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

The Rise of Skywalker

EXEGOL

Ben was running. Running, running, running as the sweat limped off his arms and face. Running through the darkness, which pervaded everywhere. But like many times before, the darkness was almost physical. But unlike those times, its strength was impossibly strong. The Dark Side was truly everywhere in this place, and it crept outward like an unstoppable slug.

He knew she would've known what to do-that Force bond just saved his life. He almost started laughing, but scolded himself for nearly falling for that temptation. Yet, he really couldn't help it-everything she did made him smile. He could barely keep focus each time they had fought before. Even being in her presence made his heart jackhammer to the point he thought faintness overtook him. Except for when she cut off a piece of his face. Not the finest moment by any stretch. He would always hold a grudge for that. Especially when his kids ask, "Dad, who gave you that?"

"Oh, your mother," he mumbled, still sprinting through and towards Rey's location. He was getting way too ahead of himself.

Priorities, Ben, priorities, he thought. Sometimes-well, more like all the time-he wondered why he loved her. And that he did, she just didn't know or hear him say it. Yet. She was a scavenger, truly a nothing from nowhere. Maybe it was the Force. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was simpler than that, though. Maybe, just maybe, for the first time in his life, he met someone who was also alone. Someone who needed another to make life bearable. It was all very poetic.

His mind was still reeling from the conflict with his former squad, the Knights of Ren. Those savages had been working behind the scenes for the Emperor this whole time, yet he never even caught a glimpse of their machinations. And now, the end neared as the fate of the Force teetered on the edge of an abyss. If they don't succeed and destroy one of the greatest Sith of them all, those kids won't even exist. If Darth Vader now apparently couldn't kill him, who could? But he had to try. Even if it meant giving up the greatest thing of all-life.

He would have to save the galaxy. When he imagined saving the entire galaxy, though, only one thing came to mind-Rey. She was his galaxy. He hoped she always would be. No matter what ensued, death could never hope to separate them.

I will finish what you started, grandfather.

After an eternity of running and jumping like a madman through the terrain of Exegol, he finally made it to the arena. Sith loyalists were everywhere, filling his ears and eyes with horror. The First Order itself was originated in various forms of evil. But this was different. It was pure evil, unlike anything he'd ever seen.

He looked around and spotted Rey in the center; just standing there, Leia's blue lightsaber blade casting a small pool of light in this dark dungeon. And there...was the Emperor. He was attached to the gigantic apparatus he had seen beforehand, flailing about like a zombie. It scared the crap out of him.

"Every master I have grown beyond is now with me," the Emperor said. "There is no escape. I will not just rule the galaxy. We all will!" His voice now seemed to be a multitude of voices. Darth Nihilus, Vitiate, Maul, Malgus, Bane, Plageuis, Exar Kun-the Dark Lords of the Sith from eons past all sounded their victory.

"The Force is not with you, grandfather!" Rey retorted.

He laughed, drawing it out so that it echoed everywhere. "Young fool...good. Come and witness the full power of the Dark Side!"

Ben walked up and stood inside the arena. Rey noticed the commotion and looked. She smiled. Not a big smile, just a slight grin. He was overcome with joy. She had never smiled at him before.

Suddenly, he was hit by a truck of courage. He would kill Sheev Palpatine if it was the last thing he did. If only to see her smile one more time. Glaring at Sidious, the newly-reborn Ben Solo stepped next to Rey, wielding the lightsaber of legacy, the saber used by Luke Skywalker and his father before him-Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One.

"Your coming together will be your undoing," the Emperor said. "You will not stop me. I spent years planning. I destroyed the Jedi. Now, I will destroy you."

"'You'?" Rey snapped. "You won't kill me. You will have to kill us."

Ben glanced at her and smiled. The time was at hand.

Out of nowhere, Palpatine shot his hands forward and ripped a translucent mist from both Ben and Rey's bodies. He had sucked something out of them. Something Ben knew he took. Something that horrified him. Years ago, he read the stories of all the powers the Dark Side lords possessed-one of them being life force manipulation. It's how this very Palpatine kept his grandfather, Anakin Skywalker, alive after a quick dip in the fires of Mustafar. In doing so, he took the life of his grandmother, Padme Amidala.

"The life force..." the Emperor muttered, almost astonished. "Your dyad...unseen for generations. The power of two will now restore the one true Emperor." He sneered with the smile of a devil and repeated the prior motion. Kylo and Rey were frozen by an unparalleled Force power as their very life left them and instead served the Emperor. His face began to brighten, his fingers reform, and soon enough, he fell to a knee. He felt more alive than ever-like he was back in the game. He dropped Rey and Ben to the unforgiving, cold ground.

Ben looked to Rey. She was unconscious. He shifted and glared at the Emperor, who slowly stood up. When they locked eye contact, Ben discovered a terrible truth: His eyes were now reddish-orange. The color of the Sith.

"No!" Ben shouted, mustering every ounce of strength to at least stand up to this monster in the Force. To pose a threat. To do something.

"Vader betrayed me," Palpatine said. "So I will start off by destroying the last Skywalker!" He telekinetically lifted Ben into the air once more. "I am your Emperor. As once I fell, so will fall the last Skywalker!" He thrust Ben away and he fell into a pit deemed no bottom.

The reborn Darth Sidious sat on the throne. The ceiling began to part, displaying the vast fleets from everywhere in the galaxy consumed in an absolute spectacle of war.

Rey began to awaken and turned over. She groaned and looked to her grandfather, who pointed his fingers upward. What followed was a deep moan from the very Force itself, letting out an expulsion of Force lightning previously undreamed of straight into the sky, where it branched off like a thunderstorm. It was a legendary Force storm. The fleets shorted out and began to go deadstick.

Horrified but powerless, Rey inched up. "Be with me," she choked. "Be with me."

"There is no one coming to help you," Palpatine growled. "No one will be with you. No one is coming, just like no one came to save your parents. Once more the Sith will rule the galaxy! And we shall have...peace. And this time, there is no Vader, no Skywalker to stop us."

She connected to the Force, her rage rising. The Skywalker lightsaber lifted off the ground in front of her. On one knee, she reached out to grab it. But it flew right past her and into the outstretched hand of someone, or something, else.

A slightly glowing, blurry figure stepped into an iota of light. Igniting the lightsaber, it began to walk forward. She squinted.

The figure's features were now apparent. It wore long, Jedi robes and boasted long, wavy hair. Yet, she had no clue who he was.

"I believe you're in need of my assistance," he said. "I will be with you, Rey. Because I am all you need. And it's time I finish this. I will finish what I started."

Just then, Ben Solo crept out of the pit...somehow. He pushed himself up onto the ground that was riddled with energy and a nightmarish cyan glow. His eyes widened when he made out some kind of Force ghost.

The ghost turned around and smiled at him. "This was never your destiny, Ben! This is mine. I will balance the Force forever. One last time. Not as Vader, as Anakin Skywalker...the Chosen One."

***

So hopefully I'll have the next one out within a day or two. Isn't it better already?