Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Thirty Nine: Old Ghosts and Reflections of Shadows...

There was always a balance to things. There was the light and there was the darkness, but what had become the stumbling block for so many was the balance of these Forces inside their own selves. The law of the Force was tightly bound to the duality of nature. And it was this idea that tied all of the creatures, planets, and various peoples of the universe together as One. But the balance shifts, ever in constant ebbing tides that stretch outwardly and then pull away just as fast, and this creates conflict between the heart, the mind, and the soul. When one is off balance the forces which remain fight to right themselves bringing harmony back. But there are some that allow this conflict to stoke the darker elements of their natures until they let either the bitter anger, the woeful sorrow and sadness, or the unspeakable fear consume them. The Darkside was at one time something that a Jedi must acknowledge and learn to accept, but then fear crept into their hearts. And so to prevent the loss of the pure Force weilders they began to stress neutrality, of self and began to live by the laws according to their nature. They shied away from wants and desires, from the thrill and the pain of love, from the fullness of allowing yourself to be known by someone completely. They believed that in conquering their natures they could then blot out the stains of the past. They could in their own benign way purge out the weaknesses in themselves through the sacrifices they made for a truer connection to the Force. But it was folly, all of it...and by the time their salvation was revealed, he had already seceded himself to the Darkside becoming the instrument of their destruction. All of these things were known, not just to the Jedi, but to the Sith as well. The eminent voices of the past could be heard swirling in the air above the mouth of the portal leading beneath the emerald green of the island above into the Darkness below. The island lay quiet and undisturbed in the middle of the ominous spread of water. The white cresting curl of the waves poked their heads out of the blue black sea, Maul looked down as he made his pass over the island, below he could sense the powerful energy of old enemies.

Maul: Kenobi...

A tremor went through them both as they looked across at one another. It was a feeling they'd not known before. An icy hand reaching out from the grave sending shivers down through their bodies. But just as the tension eased, Ben leaned over to look at Rey where she had become intangled in the coolant lines and oil tubes. She looked over at Ben with a wide grin. Her mouth held in tension to prevent her from laughing. But he knew...he could see it there despite her attempts to look angry...he knew her. It's a rare thing to know someone. It's a privilege that not everyone is afforded in their life. More than the Force, more than the bond linking them to each other, there was something more there. It didn't have a name. There wasn't a reason or something that could be quantified or measured, or reasoned. There was just something that pulled at them bringing them closer and closer until the only thing they could see was each other. And that's when the picture became clearest. That's when they could see it all.
A life.
A world without the denunciation of light and dark.
A world where the balance between good and evil, right and wrong, wasn't set on some battle field. But in the hearts and minds of ordinary people, and the peace that they found from knowing themselves as they were known.
A better world than Ben or Rey had ever known or hoped to see, but it was there in that small space between them.
It lived there...and all the years rolled past them revealing new joys...and new trials they would have to face.
But they would face them together....because as Ben lay there looking at Rey he finally understood why his mother had held onto hope.
Because it was the same world she saw when she looked at his father.
And as beautiful as this realization was, it was painful, because it had been his hand that took it away from her.
Now another was reaching out to take it from him.
He looked and looked at her, memorizing the turn of her chin...the angle of her nose and the shape of her lips, the color of her cheeks when she blushed.
She was his world. The only world he knew. And the only one he wanted to know.
The thought of what might lay ahead for them melted away...all he could see was her...just her.
And that was enough.