The force in redemption | Kylo Ren x reader | ✔

Chapter 149, The Netherworld

/ First Person Protagonist POV /

Everything was calm. So very calm. And quiet too, but not to the point it was uncomfortable to be in. I couldn't even hear the sound of my own breath. No, I wasn't breathing. I didn't need to. Air would simply flow through me refreshingly.

I calmly opened my eyes, but squinted them soon after. Everything around me was very bright. I'd never seen anything like it. Not even the whitest and shiniest of hospital wings could compare to the brightness of this place.

I was laying down on a white meadow of weightless petals, which were floating perfectly on top of still water. Crystalline water as white as the rest of this place, and even if it was a small pond, I couldn't sink into it, and the surface wouldn't move. It almost felt like a cloud of some sort. There was nothing else in my field of view, only light too bright to see past.

" Where am I? I don't remember ever seeing a place like this before..." I asked myself out loud, my voice echoing around me. " No... that would be impossible either way. This isn't the world of the living." I sighed, as all the last memories of my life flashed through my mind.

" You are correct, young y/n." A familiar voice filled my ears. " This is not the galaxy as you know it."

" Vizsla. You're here as well. You seem to be everywhere. But now it feels like this is where you truly belong." I smiled. " Is this the world beyond worlds? The one you told me about that early morning in Carlac, in your temple? Where beings of the force go?"

" Yes. It is." He answered as a bright sphere appeared next to me, growing larger as it formed the outline of a shape. " The Netherworld of the force."

I pushed my torso up with my elbows and sat down as Vizsla's silhouette appeared in his complete corporeal form. " The Netherworld..." I repeated as I brought my hands up to my face to push strand of my hair back, but gasped and froze in place.

My hands, no- all of my body, now that I noticed, had lost its original color, and was now the same semi transparent bluish glow as Vizsla's force ghost. " Don't be afraid, young y/n." He reassured. " There is no other way you could be here if you weren't like me now."

" So... I'm a force ghost?" I whispered, touching my face with my semi transparent hands. " I did it, then. My sacrifice was selfless enough?"

" That, I cannot tell you for sure. I've said before that the force works in mysterious ways." Vizsla nodded to himself. " But yes. You came to terms with your death as you were passing."

" Of course I did." I sighed. " I saved Ben. How could I not come to terms with that? I'm relieved he's alive and safe. I could die peacefully knowing that. But, I'm almost surprised. I thought I drained all of my life force, my vitality. How can I be here, in the Netherworld of the force, if there isn't any left in me?"

" You did drain yourself completely." Vizsla confirmed. " But the force isn't something you can simply run out of, young one. It surrounds everything and everyone. You can feel it more clearly now that you're in the Netherworld, can you? The way everything is connected and balancing each other. Your Midi-Chlorians are still within your cells, and the force is still with you."

" Is it also with Ben? Is there any way to know how he is doing now? Like you did with me, through the force. How you always knew what was happening and what I thought. If the force is with me, can't I connect with Ben even though I'm in the Netherworld?" I bombarded Vizsla with questions as I stood up, noticing I was also hovering a little over the petaled ground.

" So impatient, y/n." He shook his head. " All your questions will be answered in due time. Your essence has just arrived in the Netherworld, and you already look for ways to get out of it."

" Sorry." I huffed. " I didn't really want to die in Exegol. There were so many things I wanted to do now that the galaxy has been freed from the First and Final orders... So many things me and Ben had planned to do... I suppose I do want to go to the mortal world as soon as possible."

" You have regret?" Vizsla deduced.

" No. I wouldn't say that. I don't regret what happened, I could never regret saving Ben." I shook my head. " I just wish there had been more time."

 " I see." Vizsla acknowledged. " For the time being, follow me, young y/n. There is more to the Netherworld than just this pond."

Vizsla's corporeal form started floating away, towards the brightness, so I tried running to catch up, only to notice I was running on air. " Of course." I sighed, hovering above the ground towards him. " Vizsla, where are you goi-"

I stepped through the brightness, which I had thought was the end of the Netherworld for me, but I was wrong. My words were taken away by the beauty of the place. It seemed like an ancient Jedi temple, except it was still white and very bright, all of it. 

Many force ghosts were aligned at the grand staircase that led to the temple, looking in our direction. " W- what is all this? A temple, in the Netherworld... How is that even possible? Who are these people?" I gasped in awe. 

" The Jedi, y/n." Vizsla replied as he drifted towards the end of one of the two lines of force ghosts. " Here are all the Jedi that ever lived."

" All... The Jedi..." I repeated in amazement as I skimmed the lines of force ghosts, reaching the closest end to mine, where a familiar face was, in the same bluish and transparent glow. " G- general... General Leia..."

She smiled so warmly and floated towards me, stopping only a mere two feet away. " Y/n. You're here..."

" You're here too, general." I mumbled, feeling my eyes get teary, but I doubted force ghosts could shed tears. 

" In due time. It was my turn to join the Netherworld." Leia nodded. " But you... It wasn't your time yet. You were still young and full of potential... Full of light for the galaxy."

" ... Ben... Ben is the light." I cleared my throat as other force ghosts appeared next to Leia. Even if I didn't know them, thanks to Vizsla's passed on knowledge, I recognized them. Master Luke Skywalker, Master Anakin Skywalker, and Grand Master Yoda. " As long as Ben is alive, my light will shine, because it is with him."

" You have sacrificed yourself to bring back my apprentice, Ben Solo." Master Luke nodded to himself. " Your vitality is now within him, keeping him alive."

" Shining, your light is." Grand Master Yoda agreed. " But keeping it alive in the mortal world, you were destined to."

" I... I wouldn't have it any other way, masters." I stuttered. " Even if I was meant to be alive, I couldn't let Ben pass when I had the chance to save him. I don't think I could've coped with that, even if letting him go was the right thing to do, it wouldn't feel like it to me..."

" You love my son very much, don't you? You value him more than your own life." Leia sighed, glancing at the force ghosts beside her as if to confirm something they'd discussed. 

" O- of course I do." I nodded, looking nervously at the line of deceased Jedi. " ...Why?"