Prepare yourselves....

Author's Note: To my regular readers, please read to the very 'end' of this chapter before you break down in despair :P or go to the next one if you get too nervous while reading XP I know how important Reylo is to you all, and I wouldn't betray that #ReyloForever. This chapter was very hard to write, but it is what it needed to be. Love u all and thanks for reading!

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As the Eagle flies
The body of Rey lies
Waiting for the return
Of her soul, from the skies

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"I heard Snoke!" Finn says, challenging Rey. "He said if you go to Ahch-To, you'll die."

We're orbiting Ahch-To, about to go down for a landing, but Finn is stalling at the controls.

Rey crosses her arms, the look in her eyes is making me nervous and I'm not even the one arguing with her.

"I heard him too," she says to Finn. "But I'm choosing not to listen."

"Maybe you should listen."

"You're telling me to listen to Snoke?"

"I'm telling you to stay alive!" Finn looks to me for back-up but I'm not getting involved.

"We're stronger together," Mom says.

Suddenly a sick feeling washes over me. Mom and I exchange a glance. She feels it too.

"Snoke's got the sword," I say to Rey and Finn.

"What?" They say at the same time.

"We have to go," Mom says. Finn sighs and starts our descent.

* * *

When we land on the Temple island Finn is the first one out of the spacecraft. I'd be more concerned about myself if I were him, than Rey. She's a thousand times stronger than he is. Yet I can't shake his words from moments ago. It only takes a little doubt to give Snoke the advantage, and somehow Finn always seems to find that bit of doubt and hang onto it.

I take Rey's hand before she heads out of the ship.

"Let's do this together," I say to her. I don't add the rest of what I'm thinking, that if she dies, I will not live without her. She reaches up and gives me a quick kiss on the lips.

"We'll end this today," she says, then we run out into the wind together.

* * *

"He's not down here," Finn says from below in the catacombs.

"Are you sure?" Mom calls over the rushing of the wind.

"I feel him," Rey says to me, a worried expression on her face. Or maybe it's fear in her eyes. Was Finn right? Should she have stayed away? If she can feel Snoke then that means he can feel her too. Will he manipulate her again? She unclips her light saber from her belt and runs off ahead of me.

"Rey! Wait..." I run after her. "Finn," I call over my shoulder, stopping for a second. He's stepping up from the opening in the ground. "Stay here with the General." I ignore the annoyed look he gives me and run after Rey. She's fast, especially on stairs, running up an endless path that leads into the fog above. I take three stairs at a time, trying to catch up to her. The ocean rages below us, the waves reaching so high that they splash the steps, making them slippery.

Rey... wait. Be careful,  I call to her. I can tell she's not just going after Snoke, there's something else driving her forward, a worry for Luke I think. She reaches the top before I do and a flash of light blinds me for a second. Rey cries out.

I hurry up the final steps and see Snoke, yielding the red light saber, fighting Luke, who looks injured. Snoke's not hunched over anymore, or even old looking. His eyes glow red and his full height is unnaturally tall as he swings his sword now at Rey. His face is no longer that of a twisted old man but rather the face of one of the Sith Lords I killed in order to strengthen the red sword, as though he's come back to life, in Snoke.

Rey blocks his attack and Luke falls, weak from the battle that had been going on before we showed up.

Rey swings her light saber but Snoke forces her back with a wave of his hand and she goes flying. I stop her fall against the rocks with my Force energy.

She looks at me and gives me the boost signal that we came up with during our training practice on Yavin_4. I nod to her and she runs ahead, charging at Snoke. She signals for the jump and I boost her up high. She goes flying into the air, bringing her light saber down hard toward Snoke's head. He blocks the attack with his light saber and the two crystals spark against each other. Rey is thrown back. She slows her own fall this time and reaches out her hand to me. Snoke is distracted by Luke once again and I run to Rey, taking her hand.

Let's jump together and attack, she says.

I nod and we start to run full speed towards Snoke. Luke falls before him and he raises his red sword to finish Luke off.

Rey lets go of my hand and we jump up at the same time, raising our swords above our heads. With a loud cry I slash down just as Snoke turns. His light saber swings up and blocks my blow, but Rey's hits his shoulder. He cries out and force blasts her away from him before she can cut his arm off. I fall too, landing hard on my back. My vision blurs for a second and then I see the red sword, coming down towards me.

It stops as Snoke freezes in mid attack. His red eyes glance past me, glowing with anger. I get up and look behind me. Mom is standing there with her arm outstretched, holding Snoke back. Finn runs to Luke, helping him up. Blood flows from his side.

Mom has Snoke in a Force hold but she can't hold him off for long. I help her, then Rey is beside me too, doing the same thing. Snoke can't move, his red eyes looking from Rey, to me, then Mom. For a second I see a moment of doubt cross his face.

The cry of the Eagle above us pierces through the rushing sounds of wind and waves. My muscles relax. The Eagle's thoughts enter mine, like a message I immediately understand, but not in words. I reach for Rey's hand and close my eyes. She clasps my hand tight and thunder rumbles around us, shaking the ground. I open my eyes again. Dark clouds gather above.

"You will die today," Snoke says to Rey, pushing back against our hold. Mom's strength wavers but Rey holds strong. The wind picks up speed, whipping dust and debris all around.

"Ben!" Mom calls out, but I can't reply. I have to focus. Rey is concentrating too. "The waves are getting too high."

Energy builds around us in the air, sparking off of our swords. 

A bolt of lightning lights up the sky, shooting down at Snoke, the sound deafening.

Snoke cries out as the lighting hits him. He drops his red light saber.

"Ben!" Mom yells. I reach for the light saber just as a wave of water washes up, knocking me over and taking the light saber away from my grasp. The water disappears over the edge of the cliff, back into the ocean below. My heart grips tight as I see Mom being pulled over the edge with it.

"Mom!" I yell, reaching to pull her back with as much Force energy as I can extend out that far. I run to her, tumbling onto my knees on the slippery stone and grab her hand just before she falls into the dark waters below. Mom tries to yell something up to me but the storm rages too loudly around us for me to hear.

Rey!  Mom says. Snoke threw her off the side of the cliff.

I pull her up over the edge then turn to look for Rey. The wind blows ice-cold rain in my face and I can't see her anywhere. Snoke stands in the downpour, his shoulders heaving, the red sword is in his hand again. He smiles.

"Rey!" I yell.

"Ben," Mom grabs my arm, pointing towards the cliff's edge on the other side. "Over there! She went over on that side. Forget Snoke. It's not possible to defeat him. He's too strong now."

I run to look over the edge of the cliff where Mom was pointing and feel a blast of Force energy from behind me as Snoke pushes me forward. I fly out across the waters below, catching a glimpse of the Eagle flying in the rain. He's holding Rey in his claws, flapping his wings with effort as he lowers her onto a massive flat rock. I plunge into the freezing waters below, a tightness gripping my chest as I'm reminded of the last time I fell in the oceans of Ahch-To. Only this time I want to swim up, as fast as I can. I kick off my boots and unlatch my belt to remove my cloak. My air runs out fast. 

I grab my light saber at the last moment before the belt and cloak float down into the depths below. A wave throws me into the side of the rock cliff. Pain shoots through my shoulder as it hits hard against the rock. The wave retreats and I grab onto the roots of a lonely tree growing between a crack in the stone. I gulp in air before the next wave hits me, pushing me into the rock wall again. I pull myself up onto the tree's trunk, using it to climb out of the water onto a rock ledge.

I see the bird sitting tall beside Rey, who is unmoving and laying on her side. Another wave comes, almost knocking me off my feet as the water rushes past, up to my knees. I have a better chance of force boosting myself towards the flat rock that Rey is on, than trying to swim to it. I look up but the top of the island isn't visible through the fog and rain.

Mom...

There's no response but I can't help them both. I take the leap and the Eagle cries out. Waves splash below me as I jump. I hit the edge of the flat rock with a hard thump, knocking the wind out of me and almost sliding back down into the water. My foot catches a crack in the rock, giving me a foothold. I climb up, seconds before another wave comes up to wash me away.

The great Eagle waits, watching me.

Thank you,   I look at the eagle but it makes no acknowledgement of me.

I crawl to Rey and pull her into my lap. Her arms are limp and her head rolls to the side. I touch her cheek, turning her to face me. She's cold to the touch and unnaturally pale.

"Rey?" My heart races. I set my hand to her throat to check for a pulse.

"No..." I take her wrist in my hand. Again there is no pulse. "Rey.... No...."

The waves have calmed down and the rain has stopped. The wind no longer blows. A stillness settles around me as though time itself has stopped. Rey's heart too, has stopped.

A red light catches my eye and I look up. Snoke is standing at the edge of the cliff with the red light saber, looking down at us and smiling.

Anger burns through me, so fierce, so full, so raw that my body trembles. I lower Rey down gently, my eyes still on Snoke. 

I'm going to kill him.

I run to the rock's edge and jump with an upward force blast so strong that I land right at the cliff's edge where Snoke stands. The smirk on his face wavers for a second.

"Tragic," he says. "But I warned you that she would die if she came."

My hand reaches out and the red sword flies from Snoke's hand into mine. Revenge fuels the power of the Dark side to me, an anger so strong that even Snoke could not manifest such a hatred within himself.

I lunge forward, piercing Snoke through with the red sword, before he even has time to react. His eyes grow wide.

"No..." he says. "You can't kill me... I can't die..."

"I warned you Snoke," I growl from deep within my chest. "That you would die today."

Snoke's throat gurgles and he drops down, falling to the ground. A gust of wind moves his cloak as it lands on the rock, hollow, his form dissipated and gone, forever.

The red light saber retracts and spins on the rock surface before becoming still. I reach down and pick it up. So much power, so much death, all in one sword. With a loud shout I toss it into the ocean.

The Eagle cries out as the light saber splashes into the waters below.

I'm still alive. Snoke is dead and I'm still alive. I could have killed him long ago. He was lying this whole time, that I would die too if he died. And I believed him. For all I know he too believed his death would kill me. But it didn't. I was no longer his after my cleansing in the waters of Ahch-To. I should have realized that.

The Eagle calls out again and this time I recognize the sound from the last time I felt this much despair.

Rey...

I look up. She's there in the Eagle, looking down on me from its eyes. I run to the cliff's edge and jump, pushing off the water below to catapult myself forward to the flat rock where Rey's body lies.

The Eagle circles above us. I hurry to Rey and lift her into my arms.

In the power of the Force, we have life, not death,

I repeat the mantra Luke taught me long ago.

With the Force we bring peace and balance and life...

I repeat the mantra and another voice joins mine in my thoughts. It's Uncle Luke. I stop and listen to his words.

As the Eagle flies
The body of Rey lies
Waiting for the return
Of her soul, from the skies

I look up and the Eagle spreads its wings wide then lifts its head.

Rey gasps in my arms, sitting up suddenly and taking deep breaths. She's alive.

My chest aches and I lean my face down to the stone, then begin to cry.

"Ben?" Rey says. Her hand rests on the back of my head and I hear the loud splash of the massive bird as it lands into the waters from the sky above, dead. Rey wraps her cold arms around me.

It's finally over. Snoke is dead and Rey and I are free.