Unsurprisingly, whatever scans and tests the First Order crew completed on the Wayfinder, they found no information or leads on it. It was not technology familiar to them, and it was suggested to very clearly belong to users of the Force.

"Right, you plug it into the navigational system," muttered Ben, grabbing it from the center table. He held the prism to the light, pointing at where a red dot curved back and forth between a dark green line. "That's a path we're meant to follow."

"And we think Palpatine is at the end of it?" wondered Cyra softly.

"I would assume," he said.

Cyra raised her eyebrow. "If you knew that from the start, why did you let them run tests on it?"

"Wanted to give you some peace of mind," he said, shrugging.

Cyra huffed. She grabbed the Wayfinder from his hand and stuffed it into her bag, throwing it over her shoulders. "Then we should tell the Council we're heading to Palpatine."

Ben nodded. Cyra waved goodbye to the team of techs, then followed behind him as he exited the room. They fell into step beside each other.

"You don't have to acknowledge them, you know," he told her quietly.

She glanced up at him. "Sometimes you forget we aren't all moody brats," she quipped, winking at him when he glared at her. "Doesn't hurt to be kind to people, Mr. Ren."

"Just Kylo," he corrected briskly.

"You're lucky I don't call you Ben outside of our room, don't push it," she said.

Ben sighed. He sent her a warning glance, telling her to behave, before he stepped through the doors to the Board. As per usual, he neglected to join them as they sat at the table. He stood at the head, Cyra standing behind him, and told the Council of how their mission went yesterday, the Wayfinder they found.

"Cyra and I believe it's a pathway to Palpatine, or at the very least, a clue to where he could be. Given that it was rather simple for us to find, I have to assume Palpatine planted it for us to find," Ben finished.

"Supreme Leader, if that is true, should you be walking into his trap?" wondered Hux. As always, he was the first to respond to whatever Ben spoke.

"That's why Cyra is joining me," he said.

Cyra's eyes glanced to the back of Ben's head, a flutter in her heart. He hadn't admitted that to her, even, but he was openly telling the Board she was trusted to keep him safe. She tried to settle her pride before Ben felt it, but given the slight tap in her forehead, he wanted to acknowledge to her that he did feel it.

"I'll send my personal code before we land at the destination. If you do not hear from me within 48 hours of that, send troops to our location," decided Ben.

The Board said nothing else. He nodded, dispersing the meeting, and as he started towards the door, Cyra followed behind him.

They walked onto the ship that was readied for them, Ben taking pilot and Cyra taking copilot as usual. She pulled the Wayfinder from her bag and popped open the navigational system, her and Ben watching expectantly at the black screen until it started to show the course laid out on the dash.

"That's it," she mumbled, a sinking feeling starting to appear in her lower stomach.

"Hey," said Ben, reaching to grab her hand. He made sure she was looking directly at him. "I meant what I said to the Board. I do trust you with my life. I trust you to protect yourself and me. You should have no worry about this. It's going to be alright."

"I know, I know," she said, but that didn't settle the feeling in her stomach. "We go there, we listen to what he has to say, and we kill him."

"Right," agreed Ben.

Cyra nodded. His hand fell from her hand and he applied it softly to her face for a moment before he jerked his head back to her seat, and she settled back into her seat to ready for take off.

Once out of the force field of the Finalizer, Ben sent their ship into hyperspeed, still charting along the course. They watched the blue and white view in front of them, silent.

She could feel anxiety radiating from Ben, as he could feel hers. She hoped he did not inquire about it, because it wasn't herself she was worried about, it was him. She feared she would lose trust in Ben.She hadn't forgotten the sudden switch of his attitude around the Vader helmet, nor when they stepped foot on Mustafar. The darkness could consume him fast, it seemed, and Cyra didn't know if she could be enough to bring him back from it without threatening her life. She hoped... She hoped beyond belief their connection last night, how warm his heart was, how happy he was would change it. She hoped Ben could remain loyal to their agreement to kill Palpatine when faced with him. She didn't know if she could take Palpatine by herself, she doubted it. She could not win against Ben, let alone a Sith Lord. But she could not sit for another year and let him be controlled by another puppet. She would do what she had to. If not to save herself or the galaxy from further oppression, then to save Ben.

There was a sudden jerk as the ship flew out of hyperspeed suddenly. Cyra and Ben's hands flew to the console, trying to slow the ship down before it entered a sea of swarming red. Ben flipped the ship, slowing them down in a circle through space, before he settled the ship in place, staring into the red abyss.

"What is that?" she asked, glancing at the Wayfinder. It blinked continuously, the red dot continuing on, although it showed nothing of the mass of red gas and stardust in front of them. "It's telling us to continue, but you'll have to pilot it yourself. No way any navigational system can fly that on auto."

"I can do it," he said, switching the controls. He waited for her to buckle in tighter before he continued forward, his eyes glancing between the Wayfinder's path and the path in front of him.

It wasn't hard to navigate through, is what he made it seem like. It wasn't a straight path, he was dodging debris and squeezing through it. Cyra trusted him to fly. It was in his blood, being the son of the man who did the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. She didn't doubt him in the slightest as she watched through the cockpit window for anything he wasn't looking for.

She didn't notice her white knuckles gripping the arms of her chair until the ship shot out from the red tunnel. There was a slight jerk as they slowed, the ship adjusting to the new gravity of the planet. It was red no more. Wherever they were, it was dark as night, the sky was a blue, but even that was darkened by the disappearance of light. The only source of light was from lightning streaks among the planets atmosphere and streaks of it within the atmosphere, hitting the cracked desolate ground at various points.

The flashes of lightning were occurring rapidly enough to provide flashes of the terrain, but not enough to make a decision on where to land. Cyra reached to turn on the ships front lights for Ben to see. She pointed to a structure in what seemed to be the center of the vast, deserted planet. It was build as a cube, immune to lightning flashes, the longer she held her eyes on it.

Ben landed a bit away from the structure. As he killed the engines, Cyra turned the lights off, inside and outside of the ship. They both unbuckled from their seats, sitting forward, searching the desolate landscape for anything other than lightning blasts.

It was a desert. The land was dry and cracked. It shook the ship every time a lightning bolt landed nearby. They saw absolutely nothing. No people, no other buildings. Not even creatures, of which planets were often muddled with.

"Is this even a planet?" wondered Cyra quietly.

"It doesn't feel like it," agreed Ben. "It's a Sith Homeworld, I think."

She couldn't feel the darkness as deeply as he could, given that she was tempted very little to the desires of the Dark Side, but she could sense it's overwhelming presence. She felt no presence of the Light from the minute they entered the tunnel to that planet.

"Are those really a thing?" she asked, sighing.

Ben nodded. "Some places in the galaxy have remnants of Sith artifacts or keep that energy. Like Mustafar. Vader's home planet, but the cults that believe in them have lasted long past their deaths. It's how they found that Wayfinder. It was Vader's, probably found when they rummaged through the remains of the castle before it fell. But Mustafar feels different than here, different than anywhere I've been...It's significantly more powerful with the Dark Side."

"So, what, the Sith originated here, or something? Or this is Palpatine's home planet?"

"I'm inclined to agree to both of them, perhaps."

"I'll leave the Wayfinder plugged in," said Cyra, shrugging off her jacket and laying it over the bright glow of the prism to hide it.

Ben stood with her. He waited for her to double check she had her lightsaber attached to her hip and she turned, standing chest to chest with him. She took a deep breath and tilted her forehead on his chest, her eyes slammed shut. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, his chin on her head. He didn't have to say it. She tried to calm her breathing.

"I would offer for you to stay here, but I can't do this without you," he mumbled to her.

Cyra nodded. "I got this. I got it. Just a little scared to fight my first bad guy."

Ben cradled her face between her hands, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Trust in the Force, like you always have, Cyra. It will bring us home."

Cyra agreed. She wrapped her hands around Ben's wrist, they took a breath together, and then she tugged his hands away from her face. She stepped out of the cockpit, a bounce in her step, light on her feet, gathering herself and prepping herself to feel the adrenaline rush of a fight.

Ben punched the door to the ship. The doors opened and he and Cyra jumped to the ground, the door sliding shut behind them. They walked together towards the cube shaped building, their eyes alert, their connections to the Force extending out and monitoring for any presences too close for comfort.

As they walked closer, it appeared that the building was lifted several feet off of the ground, creating an entrance. They walked underneath it, standing in the center, where a darkened octagon platform landed. Ben and Cyra remained close to each other as it creaked and shifted under their feet, beginning to lower them below the ground their ship sat upon.

"At last," they hear a voice creak at them, causing both of them to ignite their lightsabers, turning their backs to one another.

The elevator settled to a stop. Ben began to walk towards the flashes of lightning in the distance. Cyra followed. The land is empty, dark, and silent beyond the cracks of lightning hitting and breaking the desert underneath their feet. The voice didn't speak to them as they walked carefully through the terrain, waiting to turn a corner and find something worth looking at.

"Snoke trained you well," the voice spoke once more.

Ben heard it clearer than Cyra, it seemed. His head snapped towards pillars in the short distance, pushed together to create a small opening, enough for them to walk through. He led her through it.

Cyra jumped as she noticed a few hooded figures bustling about. Behind the pillars was the remains of a lab. There were tall tubes strewn around the small room, filled with yellow liquid, and growing beings inside, curled in a fetal position. She shined her lightsaber into one of the tubes and gasped quietly. It was Snoke. She turned to the other one and saw the same shape, the same Snoke. They were clones, stunted and now decaying clones of the First Order's Supreme Leader.

Cyra turned to show Ben, but he was preoccupied. He had barely taken notice to the laboratory and was instead standing across from another hooded figure, this one suspended from the low ceiling on a metal contraption. Cyra cast her eyes on the yellow eyes in the darkness of the cloak and a shiver ran down her back. She stepped slowly to stand beside Ben.

It was Palpatine and he certainly looked to have just been raised from the dead. His skin was bubbled, stretched, absent in parts of his outstretched hands. The bones of his fingers were reaching out at Cyra and Ben, his arms appearing almost permanently stuck to sit bent at his elbows. His cloak covered most of his body, but that didn't make him any less terrifying to see in person. His yellow eyes fell upon Cyra for a brief moment before he returned back to Ben.

"I killed Snoke," threatened Ben. "I'll kill you."

"My boy, I made Snoke. I have been every voice--" the voice from Palpatine turned to Snoke's. "--you have ever heard--" he switched to a voice, unfamiliar to Cyra, but known to Ben, and his raised heart rate told her it must have been Vader's voice. "--inside your head."

She wondered briefly whose voice spoke to her when she touched the helmet, because it certainly hadn't been as deep and robotic as the one Palpatine mimicked. Perhaps the voice of Anakin Skywalker spoke to her, and not Vader.

"The First Order was just the beginning. I will give you so much more," offered Palpatine.

"You'll die first," said Cyra, flipping her lightsaber into a better position to strike with.

He laughed, his yellow eyes falling upon her. "I've died before," he told her, unafraid. "The Dark Side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

Ben raised his lightsaber at Palpatine's throat, the red flashing across his grinning face. "What could you give me?" snapped Ben.

"Everything," he promised.

His hands began to raise from where they sat at his hips. The ground underneath their feet started to tremble. Cyra and Ben raised their heads to the ceiling as the top of the building they were underneath started to open, revealing their surroundings. They were standing in the center of an amphitheater, a citadel--erected statues of former Sith Lords, presumably, surrounded the space, stands built to hold thousands of people surrounded the room, and at the forefront of it all, sat a throne. It was a dark, large throne, with jagged spikes poking from the back of it.

Palpatine started to move towards the throne. "A new Empire," he told Ben, raising his own head to the sky, where there were now thousands of Star Destroyers raising to the sky.

Cyra's heart fell to her stomach. They underestimated severely the return of Palpatine.

"The might of the Final Order will soon be ready. It will be yours, if you do as I ask," he told them. "Kill the girl. End the Jedi. Become what your grandfather, Vader, could not."

Cyra almost huffed, knowing the trick could not be used on Ben any longer. Palpatine seemingly had no idea Ben knew Vader as a ploy could no longer work, not when Ben knew now how Vader's story ended.

Ben's saber fell to his side. It remained lit, but at a relaxed position.

Cyra punched her way into his head within seconds. What are you doing?

Drop it, he told her.

Ben, we came here to kill him, what are you--

Cyra took too long to drop her own lightsaber. Palpatine's head snapped to her. She flew out of Ben's head, focusing entirely on blocking her mind from the evil man in front of her.

"Cyra, my dear," he drawled. "Having second thoughts about your new affiliation?"

Cyra looked between Palpatine and Ben, her eyes wide, her head shaking. It was over. It was over.

Ben reached to touch the hand that she gripped her lightsaber. His eyes begged, trust me, but his actions were different, as always.

She couldn't do this again. She couldn't trust him, again, not when they resided on a Sith Homeworld, where his connection to the negative energy surrounding and penetrating them was so enticing to him. Not when Palpatine was onto her.

What she feared came to fruition, again. She wanted to say his name. Not Kylo. His name. They were staring at each other, her lightsaber still up, and his down. He was pleading with her.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," spat Palpatine, causing both Cyra and Ben to look at him. "I will not let him kill me like he killed Snoke, for a petulant girl and the scavenger."

"Then I'll kill you for me," she offered. Cyra held her lightsaber in front of her, her eyes leaving Ben's to maintain Palpatine's.

"Cyra, please," said Ben, the first time he had spoken. He couldn't move. His feet were frozen. "Please don't do this."

"It's too late," she snapped. She could not say what she wanted to in front of Palpatine. Maybe he could get away with acting like he didn't come here to kill Palpatine but her act was over. Ben was closer to the Dark and loyal to it; Cyra had no affiliation if she didn't have Ben.

"His connection the light ends with your death," he sneered, and with those words, Ben and Cyra both understood. He knew. He controlled Snoke. He controlled what Vader's mask saw to him. He was in Ben's head for years. He hadn't been inside of Ben's mind since Snoke was dead, but he knew Snoke was murdered because Ben could not choose Rey or Cyra over him. He knew from then on that Cyra and Rey were Ben's clutches to the light. He knew they were going to meet him on this planet, come to kill him. He knew only one of them would survive this.

Lightning zapped from Palpatine's hand. Ben's ears stopped working. The world fell silent as he watched the lightning fly past him and at Cyra. He saw her manage to catch the lightning with her lightsaber for a mere second, a tense second where she caught it, and they both thought she could survive him, but Ben remembered as she did that she had not been taught to redirect it. The lightning blew her lightsaber from her hand and flew into her chest, stopping her heart upon impact.

Ben didn't need to feel a pulse to know; he felt her heart stop, he heard the echo of her last breath, he heard the last thought in her mind. His name. She hit the floor, too far for him to run after her. His eyes could not leave her still body.

"You will come to see it's for the best," said Palpatine, leaving no time to waste. "I never should have let her live. With her dead, there is no one left to sway you. You have no weakness. All you have is me. You will rule all the galaxy, as the new Emperor."

Ben didn't answer for several minutes. He couldn't pry his eyes from her body. He watched her chest, watching it fail to raise. He could see the smoke rising from it, the burning of her shirt. He kept watching her until suddenly her skin started to fade, become transparent, and all that was left of her was her clothes and the discarded lightsaber they had shared.

Ben turned. He looked at Palpatine, felt a rushing wave of anger, and he shut it down. He reverted back to what he knew, before Cyra. He returned instantly to suppressing his emotions, turning off his mind and his feelings. Nothing.

"The girl. Why do you want her dead?" he asked, his voice flat.

Palpatine only grinned down at him.