I still don't have an exact count of chapters but I think this fic will be completed in the next 2 weeks.
Navigating the Falcon allows Kylo to move through the Resistance base with ease.
He informs his Generals that he is the pilot and to focus on the Knight's army. He wants every one of their ships driven into the ground, every one of their soldiers dead.
He will take no prisoners.
The result is devastating for the Resistance. The base becomes the battleground for the war between the First Order and the Knight's military. Multiple neighborhoods are wiped out. The medic ward, food supply warehouse, the education center for children. All annihilated. Never mind the Resistance's crafts - most of them bombed into oblivion.
Once Kylo would have been thrilled with the results. This time he feels indifferent, if not a little apologetic.
Rey will not be happy. Her friends might be dead.
Kylo flies low, his turns sharp as he avoids open fire. The carnage, the casualties he glances below him - it is bad.
He commands General Krog to hold back on detonating their most destructive bombs. Kylo wants to hit the Knight's flagship with his most powerful weapons. He orders Krog to prep the dreadnoughts on all of his ships, to ready the fleet.
Kylo slants the Falcon upwards into the sky and hears the comlink beep.
He leaves it, not wanting to hear any further provocations from the Knights.
Revenge festers inside him at their betrayal, their mutinous behavior. It gnaws at his soul - if he has one - unceasing until he settles the score between the Knights and himself. Former Knights.
Damien and Max. An unlikely duo. He always did have to watch the pair closely.
They never liked each other much. Their alliance must be out of desperation. Kylo's eyes darken as he recalls the praise he would bestow on Damien for inventing the most delicious torture methods. Slow, agonizing, torture that would leave their victims not begging for mercy, but death.
Max. He would have made for a solid Knight if he were not so gluttonous. Forever gorging himself on the slew of vices Kylo bans from the Order: whores, alcohol, pills - pills that would cause him to wander the halls of the flagship in a dazed trance. Sloppy. Weak.
Kylo knows under different circumstances Rey could take on the Knights. But not now. He's seen to that - and this is not a realization Kylo is proud to admit.
She is pregnant and not herself. Angry and clumsy - almost tripping in the forest. She lacks her usual sharp awareness when she fails to sense him near.
The baby clothes he tosses away. Her expression when he calls her trash.
As usual, he goes too far with her - he always does.
He only wants to test her. He only wants to make sure she still feels for him.
The pain, the waves of grief that wash over and through her when he verbally tears her down prove to Kylo that she still cares. The day Rey reacts to his words with indifference will be the day he loses her, will be the day she truly stops harboring feelings for him.
"And I don't love you. Not anymore. You've done a thorough job of destroying it."
Her previous declaration still eats away at him. He had her love. He damn well had it.
Kylo tells himself she did not mean it. She was upset when she spoke. Reactive. Unbalanced. Rey loves him and always will. It is her curse, her cross to bear, and it is time he gets serious about making it more bearable for her.
Kylo broods over his inability to keep Rey and his unborn son safe. The way his unbridled rage rules him, dictates his poor choices. Kylo knows he is right not to redeem himself. To think he is capable of it.
He is not.
Kylo can fake being good for a while, but he eventually reverts back to his true nature. He wishes he could change this, especially for Rey, but it is a dead end.
The comlink will not stop flashing and he throws a punch at it. He braces for Krog or the Knight's voice to come through the speakers. Instead a high pitched tone fills his ears.
"Rey? Rey? Can you hear me? Tell me you're okay! Leia said you're in the Falcon…" the voice cuts out and Kylo's blood runs cold at the mention of his mother. The shaky voice continues, "We're going to bunker 78 on the westside. I repeat 78 on the westside. I'm evacuating the infirmary…", more static, "Finn…flying with Poe...meet us at 78 if you can, can you...confirm…you're okay?"
Kylo keeps completely silent while he pings Rose's location - the location of the infirmary she is evacuating.
When he obtains her location the Falcon lurches in the opposite direction of the flagship. The little she-devil, Rose, will make for excellent bait in the event that Rey resists him.
No, no. Kylo stops. He reminds himself he will make life bearable for Rey.
He is proud of his ability to reel himself in.
Rose will be a present for Rey, a peace offering. Not bait - he will not threaten Rose's safety. She will be Rey's only female companion. When Rose is not under lock and key, the two can bond under the steadfast observation of stormtroopers.
The Falcon cautiously docks amongst rubble and smoke. Kylo disembarks and it is dark, the night still so deep - that Rose bolts forward onto the Falcon's ramp.
"Rey! Oh my god, you're okay! Is the baby..." Rose runs right up against his chest. She glances up and her skin turns pale, horror gracing her features.
"Hello Rose."
Before she has a chance to scream, a chance to reach for her blaster, he flicks his hand and she passes out.
Kylo does not carry her the way he carried Rey. He drags Rose by the leg, unceremoniously, onto the ship. As the ramp closes he hears confused and scared cries outside.
Kylo's laugh is low and throaty.
Once she is properly restrained he resumes his path to the First Order flagship and to rescue Rey.
She will be grateful and relieved to see him. The spite she spews - that she prefers the captivity of the Knights to him is a lie. Rey will embrace him, kiss him, she will shower him with enthusiastic affection in bed.
After all, Kylo thinks, he deserves it for being her hero.
Rey hardens herself as she follows Max to dinner. With his mask off he flashes her toothy smiles - smiles too wide, too unnatural to be comforting. They are to discuss Kylo's assassination and she will be the entertainment - whatever that means. He asks her if she wants another baby after this one. Her skin crawls.
Rey tries to fight the feeling of emotional bankruptcy. That there is nothing left to feel, nothing left to say, nothing left but the void enveloping her mind in swirling blackness.
She closes her eyes. She cannot let the dark atmosphere of Dathomir draw her into a depression, into hopelessness. Rey is stronger than these men - no - these perverted little boys.
The doors open and Rey finds herself in a circular decaying chamber that must have been magnificent at some point. The room is packed with men sitting in chairs around the perimeter. Thick smoke fills her nostrils, choking her, and she hears glasses clinking, alcohol spilling. The floor is sticky and smells of urine. She walks forward, head held high.
When the smoke parts she notices the women present. All nearly naked, they strut around the chamber delivering drinks. Some of them sit on the laps of men. Rey senses they are not here by choice.
This Order is the opposite of Kylo Ren's clean, stark, obsessively polished flagship. Rey's nostrils flare in disgust.
The fair haired Knight sits on a throne. A ghost of a smile flickers across his face.
"Rey. Welcome. Come here," he hooks a finger and wags it as though she were a dog. He scowls when she does not move.
"I said, come here, " he calls on the force to move her to his throne.
Rey is faster. If she can defeat Kylo in combat, then she can beat a lesser Knight. The Knight slams against his chair, the crack of his head echoing throughout the chamber.
He rolls his neck.
"Oh my," he says quietly, "you aren't going to make this easy, are you? Rey, Rey, Rey," he stands and circles her.
"It is my hope that you will enjoy our little ...celebration. Our feast. I want you to enjoy what we have planned for you."
Rey gathers her nerve.
"You're despicable. This so-called New Order is a sham. I expected more from the Knights of Ren. You are nothing but a bunch of power hungry, pathetic little boys."
The smile falls off the face of the Knight.
"You see, gentlemen?" He sweeps his arm around with room with an air of arrogance,"This is the little desert savage Ren has been trying to tame. Maddening, is she not?"
He turns back to Rey.
"I think we will begin with tonight's entertainment."
She senses Max, still behind her, vibrating with electric excitement.
"We want a demonstration of your powers, Rey. You will spar with Max. If you lose, he gets to bed you. Here, in front of everyone."
"And if I win?"
"You won't."
Cruel laughter and howls reverberate throughout the room.
The fair Knight offers Rey his double-edged saber. His eyes sparkle at her, mockingly.
It is a foolish, overconfident maneuver.
Rey holds the hilt of the dark weapon in her hand and locks eyes with him. Without as much as a gasp, she ignites it and drives it through the laughing Knight's chest.
She trembles from the kill as his flesh sizzles. His eyes are frozen, glazed over in shock as his last breath rattles out of his broken body.
"Impressive."
It is Max and his unnatural smile. "Now, how about you try me before I have you?" He activates two sabers and steps forward.
Rey narrows her eyes and prepares to fight for her life.
I know what my endgame is for Kylo Ren, but do you guys think he is redeemable? Thx for reading.