Chapter 35

Neri was almost shaking from the power that had suddenly filled her and felt as though her skin may split from the overabundance of energy being held within. Her head ached with it, eyesight going blurry as she stood. She had never felt such a thing in all her life, had never felt anything nearly as intense. If the ancient temples of the Jedi still existed, would their teachings discuss what was happening to her? Would the Sith have known? The Knights of Ren? She could barely breathe, driven entirely by her need to free Ben from the hold of his former master.

She looked to him, saw him raising his lightsaber in defiance of the creature that stood between them. A small smile graced her lips at the sight of him, the bottom still split from the night before which now felt like ages ago. Ben did not smile back, his lips set in a grim line, and Neri remembered herself, the situation they found themselves in.

She reached out to him through the bond they shared, not questioning for a moment how easily she could access his mind. She tried to reassure him, give him no cause for worry, as she herself felt as though she were limitless in that moment. She felt as though every being in the galaxy were feeding her, helping her in her mission to bring Snoke down. In the back of her mind she heard her mother's voice, heard the voice of the man who called himself Ani, heard a strange man speaking to her, calling her daughter.

Snoke's voice interrupted her ruminations, brought her back to the dank room. "Ready to play now Neri Lei?" he said, his voice wavering slightly as he approached her. He attempted to hide his uncertainty about what faced him, tried to appear as powerful as he had always been.

Neri, nearly appearing as she had for months, stood firmly in her spot. Her short hair was unruly, made more so by Snoke's assault of it, her clothing rumpled from her trip and being thrown into the stone wall at her back. She wore a loose tunic, leggings that hugged her short legs closely, and soft, familiar boots, the uniform of someone who was trained to defend themselves.

Looking above Snoke's head, Neri tilted her chin up, loosening some of the stone directly over her enemy. They fell around him, stopped in their descent by his outstretched hands. He threw her a look that would have withered a lesser woman and raised his arms towards her, causing the wall behind her to shudder and crumble. He pulled his hands to his chest, pulling the rubble as well. Neri was buried in a moment, disappearing from sight.

Ben lunged forward, lightsaber outstretched before him, and snarled at the creature that had been his teacher for so long. His thoughts went to Neri, but he still felt her presence in the Force beneath the wrecked wall, knew that she was alive.

His lightsaber glanced across Snoke's shoulder before the Supreme Leader could pull himself away. He stumbled but stayed upright, facing his apprentice with a grimace on his face.

The stones around Neri shuddered and fell at her feet as she emerged unscathed, walking calmly to Ben's side. She thought again, fleetingly, that she should perhaps be afraid, but she had no room in her for fear. She stood beside Ben, letting her fingertips brush across his exposed wrist for just a moment before she turned back to their common enemy. A current went up Ben's arm and into his body, making him feel as though he had been electrocuted, and he too faced Snoke without fear. Neri's power felt familiar to him, comfortable, but there was something else present in her that he couldn't quite place.

Snoke gathered himself to his full height and sneered at the couple, trying to maintain his façade of confidence. "The lovers, together once more. Weaker together than apart."

"Are those to be your last words Snoke?" Neri asked, her voice low and dangerous. She looked to Ben, as though asking him to act.

Ben obliged, reaching a hand out towards Snoke. The wizened old man, who had seemed so strong before, sputtered as the air was blocked from his lungs, throat closed by the unseen force of Ben's power.

"W-wait," he managed to get out, nearly lifted to his feet by Ben's influence.

Ben set him down for a moment, unable to keep from wanting to know what Snoke could possibly have left to say. He thought it a weakness, this inability to let such words die with his master, but accepted that his weaknesses had served him well as of late.

Snoke's eyes traveled the room frantically, as though searching for a way out. Finding none, he faced Ben and Neri with bloodshot eyes and gasping breaths. "What…what did your…father always say? About…redemption…all men deserve…"

Before Ben could speak, Neri's lips curled into a snarl and she said, "All men deserve redemption." She looked to her lover, surveyed his face. "But some men deserve revenge."

Snoke took their moment of distraction and threw all of his power at them, desperate for escape. The room shook, bringing down tremendous pieces of the ceiling. Neri and Ben both threw their hands up above the other, keeping the weight from crushing them and bringing about their deaths.

Trapped beneath the rock in a small pocket of safety, Ben pulled Neri to himself before pushing the pile off of them. She was warm against his chest, fitting into the crook of his arm as they stood once more and searched the room for their enemy.

He was fleeing, cowardly to the end, and was nearly at the secret door he had brought Neri through.

Seeing their chance at defeating him slipping away, Neri reached out, stopping Snoke with her outstretched hands. He fought her, struggling against the energy wrapped around him, and nearly escaped her grasp. Clenching her fists, Neri felt his struggle tugging her forward. Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back, and Neri screamed as she unleashed everything pent up within her.

Her control over the power being channeled through her wavered and the sheer magnitude of it crushed Snoke where he stood, crumpling him as though he had been buried beneath the entirety of the base. The connection between his body and Neri's broke and Ben fell back with her limp form atop him.

"Neri?" he asked frantically, pulling himself from under her. He patted her cheeks, trying to stir her, but her eyes did not open.

A small stream of blood ran from Neri's nose and Ben wiped it away with the back of his hand. He felt for her presence, felt her neck for a pulse, and felt both weakly respond to him.

He didn't hear the clatter of a door being pushed open or the approach of his mother and uncle as they ran into the chambers. The siblings saw the devastation that had been wrought, felt the room shake as it threatened to fall down around them. The entire base was above them, ready to crush them.

"Where is Snoke?" Luke asked, searching the room. His eyes fell on the crumpled form of their enemy, crushed beyond recognition and unable to harm the galaxy any longer.

Leia saw Snoke as well and moved worriedly over to her son and the still form of his lover. "Ben, we need to go. The building is going to collapse."

Ben looked at his mother in a daze. Her words reached him after a moment and he nodded. In a fluid motion he scooped Neri up and cradled her to his chest, hurrying out of the room behind his mother and in front of his uncle.

They ran up the stairs unsteadily, the walls trembling as they went. It was as though the power of the base was tied to Snoke, his death bringing it down around them. Luke threw his hands up to keep falling rock from striking them, ever mindful of what lay ahead of them and behind them.

They emerged breathlessly from the base minutes later, barely out the doors before it began to cave in on itself. The ground shook with the force of it, sending them to their knees near the tree line.

Finn and Rey were staring, wide eyed, at the scene they had stumbled upon, their ship only having landed minutes before. Though it felt like a lifetime, Ben had only been in the base for a short while, time stretched beyond recognition by Snoke's power of bending reality.

Ben laid Neri down gently, her head on his lap. He felt for her presence and knew it was there, though he couldn't find a way to access it. It was as though she were in the ice cave again, alive but trapped within herself.

"Neri, please wake up," he begged, cupping her face with his large hand. The back of it was covered in her dry blood, his skin tight with it. He took a shuddering breath. "All of this would have been for nothing if you don't wake up."

Luke and Leia sat back, communicating silently as they were apt to do. Leia worried over her son, over the young woman she treated like a daughter. Luke ruminated over what Neri could be, how she could access such power that hadn't be present in the galaxy since the time of the Jedi temple.

Inside her own mind, Neri opened her eyes to a familiar sight.