Author~ Hellloooo and welcome! This is gonna be a doozy of a story, but it is 100% Reylo. I shipped them from the moment I left the theater and it's taken me this long to finally get a fan fiction posted for them. :3 So without further ado, here is chapter one! I really hope you enjoy the story!
"You need a teacher!" his strained voice sliced through the bitter night like his unstable saber, a hint of desperation in his tone. Rey tightened her fingers around her weapon, letting out a noise of determination as she pushed back against his unrelenting presence. Short little wisps of her hair that had escaped her three buns fluttered in front of her eyes, which were burning with determination. He could see her fear and anger, feel her fight and fire. So he hissed again, this time with assurance.
"I can show you the ways of the Force!" Rey finally looked up from the sparks and flashes that fly between them, her eyes wide. As she looks him over, something overwhelms her. Power? Hope? Pity? She isn't exactly sure, but it is so strong, she can only assume it's one thing.
"The Force.." she breathes. It sounds like a question, but she closes her eyes and focuses on the feeling, letting it expand in her chest like a warm rush of air, like the desert winds of Jakku.
Using that feeling, she quickly subdues him. Slashing across his side and the pale flesh of his face, she leaves him panting and awe-struck in the snow. She can't explain the emotion that creeps up on her, watching his broken form across the cracked ground. But she turns, fleeing as quickly as her nimble feet can take her, leaving the monster behind.
And then she wakes up.
The room is so dark when Rey opens her eyes. Back on Jakku, she wouldn't have had the luxury of dark screens to keep the blistering sun out of her room. Even though it has been several months since her whirlwind departure, she still feels uneasy awaking in darkness.
However the darkness of this room conceals a large bed, windows, a small recaimer sofa and a door to the 'fresher. Nothing like the AT-AT walker she had called her own, which intimidated and amazed her at all she had now.
Instead of bounding out of the soft bed like her restless spirit usually demanded of her, she lay still, thinking of Kylo Ren sprawled in the snow.
It isn't the first time he's been a part of her dreams. For the first several days and weeks after their battle, he had stalked her like a predator with prey in her sleep. He would spring from the darkness and try to drag her to it, always leaving her shaking and breathless when she woke.
The dreams took a different turn after she found Luke. While she trained with him on the island, with his gentle but firm mentorship and companionship she was usually so exhausted by the end of the day that she would collapse and sleep so soundly that there were no dreams at all.
When they left together after a month for the Resistance base on D'Qar, Kylo Ren once again entered her mind. However, he wasn't the terrifying shapeless horror anymore. She was reliving their encounter, each crash of their sabers and every look and word he said was plastered in her mind. She wasn't sure why.
And she was reluctant to tell her master or any of the friends she had come to adore in such a short amount of time. She broke the stillness of her room with a quiet giggle as she pictured their reactions. Finn would worry and ramble and circle her protectively. Poe would crack wise. BB-8, in his infinite sweetness that she didn't even know a droid could possess, would bring her little trinkets to try and make her smile.
There was General Leia, who had taken an immediate liking to her. Who offered her council and kindness, and was the closest thing she had to a mother. But she feared, like everyone else who knew, that bringing up her fallen son would only bring pain.
When she thought of Luke, though, her smile faded. It wasn't that she didn't trust her master, but she worried about his reaction. The first time she had brought up her nightmares, she had been subjected to nearly 3 hours of questions, followed by 2 more of meditation that didn't seem to help. The only thing that did was hard work, and there was plenty of that to be done around the base.
She sat up slowly, running her calloused fingers through her chestnut hair, shaking her head and scrunching up her nose. Why was she even allowing him to occupy her thoughts? In her dreams, she saw the moments of his humanity. The plea for her to come with him, the gasp of pain whenever he was struck or fell. And…though she hated to think about that moment- the second after he had killed his father.
She had seen shock and despair, as fleeting as it was, it was there. When they dueled in her mind at night she was observing the little things about him, and when she woke she tried to shake them. Sometimes she wondered who he was without the bulky and harsh mask. Who was the man who had spoken to her without the voice modulator? But then she would catch herself allowing sympathy and retract it, the same bitter taste for him returning in her mouth. He was dangerous. He was a murder. He was the Dark Side.
And she was the Light.
She couldn't let this…this manipulative beast twist her mind any longer. She wouldn't allow it. So she stood, dressed, pulling up her warm hair and smiling at herself in a reflection piece over the sofa, her beauty (though she never though of herself as so, more like sweaty and tired) and brightness shinning through even in dimness of her room.
She pushed up the blinds that kept her room dark and cool and let in the light and drove out the darkness, and Kylo Ren, back into the shadows of her fading dreams.
—
"He wants to see you, Ren." General Hux's voice was clipped and professional as usual, his uniform so well kept and stiff Kylo Ren often wondered how he was able to walk.
He wasn't a welcome sight either- having just opened his eyes and returned from his meditation to the banging outside his quarters. He always tried to give himself time throughout the hours of the day to slink away and sit, revel in the darkness that had consumed him. He needed to feel the pull that had drawn him from Leia Organa and Han Solo all those years ago.
Some days he needed it more than others, especially after his meeting with the mouthy scavenger girl.
"Understood General, I shall go to him now." Ren replied, his modulated voice crackling. Hux cocked his head ever so slightly.
"WE shall go to him. He requires both of us." Under his mask, Ren clenched his jaw and tightened his hands. He detested the gatherings that included Hux, who took any opportunity to point out Ren's flaws to the Supreme Leader.
Since their strategic retreat to join the Supreme Leader, Snoke's focus had been entirely on Kylo Ren. He had run him ragged, not only as a punishment for his failure on the Destroyer, but also to further his training. To finish what he had started with Ben Solo all those years ago.
Several weeks ago, at the end of a very very trying day, Snoke had dismissed Ren with the promise "that he had a task for him" that would soon be brought to his attention. As Hux and Kylo Ren stalked down the halls of the Command Shuttle and their temporary base, it was evident that this might be the day that task was revealed to him.
Especially by how nervous the twitchy General Hux was.
Entering the Supreme Leaders chambers with an echoing WOOSH, the two knelt at the base of his gargantuan throne. There was a flicker of blue and gray light, and Snoke sat above them. Hux raised his head.
"Supreme Leader," he said curtly with a respectful nod. Ren too bowed his head. Snoke ignored Hux and raised his hand closest to Kylo Ren, signaling he stand. Hux lowered his head, color rising in his hallow cheeks.
Ren stood before his master, staring up at the scarred and ruined face. Snoke was silent for several moments, but that wasn't unusual. He was so ancient that it was to be expected that his speech was slow.
"Kylo Ren…you have finally completed your training." he finally uttered. Ren was sure his pulse had stopped all together at his words.
"I…am certain that…you are ready for what I am…going to ask of you." Ren took a bold step forward, pride in posture.
"With your guidance, Supreme Leader, I can and will undertake anything that you ask of me. I am ready." Ren said, his voice modulator crackling sharply with how forcefully he spoke.
Snoke nodded, though there was no emotion on his face to offer his apprentice any assurance.
"What I…will ask of you will be…the greatest challenge you have…faced." Snoke paused to breathe, and continued.
"I was unsure…after the scavenger defeated you…what could I do…with a weak servant?" Ren's throat tightened and he flinched at his words. The stung almost as much as when he was shot by that blasted Wookie.
"However…the girl is powerful…extremely so…and when you ended the pathetic existence of Han Solo…you…showed more loyalty and potential…than I had ever seen in you."
"You are to…return to the Resistance. I want you to…infiltrate them…earn their trust…their secrets…and to give them to me. And... I want you…to seduce this scavenger to…the Dark Side…where her power…her POTENTIAL…can be fully recognized." Snoke paused again, this time his cloudy eyes pierced his knight's mask, waiting for his response.
Kylo Ren was left dumbfounded. No…not dumbfounded. He himself had seen her power, seen her connection with the Force. To have her as a weapon for the First Order would make it stronger, and would break the Resistance, body and soul. And yet…
Ren felt a twinge of anger. Was he not enough? Was he not enough to finally bring the First Order and his cause to the glory it truly deserved? His master obviously thought not, and he was filled with rage.
Immediately sensing Ren's temper, Snoke hissed;
"It is not…just the girl I want. This…is your final test. Your…final test of loyalty and…strength. Returning to your…family…betraying them…destroying them…only then will…you truly belong to the Dark Side." he sat up a bit straighter in his throne, before leaning forward slightly to gauge Ren's reaction.
This in itself was a test, Kylo Ren could tell. If he showed hesitance or weakness, this mission could be taken from him all together. Or, he could be chided, sent back to training, rebuked and humiliated.
But how could he go back?
There was a time, once in his past, that he had thought to return to Leia Organa, to his HOME. Snoke had assured him the only thing he would find there was hatred, distrust. What parents would want a son who had done the unthinkable? So he put it aside, pushed away his fears and moved on.
How could he go back?
While Ren remained silent, Hux finally arose to his feet, straitening his hair and brushing off his dark pants.
"Forgive me, Supreme Leader," Hux began loudly, but immediately shying back when Snoke lazily turned his head to face him, as if just realizing he was there.
"What has this got to do with me?" the color in his pale cheeks had spread to his neck and forehead, his mouth twisted with a sour expression.
"You are…to help us devise how…Kylo Ren is to make it to…the Resistance base…unharmed…and has every reason to be…welcomed and…protected." Snoke said, waving a hand at the still statuesque Ren.
"He must not…be suspected…or he will fail before he begins…" Hux pondered this, his light eyes focused on the base of Snoke's throne.
"You are to get…Kylo Ren to the base…and to make sure…it looks…real. As if…the long lost prince…is returning home." Hux nodded and inclined his head.
"It shall be done, Supreme Leader." he assured him, and when Snoke waved his hand in dismissal, he turned and marched out of the expansive room. Snoke slowly brought his eyes back to Ren.
"So, Master Ren of the Knights of Ren…Commander of the Planet Destroyer…Grandson of Darth Vader…" Ren slowly lifted his masked face to the shimmer holo-light of Snoke.
"Will you…finally…become who you were destined to…become?"
Author~ Well that's it for chapter one! I'm so very excited to start sharing this story for you. It's going to be a slow-burn adventure with redemption and tears and love. I promise to update as often as I can. Thank you very much for taking the time to read and thank you even more if you review. It means the world!