Steady On.

Chapter 20.

She waited.

She paced.

She meditated.

She swung her staff around in her room, practicing with it, familiarizing herself with it again.

She waited some more.

She paced until her feet hurt.

She returned to meditating.

...

It had been several agonizing hours for Rey, who was restless with anxiety and impatience. She had to pass the time though, not wanting to alert anyone on the base of her plan, and to Rey the easiest way of doing this was by staying in her room.

For a while, she sat with her ear to the door, listening as the halls quieted down as the night passed, members of the resistance wishing others a good nights sleep. Rey decided that was not the time to go, no matter how frustrated it made her, she wanted to make sure everyone was well asleep before she went out.

Sighing, she straightened her back as she sat cross legged in the middle of her room, eyes closed as she meditated again.

Zoning in on the force, she focused on the warm center of it, letting everything fall around her as her mind cleared itself.

She thought about Leia's kyber crystal, following every sharp edge and perfect curve in her mind's eye. It hummed to her as she remembered it, calming her nerves and giving Rey a sense of powerful fulfillment. This crystal represented peace, Rey felt it in her blood as it coursed through her, a feeling she longed for since she was just a little girl stranded in the desert.

Slowly, her mind transitioned to the image of Sano's kyber crystal, nestled in the middle of his ring. The edges were sharper, the points reminding Rey of tiny thorns, and just like Leia's crystal, this one hummed, so loud it nearly tickled her ears with the vibrations. This crystal, she realized, represented rage, and she felt this in her bones as it pricked and stabbed at her with anger, and hateful passion, so raw it was almost unbearable.

The war began within her again, light and dark, good and evil, tugging at her very being as she struggled to focus on her goal, to save them...to save them all... Or let them fall, and become who she was meant to be...

Light crystal. Dark crystal. Light crystal. Dark crystal.

The decision was made.

Suddenly, she felt a shaking jolt through the force, and if she had been standing, Rey knew she would have fallen over with how hard it shook her. She felt like a whole other person, seeing the world for the first time.

Rey gasped, the feeling was overwhelming. She stuck her arm in front of her face, studying her skin, and realized she felt no weight to it, as if she herself was weightless as she moved so easily and swiftly, and shockingly, she moved before she even thought to.

Standing now, she stretched, moving her body around and wakening her muscles. She felt as though she had trained for months and months, never stopping.

She felt...powerful.

She felt... Unstoppable.

Without hesitation, she grabbed her staff. 'Now is the time.'

Rey crept out of her room, quietly closing the door as she made her way down the long hall and tip-toeing her way to the bunkers.

As Leia said she would do, security was on higher alert than normal, guards doubled at every corner. Luckily for Rey, however, she was very well known to the Resistance base, and they gave her no trouble as she passed them, and went back to tip toeing when they were out of view.