The energy on the Raddus was frantic, to say the least. People flew down the halls, their faces set and determined or panicked and shaky.
In the time it took the Falcon to reach the fleet, the Resistance and Republic engineers and scientists had studied the scans, as basic as they were, and had determined a few things. Firstly, a fleet of that size so far out in the Unknown Regions would require some kind of guiding navigational beacon, most likely something static like a tower on the planet's surface. Secondly, due to the volatility and power of the axial superlasers that each of the fleet's ships were equipped with, the weapons would most likely need to be connected to the ship's main reactor and critical damage to the weapon might destroy the ship it was attached to.
Unfortunately, the fleet was one of the few things that Rey and Ben could help very little with. By the time the Resistance had been setting a plan to attack Exegol last time, Rey had already run away to Ahch-To, and while Ben had been the Supreme Leader 'gifted' these ships last time, he had no idea how they could be destroyed, though he did confirm the existence of a navigational tower.
During the debriefing Rey noticed wary and angry eyes shifting to Ben from all around the room, she just held him tighter. Ben had told her the truth about him having been Kylo Ren was out and some of the Resistance was out for blood. Apparently, the news had been leaked by the First Order itself to discredit the newly found Resistance hero, Ben Solo.
She and Ben had not left each other's sides since their blow-out on the Falcon, though they hadn't spoken much since. They remained in constant physical contact, whether that meant fingers intertwined, arms around waists, or hands on shoulders. They could not let each other go, not yet.
Ben had been named Blue Leader for the battle of Exegol, a controversial announcement, and would be leading the blue squadron which would be accompanying the ground team to the nav tower on the planet's surface. Ben tensed when the news had been delivered, it was just another reminder that he and Rey would be separated during the battle. They hadn't been apart in any significant way since he picked her up on Jakku and Rey knew he was worried for her. Rey was worried for him too.
"Blue Leader, eh?" Poe said approaching them, slapping a friendly hand on Ben's back. For once Ben did not cringe at the contact, just looked curiously at the pilot. "Pretty nice, First Order."
"You're still speaking with me?" Ben asked with strained humor. "Haven't you heard?"
"You think I didn't already know?" Poe laughed, shaking his head. "I'm not a complete idiot, I've known since I saw that thing on your hip, man." Poe pointed at Ben's lightsaber hilt.
"You don't care?" Ben asked, confused.
"That's not it – It's not that I don't care." Poe grew strangely serious, more serious than Rey had ever seen him before. "I've heard stuff about Kylo Ren… really bad stuff, but, the way I see it, you're here, you're with us – fighting for what's right – and that counts for something. It does for me, at least."
"I… want to apologize." Both Poe and Rey's mouths fell open nearly in unison as Ben continued. "I haven't been – kind to you." Rey smiled at Ben's apology, it was awkward, but sweet. Poe threw his head back laughing, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.
"Oh, man. You're too much." He slapped a hand on Ben's shoulder to support himself as he doubled over with laughter. A confused smile spread across Ben's face. "Don't worry." Poe said, righting himself, wiping tears from his eyes. "Your sparkling personality and sunny disposition are part of why I like you, Solo." After a moment Poe nodded towards the main hangar where the X-Wings waited. "Anyway, we should get going."
"I'm going to see Rey off." Ben said tightly. Rey could feel him stiffen at the words, she just pulled herself tighter into his side. Poe nodded and headed off towards the hangar.
Luke was waiting for Rey at a small shuttle in one of the ship's hangars. He nodded to her when she arrived and entered the shuttle, seemingly to give Ben and Rey some space and privacy to say goodbye. Hopefully not forever, Rey traitorous mind supplied with a shuddering breath. Ben pulled Rey into his chest and she melted into his warmth. She kept the tears at bay, she couldn't cry, she couldn't give Ben any reason to want to alter the plan.
"I don't want to let you go." Ben said, his voice wavering. She could feel his breathing grow ragged against her. "I can't lose you, Rey."
"You won't." Rey said, hoping it was not a lie.
Rey had been thinking a lot about what had happened since she woke up in the past, how many events had played out the same way. Starkiller exploded, Snoke was dead, Poe gave Finn his name, Hosnian Prime was destroyed, she and Ben in the Death Star wreckage, and now she was off to face her grandfather yet again. Maybe somethings were fated to be, maybe the past could not be changed in such major ways. Her heart ached. Maybe she was fated to die on Exegol.
"I'm afraid," He confessed. Rey smiled up at him. She was afraid too. Rey remembered the words of her master from a past-future that would never come to be.
"Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi."
"Promise me you'll come back, Rey. Promise me." He said staring down into her eyes, his were dark brown and so intense, she could get lost in them and never leave and she wasn't sure if she would care. Rey couldn't form the lie so instead she reached up on the tips of her toes and planted a kiss against his lips.
Rey poured herself into that kiss. It was like she was suffocating, and Ben was the air she so desperately needed, she was dying of thirst and he was water. They held each other tightly into the kiss as though they were trying to truly become one, to meld into each other so that they could never be separated again. She needed him and he needed her. How could one of them survive while the other was gone? She couldn't allow herself to think of that or she would start crying, instead she just held him close and pretended that this was forever.
Forever did not last. They had to pull apart from each other, two halves of one whole separating and scattering to the winds of fate. Rey was trembling as she entered the shuttle. She took one last look back at Ben, who had not moved an inch, and memorized every bit of him. She hoped beyond hope that this was not the last time she would see him.
Ben walked to the hangar with a heavy heart, his limbs were full of lead. Every step he took was another step away from Rey, brought him further from being able to protect her. He knew she was right, logically, they could not face Sidious together, they had already tried that once and it had gone miserably. Still, the idea of her facing Sidious without him, even with Luke's help, was enough to put Ben in a tailspin.
Two figures stood just outside of the hangar bay holding each other close, their faces perfect pictures of worry and grief - Ben's parents.
"Shouldn't you be on the command deck?" Ben asked his mother as he approached the pair. They looked on him with love-filled, watery eyes and it took everything in Ben to not crumble here and now.
"I will need to be," His mother agreed, her voice, normally so schooled and still wavered with emotion. "But not before seeing you off."
Ben wanted to say something, wanted to tell them everything would be fine but his spirit was weighed down by the weight of Rey's musings on fate. Her words clattered against his soul, rang through his mind like a discordant symphony. If they had been fated to die on Exegol, why had the Force brought them back? Surely it wasn't that cruel - though, for the Skywalker family it often seemed to be.
"Look out for those TIEs, son." Ben's father began, his voice gruffer than usual to mask some deeper emotion. "They're fast, can be tricky but I - I know you can handle them, you're one of the best damn pilots I know." Han clapped one calloused hand on his son's shoulder. Ben swelled with pride at his father's words, feeling for all the world like that little boy who had wanted nothing more than to be a pilot just like his dad.
"I learned from the best."
Ben could hold out no longer, he wrapped his arms around both of his parents and held them close. He buried his face in Han's shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of his father - a mixture of leather, fuel, coolant, and some spicy aftershave Ben had never learned the name of. His shoulders shook with silent sobs and he held them closer. His parents were crying too, he could tell.
"I love you." He mumbled into the leather of his father's jacket. "I'm so sorry, I love you."
"It's okay, son." Han said, one hand on the back of Ben's head, stroking his dark hair lightly.
"My sweet boy," Leia's words were muffled by the fabric of Ben's shirt.
Neither Leia nor Han truly knew what Ben was apologizing for, but it didn't matter right now. The small family held each other close and time slipped away. Ben was a child again, a teenager, a dark specter, a man, their son. When Ben pulled away, wiping his tears on the dark sleeve of his shirt, his mother reached up, placing both hands on either side of his face, and pulled him down with a strength that belied her small stature. She pressed a kiss into his forehead.
"Come back to us." She said, keeping Ben bent over so that he was at eye level with her, one of her hands gently pushing a few strands of dark hair out of his face.
"I did once before." Ben responded thickly.
"Well, do it again."
"Solos always make it back in the end." Ben said, flashing his father a watery smile.
Ben urged his parents on, but they refused, insisting on seeing him off, they wouldn't leave until he was in his ship
Ben saw Dameron from across the hangar, he was with FN-2 – no, Finn. The pilot was saying something to the ex-stormtrooper, uncharacteristically serious. Finn nodded and the two embraced before Finn entered the shuttle that would be transporting the ground team. Everyone was saying goodbye to the people that mattered to them, the people they loved. His own thoughts echoed in his head 'this is what happened in war – people died', suddenly the idea made Ben's heart ache.
Ben approached the X-Wing designated for the leader of blue squadron, he found a small astromech droid, a BB unit, grey with blue markings waiting beside it. Ben clambered into the X-Wing, taking some time to acclimate himself to the ship and to start the launch sequence. All squadrons would be taking off as soon as they dropped out of hyperspace above Exegol.
"You ever flown an X-Wing before, Solo?" Dameron's voice crackled through the communicator in Ben's headset. "It's a little different than those TIEs you're so used to."
"Don't worry, Dameron. I can fly anything." Ben said with a smile, trying to take a deep breath, take his mind off of the anxiety currently threatening to eat him from the inside out.
Ben had flown an X-Wing before, Luke had allowed him to fly Red Five more than a few times while Ben had studied at the Jedi temple, he had said that trying to keep a Solo out of the sky was 'as cruel as it was stupid'. Of course, that had been a much older model, the old T-65B was practically ancient compared to the Republic-provided T-70 Ben currently sat in. Still, the concept was basically the same.
TIEs were more maneuverable, some would say faster, though that was debatable in Ben's opinion. They were also far less durable and practically useless out of range of their mothership, especially as they had no hyperdrive – excluding Ben's modified silencer and whisper. Oh, that TIE whisper, that had been a beautiful ship. One day Ben would have to tell Dameron all about the modifications he had made to that ship, surely the pilot would appreciate that.
"Glad to hear it, buddy." Dameron laughed. "Easy flying, Blue Leader."
"Easy flying."
Ben's blood was pure energy as they popped into the atmosphere above Exegol. Blue One roared to life around Ben and flew out into the sky above the dead planet of the Sith. The Sith Eternal fleet spread out below and before Ben and the Resistance ships. Thousands upon thousands of massive ships, stretching out to the horizon, further than the eye could see. Ben could feel his stomach turning over and over like his ship was spinning. Without warning, the sky was filled with red and green laser-fire.
"Welcome to Exegol!" Dameron called out over the comm channel. A few pilots called out cheers of pure adrenaline and nerves. "Blue Leader, get that transport to the nav tower!"
"Let's go, blue squadron, Tantive IV." Ben called out.
"Get down to their altitude." Dameron called out. "They can't fire on us without hitting each other."
All ships pointed their noses down, descending on the fleet. Ben led blue squadron down towards the surface of the planet, the X-Wings in a V formation surrounding the ground-team transport. Teams of TIEs scrambled from the many star destroyers in the air, screaming into the fray.
"Incoming TIEs!" Ben warned as a TIE descended on his group, its green fire directed at the Tantive IV. Ben swooped up and around, placing himself behind the TIE. He fired but the TIE quickly dodged to the right. Ben growled. With their superior maneuverability, TIEs had a fairly natural advantage in a one-on-one dogfight. Ben reset his fighter so that the TIE was directly in the center of his targeting computer and fired again. The TIE fell apart in a fiery explosion, Ben flew through the wreckage to reposition himself at the front of the squadron.
As they neared the ground, Ben saw it, a navigational tower poking out of the broken rock below, a round dish on the top. Ben angled his fighter down towards the planet, sending his squadron racing towards it. As they drew closer, the dish began to close, they were turning off the navigational tower, but how would the fleet leave Exegol?
"What's going on?" Called out Blue Two.
"They've caught on to our plan." Cried Blue Five.
Suddenly, something clicked in Bens mind.
"They've switched navigation to the flagship."
Luke and Rey's transport descended on the Sith Citadel in silence. They were left alone even as the TIE fighters were scrambled and began intercepting the squadrons of Republic and Resistance X-Wings. Rey's eyes were glued to the fighting on the other side of the transperisteel viewport. Her eyes searched the skies as if she could spot Ben's fighter from this distance.
Luke approached from behind and placed a hand on Rey's shoulder gently. It was then that Rey realized she was trembling.
"Ben's a great pilot, Rey." Luke said quietly. "He's a Skywalker and a Solo, I'm sure he'll be alright."
Rey nodded silently in agreement. It did nothing to calm the fear in her, fear for Ben, fear of the Emperor, fear of the inevitable. Rey knew that she very well could die today, she was maybe supposed to. She looked at Luke, his blue eyes shining with understanding. She smiled at him. If anyone in the galaxy knew how she felt it was her former master. He, too, had faced the Emperor once before in a time long ago. They were two people who would never allow their ancestors mistakes and crimes define them.
They walked beneath the monolith, the ancient pyramid of the Sith, and stood atop the circular bit of floor that acted as a lift. Every second that passed, the lower they descended into the citadel, the thicker the air grew with dark energy. Rey could make out the ground below, this place was as dead and broken as the world on which it resided. Deep cracks veined across the temple floor, light – power, dark and terrible – radiated from the fissures.
The second the lift touched the ground Luke and Rey drew their lightsabers, a flash of blue and green, the weapons of father and son reunited to fight an old foe. Rey could feel her heart race and she took a deep breath to center herself. She was a Jedi. Bring balance to the force, as I once did. A voice rang through her head. She would and this time no one would die. She pushed away the wicked voice inside of her that told her she was lying to herself.
Luke and Rey approached the throne of the Sith which sat on a dais in the middle of the main room of the structure. The throne was surrounded by horrible, jagged spires that radiated from it and curled around it, like the gnarled fingers of the Emperor reaching for her soul, pulling her towards the seat, towards a future she did not desire.
An abhorrent but familiar figure lowered itself beside the throne, covered in a dark robe and supported by some kind of machine, the device that kept his decaying physical form alive. Clouded white eyes, physically blind yet all seeing, peered out from behind the hood of the robe. The living corpse smiled dreadfully.
"Long have I waited." Growled the horrible creature. The Sith acolytes that surrounded the throne began to chant in a language Rey did not understand, their voices low as thunder. "My granddaughter has returned to me." Two ghastly white arms reached out to Rey in a gesture that was an eerie mockery of an invitation.
"I have not come to join you." Rey said, her voice sounding more solid and confident than she felt. She readjusted her grip on her lightsaber.
"I can see that." The Emperor mused. "You have brought with you young Skywalker, though not so young anymore."
"You're one to talk, Sidious." Luke huffed in a humorless laugh. "You're dying and Rey will never join you. We have come to destroy you, to destroy the Sith."
"I can sense you have been here before," The Emperor said and Rey knew that he was addressing her. "I do not know how, but I have offered both of you this throne once before, I have offered both of you unimaginable power and you threw it away."
Rey could see the Emperor's red-clad guard shift into offensive positions beside her, but they made no move to attack – not yet.
"Tell me, Skywalker, your father is not here to save you this time, why do you think you can defeat me now?" The creature cackled something that Rey refused to call a laugh, it was too horrible a sound, too vile, too dripping with evil.
"My father," Luke began, his voice low and soft. "Is one with the force, he is with me, always."
Luke raised one of his hands and the machine that the Emperor was attached to began to shudder. The creature let out a horrible ragged scream, it's voice higher than Rey would have imagined. Pipes and drains and wires began detaching themselves, various colors of fluids spilling onto the floor at the Emperor's feet.
The guards flew into action and Rey met them. She blocked and parried and pushed them back with the force, keeping them as far away from Luke as possible, letting him work. Rey felt something catch her ankle and she fell. She looked up to see one of the guards descending on Luke, its sparking axe raised high.
"MASTER SKYWALKER!" Rey cried, shooting one hand out from below her and reaching out with the force.
Though his eyes had been closed in concentration, Luke had sensed the attack. He twirled on the balls of his feet, his green blade cleaving the guard in two by his side, but he'd let the Emperor go. Luke grew still, raised in the air under the Emperor's influence.
"No!" Rey cried out, trying to pull herself up and slipping. The floor was slick now from the fluids leaking from the Emperor's life support system.
"And now, you will meet the same fate your father gave me." The Emperor roared.
Luke flew back, flying towards the pit the Emperor had thrown Ben into last time. With a roar, Rey reached out through the force and stopped Luke's fall, pulling him up and onto the ground just beside where the ground opened up. His lightsaber fell to the ground, the hilt clattering and clanging as it fell into the pit beside him. Luke began to rise when shocks of white-blue lightning began to coil around his form. Luke cried out horribly, he was in terrible pain. The Emperor was cackling that same horrible sound that was only a farce of a laugh.
"Stop!" Rey cried, rising to her feet, reigniting her lightsaber.
She rushed towards the lightning, throwing herself in front of Luke, her blue blade drawn between her and the Emperor's lightning. The terrible dark energy hit the blade which absorbed its power. Rey pushed back against him, taking one slow step forward and then another.
Try as she might, she simply could not reflect the lightning, it was taking everything she had just to absorb it, to keep upright. She called out to Luke's saber, but it was at the bottom of the pit by now, too far away. Luke lay prone on the ground, alive but hurt and unconscious. Rey was alone.
Some things really were fated to be.
You're not alone.
Never alone, have you been.
The force will be with you, always.
Rey closed her eyes, called on the force, called on the Jedi of the past. She imagined them swirling around her, filling her with their power.
"Be with me." She whispered and someone heard.
"Be with me." Ben heard her voice as clear as day, as clearly as though she were right beside him.
Ben lost control almost immediately, nearly flying his ship directly into the side of the Derriphan, but quickly righted himself. Ben whipped his X-Wing around sharply, nearly making himself sick.
"Blue Two, you are now Blue Leader." Ben called into his comm.
"Wait, what -" One of the pilots began but Ben quickly ripped the headset from his head.
Rey was in trouble. He had to go to her, no matter what, nothing else mattered. Ben could feel his heart rate increase with every second that passed. His breathing was deep and erratic, he was shaking all over. He could see the Sith citadel growing larger before him, he could see the transport Luke and Rey had taken sitting before it. Lighting crashed overhead, bright, white and angry.
Ben landed and began his sprint towards the throne, throwing himself onto the giant chain that controlled the floor lift. He hit it hard, knocking the wind out of himself, probably shattering a rib or two.
"Ow," Ben grunted as his body hit the large metal link. He called on the force and jumped down to the ground.
There were a few Sith acolytes about, preparing to attack, but Ben dispatched them quickly with the blaster strapped to his thigh, one shot for each of them. He quickly probed the area with the force, searching for the Knights of Ren. They had been here last time. For a foolish fleeting moment, he had thought they were here to help him, his brothers in arms, but he had been wrong. They were not here. It was strange, but just as well, he was not sure he would have time to fight them now.
Ben started to run when the air began to vibrate in a familiar way, it hummed like a song. He skidded to a halt. Rey was right in front of him in the middle of the hallway surrounded by the towering Sith statues. Her lightsaber was held in front of her at a diagonal, lightning, coming from somewhere Ben could not see, coiled around the blade. Her face was red with strain, sweat dripped from her brow. The bond had opened, and it was clear that she was fading and fast. Ben would not have time to make it to her.
Ben took a deep breath, hoping with every fiber of his being that this would work. He stood beside her and pulled out his own lightsaber which sparked and crackled to life with raw energy, the cross-guard blade now a blinding, luminous white after having successfully healed his kyber crystal on Ahch-To after his conversation with his uncle. He saw Rey turn her head to look at his blade.
"Focus!" He cried over the sound of the lightning whipping around them.
Ben raised his blade and crossed it with her. The moment their blades collided, he was in the throne room, Sidious hung in front of him, his twisted, deformed hands outstretched, pure dark energy flying from him. Ben pushed himself into Rey so that they were shoulder to shoulder, connected. He pushed back against the lightning.
"Be with me." Rey whispered. Ben could feel the calm and control radiating off of her. He remembered their fight on Starkiller Base, their blades clashing, their faces mere inches from each other. Ben had offered to teach her then, to show her the ways of the force, but she hadn't needed him. She had closed her eyes and called on the force and it had flooded her.
Ben closed his eyes now, opening himself up to the life and death and energy that surrounded him and the galaxy. The balance the flowed through every living thing. He called on his ancestors, the Jedi of the past. He could vaguely hear the temple crumbling around him, Sidious' angry, pained screaming.
Voices flooded Ben's mind, they surrounded him, filled him, lifted him. He did not know these voices, and yet on some deeper level he always had, they had always lived inside of him.
Ben
You are a Jedi, Ben Solo
Let the light surround you, Ben
We are with you, Ben.
We have always been with you.
You have never been alone.
Ben, this voice was different, it stirred something in him. The familiarity was striking, as though he would have heard this voice every day of his life, if only he had just been listening. I have always been with you. I was in the light that called you, the part of yourself that you could never let go. I have always been there, and I will never leave you, Ben.
Ben could feel tears running down his cheeks at his grandfather's words. He had never truly heard his grandfather's voice before. He had thought he'd heard Darth Vader before, but that was an illusion, a manipulation of Sidious. Anakin Skywalker was his grandfather and his power flowed through Ben and out towards the Sith Lord. And then all was quiet.
Ben opened his eyes and he was back in the hallway, the white glow from his lightsaber illuminating the feet of some towering statue of a Sith Lord from a time long past. Ben's heart skipped a beat. He imagined Rey falling to the ground, lifeless, her cold form collapsed among the temple rubble. He started to run. That was not what he would find in the throne room. Rey would be fine, it would not be like last time.
Even if it was, he would give his life for her again. She had asked him to stop sacrificing himself, but he would give her everything every time. That was the only thing he knew to be true in this moment.
Ben reached the throne room and took in the destruction. Rubble was everywhere, littering the ground, huge chunks of the citadel had fallen, crushing the Sith acolytes, huge swaths of the ceiling had opened, revealing the sky. Blue light streamed down from above. The throne, Sidious, and the machinery that had supported him had been blown away into nothingness. In the middle of it all, in a beam of blue-tinged light, stood Rey, very much alive. Ben ran to her and she ran to meet him.
They were alive, both of them. He reached out to her, to pull her close, to confirm that she was real. She was, he could feel her warmth beneath his fingers, the way she glowed with the force, her energy, her power, her love.
Ben pulled her closer and leaned down to kiss her, Rey rose to meet him. He kissed her passionately, desperately, like he was a dying man – but he wasn't, they had more time, they were not fated to die here, now. Ben felt lighter than he ever had, losing himself in the woman he loved, the only thing that mattered right now.
They pulled apart only when they were interrupted by a pained grumbling coming from behind them. Ben turned to see his uncle, struggling in vain to pull himself to his feet. Ben and Rey rushed over to him, each throwing an arm under one of the older man's, helping him up.
"I really hate force lightning." Luke mumbled under his breath, eliciting a small laugh from both Ben and Rey as they began to help his uncle back towards the waiting transports.
The three Jedi looked to the sky which was littered with ships and explosions. Debris from star destroyers fell like rain. The storm was receding, the sun rising over the scene, basking it in a golden-orange light. Ben smiled knowing, without communication from the Resistance, without confirmation, that the day was won.