Chapter Text
PROLOGUE: THE FALL
Rey is awoken by screaming.
She bolts upright and instinctively grabs her lightsaber from her bedside table, too concerned to change out of her night clothes before running out of her room and into the hallway. The second she enters the main center of Luke Skywalker's Jedi temple, she sees the source of the screaming and why it is so unbearably loud.
Six people are effortlessly cutting down Rey's friends and fellow Jedi Knights, the younglings she helps train, the few Masters trained by Skywalker himself after the Galactic Empire fell. She watches in horror as two Padawans who try to escape the slaughter are killed with a single elegant stroke by a bright blue lightsaber, the blade almost glowing in a more menacing way than usual. And she immediately knows that the tall figure wielding it is none other than Ben Solo.
Rey barely has time to ignite her own saber to block a violent strike that Ben throws down on her, their blades colliding with brilliant sparks of blue and green. He forces her back with a wave of his hand, knocking the breath out of her lungs when she hits the floor. Ben pushes her back, aiming for her neck with his blade as he stalks towards her, like he doesn't even know who she is. She instinctively ducks under him, turning back and kicking the back of his knees, bringing him down long enough to distance herself from him.
Rey is absolutely high on the adrenaline coursing through her; she uses the fear gathering in her stomach to knock Ben back and into the middle of the hallway far enough away that she is able to stand back up and take a defensive stance. She turns on the second blade and stands her ground as Ben runs towards her. She prepares herself by spinning her double bladed lightsaber over her head, and when their blades meet, she stares in horror into a face distorted by rage. There’s a darkness in his eyes she has never seen before. "Ben, stop, it's me!" Her voice is shaking as she cries out, and she sees his face fade out of the darkness and into a look of profound shock.
"Rey... I..."
"Please stop, this isn't you!"
Ben shakes his head, and Rey sees that his entire body is shaking. He runs a hand down his face with intense pressure as he steps closer to her, like his head is in pain. "I-I can't," he groans, tightly closing his eyes, "My entire life has led me to this. I can't go back."
Rey's back slams into the stone wall of the hallway, and her vision starts to blur as he stops in front of her, so close, she has to look up in order to hold eye contact. "We were so close, Ben," she cries out, extinguishing her lightsaber and bringing a hand up to hold the back of his neck. "There is still light in you. Just please try to come back, we need you. I need you. I-"
Ben doesn't try to get away from her although the he growls, "Don't you dare. Don't you dare say it."
Rey ignores him and desperately holds each side of his head in both hands, knowing her face is only filled with complete and raw sadness. That it's affecting him when she hears his breathing starts to quake. Rey feels tears stream out of her eyes and down her cheeks.
"I love you. Please don't go this way, I want to help you. Just leave this place, leave with me and we can put it all behind us and start over like we wanted ever since we..." Her voice breaks off. She has to close her eyes and inhales deeply to steady herself when he gathers her in his arms, the embrace warm and familiar but almost too tight.
"It's too late," he breathes into her hair, "Stop and leave. Leave now. I don't... I don't want to hurt you more than I have already."
Rey feels anger rising in her overpowering her heartbreak. Tears are still pouring out of her eyes as her voice raises. She's shouting. "I'm not going to give up on you, Ben Solo. I trusted you for all of my life and gave you something I can't ever get back. You were my first and I'll always want you."
And then Ben is grabbing her face in a strong grip and forcing her lips up to his. Rey whimpers into his mouth, tangling her fingers into his hair and memorising the shape and movement of his lips against hers, the feel of him connected to her, his every curve and softness against her body. The taste of him that she loves so much, it seems to keep her alive, because she can tell it's probably the last time she can be like this with him. All too soon, he's pushing her away strong enough she almost falls down. His face is filled with that unknown fury again. He screams at her for the third time in the nine years they've known each other. "Get out of here and don't look for me ever again, or I'll kill you. NOW GO!"
And that was the last time Rey saw Ben Solo before he became Kylo Ren.