Chapter Text
The sun shone brilliantly the day Kylo Ren’s empire crumbles to ashes over his head. Hux’s smug sneer will never leave his memory, burned into the backs of his eyes as the general came to deliver the news: the redhead’s coup was successful. The treacherous general walked into Kylo’s office with handheld cages of ysalamiri, and commanded his loyal troopers to cuff Kylo. They hauled him through the Coruscanti palace; he almost tripped a few times, utterly disoriented as the stormtroopers shoved him into the bottom of what feels like a cargo.
“Sorry, Ren,” Hux all but snarled, absolutely no trace of remorse in his nasal voice. “But when I said I wanted to bring order to the galaxy, that meant getting rid of you. We need a leader who is calm, collected, and level headed in all situations. Your emotions make you weak.”
Despite being blindfolded, a black bag roughly thrown over his head in his office, Kylo can easily visualize Hux’s satisfied expression. The recently deposed Supreme Leader shook with rage, breathing in deep, ragged breaths, but was utterly unable to do anything with his connection to the Force cut.
“Have fun wherever it is you’re going. I’m sure you won’t last long,” Hux said in farewell, the ramp’s hydraulic hiss indicating the shuttle’s readiness for take off soon.
Such a lovely day soured so quickly, so permanently. The boiling rage subsided into an icy numbness, hidden behind crystalline walls and sealed away. This lack of emotional response would’ve startled him, if surviving the next few hours didn’t take priority over everything else. Is this how Rey felt on Jakku? Focusing only on making it through the night? he thought, before quickly switching trajectories. Anything but the pain of her memory.
Kylo thoroughly believed the sun had finally decided to shine down on him, lighting the path he fought so hard to forge. He remembered golden warmth, dreaming in shades of hazel until they discarded him at his destination.
He sits in a field of soft, swaying grass. It ripples all around him, a green sea shimmering in the wind. The sunlight gleams so bright the sky is an almost blinding white. It is breathtaking, awe inspiring. Yet, he can’t find it in himself to enjoy this place, the serenity skirting at the edges of his awareness, attempting to enter his mind’s confines. Too bad a lifetime with Snoke in his head left the young man to possessively covet the private space inside his mind.
Conflict, a ghostly voice says. The peaceful silence shatters all around him as he rapidly turns from side to side, trying to see from where this intruder comes.
Closing his eyes, he withdraws into the Force to aid him in his search. Only he can’t reach it. The Force lingers on the edge of his senses—he’s aware of its location but is unable to touch it, like an invisible wall shuts him out.
Ben, says a woman’s voice. His heart skips a beat; rapid breathing further disturbs the ruined silence. Is Rey here somewhere? Hope bubbles throughout his chest as he thinks he’ll finally get a chance to talk to her in person, actually explain things this time around.
Kylo Ren, sneers another voice. Snoke’s malicious tone creates a lead weight in his stomach, fear quickly gnawing up his spine. He flinches, moving on instinct in an attempt to protect himself from his former master inflicting pain.
But it never comes. Only that strange first disembodied speaker, somehow coming from every possible direction in the open grass field.
You are conflicted, young one. Mend your broken spirit and the Force will return to you, this sublime entity dictates.
The brilliant white light expands, quickly swallowing everything in its path, even the man in the field.
Kylo wakes in a humid overgrown jungle. Insects chirp all around him, birds hooting in the darkness up above him. Luckily his hands are unbound, though his wrists are raw from chafing against the metal cuffs. Shaking his head, he stands and checks himself for damage; after all, the men who disposed of Kylo were loyal to Hux.
Breathing deep lungfuls, he centers himself and calms his rattling mind. The fury from before is still locked, too far away from his reach; it should alarm him, but he finds he doesn’t really care about his emotional presence. Stretching out with his senses, calling for that familiar and comforting feeling, Kylo falls deeper into his trance.
After standing there for two minutes with nothing happening, his dark eyes open in confusion. The Force ignores him, refusing to answer his call.
“Perhaps there are more of those infernal reptiles around,” Kylo rationalizes, nodding his head along in agreement with his findings.
That’s a sound explanation as to why he can’t even feel the Force around him. The former Supreme Leader chooses a random direction to head towards, attempting a solution to his woes. He ignores the dread creeping up around his mind like a dense fog, ignores someone’s warning words who exists in a field of blinding light.