Ben Solo stepped up to the podium and looked out into the massive crowd of Riosans, citizens of nearby systems, and former New Republic senators from Centrist worlds gathered near the front. Music filled the hall and resonated inside Ben's ears.

Hux sat in a regal looking chair on the stage near the podium, with Rey seated close beside him in a chair of simple design. Ben smiled inwardly as he saw her eyes throwing darts into Hux, her fire was unquenchable.

Just behind Ben, a row of praetorian guards stood at ready. The official explanation would have been the protection of First Order leadership, but Ben knew their electro-plasma blades would come down swiftly into his back when Hux gave the order.

He looked down at the datapad one more time as the regal music hit the grand ending note. The speech stretched before him in an endless scroll. Ben had never been one for speeches or crowds and he felt his mouth go dry. He had always expected his death to come on the battlefield not in some diplomatic setting before politicians.

Finally, the music ended and silence reigned in the hall. Somebody coughed in the crowd. Ben could feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest now. Hux shifted uneasily in his seat.

Ben turned to look at Rey. Her tear-filled eyes pierced into his soul. Compassion for her surged within him.

"I'm so sorry, Rey, for everything," he told her, speaking to her through the Force. Rey closed her eyes and tears released, spilling down her cheeks. Ben's lips pressed together as he forced himself to look away and back at the datapad on the podium. There was so much he would never be able to tell her, the things he would never even know if she wanted to hear.

"My fellow citizens of the First Order," he began.

"Stop," he heard Rey's voice echoing through his mind, "just read the speech, just do what he wants, we'll figure something else out."

Ben swallowed, and took a breath to steady himself, endangering her was not an option. His only hope to save Rey was to remove the target Hux had on her by taking himself out of the picture. Ben's only chance to impact the galaxy in a way that would have pleased his mother was in this moment, here, before her former senate colleagues.

"We have gathered here in this place to bring clarity and order to the galaxy once again." He continued.

"Ben," she said again, "please."

Ben stopped; took a breath to steady himself and said:

"The only way our galaxy will ever truly experience peace is by reinstating the Senate of the New Republic."

Ben felt a whoosh of air as the vibro-axe flew out of the guard's hands behind him. He turned to face the guards just as a Bilari electro-chain whip slashed into his chest, electrifying and slicing his flesh in one motion. Ben fell to his knees. One of the guards seized the opportunity and kicked Ben hard on his back, driving his face into the cool stage platform. He could see Rey out of the corner of his vision wielding the axe toward Hux. Hux parried and Force pushed her, sending her sprawling into the platform. One of the guards stepped between her and Hux. She gained her footing enough to swing the axe across his legs severing the tendons of his ankles. He crumpled to the ground in front of her, falling onto his electro-chain. His body shook with the electric shock.

Rey leapt over him, closing the distance between herself and Hux. In one sweeping cut she severed his arm and sent it spilling to the floor beneath him. Ben could see the guards turn on her as they realized their Supreme Leader was being attacked. Ben tried to push himself up to help her, his hands pushing against the floor with all his might but failing to lift his body one millimeter.

Hux extended his remaining hand toward Rey as if to Force push her but without the black diamond ring he found no connection to the Force around him. She raised the axe above her head and with the savage strength of a Jakku scrapper she landed a fatal blow into General Hux.

Ben saw her shift toward the approaching guards as his vision began to collapse from the outer edges of his periphery. Slowly, the picture of Rey became black and white and then she faded away into darkness.