Alternate Ending for The Rise of Skywalker

Breaking the News

Rey's POV:
It was all very sudden. I was still in my room in the medical bay, but today was different. I was sitting on my bed, when a familiar, deafening silence came over.

"Rey," a gentle, deep voice called.

My head snapped up, desperate to know if the voice belonged to who I thought it was. When I saw him there, his tall figure sitting on a bed too small for him, I thought I just might explode with happiness. A smile, bigger then I ever thought to be possible, spread quickly on my face.

"Ben!!" I cried, my voice filled with joy. "Are you alright?" While asking this, I slowly made my way closer to him, longing for his touch.

"I've never been better," he responded, and treated me to another one of his big smiles.

Forgetting myself, I ran the short distance between us, crushing myself to him, only pausing and remembering myself when I felt him wince slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I began awkwardly, and started to get out of his lap, but was only able to make it a couple of inches before his long arm snaked around my waist, pulling me back to my original position.

"Don't apologize, Rey. You're fine," he whispered, his breath tickling my neck.

Chuckling when I shivered softly, he put his hand on my face, making it impossible to look anywhere else but those piercing, dark eyes. Butterflies racked through my body, and my heart began to pound. But, that was just the effect that Ben had on me.

Softly, he placed his lips on mine; and I melted into the kiss. It wasn't as passionate as the one on Exogol had been, but the amount of love I felt was the same. We knew we had finally had time.

This time, it was I who broke the kiss, although reluctantly; because of a squeaking I heard coming down the hallway, which could only mean Finn was coming to visit me.

"I have to go back to my room now, Finn is here," I said, while standing up.

"I'll see you soon, Ben," I said, the silence slowly retreating back.

I was soon back in my own room, sitting on my bed again.

Finn's POV:
When I entered Rey's room, I first noticed how flustered she appeared. I had been noticing a lot of unusual behavior from my friend, and the sole purpose of my visiting her today was to discover why.

Walking closer to her bed, I also took notice of a deep blush on her cheeks, and her breathing was at an irregular pace.

"Rey, you alright?" I asked, sitting lightly on her bed.

"Yeah. Yup, never better," She responded, almost too quickly.

Even her voice sounded winded, as if she had been doing something strenuous.

"Look, I have some things I want to talk about. I also have a few questions for you, too," I began cautiously, not sure how she was going to react.

A brief look of confusion, then panic, flashed momentarily on her face, but she then reigned in her emotions and responded.

"Yeah, of course, Finn. Whats up?" She responded, her voice betraying nothing she didn't want me to hear.

I decided to go with my own news first.

"I'm force sensitive. Not anything major yet, but I can sense different things. Like on Exogol, that's how I found you. I sensed your presence, Rey. I actually thought you had died, but that's clearly not true."

"Finn!! This is incredible!" She exclaimed, face aglow with newfound excitement.

She reached over and hugged me, and then pulled back, looking at my face with a funny look on her face.

"Actually, you weren't wrong about me dying. I did," she said, a faraway look on her face.

"What? And why was Kylo Re-" I began, but was interrupted.

"Let me finish, it all ties together, just let me finish."

Exhaling, she started again.

"On Exogol, I went to go kill my grandfather. I found him, but I was almost turned. I almost turned to the Dark Side, Finn, after 40 seconds of him talking to me. He told me the only way I could save you guys was to take up my name, to become Empress. I could only imagine what Ben has been through, all those years on his own, all of those years, forced to listen to his lies, " she paused here, tears sparkling in her eyes, a pained expression painted on her face from the memory.

"Sorry,"she said, swiping at her eyes before the tears fell.

"I was about to do it. Kill him, that was, and take my grandfathers place. But then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I looked over, and there was Ben. He had come back for me. He was in trouble, though. He had fought off the Knights of Ren all by himself, no weapon.  So, I Force-Handed him a saber, and he fought them back off. When he was done with that, he came over to me, and we were going to fight my grandfather. But, he somehow sucked the Life-Force out of the both of us. It nearly killed us both. When Palpatine had the strength he needed, that's when all the lightning started coming out of the sky. But then the craziest thing happened, I asked the Jedi to be with me, and they gave me strength. I've never felt the Force flow through me so hard before; the feeing was indescribable. I used both of the lightsabers, and was able to kill my grandfather. But, I had used up all my strength and Force in the process. I knew I was going to die. I did die. But Ben brought me back to life. He saved me, Finn. I've been denied it in the past, but I can't anymore. I love him, Finn," she stopped there, trying to gauge my reaction.

"I know it is a lot to take in," she began, but was stopped when I hugged her.

"Thank you, Rey. It is a lot to take in, but it's nice to hear the truth from you. I might have to talk to Ky- Ben, I mean. To see for myself if he's really worthy of you."

That earned a "Hey!!" and a punch in the arm, but also a laugh. It was good to have everything out in the open with her again, nice to be able to have a good conversation with my best friend, without being afraid we could die at any second.

When Rey broke the news to Poe, it didn't go that well at first. However, she reminded him that if we could have accepted Hux so quickly, without giving him a bad time, that he should accept Ben as well. It took a little convincing, but he finally came around to not hating the idea of Ben and Rey. Chewie and BB8 were fine with it, although Chewie claimed he knew it from the beginning. Things were finally starting to take a turn for the good around the Resistance.

Authors Note
Hey guys!! I am SO SO sorry for not updating!! School started again for me, and all of my energy has been devoted towards that. I'll work harder to produce more chapters for you guys!! Thank you for all the support!! (Especially chloechloefox )
It means so much to me!! Also, thank you for over 200 reads?! What?! That's absolutely crazy!! You guys are seriously the best!! Okay, okay. I'll shut up now!! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!