The Millennium Falcon settled onto a landing pad in front of Darth Vader's historic home.
Ben led the way off the ship toward an outlook to the side of the castle's main landing. Lava and hot boiling molten rock flowed in front of them at great speed, bits of hardened rock sped by on the fiery surface.
The heat of the river of lava below them whipped at Ben's face as he came to the edge. He turned to Rey.
"This lava is hot enough to melt rock and metal within seconds." Ben told her, motioning to the planet's surface. Rey looked out at the horrific landscape, "Why did your Grandfather build his castle here, in this awful place?"
"A good question," Ben said with a slight twinkle in his eye, "for another time."
He reached into his pocket to retrieve the ring. "The ring?" She asked.
Ben nodded, growing more serious, "It's too powerful, too dark to be hidden away somewhere only to be found again."
Rey agreed, quietly searching his expression, the power in that ring had held Ben captive for years before he ever realized Snoke was using the trinket for its Force connection. The same ring had also saved his life only the day before.
"It needs to be destroyed." Ben said, holding her gaze.
Rey nodded.
Ben placed the ring in her hand. She turned it over once, looking again at the jagged edges and the patina of the gold. Rey took a deep breath to steady herself and threw it as hard as she could into the flaming, molten lava.
The ring splashed into the soft liquid rock and sank beneath the flow, melting and joining together with the rock and lava of the planet. Rey and Ben could see a cloud of dark Force light explode from the surface where the ring hit as it began to disintegrate, releasing a history of darkness they would never know. The diamond held fast a moment longer before popping and shattering into dust, tiny fragments, each carried away from each other in the current.
Rey looked back to Ben, who was staring intently at a platform a little farther up the embankment.
"What it is?" Rey asked.
"Look, there," he said motioning.
Rey looked to see Luke Skywalker, haloed in blue Force light standing with three other men also shrouded in Force light. Ben would later tell her those men were his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, and two other Jedi, Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Luke smiled Ben and Rey, and dipped his head in a nod.
Ben smiled in return and bowed his head for moment.
"What does it mean?" Rey asked.
"It means we have brought balance to the Force, at last." Ben said, reaching for her slowly and pulling her close to him.
Rey reached up to his face, her fingertips tracing the scar from their first meeting.
"At last," she repeated softly.
Ben lowered his face close to hers, brushing his lips against her cheek. He pulled away slightly to look into her eyes but Rey closed the distance between them again, wrapping her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers through his hair and pulling him toward her again.
Ben kissed her softly, timidly at first, as if he still couldn't quite believe she would want him to, still giving her a chance to change her mind. He pulled back to look into her eyes again, "I love you, Rey, you're everything to me, you're everything."
Rey smiled slowly, "I know."
Ben smiled and kissed her again.