Ben poked his way through the trees, carefully this time. He didn't want to get attacked by the cat again. He wasn't missing much back at the camp. Just levitation. His uncle had been teaching him that since before he could talk. He didn't need the impatience of watching the others try and fail to master it. Why not make use of this time and see some more of his surroundings? What else could Luke Skywalker expect of an eight year old? "What are you doing here?" A little voice caught him off guard. Ben nearly fell over trying to locate the voice, realizing he'd been caught. He needn't have been so concerned. The voice that questioned him came from a little girl, not much younger than him. "Exploring!" Ben answered, shaking a vine off his foot and ruffling his hair free of leaves. "Oh." The girl responded with a tilt of her head and taking a few cautious steps towards him so they could see each other better. Ben's hair was black and shaggy, his skin was sallow and his eyes a deep brown. This girl was almost his opposite with her soft grey eyes, curious and innocent like a new-born doe. Her skin was pale, almost deathly so which contrasted strikingly with her chocolate brown ringlets. "Are you from the Jedi camp?" "I am." He responded, puffing out his chest with importance. "My uncle is Luke Skywalker." "My father likes him. He says he's a good man." "Who's your father?" "King Versin. I'm a princess, you see." Ben looked at her with doubt, the mud and grass stains on her dress didn't exactly back up her claim. "Sure. You're a princess and I'm a Wookie." "A what?" "A Wookie? Big tall hairy thing? Sounds like..." Ben did his best impression but it just sounded like gurgling. "Yes well, I'm a princess. You know you're in the royal gardens, don't you?" Dusk was starting to fall and Ben had spent most of his time fighting his way through bushes and shrubs, he didn't realize he had burrowed his way into the bottom of the royal gardens. "Am I? I guess I know where to come next time. Got any food?" "No, come earlier next time and I'll keep something for you." A call came from across the grounds that made the princess sigh. "I have to go. I have to have a bath." "You didn't tell me your name." Ben pointed out before the girl left. "I didn't, did I? I'm Princess Zeta." She gave a cute little curtsey of her dirty dress. "And you are?" "Ben. Ben Solo." They met every day after that.
Two days before Zeta's sixteenth birthday, Ben waited below the balcony of the princess' bedroom. Night was crawling closer, the time they always met. In those eight years, neither of them had really changed. Just matured. When Zeta started to climb down, Ben moved into position to catch her when she stumbled. Which she would. She always did. She did this time and he teased her for it like he always did. They walked to the lake, hand in hand and sat in their usual spot overlooking the dark, glittering waters. Cuddled close together and listening to each other's heartbeats, Zeta took a napkin from her cloak and handed it over to Ben who took it with a chuckle. "Every day for how many years?" "Oh I don't know. Eight?" "Sounds about right." The male answered with a mouthful of apple then leaned down. "Eww no! Swallow the apple THEN you can kiss me!" He did as he was told. Then he kissed her. Slow, gentle and sweet. As always. "I missed you." "You saw me this morning, you Wookie." "It's not the same when I can't hold you and kiss you." "Shut up and kiss me then." This was forbidden. All of it. A princess of the Republic and a Jedi. Somehow it was familiar. "It's your birthday soon." He observed quietly, barely breaking his lips from hers. "And?" "What do I get a princess for her birthday?" "I have everything I want. Right here and right now. Just make sure you come and see me that night." "Wouldn't miss it." The next kiss was longing but tender until something made her stop. "What...?" "Shh..." "What's...?" "Shhh! Listen!" She broke away and stood. Torches were lit across the grounds, people were shouting her name, dogs were barking. Someone must have gone into her room to find her gone. Ben was on his feet, standing behind her with a hand on her waist. "You have to go." She told him, turning with an urgency he'd never seen in her. "If they see you, they'll arrest you. Go!"
On the morning trek, Zeta wasn't on her balcony like she always was. In fact, the doors were closed and the curtains were still drawn across. Maybe she was ill? She seemed fine until her father sent men looking for her. Ben spent his lessons distracted and out of touch. Not the best state of mind to be in when practicing with a lightsaber. His uncle noticed and commented on it. Come nightfall, Ben approached the balcony with more care than before. She wasn't there. He poked around on the ground for some pebbles and thanked whoever was watching over him when he found some. The little pings on the glass brought his princess to him. "How did you get in here?! He has guards everywhere!" Ben didn't answer. He was too busy scaling the balcony while Zeta kept watch. "I'm getting good at this Jedi thing." "I should think so, Ben. You've been at it for eight years and more." She replied with a flustered sigh when he was safely on the balcony. "Zeta." The closer he got, the more he noticed. Her eyes were red, her bottom lip was chewed and her cheeks were stained. "What happened? What's wrong?" In an instant, she had buried her face in his chest while heavy, silent sobs wracked her tiny form. Ben enveloped her in his arms and cradled her, kissing her head at random intervals until she broke away and paced the balcony, leaving him thoroughly confused. "This has to stop." Zeta wept, putting a hand on the stone barrier to steady herself but Ben pulled her to him again and she didn't stop him. "What does?" "Us. This. All of it." Ben held her as if her words hadn't quite sunk in. "Why?" She could barely get the dreadful words out. "I'm engaged." They hung in the air for a few moments while both the teenagers processed them. "No." Ben broke the silence with determination and cupped the princess' face to make her look at him. "We'll run away. We'll get on a ship somehow. There has to be someone my dad hasn't pissed off... We'll lie low at an outpost for a while... My mother will work her diplomatic magic and we'll be free. I don't want to be a Jedi anymore." "Ben, I'd give my life and my soul for that." Her voice was strained by tears. "But I can't. I begged my father. I pleaded with him. He won't budge. The Republic is demanding alliances and I'm the only suitable one. It's being announced tomorrow." "Zeta." Ben tried to drive home the point again. "We'll leave tonight. Right now. Get what you need and we'll go." "And what happens when they track you down for abducting a princess?" She whimpered with a shake of her head. "They'll execute you. It doesn't matter who your family are or what diplomatic magic your mother can work. You need to go. He's going to send someone to check on me soon." Ben took one last kiss and left. Zeta spent her night and several after it weeping uncontrollably about a marriage she didn't want. She wanted Ben. If they had left together, he wouldn't have been driven into the arms of something that would change him forever.
Fourteen years later: Kylo Ren had lain in the snow for some time before the small medical team found him at Captain Hux's orders. Between the severe cold, the cracking planet and his injuries, it was almost too late. He was brought to Lord Snork by Hux where the last of his training would be outlined. Still weak from the battle, Kylo Ren stood unsteadily before his master, scarred and broken but dedicated to what would complete him. "You did well." Snork drawled from above. "You did what most of the Knights of Ren could not. Every day the light in you lessens. With Han Solo gone, the Dark Side will consume you. Now, all you must do is find what brought you to me and destroy it."
The night was dark, the air was cold and the snow crunched under her feet. She had left her guards behind her, just needing to be by herself. A young woman in her late twenties, very early thirties powered through the trees, not going anywhere in particular but moved with purpose. Dark locks tumbled down over her back and over her shoulders though hidden from view. A pair of soft but alert grey eyes took in her surroundings as she walked and to look at her, one would know she was important. The cloak she wore couldn't have belonged to anyone but royalty with its rich, deep purple fabric and its fur trimmed hood which kept her both warm and hidden. Leaves rustled nearby which caused her to slow to a stop. Her hood was drawn down by two pale hands as she looked around with curiosity but saw no one. The cold pierced her striking facial features but she brushed it aside. Maybe she imagined it or maybe it was a forest dwelling creature. Either way, the prickling feeling of being watched was too strong to ignore only she hadn't noticed it until now. The woman's breath fogged in front of her until she turned on her heel and continued on her way, pulling her hood back up as she went. She should have turned back. Returned to the safety of the palace but whatever stalked her was between her and home.
The feeling intensified until a branch snapped, causing her to whip around, her hood falling back as she did so. Her pulse was hammering, causing tiny shockwaves in the air. She was petrified. Footsteps. Boots stealthily cutting through the snow. It wasn't a forest beast. The low, brief drone of a lightsaber igniting caught the female's ears so she turned and ran. The snow helped to muffle her footsteps but it also hid obstacles. A snake like root risen from the ground blocked her right foot and sent her tumbling into the snow with a brief scream. She tasted blood as the crimson liquid started to dribble from her lip and down onto the white. She tried to get up, but cried out under the pain of a sprained ankle and collapsed again. Her pursuer was closing in. Through the trees a red light approached her, wielded by a masked, black shrouded figure. Out of the cover of the wood, it emerged and stood over her with the strangest, most sinister looking lightsaber she had ever seen. A red cross guard. It looked angry, volatile. The woman on the ground looked to the mask, helpless and terrified but couldn't speak. Instead, she tried in vain to drag herself away but the masked figure followed her without difficulty. He watched her for a few seconds more, that face he knew so well then swung back the saber. With a roar, he swung it back down towards her but he didn't see if it connected. Kylo Ren woke screaming, shirtless and maskless. He scrambled up in his bed, bashing the back of his head of the wall until he relented, shaking and sweating and the horrible image of his lightsaber being raised to her was gone. He got up and paced his quarters, running a hand through his hair until he was calm. It was a dream. Just a dream.
"We will not bow to the demands of the First Order!" The tiny projection on the desk barked passionately to an invisible but audible crowd. She would pause every now and then to let her message sink in. "We will not be bullied or intimidated by cowards! The ones who took your prince from you! We will stand with the Republic and the Resistance as he would have wanted and we will NOT BE DEFEATED!" The projection died away with roars of support for the umpteenth time that night. That projection was only from a few days ago, before most of the Republic had been destroyed. She was a queen now. Every inch of one. Strong, capable, loved by her people. Even more so when she handed down an execution order for her uncle for his sympathy and involvement in the First Order. He played the projection again. Kylo Ren rubbed the scarring cut on the side of his face; it was beginning to become a nervous habit. The door opened as he watched it again dolefully, he didn't bother to try and hide it. General Hux watched the rest of it and waited for it to die away. "What are you doing with that?" "Better to know what we're dealing with." Kylo Ren answered quietly, shifting his body weight to make getting up easier. With a groan, his back clicked and his hand went back to the cut. "Where did you get it?" "Does it matter?!" He snapped suddenly, supporting himself on the desk. "No, it doesn't. And she's going to eat us alive." Hux replied dismissively. "We land in ten minutes. We've secured a strip by the palace. They think we're a refueling star fleet." "She's not a fool." Kylo Ren sighed, rubbing the cut and looking down to where the projection should have been. "This should have waited until you were stronger. She's not an easy adversary at the best of times, let alone when you're like this." "Lord Snoke has spoken. He said it needs to be now."
"What's our play, Your Majesty?" General Abden asked with concern when the transmission from a 'star fleet' came through. "Disable the Storm Troopers. There probably won't be many of them. The Resistance wants Kylo Ren and General Hux. I'll keep them talking until they get here." Queen Zeta answered, knowing they had plenty to answer for. "Let's hand them over alive if we can." "I just don't understand why they're coming here." "We're the last of the Republic. Kylo Ren is probably going to try and kill me. Eliminate the last of the opponents to the First Order." "Then you can't be left alone." "I'll be fine, George. He's still weak." Upon contacting the Resistance, General Organa received the news with uncertainty and Zeta couldn't think why. She was promised the best pilots and bravest soldiers as soon as possible but there was something else. Something else Organa wouldn't tell her. Leia couldn't tell her. It would break the queen if she knew.
"Touching down." One of her advisers told her quietly from over her shoulder. "Thank you." Her reflection in the vanity table mirror stared back at her encouragingly so she made sure there were no stray hairs, smoothed her dress then went to the balcony to see them disembark. "Funny looking star fleet." She breathed to herself sarcastically then turned to go back inside but she was being watched. One last stop in front of the mirror. If she was going to die today, she was going to leave a beautiful corpse. Out her bedroom door and onto the corridor that overlooked the entrance hall. "Kylo Ren!" She announced her presence as if greeting an old friend from the banister. Every head turned including the black masked one. There she was. As staggering as she was the night she made him leave the balcony and as commanding and authoritative as in the projection. The mask was essential. His bare face would have betrayed emotions that he couldn't stand to contemplate. Zeta was strangely unafraid. Like she did this every day. "Now, I was just up on my balcony and I have to say, that's the strangest looking star fleet I've ever seen." She started to descend the stairs with a curious frown that echoed sarcasm. "But why would you lie to an official landing strip coordinator? Especially when the planet supports the Republic?" She stopped on the stairs and Hux shifted uncomfortably. "You're here for one of two things. You're either here for help or to prove a point to the Resistance. Now which is it?" "We're here to end the last of the opposition to the-" "General, hush." Zeta cut him off cleanly, now at the bottom of the stairs. "I don't think you're going to be doing anything to me today so hold your tongue or I will have it out. I would tell you to ask my uncle but his lack of a head might make it difficult." Hux was right. She was brutal.
She got closer to her intruders while her own General watched her warily. "Kylo Ren." It was spoken softly and viciously and it stirred something within him. To hear her say his new name was almost painful. The way she looked at him was worse. A mixture of mockery and hatred. "The puppet of the illusive Lord Snork." She sneered as she turned away from him and sauntered the hall; her voice carrying off the stone walls, floor and ceiling; mostly announcing him to her own soldiers. "The coward behind the Jakku Massacre and the destruction of Maz's. Countless lives lost. All on your shoulders." "Zeta." He couldn't stop himself. The mask distorted his voice but she whipped round to stare him down regardless. "Heed this." She told him coldly, taking a few dominant steps towards him and staring down where she assumed his eyes were. "I don't care why you came here. I don't care who you are under that mask. But you are in my home, on my planet and you will address me by my proper title. Do you understand? Am I clear?" He didn't answer. She waited for a moment and got nothing so she turned away again. "Strip the Stormtroopers of any weapons. Take them downstairs. Same with General Hux." Kylo Ren's second looked at him as he was grabbed by General Abden. "Why aren't you doing anything?!" She had something else in store for him and he knew it. Hux and the handful of Stormtroopers were escorted out until it was just them. "You're not afraid." He observed in the distorted voice, feeling her pulse in the air. "If you were going to kill me, you'd have done it by now." She responded coolly with an air of disregard and confidence. "It's just us now. Your troops are gone, so are mine. An even playing field. Come with me."
She led him out of the hall and into a room lit by various torches and fireplaces. The heat engulfed him and he relished it. The queen ascended a number of steps to a high chair carved of ebony. "General Organa seems to think that you can be redeemed." She began conversationally once she was settled and looked down upon her guest. "Why might she think that?" Kylo Ren didn't answer. "She thinks there is still some light left in you. Is she right?" Again, no answer. "You're not helping your case with silence." Zeta pointed out patiently. "You and your General are the only ones the Resistance is truly interested in getting alive. General Organa is likely going to ask me to sign off on a pardon as I'm the last of the leaders of the Republic. It remains to be seen why. But before I do that, I need to know I'm not making a mistake." When he did reply, it wasn't what she expected. "Where is your husband?" Caught off guard, Zeta took him in but didn't bother to hide her confusion. "So you're not up to date on my title or my marital status? I'm surprised. I thought the First Order would make it their business to know everything about me." He waited. "My husband was killed four years ago. Courtesy of the First Order." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Don't patronize me!" Zeta snapped suddenly at the male below her and he fought to keep himself in check at her swift turn. "You probably gave that order too!" "Did you love him?" "I don't see how that's any of your business." "Indulge me." She needed to keep him talking so she gave in. "I didn't. He was a good, kind man. He was my friend but I loved and lost a long time ago. He understood that. He died with the Resistance and he would have been proud of it." "He sounds like a fool. Fighting for the Resistance, allowing his wife to love another." Zeta's face hardened as he goaded her to her feet. "I didn't love him but I won't let you disrespect him. In fact, if you're going to speak like a man, why don't you remove that helmet and face me like one?"