All I have

“luke might’ve been bitter and cynical when i saw him but he did mention things that are true like how the force isn’t just for jedis and siths it’s for everyone. why do we have to use to control people? not help the world. get rid of destroying things.” she said to ben. “well ben, i still felt the conflict after your father died. it’s because you are good, people just didn’t believe in you, they felt fear, i don’t fear you.” she said. “why do i need to accept your way and you can’t accept mine?”

“Because there is no helping the world.  People don’t know what they need, and that’s why the Sith guide them.”  Rey’s insistence was hard to take, but also impossible to deny.  There had been conflict.  “I don’t know why.  After everything I’ve done, you should fear me.”  Ben rubbed his temple.  “Because I’m right.”

“well all it did was make me want to work and fight harder because when you are faced with a loss either you fight or you run. and i mean because of everything that happened i met han and luke. and while han gets on my nerve most of the time, they are still great friends to have.”

A muscle jumped in Ben’s jaw at the name.  Han.  The man who’d called himself father, the man Kylo had gutted on Starkiller.  “It’s nice to have friends that you can count on.”

“no, my best friend is one of the people with demon blood since he is a vampire then another good friend also has it since he is a warlock. i also don’t think riding the world of people out of fear is right.” she said. “and i mean, i had to kill him to stop him.”

“Complicated,” Ben nodded.  “And as someone who killed their father, I can appreciate how hard that is.”

“or maybe i would’ve, what do you think that snoke would’ve allowed to siths at the same time? because guess what, when the dark side grows, so does the light.” she said. “and that teacher was the man that raised me pretty much. i didn’t really even know my mom before i went home because i started to train when i was three.” she stated. “the children you killed were my familyu, my friends.”

“Anyone who’d turned with me would have been spared.  I had his word.”  Her insistence on defending Luke was infuriating.  “He tried to murder me in my sleep!  What do you think he’d have done to the rest of you?  I didn’t want to hurt the others, but they just wouldn’t see...”

“that’s good to know. i was distraught when i saw it get destroyed thinking i lost everyone, my friend, my family, my home. it’s horrible watching a beautiful and peaceful place like that get destroyed.”

Ben had watched Starkiller Base destroy worlds, and never blinked.  He’d seen the beauty in destruction.  But now, faced with his mother’s young self, it was hard to write off Alderaan the same way.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t imagine a loss on that scale.”

“or how about there are people with power and those smart enough not to use it?” she said to ben. “or you can take my hand and bring balance to the force since with no sith there is no jedi. i don’t want to be your enemy ben, i know there is good inside of you.”

“What good is power if it’s not used?” Ben shook his head.  “Snoke thought that too.  That he had stoked conflict in me - and I killed him.  I never wanted to be your enemy, Rey.  We’re the same, you and I, and I just need you to accept it.”

“not really, he wanted to live in a world where there were no demons or people with demon blood.” she said. 

“I take it you didn’t agree with that plan?  You and dad not on the same page?”

“holos?” elias asked him. “but yeah, the force, jedis stuff like that is muggle movies stuff. i think the newer ones were about this guy name kylo ren and rey something about that. if you want more clarification you would have to ask a mudblood or someone else familiar with muggle things.”

“For entertainment, children watch them...I think we’re speaking of the same thing, in different language.”  Hearing his own name was disconcerting, especially if he was considered fiction.  “I think I’d rather not know.  Imagining that my life was for someone’s entertainment isn’t a comforting thought.”

“was your mother from aldeeran? i didn’t know anyone survived from it other than me. and i only did since my parents sent me to deliver a message to obi-wan kenobi.”

“She was off world at the time,” Ben was playing fast and loose with the truth now, but for Leia’s sake as well as his own he had no choice.  Hearing Obi-Wan’s name, the name that had become his, made his teeth clench.

zoe was left for dead at the temple, only alive before luke found her and healed her. afterwards she went home, hid away her saber and did everything to avoid the first order. “i chose the light over the dark and guess what after you left me to die, i was still alive long enough to be healed and survived because of the light side.”

“You wouldn’t have needed healing if you’d chosen the dark!” Ben’s voice rose, drawing a few looks from the people around them.  “You could have been at my right hand, had more power than you ever dreamed possible, and instead you were at the mercy of a teacher who tried to kill me in my sleep.  What does that tell you about the light?”

“it was a beautiful planet until the tarkin and the death star destroyed it.” she was only spared from the destruction since her parents sent her to find obi-wan kenobi and she was being held captive at the time. “it’s nice to meet you kylo ren.”

“I’ve heard the stories,” Ben knew it would just sound confusing, but it was the truth.  “My...my mother used to tell me about it.”  There was a freedom in talking to Leia this way that he’d never experienced before.

“they have their own magical ability that can seem like the force in some ways.” she knew that this place was filled with a lot of people with magical abilities. “or how about we let the first order die and just live like normal people here.”

“Magic that isn’t the force.”  This universe could really give someone a headache.  “And what about the Resistance?  Are you so eager to let go of that as well?”

“the force? isn’t that from that muggle movie series star wars or something? with like luke skywalker and darth vader? that’s real.”

“Movies?” Ben repeated.  “Like holos?  We’re holo characters in this universe?”

“they weren’t at first, but now they are. where i come from they are very rule. my older brother was injected with demon blood by my father.”

“I see.”  The rules of this universe that they’d all been dragged into were unclear, and he didn’t like it one bit.  “I take it your father...isn’t a nice man.”

zoe was getting her cup of coffee and froze in her place when she heard a familiar voice. she hadn’t heard the voice of ben solo in years. she instinctively placed her hand on her lightsaber in her belt. “well you know, karma is a bitch. i mean ben solo has done enough for karma not to be nice.” 

There were voices Ben had expected to hear again.  Voices that haunted his dreams, voices that guided his path - and voices he’d thought silenced forever.  Zoe was one of the latter.  “Don’t call me that.  You could have stood with me, Zoe, but you chose him instead.  Too loyal to Skywalker.”

“Look, my point is, these are made of Imperial Gold. I just can’t take them to any regular optician to have them fixed. They shouldn’t have even broken in the first place, but they did, and now I’m pretty screwed.” Jason sighs, setting the frames down in the two pieces they were in. “I just don’t get it,” he mutters more to himself than to the other.

“i wouldn’t exactly call a weapon i use to hunt demons a cute toy.” she replied to him.

“Demons,” Ben repeated.  “They’re a real thing in this universe?”