Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Forty Five: Doorways, Locks, and Keys...

Obi-Wan: Hold on there you two!

Ben and Rey had managed to make it back down the worn pathway to the open gurgling mouth of the doorway to where darker things waited. Obi-wan strode over to them seemingly out of breath from the descent. Rey at first felt her forearms tense her hands moved instinctively to cover the scars. Rey could feel faint echoes of the mirage Umbra had pulled her into. She could smell the heat soaked sand of the dunes and still felt the cold steel grip of Umbra's finger tips on her skin. Ben could see Rey shrinking away inside herself. He could read it in her body, the way she instinvitvely turned away from those she cared about, as if she were a human shield. So he walked over taking her hand as they waited for Obi-Wan to reach them.

Rey: Master Kenobi...Was there something else?

Obi-Wan: If you two are thinking of doing what I think, you'll be needing these back...

Obi-Wan offered Ben the crossbar saber and then handed Rey back Anakin's saber. Looking down at it Ben could barely discern any remenants of the old saber. Ben was cautious when stretching out his hand to grasp the hilt of the black saber. There were memories full of pain, deeds brought on by rage and loneliness, and the faces of the dead who had fallen under it's blade. It's blade...but it was the hand weilding it that caused Ben to become timid about a reunion with it. Some parts of him thought he was still unworthy of holding his grandfathers saber. Despite what Rey had shown him and what he had learned about himself, Ben was beginning to learn the same lesson which every Skywalker before him had come face to face with. That redemption isn't rewarded....it's earned and once given, must be proven time and time again. The past doesn't cease to be true because it's no longer current. Actions are only as true as the people behind them. It was a lesson Anakin, Luke, his mother, even Rey had come to learn, there was something inside him he would have to watch. A balance he would have to fight to maintain lest he fall back into the dark shadows of the old ghosts. Rey on the other hand smiled at the familiar feeling of the old saber in her hands. It reminded her of the connection she'd found so many years ago in the tucked away trunk in the basement of a castle. She'd found more than the dusty relic belonging to bygone heros. Just as Maz Kanata had predicted...she found her belonging...she'd found where she was always meant to be.
Beside Ben Solo.
And as long as she was no matter what the days, weeks, or years ahead held, she knew she was on the right path.
Obi-Wan watched Ben turn the black saber in his hands, but his attention was diverted when he caught Rey solemnly cradling Anakin's in her hands. It was like watching history replay itself only this time he was the spectator and not the participant. And it pained him. It pained him to think of the days when things had always seemed certain, and then the days when he was sure nothing ever would again. He wanted to say something to them, but he kept tripping on the words as they began to come out. He knew there was nothing he could tell them they didn't already know about what awaited them at the bottom of the grotto. He knew there was where their true test would reveal itself. But he couldn't stop himself from feeling like he was failing all over again. Why was it so difficult for him to let go of the past? He knew it was a line he couldn't cross, but being dead does offer some clarity on whats most important...Or most important to you. Obi-Wan had resigned himself to a the small space in the back of everyone else's stories. He'd never reached for the pen when it came to writing his own legacy. He didn't care much for what others would see on the pages of his. But there had been a few moments when he'd managed to steal a paragraph here and there. He had stood by waiting for the right time, the right moment...the opportunity to step out into the light and be seen as only three people in the whole galaxy had ever truly seen him. One of them was waiting for him above, one of them was waiting for him below, and one...was out of reach to him. The thoughts revolving in his head were all he could think as he looked at the two of them, the two of them so different and yet so simliar, almost a mirror image from a lifetime ago, now standing in front of him. Kenobi and Skywalker standing side by side once more.