Hello, do you remember me? Yes? Well, I'm here to clear the dust off of this story with a new chapter!
"They were right there," Rey choked, balling the fabric of Ben's shirt in her fist. "I almost made it to them, but—Ben," she sobbed, pressing her face into his chest.
Ben stroked her hair, holding her close. "Rey…"
"I couldn't make it," she lamented. "I wasn't fast enough…"
Ben held her at arm's length. "Rey," he sighed, cupping her face, "it wasn't them."
She blinked. "What?"
"Whatever you saw...those weren't your parents," he said, wincing.
Rey's brows pinched together as she stared at him. His dark eyes were heavy, serious. After a moment Rey staggered to her feet. "What are you saying?" she balked. "Of course it was my parents, I saw them," she asserted, her hands tightening into fists at her sides. Still, Ben did not appear convinced. "They were right there, right in front of me!" she insisted, pointing ahead of where Ben sat before her.
Slowly, sorrowfully, Ben shook his head. "It wasn't them, Rey," he said. "They weren't real. What you saw were just...visions. Memories."
Rey narrowed her eyes. "I saw them, Ben. I spoke to my father! It was his voice!"
"It wasn't real, Rey. It was Snoke," he intoned, lowering his brows.
Rey shook her head, disbelieving. "You're wrong," she deplored, taking a step back. "It was real, my parents are real—and Snoke has them."
"No, Rey," Ben dissented. "He doesn't."
"You don't know that," Rey snapped.
Ben frowned. "Rey," he began, "your parents are dead. You know this."
Rey bit her lip, a strangled whimper rising from her throat. A desperate, gripping energy roiled within her. "You don't know what you're talking about. I know what I saw," she maintained. "You have no idea! You're wrong!"
Ben's face fell. "Rey, please just listen to me, tell me—"
But all Rey could hear was the sound of her father's voice, just as she'd remembered it when he and her mother were leaving her on Jakku: I'll come back, sweetheart. I promise.
Stumbling backwards, Rey shoved her way through the door and out of the hut. A mix of tears and drizzling rain washed across her cheeks as she sprinted through the night, away from Ben, from the huts, from everything. She rubbed her face on her arm as she raced through the dark, barefoot. The rain was icy and the grass slick, but she felt numbed to the surrounding elements.
"Rey!" she heard Ben's voice call out from behind her. Rey ignored him and kept going.
But as she soon heard the sound of crashing waves ahead, she slowed, realizing that she was nearing the cliff's edge. Exhausted and disoriented, she crumpled to her knees, her hands, grasping the frozen blades of grass between her fingers as she struggled to catch her breath. She remained in place as she heard the thudding splashes of Ben's boots grow nearer.
"Rey," Ben prompted as he slowed to a stop behind her. "Come back inside."
Rey peered over her shoulder and was only barely able to make out Ben's tall figure in the darkness. The soft rumble of distant thunder broke the silence between them. Rey lowered her head again and sniffled. "Go away," she groaned.
"No," Ben said flatly, crouching beside her. "Come here, you're going to freeze." He attempted to pull her towards him, but she swatted him away. "Are you even wearing shoes?" he asked.
"I want to be alone," Rey snapped, shifting to sit onto her bare heels. She swiped the rain and tears from her face.
Ben hesitated. "Rey, I'm sorry for what I said," he stated. "But it's the truth." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Deep down...you know it."
Rey huffed out a breath, allowing her shoulders to sag. "He promised…" she breathed, staring down at the muddied ground. "He promised they would come back."
"I'm so sorry, my love," Ben consoled, lowering to his knees and pulling her into his embrace. He hastily wrapped his coat around her, shielding her from the rain. Rey realized she was shivering, and she was grateful for his warmth. She pressed herself into his chest, hugging him tightly. For a few long moments, they remained like this. She felt Ben pressing into her mind as he attempted to soothe her, filling her with calmness. Rey focused on the sounds of his breathing and the pit-pat of the light rain falling on the grass around them.
"I know what those dreams are like, Rey," Ben said amidst a distant peal of thunder. "I know how real they seem."
Rey lifted her face to his neck. "You've had dreams like this?" she asked, and she felt him nod.
"It's how Snoke managed to persuade me to stay with the First Order when I was young," he began. "He put images of my grandfather in my head at night—visions of how I perceived him, so they were familiar to me. When my grandfather appeared in my dreams, I thought I was really speaking to his ghost."
Rey was quiet for a moment as she let this sink in. "That's horrible," she sniffled.
"Rey," Ben began again, a quiver in his voice. "Did you say anything to him?"
Rey's mouth hung open. "Oh...what have I done?"
Ben sifted through her mind. "Oh, no," he breathed, and before Rey could speak again, she was being lifted and carried across the grass in his arms. "We need to get out of here, now, we need to get off of—"
"Sir!"
Ben swivelled around with Rey clasped to his chest, but Rey felt Ben's posture relax as they realized that it was one of his Knights approaching him from the line of huts. For the past few weeks, the knights had taken turns staying in the extra huts and managing the ship.
"Marcus?" Ben called.
"Sir, I just received word from Gregor through my datapad—our ship has picked up on an incoming craft," he announced, stopping before them. "It's headed this way."
"Already?" Ben asked, his voice distant. Rey's heartbeat increased twofold.
Ben shook his head in dismay. "Get the knights armored and assembled, and get the ship running—It's Snoke," he declared. "We need to be ready."
"Yessir," Marcus nodded, and sped back into the darkness.
"Could it really be him?" Rey asked as Ben carried her back towards the huts. Ben's tension was palpable through their bond. Rey huffed out a breath, fighting back new tears as low thunder sounded above. "Ben, I'm so sorry, I—"
"It's not your fault, Rey," Ben asserted, frowning and glancing down at her. "Don't blame yourself. Snoke would have found us at some point, it was only a matter of time. We all knew it."
"But how did he get into my head with all of our Force shields on the island?" Rey questioned quietly.
Ben hesitated. "Because you let him in," he intoned. Rey considered this.
As they moved closer towards the dimly-lit huts, a faint, deep hum began to sound in the distance.
"Kriff," Ben swore, turning around.
"Let me down," Rey urged, kicking her legs and struggling from his embrace. She dropped onto her bare feet and watched the sky with him. In the distance, a glowing white star moved behind the clouds.
"That's no star," Ben observed, reading her mind.
Rey jolted as a bright shock of lightning blasted in the sky nearby.
"Go get Luke," Ben instructed, still watching the approaching ship. "Wake him and head down to the shuttle."
Rey scowled at Ben, forgetting that he couldn't see her expression in the darkness. "No," she retorted. She saw his face swivel down to hers.
"Rey, you need to get out of here. Now."
"I'm not leaving your side," she asserted.
Ben made a gruff sound. "I wish you were still mad at me so you'd listen," he growled.
They both turned as the sound of the ship grew louder, its large, pointed form illuminated by its own exterior lighting. It was no star destroyer, but it was still a sizable craft.
Ben gripped Rey's shoulder. "Come on, let's go. I'll wake Luke, you go get your boots and coat on."
Together, they sprinted towards the huts. Rey felt a pang in her chest as Ben veered to the side, towards Luke's hut. She didn't want to lose sight of him with danger so near, not even for a minute. Back in the hut, she hastily pulled on her boots and coat, yanking her hood over her head. She sped towards the door, then slid to a stop, realizing what she'd forgotten. She turned over her shoulder, extending her arm and calling her lightsaber into her grasp. "This would be helpful," she muttered.
Outside, Rey caught sight of Ben and Luke standing behind an old stone wall near the huts, watching the ship's approach to the island. She hurried to their side just as the ship began to lower at the far edge of the island. Their view of the ship was lost as it descended behind a large crag.
"They lowered their ship to the other side of the island, but they had to have seen our huts," Luke said. "Looks like they're going to be strategic about this."
Shrill screeching cut through the sounds of the building rain and thunder.
"They've brought TIEs," Rey grimaced. The screams of the TIEs grew louder, and Ben shoved Rey lower behind the stone wall as a TIE soared not far from where they were crouched.
"Kriff, they're looking for us," Ben huffed. "The knights should be on their way up here to join the fight, just like they've been trained to do," Ben said, lowering his head and meeting Rey's eyes. "Just like we've been training to do."
The three of them looked up as two TIEs zipped across the sky ahead, shining spotlights out over the ocean.
Ben turned towards his uncle, wiping his soaked hair from his eyes. "Luke, listen to me. Take Rey down to the ship, I can handle this. They're here for me."
Rey shook her head. "No, Ben, you know I'm not going to do that!"
"Ben, I'm not going to leave you to them. I've only just gotten you back," Luke said, reaching under his cloak to procure his lightsaber. "But I will stall so you two can have a shot at making it down to the ship."
Ben and Rey shook their heads, about to protest, but Luke was already making a mad dash from behind their wall, igniting his green saber like a small beacon in the darkness.
"Luke, no!" Rey called, about to go after him, but Ben grabbed her arm, yanking her back behind the wall. "Let me go!" she squealed, trying to yank herself from Ben's grasp, but it was no use; his grip was firm.
"Rey, look at me," Ben urged, and she obliged.
"I'm not going to run away to the ship and leave Luke to face them all alone!" she insisted.
Ben nodded, considering her. "I know you're not," he said, cupping her cheek with his gloved hand. "I know."
To her surprise, he pulled her into a gentle kiss. "You know I love you," he breathed, staring gravely into her eyes.
He was scared, she realized, and so was she. Rey tried to push away Ben's desperate, anxious feelings and settle her own mind, but the thought occurred to her that these could very well be their last few moments together, just the two of them. Rey pressed her hand to Ben's cheek, and he leaned his face into her touch. For a brief moment, Rey thought she saw his face illuminated by the sun. She felt...still. Calmed.
The bright image suddenly fizzled away, however, and was replaced with something else. Something—darker. She saw Ben before her, the sky around them returning to night. Ben looked at her, and when she met his eyes, they were darker than she'd ever seen them. They weren't their usual deep hazel-brown, but an impenetrable, bottomless black. Startled, she stumbled back, landing with her legs folded beneath her. She stared up at him, searching his face. There was something very off about him.
It wasn't...him.
"Ben?" she choked.
Ben loomed above her, a stark coldness in his obsidian eyes, a thin smile curling the corners of his mouth. A sneer.
"No," he replied, his voice free of intonation. "Kylo Ren."
Slowly, menacingly, he pulled his saber from his side and pointed it directly down at her. Rey stared up at him numbly as the crackling red plasma moved towards her. She couldn't will herself to move. She shut her eyes hard as she felt the heat of the blade inching closer, just a hair's breadth from the thin flesh of her neck—
"Please, no!" she pleaded, pressing her hands over her eyes. "Ben!"
"What's wrong?"
Rey pressed her hands tighter to her face, unable to meet that cold, ebon gaze. She felt Ben's fingers pry her own from her face.
"Rey, what happened?" he asked concernedly.
She blinked open her eyes, now only able to see Ben's silhouette again against the night sky. She pulled her hands from his and crawled backwards, away from him. He moved towards her, but she swatted him away.
"Stop!" she urged, scrambling to her feet. She held a hand before her. "Get back!"
Ben stopped, looking at her palm warily. "Rey, it's me," he asserted, reaching out a helping hand.
"Don't touch me!" she snapped.
"He's still in your head, isn't he?" Ben realized, his shoulders sagging. "Kriff. Rey, it's me, Ben. What is Snoke doing to you?" he shook his head.
Rey let out a long breath, lowering her hood and running a hand through her slick hair as she came to. "I must have had another vision," she realized, her heart pounding.
"What did you see?" Ben asked, crouching before her.
"I saw—you," she began, but they both scrambled to their feet as a TIE suddenly veered towards them. "Watch out!" Rey yelled, and they both dove out of the way as the craft shot a blast just yards from where they had been standing.
"Over here!" Luke yelled, and Rey pushed up on her elbows to see him standing across from her on the muddied plain, waving his saber over head. "Come and get me!"
"Luke, no!" Rey yelled, getting to her feet. She ignited her saber and sprinted towards him as she heard the TIE circling back. She slid to a stop, shielding her face with the central staff of her saber as the TIE shot between her and Luke, spraying mud and earth into the air.
"Rey, watch out!" Ben called from behind her.
As she lowered her saber, a red blaster bolt shot cut through the air directly in front of her, and she stumbled back. She swiveled to the right to catch a glimpse of a large squadron of black stormtroopers marching over the hill towards them, illuminated briefly by the spotlight of a passing TIE.
Rey raised her saber just in time as another blaster bolt was fired at her. A second TIE passed over the stormtroopers, its beam lighting up the troopers and then herself.
"Death Troopers," she heard Ben say from behind her. "Shield yourself, Rey!"
A barrage of blasts fired upon her, and Rey yelped as she swung the ends of her saber up, down, and around to block them. She struggled to keep her balance in the slick mud.
"Keep at it! Plant your feet!" Luke instructed, moving closer to her as he parried shots with his own saber.
A shot landed in the mud just before her boots, and Rey instinctively leapt back from the blast, her boots slid out from under her and she landed hard on her back in the mud. She watched with wide eyes as Ben suddenly leapt before her, thrusting a gloved palm out towards the troopers and releasing a hot stream of red-orange color. Fire, Rey realized as she watched the troopers before them stumbling back from the Force flames.
For a second, Ben looked at her over his shoulder at her. "Get up, Rey!" he urged.
Rey scrambled back to her feet and rushed to Ben's side, her saber at the ready as she watched the flames quickly dissipate in the rain. As she fought back the blasts from another nearing pack of troopers, the shining gleam of dark plastic caught in her peripheral vision as a TIE passed over the ground to their side.
"Ben! There's more coming from the left!" she exclaimed.
"I'll fend them off," Luke announced, and to Rey's surprise, he sprinted towards them, his long brown cape flowing behind him in the wind and rain. With a swipe of his arm, Luke sent the front lines of the approaching troopers back over the hill from which they had just appeared. "And stay there!" Luke yelled.
Forcing herself to recall her own Force move that she'd used on the pilots on Storia, Rey turned back towards the troopers at her and Ben's front and planted one foot firmly before the other. With one hand, she held her saber before her, twisting it to shield herself from the troopers' blasts. She felt compelled to close her eyes for a moment, to channel the Force within her. In her mind's eyes, she saw the fragmented forms of her parents, just as she'd seen them in her dream. She was filled with the desperate desire to free them from Snoke's control—she knew he had them, somewhere.
Reopening her eyes, Rey thrust her free hand before her, feeling the Force channel out through her palm like a rush of hot water and watching as it formed a brilliant blue beam. The troopers in front of her flew back, high into the air and out of sight, their garbled, mechanical voices fading away.
"Good going Rey! But more behind you!" Luke yelled, running back towards Rey and Ben. "Stars, they just keep coming!"
"Over there! The Knights!" Rey exclaimed, pointing to their right. Ben's Knights were fighting their way through the troopers, some of whom had turned their blasters away from Rey, Ben, and Luke to fight back against the warriors. Rey watched for a moment as the Knights' long staffs and swords were illuminated in the light from a TIE soaring overhead.
Rey and the others leapt aside as the TIE veered towards them, shooting a blast into the mud where they'd just stood. Rey watched as Ben, seething, jumped back onto his feet and extended his hand out toward the TIE, bringing it down from the sky with a yanking motion of his arm. The earth beneath their feet shuddered as the TIE crashed into the mud, on top of a group of troopers.
The three of them managed to scramble behind a large rock as the rest of the troopers reorganized.
"Where'd they go?" Rey heard a trooper's garbled voice question.
"They're surrounding us," Ben observed, keeping his voice low. He chanced a glance over their rock, and as he did, a blast shot towards them. "Kriff!" he swore, ducking back behind the rock.
"Over there!" a trooper's robotic voice sounded.
Luke jumped out from behind the rock and swiped his arm out before him, sending the group of nearing troopers flying back. Just as he did, however, he let out a yelp and stumbled backwards. Ben tried to stop her, but was too late as Rey ran out from behind the rock to grab Luke's coat, keeping him from falling down into the mud. She kept her saber before her, trying to shield them from other blasts as she helped Luke to regain his balance.
"Got me in the leg," Luke muttered, leaning over to catch his breath. "I'm not as agile as I once was...If I'm being honest, Rey, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up."
"No, Luke, you'll make it. We'll all make it!" Rey insisted, though deep in her heart, she wasn't so sure.
"Luke, are you okay?" Ben asked worriedly, rushing over to them.
Luke ignored Ben's concern and stared at Rey, gripping her arm. "You and Ben need to get to the ship, those troopers are just going to keep coming until they have us," he said, pushing her away. "Go!"
"No, I'm not going!" Rey protested.
"We're not going to leave you," Ben maintained.
Luke wiped the rain from his face, staring at the both of them for a moment. "At least move to the left, away from the troopers, will you?"
Rey scrunched her face. "What?"
"Do it, now!" Luke urged, and Rey immediately listened, never before having heard Luke raise his voice to her in that way. Ben, too, moved away from Luke, closer to her. "I love you kids," Luke said, and to Rey's surprise, he smiled at them.
"Luke—" Ben began, but was swiftly cut off. In a lightning-fast motion, Luke flung his arm out at them, and the next thing Rey knew, she was on her back and sliding through the mud.
Rey shrieked as she tumbled down a long, wet shoot of water and mud, down and away from the mountaintop. Her hooded coat came undone from around her as she tried to grab onto leaves, bushes, anything along the sides of the mudslide to stop her slide down the steep hill, but nothing within grasp would hold her weight.
"Rey! Grab hold!" she heard, and she swiveled her head to see Ben sliding along side her, his wrapped arm outstretched.
Rey managed to grab his hand and he pulled her closer to him as they continued to slide down the mud shoot on their backs. Soon, the mud beneath them began to thicken, and Rey was forced to let go of Ben's hand as they tumbled out onto a flat plain of grass near a cliff.
Rey spat the mud from her mouth and heard Ben do the same as they slowly got to her feet in the dim light of early dawn. The sounds of the crashing waves below were loud, and a chilly breeze carried up from the water. As she surveyed their surroundings, Rey narrowed and then widened her eyes as she caught sight of a small, faint light below.
"The ship!" she exclaimed, pointing down the slope and looking to Ben. But her excitement immediately abated as she remembered that it was just the two of them now. Her shoulders dropped as she turned to look back up the top of the mountain from which they'd slid down. "I can't believe he did that," Rey huffed. "We can't just leave him."
"We can't get back up the hill in this rain, either, with the mudslides," Ben said, moving towards her. "I don't want to leave Luke, either, but..." He sighed, looking down a moment. "Rey, our only choice is to make it down to the ship. Then we can try to fly to the top and get him."
If he'd made it, neither of them said.
Rey nodded with a sigh, sensing that this was painful for Ben too. "Okay. Then let's go."
As they began to zig-zag down the steep hill, Rey felt at her hip. She realized that she must have lost her saber when she slid down the hill.
"This is going to take forever—where are the stairs?" Rey wondered, looking around them. The glimmer from the ship's outside light remained tiny, indicating that they still had a long way down.
"It's too dark to really see them," Ben said, taking her hand.
"We're never going to make it in time to save Luke," Rey bemoaned, on the verge of tears, and Ben pulled her into a hug.
"Have hope, Rey," Ben said. "You know he's been through worse before. He'll make it." But Rey sensed that Ben's worry matched her own.
Rey stepped out from Ben's embrace as the screech of a TIE grew steadily louder. The two of them watched, slowly stepping backwards as it soared from around the curve of the mountain to their side and out over the open ocean. The TIE shined its spotlight, illuminating the line of the rocky coast below.
"They're searching for us again," Rey noted amidst a low peal of thunder.
"Or—the ship!" Ben blurted, just as the TIE's spotlight caught on their shuttle parked on its low rocky outcropping. They watched in despair as the TIE circled around and fired at the ship. Rey grabbed Ben's arm as the ship exploded into flames and flying chunks of metal.
They both managed to jump aside as a red blaster bolt shot suddenly shot at them from out of the darkness.
"Where did that come from?" Rey yelped, and another shot fired towards them.
Ben whipped out his lightsaber and ignited it, meeting the second blast with the sparking plasma of his saber's blade. Rey watched as he remained in place in front of her a moment, stock-still. "Thrawn," he growled. "I knew it was him."
Another few blasts shot at them, and Ben parried them deftly.
"Stop! All stop!" a male voice called angrily. "I told you to corner them, not kill them..."
Ben kept his saber extended in front of Rey in a protective gesture as a uniformed blue alien stepped out from behind a crag before them, along with several Death Troopers.
Ben and Rey remained silent as Thrawn casually made his way towards them, his troopers flanking him. Thrawn smiled across at Ben as if he were an old friend he'd happened across.
"Kylo Ren," the alien greeted. "Good to see you're well. But, I'll admit, I'm surprised the Order of Organa didn't kill you off," he remarked, gesturing for his troopers to stop behind him. Ben never lowered his hissing saber as the man spoke. "Let's face it, over the years you became more and more useless to our side. So forgive me if I'm shocked that the Resistance found it useful to spare your life, after all you've done," Thrawn chuckled.
"Where's Snoke?" Ben snapped.
"That reminds me," Thrawn said, rubbing his chin. "The Supreme Leader has apparently come up with a good use for you."
"Snoke isn't going to use me anymore," Ben seethed. "And if he doesn't show himself, I'll drag him out of his ship myself," he hissed, pointing his crackling saber toward Thrawn.
Thrawn raised his eyebrows mockingly. "Bold words from someone who has so much to lose," he commented, looking knowingly between Ben and Rey. "But I'll have you know, the Supreme Leader didn't feel like joining us on this excursion."
Rey sensed relief in Ben, but he held his ground, keeping his saber before her.
Thrawn's mouth spread in a thin, oily smile. "Is your scavenger girl mute? What a pity," he drawled, looking back to Ben. "I guess you'll have to speak for the two of you then. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Easy way, you two come with me and no one gets hurt."
"No," Rey hissed, moving Ben's arm and saber out of the way to stand beside him.
Thrawn raised his eyebrows. "She does speak. My bad. Well, then, scavenger girl, would you like to do things the hard way? I'd advise against that. I'm afraid things won't end...well for you," he said, motioning with his hand behind him. More Death Troopers began making their way out from behind the crags all around Thrawn, aiming their weapons at Ben and Rey. Rey scooted closer to Ben as she realized that more troopers were appearing from behind rocks on both of their sides. They were completely surrounded, save for the area directly behind them, where the base of the mudslide met the overhanging cliff edge.
Thrawn yawned. "I'd really like to do this the easy way, if you don't mind. I'll take less time, and I have things to do," he drawled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black device. "We're still very high up, if you haven't realized," he said, nodding to the ocean behind them.
"Thrawn, give up the act. Tell your squadron to drop their weapons before I destroy them, and you," Ben threatened. "Not that the Empire would miss you, you're merely Snoke's new pawn."
Thrawn shifted, visibly struggling to hide his anger. "Hmm. The hard way, then, is what I'm hearing? Destroying me will be hard to do when you're..distracted." He turned towards Rey. "Tell me, you grew up in a desert, didn't you?"
Suddenly, with a deafening rumble, the ground beneath Rey gave way, and she was on her stomach. The air was whipped from her lungs as she was slipping, sliding, then weightless, free-falling, down from the cliff's edge. Her stomach rose to her throat in a strangled scream as the wind roared in her ears and she caught sight of the enormous, angry waves below.
Poor Rey! You guys knew this was coming, right? I kept trying to emphasize the waves and the ocean in the last few chapters while our characters have been on Jakku. If The Last Jedi doesn't feature a cliff falling scene with Rey, well, at least our story here will.
What do you guys think of the new images and leaks from The Last Jedi? (Or have you been staying away from spoilers?) Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is looking ready for a redemption arc. And the porgs are pretty darn cute too.
Thanks for reading! As always, I really do appreciate you guys's patience, so thanks for sticking around. And I always love reading the comments! They keep me motivated.
I promise this story only has a few more chapters and it'll be over, I never meant for it to get so long and complicated and I've definitely gotten frustrated with it...But, it is what it is, and I still have fun writing it.