For whole_new_world.
Sep. 25th, 2017 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianTitle: Ren-Children
Summary: After the kidnapping of a Force Sensitive Poe Dameron, Ben is sent to Jakku for his safety. Years later, their paths collide and shape the future of the galaxy.
Prompt: Altered Past
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: No, I don't know how this got into some food-centric content. I am so sorry.
Poe Dameron is kidnapped when he's six years old. He remembers the dark, mostly, and the horror of being away from his mommy and daddy -- and the face in the darkness like the boogeyman, because the boogeyman is real no matter how grown-ups try and spell it out otherwise. He's all but yanked away from his bed, screaming in terror all the while, and he swears that he hears words spoken in a rumbling voice, words about a better future and glory -- but in that moment, all he wants are his parents, and his home.
***
They drop Ben off on Jakku not long after the incident with Poe Dameron being kidnapped. Ben pleads for the Falcon to come back, only for the Crolute to grab his arm and tug at it. "Quiet, boy," the Crolute growls.
Ben sniffles. He wants his mommy and daddy back -- but Mommy promised to come back, didn't she? That's what she said to him. "I'll come back, sweetheart, I promise." She has to come back...can't she?
***
Life on Jakku never seems to change. Day after day, it seems to be the same for Ben -- toiling away under the sun, the heat beating away on his back even as he finds new relics to bring to Unkar Plutt. He has a talent for knowing exactly what the bastard wants. The sort of things that he's looking for. So he survives off the portions that he's able to get -- when Plutt's feeling extra generous, he'll up the portions to something that's enough to last a week at minimum.
He's been living with Plutt ever since his guardians, Aaron and Zara, died when he was thirteen. He's been on his own ever since, scavenging for parts, just scrounging by day by day.
And all the while, he hopes for his family to come back.
He only has scattered images, of course -- a woman with her hair braided, laughing, a man with a cocky sort of grin and an affectionate, sort of teasing tone. Both of them love him very much, he knows that.
They'll come back. The woman said as much. They'll come back. One day. Someday.
***
It's when Taral is twenty-two that he feels the disturbance in the Force.
It's a flicker of light on Jakku, but it's strong nonetheless. And strangely, it's nothing like Taral has ever felt before. He's used to things like the Supreme Leader's presence, things like the scorching heat of him, or for that matter, Lisaris. He's used to those things, as much as he is used to the Supreme Leader's capricious treatment of him, kind one moment and angry the next. Calm and fatherly one moment, accusing him of betrayal or failure the next.
This presence...this presence is new. It seems to be a balance between Light and Dark. A mixture. Taral doesn't know what to make of this, except he has never felt something like this before.
It's telling the Supreme Leader that the Supreme Leader looks thoughtful. "If what you say about this man is true," he says, "Bring him to me."
And Taral has a sudden, sinking feeling that he isn't the Supreme Leader's (for a loose definition, actually) favorite apprentice anymore. His status as the Leader's favorite has wavered day to day, but this...
This may be the part where he loses the Leader's favor for good.
***
The sun's beating down on Ben's back even as he exits the downed Star Destroyer, a lonely relic of what used to be the Empire, what are now legends. Ben's stomach is practically gnawing at itself, and his head's spinning with the heat and thirst. He takes out his canteen and practically guzzles the water down before taking the makeshift sled he made down to Niima Outpost. Today, he's found an Imperial officer's helmet, and it's not much, but he'll do what he can for portions. He rubs his stomach absently; the gnawing sensation is about as familiar to him as the heat of Jakku. All part of the scenery. All part of the planet. He doesn't recall a time when he wasn't somehow hungry.
It's one of the things he hopes for should he leave this planet. Never knowing that feeling again.
He heads to Niima Outpost, where there's a man, quite handsome actually, splashing water on his face. He's gulping the water like it's the only water he has -- and knowing Jakku, that may very well be the truth.
Ben taps him lightly on the shoulder and offers him his water. "It's not much," he says. "But I hope it helps."
The man practically gulps down the water. Ben gets a better look at him, at his black curls that stick to his smooth, golden skin. There's something about his features that makes him look quite innocent, delicate even. "I'm Ben," Ben says.
"I'm Kes," says the man, and even his voice is musical, pleasant. "And thanks. Thought I was going to die of thirst."
"No problem." Of course, it would be a great deal of a problem if Ben ran out of water, but he can refill. Even water from the troughs is better than nothing.
Plutt takes the helmet and sniffs at it. He's a great, bulbous creature, with the sort of face that Ben imagines passes judgment down on just about everything. "What you bought me today," he says, "Is worth...one portion."
"Hold on." Kes speaks up in that moment. "That's a rare Imperial relic, without a doubt. A remnant of history...and it's worth only one portion?"
Ben joins in. "Last time, they were worth at least three."
"One portion," Plutt says, almost as if talking to a child. Which, given his track record with children, Ben knows, sounds gruff and almost a growl.
"There's actually something I want to sell you," Kes says. He dumps a whole bagful of red lightsaber crystals on the kiosk. Ben stares at them; how did this man even get ahold of them?
His shock only increases when Plutt dumps the results on the kiosk. One hundred portions, all for rare lightsaber crystals. Ben's stomach rumbles, and his jaw aches with hunger. He turns to look at Kes, suddenly in wonder of this man who would do...that for him. A complete stranger.
Back at the AT-AT, Ben prepares the meal for both of them. Practice has honed his skills to the hilt, and Kes looks like he's about to grimace at the sight of the portions, but restrains himself.
Ben goes for it, his stomach rumbling eagerly, though he feels suddenly self-conscious in front of this offworlder. He's hungry, starving in fact, but he doesn't want to eat too much. On Jakku, minding one's table manners isn't the first thing usually on the agenda, but where Ben usually would have eaten without restraint, now he's aware that he has an audience in this AT-AT that he's set up for himself. Kes watches, and he seems sympathetic more than anything else. "You do this every day?"
Ben nods, even as he sits back, feeling suddenly, uncomfortably -- and yet somehow comfortably -- full. Kes' own form is lean, but not quite broad and muscular like Ben's own form. It's almost delicate in nature, fine-boned. Everything about Kes seems to be like a painting. Beauty, as some of the women on Jakku (and some of the men) would talk about other men -- the fine-featured face, the warm brown eyes.
Ben's stomach gurgles again, and he gives it a pat. He's certain he's full, so why is his stomach rumbling? It can't be hungry again. He's too weighed down to move at any rate. Maybe this is what feeling comfortable is like. The kindness of a man you just met, and conversation.
***
Taral wonders if this moment is exactly what the Light feels like. Just knowing that you've helped someone, a starving, unappreciated scavenger who helped you when you were thirsty. The Supreme Leader once said that compassion was a weakness that your enemies would exploit in the end, and yet Taral can sense nothing but sincerity from this man who currently lies across from him, his belly full, purring softly. Taral can't say that he's seen anyone so content before, and he did this...
He contacts Snoke, and it's there that Snoke requests that Ben be brought before him.
"His parents may have abandoned him," Snoke says. "But we, his true family, will not."
"His true family?"
"I did play a...role in his conception..."
Taral is flabbergasted, and remains that way long after the giant hologram of Snoke fades out. He looks over at Ben, not wanting to disturb the content scavenger, and yet it's time to go. The Supreme Leader does not like being kept waiting.
He taps Ben's shoulder lightly. "Wake up, Ben."
Ben stirs, rubbing his belly, before saying, "Is something wrong?"
Taral tells Ben about what Snoke said, and though Ben is confused, skeptical even, he agrees to go over to the Liberator if only to know what's going on.
***
The first thing that Ben notices is the fact that they don't have portions, but actual food. And it actually ends up making him hungrier. The moment that the serving droids bring out dinner, Ben's jaws ache and his mouth fills with moisture. There is so much food. Too much food, actually. Meats and vegetables and fruits and desserts that Ben is all but eager to try. And wine too. He can remember scrounging for water and things of that nature out in the desert, but nothing like this. Along with his hunger is anger -- this is what Unkar Plutt was keeping from him and the other scavengers?
In his anger, he finds himself tearing into the food, cramming it down his throat piece by piece, savoring the juices trickling down his chin. He's aware that he's eating sloppily in front of Taral, and he slows down, suddenly embarrassed.
"Are you all right?" Taral says.
Ben nods. "I hate him," he says, and he's suddenly even more horrified at himself for saying it, more horrified than at his angry bout of gorging.
"Plutt?"
"Yes." He takes a bit of fruit and chomps at it, more juice trickling down his chin. "I shouldn't," he says with his mouth full, "But I do."
"And he earned your hatred." Taral says. "He devalued you. He starved you. He abused you."
"There were multiple beings on Jakku who got it worse than me."
"But he hurt you." Taral looks at him with such compassion that Ben wants to weep. "And it's unfair."
Taral doesn't look disgusted when Ben expresses fascination at the different foods on display. He didn't realize that there were foods outside portions -- actual food, really, or the inside of a Star Destroyer, which he thought was nothing more than a myth. Even as they eat, Taral tells him about the matter of the Force, which Ben also thought was just a myth. All of it sounds interesting, fascinating even, and it feels like Ben has stepped from beyond Jakku into a whole different galaxy.
By the time he's done, he's already full, and he's more content than he has been in a while.
"The Supreme Leader's been very interested in meeting you," Taral says. "The moment he felt you on Jakku, he was interested."
"Was he?" Ben says. Who is this Supreme Leader, and why would he be interested in Ben? Ben is basically a nobody. Not particularly talented, not particularly exemplary either. Not particularly much of anything, as Plutt once said about him.
"He was. You're strong in the Force." Taral suddenly sounds, faintly, uneasy. "More than you know."
***
Meeting Snoke for the first time is undeniably intimidating. Unkar Plutt was intimidating in a way that reminded one of a powerful duke or nobleman, but this being seems to tower over Ben like some sort of giant. Even Plutt would be shaking in his boots just looking at Snoke. There are numerous scars on Snoke's face, one that looks like it nearly took a chunk out of his head. How he's still alive...Ben has no idea.
"I thought I sensed a disturbance," says the Supreme Leader. At Ben's puzzled expression, he says, "I presume my apprentice told you about the Force?"
"People on Jakku said it was a myth!"
Snoke chuckles indulgently; it sounds like the prelude to an avalanche. "A myth to those with small minds, perhaps. But the Force is very much real, Ben. It surrounds us, guides us, it keeps us strong. I can teach you this...if you wish."
"Jakku -- my family -- "
"Tell me," Snoke says. "Are you familiar with Milaran junglecats?"
Ben shakes his head.
"They eat their young. That's what your family did when they left you on Jakku -- instead of treating you like family, they cast you aside. And yet you've been waiting for them all these years."
Ben nods. He finds himself wishing he could make himself small -- he knows that his family has taken too long to come back. But they would never...would they?
"Don't feel foolish, Ben. They exploited your innocent trust and your devotion to them. Hardly your fault. And it's hardly too late. You are, after all, still young. And the time is made for you."
Ben takes a deep breath. "I want to know more about me," he says. "The Force. What was kept from me so long."
"When you put it that way," Snoke says, "Welcome aboard."
***
From that point on, Ben trains, honing his skills into something greater, learning how to use the Force in a more refined way as opposed to just about everything else. His body changes, gaining more muscle, his sudden growth meaning that he can't quite fit into those old Jakku robes anymore. It doesn't matter. He has other robes. His cheeks are less sunken, his face is softer, and his body becomes less lean, more powerful. He can remember being skinny enough to squeeze through places. Now...now he's not as skinny.
He trains with Taral, who seems to have developed a sort of affection for him. He feels the same for Taral as well the more he speaks with him, the more he trains with him. He knows that Taral wears the mask a lot, which he shouldn't; it hides his beautiful face from the galaxy. He knows that Taral likes to bring back treats for Ben, new foods to try -- pasta, new vegetables, different chocolates, different sorts of ice cream. All sorts of experiences that Ben hasn't thought he would be able to try, actually. And the more he trains, the more he starts to wonder why he was so intent on waiting for his family in the first place -- they left him there on purpose and he was so scared to face the truth because it would have been too threatening, too horrifying to a small child...
At night, Taral tells him his true name -- Poe Dameron. It's almost strange for such a beautiful, kind man who can also be ruthless in equal measure, but Ben treasures that secret, keeps it close. Poe. It's such a simple name, but so precious in the dark. Poe. It's a melodic sounding name, low and sweet. Ben keeps it close to him because somehow, he doesn't want to lose it.
"Why did you give up that name?" Ben says.
"It's evidence," Taral says. "Evidence that we've become something greater than ourselves. Serving the cause."
***
Ben's sacrifice of his name comes when he kills Unkar Plutt. The miserable wretch begs for his life and pleads, but Ben ultimately runs him through -- and he's shocked at how easy it all really is. He's no stranger to violence; he's had to fend off his share of enemies on Jakku, but he's never purposely killed someone.
Even as he looks over at his vibroblade that's now soaked through with Plutt's blood, he wonders what he's done, and what's to come next.
Snoke praises him, of course. "You did the right thing," he rumbles. "The good thing. Plutt was unworthy to live. A miniature tyrant in and of himself for Jakku, keeping himself rich and the scavengers poor. I doubt anyone will miss him."
Ben doesn't know if he's right or not. Either way, he supposes he's made his choice. There's been times as a boy that he's longed to see Plutt dead -- white hot rage behind his eyes, things a thirteen year old should never ever feel. He never thought he would see the day.
"Is there a name that you would like to choose for yourself?" Snoke says.
"Kylo." Ben remembers reading through the old holobooks, and the Milaran words there. "Kylo Ren." The victorious Knight of Ren. Ben only hopes he can live up to that title, every step of the way.
Kylo and Taral Ren. Together, they'll do extraordinary things. No one will have to know hunger, or separation, or misery ever again. They will be, together, truly a force to be reckoned with.
Together, they will be legend.
Summary: After the kidnapping of a Force Sensitive Poe Dameron, Ben is sent to Jakku for his safety. Years later, their paths collide and shape the future of the galaxy.
Prompt: Altered Past
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: No, I don't know how this got into some food-centric content. I am so sorry.
Poe Dameron is kidnapped when he's six years old. He remembers the dark, mostly, and the horror of being away from his mommy and daddy -- and the face in the darkness like the boogeyman, because the boogeyman is real no matter how grown-ups try and spell it out otherwise. He's all but yanked away from his bed, screaming in terror all the while, and he swears that he hears words spoken in a rumbling voice, words about a better future and glory -- but in that moment, all he wants are his parents, and his home.
***
They drop Ben off on Jakku not long after the incident with Poe Dameron being kidnapped. Ben pleads for the Falcon to come back, only for the Crolute to grab his arm and tug at it. "Quiet, boy," the Crolute growls.
Ben sniffles. He wants his mommy and daddy back -- but Mommy promised to come back, didn't she? That's what she said to him. "I'll come back, sweetheart, I promise." She has to come back...can't she?
***
Life on Jakku never seems to change. Day after day, it seems to be the same for Ben -- toiling away under the sun, the heat beating away on his back even as he finds new relics to bring to Unkar Plutt. He has a talent for knowing exactly what the bastard wants. The sort of things that he's looking for. So he survives off the portions that he's able to get -- when Plutt's feeling extra generous, he'll up the portions to something that's enough to last a week at minimum.
He's been living with Plutt ever since his guardians, Aaron and Zara, died when he was thirteen. He's been on his own ever since, scavenging for parts, just scrounging by day by day.
And all the while, he hopes for his family to come back.
He only has scattered images, of course -- a woman with her hair braided, laughing, a man with a cocky sort of grin and an affectionate, sort of teasing tone. Both of them love him very much, he knows that.
They'll come back. The woman said as much. They'll come back. One day. Someday.
***
It's when Taral is twenty-two that he feels the disturbance in the Force.
It's a flicker of light on Jakku, but it's strong nonetheless. And strangely, it's nothing like Taral has ever felt before. He's used to things like the Supreme Leader's presence, things like the scorching heat of him, or for that matter, Lisaris. He's used to those things, as much as he is used to the Supreme Leader's capricious treatment of him, kind one moment and angry the next. Calm and fatherly one moment, accusing him of betrayal or failure the next.
This presence...this presence is new. It seems to be a balance between Light and Dark. A mixture. Taral doesn't know what to make of this, except he has never felt something like this before.
It's telling the Supreme Leader that the Supreme Leader looks thoughtful. "If what you say about this man is true," he says, "Bring him to me."
And Taral has a sudden, sinking feeling that he isn't the Supreme Leader's (for a loose definition, actually) favorite apprentice anymore. His status as the Leader's favorite has wavered day to day, but this...
This may be the part where he loses the Leader's favor for good.
***
The sun's beating down on Ben's back even as he exits the downed Star Destroyer, a lonely relic of what used to be the Empire, what are now legends. Ben's stomach is practically gnawing at itself, and his head's spinning with the heat and thirst. He takes out his canteen and practically guzzles the water down before taking the makeshift sled he made down to Niima Outpost. Today, he's found an Imperial officer's helmet, and it's not much, but he'll do what he can for portions. He rubs his stomach absently; the gnawing sensation is about as familiar to him as the heat of Jakku. All part of the scenery. All part of the planet. He doesn't recall a time when he wasn't somehow hungry.
It's one of the things he hopes for should he leave this planet. Never knowing that feeling again.
He heads to Niima Outpost, where there's a man, quite handsome actually, splashing water on his face. He's gulping the water like it's the only water he has -- and knowing Jakku, that may very well be the truth.
Ben taps him lightly on the shoulder and offers him his water. "It's not much," he says. "But I hope it helps."
The man practically gulps down the water. Ben gets a better look at him, at his black curls that stick to his smooth, golden skin. There's something about his features that makes him look quite innocent, delicate even. "I'm Ben," Ben says.
"I'm Kes," says the man, and even his voice is musical, pleasant. "And thanks. Thought I was going to die of thirst."
"No problem." Of course, it would be a great deal of a problem if Ben ran out of water, but he can refill. Even water from the troughs is better than nothing.
Plutt takes the helmet and sniffs at it. He's a great, bulbous creature, with the sort of face that Ben imagines passes judgment down on just about everything. "What you bought me today," he says, "Is worth...one portion."
"Hold on." Kes speaks up in that moment. "That's a rare Imperial relic, without a doubt. A remnant of history...and it's worth only one portion?"
Ben joins in. "Last time, they were worth at least three."
"One portion," Plutt says, almost as if talking to a child. Which, given his track record with children, Ben knows, sounds gruff and almost a growl.
"There's actually something I want to sell you," Kes says. He dumps a whole bagful of red lightsaber crystals on the kiosk. Ben stares at them; how did this man even get ahold of them?
His shock only increases when Plutt dumps the results on the kiosk. One hundred portions, all for rare lightsaber crystals. Ben's stomach rumbles, and his jaw aches with hunger. He turns to look at Kes, suddenly in wonder of this man who would do...that for him. A complete stranger.
Back at the AT-AT, Ben prepares the meal for both of them. Practice has honed his skills to the hilt, and Kes looks like he's about to grimace at the sight of the portions, but restrains himself.
Ben goes for it, his stomach rumbling eagerly, though he feels suddenly self-conscious in front of this offworlder. He's hungry, starving in fact, but he doesn't want to eat too much. On Jakku, minding one's table manners isn't the first thing usually on the agenda, but where Ben usually would have eaten without restraint, now he's aware that he has an audience in this AT-AT that he's set up for himself. Kes watches, and he seems sympathetic more than anything else. "You do this every day?"
Ben nods, even as he sits back, feeling suddenly, uncomfortably -- and yet somehow comfortably -- full. Kes' own form is lean, but not quite broad and muscular like Ben's own form. It's almost delicate in nature, fine-boned. Everything about Kes seems to be like a painting. Beauty, as some of the women on Jakku (and some of the men) would talk about other men -- the fine-featured face, the warm brown eyes.
Ben's stomach gurgles again, and he gives it a pat. He's certain he's full, so why is his stomach rumbling? It can't be hungry again. He's too weighed down to move at any rate. Maybe this is what feeling comfortable is like. The kindness of a man you just met, and conversation.
***
Taral wonders if this moment is exactly what the Light feels like. Just knowing that you've helped someone, a starving, unappreciated scavenger who helped you when you were thirsty. The Supreme Leader once said that compassion was a weakness that your enemies would exploit in the end, and yet Taral can sense nothing but sincerity from this man who currently lies across from him, his belly full, purring softly. Taral can't say that he's seen anyone so content before, and he did this...
He contacts Snoke, and it's there that Snoke requests that Ben be brought before him.
"His parents may have abandoned him," Snoke says. "But we, his true family, will not."
"His true family?"
"I did play a...role in his conception..."
Taral is flabbergasted, and remains that way long after the giant hologram of Snoke fades out. He looks over at Ben, not wanting to disturb the content scavenger, and yet it's time to go. The Supreme Leader does not like being kept waiting.
He taps Ben's shoulder lightly. "Wake up, Ben."
Ben stirs, rubbing his belly, before saying, "Is something wrong?"
Taral tells Ben about what Snoke said, and though Ben is confused, skeptical even, he agrees to go over to the Liberator if only to know what's going on.
***
The first thing that Ben notices is the fact that they don't have portions, but actual food. And it actually ends up making him hungrier. The moment that the serving droids bring out dinner, Ben's jaws ache and his mouth fills with moisture. There is so much food. Too much food, actually. Meats and vegetables and fruits and desserts that Ben is all but eager to try. And wine too. He can remember scrounging for water and things of that nature out in the desert, but nothing like this. Along with his hunger is anger -- this is what Unkar Plutt was keeping from him and the other scavengers?
In his anger, he finds himself tearing into the food, cramming it down his throat piece by piece, savoring the juices trickling down his chin. He's aware that he's eating sloppily in front of Taral, and he slows down, suddenly embarrassed.
"Are you all right?" Taral says.
Ben nods. "I hate him," he says, and he's suddenly even more horrified at himself for saying it, more horrified than at his angry bout of gorging.
"Plutt?"
"Yes." He takes a bit of fruit and chomps at it, more juice trickling down his chin. "I shouldn't," he says with his mouth full, "But I do."
"And he earned your hatred." Taral says. "He devalued you. He starved you. He abused you."
"There were multiple beings on Jakku who got it worse than me."
"But he hurt you." Taral looks at him with such compassion that Ben wants to weep. "And it's unfair."
Taral doesn't look disgusted when Ben expresses fascination at the different foods on display. He didn't realize that there were foods outside portions -- actual food, really, or the inside of a Star Destroyer, which he thought was nothing more than a myth. Even as they eat, Taral tells him about the matter of the Force, which Ben also thought was just a myth. All of it sounds interesting, fascinating even, and it feels like Ben has stepped from beyond Jakku into a whole different galaxy.
By the time he's done, he's already full, and he's more content than he has been in a while.
"The Supreme Leader's been very interested in meeting you," Taral says. "The moment he felt you on Jakku, he was interested."
"Was he?" Ben says. Who is this Supreme Leader, and why would he be interested in Ben? Ben is basically a nobody. Not particularly talented, not particularly exemplary either. Not particularly much of anything, as Plutt once said about him.
"He was. You're strong in the Force." Taral suddenly sounds, faintly, uneasy. "More than you know."
***
Meeting Snoke for the first time is undeniably intimidating. Unkar Plutt was intimidating in a way that reminded one of a powerful duke or nobleman, but this being seems to tower over Ben like some sort of giant. Even Plutt would be shaking in his boots just looking at Snoke. There are numerous scars on Snoke's face, one that looks like it nearly took a chunk out of his head. How he's still alive...Ben has no idea.
"I thought I sensed a disturbance," says the Supreme Leader. At Ben's puzzled expression, he says, "I presume my apprentice told you about the Force?"
"People on Jakku said it was a myth!"
Snoke chuckles indulgently; it sounds like the prelude to an avalanche. "A myth to those with small minds, perhaps. But the Force is very much real, Ben. It surrounds us, guides us, it keeps us strong. I can teach you this...if you wish."
"Jakku -- my family -- "
"Tell me," Snoke says. "Are you familiar with Milaran junglecats?"
Ben shakes his head.
"They eat their young. That's what your family did when they left you on Jakku -- instead of treating you like family, they cast you aside. And yet you've been waiting for them all these years."
Ben nods. He finds himself wishing he could make himself small -- he knows that his family has taken too long to come back. But they would never...would they?
"Don't feel foolish, Ben. They exploited your innocent trust and your devotion to them. Hardly your fault. And it's hardly too late. You are, after all, still young. And the time is made for you."
Ben takes a deep breath. "I want to know more about me," he says. "The Force. What was kept from me so long."
"When you put it that way," Snoke says, "Welcome aboard."
***
From that point on, Ben trains, honing his skills into something greater, learning how to use the Force in a more refined way as opposed to just about everything else. His body changes, gaining more muscle, his sudden growth meaning that he can't quite fit into those old Jakku robes anymore. It doesn't matter. He has other robes. His cheeks are less sunken, his face is softer, and his body becomes less lean, more powerful. He can remember being skinny enough to squeeze through places. Now...now he's not as skinny.
He trains with Taral, who seems to have developed a sort of affection for him. He feels the same for Taral as well the more he speaks with him, the more he trains with him. He knows that Taral wears the mask a lot, which he shouldn't; it hides his beautiful face from the galaxy. He knows that Taral likes to bring back treats for Ben, new foods to try -- pasta, new vegetables, different chocolates, different sorts of ice cream. All sorts of experiences that Ben hasn't thought he would be able to try, actually. And the more he trains, the more he starts to wonder why he was so intent on waiting for his family in the first place -- they left him there on purpose and he was so scared to face the truth because it would have been too threatening, too horrifying to a small child...
At night, Taral tells him his true name -- Poe Dameron. It's almost strange for such a beautiful, kind man who can also be ruthless in equal measure, but Ben treasures that secret, keeps it close. Poe. It's such a simple name, but so precious in the dark. Poe. It's a melodic sounding name, low and sweet. Ben keeps it close to him because somehow, he doesn't want to lose it.
"Why did you give up that name?" Ben says.
"It's evidence," Taral says. "Evidence that we've become something greater than ourselves. Serving the cause."
***
Ben's sacrifice of his name comes when he kills Unkar Plutt. The miserable wretch begs for his life and pleads, but Ben ultimately runs him through -- and he's shocked at how easy it all really is. He's no stranger to violence; he's had to fend off his share of enemies on Jakku, but he's never purposely killed someone.
Even as he looks over at his vibroblade that's now soaked through with Plutt's blood, he wonders what he's done, and what's to come next.
Snoke praises him, of course. "You did the right thing," he rumbles. "The good thing. Plutt was unworthy to live. A miniature tyrant in and of himself for Jakku, keeping himself rich and the scavengers poor. I doubt anyone will miss him."
Ben doesn't know if he's right or not. Either way, he supposes he's made his choice. There's been times as a boy that he's longed to see Plutt dead -- white hot rage behind his eyes, things a thirteen year old should never ever feel. He never thought he would see the day.
"Is there a name that you would like to choose for yourself?" Snoke says.
"Kylo." Ben remembers reading through the old holobooks, and the Milaran words there. "Kylo Ren." The victorious Knight of Ren. Ben only hopes he can live up to that title, every step of the way.
Kylo and Taral Ren. Together, they'll do extraordinary things. No one will have to know hunger, or separation, or misery ever again. They will be, together, truly a force to be reckoned with.
Together, they will be legend.
