Disclaimer: I own nothing here, but at an end your rule is, and not short enough it was.
Point of Light
AN: Oh-my-goodness... The response to chapter thirteen Blew... My... Mind guys. Everyone that reviewed, thank you so much! I had the biggest grin on my face when I seen all those reviews flooding my inbox. XD It made me so happy I decided to give you all a bonus update! Woohoo! Enjoy!
Anyway, this chapter... I drew very heavy inspiration from the last season of Rebels, which will become blatantly obvious. (sigh the feels in that season left me shattered... forever... sniff. I'm not crying! I'm not!) If you haven't watched Rebels yet, well... get to it! This chapter would be much more enjoyable if you did.
Chapter Fourteen – Beast
Rey knew she was dreaming when she somehow found herself inside Kylo's mind, seeing through his eyes and feeling his thoughts as if they were her own. The dream realm around him had an ethereal, dark blue sky that seemed to stretch on forever, while the ground was a plain of rolling hills layered with tall, thick grass, and a looming, blue fog hung between the two planes like an unwanted guest.
Despite knowing this was a dream, Rey still found it exceedingly strange when Kylo's vision shifted downward and a pair of three digit paws came into view, and was that an elongated black snout at the bottom of his sight?
He was as startled as her and Rey could feel his curiosity and bewilderment as he started walking, a little unsteadily over to a pool of water. Peering down at it, a large black wolf stared back, complete with thick fur, dagger-like canines, and pointed, upward-angled ears as well as a prominent and perfectly round patch of white fur at the very center of his head.
Before either of them could pull together a proper reaction, something about the world around them shifted significantly. The eerie fog lifted and the dark sky above took on a mystical element of wispy, fire-like veins that crawled across its expanse like a spider's web.
A deep, rumbling growl sounded behind Kylo and he spun around to come face to face with an even bigger wolf, probably twice if not thrice his size. Its fur was all gray except for the unusual three pronged white mark on its forehead which looked more like an emblem than a birthmark.
It lowered its head to examine him carefully and even gave him a sniff before it recoiled with another growl. "Darkness," it spoke, surprising Rey and Kylo both. Its deep, male voice had an oddity to it, as if multiple beings were speaking at once. "Failure," he added, eyes narrowed to slits as he glared down at Kylo.
"So what?" Kylo snarled back, not seeming to care that the gray wolf was three times his size. "Yes, I failed as a Jedi, but the dark side has served me well. Who are you to judge me?"
The huge wolf made no reply but tipped its broad head, as if astonished by Kylo's fearless retort. Something caught his attention off in the distance as Rey began feeling her awareness of the scene fade. "Light," he grumbled reflectively before turning a sagely gaze back to Kylo. "Purpose."
Rey opened her own eyes, only to find herself in the same exact world, with a long nose of her own as well as the same type of forepaws that Kylo had. She moved to wander around through the grass until she came upon a pool herself, finding that she too was a wolf with white fur, except, much like Kylo's odd spherical marking, she had a black spot on her forehead.
"You're new here," a voice startled her from behind and she turned to see a dark blue wolf standing there, regarding her curiously. His voice was kind and his sapphire eyes reflected a clever mischief somehow. "Are you lost?"
"I'm dreaming, does that count?" Rey replied as she gave her surroundings another cursory glance.
The blue wolf opened his maw wide in a chuckle. "I guess it does." He looked up suddenly and his ears perked forward at the sound of some distinct howling in the distance. After a few seconds of listening and tipping his head curiously, he turned back to Rey. "You wouldn't happen to have a friend here, would you?"
"Maybe?" Rey answered with what she tried to pass off as a shrug in a wolf's body. "If he's big with black fur and a white spot on his head... yeah."
"Follow me then," the blue wolf replied as he started down a grassy hill. "He's beginning to vex my master."
"That... sounds like my friend," Rey agreed as she staggered after him, completely unaccustomed to running on four legs. Once she got used to it though, she quickly grew amazed at the thrilling speeds she was achieving and nearly lost herself in the activity until her guide slowed to a trot and led her into a clearing where Kylo and the huge wolf sat.
"Ben!" Rey yipped, the adrenaline from her run leaving her overly excited as she padded over to him. "You are here. Are you dreaming too?"
"Rey?" Kylo questioned, head tipped in obvious confusion at the sight of her. Just the fact that he recognized her in wolf form was impressive though. "I suppose I am. But this is strange. Even with our connection, we've never shared a dream before."
"It is strange," Rey admitted as she sat down beside him and met the huge gray wolf's gaze as he studied her closely, his brilliant blue eyes reflecting an ancient radiance. "He is certainly intimidating, isn't he?"
"Only if you allow him to be," Kylo grumbled, his glare shifting between the gray wolf and the ground with head bent and ears switched back. He apparently wasn't exactly thrilled about his current status in a wolf's body.
"Ben," Rey admonished with a lilt of humor in her tone as she moved to lean against him, indulgently trying to lighten his mood. "This may be a dream, but I get the feeling disrespecting this big guy is just asking for trouble." Her ploy worked like a charm, her touch causing Kylo to turn his focus on her instead of his peculiar predicament.
"I don't know why the Force is allowing us to dream together," he said, ignoring her comment as he craned his neck down to nuzzle his head against hers, probably the closest thing to kissing her in such bodies. "But I like it."
"Ben, stop," she barely managed through an unbidden chortle when his breath tickled her sensitive ears. She gave his head a warning thump with her own, feeling oddly self-conscious about his affectionate display despite knowing they were in a dream realm and their sole audience was just a pair of wolves.
"Love," grumbled the huge gray beast after watching their exchange with a captivated interest. His sagely blue eyes flashed with a profound emotion that Rey could not distinguish. "Balance."
His words hung in the air for a moment, as even Kylo turned to gaze up at him, attentive with a puzzled interest.
"What he said," the blue wolf added with a chuckle, breaking the solemn silence. "You two have it bad, don't you?"
Rey wanted to make a smart retort but she found herself at a loss for words, wondering if this really was just a dream and if these two wolves weren't some actual entities within the Force itself.
The gray wolf suddenly looked up, something having caught his attention elsewhere. "Test?" he growled, giving her and Kylo one last, thoughtful glance before bolting away and disappearing into the tall grass.
"Well, I guess that's it then," the blue wolf said as he moved to follow but paused to give them a final look himself. "Stay alert you two, this plane is usually passive, except of course, for whatever you brought with you..."
Those ominous words hung in the air as Rey and Kylo suddenly found themselves alone in a clearing surrounded by endless rolling hills. Hoping to rid herself of a lingering dread in her gut, Rey reared back and placed her forepaws on Kylo's withers, giving him a playful nudge. "Come on Ben, chase me."
"Chase you?" Kylo repeated dubiously, as if the concept disgusted him. "Are you five?"
Rey's ears switched back and she would have frowned in her human form. "Is that... something normal children do?" She dropped away from him, feeling suddenly sullen for reasons even she couldn't fully comprehend. "Work was all I knew after I was..." Abandoned. She didn't voice the last word, though it sliced through the space between them like a throbbing, open wound.
Her gaze fell to the ground and she felt herself coil inward as the deep sadness threatened to overtake her until Kylo lunged into a bow in front of her, his mouth pulled back into a literal wolfish grin. "Fine! I'll chase you, but what do I win when I catch you?"
Rey's ears perked up at his words, her sadness all but fading at the sight of his goofy posture. She drew herself up and crouched in preparation to pounce away, equipping a mischievous grin herself. "My everlasting respect, of course."
"That's it?" Kylo complained through a grumble but Rey didn't bother to reply as she bolted for the nearest field of thick grass. "I demand proper compensation for the effort expended!" he howled after her, but Rey could clearly hear the humor in his tone, as well as his pounding footfalls somewhere behind her.
She led him on a long, thrilling run through the twilight of the dream, the wind rushing by her face reminded her of times on her speeder, only without the annoyance of sand and grit catching in her eyes. Her legs eventually began to ache and her lungs burned as she heard his pacing gradually gain on her. She burst out of the field and back into another clearing with large, unusually shaped rocks poking out of the ground just as Kylo made a risky bid and lunged for her, effectively tackling her to the ground.
Both panting from exhaustion, neither could manage so much as a comment as he practically collapsed on top of her, either to keep her from running off again or simply out of weariness, or both.
Rey wasn't in much of a position to argue and she idly wondered just how much longer the dream would last, when she suddenly felt it, a disturbance, dark and tainted and terrible. A presence she had only ever attributed to one being... Snoke. She looked to see Kylo's expression harden in tandem; he felt it too.
They both turned around to see an enormous monster towering over them, easily twice as big as the gray wolf from earlier. Red eyes, red scales, silver horns; a Krayt Dragon. It rumbled a slow, menacing growl as it peered down at them, as if contemplating who to eat first.
Rey felt her fear bubbling forth without warning, horrid memories of his mental torture flashed through her mind as her body automatically cowered low to the ground. "This is just a dream," she tried to reason, more to herself than to Kylo. After all, there were no conveniently placed lightsabers to save them this time. "He can't hurt us, right?"
"Stay down," was Kylo's only response as he position himself to crouch over her protectively, his snarling maw aimed defiantly upward at the dragon.
"Ben?" Rey whimpered worriedly at him but felt a stubborn tenacity erupt in her core, overwhelming her fear as she resolved to stand and fight along with him only to flinch when the dragon roared furiously and lunged with its deadly strike.
But nothing came. That terrible, tainted darkness was suddenly replaced with a peaceful, orderly balance. Rey looked up to see Kylo staring back at her, shielding her, his expression just as shocked. They glanced around but the dragon was gone, replaced by such an unusual creature that it could hardly be described. It was just as big and had a primitive face surrounded by a bushy brown mane, while the rest of its body was either covered in the rocks or various floral growth that appeared to be growing in the area.
"Ah, stars align," the creature spoke with an amazed expression, the voice deep and male and seemed to echo with an element of eternity. "Ashla and Bogan appear before me, personified it seems."
"Who-Who are you?" Rey wondered, her voice hitching as she released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"I am the Bendu, the in between, the balance," the creature rumbled proudly as he crouched down to speak to her directly. "And you. You are Rey from Jakku. A nobody to yourself." He turned his piercing gaze to Kylo briefly. "But to this one, you are everything. In fact, a fallen Jedi this one is. Yet he passed a knight's test..," he said and paused to turn back to Rey pointedly, adding cryptically, "for you... Interesting, that."
"What do you want?" Kylo growled, frustrated and losing his patience. "Are we here because of you?"
Bendu did not answer him directly but instead narrowed his gaze. "Hmm. Yes, a Skywalker if not by name. Conflict runs through your veins same as blood." He turned to regard Rey benignly. "You have my sympathies, Rey of the Light. May the Force grant you unceasing patience all your days."
"Can you tell us where we are?" Rey asked more politely, her mind not quite wrapping around all his ramblings. "Why are we wolves?"
"Hm, well I can tell you why he's here," Bendu said as he gestured to Kylo with a hooked hand. "Most beings only come here when they're facing a significant change of heart. To be tested for truth and worthiness." He tipped his head, pondering for a moment. "I suppose you, young Rey, just got caught up in his metamorphosis due to..." Bendu cleared his throat, as if what he were about to say was somewhat inappropriate. "Physical proximity."
"Do you ever make any sense?" Kylo growled again, clearly agitated, though his outburst went completely ignored by the great beast.
"Now, perhaps one final test is in order, hm?" Bendu abruptly reared up to his full height. "Remember, young Ashla, young Bogan, things are not always as they seem." He laughed as though he had made a clever joke, the sound deep and gravelly as the ground began to shake and the sky began to spin. "Not as they seem, indeed!"