Force Destiny

The Force Bond

Kylo stormed into his quarters, tossing his cape across the room. Red salt still clung to the underside of the fabric where he had dropped it, a tangible reminder of defeat. He wished the dust was permanent, to remind himself of his past failures whenever he wore it. The scars would do. Rey had bested him on Starkiller; Luke had on Crait – both wielding his emotional weaknesses against him. Never again. His rage would suffocate every last emotion inside him until there was nothing left; the darkness would free him.

Kylo stopped short at the foot of his bed. There were nondescript boxes piled neatly on the floor. Removing a top, he recognized the items as personal belongings he had with him aboard the Supremacy. The droids had been quick to gather them from the wreckage and deliver them to his chambers, the only proof that he had not dreamed it all. His mind had been so fixated on the events on Crait, he had forgotten that the Supremacy had been damaged.

He hadn't thought to question why he was back aboard the Finalizer. It was almost as if he hadn't killed Snoke, as if his master was merely on the Supremacy, waiting to train the weaknesses out of him. He had known Snoke was gone, of course. There was no denying the freedom he felt at becoming the only voice in his own head, but in that moment, reality finally sank its teeth deep into his flesh. A chill shuddered down his spine.

Snoke was dead. Forever. He was not aboard the Supremacy, waiting for Kylo. He would not hold his once-apprentice accountable for his failures again. Kylo was the master now. He was the Supreme Leader of the First Order. This kingdom was his... and his alone. Darkness swirled through him at the thought of the insurmountable power. A weight lifted off his chest. Forget Rey, the bond, Luke, his mother, the Resistance – he finally had everything he had ever wanted. He had done it; this was real. The boxes before him proved that.

Striding to the boxes against the far wall, he opened the lid to discover that the droids had left him Snoke's belongings as well. Scrolls, ancient texts, a holoprojector, a ring, and... and Kylo's broken helmet. He kept it? A sickening disgust rolled through him at the sight of it.

You're just a child in a mask, his fallen master had said, knowing how profoundly it would wound him, how weak it would make him. It was with those words that he had realized that he was Snoke's rabid cur.

"I'll show them a child in a mask," he promised to the empty room. "Just as I showed him."

The helmet had crumpled under the force of his blows, twisted and split into pieces. Now, without the bond, he was stronger. Unstoppable. He would make this mask stronger too. As broken as he had once been, it would show the galaxy exactly who he was now. The mask would also grant him an escape from the shadow of legends. Once the Resistance was gone, his identity would be unknown. Ben Solo would be dead. Kylo Ren would be the ruler the galaxy remembered, his actions speaking louder in his anonymity. He was anyone... and no one... exactly what the galaxy needed—exactly what he had always wanted to be.

Kylo didn't need this helmet, of course. He could have another one created from the finest materials in the galaxy. But this one... rebuilding this one would show the Resistance that Kylo Ren had been tempted by the light of a nothing scavenger, but he had been made stronger. The helmet would show her that she had failed to turn him... or destroy him. He had been a fool, believing...

It doesn't matter anymore, he reminded himself. What mattered was that she had betrayed him, and he had finally found his place in the darkness. Now he was greater than even his master had imagined. He would show them all the monster that they had created, and this time he would destroy them all.

Kylo brought the mask into the receiving hall of his antechambers. A black, stone throne commanded the center of the vast room. It was simple in its design compared to the ornate ostentatiousness of the one located in Snoke's throne room on the Supremacy, but it served its purpose. Before he died, Snoke had used the room to keep his apprentice under his thumb from across the galaxy. It was a constant reminder that he was never too far out of reach. Kylo had been required to attend to his master's projection in that receiving hall whenever Snoke deigned to appear. During the periods of punishment for a weakness, Snoke had often been the only contact he had for days or weeks.