This Masquerade

Chapter 14

"It's a trap!"

"I knew we couldn't trust him."

"He's led the First Order right to us."

The resistance erupted into a cacophony of angry accusations as the speck in the sky revealed itself to be a spaceship. Amidst the recriminations, it took a few seconds to realise what they were actually seeing.

"Is it? Could it really be?" Hopeful excitement soon replaced fear.

Leia watched in amazement before bursting into laughter, of course, it would be the Millennium Falcon. The old freighter danced around the darkening sky. As it headed in to make its landing, joy soon turned to concern as the ship appeared to be experiencing technical problems. It swooped down, skimming over the ocean and occasionally bouncing off the surface like a stone skipping on water. After a tense moment, the Falcon came to rest safely, if a little haphazardly, on the nearby rocky shore. Rey and Kylo exchanged a look of astonishment. The young woman set off to join the rest of the crowd pulling her beau along with her as they went to greet the returnees. When they reached the sand, he brought them to a halt insisting on hanging back as the others surged forward.

Leia got to the Falcon landing ramp first and she stood, arms folded, waiting for her husband to appear. "Han Solo, you impossible man," she playfully chided as he met her with his trademark smirk.

He wrapped his arms around her hugging her tightly to his chest. "You wouldn't have me any other way," he said before dropping a kiss on the top of her head.

Chewie joined the crowd in keeping a respectful distance to allow them to have their personal moment. When Han eventually tore his attention away from his wife, his gaze fell upon his son. The young man towered above the rest of the crowd wearing an uncertain expression among a sea of smiles.

"Ben," Han called out, a feeling of deja-vu gripping him as he recalled doing the same on Starkiller Base.

His son also remembered; the scene on that bridge flashed before his eyes and he suddenly couldn't breathe or move, completely frozen in horror by the memory.

"Hey, kid," his father's tone grew more insistent, "get over here."

Ben felt waves of healing comfort coming from Rey. She smiled and squeezed his hand before releasing it, silently urging him on. Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind of the past. He walked hesitantly at first, passing through the crowd of gawking resistance fighters. Chewbacca met him with a low growl of hope and reconciliation. Ben got a lump in his throat when the Wookiee enfolded him in a hug and nestled gratefully against his fur. His mother reached out her hand to him with tears in her eyes; her son really had come home. He bowed his head to plant a kiss on her cheek. Finally, Ben turned to his father, both of them exchanging a look that spoke of years of sorrow and regret but also of love. Han threw his arms around his son who returned the hug with equal intensity. It was the reunion they should have had on Starkiller and now fate had granted them a second chance.

The voices of dissent against Kylo Ren had been momentarily silenced as a once fractured family reunited. As much as Rey's heart swelled with joy for them, she couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness that the parents she'd long to meet again never existed. She glanced over at Finn and found he refused to meet her gaze. After everything they'd been through together; she feared their friendship might be lost forever.

Ben sensed her sorrow and broke away from his parents and uncle beckoning her to join him. She went gladly into his open arms. "You will never be alone again," he swore, peppering her face with kisses. "Not as long as I have anything to say about it."

Luke looked on with concern. He had some wisdom to impart that his nephew and Rey likely wouldn't want to hear. Both of them were in possession of powers they didn't fully understand or have completely under their command. Whatever future they were picturing together, he had to make sure they understood the potential pitfalls. He didn't know how far their passion had taken them but rushing headlong into marriage and reproducing would risk history repeating itself yet again. There were also matters to consider beyond the family.

"I must speak with you all," Luke said with urgency as he ushered his kin and padawan aside. "I have a proposal to make," his sister eyed him warily sensing his intentions. "I know of a place where Ben, Rey and I could go for a period of reflection." His nephew and padawan turned to him with matching looks of disbelief. He surely couldn't be suggesting taking them to some forsaken rock somewhere to repeat the errors of the past.

Leia baulked at the idea. "Exile, again, really? Luke, you know how much I love you but that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

"We've only just got our son back, I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you take him away again," Han argued his resolve firm.

"With all due respect, uncle, it didn't exactly work out too well the first time around." Ben knew that was the understatement of the century.

Luke shook his head determined they should heed his counsel. "You and Rey have powers you can't fully control or understand. It's a good thing for the galaxy that Snoke is no more but who knows what catastrophic damage the pair of you could unleash in future battles. And as for your personal - connection, have the two of you given any thought as to how you might parent a child, or stars forbid, twins, strong with the force?"

"The resistance needs our abilities to help defeat the First Order," Rey argued sensing her master's disappointment at her defiant attitude. What happened with Snoke had shaken her but Ben would be her anchor and her, his. "And as for children -" she blushed catching the gaze of the man by her side whose cheeks were also bright red. "That most definitely will not be an immediate concern." Dr. Kalonia had replaced the First Order contraceptive implant in her arm with a resistance issue one.

Ben couldn't pretend the future didn't concern him but he owed a debt to his parents and the woman by his side. He would fight for them and their cause. "I have to stay," he insisted. "I dare say we've all seen enough bloodshed to last ten lifetimes, but I will do what I can to make amends for my share of it."

"The other resistance factions and the remnants of the New Republic may not be so forgiving of your past actions, nephew. Please understand we have to do this, for your own sake and for everyone you care about," Luke beseeched as he turned to his sister.

Leia remained as steadfast as ever. "If we succeed in defeating the First Order and survive, it will be in no small part due to Ben and Rey. I won't let that be forgotten by anyone."

Doctor Kalonia set about removing the tracker from Han's head, disabling it in the process. He and Chewbacca were pretty sure the First Order's main fleet had been destroyed. However, Hux would already have their present location and so they needed to leave as soon as possible. The matter of where the resistance went from there needed to be settled and fast.

General Leia addressed the crowd. "How about we take a vote?" She suggested. "As you know, we've already scouted out a few potential locations for our next base. We have a place in mind and I want to finish what we started here but I won't do it without my family by my side."

"Hey, I know my son can be a pain in the ass." Han chipped in as Ben pouted. "But cut him some slack will you?"

"Why should we trust a single word your son says?" Poe questioned. "He doesn't believe in what we're fighting for. If we're gonna put an end to the First Order once and for all, I've gotta know that we've got each other's backs."

Ben threw the ace pilot a disdainful glance. "When we first met you were my enemy and you had information I needed. It wasn't personal so let's not make it that way now."

Leia threw her son an exasperated glance.

Rey stepped forward ignoring her former best friend's disapproving glare. "Ben and I share a bond and I know when he's telling the truth. I trust him wholeheartedly. He can't lie to me and if he says he will fight with us, then that's what he'll do."

"How can we trust you when you're sleeping with the enemy?" Finn cut in appearing more hurt than angry despite his jibe.

His accusation stung, especially as it had no foundation, her virginity and honour were still intact. Rey would rather have had this conversation in private but she wasn't ashamed of her feelings. She moved closer to Finn and looked into his eyes, her own growing misty with tears. "When I met you, I'd been alone for so long, I didn't know what it was to have a friend. You showed me. You came back for me. My love for Ben doesn't take anything away from our friendship, at least it shouldn't. Please, don't throw it away."

He couldn't help being affected by what she'd said, but his hatred for Kylo Ren couldn't be overcome. "I'm sorry, Rey, but I have to do what I believe is right," Finn declared. "General Organa, I will always be grateful that you gave me something I could fight for but I can't accept your son into the fold."

Rey stepped away from him and back into Ben's waiting arms tears spilling down her cheeks. The voting continued until those for and those against were evenly matched. It all came down to one person who had yet to declare their preference to tip the scales in either direction. Luke Skywalker stepped forward to the dismay of Finn and the others who had voted against joining with Kylo Ren.

"I vote for Ben to leave with me," he declared to the shock of the resistance and the dismay of his family. "Exile is the only way for now. You cannot defeat the First Order if you're fighting among yourselves."

Something occurred to Finn as he listening to the old Jedi; Kylo Ren shouldn't get to walk away from the mess he helped create. Because of his feelings for Rey, he had let himself be blinded by jealousy. Although he hated the idea of fighting alongside the man he still saw as his enemy, he wasn't about to let him off the hook, either.

"Wait a minute," Finn shouted loud enough to silence the bickering that had broken out. "I want to change my vote." The others stared at him in amazement. "I know what I said and I would happily see him rot in a cell for everything he's done, but there will be no justice for anyone until the First Order is no more. Kylo Ren helped create it and now Ben Solo wants to help destroy it. I might not see a difference between the two, but Rey does, and I owe her my trust. We all do, after what she did to take down Snoke." Her lips trembled with emotion as he met her gaze. "Can you forgive me, my friend?" He asked ashamed to have hurt her.

She first looked to Ben, who managed a nod of encouragement despite his sour expression, before flinging her arms around Finn.

"I told you once before, you won't easily get rid of me," Rey sniffed back her tears as they hugged.

Luke expressed his unease with the decision but didn't press to overturn it. The resistance accepted the outcome of the vote without further argument. General Organa instructed everyone to get to their ships and proceed to the location of the new base.

The Falcon had suffered some minor damage to its ion flux stabilisers but Chewbacca managed to patch it up. He continued to tinker with the wiring to keep out of the way of the family. Han and Leia stayed in the cockpit while Luke took a seat by the dejarik table. He glanced uneasily in the direction of the crew sleeping quarters, wondering if it was wise to leave Rey and Ben unchaperoned. His nephew had undoubtedly found some measure of peace and balance within himself, something his teachings had never been able to achieve. He couldn't help but be troubled as he wondered how much of it was dependent on Rey. Perhaps it would be prudent to keep them separated as much as possible to ensure his rehabilitation could survive without her. Somehow, he didn't see either of them agreeing to such a proposition.

As Luke's gaze drifted idly around the interior of the old freighter, he remembered his first impression of it with a wry smile. For a piece of junk, she wasn't doing so badly. If only his family had held together so well over the years, he thought and then chastised himself for hanging on to past unhappiness. In spite of all that had gone before, they were together now and that's what counted.

"Skulking around on your own as usual," Leia gently teased announcing her presence as she took a seat beside him.

"You know me." Luke gave a wistful sigh. "I did think about checking on Rey and Ben, although I doubt my nephew would welcome the intrusion. He may be without his lightsaber but his temper more than makes up for that," he said not entirely in jest.

"She's calmed him, tamed him, even," Leia argued thinking about how gentle and loving he'd been. "He was such a sweet boy before Snoke. I knew that thing couldn't kill the light in my son altogether, although force knows, he tried."

Her brother nodded, contemplatively. "There will always be darkness in him, and in her. I still believe a time of reflection would benefit them both."

The general hadn't wanted to admit it before but she could see some sense in what he'd suggested. She would fight as fiercely to secure a pardon for her son as she had in all her battles both military and in the senate. However, he might need a safe haven in the interim. Leia didn't want to think of it as an exile. It would be temporary and not a repeat of past mistakes.

"One thing at a time," she reasoned. "When the First Order is no more, we can reexamine our options then."

Luke knew his sister well enough to recognise when she intended to dig her heels in and when she would make a strategic retreat. He trusted her to make the right choice.

Leia glanced in the direction of the crew quarters her thoughts drifting back to the early days of her marriage. "Perhaps I should send Han in to check on them," she frowned, recalling how she came to have a son in the first place.

"Rey has a contraceptive implant, so I don't think you have to worry about grandchildren just yet." Luke had been relieved there would be no consequences of that kind as a result of their union, but it far from quieted his other concerns.

"That's good, she's a sensible girl. Neither of them is ready for that kind of responsibility, I know I wasn't." Leia fell into a reflective mood and then something occurred to her. "Why were you for spoiling their fun, then?" She turned to her brother.

Luke grew flustered. "Well, this is hardly the time or the place, is it?"

His sister laughed heartily. "Those crew bunks aren't the most accommodating, especially for someone as tall as Ben. But when you're young and in love, such things don't matter."

Luke could have happily passed his entire life without imagining what his sister and brother-in-law, and now, his nephew and padawan, got up to in there. He blushed from head to toe which only made Leia chuckle even harder.

"Ben, what's wrong?" Rey inquired lifting her head from his chest as she sought his gaze. He had tamped down his side of their bond but she didn't need it to know he was upset about something. "You've hardly said two words since we came aboard. Don't shut me out, please." She'd been glad of the chance to be alone with him after freshening up and changing clothes, but he'd retreated into his own thoughts.

Being back on the Falcon had unsettled him more than he expected. The last time he'd entered the ship on Starkiller Base, he did so as Kylo Ren. Perhaps he should have gone with his uncle's suggestion; not that being stuck in some remote place with Luke Skywalker appealed to him any more than his current situation. "Maybe I should have chosen exile," he sighed wearily.

"What? No," Rey protested as she grabbed possessively at the shirt his father made him put on.

It was too small for his broad chest and shoulders. His muscular arms were stretching the fabric to bursting point.

"I could have got a map to you somehow. You could've come to visit me - if you wanted," he added betraying his insecurity, even after everything they'd been through together.

"Visit you?" Rey looked incredulous and horrified. She bit her bottom lip as tears sprang to her eyes. "You mean you don't want to be with me all the time?" Snoke said he'd leave her.

"Oh, my love, that's not what I meant at all." Ben hated himself for making her cry. He held her tightly to him cursing his inability to be the kind of man she deserved. "Everyone knows I'm unworthy of you, and none more than I do. You were happy with the resistance and you could be again without me."

Rey's expression turned from hurt to anger as she wriggled out of his embrace. "Don't try and make out like you'd be doing me a favour. I know who you are and who you were and I love you just the same. If you want to run away and wallow in self-pity, I won't stop you. But I won't visit you, either. You said you wanted to stay and fight to make amends. I know it's not the First Order you're afraid of, so what is it?"

Ben got up from the bunk and turned his back on her. His shoulders sagging and his head bowed as he confessed his doubts. "I hurt people, it's what I do," he said his voice choked with emotion. "It's what I've always ended up doing. My family, Luke's padawans, and everyone who ever cared about me, I tear them all apart in one way or another. I'm afraid I will end up breaking your heart and I couldn't bear it. I love you so much; I would give my life for yours without a second thought. But to think I might hurt you - I would plunge a lightsaber into my chest right now rather than risk that."

Rey leapt off the bunk to face him. He refused to meet her gaze and she reached up to caress his scarred cheek. "I love you, Ben, but you're so Bantha-brained at times," she huffed with exasperation. "Falling in love with someone is a leap of faith. No one knows how it's going to end when they start out. It might be forever, and I certainly hope it is, but that's the fun of it and the terror of trusting your heart to another person. And I still have my double-bladed staff in case you do ever disappoint me," she jested.

He couldn't help but smile at her. She had a way of knocking sense into him without the aid of her weapon. His lips crashed down on hers, hungrily.

"If my whole family wasn't sitting right outside that door, I would show you just how much you mean to me," Ben vowed his eyes blazing with love and desire.

"Judging by what Luke said earlier, they already think we're doing it," Rey said blushing but excited by the prospect.

Ben winced, "My dad once as good as told me this is where I was conceived." Recalling that had doused his ardour more effectively than a cold shower would.

"Oh," Rey exclaimed, her own passion cooled by the unwanted images his revelation conjured as she stared down at the bunk.

He took her hands in his and kissed them. "We can wait until the time is right. You deserve nothing less."

She gave him a wicked grin, her hands roaming over the exposed skin where his broad chest strained the fastenings of his borrowed shirt. "I hear the climate on Novusium is quite tropical."

"Is that so?" He smirked.

"Now you're out of all those black layers, you can finally get a bit of colour in your cheeks." Rey pushed herself up on tiptoe to kiss his pale face.

"I don't need the sun for that," Ben drawled before claiming her lips with his own.

"Poe says there are beautiful pink sandy beaches on Novusium. I want our first time to be somewhere like that, the two of us joined together beneath the stars." Rey gave a dreamy sigh. Tilting her head up to look into his eyes, she found him grimacing. "What's wrong?" She asked alarmed.

"The sand will get - everywhere," he spluttered.

She couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. "That's what sand does." After all the years she spent on Jakku, she knew better than most about being constantly covered in a layer of grit.

Ben didn't want her to think him a wuss. "I love sand," he declared jokingly at first and then in earnest as he thought of his grandfather and uncle. "It's in the Skywalkers' blood."

"And what about the Solos?" Rey questioned as she held his gaze. "Someday, our children will carry that name. I grew up not knowing who I was and, for all the bad stuff, there was a certain freedom to being no one. I don't want our children to see their legacy as a burden."

He sighed deeply, the idea troubled him and he saw the sense of his uncle's caution about not rushing into parenthood. He might be a terrible father. Another twinge of guilt twisted his gut as he thought about Han, would he one day find himself at the mercy of his own son or daughter? "We will have to be truthful with them and hope they understand." Ben frowned with worry, how could he ever explain the things he'd done without his child growing to hate him?

Rey sensed his misgivings and couldn't help but have a few of her own. But she knew she wanted a family with him one day despite everything. "It will be okay," she said cupping his face in her hands. "We'll be on our guard so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past."

Before he could put up an argument, the ship juddered as it came out of hyperspace. A new planet and a fresh start awaited them.

Ten Months Later…

The First Order dug their heels in at first. Hux attempted to use the limited resources remaining to him to inflict as much damage as possible. Thanks to Ben's knowledge of where secret stashes of weapons were stored, the resistance were able to fight back and thwart many attacks. With their main bases either captured or destroyed, the First Order were forced into a retreat. Finn used his former position as a Stormtrooper to sway dissenters and persuade them to lay down their arms. Hux swore he would never surrender and he and Captain Phasma went down fighting with the Finalizer.

General Organa managed to pull together most of the resistance factions during the final battles. Not all were willing to recognise or accept her leadership, but she had earned their respect. She made sure they remembered how her warnings about the First Order had gone unheeded. The Elder Houses across the galaxy in conjunction with surviving members of the New Republic Senate had been working to establish some kind of working governance. Many of them held Leia in high esteem despite her unfortunate parentage. The matter of her son's past involvement with the First Order caused some hand-wringing among them. However, in light of his substantial part in taking them down, he was granted a pardon. Once peace had been established attention turned to how it would be maintained. Leia resisted the calls for her to return to politics determined her family would come first this time. Han remained sceptical as to whether she could stay out of it, but he vowed to remain at her side no matter what.

As for Luke, he had grown in optimism since the return of his nephew. His thoughts turned more and more to rebuilding a new order, but not of Jedi. This would be something less formally structured and include a wider range of force users. For one thing, the no attachments rule would definitely have to be abandoned. He gifted Ben with Anakin's lightsaber and watched him train diligently with Rey. After much meditation, Luke returned the Kenobi lightsaber to her. She might not have been Obi-Wan's natural born kin but she had been partially created from his DNA and Obi-Wan wished for her to take the family name. Rey Kenobi sounded right to her and she felt proud to accept it. Ben hoped they would marry before too long, but he understood she needed to establish her own identity first.

With the re-establishing of the New Republic, the resistance began to leave the base on Novusium. Those with families and home planets to return to went home as soon as they were able. Poe and Finn accepted positions within the New Republic's strategic defence alliance. The latter had met and formed a relationship with a girl who'd been operating as a resistance spy. Chewbacca opted to return to Kashyyyk to be with his son. Leia persuaded her family to go with her to Naboo, her birth mother's home. She had found a large house in a secluded spot which overlooked a lake. Ben and Rey begged one more night alone on Novusium before they joined them. It had become their custom to go to a special place they'd discovered beyond the sand dunes and lie together beneath the stars.

Rey scooped up a handful of pink sand and let it fall through her fingers pondering the uncertainties of life. "Do you believe there can ever be lasting peace?" she questioned as she lay naked and sated in the arms of the man she loved.

"I don't know," Ben admitted. "I hope so, but I've seen too much of the evil some beings can do to be sure." He turned on his side to kiss her. "Then again, I never would have believed it possible that I would find peace, and yet here we are. I owe it all to you, my love."

"In you, I found the belonging I'd been seeking," she smiled pressing her lips to his. "We make each other whole, so I'd call us even."

He couldn't argue with that. Together they could face anything life threw at them. Two disparate pieces had become one unified force and nothing in the galaxy would ever tear them asunder.

THE END.

I can only apologise for how long it has taken me to get this final chapter written and posted. I reached a point where I hated everything I'd written and didn't think any of it was good enough. I'm still riddled with doubt but I'm determined to carry on writing. One of these days, I might manage to write something that I don't think completely sucks.

Anyway, I thank you one and all for taking the time to read this story. Special thanks and appreciation go to those who made the effort to leave a review. I hope you all enjoyed it, I would be grateful to know either way. - Mrs. P