Chapter Text
The permanent fog of Malachor’s atmosphere settles around the ground troops once the transport lands on the rocky wasteland. Rey leads the pack, stalking quietly toward the entrance while the troops follow close behind, weapons at the ready. Every rock looks like a Stormtrooper here, and Rey’s paranoia starts to creep up on her. But she calls on the pelt to soothe her, and somewhere, star systems away, she can feel Kylo’s steady presence at the back of her mind, humming her song.
Behind her, Luke palms his lightsaber uneasily, ready to spring into action at any moment. She hears whispered voices and the beeping of a comlink as they descend into the caves, and Rey knows that their distraction is coming soon.
Be patient, she thinks, but Rey can’t help but bounce on her toes in nervous anticipation. She reaches out her tendrils through the Force, her mind wrapping around every corner and every winding corridor until she finds Snoke. His Force signature has dulled slightly, weakened, but there’s a dangerous edge to it that makes a spike of fear rise in Rey.
Suddenly, the ground under Rey’s feet lurches forward as the bombing of the base begins, and she bursts into action, making a mad dash for Snoke’s chambers. The blaring of the alarm sounds in Rey’s ears but Rey can hear nothing but the pounding of her own heart and the steadiness of Kylo’s voice supporting her. The chamber door is locked but Luke gathers up the Force between his palms and launches it toward the door, saber ignited at his side.
Rey whips her weapon out as well, scanning the room around her for signs of Snoke. The room is eerily silent, but it drips with his venomous presence, like a dagger waiting to strike in the night. A voice brushes the back of her mind, but it is a cry of pain, of anguish. Behind her eyes flashes her mother, bones twisted with a sickening crunch as Snoke stares down at them, an empty laugh falling from his lips.
I broke them, Rey, for hiding your power from me. It was slow, painful . A scream is torn from her father’s lips as Snoke throws her mother up against the wall, again and again until she’s barely breathing through all of the blood.
And I will break you, just the same . She screams until her voice is hoarse as she feels Snoke’s vice-like grip on her shoulder, sending shockwaves through her body. She rolls to the floor, lightsaber falling from her grasp, the light fading fast from her eyes. She can’t hear Kylo over the sound of her own agonizing cries, but she fights to hold on to the little life she has left. She reaches her hand out toward a green light blurred in her vision, as it comes closer and closer and-
The pain stops abruptly as Snoke’s hand falls to the floor and Luke runs to her side, throwing her from his reach.
“Run, Rey!” he tells her as Snoke regains his strength, coming toward Luke faster than she could have ever imagined. A dark energy hangs low on the room as Snoke lets out a low growl, and stretches his remaining hand out toward Luke. He locks a hand onto Luke’s skull, and suddenly it’s Luke’s screams that echo through the chamber. Luke’s eyes lock onto Rey’s as his eyes start to close, and he looks at her so meaningfully that she feels like she’s missed something.
You can do this, Rey. May the Force be with you , he says, so faintly she can barely hear it, but in an instant she feels all of the energy in the room gather toward Luke, and it a burst of light and sounds she feels his Force signature explode into a supernova of pure energy. It’s all Rey needs to find the strength to grab her lightsaber and center herself once again, and she feels Kylo throw all of his strength toward her as Luke’s presence is blotted from the galaxy. She takes her pelt and breathes in the power that it emanates and in one flying leap, she launches herself toward Snoke in one blue streak of light.
She’s sobbing when she drives her saber through his chest again and again, until there’s no more feeling in her arms or legs or anywhere. Her chest heaves as all sounds fall away, and for now it is just Rey, no more Snoke or Luke or even Kylo, but just Rey, alone, but alive and breathing.
She comes to her senses as the ground troops rush the room, bloodied and limping, but some still standing. They try to drag her away from the scene but Rey can’t tear herself away from the sight of Luke’s empty cloak, left in a pile on the bloodied floor.
You did it, Rey , Kylo breathes from halfway across the galaxy, but this doesn’t feel like a victory, not with Luke gone and the hollow feeling with which she’s left behind.
Finn rushes to her side and stands her up, helping her to limp back to the transport as Rey grabs Luke’s robes and clutches them tightly in her hands.
And as the transport lifts away from the smoking remains of Malachor, Rey feels like maybe in war, there’s no real victory after all.
Leia takes weeks to come to terms with the news, and she hardly emerges from her quarters until the funeral. She refuses to eat more than necessary, and skips most meetings while she sorts through the crippling grief of losing her brother, her twin, who was right there beside her when she was born.
Kylo provides her some solace with his quiet presence, but there’s a gap in her that he knows he can never fill, although he doesn’t want to stop trying. She’s tired, worn out from a life of continually losing and giving but never receiving, and there’s a hardness to her expression that can’t be rubbed away from her eyes.
They burn Luke’s cloak one month after the battle, once Leia is feeling well enough to leave her bed, and Rey is willing to even look at the cloak without feeling guilt wrack through her. They play Rey’s childhood song as the last ashes float through the air, the melancholic melody drifting over the treetops of D’Qar and out to the galaxy. It’s a goodbye song, for Luke, but for Leia and Kylo and Rey as well.
War has eaten away at Leia enough for her to recognize that she needs to stop before she destroys herself, but it’s still hard for her to let go of the reins. She’s so used to bearing the burden of the galaxy that it’s hard to find a new purpose, a new reason to press on.
Rey is aimless as she watches Kylo get better each day, turning her holocron in her hands over and over as she considers it. She wants no part of war, not after all that it’s taken from her, and from Kylo, and from Leia. She’s seen it tear people apart, and she wants no part of that. But she can’t sit still, not long enough to be content in one place, anyway.
She spent her childhood on Jakku, wasting her days away with silly tally marks etched into rusty walls, waiting for someone to return who would never come back. But she sees Kylo, and in his eyes she sees a new beginning, a chance to start from scratch with him, and she wants to go somewhere. Anywhere but another base on another war torn planet.
So when she tells him she wants to travel the galaxy, to find all the Force artifacts the galaxy has to offer and the greenest planets and the highest mountains and the vastest seas, Kylo encourages her without hesitation.
“I want to see the stars up close, without having to worry about life or death. I want to touch each and every one of them.” She kisses each mole on Kylo’s face like they are a constellation, and he hums his approval.
“Then we’ll do that. Together.” The moon wanes on D’Qar and Rey wraps the pelt around the two of them, it’s gentle energy winding and intertwining with their presence in the Force, and for the first time in a long time, she feels complete.