These next three chapters (coming up in the next 5 - 10 minutes, I had to come to Star Bucks for faster internet) are dedicated to LexyTreece3 <3 who has been so patient waiting for the new chapters. You'll really want to read tomorrow's chapters for SURE Lexy!

---------------------

"Ouch!" Finn says as I trip over him in the corridor. He's sitting on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I was..." Finn gets up and brushes himself off. "I thought we were going to leave in the middle of the night, not so soon. The General just finished her tea not too long ago and went to bed."

"Then she'll be sound asleep for a few hours."

BB-8 beeps. "Finn was guarding you."

"Come on," I say softly. "Let's go, and no more talking. We need to be a little more quiet."

We hurry down the hall. BB-8 slides around on the marble floor as she tries to get some traction. I slow down to wait for her.

When we're finally outside on the landing platform, Finn takes us to where Poe's X-Wing fighter is. We climb in without a word, the fog muffling the sounds of the hatch opening and closing. Finn uses the magnetic pickup crane at the bottom of the plane to lift BB-8 in and seat her behind us, where the bombs and supplies usually go. I turn back to her and make sure she's secure.

"How far is it to the Temple?" I ask, buckling up.

"Not far." Finn runs a hand over his hair.

"Aren't you going to buckle in?" I ask.

"I'm not much of a pilot..."

I sigh and open the hatch again so we can exchange places.

"I mean," he continues. "I can fly, it's just the fog. It's like flying blind," he says.

"No problem," I say, putting on my helmet and starting the engine. "You okay BB-8?" I call over the sound. She sticks out her lighter thumbs up, smacking Finn in the back of the helmet.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," she beeps.

Poe's plane has sensitive controls and each movement is dramatic enough to make my stomach uneasy. There's zero visibility so I watch the monitors in front of me carefully.

"Which island?" I ask.

"Uh..." Finn messes around with the controls. My stomach is already in knots with concern for Kylo and Finn's uncertainty certainly doesn't help. "It's that one, there," he points outside.

I look out. There's a break in the fog and I see the island and the ruins below. I search for a place to land.

"I got us some great ear pieces for communicating," Finn says, reaching into his pocket. His elbow bumps my arm and the pane tilts.

"How about you show me after we land," I say into the helmet headset.

Finn nods and sits still.

"Can I communicate too?" BB-8 asks behind me.

"Of course," I say. "Right Finn? Can she tap into our comm frequencies?"

"Yeah, no problem."

I lower the plane onto a rocky surface and the bottom crunches to a halt. I cringe. Oops. I'll have to apologize to Poe next time I see him. If I ever see him again, that is.

"You ready?" I turn to Finn.

"As ready as I'll ever be to raid the catacombs of an ancient Jedi temple, where the Galaxy's most dangerous weapon is locked up."

I roll my eyes and turn off the engine. Finn opens the hatch and I look down at all the stones and crumbling ruins that look as though they're going to collapse into the ocean at any moment.

"BB-8," I turn to her. "You'll just have to stay in here and wait for us."

She beeps.

"We won't be long," I say, then climb out.

The rocks slide beneath our feet as we make our way to the main area of the temple. Endless steps lead in many directions but our destination is visible up ahead, the tall center of the temple sticks out like a beacon in the fog.

Finn falls behind, somehow finding every loose stone to slip on. I grab his arm before he slides down the side of the cliff into the water below.

"Thanks," he says.

When we reach the sanctuary I breathe a sigh of relief. Here the ground is solid and we're closer to our destination. I stop to look up at the broken ceiling, open to the sky above. A few lonely stars twinkle in the dark blue sky, away from the fading sun that never sets. They seem impossibly far away, like we could never travel there, and yet Kylo is much farther than those two stars.

"Which way now?" I ask Finn.

He points to the other side of the sanctuary and I start to run, my boots crunching loose gravel on the stone floor. Finn follows.

"Here," he says, stopping and pointing down to the ground.

Cool, musky air escapes up through a dark hole in the floor. I step back. There's a rope ladder leading down into the darkness below.

"Seriously?" I say.

Finn shrugs. "Well at least I haven't seen any guards around."

I sigh. "You never know."

Finn pulls out a blaster and I wave my hand at him. "Put that away. If you shoot that thing here the whole place will crumble into the ocean." I crouch down and look into the hole. Another cool breeze wafts up, smelling of mildew and rotten things. "Do you have a light?"

"No," Finn frowns.

I set my hands onto the cold stone, preparing to climb down. Faint voices float up from the catacombs, children's voices, some crying, some talking. It's so faint that I wonder if I'm just imagining it.

"Can you hear that?" I look up at Finn.

"What?"

"The voices."

He shakes his head then crouches down beside me to listen.

I hear them more clearly this time but Finn is unfazed.

"I don't hear anything." He looks at me. "Why, do you hear something?"

I don't answer but start climbing down the rope ladder, kicking up dust from around the edge of the hole in the ground. I can do this. I have to. For the planets and animals and for Kylo.

I continue on down, imagining a long drop. But I reach the bottom faster than I expect.

"It's not too far down," I call up to Finn. He's still waiting at the top and I can't help but shake my head at him. "I can go look for it by myself, if you want to guard the entrance."

"No, I'm coming." Finn heads down.

I hear the voices again. I know they're not real people, but spirits of ages past. I try to block them out, the distant screams that echo in my mind.

"Hurry Finn," I say, wrapping my arms around myself. "We have to get back to BB-8."

Finn jumps from the ladder with a thud, startling me.

"You okay?" he asks from somewhere in the dark. My eyes are still adjusting to the dim lighting and I look down the long cave-like passageway. There are pillars on either side, made of thousands of flat stones stacked onto one another. A dim blue light, like moon shine, illuminates the cavern all the way down to the other side.

"Do you see that?" I ask.

"The light?" Finn says.

"Yeah." I sigh, wiping the sweat off my forehead. "Thank goodness you see it too."

"It's in the air."

I look around. He's right, the dust floating in the air has some kind of energy that makes it glow. I cover my mouth with my hand. "Maybe we shouldn't breathe it in."

Finn nods and covers his mouth as well. "At the end of the hall is where it should be, in the last tomb."

I groan. Of course it has to be in some creepy tomb. We walk in silence, our steps echoing off the down the long corridor. Now that my eyes have adjusted I can see caskets on either side of us running all down the passageway, behind the flat rock pillars. They're closed, thankfully, with heavy stone lids. There is definitely no one down here guarding the light saber, other than the spirits of the dead.

A chill runs through me. Why would they bring it here? And yet, I feel the Force all around, pushing in on me, stifling me. It's faint, like a forgotten memory, far away but still quite present, the essence of both the light and the dark side, together in one place, conflicting but in balance. I must be imagining it.

"Are you sure this is where they brought it?" I ask Finn.

"Look," he says, pointing to a tomb with a red glow around the lid edges.

"That's strange," I whisper. "How is the light saber activated in there?" I lean down to push the lid aside. It's quite heavy and Finn rushes to help me.

Stone scrapes against stone, kicking up sparkling dust. I hold my breath. A loud hollow sound echoes through the cavern, so loud it rattles my teeth. The light from the opening on the other end goes dark.

"I think we activated a trap," Finn says, his expression unreadable in the dim light. I cover my mouth again as my breathing becomes heavier and my heart pounds. Kylo's light saber hums behind me. I turn. The red light glows powerfully. It can help us. I reach for it and Finn grabs my wrist.

"Let me," he says.

He reaches in and grasps the handle. The red light immediately closes up leaving me temporarily blinded in the darkness. When my eyes adjust again I see Finn holding the light saber, studying it in his hand.

"Give it to me," I say. My voice sounds harsh to my own ears.

"What?" Finn looks up.

"It's not safe with you." My breathing becomes louder and I no longer care about the potentially radioactive dust. I grab for the light saber and Finn pulls away.

"No, we decided I would carry it, remember?"

"I want it."

"I can't let you have it-"

"Give it to me!" I yell. The sound is amplified in the cavernous hall, not even sounding like me. I throw out my hand at Finn and he goes flying down the corridor to the other end, landing on his back and sliding across the loose stones. He drops the light saber and I run for it.

Finn scrambles to his feet and snatches the light saber seconds before I do. I freeze him in place and he begins to choke.

"I want it."

"Rey..." Finn whispers, his throat sounding dry. "Stop... I can't breathe."

"Finn?" I release him immediately and he falls to the floor, sending more electric dust flying. I kneel down beside him. "I'm so sorry... are you okay?" I ask.

"I'm... okay," Finn says, his voice sounding tight. He rubs at his neck and avoids looking at me.

"I don't know what came over me. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine." Finn is still breathing hard and his right arm is behind his back, hiding the light saber from my view.

"Keep it out of sight," I say. "We've got it now and we need to get back to BB-8."

Finn nods and gets up off the ground. We look up. The opening is now closed with a wooden trap door. I climb up the wobbly rope steps and push on the door. It's latched shut.

"What are we going to do? Should I blast it open?" Finn says.

"I got this," I say, closing my eyes. The glowing dust seems to energize me, I can feel it closing in on me as I tap into the Force. My fingers on the wood above me absorb its shape and size. I envision it in my mind. I see the outside and the latch. I coax it open, as though asking it to do my bidding. It moves ever so slowly. I take deliberate breaths, focusing, concentrating.

I hear a click and I push up.

"Nice!" Finn cheers from below as the light floods down on us.

"Thanks." I wipe the sweat off my brow. "Now let's get out of here."