Power

25.

We arrive at the hangar at the same time as the rest of the group, I look at them in shock.

"Lyra!" Finn exclaims.

"What are all of you doing here?" I say in surprise.

"Escaping, like you three! Get on the falcon!" Poe shouts, all of us rushing on board.

"Where's Rey?" I ask once Poe jumps in the pilot's seat.

"She's in the next hangar over, we're going to pick her up." He blasts off out of the hanger, speeding down to the next hangar door. Finn straps an oxygen mask to his face and opens the boarding ramp. I grab Rey's hands when she walks inside and smile at her before pulling her into a hug.

"I didn't know if we would see you again." She says, pulling back to look at me.

"I am not so easily defeated anymore, Rey." I tell her, she smiles and walks into the cockpit. Maro and Finn follow her, I walk back to Galen and take his hands.

""What is it?" He asks.

"I love you too, Galen." I tell him, he smiles at me and places his lips on mine.

...

When we arrive on Endor, I stand looking out on the destruction of the second Death Star. The reason the room holding the wayfinder looked so familiar becomes clear to me, it is stored within the Emperor's quarters. A room identical to that on the first Death Star. I walk to the cliffs as Poe and the others confront a group of deserter stormtroopers living here.

"It brings back so many memories." I hear Maro say, coming to stand beside me.

"I know it's not the one we were stationed on, but it harbors the same feeling." I say, he nods.

"We caused so much pain during the time of the Empire. So many lives were terrorized before our very eyes, the Jedi may have even survived if it weren't for us." I look over at him as he stares at the battle station laying within the sea. "But I believe we both deserve redemption. I've found my second chance, and I believe you have found yours in Galen." He finally meets my eyes. "All I have ever wanted is for you to be happy, to truly move on from the horrors I saw you relive in your dreams on Coruscant, to finally live again.

I hated Galen when you arrived not because of what became of you and I when you met him, but because I believed he was turning you back down the path of the Empire. That he would bring you full circle to what you have been running from. But I see now that I was wrong, so very wrong. The way he looks at you, the way he protects you. I saw his horror when you fell inside the sandwalker, how hard he fought against me when you risked your life on Pasaana, how he was willing to turn against the Resistance if that's what it took to save you from Ren's Destroyer. I have never seen love as fierce as what he has for you, and I'm glad you have met him." Tears well in my eyes as I give him a gentle smile. I take his hand and pull him into a hug, something I haven't done in so long.

"Thank you, Maro, for everything." I hear him let out a breath.

"There is nothing I wouldn't do for you, Lyra, always." We pull apart and he holds my hand for a moment before walking back up to the group. I turn to see Galen staring at me, I believe he can sense the relief within me. He walks to me and takes my hand.

"What did he say?" Galen asks me, I smile at him.

"He's changed, all of us have." I tell Galen.

...

"I didn't realize you of all people would join the Resistance, Grand Inquisitor." Jannah says as she sits beside me, watching Poe fix the Falcon. "And you brought Starkiller with you? Both of you were the last people I expected to see."

"That's not who I am anymore." I tell her, feeling the breeze brush across my face. "It's been a long time since I served the Empire, same as Galen. We cannot undo the horrible things we did, but I will fight everyday to restore the galaxy I destroyed." She nods.

"Rey took the skimmer!" I hear Finn yell, running towards us.

"Do you have another one?" I ask Jannah, she nods.

"Yes, but the sea will tear you apart." She tells me, I shake my head.

"We will have to take that chance. Come on Finn, I'll go with you." I tell him. Galen meets us at the docks where the skimmer waits.

"Be careful." He says, I smile.

"Don't worry, I always am." I say. Finn and I board the skimmer and make our way towards the wreckage of the Death Star, avoiding the colossal waves waiting to turn us over. We finally reach the inside and Poe docks beside one of the walls. "You go first, I'll be right behind you."

We make it to the top, realizing we now walk within what was once a hallway. The layout is a spitting image of the first Death Star, memories play through my mind like a movie as we make our way through. We arrive at the Emperor's chambers but the door to the hidden room has already been opened.

"She's already been here." I say, looking around. The broken remnants of the wayfinder lay scattered on the floor. "And it looks like someone else has too." I bend down and pick up the pieces, sensing the power within them. From outside comes the sound of clashing sabers, I look up at Finn. "It's Ren."

Together we run outside to see Kylo and Rey battling across the water. Finn attempts to run after her, she pushes him back with the force and I catch him with my own.

"Let her go, she is fighting against something you will never understand. She needs to confront him." I tell Finn, he stares up at me in confusion.

"Like what? What is she fighting?" He asks me.

"The pull to the darkness. I've sensed it from the beginning, the way she swings her saber to the lightning that shot from her hand on Pasaana." I let out a breath and look down at Finn. "She's the descendant of Emperor Palpatine, his granddaughter. I felt him within her from the moment I met her, and it was confirmed to me when I touched the Sith dagger." Finn looks back at Rey with wide eyes as she stabs Kylo through the stomach.

At that moment, there is a shift in the force. A sense of loss, of great sorrow. The General is dead, the soul of Leia Organa has just entered the force. My eyes widen in shock at it, Rey heals Ren and then runs to escape in his waiting TIE. I look down at Finn with tears in my eyes.

"We must go."