#shawhawrambles

@takexmyxlead

Corbin took a slow sip of his bitter alcoholic drink as he  at the makeshift bar one of the Republic Pilots had set up as a spot of respite for the weary travelers on the old outpost on Yavin IV. The image of Poe looked more weary than he had seen her in quite some time. 

“Poe… Every time we soar out into the sky we know it may very well be our last mission.” He gave his biggest smile he could, “There were times we thought we would never make it and yet somehow…”

He was doing a mental count of the amount of times she had saved his sorry ass versus the amount of times his plans had actually gone the way they were suppose to. It was a bit one sided on the sided to the ace pilot of the Resistance. 

“You know I’ll take care of BB-8, though I don’t know if he will appreciate tagging along on routine missions with me, appears a bit dull.” He swallowed the bitter drink once more before setting it aside. “You know you can listen to my voice anytime darlin’, because I always promise to come back.”

{•} She raises a eyebrow then to the few other pilots around the table. “Come on now fellows... who can beat... my Four of a kind.” She grins placing down four 9′s with all the suits. “I think Young-Mi is gonna have a VERY good night.” Grabbing her drink she leaned back and motioned for the others to put out their cards, however a few of the pilots folded them in a huff.

Fear bristled and sparked all the way up her spine with a sudden chill that could nearly halt the slow “thudding” beatings of her heart. Her hues of burnt-sienna were now an ashen stormy brown, as if the light of her eyes had been penetrated and overcome by the darkness. Dameron trembled violently in her sleep and let out an agonizing cry. 

In her slumber she recalled the way it felt to watch Jukku burn and explode around her. The way it felt to have her X-wing blown up just feet away from her. The way her gut twisted when she was forced to send BB8 off into the unknown with no more protection than it could give itself. She could remember how it felt to come face to face with Kylo-Ren. Defiance etched within her every vein, the sole goal to protect those she loved and served from the horrific First Order, who wiped out an entire village of people to find her… the pilot carrying information to the Resistance. Those people suffered and died because she existed. Poe recalled how it felt to be bound in the chair and probed for the answers they sought. How terrifying it was to hear Kylo-Ren speak the things she had once buried so far beneath her conscious thought. He had mentioned her love for a fellow pilot and she had been brave enough to dance around her question.

“Co…Corbin!!!  NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” She screamed, his name coming out in a strangled series of sobs.

Just before waking she had seen Kylo-Ren standing over Corbin….. his x-wing engulfed by flames. The severe aguish that came from the sight felt crippling. Her entire body was thrown into a series of forceful spasms. She had watched her beloved friend suffocate, strangling slowly in Kylo’s grasp.

The words spoken to her were few and simple, “it is all your fault, Dameron. You should have given in when you had the chance. But now, everyone around you must suffer! The Reistance will be intimidated by the First Order! Surrender or die! You must pay the price every moment of your defiance.” And it is in the greatest moment of panic that she jilts awake, caught in his protective arms.

Her heart felt as though it had been tangled into a spool of barbed-wires and then forced to swell and beat to life. Each inhaled gasp she took in, let the thorns push into the insides of her soul and upon every exhale it tore the fleshy tissue wide-opened. Poe’s breaths come out in strained pants, as if taking shallower breaths would help spare her soul the hellish being torn to shreds sensation. Poe buries her heated face into the crook of Corbin’s neck, content to take in his sent and the sturdy feeling of his body pressed against hers. The silver orbs slicked down her cheeks in maddening torrents in spite of her best efforts to refrain from crying. Corbin’s well-intentioned words did little more than apply salve to a deep burn. It cause her to quiver and shake uneasily. 

“Don’t you….don’t you leave me….” Poe breathlessly implored. Her lamenting tongue struggling with the weight of her words. “I…. I can’t lose you….too…” Her fingers slowly curl into him to clutch him all the tighter. Perhaps, if she holds him close enough the horrible vision or nightmare will not come to pass. She sobbed bitterly again, her breaths coming out jagged, short, and very painfully. Her lungs strained to contain the air until she felt as though she might hyperventilate in Corbin’s arms. 

Dameron couldn’t save her parents…. nor the people in that one village in Jakku. She was laden and heavy with the guilt that pressed down upon her shoulders. But maybe, just maybe she could save her beloved Corbin Antilles. 

@takexmyxlead

It had been nearly a year since Corbin had left Poe that fateful day at the star port. The pilots that accompanied him were all KIA weeks after they finished bootcamp with Rouge Squadron. It had left him weakened and numb to all the violence, but working alongside Jedi and would be Jedi was hard to stay gloom for too long. His cynicism had begun to recede after watching hopeful after hopeful arrive to be trained by Luke Skywalker and his Jedi Knights. He had befriended a female Jedi Knight at the time, a mid aged human female by the name of Jaden Korr and her close friend and fellow Jedi Rosh. They often spent hours trying to console Corbin about the loss of his friends but that they sacrificed their lives so that others may live and the Jedi may once again repopulate the galaxy. Not even the thought of bringing back one of the most iconic heroes of the past could console him after the news his father had sent him via holo-comm. 

His room on Yavin IV was cramped and small ,but now it was littered with debris and full of rage. Several Jedi had come rushing through the halls and opened the door, a rainbow of colors that ranged from violet the sierra burnt color of Poe’s eyes lit up. Of course that lightsaber was Jaden’s…

“I… I apologize I didn’t keep my temper in check.” Corbin said ashamed that anger was a huge trigger for many of these Jedi in training. Jaden raised an eyebrow at him but he shook his head and waved his hand, their usual ‘talk to you about it later’ deal he had worked out whenever the Jedi came prying for information. 

He grabbed his holocommunicator and tapped in Poe’s old contact information. Sure enough mere moments after sending a ping she responded. Before she could even speak Corbin laid into her.

“HOW COULD YOU!? Poe… After all we went through what do you think I would have done had I know… I would have given up everything to take care of the both of you… Did you even care to tell me? Another secret kept from me that my Father had to tell me!?!? You didn’t want to keep it did you… Our child… No don’t… That night we spent together was the only night I’ve ever truly felt apart of something better… That night led to a seed that could have become our legacy… Our.. We could have been a family… Dammit Poe why?!”

As his face full of fury, despair, confusion, and betrayal finally began to breathe after he rushed the words out he saw Poe looking back at him through the holocomm. She met his gaze and spoke plainly, almost betrayed herself.

“They Framed me and everyone believed. Even you.”

@shawhawrambles