Gray ✣ Reylo

i. broken

Alone. That's what he'd been his entire life. Even training with Luke, he never felt present. He had just been a burden. No matter how hard he had tried, he was never good enough for his uncle; that was proved to him when he tried to murder him.

His parents too, they had just sent him away. He was too much responsibility for them, he could tell that, even when he was young. His mother was too busy helping the Resistance and Han, his father, was never there. Not when he needed him.

Then again, if Luke, the greatest Jedi basically ever, couldn't help him, then who possibly could?

Well, to think of it, he wasn't completely alone. There had been Snoke. Hux, even, when he was bored.

But now Snoke was gone. Rey, the girl, was too.

She had been the only person to see him as more than he was. As a human. A person capable of redemption, someone who could be saved.

But Kylo didn't even believe it himself. He was a monster, just as she had told him earlier. A cruel, cold monster. The only thing he could do now was agree.

He had nothing left. After capturing the Rebel base, he should have felt victorious. He should have felt like he used to: unstoppable and strong. The Dark Side had always made him feel stronger, but now he was left with nothing. No satisfaction could be found in his heart.

All he was now was broken.

Kneeling, he looked down at his hand again- his father's trinket was gone.

He tried to reach out to her. There were so many things he needed to say, but he couldn't find the words. On the other side, there was nothing. She had closed the door to the Millenium Falcon- that utter piece of garbage- on him, just as his father had done to him when he was younger.

Completely and totally alone.

And although he would never, ever admit it, he was afraid.

~

"I've heard a lot about you," Poe grinned at Rey as she pulled her hand away from his handshake. Her thoughts were racing from the force bond. She had closed the door on him; it was something that needed to be done. Ben Solo could never come back as long as Kylo Ren kept hunting him down. Still, her heart ached as she thought about his guilty, dark eyes staring at her as she closed the door in his face.

"Oh, really?" Rey asked. "Good things, I hope." She returned his comment warm smile.

He shrugged. "Finn wouldn't stop talking about you, you know. I can't believe I'm getting to meet the legend in person."

Rey looked down, troubled. "Legend?" She asked. "I'm no legend." She thought back Ben Solo. To Kylo Ren. So many resistance members had died before she could save them. There were only a few left. There was so much that she couldn't save.

Poe looked at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Are you kidding me? You fought Kylo Ren and won. You're like, the most powerful Jedi since Luke Skywalker!"

She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Luke. He was gone, she knew, but she also knew that it had been his time. "That's not true," she told him. "But I will always try to be like him."

Poe smiled, then looked at Finn and Rose. "You've done so much good, Rey. Please never forget that."

Her eyes were filled with dismay as she thought back to Kylo Ren's offer to rule the galaxy. She had been so tempted. "Thank you," she told him. "But I don't quite know if I have."

~

"Supreme Leader, sir, what are we going to do now?" General Hux approached behind the kneeling Kylo Ren carefully.

He stood up slowly, his cape brushing against the salty ground, staining it red. He turned to face Hux. The General had never seen someone so close to falling apart. Kylo Ren's eyes bled with uncertainty.

Ren's shoulders broadened as he composed himself. His demeanor suddenly changed from that of a lost puppy to the Supreme Leader he was used to portraying. In a low voice, almost a growl, Kylo spoke. "Get everyone back to the ship."

Hux nodded. It was better for him to comply with an errant command than to argue with him. Hux would just have to wait for his time- he had almost had him after Snoke had been murdered. He had woken up just before Hux had his chance.

"We're going to end all of this once and for all."

Unsure of what the boy meant, Hux only nodded. He knew he would have another chance soon enough, and this time there would be no hesitations. He would end the new Supreme Leader's reign as soon as it had started. Soon enough, everyone would be bowing to him.

As Hux walked away, Kylo stayed there, staring out of the opening of the cave as he watched the Millenium Falcon jump into lightspeed.

He could have commanded his forces to go after them. He could have killed them all. It would have been so simple, getting rid of everyone who had ever hurt him on that piece of junk- Leia, his mother, the girl, that damned scavenger who had managed to crumble his carefully stacked facade.

He had once struck fear into the hearts of everyone. Kylo Ren had done horrible things. Killed many people, destroyed lives, destroyed planets, but Rey, the girl, had made him feel like he wanted to be a better man.

But now she was gone.

In a blink, a bright, quiet flash, the Falcon disappeared. He looked to his ships, their guns were loaded and tanks full. It would have been easy to follow them, easy to shoot them down and end this all swiftly, with a bang.

He stayed silent.