A/N: Hi [again] everyone! *waves*

I had this fic up a couple of weeks ago, but ended up taking it down because I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with it. I now have some semblance of an idea, so it's back! This story is a mix of canon and legend with a little bit of tweaking done on both. I changed some aspects of characters as well because they irritate me in the movies and in fanfiction, but I hope you all like it anyway. Leave me a review or shoot me a PM to tell me what you think. Shout out to FenrisInside who has been reading over what I've got down and giving tips and suggestions- Thanks man!

Quick background: I got the inspiration for this story from a Youtube video, actually. It was called Rey and the sad devolution of the female character and the person who made it had a lot of really interesting points. Anyway, I watched it and this idea really started to bug the heck out of me, so I figured I'd better get it down. Combined with a song called A Million Lights which gave me an idea for an aspect of Rey's Force abilities (hold your horses, I'll explain in future) the story started to take shape.

Rey was in trouble, and she knew it. The agony of minutes before had disappeared as soon as Snoke gasped out his last breath, but it had quickly been replaced by raw terror. Snoke's guards advanced on her, weapons hissing into life. She backed up, lightsaber at the ready, already stretching herself out to reach the Force as Luke taught her.

Behind her, Kylo Ren's saber crackled and spit sparks, spreading an eerie red light through the chamber. She could sense the dark side already humming around him as he used his anger to pull on the Force. Rey followed his example, reaching out with her mind. The Force came as she called, running through her and flowing from her. She was submerged in it, was breathing it in and exhaling it.

Her eyes, closed for just that moment, snapped open only barely in time to see the attack coming in from her left. She staggered under the weight of the blow, but managed to stop it with her saber and slip out from under the guard. The weapon in her hands was awkward and unwieldy, unfamiliar with it as she was, but she managed to deflect another blow and decapitate a soldier with the back cut.

"I wish I had my staff," she growled as a guard's chain whip wrapped around her saber.

She could almost imagine the grimacing face behind the awful red helmet. The guard began to pull in the chain, wrapping it around an arm as he dragged her closer and closer. She fought him every step of the way, but before she could get free, he had her by the throat and the pointed end of that infernal whip was less than an inch from her skin.

As she gasped for air Rey called on the Force, pushing against the arm holding the weapon. Even as she focused, she sensed another presence coming up behind her.

Another guard. The Force told her.

Her vision began to go spotty and her head spun. The glow of the saber filled her eyes with blue light. She had to get free. Allowing her mind to release everything else, she cast about her, searching for the bond that still ran from her to Kylo Ren. The moment she sensed its music, she let her mind run along the path toward his.

"Ben!" she called out with her thoughts. "Help me!"

The effect was almost immediate. Tendrils of blue lightning branched across the room, almost blinding her as they reached to touch her captor. She felt the tingle in her skin just before the bolt of electricity struck and sent up a shield around herself. The guard lost his grip on her throat and collapsed to the floor. She didn't hesitate. With a quick thrust, she finished the job and spun to meet her new attacker. To her surprise, she found that the other guard was laid out flat on the floor. She thrust her saber deep into his chest and looked around for Kylo Ren.

She sensed his fury before she laid eyes on him. He stood fast on Snoke's dais, battling five guards at once. The emotion ran so strong in him that the thrum of the darkness filled the room and engulfed every other sound.

"Be careful Ben," she whispered in her mind.

But before she fully formed her thought, she was already running for the fight with her mouth stretched wide in a battle cry. She gave up trying to remember the strokes Luke had taught her and hacked wildly with her saber. One of the guards fell, legs cut from beneath him after a cut that Rey figured had been guided by blind luck. Kylo Ren hardly glanced her way. His lightsaber spat fire in the half-light, holding back two guards with pikes. He was in a deadlock and Rey watched as another guard darted in to finish him.

"Oh no you don't," she said, brandishing her saber and dashing up the stairs behind the man.

Rey had just raised her arm to strike when a blow knocked her to the floor. She scrambled back to her feet as quickly as she went down, but as soon as she did she realized that she'd lost hold of her lightsaber.

Rey swore under her breath, backing away from the guard that had kicked her. The man held two blades and slashed at her neck, trying to get in a cut. Rey thrust out an arm, searching the area for the familiar feel of the Kyber crystal in her saber. To her dismay, she couldn't sense its unique signature.

She was brought painfully back into awareness as one of the blades caught her shoulder and sliced deep. Rey yelped and stumbled backward, clutching at the wound. The guard didn't relent, seeming to gain resolve as Rey's faltered. Left with no other options, she flung out her arms before her and pushed with the Force. The guard went down hard, and one of his knives skittered across the floor until it was out of his reach.

Rey saw her chance. She stretched out her arm and called to the Force again. The knife flew across the room and nestled against her palm. She stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out how a dagger was going to do her any good if she wasn't even able to properly use a saber.

Before she could arrange her fingers around the hilt, the guard was on top of her. The knife flashed toward her stomach. Desperate, she leaped backwards out of reach of the blade. She slashed at the extended arm, but her blade glanced off, squealing against the blood-red armor. She ducked a half-second before the knife rushed over her head.

The guard pushed her backwards, slashing at her face and chest. Rey cried out as a stroke landed, arching across her torso. She shoved the man away again and flung a hand out at her side, looking for her lightsaber. The familiar musical hum of the crystal at its center met her ears and she reached out to it with the Force.

The guard was up again and his arm came down as her weapon reached her open hand. In the space of a breath, she ignited the blade and swung. A startled howl from the guard told her she'd struck true. Armor clattered on the floor as the man's arm fell, limp and useless, to the ground with the knife still clutched in its fingers. Rey didn't hesitate. She leveled the saber at the guard's neck and swung. The blade hissed as it met flesh and the man sank to the floor and lay still. She turned just in time to see Kylo Ren throw off the last of the guards and kill him with a single thrust of his lightsaber. All was suddenly still around them.

They stood staring at each other, panting and shaking from exertion. The Dark side still buzzed in Rey's ears as it wrapped around Kylo, but all else was silent. Gradually, even the music of his anger faded and they were left alone in the awful stillness of the chamber.

Rey gazed around her at the smoldering ruin that had once been Snoke's throne room. Bodies were scattered about and even the Supreme Leader himself lay bisected at the foot of his great chair. It took her mind a minute to comprehend what that meant. Kylo Ren walked to the top of the dais and stood, looking down at the body.

"He's dead," he murmured, nudging the body with his booted foot. "The Apprentice has killed the Master, as the Sith did for generations."

Rey got a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach, but the memory of the Resistance fleet came back to her and overshadowed it. Snoke had showed her the beginning of its destruction. Was it completely gone by now? She ran to the observation window and gasped. There were still some transports left.

"The fleet, Ben," she said. "Snoke's gone. There's still time to save them. Your mother lives- I can still hear her song."

Kylo turned to look at her and his eyes held a look of sudden surety. He shook his head and wiped away a trickle of blood that ran from his nose, standing a little taller. His voice became more resolute.

"It's time to let old things die, Rey," he said. "It's time to cut ties. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the Rebels: we have to let it all die away."

Rey stared at him, uncomprehending.

"What do you mean?" she asked, tears of disappointment and anger beginning to sting her eyes. "Don't you want to come back? Don't you want to be free?"

Kylo shook his head again and extended a hand to her.

"I want you to join me," he said. "We could rule together. You could be by my side and I would train you. We would bring a new order to the galaxy."

Rey bit her lip and looked over her shoulder out the window. Another transport ship exploded. She quickly turned to the Force and listened. Leia's song was still there. Poe's still rang through the stars. Finn's song had grown stronger since she'd last sensed him. All of them still lived.

"Rey," came Kylo's voice from behind her, "you're still holding on. You have to let go."

She turned to face him.

"I can't just let them die," she said, tears beginning to run down her cheeks. "They're my family."

"Join me, Rey," Kylo repeated. "We can be family to one another."

Rey just stared at him.

"You killed your father," she said at last, her voice trembling. "You would kill your mother without a second thought. I wouldn't want to be your family."

A muscle in Kylo's cheek twitched as surprise flickered on his face. Rey sensed frustration rising in him.

"If you aren't willing to rule at my side, then at least join me as my apprentice. Allow me to teach you what I know of the Force."

Rey glanced at him to see if he were serious. She had to admit the offer was tempting. Her eyes drifted to the five guards he had bested. She remembered the lightning he'd cast and a sudden desire for the same strength rose in her. Luke taught her next to nothing. Now here was Kylo Ren, offering to teach her anything she wanted to know.

His voice echoed in her mind, bringing back memories of their last connection. When she'd clasped his wrist, she'd sensed a power like electric running through her fingers. It pulled at her even now.

"Please, Rey," said Kylo in her mind.

The thought of her friends held her back. What would they think if they knew she was considering allying herself with Kylo Ren. Would it not be the greatest betrayal since Ben Solo turned to the Dark side? But what could she do for her friends now anyway? She was trapped on an enemy ship and she had no way to save them. She was still untrained in the Force and she had failed to bring Kylo Ren back to the light. With the power he offered, maybe she would not fail to defeat him. If she could not save her friends, maybe she could at least avenge them.

"You will teach me everything?"

"Everything."

"You won't hide things from me, as Luke did?"

"Nothing."

"Swear it," she said.

"I swear I will withhold nothing from you that is in my power to give."

Rey watched him with the eyes of a hunted animal. The music of the Force seemed shrill in her ears, yet it pulled at her to accept his offer. She raised her arm, as she had done that night on Ahch-To when the vast distance that separated them had been peeled back and she had seen him face to face. Kylo mirrored the gesture. They stood, almost touching for a long second before Rey finally dropped her hand and her eyes. She wasn't even able to look him in the face as she uttered the most treasonous words that had ever crossed her lips.

"Alright, Kylo," she said. "I'll join you."

As though it heard and rejected what she had to say, the world rocked violently under them. Rey was thrown to the floor. Her head cracked hard against the tile, sending sparks through her vision. Noises faded and darkness edged in from the corners of her vision. She didn't try to fight it. The black waters closed in over her and she sank into them willingly.