Ben scarificed himself. For her. It didn't make up for everything he did, he could never be forgiven for everything awful he has done. But he wanted to apologize to one of his victims.

After a life of taking, he died giving.

And she kissed him, as she owed him something.

Then he passed away, and was judged in the afterlife.

And the Dyad started to fade.

Rey felt a snap in her mind. As if chains were broken. For a moment, she felt immense pain.

Impossible. The afterlife wasn't a place of suffering.

Then she felt dizzy. Her mind felt a bit more empty, and so did her soul. She scrambled to see what was in her head, or what wasn't.

She saw in her head nobody else but Rey. Her soul was hers and hers only. She felt like it always was that way. And then she realized.

He was gone.

She was alone.

She was free.

She remembered the past days. The past year. She was bonded with a mass murderer, who kidnapped her, invaded her mind, was responsible for the deaths of of his entire family, used the Force and hurt her, nearly killed the man who selflessly defended her from that bastard, used her to gain power, twice, and called her nothing...

She could not run from him. She initially tried. But she found herself going after him. Like he mattered more than her friends. Like he mattered more than his victims. While she was bonded, she thought he did.

That he understood her, as much as he hurt her. Only he, and not her best friend, who did her best to help her at all costs. The Dyad made her blind to her true friends and family, and she thought she couldn't live without the man who hurt her the most.

This bond, however, was special and unique. It was for the Greater Good. The will of the Force. The Galaxy was safe. Ben saved her. He had some good in him. She could still feel a bit of him inside her mind.

"Nobody is ever truly gone."

Days have passed. Finn has learned her actions. He left her in anger, and she didn't even manage to reconcile. She could no longer feel Ben at all.

She remembered why her friend was angry. For the kiss. Then, she thought he was going too far. It was a simple gratitude kiss.

Now, she realized she owed Kylo nothing at all.

That she shouldn't treat him as more important than her real friends. Her real family.

She thought she could not live without him. Now she wonders how she could live with him.

"I was a Palpatine. Not anymore."

She gets out of the fortress she made for herself to live after the war, angry at her actions in Kef Bir and Exegol.

"I no longer overlook how they treat me. I no longer push my friends away."

She finds a pod of mud.

"I no longer value power."

She puts her hands in the mud. "I value people."

And then she thoroughly washes her mouth.

"I... AM... A SKYWALKER!"

And she stands up, proud and defiant. Free to be the mistress of her own life.