A Rose Watered with Vinegar

Chapter 3

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A/N: Updated as of 10/25 for minor grammatical errors. My pea brain and I suck shit at proofreading. :/

As always, leave a comment if you feel like it.

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"Rey?"

He blinked, hard.

His lungs constricted. He couldn't believe it. She was finally here.

Admittedly, he had started to doubt the bond. He feared it would leave them connected as mere sentiments in the Force, that it would never bring them together again, like two ships that meet on radar but never pass. Those fears died then and there. It had brought her back to him.

Pleasure torched his veins as he saw her cheeks color lightly with the realization that she had come to him in such a private environment. She averted her gaze, suddenly interested in the massive wardrobe across the room.

She was a banquet for his eyes, beautiful in a beige training tunic and form-fitting pants, and he figured it must be daytime wherever she was. He liked her dressed like that. So unassuming. Taking whomever doubted her by appearance by utter surprise when she demonstrated her power. He imagined her for a moment in the regal attire befitting an Empress, black and crimson, a tiara of—

"How did this happen?!" she blurted out, and he came jerking back to the present.

He disliked the irritation in her tone but willed himself to patience. "I'm just as unsure as you, Rey. The Force works in mysterious ways."

She sighed. "The Force works in the worst ways."

"Don't insult the Force," he warned tersely.

"Well, it keeps dragging me back to a monster!" she cried. "I was doing so well keeping you out..."

The barb found its mark. "After all this time, you still think I'm a monster?"

"Uh, yeah, that's usually what someone is when they kill their own father and try to kill their mother."

"I didn't take the shot."

Her eyes snapped to his, widening. He elaborated, the hurt of her assessment blossoming like nettles under the words. "That was my wingman. I never took the shot. I—I couldn't."

She looked away again. He was afraid she wouldn't believe him. That she'd hate him even more. But when her eyes returned they were full of doubt, and he knew she believed him. The relief was visceral.

"That doesn't change anything, Kylo," she said bitterly, and he found he missed when she called him by his given name.

"I'm not Ben anymore?" She had the decency to look somewhat contrite, but her answer didn't match the sentiment.

"Not when you're the leader of the First Order."

"New Order," he corrected. At her obvious confusion, he went on. "When I told you to let the First Order die, I didn't lie. I'm not doing things the old way. I'm starting over; the galaxy needs real change. And I'm going to bring it."

She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "As if I believe that's a good thing for a second."

"Well, if you tune in to the Holonet tomorrow, you'll find out all about it. Starting with the fact I've abolished slavery in the galaxy."

Her pretty cerulean eyes grew again, and he nearly chuckled. "You—you're what?" she sputtered, her breath quick.

"You heard me correctly. There's no room for it in the world we need. In the world I want to create. Not on Coruscant, not on Jakku, not anywhere."

She looked speechless, so he didn't stop.

"If you ever took the time to stop avoiding our connection and listen to me, you might find out that I'm not evil. The Resistance simply wears the old Republic's blinders; anything that does not fit their narrow scope of the galaxy is the Dark Side and must be eradicated. Funny, they would rather be martyrs for an idea that doesn't even represent reality."

She still said nothing, but he could see the etchings of speculation across her face. He decided to push his luck. "I could still teach you, you know," he added softly.

He overplayed his hand. Rage flashed in her eyes. "You think ending slavery is just going to change everything?!" she cried. "That it's just going to erase everything you've done? All the people you've killed?!"

"Some of the deaths are regrettable, but they were necessary to move the galaxy forward," he said through his teeth. "If you would just listen—"

"No, Kylo!"

He knew any further conversation was futile. Her blood was up, and she was taking out her old anger on him. At least it was finding an outlet. He wondered if she'd ever let it go. It was so twisted into her mind, ugly and bloodsucking, coming to roost whenever he began to make headway. Dismantling it would not be easy. But he'd be damned in he let it go without a struggle.

He sighed. "Rey—"

She cut him off. "I have to go."

"Rey!" his voice was pleading now, like in the throne room of the Supremacy. He hated it, hated the idea of begging, but for some reason she always trumped it. "Don't—"

"Goodbye, Kylo."

He watched as she disappeared through the wall, and his anger exploded. He was a tempest, shooting lightning at everything he laid his eyes on. It ravaged the walls, the furniture, his bed bursting into flames. He cursed her, cursed everything. Why did it have to be so hard?

When he felt the dark finally begin to subside, he sunk to his knees in the destruction and smoke.

It had been three days since Rey's sudden arrival in his rooms. He'd taken out his vexation on the Knights, pushing them harder in training than he ever had before. If they noticed, they knew better than to mention it. He'd run them through simulation after simulation, even increasing their exercise regimen twofold. It was wearing on them, and he knew it wasn't fair to run them like this out of his own anger. But she'd pushed him too far to care.

He was alone now in the training room, crushing droid after droid. The catharsis of violence eased his furious hurt, but he couldn't shake the words from his mind.

—kill their own father—

He cut another droid down and shut off his sword. Chest heaving, he walked across the room to retrieve the water jug. He stopped in his tracks when Hyperion materialized suddenly at the door, his face the gravest Kylo had ever seen it.

"My lord", said the Knight, clearly unable to wait. "You need to come with me. Now."

Kylo ignored the blatant disregard for procedure and sprang forward, joining his Knight as they began to hurriedly make their way toward the command center.

"What is so urgent, Hyperion?" he asked, aggravation beginning to seep through.

"It's him, my lord."

Kylo nearly froze when the implication of the Knight's words blindsided him.

Him.

Pallas.

When they finally reached the command center, he found the rest of the Knights already gathered, each looking as somber as Hyperion had when he'd shown up at the door of the training room. Rhea's long, slender fingers tapped away at the table, while Cronus paced at the far end of the room, hands behind his back. Theia bounced erratically in her chair. Even Atlas, the rock, looked somewhat unsettled, eyes narrowed in thought as he looked down at the table.

Those seated rose to acknowledge their lord, but Kylo dismissed the formalities with a wave.

"Cronus," commanded Kylo. "Tell me everything we know."

Cronus nodded. "Yes, Master. I was monitoring our correspondences when I received an encrypted holo message from an undisclosed location. It is best you see it yourself."

He turned and went to the console, fingers working at the keys. Pressing a final button, he stepped aside, and a hooded blue figure appeared in the center of the room.

It was indeed him. Pallas, the lost Knight of Ren.

"Hello, Kylo," he said immediately, and though it was prerecorded, he got the feeling that he was aware they were listening at that very moment. "Are you happy to see me again? I hope so. I'm very excited to reveal myself to you. You probably thought I was dead." The broad-shouldered figure chuckled. He removed his hood, revealing the Dathomirian array of small horns jutting from his skull. "As you can see, I'm very much alive. And I've grown even stronger."

Kylo slit his eyes. The kriffing bastard dares—

"I knew you would always turn away from the true path. I knew it from the moment I looked at you. You can't handle power. You can't handle the real strength of the Dark Side. That's why you have to be stopped. You're nothing but a child—a pest."

Kylo tightened his fists.

"Even as you listen, my army is growing. The Sith will not be silenced. And soon enough, we will be powerful enough to crush your little charade."

Pallas paused, a grin twisting across his face.

"You thought killing Snoke would be the end of your troubles. But it's only served to galvanize us. I'm coming to you, Kylo."

Kylo reeled. How in all the hells could he possibly know about Snoke? There was no way. No one but the Knights knew.

The figure leaned forward.

"And after I end you, I will end the girl, too."

Kylo didn't think. His body simply reacted, and he pulled his sword from his belt. He ignited it and flew through the air in a blur at the figure, slashing it across the neck, taking the head off the traitorous filth, the parasite, the—

Pallas' voice directly in his ear broke his mindless outburst.

"Start counting, Kylo. Your days are numbered."

He turned to the figure, but it was gone. The message had ended. He realized then he was still standing there in the middle of the room, shoulders rolling, his sword lit. Collecting himself, he straightened and shut off the saber, returning it to his belt.

When he turned to the Knights, he found them watching him with a mixture of confusion, fear, and curiosity. He scowled. As always, he thought, the infinite enigma that was their petulant, raging master.

Ophion released a breath. "Well," he began with mirth. At Kylo's look, his mouth snapped shut. Kylo stalked back to the front of the room, his wrath animating the air. It seemed to bend and shudder around him. The lights grew dimmer as he passed, and the Knights instinctively bowed their heads.

He finally spoke.

"If what Pallas said is true, then another war is unavoidable. We have to mobilize. Quickly. Cronus!"

"Yes, my lord?" his faithful intelligencer answered. They all still had their heads slightly bent in deference, eyes averted, and Cronus' long nose cast an odd shadow upon the surface of the table.

"Find out whatever you can about the message's origin. We need to find him and strike first. At this point, exhaust every resource." He wrinkled his nose. "Even the cartels."

Cronus merely nodded.

"I should never have given him mercy." Kylo's rich voice shook. "I should have cut him down the moment he questioned us."

Pallas had been so promising. Kylo remembered the day he recruited him. He'd beamed like experiencing something sweet for the first time. Young, ambitious. When Kylo had challenged him to their first fight, he had uprooted a small tree with the Force and swung it at him. Every time Kylo had put him down that day, he'd risen.

He'd known about Pallas' affinity for the dark from the get-go, but he thought he could rein it in. While Kylo could resist the worst of Snoke's mental assaults, Pallas succumbed to them like a fly to honey. Perhaps Snoke thought Pallas strong enough to strike him down. He'd have been easier to control. But there was no way to know now.

Rhea shot up from her seat. "It isn't your fault, my lord." She looked so distressed at his anger, and he couldn't help but feel guilty. She had such a well of compassion for his anguish, unfaltering even in the worst throes of his passion. He had once begun to destroy TIEs by hand in a hangar when he'd learned of a Resistance victory but couldn't even get to two before she put herself in his way. She was a balm, and his suffering had scattered. He didn't deserve it.

"It is, Rhea!" He slammed his fist into the table. "He's back, and that blame belongs to me. But I will not let him threaten us or our vision. Believe me."

"We will die before we let that happen," snarled Theia.

"We're with you to the end, my lord," confirmed Hyperion.

Looking at them now, he knew what he had to do.

He had to find a way to talk to her again.

He left without another word.

Settling onto the floor of the training room, he crossed his legs and assumed the meditative posture. He closed his eyes, feeling the Force accumulating around him. He eased himself into it, letting it wash over him, feeling the inherent disassociation of delving into the living energy that gave them all life. It was phantasmagoric, the deep emptiness of the galaxy before him imbued with a million colors.

He blocked the irrelevant forces working on his mind, concentrating on her Signature. Energies ebbed and flowed around him, but her light was evading him. Come on, Rey, he thought. Show yourself to me.

There. The spike of her Signature like a solar flare into the firmament. He focused his entire will on it, reaching out and wrapping himself around it. It resisted him—she resisted him—but he did not let go. He dug in and concentrated, pushing with everything. He gave a giant thrust—

All of a sudden he was there. His hold wasn't incredibly strong, but he could at least see her and a little bit of her surroundings. Everything else was a fuzzy vibrating grey. It was unnerving. She was walking on metal—a hallway, probably—wearing a robe this time. Maybe she had been meditating, too.

When she noticed him, she jumped and reached for her chest.

"Ben," she breathed, and he heard another voice, a questioning mumble.

"Um, nothing," she said, tearing her gaze from his and turning to whomever she was with. A thought seared in Kylo's mind: that she was with the traitor, spending time alone with him. It was enough to flex his fingers as the urge to pull his blade flared, but he held himself fast.

"I, uh, I have to go. I'm sorry," she finished lamely. She hurried in the opposite direction in which she had been walking, and Kylo followed. Eventually, she came to stop in what looked to be a personal room, judging by the patterned carpet around her feet and what looked to be a bed next to her. She closed the door.

She crossed her arms and glared at him. Guess she remembered who he really was.

"How did you get here?" she probed with irritation. He was sorely tempted to counter her, deliver her the bite she was asking for, but this was too important. His approach had to be right.

"It doesn't matter, Rey. I needed to get to you, and I did."

She narrowed her eyes. "If this is about teaching me, again, you can—"

"It's not," he said, cutting her off. "Rey, this is important. I need you to listen to me. Please."

She must have noticed the genuine plea in his eyes, because she didn't go on.

He took a deep breath and released. "Rey, I know we are at war. And I'm sure your side isn't keen on ending anything anytime soon. But there's a greater threat to us both. One you have not yet seen. A demon from my past."

She was inquisitive now, albeit at arms-length. "What are you talking about, Kylo?"

"A long time ago, when the Knights of Ren was in its infancy, I recruited Force-sensitive individuals throughout the galaxy. I saw and culled many, but those in the Knights today are the strongest of them all. However, there was one, once, that was second only to me. And it was close." He hated to admit it, but it was true. Pallas was a master in the Force, and a decorated warrior to boot.

Kylo continued. "His name is Pallas. He was a Dathomirian from Ossus in the Outer Rim, the son of merchants that knew nothing of the Force. I immediately recognized his strength, and he impressed us all with his abilities. Soon, he was climbing through our ranks, and I saw the infinite possibilities achievable with someone like that amongst us. But it was all for nothing."

"What happened?" asked Rey. She looked a bit enraptured with the story, and he hoped it would be enough for what he needed.

"Snoke happened. He lived in all of our heads. Myself and the other Knights managed to keep him from completely poisoning our minds, but Pallas' pull to the dark was too potent. I should have seen the signs. In time, he was reduced to madness, in a sense. Snoke's marionette. I think Snoke turned him into that because was wary of my independence. But that's beside the point. One day, Pallas came to training with his sword already ignited. He challenged me then, claiming I was far too susceptible to the light, and that I would bring them all down. Like every senseless zealot, he thought through nothing. He wasn't strong enough at the time. I beat him easily, and then I made one of the worst mistakes of my life. I let him go."

"Let him go?" she repeated. She was sitting now, elbows on her knees and face in her hands. She was so precious like that, absorbing it all so intently. He shook his head once. Focus.

"Yes," he confirmed. "I gave him the option of mercy. He took it and ran. He was the reason I instituted the death mandate for all who challenge and lose to the Master of the Knights. There can be no insurrection when running a perfect machine. I thought he might have simply lived out the rest of his days somewhere far away, consumed by his madness. But he didn't. He's back. And he's revived the Sith Order."

She inhaled sharply. She looked nervous, unsettled. "How do you know all this?"

"We received a comm from him earlier today. A holo message. There was no doubt after I saw it. It's him. And he says he has any army." His voice turned low, a soft rumble. "He knows about you, Rey."

She drew back as if struck. "What?! How's that possible?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. But he aims to come for you after he kills me."

She looked so afraid in that moment, and he went before her and knelt. He held his breath and reached out to place a hand on her knee. Her gaze snapped to his, but she didn't go to remove it.

"I don't plan on going anywhere soon. And I would never let him hurt you." He made his voice soothing, clement. She relaxed a bit but still looked anxious.

"What are you going to do?" she whispered.

He gave her knee a squeeze and stood. "I'm going to kick his ass."

She smiled, and joy coursed through him. He didn't let it show, though, maintaining his seriousness.

"But we need to work together, Rey."

A look of trepidation. "We? As in you and I?"

"No," answered Kylo. "The New Order and the Resistance."

She leapt from the bed. "Kylo—"

He raised a hand. "It is the only way, Rey. We cannot be divided against each other and fight a common enemy at the same time. A war is best fought on one front, you know this."

"They aren't going to go for this, Kylo." She chewed her lip.

"We have to try, Rey. I'll send you the holo message. You can see for yourself, show them if you have to. It's going to be an uphill battle, but if we don't try, then we'd be spitting on all the sacrifices we've made for the galaxy." He steeled himself. "Will you try?"

She turned away, and he assumed the worst. But when she faced him again, there was that flinty determination behind her eyes he'd seen so many times before.

She nodded.