As the trio of First Order generals run through a corridor, sneaking past their former soldiers, Serei whispers to Kylo, “Where are you thinking about going now?”

“I have to find her,” Kylo says, “She has to know.”

Serei sighs. “You know, you can always just come with me and Hailden. I mean, I don’t think we can go to Inimoni anymore, but there’s always more sacred expanses. Hide out, live free.”

“I can’t leave her.”

“Well,” Serei tries to find something to say, but gives up. “I guess you’re pretty set on this, huh? What if she kills you?”

Kylo ponders. But he doesn’t answer. He can’t find anything to say.

Serei lets out a long exhale. “Just let me and Hailden know if she starts acting weird. I got your back.”

After turning into another hallway, Kylo stops. He murmurs, “I sense it. The spies are nearby. They’ve got control of the weapons and the ships.” They turn to head another way. Kylo continues, “There’s only one escape that hasn’t been blocked.”

The trio head into a large room, and find themselves standing on a high tower, where many more obsidian black towers are in view. There is a low hum amidst the total silence. There are no electronic panels, and the only visible lights are dimly lit and placed alongside the edges of the towers. Below, far away, lie escape ships.

Serei turns to Kylo. “You go first. We’ll keep watch on top.”

Kylo nods. He jumps down from the high tower, the falling wind gusting through his First Order uniform, and he Force lands. He looks above, and waits for Serei to jump down. But something is wrong.

There is a force that he has never felt before. Yet, he feels as if it has been near him the entire time. Where there was a concealed darkness, now the darkness is being commanded. It is walking, its footsteps growing heavier and heavier. Marching.

And, for a brief moment, it disappears.

Serei notices Kylo is not feeling well. “Hey,” she asks. “You okay?”

Suddenly, a red light pierces through her chest; she gasps, and is kicked off the high tower.

“NO!” Kylo yells out in desperation. Serei’s body is falling, faster and faster, and Kylo catches her with the Force, gently bringing her towards him, and down into his arms.

Blood leaks from the corner of her lips. Her eyes are getting weaker, and she glances at Kylo. With a frail voice, one still in denial, she whispers to him, “He... he couldn’t have...”

When Kylo gazes into her eyes, he senses it. The familiarity. They were more alike than he had ever realized. It is only in her last moments does he see.

Kylo shoots his head up and stares at the high tower. There, wielding a dark red lightsaber with intense ferocity, stands Hailden, his face expressionless, but infused with more determination than Kylo had ever felt in his life. His stance is tall, and hauntingly familiar. He had seen it before- he had seen it in Rey. And now, fear begins to crawl down Kylo’s spine.

Hailden jumps down, falling faster than a powerful cannon blast, and lands softly in front of Kylo and his dying friend. He speaks, “I knew I couldn’t change her stubborn mind. I could only change my own.”

Serei tries to hold on, but is finding it harder to do so. She finally succumbs to her wounds, dying in Kylo’s arms. Kylo trembles, but there is nothing else he can do. He lets her down.

“Did she mean nothing to you?” Kylo yells at Hailden.

“Does the galaxy mean nothing to you?” Hailden booms back. “All my life, I have searched for it. Luke didn’t have the answer. Neither did the First Order. But now, I have finally found it. And you are so selfish that you cannot see just how grand and breathtaking it all is.”

“You want them to oppress you? To tell you what to do?”

“It is the only way to achieve peace in the galaxy! And if I need to sacrifice my very soul, then let it be!”

Kylo ignites his lightsaber, and Luke’s two former students clash their blades.

POE has taken control of a Resistance starfighter, and is single-handedly distracting an incoming fleet. Finn sits in a gunner seat of Merilia’s ship, while HQ-7 works on repairs. Phasma joins them, ruthlessly taking down Resistance fighters like they were nothing. The Millennium Falcon charges through the cannons, taking them out. The former Resistance fighters struggle to fight on.

IN the ensuing duel, Kylo and Hailden are closely matched. Kylo slashes upwards at Hailden, but he easily dodges it. He continues to dodge, letting Kylo uses his own rage against himself, and finally, he senses an opening, and strikes down on Kylo. Kylo manages to catch it, and the Oxblood red, sparking fires crepitate onto one another. However, Hailden soon finds his weakness, and exploits it. He cuts on Kylo’s arm, leaving a trailing scar, and Kylo seethes. Kylo escapes by falling down a shaft. Hailden uses the opportunity to speak into his transmitter.

“Hux,” Hailden orders.

“Yes, general.”

“The Supreme Leader is a traitor. I want every available unit to search the base and capture him. Take him alive.”

“You- you- you...” Hux stammers, trying to comprehend what the hell is going on, “Do you have the authority to do this?” Just then, Hux receives reports from First Order intel that Kylo is a traitor. As he reads it over, he exclaims, “I see. Then let us proceed.”

ALSTAIRE and Kiyla convene with the other Watchers.

“What shall we do?” one of the hidden Watchers asks.

Alstaire replies, “Kylo and the others will be facing off against the First Order and the Resistance. We cannot let that happen. The galaxy must unite against one enemy. That is the only way to tame the patterns and bend them to our will.”

“We must do it,” Kiyla curtly says, “Its time is over. Kill it. Then, turn every soul in the galaxy against the last obstacle in our way. We shall herald in the Neo Republic as a savior that all will lay down their lives for.”

THE Falcon swoops down and rescues Poe from an incoming attack.

“Nice one!” Poe shouts. Chewbacca roars back. The former Resistance fighters have almost pushed through, and are in a position to escape.

However, a starfighter starts shooting at Poe. He dodges it, maneuvers behind it, and is just about to shoot at it. But then he hears the incoming transmission. It sounds like a young boy: “You traitor!”

Poe is speechless. He recognizes it. The one on the starfighter he is about to shoot is Yatu.

Yatu knows Poe is behind him. Poe’s in a clear position to shoot, and all the kid can do is wait for his death. The young boy, his voice gruff and hiding a behind a mask of fear and pain, says, “What are you waiting for? You already let everyone down by being a traitor! Are you gonna let them think you’re a coward, too?”

In a moment Poe could never imagine before, his hands shake as he grips the controls. He hesitates. And then he makes his decision; he lets Yatu go. Poe manages to escape Yatu, and the boy can’t find his hero anymore.

“This is what a traitor does?” Yatu yells, holding back his pain, “Then I’ll never be like you!”

Finn and Merilia, in one of the last former fighters left, continue to try to find an opening. But just then, they see some starfighters departing the fight. They are starting up their hyperdrive and jumping someplace else.

“Merilia, did you see that?” Finn says, “Some of them are leaving!”

“They’re being called somewhere else. But what could be so urgent? Unless...”

Kylo sneaks through his former base. He knows each and every one of its secrets, and stealthily travels down its inner workings. But just then, he hears a blast. It is getting nearby. And then, an enormous explosion hits above him, and blows him out. Kylo coughs as he gets up. When he does, he realizes where he is. The main weapons and ship room. Standing before him are nearly every conceivable type of First Order ship, and they descend upon him.

He runs off, into the corridors and hallways of the First Order base, and stormtroopers fire upon him. He reflects the shot and slashes through his former soldiers, leaving a massacre in his wake. But then, the ships and large weaponry continue to trail him. They fire upon him, and he uses the Force to stop them in place. But he’s overwhelmed. They get in a few shots, and Kylo seethes. He runs into another room, but is ambushed by even more gigantic, terrorizing machines.

He fights through them, but doesn’t stand a chance. He’s forced to retreat, and find another escape. But one by one, he is barricaded from them. There is only one left.

An entire army of stormtroopers swarm him. Kylo cuts through them, but is reckless and messy. He’s hit several times. He manages to sprint past, and seal them off with a massive metal door. He runs into another large weapon room. It is as vast a battlefield, and the ships and machines lie in wait for him.

He has no choice now. Using every last bit of strength he has, he fights against the colossal army, stopping blasts in the air, redirecting them, pushing everything out of his way. But he cannot withstand its ultimate might. They fire chaotically, hitting everything, as capturing Kylo is all that matters. Fires spread and blaze all around them. The blasts pound all over his body, and he screams. Blood drips down from his skull, and down his chin. When he can see again, he looks at his left hand. But it is gone; it is nothing more than a bloody stump. He stumbles into the shadows, trying to hide, and collapses. They cannot see him for now. But they are coming.

As Kylo feels himself slipping away, he hears a voice. It is one he has never heard before. But it is profoundly connected to his soul. Loud and booming, the deep voice tells him, “Get up.”

Kylo’s eyes fly open. “Grandfather?” he whispers.

Just then, he hears all the machines moving towards him. Using his last remaining strength, he pushes himself up. Energy surges through him once more, and he tells himself: no matter what happens, I will fight until my dying breath.

Kylo sprints through the shadows, and the machines can’t find him anymore. There is silence. But just then, there is a roar. Kylo jumps out from the ledges near the ceiling, landing on top of a starfighter. Using all the Force he can gather, he howls out and rips open the hatch, throwing the pilot out of the cockpit, and stealing it for himself. He flies the ship out of the base and into space. The ships follow, firing everything they have upon him, but he dodges them all. And then, in one final move, he punches the starfighter forward. It escapes into lightspeed using its hyperdrive.

The starfighters descend back into the base. Hux walks over. “Damn it,” he says to himself. “The one chance I had to get that runt.” But suddenly, the alarms blare again. “What’s that?” he asks one of his subordinates.

From one of the main ship hangars, there is a gigantic explosion, and Resistance starfighters emerge, blasting everything on the base in sight.

A subordinate responds, “Sir, the Resistance is attacking us!”

“What?” Hux shouts, in a panic, “How could they possibly find us?”

Standing above all else, Hailden watches. The darkness descends upon his face. “It’s time.”

ON the escaped starfighter, Kylo tries to catch his breath, but his wounds gnaw at him. He tries to stop the pain of the bleeding, using the Force to hold himself together as hard as he can. In the cold, metallic cockpit, he is alone. He shuts his eyes. But then, he remembers.

“Rey,” he whispers.

FARAWAY, on the desert planet of Tatoonie, Rey is walking through the sands with only her staff and lightsaber handle in her grasp. There is no one else there; not even BB-8. The unary sunset is fading away. It will soon be night again.

But she hears it. She stops, and whispers, “Kylo?”