They arrived in the hangar to see a foreign refugee craft part the waterfall. Poe, Rey and Finn followed as Calliope ran straight for the spiraling stairs leading up to outside. The Nubian air moving aside just for her. Her hand was curled outward a pure fury in her eyes. The force outstretched from her to the back of the craft. It's engine shuttered. The pilot, scavenger, and former trooper stood back in awe. The ship was halted almost breaking the atmosphere of the planet, pulling against the invisible grip, and yet unable to continue forward. Around Calliope the ground began to crackle and a vortex began swirling counter clockwise. She let out a tormented scream so guttural and filled with mania it frightened the trio behind her. They had never witnessed something so purely driven as a mother's love- the real well that Calliope was pulling this immense power from. Tears were blinding her but she still held on. She had them, and they were not leaving this planet. One of the engines on the craft began to buckle. Poe raced in front of her,
"You have to let go!" He yelled.

She ignored him letting the well of grief fuel her reach. How dare he take her son! She should have ended him. How weak she felt now in the decision to let him live. The vortex around her grew, and Poe put up his hand to defend his face from flying specks of rock and dirt. "If you don't let go Ani will get hurt! The engine will buckle and implode!"
Calliope still held on but her grip laxed. Two forces came from the ship pushing against her. Kylo Ren's voice trickled in her head, "Come and get him." before a final resistant push from the ship compelled Calliope to the ground. The ship was gone, gone to hyperspace and her boy upon it. There was a tense silence one that Rose would break with her awkwardness if she were there. Each of them wanted to comfort her, but they all stood silent unsure of what words they could possible muster. She finally looked up at Poe.
"You talk of a spark … a flame burning down the First Order," Calliope stood scraping her nails against year old scars making them longer and deeper, " Ren just added jet fuel to that flame." She gritted her teeth together and wiped the blood running from both of her nostrils.


Ren laid the boy down taking a hesitant brush through his hair. The strength that woman had..that it took both Ares and himself to dispel her grasp upon them-; it was nothing Kylo Ren had ever experienced before. It was surreal. Ares joined him after they successfully entered hyperspace. The Knight leaned against the hall.

"So uh...I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and say that's your and Nyx's kid."

Kylo Ren couldn't help the instant roll of his eyes,

"What were you doing on that planet?"

"Keeping tabs on the rise of the resistance. I came in with a group of Hosnian refugees. Then they dragged your sorry ass in and I got a call from Hux calling us all back to base." Ares wasn't afraid to speak as he did blunt and abrasive, and Kylo had more pressing matters on his mind.

"Hux abandoned me and when we get there I'm going to execute him very ….very publicly." his voice curled with indignation.

The craft lurched from hyperspace.

"My destroyer is just ahead. Well hop in, and head out."

Kylo nodded, "Alert the medic I want a full swing when I take off his head."

Ares nodded departing for the cockpit. The hand Kylo had rested on his son's head tingled. A fiery sensation worked up to his brain and the ship before him faded from view.

He breathed in. The surrounding air entered his nostrils filling them with a stale and stagnant sting. Opening his eyes weak filtered light from the ceiling. Anakin was tapping his fingers boredly against a table. Hours passed before his mother entered through the door. She noticed his forlorn disposition, and after scooping the small child into her arms.

"Shall I send you off to bed with an exciting bedtime story?"

He followed as they hunkered in a tiny bunk snuggled into a patched quilt.

"So what story would you like to hear?"

There was a small pause as the boy pondered.

"...i have a ...papa don't I?" The boy looked up at her the best he could, "Snaps has one."

Kylo Ren watched her forming what she was about to say next. He waited for her to say that he was dead. That would have been an easy explanation. She brushed through his hair softly before replying,

"You-re papa…." She almost choked on the words, "Stayed.. where I couldn't."

"But why?"

She took a moment of thought, "Well you see….. he is… trapped in a system far far away where's there's no sun or stars, so it's hard to find your way out."

He was thrown off by this kind envisionment she had given the boy.

"Couldn't you save him mama? You save people all the time." the boy's guileless voice tore through him.

The woman bit her lip, "I don't think… he wants to be saved." She kissed the top of his head hiding away the raw sadness from him that their family would never be whole.

At the same moment this vision of Anakin and himself wondered what it would have been like to be in each other's lives.

"Papa!" Anakin's voice made him turn and they were suddenly in a field of soft swaying grass. The boy came instantly into his arms. He hoisted his son up with a smile. There was a strange alien feeling welling up inside of him as the boy jabbered on telling him all about his day and what he had learned.

"There's my boys." Calliope appeared over the hill her skin like seamless marble and her eyes without torment. She smiled at them. A genuine smile not wicked-sarcastic or faked. He found himself smiling back with the same sincereness.

"Then grandpa said I could fly the-!" the boys excited voice pulled Kylo from the image.

No…... It wouldn't have been like this. Han Solo would never have been a grandfather. They wouldn't be frolicking on a temperate planet…. If Calliope hadn't escaped….

The beautiful plain turned into a training pit with Kylo peering over it. Snoke loomed over the other side barking at the boy to get back up. Anakin wiped the tears from his purple and yellow peppered eyes. Seven years old and he was already training with three other children all of whom were reminiscent of the other Knights. One of the boys stout and well rounded had piercing violet eyes. This boy was relentless against Anakin, but his son no matter how beaten or injured… got back up until Anakin slammed down his full weight on the stout boys arm. The bone's snap echoed in the room, and the other children shrunk away in fear.

Balor's sickening voice slithered into Kylo's ear,

"Count your blessings Ren. Once my kid gains another year your's won't be top dog anymore, and I'll have another shot" The repulsive man adjusted his trousers, "If ya know what I mean."

Kylo Ren wrenched himself from the visions completely. It wouldn't be like that either… He was Supreme Leader now and he made all the decisions. His mother would come for their son, and Kylo would make it abundantly clear…. They could be a family.


Oh the twist and turns I have in store my dears!