Star Wars: I Am a Slave ✓

Chapter 48 - The Face of My Son

Just be quiet while I pull on this fuse, thought Rey at the jabbering men. At least when I scavenged I didn't have to put up with this noise. She grunted as the fuse released, opening the hatch. As they moved into the oscillator structure, Chewie and Han distributed the charges, conversing in hushed tones.

Han directed, "We'll set the charges at every other column."

Chewie disagreed and suggested another plan.

"You're right. That's a better idea," agreed Han. As he checked the detonator, he continued, "You take the top. I'll go down below." As Chewie departed, Han tossed the detonator and said, "Detonator." Chewie caught it, and then Han directed, "We'll meet back here." They all departed for opposite directions, Rey and Finn looking for another exit, while Chewie headed above with his detonator.

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Finn and Rey found an exit up above, with double doors open, allowing a beam of waning sunlight to filter into the cavern. They stopped and looked over the railing when they hear Han yell, "Ben!" The name echoed throughout the chamber, as Kylo Ren stopped on the flat bridge that traversed the cavern. They could see Han standing at the opposite end of the bridge. Rey gasped as she realized that father and son were meeting again. Rey could feel the torment in Kylo Ren, no in Ben. The light was calling him. The darkness, too.

Kylo Ren taunted, "Han Solo. I've been waiting for this day for a long time." A long pause was held between them both, as they both eyed the other.

Rey could feel the turmoil in them both now. Han ordered, "Take off that mask. You don't need it."

"What do you think you'll see if I do?" taunted Kylo Ren.

Han stepped closer to his son. "The face of my son."

Rey could feel his desire—to just grab Ben and take him back home. Han's thoughts intruded on Rey's. He must be projecting them, trying to persuade Ben. If I'm picking them up, then Ben is, too, thought Rey. Han's thoughts buffeted her, Things could be different. We could be a family again.

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Rey watched from the balcony as Kylo Ren removed his mask and revealed the face of Ben Solo. Han paled as he viewed the face of his son for the first time as a man. Many years had passed since the Purge, and the face was no longer the face of a seduced, deluded boy, but that of a man who had made bad decisions and suffered for them.

Ben continued, but he did not quite believe what he said, "Your son is gone. He was weak and foolish, like his father. So I destroyed him."

"That's what Snoke wants you to believe, but it's not true. My son is alive," persuaded Han with a passion Rey had not seen before now.

As Chewie moved in closer to Han and Ben on the lower level, Ben flared in anger. "No, the Supreme Leader is wise."

Han stepped closer to his son, and stated, "Snoke is using you for your power. When he gets what he wants, he'll crush you—you know it's true."

Ben hesitated. Rey could feel the pull of the light within him. He's coming. But then it stopped as the sunlight on his face faded. "It's too late," Ben stated.

"No it's not. Leave here with me. Come home. We miss you," begged Han. Rey could feel the agony in Han now, the agony in Ben.

Tears now flowed down Ben's face. He was conflicted again. He wanted to go home. He wanted everything to return to normal. He just wanted to be normal. "I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it. Will you help me?"

Han steps closer, hearing his son's pained voice. "Yes. Anything."

Kylo Ren unholstered his lightsaber and slowly extended it to Han, within a foot of Han's chest. Han could not believe that his son was actually surrendering, coming home.

Rey's memory returned as she watched this scene transpire. Han, in peril of death, now overlaid with an image she remembered from the Ravager. It all came back like a burst of lightning, spearing her head: a younger Han on a platform, his face in anguish as two guards held him at a device . . . carbon freeze, she remembered. And then the image of her mother telling him, "I love you."

His only response, "I know."

Rey could not get the vision out of her head. She started hyperventilating in anticipation. The vision was a warning. She wanted to yell at Han to leave, that it was too late. But as the last beam of sunlight was quenched by the Starkiller weapon, she knew it was too late. Kylo Ren's eyes changed from brown to darkest of night as he ignited the lightsaber, piercing their father through his chest. Han hung there for a minute before plunging into the chasm below.

Chewie started firing, howling in anguish. Kylo Ren was hit by the bowcaster, but he still stood.

Rey screamed in pain, thinking, You monster! You just killed our father! You monster! I don't care if you are my brother! You deserve to die! Father! She could feel the power of the Force raging in her with her anger and pain, echoing off the detonations Chewie activated.

As Finn dragged her out of the base, Ani spoke in her head, "Rey, don't go down this path. Forgive him. You have to save Ben. There is still good in him."