Chapter summary:
Anyone who gets where the title of this chapter is from has just won the internetzzz and my eternal love.
The winds guided them forward, ushering them into a grand cavern.
No, grand wasn't even the right word for it. It was enormous. The ceiling was dazzlingly high, arching up with great stone pillars like buttresses several hundred feet above their heads. Below them was the river, the sounds of its powerful waters rushing through the cave system set Rey's heart racing as it echoed around the walls of the chamber the chamber.
Rey couldn't help but feel in awe. Kyber glittered on the walls, tiny jeweled flickers that catch the green light from every angle. The effect was rather like being caught within a great planetarium, surrounded by the open sky they hadn't seen in so long and an ocean of stars.
Even Kylo seemed taken aback by the sheer grandeur of the space. He held her hand tightly as they both turned in a circle, taking it all in. The whole room, if such a massive open space within a cave system could even be called that, was tinged with green.
All the light, all the energy, seemed to pulsate through this space. This had to be the source she had been feeling for so long.
"Do you feel it?"
"Yes."
She does. In fact, it's almost all that she can feel right now. This compulsion to keep going. It's been hovering persistently at the fringes of Rey's mind, but now it has never been stronger.
For everything that this place is, for all of the mysteries and alarming levels of power practically resonating through the air, Rey is oddly calm. A deep sense of stillness overcomes her, bringing with it a sense of curiosity more than concern.
Kylo doesn't seem to share in her detachment. He tries to hold her tight to him, starting to draw back to the edge of the chamber. Rey fights him, stepping forward and having to use her free hand to pry his off her first.
They are on a raised central walkway. Below them runs the river, not too far, perhaps twenty or thirty feet down. It flows from where they had entered to a dark tunnel on the far lower wall. Being suspended above those deadly water on a narrow spit of rock would be enough to put her nerves on edge even if it wasn't for the strange aura of this space.
On edge yes, but not enough to stop her from walking on. Ahead of them is a glowing twist of light. A sprawling aura of green that takes on the appearance of tree roots fanning out from a central core. It's pure light. Pure energy. This can only mean one thing.
"That light-
"Kyber."
Rey hadn't even realized that Kylo was still with her, though his voice does little to pierce through her rapidly fogging mind.
The Kyber crackles, sending out waves of the Force but of a nature she can't fully comprehend.
Kylo catches her hand again, this time yanking on her arm as he turns her to face him. She blinks at him, surprised by the concern etched onto his face.
"Kylo?"
"I can't feel you, Rey. I can reach you, but I can't feel you."
It's true. She can't feel him either. His side of their connection is simply a blank space in her mind.
"Like with the cats? Or..."
Her voice trails off before 'or after I ran away from you'' can slip out. Kylo swallows, squaring his jaw.
Rather than bring up an argument right now, they both turn their attention back to the Kyber core, watching as it seems to change in facets the longer they look. You shouldn't stare into the sun, every child of Jakku knows this from the youngest of ages, but Rey finds that she can't look away. It's mesmerizing, beckoning her forward with its sheer, unnatural brilliance.
"Why does it look like that?" she asks, stepping closer again despite Kylo's efforts to hold her back. "Kyber isn't supposed to look like that, is it?"
She's seen pictures of Kyber crystals and they're supposed to be just that: crystals. Jagged geometric shapes with sharp angles. This is more of a fluid, twisted form better comparable to flowing ice than a hardened rock. And it flows out with radiating tendrils that extend to the rocks around them, rooting the structure in its place.
"No," Kylo finally says in answer "it's not. I didn't know that Kyber like this existed."
Such a mystery. Such a beautiful sight. Beautiful, and yet so terrifying. Something has gone terrible, terribly wrong here to transform it like this. Rey knows it in her bones. This has to be what the light wanted her to find, but now that she's here it leaves her with more questions than answers.
And that's when she sees him.
At the bottom of the Kyber core is a pile of bones.
No, not at the bottom, inside of the crystal itself.
A skeleton wrapped in Jedi rags is suspended in the clear, green casing of stone. In a morbid way it reminds Rey of a display piece she once saw of a moth preserved in amber at an exhibition fare. Except then it had been a curiosity. This is… what in all the hells is this thing?
"I don't like this, Rey. This isn't right. Something evil has happened here."
Rey agrees with him, but she can't express how. Beyond all the energy and the coercion it took to bring her here are dark undertones. When she closes her eyes she can sense more. Nuances that her conscious brain couldn't quite pick up on with her eyes open.
Misery. Longing and misery. Chaos.
Suffering.
That is what comes through the most. This crystal is infused with suffering.
Suffering that… she is supposed to end.
The crystal vein beckons to her, glowing brighter as the distance between the two of them draws to a close. Kylo follows her, his hand never leaving hers but she pays him no attention. She simply can't take her eyes off the Kyber.
The light grows. The brilliance fills her, pumping through her blood and resonating within her bones.
When she reaches out to touch it, the whole cavern starts to glow. Starts to hum. Kylo's voice, echoing and deep, is but a distant memory. He's saying something to her. She ignores him completely, focusing only only the sight of her fingers edging closer and closer to the clear and smooth surface.
Suddenly she's upside down. Right side up. Confused. Lost. Weightless.
Every possible emotion hit Rey all at once: joy, elation, panic, fear, anger, despair. Rey finds herself frozen in place, her limbs completely unable to move.
And the ghostly figure of her dream stands before her. it's him. The corpse who had latched onto her and demanded that she find him.
She did. They're here together finally, except that he's not dead now. His bones are full with his body, his tattered clothes are restored once more, and he's staring through her as he walks along a rocky passage that seems oddly familiar.
"Who are you?" she asks.
Her voice resonates strangely, sounding more like a meek little child's then the woman she has become.
The ghost looks at her, and she knows without knowing.
Varn. That had been his name. He was a Jedi from long, long ago. The old order, and he had to have been one of the first human visitors to come to this planet.
Rey reaches for him and he shakes his head, his own hand passing right through hers.
Follow me. The order is clear through her head despite him speaking words she has never learned.
He turns and they're no longer there in that great room. Instead they're in the tunnels, another part of this vast and inescapable cave system. His clothes are dirty now, starting to become worn and threadbare in spots.
"You w re here?" she asks, keeping well back as he stops and sways. "You were here in these caves?"
He buckles to his knees then, his whole body shaking with tremors. The compassion within Rey demands she go to him, but when she gets too near he waves her away.
Two weeks. That was how long he had been here. He had come for the Kyber, and then became lost. Trapped in the maze of passages so far below the surface he had begun to give up on seeing the light of day. Had begun to fear this would be his resting place. His tomb.
"Oh."
Rey kneels next to him, looking down at her own palms clasped in her lap out of respect of his wishes for solitude as he curls around himself and sobs. To see a Jedi reduced to tears, so close to giving up hope...
Rey can't stand it. It's a mistake, but she touches Varn's shoulder. Tries to offer his memory whatever sense of comfort she can give.
He becomes thinner before her eyes. His clothes, now dirty and torn, sag around his body. His beard has grown out, longer than Master Luke's now and his face is gaunt with both starvation and sadness.
These had been his last few hours. Varn was so weak that he could barely stand up, and when he did he swayed and stayed half hunched over. Still, he beckons her to follow him. They're by the river now, and he eyes it warily.
Just like she, he had always been apprehensive about water. And he'd spent his final hours by the shore, thinking about perhaps ending his misery a little earlier.
How bad could drowning really be?
Horrible, he assures her. And this time his hand, bony and rough will calluses, finds her shoulder. He uses her to pull himself upright, and that's when Rey can sense something else within him. Something more than familiar. Something familial.
Rey blinks, staring at his sunken face. There are traces of herself in there. Tiny traits like the shape of her nose or the dip of her jaw. Even after so long, Varn's bloodline still runs through her.
He smiles. His lips are cracked and pale, but he still smiles.
And they're back in the Kyber room. The great cavern glittering with tiny gems and that one menacing vein running through it.
Varn had finally broken completely when he'd seen it. This was why he had come to this planet: to find this great and powerful source of Kyber. Unlike Rey, he had deliberately gone down into these caves seeking it, but then their fates had followed a similar path. Varn had brought her here to warn her. This was where he had died, here when he had finally found what he'd been looking so hard for. But what good all the Kyber in the world do if you're trapped forever?
So he had climbed. Climbed as high up on the buttresses as his weak and failing body would allow him. Then he had jumped.
Mercifully the vision ends before the final impact.
Rey snaps back to reality forcefully, her bones rattling as Kylo shakes her so hard that her teeth rattle.
She pushes him away as soon as sensation and control comes back to her limbs. Kylo looks absolutely panic stricken, pacing around her half bent over body in a tight circle as winds lash at them both.
Rey gets the distinct feeling she had been under the influence of her vision for quite some time. She's no doubt going to have bruises on her skin from where Kylo had been gripping her in his efforts to bring her back around.
"Kylo."
Her breath comes out in a wheeze almost as if she had been screaming. That would explain a few things about Kylo right now, how he's hovering over her, half defensive and half neurotic and traumatized parent to an unruly child.
"I saw him," she manages to say, her heart racing as the memories of what she had just witnessed play out in her mind.
Even though he's disconnected from her, Kylo must still be able to sense that she needs compassion from him right now. He kneels next to her, hesitatingly reaching out and pulling her to his chest.
"What happened?"
His voice is reassuring even as the winds and a haunting sense of purpose bubble up in her.
"I think… I think he was someone in my family. Many generations ago. That must have been why he chose me and not you."
"Or maybe it was because he was a Jedi and your kind have a way of sticking together."
Kylo sounds bitter. Even when he's hugging and trying to sooth her, he can be such a difficult man to be around.
"He wanted me to find him," Rey continues. "He died here, and he wanted someone to find him."
Rey squeezes Kylo tighter, wrapping her arms around his bulky torso as a sadness that's not truly her own overcomes her.
She sobs out the rest of the story, how this great but foolish Jedi had become trapped down here and eventually starved to death. Or… or how he had killed himself, truthfully, before starvation claimed him as well.
"So he did it on his terms," Kylo says quietly. "I can respect that, I suppose. But why are you so upset by this?"
The glow, the green light, is all around them now. Circling and swirling through the air in a phantasmal mist that the gusting winds leave untouched even as it buffets her clothing and dries the tears off her face.
"That's him there," she points at the skeleton. There's nothing more to Varn now but bones and decayed fabric. He must have been here for a very, very long time. "Somehow, instead of passing on… I think he's still here. The Kyber has trapped him. He's been suffering for all this time."
Kylo frowns, staring at the suspended remains encased within the crystal.
"What does he want from us? He's been polluting this planet, infecting it from the ground all the way back up to the surface."
Something changes when Kylo says that. The winds stop but a dangerous sounding crackling takes their places. Static. Rey can feel her hair stand up, snapping and popping when she runs her hands down through it.
"Rey?" Kylo repeats, "We should go. This isn't our concern. This pile of bones is nothing. The remains of a foolish lightsider who came here, became trapped, and then laid down and died."
Rey respects the dead. There were few traditions at Niima outpost, and even fewer that she had followed, but one thing that seemed to unite all of rural Jakku was a respect for the dead.
She is a hair's breath away from telling her bondmate off for being so rude when another interpretation of his words hit her.
"Say that again," she says.
Kylo sizes her up. She wishes she could read his mind right now.
"He came here and laid down and died. This was the biggest waste of our time, Rey. Even you have to admit that."
Laid down and died.
Laid down and died.
Rey strides forward, shoving Kylo out of her way as she approaches the Kyber core. She stares at the bones for a long moment, gaining up her courage.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you," she murmurs.
She lays down on the ground next to it, edging as close to the remains of Varn as she can without touching him. Kylo is pretty much appalled as he watches her, she doesn't need to be able to feel his mind to know that.
"What in all the hells are you-"
"I saw salvation as I lay dying."
Those were the words she had seen written on the wall of the cave. Kylo had said it was all in her head, but now they are beginning to make sense to her. It's all coming together. Varn had wanted her to not only free him, but also find something else as well.
"Come up off the floor."
Kylo says it like an order, so Rey ignores it completely as such.
She closes her eyes, calming her breaths and remembering her dream and her vision. A new element is added onto it now. Varn had seen the light of the afterlife after his fall. The tunnel of darkness as his spirit had tried to transcend to become one with the Force.
But he hadn't made it. He had been caught, as he still is now. Trapped between two worlds.
He had not seen salvation. Or not that metaphorically poignant sort of salvation that comes with one's last thoughts.
No, he had seen something else, and now Rey does too.
High above her, high high high at the very top of the ceiling of this great room, was a white spot. A tiny dot of white light.
A white light surrounded by a tunnel of black.
"I can see the surface," she says quietly.
Kylo is watching her now with that same thoughtful, guarded expression that he had had on his face when she'd shipped herself to him in a coffin, and just how ironic was that last detail?
"Rey."
"Come here, Kylo. I can see the outside."
Kylo kneels next to her, staring down at her face with a faraway look to his eyes. Until Rey snaps her fingers in front of his face.
"Look up, Ren. Look straight up."
He does. His expression grows dull.
"I see nothing. The ceiling of the cave."
"Keep looking. Feel it."
The green glow of the room parts, or perhaps that's just Rey's imagination playing tricks with her. But when Kylo swallows, she knows that he can see it too.
"We… can't get up there."
"We can climb."
"...not that high."
Kylo stands, offering Rey his hand up. Now that she's seen it, the literal light of their salvation, she can't look away. Hundreds of feet above her head. Maybe more. But there it is: salvation.
"Rey." The stress in Kylo's voice finally draws her attention down to him. "You're glowing."
She is, the green energy now wrapping itself around her skin. It starts to seep inside her, leaching into her muscles until it courses through her bloodstream.
For an instant Rey feels superhuman. More powerful and full of the Force than she could have ever conceived. Then she understands. Varn is speaking to her and her alone. He is using whatever power within the Force to guide her.
Rey stares at the suspended skeleton. The Kyber that he's trapped in is… is like a piece of blown glass. The longer it's been holding onto him, the more stretched and brittle it becomes.
It looks breakable.
"Salvation."
Rey knows what she has to do, and she also knows that Kylo really won't like it.
Tough. This isn't about him.
Or her, really. It's about righting a wrong. Setting free a tormented soul who has been imprisoned for far too long.
Kylo thinks that she's cooperating. As the whole room beings to shake he takes the lead, pulling her back towards the entrance. Rey had been counting on that. Counting on Kylo's macho sense of needing to always be in charge to take advantage.
The Kyber core must be destroyed. Varn's prison has to end. There's only one thing that she can think of to destroy something so old and powerful: another Kyber crystal.
Rey pretends to stumble, losing her balance as the ground rattles and bounces. She knows that her malleable, protective Kylo will stop to steady her. And when he does, she grabs his lightsaber, snatching it from his belt.
Rey shoots him an apologetic look. Kylo simply seems confused, staring at his weapon in her hands. When she ignites it, the room glows red. All the smaller Kyber gems along the walls reflect both colors now, neon green and brilliant blood.
It's a pity, really. Kylo must have worked so hard on his saber to restore it and use it, but it seems like a fitting end for such a wretched device, doesn't it?
Because Rey is about to slam it straight into the heart of the Kyber core and she's not very well about to sacrifice her own blade for that, now is she?
Without a second of hesitation, Rey aims and throws it, channeling the magnificent scope of the Force now nearly bursting through her to make her mark hit home.
Kylo shouts a protest, reaching out to stop her but he's one second too late. The lit blade flies out of her hand, hurtling right to the green-encased skull that had once been Varn.
What happens next is instantaneous. The Kyber core shatters, exploding both in and out of itself with an ear piercing boom. Rey cringes as the ancient energy trapped within slams against them, knocking her face first to Kylo's chest.
For a second all Rey can see is green. For half a second she wonders if this isn't about to be their tomb as well.
What has she done?
How did she think that was going to end?
A second wave, stronger than the first, lashes out, knocking them both off their feet. Kylo lands on top of her and he wraps his arms around her, shielding her from the brunt of the meltdown exactly like he had from the storm that first drove them to these tunnels.
Then it's done.
Over just as quick as it had started. So eerily similar to what had happened before on the Falcon.
When Rey opens her eyes the room is dim nearly to the point that she can't see Kylo's stunned, speechless face.
"Kylo?"
He gapes at her, eyes wide. He's breathing. She's breathing. They're both alive.
Alive and, in her bondmate's case, very, very annoyed.
WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!
His squawk of indignation pierces through her mind, ringing across her mental walls until she abruptly shoves him back out.
Oh. She can read him again. The static, the interference, it's all gone. So is the weight in the back of her head that had been steering her here. The Force within her is still eclipsing her own, natural powers but even that is fading now with each breath.
"He's gone," she whispers.
Sadness fills her, mixing with relief. Varn, the foolish Jedi from the days of old who had wandered in here on a quest for more power, has finally become one with the Force. He is finally at peace.
A shiver runs along Rey's spine, melancholy threatening to overwhelm her as she trembles under Kylo.
Wait… that's not melancholy at all, that's the actual ground.
They both realize it at the same time, Kylo pushing himself off Rey and leaping to his feet as a new and stronger line of tremors shakes them.
The Kyber core is gone, where it had been is simply a gaping black void of nothingness. Each of its tendrils, each of its roots snaking out into the rocky walls, are fading. When the last wisps of the green energy drains out of them the crystal fractures, cracking and crumbling to dust.
A large piece of rock falls off to the side, detaching itself from the ceiling above them. The white light, that tiny pinprick from up above, becomes a little bit wider.
"This is going to cave in on us!"
Kylo says it first, shock rising in his voice, but Rey's already onto her feet. The rocky bridge they were on is crumbling before their eyes, chunks larger than she is tall falling off to the raging river below them. Another root of the Kyber shatters, sending pricking shards of crystal dust into her eyes as the grand chamber grows dimmer without its light source.
"Run!"
Kylo yanks her, snatching her arm and roughly dragging her out of the way of a falling boulder. The roof is fracturing in, shaking itself apart as the waves of energy ripple out along the edges of this chamber and beyond.
They break out in a full run, racing back to the tunnels where they came from before.
Then a wind, that same breeze she had been feeling before, pushes them both back. Varn doesn't want them to go that way. No, he wants them to-
"Up!" Rey shouts, pointing straight above.
The surface is so close but so far. She can see sky now, that vivid electric purple she had come to both love and hate. It's such a welcome sight after so long of nothing but darkness and green light.
It's gone!
Kylo shouts it into her mind when he sees that the tunnel back is buried under the falling rubble. They're trapped here now, but they won't be for long if this bridge gives away. It's crumbling all around them, large fissures forming before dropping to river.
"Climb?"
She spins in a circle. Their only options are the stone buttressed pillars holding up the walls of the cave. They look like they could give at any moment, but they have no other choices left.
"Climb," she agrees.
They leap onto the nearest pillar, scrambling and sliding along the roughened surface until they both find a hand and foot hold. Behind them Rey can hear a great rumble as the bridge finally collapses, crashing down into the water and rocks below.
"We were almost in that!" she shouts, looking at Kylo. The light of the Kyber core is fading, another booming round of pops echoing throughout the chamber as one of its final roots begins to break.
UP!
They don't so much climb as leap, running whenever the angle of the stone turret allows. The shaking only increases, making them fall part way down again. The collapsing chamber both hinders and helps them, the shape of the walls constantly changing so that when one route to the top closes another cracks open nearby.
Rey slips and Kylo catches her. Kylo stumbles, stunned by a piece of flying debris he hadn't managed to dodge. Rey slams him back into contact with the rock through the Force, latching onto his signature and using his own powers to enhance her own and make the rescue possible.
They climb.
They scramble.
They crawl, hand over hand and foot over foot.
Jump when the can. Hold on when they have to.
Up and up and up they go.
The ground implodes all around them. Their hands lose purchase and then find it again.
They call on the Force to help them.
Rey calls for Varn.
At first he answers, giving her a push forward when she needs it the most.
Then he stops answering. They're on their own now, but they don't give up.
Somehow they make progress. The air smells less stale. The tremors below them fall further away.
Little by little.
Finally, after what must have truly been an eternity, after every muscle in their body is burned raw with their effort, they begin to see the light of day reflected in each other's eyes.
Kylo and Rey escape the underground.
Author's Note:
Aaaand they made it! We have officially crossed over into the final 3rd act now. Act 1 was when Kylo and Rey were reunited and chased by the kitties into the river. The river which at that time they had no idea would have so much significance as it later on held for them. What's going to happen to them now on the surface? Well, they have to find a way home. How? When? And whose 'home', Kylo's or Rey's? All of these to be answered very soon, so hang in there with me!
Next chapter:
Fresh air… aint it a wonderful thing? Our duo take a moment to catch their breaths, but that moment may not last too long so they'd better hurry up and start celebrating being alive and not a mole person anymore while they still can...
Comment replies:
pobrediabla – Well they sort of TRIED to get a move on this chapter. Then they just fooled around for 90% of the word count, lol. Jedi baby… I haven't decided. This is going to have to be the first of at least a two story series because I can't possibly wrap it up in 4-5 remaining chapters, so i'm not sure if i'll have the Force Stork visit them or not. HOWEVER, I also like to add realism to my stories (at least a little!) so I'm not so sure a baby would actually keep them together. What with kylo being the SUPREME LEADER and all. it's kind of a big deal. Or that may make a great plot for the second story in the series and i'll hold off until that starts. So no promises either way just yet but I hope you check it out when it's ready!
DeepSeaGirl678 – Glad to hear it! I hoped you liked this chapter!
Nerd Mom Writer – I'm so glad you've been enjoying this story so much! This is going to end up as my longest story and I've put so much time and effort into it that it's really great to hear that it's been paying off. Thank you so much for commenting! 3
sydkiwi – Never seen lost in space, I live in Prague now so I'm not really familiar with what netflix had to offer. Is it any good? I may try to check it out if I can.
Kylo's always had trust issues. Rey's always sorta known how Kylo felt about her. He just picked a really delicate time in their relationship to blurt it out.
Thanks for commenting! :)
nightreader10 – Well I hope you got your answer to the green energy: great great greatX10 grandaddy Varn wouldn't mind a little Skywalker infusion into his family line if you know what I mean, lol. Thanks for commenting! :)
Aranthera – Haha, you're not alone in that! We'll see though, I'm not sure if a Gray Baby is a good idea for our duo right now, especially since they're less than two days past not being on speaking terms. We'll see though!
LyricalRiot – Kylo is nothing but impulsive and he just couldn't stop himself! Bad timing, boy, bad timing!
Shestoolazytologin – Kylo just said what he was feeling at that moment and didn't think about it before he blurted it out. I think it effected Rey a little more than she was letting on, don't you? Thanks for commenting!
Missing A Muse – Lots of sex in the future? Definitely a fair amount, you got it! Angst too, though, because things will never be easy for these two, will it? Thanks for commenting! 3