A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. A whole week between updates?! Insanity. Anyway, your reviews are fabulous and I love you! Here's a long chapter for you.
Rey
A First Order special forces TIE Fighter screamed out of a hangar and into a sky at war. The air above Theed roared with the thunder of numberless aircraft and missile fire. This particular TIE was only one of many, and nothing on its exterior set it apart from any other. Inside it, however, operated two souls ablaze with so much more than the heat of battle.
"It's madness," Rey gasped, eyes widening at the sight of the sheer chaos that enveloped them as they sped away from the base.
A strange dichotomy wrestled within her, two sensations competing for attention. She still tingled with a lightheaded euphoria from their victory over the Knights and Ben's fevered confession. But the sight of so much conflict just outside her viewport harrowed her heart and reminded her that in the midst of so much personal joy, the galaxy still balanced on the edge of a knife.
Rebel transports and civilian ships tried to take off from various hangars around the city, but Fighters barraged them with missiles while trying to dodge their X-Wing escorts. Other TIE's must have been piloted by defectors because some went down in a hail of friendly fire. Below, stormtroopers turned on one another. Rebels tore through the streets, shepherding terrified citizens to evacuation points while protecting them from the soldiers who tried to mow them down.
It was a sobering sight, and it pulled her dizzied thoughts back to the dire situation at hand.
Behind her, with his back to hers, Ben guided their vessel deftly through the fray. "I know. Stay sharp. We have shields, but they're not what you're used to on the Falcon."
Rey briefly wished that they'd had time to get to the old freighter. She'd have preferred the hulking, malfunctioning, well-shielded monstrosity under Ben's skilled touch to this flimsy little bubble, barely better defended than the single-pilot models.
"I don't even know where to fire," she admitted, shaking her head at the swarm of ships swirling around her.
Whatever traitorous sentiment Finn had instigated, the momentum was building. She couldn't tell which of the TIE Fighters had defected until they fired and revealed their targets.
"Trust your instincts," Ben replied, half to her and half to himself as he climbed through the atmosphere towards space. "They don't know which side we're on either, so watch for X-Wings."
The Force moved powerfully around them, humming between herself and Ben in well-balanced harmony as they'd never felt before. It seemed to pulse within them, equal parts dark and light, ebbing and flowing with their own surges of emotion. Though the fabric of the Force churned like a stormy sea all around the planet of Naboo, where it encountered the sublime glow of strength from the two Force users it grew tranquil and clear. It muted the roar of the engines and left them in a void of muffled sound where only their breath and uttered words broke the stillness.
That one, something inside Rey whispered, and she depressed the trigger. Her enemy target exploded in a ball of fire.
"Well done," Ben murmured as she let out an exultant whoop.
She settled into her job then, allowing the Force to guide her, hunting down every TIE in pursuit of an X-Wing. More than once, she drew attention from one of her rebel allies and they began taking fire themselves. Ben outmaneuvered them every time. With that perfect synergy that linked their two minds, she knew exactly what he was about to do before he did it and prepared her shots accordingly.
Ben was a phenomenal pilot. Better than her, better even than Poe. The smooth aerial dance he performed gave her an undeniable thrill. Surprisingly graceful, even in defensive flight
"Why do you think Hux is going to blow the base?" Rey asked as she took down another enemy and watched the debris cascade toward the ground.
"He planned for us to meet the others there." Ben sounded calm, unperturbed by the desperation of the moment. "I suspected it as soon as we realized he was gone. He believes in the supremacy of technology, reviling those of us who draw upon the Force. Trust me, Armitage Hux would eagerly seize this chance to rid himself, and the galaxy, of all the known Force Users in one fell swoop."
Rey's eyes scanned the battle, but her mind played over the events of the last couple hours. They'd played right into the plan, if Ben was right. "He'd really blow up so many of his own men, his own resources, just to kill us?"
"The First Order has so much more at its disposal than what is kept here. It wouldn't be a big loss."
Not a big loss to Hux, perhaps, but Rey shuddered at such wanton disregard for so many lives. These soldiers didn't deserve to be blown to bits just because they happened to be in the same city as six Force warriors. Not to mention the thousands of civilians who would die as well.
"Why hasn't he done it already?" Rey blasted another enemy out of the sky without breaking her train of thought.
"Something has delayed him. No doubt their operations are in chaos." Ben's tone became more formal as the crackle of the comms system sizzled to life. "Falcon, this is Solo. Finn, Rose, are you there?"
Rey leaned forward in her seat, listening intently for the answer, heart squeezing with sudden anxiety. The longer the static buzzed unanswered, the more worried she grew.
Ben tried again, voice snapping with tension. "Come in Falcon, this is Solo. Rose — Finn — anyone."
After a few more seconds, a familiar groaning roar broke through the emptiness.
"Chewie," Rey breathed in relief.
"Did they make it back?" Ben asked the Wookie. "I sent them to you — did they make it?"
Chewie replied that they hadn't, and Rey's heart sank. But the quick report Chewie delivered made her feel a bit more hopeful. He wasn't at the hangar anymore, so it was possible they were alive and had tried. They'd have to find other transportation, though, because he was en route to pick up Leia from a crash site.
"Leia?" Rey turned her head slightly, addressing Ben over her shoulder. "What is she doing on the ground?"
"Where else would she be but right in the thick of it?" Ben muttered. To Chewie, he said tersely, "Get to her and get out. I don't care where you go, but get clear of the city. Don't let her rope you in to some selfless, sacrificial cause. Just get away."
Chewie moaned an affirmative, and the communication quickly shut down.
Rey pushed down a sudden flare of fear. So far the Force had guided them to victory, she had to trust that it would do so again. She couldn't get caught up worrying for her friends. They'd either be alright or—
A missile streaked by her, cutting her thoughts off and provoking a softly uttered curse as it missed them by mere inches. Rey locked eyes on the X-Wing who'd fired. It was clearly hunting them.
"More friendly fire," she hissed.
Ben spun into aggressive, yet fluid evasive action — wheeling and pivoting, taking them into a stomach-churning somersault in an effort to get away from their intrepid pursuer. Rey tracked the ship as best she could, but eventually lost it in the fray.
Blue turned to grey, which turned to black as they broke from the atmosphere and finally got above the planet. The space around it was in even greater turmoil. A gnarled mess of ships large and small fired on one another, swooping and screaming through a rain of missiles. Destroyed vessels either spun off into the vast eternity of endless drifting, or were steadily tugged planetward by the pull of gravity.
"They're firing on their own ships," Rey remarked, watching a Star Destroyer take out a TIE Fighter.
"They don't know which men are still their own." Ben's mind turned to the many Destroyers, scanning them, searching for the one he knew carried their enemy. Echoes of these images flashed through Rey's own head too, connected as she was to him. Her brain identified the Destroyers only for their salvage value, but Ben's calculated their minute differences, looking for the distinct clues that would signal the Finalizer.
He found them. Rey felt his pulse of recognition. They steeled themselves for the final confrontation.
Dodging fierce dogfights among starfighters of all classes, mayhem threatening to take them out with even secondhand explosions, Ben maneuvered them towards this new target. But a shock of electricity momentarily distracted him.
"Poe."
Rey startled, leaning forward to find the distinctive X-Wing Ben must have spotted. He swung them around and she found it. Poe's original craft had been black, and so too he had painted his new one. She caught a fleeting glimpse of BB-8's little head swiveling around in the droid socket. They were being pursued by several TIE Fighters, and he was having trouble shaking them.
Ben swept them closer to the fight, and Rey took aim. Neither of them hesitated. She fired, and hit. And fired again, and hit.
"You've done this before," Ben observed approvingly as the two fiery explosions took out the two other pursuers.
Poe dove downward, now clear of impending destruction.
Rey grinned. "Only one other time, on the Falcon. But I can't take all the credit. You're an incredible pilot."
He gave no reply to this, but she felt his twinge of pleasure as they broke free of the madness and finally approached the Finalizer. They headed for one of the hangar bays, but at the last moment Ben pulled up sharply, growling in displeasure. Even anticipating this a fraction of a second before it happened, Rey's stomach still lurched at the steep pivot.
"They've got their shields up and aren't allowing their own fighters to return," Ben explained with disgust. "Hux is hemorrhaging troops and he knows it. Can't take chances."
"How will we get in?" Rey asked, already flipping through her extensive knowledge of Star Destroyers to think of a weakness.
Ben swept along the hull like a wasp looking for a place to land. The pandemonium in the skies was increasing by the minute as shuttles full of troops from the surface sought landing within the Destroyers and were denied.
Rey watched in speechless horror as two X-Wings executed what was now known as the "Holdo Maneuver" and leapt to light speed right through the center of a Star Destroyer. Inspired, two TIE/sf fighters did the same to one of the Resistance cruisers.
"No," she gasped.
So much death and destruction exploding before their very eyes. Ships cracked and splintered, flames erupted into space to belch smoke and debris before being swallowed up by the vacuum. This was the worst disaster she could imagine, and it was happening all around them.
Ben had seen it too. His soul was shaken with terrible awe. He expelled a long breath. "We have to stop this."
"Yes," she agreed. Slaughter and carnage on this level went so far beyond the grim toll of war. This was a hellish nightmare.
"Rey, locate the minds of those who can clear us for landing," he instructed suddenly.
"I don't know if I can do something like that by myself." She could persuade weak minds standing before her, and she could hijack the thoughts of a multitude with Ben's help, but sifting through and influencing them on her own from afar? It seemed a bit beyond her ability.
"It's not," Ben assured her, answering her thoughts more than her words. "You can do it. And you're not alone."
Closing her eyes to the scene around her, she focused inward — focused on the steady flow of the Force around them, emanating from Ben, emanating from herself. Within this tapestry of connected energy, the two of them glowed bright like binary suns in orbit around one another, attended by darkness and light, bending power around them as gravity bends space. They were so strong, everything around them seemed attuned to their harmonious frequency. A binding element surged between them, bridging their connection into something solid. It brought images flickering through Rey's mind — their tandem fight, the feel of his arms encircling her, the rising emotion of his lips brushing against her own, the confession that came tumbling from him when they were reunited.
Rey blazed with strength in the Force as she'd never felt before. She was certain of her heart at last — hungry for a life with Ben, free of war and rebels and empires. It was time for all of it to end. Ben had said so once, long ago amid ashes and embers, but he'd been wrong then. It wasn't that moment, but this one. Deep within her soul, she recognized the dying time, and knew it was upon them. And she saw her place in it. The Force had raised her up and awakened the ancient knowledge in her soul. She, the mother of life and death, could give the galaxy this release. Then, when it had been laid to rest, together she and the son of light and dark would breathe it back to life.
Aflame with this power, she easily located the minds of the needed officers within the destroyer. They were full of fear and panic, but determined to do their duty.
"Ready," she whispered to Ben.
She didn't feel the ship moving under her, only felt the stirrings of the individuals whose minds she watched. Pushing into their consciousness, she suggested that they open the shield long enough to let one starfighter through. Suggested that if they did this, everything would be made right.
They were too frightened to put up much of a resistance, and agreed to the thought immediately.
"Well done," Ben said with unmistakeable pride as he guided them through the shield when it blipped open.
Rey surfaced from her meditation, tingling with the powerful shift that had tipped her soul. It felt as if she were beginning to understand her place in this galaxy at last. Hers - and Ben's.
These thoughts scattered into pieces when the TIE/sf set down on the floor of the hangar and she noticed something else had slipped in through the shield with them.
A black X-Wing, with a familiar little orange-and-white dome swiveling around on top.
"Poe?" she blurted.
Ben, opening the hatch above them, paused only briefly in his action. "He followed us?"
"Apparently so."
"He's clever," Ben mused.
He hauled himself out of the cockpit and extended a hand to help Rey.
The hangar was nearly empty — most officers having gathered at other stations around the ship — but those troops who remained began firing on the X-Wing as soon as it touched down.
Rey and Ben sprinted away from their metallic bubble and headed for these very troops, lightsabers leaping to life, deflecting the blaster fire. In one synchronized motion, they threw out their hands and sent the soldiers flying backwards with a flare of unseen energy.
Buying them this momentary reprieve, they turned expectantly towards the X-Wing.
Poe climbed out and dropped to the ground, trotting over to them even as he removed his helmet. BB-8 rolled up beside him momentarily.
"You guys were the ones in that thing? That's remarkably good luck. Thanks for the help — sorry I didn't give you any warning that I was tagging along."
Poe's energy poured from him in kinetic waves, all adrenaline and thrill and none of the awkwardness that had plagued their interactions for the last several weeks. He seemed genuinely pleased to see them.
Ben frowned. "Why did you, if you didn't know it was us?"
"Your flight pattern suggested you were pretty intent on getting in, so I thought I should follow. It's insanity out there. If I can give my guys a better chance by thwarting this beast from the inside, I'll do it. Besides, I don't want any of them getting any more notions about doing the lightspeed thing. They won't do that if they know I'm in here."
"It's awful," Rey shuddered.
BB-8 chirped in agreement.
She turned an accusatory glare on Poe while motioning to the droid. "But this is no place for him. How could you bring him into danger like this?"
"No worse in here than out there," he said defensively.
Rey squatted down next to the little sentient sphere. "Find somewhere safe, okay? I don't want anything to happen to you."
Poe laughed. "He can take pretty good care of himself."
"Rey," Ben urged.
She stood and gave Poe one more scolding look before turning. It was silly getting riled up about the safety of a droid, but her emotions were a little raw at the moment. So much had happened over the last day.
"Are you guys going after Hux?" Poe asked, trotting after them. "He wasn't on the ground?"
"He'd already gone," Rey explained as she lengthened her stride to keep up with Ben.
"Then it must have been his ship I chased for a while. I saw an executive shuttle leaving the planet shortly after it all began. I tried to engage it - gave them a good run around for a while. They have some decent pilots in that thing. I definitely delayed their arrival, but in the end I had to break off when their backup arrived."
Rey and Ben glanced at one another. Poe's diversion may have bought them the time they needed. May have saved their lives.
Ben addressed Poe without breaking step. "What's your plan here?"
"Well, I was going to sneak my way into the engine room and wreak havoc, but I think I'll be your backup instead. While you're dealing with ole Hugs, I can corral his officers and get them to cease operations."
"Fine," said Ben quickly, although Rey wondered about the practicality of their plan. Poe might be in more danger with them than if he snuck off to conduct his own sabotage efforts. Still, she didn't object.
The three of them with their rolling attendant made their way through the ship unmolested by scrambling, frantic personnel. Rey found it surprisingly easy to use hers and Ben's Force to maintain a perimeter of un-notice around them. What officers looked their way quickly forgot about them, unable to maintain any thoughts of significance regarding the trio and their droid. It helped that everyone operated in such a state of distraction. All pilots had been deployed, so enormous squadrons of Stormtroopers stood awaiting orders to protect the ship by whatever means necessary. They did not consider that infiltration had already occurred. No one sounded alarms, no one harbored suspicions about the strangers walking among them.
Poe noticed this, and glanced at Rey. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's because of you two that we're just gliding on through here without attracting any trouble?"
"Yeah," she returned quickly, and then waved her hand in Ben's direction. "Plus him. Even if they think he might have turned against them, no one is about to risk it and challenge the Supreme Leader directly."
Poe gave a nod. "That's useful."
Unlike the base, Ben knew this ship very well. the Finalizer had been his home for a while as the First Order hunted down the missing piece of the map, and he navigated them through it easily. At one point they passed a room with an open door, and within was a kind of table both Rey and Poe recognized. Poe blanched and caught Ben's eye. Ben returned with a nod and they moved on.
Rey understood. She saw the images flashing through his mind. Poe's interrogation and torture on this very ship, in that very room. No wonder Poe had wanted to come aboard. He had a personal vendetta of his own to settle with this place.
Nearing the bridge now, striding through an empty hallway, Rey and Ben were both immediately shocked into stillness when a concussion blast hit them through the Force, stealing their breath and leaving them unable to move even a single step.
Rey doubled over with the strength of it, suddenly feeling as if she were going to vomit.
Poe whirled around, eyes wide. He ran to her. "What is it?" He glanced at Ben, who was braced against pain of his own. "What the hell happened?"
"I — I don't know." Rey shook her head, gasping. "Something…"
"Someone very powerful," Ben managed. "An action…through the Force."
"Did it blow?" Rey chilled with horror at the thought even as the sick feeling of impact began to fade from her gut. She let Poe help her upright again. "The base? Did he explode the base?"
"What?" Poe cried, even more alarmed than ever.
Ben disciplined himself back into military mode. He squared his shoulders and resumed his step. "Perhaps. Only one way to find out."
Rey and Poe hurried after him, BB-8 peppering them with a string of questions to which neither had any answers.
Eventually, they made their way to the Bridge. Two Stormtroopers stood guard, but before they could utter a word, Ben waved his hand and both dropped like rocks.
"Dead?" Poe asked, startled.
"Unconscious," Ben replied.
"NOOOOO!" From within the giant command room ahead of them they heard the furious scream of a familiar voice. Hux yowled again and they heard another voice whimper for mercy.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'VE LOST COMMUNICATION?" Hux bellowed.
Slipping onto the Bridge was a simple matter with everyone so distracted, staring at the red-haired man holding one of his underlings by the collar. Even from a distance, Rey could see the general's face was so flushed it almost made his hair pale in comparison.
"Push it again!" Hux demanded, pointing at another officer down in the pit where technicians and lower ranked individuals scrambled.
"Sir—" squeaked one of the men. "It's no use. The signal is dead. All the detonators are—"
"TRY IT AGAIN!"
The clacking of computer keys quickly followed this order as the man obeyed. Fearfully, his gaze darted up to his leader. He barely managed to breathe, "It didn't work."
Hux squalled and shoved the man in his grasp backwards into the pit, stalking to the window like a caged beast ready to kill his jailer.
"Running into trouble, General?" Ben asked mildly in the terrified silence that followed Hux's bellowing.
The sallow-skinned man whirled around, eyes blazing. His face drained of all color. "Ren…you're…"
"Alive," Ben finished. "Despite your many attempts."
Hux's gaze flashed to Rey, who held him in her own steadily. Poe and BB-8 had slid off somewhere. She and Ben stood alone at the end of the catwalk between the two technician pits.
"I see you brought your little pet." Hux's voice no longer sounded so confident. The authority in his voice wavered. His fear came drifting from him in palpable waves.
Ben put forth a hand, and the Force swirled angrily around Hux, constricting around his throat and dragging him across the expanse into Ben's waiting clutch. His toes were the only thing connected to the ground. He thrashed in Ben's hand, grasping at his fingers the way Rey had clawed at Maclar's. She had to look away, allowing her gaze instead to travel over the utterly petrified crew watching this exchange and not knowing who to dread more.
"Your reign is over," Ben hissed. "You are done scraping at the door of power."
Veins bulged in Hux's forehead beside blue eyes wide with panic.
Ben threw him down with a look of disgust. Rey had never seen such murderous hate in him — not when he killed Han or fought her on Starkiller, not when he killed Snoke, not when they faced his former friends. Darkness swirled around him in a churning cyclone, and Rey felt their connection weaken because of it.
"This man," Ben addressed the rest of the bridge. Unlike Hux, his authority did not waver, but rang with deadly clarity. "This excuse of a man, conspired to overthrow me and lead you all to a ruinous end. I will show you how traitors such as this are dealt with here."
Rey crouched down next to Hux trembling on the floor. Honestly, he was something of a letdown after facing the fearsome and formidable Knights of Ren. How did a skinny, pale, weak man like this ever rise to the top? Did anyone respect him?
"Why did you do it?" she asked him, brow furrowing. "Why did you try to kill him?"
Hux scrambled away from her, revulsion mingling with fear. "Get away from me, scavenger scum."
Ben dragged Hux to his feet and pulled him within inches of his face. His voice was low and dangerous. "Answer her questions, Armitage. She's the only one buying you minutes of life."
Hux weaseled out of Ben's grasp and backed up, trying to put distance between himself and his mortal enemy. His eyes darted to Rey, who slowly stood back up from her crouch.
"I was destined for this," he snarled, waving his hand around at the bridge. "This was my right, my future. And this usurper came in with his lies and his abominable sorcery and took my place. He tried to blame Snoke's death on you, but I wasn't an idiot. I knew no up-jumped trash vermin child could take out Supreme Leader, his wretched creature, and all his guards. So I took what was mine. I seized my destiny."
"Not very well, Hugs," Poe called out from the other side of the bridge. He had a navigator held at blasterpoint while BB-8 hijacked the main computer through the navigator's terminal. "I mean, there were a lot of ways where you went wrong in your whole destiny seizing plan."
Hux swung around and if he could have burst into flames, Rey was certain he would have. "YOU!"
"Yeah, hiya, buddy." Poe motioned to the navigator. "I'm a bit busy right now, but I definitely want to catch up. We've missed out on so many adventures. But BB-8's locked everyone out of their terminals, so I gotta focus. I've never flown anything this big before."
"No," Hux gasped, stumbling a few steps towards him, hand reaching out as if he could stop him with the mere gesture.
Ben snatched the fabric of the Force and yanked Hux sharply to the ground. The man's forehead hit with a nasty smack and an eyebrow split, tricking blood over his face as he rolled to his side and groaned.
"You're not going anywhere," Ben told him. "We're not finished."
Rey again swept her gaze over the frightened crew. She frowned. "We should let them go."
"Good idea," Poe agreed. He lifted his voice. "Anyone who wants to go is free to leave. IF—"
The entire bridge had broken into motion at this, but stopped when his sharp caveat rang out over them.
He grinned at his sudden power. "If you swear never to take up arms against your Supreme Leader Kylo Ren ever again. You'll follow his every command, no matter how counterintuitive it seems. That is, if you choose to stay in the First Order. Anyone who wants to go home won't be charged with desertion. Yeah?"
Eyes darted to Ben, a multitude of heads nodding in mute terror.
"Good. Now get to some escape pods and take everyone you can with you. I don't intend for this to be a smooth landing. There's a huge sea in the southeastern hemisphere. Looks like a good place to drown this beast, I think."
"S-sir," one of the techs — a young female this time — called out timidly. "Can — can I hit the evacuation alarm?"
"Sure, great idea." Poe was practically beaming. "Get everyone off the ship. And whoever's in charge of fleet communication — tell them all to cease fire and return to base for further orders."
Dimly listening to all these proceedings, Rey had edged over to Hux again where he was curled on the floor. She didn't know why she felt compelled to be near him — she ought to step back and let Ben have his revenge. But the darkness around him worried her, and in response her own light swelled. She couldn't let Ben make this decision in his state of hatred. She instinctively knew all their work over the last few weeks would be undone if he made this unholy sacrifice. Somehow, it had to be her.
Ben watched her movement, unable to sense her thoughts now that the chaos around him had severed their connection. She saw the troubled, perplexed look flicker beneath his glower of hatred.
She looked down at Hux, again struck by how utterly unimposing he looked, quivering and whimpering on the floor. Like a child. Once more, she crouched beside him, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be afraid," she said softly. If she was to be the deliverer of his end, she wanted it to be a peaceful end.
He turned to look at her, confused at the sudden gentle touch, the soothing whisper. His blue eyes locked with hers.
And the ship, Ben, Poe, the bridge — all of it disappeared around her. Suddenly she was looking into the clear, tear-filled eyes of a frightened child cowering from his father's severe punishments. She saw him striving and failing to meet the impossible standards that same austere, half-mad militant father set for him. Others stepped in, figures who were cold and militant too but had a more useful touch, guiding him, pushing him into ruthlessness. She felt his fear, his dread, his anger, his determination as they instructed him to beat his classmates senseless, to show his dominance without mercy. Rey saw the same boy huddled in a corner, unable to sleep for the visions of his victims, his fellow students loomed before him. A heart hungry for love and approval twisted systematically into a killing machine, taking validation by force, rising under the keen eye of a fearsome leader who saw his potential for greatness. And all the while he hungered. The void in him would not be filled, no matter how many systems he took, no matter how glorious the demonstration for Starkiller's — and by extension his — power. Always empty, always hurting, always crazed.
She pulled her hand away from him and fell back, heart racing.
Hux, without any notion of the things she'd seen, watched her nervously.
"Ben." Rey scrambled to her feet and looked to him whom she knew so well. "Ben, don't kill him. We can't kill him."
Ben flinched as if he'd been slapped. "What do you mean we can't kill him? He's taken the lives of billions. You do realize that, don't you? The Hosnian system — all him. The rebel fleet? Him."
"I know." Rey's heart squeezed with pain. Ben's own hands were practically holy compared to the blood Hux had staining his own. But it didn't matter. "But we can't. He's like us, Ben. He's just like us."
She left Hux's side and went to Ben's. Touch. Touch was the key to drawing him back to her when he was so deeply wrapped in dark. She took his hand, letting her fingers slide against his. Something sparked between them, a flicker of the flame they needed to reignite in the midst of his winter wind. "He's a boy who wasn't loved, who wasn't enough for his demanding father, who never got to know his mother for the shame of her station. He's been starving for the same things we have. Ben, he's just like us. We can't condemn him for what he has become, any more than we can condemn ourselves."
Ben's eyes searched her own, black pools of fathomless depth drinking her in, trying to understand even as he resisted her compassion.
Hux began to laugh, harsh and maniacal. The now-empty bridge rang with the sound. "As if I need the pity of a scavenger."
Ben twitched, rage threatening to shatter everything Rey was trying to do. She reached for his face.
"The Force wouldn't have shown me those things if we were meant to kill him. Let him stand trial for his crimes. His life isn't yours to take, or mine. Let go of your revenge."
She could feel the Force writhing around him, an echo of the wrestle happening inside. Sudden desperation seized her, almost choking her with grief and a racing heart. If he chose to kill Hux, she knew he'd be lost forever.
"Please," she begged softly. "Don't go where I can't follow. Don't do this. Stay with me."
He shook under her touch, his jaw working over the struggle within him, his eyes darting between hers. She reached for him with her mind, trying to find her way through the darkness for the familiar brush of his presence. And there — there, that stripe of light, that vein of goodness, that access.
His expression cleared. Beneath her hand, his body relaxed and his eyes softened. The turmoil around him calmed. His feelings began to trickle into hers, slowly at first and then as a flood.
"I'm not going anywhere," he breathed, smiling a little. "We'll go with your plan."
She laughed, tears welling in her eyes with the depth of her relief to be able to feel him again.
"Filthy witch with your filthy magic and your filthy pity," Hux snarled, leaping to his feet and withdrawing his blaster.
Ben and Rey turned, but before they could react the sound of missile fire shattered the stillness of the room.
They flinched, but they hadn't been hit.
Hux lay face-down at their feet, a smoking wound right through his heart.
Poe holstered his weapon. "The Force didn't tell me not to save your lives, right?"
Ben glanced at Rey, but she could only look at the body at her feet.
"Why did the Force show me…" she couldn't finish the question, suddenly awash with confusion and sorrow, mingled with relief.
"We weren't meant to do it, but that doesn't mean he wasn't meant to die." Ben took her hand and pulled her away from the corpse.
Poe didn't stop to contemplate his actions. He directed them off the bridge, explaining that BB-8 had set a collision course and disabled all the automatic overrides so they needed to get off The Finalizer immediately.
Ben led her, fully conscious again of the things stirring in her heart. The entire ship blared with the evacuation siren. Why hadn't she noticed it before? It was heinously loud. All transports and escape pods were gone. The crew had made swift work of their escape.
Poe and BB-8 got back into their X-Wing while she followed Ben into the TIE once more.
"Where are we going?" she asked him softly when they lifted off and returned to the dispersing mayhem of space. It was over. Hux was gone. The end of the First Order had begun.
"To my mother. Her light is fading."
A/N: Don't worry, the conflict/war portion of our story is over now. Moving on to other things. Don't forget to review!