Chapter Text
Prologue
Look at you. You're sitting there; phone or tablet in hand, scrolling restlessly through fanfiction after fanfiction searching for the next unoriginal story to catch your eye.
What will it be? That one over there where Rey is getting banged seven ways to Sunday by steamy Hogwarts professor Ben Solo is a good choice. Huh? Oh. Waiting for an update, huh? Me too, me too.
Well...what about that one where Rey is a cute little omega to Ben Solo's massive (up to you to decide what exactly is massive <wink wink>) Alpha? What do you mean which one? Oh, you greedy little thing. You have read them all, huh?
All right, you seem like maybe a time travel person to me? There is one that just updated that would knock your socks off, especially since it involves Rey flustering wannabe-evil Kylo Ren and helping Ben Solo escape. I mean, seriously people-it has sexy times, Parent reunions, BEN SOLO BLUSHING DURING THE INTERROGATION SCENE. (When it involves Rey, it isn't Kylo Ren-always Ben Solo!) What more could you ask from a time travel fic? A happy ending? (I'm sure the author wouldn't screw us over on that...right?)
Ooooh, and how about that newish Greek Mythology AU where Kylo!Hades kidnaps Rey!Persephone and drags her to the Underworld? Oh, I see. You're waiting for it to get longer before you invest. 40,000+ words for 10 chapters (so far) not enough for you, huh? Okay...okay...cool cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt. I'm sure the author will get right on that and not invest her time in another potentially long story.
I see that you have either read these stories or have added them to the list but are still feeling just a tad bit greedy and want even more. Well, I may have something for you in terms of a new read, ya know...if you are interested. It's a tale of courage and honor, love and sacrifice, death and life. Promises broken and promises kept, and promises made anew.
I mean, the story has got it all! True love, sword fights, vicious plots, giants, princes and princesses, adventure, danger, magic, and passionate romance that may have Karen in the corner demanding to speak to the manager over how Mature the story got.
"What story?" You may be wondering. Well settle in boys and girls, cause we are only at the beginning. And it all starts, with a boy...and the farm girl living in his stable….
Chapter 1
On a plot of land in the prosperous kingdom of Floren, there was a farm. A plot of land large enough for farming yet abandoned, it hosted a cottage, stables, and a neglected garden that had grown wild with berries and mushrooms. The land had been settled into by a young gangly boy, trying so hard to act as if he was a man.
To be fair to the boy, at first glance most would probably mistake him as such. He was quite a tall youth, and had features that would make him appear quite distinguished one day. But until he grew into them, he had a nose that was a bit too large for his face, and ears that tended to stick out past his hair.
His name was Ben, and he had taken the last name Solo as he had no memory of his parents or of any life before he woke up a half mile from the land he had settled into. All he could remember about himself was his name and his age-he had recently turned sixteen.
He would have sunk into despair and hopelessness over the misfortune he faced, if it wasn't for the farm he stumbled upon. He saw that the land was workable, and was pleased that the cottage was big enough for him to live in and the stable large enough to house at least two horses.
He settled in rather quickly, laboring through the day to gather enough supplies with which to bargain and trade at the local market. Most of which came from the garden, which grew things that had gone out of season. The most astonishing bloom from the garden, and something that Ben plucked on a whim, were breathtaking deep blue roses.
The following day when he made it to the market, he was surprised to find that he had enough to trade for two working horses for the fields...with a little bit of money to spare. He was surprised to find that most of his fortune came from the roses, and was shocked when the merchant he sold them to begged him to return with more the next time he came back.
He led the horses home, leading them into the stables and getting them settled in and fed before going back to the cottage for a supper of salted pork he purchased, mushrooms, and a few sliced up carrots. After eating, he was tired and went to rest on the thin mattress he found in the second room.
He slept deeply until he was woken by a feeling that something was wrong. He got up and went outside, making his way towards the stables...using the light of the moon to navigate his path. Poking his head inside, he nearly tripped over the little body tucked against the wall.
Wary hazel eyes peered up at him from the face of whom Ben realized was a girl not much younger than he. As he studied her, he realized that she was afraid (probably thinking that he would punish her for being there), and his heart filled with compassion for her.
He held out his hand with soft eyes and a gentle smile. "You know, I could use some help with this place. Wanna stay and be a farm girl? I don't have much money to give you. Actually….none, really. But I think with a bit of hard work, we could change that."
She looked at him skeptically. "Do you always invite complete strangers to live with you?"
"No idea. But I'm willing to risk it if you are." She eyed his hand and hesitantly took it, allowing him to pull her up. "There's only one bed inside-"
"No!" She jerked away, tensing and glaring at him. He held his hands up in apology and pleaded with her to wait.
"I was going to say that it may make you a bit uncomfortable to be in the cottage since we don't know each other. Then I was going to offer some blankets or something for you to use until we can build you your own lodgings."
"Oh." She fidgeted, and he had to squint to see that she was toying with a rusty nail no bigger than his finger. "That...that sounds nice."
He smiled at her and offered his hand again. She let the nail fall and allowed him to lead her out of the stables. "We can go inside and grab some blankets. How's that sound, farm girl?"
She quietly followed him before she smiled and said, "As you wish".
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And so it was that for the next two years, Ben, and the girl he later learned went by Rey, lived and worked the farm together. Ben grew a little more into his body, and Rey went from being a tiny fourteen year old girl to a graceful sixteen year old.
(When Ben had first found out that Rey had only lived for fourteen years, he pointed out she was rather short for her age. She scowled and didn't speak to him for three days until he apologized.)
Ben would often give her many tasks, as much was needed to be done before they could retire for the evening. She never spoke much; and every time he would ask her to do something, she would smile at him before saying, "As you wish".
It became a bit of a game for him-to see what it would take for her to crack and say anything else. It had not escaped his attention how she had grown and changed within the past few years, and it drove him slightly mad that she never appeared affected by him.
"Farm girl, I need you to muck out the stalls for the horses." He would say, knowing she hated the smell of dung.
"As you wish." She would reply, determinedly making her way to the stables.
"Farm girl, I need you to help me weed the garden before nightfall." He would request, knowing that the blue roses fascinated her and that she would spend as much time admiring them as she would working. (Somehow, Ben could never seem to mind that.)
"As you wish." She would grin, grabbing their gloves and buckets before heading outside to begin weeding. There were times when she would prick her finger on the thorns guarding the roses, and he would send her away to tend to them...knowing if he did not, that she would continue to weed without complaint of pain.
"Farm girl, I need you to go fetch some water." After a moment he added, "Please." (She always seemed to like it when he requested things instead of demanding them, as he sometimes did when stressed over the farm or the garden.)
She smiled softly, grabbed the bucket he held, and told him, "As you wish".
Now it took Ben quite a while to figure out; but one day when he asked Rey to pass a biscuit during breakfast, he noticed how fond she looked when she uttered those three words. He realized she had never gotten cross with him or complained at any of the chores he had given her...she had always done what he asked, and took care of him as much, if not more, than he took care of her.
He beheld her before him at the table, content and eating quietly. She was dressed in old clothes of his-a shirt that hugged her frame, and trousers that came down to her calf. Her hair was up in the same bun she had kept it in for years. (He did not think that he had ever seen her hair in any other style, now that he thought of it.) Her eyes, a mesmerizing hazel, looked up and caught his own.
"Farm girl," he started, "come here?" She silently rose and walked around their tiny table until she stood beside him. Even sitting, he was still of a height that he did not have to look too high to meet her gaze.
Looking into her eyes, he finally understood that for so long, when she told him "As you wish", what she was really saying was that she loved him. What else could she mean but that, especially with the way she always gave him exactly what he needed and knew him better than he knew himself?
"Farm girl," he breathed, "kiss me?" He knew now that he was in love with her. A pure, deep, and abiding love that made him thank the heavens that he had offered his hand to her that night in the stables.
And when she whispered, "As you wish", and touched her lips to his, he knew that he wanted to be with this woman for the rest of his life. When they drew apart and he told her that he loved her, he believed that everything would work out for them when she told him she loved him too.
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But what Ben did not know about Rey was that she had a past. A past that she tried so hard to keep from him until one day she couldn't anymore and told him the whole truth.
She was a runaway, she explained. She had been an orphan who had tried so hard to survive, but was placed with a family that already had too many mouths to feed. She had stolen some gold from several of their neighbors to escape and live her life elsewhere...and the thought of owing that debt had haunted her ever since. But over the past two years, she had saved every coin he had given her.
Now, she had just enough to make the voyage back-across the sea instead of over land as it would be quicker-and return to him before the harvest. He wanted desperately to beg her not to go, but he would not keep her from doing what she had to in order to make right what she had done wrong.
"I'll return soon. Wait for me?" She asked tentatively.
He tucked a freshly bloomed rose behind her ear, and kissed her in farewell. "I'll wait." He vowed. "Come home to me." She responded by holding him tightly and claiming his lips one more time. Watching her ride away on the faster of their two horses, he prayed that she would return safely, and swiftly.
Weeks later, he received word that the ship she had been sailing on had been attacked by the Dread Pirate Roberts and his crew. And as everyone is aware, the Dread Pirate Roberts doesn't take prisoners, and the pirate was as vicious as he was cruel. There was no other alternative-Rey had to be dead.
He sank into despair. The love of his life, the woman he had planned on asking to marry him, was gone. He could barely sleep, rarely ate, and began to waste away as he mourned his true love.
He would never love again, he swore. Never ever again, because there would never be anyone in the world that he could ever possibly love as much as he had loved his farm girl. He felt as if his entire being had been turned upside down and inside out.
He didn't want to be Ben Solo anymore. Ben Solo had died the moment he had discovered that his other half was lost to him forever. He would take on a new name, he decided.
He looked up at the sky, and at the pouring rain. Rey had loved the rain-she would duck outside at the first few drops and spin around among the droplets. He wanted to be named for the sky, so that he had a part of her with him always. Kylo, he decided. No longer Ben, but Kylo. (He dropped the name of Solo, as it hit just a bit too close to him how alone he was.)
And so it was that Kylo withdrew from the world, tending to his gardens and land while mourning the loss of his beloved. The roses blossomed, filling the air around the cottage with their sweet fragrance. He continued selling them to the merchants in the village, and amassed quite a profit, as he rarely spent any of his earnings.
As the years passed, he became more and more numb to life around him. So when the princess of their kingdom began paying him visits to see the roses she claimed were unlike any in all the land, he failed to see the contemplative look she kept giving him.
When she finally claimed passionate love for him one day and proposed marriage, everything within him screamed for him to say no. But she was the princess, and none could refuse her. It was with a leaden heart that he agreed, and she encouraged him to leave and journey with her to the palace that day.
He carefully potted a few of the roses and gave the land to the townspeople to do with as they liked. As he rode behind the princess to the palace, he made sure not to look back at the place he once thought would be the home he and Rey would grow old together in.
Perhaps if he had, he would have seen the flowers he tended to with such care wilt a little. There were those that tried to make their way to the farm to try their luck at harvesting the roses, but none could find the cottage, stables, or garden that Ben and Rey had spent so long on. It was as if the place had never even existed to begin with.
Indeed, it seemed as if the only blue roses that were left were the ones that Kylo carried with him to the palace. The only two requests he made of the princess were that he would be able to have a secluded garden to plant his roses in, and that he would be allowed to go riding alone in the woods nearby the castle.
The princess agreed. She ordered a section be added on to the royal gardens where the only thing that would be grown were the roses. It was kept walled away and hidden from most, and Kylo spent many long hours there to ensure that the blossoms flourished. Before long, the roses were growing everywhere within their confined home.
Kylo would often steal away to read in his private sanctuary. Reading was something he had discovered he knew how to do shortly after arriving at the farm. He and Rey passed many nights with him reading aloud quietly to her with books he had purchased.
It was one day that he realized that it had been four years since he had lost Rey. Three and a half of those years alone on the farm, and half a year alone in this giant castle. He was twenty-two years old. Rey...Rey would have been twenty.
With that realization, he abandoned his book and made for the royal stables, determined to ride until he could no longer think of anything but the journey and the horse. He and his horse followed the same path they always did, going deeper and deeper into the woods. The solitude only served to remind him...he was alone. Always...and completely...alone.
A rustle and the snap of a twig quickly disabused him of that notion. Who on earth could that be all the way out here? He wondered. (Who indeed, Kylo. Who...Indeed.)