A/N: Please take note of the changes in this chapter. They are important. I have done something a bit unconventional and created my own language of sorts. There will be key words used throughout the story that are native to Rey's planet. This is obviously not canon compliant, but I thought it would be a fun spin on things, so here we are! I will make sure to reference any new terms at the bottom of their respective chapters as the story progresses. I will also make sure to add pronunciations as best as I can. I know what it sounds like when I use my own inflections, but sometimes it's a bit harder to translate in writing. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this one! Please leave reviews! It helps me know which of my stories people are most interested in. I haven't updated some of my other fanfics in months because I'm trying to go by which ones seem to be more popular at the time. I am still working on all of them of course! But I really appreciate the feedback! Enjoy the story and happy fanfic-ing!
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Chapter One
A loud crack erupted as smoke and flames filled the sky in a spectacular display. The ship was spinning out of control, plummeting towards the vast waters below. Kylo Ren struggled to gain control, but to no avail. Just before the ship hit the water, he activated the emergency ejection switch. He watched through the visor of his mask with a mix of terror and fascination as he floated into the air, the parachute cords swiftly jerking him away from the black metal crashing into the ocean below. A wave of relief washed over him as the breeze guided him away from the wreckage. The feeling didn't last long, however. His seat suddenly lurched sideways, causing the belt fastened around his waist to dig in painfully. He looked up to see a large tear in the fabric of the chute, and his heart skipped a beat. Kriff. A gust of wind ripped through it, further compromising the material and causing one of the cords to violently snap. Kylo went into a panic as the seat rapidly plunged to the sea. He grappled with the belt clip and managed to free himself just as he splashed into the cold, briny water. The fabric of his heavy cloak weighed him down, and he hastily worked to remove it, watching it sink lazily after the ejected seat and ruined parachute.
He turned towards the surface and began to swim upwards, but something caught him and dragged him deeper instead. He looked down and slowly registered that the snapped cord had entangled itself around his leg. He forced himself to stay still so he could think, though his entire body tensed, and his brain screamed in alarm. He could feel his pulse throbbing and his lungs were on fire. Saltwater was filling his mask, obscuring his vision. He needed to remove it, so he could better assess how the cord was wrapped around him. He lifted his gloved hands toward the release buttons on either side of his mask, but the mechanism refused to cooperate. The mask was stuck. He began to thrash wildly at the realization, trying to kick the cord away from him and return to the surface. That didn't work either. In one last, desperate move, he stretched out his arm and attempted to use the force to manipulate the cord and water around him. But he had already exhausted himself, and, no longer able to hold his breath, he began to aspirate, salt stinging his throat and nasal passages as the bitter liquid forced its way into his lungs. After another drawn out moment, Kylo stopped fighting all together.
So, this was it. This was how the master of the Knights of Ren would die. Not in combat. Not by some mortal enemy or one of his knights challenging him for his title and the power that came with it. Not even by the betrayal of Hux, an inevitable act of treason that Kylo had long anticipated to someday come to pass, as much as the blithering idiot of a general and he openly loathed each other. No, none of these things would kill one of the, arguably, most powerful dark force users in the galaxy. His death would not be honorable, or worthy of remembrance. Instead, he would succumb to the unforgiving nature of a kriffing sea, on an unnamed, force-forsaken planet, in the middle of stars know where, because of a faulty engine and a damned parachute. And it was his own kriffing fault. He knew the ship had been undergoing maintenance and minor repairs. He could have chosen any other number of TIE fighters to go after the traitor and Resistance pilot they had taken prisoner. But their escape had been unexpected, and actions had to be taken quickly if the First Order was going to secure the map that would lead them to Skywalker.
If Kylo was going to apprehend them, he would need to fly the only aircraft he trusted. The Silencer. He knew his ship better than anyone else. So, he chose not to heed the warnings that it wasn't ready for operation. A bitter, unwelcome thought passed through his mind in hindsight. Like father, like son. What irony, that the memories tying him to a past he'd worked so hard to break free from, would eventually come back to bite him in the ass in the most obscure way. Pride and arrogance for a flashy hunk of metal and technological parts. Of course, that would be his vice. Ignoring the mechanic's advice had been his first mistake. Attempting to jump to lightspeed to get ahead of the others and cut them off before they were planet side, had been his second. The navigation systems were all wrong. His coordinate readings were incorrect; an error of gross miscalculations, and a direct result of interrupting the recalibration being performed on his nav-computer. It was something he would have noticed was off, if he had even bothered to follow proper pre-flight system checks. But, he knew his ship, he thought, and he could fly her blindfolded if need be. Too much was at stake if he didn't capture that rebel scum and the rogue trooper. Aside from losing their only lead to the vanished Jedi, Snoke's judgement would be unavoidable, and everyone was well aware that his methods of punishment were anything but merciful. That was the one thing that Hux and Kylo both agreed upon. Neither of them wanted to be the one to incur the Supreme Leader's wrath.
Alas, Kylo found himself almost wishing, even preferring, that his life's end had come about at the hand of his own master, in light of his current predicament. His whole life had been defined by his fiery rage and uncontrollable temper. From the time he'd first started exhibiting sensitivity to the force, he'd struggled with the pull of the dark. Having two absentee parents only gave him more cause for resentment and anger. These were the qualities his family and peers had feared. The emotions that led to that fateful night at Luke's academy. His uncle's betrayal only made it easier to finally accept himself for who he truly was. And once he was set on his fated path, he found a new family. One who praised and encouraged his passionate qualities. Snoke had painstakingly molded him into the man he was today. He had shown him the truth about his gifts and gave him the chance to hone his dark powers. Everything Kylo did was with a white-hot intensity, and the searing blade he wielded could set entire villages alight. Yet, he wasn't burning in a blood-boiling inferno. Again, he found it painfully ironic, that instead of going up in the flames of a devastating explosion, he was drowning in freezing temperatures, sinking, down, down, down to a watery grave. His life would be doused out; extinguished until it was nothing but soaked ash; wet cement to bury his dark, miserable soul. As the stabbing sensation in his lungs began to ebb away, the underwater world around him started to fade into nothingness. His eyes were slipping closed, and a few, tiny bubbles escaped his mouth and nose, rising to the surface above where they dissipated into the foam of the surf. The last thing he saw through his murky mask, before everything went black, was a sudden flash of bronze and gold, shimmering in the water. He vaguely felt a tug on his boot; the one that was tethered by that cursed cord. Then, something soft, but firm, enveloped his torso and began to pull upward from underneath his arms. For a delirious moment, he thought he saw the radiant visage of an angel. A fleeting notion passed that he was being delivered to the afterlife in the arms of the angel of death herself. The idea strangely comforted him, and he almost smiled as he let go of consciousness and fell away into oblivion.
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The black creature was impossibly heavy. Rey gripped it as tightly as she could. She expertly maneuvered her tail and began propelling them both to the surface, but it was a daunting task that took all her strength and willpower. The sound of thunder had startled her, and when she first saw the strange pod falling from the sky, she thought it was some sort of meteorite. Meteors weren't an extremely rare occurrence here. But this one, in particular, was especially strange. It was black, smooth, and shiny, like nothing she had ever seen. If that wasn't bizarre enough, she watched in awe as a smaller chunk of rock broke off from the comet, only to defy gravity and sail the wind, curving eastward, towards the porgs' Nesting Isle. That was her name for it, anyways. She swam near the island frequently, collecting seashells and other curious treasures along the shoreline and scattered reefs nearby. Today she had been exploring to the south of the island. She liked to float and look at the clouds, blissfully daydreaming as the waves swept her away with the current, this way and that. Before she had been jolted from her thoughts, she'd been resting her eyes, enjoying the sun's rays shining down as they kissed her freckled skin. A dark shadow suddenly eclipsed the warm light overhead, then was immediately followed by a deafening crack. The trees on the island shuddered slightly, and the waves swelled beneath her, stirring from the upset air. She soon realized the source wasn't a tempest beginning to rear its ugly head. That would have been far too predictable and boring. A falling star, on the other hand, was much more exciting.
Rey was mesmerized by the sight; her curiosity overtaking any sensibility and caution she should have felt in regard to the foreign object streaking towards her. But Rey had never been very sensible to begin with. Had she been raised in a pod with other myrlings, she would have been taught all about the dangers of this world and what lies beyond. But Rey was the last of her kind, and she only had the creatures of the ocean to keep her company. Having been alone most of her life, Rey viewed everything with a childlike sense of wonder and excitement. Of course, she wasn't completely alone. Her best and only friend was not so dissimilar from herself. Except that it looked nothing like her. And it couldn't talk. But it was her friend, nonetheless, and had been with her since she was very young and had lost her family. And she was content to have one-sided conversations with her otherwise spirited companion. She flourished from the bond they shared, despite her tragic circumstances. But what Rey really thrived on was spontaneity and adventure. Exploring and discovering new things were the essence of her being, and she was never one to back down or cower in fear of the unknown. Perhaps her inquisitiveness would one day be the death of her, but what better way to die than embracing the thrill of danger and mystery? She was getting a close-up view of an actual meteorite. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, and she'd be damned if she didn't take the chance to thoroughly investigate.
The metal craft crashed into the water, sending a wide spray in her direction. It creaked and groaned as it slowly submerged. Rey momentarily forgot the smaller mass, unsteadily riding a light draft in the distance, as she enthusiastically dove underwater to get a better look at the sinking wreckage. There was a gentle slope that reached a small drop off near the island's beach, but the ocean floor wasn't too deep, only about 50 meters or so. She easily reached the pod as it landed on the bottom with a muted thud, sending up a soft cloud of sand when it settled. Tentatively, Rey reached out to touch it. The metal was warm. She noticed an unusual opening in the middle of the asteroid-esque shape. There was a see-through dome that had been cracked open like a clam shell. Inside the opening was what appeared to be some sort of rock burrow, like the ones she'd often seen along the larger reefs where eels would lay in wait for their prey. But this burrow had peculiar formations that, from afar, might resemble a coral colony with barnacles here and there, but up close, looked nothing of the kind. Rey found herself entranced by the blinking lights that lit up the small space.
She was so lost in the wonder of it all that she almost didn't register the other piece of the meteorite that had broken below the surf. She detected a faint, pulsating ripple in the water, drawing her attention towards the moving rock. She squinted for a moment, trying to make out what she was seeing. An enormous jellyfish was wrapped around it, drifting towards the edge of the drop off several meters away. But it wasn't really a jellyfish, was it? And chunks of rock certainly didn't move of their own accord. At least, not in her experience. She slowly approached, newly intrigued by the odd spectacle. She was still a good distance from it when she saw bubbles floating up around what she now realized was a black creature, wrestling with something. She froze, taking heed of the warning bells sounding in her head for the first time since she noticed the meteor in the sky. The creature looked large and rather menacing. Its face was black and silver, sleek and hard like the main part of the meteorite burrow. And its flesh was just as dark, though part of it seemed to billow outwards, like some sort of strangely winged bird. Her eyes widened as she watched it shed its oddly shaped wings. What was it? How did it get here? Was the burrow its nest, then? She was hesitant to get any closer. Exploring a fallen star was one thing, but coming across a living creature? For all she knew, it was a vicious predator that could attack her if she got within tail's reach. But she could not bring herself to turn away from it either. Whatever it was, it had clearly traveled a great distance, and it was in trouble.
The voice of reason in her mind was telling her to leave it alone and get far, far away. But then something made her heart stop. The creature was clawing at the sides of its face. It yanked at one of its appendages desperately, and it suddenly dawned on Rey that it was stuck and had been trying to free itself from the "not-a-jellyfish". And then, it suddenly stopped. It stopped struggling. It stopped moving. It stopped breathing. The creature needed air; it was dying. Rey bit her lip and furrowed her brow as she debated what to do. If she could get the creature to the surface, she could swim to the island and hopefully save it in time. But, it could still be a dangerous beast that might try to kill her. If she did nothing, the creature would surely die. She wasn't sure if she could live with the knowledge that she allowed anything to die, period. But she had no way of knowing whether or not this dark being meant any harm. Again, the part of her conscience controlled by her brain told her not to take the risk, but something in her heart was nagging at her, nudging her to spring into action. She shook her head and pushed her fears aside, making the split-second decision to rush forward and attempt to free the fading lifeform. Rey refused to think about the possible repercussions of what she was about to do. Despite all logic and reason, she knew she couldn't let the creature die without trying her best to save it.
She shot through the water and immediately set to work, untangling the tentacle wrapped around the creature's lower limb. She successfully detached the cord, then wrapped her arms around the dark body, hooking her elbows underneath two upper limbs. With more than a little difficulty, they began their ascent to the surface. It took her only a few more minutes to reach the shoreline with the creature. She awkwardly dragged it as far out of the water as she could, slithering unnaturally along the sand with her cumbersome tail. She was out of breath by the time she was done, but once she was satisfied that it was far enough away from the water so that the tide would pull it back into the current, she began to inspect its body for injuries and any sign of life. The first thing she noticed was its face. Something didn't seem quite right about it. She paused for a moment, then timidly tapped at it. As she had suspected, it was just like the burrow rock. But, something flashed pale between the face and the rest of the creature's rough, black skin. She leaned in closer and carefully poked it. It felt… fleshy. It was wearing skin over its skin? That didn't make sense. Rey felt around its neck and found an edge where the flesh underneath was separated from what she now assumed was a shell protecting its face. Her fingers slid smoothly across the metal until something on either side gave way at her touch. She jerked back as the metal softly clicked and hissed. It shifted around the mouth and Rey held her breath. She didn't know what to make of this creature. She was nervous to prod at it more, but she couldn't tell if it was still breathing or not, the outer layer of skin was so thick and heavy. She closed her eyes and felt around the metal once more. It seemed to have loosened up, so she tried tugging on it. Water spilled out as it slid up over the creature's head, and Rey gasped when she opened her eyes and looked at its face.
The creature was… a eumyn?! Rey blinked several times. Eumyns had not come to this planet in eons. Rey had thought they were a myth. Yet, here, lying before her in the wet sand, was a very large, very real eumyn. She leaned in to get a closer look. Dark hair covered its face. Its pale skin was a stark contrast to the rest of it. She noticed a few dark spots dotted here and there like mapped out constellations. The eumyn's lips were full and they looked so soft. They were also blue. Rey began to panic. It wasn't breathing. She had never encountered another being so similar to her before, but, despite its resemblance to her, eumyns were not myrlings, and she had no idea how to help. She had a tail and could hold her breath underwater for extended periods of time. The eumyn clearly didn't have a tail and couldn't hold its breath like she could. She frantically scanned the rest of its body. How could she even begin to search for a pulse with all this extra skin covering it? She felt around in an attempt to peel more off. She pulled at the wet layers of its chest and managed to find some rough edges to tug apart. The tough skin resisted, but she soon had the eumyn stripped of the outermost covering. There was another layer of black underneath, but it was thinner at least, and she eventually had its arms exposed up to the shoulders. She hovered her palms above the eumyn nervously, her hands trembling as she visually searched its arms, neck and chest, hoping to see a pulse in the same places she knew she would find one on herself. She apprehensively squeezed a wrist but couldn't be sure that she wasn't feeling her own blood flowing through her fingers. She refocused her efforts on tilting its head back, as it had slumped to the side, in an attempt to keep the airway clear. Stars, what was she going to do?! She clamped her eyes shut, willing herself to stop shaking and think. If she couldn't feel a pulse, perhaps she could hear one. Gingerly, she leaned down and pressed her ear to the eumyn's broad chest. She held her breath and listened. There. It was faint. So very faint. But there was a heartbeat. She sighed in relief.
There was no time to waste, though. It still wasn't breathing, and she could tell its heart was slowing dangerously with each passing second. Rey anxiously wrung her hands. She couldn't imagine how much water it had taken in. Maybe she could turn it on its side and the water could drain out on its own? She began to roll it over, significantly struggling, but managing with desperate determination nonetheless. How could one eumyn be so incredibly hard to move? Not that she'd had any experience with this sort of thing. She finally got it turned onto its side and scooted herself around to face it. Nothing happened. She tried to remember if there was ever a time where she couldn't breathe, and what she had done to remedy the situation. She recalled nearly choking on a fish bone once, when she was a much younger myrling. She had missed it when she'd first cleaned a fish she'd caught. She was still learning how to properly debone them. The missed fragment lodged itself in her throat and she remembered the painful feeling as her eyes began to water and she desperately gasped for air. Forcing herself to cough hadn't worked, so she began hitting her chest. After a few blows, the bone dislodged and flew out of her mouth. She could try to hit the eumyn's chest then. She frowned. The position it was now in made it impossible for her to properly do this, as its arm had fallen limply across its chest. She would have to try hitting it from behind instead. Annoyed by her lack of foresight and proficiency, Rey pulled herself behind the eumyn once again, quietly cursing and wishing her tail was not a tail at the moment. She had sunbathed many times on the beach before, and she knew when she was fully dry, her tail would transform into scrawny looking limbs similar to her arms. But it took time for the sun to dry her enough and she didn't know how to use the foreign limbs well anyway.
Rey balled her hand into a tight fist and swung hard at the eumyn's back, just between its shoulder blades. It didn't move. She tried again, willing herself to swing harder. The second blow did as much good as the first. She began to tear up. The eumyn was going to die after all, and it was her fault that she couldn't save it. Her whole body was trembling with fear. This couldn't be how the poor creature's life ended. Not like this. All alone on a secluded island with nobody to mourn for it… except her. A terrible, clumsy rescuer. No. She couldn't let it die like this. She refused to let that happen. She raised her fist one more time. She would do whatever she had to, to keep the eumyn alive. She cried out to the Deiyses, begging them for mercy as she slammed her fist into its back with all her might. She suddenly felt something stir within her, like a power that had laid dormant until this very moment. And then… the eumyn coughed. It choked and sputtered as water gushed out of its mouth and nose. It was breathing! Rey fell back into the sand, tears still filling her eyes. But now they were there for a different reason. She cried and laughed at the same time, then thanked the Deiyses profusely, promising to offer them the best sacrifice she could give, whatever they may ask of her. The eumyn began to stir, and she suddenly realized she was terrified of how it would react when it awoke. She began crawling towards the water as quickly as possible. She turned back to face the eumyn only after she was enveloped by the warm comfort of the sea. Its breathing had steadied now, but its eyes were still closed. She sighed in relief. It was sleeping. Perhaps that was for the best. It needed to rest, and she wasn't so sure she was ready for it to see her just yet.
Rey looked up at the sky. The sun was making its steady descent below the horizon. There wasn't much daylight left. Her stomach growled at her. She felt exhausted and needed to eat. The eumyn would need food too, once it woke up. Rey decided there was no use staring at a sleeping creature for stars knew how long. She would stay close in case its condition changed, but she might as well busy herself gathering a proper meal for the both of them. There wasn't much else she could do at this point other than wait. She glanced at the eumyn once more before dipping below the waters and making her way towards a nearby reef where schools of fish would still be swimming about. If she was lucky, she might even find a patch of seaweed. But not just any patch of seaweed. There was a particular kind that only grew in small amounts around the island. It was unusually sweet, despite the salty environment it grew in. But she would have to hurry, before the other ocean animals inevitable discovered the rare treat before she did. She sped through the water like a trained missile, focused on her next task. The eumyn was going to live, and Rey was going to make sure it was taken care of. She smiled at the thought of being useful for once. Even with all the life in this world, she had felt alone her entire life. Such was the curse of being the last of your kind. But the creature was technically now the last of its kind too. And it, like her, was all alone. Maybe now, they wouldn't have to be.
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Chapter Terminology
Myrlings (mer-lings) = merpeople*
Eumyn (yoo-min) = human
Deiyses (day-ee-sees) = gods**
*Notes about Myrlings: These are not like the typical mermaids we see in most fictional works, though they do have many similarities inspired by various depictions. The short term for myrling is simply myr (mer). As you've guessed by now, the words in this story are a part of Rey's ancestral tongue. She was raised bilingually, though she does consider Basic to be her native language. For this story, the myrling language is known as Myrlik (mer-lick). I wanted to go ahead and bring these extra terms up, so you are already familiar with them once they come into play later on.
**Notes about Deiyses: The myrlings have a much more primitive, simplistic view of the force. As such, there are legends of powerful beings that were, essentially, the original myrlings. A Star Wars-y "Adam and Eve", so to speak. The myrlings would have most certainly viewed these powerful beings as gods. So that is what they have become in myrling culture. There are two other forms of the term Deiyses. Deiys (day-ees) is the singular term for god, and Deiysa (day-ee-sah) is the singular term for goddess. You will learn more about this "Adam and Eve" pair later on in the story. It will play an integral part in the plot. *vague hint winky face*