strongerthanblood | and with a stroke of her saber

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and with a stroke of her saber

Things have been going well. That probably should have rung in her head like warning bells, but it didn't. Maybe this place is making her too soft.

Rey is on the Falcon one night, because she got in an idea in her head about how she might be able to repurpose some a parts to try and make a repulsorlift for her bike. She kind of likes it how it is now, with its primitive rubber wheels, but an upgrade might be nice. Plus, she did tell Anakin that she would try.

She becomes so focused on her task that by the time she comes out of it enough to check the time, it's already so late at night and she's so tired. After checking in with Ben through the bond to let him know her plans, she goes to crawl into her preferred bunk. She'll get a few hours of sleep, and then go back to town at dawn.

Sleep comes easily to her, but it does not stay peaceful.

Rey dreams. This is not unusual, except for the fact that she's had this dream before, and it wasn't a dream. It was a vision.

Rey is on Exegol, dressed all in black. There is a hood over her head and a saber in her hand, and she walks with purpose. She strides, really, with her chin held high and a smile on her face. She makes all the way up to the top of the Sith throne without hesitation, and takes her seat next to Ben.

No, not Ben. It's Rey and Kylo Ren. Empress and Emperor.

Thousands of Sith rise up below them, and their cheer sounds more like a roar. A declaration of intent. An oath. Rey ignites her lightsaber and smiles, teeth sharp and face lit up in red.

The world belongs to her now.

A scream is what finally wakes Rey up, and it takes her a long moment to realize that it's coming from her. Even as she wakes up, the vision doesn't stop. It keeps on going, plaguing her mind with images of her tearing apart worlds just to watch them burn. She grabs her saber and stuffs her feet into her boots, runs out of the Falcon and into the misty rain, and it keeps going.

Palpatine's laugh rings in her head so loud that it makes her dizzy. It feels like it's pressing in on her from all sides, like it's echoing throughout the entire city.

The time has come. You will ascend.

You will take the throne. It is your birthright to rule here. It is in your blood. Our blood.

I wanted you here, Empress Palpatine.

Rey lets out a wild scream into the rain, chest burning as she keeps running, feeling compelled to do so. Her feet know where they are going before she does, but maybe she just doesn't want to acknowledge it, because it can't be true. It can't be here.

You will take the throne.

She tears through the forest, tripping over gnarled roots and fallen branches, and when she finally makes it to a clearing overlooking the sea, near where her and Ben sometimes train together, she sees it. There under the glowing light of the moon, shining in the rain, it sits.

The Throne of the Sith, with all it's cruel, horrible points carved into stone. It's not something that Rey thought that she would ever see again, and she lets out another cry of terror as she falls to her knees before it. She destroyed it, once. She'll just have to do it again.

She can practically hear the chanting of the Sith as she throws her hand in front of her and sends out a burst of electric energy. The tendrils of lightning curl around the stone but do nothing, and Rey screams louder as she forces more of her power into the act. She wants it gone. It has to be gone.

Her teeth grit against the onslaught and she yells through it, even as the lightning shoots up from the throne and into the sky like a beacon, crackling through the air like thunder claps.

It is in your blood.

"No!" She cries out into the night, into the Force, to anyone who will listen. "I don't want it!"

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A chill runs down Jyn's spine as she takes that in, and not because of the cool autumn rain that's falling. She only knows a little about the Sith, and it's hazy now, faded now with the stories her mother used to tell her about the Jedi when she was a child. It's enough, though. Even if it weren't, Rey's reaction would be. She's still tense and on guard, old survival instincts having kicked in, but she trusts her friend. As strange and unsettling as the scene may be, if Rey wants it gone, then it's with good reason, and at least Jyn doesn't have to worry now about startling her.

She takes a step closer, then kneels so they'll be on the same eye level, looking from Rey to the foreboding chair. What, if anything, she might be able to do about it, she has no idea, but she won't just leave Rey to deal with it alone.

"We'll get rid of it, then," she says, quiet and sure. "I don't know how, but we will."

The embrace surprises Obi-Wan at first, but then he brings his arms up and wraps them around Rey's shoulders. He can feel her shivering and he releases her only long enough to take off his robes, spreading them over her shoulders before he embraces her once more.

"I don't know my parents," he tells her in a soft voice. "Their blood runs through my veins, but my family is made up of the Jedi I grew up with. It was my Master, Qui-Gon, and it's Anakin. Ahsoka. It's the men I served with in the Separatist War. It's you."

He rubs Rey's arms and says, "You can chose your family, Rey. You have Ben, you have me. I have no doubt you would never take that throne. You're stronger than that by far."

"The two of us, we could probably manage it," he pointed out, one corner of his lips curved in faint amusement.

"If you were to blow it up, where do you think that power would come from?" He asked, his tone even and curious. Once, he wouldn't have hesitated in stoking her anger, her fear, but now, all he could see was Palpatine's joy at seeing her might.

Rey lets a quiet sob at the kindness in Padmé's voice, and tells herself to believe it. She has the blood of the ruler of the Sith in her veins, but she doesn't have to be like him. She chooses her destiny. She chose and she ended him, and all of the Sith along with him.

Padmé's arm goes around her and Rey turns into the embrace, lowering her forehead to Padmé's shoulder for a moment. Suddenly, she feels guilty for all the information that she's keeping from Padmé, even if she does know that it's the right thing to do.

"It was Palpatine," Rey tells her, because she has to tell her something, and this feels the safest. "He sat on that throne."

It's you.

Rey looks up in surprise at that, sniffling a bit as Obi-Wan holds the robes over her shoulders. They're a Jedi's robes, and she sinks into the warmth of them as her chin wobbles slightly.

"I'd like very much to be your family," she finally says, swallowing hard as she does her best to let Obi-Wan's words and his calming energy settle within her. The sudden arrival of the throne and Palpatine's voice in her head had frightened her, but he isn't here. It's just a thing, and she has no reason to fear it.

She is still Rey Skywalker, because she chooses who she gets to be. No one else.

The quiet, steady reassurance Jyn gives her makes Rey smile, just barely, and she looks up at her friend. She and Jyn have gotten close, and Rey doesn't think that Jyn will care where she comes from.

Rey stands up and sniffles a little as she holds out a hand to help Jyn to her feet. She puts her hands on her hips and takes another long look at the throne.

"Does the name Palpatine mean anything to you?" She asks quietly, turning her head slightly without turning to look at Jyn.

"That's probably true," she admits, shivering as she thinks back to their battle over that ship in the desert. That had been one of the worst moments of her life, thinking she had killed Chewie.

Ben continues speaking, and Rey pulls back to look at him, brow furrowed, until she raises one at him.

"It'd come from dynamite, probably," she says flatly, but her lips curl into a small smile that lingers for a few moments before going a bit more serious as she reaches up to sweep his wet hair back from his face. She actually had meant some sort of actual explosive, but she doesn't want Ben to worry about her. "I don't plan on ever pushing myself that far again, Ben."

They're both quiet for a moment as the rain falls and Obi-Wan keeps his arms around Rey, lending her his steadiness, his calm. She had heard his voice and he had heard hers, a connection he's rarely had with anyone at all.

There is a reason for it, he's certain. Rey is no Sith.

"You heard me," he says after a moment. "And I heard you. I can't do that with most. You're very powerful, Rey, of that there can be no doubt and Palpatine has always craved nothing more than power. He used Anakin for the same reason, for the power he has. The power you have. But your heart is good and you're much, much stronger than that man could have ever hoped to be."

Thinking of the lightening he'd come upon, mere moments before this conversation, Ben simply arched a brow at her in return.

"I suppose dynamite wouldn't be difficult to come by," he agreed, giving a vague shrug. "It might raise a few questions."

None she couldn't deal with, in one way or another.

Rey lets Obi-Wan's words settle over her as she rests her head against his shoulder. It only solidifies what she has already been told, and she feels herself grow calmer, and more resolved. She let this sudden arrival shake her, but it doesn't have to last.

"I heard you before, when I faced Palpatine," Rey admits, sniffling as she pulls back to look at his face. "I-- I had almost given up, because I thought I had been beaten, but I heard you, and Anakin. I heard many Jedi, and you all helped give me the strength to take him on, once and for all. She smiles at him and it's a bit wobbly, but it's genuine. "You all were with me, and together we ended the Sith."

He can't help but wonder what that truly means. If an end to the Sith means an end to the Jedi, too, at least as he understands the Order to be. There will always be those who are Force sensitive and they will always be drawn to the light or to the dark.

Sith. Jedi. Those are only names. The light and the dark will both always exist. They must in order for there to be balance in the galaxy. With Palpatine gone, someone else may seek to take his place, but that doesn't mean the battle should not have been fought. The Jedi will always seek to preserve the good in the world, just as Rey has done.

"We'll always be with you," he answers, then smiles. "The Force is everywhere. You can feel us, we can feel you. Palpatine couldn't change that."

Anakin feels it in the Force, that brief flash of rage from Rey, that glimpse of power that begins to fade into the background almost instantly. It feels familiar, reminding of moments he's lost himself in it.

Anakin deactivates his saber and frowns, turning to look at the stone chair for a long moment. It looks ancient and evil, and he doesn't think he's ever seen anything quite like it.

"No," Anakin replies, "No, I don't."

He pauses, and a knot forms in his stomach before he speaks again.

"Do you?"

Ben looks at her with that arched brow and Rey can see what he's thinking, just a flash of it in her mind, and the smile drops from her face as quickly as it had come.

She lets go of him and rocks back to sit on her haunches, curling her hands into fists and hiding them between her thighs. "Are you worried about me?"

Rey doesn't mean to take a peek of Obi-Wan's thoughts, but she's so on edge and so curious as to what he's feeling about all of this that she sort of picks up on it without really trying. And he's right. The light and the dark will always exist, no matter what, and there will always be a need for balance.

But the Jedi and the Sith both no longer exist the way Obi-Wan knew them, and that can't be easy to sit with.

Still, he smiles at her and reassures her and Rey feels overcome with affection for him. She knows that she looks for family everywhere she goes, especially when it comes to father figures, but Obi-Wan really does feel like family. He's another on a short but very esteemed list of men that Rey has come to admire, and she's so grateful for him.

"I'm glad." She hugs him again, clutching at him for a moment before pulling back to give him a smile that looks almost shy, and reaches up to put her hair out of her face. "I guess we should get out of the rain. And away from this stupid chair."

Rey clicks off her own saber and watches Anakin as he stares at the throne, taking in his reaction. He truly doesn't seem to recognize it, and she swallows hard as she steps up next to him. Again, she has to work out what exactly she can tell him, while making sure to lock away what she can't somewhere deep in her mind. She doesn't think that Anakin would pry, but she doesn't want to risk him picking up on a stray thought.

"I do," she says after a long moment, jaw working as she blinks the rain out of her eyes. "It is the Throne of the Sith. The Emperor's throne."

Her grip tightens on the hilt of her saber, and her other hand curls into a fist at her side. He doesn't look at Anakin, only the throne, and grits out the name. "Palpatine."

The night he arrived in Darrow, Obi-Wan had told him about the Chancellor. That he'd orchestrated the war, turned the Clones on the Jedi and the Republic, naming himself Emperor. He'd sensed no deception from Obi-Wan then, but time and time again, Obi-Wan and the Council had lied to him. Even now, Anakin has been skeptical of the full truth behind what Obi-Wan had told him.

Perhaps it's all because he hadn't wanted to believe it.

But Rey doesn't know the Council, she was never a part of that world. He's not sure why she would lie about something like this.

If what Obi-Wan told him is all true, if what Rey is saying now is true, then that means years of lies and deception from one of the people he trusted the most.

There's an uncomfortable knot forming in his chest, and he feels sick and angry all at once.

"Don't fear what you're feeling, Anakin. Use it! Call upon your fury! Rage is your weapon!"

"I knew him as the Chancellor," Anakin says, trying not to think of the memory, trying not to think of the horror and shame he'd felt when he listened to the Chancellor, abandoning everything he'd been taught to take Dooku's life on the Invisible Hand.

He fails.

Because that is all this is. A chair. The thing itself has no power, only that which they give to it, and for Obi-Wan is means nothing at all. For Rey it could be the sort of thing that might cause her to stumble, but only that.

Because it's merely a chair.

"Come," he agrees. "Let's get dry and if you want, we can talk about it more. Or we can decide how to get rid of it."

He thinks a lightsaber or two should be able to take it apart.

Rey glances over at Anakin's face as he processes the news, and she can't help but to think of Ben, even younger than Anakin is now, being manipulated like this. There's a lurch in her chest, like a sudden wave of empathy, and she swallows hard.

Ben and his grandfather really are very alike, in so many ways. If Rey's compassion and understanding extends to Ben, then it must also extend to the boy who would be Vader.

There's a quiet moment, and then Rey shifts closer and reaches out to put her hand on Anakin's shoulder. It's the first time that they've touched with any sort of deliberate intent, and Rey realizes just how much she had been unfairly holding herself back, staying wary of him even though she already understood him better than she even knew.

"You were not the only one that Palpatine deceived," Rey tells him, giving his shoulder a reassuring squeeze as she looks back at the throne. She thinks about the life taken from her by Palpatine. The like taken from Ben, from Anakin, from all of them, and her next words come out choked up and rough. "He was a monster, Anakin. But now he's dead, and his throne sits empty."

"Getting dry would be a nice start," Rey tells him, turning away from the chair. Ben's voice is echoing in her her head, and Rey smiles a little. "Hold on, I need to tell Ben that I'm okay."

She pauses and closes her eyes, smiling a little as she accesses their bond, and sends him a message. She tells him that she is okay, that she's with Obi-Wan, and that she'll see him soon. Once she's done, she opens her eyes and takes another breath, nodding a bit as she does.

"Okay, he's okay." She gives a bit of a shiver from the cold, and uses her lightsaber to ignite the way as they start to climb back down toward the city. "I fell asleep at the Falcon. I was there when I-- well. When I heard him."

The connection between Rey and Ben is stronger than any Obi-Wan has seen before and he watches, fascinated, as she reaches out to Ben. Even with Qui-Gon, with whom his connection had been as strong as any, he doesn't think he would have reached him in such a direct way.

"Palpatine?" he asks. "You heard him? Was it a dream?"

He suspects it was, or some residual energy from the throne, but he needs to be sure. He thinks they all need to be sure.

"Palpatine?" Padmé manages to keep herself from recoiling in shock, but only just. The man had been old enough to be her grandfather; Sith or no Sith, he should have been long dead by the time of her grandchildren.

"After all that time?"

"Of course I'm worried about you," Ben said with a frown creasing his brow.

"I'm worried for you. That doesn't mean I don't trust you. Far from it."

He could see inside her mind, the fear and down so similar to his own. Wielding the kind of power she had required resolve that few could even hope to possess, and while he knew she wouldn't waver the way he had, he worried for her all the same. He didn't want her to have to shoulder that burden.

Because he loved her.

"A memory. Nothing more," Rey clarifies, expression twitching in discomfort. That voice will always live in her head, but she doesn't have to give it attention. Instead, she focuses on something that brings her joy.

"Ben and I are a dyad in the Force," she says in response to Obi-Wan's questioning look. "Two halves of one. We can appear to each other anywhere and it's just as if we're actually there."

Rey has never gotten a chance to explain the bond that she and Ben share before, and the happiness that bond brings her momentarily overshadows everything else.

"It may have been a difficult journey," she says, which is probably the galaxy's biggest understatement, "but we are very lucky to have found each other."

Anakin knows that Obi-Wan has told him this already. That in the time he's been in Darrow, the truth of this has been spinning around and around in his head as he tried to make sense of it, tried to work out how Obi-Wan could be wrong about it somehow. But seeing this in front of him and sensing what he senses from Rey...

It's true. All of it.

The knot forming in his stomach, the hesitation and shame becomes a second thought in that moment, replaced only by anger, by rage and betrayal. The irony is lost on Anakin, that giving into these feelings is the very thing the Chancellor wanted, to be sure he could kill Dooku.

"A decade of lies..." Anakin says, rage simmering within him, his eyes ablaze as he looks at the throne, as he thinks of every kind word the Chancellor put in his ear. Every encouragement a a falsehood.

Had any of it been true?

He pulls away from Rey, his eyes focused on the throne, his thoughts clouded. Around them, the grass in the clearing begins to sway independent of the wind and bits of dirt begin to float.

Anakin pulls away from her and almost instantly feels a shift in the Force. His rage stokes her own, makes her feel as if she's been set aflame, and she has to take a breath to try and calm herself. A fresh set of tears spill from her eyes as she looks around the clearing with vague panic.

"Stop it, Anakin," she cries out, lurching after him to grab at his arm. His rage burns bright and Rey concentrates to try and meet it with calmness, cresting and splashing like cool water to his flame. "I know how you must feel, but you got away from him. He has no hold over you now and look at all you have, even here."

Rey moves until she's facing him, reaching out to grab both of his shoulders. "Think of Padmé. Think about Obi-Wan and your daughter. Your grandson. They're here. The important ones are here and you're free to make your own path. Do not give him this power, Anakin."

As she says it, she realizes that she must heed her own advice. He's gone now, and they're all free of his influence.

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and with a stroke of her saber

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