A/N: In case anyone is wondering, all of the members of the Knights of Ren are my OCs. Since very little information has actually been given in canon, I created names and backstories for each member, though I don't go much into the backstories since this fic doesn't revolve around them.
Without further ado, I give you chapter twelve.
***
Rey awoke to heavily-shaded red light slipping through the cracks of the thick, black blinds covering the room's single window. Unlike on Dxun, no chirping wildlife sounds pierced her ears to help drive the grogginess from her body.
They had been on Korriban for a week now and the oppressive atmosphere still shocked her.
When the Falcon had approached Korriban, she had expected to find a similar climate to Jakku. The planet's ruddy color and arid deserts had led her to believe that Korriban was simply another backwater planet, forgotten by the majority of the galaxy due to its commonplaceness.
As soon as the Falcon broke through the planet's atmosphere, however, Rey had been forced to sit down, completely overwhelmed by the intensity of dark side power. The very air hummed with the tantalizing energy, assaulting Rey's senses, slipping through the cracks of her mind.
Fear sank its tendrils into her thoughts, vivid and strong, shoving its claws deep into her consciousness. Rey had struggled to resist, to call upon the light side to defend herself, but the fear was too all-consuming.
Shaking, she had slipped from her rickety chair, falling heavily onto the metal-plated floor.
With every passing second, she had been absolutely positive that her mind would cave in, collapsing like a dying star under the pressure of the dark side.
There was so much she didn't understand - so much of the Force that still lay shrouded in mystery. Every time the picture seemed to grow even the tiniest bit clearer, more questions appeared, clambering for her attention.
What did the Jedi really believe? The ancient texts had done little to enlighten her, though that was in large part due to their being written in a long-dead language.
If the Force was truly in all beings, then why could only some people feel its presence?
Was her sensitivity to the Force a blessing or a curse?
Clearing her head of the confounding memory and refocusing on the present proved challenging. Questions still plagued her mind - the moral and philosophical conundrums that she had never considered while living on Jakku suddenly seemed essential.
It was as if the very fate of the galaxy rested on her ability to understand the Force.
This all-encompassing darkness on Korriban that pressed upon her mind from every side lacked the tempting pull of the shadow in the lake. Whereas that darkness had made her feel powerful, invincible, this darkness reared ominously in the background of her mind, threatening to crush her.
During the days she had spent meticulously watching over Ben as his mind fought to regain itself, she had tried to meditate in an effort to provide some form of stability to the churning power of the Force.
But no matter how hard she focused on calling out to the light which had always before surrounded her, darkness from the very heart of Korriban rose up to block her efforts. After a few days of trying and failing, Rey had resigned to defeat, leaning only on the brightness which stemmed from her own connection to the Force.
Which is why she had been so startled when, three days after arriving on Korriban, Ben's consciousness had suddenly brushed against hers, scattering the shadows that had threatened to close in around her.
The connection had quickly faded as Ben had pulled back in on himself, retreating into solitude. And the darkness once again crept closer.
Then, last night, when Ben had awoken for real, she had felt the darkness recede again, slinking away from her consciousness.
At the time, she had thought nothing of it, focused only on her complete relief that Ben had woken up at all. The more she thought about it, however, the more confused she became.
She knew what she had felt the moment Ben's consciousness had reconnected with her own. But how could it be possible?
How could someone who relied on the power of the dark side act as her anchor to the light? How was he keeping Korriban's power from infecting her mind?
Did he even realize what he was doing?
As grateful as Rey was that her burden had been eased, she couldn't help but feel guilty. By helping me, is he draining himself? He should be focused on getting himself better, not worrying about me - I can take care of myself.
For as much as Anya had claimed that the Force was healing him, Rey couldn't help but worry that the healing wasn't happening nearly fast enough.
What if the destruction of his mind simply continued?
Whatever ritual Anya and the Knights of Ren - Rey grimaced at the name - were preparing in order to cast Snoke from Ben's mind once and for all had to wait until Ben was stronger.
But how long could they afford to wait?
For the moment, something powerful was diverting Snoke's attention, giving Ben time to regain his strength. But there was no telling how long this reprieve would last.
Anxious to be doing something other than lie around and agonize over the infinite number of things that could easily go wrong, Rey pushed aside the pile of blankets she had crawled under much earlier that morning and stood to her feet.
Rey was unsurprised to find that Ben had gotten up at some point and left - she had figured he wasn't the type of person to willingly lay around and rest, even if he still desperately needed to. Vaguely, she could recall a gentle pressure on the edges of her consciousness, assuring her that nothing was wrong and that she could continue sleeping. She supposed he had been the one to pull the blinds back over the large window - she knew for a fact that they had been open last night.
It's strange, she reflected on her Force connection, now that we're in the same corner of the galaxy - on the same planet and in the same building - the bond is so much stronger. Besides the fact that he isn't shutting me out as blatantly, his emotions are so much more tangible, so much stronger since the expanse of space isn't separating us.
Considering from past experiences that what happened to one of them tended to happen to both, Rey assumed that her emotions had also become much easier for Ben to decipher. The thought was both comforting and extraordinarily terrifying.
Communicating with someone through your mind was one thing, but having all of your deepest, darkest thoughts and emotions splayed out for another soul to read was completely different.
Rey crossed to the other side of the room, grateful to find that the silver-plated washing bowl had been replenished at some point. Splashing a bit of the lukewarm water on her face helped drive back a bit of her remaining tiredness.
Memories of last night's events bubbled to the surface of her mind.
Perhaps her audacity should have shocked her, maybe it should have caused embarrassment. Possibly someone else would have thought it odd or wrong that she and Ben had shared a bed, but it had seemed like the most logical response at the time. After all, how was she supposed to keep him safe if they weren't even in the same room?
Oh, Rey thought with a stunning moment of clarity, that's what "sleeping with the enemy means."
Across their connection, Rey felt the swirling vortex of Ben's thoughts come to a screeching halt as he turned his attention away from whatever he was doing and mingled his consciousness with hers. "...Please tell me that's not actually what you think that phrase implies."
Rey frowned, confused. "What else would it possibly mean?"
"Just think about it."
"I am," she replied, annoyed. "It's a pretty clear statement: Sleeping is sleeping."
A deep, melodious sound echoed down their connection. The sound momentarily took Rey by surprise. "I've never heard you laugh before." she commented, focused more on the pleasant warmth flooding her senses than on whatever had brought on this uncharacteristic show of mirth.
Rey had expected her words to cut off his laughter, as so often happened whenever she pointed out the many ways in which he acted differently around her as opposed to anyone else.
Instead, her comment seemed to have the opposite reaction because he simply laughed louder.
"So you do have a sense of humor after all," Rey mused, feeling her own spirits lift in response to the unusually bright light emanating from his side of the connection.
The brightness sparked in Rey a reminder of her earlier ponderings. "Where are you? I need to talk to you about something - in person."
Ben must have sensed the shift in her thoughts because his laughter stopped abruptly. The brightness diminished, leaving Rey feeling colder than before. "I'm near a terrace on the opposite side of the temple. I'll meet you in the old training rooms - we can speak there."
A map of the structure floated in front of Rey's mind, detailing the fastest route. "You should stop at the mess hall on your way."
Just as Rey was about to call him out on his military terminology, his consciousness receded from hers, leaving the imprint of a map in her mind.
***
This was a temple?
The black marble walls and matching floor didn't inspire images of a grand temple. Looks more like a fancy prison. The strike of her boots on the hard flooring echoed ominously down the long corridor.
Every so often, she had to side-step around a deep crack in the otherwise shiny and unblemished floor. What happened here?
With each step Rey took, she grew more and more grateful that Ben had thought to provide her with a mental map - even though she wasn't entirely certain how he had projected that image through their Force bond. Without it, she would have been lost in a matter of minutes. It seemed that every time she glanced up, another opening appeared either to her right or left, leading upwards and downwards in a mesh of twisting, turning hallways.
Thankfully, the path Ben had set her on was rather straightforward and did not include her wandering into any of the dark, yawning caverns.
Minutes ticked by so slowly within the confines of the temple that by the time Rey reached the spot on her mental map labeled "mess hall," she would have sworn that she had been walking for hours, not barely ten minutes.
She hesitated outside of the open doorway - the bright lights and numerous voices from within the spacious room made her consider bypassing food altogether and continuing down to the training rooms, whatever those actually were.
But, it had been almost a full day since Anya had brought her her last meal and it was likely unwise to train on an empty stomach.
At least, she hoped she would be able to squeeze in some training. If her amuatur slip-up during her duel with Phasma was any indication, she still had a long way to go before she was comfortable wielding the lightsaber Anya had loaned her.
Squaring her shoulders, Rey stepped into the room, sending a wary glance to the room's three other occupants. Since arriving on Korriban, she had only briefly met each of the knights who were currently on the planet. Those introductions, however, had been the perfect amount of time for her to realize that none of them were the type of people she would ever consider "friends."
To be fair, Rey thought, uneasy with the way the men had straightened upon her entrance and were now staring at her with open curiosity, I never would have considered Ben an ally before we were bonded.
"Ah, the newcomer." Though he was only a couple of inches taller than herself, the man who addressed her struck an imposing figure: His bald head and dark complexion only highlighted his bloodshot, red eyes. He was a man composed mainly of muscle, but Rey refused to let herself be deceived into thinking that he was a slow brute - the way his eyes carefully tracked her every move reaffirmed her intuitive suspicions that he was much more than a well-built weapon.
"We've been wondering when we would get to see you again," the second man spoke up in a clear, musical tone. Rey glanced his way next, though she made certain to stay close enough to the doorway in case she had to make a quick escape.
The second man - Seire, she recalled - felt more dangerous than Damien, though that observation would have sounded insane to anyone who was not Force sensitive. Behind the man's tall, lithe figure and inconspicuous, shy smile, Rey could sense a great well of dark side energy, just waiting to be released.
Still, she comforted herself with the fact that any power she felt pulsing through these men paled in comparison to the power she and Ben possessed. If it came down to a fight - for, as much as Ben had tried to reassure her last night that none of his knights would ever strike against her, she had a difficult time seeing these dangerous men as "loyal" - she felt confident that they could win.
"Who are we fighting?" The tightness in Ben's tone reminded Rey to reel in the anxiety she was feeling.
"No one." She responded quickly, sensing his anger simmering just beneath the surface. "I'm not in danger, I promise."
Rey felt him reluctantly withdraw. Unsatisfied by her assurances, he kept their connection open more widely than it had been seconds prior.
She really needed to get a better handle on what thoughts and emotions she allowed to broadcast across their connection.
"I was starting to think Ren was keeping you hidden on purpose," Damien commented, unfazed by her defensive stance.
"You must be feeling lucky," Seire added, stepping around the large circular table the men had gathered around before she entered.
"Lucky?" Rey questioned, forcing herself to remain rooted in place.
"That you were chosen to be his apprentice," the thin man clarified.
Apprentice? Not hardly. She internally scoffed at the very idea.
Outwardly, she did not react, unsure how best to respond. I really just want to get food and get out of here.
"It's an honor - one that should not be easily dismissed." Seire's pale, yellow eyes unnerved her and she looked away, glancing over at the fresh bread spread out on the table, just out of reach.
"You must be very powerful indeed," Damien noted, eyeing her with all the calculation of a predator.
"Then perhaps you should stop pestering the woman and allow her room to breathe." Out of all the knights she had been introduced to, Tahl was the only one that did not cause Rey's hand to immediately grip her lightsaber.
He was of average height and his build lay somewhere in the middle of Damien's and Seire's. Having both strength and speed, as well as a palpable dark side energy, Rey thought she ought to be most wary around him. Perhaps it was because he appeared the less hardened, but Rey found she could not outright despise the silver-haired young man.
Having noticed her eyeing the food, Tahl picked up the chunk of bread and held it out to her. "Nimick is out hunting now so there will be a much more filling meal to come tonight."
Rey didn't say anything as she carefully took the bread from his hand, some deep, primal part of her afraid that this was somehow a trap to get her to lower her defenses so that they could strike.
"Do I need to come over there?" Ben demanded, again reacting to the fear twisting deep inside her. Through their connection, Rey could feel the mixture of his emotions slamming against her consciousness. The overwhelming surge of protectiveness she felt wash over her senses was surprising.
"No - I can handle it."
"Handle what, exactly?" As though he was standing directly next to her, Rey heard the unmistakable hum of Ben igniting his lightsaber.
"Calm down." She ordered, as much to him as to herself. "I'm just uncomfortable, that's all. They aren't doing anything."
"Is it Damien?" He questioned, completely ignoring the feeble sensations of peace she tried to send his way. "Did he threaten you?"
Gruesome images assaulted her mind, all sharing the common theme of the creative ways in which Ben was fantasizing murdering one of his knights. The manners of death ranged from simple decapitation to somehow creating a whirlwind of dark side energy strong enough to tear flesh from bone.
"Please stop," Rey pleaded, her stomach churning at the all-too real possibilities laid out before her eyes.
She suddenly lacked all appetite.
"I have to go," Rey muttered to the three men all staring in confusion at her glazed expression. "I have something I have to take care of."
Clutching the bread only out of years of habit, Rey turned and walked as quickly as she dared from the room. As soon as she had crossed the threshold and was out of sight, she broke into a run, desperate to put as much space between her and the knights as possible.
Her breath came in ragged gasps, but still she didn't stop. Without giving it any thought, she ran along the path marked out for her as though following a trail of wispy, red light which only she could see.
As before, she mainly ignored the maze of hallways. Briefly, she wondered what secrets lay down in the caverns underneath the main floor of the temple - probably darker and more dangerous secrets that she should have nothing to do with.
Focused as she was on simply getting away from the images of death plaguing her mind, Rey failed to notice how her mental map disappeared, signifying her arrival at the training rooms, until her head collided painfully with Ben's chest.
"Is someone chasing you?" He demanded, gripping her shoulders tightly to help her regain her balance.
"No," she responded, physically and mentally pushing him away.
His concern gnawed at the edges of her mind. The intense heat of it was almost too much for her to bare.
Blessedly, as his concern grew his anger diminished, scattering the violent images from her mental sight. "Don't do that again." she panted, trying to catch her breath even as the air felt much too thin. "I don't want to see that. I don't want you to kill them."
"Oh." Rey couldn't help the frown that pulled down her lips at his suddenly distant and far-too-even tone. "I should have realized you didn't require my assistance."
A flash of anger tore through her mind as she took in his posture: back ridgid, hands clasped behind his back, face emotionless. "You can't hide from me, Ben."
Unconcerned with the way his consciousness recoiled at her harsh tone, Rey continued mentally pushing at the thin walls of his mind, allowing all of her disdain concerning the persona of Kylo Ren to slide across their bond. "Stop trying to be someone you aren't - it's frustrating."
"You think this isn't me?" He responded mentally, voice still monotonous. "This is just as much me as Ben Solo."
"No, it isn't," Rey argued. How could she get him to see that he didn't have to pretend around her?
"You think you know me better than I know myself?" His tone lacked any hostility - it seemed he was merely curious to know the answer.
Rey paused, carefully considering her words. "I think you're stuck in a loop; I don't think you've ever really known who you really are - that's why you created this whole persona in the first place: To try and find yourself."
"Isn't that precisely what you've done?" He asked, eyeing her critically. "You're so desperate to make everyone believe you're confident - invincible, even - because you long to feel that way about yourself. But the truth is, you still have no idea who you actually are. So you pretend and hope that no one sees the fear lurking beneath your brave facade."
Rey wanted to argue that she wasn't afraid, that putting on a brave face was wholly different from shutting off your emotions and turning into an unfeeling, murderous maniac. But, she realized regretfully, their ways of coping with the harsh realities of life were not really so different.
"'Unfeeling, murderous maniac,' huh?" A small smirk appeared on Ben's face as Rey felt her whole body freeze with the realization that he had heard her thoughts. "That description might be more unkind than my fleeting thought that you sleep on the floor."
Agitated, Rey began to pace. "Okay, seriously, we have to figure out some boundaries - this whole "hearing each other's thoughts" thing is getting out of hand."
"I agree," Ben responded, relaxing slightly from his strict military stance, "though it is proving to be rather humorous."
"I don't think humor is enough of a good reason to keep hearing one another's thoughts constantly."
"Perhaps not."
"So what do we do about it?" He shrugged lightly in response. "You're no help." Rey commented, more annoyed with the situation than with him.
"Is this why you needed to see me: to discuss our bond?" It unnerved Rey how easily Ben switched back and forth between sounding like the former Supreme Leader and sounding like her ally - maybe even "friend" now. As distracted as she was with the million thoughts swirling around her head, the idea of Ben actually being her friend made her smile.
"Among other things, yes." Rey answered, trying to keep her thoughts to herself. Whether he heard her call him a "friend" and simply chose not to respond, or she was successful in keeping the thought from floating over to him was anyone's guess.
"I have a lot of questions I was hoping you could answer," she continued. "Though, the first one is why all of your knights keep assuming I'm your apprentice. What is all that about?"
"Of course," he muttered, looking a bit taken aback by her question, "I should have seen this coming."
Rey waited impatiently for him to answer her question.
"It's the Rule of Two," he unhelpfully supplied.
"The what?"
"Oh, right - you wouldn't know what that means." The thought wasn't condescending so much as it was him realizing the depth of her ignorance and utter lack of training. "The Rule of Two," Ben began in the most instructive tone Rey had ever heard, "is the first and most important law of the Sith, originally constructed and handed down by Darth Bane a few thousand years ago. In an effort to shorten the tale, all you really need to know is that before the Rule of Two, there was constant infighting among the Sith - well, The Brotherhood of Darkness, as they called themselves then.
"Due to the never-ending backstabbing and petty squabbles, the Brotherhood was never successful in taking down the Jedi Order. Eventually, Darth Bane was able to trick the Brotherhood into decimating themselves by playing to their overwhelming desire for power. Then, being the only remaining Sith, he took an apprentice and instigated the Rule of Two which dictates that there can never be more than two Sith at any given time - or else the infighting might again cause dissention."
Rey's mind spun in confusion. "But wait, then how do you have an entire order of knights? Doesn't that break the rule?"
"No, none of them were ever technically Sith."
"But you were?" He nodded in reply. "So what are they?"
"Fallen Jedi - though the actual term is "Dark Jedi" but no one really uses that phrase any longer. All it means is that they rejected the Jedi teachings and now use the Force for their gains."
"And they think I'm your apprentice," Rey said, musing over all of the new information. "So does that make you in charge of the Sith now?"
"I suppose it would," Rey noticed the carefully-guarded expression on his face, "if I had chosen to follow that path. But I told you before, it's time to let the past die."
Rey didn't respond; a flood of emotions washed over her as she recalled her emotions the last time he had said those words. She was grateful that he didn't try to offer her the galaxy again. Maybe he was learning.
"Ironically," Ben continuing, apparently not hearing her thoughts, "I did exactly what was expected of me when I killed Snoke."
"What?" Rey stuttered, confusion evident on her face. "He was clearly surprised that you killed him."
"He was," Ben agreed. "However, the Rule of Two also dictates that in order for an apprentice to become the master, they have to kill their master and prove they are worthy to carry on the tradition of the Sith."
"That sounds extremely convoluted," Rey remarked, uneasy with the strong emphasis placed on murder.
"If you keep thinking in terms of "right and wrong," you won't understand it." Ben sighed, offering no further commentary on the history of the Sith.
"So…" Rey began in an effort to keep some sort of conversation going, "about my other questions -"
"Right," he nodded, seeming distracted. "Go ahead."
Rey wasn't entirely sure how to bring up the topic in a way that wouldn't make Ben immediately defensive, but she had to know, had to be sure. "You keep insisting that your knights are loyal and that they won't hurt me, but then you also keep threatening to kill them. So, which is it: Do you trust them or not?"
He glanced away, but Rey didn't need to see the look on his face to feel the tension hanging between them. "There is a very big difference between trusting someone and knowing they won't turn against you," he replied, voice low and uneasy in tenor.
"So you don't trust them?" Rey pressed, hoping to get either a clear "yes" or "no." I need to know how watchful to be around them.
Ben hesitated and turned away so that his back was to her. "There are only two people in the galaxy I trust," he admitted, "and you're one of them."
***
A/N: Thank you all for reading! I absolutely love reading all of your comments - thank you for taking the time to leave me reviews. You all are amazing and constantly make my day.