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i-lionheart · 3 years

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Memories | Kylo Ren x Reader

You are Kylo Ren's apprentice and second in command, ruling the galaxy and the First Order at his side. When Kylo notices you acting strange, he calls you to the throne room to investigate.

Before you read: 1.4K words, sfw, fluff, feelsy fluff, hurt/comfort but like... emotional hurt rather than physical, i guess it's technically fem!reader but its only mentioned once (when Kylo calls her "good girl") so make of that what you will

You were surprised to see a message from Kylo Ren when you checked your wristpad. He usually only messaged you when he needed something and couldn't leave the Finalizer's bridge to speak with you face-to-face. Though you had been busy finishing up some work on your ship, he had retired to his quarters almost an hour ago for the evening meal. You opened the message.

Are you still working?

You typed a response.

No. Just finished. Why?

His answer was almost immediate.

Throne room. Now.

On my way.

You typed your final message and swiped the screen of your wristpad, which obediently went black. As you made your way from the docking bay to the throne room, you wondered what he needed so urgently right now. The fleet had spent the day at a supply outpost, gearing up in preparation for your next battle. You had just finished a successful mission and debriefed with Kylo when you had returned around midday, hours ago now. As far as you knew, the First Order was running smoothly, like the well-oiled machine you knew it to be. If something had happened, you would have heard about it.

What could he possibly want that was so urgent?

You arrived at the throne room and scanned your wristpad at the door terminal, as you had a thousand times. The door slid open with a whoosh. You stepped inside, continuing through the corridor that greeted you until it widened into the vast throne room.

The room had once belonged to Snoke, but much had changed since then. Now, walls marked the perimeter of what had once been a half - suspended platform, their previous blood red color replaced with a sleek jet black. Though unseen lights created a dim glow throughout most of the space, a spotlight cast the raised dais in the center of the room - and the figure on the dais's throne- into sharp relief.

Kylo Ren lounged lazily in the throne, legs spread, elbow resting on a thigh, head resting on his hand. He wore only the comfortable boots and simple, breathable long-sleeved shirt and pants that he preferred to his usual robes once he had retired for the day.

As you stepped forward into the room, his eyes settled upon you, taking in your appearance. He regarded you for a moment, and then spoke.

"What's bothering you?"

The question caught you off guard. You looked at him quizzically. "Can't you just read my mind and find out?"

"You're blocking me."

"Again?" you said, surprised. He nodded in confirmation.

"It's worse, today. Usually I can at least read your emotions, tell what you're feeling, how strong it is, maybe even catch a glimpse of what triggered it. Today?" He raised his eyebrows. "Nothing. I've had to surmise what I can from your body language alone."

That was unusual. Kylo was particularly gifted in using the Force to sense the thoughts of others. You were just as Force sensitive as he was, but had spend most of your life forced to hide it, and it had been causing you problems lately. At times, you unconsciously used your powers to throw up walls between your mind and the world. You and Ren had guessed that it was your unconscious way of trying to protect yourself. These mental walls helped stop your emotions from being projected outward and communicated to those around you who might wish you harm, but they also stopped Kylo from getting in, which was a problem. He needed to be able to keep tabs on you. If he couldn't, you were in danger, and you knew it. However, despite the serious nature of the situation, you couldn't pass up the chance to take a jab at him.

You let out a gasp of mock surprise. "You mean you have to read nonverbal cues? Like a normal person? How horrible!" you lamented, sarcastically feigning pity.

Kylo Ren was not a man with a great penchant for jokes, especially when they were at his expense. In fact, most officers in the First Order would probably tell you that he didn't have a comedic bone in his body. But you knew him better. Though he steepled his fingers and lowered his head to his hands, closing his eyes with a sigh of exasperation, you saw the corners of his mouth briefly twitch up into a small smile. You smirked in satisfaction. "I'm right and you know it. Behavior cues are something you have no right to complain about."

He raised his head and looked back at you with a shrewd expression. "And they are why I know that, as much as you attempt to deflect with humor, you are having difficulty. Tell me."

You blushed at the call-out. "It's nothing, really, I-"

He held out a hand, stopping you mid-sentence. "Don't lie to me, little one. Tell me what's bothering you." Though the rebuke was gentle, and his tone was tender, you avoided his gaze, choosing to observe the durasteel floor rather than let him see the shame rising in you.

"It's the memories," you admitted, voice barely above a whisper.

"It's your mother again, isn't it." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, I just-" you broke off, feeling a lump rise in your throat. "I just- what if she was right? What if I am broken, what if it is my own fault that I failed for so long? What if I can't keep this up, what if I fail again? I don't know, I just spent all day remembering everything she told me, and I thought..." You finally wrenched your gaze away from the floor, looking up at your Supreme Leader through eyes full of tears, praying that he would see the cry for help in your expression that you were too afraid to put into words. "What if I don't deserve this, either?"

With that final admission of insecurity, you lost what little composure you had left. Silent tears began flowing freely down your face as you sunk back into the ocean of memories that had been threatening to drown you for most of the day.

A voice with all the tenderness and softness of a spring rain cut through your thoughts, pulling you out of your daze.

"Come here, darling."

Obediently, you crossed the throne room. As you approached the dais, you looked up at him, wiping your eyes with your sleeve. He had shifted in his seat, his new position an implicit invitation for you to join him on his throne. You kicked off your boots and ascended the dais, gratefully climbing into his lap and bringing your knees to your chest, melting into the body that was so familiar to you. He pulled you close to him, one arm supporting the small of your back, the other hand pressing your head to his chest despite the tears creating ever-growing dark spots on his thin shirt.

"Shhhh," he murmured. "Listen."

Obediently, you quieted your breathing, paying attention to your senses. Slowly but surely, you found the steady sound of his heart beating in his chest.

"Good girl." A pause, then he continued, impossibly gentle. "Now, match my breath." Obediently, you observed the rise and fall of his chest, then adjusted your own to match.

Inhale.

"Good." His hand stroked your hair.

Exhale.

"Just like that, darling. In..."

Inhale.

"...and out."

Exhale.

"You're doing wonderfully."

A moment of comfortable silence. No strife. No memories. No galaxy to rule. Just the two of you, breathing together.

The way you were meant to be.

He spoke again, continuing to caress you. "Remember where you are."

Inhale. Exhale.

"You are here, with me, and you are safe."

Inhale. Exhale.

"You deserve every star in the galaxy, every atom in the universe."

Inhale. Exhale.

"You deserve your place at my side."

Inhale. Exhale.

"Your mother was wrong. You deserve everything you have. And every time you are with me, I thank the Force for allowing me to rule with you by my side."

"Thank you," you murmured, words muffled from being spoken directly into his chest. God, you loved him, but managing to find the words to express that out loud was impossible.

His voice spoke inside your mind.

"Don't bother. I already know."

You felt, rather than saw, the smile that backed his words.

"If the memories ever bother you again, come find me. I'll help you."

A beat.

"You never have to face this alone again."

You sat there, pressed against him, too overwhelmed with emotion to speak. Grateful to simply be with someone who had vowed to always be by your side.

"I love you," you thought.

"I know."

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#kylo ren #kylo trash #kylo x you #kylo imagine #kylo x reader #kylo ren x y/n #kylo ren x you #kylo ren x reader #kylo x y/n #kylo ren imagine #kylo ren fic #leo writes

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mylifeisactuallyamess · 3 years

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Here is my one shot for Writer Wednesday, set in the storyline of the current fic spawning from last Wednesdays prompt 😅 @autumnleaves1991-blog @clydesducktape

General Hux x Female Reader

Prompt: “I’m in love with you.”

Warnings: None except a shit ton of angst.

Word count: 4216

Read here on AO3.

Your hand brushed down the soft fabric of your dress as it cascaded down your body. The top was midnight black which blended into a deep red colour all the way to the floor. It was stunning, the emblem of the First Order sat proudly around your neck, the silver glinting in the light as the delicate chain rippled against your skin. Your hair was up exposing the column of your neck and the soft line of your shoulders, you had put on some makeup but not a lot, just preferring to accentuate your eyes and lips. Your hand paused over your stomach trying to settle the nerves that fluttered there but nothing could stop them.

You were in a hotel in Canto Bight, the First Order High Command were gathering here to celebrate the victory over the Resistance on Crait. Things had gone wrong, and some members had slipped away but to the rest of the Galaxy the First Order right now had no opposition and they were going to flaunt that as much as they could. This was a show of power and you were all for it. You hadn’t seen Hux the last couple of days and your hands trembled slightly at finally being able to see your husband looking like this. A soft knock sounded on your door.

“Come in!” It opened to reveal Lieutenant Mitaka, his eyes widened slightly at the sight of you and it made you smile. Just a fraction of a reaction like that from Hux would make your heart soar. Your smile dipped slightly in the absence of Phasma, you missed your silver shadow.

“I have been sent to escort you, My Lady.”

“Will I do Dopheld?” You asked, giving a quick spin, the material of your dress rustling slightly and he nodded vigorously while trying to hold his posture. “Will my husband approve?” You didn’t miss the quick flinch from his brow at the mention of Hux, the nervous flicker of his eyes as he swallowed.

“Y-Yes, I think so,” he managed to stutter out. You tried to ignore the heaviness that threatened to drag you down, you were still in the dark about what had happened on the Supremacy before the Raddus had blasted through it and destroyed half of the fleet. You had been on the Finalizer, all you knew was Hux had survived and Kylo Ren was now Supreme Leader.

“Is he here?” You breathed looking back at your reflection, frowning when Dopheld refused to give you an answer. “Lieutenant. Who sent for me?” He jumped as you snapped his title at him.

“T-the Supreme Leader.” Your eyes widened, so Ren was here but no one knew where Hux was. You straightened your back and pulled on the black lace gloves that covered your forearms, which were also dotted with the emblem of the First Order leaving no one in any doubt of your affiliation.

“Best not keep him waiting,” you murmured, turning and heading to the door. You slipped your arm into Dopheld’s and you both fell into an easy stride down the hallway, the ride in the lift was silent and you tried not fidget, watching the lights count down until the doors opened before you, revealing the area you were to spend your evening. The first thing you noticed was the sheer size of the room and the height of the ceilings. You were used to grand surroundings but nothing on Arkanis could even come close to the splendour that filled your vision. You stepped out of the lift and moved to look over the banister, you were on a type of landing that led to two branches of sweeping staircases, finally merging into one grand staircase. You looked up at the intricate marble work, feeling overwhelming awe at the carve of the stone, the detail and skill not to mention the time it must have taken almost blew your mind. Your lace gloved hand rested lightly on the marble banister as Mitaka waited patiently for you. Your eyes were drawn to the golden chandeliers that hung from the vast ceiling, the lights in them flickered trying to create a warm glow, the branches dripping in shiny clear gems all glinting and reflecting, throwing beams of fractured light around the enormous room. Your gaze was drawn down the crowd below, their echoey chatter punctuated by music from the band on the stage over the far side. You could see the Officers and Generals all in their finest uniforms, and you experienced a little tremor as you realised Hux would also be in all his splendour this evening. You felt someone staring and you leaned over the banister slightly to capture the eyes of the one and only Kylo Ren. His amber gaze was piercing and you couldn’t look away as he began to make his way through the crowd, people moving respectfully out of his way as he swept his way up the stairs, his black cape flowing behind him and he took the stairs two at a time in giant strides. His raven dark hair falling over his brow, the scar the Jedi girl had given him reached across his face marring the handsome features but not ruining them. He paused a few steps away from you, his gaze drinking you in, ignoring the nervous Lieutenant who stood between you.

“I shall escort her, Mitaka.” His voice was deeper than you remembered, but still just as devastating on your ears.

“Where is my husband?” You asked pointedly, hopefully getting across you were in no mood for games this evening.

“He is just finishing up some tasks for me. He will be along soon.” He took a step towards you and offered his arm. You eyed it distrustfully remembering the first time you had taken his arm on the Finalizer and the way he had tried to make you cower with his show of strength. But right now you had no choice, he had clearly detained Hux on purpose and this was the Supreme Leader. You couldn't refuse him without offering insult. Holding back an irritated sigh you pushed away from the banister, sliding your arm into the crook of Kylo’s and he rested it gently into his body. He guided you down the stairs, his eyes surveying the room and you noticed people were staring. You were coming down the stairs on the arm of the Supreme Leader, the most powerful man in the Galaxy and people were noticing you with looks of admiration and awe. It was intoxicating, and you basked in it. When you reached the bottom of the stairs you saw the Generals casting sideways glances as Kylo’s large form cut a clear path through the crowd.

“Would you like a drink?” He rumbled and you nodded in reply. Your nerves were accelerating at an alarming rate, each second ticked closer to you finally catching a glimpse of your husband and you couldn’t wait. Taking the delicate glass full of a pale bubbly liquid from Kylo with a murmured thanks as you looked at the doors studying the people coming in. But to your disappointment none of them had the bright red hair you were looking out for. You both sipped your drinks, your mind tripping over questions you had for Kylo but not knowing where to start. Your gaze darted up to look at him, finding his eyes were already settled on you. “What do you wish to know?” He asked, leaning down slightly to talk into your ear, his warm breath tickled your bare shoulders and you felt the little hairs rise all over your body.

“I don’t really know where to start. All I know is Armitage survived. Was he injured? Is he alright? What happened to Leader Snoke? I’ve been very much kept in the dark and I am not happy about it. Supreme Leader.” You attempted to finish on a respectable note, and tried not to think how this man could snap your neck with just a click of his fingers. He had certainly killed people for less.

“He is alright,” he replied, feeding your own words back to you. “He’s not happy as the Jedi, Rey killed Snoke before he could bestow the promotion that he wanted.”

“But you could?” You pointed out. “You could give him the promotion he deserves.” Kylo’s gaze scanned the room before meeting your questioning gaze and you swore you could see the hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“His accomplishment with Starkiller was negated the moment the Resistance destroyed it.” Your hand tightened around your glass, annoyance flushed your body and you clamped your teeth together as you reminded yourself with who you were conversing. “He needs to find another way to prove himself worthy of such a title.” You could feel the flush creeping under your skin, the heat of it prickled and you tried to ignore the feel of it. “Would you care to dance?” You looked up sharply to catch the slight wistful look on the taller man’s face as he watched the couples moving gracefully on the dance floor.

“Do you know how?” You asked before realising how you sounded, but his reaction surprised you even more. A smile cracked his face, revealing dimples you’d never seen before giving him a much younger look.

“I am the son of some regality, of course I can dance,” he divulged. You’d never thought of who his parents were, he’d just entered your life as a creature of anger and hatred, you never once assumed he had parents, or regal breeding. He took the glass from your hand and put them down on the table next to you before stretching out his leather gloved hand ready for you to take. You hesitated, looking up at him seeing the earnest look in his eye as he patiently waited. Your hand shook slightly, your fingers flexing as his much larger one clasped around yours dwarfing it considerably. He led you to the middle, your eyes never leaving his face as he politely placed his hand on your body, settling it just above the curve of your waist on your back, his other hand open letting yours rest lightly in his palm. You placed your hand on his shoulder, letting him take the lead, your feet moving from memory alone as he proved he was just as graceful on the dance floor as he was on the battlefield. He twirled you away from him and you couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up from your chest, it had been such a long time since you had any fun like this. And you finally began to enjoy yourself, you offered your dance partner a smile and he dipped his head down to your level.

“You don’t smile enough.”

“I shall try to smile more,” you breathed your eyes seeing over his shoulder only to lock with the intense gaze of your husband. Your smile faltered at the glare he gave you from under the visor of his hat, like a blaster shot it blazed through your body sending an icy sensation down your legs and you stumbled only for Kylo to tense his arm around you so you didn’t fall. You pulled away looking fearfully up at Kylo as his hands dropped away from you. “Forgive me, I should see my husband.” He stepped to the side and you brushed past him but Hux was gone.

“Drink,” Hux all but snarled at the serving droid behind the bar. He watched the amber liquid fall into the glass as he leaned heavily on the bar, his coat covering his body, the visor of his hat low over his brow as he attempted to shut the gathering out from around him. He tried not to think anything of it but seeing you smiling in the arms of a man he utterly despised made his insides twist and knot over and over again. He had been so looking forward to seeing you, hoping those smiles you gave out would be just for him. He had daydreamed of the delicate touch from your fingers and his mind travelled frequently to the moment in the corridor when all barriers had crumbled between you both and he gave more of himself to you than he’d ever done before. But the illusions he had of some sort of reunion were now in tatters, because you’d been in the arms of Kylo Ren. The man who Hux was pretty sure had killed the Supreme Leader himself and just shifted the blame to that girl.

His hand subconsciously rose to rub his neck as he remembered the way he had ceased breathing when he questioned Ren, the pressure of the force stopping his body from functioning. The loss of the Resistance on Crait had been Ren’s fault but no one would believe Hux anyway, not now he was cementing his position of Leader of the First Order, a position that Hux should be in. Not some turbulent man child with barely any real life experience.

“Armitage,” the sound of his name coming from your lips shot straight to his heart making it stutter in his chest but he didn’t turn. You came up beside him, your hands resting on the bar next to him as you tried to find some words but knowing there was nothing you could say. He looked at you in the mirror behind the bar and he couldn’t help but admire how beautiful you looked. The dress was stunning, the colours perfect and it made you stand out magnificently. He saw you were wearing the necklace he gave you with the emblem on and it matched the black lace pattern on your gloves. The effort that went into your outfit was impeccable but was it for him as a General or was it to grab the attention of someone more prominent? He downed the drink, his neck tensing at the burn as it pooled warmly in his belly and gestured for another.

“You look handsome,” you finally offered.

“Surprised you noticed.” He shot at you, perturbing himself at his venomous candor. He’d never looked at himself as handsome, he’d never needed to, never wanted to and always just assumed no one would ever look at him like that. So when you said it, you who was so beautiful it stole the breath from his lungs he just couldn’t process it and it felt much better to just palm the compliment off.

“Of course I noticed, I—I have missed you.” The glass paused on it’s way to his mouth at the soft sound in your voice. It tugged on parts of him that he didn’t know even existed but all he could see in his mind was that man’s hands on your body and you smiling for him. “I had no idea what happened, I’ve literally been in limbo for days with just the news that you were alive and Phasma…” your voice broke and he felt the echo of it in his very soul. Yes, Phasma. The one person who he trusted with his life, the person he relied on the most was gone. He downed the liquid in his glass, draining the very dregs and asking silently for another. “Don’t you think you should slow down?” You whispered, your hand creeping across the bar to his arm.

“No.” He stated firmly, your hand stopped and curled into a fist at his abrupt tone. “Haven’t you got socialising to do?” He dared to look at you, seeing the hint of tears in your eyes, or was that just a trick of the light? Right now he didn’t care. His anger was shimmering at the back of his mind like a caged animal and he didn’t want to unleash it on you so it was best if you left him alone. You turned your back to him before striding off and he expelled a silent sigh as another glass was placed before him. He already missed you beside him, but it was for the best. He downed this glass in one go, checking his hat was straight in the mirror before falling behind that blank barrier that carried him through these situations and he strode off to make himself known.

He stood in the group of High Command Generals, Admiral Griss was recounting some story of a prisoner pulling raucous laughter from the others, General Engell chiming in with comments and more laughter burst from them all. General Parnadee sidled up next to Hux and he eyed her out of the corner of eye.

“You’re very stoic this evening General Hux, surely you should be celebrating?” She turned slightly. “Maybe with that gorgeous wife of yours?” She stated pointing over his shoulder. That grabbed the attention of the group and his whole body tensed, he knew he had to tread carefully here.

“I’m sure she’s having a lovely time,” he commented looking down into his glass.

“Hux, are you serious? The woman is gorgeous and you’re just going to let her socialise, alone?” Asked General Domaric Quinn incredulously. He did not want to talk about you. He was well aware of how attractive you were, he didn’t need reminding.

“It was an arranged marriage, was it not?” Asked Parnadee, a sly look glinting from her gaze.

“It was,” Hux confirmed stiffly. She smirked and spoke a little louder.

“So it would be safe to say you have no feelings towards the woman at all?” He sighed.

“No, none. I married her to stop her family falling into ruin, if I had my way she’d be back on Arkanis where she belongs.” A hush fell over the group and Hux noticed them all looking over his shoulder, he turned only to lock eyes with you and his body froze. Your head was held high, a heated steely look emitted from your gaze, he could see the slight flex of your jaw as you processed his words. His brain ceased to function, he hadn’t meant the words that fell from him, he didn’t want them to know how he really felt about you because if they did, you could be used as leverage. Your life could be threatened, he wouldn’t put it past any of these people standing with him not to kill you or hold you hostage. His position was right next to the Supreme Leader, if they knew you were his everything it wouldn’t take much to topple him from that position. It’s better this way… but was it? The look on your face told him it wasn’t but all he could do was turn back to face the group, listening as your shoes clicked smartly on the floor carrying you away from him. Yes, it’s better this way.

The conversation restarted, quickly picking up pace but it left Hux behind, floundering in his thoughts. It was happening again, the sensation of his chest tightening and he knew he couldn’t have an attack here, so excused himself. Ignoring the knowing looks and smirks that were tossed his way as he shoved his way through the crowd. He took the stairs two at a time, urgency making his movements jerky as he struggled to keep himself together, thankfully his hat hid most of his face but the nausea was swirling around inside him as he replayed the hurt look on your face again and again. It pierced him like a blade, slicing its way through his body ripping a wound so deep he wasn’t sure if he’d ever recover from such damage. He finally found himself alone and he closed his eyes, falling into the familiar pit of panic, his heart fluttering erratically, his lungs refused to expand and his head felt feather light on his neck, like someone had detached it from his body entirely. He turned away at the sound of footsteps and he tried to lean against the wall and look like he wasn’t dying of an intense pain that catapulted him into the stratosphere. He didn’t want to be here, he had tried to do something that benefited you, that helped you stay safe and all he could see was the beginnings of hatred in your eyes. It was then, in this moment, when he was faced with the threat of not having you anymore he realised.

He loved you.

The footsteps stopped just behind him and he knew it was you, your scent curled comfortingly around him and he felt himself begin to relax.

“Did you mean it?” The emotion clogging your voice made his eyes fly open. “You feel nothing for me?” He wanted to reply, he wanted to tell you but his body refused to respond. The realisation of how he actually felt had made all cognitive function abandon him completely. You stepped in front of him, streaks of makeup marked your face and still the only thought he could muster was how amazing you looked. “You’ve been holding a return to Arkanis over me for so long, I guess you should just execute it now. Why do you keep me around Armitage? Am I really just something for you to dip into when you feel like? I’m not a toy. I’m not a prize. I am a person with feelings!” Your hands rose and splayed across your chest as if you were trying to contain the emotion inside you and failing. Fresh tears leaked with every blink, soaking your lashes and he still found he was frozen, unable to move or react in any way. “I thought I loved you, Armitage. But I guess I was wrong.” Finally he moved, your eyes refusing to look at him as he straightened to his full height before you. He could feel it, the subtle crumble of all his internal barriers, the words you had said spun round and round in his mind repetitive and devastating to him. You had never hurt him, you had never laid a rough hand on him, you had stood by him, praised him, admired him, congratulated him, accepted him. Why had it taken him so long to realise just how perfect you were? And here he was breaking your heart, he didn’t know if he could fix this. He had no idea if you were forever done with him, but he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t try.

He inhaled, his throat was dry and at first he didn’t think he’d be able to utter anything at all. Your face screwed up and you nodded in resignation as you mistook his hesitancy for dismissal. You turned, your shoulders pulling inwards at the hurt that exploded from your chest. You were leaving. Hux internally screamed, he knew if you left now this was it, he’d never get another chance like this and finally his body moved. One big stride took him close to you, close enough to grab your hand and forcefully whip you round to face him. He held onto your upper arms, sure his grip would bruise you but he needed to feel you. He needed to experience a physical connection with you. You winced as his fingers dug into your flesh, a slight gasp escaping you as your chest heaved with a sob. You looked up at him, hope shining in your eyes and he fought with himself to ultimately let go.

“I…” his voice choked. Panic suddenly rendered him speechless but he refused to give up. His lips moved but no sound came out and you inhaled slightly. “I—I love you!” He finally spat. His brain stuttered to a complete halt but his entire body relaxed. He’d said it. A breath expelled from him and his chest stopped aching, the beat of his heart began to rocket in his chest and his eyes frantically searched yours. “I’m in love with you.” It was easier this time, flowing from him like he’d been able to say it this whole time. You swallowed, the feather of your throat caught his attention and he felt the overwhelming urge to pull you in for a kiss but he wasn’t sure you wanted him to.

“Armitage…” You whispered. “This—this is where you kiss me, like you mean it.” He didn’t hesitate, his lips crashed into yours almost painfully as he dragged you towards him, his hands moved round to your back pressing you into him as hard as possible. He got lost in the feel of you, the scent of your skin, the softness of your lips, the heat of your tongue as it slid into his mouth. You were everything to him, and now he had admitted it to himself, he had no barriers left. You were inside him, encroaching on his damaged soul, repairing him from the inside out. You were a breath of fresh air, an ocean under the moon, the light of the stars all collided into one place. You breathed new life into him, showed him things no other person had ever done before and that made you precious to him. You were the most valuable thing Armitage Hux had in his life and he would obliterate anyone who threatened to take you from him.

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reylofanfictionanthology · 3 years

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TO FIND YOUR KISS IS NOW LIVE!

Authors will be revealed next week! For now all fics are anonymous. Treats can be posted through author reveals on 2/21. We will post an updated masterpost at that time.

To Find Your Kiss collection on AO3 | Treats Masterpost

GIFT FIC MASTERPOST

- Reap the Stars for abbytheatre08

The prompt: After Ben's death, Rey goes mad and turns to the dark side. Only Ben's not dead anymore. ----------------------- She is consuming fire, magnificent in her rage. She will burn the galaxy to its foundations, until the ashes rain down and pile high as mountains. She will gather them into bouquets and scatter them like petals upon his grave.

He will be remembered, and they will not.

Call him The Light Bearer and Joy Giver. Call him He Who Loved and Laid Down His Life. Call him Ben.

- we are question marks that hang above the endless unexplained for AlwaysEverlark

The first time she walked into his club, she was looking for a job. Kylo took one look at her—the stubborn pout of her lip, the determined glint in her eyes, the ruddy glow of her face where the sun had kissed it—and swallowed a lump in his throat that was shaped like the words you’re too good for this place.

They needed a singer. Kira Johnson could hold a tune, knew the old standards, and had a knockout pair of tits to boot. A few slinky ballgowns and a touch of lipstick, and she’d more than do the trick of distracting suckers long enough to part them from their money.

The club solely needed to break even; anything they made on top of the Syndicate’s cut was gravy, and Kylo Ren had been lining his pockets with his own take for long enough that he could see Kira for the lump of clay that she was: rough-hewn, misshapen, but soft and supple and sure to curve under his touch.

- Eighty Bucks Says Sweetheart for Amoreusou

Ben likes puzzles. Rey needs help with a bunch of them. Good thing it's a slow day at the office.

- Seldom Visions for Andrina_Nightshade

After visiting an old Sith temple, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has fallen into a deep sleep when he pricks his finger on the point of a red crystal. Rey become is the first to find him, but his rescuer isn't just any general or pilot, it's the woman he shares a soul with, who haunts his waking hours, who still sees him even in his sleep.

- The Dyad for aneighthdomain

Based of the Prompt: Groundhog Day scenario. Ben and Rey keep getting sent back to the first time they met and no matter what they do, Ben always dies so they stop trying to change events and just live a life time in the year between and couple of weeks and run away together.

- Saudade: The Love That Remains for AnneAnna

- The Delegation for aNerdObsessed

A humanitarian delegation from Naboo arrives at Niima Outpost. Rey is skeptical, to say the least.

- i don't want you like a best friend for anopendoor

It’s not like she hadn’t seen this coming—Rose told her weeks ago that he was invited. It was an inevitability Rey was always going to have to face, she just didn’t think that Rose would be so merciful as to also give every guest a plus one.

But Rey can’t really be upset—and she is totally, unequivocally not upset—that Ben's bringing someone because, well.

She is, too.

- Love is Weakness for bittersnake

“He’s someone I found on my recent trip to Corellia,” Rey replies placidly, her face practiced in its boredom. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Love is weakness,” her grandfather reminds her, the way he has for years. It’s why he doesn’t love her. He will not be weak. It’s why she doesn’t love him, either.

- in sickness and in health (with health being less likely) for BlueButterflyKisses

Deciding to spend the rest of their lives together is the easy part for both Rey and Ben; the trouble is in how to propose.

- Snowed In for Blueyedgurl

Never in her wildest dreams did Rey Johnson think she would ever get to meet her favorite other Kylo Ren. She also would have never entertained the idea of the scenario she found herself in. How did a hike in the woods lead to a snowstorm and taking shelter in a remote cabin in the woods? The idea was so ridiculous but had become reality. Stuck inside with a handsome stranger surrounded by a winter storm, Rey wonders what will happen with no power and only one bed. Will they be polite co-habitants stuck in a strange set of circumstances or is there room for something more?

- Curses, Comforts and Capybaras for Bombastique

Arrogant CEO bites off more than he can chew when he angers a witch... And suddenly finds himself transformed into a capybara. Can kindhearted wildlife rehabber Rey Niima help him break the curse?

- To Heal a Broken Soul for Cat2000

Ben survives the fallout of Exegol, but his connection to the physical world is in danger. Rey tends to him as she searched for a way to heal him.

- holding me like water in your hands for Ceallaigh

After Hux finds out Ben killed Snoke, Hux encases Ben in Carbonite. Rey refuses to let Ben stay frozen forever so she mounts a rescue.

- Like a Thief in the Night for chagrins

Their bond won't let them be alone. At least this time it's the middle of the night and they can't get into a shouting match.

- The Chance for Crysania

When Rey and Ben, long time co-workers who have never been able to admit their feelings to each other, go on a weekend retreat to work on a movie adaptation script together, a Nor’easter leaves them snowed in. On Valentine’s Day.

- Awake for cuddlesome

Something inside him is awake, and something inside her is about to wake up.

An alternate interrogation scene.

- darkness rises, and light to meet it for czechia

After the throne room, Jedi Ben Solo and Kira Ren meet again a year later.

- Not Quite a Fairytale for DarkMage13

Rey lets a stranger use the phone of the café she works at late one night. It changes the whole course of her life.

- You Won't Escape Me ('Cause I Set You Free) for DoorKeeper9

- The Canvas of Your Skin for darlingreadsalot

She was incapable of touching him without drawing blood, it seemed. Lines like vermillion paint streaked where her fingers sketched down the contours of his face, his back, and now his chest.

In which a Force bond is splintered, a resurrection goes wrong, a kiss is forgotten, and two almost-lovers avoid speaking for the better half of a year.

- Fleeing the Storm for driverfever

As the granddaughter of an merciless aristocrat, Rey’s life hangs on a thread at the hands of the French Revolutionaries. When her childhood friend, Ben, offers to platonically marry her in order to take her to his home in England to safety, she has no choice but to accept.

But her suitor and revolutionary Hux won’t give her up so easily. Hounded by revolutionaries and falling in love, Rey and Ben must use all their wits to flee Paris and make it to England.

- Equal Measure for dustoftheancients

When Princess Rey of Coruscant calls upon the cursed Sir Kylo Ren to help her escape her grandfather the emperor’s political machinations, she discovers freedom in the ancient familial magic that binds them together.

- Benimina Solo's Late On-Set Force Ability for Evangel10n

Benimina Solo has never, not even once, had an ounce of Force Sensitivity. She's done a great deal to move on with her life after failing out of her uncle's Jedi training school. So when Rey Palpatine comes into her life and suddenly everything changes, she's not a happy camper.

- Splatter for expendable

“You’re Palpatine’s girl,” he says coldly.

“His chief of staff, yes.” Rey’s eyes narrow. “And you have your hand on my ass, Kylo. Kindly take it off.”

“Or what?”

AKA powerful corporate rivals Kylo and Rey put the hate in love/hate.

- The Haunted Mirror for FangirlintheForest

When Rey travels to UK to attend the reading of his grandfather will, a grandfather she didn't know existed until that very moment, she finds a house, and a old story that will haunt her...

- i'm your secretary for firelord65

Kaydel pressed her lips together in a thin line, passing a pile of datapads over the desk. “I don’t know what that pretentious nerf herder has put into your brain, but these are tales of the key roles women have played in past rebellions.” She stood, tapping the pile. “They’re great reads,” she added, with a pointed raise of her eyebrow.

- and they danced across the sky for flipflop_diva

When he was still a child, he constantly watched the blue butterflies as they danced in the sky.

They seemed to be calling him, aiding him each instance that icy-cold darkness flowed through his very veins. The magnificent creatures saved him from the voices. They drowned out the incessant chatter in his head. Temporarily cleared away all the anger. During those brief respites, watching those blue wings flutter in the sky, Ben felt free.

But that’s another life. Another world. Another time. Another, another, another.

And Kylo's no longer a child.

No. He welcomes the darkness now. Embraces it.

- Finding The Answer for FrenchMartiniPlease

Rey pines for Ben Solo…so why does her soulmate mark always drain of colour whenever she gets close to him?

- Almost Unforgettable for HopeRebel

The woman in the mirror has blood on her clothes, cash in her bag, and a letter from her husband telling her it's better to forget. Well, he got his wish. She forgot everything-- including her name. And she wasn't the only one afflicted.

It'll take the combined efforts of gumshoes, a flatfoot, a washed-up Hollywood starlet, and more to get to the bottom of this bad business. In the end, these things always come back to the beginning.

- The Curl of a Sigh for irridesca

During the last song in Maxine’s set, a song she announces is called “Soul Companion,” Ben heads back out to the lobby to look for Rey. He finds her not with his eyes but with one broad shoulder, when he bumps into her and knocks her gig bag out of her hands and onto the plush carpet.

- and they were roommates for Lady_of_Haven

When Ben loses a bet to his roommate, Rey, he has to eat her out for 30 days.

- torn away from you (my heart is broken) for lakerose

The Force binds more than minds.

- If You Take Me for literallynoonecares

She sighed wistfully as she watched her two friends lean in toward each other as they danced, their lips meeting and melding together as they seemed to become one person instead of two separate beings. She had seen them kiss so many times, but this kiss … it was special.“I just want someone to kiss me like that,” she mused softly to herself, her eyes not leaving her friends.“I could make that happen if you wanted.”

- 3 Days in Vienna for Like_A_Dove

Kylo Ren, trained mercenary Alpha assassin, is on a mission—assassinate Chancellor Palpatine and bring his underground authoritarian regime to an end. It’s what the First Order demands, for the better of society.

It should be an easy task. He’s been getting close to the Chancellor and his cronies for years. So how is it that the unexpected appearance of an Omega, with a seemingly similar mission—and a wholly inconveniencing scent—become a distraction he hadn’t accounted for?

- Confidence and Desire for LittleLostStar

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher

- Love brightens even the most monstrous parts of ourselves for LRRH17

No one knows since when the giant, black bear has lived in the forest near Theed. Many stories about the origin of Kylo Ren circulate in the small village. After Rey has run away from Jakku, and arrived in Theed she has heard them all of, but has never actually meet the creature. This changes when her and her friends get attacked by bandits on their way back from Otoh Gunga.

- Your Sweetness Comes With Sugar on the Side for Lutrosis

Rey's daughter loses her mother as she wanders around the Supermarket. Ben finds her and the two connect over both being Type 1 diabetics. They find Rey, and Ben and Rey are instantly smitten. As they date and fall in love they discover that Jade and Ben are connected more than they thought and healing is brought to the Solo/Skywalker clan.

- Allegories, or Allusions to Real Life for maq_moon

“Boys, please stop arguing.” Rose rubbed her temples. “Poe, we get it, you’re childhood best buddies, you’ve got a better grasp on his character than some rando of a rando you met at a party. Finn, for fuck’s sake, we’ve been working with Ben for months. I’m pretty sure if he’s a serial killer or whatever, it would have come out by now.” Finn sat back in his seat, grumbling. “Not how serial killers work.” Rey was going to have a headache if this continued any longer, so she lied through her teeth at the reality of a new player joining their D&D party. "He seems nice." She didn’t trust a single inch of skin on that man. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

- A Mad Man, with a Box for MBlair

Rey and Ben meet, move in together, get engaged, and marry.

- Invite the Wild In for midwinterspring

Kylo Ren, the mysterious senator who appeared from out of the deserts of Jakku and somehow brought them back to life, has spent a long and unproductive session on Hosnian Prime. Now, it's time to go home. After all, there's someone waiting for him and so much for them to do together.

(The ancient Sith had some interesting rituals.)

- Purim Party for MissCoppelia

Rey goes back to visit her foster mother for a Purim celebration. She meets Ben Solo who's visiting his parents, who are friends with her foster mother. They have an attraction to each other right away, but try to play it cool.

- The Banished Heart for misszeldasayre

On Rey of Niima’s nineteenth name day, Jakku gains a new wizard.

Jakku is a withering outpost of the kingdom, and its people hope the new wizard - the mysterious Kylo Ren - will bring them the rains the land needs to heal. Rey is a lonely, clanless girl living in Niima, and she has a secret. One she hopes the wizard will be able to help her with too.

- The Smuggler's Bride for MyJediLife

Miss Rey Nemo is the new mistress of Manor Takodana, left to her by the late Lord Skywalker. When a strange man named Kylo Ren appears on her doorstep, she decides to hire him as her new groundskeeper. As Rey faces sinister threats and secrets are revealed, Kylo Ren may be the only person who can save her.

- Annabel Lee for myownlittleinfinity

Rey keeps finding these ... notes in her locker. She doesn't quite get them. They seem like love notes, but she doesn't know who they could be from. Meanwhile she's paired up with Ben Solo (who hates her despite her gigantic crush on him) for this English assignment. Who knows how THIS will go.

- with my body i thee worship for niennathegrey

- the losing game for no_big_deal

Sith Princess Rey Palpatine is given a peculiar gift for her Life Day: a Jedi. Not only that, one who is boorish, spirited, and stubborn. But, he presents an opportunity: one that could liberate her from a life under the thumb of her grandfather. She has seven weeks to change his heart before all her freedom is taken from her - forever.

- standing right in front of you for notkellymarie

When Senator Solo's engagement is pushed forward, he and his Jedi bodyguard, Rey, travel to Naboo alone for the announcement ball. The pair despise each other, constantly bickering and disagreeing with each other, which makes spending extensive amounts of time alone together all that more difficult. Until of course, one of them breaks...

- the good, the bad, and the smuggling for OccasionallyCreative

Ben Solo is a seasoned smuggler. And he’s not bad at it, either. But when bounty hunter Rey offers him a temporary partnership he can’t refuse, Ben will find himself pushed to the limits of his skill, patience, and resourcefulness on a job that’s dangerous enough to be his last.

It’s like his dad used to say: bounty hunters are nothing but trouble, kid.

- Whatever our souls are made of...his and mine are the same for Padawan_Writer

Ben and Rey meet only after Kylo has defected from the First Order and returned to the Resistance and his mother. Will the dyad still find a way to be?

- They say that only the dead have seen the end of war for politicalpadmé

“He traded his life for mine,” Rey choked, stomping back and forth in front of him so fast he could barely keep track of her. “He died. He died so I didn’t have to—and it’s not—it’s—after everything he’s gone through—it’s not fair.” Tears were running down her cheeks now, and Poe wanted to do nothing more than hug her, but there was nothing he could say—nothing she would want to hear. Poe remembered all the people he’d lost, all the times he had raged and screamed and cried about the unfairness of it all. “Leia sacrificed herself to bring him back,” Rey declared suddenly, ceasing her constant pacing around the fire as she looked straight at him. “And he sacrificed himself for me—and now no one’s going to know. All he’ll be remembered as is Kylo Ren, but he was—he was so much more.” She exhaled with a shudder and whispered, “He was a part of me, and I—I don’t feel whole without him.” ~

A Force Ghost Ben/Rey love story, with a side of rebuilding the galaxy.

- Cicatrix for Priestly

Getting cut up by Rey on Starkiller awakens something in Kylo.

- I Will Always Be With You for Prix

But she wouldn’t be able to hide her pregnancy for much longer. She was starting to show, and her friends would start asking questions. She would have to give them answers, some of them would not understand, and none of them would accept.

She carried his child. The tiny spark of light woven with darkness, just like her. Just like his father.

—————

The world has gone dark More times than you Or your mother Or your grandmother Can remember. And every hurricane That was meant to be The end of it all Had instead ended In sunshine again.

So believe me When I say; You will survive this And the next one too.

World’s End—Nikita Gill

- all my daydreams are disasters for QueenOfCarrotFlowers

During her search for the infamous Luke Skywalker — the man who predicted a devastating earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri — Rey finds herself entangled in Luke’s family history and with his brooding nephew, Ben Solo.

- on what ground I was founded (when I first saw you) for redbelles

Kylo dreams of Rey after the Battle of Crait. And the yearning is mutual...

Some Force Bond dream smut inspired by "Shrike" and "NFWMB" by Hozier.

- Last Summer for Reykenobi68

Rey had started to get used to Ben not living next door anymore by the time the holidays came around. Then he's back for the holidays. Rey is really expecting things to go wrong after the way he left at the end of the summer. ut is it really going to be that bad.

- The Long Way Home for reylotrash711

In the aftermath of Exegol, Ben and Rey are divided by misunderstandings. It will take time and danger for them to work things out.

- Under the moonlight for shariling

I don't know why I followed you here. She wanted to reply. Maybe because you're so tall I couldn't help but notice you. Maybe it's because of your hair or the way you move, or maybe it's because of that kind of melancholic look in your eyes. There is something about you that I find terribly attractive and I don’t know what it is: maybe the moon or the alcohol or the wolf I have met before infected me with some strange parasite and now I am hopelessly attracted to dogs, I do not know. She could have said one of these things, any of them, instead she said: “I've never bitten anyone before, and I want you to be my first.”

- Fallen for shipperofdarkness

Prompt: Devil!Ben and Angel!Rey or Angel!Ben and Devil!Rey. How do these two on completely opposite sides fall in love and defy worlds to be together?

- come away with me for silentfleur

Rey owns a tinker shop, but her life changes when she meets Ben Solo and is cursed by a witch. Not necessarily in that order.

- A Picture of Me Without You for SpaceWaffleHouseTM

"I suppose I'd somehow struggle through / But I'd hate to picture myself without you."

It's impossible not to have a soulmark. It's not a big deal, not in the lax and gin-soaked speakeasies of 1920s Manhattan, but it's still a heavy weight to bear, as Ben Solo and Rey find out side by side.

- Lips Raw With Love for stellardarlings

Their kiss on Exegol wasn't their first kiss...

Nor would it be their last.

- Everyone Makes Divine Mistakes for Takekurabehime

Jedi Knight Ben Solo is sent to Naboo on an errand of mercy (and to visit his grandparents). He arrives in springtime; but will he be able to complete his mission without finding himself distracted and bewildered when love and intrigue waft through the fragrant air?

- Glitter & Gold for TearoomSaloon

Rey is lead singer in an up-and-coming glam metal band. They've finally got steady performances, but that means playing at the same club as the Knights of Ren, whose lead singer definitely isn't interested in any competition.

- To kiss like lovers do for the-reylo-void (Anysia)

Ben and Rey spend their formative years growing up together in Medieval Scotland and it looks like they will end up together. Circumstances intervene and Rey loses her chance to be with him. Devastated, she carries on until the day clan Ren attacks Castle Jakku lead by the notorious killer Kylo Ren.

- Snow Turns To Rain for thehobbem

For a moment, he wanted to ask what she meant, but if he was being completely honest, he already knew. He asked himself that same question over the years, and none more often than tonight, since seeing her again. Was leaving worth it? Was going their separate ways worth leaving each other?

“I’m not sure,” he said finally, shaking his head. “I’m happy...” he said, and she tensed a little, so he continued, “with my work. I’m glad I’m doing what I love, but....”

“But?”

“But it wasn’t the only thing I loved.”

- Change the Dance for theresonatinglight

- Meet Me in the Woods for thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily)

“What do you mean no one goes in there?” A chuckle. “It’s haunted. People see all sorts of weird things in there and some don’t ever come out. You’re better off living with your curiosity.” Rey wakes in a shadowy forest with no memory of where she came from, only her name. With the help of the resident guardian she takes a journey to figure out her past, and maybe even discover her future.

- permanent calligraphy (your name on me forever) for Thursdaygirl

As they continue to work together, two things become clear. One: Ben Solo is an enigma. He’s preppy yet humble, privileged yet introspective. He’s the opposite of lazy; she kicks herself every day for assuming otherwise. And two: Ben Solo will never love her.

- show me the stars. for tmwillson3

“I don’t hate Christmas, I just don’t love it the way you do.” Lifting his head, he pulls a face, loosening up a tangled ornament of a poodle with pink, curly fluff. Rey snatches it from him possessively, tossing it back to the cart. “No one loves it the way you do, to be fair.”

“Now that’s the truth,” says Poe, who Finn invited about half an hour ago to keep him company.

“People have bad taste, I don’t know what to say.” Huffing, Rey scrolls through her phone with more intent. “Neither of you are helping me, anyway.”

“What’s the problem?” says Poe.

“Rey thinks her hot neighbor hates her —”

“He does hate me.”

“ — When really he’s been flirting with her for the past, oh I don’t know, how long have you lived there?”

- I realized that I need you, I wondered if I could come home for VR_Trakowski

Rey is doing exploration work for the Resistance, searching for force sensitive planets so any force sensitives that they find have a place to train.

One day, midflight she finds a slip of paper with the elegant scrawling words of the ones that came before. The ones that she found when Ben still roamed the galaxy.

When she lands on a dark and barren planet she is forced to face the feelings she thought she buried.

- Shadows of the Moon for walkingsaladshooter

The hallways got darker, the corridors grew longer. Shadows stretched across the walls. The ghosts of Breha Manor grew each night.

Rey clutched her necklace. Ben met her gaze.

And every night, there was weeping.

- show the way (the world could be) for writergenie

In the aftermath of the Battle of Crait, Rey struggles to find her place among the Resistance. However, her lingering Force bond with Kylo— Ben— whatever name he calls himself— complicates things, blurring the line between friend and foe.

When the tension threatens to boil over and a desperate plan goes awry, Rey begins to wonder whether there really is a line between light and dark after all.

(Stars do burn brightest in the blackness of space.)

- why don't we go (somewhere only we know) for XarisEirene

The bond snaps back into place, even stronger than before. He is here. With Rey, yes, but with Luke - Luke, who is looking at them now with that same dangerous glint in his eye that haunts Ben’s dreams.

- renewed, transfigured, in another pattern for yodalorian

Rey mourns on Tatooine while Ben is stuck in the World Between Worlds. But neither of them are alone, and blue butterflies light a path back to each other.

#reylo #reylo fanfiction anthology #rffa writers #to find your kiss #master post #mod post #photo edit

156 notes · View notes

space-blue · 3 years

Text

*sigh*

Well, thanks TBB for the most underwhelming finale possible.

Gotta have a scary sea monster attack because we couldn't possibly have sensical dialogue to sort out Crosshair's situation could we?

Gotta have Tech interrupt Wrecker to be mean. Also, wow Wrecker, you of all people gonna judge a brother for not returning to them while he was on the chip?

We still don't know when the chip was taken off, but I wager by the time it was, it must have been painfully clear to Crosshair that his brothers weren't coming back for him. (ouch, when your fic turns canon)

The Empire saw a use for him while his brothers were out there playing arms dealer without him... Imagine if he had his chip off at Bracca and he saw Hunter telling him "it's not you it's your chip!" and explaining chips to him, and Cross just has to silently face the fact Hunter & co STILL think he's a total slave to the Empire and they STILL never tried to save him.

Fuck Hunter this season, seriously.

He tells Cross he wants to give him a chance too, and after a vague, irked brush off comment, promptly TURNS AROUND and flies off without protest, marooning Cross on a world that was just shot to oblivion.

They make a mention of leaving before scouts arrive but that's plot mumbling for cheap continuity BS. Technically they have zero knowledge of any scout coming. Why would any do that? Empire just bombed and GTFO. They could be leaving Cross out to die. They can't even be arsed to give him a ride!!

Also, episode 1 is all about Crosshair's reaction to wanting to follow orders being weird and totally out of character, and in this final episode Cross says "Good soldiers follow orders"... Almost making us wonder if his chip truly is out... But I guess Hunter forgot this isn't like his brother he's known all his life, and just accepts that's his new narrative without a single protest. OK then.

And fair, this is the man who tried to fry them in a ship engine (and the only one to suffer for it) but he also just saved Omega's life. As they all admit, they're even... But even is apparently not enough good will to give him a lift to a place with like... drinking water.

They couldn't make him a real villain, so they had everyone vent out some half baked grief at him (Echo got nothing to say because Echo is the literal wallpaper of this episode. AZ on the team means Echo fans can probably not tune in for season 2...) while making Cross say mean stuff and look miserable...

"Wow dude, it's been like 1h, you're not over your abandonment issues and chip trauma? Well guess we're leaving you behind then. But hey, to your face this time!"

Who the fuck am I supposed to be rooting for?

Where is TBB headed to?? Because Omega isn't in danger anyore is she? Nala will be off making baby snokes isn't she?

What am I supposed to be excited about, for season 2???

Does it open 5 years later and they're all farming with Cut and Suu?

Will it be another season of dealing weapons and babying the kid we now canonically know is older than them? And might I add, must be SIGNIFICANTLY older than them, because she remembers them and remembers wanting to find them again, which a 2yo can't exactly do.

Raaah what a shit ending. Should have left Omega with Cad Bane to bond and do mean shit in the galaxy together (after all, wouldn't he keep the kid if he lost the credits? Keep the asset till you're paid...) and then have TBB bois decide their only chance against Bane is to go rescue Crosshair and ask favours of Rex. Then they'd have a debt to the rebellion to pay out post reunion.

IDK literally anything else but a stupid physics defying sinking city with conversation cutting sea monsters would have been better than this. Ending it last episode would have been better than this.

Damn.

23 notes · View notes

yelena-bellova · 4 years

Text

Don’t Be Afraid: Poe Dameron x Solo!Reader - Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen: Team Effort

Series Masterlist

Plot: Finn and Rose lay out their plan for Poe and Y/n.

Warnings: one or two curse words, semi-graphic description of violence and injuries, angst with Poe fluff interspersed

Word Count: 4.2k

A/N: How I managed to write a 4.2k chapter based on a five minute scene, I have no idea lol. This one was really fun to write though. Enjoy!

—————

“Okay, just give it to me one more time, simpler.”

Finn and Rose, a maintenance worker I’d seen around base, had just laid out an extremely complicated plan of how we could escape the First Order. Poe sat in the center of the room while I stayed seated at my mother’s side. Parts of it made sense and others were harder to understand. Tech was neither of our specialties, I could make things float and Poe blew stuff up.

“So the First Order’s only tracking us from one Destroyer, the lead one,” Finn began explaining once again.

“So we blow that one up?” Poe inquired, his eyes lighting up as he looked between Finn and I. Case in point, tech wasn’t his forte.

“I like where your head’s at, but no,” Finn replied.

I chimed in, “You’ve blown enough up for one day.”

Finn continued, “They’d only start tracking us from another Destroyer.”  “But if we can-“ Rose spoke up, only for Finn to talk over her.

Finn stepped closer to Poe, motioning with his hands, “If we sneak on board the lead Destroyer and disable the tracker without them realizing, then we can-“

“They won’t realize it’s off for one system cycle,” Rose stepped forward, “About six minutes.”  “Sneak on board,” Finn said as Rose pulled up a holographic schematic of the Destroyer, “Disable the tracker. Our fleet escapes before they realize.”

I had my chin propped against my fist as I watched a hunched over Poe absorb the information. It wasn’t the craziest plan I’d heard all day and with Finn and Rose knowing their stuff, we could trust them to have thought each step through. Poe hummed as he contemplated while Finn stared hopefully at us.

“It actually makes sense,” I commented neutrally, there were still a lot to think over if we went through with this. The fact that we’d be going behind Holdo’s back being a prime example.

Poe rose and took a few steps in my direction before turning around and waving his finger between Rose and Finn, “How’d you two meet?”

The two of them looked at each other and judging by their faces, there was definitely a story to their meeting they were dancing around,   “Just luck,” Rose answered innocently.

“Yeah? Good luck?” Poe asked, coming closer towards me.

“Not sure yet.”

“Poe, Y/n, we gotta do this,” Finn implored, “It’ll save the fleet and it’ll save Rey.”  Poe came and joined me next to Mom, looking between the two of us. He carefully slipped his hand over hers, the gesture warmed my heart. Poe had lost his mom at such a young age, I knew he had always seen Leia as that type of figure in his life. The possibility of losing her was a difficult weight for him to bear.

Loss. A concept I’d become overly familiar with over the past couple of days. Four days ago my mother was well, my father alive, our fleet secure and Poe never having left my side. Adding in the fact that Rey, Chewie and R2 were off who knows where and could be walking back into this mess, my anxiety had quickly blown through the roof. I needed to do everything I could to ensure my loved one’s and the Resistance’s safety, whatever that entailed. I inhaled to address Poe, but a different voice came out,

“If I may be the sole voice of reason,” 3PO interrupted, “Admiral Holdo will never agree to this plan.”  I looked back over to Poe and gave a half shrug, “We’re not going to come up with anything better.”  “Yeah,” he sighed and nodded, “You’re right, 3PO. It’s a need to know plan,” he turned around, “And she doesn’t.”  The protocol droid stammered, “That wasn’t exactly my-“  I stood up and went over to him, placing a hand on his metal arm, “3PO, I need you to go against every instinct you have right now. If you don’t trust them, trust me at least.”  “All right,” Poe agreed, strutting towards the table with the Destroyer holo projected above it, “You guys shut down that tracker, we’ll be here to jump you to lightspeed.”

“The question is,” I came to stand next to Finn, “How do we sneak the two of you onto Snoke’s Destroyer?”

“We steal clearance codes,” Rose suggested.

Finn shook his head, “No, they’re bio-hexacrypt and descrambled every hour. We can’t get through their shields undetected, nobody can.”

I chewed on a nail as I wracked my brain for anyone who could help us.

I snapped my fingers once it hit me, it seemed like Poe had just come to the same conclusion I had.

“Maz,” I declared, jogging over to the other side of the room and switching on the holoprojector. I punched in a few numbers and said a silent prayer that she picked up. The others crowded around me as we waited for her to answer,  “Do we know if she’s still on Takodana?” Finn inquired from my left side.

“No idea,” I replied, “It’s a long shot but if anyone could do it, it’s her.”

Just as I’d finished my sentence, Maz appeared in front of us,

“Baby Solo!” she greeted loudly, “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”  “You too, Maz,” I smiled, “I wish I was calling under better circumstances but-“ 

“Poe Dameron! Alive and in love I’m assuming?”  I snuck a glance at Poe, catching the small grin he gave me, “Incredibly so.”

 Finn awkwardly cleared his throat, snapping us back into reality, “Maz, we need your help.”

“Back in trouble again? So soon?” she replied.

Finn laid out our plan for her in detail, explaining her part in sneaking him and Rose onto the Destroyer.

“Could I do it? Of course I could do it,” she exclaimed as she adjusted a gun in her hands, “But I can’t do it. I’m a little tied down right now!”

Blaster fire echoed around her and caused us to jolt backwards, 3PO and BB-8 letting out exclaims.

“Maz? What is happening?” Finn asked.

“Union despite,” Maz ceased her fighting momentarily, “You do not want to hear about it. But, lucky for you, there’s exactly one guy I trust who can crack that kind of security!” Max rolled and dodged a few shots, “He’s a master codebreaker,” she loaded her gun again, “An ace pilot, a poet with a blaster,” she fired a few blasts confidently.

“Oh my,” 3PO said, “It sounds like this codebreaker fellow can do everything.”  “Oh yes,” Maz replied, a distant look in her eyes and her voice low, “He can.”  The four of us awkwardly looked at each other before she began speaking again,

“You’ll find him with a red plom bloom on his lapel, rolling at a high stakes table in the casino on Canto Bight.”

“Canto Bight?” Poe repeated, looking to me and Finn defeatedly, “No, no, that’s…Maz, is there any way that we can take care of this ourselves?”  Maz adjusted her goggles and began adjusting a device on her wrist, “Sorry, kiddo. This is rarified cracking. You wanna get on that Destroyer, I only know one option. Find the Master Codebreaker. And Baby Solo?”

I looked up to Maz as she sighed, “I’m so sorry about Han.”  I exhaled slowly and gave a hint of a nod, “Thanks, Maz.”

We parted with a goodbye greeting in an alien language and Maz flew off on a jetpack, the holo cut out then.

Poe looked distressed at the thought of sending Finn and Rose to Canto Bight, not that I wasn’t. But I’d seen Finn in action, he was undoubtably smart enough to navigate the situation just as he had on Starkiller.

Finn held out a hand towards Poe and I, a cloaked binary beacon resting in it. I was about to ask why he had one, when I remembered earlier in the day my mother had mentioned how she’d given Rey an identical one. It was how she would find her way back to the fleet. Once again, Finn’s personal stake in this was to protect Rey. That was his driving force. His eyes pleaded with Poe, who took it after only a few seconds of deliberation.

“Okay, we need to get you guys on an escape pod,” Poe said, “The problem is that you’ll show up on our radars.”   “So we need to have someone on our side on the bridge who will cover for us,” I finished his thought.

Poe ran through a list of names in his head, “Connix is our best bet. If you can make sure they get to the pod unnoticed, I can talk to her.”  I turned to Finn and Rose, “You two should probably take BB-8 with you as well, if Poe’s alright with it.”

This was probably going to be the most difficult part of the plan; getting Poe to temporarily part with his beloved droid. He looked down at Bee and let out a grunt of acceptance, “Yeah, he’ll be able to help you guys.”  “We’ll take care of him, I promise,” Finn assured Poe, he’d looked out for Bee once already and could do it again.

Whoa, do I get a say in this at all?  “Would you rather sit here with Poe and I and wait for the Destroyers to blow up the ship or take a trip to Canto Bight and help save the fleet?” I asked as I rested my hands on my hips

…I say I go with Finn.

“Good choice,” I replied before looking back to Finn and Rose, “Let’s get you guys in a pod.”

They nodded and the five of us, made our way out of the room.  “I’ll comm you when I get a hold of Connix,” Poe said quietly to me before we parted down different hallways. I gripped my communicator tight in my fist.

Once it was just us, I turned my attention to Finn and Rose, “Okay, how’d you two really meet?”

“I was going to take a pod to get the beacon as far away as I could. To protect Rey,” he answered.  I chuckled quietly as we turned a corner, “You’ll go to the ends of the galaxy for her, won’t you?”

Finn didn’t say anything, just kept his eyes focused on our path ahead. But I had no doubt that his cheeks had heated up at my comment.

“Rose, how do you play into this story?”

“I stunned him once I figured out he was trying to escape, I was planning to…” she trailed off, scared to finish her sentence.

“I don’t bite, I promise,” I said as we made our way through a quieter hall, nearing the escape pod bay.

“I was going to turn him in for desertion,” she replied meekly, probably worried I’d dislike her for the fact that she’d wrongly accused my friend.

“Attagirl,” I patted her shoulder and she cracked a smile, I already liked her.

The escape pod bay was never guarded and didn’t have anyone but maintenance workers in it typically. That’s why I was so surprised to see someone outside the entryway.

“I’ll handle this,” I whispered before taking the lead and strolling casually towards him.  “Commander Solo,” the young man addressed me confusedly, “What are you doing here?”  “I’m giving our latest recruit a tour of the ship,” I answered easily while gesturing to Finn, “Everyone is required to know where the escape pods are so if you wouldn’t mind letting us through?”  The man looked me over, disbelief written over his face, “On whose authority? Shouldn’t you be on the bridge?”  I raised an eyebrow, I was no stranger to dealing with young cocky recruits, “My own authority. Last time I checked, I outranked you. Now step aside.”  As I attempted to move around him, he stepped in front of me, “I think I’m going to have to call someone down to fact check your story.”  “To fact check my…?” I scoffed and pinched the bridge of my nose, how the hell was I supposed to get this guy to leave? An idea formed quickly, though I wasn’t thrilled about attempting it but there weren’t any other options.

I sighed defeatedly and slowly waved my hand in front of his face, “You will step aside and let us through.”  He tilted his head and chucked heartily, “What the hell was that?”  I shook it off and concentrated harder, repeating my movements, “You will step aside and let us through.”

“Y/n, what are you doing?” Finn whispered from behind me, I waved him off with my free hand.   “Alright, I don’t know what weird shit you’re trying to pull, but it’s not working.” 

Ignoring his comment, I silenced all other thoughts in my mind and focused entirely on what I wanted him to do,

“You will step aside and let us through.”  Like clockwork, the asshole straightened up and said, “I will step aside and let you through.”  I waved my hand again, this time more confidant it would work, “You will return to your quarters and…take a nap.”  “I will return to my quarters and take a nap,” he repeated, promptly leaving us and heading to his given destination.

My lips quirked up at what I’d accomplished, I’d never tried to use a mind trick on anyone. I’d heard about them over the years and my uncle had mentioned them in stories he told me as a child. As weird as I felt, invading someone’s mind and bending it to my will, it would come in handy in situations such as these. I’d have to add it to my arsenal. Shaking my head to clear it, I led Finn and Rose into the bay.

“So, are you going to tell us what that was?” Finn asked slowly.

“Jedi mind trick,” I answered, searching for the pods, “I’d never tried it until now.”

“Wait,” Rose gasped, “Are you a Jedi?”

“Not a Jedi,” I answered just as quick as when Poe had brought up the subject, “But I have a lightsaber, it’s complicated.”

“Whoa…” she said under her breath as we approached a pod, I entered a code in the keypad to authorize their departure.

“Solo,” Poe’s voice came through my comm, “You there?”  “What’s the word, Dameron?”  “We’re clear.”  “Copy that.” I replied.

The pod doors opened as I pressed a button, Rose was the first to climb in but stopped in the doorway,  “Thank you for helping us,” she said, “Not a lot of commanders listen to maintenance workers.”  “Don’t mention it, it’s people like you keep this whole operation going,” I replied with a smile, “You probably do more work than I do.”  With that, she grinned and entered the pod leaving me and Finn alone. We both let out a heavy sigh, neither one of us were fond of the idea of being split up. Especially with Rey already on the other side of the galaxy somewhere.

I embraced him bittersweetly, “You better come back in one piece.” 

“I will,” he promised as he tightened his arms around my back. 

Finn had quickly wormed his way into my heart, into Poe’s too. He fit perfectly in the Resistance and among us, there was no question as to whether or not he belonged here. The thought of him not making it back caused tears to spring to my eyes. It was crazy to think I’d only known him a few days when it felt like saying goodbye to a lifelong friend.

“Listen,” I pulled back to see his face, “I haven’t thanked you for what you did on Ilum. You saved my life and I…”  “Y/n, you don’t need to thank me for-“  “Yes, I do,” I interrupted, “I will forever be in your debt for what you did. You allowed me to come back to my mom, to Poe, to this fight. So yes, I do need to thank you, Finn.” 

He looked so awkward accepting my gratitude, like it was one of his first times doing so. Then I remembered that the compliments Poe, Mom and I had paid him were probably some of the only ones he’d ever received. My heart hurt for him all over again.

“You’re welcome,” he replied with a sheepish smile before giving me another quick hug, “If you want to pay off that debt, just protect that beacon.” 

“You know I will.”  We parted and the only thing left for me to do was kneel down and hug Bee, “Stay safe, it takes two of us to manage Poe.”  Keep him safe while I’m gone.

“Easier said than done, but I’ll try,” I laughed.

If Rey gets back before we do, will you tell us?  “Of course, buddy.” I said running a hand over his head, “If we made it through the past few days, we can make it through this.”  With that, Bee rolled away into the pod behind Finn. I gave them and Rose a salute just before they closed the door, sealing themselves off from me. Yeah, if we made it through Jakku, Rathtars, Takodana and Starkiller, surely we could make it through this…

I hoped.

——————

Poe and I met back up in my mother’s med bay room, he had returned before I did. 3PO was still standing faithfully at the computers, monitoring Mom’s vitals.

“Any change?” I asked as I came to stand next him to read the levels myself.

“Unfortunately, there has been no change in the Princess, Mistress Y/n,” the droid responded.

That was as close to an inside joke as 3PO was capable of. Long ago when the Resistance had been formed and Mom took on the new title of General, 3PO had a hard time stopping referring to her as Princess. He still did it on accident sometimes. I’d told him that if we were talking just him and I, he could call her Princess. I’d always loved the thought of my mother being royalty as a kid and the title was still comforting to hear.

“Okay, thanks anyway,” I sighed, walking away to pull my chair next to Poe’s. He was still positioned at her legs, watching her intently, waiting for any sign that she was awake. I sat down beside him and laid my head on his shoulder, looping my arms through one of his.

“Finn and Rose get away okay?”  I nodded gently, my eyes never leaving Mom’s face as I silently pleaded with her to wake up.

“Don’t you have things to be doing?” I inquired softly, “I’m the one that Holdo grounded, not you.”  He chortled quietly before sobering back up, “Not really, I’ll go check in with a few people in a bit. Other than that, this is where I’m supposed to be.”  I snuggled a little closer to him, as much as the chairs would allow. His devotion to me and Mom was nothing short of heartwarming, I appreciated him more than I’d ever be able to sum up in words.

Without realizing, my eyes had begun to droop shut and I let out a small yawn. The exhaustion of the past few days hadn’t worn off yet.

Poe kissed the top of my head softly, “Get some rest, I’ll wake you up if anything changes with her.”  I sleepily nodded and allowed myself to drift off, my last thought was an image of Finn, Rey, Poe and I sitting around a cantina table laughing about our separate and shared adventures. 

———————

I found myself among the familiar flames once again.

The bodies were still strewn around me.

The thick smoke filled the air.

My lightsaber was clipped at my waist now.

A new single scream erupted this time.

I spun around and watched my younger self run to two bodies lying face down. She fell to her knees and wept over them,

“Mama! Papa! Wake up! Wake up!”  My heart broke at the gut-wrenching memory that was resurfacing, consciously and unconsciously. My parents death had faded over time till I couldn’t remember anything other than the tears I’d shed in the alleyway on Naboo. I hadn’t remembered finding their bodies or screaming their names. Not until now.

“Wake up, Mama! Wake up, Papa! Wake up!”  I cried forcefully as I watched the younger me lose her entire world. I began to stumble towards her just as a hand stopped me, pulling me back by my shoulder.

 “Y/n,” the calm voice said, undoubtably the unidentifiable figure in brown, “Don’t be afraid.”  My sobs wracked my body as I continued to listen to the younger me wail, “I thought I wasn’t afraid anymore.”  “Don’t be afraid,” the voice repeated, I could hear it clearer than I’d ever been able to. I could have sworn that I’d heard it before in my life...

Just as the hand let go of me, a piercing red blade shot through my abdomen. The air in my lung drained instantly, the pain searing hot as the hole burned through me. As it was violently ripped out of me, I was turned around to face a maskless Ren. Just as I’d left him, blood trickled down the side of his face where Rey had cut him,

“Don’t be afraid,” he gritted out, “Of what you could be.”  I attempted to scream, but nothing came out. The only noise was the younger me crying out, “Wake up! Wake up!”

—————

“Y/n, wake up!”

I awoke gasping for air, Poe was knelt in front of me with his hands gripping my arms. After I’d blinked a few times, I could see there was concern etched deeply in his face. I was still panting relentlessly, trying to slow my breaths but failing miserably. I looked around frantically at my surroundings, we were still in Mom’s med bay room. Turning to her, she was in the same position she’d been in when I’d fallen asleep. Safe to assume there were no changes while I’d been out.

“You’re okay, I promise.” Poe whispered as I continued to try and catch my breath, “It was a dream, you’re okay.”  I ran my hands through my hair and placed my elbows on my knees, Poe’s hands slid down to hold my calves. He allowed me all the time I needed to calm down, but I couldn’t do so hunched over in a chair. I needed to move. I rose from my seat and walked quickly over to the window, trying to focus on the stars we were passing. 

“Mistress Y/n, are you quite alright?” 3PO asked with concern.

“3PO, shh,” Poe reprimanded through his teeth.

I shook my head and waved Poe off, “It’s alright, I’m okay, just…a little shaken.”  “Can I be of service in any way?”

“No, but thank you, 3PO.” I replied, looking over my shoulder at the droid. He nodded and returned to his task at hand.

Poe hesitantly made his way towards me, I chuckled breathily at his caution and motioned him over. As I turned back to gaze at the stars, his arms wrapped around my waist and his chest pressed against my back. I leaned back into him, enjoying the warmth that seeped through the layers of clothing and how his comforting scent surrounded me. I laid my arms across his, my hands coming to rest on top of his. In the moments where I felt like I was free falling, Poe was the soft patch of earth for me to land on. I knew he’d catch me every single time.

“Do you remember your mother?” I asked out of nowhere, my breathing finally having calmed down.

“Yeah, not as much as I wish I did,” he answered wistfully, “My dad has holos of her back home, those help keep the memories alive.”  I hummed as I continued staring out the window, scouring every corner of my brain for a better memory of my family than the one I’d just been gifted. Nothing. I couldn’t remember my father’s smile, I couldn’t remember my mother’s melodious laugh. Not a thing. Just the blood seeping from their chests and my piercing screams.

“Why are you asking?”

 “I don’t remember anything about my birth parents except their death,” I answered calmly, “I wish I could remember who they were.”  “Is that what your dream was about?” Poe craned his neck over my shoulder so he could look at me.

I nodded but was still too shaken to turn away from the stars, staring at them seemed to be keeping my panic at bay.

“I think…I think they may have been Force users,” I said.

Poe was silent for a few seconds, simply intertwining our fingers and rubbing his thumb over the back of my hand. He was probably searching for the right thing to say in a situation that was so new to him,

“How can you know that?” he finally asked, “Can you know that?”  I shook my head, “I don’t know, it’s just a…feeling. It was just a theory I had but for some reason after that dream, it feels very real.”

Poe dropped his chin to my shoulder and I rested my head against his. I had a sneaking suspicion that this might be our last moment of peace for a while. I tried to drink it in, savor it, because waiting outside this bubble we’d created for ourselves was chaos.  

“This plan has to work,” I breathed, “I couldn’t save my parents, I couldn’t save Dad, but I’ll be damned if I can’t save the Resistance.”

----------

A/N: And the plot thickens...I promise not to string you guys along for too much longer as to who the parents are but ugh, I love a good slow build. I’ve also figured out a schedule for chapters, tentatively there will be a new chapter every Friday. It could change and I could drop two chapters in one week sometimes but for now, every Friday.

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apomaro-mellow · 3 years

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Powers at Work

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Snoke looked upon the trooper before him, his mouth curling up into a smile as he felt the indignation boiling inside Kylo Ren for having to stand side-by-side with this one.

"Remove your helmet. What is your designation?"

The irony of being asked to show his face while also reciting that which gave him anonymity was not lost on the young man. But he obeyed without hesitation.

"FN-2187."

"Tell me boy", Snoke addressed Kylo Ren this time. "What do you feel from him?"

"Nothing", he answered. His own mask giving the illusion of cold indifference. But behind it was a petulant expression. And Snoke could feel it, as well as the particular sort of energy the emanated from the storm trooper.

"He has Force potential. It is weak. But it is there."

Neither of the young men said anything about that. Kylo Ren was slowly simmering from petulance to seething while FN-2187 didn't really know what any of this meant. He knew little of the Force. Just that it was part of some strange technique that the Knights of Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke utilized. There were a lot of rumors about what it could and couldn't do.

"He will become a knight", Snoke continued. "I see great things in his future."

From then on, FN-2187's life had flipped on its head in some ways, but had mostly remained the same. He still had to get up early, dress in a uniform, wear a mask, and go through training that pushed him to the limits of his mind and body.

But one significant change was the way he was taught to process his emotions. Stormtroopers were meant to be unfeeling and simply follow orders. As a Knight of Ren, he still had to follow orders without question. Every time frustration and anger built up inside of him though, he was told to harness it. To channel it into an energy that he could use. Mostly for destruction.

And it felt good.

Shooting with a blaster and using other weapons had their charm. But there was something cathartic about using your own hands, even though he wasn't technically touching anything. When FN-2187 reached out and grasped the neck of a Resistance fighter, he felt it as if his hand was actually cutting off their air supply.

With every insurgence that was squashed, he grew more powerful. And with more power, he became more capable. It didn't take long for him to forget the troopers he had known. Why should he remember them anyway? They were nothing but cogs in a machine. FN-2187 was still a cog himself, but a much bigger one than he had been. And in the end, their goal was the same - to destroy.

The other knights believed the same, having given themselves to the cult of Ren that cared not for right and wrong, only what they wanted. FN-2187 believed that there was no right and wrong. If there was good, how could the First Order ever come into such great power. If there was justice, then how would it punish all of the crimes committed by the vast armies?

There was no hope, no righteous glory to strive for, no happy ending where the bad guys lost. There was only those with power and those without. And if he could use that power to break, to wreck, to crumble, then why shouldn't he?

It wasn't like he was going to get punished for doing wrong, so what incentive did he have to do right?

He wasn't like Kylo Ren. FN-2187's powers within the Force had grown. And he could feel the turmoil within Kylo Ren like it was his own. It was why FN-2187 was glad that they didn't spend too much time together. Eventually, one of the other knights had told him the story; that Kylo Ren had originally trained under a fledgling jedi order under Luke Skywalker before tearing it all down and succumbing to the dark side.

And that explained the torrent that raged inside of him. Some part of him was still clinging to hope. Hope for what, FN-2187 didn't know. Maybe he wanted to be saved and leave the First Order. Maybe he wanted something more than this. Whatever it was, FN-2187 wished that part of their training included learning to hold things in. But they weren't taught much about the spiritual side of the Force outside using hatred to fuel them.

It was supposed to be a mission as easy as any other. They had gotten intel that the Resistance was harboring a very important piece of information.

"We are to find the one who has it. And take it", Kylo Ren said as they were en route.

No one asked what the information was or why it was so important. But FN-2187 was curious. And Kylo Ren's mind was always such an open book. So he flipped through the pages and found that what was so important was a droid with a map to Luke Skywalker.

"GET OUT!", Kylo Ren barked, pushing FN-2187 out of his head.

"Don't keep yourself so open then", he said in reply with a shrug.

FN-2187 had seen other things floating on the surface along with that tidbit. An old man's face, probably Skywalker himself, as well as a few other faces. None that he recognized of course. But he at least understood why the Knights of Ren were being put to such a task.

Luke Skywalker was a dangerous man and had the power to end everything. FN-2187 had heard the legend of Skywalker. But like most things, it was impossible to tell what was actually true and what was just gossip, exaggerations, or stories to soothe children.

When they landed on the planet, stormtroopers had already begun terrorizing the people that lived there. FN-2187 felt nothing as he watched innocent people get gunned down. Because if he felt something, he would have to admit that this was all wrong. And if this was all wrong, that meant there had to be a right side. But there was no right or wrong, only strong and weak.

The Resistance was full of weaklings, those that clung to loft ideals and died because of them.

So imagine his surprise when one of these weaklings, the ones trying to uphold some twisted form of justice and good, snuck up on him and landed a blow on his helmet, nearly knocking him to the ground.

FN-2187 had been checking one of the homes for the Resistance fighter. He had sensed something behind him but only at the very last second. It was why he was able to get away without the full brunt of the attack hitting him squarely on the head. As it was, he only had a crack in his helmet. The fighter closed the distance between them, probably thinking that they could corner him in such a small space.

The amount of room stopped being a hindrance when FN-2187 used the Force to push him back, crumbling one of the walls in the process. The fighter lay limp on the ground on top of the rubble. Fn-2187 approached and narrowly dodged the blaster shot that came at him. A last ditch attempt from the fighter before having a strong boot step on his wrist. The crack in the helmet crew, and a piece fell off. That last shot having done a bit more damage to it.

"Any last words?", FN-2187 asked.

The fighter coughed up a bit of blood and sounded like he was choking before he could answer. "You've...you've got...got a pretty eye... for a bastard."

He gave pause at that. "...Just one?", he asked, bending over.

"Well I can't see the other one, so I can only imagine."

Poe Dameron truly hadn't expected such a pretty brown eye when he shot off that chunk of helmet. Honestly, he'd been hoping to shoot right through their head and get a chance to escape. But now that it looked like he was at his end, why not be honest? It wasn't like this guy would repeat his last words. So no one on either side would know that Poe had complimented the man who had killed him.

He took in shallow breaths, waiting for the final blow. How would it come? Just a shot? Would his skull be crushed under a boot? Or would this one be using the same laser sword as their oh so charming leader?

FN-2187 lifted his foot off of the fighter's wrist and knelt down next to him. He had to know one thing. Just one thing before he left this man for dead.

"Why do you fight?"

The immediate response was laughter. "We fight because your side didn't give us a choice. We fight in defense of everything we love."

FN-2187 could have laughed himself at such a cliche response. Then an idea occurred to him. Something that he had thought about from time to time but had never imagined he'd get a chance at. If wanton destruction in the name of desire was the way of the Ren, then what glorious ecstasy would it be to destroy something as grand and enormous as the First Order?

"Play dead", FN-2187 said.

He dragged the fighter by the arm, walking towards one of the many piles of bodies that had begun to accumulate. Thankfully the other knights were deeper in the village, searching for the droid and its owner. Keeping his half-covered gaze forward, FN-2187 continued. Being a knight had the perk that any trooper he passed by quickly put their head down and pretended to work harder than they already were.

He counted himself lucky that they got as far as the gangplank before someone called out to him. Not looking back, he threw the fighter deeper into the ship, blasted the trooper before he could report and hit the button to lift up the plank.

"You fly?", FN-2187 asked.

With a groan, the other man got to his feet. "I fly!", he exclaimed with a lightness that made it easy to forget he was injured. He put himself in the pilot's seat and got the ship going. FN-2187 felt out for the other knights, especially for Kylo Ren. He felt confusion most of all. And then numbness. And then they were too far away to feel much of anything.

He stopped looking back and only looked forward; to the Resistance that he'd be joining, and the pilot he had saved that was his ticket in.

#apo writes #fanfiction #finnpoe #enemies to lovers but they're actually enemies this time

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sithsecrets · 4 years

Text

“Oh, darling, everybody sees how you look at him.” | Part 4

Part 4 of a little series I have going on!

Mentions: violence (lmao Kylo is Kylo what can I say?)

---

It’s challenging for Kylo, remembering that not everyone’s accustomed to violence the way he is.

There’s no excuse for his behavior most of the time, and he knows this, but… but after all this time, after all the training and the fighting and the living in fear under Snoke, Kylo just can’t help himself. He’s working on his anger, really trying to tamp down the rage the boils within him so easily and so often— it’s just so difficult. People can exhibit such insolence and disrespect, they feel no remorse in making their pompous little powerplays, and yet—

And yet that’s still not a good enough reason to end their lives, Kylo thinks to himself, blowing a breath out through his nose. It gets him worked up just thinking about it, just picturing how insufferable people can be sometimes, makes his skin itch and his hands clench. He takes a swig of wine from the glass in his hands, in need of an outlet for his pent-up frustration—but then his eyes land on you, and all is well again.

Kylo’s only here at this party because you asked him to come. He hates things like this usually, can’t stand all the schmoozing and the ass-kissing and the drunkenness. But this little gathering is being thrown almost entirely in your honor, a celebration of a trade deal that closed between your planet and another powerful one in this solar system. Your mother the Queen worked out a large portion of the terms, of course, but you were right there by her side. From what Kylo understands, it was your level-head and pleasant affect that helped ease tensions when things got heated at the negotiation table— your mother really couldn’t have done it without you. And you were the one who announced the terms to your people! Kylo couldn’t be there to see you speak in person, but he watched footage of the event after it happened. You were a vision, so confident and self-assured as you addressed the crowd. He fell in love with you all over again in that moment, daydreaming about what it might be like to have you by his side, to have you speak on behalf of the Order. You’re ambivalent about your ability to be a great ruler, but Kylo doubts that you’ll be anything less than extraordinary when the time comes (if it ever comes— Maker, Kylo prays you’ll have him one day, that you’ll sit on the throne beside him and call him your husband).

As you catch Kylo’s gaze and flash him one of your soft, pretty smiles, he remembers exactly why he’s trying to curb his anger. You’re so good, so sweet and kind to absolutely everyone you meet, and Kylo’s not sure how you stand all of his volatility. You’re always telling him that you like him just as he is now, but he senses it in you, senses your desire to help him be a calmer, more even-keeled person. You think he could channel his aggression into something more positive, and you’re probably right about that. So, when Kylo feels rage boiling up in his chest, he bites his tongue, clenches his fist, and thinks of you. It works… about forty percent of the time. But he’s trying, and that’s all he can really do right now.

You beckon Kylo closer with a toss of your head, your thoughts as clear to him as his own in this moment. Come stand by me, you say, I miss you.

Utterly unable to resist you and your soft voice, Kylo finds himself crossing the room, on his way to the group of people you’ve been standing with for the better part of half an hour. You beam when Kylo comes up beside you, latching onto his arm at once, and the adoration shining in your eyes is bright enough to make his chest clench. And though your mother’s in the room, Kylo still leans down and kisses the top of your head, too in love with you to care about your family’s definition of propriety at the minute.

“What are we talking about?” Kylo asks, speaking to the group before him after everyone’s shown him the proper respect. But not you, of course— he could never have you kneel before him, not like that.

“The Princess’s speech,” answers a man clad in yellow, taking a sip from the glass in his hands. “We’re trying to decide whether or not a particular line was well received in the outer parts of our solar system.”

Kylo’s first reaction is to cut this man down to size, to bark and say that he nor anyone else should be speaking poorly of your announcement. But you’re not in the least bit offended, looking up at Kylo with bright eyes as you tell him what bit of dialogue is in contention at the moment.

Some members of the group think the line was perfectly fine, others aren’t sure of the wording— but everyone agrees nonetheless that your speech was excellent regardless, and Kylo’s fine with that.

“It’s honestly just your subjects in the Distant Quadrant that I’m worried about,” one of your friends says, halfway rolling her eyes as she moves to explain the comment. “My father’s from out that way, and him and his people can be so sensitive sometimes. Next time, it might be best if you have someone who knows their culture a bit better proofread your talking points.”

You’re about to say something, more than likely about to agree, but then a man on the other side of the circle chimes in. “Be careful there— we wouldn’t want to upset the baby.”

This man now has the full attention of the group, all eyes trained on him in the wake of his little quip. Kylo hates him at once, for his expression is too smug, the look in his eyes too self-satisfied.

“Excuse me?” you say softly, speaking before Kylo can ask the man to explain himself. He scoffs, cutting his eyes to the side as his mouth twists into a cruel smirk.

“I just don’t want you to get upset, Princess, that’s all.”

Someone on Kylo’s left tries in vain to stop this before it starts. “Ambassador Fal’kek, I you should—”

“Look, all I’m saying is that I’m not in the mood to watch the Princess burst into tears because someone said something mean about her,” cuts the ambassador, the smell of wine thick on his breath. At once, Kylo wants to make him sorry, wants to make sure this man can never talk about you like that again, but you’re here right beside him, and—

“I mean, no offense, Princess, but sometimes I can’t believe that you and your mother are even related. She’s willful and built to lead, but you let people walk all—”

Kylo tunes Ambassador Fal’kek out after that, opting instead to focus on you, on your expression and the energy that radiates off of you in this moment. He feels it, feels the shame and embarrassment that washes over you like a wave, hot and utterly uncomfortable. The ambassador has jammed his fingers in one of your sore spots, that much is obvious. Your chin trembles just the slightest bit, and almost imperceptible spasm of the muscles on your face, but your thoughts are loud and clear— don’t cry, don’t cry, not here, not now, not in front of everyone—

Kylo fractures the ambassador’s skull with a single punch. The bone yields to easily to the force of his fist, Fal’kek falling to the ground in shock. All around, people scream and cry out in surprise, in horror, but Kylo barely hears them. No, his pulse is far too loud in his ears, and he’s not satisfied yet.

Two more punches, both delivered in quick succession, and then the ambassador’s bleeding from the mouth and nose, gurgling and squirming and trying in vain to get away from the vicious attack. Only when he’s poised to deliver a fourth punch does Kylo come back to himself, the realization of what he’s just done in front of you hitting him like a transport vessel.

You’re flanked on all sides by members of the royal guard, the men and women trying to shield you from the chaos with middling success. Your defiance is written plainly on your face, it shows in the way you jerk away from their grasping hands.

“Let go of me,” you hiss, wrenching your arm free from one last hand. Anxiety claws at Kylo’s throat and heart as you stalk towards him, for he’s sure it’s over now. He’s ruined your party and probably frightened you beyond belief— if you never want to see him again, he understands.

You look so, so angry as you cross the floor, the crowd parting for you without a word. Kylo wants to weep, wants to drop to his knees and beg your forgiveness because he’s not sure he can handle—

“Is no one going to call a physician for the Supreme Leader?”

You’re sniping to the room at large, eyes almost murderous as you stare down the crowd. At once, everyone snaps into motion, most of them moving to leave as a select few rush to do as you say. Kylo feels as if he’s been slapped, and the sensation goes double as he watches your face soften before him.

“Did you hurt your hand?” you ask softly, and the tone of your voice is so sweet and concerned.

“What?” Kylo says stupidly, in disbelief as he watches you take his dominant hand in your own. Your fingers work ever so gently, slipping off his glove, running down the length of his broken fingers.

“Did you hurt your hand, Kylo?” you press, fussing over the bruises already forming underneath his skin.

All-consuming relief washes over Kylo’s body in and that moment, and then nothing matters anymore after that.

#kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren fanfiction #star wars #star wars fanfiction #oh darling #my writing

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drowning-rats-in-fandoms · 3 years

Text

Y/N is an intelligence officer on Ren's ship and he always goes to her before missions

When she first gets hired, she always has the mission information sent to him as early as possible

During the debriefing missions, she has the balls to corrent and add information that aas left out or wrong

It's almost always directed to Hux

Kylo enjoys watching someone else irritate Hux by doing their job

When the missions became more sporadic and information was being brought in left and right, Y/N moved her living quarters closer to Kylo's and Hux's living quarters so when she needs to present the information, she goes to them any hour of the day

Hux hates it, wishing to fire her. He know how important she is to the First Order, so he can't

Kylo doesn't care what time she delivers information. Y/N isnt like the guards that stumble over their words and take for ever to relay information

Y/N shows up (after sometime she is given Kylo's code of access to his quarters), hands him her data pad, and leaves.

Hux get an older model of data pads, Kylo gets her own. Her information is all stored on those two devices

Kylo always returns her pad to the table in her quarters. Hux never seeks Y/N out to give it back.

One mission in particular was stressful

On both their ends

Y/N has a translator implanted in her brain to allow her to read and decipher words

During the mission debrief, Hux suggested that Y/N should go along since she mentioned one(1) time that she is one of the only people able to decipher those words

Kylo immediately rejected, having grown fold of his coworker, not romantically of course

"Commander Ren, General Hux is correct. I should go on the mission."

"You have no field training, you'll hold us back. We can just send you video of the dialect." He thought he had a point

"I remember you forgetting to ask what my previous job was commander, may I fill you in?" She snaps right back, General Hux smirking that she is now attacking Ren instead of him.

"Please, enlighten me." Kylo leaned back in his seat, arms crossed. She was nothing more than a brain.

Y/N untucked her uniform to show a gnarly scar lacerating her entire side.

"That was my last bounty hunting job I did with a mandalorian. Saved his skin and his ship. Left me for dead. General Hux has been watching me for a while to recruit me, saw his chance." Y/N would never credit Hex with saving her life, even though they both knew it.

"I know my way around any weapon you give me. I'll do my job and stay out of your way." She sits down in her seat, readjusting her clothes.

Kylo sits there for a moment, empathetic for her, his mask not showing it.

"Report at the hanger at 0600 tomorrow. Stop by the arsenal to pick a weapon." Kylo then leaves in a rush, the meeting quickly adjourned

Never

Left

Her

Side

The crypt was filled with strange coffins, some decorated, some not.

Cobwebs and rodents fill the place, Commander Ren taking lead and eliminating the distractions.

Any rune Y/N would see, she would decipher, hoping to point her commander in the correct direction.

Once they get to the end of the tunnel, a bare wall is presented to them.

Kylo ignited is Saber and was about to destroy the wall when Y/N shouted for him to stop.

The urgency in his voice made him hesitate, the hand on his arm guiding the saber close to the made him stop. He allowed her to hover his saber closer to the wall, her hand warm though his field clothes.

Then he saw it.

The heirogliphs showed faintly though the light of the Kyber crystal, the regular lights not doing anthing.

"Lights off. Now." The 4 storm troopers accompanying them complied, turning the hallway dark except for the glowing red saber.

The wall completely illuminated with glyphs, making Y/N gasp.

"What is it?" Kylo asked, his mask trained on her astonished face

"You found it. What your looking for is on the other side. I just need to find a way in." Her voice is low, focused. Kylo saw that she was in her environment, adrenaline rushing through her veins allowed for a quicker deciphering.

Her hands voided the saber in weird movement along the wall, allowing for her to read.

Kylo noticed everything about her, the way she bit her cheek when her breathing picked up, her eyes flickering to him fir a moment before continuing to read. Her grip on his forearm tightens as she holds her breath, hovering over the last hieroglyph.

Y/N let's go of Kylo's arm and takes a step back, creating professional spacing.

"In short, you actually have to stable the wall. In long, you can only stab it in one spot. Only you can see the spot using the force. Dont ask me how, it never said." Y/N steps back with the troopers, allowing Kylo to do his thing.

He nods his head to her, she nods back, her face blank.

Kylo turns to the wall, closes his eye, feeling for the weak spot. He grows frustrated when he cant find it, letting out a huff.

"What do you feel." You.

"There is no weakness in the wall." His voice is strained though the modulator, trying to not last out.

"Maybe the wall is all weak and you need to look for the strong spot. Breaking that should weaken the hold on the weak spots, allowing the wall to crumble." She sounded so close to him, like it was only them.

Kylo focuses on the calm in her tone of voice, allowing him to concentrate on his objective.

Not even seconds later, he finds it, the spot is in the direct center of the wall.

"The keystone." He whispers, the modulator garbling the word.

He reposition his last connection to his grandfather, the helmet being completely destroyed by Supreme Leader Snoke. Kylo drives the blade through the spot, the wall immediately shaking.

Two strong hands grab his robes and pull him out of the stones impact, the small group watching the wall shift and change.

Larger pieces of rock fall as the smaller ones swirl in a circle, assembling themselves in the doorway behind the wall.

The door opens to reveal a corpse cradling a book to its chest.

Kylo immediately rips the book from the corpse's grasp before Y/N could stop him.

"Is that what you need?" Chills run down her spine as the entire crypt turns silent.

Too silent.

"Yes." He turns back to her, handing the text to Y/N, allowing her to out it in her book bag.

Before the mission he pulled her aside. Her job is to translate and to protect the text. His job was to get them in and get them out. They agreed.

Y/N facial expression and the sense of dread Kylo could read on her told him to move quickly.

"Stay behind me. Make sure she doesnt get hit." He points to the respectful groups before charging off into the darkness.

Y/N asks the trooper to turn their lights back on to help them see their way back.

Not everyone has the force to guide them.

Everyone did their jobs, quickly and quietly. The six moved through the crypt, moving up from the deep dungeons.

Once they get to the first open area, they were ambushed. Reanimated skeletons, strange tan creatures, and those damn rats attacked the group.

Y/N drew her sword, charging it. She stayed relatively near the middle of the room, not seating out a fight.

Kylo Ren sliced and diced through the enemies, keeping an eyes on Y/N. The troopers shot down the rats with surprising accuracy. Kylo took care of everything else.

Until two yellow monster slipped from the main group and attacked Y/N from infront and behind.

Kylo quickly eliminated the rest of his threats and watched in awe as Y/N gracefully finished the fight.

Her kicked the one infront of her, throwing him on his back. She quickly pivots, her sword cutting up through the stomach, and down across its head. Before the second monster can register what happened, Y/N turned again, finishing off the first monster with a quick decapitation.

She quickly disarms her sword, reattached it to her back, and looked at the other 5 people in her group.

"They said that more are on their way. We need to leave. Now." It took Kylo a sweet second to put his ass in gear and steer his group out of the crypt, not meeting any more strange creatures.

Once in hyperspace, Y/N stands behind Kylo's chair, watching the stars.

"How did you hear them communicate? None of them spoke." Kylo was watching her through the reflection of the window, further respect for his colleague bloomed in his mind.

"The rats were actually in charge. The yellow creatures, called voulnders, were allowed to live in and around the crypts. Their exchange was that the Voulnders were to reanimate the corpses with their magic when their temple was under attack."

"They said all of that?" Kylo turned in his seat, Y/N already standing far enough away to not get hit.

"The wall that you hit showed the pact that those two creatures made. It also showed how to get in. Only a might warrior could." There was a pause before Y/N spoke again.

"Don't let that go to your head." She then walked out of the room.

Over the years, the two grew closer.

Sparring, talking, planning missions. Everything platonic.

When Kylo cant sleep because of the nightmares caused by Snoke, he'd go into Y/N's room, falling alseep on her couch, in view of her bed.

"If you like my couch so much, why not move it to your room." Y/N asks one morning, handing Kylo his caf.

"It's not the couch that puts me to sleep." His voice is low, eyes dropping to the ground.

Y/N hand cups his chin, lifting his eyes to meet hers. Her gentile smile puts him at ease.

Y/N remembers the first time she saw him without the mask.

It was a few nights in after relentless nightmares, the first time Kylo slept in Y/N's room.

He was half asleep, running on caf and a few minutes of sleep. Everyone on the ship could sense his worsening mood, assuming that it was from the last failed mission.

It was a repercussion of it, Snoke filling everyone involved in the mission with thoughts of dread.

Y/N hid it suprising well when on the command deck, doing her job.

But now, in the middle of the night, she knew she looked like shit.

When her commander knocked on her door, she rolled out of bed, her hair in a loose braid, her body clad in a pair of over sized black training shots and shirt.

Her commander was dressed similarly. She recognized the drained look in his eyes from her own.

She stepped aside to let him in her space, her eyes never leaving the constipation of beauty marks on his face.

Y/N shut off her night, resetting their automatic switch.

She grabs Kylo's bare arm and leads him to bed. She lies on her back, and she pulls him into her, his head resting on her stomach.

Kylo didnt right against her, his mind not raising any alarms.

Once her hands started to play with his hair, Kylo was out.

Y/N stayed awake a little longer, enjoying how soft and smooth her Commander's hair is. She falls asleep, her hands still tangled in his hair.

She woke up first at the rising of the dim lights, she took her time to wake up, enjoying the presence of another body against hers.

Kylo's breathing was still even as she replaced her body with her pillow.

Y/N went to her closet, pulled out her repaired bounty hunting armour, the silver beskar reminding her of painful memories of her old partner.

She changes quickly, keeping an eye on the commander in her bed.

"where are you going?" His voice asks, not removing his head from your pillow.

"To fix our problem."

"Snoke doesnt respond well to asking nicely."

"Oh, that's not why in going to Snoke. Go back to sleep if you can Commander. You need it." He seemed to get only a few hours of sleep last night.

Y/N straps the rest of her weapons to her body, her rifle sliding easily over her back. Her viroblade in the holster at her waist.

She tucks the bucket in her arm, looking at Kylo one last time before going on her first line mission during her First Order Career.

It wont be her last.

It only took her two days, the bounty hunter returning to Snoke with a head and the correct location of the cargo.

"How do you know its correct?" Snoke leans in his chair, observing the cleanly severed head at his feet.

"This tracker." Her voice is modulated, she throws the red chip to her Supreme Leader.

Snoke catches it, hums in approval.

"You have a new job. We have a suitable replacement for you."

Commander Y/N Y/L/N, leader of the bounties hunters and scouts of the first order.

The nightmares stopped

Missions became more successful

Kylo still couldn't sleep without being in the presence of Y/N. Her calm attitude put him at ease enough to fall asleep.

#star wars #kylo ren #reader insert #references of the mandalorian #bounty hunter #adventures #slow burn #professional to platonic to romantic #soft!kylo #rage!kylo #sassy!kylo #Kylo Ren is hopelessly in love #reader has a back bone

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pulpwriterx · 3 years

Text

Meanwhile on Ahch-To...

“Master Luke, what was Ben like, before he was Kylo Anybody?”

When Luke returned to his hut in the morning, Ben and any trace of him were gone.

Luke pretended he knew nothing, and made a cup of tea for himself, and for Rey.

“Ben loves the wild, desolate places of the world. Mountains. Forests. Tundra. Deserts. He comes by it, honestly. He’s a Wookiee.” Leia said.

Rey laughed, a little.

“I’m not kidding. Ben is a member of the Clan Wroshyyr. Chewie is his godfather. Ben has a Wookie name. Kallaurra. Out of the four of us, me, Han, Leia, and Chewie? Chewie did the best job. You know that strange, halting, flat, quality in the way Ben talks? How he growls his words, sometimes? That’s because Basic is not his first language. Shriiyywook is. He said all of his first words in Shriiyywook. He never spoke a word of Basic until he was five and we sent him to school. He understood Basic, and he could already read and write it, but, it’s not his language. Shriiyywook is. Han was OK with it. He encouraged Ben. Do you know what Kallaurra, his Wookiee name means? Wild Man. That was Ben. He was a wild man, and he was his own man, from the time he was a little boy. He went his own way, and along that way? He questioned every tradition, and broke every taboo.”

“Do you think he’s just crazy?”

Luke smiled, in spite of himself.

“Look out at the stars, Rey. Why do they move in their orbits? Why do the suns of a planet rise and set? Why do asteroids crash into each other? Why do meteors flash across the sky, and sometimes fall to the ground? Is it from anger? From madness?”

“No, Master Luke. All those things happen because of the forces of nature.”

“And Ben’s actions are like those heavenly bodies. Driven by the forces of nature. Ben is a force of nature. He is in balance with the raw power of the Force, as it exists, untamed, in nature. Keep looking at the stars. Ben used to tell me, look at the stars, Uncle Luke. The stars belong to me. They are cold and distant. But not to me. And he was right.”

“That’s him.” Rey sighed

“Who?” Luke asked.

“The man you just described? That’s the man I fell in love with. What happened to him?”

Luke shook his head, sorrowfully.

“A great many things. First? There were his mother's expectations. She had his whole life planned out. His Royal Highness, Prince Benjamin Skywalker Organa-Solo. He was going to be the perfect Jedi, the perfect young leader, the perfect fair-haired son of the New Republic. He wasn’t supposed to be a giant behemoth of a man, who was too much like his father and his grandfather to fit in any mold. Nor was he supposed to be a funny, cute, smart but very headstrong and eccentric little boy. Han and I pretty much figured that Big Ben would be going his own way in life by the time he was six. His hair was down to his waist, and he’d scream and break the scissors with the Force if you came near him to cut it. We used to braid his hair, before he went to school. And at home? He wouldn’t wear clothes. Just a pair of underwear, if you were lucky. Like I said, he wanted to be a Wookiee. He wouldn’t speak Basic. Just Shriiyywook. We worked it out. But Ben never really changed.”

“I know. He hates clothes. It’s funny, because when he gets dressed, he wears such elaborate outfits. But he never wears clothes in his house. Not even undershorts. He really hates undershorts. He doesn’t like wearing pants, so why would he want to wear another pair of pants, under his pants. And I had to learn Shriyywook.”

Luke sighed.

“As Ben grew to manhood, I started seeing my nephew as a monster. His obsession with his own duality, and that of his grandfather. He began to adopt this outlaw iconoclast persona. Whatever it was? Ben was against it. Then there were his heretical leanings toward the Grey Path. And his vows? Forget vows. Not my nephew, the king of taboo. He would sit, and read copies of the Jedi texts, and understand them. And laugh and ask me, are they serious? Jedi are supposed to take vows of chastity, and honesty. To have control over their emotions. Ben sold cigarillos, wine, and rubbers from his father’s smuggling operation out of my father’s TIE Fighter, his personal vehicle. I remember, once, he was changing the oil on it, and he explained to me why he was a Grey Jedi, and why that was the only thing that made sense, and it almost convinced me. No, Ben was always honest. It was chastity he couldn’t manage.”

Luke laughed, shaking his head.

“I got Ben when he was 13. And he was already girl-crazy. All ready to fall in love and get laid. Because Ben’s a nice boy, he has to fall for a girl before she can have him. Ben lost his virginity when he was 16 to his mother’s Kesshiri secretary, who was 37. Ben was crazy about Minerva. He thought it would be forever. I think Leia should have at least fired her, even though Ben was the age of consent. They had an affair for a year, and then she married a diplomat from her home planet and walked out of Ben’s life. He was crushed. After that? He went looking for love in all the wrong places. Any of my female students who were curious about their resident Rebel Angel? Let’s just say, Ben never failed to satisfy their curiosity. He didn’t listen to me when I tried to stop him. He really thought he meant something to these girls. Especially one he had gone to school with. After all, they meant something to him. He was so crushed when I had to break it up, with his old school friend, and she blamed him because she thought I'd expel her.”

“But it wasn’t all Kylo’s fault!” Rey protested.

“That’s what I told her. It takes two, I told them, and I suspended all three girls. And Ben, too, for a month. He was gone for six months. Even Han couldn’t find him. The betrayal by his fellow student, his girl? It just crushed him. Finally, he showed up shaggy, unshaven, dirty and drunk, with broken knuckles, a dirty shirt with half the buttons gone, sporting a fresh blaster scar on his shoulder, and a black eye. The occasion? His 21st birthday party. He and Leia had a huge fight, and she told him she was going to pull him out of the Jedi Temple and have his father rent him by the hour out of the spaceport garage next to the cantina in Mos Eisley, if all he was going to do with his life was drink, fight, hustle contraband around the Galaxy and lay pipe to more women with less discretion that any cheap spaceport gigolo.”

Rey laughed.

“Master Leia said that to Ben?”

“She did. I was there. He never spoke to her again, after that, but I think he took it to heart. And you made an honest man of him, in the end.”

“He did listen to his mother. I was…well I would have…I was interested in Ben before he let on that he was interested in me. And you know, I was, um, a little pushy about it. And he told me that he was going to treat me with respect, and give us some time to get to know each other, because he knew what it was like to be used. It’s fun at first, and you really think they like you. But when you find out you’ve been used and then you get discarded? It hurts.”

“It hurt him. Badly. I used to get so angry with him about the TIE Fighter, and the smuggling, and the girls. He didn’t trust me to tell me how the Dark Side, how Snoke was stalking him. That he had to get away from the Temple, to get away from Snoke. He had been so troubled. I went to check on him, that night and I felt the Dark Side all around him. I thought he had given himself over to it. That was when I attacked him. But Ben didn’t let Snoke kill all of his fellow students. Guess who he saved? The very women who had thrown him under the speeder bus.”

“Well, he did forgive me for maiming his face, and trying to kill him, seconds after I did it.”

“The boy is a mystery to me. In some ways? He always has been. I never really knew what to do with him. I mean, how do you teach a six and a half foot tall force of nature who has been using the Force since he was a toddler in a crib to open the cupboard and get the cookies?”

Rey laughed.

She put her teacup down.

“You know I’m going to the Supremacy. You know you can’t stop me.”

“I’m not even going to try.”

Want more? Feed me some likes.

#reylo #ben solo lives #save ben solo #tros fix it #ben solo redemption #rey x kylo ren #reylo fanfic #kylo ren is a ruthless man #reylo married #reylo romance

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frumfrumfroo · 4 years

Text

I wrote a thing (Leia and Ben reunion angst)

Lamentations

Leia Organa hadn't really planned on getting old.

Not that she’d particularly expected to die young, either. The possibility (even probability) was certainly very real considering her tireless campaign to put herself in the thick of imminent danger, but logical reasoning about the likely outcome was never any match for her ambitions in life. Sheer bravado and the arrogance of youth had always been more than adequate to the task of pushing the reality of death from her mind. Even when fear or doubt got a grip, she had taken for granted that her rude good health and unshakeable self-assurance would continue in perpetuity as long as she managed to survive.

She hadn’t counted on a day dawning when she could no longer take matters into her own hands if need be. When tenacity might not be enough.

Now, hobbling down a corridor with the cane she hated but couldn’t yet do without no matter what her pride said, finding it slightly hard to catch her breath, she felt the years like anchors on every limb. She felt the weight of her choices pressing her shoulders down from their habitual imperious uprightness into an aged stoop.

She was on her way to meet her own son for the first time as a grown man and the harm she had done him, her failures as a mother, trailed her like a colossal shadow. She sensed the cold presence of the past looming over her, its encroaching guilt nipping at her heels, and it made her feel more ancient than the deepest rivers of the Force. As if her bones were formed from brittle primordial rock, apt to shatter with a touch.

If Han were here he’d cut her down to size for thinking she was the one keeping the whole universe together, for trying to bear every burden, fight every good fight. He’d depreciate himself and distract her from her navel gazing, bounce her back into reality and remind her not everything depended on her. But small things did. Smaller things than she ever remembered to notice. He’d kiss her on the forehead and forgive her for her self-importance. Han had kept her human when single-minded, hotheaded determination threatened to turn her into some kind of overbearing political droid.

But he wasn’t here and never would be again.

When the girl, Rey, repeated her story of what had happened on Starkiller Base, this time after her sojourn on Ahch-to, and in much more detail than before… It was the first time Leia wondered if she ought to blame herself a lot more personally than she ever had, if it were her fears and hurts, her emotional retaining wall which created an opportunity for Snoke. Perhaps it wasn’t so inevitable, the enemy wasn’t so crafty, and she had simply abdicated her post as guardian. Every far-flung, bleeding heart responsibility she’d voluntarily taken on in her life- some she’d deliberately snatched out of other, more cautious hands- and she’d shunned the one which had the strongest, most natural claim on her. It was the one job she was worried she couldn’t do.

He’d been so small when she’d pulled his childish, clutching fingers away from the folds of her dress and pressed him firmly towards his uncle. He’d been only just as tall as her chest, gangly and skinny in the aftermath of his first growth spurt. His eyes had looked huge in his slim face, enormous and soulful pools of hazel gold and brown. Pleading. She remembered putting her hands on his shoulders and smoothing back his hair as she looked at him and tried not to notice the sheen of unshed tears, the trembling of his lower lip. She’d decided this was best for him and so she had turned a deaf ear to any potential entreaties, unwilling to be swayed from wisdom by sentiment. It had to be done. For his own good, she had to pretend this didn’t hurt. She couldn’t waver.

All her life she hadn’t had time for her sorrows, all her life she could ill-afford the luxury of indulging her feelings. When was it time? When had she fought for long enough?

When she won. That was always the answer. She’d rest, she’d have a life, when she had made a universe worth living in. When she’d made things right. What could be more important?

“There’s always some new crusade, though, isn’t there, sweetheart?”

Han’s voice, sharp on the endearment which he’d always used equally often in chastisement as in affection, laden with barely concealed hurt. She heard his pain, but she chose not to listen to it.

She’d thought there’d be time to make it up to him. She thought they would wait for her, her family, that her life would wait for her.

Her step faltered when she found herself standing outside the room in the med suite where Ben was recuperating. He was mobile now, his wounds were closed and his ribs were healing. He’d needed a lot of rest, more for mental and spiritual exhaustion than physical damage. He’d become a conduit in the Force the like of which was only heard of in legend and there had been some question if he would survive. She’d kept abreast of his condition since she’d been told of his arrival three days ago; he’d been in her every thought and breath and prayer, but she couldn’t visit. There was too much to do, too many people to oversee and decisions to make. She had plenty of excuses to keep avoiding the reckoning.

Reportedly Rey hadn’t left his bedside once, never further from him than the fresher in the corner of the room. Poe said she was like a wild animal with a cub, hovering protectively over his prone body and questioning anyone who wanted to get near him. She’d maintained a death grip on his hand which only loosened slightly when she fell asleep in her chair at his side. Her own injuries were tended by a droid, under protest and without anaesthetic.

Leia leaned against the corridor wall and tried for what felt like the latest in several trillion attempts to come to terms with what Rey had told her about Luke. About Ben.

And she knew she deserved to blame herself. She knew. If he’d thought he could come home, he would have, and who had made him think he couldn’t? Han had fought for him and she’d have to tell him that no matter how painful it was to admit, she’d have to make sure he understood it wasn’t his father’s idea that Anakin’s blood flowed with latent corruption- not until she’d convinced him it did. Not until her secret festering fears clouded over the dawning love and hope they’d sacrificed so much to have.

The supreme necessity of forgiveness, of giving it and receiving it both, had become the hardest lesson she would ever learn. Her famously indomitable righteous anger had perished with a whimper, suffocated itself in weariness and despair; it was only fear that lived forever. It was fear which chained love, shackled hope, and bound the soul in darkness. And forgiveness drove out fear.

If Ben could forgive her, it seemed a mere pittance to forgive him.

When she rounded the corner the kids were silent but clearly communicating, the power of their connection like a subtle crackle in the Force which raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Rey was sitting on the edge of his cot, their heads very close together and her hands clasping both of his. Leia absorbed Rey’s mood first because it didn’t hurt nearly so much to look at Rey. The smile on her lips and the contentment in her eyes spoke of a peace the girl had never shown before. There was a confidence about her now, a knowingness. Leia had sensed she was searching for something from the moment she’d first seen her, noticed the void she was trying to fill. Leia had an eye for pressure points in people. She’d made use of Rey’s in hope that it would help her reach Luke. There might be an apology owed in that quarter too, but all thoughts of Rey vanished when Ben noticed her presence.

His head turned towards her and his face froze in an expression between horror and anguish, his pleading eyes just as she remembered them. He had a lot of his father in him, so much that it was striking, and a stab of agony lodged itself between her ribs that felt like her heart being pierced. But there was also so much of her in those eyes, in the slope of his jaw and the shape of his chin that she almost felt as if she were looking into a kaleidoscope reflection of her younger self. The certain, unshakable self she still half expected to see in the mirror before she turned on the vanity lights. He was a perfect marriage of her features and Han’s, with his broad cheekbones and regal profile, his full mouth and deep set eyes.

It was probably because he seemed in that moment somehow both a mirror and the spitting image of her husband that it was the shame which hit her first. She couldn’t help but spin around and cover her mouth to try to swallow a cry.

There was a tiny gasping noise from behind her and then Rey’s voice murmuring something. She couldn’t focus on the words, couldn’t understand what was being said, but she knew the sound of pain was from Ben. He thought she couldn’t bear to look at him.

And she couldn’t, but not for the reasons he must be imagining.

She gathered her dignity and forced herself to look again. He was clutching his blankets where they pooled at his waist, his long black hair falling in soft waves which framed the drawn pallor of his face very starkly. He looked ill and frightened. Vulnerable, a child again.

“Ben,” she choked out. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, my darling boy. I’m so sorry.”

She didn’t know how long she’d been weeping into her hands when someone began to gently pry them away from her face, but her cheeks were wet and her eyes stung. She raised her gaze only to be confronted with a wide expanse of chest covered in the soft, oversized hospital smock which was standard issue for checked-in patients. She looked up, and up, and up to meet his eyes and couldn’t remember ever feeling so small in her life.

Leia was a short woman and used to fighting to get the world on her level, but this was her baby. She’d carried him in her belly, held him in her hands, she’d last seen him when she still had to crouch to speak to him eye to eye. His once little fingers now dwarfed her entire arm where he was holding her wrist and he towered over her to such an extent that the top of her head barely reached the middle of his sternum. Her baby was grown up and she hadn’t seen him in person since he was ten. Since their heights had been the inverse of this tableau. He’d become a man and she’d been there for none of it. She’d chosen not to be.

Ben was leaning down, studying her with trepidatious concern, and she couldn’t help but reach up and touch his face. She put his hair behind his ear and cradled his cheek in her palm, feeling the living warmth of his skin and the tickling sensation of a hot tear which rolled down from the corner of his eye and under her thumb.

“Look how beautiful you are,” she said, almost without meaning to.

He ducked towards her hand, hiding behind his hair.

She wrapped her arms around him and he folded into her, dropping nearly to his knees so he could hug her back, so tightly that it almost hurt. He was very strong, the harsh conditioning of a footsoldier obvious in the broad muscles of his back beneath her hands, and it hurt to think how badly he must have needed to be, how much he’d needed to rely on himself and his ability to fight. How he’d never been safe anywhere from the moment he was born.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. He sobbed hard into her shoulder, as if the words had broken a dam inside him. Deep, wracking sobs that shook his whole body and made her hold him as close as she could and whisper to him the way she had when he was a fussing infant, when the nightmares she never dared to tell her brother about had gripped him in their malingering claws. When the fear of darkness which ended up swallowing their little family encroached too close. “Shhsh, shhsh, it’s all right now.”

His voice cracked when he finally managed to tell her, “It’s me- I'm sorry; it’s me, it’s me, it’s me. How can you stand it, how can you stand it?”

Leia suddenly found herself meeting Rey’s penetrating gaze over his head. If there was judgement there, it was less harsh than it justly could have been.

“I should have protected you. I didn’t protect you.”

“Mother,” he croaked with enormous difficulty, “I killed him.”

Her stomach rolled over and her vision blurred with fresh tears, but she held him with her, gripping the fabric of his shirt with white-knuckle intensity. “He loved you. I love you. I’m so sorry.”

His face collapsed like wet linen and he slid to the floor at her feet, burying his head in her skirts. There was a mantra of apologies and self-recriminations amongst the desperate sobs and she lowered a shaking hand to stroke his hair.

“Ben, don’t. Please. Please don’t. Your father knew, he understood.”

Red eyes peeked up at her, his chin was trembling and those same fingers were clutching her skirts again and she wished she could go back to that day and tell herself her child needed her more than the galactic senate ever would. He needed honesty, his mother and his family, not a comfortable lie, a Jedi master or a carefully constrained destiny. She wished she’d seen him as clearly then as she did now, that she hadn’t been too afraid to look. She wished Han could be here to celebrate beating the odds one last time.

“If he could, he’d tell you this was the fairest trade he ever made.”

#basically a companion piece to my earlier fic #because fuck tros Leia didn't need to die and everyone killing her all the time is bullshit #this really isn't what I wanted? I don't know that the voice is right at all? idk angst because I'm mega depressed #is it cathartic at least?#fanfiction

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all-that-is-gold · 4 years

Text

My take on an alternate ending

“With my death, so dies the last of the Skywalkers.” Palpatine’s eery voice echoed through the great chamber as he outstretched a bony hand. A surge of force power threw the newly redeemed Ben off his feet across the great hall and into a chasm, hitting the ground on the way down. He grabbed on to the rocks surrounding the opening on the floor, his tired muscles complaining all the way. “You forget… I’m also a Solo.” He huffed as he began to pull himself back up; back to her. The stubbornness that characterized his mother and father flowing through his veins.

-Cut to Rey in the hall

Rey stood up, her head pounding and her vision blurry from the life force Palpatine had sucked from her. Ben. Ben wasn’t there. Where was he? “And now child,” The voice of the long dead rang through the chamber. “Fulfill your destiny.” Palpatine echoed the words of Snoke. “Kill me and take my place on the throne.”

Dozens of Sith whispers can be heard through the hall. Urging Rey to finish it.

“I’m not going to kill you.” Rey told him truthfully. “It isn’t my destiny.”

“But it is mine.” Ben Solo said from behind her. He stood there, chest heaving from exhertion. Ben raised his hand and his uncle’s saber flew to his hand without hesitation, he was finally worthy. He walked towards Rey, her eyes glossy at seeing him alive. He nodded to her and in unison they turned on their lightsabers. The chamber filled with brilliant blue light. They stood side by side, ready to fight till the end.

Palpatine let out a maniacal laugh. “Your coming together, will be your undoing.” He told them as he outstretched his pale hands, lightning crackling out of his fingertips and towards the pair. Without speaking, Rey and Ben tilted their lightsabers to create an ‘x’, effectively blocking the Emperor’s force lightning. It seemed like ages passed with the pair snarling their teeth, gripping the legacy sabers with every strength they had.

“You cannot defeat me! I am all the Sith!” Palpatine laughed.

Rey turned to look at Ben, who seemed to weaken with each surge of lightning coming out of Palpatine’s fingertips. They needed a miracle. And then she remembered. Of course! She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In and out. “Be with me.” She whispered, hoping to the Maker that they would hear her plea. “Be with me.” She repeated. Ben looked at Rey, confusion and awe etched on his face. He watched as she repeated it a third time, then he understood. “Be with me.” He closed his eyes as he whispered it also.

“Be with me.” They said together.

Suddenly, both of them felt power like they had never felt before flow through them. The legacy of a thousand years of knowledge rested atop their shoulders. Palpatine might be all of the Sith. But they were all of the Jedi.

They took a step forward, one foot after another. Together. No longer Rey and Ben. No longer Light and Dark. They were the balance. Two halves of the same whole. The Light in the Darkness and the Darkness in the Light. The Force flowed freely by them as if they were a conduit for it.

Palpatine hesitated for a second as the pair in front of him seemed to glow from within. Never in his years had he witnessed something so pure in the Force. “What are you?” He asked.

“We are everything.” Ben and Rey said in unison, their voices mixed and amplified by thousands of other voices of the ones that came before them. With one last powerful push of their lightsabers, they turned the Emperor’s lightning on himself. With a scream of agony and shock, the Emperor’s lightning beginning to eat away through him, burning flesh and bone in its path. The Force is too strong amongst the three of them. As the Emperor “explodes” into nothing, Ben and Rey are sent flying off from the power surge. The hall around them collapsing. Each of them thrown in a different direction mirroring the end of the Throne Room Battle seen in The Last Jedi.

-Cut to the Resistance Plot

Ben awakens first. He searches for Rey and sees that she was flung to the other side of what remains of the hall. He gets up clumsily, limping. He falls on his knees, succumbing to his injuries and crawls to reach her. He grabs her gently by her arm, she’s cold to the touch. He turns her motionless body over, only to find her whole side and face littered with dark marks; as if the lightning had etched itself on her skin. Her eyes wide open and lifeless. She wasn’t breathing.

Ben held her close to his chest, looking around to see if anybody could help them. It was just them in the ruins of the great hall. He needed to do something. With a breath, he knew what to do. He cradled her on his lap, holding her head gently with one hand and the other placed on her stomach as she had done with him before, when she gave him a new birth. So would he.

He closed his eyes and concentrated. Focus. Breathe. Just Breathe. With his last remaining energy he passed on his life force onto her. Feeling the warmth slowly leave his body, transferred to her from his palms. She wasn't done yet. The Resistance needed her. The galaxy needed her. Her friends needed her. Nobody needed him after all he had done. It was okay. He was at peace with his decision.

Her palm covered his as she breathed in for the first time. He opened his eyes, relieved that it worked. He helped her sit up gently. “Ben.” She breathed. His face breaking into a grin, crooked teeth and all. She was alive. She gave him an equally radiant smile. She looked down to his lips hesitantly at first and then gave him a passionate kiss. His arms encircling her as she reached up a hand to touch his cheek. They pull back, contemplating everything they had been through. Content with each other being alive. Ben’s face suddenly changes. He feels himself slipping. His smile fades, he looks at her face. Committing every last detail to memory. For this was the last time he was going to see her while he lived.

With a sigh his eyes close and his body falls back, lifeless; as Rey clamors to reach him desperately.

Without letting go of his hand, she brings her ear to his chest and a tear rolls down her face. He is gone. She stays there. Silently crying

-Cut to a background of space, stars.

“Ben.”

He opened his eyes slowly. He saw that he was surrounded by stars. He sat up and found himself standing on nothing. Floating it would seem.

“Ben.”

Different voices called out his name. All around him, enveloping him. He was tired of hearing voices in his head. “Who are you?” He asked them. What are you, he wanted to ask.

“I‘d hope you would know us by now, kid.” Luke’s force ghost materializes behind him, giving him a soft rueful smile.

“Uncle Luke.” He said tensely. So Ben truly was gone. Then that meant-

“She’s not here.” Luke answered for him, as if reading his mind or his heart. “She’s waiting for you.”

“I’m ready to see her.” Ben said shakily. He had to. She was his mother after all.

“No you’re not.” Luke shook his head gently. “This isn’t over yet, kid.” Ben frowned at this. What did he mean.

“Where are we?” He asked his uncle, who only looked around him.

“Everywhere and yet nowhere.” His uncle answered quizzically as he always did, Ben wanted to roll his eyes. He understood nothing. “We are one with the Force.” Luke outstretched his arms.

“So I did it.” Ben nodded. “I saved her.”

Luke looked at him sadly. His nephew had suffered a great deal at the hands of the man who had abused three generations of his family and now, his final act as a redeemed man was to die saving the woman he loved. Saving the galaxy’s knowledge of the Force in the process. Luke had to admit it that he was a bit impressed at his nephew’s selflessness and proud of him. He wished he could forgive himself for all the wrongs he had done in the past. For not being there for him.

“Yes.” Luke conceded.

“So, no more voices?” Ben pressed.

Luke gave him a rueful smile. One that was etched with mischief Ben hadn’t seen in years. “Not the ones you’re familiar with.” Ben frowned at this.

“You need to bring balance to the Force.” Anakin’s Force ghost appears next to Luke’s. “Both of you.”

“Grandfather.” Ben breathed.

“This is what has to be done.” Anakin tells him.

“I don’t understand.” Ben shakes his head lightly.

“For balance to exist both sides of the Force must coexist.” Came another voice. Obi-Wan Kennobi appearing on the other side of Luke. “Light exists within the Dark and Dark exists within the Light. One incomplete without the other.” He explained. “A dyad.”

Ben stares at them.

“Dead, Kylo Ren is.” The little Master Yoda spoke up as he materialized. “Rise, Ben Solo will.”

Then it dawned on him.

“Everything I did, all of it was wrong.” Ben said sadly and ashamed, referring to half of a life living a lie as Kylo Ren. “It’s too late.”

“Death is not the only way one can be redeemed.” Anakin smirked, placing a hand on Ben’s shoulder. Obi-Wan did the same. Master Yoda extended his hand in front of him. Finally, Luke placed his hand on his nephew’s chest.

“The Force will be with you.” He told him earnestly. As thousands of Jedi appeared behind them. Qui-Gon. Ahsoka. Mace Windu. Luminara. Aayla Secura. Some of them Jedis from other centuries past. “Always.”

And with those words Leia’s body becomes one with the force. Her final act to be transferring her life force to save her son.

-Cut to Rey still resting her head on his chest. Sobbing softly.

Ben takes a sharp intake of breath as he comes back to life. Making Rey jump back, scared and in surprise. He looks at her as she looks at him. Both in disbelief as to what had just happened, but for different reasons.

“You came back.” She whispered to him in awe and confusion as he sat up. Ben breathed, looking at her intently.

“I’ve been told I’m very hard to get rid of.” He told her jokingly. A little bit of Han Solo’s sassiness shining through. She smiled back. They hug tightly, relieved.

-Cut to the celebration. Everything happens as it does in the movie. Rey goes back to the resistance. Celebrates with Finn and Poe. Hugs Chewie.

-Cut to Rey on Tattoine, her hair up in an intricate Alderaanian braid and her new clothes are light grey; almost white. Everything happens as it does in the movie.

She digs the legacy lightsabers in the sand. The final resting place of the Skywalker twins where it all began.

An old lady walks past the Lars moisture farms. “It’s been years since anyone has been in this place.” Rey smiles at her. “Who are you?”

Rey turns to where she landed the Falcon, Ben climbing down the ramp with Chewie and BB8 waiting at the bottom of it.

-Ben is dressed in dark grey, almost black.

Half of her found family.

“Rey Skywalker.” She smiles.

Ben walks up to her, smiling softly.

“Where do you want to go now?” Ben asks her. Coming to stand by her side.

“Somewhere green.” Comes Rey’s answer, a content smile on her face as she takes hold of his hand.

Together they watch as the twin suns of Tattoine disappear down the horizon.

The camera pans out and we see the Skywalker twins looking at them, smiles on their faces.

Peace at last. The balance restored.

#reylo #star wars #rey of jakku #ben solo #kylo ren

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reylofanfictionanthology · 3 years

Photo

TO FIND YOUR KISS - AUTHOR REVEALS!

Here are your authors for this year’s exchange!

To Find Your Kiss collection on AO3 | Treats Masterpost

GIFT FIC MASTERPOST

- Reap the Stars by XarisEirene for abbytheatre08

He will be remembered, and they will not.

Call him The Light Bearer and Joy Giver. Call him He Who Loved and Laid Down His Life. Call him Ben.

- we are question marks that hang above the endless unexplained by LittleLostStar for AlwaysEverlark

- Eighty Bucks Says Sweetheart by strangeallure for Amoreusou

Ben likes puzzles. Rey needs help with a bunch of them. Good thing it's a slow day at the office.

- Seldom Visions by SpaceWaffleHouseTM for Andrina_Nightshade

- The Dyad by Lady_of_Haven for aneighthdomain

- The Delegation by Vivien for aNerdObsessed

A humanitarian delegation from Naboo arrives at Niima Outpost. Rey is skeptical, to say the least.

- Saudade: The Love That Remains by shipperofdarkness for AnneAnna

Saudade (n.) a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved and then lost; "the love that remains"

In those first few weeks, everything had been muddled in a haze as the Resistance tried to rebuild all that had been lost. Rey had buried herself in the work. It’s what she’d always done. Don’t think of your parents, don’t think of waiting, scavenge and repeat.

But it’s different.

Her parents hadn’t wanted her.

He had.

Her parents hadn’t loved her.

He had.

And in his wake, the wound had split Rey’s soul to the bone, like the scar she’d given him all those moons ago. It's a blessing. And a curse. And all she has left. It’s the love that remains.

- i don't want you like a best friend by irridesca for anopendoor

But Rey can’t really be upset—and she is totally, unequivocally not upset—that Ben's bringing someone because, well.

She is, too.

- Love is Weakness by crossingwinter for bittersnake

“He’s someone I found on my recent trip to Corellia,” Rey replies placidly, her face practiced in its boredom. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Love is weakness,” her grandfather reminds her, the way he has for years. It’s why he doesn’t love her. He will not be weak. It’s why she doesn’t love him, either.

- in sickness and in health (with health being less likely) by thehobbem for BlueButterflyKisses

Deciding to spend the rest of their lives together is the easy part for both Rey and Ben; the trouble is in how to propose.

- Snowed In by darlingreadsalot for Blueyedgurl

- Curses, Comforts and Capybaras by Andrina_Nightshade for Bombastique

Arrogant CEO bites off more than he can chew when he angers a witch... And suddenly finds himself transformed into a capybara. Can kindhearted wildlife rehabber Rey Niima help him break the curse?

- To Heal a Broken Soul by Reykenobi68 for Cat2000

Ben survives the fallout of Exegol, but his connection to the physical world is in danger. Rey tends to him as she searched for a way to heal him.

- holding me like water in your hands by literallynoonecares for Ceallaigh

After Hux finds out Ben killed Snoke, Hux encases Ben in Carbonite. Rey refuses to let Ben stay frozen forever so she mounts a rescue.

- Like a Thief in the Night by firelord65 for chagrins

Their bond won't let them be alone. At least this time it's the middle of the night and they can't get into a shouting match.

- The Chance by darknessvisible for Crysania

- Awake by QueenOfCarrotFlowers for cuddlesome

Something inside him is awake, and something inside her is about to wake up.

An alternate interrogation scene.

- darkness rises, and light to meet it by politicalmamaduck for czechia

After the throne room, Jedi Ben Solo and Kira Ren meet again a year later.

- Not Quite a Fairytale by Crysania for DarkMage13

Rey lets a stranger use the phone of the café she works at late one night. It changes the whole course of her life.

- The Canvas of Your Skin by tearoomsaloon for darlingreadsalot

She was incapable of touching him without drawing blood, it seemed. Lines like vermillion paint streaked where her fingers sketched down the contours of his face, his back, and now his chest.

In which a Force bond is splintered, a resurrection goes wrong, a kiss is forgotten, and two almost-lovers avoid speaking for the better half of a year.

- You Won't Escape Me ('Cause I Set You Free) by DarkMage13for DoorKeeper9

“W-What are you doing?” She would have been more irritated if she wasn’t shivering.

Kylo rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to let hypothermia kill you.”

“S-Stripping me is not going to kill me? That makes n-no sense.”

Rey needs a kyber crystal and Kylo is trying to prevent her from getting into more life-threatening situations. It's definitely not because he cares about her. Nope.

- Fleeing the Storm by Padawan_Writer for driverfever

But her suitor and revolutionary Hux won’t give her up so easily. Hounded by revolutionaries and falling in love, Rey and Ben must use all their wits to flee Paris and make it to England.

- Equal Measure by misszeldasayre for dustoftheancients

- Benimina Solo's Late On-Set Force Ability by MissCoppelia for Evangel10n

- Splatter by DoorKeeper9 for expendable

“You’re Palpatine’s girl,” he says coldly.

“His chief of staff, yes.” Rey’s eyes narrow. “And you have your hand on my ass, Kylo. Kindly take it off.”

“Or what?”

AKA powerful corporate rivals Kylo and Rey put the hate in love/hate.

- The Haunted Mirror by AlwaysEverlark for FangirlintheForest

When Rey travels to UK to attend the reading of his grandfather will, a grandfather she didn't know existed until that very moment, she finds a house, and a old story that will haunt her...

- i'm your secretary by OccasionallyCreative for firelord65

- and they danced across the sky by chagrins for flipflop_diva

When he was still a child, he constantly watched the blue butterflies as they danced in the sky.

But that’s another life. Another world. Another time. Another, another, another.

And Kylo's no longer a child.

No. He welcomes the darkness now. Embraces it.

- Finding The Answer by Cat2000 for FrenchMartiniPlease

Rey pines for Ben Solo…so why does her soulmate mark always drain of colour whenever she gets close to him?

- Almost Unforgettable by maq_moon for HopeRebel

It'll take the combined efforts of gumshoes, a flatfoot, a washed-up Hollywood starlet, and more to get to the bottom of this bad business. In the end, these things always come back to the beginning.

- The Curl of a Sigh by okpianist for irridesca

- and they were roommates by myownlittleinfinity for Lady_of_Haven

When Ben loses a bet to his roommate, Rey, he has to eat her out for 30 days.

- torn away from you (my heart is broken) by bittersnake for lakerose

The Force binds more than minds.

- 3 Days in Vienna by anopendoor for Like_A_Dove

- If You Take Me flipflop_diva by literallynoonecares

Rey sighed wistfully as she watched her two friends lean in toward each other as they danced, their lips meeting and melding together as they seemed to become one person instead of two separate beings. She had seen them kiss so many times, but this kiss … it was special.

“I just want someone to kiss me like that,” she mused softly to herself, her eyes not leaving her friends.

“I could make that happen if you wanted.”

- Confidence and Desire by MBlair for LittleLostStar

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” - Carrie Fisher

- Love brightens even the most monstrous parts of ourselves by Lutrosis for LRRH17

- Your Sweetness Comes With Sugar on the Side by AnneAnna for Lutrosis

- Allegories, or Allusions to Real Life by czechia for maq_moon

- We’ve Met Before by PoliticalPadmé (magnetgirl) for MBlair

Rey and Ben meet, move in together, get engaged, and marry.

- Invite the Wild In by thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily) for midwinterspring

(The ancient Sith had some interesting rituals.)

- Purim Party by Lorelei713 for MissCoppelia

- The Banished Heart by stellardarlings for misszeldasayre

On Rey of Niima’s nineteenth name day, Jakku gains a new wizard.

- The Smuggler's Bride by tmwillson3 for MyJediLife

- Annabel Lee by driverfever for myownlittleinfinity

- with my body i thee worship by yodalorian for niennathegrey

- the losing game by KoreRosemarinus for no_big_deal

- standing right in front of you by reylotrash711 for notkellymarie

- the good, the bad, and the smuggling by Priestly for OccasionallyCreative

It’s like his dad used to say: bounty hunters are nothing but trouble, kid.

- Whatever our souls are made of...his and mine are the same by writergenie for Padawan_Writer

Ben and Rey meet only after Kylo has defected from the First Order and returned to the Resistance and his mother. Will the dyad still find a way to be?

- You're My Dark Princess by Evangel10n for persimonne

Five years after the defeat of the First Order, Rey is no longer the woman we knew. Having no war to fight, Rey turns to contract killing. Not quite a bounty hunter, no, an assassin is not that honorable. She no longer relies on the Light side to guide her or the Dark, not claiming either side. She is a completely different person, lost, angry, numb. One day she is hired to kill a man she knew intimately, but he doesn’t remember her. What is she going to do? She has two choices here, kill the past or save a man she thought was dead.

- They say that only the dead have seen the end of war by Juulna and Annaelle for politicalpadmé

A Force Ghost Ben/Rey love story, with a side of rebuilding the galaxy.

- Cicatrix by cuddlesome for Priestly

Getting cut up by Rey on Starkiller awakens something in Kylo.

- I Will Always Be With You by Ceallaigh for Prix

She carried his child. The tiny spark of light woven with darkness, just like her. Just like his father.

—————

The world has gone dark More times than you Or your mother Or your grandmother Can remember. And every hurricane That was meant to be The end of it all Had instead ended In sunshine again.

So believe me When I say; You will survive this And the next one too.

World’s End—Nikita Gill

- all my daydreams are disasters by persimonne for QueenOfCarrotFlowers

- on what ground I was founded (when I first saw you) by midwinterspring for redbelles

Kylo dreams of Rey after the Battle of Crait. And the yearning is mutual...

Some Force Bond dream smut inspired by "Shrike" and "NFWMB" by Hozier.

- Last Summer by Abbytheatre08 for Reykenobi68

- The Long Way Home by VR_Trakowski for reylotrash711

In the aftermath of Exegol, Ben and Rey are divided by misunderstandings. It will take time and danger for them to work things out.

- Under the moonlight by Takekurabehime for shariling

- Fallen by Reykenobi68 for shipperofdarkness

Prompt: Devil!Ben and Angel!Rey or Angel!Ben and Devil!Rey. How do these two on completely opposite sides fall in love and defy worlds to be together?

- come away with me by HopeRebel for silentfleur

Rey owns a tinker shop, but her life changes when she meets Ben Solo and is cursed by a witch. Not necessarily in that order.

- A Picture of Me Without You by the-reylo-void (Anysia) for SpaceWaffleHouseTM

"I suppose I'd somehow struggle through / But I'd hate to picture myself without you."

- Lips Raw With Love by MyJediLife for stellardarlings

Their kiss on Exegol wasn't their first kiss...

Nor would it be their last.

- Everyone Makes Divine Mistakes by no_big_deal for Takekurabehime

- Glitter & Gold by aionimica for TearoomSaloon

- To kiss like lovers do by FrenchMartiniPlease for the-reylo-void (Anysia)

- Snow Turns To Rain by aneighthdomain for thehobbem

“I’m not sure,” he said finally, shaking his head. “I’m happy...” he said, and she tensed a little, so he continued, “with my work. I’m glad I’m doing what I love, but....”

“But?”

“But it wasn’t the only thing I loved.”

- Change the Dance by expendable for theresonatinglight

- Meet Me in the Woods by FangirlintheForest for thewayofthetrashcompactor (BriarLily)

- permanent calligraphy (your name on me forever) by theresonatinglight for Thursdaygirl

- show me the stars. by shariling for tmwillson3

“Now that’s the truth,” says Poe, who Finn invited about half an hour ago to keep him company.

“People have bad taste, I don’t know what to say.” Huffing, Rey scrolls through her phone with more intent. “Neither of you are helping me, anyway.”

“What’s the problem?” says Poe.

“Rey thinks her hot neighbor hates her —”

“He does hate me.”

“ — When really he’s been flirting with her for the past, oh I don’t know, how long have you lived there?”

- I realized that I need you, I wondered if I could come home by Blueyedgurl for VR_Trakowski

Rey is doing exploration work for the Resistance, searching for force sensitive planets so any force sensitives that they find have a place to train.

One day, midflight she finds a slip of paper with the elegant scrawling words of the ones that came before. The ones that she found when Ben still roamed the galaxy.

When she lands on a dark and barren planet she is forced to face the feelings she thought she buried.

- Shadows of the Moon by dustoftheancients for walkingsaladshooter

The hallways got darker, the corridors grew longer. Shadows stretched across the walls. The ghosts of Breha Manor grew each night.

Rey clutched her necklace. Ben met her gaze.

And every night, there was weeping.

- show the way (the world could be) by niennathegrey for writergenie

When the tension threatens to boil over and a desperate plan goes awry, Rey begins to wonder whether there really is a line between light and dark after all.

(Stars do burn brightest in the blackness of space.)

- why don't we go (somewhere only we know) by LRRH17 for XarisEirene

- renewed, transfigured, in another pattern by midwinterspring for yodalorian

Rey mourns on Tatooine while Ben is stuck in the World Between Worlds. But neither of them are alone, and blue butterflies light a path back to each other.

#reylo #reylo fanfiction anthology #rffa writers #reylo fanfic #reylo fic #to find your kiss #master post #mod post #photo edit

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midnightartemis · 3 years

Text

Chapter Two

On A03

TW: Attempted Assault, Abuse, Language

The Past, Time Uncertain

There were two things that I remember about passing through time. The first was the feeling of falling, though I could see nothing around me to signify my fall, just black, murky darkness. The second was the sound, muffled language that passed quickly by me, too fast for me to comprehend what was being said or sung. It was as if I was hearing every snippet of conversation spoken to the rocks since they were first placed there to stand as silent guardians.

My fall was ended suddenly as I hit the ground, dazed and confused. Had I passed out? The sky above me was now dark violet and filled with stars. There was nothing that I could remember that would have caused me to faint, so did someone hit me with something? Had I been robbed? I looked down at my finger to see that my simple wedding band was still there. Where there was once a small diamond, it was now missing. I sat up suddenly and scrambled my fingers through the grass searching for it desperately. The small band with the tiny diamond had been all that Henry could afford on a soldier’s pension. He had always promised to replace it with a bigger, better ring, but I had refused. It was our wedding ring. I didn’t care how much it cost or what it looked like as long as it meant that him and me became a we. But now the diamond was gone.

Did I lose it on the hike up the hill? Or worse, somewhere along the road? Even in the bright light of the full moon, it was hopeless trying to find it. We would have to come back tomorrow and search for it, even if it was so tiny that we would never be able to find it. I had to try. We had to try.

I hurried down the gravelly path, desperately trying to get back to my motorcycle and back home. I didn’t really know what time it was, though if I stopped to stare at the sky, I could probably figure it out. Navigating by the stars had become like second nature to me during the war.

If I hadn’t been so eager to get back home, perhaps I would have noticed that where there once was a fence for the pasture, there was now nothing. And the path that I traveled on was less worn down and muddier than before.

Maybe I would have gone back to the circle to see if I had gone the wrong way. Maybe I would have kept searching for my diamond. Maybe I would have touched the stone once more, and my time trespassing into a different life would have been brief and unnoticed.

My feet raced down the path until it ended suddenly and my confusion began. The road should have been there. My motorcycle should have been not two meters away. I turned around trying to orient myself again. Had I gone down the wrong path? Taken a turn that I hadn’t seen before on my way up?

A gunshot ripped through the air and the ground beside me exploded. My next reactions were ones that had been ingrained in me nearly every day for the last four years. Run. Hide. Cover. No time for thinking. Thinking means death.

My eyes search the skies for bomber planes as I race towards the closest available cover, the thick trees of a heavily wooded area. Had I been in my right mindset, I may have noticed that these trees were much older and thicker than the modern forests of Scotland. But it was hard to think when all I heard were the muffled sounds of gunshots and men’s yells that echoed through the forest. I kept running, kept moving, until the land descended to a stream bathed in moonlight, but otherwise hidden by large juts of rough, mossy stone.

I pressed myself against the rock and tried to calm my breathing. I could still hear the gunshots and yells, but they sounded more like pistols than machine guns. One shot at a time, long pauses between. But the war is done. The war is over. My brain tried to think rationally. I knew that the Scots didn’t really like the English, but much of the tension was between the Irish and the English. And who would call for infighting so soon after the end of the Great War?

None of that much mattered when they were shooting at me. It didn’t matter why if I was just going to get shot anyway and die.

See? Think later. Run. Hide. Cover. I was about to make my move to skirt through the forest and around the edge of Craigh na dun to find my bike and get the hell out of here when I heard the undeniable click of a hammer being pulled back.

“Turn. Slowly.” The voice is rough but oddly familiar.

I slowly raise my hands and turn to face my attacker. The moonlight is faint, but my eyes have adjusted well enough to see the man standing in front of me holding a gun to my head. “Henry? Henry, what the hell?”

He was dressed very strangely in what seemed to be an old British uniform, though this one seemed brand new. His eyes were hard and furious. “What’s an English woman like you doing in the middle of the woods?”

“What do you mean? Henry, what are you playing at? This isn’t funny.”

“Henry? There’s no Henry here. Don’t tell me you’ve fallen in with those Scottish scum,” he eyes me with a leering eye and I slowly take a step back. “Though you are half-naked in strange clothes. Don’t you miss a British man? Refined? Less hairy? Or maybe you prefer wild savagery.”

“Henry, please stop, you’re scaring me.”

“My name is Captain Johnathan Snoke.”

My heart stops completely and my feet turn to run, but he’s on me before I can take a step. He throws me against the ground, and I scrape at the dirt to get away but he’s on top of me and tearing at the top of my pants and there’s a hand on my mouth to keep me from screaming so I scream on the inside. “Prancing around the Queen’s countryside pretending to be a man won't keep you-“

A loud crack above me cuts off his words, and his weight is lifted from me. I don’t have a second to think or breathe before I’m hauled to my feet by a different hand and dragged through the dark forest. I desperately try to pull away from my rescuer, but his hand remains firm around my arm. He’s a giant beside me, nearly seven feet tall, all bushy hair and wild-looking in the dark. He’s not wearing the British uniform, but something darker and more rugged.

“Stop yer fussing if ye don’t want a bullet to your head or a cock in your cunt.”

I freeze, but this only prompts the man to tug me harder along with him. “I’ll scream.”

“Do that and I'll leave ye here for the dogs. Ye come with me quietly and I can at least keep ye safe 'til morning.”

More gunshots ring out in the distance and it takes me an instant to realize that if I am to survive the night and wake up from this nightmare, then I should comply with this beast of a man. I let him lead me through the dark woods which he seems to know like the back of his hand and it isn’t long until we come to a small dark cottage. He opens the door and throws me inside, and I’m suddenly basked in candlelight. A dozen eyes focus on me.

“Who’s this.”

“British lass. Caught her being attacked by none other than Captain Jack.”

“I hope ye sliced his throat for me.”

“No chance.”

My mind is racing to take in the information that is surrounding me. There’s nothing but a group of men, but they’re unlike any men I had ever seen. They seemed to be playing dress-up, wearing knives and swords and pistols and clothes that looked like they were pulled out of a history book and dragged through the mud.

“She could be a spy.” There’s a short, dark-haired man leaning against the wall of the small stone house. He moves in a way that tells me he’s the leader of this lot.

“I’m not a spy,” I say and the reaction in the room tells me that they’re surprised I can even speak. “Did no one tell you that the war is over and it wasn’t against the British?”

A hearty chuckle goes around the room and I’m beginning to move beyond scared and into pissed.

“The war is just beginning, lassie.” Another man chimes in.

The leader of the group sends him a look that could kill and the man immediately shuts up and turns his eyes down. The leader takes a sip of something that I don’t think is water. “Would ye tell us what a young English woman like yourself is doing dressed as a man in the middle of the woods at night in times like these? Speaking to Captain Jack of all people?”

“I wasn’t speaking to him. ” I spit out.

The man’s eyes narrow. “That dinna answer my question, lass.”

“I was at Craigh na dun. I took a wrong path down the hill and before I could trace my steps back, I was shot at. So I ran.”

“Nearest town is more than a fair walk away.”

“I rode.”

“Where’s your horse?”

“My horse? No- I rode a-“

A sharp cry of pain interrupts me and I stop to look at its source. There’s a figure by the fire doubled over in seemingly grand amounts of pain. I watch as the leader goes over to him and touches the figure’s shoulder. The figure winces. In the light, I can see now why he’s in so much pain. Dislocated shoulder.

“Let’s put that back where it belongs.” The leader takes the man’s arm and he groans in pain. He’s doing it wrong. He’s going to-

“Stop!” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. All eyes in the room turn to me, including the man at the fire. His eyes are dark and intense, wet with the pain he’s holding back. “You’re going to injure the tendons and muscles even more. Let me.”

I step forward and am met with a wall of heavily armed men about ready to place their blades in my side. I stop and eye the leader, completely unsure as to why I’m even bothering to help my now kidnappers. “I’ve been trained in first aid. I know how to reset his arm correctly.”

The leader eyes me for a moment then nods. I slowly inch forward until my hands are on the injured man's arm. He groans as I slowly maneuver his arm into the correct position. “I’m going to need you to resist me. Push when I push, okay? I’m not strong enough to do it on my own. And it’s going to hurt. A lot.”

The man says nothing, just quietly nods. I take a deep breath and still myself. “On three. One… two… three…”

I push with all my might and he pushes back, groaning as the joint slips back into place. His dark eyes are watching my every move. “Is there a long bit of cloth for a sling?”

Someone hands me a bit of dirty cloth and I suppose it’s the best we’ve got right now. I fashion him a sling. “Rest your arm for a few days. No strenuous activity or you’ll hurt it further.”

“We’ve best be going. Won’t be long until those bloody bastards find us again.” The leader says and all the men begin to move. I head toward the door ready to make my way through the night and back to the stones to find my bike and get very, very far away from here.

“Where do you think you’re going?” A hand grabs my arm and I yank away. I was getting very tired of strange men grabbing me whenever they pleased.

“Back to Craigh na dun and far away from you lot.”

His eyes narrow and I can tell he doesn’t like my answer. “I think you’re coming with us, lass.”

“Like hell I am.” I spit at his feet and this time blades are actually drawn. The leader of the group just laughs.

“Yer a feisty one,” he chuckles. “Until I get the truth of who ye are and whether or not yer a spy for the British, yer not going anywhere.”

“And what if I chose to go somewhere?”

“Then ye will be forcibly readjusted to the correct course.”

My heart pounds as I stare at the wild men before me. None of this made any sense. My head rebelled at the possible conclusions to this mess that I had already drawn. If that truly was Captain Johnathan Snoke back in those woods and not a horrible prank by my husband, then that meant that I was no longer in the safe hands of 1945. That somehow I had been transported through time to the mid-1700s.

Impossible.

It was all impossible.

My mind clung to the last possible sane explanation, that this was all a strange dream. And soon I would wake up in the too small, too squeaky bed of our bed and breakfast. I would roll over and tell Henry about the strangest dream I just had.

And then I remember that I hadn’t gone back to the bed and breakfast. That this couldn’t be a dream. That this all felt very, very, terrifyingly real.

#reylo #reylo fanfiction #kylo x rey #rey x ben #reylo fanfic #reylo ao3

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jolinar · 3 years

Text

A Very Star Wars Fictober, Day 31!

Prompt number: #31 “I trust you”

Fandom: Star Wars

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings/Tags: reylo, blaster wound

Word Count: 1674

Summary: At the beginnings of a Stormtrooper Rebellion, the Force once again connects Rey and Kylo Ren. Rey asks a question, Kylo makes a choice.

Read it on Ao3:

Rey felt the blaster bolt make contact half a second before she felt the pain. It was just heat, at first. Heat and pressure. It soon resolved itself into pain and she cried out, dropping her weapon and clutching her side as her senses faded in and out. She heard people calling her name, felt herself being dragged away. Rose’s eyes swam in front of her vision and felt herself being propped up against a cold wall. There was another figure on her other side. Finn.

“The doors aren’t open, they were supposed to open!" Finn said to Rose in a frantic voice.

“I know, I know.”

“You need to make them open.” He gestured towards a computer terminal. Rose shook her head."

“I will, give me time. I’m not a slicer.”

“You can do it, Rose, I know it.”

“Okay, you hold the door. I’ll get into this computer system? Deal?”

Rey tried to will herself to stand. She had to help Finn. Had to protect Rose. Her legs wouldn’t cooperate. She thought she saw Finn take Rose’s hand and kiss it lightly. “Deal.” he said. Then Finn was gone. She heard the clatter of Rose’s fingers flying against keys.

“You’re hurt.”

The voice came, low and clear, cutting across the sound of Rose’s typing, cutting across all other sounds as the bond always did. Rey’s ragged breathing was still audible.

“Brilliant deduction, Supreme Leader," she said, wincing. "It looks like your lackeys have gotten to me after all. “

With a swish of his cape, he dropped to his knees beside her. “They aren’t supposed to hurt you,” a furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “I’ve ordered them not to hurt you.”

She pulled her arm away, so that he could see the cauterized mass of red flesh at her side. “You might want to talk to your troops, because not everyone got that message.”

He didn’t visibly react at first, didn’t make a sound beyond a slight intake of breath. But she thought she saw his lips draw back slightly, his eyes widen, as he looked at the wound. She could feel, through the Force, that his emotions were a whirlwind. She had been honing this particular ability, over the past months. Years and years alone had made it difficult, sometimes, for her to judge the nuance of expression and discern their meanings. But you couldn’t hide from the Force. And in that, she felt his willingness to help her. It was comforting, in some ways, to know that after everything, he cared. It filled her with a strange hope. And yet, she remembered when they had been face to face, and he’d tried to force her to give up everything she cared about.

“You know where I am,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

“You know what I need.”

“Yes.”

There was a long silence. He was fiddling with something outside of her view.

“Look, I’ll lay it out. If you can tell me how to get into the computer here and open the stormtrooper recruits’ doors, I’ll...I’ll…” she wanted to say I’ll give myself up, but couldn’t quite do it. She had nothing to offer but herself. “You want me to listen to you, to hear you out. Tell me how to get into this computer, and I’ll do it. I’ll hear your out.”

“That’s not how I want that.” He said, anger and frustration evident in his voice. He wanted her to give himself to him freely, as she had before. Coincidentally, that was the same thing she wanted of him. But neither of them seemed to be able to meet the other, this was their biggest hurdle. She sighed. “It’s all I’ve got, Ben.”

“That’s not my name.” He said it quietly.

“It is. It is your name. Ben Solo. You’re a good person, I know it, I can feel it, even if you can’t.” He drew back and shook his head. She narrowed her eyes at him and tried to pull herself up further. “Oh, I’m sorry, Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader of the Galaxy, who is begging an injured nobody to talk him. How silly of me not use your full address, ahhh! --” she winced in pain and doubled over. It hurt so much. And even with Rose there, she felt so alone. She left like --

“It reminds you of when you were a child,” he said, and she realized with an internal shudder that she wasn't the only one who could read thoughts across the Force. “When you hurt yourself in that old star destroyer, beached on Jakku. You fell so far, it tore open your arm. There was no one to hear you, then. No one but --” he stopped, coming into the realization the same time she did.

"No one but you," she offered. Her breathing was labored, but her mind still worked. She felt relief, after all these years, to know.

"You thought it was your parents."

"I did," she admitted. "But it was you who heard me. I felt someone, telling me to hold on, to keep going. It was you. You kept me alive.”

He ducked his head, swallowed hard. The pain was getting to be too much and she fought against the loss of consciousness. She forced herself to continue: “I can’t believe that the man who helped me then would abandon me now. Will you?”

“You...trust me?”

"I’ve always trusted the person who helped me, all those years ago. I trust the man who killed Snoke for me, who fought side by side with me. If that’s who you are, then I trust you. Or are you Kylo Ren now?”

“If I tell you how to open the doors, they still might not fight for you.”

“They’ll fight for us.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because, no dictator, no invader, can keep a population imprisoned by force. It doesn’t matter how long it takes -- it could take a thousand years, but they will be free. People will be free. Nothing you say to me will change that.”

His fist clenched at his side, then loosened. He looked at her, his eyes softened and he looked lost.

“Rey, I need you to believe me. I never wanted to enslave anyone.”

“Bit late for that.”

“Haven’t you ever found yourself pulled along, until it was too late?”

She thought about it. Her life had certainly moved very quickly since joining the Resistance. But that was, again, his fault. He had pursued them, pursued her, across the galaxy.

"You know where I am, you know what I need," she repeated. "Will you give it to me?"

“You’re on Planterra, at the stromtrooper training facility. All of the stormtroopper recruits' rooms were sealed when the facility went into lockdown. You need the the control codes to open the rooms."

"Yes."

“I don’t know them.”

“Find them.”

She saw him look away, consulting a terminal. Only when he was focused on that did she allow herself to feel the pain of her wound. She choked back a cry of pain. She thought she saw his back stiffen in response...but no, she must have been imagining it.

The strange quiet that she and Kylo Ren inhabited pressed in on her. She could see where he stood at his console, but she could also see where Finn and Poe were, firing off shots as they held the line. For her part, Rose was still typing diligently at her console, chewing her lip, and focused wholly on the screen in front of her. The sound of blaster fire and shouting grew nearer,

“Ben…” Rey said, surprised with how calm her sounded. “Either you help us now, or we’re dead. I’m dead.”

"Rey." He looked up at her and there was that same light, same decisiveness in his eyes she’d seen when he’d called his saber to her in Snoke's throne room. “Serial number XO7Y39-Alpha. Security code: obsidian.”

Had she been stronger, Rey could have kissed him in that moment, but instead, she willed her head to turn towards Rose.

“Rose,” she croaked out. Her voice was somehow fainter, in the real world, than it was in the world she shared with Ben. “Rose. I know the code.”

“What?” Rose asked, "Oh, Rey, you look awful, hold on, I'll --"

With an effort, Rey shook her head. “Serial number X07Y39-Alpha. Security code obsidian.”

“You’re sure?”

Rey looked over at Ben. He was following Rey’s gaze, staring in the space where Rose stood, as though trying to see her. She felt, with a shudder, as though he could.

“I’m sure.”

"Just a minute...” Rose input the codes and clicked the send. There was a tense moment, then they heard the doors flash open as every stormtrooper cadet’s cell opened up. There was a loud cry as these new combatants joined the fray.

“That worked, Rey!!” Rose looked at her, renewed hope in her eyes. “Let me tell Finn -- Finn!!” she darted back out of the room. Rey closed her eyes.

“Thank you,” Rey said to him, Ben, Kylo, whatever he called himself.

“You’ll get yourself to a healer.” He was doing something now, at her side, she could feel the wounded area go numb as something cold and gelatinous touched her fevered skin. “You’ll take care of yourself.” It was not a question. Rey nodded. She closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Rose was back at her side.

“They’re joining us, all of them are joining us, we’re going to get out of here...oh, good, you've already started putting bacta patches on,“ Rose said, reaching into her belt and pulling out a medicinal patch. Rey knew she had done no such thing. She looked around and found Ben, fading out of her vision, but still there, the wrapper from a large bacta patch in his hand. He was looking at her intently. Completely unaware of his presence, Rose continued her ministrations. “We’re going to be okay, you just stay with me, Rey, okay?”

Rey nodded, eyes still locked with Ben’s. "I'll stay with you."

#fictober20 #a very star wars fictober #mae writes #reylo #rey #kylo ren #ben solo #rose tico #technically still not done with fictober #I am skipping around on prompts now #but still having fun!#star wars fanfiction #sw fanfic #reylo fanfiction

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let-fans-be-fans · 3 years

Text

STAR WARS Episode 8 - The Last Jedi

Only read after watching The Mandalorian s2 e8

Imagine a Lucasfilm Story Group that has actually worked as a group since 2015. Chuck Wendig’s draft of the first Aftermath novel has been roundly mocked and pulped before ever being committed to print. This isn’t about that, though. This is the germination of the story seed that is planted in The Mandalorian, so join me as we explore one of the possibilities that could have happened within the Star Wars universe: What If Grogu (the Child/Baby Yoda) first appeared in TLJ?

Ahch-To, the steps. Luke Skywalker regards his guest Rey with a quizzical expression, telling her simply but firmly “I can’t take that, but there is a place for it somewhere...” and the two move inside Luke’s little hut. Passing by a large levitating pod, Rey (and the audience) experiences mental flashes of meeting Finn. Smash-cut to Finn himself waking up in the recovery suit in the med-bay. Finn/Rose/whatever sub-plot (this post isn’t about fixing THAT car-crash, let it marinate) ensues, does what it does. This timeline’s Rian Johnson, however, is co-existing with LFL’s Story Group and especially Dave Filoni. They’ve cooked up one hell of an A-plot, and it continues thusly:

Rey never sees what is in the pod, and begins to wonder if Luke is messing with her or starting to go a little peculiar from isolation, on account of how he talks to it. In fact, something is starting to make her feel slightly more at ease. Maybe even a little guilty when Luke’s mood turns sombre and he says, “I know. About Han, and Ben...” We maybe even get a little nostalgia-boost by Luke opting to use the training remote and blast-shield helmet to start training Rey. It’s like poetry, it rhymes.

All through this time, Luke has not withdrawn himself from the Force out of shame. He has always kept himself open to it, learning from the spirits of his teachers. The night that Rey decides to leave and try to aid the Resistance (or to confront Kylo Ren for her own reasons) is the night that Luke receives a visitation from two very unexpected spirits.

That’s right, y’all. The first Force ghost appearance of a non-Force-sensitive character in the Saga. Padmé and Anakin show up to give Luke the news that some strange, dark figure has attempted to kill Leia by shooting at her private chamber on the Resistance flagship, only for Luke to not understand why they don’t know the attacker’s name. “You don’t need to hide it, to protect him. You know, as well as I do, that it was Ben!” Anakin shares a concerned look with the spirit of his wife, and the next thing he says would absolutely blow the cinema audience out of every single seat in the house. “Luke? Son, listen to me. Who is this Ben?”

That’s right. Anakin Skywalker, the former Sith Lord Darth Vader, has absolutely no idea that our sequel trilogy’s Vader-like antagonist (his own grandson) even exists. Even as the Force ghosts watching over Luke and Leia and their families for all this time, both Padmé and Anakin explain that from their perspective, something is bending the Force itself around Ben Solo, pulling him away from not only the Light side, but also from its Dark side. “The boy, Ben Solo, is living his entire life surrounded by a wound in the Force. This wound, it’s very subtly, slowly eating him!”

Luke is still in shock from hearing the ghosts of his parents telling him what is happening to Kylo Ren. Rey is trying to keep him out but the villain is urged by his twisted Master, the Supreme Leader of the First Order. Their telepathic communication is picked up on by Luke, who all at once sees what has truly become of his nephew. Ben Solo appears to his uncle, surrounded by tendrils that look like animated cracks in a pane of window glass. This is the wound in the Force, and its presence is felt most strongly by the eldest living Force-sensitive on the island of Ahch-To. A short cry splits the cracked and bleeding image of Kylo Ren and Rey wakes with a sudden start. Luke is frowning as he looks toward the floating cradle, then he makes his decision. We (and Rey) are about to meet the 100 % physical in-camera puppet. Cast and crew are made to sign an infinite supply of Non-Disclosure Agreements, Rian Johnson is talked into only letting Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and the puppeteers onto the sets while everybody else is shooting their things.

The cradle pod swings back its protective lid slowly, and there he is making his debut before an audience that paid full movie theater (remember those?) ticket prices. Exuding full fucking “Gizmo in the box on the coffee table” energy, the Child glances sleepily between Rey and Luke. This is why the legendary Jedi Master left the civilized New Republic, he tells Rey. The massacre of his first generation of Jedi students, the betrayal by his nephew, all of it would have been for nothing if he couldn’t save one very important life. Rey is sworn to protect the Child, who is old enough now to speak his own name. “Grogu? Is that what he said?” “One of his protectors told me it’s his name, right before telling me how I looked just like my father. We had a pretty good laugh about that...”

Leia/Poe/Holdo subplot, and [THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH WILL ONLY INCITE SHOUTY BEARDO YOUTUBERS TO SCISSOR THE HEADS OFF ACTION FIGURES THEY BUY WITH THEIR OWN MONEY, THEREFORE IT IS CENSORED TO SHIELD THE AUTHOR FROM PROSECUTION]

Before the Holdo manoeuvre, the Hyperspace Karen or whatever you want to call it, Rey acts out the plan that she and Luke have concocted in secret so that Chewbacca in the Millennium Falcon can safely evacuate both Luke and Grogu. Rey hasn’t been told about the wound in the Force that swirls around Kylo Ren, but for some reason she can now see the same churning mass of tiny cracks in reality, and they spread out behind the Supreme Leader Snoke in much the same manner that Palpatine’s throne sat before the spiderweb-looking window of his tower on the Death Star. This is it, we think. Snoke is the wound in the Force drawing Ben away from his true self. Even as the lightsabre that Rey brought with her ignites and strikes Snoke dead, the audience is thinking along with Rey that the wound is going to close up.

IT GETS BIGGER. AND IT FUCKING CONSUMES SNOKE’S BISECTED CORPSE LIKE A SHADOW VERSION OF THE THING FROM THE 1982 MOVIE

So no. Rey sees it happen, but Kylo remains completely oblivious as he takes up leadership of the First Order. Something about the way he accuses Rey of the murder makes us think he really believes it too. As Rey narrowly escapes, haunted by the sight of the living animalistic wrongness that ate Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux is rather confused. “Forgive me, ah, Supreme Leader. But you are the first Supreme Leader of the First Order. There was never a previous holder of that position, my Lord.” I know! Right!?

The Resistance’s last ships have limped along the supply line to the long-abandoned old Rebel holdout on the silicate world of Crait. The wreckage of Snoke’s flagship the Supremacy, hangs in space, permanently suspended in the wake of the Holdo manoeuvre. From the epicentre, a single pinprick of darkness begins to expand hungrily to devour the light from the hyperspace explosion. The great wound left in the Force crawls across the destroyed vessel, the thinnest tendril of its immense darker-than-space form now separated from Kylo Ren. Or, so it would seem, anyway... Reunited with Rey, Luke gives her an understanding nod when she informs him of how the lightsabre of his father was literally ripped in half by the destruction of Snoke’s flagship. Some of the elder members of the Resistance don’t have the slightest clue what Rey’s mysterious words mean. As far as they know, Kylo Ren has been the brutal enforcer of the First Order, only recently declaring himself the first Supreme Leader of the faction. Finn and Rose both speak up in defense of Rey, both of them surprised to hear that Leia also knew of Snoke’s death and the destruction of the flagship by her erstwhile friend, Amilyn Holdo.

Nobody can agree what happened, because a large subset of Resistance personnel share vague, half-formed memories of things as Luke, Rey or Leia tells them. No droids, or Chewbacca, share their recollections, and uneasy looks pass between members of the post-war generation and the Skywalker twins. It’s a quirk of the Force! Every sentient born after the death of Emperor Palpatine, the unfortunately waylaid Maz Kanata informs them via hologram, possesses a significantly higher potential for Force abilities than the generation who grew up on the fringes of the rise of the Empire, the clamp-down on Jedi and suspected Jedi.

It would seem that this Force baby boom did not extend to First Order space (being mostly disaffected ex-Imperials, their families would be more careful to weed out any aberrations in the bloodline and try not to be of interest to the Emperor) as only Kylo Ren, their rightful Supreme Leader and master of the Knights of Ren demonstrates any ability to touch the Force. That voice that only he can hear in the presence of Darth Vader’s ruined helmet tells him, its tone and pitch and cadence shifting (starting as the booming bass rumble of Vader’s synthesized voice before being joined by the harsh rasp of Snoke. The low, menacing tone of Maul and the cackling, wheezing Palpatine.) Power is the only thing worth holding onto. Let the past die, kill it if you have to. Cut out the weakness that keeps you bound to things like family...

“This is not going to go the way you think.”

Driven on by the maddening chorus of voices, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has now managed to track his hated Resistance opposition to the deserted world of Crait. Ships entering the vicinity of the mysterious hyperspace blackout are slowly consumed, vanishing into the great wound and becoming officially non-existent. Alone against his crazed nephew, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker steps out onto the crystalline plain before the bulkhead doors of the former Rebel base. He cannot be hit by the guns of the lumbering walkers that his errant nephew orders to fire on him. Kylo’s attempts to telekinetically barrage Luke with the salted earth of Crait simply do not phase the man. As he calmly reminds Kylo: “The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.” Kylo Ren’s dangerously unstable lightsabre blade harmlessly passes over Luke as he ducks out of its reach. Finally, the angry young man seizes his moment and lashes out at Luke’s midsection. Nothing?

The Jedi Master nods his head slowly, the camera pulling back to reveal him sat in a meditative posture atop a flat-headed rock just off the shore of his home island on Ahch-To. Focusing his will through the Force, Luke appears not only in front of Kylo Ren, but also between Leia and Rey inside the base. The two of them in turn are surrounded by a loose semi-circle of the younger, more Force-sensitive recruits of the Resistance including Finn and Rose Tico. All of them, opening their conscious selves to the Force, are helping to shoulder the burden that Luke has taken on. Proudly, Luke slowly rises from his seat and sends a mocking salute to Kylo. “See ya ‘round, kid...”

The last supplies are loaded onto what few Resistance carriers and short-range fighters they have left, as well as the famous Millennium Falcon. Rey and Grogu both agree that their first priority is to properly re-establish contact with Luke Skywalker. Furious, Kylo retreats to his ship-board meditation chamber, pounding his gloved fists into the ashes surrounding the remnants of Vader’s helmet. Cursing the scavenger girl seems to spark some interest in the bizarre otherworldly whispers, the flash-image of Rey in the dark young man’s thoughts prompting the inner voice to remark, “We shall be re-united soon enough. Yes, you will see what new powers I possess in time, sister...”

SMASH TO END CREDITS!

#megapost #Star Wars #Baby Yoda #The Last Jedi #Luke Skywalker #basic story structure

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