Abeloth would not stop laughing as she held her arms out, lightning still shooting out from her fingertips. Rey and Ben held their sabers tight, blocking the onslaught. Rey closed her eyes tight, she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold it back.
What would Leia do?
The answer came to her. She had to give. She had to give everything.
Rey remembered her training, and she reached into the Force. Steadied her mind. "Be with me," she whispered.
Her true power would always come from oneness.
"Be with me. Be with me."
The fight in front of her disappeared. Instead, Rey saw a perfect sky, vast with stars. Peaceful. Light-filled. It was like she was staring through a window to somewhere else, a place between places.
"Be with me."
Her body relaxed. She embraced peace and calm, the way Leia had taught her. Through the calm, came a voice.
(Obi-Wan Kenobi) "These are your final steps, Rey. Rise and take them."
Then others joined.
(Anakin Skywalker) "Rey."
(Ahsoka Tano) "Rey."
(Yoda) "Rey."
She didn't recognize them all, but somehow, she knew them the moment they made themselves known to her. They'd been with her all along; she just needed to learn how to hear them. Like Leia had promised.
More voices came at her fast but gentle, as though she lay at a confluence of the Force, possibilities, futures and pasts all stretching away from her, or maybe leading toward her. The cosmos, time, energy, being—nothing was the way she'd thought it was.
(Anakin Skywalker) "Bring back the balance, Rey."
(Luminara Unduli) "Find the light, Rey."
Presences filled her awareness, some recent, some ancient, some still anchored to the living in a strange way. Rey didn't understand. But she accepted.
(Yoda) "Alone, never have you been."
(Qui-Gon Jinn) "Every Jedi who ever lived, lives in you."
(Anakin Skywalker) "The Force surrounds you."
(Aayla Secura) "Let it guide you."
(Mace Windu) "Feel the Force flowing through you."
Abeloth had wanted Rey for herself. But she chose to be their conduit. Their vessel. She was a Jedi. Rey opened her eyes and took a step forward, pushing back against the lightning. Ben felt her renewed energy and did the same. Ben could hear the voices now, surrounding them, strengthening them.
(Qui-Gon Jinn) "We stand behind you."
(Shaak Ti) "Rise in the Force."
(Anakin Skywalker) "Let it lift you."
(Kanan Jarrus) "In the heart of a Jedi lies their strength!"
The voices were becoming louder, even more powerful.
(Obi-Wan Kenobi) "Rise."
(Qui-Gon Jinn) "Rise!"
(Leia Organa) "Don't be afraid."
Luke's voice became deep and insistent, rising above all the others. A well of power from which to draw.
(Luke Skywalker) "The Force will be with you. Always."
Rey and Ben pushed back again, full of strength freely given to her by those who had come before.
Abeloth gasped. The avalanche of light from her fingertips ceased.
Her eyes glowed with lingering power. "Let your death be the final word in the story of rebellion." Abeloth reached with her arms, sent Force lightning zagging toward them. This time it was much more scattered.
They whipped up their lightsabers to block it. The impact nearly knocked them from their feet, but they reached for the Force, and stood their ground. Both of them winced as stray lightning hit their arms.
The attack intensified. "You are nothing!" she yelled. "You are no match for the power in me. I am all the Sith!"
Rey's wrist felt like it was going to break. But it wouldn't. Not today. She felt more strength from Ben, more than ever before.
"And we," Rey said, before taking a deep breath. "Are all the Jedi."
In unison, Rey and Ben stepped forward, pushing back against his onslaught. Then again. Every step was anguish. It was taking everything the Jedi had given them, everything they had.
The lightning began to feed back on Abeloth. It ravaged her face, and she tossed back her head in agony, and in denial of what was happening. Rey pursued mercilessly, one foot in front of the other, absorbing power from the Force. She couldn't see Ben anymore, but she could feel him, at her side.
Finally, they were ready. Rey gathered her strength, her faith in the Jedi past, her love of her friends, and she thrust it all at Abeloth.
Abeloth staggered backward, her own power reflected against her. It devoured her completely, searing away the skin of her face, her very bones, until she disintegrated. And like collapsing stardust, what remained of her coalesced into a single point, which then exploded with a massive shock wave that threw Rey and Ben to the ground. The Sith throne shattered. The ceiling bouldered down around her, crushing thousands of disciples in the amphitheater.
—
The red jetpack troopers were not letting up. Jannah was doing a great job of keeping them off his back, but Finn couldn't help getting distracted. Focus, Finn. Rey or Rose would have had this thing rewired in half the time.
One more splice…there. "Okay, we're hot!" he yelled to Jannah. He jumped down from the cannon, yanking a handful of wires with him. He was almost sure he had the right ones.
He handed two of them to Jannah. He would aim; she would fire.
Finn touched his wires together, and the giant cannon barrel swiveled until it was pointed directly at the deck.
He looked up at Jannah one more time. This was it. They weren't coming back from this one. "Never another kid," he said.
"Not even one," she agreed.
And with that, she touched her wires together. They sparked, and a split second later the cannon fired a massive pulse blast. Finn and Jannah waited, breathed. Had it worked? Maybe Finn should have aimed for a different—
The hull came apart beneath them.
—
Hux wasted the few precious seconds he might have had to reach an escape pod in frozen disbelief. The floor of the bridge shuddered as though urging him to run. And he did, finally, only to discover that the corridor leading away from the bridge was buckled and impassable.
Admiral Griss met him at the door that led nowhere. They exchanged a panicked look as an officer rushed toward them. "Comms are down everywhere!" he said.
"There are attacks on Destroyers in all occupied systems," said another bridge officer. "Overwhelming numbers of small craft!"
This wasn't happening. It wasn't possible. The floor began to slant sideways. Several explosions drew Hux's gaze to the viewport. He dashed forward, as though getting a better look might present him with a solution.
The hull of the Steadfast was dangerously tipped, and the Resistance ships were everywhere. It seemed as though all was lost. For the first time, Hux considered that maybe the Sith would not restore the glory of the former Empire.
The bridge exploded. Hux fell.
—
Finn and Jannah clung to the hull together, ducking as flaming debris from the bridge tumbled past them. They couldn't hold on much longer. They'd lose their grip and missile to the planet's surface—if the Steadfast didn't come apart first.
He looked to Jannah. He was so glad they'd found each other. Two former stormtroopers, together and doing the right thing in the end. "You know what?" he yelled over the sounds of destruction.
A smile like the sun broke out on her face. "I'm not sorry, either!" she hollered.
The ship jolted. Pieces of the hull broke away, and suddenly they were sliding down the length of the Destroyer. How long could you slide down a ship this size before finding open air? A couple minutes, maybe.
As Finn slid, he held Jannah and breathed. He had no regrets. It had been worth it.
—
Someone tried to patch through to Poe from below, and he flipped his frequency to take the comm.
"Finn didn't board the lander," came Rose's voice.
"What?"
"They're still on the command ship!"
All his relief at getting the fleet back online ebbed away. He could not lose Finn. He would not. He peeled his X-wing away from the attack and dove for the Steadfast. The command ship was now pointed tip-downward, ready to spear the planet's surface.
His buddy had done that.
Scanners were near-useless in this atmosphere, so he could only do visual sweeps. There was a good chance the bridge explosion had taken Finn with it. But Poe wouldn't give up, not until he had to. He'd just lost the Tantive IV and everyone on it. He needed to save as many of his people as he could.
He buzzed by a comm tower, now thrusting parallel to the ground, and he almost missed the two figures huddling together on top of it.
"I see them!" he said. "I'll double back."
"You won't make it," Tyce warned.
"Trust me, I'm fast!" he insisted, already turning his fighter around.
"Not as fast as this ship," came Lando's voice. "Hold on, Chewie!"
The Falcon meteored toward the Star Destroyer, then angled to come up from below.
—
Finn almost lost his grip when he saw the Falcon's hull rise below him.
"Jannah!" he yelled, surging with hope.
"I know!"
They would have to time this just right. They'd have a few steps of running room along the side of the comm tower, and then nothing but air.
They gripped hands. Not just yet…Now! They took off running as Lando guided the hull closer. With all their might, they leapt…just as the Steadfast finally succumbed to gravity and dropped toward oblivion.
They landed hard on the Falcon's hull; Finn's ankle twisted. A hatch opened revealing Chewbacca, who waved at them to hurry. They sprinted across the top of the Falcon, Finn's ankle screaming with each step, and finally dropped into the hold.
"Chewie, you got them?" Lando hollered from the cockpit.
Chewie roared confirmation, and the Falcon sped away.
Finn collapsed against the wall. He couldn't believe they'd survived.
—
The Sith Eternal was no more.
Rey gazed at the tumbled wreckage of the cathedral around her. She couldn't feel her arms and legs. Vaguely, she heard the clink of her lightsaber hitting the ground—when had she let go of it?
She reached for the Force one last time…Some of her friends were surely still up there somewhere. She sensed…Finn! And…Jannah?
Giving absolutely everything was no big deal at all—compared to saving her friends.
She reached for Ben too, but her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the ground.
—
Ben slowly picked himself up off the ground. He paused for a moment to catch his breath. He saw Rey, collapsed on the floor, and the pain in his chest was suddenly so much worse than before.
She seemed at ease, almost as though she were sleeping.
He hardly knew what he was doing as he crouched beside her, wrapped his arms around her limp form, yanked her onto his lap. Rey's skin was growing cold. Her barren eyes stared up at him, and he imagined them accusing him. You did this. This is your fault.
No, Rey would never be that way. Those thoughts were the vestiges of Snoke's conditioning. Rey was good. Kind. No matter what had happened between them, what he'd done, she'd always showed him compassion. He cast his gaze around the ruined cathedral, as if answers might lie in the shadows. But there was nothing. Just aching emptiness and a sense of loss so sharp and terrible it was like a vise around his gut.
Ben pulled her against his chest and hugged her to himself for a moment. He'd just found her, really found her. He'd wasted his life, he knew that now. But anyone who could have shown him the way forward, helped him be Ben again, was gone. Luke. His parents. And now Rey.
He couldn't make himself believe it. Rey was the strongest person he'd ever known. She'd fought off the darkness in a way he never could. She'd saved everyone. She deserved better.
As he held her, he sensed something. The tiniest spark. And he realized: The Force hadn't taken her yet.
He knew exactly what Rey would do, in his place. It was the easiest decision he'd ever made.
He cradled her gently and placed his hand on her abdomen. He closed his eyes. Called on the Force. Ben didn't have much strength left, and he was about to do something he'd never done before. Fortunately, Rey had shown him how to give.
Ben poured energy into her. Her diaphragm rose with a breath, and her warm hand covered his. Her eyes lit up. Rey seemed surprised to see him. She sat up, but she didn't draw away.
They stared at each other a moment. He waited for her to understand what had just happened. It would be okay if she left him behind now. Got on with her life without a backward glance at him. It's what she should do.
Instead she smiled, and she whispered, "Ben!"
She was glad to see him. Glad to be with him in this moment. It was the greatest gift she could have given him. His heart was full as Rey reached for his face, let her fingers linger against his cheek. And then, wonder of wonders, she leaned forward and kissed him. A kiss of gratitude, acknowledgment of their connection, celebration that they'd found each other at last. He had given Rey back to the galaxy. It wouldn't atone for the darkness he'd wrought, but it was what he could do.
She drew back, concern on her face. "The Resistance."
Ben smiled and said, "Go."
The area around them suddenly felt...different. Ben vanished, they way he always did after one of their long distance Force connections.
He was still on Endor's moon!
—
Finn launched himself out of the turrent seat—no one was pursuing them anyway—climbed the ladder and sprinted for the cockpit.
"Where is Rey?" he asked, scanning the horizon from the viewport.
Chewie roared, saying he didn't know.
Debris was falling everywhere. Exegol was going to be a wasteland after this. Not that it had been paradise to begin with. But all those Star Destroyers were going to smolder for years.
There was no sign of Rey.
"There!" he yelled pointing to a battered T-65 X-wing. Then he hollered into his wristlink: "Look. Red Five is in the air. Rey's alive!"
"I see her," Poe acknowledged.
Finn didn't think the moment could get any better, but then a transmission beeped on the comms console. Chewie jabbered with excitement.
"People are rising up all over the galaxy, Poe," Finn informed him. "We did it!"
He heard the smile in the pilot's voice as he said, "We did it."