Author's Note: This took me longer than I anticipated - but I realized that I had never written any kind of fight scenes previous to this in my fanfiction! So this was a bit of hard chapter to articulate with so much going on at this point, and I'm warning you that it might be a bit raw on the first read, I'm going to come back around and edit it or fix things I'm not happy with later! Thanks for waiting!!
*
"I'll tell her" Ben mumbled to himself in the dim light of his cell. "I'll tell her everything."
On Jakku, when he'd met four-year-old Rey all those years ago, the brightness of her spirit and intense longing for her family made a significant impact on him. Despite her abandonment, there was a buoyancy in her eyes he could never forget, and it awakened in him a desire to protect that he had never experienced before.
At fourteen years old, a spark was lit deep inside him to preserve the light that still existed inside that little girl.
Hope.
Only one term of endearment came to his mind when he knelt beside her, Han addressing Leia with it whenever danger was imminent and tensions were high. It was his own personal way of calming her fears.
"I'll come back for you, sweetheart, I promise."
In the few short years before he would turn to the dark side, Ben thought about the little girl ever so often, wondering if her family did come back for her, or if she simply lived on a poorly existence on the lonely planet. Plans would pop up every year, that upon graduation of Luke's temple training he would take a ship and visit Jakku to find her, and keep his promise.
By the time he was in Snoke's company, he'd given up the hope that he would find her. Or rather, any hope at all was tortured from him.
Kylo Ren was born, sweeping battle after battle with a staggering victory, bringing cities to their knees. Nothing would stand in the way of his duty to the First Order, or his birthright as the grandson of Darth Vader.
He could hardly believe it when he'd sensed the familiarity once again in the young woman on Takodana, a scavenger with the same clothes and hair fashioned just like the little girl he had left behind on Jakku.
"Don't be afraid, I feel it too."
On the inside of her mind, the story of her daily life was laid out for him to see, including her dreams and nightmares.
"So lonely, so afraid to leave...at night, desperate to sleep."
Guilt dogged his every encounter with her thereafter, knowing that he never fulfilled the promise he uttered to her. He tried to shake it off because he wasn't sure if she even remembered him, this girl who haunted his dreams.
The girl who had taken his lightsaber as her own.
Who slashed his face..
...reached for him...
Came for him. Trusted him. She even showed compassion for him.
Life with Rey if she turned to the dark side, would never be the life he actually wanted with her. The part of her he loved the most, was what would have to be sacrificed.
The version of Rey he'd seen during their training terrified him; the woman he loved was obsolete in the being beneath the Sith robe.
A dark Rey would be the death of them both, as she had seen while unconscious.
"Patrol two-seven, reporting for rotation" a synthesized voice stated outside the cell at that moment. His reflections interrupted, Ben leaned against the door to get a better listen to what was transpiring on the other side.
A different voice replied with suspicion this time. "Rotation is not scheduled for another quarter hour, patrol two-seven."
There was a pause between the parties. "Well they are running it early this time around" came the unsure reply of the first voice.
Doubt was in the guard's tone as he answered. "We will need to check confirmation with the chief officer of this detention block. What is your identification number and who gave you these ord-"
A heavy bang sounded against the door before a scuffle ensued in the hallway of the detention block. Feet shuffled back and forth as intermittent grunts emitted, and when all finally went quiet, Ben could not ascertain the outcome from his end.
The blaring tone of the cell door went off as it slid open and Ben stepped back quickly to flatten against the wall, watching as the light poured in on the floor until the toe of a stormtrooper boot protruded in the doorway.
Ben leapt out and tackled the stormtrooper, connecting with a loud smack around the torso as they were both sent flying past another trooper standing outside the cell.
"Oof!" the trooper let out as Ben landed heavily on him when they hit the ground, pinning the blaster with his thigh. He swiftly used the force to pull the blaster from the hands of the one standing next to the door. Kneeling over the one on the ground, Ben aimed the blaster at his chin.
"Kylo!" the stormtrooper shouted, raising his empty hands. "Cool it! It's us."
"Hey...your Highness" Poe Dameron's voice came sarcastically from beneath the helmet as he shoved Ben off. "The gas worked. It took two patrols down in the Falcon and we were able to leave unnoticed."
Ben caught himself before pitching backwards. "I wasn't certain if you'd succeed. Congratulations."
"Your Highness?" Finn's helmet swiveled toward Poe. "What kind of a joke is that?"
Poe got to his feet, shaking his stiff shoulder out. "It's a great joke, right?"
"Because he's not the Supreme Leader anymore?"
"No," Poe answered flatly, "because he's the son of Leia."
"WHAT!" Finn exclaimed. "Please tell me you're pulling my leg."
"Keep your voice down. Where's Tyrus?" Ben asked as he stood from the floor.
Finn looked over his shoulder and waved a gloved hand toward them. Tyrus appeared from around the corner, stopping to take one last look from the direction he came before walking quickly toward them.
"Hide the bodies in the cell, before the scheduled rotation patrol shows up" Tyrus whispered loudly as he approached. Finn and Poe grabbed an arm and leg of one body before dragging it inside the doorway, then moved the other.
A look of amusement crossed Tyrus' face as he looked down at Ben's hands. "A blaster? That's a bit beneath you."
"Ozir has my saber."
Tyrus stared off down the hall. A siren was wailing in some distant corridor on board the ship. "Ah. Guess we'll have to talk to him about that."
Ben followed his gaze. "What about the others?"
"Vurdan and Alwick are creating a diversion on this vessel to give us time to strike at Palpatine. Freen said he was going to go looking for something I guess, whatever that means" Finn explained before jogging to the next cell and engaging the door.
"Where's Rey?" he asked, stepping back.
Ben hurried over to see for himself, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. The cell was indeed empty. His heart dropped as he realized she could be alone with the emperor.
"They must have come and taken her to Palpatine already, they may be coming for me soon. We need to figure out where she is on the ship."
"Is he on a bridge or does this ship have a fancy throne room too?" Poe asked.
"Who knows what's changed in the time I've been gone" Ben answered. "We need a droid."
"Oh BB-8?" Poe's helmet came close to Ben's face. "He's still on the falcon, we thought he might be too distracting rolling around when your precious First Order was looking for him in the first place."
Ben clenched one fist at his side as he took a step closer to Poe, his nose nearly touching the stormtrooper helmet.
Finn's gloved hand came down on Poe's shoulder. "We need to find Rey, and we need to work together to do that."
A comm link attached to Tyrus' wrist beeped at that moment. Tyrus cleared his throat before answering it.
"Go ahead."
"Tyrus," Freen's light voice came through, "were you able to get inside the detention block?".
Tyrus rubbed the skin above his eyebrows. "Yes, we have Ren. Rey has been moved elsewhere on board."
"That's why I'm trying to reach you...I followed Lilith from the detention block after she pulled Rey from her cell. Meet me on the second level, section P2."
The sound of metal rolling against the floor signaled the approach of droids, and Finn spun around to face Ben and the others.
"Let's get out of here before we're cornered."
*
The trickling sound of laughter reached Rey's ears, her eyes squeezed shut as she was consumed by the energy enveloping her body.
She fought at first, struggling to bring up the invisible walls around her mind to withstand the attack. They formed perfectly, strong and resolute, waiting in their silent strength for the pummeling that surely was coming.
Nothing happened. Strikes that should have bashed down the mental fortress never connected and she realized there was nothing to fight as the insidious infiltration bloomed from the inside out.
When Rey finally opened her eyes to see, the world around her was awash in a hazy, crimson that stung with every blink.
"Agh" she gasped as she attempted to brush it out of her eyes. Was it blood? Were her eyes damaged from the blast? Blinking rapidly, she angled her head in an attempt to make out the details of the room.
The sound of her heartbeat pounded in her ears, steady and slow, a single pulse every five seconds. Inhaling sharply, her nose detected multiple scents in the air around her; the tang of metal, burnt dust, and the underlying smell of sweaty fear as the Sith troopers watched uneasily from the perimeter.
"Do you feel it?" the rumbling and elated voice of the emperor asked. "The dark side is with you, and everything it offers is available to you."
Whipping her head in his direction, Rey could make out his form, standing at the very first stair. Rage burned within her as her blood pressure spiked, continuing to wipe her eyelids in a frantic attempt to clear her vision.
"What have you done to me!?" she screamed like an animal, arching her back sharply.
"Enlightened you" he answered smoothly. "Kylo Ren is coming. He means to reclaim the position as Supreme Leader. After all, he used your help to kill Snoke in the first place so he alone could rule the First Order."
Rey's thoughts were spinning in her head like a delirious fever dream.
"Join me."
Ren had only asked her to join him after they had killed Snoke and the guards. It was only on his conditions that he extended his hand to her, seeing her as just another tool of power for his rule.
"You come from nothing. You're nothing."
Ren was only helping the Resistance after he lost his position as the Supreme Leader of the First Order, that was clear to her now.
"But how do you know he isn't going to just turn on us?" Poe questioned. "All it takes is for us to get rid of Palpatine and then he's back in command of the First Order. We're vulnerable now more than ever."
With the power she now felt coursing through her veins, there was no excuse for working with Ren to save the Resistance. She could rid the galaxy of both him and Palpatine on her own and disband the First Order with her own hand.
"Bring forward her weapon, and do not interfere when he arrives." Palpatine ordered, surprising Rey who looked around in her hazy vision to see Lilith approaching her. Expressionless, the female knight unclipped the lightsaber from her hilt and handed it to Rey who nearly dropped it with her sweaty palm. Lilith returned to the perimeter near the door.
Before Rey could ignite her saber, she was hit by another blast of lightning from the emperor, bringing her down to her hands and knees with a cry of agony.
Through the pain, Rey wrapped her will around a single thought to endure the moment.
She'd kill them all when this was over.
*
Poe and Finn stepped onto the second level as the turbolift doors opened. The level was empty, save for a small, black droid zooming through the end of the corridor.
"Coast is clear" Finn whispered out loud as he waved his hand forward, a blaster ready in his other hand.
Tyrus and Ben slipped out of the turbolift behind them, moving down the corridor toward the intersection.
"Which way is P2?" Poe asked.
"Go left" Ben pointed down the corridor.
Before they could peer around to see if it was clear, blaster fire erupted directly ahead followed shortly by a large group of stormtroopers. Finn and Poe quickly returned fire as Tyrus ignited his saber, deflecting their blasts back at them. Ben crouched, firing from the edge of the hallway.
Tyrus marched forward, his saber crackling with each laser bolt deflection, edging his way closer to the troopers on his right. Once he was within range, Tyrus reached out with his left hand to invisibly grasp the nearest trooper, dragging him forward onto his waiting blade.
Poe dispatched three troopers to their left, Finn taking down the approaching ones directly behind. When the corridor was cleared, they advanced forward again.
"Tyrus!" a desperate shout came from the left corridor. "She's on the sub bridge, to your right!"
Everyone came to a dead stop, and Ben pushed his way in front of Finn and Poe so he could see. The alarms were now wailing on the current level.
Two amber lightsabers clashed violently against one another in the hallway, smoke pouring out of the damage to the walls. Among the smoke, a shorter figure was being assailed by a taller one with a bald head. Ozir and Freen were in a heavy confrontation, black cloaks whirling with each spin and strike.
"What do we do now??" Finn shouted as he ripped off the helmet, Poe following suit. "More troopers will be here any moment."
Ben started forward but Tyrus blocked his path, facing him directly. "You need to get to Rey. We'll handle this."
"We can both take him" Ben insisted.
Tyrus denied him by shaking his head. "You don't have any more time to lose, I'm afraid. This is the least I can do for you...after all the times you took our place for torment."
The statement touched Ben deeply, knowing Tyrus meant what he was saying.
A strained outcry came from the duel behind him, and they both turned to see a blade burning out the backside of Freen's form. Ozir, with curled fingers, pushed the air with all his might to send Freen flying backward onto the floor. He came to rest only a few feet from Tyrus, his neck at an awkward angle; Freen's perfect features were twisted in a look of regret, his hollow gaze connecting with Ben's as he exhaled one last short breath before going still. Ben could almost see the Force leaving his body where it lay.
Tyrus' expression registered shock before sadness took over. Ozir appeared from the smoke, swinging his blade in an arc to point it directly at Tyrus; the red-haired knight was being challenged. Ben could see him squeeze the hilt of his saber until his knuckles were white, baring his teeth as he let the anger take over.
"Go" Tyrus commanded, as he rushed towards Ozir, blaster bolts narrowly missing him from a fresh platoon of stormtroopers arriving in the adjacent corridor.
"Kylo!" Finn shouted, returning their fire. Poe was backed up tightly against a wall firing around the corner.
The door to the sub bridge was just on the right side of the corridor the blasters were firing from.
Still watching the battle between Tyrus and Ozir, Ben reached down to pick up Freen's saber out of his limp palm. He discarded the blaster on the ground beside his body.
"Cover me," Ben called out, igniting it as he prepared to sprint toward the door. "Use Freen's comm link to contact Vurdan and Alwick. When you clear this area, go to the escape pods and wait for us there."
Finn gave him a look of doubt before hitting a trooper in the chest with a blaster bolt then nodded for him to go.
Ben took off down the hallway, deflecting a shot just as he arrived at the door. Engaging the open mechanism, as soon as there was enough space, he squeezed himself inside, out of the line of fire. Once inside the dark room of the sub bridge, he shut the door once more.
The white lights of the controls on the perimeter of the room set shadows everywhere, but he could make out the Sith troopers on the outside, blasters still at ease despite his entrance. Eerily, Palpatine's form stood apprehensively at the top of the stairs by a simple throne, obviously waiting expectantly for something. It was all so disconcerting.
Where's Lilith? He wondered.
As he walked closer to the stairs, a figure could be seen hunched over in the dim light, trembling all over. Bare, toned arms were discernible, wearing a white robe and arm wraps.
Rey.
Kneeling with her back to him, Ben couldn't see Rey's face, but his heart pounded with fear as he saw her clutching one hand to her eyes while bracing the floor with the other. It was impossible to tell if she was injured.
The bond between them was silent, barely ascertainable as he reached for her through it.
"Rey...?" he asked, slowly approaching her from the rear.
With a split second warning through the force, he jumped backward as her arm swept a blue arc outward behind her back, missing him by inches. Her saber in a reverse grip, he watched as Rey stood, her shoulders tensed stiffly as she turned to him.
Suddenly cautious, Ben backed up a few feet, the energy in their bond charged with amplified emotions that were only seeds before.
Eyes smeared with red, she brought her hand up to wipe them clean, but it remained despite the attempt. Grimacing and blinking constantly, Rey advanced forward toward him, raising her lightsaber in a killing blow.