Sacrifice, a star wars fanfic

So this is the first fanfic that I've written in a very, very long time. It's also crosspublished on archiveofourown under the same name.

As I've said on there, I'm not excessively knowledgable about Star Wars fandom, I grew up watching the films and have been reading a lot of Star Wars fanfic since the last film came out; for this reason I've tried to keep stuff like locations etc. kind of vague, as I feel like the Star Wars universe is so broad, and complicated, that I would certainly get it wrong.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this, and suggestions are very welcome!

Part I: The Beginning

Rey turned over in her sleep, her sheets twisting around her.

Rey

Rey's eyes shot open and her heart pounded in her chest. Judging by the fact that there was no light coming through the tent it was still nighttime. She rolled over onto her side to try to get back to sleep. Her pillow was sodden with sweat, but a wave of tiredness overtook her, and afraid that if she were to do anything about it that she would be hit by insomnia, she chose to ignore it letting her head fall deeper into it.

She closed her eyes; half-aware of her surroundings half immersed back into the dream world she had been so abruptly torn from shadowy figures and faces floating through her mind.

REY!

A loud scream rang out through silent night.

'Rey, are you ok?' Finn had come running into her tent, she looked up at him from the hard floor, he was semi illuminated by the full moon, silver light playing over his dark skin. What had just happened? She stayed silent for a moment.

'I- I think so.' Her lips pursed. 'Just a bad dream.' She pushed herself onto her elbows to better see him.

The former stormtrooper looked down at her, concerned, stepping further into the makeshift shelter, having to bend down in the low structure.

'The same one.'

'Y-yeah,' she took a deep breath, in her heart of hearts she knew it was more than a bad dream, 'I think it might be this planet or something. It's like there's something, I don't know, calling to me.' Finn cocked his head and sat down, his body touching hers through her sheets.

'We shouldn't be here too much longer you know.' Rey attempted to smile at him, but she knew that his attempt was less than convincing. 'Maz said that she's found a place that we can go to, set up a proper base, we'd be able to stop running.' Sometimes Finn's optimism was too much.

'For a bit.' The Resistance was never going to be able to stay anywhere for long. He nodded sullenly.

'For a bit.'

'I, um, think I'm going to try and get to sleep again.' The dark feeling that had overtaken her since they had arrived on this planet began to swell up in her again. It seemed like she had traded in one life of misery for another, condemned to spend it on the run from the First Order fighting a battle that could never be won.

'Ok.' He began to stand up. 'Let me know if you need anything, I'm on guard duty so I'll be awake all night.'

This time Rey's smile was genuine. 'Thanks Finn.'

But when she woke, it was not in the confines of her tent. In fact, she was still in her bedclothes and robe, sat down, in the middle of the forest of the planet the Resistance was temporarily calling home. Rey had to stifle a scream and terror began to rise up through her chest. What the fuck had happened?

Had she… Sleepwalked? She scrabbled around on the mossy ground, and quickly stood up. She noticed on the ground the two pieces of her broken lightsaber, and bent down quickly to retrieve them, before stuffing them into the pockets of her robe.

Rey.

It was the same voice as early, except louder, almost like the speaker was stood right by her. Panic spread through her body, and she turned around expecting to see whatever it was that was tormenting her, but there was nothing, the only movement the leaves of the trees being blown gently by the wind.

You know what to do.

This time the voice was less loud, seeming to move around her and she spun around again.

'What are you?' She felt like an idiot speaking to something that wasn't really there, but her voice rang out loud and clear.

That is not of your concern right now. Rey jumped involuntarily, she was hardly expecting a reply. But all will become clear, in time. Her hands were clenched by her side, and shiver of fear went down her spine. For a moment she tried to reach out into the force, but all she could sense was more pain and fear. Turn around Rey.

'What if I don't?'

Then you won't find out what I am.

Was she going crazy? Here she was, standing in the middle of the woods, talking to a voice, that, to the best of her knowledge seemed to be in her head.

You're not going crazy I assure you. The volume of the strange aural apparition increased in volume once again. It sounded vaguely female. For a moment Rey entertained the idea of leaving this strange clearing, and finding her way back to the camp, but then curiosity overwhelmed her. She turned and peered into the darkness. There was no one there still.

Look harder.

And there she saw it, illuminated by the silver light of the moon, there was what appeared to be the entrance of a tunnel, three slabs of rock: one on each side and another slab on the top. Tentatively she moved closer, her eyes adjusting better and better to the darkness as she did.

The voice spoke again once she reached the entrance.

Go in Rey. As if in a trance she ducked down slightly and entered into the tunnel, darkness enveloping her.

She continued to walk through, keeping her hands on the two sides as she made her way down the long passageway. After a few minutes of silence with only the sound of her own footsteps, Rey began to question if she had just imagined the whole thing.

'I'm still here.' The voice was clearer now, and Rey could make out quite certainly that it was a woman.

'What even is this place?' She said, as she narrowly avoided tripping.

'Patience young Rey.' Ahead of her Rey could see light flickering at what must have been the end of the tunnel, her pace quickened and she anticipated the end of her claustrophic journey- which reminded her too much of cramped exploits on Jakku.

She continued down until she reached the light, finding herself in a cavern with a large stone plinth in the centre of the room, with a triangle object placed upon it, which Rey couldn't help but feel drawn to and nauseated by at the same time. Various other tunnels seemed to lead out of the cavern, and as she waked further into the room she peered at them inquisitively.

'Ahem,' she heard from behind her, and Rey jumped around at once. A woman stood there. Although after Rey got over the initial shock of seeing her it seemed that on further inspection she was some kind of spirit, her form flickering in and out gently. The two didn't say anything for a moment, and it gave Rey the chance to further study her. She worn long black robes, dark boots and gloves and appeared to be human; and Rey swore that her eyes seemed to be flickering orange, but in the dark, torch lit cavern it was hard to tell. 'I've been expecting you for a while now.'

'Wh- who are you?' Rey's courage dissipated at the appearance of the woman.

'That's neither hear nor there right now,' the spirit paused, 'in time you may find out. But who are you, Rey with no last name.' Their eyes locked, and Rey could feel the subtle invasion of her mind, she attempted to block it but there was no use. At once she could feel the memories coming back.

She's young, very young, and her parents are leaving her on Jakku, and she's sobbing, she knows in the depths of her heart that this is the last time she's going to see them.

She's on Jakku scavenging, she's so hungry, and she's making another notch on the wall to mark how long she's been stuck there for.

The memories were speeding up.

She's meeting Finn, and using Anakin's lightsaber to fight off Kylo Ren, and then she's touching it for the first time and she's hearing the voice of Obi-Wan, and then she's in the starkiller, and Kylo Ren is invading her mind, and she's on Ach-to and Luke's telling her the Jedi have to die, and then she's on Crait lifting up the rocks to save the Resistance, and then she's fighting off Snoke's guards in the throne room, and Kylo Ren is offering her the galaxy, and the lightsaber's broken in two, and now she's back on Jakku young again, fighting off the other scavengers who are –

'STOP!' Rey cried out, forcing the spirit out of her mind with a bolt of anger running through her, but the female spirit seemed to be smiling rather than aggrieved at this action.

'I had seen all I needed to know.' She said, answering Rey's puzzlement. Rey was shaking, adrenaline pumping through her veins, and even though everything in her mind was screaming at her just to get out of there, she felt like she was anchored to the ground by some invisible force.

'What are you?'

'You may call me Devisia,' the spirit replied, clearly choosing to avoid her question, 'so you are not a Jedi then, but there are no more Jedi any more are there?' Rey bit her lip, the spirit was right in some sense she supposed, she could no more call herself a Jedi than Kylo Ren could call himself a Sith. 'You're right, there are no more Sith left either.' Rey was suddenly brought back to a recent conversation with Leia.

'Ben,' the General had said after Rey had angrily exclaimed her hatred of him, calling him a Sith, 'he is no Sith. The Sith ended with my father.'

'What?'

'My father was the Chosen One, his destiny was to end the Sith.'

'I thought he was Darth Vader?' Leia nodded, a sullen expression coming over her face.

'He was that, but he was also Anakin Skywalker; and when he saw Luke falling to the dark side, he realised that he didn't want that for him.' Rey was puzzled.

'But then, why does Kylo Ren worship him?' Leia stiffened at the use of Ben's other name, and Rey briefly questioned whether she had made a mistake. But that was who he was; Rey had been taken in by his lies- and lost.

Shaking her head she forced the apparition back out.

'You have no teacher do you Rey?'

'No.'

Desperation boiled up inside of her, her lack of teacher, her lack of any one in the galaxy to show her the way and show her place in the galactic saga she had found herself in was so heart-wrenchingly terrifying , even if she only admitted this to herself at her darkest moments.

Luke had been a disappointment, his three lessons unclear, the sacred texts that she had stolen had been instructional in parts, but it was hard to understand the language or even follow the pictures faded with age. Every time it felt like she had made just a tiny bit of progress, the reality of her situation – that she would have to face and kill Kylo Ren – a man who had been trained in the ways of the Force practically since birth, would hit in and Rey would feel like she could never win, she could never be the hero that the galaxy needed.

'Who would have known that things would end up like this? Both the Jedi and the Sith destroyed.' The torchlight flickered around them, and Rey could swear that Devisia's eyes flashed a deep red for a moment. She didn't know quite what to say, and so waited for Devisia to start talking again, while her mind went at a million miles an hour. 'I see you have many questions, I'm afraid I can't question many of them; but I can teach you some things.' She swallowed, willing herself to resist the temptation of the apparition, Rey didn't know why but she didn't have a good feeling about this. 'I can teach you many things, if you wish.'

The young woman shook her head.

'I don't want to become like him.' A smirk played over the spirits face.

'Understandably, but let me teach you at least how to fix your lightsaber.'

Surely that would be fine? When she nodded, it felt like she was looking at herself doing that action, that her body had been taken over by a stranger. The spirit smiled, but the smile made her feel uneasy.

'Ah, the correct decision.' There was pause. 'Although, I suppose everything comes with a price.'

'There is a crystal in the centre of the lightsaber that powers it, and if you want to fix the lightsaber properly, you must find new one.'

'Where?' Rey took a deep breath, breathing in the musty, soil-smelling air of the chamber. Suddenly, the names of the planets where she could retrieve a new crystal entered into her mind, it felt like they had been etched there; but what was she meant to do once she had one?

'Once you have one, you must mediate and imbue it with the Force.'

'Meditation?' Her heart dropped, meditation wasn't her strong point. 'And, how will I do this?'

'The Force will guide you.' Devisia replied simply, and the sense of defeat Rey had been feeling increased, why did everything have to be so mysterious? 'Since the crystal has been cracked you will have to create a new hilt, something to drain off the excess energy. A crossguard perhaps?' At once, Rey felt the design of the crossguard lightsaber enter her mind, and she instantly recoiled at the idea. It was similar in design to Kylo Ren's. 'Hmm, okay. A saberstaff might work, but it would be unstable, you would be advised to replace the crystal at some point.' Her heart leapt at having staff of some sort, similar to her old quarterstaff she'd had on Jakku, Devisia clearly noticed her assent, and in a way similar to how the design of the crossblade had entered her head, so too did the design of the saberstaff. 'Take out the two pieces from you pocket.' Rey felt vaguely like she was in a trance, unable to break eye contact with Devisia as she did so. 'I can fix it, but this is only temporary, barely usable. I won't be able to make it strong enough, without making it completely unstable.

She nodded slowly, before raising the two pieces outstretched in her palms towards Devisia, who began to chant under her breath, suddenly the broken saber began to glow white, and Rey almost dropped it instinctively, but it wasn't heating up; rather it was becoming cold. A blast of white light filled the room and Rey dropped to her knees, closing her eyes to shield them from the strong glow.

When she opened them again she looked down. The saber was whole again. Despite the uneasiness she felt at the whole situation, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Finally, she was getting somewhere at least.

She looked up. Devisia seemed to be becoming more corporeal, no longer flickering in and out of existence with the same intensity that she had at the beginning, and Rey was starting to feel exhausted. The thought ran through her mind that the spirit was somehow sapping Rey's Force energy.

'You are correct.' A brief shiver of annoyance overtook Rey at the apparition's continual invasions into her thoughts. 'There's much that we could discuss, but time is running short. There's the matter of your payment to me.' The young lightsider dropped her head once again, able finally to break her gaze with the spirit, and instantly realised the subservience of her pose. Regret overtook her, she had made a deal, and now she was in debt to whatever this thing was. 'Don't feel so worried, it's not much.'

'What must I do?' She said, as she brought herself back up; staring into the spirits eyes.

'I want you to memorise this for me.' A sickening feeling of anticipation overtook Rey, and at that moment she understood that she should have run away when she first could in the forest. But it was too late now, the spirit was already speaking.

'Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.
Through Passion I gain Strength.
Through Strength I gain Power.
Through Power I gain Victory.
Through Victory my chains are Broken.
The Force shall free me.'

The words seemed to sear themselves on her brain, and she realised that the ghost wanted to her to repeat them back to her. For a moment, she considered bolting; but the spirit was clearly a powerful one, and she resigned herself to the idea that she had little choice. Just as she finished the last line of the mantra, Rey understood what she was saying. This was the opposite of the Jedi code she had read in one of the many ancient texts. A wave of panic spread through her.

'Are- are you a Sith?' At once Rey ignited the lightsaber in her hand, the blue glow illuminating the chamber. The ghost seemed unperturbed and calm, the opposite to Rey's blind terror.

'I wouldn't recommend that. Not that it will do any good anyway- I've been dead for thousands of years.' Thoughts were running a million miles an hour through the lightsiders head; what had she done, she was tainted now, she had made a deal with a Sith, and now-'Relax.' Devisia spoke finally, interrupting the panic that was consuming Rey.

'What have you done to me?' Rey roared at the Sith, all the while the mantra was still running through her head, like the beat of some sickening war drum.

'I can help you.'

Realising the futility of the situation, Rey deactivated the lightsaber, at once missing the blue glow it had emanated over the cavern.

'I don't want your help!'

'You have no teacher, and you and your merry little band of friends is thinking of taking on a powerful Force user. You haven't been trained, and the only reason you've escaped so far is luck, child.'

The Sith's eyes were burning orange now, and Rey felt so stupid. How could she have not comprehended that the apparition was a Sith, all the signs had pointed to it. How could she have not sensed the complete, overwhelming dark energy in this place, infecting everything around it? Was it because she too was emanating it? She had gone down to the cave on Ach-To, and Luke himself had said, oh what even was it what he had said, Rey despaired; the Sith mantra was too distracting.

'I will never ask you for help!' She screamed, finding her voice again.

Just before she lost consciousness she heard a whisper.

'We shall see child, we shall see.'

Rey awoke, violently sitting up gasping for air. Had it all just been a nightmare?

Morning light was flooding through the flimsy material of tent, and Rey was glad for it, she could still hear the echo of the mantra running through her mind. Feeling claustrophobic she quickly untangled herself from her sheets, and dashed out of the entrance of her tent; not noticing that she was no longer wearing the robe that she had worn to bed. The direct light of the sun hit, and she took a deep breath, revelling in the feeling of the morning dew on the grass beneath her.

'Rey!' Finn shouted out, and she turned, he was sitting by the fire with Leia cooking something. She smiled, glad for the company, although it didn't seem like the rest of the rebels were up yet.

Peace is a lie.

The words reverberated around her mind as she took a step.

There is only Passion.

Shaking her head, she ignored the rest as best she could as she padded over, sitting down next to Finn on the log by the smoky fire. There was some kind of porridge being made in the pot over the first, and she felt a pang of hunger.

'Did you manage to sleep well in the end?' Rey shook her head, mutely. 'Another nightmare?' There was lump in her throat, and she swallowed before speaking.

'Yes, but…' she trailed off, 'sorry, it just felt so real, I'm still feeling strange.' Leia shifted where she was sitting, and Rey bit her lip the concern was clear on Leia's face.

'I need to talk to you for a minute.' The princess said, before she stood up and beckoned at her.

Finn's face looked sullen, and Rey gave him a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder as she stood up to follow the princess, stepping past the fire, the heat quickly dissipating as she moved away from it; but she didn't think that that was the reason why she felt a shiver pass through her.

The two women stood about ten metres away from the fire, hidden from Finn's view by the Falcon- which the Resistance had been waiting to be able to repair, the whole reason they were on this god-forsaken planet on the first place.

'Rey,' Leia finally said, after staring at her in silence for a moment, 'I need to know, what type of nightmares have you been having?'

'Um,' she pursed her lips, 'well, it's not really been nightmares so much, but more just a sort of, um, calling.' Leia looked away for a moment, before catching Rey's gaze again, a burning intensity behind her stare. 'Except, last night, last night I had a proper nightmare.'

'What happened?' This time it was Rey who avoided Leia's gaze.

'I- I can't really remember.' Rey didn't know what had come over her that caused her to lie, the truth was she could remember every single moment of it, but if Leia found out… The nightmares seemed to mean more to Leia than simple bad dreams and Rey didn't think that telling the leader of the Resistance that she had been selling her soul to the Sith in them was a good idea.

'Nothing at all? You must tell me the truth Rey.' The younger woman shook her head.

'No, not really, there was a um, figure I think, and I was underground- but honestly, I'm not sure. I was just really terrified I think.' Leia took Rey's hand.

'I believe you,' a wave of guilt washed over the lightsider, 'the thing is, I should have told you this,' Leia exhaled, 'this planet is close to the traditional Sith worlds, what used to be called Sith Space. I felt it when we first came here, that there was a darkness to this planet; but that's exactly why I chose it. This is the last place Ben would ever think us of being,' she paused, 'but if I had known.'

Through Passion I gain Strength.

The Sith code was still reverberating in Rey's head, and she squeezed her eyes shut briefly, trying to stop it.

'Are you ok?'

'No, no, I'm fine.'

She looked at their surroundings, who would have thought that a planet so beautiful, so idyllic could be host to such a darkness. Light filtered softly through the trees on the outskirts of clearing, the soft smell of ferns wafted on the breeze, and above the canopy Rey could hear the soft chirp of birdsong.

Through Strength I gain Power.

'But, at least it doesn't seem to have made a full impact on you.' Leia squeezed her hand tighter.

Through Power I gain Victory.

Rey nodded.

'Just let me know if they become any more vivid,' Leia released Rey's hand, 'but we should be off here soon.' It felt as if her heart was going a million miles an hour, almost as if it were going to escape her chest by slamming through her ribcage.

Through Victory my chains are Broken.

'I will don't worry.' She managed to get out, thankfully in a steady voice.

'Let's get back then. I don't want the others to worry. I trust that this wont go any further than this.'

'Of course not.'

The Force shall free me.

When she and Leia sat back down again, Rey found it hard to eat any of the porridge Finn had given her. Why had she lied? And more importantly, had what happened in her dream really happened? She inhaled sharply.

It was just a dream. Finn would have surely noticed if she was wondering around in the night. The smoke from the fire was getting into her eyes, and she felt agitated. The trio had not been talking since the two women had returned, and it felt like the eyes of the other two were boring into her. She forced herself to take a bite of the food, the porridge sticking to the spoon in her mouth.

But then it hit her. The lightsaber.

Her hands began to shake, and she once again plunged the spoon into the metal bowl, trying to get down as much of the food as possible, chewing with vigour. When she was finished she stood up, made her excuses, and walked back as quickly as possible to her tent without arousing suspicion.

Once back in the tent Rey kneeled down, moving her sheets out of the way.

The lightsaber, where was it?

It was ironic, considering the wider situation, that she was praying that it was still in two pieces as she scrabbled through her things. Then all of a sudden, her eyes fell to her robe. It lay neatly on the floor, but it looked like it had something bundled up inside of it. Rey froze, unable to will herself just yet to undo it.

She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, and then with a quick motion ripped it open, letting whatever was inside of it fall to the ground.

In fact, there were two objects wrapped up in the robe. The triangular thing that had been on the plinth, and the lightsaber.

It was fully repaired.

Dun dun dun...

I actually have quite a lot of the story written, which I guess is good since I have a terrible habit of starting fics and not finishing them, so I might post soon, or wait until I have the whole thing finished. It's currently longer than my undergrad thesis for university was, so that's a start right?

Also, I don't have any romantic pairings really planned for this, but if it makes sense for the plot I might add a little bit of romance, but I'm not sure at the moment. I've never really written it before, but we shall see.