I realize the master/slave relationship is tricky to handle, and some people just don't like it. This is fiction. As the author, the challenge of this work is to create a healthy dynamic between two people with fragile mental states, and while I want to write this as realistically as possible, I realize elements of the story may not transfer to real life. I do NOT mean this to glorify human trafficking, slavery, etc. In fact, I hope you come away disgusted by those things and what it can do to victims mentally and physically. Rape, non-con, torture, etc. are mentioned and implied, but will NOT occur between Rey and Kylo. This story is intended to be about how they help each other heal, but it will explore some dark themes in Rey's past. If this isn't your type of fic, I respect that completely and ask you to choose not to read.
That being said, welcome to the darkest fic I have ever written. Please check archive warnings and read the summary since some of the material covered in this story is dark. There will be too much to post warnings in every chapter, so I'm telling you now that there will be themes of rape/non-con/torture/etc. throughout the story, though these will NOT occur Rey and Kylo's relationship. If those are triggers for you or not something you enjoy, please tread cautiously.
Kylo Ren strolled across the hot sandy planet with all the swagger that befitted Han Solo's son and a confidence that only a man who nearly ruled the Galaxy could exude. He was unaccompanied by the normal parade of Stormtroopers. This barren desert planet posed no danger to the First Order. There was but one threat here – being captured and sold into slavery, but Kylo Ren was unconcerned about meeting that fate, entirely focused on his unseemly task.
Supreme Leader Snoke had ordered Ren to Jakku to find himself a servant girl. Snoke had called her a servant, but the truth was that she would be his slave. Not for the first time, his master's orders had caused an uncomfortable tightness in his chest, so intense this time that he'd almost protested. Instead, he buried those rebellious thoughts deep behind his mask and set a course for the nearest slavers' planet.
A true Sith has no qualms about putting a lesser being in its rightful place. You will learn to keep your servant where she belongs, his master had told him.
Still, looking around he felt nothing but distaste at the idea of purchasing a sentient being. Besides, what was General Hux good for if not a tool for Kylo to demonstrate his skill at keeping lesser beings in line?
It was already late in the day when he had arrived on the god-forsaken planet of Jakku, leaving him little time before the markets closed for the day. All around him, happy customers left the auction lot with their… purchases. Some slaves seemed happy enough, though Kylo supposed they knew nothing better than having a kind owner. Others screamed and begged, having to literally be drug away by their new master.
Scenes like that were why he wore the mask.
Ren arrived at the square between sales and took a place in the crowd where he could easily see the stage.
The next seller was a… something. He'd never seen, or even heard of anything quite so hideous, except perhaps Jabba the Hutt from the stories his father-
"No," he whispered to himself angrily.
This was no time to think of the family that betrayed him, and he buried that part of himself back into its grave quickly. Ren turned his attention back to the bulging and oozing, purple creature. It dragged something that wriggled and fought uselessly against him. A human girl, Kylo realized, taking advantage of his height to peer over the diminishing crowd. The thing had her by the hair, three buns that had been pulled almost completely loose, and it carelessly tossed her onto the sandy wood stage. She caught herself on small and heavily bruised arms before the seller wrenched her back to a standing position by her hair.
"Up next, I have a special discounted item for you," the purple thing boomed. "This slave girl might not have much life left, but it will be satisfactory for a few days. Its last position was with Jzchar, so you gentlemen may have a special interest in such a uniquely skilled item."
Some of the men chuckled darkly. Kylo probed the mind of the man next to him, searching for a clue about what Jzchar was. The image of a naked women tied to a bed and sobbing filled his mind. Shocked, he let the Force slip away from him, severing the connection with the man suddenly. So, Jzchar was a brothel owner.
"I will not be a bed-slave again," the girl snarled.
Without so much as a glance her way, the purple creature brought a large hand across her cheek hard. It sent her tumbling to the ground, and her head smashed into the boards with a crack that made Kylo tense and the crowd cheer.
"It is a feisty one," the slaver continued with a laugh. "That's how it ended up in this condition. Still, it will do as it's master commands, even if it takes some… extra motivation."
There was more laughter at that, but Kylo didn't partake. Something was pulling at him again, something he was all too familiar with.
He'd never met this girl before, but for some reason imagining her dead, forgotten, and buried in some sand dune, made his stomach churn. Even worse was thinking of one of the laughing monsters surrounding him 'motivating' her.
You have too much of your mother in you, Snoke would say if he were he to see this moment of weakness in his apprentice.
"I'll start the bidding at ten coins… ten? I see ten. Twelve?"
"Fifteen!" A man shouted.
"Fifteen! Can I get eighteen? Eighteen?"
"Twenty!" Another joined in.
"I hear twenty… can I get twenty-five? Twenty-five?"
The two bounced back and forth for several minutes, reaching fifty-two coins, far from the usual hundreds the average slave would fetch, before the sale seemed to stall. One shook his head, relinquishing his claim.
"Not worth it!" He muttered, moving away.
"We're at fifty-two coins. Do I hear fifty-three? Fifty-three? Going once–"
"One hundred," Kylo Ren spoke clearly, metallically, surprising even himself.
A few faces turned to the black-robed figure who had, until moments ago, gone completely unnoticed. The man who had just been out-bid looked him up and down, glanced at the slave girl, and then shook his head. She wasn't worth it to him
"One hundred!" The slaver seemed just as shocked as the buyers. "Do I hear one hundred one? Anyone?"
By then the audience had lost interest, already looking for the next product on sale. Spending one-hundred coins for a slave that was nearly dead was unheard of and a waste of good money.
"Sold, for one-hundred coin!"
The slaver grabbed the girl by her arm and hauled her off the stage, making way for the next seller. Kylo Ren met him away from the crowd who was already eagerly inspecting a new slave. Wanting to get off the planet as quickly as possible, he handed over the pouch containing the hundred coin without a word.
"Enjoy her while you can, sir," the seller grinned, hardly taking his eyes off the money as he shoved the girl at her new master.
She fell to the ground in a heap, and just like that, the thing that had sold her disappeared into the bustle of the market, never to be seen again.
As Kylo Ren knelt beside her and lifted her unconscious form into his arms, the reality of what he had just done struck him. He owned this person, the way he owned his clothes and ships and trinkets. He didn't think he liked it.
Apparently, she didn't either. As they neared his ship, her eyes fluttered open. The sun was just touching the horizon behind them, casting an eerie glow around his hood and mask. She looked at him, then pushed at his chest. It wasn't hard, but the resistance caught him by surprise, and she was able to roll out of his arms and land heavily on her back.
"I will not be your slave!" She bit out, tears filling her eyes as she stared at the masked figure, wondering what kind of monster lurked beneath the black sea of his robes. "I would rather die!"
A long gash on her temple bled down her face, oozing into her left eye and dripping on the sand as she struggled to stand.
"I won't do it again, do you understand? I will not be kept f-for… I can't! Not again…"
With each word, she seemed to grow weaker, and eventually, she lay still, disoriented and exhausted. Kylo knelt down and placed his gloved hand on her forehead. She flinched at the contact, tears welling in her eyes as he loomed over her, reminding her too much of the men who made her into this.
"Sleep," Kylo implored her.
The word seemed to be spoken into her mind. She could feel cool water filling her body, dragging her down, lapping at her will power, making her eyes heavy. It seemed to trickle out of the masked man's hand and into her head, and though she tried to stay afloat, eventually she let the cool, dark waters claim her.
"I assure you, she is far from death, Lord Ren."
"Then why would they tell me she was dying?"
The girl was woken by a man's shouting, but she kept her eyes determinedly shut. The longer she could pretend to sleep, the longer until she had to face her new master… and the more she could learn.
"I cannot speak for them, My Lord, but I would guess the medicine on such an uncivilized planet would be insufficient. With our technology, she is already healed, and will be free to go the moment she wakes up."
So, she wasn't dying, at least not anymore it seemed. The freedom that her mortal injury had allowed her was no more, not if she wanted to live. And she wanted to live.
"What was wrong with her?"
"Many things, Lord Ren. I will show you her scans if you would like."
She opened her eyes just enough that she could only just see her surroundings. The room was the brightest, cleanest white she'd ever set eyes on, and besides the doctor and the black-robed man… her master, the space was unoccupied.
The two figures shifted to look at a screen she couldn't see, and she closed her eyes tightly again. This was a new place. She wasn't on Jakku anymore, of that much she was sure. But other than that, nothing changed. She was still a slave and once again the property of a new master.
She had to choke back a quiet sob at the idea of having to adapt to the desires and random whims of another man. Learning what each master wanted was the hardest part of a slave's life. The name she'd been given by one, not liked by the next. The greeting for some, disrespectful to others. What earned nothing more than a disapproving look from one, merited a beating to another.
She hated her last master more than she had hated the rest combined, but she knew his cruelty well. This Lord Ren, as he seemed to be called, was a mystery to her. It was the uncertainty of this situation that made her most afraid. She wanted to survive now that she knew she wasn't dying, but like so many times before… she didn't know how.
More for this story, and The Rise of Solo, is coming soon.
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