Star Wars- In another Life.

Chapter 35- Sith Citadel

Landing on the surface of Exegol had thankfully been easy, unlike the descent, which had been almost as complicated as the flight through the blood net. Ben was glad that Rey had not been boasting regarding her piloting abilities as she took over, and he manned the laser cannons to defend them against the barrage of Tie fighters as they made their way through the ensuing battle. The emotions for both of them had been mixed, leaving the battle above, their family and friends, but they had a job to do, and Dameron was right; if they didn't destroy Palpatine, it would all be for nothing. Everything the Resistance and Rebellion had fought for, all of this time, everyone was counting on them.

The entire planet's surface was a flat landing plane, devoid of mountains or hills, totally empty but for the few ships' carcasses that had come to rest in burning heaps nearby. Dust and ash greeted them as they exited the ship; the air was filled with it. Hot, hazy and dry, it stifled the breath and made the eyes squint in an atmosphere they could barely see in. Black smoke filled the already dark grey and dusty air. The only light to show the way came was the occasional scream of blue lightning, like metal scraping on rusted metal in sparks of brilliant blue that blinded them momentarily.

Rey and Ben quickly made their way from their gunship towards the monolith floating above the dusty ground. In the reduced visibility, the citadel was barely visible, just a darker edifice of stone that seemed to float above the ground; the peak reached upwards, appearing unending as it disappeared into the storms and out of sight. It wasn't the monolith they aimed for but the gap between the gigantic structure and the planet's surface. They didn't need to see to know where they were going. They could feel it in the Force. Beckoning them; not welcoming, well, not to Ben. As they cautiously stepped further into the cave, their lightsabers lighting up the roof above them in a blue-red glow, the ground below them shifted, the sound of a gear clicking into place and the ground on which they stood separated. They were lowered into the citadel's depths upon a circular rock platform. Ben's skin prickled; the Force here felt rotten, twisted and decaying.

"At last. Long have I waited for my child to come home," a voice boomed through their surroundings as the platform lowered; his voice, Sidious.

Ben leaned over to Rey as the platform lowered, "I'm pretty sure he's talking to you."

She didn't respond, and he turned to look at her properly. She was rigid with fear. He took the hand at her side in his, and she turned to him.

"The power, the pull," Rey almost whimpered to him. To her, the pull was welcoming, needful and desirous, but it wasn't pleasant, not like coming home. Like the pull you feel when standing on the ledge high above the ground, the strange pull to the ground, the pull to death. What would happen if you stepped off? What would it feel like? The void called to her from the abyss; he called to her, her maker, Palpatine. Rey felt as though her freedom of choice had been removed; there was only the pull.

"You can resist him, Rey, you can."

Rey turned her focus away from the power calling to her, away from the unmentioned promises to look into Ben's eyes. Those deep, dark pools, so intense, like his mother's. That was her home; she could not lose sight of that; she would not lose sight of that. She nodded and took a breath. Her vigour renewed as she squeezed his warm hand in hers and held onto it tightly.

The lower section of the cave was pitch black but for an eerie blue shaft of light. The intermittent blue lightning erupted, lighting up immense statues from a long-dead ancient civilisation. The sculptures were robed and immense, reaching from the floor to the ceiling of the underground citadel. A palace long abandoned and forgotten to fester and rot but for the most loyal of Sith. Palpatine was here. The platform on which they stood finally stopped at the base of the cavernous underground sanctuary. They stepped off the platform and surveyed the gigantic ominous stone figures that seemed to tower above them.