Chapter Fourteen – The Battle in the Sea

Note: There are a lot of similarities between this chapter and the scene in the movie, Rise of Skywalker. The reason for that is that I really liked this scene (or collection of scenes) in the Rise of Skywalker and I built a large part of my rewrite around getting something like that scene to make sense in an otherwise very different story.

While the battle in space raged, Rey and the droids had been making their way through debris on Endor, debris that was growing ever thicker on the ground as they approached the sea. As she approached the shoreline, she became more and more certain what she was looking for, what Ben was looking for, was still ahead of her, but getting closer. Her view of the surrounding area was obscured by the remains of the trees and the large pieces of debris that lay before her, until she got to the beach itself. Once there she could see a huge piece of the Death Star lying in the water. It stretched for what looked like miles, from the shoreline out to sea, where huge waves crashed over it.

"We really should have brought the ship with us. Does this look like the Death Star?" she asked.

R2-D2 chirped and whistled, and C-3PO said, "I agree R2, it does."

"This is where he will be heading probably. Let's see what's there," Rey said.

Mistress Rey, I regret to inform you that I don't think I will make it very far on that surface. Certainly not with waves crashing down on me. I also don't think the water will be good for R2's circuits," C-3PO said.

Rey nodded and said, "I will go on alone then. Just be ready to bring the ship here, OK R2?" R2 beeped and chirped.

"How do you know where to look my lady?" C-3PO asked.

"I don't. But trusting my feelings have gotten me this far, I think they will take me to the end," she said.

"What end is that?" C-3PO asked.

"Whatever it is I need to find," Rey said calmly. With that Rey set out, walking along the debris towards the largest section of the debris in the distance. She was a barely visible dot on the horizon when Kylo Ren's TIE Whisper dropped out of the clouds above the droids. As he walked out of it, Kylo saw, to his surprise, his family's droids on the beach in front of him.

"Master Solo," C-3PO said worriedly.

Kylo looked out over the water and could see Rey in the distance. He started out to follow her, but after several minutes it became clear she too had seen him and had turned back to face him.

By the time they had come together both were still far out to sea, the waves crashing all around them, requiring them to yell to make themselves heard. Rey said, "Ben, it's time to stop all this. It's time to give up. The war can end right here."

"Rey, we have to get away from here. Now!" Kylo yelled.

"No!" Rey shouted. "No more stalling. If I bring you in, I promise I won't let them kill you."

"Rey, he's here! Can't you feel him?" Kylo asked.

"Who's here? I can't feel…," Rey said before being overcome by a vision of the battle that had just occurred. She saw the Mon Calamari flagship being destroyed, her friends in restraints, and Chewie being tortured. She staggered backwards and yelled, "What did you do!? What did you do to my friends?"

"When I knew you had left the fleet, I ordered an attack," Kylo admitted. "I can fix this Rey! But we have to get out of here first!"

"The ship. They destroyed the flagship! Thousands of people! How do you fix that?" Rey screamed.

"I can't!" Kylo said, wincing. "I didn't know that. I didn't order that! Rey, if you can see that it's because he is showing it to you."

"Who?" she asked desperately.

"Palpatine!" Kylo answered.

"He's dead!" Rey shouted.

"He is all around us!" Kylo said. "Think! Remember! Remember how it felt when Snoke was in your mind."

"You're lying to me! You've been lying the whole time!" Rey yells as she ignited her lightsaber

Kylo reluctantly ignited his as well and said, "I don't want to hurt you Rey."

Rey advanced on Kylo, shaking her head. True to his word, Kylo adopted a defensive stance as she approached, his saber held two-handed in front of him. Rey picked up her pace and is running, her saber in one hand, by the time she reached Kylo. She jumped and spun as she came down, her blade hitting his with terrific force. She continued with similar quick, acrobatic attacks, while Kylo adopted a more conservative approach. He kept his feet set and both hands on the hilt of his saber, moving the blade as little as necessary to block and parry Rey's attacks. Both, in their way were attempting to disarm their opponent, Kylo looking to use leverage and his greater strength to do so, while Rey was counting on surprise and speed. They continued this way for several minutes, though over time Kylo was slowly maneuvering Rey towards the edge of the piece of the Death Star they had been walking and then fighting on. His goal was to hem her in to take away her advantages with regards to speed and agility. Rey, sensing this redoubled her efforts to disarm him, leading to their blades locking. Unfortunately for Rey this turned their battle into one of almost pure strength, which she would be unable to win. Kylo pushed her back several steps, causing Rey to trip over the uneven metal surface on which they were fighting. As she fell, she took one hand off her hilt and lightning erupted from it. Kylo was just able to get his blade up quickly enough to block the lightning before it hit him. Rey scooted backwards, shocked at what she had done.

"I don't understand…Ben, please…," she started to beg.

Kylo dropped his saber to his side in shock. He looked on her, the face whose memory he had lingered on during the past five years whenever he found time alone, and saw in it now only danger. Somewhere in her mind, he thought, was some trace of Palpatine. Just as Palpatine had taken Snoke, some bit of him was in Rey, Kylo reasoned. It was just as Luke said, the darkness was inside her. And just as Luke had done years before at the temple on Ossus, Kylo's mind went first to the one sure way to keep his enemy at bay, without of course appreciating the similarity between himself and his uncle. His face hardened as his grip on the hilt of his saber tightened and he said, barely loud enough to be heard over the waves, "I'm sorry Rey."

Rey, seeing the look of resolve on Kylo's face, hopped back up quickly and brought her blade up just in time to block the blow that was meant to cut her down. Kylo continued to bludgeon her mercilessly, not allowing her to recover her balance or poise. She in turn could do no more than backpedal, barely managing to block each powerful swing of Kylo's blade. Despite holding her lightsaber firmly with both hands it felt at times that in blocking him the saber was going to be ripped from her grasp. Eventually Rey was forced down to one knee, holding her saber above her head as Kylo, his face full of anguish, battered her again and again until finally her blade is knocked from hands, and she falls onto her side from the force of the impact. As Kylo raised his blade for the final strike, there was no way anyone but him could tell whether the water on his face was just from the waves that had pounded them as they fought, or whether they came from his red eyes. But just before his saber went down, he heard a man's voice, "Ben."

Kylo stopped, his blade held above him, and looked around for the source of the voice, despite knowing, at some level, where it was coming from. Rey, who had not heard the voice, sprang up and as she did so her lightsaber flew back to her hand. Her movement shook Kylo from his daze and he pulled back as she slashed at his midsection, but he was too late to prevent her blade from biting deep into his side. As Kylo fell to the floor she stood up and now their roles were reversed. As she looked down on the man who had, a second ago, been prepared to kill her, she lifted her saber into the air. But just as Kylo had been stopped, so too was she, not by a voice, but by a vision. She saw in her mind the city of Theed, on Naboo, a city she knew only from videos Leia had shared of her mother's planet. But those had been videos of a vital and vibrant city. What Rey saw was Theed under bombardment by First Order ships, people running in vain to try to escape the blasts. Then she saw a vision of Theed, ruined and empty, doubtless in the aftermath of that attack. Finally came a voice that sounded to Rey like Leia's, saying, "Come find me."

Rey looked down at Kylo laying helpless on the surface of the debris. She retracted her blade turned away from him. She ran to the shore where she found the droids and Kylo's ship. She looked to C-3PO and R2 and said, "I'm sorry." Then she ran up and into Kylo's TIE-Fighter.

Kylo, his breaths coming raggedly and in gulps, watched as Rey left with his ship. He watched as it disappeared into the clouds and closed his eyes, seeming to lose consciousness. Then he heard a voice, different from the one that had said his name before. This one was a familiar voice, one he had heard from the day he was born, until the day five years before when he had silenced it forever. When he opened his eyes, he saw he was still on the Death Star wreckage but the clouds were gone, and the sea was calm. And crouching at his feet was his father.

"Hey kid," Han said. Kylo tried but could not bring himself to answer.

"I've missed you son," Han said.

Kylo smiled slightly and then, after glancing down at his wound, begins to laugh darkly before looking back up at his father.

"Your son is dead," Kylo said.

Han chuckled himself and said, "No, Kylo Ren is dead. My son's just dying."

"So this is how I go? This is my great destiny? Pretending I am forgiven? You're nothing but a memory," Kylo said.

"Maybe, but then you'd be the one choosing to remember me," Han said with a wry grin. "It's time to go home son."

Kylo laughed hopelessly and said, "There's no home left…she's gone. I'm too late."

"Yeah, your mom's gone," Han said sadly. "But you can still go back to her."

Kylo fought against his tears and winced as he tried to sit up. When he turned to look at the shore, he couldn't see the droids. It was then that Kylo Ren gave up, not having the strength to hope.

"I can't…I…," Ben Solo said.

Han Solo put his hand on his son's face, just as he did before falling into the murky depths of Starkiller Base. "You can," he said.

Ben Solo looked at his father, this time not fighting the tears, as he said, "Dad I'm…,"

"I know," Han cuts him off.

Ben closed his eyes and when he opened them again, his father was gone, and the waves crashed over him once more. He rolled onto his bleeding belly and started his agonizing crawl, along the ruins, back to shore. He continued for what seemed to him an agonizing eternity before finally, almost to the shore, he blacked out. He was awoken again, who knows how long afterward, by a shock. He looked up to see R2-D2 above him, his small electric prod utility sticking out from his body. Ben could not help but laugh, despite the situation. When he did so R2 made a quick chirp. Ben, understanding what the droid meant grabbed onto the top of the droids legs and held on as R2, despite the waves, pulled him to shore.

C-3PO, standing on the shore, saw R2 pull Ben in and, seeing his wounds, said, "Oh Master Solo." Then, hearing the sound of engines, he looked up to see Rey's Nubian ship emerge over the debris on the beach, under R2's control. R2 makes his way towards the ship as it lands, but as he went one of Ben's hands fell from R2's leg. C-3PO quickly grabbed it and the two of them pulled Ben Solo aboard his grandmother's ship, though only R2 knew that was true. After getting Ben onboard C-3PO searched the cabin quickly before returning to where Ben was laying face down, and said, "I am sorry sir, I can't find any medical supplies on board."

Ben, speaking weakly, said, "R2, plug the following code into the communication system and take us to the location that pings back. 713D8H." When R2 chirped, Ben asked, "What?"

"I am sorry sir, it's just that I am not sure it would be proper for us to obey your commands. What if you are leading us to our doom? What if we are delivering you to the First Order? To the enemies of the Resistance?" C-3PO said.

"I am taking us to the First Order. I'm gonna die if I don't get help, and they're the only ones I know how to find that will fix me. I don't know what else to tell you. You have to make a decision."