As an attempt to cope with my love for all things Star Wars, this little piece was born. May the Force be with us as we wait another 713 days until Episode IX.
Before we start, I would like to mention that the name Star Wars: A Spark of Hope isn't mine, it was mentioned in one of the videos I watched on YouTube where they made predictions for Episode IX and I simply liked it, ergo the title of this story.
The hall is eerily silent. Only an eventual whimper can be heard.
Rey stands in front of a small crowd of people. It's sad and devastating how many members of the Resistance are left, but it's better than nothing, she reasons with herself.
She takes a deep breath, and a shudder passes through her body. "Today, we say goodbye to one of the greatest heroes of our age." Her voice trembles with unshed tears, but she swallows the feeling and continues. "General Leia Organa, who died as she lived - brave and full of hope." A tear escapes her eye and she can feel her resolve start to falter. "May... May the Force be with her. Always."
The room echoes. "Always."
Poe approaches her. His eyes are full of sympathy and gentle support. "Would you mind if I said a few words?"
Rey shakes her head and retreats to the crowd. If anything, she's grateful to be out of the limelight. At least in the crowd she can let her tears flow.
Poe takes the center stage. His stance is confident, albeit a little humbling. As the new leader of the Resistance following Leia's death, he's already taken quite seriously to his new role. "As you all know, General Organa and a dozen other of our people were killed last night when an infiltrator of the First Order set fire to one of our military bases. Leia tried to get everyone to safety, but ultimately the base exploded and left no survivors. As of now, we have no information on the location of the spy, but we are working on it." Poe pauses and a wistful look crosses his features. "I know it seems like our situation is more hopeless than ever, but I still believe in Leia's most treasured belief - we are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down. The moment we stop believing that, is the moment we've lost. The moment our galaxy is lost. Our mission is not over, we still have allies scattered across the galaxy to find. So let's get to work. For Leia. For all the friends we've lost."
Most people nod and the crowd slowly dissipates, until the only people left standing in the small hall are Rey, Poe, Finn, and Rose. Rose has red streaks staining her cheeks and her eyes are puffy; it reminds Finn of the days after she'd lost her sister. He's worried about her health as well. It took her almost a week to wake up after the battle on Crait, and she's been slowly recovering ever since.
"What do we do now?" Finn asks, breaking the silence. "Luke Skywalker is gone. Leia is gone. The First Order found us. It's only a matter of days until we're attacked." He says what everyone is already thinking and it makes everyone stare at their feet in silence. "Has the spark really gone out?"
"No," Rey says. "As long as we fight, there's still hope. I won't let Luke and Leia's death be in vain."
"Rey-" Finn starts.
She cuts him off, resolution sparkling in her eyes. "No. We will win, as long as we stay together. I'm sure of it."
Later, when she's alone in her room, meditating, Rey suddenly feels a shift in the Force. The feeling is dark and cold, and oh-so-familiar. But this time something is different. This time she feels devastating sadness and loneliness, and they make her soul ache as if she were feeling those things herself. She takes a deep breath to calm herself; she even pinches her arm in case all of this is a dream.
But it isn't, and there is a broken shell of a man who used to be Kylo Ren, kneeling in the middle of her room.
The news of his mother's passing breaks him to pieces. He shows no emotion in front of Hux when he delivers the news, but once he's alone in his chambers, his knees buckle and he finds himself on the ground.
He already thought his mother had died when that TIE fighter blew up the Raddus, but in retrospect, he realizes he'd always known she wasn't really gone. The connection they always shared, even though he tried to sever it, was there all along and deep down he knew she was alive.
But now... Now the connection is truly gone and he feels like he misses a limb; his mother was such a vital part of his existence that he now feels incomplete. The pain burns even stronger when he thinks of his father, and he can almost feel that pain swallowing him whole. Regret is by far the worse, he wishes he could stop thinking about everything he's sorry about, tries to shut that part of himself down, but it tears him apart.
The pain morphs into blinding rage as hours go by and soon enough his entire room is in shambles. Pieces of furniture litter the floor as fire engulfs whatever is left. At one point, striking things with his lightsaber isn't enough, he chucks it across the room, takes off his gloves and starts hitting whatever is near. By the time he stops seeing red, the wall in front of him is filled with dents and traces of his knuckles.
Before, destruction helped him put his emotions under control. Now, it somehow makes him feel even worse and he feels like this is all he's ever done - destroyed things.
He falls to his knees and stays like that for a long time. His mind tortures him by replaying memories - happy memories of his parents, learning the ways of the Force with Luke, Snoke's promises of power, and his acceptance of the darkness. He sees his father's face in the moment his lightsaber claimed his life, he sees Luke's eyes as they faced off on Crait. For a split second, he thinks of the scavenger. Her tear-filled eyes when they fought for grandfather's lightsaber haunt him to this day, and he recalls that time she called him a monster.
He's never agreed more.
He vows never to think of her again just moments before he feels eyes on himself. He doesn't even have to look to know the Force has brought her to him.
It's been six months since Crait, and the Force has connected them a handful of times since then, but they've always simply ignored each other. Rey would turn her back to him and pretend he wasn't there, and he was happy to return the favor. He would go on with his business and after some time, she would be gone. Kylo often wonders how to sever the bond between them. While it provided him with comfort before, now he sees contempt and disappointment in her eyes when she looks at him, and he resents her for that.
How can she, a nobody from nowhere, pity him?
He decides to speak to her this time. He looks up and their eyes meet. It's been so long since they've even looked at each other. She changed her hair. Now she wears it down, with only two locks tied back.
His voice is coarse and devoid of emotion when he speaks. "Go away."
Rey flinches slightly at his words but composes herself quickly. She looks surprised to hear his voice.
She looks thoughtful for a moment. "I don't know how."
Silence.
"I'm sorry... About Leia."
He closes his eyes and tries to control his raging emotions. It seems like he is losing control over everything, including himself, and for a moment he worries the girl will receive the backlash of that if she doesn't disappear soon.
Or if she continues talking.
"Go. Away," he repeats through gritted teeth.
She senses the turmoil inside of him and decides the best course of action would be to stop talking. There are so many things she wants to say to him but she's still so angry and disappointed she can't even put it into words. She wonders if she should simply sit in a corner and wait for the connection to break, but she feels his sorrow rolls off him in waves and she just can't. She finds that she hates him and understands him at the same time. This loneliness he feels - she's dragged that feeling around like an anchor her entire life. This sorrow he feels - she felt it when her parents abandoned her. And this anger... Well, she thinks she also has some of that inside of her.
Rey wonders how she would like to be consoled. She wouldn't want words; words are fleeting and often untrue. She would want someone to simply stand by her, a comforting presence amidst the grief.
And then she sees his hands. His once strong, confident hands are now bloody and bruised, and she can't look away. Rey stands there, frozen, until she decides to trust her gut.
She slowly approaches him, as if he were a wounded animal, and kneels in front of him. His hands are resting on his lap and she notices that the blood is staining his clothes. He stubbornly refuses to look at her and stares at his lap, avoiding her eyes. She doesn't care; instead, starts to untangle the long band tied around her forearm. She holds it in her hands and pauses, hesitant to make the move. She's unsure how he'll react if she touches him.
Moments pass and she takes a deep breath, then carefully reaches for his hand. She gently takes it and in that moment he looks up, startled. He stares at her with the most intense look, and she has to use all of her willpower to focus on her work and keep her head down. She just knows she wouldn't be able to resist his gravitational pull.
When she's done wrapping the band around his right hand, she takes the left.
Is he even breathing?
She doesn't know, but then again, she's not sure what she's doing either.
Once she's done, she puts his hands back onto his lap and leans back, quietly waiting. She doesn't want to look up yet, she's afraid what she'll see if she does. Half of her wishes the connection would break already; this thing that she's done somehow feels incredibly intimate and suddenly she wonders what the hell she was thinking.
Her curiosity gets the best of her, however, and she finally looks up to meet his eyes.
Yes, she thinks to herself, his eyes could really swallow up entire galaxies.
Before either of them has a chance to say anything, the connection breaks and Rey's finds herself back in her small room. Her heart races and she slumps against the wall, trying to make sense of her conflicting emotions.
It has never been so hard for her to hate someone.
And back on the Finalizer, Kylo finally releases the breath he's been holding.
If you've come this far, thank you for giving me your time of day and reading this :)