Stronger Together (Kylo Ren x Reader | Maia)

The Calm

Kylo, Hux's estate, 1100 the following morning

I sent a message to my mother. Maia set up a lunch in the smaller courtyard that offsets the guesthouse. I slipped in and added plates and extra food for a Wookiee. She was good, but she doesn't know my family yet. Leia would be coming in the Falcon with Han and Chewbacca.

Plus, I hadn't informed her that I requested Luke's presence as well. I didn't know if he'd show, nor if he would want to stay for lunch. But I didn't wish to get her hopes up just to see her disappointment if he didn't come. She was so considerate, never asking about my family. I knew she wanted to, but we both knew I didn't want to talk about them. But I saw the flashes of intrigue the rare times I spoke of my mother, the looks of awe in the even rarer times I talked about my father. Maia burned to know them, but she would never purposely reveal that to me.

As we were walking through the gardens to the courtyard, Hux in tow, I realized Maia had fallen a step behind. I turned to see her distractedly looking around at the flowers and shrubs as we walked to the edge—even Hux looked amused by her. And since the world didn't need to know I possessed patience, I finally gripped her hand and pulled her behind me. She giggled, causing me to shake my head.

Ever since she healed my hand, she was more vivid in the Force, as if a faint breeze was beginning to materialize into wind. I didn't know if that was why she was acting so carefree, but I wished to reach out, to try to pull her out of the retrained box she'd put herself in. If she wanted to run through the kriffing flowers and feel the life all around, she should. I'd much rather watch that than sit down with my family.

When she giggled again, I looked over my shoulder to see her free hand outstretched, palm up, a bright, white butterfly resting on it. My eyes flicked to Hux, who looked as perplexed at his fearsome high admiral as I felt.

I've seen the woman walk unblinking onto a battlefield without a weapon in her hand, and I've seen her shoot men point blank. I've witnessed her fistfight droids and navigate air battles as if there weren't hundreds of pieces she had to pay attention to at any given time. The woman brings hardened men to their knees, leads almost five million troops, and has survived a level of torture that would have snapped most people. And here she was, playing with a delicate insect.

It dawned on me suddenly—how obvious it was. We were opposites. Circumstances have put us on the same side, but we were two wholly different people.

I faced forward once more, my face in a frown. The Falcon was off in the distance, and looking out into the fields was my family. Except a new person was with them—Lando.

Kriff, every time I saw them, there was someone else from my past. It was exhausting. I was thankful they were here for Maia and not me. She would likely lead the conversation away from anything I did not wish to discuss—which was almost everything. She was, after all, my voice.

"Who's that?" she asked as she finally noticed him, stepping quicker until she was in sync with me once more. I could have dropped her hand, but I did not.

"Lando Calrissian. He was like an uncle to me." Her droid sped past us to analyze the guests, stopping before my mother.

"Oh. I've heard of him."

"You have?" Leia bent down to tap Balu's dome, apparently familiar with the little droid.

"He's a wanted man," she said with a shrug.

"There they are!" Han said, making me grateful I still wore my helmet. He liked Maia, which made me equal parts sad, happy, and angry.

"Hello, Han," she said with a grin, removing her hand from mine and wrapping her arms around his waist.