stars shining bright above you [kylo ren - 365 days based au]

IV

"Would things be easier if there was a right way? Honey, there is no right way."

__chapter IV__

          KYLO RESISTED THE URGE TO PRY INTO DRUSILLA'S UNCONSCIOUS MIND. He wondered how she could look so calm and innocent as she laid unresponsive in his bed. It was odd, as he could feel the woman's pain and uncertainness through their Force Bond. She was always good at masking her emotions; he always had to pry in order to read her properly. Kylo wondered what was going on in her mind. He knew she would never let him be this close to her if she were awake, so he enjoyed being sat at her bedside; her small hand in his while it lasted.

          The masked man's eyes surveyed her face for any sign of discomfort, finding none. She truly left her guard down when she slept. The man's thoughts drifted back to his own; wondering where the hell she'd been hiding all this time. Wondering how she managed to hide herself from him all these years. All these years, he blamed himself for her loss; constantly searching for her in everything, in vain. Now that he had her back; he wasn't sure if he'd be able to let her leave his side ever again. Perhaps it was selfish of him to think this way; but he absolutely did not care.

          His gaze raised to the medical droid that he had been ignoring, who was busy with various tests to make sure the woman's health was okay. Kylo felt how much she had strained herself during her attempted escape. He knew she was running on empty, just trying to live to see another day. It pained him to think that his actions have brought her to the point where that state became her reality. It was his fault. He knew it. He just needed to know she was going to be okay.

"The princess will be alright, Supreme Leader," The medical droid stated robotically. "She needs to not strain herself for the next few days. She needs plenty of rest and hydration."

"I'll make sure of it."

          After going over her test results, Kylo and the medical droid left the room, leaving behind the sleeping woman. She wasn't stirring, but her racing heartbeat indicated some sort of distress in her slumber. Drusilla's thoughts were plagued of visions from her past. These memories were bloody, raw and emotion filled. She felt consumed by fire as she relived from an outsider's point of view over and over again the events of the night of the storm. She watched helplessly as her younger self fought for her life, lightsaber against lightsaber, red clashing against purple, with an agility that she had lost over the last years due to her lack of training. Reexperiencing the moment Kylo pushed her through the wall caused her to flinch awake, disoriented at the room around her.