What Could Have Been

Ben

I woke up enveloped in wetness. Something was wrong. I lifted my arm, to which no ghostly blue light illuminated around it anymore. My lungs burned and my heart . . . began to pound? Warmth flowed through my body and woke my organs. To breath again was like learning how to walk. What is this?

I stood up and felt my bones creak. My clothes were no longer white, but the plain black I had died in. I felt the air around me in its violent presence.

"A life for a life!" Palpatine's hoarse voice echoed all around me.

"You killed the Sith! His two sides had fought within her womb, indeed. With your influence on a child created by hate, it eats itself alive! Torn apart by the two sides he inherited!"

"Show yourself!" I looked around, water springing from my face with every turn.

"You live!" Palpatine exclaimed. The floor shook below my feet and cracked with a purple strike of lightning. I slid across the floor and stumbled backwards. I held my hand out, feeling the Force. My mother's lightsaber did not answer to my beckon. Neither did Luke's or the one I threw into the ocean so long ago. I focused on the objects around me and located the vibra-scythe blade that my Knight once wielded.

"You promised me the girl!" I rolled down the room's sloping hallway. Palpatine struck down bolts of light without any hesitation- the floor moved in earthen waves the size of the Falcon, sending me pounding on a hard fall to the cavern's floor.

"You are the new Sith! You killed the predecessor in her stomach!"

"I will NEVER be the Sith!" I brought the weapon above my head and braced for a blow.

"I can kill you again!" The voice danced around the room and through my core.

Rocks fell from the ceiling. I dodged each one then used my weapon to save myself from the falling debris. Back and forth, the both of us fought with tired, fragile souls.

"Ben?" I heard my name spoken in a minuscule glint of eager curiosity. Rey appeared as the Force connected us together. She stood in an X-wing somewhere in the universe. Her hand reached for me as the Force cancelled its call. Weakened by such material, I fell to the floor. It was only then when I realized a chunk of flesh bursted off of me in a warm, painful blow.

Laughs encompassed me, driving my head insane.

"You are the Sith." Palpatine stood in front of me. My swollen eyes were level to the tip of his cape. I walked my way to my knees to stare up at the yellow holes that held no remorse or human feeling at all.

Palpatine's eyes rolled behind his head, smiling grimly as he brought his wrinkled hands forward. My neck eased back as he held his finger against it.

"I will make you die this time, boy." Palpatine held my bend in my neck, ready to end me forever. Just as I had learned to live again, I was to die without a purpose.

"Here."

Rey came around me and planted a lightsaber inside my sweaty, scabbing fingers. She fell away with the mist of the raging water down below.

"Ben Solo. Disgusting" Palpatine brought his face close to mine, taking heavy breathes in my ear.

"Long live balance." I weakly wavered my words. Behind my back I ignited a lightsaber of rare beauty. It was golden and smooth, its light called for victory and bloodshed. I brought it around my side and launched the blade through Palpatine's head. I stared into his cowardice eyes and concentrated with every fiber of my body. He suffocated and wheezed until, with my final ounce of strength, his head combusted. His body fell beside me, wrapped elegantly, almost beautifully, in his whimsical black coat. I slid my back against a gritty, unforgiving rock. Blood beaded my face and dirt streaked my arms. I looked at the burning chunk that was taken from my leg.

Palpatine can never be seen again, as his tar-like soul can travel beyond the ghosts of the Force and burn for eternity elsewhere.

I pushed my hair back from my face in the anxious silence.

"Ben?" I lifted my head from my lap and beheld my weakness before my eyes. I smiled, dimples blotting my face below the chalky dirt and peeling blood.

"Rey." I spoke of her name rich and warm, as she reminded me of such feelings. I stood, not really minding the fact that I was just staring at her. A lot has changed. With every footstep closer we march, the more I realize I am not living a dream. This is, in fact, my fate.