Star Wars: A dyad in the Force Chapter 13: Exegol - All the Sith - All the Jedi, a star wars fanfic

Warning: Major Spoilers of TRoS.

Note: This is a Reylo FanFiction (slow-burn)

Author's note:

05/24 Edit: Thank you, Talhulla, for pointing out this mix-up; as noted, Darth Revan was removed from the Sith list, so the basic gist is that Revan physically died when the imperial strike team "killed" him. However, his "dark side" self refused to become one with force and split himself into two personalities, the dark side physical Revan and a light Revan spirit.

「Act 13: Exegol 」

「All the Sith. All the Jedi.」

Exegol, 35 ABY

Lightning came, a brilliant shock of white in the graphite dreary sky, forking silently to the unsuspecting ground - the thunderous boom always calling its warning too late. The Emperor's face showed an expression of stunned surprise, and although he was staring straight at Rey and Ben, he appeared not to notice them at all. He noted both of them after he unfroze from the surprise, and he spoke: "Stand together, die together." Then he used his rotting hands and impaled with the Force.

Suddenly the backs arched against their will, and the pain was breathtaking. The sabers dropped and rolled away from their handstand clattered to the ground. Palpatine yanked them towards him, and they slid across the floor, helpless against his power, and he consumed their Force energy. He paused astonished, staring at his hands, which had reformed themselves back together, bones regrowing and muscle and flesh closing over them. "The life-Force of your bond," he said in wonder, observing his hands becoming whole again. "A dyad in the Force!"

The Emperor's victorious thoughts reached Rey through the Force as she struggled against his grip, unable to move. She sensed him becoming stronger as he devoured their life-Force. He had won. Once, he had tried to create a dyad with Anakin, as his master had tried to create one with him. The Rule of Two, a Master always in desperate search of a powerful apprentice, a necessary successor to the older.

"Unseen for generations," he added, "And now the power two restores the one true Emperor."

He raised his healed hands and called on the evil power of the Force and the Sith who had come before him and pulled their life form from their very bodies. It poured out of them as a powerful stream of lights, leaving them helpless and weaker. Pain seared through them better than a branding iron, their mind conceding to the torment, unable to bring a thought to completion.

Without meaning to, their bodies curled into something fetal, something primeval, and all the while, the pain burned and radiated. Rey screaming in agonizing pain. And Solo holding on to the pain without making a sound as he was used to all the pain and tortures from all the previous masters over the years. The Emperor laughed as his body was slowly healed and strengthened again. The whiteness of his eyes was now gone, and his irises revealed a golden- yellow color.

Ben and Rey collapsed against the ground as Palpatine stepped down from the machinery that kept him alive. He stood straight and strong now, filled with dark Force. He stared at Rey and Ben's near-lifeless bodies. "Look what you have created," he said.

Ben listened to the Emperor to speak as he forced his near-lifeless body to breathe. It was like his spirit almost left his bones and flesh. The dyad he shared with Rey gone, robbed from them. He fought through the pain and pushed his weary body over onto his hands and knees, noticing Rey limp beside him as he struggled to stand on his feet and face the enemy.

The action didn't impress the Emperor, who was filled with anger and hatred towards Ben. "As once I fell," he voiced and lifted Ben's body easily against the air, "so falls the last Skywalker." Then he thrust Ben away with such Force that he tumbled end over end through the length of the cathedral and disappeared into the flashing gap.

Ben was crushed against rocky walls. He broke two ribs and injured his feet as he continued to fall. He gathered all his remaining Force to aid him in landing safely. He lost count of how many times he's broken body crashed against the rocks, but he balanced it a few inches before it would hit the floor. Then he collapsed, losing consciousness.

Rey watched as her grandfather sent Ben to his death. She wanted to scream, but she could barely draw breath. Her heart broke at the thought Ben could be dead. She tried to reach out and sense him. But she could not feel him. They lost their connection.

"Do not fear their feeble attack, my faithful!" the Emperor said, Ben already forgotten. He smirked evilly and gazed up at the open sky where the battle was taking place. "Nothing will stop the return of the Sith."

Palpatine raised his hands to the sky-reaching towards the battle overhead. Rey felt him drawing on his power. No, it wasn't his. It was their power—Hers and Ben's. Tears were now streaming down her face as he watched him create Force lightning from their stolen Force. The lightning floated and covered the sky, attacking the Resistance ships. They sparkled helplessly as the Emperor was killing them.

Rey listened to the Emperor laugh as he took his throne and kept shooting lightning upward. She could hardly move, but she rolled over onto her back. She reached for Ben again, but she felt nothing. Their connection had weakened when her grandfather stole their life-Force. She sensed Ben falling from time to time, but it was like he had fallen out of existence itself, leaving her carved and broken.

Rey tried to move once more, but her limbs refused to obey, much less stand, so she only could stare at the battle above. Her friends were dying, and she had failed them so utterly. Now she was helplessly dying. What should she do? What would Leia do? The answer came to her gently; she had to give everything. "Be with me," she whispered, "Be with me. Be with me." She steadied her mind and called through the Force.

Meanwhile, Ben's lifeless body lay on the ground, broken and defenseless. "Ben!" a voice called out to him, "You have to help Rey; she needs you now more than ever." Ben heard the voice, so familiar and alien at the same time. His chest heavy as he recognized who the voice belonged to. He was in pain, the same pain he felt in Kef Bir when Leia sent him her last thought. "You are her only hope!"

The pain continued to rise inside him, telling him he was still alive. He opened his eyes wide open. He gazed at her, paralyzed, not knowing how to face her. It troubled him, troubled him like when the memory of his father appeared. His body was broken in so many ways. But now his mind and heart were in turmoil. "Mom… I…" Ben said, feeling vulnerable, unsure how to face his mother. His gaze dropped, ashamed of his actions, of what he had become. There were no words or actions that would be enough to ask for her forgiveness.

Leia had already heard his words and felt her son's conflict. "I know Ben; somehow, I already know," her voice came as a whisper and pierced through his heart, "I have already forgiven you, son. Stand strong! Help Rey! Finish what you started!" Leia said.

Leia believed in him. She smiled and looked at her son. She took a step next to Ben and leaned down, wrapping her arms around him. It was a hug that came too late. Ben felt like he was a child again, lost in his mother's arms. There he was, safe from all evil and nightmares. "I'm sorry!" he mumbled as Leia vanished into nothingness, leaving behind her powerful scent of lilies and roses.

The pain grew deeper and longer, opening older wounds. As Ben Solo slowly returned, so did the pain. Yet he was willing to go through with it. It was the least he could offer to Rey. He gathered his fists and forced himself to stand up. He stumbled towards the opening of the gap he had just fallen and started climbing upward, running to Rey's aid.

Rey's body relaxed. She embraced peace and calm, the way Leia had taught her. The battle above her disappeared, and now she was gazing at an open, clear sky.

Through the calm came a voice "These are your final steps, Rey. Rise and take them." The first voice Rey heard when she connected with the Force was that of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Master to both Anakin and Luke Skywalker. As other voices joined, calling her name, the Force-Ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi, appeared.

More voices came at her, fast but gentle, as though she lay at a confluence of the Force, possibilities, futures, and pasts all stretching away from her and towards her. "Rey!" Ahsoka Tano called her next, appearing next to Kenobi. Soon other Jedi followed.

"Rey... In the heart of a Jedi lies their strength." The next Jedi voice Rey noted was Kanan Jarrus, one of the few Jedi who survived Order 66 and lived in secret, hiding his accurate name, Caleb Dume.

"The light. Find the light, Rey," said Luminara Unduli, a Jedi Master during the Clone Wars who was killed by Order 66.

"Bring back the balance, Rey."

"Every Jedi who ever lived… lives in you... We stand behind you, Rey... Rise." came Qui-Gon Jinn's voice, the Jedi, who first discovered how to preserve his consciousness after death.

Presences filled her awareness, some recent, some ancient, some still anchored to the living strangely. Rey didn't understand as the more Force-ghost's appeared. But she accepted.

"Alone, never have you been." Perhaps the most distinct Jedi voice Rey heard was that of Yoda, the Jedi Master who at one point had trained just about every Jedi, from Qui-Gon to Luke Skywalker.

Qui-Gon Jinn added, "Every Jedi who ever lived lives in you."

"The Force surrounds you, Rey."

"Let it guide you." Another of the voices Rey heard when connecting with the past Jedi was that of Aayla Secura, a Jedi who took part in the Clone Wars and was killed during Order 66. Unlike Luminara, Aayla's death, she was gunned down by her own squadron of Clone Troopers.

Palpatine had wanted Rey from himself. But she was their conduit. Their vessel. She was a Jedi. Rey moved an arm. Then a shoulder. She let the voices surrounding her fill her, give her strength. She turned over, placed a palm to the ground, and pushed up.

"We stand behind you, Rey," noted Qui-Gon.

"Rise in the Force, Rey," Yoda said.

"In the heart of a Jedi lies their strength." Kanan Jarrus added. Slowly more voices were heard, and Jedi after Jedi revealed themselves.

"Feel the Force flowing through you, Rey." Mace Windu, a Jedi Master who sat on the Council during the Clone Wars. He had been slain before Order 66 and at the hands of Palpatine himself.

Rey got a knee beneath her and stood on her toes. She stopped coughing for air as her muscles didn't obey her. Every movement turned her very bones into knives of pain. The voices were becoming louder, more powerful.

"Rise," said Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

Luke's voice became deeper and insistent; Rey could hear him, "Rey, the Force will be with you. Always."

She rose. She summoned Luke's lightsaber, which skidded across the stone and flew into her hand. The blade ignited, and Rey stood, full of strength freely given her by those who had come before. She gazed behind her, finding every Jedi's Force-Ghost standing with her.

"Rey... Bring back the balance, Rey, as I did... The Force surrounds you, Rey... Let it lift you." came the unknown voice she had heard before but didn't know who it belonged to. His voice raised above all the others, a well of power from which to draw, and Anakin Skywalker appeared in front of everyone else. What started with him would end with him.

Emperor gasped. The avalanche of light from his fingertips ceased. He rose from his throne and stepped forward. His eyes glowed with lingering power. "Let your death be the final word in the story of the rebellion," he uttered and sent Force lightning zagging toward her.

Rey blocked it with her lightsaber as the impact nearly knocked her from her feet, but she reached for the Force and stood her ground. Anakin and the rest behind her, pushing her forward, supporting her.

His attack continued. "You are nothing! A scavenger girl is no match for the power in me. I am all the Sith!" he yelled. Suddenly, as the Jedi's Force-Ghosts had appeared to Rey, Older Sith masters supported the Emperor.

The first Sith was the one who implemented the whole Rule of Two Thing: one Sith Master and one Sith Apprentice. Darth Bane. Next was Darth Maul, who had lived slightly longer than Darth Bane. Darth Plagueis, the Master of Palpatine, and a few more. And last but not least, Darth Vitiate, who had had the longest lifespan of any Sith Lord.

Her wrist felt like it was going to break. But it didn't. Not today. "And I," she revealed as she reached for more strength and reached for Leia's lightsaber. It flew into her hand, and she brought the second lightsaber to bear, crossing its blade with the first, creating an impenetrable shield. "I am all the Jedi!"

Rey stepped forward, pushing back against his onslaught. Then again. Every step she took was painful, but she was not alone. All the Jedi were with her.

The lightning reflected on the Emperor as it ravaged his face and body. Rey pursued without mercy, absorbing power from the Force. And finally, when she was ready, she thrust it all at the Emperor. His own power reflected against him. It devoured him completely, ripping away his body, skin, muscle, and bone. He became dust. Then the Sith throne shattered, sending Rey crashing against the ground. The ruins of Exegol collapsed and with them the dark Sith.

The Emperor was no more.

The Resistance was winning the battle above her. She couldn't feel her arms or legs. She heard the lightsabers hit the ground. She reached for the Force one last time; she felt her friends still up there fighting. She reached for Ben too, but her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the ground.

The climb up was agonizing. Each time Ben reached for a handhold, a hot knife of pain stabbed his left side. Dizziness threatened to send him troubling back into the abyss, but he kept on, one hand over the other until finally, his fingers grasped the top. He pulled himself up and gazed ahead.

Rey was collapsed on the floor. In the far distance, all the Jedi Force-Ghosts vanished. All except,…

「 Upcoming Chapter: Act Fourteen 」

More than anything, thank you for taking the time to read this!

Feel free to Review and Follow!

thereisaredeemer: I edited chapters 11 and 12. Again, thank you for your help. ^_^ You asked me how Ben knew about Poe's promotion? -Well, remembered when Leia reached out for the Force, connecting with it, and she sent her last thought to reach Ben. Back then, Leia hadn't just called out Ben's name. She had sent her last thought to him, as he was the last of her bloodline alive. Inside that thought, she had noted that: Her Skywalker legacy would be given to Rey. Organa to Poe. And Solo to Ben. So, Ben knew since Kef Bir that Poe was now the General of the Resistance. I usually drop hints here and there along with the story. Those will play an important part later in the story. Like Leia's last thought. Like the Emperor's last creation. Etc (I totally agree without a love story, it would not be Star Wars.) Now the plan of how to keep Ben Solo alive? That's still a secret, and I am still working on how to pull that off. After I watched TRoS, the scene when Leia's body vanished after Ben's caught my attention, if used correctly, it could be related to Ben's return. I read Lucas is planning to bring Ben Solo back. And not as Force-Ghost. Anyway, I already wrote too much. See you in the next chapter. ^_^

Guest: Their bond -the dyad in the Force- will lead somewhere. Hint: I named the whole Fan-Fiction 'Dyad in the Force.' Thank you for the review.