SUMMARY: On Starkiller Base, a conflicted Kylo Ren leaves the First Order with the help of his father. Nobody really knows what to do with the sudden return of Ben Solo, who everyone thought had died years ago. Rey most of all; she is puzzled by him. Especially when she comes back from Ahch-To with Luke Skywalker and finds Ben with a girlfriend, sorta.

So basically, The Force Awakens happened all the way up to the bridge scene between Han Solo and his son, which did happen... just a little differently.

Kylo Ren: Your son is dead.
Han Solo: No, Kylo Ren is dead, my son is alive. Come home.
Kylo Ren: It's too late.
Han Solo: Ben.
Kylo Ren: I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it.
Han Solo: You do.
Ben: Dad... I-
Han Solo: I know.

I loved that scene in Rise of Skywalker so much, that my mind just ran wild thinking about what would have had happened if Ben had just decided to come home in The Force Awakens. So here it is. I will take a lot from both The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. It will be a Romance (yes, Reylo); it will be funny; and it will hurt. So, spoilers I guess, and enjoy.

CHAPTER ONE

To say that Rey is puzzled by the man is an understatement.

A few months ago, she left D'Qar with Chewbacca and R2-D2 on the Millennium Falcon with a map to Luke Skywalker. When she found the Jedi Master, she was more than a little surprised by the sight he made. The legendary hero of the Rebellion was now a cantankerous old man who had cut himself off from the Force and the rest of the world. Rey had learned from Han Solo that one of his Jedi apprentices had turned to the dark side of the Force and burned down the new Jedi Temple, and Skywalker felt terrible for it and had then exiled himself. It didn't take a genius to realize that Kylo Ren was that apprentice.

At the beginning, Luke Skywalker wanted absolutely nothing to do with Rey, until Chewie showed up and forced him to listen to her. He was shocked to hear that Kylo Ren had once again flipped side and he refused to believe the both of them at first, stating that his nephew was well and truly lost.

Yeah, nephew.

Rey was still not over the fact that freaking Kylo Ren was Han Solo and general Leia Organa's son. On Starkiller Base, both Finn and her were stunned into place when they heard Han say those fated words: the face of my son. But then again it made so much sense; how powerful Kylo was with the Force and why he so wanted the map to Luke Skywalker. Something had happened, during his training. Rey could not begin to understand what had made Ben Solo turn into the leader of the Knights of Ren and apprentice to the Supreme Leader of the First Order, and Luke remained tight-lipped whenever she asked.

But Kylo Ren had decided to turn his back on his now second former master and followed his father out of the Starkiller. And Luke simply couldn't believe it. Clearly, Kylo had disappointed his uncle to the point where Luke thought him irredeemable. Family drama at its peak.

No matter how many times Rey asked, Luke blatantly refused to help in any shape or form until the moment he realized she was Force-sensitive. And even then, he simply agreed to give her three lessons in the ways of the Jedi before she was to leave him to die alone on Ahch-To.

That first morning of her first lesson, she woke up to find Kylo Ren in her hut with her. And she completely freaked out. After all, she had barely said two words to the man after his little interrogation about a month ago, and despite knowing he was now on their side – maybe not exactly on their side but rather no longer against them – she still saw him as the masked figure who chased her in the woods on Takodana. So, upon waking up and seeing him there with her, she freaked out and shot him with her blaster.

Rey now admits that she may have overreacted at the time, but she won't ever tell him that. Not that he seemed offended at the idea of being shot at – he didn't even mention it. He was just extremely curious about the logistics of what was happening to them. Then he asked her if she was the one doing this – admitting in the process that he wasn't – only to belittle her by saying she wouldn't be able to without dying. She became annoyed. And when he revealed he could only see her, and not her surroundings, anger left her and she started to panic a little. What was going on? And then he saw Luke and disappeared before he was noticed. Why was she suddenly having this weird mental conversation with the now supposedly reformed bad guy?

Her first lesson didn't go particularly well, as she freaked her new master out – who then proceeded to freak her out even more with an ominous "you went straight to the dark". People freaking out, that seemed to be the theme for the day. And then he compared her to Kylo, and she became scared. Scared of what she could become. But also, a part of her wanted to understand what had happened to Ben Solo that turned him into Kylo Ren. However, she knew she couldn't ask Luke, he remained unwilling to share that bit of information with her, or anyone for that matter.

Later that day, Luke's words kept coming back to her. "I've seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo. It didn't scare me enough then, it does now". She kept repeating those words to herself trying to understand them when Kylo appeared to her again. And it was in that moment that they both realized that their minds were linked somehow, and it clearly wasn't an odd occurrence. Again, he was as cool as a dead star when he wondered why the Force was connecting them, while she was in a slight frenzy. And then he asked her if Luke had told her what had happened, and her interest was piqued.

Rey's second lesson wasn't much better. "The legacy of the Jedi is failure". Nice and encouraging, especially in such times when all they need is a little bit of hope. But then Luke proceeded in telling her of his past, how he took on a dozen apprentices and was entrusted with his sister's son's training. He finally explained how his nephew had turned on him as the darkness inside him grew. He'd collapsed a building on his master's head before burning the Jedi Temple with most of the students inside. And Luke Skywalker blamed himself, because he had failed his nephew.

And Rey was angry once more, angry at the world, and most of all, angry at Kylo. He was so good at playing the conflicted victim in his tale of woe. But in her book, Kylo had failed Master Skywalker, not the other way around.

That evening, as Rey was making her way back to her hut, everything changed. She saw Kylo again and desperately wanted for him to go away, especially since he was obviously not expecting her as he was half undressed. Seeing her flustered at the sight of him, he refused to dress before continuing their discussion just to taunt her. And Rey hated him a little for that. She hated how easy it was for him to get under her skin, just like it was easy for him to spread doubt in her mind.

The things he said to her – about their respective powers and Master Luke fearing them, about her place in this world and who she is meant to be, about her family and seeing Han and Luke as father figures, about what happened that night he became Kylo Ren – made her go to the center of the island in search of answers. But her questions remained unanswered.

And that was where Ben found her later that night, in her hut, crying like the broken girl that she was. "You're not alone", he had said, and she so wanted to believe that. And as their hands touched, she could finally truly believe it.

But then Luke Skywalker interrupted their Force-connection and ordered her to leave Ahch-To for good. Rage filled her being like never before. She demanded the truth out of Skywalker all the while whacking him over the head with her staff. She fought the Jedi Master as best as she could but the old hermit eluded her strikes at every turn. In some ways, this was her third Jedi lesson.

Did you create Kylo Ren? In her anger, Rey summoned the lightsaber to her hand and Luke took a step back in alarm. Seeing the fear in his eyes was like an ice bucket thrown in her face. She tamed her fury enough to listen to his side of the story and she knew then that she had been wrong. Kylo hadn't failed his master. Luke Skywalker failed Ben Solo.

Rey remembers what she said then to Master Luke, about how now that Ben had turned from the Dark Side, it might just shift the tide. That this could be how they win. The Jedi had scoffed at her words and when she offered his lightsaber to him again, silently asking him to come to the help of the Resistance, he refused once more.

"Then he is the last hope we've got".

Those were the final words she said to Luke as she left for the Millennium Falcon. She stopped dead in her tracks before deciding to make a pit stop at the tree where she had found all the Jedi books. If Luke wasn't going to use them, she was. Books in hands, she arrived back on the cliff where the Falcon was stationed. It was late, the middle of the night really, and Chewbacca was snoring loudly in his cot. She decided to wait until the Wookiee woke up to tell him that they were done here. She stowed away all the books in the room she used as her own, before trying to sleep as well, in vain.

At dawn, Chewie was prepping the ship to take flight when Luke Skywalker walked on board and grumbled that he would accompany them to the Resistance base on D'Qar. Apparently, seeing the ghost of his late Master as Yoda burned a tree was all that was needed in order to change Luke's mind. Who knew? They didn't waste time entering lightspeed and putting behind them the remote planet of Ahch-To.

They might have a chance against the First Order now. They were bringing the legendary – if not a little baffling – Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to the Resistance, and they had the reformed Kylo Ren in their camp as well–

Well, hell. Rey hadn't stopped to think of what would happen when uncle and nephew would see each other again. And they would, eventually, of that Rey was certain. The Resistance base was not that big to be able to keep the two apart indefinitely. She imagined Ben flying into a wild fit of rage, throwing a tantrum of epic proportion, and inadvertently revealing to all that the prodigal son of Leia and Han – who had just returned to them – was none other than Kylo Ren, created at the hands of a Jedi who had lost hope in his only nephew.

They had succeeded in keeping his other identity a secret from most everyone, keeping it on the need-to-know basis. So, other than his family, Rey knew and Finn did as well – simply because they were there for the big reveal. That was it, at least it was as such when she left to find Luke. She had a feeling it was not going to stay that way for long. After all, Ben was not known to have the best control over his temper.

She heard his deep voice seconds after feeling the now familiar bridge connecting their minds. "Why are you so nervous? I can feel how agitated you are all the way across the galaxy."

She turned to her right to see Ben standing before her, his arms crossed over his chest. Now, he could feel her emotions too? Great. Whatever this Force-bond was between them, it was starting to get a little invasive. Instead of answering, Rey just stared at him. She was trying to see him, all of him; Every single facet of his complicated being, but Ben Solo was a hard character to decipher.

She had to admit that he was kinda cute, in his own way; not drop-dead gorgeous but pretty enough to be noticed – but then again he had amazing genes. His ears were a little too big for his slightly asymmetrical face, but it just added to his charms, if only he was able to let loose a little. She had noticed that his face was always void of any emotion other than anger – now that one he had no qualm in showing to everyone. However, his eyes told a completely different story. He couldn't control them as well as all the muscles in his face. They spoke of his perpetual conflict inside him.

"Can you lose the mask?" She finally said, annoyed.

"What mask?" He seemed surprised at her sharp tone. His arms went down to his sides and his hands curled into fists, a clear sign that he was struggling with his emotions. Why did he always have to keep everything hidden, the control-freak?

"Kylo Ren is dead, no?" Rey could see his face, still in its same permanent neutral expression. His eyes however showed how taken aback he was by her question. "That is what Han said back in the thermal oscillator anyway, when he asked you to come home. Was he wrong?"

His fists were shaking a little while he glared a hole in her head.

"You don't need to hide all of your emotions all the time. It's frustrating. It's like talking to an asteroid."

He turned his back to Rey, unwilling to look at her anymore. He was clearly debating if he should respond at all. After all, they might now share a Force-bond, but did that really warrant her special insight into his every thoughts. It took a moment for Ben to respond.

"I don't know how." His voice broke a little, and he suddenly didn't seem that dangerous. "I've always had to hide my feelings, for as long as I can remember. From Snoke, from Luke, and even from my parents."

Her heart broke a little for Ben then. Rey still didn't know the full story, and she probably never would. To her, Han and Leia seemed great. However, she couldn't forget Kylo's words when he was searching her mind for the map to Luke. "Han Solo. He feels like the father you never had. He would have disappointed you". Luke was obviously not the only one to blame for the fall of Ben Solo.

"You don't have to hide from me." She stood up and took a step toward him, raising her hands in his direction as if to take a hold of his right arm, but stopped herself before she did. "You are not alone, I meant what I said back on Ahch-To."

"Ahch-To?" He asked, turning on his heels to face her again. "So Luke went to hide in the Unknown Regions."

Rey gulped, wondering if she had said too much, before remembered that Ben couldn't possibly go back to the First Order without being tortured and killed by the Supreme Leader. She finally relented. "It was the place of the first Jedi Temple. He meant to die there."

"Huh." Ben scoffed. "Meant to? Wait. You said back on Ahch-To. So you've left that desolate rock then?"

"Yes." She hesitated a little before adding "we're on our way to D'Qar as we speak."

"We? As in you, the Walking Carpet and the Rust Bucket?" Ben asked, and Rey rolled her eyes at the petty nicknames he gave the Wookiee and Droid he had known all his life.

She eyes him quickly, sizing him. He already knew full well the answer to his question by the state of his clenched fists.

"And Luke Skywalker." She whispered as Ben's fists shook with the pressure he exerted on them before he opened his palms slowly as his fingers twitched. She knew that if he had still been on Starkiller Base, the first unfortunate bloke to cross his path would have been Force-choked right then and there. "Please, don't do anything foolish. You are both going to have to speak to each other at some point, and put the past behind you."

"He tried to kill me!" He spat at her, his face contorting in rage.

Rey took an instinctive step back at his shout, even though he hadn't made a single move indicating his intent to stride toward her. At her obvious flinch, he winced, realizing that she still feared him somewhat. He took a deep breath trying to cool his anger, both of them knowing full well that he would need more than a seance of meditation to truly calm down.

"It was a lapse in judgment." She finally uttered after he had reopened his eyes.

"A lapse in judgment." He shook his head in disbelief, a dry laugh coming out of his mouth. "I'll try to contain myself." His tone suggested that she was asking a lot out of him. Rey knew the moment their connection broke, he would grab his lightsaber and destroy a few trees.

"Make sure no one sees you." His glare turned back to her in an instant. "No one knows about Kylo Ren still, right?"

"Right." Ben sneered.

"You don't want anyone to see you with that blasted lightsaber of yours. There would be a riot." Rey added, stating the obvious.

"Yes, Master." Ben mocked her, with fury still in his eyes.

"Ugh Ben, I didn't m–" Rey tried to comfort him but he disappeared before she could say anything else. "Damn it."

With a frustrated groan, she sat back down and put her head in her hands. This was going to be harder than she had first anticipated. Even if Luke was willing to give his nephew a chance, Ben still felt enormous animosity towards his uncle. He did have a point though; Luke had in fact, even for just a moment, thought about killing him. That history wasn't going anywhere.

Rey just hoped that Ben would have enough time to come to terms with the very reality that he would soon be on the same planet as Luke Skywalker – and that he wouldn't be allowed to kill him. After all, he had spent the last months looking for the map that would lead him to his Jedi Master; as a matter of fact, Ben had been straight up insane about hunting Luke down. Rey doubted very much that his goal was to simply catch-up with the old man.

The rest of the journey took about two weeks, alternating between cruising speed and a multitude of specific hyperspace jumps in order to avoid black holes and gravity wells. During that time, Rey only saw Ben twice, and she couldn't quite get a good read on him. She knew he was still irritated, not so much at herself – he didn't seem to be able to stay angry at her for long – but he obviously did not like the situation he found himself in.

So when they finally reached the Resistance Base on D'Qar, Rey assumed that Ben would make himself scarce until he could not longer avoid Luke Skywalker. What she didn't expect as she exited the Millennium Falcon was to find Ben Solo waiting for them alongside his parents, with his perfectly- expressionless face.

After sending a sharp nod as a cold greeting to his uncle – and a smirk in Rey's direction – he saluted Chewie in a funny way that the Wookiee returned happily with a growl before Ben sauntered away toward the many X-Wings that needed repairs. Looking at her son with a shake of her head, Leia then mentioned that they had found out that a good way for Ben to release his excess pent-up energy was to focus it on fixing starfighters. Apparently it helped enough that he hadn't felt the need to destroy anything with his lightsaber in the past few days.

"Well, that's one of the ways." Han chuckled with a smug look on his face. Looking at the man, Rey could see the resemblance between father and son; a young Han Solo must have looked a lot like Ben does now – if Ben smiled more of course.

That being said, before she could wonder at the meaning behind his words, she heard a screeching squeal coming in from where Ben had disappeared to. Rey looked in his direction and there she saw a female Resistance fighter giggling like a moof-milker, her arms latched around the much taller form of Ben Solo – who looked smug and slightly uncomfortable at the same time. Pliers in hand, Ben listened to the woman as she spoke in his ear and tugged on his arm, clearly suggesting he should follow her. He dropped his tools with a shrug before allowing her to drag him out of the glade where all the spacecrafts were and into the jungle.

Rey was confused. To her, it looked like Ben had a girlfriend now. When did Ben have time to get a girlfriend anyways?

Rey was clearly missing something here. She had no idea when she had stepped into an alternate reality, but that was the only logical explanation for what she had just seen. And it must have shown on her face, because Han Solo guffawed at her while Leia let out a despondent sigh. Luke sent a disapproving look toward his brother-in-law before saying "you should not encourage his passion. It is one of his worst weaknesses."

"Come on, Luke. Let the kid have some fun." Han rolled his eyes.

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no passion, there is serenity. That is the Jedi Code, and Ben has always struggled to adhere to it." Luke stated without a trace of humor in his tone.

"Well, you know what I think of all this Jedi drivel." Han groaned while his forehead furrowed before he glanced at Rey who felt like maybe she needed to retreat. She wanted no part in this Skywalker/Solo family drama.

"Han!" General Leia brought her hand to her forehead.

"It's not about what you believe Han, it's about Ben, who, might I remind you, is so easily seduced by the dark side of the Force."

"Well I'm sorry if I don't exactly trust your expertise on this. The last time we trusted you with our son he turned all genocidal like his grandfather!" Han pointed his finger in Luke's face.

"Han!" Leia exclaimed, hitting the man in the shoulder.

"Passion is an emotion the Siths use in order to gain strength."

"Luke! Stop! The both of you!" Leia had had enough. "Stop." She repeated lowly, sounding exhausted and on the verge of crying.

"Maybe you should all take this somewhere else. People are starting to stare. And the last thing we want is for someone to realize what Ben was truly up to these past few years while everyone thought him dead." Rey observed quietly as she saw a few people stopping nearby wondering why the legendary trio that defeated the Empire seemed to be at odds with each other. She took a page out of Ben's book; she concealed her nervousness and smiled at all of them in greetings, hoping they would just move on.

She caught a glimpse of Finn who gave her a toothy grin. She waved at him and was about to go to her friend when suddenly, Rey was being dragged up the ramp to the Millennium Falcon. She looked at Han's hand around her arm as he pulled the bridge back up, enclosing all of them inside the spacecraft. She didn't think she needed to be included in this meeting about Ben's future, but apparently they all thought differently.

"My son is no Sith," Leia added with a sharp tone as soon as she knew no one else could hear her, "but maybe the Jedi way of life is not for Ben either."

"Leia-" Luke started, but was interrupted by his sister.

"We already tried training him as a Jedi and look how that turned out." The General huffed with tears in her eyes. "I just got my son back." Her voice cracked and Rey really wished the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. She had no business being in this conversation.

"I should go."

"No. Stay, kid."

"I-"

"Look, we made a lot of mistakes when it comes to Ben, and there is no denying that we have failed him in more ways than one." Rey's eyes widened as Han grabbed both her shoulders and turned her so she was facing him.

"But-"

"I may not be the brightest star in the sky, but I'm no idiot either." Rey arched a brow at that. "You are strong with the Force. I know it, Leia knows it, Luke knows it, even Chewie knows it. But most important of all, Ben knows it."

"I don't understand."

"You think he just switched sides on a whim?" Han smirked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"What-"

"You, an untrained wisp of a girl stood up to him while he was basically raping your mind and you used his power against him." Rey was now gaping at Ben's father. "Yeah, he told me about that."

Luke turned to her, astonished, and that just made her blush all the way to the tip of her ears. His words from weeks ago came back to her instantly: "I've seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo. It didn't scare me enough then, it does now". She shuttered at the thought of being once again compared to Kylo Ren.

"I didn't really know what I was doing. I just couldn't let him steal the map from my mind."

"Exactly. You didn't know. Ben started his Jedi training when he was ten years old, and from what I've been told, he was a prodigy at it. No one could quite keep up with him." Han stated with a hint of pride in his voice.

"It was a fluke." Rey tried to justify her actions, shaking her head.

"No. It wasn't. No one should have been able to stand up to Ben like this, except for Luke here and Snoke. But you did. And despite his surliness at being thwarted by an inexperienced girl, Ben was impressed." Han added with a chuckle.

"Maybe. But if you're implying that he turned his back to the dark side because of me, then you're wrong. He did it for you! Because you asked him to!"

"I'm not exactly sure he entirely turned his back to it." Han admitted, finally letting go of my shoulders to bring a hand to his jaw.

"And that is why he needs guidance!" Luke's voice reverberated.

"Yes, but allow him the chance to forge his own path." Leia was pleading with her brother. "Should he need it, we will guide him away from the darkness that inhabits him. We all gave up on him at one point or another. We all failed him when we gave up on him all those years ago. I won't do it again. But it is clear that Ben will never conform to the Jedi Code completely. He is too conflicted, and as you said, too passionate. He will always straddle the line between Ashla and Bogan. We just need to make sure he doesn't tip over again, because then he will surely be lost."

Luke scoffed at that. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Ben doesn't need to be one hundred percent on the light side."

"He just needs fifty-one percent." Han quipped in with a laugh, which rewarded him with another slap from Leia.

"Again, what would you have me do?" Luke sighed.

"Train him once more." Leia finally answered. "With Rey."

"With me?"

"Let's be honest here. You need training. You may be powerful but you need to learn how to control the Force that flows through you. And you could both learn from each other."

Rey gaped at general Leia before turning her gaze to Luke who shrugged as if to say what the hell.

"Kid, you bring out a little bit of good in him."

"How? By raping his mind as he raped mine?" Rey used Han's way of describing the little interrogation between her and Ben that took place on the Starkiller. "I don't see how that's helpful."

"Ben admires your natural affinity with the Force; an affinity that is so similar to his. If you show him what you can achieve from the light side of the Force, he might be less tempted by the dark side." Leia added.

"That is a big if, especially considering I apparently have a tendency to go straight to the dark." Rey snapped, sending a look at the Jedi Master.

That shut them all up in an instant. Rey groaned and sat right there on the ground of the Millennium Falcon. She brought her hands to her head and pulled at her hair in exasperation. She didn't understand what they wanted her to do, exactly.

"I can start training both of them tomorrow."

Rey looked up at Luke Skywalker, wondering why he was being so amenable all of a sudden. He had said that it was time for the Jedi to die. She couldn't understand why he was suddenly agreeing to not only train her, but his nephew again.

"At first light." Luke hit the button on the wall to lower the ramp of the Falcon before walking out.

Rey just stayed there on the ground, with both Han and Leia looking at her with sympathy. What in the blazes just happened? She had never wanted to be a part of this family drama, yet here she was, caught straight in the middle of it. She could only guess how unhappy Ben was going to be at being told he was resuming his Jedi training, with his uncle who tried to killed him. The very next day, someone might just end up dead.

And even if she wanted to avoid the situation entirely, she wouldn't be able to because of that stupid bond she now had with Ben. And it was because of that stupid bond that Rey knew that she was going to show up at first light to train with him and Skywalker. She wanted to do everything in her power to make sure he steered clear of the darkness. She was certain that he still doubted his final decision to defect the First Order. He needed all the help he could get to calm his inner turmoil and bring balance to the Force within him.

Rey was willing to play mediator between Ben and Luke when a fight would assuredly break between the two, if only so she could better understand the conflicted man.

So, yeah. To say that Rey is puzzled by Ben Solo is indeed an understatement.