My name is Kathlena Conteras, and I’m a Reylo addict.

Yes, I’ve been Star Wars-crazy since watching The Last Jedi. As crazy as I was when the very first Star Wars came out 40 years ago. In my Reylo II post, I threatened to write some Star Wars fanfiction. Well, I’m doing it. The story started out as a dream, and has since invaded my waking life. If it’s an addiction, it’s definitely one I’m really enjoying. I hope you do, too.

I’ve been trying to stay with canon, although I hope you’ll forgive me if I take the occasional artistic license. If you see something that looks like I’ve strayed too far afield, let me know.

If Vice-Admiral Holdo had rammed the Raddus into Snoke’s flagship five minutes sooner…

 Darkness, Take My Hand

by Kathlena L. Contreras

Leads by hand by quinnyilada

Chapter 1

He’s our last hope, Rey had told Luke.

Now Ben stood before her, holding out his hand, asking her to join him…in ruling the galaxy.

Disappointment crushed her, closed her throat. She stared at this man she thought she’d come to know so well, the shining glimpse of whose future had brought her to the Supremacy, the deadly heart of enemy territory.

He took a step closer, as if unable to bear her silence, his black-gloved hand trembling.

“Please,” he whispered, his voice shaking as much as his hand.

It’s not Ben, she told herself savagely. It’s Kylo Ren. It’s always been Kylo Ren.

But that “please,” the look in his eyes made her hesitate, balanced on an edge of indecision.

Her hand came up…

The deck heaved under her feet, flung her at him. He lurched backward as she tumbled into him, and the world exploded.

The whole ship shuddered violently. Bulkheads buckled, spitting sparks. Emergency claxons wailed, a sound that drove nails into her head. One of the massive overhead lights crashed down, spinning and screeching across the deck. Kylo went down, his mouth opening in a shout she couldn’t hear.

Something slammed into her from behind, driving her into darkness.

* * *

Sunlight shined on a grassy hillside. In the distance, a lake shimmered, the glittering spires of a city beyond. A breeze smelling of green, growing things whispered in Rey’s ear. Ben’s arm encircled her, his hand held hers.

Putting his chin on top of her head, he gusted a long sigh. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

She leaned back against him. “So am I. It seems impossible.”

“Between the two of us, nothing is impossible.”

She’d never felt so content. As if the universe was whole, balanced, complete. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feel of the sun on her face, in the warmth of Ben’s arms.

He squeezed her hand. “But we can’t stay here.”

Frowning, she turned to look at him. “Why not?”

“Don’t you hear it? Something’s happened to the ship.”

“What ship?”

But she did hear it. The air was filled with the moans and screams of a beast convulsing as it died, with the smell of burning wire and charred flesh and ozone. Darkness spread like ink across the cloud-streaked sky behind Ben.

He looked up in alarm, then threw her to the ground under him. “Stay down!”

Rey blinked her eyes open—when had she closed them? Hill and grass and sunlight were gone. Jumping fires slashed red darkness. A throbbing pain seared at the back of her head. A heavy weight lay on her, pinning her to the shuddering deck. A gloved hand held hers, an arm encircled her. Someone lay on her, shielding her from a rain of sparks and hot debris. With a groan, she tried to roll free. Both hand and arm tightened on her.

“No. Please…” a voice said in her ear.

Ben. No, not Ben. Kylo Ren. His grip tightened even more.

She began to struggle. It was like trying to escape the restraints that had bound her earlier.

“Rey, no…”

Kylo wrenched upright with a gasp, pulling her with him. He blinked rapidly as if trying to place himself. She felt the frantic rise and fall of his chest against her back as he clutched her. He let go her hand to steady himself against the heaving deck, taking in the chaos around them in a swift glance.

“Are you all right?” he said.

Her head swam. She touched the back, met the stickiness of blood and a rising lump. All right? “I—”

He surged to his feet, pulling her with him. Blood sheened the unscarred side of his face, matted the hair at his temple. The torn shoulder of his tunic showed a vicious gash beneath.

“Can you stand?” he said. “We have to get out of here.”

She swayed in his grasp, confused by more than the blow to her head. The crumpled forms of Snoke’s Praetorian Guard lay scattered around them. The draperies behind his throne billowed with flame, shedding fiery wisps over the pieces of his severed body. Another convulsion shook the ship. Yes, they definitely needed to get out of here.

She nodded, then winced at the pain.

“Good,” he said. “Come on.”

His arm still around her, they lurched for the throne room door. He slammed the controls with a fist. It screeched partway open, then jammed. He thrust out a hand and the Force wrenched it wide. They tumbled through.

The noise was worse outside, a screaming din that drowned out the shouts and running footsteps of Stormtroopers, pilots, officers, techs. Kylo pushed her ahead of him through the crowded corridors. One glance at his face and the most frantic shrank out of the way.

Smoke burned Rey’s lungs with every gasped breath. The burn on her shoulder from the Guard’s weapon seared. Her pulse pounded painfully at the back of her head. After confronting Snoke, after fighting his Guard, every running step was an agony of abused, exhausted muscles. Only adrenaline kept her going. Adrenaline and Kylo, now towing her by the arm.

They burst through a hatch that had been blasted open and into a hangar. Fleeing shadows crisscrossed the burning hulks of docked craft. Walkers lay in fiery heaps. A single shuttle stood unmarred, hatch down, ready to board. A double row of stormtroopers, blasters ready, guarded the ramp.

Kylo headed for it. Realizing exactly how they’d be escaping the dying cruiser, Rey stumbled.

Kylo didn’t miss it. He abruptly turned, caught her by the shoulders. “You have to trust me.”

Panting, she looked up at him.

He took her face between his hands. “Trust me.”

She’d trusted him when she came here, if not blindly, then at least overconfidently. Could she trust him now, after learning what he intended?

He let her go and shoved her lightsaber into her hands.

She might not trust him, but she trusted herself. Lightsaber in hand, she ran with him for the shuttle.

by tysonmurphy on Tumblr

* * *

Kylo Ren strode into the shuttle’s command center, Rey on his heels. The pilot and co-pilot were hurrying through the takeoff sequence.

“What’s our status?” Kylo panted.

“The rebel cruiser rammed the Supremacy at lightspeed, sir,” the pilot answered without turning from the controls. “Their remnants are holed up in an abandoned base on Crait. A strike force of ATs and a siege cannon have already been deployed.”

Behind him, footsteps thundered through the shuttle.

Hux burst into the command center, his usual sneer wiped away by horror and panic. “Someone has killed the Supreme Leader—!”

His eyes locked on Kylo and he stopped so quickly the guards following almost ran into him. Beside Kylo, Rey shifted her weight. She held the hilt of her lightsaber in a white-knuckled grip, prepared to sell her life dearly. Kylo smoothly stepped in front of her.

“What happened?” Hux snapped. “What is this rebel scum doing here?”

“Snoke made a miscalculation,” Kylo said.

Hux gestured, and five blasters leveled on Kylo. Kylo swept a hand through the air. Every weapon flew, slammed against the bulkhead. He clenched a fist and the blasters twisted and crumpled. Hux paled and fell back.

Kylo took a step toward him. “Snoke called you a rabid cur, but kept you because you’re useful. Are you willing to be useful to the new Supreme Leader, General Hux?”

Hux’s throat bobbed. “Yes… Yes, Supreme Leader.”

Kylo nodded once. “Good.”

The shuttle bucked and slid across the flight deck. Gouts of fire filled the forward viewport.

“We must take off now, sir,” the pilot said. “What’s our destination?”

“Crait,” Kylo said, his gaze still on Hux.

Hux only nodded at his guards, dismissing them. They slunk aft, their eyes darting between their ruined weapons and Kylo.

His thoughts were clearer than they’d been in years, no longer filled with Snoke’s insidious, incessant whispers. In his moments of unconsciousness, he’d dreamt of sunlight. Not the dream that that jerked him awake night after night, of his uncle’s twisted face illuminated by the glow of the raised lightsaber ready to cut him down in his sleep.

“What are your orders regarding the rebels, Supreme Leader?” Hux’s tone tried to convey confidence, but the quaver on the title betrayed him.

“How many of their transports were destroyed?”

“More than two-thirds. We estimate their numbers at no more than a few dozen.”

More refugees than rebels, now, Kylo thought. “Have they made any attempt to contact us?”

“No, Supreme Leader,” Hux said. “They show every indication that they intend to resist.”

“Open a channel. Then we’ll see.”

Behind him, Rey radiated tension and worry and suspicion—not trust. Belatedly, he remembered the bitter disappointment on her face: Don’t go this way, Ben. She never had agreed to join him, had she? He’d offered his hand, the galaxy, everything, pleaded with her—

And then disaster had stepped in and thrown them together. Was this another enemy at his back, one he, himself, had armed?

The sunlight of his dream returned. A wisp of remembered words: I’m glad you’re here with me. Then, So am I.

No. She was no enemy. Not for now, at least. He had to make sure it stayed that way.

* * *

Rey watched the redhaired man—Hux?

You didn’t survive on your own in a place like Jakku without learning how to read people. And this Hux would kill Kylo if he had the chance. The news of Snoke’s death had been only an excuse to try. The look on his face as Kylo turned away to the comm, the way his fist clenched—his thoughts were like a poisonous cloud. Her fingers tightened on the hilt of her lightsaber.

“Channel open, sir,” the communications officer said.

A holo shimmered into existence in front of Kylo. General Organa.

Rey caught her breath and bit her lip.

“Mother,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

The sorrow on Leia’s face hurt Rey’s heart.

“I’m sure you realize your situation by now,” Kylo said. “It’s pointless to continue resisting. As new Supreme Leader of the First Order, I’m prepared to be generous.” He glanced at Rey, the briefest flick of a gaze. “Surrender, and I’ll personally guarantee your safety. Your wounded will be tended in our medical facilities.”

“Surrender!” Hux gasped in outrage.

Leia’s sorrow turned to something hard.

“Surrender,” she said. “And what then? What guarantee—besides your personal one—do we have?”

“You have an advocate here,” Kylo said.

He turned and pulled Rey into the comm’s pickup range.

She stiffened in shock and horror. “Leia, I—” Her voice died.

Leia’s shoulders drooped ever so slightly. “I see. I’ll discuss it with my officers.”

“Of course,” Kylo said, bowing his head regally.

He nodded at the communications officer and the holo flickered and collapsed. Rey stood, fists clenched, trying to breathe through the pain in her chest.

“Are you insane?” Hux snarled. “Those—those scum deserves no mercy, no quarter—”

Kylo’s hand whipped up. Hux flew across the cabin, slammed against the same bulkhead the blasters had.

Kylo leaned over him where he lay sprawled among the crushed blasters. “Let me give you a suggestion, General Hux. Don’t question me again.”

Kylo took Rey’s arm. She let herself be steered out of the command center. What must Leia think? Seeing her standing there beside the man who murdered her husband. The man who was their enemy.

She wanted to disappear. How could she ever have believed she could turn him? Oh, terrible, terrible mistake!

She tried—unsuccessfully—to jerk her arm from his black-gloved grasp. “Why did you do that?” she hissed.

“Not now,” he said.

Guards filled the cabin, their faces wearing various expressions of fear, curiosity, hostility. Kylo palmed open a door and pushed her through.

The chamber inside was sumptuous, a lord’s chambers. She barely glanced at it. She gave her arm a savage jerk. This time, he let her go, watching her with a combination of interest and wariness.

“I came to you for help!” she railed at him. “Now they’ll think I betrayed them!”

“You did help them,” he said in that maddeningly calm way of his. “We’re too strong. There are too many of us. You heard. If Hux had his way, the rebels would die to the last man—and woman.”

Tears pushed into her eyes. “That’s your mother down there! Don’t tell me you don’t care what happens to her.”

He shrugged. “I care as much as she does.”

“She does care about you.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s her choice now. She can surrender, and live. Or die.”

Rey gripped the burn on her shoulder as if that could distract from the pain of this. Looking at Kylo, she saw again the monster who had hunted her through the forest on Takodana.

Image credits: Leads by hand by quinnyilada and tysonmurphy on Tumblr.