Rey tightened the overcoat around her. "The bastard was right. It's cold here." It was too long and she was dragging the ends on the floor. The sleeves were folded three times and her arm wraps were securing it to her waistline. She felt like floating in it. Rey placed a hand on one of the walls. She felt dizzy. "He was right about this too," Rey thought reminding his warnings. "I need to go on. I don't want to die here." She kept going and after a turn the scenery changed. It was a desert planet with white sand. In the distance she saw a huge dome. A city, she thought. She was walking toward it when she heard that voice.
"Rey, you've taken your first steps"
She turned around fast. In front of her she saw a man with a kind face wearing Jedi robes. He had auburn hair and blue eyes. He smiled with warmth toward her. The man...loved her.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was a Jedi Knight"
"Was?"
"After the destruction of the Jedi Order in the Clone Wars such titles lost their meaning, and...ah, truth be told...I did not always act as the Jedi Council deemed appropriate. I believe my master is to blame for that...and my padawan" Obi Wan chuckled.
"How do you know me?"
"That is not for me to tell you, my child. It is for you to discover."
Rey was disappointed by the answer but she did not let him see that. "Where am I here? What am I supposed to do?" she asked, swinging her arms around her to point out the desolate surroundings.
"To answer your first question: this is a representation of Mandalore. You are on Parellia. As for the second..."
"It is for me to discover."
"Yes. Your master taught you well." Obi-Wan smiled again.
Rey smiled back at him. It was something familiar about him yet she could not tell what. She closed her eyes, trying to feel the Force and let the Light guide her. She felt it. She opened her eyes and headed toward the city. Obi Wan Kenobi was walking by her side.
"You must be careful of the young Skywalker."
"You mean Kylo Ren?"
"In a way, child. I speak of Ben Organa-Solo, his true self. Kylo Ren is only the monster that is consuming him and wants to rise from his ashes. The truth is that the boy is far stronger than the one you call Supreme Leader Snoke could have imagined. "
"You speak as if they are two different persons"
"They are, from a certain point of view" Obi Wan smiled with warmth.
"I don't understand. It is not like that at all. You can't speak of him like that. Ben Solo made his choice to join the Dark Side and to follow Snoke. He made the choice to kill his own father"
"Patricide is a heinous crime, that is true. But do not be quick to judge, child. One might have made horrible decisions in the past, but when the time is right they can make the right ones, if they have the will...and the right encouragement. The Dark Side does terrible things to a person. The hunger for power can never be satisfied and it is always growing stronger, fueled by hate and anger. They cloud one's judgement and makes one a slave to one's own hate."
"He is power hungry and full of hatred. He fears he'll never be as strong as Darth Vader."
"Do you know what Darth Vader's most powerful act was?"
"He destroyed the Jedi Order."
"No, child. He defeated the darkness. He came back to the Light as Anakin Skywalker and destroyed the Sith."
Rey looked stunned at him. What did he meant by that? Before she could ask him another question, Obi-Wan raised his hand to stop her:
"You've arrived at your destination, my child. We shall talk again."
Rey looked on baffled as the man vanished in a blue mist. She was at the base of the huge dome now, near an access point. The writing above it was in a different language than Basic and she could not understand it. She entered and realized there was an entire city inside. It was huge, with multi-stories buildings and parks. But there was not a soul there. The entire city was abandoned. She walked down the street and found staircases that lead her to the upper levels. She found a motorcycle and took it. The engine purred between her legs and she was in the air. She was floating, looking all around, and admiring the landscape. Her gaze stopped on a palace in the middle of the city. She pointed the motorcycle toward it and, before she knew it, she was parking right in front. She entered the palace with the lightsaber in hand.
The palace was sumptuous. Rey had never imagined such luxury could exist in the Galaxy. She entered the throne room. It was luminous, with floor-to-ceiling windows. The throne was at the end, in front of an orange stained glass. She crossed the entire room and touched the arms of the throne. She was fascinated by the stained glass because she had never seen anything so beautifully crafted.
A sound made her turn. A small, slender figure was walking toward her, its face covered by a large hood. Rey immediately ignited the lightsaber and assumed an attack position.
"Who are you?"
"So quick to anger...I like it" the cloaked figure said as it removed its hood
Rey was shocked to see she was looking at herself. This version of her was very different. Dark Rey moved with a certain seductiveness Rey never knew existed. She had her hair loose, and she wore an outfit similar in style to Kylo Ren's: all black, tight fitting pants with a large overcoat. Half her face was covered by the huge collar neck of the overcoat. Her boots made the hall echo with a low CLANK-CLANK. She ignited her lightsaber when she was closer, and it was blood-red. She twirled it in a provocative manner, and taunted Rey:
"So...shall we dance?"
Dark Rey jumped and closed the gap between them. Their lightsabers clashed with sparks flying all around. She hit so hard Rey almost fell on her back. But she didn't, she gathered her strength and pushed back Dark Rey, trying to land a few blows of her own. They were pacing each other in circles, looking for weak spots, opening in defenses. Dark Rey extended her hand and started Force chocking Rey. Rey felt all air leaving her lungs and her chest was ablaze. She struggled and managed to break free of the demon's grasp using the Force. Dark Rey seized the moment and struck Rey across her chest but Rey counter attacked, the tip of the blue lightsaber grazing the other's thigh.
They fought like this, back and forth for what seemed like an hour. Each one of Dark Rey's blows was backed by hate and anger and with each centimeter she gained she seemed more absorbed in the fight. She was fighting with the strength of the mightiest sandstorms.
"You're so afraid" laughed Dark Rey as she kept hitting her.
Rey whimpered as Dark Rey's lightsaber grazed her skin through the thick overcoat. She stumbled a few feet back and tried to counter attack but her blow did not touch her target. She was tired and could barely breathe. She was feeling sick from all the blood she lost. She had no way of winning this fight. "I am afraid. I can't do this forever. I can't outrun my fears...I can't outrun…my…fears...I have to face my fears. What do I fear?" Another hit in her leg made Rey grunt and retreat even further in the throne room. The middle of a fight was not the proper place for meditation. "I fear...I'll become like Ren...That the Dark Side will consume me. But I can't defeat it, I can't fight it. She is wining" Another one of Dark Rey's hits touched the skin of her left shoulder. The dark one jumped and kicked Rey in the chest. She fell down and hurried to get back up on her feet, with the lightsaber raised. "I...I am the one that has to defeat her. But...she is also me, somehow..." Rey lowered the lightsaber and allowed Dark Rey to impale her in the chest. It did not hurt.
"I am not afraid of you. I admire your strength. I respect it. I accept I have a Dark Side." Rey declared in a sure tone to her other self.
"What..." Dark Rey was looking at her in disbelief.
"I swear I will never allow you to see the real world. I will never set you free. I will always stay in the Light and protect those who can't protect themselves."
Dark Rey recoiled from her and disappeared. Rey stood there for a while. Her breathing became regular again and all her pains subsided. She glanced at the spots she was hit and she saw that her overcoat and skin were actually intact. She left the throne room behind and went out in one of the corridors. She kept walking until after one turn she was back in the stone corridor of the Temple, and found herself in front of a door. "Open" and the door did. She passed the test, and she was relieved for it.
She was in a long hall, lighted by a crystal protruding from the ceiling, just like all the others. Next to her door there was another. She touched it and felt that Ren was still inside. He was...suffering, a great deal. She was tired and weak, so she laid herself on the ground with her back on the wall. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she remembered was that sound of the other door opening. Ren appeared in the doorway. He made a few more steps and dropped to his knees. He was trembling. Rey crawled toward him and called out his name but he didn't respond. She placed her hands on his shoulders.
"Ren? What happened? Come on, Ren! We are still trapped in here!" She touched his cheek and entered his mind. She saw him: the scourge of the Empire, the feared Sith Lord, the grandfather he admired so strongly. She saw him fight the darkness. He jolted, grabbing her shoulders and pushing her back. He looked stunned.
"What... You waited for me?"
"I was...I was ill, too ill to search for an exit" I am tired. What happened to you? You look awful."
"Just my worst nightmares. You?"
"Same"
He still held her shoulders.
"We should leave, find a way out. Come on"
He helped her to get up. She could feel the steel of his robotic arm as she clutched his elbows.
"How big is your implant, Ren?"
"The implant...Oh, just the entire arm and half of the shoulder." he retorted
"Huh?" her jaw dropped. She knew she injured him in the woods back on Starkiller, but this?
"The arm wasn't viable anymore by the time Hux managed to get me to the Finalizer. It's not such a big deal, it serves its purpose."
"But it is bothering you...greatly...I sense your unease. Is it...No...?" Rey extracted herself from his grip and just looked at him as she remembered their battle. Every time he used the Force against her he raised his left hand while he was right-handed. "You can't direct the Force with your robotic arm, can you? And he doesn't know yet?"
"Just...don't, Rey." his entire demeanor became menacing.
Rey knew she would only enrage him if she continued, and given the circumstances, she wasn't going to poke him in the eye. She had to survive. She looked at his hand again, the metal fingers reflecting the green light. She caused that to him and she felt guilty. She felt guilty for giving in to her Dark Side and indulging the maiming of him.
"Don't...feel guilty Rey. We were fighting and you did the right thing. When it comes to war, people die and get hurt."
"Or get tortured?" She asked him lightly. She felt his discomfort when she reminded him of her interrogation. She felt the temperature dropped, similar to the crawl of night on Jakku.
"If you had just given me what I needed none of that would have been necessary" he said coldly.
"Yes...but we are at war, Ren" she spoke softly back. "You shouldn't feel guilty for causing me pain, right?" her voice became sharp as steel. She felt angry he could just accept all the horrible acts going on around him and because of him with such ease.
"Yes" he said. "We need to find a way out of here. Once we are outside we can go back to killing each other, scavenger"
"Works for me, monster. What does your timer say?"
"37 hours and 25 minutes."
"Fine let's start exploring"
The room they were in now was a large hall with twelve pillars arranged in two rows on each side, four crystals protruded from the ceiling. On each wall there were three doors, some were shut others were half-demolished. The pillars were engraved with many small shapes. "Glyphs…this is the Old Tongue" she heard Kylo Ren's thought echo in her own mind. He went to the closest one and started reading it, slowly. She could her his thoughts. "The Living Force gives us life and binds us. It is all encompassing, all present and all powerful. The Living Force will guide your steps here and now. Be aware of unbalance for too much Dark or Light would be the undoing of life as we know it". Rey went to another column and glanced her eyes over the shapes. She wanted to understand them and the more she concentrated on her wish she started to see the meaning behind the glyphs. "The Force knows no sides, has no allies, nor enemies. The Force is just one, perpetually fluctuating with the creations of its will. There is no Light without the Dark, there are only Shadows of Grey"
"For someone who doesn't want to learn from me you take a lot."
"I took that from his head, right?" she sighed.
"Yes, you did, little one"
"You wanted to teach me so why does it bother you? Is it because I don't flatter your ego by calling you master? Or because I don't bow in awe in front of the great Kylo Ren?
"Pretty little scavengers like you shouldn't poke monsters in the eye"
"I'm not pretty. As for little…I didn't stop me before" She snapped at him and turned around. Rey walked purposefully toward the closest door and entered. She forgot all her anger for him when she saw what was behind it. "Ren! Stairs! There are stairs here and they go up!" She started running up as fast as she could, and heard Ren follow her closely.
To their disappointment the corridor was blocked by a huge marble slab. Ren hit the ceiling with his right hand, yelling in frustration. The hit of metal on rock let a few sparks fly. "This" he yelled "is like the rock we crawled through in the beginning. Before we fell through that kriffing door. This is a kriffing seal made by some kark."
"Calm down and let's try to move it"
Ren grunted. They both tried to Force push it but it was useless. The slab remained unmoved.
"Lightsabers" he decided.
The blue and red plasma beams shone bright in the corridor. Ren and Rey shoved them in the slab but they encountered enormous resistance. Eventually they both hit something that did not allow their lightsabers to pass, even more, the blue one shorted out. Rey looked at the hilt of the lightsaber in disbelief. She heard Ren's crackle louder and saw the blade vibrate and vary in with. He extracted the saber and deactivated it with haste.
"Kriff…the kriffing bastards that made this…they placed kriffing lightsaber resistant material. This is so karked…."
"Does that exist?"
"Of course. Phrik, mandalorian iron, songsteel are some but…ahem…this is Cortosis, which is the only one that can short out a lightsaber like that. We are lucky to be alive."
"It could have…exploded?" She gasped, looking at the lightsaber again in horror.
"Mine could have, not my grandfather's. The unstable crystal almost burst just now. I guess we'll live to see another day." He said while studying his lightsaber. Small traces of smoke were trailing from the exhausts.
"Why do you use that? If it is that dangerous?"
"Well…if wielded with care it should not explode. Besides," he turned to her with a proud grin, "my lightsaber can short out yours because of the uncontainable energy."
"Good to know. Thanks, master" she winked back at him. She guarded her thoughts form him because now she was thinking how to act in the wake of this reveal. Ren was obviously displeased that he gave the game away. They had nothing left to do there so they returned to the main hall.
Ren and Rey entered another room after Ren deployed his probe droid in the hall. Inside they saw the skeletons perfectly arranged in rows on the floor and gasped. Each one had their bony hands wrapped around a lightsaber hilt. The air was cold. Rey could almost see mist leaving her lips. She stole a look at Ren. The knight was obviously disturbed. His eyes leapt from skeleton to skeleton. Finally, he spoke:
"Rey, these are..."
"Younglings. I can hear your thoughts, remember?"
"Yes...right..."
They moved further inside. The walls where simple rock with the exception of one. It had lightsaber marks edging a message in the Old Tongue.
"We shall be one with the Force. The Force shall set us free." Ren read it out loud while walking toward it. Rey hugged herself trying to fend off the cold.
The knight touched the markings in the wall. Rey felt a sudden pain in her head as though someone had struck her with a knife. She saw Ren slumped on the floor and twitching uncontrollably. She leapt forward and touched his face. She fell in his mind, right in the middle of his vision.
It was night. Heavy rain was falling. They were back outside in the mud but the Temple was different. It was a small building, only one story high. All around them people were engaged in lightsaber duels. A deep rumble echoed on the battlefield. The heavy bombardier passed above their heads and released bombs. "They're Bombarding the temple…Run in the underground…Send the padawans and the younglings in the underground, protect them." Rey saw a girl with a kind face and freckles running back to the Temple, followed by a taller boy with black hair. They looked back at Rey and Ren as if they could see them. "Come". Rey felt something cold touching her. Ren caught her hand and they started running after the older children. They entered and followed the pair in the basement again. This time it was filled with younglings and mist. Things were hazy and unclear. The only firm ground in the vision were their entangled hands, metal on flesh. "Help…No, no, no…they bombarded the Temple. All exists are sealed…We can't leave…the master's way…no…we can't…hungry…thirsty…we are dying" all the voices were combined and neither came from just one person. Above all, two voices belonging to a boy and a girl boomed "We shall die on our terms. Don't be afraid. We shall be one with the Force. The Force shall set us free". Ren and Rey heard multiple lightsabers ignited at once and then came the pain. The disturbance was so great a Wound in the Force had been created. One in which Rey and Ren where caught. Everything around turned to black and then they were in a field. All nature was dead and gone. She was clutching his metal hand. "We can't stay here Ren. We need to go back. We have to return to our world" she cried out, her voice echoed all around, distorted and strange. She could feel tears streaming down her cheeks.
He raised his head. His eyes were yellow. "Why should we go back? They never wanted us in their world to begin with. Why should I force them?" He yelled like a madman. He exuded darkness. He was going mad.
Rey was even more scared. She felt her heart plummet. Ren was feeding on all the negative feelings left behind after the younglings' suicide. She remembered every sultry look Unkar Plutt gave her, every broken bone and every bruise. She could see them, the bullies and the raiders that would beat her and steal her parts. She remembered the hunger that was never far away. "No, I don't want that". She closed her eyes, thinking about all the goodness she encountered in the Galaxy thus far. She thought about BB-8, Finn, Poe, Master Luke, General Organa, and all the friends she made at the D'Qar base in her brief stay. She thought about Takodana and the green lush forests there. She wanted back in the real world so she was clinging to every shred of Light she had. She started seeing things she never encountered: holopads, a grey and green astromech droid, exotic fruits, a toy X-wing, and some young, dirty boys after a play session. She opened her eyes to see night had turned to day and near her hand a small rose grew. Ren breathed in and out. Their breathing synced and she felt her heartbeat match his. Everything went black.
They woke up again on the floor of the Temple among the skeletons. Rey felt so cold she started shivering. Ren's pale skin gleamed with sweat and seemed even greener than before. Rey was sick too, she could barely keep it in as her stomach rumbled.
"Thank you" he coughed. His voice was harsh and broken. "You…you got me out of there, so thank you. You saved my life". His hand shacked almost uncontrollably.
"We're even now. You saved mine," she tapped her thigh, "I saved you."
"Good to know you keep score."
"I don't. I just don't like the idea that I owe you"
Ren extended his hand and grabbed her shoulder. "We need to leave this room, this, here is a wound in the Force."
They dragged each other across the floor of the room back in the main hall and collapsed on a pillar. They were hugging each other, Ren holding her close. She allowed him because she didn't want to be alone. She yearned for a connection after that ordeal. Right there, in that moment no war mattered. No pervious animosity mattered. She felt as if they were enemies in another life. Latter she would ask herself what was she thinking but in that moment she leaned in and pressed her lips on his. He tasted salty and smelled like a beast but his lips on hears felt perfect. He hovered his lips just above hers before he rested her head on his left shoulder. It was warm and cozy and made Rey feel better.
"Some chocolate would lift our spirits."
"Chocolate? What is that?"
"You never ate chocolate?"
"I only ate portions, you spoiled Core World brat."
"It's the best possible thing in the Galaxy. It'd make us jump for joy after that…trip."
"So chocolate is the cure for the Dark Side? Show me where to buy it and I will force feed it to the entire First Order."
Ren laughed with all his heart, which scared Rey more than his maddened grunts and snarls.
"Unfortunately for you and your Jedi quest…it doesn't work like that. But…the best chocolate I ever ate came from Coruscant. Second best would be the chocolate from Corellia. Other notable mentions are those from Naboo, Dantooine, Eriadu and so forth."
"You sure ate a lot of chocolate, surely you were fat like Unkar Plutt" she laughed at him but her smile died when she heard his thoughts. "Father would bring home stacks of chocolate from every world he visited while he was away"
They stayed like that, motionless for a while. They were so, so tired. Rey felt extremely ill, her muscles begged for rest. This reminded her of that formidable sandstorm which blocked her in the AT-AT home for days. She could feel Kylo Ren was just as exhausted, the bowcaster shot bothered him and what was left of his right shoulder ached. Eventually their worn out bodies relaxed and they fell asleep. The timer showed 39 hours.