Disclaimer: I own nothing except plot idea. I don't even own the cover image. :D

.:Kylo Ren:.

Prologue

Cold. It was vicious, tearing and biting at his flesh - easing beneath the dark cloth of his armor and clothing, pinching and gnawing at the fading heat in his body. Numbness was consuming him, languidly swallowing his twitching fingers down its greedy throat. He couldn't feel his right leg save for the icy burn of the slash along his thigh, and the dull friction of his boot twitching spasmodically against snowy earth. His lips were open, and air seemed to fall into his lungs of its own accord, feeding him with cool, uncomfortable breath and sustaining consciousness until death would finally come.

Ben Solo was dying, abandoned and alone. From his mother to his teacher, every soul had recoiled or removed itself from him... even his enemy. The girl had fled with barely a glance back at him - a hate-filled, furious glare that burned like pale, colorless fire. She hadn't bothered to kill him... her friend was more important to her than destroying the greatest creation Ben Solo had ever made - the pride of his life and desperate last hope: Kylo Ren. It was enough of a wound that Ben Solo himself was unwanted, but even this shade he had become - this personification of all he wanted to be - was too little to be valued, even so much as to be worthy of destruction.

This, more than any of his wounds, was what finally killed Ben Solo. But the body lived on, and the entity that took hold in the despairing mind of the tortured son of Han and Leia was powerful enough to keep it that way.

Ben Solo may have died, but it was Kylo Ren who lived on as Storm Troopers scrambled around his unconscious body, their cries and orders flying through the snowy air. Hands gripped the corpse of Ben Solo, but it was Kylo Ren's fingers that twitched spasmodically, and Kylo Ren's heart that beat steadily on - albeit weakly.

Thousands upon thousands of miles away, Supreme Commander Snoke stiffened in his throne, small eyes fixating upon nothing. Then, slowly, thin, scarred lips bared ugly fangs in a satisfied smile, and the Sith settled back into his seat to await the return of his dead apprentice...or rather, whatever came in his stead.

Author's Note: ...Shortest prologue I think I've ever written. I'm so ashmed... *cringes*

Hello, peoples~ First of all, I am a guilty shmuck for neglecting my other two stories, and I'll probably get blasted by some sort of vengeful karma for it later, but I had this plot ide after watching the new Star Wars, and- I just couldn't resist.

Explaination:

I've read a lot of fanfics about Kylo Ren being a big ball of angst and potential redemption, and though it's perfectly canon and in keeping with the movie... well, I wasn't satisfied. I see Kylo Ren and Ben Solo as two people - Ben Solo being the actual personhood and soul, Kylo Ren being the person Ben WANTS to be. Kylo Ren doesn't actually exist until Ben Solo let's go of himself; until that point he's just an imaginary act that Ben puts on when he wants to be badass. ;)

This story takes place directly following the movie. I'm not really a huge Star Wars fan - not because I don't like it, but because my heart has always belonged to Transformers - until this new movie, so you old time fans go ahead and feel free to tease me about it if you want, and please please PLEASE write me a message if there's anything I'm missing or have gotten wrong as far as the world of Star Wars goes... I'm really not as familiar with it as I want to be.

So, in closing, here's wht this story promises: It promises a Kylo Ren-centric, as-realistic-as-possible, semi-humorous semi-dark semi-romantic story that will try and continue this little idea I've had until I find a proper ending for it. I welcome ideas, in that area. ;P Look forward to an intense battle for the redemption of a young man that's already dead, the realization that he's been replaced by the creature he so often longed to be, and the answer to the question: Will Kylo Ren (NOT Ben Solo, note) be redeemed?

Please enjoy; I should have the next chapter up very soon, if not by this afternoon.

~Willow