Chapter Twenty – Rey

Rey paused in the middle of rewiring the access screen in the living area where they'd dumped Mirabella. She figured if she could get it connected to the navigation computer, she could hack in to get their course. Then she'd tell Ben exactly where to find them.

She'd considered launching a full-scale assault against her captors. The idea of wielding Leia's lightsaber to bring them all down then piloting the ship back to Naboo held much appeal to her. Yet, she didn't exactly know how many of them were on the ship and where they all were located. There was nothing she could do to stop one of them from looping back here to threaten, even hurt, Mirabella. Her friend was so vulnerable right now and Rey would never risk her life on such a gamble.

Footsteps echoed down the stairs, causing Rey to quickly prop the screen back in place and hide around the corner. She spied on the room with one eye in shadow.

A Twi'lek male glided into the room, his movements almost like dancing. He smiled down at Mirabella as she slept, tentacles twitching. He knelt down next to her. "You're even prettier up close than when I saw you singing. Maybe you and I'll have some private time before I have to take you to lockup."

Rey's eyes widened as she watched him untie one side of Mirabella's bathing suit. Anger flooded through her as he moved to untie the other side. He meant to rape her!

Her arm wiped out towards him almost unconsciously. Blue lightning exploded out of her hand, shooting across the room. It stuck the Twi'lek in the back just as he tried pulling Mirabella's suit down. He convulsed as the electricity coursed through his body. Then he dropped to the ground.

Rey took a step back into the room when a device hissed loudly as it pressed into her neck. She gasped and spun around.

A human male with a scruffy red beard stood behind her, an airhypo in his hand. "Woah! Wasn't expecting that! You're like a storm cloud, lovely girl." Then his expression of surprise changed to malice. "Did you think you could come on my ship without me seeing?"

Before she could do anything, darkness edged into her vision. The room spun and he caught her as she fell. Panic gripped her as she realized she'd fallen into a trap.

Before she completely passed out, she heard him say, "This is the human female we needed. And our payday just walked right onboard."

Everything went black after that.

"Rey? Rey!" Mirabella's frantic voice roused her after who knew how long.
Rey's head pounded. When she opened her eyes, even the meager light pierced them. She clamped her hand over her eyes and rolled over. "I'm alright. That stuff was powerful."

"Rey."

"Ben?" She blinked her eyes open and squinted up at him.

Dread

The color had drained out of his face and he swallowed.

"I'm okay," she assured him.

Relief

He gave her a tight-lipped smile.

"Ben's not here, Rey." Mirabella frowned in concern. Of course, she couldn't see Ben and she probably thought Rey was hallucinating.

"He is, Mirie. We can communicate directly through our bond. But he can't see you and you can't see him."

"Force, Rey! I almost had a heart attack when I couldn't feel you!" Ben sounded exasperated.

Rey's heart went out to him, knowing how scary that must have been for him. "I'm sorry. They set a trap for me. I couldn't get our destination out of the nav computer fast enough."

"Just stay safe and take care of Mirie. We're meeting up with Luke, and I think he's finally going to tell me what he's been doing. We'll find you."

Rey nodded, which made her dizzy again.

"I love you, Rey." Then Ben was gone.

"I love you, too," Rey whispered into the air, hoping he'd hear her.

She glanced around, seeing they'd been imprisoned in a dark and dank dungeon while she'd been unconscious. The roughly cut stone walls and floor sported sharp points, and some of them dug into her back as she lay on the ground. Thick metal bars on two sides hemmed them in. It surprised her that they didn't use force fields, something she might have been able to hack into. Her lightsaber was gone, as expected, so there was no way to hack through metal bars.

Then she turned to Mirabella. The poor woman looked so frightened, tears staining her face and her eyes red-rimmed. She still wore her bathing suit, which fortunately dried off, but she shivered a little with being so exposed.

"Are you alright?" Rey asked. She shrugged out of the Jedi robe she wore and threw it around Mirabella's shoulders.

"I don't know. Thanks." She pulled the robe tight around her, still shivering.

"How long was I out?"

"Hours. I woke up as they were moving us off their ship and into here, but I pretended to still be unconscious."

"Did you see anything that could give us a clue where we are as they brought you in here?"

Mirabella pressed her lips together. "I kept my eyes closed, but there were flashes of light so bright I could see them through my eyelids."

Rey sighed. Exegol. The thought of being back on the dead Sith world made her shudder. She had to tell Ben, but first, "Mirie, I need you to use your singing to put the guards to sleep."

A panicked look crossed her face. "I don't know how to do that."

"You do. When you sing, you use the Force to influence feelings in your audience, mostly happiness and calm."

"Ben once tried to tell me something like that, but I didn't understand what he was saying."

"He was right. When you sing, concentrate on making them sleep. It's a suggestion. It won't work on stronger, trained minds, but it will on weaker, undisciplined ones."

"What do I sing?"

"Maybe just a melody? Or a lullaby"

Mirabella nodded. "I'll try." She sounded skeptical in her abilities. Then she swallowed. "Rey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Did I..." Mirabella paused, biting her lip and looking away. "Did I exist in that other world? The world you came from."

Tears welled up in Rey's eyes. She'd promised herself she wouldn't lie. "No," she whispered.

Mirabella hung her head, tears falling on the dirty floor. "I wasn't meant to exist."

Rey leaned over and covered her friend's hand. "That's not true, Mirie. You needed to exist. The Ben of that world had been lost to the dark side for so long. It was because he had no one! But see what he has become here because of you. Because of the family he didn't have there."

"And because of you. I don't think he consciously realized it, but Ben's been waiting for you."

Despite the dire situation, Rey smiled. She warmed thinking of him. Then the thought of him reminded her she really needed to contact him with their location.

Before she could even attempt connecting with him through their bond, the dungeon door flew open. Three Sith knights strode inside.

Rey leapt to her feet. "Mirie, sing now!" Then she slammed one of them into the stone wall with the Force.

Mirie opened her mouth and the start of a beautiful melody flowed out.

The Sith closest to Mirabella lashed out at her. He backhanded her across the face. She spun around from the force behind it and fell to the ground. She didn't move after that.

"Mirie!" Rey screamed.

The other Sith tried to grab her arm, but she smashed her knee into his midsection. He doubled over.

Something smashed into the back of her head, stunning her. She dropped to her knees as sparkles danced in front of her eyes.

The Sith managed to get restraints on her wrists and hauled her back to her feet. Then they dragged her out of the cell and through the complex hallways. Rey tried to remember the different turns.

It was like déjà vu as she entered the throne room. She glanced up through the splintered ceiling but no ships battled there now. Memories tried to overwhelm her, but she shoved them away. He was waiting for her. Palpatine, the Emperor, her grandfather, her enemy.

The Sith knights hauled her in front of him. The wraith floated down to her, still attached to the mechanism keeping him alive. If you could call it living.

"Finally, I meet the mysterious woman who stole away my prey all those years ago." His voice rasped.

Mysterious woman? Rey couldn't believe it. He had no idea who she was! She bit her tongue and remained silent to let him continue.

"At first, when I watched Snoke torturing young Solo's mind, I thought you were a figment of his imagination. He was desperately clinging to the light and you seemed more like a manifestation of that light. Yet, there you appeared again in Skywalker's mind! As Snoke ripped out his eye, his defenses dropped and I got a brief look inside. And there you were! You were somewhat less... sensationalized than in Solo's mind, meaning you weren't just a manifestation. It had been you who'd corrupted his mind against us!

"But then you vanished. My curiosity for your identity only grew. I put eyes on Solo for years waiting for you to return, although not really expecting anything to come of it. Then you surprise me again, and show up completely unchanged! Just how did you accomplish such a feat?"

Rey said nothing.

"Closer, my dear."

The Sith forced her closer to the wraith. Rey cringed as his fetid breath assaulted her nose. They held her still as Palpatine's hand hovered over her head.

Rey threw up her shields, gritting her teeth as he tried to break through them. He hammered at her defenses, but she held firm against him.

Finally, he broke off with a growl of frustration. "How are you so strong with the Force?"

Awareness

Ben blinked into existence beside her. His mouth pursed and his eyes narrowed as he took in the restraints on her wrists.

"Exegol!" she shouted to him.

Palpatine's mouth closed and his head tilted slightly to the side as he presumably pondered why she would randomly shout that out. "So you know of this place? Interesting."

"We're coming," Ben answered, then wrapped his hand around her arm protectively.

"Interloper!" screeched Palpatine. "Get him!"

Rey's eyes widened as she realized Palpatine could see Ben when he touched her.

The Sith knights looked around with confusion. Perhaps they were not as strong with the Force.

"You can't see him, you idiots? It's Solo! He's holding her arm and she just gave him our location!"

Ben glared at Palpatine. "I'm going to kill you," he spat out. Obviously, Ben could see him as well.

Rey remembered that moment on Ahch-To, when she reached her hand out to Ben and they touched fingertips through the bond for the first time. Luke had caught them, had definitely seen Ben there with her. It's why he went into such a rage, ripping the little stone hut apart. Perhaps only the strongest of the Force could perceive what others around them failed to see.

One of the knights grasped Rey's arm in the same place Ben's hand held her. His hand moved right through Ben.

Palpatine frowned. "What is this?"

Rey almost giggled at seeing the wraith confused and disarmed, but it didn't last long.

Palpatine's eyes widened and his mouth twisted with anger. "The prophesied Force Dyad! You bitch, you've stolen it from me!" His beady eyes shifted to Ben. "I'm going to rip your little whore apart, give your sister to my knights to have their way with, and find you even if I have to destroy half the galaxy to do it. You're mine."

Rage welled up in Rey at his words. She hadn't gone through so much pain and effort over the past two years to lose it all to him again. Palpatine had taken Ben away from her before. Not again!

"Rey, no!" Ben screamed.

All of her rage poured out of her in charged blue lightning. It struck Palpatine in the chest and radiated out over his entire body. He writhed in pain, his jaw locked and foam dripping from his mouth.

Again, something hard hit Rey in the head. This time the blow knocked her to the floor and her body refused to get up.

Palpatine groaned in anguish as the lightning released him. Then a strange breathy sound replaced the groaning. It irked Rey when she realized he was laughing at her.

"How marvelous to learn that the mysterious woman who disappeared into thin air was in actuality my long lost grandchild! Of course, one of my kin would be clever enough to orchestrate such a feat!" He laughed louder until his malformed lungs rebelled and only wheezing emerged. He turned to his Knights. "I don't need Solo now. My own descendant is so much better. Prepare for the ritual!" Palpatine yelled.

Rey laid her aching head on the stone floor and closed her eyes. Exhaustion and despair overwhelmed her. She'd lost and now he would get what he'd wanted all along. Her.

"Rey, hold on. We're coming for you," Ben whispered in her ear.

A/N: We getting into the home stretch for this story, not too many chapters left. I do have a request. Now that I am not writing at the moment, I'm looking for some good Reylo fanfic to read. I'm find a lot of not-so-good fanfic out there. I know that my story is your favorite (*wink*), but what are your other favorites? If you haven't read "Guide You Home" by LyricalRiot, it is an amazing modern AU.