Ben led Rey out in front of the Supreme Leader. Unease settled in the pit of his stomach as he wrestled with the fact that he was serving Rey up to him on a silver platter. The room was oppressively red, ostentatiously red. Blood red. Sith red. It made his stomach churn to think he once worshipped the color, worshipped at the foot of the throne and its inhabitant in front of them. Ben offered Luke's lightsaber up to the Supreme Leader, feeling it fly out of his hand towards his former master.

"Ren, I am pleased," the Supreme Leader drawled, placing the lightsaber on the arm of his throne. "What a lovely present you have brought me."

Snoke held out his hand, lifting Rey off the ground. He reached out to feel her aura, to learn her secrets. He rooted through her mind searching for information on Luke Skywalker, on the resistance. Yes, a scavenger with a heart of a Cathor. How amusing.

"She's got fire... passion," Snoke face turned into a twisted smile, "But, it's utterly futile, my dear." With a flick of his wrist, Rey dropped to the floor. Snoke leaned back in his throne, a smug look on his face.

"You will never win," She snarled, resolve flashed in her eyes. She reached out for the lightsaber, but Snoke rerouted it back into his hand.

"Oh, but I already have," Snoke chuckled darkly. He reached his hand out to her before dragging it sharply left, pulling her towards the view port to see the ongoing space battle. "Your resistance will perish for their hubris, thinking that they could mount one last full attack and end it all. I will not succumb so easily, and neither will my forces."

Rey struggled against Snoke's hold. Her hand stretched out, pulling Ben's lightsaber from his waist, igniting it in her hands and taking up a defensive stance.

With an uninterested sigh, he flicked the lightsaber from her hands and back to Ben. "You may have a heart of a Jedi, unwilling to admit defeat, but I've grown tired of your antics," Snoke commented. "My apprentice will finish you, and after my forces destroy your precious resistance... the Jedi will be no more."

Rey swallowed, watching Ben come over to her. He towered over her small frame. His emotions were veiled from her as he reached out for the lightsaber. She didn't want to doubt him, not after everything they've been through, but in the dark recesses of her mind flickered a spark of an emotion. Fear. She feared him. She feared that despite it all, despite the night they shared and everything before, that she wouldn't be enough for him. That he would want the power that Snoke was offering him, the power that he would never have if he took her hand. She looked him in the eye, pleading with him through the force. Ben, do the right thing. Ben, be with me. Ben... Ben!

"You will not turn my apprentice," Snoke snickered, "No, I know him completely. I can see his thoughts. I can see him preparing to strike down his enemy. The person who has caused him the most strife and discomfort."

Ben held his lightsaber in one hand while the other laid at his side. His hand in a fist, discreetly hiding the fingers in motion.

"I see him turning the lightsaber so that the blade will strike true," Snoke replied.

Ben turned the hand with the saber towards Rey, using his fingers at his side to turn Luke's saber towards Snoke. He struggled to keep himself calm, to keep his thoughts clear, but vague enough that Snoke could be misled. One more step... and this would be over for both of them. He meant what he had said to himself in the TIE on the way home from Naboo. Rey would not die today.

"And now he ignites the saber and kills you," Snoke smiled devilishly as he heard the sound of a saber igniting. Except... it wasn't the one in Ben's hand. Snoke looked down at the saber in his side, momentarily registering shock before Ben called the saber over to Rey's newly freed hands. Snoke's body fell limply from the throne. Ben allowed himself a momentary breath of relief, they had jumped over one hurdle. Now, Snoke's guards circled them as the sound of footsteps coming towards them. The Knights of Ren... he thought. So they're back.

Rey stood with her back against his. She felt panic start to set in, they were vastly outnumbered. She felt his hand reach down for hers, giving it a squeeze.

"Together," he said pointedly.

"Together," she nodded.

They ignited their lightsabers, watching their attackers circle around them. They moved in tandem, almost like they were extensions of each other. He'd bend, she'd roll over his back to cover his flank. She'd jump and he'd give her the boost she'd need to reach her target. When they finished off the guards, they were already panting for breath and the Knights of Ren had made it into the room.

"Oh great, there's more of them," she sighed. "Just how many force sensitive people does the First Order need?"

Ben chuckled. "What? Not up for a challenge?"

"I never said that," she griped as she kicked a Knight in the chest, sending them sprawling, a momentary relief before he was back up again. What was interesting her the most, though, was that they weren't trying to engage with her. Not unless she came at them. No, they were all focused on Ben.

"Traitor!" One of the Knights called out.

"You had so much promise," another hissed.

"Such a shame, Master," a third spat.

She tried to get to him, but she felt a hand push her away from the fray. A look of shock flashed across her face as she realized just who pushed her. Ben.

This wasn't her fight. It was his. These were the men he had helped train, and they were his responsibility. It was an unfair fight. Six on one.

"She's corrupted you," Cardo said with disgust.

Ben's eyes flicked to Rey. "No, she hasn't. She's cleansed me."

He leapt at his men, slashing and parrying with his saber. They were strong, but he had taught them everything they knew... but not everything he knew. He pushed out with both hands, smacking two men into the wall. He heard a sickening crack as their necks broke from the force used. He quickly dropped his hands to block an attack that slashed at his shoulder. He hissed in pain as the saber burned his skin.

"Ben!" he heard Rey call out.

He winced, straightening himself out. "This isn't your fight, sunshine."

"You said we'd do this together," Rey pleaded. "Let me help you!"

"Scavenger scum. You really think you're a match?" Cardo taunted.

Ben's eyes flashed in a moment of rage. "You know what? She's more than a match for you," he growled, letting Rey join the fight. He didn't have to protect her, he knew that. Now, he was going to watch his little ball of sunshine eradicate the left over darkness.

Rey jumped into the fray, lightsaber blazing. The fighting was frenzied, but they beat them back. Together. Like they had promised. They made quick work of two more knights until there were only two left, one for each of them.

Rey squared up against the heavily armored man in front of her. He was easily twice her size, but she didn't have time to analyze her odds of winning. Never tell her the odds until she defied them. She bent her knees, allowing her the spry bounce she'd need to step lightly. He swung, she blocked, she'd parry, he'd dodge. Ben had trained them well... but not well enough. He hadn't trained them to fight like she had learned to fight. To use everything to her advantage. She reached out to pull a staff from a fallen guard toward them, hoping to hit the knight on the way over. She clocked him in the head as the staff landed in her hand. She threw it at him before coming up to strike him, leaving him no time to block her attack. She took him down, breathing hard. She turned to see Ben dropping down to his knees after felling the last knight.

"Ben!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to him.

Ben looked around at the carnage they had wrought, falling to his knees.

"It's over," he said in disbelief. What he wanted to add was I'm free. He looked at Rey with wide eyes as she landed next to him. He pulled her into a crushing hug, tears of relief in her eyes.

"We did it, Ben," she murmured softly.

He pulled back, cupping her face in his hands. He kissed her, a sweet kiss, a kiss of victory and relief and... hope. It was different from the previous kisses. Those felt stolen. This... this felt different. This felt like the beginning of a proper story.

They shared a smile as they broke apart. They stood, walking over to the viewport. His arm was wrapped around her shoulder, hers was around his waist. The battle was slowing outside, the remaining TIEs being picked off one by one. The resistance was victorious. They were victorious. Rey placed her hand on the transparisteel as she saw Poe fly by followed by the Millennium Falcon.

She held out her hand to Ben. "Come on, Ben, let's go home."

With a smile, and a certain lightness taking over his spirit, he took her hand.