Rey
Her footsteps echoed softly against the hard stone floor. There were no force ghosts around her now, and she wondered where Anakin's had gone.

But as she turned her head to look back, something closed the mouth of the already dark tunnel as if there was a door. She flinched and took a step back, her breath caught in her throat. She never realized how frightened she was in fact, until she was left alone, in the dark.

Yet there was not dark at all. Apart from the lightsaber ignited in her hand, there was that faint light that kept shimmering at the end of the narrow tunnel. That faint light that gave her hope.

"No!" she found herself pleading with it in a small voice as she could see it fade away.

But eventually, it did fade. And then, the only light that could hold the darkness at bay was the ignited lightsaber. Yet, Rey's faith faltered, and even her lightsaber closed, leaving her in a pitch black darkness.

A fear so dark and terrible overwhelmed her that moment. And she only wished it was just a passing nightmare.

For a fleeting moment, she stepped back and made to run back to where she had come from. But remembered in time why she was there. If the fear overwhelmed her courage, her path as a jedi would be lost, maybe forever. And she did not wish that.

I must not look back, she repeated to herself as she stood her ground facing the darkness before her. In truth, it was her trial. If she overcame her fear, her path as a jedi would be free. And she couldn't deny that there was her curiosity, too. Deep inside, under those fears of what it might be, of what she might face, she yearned to know what her biggest fear was. And she wanted to let her ancestors know that they could rely on her faith, as she had relied on their help when facing Palpatine.

And suddenly, as a chilly breeze went around her, she could feel the same sensation she had felt in Takodana at Maz's castle when she had first touched Luke's old saber. The Force. And her vision kept shifting and swaying.

Rey frowned, confusion overwhelming her. And suddenly she felt the need to run away. No, not away, but forward into the shifting dark tunnel. For back, the way was sealed into stone. There was no going back now, and she understood that. The only exit to that dark cave was somewhere forward.

Her heart beat faster as she ran even faster and faster. And her breath came out in shallows.

As she veered around a corner, the place turned inside out and she stumbled to her knees on a patch of muddy grass. The fall had drawn the air out of her lungs as she stood on all fours. In that place there was almost night, and a drizzle was falling down over her, wetting her skin and plastering her hair against her neck and face.

The atmosphere was a foul one, and a stale and dark smell overwhelmed her.
Her head snapped this way and that, her eyes looking desperately for an exit to this madness. But there was nothing. Only dark and foggy moorland as lons as the eye could see.

But suddenly she could hear a faint splash and rippling through the muddy water, as if something was actually making its way out of of it.

"Aah!" she yelled as her face turned to see her ankle wrapped in what seemed like a thread made out of that dark water. She yanked her leg free, and dragged herself on her back, away from the moor.

But her eyes widened in horror when she realized what was rising from the water. The head of a terrible creature dark as pitch was pointed to her, and three pairs of eyes blinked the dirty water out.

Tears began to form in her eyes and her arms and legs seemed to be broken, pinned in place.

She whimpered as her breath came out in shallows, her windpipe was almost closed. But somehow, she scrambled up to her feet and managed to stand up, eyes fixed on the ever-growing thing before her eyes. And the sky seemed to have darkened with its rising.

And before she could even take notice, the thing was completely out of the water. And it struck her with horror. For it was no ordinary thing; it was the dark presence from her nightmares. The dark presence far more fearsome than Palpatine. The dark presence that was killing her and Ben, slowly, sucking the life out of them.

It stood on what seemed lika a pond, and it had many legs. And a head too much bigger than its body. Rey's insides wanted her to scream, but her voice was caught somewhere in her throat.

Eyes big with fear and tears on the creature, she stepped back. A hand went to the hilt of her new lightsaber, but she was aware it was of no use now.

She had no idea what this could be. But whatever its name was, it was an ancient sith. She could feel the creature reek with dark power even more than Palpatine.

Surrender to it! She heard a hoarse voice in her head. The dark force belongs to you. You'll be powerful once again! I am Tor Valum, the most ancient Sith Lord. I can give you anything!

No! She directed the thought back to the creature.

Gritting her teeth, she reached for the force. But it was faint. Not so faint as it had been when she had tried to lift the rock, but still it was too faint.

She squeezed her eyes and grunted. Please! She thought desperately. Be with me! BE WITH ME!

But there was no one with her. She was all alone, facing this gruesome creature, that, to her surprise, could move.

Opening her eyes, Rey realized with horror that it was now advancing on her on all its legs. Exactly like in her dream. She turned around on her heels and broke into a run.

It seemed like her legs were not hers at all. Never in her life had she ran so fast as she did now.

Was there no end to this pain? She kept asking herself. Would she ever see the light of day again? She could not die. At least not now, knowing she had a galaxy to save.

Finally, she ignited her lightsaber and began slashing at the tall grass that spread ahead of her. She had to reach the forest that could be seen in the horizon. She had to.

But glancing back was her mistake, for her feet tangled in the long straws and she stumbled on her knees in the mud.

"No!" she yelled as the saber rolled two feet away from her, her hand outstretched.

And as she rolled on her back, she looked the creature right in its first pair of eyes. She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes as she tried to resist him pressing into her mind.

Her gaze held a determination she had just found within herself. A determination long gone with the force.

One of its many legs was making its way toward her, like a pointed arm ready to stab right through her as the horrific spider hovered over her. The force is with me. I'm one with the Force. She braced for the attack, when the creature suddenly stopped. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, and all she could hear now were its beats, as the sith lord turned his head away from her, looking in the distance as it there was someone coming.

And there was. Rey could hear heavy footfalls as someone was running right toward her. And she could glimpse a silvery blue light across the field.

She squinted in the distance as she propped back on her hands. Who could it be? There was too dark to see anything else but the light his lightsaber was spreading.

"Leave her alone!" he yelled. And Rey recognized the voice too well. No, it couldn't be. She could not let it come true.

Tor Valum left Rey and hurled for the man that had come in her aid. But she got up as quickly.

"Ben!" she yelled. "Run away!"

But she watched in horror as the dark creature was already too close to him. One of its long legs aimed for a thrust at Ben, but he slashed it with his lightsaber.

The lightsaber. It was a very rare color, as she had never heard of.

As fast as she could, she hurried over and grabbed hers and ignited it. But by the time she reached Ben again, it was too late.

He was down on the ground, clutching his side and groaning in pain. The hilt of his now extinguished lightsaber was flung across from him, without his reach.

Still, with what power he had got left, he tilted his head up to look at her. "Leave." he whispered weakly. "Save yourself."

"No!" she said with determination. She couldn't let it come true. She could already feel an empty place within her. She could almost feel herself overwhelmed with fear. And this time, it was not the fear of being killed by the monster. It was the fear of losing Ben.

She let out a cry, and hurled with her lightsaber swinging around at Tor Valum. Drawn to her, he turned his head in her direction, and pointed one leg to her. Before she could make a slash, lightning sprang and sent her hurling in the air.

She landed with a loud thud on her side. For some moments, she was deaf and blind and limp. As if she were dead.

But the heartbreaking, screeching cries of pain and screams were what made her know she was still alive. She could hear it clear now. So clear, it tore her apart for she k ew it was Ben.

"No..." she found herself attempting to say. But her voice was not hers at all. Her throat felt raw and coarse, and her voice was barely a shaken whisper.

Somehow, she managed to drag herself closer. But she'd better not done it; Ben was spread on the ground, with lightning all around him, passing through him like knives, like a seating pain. Her eyes wet with tears as she could feel the life draining from him, as she could see his face contorted with pain.

"No!" she yelled with all her might and reached out with a hand as if to blast the towering creature in the air. She would not let him harm Ben. She would defend him as he had defended her.

But another pull of the force threw her in the air. She knew it. Knew it had just been a weak attempt against a much bigger force.

And as she collapsed on the ground, this time she didn't get up. Her eyes were aimed on Ben, his struggles now weak attempts against the dark lord. He was dying. And so was she.

She closed her eyes and finally found herself at peace. She could feel the foul air of the moor being replaced with the one from the cave. Her heartbeats slowed down back to normal as she rested on the ground, as if in a trance.

Ben
Ben advanced slowly down the dark corridor. He kept his new lightsaber close to his temple, always guarded, always ready for the unexpected.

It was a white light against that darkness. And it gave him hope. He knew that only with that light, he was ever going to win, to win peace. For now he understood he had been seeking nothing all those years craving to rule the galaxy. And now he had found all he had ever needed. Only now he had to keep them safe.

He was not afraid, for he had been afraid before, and now knew the consequences. Whatever it was, he would face it. For that was the destiny of a jedi. And he knew his trial was going to be a hard one.

The first time he had come to get his crystal and to face his fears, they had overcome him. And he remembered all too well. Remembered how a vision of Snoke had told him to surrender to the dark side, how he had been so scared of him, he had run right away, and back into the light of day, crying and trembling all over like a little child.

Ben smiled at the memory as he stepped farther into the dark tunnel, ready to embrace whatever was ahead. He remembered being only sixteen and running straight into his uncle's arms. His uncle who had pushed him right away. And in that moment, Luke had been so mad at him, as Ben had never seen him before. And that was when trouble began. That was when his uncle had begun to doubt him, to sense a darkness in him. And that was when darkness had first begun to rise within Ben, when his uncle had first rejected him.

And he should have been wiser.

Closing his eyes, he stepped onto a muddy surface. And when he opened them again, he was standing in the middle of a moor, lightsaber still ignited in his hands. There was a long grass across the field, and a foul smell overwhelmed him. A smell of stale water, of darkness. And he turned his head to where it was coming from and glimpsed a faintly luscious surface in the distance.

Water, he thought. But it was rather a splotch of mud, full of weeds, and bubbling as if there was a flame beneath it.

Slowly, he approached it full of doubt. A soft breeze blew past his ear, ruffling his hair. And it made the hair on his arms rise. Whatever it was, it could not be good.

But he was aware that the danger would come, sooner or later. And Ben chose it to be sooner. So he stepped forward, until the mud began to splash under his steps as he neared the lake and stopped on the shore.

One hand gripped the lightsaber, the other was on his other side, strangely relaxed, in contrast with how he felt on the inside. He had to admit it, that he was afraid. Because he had met this creature before. But then it had been him that was looking for the Sith Lord.

And he waited patiently for the fearsome creature to make its way out of the water. Low ripples crashed against the tall and thick grass that bordered it, making him brace for the meeting that would soon take place.

And finally, it made out. A creature with a huge head, and three pairs of eyes, and a spider-like body.

"We have met before, Kylo Ren, son of darkness."

He rose his chin up, defiantly. "Kylo Ren is gone. I am a jedi now. Like my grandfather. Like my uncle. Like my namesake, and like my mother. I am a jedi like my family before me."

But Tor Valum answered with a loud and croaked laugh. "You're far from that path, child. Think better. Have you not always wanted her? But what you want to have with that girl, it is forbidden by the jedi. So why choose them? I could give you anything."

Ben could feel the tug at his heart. The darkness was fighting its way inside him once again, hammering against the armor he had built around himself. A life with Rey. That was what he had always wanted. Still not one in the darkness, but one where they could live a happy life. Yet his mind almost lost guard, and for a moment he thought he would give in to it. But his mistakes played lively in his mind once again: why he was here, why he had come all this way for. And the answer was just too simple: to find atonement, to be what he was always meant to be, to repair his mistakes, to understand that he had been brought back to life for a reason.

And his answer was quick and clear. "No." he answered in a strong voice. Yet he found himself astonished at the courage he was reacting with as he looked the beast right in the eye.

For an instant, the ancient sith lord had no reaction. But then he broke into a drowned, croaked laugh that sent chills down Ben's spine. And the wind around him intensified, pulling his dark hair back. He put a distance between his feet to brace against the cold, and brought the lightsaber close to his temple.

"I'm giving you a second chance. Surrender to the dark side, and both yours and your beloved's life will be spared. Refuse, and neither of you shall see the light of day again."

So Tor Valum knew about the love they shared but were afraid to admit. And if he had looked so deep into his mind, did the jedi know it too?

But this time, Ben knew that what Tor Valum was proposing was just another lie, like all the lies Snoke and Palpatine had been hammering into his head when he was young.

" No! " he said with convince as he braced himself against the wind, ready to fight.

"Foolish child!" the voice of the dark creature rose in anger as he hurled through the muddy water to the young knight standing on the shore. "I'll destroy you, and everything you hold most dear!"

Rey, he thought at her right back. For now, she was the only thing he loved to the end of the galaxy.

"I won't let you!" he shot back as water and wind rose in whirls around him, flapping the folds of his dark leather tunic and plastering his hair to his neck and face. But in spite of his courage, there was still a shiver in his voice. There was still that fear of the unknown that could be sensed from miles away.

And the hurricane around him was dazing. It withered in his ears and roared loudly. And suddenly, he could see a gruesome form hovering over him.

And that was when Tor Valum sent the first lightning bolt at him. And Ben caught it with the blade of his saber. But another bolt caught him in the side, making him fall down to his knees. He grunted in pain as it seared through his skin, a sharp and hot dagger, but held the arm with the blade up.

A weak attempt to stand up, but he failed. And tears poured down his face as the waves of lightning drained the life from him.

But his grip was iron against the hilt. And he could hear footsteps in the distance. Maybe someone had come into his aid, or maybe it was finally over, and he was only caught between life and death.

But the realization dawned hard on him. He sensed her before he had the chance to see her. A presence of bravery and light hurling across the field, and through the water wall of the hurricane in that deep darkness.

She let out a loud battle cry as she swung her own golden saber to the one who was killing him.

"No!" she yelled as she parried and stepped back and slashed and wheeled around and stabbed again.

He couldn't help but stare at her. He had never seen a more devoted fighter. And suddenly he realized what it was. His biggest fear, in fact, was nor the sith, neither facing war. It was losing her.

So weak as he was and struck by lightning, he scrambled to her side, his lightsaber trembling in his grip. But was hurled back in the mud as quickly, tumbling. He rose his head, and in a moment between slashes and stabs, Rey's eyes locked on his.

"Reeey, no!" he pleaded.

But it was too late. For the horrible appearance had already spread one leg and sent the brave girl hurling in the air.

"Nooo!" Ben screamed, tears stinging his eyes. He heard the loud splash her body made at the contact with the mud. And a new force surged through him as he stood up to his feet and, limping, tried to run at the monster.

But he didn't even get to walk half the distance, for Tor Valum rose a tentacle in his direction, and Ben could already feel the lightning burning him once again.

Still he advanced, Saber ignited.

"This... This is for her." he spat out blood as he struggled to speak. But as he rose his sword, a wave of lightning hit him and flung him through the hurricane and through the air, until he crashed against hard ground.

And he opened his eyes and gasped, taking in a deep breath, as if he has just been drowning only a few moments ago.

He cast his gaze around, looking desperately for Rey. He even tried to scream out her name...only no sound came out.

And he was not on that moor anymore, but back in the damp dark cave where he left from. Coming to his senses, he stood on all fours and searched for the hilt of his lightsaber.

He had to ignite it, and make light, and find Rey. And get our of here.

As he stood up, a searing pain shot through his bones and made him grunt. But he made his way out of the tunnel in the silvery blue light of his saber.

Limping, he arrived back in the main hall where they have parted ways and looked frantically for another tunnel until he found it and took that way.

But there was no track of Rey. And he supposed he should have seen her by now. Forgetting about his own pain, he broke into a run.

"Rey!" he wanted to call, but only a whisper came out.

And he tried again, this time louder. But it was only the echo that answered in the place of his Rey.

He stopped as the tunnel gave way into ankther hall, and held the saber in front of him. He surveyed the smooth surface of the stone floor. And in the middle, there was the outline of a heap. No... It was no heap...

"Rey!" he croaked as he saw her slumped on the ground, the hilt of her lightsaber two feet away from her.

Author's note: sorry for the slow update ^^. But this chapter took a lot of insight as I tried to make both their fears seem reliable. And it's another step to Ben's acknowledgement as a jedi.

And I decided to use Tor Valum as the dark user, because of the unused concepts for tros and because I needed something very powerful. Still, I'm trying to write this story as far from a fanfiction and as close to actual sw content as possible ^^

What do you think about the reason I wrote for Ben coming back to life? How do you think I pictured his realization about his purpose?