This is it, the end. I hope it hasn’t been too long-winded. There has been one alteration: Denya, the Knight of the Twelve who had died, is now no longer dead but merely wounded. This means that Rey is not technically a Knight of the Twelve and so not a Jedi until the saber is remade. So, enjoy the rest of the story!
…
The Lady Luck lands near the destroyer, Lando and Chewie running down the exit ramp. Rey sees Chewie and can hardly believe her eyes. She races toward him and they collide in a pile of limbs and fur. Lando walks up to the pair from one side and Finn from the other. They shake hands, Finn introducing himself and Lando himself. Finn asks ‘Lando…the Rebellion General?’ Rey says ‘I thought you were a smuggler.’ Chewie throws his head back noncommittally. Lando laughs, saying that whatever they’ve heard about him is surely all a terrible lie. He looks at Rey, saying that they have some catching up to do.
A battle-scarred X-wing lands beside them, the canopy opening with a hiss. Poe leaps out and Finn disengages from the group to tackle the ace pilot. Poe says that it seems that Finn made captain while he was gone, pointing to the shiny armor. Finn seems to just now notice that it’s still on, and makes to remove it. Poe stops him, saying it looks good on him. Finn looks at him expectantly, Poe glances down. He says he has something he’s wanted to say to Finn for a long time, but he doesn’t know how it will go. Finn says he does too. ‘Yeah?’ Poe asks. ‘Yeah.’ Finn answers. What this information is they never discover since their mouths are suddenly otherwise occupied. Rose and Maz arrive, Rose supporting the young Technician with the wounded leg, and Rose spies the two. She starts to say how the galaxy is rising up against the remnants of the First Order but then sees how the two are otherwise engaged. The Tech asks if that’s Finn…THE Finn. Rose says that it is, and Finn started out just like him. She gives the Tech a meaningful look, and Maz whispers to the young man that he should run. Kalonia walks up to the group and together they head off to find a medical suite.
It begins to rain. All around the arena, people are celebrating and cheering and reuniting. Rey casts a line over the still steaming destroyer and climbs up to the bridge. Ben stands on the surface of the ship alone, drenched to the bone and looking out over the sea of people through the haze. She comes up to him and takes his hand. ‘It’s gone’ he says to her, through his tears. ‘The Sith are gone.’ He pulls her close and words fail them. Finally he speaks again. ‘I hope you don’t mind, I promised this ship to the pirates.’ Rey says she doesn’t mind at all, but says that scavengers will take it first.
Even as Kylo looks around, the machines of the Jawas are moving to the ship and unfastening sections of plating. He shrugs, saying that there are plenty more ships in the galaxy. Emerging out of a hatch some way back of Kylo R2 trundles toward them. Threepio emerges holding one of his own arms, shouting about R2 forgetting about him again.
Hux is escorted from the Temple complex, guarded by Rose and many Resistance troops. He shouts that he is still Supreme Leader and doesn’t deserve this kind of treatment when he sees Rey and Ben moving away from the Destroyer. He stares at Ben as if he’s seen a ghost as he’s unceremoniously dragged away.
Poe and Finn are discussing the battle under Poe’s X-wing. Finn asks about BB-8, saying that he and Connix must have a story to tell. Poe looks downcast, saying that BB-8 didn’t make it. Finn sits down heavily. A figure moves toward them out of the mist. It is Connix, battle-worn but unbeaten. The three of them stand together and Connix removes a string from around her neck. On the string is a simple data drive. She says it contains all of BB-8’s battle information. They thank her and she starts to move off. She turns and says that there might be something else on the drive that they may want to see.
…
A red BB unit sits immobile in the production bay. Poe inserts the data drive and the droid comes to life, lights flashing and audio channels testing. It focuses on Poe, dressed in Admiral finery, the iris of its mechanical eye opening wide. It explodes in a cascade of beeps and burbles, racing around Poe in a tight circle. It sees Finn, dressed in smart General attire with Luke’s green lightsaber at his belt, and does the same to him. The two comrades laugh and Poe says that they’d better hurry if they are going to make it to the ceremony.
The ancient temple lies in semi-ruin from Thrawn’s bombardment, but much of it still stands. Outside is the new flagship of the Republic, a vessel painted in bright colors and sporting the flags of many worlds. A Star Destroyer has landed beside it, heavily modified and covered with pirate insignia.
In the throne room the casket is lowered into the ground. The roof has been partially blown away, leaving the ancient structure open to the elements. Vines and flowers now grow between the flagstones and up the aged walls. The hall is filled with the members of the Resistance, Knights of the Twelve Systems, pirates, the Jawdi. Chewie lays a medal on top of the casket and covers it with an inscribed flagstone. The friends all gather around in a circle. Poe, Finn, Chewie, Rey, Rose, Maz, Threepio, R2, BB-8. They place their hands onto the flagstone one by one. Finally Ben places his hand upon the stone and the ceremony is complete.
…
The Jedi Temple remains, surrounded now by a large public park where the arena used to be. Gardens festoon the upper roofs of the temple and ships come and go from all corners of the galaxy.
Inside the Temple, a reconstructed ZE-7 shows a class of would-be Jedi the methods of Jedi dueling techniques with R2 providing helpful holographic instruction from Luke’s Jedi school. In the adjoining room, Threepio instructs other students on the history of the Jedi. He says that once the Jedi lived here in the temple but now they live as Jedi of old, as protectors of the planets throughout the galaxy. One student asks if it’s true that BB-8 became the first droid to be named a Jedi. Threepio says that indeed the little droid is now the official protector of Jakku. Another student laughs at the joke, but Threepio turns and says that nobody has contested this claim. Another student, one with a Resistance ring, asks where Rey is, if not Jakku. Threepio answers that she protects her home, of course.
…
Ben and Rey sit by the light of the dying fire, drowsing beside each other. Ben shakes himself, saying that he must get back to his ship. Rey asks if he really must and he replies that pirates can’t be trusted to not kill themselves. She tells him to liberate another world for her and he says he has a whole system in mind this time. They kiss goodbye with a ‘May the Force be with you’. He grins, replies ‘Always’. He leaps into his ship, the same rust bucket that they took from Gramelon, now modified to within an inch of its life. The ship rises through the trees and Rey takes off running. She leaps off a ledge and swings on a vine to a platform which takes her into the upper canopy. Racing along the branching paths above the ground she arrives at a large treehouse. Chewie emerges from inside, stretching and growling, followed by another Wookiee and two little ones. Rey hugs the furry beast and leaps onto the railing of the deck, igniting her saber as Ben’s ship flies off into Kashyyyk’s early morning sky. She gazes up to where the stars still shine as one takes off across the heavens and disappears into the endless sparkling sea.
FIN
