Ƭhe knights didn't cuff or chain the prince, knowing that he wouldn't attempt anything with his wife and parents locked up. Especially because he knew what Snoke would do to them if he didn't submit willingly. He had seen Snoke harm or kill the families of soldiers who had betrayed or disobeyed him. He couldn't bare to watch Rey and his parents get hurt. Rey had already gotten hurt enough because of him.

The knights allowed Ben to walk beside them casually so that as they walked past the other cells, the prisoners would continue to see him as a traitor. It was an order from Snoke, part of his punishment for his betrayal.

Most of them glared as he passed, and despite the fact that he didn't have a choice it made him feel like he was betraying them. Finn and Rose were the only exceptions.

They passed the king's cell, Han watched his son for a moment before looking away. His eyes held betrayal and disappointment. Ben knew that his father loved Rey as if she was his own daughter, he must have felt like he had failed her by arranging their marriage. He probably thought that he didn't deserve her, which was true. He didn't deserve her, but she deserved to be happy and she said that he made her happy. He knew that she loved him with all of her heart, that was what mattered most.

But there was something different in his mother's eyes, the love of a woman who saw things that only a mother would. The way his hands were slightly red and swollen from fighting, as was his left cheek. Her mind told her that he was betraying them all and that he had been lying to them all along. But her heart... the heart of a mother, told her that he was hurt and in danger.

It was like when he was a small child, and he had snuck into the kitchen to snatch a pie that was cooling on the windowsill. As he had tried to climb up reach the pie, he had fallen and scraped his knees badly on the stone floor. She'd been angry with him for sneaking into the kitchen when he knew that he wasn't supposed to, but seeming him hurt had made her forget her anger. Just like when he was a child, her concern for him would make her forget her anger towards him.

"Ben!" she called, reaching her hand through the bar on the cell door and stretching it out towards him.

He stopped and turned to look at her. He went over and took her hand. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes knowing that he must be breaking the heart that held so much love for him.

She gently reached up to touch the reddened skin beneath his right eye. "Ben...are you okay?"

He nodded, not daring to speak for fear that his voice would betray him.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked.

He didn't reply, he couldn't tell her not now while he was surrounded by Snoke's knights. He felt one of them grab his arm and attempt to pull him away. But he wasn't going to fight it, he didn't want his mother to see them drag him away forcefully. He didn't want her to see the truth about how Snoke and his knights treated him. He would rather let her believe that he was a traitor, then know the truth and bear the guilt he was certain that she would feel if she knew. He knew that she already blamed herself as it was.

"I have to go," he whispered, then turned and continued to walk through the dungeon.

One of the knights leaned closer to him. "Get moving...or else..." he trailed off, allowing Ben to imagine the worst.

Leia watched, until her son was out of sight. "I'm worried about Ben," she told Han.

"Leia...I know that you want to believe that he's changed, I thought he had too... but I'm afraid that he never will. We've lost our son and now we have doomed the girl we love as a daughter to be married to a monster. She said that herself, I should have realized that something was going on."

"Han, our son isn't a monster. We can't go by what other people say, we have to judge for ourselves based on what we know. He's been in a fight," Leia said.

Han looked at her surprised.

"And he acted like he was afraid," she added.

"Ben? He's not afraid of anything," Han replied.

"He's afraid of losing the ones he loves," she answered.

"You think Snoke is using us...and Rey as leverage?"

"Maybe..." she replied thoughtfully.

"I guess you're right, we have to have faith that he has truly changed. And I am wrong about him and Rey, I have never seen her smile as much as she has in the past week since I have known her."

Leia smiled. "I haven't seen Ben this happy since he was a small boy either."

Han nodded. "At least he's with her now, he needs someone to be there for him now."

Leia nodded. "So do I." She wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.

꧁❀꧂

The knights brought Ben to the throne room, he tried not to show his distaste at the sight of Snoke on his father's throne. He walked forward until he stood before Snoke, he bent down on one knee, kneeling before his former master.

"Who kneels before me?...Kylo Ren, my greatest warrior...or Prince Ben, the foolish boy who would give up everything for a servant girl?" Snoke asked.

"Kylo Ren," he answered.

"Good... I have a mission for him."

"Yes...master?"

"There is a traitor in this castle...Finn... bring him to me," Snoke ordered. "It is time that he payed for what he has done."

Ben nodded. "I've been looking forward to it."

Snoke laughed cruelly, and gestured for him to leave.

Ben rose and made his way to the dungeons, followed by Snoke's knights. He found Finn's cell and one of the knights took out a set of keys and unlocked the door.

"Ben please... I know that this isn't you. Think of Rey," Finn pleaded.

Ben looked at him. "I am," he replied simply.

Finn's brow creased in confusion at his response, but then realization seemed to dawn on his face. He seemed to know that he was only doing this for her...to protect her.

Ben grabbed his arm and aggressively pulled him from the cell.

The knights cuffed him and led him to the throne room. As they approached the throne, the knights aggressively pushed him to the floor at Snoke's feet.

"You betrayed me... deserted my army in the middle of a crucial battle," said Snoke. "Do you know the price of desertion?"

Finn looked up at him, but didn't reply.

"Death," Snoke answered. Then he made a gesture and his knights drew their swords and moved towards Finn.