben."

The voice was not the dark, sinister whispers from his youth of Palpatine or Snoke; it was different, familiar. With some effort, he disentangled himself from Rey's embrace. Out from the blanket, he pulled it over her sleeping form. Once dressed, he swept her soft hair aside before kissing her sleeping brow and exiting her tent.

"Ben," the voice whispered again.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," he replied more to himself than the immaterial murmur.

Ben walked away from the Resistance tents, consoles and maintenance desks into the darkness beyond the trees. Ben was unsure where he was headed exactly; he was feeling his path towards who was calling him. He'd been walking deeper and deeper into the dense jungle, all the light from the makeshift Resistance shelters out of sight, when he saw the ghostly blue apparition of his Uncle, Luke Skywalker, walking through the trees and undergrowth, surveying the local plant life with interest. He stopped dead in his tracks; he'd known Luke wasn't gone, but still seeing him was a revelation.

"Hey, kid," his Uncle said without looking up at him.

"Luke," he responded, more emotional than he'd expected to be.

His Uncle looked up now and smiled kindly, "You look different."

"So do you," Ben gestured at the obvious ghostly aura and his Uncle's eyes twinkled with amusement. "I knew, I knew you weren't gone."

"No one's ever really gone," Luke said with a smile, but as he surveyed his newly changed nephew, it faded. "You're afraid. Why?"

"We head for Exegol soon, and on Mustafar," he paused, "on Mustafar, I heard a voice speak to me. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny; consume you, it will."

"You're afraid of falling when you confront Palpatine," it was a statement, not a question, and Ben nodded. "You are right to worry to question yourself. To be arrogant and to assume you cannot fall would be unwise. The possibility of falling will forever haunt you; you are not of the light or darkness. I do not believe you will fall again."

"What about Rey?" Ben asked.

"What about her?" Luke replied nonchalantly.

"Palpatine created her to fall!" Ben exclaimed.

"He did, but that doesn't mean she will. Like you, I don't believe she will succumb. You will face Sidious together, and you will defeat him. They thought Anakin Skywalker was the one who was prophesied. You are my father's true legacy; you will finish what your grandfather started, fulfil the prophecy and bring about Balance with Rey."