Author's Note – I hope everyone is staying safe and well during this time. As a healthcare worker, I encourage everyone to do their part and take this social distancing seriously to slow the spread of this virus.

With that public service announcement out of the way, we bring you another chapter! And let me tell you, these illustrations here broke me many times over. Oh my gosh, so good! On my side, I'm hoping I can keep the chapters flowing, but my favorite coffee shop I always visit to write (to escape my screaming children long enough to focus) is closed and writing from home has been much slower. That and work is as crazy as its ever been. I hope to update by next weekend again, though.

Thank you, wonderful readers for your encouraging comments, each notification is a bright spot in my day. Especially now with everything going on.


Ben's gaze never faltered as he stared back at her through the mirror, his brows creased, concern flooding down the Bond. Rey didn't miss how his bottom lip trembled as he searched her face, lingering over every inch of her, not saying anything, but letting their connection speak for him.

Rey wore her expression like a mask as he spoke her name.

Even though the mirror silenced his voice, she saw the shape of the sounds on his lips, heard them through the Bond.

But she could not let herself lose focus on why she was here. He'd thrown her away. His concern didn't matter anymore. The only thing that mattered was power.

She lowered her brows, sharpened her gaze and wrapped herself in Darkness. She let that rage course through her, the shadow mixing with her blood until her vision darkened.

Power.

"Yes," she heard a voice from behind her. "Now pull him through."

Her body was the night itself, and she could think of nothing but that all-encompassing power. Nothing else mattered as she heaved at the Bond, her icy grip wrenching at the other half of the Dyad, pulling him through to this side of the vergence.

But her darkness was met by something unexpected.

Surging though the black of midnight like the last flare of a dying star, was Ben Solo's Force. Rey tried to squint her eyes, as if she could simply close them against the light suddenly exploding everywhere in the Force. But this was not the light of a simple star, this was something so much more.

Rey clenched her teeth, willing the shadow to wrap around that incessant brightness, to smother it, to let it find purchase and pull him through to her. But like wisps of cold mist, her power evaporated next to the heat of his Force. The Light of his touch materialized on this side of the vergence and as though drawing on the very strings of her heart, he wrenched her off her feet and she was tumbling through the endless blackness of space and time. As she fell, she was encapsulated in the warmth of his energy and with one last surge of power, she was dragged from that infinite nothing and set down at his feet.

She raised her head, finding herself surrounded by that familiar black void pocked with pinpoints of light. The World Between Worlds.

A feral roar of frustration tore from her and she launched herself to her feet, igniting her saber staff and standing to face him.

Ben Solo had the nerve to smile at her - an expression that didn't touch his eyes.

"Rey – "

She cut him off, her voice a rasping, painful thing as she shrieked. "First you push me out, now you trap me with you?!" She was seething, anger rippling like cool vapor in the Force around her and she drew it into her. Drinking of it, letting it guide her and before he could answer, she threw herself at him.

She wished she hadn't noticed the flash of sadness in his eyes as he ignited his saber, but she wasted precious energy burying her feelings underneath her rage before following through with a powerful swing of her weapon.

Just as she slammed her staff down across his shoulder, her momentum shuddered to a halt, held at bay by his strong parry, her staff hanging up on a crossguard.

Baring her teeth, she leaned into him, forcing her blade closer until it scorched the collar of his robe. Ice was the song in her veins as her muscles tensed, jaw clenching until finally… she exploded, unleashing all of that hurt he'd caused and then some.

He stumbled, caught off guard by the sudden surge of Darkness, but he recovered quickly, meeting her staff swing for swing. Again and again she slammed her weapon down on him, spun as she swept it across the space he occupied. Again and again he lifted his starlight saber to meet her attack. Her staff hissed and spat its venom as Ben Solo remained a bright star in her endless night.

Sweat burned in her eyes and her muscles throbbed with the ache of fatigue by the time he managed to push her away long enough to disengage.

"It was a mistake, Rey," he said panting as he flicked off his saber and hooked it to his belt. He made a point to show her his empty palms as he took a step toward her. "I should never have done it and I'm sorry. I thought it was the only way to save you. I cannot bear to lose you, Rey. I couldn't imagine it." His face twisted with those last words.

Rey swallowed painfully, as though the walls of her throat were suddenly barbed with thorns.

No, no, no. She was tired of feeling like this.

She could practically hear her Master's voice in her head, warning her of the Force's manipulation. No, she would not be its puppet again.

She narrowed her eyes, her only warning as she sprang at him again.

His shining blade was there to meet her again, but Rey would not be beaten. No one would make her feel abandoned again. No one would take this power from her. And she reached out with her empty hand, willing the Darkness to wrap its cold fist around Ben Solo's windpipe.

Disbelief streaked across his expression just before his weapon clattered to the ground and he clutched both hands to his throat. His boots lifted from the ground and Rey's ears sang with the sweet pleasure of power. It was all she could feel as he wheezed and begged, fingers trying in vain to pry her icy vice from his neck.

An explosion of Light across her vision and he had freed himself, but foolishly, he did not attack. She used the opportunity to double down on her Force, squeezing tighter as he pushed back against her hard. Her teeth ground together as she channeled the Dark Side, wringing every last ounce of power from the Force, but even so, she could not gain an inch.

She swiped at the back of her forehead, but more sweat beaded on her forehead as a warm cloud of energy floated across her skin. Like a balmy summer day, the energy stuck to her and thawed a part of her that had been unreachable. She recognized this energy. This was a Force signature she knew well.

Leia.

Rey's shadow receded, crawling away from the inescapable warmth that seemed to fill the entire space around them. Even the Darkness itself couldn't stand to share the same space as the Princess of Alderaan.

A moment later, her shape took form, glowing and translucent, but emanating a vitality that spoke to her power, even in the In-Between. A bluish halo accentuated the braided crown she wore around her head, and long robes swept the floor as she turned to Ben.

"Hello son," she said, smiling at Ben who had collapsed and was still clutching his throat.

Ben's Light flared again, meeting his mother's warmth and Rey's cold skin burned with the intensity of this moment.

Oh Gods.

Something wrenched into place inside of Rey in that moment.

Oh Gods what was she doing?

"Mother!" Ben's voice was hoarse, but the boyish enthusiasm in his tone was unmistakably clear.

He pushed himself to his feet and ran to her. He ran to her, wrapping her much smaller frame in a tight embrace and lifting her from the floor.

"I'm sorry." His whispered apology was half choked by emotion, but Rey could hear it plainly even from where she stood.

The blinding brightness of the two of them together caused a pain to ignite behind her eyes. They were like a collision of stars and Rey was too close, burning from the sheer power of this celestial event.

Ben's mouth moved as he whispered more words into Leia's ear which Rey couldn't hear. His mother clutched him tight in response, squeezing her eyes shut as she focused on the contact.

"I love you, Son," she said, loud enough for Rey to hear. "Your father would be so proud."

She brushed a sweaty lock of hair from his face, before finally stepping back. But Ben seemed almost unwilling to let her go completely, his hands reaching for hers and squeezing just one more time before he released her, his smile as bright as his Force in that moment.

Leia turned to her now. "Rey," Leia said, still smiling, glowing brighter after the embrace with her son. But her expression began to harden as she let her eyes travel across Rey's face, her clothes, up and down the weapon still buzzing in her grip. "This is not what you trained for. Your destiny lies along a different path."

Destiny. Something about that word sent a rush of darkness through her again.

"To Hell with Destiny," she spat. "You knew what the Force had planned for Ben." Her skin was too tight, her heart was beating too fast and she spoke the last word as a curse in the face of her old master. "Death."

She saw Ben flinch from her words, some part of him recognizing the kernel of truth there.

Rey let the word hang in the air between them like a shadow, thick and dark and inevitable. She watched it hit home on Leia's face next, her lips tightening, jaw clenching as though Rey had physically struck her. Rey didn't let up. "The Force use Ben the same way it used everyone in your family. Why then, did you let me continue on that same course?"

Leia held her gaze, her brown eyes lightening to pools of amber as she took a step closer. "Perhaps you both needed to fall, if you are to understand the dual nature of the Force. If you are to bring balance."

"Balance?" She sneered, unable to wholly contain the rage that was building again, thrumming against her eardrums. "There is no balance."

"Rey," The softness in her voice scraped painfully against the frozen corners of her heart as Leia spoke her name. "I am sorry I wasn't there for you in your darkest moments, I should have –"

"But you weren't. You were afraid, just as Luke was."

"No." She shook her head. "I was never afraid. Not with you. This time, I was prepared."

Rey's lip wobbled, but she steeled herself. "You should have been afraid."

"You don't mean that. Search your feelings," Leia said, taking another step toward her and Rey's skin began to prickle from the sheer warmth she radiated in the Force. "Powerful light, powerful darkness. You will find a way to open the gateway together. And the two of you will bring balance to the Force."

Destiny. The Force.

Yes, she remembered what she'd decided about the Force. She was through being its tool. Was this the Force manipulating her again? Through her old Master? Something twisted inside of her, a gust of glacial wind, sending her thoughts into a stormy chaos. The rhythmic whoosh, whoosh of her own pulse pounding threatened to carry her away as she stared at the face of her old Master.

Trapped. She was trapped and being made again, to blindly obey the will of the Force. To become an instrument of its destruction.

Rey raised her head to the blanket of endless space and time overhead and screamed. She inhaled, filling her lungs with darkness. Here, from the World Between Worlds, she could draw deeply from the boundless well of power that spanned millennia. Her body swelled with the power of generations of Sith. She could feel their presence close by, but this was her battle, they would not interfere.

She narrowed her eyes and straightened her shoulders as she ignited her staff again and stepped toward Ben Solo who was unarmed, defenseless.

Leia's Force Ghost dissipated, as though she'd been nothing more than a twisted hallucination, brought here to try to tempt her back into submission.

Ben stared back at her in disbelief, using the Force to call his saber to his hand, though still stubbornly refusing to activate it. She was now mere feet away. What was he trying to prove?

It didn't matter.

Power. Power. Power.

The words were a discordant symphony in her mind as she stepped closer, closer. Her heart thumped to its rhythm. Her feet moved in time to its command. It drowned out all thoughts of him and she welcomed the icy flood to wash away that weakness.

Only when she reached back over her shoulder for momentum and struck down hard with her staff across his upper chest did Ben Solo finally raise his weapon to block at the last second. Even as their sabers locked in a sizzling standstill, Ben gazed at her with an expression of pure misery. His eyes welled with tears as he looked down at her, holding her crimson saber at bay until a single tear streaked down his cheek.

Balance. Powerful light, powerful darkness.

The memory of Leia's words cut through, unbidden, across her thoughts and she tried to will the pain to press them away. But it was hard to ignore the blazing light that still shone from him.

She let the rage guide her hands as she twisted her staff, whirling it in a tempest of strikes angled just so, to push him away. To make him focus on anything but her eyes.

"Join me and open the gateway," she hissed, never relenting, keeping her attacks coming one after another to keep from having to look at him. "It's the only way to stop being used by the Force."

"No," he said, his tone soft despite the immense power he was harnessing to defend himself. "Not until you work through whatever it is Malak has done to you."

"He hasn't done anything to me!" Rey said, pressing her staff harder into his own blade before raising a hand to shove him back with a wall of ice.

Ben stepped back with her attack, controlling it from a defensive stance, his Force shining, even in the nothingness of this In-Between.

"Please, Rey. You and I are the same. He's using your pain to manipulate you, just as Palpatine did to me."

"No one has manipulated me, aside from the Force itself," she said, throwing herself into another flurry of strikes.

Ben did the minimum required to block her, but no more. His unwillingness to fight her only angered her further and she clawed at every last shred of darkness, exploding into him with a push of Force which sent him sliding on his back away from her.

He grunted with the impact. Then, locking eyes with her from where he'd landed on the ground, he clenched his jaw, looked off into the vast emptiness of this In-Between, and threw his saber into the darkness. It clattered to the floor, somewhere far off in the distance, and skidded to a halt, leaving them in silence.

Nothing but the harsh buzzing of her weapon filled the air.

Rey felt each step as a shuddering jolt beneath her as she strode to where he had fallen. She breathed deeply, steeling herself against her own weakness, attempting to sever that tie she felt to his feelings. Then, slowly, she raised her blood-red staff to Ben Solo's neck.

He looked up at her and she was surprised by the expression he wore.

There was no fear in those imploring, dark eyes. Only a tender, beseeching openness that peeled back the frozen layers of her heart for the briefest of moments. That gaze rendered her wholly immobile, it glued her feet in place, paralyzed the Darkness in her veins, and stopped her heart completely. Those eyes stilled her hand, halting the movement of her staff which she clutched so tightly, the ribbed grip dug painfully into her palm.

"Rey," he said, his voice containing all of the light and heat of a thousand Jakku suns, "I love you."

The breath was punched from her lungs and her world shifted on its side.

She had to remember how to breathe again as she spent several silent moments locked in his gaze.

When she finally willed her lungs to work, moving air in and out, in and out, she focused on their connection which was pulling uncomfortably at the very core of her. As soon as she closed her eyes to focus on their Bond, a weightless sensation wound itself tight in her belly and she looked up to watch as the In-Between slowly bled into another time, another place. She blinked and found herself somewhere strange. She studied the ageless architecture surrounding her and a dawning recognition, a powerful déjà vu, washed over her as she let her eyes trail across the structure.

Stone columns rose to meet the carved ceiling of an ancient temple and footsteps echoed across the vaulted ceilings. As she stood ensconced within the temple's expansive walls, she somehow knew who she would see before her, feeling his Force before she allowed her eyes to rest upon his features. Only when the footsteps had ceased did she finally lower her eyes onto that strikingly familiar face. Her heart was a thundering drum in her chest as she stared at the man she knew as Revan. His eyes were a perfect mirror of Ben's, gleaming with an insistent tenderness she would recognize no matter how many years had passed. Now, here, she could remember the moment he'd first confessed his feelings to her.

Revan's voice was different from Ben's, sharper, crisper somehow, but the emotional tone was the same as he spoke those words. "I love you, Bastila," he said, gazing at her as though she were the only other person in all of the galaxy. "I can't abandon you… ever."

Revan let a ghost of a smile play across his lips and he stepped forward, waiting for the answer they both felt shuddering in the Force around them. The only answer she could ever give him. An answer that would pull her away from Darth Malak and back toward the Light.

Streaks of color twisted in Rey's vision again and she was staring at Ben Solo, framed by the star-flecked blackness of infinite time and space. His declaration echoed everywhere in her mind, filling the spaces she'd stuffed with her pain and rage.

I love you. His words swelled to encompass every dark corner of her being, pushing away the fear and forcing his Light to illuminate the black rot that had taken hold in her heart.

Leia's voice took on a different meaning now after hearing those words. Your destiny… the two of you will bring balance to the Force.

Her thumb flicked the activator on her staff, quieting the violent hiss of the weapon, and her arm fell limply to her side.

"Please, Rey," he pushed himself to his feet, one side of his mouth tugging into a hopeful smile as his brows lifted and he pled with her once again. "Let me help you."

She stared back, feeling numb, weak from the ravaging emotions that were rushing through her. Darkness streaked with Light. Rage tempered by the tenderness in those timeless eyes.

She was being torn apart.

But he loved her. Her Bondmate. Her perfect match. And he loved her.

Power. The voice, though insistent, was thinner, weaker. Still, it called to her, still, it wrenched painfully from the pit of her stomach.

"It's too late, I'm not strong enough to fight this Darkness." Those thorns were back in her throat, strangling her voice, cutting deep and she could feel the tears welling in her eyes as he took another step toward her.

"Take my strength," he said, now standing only inches away. The warmth of his body soothed her, melted away the frosty bite of the Dark Side gnawing at her bones. "I'll give you anything if you would just be with me, Rey. I love you."

Then, one last time, Ben Solo reached out to her. He let his open palm hang between them, offering a commitment that spanned millennia. The Force hummed between them, a soaring song of love and light and Rey stared at that hand for a long moment, before making the only decision she could ever make.