Author's Note: So when I wrote the first chapter a month ago, this was originally supposed to be a one-shot. When I decided to expand it, I realized the biggest problem I had was explaining how Kylo got from where he is at the end of The Last Jedi to where he is in chapter one. Because of that, this chapter backtracks quite a bit. The plus side is that you get the first chapter again, from Kylo's POV. Hope you enjoy!

A New Rule

I am free.

That's what Kylo kept telling himself since that moment his grandfather's saber had cleaved Snoke in two. He had never realized just how oppressive Snoke's presence was in his mind until it was gone. It had been an inescapable weight slowly drowning him for years and then, suddenly, as the Supreme Leader's lifeless body crumpled unceremoniously to the chamber floor, he was liberated.

Almost immediately afterwards, he'd felt the conflict. Had he just done the right thing? He had killed Snoke, the voice that had been in his head for more than two decades. Who was he without that darkness pressing against him? Then he looked down, and she was there: the girl, the scavenger, Rey, and her eyes seemed to tell him everything he needed to know in that moment. There was awe and disbelief. Kylo thought that maybe Rey had believed he was going to kill her, and for just a split second anger flooded through him at the idea. How could she not know that he had never wished her death? Not even as she tore his face apart on Starkiller. They were equals. He had kept the scar as proof of that. When she showed up on the Supremacy, he had known that he would protect her. They were meant to stand together. He had seen it, and he'd known he would have to kill Snoke to make it happen.

Ever since the moment he had first read her mind and seen her past, her loneliness, Kylo felt that he had a unique understanding of her. She had spent the majority of her childhood alone, deserted by the people who should have loved her. He had spent his childhood surrounded by people who swore to love him, yet all of them had abandoned him once they discovered the true extent of his darkness. Kylo saw Rey for who she truly was underneath the facade she seemed to show others, and he'd thought maybe she could accept him, his darkness and light.

He had been wrong.

After they had defeated Snoke's Praetorian Guard together, and oh how right that had been, he wanted to go to her, to make her his, and for a split second the look of longing on her face matched his, and then she turned away. To them. It was at that moment that he heard the whispers, pulling him to the dark. Kylo was used to that pull carrying the essence of the Supreme Leader but this, for obvious reasons, felt different. Purer. Darker. Intoxicating. Powerful.

Snoke's death left a very large power vacuum that needed to be filled, and only a dark side user would truly be able to grasp enough power and control to rule the whole galaxy. There was only one person strong enough in the dark to take the mantle of Supreme Leader. It was right. It was his.

"Ben?"

Her voice called to him, and as he looked back at her he wanted. He had all this power, and she was the only person he could ever see sharing it with. So he offered her everything he had: himself and an entire galaxy.

She had betrayed him, and he would have to destroy her.

That was then. Now all he wanted was to see her again. His last vision of her as she slammed the Falcon's door shut still haunted him. It had been months since then, but still he could not get the image out of his mind. It was seared there, an engraving that would never fade, her disappointment, grief, and longing forever burned into his memory. He knew now that he should have listened to her when she told him not to go this way.

Being Supreme Leader was naturally demanding, it just wasn't in the way he had expected. It wasn't the decisions that were difficult. What was onerous was that he constantly felt like his instincts on what he should do as a leader conflicted with what the First Order mandated that he do. He found himself wanting to grant mercy where the First Order demanded ruthlessness. If he was completely honest with himself, he had doubts about the methods of the organization ever since the destruction of the Hosnian System. Kylo had told Snoke that his goals could be accomplished without the use of such excessive force, that the girl could give them all the information they needed to find Skywalker, but Snoke had wanted to destroy the New Republic once and for all. Hux had been only too happy to comply if it meant testing out his new super weapon. Kylo could not see the point in conquering a galaxy if there was nothing left to rule once the struggle was over.

He was coming to realize that the main difference between himself and the previous Supreme Leader was their opposing views on collateral damage. Snoke gathered his power through cruelty, and now that Kylo was free of his influence he was conscious of the fact that he utilized the darkness in a very different way. Kylo knew that when he channeled his pain and anger, that was when he was strongest with the Dark Side. Every time Kylo had been needlessly cruel towards others, his powers had waned. He thought maybe that was Snoke's tactic all along. After all, if Kylo was weakened by his actions, like how he felt after killing his...Han Solo...then he would never be able to exceed his master. His internal conflict with the light was an easy scapegoat to explain his deficiency, all while allowing the vicious tyrant to use Ren's power to strengthen his own.

Not that Kylo blamed him. He would have done the same thing in Snoke's place.

"Supreme Leader?" Hux's impatient voice broke him from his reverie and Kylo was abruptly brought back to the reality before him.

Kylo was on Dinzo, a planet the Order had easily taken over after the destruction of the Hosnian System. The cortosis located under the planet's surface was invaluable for the production of Stormtrooper weapons. There had been a few abandoned mines leftover from the Empire that still had a few large veins of the mineral, and Kylo had given Hux the go ahead to get them back up and running.

In retrospect, he probably should have looked over all the details. Kylo certainly hadn't been expecting what he saw upon arrival. The mine was up and running at full capacity and at first, he noticed nothing amiss. It looked just like any other mine, completely covered in a fine brown grime, and, just like any valuable deposit of natural resources, he expected the site to be guarded.

However, on closer inspection, the Stormtroopers were not armed with their typical blasters or riot batons, but with electro-whips. Also, the majority of the workers were not human, but various alien species from the region, mostly Wookie, which was logical given their proximity to Kashyyk, their homeworld. What bewildered him were the chains around the workers' legs and the cauterized slash marks on their backs.

"What...is this?" Kylo asked.

Kylo summoned all the stoic disapproval of a leader that he could muster, and turned it on the ginger haired man standing pompously at his side. Hux's blue eyes met his own, and damned if the man didn't raise his nose even further into the air. The general had always had an over-inflated sense of importance and while he had been relatively compliant since Ren took over for Snoke, it was these microaggressions that gave him no doubt that Armitage would take advantage of the first opportunity to rid himself of the current Supreme Leader.

"The mines are up and running, just as you ordered."

At that moment, he heard the whizz-snap-sizzle of an electro-whip striking flesh. A keening wail sounded from a black haired wookie. He was not much taller than Kylo himself, making the Wookie little more than a child. Ren couldn't help the flood of grief as he remembered a similarly pained howl right before being shot with Chewbacca's bowcaster. The flashback brought up a swell of self-loathing and anger, and with it that overflowing darkness that he knew so well. He turned the power on Hux, slamming the man against the side of the building. Kylo pinched his fingers into a claw and revelled in watching Hux's face turn red as he was choked.

"I did not order this," Kylo spat, "Do you not remember when the First Order liberated that labor camp on Iktotch?"

"A...human...camp…"

He couldn't help the small sense of satisfaction as he saw the blood vessels bulging in Hux's neck, "I don't care if they're human or not. These people are citizens of the First Order, and will be treated as such. Now get those chains off and send these people home. You want to get this camp up and running? Look to our prisons. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yes..."

Kylo squeezed just a little harder and saw a vessel burst in Hux's eye, "Yes, what?"

"...Yes...Supreme...Leader...," the unbearable man choked out.

Abruptly, he released his choke hold and Hux fell to the ground, coughing and gasping. Kylo turned and started walking towards his shuttle, spinning back when he reached the ramp. "Oh, and General?"

Hux's face matched his hair as he turned his loathing gaze on Ren.

"If I ever hear about anything like this again, it will be your legs in chains."

He didn't wait for a response. Kylo knew his orders would be followed...for now.

Exhausted, Kylo returned to his chambers once he was back onboard the Finalizer. All he wanted was to wash away the grime of the mines and forget about the day's events. He knew that continuing to provoke Hux would probably come back to him in a very negative way some day, but today he'd shown the General, and everyone watching, that slavery, whether of humans or alien species, would not be tolerated in his First Order.

The splash of cool water on his face revived him a little, and it was as he was washing his hands that he felt it. The pull he had been waiting for for months. He spun around and walked back into his quarters, following the sensation, and there she was, lying in the middle of his floor with her eyes closed and her hands folded over her stomach.

At first, he thought she looked almost peaceful, but as he got closer he saw how her brow was furrowed and rather than restful, her face looked almost pained. Seeing her here, he couldn't help the small sense of relief he felt knowing once and for all that their bond wasn't completely broken. He had worried after the Falcon that maybe she had figured out a way to close herself off from it.

Kylo almost reached out to her before reminding himself that she hated him. He had thought, for the brief time between their hands touching and her turning away from him to go back to the Resistance, that just maybe she felt...something...for him. However, Rey taking his grandfather's saber in order to strike him down in the throne room was all the proof he needed of how she truly felt. He wanted to hate her for it, but he just...couldn't. What he felt now towards her was betrayal, made even more intense because he knew that that wasn't all he felt. She had said she would help him, but the second he had followed a path not of her making, she tried to cut him down. Just like Skywalker…

Kylo knew he was a monster, but was he truly so evil?

The thought brought the darkness welling up inside him again. He clenched his fists, holding back the flood, because he wasn't sure what it would do to their connection. Almost as if she could sense the shift in the force, she opened her eyes. She gasped in alarm once she registered who was standing above her and scrambled to her feet. Ah, there it was. The fear.

Yet as her gaze met his, he didn't see the hatred he was so familiar with in her stare. That look of abhorrence she'd had on Starkiller and in those first few bonded moments. Instead, he saw something else as a tear trickled from her eye. Was that...shame? He was still trying to hold back the force building around him, but her expression gave him a little hope. He had to know once and for all. So he stated his truth.

"You tried to kill me."

"No, I didn't," her response was immediate as shock marred her delicate features at the accusation, "I was trying to escape you."

His first instinct was to call her a liar. Yet her eyes shone with sincerity. She'd never lied to him, just like he'd never lied to her. If Kylo was being honest with himself, he knew that if Rey had really wanted him dead he never would have woken up on the Supremacy to find her gone. The onslaught of relief he felt was so strong that he had to close his eyes as it crushed the darkness that he had been barely holding back. The tension he had built up in his body eased, but left him exhausted. When he opened his eyes again, he felt a twinge in his chest as he watched her. He still had one question to ask.

"Why did you leave?"

"You know why."

"The Resistance." Just saying it out loud brought a bad taste that he had no choice but to roll around in his mouth.

She gave him a simple, "Yes," in response.

"Can't you see how pointless the Resistance is? Supporting a government that's failed not once, but twice?"

"It's not about the politics, Ben. It's about the people."

Oh yes, Kylo knew all about her people. He remembered all too clearly how FN-2187 had cradled Rey in the snow, calling her name, risking a fight he knew he couldn't win to protect her. From him. "The traitor."

That seemed to light a fire in her. "Yes, Finn. He was my first friend. The very first person to give a damn about me that I can remember. He's the closest thing I have to a family. And then there's your mother," he knew the jab of his family tie was meant to get a reaction from him, and he cursed himself that he couldn't stop the grimace before it flitted across his features, "but it's not just about them," she continued, "I could never join a group that killed billions of people to get what it wanted. Not even-"

She stepped back abruptly, realizing that in her passionate speech, she had been about to reveal something she hadn't intended. What had she been about to say? Kylo scanned back through her words in his head. She had voiced the same concerns he had been feeling about the First Order for awhile now. But wait...she said she couldn't join them. That meant that at least for a brief moment, she had considered it. She had considered leaving the Resistance...the traitor...for him? Oh no, she was not going to evade that easily.

He tried to ignore the rapid pace of his heartbeat as he stepped as close as he had the courage to, familiar with the old intimidation tactics but overwhelmed by her scent, bright like sunlight, that shouldn't even be possible for him to smell, "Not even what?"

Rey swallowed and wouldn't meet his eyes, and Kylo swore he heard her breathing hitch as he reached out to touch her chin, their connection sparking alive at the skin to skin contact. When she finally raised her amber eyes to his, there was no repulsion, similar to when she had touched him after her exploration of the dark side nexus on Ahch-To, but wonder. Their connection obviously affected her just as much as him. His eyes flitted down to her lips, which were parted sensuously. His body came alive with the realization that he wanted to kiss them, but he needed to find out what she was hiding from him. If it was what he thought it might be, nothing would be able to hold him back.

"Say it," he dared.

For a fraction of a second, he thought that maybe she would fold. He should have known better. Rey was not the type to back down from a challenge. His stomach did a slow roll, sending pleasurable anticipation shooting throughout his body as her fingers fisted into his tunic, drawing him closer. Her eyes were fire when she said, "Not even if it meant being with you," and Kylo couldn't restrain himself any longer.

Yes his whole being cried as his lips crashed into hers. Rey didn't respond at first, but it lasted only a fraction of a second until she was kissing back just as fiercely. He deepened the kiss and she let him, his tongue dancing sensuously with hers. His desire reached a fever pitch at the feel of her hands running up his chest and fisting into his hair, pulling him closer as if she was starving. For him.

He needed her. All of her. Now. Kylo backed her against the wall of his chamber and grabbed her thigh to hitch it around his waist, her heat radiating against the bulge straining against his pants. It wasn't enough. He needed more. He needed to touch every part of her. Sliding his hand under her shirt, he groaned at the warmth of her bare back against his palm.

Then, the little scavenger bit him.

Bottom lip stinging and swollen, he pulled back, thinking that maybe he had gotten carried away, frightening her. He was surprised to see that wasn't the case at all as her hazel irises looked nearly black her pupils were so large, and her perfect chest rose and fell at a rapid pace just like his own. Still, she had bitten him for a reason, so he waited. It was torture.

She must have liked what she saw in his face, because she decided to roll her hips against his arousal. The sensation nearly took his legs out from under him, and he had to prop a hand against the wall to keep his footing. When she did it again, her head arching back in pleasure as her eyes closed, his very limited patience snapped. With a growl that sounded animalistic even to his ears, he claimed her neck and revelled in the gasp that slipped through her lips when he returned the favor, biting the join of neck and shoulder.

Surprising him with her strength, she flipped them around, his back hit the wall and then her lips were kissing along his jaw. Kylo didn't think the skin there would be so sensitive, but the tingling sensation that shot through him told him otherwise. Her hand rubbed against him through his clothes and his body reacted involuntarily, thrusting into her hand at the pleasure. He was surprised by the shock of bliss he felt when she sucked his earlobe into her mouth and rolled it gently between her teeth, her hot breath whispering into his ear.

"Take off your clothes."

It was an order, and the Supreme Leader was only too happy to obey.

Rey waited for him to finish undressing before starting on her own clothes. She was torturously slow, and Kylo wanted to take over and rip the offending garments off her so he could feel her against him again. Then he saw the shy blush on her cheeks as she looked him over while disrobing and he knew this was something she had to do for herself. Kylo had never before had an occasion to feel self-conscious about his body, but as her gaze roamed over his many scars and took in his length, he couldn't help his answering flush. No woman had ever seen him so completely before.

Gloriously sun-kissed and freckled from her days on that god-forsaken planet, and delicately toned from years of climbing through ship graveyards, her body was a marvel as she bared all for him. He didn't know who reached for the other first, but soon he had her back in his arms where she belonged. The Force seemed to sing as they explored each other's bodies, their sighs intermingling. Her touch was a balm, soothing the old wounds on his body with her gentle touch.

His hands fit perfectly, cupping her ass as he drew her closer, the sensation of hands on skin not being nearly enough. When he felt how wet she already was just from their kisses and his touch, he couldn't help the groan that escaped. She gasped at the feel of him pressed flush against her. The pebbles of her aroused nipples were tantalizing as he sucked and twirled them with his tongue. Her pleased moan caused him to get even harder than he already was.

He quivered when her hand spread against his stomach, pushing him back. She was too far away and he reached for her, but when she shook her head, he forced himself to stop. He needed what was happening to be completely her choice. Rey surprised him by slowly bringing herself onto her knees, eyes never leaving his, saying that while she may be kneeling in front of him, she was nobody's servant. The feel of her hand as it wrapped around the base of his shaft was exquisite torture, and he shivered as her tongue traced along his length.

It was suddenly hard to breath as that delightful tongue of hers twirled around his tip. When she took him into her mouth, eyes never leaving his and burning with desire for him, he cursed. He needed more. Kylo reached out to thread his fingers through her downy hair, but when her hand reached up and slapped his hands away, the mix of pain and pleasure literally had him clawing at the wall behind him.

Her head bobbed in a slow rhythm, taking him deeper into her mouth. The sensation of her lips catching on that oh-so-sensitive spot under the fold of his head built a delicious tension in his body. When she let out a contented humm, the vibration traveled along him, nearly sending him over the edge. He forced himself to reach down and grasp her shoulders, pulling her away from him because he knew that if he let her continue her ministrations, that would be the end of what was happening. And he did not want this to be the end. He told her as much between the steadying breaths he forced himself to take when she reached for him again.

"And if I do?" her challenge, mixed with the sight of her wiping her mouth after the lascivious act she had just performed was...incredibly sexy. Bringing himself down to her level, he aimed to show her just what she would be missing. He kissed her again, slower this time but just as deep. Kylo's right hand threaded through her hair, tugging the binding out so he could completely incase his fingers in the feathery softness. He adored the contented sigh she breathed into his mouth as his fingers massaged her scalp. His left hand he used for other, more sensuous pursuits as he trailed it down her body, rubbing his thumb over her nipple and circling her hip before diving to her core, gently rubbing the sensitive spot. Her arousal already coated his fingers.

The gasp of pleasure she released broke their kiss, and Rey used the space to groan, "Maybe just a little longer," against his lips.

Kylo couldn't help the lopsided quirk of his mouth at the small victory. Rejoicing in her submission to his ministrations, he gently lowered her to the floor. He kissed all the places he'd thought about ever since he first saw her in that forest on Takodana. Her body responded in sighs and quivers as he traced a trail down her body that tasted just like she smelled, sweet as the sun with just a hint of soap.

He needed to taste her. Rey's eyes, which had been closed in titillation at his kisses, flew open as he spread her legs to settle between her thighs, hooking one leg over his shoulder to allow more room for his broad shoulders. Kylo made sure she was looking into his eyes as he took her bud into his mouth.

Her head immediately flew back at the sensation. She tasted sweet and musky when he lapped a tongue between her folds, and oh how he liked making her moan. His tongue could only reach so far, and he replaced it with a finger, returning his mouth to her clit as his finger drove into her. Her hand clamped around the wrist that wasn't pleasuring her as her body arched to his rhythm.

Rey was already so tight around his digit that he instinctively knew if he didn't prepare her, she would never be able to accept his girth. He slid a second finger inside. The gasp that came with the sensation didn't seem to be completely of pain, but the fingers around his wrist clenched. Kylo turned his palm around, threading their hands together to give her something to help her find purchase. Soon, he was able to glide in and out of her center with ease. Her body rose to meet every plunge and he knew she was close to release.

Still enjoying the taste of her, he pushed against the ridge he found inside her. As if he had pressed some sort of button, she clenched around him, her walls spasming with her heartbeat as she cried out in ecstacy. It was beautiful. She was beautiful.

She wrapped her arms languorously around his back as he rose to kiss her mouth with a gentleness that surprised even himself. Drinking in the taste of herself from his lips, Rey returned the kiss just as softly. Kylo was completely overwhelmed by his feelings.

I love her.

The realization was a dangerous one. They were still enemies. That didn't stop his epiphany from being any less true. Ending the kiss as gently as he began it, he brushed the hair from her forehead and looked for even a small iota of what he felt in her lidded gaze. His heart clenched because as he saw himself reflected in her eyes...he did see it...a glimmer of affection...but also fear and uncertainty.

Her cheek was so soft as he caressed it. Kylo tried to ignore the way his heart flipped as she leaned her face into his touch. Being cognizant that she wasn't ready to admit her feelings, or even hear his, he said something he knew she would accept.

"I've never wanted anyone like this before you," he admitted, in case she had any doubts. It was true. There had been a girl at Skywalker's temple, back when he was a hormonal teenager, who had granted him a few kisses. That had quickly fizzled under the power of Snoke's whispers. It had been nothing compared to what he felt for Rey. Kylo had tried so hard to fight the feelings that rose up in him at her awakening, but even with Snoke's warnings and manipulations, he hadn't been able to set her aside. "I don't think I've ever wanted anything as much as I want you, Rey."

He lined himself up with her entrance, still dripping from her previous orgasm, and was just about to plunge when he heard, "Except power."

The words froze him in place because they were true. He did want power. He would always want power. Her eyes swam with her feelings of rejection and it broke something in him because he realized that maybe she had been just as hurt by his actions on the Supremacy as he was by hers. His ever present self-loathing rose up, and with it a tidal wave of darkness so strong he feared it would overwhelm them both. He tried to pull away, but she wrapped around him like a Geniserian sand monkey and grasped his face between her hands.

"No. I want this. I want you."

It was exactly what he wanted and needed to hear, but he was afraid that the wave was too strong. The power needed release and the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. Again. He was about to untangle himself from her forcefully when she kissed him gently and a wave of light washed over him. It scorched and soothed the darkness. Her eyes were radiant as she pleaded, "Please don't leave me again."

He didn't think she knew what she had just done, but as he touched his forehead to hers and her thumbs rubbed gentle circles on his cheeks, he could feel the feedback loop she had created. Her light and his darkness ebbed and flowed between them in a perfect balance. Rey truly was incredible. She was just a scavenger from Jakku, a nobody. Yet she was so quickly becoming his everything. Kylo needed her like he needed oxygen.

When he finally had the strength to meet her eyes again, they gave him all the consent he needed. He started to thrust into her, but he only got a small way when she cried out in pain. Rey's eyes clamped shut and he fought through the overwhelming feeling of being inside her to brush his hands soothingly along her forehead.

Kylo slowly eased himself out of her and pushed back in, a little further this time. He tried to soothe her pain with kisses and apologies as he went deeper with each thrust until he was hilted inside her. He was sorry that this hurt her when it felt like heaven to him. He was sorry for all the things he'd done that hurt her. He was sorry that his thirst for power had caused her pain. But most of all, he was sorry for being unable to be the man she seemed to think he could be.

Shaking with the effort to control himself, he forced a masochistically slow pace in order to allow her body to conform to his. Her walls were incredibly tight around him, the friction a sensation he didn't even know he had been missing until now. His thrusts started to elicit pleasant little gasps, and when she met one with a buck of her hips, he knew he could finally let himself get lost in her.

"Rey…" he moaned as he became entirely overcome, burying his head into her neck. Everything was astounding: her fragrance, the feel of sheathing himself inside her, her arms holding onto him for dear life, the sounds of their bodies meeting and the gasps that escaped their lips. Most of all it was the feelings of balance and belonging as the Force circulated in that loop between them. When her nails raked down his back, adding just a touch of pain to the devastating pleasure, he burst.

She followed just after, and as she did he felt the Force energies that she had been channeling release in a flood of power as she cried out his name. His true name. The name that had been forbidden for so long. He thought it had been dead and buried, but he could feel it wake up inside of him. It was just a sliver, but it was there.

He forced himself to roll off her before he collapsed. She followed him, wrapping her legs through his and burrowing her head underneath his arm to lie gently on his chest. They stayed like that for awhile, not saying anything, just being. He didn't know what all this meant, but he did have one thing he had to tell her. It had to be now, because as much as Kylo wanted this moment to last for eternity, he could already feel the space stretching between them as the bond started to fade.

"I made a mistake, not choosing you."

Rey smiled softly as he kissed her head, and after she returned his quick embrace, she raised herself up onto his chest and looked down at him. Her hair was tousled, her eyes dancing with happiness as she kissed him so sweetly he ached.

"Mistakes can be fixed."

With a final caress to his cheek, she was gone.

Later, as he lay in bed pondering over the truth of her words, Kylo knew she was right. He would do everything in his power to repair what he had broken in that throne room...

But how?