STAR WARS: REVIVAL OF THE FORCE

CHAPTER 1 - DAWN

WARNING! SPOILERS! In this story, the timeline begins at the end of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. In this rendition, Kylo Ren does not collapse and die on Exogol after healing Rey. Instead, they must undergo something much harder than death told through Rey's point-of-view.

It started in a blaze of heat.

Flames and lasers were falling in every direction while fire consumed the surrounding structure. Red engulfed my view and everything lay in ruble at my feet. The mounting ash mixed with the dirt, setting a dense, dark glow to the battle field. Smoke hung in the sky chocking out the air and burned my tired eyes. It didn't seem real.

The clothes left on my body were tattered and barely clinging to my skin now branded with the blisters of a new victory. Or was it? Destruction blanketed the scene and conquest roared in my ears. In the middle was his dark figure lit from behind by the fire. It lavished him as he hovered above me uncertainly. The edges of my vision were faded around the corners as I struggled to control my breathing. It was coming out in slow, irregular breaths.

From what I could still observe overhead, it was clear the battle taking place was being won by those loyal to the Rebel Alliance flight. The eerie lightening assault had subsided with the expiration of the Sith Order. This in turn had freed the starships and spacecrafts that were fighting against the Galactic Empire. Sparks rained down, covering everything in their path and setting fire to what was left. The Rebel's were being backed up by those brave enough to stand against the dread Empire in order to take back the Galaxy. These sparks of combat mixed with the heat of the air that had me chocking. It was becoming more difficult to breath. To think.

The Rebel's stood a chance with Emperor Palpatine finally vanquished. Palpatine was gone. His bloodline would fade with him. I had killed him. I had vaporized the Palpatine name to whom I owed nothing. Letting my past go up in smoke at the same time. He was gone just like Supreme Leader Snoke had been exterminated from this plane of existence. An existence in which light triumphed over dark. An existence in which I had not done it alone. An existence in which I wasn't alone. My hands were limp and tingling as if I had lost the feeling in them. Come on, think. I had to try to concentrate.

The dark side's powers could no longer aid the Empire or its commanders. We had done that. They were melting into the past all around us. All their leaders and accompanying cowards would soon be eliminated just as their Star Destroyers fell to into the ash at our feet. Wait, no, that's not right. I could still feel my mind pulling out of focus. Think. No, one of their leaders is here. He's right next to me. Breath. That's right, I can feel his hot breath caressing my face. Or was I distorting things again. No. It was us that had killed Palpatine. We had killed him together. We.

He wasn't the Supreme Leader of the First Order anymore because Kylo Ren had vaporized along with Palpatine.

The man sitting before me was the man I had been waiting to meet. This was the destined son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. He was right here. I could feel his arms wrapped around me. This realization reminds me of the heat. Sweat dripped down the back of my neck. Breath. This was new. How did his arm get around me? His touch burned into me so vividly. Focus. I was in the arms of Ben Solo. Breath again. No, wait, am I being misguided again? This is Ben Skywalker holding me in the surrounding glare of the fire. This notion somehow made me feel...clearer.

This was Ben.

I straightened up slightly and realized my vision had been blurred but was coming back. It came back enough for me to recognized, whoever he was, he was staring at me only inches away. He wasn't saying anything but instead his eyes were searching my face. They seemed to be searching for clues among the aftermath of what we had done. Or were they looking for what we might do next? I was unsure. Was it both? His eyes were darting back and forth as his hand rested on my chest, rising and falling in rhythm with my breathing. Listening to the chaos battling above. Remember to breath.

As we sit breathing together, my focus became sharper and I realized my arms were wrapped around him too. How had that happened? Was I always here? Always next to him. I was getting spacey again. Pause. Yet he was the one who had extended his hand to me. Think. Take a breath. Looking up into his face, I began to frantically search his face for answers too. The force could be felt whirling through the air, building up a presence, bringing everything to a boiling point.

I have to say something, anything, if only to help find my center again. Speak. But what do I say? What is there to say? The gravity of our actions began to weigh down heavily on our shoulders. I could feel my body aching and throbbing from the weight of it all. How do I begin to understand what we have both done? Or worse, what will we do next? Are the same questions echoing in his mind? It was as if our questions had a pulse. The word "we" could be felt jumping up and down in the force between us. Resting even heavier on our shoulders. Focus. Just who are we? Breath. It kept pulling. It was becoming too much. Speak. Speak now!

"Ben?"

It fell out from between my lips like a sigh. A sigh of relief and my shoulders began to lift. It was a single question that summed up all the questions I could feel between us strung together on the force. It was the only question that really mattered. As my shoulders lifted so did my eyes to meet his. As we locked eyes, there were no more words. His expression said it all. He was showing me Ben's face. A face that no longer held pain hidden behind a scar. I had healed the scar that had been smeared across his face. I had healed it back in the ruins of his grandfather's Death Star. I had healed him. I had healed him? That's where the Skywalker's dark side started to fade. I had felt that. I hoped Han had felt it there too.

Originally, I had lashed out in fear...and admittedly, also in anger, which had left a lasting scar down his face and materializing his mask deeper into his being. Yet, I'd also been able to heal that same fear and anger...and pain with the binding force between us. I could see passed the pain and the scar from the past emulating the dark side. A shadow of the past. It was at this time overshadowed by a gentleness to his features that had not been there before. This is the man I had been waiting to meet. This was Ban. He was always there underneath the pain and scars. The appearance of gentleness in him was the final confirmation that set my nerves a blaze.

White hot fire pumped through my vein bringing me back to life. He had brought me back to life. Without another thought, I lifted my hand to touch his face. My touch was rough and smudged with ash but undeniably real. I had to be sure he wasn't a hologram or a ghost that would slip through my fingers. He did not finch at the contact. Even behind the dark smear of ash from my hand running down his face, I could see the color rise in his cheeks as he became flushed at my caress. It was warm to the touch. I hadn't realized I had been yarning this much to meet Ben. To touch him. I had challenged him to come forth and resist the dark side but there was more to it than that. He was always alluring and pulling me in deeper.

The flow of force pulsed between us again but this time without obstacles. I could see him and touch him this time. There was no more Kylo Ren. I simply acted as my newest impulses gave way to something new. Pause. What were we doing? My hand recoiled back then hesitated freezing in the space between us. Breath. I had been fighting against all my impulses to be close to him for so long but now it seemed impossible. The fighting was over. It was crumbing all around us.

So I kissed him.

I drew myself close and closed my eyes. Ben's arms wrapped around behind me as my hands further locked around his jaw line. My lips searched his as he found his way around my fevered kisses. We breathed in each other as movement filled our bodies. I could feel our teeth graze each other as we departed into each others depths. Deeper. There was no more space between us as we pressed our chests together. We collided. I could feel my nails pressing into his skin, which seemed to elicit a smile from him. I could feel it against my own lips. Wait, is he smiling?

I held my breath as I slightly pulled back to get a glimpse of his face. There it was, Ben was smiling. It wasn't a full smile but there it was lightly played out across his lips along with ash and sweat streaks. He was beautiful. I let my breath fall out of my sore mouth and warmth rushed through me. I crashed my mouth back onto his harder. I wanted to feel that smile more. I wanted to feel it's warmth inside me. Deeper.

My mind was hammering from today's ordeals followed by the exertion of force but my skin was on fire everywhere he brushed up against me. Mind and body conflicted over the raw emotion pouring out of every extremity. He was everywhere and his body was consuming. He was body was undoubtedly larger but up close I felt it loom over me. Since we met, he had consumed me as hard as I fought not to be dragged in. We had communicated every which way. We had used words and signals. We even spoke louder through fighting and blood shed as well as grown closer while training to use the force. We'd stolen moments across the Galaxy in short timeless space. He could see the rain and feel the wetness when it poured down on me. I could see him when he was vulnerable and least expecting it in his chambers alone like I was alone in my hut. We even healed each other's battle wounds. The wounds we caused each other. We had hurt. We had longed. We had connected.

Our thoughts had already flowed but this was the last form of expression left to us. I craved his connection and this new physical way didn't require us to be anything other than human. Everything was changing and I dared not to open my eyes yet as our fevered kisses clashed against each other. I wanted to give way to everything. We had been fighting for so long.

Knowing each others' minds seemed to make it easier to find a rhythm to our bodies as they fell on each other. Our movements were driving me closer. Closer to him? If so, then what was I moving away from? I wasn't sure how but my legs lifted to wrap around his wide waist. They were acting on their own to try to hold our position. A position grinding me further down into him. What would we do next? This position allowed me to bend my head higher than his. It granted me access to attack his lips from the above with my own. I could hardly hear the crashes in the background as the rushing blood in my ears drowned out all other nosies. Breath. His arms tightened around my neck and he used this vantage point to press me further down on him. Eagerly, I wove my hand into his long hair to keep his head angled towards my own.

I wanted to devour all of him. I wanted all of him. I wanted him inside me.

My lips parted to grant him passage into my mouth. To steady myself, my other hand clutched his cheat. I could feel him pressing from underneath. Focus. My hands began roaming around his chest to find support where I could feel tight muscle through the thin fabric. Our lips melded in passion, which held us suspended in this moment, damp with our sweat.

We only separated to pant for more air. Breath. My eye had opened at the feeling of separation that let a chill breeze pass between us. For a breif moment, I could peer down into his face again. The intensity I had held onto since he first extended his hand to me had been pouring out of me. Back then, I had wanted so desperately to take his hand. This time, Ben was firm within my grasp. I closed my eyes again and tightened my fingers to grab hand full of his hair in order to push his face up into mine. I wanted to feel him extended into me again. To press against me. Without knowing why, I rocked forward and collided into him with my hips. At this movement, I heard an audible noise escape his lips. It set me a blaze. Awakened, I rocked down again but this time he met me half way. It threw me off balance.

Then, everything changed again. All of a sudden, I was flipped around onto the ground in a wild rush. I landed with a airy thud immediately followed by the weight of his body. At the same time, his knee fell between my legs and he placed his hand on my waist to align us. In this upheaval, Ben's lips had bent down to find my neck and his teeth scraped the skin left visible. Burning my throat. My hands had not left his hair but were left gripping on to him harder.

Unfortunately, my eyes snapped opened at the unbalance that smacked me in the back spraying ash into the air. Chocking me. I could see above us now and the world was still on fire. The sky was filled with ash and smoke and fire. It was burning with ships and debris, which were falling to the ground...what was that? Wait. Breath. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut but all I saw were the flames behind my eye lids. I could feel the heat. Focus. What had we done? And who had won? Breath. What were we doing? His touch burned. There was heat all around. Breath. Everything was on fire. My throat burned.

"Rey?" My name cut through the haze.

I heard Ben say my name again. He was still resting against me but all that I could see was the was a battle field. I felt a cold wave wash over my body and I could feel my face growing wet with tears. Everything was on fire surrounding us. Everything was on fire except us.

"Rey." It wasn't a question this time.

Ben gently, hesitantly leaned his forehead down on mine as his body went limp above me. Our sweat began to mix with my tears, stinging my face. It felt like everything was unraveling. Focus. There it was, I had been holding something else back and now it was pouring down my face in big, watery tears. I slowly closed my eyes under the weight of it. Under the weight of him. With my eyes closed, we lay there breathing together. Chest to chest, our bodies were finding the rhythm. It was a slower rhythm. Were his eyes open? Breath. Was he still searching? Or was everything clearing up for him too?

As if on queue, or maybe he was still reading my mind, his hands gradually slid up the length of my arms to firmly grip my shoulders to hold me down as if I were about to escape or disappear from under him. I closed my eyes. It was like he could feel me slipping through his fingers again. He was right, I had wanted to escape. To disappear. To run...I was always running. But now I couldn't. I couldn't run from this. Run from this battle field or from him. There we lay locked together. It felt like an eternity laying there listening to the fighting diminish as my tears stained the ash darker. All I could feel was his heartbeat as I forced my eyes to stay shut.

Then all at once, eternity was over.

In the far off background, thuds could be heard as rushing air passed by our still forms. Neither of us moved. The thuds became louder and shouts were filling the empty space. The Galaxy was closing in on us. The force surged as lights began approaching. As the lights became brighter, we could both feel it. Again, I asked myself, what would we do next? My breath quickened and I could feel him heavier on me.

Ben spoke for us. He leaned in to brush his lips on my ear and say, "Rey?" The question rolled between us. He felt the words before they escaped my lips, "Let go." My response hung in the air for a minute. There was a pause before he raised his head to hover just above me with an unmistakable expression. He was beaming with relief. At what, I was not completely confident. As I contemplated, he rolled over onto the ground next to me with an audible exhale but kept our hand still loosely intertwined. I tried to look over but between the wind and his long hair, his face was now obscured.

Suddenly, they were upon us with lights and weapons, bringing back the noise of the universe that had kept fighting around us. The fight was not over for all. What we had done was not the end of the fighting. It was not over. Yes, we had destroyed Palpatine and his devoted following but what else could the others know. Kylo Ren had also been killed in this battle and they had to know. But how? There wouldn't be much time. I had to act fast. I had to tell them and I had to hurry! I looked over to see Ben slowly starting to stand. But still I knew, he wasn't in his armor or mask nor was this the Empire's Kylo Ren but how would anyone else know the difference on appearance. I quickly got to my feet and throw out my hands to signal.

Still hidden in the smoke, Ben hurriedly lunged forward crashing into me and gripping my shoulders. He whispered, "Let's go together." right before everything went black.