Fragments in itallics are used to dive into specific characters' heads throughout the narrative.
Chapter 20: "A New Path"
Everyone inside the cave seems asleep, except Rose. She looks toward the entrance, waiting for Rey to come back from her walk. Suddenly, she does. The two greet each other quietly, and Rey finally lies down beside Rose, over a bunch of blankets. They end up face to face.
"So, I noticed what you said was similar to something else I've heard…" Rose whispers.
"It was appropriate," Rey responds, "You have an interesting way of looking at things". Rose smiles and blushes.
"So, speaking of which… has it worked for you?" she asks.
"A little…" Rey says, "That's why I took that walk out there… I just explored myself, my own history".
"Yeah? And what did you find out?" Rose follows up.
"When my parents left, I…" Rey turns to look upwards, looking back on her own life, "I didn't want to believe it… some days, I hoped they would come back… other days, I hoped someone would come and tell me they left to protect me, and not because, you know… and other days, I longed for someone to come to Jakku and tell me that they had left because they were someone… I wanted to be told that I was, I don't know, the long-lost granddaughter of Obi Wan Kenobi, or Luke Skywalker… I wanted to be taken out of that hell and given a path, to be told what my point or… what my purpose was."
"And that never happened…" Rose adds.
"No… I unintentionally entered the war when Finn and I escaped Jakku on the Falcon," Rey continues, "And still, the first chance I got, I tried to run back to Jakku. Even knowing the Force was calling to me, I wanted to go back to where I believed my parents would come back for me or something… I was so scared of the uncertainty"
"And did you run away?" Rose asks.
"Circumstances made me stay and I decided to take the leap…" Rey turns to Rose again, "if I found Luke, I thought he would tell me what my role in this was… I just traded my depending on my parents telling me who I was supposed to be, for depending on Luke to do the same thing".
"So, not too healthy, I imagine" Rose says, "And then Luke…?".
"Well, and then he didn't, so I left, and then Ben said the truth about my parents out loud…" Rey's breathing gets slower, "and I was left without anyone to hand me a path… and then Ben gave me his hand…".
"I imagine it must've been very tempting to take it" Rose says, empathizing with Rey.
"You don't know how much…" Rey admits, shaking her head in sorrow, "I've felt what's inside of him".
"Did you love him?" Rose asks, blatantly.
"I abandoned Luke and flew halfway across the galaxy, turned myself in, and confronted Snoke with little Jedi experience, just in the hope that he would turn…" Rey smiles somewhat, "that's my answer".
Rose chuckles, "Why didn't you take his hand?" she asks.
"Because, without realizing it," Rey explains, "I had already become a person with beliefs and thoughts of my own… growing up alone and surrounded by violence and cruelty, I saw how damaging they are, and something told me I did not want to be a part of something that's violent and cruel. I suddenly realized I had a choice, that my path could be decided by me".
"Who would've thought, right?" Rose says, sarcastically.
"It took me a lot of time to decide what my path would be… and it took Finn a lot of time as well… and I know Ben would've taken the right path… and with what we said about the Stormtroopers joining us… something came up inside my head. War can't beat war… it can only feed it," Rey says.
"We're here to save, not destroy, right?" Rose adds. She and Rey are probably more similar ideologically than they would have considered.
"Yeah… and it's tough, I know, because the First Order has literally millions of soldiers, and they are all trained to fight…" Rey concedes, "so I'm still working out the details, but I have decided what my path is".
"And so, what is it?" Rose asks.
"I will challenge everything we know about these things, this conflict…" Rey nods, "Even the Jedi were wrong about some things, ultimately… so I will question it, find a new way… and pursue it no matter what".
Rose smiles, "So, you're gonna take something that's broken and that everyone has just taken for granted and given up on? Like a scavenger?".
"I guess so…" Rey concludes, half-smiling.
"I'm just glad we've got not one, but two Stormtroopers on our side now" Rose says.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have called it, honestly," Rey admits.
"I think it helps that these three were left alone… away from the power that comes with being even alongside the First Order," Rose details, "Away from being told to be violent and unfeeling, and away from being reassured that they're doing the right thing… Away from being allowed and even encouraged to behave violently. And, I wanna believe, having us around them as voices influencing them positively… that must've helped too. So, it's complex, but given the right circumstances, anyone can change. I truly believe that".
And Rose's words of hope fly out of the room, then leave the cave, and afterwards spread throughout the galaxy, echoing even in the farthest corner. On a muddy, green desert far away from Fegwet, a severely wounded man in black robes with his face on the filthy ground regains consciousness slowly. His right arm bends while shaking, and he strugglingly turns himself over. His face, though pale, is covered in cuts and bruises and dirt, and he clenches his teeth in pain, quietly, breathing through them as opposed to using his bloody, congested nose. He remembers his friends betraying him and kicking him out of their shuttle, probably hoping he would die, and he feels anger, but also a deep powerlessness.
I can't be dead. I'll kill them… I'll kill them all…
The man who was formerly Supreme Leader Kylo Ren feels a muddy worm sliding patiently through his forehead. He attempts to get it off of his face by shaking his head aggressively, but it's futile. He just moans in pain with the movement of every muscle in his body. He tries to use his arms, but that only increases the pain. He screams one last time before fainting once again, but he lives. But is Kylo Ren alive?
END OF PART I
