-xoxoxo- The Empress of Death, 10 of 10 -oxoxox-
155 Core Reactor Ruins – Int. 155
Wreckage of molten machinery and blackened girders bend this prim garden of technology into a mangled metal thornbed. Only lit by the remaining warning lights and scattered flames.
Tucked between a gap in the wreckage, a charred, chipped Rey sits clutching the exposed bone of her leg. Through the unburnt half of her face, one can see an acceptance.
Crashing sounds echo in the distance —silence returns.
Rey is alone. She had two good years in her life. Memories of this time alleviate the looming dread.
Two blue specks race through the darkness!
FINN (distant) REY!
Her face picks up. She stays silent.
FINN (more distant) REY!
Rey is awash in many mixed ideas. She has already accepted what is to happen. Her guilt believes it would be selfish to damn him with her. And her pride stops an outcry of pitiable begging from flooding out.
FINN (less distant) REY!
With his voice this close, it awakens an instinct superseding her jumbled thoughts, and Rey finally shouts back:
REY FINN!
FINN Rey! Where are you?
REY I'm down here!
Rey flickers some flimsy lightning.
Finn lands hot, roughly stopping by his shins and palms. His face eager to see Rey's.
At first, Rey looks down. She is no longer beautiful. Not in body, mind, nor soul. She isn't a thing worth saving. But a need overtakes her. She looks up to see Finn, and all Finn sees is Rey. And it the only thing he ever wanted to see.
FINN You didn't make it back.
REY Finn… you shouldn't be here now.
FINN Rey. There is no place in the universe I would rather be.
Her remaining eye misty, and her lips tremble. That message is all she ever wanted to hear, just far too late.
REY Finn…
FINN Hold onto me. If you can't move, I'll carry you out.
REY Okay.
Her arms wrap around his broad shoulders, and he presses her body tightly into his. The jets flare, and they lift off.
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156 DS Gammalann Scaffolding – Int. 156
The death star's body is held together by kilometers of adipose girders stitched in beautiful symmetric waves of binding metal. Finn weaves through the endless layers with Rey in his arms.
FINN We cut through this scaffolding we can reach an emergency escape. There has to be something left at one of the hangars. Maybe a broken ship left behind. I'll identify the problem. You patch it. We meet up with the others—
REY Finn… traveling up will take hours.
FINN Then we don't have time to lose. Once you feel strong enough, you can boost us further, and we will make it—
REY Even I can see it, Finn. This station doesn't have half an hour. I know you can see it better than I can.
FINN …yeah, I can see it. You're right. But we have to try. Right through here.
Finn flies through a cut into an emergency elevator.
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157 Emergency Elevator – Int. 157
The station is collapsing. The escape elevator caved in ahead, support pillars fallen, no life remaining.
Finn pushes forward. Rey gives up.
REY Finn… just stop here.
Finn ignores Rey and keeps on. Flying into a thin crevasse the cave-in, he knocks a piece out with his Protonium Handgun. Flying out, he only sees another, thicker cave-in in the distance.
REY Finn. It's okay. Stop here.
FINN There has to be a way.
REY Finn, I don't want my last seconds spent running.
Finn wordlessly agrees and finds a platform. He sets Rey softly down.
REY Thank you, Finn. You can still go. Try to save yourself.
FINN You know I'm not doing that.
REY I don't even know why you're here! You gave me this choice. I knew the risks. Why didn't you leave?
FINN I thought there might be some way—no. No. I didn't want you to be alone when it happens.
REY I could have already been dead.
FINN You're tougher than that.
REY I'm not.
FINN You are.
REY …Did you take care of Cassariot?
FINN I did. The Princes of Dawn are no more. The remaining members will be broken up, without a leader, uncorrupted. Free to find their lives in a living universe.
REY It was my fault they became twisted —my failure. Finn, again, you don't need to share my punishment.
FINN It's not a punishment to me, Rey.
REY …why do you stay so kind to me? After… everything I did?
FINN From the day I awakened from that pod in Faldur a free man, and I saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful thing in the universe. And even after seeing the universe, millions of timelines, there's still nothing else like you.
REY Even now?
FINN Always.
REY …the two years we spent as Luke's padawan's were the best years of my life.
FINN …mine too.
Rey feels like a regular girl again. Free of judgment, and expectations, she begins to tear and tremble.
REY I'm sorry I ruined it all. I'm sorry I did everything. I'm so sorry for what I did, Finn.
Finn silently walks over and comforts the crying lady.
FINN I forgive you, Rey. It's okay.
REY It's not! I'm terrible, Finn!
FINN You're not. Shhhhhhh. Don't spend our last moments like this.
REY I don't— I can't—
FINN It's okay, Rey.
REY …do you remember when Poe came back with all the Empire behind him?
FINN Our first meeting on Faldur? When he had your cruiser.
REY Yeah! I guess I never got it back.
FINN Your hologandas and clothes were more important. But no money.
REY That was so stupid of me. I had a lot of credits there too.
FINN Everything worked out.
Rey laughs the absurdity of that.
REY I guess it did. I'm glad I met you, Finn.
Rey closes her eye and starts to lean her face into Finn, when suddenly, from the cave in ahead—
BOOM!
Finn protects Rey from the ultimately tiny bits of shrapnel (he misses a bunch, her automatic shield protects her). They both look out ahead, the flaming mess of scrap making a large hole —an engine flutes inside the channel.
They wait a split second, and out of the fire:
The Eagle Mark II!
Pure joy on Finn's face! Shocked disbelief on Rey.
FINN Yes! YES!
The Eagle MII gets closer, Poe and Kylo in the cockpit. Kylo points at a platform while holding Poe's head.
KYLO (hushed thoughts) There. Platform.
POE Got it got it, bleh! What a gross feeling. Shoulda left the torture chip in.
Finn turns on this lightsaber and waves to the ship.
POE Kylo, you stupid genius. Let's get 'em and get outta here!
The Eagle MII pulls up, Finn flies in with Rey.
FINN Poe, you did it!
POE Not yet! Get strapped we're gone!
Poe threads the hole and starts racing out. He can't hit the hyperspace yet.
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158 DS Gammalann Hangar – Int. 158
Cassariot's slicerail shuttle arrives in the hangar. No time left. The halved man drags his torso along the rumbling floor. The ship still there, the door is open, the light on inside.
Hope.
Force whips to toss his body over. Closer and closer. He can live on. He can make it out. Almost there, the DS Gammalann only needs to live a few more seconds.
He is at the door.
A boot steps in his way. A lightsaber ignites.
Cassariot silently curses. He looks up. Striking black suit. Flowing red hair. The woman all the galaxy knows.
CASSARIOT Datas Skywalker.
He sees her unnaturally youthful face. Her eyes wide yet unfocused. Looking beyond into the further beyond. Distant and out of place with all around her. Even now, she is unsure if this is a vision or real.
DATAS SKYWALKER Prince Cassariot arrives with little time left on the station.
CASSARIOT None for you either.
C3PO Good heavens! You said we were waiting for survivors!
DATAS SKYWALKER He is the survivor.
R2D2 *beeps(Here's his lifejacket)
R2D2 hands a Force-sensitive shock collar to Datas. Datas uses the Force to place it on Cassariot's neck.
DATAS SKYWALKER You come aboard now, Cassariot.
C3PO No! Master Datas, not only is this dangerous, but this is also harboring a high-profile fugitive! I firmly suggest we wish him luck on his merry way and leave ourselves!
DATAS SKYWALKER You help him to a seat 3PO.
C3PO Oh, why do I even bother! We can leave after he joins us, yes?
DATAS SKYWALKER We do.
C3PO gives up and helps the struggling Cassariot. R2D2 watches for a bit then rushes over to the pilot's chair with Datas. They start up the hyperdrive.
CASSARIOT Master Datas… what vile vision led you to this mistaken decision?
DATAS SKYWALKER All futures worth driving to are without a Cassariot. The pain he were to cause still shakes the branches. And only he can still the stirs made. Cassariot must be purged of all corners of this galaxy.
CASSARIOT …the woman so lost in her visions she sleepwalks through reality. You understand I am Cassariot, yes?
DATAS SKYWALKER For now.
CASSARIOT Will I regret living here today?
DATAS SKYWALKER Yes.
Datas sightlessly switches it, and they leave out the DS Gammalann's open hangar to miseries unknown.
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159 The Eagle MII – Int. 159
Inside, our heroes frantically scramble to escape. Finn sits in advanced mediation, Rey leans over the inside of the open engine room with a hologram of The Eagle's new blueprints, Poe in the pilot seat swerves through the collapsing tunnel. The near-dead Kylo rests motionless next to the laboring Poe.
FINN Seventy seconds. Top right.
POE Got it, got it!
Poe takes The Eagle MII top right as the bottom left explodes.
FINN Lower middle, sharp right, upward.
POE Going.
Poe follows the directions by his guide. They make it through this round.
FINN Fifty-five seconds.
POE I need more speed!
REY I know! I think I got it now! What do you need, Poe?
POE SPEED REY!
REY Uhh?
FINN Overload compressors, send the concentrated power to cords JN to XK, and bind the output frame. Top Left.
REY Alright, working on it!
POE Let's go, let's go WOOOF there WE GO!
The ship bucks forward as Rey reigns it faster. Poe enjoys the added control and power.
FINN Thirty-Five seconds. Lower middle, left, right, left, right, middle left.
POE No problem!
REY Accelerating hydrogen production, pumping lower thrusters.
POE Start-up hyperdrive too! Gonna be tight!
FINN Twenty-five.
Suddenly after Poe goes middle left, the tunnel opens into a clearing, outer space at the very distant end.
POE We're there!
REY Hyperdrive just needs a bit— bit more— close—
POE Get it, Rey, get it!
REY We're clear!
FINN Not yet, vertical, dead center. Ten seconds.
Poe turns The Eagle MII vertical and moves to the center on Finn's command. Two pieces of scaffolding collapse in tandem. The whole tunnel is breaking apart.
POE Now?
Finn rips himself from mediation.
FINN Punch it.
Poe pulls the hyperdrive, our crew blasts off, and behind them the conclusion to Finn's countdown:
The DS Gammalann explodes in a brilliant fury! TWO luminous rings.
The friends cheer for their success, basking in the survival. They laugh together. Even Poe and Rey smile while looking at each other. For this one moment, those six years so far apart are forgotten along with the death star.
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160 Terraformer Front Room (Our final scene... ) – Int. 160
We return to Finn's room on the Terraformer, still covered in tripping hazards. Finn is leaning against the large viewport, he gazes out at the shimmering stars thanking him.
The door opens as a healed Rey enters wearing normal robes along with her cousin Ephrath.
REY Wow, this ship certainly does have everything we could need. So much space!
EPHRATH Well, I'm just glad we don't have to skip our spa trips on our stay here… I'll leave you two alone.
Ephrath leaves a slightly blushing Rey with a knowing smirk. She struggles to regain composure, now alone with Finn.
FINN The SRR healing pods here as nice as the ones in the Imperial Houses?
Composure returned.
REY Oh, they're fine. How do you deal with the maintenance? SRRs always have problems overheating…
Finn turns fully around to face Rey.
FINN We have a great mechanic.
Rey smiles at that cocky remark and looks around at the organized mess Finn lives in.
REY I can see that. It's like you're living in my old place!
FINN Maybe that's what I was going for.
REY …Finn, so much has happened. Can we really just… go back to where we were before?
Rey gestures to the newly contextualized room around her.
FINN Maybe not. Going backward wasn't the point of all this. It was addressing the past. And now: moving on.
REY I think the Imperial Family aboard here is ready for that. You want us to leave this part of the galaxy.
FINN Smart. That's right. The Imperial Family has to be punished. To most, they will have been. Killed by the weapons they used on countless others.
REY Everyone wanted them dead.
FINN Dead and gone. So secretly alive, they will leave. Their punishment is they are no longer royalty. They will have to struggle as frontiersmen of the Unknown Regions.
REY It won't be easy.
FINN Rey, it's understated, but there is so much… talent! In the Imperial Family. And it was all wasted on war and oppression. It will take time, generations, but I know this group can do it. Their descendants will return to a healed galaxy with gifts to expand its borders! You and they all have a second chance. You can lead them to a better life.
REY Did you see that future?
FINN Not all of it. You'll all have to make it instead. If you're alive with them, I have no doubt.
Rey looks up. How to approach this subject?
REY … we'd do better now that you're alive too. With us.
FINN That's a possibility! I never saw this future. I can go anywhere now.
REY You already have your things here! You can stay.
FINN This would be the captain's room. It's yours.
REY …we can share it.
FINN There is only one bedroom.
REY I know.
It sets in for Finn.
FINN That's… ah… well… huh…
Rey laughs. He's more like the Finn she remembers now. Grinning like a girl again, she approaches her man flirtatiously.
REY So surprised! Finn, are you telling me that in millions within millions of futures, of every possibility, you never saw… this happening?
FINN Well… its… not… no… but… well…
She wraps her arms around his neck, pressing her body into his. So close now Finn can appreciate her renewed beauty. His staggered state spurs Rey on.
REY Finn, you're the greatest man I've ever known!
Rey lifts her hands to Finn's face and kisses him deeply. Finn is blown away by this new future. Accepting his new reality, Finn closes his eyes and returns into her.
Only for the door to open again.
Poe and a half-healed, half robotized Kylo enter. BB8 behind them.
POE WOAH! Keep that outta my room!
BB8 *catcalls
Profound disappointment on Finn breaking up the kiss. Rey giggles at his reaction, keeping her arms around him.
FINN Poe, uh… it's, uh…
Kylo is slightly disgusted by this. Poe cannot be happier… but he's busting Finn's balls right now.
POE This why you sold me a ship you had rigged to be stolen again? For some Jedi on Sith action?
FINN No! NO! It was… for the galaxy!
POE Rigggght. We believe him, right Kylo.
Kylo doesn't want to be here for this.
REY Aww. Really, Finn? You screwed over Poe for me?
FINN Well, um, it's, uh…
POE Boy, did he, Rey. Set me and everybody up like fools. For keeping this migraine maker alive, he sold me this entire terraformer, only to rig every helper droid to take off without me and collect your littered TRASH family. Even BB8 was in on it! Why hardhat?
BB8 *Beeps enthusiastically
FINN Well… I thought the deal would be off when you killed him.
The mood drops. Ironically, Kylo is more comfortable with this change in subject.
POE Ah. Yeah. I did think about that. No future you saw where I kept my promise?
Finn shrugs.
REY There's a lot he doesn't see.
POE (gesturing to the two) Clearly. I saw this whole thing on day one.
Finn and Rey laugh at that comment, desperate to recover the mood.
POE (cont.) Sorry, I hate to break up your plan here, but the ship is mine to do what I want with. And I got plans. Merchandising—
REY The Unknown Regions are highly dangerous. We could use a good pilot Poe.
POE Seducing me now. What a woman! But hey, that sounds fine. The Republic could either give me a medal for bravery or court-martial me for treason. I won't wait for that coin to land. 'sides. Someone less forgiving should keep an eye on these ones. We need to have a talk ourselves, Rey.
REY That's fair. Then… we all go together.
KYLO Not me.
Rey starts to leave Finn's side. Her eyes wide, feeling a strange sorrow start. Poe helped arranged what Kylo will announce.
REY Why?
KYLO The Imperial forces are in chaos. I've become the ranking leader. The last blood member of the Imperial Family. The last Force user with command authority. I'm going back to offer our official surrender.
POE We've already worked it out with Luke and General Pushawn. He will be tried and appointed as a prisoner-emperor. Once we have opened everything up, returned democracy, freedom, and the Republic, the people will choose a new leader.
REY And after?
POE Rey… he won't be coming back after.
Rey feels a piece of her fall. Her wayward, violent, scheming, loving cousin —gone. The one who got her into all this. She instinctively holds Finn's hand.
KYLO I always had hoped… I would be the one to destroy the Empire. To depose the Emperor and be the… the savior of the galaxy. I wanted everyone to say my name: Jon Jax-Skywalker. There was a time for that. Now, by my own fault, they will know me as Kylo Ren-Sidious.
FINN Then you'll always be Jon on this ship.
Kylo looks up.
FINN Return the Republic. Find fulfillment in the regretted role. And make up for lost time, "Jon."
Kylo finds he can say nothing to those kind words. Rey approaches Kylo, taking off her earring. She lays it in his hand.
REY No matter where you are or what happens: You have a family that loves you.
KYLO …goodbye, Rey.
REY Goodbye Jon.
Kylo exits.
FINN I'm sorry, Rey.
POE For what it's worth… I am too.
REY Thank you. I understand. But even after everything… I see him as family.
A soft quiet. The three (and BB8) look at each other.
POE Together again.
REY Let's keep it that way.
FINN Let's… but maybe Poe can leave for a little bit?
Rey laughs and looks away, blushing. Poe grinning ear to ear.
POE No, sir! This is the captain's room! None of that funny business!
REY Are you sure, Poe? I can think of some ladies back there you'd get along with.
POE Bleh, *gag* If Imp Ladies are the only things here, gotta find the Unknown Region babes immediately.
Poe starts approaching the command terminal for departure. Finn holds Rey close.
FINN I like "Imp Ladies."
REY You'd better!
The three long-departed continue their banter. Many moments like it will fill their time together on this journey. Their best years ahead. Their talk fades as the galaxy spins on. Ever forward, carrying us all with it.
Thank you for reading Sequel Trilogy Rescripted!
The End
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THANK YOU FOR READING!
And its over. It's not a popular hit, but I hope it had some high points for you. Sorry for the parts that didn't work.
Feel free to let me know what you think, my attachment to my writing is very low.
I don't own anything, take whatever you want.
Thank you for your time, and now,
Goodbye.
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