Darkness Within

Epilogue

Rey stands to the side watching as Kira wraps the silver saber hilt in a cream-colored cloth from inside the abandoned house that had belonged to Vale and ties it tightly with a strand of cord. Kira's young face is more weather looking than it has ever appeared in the past, which is to be expected considering the trauma she endured and the major changes that have been made to her life recently.

"Ready?" Ben asks Kira and she nods, her mouth pulled into a straight line.

Rey follows them to the small hole they dug into the ground, the frozen terrain of Argent making it hard for them to dig much further with only traditional manual methods. Kira places the small bundle in the hole and sets her hand on it gently. With a shaky breath, Rey sets her hand on top of Kira's, followed by Ben placing his on top of both of theirs.

All three of the family members close their eyes as they harness their collective energy to break the ground beneath the wrapped saber to melt away like sand, allowing the bundle to lower into the ground and become concealed by the frozen terrain as if it was never there, symbolically burying Zyan and Vale.

"He'll always be with you," Rey assures Kira, and she nods in somber agreeance, knowing that his death may have come at her saber, but that he himself made it unavoidable in the end.

"No one is ever truly gone," Kira whispers and pinches her eyes shut, causing a tear to escape, and leans her arm against her mother's.

"Come on, it's getting late," Ben says quietly and helps them both up. Guiding the way back to the ship where Temiri waits for them in the open hatch with BB8 patiently rocking back and forth next to him.

"Ready?" Temiri asks as the three of them walk up and follow him up the ramp into the falcon, an experience that is still painful, yet nostalgic for Ben

"Try not to kill us this time kid," Ben teases as he sits down on the curved bench seat and slings his leg casually over the other, poking fun at the trouble Temiri had entering the atmosphere of Argent.

"Actually," Temiri mutters and looks over at Kira where she leans casually against the doorframe into the cockpit. The relationship between Ben and Temiri has been strained because of their weird link of Kira, the love interest of one, and the daughter of the other. Of course, Temiri's oversight while traveling here didn't help their relationship but thankfully Chewie was there and ready to counteract before things could escalate too bad. "Would you like to pilot on the way back instead of me?" Temiri asks almost timidly, his eyes glancing up at Ben, then over at Kira who nods at him in enthusiastic approval.

"I mean-" Ben stutters and looks around the room at everyone starring at him. "Sure, yeah. I'd like that."

"After you," Temiri says and motions for Ben to lead down the short hallway to the cockpit.

Chewie sits in the pilot's seat and looks up at Ben as he sits down in the seat next to him and greets him with a low murmur of approval despite their relationship they're working to mend slowly.

"Yeah, you too buddy," Ben says with a smile as they both begin powering the ship up.

Rey sits in the seat behind Chewie and straps herself in, watching Ben's cheeks crinkle up into a smile as they prepare to lift the Falcon off the terrain of the frozen planet.

Returning to Argent today had proved difficult considering that she barely slept last night over the anxiety of returning, images of Zyan's lifeless body haunting her memory. Laying him to rest metaphorically by burying his saber gave her a sense of peace though and she knows that Kira and Ben feel the same way, as hard as it is for Kira to face the reality of what she did.