Master of Mine

Chapter 4: The Fall

The clouded heavens above flashed with lightning. The storm had calmed. Luke's voice was the only thunder in their ears.

"Rey," Luke held his hand out for her, still pointing his saber at Kylo.

Kylo and Rey looked at each other one last time before Rey let her hand fall from his chest. Carefully, she slipped out of his arms and went to stand next to Luke. The green of his lightsaber hummed away, and he draped a dry cloak over Rey's shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Rey shivered, shaking her head. "He... He saved me."

They both looked at Kylo standing tall before them, wet from head to toe and completely shirtless. Drops of rain fell from the ends of his black hair. From his trembling lips. His white skin glistened under the blue light of the moon, his muscles tightening with cold.

Rey wrapped her cloak around herself tighter and turned to Luke, ignoring the way her face grew hot. "The Knights of Ren?" she asked him, combing her fingers through her wet hair.

"Gone," Luke replied.

"You slaughtered my men?"Kylo barked.

"I gave them a choice," Luke frowned, his gray beard wet with rain. "Only two chose wisely. They didn't have time to wait for their master, I'm afraid. Yes," he answered Kylo's shocked expression. "They took the ship. You're stuck here."

Kylo's nostrils flared, his eyes dead set on Luke. "Go on then. Finish what you planned that night. Try. Unless you can't do it while I'm awake."

Rey's brows pulled together in confusion, but Luke seemed to know exactly what he meant. He cast his eyes down and hitched his saber back onto his belt. "There won't be any more blood spilled by my hands tonight. Besides, your mother would tear me to pieces."

"Not if I beat her to it," Kylo scowled. As much as he tried to keep his jaw set, Rey could hear his teeth chattering.

Luke only stepped forward, pulling out Kylo's saber from a pocket within his brown cloak, handing it to him. "You dropped this," Luke said.

Kylo snatched it from him without hesitation, pressing his thumb down on the activation stud. Nothing happened. No matter how many times he tried, his fiery red blade would not shoot out. He frowned at Luke as if to say, "What have you done?" and bared his teeth when he saw the Jedi hold out something small and shiny in his hand. A cracked, red kyber cystal. The heart of Kylo's saber.

Luke placed it back into another pocket. "You're to remain here. Until you remember who you are. Rey," he nodded at his apprentice to follow and turned on his heel, heading for the grassy stone steps beyond the dark beach.

"I know who I am!" Kylo shouted after him. "I do now after you and they kept it hidden from me all those years!"

"We kept that secret to protect ourselves. To protect you , Ben!" Luke shouted, walking back to him. "I'm not ashamed of my father. Anakin was a good man deep down. There was still light in him. As I know there is in you."

Kylo said nothing. Only stared at the Jedi with hate.

"Come now," Luke walked away. "You look frozen."

"I'd rather drown," Kylo muttered.

"Then start swimming," Luke replied, not even bothering to turn around that time.

Kylo's bare feet sunk in the wet sand when he stomped forward. His hands curled into fists ready to snap Luke's neck in two. He only stopped when Rey stepped in front of him, her hazel eyes looking up at him. She was determined to protect her master. Kylo stood rooted to the sand, the anger slowly fading from his face. Rey's eyes wandered over his naked torso. Without thinking, she slipped off the brown cloak Luke had given her. She offered it to Kylo.