author's note:

Written for MyJediLife

Prompt: "To what lengths will the Supreme Leader go to to bring his lovely future bride back from the dark so he can find balance and bathe in her light once more?" Writt

Written for the Gift Giving Extravaganze on for the month of January (yup, it's late).

unbeta'd

"I've seen the truth of the galaxy," she said to him after the battle, after she had taken his extended hand and agreed to join him in ruling the galaxy. He hadn't thought she would, though he'd hoped: she was too pure, too dedicated to the illusions of people she'd just met. But something had changed, and she had turned.

"On Achto, once Luke finally deigned to teach me something about the Force, I felt the island's heart beating, cold and damp and angry. I fell into it, and it showed me what I always knew to be true but refused to accept."

"What did you see?" Kylo asked.

They had agreed to leave Snoke on his throne to rot away. By now, even Kylo wanted to gag when the sealed doors opened to admit him into the room, not that he found many excuses to go there these days, but the smell didn't seem to bother Rey any. She had even set up her seat beside Snoke's and spent long hours staring out into space, thinking or reminiscing, Kylo didn't know. He figured she'd tell him if she wanted him to know.

That was where they were now. Rey sat on her new throne, staring out into the endless distance, and Kylo stood by her side, trying to breathe discreetly through his mouth and avoid looking at his former master's decomposing corpse.

"That I was alone. That we are all always alone. That is the reality of the universe."

"I'm here now. You're not alone anymore."

Rey glanced his way without turning her head, and Kylo did not yet know her well enough to read her expression. Kylo could see the subtle movements of her facial muscles, but he could not decipher them. He did not understand her mind like he did others, but he respected her too much to intrude on her mind as he had tried to do once before.

"We are born alone, and we die alone. The rest is just the in-between, a meaningless facade. It is a linear line from A to B, an inescapable truth." She smiled lightly then and glanced toward Snoke's corpse, perhaps contemplating his eternal solitude. "A truth that tormented me my whole life until Ach-To. But in that mirror cave, it suddenly did not seem so oppressive, so I accepted it, and I felt infused with power."

"Is that when you killed Luke Skywalker?" Kylo had felt his death in the Force and had only mourned not having been the one to have caused it.

"Yes. He was so pathetic and self-centered. The wind provided me with momentum, the sea with strength, and I skewered him with my quarterstaff." Rey spoke without intonation in her voice; everything was matter-of-fact. "He was upsetting the balance of the Force on the island."

When Kylo reached out to her with the Force, a blanket of calm peace washed over him. Like a placid ocean, there were depths to her, but everything felt in harmony, moving fluidly as one. He felt no conflict in her, no doubt. Even more disturbing still, he felt none of the emotions and longing of all those he met who had embraced the Dark Side: no greed for power, no hatred for the weak, no excitement at the thought of inflicting pain. She had not raised her voice or harmed a single sentient being since having joined him to rule the galaxy nearly a month ago.

"What should we do with the Rebels on Crait?" Kylo asked, unsure of what to say in reply. He had never stumbled upon such soul-calming truth, though it had certainly not been for lack of trying. He suspected that Rey could feel his turbulence and conflict just as he could feel her serenity. He wondered what she made of it and if she thought any less of him for it. He longed to confide in her as she seemed to be confiding in him, but he did not know how to find the words, much less speak them. A lifetime of frustration, repression, and later submission had burned the bridge that may have once existed between his internal state of being and his voice.

"Leave them be."

" Leave them be ?" Kylo knew himself to be Supreme Leader, and no agreement between himself and Rey had endowed her with authority beyond his own, and yet he found himself turning to her, deferring to her continually. Was it his conditioning to obey? Or did she exude a natural leadership against which he was powerless to fight?

"They are trapped down on Crait. They have sent signals out for help that have yet to be returned. But they must be repairing their ships and healing their troops. We should strike at them now, while they're still weak and scrambling to regroup."

"It won't be necessary," Rey replied, calm to Kylo's mounting agitation. She turned her head, not toward him, but Snoke again. Kylo forced himself to look, too, taking in the stretching, flaking flesh and stains left on his clothes, throne, and floor from when fluids had left his body. The stench was still atrocious, but at least no insects or flies swarmed around like there would have been had they been on any planet, exposed to such pests.

"So alone," she whispered, but she didn't sound sad or scared. Kylo thought she sounded almost fascinated.

"What do you mean it won't be necessary?"

Rey looked at him this time and smiled, a warmth coming from her eyes that she graced him with too rarely. How did she manage to stay so warm when the Dark took it all? Kylo felt himself leaning toward her. He wanted to embrace her then, feel her warm skin against his own cold one.

But he restrained himself. It wouldn't do to display such affection in front of the subordinates.

"You'll see, Kylo," she said. "Soon, you will understand the true power of the Dark side."

In their chambers at night, Kylo pulled her close, wrapping himself into every nook and cranny of her body. There should be coils of steam rising out of the bedsheets, Kylo thought, as his icicle body connected with the red coal that was hers. It felt good to press up against her warmth, better than anything he'd ever felt before, and though he hoped it felt good for her, too, he couldn't fully enjoy it: how was it possible that she was growing hotter daily? Would it stop or would she burn herself to a crisp from the inside out?

Kylo pulled her closer to him, held her tighter, in the hope of cooling her down. He couldn't explain where the feeling came from, but he knew he was losing her. Somehow, something was happening that he couldn't see, and he couldn't shake the feeling that if only he could understand, he could save her.

He could save them both.

Kylo woke up feeling weak: his entire body clammy inside and out, his limbs nearly too heavy to lift. He had never been sick in his life-the Force was so strong in him that it had always kept his body clean, strong, and healthy. Until now, it seemed.

His head spun and his stomach, though empty, threatened to expel itself out of his throat. He still managed to pull himself out of bed and, with the help of a service droid, got dressed.

He had to find Rey. Whatever this disease that had infiltrated itself onboard their ship, if it was strong enough to weaken his Force, it must have gotten to Rey, too. They had to act fast to heal themselves and quarantine the infected before it decimated their troops.

Kylo found Rey in the throne room. Three days ago, she had revoked everyone's access to the room, and now only she and Kylo had the authority to unseal the doors.

Rey sat in her throne, as calm and collected as ever. She looked healthy, too. Kylo had looked at his reflection as he dressed and knew his skin was sickly pale, his eyes sunken into their sockets, and his hair greasy and flat. Rey looked alert and fresh; there was no sheen of sweat on her face, and her cheeks looked plump and rosy. If anything, she looked healthier than ever.

There were two dead bodies deposited at Snoke's feet that had not been there the day before. Kylo didn't recognize their faces, and they wore unidentifiable sleep attire. He suspected they were stormtroopers, but his mind was slow and foggy, and he couldn't comprehend why Rey would have had them brought in here to rest at Snoke's feet.

Rey's hand brushed his, and Kylo turned to find Rey standing beside him. She smiled at him, that warmth again, though Kylo could see something sad in her eyes.

"You still don't understand."

"Are you doing this?"

Rey intertwined her fingers with him, a soft and loving gesture that burned Kylo deep inside.

"Rey, what is happening?"

"The true power of the Dark Side, Kylo, isn't flashy displays of massive destruction. It's much simpler and terrifying than that. It's life-" she brought her hand, palm up, to the three bodies before them "-and it's death. Eternal solitude. Eternal darkness."

Rey's hand burned in his, becoming hotter and hotter by the second, almost unbearable, but Kylo fought the instinct to snatch his hand away. He tightened his grip, instead. Rey looked at him, evidently surprised.

"You're going to absorb all of our Life Force."

"Now do you understand why the Rebels pose no threat to us? By the time our fleet has fueled me, I won't need to be close to them to feel their Force. They will come to me from space."

"By the time that happens, there won't be any 'us' or 'our' left."

Rey frowned at him and tilted her head, observing him carefully. "But isn't it a cause worthy of your sacrifice? Is that not why you joined Snoke? Is that not what this is all about, the fight between Dark and Light?"

She had him there. Of course, Kylo had not joined Snoke out of blind ideological devotion. He'd joined Snoke out of adolescent rebellion, out of misunderstood frustration, and perhaps out of some ancestral drive of ambition. But Rey knew that. She saw right through him, as she always had.

"Of course it wasn't, was it? And it wasn't that for Snoke, either. He was as weak and pathetic as Luke Skywalker. Self-involved, self-interested. Greed, power, and ambition. I can taste it in my mouth. It coats my teeth and tongue like grit I can't spit out. But that's not the Dark Side, you know. I taste it coming from them on the Light Side, too. It's all polluted. But I will set it right. By the time I've gone through the sentient beings, suns, moons, and planets will all give their Force to me, too. It's time to let it all die, isn't it, Kylo? One day, there will be nothing left in the galaxy. It will be peaceful and beautiful again. Just pure Dark. "

Kylo began to shake his head. What had happened to his Rey, the one who had growled at him, called him a monster for all the pain he'd inflicted? Now she stared blankly out at the stars she longed to extinguish. Once, not long ago, life had been all that she had cherished. Now, it meant nothing more than an obstacle in her way to total annihilation.

And there was no one strong enough to stop her.

When Kylo looked at the dead bodies again, he saw only a pile of ashes in their stead.

In a single day, half of the stormtroopers onboard Supremacy perished of what the medics were calling the Space Plague. They had no idea what was going on, and they never would.

Rey now slept deeply and peacefully at his side, but Kylo knew that even in her sleep, she was feeding. By morning, Kylo suspected all of their ground troops would have perished, and the officers were next in line.

Kylo wondered how long he had left as he gently combed his fingers through Rey's hair. It didn't matter what he did to her, she slept on, and Kylo took advantage of this to kiss her nuke and breathe in her scent.

When he had seen their future through their Force Bond, seen her accepting his outstretched hand, he had imagined such a different future.

He caressed her arm and willed himself not to be sentimental. The Rey he loved had quite possibly died on Ach-To; or become possessed by some Dark parasite lying dormant in the island's heart, waiting for eons for a host strong enough to bear its presence.

Was Rey, his Rey, his Queen of Light, still in there somewhere?

Kylo sat up in bed; it was a struggle. He could feel the Force seeping out of his pores with every passing hour. He suspected he had another half day to live, a full day at the most, depending on how strong in the Force the others that remained were.

Kylo had never much cared whether he lived or died; Rey was right that birth and death were endured in solitude, but he did not agree that it did not matter what happened in between, not if one had the right person by their side.

And he had the right person next to him already, he was positive of it. He just needed to find her again.

Kylo sat up against the wall and put his hand on the top of Rey's head. He did not need to be touching her for this, but somehow having physical contact reassured him. He hesitated. Luke had violated his intimacy, and Kylo had never forgiven him for it; but, then again, Luke had shown up with a lightsaber he'd been ready to use.

Kylo licked his lips. It did not matter much whether Rey forgave him or not. If he failed, he'd be dead soon anyway.

He closed his eyes, reached for whatever fledgling Force power he had left. Finding it, Kylo let himself fall into it, let it wrap around his body, his mind, his very cell, and essence; then, he reached out and delved into Rey's mind.