Chapter Text
Arvala-7
Resistance Hideout
34 Years After The Battle of Yavin
The sounds of running water escaped from a bathroom as Rey stood beneath the running water, attempting to wash at least a little bit of the stress and weight of being the Last Jedi away. Between her wet hair, two faint bumps could be seen on the back of her head. A knock was heard on the door.
"Rey? You have a minute? General Organa wants to meet with you," A Resistance trooper asked.
"I'll be right out," Rey replied.
Rey walked into the temporary war room while brushing her hair with her fingers, finding Poe, Finn, Rose, Connix, and Leia were already there waiting for her.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." She smiled slightly.
"It's alright." Leia shook her head. "An old friend from the Rebellion's Intelligence Division reached out. He was one of our Fulcrum Agents and a former member of the Imperial Security Bureau. Alexsandr Kallus."
"What did he say?" Rey asked.
"Apparently he has details about an old Rebel stronghold devastated in an attack by Grand Admiral Thrawn two years before the Battle of Yavin," Poe explained.
"He thinks there's data and technology there that can help us," Rose added.
"Where are we going?" The Last Jedi inquired.
"Atollon," Leia answered.
Atollon
In Orbit
The Millennium Falcon emerged from hyperspace, Rey at the controls with Chewbacca next to her. Poe, Finn, Rose, and BB-8 sat behind them, looking around at the debris.
"Hell of a battle happened here," Poe said.
"Rorwoorah," Chewbacca grunted.
"I'll be careful." Rey smiled.
Atollon
Chopper Base
The Falcon landed on the surface of Atollon, the Resistance members disembarking. The wreckage of Imperial AT-ATs and Rebel ships alike laid around the devastated base. Rey looked around the planet, mystified by the energy that swirled in the air.
"Come to me..." A deep voice spoke to Rey.
"Rey?" Finn piped up. "Rey, are you okay?"
"Yes, I just..." Rey shook her head. "I thought I heard something."
"Poe, check this out! It's an A-Wing! It's functional!" Rose yelled.
"Coming!" Poe replied. He and Finn walked towards Rose. Rey looked off into the distance.
"Come..." The voice spoke again. The Last Jedi looked towards her friends, before turning back to the the direction the voice seemed like it was coming from. She sighed to herself before running towards the sound of the voice.
Atollon
Force Enclave
Rey walked into a clearing, looking around at the various krykna and dokma. The rocks of the clearing shifted and moved as a large creature emerged. Rey pulled her blaster from her hip slowly.
"There is no need for a weapon," The creature spoke, evidently the source of the voice Rey heard.
"Who are you?" Rey asked.
"I would ask you the same," The creature replied. "And seeing as though you are in my home, I feel it is right you introduce yourself first."
"Rey. I'm... A Jedi," Rey struggled with the world.
"Jedi and Sith wield the Ashla and Bogan, the Light and the Dark. I'm the one in the middle. The Bendu," The Bendu explained. "This I know for certain, but you do not."
"We did just meet." Rey holstered her blaster. The Bendu chuckled.
"Oh, I do not mean about me. I mean about you. You are not confident that you are indeed a Jedi." The Force Creature brought his head closer to Rey.
"I... I suppose you're right," Rey sighed.
"Of course I am. I sensed your imbalance when you landed. I have not seen a student of the Force here since Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight," The Bendu spoke fondly.
"Imbalance?" The Last Jedi asked.
"Yes. Imbalance. Your fear. The weight on your shoulders. You believe you aren't enough."
"I don't think I'm ready to be the Last Jedi. I'm not a Skywalker, a Kenobi. I'm just... Rey. And I don't even know who that is." Rey nodded sadly.
"Mmm, but that is who you must be. The Force did not choose a Skywalker or a Kenobi. It chose Rey. The Force does not make mistakes, Rey." The Bendu looked into Rey's eyes. He gestured to her bag. "What do you have in there?" Rey pulled out the two halves of the Skywalker lightsaber. "Why do you carry a broken weapon?"
"Jedi are supposed to have lightsabers," Rey explained. The Force Creature chuckled again.
"Perhaps in a battle. Your battle is on two fronts, so your weapon is split in two. You inner turmoil stops you from fighting this war you are caught in, but that same war stops you from confronting the conflict inside." The Bendu noted. "A Jedi is not their weapon, Rey. A Jedi is what is within. Who are you within?"
"I don't know!" Rey yelled.
"There lies your conflict." The Bendu smiled. "You're beginning to see what you have been blind to until now."
"How can I find myself?" Rey asked.
"I cannot answer that for you. That is something you must discover for yourself. However, I can set on a path. An answer you seek lies on a world with twin suns. It is where the story of that lightsaber and its creator began. It is where someone's only hope is said to lie. Perhaps there you can discover something for your own story." The Bendu said before vanishing. Rey touched the back of her head, sighed, and walked back the way she came.
Atollon
Chopper Base
"She just... vanished!" Poe threw his hands up. Leia groaned over the hologram.
"Did you seriously lose a Jedi?" Leia chuckled.
"Sorry to worry you all." Rey's voice cut in. Finn ran over to her and hugged her, followed by a punch to the shoulder from Rose.
"You scared us, Rey! We thought someone might have followed us or you got eaten by the krykna!" Rose yelled.
"I... I heard a voice. I met someone called the Bendu. He's strong with the Force. He told me to go a planet with twin suns where the story of this lightsaber began," Rey explained.
"Tatooine," Leia spoke up. "You're looking for Tatooine."
"He said it's where someone's only hope lies," Rey added.
"Yes. Mine. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope. And now that spark of hope is with you, Rey. Go. All of you. See whatever this... Bendu wants you to find. We'll try to get a group out there to scavenge the information you found," Leia ordered.
"Can we afford to take a detour?" The Last Jedi asked.
"Rey, in my experience, the Force is the only mission that matters," Poe cut in.
"What he said." Leia smiled. "Go."