#he might be dating jacen syndulla because jacen syndulla's there too

[sheriffcobbvanth-blog]

sooooo I wrote a thing? This is how I would like ep. 9 to open. It was inspired by these posts:

http://reys--speeder.tumblr.com/post/172429098067

https://thelastjedicritical.tumblr.com/post/172428839557/partofthequeue2-kalinara#notes

39 ABY

Approximately three years after the destruction of Starkiller Base.

The chatter coming over Rey’s com system as it paged through Resistance frequencies was unbearable. It was too easy for her to pick out the voices of people who she loved on the lines – there was Leia, giving orders on the bridge. There was Luke (they had discovered him wandering around on Tatooine -- a desert planet in the Outer Rim that had reminded her far too much of Jakku –  sickly and exhausted a standard Galactic week after the destruction of the Supremacy) directing his students on the field. Then Poe and Jessika in quick succession, both of them leading air raids. Then there was Finn directing the infantry charge in conjunction with the Jedi.

It was… scary. The thought that at any second, one of those lines could turn to static. The idea that one of those bright pinpoints of light at the fringes of her conscious could be snuffed out forever. She reached up to the earpiece she wore and then tore it out, crushing it. She had a mission. She needed to focus. She needed to trust both the Force and the capabilities of her friends. They would be fine. They would survive.

After an initial defeat, the Resistance had hit back hard. Entire planets had risen up, throwing off the yoke of the First Order and fighting back, refusing to bow to the Empire again. The Resistance had driven what dregs of the First Order that remained to a desolate, rock-and-lava-covered planet in the Outer Rim. The planet – Mustafar – was unbearable. It was steeped in darkness. It was also the place that Darth Vader had settled during the Galactic Civil War. No wonder Kylo had decided to use the old sanctum. It was a fitting abode for a monster like him.

She found Kylo on an outlook, staring out at the carnage below. Rey knew that the battle wasn’t going well for the First Order – she didn’t even need to see the shrinking puddles of white armor in the distance as the Stormtroopers (what few Stormtroopers that remained after Finn had dispatched General Hux and led the majority of the troops in a mutiny that had devastated the First Order almost a year ago, in any case) were soundly defeated by Resistance forces to know that. She could feel it in the Force: the gradual shift towards the Light, as if clouds had parted. Kylo had to feel it too. He had to know it was over.

Her job was simple: cut off Ren’s escape route. Then make sure he never hurt anyone again. But she had to draw this out. She had to give Finn the chance to get here. She could feel him getting closer – he was inside the fortress, somewhere below.

She ignited her double-bladed lightsaber, built with half of the Crystal she had salvaged from the blade of Anakin Skywalker’s. Kylo turned around, igniting his own. “Here to save my soul?” He sneered.

Rey felt the rage in her chest explode. She lunged at him, her lightsaber clashing against his with a flash of sparks. “No,” she snarled. “I’m here to kill you.”

They fought ferociously – or at least Kylo did. Despite the anger in her heart, and the voices in her head urging her to just end this now, kill him where he stood, she held back. She didn’t want him dead quite yet. After all, she had made a promise.

Then she felt him. Finn. He was close.

Jumping clear of the arc of Kylo’s saber, she shut off her lightsaber. Kylo seemed to interpret that as a surrender. He laughed. “I should have figured. You give up. You’re a coward, Rey Nobody. Honestly, to think I once thought that you were my long-lost cousin…”

“She’s not Nobody, Ren. But you were right about one thing. She’s not the lost Skywalker heir.” The new voice cut through the room like a vibroblade, loud and clear. Kylo’s eyes went wide with recognition. Standing behind him, wearing a set of black combat fatigues, was Finn. He ignited a lightsaber, bathing his features in blue light. “I am.”

Rey smirked as Kylo’s arrogance turned to shock at seeing his nemesis claiming the Skywalker legacy while carrying a lightsaber that had been crafted from the Crystal of Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. She savored Kylo’s panicked confusion for a handful of heartbeats. Then she lifted her lightsaber, turning it on and spinning it around until the blue blades blended into a seamless circle. Kylo looked back and forth between his two opponents, finally coming to the realization that he was hopelessly out of his depth.

Finn and Rey didn’t even exchange a glance. They were so in tune with the Force and with each other that the direction hummed between them as if they had simultaneously spoken aloud.

Now.

They attacked, fighting the way only two people who had held each other’s hands while navigating pain and loss and heartbreak could. Kylo didn’t stand a chance – Finn easily disarmed him, and Rey smashed the hilt of her saber into his skull. She then spun the blade downward, driving it into his heart at the same time Finn’s saber sliced through Kylo’s side. Overkill? Perhaps. But the two of them had agreed to destroy the man who had taken so much from both of them together.

The former knight of Ren toppled off the rampart, falling into the sea of lava below. They held each other as they watched him fall. For a moment, it was completely silent except for their ragged breathing and frantic heartbeats. It’s over, Rey thought. It’s finally over. 

She smiled at Finn. “We did it,” she breathed. He smiled back.

But then there was another sound. Footsteps, slow and deliberate. Then… applause? Someone was clapping, loud and evenly.

Finn and Rey turned around. Behind them was a red twi’lek woman with black markings down her face and her lek. At her side was a pair of twin lightsaber hilts. Rey had the feeling that they would both burn an angry, controlled red if they were ignited. “I suppose I should thank you,” the woman said. “You saved me the trouble of doing that myself.”