Well, back to the grind.

This chapter should be quick, but it might not be depending on where I think I should end it. I have this whole battle leading to one event, so I don't want to rush it.

I have a clear path laid out for this battle but I'm not sure how to format it

I'm prolly going to break up this battle into parts I II and III, for my own sake so I don't make a 10,000 word chapter that takes 3 weeks to make.

The chapters will be shorter, but this helps me get them out to you guys faster, which is all I want to do. I've never had a story this popular, so I really want your guy's input on what I should make.

I have clear archs for Ben, Rey and even Finn (Which I can't explain which cuz it'll give the story away) but I want your opinions on what you also want to see.

Even though the endpoint might be the same, what happens along the way can be decided by you.

Do I need your ideas? No, not at all. I just love it when a story becomes a living breathing thing, and with your help I can.

In my opinion, I think this story would be great without any suggestions; but I know from experience that seeing your ideas come to life by someone who can write them well is a great feeling.

Anyways, happy reads.

Part II

Thanks for reading all my nonsense!

- London


Rey ran to the window, blaster shots cracking the air sending pulses of energy through the air. She hit the wall with a thud, more shots seemed to hit their building, sending sizzling shards of brick falling down onto the street.

"Top right!" A solider yelled just next to Rey as she took cover behind a low wall. She glanced to Ben, who had asked for a blaster, and was now shooting out a doorway. The shots seemed to gather intensity, Rey turned off her saber and reached for her thing. Hurry up! She thought in the heat of the skirmish, she reached and undid her holster and took out her small hand cannon.

"I'm hit!" Another solider yelled in a grimace, Rey watched him fall backwards clutching his collarbone area, sensing their need for support, Rey peaked over the edge to pear out the window. Multiple stormtroopers lay on the street, dead or wounded by Dvorak's men. Taking a quick head count, Rey saw about 8 stormtroopers left, she brought her blaster up with two hands and fired at a trooper who was peaking over an abandoned speeder.

Miss, going wide right by a few inches.

Shit, c'mon Rey focus! She internally rallied herself, it had been a minute since she had last touched her blaster. She ducked quickly before firing again, another trooper had shot at her. The shot landed a few feet behind her, breaking the tile on the lobby floor. Rey exhaled and stood up, aiming at the trooper who had just shot at her.

Miss, this time hitting a nearby lamppost.

What the hell! Rey hit the blaster to her head. Shooting clearly wasn't going to work. Glancing over at Ben, he seemed to be shooting fine. It must be the Solo in him. Peaking her head above, she noticed the speeder was quite small, and that two other stormtroopers had dropped due to the stellar shooting of the Resistance squad.

"Rey, shoot!" Ben yelled, looking at his Jedi lady friend not doing anything, just looking at the troopers. Rey ignored him and stood up, sticking her hand out the air bended in the sound of the force. Ben smiled, realizing what she was doing. Rey closed her eyes, her arm shaking as the speeder lifted of the ground. The Resistance troopers noticed this and stopped firing, while the stormtroopers stopped firing and turned at the speeder.

In a flick of her wrist, the speeder was sent hurling into the small gathering of stormtroopers, squishing them against the wall of the building like bugs. The shooting stopped in an instant after the dust settled in the street . Rey shot her eyes open, many of the Resistance squad turned to her, and the street had grown spooky silent. The only sound that could be heard was the creaking of the metal on the speeder. Rey took deep breathes, looking at Ben, who looked over at the speeder and the dead stormtroopers, shocked but happy that Rey used her powers.

"I shot." Rey joked, beaming a smile at Ben. Rey, feeling somewhat empowered by her latest show of strength. Even after everything she had done for the light-side already, it was good to know she hadn't lost any power from the time when she was 'dead' on the floor on Exegol. Dusting herself off she opened the door to exit, the glass had been broken by the blaster fire and whatever remained was knocked out by the Jedi as she stepped out. The other troops exchange murmurs with each other, but follow her out. Ben smiled, watching her leave. Even in combat she is beautiful... Ben thought inwardly, staring at her side profile.

Soon the others were all out of the building, and Rey had left Dvorak take the lead with her and Ben bringing up the rear. Once outside, the sights and sounds of the aerial battle were clear. Rey watched as the scores of X-wings and TIE fighters moved chaotically in the dance of death above her head. Small arms fire could be heard at every angle, so the group hugged the right side of the street, pressing up against the brick and stone of the walls. Rey saw that some of the speeders were abandoned and some were destroyed, still smoldering.

"How many clicks until we reach the civilian hold out at city hall?" A corporal called from the mid section of the line of troops. Dvorak turned his head to address his squad, Rey felt Ben bump into her from behind. Startled at first, but relaxed when she noticed he was just gazing at the sky. He must have not noticed the group had stopped for a second as Dvorak explained.

"We are about 4 clicks south of our destination, with all the help we could get, we avoided most of the First Order patrols..." Rey started to block him out, hearing the force call to her. Rey heard the cries of young girl, much like she was back on Jakku, and the sounds of blaster fire coming from down the street. she stood, frozen in shock. They are going to fire on children... She quickly snapped out of her trance and ran to the front of the pack, Ben looked at her confused.

"We need to hurry!" Rey called back frantically as the squad watched her run past, none of them moved with her. Rey wondered why they didn't follow, she stopped and turned to face them. "That is an order!" The fighters nodded and rushed after her, abandoning their zone and sweep plan. Ben still didn't know why, but he trusted her enough not to question it.

The group ran quickly down the street and the Capitol building came into view moments later. First Order troops encircled the parts Rey could see, engaging in combat with some civilians who took up arms. Troop carries were hovering near the roof, trying to land a squad on top to crush the rebellious people. Rey looked at Dvorak

"Tell the X-wings to give us air support on our assault of the Capitol, tell them its an order!" He nodded, put his hand up to her ear and told the coms they needed air support on their position. Once the order had been given out, Rey dashed forward once again, this time with greater speed. The foot solider who were trained to run, were barely able to keep up. After a few seconds of running, Ben realized at the speed they were going, it posed a risk to them.

"Rey, slow down!" Ben yelled from the back of the group, the sounds of fighting and the roar of ion engines building as they approached. Rey turned to face him, she opened her mouth to speak but before a single word got out, a tie came crashing down not even fifty feet away from where she stood. In the ensuing explosion, Rey got knocked to the ground, and bricks and stones from the building it struck raced towards the other members of the squad.

The soldiers in the squad ducked at the blast, brushing themselves off. Ben looked around for Rey as the dust settled, loud booms and crack from the lazer cannons echoed in the street as the dogfights above, while small arms fire from the capitol made its way to Ben's ear. He still couldn't spot Rey.

'Rey!" Ben called, while Dvorak was on one knee helping his private up. He looked around frantically, eventually he stopped her. Rey was getting up from the middle of the street. She was covered in the dust and small bricks that had crashed down onto her, she was bleeding from a small cut above her left eyebrow. Ben ran over to her, getting on a knee like the Sergeant just was to help her up. "Rey, we can't go in so fast!" Rey gave him a glare as she stood up "We need to wait for your air support to clear out some of those troops, we would get slaughtered!" Ben held her arm still, looking into her eyes, he saw a tear drop down her cheek.

"We can't slow down, Ben!" She jerked away from him grasp, looking at the Capitol just a block away. "Innocent people, kids, are going to die if we don't hurry." Rey turned back to face him, glancing at the group of soldiers who waited for them to return.

"So will they, if we don't wait!" Ben said, giving her a look as another tie crashed behind them, this time much further away. Rey stomped her feet, giving him an icy look.

"I will go by myself if I have too." Rey proclaimed, before taking out her saber and turning to leave. The blue blade shot out, illuminating her face and humming over the noise of the battle. Ben looked back at the squad, before grabbing Rey's hand, stopping her forward motion and turned to face him angrily. "What?" Ben nodded towards the squad who were still waiting for an order.

"At least tell them to hang back until you're ready for their support." He said, unsheathing his saber from his hip as well. Rey nodded, and ran back to Dvorak. Ben waited and watched as Rey exchanged words and nods. Pointing towards the building, the Sergeant handed her a coms device and patted her shoulder. Rey hurried back, the dog fighting in the sky had grown more intense by the sounds of it. Ben looked up, and indeed swarms of tie's and X-wings danced with death. Rey brushed by him, looking into his eyes when he looked down at her.

"I will see you when I'm finished." She said, looking up and down at him. Truth be told, Rey wasn't nervous about what she was going to do, she was more worried about whether or not she was in time. Ben laughed, which caught Rey by surprise.

"I'm coming with you." He said firmly, walking ahead of Rey. "I'm sure you don't need my help, but I won't let you go alone." He didn't look back at her when he said this because he was too worried Rey would sense his emotions, his feelings, for her. Those which had always been there, but he was to scared to admit it. Rey grew a smile, she didn't want to go alone; but like Ben with his feelings, she was to afraid to admit it.

"Thank you, Ben." She whispered before running after him, quickly brushing past him and taking the lead. Rey couldn't help but smile as she charged into battle with Ben trailing not to far behind her, after all, only he could make her stomach fill with butterflies in a moment like this. As the air danced over Rey's face, she remembered her life on Jakku. How lonely it was, how desperately she wanted a family. Now that she had found one in Finn, Poe and BB-8, she would do anything to protect them, and help them. But these feelings for Ben were different, they always had been different, but now was not the time to figure out herself. Just wait Rey soon you will have all the time in the world to figure him out. Lost in her thoughts, Rey hadn't noticed that the Capitol building was right in front of her. She skidded to a halt, with Ben bumping into her from behind.

"Why did we stop?" He asked, getting to her left as Rey dropped down onto her stomach. Ben did the same, no longer confused anymore.

"Look." Rey whispered to him, scanning the horizon in front of her. They needed to be quick, but Rey knew you had to know what you were up against before you made your attack. Already gifted at using her surroundings, due to her time as a scavenger, she scanned the street.

What she saw was challenging, that was clear, but doable.

They lay at an intersection just south of the buildings main garden, which was also its entrance. There was a large black fence, with many holes in from the shooting of the storm troopers, which protected the garden that was about 80 feet long. Some of the trees were on fire, bushes and flowers were trampled by the large fight that had taken place. From the looks of it, the city people had managed to keep the stormtroopers at bay and fled deeper into the building. However, they were out numbered.

On the street were multiple troop landers, some that had just arrived before the X-wings cleared the skies above. Rey observed their potions, and the scores of stormtroopers around them. Each lander carries about 20 troopers, Rey thought, scanning the lawn and street. Judging by the bodies on the ground, hmm... it looks like one hundred and twenty troopers we need to take out. Rey took a breathe

"Alright, Ben." She spoke softly but firmly, getting his attention. "See those two landers?" He nodded, and Rey pointed "It looks like they are new, so I want you to take those out-" She paused, looking to the left where the other three landers. "While I get those ones." Ben nodded again, and Rey looked at him. "We need to be quick, the first two are close together for me- but the second it already on the lawn. If you finish before me, make your way towards that one." Rey finished and looked back at the gathering of troopers. They seemed to be waiting for the order to attack. Rey also noticed now that they had two artillery cannons being set up, ready to fire at the building.

"Judging by their formation," Ben said, nudging Rey's arm to get her attention "They are getting orders on how to attack." He paused for a moment, gazing into Rey's beautiful hazel eyes. Regaining his focus, he continued. "This process takes a while, due to the command structure... if we hit the fast and hard without being seen on approach, it should catch them off guard and allow us to be swift." Rey opened her mouth to reply, but nodded instead. The plan made sense, all they had to do was go for it. Rey looked into Ben's eyes

"You ready?" She whispered, without looking away from him. Ben nodded, gazing back at her eyes, they were magical. Rey waited for his response, but he was lost in her eyes again. "Ben, are you ready?" Her tone was louder, snapping him out of it. Ben blinked a few times

"Y-yes. I am." Rey nodded neatly, before getting up from her prone position and crouching low. Ben got up, and dunked instead of crouched. Both went off to their separate directions, eventually to meet up at the fountain in the center of the lawn.


Rey unholstered her saber from her hip, but did not ignite it just yet. She slunk like a cat, her red outfit might have stuck out like a sore thumb, but Rey was sticking to the shadows.

Approaching the landers was a tricky process, she had told Ben what the main plan was, but it was a skeleton compared to what actually needed to be done. She was only a few meters away now, and stopped next to a trashcan to get one last look before she made her attack.

So... if I go around the back of the lander, I could take one or two of them out before I would need to go on the defensive... but hmmm Rey bit her tongue, thinking hard about what next. If I go from the front, I could expose my back to the other carrier... She glanced over to where Ben was supposed to be, he was waiting behind a carrier just like she was. Shit! If he attacks before me, my landers will notice- I need to time it perfectly... Rey noticed Ben was moving towards the right side of the carrier. Now or never Rey... top, left or right... if I start at the top, no- bad idea... She thought hard for another moment, but her time was running out.

"Back it is..." she whispered to her, slowly walking towards the end of the carrier. They would be a trooper or two waiting at the end, and she was going to use him as a shield. Rey braced herself against the cold metal of the lander, slowly dragging her hand across it to get a good feel for the objects on the other side. A neat force trick that was very useful in battle.

Aha, nine troopers... wait- where is the tenth? Rey stopped focusing on the people behind the wall, and saw the missing trooper a few inches in front of her. His plaster was aimed right at her chest. How could I have been so dumb... Rey hissed at herself

"Stop right there!" The voice came through the helmet, Rey reached for her saber, igniting it in the hum of blue. The trooper saw this, and reacted instinctively by ramming his blast up into Rey's face with blunt force.

"Ah-!" Rey's head flipped back, at the same moment fiery pain shot through Rey's nose and face as she stumbled backwards, seeing stars she somehow managed to keep a grip on her saber. Dazed and reeling from the upper cut, she fell to onto her bottom, one hand reaching for her face. Her nose was bleeding, she grimaced at the pain before regaining her focus. She was lucky that the trooper had not gone to kill her, but rather capture her as he had reached down and grabbed her right arm.

"Come here, girl." The trooper said with venom in his voice. Rey slowly regained awareness for her surroundings, her eyes wide she took the saber in her left hand and jabbed it through the troopers torso as he bent over to detain her. The blow to her face was just enough to piss her off, using the pain to sharpen her already deadly vision.

The trooper dropped dead to her side and Rey stood up, wiping the blood off her nose and upper lip with her arm, before quickly dashing out from behind the lander. Much like a leopard pounces on its prey, Rey attacked a trooper who was coming around the corner. She launched herself of the ground, grabbing his arm with one hand, and using the saber to strike a blow with her other. The head of her victim fell to the ground with a thud, getting the attention of the remaining eight troopers. Rey sneered at the sight of them turning to face her, blasters aimed for her head.

"Shoot her!" One for them called before a hailstorm of blaster fire rained down on her. Quickly, Rey deflected each of the shots that would have landed on her small frame, sending them off into various directions, one even returned to hit one of the troopers who hadn't taken cover yet. Rey focused had, moving her wrist and warms precisely. Rey knew she couldn't just stand in one place deflecting all the incoming fire, and quickly darted up and onto the lander still deflecting the shots that came close to her.

"She's on top!" One cried out, getting the attention of her next opponent- who was quickly dispatched by a saber blow as Rey jumped down onto of him, sinking her saber into his head. Now vulnerable to shots, Rey force pushed the body of the trooper into a group of four standing inside the lander, knocking them down for enough time for Rey to unholster her pistol and fire onto a trooper hiding behind a weapons cache. Her shot was accurate, going through the lens of his helmet, killing him instantly. With him gone, Rey only had the troopers inside the lander to deal with before she could move onto the next lander.

"Unit 7 needs backup on-" The trooper had no time to finish his call for help as a shot from Rey's pistol had entered his chest. As if it wasn't enough, Rey charged into the lander, saber drawn in a jabbing position. The three remaining troopers were not expecting the speed at which the Jedi came at them, with her first charge impaling the core of one trooper. The others shot at her, but only managed to hit their fallen unit member who was still on the end of her blade.

"Go to hell!" Rey called in anger, kicking the dead trooper off her saber, she reached out and force pulled one of them onto her blade, only stopping once he had reached the hilt. The troopers arms went limp and his body fell the ground like his entire unit before him, the metallic clunk of his body hitting the floor echoed inside the hollow lander. Rey turned to look at the last remaining trooper had no hope in defeating Rey, and he recognized this.

"Please, mad'am." He dropped his weapon and put his arms up in surrender. "I don't want to die." His voice quivered through the static of his helmet. Rey looked at him, he was clearly a low ranking storm trooper, she realized she was taking deep breaths and her grip around the saber was constricting. I lost myself for a bit.. Rey thought, and in a show of humanity, she turned off her saber. Once the blue blade was gone she could hear the sigh of relief from the trooper. "Thank you mad'am." He said, his voice still quivered.

Rey stepped over the white body of his fellow storm trooper and approached him. Doing good, felt good, and she didn't want to kill him in cold blood. That's something a Palpatine would do.

"How old are you?" She asked, stepping up to him. This trooper was slightly taller than her, so she figured he was young, and Rey could sense his fear. He tightened his stance and answered back without skipping a beat.

"I am seventeen, ZA-4509, Infantry." His answer was so formal, so lifeless, it pained Rey to know the training and brain washing he had to go through; and he was only seventeen. She put her hand on his arm, showing him it was okay.

"Well- I'm going to call you er-" She paused for a minute, thinking of a name like Finn's. "Your new name is Zach, I'm Rey, and I'm giving you a chance to run." Rey couldn't see the expression on his face, but she could sense his overwhelming feelings joy. "But, Zach, you can't go back to the First Order." She felt his excitement die "You need to run away, shed your armor and run down the street. You can start a new life, I'm giving you this second chance."

Rey didn't expect him to take off his helmet so soon, but he did. Zach was a dirty blonde with blue eyes, who looked scared out of his mind. Rey looked into his eyes, and took a step back, motioning for him to run.

"If you leave now, they will think I killed you." Rey noticed his eyes followed hers, he looked star struck. "They won't chase after you for treason." Zach slowly nodded, and took a step forward his legs were wobbly.

"Thank you, Rey." His voice was soft now that his helmet was off, and he took a few more steps towards the exit of the lander, before turning to Rey who was watching him leave. "I will never forget this, I promise." Rey smiled, feeling a new ray of light fill her being. Zach slowly walked out, but quickly started to run down the street. Rey sighed, the light side will always prevail... she thought, looking down at the body of the trooper she had killed. I'm sorry I had to kill you.. she thought solemnly as she slowly stepped out of the lander into the day light. Not a second had past from when Rey had stepped out into the open then to when she heard the distant call of a storm trooper.

"Fire!"

Rey jolted around to see where the voice had come from.

Fuck...

The other lander had witnessed the fight Rey was just in and had turned the small artillery around to wait until she would step out to fire at her.

Without a seconds notice, Rey felt the blast of an explosion just meters away from her. The red glare of ion cannon filled her vision as she felt the power of the explosion lift her body like a rag doll and toss her petite from yards from where she last stood. Rey tried to grab onto something as she flew through the air, but the blast had her ears ringing and her core shaken.

This is how I die; again, I guess..

Rey thought to herself, expecting to feel the violent impact from the ground, but she never felt it. The concussive shock wave had sent her brain into a deadly game of ping pong with her skull, Rey was unconscious long before she would hit the ground.

The world was nothing but black for her now.

She drifted in the limbo of her own mind, aware of her thoughts but not of her body or her pain.

I'm sorry Ben...

This was her last thought, before even her state of limbo gave way to nothingness.


I'm already sorry about the cliffhanger.

I really, really didn't want to put it in, but damn it felt sooo good to type.

Its pretty late on a school night, for me to still be up and working on this, so you better appreciate it.

Drop a review to show your support, it can be criticism or ideas you want to share; all are welcome.

Pray for Australia, by the way.

Until next time,

- London