Kylo jolted upright in his bed, the silk sheets tangling around him like restraints. Sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down the groove of his scar, his chest heaving with ragged breaths in the darkness of his chambers. The Force bond between him and Ruby pulsed like an open wound, raw and bleeding with shared trauma.

He stared at his trembling hands in the dim light, phantom sensations of violence threading through his nerves. Through their connection, he'd felt everything – Ruby's initial betrayal, her explosive fury, the cold satisfaction of vengeance. He'd been there, a helpless observer across the stars, as she'd carved her way through the throne room. The echo of death still rang through their bond like distant thunder.

His fingers clenched into tight fists, knuckles white with tension. "I need her back," he whispered into the darkness, his voice rough with emotion. "Now." The word carried the weight of both prayer and command. The newly appointed Prince Regent felt like a moon suddenly bereft of its planet, spinning out of control without its center of gravity.

Through their bond, he could still feel her rage cooling into something darker, more controlled – but the distance between them felt like a physical ache. His new authority as regent meant nothing if he couldn't protect his master, his empress... his Ruby.

The scar across his face seemed to throb in time with his racing heart, a reminder of his own strength and yet his current helplessness. Somewhere out there, his master had just reminded the galaxy why she was its empress – and he was trapped here, unable to stand at her side.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

Through the infinite canvas of starlight, Ruby guided her TIE fighter with practiced precision, each flicker of distant suns reflecting off its metallic wings. The void of space felt eerily peaceful – too peaceful. No thundering wingbeats of pursuing dragons disturbed the cosmic silence, though she'd expected an army of them after her brazen departure from the palace.

The occasional primal roar had echoed through Nevvaro's crystalline towers as she'd fled, but strangely, not a single rider had dared to give chase. Even her own dragon, her faithful companion through countless battles, remained conspicuously absent. The betrayal stung deeper than the cold of space.

With steel in her heart, Ruby pushed the fighter's engines harder, leaving behind a kingdom that would surely crumble. Let Nevvaro's mighty halls gather dust, she thought bitterly. Let its self-proclaimed king sit upon his hollow throne in a realm abandoned by its greatest defender.

Not even emotions could catch her now. Concentration furrowed Ruby's brow as her fingers danced across the control panel, flicking switches with practiced precision. With a deep rumble that vibrated through the cockpit, her TIE fighter leaped into hyperspace, reality stretching into brilliant streams of cobalt and azure.

The hypnotic dance of starlight painted ethereal patterns across her face, drawing a weary smile to her lips. Finally allowing herself to relax, she settled back into the worn pilot's seat, crossing her arms across her chest. With the autopilot engaged and the vast expanse of space cradling her ship, exhaustion crashed over her like a wave. Her head tilted back against the headrest, and at last, blessed sleep claimed her, carrying her away from the weight of all she'd left behind.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

Ruby jolted awake to a nightmare made real. Not the peaceful starscape she'd drifted off to, but an inferno. Her throne room in Couranct's grand palace was engulfed in chaos – massive tapestries, centuries old, became living torches that rained burning fragments onto the fleeing crowds below. The screams of her people echoed off marble walls now blackened with soot, their terror a haunting chorus that pierced through the roar of hungry flames.

The once-majestic chamber, symbol of her power and authority, was transforming into a crematorium before her eyes. Ancient wooden beams groaned overhead, threatening to bring the entire ceiling down in a deadly cascade of burning debris. Through the thick smoke and orange glow, shadows of people scrambled desperately for escape, their silhouettes dancing grotesquely against walls of fire.

Through the dancing flames, a terrifying vision emerged: her own form, twisted into a dragon's shape, wearing a cruel smile as destruction rained around her. The beast towered over the carnage, scales gleaming with reflected firelight, seeming to revel in the devastation.

As Ruby's gaze dropped lower, her heart stopped. At the dragon's feet lay her friends, some charred beyond recognition, others simply lifeless – their final expressions frozen in terror. But it was the scene at the center that shattered her world: Kylo and Hux, usually so strong and composed, now huddled together in raw grief. Tears streamed down their faces as they cradled a body between them – a hauntingly beautiful woman with raven hair and emerald eyes. Her own eyes. Her own body.

Ruby recoiled in horror as she watched herself – her human form – lying still and peaceful despite the chaos. Above them, the dragon-version of herself let out a bone-chilling snarl, causing both men to shrink back, clutching each other and her lifeless form even tighter, their whimpers barely audible over the roar of flames.

"THE EMPRESS IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE DRAGON QUEEN!" The words thundered from her dragon-self's maw, a terrible proclamation that shook the very foundations of the burning palace. Her voice – yet not her voice – held the raw power of ancient mountains and scorched earth, echoing with dark triumph through the flames.

And then, like a candle being snuffed out, everything plunged into absolute darkness. The screams, the crackling flames, the weeping of her closest friends – all swallowed by a void so complete it seemed to devour even hope itself. The last image seared into her mind was her own twisted smile on that dragon's face, a testimony to power's ultimate corruption.

◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥◤◢◣◥

Ruby jerked awake in her TIE fighter's cockpit, fingers instinctively clenching the controls in a white-knuckled grip. The nav-computer's insistent beeping cut through her panic – Couranct hung in space before her, a gleaming jewel against the darkness. "Just a nightmare," she whispered, but the words rang hollow even to her own ears.

The vision clung to her consciousness like smoke, refusing to dissipate with waking. Deep in her core, where the Force flowed strongest, she knew this was more than a simple dream. This was prophecy, raw and undeniable, showing her a future that now seemed inevitable. Her transformation, her friends' suffering, her own death – or perhaps rebirth – as something far more terrible than an empress.

The Force had never been this clear, this cruel in its revelations. She could still hear her own voice, twisted and triumphant, proclaiming the death of everything she was and the rise of something monstrous. The Dragon Queen's shadow loomed in her mind, patient, waiting, inevitable.