Author's Note: Hello Everyone! I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update. Real life has kind of taken over for both myself and my beta. I promise that I am devoted to finishing this fic! It's seen me through too many tough times for me not to finish it.
Also, I created a playlist! I have one song for each chapter. So if you play it in order, you'll hear which songs I thought fit best for each chapter. I also tried to keep the songs to lesser known artists, so hopefully you'll find someone new that you like!
Here's Spotify: user/22h4ckofsdfjn2aaglgtdunsi/playlist/2SOyzZw7kbhU29mLu26QGZ
I also created a list on Youtube: playlist?list=PLKMbhUwoiQKlhDy1Q0uCUcQiqRf5830oE
Fanfiction doesn't like links, so add the appropriate site url first.
Anyway, have some smut and some plot. Enjoy!
Valley of the Dark Lords
I'm not alone.
Sleep had never been easy for Kylo. Snoke and the Dark Side had tormented his dreams for so long, sending visions that coiled around his mind. Visions of abandonment, loneliness, and suffering, feeding every insecurity young Ben Solo had ever felt. He had learned from an early age how to survive in a perpetual state of exhaustion. His mental anxiety would build with his physical lethargy and boil into anger until it could no longer be contained, resulting in rageful fits of destruction.
Which is why when Kylo woke up after a full night's sleep, it was something of a miraculous experience. Like sunshine after a storm, where birds danced and the wind rustled through his hair. All that Light Side shit that was supposed to make you happy. It was slow, the darkness of unconsciousness gradually pulling back, body languid and relaxed as his eyes fluttered open. He felt better than he had in years, even with his face buried in a mess of tousled hair.
The only variable between this day and any other was the one that snored lightly in his arms, the faint buzz of her breathing a white noise that somehow managed to quiet his anxiety before it could rear its ugly head. With Rey he didn't need to be all the things everyone had told him his entire life that he was: Prince, Jedi, Sith. He could just be himself. He wasn't entirely sure who that person was yet, but he really wanted to find out.
Even though Kylo's arm was comfortably settled across Rey's waist, he couldn't stop himself from reaching up to brush her hair from her neck. It curled just the smallest amount, the feather softness tickling his fingers. Mesmerized by the spattering of freckles on her shoulder, he placed a light kiss there before nuzzling the delicate spot where her neck met her shoulder.
Letting out a sleepy groan and stretching, she arched her back. Kylo found his attention completely diverted by the twitch of his morning arousal as her bare bottom grazed him with the movement. Turning onto her stomach, she twisted out of his arms, burying her face in her pillow with a determined grumble. As the blanket slid down, her entire back was revealed to him, and he noticed that the bite he had given her the night before had blossomed purple on her shoulder blade.
Something primal surged through him at the sight of the mark. Mine. He would never say it out loud because he knew what kind of a reaction it would elicit from Rey. Still, the possessiveness was becoming more settled in his mind with each passing day. Unable to stop himself, he leaned down to kiss the bruise before laying his head on the pillow next to hers, gently tracing the imprint with his fingers.
Her head turned toward him as Rey muttered, "mphfthattickles," still mostly asleep. Baby hairs curled around her forehead. Kylo only thought for a second how he could be so turned on by baby hairs before the need to kiss her overwhelmed him. He found himself raining light, tender kisses along her forehead and nose until her eyelashes started to flutter.
Needing to see the first moment Rey woke up in his arms, he returned to his pillow. First, her brow furrowed, as if she were unhappy with being woken. Her hand reached towards her face, but smacked against the barrier of his arm around her back before it could reach. This caused her eyes to shoot open, amber irises shining in panic. Until they met Kylo's own gaze.
She blinked a few times, her expression fading from one of confusion to wide-eyed vulnerability. Kylo knew then that this, waking up with another person, was a new experience for her as well. Rey's hand reached up and cupped his elbow, making the hairs stand on end as she squeezed gently. Then, her face opened, lighting up in that way only she could, eyes sparkling, smile wide and filled with so much joy his heart felt like it was going to burst.
Pulling her to him, he kissed her urgently. Their lips moved in a bright, delirious dance as their tongues twirled together, each tasting like sleep, but neither one caring. Kylo felt Rey's effervescent laugh rumble in her chest before it escaped through her mouth, breaking their lips apart. Before he had a chance to ask her what was so amusing, her hands tangled in his hair, cradling either side of his head to keep him from moving too far. Her thumbs tickled the shells of his ears as she gazed up at him.
The look on her face was similar to the one she had given him the night before, when he had held her up against the viewport and she had so tenderly brushed his hair from his face. Kylo recognized that look. Soft, bright eyes. Gentle smile. Soothing caress. All for him. He recognized it as what it was: love. When Rey slowly pulled him back down to her lips, the kiss was tender and soft. Lips brushing ever so gently as they breathed each other in, and it didn't matter that the words weren't said.
Kylo's lips left a feather light trail from her mouth to her ear. Her sigh of contentment sent a happy thrill through him. Leisurely, he let his hand roam down her body and he adored in the way her lip caught between her teeth when he grazed a particularly sensitive spot. When he brushed over her hip, down the swell of her bottom, and along the back of her thigh, she allowed him to lift her leg and place it on top of his own.
The wet heat of her core rubbed against his cock. They touched and teased for awhile until they were both grinding against the other. When he finally slid inside her, they let out a mutual groan. She felt so good around him, tight and warm, that he couldn't bring himself to pull out enough to thrust deeply like he normally would. Instead he rolled his hips, staying deep but moving in shallow lunges that rubbed against her.
Rey wrapped her arms around his back and pulled him in, the brush of her breasts and peaked nipples sending electric sparks through him. Kylo soaked in every languid sigh, gasping breath and whispered Ben that escaped her lips. When he was close, he ground against her a little rougher, adding a circular motion. That added movement seemed to be all she needed as her arms tightened around him and she cried out, burying her head against his shoulder. He felt her orgasm roll through her, pulsing around him, and he lost himself in the sensation. The feeling of possessiveness only growing stronger as he crested inside her after a few more circles.
After, her head dropped to her pillow, their bodies still entwined and connected. Gentle fingers reached out to cup his cheek, rustling the stubble that was now starting to itch. The look in her eyes was one of utter endearment and he couldn't stop himself from turning to kiss the palm of her hand.
"Good morning." His voice was raspy with disuse.
Rey grinned at that, leaning in to plant a firm happy kiss on his lips that made his stomach do a strange little dance. She broke the kiss with a playful smack and ran a hand through his hair again, eyes radiant as she looked at him.
"Best morning," she replied.
Everything about Moraband was rust-red, from the sky to the sharp mountain peaks that seemed to stretch on forever like broken teeth, knife-edged and treacherous. Fissures in the mountains revealed the black sinister depths that pervaded the ancient Sith homeworld. Savage winds blew sand across the infertile landscape. Never before had Kylo seen a planet so desolate. Not even the desert of Jakku, which had still been teeming with vitality among the barren sands. The proof of that life was sitting next to him, surveying the landscape with a slightly green look on her face.
"Are you alright?" he spared her a brief look of concern before returning his attention back to piloting around the dangerous mountaintops.
Clearing her throat, she nodded, "I'm fine...just...this place…"
Kylo focused back on the Force energy surrounding them. It was incredibly dark, fueled by millennia of Sith Lords, war, slavery, and death. Being rooted in the dark, it gave him power, but he saw how it was having the opposite effect on Rey. The whole planet was a nexus of the Dark Side, strong enough that he was having problems pinpointing the signature of whichever knight had been unlucky enough to be sent here by Snoke. It all just felt like an endless well of energy he could draw from, and he clenched a fist against the heady sensation. At least he knew enough about Sith lore to have an inkling of what Snoke might have been looking for.
As if conjured by his thoughts, the mountains seemed to open up. The valley below a monument of crumbling statues of Sith long forgotten, back when the planet was more widely known as Korriban. Carved out of the mountain range at the end of the valley was an ancient Sith Temple, it's multi-peaked pyramid still an imposing structure by modern standards. If his knight was anywhere on this forsaken planet, it would be here.
Luckily, the valley before the temple was mostly open space, so Kylo landed the shuttle as close to the monument as he could, providing them with a potential quick getaway. He turned in his seat to look at Rey, but she was transfixed by the sight in front of her, an expression of simultaneous wonder and dread fixed on her face.
"What is this place?" she asked with horrified awe.
"How much do you know about the Sith?"
Kylo could see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to remember all that she could. "Not much," she admitted, "only that that's what you called yourself in the throne room."
Scoffing at that, he replied, "I am no Sith." That may have been what Snoke had been trying to turn him into, but just as he knew the Jedi Path wasn't for him, he felt just as strongly that the Sith Code wasn't for him either. That's why he had told her to let it all die.
She looked at him, assessing. "Isn't Sith just another word for Dark Side user?"
"The terms became synonymous after a few millennia, but no. The Sith, as most people know them, were actually a faction of the Jedi that broke off, leading to thousands of years of conflict and war between the two orders, breeding hatred of Light Side users for the Dark and Dark Side Users for the Light. This is where they built their empire and buried their leaders, taking the name of the race that was here before them and became part of them." He stood from his seat and Rey followed as he made his way towards the ramp.
"I think it's time to show the galaxy that the Light and Dark can work together." As he said the words, he let the confidence he felt flood through their bond, matching his tone. He turned back abruptly, causing Rey to stop short. What Kylo was saying wasn't inherently different from what he had proposed in Snoke's chamber. The message was the same as he had always intended. However, months of leadership and thinking about why she had left him had helped him to develop a more...diplomatic approach.
He should have known she would catch onto the parallels right away. Her eyes crinkled in fondness before she raised an eyebrow at him, echoing the phrase he'd used on her more than once, "We'll see."
Her hand reached out and slammed the control to open the ramp, a reversal of what she did on Crait, and he couldn't help the upward tick of his lips at that before leaning down to give her a quick kiss. As they departed the ship, red-orange sand blasted them and they both shielded their eyes against the onslaught. Kylo had a brief moment where he missed the filter of his mask, but it passed quickly.
They both breathed a sigh of relief when they stepped under the relative shelter of the covered temple entryway, shaking the grating sand from their clothes. The entrance towered hundreds of feet over them, the wide base tapering upwards into a point. Pilaster columns lined the sides of the opening, crawling with ancient script. As Kylo approached, he felt a pull from the Force. He still couldn't feel the signature of any of his knights, but there was definitely something about this place that demanded his attention.
When he turned to Rey, she was standing frozen in place, eyes boring into the darkness beyond the gateway, full of uncertainty and blind to anything else. He knew that look and recognized it. She was feeling the same pull he was.
"Rey?" He watched as her name shivered through her, bringing back some awareness of the present.
She blinked, "Don't you feel it?" Her gaze was still far away.
"Yes," he assured.
"Doesn't it...frighten you?"
"No," Kylo answered truthfully, "because we're together."
He held out his hand to her. Rey's eyes flicked down before rising back to meet his and he saw her finally returned fully to the present. His pose was so reminiscent of that day in the throne room that Kylo couldn't stop the twinge of pain that twisted in his heart when she hesitated. But then her hand was in his, and he felt the heat of her skin warm the leather of his glove.
"Together," she confirmed with a small nod of her head.
They stepped through the gargantuan portal into the darkness. Igniting their sabers at the same time, Kylo's red blaze and Rey's green cast colorful beams around the room. Where the halos of their sabers met, a luminous yellow glow formed.
Pinpricks of sunlight shone down through cracks in the ceiling, barely illuminating an enormous cavern. On either side of the doorway crouched statues of ancient evil. A few feet in front of them, the floor dropped to a wide staircase that led to the main floor of the chamber. Lining either side of the center path were giant stone titans, monuments to a society long dead. At the far end, the beams of light gleamed down on a giant stone sarcophagus.
Rey's fingers tightened around Kylo's in a vice. In an effort to reassure her, he squeezed back gently and slowly urged her towards the stairs. Kylo still couldn't feel any of his knights, but he definitely felt pulled towards the apse of the tomb.
Making their way down the great hall, Kylo's skin started to crawl like a livewire at the dark energy pervading the area. It sang it's tempting anthem, pulling at him. He wanted to reach for it, draw it close and let it envelope him and fill him with power... Rey's hand yanked out of his and he spun towards her. Dropping her lightsaber to the ground, one hand clutched her head while the other clawed at her chest as she fell to her knees. Tears streamed from her eyes and she gasped as if in pain although he could see nothing physically wrong with her.
Kylo froze in place as their connection twisted with her anguish. It wasn't somatic pain, more like all-consuming grief riddled with fear and anger. Unbidden, Kylo felt sympathetic tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he fell to his knees in front of her. Keeping his saber within arms reach, he switched it off and reached for her, "Rey, what is it?! What's wrong?!"
That faraway look was back in her eyes as she responded between gulping sobs, "So...much...pain and...death…"
Rage swelled up from his very toes as Rey lost her voice to choking cries. Kylo realized that she was picking up on the remaining Force signatures of all the Jedi that had probably been sacrificed in this forsaken temple. Did Luke teach her anything on that island of his? How could he leave her so open to the sway of the Force?
Kylo felt a twinge of physical pain from her and realized that the cause was his own hands, which gripped her shoulders so tightly that he knew that they would bruise. Forcing himself to loosen his grip, he rubbed his hands along them.
"Rey, listen to me. You need to close your mind," he instructed, voice tense. Kylo could feel the blackness wrapping around her, looking for the cracks and crevices that would allow it to consume her. The idea of Rey, his Rey, falling to the Dark Side left a pit in his stomach that gnawed anxiously. He would not let that happen.
"This is not a place you want to be connected to. Not you. The Darkness will consume you if you let it."
Fingers clutching at the shoulders of his tunic as she clung to him desperately, she gasped, "I...don't know...how! So much...suffering...torture...I feel it all-"
Another sob wracked her delicate frame and his heart twisted in agony. "Shh...shh…" his hands cradled her face, "Rey, look at me." Her eyes snapped to his, panicked and tear-filled, somehow being present and not present at the same time. "Breathe with me," he ordered, taking slow deep breaths. She followed instructions and he saw the tears slow as their breathing synchronized. The dark energies surrounding her were still grasping with their greedy fingers, but he could feel the beginnings of her focus returning.
"That's it, just keep looking at me…" her gaze bored into his, searching for refuge. He took comfort in the fact that she seemed to find it, eyes becoming less panicked. "Now...I need you to push back the Dark. Build a wall around your mind so it can't get in."
Her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to do what he asked. Kylo could feel the tension in her body, jaw clamped tightly underneath his hands as she fought against the Darkness of this place. Her hands clenched his shirt even tighter, and then suddenly went slack, falling to her sides. The darkness stilled around her.
"Rey?"
As if summoned by her name, her eyes flashed open. He expected to see them clear, her calmness having returned her to her senses.
His assumption couldn't have been more wrong. The look she gave him was one of pure, abject terror.
"He's here."
As the words left her mouth, she folded in on herself, collapsing unconscious. Kylo barely had enough time to catch her before she fell on her ignited lightsaber.
"Rey? REY?!" he ran his hands along her face, trying to rouse her but resisting the urge to shake her desperately. The darkness seemed to have retreated from her for now, but the way it had taken over, even if it was for just that fraction of a second, was petrifying.
The sound of stone scraping against stone filled the cavern. Instinctively, Kylo grabbed and activated his lightsaber. Whatever was coming couldn't be good if Rey had been so consumed by her fear. Dread pooled in his gut while his adrenaline spiked, igniting his fury. As gently as he could, he lowered Rey to the ground and turned towards the noise, snarling with aggression. No matter what creature appeared, how terrible it was, he wouldn't let it hurt Rey.
Kylo crouched at the ready as he looked for the source of the noise. The sarcophagus was moving back, creating the awful grinding sound. A staircase was revealed underneath the coffin. At first the stairway was a deep black, which slowly gave way as a fiery red glow moved at the bottom, coming closer with each beat of Kylo's heart.
A low, malevolent laugh rumbled through the temple as an ancient helm came into view. The thing itself seemed to be made of smoke and fire, embers dancing in the vague form of something that had once been humanoid, but it gave off no heat. Orange, glowing eyes met his as the figure finally crested the top of the stairway. The faceplate of the armor was skeletal, smooth and terrifying. Platemail covered the creature, looking very corporeal over what appeared to be an incorporeal body.
It stopped at the top of the stairs and cocked its head at Kylo consideringly, before its gaze shifted ever so slightly to Rey's prone form behind him. "Ah...Sith...what a nice offering you have brought me." Its speech was otherworldly and inhuman, a multitude of voices and yet only one.
"You're wrong," Kylo shifted to better block the thing's view of Rey, "I bring you nothing."
The spectre narrowed its eyes dangerously as its embers flashed. "Do you know who I am?"
"It doesn't matter," Kylo spat, twisting his wrist to twirl his saber threateningly, "You're about to be dead."
Somehow, the beast laughing in real mirth was even more terrifying than its sinister greeting had been. When its cold, burning eyes snapped back to Kylo's, it snarled behind its helm. Reaching to its side, it pulled out a saber, igniting a crimson blade. "You can't kill me. I am the greatest Dark Lord that ever lived. A fact that I will teach you, Sith. But first I'm going to take that pretty little Jedi of yours and make you watch as I tear her to pieces for your insolence."
Rey stirred behind Kylo, as if she heard the threat. That was what finally pushed him into action, desperate to keep her safe. He charged, but the demon met his blade with hardly a flick of its wrist, parrying the blow effortlessly and striking one of its own that sent shocks reverberating up his arms as he blocked it.
The Sith Lord leaned in, glowing eyes narrowing in disgust. "You are a disgrace to the Sith order. Risking your life to protect a Jedi," it spat at him.
"Maybe so," Kylo gritted, using the full force of his strength to push away from their locked blades, attempting a side strike as he spun out of reach. The spectre deflected the blow easily, "But then, I'm not a Sith."
"No?" its saber swung and Kylo barely managed to duck underneath, "I can feel your Darkness. The traces your Master left in your mind. The training. I, author of the Rule of Two, recognize them as if they were my own."
Creator of the Rule of Two? That means...Darth Bane... The sheer impossibility of what was happening coursed through Kylo, a sharp fear shot through his veins like ice water. He was currently locked in combat with Darth Bane. The last great Sith Lord. The man who shaped the methods of an order that lasted for a millennium after his death. How is this possible?
"I see you now know who I am. Good. You should fear me," Bane charged at Kylo then, taking advantage of his surprise to brandish a flurry of strikes, each one sending Kylo further on the defensive. He barely deflected a swipe that would have taken his arm, the saber scorching his sleeve.
"OI!"
Kylo had been so focused on Bane that he hadn't noticed Rey getting up. Neither had Bane. She had circled behind the Sith and made her way to the sarcophagus. Standing in front of it, the green tip of her lightsaber pointed low on the base, where there was a break in the stone that emanated with a red glow. There was something embedded in the sarcophagus, but he couldn't make out what it was.
"I don't know what you are," she called across the room, "but I'm sure you won't like it when I do this-" With the last word, she swung at the artifact lodged in the stone. Bane cried out in protest right as her saber hit. Kylo had just enough time to worry about a shockwave before her lightsaber pierced it, evoking a very different reaction.
The casket imploded, and a loud wailing filled the echoing chamber as Bane seemed to be pulled towards the wreckage. The embers and smoke of his form peeled away to reveal a person standing among their midst. Real and very much alive.
Clothed all in black, the figure's appearance wasn't too different from Kylo's own, but their stature was much shorter. A long, dangerous looking vibrosword, the actual source of the burn on his sleeve, fell out of limp fingers and clanged on the stone floor. Kylo saw the briefest glimpse of fire-orange eyes that glowed like Bane's through the holes of a black hood before they rolled back and the figure collapsed. Their force signature finally flared to life, and he recognized it.
Reflexively, Kylo caught them as Rey ran over. Pulling off their hood, he looked down at a face he knew well. One that would be considered beautiful by anyone's standards with its high cheekbones and full lips. Her long brown hair fell over his arm.
Nasha.
Author's Note: As always, thank you to my amazing beta, Kiley. I don't know what I'd do without you, and I don't just mean as my beta. ~.^
Also thank you to everyone who's still reading my crazy brain child. Please let me know what you think! Comments make me so happy.