Chapter 2: In Xanatos Did Kubla Kahn

The twin suns were setting, turning the Tatooine a blazing shade of purple. The miracle of the turning of celestial bodies should have been beautiful to Rey.

But after what she had been through, nothing looked beautiful, and she doubted it ever would again.

Tears burning down her cheeks, she snarled as she slashed at the air with her golden lightsaber. With every emptiness that her blade cut through, the emptiness widened in her heart, as she wished that a certain raven-haired, sparkling-eyed man with pouty lips would suddenly appear and match her blows.

They could have made a life for themselves together, sparring and laughing and talking and kissing and making love in bed. It may have been here, or it could have been somewhere else. He could have shown her the galaxy, and she could have found belonging with someone who loved her...

Why did he love her so much that he had to die for her? Her only hope was that his body had faded away in the Force, which meant - according to Jedi doctrine - that his essence was out there somewhere, as Luke and Leia (her Jedi Masters) had surely discovered before him. The twins had appeared to her, not long after she had arrived on Tatooine. It was... Ben who had yet to appear. Even if he was a shimmering blue ghost, even if they couldn't be together in life, could the Force not at least show mercy and have him cross the bridge between this world and the one beyond until they could be reunited in death? Rey knew all about waiting - she would wait, and wait faithfully to return to him, as long as she had to - but the last time she had kept vigil on a desert planet, she had been waiting for nothing. So it was hard not to feel as though this bout of waiting would be her doom.

Trudging into the Lars homestead, which she had made her own, Rey set her lightsaber down on the nightstand. Peeling off her white Jedi robes, she hung them in the chifforobe, wincing at the dirt griming the fabric into a dull beige. She would have to save up some credits and then go into Tosche Station for some shopping - beggars couldn't be choosers, but even Rey could see that she desperately needed a new outfit, or really just a second one. Besides, her Jedi robes felt almost like... her wedding dress. It was what she was clothed in when she had her first kiss.

Her nightwear was all set, thankfully. Even more thankfully, it was of a different color.

The cowl. The baggy trousers cinched in as tight as they could be as she tugged them up over her bony hips. The sweater with a hole in it - holding it up to her nose, Rey inhaled deeply. She could still smell a faint trace of him, though it was starting to fade, and she tried not to let this fact set panic deep into her chest. They were the clothes in which he had died. Ben's burial shroud... and now her nightgown.

She tried not to think about the one other momento of him, sitting in her closet. She hadn't looked at it since coming upon it during a celebration back on Ajan Kloss. Apparently, Finn had recovered it from Kef Bir and the Death Star ruins, wanting to display it as a kind of macabre souvenir. He'd been boasting about setting the thing on a pike. The ex-Stormtrooper had not understood why Rey reacted so angrily to this and demanded that Kylo Ren's helmet be turned over to her, but he had hurriedly acquiesced, perturbed by her vehemence.

Swooning onto her simple bed, an image of Ben's handsome face swimming in her mind, Rey buried her face in her pillow and wept. Her body shook with shuddering, low and alto sobs as she mourned her lost, true love.

A drafty wind whistled through the homestead quite suddenly, snuffing out the one candlelight perched on the nightstand. Raising her head from the pillow, Rey stiffened. She felt a presence... a presence she had not felt since...

Exogol.

Flipping around and sitting up in bed, Rey stared, mouth agape, at the shimmering blue visage which now stood before her. Her face went white, as though she had seen a ghost... and in fact, she had.

His dark hair fell beautifully into his eyes, deep and warm. Eyes that held the same happy look he had blessed her with on Exogol before he died in her arms. The round, unblemished face and pouty lips. His aura in the Force was full of heat that she wanted to bask in. And when he spoke, it was his same silky voice, with a timbre that even now made Rey shiver in delight.

"Rey..."

Failing to hold back a sob, Rey flew out of bed like an uncaged bird and flung her arms about his neck, coming apart on his shoulder. She felt arms as thick as tree trunks, translucent though they were, come about her slim waist, and hold her gently. Large, strong, calloused hands rubbing up and down her back as he rocked her, letting her cry.

"Oh, Ben..." she moaned. "Why did you leave me? Why is it only now you are coming to me?"

"The Force has changed much of our circumstances, Rey... but not the way I feel about you..." Rey burst into tears anew and he swayed her body against his gently.

"Ssssh... ssssssh, my love... It's all right..."

"Why did you have to go?" Rey whimpered, snuggling closer.

"I didn't have a choice, as much as I wanted one. And I couldn't bear to live without you."

"But I can?" Rey challenged. She whimpered again and burrowed herself in his warmth ever further. "No, I can't."

"Oh, my sweet darling..." Ben crooned. "You're so strong. And my heart cries for you as much as yours does for me. But killing yourself to be with me is not the answer."

She peered up into his face. "Then what is? Seeing you only in my dreams can only do so much good..."

Ben grinned with pure love. "Perhaps so. Would visiting you by night dull the pain?"

She gasped, eyes shining. "Every night," she pleaded. "Every single night for the rest of my days. Let me sleep beside you like I was meant to!" Reaching up to caress his face, she had to stand on her tiptoes to kiss him desperately, her lips puckering frantically all along his face. At long last, Ben growled and captured her lips in his.

"Mmmmm..." Rey swooned with a groan, her eyes rolling shut and her arms looping lazily about his neck. A hundred years could go by, and she still would remember the taste of his lips on hers. Stumbling back towards the bed, she felt Ben's hands stroke her face, the swelling underside of her breasts, her bum. She shivered in uncontrollable delight. Tumbling back onto the mattress, Ben peeled his old garments off of her, one article at a time. Rey's hands wandered everywhere, trying to return to favor.

It was so strange - kissing a ghost. Having the form of a ghost pressed against her body. With a wave of his hand, Ben's ghostly apparel faded away so that he lay naked before her.

Breaking the dreamy kiss, Rey gulped, her big, brown eyes suddenly nervous. "Can... can you...?"

Ben beamed. "Only if you want me to," he purred. His voice sounded like liquid honey.

Rey arched her back, tears swimming from her eyelids. Her consent was delivered with a raspy croak. "Please." She gently spread her legs, so that Ben could nestle between her weak knees. She felt a bloated, wild thing brush up against the inside of her thigh, the foreskin sticky and throbbing.

And then... Ben slowly pushed inside of her.

Heaven. That was what it felt like to have a ghost make love to her. Rey could feel his body rippling against her, and yet at the same time, it felt like a warm summer breeze was sweeping her up. Their Bond, the Force itself, sang like a choir of angels. Within her core, the pleasure built and built, the Force growing and cresting right along with Rey as her body quaked and wriggled. Pathetic moans were torn from her lips, then supped into the wind by every kiss Ben pulled from her lips.

"Uhhhhh... Huhhh... Ohhhhh... Hmmmmm... Ben... Oh... Ohhhhhh... OHHHHHHHH!"

Ben's face was in her neck, kissing and nipping at the sweaty skin before brushing up to her earlobe. Then came the sweetest of whispers, as Ben let out those three little words. "I love you."

The Force exulted, crashing over Rey like a giant wave, overwhelming her. Feeling as though she was being dunked into a hot springs, Rey arched her back, clutching Ben possessively as she happily screamed her release. Her throat became raw as all it could do was cry his name. "BEN! BENNN!"

Ben moaned through another slam. Then, with a manly grunt, he came deep inside her tight, throbbing walls. Collapsing against her, Ben softly pushed the sweaty hair out of Rey's face. She appeared positively dazed, her eyes glazed over. But then she fixed him with a loving stare and there it was. That beaming, dazzling smile.

The couple laughed softly before pressing their lips together in a chaste, simple kiss. Rey and Ben fell asleep in each other's arms. Holding him without any intention of letting go, Rey slumbered better than she had in nearly forever.

As he watched his granddaughter drift into slumber and content in her nakedness, and in the arms of whom she thought was her lover, Palpatine's spirit - invisible - chuckled maniacally.

Xanatos would have his revenge, in a way - after close to a century, it was long overdue. It would be his baby growing inside of her, after all. His new chance at a legacy - a descendant that Granta Omega could never have been.

But it would also be Sidious's descendant, by virtue of its mother being the Emperor's granddaughter. And Palpatine would make sure his great-grandson would rise to become a ruler so powerful and feared, no one would remember the cursed names of Vader or Ren. And no one would remember - no matter how much Rey declared it her married surname - the name of Skywalker. No, it would be the name of Palpatine that would rule again, that would belong to the ages.

For the first time since Exogol, Palpatine felt something he had long coveted - control.

And it was glorious.