Star Wars Episode VIII

First Comes the Night

Chapter 1

Luke thought it would be a more welcome sight, seeing another human being stand before him after 6 years in isolation. But the troubled furrow of his brow spoke otherwise as he stared at the lightsaber the girl held out to him.

He had known he would see it again, and he knew this girl would accompany it. He'd had a vision. The past and future had melded into one tumultuous entity, the images he saw making his skin crawl.

Luke knew who was coming for Rey, and that he couldn't protect her from him. Yoda had manifested within the temple on this island and confirmed his fears. In his bitterness, Luke had told Yoda he'd turn the girl away and refuse to teach her anything. That it was best to prevent any attachment. If the future he saw was the will of the Force, why bring the girl to him at all?

Luke resisted Yoda's wisdom, and sensing this, Yoda advised him to trust the Force to guide him, as it always had. Anger had bubbled up at that remark, since Luke's trust in the Force had failed him when everything he had worked so hard to rebuild since he became a Jedi had been destroyed. Decades of searching, gathering, and protecting knowledge was all obliterated within an hour, and all by the hands of his own apprentice. His own flesh and blood. It was a betrayal that weighed as heavily on Luke's heart now as it had so many years ago.

Yoda remained enigmatic. Although he understood what the Jedi Knight was feeling, he also knew something more. Something that could not be revealed until its time had come. Yoda faded from Luke's view, leaving the weary and agitated man with a whisper. A whisper of who she was, and that honor would compel him, even if the Force would not. A whisper that he must trust her, and when his trust was tested, that he must allow events to commence as the Force willed it.

And now, many months later, here she stood. She was a lovely girl, and younger than he'd anticipated. With warm skin and a strong jaw, reminiscent of her lineage. Her eyes, however, were not as hard as he'd expected. A wary kindness radiated from beneath her graceful brow. Her expression had turned pleading, so Luke walked forward and took the lightsaber from her grasp.

She dropped her hand, visibly shaken by the harsh greeting Luke had given her. He knew that she could sense his apprehension. He'd done nothing to hide it.

"I'm Rey," she said quietly. She lowered her eyes, as though fearful he would question her intent. She knew why she was here, and where she stood between the light side and the dark.

Luke nodded. "Come with me," he said brusquely, leading her towards the stone huts gathered in a clearing below. Rey followed him into one of the crude buildings and halted at the door. Luke pointed to a small cot on the ground. "This is yours. We've no wood to spare on this island, so you've a small lantern to keep you warm at night." She followed his gaze to a small, rusted, metal and glass contraption. She'd seen many old and decaying artifacts throughout her life, but this appeared more like garbage than the refuse she salvaged for a living.

She laid her pack and staff on the cot, and gathered the courage to hear her own voice speak once more. She wasn't frightened of Luke, but she sensed an undercurrent, an intensity, within him. A familiar sensation she'd experienced with Kylo Ren. It was fainter, but it existed just under the surface of Luke Skywalker himself. "How do I use it?" she asked.

"Force energy." He picked it up and held it between his palms. The panes began to emanate a yellow-red glow as he stared into the core of its source. It illuminated his face from below, casting both flame and shadow upon his visage. He caught her gazing at him and abruptly handed the device to her. "I can do this for you, until you've learned to charge it for yourself. Bring it with you tonight for supper. Training will begin tomorrow." He made to leave and paused. Turning back to her, he held out the lightsaber she'd just returned to him. She hesitated only a moment before taking it from his hand. "I have my own. This one is yours. At least until you've acquired the skills and materials needed to build your own." She nodded quietly and he left.

Once alone, Rey's shoulders relaxed. She'd imagined their meeting differently. She hadn't expected joy or shouts of welcome, but simply, perhaps, a bit of camaraderie? Looking down at the lightsaber and lantern in her hands, she let out a long, tension-releasing exhale. She'd wanted so badly to ask him the myriad of questions she had running through her head since she'd escaped Starkiller base. Questions she hadn't had the nerve to ask Leia about while she grieved.

Did they know who she was? Or who her parents were? Why had she seen this island in her dreams? Since she's seen the island in her mind, was Luke waiting for her on it? She also wanted, but feared, to ask him about the man in the mask. "Ben," as General Leia had called him before she'd left to find Luke. She'd seen images of Leia and Han milling about in his mind when she resisted his probe, shadowy images of people she didn't recognize, and what she now knew to be the face of Luke Skywalker.

She'd also wanted to ask about his history. Why she sensed conflict within Ben, even as he'd stood on the bridge facing his father. She'd sensed pain and fear, but she'd been caught off-guard by… was it, love? Perhaps it was a spark of hope, but the embers of it had died with the sun.

He had terrified her. That a man could murder his own father, with no true hatred in his heart, was beyond her realm of understanding. He seemed every bit a monster to her then, so why did she sense a familiarity with him while he looked back at her from across the chasm on Starkiller Base? With a sense of unease she recalled her rage and the moment she'd wanted to kill him, and shivered although the lantern had warmed the room comfortably.

Kylo laid prone on the infirmary bed, staring at the ceiling. He was on board the Supreme Leader's command ship, somewhere in uncharted space. He knew that having now proven his allegiance, he'd finally earned the last part of his training. He also knew what trials that would entail, but that wasn't what was troubling him.

He'd been foolish to underestimate the girl's power. "Rey," he knew, from what the Traitor had screamed as he ran to her side. Of course, hadn't the vision also shown her on the island with Luke? He should have known he couldn't have kept her with him then. You cannot bypass the future a Force vision shows you. The most you can hope to do is keep events in motion, hoping to sway the outcomes in your favor with the choices you make today. He grimaced, knowing his actions towards Han Solo had sullied her opinion of him. Perhaps irreparably. But then, there was that vision, and she had to have known even then what he had done. Who he is. She already knew his deepest fears.

He cursed himself, knowing he should have gotten that insufferable droid as well. But he hadn't expected her to be able to resist his mind probe. No one ever had, and she was merely a scavenger. He'd expected more from her background, since she'd expertly wielded his lightsaber in the vision. Yet, once again, Force visions can be misleading.

So now, because he'd been so blinded by the promise the Force had led him to, and his own arrogance, she was not only likely on her way to Luke at this very moment, but he'd also lost the only way he'd had of finding her- the map.

No, he thought, bolting upright in bed. There were others in her vision. Chewie, and the traitor. He snapped his head to the side, as though the action would erase the image of Han her memory had resurrected in his mind.

No, he could find her still. But this time, he knew, he would not fail. He had something she wouldn't, no, that she couldn't refuse. At this thought the infirmary door swung open. A'den, a master of the Knights of Ren, stepped into the room.

He walked briskly, coming to a halt next to Kylo's bedside. "Making new friends, I see."

Kylo could sense the smirk beneath his mask. "It's her. I've found her," Kylo blurted emphatically, every thought and emotion he'd been struggling with all day straining his expression. "I know it for certain. She's powerful. More powerful than we imagined. And Luke has her." Kylo went silent, except for the laboring of his breath.

At that, A'den removed his helm. Cool lines of silver streaked in sharp contrast with his jet black hair. His bright gaze narrowed as he took in the shiim's littered across the young man's body. These surface wounds were the mark of a powerful opponent, but never in the history of Force sensitives had they been bestowed by an untrained Force sensitive. Especially not against a master such as Kylo Ren. It was unheard of.

"The new Jedi. How is this possible?" A'den whispered.

"There was something… created between us."

A'den's gaze snapped to his, questioning. Kylo hesitated a moment before continuing. "Something, perhaps formed by the Force itself was established when I tried to find out who she was and retrieve the map to Skywalker. I remember something of this from a Holocron, were two Force sensitives can create a bond-"

"I know of them," A'den interrupted. "Can you sense her now? Where she is?" He was growing impatient and agitated, a reaction that Kylo had never seen in the man before. "Reach out with the Force and sense for her."

"I've already tried to, many times. She's too muted," Kylo admitted. "Whether it's by her choosing or sheer distance alone, I don't know."

Kylo could hear A'den's leather gloves squeak as the grip on his helm tightened. "I want you to keep attempting to find her location, it could be that you can't pinpoint it because you're in a weakened state. The moment you sense something, alert me at once. Speak of this… bond, to no one but me."

Kylo nodded in agreement, but added, "There is another way. There are others who've seen the map and we have spies within the Resistance that can locate them."

"Tell me who's seen it," A'den urged, his voice breaking.