Ben Solo

XVII

That night, Ben had no nightmares.

In fact, he slept very well, for the second night in a row.

Perhaps his nightmares were gone for good.

That day, during training, Poe pulled him aside.

"Hey, Ben, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"If I left the academy, to be a pilot, would you hate me?"

Poe was leaving him?  Why?  "No, I don't think so.  Why would you want to leave?"

"Because I feel like I'm not strong enough in the Force to be a Jedi.  But I'm a good enough pilot, and I'm old enough to train at the base."

Ben bit his lip.  He didn't want his best friend to leave him.  "But you will come back, every now and again?"

"Well, I'll be pretty busy, but whenever I'm in the Tatoo system, I'll be sure to drop by." Poe hugged his friend.  "And I promise you, even if I can't come back, that I'll never forget you.  Besides, how could I?  We've grown up together."

Ben cracked a slight smile and hugged him back.

"I'm going to go and talk to Master Luke now, to see if he'll allow me to.  And then I'll have to wait until your father returns."

He nodded, and watched as the boy left.

Luke did agree, and Poe began to pack his things.

Ben's nightmares returned that night.

He stood outside of the academy, on the hillside.

Somehow, he knew that Poe was supposed to return that day.

He waited, anxiously, for his friend's return. Even though in his waking, Poe still hadn't left, in this dream, he'd been gone for a very, very long time.

And Ben missed him.

He ached with how much he missed him.

Then, an X-Wing descended. It landed down by where the hangar was, when the academy was a base.

Ben ran down, eager to greet the pilot as soon as he released the cockpit.

But the pilot who emerged was not Poe.

It was someone he had not met.

"Who are you?" Ben asked.

"Jess Pava. I'm under the command of the Red Leader."

"Why are you here?"

"Well, Dameron actually sent me."

"What do you mean?"

"He told me to tell you that he would never be coming back."

"What? Why?"

"You ask a lot of questions," Jess Pava commented.

"Shut up. What about my friend?"

"You just told me to shut up," the tall girl commented. "But I'll tell you anyway. He's no longer your friend."

Ben was angry. He scowled. "What have I done?"

She shrugged. "All he said is that he never wants to see you again, wether on Dantooine, or Dunov, or Tatooine."

Ben grabbed her shoulders and shook her.  "Why does he hate me?" he yelled.

"I don't know!" Jess screamed back, ripping his hands off from her.  "And if you don't leave me alone, I will shoot you."

She pulled out a blaster and pointed it at him.  He took a step back, tears beginning to fall.

"My best friend has abandoned me..."

Jess Pava put her blaster back into its holster on her belt and climbed back into her X-Wing.

Ben awoke, crying.

This nightmare hurt him almost more than all of the ones where his parents left him.  Especially because he had no way of discovering why Poe was leaving him forever.

Ben wandered down the hall and knocked on Poe's door.

A very sleepy boy opened the door.  "What's up?"

Ben pushed past him into the room.

"You've been crying," Poe commented.

Ben nodded.  "I had a nightmare."

"Do you want to tell me about it?"

He took a deep breath. "In my dream, I was waiting for you to come back. You had promised you would come back. And then this pilot, Jess Pava, came, and said you never wanted to see me again. She couldn't tell me why. I...got angry, and she threatened to shoot me. Then she left."

"Jess Pava?"

"I don't know. I'd never seen her before, not that I could remember."

"She's lived on base since we were seven, but kept to herself. She was in the council the last time we went." Poe gave his friend a glass of water.

Ben nodded in thanks. "The worst part though is that she said you never wanted to see me again, ever."

"That will never happen." He held up one hand. "I, Poe Dameron, Padawan to Luke Skywalker and soon-to-be Resistance Pilot, vow never to forget my best friend, never to abandon him, and to always return someday."

Poe grinned at his friend. Ben held up his hand and made his own pledge. "I, Ben Solo, Padawan to Luke Skywalker, vow to always agree to see my friend when he requests, and to never forget him as long as I live."

Their vows made, Poe walked Ben back to his room.

It was about midnight.

"Hopefully that will stop the nightmares," Poe said.

Ben smiled.  "I hope so, too.  Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

And it did stop the nightmares.

P.S. The picture is of Jessica Henwick, who played Jess Testor in The Force Awakens. She is one of the fighters who assists Poe when they blow up Starkiller Base. You never see her without the helmet though.