Force Destiny

Freefall

"Ben!" she screamed into the darkness.

He was still suspended before her in the bond —flying somewhere above her rather than somewhere across the galaxy—but that overwhelming feeling of relief had been replaced by dread. Something was terribly wrong. His eyes were shut tight, his hair flying across his face as if his ship was...rolling. An orange glow illuminated his right side, and Blue screamed diagnostics in the background.

She struggled to hear him over the howling roar of the wind. The wind. It wasn't the sound of the wind itself that made her stomach roll; it was what should have been there. The screech of the twin ion thrust arrays, the electronic beeps emanating from the soft white glow of the control panel, or the multiple system alarms that would be blaring if there was mechanical malfunction—all of it was missing. She shouldn't have been able to hear the wind, especially not like that. It was Blue's second announcement of the altitude that sealed her disquieting suspicions. They were descending, rapidly, but time had slowed to a crawl.

The orange glow... he had been hit, but by whom? The Resistance was on Dantooine, the Hutts were helping her, no one else was there but... the First Order. It was Hux... the realization bloomed across the bond. No! A conversation from the night Ben held her in his arms replayed in her mind.

Think about it. If I defect from the First Order, it's abandonment; if I go to the Resistance, it's treason. Any ship I take to get to you will be tracked, followed, and promptly shot down if they have no strategic forethought. Or, if they were resourceful, they would track me right to you and eliminate the entire Resistance right then and there.

Another explosion rocked through the cavern as the Hutt ship sent a series of missiles into the slope above her. Kylo's voice was in her head, begging her to run away. Don't wait for me, he pleaded. She wasn't naïve; she knew what he meant. He didn't believe he would survive the crash. She watched helplessly as his ship spiraled toward the surface of Ilum, and all she could think was, why didn't I listen?

It wasn't the sound that caught her attention, it was the vibrating against her fingertips. The crystals sounded like millions of musical notes playing around her as they trembled. It would have been beautiful had the implications not been ominous. The whole cavern is moving. A fine powder of dislodged snow fell around her into the darkness. She felt the deep rumbling before she heard it, but a tremendous roar swiftly rattled through the crevasse. She shivered. It sounded as if a monster the size of a light freighter was closing in on the caves. Panic tightened in her chest.

"Rey? You need to get back up here NOW!" Finn warned.

"Finn, you're alright!"

"She's not going to make it!" Rose's voice echoed around her. The walls began to shake violently, and she grasped onto the side as best she could. Her fingers were slipping.

"Rey!!!" Finn screamed, "Avalanche!" Her heart jumped. She felt into the Force. She could see the slope on the opposite side of the crevasse. A billowing cloud surged down the slope toward her. She realized in horror that it was an immense wall of snow. It was already too close. The Hutts must have accidentally started an avalanche. Would it hit her like a dust storm or a wave of water? Could she hold on to the side long enough to weather it? She knew she was too far from the bottom; she wouldn't make it down in time. She knew she was too far from the top as well; if she didn't make it to the surface before the avalanche reached her, it could knock her all the way back down. If she dug in and held on, it could be her only chance.

She planted her feet firmly and leaned against the wall as closely as possible. The crystals tore into her cheek and hands. She waited in the dark, trembling, her breath ragged and her heart pounding in her ears. As the rumbling became louder, the entire cavern quaked. She waited for the monster whose thunderous roar edged inescapably closer.

"Ben!" she screamed as it descended toward her. The light disappeared as the cascading wave of snow fell toward her. She waited in the blackness for the cold to consume her.

"Rey!"