Chapter 1: A Terrible Sight

Poe Dameron and Finn raced into the imposing temple on Exogol, blasters trained and at the ready. Lightning flashed angrily in the skies above them, but neither man stopped for anything.

"Come on, come on! Faster!" Finn bellowed, unsure if Poe could even hear him. At last, the pair burst onto a rocky plain centered in some sort of arena. But when they got inside, a terrible sight met their eyes.

Rey was kneeling on the ground, cradling a pile of black clothes and weeping. She appeared broken, utterly distraught. Mad and wracked with grief.

"Rey!" Finn dashed forward. "How did you... but I... I felt you die! I felt it in the Force!" He paused, as finally, he got a good look at the pile of black clothes. "Wait a minute? Where's Kylo Ren?"

He moved forward only a fraction, but Rey sprang back as though he was training a blaster on her. She cuddled the bundle of clothes covetously. "DON'T TOUCH HIM!" she screamed.

Lowering his blaster, Poe appeared utterly baffled. "Touch who? There's no one..."

"Ohhhhhhh..." Rey wailed, the sound breaking up into heaving sobs as she wept bitterly. "Oh, my Ben... you traded your life to save mine..."

Finn and Poe looked at each other, befuddled and deeply concerned. Both men felt, but neither commented on, the goosebumps now chilling up their flesh.

"Any explanation at all?" Poe asked.

Finn shook his head. "None in the slightest." Turning back to his best friend, he approached her, more cautiously this time. "Rey... Rey, come here..." His voice was gentle and soothing as he gradually helped her to her feet. Upon regaining her footing, however, Rey almost immediately twisted away.

"Don't touch him," she warbled, her eyes wild and twinged with fear. Finn held up his hands in surrender.

"I won't touch him..." he played along.

"Please don't take him from me..."

"We aren't taking his clothes... er, him from you," Poe amended, eyeing Rey in a disturbed manner. "You can keep him with you. We promise."

Wordlessly, the three friends staggered out of the temple, Rey cradling the black garments as she would a baby. Behind her, Finn whispered to his commander, "Why's she so obsessed over a bundle of old rags?"

Poe thought he knew. Watching Rey's retreating back dragging in a funeral march to their ship, he noted sadly, "Because it's all she has left of him."

When she had said farewell to the boys, Poe had gifted her with both BB8 and D-O in a fit of galant concern. He didn't want her to be alone, and Rey seemed to appreciate the gesture. Aside from the droids, all that Rey carried with her was her lightsaber staff, the Skywalker twins' lightsabers, the bundle of Ben's clothing - cowl and all - and the clothes on her own back.

The Lars homestead wasn't difficult to find. There was a legendary mystique about the place and it clearly had not seen any foot traffic for years. Finding a slab of sandstone nearby, Rey erected it, then used the lightsabers to carve into it:

HERE LIES BEN SKYWALKER SOLO, BELOVED SON, NEPHEW. She paused, then taking a shaky breath, she added, AND HUSBAND. Then Rey silently buried the lightsabers of the Skywalker twins beneath the marked, but empty, grave.

"Excuse me, miss?" Rey turned to find a stranger, an old woman, looking at her. "No one's been out around these parts for years. What's your name?"

"My name?" Rey echoed. She glanced away, out to the horizon... and almost swore that she saw the shimmering spirits of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa. Turning back to the stranger, she answered. "I'm Rey."

"Rey who?"

A pause, and then she stated firmly. "Rey Skywalker." And in taking part of his name, Rey married Ben in her heart, as a last act of fidelity to her lost love.

The stranger smiled, then toddled away. Turning back to the grave, tears trickled down Rey's cheeks as she vowed in a whisper, "I will never love again." Holding back a sob, she pressed a tender kiss to the tombstone.