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Disclaimer I: I do not own Star Wars. It is the creation of George Lucas (who was, himself, giving a clever shout-out to Akira Kurosawa's 'The Hidden Fortress') and is currently owned by the evil Sith Lords at Disney.
Disclaimer II: Kylo's quote about light and darkness is taken from author Mark W. Boyer, who I've apparently decided that, on top of being an author who writes crime thrillers that aren't half bad, is also a Jedi.
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“I'll destroy her... and you... and all of it.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9VkZZu7MG
“He's gone, you know, become one with the Force.”494Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOAIAadbnYp
He had tried to block her out but the irksome girl was so inexperienced in the ways of the Force that she might as well be a padawan. If the Jedis hadn't been all but exterminated that's probably exactly what she'd be. Some Master's eager young padawan... probably his mother's. Leia Organa had a predisposition towards picking up strays... just look at his father.
“Luke Skywalker is of no concern to me.” He had felt it the moment Luke had left the physical plain.
“Oh?” When he finally turned to look at her, Rey rolled her eyes at him. Just behind her, he could see stars and planets coming in and out of view. She was in flight. No doubt aboard the piece of space debris known as the Millenium Falcon. “You care so little about him that you tried to blast him into the next galaxy... right.”
“I promised him that I'd destroy you.” He turned away from the ship's flight console and walked to stand directly in front of her. He could reach out and touch her if he wanted to, the vexing bond that existed between them was that strong.
“Yeah, well, Supreme Leader, I promised myself something else entirely.” She actually had the gall to smile at him.
*****
“You know, for someone so heartless that he ran his own father through with a lightsaber, you sure think of him a lot.”
She was being vicious tonight and he knew why. He had felt it as surely as she had. While he had started to suspect that she had more control over the Force than she let on, Rey's sudden appearance in his sleeping quarters that night was unintentional. No ill-advised scheme of hers would ever entail him seeing her in nothing but her tunic, her leggings discarded, with tears staining her cheeks.
“What happened?” He ignored her earlier jab. He was in no mood to engage her in a battle of wits.
She sat down on what was obviously her rack in her sleeping quarters, wherever those were that night. “She went to sleep. The entire First Order's out for her blood and General Leia Organa simply goes to sleep and doesn't wake up. I felt it the moment she became one with the Force but I wanted to believe that my mind was playing tricks on me. It wasn't supposed to happen like that.”
“She was supposed to go out fighting,” he nodded. That's honestly how he had expected her to go too but he should have known better. “My mother always did like taking people's expectations of her and doing the exact opposite.”
“Do you really feel no guilt, Ben?” Rey looked him accusingly. “Both of your parents are dead. Han Solo died by your own hand, you could very well say that your mother died of a broken heart.”
“Ben Solo is just as dead as his parents,” Kylo sneered and closed the visual link that existed between them. With their mental link, he wasn't as quick. “Yeah, and you killed all three.”
*****
Kylo did his best to completely block Rey out of his mind. She hadn't been able to open the link between them in months but, on a particularly repugnant day, his guard came down... and it was entirely her fault.
“Really? You based the First Order's flight training base on Corellia?” She was taunting him from the cockpit of the Falcon.
“It was a strategical move, nothing more.” Why was he explaining himself to her? “Corellia's an industrial planet with a strong history of turning out exceptional pilots.”
“Corellia's also known as the home planet of Han Solo. Trying to feel closer to your father, are you?”
“Seeing as a squadron of Resistance fighters, led by the Millennium Falcon, laid the base to waist less than half an hour ago, it's a moot point,” he said between gritted teeth. “I WILL destroy you and the rest of the Resistance if it is the last thing I ever do.”
The vexatious pest smiled at him. “No, you won't,” she said in a way that could best be described as omniscient. “You know the destiny the Force has chosen for us, just as I do. You're just too stubborn to admit it. You're like your father that way. You won't destroy me and I won't destroy you. That's not how this ends.”
*****
The next time Kylo saw her was when Rey once again unwittingly called him to her side. She was laying, nude, on the rack in her sleeping quarters with her hand between her thighs. Her brown hair was, for once, untied and fanned out on her pillow. She looked... exquisite. She looked exquisite and it was his name that was falling from her lips. His chosen name, Kylo, not Ben. That unexplained pull he had felt towards her since the first time they had come face to face was now so strong that he couldn't stop himself from going to her.
When she felt the bed shift beside her, Rey's eyes shot open in alarm. She moved to grab the blanket to cover herself and he didn't stop her. He also didn't look away. “What destiny were you speaking of?” He demanded to know. Her skin was flushed and he could feel the embarrassment at being caught in the act that was surging through her in steady waves. She was trying so hard to conceal it from him but it was useless.
“Y... you... fe... feel the same pull that I do,” she got a stumbling start but she quickly gathered control of herself. “That pull to be close to me, to be with me. That pull that tells you to coexist with me.”
“Balance. We are destined to balance out the Force,” he spoke the words that he knew to be true. He let a hand reach out and caress her cheek. “Light and Dark together.”
“We've tried to stamp each other out and it doesn't work. We've never tried to coexist. Maybe that's why both sides always ultimately fail only to rise up again later. Light and Dark are both meant to exist.” She leaned into his touch. “The Force wouldn't be needed if they weren't.”
“What better way to ensure a truce than by making sure the leaders of both sides are completely enamored with one another.” He made a confession but he also baited her. He'd yet to discover his mother's successor as leader of the Resistance and Rey was an obvious first choice.
“You're enamored with me?” Rey's voice held an innocent hope that he had never heard there before. It was almost childlike. She hadn't denied that she was now leading the Resistance but Kylo's mind didn't seem to care about that. Rey wanted him and for the first time, she wasn't concealing it.
“No more than you are with me.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers in the mere hint of a true kiss. He was conscious of the fact that she was completely nude beneath her blanket and their bond enabled him to feel her just as surely as if he was actually physically there with her. It took all of his strength to pull away from her. Again he stroked her cheek. “If balance is truly what you seek... come to me. Come to me and balance is what you'll get. I'll give you everything, Rey. If you don't come, I'll know that this was all a ruse and I'll destroy you and every last member of the Resistance,” he vowed.
He used their bond and the Force to push the location of his command shuttle into her mind. Then he broke their connection and put up a wall to keep her out. It was all up to her now. She held the keys to both their destruction and salvation. It all came down to which door she would unlock.
*****
Two days. That's how long Kylo waited before the Millenium Falcon appeared on his shuttle's RADAR screen. He granted her permission to land and had her escorted to the bridge from the flight deck and demanded that they be left in complete privacy.
Once they were alone, a playful smirk came to Rey's pretty lips. “Do you trust me now, Kylo?” It was the first time that she had ever (intentionally) used his chosen name.
“Come here.” He reached out a gloved hand to her.
Rey didn't hesitate to go to him. Once she was close enough, he wrapped an almost tentative arm around her slim waist. She fought so fiercely that he tended to forget how tiny she really was. Her brown eyes were tired. She'd obviously been traveling for awhile. Probably since the moment he had summoned her to his side. Filled with an affection that he stopped denying, he bent down and took her lips in their first proper kiss.
“This is real?” Rey asked when they parted. That innocent hope was once again in her tone.
“I told you that I'd give you everything if you came to me. Everything includes me.” Kylo's hand came up and he started to soothingly massage the back of her neck. “It doesn't matter how fast the light travels, darkness will always be there awaiting its arrival.” He quoted from an old Jedi text that Luke had shown him once before, in another lifetime.
This time, Rey leaned up and kissed him, their height difference being such that she had to stand on her tiptoes to do it. “Take me to bed?” she requested when they parted, not able to stifle the yawn that escaped her.
Kylo smirked a little to himself. He knew in her innocence that Rey hadn't meant her words the way they had sounded. She was truly seeking nothing more than rest but still, his mind flashed to the not so distant future when that was one activity that he suspected they would be partaking in as often as time allowed. “Come.” he kissed her forehead before pulling away, taking her hand and gently tugging. “I'll show you our sleeping quarters.”
*****
Rey hadn't protested when he had helped her disrobe. Not even when he stopped to place adoring little kisses on her as it was revealed to him. To protect her (for now) virginal modesty, he took off his undershirt and helped her slip into it. The black garment fell to rest just above her knees. He wouldn't deny that a possessive feeling spread through his chest, seeing her in his clothing.
Without a word passing between them, he tucked her into hi – their – bed before he joined her. Laying down on her back, Rey moved to cuddle against his chest without having to be prompted to. “I'm yours too, you know. Always have been,” she spoke against his chest, her breath a pleasant warmth on his pale skin.
Kylo wrapped his arms around her and held her to him tightly. “I know that now.” He dropped a kiss to the top of her head.
That night, light and darkness converged as their leaders fell asleep in one another's arms. Their souls, for once, at peace and even their mingled breathing was balanced.
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