AN: I'll just leave this here...

Part XXVIII

After they parted, Ben took the next few minutes to showing Rey all of the personalizations he requested be made to the ship. Then Rey dug her hands into the interactive hologram, enlarging parts of the schematics and pointing out some of the more surprising details she had discovered while scrapping on the Inflictor.

Ben watched with rapture as she talked about the wiring in the turbo lifts that were garbage or the hydraulic tubing that had turned to dust. She recommended reenforcing the gangplanks as they would often fail or fortifying the blast doors to the hyperdrive since she was able to breech them in a matter of minutes.

"I'm glad you like it," he whispered over Rey's shoulder as she took one last look at the thruster configuration.

Minimizing the schematics to once again view the whole ship, Rey waved her hand, making the hologram slowly spin on the lateral plane. "It's beautiful Ben."

Stepping up behind her, Ben wrapped his arms around her waist, "In the course of a year, I hope to have you by my side for the Christen of her."

Rey tilted her head back, looking up at him. "I'll be here," she said with as much conviction as she could muster.

She wanted to believe her words and she hoped that Ben didn't sense the doubt that was settling into the deepest parts of her mind. The truth of it all was that Rey didn't think she could go another year away from Ben and she resolved to work as hard as she could to bring peace with the Resistance in the next few months, or she needed to just walk away and let the Force decide the outcome.

He cupped her cheek and she spun in his arms, just as she though he was going to kiss her, Ben spoke against her lips, "I have something else to show you."

With her eyes flicking from his full grinning lips to the mischievous glint in his eye, Rey couldn't fathom what else he had in store for her. "The Redemption wasn't enough?" She teased.

"Every star in the sky would never be enough for you," he smirked back and then gave her a quick kiss before taking her hand and leading her from the show room.

Walking down the same halls back to the hangar, Rey took her free hand and grabbed the crook of Ben's arm, pulling her body up close to his. "What did you mean before when you said I didn't need my cloak here?"

Ben pointed to the durasteel ceiling and windowless walls. "There are no cameras here, no unauthorized staff. Everything they do here is classified and when the Emperor asks for the entire sector to be cleared for a private showing…" he pulled her to a stop, gaze upon her with his dark eyes, "they clear the sector."

Sometimes Rey forgot what it meant to have the type of power that Ben commanded. It was all fun and excitement, dashing off to unseen worlds and playing the hero to the less fortunate, but what she wouldn't give to watch him upon his throne. It would be a lie that she didn't find his power extremely…stimulating.

Coming back out of her daze, Rey smiled up at him, "Well aren't we lucky then…"

They continued their walk and as they neared the end of the hall, they started to hear raised voices. In the expanse of the hangar, they found Cale and Davin squaring off, each holding a training saber.

"Keep your weight balanced!" Cale called as he took another swing at his comrade with the blue blade.

Davin struggled to parry each strike, "I've never held one of these things before."

"Go easy on him Cale," Tyris called from the side lines where he was sitting next to Arlan on the ramp of the shuttle.

Cale advanced again, swinging the saber towards Davin's head. "You think I became a junior Knight by allowing anyone to go easy on me?"

Arlan snorted, "Junior Knight? Just because you make up a title for yourself doesn't make you special."

Rey and Ben watched, both tilting their heads to the side wondering what it was like for a non-Force sensitive person to wield a true saber. But as Cale continued to rain down blows on Davin, Rey dropped Ben's hand and took a few hurried strides forward.

Reaching for her back, her saberstaff fell into her hand perfectly and with a double snap and hiss the two ends crackled to life. "How about you pick on someone your own size," she called out to the man who almost matched Ben's height and build.

Cale watched the Empress twirl her very real lightsaber staff a few times before she twisted at the hilt and came away holding a sword in each hand, flipping her wrists and making the blades pop and hum as a small blue flame exhausted out of each hilt.

With a nervous brow, Cale looked to his Master and then to his Empress. In a quick decision, he deactivated the saber with a blade that could barely leave a welt and dropped to one knee before Rey. "I could never raise a weapon against what is my Master's, against my Empress."

Finally, Ben thought to himself as he stepped forward and reached out a hand. "Rey," he said calmly, placing his hand on her shoulder. She relaxed under his touch, the blades of her saber retracting, coming together, and being seated at the small of her back.

Cale now looked up, seeing Ren standing behind the Empress and he prayed that he made the right choice, that he wouldn't be considered a coward for not answering Rey's challenge. "Master…" and he started to stand.

"Stay where you are," Ben's voice left no room of objection and Cale sank back down to his knee. Reaching for his hip, there was a distinctive and echoing metallic click of Ben's saber coming from away from his belt. "Rey," he spoke again, holding out his black cross guarded saber for her.

The first time she had held this saber was in the throne room on the Supremacy, her teeth bared at Snoke as his drawn voice mocked her fierceness. Her hands had been shaking so badly then, partly from fear and partly from pure adrenaline. But now, under the guidance and encouragement of Ben, she steadily wrapped her fingers around the girth of the hilt, holding it downwards between herself and the kneeling guard.

"Repeat what I say," his voice was just behind her ear, his hand still on her shoulder.

Rey listened carefully to Ben, knowing that the task she was about to undertake was something that both the Knight and herself would never forget. So with the regal voice of an Empress, Rey stated the following.

"Cale Bahr, have you undertaken to accept the accolade of Knighthood that was offered to you by the Knights of Ren?"

"I have," Cale answered, his chest heaving.

"You have been deemed fit for this high estate by your Master, Emperor, and Empress, and have indicated your willingness to accept this honor from our hands." As Rey recited the words, she knew that Ben's induction was nothing like this pomp, but rather a trial by fire. "Do you now swear by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy that you will honor and defend the New Order, your Master, your Empress, and your brothers?"

"I will."

"That you will conduct yourself in all matters as befits a Knight, drawing your sword only for just cause? That you will convey upon the masses the honor that is to be a Knight of Ren to the benefit of the good name of your Master and the greater glory of the Force?"

"I do earnestly accede."

"Light the saber," Ben instructed.

To Cale's credit, the intended didn't even jump when the unsteady red blade snapped to life, just bowed his head, exuding feelings of honor and esteem.

Ben's voice was all around her, in her head and under her skin as she continued her speech, "Then having sworn these solemn oaths, know now that we, your Master, Emperor, and Empress, through the Force, do dub you with our hands, our saber, by all that you hold sacred, true, and holy…"

Without having to be told, Rey moved the saber over Cale's head, lowering it over each of his shoulders, so close that the lint of his surcoat singed. "Arise, Sir Cale, Knight of Ren."

Applause rang out as the three guards hooped and hollered in celebration. Rey deactivated Ben's saber as his touch came off her shoulder, his large hand wrapping around the forearm of Cale as they pulled each other in for a one-armed hug.

"Thank you, sir," Cale said as the two men parted.

Ben smirked, playfully slapping Cale on the cheek, "Don't thank me yet. The difficult part is yet to come."

Next the new Knight turned to the small woman who just bestowed the greatest honor upon him. "Thank you Empress."

"Congratulations," Rey said sweetly, rocking up on her toes to place a friendly kiss upon Cale's cheek. She saw a blush paint his face and she wanted to tease him but decided to let the Knight enjoy his moment.

Finally Arlan, Tyris, and Davin came up and offered hugs and pats on the back. As they were busy in their own celebration, Ben reached out and threaded his fingers with Rey's, pulling her towards the shuttle.

"Where are you taking me now?" She asked, loving the adventures they endeavored together.

"Hangar B," he answered simply as they passed by the MK3 and towards another set of double doors. They entered the airlock between the hangars, he squeezed her hand and as he started to walk forward again, his gaze was set intently on her face.

The lights in the space came up as they entered and Rey squealed and actually stated to excitedly jump up and down at his side. Ben could only let out the most honest and full belly laugh.

In the middle of the hangar sat two TIE Silencers. After his had been lost aboard the Supremacy, he had commissioned another one, sleek and completely blacked out. But for Rey, her ship was detailed in shades of gray.

"Are we going to fly these?" Rey asked, already standing next to her craft as she had run across the polished tarmac to get a closer look.

Ben sauntered up, running his hand along the sloping wing, pretending to be inspecting the craftsmanship before his lips pulled up and he slid his gaze to her, "Who else is going to test them out?"

Rey squealed again. She had flown TIEs in her simulator a million times but she never guessed that she would actually fly one. The design was different, more menacing looking, built for speed, maneuverability, and stealth. She was itching to get at the controls.

With a memorized precision he reached out and pulled the lever that released the hatch. Inside the cockpit, set upon the pilot's seat was a helmet, fashioned more like those of the Rebels with an open face. Ben often flew without a helmet, wanting to observe everything around him, but he wanted to be able to use the comms that were built in head pieces.

Palming the crown of the helmet, Ben picked it up in one large hand as Rey squirmed and tucked her hair back behind her ears. It fit like a glove and she pushed his hands away as she pulled the strap tight under her chin.

She was in the cockpit before he could blink. "I had the controls retrofitted to be more like the Empire era TIEs so that you would be more familiar with them." He pointed to the buttons and switches, the pedals and stick controls. Rey had already pulled the shoulder straps of her harness in place and Ben made sure she was secure.

"Go get in your ship before I fly out of here without you," Rey insisted.

Ben smiled and quickly kissed her before pulling down the hatch and locking her inside. His long limbs moved in a sort of trot over to his blacked out TIE and just like in any battle scenario, he was strapped in and checking the comms within a minute.

"Push the ignition button," he instructed over the comm. "When it stops blinking and turns a solid green, flip the switch under it to light the trusters."

Rey did as she was told and when the engines rumbled to life, her smile was all teeth and gums as she wrapped her hand around the control stick. "Check your pedal controls," his voice sounded inside her helmet and she flexed her feet.

"Good," Ben said watching the ailerons move on the rear of the wings. With a wave of his hand, the hangar bay doors started to retract, exposing the vase void of space that Drive Yard seemed to just hang in. "Now…" he looked out the side windows of his craft at Rey. "Go!"

On the simulator her take offs were better than her landings, so she keyed up the thruster, feeling the ship float above the tarmac for just a moment before she eased the Silencer through the ionized airlock that separated the vacuum of space from the hangar.

Ben shot out after her, loving the sound of her joyful laughter over the comm as she put the TIE through its paces. She executed quick turns, double backs, and barrel rolls with ease.

"This is amazing!" She called over the comms as she completed her third run past where Ben was just floating in his fighter.

His chuckle sounded in her headset and his voice was deep and seemed to surround her. "Now are you ready for the real fun?"

She pulled up in front of him, so close that she could see the freckles on his face and the wrinkles in his cheeks from his smile. "What did you have in mind?"

"The green bar on the side of your display…" he watched her head tilt down. "Is it full?"

"Yes," Rey answered, reading the label under the bar before her entire ship rocked to the side.

"Shields are good," he quipped, his thumb still hovering over the red trigger on his stick control.

"You shot me!" Rey shrieked with laughter in her voice. "I don't think I can deflect laser canons with the Force."

"You'd be surprised," Ben smirked, knowing that Rey could do anything in the Force if she truly needed or wanted to. "Our canons are set in a training mode, sort of like stun on a blaster. Your shields will prevent any damage but you will feel it when you get hit."

Rey smirked, "You assume that you will be able to hit me again. You forget that I took on two TIEs the first time I ever flew a real ship and that was when the Falcon was held together with duratape and hope."

"That maybe true, but you weren't flying against me," Ben said as he started to back his fighter off from its current position. "Best out of five," and with that he flipped off his comm, pulling his Silencer to the left before he zipped away behind the Drive Yard ring.

Their game had begun, and Rey scrambled to decide if she should go after him or take up a defensive position. She didn't have much time to consider and with his black ship against the dark sky, Rey only noticed him coming from the far end of the Drive Yards when the sun caught on the glass of his windscreen.

"Damn he's fast," Rey cursed to herself as she raced away from his advances, seeing that he was already firing a few shots in her direction. Alarms sounded in the cockpit and he already had a lock on her. "We'll see about that," and she pulled the control stick hard to the right, the ship easily matching her command with a tight banking turn.

Ben allowed the cat and mouse game to go on for a while, using only his instincts as a pilot. "She's good," he commented to himself as Rey once more broke away from his lock. But like in any battle, he turned to the Force, which allowed him to better anticipate her next move.

As she slowed down to pull another hard right, Ben banked left then cut right and pushed his thrusters to full, firing off a few shots that landed on the left flank of her ship. "Got ya," he said with a smirk.

Much to Rey's chagrin, Ben caught her three out of the five times. She had a good run, her canon fire making it's mark on the third and forth round. "Sudden death," he had quipped over the comm before going silent again and they both flew and fought as if their Empire depended on it. But in the end, Ben had disappeared into the blackness of space, only to come up from under her and tag her with a blue bolt of energy.

"Don't worry my love. You'll beat me one day."

Rey laughed over the comm, "I would love to see their faces if I just flew this thing back to the Resistance. I think Poe would shit himself."

Ben chuckled at this too. "That would surely be a sight to behold," he mused. Rey was casually keeping pace with him as they did a lap around Kuat and he flipped the comm back on, "Do you see the yellow blinking light on the top right of your console?"

Scanning the controls and gauges, she found the light, "Yes."

Punching some figures and commands into the computer in his ship, Ben waited for the link to come up. "Let me know when it stops blinking and becomes solid."

It flashed three more times before the yellow indicator held a constant glow. "Now," she spoke and then she was thrown back into her seat. Without warning her ship had been pushed into hyperspace. "Ben!" She called frantically. "What's happening? Can you hear me?"

"Look to your left," came the smooth voice over the comm and when Rey turned her head, she saw his black TIE just a half-length in front of her.

"How did you do that?" Her mind raced, trying to determine if he had manipulated her controls through the Force of if he hacked her system.

"It's called a tether. It links your ship to mine, so if we need to jump for whatever reason, we will always end up in the same place."

Rey thought it was rather practical, imagining a few scenarios where it would be useful. Both of them were stubborn and it wouldn't surprise her if, at some time, they would need to pull each other from a fight. She knew that Ben would lay down his life for her and she too would join the Force to keep him safe, but this was just one more way to ensure that they got their life together.

They sat in comfortable silence as the cockpits were illuminated blue from the passing stars. There was only one planet between Kuat and their destination, but Ben had accounted for the gas giant of Tyed Kant, swing their course around it and right on the edge of sector M10, he pulled them from hyper speed.

Unlike the shocking speed in which the hyperdrives kicked upon entry, the TIEs glided out of hyperspace with ease. "Follow me," Ben said giving the controls of Rey's ship back over to her.

Gripping the control stick, she swung her craft around, following him into nothingness. "Where are we?" She didn't even try to do the calculations in her head, they had been in hyperspace for less then thirty minutes so they couldn't have gone far.

"This is my kingdom…"

Rey again looked around, seeing nothing but pin pricks of light. Of all the beautiful places in their galaxy he had taken her, open space was not the most exciting.

When the comm buzzed, his voice was grim. "This is where Alderaan used to be."

The meaning of his words now hit her and tears formed in Rey's eyes. Looking around the emptiness around them, it was hard to believe that a world full of people, plants, animals, art, and passion used to hang in this space. What was even more heart breaking about the tale of Alderaan was that Vader had killed the world that sheltered and loved his daughter. Wiping at the trails down her cheeks Rey opened the comm, "There can't be any more super weapons."

"I know."

Snapping her head to the left where they were still keeping pace with each other, Rey saw the stoic expression as his gaze remained forward.

"The Starkiller was almost half way compete by the time I came to Snoke. I never approved of the use of weapons like that, but a few bolts of lightening made it so I kept those thoughts to myself.

"As much as Vader was my grandfather, I also feel a connection to Bail and Breha Organa. They were my people just as much as the Skywalkers and I would like to think that if they had not been killed when my mother was so young, that maybe so many things could have been different."

"We won't allow anything like that to ever happen again," Rey reassured.

Peering over his right shoulder, Ben made eye contact with her from the cockpit of his fighter. "Never again…"

They took a few more laps around the expanse of empty space before Ben came over the comm. "Tether linked. Prepare for jump."

This time Rey knew the brace herself in her seat as the craft launched forward through hyperspace. Even though they were forty feet apart, hurling though space at unfathomable speeds, Rey opened herself up to the bond and she sucked in a breath when she felt him.

She could feel his discontent, questioning himself as to how he could still allow Hux to carry on as he does and not yet bring him to justice. Rey had thought about the war crimes at length, knowing that perhaps Poe would also be called before a jury of his peers. While the Resistance General may deserve some prison time or a stint in exile, but Hux deserved nothing less than an execution.

Through the bond she could see that the pale-haired First Order General was still recovering from the MK2 crash. Ben would stand by and watch Hux scream out in agony with each stem injection that would further fuse his nervous system with his prosthetics. A part of Ben liked seeing the snake of a man in pain, but Rey could still feel the conflict in her partner.

Rey swore to herself that once she took her rightful place at Empress, she would relieve Ben of this pain and run Hux though with the blades powered by the broken crystal of Anakin Skywalker. She would never revel in the prospect of taking a life, but she would do this for Ben.

Just as they slid from hyperspace and the fighters coasted towards the Drive Yard, Rey shifted in her seat, becoming resolute in her decision concerning Hux, and she heard the comm click.

"Gods, I want to marry her…"

Ben's voice was almost a whisper, as if he was the only one those words were intended for. When her head snapped to the left, she saw him longingly gazing at her. "Shit," he cursed before the comm clicked back off.

He became flustered, attempting to pay attention to anything but the strong wave of…everything…that was rolling off of Rey. His finger must have slid over the comm link when the hyperdrives spooled down. Certain she heard him, Ben's palms became sweaty.

Rey raced ahead, shutting off her emotions from the Force, but knew that some of her confusion, elation, and some annoyance went through the bond before she could block it. It was easy to find their hangar, being the only one open and in opposition due to the Emperor's request for discretion.

She came in too fast and a little too hard, hitting the reverse thrusters after she was already in the hangar. Her only saving grace was that she remembers to engage the landing gear as the TIE dropped the final two feet to the tarmac. Flipping the switches to the off position, she pulled the lever at her right and had her harness off just as Ben was coming in for his landing.

The blacked out Silencer came down light as a feather, but Rey was already stalking across the glossy floor, pulling at the strap under her chin.

As Rey walked with purpose and a look of absolute determination in her eye, Ben had never been more scared of her. His slick fingers worked at his harness and he clambered out of the fighter, his long limbs working against him.

"Ben Solo," she called while watching the object of her attention practically fall out of the raised cockpit.

"Rey…look, I'm sorry…"

"Ben, shut up," Rey said, coming to stand in front of him, dropping her helmet to the ground next to her feet, hearing it hit with a hollow thunk.

He squired under her command, alternating his weight from one foot to the other.

Rey didn't want to hold him in suspense for too look so she gave him a very serious look. "If you have something to ask me, the least you can do is ask it in the proper way."

His mind immediately went back to their last time together, how Rey had felt awash with emotions while watching that ridiculous holoshow and his eyes went large. She was asking him to ask her…she wanted him to ask her…she wanted him…

Ben took a half step forward, coming more into her space. "Rey…" he started, his gaze pleading.

"The helmet," Rey interrupted.

"What?" Ben asked dumbly.

Rey smiled, "Take it off..."

"Oh," he stammered, reached up and pulled the helmet from his head, throwing it to the ground as if it was on fire.

Shifting her gaze up, she let out a little giggle at the state of his hair, all slick with sweat, some parts plastered to his head, others sticking straight up from when he jerked the helmet from his head. The last time she had seen him this disheveled was back on the Supremacy when he was yelling at her to let the past die and begging her to be his future.

His hands flew to his head, combing through his hair with his fingers, but it appeared that he was making it worse as she continued to chuckle at him. With an exhausted but humorous sigh, he let his arms fall to his sides and breathed out, "Would you stop laughing woman and let me do this?"

This made Rey bring her fingertips to her lips, giggling into them one last time before smiling up at him, "I'm sorry...you were saying..."

With another long sigh, this time to steel his nerves, Ben reached out, taking both of her hands in his. "Rey, since the very first time I heard of the girl on Jakku that got away with the BB-8 droid, I knew you were special. When we first met, you were fearless and I never thought that I would fall in love with a woman who would shoot at me even before introductions were made."

Rey returned his smile, breathing out a small laugh as she felt her eyes start to sting with building tears.

He lightly squeezed her small hands in his large ones. "When our minds were first bridged, I knew that I would never get enough of you. I wanted to teach you so that you would always be near.

"But you cut my face in half and then left me for dead…"

Rey reached up and stroked his right cheek lovingly.

"The Force has always destined us to be together and it connected us in a way that I never imagined could be possible. When you reached out to me on Ahch-To, when you came to me on the Supremacy, when you stood against my Master when you fought by my side…I knew that I would always and forever be yours.

"You have healed me, made me whole, brought me joy. You have been the reason for the change in the galaxy, the reason for the change in me. This past year…you have shown me more love and compassion than I have witnessed in my entire life. I laid myself before you, all of Ben Solo and all of Kylo Ren and you loved me in spite of it all. You have given me everything and I will work the rest of my life to make sure you never regret caring for such a broken man."

He cupped her cheek, swiping at a rolling tear with the pad of his thumb. Her expression was a mix of pain and relief, love and despair, fear and hope.

With one more steadying breath, Ben sank to one knee, her breathing stuttered and both of their hearts raced in time. He gazed up at his Rey, her eyes glassy and the tip of her nose red, but she was the most beautiful vision he had ever looked upon.

"Rey," he spoke and traced his thumb along the knuckles of her left hand. "My desert bloom, my equal in the Force, my love, my Empress…my life. We will forever be connected in the Force but I want to be yours, and only yours in every way possible."

He swallowed, "I love you and will continue to love you until the end of my days and then beyond that in the Force." She was crying, he was rambling, and Ben knew Rey was just wanting to be asked a simple question.

So he stilled his mind, leaving himself bare within the bond, hiding nothing of his love and utter devotion to her. "Rey, my Light, will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?"

Through out his entire speech, Rey was pulling his words within her, allowing the feeling of them to swirl, making her heart felt light and like it was going to bust all at the same time. She sighed thinking that Owen from her stories had nothing on her Ben, her Emperor, her… betrothed.

When the question finally passed his lips, when he offered yet another piece of himself to her, to protect and nurture, she squeaked with joy, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his neck.

They toppled to the floor with the force of her embrace, both of them laughing in-between the kisses that Rey was raining down upon him.

"My love…"

Rey hummed into the kiss that she was tracing down the scar on the right side of his face. She only parted her lips from his skin when he cupped her cheek and brought her gaze up to his.

"What is your answer?" His eyes searched her face for any hint of doubt. "Will you marry me?"

Her smile made Rey's entire face scrunch up, her cheeks high and rosy and tears of absolute elation fell from her eyes and upon Ben's face.

"Yes," she whispered. Her expression relaxed and she had nothing but love and desire in her gaze as she lowered her face once more, her nose brushing up against his, nuzzling her skin into his. "I will be your wife," her lips ghosting over his with her speech before they were locked in a searing kiss upon the polished floor of Hangar B high above the world of Kuat.