The island.

She was back on the island and stood surveying the unending ocean from the balcony. It should have been peaceful, but her mind was anything but. She didn't have to look at her hands—his hands really, to know that they were shaking.

"I've failed them, all of them," she whispered in his voice. Her vision spiraled farther back to an earlier time, when Master Luke walked slowly with his hands beside his back at Ben Solo's side:

"But the light can never destroy the dark, Ben." He shook his head slowly.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"It is not the nature of light to destroy. It may chase the dark away, or confine it to shadows, or illuminate it for all to see, or if we are fortunate, stay in balance with it, but it can never destroy. Light gives life, it is darkness which takes it."

"The Jedi have had to take life often enough to keep that balance and—"

"And perhaps the Jedi were never really completely of the light. Perhaps the Jedi have always existed in the grey area between the two."

"Then what can destroy the darkness?" she snapped, feeling his anger at Master Luke's calm self-assurance bubbling towards the surface.

Master Luke gave a small, sad smile.

"Patience. Often enough, the darkness will destroy itself."

On the balcony again, she clenched her head with his large hands and fell to her knees. A voice whispered to her unendingly that Mother wouldn't come, Father wouldn't come, that Luke would strike him dead. She only had one path to follow.

She had already taken the first footsteps down that path and there was no way back. Yet how could she go forward? She would never be strong enough. She would never be able to—

The voice hissed promises to her, telling her to come to him. Telling her that Ben Solo was already gone, but that he would be reborn as something far greater.

Down by the ocean, a shade of a man stood looking up at her. Horribly scarred and disfigured, he seemed to fade in and out, almost to the same rhythm with which the waves lapped the shore. His appearance should have startled Ben, or caused him to wonder at the very least, but she did not feel that. What she did feel was a determined, though grim, resolve.

"Yes," she whispered. "I understand."

Rey gasped and sat bolt upright. The hum of the engine had lessened at some point during her sleep, signaling that they had left hyperspace and were probably approaching Korriban.

It only took a moment for her to notice that she felt off, dizzy and sick, like the morning after she had celebrated the destruction of Starkiller Base with Poe and his pilot friends. There had been too many drinks that night and she had paid the price of it that morning.

Stumbling toward the fresher, she reached the tap, and drank in a few mouthfuls of cold water, splashing her face a few times for good measure as well.

Straightening up, she caught sight of her reflection for the first time since well before Ka'vec. The face that stared back at her from the mirror above the tap was thin and pale. Her cheeks had hollowed considerably, and the dark circles beneath her eyes made them seem overly large in her thin face.

Her hair, usually neatly confined, hung loose and matted. She barely recognized herself. Vexed at her own reflection, she ripped her fingers quickly through her hair a few times, twisted it tightly into a coiled bun, and secured it by jamming a stylus through it.

A tunic, simple, grey and clean, sat folded on the nearby ledge and this she changed into after retrieving the lightsaber and securing it to her leg with one of her old, soiled wraps.

Thus equipped and somewhat refreshed, she sat down on her bunk to wait. In an attempt to lessen the throbbing in her head, Rey attempted meditation, a habit that Master Luke had enforced daily while on Ach-To, and which she had neglected almost completely while on Baudere. It was at this point she realized why Master Luke had taken such pains to stress the importance of daily training. She could feel the Force—which was, in itself, a great relief after so much time on the dark planet—but she struggled to connect to it.

By the time the Stormtroopers came for her, she had made little progress in her attempts, which only served to further her frustration. And so, upon reaching the bridge and the silent, brooding form of Kylo Ren, she could not help the wave of anger that swept over her at the sight of him.

He stood facing away from her, his hands clasped lightly behind his back, turning his head only slightly at her approach, so that she could see his face in profile against the backdrop of the red planet beyond the glass.

"Beginning descent to Moraband, sir," an officer informed him.

He gave a slight nod before turning back to face the planet. She would have spoken then, but a short shrill beeping distracted her.

"Incoming transmission from the Finalizer, sir."

Kylo nodded again, though he took his time turning to face the holoscreen. The transmission glowed immediately to life, and Rey found herself being stared down by a pair of cold eyes. She took in the charcoal grey uniform bearing the First Order insignia, the precisely-styled red hair, and the cruel set of his mouth next. This was an officer, someone of great authority. He had the air of someone who was certain of his own importance.

"Ren. I see you've recovered from your injuries," he greeted Kylo, glancing past Rey, "And I see your priorities are still… your own."

"Give me your message and be quick about it, I have more pressing matters to attend to," Kylo snapped—the dislike between the two was evident.

"Moraband is off limits by order of the Supreme Leader, as you well know. Turn back at once or—"

"Your order is out-dated, general. The Supreme Leader has requested that I train my apprentice in the old ways, a task I cannot accomplish without landing on Korriban."

"You will wait while I confirm—"

"I will not wait. I will do as I have been ordered, and anyone who tries to stop me will answer to the Supreme Leader." Kylo motioned to one of his officers and the transmission was immediately cut.

As the enraged face of the general immediately faded to black, Rey took a few cautious steps toward Kylo Ren.

"Your planet has two names?" she asked.

"Korriban is an old name for it, its true name."

"What does that mean... it's 'off limits'? What is it about Korriban which makes it off limits for the First Order?"

"It is a banned planet for all factions. Even the star maps of the new republic have purposely excluded it."

"Why?" she repeated.

"It is a dead planet, abandoned and left in waste after a millennia of wars. There is little left on Korriban but ruins and tombs."

"There are other dead planets on the map, why is this one banned?" she asked again, sensing something terrible in his reticence to answer.

He was silent for a long moment, and when he spoke again, he turned his attention back to the red planet and away from her.

"Korriban is the homeworld of the Sith."

"The Sith?!" she repeated, back-stepping before she realized there was nowhere she could run. "I will no-"

He moved faster than she expected. His arm shot forward, fingers splayed, and with that, every muscle in her body locked—even her jaw. She could breathe only through her nose. She remembered this hold. Remembered when he had used it on her in the forest of Takodana, and felt a surge of anger.

She closed her eyes and pushed with her mind, and immediately felt her body go slack. When she opened her eyes, Kylo Ren was taking deep breaths, staring back at her wild-eyed, almost with a look of pleading.

"Sir, we've been issued orders not to la—"

Kylo's light saber blazed to life in his hand. He whirled and slashed through the seat the officer addressing him had only just stood up from, and then proceeded to reduce it to sparking ash with several more swings. Cutting upwards, he held the point of the flickering blade before the officer's throat.

"Land… the… ship," he commanded, slowly enunciating each word.

"Yes, sir," the officer mumbled stepping carefully backwards.

Confused, Rey watched him carefully. His breathing was labored, and his eyes darted between the other crew members quickly, as though looking for a threat. Something was more than wrong with the entire scene.

"You said that you were not in league with the Sith," she reminded him, dropping her voice low enough to not be heard by the others.

"You will shut your mouth, or I will shut it for you permanently," he hissed.

"I don't believe you," she decided. "You're afraid. You're doing something that Snoke doesn't want you to, aren't you? What aren't you telling me?"

He did not answer her. Behind him the red planet grew larger, it filled the entire glass, casting the bridge in an eerie fiery glow.

"No escort. Keep your men aboard," Kylo Ren ordered before sweeping off. Rey hurried after him.

"What are you up to?" she asked again after they had left the bridge.

"An integral part of your training…" he began.

"I don't believe you. Are you sweating? You are. Why are you lying to me?" she demanded.

He walked without speaking until reaching the cargo hold. When she followed him into it, he spun to face her and made a swift cutting movement with his hand, sealing the door behind them.

Rey swallowed hard as he took first one and then another menacing step toward her. She would not be cowed by him! Lifting her chin and meeting his eye, she stood her ground, and when he reached for her with one gloved hand, she did not flinch.

His fingers lightly brushed her cheek.

"I had not meant to advance your training so far so fast," he murmured. "Perhaps you are not ready, but recent events have forced my hand. I have no other option. I would have liked…more time."

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?" she guessed.

"No, little scavenger. Korriban was abandoned by the Sith long ago, but the trials faced by all those aspiring to be masters in the dark force still exist. The terentateks still make their homes in the tombs, the tuk'ata still hunt in the valley, and the dead which never die still wait. You may not pass your trial, but that is not my intent."

"Snoke hasn't given you permission to train me here, has he?"

When he didn't answer, she pulled away from his hand, and turned her back to him.

"Rey… you were right," he said, his voice low. She did not turn around, but she could sense him move a step closer. "What you said to me all that time ago… I AM afraid. I am afraid that I'm not as strong… as strong as…"

His words trailed off, but she knew. She remembered.

"And that is what you truly aspire to, Kylo Ren?" she whispered. "Your most precious ambition is to be a dark lord wallowing in destruction and death and—"

"You don't know what you're talking about. My grandfather was the greatest Jedi in a thousand years. What he started—"

"What he started was the end of the Jedi. What he started was war, and the rule of fear!"

"What he started was an end to this eternal battle between dark and light!" he growled.

Rey choked back the sob that was rising in her throat. He was lost, truly lost. The Chaata had said there was good in him still. At times, she could almost convince herself that those words just might be true, but if he actually believed what he was saying… her thoughts moved to the lightsaber lashed to her thigh. She would never be able to escape after killing him, but perhaps that was her fate. The Chaata had been wrong about Kylo after all.

"When you said that you were not a Sith lord, I believed you," she muttered.

"I spoke the truth."

"Yet here we are, by your own words, Sith training."

"This planet is a veritable stronghold of dark force. Here it is concentrated in such great amount that every inch of this barren rock is saturated in it… and there are secrets here… ancient secrets kept safe by the guardians of the tombs. Secrets that I-"

He stopped himself abruptly.

"Secrets that you want," she finished for him, picking up on his mistake at once. "Secrets that Snoke doesn't want you to have." Rey paused as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place. "But when he ordered you to train me, you knew you could use that order to supersede the planetary ban. You would appear to be obeying him even when you were not," she stopped as the noise of the landing gear descending filled the cargo bay.

A moment later, the ramp lowered, thumping lightly against the rocky, red ground, filling the darkened hold with the dim sort of light one normally encountered at sunset. The air seemed to grow stale around them, and as she breathed, the throbbing in her head seemed to increase.

"So what is it?" she asked, wincing slightly at the pain in her temples. "What is this secret you're willing to risk our lives for?"

"We haven't much time. Hux won't come after us until he speaks with the Supreme Leader, but once he does, he will come after us with everything he's got."

"You think that he will try to kill us?"

"Possibly, but his orders will likely be to capture us alive. When he does, I will be interrogated by the Supreme Leader about my actions, which I will willingly submit to. I have weeks and weeks of memories training you, and he will see that I speak the truth about believing that you are ready to face the trials—especially after he sees what you did to that other apprentice."

"And when he asks why you attempted to train me on Korriban without first obtaining his permission? What then? From what I've seen of your Supreme Leader, he doesn't like his pawns doing anything of their own will."

"I will have a reason to give him for that as well. I have planned this for a long while, too long to allow for failure. Come," he ordered, stalking down the ramp.

When she did not follow, he stopped.

"I said, come."

"And I said, I want to know what I'm risking my life for."

"For the secrets of the Dark Moon, an ancient weapon which can wipe out entire civilizations using only dark force, and which has already been acquired by the First Order. Coming, little scavenger?" He disappeared down the ramp without another glance in her direction, fully confident of what she would chose.

She did not disappoint him. Seconds later, they stood outside of an ancient, crumbling arrival port. In the distance, cliffs rose carved with the giant figures of beings in long hooded cloaks, each holding a massive stone sword, driven point down into the ground. The rocky gorge between the cliffs formed a road of sorts, which disappeared in the distant shadows. Beyond all this, she could just make out what she thought at first was a mountain, but realized was more likely a pyramid.

"You see before you the entrance to the Valley of Dark Lords. Hurry, but stay sharp. The Sith may be long gone, but the creatures who have always guarded their dead have never left."

"I need a weapon," she insisted following quickly behind him.

"Then I suggest you use the light saber you've stashed under your robe," he answered.