A/N—You guys finally get to find out wtf happened on the rocks. Once again, it's in form of a memory sequence. Since it still sucks to read so much in italics, the beginning and end will be marked by a '—'
Kylo Ren's TIE Fighter breaks through the copper clouds swirling above the planet. His leather hands tighten around the controls of the old ship as it rumbles and groans from the pressure of the atmosphere. They had found this old thing several months ago, sitting in one of Coruscant's scrapyards. It wasn't exactly subtle, considering it dated back to the days of the Empire, but it was quick and small.
Moraband's lifeless surface whizzes past beneath the Fighter. It wasn't much to look at, but there was something about it that made it so magnetic. Perhaps it was the thousands of generations of Dark-Side Users calling out to him. The pull from the Force was unlike anything Kylo had felt before.
The entire planet was an orange-coppery color. Everything from the sky to the mountain peaks jutting out of the strange fog. Fog? No, it had to have been dust clouds. There were no plains as far as the eye could see; just peaks and valleys. This was the ancient home of the Sith. Their very place of origin before the days of the Empire.
This was the last possible place a portal to the world between worlds could lay.
Kylo had heard all of the ancient stories. He had read about the painting on Lothal that served as a passage. Its destruction was a shame, but Kylo was determined. That couldn't have been the only way in. The ancient Sith had tried to replicate the portal inside one of their own temples, but were unsuccessful in opening it. Perhaps Kylo could change that.
His days of wanting to be like his grandfather were long gone. Now he wanted to be more. He would accomplish more than Vader ever could in his lifetime. As far as he saw it, this was the only way to gain back his power without sacrificing the girl to do so. The whole purpose of this mission was to save your life, after all.
The world between worlds was his passage. His own secret to accomplishing greatness. It was a point in the Force that allowed whoever entered to see the past, present, and future, or so the legends had described. The stories had warned him that it was unlikely that the thread of time could be altered. That none of his actions would have an effect on the future. That was highly plausible, but still just an assumption made by those who had never even experienced it before.
Kylo grits his teeth as he guides the Fighter down into one of the valleys. The Valley of the Dark Lords, to be precise. The name was a bit on the nose, but Kylo didn't have time to criticize, nor was it his right. As far as he was concerned, this was where he belonged. He could feel the Force pumping through his veins. It made him stronger than he had ever felt before.
A cloud of dust swirls up around the Fighter as it lands in the bowl between the mountain peaks. Dry air invades the cabin as Kylo pushes open the hatch and climbs out, lowering himself back down on the other end. His hand automatically grips his lightsaber. With a familiar screeching roar, the three blades of his weapon are ignited.
Kylo's cloak snaps at his ankles as he walks briskly towards the Sith temple in the distance. It was difficult not to stare. The wide, dust-coated stone path was flanked by towering statues of ancient Sith lords. Kylo was half-expecting Darth Vader to be among them, but it made sense when he was nowhere to be seen. His dark eyes lift toward the massive stone temple looming before him. It wasn't architecturally impressive by any means; just a mash of prisms and triangles thrown together to appear more intimidating.
A shiver runs down Kylo's spine as he steps into the darkness of the temple. The only thing illuminating his path was the deep red glow of his crackling saber. Suddenly and all at once, the row of torches are ignited by an invisible hand. Kylo frowns deeply, shifting his weight as what sounded like faint whispers fill his ears. He brushes the thought aside and ventures deeper into the temple.
Gold light dances on the walls from the heat of the fires burning inside the metal bowls hanging from the ceiling. Everything on this cursed planet was covered in dust. Along the walls hung old plaques in the ancient Sith language; one Kylo could not read. He knew that the tombs of the Sith were here, but he did not want to encounter one.
Kylo creeps further into the temple, following the path marked by torches. He hisses out a wince as a familiar voice begins to echo through his head. That cold, unforgiving voice he had grown to despise.
"Oh, my boy, do you really think you can save her?" The voice chuckles. "You cannot alter her fate. It's true what they say: ignorance is bliss."
Kylo clenches his jaw. "We'll see."
He comes to a sudden halt. Kylo's eyes roam over the wall before him, a bubble of excitement building in his chest. This was it. The painting before him was somewhat different than what he had seen in the books. It was... darker. Kylo slowly reaches out towards an empty ring surrounded by images of wolf-like creatures. He presses his palm to the wall, frowning deeply when nothing happens.
Frustration immediately strikes him. This was supposed to be it. This was supposed to be his passage inside. If the portal didn't work, there was nothing he could do about it. Teeth grit with a mixture of anger and determination, Kylo extends his hand once more. He presses it flat against the wall, allowing his eyes to sink shut as he focuses on his breathing.
For a brief moment, there was peace to meet the darkness. Kylo's eyes fly open when he feels a cool breeze seeping into his glove. He yanks his hand back, gawking up at the swirling mass of black before him. The ring of creatures were now running in circles around the entrance, as if providing it power.
Kylo releases a shaky breath. This was it. He swallows thickly, heart pounding in his chest. If he really was going to be able to see the future, was he prepared for it? Could he really change the very construct of time? If the future was already predetermined, then this was all for nothing. Even his Knights had tried to stop him. Kylo inhales sharply. If he had a chance to stop this, he was going to take it.
Without further hesitation, Kylo steps into the world between worlds.
~
You pace to and fro across the ship's metallic ground. Thoughts were racing through your mind at hundreds of miles per hour. How could he have been so foolish?
The world between worlds was utterly unpredictable. All of the stories and legends were exactly that; stories and legends. There were no hard facts or guarantees. Not to mention that the dangers were unimaginable. It would be easy to lose oneself in the possibilities and endless outcomes. If Kylo truly had made it inside, there might have even been a slim chance of pulling him out.
"Would you stop pacing?" Vicrul huffs from the weapons rack that he was leaning upon. "We tried our best to stop him."
"Well obviously you didn't try hard enough," you shoot back coldly.
"Easy there, Commander." Kuruk crosses his arms.
You give him a glare. "And don't call me that. Why did Kylo even go?"
Your pacing is put on pause momentarily as you stand before the small port-window giving you a view out into the space port. It wasn't much to look at, but you were far too impatient and antsy to stand still. You never thought you would be back here, especially not because of Kylo.
"Do you even know where he went?" You sigh, running a hand through your messy hair. The now damp clothes clinging to your skin felt constricting. "I mean, he can't have just vanished."
Ap'lek shrugs. "Something about the planet of Sith origins. We didn't exactly have the chance to study up."
"Moraband," you mutter.
"Where?" Kuruk and Trudgen chorus.
You close your eyes in exasperation. You weren't meaning to take your frustrations out on them, but someone had to be your punching bag right now and it sure as hell couldn't be Kylo yet. All you wanted to do was return to the penthouse, collect the girls, and get off of this planet.
"Moraband. Ancient home of the Sith. The very first planet of their appearance. It's said to be a place of dark magic. I don't know much about it, but it makes sense that he went there." You run a hand through your hair angrily. "How could he have been so foolish?"
Vicrul smirks at you. "Why do you care?"
For what must have been the fiftieth time today, you give Vicrul the coldest glare you could muster. "Because I'm the one who's going to have to try to get him back. None of you are Force Users and you lot-" you gesture towards the Knights "-are barely even Force sensitive."
"Question," Kuruk sticks her hand in the air like a school boy from beside Ap'lek. "What exactly is the world between worlds? We weren't exactly well informed on the subject."
"No one really knows. Only a few have ventured in. It's a... a plane of existence, I guess. A point in the Force that's metaphysical." You explain with your hands practically flailing around you.
"How is he meant to get in?"
"Lothal had a portal but it was destroyed. The Sith wanted to rebuild their own so that they could access it. They believed that whoever went inside would hold the secrets of the universe."
"And how is he meant to get out?"
You bite your lip. "It's unpredictable. There's stories of the portal randomly sealing and trapping people inside. They went insane."
Vicrul frowns. "Then what are we waiting for? An invitation? Let's go to Moraband."
"I'm willing to go," you sigh. "But those girls can't come along. It's best we don't even tell them that we're going. Trust me, they'll start getting all protective."
"Why not?" Ap'lek smirks, licking his lips. "They can handle themselves."
You shake your head and give him a scowl. "Oh please, how long has it been since you've seen some fucking women? Besides, you're not even accustomed to the Force. Vicrul's going with me and that's it. If anything, it's safer for us both."
Ap'lek sinks back into her seat, putting his hands up defensively. "Alright, alright."
"If you wanted to spend some alone time with me," Vicrul smirks as he slings his weapon over his shoulder, "you could have just said so."
Rolling your eyes, you give him a shove back. "Don't get too excited. We need Kuruk as pilot."
It was easy to be sarcastic and crack a few witty jokes here and there, but you were sure the Knights could see right through your facade of carelessness. Deep down, you were petrified of this. Of seeing him again.
~
There was nothing but darkness.
Darkness and cool air pricking at Kylo's skin. He lets out a soft groan; his entrance through the portal having been anything but elegant. He rolls over, leather hands braced against the ground. Kylo shudders, letting out a long and shaky breath. He had done it.
Kylo pushes up off the ground, cloak lapping at his ankles as the softest of breezes ruffles his dark locks. The world between worlds was one of the most beautiful things he had ever experienced. He was surrounded by sheer darkness that seemed to stretch on forever. Soft speckles that resemble stars were dotted through this space. This sacred plane of existence that was only a thing of legends to him until five minutes ago.
Hundreds of curving pathways fill the dark space around him. It was almost as though they were transparent; the only things marking his way were the dimly glowing white lines. The paths themselves seemed to defy gravity. They curved and arched and flipped upside-down. Dozens of portals similar to the one Kylo had fallen through, sit along the paths. Circles, triangles, all sorts of shapes, each outlined in white with odd markings. Kylo couldn't make sense of this even if he tried.
As though fearful he would suddenly fall through, Kylo takes a hesitate step forward. He gently bites his lower lip as his heavy boot connects with the pathway. White ripples, as though he was stepping on liquid, pool around his foot. He tilts his head curiously, but continues onward. A sharp exhale leaves his lips as a voice begins to whisper in his ear.
That voice turns into multiple all at once. Some overlap, some cut each other off, but they were not communicating. He could not identify them all, but some were painstakingly familiar. The voice of his mother echoes through the space, followed closely by his uncle. Only, they were not the age-worn voices he knew. They must have been the voices of the past. Kylo freezes at the sound of another familiar voice that seems to silence all of the others.
Yours.
"I love you, Ben. Please come home."
Kylo grits his teeth, shaking his head as some meaningless attempt to brush the voices aside. They were no longer important. Just aches of the past. Kylo's hand lowers instinctively to the hilt of his saber, but he does not take it in hand. It was as though he didn't want to disturb the peace of this place with the familiar roar and disturbing crackling sounds of the unstable weapon.
Still, the voices continue their endless coaxes. Their attempts at luring him in closer made this place seem more sinister than it actually was. Kylo scowls at the voice of the scavenger echoes through the darkness. They had left her dead body on the Supremacy; her remains would be nothing but space dust now. The voice of Syala even following the people who had most impacted his life. It was like he was listening to her seducing him all over again.
"Focus," he mutters to himself.
He knew of the stories. The men getting lost in the world between worlds because they had gotten swept away. Trapped eternally by visions of the past, present, and future. Other legends told of guardians defending this realm; slaughtering anyone who tried to disrupt it. Kylo, on the other hand, was determined. He was not weak. He would not be brought to his knees by the temptations.
"Kylo..."
He whirls around. Kylo cautiously draws closer to a round portal. Well, less of a portal and more of a projection screen. His lips twitch as the blurry sight of you comes into focus. You were sitting in an unfamiliar room, dressed in the clothes he recognized as the ones you had been adorned in during your time as a slave.
"Be with me..." tears slip down your frightened face.
The image changes almost at once. His blood runs cold as memory after memory is played out before him. Your time at the academy together, Kylo finding you on Canto Bight, the torture, the heartache, the late nights tangled between sticky sheets. The voices begin to overlap in his head, gradually growing louder and louder. It is shattered abruptly by your bloodcurdling scream of pain. Images Kylo had never seen before begin to flash before his eyes.
They depicted you writhing on the ground, face twisted in pure agony. Kylo, unable to help. A loud voice laughing coldly over the sound of your pain. Mocking it. The screams are silenced all at once as your body goes still. A dead, empty look glazes over your eyes.
Kylo stumbles backwards, falling onto the floor as he trips over his own cloak. His chest heaves as he stares in horror at the image of your inevitable death. It is followed shortly by his own dead body hitting the stone floor beside yours.
"Please..." Kylo begs quietly, "no more."
A thunderous clap echoes through his ears, causing him to wince softly. A much different, much more familiar scene plays out instead. One that made his stomach churn and his heart drop in his chest. It was the very day he would undoubtedly regret for the rest of his life. The day he had broken your heart on the rocks. Kylo steps closer, lips parted and fists curled as it all plays in front of him once more.
—
2 years ago...
Standing at the edge, you look down at your lightsaber and reach up to lower your hood. In the wind, your hair whips around your face. Light ocean spray speckles your cheeks, adding on to the mixture of tears. Your fingers slowly lift up towards your neck, pushing past the cloak pinned around it. Your fingertips touch the cold metal of the necklace laying on your skin.
You swallow past the lump forming in your throat. All you wanted was Kylo. His arms wrapping around you and the comfort of his strong hold. There were so many things you wanted to do with him. So many things that you wanted to say. You never even got to finish that dance. And now he was gone. Erased from your life for good as though he never even existed in the first place. All you had now was his writings and his memory.
Oh how you longed to go back and change that fateful day. You wished you could pull him into the escape pod instead of letting him shut that door on you. It hurt you to think about the fact that it might have been his plan the whole time. That the defeated look on his face wasn't because he was losing, but because he was planning to die. He knew he wasn't going to make it.
As your hands tremble, you think back to everything that had happened over the past year. All those sleepless nights during which you had cried until you were dizzy and gasping for air. His death was something you couldn't accept for the longest time. Sometimes you could have sworn you felt his presence, but the moments were always fleeting. They came and left just as quickly.
The thought of having a child with him was never present in your mind back then. It just wasn't a possibility. Now you wished you could continue his legacy. Just to have at least some form of him living. You would give anything just to kiss him one last time. To apologize and tell him that you missed him. You had read about Force ghosts and had been hopeful about it for a while, but nothing ever came to you. Kylo had simply vanished from your life. Perhaps it was also his doing. His own way of telling you to move on and live the rest of your life happily.
You wondered what would have happened if he had survived. Would you two be leading your lives out on Naboo? Or traveling the galaxy like he always wanted when he was younger? Even if Kylo had wanted to reassemble the First Order, you would have gone along with it. Wherever he was, you wanted to be there. Now you felt as though you had almost taken him for granted. Could you even continue on without him? He was the love of your life and it felt like you could never love another.
You shudder, your grasp around the saber tightening. As your eyes sink shut, you hear the sound of rocks tumbling behind you. The sound of the ocean crashing against the stone. The Force stirs within your chest, bubbling with life. You were sensing something so distant yet so close. It lights a fire within you. The sensation burns hotter than a thousand fires, but the only thing it was sparking inside of you was hope. You could sense a presence in the Force. A presence so close and so real. But it wasn't Kylo's...
"Butterfly?"
Ben.
Time was at a stand-still. A minute ago, you had been standing alone on a rock jutting out of a rough ocean and in the next moment, you were joined by a man you were sure had died. Everything had frozen around you, it was as though the planet had gone quiet to watch the exchange unfold.
The intense cold that had been numbing your skin for over an hour suddenly felt nonexistent. Warmth was slowly enveloping you. Your ears could no longer pick up the sound of the powerful water slamming against the rocks, sending up chilling sprays that coat your skin and soak your clothes. The icy metal of the lightsaber in your hands felt heavier than ever. You were tempted to just drop it. To throw it into the churning waves and watch it sink into the depths of the raging ocean.
There was only a heavy silence between the two figures standing across from each other. It was filled by distant storm clouds rumbling with thunder and the steady groaning of the Supremacy's wreckage shifting slightly in the wind. Even the distant, rather obnoxious caw of a native species of birds was muffled. Silence had never been louder before.
Your cloak ripples at your ankles, tugging at your body as if trying to get it to move. The bag strung over your shoulder was weighing you down, but you could barely feel it now. The sense of numbing shock had already taken its course in your veins. Tears glisten in your puffy eyes, throat still sore from screaming your deceased lover's name into the wind. Disbelief spreads through you like wildfire. You are not the first to speak.
"Butterfly," he repeats again, slower this time. "I know what you're going to say. Just.... please... say something." He takes a step closer. "Come on..."
Your lips finally move, but only once. "How?" Your voice escapes your throat in a whisper. "I thought I felt..." you could have sworn you had felt Ben's presence instead of the dark one Kylo always radiated.
Kylo swallows. "A spare shuttle and some help."
You don't choose to question the 'help.' That was not what you were focused on now. "Why didn't you come to me?" Your hands begin to tremble as the numbness is replaced by sadness and anger. "You left me in the middle of nowhere. Alone. For a year."
"I didn't intend to..." he murmurs. "I set course to you but I... I turned around halfway there."
"Why?" You demand shakily, taking a step closer. At his silence, you stomp your foot angrily. "Kylo! Why?"
Kylo feels his chin quiver. He licks his lips, hurt by the fury building in your pain-filled eyes. "I can't tell you that. You'll only search for me if I do."
"What's so bad about that?"
"I... I don't want you to." He takes a step forward when you take one back. "Don't be angry, this is what's best for you."
"Don't tell me what's best for me. Y-You can't just show up after a year and tell me to fuck off! You just can't! Don't claim to know what's best for me when what's best for me is..." you trail off momentarily, "...is you."
Kylo gives you a soft, saddened smile. "Oh, Butterfly. I'm not. There are hundreds of others who can give you what I cannot."
"And what's that? Love?" You spit bitterly.
He recoils slightly at the harshness of your words. The anguish in your tone made him want to hold you. Kiss you. Kylo knew the words he was about to say were harsh. And he needed them to be. His lips twitch, hands reflexively curling to fists.
"Yes." He takes a step closer. "I don't love you as much as I should."
You felt as though you had been stabbed all over again. Voice trembling as your tears slip free, your knees nearly give out beneath you. "It's not too late to take that back. You don't mean that, Kylo."
You observe him for a moment in an effort to read his body language. What you notice instead are his dry skin and clothes despite the freezing ocean water spraying up over the rocks. He was a mere Force-projection of himself. Your lips twitch.
"You couldn't even come face me in person..." your tone was low and cold. "You're a coward..."
Kylo shifts. "I'm not a coward. I knew that if I came in person, it would be harder to walk away."
Your brow furrows. "So what, you're just going to disappear and pretend it never happened? You're going to hide somewhere in hopes that I don't find you for whatever reason?"
"I wouldn't do this to you without a reason." He snaps. "I don't take pleasure in this either. You're just not the person that I thought you were. You're not the person I fell in love with. What I thought was love was just infatuation. Something I used to get my anger out." His heart aches as you take another step back, sadness filling your eyes as you shake your head. "I used you. Just like you used me so you could become something more than a drunken gambler from Canto Bight."
"I never used you!" You cry out angrily. "I loved you! I still do!" You pull your bottom lip through your teeth. "What is it then? Have you already found someone else?"
No... never. Nobody could replace you. They're not you, Kylo thinks. He feels the lump steadily growing in his throat, forcing him to choke out his words. "Yes."
You nod stiffly as the tears drip down your icy skin. "So... that's it, then? I'll never see you again? Is that what you've come to tell me?"
"Yes."
"Then I hope she's better than me." Your voice comes out in a scratchy whisper. "I hope she gives you whatever I couldn't."
But you gave me everything... once again, Kylo's thoughts were different than his words. It pained him to do this. It pained him to torture you with his words. He hadn't seen you in a year and his first thought when he saw you was that you looked just as beautiful as before. Just like he remembered you. Soft skin, captivating eyes, that hair that got wild so often, and the body that he missed touching every night.
"Who is she?"
Kylo scrambles for words. How could he even describe a girl that didn't exist? "She's not you. That's good enough for me."
You felt as though someone was ripping out your heart and smashing it to pieces all over again. "I hope you realize that I lived with the pain you gave me for a long time. I stayed because I knew that that person wasn't you. I had hope in you and you were finally returning it. When you said you loved me, I was the happiest I had been in a while because it reminded me of who you truly were. But what you're doing now... even to protect yourself... is so unbelievably cruel."
Kylo releases a shaky breath. "Goodbye, Butterfly."
"You don't get to call me that anymore, Ren." You glance down at his gloved hand as he extends it towards you. "Why would I take your hand?"
"One last time." Kylo needed to leave now. At any second, the tears collecting in his broken eyes would free themselves. His hand trembles, as does his voice. "Please..."
"Kylo..."
"Take my hand!" He watches you flinch at the sound of his pained, cracking voice yelling out. "Let me touch you one more time."
"You've lost that right too."
Kylo sucks in his breath when the Force connection dies away. He stands, frozen in place with his hand still extended into nothingness. His entire body was trembling violently. What he had done now... nothing could fix. He had broken you for the last time.
He stares blankly at the place you had inhabited just moments before. He slowly lifts his hand upon feeling something cold on his pale face. He swipes at his skin with his glove, staring down at the water droplets now rolling down the leather. Whether those were drops of ocean water or tears, Kylo truly did not know.
—
A ragged breath passes through his lips as he staggers away from the portal. His eyes were burning and his entire body was trembling from the memory of it all. That day had been one of the most painful of his life. Seeing it again was like a plunge into an icy pool. Lips quivering, Kylo sinks down onto his knees. His eyes glaze over, jaw slacked and breathing slow, as he stares blankly up at the portal. Memory after memory plays before him; some repeating, some brand new.
Kylo Ren was trapped.
Trapped in the worlds of pain he had been living through since he was a child. He was forced to remain broken on his knees, watching it all replay like no time had passed. No matter who denied it, Kylo couldn't help but blame himself for every single horrible thing that had happened to him in his lifetime.
Staying here would be a punishment all on its own.
A punishment he was willing to deal unto himself.
~
This planet was madness. It gave you an uneasy feeling the moment it had come into view. Even Vicrul and Kuruk had commented on the dark energy practically radiating from the stormy surface. The shuttle shakes and shudders as it slowly touches down on the rusted plains. The copper-tinted dust swirls into the belly of the ship, blasting through the lowered hatch.
You tug your cloak over your shoulders and pull your lightsaber hilt into your hand. If this planet supposedly held the last portal and it was created by the Sith no less, then there was a big chance it would be guarded by something. It was better to take precautions ahead of time, you had learned.
"Kuruk," you turn as the Knight reaches for the weapons rack. "I want you to stay with the ship. Vicrul has his transmitter in case anything goes wrong."
"Giving out orders again, are you?" Kuruk mutters as he slowly sets down his weapon again.
Vicrul slings his scythe over his shoulder. "She's right. We need you here."
The Knight sighs beneath his mask and trudges back into the cockpit. You and Vicrul exchange brief glances, before nodding and taking a step onto the planet's unruly surface. You keep your head up as you stride across the cracked stone towards the ancient temple.
Even from this distance, you could already see the dim flickers of orange light dancing along the walls. Kylo must have been here. The reality of seeing him again for the first time after so long, was beginning to set in again. What would he even say? What would you even say? As far as you were concerned, absolutely nothing. You wanted nothing to do with this or him.
"This place is crazy..." Vicrul mutters, lifting his hand to trail his fingers along the strange markings in the stone walls. He rubs the pads of his fingertips together, watching the coppery dust spread over his skin.
You grit your teeth, brows knitting together as the wind begins to blow through the remains. It sounded like it was whispering to you. Dozens of ancient, cold voices all hissing and reaching out to you. Tendrils of wind, like fingers grazing your skin.
"What's wrong?" Vicrul had noticed your shoulders shuddering.
Frowning deeply at him, you ask, "don't you hear it? The voices?"
"Never ask me that again," he mutters, tightening his grip on his scythe. "Look."
You follow his gaze to a towering wall on the far end of the temple. A tall painting hung there, almost like a tapestry more than anything. It depicted three figures—you knew immediately what they represented—dark, light, and the balance controlling them in between. There was so much... dark energy... radiating off of the portal. This was no surprise; the Sith had attempted to recreate the painting in the only way they knew how. You didn't have a doubt that the original, the one created by the light, would have more pure energy. No wonder this place was so unbalanced.
At the base of the painting, sat a black ring surrounded by white lines. Painted wolves were physically running around the portal itself, as though powering it by themselves. There were no doubts in your mind; Kylo had to be inside.
"Alright..." you slowly reach for your cloak, trying to calm your buzzing nerves. The cloak falls to the floor, pooling at your feet. "Stay here. If I haven't returned in five minutes, you come in and pull us out. Got it?"
Vicrul nods. "Good luck."
You give him a curt, stiff nod before looking back to the portal. You take a deep, ragged breath and reach out. As your fingertips drag along the darkness, you feel cold air prickling at your skin. This was it. Shutting your eyes and gripping your lightsaber tightly, you step forward and let yourself fall into the world between worlds.
Cold air spreads over your skin as though you were nude. A brief sensation of free-fall hits your stomach, before the cold disappears and your knees hit the ground. Your vision remains black for a moment but it clears up in the next.
Awe overcomes you as you slowly rise to your feet, craning your neck to admire the beauty of this place. The sinister whispers from outside were long gone. They were instead replaced by voices of the past; some you recognized, others you did not. Low murmurs and chuckles and soft tones. Cold drawls and dark laughs and icy sneers. It was all coming together to create this place; a balance. A point between two places that existed but didn't.
Pools of white ripple beneath your feet as you follow the paths lined by white. The star-like specks in the inky darkness felt comforting, as though even they were reaching out. Your thumb brushes over the cool hilt of your saber. A strange energy runs through you. The white kyber crystal within your weapon seemed to be the source of it. It felt like even it belonged here.
You brush your hair from your face, pivoting your feet as you gaze around. Your eyes search the darkness for any forms of life. How were you meant to find him here? It seemed to stretch on endlessly; the paths giving no such rhyme or reason.
You are almost hesitant to speak and disrupt the peace. "Kylo?"
Your voice echoes through the darkness, suddenly causing the whispers to cease all at once. Unease settles in your gut. It guides you forward, putting your legs on autopilot as you explore this plane.
"Please..."
And there it was.
For just a moment, you had heard his voice softly pleading with someone. Something. You whirl around at the sound of him taking a ragged breath, before he pleads again.
There, kneeling before a portal, was a man you did not recognize. He was a broken, saddened man plagued by the pains of the past. You could feel his anguish radiating from him; he was lost. He had been sucked into the temptations just like the stories had claimed.
You approach him wearily, heart pounding in your ears. It was surreal to be seeing him in such a way. Granted, you had never expected to see him again, but you never imagined it going this way.
Get him out, you think to yourself as you draw closer. Get him out, go to Coruscant, and then you can go home with the girls. Like nothing had ever happened. Like you had never pulled him from the world between worlds or touched him again. He wouldn't exist to you. And that was just the way you wanted it to be.
Your fingers tremble as you cautiously reach out to touch his shoulder. The broad expanse of his back was heaving and he was staring slack-jawed at the image playing before him. You glance up at the portal, unable to help your curiosity. Your hand freezes just above his shoulder. He was watching the memory of the day on the rocks. Over and over again.
"Please. Again." His deep, helpless voice nearly scares you out of your skin. He stares blankly at the memory as it plays once more. It was as though he was punishing himself.
You slowly lower your hand. His entire body tenses up at your touch. Like he was barely even moving, Kylo gazes back at you. The distant glaze in his eyes is there one moment and gone the next. His hand suddenly flies up, knocking yours aside as he scrambles backwards fearfully.
The two of you hold each other's stares. In this moment, although neither of you knew it, your hearts were beating in unison. You couldn't even observe his features. You were so overcome by the grief and pure shock of seeing him again.
You finally find the courage to speak. "You're a fool. A fool for thinking you could change anything by coming here."
Kylo doesn't speak. He seemed to have lost the ability to do so. His pink lips part as he stares up at you in what appeared as horror and disbelief. Frustration and anger grip you next. You had suddenly remembered who this man was. What he had done to you.
"Let's go." It was a demand, not an order. A requirement. You would leave him here if he did not obey.
You turn on your heel, grip tightening around your saber. It was practically vibrating in your hand from how hard you were squeezing the metal. Although you don't look back at him, you hear his heavy footsteps trailing behind you.
There was absolutely nothing you had to say to this man.
There was absolutely nothing you wanted to do with him.