Darkness Rises & Light To Meet It

Memory

"Someday, father, I'm going to be a pilot just like you!" Excitement filled his voice as he tried desperately to keep up with his father's long sweeping strides.

Little Ben Solo followed Han across the massive hanger towards the infamous Millennium Falcon. He loved listening to his father's adventure stories and dreamed of having grand escapades once he was grown up.

Han chuckled as he looked down at his six year old son who was practically skipping to keep up. "You'll be the best pilot there ever was, kid." Taking Ben's tiny hands he pulled him up onto his shoulders. "Now lets see what she needs work on today."

As everything unfolded in front of him Ben found his mind wandering back to his father. Unsurprisingly, Shriv has been more than upset at the revelation that Han had been murdered by his own son and his companion was equally upset at the shock of learning who he was: the man that helped tear the galaxy apart. The blaster did not waver holding its place under his chin. A blast here would mean death. Searching the Duros' eyes, he sensed the rage, anger, pain, and the conflict.

"Go ahead, do it." Ben spoke quietly keeping eye contact with Shriv, who blinked the conflict growing within him. "Go on."

"Stop it." Rey snapped her anger growing the blue glow of her saber lighting up half of her face.

Shriv hesitated a moment longer, as his finger began to slip off the trigger a red blast hit Ben's shoulder forcing him to take a step back. Instinctively he held his shoulder, nothing too serious, the wound cauterized instantaneously. He caught his breath finally steadying it from the shock of the blast. Straightening up he went to speak when Zay shot another blast at him, this time he stopped it. Holding it with his mind between them. BB-8 beeped in protest to the ridiculous situation. A few well placed beeps were too fowl to translate.

Taking a look at his side he grinned slightly at Rey's position. She felt the need to protect him in a place surrounded by his enemies but anger did not consume her, yet. She glared at Zay, eyes cutting through the girl while Poe stood still bemused by the circumstances.

Returning his attention to Zay he looked right into her eyes. "One blast is enough, most rarely get a chance to do that much." His voice was calm yet firm like he was disciplining a child. "Besides, you could have hit her." He gestured to the Falcon. "And I decide when she gets hit."

With a flick of his finger the bolt was redirected and shot off into a far off sand dune. Zay held her blaster up glancing at Shriv before holstering the weapon.

With a quiet sigh Rey deactivated her lightsaber and looked at him with concern before addressing the others. "Everyone needs to quit fighting. We need to work together if we're going to fix any of this!"

Ben looked down at her eyes flickering, he never noticed how how her nose crinkled when she was trying to control herself. He glanced at the hole in his father's jacket and thought quickly thinking of where Han would have kept the sewing kit.

If he remembered to keep one on the ship.

Before he knew it Rey had ordered everyone back into the Falcon to catch Zay and Shriv up on everything while they waited for Finn and Rose to return with the supplies. It wasn't difficult to slip away to clean up his shoulder and patch his father's jacket and shirt he was wearing. The pain radiated down his arm like a fire that grew with each movement but he ignored it as he sewed the old fabric together again. With each new stitch he made the more his father's memory remained at the forefront of his minds eye.

"I'm flying! Look! Look! I'm flying!" Ben bounced up and down in excitement a great big grin plastered on his face.