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The Unknown regions

When Rey was woken by the Queen on the day of her wedding, the air was still cool and the sky was dark. She shivered as her mother helped her out of her clothes and into a warm bath that had been drawn for her by her ladies, all of them bleary eyed and pale faced, swaying gently where they stood waiting on her.

She was informed after she arrived that she would have to do without all the pre-wedding ceremonies and rituals as the Emperor was in a hurry to return to Naboo, but it didn't matter to Rey that she wasn't even allowed a proper wedding. The Emperor's promise to her of letting her follow her traditions meant that their wedding would include all of her own customs as well as his and she was grateful for that at least. She had been surprised to learn of the Emperor's agreement to the conditions she had laid before him for their marriage. She felt as if at least some of the fear and weight had been lifted off her, but she wasn't going to count her blessings just yet, who knew what would happen in the future? She didn't put it past him to go back on his word.

As the first light appeared outside, Rey's tent burst into activity. The servants and her ladies ran in and out carrying messages, fabrics, Jewellery and other ritual items. Outside she could hear the sounds of shuffling feet and loud voices issuing orders and commands. As the water in her bath slowly cooled, and the delicious smell of food being cooked wafted into the tent, Rey wrapped her arms around herself, her stomach grumbling, wishing for it all to end.

Her mother's voice rang out

"Rey, get out of that bath!"

Wrapping herself in a sheet, she crossed over to her bed where her clothes and accessories had been laid out glittering against the plain yellow bedding. The silk banners on the walls were being taken down around her. She wouldn't be returning to this tent tonight.

Her mother seemed to be in a happier mood today, as she slowly raked her fingers through the knots in Rey's hair. She and her father had met regularly with the Emperor and she was increasingly impressed with him, much to Rey's annoyance.

"We'll be seeing your brothers today!" her mother exclaimed "they're going to be released!"

Rey's heart swelled with happiness.

Finally something to look forward to.


Kylo Ren observed his reflection in the mirror. He hadn't ordered a new outfit for the occasion and had on one of his older ones brought in from Naboo. He was surprised at how drawn he looked and realized deep down that he was actually nervous. But how could he be nervous? And this wasn't even his first wedding, he'd been married many times before and those ceremonies had been much bigger and grander than this one would be. Somehow, this marriage seemed different, or perhaps it was his choice of wife. She was truly unlike any other woman he had ever met before. He touched his throat and the place where she had cut him with her dagger had long since healed, but the memory of the way she had pounced on him like an angry tigress was still fresh in his mind. It both angered and excited him.

"Your Majesty?" One of his grooms called "Is there something wrong? Do you need me to fix something?"

"No no, its fine, don't worry it looks fine" He replied dismissively

He turned around

"When is the ceremony?"

"In another two hours Your Majesty"

"Why that long?"

The groom gulped

"The Princess needs more time to get ready Your Majesty"

Kylo Ren clicked his tongue impatiently. The sooner this was over, the better.


Snoke watched, impassive and uninterested as the marriage rituals started.

The King and Queen of Jakku led their daughter towards the ceremonial fire and sat her down in front of it beside the Emperor who was staring straight ahead. As the priest performed the rituals, her mother lifted the veil from her face and the First Order officers were able to see the face of their Emperor's new wife for the first time.

Across from Snoke, Hux who had vowed to keep his eyes and ears closed at the wedding, gaped at the Princess. If he had known sooner of her beauty, he wouldn't have given up so easily on Jakku. Now rage bubbled within him, threatening to overflow as he glared at Kylo Ren. The Princess and the kingdom of Jakku were supposed to be his and Kylo Ren had taken that away from him.

Oblivious to the stares of Hux and Snoke, Rey and Kylo Ren faced each other to tie the ceremonial string and Rey looked up to get her first glimpse of her husband.

Her eyes widened.

She recognized his face. He was the man she saw that night when she'd gone to visit Finn in prison. Seeing the shock on her face, his sensuous mouth curved upward in a smile. She looked away from him, thinking that maybe this was some cruel joke and that this wasn't the Emperor and that she was being forced to marry some poor soldier. But deep down she knew he really was who he was and the truth about how Finn had escaped that night, dawned on her.

Even though she had looked away, he was unable to. He had forgotten how beautiful she was and now as she stood before him in her finery as his wife, he drank in her beauty and congratulated himself on his good fortune. Not only was he able to acquire her, but as he watched her, her head hanging low, he believed he had also stamped out her abominable pride which had infuriated him so much that night in Jakku.

As the new couple walked around the fire and promised to uphold their vows, Snoke watched them carefully. He had seen how the Emperor looked at the Princess, it didn't worry him yet, but he made note of it.

Rey looked up and caught his eye. She had heard that Snoke was the Emperor's right hand man and wasn't surprised to find him as terrifying as he was described to her. Taking in his pasty skin, dark, sharp eyes and the numerous battle scars on his face, she shivered before looking away.

As the day wore on, the Emperor and Princess hardly looked at one another and not a single word was spoken between them. They were like strangers at their own wedding. The only time Rey smiled was when she caught sight of her brothers during the banquet that afternoon. As she and her mother ran to them, her older brother held out his arms and Rey jumped into them.

They all seemed well and unharmed, but there was sadness in their eyes.

"I can't believe father did this" her older brother said, hugging Rey "I would never have agreed to this marriage"

"I'm just so glad you're alright" Rey mumbled

"I should have been there. I could've protected you"

Nothing her brothers said could change anything now, but seeing them lifted Rey's spirits.

The celebrations went on late into the night as the troops of both Jakku and the First Order ate and drank to the good health of the Emperor and his wife. Perhaps it was the wine, but the animosity between them seemed forgotten that day and the music and sounds of their laughter carried across the desert as they danced and sang together.


It was past midnight and the moment Rey had been dreading came too soon. When her ladies escorted her to the Emperor's tent she was almost ready to protest, but felt it would be futile. She kept her beautiful red and gold outfit on and Jess pulled the veil over her head once more before helping her onto the bed. She pulled her knees up to her chin and her skirt flared around her beautifully. Sitting on the center of the bed with the scented roses hanging around her and the rose petals surrounding her, she made for a truly magnificent sight.

Jess pressed something cold into her hand and afterwards she and the others bowed themselves out without a word. When Rey looked down she saw that it was a small silver knife. She quickly hid it in the folds of her skirt. She was determined that if he tried anything on her, she wouldn't be afraid to use it.

She waited for what seemed an eternity, paying attention to every little sound outside the tent, the laughter of drunken men, the chatter of the excited ladies and, slowly, they all died down.

Then, the entrance of the tent fluttered open and with the light cool breeze, he entered. Rey stiffened in her position as she felt his footsteps come closer and closer.

She closed her eyes.

She couldn't see what he was doing or where he was as he didn't make a sound, but moments later her eyes flew open as she felt the bed sink on her right side and knew that he had sat down. She then watched, horrified, as he extended a hand towards her.

He was going to remove her veil

In an instance, Rey had grabbed the silver knife and slashed it across his outstretched hand. A splatter of scarlet stained the white bedclothes as they both jumped away from each other, Rey ripping the veil from her head to face him, eyes burning, teeth bared.

He looked just as furious, holding his bleeding hand in the other, he growled at Rey. In that moment, they looked like two wild animals about to pounce on each other.

"It's treason to attack and draw the blood of the Emperor, Madam!" He snarled through gritted teeth

"I don't want to be touched!" Rey shouted back, her voice shaking

"Oh, I assure you, I have no intention of touching you tonight or any other night hereafter!" He said derisively "I only wanted to get a better look at what I got in exchange for the kingdom I won"

"Well, get a good long look!" Rey screeched

Kylo Ren sniffed, trying to control his anger

"You may have the face of an angel, but you have the temper of a wild boar!" He yelled

"And you're a monster!" Rey spat

Kylo Ren reached down to grab the edge of the bedclothes and wiped his bloody hand on them. Rey watched him, silent, but breathing hard.

At length he spoke

"You know we can stand here and throw insults at each other all night, or we could both get a good night's rest so we can start moving early tomorrow. Which do you prefer?"

"Where will you sleep?" Rey asked quickly

"I'll sleep on the couch" He said.

He had torn off a piece of cloth and was wrapping it around his wounded hand. Rey was still on the defensive, poised, knife in one hand, but as Kylo Ren moved away from the bed, her grip on the knife loosened. She watched as he lay down on the couch, facing away from her.

Tentatively, she climbed back into the bed, stowing the knife underneath her pillow. She didn't want to blow out the bedside lamps and left them burning as they were. Rey thought she'd be too afraid to fall asleep, but as soon as she laid her head down, her eyelids became heavier and heavier and the stress of the past few weeks began to catch up with her.


Rey felt herself drifting back into consciousness, her sleep disturbed. Even though she tried to open her eyes she couldn't, but she was sure it was still dark. The bed didn't feel quite right. Something hard and wet was moving and pushing up against her bare thigh. She was sure it was under her skirt, she could feel it right up against her skin. At first she thought it might have been the knife, but it felt too big. Not wanting to move her leg, she thought to lift up the sheets to see for herself.

She opened her eyes and almost screamed

Looming over her, half covered in darkness, was Kylo Ren. His eyes glinted from the light of the lamp by her bed; the other had burned out during the night and everything else around the shadowy tent was barely visible.

Rey was paralyzed with terror

"What are you doing?" She whispered, trembling

He breathed in deeply

"Stay still" he hissed "Don't move a muscle"

Then, without warning he swooped down on her, snatching away the sheets and reached up her skirt.

Rey yelped. She couldn't even think properly to reach for her knife. But what happened next and what she saw made her cry out.

As quickly as he had inserted her hand up her skirt, he withdrew it, and in his grasp was the head of a snake.

The Snake which had been still the whole time now began to thrash against Rey's body and in one swift movement Kylo Ren pulled it out from inside her skirt.

She had seen plenty of snakes out in the desert before, but the one Kylo Ren now held in his grasp was the biggest and longest she had ever seen, with diamond shaped patterns along its back. She realized the hard wetness she had felt against her thigh had been the snake's scaly skin.

She had shared her bed with death but had managed to escape unscathed.

Kylo Ren had the snake's head in his strong grasp, its jaws were clamped shut but it was still struggling and spitting venom.

"You poor snake" He murmured, holding it up to his eye level at arm's length "I might have just saved your life"

Rey turned her head to him, listening

"You should really be careful who you crawl into bed with" He continued, still talking to the snake "She may look sweet and innocent, but my wife has a worse bite than any snake alive and enough venom in her to poison an entire kingdom!"

Furious, Rey opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted as a guard burst in through the tent entrance.

"Is everything alright Your Majesty? I thought I heard screaming…"

His eyes fell on Rey, white faced and sitting up on the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin, and then on Kylo who stood beside the bed, a snake in one hand.

To his surprise, Kylo Ren laughed

"Yes yes, its fine" He said, holding up the snake "Put this snake in a sack, take it as far away from the camp as you can and release it"

The guard, unafraid, approached him and after he had left with the snake, Kylo turned back to Rey

"How…how did you know…?" Rey stammered, still in shock

"I'm an emperor" He replied "I'm vigilant even in my sleep"

He lay back down on the couch, watching Rey

"It must have been in the tent for a while and then got into the bed tonight" He said, smirking "If you're too scared to sleep on your own I could join you"

But he already knew what her answer would be

"No, I'm not scared" Rey stated, lying back down against her pillow, watching him.

She curled up into a ball and tried to close her eyes but found herself checking her sheets every moment she could, and as the night wore on she began to wonder what the rest of her life would be like. Despite her initial panic, she almost found herself wishing that the snake had bitten her. Maybe Kylo Ren was arrogant enough to think he had done her a favor by saving her life, but she felt it would have put her out of her misery and saved her the trouble of the difficult years she saw ahead for herself.