"Only in the darkness can you see stars."
-
It has been six years since Ben Solo succumbed to his fate and betrayed the Jedi Order after being seduced by the Dark Side. With the aid of his immense power, the First Order has cast a shadow over the g...
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(Note: okay this is the longest chapter I've written for this book so far, but a LOT happens, so be sure to buckle your seatbelts friends!)
The world is burning.
The world is burning, and it is no longer restricted to my memories and nightmares. The flames are there, lapping at my skin, dancing in excitement for their chance at revenge.
My ears are ringing as I crack my eyes open. They immediately begin to water, due to the smoke hanging heavy in the air.
I can't breathe. I wheeze and tremble in place, feeling the throbbing heat of the flames that are mere centimeters away, waiting to pounce. Waiting to claim me as they should have done 6 years ago. Greedily, I gulp in rattling, poisonous breaths, my lungs already growing tired with overwork. Excruciating pain lances through me in waves at every inhale and exhale, undoubtedly due to the ribs that were broken when I was thrown into the wall.
I do not move. I cannot think. I wait for the ringing to subside, so that I may hear the steady thrum of Ben's heartbeat at the back of my mind one last time. I wait for the reassuring thump to carry me safely into the next life when the flames finally consume me.
Eventually, the ringing does subside... but I do not feel his heartbeat. In its place is a void, as if I'd lost a part of myself when I'd blacked out.
I have to find him. It finally hits me, why I'd even snuck into this death trap in the first place. Ben needs me, and I have to find him.
I brace my hand over the place where my splintered ribs reside and clench my teeth so hard I'm afraid I'll grind them to dust as I slowly, excruciatingly rise to a sitting position. I move to my hands and knees, then resist the urge to cry out as I finally make it to my feet, rubble crunching beneath my boots.
I let the Force guide me to Snoke's throne room, to him, because I can no longer depend on myself to find it, my memory of the route having gone fuzzy. The once spotless, shining black floors are cluttered with rubble, and the corridor has taken a familiar orange glow. The flames are everywhere, their heat beating down on me as they melt and destroy the massive ship that had once struck such terror in my heart.
The elevator is surprisingly still intact, working just as smoothly as before, and I half collapse against the wall as it carries me upward. The silence in my mind grows deafening, so horrible I'm ready to claw my hair out with dread through each yard higher that is gained. Too soon, the double doors hissed open.
I see the scavenger girl, Rey, first, her body still amongst the rubble, but I feel the existence of her essence still clinging on in the Force. Around the room, flames spiral to the floor like falling stars, most sputtering out when they reach the cold floor.
It is upon that cold floor that I first catch sight of Ben's motionless form. The pain in my ribs dulls to a throb as the breath leaves my body.
