Smuggler Ben and Kira Ren

Kira Ren abruptly turned toward the officer who was giving her a report regarding the latest skirmish in which First Order stormtroopers had engaged, causing him to stutter and stop mid-word.

"What did you just say?"

Her velvety voice managed to sound threatening and calm at the same time. The young officer was shaking when he responded. Her fingers danced in the air and an invisible hand constricted around his throat, lifting him up from the ground to let him dangle in mid-air while he choked out an answer.

Everyone knew that the best way to survive an interaction with the infamous Master of the Knights of Ren was to not have any interaction with her. This young officer had lost a bet and was forced to report to her. He was heartily regretting the entire endeavor now.

"We have... K-Kylo in custody, ma'am. Our stormtroopers were able to ambush him near Kef Bir. We-"

He would've continued, but Kira had already lost interest and tossed him to the floor like a ragdoll before striding out of the chamber, her cloak billowing after her like dark wings on a bird of prey. Or the dark feathers of a fallen angel.

Kira Ren was the tiniest of the Knights of Ren and the only one who didn't wear a mask. Those who had seen her were first struck by her ethereal beauty: her alabaster skin, silky chestnut hair always in a high braid, bright hazel eyes sparking with energy and emotion in an elfin face with red pouty lips that many a man had seen in his dreams. Anyone who underestimated her based on her looks or stature soon felt the cauterizing heat of the twin blades of her saber staff.

Nonchalantly twirling her staff in one hand, she strode toward the cell block holding the infamous smuggler who called himself Kylo. No one told her where to find him; she hadn't even needed to pull the information out of the poor officer's mind. All she had to do was follow the Force's will and it led her to him. Now that she knew the idiot was onboard, it was hard for Kira Ren to do anything but feel his irritatingly familiar Force signature smothering her like a warm blanket from all sides.

And all she'd asked from him was one thing: to stay away.

Walking into the interrogation cell and seeing his stupid smirk had her sorely tempted to just gut him with her saber, her finger itching on the switch that triggered the blades. Her eyes spitting fire, Kira advanced on the much taller and much bigger prisoner with an expression that would've sent most grown men crying for their mothers. But strangely, even strapped to the interrogation table, this man was unafraid. In fact, at the sight of her rage, his smirk only grew wider.

"There you are my love. And here I thought I would have to wait much longer to see your beautiful face."

Kylo, also known to a select few as Benjamin Organa-Solo, was a man with a death wish. He had to be, to so cavalierly be caught by the First Order, solely to meet with the woman who haunted his dreams and waking moments. That they just happened to be on opposite sides of a galaxy-wide war didn't really play an important role in any of his harebrained schemes.

When Kira spoke, her voice showed little trace of the anger still present in her eyes. Her low, husky voice dripped with disdain mixed with a hint of menace.

"It might be the last thing you ever see, Solo."

If her tone or her words affected him, Ben didn't show it. A split second later he was countering with a smile. 

"But what a way to go! I would be honored to be slain by such capable hands, my Lady."

"Shut it, you nerfherder, or I'll run you through with my staff. Do you have an ounce of self-control in that tiny brain of yours? All I asked from you was for you to stay away. And you show up here the first opportunity you get. Has your brain melted out of your ears from all the Corellian whiskey?"

Ben knew he should keep his mouth shut if he wanted to live through the day. But he couldn't help himself; he was so far gone for this goddess raging in front of him that his instincts for self-preservation had disappeared.

To everyone else, Kira Ren was the ultimate ice queen, with her demeanor colder than Hoth. It was nigh on impossible to elicit anger from the young Master of the Knights of Ren, yet here she was, pacing and ranting, her temper as hot as the lava flows on Mustafar.

"Aww... You do care. It warms every corner of my poor, broken heart that you would worry so much about my safety, my Lady. But not to worry, I just dropped in to see your lovely face and let you know that I will be on your tail during your trip to Exegol. It is time."

Stopping her pacing mid-stride, Kira's expression tightened slightly before her features blanked out deliberately. She stepped closer to the interrogation table and tilted her head slightly. 

"And you couldn't let me know this through the bond?" she asked.

Ben shrugged nonchalantly, his tight shirt struggling to stretch with his shoulders, making Kira's eyes wander for a millisecond. The smuggler caught it, and his expression turned to one of a Tooka cat that had just licked up the entire bowl of cream.

"I could, but then I couldn't do this."

And he leaned forward, his arms wrapping around Kira's slim waist as his plush lips fastened themselves to hers. The kiss lasted but a few seconds before Ben set her back on the floor and stepped away from the interrogation table himself. That his restraints were never fastened was something that hadn't even registered on Kira's radar, given how angry she'd been when walking in. But now, that was her last concern as she pulled him back down to her and kissed him once more, bruisingly hard, before she pushed him away.

"Be careful. If you lose me, get out. I don't want to be distracted by you during whatever is going to happen on Exegol. And remember, no heroics. You get between me and the old man, and I will cut you down myself before I take his head off."

Ben's eyes softened for a bit, his fingers caressing Kira's smooth cheek for a second before he nodded.

"You take care of yourself too. We're going to finish this tonight, my love. I'll be right next to you through all of it. Tomorrow we'll celebrate the end of the old Empire and the beginning of the rest of our lives. Tomorrow, I'll ask you to marry me. And tomorrow, you'll say yes."

Kira Ren's eyes filled with traitorous tears as she just nodded her head at this crazy, brave, good man: the man who was her chaotic other half, the man she loved. The man who would be her fiancé come tomorrow. She couldn't wait.

They had a date with destiny tonight, and Kira Ren intended to do whatever it took to make sure she and her smuggler saw the light of tomorrow, shining bright.