A note from your humble author: This is the climax of our story folks. Hope your butts can handle one more ride!
Rey darted her eyes around the large holochamber. The only way in or out appeared to be through the doors she entered, and he was watching.
"Run if you like, you won't get far. I can crush you where you stand," gloated Snoke's hologram.
After the terrible pain she had just experienced she dared not move. She knew he would keep her trapped under his watchful eye until Ben came for her, then he would torture her to death in front of Ben. Try as she might, she could not stifle her anger at that realization.
"Yes…he will come, and he will watch you die. I will make you suffer more than any other before. I spent years cultivating that boy, nurturing the seed of darkness within him, only to have you ruin everything. I would have forgiven him, you know, after the first time he went to you. I punished him…yes, but I would have let him live. I wanted him alive. The darkness was still strong with him, as it had once been strong with Vader. Such an asset is not to be thrown away lightly. He could have ruled the galaxy beside me…a worthy apprentice…but it is not too late for him."
She glared up the flickering blue hologram. "You're a fool if you think he'd ever come back to you, after all that you've done to him…after all that you've taken from him! You tortured and manipulated a child! You deceived him into killing Luke's padawans. You forced him to murder his own father! And for harming me, he will show you no mercy!"
"Such a pity. There was a time when one as strong in the force as yourself would have been quite valuable to me alive…but as it is…you are more valuable to me dead. No. I want you dead. I want to see you suffer, and I want him to see you suffer for what you have both done…but he will not die. Once you are dead, the bond between you will be forever severed, and I will wipe his memories of you, as if you had never existed to him. I will take back what is mine. He belongs to the dark."
She clenched her fists and prayed to the force that Ben would not find her.
Luke Skywalker and Ben approached Finn that night and asked to speak with him alone.
"I'm going too! I smell action!" argued Poe, who knew a rescue mission for Rey would be imminent. Poe and Finn had been outside discussing what the Resistance's next move should be after they had put Yibya to bed for the night.
"Very well," relented Luke.
Luke and Ben led Poe and Finn to an empty office, on their way, Ben heard footsteps following them.
"I'll be right in," said Ben, as he turned back to meet the follower. Luke nodded that he understood and escorted Finn and Poe into the office.
"Rando?" he asked, as he friend approached.
"I saw you guys heading for a private meeting. I know you're going for Rey, I want to help," he explained.
Ben could sense that Rando had a great need to prove himself after having lost control in the assault on Takodana. He also knew that he worried for Rey.
"I don't know if that's a good idea. It's very likely we may be going up against Snoke himself…and Aldo Ren is sure to be there. Vengeance may be too much of a temptation for you right now. You're still very untrained in the force. It's too dangerous."
Ben could feel Rando tensing up, but eventually he sighed, and he detected a surprising sense of peace and acceptance from his friend.
"You're right. I'd love to kill Aldo Ren, and I know you warned me about vengeance. And I felt the darkness when they took Jess from me, but I swear to you, Ben, I will set my feelings aside. I want to fight! I want to fight for the right reasons! I want to fight because this war needs to stop…the First Order needs to be stopped, or there will be more people like Jessika, like my father, like what they did to you and my mother. It needs to stop! I know I'm not yet a Jedi…or even a Grey Jedi, but I'm not helpless either, and I know the risks. I give you my word as a Calrissian, I will fight for the right reasons."
"Okay," relented Ben, who turned and led Rando into the office where Luke, Poe, and Finn waited.
Luke said nothing at the inclusion of Rando, but Ben could sense that he approved.
Poe and Finn looked to Skywalker, expecting him to conduct their secret meeting, but were surprised when it was Ben who addressed the room.
"I know where Rey is! She is in danger, and going after her will be walking into a trap, but I'm going anyway, and Uncle Luke and Rando are both going with me. I don't know what we'll find out there. I know where she is, but I don't know what that place is like. It could be a planet, a ship, or an asteroid. All I know is that it's somewhere I've never been before, and it's somewhere she was taken to by Aldo Ren. I suspect she's with Snoke."
"Snoke? Are you sure?" asked Finn.
"It would make sense. They took Rey to get to me. It's me they want. Snoke wants me to come to him personally. He wants to punish Rey and I personally. He is even more powerful in person than he is through Hologram. He doesn't fear me. He thinks if I go to him I will easily be defeated…he's wrong. On my own, he could defeat me, but if I can find Rey and get to her, together we are far stronger in the force than Snoke can ever imagine. I need to get to Rey."
"That is why I am going," added Luke. "Snoke may or may not anticipate my involvement. He surely knows I helped Rey to rescue Ben. I hope to buy Ben time to find Rey."
"He wouldn't expect me though," offered Rando.
"That may indeed work to our benefit. I'm sure Snoke has heard of you. Fresza Ren would have seen to that, but I doubt he realizes how powerful in the force you really are and that you've been working on Jedi training all this time."
"Finn, I know I don't deserve to ask anything from you. I've hurt you and I've hurt Poe, and I'm sorry. I'd give anything to take that back, but I need your help…she needs your help. If we can find Rey, if we can defeat Snoke, the resistance must strike quickly and wipe out the base where they are keeping her. Losing Snoke would ensure the collapse of the First Order, but in their death throws they could seek terrible retribution. They may expect a full out attack. They'll let me past their parameters because they seek to recapture me, but this secret base is sure to be well guarded. A well-timed counterstrike could cripple their forces for good."
Ben had never fully apologized for what he had done to Poe or Finn. It wasn't that he hadn't been sorry, it was just that he was certain they would never accept such an apology anyway, that it would ring hollow and insincere. Finn gave a knowing glance to Poe and nodded his head before speaking. "Thanks, Ben. I think I can muster the remainder of our forces for an attack. If you lead us in, we'll follow you. But you have to get Rey and yourself out of there first. If the First Order knows we're heading for them, you won't have much time, and we certainly won't have the element of surprise on our side."
"We're with you!" added Poe.
"I'll give you the coordinates. Uncle Luke, Rando, and I, will go in first in the Flacon. Don't follow too closely behind. I'll carry a com-link and let you know when I've found Rey or Snoke."
As the Millennium Falcon approached the Dagobah system they discovered what appeared to be a large rogue planet. Stationed close to this wandering planet was the Finalizer, and what remained of the First Order's fleet.
"They certainly know we're coming," commented Rando.
"We're expected. Doesn't look operational," replied Ben.
"The Resistance has managed to shut down their salvaging and foundry operations at every turn. No doubt it'd be half completed by now if we hadn't interfered with their operations, instead it's just a husk of a planet, waiting to become a weapon," said Luke.
"If it's not weaponized yet, it's not a threat, and no doubt the First Order is excavating that planet with slave labor. The fleet is here guarding the operation while it's still helpless," said Ben.
He pulled the com-link from his belt and contacted Finn. "Approaching enemy airspace."
"What do you see?" asked Finn.
"The Finalizer and the rest of the First Order fleet are guarding a base. Let us get in there first; then send in the starfighters."
"Copy that. Good luck everyone," offered Finn as he closed the link.
They were well within the range of enemy radar, but they were being allowed to pass. The Falcon approached the First Order base and they watched as a hanger opened to allow them admittance.
Snoke watched the surveillance and thrilled with satisfaction as he beheld that Kylo Ren had not come alone, and that Luke Skywalker was with him.
"Luke Skywalker…I was hoping you would come. I have waited a long time for this day," said Snoke.
"What about Calrissian?" asked Aldo Ren, who was also monitoring the surveillance footage.
"Dispose of him," replied Snoke.
There were no armed guards to greet them as they passed through the base. No escorts. Everything appeared eerily quiet and abandoned, but Ben knew that she was there.
Suddenly all three felt a terrible dark presence, and they knew that Snoke was near.
"He's challenging us. Where is she, Ben?" asked Luke.
Ben closed his eyes and focused on all the life within the base. There were stormtroopers in the vicinity, but he could tell they had been ordered to not interfere. Then he felt her, and in a different part of the ship, he felt Snoke.
"She is alone," replied Ben as he opened his eyes. "Snoke is that way," he said, pointing to the east corridor.
"Find Rey, you'll need her. I'll take Rando and hunt for Snoke."
"Uncle Luke?"
Luke gave Ben a knowing smile and simply said: "It's all right, Ben. The force will be with you…always," then he turned and was followed by Rando as they took off down the east corridor.
Rey sat alone in the holochamber. Snoke's hologram had disappeared, but she knew that it would return at any moment. Aldo Ren had confiscated her saber when he had abducted her on Takodana, and she knew if she tried to escape Snoke would sense it. She prayed to the force that Ben would not find her, as she continued to hold up the barrier to their bond.
Luke and Rando emerged from the east corridor to discover they had walked into the incomplete structure of a reactor which was suspended thousands of feet above the planet core, which was still being hallowed out. There were several walkways suspended high above the reactor.
Suddenly they felt someone seal off the path behind them, and turned to find Aldo Ren, his crackling vibro-sword in hand.
Rando wasted no time in reaching for his own vibro-sword and activating it. "Go on, Master Luke."
"Be mindful of your feelings, Rando, and trust in the force," offered Luke as he left Rando to face the Knight of Ren.
Aldo Ren swung his sword in an elegant arch; then charged.
Ben found the massive doors to the holochamber locked. But he suspected Snoke's intentions and removed his gloves and placed one hand over the palm scanner, and watched as the black doors slowly opened before him.
Rey looked up in horror as the doors opened, and a stream of pale light streamed over here from where she crouched on the holochamber floor. She knew that he had come for her.
"No, Ben! Turn back!" she shouted, as Ben stormed into the room, when suddenly the massive doors slammed shut behind him and rent the silence with a thundering echo.
"Rey?" he cried as he ran towards her, ignoring that they were both prisoners.
"Ben! You shouldn't have come!" she cried, but despite her words she reached for him and felt her heart pound through her chest to be in his arms once more. She released the barrier between their bond and drowned herself in the feeling of their connection once again.
He silenced her protests with a deep kiss and held her against him. "We'll get out, Rey. I'm not leaving you. Uncle Luke and Rando are here too."
"Ben, there's no way out!" she argued, when suddenly they were bathed in the soft blue glow of a gigantic looming hologram, and terror struck both their hearts as they heard a deep and sinister laugh.
"You were always a foolish boy. What makes you think you'd ever even escape?" asked Snoke as he glared down at them.
"You underestimate us," said Ben with defiance.
"And you underestimate the power of the darkside, but I will remind you."
Rando Calrissian narrowly blocked blow after blow as Aldo Ren swing down with his vibro-sword, causing their blades to crackle and spark. Aldo Ren was physically very strong, and far more skilled with a sword, and it was all he could do to fend off his opponent as he was backed out over the raised walkways above the reactor core. He could feel a vortex of air blowing up from below and struggled to maintain his footing.
Aldo Ren had become accustomed to his robotic arm since Rey had torn his real arm from its socket, and would show no mercy to his foe.
Rey and Ben both dropped in terrible agony as Snoke tore into their minds with an intensity they went beyond what either had ever experienced before. Suddenly everything became a blur and the only thing that existed…was pain.
Luke Skywalker unleashed a blast of the force so powerful it blew the doors from Snoke's throne room.
Snoke was forced to look up from the hologram of Ben and Rey who writhed at his feet.
"Luke Skywalker…the last Jedi Knight," he said, as he shut off the projection.
The physical form of Snoke was tall, menacing, and appeared frail, but Luke could sense the immensity of his weight upon the force.
Luke turned on his green saber and entered the fighting stance. The time had come.
"Luke Skywalker…the last Jedi Knight," they heard Snoke's hologram pronounce as suddenly the pain vanished. Ben rolled over in agony and reached for Rey who had turned over and was retching on the floor. He couldn't control the blood that poured from his nose and ears as he slowly crawled to where Rey lay.
"Master Luke?" asked Rey, as she felt the tears stream down her face.
"We have to help him," answered Ben as he struggled to sit up beside Rey who was still quaking all over from the pain.
Together they struggled to rise to their feet and made for the doors, but there appeared to be no way to open them from the inside.
"Ben…give me your hand!" said Rey, as she reached for Ben and clasped her hand with his.
He could sense her intent through their bond and together they reached out their free hands towards the doors and concentrated their powers together until eventually they heard the low creaking sound of the doors being slowly forced open on their hinges.
At last when the doors were open, they began their hunt.
Rando struggled to focus his will through the force, but he could barely concentrate as he fought to avoid the slashes of Aldo Ren.
He could feel the temptation to hate, the temptation to reach for that powerful darkness that loomed within him and strike down the monster that had murdered his father, but he denied the call to the darkness, and Aldo Ren sensed his struggle.
"Go on…reach for your hatred. Strike me down with it! The light is only a weakness!" taunted Aldo Ren, as he moved to stab Rando, but was met with only air as Rando dodged away from his blade.
That was when Rando noticed it, hanging from Aldo Ren's belt, was Rey's saberstaff, and suddenly Rando could feel the force flow through him with more power than he had ever felt before.
"I won't kill you because I hate you. I'll kill you to protect my friends!" he shouted, as he swung his vibro-sword with blinding speed and forced Aldo Ren into a defensive stance. "I'll kill you because you are evil!" he shouted again ,and suddenly he was delivering a barrage of strikes against Aldo Ren who struggling to defend himself.
Rando could feel Aldo Ren calling upon the darkside of the force, doing his best to will a powerful force push to knock Rando from the suspended walkway, but he too reached within himself for the force and stood firm as he felt Aldo Ren bearing down against him. As Aldo Ren held out his robotic arm to steady himself Rando sprang into another attack and before Aldo could defend or pull away, Rando had cut off the artificial sword arm of the Knight of Ren, and as he felt the force flow through him he gave a mighty shove and knocked the knight over the railing.
But Aldo Ren did not fall, he clinged to the railing with his left, and only arm, and struggled to pull himself back up.
Rando looked down on the struggling knight, and reached out his hand and felt the force flow through him again as he pulled Rey's saberstaff from Aldo Ren's belt.
"You're disarmed!" said Rando as he slashed off Aldo's remaining arm with his crackling vibro-sword and watched as the Knight of Ren fell to his death below.
"You Jedi and your feeble weapons; I don't need a weapon to defeat you," scoffed Snoke as he put up a force shield against Luke's attack, forcing him to disable his saber and instead rely purely on the force.
He felt the force flow through him as he shoved Snoke with a blast of the force that would have toppled a building, he watched as Snoke struggled to maintain his footing and faltered slightly, then Snoke lowered the shield.
"A worthy opponent, and my last true obstacle," sneered Snoke.
"I'm far from the last, Snoke!" said Luke as he reached for the force again and brought it down upon Snoke like a mighty weight.
Snoke's physical body buckled slightly under the strain of Luke's power in the force, but he called upon the power of the darkside and attacked with force-lightning.
Luke effortlessly put up a block from Snoke's darkside power and pushed harder still with all his might in the force, desperately trying to crush his enemy; the two opponents within striking distance of each other.
Again Snoke struck with force-lightning and again Luke deflected it, but the strain of maintaining his hold on the force and blocking Snoke's attacks was wearing on him.
Suddenly Luke watched as Snoke stood upright against his attack. "Foolish Jedi…I am not as frail as I look!" he said as he withheld against the strain of Luke's force power and shot another bolt of lightning that managed to make contact with the old Jedi, knocking him to his knees.
Luke looked up as he heard the familiar hum of a saber, and felt a red glow upon his face.
"Go ahead, strike. I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," said Luke.
Rando entered the throne room as he watched Snoke swing down his red light saber and strike down Luke Skywalker. He watched as Luke's body seemed to disappear and only his Jedi robes remained. The hilt is his saber clattering to the ground.
He knew he was no threat to any being that could destroy Luke Skywalker, but in that moment, he felt no fear, and attacked.
Floating in a bacta tank, Leia Organa opens her eyes as she feels a disturbance in the force.
Ben…Rey…I will be with you…always.
They heard Luke's voice call through the force as they ran, and they knew that he was gone.
There was no time to grieve, no time to cry, but they each felt the crippling pain of their loss, and it urged them to run faster.
"Finn! Come in Finn!" called Ben over the com-link as he and Rey ran through the east corridor and past the reactor core.
"Ben, we're here! Poe and the other pilots are launching a full-out attack against the First Order Fleet, but there's too many of them!"
"I have Rey. We're on our way to Snoke!" he replied.
"Hurry!" cried Finn.
Rey and Ben charged into Snoke's throne room just in time to witness as he held Rando suspended in the air in a powerful force-grip. Rando was choking and struggling against the invisible grip that Snoke maintained on his throat, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.
"Let him go!" shouted Rey.
Snoke turned to them with cold eyes and dropped Rando, who collapsed unconscious in a heap on the throne room floor.
"You are too late, Luke Skywalker is dead. Ah yes…I feel it, such delicious hatred. You want to kill me for it…go ahead…give in to the darkside and suffer!"
"I won't let you use my uncle's death against us," replied Ben with defiance.
"I don't need to. There is plenty of hatred in the both of you already," replied Snoke as he suddenly attacked both their minds at once.
Rey and Ben fell to the ground in agony again as they felt Snoke tear into their minds.
"I will make you both know the power of the darkside. I will make you both suffer, and I will make Kylo Ren watch you die," he said directing his last statement to Rey, whose screams filled the throne room as suddenly everything shifted before her eyes.
She was a child again, looking up at her parents, as each held one of her hands beneath tall green trees. She could feel the warm sun filter through the leaves and dance across her face, she could feel how much they loved her…and then the vision changed and she could see her mother screaming as she watched her husband be cut open slowly as he struggled to defy the knight. She watched the knight cut down her mother, and saw as her mother's blood trickled onto the floor…she watched as the puddle of blood grew until suddenly she found herself standing alone in the desert. The harsh wind whipping her face, the stinging sand cutting her flesh, the gnawing ache of hunger that drove her to delirium, the thirst that parched her tongue, and the loneliness that plagued her soul.
She watched as her parents waved to her across the desert sands, but the closer she got the further away the seemed to move.
"Come back! Wait! Come back!" she cried, as the winds swept away the mirage, and she was left alone.
And she felt hatred burn within her; for all that she had lost, for all that she had endured, and she could feel the flame of vengeance burn within her soul and she felt the darkness grip her.
He screamed out in terror as he beheld the black mask of Darth Vader as it was slowly placed over his face, trapping him in the darkness.
They don't love you. They leave you alone. They push you away. They only stay together because of you. They laugh at your pain. They hate you. They hate you because you're weak. You are weak. Pathetic child. Stupid boy. You make their lives hard. They'd be happier without you.
Taunted the voices that had plagued him in his youth as he watched his parents board the Millennium Falcon, leaving him behind at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy…alone.
The vision shifted and suddenly he saw himself in black robes, kneeling before a towering hologram.
"You must destroy Han Solo, and banish the light," ordered the Supreme Leader's hologram.
He saw his father's face as his red cross-guarded saber pierced through his heart, and he felt his father's hand as it caressed his face one last time, and he watched him fall. And once again he heard her screams.
She was screaming.
Ben's eyes shot open, and he could feel his hatred for Snoke causing the darkness to pulse within him.
"You both feel it now…the hatred and the darkness that you both belong to. Go ahead…hate me…feel it. I ordered her parent's to be destroyed. I ordered you to strike down Han Solo and Luke Skywalker's padawans. I control you both! I tore you both from your families, and now I will tear you from the light and from each other," gloated Snoke as he again attacked both Rey and Ben causing them to writhe and scream in agony.
"Ben!" cried Rey through her pain as she struggled to reach him through her own horrible pain and the darkness that threatened to consume her.
"Rey…" he managed to speak her name as he struggled to reach for her hand.
And then, she touched him.
The moment he felt her touch his hand, suddenly the darkness went away - for the both of them. They could feel the grey path stretch out before them as their love drowned out the hatred that threatened to consume their souls. There was no hatred they could ever feel that was stronger than the love they felt for each other, and they could feel the power of the force flowing through them, both the dark and the light, and there was harmony there within.
And when they turned their eyes to Snoke, who stood in angry confusion to see the loss of his hold on his two victims – and together they attacked his mind.
The two grey beasts were running together through the snowbound woods. They leapt over fallen trees and bounded over drifts of snow, and they chased the shadow into the night.
They could feel it; the darkness ahead of them, and they could smell its fear.
When they charged into the clearing against the towering rock formation, they found their prey. Not a beast, but a monster, the true form of the creature that had tormented them. Not a frail, weak, decrepit creature, but a hulking monster of pure darkness and evil.
The black monster swiped out at them in fury and roared into the cold night air as it tried to fend off the two grey beasts, but there was no fear in them as they sprang in for the attack.
The monster roared in agony as their jaws clamped onto its flesh and began tearing, ripping, shredding it apart…piece by piece.
They could taste the blood of their enemy, the fear as they pounced and sank their fangs in over and over.
The monster thrashed again and managed to throw off one of the beasts while the other sank its fangs further into the dark form that howled again in pain.
The grey beast that had been thrown got up again and sprang back in for the attack and clamped its jaws around the dark monster's throat with all of its strength and might. The monster clawed and slashed at the grey beast trying to pry it off as it felt the white fangs pierce into its throat and begin clamping down on its jugular.
Suddenly the other beast let go and also sprang for the monster's throat, sinking in its teeth with all its strength.
Rando opened his eyes and watched as Rey and Ben stood hand in hand before Snoke. They did not appear to be moving, but he could see that Snoke was screaming in torment, his thin body looked as if it had been attacked by a wild animal. His robes were shredded and he could see his dark blood pooling all around him as he trashed wildly trying to swat at something that Rando could not see. He watched as Snoke reached desperately for his own throat, and saw his black eyes shoot open wide and a final gurgling cry escape his twisted mouth as his throat seemed to tear out, erupting in a spray of dark blood and torn flesh…and then he fell to the floor – dead.
They blinked and found themselves standing before the slain body of Snoke.
"Rey! Ben!" cried Rando is he ran over to them, then he stopped to stared down at the mutilated body of Snoke. "You did it," he said with a tone of awe.
Both Ben and Rey felt as if a tremendous weight had been lifted from them in that moment. For the first time in their entire lives – they felt free.
"Aldo Ren is gone too. Here," said Rando as he offered Rey her saberstaff.
"Rando…thank you," she replied as she grasped her weapon again.
Ben looked to the empty robes of his uncle which still lay discarded on the throne room floor. He went to them and reached inside and pulled out his uncle's saber.
"Our work is almost done," he said as he turned and handed his uncle's saber to Rando. "Here."
"What?" asked Rando.
"You should carry this, at least until you get to make one of your own. You need a saber…you deserve one…and I know Uncle Luke would have been proud of you today," explained Ben as he placed the saber in Rando's hand.
"I swear I'll take great care of it until I can make my own," he promised, and they all stood there for a moment in silence as they wept for the last Jedi.
Suddenly they could hear proton cannon fire striking around the base. The resistance was still struggling to overcome the First Order fleet.
Ben ignited his saber, the saber that had once belonged to his grandfather, the true Anakin Skywalker. "This ends today," he said.
"General Hux, the resistance starfighters have breached our shields!" cried a Lieutenant as sirens went off in the First Order's flagship.
"Get those shields back up, now!" barked Hux as the officers on the deck scrambled to regain control of the battle.
"Sir, we have an urgent transmission from Supreme Leader Snoke," announced one of the communication technicians.
General Hux watched as the technician brought up the holocommunication, but to his shock he did not see the form of his Supreme Leader, instead he saw the unmasked face of Kylo Ren.
"Ren! How?" he exclaimed in shock.
"No, Hux, I am not Kylo Ren, I am Ben Solo, and you and the entire First Order will surrender at once," said Ben through the communication.
"Traitor! Why should I surrender the First Order to the likes of you?"
"Because you've already lost!" announced Ben as he held up the severed head of Supreme Leader Snoke for all to see.
A note from your humble author: Ah yes, showdown on the Astral Plane. Don't know what you'll hate me for more; a major character death…or cheesy one liners. Just one more chapter left to tidy up all the loose ends and of course there needs to be a wedding, and more importantly, one last honeymoon lemon!
Also to answer Bad Ass Female Fighter's question, and for anyone else who was wondering: No, Rey is not pregnant. If you recall back to chapter 16, she got a birth control implant, mostly because I'm not a fan of the preggo Rey fictions. Doesn't do it for me, it's kind of a boner killer. I'm sure she and Ben would have kids at some point, but that's something that's not going to happen within the time-frame of this story.