A/N: Hey, my little Reylo lovers! I am sending you my greetings from the country of snow, vodka and bears and present you a new chapter (my beta is back). There comes the bad guy ;) He is hot, but very, very bad.

Before you read the chap: we're going a little bit non-canon. In the film the First Order already knows that the Resistance is somewhere in the Ileenium system and recharges the Starkiller to destroy it. But dream a little bit with me and let's suppose that they doesn't know where's the Resistance. Or the Ileenium system is so big that they need to search it for a long time to find the Resistance. Or thay think that the Resistance relocated. Whatever. That's essential for the plot and I hope that you'll forgive me for going a lil' bit AU ;)


Chapter 3. The Bond

Kylo Ren stood in front of the large window inside his quarters, his arms folded across his chest and his face bare with concentration. Although the space outside the Finalizer was dark and unfriendly as it should be, it was morning according to the ship's schedule. His thoughts were revolving around the same thing as it had been during the last weeks. The girl.

Things had become complicated since his failure on the Starkiller Base. Ren remembered himself lying in the crimson snow and waiting for the end. He didn't mind dying in a battle with honor, but if General Hux haven't come for him on the shuttle, Kylo Ren would have been slain by the hand of an ordinary scavenger. He bristled at the thought and bit his lip, suppressing the rage that began to boil within him. Memories of floating inside a bacta tank, weak and helpless as a kitten, hallucinating in fever, always seeing the raged face of the girl before his eyes, assaulted him. He was young and strong, and the First Order didn't stint when it came to medical equipment, so he was on his feet in a week and nothing betrayed his wounds hadn't fully healed. He wore the mask everywhere and no one on the ship, except General Hux, had seen the scar that split his face, which he wore as a sign of his failure.

The pride of Ren was wounded far deeper than his body. He needed to find the girl. At first, when the humiliation of his defeat was fresh, he wanted to break and defeat her. But time went by and soon Ren found that hatred was not the only thing he felt towards the girl. He was… curious? She came from nowhere holding a power, strong enough to defeat him, a trained force-user. What a perfect material. He spent long nights awake reconsidering what he wanted to do with the scavenger. And finally, he understood that defeating the girl was not the point. He desperately wanted to teach her. Finally, he met an equal and the thought of wasting such a powerful Force sensitive to all those Light games of compassion and serenity was unbearable. The girl was strong and destined for greatness. Of course, for greatness by his side, as his apprentice.

He never enjoyed torturing or executioning: there was no power or glory in them and so he did only what was necessary. But the battles were always inspiring. Soldiers fought against soldiers and all the participants understood the rules of the game, which were to kill or to be killed. In a battle, Kylo Ren could lower the restraints and bathe in the power of the Dark Side. He fought for what he thought was right and his Knights of Ren stayed by his side. There had always been the possibility to be killed, but he loved it, for in a galaxy where dog ate dog, everyone had a chance to die on any given day. To him, it was a fair deal.

But battles meant nothing to him now. All that mattered was the girl, and so, he became obsessed.

His thoughts were interrupted with the beeping of the droid.

"Supreme Leader requests the presence of Lord Ren in the holographic chamber."

Ren shuddered, put his mask back on and followed the droid out of his quarters. His heavy steps echoed in the empty corridors of the Finalizer. Every Stormtrooper and officer knew that it was safer to stay away from the figure in black. He noticed the familiar sour figure with ginger hair belonging to his eternal rival for Snoke's attention beside the entrance to the holographic chamber.

"Lord Ren, how are your wounds today?"

Kylo Ren reservedly nodded. "General Hux."

Every time he'd encountered Hux after the Starkiller battle, he sensed scorn in every of the ginger man's sentences. The General was deliberately suave in speech, but his watery colored eyes harboured the mock. "I've seen you defeated and weak," The eyes said. "I've seen you lying and waiting for death. I've saved your life and now you owe me." Ren knew that that was the truth, and this thought made him want to destroy something. They both failed the Supreme Leader on the Starkiller, but Hux was a mere pawn while Kylo Ren was a Force user and therefore, his transgression was greater. And now, he owed his life to the ginger brat and Hux relished the opportunity to remind him at every occasion.

They entered the room and both bowed before the enormous hologram of Supreme Leader Snoke.

"General Hux." The voice of the Supreme Leader was powerful. "What progress has been made in locating the Resistance base?"

"Supreme Leader, we have reliable information from Takodana. There are reports of the location of the Resistance, and we have managed to identify several potential star systems within the Outer Rim that look promising. "

"Good, General Hux, send troops to those locations. Finding the Resistance is essential for our further progress. Have there been any changes in our resources for the continued needs of the First Order?"

"No, Supreme Leader. The slavery bases of the Sujimis sector are functioning. Our alliance with Karazak Slavers Cooperative proves itself to be sufficient. After the revelation of fuel deposits on the Karazak, their business blooms with the approval of the First Order."

"Good, General Hux. You prove yourself worthy of the trust I put in you."

"I only serve the First Order in my greatest capacity." Hux bowed and shoot a triumphant gaze to Kylo Ren.

Peacock. Kylo Ren narrowed his eyes behind the safety of the mask.

"Leave us, General. I need to have a private conversation with Lord Ren."

Hux bowed again and disappeared behind the doors of the chamber.

Kylo Ren knelt before the figure of Snoke.

"Master."

He held his breath and waited humbly. Snoke had not spoken with his apprentice since his failure on Starkiller Base. What would Snoke do with him now? The Supreme Leader was unpredictable. He could punish and torture him for his failure. He could show him mercy and speak to him, as a father would to a misbehaved child. Kylo Ren clenched his teeth and prepared himself for the worst.

"Calm down, my apprentice. I am not angry with you. Stand up, remove your mask and speak openly with your Master."

Ren obeyed the order. He stood before the figure, clutching the mask.

"I see that something bothers you, my apprentice. Unburden yourself, share your troubles. Do you not trust me as before?"

"I felt a disturbance in the Force. The girl has united with Skywalker and now becomes stronger with each passing day. She is wasting her power for the Light. I sensed the call of Darkness within her and it was strong. What should I do, Master? I need your guidance."

"There is something that you are not telling me, Kylo Ren. Show your Master all your thoughts. Open your mind to me, my apprentice, I will see for myself."

Kylo Ren closed his eyes and diminished his mind's defenses. He immediately sensed the dark presence of his Master inside his head. Mind probing with Snoke was painful, but bearable. He exhaled and relaxed, opening his mind completely to the Supreme Leader.

"I see the pull of Light is strong within you. I see the girl inside your thoughts and I see her imprint on your Force signature. Do not resist me, show me what bothers you." He heard Snoke's voice inside of his head.

The memory of one particular evening flew before Ren's eyes.

He returned from a late council on the questions of First Order resource supplies, and he was tired and bored. There was nothing special about the evening. He came to his quarters, changed and began to have his evening meal. He sat at the table, deep in his thoughts and then…

For a moment, he sensed a touch on his scarred cheek, light as a feather, and he could swear that he saw the blurred face of the girl. He sensed the disturbance in the Force and felt as if some of his inner Darkness was sapped away to be replaced with something new. The sensation lasted for a split second and then disappeared. He was alone in his room again. Later, he decided that it was the consequence of over-fatigue and the feeling had been a figment of his ill imagination.

"Interesting." The voice of Supreme Leader Snoke, usually flat, revealed a trace of excitement. "My-my, what a very unusual bond between you and that scavenger girl. We could use it for our benefit."

"I don't understand, Master."

"What do you know about Force Bonds, Ren?"

"I know that a Force Bond is established between two Force-sensitive people, who are close to each other. It could be established between Master and his apprentice, between two lovers or between relatives. Anyway, I do not understand how it refers to me and this girl."

"Your failure with her mind probing created the bond. You thrust into her mind and she pushed back. It created the corridor of energy between you, but the process was aborted. A part of her light remained inside you and a part of your darkness remained inside her. Your darkness isn't whole anymore: now, it calls to its missing part in the girl. And her light calls to you. You are like the opposite poles of a magnet, pulled to each other. The Force gave her a vision of you and you sensed her presence in the Force because of the connection you share."

"What should I do with that?"

"As you know, the Force Bond cannot be severed. But we do not need to severe it, we will use it. Find the girl through the Bond, infect her with your darkness. Teach her, if it's your wish, and strengthen the bond through becoming her Master. Show her the power of the Dark Side, show her passion. Give her the sense of belonging she desires. There is already conflict within her soul, a crack. When the crack becomes wide enough, you will bring the girl to me, and we will break her."

"She hates me. How can I convince her to train under my guidance?"

"Nothing works better than a good threat. She has attachments within the Resistance. This is a good reason for you to combine your efforts with Hux in finding the base. If the First Order has the coordinates of the Resistance, you have your toy."

"Supreme Leader, I'll do what is necessary to bring the girl to the Dark Side." He bowed before Snoke.

"I am counting on you, Kylo Ren. Do not fail me again.."

The door closed behind the tall black figure of Ren. He rushed along the corridor with his fists clenched and his mind agitated. Finally, he had the order from Snoke, and for the first time, he used her name in his thoughts. Before she had always been "the girl", but now, things had become too personal.

I am coming for you, Rey. Run very, very quickly, little Jedi.

-x-

"Master Luke, we need to talk."

Rey and Luke were sitting at the small table in their hut, finishing their evening meal after another long day of training. A week had passed since they'd became Master and Padawan. Every day brought them a little closer to each other.

"I am always listening, Rey. What do you need to talk about?"

"Why haven't you ever asked me who I am? I arrived out of nowhere and you accepted me and cared for me without any inquiries."

"That's a fair question." He stroke his beard broodingly. "At first I didn't ask about you because I was afraid that I would become attached to you. I didn't know if you would stay or leave, so I decided not knowing would be the best choice." Rey nodded, understanding. She remembered her time on Jakku and her encounter with BB-8, which turned her whole life upside down. She also tried to leave the droid as soon as possible, in order not to create any attachments.

"But then I accepted the fact that the time for hiding and self-loathing was over and that I needed to face my demons. I began to teach you and decided that you would tell me about yourself when the time came. Everyone has a past, you know; and if you ask me, what lessons I've learned during my long life, the first one would be "do not judge people by their past". I saw good men turn villains and I saw redemption of the cruelest murderers." His gaze became distant for a moment and then he continued, "So, I decided to wait for you to talk. If the time for your story never came I would not think of you any worse. We all have our insecurities and traumas, my young Padawan."

Rey paused for a moment, tossed her head with determination and asked:

"Will you listen to my story now, Teacher?"

"Yes, child, I will."

And so, she told him everything about her life on Jakku, about waiting for her family and scavenging for food, about scratches on the walls of her AT-AT and learning to pilot on the old simulator. She told him about her acquaintance with Finn, Han Solo and Chewie, about Kylo Ren's interrogation and about Han's death. Rey summarized her life with dry eyes, feeling relief as she confessed it all. She told Luke about the battle with Ren in the forest on Starkiller Base, about his suggestion to teach her and his defeat, and about finding her closest friend laying on the snow wounded and unconscious. She told him of Leia's grief for Han and of the pain in her eyes, which seemed to grow after his death.

Luke listened to her story in silence. When she finished, he stood up and came closer to her chair.

"Come here," he said. Rey stood up hesitantly, not knowing what he wanted from her. But he hugged her, and they stood a few moments without saying anything: words were not needed.

"You know that I am proud of you, Rey?" Luke's voice sounded soothing and calm. "Despite all the pain you've experienced during your short life, you stayed within the Light. What does not kill us makes us stronger, and all your hardships made you yourself. Remember my words, child, and in your weakest moment, you will find your strength inside of your beautiful soul."

"That is not all that I need to say to you, Master."

They parted and sat at the table again.

"I had some strange dreams from the time of my arrival here. One of them was about you and Leia. And… Ben."

The birth name of Kylo Ren sounded weird on her tongue, but she couldn't name the crying little boy she saw in her dream with the name of the murderer. She shortly told Luke the content of her dream. He tipped back in his chair and rubbed his forehead in concern.

"The Force sends you visions. The past and the future are nothing but possibilities, so it gave you a "what if" variant of the past. Neither myself or Leia have known our mother. She died in labor. Somebody said that she'd lost her will to live after losing our father to the Dark Side. She was a politician and a senator. You've seen the past in which my mother lived. This dream is sad, but it's nothing more than a dream. The question is: why has the Force chosen to show you the childhood of Ben?"

"Is it the past which truly happened? Is it the moment when he broke?"

Luke rubbed his forehead again, now looking ashamed. "I need to confess that I didn't meddle in Leia and Han's family that deeply after the end of the war. We all had so many things to do - I was busy with organizing the new Jedi Order, and Leia became a Senator for the New Republic. Besides that, I was close friends with Leia, but we never established a true "family" relationship - we met as adults. I saw Ben once or twice before he came to my academy - he was a troubled boy, but nothing special. I am sure that Leia and Han loved him, but was their family happy? I do not know. I had so many younglings under my wing, so I simply had no time to bother with Ben. And I have yet to forgive myself for it. Maybe if we all paid more attention to the boy and not to our duties, we would not be hidden here in the middle of a new war. Or maybe we would... but Ben would be by our side in it."

Rey bit her lip and began to pry paint from the old table.

"You know… I saw him recently in a dream. The day you started teaching me. It was surely a dream, but it felt very real. He was in his quarters on some spaceship. There was nothing special in that dream, Re...Ben did absolutely common things - he walked, he ate…" She hesitated and decided not to mention watching him changing. "It felt as if I was standing near him and I saw him as I see you now. His face was marked with a scar, so this occurred after our fight on the Starkiller Base. But when I tried to touch him…" She paused again, but continued. "When I touched his scar he looked directly in my eyes, and by the next moment, it was all over. I woke up screaming and you know the rest."

"Stars… that's not good." Luke looked concerned. "If he had not sensed you, I would consider this dream as another Force vision. But now… I have a presumption, but to check it, we must do something which is not pleasant."

"What… thing?" Rey felt her mouth becoming dry.

"Some mind probing. In the Jedi way, of course. I would like to study your Force signature more closely."

Rey felt a wave of anger and disgust passing through her mind. She remembered Kylo Ren's mind probing and felt nauseous. But knowing that Luke would not ask if it were not necessary, she harnessed all her willpower and nodded.

"Do it."

"I will be careful," promised Luke and placed his hand over Rey's forehead.

She closed her eyes, expecting the feeling of wild thrusting into her mind, which she had experienced with Ren. But the pain never came. Instead she felt a slight cool brush of Luke's silver energy on her forehead and then the sensation was gone.

Rey opened her eyes and studied the expression of Luke's face.

"That felt better than I expected." She tried to make a joke, but it hang in the air.

Luke sighed and withdrew, looking troubled.

"What do you know about Force Bonds, padawan?"

"Nothing, Master."

"The Force Bond is established between two Force-sensitive people, who are close to each other. It could be established between Master and his apprentice, between two lovers or between relatives."

"I understand. But how does that relate to myself and Kylo Ren?"

"After mind probing a Force Bond between you and him was established. I don't know why it occurred, but it occurred. I sense his imprint on your Force signature."

Rey immediately felt contaminated and dirty. She lept to her feet and began to pace across the room.

"How do we severe it?"

"We can't, Rey. The Force Bond you both created will stay with you until you become one with the Force again. It can strengthen or weaken, but it will stay with you."

Rey's world began to crumble. She was angry and scared, like a cornered animal.

"I need air." She whispered chokingly and rushed out of the room.

An hour passed. Luke found her on the same cliff as he had before, throwing stones into the water. She didn't turn her head, but he knew that she sensed him. He stood for some moments in silence, listening to the crash of the waves.

"He spoils all the things that I love." Her voice sounded empty. "He took Han and Finn from me. Now he is taking you."

"But I stand with you now, alive."

"You know what I mean. It is dangerous for you to train me now. I am contaminated. I can't be a Jedi anymore."

She heard a sigh from behind.

"My-my, Rey. You're so young and speedy in making conclusions. I can share with you a second lesson, I've learned. Will you listen to your old Master?"

Finally, she turned her face to him. Her eyes were red but dry, sparkling like two hazel diamonds.

He sat on the cliff beside her, took a small stone into his hand and threw it into the waves. The stone splashed and disappeared in the depth.

"Being related to the bad guy doesn't make you the bad guy." He paused and added. "And vice versa. Look at me - you call me Master of the Jedi. But besides being a Jedi, I am also the son of Darth Vader. Same for Leia: she is a fighter for freedom, but at the same time, she is the daughter of Darth Vader. Look at Ben - we all claim he's villain. But at the same time, he is the son of two war heroes." He put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I won't stop teaching you. I will teach you to defend your thoughts and memories from Ben. The Force does not make mistakes. If it connected both of you together - it is for a reason. I don't know, will Ben pull you to the Dark Side, or will you pull him to the Light. The only thing I know is that from now until then, I'll remain your mentor until the day the Force decides differently."

He sensed her warm palm on his own hand and felt a tiny stream of gratitude flowing through the Bond, which had only begun to establish between the Master and his apprentice.

Somewhere far away, among cold, unfamiliar stars, Kylo Ren opened his eyes from meditation.

She knows. The game has begun.


A/N: Hux is an asshole ;) But I love this ginger brat. Looks like Rey and Kylo Ren both know of their connection. But who will use it first and how?

And Master Luke… I am in love with you, great Jedi Master. Someone needs to have some common sense in this Galaxy.

If you enjoyed the chapter, don't be like Hux, give me a review!