For allbingo
Sep. 22nd, 2017 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Dawn of Destruction
Summary: Bespin is evacuated, and Rey has to face Kylo Ren once more.
Prompt: Abandon Ship!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Was about to get a continuation of my "Shara Lives" story -- and I will get to that, never fear -- but let's say a bit of a recent revelation of awful about The Last Jedi sort of got me typing in my main verse again. Anyway, here's the Bespin evacuation scene.
It was at dawn that the alarms on Bespin went off.
Finn stumbled to his feet in that moment, getting dressed quickly even as Lando's voice came over the comm.
"This is Lando Calrissian. It's time to evacuate, I repeat, it's time to evacuate. General Hux has found us. We have to leave at once before he kills us. Get to your transports, get out of here as quickly as you can."
The city shook. Finn could already feel it. He found himself steadying himself against the walls even as the tremor ran through the city. And he ran.
He ran as quickly as he could, and it was there that he ran into Poe and Rose.
"Finn!" Rose exclaimed. "Thank the stars you're all right. Hux just started firing -- "
"Yeah, I know," Finn said. "Come on!"
They ran in that moment, directing others towards the transports, the General helping carry those trapped beneath the rubble towards the shuttle. And Finn knew that they were doing what they could to help. He had heard of Hux's cruelty, had seen it firsthand, actually, while on Takodana. If they could get everyone they could to the shuttles, that would make all the difference.
***
Above Bespin, Hux watched the destruction, and it was beautiful. There was something about the idea of destroying the insects that called themselves the Resistance once and for all that he couldn't wait to do. Every explosion that he saw from the surface of Bespin was glorious, every burst of fire was perfect. There was something about the idea of the Resistance getting what they deserved that was wonderful, glorious.
All their enemies were going to be exterminated, and it was perfect.
Above Bespin, Hux looked upon the destruction that Bespin underwent, his face unreadable as always, but inside...
Inside, he was smiling.
***
Above Bespin, Rey came out of hyperspace to see the Finalizer firing on the planet of Bespin, and she knew that she had to take out the guns as quickly as she could.
"Chewie," she said. "Can you find a way to disable the cannons?"
Chewie grunted an affirmation. Rey took control of the ship in that moment and flew it towards the Finalizer.
Rey had piloted before. Her first attempt at flying the Falcon hadn't been perfect, but she had done it nonetheless. She had flown ships before; it had been part of her scavenging, but she had never left Jakku. At least before she met Finn.
Luke stared at her in alarm. "Rey -- are you sure?"
"I have to stop him before he destroys Bespin," Rey said. "At least I can buy the others more time."
And that...that was a promise.
***
The ship shook. It was a small tremble, but it was there nonetheless, and Hux nearly stumbled.
"General," said one of the soldiers. "We've been hit."
Hux took a deep breath. Damn that girl...it seemed that it was his turn to ultimately be humiliated by her. "Fire everything," he said. "Don't hold back. Kill her."
He could have sworn that Ren looked over at him, the same sort of turn of his head when Hux had first proposed destroying the Hosnian system.
"If I didn't know better, Ren," he said, "I'd say you had a -- "
The ship shook again. Another hit, the lights flickered and dimmed. The ship did not stop shaking even as the Falcon evaded every blast from the Finalizer with ease. That girl, that blasted girl, was defeating them.
But General Hux, who had gotten so far, was not going to give up because of some mere girl firing at him --
A hit. The Finalizer was good as disabled in that moment. And Ren...
Ren had left. Hux quietly cursed him for that. He would have to evacuate himself, get as far away from Bespin as he could. There, he could try and at least capture General Organa.
And if not -- he could explain himself fully to Leader Snoke.
***
Rey turned to look at Chewie and grinned. "You did it, Chewie!" she said. "It was perfect!"
Chewie grunted.
"A pity we couldn't blow up the Finalizer," Rey said. "It would be exactly what those bastards deserve..."
Even remembering what exactly Hux had done to the Hosnian system was enough to get Rey's blood boiling. And what Kylo Ren had done...
He wasn't on the Finalizer. He was on Bespin. She could feel him. She had yet to confront him. She expected, even reaching out to feel his presence, for him to be angry at her for defeating him on Starkiller. Instead...
Was that pride in her? Appreciation? It was something that Rey didn't expect, and definitely didn't want. Even the idea of that monster being proud of her --
It was enough to make her feel tainted. Filthy. The idea of him being proud of her was revolting, like some teacher being proud of their protégé.
He hadn't even been angry when she had summoned Anakin's lightsaber to her, she remembered. Even that had been a fit of desperation, a gesture of desperation, experimentally mimicking what Ren had tried to do, but had been in too much turmoil to do.
He had appreciated her. Even that knowledge was enough to make her feel disgusted.
"He's down there," she said. "I'll have to face him again, won't I?"
"Yes," Luke said. "Breathe, Rey. Breathe. What do you feel?"
"Anger. A lot of it." Even remembering how he'd broken into her mind twice before she was able to fend him off, what he had done to Finn, what he had done to Han -- it was easy to hate him. "He's a...monster, Luke. He deserves..."
"Monsters usually aren't as simplistic as that," Luke said.
"But what he did to you, to everyone -- "
"I know." And in Luke's eyes, Rey could swear she saw something else: a sort of tortured agony.
"You still love him," she said.
"He's my nephew," Luke said. "Of course I do."
"You deserved better than him."
"I wouldn't have traded Ben Solo," Luke said. "For the galaxy." He sighed. "Breathe with me, Rey. And remember. There is emotion..."
"...and yet peace." And there was something about that simple mantra that was enough to cool Rey, just for the moment. "I'm ready, Luke."
"I'm right behind you," Luke said. "I promise."
***
In the shadows of Bespin, Kylo Ren watched, and waited. Jaina was coming. He could feel her too well, too prominently, in the Force.
The Light was beckoning to him again, and he hated it. It had called to him on Starkiller, not just with the matter of his father, but also with her. It was a troubling knowledge, the fact that that existed. But here she was.
Jaina Skywalker. Also known as Rey. They might have changed her name, but they didn't change who she was. Nothing could change who she was, no matter how Unkar Plutt had tried. He had seen enough when he looked into her mind -- before she turned it back on him, before she had images of people like Thomas flooding back to him in full force. He had seen what Plutt did to her. Forcing her to scavenge. That had been six years ago after her guardians had died.
Luke was with her. Kylo supposed that he had questions for him too. How could he do that to his own daughter, for example. Why did he leave, another. For now, he had to fight them.
***
He was just a hallway away. Even heading down there, Rey could feel the heat of Ren's presence, as scorching as Jakku's heat. And yet she could swear that there was something tugging at him. Something...softer? It couldn't be. This man...if there was anything soft in him, it had died a long time ago.
It was there that she entered the room and saw Kylo Ren, helmetless, the scar that she gave him running down his left cheek. Serves him right, she couldn't help but think. What had ultimately happened could not have happened to a nicer man.
"Jaina." There was something oddly soft in Kylo Ren's voice. "You shouldn't have come here. This is between me and Skywalker; you have no part of this."
"I couldn't let you kill anyone else."
"If you're speaking of the destruction of Bespin, that was General Hux's doing," Ren said. "I had no part." He turned to Skywalker. "It's been some time, hasn't it?"
"It's not too late, Ben," Luke said. "You can turn away from this."
For a moment, Rey could have sworn that something flickered in Kylo Ren's eyes. He could hide his emotions with the mask, but not without. His face was too expressive, truly.
"I've made my choice a long time ago," Ren said, and it sounded like he was trying too hard to convince himself, actually. "What happened to Jaina? The day she disappeared, what happened to her?"
Silence. Kylo Ren seemed to be looking Luke directly in the eye, quietly analyzing him, dissecting him.
"You." Kylo Ren's face contorted in rage. "You coward. You abandoned your own daughter on Jakku, and for what?"
"Ben -- "
"Don't," Ren snapped, "Call me Ben. You coward. Despicable..."
And Rey could only watch as his eyes blazed and the scar she gave him seemed to contort on his face, only accentuated by his blazing eyes.
"I wanted to protect her from Snoke!"
"Same excuse as always, isn't it?" Ren said. "Protection. It seems that the Supreme Leader, as always, is wise, Skywalker," and here, Luke's eyes widened in hurt even as Ren said it. "The junglecats do eat their young. And then they make excuses."
"So you're even sounding like him."
"Do you even want to see what they did to her?"
And before Rey's eyes, Luke Skywalker crumpled to his knees, hands covering his face even as, no doubt, Rey thought, every bit of suffering she had ever endured on Jakku was all but shoved into his head. Unkar Plutt, no doubt. Hunger. The deaths of Aaron and Zara on Jakku. And Luke...tears were streaming down Luke's face all the while.
Rey turned towards Kylo Ren and charged. She just knew that she had to get him to stop. Get him to pay for what he had done.
Excellent, scavenger. Kill him.
That voice again. Snoke's voice. No. She couldn't afford to nearly fall again. The Force was calm, the Force was focus. The Force was what guided them all.
Their lightsabers clashed. It was safe to say that they were evenly matched in that moment -- Kylo had had his share of training, but so had Rey. Their lightsabers clashed, blue against red, as they did on the Starkiller planet not long before.
-- a memory, rushing to Rey's head, herself, probably three, "dueling" with Ben, thirteen, not shattered, but healthy, whole. Her, tackling him. "Gotcha!"
"Okay, okay, Jaya!" Ben, having all but a fit of giggles as Poe, sixteen at the time, looked on, grinning. "You beat me!"
Rey blinked. This man was a monster, a destroyer, so why was she feeling as she did?
The creature wearing her cousin's face looked at her. "You're afraid." There was no malice in those words; there was instead a strange sort of softness. Rey hated it. She would have preferred if he outright wanted to kill her for beating him on Starkiller; at least she knew what to do with that.
Indeed, she would have preferred if they were complete strangers and not cousins. A cousin she had once loved, at that. What had Snoke done to him? What had happened to him? He hasn't had to choose the Dark Side. Rey had made a choice on Starkiller that she wasn't proud of when she gave Ren that scar, but she had pulled away in time. Why couldn't Ren have turned away in time? He had all the choices in the galaxy, hadn't he?
"I fear nothing," Rey said, and she lashed out at him again.
Their lightsabers clashed. On Starkiller, Rey's movements had been someone whose abilities were just returning to her. Here, she could nick Kylo Ren here and there, nearly break through his technique. They fought, and Rey could swear that even with his new training...
Kylo Ren was still hesitating. He didn't want to kill her.
"You don't want to kill me?" she said. "Why couldn't you have done the same for Finn? Or for your own father?"
Kylo Ren looked at her in that moment, and she could swear that his face, too expressive under the mask, actually wavered.
"If it comforts you," he said, "It gave me no pleasure."
"Comforts. Right. You still murdered him. Why don't you tell Luke how you killed someone who was trying to save you from yourself?"
"Rey." Luke's voice. "Please." Don't get angry, he was trying to say, but Rey wasn't ready to not get angry yet.
"Why don't you tell him how you tortured Finn? While we're at it, why don't you tell him everything you did?"
"I already know," Luke said. "Rey...Jaina..."
And there was something about the way he said her real name, her true name, that nearly made her drop the lightsaber she was holding where she stood.
"You're better than this," Luke said.
"Don't you see what he's doing to you, Jaina?" There it was, that name again, on Ren's lips. Which was revolting enough. "He's trying to trick you. He's trying to chain you, as he did his other students. Come with me."
It would have been so easy. Just to reunite with her family again. Everything she had wanted since she was only five, right there, right now. But she couldn't. There was nothing left of her cousin. The cousin she knew had been killed in the massacre on Yavin, and this was the creature who had taken his place.
"What's left in you to love?" she said.
Kylo ignited his lightsaber, and Rey knew that his time of holding back was over. No more fun and games, Rey. He was already built on punishing her, hurting her, like the rage had all but built behind his eyes. She fought him, even as he pressed his lightsaber ruthlessly against hers, and --
Anakin's lightsaber shattered in Rey's hands, and she was down on the ground. Even in the midst of how stunned she was, she looked around, watching the ruins of Anakin's lightsaber shattered beyond repair, and then back up at Kylo Ren, who was just looking down at Rey, then the lightsaber ruins, then back at Rey, like he couldn't believe what he'd done. That moment of anger, all because Rey had refused to choose the Dark.
His face softened, the scar on it straightening out again, and it was there that Luke spoke.
"Ben...I'm the one you want. Don't kill her. If you need a prisoner, take me, but not her."
"Luke..." Rey began.
Kylo looked at Luke in that moment, and his voice filled with scorn even as he spoke. "So...you're trying to redeem yourself then, Skywalker."
"If you want a prisoner, take me."
"No!" Rey shouted. "You can't do this! We still need you!"
Luke turned to look at her. He didn't say anything. Merely smiled faintly. Then he turned towards Kylo Ren. "I'm ready," he said.
Kylo Ren reached up and froze Rey, and she struggled against it, she fought. She could swear that she tried to scream, but she couldn't. No sound came out. By the time that she was able to break free, she ran down the hall, towards Ren's shuttle, where Luke walked up the ramp with him. Rey continued running, shooting this time, only for Ren to bat away the blaster bolts like they were merely annoying flies before freezing Rey again.
Rey could only watch, helpless, immobilized, even as Ren's shuttle blasted off into the sky.
She had failed.
***
Ren didn't mind piloting his own shuttle, but right now, he had his own duties to attend to. And his own emotions, for that matter. Jaina's rejection had hurt. He knew it was coming, of course, but the fact that he had lost yet another being who mattered to him...
He would have to report to the Supreme Leader first. Then...then, he would have to draw on that new pain that Jaina had given him. Physical scars were insignificant. Emotional ones went deeper.
He contacted the Supreme Leader, and it was in the private quarters of Ren's shuttle that Snoke's hologram arose, seeming practically enormous in the confined quarters. "Well, Kylo Ren, I trust that your mission was successful."
"Yes. Skywalker has been captured, and he's on the way to the Finalizer."
"Excellent," Snoke said. "Then there will be no one who dares stand in our way now. Once they see the consequences of daring to oppose us, they will rue the day they formed the Resistance."
"And what of the girl, Jaina?"
Snoke looked thoughtful. "Interesting. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you still cared for your small cousin."
"She..."
"You cannot hide your feelings towards her for long, Kylo Ren. The bonds of blood are strong, difficult to break easily. But her resistance towards you matters not. In time, the taint in her will be too strong to deny, and she will join us. She will be a formidable ally."
"She will." In the end, Kylo Ren could not bring himself to hate her. Even after all she had done to him, it seemed that the Light was still too strong. "Supreme Leader...what do we do with Skywalker?"
"He is too dangerous to leave alive."
"But will killing him not make him a martyr?"
"Interesting. If I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted him spared."
"I assure you I don't. He doesn't deserve to be a martyr." It seemed that Kylo Ren was getting better at bargaining. "And he could hold useful information..."
"You...are correct," Snoke said. "Can it be done?"
"It can, Supreme Leader. I assure you."
"Excellent. I trust my faith in you is not misplaced."
Snoke's hologram dissolved, and Kylo Ren was left alone. He would have to get the necessary information from Luke about what he was exactly doing on Ach-To. Not just for the Supreme Leader, but for himself. Why had Luke essentially fled the galaxy? Why had he been such a coward? And Jaina...how had he left her on Jakku?
Kylo Ren sat in his quarters and began to meditate. Even as he did, he drew on every amount of anger he had, towards Skywalker for separating him from Poe Dameron back on Yavin -- it had been his fault, in the end. What a life Poe could have had with him had Skywalker not intervened. He drew on his anger towards Skywalker for all he had done, and his grief that Jaina had essentially rejected him -- again, Skywalker's fault! If he hadn't left her on Jakku --
He would make Skywalker pay for all he had done. By the Force he would.
And that...that was a promise.
Summary: Bespin is evacuated, and Rey has to face Kylo Ren once more.
Prompt: Abandon Ship!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Was about to get a continuation of my "Shara Lives" story -- and I will get to that, never fear -- but let's say a bit of a recent revelation of awful about The Last Jedi sort of got me typing in my main verse again. Anyway, here's the Bespin evacuation scene.
It was at dawn that the alarms on Bespin went off.
Finn stumbled to his feet in that moment, getting dressed quickly even as Lando's voice came over the comm.
"This is Lando Calrissian. It's time to evacuate, I repeat, it's time to evacuate. General Hux has found us. We have to leave at once before he kills us. Get to your transports, get out of here as quickly as you can."
The city shook. Finn could already feel it. He found himself steadying himself against the walls even as the tremor ran through the city. And he ran.
He ran as quickly as he could, and it was there that he ran into Poe and Rose.
"Finn!" Rose exclaimed. "Thank the stars you're all right. Hux just started firing -- "
"Yeah, I know," Finn said. "Come on!"
They ran in that moment, directing others towards the transports, the General helping carry those trapped beneath the rubble towards the shuttle. And Finn knew that they were doing what they could to help. He had heard of Hux's cruelty, had seen it firsthand, actually, while on Takodana. If they could get everyone they could to the shuttles, that would make all the difference.
***
Above Bespin, Hux watched the destruction, and it was beautiful. There was something about the idea of destroying the insects that called themselves the Resistance once and for all that he couldn't wait to do. Every explosion that he saw from the surface of Bespin was glorious, every burst of fire was perfect. There was something about the idea of the Resistance getting what they deserved that was wonderful, glorious.
All their enemies were going to be exterminated, and it was perfect.
Above Bespin, Hux looked upon the destruction that Bespin underwent, his face unreadable as always, but inside...
Inside, he was smiling.
***
Above Bespin, Rey came out of hyperspace to see the Finalizer firing on the planet of Bespin, and she knew that she had to take out the guns as quickly as she could.
"Chewie," she said. "Can you find a way to disable the cannons?"
Chewie grunted an affirmation. Rey took control of the ship in that moment and flew it towards the Finalizer.
Rey had piloted before. Her first attempt at flying the Falcon hadn't been perfect, but she had done it nonetheless. She had flown ships before; it had been part of her scavenging, but she had never left Jakku. At least before she met Finn.
Luke stared at her in alarm. "Rey -- are you sure?"
"I have to stop him before he destroys Bespin," Rey said. "At least I can buy the others more time."
And that...that was a promise.
***
The ship shook. It was a small tremble, but it was there nonetheless, and Hux nearly stumbled.
"General," said one of the soldiers. "We've been hit."
Hux took a deep breath. Damn that girl...it seemed that it was his turn to ultimately be humiliated by her. "Fire everything," he said. "Don't hold back. Kill her."
He could have sworn that Ren looked over at him, the same sort of turn of his head when Hux had first proposed destroying the Hosnian system.
"If I didn't know better, Ren," he said, "I'd say you had a -- "
The ship shook again. Another hit, the lights flickered and dimmed. The ship did not stop shaking even as the Falcon evaded every blast from the Finalizer with ease. That girl, that blasted girl, was defeating them.
But General Hux, who had gotten so far, was not going to give up because of some mere girl firing at him --
A hit. The Finalizer was good as disabled in that moment. And Ren...
Ren had left. Hux quietly cursed him for that. He would have to evacuate himself, get as far away from Bespin as he could. There, he could try and at least capture General Organa.
And if not -- he could explain himself fully to Leader Snoke.
***
Rey turned to look at Chewie and grinned. "You did it, Chewie!" she said. "It was perfect!"
Chewie grunted.
"A pity we couldn't blow up the Finalizer," Rey said. "It would be exactly what those bastards deserve..."
Even remembering what exactly Hux had done to the Hosnian system was enough to get Rey's blood boiling. And what Kylo Ren had done...
He wasn't on the Finalizer. He was on Bespin. She could feel him. She had yet to confront him. She expected, even reaching out to feel his presence, for him to be angry at her for defeating him on Starkiller. Instead...
Was that pride in her? Appreciation? It was something that Rey didn't expect, and definitely didn't want. Even the idea of that monster being proud of her --
It was enough to make her feel tainted. Filthy. The idea of him being proud of her was revolting, like some teacher being proud of their protégé.
He hadn't even been angry when she had summoned Anakin's lightsaber to her, she remembered. Even that had been a fit of desperation, a gesture of desperation, experimentally mimicking what Ren had tried to do, but had been in too much turmoil to do.
He had appreciated her. Even that knowledge was enough to make her feel disgusted.
"He's down there," she said. "I'll have to face him again, won't I?"
"Yes," Luke said. "Breathe, Rey. Breathe. What do you feel?"
"Anger. A lot of it." Even remembering how he'd broken into her mind twice before she was able to fend him off, what he had done to Finn, what he had done to Han -- it was easy to hate him. "He's a...monster, Luke. He deserves..."
"Monsters usually aren't as simplistic as that," Luke said.
"But what he did to you, to everyone -- "
"I know." And in Luke's eyes, Rey could swear she saw something else: a sort of tortured agony.
"You still love him," she said.
"He's my nephew," Luke said. "Of course I do."
"You deserved better than him."
"I wouldn't have traded Ben Solo," Luke said. "For the galaxy." He sighed. "Breathe with me, Rey. And remember. There is emotion..."
"...and yet peace." And there was something about that simple mantra that was enough to cool Rey, just for the moment. "I'm ready, Luke."
"I'm right behind you," Luke said. "I promise."
***
In the shadows of Bespin, Kylo Ren watched, and waited. Jaina was coming. He could feel her too well, too prominently, in the Force.
The Light was beckoning to him again, and he hated it. It had called to him on Starkiller, not just with the matter of his father, but also with her. It was a troubling knowledge, the fact that that existed. But here she was.
Jaina Skywalker. Also known as Rey. They might have changed her name, but they didn't change who she was. Nothing could change who she was, no matter how Unkar Plutt had tried. He had seen enough when he looked into her mind -- before she turned it back on him, before she had images of people like Thomas flooding back to him in full force. He had seen what Plutt did to her. Forcing her to scavenge. That had been six years ago after her guardians had died.
Luke was with her. Kylo supposed that he had questions for him too. How could he do that to his own daughter, for example. Why did he leave, another. For now, he had to fight them.
***
He was just a hallway away. Even heading down there, Rey could feel the heat of Ren's presence, as scorching as Jakku's heat. And yet she could swear that there was something tugging at him. Something...softer? It couldn't be. This man...if there was anything soft in him, it had died a long time ago.
It was there that she entered the room and saw Kylo Ren, helmetless, the scar that she gave him running down his left cheek. Serves him right, she couldn't help but think. What had ultimately happened could not have happened to a nicer man.
"Jaina." There was something oddly soft in Kylo Ren's voice. "You shouldn't have come here. This is between me and Skywalker; you have no part of this."
"I couldn't let you kill anyone else."
"If you're speaking of the destruction of Bespin, that was General Hux's doing," Ren said. "I had no part." He turned to Skywalker. "It's been some time, hasn't it?"
"It's not too late, Ben," Luke said. "You can turn away from this."
For a moment, Rey could have sworn that something flickered in Kylo Ren's eyes. He could hide his emotions with the mask, but not without. His face was too expressive, truly.
"I've made my choice a long time ago," Ren said, and it sounded like he was trying too hard to convince himself, actually. "What happened to Jaina? The day she disappeared, what happened to her?"
Silence. Kylo Ren seemed to be looking Luke directly in the eye, quietly analyzing him, dissecting him.
"You." Kylo Ren's face contorted in rage. "You coward. You abandoned your own daughter on Jakku, and for what?"
"Ben -- "
"Don't," Ren snapped, "Call me Ben. You coward. Despicable..."
And Rey could only watch as his eyes blazed and the scar she gave him seemed to contort on his face, only accentuated by his blazing eyes.
"I wanted to protect her from Snoke!"
"Same excuse as always, isn't it?" Ren said. "Protection. It seems that the Supreme Leader, as always, is wise, Skywalker," and here, Luke's eyes widened in hurt even as Ren said it. "The junglecats do eat their young. And then they make excuses."
"So you're even sounding like him."
"Do you even want to see what they did to her?"
And before Rey's eyes, Luke Skywalker crumpled to his knees, hands covering his face even as, no doubt, Rey thought, every bit of suffering she had ever endured on Jakku was all but shoved into his head. Unkar Plutt, no doubt. Hunger. The deaths of Aaron and Zara on Jakku. And Luke...tears were streaming down Luke's face all the while.
Rey turned towards Kylo Ren and charged. She just knew that she had to get him to stop. Get him to pay for what he had done.
Excellent, scavenger. Kill him.
That voice again. Snoke's voice. No. She couldn't afford to nearly fall again. The Force was calm, the Force was focus. The Force was what guided them all.
Their lightsabers clashed. It was safe to say that they were evenly matched in that moment -- Kylo had had his share of training, but so had Rey. Their lightsabers clashed, blue against red, as they did on the Starkiller planet not long before.
-- a memory, rushing to Rey's head, herself, probably three, "dueling" with Ben, thirteen, not shattered, but healthy, whole. Her, tackling him. "Gotcha!"
"Okay, okay, Jaya!" Ben, having all but a fit of giggles as Poe, sixteen at the time, looked on, grinning. "You beat me!"
Rey blinked. This man was a monster, a destroyer, so why was she feeling as she did?
The creature wearing her cousin's face looked at her. "You're afraid." There was no malice in those words; there was instead a strange sort of softness. Rey hated it. She would have preferred if he outright wanted to kill her for beating him on Starkiller; at least she knew what to do with that.
Indeed, she would have preferred if they were complete strangers and not cousins. A cousin she had once loved, at that. What had Snoke done to him? What had happened to him? He hasn't had to choose the Dark Side. Rey had made a choice on Starkiller that she wasn't proud of when she gave Ren that scar, but she had pulled away in time. Why couldn't Ren have turned away in time? He had all the choices in the galaxy, hadn't he?
"I fear nothing," Rey said, and she lashed out at him again.
Their lightsabers clashed. On Starkiller, Rey's movements had been someone whose abilities were just returning to her. Here, she could nick Kylo Ren here and there, nearly break through his technique. They fought, and Rey could swear that even with his new training...
Kylo Ren was still hesitating. He didn't want to kill her.
"You don't want to kill me?" she said. "Why couldn't you have done the same for Finn? Or for your own father?"
Kylo Ren looked at her in that moment, and she could swear that his face, too expressive under the mask, actually wavered.
"If it comforts you," he said, "It gave me no pleasure."
"Comforts. Right. You still murdered him. Why don't you tell Luke how you killed someone who was trying to save you from yourself?"
"Rey." Luke's voice. "Please." Don't get angry, he was trying to say, but Rey wasn't ready to not get angry yet.
"Why don't you tell him how you tortured Finn? While we're at it, why don't you tell him everything you did?"
"I already know," Luke said. "Rey...Jaina..."
And there was something about the way he said her real name, her true name, that nearly made her drop the lightsaber she was holding where she stood.
"You're better than this," Luke said.
"Don't you see what he's doing to you, Jaina?" There it was, that name again, on Ren's lips. Which was revolting enough. "He's trying to trick you. He's trying to chain you, as he did his other students. Come with me."
It would have been so easy. Just to reunite with her family again. Everything she had wanted since she was only five, right there, right now. But she couldn't. There was nothing left of her cousin. The cousin she knew had been killed in the massacre on Yavin, and this was the creature who had taken his place.
"What's left in you to love?" she said.
Kylo ignited his lightsaber, and Rey knew that his time of holding back was over. No more fun and games, Rey. He was already built on punishing her, hurting her, like the rage had all but built behind his eyes. She fought him, even as he pressed his lightsaber ruthlessly against hers, and --
Anakin's lightsaber shattered in Rey's hands, and she was down on the ground. Even in the midst of how stunned she was, she looked around, watching the ruins of Anakin's lightsaber shattered beyond repair, and then back up at Kylo Ren, who was just looking down at Rey, then the lightsaber ruins, then back at Rey, like he couldn't believe what he'd done. That moment of anger, all because Rey had refused to choose the Dark.
His face softened, the scar on it straightening out again, and it was there that Luke spoke.
"Ben...I'm the one you want. Don't kill her. If you need a prisoner, take me, but not her."
"Luke..." Rey began.
Kylo looked at Luke in that moment, and his voice filled with scorn even as he spoke. "So...you're trying to redeem yourself then, Skywalker."
"If you want a prisoner, take me."
"No!" Rey shouted. "You can't do this! We still need you!"
Luke turned to look at her. He didn't say anything. Merely smiled faintly. Then he turned towards Kylo Ren. "I'm ready," he said.
Kylo Ren reached up and froze Rey, and she struggled against it, she fought. She could swear that she tried to scream, but she couldn't. No sound came out. By the time that she was able to break free, she ran down the hall, towards Ren's shuttle, where Luke walked up the ramp with him. Rey continued running, shooting this time, only for Ren to bat away the blaster bolts like they were merely annoying flies before freezing Rey again.
Rey could only watch, helpless, immobilized, even as Ren's shuttle blasted off into the sky.
She had failed.
***
Ren didn't mind piloting his own shuttle, but right now, he had his own duties to attend to. And his own emotions, for that matter. Jaina's rejection had hurt. He knew it was coming, of course, but the fact that he had lost yet another being who mattered to him...
He would have to report to the Supreme Leader first. Then...then, he would have to draw on that new pain that Jaina had given him. Physical scars were insignificant. Emotional ones went deeper.
He contacted the Supreme Leader, and it was in the private quarters of Ren's shuttle that Snoke's hologram arose, seeming practically enormous in the confined quarters. "Well, Kylo Ren, I trust that your mission was successful."
"Yes. Skywalker has been captured, and he's on the way to the Finalizer."
"Excellent," Snoke said. "Then there will be no one who dares stand in our way now. Once they see the consequences of daring to oppose us, they will rue the day they formed the Resistance."
"And what of the girl, Jaina?"
Snoke looked thoughtful. "Interesting. If I didn't know better, I'd say that you still cared for your small cousin."
"She..."
"You cannot hide your feelings towards her for long, Kylo Ren. The bonds of blood are strong, difficult to break easily. But her resistance towards you matters not. In time, the taint in her will be too strong to deny, and she will join us. She will be a formidable ally."
"She will." In the end, Kylo Ren could not bring himself to hate her. Even after all she had done to him, it seemed that the Light was still too strong. "Supreme Leader...what do we do with Skywalker?"
"He is too dangerous to leave alive."
"But will killing him not make him a martyr?"
"Interesting. If I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted him spared."
"I assure you I don't. He doesn't deserve to be a martyr." It seemed that Kylo Ren was getting better at bargaining. "And he could hold useful information..."
"You...are correct," Snoke said. "Can it be done?"
"It can, Supreme Leader. I assure you."
"Excellent. I trust my faith in you is not misplaced."
Snoke's hologram dissolved, and Kylo Ren was left alone. He would have to get the necessary information from Luke about what he was exactly doing on Ach-To. Not just for the Supreme Leader, but for himself. Why had Luke essentially fled the galaxy? Why had he been such a coward? And Jaina...how had he left her on Jakku?
Kylo Ren sat in his quarters and began to meditate. Even as he did, he drew on every amount of anger he had, towards Skywalker for separating him from Poe Dameron back on Yavin -- it had been his fault, in the end. What a life Poe could have had with him had Skywalker not intervened. He drew on his anger towards Skywalker for all he had done, and his grief that Jaina had essentially rejected him -- again, Skywalker's fault! If he hadn't left her on Jakku --
He would make Skywalker pay for all he had done. By the Force he would.
And that...that was a promise.
