Light flashed across his face, revealing the inner turmoil of a man trying to come to terms with who he was and who he was going to become. The muscles in his shoulders tensed as he swung the lightsaber over his head and brought it down, cutting the air with its powerful red glow.

Sweat formed on his forehead as he continued his movements, forward, strike, up and to the left. His feet moved swiftly, meticulously side to side, every strike precisely hitting his imaginary target.

After sending away the messenger from Hux, his only audience was the shiny, black, metal walls of the training room. It was almost a shame for his graceful movements to go unseen. He felt himself being pulled into a more important direction. He did not feel the need to expel energy on the small Resistance fighters and so he remained alone. With every stroke of the saber, he released his pain. A swivel over the head and more of his uncertainties left him, another duck and roll to the side was him escaping the headon pressures he had felt his entire life.

Kylo, Ben, whoever he was or had been all came out, sweating, grunting, swinging, he could feel his heartbeat in his throat.

Meanwhile, on Dagobah, lightning crashed through the clouds. Thunder roared down through the treetops, as Scarlett jumped off a rock and swung her saber at Amell, stopping inches from his second left arm. He moved just in time, shifting all of his weight to the right. He quickly spun around, thrusting his saber in Scarlett's direction. He tried to maintain his focus, but it was hard for him not to be distracted by the twins, Corey and Emory as they smashed their lightsabers together directly next to him. It was a training they had done many times before but since the arrival of Rey, everything felt more real. It was as if suddenly the "someday" they had been preparing for was here and that fact was making his mind wander from the present.

Several yards away from Amell, Rey dodged quickly to her right. The white light from Theo's lightsaber streaked across the grey sky coming dangerously close to Rey's head. Doing her best to summon all of her concentration, Rey swung at his midsection in response. Theo snapped backward, avoiding the strike. He stepped out of the way as Rey lunged forward in pursuit.

Momentarily caught off guard, Rey saw Theo's lightsaber heading toward her in her peripheral. Instinctively, she raised her saber to meet his. A tangle of blue and white light exploded in the air. Rey held her ground as Theo did the same. They stood firmly in place, locked in a stalemate. Their combined determination to expel the demons of their past, encompassed them both. They knew that their goal was the same. Through this training test, they were simultaneously trying to coupe with what had come before and figure out how they could work together to stop the First Order.

After several minutes of standing in a deadlock, Theo stepped back, followed by Rey. He shut off his lightsaber. She did the same. He smiled. "You are very good with a saber," he said.

"As are you," she replied.

"I think we are all finally ready to rest tonight. I'm sure you have sensed it...the resistance will be needing us soon. We still have much to teach the others. And you, have much to share with us about our enemy."

Rey silently nodded.

Theo motioned for the others to stop the training exercise. Each of them stood down, breathing heavily, exhausted from the days events. Theo turned away from Rey to lead the others back to camp.

Rey watched as they slowly walked away, eventually disappearing into the tree line. She stayed where she was as a light rain began to fall. She blinked back small water droplets, her body aching to rest after the exhausting day and yet, she found herself not ready to follow the others back to camp. Even though she was surrounded by new allies she was having difficulty shaking her old habit of being alone. It was a new feeling for her to constantly be in the presence of others and while she always thought of herself as a social person, she realized that being around so many people so for such a long time without a moment to collect her thoughts, was hard for her. Maybe a part of her missed the stillness.

Without thinking, her feet compelled her to move. She could feel something drawing her to go beyond the trees, away from the Jedi camp. The feeling kept pulling her further and further away. She walked out of the clearing, into the shadows. The light from the grey sky was blocked out behind the treetops. She began to feel uneasy as she continued moving further into the darkness.

She could hear the rain falling softly on the ground around her, tumbling down from the trees. Then, in the distance, she thought she heard something move through the air. She took another step and held her lightsaber in front of her, turning it on.

Several feet in front of her was an opening to a cave. She could feel the darkside pulsing from inside of it. She knew she had to turn around, to find the others. But another part of her knew she needed to face the darkness again, to see what she needed to see.

The cave was lined with smooth rocks, a slow drip of water echoed from deep inside. Rey moved slowly, carefully pacing each step, unsure of what she was going to find. She held up her lightsaber but all she could see was darkness in front of her. Placing her hand on the wall of the cave to navigate her way, Rey continued forward, feeling even more drawn to what, she was not sure.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared several feet in front of her. Rey squinted trying to make it out as the shadow solidified to form a familiar figure.

"Snoke!" she breathed, trying to remain calm. She felt his presence reaching out toward her.

Tightening her grip on her lightsaber, she raised it, trying to block her mind from his thoughts. They raced toward her regardless, ready to penetrate her soul. Using her mind, she concentrated on her own feelings, searching for the balance but it was too late, Snoke broke through her. Floods of images played out before her, Ben as a child, Ben when he destroyed the Jedi temple, Kylo Ren, killing Han Solo, and the Knights of Ren, sweeping their destruction over innocent lives throughout the galaxy. Rey was suddenly filled with the realization that Snoke's hold over Kylo Ren had been nearly total. He had been manipulating Kylo Ren, using him like a puppet to do his bidding. She could feel Snoke's hold on her getting stronger with every passing second. There seemed to be no end to the depths of his evil reach.

Rey let out a growl, physically straining all of her energy to keep him from raveging every last corner of her mind. Understanding finally the great pain Ben had to endure as Snoke's pawn, a feeling she was beginning to think would never leave her.

Digging her feet into the ground she mustered all of her strength to swing her saber at the beast, trying to break his hold on her but when she made contact, the saber cut through his image like vapor.

"He's not real," she whispered to herself, then louder she screamed..."You're not REAL!"

The image let out a long, high pitched cackle, daring Rey to try and stop it. Before she could react, she felt an ever growing presence near her, it was familiar, calm, and strong.

"Ben?"

Rey jerked her head quickly to the side. There he was standing beside her, tall and stoic. She could not tell if Ben was somehow part of the vision from the darkside or if he had been connected with her the entire time. She did not have to wait long to find out.

Ben did not acknowledge her, only one presence commanded his thoughts… "Snoke.." he said through a scowl.

Rey stood frozen, for some reason, she could not sense the fear and evil Ben usually carried with him. She sensed he was, lighter somehow, as if the burdens he had carried for so long had begun to leave him. What was left in its place was resentment. She realized she was witnessing something changing in him, that he was figuring out he had been completely manipulated and ultimately betrayed by Snoke.

Ben placed his hand on Rey's shoulder, sending his energy through her. Instinctively, Rey lifted her hand, concentrating all of her energy and Ben's onto Snoke. Letting out a powerful roar she yelled, "Be gone!" With that, the shadowy image exploded into a bright white light and vanished into the darkness.

Rey stumbled slightly, her body trying to recover from the intense loss of energy. Gasping for breath, Rey looked up at Ben, trying to process what had just happened. Through gasps for air, she managed to get out what she needed to say, "It's Snoke, Ben...he's been completely controlling you."

Ben brushed off her revelation, trying to remain in the present, "You have to get out of here, the darkside is too strong," he said with an even tone in his voice. "Go."

"But Ben...don't you see."

"I know Rey! I know Snoke was controlling me...I let him."

"What…?"

"I had no one to guide me, no one believed in me!" Ben said, becoming more agitated. "He saw the potential in me no one had. He gave me a place in all of this. He gave me the power, the confidence to reach my full potential. I know now that I should have found my own way. But no matter how much influence he had over me, it was still me who did those things. I've always carried that with me..."

Before Ben could finish his thought, a sound broke through...

"REY?!" a faint voice called from beyond the cave.

Rey ignored the call, trying to focus all of her concentration on Ben.

Ben looked up as the sound of footsteps grew closer and then back at Rey, with tender remorse. "Please go…you cannot save me."

"REEEEY!" the voice grew louder. Rey could tell at this point it was Theo. She also knew that no matter what had just transpired she could not risk Kylo Ren finding out about the other Jedi. She hoped that her thoughts had not already betrayed them.

She quickly turned toward the sound of Theo's voice, getting ready to send him away. Before she could get a word out, she looked over her shoulder and Ben was gone.