Force Destiny

Escape

Rey pulled Ben to his feet. She tried to hold him up with the Force, but she couldn't find a method that didn't cause him more pain. She let him go, and he crumpled to the ground again.

"Please, Ben, get up," she begged. His eyes were sorrowful and full of pain, but she wouldn't give up on him. Pulling him to his feet again, she tried to support him until he stumbled. He collapsed to his knees, his hair falling over his eyes as he bowed his head in exhaustion.

"Leave me."

"No." She tried to lift him again, but he stopped her.

"Rey..." he grabbed her hand to force her to look him in the eyes. "I can't. And you'll only grow weaker by the minute with that poison inside you. Please... leave me."

She shook her head as she sobbed. "I can't leave you," she cried. "I made a promise and I intend to keep it." His agony drilled into her bones even though she still sensed his mental shields in their bond. She suspected that this pain she sensed from him was only the blunt edge of the torture he was suffering.

The exhaustion dimmed the brightness in his pleading eyes. "This isn't about promises. I'm dying. You need to leave me, so that you have a chance to get to a medbay."

"Would you leave me?" she demanded through tears. Ben didn't answer, but he didn't have to. She could see the answer in his eyes. "Then don't ask me to leave you."

He was right about one thing, they had to leave. The ship was falling apart, Ben was deteriorating quickly, and she needed to find his droid. "I'll be right back. Please hold on." Rey stood and surveyed the debris around them, attempting to find a suitable path to the floor above them. The memories of the last time she had climbed debris tormented her thoughts. They had climbed out of the ruins of his grandfather's castle together. He had refused to go with her then too, but they had worked together to escape. They would do it again. She would help him, she would save him, as she had after Concordia.

With a running start, she leapt onto the debris and jumped for the floor above. Her fingers nearly slipped off the edge, but with a little help from the Force, she pulled herself up. The smoke was thick as she began her search, her path only illuminated by the flashing red alarms. In the darkness, she nearly stumbled into a hole in the center of the corridor. "Blue?" she called across the chasm.

As she had in the wreckage of Star Destroyers a thousand times before, Rey leapt across the chasm. "Blue?" she called into each room, squinting her eyes in the darkness. The droid didn't answer her. He probably hates me. "Blue, please, I'm sorry!"

Three doors up on the left, Ben's voice rasped in her mind. It was relieving to know that somewhere on the floor below he was conscious and following her in the Force.

She ran through the third blast door to find a room full of weaponized droids. Last time he ran away, he hid with other droids.

The walls were lined with shelves of droids of all different models. Rey searched the corner where several dark astromechs with head-mounted cannons were discarded. She knew she was in the right place when she heard the soft whimper. "Blue?" Metal clinked on metal as the droid pushed himself further behind the others. "Blue, I'm sorry. I'm not... I didn't... I'm sorry." Rey lowered herself down on her hands and knees on the surprisingly warm floor. "I never wanted to hurt you, or Ben, but the... bad thing... inside me is gone now. I won't hurt you, I promise." The droid remained hidden from her. She could hear the uneven hum of his internal drives, he was critically damaged as well. I promise I'll fix you, too. "Blue, Ben needs you. Please."