Across the Stars (Reylo fanfiction)

Poison and Wine

Kylo stood on the balcony, wind ruffling his hair and robes. His gaze grazed over the city. Its metal spires and flying spectres shimmered under hazy skies. It had pained him to move the galactic capital back to this metropolis world. But with so much to do solidifying power, there wasn't anything else for it but to ensure his hold on the beating heart of his realm. In doing so, the Palace of Ren had been his first order of construction. Its outer facades were fashioned in all black marble; its gardens and columns stood behind walls that cast their shadow over all who should walk in the public Knights' Square below.

Out of the whole galaxy I've loved her dearest ... a power you'll never know, a whisper filtered into his thoughts unbidden.

He clenched his fists. Then a shiver coursed along the hair on the back of his neck. He turned and saw Rey lying on the ground. Her tunic had been cut short, revealing a bandaged abdomen. Her face was flushed and sweat beaded her nose and upper lip. Stiches sewed together a wound on her cheek. As soon as the vision appeared, it dissipated. He tore his eyes away from the place where she had been and focused his gaze on the sprawling city once more.

A presence moved behind him.

"Gaia," he said without turning his head.

She walked into his peripheral vision. "I hope I am not disturbing your private meditations, my lord."

"Not at all," he flicked his gaze to her, "just admiring the city in the afternoon light."

"It is magnificent," she agreed.

Silence hung between the two. The sounds of bustling life wafted to them.

"Permission to speak freely?" she asked, resting a hand on the balcony barrier.

"Granted."

"Why did you spare FN-2187?"

He cleared his throat and looked away from her. "He'll serve as a warning to the others. As long as he stays in that cell no one else will follow in his example."

Another silence followed.

"I never doubted you, you know," she finally said, "that you could do all this. Even when we were teenagers. Soon the entire galaxy will be within the stranglehold of Ren."

She stood almost as tall as him and when he turned to face her they were nearly at eye level. "You've been a faithful servant."

She brought his hand to her lips and kissed the black sapphire emblazoning the ring gracing his middle finger. "The praise of my dark lord is all I strive for." After touching the jewel to her forehead, she released his palm. She then bowed and strode back inside the palace out of view.

***

Rey groaned.

"She's awake!" someone said.

"Arrrroargh!" another voice called.

The jedi slowly opened her eyes. Her vision bounced in and out as if rocked by the waves of the sea. Then it settled. She pushed herself into a sitting position. Her head throbbed and her side burned with what felt like the charge of an electric rattlesnake.

"Woah, steady on there!" Strong hands caught her. It was Quoll.

"What? Where --" Rey saw that she was lying on a bench in a familiar ship. "The Falcon?"

Someone grabbed her body in a furry vice. "Arroahh!"

"Good to see you too, Chewie," she gasped out with the breath she had. "Oh!"

"Ease up, mate! Let the patient breathe!"

Chewie let go of her and stepped back.

Quoll came into view again. "You'd better get back to your post and let your pupils come and see for themselves," he said to the wookie.

The furry marshmallow nodded and then with one last look at Rey, ducked out of sight.

"How bad is it?" She asked.

He sat down beside her, "You woke up -- which is a good sign. I stitched up your cheek. But the main spanner in the works is your side. Good thinking cauterising it; still, you lost a lot of blood. Thing is, you were stabbed with a moarghul blade."

"That's bad, right?"

He nodded and sighed. "Poison's lethal. Still you don't survive long on Cerebrus VII without having a few tricks up your tracky dacks. I stopped the spread with some scorpion venom and a few other things I carry in my kit. But if we don't get you the proper antidote within a week, you're not gonna be able to be able to attend your showdown with ol' Lord Renny-Pants."

Rey couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the potioneer's name for Ben. Most Resistance slurs for the opposition leader just made her sad, but this one was good. Then her brows furrowed, "Showdown?"

"I may be from way out in the outer rim, but I'm not as simple as I look," he smiled, "My Gram'ma Dormé used to tell me stories. Light and dark. Balance and all that. The kettle always boils and when it does there'll be choices to make that'll set the course of all."

The sound of running footsteps came down the corridor.

"Rey!" shouted two voices in unison as the forms of Heul and Bryt burst into the small cargo hold. They looked at Quoll.

"It's alright girls, you can hug her if you're gentle," He said as he walked to the door.

They didn't need to be told twice as they descended on their master.

"I'm so glad you're ok," Bryt had tied a Mirialian prayer veil over her dark hair. Her blue eyes shone as she smiled her relief at Rey. "For the moment, anyway."

Heul wrapped her arms around the jedi's waist a little too snugly, but Rey tried not to show it. "You should have seen us! There were pirates and a handsome prince in distress and Uncle Chewie even let me take the controls at one point!"

"It was an eventful trip to the new base, to say the least," Bryt summarised. "We'd barely been there a day when the transmission came from Kol and Janna to come and retrieve you."

Kol and Janna! "Are they ok?"

"Aye," Quoll entered the hold again. "Here drink this."

Rey took the cup, which contained a yellowish liquid, from his hand. She did as he said and downed it. It was bitter like stale beer and sour as lemons, but the Jakku scavenger had had worse.

"We needed a faster ship to get you across to the other side of the galaxy -- to Moarghulis. And you needed to lie still for a spell 'til they got there. I sent your other padawans off to gather some of my mates from around the rim. Reckoned the Resistance could use some Australis system scoundrels after I saw that Ren hag in action."

"But are they ok? The droids --"

"They were a bit banged up. But I patched 'em together as best I could and they were eager to do something to help rather than just sit around waiting for reinforcements. That Janna in particular."

Rey moved to get up, but Quoll held up his hand. "You need to rest. I'll go mix up a salve and change your bandages shortly."

"I'll stay with you," Heul said. "Uncle Chewie'll need his co-pilot."

Bryt nodded. She put her forehead to Rey's. "May the force restore you," she said before standing and passing out of sight with Quoll.

***