Once Rey entered hyperspace, she sat back in her seat, gripping the arms tightly. I can't believe we're doing this. He just...left. After everything we've been through. He just doesn't want to have to deal with everything we have to do. He would rather slink to some forgotten corner of the galaxy and hide, like Luke did. Coward. For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to do the same, to hide from all her responsibilities. But then she mentally squared her shoulders. No. This is my duty. I have to follow through. Just because Ben's running away, doesn't mean I get to. This is what Luke and Leia expect of me. I can't let them down. I'll just have to do it without Ben. I have the wisdom of generations of Jedi Masters on my side, I can do this. I can do this.
She took a deep breath and released the arms of her chair, forcing herself to relax a little. Everything's going to be all right.
Then, as if summoned by her thoughts, she heard Leia's voice inside of her head: "Rey, there's something I need you to do."
She sat up straight. "Of course, what is it?"
It was Luke who spoke next. "Take our lightsabers to Tatooine and lay them to rest near my old home. There's something you need to know there. Then wait there for more guidance from us. We will help guide you as you continue on your path."
A smile touched her lips. "Thank you."
"May the Force be with you," Leia replied, and Rey felt a warmth surround her that felt much like Leia's embrace. Then they were gone.
Tatooine. Luke's old home. She had no doubt that Maz would be able to help her find it once she returned to the rebel base.
Her return did not go unnoticed. Poe and Finn were the first waiting for her at the bottom of the gangplank, shooing everyone else away to give them some time alone with her.
"Generals," she greeted them with a glint in her eyes.
"Master Rey," Poe replied mockingly, performing a sweeping bow.
The three embraced.
"So let's see it," Finn said.
Grinning, Rey pulled her new saber from her waist and turned the dial to activate the blade. Both Finn and Poe stared up at it in honest admiration.
"It's beautiful, Rey," Poe said, and Finn nodded in fervent agreement.
"Thank you," she replied, her grin widening.
"So...did he come back with you?" Finn asked, his eyes narrowing.
Rey sighed. "No." Finn and Poe exchanged a glance, both cautiously optimistic that they could leave the complicated figure of Kylo Ren behind them. "He had some sort of vision where Kylo took over and murdered me, and he was so afraid of hurting me that he ran off in the middle of the night, just like that, without telling me." Her frustration was evident, but it was a feeling Poe and Finn could not share.
"Where is he now?" Poe asked.
"On Dantooine still," she replied. "He can't leave without a ship. He said he would come back when he was ready, whatever that means."
"So is this some kind of Luke-style exile or something?" Finn asked.
"I suppose so," she said. "He's such an idiot sometimes. I tried to get him to come back, but he wouldn't."
"Rey," Poe began, somewhat hesitantly. "That might not be such a bad thing." She glanced up sharply, but he continued before she could say anything. "The rest of the Resistance is having a hard time accepting his change of heart. To be honest, it looks more like he saw his chance to be on the winning side and took it. They'll need time to accept it, and not having him around for a while might help."
She sighed in frustration. "I know. I just wish they could see him like I can see him."
"I don't doubt your judgement, Rey," Poe replied. "I trust you. But he interrogated and tortured me personally before he got to you, and Finn was one of his stormtroopers. Please understand that this isn't an easy thing to get used to for us. He hurt a lot of people, and everyone here directly suffered as a result of his actions."
Rey was silent for a few moments while Poe and Finn watched her with bated breath. "I'm not naive enough to pretend I don't see what you're talking about," she said finally. "He put all of us through so much." Then her eyes came up to meet theirs. "But that was Kylo, and this is Ben. I know him better than anyone, and I've seen into his heart. The light far outmatches the dark now. Something about what Leia did before she died really reached him."
"I understand all of that, Rey," Poe replied, fighting to keep his voice level. "All I'm saying is that here might not be the best place for him. A lot of people here still want him dead."
She frowned. "I suppose you're right. Dantooine is probably much safer than here. Still, I wish there was a way to work all of this out. I need his help, and I need you to trust him."
"Then we'll do our best to make that happen, Rey," Finn said.
A wan smile touched her lips. "Thank you. To be quite honest, I haven't the faintest idea of where to begin with all this. I was never even fully trained as a Jedi, and now I'm left on my own to somehow rebuild the entire order from scratch.."
"What can we do?" Poe asked. "Things are still pretty crazy around here, but we'll do whatever we can."
"Luke and Leia told me to go to Tatooine and leave their lightsabers there and that they would provide further guidance once I did that. So I'm afraid I'll have to leave again right away."
Both looked disappointed. They knew that her path would have to take her away from them often, but they still wished she could stay. "If that's what the next step is, then go," Poe said, offering a supportive smile. "We'll be here when you get back."
She nodded. "Thank you for being such good friends to me." They hugged once more, and then Rey left to consult Maz.
Once again, Rey found herself flying away from her friends, but this time, she was totally alone. She took Luke's old X-wing instead of the Falcon now that she didn't have a co-pilot. Ben's desertion still galled her, but she knew it was probably for the best. The galaxy was unstable enough without asking it to trust its former tyrant. And Kylo Ren had left plenty of scars in his wake. She knew there was a very real possibility that Ben Solo would never be fully accepted or trusted by anyone aside from her.
She landed right next to Luke's old homestead, where he had lived with his aunt and uncle before meeting Master Kenobi. She stepped out onto the sand, which felt familiar and friendly after all the grass and forest and mud she'd slogged through. Tatooine's desolate landscape reminded her so much of Jakku. She had spent so many years there, but it had never quite been home. She had been a nobody there, nothing to anyone. She never could have dreamed that she would become a Jedi, much less that she was the grandchild of the greatest Sith Lord of her age. She shuddered at the memory of Sidious's mangled hands, his deformed face, his glowing eyes. It was still difficult to believe that he was really her grandfather.
For so long, she had wondered about her parents, hoping for them to come back, longing to know who she was. But now that she knew, she didn't want it. She didn't want to be known as a Palpatine. A Palpatine was twisted and evil, a being that belonged to the dark side. She had chosen the light and would continue to choose it until her dying day.
Touching the bag that hung at her side to make sure the lightsabers were in there, she headed to the house itself. It was flooded with sand after years of abandonment. She unearthed a fragment of plastic and slid down the hill of sand on it, just like she used to in her scavenger days. She explored what little of the house was still accessible, searching for a proper place to bury the lightsabers.
Then she felt pulled back outside. She knelt near the central dome of the homestead and lay the sabers out on a piece of cloth. She wrapped them gently and bound them with a string, then focused her energy to push them into the ground, deeper and deeper until she knew no one would ever find them. The sand slipped into the hole after the lightsabers, burying them. She stood, surveying her work.
Then an aged voice reached her ears. "Who are you?" She glanced up to see a bent old woman holding the lead rope of a camel.
"I'm Rey," she replied, as she always had.
"Rey who?" came the question that Rey had become so accustomed to. She couldn't say Palpatine, she would never openly acknowledge her heritage, but she wasn't just a nobody anymore, either.
Rey sensed a stirring in the Force, and looked over to see Luke and Leia materialize from the sand of the desert. They were both dressed in white and smiling. And in that moment, Rey knew her answer. "Rey Skywalker."