Nothing is Ever Truly Over
Chapter Six
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The hovering casket within which Lando's body laid was pushed onto his ship. It was a day of mourning one of the galaxy's most beloved heroes. A loquacious man who, while known to deal in the illegal side of galactic affairs, never lost his sense of morality.
A crowd of people – Coruscanti residents and reestablished Senate members alike as well as Resistance members – had turned out to the landing pad to mourn as his family took his body back to their home. The pure sorrow in the air was so thick that it made one wonder if the humidity level had increased due to just how many tears were shed.
When the ship took off, everyone stayed to see it off, showing their respects to the deceased General until the very end. Once it was no longer within visible range, they split up and went their separate ways; to grieve in their own ways.
Far behind the crowd, Rey stood close to the entrance to the Senate Dome, distantly observing with her hands behind her back. Her skin had paled noticeably shortly after murdering the General. What was once sun-kissed skin had now become a sickly, whiter shade. Her face was stone cold, but close observation would note the slightest uptick of the corner of her lips.
She was detached from the whole affair. Though she knew Lando personally, she felt justified in killing him because he was in her way. Hence, she felt no guilt. And it was weakness if she did. She remembered what she was told by herself on Tatooine: 'to love is to die, and to kill is safety.' Such a beloved figure meeting their end matched that train of thought, and only reinforced her belief that she was right. Her restrained glee was in response to coming one step closer to realizing her goal.
As the crowd of mourners dispersed, Rey turned on the spot with a swish of her cloak, her determined strides leading her back into the Senate Dome. She had purpose, and would not stop until she saw it fulfilled.
Meanwhile with the Resistance, they prepared to head back inside, too. It was a difficult morning for them all, to find one of their Generals dead without explanation.
Chewie let out a mournful moan. Yet another of his family was gone. First little Ben, then Han, then Luke, then Leia, and now Lando. He honestly didn't know if it could get any worse.
Kaydel really felt for the Wookie. She was nearly moved to tears herself just from how much sorrow filled his moan. She gave him a comforting hug. Chewie returned it, but his sadness was still prominent.
Jannah couldn't control her anger at the situation and punched a pillar as hard as she could, and she instantly regretted it when the flash of pain registered.
"AGH!" she cried out of anger as well as the pain which reverberated through her hand and up her arm. She shook it, trying to wring out the pain.
She had grown close to the General, had looked up to him for guidance during the short time she knew him. So his death hit her especially hard.
Poe felt guilty. He couldn't help but blame himself. He knew he wasn't strong enough to lead a government, but he didn't want someone else to fall because of his own inadequacy. It should've been him to suffer the consequences, as he felt he rightfully deserved them.
But a gentle, gloved hand touching his arm thought differently. Empathetic green eyes silently told him that he was wrong, and that while he had a right to be upset, it was not to be because he thought it his fault.
He gave a jerky nod, understanding Zorii's gaze all too well.
Further back, Finn and Rose spoke with Harter Kalonia, Resistance medic.
"What did you find?" Rose questioned.
"The autopsy we did on General Calrissian's body has provided… mixed results," the older woman admitted, befuddled.
The other two didn't understand, either. "What do you mean?" Finn asked.
"For the most part, his body was completely intact. You'd think he just died with no explanation. From what was gathered in his chambers and the position he died, there was no significant sign of struggle. It's like he just let himself be killed."
Rose didn't understand. Why would Lando just let himself be killed? Something didn't add up. "There are zero clues whatsoever as to what happened?"
"Well, there is one anomaly we found. He seemed to have a handful of small yet highly concentrated burns on his torso, in no particular pattern." The elder woman tapped a finger to her lips in thought. "It's most peculiar. The only time I've seen burns like his is when someone got electrocuted, but these burns are even more intense than that. It almost seems as if he was hit by a lightning strike."
"But he was inside," Rose argued. "There's no way he could've been struck by lightning. What, are we supposed to assume whoever killed him could shoot lightning from their hands or something? That's ridiculous."
Finn's eyes shot wide in alarm at Rose's words. As the other two discussed, it dawned on him that it might not be so ridiculous an assumption. But at the same time, his realization was sickening. There was only one person he knew who could shoot lightning from their hands. And it was just impossible for it to be her. It couldn't be.
He had seen Rey and Ren when they fought for possession of that First Order AAL on Pasaana. It had seemed like it was a dead struggle, with neither one being able to pull it closer to them. Until white hot lightning had unexpectedly shot out of Rey's hand and blew the transport to smithereens. He wasn't usually afraid of the Force and what Rey could do with it, but that particular instance was terrifying.
"Finn?" Rose shook him lightly. "Hey, Finn! What is it? Talk to me."
He snapped out of his trance, but he suddenly felt clammy. Logic told him that the only possible suspect was Rey, but his heart refused to believe his best friend would, or even could, do something so dark.
Rose's unwaveringly loyal gaze bored into him. "I-I…" he stuttered, but clammed up. It was just too much for him to even voice the thought, because that made it real.
Her eyebrows went up as she realized what was going on. Whatever it was he wanted to say, he was just too nervous to say it outright and had to be coaxed. With that understanding in mind, she turned towards Kalonia. "Excuse us."
Rose dragged Finn down the corridors of the Senate Dome looking for some place to chat privately. Soon enough she found a deserted break room. Finn numbly allowed himself to be tugged along.
"Finn, what is it?"
"No-no! It's impossible!" Finn shook his head desperately. He didn't even register who was talking to him. He was stuck in that moment of realization.
"Finn!" Rose shook him. She needed him calm. Though, she realized perhaps it may be better if she calmed herself first. "Finn," she repeated, this time calm. She had his attention now. Her eyes patiently plead with him. "What is it you know?"
She saw him shake his head in panicked denial. It confused her. Why wouldn't he talk?
"Finn… If you know something, then you need to tell me." Her hands slid to gently grasp his. She really didn't want to play this card, but he gave her no choice. "It's the right thing to do."
Those words hit Finn with profound meaning. He remembered saying those words to Poe back when he made the decision to desert from the First Order. Doing the right thing was all he wanted. It was what he strived towards.
But in this case, doing the right thing meant turning against Rey, his best friend. And he didn't know if he could do that. As far as he was concerned, she had done nothing to earn such a betrayal.
Yet, at the same time, it was the right thing to do to come forward with information that could help uncover the truth, no matter how absurd. And ultimately, his morally just side won out.
"When we were on Pasaana," he began, "there was a moment where Rey and Ren were having this sort of tug-of-war fight with a transport." Rose nodded, letting him continue. "Neither of them seemed able to bring it closer to them. It was a draw. But then…"
Sensing his hesitation, Rose soothingly ran her thumbs over the back of his hands, trying to coax him to continue.
"… then all of a sudden Rey just… shot lightning from her hand… and blew up the ship." Rose jerked back in shock, but Finn quickly grabbed her hands. "Stop, stop! Listen to me Rose! I only told you this because I trust you not to immediately try to have her arrested. She's innocent, I'm telling you!"
She didn't know what to say. She had a feeling Rey was responsible, but at the same time she thought maybe she was being a bit unfair. Even now, with a testimony that Rey was indeed capable of murder through lightning strike, she thought perhaps she wasn't being fair to her. Who was she to just assume without gathering convicting evidence?
She nodded slowly. "Innocent until proven guilty," she said. At Finn's panicked and betrayed look, she was quick to clarify. "Finn, calm down! I won't tell anyone else, and I get why you don't think she could commit murder. It's unfair to just accuse her without evidence, but you need to understand that she's the only link we can pursue."
Finn started to turn away, but Rose took his face in her hands. She could see the betrayal in his beautifully expressive eyes, and it tore at her heart to see it directed at her.
"Finn…" she softly plead. "I'm not going to go after her. I'm not assuming she killed him. I will keep an eye on her, but that doesn't mean she's guilty in my eyes. I only want to watch her because she might be of help to us. Do you understand what I mean? I just want justice for Lando, like we all do."
It began to sink in that she wasn't against Rey. She was simply looking at it from a logical standpoint and not being blinded by emotion. She just wanted to do what was right, something he admired very much about her. He eventually nodded his understanding.
She began to smile. She was happy that they were no longer at odds with each other. "Good. Now come on." She took his hand and led them throughout the building. "We missed most of Rey's speech."
Because of Lando's untimely death, Rey had stepped in to fill his role as the leader of… well, the Resistance junta. There was really no better way to call it now, but they were trying to create something legitimate. Hence, she was currently giving an induction speech, like an actual elected official would. It was a calculated move, to make it appear as though order was reestablished. Untrue, of course, as there were still First Order holdout cells on the planet.
When they arrived at an empty circular platform, they managed to catch the last of her speech.
"This galaxy has been in turmoil for roughly seven decades now, and not just during the wars," Rey voiced from atop the central podium once used, ironically, by the Chancellor – her own grandfather – so long ago, and in such a similarly underhanded way as him also. Where they differed however, was in her genuine passion. The truth of her passion echoed throughout the whole Senate Chamber. "During the lulls as well, chaos plagued the systems. Not even the New Republic could fix that. Under their rule this disorder was allowed to flourish." Under her black hood, her much more paled face – a result of how steeped in the Dark Side she was – was severe, accusing, and most of all unyielding. "Under my rule, it will end."
Never again would she lose someone to the chaos of war. Not after Ben.
Thunderous applause met her. She had the people's trust. She had presented her argument for order in such a way that it convinced everyone that she was the right person to follow.
Well, except for a few people. One human man in particular with relatively untamed dark brown hair made a tsk sound with his fangs. Distinctly Togruta fangs. "I don't trust her," he remarked.
His green-haired companion snorted amusedly, as if this was a regular occurrence. "Senator Mika Bonteri of Onderon, since when do you trust anyone?" he sarcastically quipped.
"Oh, shut up, Jacen," Mika Bonteri retorted with no real heat as he turned to leave his circular platform, his senator's cape billowing behind.
Jacen Syndulla caught up to his side. "You're just paranoid, man. Ease up."
"Paranoid for good reason," Mika countered as they walked. "I don't know her, and from what it looks, she doesn't seem open to new acquaintances. She won't even give out her last name, for kriff's sake. Plus, did you feel her through the Force? Something about her feels… wrong."
"Well I can agree with that, but let's not be too hasty in judgment." Jacen raised a pointed eyebrow at the man he saw as an older brother. "Didn't Aunt Ahsoka always say to never just assume things about people you've never met?"
The human/Togruta hybrid remembered that very well. "Yeah. She brought it up every time she told me about how she and Dad met. How he wasn't what she expected."
"Soooo…?" Jacen trailed off with a roguish smile, arms spread. Wiggling his eyebrows up and down, he was a real charmer.
Mika sighed in concession. "Point taken."
The human/Twi'lek hybrid nudged his shoulder. "C'mon you grump. Your mom knew what she was talking about." He then took the lead in their walk, turning and walking backwards to keep talking. "If she didn't, we never would've gotten to know those two Nightsisters better. I wouldn't have my Nat, and you wouldn't have your Ana."
"Alright, you made your point!" Mika loudly said, a blush crawling up his pale skin. He grew embarrassed when his love life was brought up.
Jacen laughed heartily. He wasn't much younger than him, but the natural-born pilot always got a kick of just how much older Mika behaved thanks to his grumpier attitude. "Anyway, Mom's been wanting to celebrate ever since Ana and Nat came back, and she picked later today for it."
The son of Lux Bonteri and Ahsoka Tano nodded, though not without a sarcastic 'I knew that already' look stemming from his ocean blue eyes. His Auntie Hera – Jacen's mom – loved gathering their large family together, to the point she'd look for any excuse to bring everyone together, especially more recently when the family started thinning out thanks to the war.
"Afterwards…" Jacen made a point of fiddling the lightsaber hanging off his waist in what Mika liked to consider an uncivilized way. It just hung off a loop, like it was a key on a keyring. He had a rogue's grin peel across his face. "… we could go for a bit of sparring, if you like. You look like you could use it. And since Kylo Ren's gone, we don't have to hide anymore."
Mika's hand gravitated towards the lightsaber holstered primly at his waist as he turned over the offer in his head. It had been some time since he had last used it, and admittedly a part of him was itching to light it up again. Finally, he grew a sly grin and put his hand out. "You're on."
The two friends – as close as brothers – shook on it.
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The Mantis exited hyperspace as soon as the ship reached Tatooine.
"This is definitely it," Cal remarked to Merrin. "I can feel the darkness coming from here."
The Nighsister nodded, silencing the ship's speaker system and putting an end to that throat-singing Outer Rim metal band her Jedi seemed to love listening to before she raised comms with the Mos Eisley Spaceport from the copilot's seat. "Ground, this is the Mantis requesting permission to land. Over," she commed as Cal prepared the ship to enter atmosphere.
The Nightsister got no response. It made her face scrunch up in wary curiosity. It was unusual to get zero response from a spaceport's air traffic control.
"Ground, this is the Mantis requesting permission to land. Over." Her second try gave no further success. She looked to Cal, confused and filled with unease. "There is no response."
Cal hummed in thought. To head down or not was the question. Ultimately, his desire to investigate won out. "Then we land anyway."
Merrin nodded, not surprised by her Jedi's choice, and turned her focus to the monitors.
Cal took them down to land at the spaceport, touching down under the night sky. Merrin picked up her red cloak and donned it, drawing up the red hood, while Cal summoned BD-1 with a quick, "Come on, buddy." The droid jumped to his usual perch of his back, and then they descended down the ramp. As soon as they stepped foot on the sand, Cal could clearly feel the shroud of the Dark Side over Mos Eisley. It made him feel nauseous. "It feels like… like a cloud of darkness is hanging over this place."
The Nightsister agreed, though she was not as affected by the darkness thanks to growing up among it. But after reaching out with her magick, she did make one observation. "There are no signs of life here."
The Jedi didn't believe that, and it showed in his frown. "Come on, there's got to be at least-"
"No, Cal," she interrupted, raising a hand for silence. "I mean it. There is no sign of life in this entire town besides us." Hearing the seriousness in her voice put a barb of fear in both of their hearts.
The last time Merrin had felt such crushing loss in the Force was when all her Sisters were killed all those years ago. For Cal, it had been Order 66. And yet both of them felt just how much loss permeated the Force in Mos Eisley. It was like a bottomless pit of pain and suffering and agonizing loss; like a wound that would never heal.
As they walked through the town – BD-1 jumping ahead to scan everything he could find – the only sounds they could hear were those of their own footsteps and the winds. It was so quiet, like it was a ghost town. It did nothing to alleviate their unease. Rather, quite the opposite: it only served to fester it.
Then, BD-1 beeped in revolt after he scanned something truly and utterly horrific.
Dead corpses plagued the town. The rotten stench of death was so strong they both were forced to cover their noses to stop the nausea from bubbling up. The worst of it, though, was when they caught sight of a child no more than six years old wrapped in the arms of her dead parents. She had a massive wound in her chest, one made by a lightsaber, they noticed. Her dead face was frozen in an eternal scream.
That proved too much for Cal. He bent over and hurled at the revolting horror.
Merrin instantly was at his side soothingly rubbing his back, simultaneously trying to stop herself from hurling also. As parents themselves, the sight of that dead child and her parents nauseated them more than anything else.
He coughed roughly when he was done. "Who could've done this?" he asked, horrified.
She shook her head, unable to answer. She understood how he felt. This was almost too dark a deed to behold, even for her.
"Is that why there's no life here? Because someone massacred this place?" Cal looked around, sickeningly shellshocked by the discovery.
She sensed it was a rhetorical question. He knew the truth, but just had a hard time believing it. So did she.
She reached out again, and felt a pull. Something – or someone, it was unclear – was pulling her towards the open desert. She couldn't tell exactly, but she felt something drawing her there. Whatever it was, she knew they had to find it.
She stood up. "Cal, come on. I feel something. Are you okay to drive?"
"Yeah, I'm good," he nodded, only just getting over the gruesome scene as he shakily stood up. BD-1 took up his favored perch of his back.
The Jedi listened to his woman and found them an abandoned speeder. Merrin only asked that he drive because she was not a great driver. At least, not as good as Cal was. She trusted him more than she trusted herself when it came to piloting vehicles.
Cal quickly got the speeder up and running. "So where are we going?"
"That way." Merrin pointed out into the desert.
And then they were off, hoping to not run into any more horrors.
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"Over there!" the Nightsister pointed to an abandoned homestead in the middle of the open desert.
The Jedi brought the speeder to a stop close to the desert house. He swiftly made his way out and around to Merrin's side to help her out, something the Nightsister was surprised and flattered by. Even in the most serious moments, he found a way to still show his love for her, and it made her feel like that teenager that first met him all those years ago, all over again.
But enough of that. It was time to be serious again. She extended her senses, and knew with certainty what she was looking for was here. "It's here," she let Cal know.
The calling was so strong it felt like it was gnawing at her. Furthermore, she sensed a darkness suffocating it. It gave her a real eerie feeling.
As they approached, Cal noticed something sticking up out of the sand. It looked like part of a staff. BD-1 scanned it, unnecessary because Cal could already tell it was a lightsaber. Even still, something about it felt special. Like it was crying out for help.
Merrin felt much the same. She could just about hear the screaming from the object. It sounded like… like raw agony.
It was strange. Cal picked it up to investigate. He then reached out, using his special Psychometry ability to sense this object's past.
Immediately, he noticed how the lightsaber's yellow blade ominously hummed to life from one end in the past vision.
"No, please! I'm sorry!" he heard and saw a scrapper beg for her life. He was along for the ride as the blade was brought up by a calloused yet feminine hand.
"REY, NO!" he heard a desperate man's deep timbre yell towards him from out-of-sight.
And then, the blade came down, cutting the pleading scrapper down. Simultaneously, he felt an unbelievable amount of agony and heard an anguished scream that seemed to never end. Not even after the yellow lightsaber had brought death and destruction on a level he hadn't seen since Order 66.
Cal was powerless watching from this girl's point of view – Rey, he inferred from the man's plea – as she wielded the Dark Side of the Force like an animalistic, avenging Dark Lady of the Sith.
The screaming continued. It never stopped. This man was in so much pain that it made Cal want to throw up again. It was so sickening, so fear-inducing, so terrible an act.
"Cal!"
Finally, the vision ended. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Merrin, looking at him with deep worry.
When he tried to move, he realized he was on the ground now. He tried to stand up, but immediately fell back down. He was too shaken by the vision he just witnessed. It took a moment for him to realize that the lightsaber was still in his grasp.
"I saw what happened," he started. His voice was not the usual relaxed, sometimes sardonic, tone he normally spoke in. He was frightened. "A girl… A girl called Rey. She killed them. She killed them all… with this."
He lifted the lightsaber to her in gesture. Merrin took his hands into her own, trying to just be there for him. She knew him well enough to know he needed her now.
"Not just the men, but the women and children too. She slaughtered them like animals. She hated them!" He shook his head, unable to even comprehend it himself even after feeling what Rey felt. "Hated them so much!"
"What else?" she whispered, horrified by what she heard so far.
"There was a man… When she killed the first one, there was a man, constantly screaming in agony, like his soul was being ripped apart… He never stopped screaming, not even after she killed everyone. I can still hear it now."
It wasn't long before Merrin realized he wasn't waxing poetic; she could still hear screaming, too. Her hand brushed over the lightsaber, and that's when it felt the worst.
Confused, she reached out again, and she gasped in shock at what she sensed. Now she was sure it wasn't just something calling to her, but someone. "Cal, there is someone in this!"
The Jedi tilted his head, lost. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said!" She stood up, energized like never before as she held the lightsaber up. "There is someone's soul inside this weapon!" She could see Cal wasn't following, so she explained as best she could. "As her prodigy, Mother once taught me about a special ilk of magick that allows you to store a piece of your soul inside an object as a way to tether yourself to the living realm and therefore achieve immortality so long as the object isn't destroyed. It can only be done if you murder someone in cold blood, though. The murder splits your soul, and that piece of soul then goes into the object. We called it a Horcrux."
Cal's eyes went wide at that description. "That sounds… really dark," he said hesitantly. For the first time in his life, he was scared of Nightsister magick. Merrin offered him a helping hand, and he accepted it, standing back up.
"Yes," she nodded in agreement. "It is the darkest of our magick, dark enough to be forbidden. I've never used it myself. To use it at all means to be put to death by the coven."
Now he was confused. "But wouldn't they still be alive? Since they used this magic and put a piece of themselves into this Horcrux?"
The Nightsister shook her head. "Living as a Horcrux is an agony like no other. It is perhaps even worse than total death. The way we see it, it is a punishment that fits the crime." Merrin then lifted the lightsaber to examine it. "But this one is unique. This soul feels split, yet also does not. It feels like it was broken and then made whole again. And now it feels like one part of an even greater whole." She tapped into her magick to investigate more, and the screaming cursed her ears once more. But the mother in her recognized a cry for help, and she was determined to answer. She pushed through, and sensed something most interesting. "This man has an extremely strong bond with someone. Like ours, but even stronger. So strong that he survived even this without losing his mind."
Cal thought he was starting to get it. Perhaps she wasn't insane upon claiming that someone's very soul was inside a lightsaber. But one thing still confused him. "But the girl wasn't a Nightsister. How could she do this?"
"Cal, you and I both know that my magick is just another way of wielding the Force. Any Force-user could wield magick if we taught them how." Merrin put a finger to her grey lips and thought. "Perhaps this was not done intentionally. I have heard of times where a soul is so fractured or so agonized that another piece can break away unintentionally. That may have occurred with this girl." She lightly nodded in agreement with herself. "Yes, and then maybe that piece of soul – the part that belonged to this man – nixed itself onto the nearest living thing." She held up the lightsaber in reference.
"The kyber crystal within," it dawned on Cal. At last, he understood what his woman was saying. But that left one last question. "But what do we do with it, then?"
That left the Nightsister stumped. What do they do with this? Nothing came to her, but at the same time the mother in her refused to leave someone behind when they so clearly needed her help. If only there was some way to bring this man back into the living realm…
She froze as the realization hit her. There was a way to bring people back into the living realm. And she had done it before, a very long time ago.
"I am going to resurrect him," she stated. She then looked to her Jedi, her warm amber eyes pleading with him as she held out her hand palm down to him. "But I will need your help, Cal."
His larger hand gently enveloped her smaller one. "Always," he breathed.
It suddenly hit Merrin again: she was incredibly lucky to have someone like Cal. He would always be there for her, and she couldn't help but fall in love all over again.
She blinked away the nostalgia. Now wasn't the time for daydreaming like a teenager. Someone needed her help now. "I need you to stay connected with me, and help me keep control over this spell." She noticed the slightly questioning look in his eyes, and, with a little bit of embarrassment, revealed, "Malicos was right when he said this power is beyond my control. The spell wasn't supposed to work that way. My sisters were supposed to return in all their previous glory. But instead, they were made into monsters." Then, her embarrassment turned to shame and distress. "And I was just so angry with him and with you that I did not care. What if I make the same mistake again? What if I can't do it?!"
"Merrin!" Cal's voice broke through her despair. She looked into his emerald gaze. "You can do this," he reassured in that gentle, soothing, and understanding tone.
That tone washed away all her worries and self-doubt. Cal always had that special way of breaking through to her. He always believed in her, and it was in that where she found belief in herself.
Sharing a final nod of newfound confidence, they slammed their bond wide-open, allowing their power to come together. Merrin lifted the lightsaber to the sky, directing her whole focus towards it as she chanted.
"Choono slalem denni-" She could feel the power within her and Cal manifest itself as her magick flared. "-tay'lori olee-ay!"
Her eyes glowed a mystic, ethereal green. Her green ichor that carried out her magick swirled up out of her and into the lightsaber. Spiritually, her magick began a painstaking process as it began separating the entrapped soul from the kyber crystal.
She was in a trance as she directed her magick to carry out her will. Cal meanwhile concentrated on feeding his power over to her, and the strain was prevalent from his tightly shut eyes. Their whole focus was directed towards controlling the spell.
Soon, the sand around began to swirl into a whirlwind. The grains began to shape themselves into a recognizable form. Then, black clothes came flying out of the homestead and around the form, most notably a very special black shirt that had a hole in the right abdominal region.
Merrin then felt a change that overlapped with a bright, blinding light shining from the sand form as it completed its final transformation. She sensed she needed to let go now, so she did.
As soon as she let go, she heard a thud as something dropped to the ground, but it wasn't either her or Cal. She couldn't tell for herself what it was as she soon fainted for a moment thanks to exhaustion.
Her Jedi caught her, but quickly followed her example. The drain on his own power was too much to remain conscious, and he fell to the ground for a moment as well.
The former sand form's final form lied before them, rubbing their head as they leaned back on one arm. As the sunlight from the rising suns began to rise from the darkened sky, the son of the light had also risen from darkness.
Ben Solo only had one thing he could say.
"Ow."
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THE PRODIGAL SON HAS RETURNED! Oh man, did a lot happen here! Coruscant mourns Lando, Finn's perception of Rey is in question, Rose suspects her for murder, Rey seizes power in a way her grandfather could respect, most of those with power don't suspect a thing with one notable exception in Mika Bonteri, Cal and Merrin uncover the massacre of Mos Eisley, and then they perform a spell that BRINGS BEN SOLO BACK FROM THE DEAD!
I've been waiting to write Ben Solo's return for a long time now. If you can't tell, he's my absolute favorite character. When I first thought of how Ben could come back, I was just off playing Jedi: Fallen Order, where Merrin is just raising people from the dead left and right. Then, I thought: THAT'S how he could come back! The specifics of what happened with his soul will sound familiar to anyone who's a Harry Potter fan. It's why I gave this project the codename of Projekt Horcrux. My idea of Ben and Rey after TROS was that they were two souls in one body. Then, I got the idea of what could happen if that soul got split somehow into its proper two bodies again, and then I remembered the idea of Horcruxes from Harry Potter. Then everything just fell into place.
The Merrical stuff got a lot longer than I had planned, but I just couldn't help myself. I love them so much! Well, and I also really wanted to write Ben's return so badly that I pushed myself.
Now, I have a confession. I recently became… obsessed with Luxsoka. Ahsoka Tano and Lux Bonteri, from The Clone Wars. Before, I never shipped Ahsoka with anyone, but after I saw all of the episodes with her and Lux, I was like, 'That's the only guy for her.' It got to the point that I found myself creating another OC in their son Mika Bonteri just to satisfy myself and give them a happy ending, because let's face it: Star Wars romances are severely lacking when it comes to happy endings.
The fact that I made another OC at all for this story has me concerned, but in a good way, because I spent so much time creating them and actually fleshing them out, and I KNOW that they're not main characters, which normally means I'm wasting my time but I can't help it. I even went so far as to make all of their names hold a poetic meaning for them, like Star Wars usually does with their character names. And then, I just thought it worked best to tie them all together, and Jacen Syndulla provided me with an excuse to do it. He's an actual canon character, but the only time we see him is when he's a little boy, so we don't see much of his personality other than he really enjoys flying. So he's practically like an OC anyway, as I had to flesh out personality for him as well, which gave me an excuse to create a dynamic with my other OCs and that spiraled into tying them all together and… I don't know, I think it works.
If anyone wants any kind of timeline for Mika's birth, then I've placed it as sometime in between the Rebels season two finale and the series finale. During that time, Ahsoka is completely off the grid, and could be off doing anything. For this story, I've made it so she is with Lux during that time. If you want the gist of it, then just listen to the song "Uncover" by Zara Larsson. That suits the situation I imagine them in very well.
I don't know if I said this earlier, but I want to try and stick to canon as much as possible, but there will inevitably be exceptions. Any piece of streaming media – movies, cartoons, video games, etc. – I will stick to. Books and comics, as well as anything added to the canon after the premiere of TROS, I will choose to use on my own volition. Basically whether or not I agree with it, or if I think I have a better idea.
But, yeah that's it. If you enjoyed, then feel free to follow and favorite and leave a review!