Family Feud

Disclaimer: I don't own.

At the sound of a lightsaber igniting, Ben Solo's eyes snapped open. The room was bathed in a green glow. He turned over, his eyes widening in terror to see his uncle standing over him, a glowing lightsaber in his hand. He summoned his own saber into his hand, lighting it and blocking Luke's. "Ben, I-"

"I don't want to hear it!" he screamed, the Force reacting to his panic and lashing out. The hut he lived in fell apart around him, burying Luke beneath the rubble. Tears streaming down his face, he rushed away, gripping the lightsaber in his fist.

He ran blindly for several minutes, not knowing or caring where he was going. Finally, though, he realized that he was just about to ram into his uncle's X-Wing. He blinked to clear his vision, swinging himself up into the cockpit and blasting off-planet. The Dark within him that he had been fighting pulled him in one direction, but he pushed it back, activating the commlink in the ship.

His mother appeared a few seconds later. "Lu-Ben? What are you doing in your uncle's ship in the middle of the night?" She looked closely at him. "Why are you crying? What's wrong, Ben?"

He sniffed. "Mom…Uncle Luke tried to kill me."

Her jaw dropped. "What? No. I don't believe it."

"He did! I promise you; I wouldn't lie about this!"

"Shh, sweetheart, I know. I know. I just-it's hard to believe."

"Mama, where are you?"

"I'm on Hosnian Prime with the Senate."

"Can-can I…?"

"You're always welcome with me, Ben."

He nodded. "Thanks, Mama." The hologram of Leia winked out, and Ben plugged in the coordinates and jumped to hyperspace.

*F*F*

After he dropped out of light-speed, Ben carefully steered his ship (well, Luke's ship, really) toward his mother's home. He climbed out and ran inside, hating that he was falling apart so badly, but something told him that it wasn't something to be truly ashamed of (his uncle had just tried to kill him, after all).

He followed his senses to his mother, bursting into the room. He froze upon seeing that she wasn't alone. Several other senators were in the room with her. She looked over at him, turning back to her colleagues. "We'll have to continue this later. My son needs me."

All of them seemed to know a dismissal when they heard one, at least one as clear as that. Leia didn't even wait for them to be completely gone before rushing over to her son, engulfing him in her arms. His tears had finally dried, but, as soon as he was safe in his mother's arms, they came back in full force. "Oh, my baby," she murmured. "Oh, Ben. Mama's here." She pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I've got you. You're safe."

"Oh, Mama." He clung to her, trying to ignore his shame at needing his mother so much at his age.

"Don't be ashamed of this, son. You've had such a shock. Of course you need someone, no matter how old you are."

Ben sighed, gasping out his relief and residual fear at the same time. His tears continued to flow as he rested in his mother's arms, knowing he was safe there.

A/N: And this changes everything.