Thank you for the comments guys! I really do appreciate each one and everyone's individual reactions. This chapter is Kylo Ren's POV.
Kylo mutters to himself under his breath.
He is thinking.
He paces like a beast of prey in his private chambers covered in blood and carnage from the ongoing battle on Dathomir.
"Supreme Leader," the disembodied voice of Captain Ingram crackles through his comlink, "we are taking heavy hits. Can you confirm reinforcements are on the way?" There is no ceremony in his question, no formality.
Kylo hesitates. Reinforcements are not coming. He spins Rey's stolen lightsaber in his hand before he ignites it and slices the comlink into a mangled mess of wires and smoke.
The First Order is fracturing between those who remain loyal to Kylo Ren and those who choose to follow his fallen Knights.
The First Order is supposed to be well past infractions like this. Kylo's stare is intense as he looks out of the flagship and across the vast expanse of space.
He is not thinking about how long his army can take the heavy hits. He is not thinking about how to fix the oversights that have lead up to this.
Kylo thinks about a year's worth of hard work obliterated. All of the effort, the time, the resources he spent to capture Rey. Only to contain her for a little over a month.
A dismal failure.
Kylo methodically analyzes where he went wrong with Rey. He was calm, for the most part. Reserved. Gentle. Apologetic. He tried to talk to her about her fucking feelings and tolerated the endless crying.
Another deep breath.
He expected Rey to recover from his deception and finally give herself permission to love Kylo Ren. He tires of pathetically pleading with her to trust him, to love him.
He is unable to fathom why a stupid detail like his old name, Ben Solo, has to get in the way.
Kylo watches X-wing fighters take out more TIEs than he thinks is possible. Their attack style reeks of Poe Dameron. An inferior male and one of the resistance's biggest idiots. He hopes FN-2187 is in the throes of battle on Dathomir. He hopes FN-2187 gets blown apart. Idiot Dameron deserves to feel pain.
Kylo needs to be out there in his TIE, he needs to be issuing orders to patch together the First Order before it unravels completely.
All he can do is try to connect with Rey.
Rey, he calls out to her.
I'm coming for you. I will fight for you and win.
Terror rips through the force before she shuts him out. It almost makes him feel bad. Almost. Kylo knows he cannot direct the full brunt of his rage at her. He curbs the instinct to threaten her for a second time.
Kylo pulls off his soiled gloves and lets them drop to the floor. He drafts a plan in his mind.
He hates that she puts him in this position - the position of having to hunt her down again in her current state.
Pregnant. She is fucking pregnant.
Kylo rolls his head from side to side and considers the possible consequences of his pursuit. What might happen if his quest causes her extreme distress. If she miscarries he will never forgive himself. If stress impacts the baby's development he will never forgive himself.
It is already a miracle he managed to put a baby in her. The concept of starting all over is exhausting.
An unwanted fact comes to the surface in Kylo's mind. His mother was active in the resistance while carrying him, his father gone for weeks at a time. Surely she felt immense stress during the pregnancy.
And he turned out fine.
It is a dark joke Kylo makes to himself.
He knows he is a deficient human being on every level.
Just more examples of his parents inadequacies. They never could prioritize family.
This is why Kylo is convinced he chose the perfect woman to build his dynasty with, to have a family with.
Rey will be everything a good mother should be: loving, kind, forgiving, understanding. She will be dedicated, not distracted or absent. Rey will never send their child away, never reject them. She will not consider their child a monster. She will fight to the death for their child.
Kylo meant it when he told Rey she was superior to him in every way.
He maps out his new plan with unhindered purpose.
Kylo will wait until she is in her last month to make a move. This is where her female orientation works against her. As she grows heavy and slow, he will work to make his body stronger and more unyielding than it already is.
He will pounce when she is round and unstable, hardly able to walk.
Rey's days of evading him by running and jumping onto ships will come to an end.
Kylo thinks he can manage to wait nine months. Or is it eight? He settles on eight months to be sure. Missing the birth is not an option and Kylo plans on being in the room during the birth of his child.
Let her have a peaceful and calm gestation. Let her feel safe.
He not-so-secretly hopes the resistance will ostracize Rey when they find out about her condition. When they find out who is responsible for it. He wants her to feel as lonely as he is. He wants her to regret she ever left him. The hormones will soften her attitude towards him. He realizes this contradicts his wish for her to have a peaceful gestation, but Kylo can't help it.
He misses her.
Kylo does not bother to check to see if the tracking device will inform him of her location. She is smart enough to remove it, and he did not order a secondary device to be embedded in her body. The embedded chips release fatal poison if the host wanders too far - odds he never wants to take with Rey.
The force link is how he will keep tabs on her. Kylo mentally lowers the intensity of their connection to a dull throb, nearly undetectable. It will roar to life again before he comes for her.
In the end he can only hope Rey cooperates. It will kill him to have to lock her up again and take the baby.
No, Kylo thinks as he stalks to the bridge, Rey will behave. She will be a good girl.
The bridge is in chaos and moral is low - Kylo can feel it. His lingering over Rey may cost him.
"I want a status report," he demands sharply. The officers avoid his line of sight more than usual.
"I asked for a status report," he booms. The chaos quiets. Kylo's voice is now the only sound on the bridge.
General Krog approaches. The lines in the older man's face run deep, he looks about twenty years older.
"Supreme Leader, we have managed to push back the resistance but…"
"But what?" Kylo sneers. Krog swallows, his adam's apple bobbing in his throat.
"We have sustained substantial losses. The remaining Knights retreated to our secondary base. The base, that, ah, chose not to assist us."
Kylo digests this information.
"Then we will go to the secondary base. That's an order."
General Krog looks at the Supreme Leader and his expression conveys his thoughts: the command is an insane suicide mission.
Kylo silently challenges him to disagree.
"Very good sir."
Kylo smirks. His hand rests on Rey's lightsaber. He will execute the remaining Knights and he will stabilize the First Order.
And then, he can only wait until she is ripe and ready.