CHAPTER XVII

Leia sensed something was wrong here. She loved her son, but he wasn't going to give up so easily. Her Force powers, as barely-trained as they had been, sensed deception.

Han held out that hand firmly, and his son finally reached out and held it-but Leia saw his other son was heading for his lightsaber.

"Ben, no!" she screamed in time, and just as the lightsaber was wielded, Han had already jumped back and Leia had thrown herself in front of him!
Kylo Ren raised his weapon in fury, ready to strike down his two parents, who cowered in front of him, when Chewbacca charged at him.

With one swing, Chewie's arm slice right off. The Wookiee howled in pain.

"Chewie!" Han screamed.

"Ben! No!" Leia said.

"I'm sorry, Chewie," Ren said, "You were good to me. Sometimes even better than my real father was. But right now you're in my way."

And he stabbed Chewie again.

Luke sprinted across the field, yelling "Ben!"

It occurred to him, without irony, that he had yelled that same name once before, many years ago, when trying to save someone else from another Sith.

Ren turned around at Luke's voice, smiled, and ran towards him. Han and Leia barely had time to process that Luke was there and near them; they were both grieving their fallen Wookiee companion.

Rey ran after Luke, but struggled to keep up. She could see this confrontation was going to happen in the middle of the field.

As Ren ran forward with his lightsaber wielded, Luke slowly drew his. For a moment there was silence between the old teacher and student-

-and then they met on field, face to face.

"I've waited for this for a long time," Kylo Ren said, "I've hunted you, trapped you here on this planet. And now I will have killed the last Jedi!"

Rey ran faster, finally catching up them. She wielded her lightsaber, ready to finally use it in combat for the first time-

-only for Ren to simply raise his hand and toss Rey ten feet backwards with just the Force.

He ran at Luke and the two lightsabers clashed! Ren was far more aggressive than before. He thrashed at Luke, knocking him back. Luke nearly fell backwards, but then charged forward, pressing Ren's crossguard saber towards his shoulder.

Rey watched the whole fight powerless. Both men were of equal strength, and each could easily win.

Ren tossed Luke back. As Luke tried to raise his lightsaber once more, Ren put all his weight on top of him, keeping him from raising his arms.

And then Luke pushed back in triumph and swung his lightsaber across Ren's face.

The boy known as Ben Solo/Kylo Ren lay on the ground unconscious, a large cut across his face. Rey, feeling her strength come back to her, began to get back up.

Luke stood over the boy's body, holding his lightsaber, thinking about finishing the job.

Then he looked across the field. Han and Leia were still trying to nurse the dying Chewbacca; they had barely paid attention to the fight.

"You can't die on me, fuzzball," Han said, through his tears, "You've saved my life so many times. Maybe not as many as I've saved yours, but-"

"Chewie," Leia said, also through tears, "Chewie, we love you."

Chewbacca gave one last roar, the last of millions, and then passed away. Han only squeezed his lifelong best friend, then closed his eyes.

Luke looked at his sister and husband, feeling their pain, then turned off his lightsaber and began walking towards them.

"Luke!" Rey called after him, "What are you doing? You're going to just leave him alive again?"

"Ben may have murdered many innocent people. He may be twisted by the darkside beyond all hope. But-I will not kill him. I will not kill my nephew, and bring more pain into the lives of my sister and her husband."

"He also tried to kill me!" Rey reminded him, "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"If you choose to make your own fight with him, that's your path," he said, and walked away.

Rey watched, unable to speak, as Luke approached Han and Leia over Chewie's corpse.

"Luke!" Leia said and embraced him.

"Hey, kid," Han said through his tears, "I see you finally learned to take care of yourself."

It was one of the most beautiful reunions Rey had ever seen.

"Our son," Han asked, "Did you-?"

"He was redeemed," Luke lied, "He came at me with all he had and I had to strike him in self-defense. But when he lay dying, he renounced the Sith and wanted me to tell you you were right about him. And then he faded away, becoming one with the Force."

And Han and Leia believed this, and embraced Luke as they mourned their son.

Rey took this in. Her respect for Luke grew tremendously, but she also knew the truth. She couldn't leave Kylo Ren alive.

She ran back up the field to where the duel had just taken place-

-and saw the body had gone. Kylo Ren had run off.

She then heard a noise and looked up to see Luke's X-wing flying out of their cave. Ren had been quick to find their hiding place and make his escape.

Then she felt something else: Finn was nearby and also in trouble. She didn't want to break up the beautiful reunion between Luke, Han, and Leia, so she darted across the field, avoiding them, and ran straight into the village.

She recognized the Millenium Falcon, where sure enough, Finn and Udo were still blasting at the other Sith. He was starting to lose his energy, and Darth Cullen was closing in.

"You're our soldier clone who defected," Cullen said, "You are a traitor and scum! I'm going to enjoy this."

"Finn!" she yelled out!

Finn looked over at her and smiled. And right at that moment, Cullen began to make his fatal strike.

On pure instinct, Rey raised her hand and began Force-choking Cullen. He gagged, bringing both his arms to his throat. Rey tightened her grip, realizing she was using the darkside, realizing how strong it made her feel. She wanted to kill this Sith, to be done with it.

But then she saw Finn, looking at her in fear. For the first time ever, she realized her friend was scared of her.

With all her strength, Rey let go. Cullen got his breath back, then stood back up.

"Alright," Rey said, "Let's do this the old-fashioned way."

She wielded her maroon lightsaber and Cullen did the same. His lightsaber was bright yellow. The two began to fight.

Rey still felt the Force, but this time felt her instincts kicking in. She could tell this was the light side. Something about it was different than what she had felt a minute ago.

Rey was knocked back as Cullen advanced. The two charged at each other several times, lightsabers clashing.

He pinned her against a tree, ready to strike her down.

Then Rey jumped back up, flipped herself around, and decapitated Cullen in a single move!

"Whoa!" Finn said, "How-how did you do that?"

"I'm going to be a Jedi," Rey said, "And that means, I need to start somewhere."