Finn stumbled.
They had been caught, and the Sith cultist who had struck him in the head with a club was about to hit him again. He didn't have time to find an appropriate weapon.
His mind raced with the possibilities. If he used his blaster while disoriented in such a small room, he was just as likely to hit Luke as he was to hit his aggressor.
That left Finn with only one option. The Force. He threw his hands out, willing the club to stop–
–and it did.
Luke made using the Force look effortless, but that wasn't Finn's experience. Seconds were hours, and the club's momentum strained against the tentative hold Finn had on it–
–but that gave him an idea.
Finn pivoted, grabbing the club and using its momentum to hit his attacker in the chest.
The cultist was thrown back, head hitting the wall, and yellow light leaving their eyes. There was no getting back up from that.
The same melody that brought them to this place called to Finn even louder now. He wanted to return to the chest and find out what was singing to him, but he surveyed the room for threats instead.
Luke was fighting two cultists and had the advantage – they were no match for a Jedi – but even the most skilled opponent could make mistakes. One second of inattention often meant death.
"Behind you," Finn warned as the taller cultist approached Luke from behind.
With one swing of his lightsaber, Luke severed his opponent's arm.
The cultist screeched and tried to headbutt Luke, but Luke backed away in time to avoid being hit. Finn jumped into the fight and attacked the injured cultist with his borrowed club.
It took three hits for the cultist to stay down.
That left one threat.
The last cultist carried a massive scythe with a jagged edge.
Finn sprinted towards the cultist and swung the club, hitting their shoulder. It was enough of a distraction for Luke to turn around and impale the cultist with his lightsaber.
Finn took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm his racing heart. "Do you think they told anyone we're here?"
"The fight was loud enough that I don't think it matters," Luke said.
Finn was afraid Luke was right. "We need to get out of here."
But Finn didn't move towards the exit. The music was still calling to him, louder than before, like it was impatient. Finn needed to know if whatever led him here was worth the risks taken to find it, so he walked over to the chest and found the source of the light.
It was a light orange crystal that almost looked like it was made of gold.
"Hmm," Luke said, joining him at the chest, "interesting."
The crystal warmed to Finn's touch and sounded pleased. "What is it?" he asked, having never seen anything like this. The crystal seemed to be sentient, but that wasn't possible.
"It looks like a solari crystal, which is a very rare type of kyber crystal."
Finn turned the crystal over. His knowledge of kyber crystals was limited to the weapons they powered, and it was strange to think that something small enough to fit in the palm of his hand could be so dangerous "Don't kyber crystals power lightsabers?"
He refrained from mentioning Starkiller Base.
"They do," Luke confirmed. There was an excitement in his voice that Finn rarely heard. "I'm looking forward to finding out what type of lightsaber you will make."
Everything that had happened since he left the First Order led Finn closer to the Jedi. He had accepted that he had the Force and had to learn how to use it, but he hadn't decided if he wanted to be a Jedi. "What if I don't want a lightsaber?"
"That crystal is yours regardless." Luke shrugged like he didn't care, but Finn knew him well enough now to recognize when Luke was pretending. "We can talk about this later – if we make it off this planet." His voice was dry, but there was a spark of humour in his eyes.
"When we make it off this planet," Finn corrected. He looked at the dead cultists. "I have an idea."
...
The robes didn't fit either of them well. Finn's shoulders were straining the fabric that was barely covering his knees. Luke didn't look any better, but at least his robes almost reached the ground.
Luckily, their disguises were good enough for them to leave the castle without drawing attention. It was almost too easy.
"We need to warn the others," Finn said.
Luke nodded. "I'll let them know we're on our way." He took out the commlink, but when he tried to connect, there was nothing but static.
"Let me try." Finn put his hand out.
Luke handed him the commlink, and Finn got the same static when he tried to reach Rey and Ben. Then he tried to reach the Falcon.
It didn't work either.
"There might be less interference once we get further away from the castle," Luke said.
Finn wanted to believe they would get a signal, but until then, they were on their own.
...
When Finn and Luke finally found the clearing where they had expected to find the Sith wayfinder, they were too late to help Rey and Ben. Bodies littered the forest floor, and it was impossible to tell who was injured and who was dead through the thick smoke.
The smell of burning flesh, a smell he was uncomfortably familiar with from his time as a Stormtrooper, confirmed that the flames from the overturned irontrees had found a new source of fuel.
Finn ran towards the scene ahead of him.
"Wait," Luke shouted, running after him.
Finn didn't stop.
Luke grabbed Finn's arm once he caught up. "Wait," he repeated.
Finn snatched his arm away and glared at Luke whose eyes were wide in what looked like a visceral terror.
Luke pointed in the direction of a light so bright and violently alive that it made Finn's eyes burn. His eyes watered, but he couldn't tear them away.
An inhuman scream made of rage and sorrow pierced his ears and then it all stopped.
The smoke cleared slowly, and Finn's mind raced, playing out all the worst case scenarios. His biggest fear was losing Rey and being left with an out of control Ben who would destroy them all.
A different scene slowly revealed itself.
The remaining Sith cultists were on their knees, heads bent towards the ground in supplication. They were facing Rey and Ben.
Rey was alive, but his relief was short-lived because tears were streaming down her face as she sobbed silently. She was bent over Ben who was laying on the ground and unnaturally still. The only sign he was alive was the way the large wound on his side slowly closed under Rey's hands.
Finn didn't have all the pieces of the puzzle, but the ones he did have created a picture that was somehow worse than any of his fears.
"She's going to kill herself," Luke said, voicing the words Finn hadn't wanted to think.
He looked at his teacher for guidance. "How can we help?"
"We need to stop her, but I fear that's impossible." Luke let out a weary sigh. "She's more powerful in the Dark than I feared."
Finn didn't see darkness when he looked at his friend. He saw closed eyes, a set jaw, and unwavering determination. Love fuelled her every action, and he didn't think there was anything dark about love.
In any other circumstance, he would have been jealous of the intensity of their love for each other, a love he would have thought lived only in stories if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes.
"No," Finn said, igniting his flare, "you're wrong."
He hoped the blue light from the flare was bright enough to draw the attention of the Falcon.
... ... ...
The lightning that had once terrified Rey now empowered her. It didn't matter what the Sith cultists tried because they were no match for her. The intoxicating power whispered to Rey in a familiar voice – her own except darker.
Kill. Hurt. Make them suffer.
The voice was tempting.
She screamed and let out another stream of lightning. She never would have stopped screaming if it wasn't for the other voice competing for her attention.
I'm sorry.
Ben. It was Ben's voice.
The lightning stopped. All Rey knew was him.
Rushing to his side, she saw he wasn't moving, and the white hot anger that took hold almost blinded her.
She only had eyes for Ben.
And her eyes were filled with tears.
Rey placed her hands on Ben's largest wound and put everything she had into healing him. Unlike with Paige, she was healing Ben on her own.
Her tears now streamed down her face and landed on the almost barren soil. Luke had told them that the Alzamec of Winsit believed the tears of Lady Corvax made the soil fertile, but Rey was no Lady Corvax.
Her tears were not born of grief and there was no need for a resurrection because Ben was still here. She wouldn't allow him to leave.
Where Ben began and Rey ended was impossible for her to determine. Everything she had was working to keep him here.
... ... ...
The sight of the Falcon brought Finn hope.
... ... ...
Distant voices whispered to Rey. She tried to tune them out, but they were persistent.
"Rey," Finn said in a gentle voice, "it's time to stop."
Ben wasn't awake yet. "I can't." She gritted her teeth.
"You're hurting yourself," Luke warned.
Sweat dripped down her face, and she swayed, barely able to keep herself from collapsing. "I don't care."
...
Time blurred.
The taste of smoke mixed with saltwater. Fire met water.
Rey was back on Kef Bir, trying to heal Ben from the wound she inflicted. She never found out if she would have succeeded because before the wound started to heal, she was in a different time. They both were.
That wound lived on in her memory, but because it never happened, did that mean it could never be healed?
Would this one be the same?
It was her fault. She should have paid more attention to Ben in their fight. She should never have allowed herself to be distracted by her own fight.
She hadn't seen it happen, but she had felt it. His pain as the scythe tore into his side was her own.
Ben was slipping away from her, but she wouldn't allow him to leave. Not now. Not ever.
Time didn't matter as long as they were together.
...
"Let me help." Han's voice trembled.
Rey couldn't stop. Not even for Han. What little strength she had left was for Ben.
She didn't care about the will of the Force. The only will that mattered was her own.
... ... ...
Finn hated feeling helpless.
Han had exited the Falcon first, rushing to his son with a medkit. Chewie had followed shortly afterwards, stretcher ready to go.
Finn watched as Han tried to apply a bacta patch to Ben's largest wound, but Rey wouldn't move her hands away for him. She wasn't allowing anyone else to touch Ben. He wished he knew how to help her, how to help them both.
The bravado that was so typically Han was long gone. "Fix this," Han demanded of Luke.
"I don't know how," Luke admitted. "What they do, it's unlike anything I've seen before."
"Then figure it out." Han looked down at his son. "Please."
Finn tried to reason with Rey. "Let us get him on the ship."
She didn't respond.
He didn't know if she could hear him. Her presence in the force was weakening, and he didn't know how much time they had before they lost them both.
Luke must have sensed her weakening as well because he reached out to Rey. At first Finn thought Luke had found a way to help Rey heal.
He hadn't.
Luke took advantage of Rey's weakened state and used the Force to put her to sleep.
Finn didn't know what to think. Luke may have saved Rey's life, but he may have also condemned Ben to death.
Han put Ben on the stretcher carefully, and Finn took the bacta spray out of the medkit. As a Stormtooper, Finn had been given basic first-aid training to treat minor injuries. This wasn't minor, but he did his best to help. Rey had already done most of the work, so now it was up to the bacta to close the rest of Ben's wound.
"Let's get them on the ship," Han said, and Luke helped him with the stretcher.
Chewie let out a low whine as he picked up Rey. She looked almost as lifeless as Ben.
It was eerie how the cultists hadn't moved. Something had happened here that he didn't understand – something profound.
Nobody stopped them from leaving.
...
Hours later Finn's head started throbbing. Adrenaline must have masked his pain.
He asked Luke to borrow the scanner without alerting the others because they had all been through enough.
At least they had found the Sith wayfinder on Rey's belt. Finn didn't know what he would have done if it turned out they left it on Mustafar.
He never wanted to return to that planet.
... ... ...
Ben's heart was still beating. The feel of it under her palm was Rey's entire world. She wanted to be closer, but she couldn't risk jarring his injuries, so she was perched on the chair next to his bed.
So many wounds had already been healed – the Force helped enough to allow the bacta to do its job – but those were the surface wounds. Ben lost a lot of blood before she got to him.
He looked so vulnerable attached to the intravenous feed.
She had wanted to try healing Ben again when she woke, but the others told her Ben was stable. Finn explained how they were lucky Chewie found a medical bag with universal plasma stabilization serum because it appeared to be working.
Her head jolted. She wouldn't allow exhaustion to overtake her – not again.
Not until Ben was awake.
She focused on his heart.