Hi Readers:

Here is my attempt at creating a TROS Fix-it Fic. While the fic is focused on 10 years after the events of TROS, this prologue shows an alternate ending for Rey and Ben and is the real beginning of our story. As ever, please enjoy, rate, and review.

~Rae

P.S. Disclaimer: SW and all its characters belong to Lucasfilm/Disney, not me. Unfortunately.

Prologue: Rebirth

Rey struggled against the Emperor's will. The phantom senate gazed on with a cult fervor, devoted to the scene before them. The Emperor stopped and once more made his offer.

"Join me," Palpatine hissed. "Let me conform you to my power. Strike me down, so that my power will live in you...forever!"

Rey looked at the battlefield above her, the massacre of the Resistance in the atmosphere beyond her reach.

"You can end this war," he insisted. "The choice is yours...step into your power!"

Rey nodded, and the emperor assumed she would assent to his demands. But he was wrong; even in his cosmic power, he was blind to the dyadic bond. Rey raised the saber above her as if to strike, and the crowd roared in approval. Just when it looked like she would strike down the corpse-like Emperor, the Skywalker saber disappeared. Outside the throne room, the knight in black assumed its power and overtook the guards. In an instant, he was at Rey's side, ready to fight to the end.

"You failed, Kylo Ren!" Palpatine cackled. "You have lost the throne...it's too late."

The Emperor's words had no power against him. His attention was on Rey, waiting for her to lead.

"Take my hand," Rey said. Ben Solo did so. Together, they got in a defensive stance, lightsabers crossed in front of them, never letting go of each other's hand.

"No!" Palpatine thundered as the dyad united against him. Blue force lightning crackled from his fingertips and shot toward Rey and Ben. But it was impossible for him to reach them: a Force shield surrounded them. The Emperor raged as his lightning reflected off the shield of their bond. Rage became agony as the current surged back toward himself.

"Impossible!" Palpatine cried. "You can't destroy me!"

Rey and Ben stood, brilliantly white, transfigured. Their shield surrounded them, emanated from within themselves.

"You have destroyed yourself," they commanded, speaking in one voice together.

The Emperor forced a final, futile attack in their direction but it was useless. In a resplendent flash of light, Palpatine was incinerated. After decades of sinister scheming and manipulation, he was reduced to no more than mere ash and dust. What was left of him blew away in the cavern's cold, unforgiving wind. At last, the Emperor was deposed, and the legions phantom senators evaporated into the mist.

Rey and Ben fell to the ground in exhaustion. The Force bubble around them broke, but they held fast to each other. The dyad was united at last: two souls as one, two hearts pounding in synchrony.

"Ben," Rey said, her eyes brimming, her skin soaked with perspiration.

"Rey," he returned, pulling her closer as a smile broke out across his face.

They kissed for the first time, knowing that their bond had given them both a real home, a purpose, a destiny. When they finally broke apart, the skies above were filled with cries of victory. The First Order was destroyed, once and for all.

The voices of Jedi past echoed through the Force.

"Well done," Luke said. "The last of the Sith are gone."

"Brought balance to the Force, you have," Yoda continued.

"Restored our legacy," Anakin said.

"Our ever and only hope," Obi-Wan said.

The voices of all the Jedi surrounded them, giving them the strength to stand.

"Ben, my son...I knew you would come home," Leia said.

"Save the Jedi," the voices echoed. "Restore the Order. Establish peace in the galaxy. We will guide you on your way."

The atmosphere above cleared as the resistance fighters began their return journey to the jungle moon from whence they came. The fleet of imperial battleships sank deep into Exegol's fog, never to be resurrected. The resistance had emerged victorious. The war was over. Across the galaxy, worlds rejoiced at the news broke. There was a celebration in every star system as oppressed planets threw off the last of their imperial shackles.

As the dust settled, one lone X-wing rose above the rubble of the Sith planet.

"I knew you would come back," Rey said as the ship left the atmosphere. "I knew that you were strong enough."

"It was you. You brought me home," Ben said, without hesitation, as they left the dark planet behind. "I love you."

"I know," Rey replied. Ben grinned. For the first time in nearly a century, the Force was in balance. For the first time in their young lives. The scavenger and the last Skywalker knew happiness.

Together, Rey and Ben looked forward toward the stars, their course set for a desert planet in the Outer Rim. The future was theirs for the taking. Like binary stars, their bond was eternal.

###

The twin suns of Tatooine burned in the sunset sky.

"There's been no one in so long," the elderly widow said, surveying the intriguing couple in their white robes and brown cloaks.

"Who are you?" she inquired directly.

"We are…" Ben began. He glanced at Rey, who nodded supportively. Then, he proudly turned to the elderly woman and said:

"We are the Skywalkers."