Teela's green hands, Sonzy's orange ones, and Jessika's one good hand rose into the air next to Rey's. The Force condensed around them, and Rey's stomach twisted as she watched a small blonde figure fall from the speeding X-Wing. She focused all her will around slowing the plunging Padawan. Red dust exploded around them as the X-Wing impacted against the side of the large rock formation housing the First Order. Rey inhaled the dust and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling her focus waver.
"Kaydel, you all right?"
The sounds of the Padawan's cough came through Rey's comm, and a small voice croaked, "You set me down fine. I'm good."
Rey nodded to Finn and the Padawans, and they rushed to the newly created hole. Kaydel joined them, her body and clothes caked in a thick layer of dirt. Rey caught a glimpse of a scraped palm as Kaydel brushed hair out of her face, and the petite Padawan walked with a minor limp.
They bounded over the debris and passed the smoking ship. Poe had said the X-Wing had taken irreparable damage, but she could tell the hyperdrive would still work along with the engine cooler. Her foot hit a sharp rock, knocking her out of the habit of cataloguing the good pieces of the ship. They needed to get as far inside as possible before the First Order swarmed the site. Salvaging Kylo was more important than a ship.
She grabbed her saberstaff from her back, sent a silent thanks to Kylo for having it on the Falcon, and kept a tight grip on it as she trailed after Finn. The former Stormtrooper held his wrist up, looking at a holoprojection of the base. Poe had made a modification to the Millennium Falcon to allow it to scan foreign objects. They only could see the first few floors, but it would be enough to get them inside.
Finn beckoned with a rapid wave of his hand, and they quickly piled into an adjacent hallway. A few seconds later, a crowd of First Order members raced passed the hall to the site of the X-Wing impact. Finn peered around the corner, and they followed him at a jog along the edge of the hall, occasionally hiding in adjacent rooms or corridors as they sensed other members moving to the attack site.
The holo zoomed out to show a blinking dot several floors below the scanned floor plan. Rey raised an eyebrow. "That looks like a tracking beacon."
Finn grinned broadly. "We knew a tracker would be detected. So we put an obvious one behind Ren's belt and another in his lightsaber."
Rey matched Finn's grin. No matter how much she trained or went through ordeals like fighting Snoke, Kylo always had more experience that caused him to be prepared for different situations. She was glad she had him on her side.
A patrol of Stormtroopers jogged down a hall they were using to hide, and Rey focused her attention on them, willing them to completely ignore the intruders. One helmet started to turn toward them but immediately snapped forward again when Sonzy's hand rose.
They reached what Finn's holoprojection told them was a staircase, and Rey reached out with the Force to sense for anyone within the stairwell. She let out an audible cry as the Dark Side smashed against her from the bond with Kylo. Sharp pain shot up her knees as she hit the metal floor. An uncomfortable presence raced along the bond, and she looked up at the worried faces of the Padawans with blurred vision. "Kylo…"
Gasps escaped each of their lips, and she knew that they could feel the Dark Side thick in the air around them. Jessika wrenched open the door to the stairs with her good hand. "It's worse through here."
Rey felt a flare of Kylo's energy brush against her through the bond, and she latched onto it, desperate for anything from her husband. Pain burst from somewhere she could not pinpoint. "He needs us…"
She vaguely noticed Finn pull her arm around his shoulders. Her feet could not seem to work as he began carrying her down the stairs. Teela and Sonzy moved in front of them while Jessika and Kaydel trailed behind.
Kylo's presence began to fade, and Rey pushed forward with the Force, stubbornly grabbing onto his mind. A foreign feeling brushed against her, and she nearly recoiled completely away from Kylo as she felt the overwhelming darkness that she never knew her husband was capable of.
Rey.
"It's locked shut."
Rey's eyes fluttered open to see the four Padawans standing in front of a thick door. Finn adjusted her arm around his shoulders and sent her a worried look. "Are you all right?"
A lie bubbled in her throat before Rey forced it back and shook her head. "Something's happening." She took her arm off Finn's shoulders and steadied herself on her feet as she gripped her lightsaber. "We can cut through the door."
Sonzy's and Kaydel's green sabers hummed to life, and they forced them through the durasteel door next to each other. They arched them downwards slowly and turned their heads away to avoid the sparks as they cut a makeshift door. The sabers reached the floor, and Jessika shoved her uninjured hand forward. Teela jumped through the newly formed hole as the durasteel collapsed inward.
Rey followed with Sonzy and Kaydel, and Jessika, whose lightsaber had been taken when the First Order captured them, trailed with Finn. If not for the familiar feel of the Light in each of the Padawans, Rey would have fallen again. The former Stormtrooper was the only one who did not freeze as the Dark Side hit them.
She could not see Kylo, but something in the back of her mind told her that he was behind a cloud of black smoke. She raced toward it, reaching out with the Force for her husband. His mind flickered like a broken light. She stopped centimeters from the cloud as she felt the strange presence.
Help. Rey.
She reached her hand into the smoke, but her body went flying with the Force. She crashed against the wall and looked up with blurred vision to see Kilnetel standing protectively in front of the cloud. Finn raised his blaster and sent a rapid series of bolts toward the green form. The Twi'lek ducked away and threw Finn and the Padawans backward.
Rey felt Kylo's mind briefly touch hers again, and she liked over her shoulder to see the cloud of smoke vanish. Kylo lay motionless on the floor, his chest barely rising with shallow breaths. She ran to him, not caring about anything other than Kylo as she dropped to her knees next to her husband. "Kylo? Kylo, are you all right?"
His muscles spasmed, but his eyes remained closed. She felt out to their bond tentatively and paused. Kylo's familiar presence – his thoughts, temperament, everything that made him Kylo – was nowhere to be found. Instead, something dark and dominant touched her mind. Snoke.
She recoiled and backed away on her feet. Kylo's body twitched again, and Rey stalked to Kilnetel with narrowed eyes. The Twi'lek turned to her, but Rey raised her hand and pinned her against the wall with the Force. She pressed her saberstaff over Kilnetel's throat and growled, "What did you do to him?"
Kilnetel sneered, and Rey felt the Dark Side batter against her hold over the green body she tightened her hold, allowing her fury help her. "He's fulfilling his purpose."
"I shouldn't've let you get away with just a lost arm." The twin blue blades activated. Rey titled the hilt to let one come dangerously close to the Twi'lek's jaw. A satisfying flicker of fear crossed Kilnetel's face. "You've caused too much harm."
She heard Kylo move behind her. "Rey."
His usually passionate voice was devoid of emotion with a flat, cold tone. The voice of Snoke using Kylo's vocal cords. Rey felt her heart break in her chest. Kilnetel slipped from her hold and crossed the short distance to stand next to Kylo, wrapping an arm around his waist.
Kylo's brown eyes looked almost black as he stared at her with an oddly cruel expression. "I see why you were Ren's greatest weakness." He looked down at his hands and flexed his fingers as if getting used to the length. "This Force bond is unfortunate." His lips curled into a harsh smile as Kilnetel's hand rested on his chest. "But the Dark is in you, scavenger. It seems he finally did his job in showing you its power. It is almost a shame to kill you and your friends."
His hand reached for the lightsaber at Kylo's hip, but it shuttered and flew through the air before he could stop it. Jessika's good hand wrapped around the hilt, and the purple blade ignited with a low hum. "Master Ren only lets people he likes use his saber."
The other three Padawans lined up next to her with their own blades out. Finn stood near the cut door, keeping his blaster aimed through the hole. Teela's blue lightsaber spun in her hand. "You'll never be worthy of him or his lightsaber."
Kaydel gave Kilnetel a thin smile. "Neither will you, bitch."
"So get. Out," Sonzy growled.
Snoke barked out a heartless laugh through Kylo's mouth. "I don't need that tool to dispose of you. In fact, Ren knows of some deliciously creative uses of the Force to kill you with a single twitch." His black eyes met Rey's, and she felt the Dark Side pulse through the bond. "What shall it be, then, hm? A snap to your spinal column? A blockage to your brain? Or perhaps a rapid rise in body temperature?" He took a step toward Rey and lifted Kylo's hand lazily to shove away the Padawans as they approached. "They're all his ideas, not mine. Your husband was not who you thought he was."
Kylo's gloved palm rose to Rey's eye level. She felt the Force constrict around her but noticed slight hesitation flicker across his face before it steeled. "He was much too powerful for you to hold him back."
Familiar fury shot through Rey, and she shoved back with a strength she had not known she had. Kylo's body dropped backwards onto the floor with a crack. Kilnetel took a step back in shock and raised her hands to defend herself. Rey felt the Force – the Dark Side – rise up within her. "Flirt with this." Her saberstaff sizzled when it cut through the Twi'lek.
She barely watched Kilnetel fall as she turned to Kylo. She rested her knee on his chest and held him down with the Force. "Kylo has more power than you'll ever know." Her fingertips touched Kylo's forehead, and she released her control of the Force into his mind.
The chaotic power of Snoke's consciousness flooded against hers, and Rey struggled not to let him overcome her. She pushed against the ancient being, forcing him to let go of control of Kylo's limbs.
Any farther, and his heart stops beating.
Rey froze at the threat, and Snoke immediately threw her mind back. As she reached the edge of his mind, Kylo's consciousness latched onto hers through their bond. Relief flooded through her. She held onto him, sensing his desperation and fear. Their minds embraced each other, more connected and in sync than they had been in well over a month.
They pushed forward as one, and Snoke's presence retreated from their combined strength. She began to celebrate internally when Kylo's arm suddenly flew up and connected with the side of her face. She collapsed to the floor.
Snoke gave a laugh so unlike Kylo that Rey nearly ran her lightsaber through him. How dare he use her husband, steal his body? He already did enough damage to Kylo's psyche that he was still recovering from. "I own Kylo Ren. He's always been mine, no matter what you foolish Jedi think."
Rey glanced at the four Padawans. Jessika nodded once, and each of their hands raised. Rey smiled at Snoke and held her own hand up. "His power doesn't come from you. Kylo's power comes from his family."
The Force invaded Snoke and Kylo's shared mind. Rey grabbed onto her husband's faint consciousness. Their power combined with the Padawans' Light. Together, they thrust Snoke and his darkness out of Kylo's body.
Rey watched black smoke exude out of Kylo's mouth and nose. It started to move toward Eeth's motionless form, but the Force constricted and trapped it in a sphere in the air. The Light compressed tightly. Rey gritted her teeth and willed the spirit of Snoke to die, to finally give Kylo peace.
The smoke seemed to crystallize and then shatter. Rey felt the pressure of the Dark Side leave her shoulders, and she felt a laugh of relief escape her lips. "He's… gone."
She looked over at her husband, ready to celebrate with him, but he lay motionless on the floor with his eyes closed. She shook his shoulder gently at first and then harder. "Kylo, wake up. Kylo. Kylo, he's gone. You're free." She could hardly feel him through the bond, and she noticed with a sinking stomach that his chest was stationary. Panic rose in her throat, and she brushed his dark hair out of his face. "You need to get up, Kylo."
She felt something wet on her face. Snoke could not destroy Kylo. Not after all they had gone through. They needed each other. The Padawans depended on him. They had not even gotten their honeymoon because of Snoke.
She leaned down and brushed her lips across his.
"Rey," came a soft whisper against her mouth. She felt their bond reform as Kylo's eyes fluttered open. His lips spread in a warm smile, wrinkling the corners of his eyes. "I knew you'd come."
He shifted, and Rey watched his body tremble with the movement. She helped him sit up. "The so-called Supreme Leader can't keep me away from you."
The four Padawans knelt next to Eeth, and Rey watched the Zabrak move slowly on the floor. Finn's voice echoed as he yelled across the room. "Poe says the First Order stopped their onslaught. Almost like a spell's been broken."
Rey grinned at Kylo and wrapped her arms around him. "Let's get you home."