Royal Agreements [Kylo Ren x Reader]

chapter twenty-three

Your body fell still in the arms. You were draining away fast, and the person holding you knew it. You saw his brown eyes, both spilling over with tears. His lips, full and pink, trembling and tripping over words you couldn't focus on. His cheeks, dotted with dark freckles and scars and imperfections.

How beautiful. What a nice way to die, looking at the face of someone who loves you.

You smiled.

"Don't you dare," he muttered through clenched teeth. His gloved hands cupped the backside of your head and tilted your head up and out of the way of the rain. "You hear me, Princess? You promised me."

"I'm sorry," you whispered.

At the sound of your words, so full of pain and choked up in your throat, he sobbed. His wet forehead met yours and you felt warm drips on your face. His tears.

"I hope I didn't... make you - make you mad," you added.

"Force, I'm not mad," he breathed, "just don't leave me. Please. You promised."

He sounded like a child. A broken, sad child. You wondered if he ever had to plead the same words before. You thought of his mother, of his father, and how they sent him away without a choice. And now you were in a similar position. Forced to leave without a choice.

"You can win this," you breathed.

He clenched his jaw and shook his head. "Not without you, Princess. Never without you."

You smiled sadly. "Yes. Yes, without me."

"No," he said angrily. "Don't say this now-"

"Because I have to go very soon, my love," you whispered, and he broke down again. His shoulders shook and his cries came out in bursts of tearful screams. "I am sorry, my husband."

"Don't do this to me," he was crying, but it wasn't to you. He was praying to the Force. "Please, I have proved myself worthy. I have done all I can to have this, please let me keep this."

"Commander," you breathed, feeling your eyes roll back in your head. "You will have victory."

"Princess," he said, glancing up in panic. Your eyes were shut. "Princess! No, no, no!"

"All is," you gasped, trying to calm him as your last act, "as the Force wills it."

"Love," he said seriously, "you can fight this. Just hear me. Focus on me, Princess. Focus on me!"

You couldn't. Your breath left you in a single puff. Your lips froze parted, your eyes shut. He pressed his fingers into the apples of your cheeks and leaned close. His nose almost touched yours. He shook his head.

"No," he breathed. He brought a hand to your chest and checked for a heartbeat. All was still. "No, no - don't! Don't leave me. Come back!"

He was alone. In fact, Kylo Ren had never felt more alone. His power had betrayed him. His anger, his fear, his Darkness - it all turned on him in the end. The Supreme Leader provided his princess with no protection, and now he was empty.

"Oh, Force," he sobbed, dropping his head to your chest. "Force, please! I have remained loyal to you. I have prayed so long and hard for a wife, for a confidant - do not take her away from me like this..."

He lifted you close to his chest. He wished your arms would wrap around him, but they hung limp at your bleeding side. You head fell back until he pushed it up on his shoulder. He kissed your hair.

"I love you," he whispered, hoping you'd somehow hear him. "I love you, I love you."

His troops were speaking to him through his cufflink, but he did not answer. He did not know whether they were winning or losing, nor did he care. He had already lost. He was far worse than dead.

"Commander! We are losing men-"

It was over.

"-are you alive?"

He had nothing.

"They're taking over the palace-"

All he had was this corpse.

"Commander!"

With a slight grunt, he stood. You still were in his arms. His boots sank in the slick dirt, wet with rain and blood. He trudged forward. Juban's body was gone; it must have been taken away. Kylo doubted he was dead.

He had no weapon in his hands, however, he feared nothing as he stepped out into the middle of the battlegrounds. Using the Force, he stopped any weapon or man that threatened to harm him.

He stared ahead. Upon seeing your dead body, a few of your kingdom's new soldiers cried out. It broke Kylo further. You were leaving behind so much. So much that was being taken away - with every passing second, another soldier died brutally. There were no pauses.

All is as the Force wills it.

Kylo glanced down at you. If that were true, then all hope was not lost. He could try and bring you back. A spark of hope dazzled his eyes.

He boarded the Finalizer that was hidden well in the woods. He placed you on a steel bench and knelt before you. It was quieter inside; the sounds and smells of war silenced and muffled and gone.

He shut his eyes. His hands found yours and he clenched his jaw. He found the Force inside of him, the very power that look root in his soul before he was born. He began to push it forward.

It had worked before, when he had attempted to calm you in your chambers. How simple it all seemed back then. You were just a princess, not a fallen soldier. Not a wife, not a lover.

He felt his strength fade from him. If he gave you enough, perhaps your heartbeat would resume its steady pace. He squeezed your hands, searched your wrists for a pulse, tugged on your fingers.

"Come on, love..."

He heard the sounds of footsteps outside. It broke him out of his trance. He had drips of sweat on his head and you were still pale. The footsteps continued. Kylo kissed your head and grabbed his lightsaber. Taking one last glance at you, he left the ship to face whatever was before him.