maskormenace | Intro

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Intro - [ voice ]

[ Not wanting anybody to see his face, Kylo switches the video off before pressing record. He takes a deep breath, not really satisfied with having to do this - he should be able to find out more about this place and find the people he is looking for without any assistance - but this place is large and this seems much more efficient. The technology is outdated, the small device similar to a datapad but much less useful and without a holo function. This must be something that pre-dates his parents, his grandparents, even. ]

This place, I'm not familiar with it. It's not where I'm supposed to be, not even in our galaxy, yet...

[ He pauses, taking a breath, giving himself a moment to gather his thoughts and center himself. There are Force users here, more than one, and he's certain of it. He'll search every city until he finds them, burn them down, kill them all until he finds what he's looking for. However, if anybody can give him any information, save him from traveling through each city until he finds them... ]

Tell me where Skywalker and Solo are. I know they're here, I can feel it.

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There's no reaching a peaceful agreement! Han Solo should be dead! I watched him die!

[ Translation: I killed him with my own hands, but you don't need to know that quite yet.
He wants so much to tell Luke why he's looking for him, what he's done, what has to be done, but it's clear that this Luke, the man he's looking at on the screen of his communicator is from a different time, likely before Kylo's own birth. That certainly complicates things, but it doesn't change the fact that Luke Skywalker must be killed. ]

This entire family is full of conflict! Worthless, abandoning their child, sending him off to train to become a Jedi. [ He spits the word, full of venom, almost as if it's painful to even pass through his lips ] And you, what do you do when it all falls apart? Run? Hide?

[ Luke fell quiet at that, the uncertainty on his face mixed with sadness and a slight tint of fear. That Imperial jerk had said he had run away from the galaxy as well. It still didn't sound like him, and he was clearly only getting the same viewpoint from the both of them, but... what would be enough that it would make two people say he ran and hid? ]

[ He knew the answer before he even completed the thought, a faint whispering in the back of his head: It happened again. Someone that was supposed to be dear to him fell to the Dark Side again. ]

[ Luke leaned a bit away from the video screen, for a moment at a loss for words. And then what Kylo Ren said really hit him. This entire family is full of conflict. They were all close, more of a family than he could ever ask for, but something told him Kylo's words ran deeper than that. ]

Who are you, Kylo Ren?

[ His words came out soft and calm, but not like Kylo was used to hearing from the uncle he would know. There was an edge of tension clearly there, from emotions that were barely under the tight control of a proper Jedi. ]

[ Kylo switches to video after Luke asks who he is, finally wanting the other man to see his emotionless face. He had spent countless hours looking for Luke Skywalker, just as the Resistance had, and now that he's finally found him, he doesn't know what to do. He never thought he would feel so conflicted despite knowing what needed to happen.

The Jedi need to die.

But this Luke, this isn't even the same Luke he knew as a child. This one was conflicted, too, tense, untrained, but a Jedi nonetheless. ]

I'm your blood, your family.

[ But that doesn't mean anything, blood won't stop this family from running, abandoning their child, giving up hope of ever seeing him return. ]

You trained me, taught me how to use a lightsaber, abandoned me just as the rest of my family did.

[ He leaves out the fact that he was called to the Dark side, seduced by Snoke. He doesn't mention the slaughter of the other padawans at the Jedi temple. Those things are small details, insignificant. ]

[ And Luke could do nothing but stare. Oh, he could see the resemblance to Han easily enough (his poor nose), but there was definitely a lot of Leia in his face too. But... related by blood? That couldn't possibly be. Han was too old and Leia... ]

[ ...Leia. ]

[ Luke's mouth fell open slightly at the revelation, wanting to deny it outright. There was no way they could be related. Leia was royalty from another system so far removed from Tatooine it may as well have been in another galaxy. ]

[ Adopted royalty. That was the same age as him. ]

[ Luke ran a hand through his hair, trying to clear his throat. N-no, he couldn't focus on that now. He could ask his father later if there was a possibility his mother had twins, but he couldn't focus on that now. Right now his... nephew? Kylo needed more attention than whatever possible sibling he had. ]

T-there has to be more to this than what you're telling me. It would take a lot for the three of us to abandon someone we held dear.

[ And there was no way Kylo could say the son of Han Solo and Leia Organa wasn't someone he would treasure. ]

[ Of course, there is more to this than what Kylo is telling Luke. Much, much more, but those aren't details he's willing to share at present, or any time in the near future. He's not ready to tell Luke how they kept his grandfather's identity from him, how the news reached Kylo because one of his mother's political rivals wanted to ruin her name. He isn't going to tell him about how he slaughtered the other padawans at his Jedi temple, earning the name Jedikiller among the ranks in the First Order.

He's certain all of this will come to light eventually. But right now? He's simply trying to deal with the fact that he's talking to his uncle for the first time in years and the man has absolutely no idea who he is, what he's done, or that Leia is even his sister. ]

It was years and years of neglect, abandonment, being lied to.

[ There is so much that sits heavy on Kylo's chest, crushing him under its weight as he talks to Luke. ]

But you, you just ran from it all. You left your family without word and ran. [ A pause ] At least my father tried to reach out to me.

[ Luke frowned, something gnawing at the back of his mind. He had no doubt that there was some truth behind what Kylo was saying, but he was missing the information he needed to form a proper opinion about it. ]

I'm sorry. I know it's not much, but I don't know what reasons I would have to... to lie to my nephew...

[ ...unless he had tried to restore the Order, building off the incomplete lessons Obi-Wan and Yoda had given him? Him, a Jedi trained by two people that had been withholding information from him about his family. They couldn't even tell him that he had a sibling, or who his mother was; he was missing such an important part of his life, and then expected to destroy part of it without even knowing. How was someone like him supposed to train other Jedi? To train his own blood, when he was missing so much? ]

[ He pressed his hands together, leaning forward slightly. ]

I... will find a way to do something about this. I'm not sure how, or if it will mean anything if and when we return to the galaxy, but I will make an effort to try and fix this.

There's nothing you can do!

[ Oh, how history is doomed to repeat itself. One would think Luke would have learned from his mistakes, to not treat his own family as he was treated by both Obi-Wan and Yoda. Yet, they withheld information from Ben, lied to him, pushed him further away from them and into the waiting arms of Snoke, a master willing to embrace his heritage, to train him in the Dark Side.

Kylo takes a deep breath, tries to center himself, calm himself, but his efforts are all in vain. He can't control his emotions, never has been able to. ]

Things will continue just as they are in our galaxy, events will take place and time will continue to pass while we're here. How will you do anything about what has already taken place?! What's done is done!

I may not be able to do right by the galaxy, but I can do right by you.

[ Luke paused a moment, mulling it over in his head. It was true, there was nothing he could do about a galaxy who's future was uncertain, especially in his time, and obviously beyond his point as well. There was nothing he could do about that, but he could at least try to see how his older self let down his own nephew so badly. ]

Even if, in the end, what we do here is meaningless, I can at least do what I can to reach out and know you, and perhaps understand why everything fell apart.

Like I said, there's nothing you can do.

[ At the moment, Kylo has no desire to repair a broken relationship with his uncle or to explain to him what happened during his lifetime to put such a rift between them. This is hard on Kylo, hard on everybody, and he has nobody to turn to for guidance right now. He can't reach his Master, Hux is of no help, and the family he has here... well, he doesn't know them. They're not who he knows, not who he remembers, people that existed before he was even a possibility.

He sighs, brushes his hair from his face, wishes this would all go away and he could return to their galaxy, complete his training. ]

You're never going to do right by me, you had that opportunity and you lost me. You can try all you want, but nothing will change regardless of whether you understand it or not.

[ Luke pursed his lips, feeling a little helpless at the moment. He wasn't going to let it overwhelm him, though; there had to be something he could do about this... ]

I don't know about the 'me' you know in the future, but the 'me' now isn't about to give up, even if you say it's impossible.

[ Your uncle loves you; deal with it. ]

[ Luke paused a moment, rubbing at his mouth as he tried to think. His father changed his name when he fell, so it was reasonable to assume Kylo did as well... ]

What's your name? Your real name?

[ The Luke speaking with him is the same one as the one Kylo know, he tells himself this, he knows it in his heart... But, at the same time, he's not the same. He's standing there refusing to give up, not backing down and running to hide from his family and the rest of the galaxy. And this hurts Kylo more than he's ready to admit. He knows the reasons Luke ran, knows that everything is ultimately his fault, but he did what he had to do - there wasn't another option. His family lied to him, left him when he needed them the most, when Snoke's voice was more than a whisper and the Dark Side was pulling at him stronger than ever.

When Luke asks what his name is - his real name - Kylo is startled, pulled from his thoughts. His real name is something he hasn't said aloud in years, something that was forbidden on board the Finalizer. The last person he heard say his name was his father shortly before he killed him. Kylo looks away from the screen, not wanting to look at Luke, but when he finally responds, he lifts his head, unable to hide the brokenness on his face. ]

Ben.

[ You probably helped name me, he wants to say, but he leaves it at that. ]

[ Luke smiled, a kind, pained smile, and he doesn't need the Force to know that he had a hand in naming Han and Leia's son. Who else in the whole galaxy would come up with that name? While it made him happy to have such an influence on his nephew's life, even if just by a name, he had to ask himself why would he hold Old Ben in such high regard still, when still dealing with the knowledge of how often he lied. ]

[ After a moment, he let out a soft sigh, acknowledging his real name with a small nod. But he wasn't going to call him by it; not unless he gave him permission. If his own father's temper was anything to go by... he didn't want to run the risk of upsetting his nephew that much. ]

Kylo, I'm going to do everything I can to try and do things differently, which means keeping in touch, if you'll let me.

[ Kylo wants to hang on to what Luke has promised, wants to truly believe that maybe things will be different here, that their relationship can be repaired somehow if he does things differently. But what's done is done and that isn't going to change. Kylo can't go back in time and erase what has happened and how he was treated by his own family. He knows what Snoke has told him over the years, he has those experiences, the humiliation and the abandonment heavy on his shoulders.

Those wounds don't heal easily, if at all.

It surprises him when Luke calls him by his chosen name, though. ]

I can't stop you from contacting me. Do as you will.

[ Of course he did; because he cared, and he was stubbornly determined to at least meet his nephew halfway. If that was by starting with calling him by his chosen name and working from there, he'd do it. ]

I will, then. Thank you, Kylo.

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