A Reylo Romance: "Don't be Afraid, I Feel it Too"

Ahch-To Part 6 - The Vision of the Eagle

"Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future... the past. Old friends long gone."
-Yoda

-----------

I stop running when I reach an abandoned fountain with a statue at the center. It sits in the shadows of the stone city wall. There are no torches lit here and the air is cooler than in the courtyard, where it is filled with people. I can still hear their singing in the distance and the flute playing.

I sit at the edge of the fountain and look down at the dry bottom, where clear water once flowed but now there is only dirt. My heart doesn't want to calm down so I count slowly, the way I used to do back on Jakku whenever I felt this way.

They didn't come back for me...

I clench my fist to my chest, squeezing my eyes tight.

No, please stop. They're coming back. They will return, just like I'll return for Kylo. I can't seem to breathe. I need more air.

When you have the Force, you are never alone. The voice, now familiar, is the same one that spoke to me when I was in the interrogation room.

A large gust of wind blows my hair away from my face and I breathe in freely. Above me a massive bird, like the eagles back on Jakku, only larger and all black, lands on the fountain statue, its large talons grasping the head of the stone angel. It folds its majestic wings down, tucking them onto its back. The eagle turns its head to the side, eyeing me with large yellow eyes.

There is a moment of complete stillness as we watch each other.

Come...

I extend my hand out and close my eyes, focussing in on the eagle's thoughts, knowing somehow that it wants to communicate. The eagle reacts instantly to the Force, pushing its wings down and fanning dust up from the bottom of the fountain into the air.

I suddenly feel weightless, rising up with the effort of heavy wings flapping at my sides. I look down at the fountain below, growing smaller and smaller. Standing beside it I see myself in the dark green dress, not moving. It's an eerie sight to behold myself from a different pair of eyes. But now I'm lifting higher and higher, above the clouds and fog. My chest is light as the wind catches beneath my wings. I'm one with the eagle as it takes me above the clouds.

The sky is dark blue with a sprinkling of stars now that the fog is below me. The sun's heat warms my black wings. From up here I can see to the ends of the planet, to the curve of the horizon.

The only sound is that of the wind rushing by. The eagle's thoughts are not in words, but visions. I see its memories, I see the other islands on this planet, lush green ones and then others made entirely of rock. I see visions of Jedi monks walking on the steps of their monasteries, in ages past. There are other animals too that once thrived here, large sea creatures jumping out from the waters below and falling back down with a big splash, the water reaching all the way up to the eagle's wings. The sound of the sea creature's monstrous cry pierces my heart.

Then there is only wind, and a slow drumbeat deep within me, the eagle's heartbeat.

The vision changes and battleships descend from the sky above. They lower down into the fog, firing, destroying.... castle walls crumble into the ocean with a splash. These aren't First Order battleships, they're from a time long ago. The eagle watches the island trees burn and the rocky mountains crumble as the animals of the planet try to flee but have nowhere to go.

While evil reigns the planets die
The forest trees, the sea and sky
No wind on which eagles can fly '
No land for the creatures on which to lie

Another island crumbles into the waves below, disappearing entirely beneath the water. Then yet another sinks down. The heat from the blasts disrupt my flying pattern and I plummet, then catch a new pocket of wind and level out again. I have nowhere to land. There is only water below as the sea rages and becomes red. The body of a massive sea creature rises to the surface, its belly up, tossing in the waves, dead. Still there is nowhere for me to land.

The planet erupts with a blast of heat, an explosion that lifts me up and away, away from the planet that is no more, now I will never land, and my heartbeat ends.

I wake on a cold stone floor, my jaw clenched tight, my fists clamped shut,

Go now, Rey, don't wait. Take Kylo Ren's light saber and bring it to Coruscant, don't hesitate, or the planets will die, the creatures of the Galaxy will not survive.

I sit up slowly, feeling chilled to the bone. The fog has returned and I can't see into the sky anymore. The eagle is gone. Was it a dream? No, it couldn't have been. I flew. I can still feel the wind on my chest. I was one with the majestic eagle that showed me the past and the future.

"Rey!" Finn comes running towards me, a concerned look on his face. "There you are. I was looking everywhere for you. People were beginning to worry." He knees down beside me. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I say. "Finn?"

"Yes?"

"We need to talk."