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He had left Kylo Ren behind.
Ben Solo pushed on grimly, hand over hand, searching for handholds in the sheer vertical surface. The edge of the cliff was but a few feet away.
As he felt Rey gasp, his body went rigid, sensing the last of her soul flutter away.
No!
He clutched onto that last sliver of life with all he had in him. He would not let her go.
Ben finally had one hand on the ledge and crawled, half-dragged himself over. Near Palpatine’s makeshift throne lay Rey, tiny without the aura of courage and strength that had touched everyone she met. Remorse gnawed at him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself upright, trudging toward her, intent on only one thing.
Stay, damn you!
“You’re too late,” her soul whispered as it hovered scant inches over her body. Each word was faint but distinct. “You know this. You cannot heal a body without its life force."
Watch me. You’ll live to fix those floatation pontoons on the Millenium Falcon. You owe it to me after dragging me back to life.
"Goodbye, Ben."
Knees giving out, he reached for her, gathering her still warm, pliant body in his arms. His heart slowed, his vital organs shutting down one by one as Ben willed his very cells and midi-chlorians to give up their life source. He sucked the power to him, driving it deeper into Rey’s body.
His vision was threatening to grow dark when a familiar current of dark force energy surrounded him, struggling for control within. He closed his eyes, for once begging for help from the spirits of all Jedi who had come before him, to repel the Bogan’s attack. Rey would not become what she loathed.
Ben was fracturing under unbearable pressure even as he hunched more fiercely over Rey. Then his mind cleared, and he watched, unbelieving at first, as a tiny flicker of life pulsed in her, then another, and yet another.
There was one last act of atonement to do. Ben severed their Dyad connection, flinching in pain as the line of Force snapped back on him like a broken elastic. She was finally safe.
A halo of blue surrounded her body for a scant second. Then Rey’s eyes opened, blazing with life.
It was done.