Kylo's Story, Part 8 - Finding Rey

"This is where I found you," Finn says as he climbs down a rope ladder into a hole in the ground.

"Down there?" I look down.

"No, up there." Finn's disappears into the dark below and I hear his feet hit the bottom.

"I'm coming down," I say, then jump. A cloud of dust billows up around me where I land.

Finn's already gone ahead into the dusty cavern, which seems to glow green with a luminous fog. BB-8 beeps above me. I clench my jaw wanting to stop Finn from going ahead without me. But it doesn't matter who finds Rey first, as long as she's found. BB-8 beeps again and I reach up for her. She seems lighter than usual as I use the Force to lower her down. She rolls around in the dust when I let her go.

"Thank you!" she says. She's excited to see Rey, I only hope that Finn's hunch is correct.

"BB-8, stop moving," I say. She freezes. There are voices in the hollow cavern, distant like a memory, crying, laughing, making all sorts of sounds but none of them coherent words. I listen more carefully, none of the voices sound like Rey, they're all children's voices.

Finn reappears, breathing heavily. "I can't get any of the stone coffins open," he says. "You'll have to use the Force or something."

I look down the long corridor. Stone coffins run along both sides. There are a lot of them.

"Can you feel her presence?" Finn asks. "Is she here? Can you use the Force to call to her?"

I start to walk, listening, concentrating, trying to focus on the Force.

BB-8 crunches the ground beneath her as she follows beside me. I walk to the end of the cave and stop. "This one's open," I say to Finn, looking down at the coffin. Could she have left?

"That had the red light saber in it," Finn says. "Rey and I opened it."

I turn to him. "How did you open it?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "We pushed the lid off?"

I walk over to the first coffin on my right and crouch down to get a good grasp of its lid. We'll just have to open each and every one. I push but the lid doesn't budge. Finn joins me. We push as hard as we can. When that doesn't work I move Finn aside and focus my Force energies on it. But there's a strong hold over it that I can't break through. I rub my face with my hands.

"That dust sure likes you," Finn says.

I glance down at my hands. They're covered in so much of the dust that they practically glow. I clench my fists. There's an energy coming from the dust and it feels familiar like... "Crystal," I whisper.

"What?"

"That's amazing."

"What is?"

"It's the same crystal mineral used in some light sabers."

BB-8 beeps to get our attention. "There is air moving from over there, pulling the dust in," she says, pointing her lighter towards one of the coffins.

"From this coffin?" I ask, rushing over to it.

"No, from behind it."

Finn jumps over the coffin and puts his hands out to the wall behind it. He leans forward then disappears into the wall. I jump over the coffin too.

"Wait for me!" BB-8 shrieks in high pitched tones. I turn back and lift her over the stone coffin to the other side, in front of the wall. I put my arm out then pause, a fear hitting me suddenly that it won't allow me through the way it did Finn. I put try it out and my hand goes into the wall.

"Come on BB-8," I say, jumping through.

The other side of the fake wall is so thick with light saber dust that I can't see. BB-8 zooms ahead, getting swallowed up in the luminous fog. The passageway is narrow and there's only one way to go, forward.

As I near the end of the passageway I see Finn's on his knees, trying to force the lid off an ancient looking coffin. I kneel down beside him to help him push, but it's useless. Finn's forehead glistens with sweat.

"Stop," I tell him. "This isn't working."

He lets go with a cry of frustration, then turns around and leans back against the coffin, breathing hard. His jacket moves aside and I see blood seeping through his shirt.

"Your bandages..." I start to say and Finn looks down. He sighs, rubbing his face with his hands.

I sit beside him and look out into the green fog. I don't sense Rey. Could Finn have been wrong? I close my eyes.

The response comes almost instantly.

He heard me. He answered...

"How do we get to Rey?" I whisper.

"My voice?"

"What?" Finn says. He's still taking deep breaths.

"I need to use my voice, to get the lid to open."

Finn gives me a questioning look. "How?""

"You're using your voice right now!" BB-8 beeps.

I jump up and turn to the coffin. "Open!" I command.

Finn gets up too and we stand together.

"I command you to open!" I yell.

Nothing happens.

"Maybe be nicer," Finn says after a moment.

I glare at him.

"I mean, everything doesn't have to be a command does it?" he adds.

I sigh and try to think of a different approach. My father's words enter my mind again,

I take a breath then try again. "I believe we can open it," I whisper. Finn gives me a sideways glance. I try again, louder this time. "I can open it. We can open it."

BB-8 rolls over to the coffin and pushes against the lid with her head, her gears grinding as she tries to roll forward. The lid moves slightly.

Finn and I exchange a look then both start pushing. The lid slides off and a cloud of crystal dust wafts up. Beneath it, lies Rey.