CHAPTER 50
THE LEGACY

SKIRTING across the freshly-cleaned floors, Raena sprinted faster than lightspeed towards to hangar deck. She almost got the group lost a few times, even though she had been very sure that she knew almost every turn and corner throughout this place. Pacey had flown enough that he always knew where the hangar was, no matter how many times they changed ships. From the execution room, he made them take the back exit, which led them down a narrow hallway that ended at a fork. On one side, they could hear troopers stomping their way. Pacey pushed them towards the other route, leading their group through the maze of the Steadfast, until eventually, Raena saw the familiar entrance to the hangar deck.

"There it is!" She shouted, racing towards the enclosed doors.

"If everything goes well," Finn breathed heavily, "Rey should already be back on the Falcon or arriving, and then we can shoot out of here." Poe nodded in agreement.

As they neared the entrance, two stormtroopers rounded the corner in front of them and spotted the rebels immediately. They shouted and raised their blasters, but Raena was already one step ahead. She whipped around the stormtrooper blaster that hung off her shoulders and aimed, pulling the trigger several times. The troopers flew backward as the bolts went straight through their armor. Raena smiled and approached the deck, slamming her hand on the locked console. The doors slid open immediately.

"Alright," she huffed, gesturing for the group to run faster. "Come on! Go, go, go!"

Gerardo and Pacey came to a sudden halt beside her as Chewbacca hustled through the entrance first. Raena turned to them, swallowing hard, before laying a hand on both their shoulders. She didn't want to say the next words that would fall from her mouth, but it was time. They were already in too deep and Raena would be damned to let her friends get in harm's way. "Go with them," she said. "Both of you."

"What?!" Gerardo blinked. "We can't deflect now. We're not leaving you here alone. You're not safe here without us."

"Neither are you," she quipped, "at least I don't have to worry about dying."

Pacey shook his head. "No, we're not leaving."

"Listen," Raena continued. "Somehow, someway – this will all get back to Ren. Maybe Hux will betray me, or someone had seen too much. Whatever happens, I don't want you two to be dragged into it, because they will kill you. You hear me? They will kill both of you."

Finn rushed by them, gripping the door as he looked over. He smiled. "You guys coming?"

Gerardo and Pacey glanced towards Raena for a split second. Her eyes softened. Before she knew it, they were both engulfing her in a tight hug. Raena had never felt safer in her friends' embrace. "I better see you again," Gerardo muttered in her ear. "I already miss you."

"I miss you too," she replied, voice muffled. Raena leaned back, sucking in the tears that threatened to spill, and stepped away from them. "Go. Before I start crying."

Pacey chuckled softly, shaking her muscled shoulder, before turning to his partner. They laced their hands together and stepped around Raena. Neither of them wanted to leave her, but right now, they had no choice. It was life or death, and survival was with the Resistance, which Raena learned so many moons ago. With hopeful expressions, they followed Finn down the hangar deck.

"Raena," Indira called, coming to halt beside her friend. She placed a hand on her shoulder as Poe made sure no one was following. "Come with us. We need you back on the Resistance base. I know you're here to help Leia, but ..." Indira trailed off and shook her head.

Poe nodded along with her. "Rey told us she mistakenly left you behind on the Supremacy. I know for sure that she doesn't want to make that mistake again."

Raena smiled softly. Her heart depleted in her chest. After all the wrong she'd done, after all the hurt she has caused – it meant a lot that someone as good as Rey cared for someone as bad as her. She was a true hero, and Raena almost wished she could embrace her for thinking of her as anything other than a mistake.

"As much as I want to, I can't," Raena sighed, swinging around the stormtrooper blaster on her chest. She walked backward and waved goodbye. "Unfinished business."

After sending them one last smirk, she was off, running towards the ground level of the hangar. She was hoping to stop anyone from going in or out of the hangar for the rebels' escape, but that was easier said than done.

As Pacey ascended the steps of the Millennium Falcon – one of the greatest ships he has clearly ever seen – he looked up at the large window that overlooked the hangar deck. Pacey watched Raena sprint down the hall and shoot at a single stormtrooper running her way. He turned to Gerardo, who was trying to push him forward. "Why won't she come with us, Ger?"

With a furrowed brow, Gerardo turned in the same direction as his partner, watching Raena dash into the darkness of the Steadfast, a wild look of satisfaction on her face. Gerardo sighed contentedly.

"Because," he smiled, "Raena Nhagy is a survivor."

•••

There was something mystifying and powerful about a force bond. Kylo never truly understood the bond between him and Rey, and he was always surprised how real it always felt, but it gave him so little answers. Even now, as his saber pressed down on hers, weighing her body down, he saw nothing around her but a darkness. The bond presented her right in front of him, standing on the cold grounds of Kijimi. It withheld her true location, but he knew she was close. This fight was useless if he didn't know where she was.

"Wherever you are," he huffed, "you're hard to find."

"Oh, yeah? You're hard to get rid of," she said, shoving him off with her foot.

Kylo stumbled, but his stance didn't falter. He leaned back and raised his saber, watching the way she challenged him. Rey walked around him, like a predator with its prey. He always knew there was a darkness inside her, and it all made sense now.

"I pushed you in the darkness because I needed to see it. I needed you to see it. Who you are." He pointed his saber in her direction. "Your parents knew who you really were. They sold you to protect you."

Rey charged at him, clashing their lightsabers together. "SHUT UP!" She screamed, whipping her weapon to the side, aiming to hit him in his side, but was met with his saber again. "I don't want to listen to you!"

"But you don't know the whole story. I've been enlightened." He cackled the slightest bit. Kylo watched her face contort into confusion, and then horror. She really had no idea. "It was Palpatine who had your parents taken. He was looking for you, but they wouldn't say where you really were. So he gave the order. And then, he came for you."

"NO!" Rey exclaimed and whirled around. The tip of her saber just grazed his chest as she smashed it upon his own. Lifting her lightsaber, they clashed their weapons once again, almost as if they were conducting a violent, intricate dance. Rey felt tears prick at her eyes when he pushed her to the side. She slid across the floor, but still lunged for him again, saber ready.

Their weapons didn't even meet this time. They scraped together, crackling as their energies mixed, but whipped across the other just enough to hit the pedestal on their right. Before either of them could react, their sabers were tearing through the Darth Vader mask Kylo still kept on a pedestal inside his room. Sparks flew in the air, and the jagged pieces of the helmet fell into the snow at his feet. The force bond faltered for a moment, finally giving him a hint to her location, and what he just lost.

She was on the Steadfast. In his quarters.

Rey gasped. Kylo's head snapped up, "So that's where you are."

He advanced towards her, lifting his saber over his head, but was suddenly shoved back into a pit of darkness. Kylo staggered backward and fell to his feet. Did she just push and knock him out? He felt his vision go black for a few seconds, and then he was opening them again, taking in the new location around him through the mask. He could hardly see anything but black. There were rocks at his feet and he was pretty sure he heard a river flowing ahead. Besides that, there was nothing. Just a cave of boulders and moss and the kind of gloom that called him to the Dark Side in the first place.

Something about this place felt so familiar, like a part of his soul still resided in it. The only other time Kylo found himself in a cave like this was on Dagobah, where he trained in the Cave of Evil with Snoke. But this couldn't be that cave. He destroyed it so long ago. So what – or who – brought him back here now?

Kylo stood, immediately igniting his saber. "Hello?" He shouted, but received nothing back. Was this some kind of vision? He swallowed hard and held out his weapon to protect his form, expecting Luke Skywalker to come out of the shadows. The old Jedi Master's voice had been haunting him as of late, and it was only a matter of time that he would meet him once again in a vision. This time, Kylo would be ready to destroy him for everything he'd done.

"Show yourself, Luke Skywalker!" He stalked forward, almost tripping on a group of rocks. Kylo whipped his head around in different directions and searched through the darkness. "Don't be a coward! Face me!"

A flash of red ignited from the corner of his eye. Kylo turned. A cloaked figure emerged from the shadows, dressed head to toe in midnight black. Kylo's eyes narrowed. He lifted his saber, using the crackling light to find the figure within the darkness. A tremor ran through his body. He waited anxiously to see who it was. Could it be Palpatine? Another Sith figure coming to give him guidance? They approached Kylo slowly, and when they were finally few away from the light, Kylo couldn't stop himself from gasping.

"Grandfather?" He whispered, unaware how loud his voice would come out. He cleared his throat. "Vader."

His grandfather didn't respond, only took a few steps closer. Kylo's anger spiked. He thought that meeting his grandfather would be legendary, that he would finally have the chance to ask him all things he's wanted to know. But now ... everything felt different. After all the things he's done, after all the mistakes he's mad ... Kylo did them to be just like his grandfather. He was so ambitious to be like Darth Vader that it almost cost him so many times. Kylo gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the lightsaber.

"Now? You decide now to finally grace me with your presence?" He shouted. "What made now so special?"

Vader didn't say a word. He breathed heavily through his mask, which only made Kylo angrier.

"I despise you," he continued. His legs spread out and he lifted his blade, preparing himself for a fight. "For so long, I wished to be like you. I followed every step. But I should've let the Dark Side guide me the entire time, not the ghost of a fallen leader. Your legacy made me blind."

His grandfather lifted a single hand. Kylo bit the end of his tongue. "My legacy is not an excuse for your mistakes, Ben Solo."

Kylo's hands formed into fists. His jaw clenched. Beads of sweat poured down his forehead, and his helmet became so hot that he just had to tear it off, throwing it to the rocky ground.

"But it is," he replied, breath ragged. "My life began to mirror yours, but I still wanted to make it better. I didn't want to end the same way as you, and yet, it happened anyway."

Kylo lifted his chin. His eyes formed into slits, and he wished he could see the expression on his grandfather's face. "I finally understand you now. Your weakness. Your pain. You allowed love to cloud your judgment, and I'm never doing that again."

Vader suddenly advanced towards him, but Kylo raised his hand, placing an invisible wall between him and his grandfather. Vader kicked at the blockage, tilting his head to the side, before chuckling under his breath. "Impressive," he said, whipping his arm out and smashing the Force wall with a simple wave of his hand, "but not enough."

Kylo choked on air, stepping backward as his grandfather charged, swiping his saber out. He dodged the attack and their weapons collided, creating a light so hot that Kylo could feel his eye sockets burning. Sparks flew in the air. Vader pushed him off and lifted his lightsaber, but Kylo already sensed his movements. Their sabers crashed several times, and Kylo began to push down on his grandfather's grip with all the strength left in his body.

He began to see his reflection in Vader's helmet, but it wasn't just him. He could see two people standing on his sides. Both female. One tall, muscular, with long blonde hair bound into a tight braid, and an evident scar burned into her chest. The other short and brunette, wearing expensive jewels and a disappointed expression. They were calling to him, but their tones sounded so different.

"Raena," he breathed, eyes sliding to the other side. "Padmé."

Vader snickered. Kylo was losing his mind, and his own grandfather was mocking him. He grunted, shoving Vader so hard that he sent his grandfather flying into the darkness of the cave. Kylo paused, eyes growing wide, as he realized he couldn't even see a hint of the infamous red lightsaber anymore. A cloud of ash wafted into the air. Had he eliminated him finally? Was this just the Dark Side trying to get him to defeat Vader to become the leader he's always wanted to be?

And then, out of nowhere, the hilt of a lightsaber soared through the air. The blade ignited, heading straight for Kylo's chest, but again, he dodged the attack. Kylo beat the lone saber away with his own, and the lightsaber flew back into its owner's hand as he emerged from the ash.

Their weapons met, and Kylo wouldn't falter this time. He struggled against his grandfather's strength, but Kylo used every working muscle in his body to push down on Vader's lightsaber. He lifted his head, staring into the darkness of Vader's mask, but he didn't see his reflection anymore. Kylo smiled, pressing on the saber hard enough to cut off its power. Vader's saber collided with the ground, and Kylo hit his shoulder with the tip of his crackling weapon.

All Vader did was grunt. He was right back up again, and before Kylo could even raise his saber, Vader thrust his hand out. His strength was too powerful, sending Kylo to the rocky floor. Kylo huffed and rubbed the back of his head. There was blood on his hand. He looked up, watching his grandfather walk forward, and he tried to stand back up. Something was holding him back. Vader was paralyzing him.

"You disappoint me, Ben," he breathed out. "Not only do you blame your mistakes on others, but you're also a coward. You're a hypocrite. You're everything I was not."

Tears gathered in Kylo's eyes as he fought against Vader's invisible restraints. His saber sent sparks all around them.

"Your failure leaves me with no other choice," Vader raised his weapon, "but to destroy you."

Kylo closed his eyes. He waited for the saber to pierce his chest. He waited for the quick-burning sensation, for his wound to cauterize. But all he felt then was a large gust of air, and he didn't feel the small pebbles beneath his back anymore.

He lifted his head and fluttered his eyes open. The bright lights around him were almost blinding. His helmet and saber still laid a few feet away, but they no longer sat on the rocky surface of the cave. He was back in his room on the Steadfast, far away from his grandfather's ghost.

A low grumble resonated from his mouth as he stood up. Kylo placed his helmet back on and hooked his saber back on his belt before heading for the door. He didn't have time to worry about a nightmare.

•••

A/N: now THIS is the kind of deranged kylo we should've had in TROS!!! the whole vader vs. kylo cave fight was inspired by the leaked DUEL OF THE FATES script, which was the original episode 9 script before TROS happened and yada, yada, yada. in that script, they had kylo go all crazzzzzzy and there was a cave fight scene between him and vader that was supposed to mirror the luke vs. vader cave fight in ESB. kylo was also supposed to destroy vader's mask and say something like, "you allowed love to cloud your judgment," and like???? honestly.........we were ROBBED. look at the potential!!!!!

to end this long-winded explanation, I just wanted to say that the vader vs. kylo fight was inspired by all of that and also some of this fantastic fan film!!!

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]