Chapter 12
Rey awoke to the sound of someone calling her name. Or she thought someone called her name. She stirred, opening one eye and then the other to stare up at the high ceiling of the Throne Room. Slowly, her senses returned to her. She could hear the sound of Snoke's cackling, and the hiss of a lightsbaer. Staring up at the ceiling, she could see a red glow dance with white sparks.
She took in a deep breath and sat up slowly. Where was she? What was going on? She felt as if she had been in a deep sleep for hours. Yet she knew only minutes had passed.
Focusing on the room around her, Rey could see what was going on. In a bizarre turn of events, Kylo and Snoke were now battling in a vicious cat and mouse fight. Where Snoke would throw his lightning, Kylo would freeze it in midair and dodge it before it struck him. However, Kylo was getting repeatedly slower, and continuously less and less responsive. He was tiring. With every lightning strike, Kylo only barely managed to evade it. Blood still dripped down from the gash in his side, and he favored it.
Rey got to her feet slowly, and called her lightsaber to her hand. She didn't know what had triggered this; but if Kylo was against Snoke, she was on Kylo's side. And Kylo only had mere minutes before-
Snoke let loose another band of blue and purple lightning.
Kylo moved to freeze it, but something was wrong. He was too weak, too tired, too drained of blood. He didn't catch it in time.
Snoke's lightning threw Kylo off his feet and into the air.
Rey watched, her mouth drooping open as Kylo hit the far off wall of the Throne Room. His lightsaber flew from his hands, and he lay on his back, stunned. She moved silently forward as Snoke came closer to Kylo, seemingly unsuspecting of her presence.
Snoke came to stand over Kylo, staring down at him. "You were right to fear," Snoke rasped, "You are not as powerful as Darth Vader."
Kylo stared up at Snoke, his face going pale. His eyes still held their fire, but his black hair clung to his forehead in a mass of cold sweat. This was it. Snoke would kill him now. "You took everything from me," Kylo muttered as blood trickled from his broken nose and into his mouth.
Snoke laughed, a bitter sound rising from his hallow gut. "You have done that yourself."
Kylo moved to call his lightsaber to him.
Snoke was faster.
Rey felt the pressure of the room change instantly as Snoke created an invisible massive weight, through the Force. A force field that equaled to a ton of concrete materialized, invisible and unstoppable out of thin air by Snoke's command. Without hesitation, he slammed this sheer power against his traitorous student in a merciless and crushing motion. Snoke did all of this with just the flick of his hand.
Kylo let out a muffled scream. Moments later there was a sickening crack, and then another. One by one Kylo's bones broke like twigs underfoot. Rey's stomach churned at the sound.
Leaping forward, Rey ignited her lightsaber. Letting out a primal attack scream, she came at Snoke with all she had. She flew through the air, slicing off Snoke's right hand with precise and well-aimed jab.
Snoke howled, drawing his concentration away from Kylo. Glaring at Rey, his ancient eyes turned blood red in his white skull. "Fool!" He screamed, raising up his left hand.
Rey took a step back, holding up her lightsaber once more.
Snoke began to attack, but was shoved forward and off his feet by an invisible force field from behind.
Rey glanced over to the right, and saw that Kylo held up his hand. He had struck his master from behind. In that last moment, she met Kylo's gaze. He stared at her with his dark eyes, their surprising alliance confirmed in each other's minds. In that same instant however, the throne room floor began to shake and heave.
A giant explosion boomed beneath them, and fire illuminated the night in a yellow glow. The windows of the glass tower were unable to hold back the force of the explosion's concussion, and instantly shattered. Glass shards flew through the air in an invisible wave. Rey threw her free hand over her head as glass rained down on her.
Staring over her shoulder, she could see that Snoke was still recovering from Kylo's attack. She turned toward him, running over the unsteady ground.
Snoke met her with lightning.
Grunting, Rey felt the currents like a burning pain run through and over her body. She dropped her lightsaber, falling to ground and convulsing as every muscle in her body tensed. No longer able to contain her pain, she screamed. Closing her eyes she writhed as the lightning burned every inch of her.
Then, as if by some miracle, it stopped.
Rey opened her eyes to see Kylo slumped against the far wall, his right arm outstretched. He had frozen the lightning before it came for her.
Commanding her aching muscles to move, she rolled away and grabbed her lightsaber. Her head burning, she came at Snoke once more. Relentlessly, she moved forward as Kylo repeatedly protected her.
Another explosion hit as Rey advanced once more. Parts of the ceiling caved in around her as Snoke backed away.
"You would kill me?" He screamed over the sound of the explosions, "You don't have the power to kill me!"
Rey gripped her lightsaber, but wasn't ready for what happened next.
There was familiar sound overhead, and in the back of her mind she recognized the roar of X-Wing fighters. Finn had brought the shield down after all, and now the Resistance was destroying the city. Another explosion came at them, and it threw her off her feet completely.
Before she knew it she was covered in something dark. Lord Snoke had landed on top of her. He smelled of death and decay, and in horror she scrambled to get away. But he held onto her, grabbing her hair with his one hand. He clung to her like a huge black spider from a nightmare. She kicked, and brought the greatest energy of the Force to her in a shrieking panic. She used it like a battering hammer. The invisible field pushed Snoke away in that instant, and Rey felt her hair rip from her scalp.
The Force field carried the Sith Lord through the massive broken window, and directly into the mushroom cloud of an explosion below. He screamed, his voice carrying on the hot wind of his fiery death.
Rey gasped, instantly starting to shake. She stared out the open window from where she lay on the trembling ground of the Throne Room. He was gone. The darkness, the coldness, it was all gone. In that last moment of death, he had finally left his withering form.
She slowly got to her feet, every muscle aching. Carefully she walked over to the window and peered down at the destruction below as if to be sure that her senses were not lying to her. They weren't. Tearing her eyes away from the fiery depths of hell below, she gazed up to the sky and saw a familiar X-wing buzz the tower. That was when reality struck her.
Rey had to get out of there. Soon the entire city would be nothing but a smoking crater. She staggered as another explosion rocked the tower. Turning on her heel, Rey stumbled toward Kylo, "We have to leave! They're destroying the city."
There was no answer.
"Kylo?" Rey ran to where he lay on the ground amid the debris as the building shook. She knelt beside him. He wasn't dead. She could feel it. "Kylo, you have to wake up, we have to leave." Carefully she rolled him over, her muscles aching as she tried to move him. He was solid muscle. She knew instantly she wouldn't be able to carry him. "Wake up!"
He didn't respond.
She rested her palm on his forehead, remembering the trick that her master had taught her. Wake up, she whispered. You need to wake up.
Kylo didn't move. He lay in his own blood, his body so abused that it had almost completely given up on him. He would certainly die within hours due to his injuries. But that wouldn't matter soon because the tower would be destroyed within minutes. Rey only had minutes, and they were ticking away.
"Kylo wake up!" Rey screamed, shaking him, "Kylo!"
He didn't respond at all. Not even a twitch.
Rey glanced around, hearing the hum of the X-Wing fighters coming closer. They were both going to die if she couldn't think of something.
Her heart began to race as she wiped the blood and sweat from her forehead with the back of her sleeve. What was she going to do? She had tried everything she knew. Slowly, she cradled him in her arms, shielding him from the debris falling from the ceiling. He shuddered at her physical contact. Carefully, Rey brushed his dark hair away from his face. Looking up she glanced around at the shaking Throne Room. This place would be their tomb if she couldn't figure something out. Rey took in a deep breath and held it, centering herself. "Ben?" She whispered, leaning down so close that her lips brushed against his ear. "Ben, wake up. Can you hear me? Wake up, Ben."
Ben…
Ben.
Wake up.
TBC
(A.N. yes I know I'm horrible! I hope to get the last chapters soon. But you have to admit that was a lot of work! Plz review, I hope I didn't disappoint!)
