Ben Solo was dead.

Supreme Leader Snoke of the First Order paused as he considered that thought. Solo had Skywalker blood, and the Skywalkers were always hard to kill off. It was just barely possible that Solo was alive but if that was the case he had clearly shut himself off from the Force. In that case, it wasn't very likely that he would ever be found again. Even Snoke couldn't find a Force User who consciously shut himself off from the Force.

However, his search for Solo had borne fruit … even if of a different sort than what he had been seeking.

Jakku was a nowhere planet. Snoke was familiar with the type. The last important thing that had happened here was a battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. The world had little to offer other than the debris of that battlefield that provided a living of sort for the small population that lived on this world.

And yet it was on this world that Snoke had found a Force signature to rival Ben Solo. A power young and untried- and as yet dormant- that still burned through the Force like a supernova.

Yes … this was where he needed to be. This child would be what he would need to make his Knights of Ren a fearsome force.

She (for he had discovered after careful investigation that it was a human female) was important enough that he had gone to Jakku personally. Her will was strong- she could not be coerced into joining the First Order, but she could be convinced. And there was no one more adept at such things than Snoke himself.

So he traded in his imperial robes for a simple trader's uniform. He carried a wooden staff (ostensibly to help him walk) and a small supply of rations. The taste was bland, but he had no doubt that to a starving youngling abandoned on a junk heap of a planet they would taste like heaven.

He waited till nightfall before he approached the girl's home. Making a show of being a tired old man, he set up a camp for himself outside of the wreckage that served as her home. He started to prepare the food rations. Humans didn't have the keenest sense of smell in the galaxy, but he had no doubt that the odor of cooking food would reach her shortly.

And when the food was ready, he turned and looked around in the shadows. "Hello? Is there someone there? I don't have anything worth stealing, but I'll share my food if you promise not to hurt me."

After a moment, a slender girl stepped out of the shadows. She was even younger than he had thought she would be. She carried a staff with her. Her movements were wary, her senses alert to treachery. "I won't hurt you."

"Good. I'm afraid it would be a wasted effort. Everything I had worth stealing was taken from me long ago." He spooned some food out in a small dish and gave it to the girl. "Go on. Take it. It's not very tasty, but it's filling."

She wolfed down her portion quickly and then looked at him. "I still have some bread rations. I can share them with you."

"That won't be necessary, child. I'm an old man. I don't need much food." He spooned some more out for her. "Here. Eat. You need it more than I do." He sighed and then looked at her with a faint smile. "You know, you're just the age my daughter was when she died."

"I'm sorry." She looks at him with honest compassion, and he finds it vaguely surprising that a child living such a harsh life still has it in her to feel empathy for other people. "Did she suffer?"

"The ship she was on was destroyed in a clash between the Rebel Alliance and the Empire." He closed his eyes as if in pain. "Neither side bothered to pick up any survivors."

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"Do you have parents, child?"

"Not here," she admitted. "They're coming back for me. They promised. That's why I have to stay here. So they'll be able to find me."

"Oh? How long has it been?"

"A very long time. I'm sure they'll be back any day now."

"Do you really think so, Rey?"

"How did you know my name?" There was a pathetic eagerness in her next words. "Did they send you to come get me?"

He smiled sadly. "No. And I know your name because I read it in your mind. Just like I read the truth about your parents there."

"What do you mean?"

He smiled gently. "You know your parents aren't coming back, Rey. You've known that for a long time. They're coming back is a fairytale you tell yourself to help you sleep at night."

"That's not true!"

"Search your feelings. You know it to be true."

And then Rey began to cry.

He waited a few minutes for her to get it out of her system, then handed her a handkerchief. "I know it hurts to be abandoned, Rey. The same thing happened to me. My people considered me nothing." He smiled. "That's literally what my name means among my people: nothing. They hurt me." And he laid a hand on his deformed head. "They took whatever I had whenever I wanted- until I discovered I had something within me that could protect me and what I cared about."

With a thought, he caused the rocks and broken pieces of metal around his campsite to start to float.

"Are you a Jedi?" Her eyes went wide.

"Oh no, my dear."

"A Sith?" She stood up in fright.

"I'm not a Sith, child. I'm something else entirely. I'm someone who finds people like you and me- people who are treated as nothing by everyone with a title and wealth- and make them into something capable of protecting what matters to them. My name is Snoke. And I am the Supreme Leader of the First Order."

"But the First Order kills me and you seem so nice-"

"I don't want to kill people, Rey, but sometimes you haven't got a choice. If those who have so much aren't willing to share … well they can choose to surrender or fight. It's not my fault if they make the wrong choice."

"Why come out here to me? I'm nothing. I'm no one."

"That's not true, Rey, and you know it. You know you were always destined for something better. Surely you can feel it. You're like me, Rey. A nobody meant to change the galaxy. The power you saw me wield is inside you too. You can use it to help me. To help people like yourself."

She was clearly wavering.

"I will never abandon you, Rey," he promised her gently. "Come with me and I will give you food and a warm bed and you will want for nothing ever again. You will never be alone again. I'll always be with you."

"Supreme Leader ..." she said … testing the phrase out.

"That's what most people who work with me call me because they think I am wise. You on the other hand … you I think will call me something else because I see so much of myself in you."

"What? What do you want me to call you?"

He opened his arms out to the girl. "Father."

With a cry, the girl launched herself into his arms and buried her face against his chest. Years of longing for a home, for a family, burst forth from her in that moment …

Just as he knew it would.

"Rey, Rey. It's all right, child. You're safe now. You're safe." He tilted her face up with a touch to her chin. "But as your father, it's time for me to give you a new name."

"A new name?" She looked up at him with wet eyes. "I have a name ..."

"Why hang onto the name given you by people who didn't want you, child? Let me show my love for you by giving you a new name to start your new life."

"All right." She sniffled a bit, but nodded.

"Kyla Ren. Your name is Kyla Ren. And together … together you and I will reshape the Galaxy!"

He hugged the girl to him. "Come, child. It's time for us to go home."

"Home," Kyla Ren said, tasting the word like water after a hot Jakku day. "Home … I'm ready … Father."

And the two of them walked off into the night.

Author's Note: This AU popped up in my brain and wouldn't let me alone. So I just had to start it.