Cardo picked the shell of Palpatine from the ground, lifting him high as he tore the saber through what remained of flesh and fabric.
"Thank you," he murmured, throwing aside what was left, as though he had just torn apart a doll, and not the great Sith Emperor.
Palpatine fell through the air, until he hit the ground and bundled, no more than ragged fabrics amongst the leaf litter.
Shock jolted through Rey, followed by a seething rage.
She wanted to be the one to do it.
"We have to allow a dying man his last speech, I suppose." Cardo laughed.
His tone was hollow and as harsh as his face. His short, mahogany hair was cut close to the skin of his skull, and the points of his cheeks and jaw were sharp.
His brown eyes watched Ben thoughtfully.
Assessing.
Calculating.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Hux screeched from the stormtrooper vessel, surging several steps towards Cardo, before realising his mistake. He retreated on his steps quickly, falling out of the grasp of the Knights, still livid.
"Making room for a new Sith Order. The Final Order." Cardo's eyes never left Ben's, boring into him as he responded to Hux's furious demand.
Hux opened his mouth, but Cardo interrupted him before words could form at his tongue. A hollow smirk lifted at the corner of Cardo's lips.
"Now, you can fall back into line willingly, below us, where you belong, or we can use means that I know you're more familiar." Ben knew then that the wounds inflicted on Hux's face were from Cardo's own fists, and Hux stepped backwards, his fury disintegrating into loathing and desperation.
Barely a moment passed before Hux turned and threw himself inside the stormtrooper vessel, hastily roaring the engines to life as he attempted to flee.
No! Rey cried through their bond.
Their plan was about to fall to pieces before them.
Ben and Rey stepped fully into the clearing now, standing before the Knights, desperate, as their strategy to save the rebellion was only moments from leaving the surface.
"Oh, have we created a little problem in your plan?" Cardo chuckled darkly, observing the way Rey's eyes flickered to the vessel.
"It's too late for that. We are going to drain your lifeforce, just as Palpatine intended. Though, we are going to make the experience far more prolonged and painful for you both."
The stormtrooper transport rose from the earth below, sending leaf litter cascading in its wake, ascending quickly into the air above them.
"If he reaches that vessel, hux will obliterate this planet to destroy us all. I'm sure that will throw a harris wrench in your plan too." Ben deadpanned, fingers twitching with fear and rage.
Cardo moved forward with such calculated intent that Ben was almost unsure it was the same Cardo he had faced last in training.
Almost.
"Do you really think Hux has that kind of power? That kind of control?" Cardo whispered, eyes boring a hole straight through Ben's soul once more, the cruel arrogance vibrating from his body.
"See, I'd rather not make that kind of gamble." Ben retorted and glanced to Rey. Rey's eyes flickered from Cardo to Ben, and she nodded, bringing her communicator closer to her lips.
"Finn, Poe. If you can hear me, a stormtrooper cargo just left the surface of Endor. You need to bring it down before it reaches the main vessel, otherwise Hux will blow this planet from the galaxy."
Poe did not respond, but a crackled 'copy' sounded from Finn, and Ben felt their twin fighter begin its approach.
Ben's attention never left Cardo. He was curled and arced, poised to strike.
"You really think you have it in you?" Ben begun to taunt.
Cardo's arrogance had always been his weakness. Their only chance was to undermine him and hope that the darkness would smother him in a blind fury.
In his rage, he would become reckless.
"You really think that without him, you will be able to achieve what he desired?"
Cardo's eyes darkened then, his gaze hungrily transfixed on Ben as he took a step forward. He extended his arm to reveal a dark metal case between his fingertips, and he flicked the switch, revealing the colour of his saber.
The kyber burned and buzzed with light, but it was a pale light.
As pale as the raw kyber that grew from the caverns of Ilum.
They had not been able to attune their lightsabers.
Ben and Rey's odds of surviving just increased by a modicum.
"Palpatine was a nothing more than a senile husk. His unconscious mind strayed to fantasies of the moment he would take your lives and become whole again, all in excruciating detail." His feet shifted forward once more, dangerously bridging the distance between them.
"His final gift. He passed on his teachings of the Sith Order without even realising." Cardo's mouth turned upwards, something animal-like about the way his muscles twitched, as though he was baring his teeth at his prey.
"That power is something I knew we would always achieve. It is the way we will torture you that has been my own personal fantasy."
Rey stepped forward then, bringing her own saber case outwards as she fronted him, sensing the calculated fervour pouring through his entire body.
"You will be dead before you are given the chance." Rey growled fiercely, her body eclipsing Ben's as she faced down the Knights.
Fiery protectiveness coursed through her force energy, adoration and rage scorching her from within.
Rey lifted her saber before her, grasping the sleek metal between both hands as she fell into a stance Ben was sure Luke had taught her.
Her fingers flicked against the mechanism quickly and as the lightsaber blazed to life between them, Ben froze.
Sunlight flickered and crackled through the air before them, the golden tones of her attuned kyber drawing surprise and fuelling a desperate greed from the Knights before them.
Ben could not believe it.
Rey's kyber glowed brilliantly through the metal casing, casting the exact same shade of yellow as Ben's own kyber.
Ben took a moment to school himself, regaining control of his breathing, before stepping once more to Rey's side and mimicking her Jedi stance.
He brushed the mechanism with deft hands, and the golden rays that spilled from his lightsaber amplified through the space between them, igniting the balance within them as they grounded themselves in all that fuelled their kyber.
Love. Fear. Hope. Desperation. Joy. Anxiety. Life. Death.
The light rising, and dark to meet it.
Rey's wide eyes flickered to his lightsaber, wonder belting through the bond towards him.
Ben… She murmured, love and fury coursing through her like a wildfire, threatening to consume all in its path.
She didn't have the time to finish the thoughts that raced through her mind.
A low growl tore through the lips of Cardo, and he leapt for Ben, lightsaber swinging.
alright alright, sorry to leave on another cliffhanger! if I were to upload this chapter and the next as one, like I had originally planned, it would end up being well over 3000 words, so I thought I would just split em! I will have three chapters after this for sure though- I'm partway through the next one, and then the two after shouldn't take too long to get through. I'm hoping I will be finished by next weekend!
Alright, now to explain a little on the plot thus far! I always felt that the Knights of Ren had SO much potential in the movies, yet we saw more of them in accompanied novels and guides than we did in the movies. I loved the Palpatine reveal, and I do love how the ending played out in TROS for the most part, but honestly, I just wanted the Knights of Ren AND Hux to have the arcs they deserve! They are the big bads for me, and that was always an important part of writing this story, even more so after Ben killed them so quickly in TROS.
what do ya'll think? despite how I know I want this story to end, I'm quite uncertain as to whether I'm doing it justice. Is the suspense gripping enough for you? are ya'll terrified for our dyad babies? leave a review and lemme know! thank you again so much for the reviews on the previous chapter! I see you and I appreciate you! thanks for sticking with me this far! xxx