A/N: hi guys! Sorry for the delay in updates (again) but exams have been keeping me so busy I can barely fit in time to write down two sentences. Sad, really. At least I managed to pile up my two sentences until I had a half-way decent chapter. I hope you all enjoy it!

Ben had barely taken two steps before the back of his neck tingled, the Force around him eddying with warning. Whirling around, he held out a hand, palm up, freezing the blaster bolt in mid-air mere centimetres from his neck.

Rey spun around, her lightsaber flying to her hand and igniting in a crackle of blue plasma. Instinctively, they stood back to back, covering each other and scanning the crowd together.

Whispers of awe and fear rippled through the crowd, and the Resistance seemed to take a collective step back. Whoever had fired the bolt was masked in the overwhelming Force signature of the crowd.

After a moment of electric silence, Rey lowered her lightsaber, shutting it off with a snap and tucking it back into her belt. "Who shot that?" she asked calmly, gesturing at the blaster bolt still suspended in mid-air.

No-one replied.

Dameron seemed to unfreeze and stepped forward. "Alright, everyone, please calm down. I understand why some of you might think I've made a mistake in agreeing to trust this man. But I did agree to it, and I expect you all to respect my decision."

He looked around the clearing, making eye contact with everyone he could see. "This man is the son of General Leia Organa and Han Solo, and Luke Skywalker's nephew. We owe it to them to give him a second chance."

Ben felt a grudging respect for the man rise up in him as the Resistance's collective Force signature calmed somewhat, murmurs of agreement rippling through the forest.

"Thank you," Dameron said. He caught Ben's eye and gave a small nod, jerking his head at the blaster bolt.

Ben understood, and relaxed his hand to release the bolt. It shot downwards with a low whine, striking the forest floor explosively and sending up flurries of dirt and leaves.

From Dameron's part, it was a very clever move. Without him having to say anything, it showed the Resistance that attacking Ben was futile, but also showed that he was willing to keep his promise – instead of redirecting the bolt to kill, which he would probably have every right to do, he chose to send it at the floor and harm no-one.

He wasn't Kylo Ren anymore, that much should be abundantly obvious to anyone and everyone watching.

Are you okay? Rey asked him through the bond, relaxing her stance and turning to him with raised eyebrows.

Fine, he sent, flashing her a half-smile for good measure. A bit more tired than I should be after stopping that bolt, but that'll be Palpatine's draining.

She gave him a wry smile – thank all the stars that's over – and turned to walk over to Dameron and Finn.

Finn, he noticed suddenly, was watching him and Rey with a furrowed brow.

Can he sense the bond? Ben wondered. Then he realised – to everyone watching, it must have seemed like he and Rey had communicated entirely in half-smiles and eyebrow raises.

What that suggested, he wasn't sure – but judging by Finn's frown, the ex-stormtrooper didn't like it all too much.

Well, fair, Ben admitted to himself. I wouldn't like it that much either if my best friend suddenly started talking in smiles and shrugs to my worst enemy.

The thought sent a twinge through his chest as an image of Tai flashed in front of his eyes.

Tai. He hadn't thought of his one real Jedi friend in years.

Guilt, self-hatred, grief – but before his emotions could flood him completely, he felt a gentle hand on his arm.

He half-turned, expecting Rey, but instead he saw a short, dark-haired woman in a Resistance commander's uniform, a half-moon pendant catching the sun on her chest.

"I know that look," she said softly. "But blaming yourself won't help. You can't change the past, no matter how much you want to."

He blinked at her, surprised. That was nearly word-for-word what his mother had told him in his memory of the Chandrilan hill.

"I wanted to hate you, you know," the woman continued, her voice reflective. "I wanted to hate you so much, and hate Poe for even offering you a chance. But then I saw that look on your face."

"I lost my sister in the war," she said, and he didn't need the Force to sense the waves of grief that flooded off her. "She piloted one of the bombers that took down the Fulminatrix. The First Order took her from me. You took her from me. And I should hate you for it."

"But I can't," she said, shaking her head, unshed tears in her eyes. "You're like me. You lost people you love, too. And the moment I saw that look on your face, I knew you'd go back and change things in a heartbeat if you could. How can I hate you for that?"

Ben didn't know what to say.

The woman shook her head again. "It's so easy to look at you and see just the monster, the murderer," she said. "But there's more to you than that. You were a victim in all of this, as well." She took a deep breath, blowing it out in a slightly shuddery sigh. "You deserve that second chance."

"Thank you," he said, but the two words couldn't possibly express all the gratitude, respect and empathy he felt towards this woman.

She smiled sadly, raising a hand to wipe at her eyes. "You remind me of your mother," she said softly.

Ben's heart twisted. Touching his shoulder gently, the woman turned and walked away.

The ex-stormtrooper, Finn, met her half-way across the clearing, putting a protective arm around her waist and glaring daggers at Ben.

Despite himself, Ben smiled. The moment reminded him poignantly of his father pulling his mother into his arms after an argument with Borsk Fey'lya and shooting the Bothan in question a glare furious enough to set a rancor shivering.

He was surprised at how peaceful the memory was, and even more surprised to notice that it came to him completely free of any guilt or heart-wrenching grief. Instead, he felt nostalgia, tinged by a hint of fond sadness.

I've moved on, he realised with a jolt.

He wondered, briefly, if he should feel guilty for letting go of his grief so quickly.

But the answer came to him with such unshakeable certainty that he felt sure his mother and father had reached out to him – no. Wherever they were now, Leia Organa and Han Solo were happy, and they were proud of him.

Someone touched his shoulder again, and he knew without having to look that this time it was Rey.

She stood next to him and watched Finn and the dark-haired woman – Rose, she supplied through the bond – with an affectionate smile.

For a long time, I thought I'd never get to have that, she told him, and he sensed a trace of lingering sadness as she watched Finn press a quick kiss to Rose's temple, leaning down to lace his fingers with hers.

And now you can? he asked carefully.

She turned to face him. Is that something you'd want?

He felt a warm glow spread through him. More than anything.

Maybe not immediately, but we can have that, Rey said, and it sounded like a promise.

He found himself grinning like an idiot as he looked down at her. He had wondered, fleetingly, if he had maybe misinterpreted their two kisses on Exegol, and if she had meant them more as gratitude and relief, and not –

For all the stars, Ben, stop, Rey thought into their bond. I kissed you because I wanted to kiss you. And now I want to get to know you the way Finn and Rose know each other – all the little quirks, all the little things and all the bigger things. Everything.

You're amazing, he informed her, pleased when her cheeks pinked slightly. And I want to get to know you like that too.

They stood like that for a moment, looking at each other and grinning like the love-struck idiots they were.

Then Rey started guiltily. "Oh, stars, I almost forgot," she said aloud. "Poe asked me to take you into the base."

"To start preparing my defence for the trial?" he guessed, forcing his mind to return to practical matters, which was a lot harder than it should be when he kept wanting to start smiling for no good reason.

Rey chewed her lip. "Well, actually, no. We can start that tomorrow. The Resistance is having a celebration tonight…"

"And I'm not invited," he finished.

She sighed. "Look, I trust you, and I know you've turned. But the rest of the Resistance… they agreed to give you a chance, but Poe thinks that it would be better if you stayed out of sight until the trial."

"I understand," he said gently, and really, he did. He couldn't possibly expect the Resistance to start inviting him to parties after one speech, no matter how good it had been.

Rey sighed again. "Still, I wish you could have –"

"I've never been much of a party person anyway," he said wryly, sending an image of himself dying of embarrassment at one of his mother's fancy balls into the bond.

The corners of Rey's lips turned up as she grinned. He wished he could kiss her then and there, but he wasn't stupid enough to do that in front of who-knows-how-many members of the Resistance.

He settled for sending her a flash of happiness through the bond, and her smile widened.

"Let's go," he said, taking a step forward and nodding in the direction of the base. "You've got a party to go to."

"I won't go if you don't –" she started, but he cut her off.

"Oh, no, absolutely not. You need to go and enjoy yourself. Besides," he added dryly, "if I keep you away from your friends for one more minute, Finn's glare might actually burn a hole in my back."

Rey rolled her eyes, but her affection filled the bond, warm and bright.

Not just affection for Finn, he realised. Affection for him, and a soft kind of happiness that he cared enough about her to let her go enjoy herself and leave him behind.

"You're not leaving me behind," he said as they began to walk towards the base. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Just you try and keep me away," she said.

Ben smiled.

Ben yawned and stretched his arms above his head, rolling his shoulders to work off a crick in his neck. Sunlight filtered through the window, bathing his bed with golden light and illuminating the simple desk and chair against the opposite wall.

His room was nowhere near as grand as his quarters on the Finalizer, but remarkably decent considering he was basically a prisoner of the Resistance. Simple and functional, they were nonetheless a massive step up from what he had been expecting.

He was distracted from his musings by a stir on the other side of the bond as Rey woke up, followed by something that sounded like urghharghhwhyyyy.

Are you okay? he thought into the bond, biting back a grin at her interesting word choice.

Ughhhhhhh, she replied, and he felt the echo of her pounding headache in his skull. Remind me never to go near Corellian whiskey again.

He tried and failed to hide his amusement. That explains the grammar.

Shut up, she grumbled good-naturedly.

Well, I can, he said, letting a hint of teasing creep into his tone. Or I can talk some more, and explain to you how to use the Force to get rid of your hangover.

Rey's shock pulsed through the bond. You can do that?

How else do you think the Jedi Masters were never hungover?

I always thought they just… didn't drink, Rey said. An image of the old Jedi Code flashed into her mind, and she gave a small mental shake as though all the strict rules were weighing down hard on her.

You're not wrong, he admitted, privately agreeing with her sentiments about the Jedi rules. They weren't supposed to. But not all the Jedi started off as stuffy old men, you know. There were a few rulebreakers there too.

And the rulebreakers needed to hide the fact that they were breaking the rules, Rey reasoned with just a hint of amusement. So they came up with a way to cure their hangovers.

Exactly, he agreed.

Okay, so how do you do it? He sensed Rey frowning as she splashed some cold water onto her face in an attempt to soothe her pounding head.

Ben paused, considering. He had never tried explaining a Force technique to someone before.

It's a lot like healing, he said after a moment of thought. But instead of focusing on a cut or something external, direct the Force inwards. Close your eyes and try to see your blood as a river through the Force. The alcohol in your system appears like dark pebbles in the river. You have to let the Force flow through you completely, and wash the pebbles out of the river.

He sensed concentration from Rey's end of the bond, and asked hesitantly, Does that make sense?

After a moment of silence, each second of which increased his anxiety by several notches, Rey replied, Wow. That feels so much better.

It worked?

Perfectly, Rey said, sending him a rush of warmth through the bond. You're a natural teacher, Ben.

You think so? he asked, feeling a tingle of warmth in his chest.

Definitely! Rey said. You described the technique exactly how it worked out.

He felt the warm tingle again, and was able to identify it this time. He was… pleased.

Now there was an emotion he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

Luke mentioned, once, that teaching gave him more pleasure than being a hero ever did, Ben said through the bond. I thought he was being ridiculous. But now… I kind of get it. It's a nice feeling.

He sensed the flash of an idea from Rey's end of the bond, followed by a tingle of excitement. What is it? he asked.

She hesitated. I… Do you mind if I come over?

Of course not, he answered, surprised.

Good, Rey said, pleased. I'll see you in a few minutes, then.

She didn't reach out to close the bond, so he could sense her leaving her rooms and walking down the corridor as clearly as he would have been able to if he was walking beside her.

Ben shook his head slowly, marvelling at the bond. He had never imagined it was even possible to be this in tune with someone else, let alone that it would feel this right.

A sudden idea struck him, and he shifted his focus to the empty cup on his desk. Reaching out a hand, he levitated the cup half a metre or so into the air.

He could still feel the bond in the back of his mind, Rey's presence there as natural as his own. The best way he could think to describe it was with an analogy – it was like reading in the sun. Even when his brain was actively focusing on the book, a part of him was still aware of the sun's warmth on his back.

He let the cup float slowly back down to the desk, shifting his focus back to the bond again. The link's openness felt as natural as breathing, as though his mind and Rey's were meant to be connected like this.

The thought of closing it seemed absurd.

He realised, now, that a lot of their pain and exhaustion during the war years was because they had been forcing the bond to stay shut when it should have been open since the moment they had met. Closing the bond had been like damming a river – difficult and time-consuming, with the current fighting to be released every single day.

No wonder they had issues.

He was so caught up in his musings that he almost missed the knock on his door. Rey gave him a little nudge through the bond – we're here, daydreamer – just as he realised that there was someone outside.

Two someones, actually. One was Rey, and the other one was Rose, the woman who had said he reminded her of his mother.

With a soft beep of alarms being deactivated, his door swung open.

"Morning," he said, smiling at Rey and nodding at Rose.

Rose was all business, greeting him perfunctorily before launching into a speech about his future. "Morning. Right, so, as you probably know, you're going to have to start preparing a defence for your trial."

Ben nodded. He did know that, but he didn't have the faintest idea where to start.

Rose looked him up and down, and gave a quick nod. "Right now, the Resistance's priority is setting up a new government. We're having a meeting this afternoon to discuss that. And when that's sorted, your trial on Coruscant will be the first order of business."

"You sound like you know exactly what you're talking about," he said, impressed.

Rose flashed a quick smile. "That's probably because I do know exactly what I'm talking about. General Leia spent a long time explaining to me what needed to happen if we won."

"Sounds like my mother," he said with a flash of nostalgia.

Rose nodded, and her shrewd eyes fixed on his. He wondered what she saw in him.

He didn't wonder long, because Rose started talking again almost immediately. "When the government is set up, dealing with the remnants of the war will be first priority. You make the top of the list."

"So I really need to start preparing my defence," he said. "Problem is, I don't have a clue how to do that."

Rose tapped her lips in consideration. "I'm no law expert, but I do know this: you're going to have to give Coruscant a very good reason not to throw you in prison and leave you there for the rest of your days."

Ben nodded. That made perfect sense. Problem was, he didn't have a very good reason.

Rey, who had been quiet up until this point, stepped forward. "I think I know what we can say," she said.

Ben turned to her, surprised. "What?"

She took a deep breath. "You can help me train a new generation of Jedi."

Okay, he had not been expecting that. "Come again?" he said.

"Earlier, when you taught me to filter the alcohol out of my system? It made perfect sense. You're a natural teacher," Rey explained. "And, unlike me, you were fully trained by Master Skywalker. There's really no-one better to help me teach a new generation of Jedi."

He blinked. Blinked again. And thought about it.

Of all the scenarios for his future, he had never pictured teaching as one of them, let alone teaching new Jedi.

But… it made sense.

Like Rey said, he had been trained by Luke Skywalker. And, hell, he was the last of the legendary Skywalkers.

Technically, there was no-one better suited to teaching a new generation of Jedi.

But did he want to?

The Jedi Code had never really been his forte. He was too emotional, and he never could find that blasted serenity his uncle had worn like a cloak.

Rey seemed to sense the direction of his thoughts. Switching to the bond, she said, Look, I know this is a surprise. But I really think you'll be good at it. And we don't have to do things exactly the same way the old Jedi did – parts of the Code don't feel right to me, either. If you're willing to give it a try, we can figure out a better way together.

He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. His mother's face floated in front of his eyes, and he heard her voice clear as a bell in his mind: "Everyone makes mistakes, Ben. It's part of life. What's important is how you fix those mistakes."

"Okay," he said aloud. "Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I'm willing to try."

Rose was watching them thoughtfully. "That's an excellent point, Rey," she said. "If anything can sway Coruscant, it'll be that."

"But I'll still have to answer to all my charges, won't I?" he guessed.

Rose nodded, her expression still thoughtful. "But you have a solid reason for them to let you walk free. Now you just need to figure out a way to prove that what you did wasn't so awful it can't be forgiven."

"I don't know if that's possible," he admitted. "I did some pretty terrible things."

"But you also did a lot of good," Rey countered. "And most of the charges they'll press are false. For instance, you didn't kill Master Skywalker or any of his apprentices."

"You didn't?" Rose asked, surprised.

Ben shook his head. "A storm set the temple on fire after I left."

Interest sharpened Rose's gaze. "Is there any way to prove that?"

Ben started to shake his head again, but stopped, thinking about it. "Well, if we can access the records of the hangar bay I left from, we should be able to prove I was gone before the fire started."

Rose beamed. "Then you know where to start."

Ben smiled. "I guess we do."

As she and Rey left for the meeting, he recognised the feeling that had started to tingle in his stomach.

Hope.

A/N: Thank you very much for reading, guys, and thank you a thousand times for your patience. I hope to see you again in a few weeks with the next chapter.