"What do you know of the Force?" Luke asks the girl as she sits meditation style on a stone platform that overlooks the ocean. He stands beside her, his eye level slightly higher than hers.

The sun is low in the sky now and it reflects off the waves, the water sparkling with golden light that shines through the gentle clouds.

She wants to say something that makes her seem intelligent. Is there anything she truly knows about the Force? But she finds herself lost and decides to be honest. "Nothing... I've only known it to be there... it's almost as if it's just—"

"Just a feeling?" he interrupts.

She looks at him with wonder.

"When I was young, that too was the only knowledge I had. But Ben Kenobi taught me that the Force is much more than that. It's the balance between all things; the energy that binds the universe together. It's a celestial power inside all that we know. There is a will and a destiny inside it as well as a mindfulness of the smallest living creatures even the grass. All is in the Force and the Force in all. And anyone is capable of possessing this knowledge and being a part of the great destiny that comes from it. What makes the Jedi so different, is the ability to harness our connection and unlock gifts that only Force sensitive beings, like you and me, are capable of using; like the mind tricks, the gravity defiance, and the ability to use a lightsaber. Like all things, some can use this power for good or for evil. But if you truly know the Force, you know that the good will always triumph over the evil... always."

She listens to him carefully, taking in everything he explains and locking it to her memory. There is so much wisdom in him, she wonders if she could ever be so knowledgeable. And with his words she feels that hope in her for the war they're in. He's right. The Light will outshine the dark in the end.

"Now close your eyes," he tells her.

She nods and does so, facing forward and taking in a deep breath. Already she feels more peaceful with the sound of the ocean calming her.

"And now... reach out," he says a little quieter.

Out of the absence of thought, Rey puts her hand in front of her like she's feeling for a pathway or about to be handed an object.

Luke tries to resist rolling his eyes but he can't manage. "Rey..." he says with disappointment.

She opens her eyes to look at him as he continues to stare at her with a look that resembles the one Leia gave Han for most of their marriage.

"Oh... you meant 'reach out' like..." she gestures to her heart to signify "on the inside".

He nods, giving her an impatient father look.

"Right... I'll try again." She gets situated and shuts her eyes to refocus.

He takes her hand and places it palm down on the stone of which she sits upon. "I want you to feel the earth beneath you; connect to everything that surrounds us. What do you see...?"

It takes her a moment, making deep breaths and remaining in concentration but also serenity... "...The island..." she replies as visions of the lonely structure play in her mind. "Grass... stone... soil..." she lists, feeling the energy inside it all as if she is a part of it. "I see... life," she adds when she finds the energy of the different insects and creatures on the island. "I see death... but it sprouts new life..."

"The balance. It's there in everything. The light has a part in the world around us but it's in our experiences; our memories. Think of all of the happiness you've felt and channel that energy into your soul like you've done with the materialistic realm."

Rey thinks on his words and enters her own memory bank like she's seeing it for the first time, accessing all of the pleasant thoughts hidden there; laughing for the first time with Finn, him saving her life, Han's job offer to her and care for her wellbeing, Leia's motherly love for her, seeing trees for the first time, the taste of fresh fruits and clean water, Chewbacca's hugs and the time he beat Finn at Space Chess... the way he cared for Han... the way she cared for Han... the sight of the lightsaber plunging through him. She tries to bring her thoughts back by thinking of Finn but she thinks of the look on his face when he saw what happened and then when... when Ren almost killed him.

"Rey," Luke says when he notices her distressed mind.

She can see Han's body falling, the pain Leia felt when it happened, the cry from Chewy, the fight in the snow... how angry she was and how indifferent and arrogant he was after murdering his own father.

Anger takes her.

Anger.

She can see a flash of Luke's encounter with his father and the death of Anakin that followed. Agony. Heartbreak. Rage. Sorrow.

"Rey," Luke says to her a little louder, feeling the dark calling her.

"No!" the echoing voice of her as a child stings her heart; the moment her parents were flying away and leaving her, that betrayal, that pain she felt every day waiting for them to come back but they never did. They abandoned her. She hates that.

The power in her begins to swell and Luke looks down at her fingertips on the stone when the shards of rock begin to float.

Hate.

She hates it... she hates her past and she hates... she hates Kylo Ren for taking away what happiness she found. She can see his dark eyes staring into hers as fury boils inside her like a wildfire, her breathing hard and the earth under her cracking.

Suffering.

"Rey!" Luke calls out but she can't hear him.

Death.

She wishes death on him.

She wants to kill him—

Water splashes on her and she gasps for breath, pulled from her mind and emotions like she was drowning in them. She sees nothing but the stone under her and the ocean. Her heart racing, she catches her breath, afraid to shut her eyes again. Her hair is soaked and clothing wet.

Luke puts the bucket down, a look of shock and concern on his face as he stares at her.

"I-I'm sorry..." Rey apologizes when she remembers where she is...

"...I've never seen the darkness try so hard to take anyone before..." the Jedi admits quietly, just now coming to this realization based on what he just saw...

Rey's expression is that of worry now as she remains on her hands and knees breathing and then sits on her shin before looking up to him... "Does that mean I'm going to fall like him?"

Luke almost shakes his head but not quite, as he looks back at her, speaking a bit louder than before, "...It means you're our only hope."

Rey looks at him with amazement almost, realizing just how large of a weight is on her shoulders. Does this war really all depend on her? But... this darkness calling her. Is she really strong enough to resist that? Did Luke ever get tempted to that degree? Or anyone else before her?

Her breathing is finally leveled again but a new kind of worry takes her heart.

"The darkness reaches out to corrupt that which it fears. That's how it conquers the strongest of us. After all it's not a problem to attack enemies who are no threat to us," Like explains as he hands her a bowl of soup to eat for dinner. They sit in the room with an open side that lets in all the night from the sunset; where Luke has made a fire.

She takes the bowl with furrowed brows, thinking deeply on his words. "You trained Kylo Ren, didn't you? And he was the student that burned down your school and killed the other Padawans...?" she asks in less of a question way because she feels she knows this already.

His eyes cast down to the ground before he sits... his heart falling when he remembers that terrible night that started it all. It's something that haunts him now... "He was my nephew. Ben Solo. Son of my sister Leia and Han..." he seems to pause at that name.

Rey has already put together that Luke knows about Han's death. She's unsure if he realizes how he died but he must have sensed Leia's distress and concluded it from that. He regrets not being there to stop that from happening but he knew the time wasn't right to return. That killed him. And if he couldn't defy the will of the Force no matter how badly he wanted to see his dear sister.

"I took him to my school when he was only a youngling," he continues. "Leia wanted him trained to stand up against evil from an early age to prevent his heart from being turned like her father before her. But what we failed to understand is that over all else Ben needed his parents. There's only so much I could do for him... I realize that now. Snoke has been tempting him from the start because of this and poisoning his mind. I just couldn't see it. I failed him as a mentor and an uncle to be there for him and understand truly what he was going through. That mental torment unlike that I dealt with at that age... it's so much like his grandfather whom he always admired. I saw signs in it at an early age when he argued with me about how the Galaxy should be ruled. I tried to help and explain to him the truth but he was turning from the light day by day; turning into the next Darth Vader."

"But didn't you say Anakin redeemed himself? Didn't he take back everything he stood for as Vader and die a hero like you said?" she replies with a bit of confusion.

He nods. "That he did."

"Doesn't Kylo—doesn't Ben know all of that? Why would he look up to him in that way knowing how the story ended?"

"There was always a wall between Ben and I. There's limits on how much I can understand. It's that raw darkness in him from this character he became named Kylo Ren. The boy named Ben was smothered. I don't know what or why he does what he does now. I can only hope there's still light in him and do what I can for Leia's sake."

"Did the darkness fear him? Like it fears me?" Rey asks carefully, interested in his turn.

Luke's eyes drift in thought of his answer. "...Yes. We all had high hopes for Ben. We saw his potential, his passion for what was right, the dream of being who my father was before Vader... He was so fascinated by the history of the Jedi and Sith; where it all began and what they both stood for... He was going to be a great Jedi... so we thought. But that force kept pulling him to the shadow and poisoning his mind. It was relentless." He shakes his head slightly.

Rey contemplates this. It never occurred to her that that villain she encountered could have been at one time good in his heart. She always saw only evil when she looked at him. But maybe she was staring into the eyes of the darkness that seduced him. Could Ben Solo really still be smothered down there somewhere in his soul? Or is he truly dead?

By the look in Luke's eyes, she wants to have hope for that. Wait... hope for Kylo Ren? That murderous snake who killed his own father in cold blood? Is he really less far gone than Vader?

And is it possible to hate Kylo Ren with her whole heart, yet long for this Ben Solo that Luke is describing? She feels torn apart. She doesn't know what to do with that. Is the right move still to kill him like he killed Han? Or would that make her just as evil as Kylo Ren?

It seems impossible to dismiss any anger she has for him. All she thinks about when she hears his name is the killing of Han Solo; the closest she came to a father figure in her life.

But the question remains: after all that he's done to Luke's loved ones, does this Jedi legend still believe his nephew is good and is capable of redemption? That kind of forgiveness is something she can't even fathom. She longs for a heart that courageous...

She looks down at her soup and feels guilt for bringing this pain back to him. "I'm sorry," she says sincerely.

"Don't be. I've dealt with the past for long enough. And it's time I move on to the future. Which reminds me you need your sleep for tomorrow's lesson. So finish that and I'll see you at dawn," he tells her and stands up.

She decides to take a drink of it and manages to resist the sudden urge to immediately spit it back into the bowl...