"It's a Sith artifact." Rey said as she took a step back from the parchment in front of her. She had been searching for weeks in all of the locations she and Ben had talked about. Finn had helped her give an excuse as to why she needed to take the Falcon. He claimed they were the last Force sensitives in the known galaxy and as such they needed to do all they could to learn and preserve the information of the Jedi, which technically was true.
Poe wasn't happy with this decision. There was still so much to be done. The First Order, while incredibly weakened since the loss of their leaders, was scrambling in defense. The Resistance was tasked with finding where they were going into hiding and eliminating all threats to ensure the rise of the Empire would never return.
The last thing he needed was two of his best friends and Resistance leaders leaving to go on some spiritual journey he couldn't understand, but fortunately Poe was smart enough to know that this was deeply important to both of them so after a lengthy discussion he convinced the council to let them go. Hell, they couldn't exactly make them stay anyway.
The council was also horrified to hear of Rey's discovery on Exegol. To find that the First Order was only a front for Darth Sidious and the Sith Eternal shook the leaders to their core. Many of them were more than grateful for all that Rey had been able to do for them. They even recognized the assistance and believed conversion of Ben Solo, but Rey could sense that many of them we're just grateful that he was dead.
Since then, they had been to several different planets, pouring over any and all information that was in the texts Rey had saved from Ach-To. They had been through old Jedi temples as well as abandoned Sith hideouts only to confirm their rousing suspicions. The only known soul stone was a Sith artifact.
"Rey I understand how important this is to you, but you know we can't go searching for a Sith artifact, nothing good can come of it. Are you sure he's not trying to trick you?" Finn's voice echoed in the hall behind her.
They were standing in an old Jedi Temple's library on Coruscant. It had been difficult to get the coordinates to find this place to begin with. Rey had been unable to make another connection with Ben and had been flying blind with the bits of information she was able to discover on her own.
She steeled for a moment after processing Finn's words. His doubt lapped at the edge of her mind. "No Finn, I refuse to believe it. He's turned to the Light side- and he's only given me the information Luke gave him." she stated firmly and turned around to meet his gaze.
Finn threw his hands up in mock defeat. "I'm just saying Rey, you haven't talked to him since the first time and all of it is hersey. Why hasn't Luke appeared to you himself? How can you truly be sure it's the truth? And finally," he breathed deeply. "Why would a Jedi want you to use a Sith artifact?" He questioned and tilted his head to await her response.
He had good points. She couldn't fault him for that. She wasn't sure why Luke hadn't appeared to her, or why they were told to use such an evil thing to bring Ben back. It didn't really make sense. The only thing Rey knew was that she trusted Ben. Even if she couldn't understand it all.
She bit her lip nervously, refusing to answer. She needed to talk to Ben, but she wasn't sure how to reach him. She had tried every night to imagine the space she had been before but it never materialized. She had tried to reach him through her meditations, but was never able to find him as she wandered through the Force. He was unreachable, but what had connected them in the first place?
Finn could see the gears turning in her head and knew whatever idea she was coming up with was not going to be something he'd like. Rey could feel the power of the Force somewhere faintly in this place. She had felt it in the other locations as well. If she could find a strong enough hold, maybe she could use its power to guide her through the Force and find Ben again.
"We have to go." she stated simply before gently placing the parchment in her bags and making her way back out to the main hall "Wait you've got to help me keep up. What kind of plan do you have now?" Finn yelled as he jumped forward to keep up with her.
"This palace was built on the Jedi Temple." Rey began ushering to the dark halls around them. "Right?" Finn agreed with a questioning tone, catching up to her long strides. "According to some of the other texts we've found, the Jedi built their temple here on Sith ruins which were built on something called the 'Sacred Spire'" she said before stopping at the end of the hall.
Finn stopped abruptly behind her, but not soon enough as he crashed unto her back. He took a moment to steady himself and looked to find Rey reaching out around them. "What are you looking for?" He questioned quietly, trying not to break her concentration.
"I can feel it." She breathed. "The power. I need to get closer to the center. If I can harness some of the energy maybe I can use it to reach Ben." she stated before she sensed the pull coming from the hall to her right and began to make her way down it. "And just how exactly are you doing to do something like that?" Finn lagged on behind her. He understood to some extent what she was talking about but he wasn't able to feel the Force as strongly as she was. "I don't know how I've done any of this, but when I have a gut feeling I go for it." She responded casually over her shoulder.
They climbed through the palace. Weaving through great halls and quiet rooms. Finn noticed as they were slowly delving deeper and deeper the architecture began to change from the black halls of the Imperial Palace to something much older. The style changed often the farther they went. Statues of old asserted their presence, looming over the two as they quickly made their way past.
It was an odd feeling the farther they went. They both no longer felt the pull to either the Light or Dark side of the Force. It simply seemed as if the two had come together in harmony. Finn began to feel a deep peace settle over him. His senses picked up and he felt the ebb and flow of the Force around him much stronger than he had ever before.
Rey felt it too, and it only encouraged her to keep moving. After many twists and turns she finally made it to the end of the pull. A large room opened up around them. The four slanted walls met at a point at the center of the room. A large table sat at the center. The room was strangely lit from above. A glowing blue light loomed around them.
Rey took a deep breath. This was it. She turned to an awestruck Finn next to her. "Stay here Finn. I'm going up to meditate. I don't know how long it's going to take but whatever you do please make sure you don't try to pull me out. Okay?" she waited for confirmation from him but a slow nod was all he got. He sank to the floor next to her and breathed deeply to begin his own meditation.
Rey turned back to the table and made her way towards it. There were narrow steps leading up to the raised platform. Her body shook with each step. She could feel the power flowing through her in a way she had never imagined. Her steps grew lighter as she reached the top and ran her hand over the smooth surface. The power of the Force was unimaginable. She wasn't surprised Finn had to stop at the edge of the room, the feeling was overwhelming and she was unsure how she was able to reach out and touch it.
The humming she had heard when she died had returned and intensified as she positioned herself cross legged on the table. She felt the deep peace from before, but it was different, there was the barrier of reality that nudged at the edge of her mind. She tried to push her distractions away as she settled her mind on her goal. "Ben." Her consciousness called into the void, and she felt the familiar tug of his mind meet hers.