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write-and-wander · 9 months

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Touch: Chapter 7

Pairing: Kylo Ren x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Swearing, angst, and a new version of the sequels

Word count: 7.6K

Author’s note: Everything comes down to this- the final chapter :)

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

Chapter 7: Journey's End

He’s searching for someone. Who? He’s not quite sure anymore. A Kenobi not yet brought to the dark side, now running loose, should be his enemy. Another target to hunt down before the resistance gains another leg up. A companion gifted to him by the force, however- someone who needs him just as much as he needs her- that’s something entirely different altogether. If he is meant to rule the galaxy with her by his side, then he now has no way of protecting her. What if they find her first? What if she strays from her purpose- from our purpose?

He knows that if you were to turn against him, you could very well be his downfall. What if I don’t have the strength to stop her?

He paces the room, his mind racing through multitudes of possibilities and their solutions. The tablet still sits open on the table, the red indicator for the missing ship’s tracker still lying to him. You are gone. And he has no way of finding you. Unless…

The force has brought us together before, he thinks, focusing on you; on the shift in the atmosphere- in the force itself- when you were present. He calls out to the force.

And it answers him.

As if rounding a corner, you walk in, your name immediately tumbling from his lips.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You’re walking- almost jogging- through the resistance base, discerning faces and scanning over heads in the search for Poe. Come on, come on, where is he? You pull a couple of different people aside, asking them if they’ve seen Dameron, only to be met with shrugs and wild guesses. You start to make your way out of the main rooms and begin to weave through hallways, praying to the force that you don’t get yourself lost in the maze of the bustling base. You come to a fork and stop for a moment before you feel the force pulling you to the left. Rounding the corner, you stop dead in your tracks at the sound of your name and the sight of your abandoned Commander.

“Where are you?” He asks right away, his voice gentle.

Why would the force do this now, of all times? “I need to go,” you say curtly. You try to move past him, but he steps over, blocking your way.

“You were so close,” he says low, his brown eyes boring into yours.

You pause and take a breath to speak, but you can’t seem to find anything to say.

“Please, come back to me,” he pleads, his voice breaking, “I feel so lost.”

You shake your head, taking a step back. He closes the gap, his face just inches from yours.

“Come home,” he whispers, bringing his arms up to your sides. He lowers his eyes to level with yours and moves to grab your shoulders.

Just before his hands touch you, the man right in front of your face snaps to Poe Dameron, whose hands are now holding your shoulders.

“Hey, you!” he greets with a smile.

You jump, breathing hard.

“Woah, woah, hey-” his voice drops as he immediately switches gears, “you okay, Kenobi?”

Relaxing into his grasp, you let his strong arms keep you steady as you collect yourself.

“Yeah, yeah-”

“Deep breaths,” he interjects.

You nod, swallowing hard. “I need you to come with me to Coruscant.”

“Just me?”

You nod again.

“Why?”

“I have something you need.” You watch excitement grow in his face as he nods, taking your hand.

“Well, then, what are we waiting for?”

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You land on Coruscant shortly before Poe does, as he had followed you closely on the trip over. You land further off than you normally would, attempting to divert attention to from your house.

When you walk in, you realize that this time, the house feels stale. There’s a noticeable layer of dust on the surface- this place hasn’t been so well kept. Did Vilya just… stop taking care of this place?

Poe lands even further yet, and waits a while to follow you into your home.

“So,” he starts, looking around at your home. “this yours, or?”

“Yeah,” you answer quick, focused on what you came for. You head straight into your parent’s bedroom and withdraw the wayfinder from its hiding spot for the last time.

Poe is looking around when you return. You hold it out towards him. His eyes widen.

“Here.”

“How the hell did you manage to get this from them?” He asks with a grin, taking it from your hands to inspect it.

“I didn’t.”

He freezes, looking up at you. “Then how do you have it?” Though his words form a question, his sudden shift to a cold tone frames it more like a statement.

“It’s a long story, Poe.”

“Oh, we’ve got time,” he retorts. He pockets the wayfinder.

Staring back at him, your expression shifts from nervous to hurt. Does he not trust me? I guess I didn’t think about how I would explain this to him. How do I even begin to explain everything?

“You’re lucky I trust you,” he adds, pulling up a chair to sit and motioning for you to follow suit, “or you wouldn’t still be standing. Now talk.”

You nod, sitting down in front of him. You know you can’t blame him for his reaction- any person with half a brain would respond in kind. You’ve never seen Poe this guarded before though- especially with you- and it’s unsettling, to say the least. Shaking off your discomfort, you collect yourself.

“Remember how my parents left me a few gifts after they disappeared?”

He nods.

“That was one of them. But it was different then. The light in there was green. It felt different when I carried it.”

“Different how?”

“It wasn’t anything... dark; just the opposite, actually- it was light. And it promised hope. And I used it to find Luke.”

“Skywalker?”

You nod. “Turns out, he changed it so my dad could find him down the line- but when my dad disappeared, he changed it so I could use it.”

“That’s a real convoluted way of leaving an emergency contact,” he quips, relieving some of the tension in the room.

“Wasn’t my idea,” you defend, putting your hands up.

“Fair point…” he affirms with a soft smile. “So why’d it change?”

“Well, Luke smashed it the second I showed it to him.”

Poe laughs, “right.”

You can’t tell if he was being sarcastic, but you’d rather not try to clarify. Instead, you continue. “But I wanted it back. It was still something my parents gave me, and I thought maybe it was worth a shot.”

“So, what, you built a new one?”

“No, no, I, uh…” You pause, realizing this is going to sound ridiculous. “I reached out to the force, and it… fixed it.”

Poe stares blankly.

Desperate to move things along so as to not waste anymore time, you give up on trying to explain it. “It would make more sense if I could show you.”

“Sure,” he says hesitantly, clearly not buying your story, but not in complete disbelief either.

“May I?” you ask softly, lifting your hand to his temple.

He shoots you a confused look, but when your expression remains completely serious, he finally nods.

You place your hand on the side of his head and call out to the force. Please. Let me show him. Show him what you showed me... Show him the wayfinder.

Your memories flash through the front of your mind- holding the wayfinder, hiding it, using it to find Luke, watching it shatter, reaching into the dark side to retrieve it, seeing Exegol, hiding it from Poe, hearing of it on the resistance base, and handing it to Poe. You drop your hand in your lap, watching Poe’s expression shift from confusion to resolution.

“I’ll be damned,” he murmurs. “You’re a special one, Kenobi.” He stands.

“So you’ll get it to Rey?”

“I will.”

“Do you think General Organa will be okay with it?”

“I think she’ll be relieved to know it’s almost over.”

You nod, taking a deep breath in relief. It’s almost over, you repeat to yourself.

“What’ll you do?”

You stand. “You’ll need time to get everyone ready and get over to Exegol, right?”

He nods.

“I’m gonna buy you some time.”

His face falls as he mutters your name in disbelief, his head tilting slightly to one side.

“I’ll make sure the Order isn’t on your backs. And if they are, like I said: I’ll buy you some time. I’m kind of a big deal over there,” you joke half-heartedly.

He shakes his head. “Are you sure?” he asks, concern saturating his tone. He knows better than to try to stop you- not because you couldn’t be convinced otherwise, but because he knows damn well he’d try to pull the same card if he were in your shoes. That was something the two of you undeniably had in common- the guts it takes to come up with big plans, and the iron will to try no matter how risky.

“I’m sure,” you answer with a deep breath, “it’s the least I can do.”

He nods, reaching out to shake your hand. You oblige, before he immediately pulls you into a proper hug. “Just come back to us, okay?” he whispers.

“Only if you promise to come back too.” You pull away just enough to look him in the eyes.

Poe lets out a breathy laugh. “You’ve got a deal.”

With one final squeeze, you both let go.

Poe heads straight to his ship and you watch him take off.

You’re about to jump into your own ship when you pause for a moment. Though you made a promise, you both knew it wasn’t one you were certain you could keep. You decide that, just in case you don’t make it back to your new home- to your family- you want to get one last look at the place you grew up in. Just a few minutes can’t hurt.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

He’s tearing through space in his TIE Whisper, combing through the galaxy using the force- though it isn’t helping as much as he had hoped. He feels like he’s holding his hands straight out in front of him, reaching into darkness, feeling around blind, hoping that eventually his fingers will graze your shoulder just long enough for him to understand how he can reach you. She’s close. I can feel it.

He glances at the navigator and sees a familiar planet marked on the map. He looks up, almost as if to confirm that this map isn’t lying to him too. Coruscant is right there. He thinks back to the tablet- to the tracker installed in his ship that you managed to remove. He’s hesitant. Would she really have come here? Where I could so easily find her? Is she leading me away from something else? He debates diverting his path, feeling stuck between going after his latest lead and going after you. If she is my way forward, he reasons, then I can have both.

Arriving at Coruscant, he sees a ship parked away from your home and lands next to it. It felt odd to be back at this place- it’s been a while since he last visited.

With your first trip home, he used the tracker in your ship to pinpoint where your house was. In between your visits home, he would stop by to search through your house, ensuring his own security. Unfortunately, on one such visit, he ran into a woman dressed as a stormtrooper stocking up some food in your cupboards, her face red and stained with tears. Even worse, he recognized her; she tried to replace him years ago. He knew it would only be a matter of time before she turned you away from him, used you against him, or managed to do both. He was quick to dispose of her.

He leaves his helmet in his ship and walks up to the doorway, in which the door was wide open. For a moment, he worries that this is a trap, but the thought vanishes the moment he sees you. You’re alone, humming to yourself as you stand in the center of the main area, looking around the space. Again, he speaks your name into the silence.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You jump at the sound of a familiar voice calling to you, whipping around to see Kylo standing in the door.

“I was worried I’d never find you again,” he professes breathily as he rushes towards you, raising his arms to embrace you.

You step back, uncertain of what to say.

He stops while his brows stitch together upward in a pained expression of confusion, arms slowly returning to his sides.

“I don’t need you anymore,” you assert, finally finding your words. “I found someone to restore my memory. I just wanna be home now.”

“But you promised…” he trails off.

Your heart breaks as you watch his face. He looks exhausted. Desperate. Lost. You think of the resistance and the friends counting on you as they prepare for their hardest fight yet. You think of what Luke had said to you when you first met: ‘You can guide him back.’

“I can’t do this without you,” he adds, his voice hovering just above a whisper.

Taking a deep breath, you nod. “Okay… But I won’t go back to the Finalizer-”

“You won’t have to,” he interjects, “I know where to go. Just come with me. Please.” He offers his hand to you.

You take it, your motions stuttering for a moment as a wave of déjà vu hits you- you’ve seen this before too. Maybe this is how the force reassures me that this is the right way, you wonder, by reminding me of those visions.

As your hands join, you both pause to take in the moment before moving on. Kylo leads you out of your house and onto his personal ship. He plugs in a new set of coordinates and takes off.

You’re both silent on the way over. Kylo is focused on piloting the ship, eager to get wherever it is you’re going as fast as possible. Meanwhile, you’re thinking about everything that suddenly seems to be happening at once, worried that you’re bound to let someone down. Before you can worry about it any longer, you seem to arrive at the destination as Kylo lands his ship.

He steps out and offers his hand to help you step down onto the slippery surface of the wreckage, surrounded by raging sea. The roaring waves seem to you like a physical manifestation of the dark chaos that surrounds this place. In your mental periphery, whispers tease as your thoughts. You brush them off, focusing on your footsteps. One step at a time. Keep moving forward.

Kylo guides you through the wreckage of the destroyed spacecraft, eventually making it to the room in which the wayfinder was kept. Your heart stops as you watch him pick up a pyramid made of stone and green glass. There’s another one? As he picks up the guiding device, admiring it, your heart continues to sink as you realize: not only is our deal over, but now the resistance is in danger.

He turns to you.

“Is that the wayfinder?” you ask, hoping he’ll buy into your clueless act. Think, you plead with yourself.

He nods.

“So… what did you need me for?”

“We can move forward now- together,” he begins, closing the gap between the two of you.

You pause for a moment, trying to think of something to say, desperate for a course of action. I can’t convince him to stop. But I can’t let him have that wayfinder. Suddenly, it dawns on you.

You hold your hand out in front of you. “Can I hold it?” you ask, softening your tone as best as you can.

“You won’t be able to use it. You don’t even understand-”

“I know, but… The Force gives me visions. Sometimes it shows me the past, sometimes it guides me towards the future.” You place a hand on his shoulder. “I want to understand,” you whisper.

He nods, gently placing the object in your hands.

You take a couple of steps back as you stare down at it. Visions of Exegol flood your mind again- but this time, darkness grows as lightning erupts from below the surface up into the sky above. Your eyes widen. No, focus, you reprimand yourself. You look up at Kylo. Without another word, you think of Luke and smile.

“What do you see?” He asks as his face begins to light up.

With as much strength as you can muster, you catapult the wayfinder through the massive broken window on your left.

Kylo’s gaze follows the object as it flies into the violent waves outside. In an instant, curious eyes flip to rage. He draws his saber.

Without a moment of hesitation, you draw both of your own sabers.

“First, I killed your father,” he growls, his volume rising as he walks around you in a circle, “then, I killed your friend-”

Vilya, you realize in horror, no!

“Don’t make me kill you too,” he yells, his threat echoing against the metallic walls surrounding you.

With a yell, you charge at him, lifting both sabers and bringing them down towards his head.

A clash rings out as his saber crashes into your own, blocking your attack. Kylo pushes up and to the right, forcing your blades off of his own and bringing them downward.

As he attempts to swipe at your legs, you jump and twist around to swing towards his arm.

He spins out of your blade’s path as you land and jumps off the mass of shrapnel behind him, pushing his blade straight down towards your shoulder.

You roll out of the way and jump up as Kylo swings at you again, meeting his blade with one of yours. You aim your other saber at his side, but he swings down to catch it with is.

With an angry yell he begins to swing wildly, moving towards you. You start to walk backwards to maintain distance, catching his blade with one of yours at the end of every swing.

Making your way out of the room, you manage to find an opening and graze his side as you spin your saber around his arm.

He retracts for just a moment- just long enough for you to turn and run.

He chases you outside of the decaying construct, catching the back of your thigh with the tip of his saber.

With a cry, you reflexively spin around with your blades pointed towards him. Your foot nearly slips on the soaked metal you stand on, but you manage to catch yourself and use it to slide over to dodge another attack.

Kylo continues to push you backward as he swings at you with increasing speed and ferocity, his anger guiding his every move. He lifts his saber over his head and forces it downward, meeting both of your sabers crossed over one another in a screaming clash.

You struggle to keep the red saber away as he pushes down, forcing you onto your knees.

“After everything I did for you,” he spats through gritted teeth, “you destroyed our future.”

Just as your arms are about to give out, the pressure suddenly lifts and Kylo stares out blankly.

He hears his mother’s voice calling out to him. ‘Ben,’ she whispers.

In an instant, you realize this is your only chance to get out alive. I promised. You spin back up to your feet and bring your blade down on Kylo’s thigh.

He feels that she’s fading, and a searing pain in his leg tears him away from her, and then she’s gone. He drops to his knees with a cry.

Before he can retaliate at all, you’re sprinting towards his ship. He stands to chase after you, but as he turns, he sees his father, Han Solo, standing in the way. Another wave crashes over him. The water comes down, and with it, Han Solo is gone.

And you are flying away.

I can still buy them time.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

When Kylo finally gets back to the Finalizer, you are the only thing on his mind. Finding you has never been more crucial to his life’s work.

However, the moment he arrives, he’s called to the throne room. His search will have to wait- just for a while. Soon.

Walking in, he kneels before Snoke, who briefly delivers the news.

Time suddenly moves differently as the words ring in his mind. ‘She’s been sent for execution. She is useless to us now- and only a distraction to you. A weakness to be eliminated.’

Unbridled fury blinds him and commands his body to move. Though his mind is far from him, his body is swift in its delivery of judgement. It all seems to move past him in a blur. She’s dead, he hears, over and over and over in his mind, screaming louder and louder. She’s dead. My future is gone before I could even reach her. She’s dead.

When his body finally stops, his chest heaving in labored breath, he looks around him to see bodies scattered across the floor. Snoke’s legs still sit in his throne, but his torso lies on the ground beside it. The blood of the praetorian guards riddles their already-red suits with dark crimson splotches.

He’s killed his way through everyone that attempted to confuse him- to turn him from his destiny- and yet he’s never felt so lost.

But before he has another moment to think, someone else reaches out to him.

‘Kylo Ren,’ a familiar voice called out in his mind, ‘You are losing your way- straying from the legacy of your grandfather. Join me. Allow me to guide you again.’

“Okay,” Kylo whispers to himself. He finally tears his eyes away from the slaughter he’s surrounded himself with and heads to his ship, on which a map through the Unknown Regions has been transmitted. Ignoring the unfolding chaos around him, he takes off from the Finalizer’s hangar, headed for Exegol.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

As the troopers drag you away for execution, adrenaline slows time down to a crawl. You think about everything that has seemed to go wrong since you made it to Chandrila, and how every decision- whether for better or worse- has brought you here. You think about your father, the man you never got to meet again who died just the same way you’re about to. It’s almost poetic. Almost.

You think about the people you care about. Vilya, who sacrificed her livelihood and her life for you. Poe, whose promise you’d be breaking. Kylo, who may never make it back to the light. Finn and Rey, who trained with you and welcomed you into the family you never had. Luke, who became like a father to you. Obi-Wan, the man who believed in you despite the odds, and would now have to be let down.

Be with me, Grandfather, you think as the troopers bring you to your knees, the laser ax humming near your ear.

‘Bring balance back to the force,’ his voice replied urgently, ‘balance, padawan.’

You hear the whispers of the dark side teasing your mind again, and this time, you take its hand. In one swift movement, you wrench from their grasp, turn around, and lift both troopers off the ground in a chokehold with the force. The moment they fall unconscious, you dash to the hangar, taking the lesser-known hallways and shortcuts you've grown acquainted with to get there as fast as you can undetected. When you arrive, you run to the closest ship and hop in, taking off the moment the ship starts running. Though some troopers notice your sudden departure via an unauthorized ship, their blasts are powerless against your escape.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Arriving back to the resistance base, you’re surrounded by chaos. Countless ships are beginning to take off, while many others are speeding around to gather their supplies and say just-in-case goodbyes and well wishes. Looking for any familiar face, you find Finn handing off gear to some pilots.

“Finn!” You call out over the noise of the crowd, weaving through the bodies to reach him.

His head perks up at his name, and upon your arrival, he greets you.

“Have the others left yet?”

“Rey is already there. I think Poe is on his way, but he’s still reaching out to our allies for help.”

You nod. “What about General Organa?” you ask, realizing the normally hands-on general is nowhere to be seen.

Finn's face falls. He glances to the pilots, who wear a similar expression, and they take the rest of the gear before promptly heading off to their respective ships.

“She’s gone,” he says finally.

Your heart sinks. I didn’t know…

“But we carry on,” he adds. “In her honor, and in the name of everyone we've lost along the way.” Finn puts his hands on your shoulders. “We could use your help.”

“I’m no pilot-”

“No,” he interjects, shaking his head, “Help Rey.”

“I don’t know if I can-”

“You have to try,” he pleads.

His look of desperation takes you back.

“Someone has to try,” he reiterates. “I’ve seen you train. You’re the only one of us who can keep up with her, and I’m worried she can’t do it alone.”

“Okay,” you nod, “I’ll try.”

He pulls you in for a hug, whispering a ‘thank you’ beside your ear.

“I’ll see you later then,” you suppose.

“See you there,” he confirms as he takes off towards the base.

You get back into the ship you had taken from the Finalizer to find that Finn sent you the map they had retrieved from the wayfinder. With a deep breath and a prayer to the force, you take off to Exegol.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Rey steps off of her ship and onto the ground of Exegol with Leia’s lightsaber in hand. Before her stands- no, floats- what must be an old Sith temple just above the planet’s surface. She looks up at the massive black structure as lightning strikes the ground nearby at random. She moves forward, eventually finding a platform that begins to lower her underground.

She watches the statues surrounding her grow in height as the platform falls lower and lower until it finally stops. She steps off and follows the guidance of the force as it leads her into the amphitheater that holds Darth Sidious, held by the Ommin Harness, and his throne. She slowly walks up to Sidious, who greets his granddaughter with an all-too ominous sense of anticipation.

With words he knows will sting, Sidious taunts her, insisting that her legacy is here. Though a comment on her parents and a threat to her friends tempts her for a moment to give in, the force pulls her back as she realizes: I’m not alone.

You’ve arrived- she can feel it. And you’re just in time.

She steps away, the hum of her drawn saber echoing in the massive room.

Sidious senses a shift and pulls back. At the same time, the Sovereign Protectors make their way out of the shadows.

Rey brings her blade up with a smile.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Kylo lands beside an old X-Wing fighter when he arrives to the stormy planet. The dark side is potent here, meaning that the light stands out all the more- and Rey is a crimson stain on a blanket of snow. He doesn’t need to see her to know that she’s already here. In his mind, though, it’s just one more person from a long line of people that must be eliminated.

“All these lives, just for control?” The voice of Han Solo beckons from behind, stopping Kylo in his tracks.

Kylo keeps his back to the ghost of his father. “They’re sacrifices for the greater good. Control can put an end to the suffering.”

“The suffering will never end, son. It’s life. And no matter how hard you try, you’ll always find more like me- people who want to really live.”

“I killed you!” Kylo bellows, fists clenching at his side. “What makes them any different?”

“Did you?” Han asks, taking steps towards his son.

Kylo stops. For once, he’s wordless.

“No matter how hard we try to run, we always end up back home. The sooner you accept that, the easier your life is gonna be, kid.”

“I have no home,” he laments, turning his head back just over his shoulder.

Then, Leia speaks: “Oh, that’s a terrible excuse.”

Finally, Kylo turns around to see his father and mother standing side by side, looking at him with nothing but compassion in their eyes.

“Pave a new path, Ben,” Leia beckons.

He takes a few long moments to think.

“There’s so many choices,” he finally whispers.

“It never matters how many options there are,” she reassures him, “you’ll know which one is right.”

“But even the right path seems so dark now.”

“The light will find you,” Leia encourages.

“It always does,” Han adds.

His parents fade, and he turns to stare out to the horizon. With a grunt, he throws his saber. As it arcs in the air, a bolt of lightning strikes down, running through the lightsaber and reaching the ground. The hilt cracks as it falls to the dead earth, the kyber crystal inside shattered into pieces.

No more.

“Ben?”

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

When you arrive to Exegol, you take comfort in the feeling of having been here before; it gives you more confidence in your ability to help Rey. Landing near the massive black box that seems to float on the planet’s surface, you notice two other ships are already there. You take your place in line with them and step out of your ship.

Your eyes are immediately drawn to the man you had been running from for so long now. He stands at a distance, his body half-facing you, and yet he seems to be staring off into nothing, taking no notice of your arrival. You watch as he throws his lightsaber into the horizon, a lightning bolt catching it as it flies.

You hesitantly walk towards him, but as you approach, you realize something is off. The man before you is not at all the man you had come to know, and at the same time, he has never seemed to be more himself. Suddenly, you’re reminded of one of the first times you had seen into his mind, all those months ago: the visions of his mother longing for him to come home- the sound of her calling his name. As you look to the man before you, only one name comes to mind; so, in a shaky voice, you call to him:

“Ben?”

He turns to you. The light. His mind takes a moment to process the sight in front of him. He runs to you. Before you can embrace, he stops just short. But what if she’s only a ghost, too; here to haunt me for my failure?

You sense his hesitation, his fear, and his aching heart. You take his hand in both of yours. “It’s me,” you affirm softly.

His shoulders relax as he lets out a shaky, thankful breath. She’s alive. Despite his moment of blissful victory, he is still left unsure of what to do or say next.

Something tells you he didn’t come here to help. Yet, you know now that he can. Together, you think.

“I have to do this,” you finally say, your voice carrying a greater confidence than you were used to.

“I know,” he says softly.

“And you do too.”

He nods. “Together.”

You remove your sabers from your belt and hold them out in front of you. Your eyes linger on the saber in your left hand- Anakin’s saber. The one Kylo unknowingly brought you to in Tatooine. The one Luke gifted to you and trained you with. The one that could bring balance to the force when carried with the other. Looking back up at Ben, you hand him his grandfather’s lightsaber.

You both draw your grandfathers’ blades as the Knights of Ren suddenly surround you. Clashing blades and strained yells and thuds of bodies ring out in a cacophony accompanied by the sound of thunder as you fight. As blades once turned against each other return back to weapons meant to work together, you both feel the spirits of Obi-Wan and Anakin guide your minds and your blades to act as one. Though fighting well, the Knights of Ren could not stop the power set in motion by the two of you.

It's as if the force is using you both to heal a wound neither caused.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Luke was first caught off guard by the smell of smoke, as if a giant bonfire had been started somewhere nearby. It wasn’t until he saw the source of the smoke that he began to panic.

Running towards the old tree, he’s horrified to see flames engulfing the trunk. As he begins to hopelessly attempt to put out the flames, he realizes Yoda has been standing there all along in his ghostly form.

“Help me!” Luke cries out in desperation.

“No need, there is. Start the fire, I did.”

Luke stops as Yoda’s words sink in. “You did what?”

“Time, it is. Pave a new path, we must. One of balance. Set in motion, you must,” Yoda explains.

“But we could still use those!”

“Create something new, you cannot, if, cling to the old, you will.”

Though a little reluctant to admit it, Luke sees the truth of Yoda’s words, even if he disagreed with the drastic actions taken to underline them. It was time to let go of the idea that there could only be one or the other- light or dark. He could still leave a legacy, but it could be a better one; it could be dedicated to accepting the balance already within the force.

“So how do we start?”

“Your nephew- needs you, he does. To Exegol, you must go. Made right, wrongs will be.”

Luke wonders if perhaps the force will make a way for him, so he could still help guide his nephew; perhaps he didn’t fail Ben completely. Maybe he could help his latest padawans, too. But there’s only one way to know.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

You and Ben manage to finish off the Knights of Ren and make it down to the throne room of the Sith Citadel by the time Rey defeats the last of the Sovereign Protectors.

As Rey steadies herself again, the three of you line up and ready your blades. For a moment, with the each of you giving it your all, it seems you just manage to counter every move Sidious can throw at you. We have a chance of winning this. However, after only a few moments of vicious back-and-forth attacks, Sidious forces the three of you backward.

Holding Rey and Ben back with the lightning that streaks from his hand, Sidious force chokes you, lifting you up and towards him. “Give into your pain,” he growls at you.

He then turns to Ben. “Your anger made you stronger,” he taunts. He throws you off to the side, your back slamming into the stone wall surrounding you.

Using the force, he holds you there, a few meters off the ground. “And you cannot save them all,” he cackles to Rey as the ceiling of the Citadel splits open.

Hanging above you are hundreds and hundreds of ships flying amidst a massive Sith fleet. Canon blasts riddle the sky as the ships all fire at each other. Suddenly, a gigantic bolt of lightning arcs up into the sky, splitting into hundreds of small branches, each attaching to a resistance ship.

As the lightning shoots upward, Sidious slams you to the ground.

You hear both Rey and Ben yell as you hit the ground with a thud and blackout.

When you come back to consciousness, you look up to see Luke standing a few yards away from Sidious. Casting out from his hands is a cluster of lightning, aimed directly for Luke.

Luke’s eyes are set on Sidious, his determination made clear in his expression. On the other side of the bolts of lightning are Luke’s hands, catching the lightning and pushing it backward.

Sidious laughs as Luke begins to slide backwards due to the force of the attack he’s holding back.

Blueish spheres of energy begin to build in front of Luke’s palms as he finally holds his ground and begins to take steps towards Sidious.

Sidious’ expression shifts to concern as Luke overtakes the power used against him and harnesses it.

With a shout, Luke pushes the energy he had channeled back to Sidious, and suddenly the lightning bolt branching out in the air above disappears as Sidious is forced backwards. Cracking and crashing sounds ring out as the harness holding Sidious up and keeping him alive breaks down, some pieces falling to the ground.

Luke flies backwards from the resulting explosion, landing hundreds of feet away from the fight.

Ben jumps up with his saber, set to fly down on Sidious and split him in half, but he’s stopped just inches before his blade can touch the Sith. His saber falls to the ground as he’s held in the air.

You finally manage to get to your feet and run to Luke, but before you can make it even halfway to him, you’re suddenly being dragged backwards towards Sidious.

In just a few moments, You and Ben have been forced to your knees side by side. You watch helplessly as beams of whispering, swirling light are drawn out for your chest and his. You feel the force cry out as you become increasingly weaker. Your body fights to get into overdrive as death draws near, but to no avail.

A sick laughter echoes in the chamber as Sidious watches his decomposing body come back to life, sapping the power of a dyad.

Suddenly, the pressure holding you and Ben up relieves and you both drop.

Rey stands between you, two sabers clutched in her hands.

Another arc of lightning crackles over your head, which Rey catches and pushes back with Obi-Wan’s saber.

“I,” Sidious bellows, his voice ringing out in the room and in your minds as you struggle to stay awake, “am all the Sith.”

Rey begins to push forward. As she passes you, you can hear the voices of countless people whispering. This time, the whispers aren’t dark, hissing threats. Instead, light seems to glow around her as the whispers make her stronger.

“And I,” she answers through gritted teeth, drawing Anakin’s saber and crossing the blade over Obi-Wan’s, “am all the Jedi.”

She reaches the steps of Sidious’ decayed throne and forces the lightning back onto him.

His flesh begins to rip and tear away from his bones. He cries out in agony as his power, his throne, and his life are finally ripped away from him for the last time until there is nothing left.

The moment he’s gone, you glance up at the skies to see the Sith ships explode as the resistance ships- now recovered and revitalized with hope- destroy everything that’s left.

You smile weakly, looking back to Ben to make note of the victory, but he’s no longer there.

He sits beside Rey, who lies limp on the ground.

You manage to crawl over to her.

“Do something,” he pleads to you.

I’m the healer. I should be able to do something. You look down and gingerly take Rey’s body from Ben’s hands. As you hold her, though, you sense that she is too far gone for any tincture or medicine.

“Give her to me,” Luke instructs softly as he kneels down next to you.

You look up at him hesitantly as you shift Rey from your lap into his.

“It’s time we bring an end to the Jedi, too,” he begins, looking between you and Ben as he holds Rey, one hand cradling her head while one rests on her stomach. “One extreme will always foster the growth of the other. Forge a new way.”

You nod, and though you don’t understand why, something churns in your stomach telling you that this is goodbye.

Ben nods, and it seems he understands more than you do. “Thank you,” he whispers, his eyes sparkling as they well up. A tear gently rolls down his cheek in silence.

With a soft smile, Luke closes his eyes and calls out to the force one last time. He takes a deep breath.

Rey’s breathing grows stronger as color comes back to her body. She looks over to you, then to Ben, then to Luke.

You smile at the sight of Rey sitting up, her strength renewed.

She turns to Luke to thank him, but before the words make it out, Luke disappears.

You blink a few times as you look down to see his robes left behind in his place.

Rey turns back to you both with a grin, sharing a knowing look.

Though he’s gone, you realize you can still sense his presence, and you finally understand.

Without wasting another moment, you pull Rey and Ben into an embrace. You all let out a breathy, almost incredulous laugh. We did it. We won.

You all help each other onto your feet and stand. Rey gathers the robes of her mentor and calls the stray sabers to her hands. You and Ben take your sabers back from Rey and look up to the skies.

Though the ships are no longer firing, and most are still, you can almost hear their cheers from down here. One by one, the resistance and their allies begin to take off, heading back to wherever they came from.

The three of you silently return to your ships. Rey gets into hers first.

“I’ll meet you there,” you promise.

She nods, thanking the both of you one last time, and takes off to return to the resistance base.

You watch her leave before looking back down at Ben, who can’t seem to take his eyes off of you.

He closes the gap between you and wraps his arms around you in a strong embrace.

You return the affection without a moment of hesitation.

While you’re holding each other, it feels as if something has finally finished; as if a chapter is closed- one that you both-and the force itself- were waiting for all along.

You let go just enough to see Ben’s face and, with as much courage as you have left, kiss him.

When you finally pull away from each other, you both wear a bright smile.

“I need to return to my friends,” you finally say.

“Go,” he encourages, walking backwards to his ship.

“Where will I find you?”

“I’ll be home.”

You laugh as you watch him take off. You know he means your home, in Coruscant- but, you do like the idea of sharing it with him.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Arriving back to the resistance base, you struggle to find a place to land among the scattered ships that were hastily parked and the masses of people celebrating the final victory. Eventually, you do find a place to comfortably park your ship.

Although you’re exhausted from the insane day you had just endured, you’re also antsy to see your friends again. You wander through the clusters of people, scanning for anyone you recognize. You realize trying to ask anyone for direction would be hopeless- not just because they would have no real answer, but also because they’re caught up in their own moments. Finally, your eyes land on Rey and Finn, locked in a tight embrace.

You jog over to them and see a weary looking Poe approaching the couple. You run straight to him, nearly toppling him over in a hug. He lets out an easy laugh.

“Thank you,” you whisper.

“For what?”

“For keeping your promise.”

“Only because you kept yours,” he answers, relief clear in his voice.

You lightly peck his cheek and pull away.

He gives you a wink before Finn barges in and hugs Poe, the two of them laughing. You turn to Rey and the two of you embrace again, your laughter joining the cacophony of jubilation that surrounds you all.

It’s over. You all won. And you can change the future for the better.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

After some retellings of the battles you each fought and making plans to meet up again to discuss the journey that now lies before you all, you decide it’s time to head back home. You start making your way back to your ship to see Luke leaning against it, grinning as he waves at you. Beside him is Obi-Wan, arms crossed, watching with a smile. The two of them, though appearing to you clear as day, seem to be somewhat translucent. You stop in your tracks.

“Thank you,” you whisper to them, “for everything.”

With a wink from one and a nod from the other, they fade away.

You get back to your ship and arrive at Coruscant to see Ben standing outside, leaning against the doorway of your home as he watches the sunset. When you reach him, he lifts and spins you in another hug, setting you back down with a kiss. There is so much to say, but for now, it will have to wait.

The two of you head inside to celebrate, rest, and dream about the future you will create together.

(Epilogue)

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