A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait for an update - I just started an internship that's taking up a lot of my time, so I haven't had very many opportunities to write.

This is a shorter chapter, but it's also Kylo-centric (and I know we all love that :D), so hopefully that makes up for the length! It was originally going to involve Rey's POV as well, but it started to get reeeeeaallly long, and I already have a tendency to write super-lengthy chapters, so I decided to cut it down a bit.

ALSO, I made a Spotify playlist for this fic! It can be found here:

user/calliopekismet/playlist/5WeFJfZZKWVTXdTOh7nIdj

So feel free to listen at your leisure.

Anyway, as always, your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy!

Three

"You can't… you can't keep leaving like this… Rey!"

Kylo Ren awoke with a harsh gasp, beads of icy sweat coating his skin. His bare chest rose and fell heavily in tandem with his rapidly-beating heart, strands of dark hair clinging to his damp brow. His ears were buzzing with the strength of the Force as it snarled through the atmosphere, so tremendous in its power that it left him shaking in the face of it.

He tore the heavy sheets of his bed away from him, swinging his long, trembling legs over the side and cradling his head in his hands. He was no longer in the dense woods of his and Rey's Force nexus, but in his sumptuous quarters aboard the Supremacy. The room was a stark change from his chambers on Starkiller; the lofty, gold-plated ceiling, silk-spun blankets and opulent furniture were a bit too lavish for his tastes, somehow made even more disconcerting in the wake of the encounter he'd just had.

Kylo let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes. There was somethingabout this particular run-in with Rey that was decidedly troubling, even beyond the inexorable heartache he felt at the realization that she was distancing herself from him, again.

Even now, just moments after being released from the Bond's hypnotic trance, Ren could feel a very-distinct change sifting through the Force. He'd noticed it immediately in the nexus, when he'd taken her hand and seen kaleidoscopic apparitions of a world that did not yet exist. Bursts of vivid feelings - love, lust, heartache, belonging - had overpowered him, as well as something else entirely. Something annoyingly inscrutable, like a passing train of thought; shapeless and unformed, yet horribly familiar.

But what was it? What was the Force trying to show him? His future? Another life? Had Rey experienced the same premonition? He was certain she had - she'd practically passed out in his arms in the aftermath of it, after all. But if that was the case, had she seen something different? Something that had scared her enough to send her running back to Skywalker?

And what was he supposed to make of the children...?

In his vision, he'd seen ephemeral flashes of two young girls - likely no older than three - identical in their doll-like features, with midnight-black hair and deep, soulful eyes. Two piercing orbs of hazel, dotted with flecks of green and gold, haunting in their familiarity...

And now, the Force rippled with undulating currents of jagged, unrestrained power, inherently recognizable and yet disturbingly foreign, like fragmented reflections in a broken mirror. Very dull but very distinct. Stars... what was it?

He found himself desperately pushing into the Force, searching for Rey, horrified to discover that he couldn't... feel her anymore. She was doing a particularly superb job of masking her signature, no doubt with the help of his bastard uncle. She may not have wanted to tell Luke about the two of them before, but it seemed as though, after last time, she didn't have much of a choice.

"Rey?" he called out into the endless, mystical void. "I know you can hear me. We need to talk about what happened..."

Silence.

"Rey - " he tried again, this time more urgently. "Please..."

For a moment, still, there was nothing, until a thick, piercing presence rattled through his head. Not Rey's, but something decidedly more menacing and sinister...

Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke's voice rang clearly in his eardrums, measured in tone yet still full of indisputable bite, making it impossible to read. Kylo's heart plunged into his stomach at the sudden intrusion.

Bring yourself to me at once.

Snoke's force signature faded from his consciousness just as quickly as it had appeared, but the paralyzing panic that seized Ren in its wake did not.

Kriff. This was not good.

Anytime his Master summoned him for an audience, there was usually a problem. Snoke spent a lot of time in Kylo's head. They didn't share a Bond in the same way that he shared one with Rey, and the man afforded him enough privacy that Kylo didn't feel like a rat in a cage, but the Supreme Leader was certainly able to communicate with Ren in times like these, when he'd obviously done something very, very wrong.

And Kylo was certain that that something had to do with Rey.

No. This was definitely not good.

Nonetheless, Ren rose off the bed on unsteady legs and dressed himself with quaking fingers, understanding that keeping the Supreme Leader waiting could only spell far worse consequences in the end. Before long, he was once again shrouded in endless, shadowy layers of black, the last of his garments being his silver and onyx mask. He placed it over his head and fastened it in place, feeling oddly comforted by its familiar, mechanical hiss. He took a moment, breathing in deeply, steeling himself for the worst, before stomping out of his chambers.

He strode into the halls of the Supremacy, the heavy footfalls of his boots thudding against the pristine floor. A few stormtroopers who were patrolling the area stepped out of the way as he passed, visibly tensing even beneath the layers of metal.

"Sir," a few of them greeted him gruffly, and he acknowledged them with a stiff nod, feeling their gazes searing into his back as he lumbered into the elevator at the end of the corridor.

The ascent to Snoke's throne room was brief but anxiety-inducing, especially as the doors slid open and he was met with a view of the rich, blood-red walls and the monstrous throne upon which the Supreme Leader himself was sitting. Kylo was seized by a fleeting moment of hesitancy before he waltzed out of the elevator and approached his Master, who was swathed in golden robes and flanked by the faceless Elite Praetorian guards. He took a knee, bowing his head, waiting for the man to address him.

Even with his eyes cast on the ground and hidden beneath a mask, Ren could practically feel the Supreme's Leader's intense, calculating gaze as he stared down at him. He decided he must have suffered a hundred heart attacks in the span of the silence that stretched on unforgivably, in which his Master watched him, simmering with palpable rage, likely considering which was the most painful or humiliating way in which to breach the obvious.

Eventually, Snoke's resonant voice echoed through the throne room.

"Take that ridiculous thing off so I can look you in the eye, Kylo Ren," the withered, serpentine creature hissed.

Kylo's heart thudded unevenly. Swallowing, he reached up and unlatched the helmet, his long, raven hair spilling out onto his shoulders, his eyes trained carefully on the floor.

"Ah. My most... impressive pupil," Snoke went on, and the sardonic growl in his tone was painfully impossible to miss. "Master of the Knights of Ren. Heir apparent to Lord Vader... communing with rebel garbage of your own volition, and against my orders."

Kylo flinched, fearing what would ultimately follow this revelation, now that the truth was out in the open. Skrog, he was such a fool. How could he have been so stupid to recklessly seek out Rey right under Snoke's nose? His Master was always the wiser. Even in the days of his childhood, somehow, the old Sith had always seemed ten steps ahead of everyone else. No matter what, he always knew... about everything.

Yet somehow, the glow of Rey's green eyes and the taste of her lips had made him forget that fact.

"Master," Kylo said softly, "forgive me. Please."

The Supreme Leader chuckled derisively. "We shall see about that, child," he said mirthlessly. "Now. Tell me - for how long has this been going on?"

Ren's stomach dropped. His hands were starting to tremble, and when he spoke again, his voice was thick. "Since... since shortly after Starkiller -"

The words had barely left his lips before an excruciating pain boiled through his nerves like lava. Kylo sputtered, letting out a strangled cry as Snoke struck him with a dark blast of Force lightning, the strength of it knocking him on his back, leaving him choking and breathless. Shakily, the dark warrior pulled himself onto his hands and knees, coughing and gasping for breath, his eyes flooding with tears.

"You fool!" Snoke bellowed. "Did you truly think that I wouldn't find out? That the truth would not eventually reveal itself to me? I've had my suspicions about this nonsense for quite some time now. Your latest test was solely reliant on whether or not you would confirm them to me." He let out a heavy sigh. "But, of course, as you are prone to an inescapable tendency towards cowardice, you failed."

Kylo's head snapped up immediately. "I'm not a coward," he retorted, forgetting himself.

Snoke's eyes danced with malice as a cruel smile curled against his weathered lips. "Ah, you're right, my young apprentice," he sneered. "You are so much more: weak. Pathetic. Insubordinate! You've known where that disgusting desert rat has been hiding since the destruction of Starkiller! And yet, did I not explicitly demand that she be brought to me?"

"She will be, Supreme Leader. You have my word..."

Snoke let out a hearty, sonorous laugh. "Is that so?" he hissed, leaning on the edge of his throne, like a snake poised to kill. "Your word... is as useless as you are, Kylo Ren."

The young man blanched, the insult stinging worse than the frosty bite of evening air on Hoth.

"However..." Snoke continued, and Kylo held his breath, steeling himself for what he was certain would be another barrage of physical or verbal attacks. Instead, what came next surprised him.

"There is a chance that your injudiciousness may do well to serve our cause," the Supreme Leader said. "I sense a change taking shape within the Force. I assume you do, as well."

Ren blinked, his heart shuddering in his rib cage. "I do."

Snoke gave a slow, wistful nod. "Curiously, it reminds me of you, when you were growing in your mother's womb. In your earliest heartbeats, I sensed that same raw, unbroken power; chaotic and indiscriminate. It surges through the Force again, now. And... with the faintest traces of your own signature." He fixed Ren with a scrutinizing stare that chilled the younger man down to his bones. "I wonder..." his Master growled, a dawning realization flickering over his wilted features, "about you and this girl..."

A tidal wave of embarrassment roared through the young Sith at the not-so-subtle implication. He fidgeted beneath the Supreme Leader's gaze, his face burning with shame.

"Well...?" Snoke pressed on, his tone caught somewhere between amusement and disgust. "Have you lain with that rebel garbage?"

Kylo's heartbeat went into feverish hysteria at the Supreme Leader's astonishing bluntness. Too stunned and humiliated to offer an immediate reply, he instead focused on holding onto consciousness, as the crimson walls were starting to tilt, and he was beginning to feel dangerously lightheaded.

"I asked you a question, Kylo Ren!"

He shivered. "Yes," was his feeble reply.

Snoke scoffed. "Incredible. You, heir to our Order, who could have any woman in the galaxy... and you choose her," the old man shook his head in utter disbelief. "Well. Lust works in mysterious ways, does it not? And you may have been carnal with that Jedi scum in a moment of unparalleled weakness..."

Kylo recoiled, wishing he could sink beneath the mirrored floor.

"But said weakness could potentially produce... remarkable results..."

The young knight felt his blood turn to ice inside his veins. There was a quiet, avaricious confidence in the Supreme Leader's tone, and suddenly, the man was gazing down at him from his throne as if he were seeing him for the first time. Kylo fought against the urge to shudder; Snoke's unspoken implications were giving life to what he already deeply, privately feared. That perhaps there was more to his and Rey's connection than just the emotional anguish and physical pleasure. And even though he and the scavenger had never given themselves to each other in the flesh, perhaps there were consequences of their union that he hadn't previously foreseen. Maybe... just maybe...

Suddenly, Kylo let out a grunt of surprise as he felt the sinister weight of his Master's presence ebb into his consciousness, searing through his thoughts, his memories, laying everything bare. Everything. Ren could do nothing but grit his teeth and wait for the assault to come to an end, as Snoke rifled through achingly-vivid images of her; her lips against his mouth, her legs wrapped around him, the intoxicating melody of her breathless cries and gasps as they carried through the Force and filled him with such an odd blend of comfort and need...

He trembled, absolutely mortified by the intrusion. "S-Supreme Leader..." he begged quietly. "Please..."

But Snoke would not stop.

Kylo's head began to pound with a dull-but-ever-increasing ache as Snoke tore into his mind further - searching, eager, like a drunk unfastening a bottle of Corellian wine. Deeper and deeper he cut into his subconscious, unpackaging his secrets, his fears, any and all that had to do with Rey, and Ren staggered forward, his equilibrium shattered by the power of his Master's greed. He gasped as the pain in his skull flared like white-hot flames racing along his temple.

"Master..." Kylo pleaded desperately.

Upon his throne, Snoke's horribly-lopsided face was twisted into an ugly, apathetic sneer, his long, gnarled fingers outstretched towards the younger man as he squirmed and panted on the floor before him. Memories continued to flash before his eyes under the Supreme Leader's command. Memories of the Force nexus, the fight he and Rey had had in it, the trees splintering at the bark and the clouds passing over the moon. His pain. His terror at the thought of her leaving him. Her small hand, radiating warmth even through the leather of his glove, as he reached for her, and then -

The girls.

Those two silent, dark-haired girls, gazing back at him with eyes that were so powerful and so treacherously, horribly familiar that it made him want to scream. Something about Snoke seeing them, knowing them, understanding who they were and what they meant to him, before even Kylo himself did, felt oddly... perverse. Even more so than all the other things the man had invited himself to see. Something about the sight of those girls felt far too intimate. Too close to home. The rage that accompanied Snoke witnessing this vision was just as startling and surprising as the instinctive, body-numbing fear that came with it...

A shuddering, gasping cry tore from Kylo's throat as the Supreme Leader swiftly withdrew from his mind, and the dark apprentice fought to catch his breath and regain his composure. The withered old figure watched him from the throne with narrowed, disbelieving eyes, his aura radiating rage and disgust, yet at the same time, something that vaguely resembled awe.

"Well, well," the Supreme Leader purred, his countenance giving way to a hideous, jackal-like smirk. "Remarkable results, indeed..."

The implication was obvious, but Kylo shook his head. "No..." he said hoarsely. "Master - what you're suggesting - it isn't possible..."

"You already know it to be true, Ren," Snoke replied flatly. "Just as you know that the Force works in ways we are not always meant to understand. And now, it is becoming apparent..." his voice dropped to a low, covetous growl, "that destiny has ensured us two more scions of Lord Vader..."

For one long, torturous moment, Ren thought his heart had stopped beating. No. It couldn't be. A father? Him? He let out a trembling breath, suddenly imagining the small, round faces of two babies gazing up at him, their mouths parting in toothless grins, their tiny hands clawing at his fingers. He thought of the girls from his vision, with their dark hair and evocative eyes... eyes that he was suddenly realizing looked exactly like Rey's...

"Then it's true...?" he whispered, stunned. "I am... to have children...?"

"So it seems, my young heir. And not just any children," Snoke replied. "But children of Light and Dark, born of the Force itself; the likes of which the galaxy has not encountered since your grandfather. Do you understand?"

He nodded, feeling a thousand miles away from his own body, like a third party in a feverish dream. If what the Supreme Leader said was true... then his progenies would likely be among the strongest Force users in the galaxy; imbued with the powers of Light and Dark, with a fate stretched before them that was grander and more momentous than he could presently begin to comprehend.

"Yes," Kylo said breathlessly.

"Good. Now - time is of the essence, and you will do as you are instructed. Any deviation from my orders will result in the swiftest consequences, is that clear?"

Kylo swallowed. "It is, Master."

"Very well. Then bring the girl to the Supremacy. We will turn her to our cause, and we will raise your offspring in Darkness."

His... offspring. The very idea of him fathering children (and with Rey, of all people) was already jarring enough, but paired with the way that Snoke spoke of these babies - like they were cattle to be raised for slaughter - Kylo was left feeling a little uneasy.

"Supreme Leader - if I may," he said quietly, "it's not that simple. The girl would rather die than devote herself to the Dark. She..." he shook his head, "she hates me..."

"She will learn," Snoke said confidently. "As will you: a mother's love for her children can be her greatest weakness."

Kylo blinked. Thoughts of Leia Organa - her warm smile, her firm embrace, her endless love, even when it was deeply misguided - filtered through his mind, but he immediately pushed the memories away.

This was his life, now. This was his family - the orb of cells and power blooming within his Bondmate, the lady herself, and the monstrous king leering at him from upon his throne. All he had left in the universe was his legacy, and while he was scared, confused, and utterly overwhelmed by this turn of events, he couldn't afford to shy away from it.

This was his destiny.

"Now..." the Supreme Leader snarled. "Kylo Ren - son of Darkness, father to the heirs of the First Order - go. Find her."

Kylo straightened his shoulders in an effort to appear more composed and in control then he actually felt. Choking out a husky "Yes, Master," he turned on his heel, striding out of the throne room and into the elevator, helmet in hand. He felt the Supreme Leader's eyes on him up until the doors slid shut.

Alone in the lift, his heart was racing. He staggered against the elevator walls, an avalanche of emotions clouding his weathered mind.

Children. A family. All of his own. The circumstances may have been... atypical, but maybe, after years of pain and neglect and suffering, the Force was giving him a chance to start over - a chance to love and be loved in all the ways he'd so desperately craved. Finally, someone would want him. Need him. There would be no more loneliness. No more heartache. For the first time in many, many years, someone - his daughters - would love him.

And Rey... well... maybe in time, she'd grow to love him, too. At the very least, she'd never be able to leave him again.

He edged into the Force, stroking the flames of their Bond once more, calling to her across the stars. He needed to see her. To hear her voice. He had to know if she was aware of what was happening; of the glorious, wondrous journey the Force had chosen to take them on. He was positive that if he and Snoke already knew, there was no doubt that she did, as well. But he'd never know if she continued to close herself off from him...

Kylo frowned as, sure enough, he was once again met with cold, blistering silence.

Well. Her tenacity was as admirable as it was infuriating. But she wouldn't be able to keep it up forever, and this was an easily-solvable problem. Just as he'd told Rey in the Force nexus, Kylo knew exactly where she and Luke were holed up. The island of Ach-To. And he wasn't going to waste anymore time. He would go to her. He would kill the last Jedi. And he would bring his family home.

The doors to the elevator slid open, suddenly, revealing a trio of First Order officers who straightened and tensed at the sight of Kylo before them. He regarded them with a determined, wild-eyed stare.

"Get my knights and ready my ship," he growled, his dark cape fanning out behind him like smoke as he brushed past them, resolution in every step.