Imagine the STAR WARS [One Shots]

The Light of the Past [Kylo x Reader]

Requested by captain_oz Thank you!

Summary: The reader -- a bounty hunter -- knew Ben Solo, and believes him to be dead. Now employed by the First Order, the reader lives in ignorance of Kylo Ren's true identity. It is not until the two are required to go undercover to find Lor San Tekka that the secrets that Ren has masterfully kept begin to unfold. 

Warning: Mention of dead bodies. Not graphic. Just gross. Also lots of mentions of death. Also, this is, like, 5000 words. Also, it has some ridiculous amounts of sap.

Leave the mask... Kylo Ren instructed himself. He found himself struggling to obey. During his years with the First Order, his mask had become a part of him. It was a tie to his grandfather, an anchor and constant reminder of the power of the Dark Side. To leave it just to meet with her -- a bounty hunter -- seemed ridiculous. You're out of options, he insisted. If you fail to regain her trust, finding Skywalker will become impossible.

Kylo remembered Y/N from his time as Ben Solo. She was impossible to forget. She had been General Organa's apprentice. From the time she was old enough to fire a blaster, she had been taught politics. He had been insanely jealous of her at one point, and not just because of the attention that she received from the General. It was the confidence in her stride, the way she seemed to know that she could talk herself out of any situation. The way that she seemed unaffected by anything or anyone was something that had stood out to Ben Solo. He had hated that she could go about her life so unperturbed when he hadn't been able to look at her in the eyes without his palms becoming sweaty and his heart rate speeding up.

The tables had turned, now. He was Kylo Ren. He was more powerful than anybody stuck in the narrow mindset of the Jedi could imagine. What was she? In comparison to the master of the Knights of Ren, nothing. Yet, the memory of who she had been to him caused him to remove the helmet. Already, the feeling of vulnerability attacked him. It was a pointless feeling, he knew. Y/N had been a master negotiator without any help. He needed her. That's what she would do, he reasoned. Leave the mask.

***

Keep the mask, you decided. Since you had acquired it, your Mandalorian helmet had become like another appendage. You couldn't go anywhere without your lucky charm. Retrieving it had been a part of a well-paying job. You had had to dive into the mouth of the Sarlacc and rip it off the head of a rotting corpse. You had cleaned it and repaired it and after the effort, you decided to skip the money and keep the thing for yourself.

Half of the reason you kept it was that it was so completely intimidating. General Organa had once taught you that the people's opinion of you would always be affected by their initial impression of you. You were about to head out to meet with the cryptic Kylo Ren. You had heard fearsome stories of this creature, and it would only be wise to arrive appearing every bit as fearsome.

Of course, if you had been paying full attention when she taught you this, you would have learned that intimidating people was not the best thing to do when trying to open negotiations. But, you had not been paying as much attention as you should have. You had been preoccupied with the General's son.

It wasn't that Ben Solo had ever talked to you much or acknowledged you without you prompting him to, but you had loved him dearly in your way, if only from a distance. Ben had been so serious for his age, so intent to learn whatever Master Skywalker was teaching him. When he spoke, you could tell that he was thinking about everything he let come out of his mouth. General Organa used to say that you were the only person he ever talked to, though you knew he hadn't liked you half as much as you had liked him.