"Rey you have to get ahold of yourself!" Luke called out to his student.

Rey was supposed to be practicing sword techniques in the waist high water. Instead, she was hyperventilating.

"I... I'm... s-sor-ry." She called back to her Master through shaky breaths.

She couldn't get enough air in her lungs and when she did, she couldn't get it back out again. Her feet were as steady as they could be against the threatening undertow. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing but the darkness behind her eyelids only sharpened the image in her mind of the grasping hands at her ankles. She squeezed her lightsaber in her hands until they hurt. Her arms shook and she shivered against the cold that was slowly sucking the strength from her body. She was so lost in her fear that she hadn't noticed when Luke had joined her in the water. He'd come to collect her after witnessing her inability to do... well, anything. She was literally frozen in fear. Her only movements came from the pulling waves rocking her back and forth and her uncontrollable shivering.

Luke rested his hand on her shoulder and she spun in the water, her lightsaber slashing the air around her. He used the Force to stop the plasma of her blade mere inches from his face. Crystalline tears glistened under the sun over head as they slide down Rey's face. She wanted to apologize but her voice wouldn't work. Luke gently rested his hand on hers and disengaged her lightsaber, then he wrapped his right arm around her and helped guid her sluggish body back to the shoreline.

This was the furthest she'd made it out. He was challenging her to push herself and she was extra determined today. They both thought she'd be able to control her fear this time. She had gone several feet further then she normally did, it was a good start to a bad end. He was proud of her but he also couldn't deny the slight pang of disappointment he felt towards her overwhelming fear. Fear was a dangerous slop, now she was hyperventilating and lashing out in it. It was not a good sign. Trudging forward, he'd left her standing on the shoreline with her arms wrapped around herself protectively, and soon after, he'd gathered his cloak and wrapped it warmly around her shoulders. By the time he had built a fire on the beach her fear had settled enough where she was able to move to it on her own.

He eyed her through the flames. The sun had been going down and the clouds over head were darkening. They couldn't stay out in the open long tonight. He could sense a change in her and so did the Force around them. She had been extra focused during her training all day but she seemed to be fighting against something in her mind. Luke could tell how personal this training session had been to her. She clearly had something to prove to herself and through her determination, she was projecting dangerous emotions without realizing it. She was angry, frustrated, and resolute all at the same time. Something had happened between now and when he'd left her the day before, he just didn't know what. Of course, he wasn't blind. Luke noticed that nearly all of the cuts, scrapes and marks had seemingly disappeared overnight, and when he'd inquired about it, his student had shut down and focused even more intently on her lessons. Force sensitive's emotions effected the weather on the island, and hers were erratic, at best.

"You need to learn to control your emotions. Especially the fear." He stated for at least the fifth time since they'd been out here.

Ever hard on herself, Rey bowed her head in shame and her instructor didn't correct her internal reprimands.

"Fear is the..."

"—Path to the dark side." Her voice fell in unison with his. "I know." She said, her eyes glancing back over her shoulders to the angry rolling waves behind her.

She use to imagine an ocean in her mind and it would calm her. She had no idea how she'd been so accurate with the image her mind's eye had created to sooth her. She'd never seen an ocean before she came here. The real thing terrified her. All of that endless darkness always seemed to be reaching out for her, threatening to swallow her up and drag her down to the bottom where she would never be free again.

"Lets go." Luke stood up, propelling himself to his feet with a new determination. She followed without questioning him. It wasn't until he stood in the licking waves that she showed any hesitation.

"Well?" He motioned to her to come to him. She reluctantly neared him, stopping just ahead of him and just out of reach from the watery tendrils. He turned and headed out into deeper water. He was at his thighs before he noticed she wasn't following him.

"Rey, you have to learn to control your fear. If you can not then we have already lost." He called out as gently as he could, his voice competing with the sound of the lapping waves which were gradually increasing in size.

Her face hardened and her fists balled at her sides. She began inching out towards him. Her eyes locked onto his and as she waded out into deeper water, she found herself reaching for him. An image flashed between them then.

She was a small girl, back on Jakku. She was pleading with him not to leave her. To her surprise he didn't reach for her in the vision and he didn't reach out for her now. She froze. Her eyes still locked with his. The waves still pulled at her but in this moment she didn't notice them. He swallowed and she swore she heard the silent motion over the waves and wind that was building up around them.

Her chest swelled and before she could develop any conclusions about what she'd thought she'd just remembered, he reached for her and it all fell away. Whatever she'd thought she'd seen had been nothing.

Of course it was just her fears planting insecurities in her head. Relief washed over her.

Luke was quick to send her reassurance through the Force, she wasn't ready to know what he knew yet. The box holding her memories was becoming more fragile daily. Sometimes by the hour, but that depended on her contact with Kylo Ren through the Force bond they shared. He knew it was easy to ignore the things you didn't want to believe and so he hoped that Rey would cast aside the memory they had just shared.

She continued to move for him but as she stepped forward, he stepped back. At first she didn't notice this but slowly, as the water hugged her hips again, she began to notice the bitting cold seeping in. For the second time tonight her body started to betray her and her feet started to get heavy. Just as she buried her toes in the squishy sand underfoot, he Force pulled her.

Her body cut and dragged through the water until she was just in front of him. The hyperventilating started again. Water sprayed along her face and her arms desperately pulled and fought against the endless liquid body around her trying to escape its clutches. She fought against his invisible hold but Luke held her there with out remorse. She could feel the throat like organ that was the undertow trying to swallow her whole. The white tips would serve as the fangs that would devour her before she would be consumed down into the blackness.

"Let your fear go, Rey!" Luke demanded. "Throw it away, you don't need it." He continued, his words stern.

But Rey couldn't see him. Mustafar, in this moment, she could barely hear him. The water pulled at her with an urgency. The waves picked up and the clouds over head got darker. Luke looked overhead then back at the girl struggling in front of him. It was her instability that was causing the disruption of the weather on the island. It was after all, an island with a Force sensitive atmosphere.

Luke closed his eyes and focused on bringing harmony to the disturbance. She was so erratic that he struggled to balance the scale. He could feel her anger welling up. Her fight or flight was kicking in and she'd already tried the flight part. It hadn't worked. When he opened his eyes again she was staring at him. Her hazel eyes burned in the twilight like eerie blue specters. He lost his focus and dropped the Force pull he had on her.

The water around her began to part as though repulsed by her. Then he felt it. Her Force pushed against his. It was a slow gradual push and water around her moved away from her all the way down to her feet. She had created some kind of force shield by the likes of which he'd never seen. The basic purpose of a Force shield was to protect it's bearer from whatever they deemed a threat and right now, it was the water around her and apparently himself as well.

"Rey?" He tried.

Her eyes burned brighter and a soft glow radiated from her skin. The water around her reflected off of the faint glow. Luke eyed the shimmering shield she had created. It was astounding. He'd seen Jedi use Force fields before but it was usually a small mobile circumference just larger then the wielders hand. Then again there weren't many Force wielders left after, Vader.

There was a familiar signature mixed with hers and he expected it to be his nephew, but it wasn't. That's when Luke's own anger began to mingle with the already fragile atmosphere around them. It had been a long time but he remembered that signature. It was an old presence that he thought he'd buried and left with the corpses of his fallen students, apprentices, and former acolytes, a long time ago.

Rey turned from him without warning and began towards the shoreline. She had almost made it when she suddenly collapsed. He moved for her without hesitation. Using the Force to aid him, he lifted her unconscious form from the water and brought her to the temple. It wasn't a long walk but it wasn't a short one either. Lightning had already started flickering above them and although she was still unconscious, he sensed a growing darkness. His pace quickened with his pulse. He was going to do something he hadn't attempted since the fall of his nephew, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

These meddling Masters had some explaining to do. He thought, as a rumble rolled through the electric clouds above them.

Voices where pulling at the blanket of Rey's unconsciousness, disrupting her dreamless sleep in a way that left her head aching. She wanted her eyes to open but they refused. Physically she was fighting to keep that blanket wrapped around her a little longer but mentally she was demanding her body respond to her commands. When she did wake, she knew she was leaning against something hard. Her body was half slouched over and she was pretty uncomfortable.

What in the Wookiee was going on? She wondered, through the haziness in her brain.

"That's not what I asked, I know you were there Kenobi!" Luke accused. "Why were you there? And don't feed me your confusing riddles about the Force and destiny or whatever." He was clearly frustrated but Rey was more intrigued with the whom, of who he was talking to.

Luke had forbidden any tech on the island but she couldn't help but wonder if he was using an emergency line to contact members of the Resistance in dire situations. After some struggling her eyes finally started to flinch under their lids. She was slowly regaining her consciousness.

"Luke, you know why I was there. Feigning ignorance does not suit you old friend." An older mans accented voice replied calmly.

Though soft, the voice was as clear as if they were in the same room and now Rey was left wondering if their supply shipment had arrived earlier then scheduled and with it, perhaps some new faces? Already extremely curious, Rey found the strength to open her heavy lids when a third voice chimed in. Her hazy eyes fluttered as she listened to a new voice which spoke in a very unusual manner.

"Control your rage you must! Slipping further from the light you are, young Master." The voice was almost raspy but it still managed to be clear and concise. She'd never heard some one speak the way this voice did. it was peculiar, the way their sentences were constructed.

Rey's vision returned slowly but she knew from her surroundings that she was somewhere just beyond the breach to a hidden cave just like the one her Master had kept all of those artifacts in. She shifted her weight against the stone wall and she almost slide down it.

"Arrived your young apprentice has, awakened has your student." The voice added another layer of confusion to the already stacked pile of questions Rey was building up in her head. Luke bent back so he could peek around the corner at his student who was indeed getting to her feet. He moved to help her but she held up a hand in protest.

"Rey," He began, but she cut him off.

"Not yet." She snipped. With one hand up to silence him and her eyes glued to the front in an attempt to avoid his clear blue gaze, she moved past him on shaky legs. She really was beginning to miss her walking staff.

"Oh. My. Force!" She turned back to Luke, her eyes shooting plasma bolts at him. "Am I dead? You let me drown?" It was supposed to be a question but it was more of an accusation.

His face scrunched in confusion but after only a moment of contemplation, he rolled his eyes.

"No, your not dead." He dismissed her line of thought as though it were ridiculous.

Rey's face slacked, her shock and outrage replaced by curiosity and excitement. She blinked several times at the group of Force highlighted figures, then leaned closer into Luke.

"Are they... dead? They are aren't they?" She was as disturbed as she was fascinated. She couldn't even help the smile that splayed across her lips when she realized she was looking at ghosts. Real in the... eh... plasma, ghosts!

"Yes, they are. They're Force ghosts, Jedi who united with the will of the Force upon death. They retained their individuality within the Force and so long as they can draw on a Force-sensitive such as our selves, they can remain on our plane." He explained as though it were just that simple.

Luke suddenly froze and Rey quickly eyed him curiously before returning to the two Jedi from the beyond.

"What is it!" She asked Luke softly, her eyes still locked in fascination on the ghosts.

"Probably nothing to worry over." He turned and marched out of the cave, leaving her behind and calling out to the ghosts before he hit the exit. "We're not done!" His bushy eyebrows raised and he wagged a finger at the spirits before vanishing behind the stone wall that led out of the cave.

Rey' s eyes widened as a third spirit suddenly appeared. In her unabashed excitement she grinned the widest toothy grin she ever had in her entire life.

"I'm so sorry," she nearly snorted as she stared at the three apparitions. "I'm being so rude!" Her declaration did nothing to dampen her excitement and she continued to gawk at them. The serious air about the room seemed to leave with Luke and now the ghosts were all smiling warmly back at her, too.

The human male that Luke had been speaking with greeted her first. He held a hand out to her and she stared at it a few seconds before awkwardly extending her own hand. The ghost cupped her hand in both of his and stepped closer. Rey was astounded to feel his hands over hers. Her smile fell away replaced by a slack, opened jaw.

"Obi Wan Kenobi, and it is a pleasure to finally meet you, granddaughter." His bright blue eyes beamed with joy and pride. At first Rey completely missed what he'd called her.

"D-do you mean?" She barely breathed. The shock of what she was thinking she'd heard taking the wind right out of her lungs.

The specter nodded warmly and his arms opened wide as if welcoming her closer.

Rey hesitated in her thoughts for only a moment before her eyes watered and she threw herself into his arms. She nearly knocked the air right out of his old lungs but she didn't let up, he was already dead after all. His arms wrapped around her and his hand cupped the back of hear head lovingly.

"I'd hold you forever if I could, but I fear we have little time for that now." He pulled free from her embrace, wiped the silver tears from her cheeks and held her biceps in his hands directing her attention to his now sullen state. "I'm afraid Luke has lost his way and in his confusion he has forgotten the path of the Jedi." Her grandfather said sadly.

"I have seen the Journal of the Whills grandfather, I understand why Luke veers from the restrictions of the Jedi code and the teachings of the council that came before him." She was reluctant to speak of such things without her Master present and she really wanted to ask about her parents, their whereabouts, history or other things family related for that matter, but Obi Wan shook his head.

"I know you have many questions child and we will have time to discuss these things but rest assured you were loved, always and forever. Your parents loved you the best they could in the circumstances they were given. Sadly they are no longer with us but I know they loved you until the end." He tried to sooth her curiosity while being fair to her emotions and the time they had left.

"Are they Force ghosts, too? Can I meet them?" She asked with a hopeful light about her. Obi Wan shook his head.

"I'm sorry child but they were not Jedi." His hands moved to either side of her face. He watched her hope shatter around her and so he tried his hardest to hold her together. "I am here with you, I have always been here with you." He placed a light kiss on her fore head and she found herself wrapping her arms around him again. She had family. A powerful lineage. Heck, she was a Kenobi! She had to fight not to squeal into his chest as she held him.

The little green spirit cleared his throat. "Hurry we must, coming darkness is." The strange creature said. Rey reluctantly broke from her grandfather's hold. She turned to the two other ghosts. She eyed the little green man with the big ears and little face.

"Your Yoda!" She identified him with confidence, her memory of the great Jedi masters coming back to her from no where.

"Right you are young one." He smiled warmly at her and she couldn't help but return the gesture.

"You trained, Master Luke."

"Train him I did, but lost he is now." His face dropped with sadness. He clearly had a fondness for his former apprentice.

"I don't understand, I've seen The Journal of Whills with my own eyes. They speak of a balance between the light and dark. They tell of the original Jedi and how they were able to find a harmony between the two sides of the Force. How is Master Luke wrong in his beliefs if he is reflecting what the original ways were?"

"Consumed by loss and pain is our young, Skywalker. Dimming your light, he is." Yoda's face deepened with sorrow and his gaze softened as he searched Rey's eyes for her acknowledgment. Instead, they narrowed at him and her exterior hardened.

"With all due respect, your wrong!" She said sternly. It was her grandfather who spoke up next.

"Rey my dear, I'm afraid it's true."

She whipped around to face him, tears building in her eyes. "Your mistaken, Master Luke is teaching me to be a balance."

"Perhaps it can be done, but this is not the way." His statement paralleled that of Kylo Ren's words only a day ago.

"Darkness guides his training." A third voice chimed in. Rey turned towards it but she didn't need to see who had spoken, it could have only been the third ghost; the one who had appeared after Luke had left.

He was a young man with longer wispy brown curls. His face was youthful and fresh. A thin scare ran along his right brow but that was the only harsh feature belonging to his handsome face. She had recognized Yoda after meeting Obi Wan, but she didn't know this new Jedi spirit.

He bowed his head. "Forgive me," He reached out before introducing himself, took her hand in his and lifted it to his mouth. "My name is Anakin Skywalker." Just following the announcement of his last name, he planted a gentle kiss on the top of her hand. To her credit, she was startled by the strange action for only a moment before coming to her senses.

"Your Luke's father?" She asked suddenly doe eyed. This was not what she expected Darth Vader to look like. She surprised herself when her thoughts drifted back to the first time she'd seen Kylo Ren with out his helmet on. "I guess it runs in the family." She thoughtlessly said out loud.

Anakin smiled warmly at her.

"Unlike my grandson, I didn't retain my boyish charms after I donned my mask." His face suddenly shifted.

He was damaged, aged, and near decrepit. His skin was ashen gray and his hair was all gone. He had burns and scars running over the once smooth skin and his eyes had sunken deep into his skull. Some kind of breathing apparatus was attached permanently to his jaw giving him the help he needed to breath while adding a distortion to mask his once charming voice.

Rey wanted to pull back from him but she stood her ground even after the shock of the change had worn off. She audibly swallowed when her eyes met with his. Recognizing what weighed his almost grey, blue eyes down, Rey's heart fell. She was beginning to think the familiar sadness within his eyes, was also a trait that ran in the Skywalker family. Her hand unconsciously moved to the side of his face and her fingers gently grazed his cheek.
His face changed again and she had to stifle a gasp as his form shifted under her touch. Once more he was young and vigorous. There was a stifling darkness behind his eyes but there was also just as much light. The two swirled together in a spiral of despair and hope creating a hypnotizing yin and yang of light and dark.

"I can see why my grandson is so taken with you, your light is blinding." He said with his naturally flirtatious charm.

Rey pulled her hand away but he caught it in his. His smile fell away and he suddenly looked so breakable.

"Luke has done what I never though he could, he has given up on my grandson." Anakin's voice dropped in defeat. He grieved for his grandchild as though he had already lost him.

He looked away as he admitted his son's transgression. Then just as quickly, his eyes lit up with the hope she had seen fighting against his darkness only moments ago. He squeezed her hand in his. "Luke must find his way back to the light on his own but through out your journey together I'm sure your light will influence him." He shook his head thinking about his family and the choices they make.

"It is a weakness that the Skywalker's should feel so deeply, that we should rock so often from light to dark and back again. Try as hard as we may not to be—we are inherently passionate. Our sensitivity to the Force only enhances our feelings and so we are easily led by our emotions. If learned in the ancient Jedi ways, we would be primes, but in the current state of the Jedi code, we are susceptible and weak. With little room to bend in the constraints of the Jedi ways as we know them now, we are easily manipulated and we break against the overwhelming confinements which hold us down. It is our family curse that we continue to struggle between our hearts and our minds. To end our suffering there must be a balance for us to thrive in."

"Our families have always worked together to maintain the light." Obi Wan stepped back into the conversation.

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Tell the truth old man." He said, teasing his former mentor. "Your family has always babysat mine." He snickered.

Now it was Obi Wan who changed in appearance. He became youthful and confident. His hair lIghtened to a sandy blond with an orange hue. His piercing blue eyes were electric against his masculine features and they still shone more brightly with mischief and wit. Even his beard thickened with his virility.

"Who are you calling an old man?" He challenged in a thick accent that sounded an awful lot like her own. He turned to his grandchild, which seemed ridiculous to think on now that he looked maybe ten years her senior. "It's true, we Kenobi's have always been somewhat the guardians to the Skywalker's. It has always been in our nature to guid and befriend them, even against our better instincts." He quipped, nudging Anakin mentally with his eyes. The two men laughed in reference to their pokes at one another and she could tell they were as close to brothers as any non blood relation could be. The two shared a close bond that she imagined fueled as many fights amongst each other, as it did protecting one another.

"I made the mistake of turning my back on Anakin when he needed me the most. Consumed by grief and confusion, I lost faith in my apprentice and Luke has done the same to his nephew. When we are lost in our pain, we often hurt and even destroy those closest to us. Luke feels the Jedi council has betrayed him and he refuses to listen to us." Her grandfather looked on her with the severity of his older form and it was intimidating coming from the youthful man that stood before her now.

Anakin addressed her again. "You know who I became and I'm sure you know of the things I've done." He eyed Rey and his gaze penetrated far past her exterior, the power in his eyes was frightening and they reminded her very much of Kylo Ren. "I'm begging you not to let my grandson follow the same path I once walked." Rey opened her mouth even before she knew what she'd say. It didn't matter though since before anything came out, Anakin was silencing her. "I know you care and even though you can't understand why now, believe that in time, all will become clear to you." He added.

Her shoulders dropped in defeat and her eyes followed, finding their way to the dirt floor. "How am I supposed to help some one I can't even stand?" Rey asked through heated cheeks, her embarrassment stemming from how childish she knew she sounded. She must have appeared so pathetic to the great Jedi around her.

With the crook of his index finger, her grandfather gently lifted her chin until their eyes met. "Because my dear girl, it is in your nature to help those who need it, to fix what has been broken." He looked at her with such pride in his eyes. She had only known him a few minuets but she had never felt more love and acceptance in her whole existence.

"Out of time we are." Yoda suddenly broke the daze she had fallen in while looking up at her grandfather.

Realizing she had little time left with him, she tried to memorize everything about him. If it meant that this moment would never end, she never wanted to close her eyes again. His smile was the most sincere she'd ever seen. She knew from that smile alone no matter what the rules dictated he do, he always made choices based off of honor and truth. He lived by his own code, armed only with his wits, integrity and a lightsaber. She was betting however, that he like Anakin, had gotten his way out of a fight or two with his charm alone.

His eyes were wise and just as warm as they were playful and coupled with the small laugh lines that hugged their corners, she imagined he must have been quite the mischief maker. Not the trouble making kind, but the kind of man who followed his heart and often found himself in tough situations because of it. She wanted to sit with him for hours and learn everything about him and their family. Her eyes sheened over with unshed tears.

I just found you and this could be the last time I ever get to see you again. She wouldn't say it out loud. Rey couldn't allow herself to appear that desperate in front of the Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi, her grandfather, her family.

"Don't worry, this isn't the end, but the beginning." He comforted her as though he understood her turmoil.

It was Anakin who pulled her from her stare, he squeezed the hand he still held as he faded away. His final words hung in the air like mist for several seconds before joining him in the beyond, or where ever he went. "Help me Kira Kenobi, you are my only hope!" He said with a playful smile, his fading eyes flashing between she and her grandfather as he leaned into the pair of them with an exaggerated plea for help. The joke between the two men was clearly over Rey's head, but Rey didn't miss the name he'd called her before disappearing.

"Kira?" Rey questioned. "Was that my birth name?" She asked the still young form of her grandfather. He smiled through an exhale.

"It was, but I prefer your chosen name. It suits you better, my little ray of hope." He said caressing her chin with his thumb. "You have grown into an extraordinary young woman and you will accomplish a great many things. Never lose your compassion, never lose your hope and Rey, may the Force always be with you." He said before he too faded into nothingness.

Tears fell from Rey's eyes and she no longer made an effort to hold them at bay.

"Fear you must not, see us again you will! All things the Force surrounds. Guid you it will, follow it you must!" Yoda stepped to the side revealing an opening in the wall that she hadn't noticed before. He lifted his short arm and pointed her in the direction her curiosity was already tempting her to go in. The encouragement of the Legendary Jedi Master only sealed the deal. Her eyes never left the opening as Yoda followed the others into where ever they went when they weren't in the realm of the living.

Rey's feet slowly brought her to the new room. There was a still pool of clear water a few short steps down from the floor she was on now. She couldn't see how deep it was, but it didn't stop her. She marched in sending ripples and splashing waves out from her direction until she stood in the center of the pool. It was just past her waistline and though her body was tense she didn't have the same reaction as she'd had in the ocean. Something told her to lay back in the pool and that's exactly what she decided to do. She was pleasantly surprised when she felt relaxed in the warm water, so she laid her head back and closed her eyes.

That's when it began to move around her, an ink like darkness spread through the water quickly closing in on her. Just as the unease washed over her, her eyes flew open. Black, watery hands reached out across her face, submerging her head into the murky pool. She fought against them, clawing and tearing at the aqua hands that barely fought to hold her head under the water. She could see the surface of the pool above her, but the still glass above refused to break as she fought for her life beneath it. Not even a ripple disturbed the surface as she kicked and thrashed just below. She heard her name being called and her eyes flew in that direction.

Luke searched what appeared to be an empty chamber for his missing student. Rey reached for him through the black water and for a moment she though he may have seen her. Their eyes nearly met, but then he turned and continued his search else where.

She thrashed against her would be watery grave but to no avail. Her vision blurred and her consciousness drifted from her. Against the wishes of her mind, her body relaxed under the overwhelming power of the liquid darkness around her. She felt at ease... so relaxed in the weightless state that she drifted in. Her eyes fluttered closed.

There was a bright light in her face. Tiny blood vessels made her vision seem red behind the protective shields of her eye lids and she covered her face with the back of her arm so she could adjust to the sudden brightness before she opened them. She winced against the unforgiving sun in her eyes and turned her head away from the harsh rays of light. Burying her face in to the pilot's chair she sat in so she could continue to cry. She couldn't understand why they'd left her here.

Didn't they love me anymore? Would they come back? Where they afraid of me after what I'd done?

She wrapped her arms around her small frame and started rocking in the large leather chair. She'd been like this since she'd gotten here, she didn't even know where here was. She was alone, scared and starving. She wasn't really alone of course, there were others, but they weren't her family. And they had offered her food, even tried to get her to come out of the ship, her family's ship, but she'd refused both. She'd moved only to go to the bathroom and then she was right back in the her mothers chair.

She loved when her mother allowed her sit in her lap and let her pretend to fly the LoneStar. Her father was the gunner and co-pilot and together they were unstoppable, or so she thought.

"Kira?" A soft voice interrupted the young child's thoughts.

"Go away!" She demanded through the crook of her elbow. She heard foot steps so she peeked up from the safety of her arm only to find she wasn't alone. A young boy looked across to her. He was much older then her but still young enough that she didn't feel the need to treat him as an elder. Her cheeks heated in embarrassment when she realized she'd fallen for such a childish trick. Her little hands balled into fists and she screamed at him.

"I said go away!"

But his feet didn't move. Instead he held out a jar to her. Her eyes instantly locked on the plain glass jar. There was something flickering within it. No, there were many things flickering within it. Her mouth fell open and she stared as though mesmerized. The boy took a cautious step closer, still holding out the jar to her. She propped herself up in the chair on her toes so she was eye level with the little blinking lights and she looked past the jar to find the boy smiling.

"This is for you." He held the jar out to her at a full arms length so he wouldn't frighten her. She cautiously reached for the gift but before she took it, she froze, eying him wearily.

"What do you want for it?" She asked, suspiciously. The boy tilted his head a bit thrown by the question, then;

"Hmmm," He audibly thought. "I'll tell you what, just let me talk with you for a bit and..." As though he suddenly had an idea, his big brown eyes widened mid sentence. "You have to eat something, then it's yours." He said with a satisfied grin.

She hesitated but after a moment of glancing between his beauty spot, freckled face and the glowing lights in the jar, she silently consented. She carefully took the jar in her small hands. Bringing it to her face, she eyed the little bugs inside and then smiled for the first time since her parents left. For a brief moment, she forgot the boy was even there at all, until he cleared his throat and she blinked at him through the clear glass.

She lowered the jar and peered over the mesh lid. "What are they?" She asked curiously. The boy's smile widened and as though her question had given him permission, he waltzed past her and flung himself into the co-pilot's seat. Kira angrily pushed off of her toes until she was standing up in the pilots chair.

"That's my father's chair!" She growled at him.

He jumped at the unexpected ferocity in her voice.

"Oh, excuse me. I didn't know, that was so rude of me." He said. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he quickly hopped out of the chair.

She instantly regretted her childish outburst. Her parents would have been so disappointed at how awful she had just been to the kind boy.

"Wait, I'm sorry that was..." She lowered her head and attempted to shield her face from his as her eyes brimmed with tears.

"No, really it was my fault. I understand... I..." The boy tried apologizing again.

It made her mad that he was taking the blame for her behavior and she got even more upset when he tried to empathize with her. She was young but she was very astute for her age. After all, both of her parents were scholars and she spent every day of her life exploring and learning with the legendary relic hunters. She was raised to use her brain before her emotions and she'd just spat in the face of that philosophy after only being apart from her parents for a few days.

"Don't try to take the blame for my rude behavior and don't do that." She gestured at him. He shook his head blinking back at her in confusion.

"Don't try to relate to me. My mother says it's impolite to pretend to understand something you don't. She says it's weak to feign knowing something you don't." She scolded him sounding very much like both of their mothers. He eyed her as though she had just morphed into an eight headed creature.

"Sheesh." He rubbed the back of his neck and then continued to ponder over her, still trying to figure her out.

"How old are you again?" He thought out loud.

"It's rude to ask a girl her age, I don't know why, but it is." She wagged a finger at him and lifted her chin.

His eye brows rose, then suddenly, he was laughing at her. Out loud! She huffed and she moved to ball her fists at her sides but then she realized she still had the jar in her hands. She looked down at it, then back at the boy who was whole heartedly laughing at her. She was still standing on the pilots chair and he, while flat on his feet, was almost eye level with her. She looked ridiculous and she knew it.

"I'll be four next quarter." She said suddenly smiling at him. She couldn't help it. His laugh was infectious and she was being so childish. Tears spilled from her eyes as she started to laugh with him... at herself. She hadn't realized when he had stopped laughing until he'd moved closer to her. His hands lifted to either side of her face and his thumbs wiped away her tears. She froze staring at him.

"My parents sent me here a few years ago." He said in a very low, sensitive tone. "I, I did something I shouldn't have and they thought leaving me here with Master Luke would help me. They thought it was best for me but I understand that it was best for them. I know what it's like to be abandoned. I don't have a good reason to be here telling you this, honestly my uncle ordered me here to try to get you to join the others back at the temple; But you know what?" He asked, suddenly very serious.

She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

"Your not some little kid are you? You had to grow up fast too, didn't you?" His brown eyes bore into the gold and green flaked eyes across from him. Large tears rolled down her cheeks and one after the other the pads of his thumbs gently wiped them away.

"They aren't coming back are they?" She asked. Now it was his turn to shake his head.

"No Kira, I don't think they are." His eyes were sad for her, she could see it.

She didn't feel like he was trying to trick her or coax her into anything like the others who had tried to convince her to leave the ship her parents had left with her. It was the only thing they had left for her. They had told Luke to inform her that this was to be hers one day. It was part of her legacy just as it had been her mothers before her. They had found something of great importance and when she had touched it, they had witnessed their only child having her first Force vision at the age of only three.

Kira had blacked out and when she'd woken she found her parents arguing, something she had never seen them do before. They docked several times over the course of just as many days, her parents didn't surface long before they would take back off again, spending a few short hours here and there. Kira assumed they were collecting information on the artifact and they were being very careful of how they handled the gathering of the information on the item they'd found. Turns out they couldn't have been careful enough because word had gotten out and spread like wild fire and soon there were others looking for them for what they'd found. One such person had made it aboard their shuttle and there had been an accident... a terrible accident. Immediately after the arguing started again and she knew she had been the cause of the fight and after only a few short days later, she found herself here.

"Were your parents scared of you, too?" Her young voice asked with such a weight that the words came out cracking under the strain and fresh tears spilled from her eyes.

"I won't lie to you kira, my parents knew about my Force sensitivity before I was even born. My mother is Force sensitive and she could sense it in me while I grew in her belly. They fear what I may become, because they fear the darkness that follows me, the darkness that pulls on my every thought and effects my every action. It is the same darkness that works every second of every day to corrupt me." He shrugged as though it were no big deal but she could see the anguish in his eyes. He wasn't very good at hiding what he really felt. She could read his eyes as easily as she could navigate a star chart.

"Sometimes the darkness succeeds." He admitted looking away from the small, innocent girl.

"I don't fear you, Ben." She said, not knowing how she knew his name. It was just there when she needed it, waiting on the tip of her tongue. He looked up at her then, a mixture of astonishment and wonder in his eyes.

"They are called Force flies." He said, suddenly removing his palms from her damp cheeks. His hands covered hers and he raised the jar between them. "They only flicker in captivity."

He positioned himself in front of the space shuttle's windshield, protecting the jar and the small girl from the bright light of the sun with his body.

The tiny lights glowed brighter in his shadow. He moved his hand over the mesh lining that served as a lid. With out touching it, he loosened the twine that secured the mesh down. Still using the Force he peeled the arid cover away until nothing but his Force blocked the little bugs from making their escape. Bright hazel eyes searched the space between his hand and the jar expecting to find answers to some trick he was using. He smiled at her curiosity.

"But, if you let them go... " He moved his hand away from above the opening where the lid had been.

The little bugs flew to the top and as if they knew they had been liberated, their flicker grew to a solid glowing light. Her eyes widened as the luminescent bugs shone with a new intensity. They swarmed together in a little circle, bathing both of their faces with a flurry of mixing colors that left a purple glow between them. She gasped at their beauty. The swarming lights reflected in her already near green eyes and they glowed with a light of their own.

"Now you see." He said with a warm smile on his full peach lips.

He turned his open palm and the spinning swarm of dancing lights flew back into the jar and then he quickly returned the mesh and twine lid back over the top. He gently pushed the jar back in the girl's direction before stepping back he then side stepped allowing the light from the sun to pore over her before she was ready. The little bugs clustered to the darkness her shielding hand around the jar provided for them. The sun had been to intrusive for them and she agreed, squinting and raising her right hand over her own eyes, offering herself some reprieve from the blinding light as well.

"Sometimes, when we find something that is truly special, we have to let it go so it can thrive!" He lifted her chin with his hand and their eyes locked. "So you see little one, you were not abandoned. You were set free." His eyes were deep and warm and she felt instantly safe with him.

The moment he locked eyes with her, Kira felt like she found where she had always belonged. Her vision blurred with unshed tears that she didn't think she had enough fluid in her body left to produce. She quickly wiped them away.

"Your still sad." His voice and head lowered in defeat. His hand fell from her chin and he squeezed his fists at his sides.

She shook her head but he didn't see it. She shoved his right shoulder causing his body to sway off balance under the unexpected force. A flicker of anger flashed through him and he looked up to find her eyes brightly shining. She beamed back at him with a smile just as brilliant as the light in her eyes and his anger melted away. It was in that moment that he realized he didn't feel the weight of the darkness that usually pulled him down.

"No Ben, I'm not sad." She said and then, with an exaggerated eye roll in his direction she added; "I guess you can sit in as my co-pilot." She teased through a fake, exaggerated sigh.

He smiled again, his mood instantly lifting. "Pfff, wait until you see me fly." He laughed with a cocky air about him. She was suddenly next to him, her small hands tugging on his arm. He was worried when he looked at her trying to figure out a reason for her sudden change.

"Will you teach me how to fly?" Her big beautiful eyes begged. He shrugged as though it were no big deal.

"Sure kid, we can start tomorrow... if you join the rest of us back at the temple aaand... you have to start eating meals a minimum of three times a day, like a normal person." He bargained.

"Fine." She huffed. "But, only if I get to sit with you while I eat aaand..." She stretched the and out just as he had done. "You can't call me kid anymore." Her mouth curled with distaste when she said the word kid. He sighed as though what she was asking was a chore.

"Deal?" She asked.

"Deal ki... eh... Kira." He said, with a curt nod.

She grabbed his right forearm as best as she could with her small hand and tugged it up and down. His mouth opened in question but he quickly got the gist of what she was doing. His large hand wrapped from fingertip to thumb and he gently shook her back sealing the terms of their agreement formally.

More color pulled the space around her and Rey moved forward in time.

Her arm was still locked in his hand, but it was in his left now. Her right arm was stretched out across his torso, palm up and fist loosely balled. She was slightly turned into him, her shoulder pressed gently into his chest and his right arm was bent possessively across her collar bone so her neck was locked within it's bend. His wrist rested gently on her left shoulder and his cross guard saber blazed over her upper back just over the nap of her neck so close she could feel it's heat licking across the left side of her face. Neither donned a helmet but both were covered from their necklines down to their feet in jet black armor. In her left hand, held as a sentry would hold a spear, was a saber staff with the same crimson plasma as his sword shooting out from both ends.

The world around them burned and the star behind them glowed as red as their lightsabers. They stood together unafraid of the licking flames at their feet. They were untouchable, King and Queen of a New Order. If the universe around them burned red, it was because they deemed it so. His face was stern but she could feel the hesitance in his body. His grip on her dominant arm was tight but his arm around her frame was loose. He was torn but unwilling to let her go. She was strong in her stance but her head was bowed. Her right arm was pulled tight against his body and clutched in his left hand so there was no slack from shoulder to fingertips, no comfort against his steel grip. She frowned as she eyed the flames around her and the feeling was very familiar to her, as though she did it often. Nothing felt right, nothing felt like it should.

Then she remembered their Force-bond and...

"If the bond between them,
the dominant resolves to abuse.

They may force the will of the lesser,
to which ever Force-side they choose.

The dominant will control the lesser,
if this is the desire they should wish.

For the dominant to hold all of the power,
the lesser's will and mind may extinguish.

The lesser until freed,
will remain forever lost.

If one or both wishes to break the bond,
It will come at great cost.

Reversing one back to two,
only death can renew!"

The phrase was fresh in her mind again, "Only death can renew, only death can renew, only death a can renew."

You have to fight him!

You have to stop him!

Don't let him touch you! Her subconscious was in a frenzied panic.

He can't have you!

He can't take you! The voice was getting louder.

Don't let him near you!

You have to kill him! Her hands fell over her ears as if she could block the inner voice out.

Rey screamed in the aqua blackness around her. She broke the surface and gasped for air, stumbling forward and nearly falling to the stone floor under her feet. Her fingertips skimmed the rough surface just as she caught herself from falling. She spun, her equilibrium off and her head dizzy from what she thought was a lack of air. She was drowning, fighting against a black pool of water that threatened to see her dead, but there was no water. She was dry. Every inch of her was dry. Her clothes, her hair... all of it; dry. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember what had happened. She remembered the black pool, she remembered... she remembered... that's all she remembered. She knew there was more... she had to remember... why couldn't she remember?

*Man I love them as kids! If you liked this chapter please Star ⭐️ and feel free to comment as much as you want, I love it! Thanks and enjoy.*
         -DarkGuardian-