#darthtryhard

She couldn’t have fled to Ahch-to faster if she’d tried.

To Ahch-to and Ben Solo - exiled but alive and safe after a whiplash trial. The last thing the newly in-power Resistance wanted was the spectre of Kylo Ren in their ranks. To Rey though, he was not that man. He was the one who had come for her when she’d most needed him; who’d saved her with his heroism, his sacrifice, his bravery- No. Ben Solo was a better man than any of them took him for.

It was raining lightly when the Resistance’s most reluctant heroine left her small ship and made the winding trek up to the Lanai village where Luke had once lived and trained her. The Caretakers still living there gave her scathing looks when they passed her by - still unwilling to forgive her for what they’d always perceived as destructive rudeness - and she bowed her head to them as they hurried on by. 

The dread they must feel, she mused ruefully, now that there are two Force users on their island again.

Hiding a snuffle of amusement behind her hand, Rey glanced across the landscape before reaching out to Ben through the Force; unwilling to break the contemplative hush of the place - and incur even more of the residents’ wrath - by shouting.

Where are you? she asked him. I’m here.

__

With the rise of the First Order, allegiances had to be made. Swears of fealty, either to the Order, or the Resistance. In the long history of her people, one such line had been drawn in the sand before, and the choice to turn their backs on the Empire had nearly destroyed them. Even now, decades later, the children of Mandalore lived underground, shrouded in secrecy, drawing strength from survival.

But now, the very real threat of total destruction loomed over them, the moment Kylo Ren set foot within their tunnels. She and the others had struck down their would-be captors by the dozens, filling the tunnels with the dead black and white beetles, but more and more came, until the clan of warriors were pinned down and overwhelmed.

The one they called Mother was on her knees, restrained, when Lord Ren finally found his way to her, the blue flames of her smelter glittering in his black eyes.

@darthtryhard

They were losing the war. Losing everything. Leia could feel the Force trembling all around her beneath the weight of what such a loss would bring. The devastation to the galaxy that would result would damage everything they had ever known...maybe even irreparably, and if Rey fell to the Dark Side...all would be lost.

The General knew what she had to do, but it would mean saying goodbye. To everything. All that she had built and fought for would have to pass from her hands, an option that had never truly been an option to her her entire life. At least, not until now. Now it was the only option left.

She retreated to her quarters and sat on the little cot inside, tears brimming in her eyes and heart hammering as she allowed her fears and failures to wash over her. They couldn’t serve her now, not when everything was at stake, and couldn’t give edge to her actions as they had in the past. Somehow, she had to push through it, draw on the strength of the Force, and accept what would happen next.

For the galaxy. For Rey. ...And most of all, for her son.

As Leia’s eyes closed, and she leaned back into the cot, she reached through the mist of all those regrets, grasping for that thin, fragile string of the Force that still connected them, and whispered his name into the dark.

The fight with Lazari had left her bloody, but far from defeated. Three days. That was all they had to either agree to the plan she put forward, or accept a lifetime of running from Brendol’s forces. And if it came down to it...if forcing their hand was what it would take...Phasma had nothing left to lose.

She strode through the thick forest back toward her ship, carefully wiping at the blood trailing from the split bridge of her nose, where Hux’s knuckles had raked across her face like claws. He was no battering ram, blunt and powerful. But every hit had been sharp, and painful.

The ex-Captain paused, and felt the faint rise of fine hairs at the back of her neck, jerking around to look between the dark clusters of trees. Nothing.

▏▶︎Ŧ-И◀︎▕

           he cannot blame them for their anger, for the pit of revenger bubbling lurid green in their stomachs. he cannot blame them for the mourning they’re forced to do ( he is forced to do ) but finn cannot stand for yet another day in which a prisoner’s meal tray is tampered with. 

                                                                          ❝let me do it. i’ll bring it to him.❞

          there’s no reason to deny him, though their permission is reluctantly given. finn doesn’t care. he watches, eagle-eyed as they assemble a meal tray, haphazard but not inedible. it’ll have to do. it’ll have to be enough.

                   ❝ren, mealtray coming in.❞

            he’s abandoning protocol. instead of pushing the tray through, finn slips in with the meal balanced on both hands. once the door closes behind him, the seal is shut. the room feel void once again. finn clears his throat. 

He was left with no time to spare for checking in on the condition of their Knight, relying solely on the reports of lower officers.Today, however, was different. Ren was soon to be released, and it was the Supreme Leader’s words flashing on Hux’s holopad; words that bade him to make a personal visit and supply Snoke with a reliable assessment of the boy’s state.

Either he doesn’t trust the staff, or he doesn’t trust Ren to stay as long as he should. Certainly, not an unfounded doubt.

With that thought, the General (albeit reluctantly) made his way down sterile hallways and finally to the very private room which housed Kylo. Taking a deep breath, he knocked twice and when no answer came he carefully pushed the door open to peek inside.

     “Ren...?”