The New Hope

Ackbar helped Leia to her feet in the ruins of the bridge. "Are you well, Princess?"

"The medbay," she said, shrugging him off. "Is the medbay intact?"

"Looks like it," Lieutenant Connix reported. "Emergency systems divert all remaining shields there automatically."

She let out a breath. "Thank the Force."

"Status report," Ackbar said.

"We're still in one piece. Mostly. Decks five through nine didn't make the trip," Connix said. "Damage reports are still coming in but it looks like we have a breach straight through the ship. The whole thing could split in half any time."

"Where are we?" Leia said. "Can we make the rendezvous?"

"We're right between somewhere and nowhere."

Leia and Ackbar both looked at the technician. He shrugged. "That's the best I've got without long range sensors. We didn't go very far, I know that much. The engines gave out."

"There aren't any systems within dozens of parsecs of here," Ackbar said. "If we can't get the hyperdrives online we will be dead in space."

"There's one place I can think of," Hera said from where she was pressing a bacta patch to her shoulder. "Do we still have sensor data from the scouts?"

Connix found a working screen and tapped at it. "I've got it."

"There it is," Hera said. She pointed at the red dot on the screen. "The Conqueror. The Star Destroyer that ran out of fuel."

"It's just as dead in space as we are." Ackbar said.

"It has working engines. We have fuel to spare."

"And we can ride it out of here," Leia said. "Good thinking, general. But how can we be sure it's still there. We aren't looking at current data. The First Order might have recovered it by now. And we don't know exactly where we are. We'd be jumping blind."

They exchanged glances.

"There's no way to be sure," Ackbar finally said. He consulted the map. "The closest system to our previous location is the Crait system."

"That's twice as far as the Conqueror," Hera said,."We'd never make it."

"But we actually know Crait will be there if we do," Ackbar countered.

They all turned to Leia.

Leia bowed her head in thought for a moment. She squeezed her eyes shut. "The Conqueror. It's still there."

"How do we know that?"

"I know," Leia said. She walked away without elaborating.

"Is she…" Hera said slowly, "Well?"

"I'm not sure," Ackbar said quietly. He turned to the crew and raised his voice. "Get those engines online! Someone map the stars and start plotting us a course for the Conqueror. We're all making it out of this. The Force is still with us."

Ahch-To

"Are you even trying?" Rey said. She and Chewbacca sat on either side of the Dejarik table, hand clasped to paw. Chewie grunted and applied more pressure to her arm. It didn't budge. He rarred in annoyance.

"I'm not cheating. I'm practicing. Luke said I could control my body with the Force. I bet I can run really fast now too."

Chewie barked.

"I do too have to practice with you. Artoo doesn't have any arms." Rey forced Chewbacca's paw down to the table.

He pulled away and stood up, roaring. He kicked the table angrily.

"You're such a baby," Rey said, laughing.

Chewbacca shook his head, growling under his breath.

"Chewie!" She swatted him on the shoulder. "That's not nice. And I like my arms right where they are."

She poked her head outside. The sun was rising over the sea.

"I have to go. Luke's going to teach me something," Rey said, fairly bouncing with excitement.

Chewbacca barked.

Rey waved him off. "He's just testing me. He has to make sure I really want it. He can't just go around teaching anyone Force powers. Obviously."

Chewie rarred skeptically.

"I'm not making things up. Anyways, watch this." Rey planted her feet solidly at the base of the ramp and closed her eyes briefly. Then she ran forward. She blurred with speed for a moment. Then her feet went out from under her and she hit the ground.

Chewbacca fell over himself laughing.

"Shut up," Rey muttered.

She walked up the stairs to the temple at a normal speed.

Luke sat in front of a stone table covered in Jedi texts. He paged through one.

"What's that?" Rey said, leaning over his shoulder.

"Boring," Luke said, closing it.

Rey unslung her pack from her shoulder and set it down on the table. "I see why you had me move all that water around now. You were teaching me how to enhance my strength with the Force."

"Was I?" Luke said.

"You can't fool me, Master Skywalker. I know you want me to figure things out for myself. Am I doing a good job?"

Luke sighed. "Yes. You're doing a good job."

Her face lit up. She took a selection of spare parts from the pack and laid them out on the table. "I saw how much you liked making the training drone. You can have these if you want. And I thought maybe you could show me how to move them with my mind. I pulled a lightsaber out of the snow once but… I don't know how I did it." she pushed the parts around with her fingers nervously. "Do you like them?"

Luke bowed his head. "Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like you believe in me. What do I have to do to make you stop?"

"You can't. I'm not going anywhere. I'll believe in you no matter what."

Luke shook his head. He stood up. He pointed at the bench in front of the table. "Sit."

Rey sat down.

"Now, tell me how you moved the lightsaber."

She shrugged. "I wanted it. So it came to me."

"Alright. That's a start. Reach out-"

Rey stretched her arm out.

"Not like that. Close your eyes. Feel your surroundings."

Rey lowered her arm. She closed her eyes.

A minute passed. Another.

Rey cracked her eyes open. "Am I doing it right?"

Luke pointed at the parts. They were motionless on the table.

"What am I supposed to be doing? I'm just sitting here." Rey said.

"Slow down. Let the Force in. This place is full of it. Ask it to move them where you want them to go. Once you practice enough, you won't even have to think about it."

Rey squeezed her eyes shut. "Luke…" she said.

"What is it?"

"I don't like how this place feels."

"You don't? Why is that?"

"It's… Funny."

"Use your words."

"It's… Sweet. Cloying. It makes me want to spit it out. It's like... The bed's too soft and I'm sinking into it. I don't like it."

"Okay. What feels right? Don't look. Just point. Wherever feels right."

Rey was still for a moment. Her hand lifted hesitantly. She pointed. "That way, I guess." She was pointing at the obsidian door.

Luke sighed. "That's what I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, get out."

Rey opened her eyes. "What?"

"I said," Luke hooked his metal fingers in her collar. He yanked her off the bench." Get out of this temple. And get off this planet."

"Master Skywalker…"

"Don't call me that. I'm not your master. I'm not your teacher. And I'm sure as hell not your father."

Rey took a step back, like she'd been slapped.

"I can't tell if you're deaf or just dumb. I told you I won't help you. I'll never help you. I think you're beyond help. All I ever feel from you is pining for parents you can't even remember. You're not going to find them here, or with the Resistance, or with the First Order. You're no part of this. You don't belong. No one wants you. Maybe some of them pity you, but I don't."

"Why are you saying this?" Rey said. Her hands trembled, her breath came in gasps. "Stop it."

"Not until you go away. I never want to see you again. And as soon as you take that heap of junk and fly away, I'm going to forget all about you. Just like your parents did."

"Stop!" Rey screamed.

Across the hall, the obsidian door lit up with lambent red lines.

Rey threw her hand, and her anger, at Luke.

The wall shattered on either side of him, sending shards of stone and shredded papers raining down on the floor. Luke's robes blew like he had been hit by a stiff wind, but he was otherwise unmoved.

"It's easier when you're mad, isn't it?" Luke said impassively, kicking one of the spare parts on the floor.

Rey turned away from him, sank to her knees. Her shoulders bobbed as she began to cry.

Luke stood still. He bowed his head. He took a step towards her. He reached out. His hand hovered a bare inch from her shivering shoulder. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He pulled his hand back. A look of pure self-loathing came over his face.

Rey didn't see.

"Get out," Luke said. "Now."

Rey stood on shaky legs. She ran from the temple.

Luke looked over at the obsidian door. The red lines faded as she left.

Luke sank to the half of the bench that was still intact. He put his head in his hands.

Artoo rolled up to him from the corner. He rolled right into Luke and whistled severely.

"I already told you. I have no choice. She has to get out of here. Before it's too late for her."

Artoo beeped.

"I know. I never said it would be easy."

Rey stood outside the Falcon, swinging at the makeshift training droid. She was hit far more than she blocked. Finally she let out a shout and cut the drone in half. The smoking hunks of metal fell to the ground.

Chewbacca poked his head out of the Falcon. He barked at her.

"I can't do it, Chewie. I'm not strong enough," Rey said, "I'm supposed to be surrounded by all this light, and all I can feel is that… that door. Why is it even there? This is supposed to be a good place. I don't understand." she sat down heavily on the ground.

Chewie walked over to her. He rarred.

"I can't ask Luke. He…" she lowered her head.

Chewie sat down beside her. He barked.

"No. Leave him alone. He's just testing me. It's just a test. I still believe." she rested her head on Chewie's shoulder. After a time, she fell asleep.

Rey. Rey, listen to me. Rey, wake up.

Someone nudged Rey hard on the arm. She sat up rapidly. Chewie was gone. Rain was pouring down from the leaden sky.

A figure in a brown robe was hurrying away from her, up the steps to the temple.

"Luke?" she said, wiping water from her eyes. When she lowered her hand, the figure was already at the top, slipping inside.

The wind and rain blew at Rey. She shivered in the sudden cold. She took up her quarterstaff from where it rested against the ramp. She ran up the stairs.

Inside, she found scraps of Jedi texts blowing in the wind. A set of wet footprints led into the shadowed hallway. To the obsidian door. It was ajar.

"Luke?" Rey called. "Chewie? Artoo?" No one answered. She placed a hand on her temple and closed her eyes. "Finn? Can you hear me?" And after a moment, "Kylo? Are you there?"

There was no one.

Rey looked at the door.

"I can't go in there," she whispered. She placed her hand on the lightsaber on her belt. She went in.

At first all Rey saw was a wall of darkness. From behind came the grinding of stone on stone. The door was sliding shut. Rey whirled around. The door shut with a boom.

"No!" Rey shouted, banging her fist on it. But there wasn't even a door there anymore, just the jagged rocky face of a wall. As her eyes adjusted, she saw she was surrounded by tight confines of stone, stretching up into the dark above. The walls were dripping with moisture, caked with lichen and fungus. Mist swirled at her feet. A faint breeze came from deeper down the corridor through the stone. It carried the smell of flesh rotting and leaves dying. Rey closed her eyes briefly.

"Luke?" she said quietly. Nothing answered her but the echo.

Rey took her lightsaber from her belt with her free hand and activated it. The blade cast a blue glow off the walls. Rey crept forward.

Behind her, something skittered along the wall.

Rey held the blade out before her as she walked. Her feet squelched in the sodden earth. The breeze carried sounds to her. Things slithering and skittering somewhere in the dark. She saw bones in the walls. Set deep into the stone.

The corridor began to widen. She heard someone scream, far away. Closer, something laughed. Or maybe cried. Rey turned in a slow circle.

"Who's there?" she said. Her voice shook.

The mist grew thicker, swirling around her. Somewhere beyond that, something red glowed.

Rey kept walking through the mist.

"Luke?" she said again.

The whispers were the only thing that responded.

There she is

At last

Avenge us

"I'm not listening," Rey said. "This isn't real."

Strike him down with all of your hate

Peace is a lie

We prepared, we grew stronger, while you rested in your cradle of power

Rey kept walking. The floor beneath her was hard now, making her footsteps echo in the mist.

She could hear running water and something clattering. Electricity crackled in the mist. The mist seemed to absorb the light from her blade, until it was little but a faint glow that barely illuminated her path.

Behind her, a shapeless form in rags lurched to its feet from the floor, joints shifting and warping across its frame. It stumbled a step towards her, crooked arms extended. When Rey spun around, nothing was there.

"This isn't real," she repeated.

There is only passion, through passion you gain strength

Come to us, child

Avenge us

You assumed no force could challenge you

Rey? Rey, is that you?

"Who is that?" Rey said. "I can't hear you. There's too many voices."

Only two there shall be, no more, no less

Rey? Rey, it's us

Through strength you gain power

The dark side of the force is the pathway to many abilities

Rey stumbled forward as the mist grew thicker. She fell to her knees, splashing in moving water. She placed a hand on the floor as she got up. It came away dripping red. She was standing in a stream of blood. She gagged and wiped her hand on her tunic.

Rey? Rey, we're here

"Mom?" Rey whispered. "Dad?"

A master and an apprentice

Through power you gain victory

Rey? Come to us. Please

You were deceived, and now, your Republic has fallen

"I'm coming," Rey said. "Stay there. I'll find you."

Her feet splashed in the stream of blood. She felt it soaking through her boots.

Beyond, something dripping. The stream was falling into something. Rey held out her lightsaber. The mist sizzled as the blade vaporized the moisture. The faint blue glow illuminated the pit. A hole deep in the stone. The walls lined with jagged black spikes. The spikes caked in blood and shredded clothing. She could hear it now. The whispers were coming from the pit.

Through victory your chains are broken

Avenge us

Rey? Rey, we're down here

Rey bit her lip. She closed her eyes briefly. "I know you're not real." she stepped closer to the edge. She heard something skitter in the pit. Then a hand clamped down on the edge. Bone fingers dug into the earth.

Rey stumbled back as it clawed its way out of the pit. Rags coated its frame, the ruins of a billowing black robe. Beneath was nothing but bones and rotted sinew.

Rey? It said, Rey, we're right here

Then it rushed at her, skeletal feet beating on the hard ground, clawed fingers outstretched.

Rey staggered backwards as the mist bled with black like ink being poured into water. She was in swirling darkness now, as the rotted dead thing lunged for her. The lightsaber sputtered in her hand. The darkness seeped into it. She swung the blade. It went out before it could hit, smothered by the dark. Then it was on her. Rey cried out as skeletal hands closed around her throat. She dropped the quarterstaff as it bore her backwards. She slammed hard into a wall she hadn't seen in the darkness. Her fingers scrambled uselessly on the thing's grip. The wall was slick with slime against her back. Rotting things dripped on her head from the impact. Slithering things grasped at her hair. The dead thing's jaws fell open. Beetles and worms crawled from between its blackened teeth. Not teeth, fangs. A cloud of darkness came from deep inside the creature, out through its jaws. Rey choked as it washed over her. She locked her hands around the thing's wrists, tried to pry it away. Her palms were sliced open on it's jagged surface. It pulled her forward, slammed her hard into the wall again. Her breath left her. When she sucked air back in, she brought in a lungful of roiling darkness as well. She coughed, choked. The dead thing's jaws began clacking open and shut on the air, biting its way for her neck.

Rey, we're finally going to be together

Rey threw out her hands, called on the Force. Black veins stood out on her hands. Her fingers seemed to twist and warp before her eyes, turning into withered claws.

Some consider to be unnatural

The Force shall free you

Avenge us

Or else

"This isn't real," Rey gasped, as the clacking jaws closed on her neck.

We love you, Rey

Then a blue blade manifested in the thing's chest, stabbing up vertically from the base of its spine up through its rib cage and sternum.

It looked down at the lightsaber. Slowly, it's features began to shift. Muscle and skin overlying the bone, rotting in reverse. A face began to appear.

"Mom?" Rey said. "Dad?" she looked closer. Before any features could appear, the blade was torn free. The body fell to the ground, smoke rising from the hole through it.

"No!" Rey said, as the face melted away, rotting again before her eyes. She fell to her knees over the body. "Come back."

She looked up. A figure in a hooded brown robe stood over her, wielding her lightsaber.

"Luke?" she said. She couldn't see its face.

It dropped the lightsaber. Rey rushed to catch it. When she looked up, the figure was on the other side of the pit.

Rey, this way. The figure beckoned.

Ignore him

Join us

Avenge us

Cast off your chains

Accept the power

Save them

"None of you are real," Rey said. She grabbed her quarterstaff off the ground. She secured the lightsaber to her belt. She picked her way around the pit. She heard more clattering from inside. She didn't look.

She went for the hooded figure. It turned away from her, began walking.

"Wait. Who are you?"

It stepped into the swirling darkness. Rey chased after it. She went blind into the dark.

From somewhere up ahead, red light bled into the blackness, outlining swirls of smoke. The whispers died away, as did the trickling blood. There was only one sound in the red tinged dark. The deep rasp of respirated breathing. A figure clad in black stood ahead. A dark cape trailed behind it and red light glinted off its domed helmet.

Slowly, it turned towards her. It extended a hand.

Then all of it was gone. The figure, the breathing, the darkness.

Rey was standing in a dark chamber. The obsidian door was several dozen meters behind her. And where the dark figure had been, stood Luke Skywalker.

He wore a black, hooded robe. Behind him was a stone table. Pyramidal, red holocrons lined it, as did books bound in metal and spikes. The hilt of a lightsaber rested beside the other items.

"You shouldn't be here," Luke said.

"What… What are you… No," Rey said. "Not you."

"Leave," Luke said.

"What did you do?" Rey said. "I feel it all around. I feel it on you. The dark side."

"I told you not to come here." he spoke in a low monotone. "I warned you."

"I don't believe…" Rey shook her head. "What did you do to him? What did you do to Kylo?"

Luke didn't speak.

"Did you do it? Did you kill someone?" Rey hefted her quarterstaff. "Answer me!"

"No," Luke said.

Rey took a swing at him. Luke smacked the staff aside with his metal hand.

Rey looked down at the staff. She clearly couldn't believe she'd done it. Then she swung at him again. Luke stepped aside, let the staff go past and hit the ground. The holocrons on the table swirled with crimson light.

Rey swung again. Luke took a step back, the staff whistling through the damp air between them. Then he took a carefully spaced step forward and slammed his metal hand down on the haft of the quarterstaff, knocking it down out of her grip.

"Stop," Luke said.

Rey stood stock still for a moment. Then she reached for her lightsaber.

Luke twitched a finger and it tore off her belt and shot into a shadowed recess of the chamber.

Rey thrust out her hand. The other lightsaber, the one on the table, shot past Luke into her hand. She activated it. A crimson blade boiled from the emitter.

Rey flinched back from it. Her wide, panic shot eyes went to Luke. Then back to the red blade. Slowly, the fear transmuted to determination. Rey assumed a ready stance.

Luke flicked a glance at the lightsaber in the corner. Then he looked away from it. He didn't make a move towards it.

He shifted his stance slightly, feet spread for balance.

"This isn't going to go the way you think," Luke warned her.

Rey took one breath. Two. Then she lunged, raised the crimson blade, brought it down.

Luke didn't move. He raised his human hand. The blade came down.

Luke caught it. He caught the lightsaber blade on his palm. Sparks flew. Rey looked at the blade in shock. Red light fell over Luke's face as he held the lightsaber in his grip.

He thrust out his other hand and Rey was catapulted backwards into the far wall, pinned there. Luke let the lightsaber fall to the floor. Smoke rose from his palm. When it cleared he was unharmed.

Rey thrashed against the force pinning her.

Luke held out his metal hand. He pinched two fingers on the air, slowly brought them closer to each other.

Rey choked, clutched a hand to her throat. She flailed her other hand at Luke.

Cracks formed on the floor as power left her, blasting at Luke. His robes rippled. The holocrons behind him were thrown against the wall. The table followed, shattering to fragments.

Luke's feet slid slightly. He grimaced and closed his fingers.

Rey gasped. Her vision slowly began to go dark. She slid down the wall, crumpled to the floor.

As blackness crawled across her eyes, the last thing she saw was Luke speaking to an empty room.

"You shouldn't have brought her here," he said. "You should leave her alone."

Then Rey passed out.