Chapter One: Etched All Over

35 ABY

Two Years After The Creation of Rey of Harmony.

Location: The Core, Zug System, Aaghra.

Terrain: Molten Rock.

Population: 0.

Rey landed her large carrier starship she'd named Amethyst on the rock and lava covered planet of Aaghra. She didn't understand why the Sages — Yoda came up with the name — told her to come here, and once more, she found herself doing as she was told.

After her creation, Rey spent a year of her life being trained by all of the Sages — Mace Windu might as well have not bothered turning up — and they taught her about the world. She could now read and write; she learnt both the light and dark side of history; and Anakin showed her how to fly and run a spacecraft. The tension was thick for quite a while, but Anakin and Vader have managed to avoid one another since their confrontation. Whereas Anakin had apologised to her, she'd received nothing of the sort from Vader — and she didn't expect him to.

Yoda worked out that the Force within Anakin had decided to present itself in two forms after death. So, theoretically, Anakin and Vader are separate entities with their own thoughts and feelings. It took a long time for Rey to fully understand what was going on, but she was glad to get to know who Vader had been.

However, the one thing that irked her about Vader was his secrecy. The history Yoda had taught her about the light side stopped with the start of the New Republic, and Rey knew there was more to it. Vader told her about the Sith, and when she pushed for information about the First Order, he pinned her with a look that told her not to push. It didn't matter though, because now she could travel and she heard bits of the story from other travellers.

The First Order wished to control the galaxy, and Supreme Leader Snoke led them. Rey had heard stories about their brutality but she was yet to encounter any of it. She only ever practised her fighting with Obi-Wan and Vader, so she often wondered how her instincts would react in a confrontation.

The year leading up to now has been filled with small missions set by Qui-Gon and Yoda. They write her missives about a planet's history, then send her on her way to bring back a key part of the land. Yet, this was the most difficult one so far since Aaghra was a world covered in molten rock and a population of zero.

Rey checked the scanner once more then got to her feet to have a proper look at the planet. She had no idea what the Sages expected her to find here, and they weren't generous with their hints either. With a sigh, she headed from the control pod and pressed the release button for the door. It opened with a hiss as the ramp unfolded, and Rey glanced at her staff resting against the wall.

Yoda had taught her how to create her own lightsaber, and to no surprise, the plasma was purple. She'd been excited at first to be able to wield her own against Vader in a fight, but her training with her staff had left her with more openings when using a lightsaber. So, once again, Vader spent a lot of his time beating her into the ground.

All of this meant that she had to take her lightsaber with her all the time, so she had little opportunity to wield her favourite weapon. Qui-Gon had warned her about carrying her lightsaber openly because this would draw attention to herself. The last Jedi was Luke Skywalker, and if someone started to notice what she was doing, rumours would start to spread.

Rey walked down the ramp, pausing for a few seconds as the warm air hit her cheeks, then she carried on until her feet touched rocky ground.

"What now?" She said aloud to no one.

She procrastinated for a few minutes before starting her journey across the rocky terrain. When she was sent on these types of missions, the thing she must return to Yoda had to have a connection to the Force. One time it had been a rock that had called to her from a cave — Rey saw little value in it — and Yoda added it to his collection. The Sages chose the AT-AT as their base — this didn't include Vader — and Yoda had used some incantation to shield it away from normal eyes. So, they all reside there when it pleased them; they still all appear to her when she calls for them, but she knew that they returned to the base afterwards rather than going back to wandering aimlessly.

Rey used her hands to help climb over the rocky hills until she came to a stop before a river of lava. She pushed thoughts of Qui-Gon into her mind so he would appear. Shortly after, the hum entered her ears followed by a quick puff of wind that caused her hair to flutter.

"Why am I here?" Rey said, then she looked over her shoulder at Vader, who paused at the sight of his surroundings.

Oh.

This place resembled the planet where Anakin became Darth Vader, officially. Rey had never asked him much about that part of his life, but he didn't need to, because she could tell how much it hurt him to this day. She'd decided to keep quiet about the time Padmé visited her, and it wasn't really relevant since she hadn't appeared since she was a child.

Rey still missed her though.

"I wanted Qui-Gon."

He exhaled loudly, unmoving.

"Vader?"

His sharp eyes landed on her. "Is this a cruel joke?"

"Of course not!" She snapped. "I called for Qui-Gon."

He whirled around and stormed off, and Rey struggled to keep up with him over the rocks. "Look, I'm sorry. I honestly wasn't calling you — I'm not stupid enough to do so intentionally. Just leave if you want."

He stopped and turned to point his finger at her. "You called me here!"

Rey curled her lip. "No, I did not! Perhaps you just wanted to see me."

He laughed.

It had taken them a long time to figure out, but the Sages could appear to her out of their own freewill. This had warmed Rey's heart when she realised that Vader had stayed by her side for two years straight out of choice.

"We can either keep arguing or you can help me?" Rey crossed her arms over her chest.

"What have those idiots got you searching for this time?"

Rey shrugged. "Not sure, it could be anything."

He came to stand by her side, and she saw that he was surveying the area. Rey could sense that he was stressed about something; and although she spent most of her time with him, Vader shared little about his emotions. However, today was different. She could almost taste that something was bothering him.

She focused on the sound of his mechanical breath for a while, then turned to look around her. "I don't feel anything calling to me."

"Just pick up a rock and return it to the little frog."

"He doesn't look like a frog," she muttered. "If you are going to stick around, at least be useful."

As the years have gone by, her relationship with Vader has developed into something more personal. Although he showed little emotion, Rey couldn't hold back her own. Sometimes they'd be training and she would burst into tears over nothing or he'd say something that only scratched being a compliment, and she would try to hug him. He wasn't a hugger — she'd learnt quickly after being tossed halfway across the galaxy the last time she'd tried to put her arms around him. Yet, despite his resentment, Rey found the deepest parts of her soul latching onto the infamous Darth Vader. To say that it terrified her was an understatement. He was a butcher of people and a man without a heart — yet, around him is the first time she's ever felt like she belonged.

She reached out a shaking hand and rested it on his arm. His movements stopped, and Rey felt the moment his eyes landed on her. "I just want to say that I'm grateful for—" something flashed before her eyes.

She blinked a few times hoping it would disappear, but it didn't. An overwhelming feeling caused her eyes to water, and she realised that he was withholding something important from her. Very important.

Her voice was deep when she growled, "Liar."

He pushed her back a few steps. "What did you just do?!"

Escaping the feeling of betrayal was hard. There was something lingering in the back of her mind that caused her immense pain. Their closeness was dysfunctional because he shared so little whereas she shared a lot.

Then, a call came from somewhere on Aaghra. She turned to look in the direction it had echoed from; then the hum vanished from her ears and she realised that Vader had left. Rey crouched down and buried her face in her hands.

Fuck, she thought, I should've kept my mouth shut.

Rey knew that the call she'd heard was the Force pulling her towards the object she must find, so, with reluctance, she started her trek towards the call. She wasn't sure how long it took her to arrive at the lavafall, but when she arrived, exhaustion took over. It was warmer in this area, and she grabbed her rag to wipe the sweat from her face. She was wearing an outfit similar to her Jakku attire, but rather than it being white it was purple — obviously.

Rey took a step forward only to freeze. A chill shot up her spine; it was unbelievably hot right now so it didn't make sense. She heard the scrape of boots against the rocky ground. Someone's behind me. There had been no hum so it couldn't be one of the Sages. What should I do?

She swallowed hard, then grabbed her lightsaber and whirled around as it lit up the red hue of the atmosphere purple. The face on the other end of her lightsaber was drenched in sweat. He was much taller than her and his shadowed presence caused her to drop her weapon in surprise.

They both stared at each other for a long time.

She struggled to register the rush of emotions that shot through her. His face betrayed the shock he was feeling at the sight of her, and the quiver of his lips told her that he felt the way the air around them had changed. She was certain that if she touched this man her body would explode. Tears fell from her eyes as she reached out her hand to him, and his eyes nervously followed the extending of her hand, then he focused on her.

The tears continued to fall from her eyes and she followed his own as they fell off his jaw. There was no explanation for the feelings that raced through her right now. None of it made sense. It was so sudden and overwhelming that nothing in her training could have prepared her for this type of feeling.

He slowly reached out his shaking hand, edging the tips of his fingers towards her own. The moment they touched, she exploded, or at least that's what it felt like. She gasped when waves of desire, need, wonder and wholeness consumed her. His movements were quick and he grabbed her wrist pulling her against his chest. She squealed in surprise and gazed up into his dark eyes. He was real. But how?

Then, a whisper filtered into her ears.

"I...why can I see you?" The deep tone of his voice caused another shiver to lace around her spine. She'd never heard a voice sound so endearing and bone chilling at the same time.

Rey opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. His eyes roamed over her features then landed on her lips. Rey wasn't sure what this meant. She'd seen lustful looks on the faces of men on Jakku, but there was something different on this man's face. Passion? Want? No, it wasn't any of those things, it was more primal.

Hunger.

And by the Gods, did she crave him at this moment.

That is what snapped Rey out of her trance. She had no idea who this man was or why he was here. With a grunt, she pushed herself away from him and swiftly used the Force to retrieve her lightsaber. Her actions shocked him for a split second, then she heard the hiss of his own lightsaber. Rey's eyes widened in horror.

Who was this person?

The red lit up his dark features and the Force around them caused his hair to flutter in a breeze that shouldn't exist.

"Who are you?" She whispered.

His gaze moved over her body quickly, then he locked eyes with her. "Kylo Ren."

And then it happened, the name was hammered into her soul, etched all over.

She took a few moments to regard him, and when she blinked, he disappeared.

Suddenly, the Force was sucked out of the area, and Rey fell to her knees gasping for air. She placed a hand over her thundering heart and looked at her surroundings. Her first thought was to call out for Yoda, but the name Kylo Ren had been branded into every fibre of her being. He's trouble — trouble I shouldn't know about. Rey got to her feet and glanced at the lavafall

Something tickled at the back of her mind, and she walked to the edge of the lake. She wasn't sure what had just transpired, but for now, it needed to be kept to herself. The Sages either knew who he was because of his connection to the Force or she'd cause them to investigate and create chaos. The man had owned a lightsaber which meant he had affiliations with the Force or someone that had knowledge about it.

Then, it struck her. He's with the First Order. The little she knew about the organisation was that it hated the Jedi, but they were also people who had knowledge of it. His dark attire did not suit a person who belonged to the light.

I'm in trouble, Rey thought. It meant that he was alive, which didn't make any sense. I've only seen the dead.

Rey returned to Amethyst with slumped shoulders. She prepared herself for takeoff, and it left her with the sickening thought that the thing she was meant to find on Aaghra was Kylo Ren.