Equilibrium (Reylo)

Twenty-Six: Target Acquired

"We need to prepare for heavy fire," Finn announced, looking at his friends anxiously which caused R2 to produce loud, random noises and beeps.

"Go help Finn with the guns," Rey told Ben, remembering how exciting it was the first time she did it.

"I'll go!" Rose volunteered, stepping towards Finn.

"I was thinking more like. . ." Finn trailed off, his eyes drifting off to Ben's direction.

"You sure?"

"But I wanna help—" Finn cut her off when he gave her a look, telling her to read the expression on his face that said to 'help me out'. "We need you to repair some of the damage from inside the ship so we can get back into light-speed."

"Yeah, of course," Rose said.

Ben looked to Rey, crouching down in front of her as he mentally begged her not to let him do this, to not let him go with Finn. But before he said something, he knew just what she would say. A part of him told him he didn't need to do anything to prove himself to Rey's allies. To her friend. To the side she stands on and what they all represent. He only ever wanted to prove himself to her.

But that meant he had to do this, too. To prove himself to her once more by helping her friends. By helping the Resistance.

Also the fact that Ben was so used to being the one who gave orders and now he had to take them. Though he didn't mind it as much when Rey was in command. He'd just about do anything she told him to do.

Rey grabbed Ben's hand, squeezing it to redirect his attention to her. "Just don't aim like a Stormtrooper," she told him, a smile spread across her face.

Ben leaned closer to her, lifting her hand and caressed her knuckles with his thumb. "Tell that to the one who was a Stormtrooper."

"Oh, you got jokes?" Finn scoffed, standing just a few feet away in ear-shot, waiting patiently for Ben.

Ben let go of Rey's hand, going on his own from here out. He followed Finn just a few feet over to the ladder that lead to the guns. He watched Finn climb up the ladder before he started climbing down. He made it down the ladder with ease due to his long limbs and slipped in the chair in the middle of the room. Ben strapped himself down, sliding the head set on which squished his locks down against his head.

Like it was an ordinary day on the Falcon, Ben's fingers ran along the controls, making sure everything was operating and he suddenly heard his father's instructions play out in his head.

Left console. Right console.

Stir left. Stir right.

Ben recounted the day his father took him here as a kid and taught him how to operate the guns (without his mother's permission, obviously). Ben, as angry as he was for his mother not allowing him near any weapon besides a lightsaber, was all too excited to learn how to fire a blaster. His father thought it'd be wiser to have him learn how to operate the guns on his ship in case of emergencies when they traveled. Once Ben accidentally caused a big hole in the hangar bay door, he didn't hear the end of it from his mother.

Ben lifted his head up, leaning back against the leather clad seat, remembering the times he was in his own ship when he was still a part of the First Order. Just like he was doing now, he was flying in space, shooting down the enemy fighters. Now, he looked through the glass, hearing First Order fighters soaring above the Millennium Falcon, and he wasn't so sure who was the enemy anymore.

"This is where the fun begins," he murmured to himself, a grin working its way on his face as he turned the guns to the right, the chair gliding to the left.

Ben looked down at the grid panel, waiting for the right moment a fighter ship would appear so he could lock on it and shoot it down. One of the fighters passed by and he pressed the trigger, watching the ship explode in a cloud of gray and white dust. After a while of waiting and locking on the ships flying by, Ben managed to shoot down three more fighter ships.

Soon after, there was a crackling noise through the radio frequency in his headset. He heard someone's voice breeching through, yelling something from his end.

"We're going in!" a man shouted, alarmed and cautious. "Do you read me? We're going in!"

"Poe, you have two on your tail!" Finn radioed in.

Ben saw a fighter ship, knowing it was from the Resistance from its colors and emblem with two fighter ships soaring just behind it. Ben managed to lock one down right away and blasted them away.

"BB-8 got hit!" Poe announced, his ship turning in circles. "I don't know how bad."

Ben watched multiple Resistance fighters getting caught by the enemy, getting in the midst of blasts because they're becoming more outnumbered. He looked over the Star Destroyer and saw the guns firing away and hitting a lot of the fighters as they were getting close to approach the back.

"The guns are gaining on us."

"Hurry, we're losing out here," Finn replied.

Ben managed to shoot fighters, watching them crash right into the Star Destroyer. 

"Getting close to the ship isn't going to do you any good," Ben said, keeping his eyes focused on another enemy fighter and shooting it down.

"Roger that," a different voice radioed in.

And with a blink of an eye, many and many ships of all different kinds clouded the sky. Ben watched, a little in awe as the space was riddled with so many fighters—too many allies of the Resistance to count as they had arrived to help them make their fight against the First Order. The final battle.

"This is the last stand you guys," Poe announced, "let's make it count."

Ben watched multiple enemy fighters crash into the Star Destroyer, multiple explosions erupting all around the large ship. Soon enough, the Star Destroyer started slowing down, a riptide in the middle that broke it off in two parts that started to separate from each other.

Ben caught a glimpse of the other Resistance fighters soaring around the Star Destroyer that was collapsing right before their very eyes.

Seeing the damage he had part taken in, Ben didn't feel an ounce of regret for ending it all. It felt like he had broken all the chains on the cuffs that once held him down, destroying any last remainder of the horrible, vile person he once was. The man he secretly, deeply detested for so long.

Now, that that part of him was over, it felt like Ben could choose what happened to him in this next life. That what Ben decided to do next will create his future because right now, he had full control over his destiny.

AN: I didn't like this chapter very much but now that it's out there we can continue on to more Reylo.