A/N - Another short chapter... but filled with DRAMA! Hope you enjoy!
Rey was still pale and shaken. She hadn't spoken since he'd made his revelation to her, she had barely even moved. Every once in a while she would stare at him, her eyes would darken, and her hands would begin to tremble in her lap once more. She was the strongest person he had ever met, but his confession, his openness, had rattled her completely.
As had his ultimatum.
Because if she stayed with him, she would never be a Jedi. But if she left him, the only thing anchoring him to the light would be gone.
Ben didn't know how he would handle it if she didn't choose him. He couldn't lose her again. When he thought back to the things he had done after she left him, he was repulsed by his actions. He was shocked by the depths of his depravity, his fervent need to lose himself in death in destruction in order to try to forget her.
He'd never experienced the ravenous brutality that had encompassed him before then. It had ensnared him within a web of death that had done little to ease the torment residing within his soul.
A torment that she had inflicted and only she had eased. He'd come to realize that it would only ever be her that could pull him back from that dark place. She could pull him back from the brink of madness, could give him some kind of control over himself. But it was a control that was unraveling rapidly.
She would be his undoing, as he would be hers.
The sound of Luke's voice brought his attention back to the matter at hand.
"I came here because I believed it was time for the Jedi to end," Luke told Rey, tone firm. "But within you lies the power to bring forth a new generation of Force-users, and to destroy the First Order once and for all."
Rey just smiled tremulously at him.
"I assume Ben informed you of the choice you have to make?" Luke inquired, and Rey nodded. Ben's fists clenched in his lap, as he desperately tried to contain himself. If this was what Rey wanted, he would not stop her. He loved her too much to stand in the way of her happiness. "Then I will have you repeat the Jedi code after me."
"I know the code," Rey informed him, and Luke raised an eyebrow. Ben couldn't help but give a small smile at the memory of teaching her to read using the Jedi texts in his library.
"Whenever you're ready then. Once you recite the code, you will begin your journey to become a Jedi."
Rey glanced over at Ben, and it took all he had not to cry out for her to stop. He wasn't prepared for her to go through with this, wasn't prepared to lose her.
Sensing his anguish, Rey offered him a small smile… and winked.
She turned back to Luke, sat up straight, and began to speak.
"Flowing through all, there is balance," She began, and both Ben and Luke froze. "There is no peace without a passion to create."
"No," Luke breathed. Ben simply grinned.
"There is no passion without peace to guide," Rey continued. "Knowledge fades without the strength to act. Power blinds without the serenity to see."
Ben watched in awe as Rey's confidence grew with every word. He could feel the Force swirling around her, both Dark and Light, each finding a home within her.
Finding a balance.
"There is freedom in life. There is purpose in death."
"If you finish this, you can't go back," Luke warned her. "You will never be a true Jedi."
Rey stared back defiantly.
"The Force is all things and I am the Force. And I… am a Gray Jedi."
A/N - Whoa! What did you think about that?
As always, please leave a review with your thoughts, suggestions, and predictions, and I'll see you in the next chapter!
~ Elizabeth (FanOfDeliciousFlavour)