This is a new day, a new beginning.

More troopers arrived and Finn prepared them for the coming battle. Son was drawing near with his dark army.

For their plan to work, Ben had to be the one to approach the Son. Daughter and Rey would stay on the planet's surface and try to keep the ground troops at bay.

Rey and Ben cut off from the rest of the rebel forces and entered the forest. They trained together in a secluded clearing and Ben used every flimsy excuse he could think of to criticise her fighting style or choice of technique just so he could have a reason to touch her. Rey knew exactly what he was doing but played along because she needed the contact just as much as he did.

After a while they retired to lay in the long grass together and look up at the crystal blue sky above them. Rey was pressed into Ben's side and he had an arm wrapped around her, holding her to him.

Rey sighed.

'I wish we could run away from all of this.'

'I know.'

'What will we do when this is all over?'

'Anything we want.'

Rey stood up and turned her back to him. She rubbed her arms though the air was warm.

'If we survive this, I want to leave the Resistance. I want to live a peaceful, happy life, a simple life where my biggest concern is whether or not we have enough soup to feed all our guests on wintery nights. I know this is your mother's fight and you just returned to the fold but—'

'Rey…'

She turned around to find Ben had taken a knee. He looked up at her with unguarded eyes and took her hand in his. She watched as he swallowed thickly and her heart started to pound in her chest.

'I offered you my hand once, and you refused me. I am ashamed to think of it now. I was so cold, so calculated, so single minded. I can no longer tempt you with the Galaxy, Rey. I kneel before you, a changed man, with nothing to offer you, except my heart.'

She sensed how nervous he was, even felt a small trickle of sweat form on her neck in response to his unease. He was more afraid of her answer now than he had been of meeting her saber in the past.

She couldn't stand to feel him suffer a moment longer. They had both suffered enough for several lifetimes.

She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and knocking him off balance. They laughed as they rolled in the grass playfully, fighting for dominance. Ben eventually yielded to Rey and allowed her to settle on top of him. She leaned down and kissed him.

'That's all I ever wanted,' she confessed. Tears forming in her eyes.

Ben placed a hand on her cheek.

'You are the only future I need Rey, no more fighting, no more power struggles, just you and me. Together.'

They lay entwined, hidden amongst the reeds and wildflowers until the last of the trooper carriers landed and they heard Finn calling out for them.

'Time to go,' Ben said sadly.

As Rey pulled Ben up from the ground, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

`He's here,' she whispered.

'I know,' Ben replied.

Ben and Rey ran to join the others as the sky above them turned dark with Alazmec ships. Troopers ran all around them, setting up ground units and organising aerial attacks. Ben and Rey looked longingly at each other. It was time for them to part.

'You could use a good kiss,' Ben said with a wink.

He pulled Rey towards him and pressed his lips to hers. Putting his hands on the sides of her face and placing his forehead against hers, he closed his eyes.

'I'll be right back.'

'You better be.'

Ben smiled and headed for a borrowed X-Wing. Rey watched him leave with a heavy heart, then lit her saber and joined her friends and the many defecting troopers as they created an unbroken line of defence to face the advancing Alazmec army.

Ben jumped into the X-wing and powered it up. He took off and headed for the lead Alazmec ship. He knew that the Son was aboard that particular vessel.

He cleared his mind and called out to his family for aid.

Help me to hide my real thoughts, if he sees the truth, all is lost…

He heard their voices within his head, whispering words of encouragement and comfort. They were with him, always. He drew confidence from their support.

He put the X-wing through a series of complicated evasive manoeuvres that had the engine groaning in protest, but allowed him to successfully avoid all incoming fire.

He reached the lead ship and docked. A few Alazmec soldiers came towards him but he deflected them with a few focused Force attacks.

Entering the Turbolift he pressed the button for the observation deck.

To help calm his mind, he thought back to when he and Rey had shared an elevator with each other. He remembered how tempting she had looked, with her hair down and her lips full and trembling, ever so slightly. He had wanted to give it all up for her, but Kylo had seen his chance to overthrow Snoke with Rey by his side, so Ben's hopes had remained achingly unfulfilled. Until now. He could barely believe that he was now able to say she was his. He was man enough to admit that he had been hers for a lot longer.

The lift doors opened and Ben stepped out. A few Alazmec soldiers saw him and sensed his strong, Force energy. They swiftly left the room. The Son turned around and looked at Ben. Ben nodded a small greeting.

'We have something to discuss.'

The rebels and the troopers bravely fought the Alazmec army. All around Rey, ships filled the sky above her and blocked out the sun. She hoped it wasn't a bad omen. The sound of laser cannons filled the air and assaulted her senses.

Rey felt a degree of sympathy for the Sons blind followers but her survival instincts kicked in when one of them tried to impale her on an elongated spear. The warriors were no match for the young Force user. She sliced a path through them with ease.

One of the masked attackers caught her lip with a knife, Rey berated herself for allowing him to get so close, she ran him through with her saber and continued on her way.

She felt Ben approach the Son and her heart contracted painfully.

'Remember your promise…

He answered her plea instantly.

I will, my love...

Hux eyed the Alazmec ships on the planet's surface. If he could sneak onboard one of them, perhaps that was his ticket out of this rebel mess.

He stayed as close to the foliage as possible, trying to keep out of sight.

He was a handful of steps away from the nearest ships entry ramp, when he saw Connix hit the ground. Hux watched in horror as one of the Alazmec stood over her and raised some sort of club above its head. Connix had dropped her blaster and couldn't defend herself. She was about to be bludgeoned to death. Connix the girl who had shared her soup with him and suggested he could live a different life. Was about to die. Without any further hesitation, Hux leapt across the field and picked up a discarded blaster. He shot the assailant in the back and they fell to the ground dead.

Connix looked up at him in shock. Hux glanced around them nervously, hoping no one else would attack.

'Are you alright?' He asked, holding out his hand to help her up. Connix took it and he pulled her to feet.

'Yes, I think so. You… you saved my life,' she said incredulously.

Hux didn't recognise the look on her face. Was that… gratitude?

Hux opened his mouth to reply, but Connix cut him off by roughly pressing her lips against his.

'Thank you,' she panted as she pulled away, running back into the fray.

Hux stood frozen on the battlefield. He touched his lips. He looked back at the Alazmec ship.

What waited for him on board that ship, he wondered. Another diabolical dictator who would happily assimilate his ideas but give him none of the credit? Another life of servitude and pain? Was he just walking out of one trap and into another?

Then he looked at Connix as she acquired a club and took out two more of the enemy troops.

What waited for him in that direction he wondered.

'Wait!' he called after her, as he took down a few more soldiers with his newly acquitted blaster, before stumbling across the battlefield in a desperate attempt to catch up with Connix.

The ancient deity observed Ben with more than a degree of amusement.

'You come to me unarmed though I know you possess the dagger of Mortis; I must admit I am intrigued.'

'I come to you defenceless because I don't wish to kill you. I wish to join you.'

The Son looked sceptical.

'Why should I believe you?'

'You saw my dreams, if Rey doesn't turn to the Dark, she will die. I can't lose her, I'll do anything to save her. She has rejected both our individual pleas for her to turn to the Dark, but perhaps together we could persuade her to turn.'

The Son looked interested in his proposal.

Ben felt him reach out for his thoughts to ascertain if his words were genuine. He felt his Force family around him as they shielded the truth from the Son. They created a false vision of the future and projected it to the fearsome deity. The Son saw himself as the rightful Emperor of the Galaxy, Rey by his side as his loyal, Dark Queen, and Ben as his ruthless, vengeful Knight.

The Son was elated to see his desires come to pass, he saw no reason to doubt the fabrication, knowing that Ben could never be powerful enough to deceive him.

'I am willing to consider a temporary partnership, but you must serve and if Rey does turn, she will belong to me.'

'I'll do whatever it takes to keep her alive.'

'Kneel before me,' The Son ordered.

Ben did as he was asked, then took a deep breath and lifted his head from the ground. He looked past the Son, past the ships walls, he reached out for Rey.

Rey wounded another assailant then stilled her movements as she felt Ben call for her.

Rey, now...

She suddenly saw Ben before her on one knee, his strong unyielding eyes looked up at hers and saw directly into her soul. He nodded briefly. Her lips parted slightly as they inhaled and exhaled as one.

She pulled the dagger from a pouch on her back and held it out towards him. Ben took it from her. Their fingers brushed briefly. A sea of unspoken emotions flowed between them in that one intense instant.

Then the bond broke as Rey was rushed by another Alazmec soldier. She used the Force to push the assailant away, then plunged her saber through its heart. She looked up at the ship in the sky above them, the one that carried cargo more precious to her than her own life.

As the battle around her intensified, Rey had to focus all of her energy on staying alive and she temporarily lost her connection with Ben. She remained unaware of his fate, as she fought her way through the waves of devotees saving Rose and Finn from enemy blaster fire and joining Daughter briefly in a joint Force attack that took out a dozen of the fanatical maniacs simultaneously. Exhaustion settled into her bones as she deflected another round of blaster fire. She wished Ben was fighting alongside her.

'Please let this work,' she prayed.

As soon as Ben retrieved the dagger from Rey, he lunged forward and ran the Son through. He stood and looked venomously into his enemy's eyes as he pulled back sharply to withdraw the dagger once more.

The Son's eyes widened in shock and he winced in pain. He covered his wound with his shaking hands as he stumbled backwards.

'No, it isn't possible…' he uttered as he fell to the ground. Blood pooled all around him. He felt cold and disconnected as his vision began to blur. How could it be that he had failed? Wasn't the Galaxy his to rule? Perhaps he had been mistaken? Perhaps in his next life… his eyes finally closed and his body disappeared as his energy rejoined the eternal Force around them.

Across the stars on Mortis, Father opened his eyes and pulled in his last laboured breath.

'It is done,' he whispered before closing his eyes for the final time and giving in to the constant pull of the Force that surrounded him.

Ben breathed a sigh of relief. It was over, he was free. They were free. He could make good on his promises to Rey, they could be together, live a peaceful life, at long last...

It was then that a Resistancepilot who had missed the order not to fire on the lead ship, saw his chance to make a name for himself by destroying the huge vessel. Ben didn't have a moment to react, the missile hit the ship, and then everything went black.

On the field below, Daughter felt physical pain at the passing of her family members and placed a hand over her wounded heart. She had lost her Father and her Brother at the same moment. Grief threatened to engulf her but then, a tiny slither of hope emerged from the misery. She saw that Mortis had begun to crumble and she realised that she was no longer obligated to her duties.

There was no need to maintain the balance as the tenuous equilibrium between the three unlikely kin had finally been broken. The Force would find a new source to bring balance to the Galaxy. Daughter hoped it would be a more stable and harmonious arrangement.

As the Son's energy dissipated, the Alazmec froze, they felt the death of their master keenly. A symbiotic decision was made to lay down their arms. The fight was meaningless to them now. They needed to begin preparations for the mourning ritual right away, it would take many days and many nights of prayer to properly grieve for their fallen God. They began to retreat and leave the planet's surface.

When the troopers and rebels realised what was happening, they threw down their weapons. They cheered and hugged each other as the Alazmec departed.

Rose and Finn found each other amongst the throng and embraced tightly. They kissed roughly as exhilaration flooded their veins.

Hux smiled awkwardly at Connix who rolled her eyes at him and grabbed fistfuls of his uniform. She pulled him tightly towards her and wrapped her arms around him. Hux stood rigid for a moment then tentatively wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her soft shoulder. He sighed gently.

Daughter looked for the only person she wanted to see, Poe, but then she heard Ben's voice.

Someone please...

Daughter looked up in horror to see the ship that Ben was on, engulfed in flames. She sprinted across the battlefield to Ben's aid.

It would take all her energy to project onto the ship, but she had to try. He had saved her life once, she hoped to be able to repay his kindness. She got as close as she could, closed her eyes and prayed for a miracle. Her father's voice came to her as she dematerialised.

I love you, my daughter…

She felt joy at knowing that his suffering was over and he was finally at peace. With his help, she reached the ship and Ben. He lay unconscious on the observation deck surrounded by debris. The ship shook all around them. Daughter fought to keep her balance. She crouched down beside him and placed her hands-on Ben.

Father, please help me…

As she tried to transport them both back to the planet below, she felt as if her Father's energy was with her, guiding her to the surface.

They landed unceremoniously in a clearing in the forest. She reached out to Ben who was still unresponsive but the effort of saving him had severely depleted her energy, her head flopped to the ground and her eyes fluttered closed.