Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. Never have, never will. I simply play in their world.

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"Last night I had a dream

that felt like a memory.

A glimpse of what could have been.

Crossed signals from another life.

Where instead of all this,

I had you.

And life was exquisitely simple.

And we were desperately happy."

-Lang Leav

Rey

My hands throb from holding the lightning. I can feel dried blood in my hair and on my face. There's grit between my teeth and dust in my lungs. Muscles burning in my side every time I take a breath and bruises ache from battles I've fought.

The cavern is freezing, white breath clouding the air and still I sweat. Dripping and irritating my eyes I don't dare brush it away.

The sounds of battle above our heads like distant sparks of light I cannot focus on right now.

I can't think of my friends or what's happening to them. I have to concentrate on Palpatine. We're only going to get one chance at this.

Even in his decrepit state he's powerful and I don't understand how.

He turns sightless eyes in my direction as if sensing my chaotic thoughts and his white lips curl upward in condescension.

"The dark side gives me power others consider unnatural. I am now an immortal being." He turns to Ben, sneering hatred twisting his face, "Your family has long been a thorn in my side. After this day no Skywalker will stand in my way."

What is he talking about?

Ben flinches next to me as grief and sorrow transmutes through our bond, squeezing my heart with trepidation and denial at the implication.

"General Organa will stop you even if we fail. She will never give up."

I have faith in Leia. Whatever Ben is feeling has to be because of his actions from the past regarding his mother.

It's the only explanation I'm willing to accept.

Palpatine tilts his head, his yellow teeth once more protruding through a deathly smile and chills wrack my body.

"And how will a dead woman stop me I wonder?"

Dead? My hands spasms around my saber and I bare my teeth at Palpatine as denial claws at my mind.

"You're lying. General Organa is alive!"

Steady Rey, don't let him distract you. Concentrate.

Ben trying to calm me but I don't listen, the frantic beating of my heart a klaxon in my head drowning out his voice. I'm reaching through the Force, reaching for the woman I called Master for a short time.

Leia! Leia...answer me! Show me he's lying!

But there is no answer only absence in the living Force where her presence should have been.

I stagger and my saber drops, grief and shock momentarily blinding me. How could I not know...

When? How? Why?

"Were you not aware dear child?" Palpatine making sympathetic noises and rage thrums in my blood at his mockery, "Princess Leia gone. A pity."

"Rey don't!"

Ben's warning comes too late because I'm already running at Palpatine.

"You murderer!" I scream, "You don't get to speak her name!"

I want him to pay for her death, for everyone's death. I want him to hurt the way I hurt.

I swing at him, channeling the Force into this final blow, intending to sever head from neck.

I will dance on his corpse when I am through.

"Pathetic."

The hairs on my body stand on end and the Force is screaming at me from every direction. The air burns my lungs as I hear the crackle of lightning from above.

"REY!"

Something hard shoves into me from behind and my saber goes spinning out of my grip as I tumble to the ground, shards of broken rock digging into my hips and arm. Lightning descends from five different points and I throw up my arms to cover my streaming eyes as black dots dance in my vision.

I hear ragged screaming and there is more than one voice in those screams.

"Ben!"

I drop my arms and see him caged in lightning, his saber thrown to the side as he tries to hold off the deadly barrage with bare hands.

That should have been me in there.

His clothing begins to smoke, black lightning crawling over his body and he drops to one knee, the four points moving closer as the fifth continues to be held off by him but not much longer.

He's going to die.

Because of me. Because of my stupid, reckless temper and not listening to him.

Palpatine is screaming, both hands lifted against Ben, madness warping his face.

Blood drips from his eyes and mouth and he doesn't even notice.

"Die Skywalker!" Blood flecking his lips, "Die!"

"NO!"

I'm on my feet racing for Ben as I call the saber back into my bleeding palms.

I've lost too many already and I refuse to stand by and watch the man I love die.

Palpatine turning towards me but it's too late. I slash my saber into the caged lightning channeling all of my power into the blow.

BOOM!

Blinding light and the backlash throws me off my feet and once more I hit the ground.

It feels as if all the air has been taken out of my lungs and I can't breathe as I stare up into open sky.

Lighting raging out of control, striking everything in the heavens. I watch as both Resistance and First Order crafts burst into fiery balls of light.

Ben...

A flicker against my mind, faint but there and if I had the breath I would have wept.

He's alive. I didn't kill him.

But I have no more strength and everyone is dying.

What do we do? What can we do?

The Force is a quiet murmur around me and I hear them. The voices of those who became one with the Force.

Calling to me. Just like Leia told me they would if I ever learned how to listen.

We're here Rey.

We're with you.

You are a Jedi. A Jedi stands against the darkness.

Get up Rey.

Get up. The Force is with you.

So many voice calling to me, both familiar and strange. I know none of them and yet it feels as if they've been with me my entire life.

"R-Rey..."

A shadow collapsing next to me and I turn my head in the dirt to see Ben lying face down across from me.

His eyes are bloodshot, clothing smoldering but his hand is reaching for mine.

Hot tears spill down as I gasp, muscles cramping when I move my arm to reach for him.

"B-Ben..."

Our fingers touch and the voices in the Force grow louder, more insistent.

Get up Ben.

Get up Rey.

You are stronger than you know.

Together, one you are. A Dyad in the Force.

I close my eyes and let their words wash through me, filling me with energy. I don't know if I can do this but for Ben, for the Resistance, I have to try.

Is my body in motion? I can barely feel anything anymore. My heart is strangely numb, a hollow ringing in my head.

"R-Rey what are y-you..."

Ben's fingers slip from mine as I stand, somehow the cold metal of a saber replacing his warmth.

It's time to end this. I feel the spirits of the Force gather, sustaining me as I attempt the impossible.

"You were born worthless and you will die worthless. Nothing more than a scavenger no one will remember."

I look in the distance to see Palpatine on the throne of the Sith. His words no longer enrage me. I have gone past the point of anger to tranquil calm of absolute focus.

"I am a Jedi," words fall from my lips and it's as if a thousand voices speak with me, "and I will not allow your tyranny to stand unchecked."

Lightning channeled into the sky vanishes and the air in the cavern goes deathly still, the calm before the raging tempest.

Palpatine moving to his feet, his hand lifting and everything appears in slow motion before my eyes.

My senses have become hyper aware of the world around me. The way the wind shifts as I breathe, the cool touch of metal in my hand, warming. The sound of each grain of sand moving beneath my feet.

I am ready.

The world speeds up as dark lightning hits my saber and I grit my teeth but don't yield.

Help me, I whisper to the Force, give me strength to defeat him.

Phantom hands on my shoulders, elbows and wrists to help me stand upright, to push back against his power.

Palpatine sneers and lifts his other hand, a second wave of lightning hitting my saber and I scream as I try to hold on.

Even with the Force he's too strong. I'm not going to make it.

I'm going to fail everyone.

Phantom lips press to my temple, sharp spices and autumn winds teasing my senses.

I'm here with you. We all are. Show some backbone and finish him.

Tears slip down my face as Leia's gravely voice echoes in my head.

Yes Master.

I close my eyes and remember everything I was taught. By Luke and Leia.

By Ben.

The Light and the Darkness. The balance of the Force.

Like Ben I have two sides to my nature and it's time I used them.

I open my eyes and feel Palpatine's power, the dark energy rippling through the cavern, the home of the Sith.

"What are you doing..."

I smile to hear the disturbance in his voice and take a step forward. The lightning wavers as I grab hold and push it back against its master.

My saber flickers and I wonder if the power it has will be enough.

Rey...take it...

Starlight and the kiss of frost in my mind, Ben's thoughts touching my own, his love filling me until I ache with it. My hollowed heart kindles when I feel the kiss of metal in my other hand and know it's his saber.

I cross the other over my own and bare my teeth at Palpatine. The power magnifies and I take a second then a third step towards him, closing the distance.

"What...how dare you...I am..."

I push him back until he hits the throne and can go no further.

"You are nothing," I tell him as my bones crack, blood sizzling in my veins, "because you stand alone. We will always be stronger together."

The power is converging like it did when Ben and I split the saber in the throne room, when I touched the lightning and broke the connection.

I see his lips moving but power sings in my head and I know what to do.

I snap the duel sabers apart and thrust the power directly at Palpatine.

BOOM!

Palpatine's body bursts into ash, incinerated by the backlash. He doesn't even have time to scream.

So much for immortality.

The shock wave rebounds into me and I think I'm falling but I can't feel anything. I can't see or hear anything.

I am deaf and blind to the world, all of my senses blanketed.

It's done...it's finally done and all I want is rest...

"Mama!"

I blink to see my son with his twinkling black eyes staring down at me with a dark-petaled flower in his grip. I must have fallen asleep.

"What's in your hand?"

He giggles and thrust the flower in my face, a sweet smell tickling my nose.

"Mmm, my favorite."

"Come on Mama!"

He runs away and I sit up, yawning. The sun dapples through the tree's and I hear the call of the Astiri in the distance.

A shriek of laughter and I look to see my son, Drystan, being chased by a little girl with sable pigtails, brandishing a stick.

"Kira don't tease your brother." Husky words spoken lightly and wings of light settle in my blood, "Finally awake I see."

A warm arm slipping around my waist and gentle lips on my temple. I look up into the loving eyes of Ben Solo, my husband. I turn my head so I can kiss his jawline and he chuckles, turning so I can reach his mouth.

"Ewww! Gross!"

I pull away, sighing to see our daughter staring at us with a revolted look on her face.

"Then don't watch." Ben tells her rueful laughter in his voice. He's always teasing her.

She folds her arms, her stick abandoned as she taps a small foot in our direction.

"But you're always kissing."

"I think someone is jealous."

I grin as she sticks her tongue out at me. "Am not!"

I slip out of Ben's arms and chase after my daughter. "Yes you are!" I grab her and she squeals and I pepper her face with loud, smacking kisses.

"Mama! That...tickles!"

I let go of her so she can go play with her brother who is lifting pebbles in the distance. Ben at my back, his arm loose around my waist.

"Is this everything you dreamed of having?"

Soft words murmured as I lean my head against his chest.

"No," I reply as I cover his arms with mine, "this is more than I could ever dream."

"Rey, you can't stay. It's not real."

A dark, sorrowful voice that shouldn't be here fills the air.

I blink as the landscape and our kids vanish. I turn in Ben's arms but he's too far away and begins to disappear as well.

"No...no come back, please!"

Melancholy eyes meet mine and I'm reaching for him, desperate to be at his side.

Another hand grabs onto my wrist, preventing me from reaching him.

"It's not real."

"Ben! Kira! Drystan!"

I scream for my family, for the man I love and our children. This is the life I want to live!

But the world is white and sterile, filled with a terrible chill. The hand on my wrist is gone and I drop to my knee's, a silent keening in my head.

"Please don't leave me alone."

A hand on my shoulder and I look up into dark, sorrowful eyes in a youthful face. A single scar bisects his left eyebrow and end just beneath his eyes. He wears the robes of a Jedi but I've never seen a Jedi wear black.

"Who...?"

"Anakin Skywalker. I'm here for you Rey." He holds out a hand encased in black leather.

I grasp his hand, gaping at him. The dark timbre of his voice is hauntingly familiar.

"You...I've heard your voice from before..."

"Yes. It seems you mean a great deal to my family."

I don't understand until his name sinks in. Skywalker.

Luke and Leia's father.

The man everyone knew as Darth Vader.

I don't feel surprised or shocked to see a legend standing in front of me.

In fact, I don't feel anything at all.

"Why are you here?"

"To take you home." He looks around and gives me a slight smile, "You really don't want to stay here do you?"

It takes me a full minute to answer his question. I feel like I've forgotten something and I can't remember what it is.

There is no reason to stay I suppose.

"I...no...not really."

"Then follow me. You seem to have gotten a little lost."

We seem to walk for hours and there is a heaviness in me that wasn't there before.

"I feel...strange..."

"I'm sure you do."

Anakin Skywalker stops and I nearly bump into him.

"This is far as I can take you."

But we haven't gone anywhere. Everything is still so white, so sterile and cold.

"I don't understand. What's-"

Heat igniting my bones, spilling into my soul and I gasp to feel my heart beating, blood rushing through veins. The heaviness from earlier is the sensation of returning to a body.

"...happening!"

Anakin stares at me with solemn eyes.

"Can't you hear him Rey? He's been calling for you."

I close my eyes, follow the golden thread wrapped around my soul leading to another and hear a desperate, broken voice calling for me.

"...please...don't go where I can't follow...I don't know how to live without you...come back Rey..."

Tears slip down my face when I hear Ben. He's what I've forgotten in this place.

"Oh gods, what am I doing here? I have to get back to him."

"Yes you do...forgive me Rey..."

I turn at the sorrow in Anakin's voice as he shoves me out of the white void and I'm in free fall...

I gasp, grabbing for Ben's hand and blink as my vision blurs then sharpens immediately.

His face comes into view, leaning over me and I see tears falling from his eyes, his body trembling and I realize he's holding me in his arms.

He must have caught me when I fell and blacked out.

What a strange dream I had, a little of it lingering as I stare up at the man I love.

"Ben?" I lift my hand to his face and I can't understand why he looked so devastated a few seconds go. "Did we-?"

"Win," his voice hoarse as if he's been screaming for hours, "yes. Because of you."

He presses a trembling kiss to my hand and hot tears splash on my skin.

I can't believe we're alive. We made it.

I stare at Ben, my heart squeezing my chest so tight I want to cry and laugh at the same time.

He stayed by my side.

I wouldn't be here without him.

I slide my hand to the other side of his face and slowly sit up, memorizing every nuance.

He's covered in ash and dirt, blood and bruises vivid against his pallid skin. Vulnerable eyes of such darkness staring at me with ardent love I want to weep. I didn't know someone could love me so completely as he does.

He is so beautiful.

I press my mouth to his, needing to touch him, to taste him. To make myself believe this is real and not jut a dream.

To show him how much I adore him.

His arms around me, squeezing so tight I can barely breathe and I want him to hold me tighter.

To never let me go.

He pulls away after only a few seconds and it's not enough but I have no breath for words.

He's smiling at me. Openly and without reservation and I feel as if I'm dying.

I haven't seen his smile since the night we made love on Emphameira.

"I love you Rey."

His words are softer than sigh and make my heart tremble in violent delight.

"I lo-BEN!"

The light fades in his eyes, the smile slipping and Ben falls out of my arms.

I gasp as crippling pain rips through my soul, bleeding from a wound I can't see.

He isn't breathing and the bond between us is silent and dead.

"Oh gods...BEN! No, what did you do! Ben! Ben!"

This can't be happening. I didn't win the war only to lose him.

I search desperately for someone, anyone to help me but I'm alone here.

There is no one. Just me.

"No...you are not going to do this me Ben Solo." I press my hand to his chest and intend to heal our bond, to bring him back.

I can't feel his heartbeat and the Force isn't responding to my touch.

The cold, empty void in my soul remains.

Tears spill down my face and I can't breathe, there isn't enough air.

"Gods...no Ben, please please come back. You s-said you wanted to m-marry me," I gasp and pound on his chest, "BEN!"

I stare up into the sky and see nothing.

What was the point of all this if he isn't here?

"Help me," I whisper to the Force, to any distant god who might be listening, "please. Save him." I shudder and lay my head on his chest, terrified and angry. "Haven't we done enough! What more do we have to prove to you!"

"Rey."

A whisper in the Force and the scent of sharp spices and autumn wind in the stagnant air.

I lift my head and stare at the glowing form of Leia Organa Solo.

I don't care how she's here, only that she's here.

"Leia...it's Ben...he isn't breathing and I c-can't heal him..."

"I know. Rey, you died." I stare at Leia not understanding.

I died? No! I was only asleep...I blacked out for a minute...didn't I?

She sighs and kneels next to me.

"My son gave up everything to bring you back. You live because he chose to die."

I shake my head, refusing to believe such nonsense. Ben doesn't deal in ultimatums. He always makes the impossible possible.

"No! He s-swore he wouldn't leave me. Leia, he's your son, you can't let end like this! I'll do anything, so please, please help him!"

I don't care if it sounds like I'm begging. Because I am. We've only just found each other.

How am I suppose to live without him?

"You and my son are enough to give me gray hairs for two lifetimes. I swear the pair of you are made for each other."

I blink at her caustic words and she gives me a sharp smile but her touch is gentle as she kisses my brow.

"That boy takes too much after his father. Making a woman cry, I swear I taught him better. You honestly want to spend the rest of your life with him?"

I nod my head frantically. "Yes!"

"Guess I have no choice. Fine, very well. Might be fun to yell at him considering everything he put me through."

She chuckles as I gape at her.

"I'll do what I can Rey but the choice is his whether or not he wants to come back. The road ahead will not be an easy one."

I wipe the tears from my eyes, "He'll come back," I brush my fingers through his tangled hair, "he always finds me."

He hasn't disappeared yet. He hasn't become one with the Force which means he's still in there, still fighting to hold on.

I look up but Leia is gone and there is only the oppressive silence around me.

I pick up Ben's hand, his knuckles bruised and bloody and growing colder with each passing second.

"Ben," I whisper, pressing a kiss to his torn skin, "come back. You promised you would always find me."

I lay my head down on his chest and as the seconds pass, despair fills my head.

My soul is dying and the pain of our sundered bond is like nothing I've ever felt.

If he doesn't come back...

A whisper, nothing more than the touch of a breeze bringing with it an autumn wind.

I've done all I can for him. Now it's your turn.

I lift my head and stare at him. His closed lids hide his beautiful, melancholy eyes from my sight. The blood drying on his cheek, above his brow.

His torn lip where no breath pushes through.

Fear chokes my throat as I tremble, cupping his face.

"I love you Ben Solo. You and no other."

I press my lips to his cold, lifeless ones, gripping his hand tightly in mine.

I would rather walk in darkness beside you than stand alone in the light.

A spark in my chest and I gasp as his mouth moves beneath mine, breathing into me. Heat licking my soul, ravaging pain washed away by burning light and he's sitting up, catching me in his arms as the bond ignites between us.

I pull away and see a dazed look in his eyes and I cry, wrapping my arms around his neck, soaking his shirt with my tears.

"Don't you ever leave me again Ben Solo."

Fingers bury in my hair and his voice is the music of my soul.

"Never Rey. My life belongs to you. Always."