BEN

Ben sat on the other side of the room, beside Rey's Jedi books. They radiated an energy, a positive frequency that he could see, but not as a colour. It was something in the visual spectrum that wasn't a part of his eyesight when he was alive. And he wasn't alive in the conventional sense anymore. But he also wasn't dead. In this realm, he could see everything as a vibration of its essence.

Rey was glorious with this vibration. Her soul shone a type of energy so intense that he could see it as an actual light. She glowed. But the light dimmed sometimes. At the moment, she radiated with positive vibrations and it filled the emptiness he felt, being trapped in this in-between world.

He watched her make rising-bread for the boy, talking to him about his life on Cantonica and the stable work he did there. Her voice echoed as though he was hearing it at the end of a long chamber. Sometimes the words became muddled if he didn't concentrate hard enough.

She laughed then, and his own soul, or essence, did a leap for joy at the sound.

Being trapped between worlds was the most unsettling feeling. He never slept. He didn't feel or eat or breathe. But when he was in Rey's presence, even from another realm, he felt at peace. She'd summoned him here, again, this time not to help in a near-death situation, but for no reason that he could gather.

He'd arrived to find her sitting cross-legged in front of a candle, eyes closed. He'd been roaming the ruins of the Death Star, looking for Palpatine. Always looking for Palpatine. That abomination of a Sith was still out there and still after Rey's soul. But he was hiding, like the true coward he was, and Ben couldn't find him. Although he had no idea how exactly to destroy the Sith Lord, at least not from his current situation, in this void that was cut off from everyone.

He roamed alone. Somehow knew that if he let himself step fully into the afterlife, Rey wouldn't be able to exist where she was either. They were a Dyad in the Force and she continued in her existence and power, because he was not fully dead.

Now he was at her side again. Across the room, that is. From the ruins of the Death Star, to a little cabin on Jakku, there seemed to be no space and time limitations in this realm he was in. Like a Comm Unit receiving and sending voice signals in real time across the galaxy, he too travelled in a blink of an eye. Only he didn't always have control of where he went. He got pulled to places for no reason, that he could see anyway. He still hadn't found out what happened with the Final Order. Was General Pryde still alive? Who was leading the Resistance now that his own mother no longer was? He had no access to them; Luke, his mother, his father. He'd had more access to his dead father when he was alive, than he did now. Now he just walked between the two worlds, like a man trapped between the walls of a ship.

But whenever Rey said his name, he was there.

She'd been saying something to him, in meditation, when he arrived. But he hadn't caught what she said. And she could never hear him either. Though she'd seen him, he was sure of it, when he'd taken on a more solid state, defending her from those scavengers earlier that day. Yet, she hadn't responded to his words and it didn't seem like she could hear him even then.

She smiled down at the boy now, who stood beside her at the food counter as she prepared the bread. The scene was heartwarming. Seeing Rey being so maternal made Ben wish that he'd chosen a different path while he was alive. He'd never seen her like this; domestic, smiling lovingly, laughing as she gave the boy her full attention. It made him jealous of the boy.

"You are no longer a dyad in the Force." The voice of Palpatine crawled into Ben's mind. "You are nothing now. Destined to wander in the realm of the damned for all eternity."

It happened often, Palpatine's voice condemning him, but he always ignored it. Somehow the old Sith had the ability to reach him, though Ben didn't know where Palpatine's soul was residing at the moment, likely in a host body of some sort. But if that host body was killed, with o host to replace it, then Palpatine would be trapped in another realm too, perhaps the realm of the dead Sith Lords, perhaps in an empty void, as he rightly deserved, or perhaps nowhere. But separating him, from a host body, is what would finally rid the galaxy of his unwanted presence in it.

"She will never hear you." the voice continued. "You are no longer Kylo Ren. Not a Sith, not a Jedi. You belong nowhere. You will never escape the emptiness you are in. It was always destined for you. You know this. You've felt it. You've never belonged, even with her. My voice is the only contact you will ever have with any other essence, for all eternity."

"Silence!" Ben shouted.

The tiny robot started running around again, this time slamming into Rey's leg and making her drop the bread she held.

The boy picked it up off the floor and put it in his mouth. Rey immediately objected but the boy insisted that bread off the ground was fine to eat and he'd eaten food from the floor many times before.

Ben could hear the boy but he was having difficulty seeing him. The child's aura kept shifting. His energy and vibrations were conflicting; not one of an average human, but not a Jedi or Sith either.

"Ben!" the little robot repeated, doing a frantic spin. The boy looked up and for a second Ben could have sworn that he looked right at him. They locked eyes and a dark abyss opened up in the child's gaze, like Ben had only seen once before, when looking into the eyes of Palpatine.

"Rey!" he jumped up to run to her, suddenly afraid. But the small cabin dissipated in front of him and he was transported elsewhere, onto a ship, a Final Order ship. He recognized the layout, one of the ships he'd used to command. Why was he here?

A small round droid that looked like a black version of Rey's beloved BB-Unit, rolled down the polished hallway towards him as though heading past. Then it slowed when it got closer, and turned its attention onto Ben. A moment later, General Pryde strolled in, with two other officers flanking him. Pryde's aura was uglier than the man himself.

"Move it!" he spat, kicking at the BB-Unit that had slowed down and was now in their path. It beeped and continued on.

"It appears the droid is seeing ghosts," one of the officers said to Pryde. The other laughed, but Pryde had no humour.

"I don't care if it sees God, as long as it has the codes from Ren for this ship so we can activate the weapons."

Ben followed after them as they entered the control center.

"Report!" Pryde commanded the men at the consoles. They jumped at the sound of his voice.

"The boy is with the Resistance girl," one of them said.

"The Force sensitive one," another added.

"I know which one," Pryde said. He looked angry. "Of course he's with her," he growled. "I should have expected that. Destroy them both."

"But the boy-"

"I don't care about the boy," Pryde said "We've been chasing this child for far too long. If he's as dangerous as Palpatine thinks he is, then the two of them together is too risky."

One of the officers at his side spoke. "I beg your pardon sir, but Palpatine strictly instructed that-"

"There is no time to confirm this decision with Palpatine. He's quite impossible to contact, unless he initiates that contact. We don't have that kind of time. He wants the boy for his power, and he wants the girl for her power. She already almost destroyed everything. What do you think the two of them could do together? Better to destroy them both while we have the chance, when they don't expect it."

He turned to one of the lieutenants on the controls. "Ready phasers. Aim at their dwelling. I don't want even a scrap of metal left, after we hit it."

"Yes, sir," the chief security officer said. "Locking on target."

POE

Poe's hand tightened on the rudder. The anger in his chest threatened to choke him to death.

"It's not your fault, Poe." Zorii's words came over his headset, and grated on his nerves.

"Of course it's my fault!" he shouted. His hands shook as he flew around the space that was once the orbit of Ajan Kloss, the moon on which the Resistance Base was located only hours ago. Lando, Jannah and her troop of free stormtroopers. All dead. It was an underhanded move. Poe should have expected as much from General Pryde.

He turned his X-wing around and kicked it into full speed, not bothering to tell Zorii where he was going. He didn't even know where he was going. There was nowhere left to go to. The base was gone and the remnant of the Resistance crew along with it. How would he tell Finn?

Poe slowed the plane, wary now of his fuel levels. He shot a large asteroid in front of him and watched it explode in all directions. BB-8 remained silent behind him, having known him long enough to know that he was in a bad mood and it wasn't a good time to talk.

The X-Wing hummed and Poe turned the engines off. The pressure inside the plane would be fine for a while, and oxygen levels would remain stable, but the temperature began to cool quickly once the engine was off.

Poe let the plane drift in the quiet of space. He let the cold seep in through his clothes. It was silent out in endless space. Zorii hadn't followed him. He was alone. He'd never felt more alone.

General Organa should have never made him acting General.

"I've dealt with plenty of trigger happy flyboys like you"

He'd hated Admiral Holdo words to him back when they were fighting the First Order, almost a year ago now. But she was right. He was impulsive and he didn't think things through. He'd been so focussed on saving Ma, maybe to prove something, that he didn't even get anyone's opinion on how to proceed next. He didn't call a council meeting, the way Leia would have done, and sought the wisdom of the elders or at least some council from those with lots of experience, like Lando. Actually, Lando had cautioned him against following the requests of a terrorist. Poe had barely given his advice any consideration. Now Lando was gone and it was because Poe hadn't listened to him.

No, this was General Pryde's fault.

Poe practically vibrated with anger. "This isn't over, Pryde," he said between clenched teeth. Pryde was going to pay. Poe would make sure of it.