In which Rey loses a fight against Ben and pays the ultimate price.

"You were supposed to stop me!" Ben cried, cradling Rey's limp, lifeless body. His tears fell like a trickling stream onto her pale cheek.

"You were supposed to save the day! You had everything you needed to bring me down! So why," Ben choked on his words. "So why am I still here? What went wrong?" Ben bent over Rey, placing his forehead hers.

"Please wake up!" He cried desperately. "I can't do this without you!"

Ben heard the sound of running footsteps approaching, but he didn't lift his head. Let them kill him. He didn't care at this point.

"Rey? Oh gosh, Rey!" It was Poe, his voice reaching hysterics when he repeated her name. "What have you done?" He screamed at Ben. More people ran up.

"Rey, no!!!!" Finn cried, dropping to his knees across from Ben. Rose knelt beside him, struggling to hold back tears.

"Rey," she whispered.

A large, cauterized lightsaber wound gaped from Rey's chest. Ben had struck her right through the heart, breaking his own at the same time.

"You will pay for this, you hear? You'll pay!!" Poe frantically ran his hands through his hair and paced beside Ben, Finn, Rose, and Rey's dead body. Ben just hung his head, remorse coursing through every one of his veins. He saw his mother standing among the Resistance fighters, and he wanted to run himself through with a saber even more.

Poe started to throw himself at Ben, but Finn leapt up and held him back.

"Poe! Fighting isn't going to help anything right now!" Finn exclaimed.

"Ben," Leia softly whispered. "What happened here?"

Ben hung his head, tears running down his face. "We staged a fight. To make the Resistance and the First Order believe we were still enemies. We weren't. I don't know what we were. The plan was that if things went wrong, Rey was to kill me. I made her promise it. But when things did go wrong, Rey lost her guard, only for second, but a second was just enough time for me to kill her. Neither of us saw it coming."

As Ben recounted the tragedy, he could see Poe becoming more furious by the minute. That's when he realized, Poe had fallen for Rey. Ben understood that.

"You monster!" Ben flinched as Poe echoed what Rey had once called him. "How could you let this happen?!"

"Commander Dameron, please calm yourself," Leia said sternly. "Reacting in anger will do nothing but make this worse."

"But General, with all due respect, your son," Poe spat the word, "murdered Rey! Do you expect us to all stand by as he gets away with this?"

"Yes," was Leia's simple reply. "I will handle it."

Ben stood, the hand holding his saber trembling. He held it out to Poe. "Finish it."

Poe stared at the saber, then at Ben. "What?"

"Finish it. Kill me. Avenge Rey."

Poe continued staring. Then finally he sighed. "I won't be a murderer like you."

Ben dropped his arm. "Fine. I'll do it myself." He turned the saber to face his chest, closed his eyes, and ignited it.

He felt nothing. He had expected a blistering, sharp pain, but there was nothing. He opened his eyes.

His ignited saber was just millimeters away from his skin. He looked up, surprised to discover his mother, eyes closed, hand outstretched toward him. She was using the Force.

Ben deactivated his saber, defeated. Leia opened her eyes, fatigue evident in her face. Saving his life had drained her energy. Poe ran to steady her.

"I will not lose another person I love," Leia explained sternly, yet with a bit of tenderness. Ben wanted to curl up on the ground beside Rey and die with her. He deserved it.

"Wait, General Organa, you have the Force?" Finn asked, shocked. Leia simply nodded.

"Mother, whatever you have planned to do to me, I ask that it include my death. I am not deserving of life anymore. Please grant me this request." Ben almost fell to his knees and begged. He wanted to be free of this pain.

Leia's shoulders sagged. "I cannot order the death of my son."

Ben sank to the ground, his sorrow so great he couldn't continue standing. The woman he loved was dead. She had been his ray of sunshine, and now she was gone, the light in his life now snuffed out.

All of a sudden, he gasped as a sharp, burning pain struck through his chest. He heard his mother shriek, then start sobbing. He heard blaster shots. He felt his consciousness fading and blurring. He sensed, hiding up in the mountains surrounding him, General Hux, firing his blaster at Ben.

Ben had no regrets about dying. Now he would join Rey wherever she was. And that was good enough for him.

As Leia cradled his dying body, Ben faintly saw Rey standing behind his mother. She was glowing with radiance, smiling her wonderful smile. The saber wound was gone, and she was beckoning to him. Ben relaxed and smiled weakly, grasping his mother's hand.

Then he closed his eyes and let himself join Rey. He offered her his arm, and the two stood watching Leia, until she stood and turned around. Her eyes widened as she saw the Force ghosts of Rey and Ben. She wiped her eyes, tried to smile, and waved as the two walked off together, fading into the night.

"May the Force be with you," Leia whispered.

AN: Well, I can honestly say I almost cried writing this. This was one of the saddest things I've ever written!

Sorry, my loves!

-Tess