Chapter 13

The stairs were taking too long, so Rey skidded down the slope leading down from the temple, then raced across the top of the island, scattering nesting porgs and digging in her bag for Luke's lightsaber. She ran past the tree housing the Jedi tomes and reached the winding track that led down to the Caretakers' village. It was growing dark and she was breathing hard. She could see the lights below her— and, through the gloom, the shapes of the raiders' ships approaching the rocky shore.

Fear lent Rey an additional burst of speed—fear and anger. Luke had said the raiders came every month. That meant this had happened many times during his exile. Did that mean he stood brooding at the crest of the island, doing nothing, while those who served him were left to suffer?

She didn't understand how anyone could do that—and so this would be the last time it happened. She'd watched the Hosnian system burn to ashes; with the First Order on the march, other worlds were in danger of meeting the same fate. But this one village would be spared. At least in this one tiny corner of the galaxy, there would be some justice. She hurtled a tide pool and her finger found the lightsaber's activator, its light tinting the water around her blue. Its weight felt like a promise of retribution, and the ancient Jedi weapon's hum sounded eager to her ears.

As she neared the village, kicking up loose rock, she heard screams and cries ahead. She slashed through a gate made of driftwood, lightsaber raised over her head—and came to a shocked stop.

Tables groaned with platters of fish, roe, and spiced seaweed. Caretaker matrons were dispensing grog into stone mugs and passing them into a crowd of males and females, dancing energetically on their spindly legs to the sound of horns and drums. The raiders, Rey saw, were the same species as the Caretakers, but wearing woolen caps and warm, colorful coats designed for seafaring.

She'd interrupted a party. The partygoers turned to behold Rey poised like a war goddess, teeth bared and weapon raised. They greeted her with joyous cries, swinging lengths of kelp studded with phosphorescent bladders above their heads. Rey halfheartedly waved the lightsaber in the air and they cheered even more loudly.

On the fringe of the crowd, she spotted Chewbacca with a mug of something, one hairy fist resting on R2-D2's dome. The Wookiee called out a cheerful greeting, and the astromech beeped.

"Seriously?" Rey asked. She was staring out over the moonlit ocean, Luke finally made his way down the slope into the village. He stood next to her, but she refused to look "I thought they were in danger," Rey said. "I was just trying to do something."

"And this is the most important lesson of all. To trust in the force. A Jedi should always stretch out to the force before making a decision. You need to build patience and discipline"

Rey grabbed his hand. Luke looked down to it. And looked at her. "Don't think that just because you raided a party doesn't mean that training is finished". Rey looked at the old master, "What? But we're at a party! Can we at least spend a few minutes here?". "No, now back up your feet. Let's go". Rey sighed in protest, but followed Luke's orders.

They walked back across the meadow atop the island, beneath a full moon like a lantern. Rey's eyes wandered to the outcropping of the Jedi temple, a pale spike against the night, atop the winding thread of the stone stairs.

After a few more lessons of sparing, Luke informed her to pack up. Both were going to the Resistance the next day. Rey was not only excited, but proud that she could find Finn and BB-8 again.

Rey could see the pale saucer of the Falcon far below her now. She dug in her bag for her comlink. "Chewie, get her ready for launch," she said. "We'll be leaving soon". Even as she broke the connection, she felt a familiar presence, like a change in the weather behind her. Gooseflesh broke out on her arms.

"I'd rather not do this now," she said, without turning. "Yeah, me too," said Kylo. Steeling herself, she turned, determined not to let her adversary into her head. This time, she would make him answer for what he'd done. "Why did you hate your father?" she demanded, then stopped. Kylo was sitting crisscrossed in front of the burned helmet of Darth Vader, with a strange red object floating in the air. Her eyebrows rose, but Kylo was unruffled by the sight of her—and seemingly undisturbed by her question.

"Because he was a weak-minded fool," he said, opening his eyes to reveal a crimson yellow. Rey forced herself to look into his eyes—those angry, haunted eyes.

"I don't believe you," she said. "You're going to—do you have a cowl or something you can put on?"

Kylo ignored that, and Rey made herself focus.

"Why did you hate your father? Give me an honest answer."

"I will when you ask an honest question," Kylo said, and she wanted to scream at him. He wasn't her teacher—and anyway that position was no longer open.

"Why did you hate Han Solo?" she asked.

"No," Kylo said dismissively, almost bored.

But Rey wouldn't let him escape so easily.

"You had a father who loved you. He gave a damn about you."

"I didn't hate him."

"Then why?" Rey demanded.

"Why what? Why what? Say it!"

"Why did you kill him? I don't understand!"

"No?" Kylo's curiosity was genuine—and infuriating. "Your parents threw you away like garbage."

"They didn't," Rey said, and she hated the fact that even to her own ears she sounded like she was pleading. The strange contact between their minds had given her insight into his powers, and had helped unleash her own. It had also let him pillage her memories and feelings. But there was no way the Force could have told him that, shown him that.

That was right, wasn't it?

"They did," Kylo said. "But still you can't stop needing them. It's your greatest weakness. You look for them everywhere—in Han Solo, now in Skywalker." His gaze was hungry—and knowing.

"Did he tell you what happened that night?" Kylo asked.

"Yes," Rey said, knowing Kylo could see that wasn't true.

"No," he said.

Ben Solo looks up in surprise and alarm. His uncle Luke has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. The Jedi Master's face is twisted in a snarl— and lit by the green blade of his lightsaber. The Force is aboil with danger. For a moment regret shadows Luke's face, but Ben can see his uncle has gone too far to turn back. He will not falter or hesitate; rather, he will bring his lightsaber down and cleave his nephew in two while he sleeps. Desperate, Ben's hand reaches out, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the lightsaber he has constructed. Willing it into his hand, its blue blade blocks the killing blow. The locked blades buzz and spark. But Ben knows this is only a brief reprieve—he can't resist his master's far greater powers for long. Trapped, he reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, begging the stones to heed his plea and come crashing down on Luke's head. To save him.

"He had sensed my power, as he senses yours," Kylo said. "And he feared it."

"Liar," Rey said, but there was no conviction behind it. She could feel that what Kylo had told her was true—or at least he wasn't trying to mislead her. And hadn't she sensed Luke's guilt and self-reproach? What if he had gone into exile not because of what the apprentice had done to the teacher, but because of what the teacher had done to the apprentice?

"Let the past die," Kylo said. "Kill it if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be."

And then he was gone, leaving her alone in the night. Alone, but knowing that she had one final thing to do. Jaw set, Rey strode off across the rocky highlands, in the opposite direction from the Falcon.

Luke stood outside the temple, bathed in moonlight. Below him, the waves chewed ceaselessly at the margins of the island, continuing the slow, patient work of dissolving it into the sea from which it had sprung. For the first time, Luke closed his eyes and reached out to Leia, his sister that he had all but abandoned when she needed him most.

Across the galaxy, Leia stood and looked out the bridge of the Raddus. "Luke," she whispered.

Luke opened his eyes. "Leia," he said.

Rey stood on a long, flat outcropping of stone that emerged from the grassy slopes of the island to end in a low cliff above the sea. In the center of the stone was a gaping hole in the rock, surrounded by reddish moss bleached gray by the moonlight. She carefully approached the place she'd seen in her vision on the meditation ledge, the one that had been trying to show her something.

Luke had warned her that accepting its offer would be yielding to the dark side, but perhaps that was because he feared the truths it might reveal. She stared into the inky darkness of the hole. Bright as the moon was, it revealed nothing about what was below. The hole burbled and hissed, as if it were speaking to her.

Rey stopped at the edge, stooping to examine the moss, and slipped. Slipped, or was dragged inside. She didn't know if she cried out, or if it made a sound. She fell into water, the cold like a knife in her lungs. She struggled, surfaced, and gasped, eyes stinging from the salt, then hauled herself out onto the slick, flat stone. She was in a cave, she saw now—a long, narrow space that the sea had carved away beneath the lip of the cliff, creating a hidden place beneath the island, its existence revealed only by a blowhole where a vertical shaft had intersected the surface. The hole spat gouts of water at high tide but seemed to breathe when the tide was low, as it was now. Before her, was the same type of object that Kylo had earlier, but with a yellow organge tone. Rey could hear it calling to her, and behind the strange prism object, there was a mask. It somewhat resembled the one of Kylo Ren, but it was designed differently. Not to mention that it looked ancient. The prism object was saying her name. Rey, it whispered, Rey.

She could hear herself breathing—slowly and raggedly. Then her breathing quickened as she realized she had somehow opened the prism. Rey, I have called for you my child. What do you wish to learn?, it started. "I'd like to know who are my parents and let me see them, please", she begged. Your Parents?, very well Rey. But I must warn you that you are about to witness true terror!, the voice boomed. Its deep voice echoing through the cave. The prism then projected a holographic video, Rey saw a young man and a young woman holding a baby. "Is this me?", Rey said with tears in her eyes. Yes, before the tragedy, stated the voice. "Tragedy?", Rey said before looking back at the holographic video.

The video showed the young couple walking with a baby Rey in their hands, followed by a young boy. The boy looked like Ben, but blonder and had more of his mother's features. All of them had Jedi robes. "So they were jedi?", Rey asked. Jedi indeed. Your parents were the last of the Shan family, the voice sad in a sadden voice. Suddenly, there was a big blast. Most of the video was left unwatchable, but it soon cleared showing a young looking Luke Skywalker picking Rey up from the debris. Skywalker took you in as his own, and raised you for a few years, the voice explained. Rey didn't understand now, was Luke her father? Was she a Skywalker now? This left more questions than answers. "What about the mask? How does this relate to me?", Rey asked turning to look at the mask. Except the mask was gone, Rey looked around and saw a tall man wearing the mask. The man was in a mixture of white and black robes. Rey fell by surprise, she tried crawling away but she couldn't move. The man grabbed, to what appeared to be a lightsaber, igniting a purple blade. Rey looked afraid by this, a blade pointing at her, the mysterious man, everything.

Come here Rey, bow before me, said the man. Rey crawled over to him, still afraid. The man got his blade next to her head, before doing a knight's move.

Rey. The last daughter of Shan. And the daughter of Skywalker, rise. You have now been reborn with my title. Revan. The saviour and conqueror. After that there was a big flash and explosion throwing Rey across the cave.Rey got up from the ground and lifted her head. She knew who she had to talk to about the cave, about what she had sought and what it had shown her—someone who would understand how solitude and loss could eat away at you until there was nothing left.

The moment Rey reached her hut she had felt him near her, in the Force. The connection between them was so raw and powerful that it reminded her of touching a live wire in the wreckage of a starship. She had closed her eyes, opened them, and found Kylo Ren there—right next to her where she sat on the stone bench. As if she could actually reach out and touch his hand, his face, his hair. At the sight of him she'd felt relief surge through her. Kylo listened intently, his long face impassive, as she told him about being drawn into the cave and into the stone, and how the journey had led to a great revelation, and yet left her alone.

"You're not alone," he insisted, and she believed him.

"Neither are you. It isn't too late."

Rey tentatively raised her hand toward his, expecting to see their hands go through each other and wondering if she would feel it in the Force somehow. But their fingers actually touched. She grasped his hand, jolted by the contact, and saw that the same shock had gone through him.

Luke Skywalker walked into the hut—to find Rey and Kylo with their hands clasped, staring into each other's eyes. "Stop!" he yelled, and flung out his hand. A burst of power hurled every stone of the hut outward from its center, scattering them around the bench where Rey and Kylo sat in astonishment. Rey's hand closed on nothing and she stared at Luke as rain pelted them.

She got to her feet and stared at the Jedi Master.

"Is it true?" she demanded. "Did you try to murder him?"

"Where did you ever think of a lie like that," Luke said through gritted teeth. Leaving her Hut and heading towards the Falcon to tell Chewie to shut her down.

"No," Rey said. "You answer me. You tell me the truth. Stop!"

Luke kept walking—and so Rey snatched up her staff, took three long strides, and swung it flat and hard, cracking him across the back of the head and knocking him to the ground. He stared up into the rain, surprised, at the young woman standing over him with her teeth bared.

"Did you do it?" Rey asked. "Did you create Kylo Ren?"

Luke got to his feet and Rey saw immediately that nothing had changed—he was still going to walk away from her, retreating to brood in silence. Furious, she swung her staff at him again—but Luke reached out, the motion a blur, and his saber flew straight into his metal hand. Luke ignited it and sliced Rey's staff into two, knocking her backwards.

Rey sprang back at him, this time with her saber at hand. Igniting its blue color, she charged at him. Their blades locked on and off, spinning and colliding as the rain poured down. She pressed the attack. The lightsaber had never felt more comfortable in her hands, so much like a part of her. Her confidence grew and she smiled wolfishly as she saw the surprise on his face.

But it was a fleeting thing. Quicker than she could follow, he parried her thrust and continued the motion, flipping the lightsaber out of her hands to clatter on the stones, leaving her defenseless.

Rey reached out, feeling the Force alive and hungry around her, and found the lightsaber in her hands. She ignited it again and aimed it at Luke's throat. Luke gave ground, looking up at her as she held the blade high, rain hissing and sparking off its length.

They looked at each other for a long moment, and then Rey turned the lightsaber off, leaving them in the rain.

"Tell me the truth," she said.

Luke Skywalker looks down at his nephew Ben Solo. He has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. The Jedi Master's eyes are closed. The Force is aboil with danger. Worry shadows Luke's face as he extends his hand, reaching out with the Force—reaching into the sleeping Ben's mind. The boy remains still, his face untroubled. And Luke's eyes remain shut. But he can see: fire, and ruin, and the sightless eyes of the dead. And he can hear: screams, and the howl of lightsabers, and the roar of explosions. Darkness—expanding from this slim, dark-haired boy to shroud everything—and the cacophony of terror that will accompany it. Luke draws his hand back, as if burned. The Force around Ben has always been shot through with veins of darkness, but what he's seen is beyond anything he'd feared to find. The darkness was more powerful with Ben then with his own father, Darth Vader. Luke removes his lightsaber from his belt and ignites the blade, his eyes grave. But then he looks at Ben and the brief, almost unwilling thought is gone. He cannot bring his lightsaber down on his sister's son while he sleeps. And immediately Luke knows it is too late—he has already failed his student. Because Ben's eyes are open—frightened but aware. The boy's powers with the Force are already immense, and still growing. And he is a Skywalker. He knows what Luke thought. He knows what Luke saw. He knows what will be.

Desperate, Ben's hand reaches out, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the lightsaber he has constructed. Willing it into his hand, its blue blade a killing blow aimed at his Master. Luke's own blade meets Ben's and the locked lightsabers buzz and spark. Then Ben reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, compelling the stones to come crashing down on Luke's head.

Rey touched Luke's arm.

"You failed him by thinking his choice was made," she said, her voice equal parts gentle and insistent. "It wasn't. There's still conflict in him. If he were turned from the dark side, that could shift the tide. This could be how we win."

Luke turned his eyes to her. His gaze was bleak, and for the first time in Rey's memory he struck her as old—a broken man dragged back into a storm he'd thought he'd escaped. But his voice was strong, insistent.

"This is not going to go the way you think," he warned her.

"It is. Just now, when we touched hands, I saw his future. I saw it— as solid as I'm seeing you. If I go to him, Ben Solo will turn."

"Rey, don't do this," Luke said.

Rey turned her back at him. "I thought that you would've help me, father". She simply walked away from him. Luke was left there in silence, so she knows now.

Across the galaxy, a boarding the Supremacy, Supreme Leader Snoke opened his eyes. He smiled as he acknowledged his accomplishment, he has the girl in his trap.

A/N: Hello! So this story is almost complete! Yay! Now it may feel shorter, but that's because I remove the entire Canto Bite scenes. Which, truly, no one wanted to see or read. So Rey discovered her parents, and her connection to Darth Revan. I added Snoke in to influence Rey's mind, to make her believe that Ben Solo is still redeemable. In TLJ however, she had no reason to actually go and help Kylo Ren. The next chapter will focus on Poe and the Strike team, along with Artrius and Ackbar's decision. Hope y'all enjoy.