Stronger Together (Kylo Ren x Reader | Maia)

Negotiations

Maia, in hyperspace the following day

The gentle alarm alerted us that we were five minutes from exiting hyperspace, but it was Kylo's voice that shook me from my thoughts.

"What is the source of your anxiety, my queen?" The words from his low, dark drawl warmed me in a way nothing ever would; it likely didn't matter what he said, though 'my queen' certainly helped. He had turned his chair to look at me, so I took a moment to analyze his face. It was neutral, but his eyes were focused on me as if he'd been staring for a while.

"Is it that obvious?" Giving him a dry smile, I wondered which worry he wished to know about. My career, which played a constant balancing act over a pit of destruction? The peace talks we were approaching, where I would be meeting not just Resistance leaders, but Kylo's mother?

The dark, shiny locks of his hair moved as he shook his head, returning the look. It was impossible not to allow my eyes to trail over him, both admiring and memorizing him.

"I do not mean for the meeting. You tensed when the alarm went off. You do not wish to go to Coruscant?"

"It isn't that," I said with a little shrug, impressed with his observations. "I've just never been."

"You had never been to Naboo before we went, no? Cantonia?"

"There is nothing like Coruscant!" I said in faux exasperation, giving him a playful shove. "You cannot compare it to places like Hosnian Prime or Chandrila!"

Kylo nodded with a thoughtful expression. "You know this? Because you have been?"

I laughed, his gentle teasing helping me feel more at ease. "Baby, a lot is on Coruscant. A lot of people, a lot of history. I didn't think I'd ever get to go." When I was little, and my uncle would travel, Coruscant was his main stop. I vaguely remembered the stories, but he made it sound like both the best place in the galaxy, and the worst.

"Well I assure you, you will only be getting a glimpse. The planet is practically endless, and we will be in an area where barely one percent of the people live and work."

"I know," I said quietly, looking back at the blue colors around us. Letting out a sigh, I shook my head. "Sometimes I just wish we were born normal so we could experience things as everyone else."

Every move we made had to be calculated. The two of us could not freely explore without taking precautions. It was like gaining freedom and having it stripped away simultaneously. Kylo could make the decision to start and end wars, but walking into the lower levels of Coruscant would be protested by every advisor he had, and likely with good reason.

"Maia, you do not wish to experience Coruscant as everyone else, I'm sorry to say. You will not find it enjoyable. There is a reason the New Republic did not fight for it." There was something unspoken beneath his words, and I thought he was silently agreeing with me. I've seen the brief looks on his face, the doubt and disdain. He enjoys the power but a part of him wishes for someone else to do it.

"I can handle danger," I said with a grin. "And dirt. And criminals."

"So you'd rather go into the underworld than have a political meeting; is that what you're saying?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It would have been nice to choose my life."

He was quiet for a moment, probably debating his response. Finally he looked back out the viewscreen with a slow nod. "I do not think many people get to choose their life's trajectory, Maia. My mother didn't. Nor did my uncle, or even my grandfather."

"I suppose we choose to live." His head turned back to me with a crooked smile, and I had to resist the urge to climb onto his lap from the sight.

"That we do, baby. You may not believe this, but we've chosen the First Order too."