I. Fear and blood
(I played around with the ages because I wasn't sure how old Rey and Ben were, I just know for a fact that he is ten years older. Somewhere else I read that she was five when her parents left her on jakku and that Ben was 23 or 24 when he turned to the dark side so... in order forthings to work out I decided that... Rey is in this moment nine years old, soon to be ten. Ben is twenty and has recently joined Snoke, the other details will be told in the story but about their ages I think this is all. Thanks)
Exegol
Rey stood up, her grandfather had lifted her in the air and let her fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry" she said, having trouble breathing and clutching her body as she stood up, tall, and looked her master.
"Don't say you're sorry, make it right!" he roared. This time some of the sith eternals were watching and clapped when Palpatine screamed.
Rey's eyes were burning but she couldn't allow herself to cry.
"Azam, Azam, Azam" they chanted her name, again and again, making her more angry.
She concentrated once again, when she closed her eyes she felt a tear rolling down her cheek, and it raged her to be so weak. She extender her hand and with all of her anger and throbbing pain in her head she felt the big rock.
It's surface, it's weight and her force pulling it up.
She started sweating from the effort and panicked when a lightning flashed in front of her eyes, that last shot of fear was what helped her lift the rock and throw it away.
"Good, good!" Palpatine said.
"Silence! Azam, you've done well today. You can leave but you're to come back in two hours for your next task, understood?" His grandfather lowered to look her straight in the eye.
He could see her sweat, even blood on her lips, maybe from when he smashed against the floor or because she had bit her lips during her concentration. He smiled. He felt hate, fear, rage, she was tired, all of this emotions coming from her.
His grandaugther would be the greatest Sith of all times.
"Yes, master" she responded.
Rey tried to ignore the shivers going up and down her spine as she walked to her room again. More like her own little cave on this horrible planet, and lit up a fire to warm her up.
At least here she knew there was no one else watching her.
She examined herself, today's bruises and was glad that at least this time she hadn't broken anything. She noticed that some blood had dripped on her shirt and then felt the sting on her lips.
She got a glass of water and quickly cleaned her open lip, she would have to remember not to touch it for at least a week until it healed.
She sat on the floor and closed her eyes for a second.
"Come on!" she heard someone say. It was a man's voice she had never heard around here. She looked around her room with fear, only to find nothing.
Maybe she was imagining things again. It sometimes happened to her, those ecoes of things that weren't happening there, or flashes of images of somewhere far away... she wondered if she was crazy.
Elsewhere
"Kylo, run faster" Snoke's voice filled all the spaces.
He ran as fast as he could, leaving behind shadows of his past.
"Faster!" Snoke shouted and the ground beneath his feet shattered a little.
Kylo's feet hurt and he was drenched in sweat, he wasn't sure how long had he ran for but it felt like hours.
This wasn't a punishment, Snoke had told him earlier, this was something he had to do because he wanted him to be better.
To overcome his pain and use it as a strength.
"Can I rest... for a moment?" Kylo asked through gritted teeth.
"No, you must keep running"
But he felt like he couldn't, he'd breath the wrong way and now he coughed, unable to breath right and he had slowed down a little.
"Come on, don't be useless.!"
He composed himslf as he could and clenched his fists forcing himself to go faster and further.
"It was good, better than last week" Snoke said when he was finally allowed to stop.
Kylo could varely stand up.
"I'm glad, master." Kylo said, collapsing and trying to hide it by adopting a respectful stance. One knee on the floor and the other bent.
"Maybe one day you'll have proper condition. Now, move. Get yourself something to eat and finish your tasks before tomorrow" Snoke order.
The sudden warth Kylo had received from his master, former friend, was now gone.
He fell to his knees when Snoke was gone and allowed himself to let out his pain.
His feet were covered in blisters, some had exloded, stinging even more.
He felt like a failure, never able to reach his true potential, never able to please his master.
It wasn't the first time he felt like this, and it grgew even more and more everyday.
In the beginning he had found trust in Snoke, a hope for a master who wouldn't turn his back on him and actually believed in him... but then, as his training started Snoke became more and more severe with him.
And in a sick way Kylo only wanted to gain his approval.
He retired to finish his tasks and after a very long and exhausting day he was allowed to go to sleep.
He hated sleeping. At least for the past years... after the incident at Luke Skywalker's academy he almost always had the same dream.
Luke would come at night, to his room and try to kill him in his sleep with his lightsaber, then he would wake up covered in sweat and struggle to fall back asleep again.
He wanted to go back with the knights of Ren because they didn't sleep much, or even if they did they all had weird sleeping times and their noises would distract him enough to sleep well.
He read until he fall asleep and to his surprise he dreamed of a girl, again.
He had never been able to see her face, only hear her talk, or see her sitting somewhere, dark. Always dark and cold.
This time he saw her with a knife on her hand as she did something... he couldn't walk closer but after a moment he understood that the girl was carving something with the knife.
This dream quickly changed into a memory of him hurting Henix and he woke up startled.
"Like always" he mumbled, closing his eyes again and trying to calm down.
"Azam, finish writing it and then I'll tell you the surprise" His master instructed.
This was one of the lessons that Rey hated the most. The sith language had never been easy for her, at least now she had a decent writing but still... there were words that confused her.
"Do you want me to read it?" she stood up and showed her grandfather her notebook, she was proud.
"Go ahead"
Rey cleared her throath thearically and began.
"I Azam, follow the Sith code, which says: Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion I gain strength. Through strength I gain power.Through power I gain victory. Through victory my chains are broken, the froce shall free me." she finished reading as Palpatine though about his young apprentice.
"Good"
"Graandfather... what is peace?" Rey asked after a moment.
"You don't have to wonder about such thing right now, Azam." he retorted.
He lowered himself a little to take her hand.
Nothing. Just curiosity. It was good that this was as far as her mind was going.
He liked how easy it was to read her young mind, her feelings.
"I have a surprise for you ,Azam" he then said.
"What is it?" Rey would've jump with excitement but the last time she did she was punished and since that day she had learned to keep her reactions at bay.
"Would you like your own lightsaber?" Palpatine asked, making Rey see a quick vision of herself wilding a bright red lightsaber.
"Yes, yes. Of course, only if you think I'm ready" she added. She had trained with a quarterstaff before and his master always reminded her that one day she'll earn her lightsaber.
"You may be, but first. I want you to do one simple thing" the cables holding him up directed him backwards.
(So... what's coming it's definately child abuse, psychological abuse. In case you are triggered by this in any way I want to warn you. I feel terrible putting Rey through this, even Ben will have to face some abuse himself but... the story needs it. I don't think it's okay in any level, I just think it gives them a background for how I want their minds to be at and the story to evolve. That's all, keep reading if you want.)
Rey waited patiently for her master to give her instructions. Her hands wanted to tangle on her long hair, which was now loose and would help her calm down a little but she knew she couldn't.
"Come here" he called.
She didn't hesitate.
"Open your hands and extend them"
She did and suddenly she felt something, a weight, little legs pressing against her palm.
Palpatine placed his hands over hers and closed them, leaving whatever he had put in her hands trapped inside.
Only then she started to feel panick.
"Kill it" he declared.
"What... why?" Rey identified the creature as one of the rats that roamed around the planet.
"Kill. It" Palpatine's hands started to put pressure on hers, closing more around the rat.
"Wait... wait, pleas-"
"Are you trying to defy me?!" he questioned. A lightning revealed his raised eyebrow and empty eyes.
She shivered.
"No, master. But... master, is this ne-"
His hands went to her wrists and made pressure, faint lightnings started to appear on the tip of his fingers too. She started crying without being able to stop it.
"Azam!" she wanted to shout that her name wasn't even that.
"Please... please" she couldn't let the rat go but she couldn't crush it either.
"Are you afraid?" he quuestioned.
"Yes!"
"Do you feel bad?"
"Yes!" her eyes were closed as she cried, the pressure on her wrists was hurting her and the animal on her hands had started scratching her,t rying to get away, hurting her too.
"Why? therer's nothing to feel bad about Azam. Do it!" his hands went back to hers.
"Wait! wait, please" Azam was breathing heavy now.
"It's you or this animal!" he shouted. The animal was now bitting Rey's skin.
She wasn't sure that her grandfather would hurt her... but she couldn't trust it either.
"Come on!" he shouted again and again to do it.
"I- I can't" she cried and only opened her eyes when she felt a slap across her face.
"You must be angry, you must hate me in this moment, and that hate is exactly what makes you strong. Stop caring about it! This stupid creatures life has nothing to do with you, it doesn't affect you. Your power lies upon using this fear and hate to do what I've asked of you." His voice was softer.
Rey thought about it, she closed her eyes and tried to clasp her hands together. The animal's cries intensified and a smile grew on Palpatine's face.
In the end... the girl was not ready to do it.
She threw the animal away, it hit the floor pretty hard, but she hadn't put enough strength to kill it and it started running away the moment it hit the ground, only to be burn in a second by Palpatine's lightning.
"Stupid girl" he spat at Rey.
"You've dissapointed me, Azam" as he came close to her Rey started crying again.
"Shut up. You need to learn to be strong, and today you've been weak. If you keep caring like this, you're never gonna allow the force to give yo true power. Go! and I hope that you think about your actions, because sooner or later, you'll pass this test." he retired and then she ran to her room.
She cleaned her wounds and noticed the bruises on her wrists. Her reflection on the small bathroom mirror was even worst than she imagined.
Her cheek was crimson red and the wound on her lip had opened again. Then she looked at her hands, they had stopped bleeding but the scratch and bite marks would be there for a while.
Her eyes were red from the tears and her nose was irritated.
In another place of the galaxy Kylo Ren found himself staring at his hands, for no reason, and a chill went down his spine.
"Hurry up, boy" Snoke said noticing that Kylo had stopped walking.
"Yes, master" he kept walking and tried to shake off the sudden sadness that had came over him. It felt odd, out of place, not even like it came from him.
It distracted him the rest of he way to another place where Snoke was taking him to train.
