Remember what you must do
When they undervalue you,
When they think
Your softness is your weakness,
When they treat your kindness
Like it is their advantage.

You awaken
Every dragon,
Every wolf,
Every monster that sleeps inside you
And you remind them
What Hell looks like
When it wears the skin
Of a gentle human.

-unknown

--REN--

Rey's deafening scream turns into white noise. Blood thunders in my ears. Everything moves in slow motion. The air pulses and every nerve in my body burns with awareness, like a warning. A warning from the Force. She reaches out and summons my lightsaber from my hand with such power I'm helpless to stop it.

I don't have time to brace myself before she unleashes a blast unlike anything I've experienced before. It's a cry of rage, of grief, of unspeakable pain and it explodes from her in a wave of power that splits the floor below my feet and brings me to my knees. The pilot and the traitor are unconscious on the floor, blood dripping from their ears. She steps over them without a second glance.

Heavy metallic groans sound all around me and I realize just how much damage Rey has done. The throne room looks like a war zone, with no surface left intact. Cracks cover every inch of the floor and the sections of the walls have fallen away to reveal the wiring below. Another tremor rocks the ship and knocks me off balance.

My skull is going to split open. Every bone in my body is on fire. I'm on my back now and she stands over me, my lightsaber gripped in her right hand, eyes blazing redder and hotter than any fire. The floor shudders again and she shifts her focus from me to the Supreme Leader. I follow her stare and find Snoke stooped over in front of his ruined throne, clutching a gaping wound in his side.

He barks out a hoarse laugh that leads to a fit of heaving coughs. "I have to say, I did not see this coming," he rasps, grinning at Rey. "You are more powerful than I had hoped. Tell me, young one, what other secrets are you hiding?"

Rey doesn't respond. She stares at him, face contorted as she bares her teeth and stalks toward him. The Force churns around her like a tumultuous sea, angry and filled with purpose. Snoke's Guards step forward, weapons lowered and pointed toward Rey, but the Supreme Leader waves them off. "She is no threat to me," he tells them. "She doesn't know what she's capable of. Her powers are beyond her reach...for now."

But Rey doesn't stop. She continues her march, limping slightly, and it hits me. She's going to kill him. I feel it like a burning fire, reaching across the bridge between our minds. "Rey, please, you have no idea what you're doing!" I shout, stumbling to my feet. She spins toward me and shoves me back with a flick of her hand. Her eyes, still gleaming red, look manic and wild. This isn't Rey, this is someone else. Something else.

She turns away and stands face-to-face with Snoke, staring up at him with daring defiance. Emotions war within me. I'm torn between trying to save her and defending my Master. She made her choice, and it wasn't me. I should be furious, I was furious, but now...

"Oh, what is this? Is the little scavenger feeling brave now?" Snoke laughs, teeth bared in a cruel smile, and blood trickles from the corner of his mouth. "I should kill you where you stand."

"Try it. I dare you." Rey's voice is menacing and fearless. Her grip on my saber tightens and her left hand squeezes into a fist at her side. The smile falls from the Supreme Leader's face, replaced by the fearsome sneer of a predator.

Snoke lifts his hand toward Rey and she gasps, free hand flying to her throat, desperately trying to free the invisible choke hold. She flails, feet dangling above the ground, and drops my lightsaber. The hilt deactivates and clatters to the ruined floor. I flinch, knowing her death is near. But my place is not with her. I'm destined to rule the galaxy, like my grandfather. So I do nothing.

"Silly girl, you cannot beat me," Snoke growls. "Your friends are dead. Ben Solo is dead, and you cannot bring him back now. You should have taken my offer. But it's too late now, and you must die." His eyes are alight with eager anticipation as he tightens his hold on Rey, who smiles wickedly in response.

His laughter is cut short and the light drains from his eyes. Blood falls from his gaping mouth, illuminated by the scarlet blade protruding from the center of his chest. Waves of shock engulf me, as I take in the scene before me.

Impossible. This can't happen. She couldn't have. But she did. Somehow, while the life was being choked from her, she'd used the Force to draw her lightsaber from its position on Snoke's throne, line it up behind him, and ignite it directly into his heart.

He'd been right all along. Rey was no ordinary Force-wielder. She was no Jedi, no Sith. She was beyond anything I could have anticipated, and it terrified me.

The Supreme Leader stares down at the lightsaber in wonder, then up at Rey, who drops to the floor with a gasp. Snoke falls backward, scrambling for his throne, and manages to prop himself against it. Rey's legs tremble as she stands before him, coughing, but still radiating intense power. She reaches out and suddenly she's wielding both sabers, blades forming an "X" at the exposed throat of the most feared being in the galaxy.

"You lose," she whispers.

The blades slide together in a shower of red sparks. Snoke's head, face frozen forever in an expression of horror, separates from his shoulders and falls to the floor with a sickening thump. The guards are on her at once as I watch, paralyzed by what has transpired.

She fights without mercy, ruthlessly wielding both lightsabers as if she's been training for this moment her entire life. It's unlike anything I've seen before. No more than a blur of flickering red, Rey moves from opponent to opponent with formidable ease. Each blow she takes only angers her further, makes every strike after land harder than the last.

Two of the eight Guards lay lifeless behind Rey while the remaining six circle her, searching for an opening between the whirling crimson blades. Suddenly it's three against one--she blocks the first with her saber, using mine to land a blow on the second, then kicks him away. The third swipes at her face with his dagger, she deflects it, and he buries a second blade in the gash across her stomach. The one I'd given her just minutes earlier.

"REY!" I break out of my stupor and stumble toward her, trying desperately to get my feet underneath me. My brain is screaming at me to kill her, slaughter her for what she's done, take the throne, take over my way and finish what Darth Vader started. But my heart knows I can't kill her. She understands me like no one else, and treats me better than I deserve. We complement each other perfectly, and we will rule together better than anyone before us.

I can't let her die. I still need her to help me take control of the First Order. We have a new Empire to build.

The scavenger's eyes find mine through the chaos and time stops. One single moment that seems to last forever and speaks louder than the noise around us. Her eyes fade back to their normal green-brown and my lightsaber drops from her fingers, clattering on the floor below. Regret overtakes me in that moment and I reach for her, reach through the connection, and the sheer agony that radiates from her is enough to have me doubled over. She shuts me out and I feel the loss of her presence in my mind like a slap in the face.

The Guard is about to deliver the final blow when I realize what this means. Their master is gone, which puts me in control. I am the Supreme Leader now.

"Stand DOWN!" At the sound of my voice the remains of the Praetorian Guard turn to face me, weapons stilled. Rey stumbles and falls to the ground, eyes rolling back into her head. "The Supreme Leader is dead," I say, making my way toward the throne. "As his sole apprentice, that makes me his successor." I summon my lightsaber from the ground and it sails effortlessly into my waiting hand.

The Guards kneel before me in unison, heads bowed. "Leave us," I command. "I will finish it." They snap to attention before sheathing their weapons and filing out of the throne room through the turbolift.

As soon as they're gone I rush to Rey's side and drop to my knees. The wound across her abdomen has busted open where my lightsaber had cauterized it; the stab wound, just above her right hip, is bleeding profusely.

"Don't...don't hurt her," a voice mumbles from behind me. I turn to find Poe pushing himself into a sitting position. Finn is still unconscious.

"I'm trying to help her," I snap. "She's bleeding out."

Poe drags himself over and shoves my hands out of the way. "Haven't you done enough? You're the reason she's in this mess. Why don't y-hey!" He shouts when I rip a section of cloth off the bottom of his shirt.

I roll up the strip and press it against the gaping wound in her abdomen. "Shut up and keep pressure here." Once his hands replace mine I stand and make my way toward the door.

"Where are you going? You just gonna leave her here like this?"

I ignore him and locate the data pad beside the main doors, using my personal code to summon a medical droid from the med bay. "Wake up your friend and get him on the escape pod. I'll take care of Rey."

Poe laughs humorlessly. "Yeah, right. No way I'm leaving her with you. There's no telling what you'll do to her."

I walk back over to them and shove him away, placing my hands where his had been over the wound in Rey's stomach. "How much did you see?" I ask, referring to Rey's dark side. His face darkens and I know he remembers.

"It doesn't matter. She's still one of us. We can figure the rest out later." His voice is steady, but I can see fear and hesitation in his eyes.

"She's unstable. Unpredictable. When she comes to she'll need to be with someone who knows how to deal with her...condition." The door slides open with a hiss and a medical droid flits in, immediately zeroing in on its patient. I step back and remove the fabric strip from Rey's abdomen so the droid can do its work.

"She's still Rey," Poe argues, wiping blood from his eye. "She's not a situation that needs handling. She needs her friends."

I scoff at him. "You have no idea what you're dealing with. This is someone who has been repressing their true nature for so long it turned her into a ticking bomb. Now that she's snapped..." I trail off, remembering what it felt like when I'd shut Ben Solo out and taken on the mantle of Kylo Ren. I'd never felt more lost or alone, and having no one there to help me through the transition only made things worse. "She's not the same person now. She needs my help."

"Rey?" Finn groans, holding his head as he struggles to sit up. He glances over toward us and does a double-take. "What did you do to her?!" He yells, scrambling toward me. I hold up my hand toward him and pin him down with the Force.

"I didn't do anything. She did all this."

"No. No way. Rey could never--" he stops when he sees Snoke's severed head, eyes rolled back, mouth open and spilling blood onto the floor. "What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was Rey, she--" Finn looks down at her seemingly lifeless form and swallows hard. "Her eyes were red."

"Yes," I respond blandly.

He reaches up and touches his ear, fingers coming away coated in blood. "I don't...I don't understand. I don't believe it."

Poe wanders over to the Supreme Leader's corpse and nudges it with his foot. "She did this? On her own?"

"That wasn't Rey," Finn states, scowling. "No offense, Ren, but she reminded me of you when you went postal on us on Starkiller. She's never like that."

I narrow my eyes at him and he looks away. "I tried to warn you," I snap. "I wasn't lying. She has a darkness within her that is consuming her. Denying its existence is what caused this." I gesture at the destruction surrounding us. The Force ripples around me and sharp pain over my right hip draws my attention back to Rey. "She's waking up. Don't let her move." I sit down behind her and cradle her head in my lap, holding her shoulders down.

Rey's eyes fly open and she gasps, pain marring her face. Finn and Poe rush over and hold her legs down to keep her from kicking the droid away. "Hey, hey! Rey, take it easy," Finn says, grabbing her hand. She cries out, tears falling and mixing with the blood on her face.

"I know it hurts, but the more you move, the longer it'll take the droid to close the wound." I tighten my grip on her shoulders and she snaps her gaze up to my face.

"Get off me," she spits, agony breaking her voice. "You did this to me, you tried to kill me!"

I dig my fingers into her skin and she whimpers. "You did this! All of this is your fault!" I shout. "You destroyed the entire room, you hurt these two idiots, you killed Snoke and you didn't even hesitate!"

Rey looks down at her battered body, her bloodstained hands, and finally takes in her surroundings. Finn and Poe watch her warily, dried blood apparent on their faces. I move to the side so she can see Snoke's headless body where it's still slumped against the throne. "I...did that?" She whispers.

"You really don't remember?" Finn asks incredulously. "You went full Kylo Ren on us. Your eyes were--"

"There's a lot we need to discuss," I interject, seeing the panic in her eyes. "Snoke is dead, and someone will have to take his place."

Poe laughs humorlessly. "So this was your plan all along? Push Rey over the edge so she'd do your dirty work? With Snoke out of the way the throne is yours for the taking."

"Would you prefer Hux leading the First Order? Phasma?" I spit. They don't respond. "Rey will stay with me while she recovers."

She tries to sit up and sucks in a sharp breath. "This...changes...nothing," she hisses through clenched teeth. "You're a murderer...and a traitor." Her eyes shut against the pain and another tear falls down her face. My stomach drops and anger burns deep in my chest. "I hate you for what you've done."

"I did this for you, to protect you!" I challenge. The medical droid finishes Rey's sutures and zips off again. "You're meant to be here, Rey. With me. Your destiny is to rule, to bring a new order to the galaxy! It's time to let old things die."

Finn and Poe scoff and I scowl at them.

Rey pushes herself up until she's leaning heavily against Poe. "My destiny does not belong to you. My loyalty is to the Resistance, to the Jedi. I will never join you," she vows, teeth bared.

Smoldering rage builds in me until I feel it radiating in the Force like heat from a burning fire. "Leave. Now. Take Snoke's escape pod before I change my mind and kill you all." I turn my back on them and stalk toward the throne. My throne.

They don't argue. Feet scuffle along the damaged floors. Murmured conversations fade as they enter the craft. The last of Snoke's influence, fading quickly, tugs at the back of my mind and I turn to face the escape pod as the door slides shut. Rey's gaze meets mine across the throne room and I find myself longing to ease the pain written across her face. For a moment I think I see the same emotions reflected in her eyes, but it's replaced by anger again before I can figure it out.

"I trusted you."

Rey's words are whispered but I hear them as clearly as if she'd spoken directly in my ear. The door slides shut and our connection, the dreaded and beloved bridge Snoke created, burns.

I'm all alone again, and this time is worse.

I let her get away.