A/N: Thanks for reviewing!

All that love and that worth, that touch of a flare, that feel of the earth, I can get it back

Without the Wayfinder, getting to Exegol could have been a challenge. However, the Falcon had followed Rey when she had been in Luke's X-wing and Rose was able to resurrect the coordinates from the computer's memory. The trip was long enough for Rey to be feeling impatient and frustrated for most of it. Her friends attempted to engage her in conversation, but she was short-tempered and terse, so they gave up. She felt guilty about that.

Finally, they reached their destination and Rey took a deep breath as she looked down at the planet, its surface black and the lone structure that covered Palpatine's lair a blight on the landscape. At least the lightning that had been a constant last time was no longer evident and the sky was clear. "You don't have to come with me," she said as she set in a course to land by the ship next to a TIE fighter. The sight of it made her throat feel tight and she swallowed.

"Of course we're coming with you," Finn insisted, glancing at Rose for confirmation. She nodded firmly.

Chewie suggested that someone should stay to watch the ship and Rey smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll be the best guard we have. We won't be long," she promised as they set down on the planet's surface.

She wouldn't embrace Chewie like she wasn't sure she was ever coming back. She wouldn't cry in front of her friends, thinking of how Ben had sprinted in to save her. She would be strong and lead them into the underground chambers without flinching at their contents, at what she had done here. At what she had lost. Her blaster was in her belt with her lightsaber. Her friends both had their blasters. Whatever might have been left on this dead planet should pose no danger to them.

"It's spooky in here," Finn muttered as they walked quietly into the strange structure that seemed to float above the ground, heading for the chasm that would lead down to where she had faced off with the Emperor. Their lights did little to penetrate the gloom.

"Very spooky," Rose responded.

"It's the Force. It's very strong here." Rey's response was distracted as she felt a little overwhelmed by the oppressive feeling of it surrounding her. It would be easy to harness, to do all kinds of feats that would normally take all of her strength to do. The power here was likely the only reason she and Ben had survived the Emperor's initial attack to drain their energy. But it wasn't enough to save both of them, she thought bitterly.

She flinched when Rose touched her arm. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she answered shortly. She was aware that her friends exchanged a glance but she ignored it. She was fine – fine enough. Fine enough to be here, fine enough to investigate what happened to Ben. Fine enough to confront whatever horrors the Emperor may have left behind.

They reached a crevasse with a gigantic chain going down it and she took a deep breath. "How good are you at climbing?"

"Not that good," Rose said frankly when Finn hesitated.

"I have some rope, I think." She opened her bag and pulled it out – helpful, but not nearly long enough to get them all the way to the bottom.

Finn peered below them, holding up his light. "I think there are a few flat places. We will have to take turns going down."

"I can climb it without the rope." She fastened the rope onto the nearest link of the chain. "You go down and I'll untie it before joining you." Her friends wanted to protest, that was clear, but there weren't many other options. So they slowly made their way down, taking their time to do it safely. Rey had climbed back out on her own, but she supposed they would have to use a similar method to leave. The thought was not a pleasant one as she considered they might need to leave more quickly than they had arrived.

Eventually, they reached the bottom and Rey led the way through the stone passageways until they came upon the laboratory the Emperor had kept. Rose visibly startled at the sight of it and Rey wished she could pass by it without noticing what it contained as she had before. That would negate the purpose of coming here, though, so she continued forward resolutely.

"What is all this?" Finn asked, disgust evident from his tone.

"I don't know. Dark experiments, I suppose," Rey replied.

"What are you going to do?"

Rose's question had an edge of worry in it and Rey offered her a reassuring smile. "I'm not going to take part in any of it. But I am going to have to touch them."

"Touch them?" Finn was even more disgusted now.

"Yes. I can read memories in things when I touch them sometimes. I might be able to find a clue."

Her friends looked at her with a mixture of dubiousness and horror. She felt the latter acutely. She very much did not want to know further details about what the Emperor had been getting up to for the last few decades. About what he considered relevant research to be doing while stuck in this horrible place. But Ben could very well be stuck somewhere worse, so that strengthened her resolve.

There were all kinds of strange apparatuses around the place, odd lights blinking and tanks of liquid that glowed a sickly green or yellow. It was a place of nightmares and Rey swallowed. Before her, there was a table strewn with forgotten tools. It seemed a good place to start – or at least better than touching anything in the vats. Her hand trembled as she reached out to grasp the nearest implement. It took a bit of focus to see any visions of its past, which was a relief. It was just a mechanical tool, only used for mundane things and she let out the breath she had been holding.

The next object was nasty-looking, with sharp edges. She snatched her hand back after making barely any contact and seeing what cruel things it had been used for. Perhaps she should have touched it again, to be thorough, but she continued down the table instead. Each thing gave her a glimpse into its uses, some innocuous, some horrific. How the Emperor had gotten prisoners to be brought to this place, how he had influenced servants to live here, was a mystery to Rey. She felt sick before she had even finished with the table, let alone the rest of the room.

The people who were helping to build the Republic were frustrating in their myopic view of the world, but she could understand their priorities. Taking care of herself had always been her most important goal – survival – and other people having the same focus were understandable. But people who would do these things to other living creatures… Who would bring them here to be tortured, to do unholy things to them in service of a craving for power… That was a kind of evil she could not understand. What good was power, really? Except as a way to ensure you and yours were safe. To control your own future, to protect yourself – those were understandable motivations. But to court such evil for the sake of abstract power made no sense to her.

She finished with the table and, making a face, stuck her hand into a vat of something she was too disgusted to inspect. Fortunately the memories here were few, and she could move on. Her progress was methodical, which helped lessen some of the horror, as she made her way around the room. Her friends stood to the side, watching her, and she tried to look at them reassuringly when she could. Though she was gaining quite a bit of knowledge about the Sith and their ways, nothing seemed like it would be helpful for bringing Ben back, and her throat constricted in distress.

There was only one place left – a huge tank that stood taller than she and wider than her arm span. She had been avoiding it because of the darkness emanating from it, but she had no choice but to inspect it. There were things in it – she recoiled as she recognized Snoke. But… too many pieces. More than one Snoke? It wasn't just his corpse from when Ben had killed him. What did this mean?

She reached in and was immediately transported into a vision. Snoke, in a forest, talking to Ben after he'd fled the temple. Then he was in his throne room, berating Ben and that redhaired general. Telling Ben about how he had been disfigured, telling Ben that his cruel family had done this to him. Ben wore his mask but she could feel his pain at the revelation. Then Snoke was on Exegol, engaging in a Dark ritual to bring the Emperor back. He brought forth clones of himself, to feed the Emperor using their life Force, finally resulting in the mangled corpse Rey had seen. Then she saw herself in the throne room, hearing him gloat as he found out about where Luke was. He planned to go find Luke on Ahch-To and use the Dark part of the island to bring him before the Emperor, using him to restore Palpatine to life.

"Rey!" Rose's voice pulled her from the vision and she dropped to her knees, fighting back a wave of nausea. What a fool Snoke was, to think bringing Palpatine back would help him rule the galaxy. The Emperor had not cared when Ben had killed Snoke, making no effort to use the clones for anything other than a way to increase his own power.

"Rey, are you okay? Should we leave?" Finn asked anxiously.

Shaking her head, Rey got to her feet. "Snoke is gone, past his usefulness to the Emperor. I saw… I saw what he did to bring Palpatine back but it's not something we can do to bring Ben back," she added softly, fighting tears.

Rose took her hand and Finn put his arm around her. "We tried our best, Rey. Should we go?" Rose suggested.

"No, I… I need to go in the throne room. You can stay here if you wish."

Finn snorted. "I'd love to go literally anywhere else, Rey. Lead on, we're with you."

With some relief, Rey nodded and tried to shake off the visions as she made her way into the place where she had faced the Emperor – and where Ben had died.