Chapter Text
Kylo
When Snoke first came to him with the assignment, Kylo denied it on principle. One flip through the thin manila file folder and he already knew all he needed. It was a typical case; suspected lycanthropes stalking the residents of a small northwestern town. Three known victims, but local authorities feared that the bodies would only stack in the days to come.
It would have been an easy pick. Track the beasts to their lair and smoke them out like the unholy vermin they were. More good marks for his record, more respect from his comrades and trust earned from his beloved mentor.
An easy job, save for the location. It did more than give the young man pause.
Champlain, Washington. Just reading it brought familiar images of dense, dark forest and torrential rain behind his eyes. He could see the Coffee shop on the corner of Main and McAdams street. He could taste the damp air on his tongue, smell the sodden, black earth. Not far from the sea. Always wet and dreary.
Kylo had grown up in Champlain, and he had left a thousand memories behind when he uprooted himself to move east. He had traded all of it for a simple life in a withering monastery, slowly fading from favor and public consciousness on the fringes of Cleveland, Ohio. He never wanted to go back. Midwestern purgatory was heaven compared to that town.
“Do let me know if you change your mind.” Snoke said as he sauntered from Kylo’s office, file tucked under his robed arm. His voice wilted, disappointed.
Kylo shivered. He hated letting his master down.
Perturbed by the situation, and Snoke’s obvious desire that it be him who take the infernal assignment, Ben spent the remainder of his afternoon sulking in his discomfort.
Usually he leapt at opportunities to travel. Their line of holy work offered many chances, and he took them all. As much as he prefered the midwest to his once home, it was still a drab, depressing place.
As a brother in the church he had travelled as far south as Tihuana, Mexico. Ranged as far north as Nome. All in an effort to permanently stifle the existence of the unholy and unseen.
He was damn good at his job, too. A favored agent of Prior Snoke.
It was uncharacteristic of him to turn down such an easy job. It would reflect poorly on him as a warrior of God, and cast doubt on his dedication to the church.
But he couldn’t go back. Never.
He could still picture the disappointment in his mother’s eyes, feel the sting of it on his heart as plainly as if she were standing in front of his desk. And the rest of it… a muddled blur of pain and sorrow. He cared not to remember. He prayed he might never recall.
Kylo shivered again, and shook his dark head to clear it. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, silhouetting the roofs of the warehouses across the street. Glancing at the clock on his wall, he found that he had worried himself right through supper. It was nearly eight in the evening. Likely there was some food held back for him in the kitchen, but he wasn’t hungry.
He gathered his things and resigned himself not to eat as he made his way through the damp, brick hallways of the priory. One hard gust of wind off the lake and the place was sure to fall to pieces.
Luckily he did not encounter Snoke, nor any of the other brothers on his way to his quarters. And once he was safe inside his room, door locked behind him, he was taken by a wave of relieved security.
They would not bother him here.
Swiftly, he changed out of his robes, trading them for a white t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. There was a communal bathroom shared by the other men on his floor, and normally he would shower to end his day. But tonight he did not want to see anyone, not even in passing. Kylo felt too raw to weather even the most fleeting glance.
Needing it, he took a small bottle of klonopin from his dresser and knocked a pill back with a day-old glass of water. He paused to behold himself in the mirror and winced away from his own reflection.
He looked like a terrified child, all wide, bleary eyes and pursed lips chewed red. Pathetic. Was this what Snoke had seen? Kylo Ren reduced to a whimpering child before his very eyes? And all because of a memory, a feeling.
Face scrunching in disgust Kylo turned away and crawled into his tiny bed. It wasn’t quite dark yet, not yet nine, but he didn’t care. The brother wanted to sleep. Sleep and forget about how the mere mention of a town had made him weak in the eyes of his master, perhaps even the eyes of God.
The klonopin played its part, and he slept. At first, soundly. Then not at all.
⇆
Kylo dreamed. He dreamed a dream he could only interpret as a sign from God above. God who so rarely spoke to his earthly children.
The woods were dark, dank, and deep. There was no path for him to follow, and only the moon to light his way. It shone bright and full where he could glimpse it through the canopy. He carried no weapons, and wore only his robes and a heavy wooden crucifix around his neck. So weighty was it that he had to lift it with his hand to relieve some of the pressure.
“Hello?” He called out, and in his mind he prayed for safety.
At first there was no answer but the frightened scatter of forest creatures from the brush and the trees.
Kylo spun around, gripping the crucifix tightly. His skin was damp with the cool humidity of the air.
“Father bless me,” he breathed. “Father keep me, for there is great evil in this place.”
The air was suddenly icy cold, and his breath clouded thickly in it.
Then a sharp snap echoed through the forest, like a bough being ripped from a tree. And from the blackness emerged a great shadow with eyes like hot coals. A werewolf, massive in stature and cast inky in the moonlight stepped out of the dense foliage before him.
Kylo gasped and brandished his cross, groping at his side for a weapon but finding none.
“Back!” He commanded, “In the name of God, BACK.”
The face of the wolf split into a grin of jagged, dripping teeth, and as it stepped nearer Kylo knew he had never before faced one so large. His head did not even reach its shoulder.
“Away!” He shouted, all of his mantras lost to him as his voice echoed away into the wood. He could not remember his faith nor any of his lessons. All he knew was fear.
He tore the crucifix from his neck and threw it into the beast’s barrel chest. It swatted the cross away as if it were a fly, and the holy symbol was gone in the darkness.
“No,” Kylo rasped and turned to run. “No!”
But it was too late for him. The wolf was upon him, snorting in canine laughter as it brought him to the loam of the ground and tore into his body with savage teeth.
Kylo shot up in bed, gasping and clutching at his throat. His skin was sticky with sweat and his heart thundered in his chest. A dream, he thought, and then he said the words aloud to ground himself.
“Just a dream…” He trailed, collapsing back onto his pillow. His sable eyes searched the ceiling for answers. Budding sunlight was beginning to filter through his east facing window, brightening the room.
A dream indeed, but a poignant one. One that, the longer he lay still, the more it stoked his internal fires and made him want to run.
The wolf had shunned the power of God and then overcome him. In his dream the Devil’s own darkness had prevailed over all that was good. It must have been a sign. A message. A warning of dark days to come in Champlain, Washington.
And it had been Kylo’s dream. A vision he was deemed worthy of. There were no accidents in this world. No mistakes. No coincidences. Only man and God and that which passed between them.
Kylo threw his blankets aside and practically scrambled to his feet, rushing from a clean set of robes. He needed to speak to Snoke, to tell him of this vision, to explain that the esteemed Kylo Ren would go after all. It felt as though the Lord himself demanded it.
Once he was dressed he rushed barefoot through the halls, feet slapping loudly on the linoleum flooring. But he didn’t care. His message was far more important than the sleep of his fellow brothers.
Up he went. One floor, two, three, until he reached the singular room below the tower with the broken bell. That was where Prior Snoke slept behind a heavy mahogany door.
Kylo banged his fist against it urgently, “Prior Snoke?”
There was some rustling, and then a weathered voice replied, “Brother Kylo? What are you doing up at this hour?”
The door opened with a rush of cool air and Kylo passed quickly through.
“You’re very lucky I wake with the sun, elsewise I’d be cross with you, boy.” Snoke’s affectionate smile belied the threat. His face was leathery, scarred from many battles, but comfortingly familiar to the brother.
“I had a dream,” Kylo rushed to being, not bothering with any sort of pretense. “I had a vision that I believe was prophetic in nature. Something dark is happening in Champlain, an evil beyond our comprehension resides there. In my dream there was a huge wolf, and it would not bow to the will of God.”
Snoke quirked a pale eyebrow expectantly, “ And? What has this got to do with you, Ren? You turned down the assignment.”
It was only just then that it occurred to Kylo that Snoke would have to give the assignment to someone else. He may very well have already done it.
“I change my mind. I must go, I have to go. God is working through me now, I can feel it. I have to save that town from those demons. Please Prior, Father, let me go.”
He was just short of falling to his knees and begging. He was desperate, more desperate than he had ever been, even when he left Champlain. This was beyond him, and Brother Kylo was helpless but to act.
A smile crept across Snoke’s withered visage, wide and yellow.
“Very well, Ren. It’s good to see this passion in you. You will go, I didn’t want to send Armitage anyways.”
“Thank you, Prior. You won’t regret this. I know this is my path.”
Snoke nodded in agreement, “Indeed. You will leave in four days, I’ll have the plane ticket placed in your name.”
“Thank you,” Kylo said again.
He was relieved. This was right. It had to be right. Even as the dread began to mount in his gut, he knew this was his path, his journey. The dream had shown him as much.
In the Pacific Northwest there was a town called Champlain, and that town was in desperate need of salvation. Kylo, God help him, would bring it to them.
As he turned to leave Snoke’s chamber, the old master called after him, voice replete with subtle warning, “Remember, Ren. There is no turning back from this, not after you have seen a sign from God.”
Kylo swallowed hard.
No turning back now. In four days time he would be in Champlain.