Bonded

Chapter 34: One

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The kyber crystals give Rey and Ben a window into their destiny

NOTE: There's a mature version of this chapter available on Archive of Our Own (Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18122999/chapters/42846503)

Rey sits cross-legged in the center of the cavern, dry, cracked earth stretching out on all sides, the ceiling looming high above.

Her eyes are closed; her back is straight. She's on a mat she took from the training room, large and square-shaped, thick enough to cushion a hard fall.

The kyber crystals are bright tonight, brighter than usual. Some are in motion, their surfaces changing as they reorganize internally, creating a soft flicker in their glow.

Rey takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with oxygen.

But she doesn't feel it. Not the air in her lungs, not the mat below, not her hands resting lightly in her lap.

It's like she doesn't have a body. In fact...

It's like she's not Rey at all.

She is and she isn't.

Part of her is aware of herself— the memories, the feelings, the experiences that make her who she is.

But part of her has ascended, rising above the smallness of an individual mind.

Because right now, she's communing with the crystals. They've taken her into the collective, allowed her to perceive things as they do.

And it's... beyond what words can describe.

The closest she can get is remembering the first time she went into an ocean, walking further and further, the waves lapping against her stomach, then her chest, then her neck. She closed her eyes and dipped down, submerging herself in the warm, salty liquid. She wanted to open her eyes so badly, but remembered Finn's warning, all the stinging and burning.

That's when the thought struck her. She couldn't help but wonder...

What's it like to be the water? Just be it?

To be everywhere all at once, every cranny, every crevice, every depth, every shallow, to see all the ocean's wonders all the time?

Well... Now she knows.

She knows what it's like to be the water. And the air. And the earth. And the blackness of space, so vast and vibrant.

She knows because the crystals know. When she communes with them, she sees like they do, and they see everything.

When she first started making out their words, she was confused. They'd argue about the strangest things, things they had no way of knowing.

Like the quality of saltwater on Cantonica. Or the shrinking numbers of Kindalo on Aleen.

How could they know such things, buried deep in this wasteland of a planet?

But when they invited her into the collective, she finally understood.

They're connected to the Force, bound to it as part of their very being.

And the Force is everywhere. So, they are too.

Nothing escapes their view, not the darkest depths, not the remotest planets, not the emptiest regions of space. The entire universe is open to them, all the time.

And when she's part of the collective, it's open to her too.

Sort of.

She can't fully experience the omniscience, not without going mad. The crystals protect her mind, limiting her access to their sight.