Star Wars | Episode X: The Edge of Destiny

Chapter 41: Let Me See Them

Slowly, my eyes open.  I hear the waves crash against the shore and a gentle Summer breeze washes over me.  Breathing in deep---I see the surrounding scene unfold.  

Leaning up against the door frame---I see the outside---the ocean expands on the horizon.  I look up to see blue skies overhead and large gray birds flying past. I sense him approaching.  Turning my head around, Ben stands right beside me.  His strong right arm wraps around my torso, and he pulls me close against his frame. 

I turn my body into his and feel both his arms embrace me tightly.  Resting my left ear against his chest, I can hear his heart beating.  I close my eyes and breathe him deeply in---savoring the moment. Ben's cheek rests against the top of my head---I hear something.  

Children are laughing outside in the distance. I move, and he reluctantly loosens the embrace.  I watch as a young boy and girl---facing the ocean---play in the tall grass.

I gasp.

"No," Ben says pulling me back into his embrace.

I try to wiggle loose from his strong arms---he tightens them around me preventing me from running.  

"Let me see them.  My children...please!" my voice cracks.  I want to rush over to the children playing.  To see their faces and learn everything about them.  I want to hear their names and hold them tight in my arms.  This future can't be real---knowing what happens...

"Not yet," he says softly.

"What are their names?" I choke on sobs.

"I don't know... I didn't ask," he replies. 

I wipe away the falling tears from my cheeks. "Why?" I ask softly.

"I don't want to know," he says.

The despair of what I must do fills my heart.  The path that must happen to bring him back---I must give everything.

My eyes fill with water.  The Force is being cruel to me now.  Somewhere in time, these visions could exist.  Knowing what happens at the end of all this---seeing this vision feels like a dagger in my heart.

I turn and look up at Ben.  "Once, on this plane, you told me someone told you to wait for me here...who?" I look back at the children facing away from me and playing together. 

He takes a moment to respond. "They did..." he looks over to them playing in the distance and back to me.

I start to sob.  

"With what must come to pass...why is the Force doing this to me! Why is it bringing me here to you after all these years! I don't understand! Why would it take you from me if I was just meant to bring you back!"

Ben's grip on my body loosens again and I feel his strong hands move up my arms and squeeze into my shoulders.  "We are bound together by the Force---by the Dyad.  Where you go, I go. Even through death, the Force will bring us together, Rey.  You needed to come here and see these visions---to know they could be real.  You are the only one who can do this, Rey. This is the only way to destroy him..."

"You know what happens at the end of this... You know what you must do," I wipe away a falling tear.

"Rey," he gently strokes my right cheek and looks at me with those loving dark eyes. "They..." he looks at the children playing and then back to me. "They have a greater destiny than you or I could ever imagine---I've seen it," he scans me with his eyes.  He knows he can't tell me any more than that---I sense it.

"I know what you fear---I fear it too.  You need to trust in the Force, Rey," he whispers as his hand runs to the back of my hair.

"I don't know how I can defeat him, now, Ben.  I feel almost consumed by him.  This is the only place I don't feel his shadow," I turn and look back at the children playing.  They rise from the grass and the girl places her arm around the boy's shoulders---hugging him.

I want to fall to my knees.  

I sense his anxiety growing---he knows our time is almost up.  

"Rey, listen to me," both his hands tightly grip my shoulders and his eyes lock onto mine. "Bleed...and let the darkness in..." he pulls my body in and kisses my forehead.

"Ben..." I reach out for him as the vision starts to fade.

I'm falling.