The Two Of Us (Reylo Fanfic)

Part 1: In Our Dreams

Kylo Ren closed his eyes behind his mask and waited for his opponent to attack. As Master of the Knights of Ren, it was his duty to see to it that any potential new recruits were fit to serve the Supreme Leader. When the attack finally came, Ren was dissatisfied. The movements of his sparring partner were obvious: good enough to dispatch the average Resistance fighter, but no match for a Jedi. Skywalker was out there. The girl, the scavenger from Jakku, was out there, strong with The Force and ready to train. If she found Skywalker, others would follow. Leader Snoke had already sensed something troubling brewing through the Force. The work of his grandfather, of Darth Vader would come to nothing if the Knights were not up to standard. The Jedi would rise once more. This fool he sparred with now was treating this as a mere exercise, the last in a series that would see him made an apprentice. While the force was within him, he was making do with little more than brute strength, barely stretching out with his hatred or anger. Ren sneered in contempt beneath his mask.

This young man would pay for his lack of dedication.

After a few more equally disappointing passes Ren had had enough. He let his anger build, his contempt for this arrogant fool to rise. With his fellow knights looking on, watching silently it was time to demonstrate his prowess. They all needed a lesson today that they would never forget something to dismiss their growing arrogance and complacency. Everyone needed to know that such sub-standard recruits would not be accepted.

Ren recalled the fight, his last fight with the traitor and the scavenger. He remembered the pain in his side after the Wookie had injured him with a blast from his bow-caster. He would start there; with the thought of the Wookie's angry howl in his mind and stretching out with his anger he evaded his sparring partner's attack simply by leaning backward. His movement's fluid, his aggression flowing through The Force guiding him every moment, he whirled around easily avoiding his opponent. He aimed the thrust with his crackling, cross-guard light-sabre. It hit home. Ren smiled to himself as his opponent cried out in pain and clutched at his side. His aim had been precise, striking the fool almost exactly where Ren had been hit by the bow-caster's energy bolt.

The fool was now more aware of the stakes. Ren sensed, at first, confusion from the applicant, then pain and finally anger. But instead of using these to effect, to reach out into the force and draw the dark-side, the flow was impeded by the man's focus on his wound. It was a distraction he could ill afford and it annoyed Ren all the more. He thought back to the fight in the snow and the traitor. He recalled once more the look of defiance FN-2187 had given him, his dark face illuminated in the pale blue of the light sabre, the weapon that was Ren's by birthright. He heard the words once more. Come get it. Ren side-stepped the wide arc of his sparring partners next wild attack, slicing him easily on the right shoulder, imitating the same glancing blow that Ren had received. Now his opponent was riled, but rather than using this pain to direct his anger through The Force as Ren had done, he continued relying on his brute strength. For a moment he stood back and admired his handiwork; the resemblance was close enough to make him smile.

"Stretch out with your aggressive feelings!" Ren bellowed at him.

In his mind's eye, Ren remembered the scavenger, how the light sabre, his by right of birth, had leapt into her hand. The anger this produced, made him feel even more alive and powerful. He parried the simple blow from the applicant. In the same elegant, flowing arc, he delivered a glancing slash to the man's lower right leg. A simple twirl of his light sabre and a jabbing thrust at the left shoulder of his opponent matched Ren's own injuries. But where Ren had forced himself to rise and fight on, this fool was only just able to make it to his knees. He reached a desperate hand out.