We had made our way through the passageway at this point, leaving the General behind, a broken mess on the floor. By the time he would be found and stitched back together again, we would've made it half way around the galaxy, but we weren't about to wait for that to play out. We had to keep moving.
"We're not too far off from where we need to be, but we should take a moment to rest. You need your energy. No one will find us here. I know that for certain."
I shook my head, "I should be fine, Kylo, just a few more-"
As if on cue, I lost my balance, the weight of over-exertion settling like a boulder on the top of my head. He wasn't kidding when he said I needed time to master such a move. Kylo was quick to sling his arm around my waist before I could hit the floor.
"-Steps..." I finished, sheepishly.
He pulled me and my limping legs over to an unkempt construction area, opening the hatch to an old, dusty supply closet.
I let a finger trace one of the shelving units, collecting a soft, grey film on the tip.
"What is this place? Seems like it's been decades since this area had residents."
Kylo took a cotton paint tarp from one of the storage cabinets, unfolded it carefully, and placed it over the floor to cover the cold concrete.
"I tend to get a bit forgetful," He said, hands smoothing out the fabric before placing his bottom down, "Especially as of late. I was set to make renovations down here-"
"Ahhh..." I voiced, a smirk spreading across my cheeks as I followed him onto the floor, "A place for whores and alcoholic beverages...?" I asked.
Kylo chuckled, eyes squinting as he placed my body between his long legs. My frame fit his like the pieces of a puzzle, the flat of my back flushed to his chest as he wrapped his biceps around my shoulders.
"Something like that, dove." He said with a soft sneer, finger nimbly tracing the line of my jaw.
I leaned my head back into his collarbone, relishing in the serenity of the moment. He knew, in more ways than one, how to put my mind at ease.
"What you did out there...I was...awestruck." He rattled off, hands playing with the lower hem of my top.
I blew the air out of my cheeks, allowing myself to drift away as my eyes fluttered closed, "Now I know why you said that move would be so difficult. I can't imagine how I would've accomplished it without you there."
He chuckled softly, "All in time."
"Kylo...?" My voice piped up, filling the empty sound of silence.
He looked down at me, tired eyes softening upon entering my eye line.
"What was your mother like...?" I asked gently, nervously pulling on the splayed thread of my sleeve.
He sighed, cheek against my hair, fingers combing through it.
"She was a beautiful woman. Kind, strong-willed, taught me what it meant to be a man...maybe even more so than my father." He looked to the ceiling, allowing the smallest of laughs to escape him.
My smile was soft, almost appreciative as I imagined a young Kylo Ren in the kitchen, pulling on his mother's apron while his father, may he rest in eternal peace, had his hand slapped away from the cookies in the process of being baked.
"Sons have soft hearts for their mothers." Kylo noted, pulling me out of my head for a moment.
"...And for unsuspecting emotional support operatives..." I joked, the point of a finger landing into his chest.
He took it in his hand and placed his lips against it. The kiss climbed from my bed of my nail to the top of my hand, down my forearm, and into my shoulder. A giggle tumbled from my throat as he nuzzled his nose into my neck, blowing air into the space between.
As he pulled back, I could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest, air like the ocean in the shell of my ear.
"I always knew, somewhere inside, that what they said was untrue." I murmured lips barely moving.
His head fell to the side, eyes questioning.
I continued, "They see you as soulless. Some say you could put a pebble in your place and they wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
I pictured a small stone, unstaring eyes painted on, stationed at the very front of the ship in a tiny cape. I laughed lightly, tracing the veins on the backs of Kylo's hands.
"Although, I suppose a pebble wouldn't make nearly as much noise." I scoffed, playfully nudging into him.
"...And now...?" He asked, slightly amused.
I turned my head to look up at him, and as I did so, I was immediately met with large, unblinking eyes.
"I suppose you do have a soul, after all."
Our foreheads pressed together for a short while, a toothy grin stretching across his cheeks. The skin of his hands traced every inch of my mine, fingers reaching, curling into my hair, tongue gliding over his plumped bottom lip.
"Beautiful." He said in a breath.
I swallowed hard as the feeling of fear dug a hole in my stomach. It hit like freight train, the reason why him and I were hiding away in this dirty closet to begin with.
The fact that, for some reason, we needed to depart from this ship, from The First Order, and leave our old lives behind...
"Kylo..."
"Yes, Everly...?"
I chewed at my lower lip, nearly puncturing the skin and drawing blood.
"Whatever the reason we're here...whatever happens to us...I just want to know that all of this is real...that you are real. Everything that happened in our sessions, in our time together...I want to know that it meant something..." I paused, breath shaking, "And that if this is a Force vision, I...I don't ever want to wake."
"Has Hux gotten in your head, dove...?" He asked cautiously, eyebrows painfully furrowed.
I slowly removed his hand from my face, taking a deep breath in and letting it simmer.
"I suppose..."
He was silent.
He reached for me, hand coming, a cup to my temple, slowly lowering my head until it met the spot of his sternum above his heart.
"Just close your eyes and listen...I surrendered it to you the moment we met...the most unforgiving, unwavering part of me."
I let my eyes grow heavy as the sound of his voice rumbled in his chest. The beating of his heart; a song.
"I will fight for you until it stops. Every moment I've fought before has been for me and me alone. I have a new purpose now. My heart knows a new owner."
A solid lump settled in my throat as I choked back the waterworks that threatened my tear ducts. He brushed a spool of hair away from my face, tender lips pressing warmly into my skin.
"It's the only sound in the galaxy that reminds me that this isn't just a dream." I said softly.
I traced a small pattern on his sweater as each beat brought me closer and closer to pure, angelic tranquility.
"Everly of my heart."