This Awful Energy
Summary: It was simple: he was shrouded in darkness, and she in light. But when she discovers who she truly is, a new legacy is thrust upon her. Can Rey cope with the truth of her own past? Or will that dark birthright take control?
Author's Note: Well, here is the prologue for This Awful Energy, my newest Reylo fic! I am really excited about this one. I've even made a playlist for it to keep me inspired. Right now the rating is at T, but I may bump it up (down?) to an M later on. Not so much because of smut (sorry everyone) but because this fic may take a pretty dark turn. Consider this a warning for now. Also, since this is a prologue, it is going to be veryshort. But do not worry, after this the chapters will get longer!
As always, please tell me if you are interested in me continuing this story – I probably won't have enough energy to write if I get the sense that people aren't enjoying it. Please review and let me know what you think!
Chapter edited and re-uploaded 4/7/2018.
"I am terrified by this dark thing
That sleeps in me;
All day I feel its soft, feathery turnings, its malignity."
― Sylvia Plath
Prologue
15 A.B.Y. (11 years after the Battle of Endor)
The night sky was a dark starless ebony — far too dark for her to make out the shape of her beloved brother only two feet in front of her. She could just barely make out the outline of Elix, standing directly at her side. But despite the poor visibility and hazards of travelling at night, their band continued to walk at a brisk and hurried pace. She continuously stumbled over rocks, tree branches, and other flora on the desolate, partially abandoned planet. She had pleaded with Varj to take rest, her limbs were heavy with exhaustion.
But her brother refused to stop their small company to rest until first light. The cover of darkness was needed, he haughtily explained, as there was always the striking possibility that their party was being watched. They had a destination to reach, and it was imperative that they reach it as soon as possible, despite the darkness and the frigid air. It is far too cold on this foreign planet too, she thought to herself as she pulled the thick woolen black cloak tighter over her thin shoulders.
All of the suffering would all be worth it, she repeated the mantra that was her sole comfort on this forsaken planet, once the galaxy was restored to its former glory. And I will sit at their right hand, she thought as a small smirk crawled onto her face. She could picture the grandeur of her new life now – the tapestries hung on her own imperial palace on Coruscant, the reverence and fear in everyone's eyes as they looked upon her and her so—
The fervent kick in her abdomen startled her from her thoughts of grandeur. A small yelp of pain escaped the back of her throat as she brought her hand up to caress her swollen stomach. She began to delicately rub the tender spot where the baby had kicked, as she softly cooed, "It is okay, little one, we are almost there. We're almost at our new home."
"While you're at it," Elix chortled from beside her, "tell him not to come out until after we've reached the Disciples."
She was about to smirk at her brother's right hand man and give a witty reply to the man who had been her sole source of levity on their hazardous journey, but the gruff voice of her brother hissed from up ahead, "Will you two be quiet? We've not yet reached safety, and your joking may alert everyone to where we are."
"Dear brother," she whispered sardonically and rolled her eyes. She was grateful the darkness would mask her expression from her brother's wrath, "surely no one from the New Republic has followed us this far out. We are light years from the nearest inhabited world and it would be impossible for anyone to find—"
"Do you know what this planet used to be?" Her brother hissed, turning towards her with such a fervor that she had never seen before. "Moraband was once home to the great and powerful Sith. The New Republic will undoubtedly be watching this planet and the activity on it very closely from now on, sister. If you truly care about the son that you carry, and want to see him rule the galaxy one day, you will do all you can to keep the Republic away."
Her hands flew protectively over her swollen abdomen as her brother continued, "If they knew that this boy was raised by the Disciples of Ragnos, the power that this child will one day have, they will not hesitate to rip him from your arms and kill him."
She couldn't help the gape of her mouth and tears brimmed in her eyes at the thought of the son she had not had the chance to lay eyes on, being brutally torn from her arms and killed by the Republic. And all for what? The power that he would one day hold? The destiny that he would one day fulfill? Her hatred of the Republic, of everything it represented, only continued to boil. She looked to both her brother and Elix before she took a step forward on their march, "We must make it to the Disciples, then."
Their journey continued very much the same as it had since its conception —quiet and full of reverent reflection. Her thoughts were occupied by visions of her son, an unnamed boy that she had not yet seen in any of her dreams. But she could easily envision the power that he held, she could feel it growing inside of her even now. She could imagine him seated at the right hand of Marka Ragnos, ruling the galaxy and restoring the proper —true— balance to the Force. Her lips curled upward in pure joy at the thought.
As she distractedly pictured her unborn son and his unending power, she could feel her foot catch on something hard on the ground. She had seen the uprooted tree branch seconds too late, as her center of gravity disappeared out from underneath her. Letting out a desperate cry, she flung her arms across her swollen belly in an attempt to protect her unborn son from the devastation of the fall.
Her face contorted on its side as she braced herself for the inevitability of the impact.
But the inevitable did not come.
Her eyes went wide as she realized the falling sensation had stopped entirely, and that her face was still inches from the ground. She let out a sigh of relief as she was able to maneuver her hands underneath her, and steady herself enough into an upright position.
It was only then, after she was certain that both she and her son were unharmed, that she looked at her company. Multiple pairs of eyes were fixed on her, and she could easily see their unmistakably awed expression.
There was no confounding the pleasure in her brother's voice as he regarded her, "I can see you have been practicing. Good. You will need to hone your skills, sister."
She shook her head, frightened of what her brother would think, "That —that wasn't me."
Her brother eyed her carefully, "If you were not the one to use the Force, then who did?"
Almost immediately, her hand flew to her stomach. All eyes were now on her enlarged belly, as curious members of their company began to whisper excitedly. They had never truly seen her unborn son's power at work before.
But before she could pay any mind to their praises and wonder a sharp pain contracted in her abdomen, a more intense version of the kick from her child that she had felt only hours earlier. It was excoriating, worse than any pain she had endured before. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her — it had not been a kick that she felt.
She looked up to her brother and Elix, fear clouding her large brown eyes, "Varj – brother, the baby is coming."