EPILOGUE

This is a totally optional read. You might want to leave well enough alone and ignore this altogether. It's blueenvelopes, so read at your own risk.

"Your mom is late today," Ben observes as he rolls out from under the landspeeder he's been working on for the past hour. He and Rey run a small repair shop. They do everything from household appliances to starships, but mostly it's a lot of routine maintenance work on speeders. It's boring stuff but it pays the bills. Ben yanks off his greasy work gloves and pulls out his comlink to check for messages. Nothing. Rey is only a few minutes late, and it's probably nothing. But it's unusual and that makes him nervous.

Ben glances over to where his two sons sit at a nearby table doing homework. This is their usual after school routine. Rey will chew him out if she gets home and finds out he put the boys to work before they finished their homework. "Have you heard from your mother?" Ben asks the boys.

The kids look up, check their coms, and shake their heads no at him. "She's not that late," twelve-year-old Anakin suggests. "She's fine, Dad. She'll be along soon." And that comment is very like him. His oldest son is the peacemaker in the family and the dampening rod between the reactor that is he and Rey. He might not be Kylo Ren any more, but he still has a temper. And Rey is no slouch when it comes to shouting back. Anakin must think he's getting frustrated because he calls over, "I'm almost done here and then I'll help." Responsible, mature-for-his-age Anakin is always willing to help. The kid seems to be born old.

"Yeah, okay. Finish your homework first." Ben gets back to work and tries not to worry. Anything out of the ordinary makes him worry.

At least three-year-old Padme is still napping. Their daughter was a surprise third baby who had upset the established rhythm of their life. Poor Rey had cried when she told him the news that she was pregnant again. We can't afford this, Rey had wailed. How did this happen? Kids cost a lot of credits and the new baby had put them into debt. But now that Padme is old enough for preschool, Rey has taken a job at a droid repair shop. She works until midafternoon while Ben minds the shop and looks after the kids when they come home from school. Once Rey comes home, he heads to his second shift as a supervisor at a local factory while Rey looks after the kids and spends a few hours doing repairs herself. Ben saves the hardest repair jobs for Rey. She is a much better mechanic than he is.

It's a humdrum existence. This isn't an isolated moisture farm on Tatooine, but so far, so good. Ben knows that he could be so much more, but that is risky. He and Rey have made a conscious decision to live an anonymous working-class life below the radar screen. They are rich in bills and each other, but poor in everything else. It's safest this way, he and Rey have agreed. But still, Ben wishes money were not so tight. Anakin keeps growing and his wrists and ankles are sticking out of his school uniform again. That kid is going to be very tall. He could pass for fifteen now if it weren't for his pre-puberty baby face. Rey has been putting aside credits to buy him a new school uniform next month, but the kid needs it now. Beside Anakin, ten-year-old Han is wearing his big brother's hand me down uniform that has the sleeves and legs rolled up. Everything about his young family looks shabby, Ben thinks. Rey doesn't mind, but he does. He feels ashamed now and then.

"What are you studying?" he calls over to the boys from under the speeder.

"Civics," Han answers grumpily. "It's boring."

"I'm done," his big brother chimes in. "What's taking you so long?" he ribs his kid brother. If Anakin has a fault, it's his big competitive streak. That kid has to win at everything. And, he usually does.

"These questions are hard," little Han grumbles.

"Yeah?" Ben inserts himself. "Maybe I can help. Try me."

"Name the Supreme Leaders of the First Order," Han reads from his datapad.

"Piece of cake," Anakin crows. "Leader Snoke and Leader Hux."

"There are three," Han points out. "You're missing one."

"Is there another?" Anakin is stumped. "Dad, was there a Leader other than Snoke and Hux?"

"Yeah," Ben calls over. "There was a guy in between. Just for a short time."

"Kylo Ren!" Han seizes on the answer.

"Oh, yeah. That guy," Anakin agrees. "He was the guy with the cool sword."

"Dad, whatever happened to him?" Han wants to know.

"Terror attack," Ben looks away as he lies with the official explanation. "The last of the Resistance got him after the war was over." He checks the time again. Where is Rey? "If you're done, go wake up your sister, Anakin. If she sleeps too long, she won't sleep tonight."

His oldest dutifully heads off. Anakin is a good boy. He helps out around the shop and doesn't complain about the long hours he spends watching his younger siblings. He is responsible in a way Ben never was at his age, but Rey doesn't see it that way. Her experience on Jakku has her expecting a lot of the kids. More and more, Ben sees that Rey didn't have a real childhood. She's fine with how their family lives, probably because it is paradise compared to the way she grew up. But Ben doesn't feel that way. He wishes he had more to offer them. He may not be Kylo Ren any longer, but he has not lost his ambition. It's just buried deep down, stifled by the need to live a safe, anonymous life.

Young Anakin wants more too. All this responsibility has his oldest son focused on the future in a way that strikes Ben as odd for a kid his age. Anakin studies a lot because he wants to get into one of the First Order military academies. For smart working-class kids like Anakin, it's a ticket to a better life. Ben keeps deferring breaking the bad news about that plan. But the time is coming soon for he and Rey to tell Anakin the truth. For the second year in a row, Anakin has been offered a coveted place in one of the First Order's summer recruitment programs designed to give promising applicants a taste of military life. Anakin wants to go but that is out of the question. The kids might live on a First Order world and go to a First Order school, but Ben isn't letting them anywhere near the First Order military. For his own safety, Anakin Lars' future is as a civilian. And it will be as anonymous and forgettable as his father's life is now.

Anakin returns with quiet little Padme clutching her favorite toy and dragging a blanket behind her. Anakin has changed out of his uniform into his greasy work clothes. He settles his little sister next to Han who is still doing his homework. Then, Anakin buckles on a toolbelt and gets to work beside his father. His oldest son helps out with simple repairs while younger Han fetches and organizes tools. Both boys wash and wax the finished speeders waiting to be picked up.

"So . . . " his son broaches the topic Ben keeps avoiding, "Have you thought more about it?"

Ben defers the truth and takes refuge in easy excuses. "Summer is when I need you the most," he tells his son. "There's no one else to look after your brother and sister when you are out of school. Maybe this year we will make enough to buy a nanny droid and then you can go to the academy camp next summer," Ben outright lies.

"But it's a whole other year," his boy complains. He's whining a bit and that is very unlike Anakin. It betrays just how disappointed the kid is.

"That's not as long as it sounds. I'll make it up to you," Ben promises as he reaches for a tool.

"But this is a big opportunity," Anakin grumbles. He shoots his father a look. "You know that, Dad. You fought in the war."

"Being a soldier isn't as glamorous as you think it is," Ben sighs. Like all boys his age raised in the First Order educational system, Anakin has been taught to revere war heroes. The indoctrination starts young. "Son, you'll only get yourself killed," Ben says pointedly. "Seeing the galaxy isn't all it's cracked up to be. Trust me."

Anakin isn't giving up. "You fought in the war and you're still alive. You were a trooper-"

"I was a conscript." This is how Ben explains their lack of relatives. He is an ex-stormtrooper and Rey is a war orphan. "Wars don't make you great, kid. Don't fall for all that stuff they feed you at school."

"But Dad—"

"Forget it, kid. You're not going. I need you here." Ben says this in a sharp tone. These conversations always make him tense and frustrated. He doesn't like lying to his kid and he doesn't like quelling the boy's natural ambition. He's proud of Anakin for what he has accomplished, but Ben can't really let on. He ought to be encouraging his boy, but he isn't. And that makes him feel like a terrible parent. Plus, more and more he sees friction developing between them. Anakin isn't the stubborn confrontational sort like his father is, but that doesn't mean he is a pushover. More and more, the boy sees through his father's unsatisfactory excuses. Yes . . . Anakin will have to be told very soon, Ben thinks. Probably Han too.

"Mom!" That's Han's high-pitched voice.

"Sorry, I'm late," Rey calls out. Looking out from under the landspeeder, Ben sees little Padme's quick feet run past on the way to intercept her mother. Ben gives Anakin some quick instructions on how to finish the job they are working on. Then, he extricates himself from beneath the speeder and stands up. Rey is waiting with Padme in her arms.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

Rey nods. "Yeah, the new dayshift supervisor is a jerk. He kept us all late again. And, of course, it was off the clock." Ben nods to commiserate. He hates his own boss. If he were Kylo Ren in his Finalizer days, his boss would have been choked for sure.

"You had me worried there a bit." He and Rey lock eyes with unspoken understanding. "Well, gotta go. See you tonight. We . . . uh . . . need to talk when I get home," he says with deliberate vagueness.

Rey raises her eyebrows. "Is this about Anakin's summer camp?" she asks.

"Yes. It's time, Rey."

She takes a deep breath and gives a resigned nod. "Okay, I'll stay up then. I'll be awake when you get home."

Then Ben hurries off for work. His mind is very much on tonight's conversation with Rey. For years, he has dreaded telling his children the truth. Sharing the secret adds to the risk of discovery. It also burdens his children with a family legacy he himself chafed under. Plus, it will raise a lot of uncomfortable questions that he is not prepared to answer. Ben sighs. He and Rey won't be getting any sleep tonight.

These days he's not rolling in the sheets with Rey. He's an overworked, over stressed family man who falls dead tired to sleep most nights and wakes bleary eyed to face the day. Romance was a long-ago casualty of their young family and busy lives. He and Rey sleep in a small, cramped room behind the shop with thin walls. And most nights Padme crawls into bed with them. His little girl quite obviously needs more attention that she gets. But, truthfully, there is only so much of he and Rey to go around.

Eight hours later, his tired and dragging self returns to the shop. It's closed, of course, since it's midnight. But the door isn't locked. That's strange. Rey never forgets to lock the shop. There is no sign of a break-in as he examines the mechanism. Frowning, Ben activates the door. As it slides open, his heart stops.

He knew this day would come.

The lights are on so he can see the bodies littering the floor. These are black armored Death troopers, the pride of the First Order, and not the guys from the local garrison.

Ben instantly pulls his blaster, flips the safety off, and sets for kill. He is wide awake now. With a deep breath, he steps in.

"Rey?" he calls. "Kids?"

There is no answer.

Is this an ambush? Ben is wary of being jumped. He picks his way through the aftermath, noting the many scorch marks on the walls and the body count on the floor. Some of these troopers were killed by blaster fire but more than a few died by a lightsaber. Rey's lightsaber.

"Kids? Rey?"

Ben bends to pick a small plush toy off the ground. It's Padme's toy that she sleeps with. Rey would never have left this toy behind if she didn't have to. Even more so than the bodies, this toy is a very bad sign. Ben swallows hard.

Where is his family? Rey would have sent him a com with a warning or an explanation if she could. But she didn't. And that means she's trouble. If she's alive.

"Rey?" Ben is frantically searching around now. "Kids?" There are more bodies back here in the cramped and crowded family living quarters. Rey had held her own, he sees. He also sees her purse. She wouldn't have left her purse if she had a choice.

"Freeze!" The voice from behind him is the cultured, assured tone of the First Order elite. Ben whirls to train his blaster right at the heart of a uniformed major. The major holds no weapon but the six troopers behind him do. They are all aiming at him.

"Where are they?" Ben hisses. He does not lower his blaster. Instantly, it's a standoff.

"Ben Lars, I presume?" the major drawls. "The former Trooper BN-2871 during the war?"

"Yes. Where is my family?" Ben growls.

The major does not acknowledge the question. "Lower your weapon slowly to the ground and raise your hands high and you will not be harmed."

"Where is my family?" Ben demands again.

"Look, Trooper, there are days when I don't like my job and this is one of them. But you're an ex-serviceman, so you know the drill. Come quietly. Don't do anything stupid or you're dead. Understand?"

"Where is my family?" Ben demands a third time.

"Put the gun down. The children are fine."

"What about my wife?"

"She's dead. The Resistance Jedi woman is dead." The major nods in satisfaction. "We've been looking for that one for years. Did you know that your wife was a fugitive? Or did she fool you all these years?"

Ben doesn't answer. He's not certain how much of what he's being told is true. This wouldn't be the first time Ben has been told Rey is dead. If this major knows who he is really arresting, he doesn't let on. But knowing Snoke, this guy and the entire strike team have probably been kept in the dark. It's far more discreet this way.

"Not talking?" the major observes sourly. "Suit yourself. You'll answer soon enough when Intel beats it out of you. This will all be a lot easier if you just tell the truth. Now, put the gun down. If you want to see your children again, Trooper, you need to cooperate."

Okay, he'll play along. The first rule of a trap is to spring the trap. So Ben puts down the gun and raises his hands. He is cuffed and marched to a waiting shuttle that immediately lifts off. Ben can already guess their destination before he glances out the window to catch sight of the Supremacy waiting in orbit. Snoke himself has come for this.

His old Master is taking no chances. The shuttle is met by four red armored Praetorian guards. The clueless major looks a bit shocked at this. He starts arguing with the lead guard when Ben just steps past. "I know the way," he informs them as they all leap to catch up. Ben marches forward at a fast clip with the guards and the major trailing in his wake. It's weirdly like back in the old days when he was in charge around here. Does his retina scan still work as the security code on the ship's elevators up to the throne room? Yes, it does. Ben smirks at this oversight. Everyone is now very confused. Evidently, they have no idea who their prisoner is or why he is marching with determination into Supreme Leader Snoke's red curtained lair.

The elevator door opens and the first thing Ben sees is Snoke seated on his throne. Ben can't tear his eyes away. The old monster hasn't aged a bit. And even if he had, who could tell? Snoke looks every bit the Dark Master in his black hooded cloak. Ben stands there staring until a Praetorian shoves him forward into the room. Then, he begins a long, slow walk forward to confront his past.

"You are a hard man to find," Snoke speaks first. Then he nods magnanimously. "Welcome home. I have been expecting you." With a flick of his finger, Snoke releases Ben's handcuffs to clatter noisily to the floor.

But he is no fool. This is no genteel family reunion. Ben glares at his old Master with undisguised hatred. He doesn't know how this long-aggrieved confrontation will turn out, but he's pretty sure he won't live.

"It is customary for the Apprentice to kneel to the Master," Snoke says mildly.

Ben stands his ground. "I stopped kneeling to you years ago."

Snoke answers with lightning that brings Ben to his knees. Without the Force to deflect the onslaught, the pain takes his breath away.

"That's better," Snoke purrs. Then, for good measure, he shoots more lightning that lands Ben flat on his face. It must be a sufficient display of dominance, for Snoke now deigns to concede, "You may arise, Apprentice. That will do."

Hurting Ben struggles shakily back to his feet.

"Come closer," Snoke beckons. "Have a look for yourself." Snoke now gestures to a crumpled body lying in the shadows to the right of his throne.

It's Rey.

"Closer, I said," Snoke purrs. "Let there be no doubt in your mind this time."

Ben takes a deep breath and slowly walks forward.

"D-Dad!" It's Anakin's voice. Ben looks over to find the kids clustered together far off to the side flanked by two troopers. Frightened little Padme in her nightgown has her arms wrapped around Han and her face buried in his pantleg. She can't bear to look. Han stares blankly at his fallen mother with silent tears running down his face. He looks dazed. At his side, big brother Anakin looks angry. He's clutching his left arm awkwardly to his side where his pajama top has the telltale black scorch mark of a blaster bolt. He's also got a black eye and a fat lip where someone landed a punch. "Dad?" Anakin calls again to him. "Dad, what's going on?"

"Silence!" one of the troopers guarding the kids orders. He jabs Anakin in the back his rifle. "You speak when spoken to here, kid."

Ben meets his son's eyes and nods to reassure him. But he keeps walking to where Rey is. He sinks down beside her and rolls her over, brushing tangled brown hair back from her face. Rey is already cool to the touch and her unseeing eyes are wide open. His wife is dead, like he was told. It had been a painful death. There are flashburns to her torso from blaster shots. Rey had died defending her children and, all things considered, Ben thinks she would have been fine with that. They had known all along that this was a risk. But why couldn't it have been him instead?

Ben stares blankly down at the woman who risked everything to share his life and raise his children. His head knows that she is gone but his heart can't quite believe it. He is devastated. His children are devastated. Nothing will ever be the same.

It makes him reckless, and that's not like him. These days, Ben mostly is cautious because the real world has consequences. If you mouth off enough times at work, you lose your job. If you haul off and punch a guy, you have to explain it to the local police and then to a judge. It wasn't long before Ben Lars learned to suck up his pride, swallow his anger, and keep his head down. He became a working stiff like everyone else, responsible for cleaning up his own messes. He still has a temper but it has a much longer fuse. Ben has learned to let a lot of things roll off his back.

But that was when caution helped to keep his cover. None of that matters now that they have been discovered. Looking down at Rey's lifeless body, Ben struggles to keep his cool. He still has children to protect, if he can. He can't afford to melt down into Darkness picking a battle with Snoke he can't win. But why Rey? Why couldn't it have been him instead?

"D-Dad?"

His oldest son's voice recalls him to the present. Ben looks over to where Anakin stands with his brother and baby sister. And now, things become perfectly clear. Ben knows exactly why it couldn't have been himself lying dead at Snoke's feet. He also knows what is coming next. Ben swallows hard, hoping against hope that one day when his children know the whole story, they will understand what he's about to do. Because glancing over at Snoke's smug and disfigured face, Ben knows exactly why Rey died.

"D-Dad?" Anakin tries again. "Dad, what's go—"

"Silence!" The trooper guarding Anakin now backhands the boy. The blow sends the twelve-year-old to the ground. But young Anakin is a fighter like the great-grandfather he was named for. He pops up and launches himself at the trooper and it's a tussle for his rifle. Anakin manages to get the trooper's blaster away from him and he points and shoots at point blank range. Then he fires at the other trooper who has moved to intervene. It happens very fast as Ben looks on.

It's Force-assisted fast, Ben realizes. And now, he understands how they were found.

Padme starts screaming her head off and clawing at Han in terror.

The praetorians and the confused major who have escorted Ben into Snoke's presence now move to engage.

But Snoke on his throne waves them off. "That was brave of you, boy," he approves. "Go ahead, young Skywalker," Snoke invites to Anakin as though this were a game and not a deadly confrontation.

The traumatized boy is confused. He looks around a moment. He has no idea who Snoke is talking to. "Dad?" he looks again to his father. "Why is this happening? What did we do wrong?" Then, before Ben can answer, Anakin starts apologizing for his actions. "Dad, I'm sorry. Those guys just really made me mad . . . really mad . . . this makes five men I've killed tonight . . . I think . . . " The rattled boy starts to cry.

"Put the gun down, son," Ben orders in a slow, low voice. The last thing this situation needs is a trigger happy, hysterical child. "It won't help. This is my fight, not yours."

But old Snoke immediately undercuts this advice. He inclines his head and announces, "It's your move, child." Snoke settles back in his chair with a very satisfied look on his face.

Young Anakin wipes the tears from his eyes. He looks from his father to Snoke and then back to his father. Then he hefts the gun a little higher. "Are you in charge here?"

"Yes." Snoke and Ben answer in unison.

Snoke glances Ben's way and starts to laugh.

Ben ignores him. He walks forward now towards Anakin. "Put the gun down. It won't help. You will only get yourself killed-"

"I don't care! And it's a gun, of course it helps," Anakin snaps back. "They killed Mom. I don't know why. But are you just going to stand there? Do something, Dad!"

"In a moment, your father is going to run away again," Snoke jeers. "It's what he does best. He runs and he hides."

"Who are you?" Anakin turns to demand of Snoke. "Why is this happening to us?"

"I am called Snoke."

"Snoke, like Supreme Leader Snoke?" the boy hotly demands. "The old recluse?"

"Yes."

Anakin digests this news. Then he makes a face. "You look a lot better in the pictures in my textbooks in your golden dress."

Snoke just shrugs at this childish honesty. "Power trumps pretty any day," he announces. Then he flicks a finger in the direction of the still screaming Padme to steal her consciousness with the Force. The little girl slides down to the floor as Han frantically grabs for her. "You see? Power is everything, boy."

"What the fuck did you do to my sister?" Anakin demands. He lifts the gun and aims squarely at Snoke. "You need to start explaining. NOW!" the distraught boy howls.

"I did not harm her. She is asleep. She was frightened and this will soothe her," Snoke explains smoothly. "I have no wish to harm you either. My wife your grandmother would be very angry with me if I did."

"He's just a boy," Ben growls. He wants the focus back on himself, where it belongs. "Leave the children alone! They are not who you want." Ben is wary that he not take his children down with him. Although he doubts that is the plan, with three little Lars, Snoke might feel some are expendable.

Snoke shoots him a dismissive look. "You do not even know do you?" he gibes. "You and Rey cut yourselves off from the Force, so you could not conceive of the power of your offspring. So strong they are. Like I had hoped. Especially this one," Snoke nods to Anakin. "When I found you, Apprentice, I saw raw, untamed power. But it was nothing like this. This boy is impressive. Most impressive. I look forward to training him."

"The children know nothing!" Ben declares. "They are blameless!"

"Then you have made this very easy for me," Snoke retorts. "What is your name?" he asks the trembling boy who has a blaster aimed squarely at his chest.

His son looks to him and Ben nods for him to answer.

Scared Anakin turns to stare down Snoke. "My name is Anakin Lars."

Snoke laughs gleefully as he stands to his feet. "Oh, this gets even better still. I like you, Anakin," Snoke leers at the boy as he walks down from his throne. "Such spunk for a boy so young. Just like your mother before you."

"I'm going to k-kill you!" Anakin stammers. "I don't care who you are! You don't get to treat my family like this. We have done nothing wrong!" The boy takes aim again. "Don't move or I'll shoot! I mean it! I'll kill you, Leader Snoke!"

"When the time is right, I certainly hope so." Snoke smiles down at the boy like a genial grandfather. "Your father killed me once. The Apprentice always kills the Master to complete his training. It is a very important step."

Anakin watches befuddled as Snoke steps past him to approach the other children, blithely striding by the loaded blaster as if unconcerned. Han is kneeling on the ground with his little sister hauled protectively into his lap. There are two dead stormtroopers lying inches away. Han looks up wide eyed and visibly trembling at Snoke.

"And how are you called?" the Dark Master inquires.

"I'm H-Han," the boy says, looking like he might cry at any moment. "I'm in fifth grade and I'm Han," he babbles nervously, looking at his father the whole time.

Snoke grunts in response. "You mother must have named you." He considers the sleeping little sister. "And this little one? What is her name?"

"She's Padme. But she can't say her name. She calls herself Paddy. It's stupid," her brother volunteers artlessly. Then he starts to cry. "Don't hurt her!" he pleads as he gathers his arms around his little sister. "She's just a baby. She still wets the b-bed . . . " the boy rambles. "And she b-bites . . . when she's mad, she b-bites . . ."

"She's just like her mother, then," Snoke smirks. "Your sister is very young. In time, she will grow to be a powerful seer. Like my late wife. It is a marvelous talent and so very useful too," Snoke approves.

"Get away from them!" Anakin dares to interrupt.

Snoke half turns to catch Ben's eyes. He glances to the blustering twelve-year-old Anakin. "This one does more than bite. This one kills," Snoke observes with relish as he pokes at a fallen trooper with his foot. "Well done, Anakin. Well done," he commends. "Familial loyalty is a worthy trait. Too bad your father never learned it."

"Get away from them!" Anakin hollers again. Then he pumps off a warning shot with the gun. It streaks harmlessly past Snoke.

It's a bold move that instantly has Ben concerned. "He's just a boy," Ben intervenes to forestall his Master's wrath. "Leave him be. Your fight is with me!" Ben roars. "Leave my children alone!"

Anakin looks confused as he keeps aiming and re-aiming the gun at the unconcerned Snoke. The boy looks to his father and starts demanding answers. "What's really going on? What is the Apprentice? Why did they kill Mom?"

Snoke answers evenly, "I ordered her killed. It was punishment for hiding you from me. Anakin, there are consequences for disobedience. Let this be a lesson to you."

"That was my mother! She never did anything wrong in her life!" Anakin sputters at the injustice of it all.

Snoke is patient as he explains. "There is a great deal you don't know about your mother, Anakin. She was a follower of the Jedi Luke Skywalker and member of the Resistance. She helped to blow up the Starkiller before you were born. One day, she showed up here with your father to kill me and to kill my guards. Your mother," Snoke reveals, "is a longtime enemy of the state."

"Oh," the shocked boy looks to him and Ben nods to acknowledge the truth. The kids know their mother as a woman more interested in doing the laundry than watching the newsfeed. She reads bedtime stories and bakes treats on their birthdays. No doubt she is the furthest thing from what they imagine a Resistance terrorist to be. "Well, I don't care!" The boy's grief makes him reckless. "I hate you! You killed my mother!" He shoots again. This time he aims for towering Snoke's chest. The Dark Master simply deflects the bolt with his palm. It harmlessly slams into a wall.

"Good. Gooooood. Use your aggressive feelings, boy. Let the hate flow through you," Snoke encourages.

Anakin hesitates, thoroughly confused. Then he responds by pumping off two more shots that Snoke again effortlessly deflects.

"Stop!" Ben hollers at his kid. "You can't kill him!"

"Wise words," Snoke smirks. "But I'm oh so glad he tried. Like father, like son, it seems."

"How did he do that?" incredulous Anakin demands of his father.

"The Force."

"The Force?" Anakin blinks. "You mean that ancient Jedi stuff?"

"Yes," Ben confirms.

"So there really is a Force?" Anakin looks skeptical. "I thought that hokey religion died out a hundred years ago."

"Oh, how charming. Such innocence. Such ignorance," Snoke looks like he's relishing this confrontation. Old Snoke loves a slow telling as much as he loves a slow killing. And there's nothing his Master loves more than devastating truth. "The Force is strong with your family," he says gently to Anakin. "You have it, your brother and sister have it, your mother had it, and your father had it." Snoke looks pointedly in Ben's direction. "Your father can have it back any time he wishes."

"Dad, you have the Force?" Anakin is lost at what this means. "Wait-are you a Jedi?" he asks fearfully.

"In fact, he was," Snoke reveals. "But no longer. Child, your father was once a very powerful man. Tell them who you are, Apprentice."

Ben hesitates.

"Dad, what is he talking about? Why does he call you that? Are you a fugitive like Mom?" Anakin demands. "Someone tell me the truth! What's going on?"

Ben inhales a ragged breath. "Before you were born, I was a different man. But this isn't about me." He sees that now. Maybe it should have been obvious all along. "Anakin, it is you and your abilities that he wants. You, and your brother and sister." The kids are pretty much lost to Snoke now, Ben knows. Suddenly, he's glad that Rey didn't live to see this.

"The children are not all I want." Snoke waves a breezy hand over in the direction of his control panel of his throne room. From behind the equipment with the help of the Force float the sword and the mask of Kylo Ren. They come to a rest on the empty seat of Snoke's throne.

Ben sucks in an involuntary breath. He stares hard at the relics of his old self.

"Go on, Apprentice. Take them," Snoke urges. "You cannot deny the truth that is our family. You cannot deny who you are."

"N-No . . . " This is a trap he extricated himself from long ago and he's not going back. Rey wouldn't want him to go back, Ben knows. "No!"

Snoke is undeterred. "Welcome home, Kylo Ren," he purrs. "Now, reclaim the Force and reclaim your command. Take your place at my side."

"Kylo Ren is dead!" Ben barks his refusal. "He died thirteen years ago. He no longer has the Force."

"Kylo Ren? Dad, are you Kylo Ren?" The voice is Han's. Anakin looks too stunned to speak. The children stare at their father in his grimy factory supervisor uniform. Their workingman dad looks nothing like the great masked Dark Side warrior who has supposedly been dead for years.

"Kylo Ren is dead. He died in the last Resistance terrorist attack before you were born," Ben sticks to the script. "I am not that man anymore!" His voice is firm as he stares down his old Master. "That name no longer has any meaning for me."

Snoke is patient with his refusal. "It is the name of your true self. You have only forgotten. Like you have intentionally forgotten the Force."

"No!" He refuses to be that man again. He refuses to be Snoke's pawn.

"Wow, Dad. Is that true? You were Supreme Leader Ren?" It's Han again. The boy is impressed.

Anakin is not. "You lied to us all this time?" Understanding now dawns. And childishly, Anakin now focuses on his own concerns. "This is why you wouldn't let me go to stormtrooper training camp! You didn't want me to be in the First Order!" he accuses. "You were never going to let me go to the academy, were you?"

"Child," Snoke promises indulgently, "I will give you all the training you require. In time, you will call me Master."

That is precisely what Ben wants to avoid. But it is probably too late now. Still, he glares hard at his old Master and shakes his head. "No."

Again, Snoke ignores his refusal. "Take your sword. Take your mask," Snoke goads. "Return to me with your family and I will welcome you back." And here comes the kicker Ben has been anticipating all along. "Return to my good graces, Apprentice, and I will resurrect your wife."

"No." Ben does not hesitate.

"You can resurrect Mom?" Han gapes at Snoke. He looks to his father. "Can he do that?"

"Yes, child, I can," Snoke purrs. "Would you like your mother back? I have the power to save the one you love. I can make your mother live and breathe again as though nothing ever happened."

"Wow." Again, young Han is impressed.

His older brother looks miserable. "Dad, why didn't you tell us?" Anakin groans. He is mature enough to understand at least some of the ramifications of the news about his parents.

"Come back to me and I will give your children back their mother. You will live blissfully with your beloved and your children again." Ugly old Snoke is practically cooing at him. Ben makes a face in distaste.

"No . . . she wouldn't want this . . . " Ben is certain. Rey would hate being used to manipulate him in this manner.

Snoke keeps cajoling him softly. "Take back the Force and give yourself to the Dark Side. It is unavoidable. It is your destiny, Kylo Ren."

"No!"

That rejection cuts through. Snoke drops his wheedling guise of temptation. He is growing annoyed now. "I offer you the galaxy and I offer you back your wife. Don't be a fool," he sneers. "It's happily-ever-after with power. It doesn't get any better than that. What are you waiting for?"

"You were Kylo Ren of the First Order? The Supreme Leader Kylo Ren?" Anakin keeps trying to understand. "You told us you were a stormtrooper honorably discharged after Coruscant fell," he accuses. "That you were a conscript who had no choice but to fight."

"I did it for you! You mother and I walked away from all of this for you," Ben glares at his oldest son who doesn't know enough yet to understand.

The boy is less ungrateful than he is bewildered by this explanation. Because, of course, he has no concept of what it means to be Kylo Ren. And, truthfully, young Ben Solo had no idea of what he had signed up for at age fifteen. Like so many things in life, it had turned out to be far different than he had expected. Ben is desperate to save his children from repeating his own mistakes. The past will never die if it keeps repeating itself because the next generation fails to learn from the previous. Of all the fears Ben has for his children, what he fears most is that they will become his old self.

"But why?" Anakin asks. "Why would you walk away when you could have everything as Kylo Ren? Dad, you and Mom wouldn't worry about credits. And then you could buy a nanny droid and I could go to camp this summer." Young Anakin only sees the benefits to himself. He has no concept of what Snoke is offering or what Snoke will demand in return.

Ben whirls on the young boy. In the stress of the situation, his words come out in a gruff rush of anger. "Your mother and I left all of this behind! She wouldn't want this! She would hate this!" Rey would rather be dead than have him be Kylo Ren again. Ben is sure of this. She hates old Snoke just as much as he does.

"I don't get it either. Why would you want to be a mechanic if you could be Kylo Ren?" Han wonders aloud. "I think it would be cool to run the First Order."

"I would do it," Anakin speaks up now. His tone conveys his disappointment in his father. "I would do it for Mom. I love Mom."

That comment provokes a sly grin from Snoke. "Anakin? Perhaps you would like to try," he invites. Snoke's demeanor is gracious, like a genial host and not the reigning Master of Darkness in the universe.

"Me?" the boy blinks. He blushes, like he's flattered. Reflexively Anakin looks to his father for permission.

"No! Anakin, I forbid it!"

"If I cannot have the father, then I will accept the son in his place. If you will not turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps he will." Snoke turns to the twelve-year-old expectantly. "Anakin," he asks softly, "how much do you love your mother? Go, take up the sword of Kylo Ren, and take your father's place at my side."

"No!" Ben advances on his son. "NO!"

"Don't you love Mom?" Anakin demands. He has tears in his eyes. "Don't you want her back? It's Mom! M-Mommy is dead . . . "

Ben shakes his head and warns, "You don't know what's he's asking. He cannot revive your mother without sacrificing another Force user. That means one of us has to die. Your mother would not want that!"

"Once, you begged me to revive Rey," Snoke reminds him. "You were even willing to offer your own mother in her place."

"Rey was never even dead!" Ben rages, remembering his Master's ultimate betrayal that was the last straw. "You lied!"

Snoke glosses over that argument. "Luckily, there is no need to sacrifice a family member this time around," he assures. "I have a young Apprentice. A rather disappointing young man. He tries, but he is no Kylo Ren. He was a slave boy mucking out fathier stalls when I found him years ago on Canto Bight. His talents are limited and his commitment is questionable. It is time to be rid of him," Snoke decrees. "Especially when there are far more promising prospects on the horizon." Snoke glances pointedly over at Han and then at Anakin. "Boys," he promises, "I can give you everything your miserable life up until now has lacked."

Anakin turns to Snoke. The boy is clutching his painful, wounded arm to his chest but still brandishing the gun. "So wait—you're saying that other man will die so that Mom will live?"

"Yes. What I take from the Force to revive your mother, I must yield back." But Snoke brushes off this concern. "He will die anyway. I am giving you a way to make his death meaningful instead of just unfortunate."

"O-Oh," the boy hesitates.

Snoke makes it a teachable moment. "Everything has a price, Anakin. The price for your mother's life is my current Apprentice."

Ben gives his sons each a hard look. "This is how it works!" he warns. "One day he will betray you just like he is betraying this other kid! Do not trust him!"

"But it's Mom!" Han whines.

"Dad, it's Mom!" Anakin seconds his brother with a plaintive wail. "Don't you love Mom?"

Snoke, of course, is loving this chorus of allies.

"No!" Ben's answer is final. "I will not do this!" Someday, somehow, he hopes his children will understand why and will forgive him for this decision. But that won't be until they are old enough to appreciate the situation, they know all the facts, and their mother is not lying dead a few meters away on the floor. Because there's no way his kids can possibly understand his decision now.

There is a long moment of silence while his boys look at him with upset and angry faces.

"Fine! I'll do it!" Anakin abruptly decides. He tucks the gun into his waist and then starts stalking up the steps to Snoke's throne.

Horrified Ben acts on instinct, thrusting out his right hand. The crossguard sword that won the galaxy over a decade ago flies from the son's eager reach into the father's firm grip. And with it, the Force rushes back to Ben. It is a jolt of pure energy, a rush of raw power, as the mystical force that binds the universe together overtakes his mind. It is potent, far more potent than he recalls. Suddenly, his senses are sharper, his consciousness is larger, and his body is poised to act. All the outrage and anger at the situation, all his grief at Rey's loss, finds its focus. The Force has a certain muscle memory. The years spent channeling emotions into power now mean Ben is brimming with Darkness. He is poised now for the fight he has previously been declining.

Snoke's eyes light up and a slow, wide grin splits his ruined features.

"Leave my children alone!" Ben roars as he lights his sword and points it outstretched at eye level to threaten Snoke. The unstable blade crackles and hisses just like he remembers. And, damn, it feels good in his hands. The Force feels good too. Ben closes his eyes a moment and shivers with pleasure from the feel of power. No doubt Snoke sees this too. It is humiliating and tempting all at once.

"Revive my wife but leave my children alone and I will be Kylo Ren," he rasps. Ben is ready to make a deal. He will sacrifice his soul so that his children will keep theirs. And he will get Rey back in the process. He can be Kylo Ren again, he reasons, if he has Rey. She will help him get through it. She did it before, she can do it again. Their lives and their fates have been intertwined for years now. In some ways, today's drama is nothing new.

"Those boys will need to be trained," Snoke announces with near glee. He is panting to control them, Ben sees. Nothing has changed. Old Snoke is still the alpha predator of the Force. Out to corrupt innocence and to seduce youth. To take everything from those unable to resist and to glory in their downfall. "Power like theirs must be nurtured," he drawls. The lust for power is thinly veiled behind his wise man guise.

No one is going to toughen his kids up with torture by Force lightning, Ben decides. He looks old Snoke in the eye. "They will be trained by me, not by you."

"So you can one day seek to depose me with your army of little Skywalkers?" Snoke raises an eyebrow.

"You are invincible and immortal, are you not?" Ben sneers. "Afraid of the competition? I thought you were a Dark god."

"They will be trained by you under my supervision," Snoke counters.

Troubled, Ben considers a moment.

So does Snoke. "How can I be sure you are even worth it?" he muses. "Your skills are rusty from disuse. Perhaps I would prefer your oldest boy after all."

With a glance over at Anakin standing near the throne, Ben challenges, "Try me."

"With pleasure," Snoke smirks. Then he gestures to the major and the four praetorians who have watched this entire exchange. "Kill Kylo Ren. Spare the children," he orders. Then Snoke climbs back on his throne to watch the show.

When it is all over, Ben lungs are burning, his chest is heaving, and he has a long bloody slice down his left arm where blood steadily drips to the floor. But behind him all four praetorians are dead. Two lost their heads. One lost an arm before Ben spitted him. The last was sliced in half Darth Maul-style. The unlucky major was the first to go down choked with the Force.

"Ah, well done, well done!" Snoke acclaims. He claps like this is a sporting match. "There is my worthy Apprentice, my son of Darkness, the heir to Lord Vader, the mighty Kylo Ren!" Snoke inclines his head to acknowledge the victory. "My faith in you is restored. I will revive your wife and together we will train your sons. Welcome home, my good and faithful Apprentice. Come, fulfill your destiny," he invites.

Then, Snoke waits expectantly.

Ben is uncomfortably aware of his two impressionable young sons looking on with slack jaws and wide eyes. Still, he stiffly lumbers to one knee, his lit sword held up with its blade pointed down. Ben wishes he and Rey had told the boys the truth before today. He wishes his sons knew the full story and had some context to understand his actions now. He worries that Anakin and Han will see glory in Kylo Ren, and not the humiliating failure he truly is. But Ben will do this. He will humble himself for Rey so that she will live. He will humble himself for his children so that he will be around to exert a tempering influence to Snoke. He will be Kylo Ren again. But this time, it's not for himself. It is for others. And it is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.

When Rey is revived, there will be Hell to pay, he knows.

With great trepidation, Ben bows his head and closes his eyes. He submits with the time-honored words of the Apprentice to his Dark Master: "What is thy bidding, my Master?"

On his high throne, old Snoke grins ear to missing ear.