Three months later …

She returned alone to Jakku.

She was clad in her dark robes, but she no longer wore a mask to conceal her beautiful features. She walked the sands of the planet she had spent most of her life on with an impassive face. Her light saber was attached to her belt. She walked like nothing or no one could touch her.

Even after all this time, she found her feet still knew the way to Niima Outpost.

The way to Unkar Plutt.

It was impossible for a woman like Kyla Ren to escape notice … even on a world like Jakku. She was aware that a crowd of scavengers … the half-starved men, women, and children who earned their pitiful small living from pleasing Plutt … were gathering behind her.

They did not approach her. They did not seek to talk to her. They certainly did not dare try to touch her. They just followed her.

Plutt had even more thugs than he had the last time she saw him, Kyla noticed. Obviously the First Order's attack on Jakku had made the old Blobfish even more paranoid than he had been before.

Kyla smiled.

They wouldn't save him.

She watched Plutt's men gather. Soon, there was roughly a score of them.

"What do you want here?" the largest of the thugs asked. He was hooded- they were all hooded, but Kyla recognized the voice as belonging to Plutt's right hand man. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kyla Ren."

They stared at her blankly. They stared at each other. "You're lying."

"No. I'm not."

"Kyla Ren," one of the scavengers whispered behind her. "The Supreme Leader herself!"

"But she looks like that girl …" one of them argued. "You know … the one that used to live in the AT-AT. Rey … something."

Kyla did not move. She did not look behind her. Her face remained expressionless.

But the scavenger who called her "Rey" began to choke, clawing frantically at his throat.

Kyla waited for a moment, then released her hold on him. "My name is Kyla Ren."

This time no one said a thing.

"What do you want?" the main bodyguard asked again, this time sounding considerably less sure of himself.

"Unkar Plutt. Out here. Talking to me. Right now."

"The boss don't come at nobody's beck and call."

Kyla ignited her light saber and in one smooth movement beheaded him. "Anyone else care to argue the point?"

No one did.

"I suggest you bring him out here if he's not willing to come out on his own." Kyla smiled faintly. "Otherwise I'll just hurl your bodies at his door until it breaks."

One of the smarter henchmen scrambled for the main thug's body and grabbed a key chain off it. He nodded to the others and rushed to Plutt's door. They forced the door open and ran inside.

A moment later, they dragged a cursing Unkar Plutt out.

He stared at her and mouthed her old name- but didn't say it. Apparently one of the guards must have warned him. "W-what do you want from me, Your Supreme Leadership?"

"Your portions. Your water. All of it. Bring it out here. Now."

Plutt blanched then looked at his guards. "You heard her! Move!"

They moved to obey.

"Not them. You."

Plutt looked ready to argue, but one look in her cold eyes convinced him otherwise. He went into the trading post and returned with a chest of portions. He went back in and rolled out a barrel of water. He looked at her hopefully.

"All of it, Plutt. I'll know if you're holding out on me. Bring it all out."

It was early morning on Jakku when Kyla arrived. By the time, the Blobfish finished his task, it was high noon.

"That's all I have here," Unkar Plutt panted. A creature from an aquatic world, hours spent under the blazing sun of Jakku had left him physically wrecked … and would have even without all the unusual (for him) physical exertion.

Kyla Ren nodded. She turned to the scavengers. "You all get a share, but I'll be watching. If you try to take more than your share- or take a share from the children- I will kill you."

"You can't do this!" Plutt demanded angrily. "Those are my goods."

"The days when you could tell me what I can or can't do are long past, Unkar Plutt." She raised her light saber to his throat. The tip just barely touched … causing the fat flesh of his jowls to burn.

He whimpered, but did not try to move.

"You're going to watch this. You're going to watch as I give away everything that gave you power. You're going to watch as I tear down your little kingdom."

It took another three hours for Unkar Plutt's fortune to be given away. Kyla kept one eye on the Blobfish and the other on the scavengers who nervously came up to pick up his goods. They cast a frightened look at Plutt- and another at her.

Finally, when the last of the portions were gone, the scavengers filed away.

"You've done nothing for them," Plutt told her. "The strong will take from the weak, and I'll take it all back from them. This was all for nothing."

"I didn't do it to help them," Kyla said. But at least tonight they'll all go to sleep with full bellies. "I had one last debt to pay the girl I had been."

"What's that?" Plutt asked her fearfully.

"To kill my past."

Kyla's light saber flashed again.

The body of the Blobfish fell down in two pieces.

She looked at the bodyguards. "Run. If you're here ten seconds from now I will kill you all."

They didn't stay to argue the point. They all ran for their lives.

Kyla walked into Plutt's Outpost. It was the work of just a few minutes for her to set fire to the building. She walked out.

She watched the building burn.

"Goodbye, Rey of Jakku. Plutt won't hurt anyone ever again." Kyla placed her hand on her belly. She felt the slightest of bulges. She knew that almost no one would be able to tell that she was pregnant yet- it was a secret that she had kept from Hux and the First Order. She knew that she wouldn't be able to hide it forever, but she did not want to make it public just yet. The child would be her heir, and that would make Hux even more desperate to replace her.

"You won't grow up like me, little one," she whispered to her baby. "You will never be nothing. You're going to rule an empire when I'm done. But first … first I will need to gather a new army. It's time for the Knights of Ren to serve their master once more."

She patted her belly fondly and then walked back to her ship.

..**..

Leia was dying.

Ben Solo sat on the right side of his mother's sickbed, holding her hand. Poe Dameron on the left holding the other. She smiled at both of them. "My two boys."

Poe looked at Ben hopefully. Perhaps there was something the other man could do with the Force to save or at least prolong Leia's life?

Sadly, Ben shook his head.

Finn, Rose Tico, Kay Connix, and Chewbacca were standing at the other end of the crude log cabin that was destined to be the last mortal residence of Leia Organa Solo.

"We should try to take you to Coruscant or one of the other worlds," Poe urged Leia softly. "There's still time."

"There isn't, Poe." Leia squeezed his hand weakly. "It's my time. I can feel it. I don't mind. I've lived a good life. I'm surrounded by the people I love who love me." Her gaze flickered back to Ben. "And my son came home." She coughed for several minutes. "The only thing I regret is that I'm leaving this fight behind for the rest of you."

"You've done enough, Mom." Ben reached out and gently stroked his mother's forehead. She had lost most of her hair thanks to the radiation exposure she had undergone from her brief sojourn in space. "More than enough. We'll finish what you started."

"I know you will. I have faith in you all. Ben-"

"I'm not cut out to lead this Resistance, Mom," Ben said gently. "I'm not you."

"That's good," Leia snorted. "Because I'm giving the job to Poe."

"Me?" Poe asked her in shock. "But I made so many mistakes ..."

"You've learned from them, Poe. That's the important thing." Leia smiled at him. "You have what it takes to lead the Resistance to victory. It won't be easy- and it won't necessarily be as fast as you'd like. Remember, it took more than 20 years for the Rebellion to overthrow the Empire. I hope this war won't take that long- but I know you'll never give up. You have the heart to lead." She glanced over at Ben. "But that doesn't mean you don't have an important role to play, Ben. You're the closest thing we have to a Jedi- and you're both a Solo and a Skywalker. The Galaxy will look to you for hope-"

"I'm not a Jedi, Mom." Ben squeezed her hand. "But I'll do my best."

"I know you will." She looked at Poe and Ben once more, and then glanced over at the others. "You've all worked so hard- done so much. It's not fair to ask you to do more, but I'm afraid you'll have to. Chewie, keep my son safe."

"As if he were my own," Chewbacca promised in a growl.

"They will need your strength- your experience. Thank you for everything you've done for my family, Chewie- for our family." She smiled at the Wookie.

The Wookie came to her bedside and pressed his forehead against hers. Then he stepped back.

"Kay ..."

The blonde woman stepped forward. Her eyes were filled with tears. "General-"

"You've been like a daughter to me, Kay. I can never thank you enough for everything you've done- for the Resistance and for me." She smiled faintly. "Be happy."

"I'll try." Kay kissed Leia's forehead.

"Rose-"

The young woman nervously took Kay's place. The blonde squeezed her shoulder before stepping back. "General-"

"When you were injured, Finn told us that you said we would win this war by saving what we love." Leia smiled at her. "All of you should keep that message in your hearts. It's the people like you, Rose- your sister, your family- you are who we are fighting for. Thank you."

"General- I'm just a technician."

"You'll never be just anything, Rose." Leia smiled at her. She held a hand out to the younger woman.

Rose took it and pressed it to her cheek before stepping back, tears filling her eyes.

"Finn ..."

The ex-Storm Trooper stepped forward. "General."

"you've got the heart of a Rebel, Finn." Leia smiled at him. "I am grateful for your dedication to the cause."

"We'll make the First Order pay, ma'am. I promise you."

Leia smiled at him faintly. "When I was young, I had that righteous fire of indignation in my heart too. You're a good man, Finn. And strong. I have no doubt that you are loyal to the Resistance. She smiled gently at him. "Just remember, it's not enough to defeat our enemy- you have to fight for something as well. You have to fight for a future. Allow yourself the luxury of hope, Finn."

"I'll try, ma'am." Finn saluted her and offered her a gentle smile before stepping back. He cast a sympathetic glance at both Poe and Ben.

Leia sighed. "It's time, everyone. I may not be with you physically any more, but never doubt that I will be with you in spirit. All of you." Leia smiled at them all and then closed her eyes.

For a moment, the room was silent.

She drew a breath.

And then another.

She did not draw a third.

Her body seemed to shimmer for a moment, and then it faded away leaving nothing behind but her clothing.

"What the kriff-?" Poe whispered in grief and awe.

"She's one with the Force now." Ben laid a comforting hand on the other man's shoulder. "Excuse me everyone." He got up and walked out of the cabin and into the thick forest of Endor. He slumped against a tree. "Mother ..."

The pain and grief brought him to his knees.

And then he felt it.

A whisper in the Force … as though a door had been opened.

"Ben ..."

Ben Solo opened his eyes.

Kyla Ren stood before him. "The bond ..."

"... is still there," Ben finished for her.

And they stared at each other like the lovers they wished they were.

Author's Note: And we're back!