Chapter 4: Union

She rested in the crook of his neck for a time, her pelvis still across his, her arms around his neck. Perhaps he slept, perhaps he only blacked out. Either way, time passed without his knowing it. When he awoke, she had already draped herself in a red cloak she'd stolen off one of the bodies arrayed on the floor and was pulling his clothes back across his skin, though they fit poorly, given the slicing she'd done. His wrists were bloody from his thrashing against the shackles, his ankles sore through his boots. His cloak and gloves remained off. Sweat still covered him, leaving him cold and shivering. He couldn't meet her gaze. He vowed to himself that he would defeat her one day, that her opportunity to join him was passed. Whatever power they might have shared would now be his alone, for it was clear she had no intent to kill him. Unless he was now useless to her, her having taken what she wanted from him.

"Kylo," she said, standing. "Please, come with me. Command your soldiers to stand down. We can just leave. If it helps you, we can make it look like you are arresting me. But let's go, it's time."

"Never," he choked out. "It's time you let me go and get back to your little band of troublemakers. Nothing has changed." He struggled to say the last words, as everything had changed. She'd taken far more than only his virginity. How long it would be for him to regain his dignity, his self-control, he couldn't imagine. Years, possibly, but he would start now, not give in to her again.

"You have to come, Ben."

"Stop calling me that, you know he doesn't exist anymore!"

"He does, and so does his child," she said, placing a hand on her belly. "I can tell already, the energy, our energy combined, is already growing inside me. Don't abandon your child, Ben. Don't leave her without a father."

He gaped at her, his psyche smashing to pieces, his mind racing from one truth to the next. There was no Ben, only Kylo. Ben would have a child. Kylo would be a father. He would be a father. His own father feared him. He'd killed his father. He'd killed her father. He could never have a child. He would rule the galaxy alone as Supreme Leader. He would rule with Rey. He would die here in this chair first. His daughter would be powerful, superior like him, but rule nothing. She would grow in hatred for his rejection. She would join her mother in a renewed and robust opposition. His pain, the pain of fear and abandonment, would persist, taking down a being who might be among the most powerful, most Force-sensitive the worlds had seen.

There was no going back, the child was a fact. He could feel it, too. His child, another generation of supreme beings, would be born and he would do anything for her. His ambition and vision grew, for he knew well what a mother would do for her child. He was sure this child was destined for power, for greatness even greater than his. But for now, the child and her mother would need protection, the strongest protection in the galaxy, the protection of a father, of the Supreme Leader of the First Order, of Kylo Ren.

"Rey," he said commandingly. "Release me and I'll protect you and raise our child. You can't kill the father of your child and if you hesitate, my anger will be beyond anything you've witnessed. But you must know that my relinquishing the throne of Supreme Leader won't stop the fighting."

Rey lay a hand across her belly, feeling a new truth. She could not leave him now, could not allow her child to grow up with only half of a family. She meant to control him with the shackles and possibly with this child, but to her horror, she realized he now controlled her, too. Every touch of their skin tightened a bond that bound in both directions. To balance the Force together, the Dark Side would have to come to the Light, but also the Light come to the Dark. They could only fulfill their destiny in union, not one conquering the other. The First Order wouldn't simply vanish without him, but it could be made into something different.

"I know, Kylo, but it will give us hope for a better future."

She'd said his name, the name he'd chosen for himself. "I will remain as ruler, but I will lead toward the Light. You will lead with me, as a dyad."

Her consciousness bore deeply into his, trying to see his inner truth. He opened his whole mind to her, let her see his plans, feel his energy. He meant his words. He still desired greatness, either from the Dark Side or the Light Side. Was there a way that they could be great, even from the Light Side? To balance the Force, he would need to come closer to the Light, but she would also need to come closer to the Dark. She wasn't sure she could without falling in completely.

She approached him and straddled him once more. He looked up at her.

"You still fear me, Rey. I will never hurt you again, never," he said. "No, it is not me you fear, but yourself. Of losing control, of being consumed by the Dark Side."

Her fear was loss of control, loss of herself. She imagined a world not of conflict, but of compromise. The rebels did not want domination, only a voice. To get there would require compromise from them both, but also trust, of which there was very little to build on.

She bent her head to his and kissed him again, deeply, only this time, he returned the kiss, eagerly, his mouth opening to hers, the warmth of his lips now melting into hers. Her hands cupped his cheeks, drawing him closer, her warmth flowing through him.

"Yes, Kylo," she said. "Just as you fear being diminished by the pull of the Light. Together, Light and Dark can grow beyond what either is capable alone."

His anticipation grew as her hands descended, then he heard the hard clank of the wrist shackles opening and falling to the floor. Hands now free, he pulled her into his embrace, all his pent-up needs now freed, terror giving way to courage. She stood then bent down to release the ankle shackles; he released her hair, his hands drawn through the sweat of her exertions. He pulled her body back to his, the energy that had previously flown only through his anger and determination now mobilized to his body, from his body to hers. Now that he knew their power together, he knew why intimate relationships were forbidden to Jedi. His will was not fully his own anymore, her power no longer truly separate from his own, but joined. Being without her and their child was an impossible thought, as much for him as it was for her. A way forward, together, must be found, a balance of Light and Dark, of ruling, but with alliance.

This iron throne or the stone floor was no place for building his first alliance, so he picked her up and carried her to the deep, cushioned couches that lined the outer rim of the room. There, he lay her down, her breaths coming in gasps, like his own. She fingered his long, dark hair, twisting the curls around her fingers, her gentle pull drawing him to her in haste, as much as her chain-whip would have done.

At the beginning of the day, still hidden in a crate labeled as wine for his celebration, she could not have imagined finding herself willingly beneath Kylo, in both surrender and victory simultaneously. She couldn't have imagined how great her desire for him would grow, and that their union would not be her domination of him but their liberation together. She had entered the room ready to consume him with her body, and now she was consumed with desire for his. She pulled frantically at the fasteners of his trousers, her fingers, once nimble, clumsy in their haste. He pulled at the zipper running down the front of her bodysuit and peeled it back from her shoulders, freeing her from its tight confines.

She lay back, he knelt over her, one foot on the floor, the other beside her legs, his lips swollen with desire for hers. He paused above her, taking in the sensation of her life force as it coursed through him wherever their skin touched. The fire of her desire added further fuel to his own.

"Rey, I don't know how…"

He had meant to take her slowly, to have the experience last as long as possible. She reached forward and stroked his cock, already stiff and ready, before guiding him into her, and all thoughts of a slow or gentle union vanished. He immediately succumbed to his urge and plunged deep, struggling to go further, encouraged by her cries of pleasure and the mad grip she now had on his buttocks.

He hadn't known that women might like this before, had never cared if they did or not. The tales his officers told never involved consideration of pleasure or joy for their partners. Her joy was all that mattered to him now. He withdrew, then plunged again, losing himself in the sensation of her insides gripping him. She arched backward, her pelvis rising along his length and letting his ever deeper in.

"This?" he asked.

"Yes, Kylo, yes!"

He couldn't even bring himself to open his eyes, as the beautiful sight of her full, round breasts heaving was too much for him to bear. He longed to cover them with his mouth, with his hands, to taste her, to feel every part of her skin on his own, but even the thought of this brought him so close to climax, to an end he didn't want too soon, that he kept his hands braced above her shoulders. How a man could breathe with his mouth thus engaged remained a mystery, for now, as his mouth was wide open, gasping, pulling for more oxygen to fuel his effort. He pounded her rhythmically until he felt his whole body would explode, her hands pressing him from behind, pushing him to thrust harder, deeper, faster as he grunted with maximum exertion.

Was he hurting her? It was painful for him, but even more painful if he slowed down.

"This?" he repeated.

"Oh, Kylo," was all she managed.

Her tightening grasp on his behind gave him the command that he needed. He complied readily, speeding the rhythm as fast as she was able to keep up until he felt her begin to shudder, her hands pulling at his skin. With a final plunge, groan, and collapse, he released in her, emptying himself yet again as her legs wrapped around him and he lay atop her heaving chest.

Once their breathing had returned to normal, he lay beside her, pulling his cloak across their entwined bodies, thinking of all he would need to do to begin to remake the First Order as a force for peace, its greatness stemming from both the Dark and the Light. There would be more time, so he assessed what would need to be done first.

"Kylo," she said at last. "That was incredible." She lay back, her hand moving from his rear to her belly. Pleasing her, pleasing anyone other than himself, had never felt so strong, so much like power, before. Pleasing his parents and the masters in his youth, doing Snoke's bidding, was only obedience, submission. Now he felt the strength of union, the power he had to amplify Rey's strength with his own and understood. The Ascendance Day celebrations tomorrow would be remade into their wedding day, an announcement of a new era, a great era, one of unstoppable power to change worlds for the better. He envisioned himself, beloved more than feared, respected and revered as much as his Dyad.

"Now our daughter will have a twin; one conceived in Darkness, the other in Light." Kylo Ren stared at her, still imagining their ruling in power together, but now with the Light joined to the Dark, bringing peace, for all children.

Author's note: Your review, public or in PM, is most welcomed.