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ivystoryweaver · 2 months

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The Only One

Episode 7

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Summary: The last time you saw Poe was right before he blew up Starkliller Base - a huge victory for the Resistance. Things go to hell after that and you are separated from Poe, needing to rely on your instincts...and the Force. A huge secret starts to be revealed.

a/n: This Episode glosses over the events in the film The Last Jedi. You don't have to be knowledgeable about the sequel films to continue the story - everything that relates to Elia is summarized here. She is a bit separate from Poe during film events, so this is not a re-telling.

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female original character. Fic is written in second person, but the female "you" has a name (It reads basically the same as any other xreader)

Word Count: 1.6k

Content: violence, action, little angst (no more than in the films), not beta'd

PREVIOUSLY on "The Only One"...

He turned around one more time, granting you another sweet smile. “Wait for me, Ells. I’ll be right back.”

Somehow his humor and good nature gave you hope. Poe always gave you hope.

“May the Force be with you,” you whispered to no one really. Or, to all of them.

The next week was hell.

Which was, perhaps, what a demon like yourself deserved.

At first, the Resistance buzzed with the thrill of victory. Poe and his team destroyed Starkiller Base after Rebel legends Han Solo and Chewbacca worked together with the stormtrooper who defected and a young woman named Rey.

But before you could celebrate or have much of a reunion with Poe, the stormtrooper, who you learned was named Finn, was sent to medical in critical condition, while Rey supposedly flew away to find Luke Skywlaker.

Kylo Ren had murdered Han Solo.

You thought taking out Starkiller Base would give the Resistance a huge advantage in the uphill battle against the First Order, but the New Republic had suffered tremendous losses, crippling, if not obliterating support for the Resistance.

Your assignment kept you apart from Poe for days, so you hadn’t seen him since that fateful moment directly before the Starkiller Base battle.

...where he kissed you and asked you to wait for him.

So many had been lost since then - the chaos, nonstop. After the most recent attack took out most of Resistance command, someone named Holdo took over.

You were dying to see Poe, desperate to see for yourself that he was okay. Every time something else exploded, you felt sure you’d receive a report of his death. The stress piled up as you worked separately from Poe, thinking he might die, or you might die.

To make a desperate situation worse, the attack on the ship's bridge left Leia seriously wounded. And directly before Holdo took command, Poe was demoted, which infuriated you.

And, aside from the fact that you were (thankfully) able to focus, or hyper focus, as it were, on computer programming and other computer tech needs, the news of Commander Dameron's demotion was all you could think about...

...or talk about.

Thankfully, Perrha was with you for the past few days and was a wonderful grounding force for you.

Now, the Resistance was trying to safely land transports on the planet Crait.

Everyone watched in horror as one after the other, the First Order blew them out of the sky. You kept yourself busy working, tears streaming down your face at the thought of Poe being on one of those obliterated ships.

Poe felt the same way.

After maybe the worst week of his life (aside from when his mom died), Poe woke up from the little nap Leia's stun gun gave him. He listened patiently as Leia explained Holdo's plan, then watched in horror as transport after transport was obliterated.

"Where's Elia?" He asked Leia, as if she might somehow know. He had lost too many today, not only on the bridge, but when some of his closest friends died in the hangar explosion.

Leia shook her head, unsure.

Poe stared out into space. "Which one is she on?" He murmured, thankful that his new friend Finn was at least safe for the moment. Hopefully.

The planet's surface was so close. You and Perrha might make it through this. But who could be sure what awaited you on Crait, with the First Order bearing down hard?

As you entered the planet's atmosphere, the transport closest to yours exploded - near enough to your own that the blast and debris wreaked havoc. You were taking serious damage - hit hard enough to crash, just not to explode instantly like the neighboring transport.

Everyone around you was astoundingly calm, focused and professional, but a crash landing would not be avoidable.

Perrha's eyes met yours frantically as fire, debris and smoke filled the transport.

"We're not gonna make it," they gasped, coughing from all the smoke.

Panic gripped your heart. You didn't want to die. For once in your life, you really wanted to live and not just in terms of survival. You wanted to help the Resistance. You wanted them to win. You needed to learn about the Force, and ascertain from Leia if you were truly doomed to be a servant of the darkness.

Perrha was your friend and so was Poe. Your very best friend. Your heart broke as you thought of never seeing him again. It couldn't end this way.

So instead of giving in to despair, you opened yourself up to the flow of energy - no. The Force. A wall of fire swept through the transport.

"No." Your voice could barely be heard over the commotion. It wasn't a plea but a command.

Perrha cried out your name as you stretched out your hands and literally pushed the fire backward.

Your breathing steadied, your countenance - a mask of serenity. Your eyes fluttered closed as the Force surrounded you, flowed through you.

The fire would not touch you. Nor Perrha.

The remaining Resistance fighters watched from their transports, in awe, as a transport-on-fire gently touched down on the planet's surface.

You heard nothing. You only felt.

Calm.

Finally, you heard Perrha screaming your name. "This thing is gonna blow, come on!" They quite literally jerked you away - your boots thumping on the planet's surface as you ran for your life.

The ship exploded, knocking the survivors to the ground with a concussive force - dangerous, but not fatal.

Your ears rang, dusty salt filled your lungs, but Perrha hauled you up. You ran again, as fast as you had ever in your life.

The First Order had entered the planet's atmosphere and took up position at the mine entrance - the old Rebel base. Unfortunately, your transport's crash left you quite far away on foot. But thankfully, the First Order would assume your exploded crash site would leave no survivors - giving you time to run.

A battle raged overhead and in the distance. Blaster and cannon fire, and boot prints turned the ashy, salty surface blood red.

Your group finally made it to the mine, but there was no getting in the front entrance. The huge blaster door was sealed, but under heavy attack.

"Is there another way in?" You wondered aloud.

"Is there another way out?" Perrha countered, panicked. "Are they trapped in there?"

Your ragtag team rallied, determined to find a way to either get in to the safety of the mine, or help the remaining Resistance fighters escape, if they were trapped.

Suddenly you saw an old rust bucket ship zoom overhead and land at the edge of a shallow cliff.

Your team arrived just in time to see a young woman...making dozens of piles of rocks...float. This action served to clear a blocked path, allowing the Resistance fighters to escape the mine.

You saw the stormtrooper, Finn. The young woman must be Rey. You were so distracted by her dazzling display of the Force, that you almost didn't notice that just beside Finn...

was Poe.

Finn raced into Rey's arms for a hug, but it was Poe who noticed your ash-covered, singed, rag-tag crew, confused, for a moment, as to why you would have appeared with Rey.

"Elia," he breathed, pushing his way past anyone and everything in his path, including the huge boulders Rey had lifted moments before.

You were an adorable mess, most of your hair had tumbled out of your twin buns. Soot tarnished your cheeks and clothes. By some miracle your unlaced boots stayed in place while you ran for your life.

As Poe clambered toward you, your hands anxiously grabbed for your backpack straps…only to come up empty.

“M-my backpack,” you gasped, frantically touching your arms and chest.

Okay, people were dead.

Your transport crashed and exploded.

You only survived because you wielded the Force and ran for your life.

The First Order was bearing down.

Poe was alive!

But your brain?

“My backpack,” you repeated, desperately, craving the familiar soothing touchstone of its frayed straps.

“Here, sweetheart,” Poe gently offered, reaching for the fallen strap, to pull it back onto your shoulder. “Looks like the other one got burned.”

Which meant…

You grabbed for the other strap urgently, realizing the little pack might have been destroyed, leaving your wings out in the open.

Poe, so relieved to see you alive, wishing with all his heart that the could throw his arms around you, tried to understand…

“No, no no …” You shook your head, eyes wide with horror.

“Ells?” He asked, confused, holding up his hands in a supplicating manner, trying to show you he wouldn’t touch you if you didn’t want him to. “Baby, are you hurt?”

“I can’t…my backpack,” you gasped, short of breath. “I can’t…” Shaking your head rapidly, you backed away, running into Perrha…who got a look at your exposed back.

“Oh, Elia. A-are you - w-what happened…” they trailed off, glancing at Poe, confused at the sight of your tightly furled, dark wings. Perrha wasn’t sure if you were burned, or what was going on.

“What is it?” He demanded. “Is she hurt?” He reached for your arm to turn you around, but before his hand made contact, you clenched your fists and cried out.

“No!”

…sending tiny bits of rock flying outward from you body in every direction.

This got Rey’s attention.

As far as the young Jedi trainee knew, she and Leia were the only ones capable of this sort of thing.

Poe backed away, stunned, brushing bits of gravel from his face and hair, exchanging worried glances with Perrha, but determined to make sure you were all right.

He thought to approach you, but stopped short at a miraculous sight.

Your hair had tumbled down, beautiful and wild, your eyes closed in concentration.

Hands clenched by your sides, you held yourself still as bits of rock and earth circled you slowly.

And behind you, dark, slick wings unfurled.

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#the only one fic #poe dameron #poe dameron fic #poe dameron fanfiction #star wars sequels #star wars fanfiction #star wars fic #oscar isaac fic #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron x oc #poe dameron x f!reader #poe dameron x female oc #poe dameron fanfic #sw fic #poe dameron x female reader

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virtie333 · 5 months

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Day 6 - Life Day Damerey Celebration

Prompt: Past

Summary: Poe has a nightmare

Notes: For those of you who read Kinetic, this can be considered a 'sequel,' however you do not need to read it to enjoy this. Just know that it takes place between the 2nd and 3rd movies and our couple have an established relationship at this point.

Warnings: A bit of angst and self-flagellation. Hurt/comfort. Poe Dameron has PTSD.

AO3

Poe Dameron jerked awake, sitting up in his bed, sweating heavily despite his bare chest. He took a deep breath, trying to focus on what was real. He was in his tent on Ajan Kloss. It was raining outside, which was typical, and it was warm without being hot. It was a very different environment from a transport in space, where his nightmare had taken place.

Oh, call it what it is, he chastised himself. It hadn’t been a nightmare. It had been a memory.

It wasn’t the first time he had dreamed of being aboard the ‘life pod’ shuttle, cruising away from the Raddus and toward Crait, and watching the other transports blow up, one after another, all because of him.

He squeezed his eyes shut, pushing back the tears that threatened. The self-hatred he had been slowly overcoming swept over him once more, and his chest spasmed painfully as his anxiety shot up. A familiar mantra began rolling through his brain.

What if he had trusted Holdo? What if he had not been so hot-headed? What if he had not sent Finn and Rose on that suicide mission? What if he had kept his ‘head out of his cockpit’ and been more patient?

What if? What if? What if?

“Stop,” said a soft voice from behind him. A warm hand grasped his shoulder lightly, and the touch made him shiver. “No more ‘what ifs’ tonight,” Rey whispered.

How much had he been saying aloud, he wondered? He knew she couldn’t read his mind, and even if she could, she wouldn’t do so. But she could feel his emotions, and he was sure the same panic and dread that had awakened him had woken her as well. They were still getting used to sharing quarters, sharing a bed. This was the first nightmare he had experienced since she moved in with him.

He took another deep breath, then cleared his throat. “I’m okay,” he croaked.

She was silent for a long time, then he felt her hand slide down his arm, grasping his elbow lightly. She kissed the back of his shoulder, then lay her head against it. He could feel his pulse slow and the anxiety lessened. Just having her near, feeling her presence, calmed him.

“What if I hadn’t allowed myself to be caught by the First Order?” Rey said suddenly.

Poe tensed once more.

“What if I hadn’t stupidly thought I could turn Kylo Ren and had instead stayed with Chewie and the Falcon? What if we had been there to help protect the transports, to see them all safely to Crait? How many more would still be alive?”

He sighed, knowing what she was doing. “You didn’t know,” he answered her. “You were doing what you thought was the right thing at the time.”

“Hmmmm,” she hummed, and he could feel her smile against his bare shoulder. “The past is the past, Poe. We both know we can’t change it. But I do think we’ve both learned from it, and are better people because of it.” She paused. “You know that Leia is grooming you to take her place, and she wouldn’t be doing that if she didn’t think you were worthy. Just as she wouldn’t be taking so much time to train me, even though I still think every day that I’m never going to be good enough to be a Jedi. Either she’s gone senile or she knows us better than we know ourselves.”

Poe smiled. “I trust her.”

“So do I,” Rey responded.

Poe finally turned to look at her, cupping her face in his hand as she lifted it from his shoulder. “You are going to be an amazing Jedi,” he told her.

“And you are already an amazing leader,” she replied.

He leaned in and kissed her.

Squeezing his shoulder gently once more, she whispered, “Let’s get back to sleep.”

He nodded, and they both lay back down. Rey stayed curled up next to him as he put his arm around her shoulders. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that the nightmare would return. But not tonight. Tonight, his Rey had chased the demons away and he would sleep well.

“I love you, Kuutamo,” Rey mumbled, already half asleep.

“And I love you, Sunshine.”

#fanfiction #damerey #jedipilot #poe x rey #hurt/comfort #established relationship

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sporadically-writing · 2 years

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The Last Jedi Notes Featuring: Eli Sereta

The Force Awakens, The Rise of Skywalker

Eli begins nervously tinkering with a blaster on the bridge of the resistance cruiser. Poe is out there actively antagonizing the First Order and a bombing run on a dreadknot is a great idea, but it is also an incredibly dangerous idea.

Leia briefly tries to talk her down, both her nerves and from building a sniper rifle on the bridge. She snaps at her saying she’s fine and the blaster goes off, luckily not hitting anyone or anything. “…Sorry.”

Her tools are next to her and she’s ready to rush to the hangar as soon as she’s needed.

She sees Poe get demoted and pats him on the elbow as she passes him. She’d love to be there for him more, but she’s got a job to do. At least he’s safe.

When a torpedo is launched into the hangar, Poe manages to make it in time to pull Eli out. They’re both horrified and can do nothing as the hangar and anyone left inside burns. The doors close and the two (plus BB-8) gulp and scurry back to the bridge. Once again they are too late as the bridge is fired upon and Leia is the only unconscious survivor.

Poe and Eli share a moment, both of them stressed and frustrated, comforting each other before the speech given by Vice Admiral Holdo.

When they ask, Holdo doesn’t tell them anything, instead telling them to keep doing their jobs and wait for her orders, which in the given circumstances, neither can really do.

Eli can fix up some damaged droids and send them back on their merry ways but that’s about it. She goes back to tinkering with her gun after that.

When the plan to disable the tracker on the First Order ship is suggested, Eli declines going. Her hacking mission went so well last time, besides, Holdo is going to be keeping an eye on her and Poe. If Eli disappears, she’ll know something’s up.

Eventually, as the two sit and stew on everything that’s going on, Eli (not looking up from her work) says, “You saved me” “Returning the favor.”

The two smile just for a moment but it’s enough.

Poe eventually confronts Holdo with Eli in tow and she notices the refueling of the transports.

He instigates a mutiny, Eli right behind him. The two are literally and emotionally stunned by Leia when she comes back and they wake up on a transport. Leia explains and that gives the stressed resistance fighters some comfort.

On Crait, Eli tries to fix the speeders as best she can but there are far too many of them and far too little time, so the gang goes out with them with minimal repairs as Eli and her sniper blaster joins the ground forces in the trenches outside the door.

The resistance is saved by Luke Skywalker’s distraction and Rey’s newfound Jedi expertise and the gang lives to fight another day.

#eli sereta #poe dameron x oc #star wars oc #star wars x oc #star wars x reader #the resistance #the last jedi #my oc stuff #oc notes #sequel trilogy oc #sequel trilogy

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moonlightsolo · 4 years

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bête noire

summary: The Resistance sent out spies to track First Order trade but they were ambushed. General Leia has decided it’s time to find a new base. It has almost been a month since you’ve given birth. Your relationship with Poe has grown even stronger than before. Your mind can’t stop overthinking about where Kylo is, you haven’t felt him in a while. It’s been too long.

pairing: kylo ren x female reader

warnings: nsfw!!! (ur welcome)

wc: 5.5k

note: this chapter is a lot to handle. ok go read it, bye.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

It seems like over the next couple of weeks the war escalates drastically.

Two Resistance spies took a ship to go on a mission aimed to secretly observe First Order trade.

A barely audible transmission from their ship was sent to the Resistance on Hoth. Poe brings you to the command center since you have intel on the First Order, maybe they think you could know more than them.

As you both walk into the large meeting room, you notice that mostly everyone from the base is here.

Leia is sitting down in a chair, talking to someone important. The lady cuts Leia off to speak, “Now that we are all here. Some of you may know we received a transmission from the two searching for First Order trades. Prepare yourself as this is hard for some to hear.”

She steps forward and presses on a button. At first, it was static but then the recording was normal as a lady’s voice erupted on the speaker. They were simply updating Leia on how they are going about the operation but she was interrupted by First Order troopers suddenly invading their ship. Blaster shots and screams are heard as they try to fight back.

A groan was heard from the man who was also on the mission, obviously, he got injured. The woman screams at the troopers to stop shooting, letting them take her as a hostage for the sake of his wellbeing. The sound gets muffled as she screams for them to stop then a single blaster shot echoes. What just happened?

Her cries were heard as they dragged her away. They must’ve captured her. Then the other troopers' footsteps could be heard as they raided the ship then the sound cuts out. “They noticed the transmission being recorded, so they shut it off and it was sent to us.”

Leia assumes that the male who is on the mission was too injured then the woman gave up for them to be taken, hostage. Instead, the troopers killed the man and only took her.

Mostly everyone in the room is teary-eyed from hearing such a gruesome scene that happened to their friends.

“The First Order may track the sent transmission back to us. I don’t want to do this, but to be safe we need to find another planet to take refuge on.” Leia’s voice spoke softly to the group. “I don’t want anyone to freak out but we need to leave urgently. Calmly pack up your things into transport ships so we can leave in the middle of the night.” Leia nods then everyone scurries out of the room to pack.

Poe catches your eye, he knows you are panicking. Your babies are almost a month old, how are they going to survive in a ship wanted by the First Order?

He grabs your hand and begins to pull you through the stampede of people to catch Leia before she leaves. “General!” He calls out and she turns around. She seems off, almost weakened for some reason.

“Do you have any idea about where we are going?” Poe asks Leia’s eyes dart around and there are too many people around so she motions for you both to follow her.

She leads you both to the corner of the room, most of the people have flooded out by now but she wants to stay quiet. “We’re looking at Ajan Kloss. It’s a moon that orbits around Ajara. It’s a jungle moon so it’s going to have a much different climate from here. Hopefully, we can easily acclimate there.” She sighs but gives you a reassuring nod.

“The babies will be okay. We will have our cloaking devices on so we’ll be invisible to their trackers.” She holds on your hand tightly before pulling away.

You look at Poe who pulls you in for a quick peck on the cheek, “Go pack everything up. I’ll be there soon to help.” He then follows her to ask more questions.

Your relationship with Poe has grown so much stronger. Kaydel and Poe called things off, and that made you guys even closer. Only really good friends, but you can’t help but notice how he has come to lay in your bed more and talk. Just talking though, no funny business.

Last time you saw Kylo was when he laid in bed with you the night after you gave birth. You’re hoping he’s okay and that he’s just too focused on his work to think about anything else. A part of your brain thinks that he may have given up on you and his children but you try to ignore those negative thoughts.

You take a deep breath as you walk out of the command room and make it back to your quarters. Thankfully, your shoulder has healed mostly and you’ve gotten rid of the sling. You grab large duffel bags and fold your clothes and put your belongings into one and the droid worked on putting the babies stuff in two different backpacks.

Ani and Ellie are much more active now but still so tiny. It worries you to bring them into a jungle. You just need to keep telling yourself it’ll be okay.

It feels like your senses are wiped from you and you lose your breath. You turn to the side slowly, your eyes look over the dark figure. “You’re fleeing. The Resistance knows The First Order is close to finding you.” His voice is deep and stern, “Tell me where you are.” His hand goes out to try and use the Force on you.

You look over him, taking notice of his darker under eyes and messy hair. His armor is in perfect condition like somebody irons it every day for him.

“Kylo. I’m sorry but that’s not going to work on me.” You almost laugh, his hand slowly drops to his side as he realizes. He takes a gulp, his adam’s apple bobbing. You grow concerned for him, your eyebrows furrowing. “Are you okay?” You take a hesitant step towards him, reaching out for his hand.

He seems closed off, “You’re pulling away. I can feel our connection fading because of the light. You need to stop holding on to them!” He grows frustrated, his voice rising slightly. Your facial expression turns into a frown as you slowly move closer, your hand touches his bicep. “I’m not holding onto them. I’m safe right now. We’re safe.” You look back at the children.

“No. You’re not. Once you get into those shuttles, I can’t save you.” He shakes his head and pulls away from your touch.

You felt tears prick at your eyes, a lump growing in your throat. “Just tell me where you are!” His veins pop out on his forehead. You wince as you back up from him, not wanting to be close to his temper.

“No, Kylo. The First Order will kill them all. You know it. Your mother is here, you can’t kill her. I know you can’t.” You sniffle and swallow your emotions. “You’d regret killing your mother just like you do with your father.” Those words caused something to switch in his brain.

“No. Killing my father was the best thing I could have ever done. I grew stronger. I am the leader of the First Order. The largest military faction in the galaxy.” He begins to pace, “If you were here with me, our family could rule the galaxy and take over.” His voice softens as he looks at you, a gleam of evil shows in his eyes.

His words are causing a knife to dig deeper into your heart, “No.. Kylo... We don’t want the same things. I want peace for our children, to play in the grass and in the sun. Not to be stuck on a gigantic weaponized ship in space.” You snapped at him.

You turn around to sling the duffel bag over your shoulder, wiping your tears so he couldn’t see them.

“Kylo, I know you’re torn. You should come back to your family here. Become who you really are...” You hesitate before continuing, “Ben Solo.” You turn around and notice that he’s gone. You felt another pang in your chest, tears now running freely down your cheeks and snot too. You wipe it off with your long sleeve and continue packing.

Poe walks into the room as you sit on the bed, your head in your heads as your mind runs with thoughts. He instantly takes notice to your inflamed face, “Hey, are you okay?” He comes up next to you to sit down and wrap a comforting arm around your shoulders.

You nod, knowing it’s a lie but you lean into his touch. “It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything, I’m here for you.” He tucks your head under his chin as he holds you.

“I’m going to take our stuff to a ship later, I’ll come to see you when I’m done so we can get onto a shuttle together.” He says the plan confidently. The droid interrupts, “Don’t forget about me.” She beeps out. You and Poe laugh, “Of course not.” He says to her.

Poe takes the heavy bag off of your shoulders to move it to the floor. “Come with me.” He grabs your hand, “You got them?” You ask the droid who nods and opens its arms mockingly.

Poe takes your hand and brings you into his bedroom, nothing is off of the walls nor is anything put away. “I need your help packing.” He laughs and you just shake your head with a playful smile.

It takes about thirty minutes for Poe and you to pack up his whole room. Of course, you chit chat throughout the time about what certain knick-knacks meant and why he is holding onto clothes he can’t fit into anymore.

Now both of you are laying on his bed horizontally, legs dangling off the bed as you stare at the ceiling. “Poe. I have a question.” You state softly, still staring at the concrete ceiling.

“Go ahead.” He looks over at you, turning on his side so he could play with your hair. “Why was I left on Crait?” You turn your head to look at him.

His facial expressions freeze, like he’s in shock. “What? Is the answer that bad?” You ask with a nervous laugh.

He lets out a breath before he starts to talk, “You were dead. Well, at least we thought you were... You had no heartbeat, we couldn’t stop the bleeding and you weren’t breathing either. As much as we wanted to take you with us, we couldn’t. The First Order was already beginning to move forward to enter the base. We didn’t even know if we actually had an exit.” He mumbles softly, avoiding eye contact. “But then Rey saved us. She used the Force and the rest of us got into the Falcon. She asked about you and when we told her the news she was heartbroken. She felt like you were the sister she never had.”

You couldn’t help but get emotional, everyone mourned over you and thought about you as if you were actually dead. “Then we traveled around the galaxy and found Hoth.” He let out a sharp breath through his nose. “For months we thought you were dead. I moved on with Kaydel, I started to finally come to terms with your death. Then all of a sudden, Leia tells us that she felt you through the Force. She felt you. It gave me hope you were still alive. Then she told us you joined the First Order, and that you were working alongside Ren.” He scoffed annoyingly which made you roll your eyes and sit up.

You pulled on your long sleeves to cover your hands, bringing the fabric up to your eyes to wipe your tears. “Poe... I didn’t know you thought I died. Honestly, I thought you guys left me because you knew I was dying and wouldn’t make it. I felt like the Resistance gave up on me.” You sniffle as you try to swallow the lump in your throat. Your brain works as you recall the hazy memories from Crait, you remember being alive and waking up. The pain you felt was indescribable.

Poe sits up too, moving closer to your body to pull you into his side. “Look, you’re one of the strongest people I know. You’ve been through some tough shit. You literally beat death so many times.” He gives you a squeeze. You look up at him with a teary smile.

You notice how his eyes travel from your lips then up to your eyes. Is he going to kiss you? Oh no, he definitely is.

Poe begins to lean forward, his dark eyelashes rest on his olive skin. Your eyes stay open as everything moves in slow motion, you admire his facial features as he nears you. One kiss wouldn’t hurt.

You let your own eyes close as you accept his kiss, one of his hands rest in the dip of your waist as the other is on your knee. Your hand comes up to his jawline to cup it and pull him closer.

The stubble on his face scratches you in the most attractive way. Stop, this is bad, you shouldn’t be kissing him. His lips are so addicting though.

He begins to deepen the kiss, his tongue gently rolls against your bottom lip as he tilts his head. A little squeak escapes your throat as his tongue hits yours, he smirks against your lips.

His hand travels up your knee, his other hand is gripping your hip now as he moves forward so you fall back against the bed again. He hovers over you, pulling away from the kiss so he can take a deep breath. You do the same too.

He dives right back in, his tongue dances with yours as his hands grip your hips to move you farther up the bed. Both of your breathing has picked up as you pant into each other’s mouths. His warm hand makes its way under your shirt to grip your pillowy flesh on your side. He hesitatingly pushes his knee between your legs to open them so he could fit between them.

This is going way too far but it feels too good to stop now.

“I know this is so wrong.” He almost moans into your mouth, “But it feels so right.” He begins to kiss down your neck, leaving little marks that will be gone soon.

You let out a whimper, biting your bottom lip as you try your hardest not to rip your clothes off right now. You haven’t been touched in forever and right now you’re throbbing for some relief.

“Poe, I can’t.” You’re crying on the inside, asking yourself why you couldn’t let yourself have some pleasure. You can’t stop thinking about Kylo. Poe instantly pulls his lips off of you when he hears you say no, “Okay, yeah that’s fine. I’ll do whatever you want.” He is breathing heavy above you.

He gently rolls to the side, his back against his bed now. “Sorry, I didn’t expect it to get that intense.” You mumble shyly, “Don’t be sorry. It’s your choice.” He says quietly. “I’m gonna go now. Thanks for... that.” You say awkwardly as you get off the bed. You look back at him once and smile, he returns it, of course.

You need to go take a cold shower to calm your libido, which is what you do as soon as you get into your room. You notice that the droid has taken Ani and Ellie for a walk around the base.

The cold water trickles down your hot skin as you wash away your thoughts. Everything moves in slow motion as your ears start to ring then your surroundings go silent. It’s Ren. You turn the stream of water off, grabbing your towel to wrap around your body then you open the shower curtain. He’s standing there in front of the door.

“The pilot. He kissed you.” Kylo says under his breath. Your ears barely pick it up since his voice is so deep. You stop in your tracks when you realize what he said. Water continues to drip from your hair and roll down your damp skin.

“How do you know?” You ask, your eyebrows furrow in confusion.

“I felt it. I had a vision and I felt you.” His voice is low.

“The kiss meant nothing.” You practically lie through your teeth, knowing it was much more. The kiss was passionate, like a bomb of built-up tension blew up and everything was let loose but it will never be as good as Kylo.

The raven-haired man shakes his head, looking to the side with his head angled down. He almost seems sad.

“No, I am not sad.” He scoffs at your thoughts, “I cannot blame you for your actions. I haven’t made an effort to connect with you.” His head lifts up and he stands up tall with his shoulders back. Before you could respond he changes the subject, “You called me Ben. That’s why I left. You know that’s not my name. The Resistance is changing you. I’m trying to keep you from going to the light but you’re pulling away from me.” He’s stern.

“I’m not pulling away.” You take a step out of the shower, his eyes follow you as you move closer to him. “I know you. I can feel your emotions. You want to be with me and our children but the path you’ve chosen makes the situation much harder for you to just stroll back to your family. People will be scared, they won’t trust you.” You breathe out, your hand coming up hesitatingly to rest your hand on his chest, feeling the ridges of the black fabric underneath your fingertips.

“I love you. I want to be with you but I’m going to have to choose this path for our children. For their well-being.” You look into his eyes and notice how he grows frustrated with your last sentence.

“For their well-being? You’re packing them onto ships targeted by the First Order. They could be blown up easily. If you would join me, you’d be protected! The Resistance does not have enough ships nor the people to try and go against us again.” He proves a point, “The Resistance left you to die. What makes you think they wouldn’t do it again?”

Goosebumps ran across your skin when those words left his mouth, “They thought I was dead. They didn’t leave me to die.” You took a deep breath then you back up from him, “Let me by.” You look up at him and he doesn’t budge as he keeps eye contact with you, “Please.” Your face scrunches up in annoyance. His large frame moves to the side, his hand coming up to mockingly lead the way for you.

You scoff and open the bathroom door to walk out into the cold bedroom with Kylo in tow. You don’t hesitate as you drop your towel in front of him to get dressed, you can feel his eyes on your body. You’re comfortable with him but your body has changed since you’ve given birth.

You were on a strict training plan when you were with the First Order, but with the Resistance you were definitely a bit more lenient with your food intake and the lack of physical activity.

You’ve gained a bit of weight around your hips and thighs, you have new dainty stripes painted across your stomach and hips from being pregnant too. You took a deep breath as you shimmied into your clothing, some joggers and a long sleeve top to keep you warm. You take your towel to wrap your hair up to dry it faster, “You’re different.” Kylo states softly, as his eyes look over your body once more.

You look at him with annoyance written across your features evidently, “What does that even mean?” You laugh as you move around the room to make sure everything is packed away. “You’re leaving soon aren’t you.” He takes a step forward when he notices that you’re occupied with other things. He can’t see your surroundings but he has an inkling to what you’re doing.

You ignore his question, “What do you mean when you said I’m different?” You put the rest of the supplies into the packs before you turn towards him.

“You’ve changed. I’ve said this to you before. It’s good and bad. You’re... beautiful. Although the light in you...” He takes a few steps closer to you, now arms length away. “It pains me to see you turn away from the dark. You have so much power inside of you. I attempted to help you let this power out... Rey is only trying to tame it.” His gloved hand comes up to brush your cheek with his fingers, his thumb rubbing your cheekbone. “I love you.” He breathes out, closing his eyes as he rests his forehead against yours.

You feel tears in your eyes as you close them, “I love you.” Your arms wrap around his waist to pull your bodies closer.

A knock on the door makes both your heads turn, “It’s the pilot.” Kylo hisses out. You can tell he wants to move and become face to face with him but you hold onto him tightly.

“Yeah?” You call out, “I-I just wanted to see if you were okay... After ya know, everything that happened.” Poe’s voice is muffled from behind the door. “Yeah, I’m good. Just got outta the shower. I’ll be out soon.” You try to get him to leave, “Okay. I’m gonna meet Finn and Rey to get some food. I hope to see ya there.” He begins to walk away, you hear the front door open and close.

As you move your head to look up at Kylo, he grabs your face to press his lips against yours roughly. The towel on your head begins to loosen as he backs you up into the wall, the towel falls to your feet and your damp hair falls to your shoulders. “I want you.” He growls into the kiss, it makes you whimper. The way his other hand grips your hip at the waistband of your pants and his other hand on your jaw makes you melt.

“Nobody can please you as I do. You’re connected to me.” He breathes against your lips then he trails kisses down your neck to your collarbone. His hand slips underneath the waistband of your pants, the warm leather tickles your skin as he moves closer to your core.

That’s when you realize there’s still pressure against your hip like he’s holding it. He doesn’t have an extra arm, does he?

He smirks against your skin when he hears your thoughts, “This is gonna feel so good.” He begins to back up from your body, but something is holding you against the wall and there’s still something in your pants. The Force.

You let out a whimper as the invisible hand tickles over your core, you watch how two of his fingers come up and make a come hither motion. Your head slams against the wall as the Force buzzes inside of you, your thighs squeeze shut in reaction. “Oh.. my...” Your voice is shaky as your knees buckle, you brace yourself to fall but he holds you up.

The pleasure that’s buzzing inside of you is euphoric, almost too much for your body to handle. Something vibrates against your clit which makes you cry out and squirm under his restraints. You bite your bottom lip as you pant, you already feel like you’re going to climax.

“Let go. You’re tense, you need to relax.” The force pumps in and out of you, the pace quickening as he feels you. His eyes closed as he focuses, you see white spots as you let go. You gasp for air as your thighs quiver, your toes curling against the floor.

The restraints leave your body, making you fall forward but he catches you before you could hit the ground. “Good.” He praises you as he easily lifts your limp body up to bring you over to the bed.

“Thank you.” He says to you, giving your forehead a kiss. He stands up next to your bed looking down at you, “For what?” You ask out of breath. He just stares at you, “I found out where you are. I’m coming to get you and our children.” His presence leaves your side as he walks away, disappearing before your eyes. You let your guard down and you didn’t even realize he was reading your mind.

You sit straight up in the bed, moving as quickly as you could. You try your best to walk straight so you could slip on some shoes. You leave your quarters as you start to jog down the hallways then you end up in a full sprint, “Poe! Poe!” You scream as you see him walking down the hallway with Rey and Finn.

“He knows. They know where we are. You guys need to leave. Now.” You say out of breath, your hands going onto your knees as you bend over.

Poe’s eyes go wide as he registers what you just said, he doesn’t say anything he just runs away towards the command room with Finn.

Rey stares at you with fear in her eyes, “How? What happened?” She pulls you up to look you in the eyes, “I let my guard down. He went through my head. I didn’t know, I’m so sorry.” You breathe out. Her brown eyes are wide with fear as she turns around to go follow Poe and Finn.

Then you realize the droid is still with your babies, you need to find them. You push past her as you start to run down the halls frantically, Rey calls your name but you just ignore her.

A siren in the base sounds, red lights lighting up in the hallways. Everyone begins to panic as they’re all moving towards the hangar to get onto the ships. You spot the droid with the babies cradled in her arms, you run up to her and take Ellie. “We need to go. Get the bags.” You and the droid begin to run towards your quarters, laying Ellie on the bed as you exchanged your slippers for boots.

You put the duffel bag over your shoulder while the droid grabs the bags for the babies and puts them on her mechanical arms. You scoop Ellie up and begin to join the stampede in the hallway, making your way to the hangar.

Your brain is working so quickly, you don’t know what to do. Adrenaline is pumping through your veins, your heartbeat is so fast.

As you near the transport ship, you see Poe, Leia and Rey are already inside. Kylo reaches out to you through your mind, “If you get onto that ship, I can’t save you.”

You stop in your tracks as the last bit of people board the ships, “Don’t get on the ship. I’ll order to not attack the Resistance.”

His voice sounds promising, tears are now running down your cheeks. You can’t take the chance of having your children die if you get on that ship. Poe walks out to you, “What’s wrong? What are you doing?” He asks, obviously concerned.

“I can’t go.” You shake your head, “What? Why? Stop it, come on.” Poe asks as he tries to lead you to the ship but your feet are anchored into the ground.

“If I go, we will all die. You need to go without us.” Your hand reaches for the blaster in Poe’s sling, grabbing ahold of it to point it at him. You click the safety off, your finger resting on the trigger. His hands go up in surrender, “I’m sorry. You need to go.” You look at the droid who’s standing still with Ani then back at Poe.

You look back at the ship, noticing Rey isn’t by Leia’s side anymore. “Shit.” You curse as she comes up behind you to disable your actions with her staff. The blaster falls from your hands and so does Ellie, Poes quick reflexes make him fall to his knees to catch her before she could hit the ground.

She instantly begins to cry and so does Ani. They’re frightened. Poe rushes onto the ship with the droid in tow. Your face is pressed against the cold concrete of the hangar, wrists behinds your back with her knee against them. “Rey, please. They’ll kill us all if I go with you.” She pulls you up by your wrists, pushing you forward so you stumble onto the ship. She leads you over to the corner of the ship, sitting you down by pushing on your shoulders.

“She is a traitor!” Rey yells at Leia, pointing at you. The droid situates the babies as the ramp closes to the ship, the hangar opens as the ships begin to fly out one by one. They all have the cloaking device on, hoping to stay under the First Orders radar. Not like it didn’t work the first time on the way to Crait.

Rey and Leia bicker back and forth about you and you listen to their words. Leia is trying to justify your actions but Rey says you’re too far gone to be saved. It might be true. Even though Kylo says you’ve turned to the light too much.

Poe walks up to you, looking at you from above. “He’s in your head. He’s corrupting you. Don’t let him do this to you.” Poe bends down to get to your eye level, “I knew that you wouldn’t hurt me.” He breathes out as he brushes back a piece of your almost dry hair.

“We’re all going to be okay.” He says as the ship leaves the hangar, the white snowy landscape shows itself. You hear the thumps of the other ships entering light speed, then the ship you’re on jolts and you’re surrounded by the swirling blue of hyperspace.

You lean back against the cold metal interior of the ship, your eyes glance over to see your babies being taken care of. You’re so thankful for that droid.

“We’ll be off this ship soon and then we will be safe and sound. I promise.” Poe sits down next to you so you could lean your head on his shoulder. “I believe you.” You mumble as you close your eyes and take a deep breath.

The shuttles land in the hangar, troops instantly begin to pile out of them to search the premises.

He stands up swiftly from his seat to leave the ship along with the General who is not far behind.

“Supreme Leader. We’re too late, they’ve escaped.” The smaller man sighs.

Kylo Ren’s dark gaze scans over the hangar. He notices that one of the troopers picks up something from the ground. Another armored man walks up to him as they discuss what it is.

Ren takes huge strides towards them, towering over the two as he snatches the cloth from their hands. It’s a baby hat.

He rubs the cloth between his thumb and pointer finger, the leather of his gloves move against it smoothly. The troopers look up at Kylo, “Continue searching.” Kylo orders them and they scurry away.

General Hux walks up next to Ren, instantly noticing the hat in his hand. “A baby... Who would conceive children during a war?” He scoffs, rolling his eyes as he begins to follow his troops towards the entrance of the base. Kylo lifts his head, blinking back tears as he stuffs the hat in the pocket inside of his cloak.

He takes a deep shaky breath, his jaw clenches as he gulps. His tough facade returns, leaving him as the Supreme Leader of the First Order once again.

The troops continue to move around him to explore the base to see if there are any clues to where they have gone.

Kylo begins to walk forward, moving from the hangar and into the hallways. The base now seems like a First Order has captured this base as their own. There is so troops marching around.

The memory he saw in your head replays as he follows the same hallways you walked to make it to where you were living.

His hand grabs the doorknob to the front door to open it, walking inside the home you lived in for months. His eyes glanced over the area, you definitely left in a hurry. He walked forward, pushing open the ajar door to the room you stayed in.

He notices the two cribs in the corner that you didn’t take. He looks over the unmade bed, his hand runs over where you laid. He walks over the cribs, seeing how they’re stripped to nothing. Only the mattress is left. His hands lay over the mattresses, his head hangs as his emotions get the best of him.

He has to get his family back. He needs to protect them, no matter what the cost.

tag list: @officiallpeterparker @funnysadshit @ymariejp @attorneyl @fangirl570 @trinityrud20 @kylos-sassy-cousin @delicatelyherdreams @fizzywoohoo @savvy7392 @angelias134 @that-girl-named-alex @cas-backwards-tie @glimmering-darling-dolly @glitterypinkkitty @blxkstar @his-snow-white-queen @elsasshole @smiithys @nanocoool @deathbyarabbit @alex-skr @theholycakehole @averillian @crazynocturnalkiki @arcanebabe @tinydancer40 @superduckypower @thomasscresswell @butterfly-writes @thatintrovertedbisexual @fangirlanotherjust @somekindofroger @nicci442 @little-girl-who-dream-too-much @wildest-dream- @silverlambcaptain @cliffordmess @xkylorxn @lowkeyofsassguard

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imagines-for-the-fangirls-soul · 4 years

Text

Return to Me - Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: Show the Way

A/N: I’m sorry this is late! I’m really trying to get back on track but school is taking up a lot of my free time. Anyways! I hope you like! This chapter brings us to the end of the Last Jedi, which means that after this I’ll have more creative choices in what happens! I’m still not sure how canon my story will be to the Rise of Skywalker, but we’ll see! As always, please comment and let me know what you think. Your kind words have really kept me going and I love talking to y’all. If you have any questions or want to be tagged, let me know, too!

Oh! Also, I want to respond to your comments, but if I did, it would be from my main bog, @agoodbitofmagic. Would y’all be cool with that, too? Lemme know!

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader Word Count: 3,968 Synopsis: With the First Order quickly catching onto their plan, Poe and the reader have to scramble to find an escape from Crait as they also try to keep their emotions in check. Final TLJ chapter!

Tag List: @xeniarocks, @too-many-baes, @araceli91103, @holybatflapexpert, @themihala, @idocarealot, @treblebeth, @treestarrrrrrrr, @thescarletknight2014, @charlottie2998, @ibikus, @mellow-f1, @mrsdaamneron, @trustme3-13 @missjess71, @ella-solei, @minelskede, @gleigh42, @usuallyweepingnacho, @givemethatgold, @and-claudia, @constantdisgrace, @wordsinwinters, @readingvogueonprivetdrive, @trshbb, @kaitlynw011, @ihave2muchtimeonmyhands, @constantdisgrace, @fairytalesforever, @thanos-jeep, @mixedfandxms, @pastelbunny1501, @emotionalcal, @daniellajocelyn, @getyourselfaunicorn, @spider-starry

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“What the hell?” you asked, your blood pumping fast in your veins. Before she could even argue, you raced away from Nové’s side back onto the hangar, rushing to Poe, who you hoped was just unconscious.

“I thought I'd find you on the bridge with him,” Leia said with a gentle smile, looking down at your panicked face as you crouched down next to him and brushed his stubble covered cheek with your hand. “He's only stunned, don't worry.”

“What happened?” you asked, looking up at both her and Amilyn.

“Poe’s plan was unsuccessful,” Leia said grimly.

“What about Finn and Rose?” you asked.

“I’m not sure,” she said with a shake of her head, “But—”

“We're taking the transports, aren't we?”

“We are,” she said, giving you a small smile. “Take him aboard,” she ordered. Two men walked up and led Poe onto the transport when you finally pulled your hand away from him. You watched him go before looking back, feeling both of their eyes on you.

“That one's a troublemaker,” Amilyn said with a smile, “I like him.” You raised a questioning eyebrow at her, considering that every interaction they had on board the Raddus had been disastrous. Leia laughed at both her comment and your face.

“Me too,” Leia said with a smile. “Now, time to board the transports.” You took a step towards the transport, eager to get back to Poe’s side, but as you moved forward you noticed that Amilyn did not. You and Leia both looked at her inquisitively.

“For the transports to escape, someone needs to stay behind and pilot the cruiser,” she explained. Dread dawned on you as you realized what she was saying.

“No, Amilyn, you can't—” you tried, but stopped, feeling that any argument you made at this point would be useless, especially considering the determined look on her face.

“Too many losses. I can't take any more,” Leia tried.

“Sure you can. You taught me how,” Amilyn said with a sweetly sad smile. Leia nodded her head in acceptance.

“May the force be with—” they both began.

“You go ahead, I've said it enough,” Leia laughed. Amilyn smiled back at her as she spoke.

“May the Force be with you. Always.” Leia hugged her tightly before walking to the transport, leaving you alone with Amilyn. “You need to go, too, Y/N.”

“You should come with us,” you said sadly.

“I can't. But it's going to be okay,” she said as tears began to form in your eyes. You hugged her, and she held you tightly. She was your mentor during your time in the Resistance, at sometimes seeming more like a mother to you than your own. “Keep an eye on Poe for me. He's brave, but it gets him into trouble.”

“He usually finds his way out,” you said, pulling out of her arms.

“Nonetheless. The Resistance lies with the two of you. I have a feeling you're going to be the ones to decide how this all ends. And I know you'll do amazingly,” she added when she took in your expression.

“Well, if I do it's because of you.”

“You are everything I've taught you and more, Y/N,” she said, hugging you once again. “Now, please, you've got to go. May the Force be with you.”

“You too.” You took a deep breath and began to walk onto the transport. Just as you were on the walkway, she called to you again.

“Y/N, he’s a good man. What’s past . . .” she trailed off.

“I know,” you said, smiling gently. She gave you one last nod, motioning for you to get onboard.

You found a seat next to Poe’s unconscious figure and felt tears prick once again in your eyes, just as the transport took off. Leia took a seat next to you a few seconds later, touching your back calmly.

“I don’t know how you can do this,” you said.

“Do what?”

“Fight every day. Lose people you care about.”

“It’s not easy. But it’s necessary. We have to keep fighting, so that one day, the ones we care about won’t have to lose their loved ones, too.” You frowned and looked down at Poe, brushing back his curls. A horrible thought washed over you that Poe could only look this peaceful if stunned. You didn't look away from him for a while, completely forgetting about anyone else around you.

“Y/N.”

“Hmm?” you hummed, not looking up.

“He'll be alright.”

“Today, yes.”

“And after.” You looked over at her, sitting up straight again.

“So, what's the plan?”

Leia told you about the mineral planet, Crait, that had once been a hideout during the age of the old rebellion, where you could take shelter until the First Order passed. She convinced you to leave Poe’s side and led you across the transport to speak with Commander D'Acy about a plan. Even on Crait, you were going to have to scramble to get a distress signal out. Naboo would be there in a moment, if not for the fact that your home planet was being currently occupied by the First Order.

A yell came from across the transport a few moments later, pulling you from your discussion of allies to contact when you arrived on Crait. You turned around to see Poe up off the stretcher, racing towards the window.

“No, no, no!” he cried, pounding his fist against the frame in defeat. Leia nodded to you, giving you the go-ahead to tell him what was going on. You walked over and gently touched his back.

“Poe,” you said calmly. He turned to look back at you and his face immediately fell. “Well, hello to you, too.”

“This wasn't the plan. We're supposed to be safe on the cruiser. We're—”

“Okay, okay, baby, before you keep ranting, come here,” you said, taking his hand and leading him to the other side of the transport, showing him where you were headed.

“What is that?”

“The mineral planet, Crait. An uncharted hideout from the days of the Rebellion,” Leia said, coming over. He looked back at her and instantly smiled.

“That's a Rebel base?”

“Abandoned, but heavily armored. With enough power to get a distress signal to our allies scattered in the Outer Rim.” Poe looked bewildered as Leia motioned for him to sit next to her. “Holdo knew the First Order was tracking our main ship. They're not monitoring for little transports.”

“So, we could slip down to the surface unnoticed until The First Order passes,” Poe said, realizing her plan, “That could work.” You tutted, and he took notice, kicking your foot playfully.

“She was more interested in protecting the light than she was seeming like a hero,” Leia explained. Poe nodded his head, hoping to hide his shame.

“Holdo?” he asked, looking around the transport.

“She decided to stay back with the cruiser.” Poe looked up at you tenderly, offering his sympathies without saying a word. You took his outstretched hand and frowned at him. Your gentle moment was broken up when the transport two down from yours was fired on and destroyed.

“Damn it!” Leia said, struggling to her feet. “Contact Holdo!” she ordered. There was panicking in the front of the transport, as your pilot tried to avoid the incoming fire. You and Poe ran to the front, getting to work. He took over the controls as best he could, giving his best advice for a straight shot target on limited fuel. You contacted Holdo as two more transports were destroyed.

“Should we turn around?” you asked when her holographic image formed hazily.

“No, full speed ahead!” The connection cut out as damage from a nearby ship hit yours.

“Y/N! Are you alright?” Poe asked as you stumbled into the window.

“I’m fine, we just need to get down to the planet,” you said, standing upright.

“I don’t know how. I don’t think we're not going to make it,” he said grimly.

“We just might,” Leia said, drawing both of your attentions to the back window. Amilyn’s cruiser was turning around, and you didn't need the Force to sense what she was about to do.

“No,” you said softly, feeling completely helpless as the cruiser went into lightspeed and flew through the firing First Order ship. Poe wrapped you in his arms, and you couldn't do anything but hug him back, watching the spot where the cruiser had been. Your parents, Han, Captain Zolbowl, Naboo, and now Amilyn. Since you had come back to the Resistance, the list of your fallen loved ones just kept growing and you were beginning to worry who would remain off of it.

“Full speed ahead,” Leia commanded as everyone stood in awed silence. “Now.”

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Once landed on Crait, Poe became Commander Dameron again. He was clear headed as he made sure everyone got inside and that the giant door protecting the base shut tight, just as the First Order came onto the planet. The door was slow to shut and during its procession, an incoming ship crashed through the closing doors. Everyone pulled out what weapons they had and fired on the fallen ship.

“Don't shoot, it's us!” a voice from inside called. Poe held up a hand and the firing stopped.

“Finn?” he called hesitantly. Finn popped his head out of the ship, hands raised, and Rose came out a moment later, doing the same.

“Finn! Rose! You’re not dead!” Poe cried happily. “Where’s my droid?” BB-8 came out of the ship, rolling straight to Poe. They embraced warmly before BB-8 began to tell Poe his story. “Buddy! I’m so glad to see you! Wait, what? Wait, wait, wait, slow down.”

“This is all that’s left?” Rose asked helplessly.

“What happened?” Finn asked, taking a step closer to Poe. He stood up and touched his arm gently.

“We’ve got a lot to discuss,” Poe said.

“And not much time to it looks like,” Finn said, motioning back to the wall, behind which were the approaching First Order ships.

“Nope. But I’ll try to explain as we go,” Poe said, leading them both over to the central part of the cave base. The controls were old and weak, but still functioning. You stood next to Connix as you tried to send out a distress signal to anyone and everyone you could think of.

“Use my personal code,” Leia said, “If there are any allies to the Resistance, it’s now or never.” You nodded at her and kept working on sending the signal out. Nové came up next to you and touched your arm. You were frantically pressing buttons, doing everything in your power to get help, and you hadn’t realized that you weren’t actually helping at all.

“Let me take over,” Nové said, “Relax, okay?” You let out a sigh and nodded your head, looking over to Poe in the corner. He looked at you in concern, but he had a lot to be concerned about right now. He was about to take a step forward when Rose walked up.

“Rose, what do you got?” he asked, moving over to her.

“Rotting munitions, rusted artillery, some half-gutted skim speeders,” she said with a frown. Poe nodded, matching her face as he let out a sigh.

“Well, let’s just pray that big-ass door holds long enough for us to get help,” he said. As he spoke, a rumble shook through the entire base, scaring off some of the Vulptexes. You all looked at each other nervously, worried that the door wasn’t as stable as Poe suggested.

“Let’s go see what that was,” he said despondently. He started to move with Finn towards the door but you grabbed his arm to hold him back.

“Poe,” you said gently. He looked back at you and saw all the fear and worry in your eyes. You had done a good job of hiding it the last few hours or so, but since your first trip back to the Resistance, you had only just been keeping those emotions at bay. With the First Order literally at their door, Poe could see every inch of that fear etched on your face

“It’ll be alright.”

“You don’t say that like you believe it,” you said with a frown.

“I’ll work on it,” he said, shedding his dark leather jacket. He wrapped it around your shoulders, which were very much exposed to the cold in your pink dress, and placed a quick, soft kiss to your temple. You gave him a weak smile as he walked off with Finn.

Peering from behind the safety of the door, Finn looked through binoculars carefully to see what exactly the First Order had brought down with them.

“A battering ram cannon,” he said. He looked over at Poe, telling him how bad it was without speaking.

“A what now?” Poe asked.

“Miniaturized Death Star tech. It’ll crack that door open like an egg.”

“There has to be a back way out of here, right?” Rose asked, trying to lift up the spirits in the room.

“BB-8, what do you got?” Poe asked, turning to look at the droids. C-3PO stepped forward to answer.

“BB-8 has analyzed the mine’s schematics. This is the only way in or out.” Poe shook his head and put his hands on his hips. He refused to give up this easily. He had promised you that everything would be alright, and he was determined to keep that promise, not just for you, but for everyone huddled inside this freezing cave. Poe began to rack his brain for what to do, just as Finn stepped up.

“Come on,” he said encouragingly, “We have allies. People believe in Leia. They’ll get our message, they’ll come. But we have to buy time. We gotta take out that cannon.”

“Alright,” Poe said with a nod, “Let’s do it.”

“Poe.” He turned his head to see Leia walking up, with you a step behind her. He jogged over to the two of you, hoping for good news.

“Anything yet?” he asked.

“No,” Leia said as you averted your eyes. “What are you going to do?”

“We’re gonna take out that cannon,” Poe said, looking back at Finn. “We’re gonna buy some time until our allies get here.” He made sure to speak with conviction so that the look in both yours and Leia’s faces would change.

“May the Force be with you,” Leia said with a sigh. He nodded his head and looked over at you. You stepped forward and touched his cheek softly as you looked into his eyes.

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You watched nervously from inside the cave as Poe led a group of Resistance fighters out on the rickety skim speeders, watching as they headed towards a cannon that looked as if it could take them all out in one strike. As quick as they went for the cannon, they turned around, except one. You listened over the intercom as Poe ordered Finn back, and watched in amazement as Rose knocked him off course just as he was about to destroy himself, crashing both of their speeders.

When they came back inside, you helped Finn find a place for Rose and began to patch her up as Connix turned to Leia.

“Our distress signal’s been received at multiple points, but no response,” she said grimly.

“They’ve heard us, but no one’s coming,” D’Acy added. You looked to Leia, expecting to find her signature hope and reassurance, but she looked just as distraught as the rest.

“We fought ‘til the end. But the galaxy has lost all its hope. The spark is out,” she said. Poe came over to your side, the same hopeless look of defeat in his face. He sat down next to you, glancing down at your hand for a few moments before he took yours in his and held it warmly. It seemed that this would be the last of the Resistance, the last of all of you. You looked to Poe, readying yourself to say what you should have said long ago, as Leia spoke again.

“Luke.”

Everyone in the room turned to see Luke Skywalker walk towards his sister. With no clue how he got into the cave, everyone looked at him with a mix of confusion and hope. Maybe he was what you needed to escape. You looked at Poe and saw the same wish in his eyes.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Leia said with a smile, “I changed my hair.”

“It’s nice that way,” he responded, “Leia, I’m sorry.”

“I know, I know you are. I’m just glad you’re here at the end.”

“I came to face him, Leia. And I can’t save him,” he added weakly.

“I held out hope for so long, but I know my son is gone.”

“No one’s ever really gone,” Luke said. He smiled once more at his sister and then made his way through the crowded group of Resistance fighters and out the door. He walked across the salt-covered field and waited out in the open for a few moments.

“What is he doing?” you asked, watching from inside the cavern. Poe shook his head, trying to make sense of what was happening. You moved closer to get a better view of what was to happen, but you couldn’t see anything until the First Order started firing on Luke. You gasped, ready to add him to your list when the firing stopped and he was still standing there.

“How the hell?” Poe asked, looking intently at the scene as a dark figure began to make his way towards Luke. “It's Kylo R—” he began, but you shook your head. You hadn't been around your old friend in years, but even standing as far away as you were, you could feel the tension in your head that you used to feel when around him. Even this far away, it felt like he was trying to get into your mind. “Y/N?”

“I'm fine,” you said quietly, “But Luke's facing him alone. We can't just leave him—” you stopped, clenching your fist. Your head was pounding, and your heart was racing. You hadn't had to fight off this feeling for so long that you were almost forgetting how to.

“We should help him,” Finn said, “Let's go.” Poe was standing in front of you, trying to read your face. Your eyes were shut as you fought the mind trick. Poe touched your shoulders sweetly and as he did, your mind relaxed.

“No, wait, he's doing this for a reason,” Poe said, looking back at the group. You took a step back from him, wrapping yourself tightly in his jacket he lent you as you recentered your mind. “He's stalling so we can escape.”

“Escape? He's one man against an army, we have to help him, we have to fight,” Finn said.

“No, no,” Poe said. You watched him carefully, looking at him lost in strategic thought. “We are the spark that'll light the fire that will burn the First Order down. Skywalker's doing this so we can survive. There's got to be a way out of this mine,” he said, addressing the gathering group, “Hell, how did he get in here?”

“Sir,” Threepio said, stepping forward, “It is possible that a natural unmapped opening exists. But this facility is such a maze of endless tunnels that the odds of finding an exit are . . .”

“Shh!” Poe said, trying to silence him, “Sh—sh—Shut up!”

“To one,” Threepio finished, somewhat in defeat.

“Listen.”

“My audio sensors no longer detect the—”

“Exactly,” Poe said, stepping deeper into the base. He was looking around, and suddenly you realized what he was listening for.

“Where'd the crystal critters go?” Finn asked. One of the little animals ran past, seemingly following the trail of Vulptices.

“Follow me,” Poe said. You smiled, feeling prideful at his taking control. The group, however, looked to Leia.

“What are you looking at me for?” she asked in confusion. “Follow him.” Poe smiled this time, and you were the first to follow his lead. He ran after the Vulptex, keeping in step with it. Eventually, you reached a dead end. The Vulptex struggled through a crack in the wall of rocks but managed to get through. There was no way any of you could fit through the same opening.

“Well, there has to be somewhere else to go,” Poe said, trying to budge some of the boulders.

“Hey, hey,” you said, pulling him away, “Even if you could break through, you would be crushed.”

“At least the Resistance would survive,” he said, breaking free from your hands. You sighed, looking back at the gathering body behind you. Nové gave you a warning look, but you turned from her. Poe was still manically pulling at the rocks. You touched his shoulder again, this time more gently.

“The Resistance isn’t anything without you. None of us are,” you said quietly. He looked back at you and frowned slightly. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it before and every minute since I’ve seen you. I love you,” you said, grabbing his cheeks and bringing his lips to yours. He kissed you back, wrapping his arm around your waist. You kissed for the two years you lost, the pain you had inflicted in those years, and for everything you had wanted to say and do since you saw him again. When you pulled away, you smiled at him, and at the miracle surrounding you.

The boulders blocking your exit were suddenly floating around you, giving you a view of the white terrain outside. Poe smiled, too, and gave your hand a squeeze in his. Although you had never met, you recognized the girl standing a few feet from you.

“Rey!” Finn cried, running to embrace her. You couldn’t stop grinning, especially when you realized that the Millennium Falcon was behind her, a clear escape from the First Order.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Poe asked with a smile, looking back at the rest of the Resistance. He led the way to the Millennium Falcon, but you held back. You watched him greet everyone as they boarded, checking that they were okay and that everyone left was together.

“Ready to go?” You looked over your shoulder at Nové and smiled.

“Yes, I’m just not sure where we’re going.”

“We’ll find a place. I know we will.” You both looked to your right at Leia, nodding happily at the Falcon. “Let’s go.”

You fell back from the other two as they boarded the ship until it was only you and Poe still on Crait. You approached him slowly, not wanting to think about what would happen when life finally got back to normal.

“Well, Flyboy, you did it.” He bit his lip as he smiled at you.

“Rey moved the boulders.”

“You got us here. And you kept the faith,” you said, touching his chest. “We’re going to fight another day, thanks to you.” He put his hand over yours and smiled.

“Let’s get out of here.”

#poe dameron #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron x you #sw imagine #poe dameron fanfic #poe dameron fanfiction #star wars #star wars imagine #star wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #sw #sw fanfic #sw fanfiction #return to me

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azwriting · 4 years

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Everything We Need (Forget Me Not, Kylo Ren x Reader) - Chapter One

So Tumblr flagged my original first chapter so now I have to repost it! Annoying! Anyways so here’s this again... Let me know if you want to added to the taglist!

Summary: As the battle of Crait begins to unfold, the truth is still being withheld from Kylo Ren. But Rey is beginning to uncover it all.

Warning(s): Nightmares, mentions of death

Word count: 3579

The remaining members of the Resistance huddled in the Mine on the salt planet, Crait, dejected. The battering ram cannon had already burnt through the large door and no one was coming to their aid, the Resistance would perish today. General Leia Organa slumped down onto the stack of boxes, “We fought till the end . But the galaxy has lost all its hope. The spark is out.” She dug her cane into the gritty ground below, defeat evident in her disheartened voice. The few Resistance members that surrounded her, looked around at each other and the others awaiting the ill-fated incoming attack from the First Order’s Stormtroopers, this was it.

Leia’s eyes suddenly fluttered up, sensing something or someone. She turned her head to her left, seeing a shadowy hooded figure emerging from one of the many brightly lit tunnels. The figure continued forward silently until he stopped before Leia. The man slowly removed his hood, revealing his aged face and short gray beard. “Luke” Leia breathed out in astonishment and relief. Her twin brother sat down in front of her, mouth opening to deliver his deepest apologies, but the General cut him off. “I know what you’re gonna say. I changed my hair.” The Jedi rolled his eyes at his sister’s ill-timed antics.

“It’s nice that way.” He paused for a moment, inhaling sharply, “Leia, I’m sorry.”

Leia nodded softly, “I know. I know you are. I’m just glad you’re here… in the end.”

Luke turned serious, his green eyes hardening, “I came to face him, Leia. And I can’t save him.” A grim expression fell onto Leia’s face, the man terrorizing them was the “Jedi Killer”, Kylo Ren.

“I held out hope for so long, but I know my son is gone.” A small frown on her lips, but Luke simply gave her a look.

“No one’s ever really gone.”

A small laugh escaped the General’s frown, “Yeah thanks for telling me by the way.” Her head nodded to her right out the broken command center windows, towards the group gathered by the melted door. Luke stood confused, eyes casting a search out into the small crowd of Resistance fighters hidden behind boxes of supplies and old transports. A young (Y/S/C) skinned, (Y/H/C) woman crouched down besides an olive toned man with black hair, caught the former Jedi’s eyes. Her hair was secured up in a bun of braided hair, small droplets of salt woven into it.

A large faded pink scar covered a decent portion of the right side of her neck. That was the only thing Luke needed to see before he turned back to Leia exasperated. “How-?” was all he could muster, green eyes wide.

Leia only smirked at her unexpecting brother, “She’ll always find her way back home, Luke. Regardless of…” The General trailed off, discreetly tapping her temple. Luke shook his head in disbelief, after all he had done to prevent this very thing and yet she still found her way back and with disturbingly close proximity to the enemy. “You know if we sent her out, he’d probably stop all of this.” Leia added. Luke shook his head immediately, this was not the endgame of Chess, they could not sacrifice “The Queen” in hopes to win. Not when he was so consumed by rage and would only endanger the young woman.

Luke placed his hand over Leia’s, dropping the gold dice from the Millenium Falcon, from Han, into her open palm. A flash of realization washes over her facial features, as Leia looked to her brother in surprise. Luke remained silent only moving to cup Leia’s face as he bent down to kiss her forehead, before he turned to face his fate.

Resistance fighters throughout the Mine rose from their crouched down positions, eyes following the figure walking towards the hole the First Order battered into the shield door. Poe stood in disbelief, gaping at the legendary Pilot before him. Luke paused at the door, which was still surrounded by flickering red flames, and turned to look at something besides Poe. He pivoted slightly to see his longtime friend, (Y/N), staring straight back at Luke. The former Jedi Master nodded once to her, before heading out to face the First Order. Poe looked back at his friend when Skywalker was out of sight, her face contorting as she mentally tried to solve a puzzle with too many pieces missing. “I think I knew him.”

Kylo Ren emerged from the ship, clad in all black, making the man look like the silhouette of a monster. The newly self-appointed Supreme Leader was shaking to his core, pure and raw fury filled his being as he stalked out of the command shuttle. From inside the safety of the bunker, Poe watched the scene unfold behind a pair of binoculars. “It’s Kylo Ren, Luke’s facing him alone.”

Finn quickly chirped up from beside him, “Well, we should help him. Let’s go.” The former Stormtrooper moved to walk in between (Y/N) and Poe, but a white sleeved arm shot out to halt his advancements.

“No, wait. Wait” (Y/N) reiterated, her and Poe sharing a skeptical look, before returning their eyes to observe the scene about to unfold before them.

“Did you come back to say you forgive me? To save my soul?” The words dripped out sarcastically and menacingly from the Supreme Leader.

His uncle lifted his eyebrows, “No”. Kylo Ren shrugged off his cloak and ignited his crackling red lightsaber. Luke ignited his blue lightsaber in return and the two readied themselves for the inevitable fight.

“He’s doing this for a reason” Poe muttered lowly, his finger gently gesturing to the spectacle outside. (Y/N), who still was loosely holding back Finn, raised her eyebrows a realization popping in her mind.

“He’s stalling so we can escape” She exclaimed, perhaps that is why he nodded at her.

“Skywalker's doing this so we can survive. There's gotta be a way out of this mine. Hell, how did he get in here?” The small group of survivors begin to follow a remaining Crystal Critter, in hopes of leading them all to an alternative exit.

(Y/N) stalled behind the group, glancing out to the fighting force users, something oddly familiar about them both. Flashes of flames and quick movements of blue and purple light danced behind her eyes. “(Y/N) let’s go!” Poe shouted back at her, reluctantly she turned and raced after the group, Leia monitoring the perplexed expression on the girl as her beacon on her wrist began to illuminate...Rey was close.

Kylo continued to strike at Luke, who easily dodged his advances. “How do you think she would feel about all of this Ben?” The man in black, growled at his words quickly swiping at his uncle.

“Doesn’t matter, she’s dead because of you!” His words were harsh and accusatory, but his brown eyes were brimming with sadness and vulnerability, Luke had touched a nerve.

Luke shook his head slightly, “No, that was all you. But I did fail you, Ben. I’m sorry.” The two now stood in front of each other, at a distance. “I'm sure you are! The Resistance is dead. The war is over. And when I kill you, I will have killed the last Jedi” Kylo spit out, anger overflowing.

The Resistance members came to the end of the tunnel, the Crystal Critter escaping through a tiny hole amongst a massive pile of rocks. “No! NO!” Poe shouted scrambling up the rocks, they were trapped.

“Amazing. Every word of what you just said was wrong. The Rebellion is reborn today. The war is just beginning. And I will not be the last Jedi.”

The rocks began to move, bright white light streaming into the tunnel. (Y/N), Poe, and Finn stammered out of the cave first, seeing Rey with her hand outstretched the rocks floating in midair. Finn ran to Rey, the rocks dropping down to the sides, creating a clear path to the Falcon. The two engulf each other into a tight embrace, glad to know the other was safe.

“Hey let’s get out of here first, then we can do that!” (Y/N) laughed approaching with Poe. The two broke apart and Rey laughed slightly turning to look at the girl, her laugh catching her throat at the sight. The girl had bright (Y/E/C) eyes and a large pink scar tissue on her neck, Rey had seen this girl before. Leia caught the look on the young Jedi’s face, flustered at the sight of (Y/N).

Kylo Ren led a swarm of Stormtroopers into the now empty Mine. He turned and entered the main command center, bending down carefully to retrieve the gold dice lying on the ground. His head snapped up suddenly, feeling the force connect him once again to Rey. The remaining Resistance fighters boarded the Falcon, Rey ushering them all in as she stood at the entrance ramp. She looked down to see Kylo kneeling below, her eyes hardened as they silently stared at each other. Kylo saw a flash of familiar (Y/E/C) eyes in Rey’s mind before she slammed the button, closing the ramp and their connection. The Millenium Falcon took off into space as the group rejoiced in their escape and reuniting with friends. Rey bent down to greet BB-8, while Poe and (Y/N) watched her from the side. The two walked up to greet their savior, “Hi.”

“Hi” Rey smiled standing back up straight. “I’m Poe”

“Rey” the two shook hands briefly before her eyes fell back on the scarred girl.

“(Y/N)” she smiled, outstretching her hand as well. Rey graciously took it, but still looked at the girl confused. How was this possible? From what she had seen it was not.

Rey sat down on a crate, holding Luke’s split lightsaber. She could feel he was gone, but she felt he had not left with pain, but with peace and purpose. Leia placed her hand gently on Rey’s shoulder as she sat down beside her. “How do we build a Rebellion from this?” She looked down to the destroyed lightsaber, that resembled how she felt, split in two.

Leia’s hand softly was placed over hers, “We have everything we need.” Leia discreetly looked to (Y/N), standing and laughing with Poe and other members. Rey followed her gaze behind her, to the girl who so very much puzzled her.

“I’ve seen her before in-”

Rey’s confession was cut short by the General whispering, “In his mind.” Rey nodded, surprised she knew her next words. “Yeah I would imagine you would.” Leia sighed, looking to the unassuming (Y/N).

“He thinks she’s…” Rey trailed off envisioning the large flames she had seen through the force, listening to Leia’s heavy sigh.

“They both can never know the truth, Rey. Not while this war rages on.”

Two Months Later

(Y/N) was squatted down, cautiously maneuvering around in the tall blades of grass. Her blaster was cradled tightly in between her hands, index finger hovering above the trigger. She silently moved around, the blades of grass barely moving, as her face was hardened in determination. An image of black fabric, brushing against blades of grass up ahead, burst into her mind. (Y/N) smirked to herself, tiptoeing forward. A black jacket and black hair wordlessly backed into frame, she quickly pouncing forward and wrapping her hand around their mouth, dragging them back down into her. The person shocked sounds were muffled against her palm as the tiniest sound of blades moving had her whipping around, person still pinned against her chest. (Y/N) pointed her blaster at the wide eyed person who attempted to sneak up behind her, “Gotcha” she grinned. The person quickly held up his hands in resignation. She removed her hand and arm from her prisoner, the man groaning loudly.

“How do you catch us every time?” Poe demanded turning to face the girl, Finn laughing in the background. (Y/N) only shrugged holstering her blaster back onto her hip. “It’s like you can see the future or something!” (Y/N) shoved Poe laughing as the three turned back, exiting the tall grass and onto the landing strip of the new Resistance base. New recruits jogged past them, sweat making their uniforms discolored. “I’m serious (Y/N), how can you find us every time?” Poe interrogated.

“I don’t know, maybe you’re just too predictable.” Poe gasped mockingly hurt at (Y/N)’s teasing words.

The setting sun illuminated a golden C-3PO who shuffled over to the motley crew, “Mr. Dameron and Miss Stryker, the General is looking for you.” Poe and (Y/N) turned to each other questioningly, wondering what they both were needed for. Departing from Finn, the two entered the main building, jogging down the steps and into the command center.

The General was going over information on a data pad with Lieutenant Connix. “General, you wanted to see us?” Poe questioned leaning against a surrounding table. Leia looked up at the two, some of the best Resistance Fighters in her opinion, and quickly dismissed the Lieutenant and turned her full attention to them. (Y/N) smiled at the woman, who had become like another mother to her since she had recruited her over 9 years ago.

(Y/N) was 19 and bustling with desire to join the Resistance as the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire to threaten more of the galaxy in the last year. The General had come to Hosnian Prime to discuss urgent matters with members of the Republic, that had included (Y/N)’s adoptive parents. (Y/N) had been carelessly wandering around the palace, waiting for the end of the conference, when she had accidentally bumped into the General. “I’m so very sorry ma’am!” (Y/N) had rushed out steadying the woman before her.

“Oh it’s alright dea-” The General had looked up at the taller girl, her words dying in her mouth. The General was quiet as she took in the girl before her. She wore dark terracotta colored pants, a white blouse with a long trail, a purple crystal necklace hanging from her neck, and white boots. Her hair was loosely spilling over her shoulders, attempting to hide a pink scar on her neck, (Y/E/C) eyes bright and young.

“Oh Leia, it seems you’ve met our daughter, (Y/N).” Pryon Stryker spoke up, coming from behind the two. Leia snapped out of her shock and turned to face the Senator.

“Your daughter?” Leia was dumbfounded, it was not possible.

“Yes, well adoptive” Yuiera Stryker spoke up, arm intertwined with her husbands. Leia turned back to (Y/N), smiling awkwardly.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Ever since that day, (Y/N) had never left the General’s side, working closely with her and the Resistance, even when the First Order destroyed Hosnian Prime, her adoptive parents with it. (Y/N) had become close to Poe too, the two meeting back in the early days of their training, the two becoming good friends and getting into their own little spurts of trouble. “Yes you two are heading back out on a sensitive mission.” The General informed, both of them relieved to be going back into action and finally getting off of desk duty.

“What’s the mission?”

“You two are being sent to a small planet on the outer rim of the galaxy, it’s known heavily for its allegiance to the First Order so-”

Poe cut the General off with a snide remark, “Let me guess we’re going to have to act like a bunch of First Order sympathizers.” Leia only rolled her eyes and ignored him returning to her plan.

“There you two will need to try and go undetected and locate and old Rebellion fighter, who claims to have information on the First Order’s new plans.” (Y/N) and Poe nodded stiffly, this mission could either go two ways. “You two will leave at the first sign of daylight.”

The General dismissed the two and they walked slowly down the far right corridor to their rooms. “So do you think it will be dangerous and daring?” Poe quipped.

“You’ll be there so we’re bound to find some trouble” (Y/N) smirked, her hand mindlessly going up to trace her faded scar, a constant reminder of her missing life.

“You think you’re real funny don’t ya?” Poe taunted as the two reached their rooms, directly across from each other.

“Goodnight Poe.” (Y/N) simply answered before stepping into her small dimly lit room.

The door slid down behind her as (Y/N) examined the sparse concrete room consisting of: a small dresser stocked with clothes, a small table with a few belongings, and a small bunk. Most members of the Resistance were bunked up with other people, but under certain circumstances (Y/N) was allowed to always be alone. The young woman quickly changed out of her attire and into a faded ivory nightgown and clambered into the small bed, pulling the blue fleece blanket over her. (Y/N) leaned over to turn off the small table lamp and shuffled down into the bed, a restless sleep falling quickly over the girl.

(Y/N) awakened to the smell of smoke and shot up in her small cot. She glanced to the door, hearing the sound of crumbling wood. Quickly she jumped up and rushed outside, her lungs filling with smoke instantly. The temple ahead was engulfed in red and orange flames, screams coming from inside. A dark figure stands in the field, surrounded by bodies lying limp in the grass, “What are you doing? We need to help them!” She screamed at the person, running to aid the burning people.

(Y/N) was suddenly yanked back by a pair of long arms, “No (Y/N), I can’t lose you too!” A male voice shouts from behind her. She cannot see who he is, but she begs and pleads for him to help the dying soul. She eventually shimmies out of his tight grip and runs inside the temple, the smoke and bright flames overwhelming. She heard the unknown man shout her name from outside, before suddenly a large creaking was heard. (Y/N) looked up to the noise as the roof came tumbling down onto her.

“(Y/N/N) wake up! Wake up!” Someone shook her body roughly when (Y/N) suddenly woke, jolting upwards in bed. She examined her small room, eyes wide with tears, eventually landing on a concerned looking Poe, eyes still heavy with sleep. “You were screaming again.” He frowned quietly. (Y/N) sat quietly for a moment, trembling as she fought back her tears. Her heart was racing and her head pounded, why did she keep having this dream?

“I’m okay just the nightmare again” (Y/N) whispered hoarsely, eyes looking down at her death grip on the sheets, embarrassment flooding through her. “It’s okay, just breathe” Poe comforted, smoothing down her wild hair.

“I’m sorry Poe, go back to bed.” She finally looked up to her friend again, trying to smile convincingly. She was not positive if he truly bought it or if sleep was calling him back to his own room. Poe stumbled back towards the door, it shooting upwards to reveal the quiet hallway. He moved to leave, but hesitated, turning back to face the shaking girl.

“Do you ever remember anything?” The question floated quietly in the night, a tear escaping down (Y/N)’s face.

“No, I only know what the man told me.” Poe nodded solemnly before leaving, the door closing in his absence. A gutted sound left (Y/N)’s parted lips as she fell back onto her pillow, hot tears rolling down her face. The first memory (Y/N) had was when she was 18, covered in black tar and reeking of smoke, and waking up on a cold steel bench.

She was on the outskirts of a gleaming city, the early morning sunrise casting a golden hue along the towering buildings. Before her, squatting down to her eye level was an older man with his sandy colored hair, gray strands peppering through that and his short beard. Green eyes were intensely watching hers. Panic had began to rise in her, her mind empty, not a single memory or sense of identity within. She could not even remember her name.

Thick tears began to roll down her ash covered cheeks, “Who am I?” She choked out to the man.

He let out a small sigh, almost in relief of something, “Your name is (Y/N). You will be safe here I promise.” The man stood to leave, a ship waiting just behind him.

“No,” She reached forward and caught his cloak with her blackened fingers, “Please don’t leave me”.

He refused to turn and face her, simply yanking the cloak from her hands, “This is the only way” he whispered and stalked away.

(Y/N) was left on the bench sobbing for hours, trying to bury herself in her white cloak and hood. The sun was at the high point of mid morning, when an olive skinned woman dressed in a rosy dress, detailed in rich gold colored vines, approached the distraught girl. She had bent down before her, gently wiping away the wet black tears from her face, “What’s your name sweetie?”

“(Y/N).”

The woman smiled softly, “Do you have anywhere to go?”

(Y/N) shook her head more tears spilling out, “I don’t remember.”

The woman’s eyebrows raised in surprise at that before gesturing for the girl to stand with her. “Come with me darling, everything will be okay. My name is Yuiera. Yueira Stryker.”

#kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren fanfiction #ben solo #ben solo x reader #ben solo fanfiction #star wars #star wars series #star wars imagine #Adam driver x reader

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jolinar · 4 years

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A Very Starwars Fictober, Day 13!

Prompt number: #13 “I’ve missed this”

Fandom: Star Wars

Rating: Teen and up

Warnings/Tags: FinnRose, Stormflower, unrequited love

Word Count: 1423

Summary: Rose and Finn catch up for the first time after Crait

Read it on Ao3

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Rose had worked through lunch. Again. And then worked through dinner on top of it. She was exhausted and needed her bunk, but her stomach growled. She’d never fall asleep unless she ate something, and short of raiding one of her bunkmates’ stash, she'd be going to bed hungry.

Like most of the Resistance’s makeshift base, the canteen was a series of tents set up against a small transport. Miraculously, there was still a light on in part of the tent.

Standing at a countertop island in the middle of the tent was Finn. The very last person she wanted to see when she was tired and gross from a long day's work. He was working at a cutting board, a pile of vegetables on his right, and a bowl of neatly diced ones on his left.

Rose was just about to let the tent flap fall again and scurry away when he looked up, he looked up, squinting over at her.

“Hey, that you, Rose?”

Rose froze. Busted. Face suddenly flushed, she took a step into the tent.

“Yep! It’s me! I mean, obviously, it’s me, I’m standing right in front of you," oh goodness, she was babbling, she needed to rein this in. "What are you doing here?”

He gestured down at the cutting board and pile of vegetables beside him. “Duty rotation. I drew the short straw and ended up in the kitchen this week.”

“At,” she consulted her watch, “11 pm?”

Finn shrugged. “I got distracted earlier, so I got asked to help prep for tomorrow. What about you? What are you doing here so late?”

“Oh! I missed lunch and dinner. Just a lot of work. I was hoping to scavenge some food, but if it’s too late --”

“No, there’s probably something around here, hold on --”

He turned to start opening refrigerators and cabinets, trying to scrounge for her. She settled down at a seat across the long island from him, watching him.

Though their time together had been short, it had been intense. They had schemed together, escaped the First Order together. She had saved his life, then...nothing. When she’d finally woken up, he’d been away with Poe. She wouldn’t admit even to herself that she waited for him, expecting some kind of message...but all during her recovery, whenever someone walked by she’d look up, hoping it was him.

He produced a sandwich of unknown origin out of a fridge and placed it in on the island between them like a peace offering. She looked up at him and smiled as cheerfully as she could muster. She watched as he returned to cutting up the mound of produce in front of them. There had been so many things she’d wanted to say to him over the past month. But now she found she couldn’t find the words. Instead, she picked up the sandwich and started eating.

“What have you been doing lately?” she managed after a few bites.

“When I’m not cutting up vegetables? I dunno,” he was slicing methodically, the knife sinking into the cutting board with dull thuds. “Been spending a lot of time with Poe.”

“And Rey?”

The knife paused. “Rey, she...she’s got her own stuff going on. I don’t understand a lot of it. Comes from being a Jedi, you know how it is. She's doing really important work for the Resistance, though, of course.” He said it over-confidently, and Rose wondered who he was trying to convince. He resumed chopping and continued: “Rey was my first friend outside the First Order, you know?”

“I wouldn't let Poe hear you say that.”

“I met Poe first, but he...Poe was a dream. My ticket out, then he was gone. I thought he was dead, remember? But me and Rey had each others' backs for longer. When I woke up after Starkiller I was so focused on making sure that Rey was safe. You know that better than anyone.” She nodded, remembering how he’d been willing to desert the entire Resistance rather than risk Rey returning to a doomed fleet. “The whole time on Canto Bight, all of that pushing was to make sure she had somewhere safe to come back to. And now that we’re all together again…” he abruptly stopped cutting and put down the knife. “Sometimes it feels like everyone around here is so driven and they’re all fighting to get something back, reclaim it from the First Order. But me? I’m fighting because that’s the only thing I know how to do. And lately, it hasn't been fighting." He stared down gloomily at the task in front of him. "Following orders, that’s all a stormtrooper is good for.”

Rose shook her head. “Finn, that’s not true at all. You’re not a stormtrooper.”

“I know that. But it’s what I was raised to be, it was all my training.”

“You can be more. I know it."

Rose wanted to reach out and squeeze his arm reassuringly, to try to transfer some of the confidence she felt for him. But after Crait, after all this time, to be talking like this again was such a gift. She didn’t want to break the spell by overreaching. So she settled for looking into his face, trying to transfer everything she couldn’t express by touch into her gaze. Now that you’re out, now that Rey is safe, what do you want to do?”

"Well...I've thought about it a lot, but haven't told anyone. I want to find the stormtrooper training camps. When I was little, they took me to this place. They conditioned us, raised us to fight, to work for them. I never questioned it until that night on Jakku, when Kylo Ren made us torch that village. And once I did start questioning it, it was like something unlocked in my brain.” he was talking more animatedly now, his eyes lighting up. “And I just thought, maybe there are others who would do the same? I know not every stormtrooper is good, but I want to give them back the choice."

“That's such a good idea!”

“You really think so?” Finn asked, incredulous. Then he brightened, a touch of his usual swagger coming back. “Yeah, I guess it’s not bad, right?”

“Yes! It would solve our problem of numbers for one thing!”

“But there could be some double agents mixed in --”

“ -- But if we vet everyone who comes in, keep their units siloed off we could help mitigate that.”

“So all we have to do is find them..." Finn deflated, shook his head. "And there's the dead-end.”

“You don’t remember where they took you?”

“It was all secret. And it was so long ago."

“Finn, the Resistance has the best spy network in the galaxy, how else do you think we’ve survived this long??”

“So if we get General Leia to let us leverage that network --”

“--then we can liberate these stormtrooper camps!”

“It’s not much --”

“But it’s the start of a plan and you know it.”

“It is.” Finn grinned. “I feel...better. Thanks, Rose.

“What can I say, we make a good team,” Rose said, grinning back. He laughed and she felt suddenly bold. This time she did reach out across the island and gripped his hand. He looked down at her hand, brow furrowed and she pulled away again.

“Oh, I didn't mean --!” She’d stepped in it now. She grimaced, trying to think of how to explain this without sounding like an idiot. He was still staring at her, perplexed, but not unkindly. “I didn't mean anything by it. Look, what happened on Crait, that was an impulse. And if you're not...then I’m not -- what I'm trying to say is, it's okay! That I'm not expecting anything. If you want, you don't have to talk to me anymore. But I hope that you do because...I missed this." Rose said, gesturing around, including herself and Finn and their surroundings. "I missed this so much."

“You missed...watching me chop vegetables in a cooking tent?” Finn deadpanned. Rose glared at him, then shook her head. So much for a serious conversation. She picked up what was left of her sandwich and hopped up, headed for the tent's entrance. Finn put out a hand to stop her.

"Hey -- it’s okay. Look, Rose, there’s still a lot I’m trying to figure out. But, just so you know…” he looked over at her with such sincerity and openness that it made her heart skip, “I missed this, too."

#fictober20 #star wars fanfiction #finnrose #Rose Tico #mae writes #a very star wars fictober

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admiraldora · 6 years

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On Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo

I saw a post literally comparing Amilyn Holdo to Umbridge and I feel like in general people don't like her that much, because yes, she wasn't the friendliest character in the movie. She wasn't nice to Poe, and I think people dislike her for that, but I'm pretty sure there was a good reason behind it.

First of all, it must be noted that she is under no obligation to tell Poe her plans at all. She's the commanding officer, and he's just a captain, one who was, just a few hours ago, demoted for disobeying direct orders from General Organa. So Holdo doesn't have to explain him anything, especially after he goes up to her and starts telling her things she already knows as if she's not competent enough.

I think that Holdo actually knows about Poe more than he imagines, she knows who he is, she knows he was demoted, she knows why that happened, and I think she knows the type of person he is. I believe, being good friends with Leia, she'd heard things about him from her, and there's a good chance she knows that Leia was looking at him as a possible future leader of the Resistance.

And knowing all that, she decides to teach him a lesson. Maybe a couple of lessons in the same time. She knows Leia didn't like his actions at the beginning of the movie, but Leia isn't there to make him understand why what he did was wrong, so Holdo decides it's her responsibility to teach him that a) people are the most important thing the Rebellion has b) one must obey their commanding officer's orders without arguing. Yes, even if they don't know the reasons behind these orders. Basically, Holdo tries to discipline Poe and show him what subordination is, so she intentionally withholds information from him. He must learn how to trust the officers in charge, and he must learn that their orders are important.

Actually, Holdo does explain some things to Poe, in her special way: first the whole spark speech, and then she tells him the hope is there even if you don't see it. Her speech about not having to see hope is the gist of the second lesson - you don't need to understand what your Vice Admiral is doing to believe her.

And even if she was just being a secretive bitch, who can blame her, really? We know from Rose that some people tried to flee from the Rebellion, so where's the guarantee that there’s not one person on board who might sell the Rebellion to the First Order because they're scared for their life? I'm not saying that Holdo believes Poe is a traitor, but once she tells him her plans, he may tell them to someone else, and then that person will tell them to someone else, and that someone will sell them to the First Order. Her whole plan was working on fleeing the ship stealthily, unnoticed by the First Order, and we can't blame her for wanting to keep at as secret as possible. After all, her plan failed exactly because Poe learned she was preparing the transports. He tells Finn and Rose about that, DJ hears it, tells it to the First Order. So if everything went as she planned and Poe didn't ruin things (without wanting, of course, but still), the Resistance would be safely delivered to Crait and Poe would see, once her plan was fully realised, that he was wrong in doubting Holdo’s ways, and would, supposedly, learn from it.

She failed, however, the way everyone in this movie fails, but I do think Poe learned his lesson, even if partially.

So her attitude towards him was, I believe, mostly an act. She doesn't have any ill feelings for Poe, as we can see in the end, when she's caressing his cheek, telling Leia she liked him. (Even during their confrontation, Holdo just lets him shout at her and question her methods without taking any real action against him.) I think that, in general, she liked him, but thought that there were things he needed to learn, and that was the reason she behaved towards him the way she did.

Amilyn Holdo was an amazing, brave, intelligent woman, the one who didn’t care about the way people saw her, the one who was ready to do anything to save her people. She was a star, and she went out like one.

#star wars #tlj spoilers #the last jedi #star wars meta #Amilyn Holdo #dora talks about star wars

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mandaloriangf · 6 years

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okay so. because im a loser with no life and i got some positive comments on my little tlj fix it snippets, here’s an overall plot of what tlj could’ve been.

things to keep in mind:

this is just one of many plot lines in my head. im mostly basing it off of what happens in the movie as a way to show how easy it could be fixed

im not including any parentage theories or ships. just the basic ideas.

this is gonna be long lol

also holdo and dj no longer exist

here we go!

we start out in a similar fashion. the resistance had some time after the destruction of starkiller base to regroup but now that the first order knows where they are, they know they need to leave. we see them gathering their things when the first order dreadnought arrives with some other ships. its lead by hux, who is on thin ice after losing starkiller base. he believes he’ll earn good standing with snoke if he destroys the resistance once and for all by himself, though without their base the first order is in shambles and completely disorganized.

we see poe with finn, who is recovering from his injury like in the film. he is unconscious and poe is reluctant to leave him, but he’s reassured that finn will be alright and transported to safety. poe and the other pilots get in their ships and go out to fight the dreadnought.

while most of the flee its destroyed, the dreadnought is harder and they bring in the bombers. it seems fruitless and leia orders them to retreat to fight another day. poe agrees, but then disobeys orders after everyone is safe in order to finish what they started and he is joined by paige. they’re able to destroy the dreadnought, but hux escapes. also paige doesn’t die, and is instead a y-wing pilot.

poe is reunited with the resistance after they hyperspace to safety. (there is also no fuel plot line.) leia doesnt slap him or demote him, though she does talk sternly with him. they both give their sides - poe knew the dreadnought needed to be taken down so that they could deliever another major blow to the first order, but he didn’t want to put others at risk for it. leia tells him he can’t save everyone and he’s too important to the resistance to put himself at risk like that. she softens and tells him he’s too important to her. this calms him and we see a touching mother/son moment between them. she tells him they’re moving to a new base, which is the old rebel base on crait. poe returns to finn’s side.

we switch the first order. hux is aboard the supremecy where kylo and the other knights of ren are training in snoke’s presence. snoke takes this opportunity to humiliate hux, though he doesn’t kill him, saying the FO still has use for him. we see tension between hux and kylo, the latter being favored by snoke. snoke tells them they need to regroup and make new plans. he laments that he feels a disturbance in the force.

we cut to rey and luke. she’s handing him the lightsaber. he’s shocked and confused and doesnt take it. instead he asks “who are you?” rey is flustered and gives her name, telling him she’s from the resistance and he needs to come back and help. he walks past her and she follows him, rambling on about kylo ren and why they need the jedi to return. he goes to the falcon and stands in front of it.

he goes into it, yelling for han. rey is unable to stop him and tell him the truth, though he knows it deep down. we get a nice reunion with him and artoo and him and chewie. when he cant find han he finally listens to rey, who tells him what happened, getting choked up in the process. luke blames himself and retreats back to his village, where he has been taking care of the porgs, giving them some much needed relevance to the film.

rey tells him that the lightsaber called to her and she’s afraid. she doesn’t know much about the force or the jedi other than legends. she wants to know more so she can better understand herself. luke tells her no, though he is not harsh and cruel. he’s sad and grief-stricken, telling her that he’ll just fail her too. she insists he wont, but he leaves her and she retreats to the falcon to talk with chewie. at night stares out at the sky, wondering out loud how finn is.

back to the resistance. finn wakes up, but its normal and natural. he’s out of the bacta suit, because he’s healing well. poe is asleep by his bedside. he gets up, but is in pain and poe wakes up. they go over what finn missed and he is impatient to get up and get going, though poe tells him he needs to take it easy. poe says he’ll go find someone to help and in the meantime, finn reunites with bb8, who shows him the video of rey kissing him. they’re interrupted by leia, who talks to finn and offers him a place in the resistance and compliments/thanks him for his bravery. he’s unsure, still reeling from everything that happened, but says he’ll stick around.

they arrive on crait, where they are greeted by lando, who has been supervising this base. at first he’s excited to see leia, but notices her saddened expression and all she says is “han.” lando knows and they embrace. he tells her they’ll have a memorial when everything is set up.

poe and finn work together to move equipment and whatnot and poe introduces finn to paige and rose. rose is still a mechanic and she’s in awe of finn and what he did. while paige and poe go off with the other pilots, finn helps out rose, who rambles quite a bit, but she’s sweet and has a lot of respect for the resistance and what they’re doing. it’s common knowledge that finn is a defected stormtrooper and he is greatly respected for this.

we get a memorial for han. it’s touching and beautiful and we get a chance to see leia grieve. finn gets approached by lando, and they discuss finn seeing han die. lando becomes somewhat of a mentor figure to him, like han could’ve been. at the end lando and leia announce they have to start making new plans now that the new republic has been destroyed. leia makes a holovid to announce that the resistance is still going strong and wont bow to the first order.

back to the FO. we see interactions between kylo and the knights of ren that gives them more personality. kylo is pulled aside by snoke and they discuss that luke skywalker has been found. kylo is anxious to go kill him, but snoke tells him he will get his chance in time. we get an argument between kylo and hux to more establish the tension between them.

back on ahch-to, rey goes on a walk around the island. she meets more creatures and loving looks out at the water. luke spots her and he’s reminded of himself. he asks her where she’s from and she says jakku. he tells her about growing up on tattooine and they bond over living on sand planets. luke sees himself in her and changes his mind, telling her that he’ll train her. she’s surprised, similar to when han was offering her a job. she’s excited to start and luke lightens up a bit.

they begin to train, which is done mostly through montages. we get longer bits here and there. its not exactly what she expected. shes anxious to learn the force, but instead luke has her do physical training. she runs up and down and around the island. he teaches her to meditate. she’s impatient and luke can sense it. this is intercut with the resistance as they set up the base, narration from luke over the scenes as he talks about the force. we end with a lesson where rey starts to make some rocks float. she’s excited and proud and we start to see the father/daughter bond start to form.

back at the resistance they have discovered that the FO has moved their base of operations to the supremacy. in a briefing leia tells them, including poe, finn, and lando, that spies died getting them that information. she also tells them they’ve sent word to old allies, but everyone is too frightened to join, even with the destruction of starkiller base. without the new republic, it seems all hope is lost.

finn says they need to destroy the supremacy and that he knows how to get them on board and where to go. they discuss plans, deciding that finn and poe will sneak on board and take it down from the inside. however, in order to do this they need somehow who can figure out how things work. finn smiles and says he knows someone. cut to them asking rose for her help. she excitedly agrees, though she’s a bit overwhelmed. they depart from crait, with leia telling them, “may the force be with you.”

on ahch-to rey is mediating and luke compliments her, telling her about his own training and how he technically never finished it. she asks him what kyo was like as an apprentice. luke doesn’t want to answer and tries to change the subject. rey says she can sense something about luke that she doesnt quite understand and she starts bombarding him with questions. this upsets him and he leaves for his hut. rey joins him and they apologize to one another. luke tells her he’s full of guilt and regret and she tells him that the past is in the past and that the galaxy needs him now, but he tells her he’ll fail just like he did before. he asks her more about the resistance and she tells him about finn and she talks about han and leia and poe and everyone else she met. her voice fades as the camera zooms out.

the next day rey is doing her regular training when luke brings her to a cliff. he has her look down - there’s his trusted x-wing. he tells her he put it in the water to stop himself from leaving and that he’s cut himself off from the force. he tells her to lift it. she’s unable to and this leaves her frustrated and angry. she asks him more questions but he refuses to answer, leaving her even more upset, though this time luke remains calm, understanding where her feelings are coming from. she leaves and he reaches toward the ship out of curiosity. it starts to move.

the gang arrives at the supremacy and they are allowed on board. they get disguises and discuss their plans. its not known to the rest of the FO that finn defected, so when others see him in the uniform, they think he got promoted. this unfortunately makes the gang separate, with finn being swept away from poe and rose who continue with the mission. finn comes face to face with phasma, who greets him as FN-2187.

rey goes on a walk to clear her head. she’s drawn to a structure and enters it, finding it to be ruins of some kind. she finds some books and opens them and as she starts to read she’s startled by a voice. she turns around to see a young man that appears to be a ghost. she asks him who he is and how he got there, but he doesn’t answer, instead telling her about the jedi and how they were failures. their conversation is interrupted by luke who tells rey that’s his father. rey is shocked that she just spoke with darth vader himself. he finally holds the lightsaber for the first time and lets out a long breath. he sits her down and tells her the origin of kylo ren.

we see this story with luke’s narration. young ben solo is dropped off at luke’s school by leia and han, who believe this is good for him. ben is excited because he loves his uncle and can’t wait to learn the ways of the force. its good for a while, though ben has a hard time getting along with the other students. they are somewhat intimidated by him being luke’s nephew. as he gets older he starts to grow resentful. his parents come to visit often, but they still get busy every now and then. luke devotes his time to all the students rather than just focus on one. ben, who has been used to having everyones attention his whole life, starts to feel isolated. then comes snoke’s voice in his head. he starts to tell ben that there’s no one that can understand him and that he’s better than all of them. at first he doesn’t listen, but snoke picks up on all of ben’s insecurities and manipulates him through it.

luke, of course, takes notice. ben completely isolates himself and luke does everything he can to talk to him. he contacts leia and han and lets them know that something is up. he feels a dark presence inside of ben, but he believes anyone can be saved. eventually ben picks up a group of friends and luke is happy about that, but by the time he realizes whats really happening, its too late. ben goes missing, as do all his friends. when they return, they destroy the school and kill all the remaining students. this all happens when luke is off world and he returns to find everything on fire. he goes looking for survivors, only to find burned bodies instead. kylo remains there to face luke and takes off his mask so that luke knows who he is. after believing that he killed luke in the destruction, kylo leaves.

luke is devastated and guilt-ridden. he decides he must leave and find answers of what to do next. he tells leia and han what happened and that he’s going away for a while. leia tells him that they can fix it together, but he doesn’t believe her. he travels with artoo for a while, looking for the first jedi temple. when he finds it, he makes a map with two pieces, giving one to artoo and one to lor san tekka so that if the galaxy needs him, they can find him. however, during his time on ahch-to, he discovers there are no answers and sometimes people are just bad, which is something he refuses to believe.

at the end of the story, rey has no sympathy for kylo and says he needs to die. luke is taken aback, telling her that kylo can still be saved. she argues with him, telling him that kylo killed han, almost killed finn, tried to kill her - and thats just the tip of the iceberg. she desires to kill him for what hes done and knows that the galaxy wont be safe until he is. luke tells her that theres more at play than just kylo, but she wont listen. knowing that luke would just stop her, she leaves on the falcon with chewie, though artoo stays behind. on the ship we get a scene where rey changes her hair and clothes. its meant to represent the change in her from the scavenger on jakku to the budding jedi.

back on the supremacy, phasma and finn have a tense conversation as she pretends he really has gotten a promotion in order to keep the other stormtroopers from contemplating rebellion, though they make subtle jabs at one another. he is mostly trying to keep her busy to give poe and rose some time. we see them doing their job (i honestly dont have anything specific in mind lol just something that’ll make the ship explode from within).

we also see kylo complete his training. snoke is proud of him (in a weird snoke like way). he tells him he’ll be put to the test again soon, sensing rey’s imminent arrival. he also senses something on the ship and kylo does too (finn is force sensitive).

rey, determined to kill kylo using her training, allows herself to be taken prisoner. she’s brought before snoke and kylo. as this is going on we see everything else going on, poe and rose, finn and phasma. finn eventually goes fuck it and starts telling the other stormtroopers the truth. phasma sold them out and if it weren’t for her, starkiller base would still be operational. she tells them its all lies, but finn gives a riveting speech. we can see the stormtroopers becoming conflicted. however they dont turn, instead bringing finn before snoke next to rey. they ask each other how they are and emphasis is put on how his back still hurts him. he spots kylo and is ready to kill him too.

snoke gives his villainous monologue, greatly implying he’s darth plagueis. he orders for kylo to kill them both. rey starts trying to appeal to any humanity left in kylo as a last resort. she tells him all the things luke told her, which shocks him. he attempts to read her mind and sees flashes of things - how luke became her teacher, how anakin spoke to her. he becomes angered and the two duel. in the chaos, finn tries to help, but rey tells him to get to safety. he refuses, but then explosions rock the ship. we cut to poe and rose, who have started the destruction of the ship. rey tells finn to go again and that she’ll be alright. finn reluctantly leaves, telling her they’ll see each other again.

rey and kylo fight while snoke watches with curiosity. kylo taunts rey which only makes her angrier. they’re both full of rage toward one another. on another part of the ship, finn has run into phasma. she’s surrounded by other stormtroopers. finn is ready to fight her, but makes one final attempt at convincing them to defect. she makes the first move and as they fight, blaster shots hit her armor. the stormtrooper uprising begins.

poe and rose fight their way back to the hanger where they wait for finn. phasma is forced to retreat. finn helps the other stormtroopers get to safety, telling them to follow him, poe, and rose to escape.

back with snoke, rey and kylo continue to fight. rey bests him and she has anakin’s lighsaber at his throat. however, she is unable to kill him. she remembers everything luke told her, how the dark side is the easiest. its not about fighting off the dark side, its about having a balance. she is allowed to be angry, but she can’t let that be her only defining trait. however, because she fails to kill him, snoke does it instead. she’s in shock, and watches as snoke takes over kylo’s body, leaving the old vessel behind. he orders for hux to escape and in the meantime, rey runs, knowing she can’t fight him on her own.

in the hanger, finn refuses to leave without rey and poe and rose agree. when she finally arrives, they get off the supremacy together as a team. they arrive back on crait with the defecting stormtroopers, but they are quickly followed by the first order. everyone gets reunited. poe gives a speech to the pilots as they are about to go to the speeders, telling them that their lives are all too important and that theyre just holding off the FO until everyone can escape. he looks at leia as he says this, acknowledging their conversation at the beginning.

poe goes out with the others, including paige while rey and finn go in the falcon. rose stays behind and helps the others escape. the battle soon turns fruitless. theres an epic slow motion scene, showing how it feels like theyre all going to fail. intercut with these scenes is luke back on the cliff, looking down at the x-wing. he reaches out, and pulls it back up and onto land. we don’t see him get in, but we know he will.

poe orders them to pull back and this time he goes with them. many lives have been lost. theyre unable to take off without the FO shooting them down. no one answers the call for reinforcements. poe looks out with his binoculars one last time. he sees an x-wing in the distance. snoke, who is on the surface with them in kylo’s body, is informed of an incoming ship, but he knows exactly who it is.

we see luke in the cockpit and he converses with artoo. leia watches with an expression of relief. he attacks the FO head on and the resistance lets the rest of the galaxy know that luke skywalker is back and he’s ready to fight. this encourages the others - the pilots, the defected stormtroopers, and those that choose to come to the resistance’s aide (who we see listening to the distress call and making the decision to help) - to go back out and fight. while they are unable to stop the FO, they provide a distraction so that the others can escape.

the FO is left on crait while the resistance reunites on a new ship. we get a better reunion between luke and leia. they hug and luke apologizes for leaving, but tells her he’s ready to fight. he also reunites with lando.

meanwhile rey and finn get a proper chance to talk. they hug and he flinches when her hand touches his back and she apologizes. she meets rose, who is also excited to meet her, and along with poe the four of them talk amongst themselves. rey spots luke and goes to speak with him. she tells him what happened and the conflict she felt and luke tells her he understands and that perhaps kylo was beyond saving. he tells her not to dwell on it right now and he looks over her shoulder to see where finn, rose, and poe all wait for her. she glances over and smiles, happy to be with her found family. she tries to hand him the lightsaber again, but he curls her fingers around it. “its yours,” he says.

the ending shows our quartet together with their battle scars, their bruises. the resistance took a huge blow and snoke is even more powerful than ever, but through their love for one another leaves us knowing that no matter how dark it gets, hope is always there.

so yeah. thats just one option. it doesnt cover everything and im probably forgetting a lot of stuff that i might add on with later, but honestly? this movie should’ve been so easy to write. rian johnson retire bitch.

#anti tlj #tlj critical #tlj fix it #i didnt read over any of this so theres probably lots of mistakes ljasldfjskdjflk #honestly it felt so fucking good to get out

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saltylikecrait · 6 years

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Always Had a Feeling

A somewhat angsty @finnreyfridays contribution.

“Why does Rey have to end up with someone? Why can’t she be single?”

I would have only gone for that if it flat out stated in the films that Rey was aromantic. Positive representation of those that fall under the asexual spectrum is still a unicorn in pop culture. Delilah Dawson headcanoned Phasma as asexual as she was writing the novel, but Phasma is totally evil and too many asexual characters are villains. That is not the representation I’m looking for.

But asexuals can also fall in love, so why not make Rey asexual and fall in love with someone? Or another character even? Heck, I’ve even headcanoned Poe as asexual from time to time.

So here, have an asexual finnrey fic.

“Finn,” said Rey, after breaking their kiss, “can we stop?”

He took a deep breath and sank back down into the pillows that he was laying on. “Yeah, of course,” he assured her.

Not that Rey had been keeping track or anything, but she and Finn had been dating for six months, two weeks, and one day. After Finn worked things out (if not a bit awkwardly) with Rose, he asked Rey out on a date. Well, considering that the Resistance was planet-hopping around the Outer Rim, it wasn’t much of a date. They were on a planet that stayed comfortably warm at night and decided to spend their date stargazing and talking.

It wasn’t a great first date either. In the end, they both ended up in tears after she told Finn about how she stupidly mistrusted Kylo Ren, hoping to find some shred of light in him to bring him back. She begged Finn for forgiveness and Finn told her there was nothing to forgive. No, it sounded like he didn’t understand why she ever thought that Kylo Ren would ever return to the light, but honestly, Rey didn’t really understand why herself.

Two months later, Rey had invited him to share the bunks in the Millennium Falcon with her. The Resistance was lacking in living space, and so many members ended up sleeping on the small number of transports they had managed to acquire since Crait.

Finn had jumped at the opportunity, not because he was tired of the overcrowded sleeping spaces that the Resistance sometimes managed to secure, but also because he would be able to spend more time with Rey after they finished with their duties for the day.

Of course, sharing a private sleeping space also had other perks.

Their relationship ended up building slowly. Rey and Finn had their own personal issues to deal with. Rey, after all those years on Jakku, found that she had a difficult time expressing her emotions and additional trust issues after Kylo Ren and Luke had further damaged that part of her. Finn, after all those years as a Stormtrooper, had to learn that it was okay for him to want things and that he could now freely show affection to others.

They didn’t actually kiss until about a month and a half in, and it was a shy kiss at that.

As they grew more comfortable with each other, they began exploring the physical aspects of relationships. More hand holding, more cuddling, kissing grew more and more heated, then at about four months of being together, Rey invited Finn to sleep beside her on her small bunk. It was cramped, but they found that they’d rather deal with that than sleep apart again.

But Rey knew that sooner or later, Finn would want to move further physically in their relationship. And that was something that had been eating at her for the last two months.

Finn was nothing less than a total gentleman. He never pressured her for anything and always asked for her consent, but Rey was worried that he would grow tired and frustrated with her for always wanting to stop before things went too far.

But she enjoyed cuddling and kissing, why would sex be any different? And it was with Finn after all, the first person to genuinely care about her and the first person that ever returned for her. Surely if there was any person she wanted to have sex with, it was Finn.

It confused her immensely.

She didn’t know who to talk to about this. Leia was gone and now Finn was the only person that she would allow herself to open up to. She and Rose had gradually established a friendship after months of fixing up the transports together, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to talk to Rose about this issue, considering her relationship with Finn.

So Rey ended up seeking out Poe for help. From the first time she met him, Rey genuinely liked Poe and found that he was easy to talk to, but she never talked to him about personal matters except about where to find mental health help (at the moment, that was an issue that had to wait). She wasn’t sure if he would be the right person to talk to either.

It turned out that he was exactly the right person to talk to.

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Poe assured her after she stuttered out her problems to him. “Some people are just wired that way. There are different words for it; I can find them on the holonet if you want.”

He left her with a datapad full of information and reassurance that Finn would never be upset with her because of this.

So Rey spent an afternoon learning about human sexuality and all the different terms that humans liked to label themselves as.

When she came across the term asexual, suddenly everything clicked. It was like she had always known, but up until now she never had a word for it. There was nothing wrong with her. There were so many humans like her in the galaxy.

And maybe one day, she would be comfortable to try sex with Finn, but now, she wasn’t ready for that.

Still, she needed to tell him.

Not sure what she wanted to say in the present moment. Rey instead opted to turn on her side, facing away from Finn.

He knew that something was wrong right away. Rey was always impressed with how good Finn was at reading other people. He placed a soft hand on her side, right above her hipbone.

“Rey, what’s wrong?”

Finally, she gathered the courage to tell him. She turned around to look at him. Finn’s eyes were soft as he gazed at her with concern.

And suddenly, she felt dumb for being afraid to tell him. Even after all her poor choices in the past, Finn had never directed anger at her. Even when the Resistance was in its darkest hour, Finn did whatever he could to make sure that Rey had been safe.

“Do you know what it means to be asexual?” she asked him.

He looked like he understood what she was getting at. Finn wrapped an arm about her and brought her closer. “Rey-” he began. “Is this- Do you think-?”

She nodded, not sure what else to say.

“Sexuality wasn’t something stormtroopers really got to explore,” Finn commented. “We knew that some people are attracted to men, others to women, some to both, but we also knew that some people didn’t feel attraction at all.”

Rey moved into his arms, cuddling into his chest. “It’s not that I’m not attracted to you, Finn,” she explained. “You’re my cute boyfriend, but I never meet someone for the first time and think like that about them. I knew you were handsome, but until we found each other on Starkiller, I didn’t think of you in the handsome that other people might. Please don’t take that the wrong way!” she added quickly.

“I’m not. I think I get it… Maybe.” He paused. “But Rey, is what we’ve been doing… okay with you?”

“I like this,” she said, leaning over to kiss him on the lips to confirm what she was meaning. “And I like holding hands and cuddling with you and stuff.” She sighed. “It’s not that I do want to try sex with you. It’s just… well, I’ve never been that interested before. I’d like to try one day, just not soon. And I’m not sure if I will want to have sex as much as you will.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “Rey, if you’re not comfortable yet, we don’t have to do anything, okay? We never do. I’m happy with just being with you. And if cuddling and kissing is all you want to do, I’m happy with that too. I just want to be with you.”

“And after we have sex? If we do?” she pressed.

“I’m not going to suddenly turn in some sex-crazed lunatic,” Finn deadpanned. “We’ll get to that hurdle when we do. If we do.”

“We might need to arrange for once a week or something,” Rey mumbled, thinking about what she read about how asexuals coped with dating people with a sex drive. But she might find that she enjoys sex with Finn and might not have an issue with that either. She really didn’t know yet.

Finn hummed. “Would it be cheesy to tell you that I love you and nothing is going to change that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, but I like to hear that anyway.” She cuddled closer into him. He was warm and his heartbeat was soothing to listen to. Now that her worries had been addressed, it felt like a great weight had been lifted.

They were going to be okay.

#finnrey #finnreyfridays #my stuff #sw fanfiction #asexual rey #ace rey #asexual!rey #ace!rey #nsfw-ish

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whillsofstars · 6 years

Text

Chapter 4

REY-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As everyone filed into the command room, Rey saw Poe take a seat at the large oval-shaped table settled in the middle of the space. Preferring to remain out of the spotlight, Rey chose instead to sit in one of the chairs that lined the perimeter of the room. She hated being front and center. She wanted to be an observer. That way, she could see the faces of most everyone present and watch their reactions to any news that was shared. She also hated the added attention that came with her new Force abilities. She sometimes felt uncomfortable when people looked at her, as if she was going to use some Jedi magic to perform a trick at any moment. Rey doubted that she would ever adjust to the extra attention.

All of their leadership was in attendance.

Whoever this patron was, he had to be important, Rey sumised.

Scanning the room, she noticed a man sitting close to the head of the table, a few seats down from Poe. His richly colored jacket was out of place among the weathered uniforms and garb of the Resistance, the only exception being Leia Organa.

As always, Leia was dressed elegantly, her hair perfectly coiffed with a few special Alderaan braids resting across the crown of her head. Looking at her, no one would even believe that she was in the middle of a galactic war. Outwardly, she was vibrant and projected a sense of camaraderie, but Rey had the Force and knew that outward impressions weren’t always as they seemed.

Leia’s Force signature felt tired, like she needed to rest. It was not one of strength. Rey wondered what had happened to make it feel that way. No doubt all her effort to rebuild the Resistance was daunting. Because of Crait, they had to start back at zero. Rey imagined that Leia had to fill a similar role in the war between the Empire and the Rebellion all those years ago. War is an exhausting thing and this woman has had a heavy hand in navigating it throughout most of her life.

Would she ever get to see peace - real peace, that lasted hundreds of years - restored to the galaxy?

Rey hoped so. With all the loss Leia must have experienced in her life, the very least she deserved was to be at peace.

After a few minutes, once everyone had finished settling in, Leia finished regarding the man seated in the brilliantly colored jacket and stood up to address everyone in the room. Silence born out of respect descended on them immediately.

“Thank you all for being here, and my apologies at the short notice for some of you,” she said, her eyes stealing a glance in Rey’s direction before continuing on.

“When we received a message from one of my oldest friends in my days as chancellor of the Galactic Senate,” she said, turning towards their honored guest, “stating that he wanted to meet with our officers to discuss the future of our galaxy, I couldn’t refuse his audience.”

“Before he served as the representing senator of Chandrila following the defeat of the Galactic Empire, he was one of the Rebellion’s leading intelligence officers. His actions helped save the lives of thousands.” Leia let a smile settle into her features before continuing, “The old Rebellion truly owes him our gratitude.”

Leia paused a moment and inclined her head in the man’s direction, “Everyone, please welcome Lavidean Borin. He’ll be joining us for the duration of today’s meeting.”

Now specifically addressing the man in the brightly colored jacket, “Lavidean, would you like to say anything before we begin?”

Nodding his head, Lavidean turned from Leia and scanned the room as if making an attempt to acknowledge everyone present, “Thank you all for having me. It truly feels like the days of the Rebellion when I was a far younger man,” he reminisced, eyes twinkling.

“Like my dear, dear friend General Organa mentioned, I’m here to help in any way that I can. For years while the galaxy was at peace, my family was blessed with abundance. I feel it is my duty to share those gifts with those who will restore peace once again. It will be most helpful for me if I know what your greatest needs are, so please be as candid as possible.”

“So, you’ve already chosen to invest in the future of the Resistance?” one of the commanders asked for clarification.

To most in the room, it was the assumption that the goal of today’s meeting was to persuade him to fund their cause. If he’s already made up his mind, this was going to be a lot easier.

Lavidean turned his attention and slowly shook his head. “Not exactly,” he answered flatly.

“I know what you are trying to accomplish and I believe in the ideals the Resistance fights for. This group has proven themselves in many battles over the years, but”, he said pausing for emphasis, “The Resistance is nothing like it was a year ago. From what I hear, your numbers have severely diminished, you have very little resources, and your top leadership took a heavy hit. I need to know that I’m making the best decision possible for our galaxy.”

The room was silent. No one could argue with the truth of his words.

Rey now understood why command continued to inflate the fact that a Jedi was among their ranks. They needed all the help they could get and having a Jedi on your side could be a powerful persuasion piece.

While she was compelled to help the Resistance and contribute to the safety of her friends, Rey couldn’t help feeling a little used. She wondered if anyone here believed in her at all or if it was all for show.

You came from nothing. You’re nothing.

His words - the words of Kylo Ren - echoed in her mind. It brought back a painful reminder of how naive she had been and how careful she needed to be now that their bond opened itself up again.

Their meeting proceeded with every officer presenting a report on their progress to rebuild and what their hopes for the future of their team looked like.

When it was Poe’s turn, he discussed the current state of their fleet and the steady amount of growth coming from new recruits, noting that they now have enough people to man larger starships. He gestured to Lieutenant Connix who began typing on her data pad, which projected several models of the ships Poe wanted to add to their growing fleet. Among them were a few T-70 X-wing fighters, additional artillery like gunners and cannons to equip the X-wings, a medical ship, transport units, and, although a little bold, one cruiser.

To emphasize the need for all of these ships, he pointed to the supplies report given earlier by another officer.

Supplies were running low, but it was the result of the rush of new recruits joining their cause. Growing their numbers required a lot more resources - food, medical supplies, artillery, ammunition, etc. - and the Resistance currently lacked enough ships to make sufficient supply runs. In addition, Poe wanted enough fighters and transport units to shuttle everyone out of their base safely should the First Order discover their base and attack.

His case seemed to resonate well with Lavidean, as he and Poe spent the next several minutes discussing the structure of their fleet before Crait. It became apparent quickly that Lavidean was once a pilot himself in the days of the Rebel Alliance in addition to providing intelligence reports.

Rey was thankful for the momentary delay in their meeting as she had not yet found an answer to the question she would be asked. If she was honest with herself, the whole idea that she needed to think about the future of the Jedi Order was laughable and at the same time intimidating.

How was this nobody from Jakku, who barely knew of her power until a few months ago, supposed to know what an order looked like? More importantly, how was she supposed to instruct a new generation of Force users if she possessed so little training herself? Rey had no idea where to begin and dreaded the idea that she would be lying about her aspirations as the last Jedi. She hated dishonesty. Lies are a tool used to manipulate others.

Rey would be the last to speak. When her turn finally arrived, her stomach was in knots.

Leia cleared her throat and began, “Lavidean, I’d like you to hear from Rey, the last Jedi in the galaxy before we conclude.”

Leia motioned in Rey’s direction, so Lavidean could find her hiding place along the edge of the room. All eyes where on her now, and the attention was intimidating for someone who was paid no mind on Jakku.

At that, Rey saw Lavidean raise his eyebrows in surprise. Clearly leadership had left that detail out to surprise him. That only added to Rey’s nerves.

“What happened to Luke Skywalker?” Lavidean asked. “I thought he was in hiding somewhere.”

“He gave his life to save us all from the First Order on Crait,” Leia answered, her voice betraying a hint of sadness. “He’s one with the Force now.”

“However, Rey was able to train with him before then. Her command of the Force is quite impressive. We would have been trapped in that base on Crait had Rey not created an exit for us.”

Lavidean didn’t say a word, but continued to stare at Rey in wonder. The rest of the room followed his lead and remained quiet.

Rey couldn’t help feeling a little proud of her accomplishment. That day, the Force, though new and unfamiliar, had helped her save the lives of her friends.

After a few short moments, Lavidean broke his silence. “Impressive. Once again, there is a Jedi fighting for the good in the galaxy. Good. This is very good!”

“Rey,” Leia pressed on, “will you speak to your plans about the future of the Jedi Order?”

This was it. She called upon the Force to calm her nerves, letting the warmth and light flow through her. Peace and purpose settled in her mind. Eventually, maybe she could believe what she was about to tell them.

Here goes nothing, she thought.

“Of course General Organa.”

She let a silent breath escape her lips before proceeding. “Once the war is over and we finally have peace, I would like to find more of those who are sensitive to the Force and help them understand their abilities.”

This seemed to be well received by everyone in the room so she continued, “As far as I know, me and Kylo Ren are the only ones in the galaxy who can use the Force. But I have a hunch that there are more out there who can.” She paused before continuing on, letting the idea that there may be more Force users out there settle into the thoughts of their officers.

To prove her point, she decided to share a small glimpse into her own awakening. “I didn’t feel the Force or know that I was different from those around me. That all changed the day I touched Master Skywalker’s lightsaber on Takodana. It was like something - something inside me - became awake and I was terrified of what I felt.”

Now she truly captured the room’s attention. Everyone waited in silence, hanging on every word. This was the first time she shared her story with anyone outside of Leia.

“Had General Organa not sent me to see Master Skywalker on Ahch-To, I would still be lost,” she added, although to speak it felt like a lie. Rey still felt horribly adrift as she struggled to find her place in the galaxy.

After releasing a grunt to clear his throat, Lavidean took hold of the conversation. “So, you’re looking to continue Master Skywalker’s work and build a new Jedi temple, is that it?”

“Um, yes. Yes, I do.”

“Do you have an idea as to where it will be located?”

“No, not yet.”

“And what of Kylo Ren?” pressed Lavidean. “I can’t imagine how you could accomplish such a task with him still lurking behind the brute strength of the First Order.”

“Um...like I said, this would be after the war,” Rey replied attempting to dodge the question, but Lavidean continued.

“And the war for a Jedi will be over when?”

“When balance is restored to the Force.” She did not want to say the words they all wanted to hear: that she set her mark on Kylo Ren’s head. That she would kill him in the name of peace. Rey didn’t even know if she could go through with it. There was still light in him, buried under so much darkness. The light was dim, but it was there. She had seen the man behind the mask, Leia’s son, and that made their fight that much more difficult. Their fate wasn’t easily defined in black and white terms.

Rey stole a glance at Leia, who looked as stoic as ever, revealing very little of her true feelings. This, Rey thought, must be where Kylo Ren learned to conceal his emotions. Despite her lack of expression, however, Leia’s eyes held a sad gleam. It must be unbearable for a mother to bear witness to a plan aimed at the death of her child.

Before anyone could push Rey for more insight, she added, “There are still many details to figure out before that time comes, but first, we need to find a way to end this conflict.” She hoped that would be the last of it.

Lavidean sat in silence a few moments, musing over the plan Rey just laid before them. When it seemed that he may make another attempt for more details, he instead nodded his approval and muttered the ancient Jedi blessing, “May the Force be with you,” before turning his attention back to Leia.

Relief washed over Rey. It was over. They weren’t going to press her for more details of her plan, but that left her wondering, how in the world was she going to restore balance to the Force, let alone train the next generation of Jedi? What did it even mean to balance the Force? Rey didn’t have a clue, but she did have the ancient Jedi texts and, while they haven’t proven to be helpful yet, she still held out hope. There had to be something of value hidden within those pages. After all, why would these texts even exist if they didn’t offer something of value, right? Right, she decided, although only half convinced.

Shortly after Rey spoke and a few officers presented reports of their own, the meeting came to a close. Lavidean agreed to fund most of their requests, particularly Poe’s fleet needs.

The minute Leia dismissed the room, Rey dashed out the door before anyone could ask another question about the Jedi Order. She didn’t stop walking until she reached her quarters and shut the door behind her. Rey didn’t want to add to the lie she so confidently fabricated for Lavidean. She wasn’t sure that she even wanted that future for herself.

Fear and doubt washed over her as she made her way to her work desk, the parts of her lightsaber still strewn across its surface. Hot tears stained her cheeks as she took a seat. Rey needed to focus on something, anything to take her mind off of the weight her future held.

She reached for her tool box and set herself to work on her sword, picking up where she and Kylo left off. Following his instructions, she should be able to complete the hilt and place the crystal within a few hours, but she needed to calm herself before she began.

Rey focused her mind and trained it on her breath. Soon, what started out as inconsistent sniffles, began settling into a slow rhythm of breaths. Inhale, exhale.

Reach out, Luke’s instruction echoed in her thoughts.

With one last, deep breath, Rey set to work on the hilt. For in this moment, all she cared for was the saber and the warm light of the crystal - her crystal - that lived within it.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 5

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turtletotem · 6 years

Text

Fixing “The Last Jedi”

First up, I want to establish that I loved The Last Jedi. It does, however, contain some storytelling missteps, and after considering the most common criticisms, I'm happy to report I have fixed them! Okay but seriously, I gave a lot of thought to the quickest, simplest ways the bigger problems could have been avoided. Read on to have all your dreams come true.

1. Holdo's Secret Plan/Poe's Characterization

(I don't personally think Poe was that ooc but comics readers disagree and this is an easy fix.)

Scene: Commander d'Acy (that's the older lady with the big nose, I had to look up her name) asks Vice Admiral Holdo why she's holding the Crait plan so close to her chest when people are panicking. Holdo explains she thinks they may have a mole—that's more plausible than the First Order suddenly being able to track through hyperspace, isn't it?—and she suspects Poe Dameron. Leia just demoted him, indicating he lost her trust; he just got their entire bombing fleet killed; he's got a close relationship with the defected stormtrooper, whom they really know nothing about yet; just after his falling-out with Leia, she and their entire leadership got shot into space, and Poe was visibly surprised to see Holdo step into the lead role instead of him. Commander d'Acy grudgingly admits he's been acting strange. He isn't usually this volatile, but he's been through a lot the last few days. "We all have," Holdo says, "and we'll be going through a lot more—if we're lucky."

Boom. Plothole filled in one thirty-second scene.

2. Timeline Weirdness

(I'm not sure TLJ is any worse than Empire Strikes Back in this sense, but by all means, let's fix it if possible. Here's the problem: The Resistance ships are stated to have 18 hours of fuel. In that amount of time, Finn & Rose travel to and from Canto Bight, plus Rey trains with Luke and travels to Kylo Ren. This is madness. Cantonica and Crait, for instance, are literally halfway across the galaxy from each other. Nor would 'more fuel' solve the problem, as they would then jump to lightspeed, multiple times if necessary, and probably be able to reach shelter somewhere in spite of the tracking.)

Instead of a chase, we need a siege. The last Resistance cruiser is dead in the water, its engines blown out and irreparable. They've hidden inside an asteroid field, but the First Order is bombing its way through it, and the cruiser can only keep its shields and cloaking device up for however-many-days-needed-for-plot. Poe's panic at the transports being fueled up and sent out is even more legit, since it would look like madness to leave the shaky protection of the asteroid field without a destination in mind. Bonus: Finn and Rose have to dodge asteroids and First Order ships on their way out to go to Canto Bight. Fun!

3. Luke's Failure with Ben

(This is one where I don't really have a problem with the way it is, but enough other people do that I think it's worth fixing—and now that I've done it, I really do like mine better.)

Luke never draws a lightsaber against Ben. Instead, when he perceives the darkness inside his nephew, he starts trying to alter his mind in order to cast it out, not even realize he's destabilizing Ben's personality in the process. Luke never intended to hurt Ben, he was trying his best to help him, but in a high-handed Jedi way instead of talking to him. That's why Luke is upset about hubris, thinking he was a legend who could do anything; as Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, he was certain he had both the right and the ability to alter the core of this boy's mind, to make his choices for him. When Ben wakes up and catches him at it (it was probably not even the first "session"!), he interprets it as Luke trying to brainwash and enthrall him because he hasn't been drinking the Kool-Aid like the other students. (Clearly there had already been conflict between Luke and Ben, and possible side-taking amongst the apprentices.) Bonus: Since they clearly want us to sympathize with Kylo Ren despite his horrifying actions, we can now blame some of his evilness on Luke accidentally destabilizing his mind.

4. Reylo

(On a related note, if you want a character to eventually be your romantic hero and something like a sympathetic antagonist, don't—don't do it like this.)

The mental shenanigans will help with this, as I said. For the rest of the fix, we actually have to go all the way back to the beginning of The Force Awakens. And this time, don't introduce Kylo Ren by having him massacre an entire village of innocent people for no real reason. It's easy. Just—don't do that. Problem solved. Kylo Ren now 90% more sympathetic.

But, you say, this was a crucial turning point for Finn! His character needs an atrocity to rebel against.

Okay, fine, you're right. Fine. Kill the villagers. But have someone besides Kylo Ren order it. Kylo's already gone back into his shuttle, and Phasma orders the villagers killed. Kylo has some degree of plausible deniability—he's still an evil S.O.B. but he's not directly responsible. Boom. Problem solved.

You'll notice I'm not bringing up Han. Kylo killing Han is a pretty important part of his character arc, so even though I'd certainly rather he hadn't done it, I'm not comfortable "fixing" it away. Plus, in contrast to the villagers, he had a reason to kill his father, however twisted and wrong that reason was.

Incidentally, slightly off topic, but I've seen people say Rey forgives Ben too easily for killing Han. For what it's worth, on second watch I think I found the key moment there—when she understands that Ben did love his father, didn't kill him out of hatred or contempt but actually because he loved him, and Han was therefore a weakness. That's all kinds of screwed up, of course, but that enabled Rey to see it as exactly that, screwed up, instead of bwahahaha evulz!!! What Rey couldn't forgive was hating a parent who was decent and loving and there for you. Once she understood that wasn't the case, it made a big difference to her.

5. Rey's Parentage

It's not that I'm against the concept of the Hero Coming From Nothing. That's a great concept. It was great when it was Anakin, and Finn, and Luke for the first movie-and-a-half. But we don't exactly need it with Rey—like I said, Finn is right there—and more importantly, I just don't buy it with Rey. Not after the way the question was built up in TFA, and not after the way Kylo Ren reacted to the news of a girl from Jakku getting involved in events. I would swear on a Bible he knew instantly who she was, and it wasn't "random daughter of junk traders."

But you know what, I'm not fixing this one, because I'm not convinced it needs fixing yet. Who, after all, are our sources for this revelation that Rey's parents were nobodies? (1) Rey's Force vision, which could easily be drawing on her own subsconscious fears, paired with the legit truth that her parents didn't raise her, so they really don't matter in terms of the person she is. (2) Kylo's Force vision, WHICH WAS FED TO HIM BY SNOKE. Snoke outright says that, and he could be lying, but Rey's vision of Ben turning to the Light did turn out to be false, so I think it's safe to say we have reasonable doubt here.

So I think it's entirely possible Rey will still turn out to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi or a Naberrie or a Palpatine or what-the-heck-ever. And if not, then not and I won't cry about it, but I will consider it a major writing flaw.

There, all fixed, you're welcome! Hopefully they'll hire me to write the next one, right?

#again this is all said with love so if you hated the movie don't bother telling me #tlj spoilers #tlj #the last jedi #star wars #star wars: the last jedi #meta

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zoeology31 · 6 years

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On Star Wars: The Last Jedi

So I saw Star Wars last Sunday. Between critics bowing down to it and plenty of people on here mourning it’s train-wreck qualities, I was pretty apprehensive, but I wanted to at least see for myself.

The verdict: Most of the movie is a giant mess and I’m glad J.J. Abrams is coming back for IX, but it does pack a punch in some parts. Once my life gets a little less busy, I’ll probably join the growing number of fans and write a fix-it fic.

Major spoilers below. Seriously, I’m about to spoil pretty much everything.

I get that this movie was trying to comment on the hardships of war and how people have to keep their priorities straight and make sacrifices, but did they have to kill so many people? The bombers, all the X-wing pilots except for Poe, the Resistance leadership, everyone who wasn't on the main Resistance cruiser, half the transport vessels, and half the skimmer pilots? None of those were even a fair fight, because they couldn’t fire back. It was just slaughter, and it got painful to watch after a while. The deaths that had the most meaning were the individuals who directly chose to sacrifice their lives for the rebellion: Paige, Holdo, and Luke.

Speaking of fair fights, where were my iconic Star Wars battles? The only fighter-to-fighter combat was at the very beginning and ended with the bombers destroyed and Poe demoted. Rey spent more time fighting Luke than the actual main bad guys, and while her tag-team with Kylo Ren against the guards was cool, I couldn’t really enjoy it because I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And of course Luke’s battle with Kylo Ren, while awesome, doesn’t really count.

A lot of moments felt unnecessary, if not extremely uncomfortable, and took away from the story, including: Rose electrocuting Finn (she could’ve just waved the taser in front of his face and let him explain the tracking situation, with the same overall result), the porgs, the pointless alien nuns, Luke milking the alien seal slug thing, Luke’s comment about Jakku being “pretty much nowhere”, Luke slapping Rey with a leaf, shirtless Kylo Ren in high-waisted pants, 90% of the shots of Kylo Ren looking sad, Rose and Finn (again) getting electrocuted for a parking violation, that opera alien at Canto Bight that looked like someone’s fetish, BB-9E, 75% of DJ, Hux slapping Finn with no consequence, BB-8 driving the AT-ST, Leia slapping Poe, Holdo saying “Godspeed”, Holdo stroking Poe’s face, that thing with Rey and the time dilation in the cave, Yoda’s weirdly corporeal Force ghost, the golden dice from the Falcon, Poe saying “you’re not dead”, that one dude tasting the salt on Crait, Rose kissing Finn, and the awkward introduction between Poe and Rey (weren’t they introduced at the end of TFA?).

What happened to the Force in this movie? The whole Force bond idea felt incredibly shoehorned, and since we don’t find out that Snoke was behind it until much later, we’re expected to believe Rey and Kylo Ren share some “special connection” because plot. It did wind up being pretty cool when Luke used it at the end to trick Kylo Ren, but I’m not clear on why he died immediately afterwards. Was it too draining? Did Kylo Ren running his projection through have a physical effect on him? Did he just voluntarily stop existing? And if Force ghosts can summon lightning, what’s stopping them from intervening further in the world of the living? Why hasn’t Anakin just showed up and killed Kylo Ren? Then of course there’s Leia floating through space despite never demonstrating any abilities beyond emotion sensing before.

Kylo Ren. I am unimpressed with the movie’s repeated attempts to create sympathy for him to the detriment of other characters. Your uncle drawing a lightsaber on you is not in any way an excuse to try to kill him, burn down his temple, and murder all his students who refused to join you. Besides, doesn’t this contradict canon in Bloodline or something? He’s still just as whiny, manipulative, and flat-out evil as in TFA, but now he’s responsible for even more deaths (remember, he fired the shot that blew up the X-wing hangar).

How are we supposed to buy Rey suddenly believing “there’s still good in him” or whatever when Kylo Ren killed her father figure, gravely injured her best friend, tortured her, and is in the process of racking up an even higher body count? TFA Rey is too smart for that, and she would never compromise her new family for the tiniest chance of redeeming a grown man who’s clearly made his choice and whom she owes nothing to. Luke didn’t start trying to redeem Vader until after he learned Vader was his father, what excuse does Rey have? Not only does Rey Nobody make no sense in the context of this movie, it ignores all the parallels and setup of TFA and turns Rey from the rightful Skywalker heir to some random girl who is arbitrarily powerful and arbitrarily the main character.

Because Rian Johnson lives under the delusion that Kylo Ren is somehow the male lead, Finn was forced into an extraneous sideplot and romance that repeated his character arc from TFA. Between getting electrocuted twice, falling into racist stereotypes at the casino, needing Rose to explain everything to him, getting slapped by Space Hitler, and being cheated out of a full-length, emotionally emphasized fight scene against his lifelong oppressor, Finn generally suffers some of the worst treatment of any character in the movie. The casino plot was tedious and its moral felt forced, and the undercover scene aboard the Star Destroyer was disappointingly short and ended in failure. Being sidelined meant Finn wasn’t written as wildly out of character as Rey or Poe, and John Boyega’s acting ensured we still saw the Finn we all know and love, but it was still an incredible disservice to his character.

Even though he got quite bit more screentime, Poe was almost a different character in this movie than in TFA. In the movie, comics, and tie-in novels, he had very clear strengths and flaws: charismatic, selfless, loyal, and an excellent strategist, but too willing to sacrifice himself and not good at thinking long-term. This is all thrown out the window in TLJ, making Poe instead a stereotypical Latino hothead who’s reckless ideas cost dozens of lives and who constantly battles his (white female) superiors. When he mutinies, we’re expected to agree with Holdo and be happy when she lectures him about hope and honorable retreats, but Holdo’s smarmy attitude and refusal to tell Poe the plan makes him seem like the reasonable one. Not only was Poe’s arc a lesson he didn’t need to learn, it was insulting, frustrating to watch, and poorly executed.

The three new characters were unnecessary and stretched the story too thin. DJ was practically useless and his verbal tics were more annoying than quirky. His only role was to show the grey morality of the war, but it would’ve been smoother for Finn to just observe and make his own comments, rather than have DJ and Rose give clunky exposition. Rose was a sweetheart, but her character was completely static and acted more as Finn’s morality pet than an independent person. Her tasering Finn at the start and kissing him at the end was probably supposed to be character development, but both felt forced. Holdo was a terrible leader and difficult to root for until her death scene, which was incredible but would’ve been more impactful with a character we had time to get attached to.

There were some things I liked about the movie. The cinematography was gorgeous when sets were properly lit, especially on Ach-To and Crait, and it had some truly stunning scenes, like Holdo wrecking the First Order fleet, Luke seeing the twin suns on Tatooine, and Rey lifting the rocks for the Resistance. The main cast was as attractive as ever, helped by some top-notch costuming. Despite exchanging zero words, Rey and Finn’s strong relationship was clear as day, and their reunion was fantastic. When Rey swooped in on the Falcon to give the skimmers cover fire and Finn cheered, that was my “I’m watching Star Wars” moment.

Luke’s arc was comparatively decent; he was too surly and irreverent at the beginning, but his criticisms of the old Jedi order made sense and his stand against Kylo Ren was the closest this movie got to iconic. Luke and Leia’s reunion was one of the most emotionally touching moments, and it doesn’t surprise me that Carrie Fisher wrote it. I liked the ending; everyone was together and getting along, the Resistance was safe aboard the Falcon, and Rey literally shut the door in Kylo Ren’s face. Even with the weird sympathy track, it’s clear he won’t be redeemed and it’ll be interesting to see him as the main villain.

#star wars #the last jedi #analysis #rey #finn #poe dameron #rose tico #luke skywalker #leia organa #amilyn holdo #kylo ren #my stuff

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willidleaway · 6 years

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Star Wars, episode 8

There’s been a lot of divisive back-and-forth about The Last Jedi on the Internet, with opinions diverging so hard towards the three groups of

it was the worst thing ever

it was the best thing ever

it was okay I guess

that as I prepared to do my part in helping fund Disney’s Fox acquisition, I couldn’t help but wonder whether people were seeing three different movies.

And as a matter of fact, they kind of were.

In short: Having three subplots just because you have three main characters ... maybe wasn’t a good idea. One of them had a lot of good moments if you could overlook some gaping holes (and giant regressions from the original trilogy), one of them wasn’t terrible but was also kind of pointless and didn’t have to be, and one of them was just mostly needlessly stupid.

Overall, I came out of the theatre more impressed than not, but this movie isn’t one that stands up terribly well to any extended thoughts about it. I also fear that in many places Episode IX may have to bite off more than it can possibly chew, as if this movie hasn’t done enough of that as it is.

Spoiler-y thoughts behind the Read More break.

In less short:

the Finn subplot was kind of okay;

the Poe subplot was inexcusably flawed;

and the Rey subplot was—well, it wasn’t the best thing ever and had a few critical points of badness, but it had a lot of good moments and I can’t help but enjoy them.

I really can, for the most part, treat these subplots as three different movies. Finn’s subplot branches a safe distance away from Poe’s subplot rather quickly and never really integrates properly back into it. Rey’s subplot doesn’t join back up with either of them until the very end.

This was true of Episode V too, to a large extent. But there, at least, the trio had the decency to split into two groups, with Luke’s subplot seeing Yoda teach him and Vader pursue him, and Han and Leia’s subplot leading them (eventually) to Cloud City. But Episode V had just those two subplots for the most part, and a relatively tight ensemble of characters and locations.

This episode ... not so much. I personally would really have liked to see Poe join an expanded version of the Finn subplot, with the existing Poe subplot dropped or considerably downsized, and I really think this would have improved the movie. But as this will never happen, I may as well give thoughts on the triple feature as it stands. So, thoughts on ...

Finn’s Big Adventure: It was okay.

I did find Canto Bight interesting—it’s a side of the galaxy you don’t normally get to see in Star Wars, which is normally all about either the military and political centres of conflict or the grimier parts of town. We get a peek at the economic elite life here, and it’s apparently equally disgusting in any galaxy.

But Rose never really developed into her own character, I’m afraid. She had a cursory backstory of suffering and a consistent compassion, but was mostly defined by love for her sister and for Finn. The codebreaker took so many moral swerves that it was impossible to ever get a great handle on him as a real character, and his apparent argument of ‘well the First Order and the Resistance both use machines from the same suppliers so it’s all part of the system, man’ was just weird and frankly kind of disconcerting. I’m sure I’ve oversimplified that in some way, but not by much, I think.

This subplot also had to quite rapidly manage its own mission expectations, going through a few stages:

we’re going to get hold of a master codebreaker to gain access to a critical weakness in Snoke’s ship

okay, we’re just going to use whatever codebreaker we've found to gain access to a critical weakness in Snoke’s ship

okay, we’re just going to die on Snoke’s ship and hope the Resistance survives because we can’t actually do anything now

okay, everyone else is just going to die too

wait is that the Resistance cruiser ramming into Snoke’s ship

and that probably didn’t help this subplot being so utterly unremarkable. Really, it was a little odd that this was the subplot they kind of chose to end on, with the Force-sensitive child slave sweeping and looking up at the sky.

And really the worst thing is that Captain Phasma (and by extension Gwendoline Christie) was simply tragically wasted as a villain, which is bad because Captain Phasma is clearly one of the more competent and awesome First Order military personnel. Plus, more screen time with Captain Phasma could have given us more development of Finn. It wasn’t too late to show more of her after Episode VII. It is now.

Who Framed Poe Dameron: Be careful what you wish for. I wished for Poe to have more screen time, and look what happened.

What we’ve got here, to quote Cool Hand Luke, is failure to communicate—not just between the Resistance personnel, but also between the writers and the audience. Let’s take this one failure at a time:

Poe’s demotion. Why does Holdo bring this back up as if it’s that important? How far down is the rank of Captain from Commander? (In most real-world navies and air forces, isn’t Captain actually one rank above Commander?) Is that proportionate to his act of insubordination per se, or more proportionate to the severe losses he caused through that insubordination? And how rigorous is the Resistance ranking hierarchy anyway? Can they even afford to be rigorous about it, given how short-staffed they are (even before the Battle of Crait)? Han went from starship captain to a General in the Rebel Alliance basically right after he had been frozen in carbonite for a good long while. Are you telling me that it would be so difficult for Poe to get that far back up in no time at all?

The secrecy around the evacuation. Why wasn’t there just a standing plan known to all Resistance fighters of ‘look if things get really bad we have a base we can fall back to with a decent set of resources, and its location is definitely on a need-to-know basis but just so you know we will fall back to it if the First Order really start hurting us, so please don’t mutiny’? If no one else, how did Leia not trust Poe with this plan when she trusted him with retrieving a piece of the map to Luke?

Crait. How is this place uncharted to the First Order? Is their map information just that bad? Shouldn’t it be on the First Order’s maps given that the son of erstwhile Generals of the Rebel Alliance is in the First Order leadership? Where do the First Order maps come from? And regardless, wouldn’t it have become charted the moment the Resistance cruiser came out of hyperspace to try and make a run to somewhere within reasonable distance of it? How does galactic cartography work, anyway? Is that even relevant, given that a First Order flagship should probably be able to detect transports launching from the cruiser with or without life signs and track their trajectory anyway?

Some of this, I think, is hurt by lack of significant context about exactly what the Resistance is, what the First Order is, what their relations are to the Empire and the Rebel Alliance and the new (short-lived) Republic, what their standing is in the galaxy, what resources they have, and so on. Certainly the original trilogy was never quite as rigorous in this sort of thing as the prequels were, but after just a few minutes of Episode IV, you saw enough to know that the Empire ruled the galaxy under an iron fist, and the Rebel Alliance was a ragtag volunteer army. Here, the First Order is ... governing? Is it governing anything? Does it have provinces? Is Snoke on billions of propaganda pamphlets, pictured in his best dressing gown? Does it claim to be a legitimate continuation of the Galactic Empire, or merely a de facto one? And what of the Resistance? Is it funded by the new Republic? Well, I know their political centre was wiped out in Episode VII, but maybe they actually have a civilian government in exile ... or don’t they? If they have access to old Rebel bases and equipment, how did they end up with only one cruiser by the start of this episode?

This seems like nitpicking, but I am genuinely left a bit confused by the scope of the Resistance, which is apparently fine to rebuild even if the new Republic it sought to defend is in tatters, its allies have abandoned it, and its military strength is now small enough to fit in its entirety inside the Millennium Falcon.

I get that this episode is going for an ominous ending like that of Episode V, but as of the end of Episode V, the Rebellion still actually had bases and cruisers and fighters and Admiral Ackbar. It was just that Leia was shaken by the apparent loss of Han, a capable if reluctant member of the Rebellion, and Luke was shaken by revelations about Darth Vader. As of the end of this episode, the Resistance fleet is just the Falcon. There are people skilled enough to take down an entire military fleet with one starship, but most of them are Time Lords in a TARDIS and they aren’t in this universe.

Also, I’m not sure whether to file this under Poe’s subplot or Rey’s, but ginger!Tarkin is just hilarious. I’m sorry, I’ve got nothing against Domhnall Gleeson as an actor, but I’m pretty sure he’s being directed to ham it up as much as he can and it’s ridiculous and silly to the point of being wonderful. At the same time, his character’s a bit useless and the movie seems painfully aware of it.

The Last Jedi (that is, the parts of The Last Jedi that were actually about, you know, The Last Jedi): Oh, Luke, what happened to you?

No, really, I want to know and these movies won’t tell me. I want to see what happened to Luke between Episodes VI and VII in this brave new Disney-enforced canon, and it’s really unfortunate that this was not a core concern of the sequels. We got some inkling of it in Episode VII, sure, and now get unreliable tellings of what happened between Luke and Ben/Kylo specifically. But this simply isn’t enough.

As it stands, everyone telling the story seems to agree that Luke definitely showed intent to kill Ben, however transient. And that is so jarring given that we’ve been here before and overcome it, in Episode VI. The original trilogy was all about Luke succeeding where Anakin failed, overcoming his darker side and even pushing Anakin to do so in the very end. Given this, where Luke stands at the start of this episode—having attempted to kill Ben, mistrusting Rey so much—is undeniably a very abrupt regression that lacks any significant development to support it. What did it take to break the unbreakable cinnamon roll?

This is a fundamental problem with the plotting of the sequel trilogy. In fact, I wonder if it should really have been a trilogy. The prequels, of course, were forced to be a trilogy because Lucas had pre-emptively numbered Episodes IV through VI. But while there is a massive gap between the prequels and the original trilogy—and even within the prequels, which jumped from precious child Anakin to teenaged Anakin to war-weary Anakin—that was excusable because nothing terribly interesting happened in that gap to the Skywalkers or the Jedi. Darth Vader kind of kept on Darth Vader-ing, Luke had a fairly peaceful moisture farmer’s life with some occasional piloting excitement, Obi-Wan and Yoda went on their eccentric hermit ways, the Emperor kept on with his Galactic Empire, and most of the Jedi stayed dead.

The gap between Episodes VI and VII, as it stands ... not so much. Apparently in that gap we had

the re-establishment of a peaceful Galactic Republic

the establishment of a new Jedi Temple

the training of Ben Solo

the rise of Snoke

the fall of the new Jedi Temple

the rise of the First Order

which frankly should have been a movie or two, maybe even a television series. (It really could work. The gap between Episodes II and III were the entire Clone Wars, which of course had its own lovely series, cut short by the Disney/Lucasfilm acquisition.) In fact, I’m beginning to think the rise of Snoke and the Knights of Ren should have been the core of Episode VII, with Luke going into self-imposed exile at the end, until one day a mysterious young woman shows up and holds out a lightsaber, her face full of hope ...

... but that will never happen now. I wonder if it even could have happened in the 2010s, given the age of the original cast and the scenes that would be required of them. And frankly, I wonder if Disney/Lucasfilm, instead of making the abrupt jumps that they did between the original trilogy and the sequels, should instead have been making what they now plan to after this sequel trilogy—movies following completely new characters with their own stories.

And this is the good subplot, huh? Yes, yes it is.

There are moments in this subplot that I can’t help but enjoy, which is not actually true for either of the other subplots. Luke reuniting with Artoo was when Luke felt most like himself. The return of Yoda, with a surprisingly faithful CGI rendition and perhaps a moment of overpowered mischievousness, was kind of amazing. Rey and Kylo joining forces (Forces?), however briefly, was frankly surprising in just how effective it was. Kylo has actually risen above being ‘a child with a mask’ and become a far more credible character, if not a credible villain. Rey’s moment of self-reflection was ... not subtle, but still worked for what it was. The revelation of her parentage was exactly what it needed to be.

And Luke’s projection ... was a bit ridiculous—hadn’t he cut himself off from the Force for quite a while? Wouldn’t he need to retrain a lot before he was able to do that again and/or possibly for the first time ever, given that this is the first time we’ve seen Force Telepresence, which I would have thought was some kind of transient Force bond with every living thing in the vicinity, except apparently even droids can detect your projection? (So it’s definitely just a new Force power, because we didn’t already have enough of those and definitely had rules around those sorted out really neatly ...) I mean, it was awesome, but kind of odd and didn’t seem to really have concrete rules.

And really, if you were willing to overlook Luke not being himself for the majority of the movie and what might be a fundamental flaw in the planning of this entire sequel trilogy, this subplot was pretty good (and the one that I’d wager the critics paid most attention to). It sounds like I’m saying that facetiously, but I’m only saying it half-facetiously.

The one rather unsatisfying thing was the fact of Snoke’s anticlimactic end after all of the buildup around him (more so than how it played out)—but if Darth Maul can come back from being sliced in half, perhaps Snoke can too. Hmm, maybe not in this case. And that’s a pity, because Snoke’s motivations surely more or less inform Kylo’s motivations, and both would have been great to learn more about.

Final thoughts: So, basically what the writers of Episode IX have to do is

figure out how the Resistance is going to be a credible threat to the First Order when right now it fits inside an old Corellian light freighter

work in Leia’s off-screen death and pass her part of the story on to someone appropriate

complete Kylo Ren’s arc, without Leia

figure out if Poe actually has an arc to complete given that Poe’s screen time was taken up by setting up Finn’s subplots and inciting mutiny without much of a result, and given that the only ship he can now fly is a light freighter

figure out if Finn is actually going to do something useful this time

make ginger!Tarkin look like a competent second-in-command

actually show Poe being competent and not deceived by his superiors

congratulate themselves on outdoing RTD and Moffat in writing themselves into a massively tight corner for the final episode

That seems like a fairly tall order, and I don’t hold out much hope for answers here. If George Lucas were in charge, we’d have more answers than we needed. But JJ Abrams is in charge, and I’m afraid any answers we get here are going to just give rise to a thousand-fold more questions.

Miscellaneous thoughts:

On the droids: BB-8 was fantastic, as always. I still can’t get over just how expressive the design is compared to Artoo or frankly even Threepio.

I guess we also saw BB-8′s Imperial—erm, excuse me, First Order counterpart, which I really wanted to see do more. Kind of like Phasma.

On slot machine guns: Professor Layton did it better.

On the critters infesting the Falcon: Chewie, how dare you eat them.

Also, I think we’ve now potentially got the Star Wars equivalent of Tribbles. How quickly did those things take over the ship, anyway?

On originality: Say, do you remember a Star Wars movie where

the rebels are chased off their main holdout on a snow-white planet;

the Force-sensitive protagonist trains with a reluctant teacher on a remote planet with a submerged X-wing, dips into a cavern to confront the dark side of the Force, and ultimately interrupts their Jedi training to help the rebels;

the non-Force-sensitive protagonists seek out a rogue to help them, but are double-crossed and face dire prospects;

someone says ‘I know’ in an unusual context;

and the Force-sensitive villain reveals the parentage of the Force-sensitive protagonist, who is then asked to join them so that together they can rule the galaxy?

I mean, it’s not a straight-up recycled Episode V the way that Episode VII was a blatant remake of Episode IV, and the original trilogy codified a lot of modern sci-fi filmmaking to the point where it would not be possible for a sequel to not have some overlap with the original. But, to quote the judge from Ace Attorney, two coincidences at the same time seems more like a pattern to me.

Thinking about the submerged X-wing makes me a little peeved, actually, because it feels like the writers basically throwing the regression of Luke’s character in your face through one succinct image. It also feels like lifting the X-wing out of the water and flying to Crait in person would have been a less cheap way for Luke to go out, and actually would have also made for an extra nice callback to Episode V. Really, it’s surprising that this was so overlooked.

Random thoughts on the trailers I saw before the feature presentation:

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom looks like it’s going to be gloriously silly. Also, Jeff Goldblum’s memetic line ... finds a way.

Ready Player One looks good (did I spot an Overwatch character?) although that could just be the Van Halen music. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s mostly the Van Halen music.

Eek, creepy large lifelike anime eyes in Alita: Battle Angel. It looks like one of those images you see on the Internet where you splice real-life photos together to represent a cartoon character, except now with a multi-million dollar budget.

Incredibles II. This is where it’s come to, is it, Disney/Pixar? I mean, I’m going to reserve judgement because the trailer was astonishingly short on content, but are you going to really start ruining every perfect movie you ever made?

I have no opinions on Avengers: Infinity War since I don’t follow the MCU, but involving the GotG makes me worried for their safety.

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fairytalefantasia · 5 years

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Balance || Rey & Kylo

@yourlovingspy

If there was one thing Rey had come to learn about life it was that life is seldom fair. The strong pick on the weak, the evil prevail over the good, and sometimes, for the guarantee of tomorrow, one must make sacrifices today. It seemed everyone within the Resistance had been making sacrifices lately, and on a rational level, she supposed that now it was just her turn. She’d made a promise to General Organa that she would do whatever it takes to ensure the Resistance prevailed over the First Order, and the General had thanked her for the gesture. While she’d meant it in all honesty, as Rey would come to realize after being singled out one fateful day during a briefing, she never thought the General would ask her to submit to such cruel torture in the name of the cause.

She stared at Leia in absolute shock (along with many of the others) after she’d delegated her most recent order: a top secret operation to relocate Rey to a secret location in order to keep her safe, should the First Order come calling to finish what they started on Crait.

Soon after, everyone was dismissed. Rey finally broke her stunned silence when she hurried to follow Leia back into the command center. “You’re abandoning me.” It wasn’t a question, nor an accusation. Just a firm statement of fact.

The general stopped and turned to face the younger woman, retaining every bit of strength she conveyed in her speeches--only this time, her eyes were soft and empathetic. “Rey, I promise you, that’s not what we’re doing--”

“With all due respect, General, I’ve been abandoned before and this is exactly what it feels like,” she retorted. The anger inside her was beginning to flood through her veins like wisps of smoke. Even more than that, the utter betrayal she felt from everyone--Leia, Poe, and even Finn, who did little to fight this--was overwhelming.

Leia must have sensed this, for she stepped forward and held Rey by her shoulders with the gentlest, most motherly of touches. “No one wanted to do this, Rey. The rest of the officers and I tried to think of any alternative that might possibly work, but...we’re running out of time. We don’t have any other options.”

“Yes, you do,” Rey retorted. “You could let me stay and fight with everyone else.”

Leia frowned. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else. Least of all you.” She moved and took Rey’s hand, holding it between both of hers. “You’re our only hope, Rey.”

The day ended with Rey, Finn, and Poe boarding a small, rickety transport ship in preparation for her relocation. Like most of the equipment the Resistance owned, the ship looked as though one wrong look might cause it to fall apart, but Poe had assured them that it would be fine and would probably even make the jump to hyperspace without any goof ups. With one last goodbye shared with the rest of the folks who came to see her off, Rey reluctantly boarded the ship, with a pack of rations, clothes, her staff, and the pieces of the Skywalker lightsaber in tow. The other two followed behind, and within a few moments, the ship was gliding through the atmosphere towards the cold expanse of space.

It would take just about a full galactic cycle to reach their destination, which Rey learned was the forest planet of Belkadan, in the Outer Rim. In her anger she tuned out a lot of what Finn and Poe told her over the course of the journey, but she managed to retain that this planet had intermittent governance environmental interference over the last few millennia, but all that had passed now and it was basically a quiet rock floating through space. She would be able to grow food and find fresh water, though Poe assured her she “probably would be picked up long before it came to that.” Rey knew better than to get her hopes up.

Finally, the ship completed it’s jump, just in time to see the lush green glow of Belkadan appear. Poe prepared them for landing and Rey felt her stomach flip-flop. Finn was passing by, and before she could stop herself, she gripped him by the wrist to stop him. “Please don’t do this,” she muttered, daring to look into his eyes. “Please.”

Her friend sighed and stooped down before her. “Believe me, if there was any other way, I would. But I agree with General Leia...we need to keep you safe.”

“But this is wrong,” Rey protested, her eyes filling with tears. “I can’t do this again. I’d rather die at the hands of the First Order than have to be completely alone again--”

Finn hung his head and did all he could do. He hugged her to him. Sometimes, there was no escaping your fate.

The men stayed with Rey long enough to help her build a sturdy makeshift shelter and get settled in. She begged them to stay for a meal, but they had to decline. They’d already spent too much time here, and since their transport was too old and decrepit to have a working cloaking mechanism, the First Order would easily detect their presence if they were in the area. Poe retrieved a small communication device and gently handed it to Rey. “For emergencies only, alright?” he instructed her. “If there are any changes on our end, we’ll pass ‘em on through there. Got it?”

Rey nodded and took the device. They all exchanged hugs, and as the sun began to hang low in the sky, the two men boarded the transport. Rey watched through teary eyes as the ship left the atmosphere and jumped back into hyperspace. As the silence consumed her, she looked around and wondered just what would happen now. This gave an entirely new meaning to loneliness, she thought as she reentered her small hut and began to build a fire in the pit they’d dug at the center. No Unkar Plutt to haggle with. No Teedo to chase off her territory. No Caretakers to yell at her. No Master Luke. No Finn, no Poe, no Rose, no Snap, no Jessika, no Connix. And, she was surprised to find herself thinking, no Kylo Ren to invade her thoughts. The Force had made sure of that, she figured.

Wiping the tears from her face with a sigh, she stood and searched by the light of the fire’s glow for something sharp. In her pack, she’d found a small piece of scrap metal she’d kept on hand, just in case anything she came across needed to be repaired. Lifting it to a rock by the door, she carved a scratch. It was time to start keeping count again.

#yourlovingspy #sorry I failed at banner making #balance #v;; main #m;; scrappy little scavenger (rey)#m;; saving our skins (leia organa)

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