The Redemption of Fate ~ A Reylo Story

18

"You will become one of us now." Snoke whispered into Rey's invisible ear. She still was floating in the same abyss of darkness and eerie stars above. Her limbs were still undetectable to her eyes, but she could feel every ligament there even though it wasn't. The oddity duped her brain out every time she conjured the thought, and every time she looked down, nausea fell over her; she couldn't see her feet but she felt that she was standing on them. It was anomalous.
"You are confused, I can sense," Snoke said, his foul hand resting atop Rey's unseen shoulder, "you don't understand the true dangers you risked for a stupid man. . . For that child in a mask."
"He's not a child," Rey spat, fighting the anguish Snoke was tormenting her with, "and he gave up that mask when he gave up the dark side."

"Oh, you pathetic thing," Snoke snarled, "once a part of the dark side, always a part of the dark side. That mask stains his goodness with the blood of everyone and everything he has killed."
Rey knew, despite Ben's attempts at forgetting his past, there was indefinite truth in Snoke's words. Ben was afflicted, and something told Rey he always would be. But that doubt wouldn't hinder her valor. "He killed you, and I know he doesn't regret that."
Snoke restrained from pulling back in surprise. "Oh, does he really?"
Rey was trembling, but not from her hate--from her agony. Snoke was visibly enjoying his torment. Pain seared in the back of Rey's brain, as if daggers were impaling it, digging deeper into the fleshiness of her cerebellum.
"Yes," Rey finally grunted out, "he does."

"Doesn't matter now, you won't survive this. I will make sure of that. Yes, I may be dead, but the dark side always has authority. All one must do is give the dark side just the right amount of authority"--Snoke grinned malevolently as he inflicted Rey with more suffering--"and just like that, I can infiltrate your mind. Take it over and destroy you indefinitely."
Rey knew then that the piercing stab in her head was the dark side invading her brain. The pain of it grew more intense and Rey felt that she might convulse, blackout; give up.
"Ah, I see you have already given in." Snoke's body suddenly transformed into Palpatine's hideous one, his voice morphing back into the sinister sickness Rey did not miss. "Good. Let it be."

"You must not know me, then." Rey heaved, she felt the daggers in her brain intensify. Veins in her neck bulged and the rush of adrenaline permeated her hearing. "Because I'm. . . not as weak as you. . . think."
"Granddaughter, don't be naive. I have known you from the very beginning. I have been a part of you, and I have been in every person you have ever hated. I made Darth Vader and I made Snoke. I am every entity of the dark side--in fact, I am the dark side itself. Don't fool me. I know your heart, I know your soul."
Every little element began to impair Rey like it never had before. Even the tears in her eyes stung violently, like hundreds of minuscule, lacerating needles. She yowled in pain; an unearthly sound that only torture could evoke.

"Just give it up. Everything. You will never win. Once I take over your mind, you will become a part of the dark side for eternity. And you and I will give power--the strongest power the dark side has ever seen--to those who merely ask for it. With that power, we will perpetually dominate the galaxy."
"No." Rey was picking herself up from the floor-less, black ground. "I will never help you."
Palpatine shrugged with such ease, all while torturing Rey, that it sickened her stomach. Made her want to roll over and vomit. But she knew what she had to do. Her thoughts mused back to Ben Solo, the one she knew she couldn't live without--the one she wouldn't live without. This was all for him. Every fight, every ounce of pain, every near-death encounter. It was for Ben. It was his resurrection--his redemption.

Rey's fate would only result in the efforts she cried for, ached for, even nearly-died for. And though she was nearly dead--her heart palpitating, her muscles worn, her energy running on dwindling fumes--Rey stood. She planted her imperceptible feet onto the solid abyss beneath her and fought. Giving everything she could ever conjure, every particle of strength she had left in her gaunt body. Rey bawled. The insides of her throat felt as if they would violently rip apart. She felt Palpatine's looming presence working more fervently as she began to override the dark side. Slowly, undoing the damage Palpatine had etched.

Rey briefly opened her eyes to look at Palpatine. It seemed as if he had shrunk. His eyes were unbelieving, incredulous. A look of shock clouded over his expression. "You may try--"
"No, grandfather, you may try, but at the end of the day, you will always fail."
And with one last look in his shallow, scornful eyes, Rey lifted her invisible arms and thrust every ounce of that bottled energy at Palpatine. His apparition shrieked and Rey pressed on. Feeling her eyelids droop and her muscles turn to mush. Rey took one last look as Palpatine was vanishing in front of her; his body being sucked up into the dark atmosphere above. A strong look of stupefaction in his dreadful eyes.

Then, suddenly, Rey felt her haggard body crumple. Her knees collapsed. Her face willingly smashed onto the ground in unison as her eyes witnessed Palpatine's body disappear before her. The stars above shone bright, but Rey could not lift a hand to shield the light from her eyes. The ethereal white light grew, overtaking the expanse of Rey's eyesight, and one last, exhausted breath escaped her mouth before her mind went unconscious.