Despite her weariness, Rey could not sleep. Too much lingered on her mind, chief among them being Kylo. The emotional connection that they had formed those many months ago had been unlike anything Rey had ever experienced and the fear of losing him completely to the Dark ate at her. When she saw him so consumed with Darkness, it was almost as though a piece of herself had suffered the same fate and she feared that piece was growing.

Rey opened her eyes knowing that sleep was not in her near future. She sat on the edge of her bed and looked around her alcove. Her eyes almost immediately trailed over to the ancient tomes sitting atop her desk. She sighed somewhat defeatedly and wrapped her blanket around herself before taking a seat at the desk.

Rey read until close to midnight, learning the tales of Jedi and Sith artifacts dating back to even before the Old Republic. Luke had left notes on scraps of parchment between some of the pages, mostly telling that a vast majority of the artifacts had been destroyed under the Empire.

After finishing an entry on a legendary sword carved from solid Kyber, Rey turned the page and froze. The artist's rendition was somewhat rough, but she had seen the artifact it depicted. It was a chamfered pyramid of silver with cut crystal panes set into the sides.

"...Ixigul," Rey read aloud.

Another of Luke's notes was tucked into the spine, but before Rey could read it, someone called her name.

"Rey, you awake? The Falcon's back."

Rey marked her place with a ribbon and threw on some clothes.

Instead of the good cheer Rey expected, the mood of her comrades had a sense of panic and urgency to them. Understanding of why came immediately upon seeing the Millennium Falcon pulling into the floating harbor.

Smoke and tongues of flame poured out from between the plates of the scrap metal hull armor. Charred holes filled the sails and rigging ropes hung untethered. Months of repair work had been undone in a single mission.

"Fire crew! Coming through!"

Rey leapt aside to let them past and closed the jaw that she had unconsciously dropped.

"It's on fire," Poe yelled frustratedly as he stomped down the gangplank with smoke billowing around him. "The whole damn thing's on fire! Ah. Rey."

"What happened?!"

"We really could have used your help out there. Things went bad. Really, really bad."

"Han's ship!"

Poe was about to retort when Bibi-Eit rolled over. His grumpy frown redoubled on seeing the missing panel. "What did you do to my automaton?"

"What did you do to the Falcon?"

"The Falcon's in better shape than he is."

Rey waved an arm at the ship. "Bibi-Eit's not on fire!"

"What's left of him isn't on fire."

"Tell me what happened."

Poe crossed his arms. "You tell me first."

Rey pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're really difficult, you know that?"

"Yeah. I get that a lot." Poe pushed past her and started to head towards the command center.

Rey looked back to the ship and saw Finn coming down the gangplank with a cloth over his mouth and nose. Between her training and his missions, it had been several weeks since they had seen one another. She ran over to him and pulled him into a hug. "Finn! You're back!"

Finn was startled by Rey's sudden appearance but quickly reciprocated the hug. "Yeah. Barely." The two broke the hug.

"What's up with the bad mood?"

Finn balked. "Me?"

Rey cocked her head in Poe's direction. "Him."

"Oh!" Finn grinned. "Always."

"So what happened out there? Do we have a spy?"

"Well-"

A damp Chewbacca roared an answer to Rey's first question as he descended the gangplank towards towards an awaiting Rose.

Rey whipped her head towards Poe. "You Hyperion skipped?!"

Some distance away, Poe stopped and angled his head up in exasperation. He turned back to Rey. "Yeah, well, it got us back here, didn't it?"

"Poe, you could have shattered the crystal and killed everyone! The Falcon is on fire!"

"Hey, that wasn't from the skipping. That was from the volcano."

Rey glared. "What volcano?"

"The last skip dumped us a bit too close to the Gau Islets. Turns out going through Hyperius doesn't put out fires."

"And this is why you can't Hyperion skip!

"I have been awake for the last forty-eight hours, so forgive me if I'm not exactly making great decisions."

Finn shook his head and intervened. "All right, come on. We just got back. Can we focus on the reason why we were out there in the first place?"

"Let's," Poe said shortly, beckoning his comrades to follow.

"So what happened?" Rey asked.

"Bad news. That's what happened."

"So no spy?"

"No, spy."

"Do we have something or not?"

"There's a high ranking mole in the First Order," Finn clarified. "He or she slipped us something big."

Poe stopped and looked from Bibi-Eit to Rey. "You hit him with an iron rod?"

"It fell on him," Rey said flatly. "You set the ship on fire."

"Maybe you should have been out there with us!"

"You know I want to be out there with you!"

"But you're not! You're here training! And for what?"

Finn put himself between them and gave Poe a look that shut him up.

Poe sighed. "Sorry... You're the best fighter we have. We need you. Out there, not here." He sighed again and continued towards the command center without any further interruptions.

Rey looked at Finn with a hurt expression. He shrugged apologetically. "It's true. Jedi or not, the Resistance needs you. We need you."

Rey's face fell as she pursed her lips in thought. "...Let's just see what's in that document."

Just over an hour later, every Resistance member in Ajan Kloss assembled around the command center to hear Poe's emergency report. He stood on a tall crate with Leia on the ground next to him with a grave expression.

"We have deciphered the document from the First Order spy," Poe began somberly. "It confirms our worst fears. Somehow, Palpatine has indeed returned."

Horrified murmurs spread through the crowd.

Poe held up his hands to silence them. "I'm afraid it gets worse. He and Kylo Ren seem to be working together. To what end, we don't yet know."

"But how?" One fighter asked. "He died during the Battle of Endor."

"Dark magics." Snap Wexley shuddered. "I've heard stories."

"Wait," Rose said. "How can we trust this? What if it's some psychological tactic?"

Colonel Aftab Ackbar, son of the late Admiral Gial Ackbar, shook his fishy head. "The document corroborates intelligence we've received from other less direct sources. As impossible as it seems, we have to operate under the assumption that the Emperor is alive and in league with the First Order."

Poe nodded and looked back to the audience. "He's been planning his revenge for decades. A cult of his most devout followers have been building a fleet so vast that it could enforce the Emperor's will anywhere across the world. There would be nowhere for us to run. Nowhere for us to hide." He took a deep breath. "He calls it the Final Order. In thirty-six hours, the fleet will depart. Any nation that does not immediately submit to the Final Order will face total obliteration. Ones that have supported us won't even be given a choice."

More murmurs rippled through the crowd. Chewbacca moaned mournfully.

"The Emperor and his fleet are said to be hiding beyond the northern Edge of the world in a land called Exegol."

Rey gasped.

Artu-Deetu beeped and whistled.

"Oh, my," Threepio said, "Artu estimates that even without the distortions it causes it would take over twenty human lifetimes to search that much area. That is if it exists. Legends tell that the hidden land was one of the most sacred places for the Sith religion, but no evidence of such a land has ever been found."

Rey was already back in her alcove by the time Threepio finished talking. She reopened the text she had been reading and pored over the entry that spoke of Ixigul.

"After all this time," Poe said with a haunted tone, "Palatine's been out there pulling the strings."

Leia nodded. "Always watching from the shadows since the very beginning."

Maz Kanata pushed her way to the front of the crowd and turned around to address them. "If we want to stop him, we must find him. We must find Exegol."

Snap looked to the short woman with a frown. "How? Threepio just said that it would take lifetimes to find it. We only have thirty-six hours."

Rey's voice cut off anyone's answer as she jogged towards Leia. "General?"

All eyes turned to the Jedi.

"Can I speak with you?"

Rey led Leia to her alcove and lifted the Jedi text from her desk. "I know how to get to Exegol."

Leia clasped her hands together. "Tell me."

"Luke searched for it some time after taking on Ben as a student. He nearly found it. Or rather he nearly found the way to find it." Rey showed the entry she had read to her master. "The text is a bit cryptic, but to get there, it seems you need one of these. A Sith wayfinder."

Leia furrowed her brow as she read the entry.

"They're like compasses that lead the way to Exegol. To stop what we both know is coming, I need to finish what Luke started. I need to find Exegol. Find the Emperor."

Leia thought for a moment. "No."

Rey frowned. "No?"

"Rey, you said you felt as though the Emperor's broadcast was directed at you and Ben. You also said that it's difficult for you to focus because of the change you sense in him. If you seek out the Emperor, he will use that against you. It may even be part of his plan. You are the last hope of the Jedi. It's too dangerous for you to take this on."

"I can't just stay here and train anymore. I don't want to go without your blessing, but I will."

Worry crossed Leia's face.

"I will. It's what you would do."

Leia let out an amused huff. Rey was right. More than that, she reminded Leia of a similar conversation she had once had with her mother Breha.

Leia pulled out Rey's Lightblade and held it out with a smirk. "You'll be needing this then."

Just before dawn while Rey packed a haversack, she heard the curtain to her alcove draw aside.

"Rey?"

"Hello, Maz. What is it?"

Maz drew the curtain closed behind her. "I don't know what Leia's told you about her health, but I'm sure she's downplayed it. She's not going to get any better. Honestly, I'd be surprised if she makes it another year."

Rey stopped packing and looked to Maz with an expression of utter shock. "She never told me that."

Maz nodded. "That's her father's stubbornness for you."

"What's wrong with her?"

"Her heart. She's dedicated her entire adult life to fighting against evil. The pain and loss over that time is unlike anything a normal person could bear and it's taken its toll."

Rey sighed. "And being thrown into the sea wouldn't have helped things."

"No, it didn't. Rey, she may not admit it to anyone, but I know that she still believes her son can come back. Even now. Even after everything."

"I... I want to believe that too. But..."

Maz nodded. "I know. It's not easy to reconcile these things. To Leia, it's even more difficult. Be careful out there, Rey. I can feel a growing shadow in the Force."

"Thank you, Maz. I will."

If there was one word that could describe the Millennium Falcon, it would be "resilient." Despite the fires, the hull didn't seem to be in too bad a shape other than requiring new pine tar caulking, but that would have to wait. In the meantime, the bilge pump would need to work overtime to deal with the leaks.

Rey headed towards the floating harbor with her haversack slung over one shoulder. Poe sat on a crate at the docks, fidgeting with a bit of wood he had had whittled. When he saw Rey approaching, he stood up and brushed the stray shavings from his lap.

"Rey, I, uh... I had a talk with Finn." Poe's voice lacked any of his usual arrogant edge. "I still don't understand anything about the Jedi stuff, but I know it's important to you. I'm sorry for what I said."

"Thank you. You were right though. I've been so focused on it that I've been ignoring the bigger picture. It reminded me of why I started training in the first place."

"Then I guess you're welcome."

"So, did they fix the Falcon?"

Poe looked back at the ship and the newly patched sails. "At least enough to hold for a few days."

"I'm going to pick up the search for Exegol. I'm going to start where Luke's trail went cold. The Forbidden Desert of Pasaana."

"Yeah, I know." Poe patted Rey on her shoulder. "We're going with you." He started walking towards the Falcon. "Great work, Chewie."

"No, I need to go alone."

Finn walked past her and smiled. "Yeah. Alone with friends."

"It's too dangerous."

"That's why we're going together."

Chewbacca roared from the deck of the Millennium Falcon. Bibi-Eit chirped as he rolled up behind Rey.

"I wholeheartedly agree," Threepio said joining the group.

The sound of someone running towards them interrupted the sentiment.

"Rose," Finn said. "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," she replied with a smile. "The General suggested that I join you on this one." She looked to Rey. "If that's okay with you?"

Rey looked around at her friends and chuckled happily as tears threatened to form in her eyes. "Absolutely."

While everyone attended to last minute duties, Rey stared at the sea through the cave's mouth. Her entire life, she had felt so utterly alone, so desperate for a family and friends of her own. Finally having them was still such a foreign concept that it took a reminder like what had happened at the dock to make her realize everything she now had. As happy as she was though, she felt something indescribable was still missing.

"Everything okay?" Finn asked from the Falcon's deck. "You ready to go?"

Rey wiped her eye. "I'm just going to see Leia before I go. I won't be long."

In Leia's grotto, Threepio looked down at his nautical automaton counterpart. "In the event that I do not return, I want you to know that you have been a real friend, Artu. My best one, in fact."

Artu returned a similar sentiment.

"And General, it has been the greatest honor to serve you."

Leia smirked. "Thank you, Threepio. I'm sure you'll be fine, though."

Rey entered at the same time Threepio was exiting, with the latter telling the former that he'd be waiting for her on the Millennium Falcon. Leia looked at her student expectantly, but Rey struggled to form the words she wanted to say.

Finally, Rey sighed and shook her head. "Master, I..."

Leia smiled and gave a soft chuckle. "I know. Don't worry about me. We'll talk about it when you get back."

Rey nodded and hugged her teacher.

"Rey, never be afraid of who you are." When they separated, Leia gave Rey an almost motherly smile. "May the Force be with you."

"And you."

With the sun halfway above the horizon, the Millennium Falcon pulled out of Brightstone Cove. Rey sat at the helm, heart pounding with the gravity of what they needed to achieve by tomorrow's nightfall. As she tapped the destination into the navigation box, Chewbacca made an idle remark on how something about this trip felt different.

Rey's brow twitched. "It does." She waited until the box's amber crystal turned green and opened a Hyperion gate.