THE DESTINY OF SKYWALKER: Star Wars IX Ending Rewritten (REYLO!)

The Destiny of Skywalker

EXEGOL

On his knees, cradling a fading Rey in his arms, Ben Solo was perfectly motionless. His eyes were closed, his demeanor as far from Kylo Ren as one side of the galaxy is from the other. This was the moment of truth. If she did not survive, he would simply kill himself. There was no other reason to live. The New Republic would despise him and likely execute him for all the evils he committed—all the destruction and death he had caused.

His hand still clamped over her wound, he shifted once more and hugged her again. He finally had someone to hold onto. The mist and ashes of the environment wept with him as the booms and explosions of falling ships enclosed Rey and Ben. It was as if a dam had been broken. He simply couldn't hold back the torrents of tears anymore as he cried into her shoulder. What if it was all a nightmare? A long, brutal nightmare? What if he wakes up back in Luke's Jedi Temple, and all of this was a neat trick his brain pulled to entertain him? Perhaps he had read about his grandfather's dark side too much. He possessed that tendency to want to be anyone other than what his parents wanted.

The emotion he expelled created a stronger connection to the Force than he ever could have imagined. He felt a strange stretching sensation where the mortal gash lay.

Before he had enough time to question this, Rey twitched once. He didn't move a muscle. All sorts of fears rampaged through his mind. But he took the brute force of each. He was used to it, anyway.

As the two were well-nigh wrapped around each other, she jittered again. Without warning, life began to stir. Hands and fingers stretched around his rib cage and gripped tightly.

There was a cough. Another. At this point, Ben couldn't give a damn. He eased out of the embrace, his blood pressure spiking.

"Rey...?" he asked, almost stuttering over himself. He steadied her neck with his hand.

She seemed delirious and spaced out. Half-shut, her eyes rolled back and forth. "Is this...real?" she asked.

He huffed a laugh but tried with every pound of his leftover emotional being to maintain composure. "I'm not sure."

Her head rotated in his palm. "Where is everyone? What—What happened?"

What didn't happen? he thought.

"We won."

"We?" she groaned. "Who are you?" The question speared his very soul. As quickly as it had left Rey's lips, her eyes widened as if infused with life. "Ben?"

He nodded his head ever so slightly and gulped. She remembered his name-the name he spent most of his life running from. That's a win, right?

She gazed into his eyes like how he literally always did. There was something more this time. She didn't see fear, pain, and confusion swirling within them.

The sky began to clear, the darkness of the Sith dissipating. The parent star of Exegol rose behind Ben's head, its heavenly rays spreading outward behind the messy mop of hair. It was as if the Force spoke to Rey through the angelic portrait before her. The light was rising on the Skywalker family. The night scurried away, darkness forever out of reach. Well, at least for the foreseeable future.