Never fails, I get motivated to write and life tosses me a curve ball. It's been such a whirl wind here and once again so I am so very sorry for the delay. I also had to do almost a full rewrite as i just wasn't getting it to go or sound right.

Red Panda...I love your faithful reviews and sorry, I would send u a message of thanks but ur comments r disabled. To absolutely everyone that has taken time to give me thier thoughts and praise and critiques...all the biggest love from this fan girl who just started rambling a story one day. This has been an epic ride but I think I only have one more chapter left.

Thank you all! Please stay safe and healthy. Please...lift each other up with words of kindness and love in these dark times...

Chapter 35

Rey's breathing was heavy in the still, silence of the frozen moment while the figures seemed to slowly solidified as if they were coalescing from mist. She felt like her breathing was the noisiest thing she had ever heard and tied to slow the breaths till they were a soft whisper in and out again when a dawning recognition seemed to hit her. The whole thing seemed to sharpen into focus as if the merging group all suddenly made sense. They moved towards her slowly, almost cautiously, being led by a pair, soft smiles on their faces as each placed a hand on one of her shoulders in greeting and acceptance.

Rey blinked at them, mystified by the appearance of the whole group during the middle of such a hard-fought battle and her mind whirled trying to process this calm and collected group that had just appeared to her.

We sensed the time had finally come again. The petite and frail looking Sharu woman said to Rey through the force, her eyes twinkling with a deep knowledge that took Rey by surprise and caused the corners of her mouth to twitch up in a matching soft smile. She had a deep and almost spiritual peace about her, as if she was the walking personification of tranquility as she rested her hand lightly on her shoulder. Under that calm and serenity lay a power, deep and strong that took her breath away. It was raw and brilliant as it called to her, creating a shiver in the back of her mind that warned her of danger.

Rey lifted her gaze from the Sharu pair and took in the group of other dyad pairs; many races, brothers and sisters, lovers, partners, friends, all connected to each other in a deep and inexplicable way as she was with Ben. She could sense it, almost see the connection as it wove through the group, reaching silently to her as a longing.

Intertwined between all of them was a deep sense of acceptance, calm and peace that she had only had when she was with Ben. She had found friends and a family in the Resistance, with Finn and Leia and the others, but never like this. Never a sense of home, a sense that she truly belonged. It wasn't as strong as it was when she was with Ben, but the sensation was deeply familiar, comfortable and it drew her in, calling her in a seductive sort of way.

You will help me defeat the darkness? Rey said, an overwhelming feeling of relief washing over her as she looked at the multiple different races that stood before her, before her gaze landed back again with the Sharu pair, hope shining in her eyes.

The man's eyes turned away from her gaze mournfully, almost as if he were suddenly ashamed by her hope, It has never been within own power to assist you in this battle.

Another dyad pair stepped forward and Rey remembered the species as Zabrak, seeing only a couple filter through Jakku over the years for trading. The men seemed to be twins, their features, tanned skin, muscular build, swirling designs of their facial tattoos, length and height of the horns that rose from their hairless heads and even the matching way they seemed to move created a physical mirror-like effect of each other as they stepped forward.

We are drawn to converge when a pair fight the darkness, the one on her right started, his voice surprisingly low and gravely as he spoke in her mind, before the one on her left continued seamlessly both tainted with a purring like accent, to bear witness to the banishment and to receive the dyad into our presence.

Rey frowned in stunned confusion as she processed what they were saying and her anger started to rise again as she fought against the presented idea that her and the fate of Ben had already been decided for them. As her anger mounted inside of her, she gripped the light sabers tilts tightly, feeling the pull of the crystals. The whisper of the once muted power that came from the group of sensitives seemed to be shifting, growing and coming into focus for her.

I don't understand? Rey questioned, trying to quell the fire that was starting to burn up inside of her, You just come to, what, WATCH? Her voice rose with the incredulity of the situation. But...you are all Dyad, you all have power, I can feel it! Will you really just stand by and do NOTHING?

Rey was gripping the sabers tightly, her eyes pleading as she searched each of the faces, looking for even one of them to show her a sign of hope; a sign that she was not alone in this fight, that they would step up to assist in the fight they all had battled and lost. She looked for a hope that her and Ben hadn't come so far, gotten so close, just to have it ripped away.

The Sharu female reached out with her soft touch, eyes filled with a heart crushing sadness. We cannot join on this part of your journey. I reached out and showed you what I could, how to banish the dark. We will rejoice in your joining. She stated, her smile growing as if that would welcome her to the idea better.

Rey started at her comment and thought back to the flash her and Ben had seen of the Sharu and how it seemed like she had looked over at Rey, connecting with her over the space of time and vision. Rey stepped back astounded and slightly horrified, You have the power to give me waking visions and the answer to our victory, just to tell me it is at the cost of Ben's and my life?!

The Sharu male reached out to her again and Rey reared back this time, her face twisting in anger. I am NOT resigned to just give in and play some part you think I should. I am not a pawn for the universe anymore. She bit at the group, slowly stepping back, her anger bubbling over and coloring her emotions in darkness, tapping into a deep-rooted power within her.

You will have to wait to have these two join your ranks. Rey snapped bitterly back at the group with a sense of finality, her chin lifting in defiance at what they were suggesting. She could feel the surge of power at her fingertips now, her anger heightening her sensations causing it to feel as if a newfound power was pressing in on her, straining, against some unseen wall inside of her, waiting to be release.

If you aren't here to help, then get out of my way. She nearly snarled. She felt the anger of their complacency burn deep, rising up to her chest, mixing with all that she was, the light, AND her darkness within and crackling started in the tips of her fingers. Her anger mixed with the feeling at the back of her mind that something had changed with the group of sensitives hidden away during the fight, but she was so focused on her own emotions that it all seemed to blurred together in one huge surge of power within.

The Sharu and Zabrak pair were the first to see the gathering force in her and stepped back, their faced relaying the shock and awe in what they were witnessing, before Rey grasped onto the tidal wave of rising power within and snapped herself out of the vision in one fluid blink of her eyes, the small group vanishing like a whiff of smoke on the wind. She blinked and focused her intent on the red eyes of the darkness inside of Ben.

…...

Finn reached the group with Chewie and Maz hot on his heals, Maz obviously labored in her effort to move so quickly, but she waved off Chewie's concerned grumbles with a dismissive hand and set the bag carefully down in the dirt, casting a quick look around as if searching out for the threat of some unknown attacker.

"Here my boy, take one for each of them and place it in their hands." She said, her breathing sounding increasingly difficult, as if her lungs were wet and heavy, even though they had stopped moving.

She reached into the bag and pulled out three Kyber crystals in her hand, each a slightly different color and size, all jagged as if they had been broken pieces of a much bigger whole, yet all individual in its own being. They were beautiful and clear, each a slightly different shade of blue with weaving, contrasting veins of cream that seemed to cut through the entirety of each like trapped whiffs of smoke.

Finn's mouth hung open as he felt drawn to the thumb and finger sized crystals, and he just blinked, unmoving as Maz held them out to him. Even in the darkness of the island, they seemed to radiate their own light, softly glowing in her outstretched hand.

"Now, boy!" She barked, her brow pinching in frustration, her words sparking Finn into action, causing hm to snatch up the three crystals from her hand carefully, with a slight feeling of reverence.

"Is there a specific per..." Finn started saying as he turned to the group but froze and looked down in shock at the crystals. "Never mind." He whispered to no one in particular, his voice airy, like a breath out and weaved through the group with determined purpose.

The crystals seemed to direct him through the force, almost as if they were an entity or have a mind all their own. They guided him gently as to where they were to be placed, and with whom they should be trusted. As he placed the third crystal, which was slightly bigger than his thumb and dark blue with a weaving pattern of milky white veins, into Nelo's folded, palm up, hands. There was no question of the power that magnified with each person, seeming to double up on itself as if the crystal was pulling each one into finely tuned focus. It was a dizzying experience for Finn to be so new in his connection with the force while being in the center of such a magnifying power.

As soon as he had handed out the first three, he bolted back to Maz who was ready for him with four more and the process was repeated for each person meditating in the group until the final two crystals were in his hands.

Other than him, the only one left who didn't have a crystal was Ann. In his hand, he held a dark sky-blue crystal the length of his pinky, but double the thickness in size, while the other was almost a delicate, fragile looking, clear color, the size of his thumb and just about as thick. It had dark veins of deep maroon that laced through it like fractures, making it almost appear as if it had actual vessels throughout it.

He made his way carefully through the group and edged beside Ann's serine form, relaxed, sitting in a meditative position, legs folded and crossed in front of her. Taking a moment, he sat beside her, mirroring her position he settled and took a deep breath to relax. He looked up at Maz, unsure in the decision, to find her features had softened as she smiled a soft smile at him.

"Go on, this is where your path has meant to be." Maz said softly with an encouraging nod of her head.

Finn held both crystals, one in each hand for a moment, feeling the power and connection, listening to which was to be his and which was to be Ann's. His eyes drifted shut as he slid the dark blue crystal into Ann's folded hands before focusing all of his attention on the sensation of the clear, veined one in his.

Maz smiled and closed her eyes, lifting her head towards the ink black sky as if in reverent prayer, the combined power of the group seeming to move from a fuzzy haze to a sharp and clear well of power that shuddered out from the cluster to the whole of the island.

…...

Ben watched in horror, paralyzed to do anything other than be witness to the pending destruction. Whether he had refused to be snuffed out by the darkness that had invaded his body, or the darkness had wanted to torture his by having him bear witness to what was to become, Ben wasn't sure. He would not go quietly though, while he watched the woman he loved, flicker from resigned but determined in her fight to suddenly empowered in the fraction of a second with only a slight change to the gleam in her eye.

He recognized that subtle shift in her stance and confidence, and it made him rage anew. He thrashed against the barriers holding him in some locked corner of his own mind, pausing for only a brief moment.

He saw her blink, sabers coming up, hands crackling with the power she was tapping into and he roared with envigored defiance to his captivity. He beat the walls ceaselessly, screaming her name until a realization filtered through his anger and he froze with the sudden clarity of it.

Rey had stepped a couple slow paces forward, her face a tableau of utter calm and fierce power that gave him the realization that he needed and he took a deep breath, reluctantly closing his eyes.

Be with me...he breathed out and took a deep cleansing breath in through his nose, filling his lungs, lowering his diagram, lifting his rib cage and finally feeling the air fill the uttermost corners, centering and grounding him.

Be with me...he breathed out, allowing his body to reverse the process in a slow and controlled breath out through his mouth, feeling his rib cage contract and diagram lift to squeeze the air out, causing the energy and anger within to ebb back to a balanced place and gently merge with the light that still flowed in his depths.

Be with me....he breathed in again and heard a cracking sound, as if someone had just hit glass, not fully breaking it and he felt it as if it was a cool breeze that suddenly his skin on a stifling day. There was a sliver of light across his face and eye, mirroring the placement of where Rey had once scared him with Luke's saber and he opened his eyes, feeling the immense power whispering through the crack.

Be with me...whispered through with the power and Ben nearly cried with the joy of hearing Rey's voice filter in as just if a breath on the wind.

Be with me...whispered back, ever so quietly towards Rey and a flicker of recognition was all she gave away to the red eyes that regarded her with arrogant distain, focused on its pending victory.

"The force will always crave balance." Rey said low and menacingly, feeling the ground crunch beneath her boots, the hard earth beneath that lead to the whole of the island itself. She was connected to it all. All the weaving spaces in between, the death and destruction that made way for the promise of new life that could be in its wake. It suffused her entire being and she felt a deep power like she had never before as Ben's voice whispered in her mind.

"You are finally getting it. I will never be defeated. There will always be darkness. I will always be." Ben's voice hissed out, strained and twisted as if the darkness were forcing the words out through a partially strangled throat.

"Yes," Rey said, cocking her head to the side, hearing Ben's voice again on the wind, like a promise, drawing her near. "But there has always been darkness here, even without you. You are unnatural...excessive, and because of that...you are not needed here."

The darkness scoffed at Rey, but then hesitated for the briefest of a split second that could have gone unnoticed had it not been for Rey's reconnection with Ben through their bond.

Rey raised the sabers, the lightening crackling and sparking around her, growing in intensity, flashing and arching in a magnificent display around her. She closed her eyes and grabbed hold of the tether of their bond, connecting Ben with all the power she wielded, as if a conduit for him, and channeled it from all that was connected in the force.

Rey felt it all, the balance, the peace, the calm, the war, the destruction, the light and the dark. Everything that the force wove through became hers to use and draw upon. She could see the group of sensitives in her mind's eye, no longer just glowing balls of light, but entire figures of glowing force, their unique powers and energies beautiful and shimmering.

Ben breathed in again, eyes closed as he felt the dyad bond lock him to Rey tightly and the glass that was cracked, shattered.

The darkness roared, gripping Ben's hands to his head, "NOOOOO! I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!" Ben's voice bellowed over the noise of the island rumbling and shaking, large sections of the mountain tumbling down towards the field.

The small rivers of lava became guizers, spouting their lava high into the air at the peak, the bright orange lighting up the sky as if it were splattering orange fireworks, before darkening to rain heavily down on the sides of the rivers.

The whole of the island seemed at war with the darkness, attempting to expel the entity that had been chained for so long in it's under belly, as if it were a black cancer, but Rey never wavered.

She strode forward confidently, the sparking that started with her fingers, arching and snapping around her arms and legs making her appear as if she were an avenging angel on a mission.

Ben wrapped himself in the power and balance that they had created. His darkness tempered by the light in her. His light offsetting the dark she had inherited deep within. It was acceptance of who he was, encouragement of what was within her that gave him focus and drew out the power as he silently shattered the walls of his prison and fought for control of his own body once again.

The darkness thrashed and roared, Ben's voice becoming distorted and strangled as the fight within continued. Ben seized the tether that was so tenuous at first, gripping it like a lifeline and drawing all the power that Rey was channeling to him from the group.

It felt like the sunlight hitting his skin after being in the dark, like the moment Rey healed him, but so much more intense. He could feel the darkness like a living thing in his veins and he focused on every single molecule of the force, of everything connecting them in the dyad bond, flowed through him, against the darkness.

Rey felt the tremor of Ben's us of the power ripple back and she redoubled the pull of the force, giving him everything he needed. She closed she eyes, raising the sabers, feeling the crystals within sing with power. The lightening that sparked now encompassing her being as she stepped a few paces closer to Ben's writhing form. She could hear the distorted grown and growls as she reached for him along their bond.

It was like the moment in the hut, mirrored and intensified tenfold as she followed the bond of their connection until she could see his hand reaching for her. Pushing forward she felt a surge in the bond, as if the island itself wished her to cover the final distance and his hand, warm, and calloused clamped around hers in a bone crushing force that brought joyful tears to her eyes.

With the connection of their hand's, Ben felt the fire of her lightening enveloping his entire body, suffusing him with power and light. It didn't burn him, but he marveled in the feeling of the hair raising on his arms and the back of his neck as if there was a massive charge buildup for just a moment before he felt his body tighten and squeeze. It was as if Rey had wrapped him in a bubble like she had the first night, slowly compressing him and he fought the panic that started to rise.

Be with me...trust in me, Rey's voice whispered to him and he gulped, forcing himself to remain calm as he felt pressed in from all sides.

Rey focused, letting the force itself direct her as she had so many times in the heat of the moment, no thought, no purposeful direction, just instinct in where she was being led. Trust in her connection to Ben and everything that was woven together with the force.

The bond snapped tight and she was thrown into strong arms that wrapped tightly around her, clinging to her as if she was an actual lifeline.

Ben felt her strength hit his arms and the tears fell as he wrapped her in his arms. He would never let go, and the pressure pushing him tightly, his breath leaving him in a roar of strangled pain as his head fell back, face to the blackened sky.

…...

Chewie and Maz were on the top of the hill the moments after the lightening started and their mouths dropped in awe over the scene. Rey was inching forward across the field, sabers crossed in front of her, face, fierce in its focus, with lightening snapping and popping around her, slowly building to encompass her as a ball. The island rocked and vibrated with the power that she was pulling from everything around her, to the point that even Chewie could feel the draw of the force to the pair in the field.

Ben was howling in a strangled rage that edged on desperation as he clutched his head in his hands, eyes clenched shut with the intensity of whatever was happening to him. As Rey approached within arm's length, he reached out, grabbing her wrist, the lightening blooming around him to encase them both as she made space for his large frame between the blades till, he was crushing her against his body. She had brought the sabers around him, extinguishing them and pressing the, against his back.

Chewie raised his crossbow nervously, aiming it at the pair but Maz quickly placed a hand on his hairy arm, "No. Just watch." She said, her eyes never leaving the pair.

He purred a soft concerned growl and looked back in wonder as Ben threw his head back with a heart shattering scream, Rey clinging to him, her face pressed to his chest, eyes tightly closed, the lightening reflecting off the tears that were now staining her face.

With his scream, his body arched in Rey's arms, chest rising until Rey couldn't hold him any longer and he rose up into the air, the lightening that had encased them rising with him leaving Rey to sink to her knees in the smoldering grass as she raised her hear to watch her love continue to scream in agony.

The light inside the bubble of lightening started to darken as Ben's voice moved from an agonizing strangled tone to a clear, pained groan.

Ben focused on himself, the power, the light, the dark. His true self, as if it had been compressed and pushed inside of him by the dark, but now he pulled and stretched it. Willing it to every fiber inside of him, billing him back of with his consciousness while blocking out the searing pain that the darkness was inflicting on his as it clawed and scratched at his push out.

He felt like he was in a tug of war for his very soul as the pain spread like fire throughout his entire body, Rey having been ripped from his arms, but still his lifeline as she whispered to give him strength.

Stay with me Ben...don't leave me alone again...I need you...stay with me, echoed in his mind as he dove to push the last parts of the darkness out.

The feeling reached a tipping point and he heard the dark voice with his own ears, the pain subsiding as he dropped back to the earth in a crumpled heap. Rey gathered his limp form in her lap, covering him, shielding him in his weakened state as the roar of the dark became deafening.

NOOOOOOOOO, NO...NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Shattered the air as lightening flashed in the sky to match the collapsing ball that Rey had created. It became a blinding light while the whole of the island, nature and the elements responded to the darkness being destroyed by the force lightening.

The wind whipped up as a frenzy and the clouds lit up, followed by ear splitting thunder, the ground vibrating and rolling with each shuddering crash. Until the ball completely collapsed on itself, cutting off the darkness's screams. Then...quiet.

The breath of relief was only but a moment before the force of the expulsion of the dark power bloomed out a fraction of a second after the scream was cut off, flattening Rey with its concussive force against the bulky mass of Ben as she tried to shield his head.

Chewie grabbed for Maz quickly before they were hit by the shockwave, encasing her and turning his back to the wave just in time to protect her from the blow as they were tossed back like rag dolls. He twisted in the air to put himself under Maz, cushioning her landing, hearing a few ribs snap as he connected and skidded to a stop on the hard earth.

The group of sensitives fell back unconscious, the crystals rolling out of some of their laps as their hands went limp at their sides, legs remaining folded still from their meditative positions.

The heavens opened and the rain poured down, the lightening dissipating from it's fantastic display to small patches that had the clouds lighting up briefly and a soft rumble of thunder to follow. The hissing from the lava flows and the soft breeze were the only other sounds as Rey groaned and moved. Her head was pounding and her ears were ringing, any sounds feeling like they were incredibly far away.

"Ben?" She whispered, her own voice causing the pain to spike in her head and she winced, closing her eyes against the flash of pain that laced its way through her head.

She felt sore all over as she had never felt before and she pushed and shoved, trying to get Ben rolled over onto his back to see his face. His skin was grey, lips blue and Rey froze a moment feeling her own life seem to ebb away before she grasp for their tether in her mind.

Her eyes fluttered shut in a desperate plea as she reached for his mind through the bond, feeling weaker and weaker by the moment. All of a sudden it was there, thin, faint, and frayed but there, causing the fresh tears of relief to create more streaks through the dirt on her cheeks. Rey's mouth twitched up in a brief smile before she felt the world close in and she collapsed on Ben's chest unconscious.