Beyond the Stars: A Continuation of The Rise of Skywalker; A Reylo Story

We Meet At Last

Ben

The wind whipped through Ben's wavy dark hair as he drove his new black speeder bike through the cluster of houses.

The tires screeched to a halt as he pulled up in front of Han and Leia's home behind several other vehicles, the sun glinting off the hood.

Laughter could be heard from inside as he opened the door. His mother came to great him with a kiss on the cheek.

Leia smiled at him. It had taken some time, but Ben was starting to get used to her younger appearance.

"I'm so glad that you're here. There are some people that I want you to meet."

He followed her into the living room. A young man with large blue eyes and blonde hair that hugged the back of his neck was sitting on the couch, no doubt his uncle Luke.

They locked eyes. The man's form flickered to be thirty years older, confirming his suspicions.

Luke stood up.

Ben gulped, the familiar feeling of anger crept into his gut. How he wished Rey were here, to be his stabilizer.

"Nephew."

"Uncle."

"I thought I heard of your coming."

"You heard correctly." Ben added a hint of sarcasm to his voice.

If his mother wasn't behind him, he might have been tempted to throw a punch.He felt a small tug on his sleeve.

"Come, Ben, I want to introduce you to some people."

Ben followed Leia into the kitchen, where his father was chatting with a very beautiful woman who had eyes like his mother.

Han patted him on the back before ruffling his hair. "Hey, kid."

Leia was beaming next to him. "Ben, I'd like you to meet my mother, Padmè, your grandmother."

The woman smiled at him, her smile looking like his uncle's. "Very nice to meet you, Ben. I've heard a lot about you."

Ben paled at the idea of what Padme might have been told, when he heard a man's voice coming from the hallway.

"I didn't miss anything, did I?"

Padmè turned her head full of dark hair to where the voice was coming from as the man's shadow appeared in the doorway. "Not a lot, Ani, but your grandson is here."

Panic flared into Ben's chest. A man with shoulder-length wavy brown hair and big blue eyes with a nasty scar running over one of them appeared.

The corners of his mouth twitched. "Benjamin Solo. We meet at last."

"Grandfather."

Ben took a few steps closer until the two men were a few feet away. He had always pictured Anakin Skywalker as a tall, towering figure, but was surprised to find that he stood three inches taller than him.

"I tried to call out to you, to warn you that Palpatine was using you, as both Snoke and himself, but he had your mind in too strong of a hold, one you could only get out of yourself."

Ben looked at his feet, suddenly unable to look Anakin in the eyes. "I, I thought I was making you proud, finishing what you started. I was a fool."

"Hey." Anakin's voice was sharp, drawing Ben's eyes back up to his face.

"You have made me proud. You have finished what I started, though very different from what you thought. When I was a young Jedi, I had a dream that my wife was dying. It scared me, and fueled me to find anyway I could to be able to save Padme from death. That was my downfall, what turned me to the Dark Side. Funny though, that was what redeemed you. You were able to save the woman you loved from death, the thing that I failed to do."