"Down there!" Poe pointed to the green and red flashes beating against one another down below.

Staring ahead with quiet determination, Leia steered the Falcon towards Luke and Kylo. She watched as Luke's attacks became more aggressive, with Ben clearly struggling to hold his own.

Kylo narrowly dodged a blow from Luke's lightsaber that would have sliced his face in half. He noticed with some satisfaction that he had gotten to his uncle psychologically. Luke knew that he was fighting an unwinnable war, and he was slowly losing his principles.

Kylo jumped from the black sand towards the rocky ledge, grabbing on before slipping back to the shore.

Luke dashed up the hill after him, leaping after Kylo as the latter began to climb up. Summoning all his strength, Luke started to climb after him, not bothering to worry about the jagged, slippery rocks beneath his feet.

As Kylo leapt up the rocks towards the cliffside, Luke came up after him, looking for the proper angle to toss his lightsaber upwards.

And there it was. The rocks exposed both of Kylo's legs, at the perfect angle to send him free falling...

Raising the robotic hand carrying his lightsaber, Luke flicked his wrist, sending the green blade up towards Kylo, who swatted it down with his own weapon.

Luke reached out with the Force and caught it, summoning it back to him.

He glowered up after Kylo as he disappeared up the ledge.

Luke sprang up after him, holding on to rock after rock. The Force was on his side, not Kylo's.

At last, Luke reached the top of the cliff, where Kylo was waiting, his red lightsaber extended.

"You know it, don't you Skywalker?" Kylo said, "Hope always dies. All your victories mean nothing! All of your Jedi wisdom, all of your victories, they mean nothing! Your whole life means nothing! You were always doomed to fail!"

Luke said nothing, analyzing the ground between them. He gritted his teeth as the smell of volcanic ash overtook his senses. Kylo was taking pleasure in his psychological victory, knowing he had gotten the best possible revenge.

Rey appeared at the top of the jagged slope, having climbed up after Luke and Kylo.

She raced over to the two combatants as Luke charged Kylo.

As Luke brought his blade against Kylo's, a blue-bladed weapon crossed the paths of the red and blue sabers.

"Get out of the way," Luke said, raising his hand to push Rey backwards.

Rey crumpled onto her side as Luke pushed Kylo away.

That was it, she realized, Kylo had been right about Skywalker. Not only had he let them both down, but he had lost his own ideals.

The Millennium Falcon zoomed overhead, with Leia and Chewbacca searching for a place to land.

As the ship flew in circles around the combatants, Luke advanced on Kylo, slashing his blade at the dark warrior.

Kylo looked back at his uncle, fear creeping into him for the first time as he realized that Skywalker meant business.

He watched as Rey once again tried to intervene. Luke pushed his lightsaber to the side with his own, then moved his green blade inward.

Sheer agony erupted at Kylo's right wrist. He screamed to the black fog as his hand was disconnected from his arm, falling past the rocks down the cliff into the lava.

Unable to stand any longer, Kylo dropped to his knees.

Luke raised his lightsaber, swung it downward...

...and lowered his blade to the ground.

Kylo tried to stand up, but fell onto his side as he lost his balance. He winced from the pain, staring at his wrist as he failed to move the nerves attached to it.

"I'm sorry Ben," Luke said, "but I can't help you until you start to help yourself."

He had nearly let Snoke and Kylo get the better of him. But no, he would not win with hate or destruction, but with balance.

Kylo tried to respond with a harsh retort, but let out a grunt of pain instead, clutching his severed limb.

Rey had caught up with the two of them by now. She pointed the blue lightsaber at Luke Skywalker, backing him away.

"Haven't you done enough damage already?" she asked him furiously.

"Rey, I don't know how he got into your head, but he's manipulating you," Luke told her, "don't become misguided like he is."

At last Kylo Ren managed to speak. "He...is...manipulating...you...Rey..." he gagged, "he...failed...us...both..."

Again, Kylo tried to stand up, but fell back onto the hot, black rock, rolling around in pain.

Luke turned back to his defeated enemy. "The dark side will never extinguish the light. As long as I'm here, the Jedi Order lives on."

The Falcon at last docked onto the cliff, and the hatch slid open.

Leia was the first one out, followed closely by Finn and Poe Dameron.

Kylo gazed up at his mother, hoping for reassurance, comfort, anything. But she just looked back at him as though he was a lost cause.

"You...abandoned...me...mother..." Kylo gasped, still feeling every inch of the wound to his arm.

"No Ben, you abandoned yourself," Luke said grimly, switching off his lightsaber blade, "and you continue to do so the more you blame everybody else."

Wedge's shuttle was descending from the clouds, searching for the Millennium Falcon.

"Hey, we'd better get moving soon," Poe interjected, "The Republic fleet can't stick around for long. Snoke's got plenty of bases around the galaxy, and he won't be wasting any time."

"I'm with you now, Leia," Luke told his sister, "Its time I did what I should have done a long time ago."

As Leia gave him a watery smile, Rey stepped back and said, "I'm not going anywhere he is!"

"Rey, look," Finn said, "This is the Resistance! You can't be talking about leaving now! What, what could he have possibly done so that you'd leave?"

"He..." Rey gulped before continuing, "all my life, I wanted answers. Where did I come from, why was I left to be a scavenger on Jakku? I finally find Skywalker, and then he tries to hide the truth from me. Listen, Finn, you wouldn't understand all of it."

"No, I do," Finn said, "I've always wondered where I came from before the First Order, but listen, you can't leave us."

"I can't join Skywalker," Rey replied. Looking into Finn's eyes, she was beginning to realize what she was talking about giving up. Like Finn had said back in the throne room, they had found each other when they'd had nothing and nobody else. Was she really going to give that up?

"You can join me," said a voice from the ground.

Rey and Finn turned to look at Kylo Ren, who was gazing up eagerly at Rey while still clutching his severed arm.

"You, you shut up!" Finn snapped, pointing an angry finger at Kylo, "You got us all screwed in the first place. You have no part in any of this!"

"When you needed guidance, I was there," Kylo said to Rey, "When you needed answers, I gave them."

"You shut up!" Finn ran to attack him, but he was held back by Rey, Poe and Leia all at once.

"Rey," Kylo spoke her name now, "I can teach you the Force, just as I offered before. We can defeat Snoke and bring peace back. We can free the galaxy, without Skywalker."

Wedge's shuttle finally docked next to the Falcon on the volcanic cliffside.

Luke and Leia turned around to greet the new arrivals while Finn, Rey and Poe kept their attention on Kylo.

"He's a murderer," Finn argued, "remember Han Solo?"

"Don't talk about what you don't understand, stormtrooper," Kylo replied, "Han Solo left me to my fate, just as Skywalker did."

"I don't care about your fate!" Finn yelled.

"Hey, buddy, take it easy," Poe urged, clapping his friend on the back.

As Wedge and Ackbar came out of the shuttle, the two senior officers exchanged bows with Leia.

"General Organa, good to see you again," Wedge said.

"Same to you, General Antilles," Leia replied, "I'm glad the Resistance finally managed to get in touch with you."

"We don't have much besides this, but it's a start," Wedge replied. He then turned to Luke and gaped.

"Luke? Is that you?" he asked, "Red Five?"

"Good to see you, Wedge," Luke replied with a smile.

He turned his attention back to the argument between the others.

"Rey, he's still manipulating you," Luke said to her, "You don't have to like me, but you can't join him."

"I'm not going back with you," Rey spat, "You're a liar and a coward."

Luke had had enough. This girl was sounding more and more like Ben Solo and no matter what, he was not going to lose her to the dark side.

"You're coming with us whether you want to or not," he said to her, but Leia held him back.

"Luke, we can't force her," she said regretfully, "We're not like Snoke and the First Order."

She then looked to Rey. "I hope you know what you're doing," she said softly.

"I'm sorry General," Rey replied, "But he caused me years of misery."

"I understand," Leia said. It pained her to lose Rey, whom she'd admittedly been starting to see as a daughter despite knowing her very briefly.

She was an autonomous being, however, and Leia would be hardly better than the monster who'd taken her son if she tried to force Rey to come with them.

Luke faltered, knowing she was right. "I wish I could do more for you, Rey," he said, "I'm sorry."

With one last sigh of regret, he turned to head back into the Millennium Falcon.

"Should we take him into custody?" Wedge asked, signaling towards Kylo Ren.

Leia blinked, holding back tears one too many times, and then nodded. "Go ahead."

Wedge beckoned for several Republic troopers to come out of the shuttle. These men were dressed in the same black jackets and visor helmets as the Rebel soliders of old.

Rey moved her head between Kylo and the Republic troopers. No, she could not deny that Kylo was as guilty as Skywalker, but he was right. He had been honest when Skywalker wasn't, he had given her what she'd wanted as long as she could remember.

Maybe he was still tainted with the dark side, but he could show her more of the Force. And then, finally, she would bring peace back to the galaxy, the right way.

"Don't come any closer," Rey warned Wedge's men, pointing her saber at them.

Wedge hesitated, having observed the dynamic between Leia, the girl, and the other young men of the Resistance. He didn't understand it, but he somehow got the feeling that it was best to wait until another day.

"Hold your fire," Wedge said to his men, "Withdraw."

They obeyed, and turned back to reboard the shuttle from which they had come in.

Finn came up to Rey now, taking her in his arms.

"Please," he begged, desperate now. He couldn't let her go now, not after reuniting for such a short time.

"Rey, stay with us."

"I'm sorry Finn," she replied, now dangerously near the point of tears, "this is what I have to do."

Finn glared past her shoulder at the still-down Kylo Ren. Kylo had returned his attention to the ground, reverting to his earlier state of shame.

He recognized the light within himself, as well as the lingering darkness. It was the darkness that had motivated him to lash out against Skywalker, and the light that had turned him away from Snoke.

By seeing the light in the girl Rey, shown through her obvious affection for the stormtrooper Finn, Kylo was made aware of his own weaknesses. He would have to eradicate them soon, and push Rey into eradicating the weakness in herself as well.

"I can't lose you again," Finn said, "not after...not after almost dying before."

The two friends hugged each other tightly.

"This isn't goodbye forever," she whispered into his ear, "I promise."

Rey let go of him now, knowing that she couldn't take it for much longer.

"Goodbye, Finn," Rey said quietly.

"Rey..." Finn uttered, barely able to breathe now.

"We'd better go," Poe mumbled, tugging Finn by the jacket sleeve.

Finn looked away from Rey, hiding his loss of control as Poe guided him back into the Falcon after Luke.

"Finn," Rey whispered, watching him go in.

Before disappearing into the Falcon, Poe turned back to Rey and said solemnly, "Good luck."

"You too," Rey replied, "and may the Force be with you."

Leia was the last to go in. She turned to Rey and Ben and said, "It's not too late. It's never too late, for either of you."

Kylo looked away from his mother, trying with his every nerve impulse to shut away his inner weakness.

Rey nodded at her and said, "May the Force be with you, General."

Leia couldn't bring herself to reply. She turned and walked into the hatch of the Falcon.

A minute later, the freighter was taking off into the sky, followed closely by the Republic-issue shuttle.

Rey watched the vehicles grow smaller and smaller into the inferno. Finn.

The connection between them was weakening, she realized. Though he was still very close, she was unable to sense him as strongly as she had on the island, or on Crait.

It broke her heart, but she knew that she would see him again. They would be happy, in the free galaxy.

Knowing better than to ask for Rey's help, Kylo tried once again to stand, but failed to gain his balance.

"Let me help you up," Rey said, taking Kylo by the arms and hoisting him to his feet.

"We have to get out of here soon," Kylo told her, "Snoke's going to be back."

"Do you have a ship besides that big TIE Fighter of yours?"

"Snoke has several secret transports hidden in the Fortress," Kylo replied. He gazed at the smouldered ground that led back to the castle, wrecked by the Finalizer's long range missles. "We're going to have to take the long way."

The two of them trekked across the black shore adjacent to the lava, looking for another path back to Fortress Vader.

Luke, Leia, Poe and Chewie sat in the cockpit of the Falcon.

The three older occupants exchanged dark looks, the irony lost on none of them.

Here they were, once again in the same cockpit they had escaped from the Death Star in. Their worries and sorrows had not been few even then, but times seemed much more hopeful. They had believed that the war could be won.

Things were grimmer when Luke, Leia and Chewie had fled Cloud City in the Falcon. Han had been captured and Luke had just experienced a revelation that had shattered all he'd known.

But even at that dark hour, there had been much more hope. Han, though a prisoner, was alive and would later be rescued. Vader would eventually turn away from the Empire and carry out a final act of love and sacrifice.

Now, Leia's son had nearly turned back, but was again consumed into the darkness. Han was never coming back, and despite the Republic's win against the First Order fleet, the war seemed to have no end in sight.

It was Luke who broke the silence.

"This was all my fault. I should have taken Rey with me to the island, and I should have kept a more protective eye on Ben."

"Rey's not gone," Leia reminded him, "and neither is Ben. I felt the good in him, when we were in the throne room. He risked everything to stop Snoke."

"I know, but there's still too much darkness," Luke replied, "he still lusts for power, like the Sith."

"Remember Vader?" Leia asked him, knowing that Luke would see her point of view now. Vader's name felt out of place in her mouth, but she still did not dare refer to him as their father. "He threatened us all on Cloud City, and nearly killed you. You felt the good in him, even then. You held on to hope. We need to hold on to hope for Ben, and for Han."

Luke closed his eyes, remembering how he'd sensed Han's last moments, his final thoughts of desperation, pleading with his son.

Then he remembered lying on this very ship, sensing Vader reaching out in the Force. Father. Son.

Yes, Vader had held onto his inner demons until near the very end, but the humanity that remained in him had triumphed, ultimately saving the galaxy from the Empire's grip of terror.

Luke had believed in his father, even after everything he had done. He had to keep believing.

As the Falcon soared into the skies of hell, Finn sat alone in the freighter's walkway, looking out the window to the cliffside where they had left Kylo and Rey.

"I don't understand," he mumbled to BB8, "How could she just go with him? She remembers what he did, right? Kidnapping her, killing Solo, almost killing me?"

BB8 gave a sympathetic, yet uncertain reply.

"You know what?" Finn declared, a sudden, reckless determination seizing him, "I'm not letting Kylo have her! Rey needs to realize that he's nothing but a menace!"

He leapt to his feet, racing towards the escape pods adjacent to the cargo hold.

As Finn punched in the code to access one of the small, rectangular transporters, several pairs of hands held him back.

"Finn, Finn, what are you doing?" Poe asked.

"Rey's still there, with him!"

"She's safe," Leia told Finn calmly, "I know that much. Rey's going to be okay. I can feel it."

Finn relaxed slightly, wanting to believe the general.

"I can't leave her, not again."

It was Poe who seized Finn by the shoulders and shook him, gazing solemnly into his friend's eyes.

"We'll see Rey again, I promise. The First Order is still a major threat, but we all need to work together to stop it. We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down.

"You'll be helping Rey by doing your part to the Resistance. We need all hands on deck for this fight. All of us, including Rey, will be safe once again when the war is over. But we can't win unless we be smart.

Finn stared quietly at Poe, digesting his speech. He was awestruck.

Nodding in understanding, Finn felt humbled by Poe's wisdom, for all the daring stunts he was known for in battle.

"Hey, it's going to be all right," Poe said, clapping Finn on the arm, "We're going to build the Republic up again, and we're going to win the war."

"I know," Finn said, managing a smile.

Leia noted Poe's newfound maturity as she watched him reassure Finn. He had definitely come a long way from the reckless pilot he had been during their last encounter with the First Order fleet.

War forced everybody to grow up, Leia reflected.

As the group began to climb back into the cockpit, where Chewie was flying the Falcon while Threepio assumed the role of copilot, Luke turned to address Finn.

"You've got a lot of heart, kid," he remarked.

"You're Master Skywalker," Finn realized with a jolt.

Luke chuckled, "Here in person. You and me, we have a lot of training to do."

A small, cloaked shuttle sped through the blackness of hyperspace, carrying the passengers Kylo and Rey.

Sitting at the controls of the emergency escape vessel, Rey turned her head around as Kylo emerged from the medical facility, from which the old fashioned 2-1B droid watched him go.

"How's your hand?" Rey asked awkwardly as Kylo experimented with his new robotic fingers.

Kylo examined the metal hand, very similar to his uncles.

"It'll take some getting used to," he replied with equal unease, "Where is our course set?"

"Ahch To," Rey replied, "We're going to need the Jedi texts if we want to defeat Snoke."

"Rey, listen..." Kylo began, her name still tasting funny coming through his lips, "I just want..."

"No, Kylo," Rey cut him off sharply, "I want to make something clear. I'm in this with you because we need each other. Neither of us have another place to go, and we need to work together to win the war. But I don't forget what you did to Han Solo, or to the galaxy as a whole. I will study both the light and dark sides of the Force with you, but that's it. We are not friends."

Kylo flinched as he took in Rey's bluntness. Her words shouldn't have stung the way they did, it was nothing he didn't know or expect to hear.

But he still felt a knot inside as he turned to exit the cockpit.

They may have come together, but both Kylo and Rey were still alone in the vast, infinite universe.