"Azani..."

With his helmet still on, Kylo spoke in such a deep tone with the metallic fringe to it. While she knew it was just a helmet, it always frightened her more and made him look inhuman. Trying to steel herself, she tried to build the wall that she habitually had when he was nearby. One that he couldn't penetrate unless he actually caused her some discomfort which she knew he wouldn't do to her.

"I'm aware of how my helmet causes you feel, and I would have removed it were it not for your distress signal through the force."

Stepping into the bathroom fully, Kylo grazed his hand along the wall as he made his way towards her. While not needed, hands were great focusing tools that could be used to pin point things. In this instance, he was utilizing them to try to determine what she'd been doing prior to his arrival. It was something intensive, that much he could tell based on her tense posture. Whatever it was, it must have been something she knew he would disapprove of.

"..."

With Kylo out of the doorway, Azani speed walks back to the main room with Kylo following slowly after.

She wouldn't be able to conceal her possessions without him knowing, there was just no way. He was here, in the room ready to interrogate her no doubt about what she'd been doing. To get her things back to where they belonged, she would have to unscrew some panels in the kitchen area after moving one of the counters. It would give away her hiding spot and could get her in more trouble for things that she hadn't even done yet. She had to think fast, because Kylo knew something was amiss. She stopped walking as she reached the counter where she would hide her things, holding her hands in front of her.

"You've never done that before, signaling out to me that is. You've been so apathetic, so distant. Rarely do I get to behold you as the beauty that you are. I suppose you could say I became excited to feel you."

There was a couple of clicks and whizzing noise followed by a thud that resounded through the room.

"But this wasn't some distress call to anyone listening, no. You were looking for me; you needed me to come to your aid. You wanted me here with you. "

With her back still turned to him, she listened as he walked closer. She wanted to keep her possessions as far away from him as possible, but she knew that her options were thinning out with each second. Her mind was racing, she tried thinking about what she could do to get herself out of this. She needed to keep him at bay if she was ever going to get her things back to where they belonged. She tensed immediately when two large hands rest on her shoulders. He was on her. His chest was touching her back now, and it sent chills through her body.

"..."

Leaning in close to her ear, Kylo whispers gently to her and massages her shoulders coaxing her to relax.

"You don't have to explain yourself to me right now. I'm happy just knowing you did it, whether you understand it now or isn't important."

Sliding his hands off her shoulders, Kylo watched with alertness how she tensed further as his hands reached her hands. In this moment before the storm, Kylo overheard an inner conversation of his own going on. One side of him demanded he yank her hands open and see what it is that she was hiding from him. His other more logical side explained that if he could coax her into giving it to him, he'd get that much farther in getting close to her. He could have expressed his anger to her, but he was trying with considerable difficulty to keep his feelings in check.

"You're becoming more tense the longer we stand here. If there's something on your mind, please tell me."He was being as delicate as he could with her.

"..."

Her silence was deafening to him, his ears burning to hear her utter something. She'd been so mute, and now he had gone a whole month without hearing her at all. She was more than aware of how much it bothered him, that's why she did it. It wasn't like he was going forcing anything out of her, because he couldn't bring himself to do it. Azani had no idea just how close her antics brought him to doing things that he would regret later.

"I can't find the words to properly explain how this silence makes me feel..." Kylo closed his eyes and swallowed hard at the thought of what he was going to do next. He never wanted to do this, but it was too late. "But you've left me no choice but to pry."

Azani's breath comes to a long pause as she can feel pressure building in the air.

Instantly, she can feel him in her head. The walls that she'd so carefully built to protect herself were being threatened and she was unprepared to defend. Azani calmed her breathing, really focusing in on her mind and keeping it from him. It was like a nudge at her subconscious, a gentle knock in her mind like he was asking for permission inside. She held strong and refused any entry. She couldn't fall for his trick. If she let him get in now, he'd never have to wonder about what she thought about. It would come to him as naturally as his own thoughts. Tensing further, she pursed her lips as her palms start sweating.

"This isn't pleasant, I know. But I need confirmation of what took place, and this is the best way."

The pressure intensified, promptly starting to pound away at her fortress. Bricks made of her resolve fell into the abyss, but he didn't stop. Kylos' force kept beating at her until small pockets started forming. From here, he could gather bits of information while allowing her time to consider just telling him. He inhaled the smell of her hair and added a little more force to the massage that he was giving her hands.

"You feel a sense of joy pass through you, knowing that I'm gone...You hide away in the bathroom, cleaning it before you go, to cleanse it of my presence... Now you're leaving to get something from the kitchen."

Azanis' shoulders begin to quiver and eyes start to water. She fights to hold onto her secrets, recognizing the futility.

"You have a hiding spot here... Some objects that you hold dear...Meditation is what it starts off as, but...You're doing something more..."

Opening his eyes, Kylo glances down at her clenched hands. Now he had evidence of what she was doing, and his irritation with the situation teetered on showing. Taking a deep breath, he tried to steady himself on focus on the matter at hand. His lover was shaking from how she was crying, no doubt a small stain of tears on her shirt. She was holding some things that she shouldn't have and had more in her pockets. Based on her emotional state, chances were she wasn't going to protest if he attempted taking them from her.

Without any resistance, the trinkets and crystals float out of Azanis' pockets to the area where Kylo kept his helmet.

Without leaving her side, Kylo glanced at the objects as they made their way over. None of them looked like weapons, so he could rule out that she had plans on killing him. The crystals definitely held some power to them; they looked awfully similar to the kyber crystals that were used in lightsabers. That brought about many questions like how, when and where she'd gotten them from. Outing those thoughts on the back burner for now, he gave Azani his undivided attention.

"The dark side, it's done a lot to me through the years. It's made me hyper aware of my surroundings. However, I have no need for the force to see things that are right in front of me."

Azanis' breath hitched at this, her sniffling stopped momentarily. She had to think carefully about his word choice: He knew about her activities and chose not to say anything. He wanted to see how far she'd push it before he had to step in and she walked right into his trap. Her mind racing once more, she tried to think for a time when she could have exposed herself and her activities to him. She couldn't think fast enough, as she felt his body weight disappear from her own. Shaking more with tears and snot, she crumbled to the floor on her knees.

"I will admit, the force has clouded a portion of my judgment with rage. But when I'm with you, it's never been more clear."

Walking away from her, Kylo removes his many layers of his clothes until he's only in his undershorts.

"This unusual situation of ours, it's unlost to me. I can sense you're unhappy and that you long to go back to your home world. But you were never truly home there, were you? They called you their princess, and yet you were caged like a bird. No hope in sight for when you'd get to spread your wings. While this may be the pot calling the kettle black, I can assure you that I have plans for us."

Making his way back to her, he hoists her off the ground bridal style. As they reached the bed, his mind flashes through all the work he'd been through to get to this point. It'd been so long since he heard her voice or saw her face in his dreams. When he first sought out to locate her, he relayed on the force to guide him. It directed Kylo right to her planet, and to her. The potential in her was so extraordinary, the kind of galaxy they could create together was something he'd only dreamed about. Much like Snoke did to him so long ago, he gradually crept his way into her life before convincing her to leave it all behind. The convincing was far harsher than what he wanted, but those mercenaries needed something to do and he needed her off the planet.

She used to be so full of chatter when they officially met, always striking up a conversation. In the present circumstances, she hadn't uttered a word to him in a little over 1 month. She forewarned him before that she could never love him for what he'd done and that she'd never become a part of his empire. He repeatedly shot back stating that the potential of what they could do for the galaxy was too great to be concerned. More over than that, he loved her. The Force called him to her, like a magnet. He knew there was something within her, something that called out to him too, he just needed her to see that and embrace it.

Azani refuses to look at him still as he finishes disrobing her down to her shirt and shorts. Kylo detects something within him snap as he takes a firm grasp of her hands.

"Look at me."

"..."

"Please...Look at me."

Whatever small resolve she had died and she reluctantly looked him in the eye. Her eyes red from crying, her cheeks stained with dried tears and her lips a bit raw from chewing on them.

Kylo tried hard not sounding upset, but he couldn't help himself as some of his more passionate emotions slipped through the cracks.

"While you may have loved your village, it wasn't your home. Your home is not among ants such as them. It's here, in the galaxy, with me. No matter how you cry and protest that you don't want this, I can sense it. A small part of your heart, it calls to me. It beckons me to protect you, to hold you. One day, you'll realize just how much you needed this and how much you need me. "

Biting her lip further, she refused to acknowledge anything he said, no matter how true it might be. She'd struggled numerous times to stomp out that feeling of butterflies in her stomach, but it didn't work, it never did. Mentally, she beat herself over the head for it, how she allows herself be fooled by his appearance. Before her, on his knees was a monster. Someone who methodically destroyed planets possibly killing millions of innocent people in the name of The First Order.

The bed shifts as Kylo lays down behind her, gently pulling her over so she faces his chest. He adjusts the blankets, so no part of them is uncovered.

Holding her close, he shushes her small cries and kisses her forehead. Just being with her like this has quelled the fierce storm that blew over his mind moments ago. His mind has comfortably settled back into his softer demeanor as he begins whispering things in an effort to calm her. Kylo conveyed every ounce of love he had to give to her in moments like this, hoping he'd get through to her at some point.

"I love you, always. Even now, as you reject my love and me, I love you still. Even if it takes you 1,000 years to accept and reciprocate, I'll always be here."

After waiting for so long, it seemed that his affections was having a physical effect on her as she relaxed into him. Kylos' heart beat picked up drastically and he felt a small spark of something go off in his body. Holding her, he shook the feeling and swore he'd address that at some point down the road. For now, he just didn't want to ruin the sweet moment that they were sharing. Nothing else in the galaxy mattered for the rest of the night.

Though Kylo knew he'd have to deal with her astral trips a lot sooner than later.