A/N: Sorry, no Resistance in this chapter! I intended to cut to them but once I started writing I realized I couldn't really write much with spoiling what happens with Rey and Kylo.

This chapter follows canon pretty closely, but there are differences in thoughts, feelings, and motivations. This is such a pivotal moment that glossing over what happened in a few sentences just didn't seem right. So I hope you enjoy it even if you already know a lot of what happens!

As always I give thanks to my Bee Team Betas and shamelessly promote my Tumblr ( frozenoj ), which is the best place to find out why the next chapter is taking so kriffing long.

The slight change as the Falcon came out of lightspeed brought them back to reality. "Stang! I forgot my com!" Kylo said in a panicked voice. "It's in my left pocket, you'll have to get it for me!"

Rey gave Kylo an exasperated look. "How the hell am I supposed to do that? It isn't exactly roomy in here!"

"Carefully!"

Rey rolled her eyes and began maneuvering as best as possible so her hand could slide into his pocket. He was damn lucky she had experience contorting her limbs to reach hard to get to items.

"Quickly!" The access hatch the pod would use to exit the ship was already open.

"I'm moving as fast as I can!" All previous ardor was forgotten, which did make her job a little easier. Fiddling around in his pocket trying to grab his comlink could have ended with quite a surprise. At last she took hold of the com and started trying to finesse her arm next to his hand, which was hovering over her hip. "Could you bring your arm up above my head, please?" He did as he was told and the com was handed off to it's owner.

Kylo activated it immediately. He informed whoever answered that he was on his way to the hanger, and asked to be patched in to the TIE fighters closing in on them. Once he was connected he commanded the pilots to maintain radio silence. It was imperative that no one else know there were two life signs in the pod instead of one.

They both held their breaths as the three TIEs escorted them into a mostly deserted area of the Supremacy's hanger. Kylo had told them specifically that's where he would be waiting. The less eyes around to spy him exiting the pod, the better.

The pilots were confused when there was no one waiting for them there, but maintained radio silence as they were told. Obedience was certainly something the First Order had going for it but the Resistance lacked. After landing and leaving their ships the three glanced at each other, unsure what to do. One of them cautiously stepped forward and noticing Kylo Ren inside quickly moved to open the pod.

He was ready. As soon as there was room he raised his arm and put the pilots to sleep just as he had done to Rey upon their first meeting. Getting out of the escape pod wasn't much easier than getting in, the two a tangle of limbs. Kylo was thankful there was no one there to see his awkwardness. Well, no one but Rey and she didn't count. He offered her his hand and helped her back inside, closing it behind her.

Rey was glad she didn't have to watch this part. She knew it was necessary, but messing with people's memories still didn't sit right with her. She knew now that Kylo had actually been gentle while entering her mind, something he was unlikely to be with anyone else.

Once he had mind tricked the pilots into believing he had been there the whole time he moved to the glass and gave her a cheeky thumbs up. He woke the pilots and spoke into his com, asking for a team of stormtroopers to meet him in the hanger with Force suppression binders. He schooled himself into the most menacing figure he could manage and waited.

It was only after the troopers arrived that the pod was reopened and Rey was allowed to step out again. He nodded to the trooper holding the binders who roughly bound her hands in front of her. His slight grimace as she was manhandled was detected only by her. Then they were on their way. Neither the stormtroopers nor the pilots noticed her lightsaber already hooked on his belt.

They stopped at a turbolift surrounded by stormtroopers. This must lead to Snoke, thought Rey. She could feel it in the force around them. Kylo dismissed the troopers and entered the lift knowing she would follow behind. The doors closed and they were finally alone again, at least for a moment. He was filled with turmoil, both for himself and for her, and for the briefest of moments he let his face slip. It was much easier to hide his emotions when wearing his mask.

She turned to face him. "Ben, you don't have to do this. When we touched I saw your future, just the shape of it but solid and clear. You will not bow before Snoke. You will turn - I'll help you. I saw it. It's your destiny."

He lifted his eyes to hers. "You're wrong. When we touched I saw something too. Not your future - your past. And because of what I saw, I know when the moment comes you'll be the one to turn. You'll stand with me. Rey, I saw who your parents are."

There was no lie in Kylo's eyes, and that terrified her.

The lift's doors opened to Snoke's inner sanctum. The space was open with few features besides the dark throne sitting on a raised dais. The equally dark floor mirrored the blood red walls. Snoke sat slouched on his throne in gaudy golden robes, flanked by his crimson armored Praetorian Guards. Rey was stunned by the pain that emanated from the room, requiring Kylo to gently place a hand at the small of her back and push her forwards. The eight guards were, in fact, four pairs, each holding a different high-tech melee weapon, one of each pair standing on either side of the Supreme Leader. Their distinctive red armor created an intense localized magnetic field, allowing it to withstand blaster fire and even indirect lightsaber hits. This protection came at a cost: the pain Rey felt through the force. If Snoke knew the agony his elite guards were in he didn't care.

She moved further into the room of her own volition, Kylo hanging back to kneel before his master. She didn't know if it was standard protocol or if he was making a point to prove her prior statement wrong. It didn't matter. She understood that meeting the Supreme Leader would be necessary if she was to stay and train with Kylo. That didn't mean she would bow before him herself without putting up a fight. It wasn't in her nature.

Snoke eyed her hungrily, her humiliation a delicacy he couldn't wait to devour. "Come closer, child."

Rey stood her ground, and if anything that pleased him more. "So much strength," he said with something like admiration in his voice. "Darkness rises… and light to meet it. I warned my young apprentice that as he grew stronger his equal in the light would rise." Snoke glared at Kylo and with a casual gesture, Rey's lightsaber flew past her into his hand. "Skywalker, I assumed," he chuckled. "Wrongly."

"Closer, I said," Snoke whispered in a smooth, non-threatening tone that fooled no one. When Rey did not comply the force compelled her, gliding her across the smooth floor on her tiptoes.

"You underestimate Skywalker, and Ben Solo, and me. It will be your downfall," Rey confidently replied as she was pulled up the dais. It took all the strength Kylo had not to look up at this woman who would defend him so staunchly. He focused on his measured breathing so his feelings would not betray him.

"Oh? Have you seen something?" Snoke asked with feigned concern. "A weakness in my apprentice. Is that why you came?" His laughter mocked them both. "Young fool. It was I who bridged your minds."

At this Kylo did look up, unable to hide his confusion and pain from his master.

Snoke continued, "I stoked Ren's conflicted soul. I knew he was not strong enough to hide it from you. And you were not wise enough to resist the bait." With a feral grin he moved Rey even closer, reaching a gnarled hand up to hold her face. "And now you will give me Skywalker. Then I will kill you… with the cruelest stroke."

Rey did not back down. She looked him straight in the beady eyes and uttered a single syllable: "No."

"Yes!" Snoke demanded. Using the force he propelled her up and across the room, holding her in midair. "Give. Me. Everything," he ground out as he assaulted her mind.

It was then Ben knew Snoke had to die. While he was preoccupied with Rey, Snoke wouldn't be paying as close attention to Ben's thoughts and he took that to his advantage. Never would he have allowed himself to contemplate the risk while in Snoke's presence otherwise. His eyes flitted to her held above him and he used her pain to give him strength. He did not ascribe to Sith traditions, but there was a certain something to an apprentice killing their master. As Rey screamed above him Ben felt an odd otherworldly breeze against his neck. instinctively knowing it was his grandfather's approval that he had sought for so long.

Having apparently gotten what he needed, Snoke let Rey drop unceremoniously to the ground. Ben cleared his mind of all treasonous thoughts, deciding to bid his time, but he could not remove the glare from his eyes.

Snoke continued his monologue mirthfully, "Well, well… I did not expect Skywalker to be so wise. We will give him and the Jedi Order the death he desires."

Rey jumped to her feet and summoned her lightsaber from where it sat on the arm of Snoke's throne. Her meager display of power bored Snoke, but still she had to be punished. Rather than landing in her hand as it was meant, the lightsaber sailed past her. Ben, on guard as he was, felt Snoke's force powers take over the weapon and managed to tilt his head just so and avoid a collision. Rey was not so lucky. It flew behind Ben and back towards Snoke, but not before smacking her in the back of the head.

"Such spunk," Snoke deadpanned. With a flick of his wrist he sent Rey to the side of the room, where there was a huge magnifying glass. "Look here, now. The entire Resistance on those transports. Soon they will all be gone. For you, all is lost." As he spoke the red material covering the walls withdrew to show a viewport into space. The magnifying glass forced her to witness Resistance transports being torn asunder by First Order missiles.

Gritting her teeth Rey turned and summoned another lightsaber, Ben's red unstable one, from where he was still kneeling at the back of the room. It ignited immediately on reaching her hands, where she held it in a two-handed grip above her right shoulder. The Praetorian Guards sprung into fighting stances, no longer statuesque in the face of Rey's fury.

Knowing Finn, her first friend, could have been on one of the ships now turned to dust and debris caused darkness to surge within her. The First Order would pay for what they had done, and Ben had better not stand in her way. He had no plan to. Pride swelled within him at her unflinching determination. Cognizant of the danger they still faced, he buried his true feelings and pretended he was proud of the Order's achievement.

Snoke was delighted, and also apparently not paying much attention. "Oh, still that fiery spit of hope. You have the spirit of a true Jedi!"

Rey ran towards the throne, lightsaber primed for a killing blow. With a small twitch of a finger Snoke flung her backward, the lightsaber skipping across the floor to Ben's feet. As it spun there, disrupting his reflection in the shiny floor, a plan started to form. This was it. This was destiny. He raised his eyes as Snoke continued to speak. That really was a villain's downfall, they didn't know when to shut up and just do.

"And because of that… you must die." The words were spoken to Rey by Snoke, but could have easily come from Ben's thoughts about the Supreme Leader himself. Snoke used the force to lift Rey up on to her knees, and then spin her to face Ben. He refused to look at her, instead focusing his attention on his master.

"My worthy apprentice: son of darkness, heir apparent to Lord Vader. Where there was conflict,

I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength. Complete your training… and fulfill your destiny."

It was true, all of it. But it would not go the way Snoke thought. Ben picked up the lightsaber and calmly rose to his feet. Walking towards Rey, he finally shifted his eyes toward hers. "I know what I have to do."

Her eyes widened and she pleaded, "Ben…"

"You think you can turn him?" Snoke asked her. "Pathetic child. I cannot be betrayed. I can not be beaten. I see his mind. I see his every intent." He closed his eyes, savoring the victory through the force.

"Yes! I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true." Ben lifted his from pointing downward to face towards Rey, but also nudged his ancestral one to turn slightly towards Snoke. "And now, foolish child. He ignites it… And kills his true enemy!"

Snoke gasped as the blue blade impaled him from the side, only then realizing how true those words were. Rather than igniting the lightsaber in his hand, Ben flicked his fingers to turn on the one sitting on the arm of Snoke's throne. His eyes never left Rey's.

Having lost concentration, Rey was released from Snoke's hold to fall in a pile to the floor. She could not believe what she was seeing, and from the look of it neither could Snoke. Another jerk of Ben's finger's and the lightsaber was propelled towards them, cutting Snoke in two. He did not move to catch it, letting Rey grab it from her position on the floor.

She stood up and they locked eyes, determination on his face and surprise on hers. The force pulsed around them again, as it had when they touched hands in her hut. Everything became clear in that instant. Seeing things from their individual perspectives, they were both wrong. But they were also both right. In her vision Kylo had turned, but he did not walk all the way to her side. She turned as well to meet him in the middle. Balance. He had faced his trial and had killed his master for her. Had promising to come back with him been enough for her? Or did she have a trial yet to come?

They stood back to back as the Praetorian Guards charged towards them, Ben finally igniting the lightsaber in his hand.

A/N: Please, pretty please let me know what you think! With this chapter having so much canon material I'm extremely nervous about getting it "right".

I'm also curious to know what you think about Rey having a trial. Was agreeing to go back to the ship with him enough, or will the Force require something else from her in the future?