Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Forty Two: Missing Pieces Collide...

This place had once made her skin prickle with tension, but this time it felt different. The circular vortex of air rising up from the depths below filled with the growling sound of it passed over the long spidery fingers of the drop off burned her cheeks. But as she peered down into the black below Rey could sense something was looking back up at her. And the thought sent a shudder through her, she'd never felt the pull of the Darkside like this, it felt more like a challenge than an invitation. Deep inside where that something had always been inside of her, now awake and searching for something, the last missing piece of herself...answers to all her questions. The answers were right there all she had to do was reach out...

Ben: So that's it, huh? Well, at least you have to give them their due...They're nothing if not consistent in their theatricality...Ugh, What? What is that smell?

Rey: Best guess? Something dead. I think its a requirement of joining the Darkside, but you know what they say. When ensaring the souls of the innocent and destroying the galaxy through decades of bitter war and tyranny...Location, Location, Location. Its the key to every Empire's successful enslavement of countless planets and peoples across the universe. One hundred percent honest, if you'd have given me the odds on whether I'd be standing here, doing what we're about to do...

Ben: Let me guess? Low leaning towards improbable?

Rey: Close enough. I never thought I'd be coming back here after the last time. I figured the mirror had already shown me everything it needed...or rather wanted to show me in any case. But we're here so no sense in stalling the inevitable, you ready?

Ben leaned peering down the hole his face a mixture of anxiety and reservation. The fouled water churned up a stomach wrenching smell as if some long dead carcass has been dislodged and was now swirling in the belly of the island. Rey couldn't help but chuckle as she watched his nose screw up at the prospect of becoming submerged in the black waters below. And the unseen possibles of what else could lie below the surface.

Ben: I don't see a bottom just more black...you just jumped? How deep does it go?

Rey: I don't know...Ten? Twenty? Maybe thirty feet deep perhaps in some spots. Just take a big breath before you jump and it's going to be cold.

Rey could feel the memory gelid embrace of the water as it had nearly created an icy cacoon over her skin. Rey could feel it reaching deep down into her as she knew Ben probably could as well. It was the ever beckoning call to "freedom" and "peace", but unlike many less fortunates before them they could see beyond the bait. The Darkside was patient, it had time to pull the smaller strings to edge their prey closer to the lure, and then before you knew it...before you could stop it...You were trapped. Rey could feel the lure...sharp and cold and ready to rip her whole world apart. Rey had yet to be tested against the full might of the Darkside, but as she stared down into the yawning throat of the portal. She couldn't deny the truth. The battle she feared the most wasn't of bodily strength and technique. But the one of mind, will, and heart...the battle she that would face against the Darkness inside herself.

Ben: Well, Are you ready to get this over with? The sooner we get down...the sooner we can come back up.

Rey: Just promise me...when we come back up, it'll be together.

Ben took Rey by the hand. His broad hand encapsulating hers completely. They closed their eyes letting the Force flow through them, feeling it surround them, and bind them together...until there was nothing else between them.

Ben: There isn't a piece of me that doesn't belong with you, Rey. Just like there isn't a piece of you that doesn't belong wtih me. Might as well face it...you're stuck with me...