Kylo Ren and Kira Palpatine

Kylo Ren's impassive black mask stared out into the void of space as one of General Hux's minions gave a report on the First Order's most recent skirmish with the tiresome Resistance. The inky blackness outside his viewport served to calm down an otherwise raging inferno inside his mind. The Supreme Leader hadn't been remotely kind in his routine meander through his apprentice's thoughts and emotions, taking care to inflict as much damage as he could, leaving Kylo's nerves shredded and his temper sparking.

Of course, his master finding out about Kylo's little side project with the Sith Wayfinder hadn't endeared him to Snoke. Instead, he had seemed almost gleeful as he recklessly raked through Kylo's mind, taking pleasure in causing as much pain as he could, searching for details of the little expedition to Mustafar.

More than his mind being split open for his master's amusement, it was Snoke's next words that sent a chill down Kylo's spine. But it was also something Kylo was expecting after setting things rolling with his trip to Mustafar.

'Hmmm… it might finally be time for Vader's blood to fulfill his destiny. Use that little artifact you found. Come, find me, young Solo. Let us see just how worthy your Skywalker blood really is."

It was time indeed... time for the old guard to die and the new leadership to take their place. Time for the stranglehold the Emperor had on the galaxy to end. But Kylo was careful to keep these particular thoughts confined to a small and undetectably protected area of his mind. It wouldn't do for either the Emperor or his clone Snoke to figure out what had been going on right under their decrepit noses for so long, just when Kylo and his partner were about to achieve what they'd spent so many years working toward.

With a curt nod of dismissal to the officer who had stopped mid-word when Kylo turned, he strode out of the Intimidator's bridge without a glance at Hux. Snoke's discovery of his trip to Mustafar had set things moving far earlier than he or his partner intended. It would not do to waste any more time playing war games. Also, with Kylo straying from Snoke's stranglehold, his older Master and Imperial clone would automatically lean toward his military general. And Snoke couldn't be given the opportunity to find one more little secret.

Hux followed him without a word. Once the two commanders were in sight of Kylo's TIE Silencer, the two men shared an odd glance of camaraderie and the General nodded slightly before making his way past Kylo back into the star destroyer. In that one glance, the two young men had traded encouragement without anyone being the wiser.

"Finish this tonight. Tomorrow we rule"

Visible to no one, Kylo had picked up on Hux's thought and nodded back his own reply before he boarded his Silencer and blasted off to Exegol with the Sith wayfinder.

To the rest of the galaxy, Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux were Snoke's hounds, straining at their leashes trying to one up each other. To the First Order, they were two commanders that hated each other's guts but worked together grudgingly because of the Supreme Leader's orders.

Only Kylo and his partner knew the truth of his relationship with Hux. They first met under Snoke's watchful eyes almost half a dozen years previously, and seemed to hate each other on sight. It was something Snoke anticipated, and he used one to aggravate the other. Snoke thought he kept them both motivated to outdo the other by denigrating them every time they failed to follow his orders to the last detail.

But in reality, coming from broken homes with parents that either hated them or couldn't be bothered to care for them bonded the two young men in a way neither Snoke nor the Emperor could have foreseen. 

While Hux had been and still some times was uncomfortable with Kylo wielding the Force, something Hux could neither see nor control, years of interactions had slowly but surely built at least a grudging trust if not comfort in the Force user. Even now, Hux wasn't happy to be working with Force users but knew that Kylo was essential in their plans to take over control of the Empire and run the galaxy the way it should.

With the addition of Kira Palpatine, Kylo's partner and dyad in the Force, the old Empire's days were numbered. The three of them planned exhaustively for years together. This was the only goal they had worked towards, all while keeping up the façade of following their masters' vision for the galaxy. It all came down to this day.

Once on Exegol, Kylo quickly made his way through the Sith temple, feeling the Force guide him toward where he knew he would find the Emperor. Making his way through legions of Sith acolytes, Kylo entered what looked like an arena. Even having seen Palpatine in Kira's thoughts didn't prepare him for the grotesque vision with which he was faced.

The ancient Emperor sat on a Sith throne like a decrepit spider, waiting to suck out an unsuspecting victim's life force. Kylo knew Snoke sent him here to be Palpatine's next victim, to extend his life on the mortal plane, but neither the Emperor nor his clone could know exactly the fate that awaited them.

Kylo could feel it in the Force; it felt like the deep breath before the plunge. The Force was done arranging all the pieces on the board. It was now time for the two knights to fulfill their destiny.

"At last, my boy. I have been waiting far too long for this. Kira, my dear grandchild, come. Face the contender for my throne. Cast him down and you shall be the only Force user strong enough to take my throne and your birthright as the Empress."

Kira Palpatine walked out to the middle of the arena as if having melted out of the shadows. Her face was shrouded with a hood and her cloak swished behind her, but her eyes stared straight ahead at the man who claimed to be her grandfather. Her hand already held her saberstaff at the ready.

Facing each other, Kylo and Kira looked like two apex predators sizing each other up, but in reality, it was two soulmates who were meeting each other in person for the first time in a very long time. Even though Rey and Kylo interacted through their Force bond every single day, this was only the third time they were physically in each other's company.

The Force had brought them together when neither had anyone else in their lives they trusted. Both were legacy children, both lonely and both extremely powerful in the Force. There was no chance of a close bond not developing. Throughout their lives, they had circled around a common center, planning and training for this particular day. And throughout their lives, they'd fallen deeper and deeper into the connection until now, neither knew where one ended and the other began.

Their bodies and their speech said differently, but their eyes spoke the truth. The Force sang around them, tendrils of energy braiding and reinforcing itself around them till a halo almost formed around the two. The gold and silver sparks of energy arcing between them was a sight no Force user had seen or heard in the galaxy's history.

The sight of the Force dancing at their beck and call should've put the old Emperor on his guard, but the decrepit one had grown too complacent in his power and his ability to control the universe around him. Two red lightsabers glowed in the arena, bathing the area with an eerie light as the two knights turned as one to face their common enemy.