Work Text:
When Rey was nothing more than a cluster of galaxy dust, spanning across several light years, she wondered if there was anything more to the universe. Parts of her had come from a supernova light years away while other bits were discarded layers of nearby short-lived stars.
She had been drifting about for millions of years already, barely dense enough to form any sort of gas cloud that could lead to anything. Other stellar nurseries had been lucky, gathering enough dust to collapse and eventually form stars.
Rey watched in envy as she diffused across the universe, unable to form anything tangible. Chunks of her had already been ripped apart and scattered to nearby nurseries. Helpless in the void, Rey could do nothing but wait and see where fate would lead her.
Eventually, she gathered enough particles in hopes to start her life as a star. There was still work to be done but she could try.
She had enough hydrogen atoms combined to form molecules, but she was still fragile. Rey knew there was a massive young star in a nearby galaxy. Oh, how she wanted to gather her molecules and keep them safe from the young star’s ultraviolet light, but she was only a newly formed dense cloud of dust.
All she could do was hope for the best, but hope was for carbon beings that she had heard stories of—beings who lived small lives upon planets that were fortunate to gain momentum—not interstellar gas like herself. She had no real conscious, barely more than a few atoms and molecules, but she so, so badly wanted to be something more.
Suddenly, there was a dark cloud—a dark nebula—comprised of nothing but hydrogen with the coldest centre Rey had ever experienced. It…it shielded her, protecting her from the destructive light.
This was her chance. She could feel it already, a collapse from within. Parts of her were being pulled towards the centre into a tight ball. There was heat, which only gave her more energy. Bits of radiation from her gases escaped but as she grew and became a protostar, trapping more radiation until none could escape.
The dark nebula continued to watch, unfazed by Rey’s formation, which stole gases and particles from it. She...she needed more. She wanted to be more. She would become more.
Eventually, she was hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. It had taken so long to get to this stage but she didn’t care. It was worth it. Finally, her life could begin.
Rey continued to pull nearby dust to her centre, her accretion disk growing larger and bigger than any star she had seen before.
Almost a million years passed before she realised the dark nebula that had protected her had somehow drifted away—further than she could reach. By now, she had become a massive star, burning bright and paving way for her own solar system. She didn’t need the nebula’s protection anymore.
Worryingly however, she was burning her fuel faster than she had anticipated.
No matter. She’ll just take heavier elements to meet her growing demand.
She’ll become the greatest star that ever was and will be. She could feel it. If herself a billion years ago could only see her now...she would tell her that being nothing and alone in the empty space, with barely any dust, would be worth it.
Many stars burned for billions of years, light reaching light years away. Rey was excited to join fellow stars on their journey but—
Something...something was wrong.
N-No. It can’t be. It’s too soon…
There was nothing left.
It felt heavy inside her core. The pressure...her core density…it swelled.
She couldn’t die like this. She wouldn't.
She thought that as a massive star, she would become great, but she understood now that the greatness she sought was different to other stars.
It was only a matter of time now, all that remained in her core was iron.
It happened in a microsecond.
At a billion degrees celsius, the iron atoms within crushed together violently before the harsh recoil of their nuclei forced Rey into a brilliant supernova.
She was blazing, a bursting star spreading her particle elements light years away.
Parts of her would jettison to the furthest corners of the galaxy and aid the birth of new stars. There would be a part of her in every star and every planet in the universe.
And for a moment, she was the brightest star in the universe.
But a part of her was selfish.
It was one thing for a part of her to live on in the universe, but what of her core? The core she so lovingly spent millions of years forming? It was so large, which was understandable considering her size.
She had nothing to give but her own gravity kept sinking towards her.
Her emptiness grew and with it, a hunger she had not felt for billions of years. It was like she was speckled dust once again, starving for more cosmic dust, but now she wanted more than just grains of atoms.
She wanted anything and everything.
Her new core was the blackest thing in existence. No light could escape.
She was ravenous, an unstoppable force. Nothing could satisfy her as she ripped planets apart, distorting time and space around her.
She got what she wanted. Her dream to be more than a lonely speck in the universe had come true.
There was no need for Rey to dream anymore, for she was a black hole, hungry to consume all she could.
Time was inconsequential to her, but she felt it in her core that she would live forever.
She was eternal.
* * *
Millions of years had passed and in that time, Rey had grown. She was a cosmic monster, consuming all that crept too close to her event horizon.
There was once a brown dwarf that kept its distance, dancing on the edge of her reach, light years away. She had been slowly pulling it towards her for the past million years, and in that time, she watched it grow and stabilise into a star.
She had to give the brown dwarf credit where credit was due. Like her, the dwarf refused to die and fused with rare deuterium she had spread when she was a supernova.
And like her, it had become a massive star.
When it ran out of fuel and died, would it explode and become like her? More importantly, at the rate she was siphoning things around her, would the former brown dwarf have a chance to reach that stage?
She would find out soon as something changed near the new massive star. It’s gravitational pull changed and begun to accelerate towards her.
Compared to when she had first become a black hole, the massive star was far bigger than she had expected.
Something in Rey awakened the closer the star got. Something...something...there was something familiar about it. Like a fairy tale lost in time.
She felt it. There were parts of her within it, but that wasn’t it. A bond of sorts between them, one that forced them together again after billions of years.
It’s you .
If Rey could gasp, she would.
The dark cloud.
The once black nebula that helped her grow was now a massive star, and eagerly approaching.
But her gravitational pull would only become stronger the closer the star got.
They were cosmic events. They were powerless to the force of gravity, but the closer they were, the stronger their bond would become.
Whispers of stardust stretched between them and with it, a name.
Kylo.
Rey was so hungry and Kylo was so, so big. He would fill her nicely, and she would savor every particle of him. Once he crossed her event horizon, nothing else would matter.
When she first collapsed into a black hole, Rey was greedy and pulled everything around her. She ripped apart nebulae and star clusters to fuel her hunger, but with Kylo so close, she didn’t care for the small clouds of dust that escaped her reach.
What would happen when she consumed him? Normally she would grow bigger, expanding against the backdrop of stars light years away. But Kylo was no ordinary star. The nebula that had once offered parts of him to her, Rey was about to take from him again.
Consume all of him.
She pulsed with energy and excitement. She had never heard of such event happening, in all the billions of years she had been around. She vibrated, greedily sucking him in for a small bite.
The first taste of him made Rey spasm, sending impossible mass ejections of dust and radiation. He was so delicious. He was strong though, the small bite of him didn’t have any effect.
So Rey pulled harder. She craved more and she would grow until her appetite was satiated.
You...are so beautiful.
Was that...was that her? Or Kylo?
No. Not me. Always you. You began as nothing but a cloud and now, you’re a powerful cosmic force.
But we are the same. You were also once a cloud of dust and now look at you!
No, not the same. I didn’t have enough atoms. I couldn’t get hot enough, but you helped me.
Just as you helped me.
Kylo’s warmth matched Rey’s centre. There was a sizzle, energy crackling in the dead of space as Kylo was slowly, and quickly, wrenched apart.
I’m going to devour you. You’ll never see the end of your life as a star.
His outer layers started to dissolve against her.
I never wanted to that. I never wanted death.
But I’m destroying you. I’m violently desecrating your hard work, tearing you atom from atom, particle by particle until your core is mine.
You make it sound like my fate is a curse.
Rey knew what a monster she had become. She had eagerly swallowed barely formed stars whole. She was so hungry that she ignored the damage she was doing. Or rather, she justified it. She had undergone supernova. The universe owed her.
But she demolished bright clusters of stars and galaxies. Her darkness was spreading and enveloping the field of coloured lights she had once enviously wanted to be a part of.
Kylo was the first spectacular ball of hot plasma that wasn’t afraid of her. He was a bright star, possibly with millions of years ahead of him, and still he wanted to be devoured by her.
Do you hope to destroy me? With such a sizeable mass collapsing into me, you might rip me apart.
No .
There was a hum of solar dust, like a hush or gentle shushing.
I want to be one with you. I want to help you, like I did so many years ago.
Why?
You must know what is happening to you. Your ever growing force, your destructive power. You’re afraid of being alone but you can’t stop your hunger. Your thirst to consume. But don’t worry, I can help. I can restore balance and create an equilibrium. I will support you. You won't ever be alone again. We can be bonded for eternity.
Rey wanted to cry tears of dust but they would only be inhaled by her.
How do you know you’ll be able to do it?
Because I have a part of you in me, and a part of me was always with you.
She wanted to resist, but Kylo’s core slipped over her event horizon.
In a brilliant display of suffocating light, Rey’s black core consumed him like he was nothing.
Rey screamed, sending bursts of energy across the universe. Anything that was on the verge of falling in was now propelled to the other side of the galaxy, but Rey didn’t care.
She screamed and screamed but something containing her. Something was absorbing her energy without behind blown away.
How?
Because we are bonded .
Kylo burst from within Rey, a blinding brightness that immobilised her momentarily.
When the dust settled, there was no more darkness, only light. The fuel Rey had once thought to be gone was replenished.
She was no longer a black hole, but somehow, reborn as a star. A quasi star that continued to emit cosmic dust to all evolving stars.
Was this what happiness was?
I’m sorry, Rey.
Kylo tightly swirled around her.
This is only temporary. I was selfish and wanted you so, so badly.
Rey snapped, a fear she had never felt shooting to her core.
What do you mean? What’s happening?
We won’t last more than a million years together before your core engulfs mine.
What will happen after that? Will I return to my black hole state again?
Rey gripped and seized against Kylo.
I-I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen.
Rey couldn’t find the energy to be furious, because she wasn't. Too long she had spent floating around the universe alone. If they were together for a million years, then that would be a million years more than what she had before.
They hummed in synchronicity, bestowing the universe with essential minerals each time their cores thrust towards each other.
Eventually, Rey whispered to Kylo when half his life span had passed.
The universe is saturated in our dust. Maybe there’s hope for us.
Maybe in the distant future, in a galaxy far, far away, we will find each other again, when things are simpler.
Rey clenched and pulsated around Kylo.
I’d rather like that.