Chapter Four: The Fall of the Sith

Exegol - Rey & Ben

The chanting from the Sith loyalists sent a chill through her. Rey wondered if this was what true evil sounded like. Turning, her eyes widened at the throngs of beings staring down at her from the stands. There were so many that she couldn't even fathom their numbers. How was the resistance supposed to fight this? They'd lost Leia, Han, Luke and most of their fleet. The resistance numbers had dwindled to only a handful. We don't stand a chance.

The darkness surrounding her seemed to press in, sucking away her light. She could only hope that her message had been received by 3PO's network of droid spies. The galaxy was depending on that message and the resistance's ability to decode and follow it. She'd seen the nearly endless lines of mega-class star destroyers and Rey understood that once they exited this system, the rest of the galaxy would be at their mercy.

She walked through the stone archway and stopped beneath a huge stone throne. It was terrifying in its implication; this was the seat of the Sith power. She turned as the loyalist began chanting again. For all the languages she understood, she had no idea what they were saying. But they were saying in 'one' voice, which meant trouble for her.

"Long have I waited." The gravelly use of a voice that didn't speak much left nothing to the imagination. Rey knew who had spoken. "For my grandchild to come home." She focused on simply breathing. "I never wanted you dead. I wanted you here, Empress Palpatine."

Hearing him call her by that name sent icy fear through her. She wasn't a Palpatine. She'd rather be dead. At her core, Rey knew that she was more than her name, but she wanted so badly to be someone that this whole thing felt like a cruel cosmic joke.

"It is your birthright to rule, here. It is in your blood. Our blood." He finished.

Slowly, she began backing away from the monster claiming to be her family. "I haven't come to lead the Sith. I've come to end them."

"As a Jedi?"

"Yes."

His head tilted to the side and he stared down at her in disgust. "No. Your hatred Your anger. You want to kill me. That is what I want."

Rey's eyebrows drew together and tried desperately to understand the game he was playing. She wished, in this moment, that Ben was with her. He understood the darkside better than she ever could.

The emperor continued, "Kill me and my spirit will pass into you; as all the Sith live in me. You will be empress. We will be one."

No. Her mind screamed. She could not allow that. Even the thought that he could somehow live inside her was terrifying. The chanting increased to deafening roar and she nearly stumbled under the weight of it. She'd come alone…and that had been her mistake. Rey wasn't stronger alone, she was weaker.

"The time has come!" The emperor's arms spread wide. He lifted his milky eyes to the stands.

Rey turned; the masses settled into their seated positions; like a show was ready to start.

"With your hatred you will take my life, and you will ascend."

The fire that always burned within her flared to life with those words. She would not become what he had foreseen. "All you want is for me to hate, but I won't. Not even you." And she meant it. While he'd single-handedly destroyed the life she could have had, would she have become the person that was now without him? Probably not. It was possible, that like Ben Solo she would have been bowed under the weight of her family name.

His eyes narrowed and his face took on a stony quality. "Weak. Like your parents."

Her blood boiled at the mere mention of her parents and what they'd sacrificed for her. It was his fault that she'd grown up alone, believing that her family had abandoned her on Jakku. "My parents were strong." She spat back. Her anger roiling just beneath the surface. "They saved me from you."

"Your master Luke Skywalker was saved by his father. The only family you have here, is me."

The truth behind his words struck her straight in the heart, she truly was alone. And yet she would still fight, down to her very last breath. Because it wasn't just herself, she was fighting for, it was Finn and Poe, Chewbacca and every other resistance fighter still out there.

She would not fail them.

Lifting his head, the stone above them slowly split apart revealing and aerial battle silhouetted against the dark stormy sky. Resistance fighters were scrambling to find an attack point against the more massive Final Order star destroyers, and they were losing.

"They don't have long. No one is coming to help them. And you are the one who led them here. Strike me down. Take the throne, reign over a new empire and the fleet will be yours. Only you have the power to save them." He paused for a moment to allow that to weigh down on her shoulders. "Refuse and your new family dies. It was a simple exchange. Her loyalty for their lives.

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For once Ben was grateful for his ability to perfectly recall anything he'd ever seen or read. He'd searched the wreckage of the death star and finally found a few of the old class Tie-fighters and they were still in working order. Then he'd followed the same insane path to the unknown regions, expertly navigating the gravity wells and energy pulsing radiation spots. He'd made it to the hidden world of the Sith without incident. Exegol, lay buried inside of deadly atmospheric conditions of the unknown regions.

He'd pushed the old machine to its max and found that he missed the speed and precision of his Tie-Whisperer. These old fighters didn't bank well and their responses to the pilot weren't as fast as he was used to. He'd broken through the edge of the unknown regions and swallowed his rising concern at the number of resistance craft he saw flitting through the dark sky.

He was in an enemy fighter; they would never know he was there to save Rey. If he was honest, they probably wouldn't have cared, and he'd have been blown out of the sky on principal alone.

Ben slipped past two X-wings as they engaged the large energy canons of a star destroyer and managed to land without incident. He dropped down from the fighter, his legs nearly buckling from the forced inactivity of his flight. Steadying himself he grabbed the blaster from the compartment near the left wing and then turned. He'd recognize that old X-wing anywhere. That had been Luke's, and no one had seen it after his uncle had disappeared. He'd figured that it had been destroyed decades ago. Somehow that old bucket of bolts had brought Rey to this place. A tiny piece of him wondered what had happened to his Tie-Silencer?

Casting that piece away, he took off running toward the entrance of the Sith temple.

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Rey couldn't watch it any longer. She didn't know which pilots had died as two fighters had been obliterated by the powerful guns of the Final Order's fleet. But if there was even a chance that she'd retain enough of herself to want to save them, then she had to take it. This was her fault. She had sent them the coordinates and they were dying because of her villainous family. She turned back toward Palpatine and gave a slight nod. It made her tremble inside at the thought of giving herself over to her parent's murderer. But what choice did she have?

He smiled, his blackened lips splitting apart in a sick display. "Good."

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Ben could feel something happening inside the temple. Rey's light was dimming and the darkness surrounding Palpatine was growing at a commensurate rate. Don't give in to him Rey. Don't believe him. Whatever he's promising…don't believe him.

He redoubled his efforts and forced more speed from his already weary body. The floating slap of rock above him sucked up the light and Ben had to concentrate harder as he ran. His eyes dropped to the open shaft and massive chain on the other side. He couldn't go around it and it was the only way down to the level where Palpatine resided. He willed his legs to jump and tapped into the Force, using that power to execute a leap that was well beyond that of a human.

Thrusting his arms out, the right side of his body slammed into the unforgiving metal. His chest seemed to absorb most of the impact, but that didn't mean it was pleasant. Pain blossomed along the front of his body and the only thing he could say was, "Ow."

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"The ritual begins."

The chanting increased again and everything inside Rey was screaming at her to run. Get away from this place before she made everything worse.

"She will strike me down and pledge herself as a Sith."

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Ben didn't need to look for his enemies as he ran. He could feel their murderous intensions before he ever saw them. He blasted one without slowing and another without turning. Skidding around a corner he stopped and took aim for the first time. But there was nothing there. He sprinted forward again, the blasted held tightly in his right hand.

Ahead of him he saw the threat he'd been forewarned about. Two of his Knights of Ren stepped from behind a stone wall. He stumbled to a stop as recognition settled in. Vicrul and Ushar, moved as one, closing the distance between them in quick staccato steps. The Force rippled with power. Ben could feel the untrained darkness writhing inside the lead Knight. The latent darkside within Vicrul was screaming for release, for Ben's death at the end of the scythe blade. Cardo followed; his arm canon ready to annihilate any enemy. Ben knew that he was in trouble. He might have been able to take Cardo and Ushar without a weapon, but Vicrul was another story. These soldiers hadn't achieved this status by accident. They were as skilled at hand to hand combat as he was. Vicrul had untrained abilities in the Force, which made him the most dangerous of the six. The only advantage Ben had ever had was his skills with a lightsaber.

Now he didn't even have that. Which meant he was probably going to die. A second pull on the Force had him shifting his eyes over his left shoulder. And then he saw the other three Knights. Trudgen had shouldered his ultrasonic blade; he wasn't moving at the moment. Kuruk and Ap'Lek kept walking in slow easy movements. They could read the body language of the other three Knights; each one shifted accordingly.

Ben watched the whole thing happen with a sick feeling inside his gut, he really was screwed.

Slowly they circled around him adjusting into an attack pattern. One Ben had trained them in. It was used for more powerful opponents, which at least meant they still respected his skills. Which really was saying something. There was no one in the galaxy that the Knights of Ren feared; but they were also smart enough to know a strong opponent when they faced one. And Ben had been a very strong opponent indeed.

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"She will draw her weapon."

Rey tried to drown out the chanting. Slowly her fingers dropped, and she unclipped Luke's lightsaber. With quick flick of her thumb, she ignited it. A crash above her told her another resistance fighter had fallen. She wanted to cry at the wasted life. None of this should be happening. The Emperor was supposed to have died when Darth Vader returned to the light, but that hadn't happened. He was still alive and ready to enslave the galaxy once again.

"She will come to me."

Slowly, her feet carried her forward. The loyalists continued to chant.

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Ben did the best he could with almost no weapons. He managed to throw off Ushar and Cardo as they struck out first. At least until Kuruk stepped up to his left and slammed the end of his staff into Ben's face stunning him momentarily. He staggered to the right under the power of the blow. Directly Vicrul's vicious strike across his right cheekbone. Ben's head snapped to the left. He'd barely had time to regain his balance when another violent strike from Ushar collided with his stomach. His air was forced from his body and he doubled over with the pain and shock of the blow. His right leg collapsed, and he struggled to remain on his knees while trying to pull some much-needed air.

This was going pretty much how he'd expected. I'm losing.

A vicious downward slash from Ap'lek sent his head slamming to the side again and pricks of light invaded his vision. Pain, his head was nothing but pain and the sticky wetness that came with contusions.

Rey's light dimmed even further, and Ben forced himself back into a kneeling position. He had to take control of his pain. Snoke had believed that pain could be harnessed to focus the mind when the body was failing; Ben used those many lessons now.

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Palpatine wasn't done instructing Rey yet and with every step she took, she felt like a traitor. Even to save her friends, she knew they wouldn't have asked this of her. In fact, Finn would have shaken her for even thinking such a sacrifice was necessary.

"She will take her revenge."

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Only his will allowed him to find the strength to clamber back to his unsteady legs. Ben's choice was made. He would not abandon Rey now. He stared out at the men he'd led for more than ten years. He knew them as intimately as he knew himself. They had shared the battlefield on so many occasions that it was hard to separate his accomplishments from theirs. But they weren't friends. He didn't have friends.

That had been the cardinal rule for the Knights, never address one another outside of their masks. Violating that rule was grounds for death. And since Snoke couldn't very well execute his only Force user, he left the threat of their lives hanging around Ben's neck. If he violated the supreme leader's rules, then he would be the one to kill them…after removing their masks.

They shifted uncomfortably at the intensity on his face. He knew they could see he was beaten, at least physically. But they understood his power in a way very few First Order soldiers did. Just because his physical body was failing didn't mean his Force energy was in any way diminished. He refused to give them the satisfaction of wearing any emotions on his face.

Desperately he tried to reach out to Rey again, the bond remained sealed and it seemed to be impervious to his pleading.

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"And with a stroke of her saber the Sith are reborn."

Slowly, she lifted the saber next to her shoulder. Her heart was hammering inside her head and she couldn't catch her breath. Was she really going to do this? Could she?

"The JEDI ARE DEAD!" Palpatine shouted to the thunderous chanting of his loyalists.

A sudden calming sensation settled over her and Rey felt the Force bond slide open. Her first thought was relief, she wasn't alone, Ben had come. He was here, with her and they could turn the tide if they chose to stand together. It was the easiest decision she'd ever made. All she had ever wanted was to have Ben stand next to her, as an equal, as a partner in the Force. She could sense the same resolve and hope inside him.

She looked at him and her heart ached at the damage to his face, damage he had sustained while trying to reach her. To stop her from giving herself up as a sacrifice to the Sith. And yet his eyes were steady and his expression one of solidarity. They were together in this. She swallowed against her rising fears. They could do this…she could do this.

Ben stared at her through their bond. He'd been so close to losing her that it hurt to even consider what might have happened if he'd been even one minute later. Her eyes were determined, and her expression matched his. If they were going to die, they would do that together too. She tilted her eyes, instantly communicating her intentions.

He gave her the slightest nod, one that the Knights wouldn't even register; but she would. It was all he could offer at the moment, though he wanted to give her everything. Their current situations weren't exactly great, and he didn't want to give away the only advantage they still had.

Palpatine knew nothing of their bond and they needed to keep it that way. He readied himself, carefully lifting his right hand and allowing it to reach behind his back. The sudden weight of the lightsaber was like grasping a lifeline. Now he had a chance against the Knights of Ren. And Rey had a chance against the Pretorian guard that he knew would be surrounding Palpatine.

She felt the weight disappear from her fingers. Rey watched as Ben removed the ignited saber from behind his back. She couldn't see the reaction of who he was fighting, but she could imagine they'd backed up at the sight. Ben had lowered the blue saber to his side and then sent out a challenge in the form of a gesture that reminded her so much of his father that her heart skipped a beat. And then he was gone, the door of the bond had closed again.

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His weight shifted to the right and Ben swung the blue saber in an arc that backed the Knights up even further. He wasn't about to allow them to get too close again. One of them didn't move fast enough, the blade sliced across Ushar's helmet and he fell back. The other five immediately went into defensive mode. They'd sparred with him often and Snoke had never allowed them to hold back. Nor had he allowed Ben to pull his strikes or dance around the fight. He was all power and violent action. The only difference this time was that Ben didn't actually want to be fighting these men. There was nothing inside him that wanted to take their lives, but he knew there could be no other outcome. The Knights of Ren were trained from the time they could walk, and they were single-minded in their pursuit of orders. Their current orders were to kill him, and he wasn't under any illusion that he could change their minds.

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Rey reached behind her for the second lightsaber, Leia's saber. The inlaid handle was cool in her hand and the weight was perfect for her smaller hands. This truly was a weapon designed for a woman by a woman. It felt like an extension of her arm in a way that Luke's never had. It feels right.

The pretorian were stalking toward her, their red robes swirling about their booted feet. Their red energy weapons at the ready. A blast came from somewhere behind her, she deflected it with the Force; it slammed into the shooter's chest. He crumpled to the ground. She sent more blaster fire sailing past into another guard on the other side of the circle.

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Ben continued to cut through the men he'd once led with little regard as to how they fell. He could feel their hatred of him through the Force. He could give no quarter or leniency with them; he'd be skewered by their deadly weapons if he did.

He'd killed two, four were still trying to separate his head from his shoulders. He called upon every ounce of training he'd ever received and threw it into his fighting style. It was an effort to confuse them. Ben felt it the moment one of them got behind his back, leaning over he laid the saber along his spine allowing the potentially lethal strike to shear up and away from his vulnerable body. He blew out a breath before quickly spinning to reengage his enemies. Using the Force, he thrust one of them backwards into an open pit before stabbing another one through the chest.

The last opponent was several meters from him, allowing the Force to flow through him and carry his weight he leapt toward the final Knight. Twisting in the air, he grabbed the shoulder plate and landed in a balanced stance behind Vicrul and drove his blade through from the back. He felt the weight give way as the final block between him and Rey died at his feet.

He stopped for a moment, taking in what he'd just done. And then he'd tried to reach out to Rey, but her mind was engaged in a battle that he didn't dare distract her from.

Spinning, he took off running toward the main chamber. The one where he'd first met the Emperor.

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Rey called upon the force to throw the red-cloaked guards away from her even as she drove Leia's lightsaber through another one of them. They continued trying to take her down with blaster fire, which she easily deflected into their quickly dwindling ranks.

The Emperor watched the entire thing with building anger.

Dropping down, Rey sent the energy pulsing through the Force and slamming the guard into the stone floor before she sent him flying backwards into a ventilation shaft. Tufts of red shot upward as he was torn apart by the powerful blades.

The last guard had been thrown several meters away and when she turned back to finish him. She was frozen by what she saw. Something pulled the guard away and he skimmed across the rock away from her revealing Ben Solo.

He wasn't wearing any of the armor she'd always seen him in as Kylo Ren. He was simply Ben. The blue of Luke's blade lit the area around him, and she'd never seen anything so glorious in all her life.

He closed the distance between them, saying nothing as he stared at her. He didn't have to say anything, everything that had needed to be expressed had been in the one tiny nod. They were together on this. His face was battered; and he was breathing hard, but he was alive…and he was here. They turned as one unit, lifting the twin sabers in a show of unity and defiance.

"Stand together, die together." He bit out the threat through blackened lips. His face twisting into sick version of a human expression. Lifting his hands, he accessed the darkside and captured both Rey and Ben in a Force hold they were helpless to escape. The lightsabers went skittering across the rock floor. He lifted them up and pulled their bodies closer. He wanted to see their eyes when he filled them full of Force lightning. To hear their skin as it sizzled under the might of his power.

The rebound of power that shot out of them was wholly unexpected. It hurt and it began to immediately regenerate the necrotic tissue of his decaying fingers. Life Force? He stared at them as new knowledge dawned upon him.

"The life force of your bond…a dyad in the Force." He held up his hands watching with fascination as he was restored. "A power like life itself."

Ben watched with a sinking realization as Palpatine discovered another way to rule the galaxy. This had been his biggest fear from the moment he'd set foot on Exegol. The bond between himself and Rey could also be used to restore life. He hadn't realized it until the moment she'd healed him after their fight. That power wasn't something a Jedi could learn; it was either granted by the Force or it was not. And only a dyad could survive the transfer because it spread the power across two souls instead of one.

"A power not seen for generations. And now the power of two restores the one true Emperor."

It felt as though someone was sucking her very insides out through her chest. The pain was indescribable as her body began to weaken. Rey couldn't stop the cry from slipping past her lips. She wanted to look at Ben, to see if he was hurting too, but she couldn't move.

Ben never made a sound. He'd endured agonizing pain before, and he'd learned to do so in silence. His body shook with the power that was siphoned away from him. His soul cried out to Rey, trying to beg her to hold on a little longer. And suddenly it was over.

Unconsciousness wrapped around his awareness like a black shroud. He couldn't have fought it if he'd wanted to, but he'd already seen Rey collapse and he couldn't feel her inside his head. If she was dead, then he didn't want to survive anyway.

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Slowly, awareness returned, and Ben could feel every blow he'd taken over the past few days resonating through his body. Pain lit up his nerve endings and exploded inside his head. He felt weak, tired, and a bit disoriented as he rolled from his back to his side. His gaze landed on Rey's unmoving form and his breath froze until he saw her breathing.

She's alive. It was a small victory, but one that he grabbed ahold of even as he willed his muscles to respond. The moment the Emperor felt turn his attention toward Ben, he knew he was dead. The power radiating from Darth Sidious was so overwhelming that it seemed to crush Ben's access to the Force. He couldn't do anything but watch in horror as the darkside reached out through the Emperor and heaved Ben up from the floor.

"As once I fell, so falls the last Skywalker."

Ben was flung away from Palpatine. His body collided with the edge of a great gaping chasm. He felt his right leg slam into the stone as his momentum carried him over the edge. Another outcropping caught the edge of his hip and shoulder and suddenly he was falling.

The only thing he could think of was Rey. She couldn't survive another attack by Palpatine, and Ben couldn't leave her alone to face him. Using every last ounce of strength that he still had, he clawed at the rocks as they sped past his falling body.

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Rey's return to consciousness was painful. Her chest hurt where her lifeforce had been stolen from her. She looked to her left and realized that Ben was gone; she was alone. That scared her more than the evil that stared down at her in contempt. She knew that Ben hadn't left her of his own will, which meant that he'd come to first and Palpatine had done something to him.

Rolling onto her back she stared up at the aerial battle. Her friends were losing, and they were going to die if she didn't find a way to stop it. Her mind wandered back to the forest training run. She'd attempted to hear the Jedi that had come before her but had failed.

Now, at this final moment Rey understood why. She hadn't believed that they were really out there, that she could call upon them for strength and guidance. She sent her Force out from her battered body. Past the resistance fighters and the star destroyers, out into the cosmos and she called with her entire being.

"Be with me." It was a prayer not of desperation but of hope. "Be with me." She watched as another resistance vessel started to spiral down. "Be with me."

She didn't know the names of the Jedi that began speaking to her. But the brilliance of their combined Force energy was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

"These are your final steps. Rise and take them."

"Rey."

A woman's voice, "Rey."

"Bring back the balance Rey. As I did."

It was like suddenly understanding her place in the cosmos. How the entire thing fit together like a tapestry of life. She wasn't alone. She'd never been alone.

"Alone, never have you been."

"Every Jedi who has ever lived, lives in you."

They started talking quicker. Overlapping one another and making it hard for her to understand what each of them said, but she felt every word and the truth behind those words.

"Feel the force flowing through you, Rey."

"Let it guide you."

"Rise, Rey."

And then she heard a voice she did know…Master Skywalker. "In the heart of a Jedi lies her power." She rolled to her knees and forced her damaged body to obey her will. With every voice she heard, Rey felt her power growing. Her breathing was loud and her body was awash in pain, but slowly she managed to find the strength to rise.

Luke wasn't done with her yet, "Rey, the Force will be with you. Always." he said gently.

She called Leia's lightsaber to her hand, igniting it before she'd even fully grasped it. Her path was set before her, all she had to do was walk down it. Burying her grief at the unknown fate of Ben Solo, Rey set her jaw and readied for the fight of her life. This was a fight she would not lose; because she wasn't alone in it. She could feel every one of the Jedi standing beside and behind her, their combined Force energies were at her disposal.

The Emperor stared in disbelief at the stubborn child looking at him with contempt. He stood up, gathering the Force-lightening. "Let your death be the final word in the story of rebellion." He sent the power racing toward his only remaining family in the galaxy. Once she was gone there would be no one that could stand against him.

Rey instinctively caught the energy on the plasma blade of her saber. It burned down her arm and through her body, but she held her ground. Allowing the Force to use her as a focal point for the power of the Light. She poured her anger and her desperation into her stance.

"You are nothing. A scavenger girl is no match for the power that lives in me. I am all the Sith." He ground out as he redoubled his efforts to destroy her.

Rey reached out with her Force and called the second saber to her. Luke's saber. She gritted her teeth, "And I…" Rey waited for the second saber to slam into her outstretched left hand. "…Am all the Jedi." It took every ounce of her physical strength, but she managed to cross the plasma blades augmenting her power shield before pushing forward.

The arcs of Force lightening gathered within her blades and she used the borrowed power of all the Jedi that had come before her to push it back on Palpatine. She was able to bend his power to her will.

Rey saw a moment of true fear on his aged face before the power began ripping him apart atom by atom. It unraveled Palpatine's very essence, not just his physical body. Her own body was beginning to fail, the strength that had driven her to this moment was spent and she wasn't done yet. Push past her limits, Rey held her ground and continued to pour the Force through herself. Every agonizing step she took exponentially increased the power ripping through the Emperor's body; ensuring that he couldn't come back a third time. This was done. She was ending it.

He started to scream as he too felt the scalding pain of defeat.

Rey sent one final push of power out and it obliterated what was left of him. All the power she had been channeling combined with the dying power of the Sith and it exploded outward. Sending a wave of Force energy rippling through the citadel. Rocks were charred and blasted apart, leaving nothing but scorched earth. The dying screams of the Sith loyalists were a distant sound somewhere behind her.

The statues began collapsing as the power sought a release across a physical barrier. Rey turned and watched as the last of her life Force spilled from her body and her legs folded beneath her. She never felt the impact as her soul fled the fading shell of her physical body.

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Finn couldn't believe their luck. Lando had scooped Jannah and him up before the Final Order's flagship could slam into the surface of the planet. They quickly dropped down through a porthole into a cargo bay. They'd done it! They'd actually beaten the First Order and the Sith. He couldn't believe it. He jogged toward the command deck and his entire body went cold as a warm light blinked out of existence.

He stumbled, his body leaning heavily against the bulkhead. "No. Rey." Finn's heart clenched at the loss. This wasn't a victory if they lost Rey; he couldn't lose Rey. They'd started this journey together and they had to finish it that way.

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Ben had felt the clash of power that had splintered the citadel's walls as climbed. He was almost back to the top of the cliff. It had been agonizing to climb with his damaged leg and severely bruised, and probably cracked ribs. His head throbbed in time with his beating heart and his Force energy was wavering in and out with the pain. He grabbed at the ledge and carefully hauled himself back onto the main floor. His chest was heaving with the effort.

He'd barely cleared the edge when he saw Rey lying motionless near what had been the throne of the Sith. Now, it was nothing more than deeply etched lines in stone. Ben kept trying to access their bond, but there was nothing except a blank space where Rey's light had once lived. There was no warmth or acceptance slipping along that two-way Force bond. There was simply nothing. He hauled in great gasps of air as his body threatened to shut down at this newest blow.

Losing his mother had been devastating, but the sudden loss of Rey was tantamount to torture. Ben didn't want to live alone. He didn't want to go on if she wasn't with him. Why would he? There was no one in the galaxy that would have anything but a death sentence for him, and he would welcome it if meant a release from his isolated life.

He didn't want Rey to save him from that, he'd earned a certain amount of torture. Ben just didn't want any part of this life without her. Grinding his teeth together he started the arduous process of crossing the expanse between the chasm and Rey's body. He accidentally put too much weight on his right leg, and it crumpled beneath him. He landed hard on his left knee and elbow, his face nearly colliding with the ground, he gathered his waning strength and forced his body back on his unsteady legs. Holding his ribs to try and alleviate some of the pain, he limped the last few meters.

She never moved, never turned over to see who was approaching her. Knowing her as he did, Ben knew that wasn't good. Rey would never allow someone to sneak up on her if she could help it; which meant that she couldn't help it. Sorrow stole his breath for a moment, and he had to remind himself to keep drawing air into his lungs.

Ben allowed his body to fall forward, landing on his hands and knees. His eyes focused in on Rey's beautiful immobile face. She was battered, just like him, but her expression was frozen in the wide-eyed stare of death. No. No. No. No. No. No. He repeated it inside his head over and over, willing it to be true and knowing that it wasn't. He stared at her for a few seconds before he shifted his body around, allowing himself to settle back with her across his lap.

Her body was still warm, but it was starting to turn rigid with death. That sent spikes of despair coursing through him. Ben pulled her against his chest as he shifted his weight and her head fell away. Those dead unmoving eyes were perhaps the worst thing Ben had ever seen. She'd been so animated in life and looking into her uncomprehending face was like having icy water thrust at him. He couldn't avoid it or forget what he'd seen, and he couldn't accept it.

In his desperation he looked around for anyone that could help them. Maybe one of the Sith loyalists or…but there was no one. He was alone, again. But this time it was so much worse, because he'd seen what he could have; what they could have been together. It wasn't supposed to end this way. He gathered her against him and pulled her into a hug. He had seen their lives together so clearly that he'd assumed they would walk away from this battle, together. And now he would spend the remainder of his days regretting the time he'd wasted as Kylo Ren. Because that was all time he could have spent with Rey; he couldn't never get that back.

Ben willed her body to start breathing again, to wake up and wrap her arms around him too…it didn't work. When he lowered her from his shoulder, her head rolled back into the same position and her eyes remained wide open and dead.

For a moment he wondered if this was what his mother had felt the moment that he'd run his father through? He thrust that thought away in disgust. Don't go down that road. Not now. This isn't the time to be feeling sorry for yourself for your own actions.

As he considered what life would be like, he knew he couldn't live that life. Better for them to both be dead than for one to live without the other.

He was so lost in his grief that it didn't occur to him to wonder why there was still a body. If Rey was dead, why hadn't her corporeal form been reabsorbed back into the Force?

TBC…

Author's Notes: Okay, so Finn made it briefly into this chapter and Poe will join him in the next one. As I was re-watching Return of the Jedi, it occurred to me that Rey didn't fade away the way Jedi are supposed to. The way that Ben faded away almost immediately after giving his life force over to her…why not? What does that mean for one half of a dyad? Can they be brought back through other methods than someone dying in order that they might live? That's where we're heading…so hang in there, it's going to be a bit rough.

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