A/N: Wow I wasn't expecting such a response! Thank you so much for your favorites! This is my first Star Wars story and being a franchise with SO much history please forgive any errors I make, I know this is AU but I still want to make an effort to keep the integrity of the characters.
Age wise I've written Rey at 7 but for this story I'm intending Ben/Ren to be around 18. You're going to see their relationship grow as they age. Hux I envision being the same age as Ren, Snoke is the same old ageless monster as always.
Let me know what you think and what you'd like to see happen. I am usually always one chapter ahead of posting but I love getting new idea's!
Chapter 2
Kylo left Rey in his room after ensuring she had something to eat. She was still apprehensive about eating without working for it but Kylo did his best to prove to her it was okay, even told her if it would make her feel better she could clean his room which was already spotless to earn her keep.
He entered the bridge to find Hux smirking at him triumphantly. "So how's your little scavenger?" He mocked. Some of the other officers turned their attention to Kylo now as his anger radiated off him in thick waves that even the non-force sensitives could feel. Hux kept his head held high in arrogance, his confidence lived off the fact that Snoke needed him and as long as that was the case Kylo couldn't touch him. "So are you going to keep her, or can I have a go?" Kylo felt sickened at the mans desire to have a child in his bed, he wanted to kill the general in the slowest most painful way he could.
"You don't touch her, don't even look in her direction" He threatened stepping towards the General.
"Or what?" Hux challenged. "You put one toe out of line and I'll tell Snoke about your little pet. I'm willing to bet there's more to her than just being a scavenger. Especially if she was enough to stop you from massacring that village" Kylo didn't respond which caused Hux to chuckle. "For being a Sith you're to easy to read Ren. Maybe Snoke should teach you another lesson" With that Ren turned and left the General and his crew his cape dramatically flowing behind him.
"I can't let him get under my skin" He mumbled to himself. "I can't let him hurt Rey" He stormed back into his chambers and into his room leaving a confused Reyna at the small table eating a fruit. She jumped up and ran to him.
"Look at this thing" She held up a purple and white striped fruit with some small bites missing from it. "This is the most incredible thing I've ever tasted!" Her enthusiasm and joy seemed to glow in the force around her creating an aura of peace that seeped into Kylo. She took another bite of the fruit and the aura seemed to grow. The serenity passed through Kylo relieving him of the stress Hux had caused and he was able to smile at her as he removed his helmet.
"That is a Jogan fruit, you should try it in cake it's even better" her excitement had spread into him and out of nowhere a memory arose.
'A younger Kylo Ben Solo was sitting at a table in the kitchen with his mother as she stirred a batter in a large bowl.
"Benny can you get me the cake pans from the counter?" leia had asked giving him a motherly smile. He had been so excited when his mom had mentioned baking a cake that he begged to help her. One of her Senate friends had given her a basket of Jogan fruit and leia thought making a cake would be a perfect thank you to her friends and of course she would make one for her own family too.
Leia wasn't home often so Ben was glued to her hip whenever she was, ready to help her with anything if she just asked. Ben set the cake pans on the table next to his mother and she slowly poured batter into each pan, standing up straight she looked into the empty bowl and then looked around.
"Hm… Theres not enough in this bowl to bake, I guess I'll just have to wash all this batter out" She was teasing, Ben knew it but still gave in to his mothers antics.
"I'll clean mom, I'll take care of the bowl and the spoon too!" He was bouncing on the balls of his feet to get his mothers attention and Leia laughed handing the bowl over to him.
"Okay, but I don't want to see a drop of that fruit go to waste" the laughed together as Ben licked the spoon and then held it out to his mom who gave it a lick too.
Kylo fell to his knee's. That memory, where had it come from? He felt weak for a second and then he felt Rey's light yet again, it gave him an encouraging nod of positively almost like it was whispering to him. 'You can do this' 'you've been fed lies' 'trust the force' 'trust the girl'. He looked to Rey, now on his knee's he was nearly he height but still taller. He probed her mind softly but didn't feel any sign of the voices he heard moments ago.
"We need rules" Kylo's voice broke the silence so suddenly it started Reyna and she jumped back a little. "You cannot leave this room without me, do you understand?" He was being firm she could feel fear in him. "You won't be safe if I'm not there with you, so for now I need you to stay in this room unless I am with you." Rey nodded in agreement, the thought of accidentally running into the red headed general left her feeling cold as she remembered his desires for her.
"When I do take you out you cannot speak to anyone, and you have to keep your walls up. If anyone gets a feel of your power they will report you to Snoke, and Hux is already suspicious of you" The aggression in his voice returned at Hux name, a low ball threat from a slimy bastard. "I will do what I can to keep you away from him, but if you see him you cannot use your powers okay?" Rey gave a nod. "Hux can't manipulate the force like we can, but he is sensitive to it, if you use your power he will know, just try and stay out of his line of sight if you can help it." Kylo never planned on letting their paths cross anyway, but he wanted her to take his warning serious. "If Snoke finds you, I won't be able to help you"
Rey took another bite of the fruit in her hand and nodded agreeing to any terms he set. She had already decided she was going to do whatever it took to help him. To take the stars in his darkness and turn them into suns, if that meant hiding in his room from the big darkness of Snoke she would do it forever for him.
The small child let out a yawn as she finished the fruit, she hopped up onto Kylo's bed. "Is this where you sleep? It's so soft and fluffy" She bounced herself up and down for a minute and Kylo watched her amazed. Her life was on the line here, even more than her life, her freedom and yet she was just bouncing on his bed as if nothing had happened.
"Yes that is where I sleep" He noticed the drooping of her eyes and gave her a lazy smile. "Why don't you lay down for a while. It is past your bedtime anyway. I have more work to do, just please remember the rules alright." Rey nodded and laid down resting her head on the pillow. "Kylo, why does your mom call you Benny?" The question slipped out before she could even ask herself if it was a good idea and she saw something like pain flash through Kylo's eyes.
"Ben is the name my mother gave me, Kylo is the name Snoke chose for me when I came here" He was being honest, he should have told her he had murdered Ben to become Kylo Ren but he had a feeling she wouldn't believe it.
"I like Benny, it feels like you" and with that her eyes closed and she moved on to a dream land.
Kylo sat beside her for several minutes just watching her sleep, his curiosity was peeking again. This child whom he just met was a magnet to the good in him, he should have destroyed her or tossed her away but instead here he was protecting her, and keeping her by his side. This whole situation confused him and for a brief moment he wished he could confide in Snoke and ask for guidance.
He decided to go to his meditation room and relax and let his thoughts out, maybe he would come to an understanding then. He left Reyna on his bed and went to a room just off his room, if she needed him he would still be there.
"Grandfather, I am so confused." He confessed in a prayer. "I should destroy that child, in the past I've never hesitated to take out a threat, but I can't hurt her" Even just the thought burned his very soul, her in pain, her starving, her desperate for anything. Kylo let out a sigh. "Her light calls to me, she's doesn't even know how strong she could be. I want to train her but I don't want to destroy the light in her, I don't know if I can" Kylo rarely felt like a failure, but his fear was standing in his way with this child. He didn't think he could show her the ways of the force without alerting Snoke of her presence. Kylo put his head in his palms and sunk to the floor against the wall. He just wanted some answers, what was he supposed to do? Why was this child with him now? And then he heard a voice.
'You're reckless little one, You never would have made it as Obi Wans Padawan" Anakin paused, the young togruta stared down into her hands ashamed of herself. "But you might make it as mine" Her head snapped up looking at him with anticipation. "come on" He called as he stood up and she stood with him and they walked away into nothing.
The vision faded and Kylo was alone in the room again. That was Anakin accepting his first Padawan. Kylo was shocked he has heard of those events but only vaguely. Kylo felt a new sense of determination as he left his meditation room. He looked to Rey and saw her sleeping still, just the sight of her seemed to calm him. He needed to speak with Snoke, as soon as possible. He left his chambers quickly locking the door behind him, not because he was worried Rey would leave he was more concerned someone might try to go in.
Reyna hadn't even realized she fallen asleep until she woke up, or did she. She looked around confused, she looked like she was in a junk yard. It reminded her of the Niima Outpost but there were way more parts and pieces here, and then she was two kids and some kind of Alien.
"Are you an Angel? A little boy with dirty blonde hair asked a girl. She was beautiful, brown hair
"What?" There was a smile on her face as she turned to look at the boy.
"An angel? I Heard the deep space pilots talk about them." The young girl was captivated and she stepped towards the boy. "They're the most beautiful creatures in the universe, they live on the moons of Iego I think" She smiled at him but held a calm composure about herself as the little boy flattered her.
"You're a funny little boy, how do you know so much" Reyna could feel how taken by him this girl was, her surprise at his intelligence and his kindness left her smiling. He was a slaves son, Rey recognized how difficult his life must have been. Rey thought that boy must have lived like her working hard to help pay for his mothers debts, no hint of resentment only out of love.
"I listen to all the traders and star pilots that come through here." Rey again felt the familiarity with him. "I'm a pilot you know, and someday I'm going to fly away from this place.
"You're a pilot" The girl really didn't believe him, he was so young how could he fly?
"Mhm All my life" He felt her disbelief but ignored it.
"How long have you been here" She wanted to know more about him,
"Since I was very little three I think, my mom and I were sold to Gardola the Hutt but she lost us betting on the Pod Races" The older brunette felt pain in her heart for the boy.
"You're a slave?" She hadn't meant to sound insensitive but the boy reacted quickly.
"I'm a person and my name is Anakin" His voice was firm and she realized she had offended him.
The dream faded and the last thing Rey saw was Anakin's frustrated face. Her dream faded and she found herself in a forest. The sun must have been setting because it was growing darker by the minutes, Rey didn't mind. She walked around carefully admiring the giant trees. She'd never seen anything like them before, she gently touched the rough bark and as she placed her hand on the tree she was flood with a strange warm feeling. She pulled her hand away and the feeling was gone so she tried again placing her hand against the tree, the warm sensation returned. It was the tree, she was sensing the life of the tree! The feeling made her giddy, she wanted to run and explore this whole forest. She turned away from the tree to try a different one but froze, Kylo Ren was standing about twenty feet away from her. She made to walk towards him but froze when she felt the dark thing. It was in him, it had taken control of him. She took a step back and he walked towards her. Rey turned to run but found herself trapped among the overgrown roots of the trees. The dark thing approached in Kylo Ren's mask lighting his red light sabre.
"Ben" She called to him hoping he was in there somewhere, but the dark thing laughed.
"Ben Solo is dead." The robotic voice spoke through the mask still approaching. It stopped at her feet. "I can see the darkness in you, the power you could have. I could be your master and teach you everything. No one would ever hurt you or leave you again" The words touched Rey's heart, but she knew they weren't coming from Kylo or Ben, no this was the Dark thing this was Snoke. She just shook her head and tried building up the mental walls like the old man had taught her, but the darkness just laughed.
"Naïve child, You don't have enough power to keep me away. I will find you" It laughed and then swung the light sabre at her.
Reyna awoke screaming her body felt like it was on fire she ran her hands along her chest just to make sure she didn't have any cuts from the sabre in her dreams. She tried to calm herself down but she couldn't get her heart rate to slow and her breathing remained heavy. She felt as if she were being compressed her panic began to set in. She ripped away the blankets on the bed and went to get up but collapsed to her knee's holding her chest.
Kylo appeared at her side bending down to her wrapping his arms around her. Something about his presence made her feel calmer but the pressure in her didn't let up enough for her to be comfortable.
"What is it?" His voice was only a whisper to her. She forced herself to focus on the dreams she had and did her best to show him, her panic caused the visions to be fuzzy. Ren could hardly believe she'd saw a vision of his grandfather as a child, he himself had never seen anything of Anakin's childhood though he knew the stories. Then he saw her vision of him, or was it Snoke pretending to be him, he wasn't going to focus on that now he had to get her to calm down.
"You're going to be okay, you're just having a panic attack. It's going to pass, try taking a few deep breaths" He put on his best soothing voice as he scooped her into his arms holding her close. He remembered once when he was younger and he'd had a panic attack after having to go to one of his mothers events and meeting all the reports. His mother had taken him to a small room and held him tightly for a good five minutes whispering good things in his ear. When it passed she told him that hugs can cure anything, and at the age of six he believed her. As Kylo snapped out of his memory he realized that Reyna's breathing steadied and she had relax against him, her arms wrapped around his neck, she was asleep. Ren couldn't help the smile that crossed his lips, with a little touch of the force he ensure it would be a dreamless sleep wrapping her in a force wall of his own. If it had been Snoke that had invaded her mind he wouldn't be able to get in now, no matter how powerful Snoke thought he was Ren had still learned how to keep secrets. He hesitated before laying her back in his bed.
Kylo had been in the middle of a meeting when he got a cold feeling, and he felt fear that he knew didn't belong to him. He had to find a decent reason to leave otherwise Hux would be even more suspicious. He did the only thing that came to mind, he made the storm trooper outside the door come in and call him out claiming he was needed. As calmly as he could he stood up and left, once he was down a different corridor we quickened his pace back to his room. He entered and went to his bedroom horrified to find her crouched on the floor holding herself like she was in pain. He sensed what she was feeling her barriers had fall some in her panicked state what was incredible was that she still managed to have some kind of control over herself. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.
"What is it? " He tried to keep his voice steady but it came out as a whisper instead, a second later he was in the middle of a junk store it seemed. He knew this must have been what was causing her so much stress so he paid attention. He watch the young boy interact with the older girl, they felt familiar but it didn't click who they were until Anakin yelled at Padme. Kylo nearly felt his heart stop, this vison was his grandmother and grandfather meeting for the first time. The vison vanished and he was left standing in the woods surrounded by large tree's, he wished he could have stopped time and watched his grandparents interact more. His jealousy kicked in, 'Why is she getting visions of my grandparents, they're MINE' He thought resentfully, but his frustration faded when he was Rey and himself? That couldn't be a vision, just a nightmare right?
Kylo watched himself walk towards Rey and he saw her fall against the roots of the trees.
"Ben" She called to it, it laughed.
"Ben Solo is dead" The voice was coming through his mask but it still didn't sound like him, it was just off. Then it continued to speak and the realization came to him. "I can see the darkness in you, the power you could have. I could be your master and teach you everything. No one would ever hurt you or leave you again" This was Snoke, she wasn't having a nightmare or afraid of Kylo Ren Snoke had gotten in her mind somehow and was projecting himself as Kylo. Anger coursed through him again, Snoke was trying to manipulate her so she would come out of hiding and he could have her.
"Naïve child, You don't have enough power to keep me away. I will find you" Ren felt helpless as he watch the double of himself lift the light sabre and bring it down towards her, but that was when the dream cut off. Anger and Fury filled him, his master wanted her as a new apprentice, but where would that leave him? No he wouldn't let that happen. He scooped Rey into his arms and held her against his chest. He swore he could feel her heart slowing down to a safer pace. When he looked down she was asleep. He looked up at his bed for a moment but held her tight 'I don't want to let her go'. The realization scared Ben a little this child shouldn't be giving him so many emotions, he shouldn't care like this about some scavenger. But he did, he felt a connection to this little girl in his arms, a bond. After a minute he sent a small wave of his force into her that would ensure she wouldn't be plagued by anymore dreams of visitors then he laid her in his bed. He went to his living room and sent a message to Hux telling him to cancel his meetings he had to much work to catch up on and he would be doing it in his room. It wasn't a complete lie he did sit down at his desk and start working, but he wasn't comfortable leaving the room until he knew she was feeling better.
It took a few minutes but he received a message back:
Having too much fun with your scavenger whore?
Fury ripped through Kylo yet again and one of the glasses on the counter shattered. He would do whatever it took to keep her away from Hux and his troopers, if he had to he'd take care of them all himself.
