Chapter Twelve

Mortis

A persistent beeping awoke Rey from a fitful slumber. She stumbled out of a bunk in the rear of the Knife 10 and sat down in the pilot's seat. A screen on the control panel stated that she had almost reached the destination she had entered into the navicomputer upon leaving Wavett.

Rey pushed forward the hyperspace lever. The assault ship dropped into realspace. There were no stars or planets nearby, only empty vacuum for light-years around. Rey used her instruments to scan the closest stars, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

Rey closed her eyes. "Mortis," she thought. "Mortis." Her brow furrowed with mental effort.

Nothing happened. Words might have power, but apparently thinking the name of her destination would not conjure it up.

Rey mulled the problem before her. When she started this journey, she had known she would have to use the unfamiliar power of "Sky-Walking" without the aid of a teacher. She thought back to when she had first begun to use the Force. It worked best when she didn't try too hard, instead letting herself act naturally.

Rey breathed in and out deeply and steadily, clearing her mind of worry and tension. Then she thought, not of the name Mortis, but of the images of the world she had seen in her visions…lush forests, snowy mountains, a temple carved in the rock….

She suddenly knew Mortis's location, seeing the path to it as clearly as if she went there every day. Rey reached forward as though in a trance and manipulated the controls. The Knife 10 jumped into hyperspace, guided only by Rey's own intuition.

In the briefing room of the Resistance base on Ajan Kloss, General Leia and a small group of officers and leaders of Resistance cells were gathered around a holotable. Colonel Connix stood next to Leia, determinedly stifling a yawn. The room was distractingly warm, the sweltering heat of the jungle outside overwhelming the secondhand climate control equipment of the base.

"We appreciate what you've brought us, General Syndulla, but what we need are people, not weapons," said Commander Larma D'Acy, her hair tied back with a bandanna.

"I know that, Commander," the Twi'lek General across from her replied in an eminently reasonable tone. "Phoenix Squadron is doing all it can to recruit more personnel. But asking people to leave their daily lives to fight a war is never easy, and it won't be any easier after that broadcast."

A voice floated through the open door leading out of the base. "Hey, Falcon's back!" Connix looked up to see a flash of orange as a starfighter pilot ran by.

She leaned closer to Leia. "May I be excused?" she whispered.

"Yes," Leia granted.

Connix left the shadowy bunker and stepped out into the late afternoon sun. Technicians, troopers, and pilots rushed past, many carrying fire extinguishing equipment. Connix was swept up in the mad dash of people scrambling downhill towards the battered, flaming light freighter in the middle of the clearing.

"Come on, get over here!" someone called.

A man waved and pointed at the ship. "I need a fire crew here! And another one in the back, go, go!

"It's on fire!" Poe shouted, emerging from the cloud of smoke. "The whole thing's on fire, all of it's…it's on fire."

Connix walked up to him and saluted. "Commander."

"Hey," Poe responded, half-heartedly returning the salute. He sounded worn out.

"How'd it go out there?"

"Really bad, actually," huffed Poe. "Really bad."

"No spy?"

"No," Poe replied. "Spy."

"Did we make contact with the spy or not?" Connix asked, annoyed.

"There's a mole in the First Order and they sent us a message," Finn said as he joined them. "It basically told us what we all just learned."

"Wait." Connix held up a finger. "Where's Rey?"

"She went on alone," Poe said. "To look for Mortis. Her choice, not mine."

Chewbacca roared something.

"Hey, we could use a medic over here!" Rose called.

A woman wearing an armband with MED written on it in large letters rushed to the Wookiee's side and opened her field kit, pulling out a healing field generator and some batch bulbs.

Poe said, "I've gotta see the General."

"She's in a meeting right now, but there's an all-personnel assembly at nineteen-hundred. You can tell us all what you've learned then." Connix motioned for Poe to follow her. "Come on, there's something I need to show you."

A pair of blast doors opened. Connix led Poe, Finn, Rose, and BB-8 across the bridge of the captured Star Destroyer.

"Take a look," she said.

Poe stared out the viewport. "Wow."

Before them stretched an enormous orange starbird symbol, painted atop the hull of the capital ship. The "wings" and "head" pointed directly towards the bow.

"Welcome to the Rebel Eclipse," said Connix. "That's what the troops have taken to calling it."

"Impressive," Rose said. "Most impressive."

"It was done by a Mandalorian artist," Connix explained. "Her methods were quite… explosive."

"I'll bet," said Poe, grinning.

"If we hurry, we might be able to catch her before she leaves."

They followed Connix into the enormous armory of the ship. Crowds of Resistance soldiers and mechanics were inside the vast hangar, painting and retrofitting First Order ships and vehicles.

Connix led them towards a cluster of AT-STs with teeth and red stripes drawn on their sides. On top of a movable ladder next to one of the walkers sat an armored figure, spray-painting a zig-zag pattern on the war machine.

"Sabine?" Connix called.

The figure slid down the ladder, landing lightly on her feet. She was clad in orange and blue armor, complementing her orange-tipped black hair. A pair of hefty blaster pistols was holstered on her hips.

"Hello," Sabine said. "I hope you don't mind that I drew on your Star Destroyer, Commander Dameron. I was willing to wait for you to get back, but Leia said I could go ahead, and, well…she's the General."

"That she is," agreed Poe. "And I don't mind. It's an amazing piece."

"Thank you," said Sabine, inclining her head. "For the compliment, and for giving me such a large canvas to work on."

"I'm surprised you know my name," Poe said.

"Are you kidding? I have your poster on my wall."

"You have a poster?" Finn asked, dumbfounded.

"Long story," Poe said. "Tell you later."

Sabine turned to Rose. "You must be Commander Tico. Your mechanics are very efficient."

"Thank you."

"Some of them show real talent. One of them painted a terrific rancor head," she said, jerking her thumb at a walker.

"Poe, who is this person?" Finn asked quietly.

Sabine apparently heard him. "You're Finn, right?" she said. It was more a statement than a question. "The defector? I've heard a lot about you."

Finn looked bemused. "I wish I could say the same."

"I'm Sabine Wren. I'm a rebel…and an artist…and a fair number of other things, too."

"Trust me, Finn, she's been in this fight a long time," Poe said. "How's Phoenix Squadron?"

"We could be a lot better. It's a challenge just to get enough people to fight. The First Order's grip is even tighter than the Galactic Empire's. The Empire at least put on a show of benevolence in the early years, to hide what it really was. These thugs use sheer terror."

"I know. We sent out a call for help at the battle of Crait." Poe shook his head. "Nobody came. Everyone's so afraid. They've given up. Maybe the war's already over, and we just haven't stopped fighting it yet."

"Nah…I don't think you really believe that. Remember: there are more of us."

"Sabine!"

They all whirled to see a green-skinned Twi'lek in a utilitarian jumpsuit walking towards them. She was flanked by a green-haired man about Poe's age and a short, battered, gray and orange astromech droid.

"Sabine, we'd better get going if we want to make the rendezvous with the Ryloth Defense Force."

"Okay, Hera," Sabine said, picking up a rounded helmet and tucking it under her arm. She shrugged at the others. "Gotta go. You'll have to decorate the rest of this stuff without my help."

Poe said, "It was very nice to finally meet you, Sabine."

"You too. Bye." She flashed three fingers in the air in a Starbird symbol as she followed General Syndulla out of the hangar.

Connix looked at Poe. "What's the message?"

A large crowd of Resistance fighters had gathered around a cluster of computer consoles under the cockpit of the Tantive IV. Stragglers joined the group's margins as Poe spoke.

"We've decoded the intel from the First Order spy, and it confirms the worst." He sighed. "Somehow, Snoke has returned."

There was a murmur from the crowd. Finn met Leia's gaze. The General looked down.

Commander D'Acy seemed skeptical. "Wait. Do we believe this?"

"It cannot be," protested Colonel Aftab Ackbar. "The Supreme Leader is dead. The last Jedi herself saw him killed!"

"Dark science," postulated Beaumont Kin. Snap Wexley looked over at him. "Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew."

"I'm the last to doubt Rey's word, but we all saw that transmission. And we got this intel before it," said Poe.

"There were always whispers," Captain Kin said. "That he wasn't really gone, that he had found a way to cheat death."

Poe said grimly, "So Snoke's been out there all this time. Since the Clone Wars, or before. Pulling the strings."

Leia looked at him. "Always in the shadows, from the very beginning."

"He's been planning his revenge," Poe continued. "The First Order—the Final Order—has a new strategy for ensuring control, called Base Delta Omega."

"It's a new form of orbital bombardment," explained Rose. "They can fire a Star Destroyer's axial superlaser into a planet's core, unleashing earthquakes and causing catastrophic climatic damage. It'll kill everyone on the planet, without using the amounts of energy a Death Star or Starkiller weapon would require."

"In seventy-two hours, attacks on all free worlds begin," Poe concluded.

Chewbacca groaned sadly, shaking his head.

"If we want to stop him, we must strike now," said Maz Kanata. "We must rally the galaxy."

"I have the Kyber crystals to activate the beacon. We leave tomorrow," Finn said.

R2-D2 chirped.

"Why, yes, I suppose I am ready for a vacation to Coruscant. It should be much more relaxing than my last trip." C-3PO somehow managed to give the impression that he was inwardly shuddering in horror.

"Very well then," Leia said. "Meeting dismissed. May the Force be with us all."

The Knife 10 dropped out of lightspeed into swirling, roiling clouds of carmine and cobalt, the colours mingling and separating. Violent winds rocked the vessel. Rey guided it through the maelstrom, swooping around plumes of superheated gas and the floating, desiccated carcasses of huge spacefaring creatures. After a few minutes, the nebula parted, revealing an enormous black circle the size of a planet.

The ship rattled as alarms blared. It was being pulled inexorably towards the darkness.

Rey had heard old spacers tell stories of objects like this, supermassive null points in the galaxy from which nothing could escape, not even light. No one really knew what happened to ships that entered them. Were they ripped apart into streams of energetic particles? Spit out into some other realm? Or did they simply float for all eternity in a sea of blackness?

She would know soon enough. Rey pulled back on the lightspeed lever and made the jump into the void. Stars streaked into straight lines, then warped and twisted as she passed into the black hole. Rey saw an image of the Knife 10 before her. The light reflected off of the ship had been bent as it traveled all the way around the gravitational anomaly until it returned to its source. Then there were an infinity of Knife 10's stretching into the blackness, and an infinity of Reys sitting in their cockpits, like in the Mirror cave on Ahch-To.

Images flickered rapidly across Rey's vision, like splinters of her mind's eye:

Finn, covered in dust and lying on his back, takes her outstretched hand/Han Solo hands her a blaster pistol/Kylo Ren reaches into her mind/Leia smiles as she boards the Falcon to find Luke takes the lightsaber Snoke snarls Poe yells "Rey!" Hattaska Ren's electrified mask

…and then it all stopped.

There was a planet in her path. Heavy clouds swirled over part of it. To the left of the clouds was an area of rich green; to the right, barren rock dotted with orange and red points of flaming lava. Distant, unfamiliar stars were visible, but the globe did not seem to orbit a sun. Nevertheless, the world was brightly lit.

Suddenly, the Knife 10's power shut off. The lights on the dashboard went dark as it dropped into free fall. The underside of the ship glowed with heat and caught fire as it plunged into the atmosphere.

Rey tried frantically to restore electricity, but to no avail. The controls were completely dead. The surface of the planet rose quickly, rushing up to meet the crippled craft.

The power flicked back on. Rey heaved back on the throttle, struggling to pull out of the uncontrolled dive. Branches lashed the Knife 10 as it skimmed through treetops. Then it crashed into a riverbed, shuddering to a stop.

Steam rose, vaporized by the heat of the downed ship. Tiny fish leapt out of the water and ran away on stubby fins.

Rey pried herself out of the Knife 10 and sloshed to the riverbank. She looked back at the smoking ship. No turning back now, she thought.

Rey stepped into the dense forest. As she hiked, the leaves changed color at an accelerated rate, green pigment dying as summer became fall.

The trees parted as the ground fell away in a steep ledge before Rey. The valley below was covered in brilliant, shining autumnal reds, yellows, and oranges. Hills covered in greenery floated above, held aloft by no visible support. A line of snow-covered mountains towered beyond them. A stone temple was barely visible at the summit of the highest peak.

She descended into the valley.

Kylo Ren landed his TIE whisper on a stony tor. He emerged from the starfighter and scanned his surroundings. Barren rock stretched away in every direction, occasionally dotted with clumps of dead trees, their bare branches rustling in a chill wind. In the distance was a mountain range, partially obscured by wispy white streaks of mist.

Kylo could feel that the Force was strong in this place. He set off towards the mountains. Soon, white fog had enveloped him. He trudged onwards, unable to see more than a few meters ahead.

A deep gorge appeared out of the haze before him, cutting through the ground. It was spanned by a natural bridge of stone. Tall granite slabs reared on either side, roughly shaped into brutish faces. It felt like a gate; to what, he wasn't certain.

A whisper of wind swirled around him, fluttering his cape. It almost seemed to say something. Kylo crossed the bridge and continued onwards.

As he drew closer to the mountains, the trees grew thicker and more alive, forming a forest. Snow began to fall, covering the trees. Glimpses of the temple atop the mountain broke through the canopy above.

Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing. Ahead of Kylo stood a house, smoke rising from its chimney.

A black-robed figure, a hood covering its head, approached the house. It grabbed the iron door handle and twisted it. The door swung open.

In the doorway stood Han Solo. His hair was graying and his face was beginning to show the signs of years of stress and hard living, but he was not yet the old man he had been on Starkiller Base. He was wearing a beaten, fur-lined brown coat and thick trousers. "What are you doing, Ben?" he asked.

"That's not my name anymore," said the robed figure. Kylo, watching from the shadow of a spiny tree, recognized it as his own voice. There was something different about it, though; it was…younger. The voice of a boy, not a man.

"Your mother can't see you here. Not like that."

The boy pulled his hood down. Kylo caught a brief glimpse of his pimply, beardless teenaged self.

"I'm not coming back," the young Ben Solo said. "There's a greater destiny for me."

His father regarded him with sadness and fear. "It's a lie, son. Empty promises. You have everything you need right here."

"What, you? Her? You were never there for me when I needed you," said Ben bitterly. "My master says I have unequalled power. Neither of you understand."

Han shook his head. "Your mother understands more than anyone."

"She sent me away."

"To learn. To grow."

"I have grown."

Han stepped forward, closing the distance between himself and his son. "Your mother loves you."

"She's afraid of me."

Han's gaze fell to the lightsaber hanging from Ben's belt. It was long and black, with two side vents and exposed wires hanging out messily. Han held out his hand. "Give me the lightsaber, son."

Ben stared at his father, his expression betraying the turmoil inside him. "You know I can't."

The light dies around Kylo. He looks at his father's face, bathed in blood-red light. His grip tightens on the lightsaber.

He plunges the blade into Han Solo. Han's expression is one of shock, sadness. Betrayal.

"Thank you," Kylo says, his voice shaking. He pulls the saber out of his father's chest.

Han reaches up, his arm shaking, and lightly touches his son's cheek. His eyes are full of love even as the life drains from him and he falls away.

Kylo snapped out of the vision. He was kneeling in the snow, disturbed, shaken, and alone once more.

He rose to his feet and took his first steps up the mountain.

Rey scaled the icy peak, blasted by wind and sleet. She reached a plateau and climbed onto it, silently thanking the Force for a brief chance to rest.

Two tall stone statues stood on either side of the ledge. Their features had been partially worn away by time and weather, but one seemed to be a woman with flowing hair, the other a bald man with a sinister expression.

Rey sat down, taking deep breaths of thin, oxygen-poor air. As she leaned against the mountain, the rocks behind her gave way. She tumbled backwards into darkness.

In an underground chamber is a rough-hewn throne, jagged spikes of stone fanned out behind it. Upon it sits Rey, in robes of blackest midnight. To her right hand stands Kylo Ren, maskless and holding his saber at the ready.

A Final Order officer enters the chamber and kneels before them. "Empress, all the preparations have been completed," he says.

Rey orders, "Execute Protocol Base Delta Omega."

Holograms appear in the air above them, showing dozens of planets, each with a Star Destroyer in orbit above it. The Destroyers fire beams of blazing red light from cannons on their undersides. One by one, each world is torn open, surfaces heaving as plumes of smoke and magma explode from their cores.

Rey smiles.

Rey scrambled to her feet. She was in a cave, lit only by the light slanting down from the narrow crevice she had fallen through, around two meters above the floor. She could see no other way out. She felt around on the rock wall for a handhold, but then paused. She sensed…something. A presence.

Rey spun to see her own face, lit by the ghastly crimson glow of two parallel lightsaber blades. She stepped back. Her doppelgänger flipped one of the shafts of energy down on a hinge to form a double-bladed saber like Rey's own.

"Don't be afraid of who you are," the double said, in an oddly comforting tone. She stepped forward and swung viciously at Rey.

Rey barely managed to bring her own lightsaber up in time to deflect her dark opposite's attack. The black-robed figure lashed out with the speed of a striking snake. Rey counterattacked, parried, deflected, and blocked, all in just a few moments.

The double folded her unstable blades together, trapping Rey's own weapon between them. Rey stared at her in horror. The doppelgänger snarled at her, baring sharply pointed teeth.

Rey stumbled backwards and fell through an opening that had been hidden behind a corner of the cave wall. Her lightsaber shut off. She stood up. She was on a narrow overhang of rock sticking out from the mountainside, a dizzying drop before her. A narrow path on one side wound upwards towards the plateau with the statues.

Rey peered back into the cave. She could see only darkness. She turned away from it and continued her climb.

Kylo Ren reached the mountaintop and studied the temple carved into it. Uninterpretable runes, carvings, and symbols covered the façade of the imposing stone structure. A heavy, sealed door was set in the center. Stairs led down from a wide platform before the door to a flat terrace covering most of the height. Opposite the steps, a broad bridge stretched to the tip of a much thinner peak, perhaps a hundred meters away.

Rey stood on the platform atop the stairs, several meters to the left of the door. Kylo climbed the steps one at a time. The white-robed Jedi-in-training and the masked, black-clad warrior of darkness faced each other.

"I knew you would come," Kylo grated.

"How did you know I was still on Jakku? And why didn't you tell Snoke?" Rey asked. "Tell me."

"I looked into your mother's mind. She fought me with everything she had, but it wasn't enough. I saw where they had hidden you. But I also saw you. And that someday, you would fight by my side." Kylo answered. He stepped forward slowly. Rey stayed where she was, determined to not back down this time. "Snoke wanted you because of your power. He claimed he linked our minds, but that was a lie. What Snoke doesn't know is we're a dyad in the Force, Rey. Two that are one."

Kylo stopped directly in front of the stone door. "The living Force binds us together. As my power grows, so does yours. Once I realized we had this connection, I knew I had to protect you. So I buried the information deep in my mind, where Snoke couldn't see it. Even I forgot how much I knew. It wasn't until I returned to Jakku, searching for the map to Skywalker, that I began to remember."

"You let them die," Rey accused.

"There was no way to save them. If I had let them be taken to Snoke, he would have broken their minds. And then you would be dead too." Kylo turned his helmeted head towards the temple. "The Force is strong in this place. Can you feel it? It makes our bond stronger too."

Rey dug into his mind. It was very easy. "You're in pain. Beneath that mask."

"Get out of my head. You won't like what you find." Kylo made a shoving motion. Rey's feet slid backwards a bit, but she held out a hand, using the Force to anchor herself in place.

"I'm stronger than Anakin Skywalker," Kylo lied. "Stronger than his son."

"But you're still afraid."

"Of what? You? Snoke?"

"Of what you've become," said Rey. "The Dark Side has left you empty. Alone."

"I don't have to be alone. With the power of this place, we could rule the galaxy as the Ancients did. The Dark Side and the Light. We'll kill him—together—and take the throne." There was a mechanical click as Kylo pulled off his helmet. He met Rey's gaze.

"You know what you need to do," Kylo breathed, his voice low. "You know." He held out his black-gloved left hand.

"I do," she spat. "You murdered Han Solo…."

"I'm not here for you, Rey."

"Killed thousands, allowed millions of people to die…and you still think I would join you?"

Kylo's jaw tightened. "All I want is behind that door."

Rey ignited her dual-bladed lightsaber. "Then you'll have to kill me."

She swung at Kylo. He retreated and dodged aside, sliding on the smooth stone, as she spun and lunged. Finally, he brought up his own saber. Sparks flew as the energy beams crashed into each other. Then he wheeled and leapt to the foot of the stairs. Rey jumped after him.

A light drizzle of rain fell on Ajan Kloss. Inside the Resistance base, a pair of headphones slammed against the side of a computer console. General Leia pressed her hand down against the control board. She could sense Rey and her son's conflict. At the same time, she felt an ache in her chest. Her time was drawing near; she had accepted that already. She could only hope that the rest of the Resistance would carry on, and that her passing might help her son come back to the light.

Beaumont Kin, Rose, Snap Wexley, and a few other pilots and techs glanced up from their screens as Leia walked slowly towards the rear of the cavern.

"General?" Poe called, walking towards her. "General!"

Maz Kanata halted him. "Leia knows what must be done, Poe. To save her son now will take all the strength she has left."

R2-D2 gave a low, mournful whistle as Connix rushed to Leia's side and helped her along.

"Get Finn and Chewie," Poe told Rose. She ran for the barracks.

Rey cut at Kylo, who parried and backed away, cape swirling around him. The wind had picked up, carrying drops of rain that made the rock slick and slippery. Almost immediately, Kylo had felt outmatched. He was unused to fighting someone wielding a double blade. As soon as he parried one strike, another was rushing towards him from an unexpected direction. He swung wildly at Rey as she lunged, but his saber only scored the stone floor. He barely stopped her next chop with a quillon.

Rey twirled her saberstaff, readying another attack, but Kylo was ready this time. He blocked her downward stroke and made a few quick slices to keep her blade engaged while he attempted to outflank her. She turned to face him, but he locked her sword with his and spun it in an attempt to disarm her. The move threw her off balance.

Rey grunted and stepped backwards, taking a moment to recover before counterattacking. Kylo deflected and ducked, the sapphire saber whizzing over his head. Rey sliced and thrust at him violently, but then paused. Their blades crackled against each other as she stared at something behind Kylo, loose strands of wet hair plastered against her face. Kylo took the risk of glancing back. A dark, ominous storm cloud rolled towards them, thunder rumbling as lightning flashed within.

Rain began to pour from the sky, pounding the grey stone of the bridge as Rey pressed Kylo back onto it. She shouted with effort, teeth gritted, as she spun and slammed her sword against his. Flashes of blue and red lit the water as it sizzled against their lightsabers and soaked their clothing. They hammered at each other relentlessly, completely focused on their fight. There was no time or energy to spare for talk now. Neither of them would give in to the other. This was a battle to the death.

Kylo allowed Rey to continue pushing him back, making careful, controlled counterstrikes and blocking her wild assaults. The weight of Rey's next blow brought them both to their knees, sabers crossed. Kylo pushed up with all his might. Rey's lightstaff slid sideways, but she continued the assault. They traded quick, short cuts as she darted around him to face towards the temple, before making a powerful downwards swing that trapped Kylo's blade under hers. The scarlet saber sank into the stone of the bridge. Kylo pushed it slowly towards her, rainwater hissing as it boiled into steam.

Rey let go and leapt upwards, backflipping through the storm and making a three-point landing a dozen meters away. She stood, sucking in air.

Thunder roared. Kylo stalked towards her through a curtain of rain, water dripping from his chin, his mouth a grim line. He reversed his grip on the lightsaber. No more games, he thought. It's time to finish this.

Kylo sped up as he covered the remaining distance and made a long, backhanded slash. Rey dodged, shunting his stroke aside as he slid past. Kylo turned and pushed his sword towards her, relying on brute strength. She stretched out her hand, using the Force to hold back his fiery saber long enough to parry it with her own. Kylo, however, continued to press his attack, putting his whole body into each blow.

Rey swung in a wide arc, intending to drive Kylo away for at least a moment, but he reached out and held the blade in place, as she had done moments earlier. The energy beam hummed like a nest of Bluebarb wasps, its azure light flaring away from his outstretched hand. Rey sidestepped, freeing the one blade and lashing out with its twin as Kylo hastily raised his own saber. They made several swift strikes at each other, Rey spinning and grunting with effort, Kylo planting his feet firmly on the ground.

Rey stepped back. She was beginning to tire, but Kylo seemed as strong as ever, as though he had access to a hidden reserve of energy. Her only chance now was to keep fighting, hoping that he would make some mistake, leave some opening she could exploit. Rey swung at him, both hands firmly planted on her lightstaff. He parried easily. She took a moment to recover, then swung, spun, swung again. Kylo rotated her sword and locked it with his, then jerked both upwards violently. Rey stumbled away, barely holding onto her lightsaber. She shook her left hand, opening and closing it as she tried to recover from the bruising force that had almost wrenched her hilt out of her grip.

Rey aimed a strike at his legs, caught his lightsaber with her own, and twirled it, trying the same disarming maneuver he had used against her. He turned as well, however, so that they were side by side, swords crossed in front of them. Kylo pushed her away and rained down blows. She deflected the first few, shrieking as each fell, but then dropped to her knees.

Rey suddenly realized that she was going to lose. There was simply no way around it. Kylo was too strong and experienced, and she too weak; the last glimmer of a dying light. She had failed. She had failed everyone: Luke, Leia, her friends, the Resistance, the galaxy. Kylo would kill her, take the power of this place, and fight Snoke with it. It didn't matter who won that battle; the result would be the same. A new era of tyranny, stretching onwards, perhaps forever.

Why her? Why was she the one to carry this burden? Why not some rich man's son, trained in fencing from his youth, or some priestess's daughter, trained in the Force from infancy? Why a nobody, daughter of junk traders, from a junk planet? Why not someone like Ben Solo? He was born with everything she hadn't had: a loving family, friends, even something so simple as a name. Yet he had thrown it all away for a twisted dream of dark power.

She hated him. He had taken her prisoner, invaded her mind, killed the closest thing she had found to a father, hounded her and her friends across the galaxy, never allowed her a moment's peace. She hated, hated, hated him.

She struck upwards; most likely a futile gesture, but all she had left to her. Kylo beat her blade down, knocking her onto her back. She jabbed at him again. He brushed her saber away, but her continued resistance seemed to aggravate him.

Kylo raised his lightsaber. This would be the final blow. He was certain of it. But then he felt something pressing against his mind: another vision, brought on by the immense power of this place. He struggled, trying to prevent it, but it was like trying to hold back the sea.

"You must know what to do if I am killed," says Snoke.

Kylo responds, "Surely that will never happen."

Snoke cuts him off. "Do not attempt to flatter me. If I am struck down, you must take revenge upon my murderer. To challenge someone with enough strength to destroy me, you will need to become even greater. You must find—the power of Mortis!"

"Where can I find it?"

"Study the Sith texts. They will lead you to what you seek. Do you remember what I have told you?"

"Yes," Kylo answers.

"Good." Snoke waves his hand. "You will forget that this conversation ever happened."

Kylo stared into space, his eyes far away. Rainwater dripped from his hair. His lightsaber slipped from his hand, tumbling slowly downwards…

…until it was caught by Rey. She reared up, ignited it, and with a cry of mixed fright, rage, and loathing, thrust it deep into his abdomen. A hot thrill of triumph rushed through her. She had done it! She had won!

Pain shot through Kylo, jerking him out of his vision. He gasped for breath as he stared down at his own lightsaber, impaled in him as it had been in his father. So this, this awful burning, was what it had felt like.

Then he sensed something else, something beyond the screams of his nerves. Kylo turned his head, looking behind him, as Leia softly whispered, "Ben."

Rey's eyes widened. "Leia," she breathed. The vermillion lightsaber shut off. Kylo fell backwards onto the ground.

What had she done? She had struck down Leia's son in anger and hatred. He was unarmed, just as Han had been. She was no better than Kylo. She began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks. Both lightsabers dropped from her hands, landing with hollow clinks.

Kylo lay on the hard flagstone, arms propping him up slightly, head resting on his chest as he fought to remain conscious. Rey bent down over him, examining the wound she had inflicted. Raw, red flesh, cauterized by the heat, surrounded a thin, irregular hole. She reached out, pressed her palm against his chest, and concentrated.

Leia slowly lay down on a bunk, holding in her hand the Medal of Bravery that she had given to Han long ago. Han, she thought, if you're out there, perhaps you can help Ben. Perhaps you can do what I can't.

She sensed, then, that her son was in pain. Immediately, she knew what to do. She let go of her own life force, pushing it far away, to a realm beyond the reality she knew.

The rain had died down to a light sprinkle now. Rey felt Leia's life flow through her and into Kylo. He took deep, slightly unsteady breaths as the edges of the wound grew together and regenerated into smooth, pale flesh.

Leia's arm fell to her side and went limp as she breathed her last. At the foot of her cot, R2-D2 rocked back and forth, beeping sadly.

Kylo turned his head towards Rey, staring into her eyes. He was fully healed, of all the many wounds he had sustained in his life. Even the scar of their duel on the Starkiller was gone. Rey gazed at him, sadness and regret etched on her face as her tears, mingling with the rain, fell onto him. Thunder rolled in the distance as she pulled away slowly.

"I did want to take your hand." She sniffed. "Ben's hand."

She picked up her lightsaber and stood to leave.

He stopped her with just one word. "Solana."

Rey paused.

He sat up. "Your parents were Dirk and Mara Solana."

The names were familiar to her, yet distant. She felt she had heard them many times, but they stirred only a faint echo of memory now, not the love they must have once. She whirled, running away across the bridge.

A small crowd had gathered around Leia in the small rough-hewn room. More Resistance members stood outside, in silent attendance.

Leia's body faded away, her clothes slowly collapsing.

Chewbacca gave a long, heartbroken wail. He clung to the bed and thrashed about.

"Chewie," Finn said, hugging him, "It'll be okay." Chewbacca seemed to calm a bit, but buried his face in his paws and moaned. Poe knelt and put a hand on the stricken Wookiee's shoulder.

Maz and Rose pulled a white sheet over the bunk.

"Goodbye, dear Princess," Maz Kanata said quietly.

Kylo stood upon the end of the stone span, a sheer drop before him, staring into the gray sky as his thoughts raced. Why had they healed him? Why had his mother sacrificed herself, so a man who despised everything she stood for could live? Why had Rey allowed herself to be the channel through which his mother's life had reached him, after striking him down in hatred just seconds before?

He knew the answer, although he didn't want to admit it. It was because of the same kindness that had motivated the Wommels, and something else besides: love. A virtue he had loathed for so long as weakness.

A chill wind blew past.

"Hey, kid," a familiar voice said from behind him.

Kylo continued to stare ahead, then slowly pivoted to look behind him. Standing a couple meters away was Han Solo, looking just as he had before his death: tousled grey hair; an age-worn, stubble-covered face; a brown leather jacket hanging off his torso.

They regarded each other for a long moment. Finally Han spoke. "I miss you, son."

"Your son is dead."

"No," Han said, stepping closer. "Kylo Ren is dead. My son is alive."

His son glanced away briefly. He swallowed. "You're not real. You're just a memory."

"I'm as real as I need to be." One end of the old smuggler's mouth curved up slightly. "Come home."

"It's too late." He shook his head slightly. "I can't go back to her now. Just like you can't. She's gone."

"Your mother's gone…elsewhere. But what she stood for, what she fought for—that's not gone." Han sighed. "Ben…"

"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it," he blurted.

Han touched his son's cheek gently. "You do."

To his surprise, he actually felt his father's touch. He stared down at the black hilt of the lightsaber, the kin-slayer, in his right hand. "Dad," he said. He sniffed and drew a shaky breath, struggling against the tears he felt welling up.

Han smiled. "I know."

Ben Solo looked at his father for the last time, then spun and threw the lightsaber over the cliff. It arced away, turning end over end before disappearing into the mist.

He turned back, but his father was gone. The wind whistled by, ruffling his hair. Ben Solo stood alone once more.

Rey had descended the first few dozen meters of the mountain in a mad rush. After that, she had decided she didn't want to break her neck, and exercised more caution as she continued her climb down. Therefore, night had fallen when she at last entered the forest. The grass had withered and died, while the trees now glowed with an eerie blue translucence.

The Knife 10 was still in the riverbed it had crashed in, but the water had frozen around it. As Rey approached the ship, a flock of small, dark-furred creatures took off from perches in the nearby trees, twittering crazily. Thin, membranous wings bore them into the darkness.

Rey entered the ship and fell into the chair. She snapped on the power and grabbed the controls, hoping the damaged craft would still fly. Itsengines grumbled and shook, but it rose above the forest and sliced through the clouds, nearing the star-specked curtain of night.

Suddenly, there was a blinding white flash. Rey blinked. Mortis was nowhere in sight.

She studied the navicomputer. Its astrogation system indicated the ship was drifting in the Wastes, near the Zeta Zero-Nine system. Rey took a moment to marvel at what she had seen, then punched familiar coordinates into the computer. It took a few minutes to plot a safe course, but when it had, she pushed the lever and leapt away.

Ben Solo had come to several important realizations.

First, he had had to confront the fact that his life had, since his teenage years, been built atop a framework of lies and deceptions. Snoke had lied to him, but Ben had also lied to himself. His parents had cared about him, and so had Luke. For far too long had Snoke's voice, and his own selfish desires, blinded him to their love.

Second, he was no longer living just for himself. His mother (and Rey) had given him the undeserved gift of a second chance at life. It was only fitting that he dedicate at least part of it to what Leia herself cared about. He doubted, however, that the Resistance would take kindly to a former Supreme Leader of the First Order dropping in on their secret base. Whatever he did would have to be done alone.

Third, rethinking one's life and worldview from the bottom up took a lot of time and energy. It had already been hours since he had seen the flare of Rey's engines climb into the sky before promptly winking out of existence.

Now, Ben Solo stood before the temple of the Ancients. He had come to Mortis to find enough power to kill Snoke and retake the galaxy. Even if he no longer had ambitions of rule, his former master was still trying to subjugate the galaxy. Snoke needed to die. Perhaps there was something in this place that would help Ben destroy him forever.

Ben climbed the stairs leading to the temple for the second time. He reached out. The heavy stone door ground open, the dust of millennia spilling from its cracks. He entered gingerly, all too aware that he was unarmed.

The interior of the temple shone with light from no apparent source. Huge statues of humanoids, griffins, and gargoyles ringed an immense round slab of unpolished marble. Beyond the round stone were two thrones, carved into the wall of the temple.

Ben crossed the cavernous space and stood in front of the thrones. They seemed sized for someone larger than a normal human. A rounded design like a four-petaled flower was carved onto the back of the chair to his left. The one on the right had a jagged X-shaped symbol, like a cluster of sharp, three-lobed leaves. Each emblem contained a smaller version of the other within it. Between the two thrones was a cylindrical altar of stone.

Atop the altar was a large, three-sided metal pyramid. It bore an uncomfortable similarity to a Sith holocron. A blocky rectangular object with thick ridges wrapping around it was visible through gaps in the metal plates.

Ben used the Force to unfold the pyramid. He reached into the metal casing, grabbed the object, and pulled it out. Turquoise smoke coalesced along one side of it with a sound like the keening of damned souls. The wail died away as the smoke resolved itself into a long metal blade.

Ben Solo tucked the Dagger of Mortis into his belt. He left the temple and began his long journey down the mountain.