‘’Where are we?’’ asked Rey, taking Kylo’s hand in hers. She needed to feel him close. They were standing by the entrance of an old temple. Everything around them was in ruins but the temple was still standing tall, unaffected by what caused the environment to be torn to pieces.

‘’This is an old, sacred place that keeps the original manuscripts and teachings of both, the Sith and the Jedi. In reality, the planet itself was destroyed together with the temple and accessing them is only possible through this cave. I knew my uncle will come look out for it when I, together with the other Knights of the Ren order, left him. Remember Revan? He is the one that possessed Luke that night and ordered him to kill me. I was a weapon that he and then later Snoke, needed. They needed me to turn against Luke because they knew he will fail.’’ Kylo’s mind was slowly drifting away back at painful memories that he tried for so long to forget about them. Rey gave him a reassuring hand squeeze and added:

‘’You are not alone anymore… You have me...’’

Kylo wasn’t looking at her but at the temple. He was lost in his thoughts and felt the need to confess so he continued:

‘’You know, I was naive enough to believe that someone as power hungry and as deceiving as Revan could be honest as well. I could of avoided so much if I didn’t turn against my own blood, my uncle. He only wanted to teach me the ways of the Jedi and they should have been good enough for me to stop. But my own madness in trying to find balance between the Jedi and the Sith, I fell for the wrong side. I cannot be redeemed, there is no turning back for me, Rey. I killed my own father. I killed him! Do you understand?!’’ He was furious at himself and his lack of control over his emotions. He didn’t let go of her hand, but he had no courage to look at her to know that she’s hurting. Han Solo was the only paternal figure that she ever had even if he wasn’t her own flesh. She had nobody before. He continued:

‘’My father wasn’t perfect. He left mum and I long before me to turn against Luke. He was never there when I needed his presence the most. My birthdays? Mum took care of everything, it was always just the two of us. He preferred his bounty hunting adventures and the shadiest deals with the most notorious criminal bands of the Galaxy. And all for money… But despite everything, despite his absence rather than presence in our lives… I loved him. And killing him killed me as well...’’

Rey was already crying, remembering herself the way Han treated her like his own child, that he was the most protective with her, but at the same time, she knew that not killing him, Kylo would risk the life of the only one who was always there for him: Leia. He turned his attention to Rey and saw her tears running down her cheeks. He didn’t want to hurt her but he had to confess to her. He didn’t want for her to even have a slight doubt of honesty with him. And to be fair, he needed to be listened too because sometimes the feelings were getting too much to handle them all by himself. His only friend, Daenov, died by his own hand as well. He never got a chance to fulfill the plans they made once they would be graduating. He would never forget the way their whole friendship began. It was one cold, rainy night at the Jedi temple. Approximately 2 hours past the bedtime, there was a knock on the door…

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‘’Yes!’’ Ben shouted from his bed. He was reading a book and clearly annoyed that his uncle would be lecturing him again on why he is staying up so late.

But it wasn’t his uncle who came in. It was one of the apprentices that was standing in the door’s way. He was a blonde young man, not as tall as Ben, but he had his own charm and known for his kind heart and cheerful smile.

‘’What do you want, Daenov? Are you lost?’’ said Ben and put his book aside. His guest looked nervous, uncomfortable even to be there. He took in a deep breath and spoke in a low voice:

‘’Hello, Ben. My apologies for this late hour that I am disturbing. I didn’t know if you were asleep or not, but I had a feeling you wouldn’t be. We all know your uncle is clearly being harder on you than with us and he’s lecturing you for staying up past bed time. The only thing that he doesn’t know is that you’re not the only one. I was thinking, maybe you could join me and the boys tonight, we are going to have a small gathering in the woods.’’

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Ben looked at his colleague like at a completely deranged person. He was never invited anywhere, no one was even talking to him more than a few words to find out about Luke’s plans and that’s about it. Neither of them were friendly with him.

‘’Is this a joke? Some kind of game? Do you really think I believe that someone from your group of stuck ups would ever invite me anywhere? We’ve been here for years! No need for pleasantries anymore. I only exist to give out information about Luke so tell me, what do you want to know about him?’’ Ben wasn’t going to fall for someone’s sick joke. He had violent tendencies and needed to keep them hidden. Too passionate to feel serenity.

‘’I only wanted to invite you. You’re the only one missing. It isn’t far from here and it doesn’t feel right. But if you wish for me to leave, I will… I know you’ve had a hard time with the others, but I never caused you any trouble. I only wanted to be nice to you, I don’t agree with what they are doing and I have a feeling you’re pretty cool to hang out with.’’ Daenov was a known player, he would always get out of any situation just by talking, it was his way of keeping the peace with the others and also knew how to keep his emotions repressed.

‘’Heartfelt. Inspiring. I think I just dropped a tear. Internally.’’ Ben’s sarcasm wasn’t liked by his uncle because it betrayed emotions as well being hurtful towards the others as well. But he didn’t care.

‘’I understand. If you wish to join us still… we are leaving in 15 minutes. The meeting is by the main entrance of the library.’’

‘’The library? You said you were going in the woods.’’

‘’Yes, but we clearly can’t get out through the main entrance without being seen by the guards. And trust me, as much as I love a good talk, I really don’t want to get in trouble with them. So what do you say? Are you ready for a midnight adventure?’’ Daenov was showing off his perfect teeth in a smile that was guaranteed to melt everyone. Including Ben, that simply said:

‘’See you in 15.’’

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‘’Kylo, are you alright?’’ Rey’s voice brought him back to reality or at least, what he could make out of it, considering he was force projecting himself standing in front of an ancient temple that disappeared a long, long time ago.

‘’Yes, I am, I was just thinking. Sorry I got distracted. Let’s enter, shall we?’’ He didn’t have the time nor mood to talk to her about it. It was painful already to think his friend was dead, but to remember also that it was himself who killed Daenov, that one was another story.

‘’As you wish…’’ Rey removed her hand from his. She saw he’s hiding something and that made her slightly hurt. What could he be thinking about that he didn’t want to share with her?

‘’Don’t be a child. I promise I will tell you, I just am not ready yet. But in case you’re wondering who I was thinking about, it was my friend. You saw him.’’ Kylo took back her hand in his and she didn’t oppose him. She was tensed at first but then relaxed under his touch. ‘’Once we start, there will be three trials. The first will be of what we desire most, the second supposedly we get to confront our enemies and the third confuses me. There was nothing written underneath it in the manuscripts I learned all of these from, so that one we should fear the most.’’

He brought her close to himself and kissed her softly, his lips lingering on her for a bit. She was so fragile and he wanted to protect her, to keep her close to him for real and never let go of. But first, her training had to be complete. The whole fate of the Galaxy was in their hands and only together they could prevent the destruction of it.

They climbed the stairs of the temple together. He was afraid of what would follow because death was a possibility for both of them, but he didn't want to scare her, he needed her to stay focused in order to succeed. He cleared his throat and said out loud, looking at the door while squeezing Rey’s hand, the following:

‘’As Sun is followed by the Moon

So Darkness shall embrace the Light

And on the hour of the Doom

Their strength combined will win the fight.’’

He looked then at Rey and said:

‘’Just stay alive and come back to me.’’ He reached out to bring her back in an embrace but before he could, in an instant he was…

Gone.

‘’Kylo! Kylo, where are you?!’’ Rey panicked and felt short of breath, fear and confusion enveloping her heart while trying to understand what happened. She started running around, calling for him but to no help… there was no one around her. Just ruins.

…And without him, she was a ruin herself…