Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Group Text Sent:

Pack. Now.

Text Received:

Me and Armie will be there A.S.A.P. Rose x

Text Received:

On my way. P

Text Received:

I’ll call Mitaka and ask for a lift. Be there in about 30. Xx

Text Received:

I’ll go and pick Kay up; she will probably need a ride.

Ben looked down at his phone. Sighing sadly, he locked the screen and placed it back upon the table. He looked over at Poe who had been sat on the sofa for the past hour with his head in his hands.

“They are all on the way”

Ben noticed that Poe had looked at him for the first time in a long while and was grimacing. He saw him take a deep breath, steady himself and sit back. The tears in his eyes hadn’t fallen but Ben could tell he was close to losing his composure.

“How long will they be? We need to get out there, before Finn does something stupid!” Poe questioned harshly.

“You mean more stupid?” Ben bit out “You know there’s no coming back from this right? Fuck, I can’t keep him in the pack after this, there couldn’t possibly be a reason to explain why he’s done this” Ben tried to control his voice so as not to yell at Poe. This wasn’t his fault. Not directly anyway.

Poe curled in on himself again, his shoulders shaking with controlled sobs. Ben had known Poe since they were boys, they had been raised together, fought together and had left their old pack to create a new one together.

It was a strange occurrence for Alphas to create a pack where one of them became ‘The Alpha’ but Poe had taken it in his stride, Ben couldn’t thank him enough for that. They had become quite the team, where one was logical the other was creative, where one inspired strength the other kept the calm. It had helped them create the pack they had today. Poe had been the best ‘Alpha Beta’ Ben could have asked for but now all those years of friendship and loyalty had been strained to breaking point.

Bens body was shaking with adrenaline, he wanted to react and jump into action but as the Alpha he needed to include everyone in this. The problem was bigger than just him. It would directly affect the pack and he needed the backup, partly to assist with the search and partly to stop him from killing Finn on sight.

You see the problem was The Omega was gone, his Omega was gone and Finn was the one who had taken her.

Twenty minutes later there was a small knock at the door, the visitor didn’t wait to be let in. That wasn’t the pack way. Ben turned from the window, taking a deep controlled breath and running his hand through his hair.

“Ben?” Came a deceivingly soft voice.

“In here Rose” Ben called back. He knew she would find them in the study, most official Pack business was completed in there.

In less than a few seconds a small woman appeared in the doorway, her shadow and husband Armitage Hux stood behind her. Several years ago, when the Pack had been started Ben never would have put little Rose together with the Stoic Ginger. They had argued from the start, every idea Hux had Rose had shot down for a better option. It irritated poor Hux to no end, but in a surprising turn of events for every annoying interruption Rose made there was an equally secret and passionate apology.

After a few months, it became very clear to the pack Omega that the two of them were in love and their arguing had developed into some weird sort of foreplay. The rest of them were spared the full details when Hux admitted his love for his fiery beta and declared he would say no more on the subject. That was 3 years ago now and Ben couldn’t remember them ever not being the perfect match.

Pushing into the room, Hux bared his neck to his Alpha in respect then looked Ben in the eyes.

“What’s happening? Why have we been called in?” He asked not disrespectfully.

“We need to wait for the others, I…. We don’t have time to go over this more than once. Poe will fill everyone in and then we need a plan” Ben answered frustration evident in his body language and his tone.

He saw Rose look towards Poe who had remained on the sofa throughout the exchange, she gasped slightly at purpling bruise on his jaw. Ben was not sorry for that, or at least he wasn’t as sorry as he probably should have been. Rose glanced to Ben in question, her eyebrows almost joining together in a frown, he nodded. It had been his handiwork that put the bruise there, when news of The Omegas disappearance had come in the form of a pleading Poe Ben hadn’t been able to stop himself.

Chapter Text

Within the next 5 minutes all members of the pack had arrived at the house and were settled in various seats around the office. Ben was perched on the edge of his desk, arms crossed waiting to speak. When suddenly Phasma spoke.

“Erm… Where’s Rey?”

At that everyone in the room looked at Ben, he lowered his head momentarily and then looked up. Anger was evident in his eyes and if anyone knew him as well as Rey, they would have seen fear too.

“She’s gone” He choked out, gritting his teeth he spoke again “She was taken”

Silence in the room. Deafening in its absence of noise.

“She’s gone? How is she gone?” Mitaka spoke up.

At the same time “Does Finn know she’s missing?” Rose asked quietly.

Ben Picked up on Roses question first, a growl emanating from his chest. It was a dark and dangerous sound, that reverberated around the office. Everyone froze looking at Ben. He could understand their shock, he wasn’t usually so quick to anger, maintaining calm for the most part but his mate was gone and unbeknownst, yet, to his pack one of their own had taken her.

Poe stood up then, moving properly for the first time since everyone arrived. He looked around pointedly and spoke firmly.

“Finn is the one who took her”

“No, he wouldn’t” Rose argued loyally. Standing on her feet and walking towards Ben.

Hux placed his hand upon his wife’s wrist, Ben saw him tug her back. He shook his head at her tilted look.

“He has seemed…... not himself lately, to be honest Poe I thought you’d pissed him off. What was he fucking thinking?” Hux asked almost to himself.

Poe shook his head forlornly, a sob escaped. “He’s been speaking to someone online, I don’t know who, but every time they spoke, he became more and more agitated. He started questioning why Ben was the Alpha and not me. I told him, explained that this was how I wanted it. That Ben was always the truest of Alphas. He would let it drop for a few days and then we would have another argument or Ben would request something and he would question the command”

“Why didn’t you tell us Poe?” Phasma demanded.

“I didn’t know what to say, he kept ranting about how he wanted me to be alpha but I never thought it would be more than him just blowing off steam” Poe defended half-heartedly.

“He was openly questioning our Alphas commands; He was voicing his dissension and you didn’t think that was worth even a little heads up. That’s not like Finn, he’s the loyalist of us all. Especially to Rey, you didn’t think there was anything amiss. You goddamned idiot Poe. What if she gets hurt?” Kaydel yelled.

“Finn would never let her be hurt, he…” Poe tried to say but was halted half way through by Ben.

“He would never take Rey, yet here we are. The why doesn’t matter now, just getting her back. We need a plan, Poe you know Finn better than us, he knew Rey before we did. Where would he take her? Where would he think we wouldn’t find him?”

“I don’t know” Poe whined “He’s changed so much over the past few weeks; I don’t know where he would take her. Maybe to whoever he has been speaking too”

“We don’t know who that is though” Mitaka stated angrily

“Actually, we might be able to find out” Kaydel added hopefully “I’ve been taking computer classes in my spare time” Shrugging she added “If you give me Finns laptop, I can take it to my tutor, see if I can find out who it is”

Ben looked at Kaydel, she was one of the youngest in the pack. Quite new to the comings and goings but she loved Rey. Rey loved her back. Practically like sisters they would often be found in the kitchen gossiping when Ben got home. Ben had even gone so far as turning one of the guest rooms into ‘Kaydels Room’ because sometimes it would be 3 in the morning before the girls had realised what time it was and Ben would never let a pack member leave so late at night.

“Ok Kaydel, you and Poe head to his house first, get the laptop and figure it out. Hux, I need you to get prepared, we don’t know who the traitors’ new friend is but we might need firepower”

Hux turned to his wife, cupping her cheeks and kissing her forehead, glancing back at Ben he nodded “It’ll take me about an hour to get everything we need. Mitaka I could do with a hand”

Mitaka jumped up, baring their necks to the Alpha they left.

When everyone dispersed, Ben was left alone for the first time since finding out his Omega had been taken. He had sent Rose and Phasma off to plan search areas, pulling up maps and attaching pack boundaries. The last thing they needed was to enter another Alphas territory whilst searching for the Omega.

He sat at his desk, his chin resting on one hand his other half covering his face. His Omega, His wife, His Rey had been taken from her home and family. She had been taken from him and he was terrified. He looked to the framed photo from their wedding to his right, “Rey…” he whispered “We will get you back baby. If anyone has hurt you, I will kill them with my bare hands”

He had been so focused on the picture that he hadn’t heard Phasma walk in, until she placed a cup of coffee in front of him. He jolted slightly at the unobserved intrusion.

“Yeah I thought Decaf was a good idea. Don’t need you jumpier than you are now” She smiled softly down at him “We will find her Ben, she’s strong, she will be fine, even when she isn’t at her best”

“That’s what I’m worried about Phas” He whimpered.

“If you think for one second, that this doesn’t give her an even bigger reason to fight then you underestimate your wife. She’s stronger than you know, stronger than you and she will not fail until she comes back to you Ben. You are her family, you and your baby”

Ben looked up like a shot, eyes wide “You know?”

“Of course I know, don’t worry no one else does and now is not the time to divulge. Rey came to me 2 weeks ago and told me. She was concerned her body would fail her, after everything in her childhood she needed a medical opinion. I gave it to her”

Ben smiled softly “She mentioned something like that to me, I tried to reassure her then the next day it was like it never happened. Thank you for that” his eyes began to fill, blinking he tried to dislodge the tears.

He felt Phasmas arms circle him “Ben Stop. Stop Now. We will find her. Find both of them, I’ll kill Finn myself, bring him back and then yell at him some more and then you better name your child after me.”

Grabbing her arms and laughing he arose from the chair. He looked at his phone and noticed the texts from the Pack. Hux and Mitaka would be back in 15 minutes and Kaydels tutor had been able to find out who Finn had been messaging. Though ominously he had implied it wasn’t great news.

Chapter Text

Everyone arrived back at the same time, and headed straight to the study. Hux placed his bag of firepower on the meeting table and started cataloguing who would get what, Ben asked him to make sure everyone knew this was last case and to only use it if truly necessary. Rose had been updating everyone else on Pack territory and explaining which Alphas would forgive a trespass and which would most likely ask for their heads on a plate.

Kaydel had been setting the computer back up on the desk and clicking through various pages, Ben was concerned for her she was radiating terror and panic. He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed softly. He felt her body relax marginally and she tilted her head to the side to rest on the back of his hand. She snuffled softly.

“I’m scared” She mouthed.

He bent lower and whispered quietly in her ear “Me too” Squeezing her shoulder again he stood up straight. Coughing to get the rest of the packs attention he looked to Poe, gesturing him forward.

“It’s not good, they used a fake name but the person Finn has been speaking too is Pryde.” Poe stopped “I assume you all recognize the name. He is Palpatine’s right hand man, he’s been around for years. He’s been talking to Finn for months, half of the messages read innocently until you look into them. He’s been sowing seeds since the start, claiming Palpatine is going to attack the pack that Rey would be the only survivor. Unless he brought Rey to them first. He’s threatened us all individually. He knows where we work, he knows who we see on a regular basis.”

Kaydel gasped for breath “Oh my god”

Phasma stepped forward “Palpatine is the strongest Alpha, his pack is nothing but brutes, they don’t have much brain power between them but they do have strength on their side. I can see why Finn would believe they could take us out, one on one they would devastate us”

“Why would they want Rey?” Rose asked harshly “Don’t get me wrong, I know she’s an Omega and she stronger than most Alphas, but why?”

“Because she’s the Heir to the Palpatine pack” Ben answered honestly albeit reluctantly.

Five sets of eyes swung round to Ben. Confusion, hurt and fear shining in their eyes. Ben looked to Phasma and huffed a breath. He knew she knew about Rey, if she knew about her childhood, she would have had to have known about this.

“It doesn’t mention that in any of the messages” Poe announced.

“Pryde wouldn’t need to, it’s not important. He wouldn’t need to explain the connection, the threat of wiping out the pack would be enough. But now we know where they are going. Palpatine’s pack is about a 6-hour drive away. They won’t hurt Rey, Palpatine wants her, he has wanted her for years. She has been refusing his formal invites since she was a teen. I guess he found a way around it” Ben spoke intensely, calculating in his head all the while trying to figure out a plan for the next move.

“Ok, we travel in 2 cars. I’ll give a bag of ammo to each car; we stop a few miles out of the territory. We will have to go on foot from there, they likely know we will come for Rey but they probably haven’t expected us to figure this out so quick” Hux spoke objectively but Ben could hear the anger underneath it.

He has known Hux almost as long as he had known Poe, but where they had been friends, Ben and hux had despised one another. It was a constant competition; they had attempted one upon a time to enter the same pack. Hux had been favoured until Ben had showed up on the scene and things had spiralled down until Ben removed himself from the race and Huxs new pack had abused him for being the runner up from then on.

Hux had come to Ben and Poe for help after one particular beating that had gone too far and Ben vowed to never let him return. Thus the 3 alpha pack was formed and they had been inseparable and loyal to each other since. A slight on one was a slight on them all. Ben knew that by Palpatine taking Rey, Hux had taken it as personally as if they had taken Rose.

“Hux is right, they will expect us to come for Rey, but we will have the slightest advantage of surprise. Don’t for one second think this is going to be in and out. Palpatine is strong, his guards are strong. Phasma wasn’t exaggerating when she said the pack could devastate us. I can’t sugar coat this one guys. If we go, it will be a fight to the death, possibly ours. I am going no matter what, its my wife but I will not ask any of you to give your lives for me” Ben was interrupted as Kaydel placed her hand on his arm.

“Erm Ben, have you seen this?” Kaydel handed him an envelope with ‘Read me idiot’ written on the front.

He raised his eyebrows “Where was this?”

Kaydel pointed to the desk to where the picture of Rey had been moved from.

“Hi guys,

Knew you’d get this figured out and we didn’t have time to come up with a better plan. Finn came to me this morning he explained everything and in return I told him why Palpatine wants me so much. We all know I will never go to him willingly and I certainly wouldn’t stay but it’s about time he left us all alone. We have a future to plan and a pack to protect and its high time my grandfather learnt exactly what kind of pack he is messing with. We are smarter than him, we aren’t just a pack we are family and we fight for our own out of loyalty not out of power.

Me and Finn will go ahead, that is the plan. Finn hasn’t taken me; it looks like he has but we needed it to stay that way. We will get there first. Palpatine will be glad to have me, even happier that I’ve not come willingly. He won’t suspect anything because I will act as though Finn has turned on us all. It will be easy to do, I bet you all thought it too. Yeah, I’m looking at you Ben. You should know better.

I’m guessing at this point Kaydel has got all the emails, everything that has been detailed in them is true. Palpatine has threatened to Kill us all just to get to me. He has alluded to it before to me in various attempts to get me there. I should have told you all my history but I have been trying to protect us all but its now time we attack instead of defend.

I won’t ask you to die for me, if you come up with a better plan to get me back so be it. But as it stands now, Finns going to take me, I’m going to go ‘unwillingly’ and then we are going to fuck shit up from the inside. Once Palpatine has me, Finn will be left mostly to his own devices. Likely kept separate from me. I’m going to keep Palpatine busy and Finn is going to do his best to control how many of the pack will be able to fight. But make no mistake It won’t be easy they outnumber us 3 to 1 as we are and even down to 1 on 1, they are strong. Bring firepower. Don’t fight fair and Rose you have full permission to bite them.

I love you all. Finn loves you all. Please forgive us. But also, please hurry the fuck up, I can’t even begin to imagine the fucking shocking wardrobe my grandfathers got planned for my debut. Eurgh.”

Ben read it out to the room. Complete silence.

“Well that changes things” Laughed Rose.

“I’m going to kill them; I’m going to kill them both. Idiots! Absolute idiots. This is a terrible plan. Is your wife mental?” Hux asked bewilderment evident in his tone about the behavior of their pack members. Especially their Omega.

Ben roared and threw the now very crumpled up letter across the room. He saw Poe move out of the corner of his eye and pick the letter up.

“To be honest with you Poe, I’m trying really hard not to punch something. Do not pick that letter up. She’s a bloody Idiot” He turned sharply away from him and stood on the opposite side of the desk. Looking Poe directly in the eye, he thundered “We now know that Finn isn’t the traitor here and that my stupid wife has taken him on a wild goose chase instead of coming to me. So, here’s the plan. We do not leave them there longer than necessary. We go now, we hope Finn has been able to enact Rey’s wild ass plan and we take out as many as we can, if most of them are downed we might stand a chance of getting them out without any casualties”

“Brother, I’m sorry” Poe spoke softly “I know this started with Finn and as much as Rey has now joined the fight, I feel responsible for Finns part. They targeted him and I didn’t notice. Finn is smart, ridiculously so and his behavior hasn’t been right and I didn’t think to bring it up”

“Poe, I understand why you didn’t mention it and I get it I do. But you fucked up here, we could have stopped this before my wife got crazy ideas into her head, now we are off to save them and hope we don’t get killed in the process”

All the pack members burst into action and Ben was thankful for each of them. They hadn’t even questioned going to fight for him and for Rey. They were his family, like Rey had said. They were loyal and they wouldn’t have thought about themselves as long as they got their pack back.

Chapter Text

Once the plan had been hammered out everyone had set off in their respective cars, a link had been established through Kaydels and Phasmas phone so they could essentially be used as walkie talkies. It was along drive but considering it was late when they set off traffic had been in their favour and Ben was not shy when it had come to the gas pedal.

The plan was simple. Assume Rey and Finn had been successful and prepare to fight. 3 on 1 the odds were very against them but Mitaka and Hux had provided plenty of fire power. Whereas because of their brute strength and numbers generally Palpatine kept firearms solely to his private guard. Figured it would be easier that way to avoid any usurpers getting close to him. So, they would sneak in, as best they could and take out who they could before going against the inner sanctum of Palpatine’s pack. They would all act like Rey had been taken and there hadn’t been a half assed plan proposed by Rey already in motion.

Exactly 4 hours and 45 minutes later they had arrived just north of the Palpatine pack boundary. They had pulled up in a small layby and were circled around the bonnet of Huxs car, Rose was pointing out the best areas in which to enter the territory and where would be the best place to lure the other pack out.

“Right, so if we go in from a mile south of here the Palpatine Compound where Rey is most likely to be should be about another half a mile from there” Rose draw a line in marker on the map.

“OK, that seems a good enough place to start” Ben assessed “But then we need to decide how we do this, once they know we are here Palpatine will either attack us or let us get close enough to Rey to make us think we’ve won. We need to be smart; I’ll go in first with Poe and Phas, the rest of you follow us up and then break off to the front of the compound. Whoever gets in to the building first finds Rey” he ordered.

“Ben, what about Finn?” Poe asked.

“I don’t know what Palpatine will have done with Finn once he completed getting Rey there, like she said it’s likely he will be left to his own devices. Palpatine will see him as traitor to us and won’t bother with him. But we need to find Rey first, we find her we find Finn. But our focus…” he looked pointedly at Poe then “Our only focus is Rey”

“Agreed” the rest of the pack spoke in unison, nodding their heads.

Poe looked to Ben then “Please let me be the one to punch him first yeah” Ben smiled softly at him and nodded.

With that they all turned south and started the 1-mile trek to the back of the compound, conversation was kept to a minimum, Ben could occasionally hear Kaydel question Hux about their weapons, he knew this type of mission was unfamiliar to her. She hadn’t been in the pack long; she hadn’t been in the battles the pack had fought through over the past several years. There had been pack disputes, territory battles and several attempts on the Omega. Thankfully in this pack, their Omega was Rey and to be honest she was probably stronger than Ben, so any attempt on her had been short lived. Regardless though she had seen a few skirmishes to at least let her know what she was in for, he could tell she was nervous, but he had faith in her ability.

They had turned towards the compound and were thankful that the swift walk hadn’t taken too long, they still had the darkness of early morning to cover them. It would be hard to be seen in the shift between night and day and Ben fully planned to use that to his advantage. They had started to tremor with anticipation, the Alphas in the pack were preparing themselves for a fight, the Betas instincts were gearing them up in other ways. Rose had kept plotting new entry points on the walk in, Phasma had been showing Kaydel several moves to use if her weapon became useless.

Mitaka had been walking beside Ben on the journey and he had been thankful for that, Mitakas presence had kept his inner Alpha from roaring to life too soon. They needed to get to the compound first and then all hell would be set loose.

At last Hux saw the main back wall to the compound, from Roses estimation there was an entry point 100 feet from the far-left corner and that would be the area they would use to access the grounds. Ben knew they would have a very short shot at entering without arising suspicion, they would have to enter as discreetly as possible and leave every area they went through just as they had found it, moving bodies aside if it required it.

Once they had made their way cautiously to the access door, they took a moment. This was it; this was when any decisions they had made could be undone and taken out of their hands. Ben looked at his pack, gestured them to ready their weapons. He took a deep breath and opened the gated access.

One by one the pack stepped through the door, slowly and quietly. Each member took over look out for whoever was behind them. Once they were all through, Mitaka closed the gate and secured it, not quite as they found it, but enough to not arise suspicion. They continued on their way and Bens stomach dropped lower and lower with every second.

“Where is everyone?” Rose murmured quietly “Even if they’ve succeeded, we should have run into someone by now Ben”

“I Know Rose, somethings wrong there is no way Palpatine doesn’t have security on the grounds at night” He whispered warily.

Suddenly flood lights flickered into life, the whole courtyard erupted into too much light. The whole pack were momentarily blinded. 

“You are right Solo; I do have security and they have been expecting you” Palpatine’s voice rang out condescendingly. Smugness flooding the air.

Chapter Text

Ben whipped his head around, blinking furiously to try and accustom his eyes to light. He could hear his pack doing the same. This wasn’t quite to plan; Ben had fucked up. He should have had a better plan They had walked into a trap, without knowing if Finn had succeeded and with no back-up and quite frankly it was now most likely going to be fight or die.

He heard several guns lock into place, mostly from his pack some from Palpatine’s, that was at least a small mercy. He had been right about the lack of firepower in this compound. He stepped forward, black dots still flashing in his eyes as they adjusted.

“I’m just here for my wife, myself and my pack will happily leave once she is returned to me” Bens voice rang out loud and commanding.

“Ah young Solo, that is unfortunately for you, not going to happen. You see she is my heir and her place is in my pack” Palpatine spoke again, Ben was able to pinpoint his position this time and turned slightly to the right.

“Her place is in her pack” Ben ground out “Was she even given a choice?”

“Of course, she was you fool, and she has chosen her real family. She was welcomed with open arms into her true pack” Palpatine laughed contemptuously.

Ben felt Kaydel brush past his arm, he was able to grab her wrist and stop her forward projection before she launched herself at the old man. He saw her glance at her now encumbered wrist before back at Palpatine. He may have been old but she wouldn’t have stood a chance, or even gotten close enough before the 2 security guards behind Palpatine had gunned her down.

“Prove it” Kaydel screamed instead. “She would never choose you over us, never!”

“I don’t haver to prove anything to you, little runt, nor your pathetic little pack. Solo you really have scraped the bottom of the barrel with them. You really could have been so much more” He started to circle Ben and his pack slowly and appraisingly. Smirking all the while.

Ben could hear the growls emanating from his pack mates.

“They all look a little washed up to be honest, you should have followed in your grandfather’s footsteps, this could have been yours” He stopped and tapped his chin calculatingly. “Actually, it still could be, I’ll make you a deal. You can have your wife; your pack can live but they leave and you don’t. You become part of this pack. Ooh yes, I think that is the perfect deal”

Ben stood there, his jaw loosened, this was the last thing he had been expected to be offered. He didn’t want it; he would never want it but this would get his wife safely back in his arms and his pack would walk free. He thought it through quickly, choices made and unmade in his head. He looked back at his pack, they all looked at him beseechingly, could he do it. He could walk away from his pack, knowing they would be safe, but could he truly leave them. They were his family. He turned to Palpatine once more.

“I want to see my wife; I refuse to make any choice until I see her” He stood tall and spoke strongly.

He heard Kaydel sob to his left, she had moved back towards the rest of the pack and was now being comforted by Phasma. He could do this to them, they would understand, they might even forgive him one day in the future because he had been able to give them that. A future. Not death here at this compound and shallow graves in the woods.

“I Guess we can accommodate that. Men….” Palpatine gestured to his men, and they jumped into action. Removing weapons from the intruder pack and pulling their hands behind their backs. One of Palpatine’s men for every one of Bens. Ben sighed sadly. This was the only way.

They were frog marched into the manor house at the centre of the compound. Lead through several doors. The men were not kind to his pack, a few times they had been shoved hard, falling to the ground and hauled back up again. Ben hung his head.

They reached a set of double doors, Palpatine opened them wide and entered first. “Ah my beautiful granddaughter, it seems we have guests”

Chapter Text

Ben was thrown to the floor, his pack unceremoniously dumped beside him, he looked up and breathed a sigh of relief. Rey sat across the room, she looked untouched except for the tear tracks down her face he would have assumed she was happy.

“Ben…” She breathed out sadly.

Ben could see the Finn behind her, he himself didn’t look nearly as untouched as Rey. It would appear he wasn’t as welcome into the pack as they all thought and it seems likely that’s Rey’s plan had been unable to go ahead. His hands were tied in front of him and both eyes swollen, not quite closed but definitely painful.

“Darling, you did say they would come for you. She was pretty adamant Ben; my granddaughter seems to have a lot of faith in you. I guess you delivered, albeit a little disappointingly!” Palpatine spoke casually, though the insult was obvious.

“Grandfather, please, you have me. You don’t need any of them. I already agreed to stay, please let them go” Rey pleaded dejectedly.

It broke bens heart to hear his wife, so strong and spirited to be reduced to begging for his life. Obviously, her plan had not gone to plan.

“Ah ah ah…” Palpatine waggled his finger at Rey and smiled cruelly “My silly girl, you haven’t heard the best bit. See what I have done for you. I have brought your alpha here, I have made him an offer, the same as you. He stays and the rest of his dismal pack lives”

Ben saw Rey take a deep breath, some of the tension left her body and she stared right at him. Cocking her head slightly to the side. She looked at him, then at every member of their pack beside him. He could se the sadness and pain in her eyes. Then quick as a flash resolve shone through them before being replaced with regret.

“What did you say Ben? Did you agree to leave our pack? Disown them?” She shouted out angrily “Grandfather, do you truly think I would want an Alpha so disloyal. You couldn’t possibly want that kind of man in your pack?”

She stood up, Ben could see now she wasn’t dressed in her own clothes, she had obviously been dressed up to provoke him. Black silk and lace clung to her body, her outfit both at place on a battle field and a ball room. She was walking towards him and he couldn’t take his eyes off her, she was magnificent. She stood in front of him, bending at the waist so she was now eye level with Ben. He looked deeply into her eyes and smiled.

“Rey” He whispered “I came for you; my loyalty will always be to you”

“As it should be. But what about your allegiance to your pack, what of that? Are you strong enough to walk away from them?” She sauntered around him lazily. Circling like a buzzard waiting to tear scraps from him.

“I will ally myself with anyone as long as it keeps you safe, my love, I would ally myself with the devil if that is what it takes” He steeled himself and looked towards Palpatine.

The old man’s hands were steepled in front of him, he was obviously enjoying the show. Perhaps this is what he had wanted all along. His allegiance along with Rey’s, how perfect to have a Skywalker descendant in his pack. It’s a shame he wouldn’t get that.

You see the thing, no one knew, not a single person save Rey and himself was that they were a dyad. A mated pair that is one half of a whole. Once linked the chains can’t be broken and with those chains come certain abilities. Like the mental bond between them. Whilst Rey had been parading around the hall, speaking of allegiance and dissension, she had also been feeding Ben a plan. They just had to pick the right time to enact it.

For yes, Finn had been caught snooping where he shouldn’t. Rey was feeling great guilt at him having been beaten so badly for a plan she put in place. But Finn getting caught had enabled her unguarded access to kitchens and she had added rat poison to all of the food. She hadn’t touched a crumb, her grandfather assumed out of protest but in reality, she had been waiting for people to drop. She relayed to Ben that at least 7 men were already missing from the guard and a few others had been looking a little peaky. What they needed to do now was make Palpatine believe he had turned his back on the pack, it would hurt them but she was hoping that at least Poe or Hux would be able to see through the bluff.

“Grandfather, I would like to keep my husband. Stand up Ben” She smiled saccharinely at Palpatine whilst she grabbed Bens collar and jerked him up. “He will swear allegiance to you for me, I will keep him in line.”

Standing up and raising his arms wide Palpatine’s voice rang through the room victory dripping from his every move. “That is acceptable, what did I tell you men, she is perfect”

“Far from it Grandfather, however if it’s not too much trouble I would very much like to say goodbye to the rest of my old pack” She looked sweetly to Palpatine.

“I guess that is also acceptable my darling girl, but do make it quick” Palpatine harrumphed.

Chapter Text

Ben walked behind his wife to the rest of his pack, the look of shock and sadness apparent on their face. He knew the things that had been said in the past 20 minutes had hurt them, but he was hoping that they would be forgiven.

He looked first to Poe; whose eyes were glued on Finn that was stood behind where Rey had been sat earlier. Ben figured his glance had moved no further than there since they entered the room. His eyes then landed on Hux, who was eyeing him thoughtfully, Hux wasn’t stupid and Ben knew he was probably connecting the dots in his head. So, he moved forward and placed a hand upon Huxs shoulder.

“Hux you are a great alpha; you will lead them now. You have all the expertise you need to defeat anything that comes your way. There has always been a plan B with you. You should always have that” Ben smiled and patted Huxs back, feeling for the gun he knew was held there by a holder.

Ben looked over to Rey where she was talking to the females of the pack. Kaydel was still clinging to Phasma she was obviously scared. He hoped she would be able to pull it together when the signal went off and Rose looked about as pissed off as she ever had been. He walked slowly over to them and placed his arm on his wife’s back. He didn’t know what she had said, but from the look Phasma had given him, Rey shared with her what he had shared with Hux and there was now a plan in place. Rose had moved over to Hux and to the outsider it looked like they were embracing, Ben knew better.

“I guess this is goodbye then, it’s been a pleasure, but I extend to you this final warning. Come back and I will not stop my Grandfathers men from killing you. Is that understood?” Rey’s voice rang out severely.

The pack nodded. Heads lowered.

Ben tugged softly on his wife’s side and turned her in his arms. He rested his head against her. With his eyes closed he breathed deep.

“Ready” he thought towards his wife.

“Always” She responded

Scooping down, he kissed Rey’s lips, forcefully and without hesitation. They would make it out of this alive he assured himself but people might get hurt in the process. So, he savoured this moment until he heard Palpatine cough to interrupt them.

He moved back from Rey and lowering his head he apologised “I’m sorry Alpha”

And those were the words that set things into motion. His pack, his true pack burst into action. Removing weapons from various places upon their bodies. Palpatine had very little faith in this pack, he assumed they were all cast offs and worth very little but that was his error. In his inability to see them for what they truly were he had underestimated them and he was going to pay dearly for that.

Phasma had released Kaydel and back to back they were now taking down pack members left and right, knocking them to the floor with sickening thuds. Ben would hate to guess how many had hit the floor without a heartbeat.

Gunshots could be heard ringing around the room, at a quick glance he saw both hux and rose behind an upturned table being shot upon, but he had no idea who trained these men because they practically missed every shot whereas Hux had pin point accuracy.

Mitaka who was always overlooked by their enemies had used that to his advantage and from what Ben could tell had made his way over to the Finn. His guards lay on the floor, necks at odd angles and both of them men were know using the guards own weapons to take down the rest of Palpatine’s soldiers.

Ben looked to his wife, who was looking intently at Palpatine. Both of them seem to be circling each other, if not physically but in willpower. They were plotting against each other’s every move, if Palpatine stepped left, Rey had stepped right.

“How could you do this, you stupid girl?!” Palpatine bellowed “I was willing to give you everything, but instead you choose these mongrels, over me. You will not leave this place alive”

“That may be so Palpatine, but neither will you” Rey goaded him.

Ben watched as his wife, pulled 2 knives from the inside of her dress and ran forward. At the same time Palpatine pulled a sword from the wall beside him and swung. Had Rey not had been so fast it would have hit her but with pride Ben thought “You don’t mess with my omega”

Sword and knife could be heard clashing, Ben however had been distracted by a new set of guards running in from the side doors. He need not have worried though because when he saw who was leading them, he knew Poe would not be letting them live. Pryde had made a grievous error by going after the pack through Poe’s boyfriend and would not live to see another day.

Ben heard a knife clatter off to the side and looked to his wife, though she was holding her own, she had lost a knife and was now toe to toe with Palpatine. Ben picked up the knife and ran towards his wife, he stopped just behind her and raised his own knife to the side of hers. They now both pushed against Palpatine’s blade pushing his backwards further and further until his back was against the wall.

“You have lost Palpatine” Ben spoke slowly “Give up”

“You are as stupid as your grandfather Solo. I will never lose. I will kill you all” Palpatine gritted out, Ben could hear him waning.

A cry caught his attention and he momentarily turned his head to watch the Finn dive in front of Poe and take a bullet to the stomach. It was a fatal error on Bens part as his distraction had left his left side open and Palpatine had used that moment to take a second sword and shove it into Bens side.

Ben roared in pain and faltered to the side, his hand pressing down on his hip, it came away bloody. He looked up to his wife and saw terror there. Without a second thought she had turned around and slashed her blade straight through Palpatine’s neck. Before the cut had registered Palpatine had managed to back hand Rey across the face and Ben saw her fall ungraciously to the floor. Followed quickly by a lifeless Palpatine, with blood pouring out of his mouth and throat.

Ben crawled over to Rey slowly, breath hitching as he moved, his body ached but he was determined to get to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up onto his lap.

Stroking her face “Rey, Rey baby…Wake up” he pulled her up to his chest, resting his head against her shoulder. “Baby I won’t lose you, not like this, wake up” he whimpered.

Whilst whispering to his wife, he also noticed the room around him had grown quiet. He looked up to find his pack staring down at him. He couldn’t focus on them though; his wife lay still in his arms and he needed her. Needed her like air, she needed to wake up.

He placed a hand on her stomach, on their baby and closing his eyes willed with all his heart for her to wake up. His eyes shot open as soon as he felt something cover his hand.

He looked down to find Rey smiling up at him “Ben” she breathed out lovingly.

He pulled her closer to him and held her tight. “Rey” He sighed in relief. Feeling her pull back a little he released her slowly.

“I love you” She swooped up to catch his lips in hers. He kissed her softly, stroking her hair back from her face. When they pulled apart, he smiled tenderly at her.

“I was so scared” he whispered softly “I thought I had lost you”

He heard Rey laugh sweetly, lightly in his ear she breathed “It’ll take more than that to take me away from you”

“Hey guys, I hate to interrupt but we need to get out of here” Phasma spoke whilst leaning down to put her arm around Rey. Pulling her up softly, she handed her over to Hux and Rose.

Ben then felt both of her arms go around him and she heaved him up. He tried to help but the pain in his side was excruciating, he stumbled up and into her arms. Kaydel catching his other side. He breathed shallowly to avoid moving his ribcage.

Looking around the room, he noticed for the first time Poe was not stood with him but sat on the floor with Finn lay in his lap. Poe was crying, his shoulders shaking and gasping for breath though Ben could see no injuries.

Rey had moved over to them and had been lowered down slowly by Rose.

“Oh Finn, I’m sorry. I should have had a better plan.” She placed her hand upon Finns face. Though there was no movement. Ben could tell Finn was dead and though at the beginning of the day he wanted to kill him, he loved him like a brother and he was sorry for the whole this left in the lives of the people he loved. He understood now that Finn had done what he thought was right, he had gone to his best friend and they had tried to protect everyone they love together.

“I’m so sorry Rey” Poe choked out.

“No Poe, don’t be silly, me and him made this plan together. He loved you, he loved us all and he knew when he came to me that he had shared too much of our lives with them. We couldn’t have stopped them coming for us this time, we tried to be smart and fast. I’m sorry I failed.” Rey was stroking Poe’s back, her arms wrapped strongly around him. “We need to go.”

After a few more moments, where Poe reached down to kiss Finns forehead and Hux had gathered Rey back into his arms everyone said goodbye to Finns body.

They walked slowly out of the building, following the path out of the compound and made their ways back to their cars. For the long, unsettling and mournful journey home.

Chapter Text

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2t3qaCj5RsJBwQa0XEmCJa?si=3wtOQiazQvqKoeyaZMGJ5g

https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/brute/

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/12/asian-woman-fetishes-hurtful/

https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/07/protect-white-womanhood/

https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/popular-and-pervasive-stereotypes-african-americans

https://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/jezebel/

https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-madame-butterfly-effect-asian-fetish-history-pop-culture

https://g.co/kgs/3MKvgQ

https://g.co/kgs/dDfXnJ