Chapter Snippet:
No more masters, he thought. I am here to become one of them. A Knight of Ren.
That was when he saw the eighth figure in the group. A figure he didn't recognize. And Ben Solo was sure he would have remembered this one.
With shapely hips and a thin waist, she leaned casually against the bar, engaged in discussion with another Knight. The highlights of her dark metallic cuirass gleamed red in the low light. A hooded cape hung across her shoulders and like the other Knights, she was masked. Hers was a peculiar shape, an inverted pyramid with ridges fanning from chin to forehead, cutting across her face like deep gashes in the shape of a sun's rays.
Not an inch of skin showed from the woman, but even so, a strange heat had wound itself deep in Ben's belly. She draped a gloved hand over the other Knight's arm, leaning into him to share a secret morsel of conversation, and Ben had the sudden urge to smash his fist into this other Knight's gut.
What in the Force was this?
Author's Note:
I finished The Rise of Kylo Ren comics and had a fun little idea, what if Rey was there when Ben first met the Knights of Ren? If you're not familiar with the comic, this first scene takes place immediately after the destruction of the Jedi Temple. Luke has just tried to murder Ben in his sleep, Ben has been accused of destroying the Jedi Temple where he trained with Luke, and then he was hunted down by three fellow students and forced to kill one of them in self defense. Now he is seeking out the Knights of Ren, thinking he has nowhere else to turn.
Let me know what you think!
Chapter 1 : A Pile of Garbage Walks into a Bar
Ben Solo's blood-stained Jedi robes garnered stares from the regular crowd as he made his way toward the bartender. He would have bet the Grimtaash that nothing could pull the eyes of this seedy clientele from the bottoms of their mugs. But when they looked him up and down with bloodshot glares, Ben realized he must be more of a mess than he thought.
Really, he'd been lucky to come away with all of his limbs. A few gashes and torn robes were a small price to pay for what he'd done.
He'd killed him.
Hennix. A Jedi he'd known for years. They'd grown up together for Force's sake.
Dead.
He'd been defending himself, sure, but Hennix was dead just the same. Then he'd buried the other two Jedi students, Tai and Voe, when he'd pulled down the walls of the Jedi outpost on Elphrona. The closest things he had to friends. And he'd destroyed them.
Emotion wrapped cold fingers around his throat and he swallowed against the sensation. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to scrub the imprint of Hennix's horrified stare from his memory. But he'd had no choice… right?
Not that it mattered. There was no going back now.
The biting stench of tabac smoke hung in thick clouds over the room, mixing with the reek of sour ale and sweaty pits, bringing his thoughts to the present and his current problem: his sudden inability to choke down a breath. He fought the urge to drape a sleeve over his nose to filter the air, instead, forcing himself to hold his head high as he approached the bar at the center of the room.
He'd never been to Vanrak, but so far, the dank atmosphere resembled that of any other mid-rim watering hole, filled with spacers, smugglers, and people who generally wanted to hide. This wasn't the kind of place Ben was used to spending time in lately, but with a father like Han Solo, he'd heard his share of stories and been dragged to places like this once or twice.
He spotted the man named Ren leaning against the bar. There was no mistaking the strange metallic mask with the red engraving where his face should be. He remembered him and the other six Knights of Ren from their last encounter years ago, when Master Luke had taken all of them, one on seven, in combat on Elphrona. Back when he'd been so awed by his Master's abilities. When he trusted him with his life.
Before his Master had tried to murder him in cold blood.
Ben felt his lip twitch, dark thoughts flaring inside of him begging for release. He clenched his teeth and approached Ren.
No more masters, he thought. I am here to become one of them. A Knight of Ren.
That was when he saw the eighth figure in the group. A figure he didn't recognize. And Ben Solo was sure he would have remembered this one.
With shapely hips and a thin waist, she leaned casually against the bar, engaged in discussion with the other Knight. The highlights of her dark metallic cuirass gleamed red in the low light. Underneath it, she wore a black long-sleeved tunic and a floor-skimming skirt. A hooded cape hung across her shoulders and like the other Knights, she was masked. Hers was a peculiar shape, an inverted pyramid with ridges fanning from chin to forehead, cutting across her face like deep gashes in the shape of a sun's rays.
Not an inch of skin showed from the woman, but even so, a strange heat had wound itself deep in Ben's belly. She draped a gloved hand over the other Knight's arm, leaning into him to share a secret morsel of conversation, and Ben had the sudden urge to smash his fist into this other Knight's gut.
What in the Force was this?
As Ben approached, she looked up, and it was as though the breath was thumped from his chest. He couldn't see her face, but it didn't matter. His blood was now pulsing to a rhythm she was somehow orchestrating. The swirl of her Force, icy and delicate, reached out to his mind, trying to sense his intention and he wanted to let her inside. Gods, he wanted to feel that icy touch everywhere.
"See something you like?" the other Knight drawled through a voice modulator into his ear.
Ben slammed up his mental walls just in time to keep the woman out, blinking dumbly as he tried to muster something close to a competent reply. "Uh… n-no," he managed to stutter out.
And he was sure the barkeep was going to have to scrape him off the floor later tonight, because he had clearly just melted into a disgusting puddle of embarrassment.
The Knight cocked his helmeted head, studying him through a thin visor between the pattern of intersecting lines on his helmet. He wore a long coat woven from the scaly black skin of some giant reptile, which fastened asymmetrically over one shoulder. The man was tall, and Ben stood eye to eye with him, which was unsettling as it was such a rare occurrence.
Get a grip Solo. This is not a place to appear weak. Think of something.
"I - I didn't recognize your new recruit," Ben said, deepening his voice to sound more confident than he felt. "She wasn't with you the last time we met."
The Knight ran a gloved finger over the wickedly curved scythe strapped to his shoulder. "And you are…?" He dragged out the last word in a question.
"Well look who it is," Ren's booming voice mercifully interrupted the awkward exchange. "Ben Solo."
Ben tried to square his shoulders, feeling the stare of every Knight as a palpable pressure in the air as they sized him up. Especially hers. He could feel her eyes on him, sharp as a med-droid's scalpel, carving him up and laying his heart wide open.
Gods what was going on?
Focus. Focus.
"You took your time getting here," Ren said. "Lucky you caught us. We're leaving soon."
"I was held up," he answered.
"Clearly. Looks like something chewed you up and spit you out."
"No. That's not what happened, it was…"
He heard a few snickers from the Knights, the woman among them and he could feel his cheeks and ears turning a traitorous shade of red. He needed one of those masks as soon as possible.
"A joke, it was a joke, kid…" Ren said.
Ben raked a nervous hand through his hair. "Oh, right. Of course."
Ren slipped his mask off, shaking out his silver waves and revealing a face that had first surprised him years ago. As a boy, standing behind Luke on Elphrona, Ben had imagined a monster underneath that mask. Definitely not this handsome, blue-eyed man with a dimple in his chin.
"Here. Relax. The mask's kind of intense – that's the point – but you and me, maybe we're gonna be friends. Snoke thinks so anyway."
Snoke. That was why he was here. Snoke had been right about Luke anyway. He'd ended up turning against Ben just as Snoke had predicted. So maybe, he thought, Snoke would be right about the Knights of Ren, too.
Ren gestured to a nearby stool that was suddenly freed up with a quick gesture toward one of the Knights.
Ben swallowed and took a seat.
"You came looking for the Knights of Ren. Not many do that, and most who do end up regretting it realquick." He paused, trailing his eyes over Ben's robes and the saber clipped to his belt, before locking that gaze on him. "So, what do you want, maybe-friend Ben?"
"I want to… travel with you. To learn. I can be useful. I'm strong in – "
"The shadow, yeah. I know. I could feel it last time we met and Snoke told me maybe you're something special. Lotta maybes, though. Eh, Rey?"
He turned to look at the woman then, her face still hidden by her mask.
Rey. Her name was Rey.
A simple name. A beautiful -
Ben clenched his fist. Stop. He clenched so hard he felt his nails digging into his palm. Stop.
Control your thoughts.
But just as he'd wrangled control back from his runaway musings, he heard that voice. Her voice. "Snoke said I was something special, too, didn't he?" Gods, even through the crackling vocoder, that voice sent a ripple of warmth across his skin. And that accent, stately, as though she'd been raised on the capital planet by some politically elite family.
Then Rey stared straight at Ben as she tugged at the nearest Knight's belt to pull him closer. "And you'd say I'm something special, right Vicrul?"
"Oh, you're special alright." And he didn't miss the way Vicrul's mask dipped, before drifting up to take in Rey's body. But Vicrul said nothing more. Made no move to touch her. Were they together? A couple?
If so, why did Ben even care?
Get a grip.
"So, you see, Ren," Rey said. "Snoke may be right about Ben, too."
"Well, if the lady says to give you a chance, maybe you oughta sit down a while longer." He gestured to a barkeep, a slimy looking Trandoshan with a collection of nasty facial scars, who nodded. Then, Ren returned his focus to their conversation. "Did Snoke tell you the price?"
"The price?" he echoed, dumbly.
"It's a death Ben Solo. A good death."
"I've killed. I killed a Jedi."
"Well, this sounds like one hell of a story. I'm sure we'd love to hear it." Ren glanced at the Knights behind him and Rey stepped forward. The other six followed suit.
The Trandoshan slunk by, depositing a foul-smelling tankard in front of Ren, who promptly licked his lips and guzzled at least half of it down.
Then he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned forward. "You want to tell us who you killed, Mr. Ben Solo?" Ren asked.
And so, with Ren and all seven of his faceless Knights staring him down, stirring up his blood and making his heart race, Ben told the story. He recounted in detail how he'd grown up with Voe, Hennix, and Tai. Voe was always trying to compete with Ben. Hennix was more of an intellectual who puzzled things out in the Force. And Tai… Ben was closest to Tai. He was the only one who tried to understand him.
Ben left out the next part, the part about Luke's betrayal. How he'd tried to murder his own nephew in his sleep.
He picked up again after the temple was destroyed and the three Jedi students came after him. Voe came at him hard and he was distracted with her when Hennix attacked. He defended himself, killing Hennix. Then he destroyed the Jedi outpost, bringing down the stone structure over his friends to trap them while he escaped. They could still be trapped now for all he knew.
"Hmmm, what do you think guys?" Ren asked.
All seven knights stared silently, smoke drifting in the air behind them. The one with the facemask made from cobbled together scraps, even went so far as to cross his arms and Ben felt his heart drop into his stomach. Did he really belong here? If not here, then where did he have left to go?
"I agree. It's a death, but not a good death," Ren said. "Not good enough."
Panic gripped him by the throat and he swallowed hard against it. He could not fail Snoke. He had no one else. "I killed him. I killed Hennix. A Jedi."
"Yeah, but you didn't really want it," Ren said, raising an eyebrow.
Ren let the comment hang in the air for a long moment before he quirked his lip into a smirk and shrugged. "But Snoke vouched for you, and you're strong in the shadow, and that's not nothing. Let's spend some time, see if you like us, see if we like you." He felt a shifting sensation in the Force nearby, curiosity, relief. But no, he was sure he imagined it as the ripple of feeling disappeared like a drop of water into an ocean. "Maybe you'll find that good death after all."
What was that? Gods, his head was starting to ache, a sharp needling in his left temple from all of this insanity.
Ren pushed himself off his stool and replaced his mask, instantly becoming a faceless killer once more. And Ben wanted to hide amongst them. Truly hide, because wasn't he now just the same as them? He'd killed a Jedi. A member of the very order he'd sworn to protect. And being faceless seemed like a great relief at the moment.
"The kid looks like trash. An actual pile of garbage. Find him some clothes," Ren said, elbowing the Knight with the spotting screen attached to his mask. Was this one a sniper then?
"I mean, we're the Knights of Ren," he said to no one in particular, "we have a reputation."
And with that, Ren led the other Knights out of the cantina.
Ben tried not to watch the sway of Rey's hips as she left, still joking with Vicur. But he was transfixed. There was something strange about her, like they'd met before. Maybe she had been there that day when Master Luke confronted the Knights after all. Could it be that he'd just forgotten?
Someone cleared their throat in his ear, the sound rasping through a vocoder. "Better stop staring at that one or Vicrul will kick your ass. Come on kid." It was the Knight tasked with finding Ben some clothes and he was gesturing for him to follow. Ben swallowed his embarrassment and trailed behind the man, getting a full view of the Knight's chosen weapon as he did so. And it was in fact an enormous blaster rifle. Sniper indeed. "I'm Kuruk," he said from over his shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned up."
