Star Wars: A dyad in the Force 「A Reylo FanFiction」

Act 29: That damn Broom

Ajan Kloss, 36 ABY

At the start of the nightmare, Ben is invited into a dark castle. Beyond walls that folks would normally assume were the dwelling's boundaries was a chamber of horrors, where people trapped below floorboards could be seen through areas with missing planks.

He ran. He ran towards them, the souls of those he had hurt. Upon entering through, shots were fired, and he saw an old friend, whom he had not seen in years, in the path of one of the plasma bolts. He dove in front of him and shielded him.

The nightmare was more of a morning terror because he felt as if he might die from the pain in his brain; he was so desperate to wake up. He screamed for help, but nobody came.

Then in the dream, his skin became like the surface of a boiling stew. Beneath his thin skin bubbled toxins, which symbolized his past pains in his blood, seeking release. And released they were. One by one, the bubbles burst easily like pimples.

Then a mirror appeared before him, and he studied his reflection; perhaps these new injuries would take a little while to heal... but after that, the pain would be gone, and he would be ready to live anew, to feel strong, confident, once again.

Then, there was silence. He was paralyzed, naked, and cold. He tried to move, but it didn't matter which way Ben chose; each path always led back to the same spot, the entrance of the chamber of horrors.

There was only one way out. The ghosts beneath the floor were more silent than the graves they arose from, staring with heavy-lidded eyes and slack mouths. Instead of running or screaming, Ben stood stiller than the mossy statue of a young man with curling hair and a woman at his side who stood in the heart of the graveyard. Both wore chains around their wrists, but they wielded them like weapons. The woman was injured across her back, but she smiled in the face of danger. Somehow, Ben knew that that woman with her fighting smile and brave battle stance, who was not cowering behind the Jedi at her side, was his grandmother, Padmé Amidala. He glanced at her face once more; her smile seemed to say, "This is your destiny, Ben. This is the destiny of all Jedi. Face the past and conquer it." He turned back to the chamber; she was wrong; he would remain with them forever. That was the only way to atone.

The thought became a desire, and his insides lit with an intense urgency to make it possible. He took a step forward. Then his body crumpled to the ground, and his knees curled up to his face like an unborn baby in its mother's womb. It was then that he heard someone shouting his name over and over. Ben opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out of it. He was drawn strongly towards the chamber of horrors; the souls there wanted him with them. Though the voice came louder, infused with power, "Ben, no!"

He shivered, and he turned away from the chamber of horror and gazed at the man. He noted, 'the young man with the chains calling him back. The voice was that of his grandfather, and if he listened intently, he could hear Padmé as well.

Ben startled awake, his heavy breathing echoed loudly in his ears, and his clothes were drenched with sweat. It was only a nightmare. Ben thought as he looked around the room. He sat up slowly, noting that it was morning, and Rey had already gone.

"Riddle me this. How can I call it a nightmare if it doesn't leave my presence when I awake?" Ben mumbled to himself as he dropped his head into his hands. He was his own worst nightmare because he knew it wasn't his pain he feared; he feared the pain of those he had wronged, those he had killed, and those he loved.

"But there is a price, Ben; there is still a price to pay! But there is a price, Ben, there..." A voice whispered inside his mind. The chant only stopped when he was fully awake.