•LEGACY - A Reylo Story•

EPISODE XXXVI - DEFEAT

She wakes up as stormtroopers are extracting her from the TIE fighter. No. No! Ben?

Silence.

Hux's arm clasps her elbow, dragging her to her feet. Dizzy, Rey feels her forehead and her hand comes away bloody.

Her abdomen feels still. Terror like Rey's never known hits her, clearing away the dizziness. Please. Please—baby—

You failed.

Reality clamps down on her. She hasn't escaped. She's still trapped with the First Order. Rey's legs almost give out on her.

"Oh, no you don't," Hux snarls, dragging her down into the maze of hallways.

"Let me go!"

"Say that once more and I'll put a bullet right here!" Hux jabs his blaster into Rey's stomach.

The baby kicks at the intrusion, and a waterfall of relief cascades over her. You're alive. You're alive!

Hux throws her to her knees. The black marble floor tells Rey whose presence she's in.

"We recaptured her, Supreme Leader," Hux reports. "And the traitor."

Stormtroopers enter, throwing down a bound Captain Phasma. Her mask crushed around her face, Phasma makes a choking sound.

"Rey Kenobi. I was beginning to wonder when you'd try to escape." Snoke drifts over to her. Rey knows she shouldn't, but she glares up at him anyways, hoping her hate is as clear as it can be. Because she hates this creature, this decrepit, monstrous—

"But you weren't content to only injure yourself in your futile endeavor." Snoke tsks. "You had to take one of my best captains down with you."

"That's not—" Rey stops. "She didn't—"

"I know exactly what she did, Rey Kenobi. Another one of my favorites, corrupted and seduced by sentiment."

"By decency, you mean?" she retorts.

"I haven't been, Supreme Leader. And I won't be!" Hux cries, looking to his master as if his master were a father, were a savior.

"Silence." The Supreme Leader waves his hand, and Rey freezes, unable to move anything but her eyes and her lungs.

"I thought you'd change. I had hope for you, Rey." Snoke brings his face close to hers, and it's more terrible than when Kylo Ren threatened her with his lightsaber on Takodana. "Just like I had hope for your mother."

What? His hold loosens. She wiggles her jaw, her tongue.

Snoke cackles. "Yes, I knew your mother. I had my eyes on you from the beginning. A descendent of Obi-Wan Kenobi? You would make a perfect Knight of Ren. Better than Kylo Ren, even."

"Ben Solo," she spits out, and Snoke whirls on her, seizing her throat so tightly she cannot breathe, cannot move her eyes, cannot do anything but look into his enraged, decaying, eager face.

"Your mother refused to give you to me. She gave you to Luke instead. I tracked her down. I killed her." Snoke grins, revealing a black mouth with unnatural teeth. "I won't be making the same mistake with you. I will take your child, and I will raise it from the Dark Side and teach it to harness the Light only when necessary. You won't meet your child, if that's what it takes! I will create a gray Force user, unlike anything the world has ever seen before. I will teach it to balance the Force, and through that, rule and conquer and bring everything under my submission!"

He lets her go. Rey gags, sucking in air and trembling. Tears stream down her face. I won't let you. I won't.

"You don't have to let me. I will do. And you won't be able to stop me, and Kylo Ren won't be able to stop me, and Luke Skywalker won't be able to stop me. No one can help you now. Do you understand that? You're as alone as you've ever been." Snoke laughs. "You're the only one who can help you now. Choose the Dark."

She shakes her head.

"You still hope they will find you," Snoke purrs. "How sweet. How innocent. Just like you always hoped your family would come for you on Jakku, this hope will prove fruitless. I will hunt down every last Jedi, including Kylo Ren. I will kill Luke like I killed your mother, like I killed the woman he loved—"

What?

Luke was in love? Why hadn't he ever told her?

"And I will do to your child what I did to his," Snoke sneers. "Only far, far worse."

Luke has a child? Does he know?

No, Rey knows.

"If wiping out everyone you love is the only way to turn you, I will do it. If making sure your child grows up unloved is the only way to ensure his or her path down the Dark Side, I assure you, I will ensure this." Snoke laughs again. Through his guffaws, he motions to Hux. "Kill her."

Rey flinches, but Hux marches away from her and kneels by Phasma. Almost gently, he removes her mask, and Rey sees the captain's face for the first time. Without the bruises, she would have been beautiful.

Phasma looks up at Hux, and Rey wants to scream, wants to beg her to look at Hux in defiance, at least, but all Phasma's face reflects is defeat.

Until she looks at Rey, and smiles, at once defiant and reassuring.

Hux shoots her.

Snoke lets go of Rey finally, and her screams fill the air, echoing and echoing in the cavernous room. The stormtroopers latch onto her arms, but Rey's still screaming, still screaming. Hux's face takes on a strangely ashen pallor.

"You!" Rey shrieks. "Is this what you want to do? Tear apart families? Kill—"

"Shut her up!" Hux barks.

"Monster!" she screams at Hux.

"No!" he screeches. "Shut her up, shut her up—Supreme Leader—"

But Snoke is still laughing, shallow, cracked rumbles that reverberate through the room. Hux races out, past Rey, shouting for the stormtroopers to lock Rey back in her room.

As soon as the stormtroopers drop Rey inside, she wraps her arms around her stomach. "I won't let them," she vows, even though she doesn't know how the hell she'll keep such a promise.