adarkergray | Kenoma

Kenoma

Previously:
Escape From Starkiller Base
At the Monuments of Madness
A Living Weapon

To Jacob's surprise, they made it to Ahch-To's system without incident - but then, it was clear now that the Force was on their side. As per his calculations, they'd dropped out of hyperspace a few hundred thousand kilometers away, just beyond its outermost moon's orbit, and as they headed toward the planet at sublight speeds, he tried to ignore the way his protective instincts were going into overdrive.

However, the closer they got to the planet, the more he couldn't help being aware that everyone there, everyone they were going to see, was someone who'd hurt Kylo terribly, and Force, how could Jacob even begin to justify taking him down there? To put him in that level of danger, in the kind of condition he was in--

He made himself take a deep breath, though the fingers of his free hand were clamped tightly around the hilt of one of his lightsabers. The urge was incredibly strong to tell Kylo that he couldn't in good conscience do this, that there had to be another, better way to defeat Snoke, and they would find it - but, deep down, he knew that if there was, the Force would have shown it to Kylo instead. He had to have faith in his master, and in the Force.

Instead, right now, he had more sympathy than ever for why Snoke wanted to destroy the Force's will - not that he had any sympathy for Snoke himself. That thought was enough to settle his nerves slightly by reminding what they were here for, why it was important, why they could all work together just this once.

Snoke had to die. That was the one thing they all could agree on.

Finally, he calmed his mind enough to push his senses outward through the Force, to see whose presence he could detect. Even this close in, he still couldn't pick up Skywalker, but he could sort out Rey and General Organa from the background energy of the planet. He turned to Kylo. "...Your mom's still here. Do you want me to ask her to leave?"

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"It's the closest entrance." she admitted. "I couldn't get back out the way I came, so I wandered until I found another passageway. It wasn't much easier of a climb, and it took me most of the night to hike back."

As much as it pained her to agree, rappelling down was probably going to be their best option. She'd read that Jedi could levitate objects, but the most she'd been able to do was pull a lightsaber toward her - and even that was just as much an emotional reaction as it was a conscious choice.

She agreed to go with Jacob back to the ship.

"If you want to go scout, I'll try to eat something... rest a little while now so we won't waste any more time when we need to get started."

Jacob had wanted to get an actual, decent breakfast into Kylo, but at this point he'd take what he could get. Among the rations he'd brought down from the ship were items that didn't need to be rehydrated if Kylo didn't feel like screwing around with the meal packets, and Jacob figured he'd help himself to whatever he felt like he could handle while Rey and Jacob were rounding up gear and securing lines to get down into the cave.

He extended his senses out through the Force to make sure that Luke was elsewhere; fortunately, he'd retreated almost to the other end of the island, and Leia was still with him. It should be safe for Jacob to leave Kylo unattended for the time being, but he'd monitor the situation, just in case. "I'll be back when we're ready to head into the cave."

As he and Rey headed up the slope toward the ship, he gave her another smile. "I can already tell your mental defenses are more secure than they were even last night. You're an incredibly fast learner." When their fingers had brushed as she'd handed over one of the bottles of milk earlier, he'd been paying careful attention for whether he could pick up any of her surface thoughts or emotions, and gotten almost nothing. That skill at picking techniques up almost as though they were nothing, as though she'd known them all her life, was exactly what they'd be relying on. "Did you want to practice that a little more, anyway, or was there something else you wanted to see if I could teach you?"

The Force would guide the trajectory of all of their focus, their training, once they were down in the mirror cave, but right now they had a window to catch up on anything that she felt her training with Skywalker had been particularly deficient in.

If Jacob wanted to return with better food than the rations they brought down from the ship, Kylo would wait. As it was, he was just trying to do what he knew he had to do to recover. His body needed rest. It needed proper nourishment. It needed a cure from the maladies Snoke set in motion before the sum total of all of them outpaced any momentum he could make in the opposite direction.

As it was, Kylo felt as though he was running in place - maybe a few gains here and there, but always with something to pull him back. It was like a pendulum, perhaps. Another metaphor for the Force at work.

As they walked toward the ship, Rey was thoughtful. She hadn’t even noticed Jacob attempting to enter her mind - a testament to her raw abilities. It was why Skywalker feared her just as much as he feared his fallen nephew. They both could do thngs long before they understood why or how they did them. Rey was more like Kylo Ren than she wanted to know.

“...when Luke attacked your master, you made some kind of barrier with the Force. Not just inside your mind. But a physical one I could feel and touch. How did you do that?”

"Honestly, that's the first time I've been able to get that technique to work, so I'm not completely sure how to do it or what was different this time. Maybe it was my deeper connection to the Force, or it could just be that I acted entirely on instinct to protect Kylo, whereas I was overthinking it before. That's how it is with a lot of Force techniques: you have to just act, and unequivocally believe something is going to happen, or else it won't. Like with telekinesis - you have to expect that the object you're trying to move is going to obey you on the same unconscious level that you expect your limbs to move when your brain sends a signal to them. You basically have to get the whole idea of 'trying' out of your head, because that's not how it works, and even I still struggle with that, occasionally." Despite how much his powers had grown, he'd still only been training in the Force for four years, and his natural tendency to try to take things apart to see how they worked wasn't especially compatible with executing certain techniques.

They entered the ship, and it only took a few moments for them to find where the climbing gear was packed in the secondary hold - there weren't many places it could be to begin with, and Jacob kept everything neatly organized. As they gathered everything they needed into a backpack, he turned to Rey again. "By the way, do you want me to throw some breakfast together for you? I'm going to try to get a little more substantial of a meal into Kylo, and it's the same amount of work to make two portions as it is to make one."

Rey eyed him critically. Skywalker had been very tight-lipped when it came to applying the Force, but could he really have been hiding something so instintual? So... simple?

Before she knew what she was doing, she was poking at his mind and scanning his intentions through the Force. She felt honest sincerity, and may have even glimpsed a thought of his own shortcomings - but she wasn’t sure if that was real or just her interpretation of his words.

“The Force is a sense. As natural as opening your eyes or listening to the sand move...” she whispered her tiny epiphany. “It’s an extension of you...”

Her mind mulled the revelation over as she helped him gather the equipment. Then, she hoisted the backpack onto her shoulders to help him carry it back down to the huts. At the offer of food, she accepted with a smile. “Thanks. I’d like to try something new.”

Jacob could feel Rey examining the surface of his mind, and while it wasn't entirely comfortable, he allowed it. Things couldn't be one-sided between them if they were going to succeed in working together to kill Snoke; he had to show the same kind of trust in her that he expected for himself.

He smiled back at Rey as he led the way to the ship's tiny galley. "My cooking is better than Skywalker's, but that's about all I can say for it." At least he had decent ingredients to work with; a couple days ago, he'd thrown in some fresh things from Xashiri's agro-military camp just in case he and Kylo needed to make a trip - he'd been expecting it to be shorter than this, granted - and it needed to get used before it spoiled.

As he began preparing and cooking everything, he returned to the subject of the Force. "Anyway, remember that the Force isn't just an extension of you - it's an extension of every living thing in the galaxy. That's why there are limits to what you can do with it: it's working to preserve life as a whole." Try to push past those limits, and the consequences could be massive in scope; the Force struck back hard against anything that threatened its ability to balance and heal itself, but things would be even worse if it didn't. Jacob didn't even want to think about the scope of the fallout if Snoke actually succeeded in breaching the Force's safeguards. Fortunately, that was never going to happen.

When it came to cooking, it wasn’t gong to be hard to impress Rey. Anything Luke cooked up from the wildlife here was infinitely better than the reconstituted portions she was used to subsisting on. Everything was new to her. Likewise, she was almost as curious about the fresh ingredients as she was the Force.

“Luke said the same thing, in a way.” She added. “When I meditate, I can feel a sense of connection to the other creatures here. Even to the rocks, to the planet itself. It’s almost like there is no limit.”

However, that was where his teaching ended. She wasn’t aware of what the limitations of the Force were, or what her own were. She only knew the limits that he forced upon himself.

"To our senses, there's no limit, but our powers are bound by the Force's ability to correct itself. If you try to push it too far - say, by manipulating the creation of life and trying to circumvent death, like Snoke is attempting - it will snap back against you. It won't always do it directly, though; sometimes, when an individual or a group has strayed, it's less damaging overall for the Force to prompt others to move against them. In a way, those of us who are sensitive to the Force are like... its immune system." As he finished prepping his ingredients - vegetables and a few eggs - and added it to a pan over one of the induction burners, he considered how best to explain to her the other part of what being Force sensitive entailed.

The easiest way was not to dress it up. After all, Snoke certainly wouldn't, if he was trying to use it to get Rey on his side.

"...There are some uncomfortable things I need to tell you about the nature of our relationship with the Force - things you might not want to think about, but you need to hear them from me so that Snoke can't catch you off guard with them. The other side of the coin to being sensitive to the Force, to being able to wield its power, is that it is also able to wield us. As attuned as we are to the will of the Force, we don't have the same kind of free will as normal sentients - and while we can resist it, it takes an incredible toll to do so." As he'd told Rey the night before, he wouldn't still be alive now if Kylo hadn't taught him how to accept the Force's place for him. "And sometimes, it calls on us to make sacrifices for the sake of the whole - sometimes, unreasonable and excruciating ones." He portioned out the ingredients into two wraps, packing one to take to Kylo and handing the other to Rey. "That's what happened to Snoke. He was a Jedi, until the Force demanded something of him that left him physically and psychologically broken, bereft, and capable of no other thought than revenge."

He took the bag of climbing equipment from her, shouldering it instead. "Being connected to the Force, the way we are, is an incredible thing. You'll experience the galaxy in a way that very few other beings do, and most of the time, you'll have no regrets. However, the Force has also taken a toll on all of us - and I think that's another part of why Luke didn't want to train you, because he was hoping to spare you that. But I'm not going to assume I know what's best for you. Like I'm always saying to Kylo, it's not my place to try to dictate that to you - it's something you have to tell me."

The ebb and flow of the tides. The endless cycles of day and night. A pendulum swinging between light and dark...

“The Force chose us to defeat Snoke. That’s why it’s awake inside me...” She found herelf replying before she’d even had time to think it through. Once she had, however, she realized that the opposite also had to be true. “...but the Force also created Snoke. Or, well, made him what he is now.”

It was a chilling thought, that the living Force could create such a monster. “And if that’s true, couldn’t it just awaken in someone else, later, purely to defeat us? Where does it end? An eternal tug of war between two sides?”

She understood now why Jacob wanted to be as open as he was about this. Snoke’s aim was to destroy the Force, to break the cycle. From a certain point of view, it sounded noble enough that she could almost forget they were dealing with a monster.

Almost.

"Honestly, I don't know anymore." He led the way back out of the ship, blinking briefly in the sunshine. "The cycles between light and dark went on for tens of thousands of years, each one taking generations to complete, but the Force determined those were no longer sustainable, no longer beneficial to the galaxy. So, it created the Chosen one, Anakin Skywalker - Darth Vader - to wipe the slate clean by destroying both the Jedi and the Sith, so that it could try something new, unfettered by the past. That also means we're in an era with either no precedents, or unspeakably ancient ones, so it's hard to say what will come next."

At least there was something he did know, though. "But, I can already tell you what's different. The Force sensitives of the past were bound to the light side or the dark side because they could only skim the Force's surface - and that's all that light and dark are: just waves on the surface of the ocean, one following after the other. That's not where we belong - you, and me, and Kylo, and even Luke and Leia, all of us were made to dive deep. And maybe someone like Snoke being alive was necessary for us to realize that and make a clean break with the past."

Jacob's answer made Rey pause and think. She wasn't even aware of a dark or a light side until she came to this island and Luke Skywalker admitted how his nephew had fallen from one side to the other. On Starkiller Base, there was only the Force. Here, now? That still felt true.

Either that, or the pendulum had swung so incredibly far that the only real opposition to the threat of nothing was everything. It was all so much to take in. But Luke was right about one thing, she eventually decided. It was time for the Jedi to end. But not in the way he thought.

"Kylo was made to dive deep." she corrected. She could feel the bottomless pit in his Force signature when she reached out in meditation. It was disturbing, really, more inhuman than the monster in the mask had ever been. And yet, here she was, hiking back to the hut to give him breakfast before they scouted the closest entrance to the mirror cave. "Snoke made him that way. Or the Force made Snoke make him that way... We're weren't. But we might have been made to follow."

Jacob thought for a moment, then shrugged. "If you think that's how it is, then I trust you. Your connection to the Force is stronger than mine, and it's untainted by preconception in a way that even mine isn't, anymore." By extending his faith in her judgment, especially when there was no useful reason to argue, hopefully he could convince her to do the same for him. "Or maybe it's just that, for me, it doesn't make a difference, because I would follow him anywhere without a moment's hesitation. No matter what, I'll always be on his side." It wasn't blind loyalty; Kylo needed someone who would always take his side, no matter what, and Jacob had made the very conscious decision that it was going to be him.

He led the way back down the slope to the huts, extending his senses through the Force again. There was no doubt that the mirror cave was the ideal place for them to meditate and connect with it - he could feel the similarities between its energies and his master's, ones that would perhaps make it easier for Kylo to guide them.

As if any part of this could ever be easy.

Jacob sat the bag of climbing equipment down by the door and ducked inside. "I made you something a little more substantial for breakfast, just in case you think you can manage it. Is there anything you need before we go to set up the lines down into the cave?"

Initially, Rey was wary that Jacob would just trust her like that - especially given that his trust in Kylo Ren was unshakable. There was still a part of her that felt like defending Kylo was dishonoring Han Solo’s memory. But perhaps that too was the will of the Force.

“May the Force be with us.”

When they reached the huts, Rey waited outside while he went to check on his master. She took a moment to reach out with the Force, to envision the Force wound inside Kylo Ren as though it were the entrance to the mirror cave. While she’d technically been in the latter, she didn’t know how deep it truly went. Nor could she feel an end to the hole cleaved through his soul. Both were dark, mysterious and because of that, frightening. But fear would make her no better than Luke Skywalker. Where darkness descended, light would either rise to meet it or they would make it through to the other side.

Kylo, meanwhile, sat up and accepted what Jacob had brought him. “I’ll try to eat as much as I can...”

He could feel Rey probing, and soon, he felt the Force wound begin to siphon from the new source of energy. He didn’t actively draw on it, nor did he resist. He simply let it happen, conserving his strength in more ways than one.

“...If it’s not too far... I should walk there. If I can’t...” his voice trailed off. Ensuring that they could continue with their research outweighed preserving his dignity, but it still pained him to say so.

Jacob gave Kylo's shoulder a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "Focus on gathering your strength, for now, and we'll worry about the rest once we have a way down into the cave. I'll come back and get you you once all our rappelling lines are secured, so that you don't have to sit around in that cold, wet wind while Rey and I figure out the anchor points." He tried to keep from remembering, or at least letting Kylo realize he was remembering, the last time they'd had to rappel together. They'd been descending into Thuban's lair, relying on Kylo's strength to see them through a confrontation with an unknown enemy, and now...

He pushed the thought down. Now, they were still relying on Kylo's strength, and more so than ever. The fact that his physical strength didn't quite match it right now was meaningless when the battle they were going to fight wouldn't be physical in the first place. In a way, nothing had changed. "Hopefully, we won't be long." He gave Kylo's shoulder one last light squeeze, and added another log to the fire to keep the damp out of the hut before he ducked back out to rejoin Rey.

"Let's go." As he let her lead the way down the slope, toward the entrance to the mirror cave, he took the opportunity to actually look around him, take in the scenery a little; the island was more picturesque than he'd realized, and he could see why, even if this place hadn't been the site of the first Jedi temple, Luke would've picked it to live out the rest of his days. Then, the wind kicked up again, and Jacob remembered exactly why Kylo didn't need to be outside more than necessary. As scenic as this place was, it wasn't exactly hospitable.

When they descended into Thuban’s lair, Kylo felt far more in control of the situation. However, that control was an illusion. All he really had was a vague vision, his master’s blessing and his own instincts - all things that he had now, in a sense. The Force was providing its blessing this time. And his instincts, thanks to the Force wound, had never been sharper.

It was physical strength and stamina that he was lackng. To someone who lived and breathed his role as a warrior, this was harder than anything he’d had to endure. Recovery was painfully slow, and just plain painful. But the gentle squeeze on his shoulder was reassuring. Jacob had faith in his power, even now.

After Jacob left with Rey, Kylo ate almost all of the breakfast he brought. Then he settled back against the pillows, thumbing through the ancient texts until he dozed off.

The hike to the mirror cave’s entrance was definitely a hike - rugged terrain and sharp winds offset the picturesque views and curiously friendly wildlife. They passed a few porg nests, and the birds weren’t even spooked. They were used to Skywalker, she explained, and apparently the rest of them weren’t any different.

Eventually, they reached their destination. Storms had thrown massive amounts of kelp all over the entrance, making the rocks extremely slippery.

“Watch your step. I fell in the first time.” She noted. “There’s a lake down there, underground. Even if we’re repelling, we’ll still have to swim. There aren’t any ledges right underneath the opening.”

As they made their way down, toward the cave's entrance, Jacob could feel the island's energy shifting. One by one, its species ceased to inhabit the zone they were descending through - first the porgs, then the stubborn, wingless insects he had noted resolutely clinging to the plants of the island, then the plants themselves - the delineations between where the various species would grow and where they wouldn't was sharp, and by the time they reached the level above the mouth of the cave there were no land plants at all. A faint scum of algae clung to the rocks, but beneath them, there were only the types of kelp that grew in deep waters.

It would have been difficult to keep the energy of the cave from overwhelming him, had he not known exactly what he was in for. Still, it took some effort to tear his eyes away from the entrance to the cave, and examine the surrounding rocks. At least it didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. "We can tie our lines off around this outcropping, and drive pitons into the rocks here and here to anchor our safety lines." It was difficult to focus on the task at hand, with the pull of the cave to his back, but every time he found his focus straying, Jacob reminded himself that either he or Kylo could die if he didn't do this right.

At last, all the anchor points were set correctly, and five neat coils of rope - Jacob and Kylo would share the same primary line, but they had separate safety lines - sat well above where the incoming tide or any unexpected storms could get to them. For now, their harnesses remained in the pack, which Jacob shouldered again. "Would you rather stay here, or come back up with me? I'm fine with either." Had it been anyone other than Rey, he realized, he wouldn't have trusted them to stay down here without him. However, she had experienced what was down there before, and come out just fine on the other side. And, he could sense the Force telling him, she was meant to be with them when it mattered most.

Which meant there were things she needed to know before then, but some of them, Jacob wasn't even sure how to tell her, or when would be the right time to do it. It would change things, after all, if she knew that the real victim in this wasn't Kylo, but his children... and all he could hope was that the Force would tell him the right time to pass on that information, or maybe take it out of his hands entirely.

The hike back up was more difficult than it should have been, and he didn't make the kind of time he wanted to. When he made it back to the hut, Kylo was dozing again, one of the books lying open on his chest with his thumb in the middle. Jacob was careful not to lose his place as he took the text away from him and laid it on the desk; then, he sat down next to Kylo, stroking his hair gently until he began to awaken.

Rey hiked a short distance away, to a spot where she liked to practice her staff and lightsaber kata. The ground was firm, but not slippery. And more importantly, she wasn’t close enough to any of the old structures to accidentally damage them. (She’d given the caretakers enough trouble during her first week here to last a year.)

Kylo woke peacefully. He felt Jacob’s aura before he was conscious of it, and it slowly brought him back from his dreamless nap. He felt better, if not a little stronger, and definitely more rested. He hoped that it would be enough.

“Is everything ready to go?” He asked as he stretched.

"Everything's ready." Jacob got to his feet, then moved to support Kylo as he stood up. "Getting down there will be a challenge, but the energy of the cave is like nothing I've ever felt before - well, nothing natural, anyway. You might just be able to draw off of it." Getting back out once they were done was a level of difficulty that he didn't want to think about just yet; they'd deal with it when the time came. For now, he just focused on quickly filling the pack again - he threw in a few water bottles as well as another two containers of the thala-siren milk, a tarp for ground cover, a space blanket and thin cushion to make Kylo more comfortable, and a change of clothing for him as well, just in case Rey was right about there being absolutely no way to avoid getting wet. The pack was waterproof, and with the shape Kylo was in, having dry clothes for him might mean the difference between life and death.

As they picked their way down the trail, Jacob extended his senses through the Force, and was relieved to note that Skywalker and General Organa were still at the other end of the island. He was still debating whether he wanted to give Luke one last chance, or if the risk of his fear sabotaging all of them was just too great; Jacob was leaning toward the latter, but he'd take more time to think about it. They still needed Leia's help, but he'd just have to bring her up to speed later.

"...This way." For now, he wasn't going to go anywhere that was more than an arm's reach away from Kylo. "Let me know if you need to stop and rest, or if you need me to help."

As they made their way toward the entrance to the mirror cave, Kylo tried to guide his mind into the state it was on Xashiri - making each step part of a moving meditation. He reached out with the Force, feeling the energy of the planet, and let that calming natural energy seep into his bones. Cut off from the Force, Luke wouldn’t notice anything, but perhaps Leia might sense that her fallen son was using a very light-sided technique.

Unfortunately, it didn’t prevent the need to stop and rest a few times. But, then again, he had to do that on Xashiri as well and this was far more hostile terrain.

Even as the hike grew more difficult, Kylo refused to tap into the Force wound to fuel him. That energy, he’d decided, was meant for the mirror cave, not for fueling his pride. Instead, in those moments, he held onto Jacob for support and reached that much deeper into the Force. The more he wanted to push through, the more he forced himself to let go. The more he wanted to fight, the more he acquiesced to peace.

Rey watched them for a while, curiously. She could feel what Kylo was doing - and it was the exact opposite of how he felt on Starkiller Base and even when he first arrived on the island. It felt almost like how she expected Luke Skywalker to feel. (And that was a thought she never thought she’d have.)

She waited for them to rest again, and then joined them where the rocks turned slick from the tides.

“Watch your step.” She warned Kylo. “I’m sure you can feel it from here. The way it calls out.”

He nodded, but otherwise didn’t lose focus.

Edited 2018-08-03 03:22 (UTC)

Jacob sensed what his master was doing immediately, and tried to imitate him, moving his focus away from Luke and Leia to take in the pulse of the Force through the planet. He let it soothe him, let the weight of all the concerns he'd been carrying ease from him for just a moment. He was by his master's side, and he was exactly where he was meant to be, and for now he could let that be the only thing that mattered.

Making their way back down to the cave at Kylo's pace made it easier to take in all the little nuances of the Force's ebb and flow throughout the island, to sense the importance, the significance, of each step of the progression down from light into darkness. Where they stopped, too, was significant, and the pauses helped him to adjust to the energy emanating from the cave, so that he could feel ready to meet it directly rather than having to guard himself against it, as he'd been inclined to do while they were setting up the lines.

He dug the three climbing harnesses out of the pack, helping Kylo get his on and hook onto the safety line before starting on his own, demonstrating each step of the process to Rey so she could follow along with her own harness - and then, he demonstrated for her how to run the line out. He checked all the anchor points one last time, before finally leading the way to the edge of the cave. "Rey, did you want to go on down first? You know what you're heading into."

He turned his attention back to Kylo. "...All right. I think the best thing for you to do is just hold onto me, so that if there's a problem with my line, you can let go, and the safety mechanism on your harness will catch you. The water down there is deep enough that I'll be okay if I fall." The shock of dropping several feet into cold water wouldn't be good for Kylo, though, and he didn't know how strong the current was. "You ready for this?"

As they approached, the energy from the cave dwarfed that of the planet itself. It screamed with desperate agony, snuffing out the light like it was a black hole. The Force was dangerously powerful here and it was easy to see why Rey was reprimanded for simply giving in to its call.

However, Kylo felt a connection with it beyond what Rey or Luke ever could. It was like staring into his own soul - a Force wound in a planet instead of a person. Mesmerized, Kylo didn't even realize he was in his harness until Jacob was helping Rey with her's.

"No. You don't know what you're heading into." he interrupted. Again, he closed his eyes and let the Force flow through him without restraint. "You've been there before. But you don't truly know..."

He turned to Jacob.

"...And you won't fall." he found himself adding, as though he were seeing all of their future actions through a vision. "Falling is an accident. In this cave, there are no accidents. Only choices... There is no way back... only through..."

The longer they stayed at the edge of the cave, the more he could feel its energy seeping into every corner of his mind, as his master's awareness of it expanded. It wasn't long before he realized that he had underestimated this place, been thinking too much of what it could do for them rather than what it could do to them. He couldn't allow the mistake to persist. Kylo's words echoed that realization, and when he said that the only way out was through, Jacob took a nervous breath. "...Then we're counting on you to lead us there."

As soon as his master indicated he was ready, Jacob leaned them back over the edge, then hopped off. He let out just enough line to keep them from hitting the edge on the way down, and when they passed the threshold, they were shrouded in darkness, as though an eclipse had dropped suddenly and unexpectedly over the island. Maybe it had, as the sunlight, when he looked back up, had been replaced by a dim coronal glow like full moonlight through thin, wispy clouds. Or maybe that was just a passive effect of the energies here, acting either on the space itself or solely on his mind; he sensed that this was how Rey had seen the place, too, in the very wee hours of a morning when there was no natural light to make it look this way.

When he looked back down, the water was far enough beneath them that maybe, just maybe, they could swing over to the stone ledge just barely in sight on the far side of the chamber without ever touching it. "...Think we can make it? Or should we just go straight down and swim over?"

The energies around the edge were nothing compared to what Kylo felt when they entered the darkness. The Force was palpable in a way he’d only experienced a couple of times before... For a moment, the harness was identical to what suspended him in the Finalizer’s weapons array. A flicker of panic struck Jacob’s mind as Kylo’s energy slammed inward, shielding himself and forcibly reminding himself that he was not a weapon. He was not just a weapon...

Rey felt the sudden silence, and it scared her. But she pointed across the underground lake anyway. “That’s the ledge I swam to. The path that led to the mirror cave...”

“... is not where we’re going...” Kylo choked out. “Hang on... just... The ledge... if we can reach it. That’s fine. I need to acclimate myself to this...”

With each passing heartbeat, he was steadily pulling himself together. The cave was feeding on him, but his own Force wound was feeding on it in return. It was less of a meditative trance and more of a symbiotic relationship - a snake eating its own tail. It was something he alone could understand, and he was certain their survival depended in it.

As soon as he felt that flash of panic, Jacob reached back to try to quell it, but Kylo had already dampened their mental link. Instead, Jacob spoke to him, voice low and soothing. "It's okay. You're not alone, and as long as you're with me, you're safe." He sounded more confident about it than he felt, but he reminded himself that so far, it really had proven to be true. They had survived against impossible odds because they had trusted each other and let nothing divide them when it mattered most.

Still, he didn't try too hard to find his way back into Kylo's mind, not wanting to overwhelm him when he already had to struggle to deal with the intensity of this place's energy. Kylo would reach back out to him when he felt like he could handle it.

Meanwhile, as soon as Kylo indicated it'd be okay for them to regroup on the ledge, Jacob began swinging, letting the line out bit by bit until their arc brought them to the ledge and he was able to get his feet solidly on it. Immediately, he began unfastening their harnesses, and by the time Rey made it down, he was already securing their lines to the stone with a piton. The action was an automatic, well-trained one, almost a reflex finding its way out from beneath the way the cave's energy was beginning to affect his mind as well. More than anything, he needed Kylo's strength, just as much as Kylo needed his.

Kylo was grateful to be out of the harness. However, putting his feet on solid ground felt nothing like it normally would have. It didn’t anchor him as much as it seemed to suspend him inside himself. Inside the Force.

Carefully, Kylo sat on the ledge. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force. The underground cave immediately came alive. The rock beat with his heart. The water lapped with his breath. In his mind, he saw the mirrors where Rey searched for answers and he saw an endless line of Reys turning into an otherwise empty promise. He also saw what she did not - that there were chambers beyond that one, hidden behind the walls and beneath the water. A maze of mirrors directed and redirected the energy that gathered here.

The more he sunk into the Force, the easier it was to follow it. This was a test created by the Prime Jedi. This was a path meant to be traveled. The journey into the Force is the journey into the self and it was his destiny to take it.

When Kylo reopened his mind, he did so cautiously. Just as Jacob did not want to overwhelm him, he did not want to overwhelm his apprentice with the enormity of it all. An impression of the map came first, something concrete and measurable.

“Rey, what you saw was just a small piece...” he spoke softly, but deliberately. “The real entrance is under the water. Down deep, very deep, under the water.”

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