Mustafar

The air sizzled with ash. Rey had heard the stories, the nightmarish tales by smugglers willing to trade on Jakku, the kind used to keep children in line. Be good, or Vader will drag you to Mustafar, land of fire and shadow.

You'll never be seen again.

Rey thought of that cruel desert that had been her world for years, where it had almost been the where bones only would remain, and realized she didn't know heat until this moment. The added layers made her sweat, but even channeling the force couldn't counter scorched flesh. Looking out at the jagged rock surface, struggling to stand tall under a crimson sky, Rey started the long walk for… answers.

She had been careful to conceal the spare ship from the Millennium Falcon in a small cavern. No wildlife lived on the Mustafar System, and Lord Vader rejected prying eyes so no proper Empire station had been facilitated. Except for one single structure, a black dagger stabbing up at a hateful sky.

The palace of Darth of Vader.

Lazer fire had rained down on the structure over the years, especially in the death of its owner. But nothing left more than scratches and eventually people gave up. The one thing that no one dared in the thirty years since Endor was step onto the surface. Rey felt like she moved through a nightmare's shadow. Standing on the crumbled landing pad, a chill fell over the Jedi. Voices boomed in her mind, along with the scorching fury of lightsabers.

DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU

ANAKIN, MY ALLEGIANCE IS TO THE REPUBLIC, TO DEMOCRACY

IF YOU'RE NOT WITH ME, THEN YOU'RE MY ENEMY

…. ONLY A SITH DEALS IN ABSOLUTES… I WILL DO WHAT I MUST

YOU WILL TRY

Rey could feel it, as if standing right in the fray as two former brothers clashed among scenery that echoed the rage twisted between them. The names filled in the rest. She had heard the climatic battle between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, the fight which led to Anakin's mutilation that mutated him into Darth Vader. An inferno of heat burned over her flesh at merely thinking the name. Hands fell to the blaster gifted by Han Solo and the lightsaber she forged but an inner will stopped from arming herself.

Everything was a test. Leia had told her parts of Jedi ways that Luke had shared and what had been discovered through experience. The Dark Side yearned for corruption, anger and retaliation fed a Force Wielder's inner darkness. Allow yourself to be guided by blind emotion, pulled every which way, and you'll be torn apart to nothing.

Just like Ben…

She remembered when Kylo had first used his powers to probe her mind. How it kicked in a response like the immune system sensing infection. He hadn't anticipated the fight, which allowed her to glimpse a scared boy looking up at the silhouette of Vader with admiration. Rey never understood how anyone, especially one so close to knowledge of who the Dark Lord of the Sith had been, could see his corruption as power.

Surviving her ordeal in the cave, Rey recognized how the Dark Side could tempt. She trusted that to protect herself once inside. Kylo Ren was born of the shadows, one of the darkest corners in the Galaxy may expose the source to stopping him.

Every step forward chilled her bones. Rey had felt it before, when she visited Luke's Jedi temple. This was where Jedi and Padawans were brought to die.

Footsteps a few feet behind her made Rey draw a blaster.

"Woah," a Blonde woman exclaimed with hands raised. "Friend, friendly, no need for shooting."

Rey didn't lower the blaster. The woman wore a long grey hooded coat with some strange eyewear. Reaching out with the Force showed no hostile intent. She did however detect a strange energy about the woman.

"Two hearts?"

"Oi!" the woman wrapped the coat tightly around herself. "Bit rude, probing without consent."

Slightly embarrassed, Rey lowered her blaster.

"Sorry," the young Jedi sighed. "This place… puts me on edge. But I'm no threat, though I am armed. Search me, if you wish."

"Already done," the woman flicked her eyewear, it gave off a strange hum. "Hmm, ion blaster, very nasty piece of self defense right there. But that other piece, some kind of crystal-charged beam weapon."

"It's a lightsaber." Rey was baffled, the woman seemed completely ignorant to the word."

"Interesting," she said. "Gives off an extended beam, like acetylene torch. Bit dangerous, to wield something so 'sharp'."

"Not with practice."

Rey remembered her first time using it, against Kylo Ren. Her years of combat for survival pushed away by that cruel red blade until she dangled off a cliff. The Force flowed through her, matching, overpowering, and finally scarring Kylo Ren in his wounded state. It terrified her, to feel so powerful.

Rey's connection to the Force grew everyday since, through Luke's training and beyond. If Snoke's words held truth, then so did Ren's. Darkness and light, clawing for control. Trying to achieve balance might easily destroy them both if it continued. She needed to solve this, now.

That thought made her look towards Vader's Palace and its open chasm of an entrance.

"Mind if I take a guess, based on the scenery, something bad happened here." The woman was now beside Rey, eyewear reflecting the cruel structure.

"Too many horrible things to count," Rey said. "If you're here to explore or steal, walk away. There are few places more dangerous than here."

"Sounds like I found my next stop." The woman smiled and started to march forward.

She stopped after several steps and turned to face the Jedi.

"What's your name?"

"Um, it's Rey," the Jedi felt uneasy speaking in front of a Dark Side strong point.

"Well, Rey, I'm the Doctor." The woman offered her hand. "Very nice to meet you."

They shook hands as if meeting in a sunny meadow while hiking.

"Likewise, Doctor." Rey had met many strange beings in her life but this woman's aura radiated in ways that weren't found anywhere else. "You said this was your 'Next Stop', what are you searching for?"

The Doctor's pleasant demeanor shifted. It was still there, but Rey suddenly felt like she looked at eyes centuries older than any known, even the fabled Master Yoda.

"Something cruel is trying to break into existence, Rey. I seek to find its and drive them out. Following the threads lead me here, but what's your reason? I doubt it's the tropical climate."

The Jedi's hand strayed to her lightsaber.

"I'm trying to stop a war and save a life."

The Doctor's eyes flashed with understanding that made her heart ache for Leia.

"I think we can help each other, Rey. Between the two of us, I'm su—"

The Blonde lurched over, gasping from shock. Her whole body trembled and Rey's sensed the Doctor's aura blaze to life as if lit on fire. While not a Jedi, the darkness within seemed to have found a way to reach the Doctor.

The strange woman righted herself, but her demeanor hadn't brightened.

"Doctor?"

"When I tell you to run, do it."

This time there was no mistaking the Doctor's greater age. The Jedi decided to eed this warning. A final look between them expressed how they knew there was no avoiding where they needed to go.

Together they entered the dark, trusting their light to be strong enough against what lay ahead.