TROS - 18 - Strengthened by Voices

The Emperor’s power was beautiful to behold, reaching ever higher, spreading out like a flower of light. In a way, she and Ben had made that. But the Emperor was using it for unspeakable evil. And now she was helpless. Dying.

What would Leia do?

The answer came to her gently, like a soft morning breeze.

She had to give. She had to give everything.

Rey remembered her training, and she reached into the Force. Steadied her mind. “Be with me,” she whispered.

Her true power would always come from oneness.

“Be with me. Be with me.”

The battle above disappeared. Instead, Rey saw a perfect sky, vast with stars. Peaceful. Light-filled. It was like she was staring through a window to somewhere else, a place between places.

“Be with me.”

Her body relaxed. She embraced peace and calm, the way Leia had taught her.

Through the calm, came a voice. These are your final steps, Rey. Rise and take them.

Then others joined.

(...)

She didn’t recognize them all, but somehow, she knew them the moment they made themselves known to her. They’d been with her all along; she just needed to learn how to hear them. Like Leia had promised.

More voices came at her fast but gentle, as though she lay at a confluence of the Force, possibilities, futures and pasts all stretching away from her, or maybe leading toward her. The cosmos, time, energy, being—nothing was the way she’d thought it was.

(...)

The Force surrounds you.

Let it guide you.

As it guided us.

Palpatine had wanted Rey for himself. But she chose to be their conduit. Their vessel. She was a Jedi.
Rey moved an arm. Then a shoulder. She let the voices surround her, fill her, strengthen her. She turned over, placed a palm to the ground, pushed up.

We stand behind you.

Rise in the Force.

She got a knee beneath her, leveraged herself up onto her toes. Rey paused, crouched, gasping for air. Her muscles didn’t want to obey. Every movement turned her very bones to knives of pain.

In the heart of a Jedi lies her strength!

The voices were becoming louder, even more powerful.

Rise.

Rise!

Luke’s voice became deep and insistent, rising above all the others. A well of power from which to draw: “Rey, the Force will be with you. Always.”

She rose. Summoned Luke’s lightsaber, which skidded across the stone and smacked into her hand. The blade ignited, and Rey stood, full of strength freely given to her by those who had come before.