A/N: Hello! This is my first (serious attempt anyways) Star Wars fanfiction (so minor errors regarding lore will occur and I apologize in advance). Like most of my writings, it's a fix fic, and one for fixing TROS. There is no Rey Palpatine/Skywalker in this. Ben Solo lives. HEA guaranteed. And more Rose Tico. Basically, anything that was retconned from TLJ in TROS is not in this fanfic.
Updates will be slow for a while since I usually like having the source material in front of me as I write, as much as I am not a fan of the source material. Most things in this fanfic will be drawing upon TFA and TLJ more than anything.
A Legacy of Duality
Chapter 1: Master of the Knights of Ren
The First Order's reign continues with Supreme Leader Kylo Ren at its helm, sending out searches from planet to planet to find the Resistance, but holding out on striking back.
The Resistance has gained more allies over the past months thanks to the renewed hope from Luke Skywalker's return, turning the tides of war in their favor. Infighting within the First Order has been destabilizing it and the Resistance is merging closer and closer to victory.
Meanwhile, Young Jedi Rey has been meditating alone on the force, with some aid from General Leia, but the Force connection she shares with Kylo Ren continues to plague her doubts and wear down her patience.
It was silent on the upper level of the dreadnought the Finalizer. None of the secondary personnel of the crew were doing their usual tasks of inspecting the electric panels or cleaning the floors.
That was the first thing that tipped off Kylo Ren.
He flared out his cape as he stalked the empty and cold halls. In his grip was the last item he was possessive of to an unhealthy degree: the helmet that he destroyed with his own fists, still in pieces and still unusable. In the back of his mind, he shoved back the reason he kept this symbol of humiliation, propping up intimidation and masking his real emotions within physically rather than with an aide.
She had cut herself off from the force. Completely. He couldn't feel her anymore, see her, or even feel her gaze of disappointment over his choice. She refused him, he refused her. He was Kylo Ren; he was far in too deep into the darkness to be ever worth coming back over to the light.
As he stalked the walls, the feeling of the inevitable was coming. His own Knights of Ren knew he was being weak, that he failed several times over to resist the Resistance. He elected to pin the blame on her.
He turned the corner and came face to face with General Hux.
"Supreme Leader," Hux uttered stiffly.
Kylo Ren stared at him, indifferent to Hux's presence, or the figures lingering behind Hux. He recognized the helms and armor of the Knights of Ren. His former comrades now turned against him.
Just like Luke Skywalker did.
Just like she did.
"General Hux, what do you want at this hour?" Kylo Ren said, keeping his face emotionless.
"I regret to inform you that a Resistance ship, an old vessel, escaped our clutches again and have made out with various supplies in our cargo hold."
A pang in his chest. He had a very good idea of who was on that ship.
For the moment he had to disregard his thoughts and his escaped chance to see her again in the flesh outside their now-disregarded force bond. Steeling his brows in a tight line, he kept his voice into that of borderline menacing anger. His posture straightened and clutched his broken helm tighter.
He was Kylo Ren, Master of the Knights of Ren for the next few minutes.
"Anything else to report?"
"I also regret," Hux took a step forward, trying hard not to show a smirk of pure malice. "That Supreme Leader, you are no longer welcome within the First Order."
"And who shall rule instead. Without me," he said, knowing this was a losing battle already. "You will have no foot to stand upon. Do you forget my power?"
At least four of the Knights of Ren were standing with Hux. They reached for their lightsabers, not yet activating their blades. With slow steps, each Knight encircled Kylo Ren, tall and vigilant in their stances. Kylo Ren reached for his saber on his belt.
Something shook in the force. The lingering feeling of some completion returned to him, soothing yet, not entirely all there. The empty void left by her absence in the force was slowly coming back to him. But his luck was failing him. Her gaze was burning into his helmet from across the room. Of all the times the force would connect them it had to be now when he had to face his most inevitable defeat and him at his most weak.
"Your weakness, your disregard for the Resistance; I fail to see how I would lack any footing here. I shall be the Supreme Leader and will finish what you and Snoke could not: destroy the Resistance and bring Snoke's killer to justice," Hux declared.
The hiss of four lightsabers igniting rang in Kylo's ears. "You want to know the truth, General?" he said, drawing out each word.
Hux raised an eyebrow at his posturing. "What?"
Kylo Ren took a step forward and prepared his lightsaber, the energy shaking with unsteady force in his steel grip. "I was the one who killed Snoke."
"Knights apprehend the traitor!" Hux ordered, stepping back without tearing his malice-filled grin away from Kylo Ren.
Even with the gaze of her still lingering on him, Kylo Ren raised his lightsaber to stab the first Knight coming at him while force pushing away two knights at his flank. He missed. A step behind him alerted him to an incoming strike. He ducked down, the blade narrowly missing his dark locks. The hot buzzing of the saber whirled in his ear. He sliced at the leg of the assailant in front of him, a leg coming clean off. With a scream, the Knight fell over on the wall and clutched at their knee.
Kylo Ren, still ducked down, twisted around and clashed blades with two Knights. The other two at his flank charged at him, having recovered from their collision with a wall. Redirecting the two sabers he flipped backward—a new trick he learned from watching her practicing. He had to pick his battles now; he couldn't just use his rage to fuel his dark side, or what rage was left within him.
In the past few months, he found it hard to keep up his anger, instead crawling into a desperate shell of himself wallowing in self-pity and misery.
So he did what he had to do. Standing his ground, Kylo Ren, knowing she was still watching his every move but not the context surrounding each action, concentrated on the force and sent the Knights of Ren flying into the air. With a turn on his heel, he began to sprint away.
Hux shouted more orders, fury shaking in his tone and echoing down the hallways.
It was then that Kylo Ren didn't feel the connection anymore, but her presence in the force remained. It was a relief that she had not closed herself off again.
Two Knights managed to recover from his use of the force, chasing him straight to the elevator past a storage closet. Kylo stopped before the entry and slammed his fingers into the buttons. It opened, and Kylo backed into the small chamber. He stuck his hand out to force the wiring and crates in the storage closet out to hit the Knights. He closed the doors, moving down to the main hangar where his ship was. Stepping out he destroyed the elevator's controls with a few broad slashes of his volatile red lightsaber.
Looking down at his helm, he decided best that there was no way he could keep this item anymore with its associations. So he dropped it.
He steeled himself again and walked as if nothing was any different, ignored by officers and guards. Climbing aboard his TIE-Silencer, he settled himself in, breathing in the dry air and reaching for the main clutch.
Taking off, he let the force guide his way out. He knew that Hux would go straight to firing upon his vessel, but it would be a few minutes before that would happen. He picked up on the speed, forcing himself to concentrate on getting out of range before Hux could do anything.
As predicted, the long-range cannons were firing at him. Breathing in and out slowly, Kylo Ren put his experience to use and flew up and under, narrowly missing each cannon fire like it was second nature.
It was at this point Kylo Ren did not know where he was exactly headed once he was long out of range of the cannons and the fleet. For all his meticulous planning, anticipating this coup weeks in advance during the midst of his isolation in the force, he hadn't considered where he should even go. His first instinct was to go to the Resistance, but he knew he was a dead man on sight if seen. He knew all this time where they were but destroyed the evidence, hoping that Hux wouldn't find them.
He wanted to see her more than anything. He needed to get somewhere first and pray that the force would connect them again. He wanted to talk to her and ask the one question that had been keeping him up at night.
Why did Rey cut herself off from the force?
A/N: Yes I totally got the idea for the title from Kingdom Hearts.