STAR WARS: REVIVAL OF THE FORCE

CHAPTER 1 - DAWN

WARNING! SPOILERS! In this story, the timeline begins at the end of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. In this rendition, Kylo Ren does not collapse and die on Exogol after healing Rey. Instead, they must undergo something much harder than death told through Rey's point-of-view.

It started in a blaze of heat. There were flames and lasers flying in every direction as fire engulfed my view. Fire was consuming the surrounding structure the now lay in ruble at my feet and the ash mixed into the dirt that set a glow to the battle field. Smoke hung in the sky above and burned my worn eyes. It all didn't seem real. The clothes left on my body were tattered and barely clinging to my skin after I had been engulfed, branding the skin underneath with the blisters of victory. Destruction blanket the scene and conquest roared in my ears. Fire filled my vision with the future and lavished over his unstirring figure hovering around me. The edges were faded around the corners and my breathing was irregular. Uncertain.

From what I could still observe overhead, it was clear the battle taking place overhead was being won by those loyal to the Rebel Alliance flight. The eerie lightening assault had subsided with the expiration of the Sith Order, which had freed the starships and spacecrafts fighting against the Galactic Empire. Sparks rained down, covering everything in their path. The Rebel's were being backed up by those brave enough to stand against the dread Empire and take back the Galaxy. The sparks of combat mixed with the heat of the air that had me chocking. It was becoming more difficult to breath. To think.

The Rebel's stood a chance with Emperor Palpatine finally vanquished. Palpatine was gone. His bloodline would fade with him. I had killed him. I had vaporized the Palpatine name to whom I owed nothing. My past going up in smoke at the same time. He was gone just like Supreme Leader Snoke had been exterminated from this existence. An existence in which light triumphed over dark. An existence in which I had not done it alone. One in which I wasn't alone. My hands were limp and tingling as if I had lost the feeling in them. Come on, think.

The dark side's powers could no longer aid the Empire or its commanders. They were melting into the past around us. All their leaders and cowards would soon be eliminated as their Star Destroyers fell to the ground. Wait, no, that's not right. My mind is still out of focus. Think. No, one of their leaders is here right next to me. Breath. I can feel his hot breath caressing my face. Or was I distorting things again. No. We had killed Palpatine. We had killed him together. He wasn't the Supreme Leader of the First Order anymore because Kylo Ren had vaporized along with Palpatine.

This was Ben.

The man before me was the man I had been waiting to meet. This was the destined son of Han Solo and Leia Organa. He was sitting right here. I could feel his arms wrapped around me and again I'm reminded of the heat. Sweat dripped down my neck. Breath. Huh, how did his arm get around me. The touch was burning into me so vividly. Focus. Yes, I was in the arms of Ben Solo. Focus. No, wait, am I misguided again? This is Ben Skywalker holding me glare of all the fire light. This notion somehow made me feel clearer.

I straightened up slightly and realized my vision had been blurred but now it was coming back. Enough focus for me to recognized, whoever he was, he was staring at me only inches away. He wasn't saying anything but instead his eyes were searching my face for clues in the aftermath of what we had done. Or were they looking for what we might do next? I was unsure. Was it both? His eyes were darting back and forth as his hand rested on my chest, rising and falling in rhythm with my breathing. Listening to the chaos battling above.

My focus became sharper and I realized both my arms were wrapped around him too. How had I gotten here? Was I always here? Always next to him. Yet he was the one who had extended his hand to me. Pause. Think. Take a breath. Looking up into his face, I began to frantically search his face for answers too. The force could be felt whirling through the air, building up a presence, bringing everything to a boiling point.

I have to say something, anything, if only to help find my center again. Speak. But what do I say? What is there to say after the gravity of our actions began weighing heavily upon our shoulders. My body was aching and throbbing from the weight of it all. Colliding with reality. How do I begin to understand what we have both done? Or worse, what we will do next? Does he have these same answers he wants to know too. Focus. Just who are we? Breath. The force was pulling. It's too much. Speak!

"Ben?"

It fell out from between my lips like a sigh. A sigh of relief. This was the only question that mattered. There were no more words. His expression said it all. He was showing me Ben's face. A face that no longer held pain hidden behind a scar. I had healed the scar I gave him back in the ruins of his grandfather's Death Star. That where the Skywalker's dark side started to fade. I hoped Han had felt it there too. I had lashed out in fear...and anger to create his scar but been able to heal that same pain with the force between us. I could see passed the fear emulated by the dark side. It was overshadowed by a gentleness to his features that had not been there before. This is the man I had been waiting to meet. This was Ban. He was always there underneath and this confirmation set the last of my nerves a blaze.

Without thought, I lifted my hand to touch his face. His eyes locked with mine. I had to be sure he wasn't a hologram or a ghost that would slip through my fingers. He did not finch at the contact and he began to flush. It was warm to the touch. I hadn't realized I had been yarning this much to meet Ben. I had challenged him to come forth and resist the dark side but there was more to it than that. He was always alluring and pulling me in deeper.

The flow of force pulled us again but this time without obstacles. There was no more Kylo Ren. I simply acted as my impulses gave way to something new. What were we doing? My hand recoiled back then hesitated freezing in the space between us. I had been fighting against my impulse to be close to him for so long but now it seemed impossible. Breath. The fighting was over. It was crumbing all around us.

I kissed him.

I drew myself close and closed my eyes. Ben's arms wrapped around to my back and my hands locked around his face. My lips searched his as he found his way around my fevered kisses. We breathed in each other as movement filled our bodies. I could feel our teeth graze each other as the kisses deepened. There was no more space between us as we pressed our chests together. We were colliding. I could feel my nail pressing into his skin, which elicited a smile from him that I could feel against my lips. Wait, is he smiling? I pulled back slightly to get a glimpse of his face. Ben was smiling. It wasn't full but lightly played out across his lips. Warmth rushed through me and caused me to crash my mouth back onto his harder. I wanted to feel that smile more. I wanted to feel its warmth inside me.

My mind was pulsing from the day's ordeals and weighed down by the exertion of force, but my skin was on fire everywhere he brushed up against me. Mind and body conflicted over the raw emotion pouring out of every extremity. He was everywhere and his body was consuming. Since we met, he had consumed me as hard as I fought not to be dragged in. We had communicated every which way. We had used words and signals but spoke louder through fighting and blood shed as well as grown closer while training to use the force to share stolen moments across the Galaxy. He could see the rain and feel the wetness when it poured down on me. I could see him when he was vulnerable and least expecting it in his chambers alone like I was alone in my hut. We even healed each other's battle wounds. The wounds we caused each other. We had hurt. We had longed. We had been connected. Our thoughts had already flowed but this was the last form of expression left to us and this method didn't require us to be anything other than human. Everything was changing and I dared not to open my eyes yet. I wanted to give way to everything after fighting for so long.

Knowing each others minds seemed to make it easier to find a rhythm to our bodies as they fell on each other. Our movements were fluid and driving me closer away. Away from what? What was next? I wasn't sure what how but my legs wrapped around his wide waist to hold our position. A position that grounded me further baring and kept my head higher than his allowing me to attack his lips from the above. I could hardly hear the crashes in the background as the blood rushing in my ears drowned out all other nosies. Breath. All I could hear was our breathing as his arms tightened around my neck. He used this vantage point to press me further down on him.

Eagerly, I wove my hand into his long hair to keep his head angled towards mine. I wanted him inside me. My lips parted to grant him passage into my mouth. To steady myself, my other hand clutched his cheat. I could feel him pressing from underneath me. Focus. My hands began to roam further on his chest looking for more support. We were damp with our sweat and I could feel his muscle through his thin shirt. Our lips melded into passion that held us until we had to separate to pant for breath. Breath. My eye had opened at the separation so I could peer into his face again.

The intensity I had held onto since he first extended his hand poured out. Back then, I had wanted so desperately to take his hand. This time, Ben was within my grasp. I closed my eyes again and tightened my fingers to grab another hand full of his hair in order to push his face up into mine. I wanted to feel him extended into me again. Without knowing why, I rocked forward colliding into him with my hips. At this movement, our lips slid to release an audible noise from him. What was that? Awakened, I rocked down again but this time he met me half way. It threw me off balance.

Then, everything changed again. All of a sudden, I was flipped to the ground in a rush. I landed with a airy thud immediately followed by the weight of his body. In the same moment, his knee fell between my legs and he placed his hand on my waist to steady us in our new position. In this upheaval, Ben's lips had found my neck and his teeth were scraping the skin left visible. Burning my throat. My hands had not left his hair but were gripping harder.

However, my eyes snapped opened at the unbalance that smacked by back as the ash scattered up around me. Now I could see above us and the sky was still on fire. It was burning with ships and debris, which were falling...what was that? Wait. Breath. I tried to squeeze my eyes shut but all I saw were flames behind my eye lids. I could feel the heat. Focus. What had we done? And who had won? Breath again. What were we doing? His touch burned. There was heat all around. Everything was on fire.

"Rey?" My name cut through the haze.

I slowly opened my eyes as I heard Ben say my name again. He was still resting against me but all that was left was the battle field surrounding us. Everything was on fire but us. Suddenly, I felt a cold wave wash over my body and my face felt wet.

"Rey." It wasn't a question this time.

Ben gently, hesitantly leaned his forehead down on mine as his body went limp above me. Our sweat began to mix with my tears, stinging my face. It felt like everything was unraveling. Focus. I had been holding something else back and now it was pouring down my face in big, watery tears. I slowly closed my eyes under the weight of it. With my eyes closed, we slowed our breathing together. Chest to chest, our bodies were finding another rhythm. It was a slower rhythm. Were his eyes open? Was he still searching? Or was everything clearing up for him too? On queue, or maybe he was still reading my mind, his hand gradually ran up my arm to grip my shoulder while the other still rested on the back on my neck to hold me down as if I were about to escape or disappear from under him. There we lay locked together. It felt like an eternity laying there listening to the fighting diminish. All I could feel was his heartbeat as I forced my eyes to stay shut.

Then all at once, eternity was over.

Loud thuds could be heard in the background as rushing air passed through us. Yet neither of us moved. The Galaxy was closing in on us. The force surged as I noticed there were lights and shouts approaching. Breath. As the lights became brighter, we could both feel it. Ben spoke for us. He leaned in to brush his lips on my ear and say repeat, "Rey?" The question rolled between us but it had to be expressed. He felt it before it escaped my lips, "Let go." There was a pause before he raised his head to hover above me with an unmistakable expression. He was beaming with relief. At what, I was not completely confident. As I contemplated, he rolled over onto the ground next to me with an audible exhale but kept our hand still loosely intertwined. I tried to look over but between the wind and his long hair, his face was now obscured.

Suddenly, they were upon us with lights and weapons, bringing back the noise of the universe that had kept fighting around us. The fight was not over for all. What we had done was not the end of the fighting. It was not over. Yes, we had destroyed Palpatine and his devoted following but what else could the others know. Kylo Ren had also been killed in this battle and they had to know. But how? There wouldn't be much time. I had to act fast. I had to tell them and I had to hurry! I looked over to see Ben slowly starting to stand. But still I knew, he wasn't in his armor or mask nor was this the Empire's Kylo Ren but how would anyone else know the difference on appearance. I quickly got to my feet and throw out my hands to signal.

Still hidden in the smoke, Ben hurriedly lunged forward crashing into me and gripping my shoulders. He whispered, "Let's go together." right before everything went black.