End of the Beginning (A New Hope Series)

Chapter Two - Broken

   The pain was overwhelming, but Ben still fought it. He struggled against the powerful hold of the emperor. He couldn't let it end this way. Ben would not allow his own life force to regenerate Palpatine and restore his body. He struggled, calling on the Force to help him and looked over at Rey. She groaned, then let out a pained scream that sounded like a growl. Ben could feel the pain the emperor was inflicting on her. Rey was fading from his mind, she was struggling to remain conscious. The loss of life was taking more of a toll on her. The emperor was taking more of her life than Ben's.

   Ben let out a low growl. Palpatine could take his life, but with everything he had in him, Ben wouldn't let him take Rey's. Even if it meant his own death, he wouldn't let her die at the hands of the emperor. At the hands of her own grandfather. How could any man take the life of their own granddaughter? Ben groaned. Because this was no man. This was an evil being, a Sith, uncapable of love. Ben looked at Rey desperately. Even if he died tonight, he knew one thing for certain, he would not die this way. His death would not mean the emperor's return!

    With a deep breath, Ben gave one last attempt to break the emperor's hold. Rey screamed, and Ben felt her consciousness waver. He groaned, struggling to fight back. Ben felt Rey force all of her energy into breaking their connection so that the emperor could not feed off of their bond and Palpatine dropped them. Ben felt excruciating loss at Rey's absence from him. But her idea had worked. The emperor had released them. He heard Rey let out a soft whimper as they fell to the ground. She was weak. Ben was on the brink of blacking out himself when he felt Rey's consciousness go out completely.

   Ben took rapid breaths, inhaling as sharply as he could. The cold air entering his lungs as if he'd been submerged in ice cold water. Ben shuddered and lay on his back, staring up at the stars. He blinked as he watched the Resistance fall. Ships exploding, people dying. Ben sighed and gasped for air again. He had to do something. He had to stand and fight back. He couldn't let them die. Ben couldn't let what his mother believed in die with her. What she believed in still lived. It lived in the Resistance. It lived in Rey. And it lived in him now.

   Gathering his strength, Ben struggled to his knees. He looked over at Rey who still laid unconscious on her side, her body limp. Ben groaned, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms. His leg hurt agonizingly from a wound he'd received while fighting the Knights of Ren. When Palpatine has drained his energy, the real pain of his wound kicked in. But he wouldn't let that stop him. Ben straightened his injured leg behind him, supporting most of his weight on his hands and uninjured knee, then slowly tried to stand. Rey. Rey. You have to get up. You have to wake up! His mind called to her but she was not there. She was in a deep unconscious state.

   Palpatine turned to Ben and snarled as he struggled to get to his feet. Ben let out a shallow breath and grunted, trying to push himself to his feet. But he wasnt even standing yet when the emperor raised a hand and lifted Ben off the ground. He held Ben in a powerful hold, immobilizing him and binding his arms and legs so that he could not move. "As once I fell, so falls the last Skywalker!" Palpatine said in triumph, joy emanating from his voice. He thrust his hand forward, pushing Ben backwards and sending him flying through the air.

   Ben squeezed his eyes shut as he tumbled towards the cliff. He felt sharp pain sear through his back as he was smashed against the rocks. The jagged, stone cliffside being driven into his lower back and thigh as he was thrown into the chasm. The pain was overwhelming, and Ben didn't know when it would end. It felt as though he was falling to the center of the planet. But instead of the planet's core being it's heat source, it got colder. Colder and darker. Ben began to loose hope. No. He'd already lost it. When would the falling stop already? When would he hit the cold, hard ground and just die?