*Posted on Archive Of Own under Pseud DarthRevanette*
Chapter One
Rey trudged through the jungle underbrush, swatting away limbs with her staff as they blocked her path. This planet was green, buzzing with insects and oppressively wet. For the first time in her life, Rey found herself thinking fondly of dry Jakku deserts.
As she broke through the densest part of the tree line, the town bordering the jungle came into view. It burned. Thick, gray-black plumes of smoke rose into the air in soft vertical clouds. Rey blinked and closed herself off from the screams she heard and felt in the Force.
Focus.
There.
Parked in what served as the town center, a small squadron shuttle stood open, its contents already deployed to wreak havoc on the people. It was her fault. The feeling rocked through Rey. Trying to apply the few lessons Master Skywalker imparted to her on Ahch-To, Rey debated whether she would save more lives by venturing further into town and trying to fight off all the stormtroopers or if leaving as quickly as possible would draw away the First Order and their violence. Rey took off at a run for the shuttle as she weighed her options and found that through her recent experiences, leaving was the best thing to do.
She ran with preternatural speed, bounding over obstacles. Her desert wraps flapped around her and she used the Force to spread her awareness looking for him.
Was Kylo Ren here? Was he still hunting her?
Rey's heart sank at the growing number of lives that were winking out of existence and joining the greater flow of the Cosmic Force. She pulled on the Force and used it to push her towards the still open ship door faster, escaped tendrils of hair whipping her cheeks.
Her check complete, she knew he wasn't here. Rey completely unleashed herself and threw herself forward in a jump towards the open door. She stuck the end of her staff into the soft dirt right in front of the ship ramp and arched up through the air into the ship, wasting no precious seconds with her feet on the ground.
Two stunned stormtroopers looked up from the consoles they were monitoring.
"Hey!" One of them shouted, reaching for his blaster.
Rey knocked the blaster out of his hand with her staff and in another quick swing rapped the staff against his helm. He dropped to the ground.
The other trooper fumbled for his comm. "INTR—ahhgHh!" Rey kicked the comm in the air and smashed it. The trooper froze in place with his hand still in the air.
"Would you like to make a run for it?" she asked, holding her staff ready. "You can take your friend," she added, toeing the downed trooper with her boot. Rey nodded and let out an exasperated sigh when the trooper did nothing. "Better hurry!"
Suddenly, the stormtrooper bent and grabbed his fallen comrade under the shoulders and dragged him out of this ship. Rey scanned the ship for anyone else. Satisfied it was empty, she closed the hatch and went to the pilot's chair. Out the transduristeel window pane at the front of the ship, she could see the troopers on the ground scrambling back to the ship, no doubt alerted to her presence now.
They were too late. By now, Rey had really gotten the hang of piloting almost any ship she could find. It helped that the Force was always there, like a warm friend ready to show her the way.
She punched through the atmosphere with the ship as the stormtroopers converged to the spot where their ship had been. Dark space yawned open in front of her, the stars distant white pinpricks dotting the expanse. Nothing made her feel smaller than being alone in the dark vastness of the galaxy.
The feeling didn't last long. Her fingers were already moving over the navicomputer controls, inputting coordinates for a jump to lightspeed as she noted the Finalizer coming out of hyperspace to slice against the horizon.
If necessity honed her skills as a pilot, it taught her mastery over evading the First Order.
TIEs came flowing out of a hangar bay toward her, flying through space in a formation that reminded her of birds migrating and floating through the sky on all the different swirling air currents. It was beautiful and predatory. And deadly.
Focus! She commanded.
Coordinates calculated, Rey dropped to the ground and slid under the console on her back. She pulled a small tool out of her pocket and it whirred against the metal. A box dropped out, and she yanked, breaking all the wires that connected it to the main ship computer. Jumping back up, she punched the button to jump to hyperspace and flung herself down in the pilot seat as the first laser fire from the TIEs rocked past the ship.
The lights in the box on the floor beside her flickered off sullenly. That black box reported all back to the First Order. She didn't need to make their job of tracking her any easier.
As the bright streaks of hyperspace surrounded her, Rey relaxed into the seat, heaving a sigh that released more than she knew she'd been holding onto. And then she was cold. The sweat and humidity of the planet still clung to her skin, but in the vacuum of space, the air was almost frigid. She shivered. Rey supposed that the stormtroopers had to be warm in their armor, so heating wasn't much of a concern for them in these types of ships.
Rey shoved up from the seat and ignored the irate stab at the back of her mind. That wasn't unfamiliar to her anymore and she learned to block him out. She'd shut him out almost completely. His presence still prowled at the back of her mind sometimes, waiting for any slip or break.
Not today, Kylo Ren.
She snooped through all the storage on the small transport ship and found some rations as well as a black body armor suit that seemed like it would fit her. She wouldn't wear the plastoid trooper armor but the body suit could be worn under her current clothes for extra warmth. There was no refresher on board, so she wiped herself down with some cleaning cloths and changed.
Rey pulled the beacon from her pocket and stared at it. She was in some strange purgatory of exile and loneliness. But she wasn't truly alone. She had the Resistance now. Rey installed a comm unit in the beacon before departing from the Resistance. After all Finn went through to keep her from walking into trouble, it was a logical upgrade.
She pressed a tiny blue button hidden on the side of the beacon. "General Organa," she said. It was audio only, as an extra safety precaution. The visuals that could be given away in a holo were a security risk to the Resistance.
A few moments of waiting and feeling every tired muscle and bone in her body and then, "Rey!" crackled through the tinny speaker.
"I'm sorry, General, but I was discovered again. The stormtroopers were in Helea when I returned from meditating in the jungle," Rey said. She kept her face calm and composed, trying to imitate the demeanor of Leia. The adrenaline pumping through her veins from running changed into a slow simmering pool of anger in her stomach.
"Rey," said General Organa again, this time much softer.
Rey shook her head, gritting her teeth. "He's hunting me. And he's getting faster at finding me every time I move. The whole reason I left the Resistance was so that people wouldn't die because of me. Well, they are anyway. I can't put any more people at risk."
"We are growing. Hope is spreading across the galaxy and we are growing stronger every day. This will all be over soon and you can come back to us. We're going to need you and what you're doing now is important in making sure you're ready when that time comes," Leia reassured.
"With a trail of innocent bodies following me wherever I go."
"I know." Rey could sense Leia's solemness through the Force. "I think I know somewhere you could go. You may find more of what you need there to rebuild your lightsaber, but you would have to be careful, Rey. It's a dangerous place. You'd be hiding right under my son's nose."
That felt right. The Force hummed in agreement.
"Where?" Rey asked.
There was nothing of the boy he'd been, no matter what she said. Ben Solo no longer remained in him. It was too late for him to return to the light. Kylo Ren knew that — even if she refused to admit it.
Leather creaked as he squeezed his hand into a tight fist until his fingers ached to the bone to keep from smashing said fist into the data consoles in front of him.
Kylo Ren grew weary of these cat and mouse games. But he needed to find her. In the months since Snoke's death, Rey developed the ability to completely block him out of her mind and prevent any attempts of communication through their Force bond.
He couldn't put a name to the reason he had to pursue her, but having labeled her as the Jedi who murdered Supreme Leader Snoke had been reason enough to continue diverting First Order resources to hunt her down. There were strict no kill orders — he wanted her alive.
And if she refused to talk to him — he would make her. He had unfinished business with her and he wasn't letting her close anymore doors in his face.
She had felt it. Seen within. Had she seen the darkness clouding him with every breath he took? She could have gone back to calling him a monster and let go of Ben Solo. She'd given up on him — Kylo Ren who had sacrificed the light in his soul for the rush of power and emotion that a kill out of anger brought.
Twice now he'd struck out at his own blood in anger. Well, Luke had been in anger, though he hadn't struck the killing blow — he would have. With his father the anger dulled to an ache that had to be eliminated in order for his training to be complete. Han Solo sacrificed himself for his son. And Kylo thanked him.
Still, patricide wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Snoke twisted that dark achievement into a failure.
Even though Snoke manipulated and lurked in his head for his whole life, it was a choice, wasn't it? He'd told Rey they needed to let old things die — Jedi and Sith — good versus evil.
Had he, somewhere along the way, made a choice and could no longer tell if he was good or evil? Did that matter? He knew what he wanted to accomplish was right. Perhaps the thought should have worried him, but he felt nothing. Darkness consumed all but one spark in his soul.
That tiny piece of light clung to him as if merely being there could save him.
He put his hand up towards the viewports looking out into space, heedless of whatever his underlings might think about his actions. Then he pushed hard at the Force, sending it snaking out to find Rey. Beneath his mask he closed his eyes and felt the echo of her presence, bright across the galaxy.
Build your walls. I'll blow them down.
Her control wavered as he tested her defenses, but not enough to get through.
"You have to stop."
Kylo almost didn't hear her whisper through his mind, but it lingered like smoke in the air and he caught the words to him.
"Stop trying to find me. You think I want to talk to you when you're killing innocent people in your pursuit?" Her voice swirled through his mind and rushed through his veins with a lightning shock. The telepathic link between them thrummed to life. "You're ripping my heart out. This isn't the way."
"Then come finish this." He meant to speak calmly and not scare her away, but the connection had surprised him. The words stumbled from his mind and out his mouth abrupt and commanding.
"No," came her reply and then there was nothing. Any sense of her disappeared.
General Armitage Hux eyed Kylo Ren standing before the viewports with his arm outstretched, no doubt doing some dark force hoo-doo. He hated that for no reason other than circumstance of birth some men were granted special powers. That power did not fit into the carefully structured power systems of the First Order where power was awarded to those who deserved it. Like Hux himself.
He endured a childhood under his father, the crazed genius Brendol Hux, who shaped what generations of training for stormtroopers would be. Hux trained children while a child himself. He'd borne the inhuman control of Snoke's reign. That creature he had respected. Snoke exuded control, power and command. Nothing like that wild beast of a man, Kylo Ren.
Ren was intimidating enough with that stupid mask on, but without it he was just a man no older than Hux himself. And now that man was their leader.
Hux hadn't gotten this far to play second string after Snoke was gone. Eye always on the prize, Hux was destined to the Supreme Leader. Hux knew it deep within himself. He was the one who would finally be able to bring order through swift justice to the galaxy. He wouldn't allow himself to be distracted by a girl.
The new Supreme Leader poured the First Order's precious resources into hunting the girl, whole squadrons of troopers deployed to a random pattern of planets only to have the scavenger escape every single time — in one of their own ships most of the time. She didn't need to be captured. She needed to be killed — like any other Force user in the galaxy.
Armitage Hux grinned to himself, remembering the gray skinned friends of his father who hunted the galaxy for any whispers of children using the Force after the Clone Wars and made sure they never grew in their powers, no matter the cost.
Perhaps he would have to bring that little initiative back — after he dealt with Kylo Ren.
The lunatic at the window ignited his spitting lightsaber and brought it down on the control panels closest to him. Kylo Ren hacked and slashed at the machinery wildly, a guttural roar exploding out of the vocoder of his helm.
All the personnel on the Bridge looked to Hux, of course, because he was the one they expected to save them from the maniac in their midst.
"Hux," Kylo Ren barked, striding from his place at the head of the large room and towards the door panels leading out to the corridor. "With me."
Of course, he expected Hux to follow him like a dog. Waiting for Ren to pass, Hux followed the man out of the Bridge. Ren was silent as he navigated the vast hallways of the Finalizer until he found the room he wanted. An empty meeting room with a big holoprojector for maps.
"You will proceed to the Core worlds," said Kylo Ren.
Hux suppressed his glee. Ren had finally seen reason. This farcical space chase needed to end. It was time for the First Order to Conquer.
"You are to ensure their cooperation in joining the First Order and abiding by it's rule. My rule." Ren's masked face turned and stared through Hux and the latter felt the cool chill of Ren's power curling around him. "I will resummon the Knights of Ren from their missions to aid you and I will focus on capturing the murderer."
Ah, there it is. Hux was to be left with a bunch of mildly force sensitive babysitters to keep his hands out of Ren's cookie jar. No matter; the Knights of Ren did not match Kylo's own power. The Knights may rein Hux in for a time during Kylo's absence, but it wouldn't take much to get rid of them. Not now that Supreme Leader Snoke was dead.
Hux pasted on his most acquiescing smile and wiped the thoughts of betrayal from his mind before they lingered and were detected by Kylo's disgusting mind probes. "As you command, Supreme Leader. And how long will you be away?"
How long do I have to set my plans in motion without you around to interfere?
Kylo's head tilted barely a few degrees to the left in a motion that was so subtly predatory it swept through Hux's flight or fight senses and raised his skin in horripilation.
"As long as it takes," Ren said, vocoder masking inflection. "I will prepare and leave within one cycle. The Knights will be back by then," he said in warning.
"Your Empire is safe with me," Hux said, choosing his words deliberately. He knew the dark warrior had a fetish for Darth Vader. Now that Ren named himself Supreme Leader he probably had grand illusions to be the next Vader — the next Palpatine. Ha, as if he could ever rule with the might either of leaders of the Empire had achieved. "Shall we prepare for an execution upon your return?" Hux said.
He regretted it immediately. Ren stretched his arm and clenched his fingers. Pressure coiled around Hux's windpipe and he wheezed trying to draw in air.
"You will receive further instructions when appropriate," said Ren, then dropped his hold on. Hux sagged to the meeting table and rubbed his neck, glaring at Ren's back as he left the room.
Every man had weakness. For all of Kylo Ren's supernatural powers, he was a still mortal man of flesh and blood, weak to the sins of the flesh. The Jedi girl had gotten under their dear Supreme Leader's skin, it appeared, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he had her. Hux prayed Ren to be stupid enough to bring her back to the First Order once he found her. Maybe, just maybe, Hux could have everything in place by then… a trap for both of them would be thrilling.
Hux could wed the two to eternity of the aether with a guillotine.