"I Lived through a Stupid Coup"

At the start of the fall of their government, no one believed it was the start of anything.  It was stupid.  It was dumb people with big mouths being loud.  A curse of the intelligent is to believe that nobody could be that stupid.  By the time the election rolled around again, it seemed that no one could ignore the depths of stupidity to which so many would sink.

A tank rolled by Hannah's house, tearing up the already ruined street.  She was briefly outraged, then remembered the remaining gas in their SUV had dried out.

Douglas G.

Douglas died in 1995.  Twenty-six years later, a former elementary school classmate tried searching his name again on the internet.  If you had told Douglas at any point while he was alive that someone in the future would be using a computer to search worldwide records for his name and picture, he may not have believed you.  He would have been fairly certain, however, that his obituary would be written by then.  By then, he was dead for three years longer than he had been alive.

Jessica thought it likely that he wouldn't have even remembered her.  After all, the last time they had seen each other was 5th grade.

The Extinction of Man

To Seth, it was an inexplicable feeling.  So alien that he couldn't even express that it was a feeling.  He thought perhaps it was his dinner, unsettled.  Seth's mind only brushed across the idea that the feeling had been there for much longer than this particular evening.  Perhaps it had burned since he was in his early twenties, when he peaked, but didn't know it.  He bought antacids and ate them.  He drank antacid liquid.  He swallowed antacid pills.  The feeling not only lingered, but grew stronger.  No general physician could have helped Seth.  While a psychologist may have been able, they, too, would not have been able to help in this case because Seth would and, indeed, never could articulate the source of this feeling.

If Seth had the emotional intelligence, the desire for inward analysis, or even the language, he might have said this: I am afraid of becoming extinct.

Lost: Telling vs. Showing

He was lost in the music.

Head bowed and swinging side to side, the drumsticks were extensions of his arms, beating out a rhythm that drove the undulations of the crowd.

She felt lost.

Even though she sat still past the point of being uncomfortable, her mind ran into wall after wall, thoughts bouncing off and stumbling into the next barrier until, in a blind panic, they screamed inside her head.

All seemed lost.

Huddled as they were in the building's basement storage, the sounds from the streets was finally too distant to hear.  One of the women, the only one still clutching a child who seemed to be younger than ten, started to cry.  Nobody hushed her.

Pop, Pop, Pop

Many times Maggie thought she heard gunshots when they were only fireworks, lit in the streets, far too long before and after the Fourth of July.  Did anyone lighting those dumb things even feel remotely patriotic, she wondered, or just playing at war or arson.  Real gunshots didn't go on for as long.  Real gunshots didn't seem to echo as much.  Pop, pop, pop.  Triplets.  One, two, three.  One broke the glass.  Two cracked a mirror.  Three killed a baby.

Heart-Shaped Locket

When the patient in room 225 died, Hera was the one who found her.  As a nurse's aide, she knew the head nurse would page for "Dr. Blue", who wasn't a doctor at all, but rather code for death.  Hera had seen death before, of course.  She didn't think anyone in the world hadn't seen death by now.  But this one stopped her.

The woman looked peaceful.  Her face was smoother than it had been and she seemed to finally sleep.  It was probably because the pain was gone.  No more furrowed brow or pinched lips.  No more tensed muscles or fretful movements, trying desperately to find a position that was comfortable.  The sheets were draped and smooth, as if the woman knew she was about to die and straightened them herself.

Hera stepped closer.  The woman's hair had been brushed--how had that happened?  Did she brush her own hair, too?  The hospital gown was clean.  Perhaps the night shift had changed and cleaned her.  The woman's hands were folded, one atop the other, calmly, neatly.  Hera couldn't stop staring.  Most in the hospital died in agony.  Most were covered in the filth of the end, their hands clawing at their own faces, at the air, at the inevitable.

She never touched the dead, but Hera found herself reaching.  She lay her hand atop the woman's.  They were cool and smooth.  Hera held the woman's hand.  As she finally pulled her hand away, she felt the necklace chain.  How could she forget?  The woman always wore a heart-shaped locket.  She had screamed herself raw when a nurse tried to remove it.  Since the woman was at the stage where she could no longer speak, they could only speculate.  Children?  Parents?  Spouse?

The locket slid easily from the woman's hands.  Hera opened it.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Revised Version

Rewrite ideas for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

After the fall of the Empire, the Rebellion has, mostly, disbanded.  Generally, there is peace and rebuilding and finding new ways of life for ex-Empire employees.  There is, however, one core band of Rebels who remain, and who most people think of as crackpots, or, at best, deluded and unable to let go of what drove them for so long.  Everyone else is happy to have their lives and freedom back from forces beyond their control.

In this remaining core of Rebels are Poe, Finn, Princess Leia, and others of the former inner circle, but even some of these people are wondering why they continue to train and fix ships and live like they're in hiding.  Princess Leia, however, has some information: there is still possible trouble.  There is a legend... (most people laugh at it).  The legend is of the origins of the Sith, and that there may be a spiritual war beginning with an insidious infiltration of "Dark Side" converts.  There are ancient, hidden, fogotten Sith shrines all across the galaxy, but there is also the rumor of a planet where they began.

Rey, meanwhile, is still struggling with Jedi training.  The only other Jedi is Princess Leia, and she is gravely ill.  Rey sits for lessons, but must train on her own.  There is great pressure on Rey to be good, but she can't seem to get the hang of it.  They want her to teach, but she dislikes teaching.  They want her to do some of the "traditional" Jedi tricks, but she's not really good at them.  She feels lonely, while also wanting to be alone (as she had been for so long).  She doesn't even get to hang out with BB8, who is helping Poe and Finn fix up the Millennium Falcon.

Rey also has a secret that becomes more and more intrusive: while meditating, if Kylo Ren is also meditating (or in meditative state, like before sleep), they have visions of each other.  They are brief at first, and disturbing for them both.  As time goes on, however, they realize the visions cannot be stopped, and while they try to come to a "you meditate at this time and not MY time" agreement, they both find themselves searching out each other's company.

Kylo Ren is also feeling alone.  Disrespected by his greatly diminished military staff, he struggles to remain as dark and imposing as his grandfather, Darth Vader.  Where once he really admired his grandfather's ability to impose fear, Kylo Ren's meditations on the mutilated mask change to sadness, even while Kylo pieces back together his own mask.  His underlings expect him to have grand plans, but he is unsure.  There are some generals or other advisors, though, who have heard of a legend...

Poe and Finn discover that the Empire has started investigating the legend of the Sith, too, and they now lend it greater credence.  They present Leia with the information, and she says there is only one way to find this legendary planet: by using the Force.  Leia gives Rey an important mission: take a ship, and use the Force to try to locate the Sith shrine planet.  Everyone goes through a lot of trouble to outfit a decent little ship.  Other Rebels doubt her powers.  Some Rebels (maybe Poe and Finn) want to complete this mission themselves, but it is impossible.  It is the job for a Jedi.  Rey keeps her self-doubt hidden.  Rebels try to prepare for a battle and travel to re-enlist former members--follow the adventures of Poe and Finn and BB8.

Despite trying desperately not to communicate with Kylo Ren, can't seem to help it.  He can't help it, either, though he is suddenly very cagey about giving her information about his activities.  Rey manages to find some minor shrines where she can feel the Sith power growing as she moves from planet to planet, shrine to shrine.  She also notices some indication that at some shrines, someone else was recently there...

While finding the shrines helps Rey's confidence in her Jedi abilities, she still can't stop "visiting" Kylo Ren.  She catches him working out.  He catches her bathing in a lake.  One night, on a quiet jungle planet, thick with plant life, she gives him some information about herself, and asks him for more.  He still refuses, and they fight about it.  She yells at him.  He freezes... He heard a sound.  He looks back at her, horrified.  Her anger drains away, and she looks at him, horrified.  He yells.  She actually hears it.  "We're on the same planet!"

They each leap up, igniting their lightsabers, looking around in a panic.  They each creep out of their campsites and end up crashing through the jungle towards one another.  They meet, on opposite ends of a clearing, lightsabers glowing, stars a riot overhead.  They walk slowly towards each other until their bodies are in sight.  They are deeply confused.  Kylo Ren turns off his lightsaber.  Rey turns off hers.  They narrow the distance between them, and revel in the reality of the moment.  Smells, warmth, and physical being.  Lit only by stars, they kiss.  They force themselves away, backing up, then turning and running back to their ships.  They leave, going different directions.

In the morning, Rey gets a coded message from the Rebels with a warning and an addition to her mission: the Empire has sent Kylo Ren himself to find the Sith planet, and she must kill him.

Kylo Ren also receives a message from his own people: the Rebels have sent their only Jedi to find the Sith planet.  It is Rey, and he must kill her.

Poe and Finn are having terrible troubles even being believed, much less recruiting anyone.  They can bring in (or at least try to) C-3PO, R2D2, Zorri Bliss, Lando, Chewbacca, the cool tiny repairman, and whoever else seems important who isn't in already.

Rey tries not to contact Kylo Ren, but eventually gives in.  Kylo Ren, however, adamantly refuses to meditate, and avoids other triggers however he can.  They continue to planet-hop, narrowly missing one another.  Rey gets angry and also refuses to try ever again.  She finds herself on an inhabited planet with a mix of kinds of people.  There is an ancient temple, they say, but it's out in the ocean.  She makes friends and tries to forget Kylo Ren.  Kylo Ren must, because of his wholly owned reputation, avoid all contact with anyone, and he lives rough.  After a lovely evening, the people show Rey how to get to the temple and warn her of the danger, and won't she let them help her, etc.  She takes a boat and makes the dangerous journey.  The people can watch through binoculars from shore.  They are happy she made it.  They see the temple.  They see her going into the open-air part.  Someone shouts, "There's someone else!  On a stolen boat!  It's... someone from the Empire.  It's... Kylo Ren!"  The people are scared for Rey, who they know must fight and kill her opponent, or be killed.

The temple's small island is badly deteriorated from the sea and from neglect, so it is dangerous to stay.  Rey must meditate, though she doesn't want to, to find her next traveling point.  She lays hands on the temple, and hears behind her, "So we meet again."  Rey spins, igniting her lightsaber.  Kylo Ren removes his.  Turns it on.  They stand, in agony.

The crowd on shore is either watching through binoculars, or listening to the play-by-play from those who have them.  "He is there!"  Boo!  "She turned on her lightsaber!"  Yea!  "He turned on his!"  Boo!  Pause.  "What's happening??"  "Um... Nothing."

Rey     "I have to kill you."
Kylo    "I know.  I have to kill you."
Rey     "I know."
Pause
Rey     "They're watching."
Kylo    "I know."
They fight.  It's the mother of all fights.  Gorgeous.  Emotional.  Dramatic.  Almost as if they are dancing.  Almost as if they know what the other will do.
Shore   "Who's winning?"
Binoc   "I... I don't know!"

They fight and fight, and Kylo Ren can see they are very well matched, but he is much bigger and stronger.  He worries about her.  He (purposefully) drops his guard.  She (accidentally) stabs him with her lightsaber.  He falls to the far side of the island, barely managing not to fall into the raging sea.  To the people on the shore, she has dealt a killing blow and has leaped down to be sure to finish him off.  Rey has, instead, leaped down because she is horrified.  Out of sight, she has turned off her lightsaber and flung herself to his side.  She pulls him to a safer spot and looks at his wound.

Kylo    "Don't.  Let me die.  Go find the Sith planet.  Win!"
Rey     "No, don't die.  I can't... I can't let you die.  I can't...  I love you."
Kylo    "I...love...you..."

Kylo passes out and Rey is frantic.  She rips open his shirt and sees the deadly wound.  Not knowing what she's doing, not caring that it shouldn't work, she presses her hands to his skin for the first time and she calls up all the forces of the Jedi and the Light.  Where her powers wouldn't do all the "tricks" of traditional Jedi, she can heal him.  His wound knits closed.  She weeps over him.  Finally, his eyes flutter open.  They have unbridled joy for one moment together before realizing what has been done.  They both sit, frozen in horror.  He has been healed by the Light.  She healed a follower of the Dark.  They both confessed their love.  Suddenly, a giant wave smashes his stolen ship.  Rey leaps up.

Rey     "I must go."
Kylo   "I... Rey..."
Rey     "Ben..."

She says his real name for the first time, and, for the first time, it seems to suit him.  She rips herself away from his gaze and flees on the only remaining boat.  He is left to figure himself out.

The Empire has heard about Poe and Finn's mission and they are now having a harder time of it.  Poe and Finn have also heard: Kylo Ren has returned.

On an Empire ship, Kylo Ren has, indeed, returned.  He is reminded that only getting to the Sith planet and securing the power there will the Empire rise again, with him at the helm.  Without this power, no one will follow the grandchild of the destroyed Darth Vader.  Kylo Ren is reminded over and over that this is the only way he will ever reach his true power, and the only way he will ever be anyone at all.  He gives them the location of the Sith planet.

Poe and Finn hurry back to the remaining Rebel stronghold to report.  Rey is already there.  She, too, has the location of the Sith planet.  The Rebels have been planning what to do, and are ready.