Rey did not return to Batuu. After the Resistance had heard of the atrocity of Kijimi's destruction, their main base had been moved to an old Rebellion base within the temple on Yavin Four. Rey did not fly there either. Instead, she'd flown to a place the Resistance had searched for, for years- Ahch-To. Rey was in turmoil; so terrified by what she had done, and by what Ben had told her; how could she return the Resistance and Leia now? The only thing she felt grateful for was that she could still feel his presence- Ben within the Force; she could still feel their connection. She hadn't killed him. It was of little consolation though, fear and guilt gripped her, questions, anger and fear had run ragged through her mind, and so she'd flown to this island.

She had left her X-wing in the only mildly flat area of the island there was. D-O was left in the droid compartment beeping a complaint at her that they were not where they should be. She ignored the little droid. She walked up those steep stones steps, steps she'd climbed so many times before. The wind howled turbulently, permeated with water from both the sky and sea, leaving a salty mist across her face. She felt cold, soaked through, but she didn't care. She sat dejectedly on the cliff where she'd first truly opened herself to the Force. The crack within the cliff where her awakening had occurred, now contained moss, wildflowers, and grass. She knelt and traced it with her finger. She wanted to think of nothing, but she had a million questions and no one to turn to. She'd hoped coming here she might find answers or some kind of peace or purpose, but like before there were no answers. Luke was gone, and before on this island, she'd had her growing bond with Ben. She couldn't return to the get friends in the Resistance now, she couldn't return to Leia. She looked down at her hands in dismay, at what she'd done, at the power that has flowed from her; now she knew the truth. Leia was training her, teaching her, guiding her, but Rey hadn't been able to bring herself to tell Leia the truth about her connection with Ben. How could she tell her about this? It was the truth; she knew it, could feel it. It explained everything- the abandonment by her parents, her awakening in the Force, her uncanny ability and strength. She'd been created. The idea of being created wasn't what bothered her. After she'd come to terms with the truth she'd known all along, that her parents had abandoned her, this revelation wasn't that terrible. It was who she'd been created by- Emperor Palpatine, Darth Sidious, the vilest Force user that had ever lived. A murderer, a villainous manipulator who corrupted all. She felt like she had on Takodana when she'd been drawn to Anakin's lightsaber and seen all those visions. Those visions, she realised now, had all involved Ben. The young boy, the monster with his Knights standing in the remnants of a battle in the pouring rain, the creature in the woods; it had all been Ben.

She wanted no part of any of this anymore; the Force, the Jedi, the First Order, the Skywalkers none of it. She took her saber from her belt and stared at it. This lightsaber was the cause of all that had happened to her, and right now she'd rather be in her AT-AT on Jakku scratching lines into the wall, waiting, scavenging anywhere but here and dealing with all these revelations. She threw the saber angrily out into the air. Into the sea or to hit the cliffs below, she didn't care which. She hung her head in her hands. She'd run away, run away from all of it. Leave the Resistance to whatever fate. At least if she ran away, Palpatine could not touch her, use her. She sat thinking of how she might leave this all behind, considering where she could run away to, perhaps she could stay here? It then occurred to Rey that she hadn't heard the lightsaber hit anything and she felt as though she were being watched. Her immediate thoughts regarding being potentially regarded involved D-0 having got out of the X-wing or the native Porgs, they were cute but undeniably stupid, she hoped it was neither. In her peripheral vision, she noticed something, something blue, glowing yet transparent, and she looked up.

The spectral blue form of her former master stood on the edge of the cliff holding his lightsaber, apparently having caught it mid-flight.

"Luke."

"You know, you should take more care of this thing. First, you shatter it, and now you're throwing it away. This is a Jedi's weapon, your life, an extension of yourself; you should take more care of it, you don't want to lose it." His face was grim yet a smirk touched the corner of his mouth and his eyes twinkled rather than conveying anger and disappointment.

He was joking with her, and despite everything, she smiled before she almost started to cry.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, the tone of the question was still full of that sarcastic humour but it was also scathing.

"Luke, I feel lost. What do I do?"

"About what?" his apparition sat next to her upon the cliff.

"About my lineage," she paused not wanting to say the truth aloud, "Pal-Palpatine created me."

"So?" Luke responded, almost nonchalantly.

"So? I was created by evil, by the dark side of the Force, to bring about the destruction of the galaxy."

"Rey, your presence in the light is mighty. You are a beacon shining clearly. He may have manipulated the Force to create you, but he doesn't define you. To be a Jedi, you must confront the dark and go beyond it. You've done it before wanting to know your parents, where you came from; you can do it again." Luke said, no longer joking, no longer unperturbed.

"Is the dark side stronger?" Rey asked.

"No. It's easier. Anger, fear, vengeance, a lack of patience all are easier to turn to and can lead to the dark side."

"Ben said he saw a vision that I'd turned."

"You've been to the dark before and pulled yourself back. You aren't afraid of it, and it feeds on fear. You chose the light. Palpatine will try to feed on your fear, your weaknesses that's how he manipulates you. With me, it was that Vader was my father, but my love for my family, my friends pulled me through. Palpatine will believe you'll join him because he created you because you've longed for belonging. Therein lies also his weakness, his lack of vision. He doesn't understand love, compassion, attachment, and it makes him weak, blind to those whose actions are driven by it."

Rey nodded, still unsure but feeling considerably improved as Luke continued.

"My father fell to the dark out of fear of losing my mother, in the end, his fear caused her death, but my steadfast compassion for him allowed him to turn back to the light. Love for me, for Leia, saved us all."

"What's Ben's weakness?"

"Me, my father, the legends of his heritage. The expectation of greatness. Fear of failure. I failed him, as Obi-wan believed he'd failed my father, but you were right, Rey. There is conflict in him, compassion. I should've faced him sooner."

"He wants to destroy Sidious, I know it."

"Then he'll need your help."

"Even together, how can we hope to succeed?"

"What you can do together, your connection has never been done by another. Unseen for generations. Together you are something else, something new and powerful; the two halves of the Force in living form."

Rey's face did not hide her misgivings.

"After we won the war, destroyed Palpatine, I spent time looking for all I could about the Jedi. The oldest and wisest of the Gatherers are the Shaman of the Aki Aki tribe on Pasaana. They can help you find answers."

Rey nodded, and Luke held out the lightsaber. His lightsaber, his father's lightsaber, and now hers.

"You are our last hope, you and Ben. His attachment and compassion for you are strong. Use it."

Rey paused temporarily, taking it was a commitment to stay on the path, to endure. The fate of the galaxy weighed heavy on her shoulders, but she planned to share that burden. She inhaled deeply and sighed out, taking her lightsaber resolute in her decision.

"Never be afraid of who you are Rey. It is the destiny of every Jedi to face their fears. Your destiny. The Force will be with you," Luke said as he rose and walked away into the cave, fading as he did so until he was gone.

Rey smiled and nodded to herself a peace and purpose within her, and focusing on Ben; she opened their bond.

-X-

Aboard the Finalizer Kylo sat holding his side in agony, a grimace of pain upon his face. His body was bruised and bloodied, and not just from his fall into the water, and the waves smashing his body against the Death Star's corpse. Letan Nex had been less than pleased in his failure to bring the girl. His punishment had been severe. His veins shimmered and burned under his skin, purple and blue a result of the Force lightning Rey and then Palpatine's spectre had used against him. Nex had not learnt the truth though of what Kylo had seen, of Kylo's determined course of action. To avoid further torture, Kylo had told Letan Nex of Rey's ability, her use of Force lightning in a moment of fear and anger. Nex had been intrigued.

"I just need your guidance, to bring her to you," Kylo had told Nex, and in Palpatine's hubris he had stopped Kylo's torture.

"The girl has compassion for you; she did not kill you when she had the chance, that will be her undoing- use it. A soul cannot be coerced into corruption; it must be seduced- seduce her, deceive her. She will come willingly to you, and you will bring her before me."

"As you wish, my master. I will not fail you again."

What have I done? He worried for the future and for Rey. Would his actions cause her to turn and become the creature in his vision? In attempting to fight the image he'd seen, had he caused it to become the truth? He lay on his bed painfully and tried to sleep, but his sleep was fitful and filled with nightmares.

"We've passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now, but this is your fight." Luke's voice whispers.

Luke stands above him, brandishing his saber and the hut collapses on them both.

Luke stands next to R2-D2 the sky around him burns shades of orange, yellow and red and behind him, a Jedi training temple burns.

Kylo feels his father's hand upon his face then watches as his father falls into the abyss below.

"Strike me down in anger, and I'll always be with you, like your father."

Piercing Luke's chest with his blade as he realises has been deceived.

Shrieks, whispers and screams and then the sound of a lightsaber igniting. A fiery red saber but behind that lightsaber is Rey, her hand twitches and the saber becomes a double-pronged staff.

Kylo woke with a start; his breathing laboured he turned on his bed placing his bare feet on the cold hard floor. He flinched in pain from moving too quickly and hung his head in his hands, a brief meditation to still his mind. As he calmed, he realised he couldn't hear the familiar mechanical hum of the ship, his room was silent, and he turned his head to see her standing across from him. He knew she hadn't turned he'd have felt it if she had, but her eyes were fearful and sad. Relief flooded through him, lessening the physical pain he felt.

"Bad dream?" she asked.

He raised himself from the bed, reaching for a shirt to cover his injured body from her sight.

"It's nothing."

"I'm sorry," her voice was thick with guilt.

"For what?" he responded curtly.

"Your pain," her eyes seemed to be welling with tears.

"This wasn't you. Besides physical pain is only ever fleeting."

He stepped towards her, he had so many questions, but one priority above all others was at the forefront of his mind, he had to ensure his vision didn't come true.

"I won't allow Sidious to rise, but his power is unlike anything I have ever known. He can reach inside my mind, control me physically. I can't protect you from him."

"I don't need your protection."

There she was the stubborn scavenger he knew. He was grateful her guilt had subsided; he didn't want her pity.

"This is my fight."

"No, it's our fight," she'd taken a step towards him, and he thought he could feel the moisture in the air around her, he could just make out the sounds of waves crashing and rain. As he breathed in the air between them, he could taste salt on his tongue. "You were right when you told me it was time to let old things die: the Sith, the Jedi. Balance will finally be restored. I will not let you face him alone."

"Rey," he started, wanting to try to persuade her to change her mind, but he knew before he'd spoken her name that it was pointless. She stepped towards him again. She now stood directly beneath him; her look was imploring, reminding him of the elevator aboard the Supremacy before he took her to Snoke.

"Let me help you. Let me stand at your side."

He recalled everything they'd said previously to each other as he considered her request and succumbed to what he knew was the truth.

"We are stronger together, more than the Jedi, and more than the Sith, but what of my vision? So much of it has already come true."

"I will not turn. I swear it. We will face this evil together, and we will defeat it."

The power of her conviction instilled in him a sense of hope.

"I hope you're right."

She smiled, "Me too."

"I know what we have to do," he turned from her and sat on his bed, and after a moment she joined him. "Palpatine wants me to use your weakness against you, your desire for belonging your compassion. His arrogance, his lack of attachment makes him blind. He was betrayed before by his most loyal and trusted servant. I intend to do the same, as I did with Snoke. He was able to read my mind but not my heart and my true intentions."

"How does he want to use my weakness?"

"He believes you have compassion for me because you didn't kill me when you had the chance. He said if I deceive you, make you trust me, you will join us willingly."

For a split second, Kylo saw panic flit across her face.

"Rey, I have never lied to you. I will deceive him, not you. A facade that will allow us to bring about his downfall."

She searched his face for a moment before responding.

"I know, I trust you."

She extended her hand to him, palm out as he once had to her. They had not touched since Ahch-To when they'd both seen a future they'd misinterpreted. He took a breath before placing his hand in hers, entwining their fingers. Immediately Kylo felt a surge within him, her light conquering his fears. Opposite him Rey inhaled, she felt it too. The pain in his limbs lessened. He looked at his arms where his tortured veins had been clearest, and they seemed to fade before him. They indeed were something else together, something new and powerful. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes meditating for a moment in the peace he felt, a transcendent moment of heightened perception. He felt her leave physically and mentally before he opened his eyes. Like part of himself had been torn out. The darkness that had been around him seemed to be kept at bay, and he returned to his bed to sleep, and for the first time in a long time, he slept peacefully; there were no nightmares, and there were no visions.

-X-

Rey had watched Ben meditating, and contemplating in the Force. His skill in this aspect was something she wished she was better at. Rey watched him as he drifted within the Force peacefully. He may be of the dark side, but she had to admire the state he could enter. Their connection broke as she watched him breathing shallowly in deep introspection. She decided to spend the night on Ahch-To, within one of the stone huts that had once been hers. The Lanai had rebuilt the shelter she'd considered her's stone for stone after Luke had destroyed it, having found herself and Ben touching hands across the stars. This was the Lanais duty as caretakers of this island. This time Rey would make sure to leave less destruction in her wake. Inside the makeshift wooden bunk had been replaced and Rey settled herself upon it, the weight of the last few days laying heavy on her, exhaustion setting in. In the morning she'd return to her friends and her family, the Resistance on their new base on Yavin Four.