A Force Of Love: A Star Wars Short Story

Part 4

Rey and Ben collapsed to the floor. They had never used so much of the Force before, and it had nearly drained the life from them.
Rey reached over to grab his hand. She looked into his dark brown eyes. "You did it Ben, you saved the Resistance." She said weakly.
"We did it..." he whispered back. "...Together."
Just then, the blast struck the star destroyer a level below them. The floor beneath them shook fiercely. They feel the heat of the fire below penetrate the floor to warm their skin.
Rose was nearly thrown off balance by the blow. Finn grabbed her arm to steady her.
"We have to get out of here." Finn cried. He reached down and grabbed Ben's arm. He pulled Ben to his feet.
Rose reached down to help Rey stand.
"We have to get to my ship." Said Ben.
"Can you fly it?" Finn asked. He looked on the brink of going unconscious. If Finn didn't have his arm around him, he would have fallen to the floor. He didn't look in any condition to be flying a ship.
"I'm the grandson of Anakin Skywalker, and the son of Han Solo. The best pilots in the galaxy, of course I can fly it." He answered.
Finn wasn't sure, in his current condition but he didn't argue. He wasn't sure if he wanted to ride in a ship piloted by Ben at this moment. He could go unconscious at any moment. But Finn couldn't fly a ship, so he only had two options. A certain death aboard this First Order ship. Or a possible death in a crash, if Ben went unconscious. He chose the later.
They made their way to the landing bay. They were slower than they usually were because Rey and Ben were struggling to stand, let alone walk. And they certainly couldn't run.
"That's my ship." Ben said, pointing to his tie silencer.
Finn and Rose helped Rey and Ben into the cockpit. Then they climbed in after them. It was a tight fit, but they managed.
Rey pulled something from her pocket and hung it to the ceiling of the cockpit. Ben looked up to see his father's dice.
"He would be proud of you Ben." She said.
He nodded sadly, then he piloted the ship away from the Star Destroyer, just as it burst into flames.
He piloted the tie silencer down to Endor. He landed it near the new Resistance base.
Finn was relieved that their flight was a smooth one.
Ben stepped out of the cockpit, he was surprised to see his mother waiting for him.
She ran and gave him a hug. "Ben, you're back." She exclaimed.
He wrapped his arms around his mother.
"I love you," He said.
"I know," she answered.
Finn, Rose and Rey came over to join them.
Leia looked at her son for the first time in many years. Ben smiled at her, warming her heart. It had been many years since she had seen her son. But it been even longer since she had seen him smile. Her son had finally returned.
"How did you stop the blast?" Kaydel asked. "We saw it coming towards Endor."
"Ben and Rey stopped it... with the Force." Said Finn. He didn't really know how to explain what they had done beyond that.
"It was awesome." Rose added.
Ben and Rey blushed. Rey, because she was being praised in front of the General. And Ben, because he wasn't used to anyone saying something good about him.
"But how?" Leia asked. "Using that much of the Force should have killed you."
"We did it together." Said Ben.
But his mother still looked doubtful. Even both of them together wasn't strong enough to stop the blast.
"Grandfather helped me." He added, reading her mind.
"Darth Vader?" She asked surprised.
"Not Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker." Said Rey.
Ben looked off into the distance behind his mother.
Leia looked back, almost expecting to see the Force ghost of her father behind her. But didn't see anything. She looked back at her son. "Ben?" She asked.
"I saw something." He whispered. "I know why my grandfather turned to the Dark Side."
"Ben, please don't go back to the Dark Side." Leia pleaded. She knew that her father had turned to the Light Side before he died. But she afraid that someone was using Darth Vader to pull her son to the Dark Side. Someone like Snoke.
"No," said Rey. "Anakin Skywalker turned. He returned to the Light Side, I saw it."
Leia wondered how she knew that. It been her secret, her's and Luke's.
"Ben died saving my life. But Anakin Skywalker saved him. He gave up his Force ghost so that Ben could live." Rey explained.
"He turned to the Dark Side because he loved my grandmother ... Padme. I saw one of his memories just now. He turned to the Dark Side because he thought it was the only way to save her. To keep her from dying."
Tears filled Leia's eyes. She had never known why her father turned to the Dark Side. She remembered her mother from her dreams, but she had no memory of her father. She never knew how much he loved her mother. For the first time she saw the same thing that Luke had seen, the good in her father.
Tears poured down her cheeks, she had never gotten the chance to forgive her father like Luke had.
Ben reached out and gently wiped her tears away.
"Tell my daughter that I love her." He heard his grandfather's voice in his mind.
"He wants you to know that he loves you." Ben told his mother.
"And so did her mother," Anakin added.
"He wants you to know that your mother loved you too."
Leia nodded. "Can you tell him that I forgive him...for everything."
Ben nodded, hearing Anakin's voice reply: "Thank you."
"And that I'm sorry that I didn't see the good in him sooner." She began to cry again, and Ben hugged her to comfort her.
Ben touched the top of her head, and suddenly she could hear her father's voice too.
"Don't cry, my little angel." Anakin told his daughter.
"Thank you for saving my son." She said. She knew that he had given up everything to save Ben.
"Sometimes to save the ones you love, you give up your own life." Anakin replied.

The End