Cara's POV

Cara looked out the window of the TIE Fighter as it flew into the gaping hole of the Star Destroyer. It suddenly dawned on her, the magnitude of the Empire's power. The ruin of Starkiller Base may have hindered them, for now – but how could the Rebellion ever hope to win the fight against an enemy that seemed to have unlimited resources? The destruction of the Death Star was not enough. The destruction of Starkiller Base was not enough. The only thing that would be enough, she realized, was the elimination of their leaders. Only then would the Empire fall.

Kylo gently brought the smaller ship down, allowing a few Imperial workers to anchor it to the heavy metal floor they had landed on. She saw his hesitation to take his hands off the controls – she knew as well as he did that as soon as they stepped out of this ship, all sense of security they may have had would vanish, no matter how false it had been. His hand clutched the handles tighter, his knuckles squeezing to break out from under the black leather of his gloves. Cara squeezed his shoulder, hoping the gesture would bring him some comfort. There was no sense in delaying the inevitable. Snoke would want to see her, and she had enough experience with the Empire to know that they would always use force to bring her in, if necessary. The Force, even, if Kylo were to be involved. She shuddered at the thought that she might cross paths with General Hux again. She had encountered his cold eyes and sharp smile enough to last her a lifetime.

She let her hand linger on his shoulder, using her palm to try and push his back forwards in an effort to get him to stand up. She was surprised at his unwillingness to leave the TIE Fighter. His confession of Snoke's manipulations seemed to have a greater effect on him than she would have thought. On the one hand, this pleased her – she took it to mean that he felt guilty, to some extent. Ashamed, even. Ashamed that he had allowed somebody else so much control over his own choices. Manipulation the consequences of which still echoed throughout their lives even all these years later. The death of Han Solo had undoubtedly been the result of Snoke's command, not Kylo's wishes. Cara believed this to be true, just as Leia did.

"There's no sense in waiting," she said, in a soft voice. She did not want to startle him. Right now, he was the only person she still had on her side – but once they entered a room with Snoke, who knew how long that would last. It was all she could do to keep herself from falling apart at the prospect of meeting the Supreme Leader.

He slowly took his hands off the controls, lifting them into mid-air before allowing them to fall into his lap. Cara allowed herself to hope that it had been his initial intention to place his hand over hers – it was an affection she desperately craved from him right now. Anything to make her feel more at ease. Anything to make her feel as though he was with her, truly, with her.

He stood up. His tall frame had to stoop awkwardly within the confined space of the TIE Fighter, and as the door finally hissed open he allowed Cara to step out before he did. He straightened up, the movement looking all the more menacing with his helmet still on. She saw the tense actions of the Imperial workers around them – Cara had no doubt that word of Kylo's unforgiving temper had made its way around the entire Imperial organization. She hoped they were petrified of him. It gave her an odd sense of power, feeling as though she was the only one who could successfully keep him in check. Along with Snoke, that is.

"He'll be in his chamber," Kylo spoke, his voice much more authoritative now than it had been in the cockpit of their ship moments ago. The Imperial officers scattered, giving them a wide berth through which to walk across the Star Destroyer's hangar. Cara tried and failed to match his long stride, running to keep up with him instead. He was nervous, she could tell. She doubted he was as nervous as she was, though.

They walked through countless tunnels, along countless bridges, until at last they had reached the door Kylo had been looking for. The door was immense and intimidating, and Cara had to crane her neck to see the top of it. It rounded out along with the wall, and she assumed that they were about to step into some sort of circular chamber. Impressive as the Star Destroyer was, she knew that whatever was behind those doors would impress upon her memory something much more frightening.

Kylo turned his head towards her, and all Cara wanted to do in that moment was to rip the mask from his face. She needed to see his eyes, she needed to see the pain that was behind them. She needed to know that he would be on her side, and that his emotional confessions from before were not just him using Snoke's tactics against her. How could she ever know that Snoke had not ordered him to tell her those things, just to make her emotionally weaker? How could she know that anything Kylo told her was the truth if she could not see the expressions on his face?

"Are you ready?" he asked, and in that moment she could have laughed out loud, breaking the eerie silence that seemed to inhabit the entirety of the Empire's ship.

"Do you think I'm ready?"

"No. I do not." He said, the distortion of his voice through the mask making his words fall all the more flat.

He was about to unlock the door when the unmistakeable plastic sound of Stormtrooper armour came running at them from around the corner. Kylo's head snapped towards the soldier, his body tensing as anger seemed to fill entire being seemingly out of nowhere.

"Sir, General Hux would like to be present when you bring the prisoner in to speak with the Supreme Leader. He ordered me to ask you to wait until he arrives."

"I find it hard to believe that General Hux was so polite about anything." Kylo said, and Cara could feel the corner of her mouth twitch upwards ever so slightly – she liked this sarcastic side of him.

The trooper seemed to have nothing to say in response, and the situation only managed to become funnier to Cara. Sure, she had to endure General Hux's face again – but at least Kylo would be there, by her side. As would Ben, she hoped.

"Very well – run along and tell the General that we expect his arrival promptly." Kylo said, echoing the cadence of Hux's voice. Cara's mouth formed a full smile, and she could have sworn she felt the eyes of the Stormtrooper looking at her questioningly behind Kylo as she had to fight to hold in a laugh. She was descending into madness, she was sure of it. Nothing about this situation should seem so amusing to her.

The soldier quickly sped past them, clearly not wanting to spend any more time in Master Ren's company than was necessary. She appreciated the Stormtrooper's effort to leave them so swiftly. It gave her more time alone with Kylo.

"Something amusing, Cara Nova?" Kylo asked, and his voice suddenly sounded much more energized, as though her smile gave him more hope than he had before.

"Just – the way you spoke to the Stormtrooper."

He said nothing in response, waiting for her to continue.

"The way you spoke to him, it sounded – it sounded a lot like Ben used to. Whenever his sarcasm dripped through."

"I would not have expected you to take pleasure in another person's embarrassment." Kylo said, but his words were not accusatory. He was merely stating a fact.

"Normally I would not. I guess I've changed." Cara said, aware that they both knew this to be true.

"I do not want Hux in there with us."

"I know you don't." Cara said, believing his every word.

He raised his hands, and for a second Cara thought that he would use them to comfort her – put his hands on her shoulders, or her face, just to let her know that everything would be alright. Instead, he put them to the sides of his helmet, and the now familiar hiss and click sound alerted her that he was about take his mask off. It slowly revealed his face, and she could feel her entire body relax. He wore an expression of pain and fear, and knowing that he seemed to care so much, even now, after everything they had been through, after she had left him on the demolished Starkiller base, made her smile grow even wider.

She wanted to hug him fiercely. She wanted to feel his fingers between hers, their hands squeezing each other so tight they lost all feeling in their fingertips. She wanted to feel his warmth, run her hands through his hair – she wanted to feel him, any part of him.

"Thank you," she said, grateful even for the small gesture of affection of taking his helmet off. At least there would be a friendly face in there with her now.

Surprisingly, he stooped down to place his helmet on the floor, just between their feet. She had assumed that he would take it in there with them, perhaps as a sign of respect towards Snoke or a gesture of intimidation towards Hux. Hux was afraid of Kylo, she knew. Kylo was the much more powerful of the two, after all.

She felt a flutter of excitement as his action caused her to move closer towards him. She had not realized how much she had craved human contact all the time she had been on Jakku – meaningful human contact, the kind that makes you feel alive, and wanted – not used and needed.

Silence permeated the air between them as Cara grew more anxious. He could sense it, she could tell. His eyes narrowed on her face, as though he was studying her expressions, the need for words unnecessary in comparison to how well he knew her.

Without her even realizing it, Kylo had lifted his hands towards his face. His gloves were still on, but the prospect of him holding her in any way was enough for her to be unbothered by this fact. He brought his hand up along her face, and the air between his fingers and soft skin was palpable and nearly crackling with energy, as though The Force was moving between them, right now. She suspected it might be – perhaps he was using the power of The Force to restrain himself, in case Hux were to waltz in quicker than expected. Whatever it was, it made her feel awake, and vigilant. Even without Kylo truly touching her, his hold over her was immeasurable.

Slowly, he brought both of his hands against the side of her neck, his leather-covered fingers pressing into the hard muscles that lay beneath her soft skin. The grip was tight, but it was not a grip that was meant to cause fear. The look on his face told her that it was somehow meant to anchor her to him, an assurance that he was there with her. Her heart was beating so fast and wildly she was sure he could hear it. The last time she had felt this intensely focused was when Kylo Ren had kissed her.

His thumbs stroked along her jaw line gently, barely touching her. He was looking down at her, and she was looking up at him, and if they had been in any other situation, and other location, she would have thrown all of her inhibitions away and kissed him right then and there. But they were on a Star Destroyer, Snoke was on the other side of that door, and Hux was coming towards them, undoubtedly waiting for the perfect moment to interrupt them.

"Stand your ground in there, Cara. For me." He whispered, and she closed her eyes, preparing herself for whatever it was that Snoke had in store for her.

A/N: I can't believe its been two months since I've uploaded a new chapter. I'm so sorry that it took me so long - but I've been writing the first 10,000 words of my novel for my Masters degree and I couldn't really focus on any other stories. In good news, however, I've got a very long holiday break, so I'm planning on uploading regularly in the next few weeks! I'm glad to see that people are still following BDTB I and II, it means a lot to me - especially with recent release of Rogue One! As always, any reviews are appreciated, and I'm glad for whatever readers are still here with me.