Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property and creation of Lucas Film and Disney. I own none of the characters and places mentioned in this story.
Special thanks to my beta-reader Chridder (from AO3) for helping me out with this.
Kylo Ren was content. For once in Force knows how long, someone was happy being around him, namely Rey.
Ever since Rey visited him a week ago, when he offered her a sandwich, their relationship changed. Following their discussion, Kylo decided in what direction their relationship should go. It was clear to him that Snoke's teachings won't work with Rey.
She was brave and resilient, able to withstand the most difficult situations, possibly even torture. Then there was a small side of him that was appalled at ever using Snoke's teachings on Rey.
So both him and Rey silently agreed that whenever they spent time together, they would not talk about their different ideologies, to have a relationship of mutual respect.
Also, unbeknownst to Rey, she earned a little bit of trust from him after he found out that she brought him back and later returned his lightsaber.
Anyway, she has visited him every day since then. She would talk about small tidbits from her childhood, space ships or mechanical stuff.
Strange enough was the fact that he started to look forward to every time she came by.
He liked to listen to the sound of her voice. It had a calming effect on him. Two times he even fell asleep listening to her talk.
Then, out of the blue he asked her if she had ever gone to the opera.
"No," was her curtly answer.
Well, that won't do. He needed to rectify that. So he extended an invitation to her to came with him to the opera.
After some reluctance, she accepted the invitation. During their viewing of the Squid Lake ballet, Rey kept touching his forearm or his hand unconsciously when she got excited about a certain part of the ballet.
And her face...he never saw someone smiling so broadly with him around. He never paid attention to her face before. While Rey was watching the ballet intensely, he was studying her face through the visor of his mask. He wanted to imprint the details of her face in his memory, to remember her like this in one of the rare moments that she smiled with him by her side.
At the end of the ballet, Rey was reluctant to leave, and to be honest, he wasn't too eager to leave either.
So when Rey asked him if he would like to accompany her in a late night stroll, he nodded in acceptance. So Rey grabbed his hand and began to drag him to all of her favorite spots in Coruscant.
Then he asked her to come back with him to the castle. He wanted to show her his face.
As a sign of his trust. Not completely, yet, no. She and Ken were still under suspicion of being in cohorts with the Resistance. But he wanted to let her know that by saving his life and returning his lightsaber to him, she earned some of his trust, that those things meant something to him.
So here he was, back at his castle, waiting for Rey to return.
Rey was in the bathroom trying to make herself a little presentable before she returned so Kylo could show her the surprise he had for her.
She would never again wear a dress during late night stroll. She decided to wear a simple, yet elegant blue dress for the ballet.
But it was a poor decision. Not only her dress got wrinkled, but also it didn't offer her protection against the cool air of the night.
While walking with Kylo, she began to shiver due to the cool air of the night.
Then to her utter surprise, Kylo pulled her back against his chest and covered the both of them with his cloak in a tight embrace. She felt warm against his chest and her cheeks reddened like a tomato in embarassment.
They returned to the castle late in the night where Kylo told her that he had a surprise for her. Then she used the toilet excuse to get away from him.
Her heart was raging because of him and she needed to clear her head before facing him. She didn't know what she was feeling, but she knew that her feelings for Kylo started to change.
Did she saw him as an ally? As a confidante? As a friend? Could she ever hope to lo...
But she never finished her line of thought because a brown gloved hand covered her mouth.
"Don't scream!" a female voice whispered in her ear like an command.
"I only want to get to Kylo Ren," she added gravely.
Rey was terrified. The night that Kylo decided to give a free day to most of the stormtroopers and his knights, leaving only a skeleton guard to watch over the premises, an intruder decided to sneak into the castle.
Then she felt something cold being pressed to her throat — a knife.
"Be a good girl and lead me to Kylo Ren. And don't do anything stupid," the woman warned Rey.
Then the both of them started to move from the bathroom towards the hallway.
Rey realized what this woman intended to do if she got to Kylo Ren. She wanted to kill him. And she choose the perfect moment to do so. Kylo was still recovering from his wounds. Rey knew that she needed to slow the woman down before the both of them got to Kylo.
So she began to slow her pace.
"Walk faster!" the woman demanded.
"I can't... the dress..." Rey mumbled.
Then Rey saw a red light glowing at the end of the hallway. Kylo Ren was in front of them.
"I don't know who you are, but if I were I you I would let her go," the mechanical voice of Kylo Ren billowed through the hallway.
"You really don't recognize me, do you?" the woman asked with mock hurt while taking the hand that was on Rey's mouth and removing the hood from her head, revealing black hair and hazel eyes.
Recognition lit in Kylo Ren's eyes, and animosity in his heart.
"So we meet again, Landa Solo," Kylo Ren added with venom in his voice.
Author's notes:
This chapter is the other one that I wanted to post on 20th October.
So I suppose the rabbit it's out of the bag, now.
The two women, Garma and the newly revealed, Landa, that appeared in the previous chapter, Rendezvous, are in fact Kylo Ren's half sisters and half sisters to each other (more about their background and who their mothers are in the following chapters).
What do you think about this chapter?
Did you suspected that Landa and Garma were related to Kylo Ren?
Feel free to leave a review.
Until next time!