Planet Naboo

24 years ago

"Come on Neyli, come chase me!" Ben and I would run around in our home in Naboo, the cooling trees and the beautiful sun following us as we would run through the garden that was outside our home that we lived in. I missed that home, it was nice and tucked away from the city where our mother was serving for a short period of time as a politician and was in a meeting to talk with the current Queen. At the time, I didn't know what it was about since I was still too young to understand, but all I could understand was my beautiful home and my brother playing with me.

"Not so fast, Ben!" I called out to him as he was turning and running in the garden.

"You can keep up! You're faster than me!" He said over his shoulder at me now as we were now along a large grassy field near the many cliffs of Naboo. I could hear the distant waterfalls and the humming of the planet below us and the feel of the grass under my fingertips and palms. Everything was bright and illumianted for me, every color seemed to be thorwn at me from the flowers and the rays of the sun. Naboo was the stuff made of dreams.

I finally tagged my brother, seeing him chuckle and we both fell to the floor and almost toppled on one another in a heap. His hair, as dark as the night, somehow was shining brightly in the morning sun as my was lighter and more fuller of the warmth. The one thing we both had with each other, the one common thing that we both can rely on each other, as our chocolate eyes that we both inherited from our parents.

"Young Masters! You must stay over here where we can see you or you shall certainly be lost!" Once again, our faithful robot who was tinted in gold and has such an authoritative voice there that was on the brink of nervousness as he trotted over to our area finally, his stiff arms were waving in such a frantic rate.

"Master Ben and Master Neyli, your mother shall be worried sick if you don't come back very soon!" C3PO called out to us, the both of us popping our heads up from over the tall green grass!

"Where is mother?" I asked him as we both jogged over to CP3O.

"She's back at your home, talking to one of the senators in a very important matter," he replied to us now as Ben wipe the dust off his pants and grinned.

"Come on then, I don't want us to get in too much trouble with mom," Ben said to me, having the three of us walking together back to our home. I looked back at the cliffs once more, seeing the evergreens and the distant capital city and it's glorious buildings and waterfalls there. I wished that I could stay there forever, the perfect place for us to live and to play as children.

"The Republic is in need of aid of Naboo, thank goodness for the Queen to bring that aid when we need it the most," I could hear my mother talking to someone as my brother and I came over to the house over near the side door, the both of us seeing my mother there talking to someone else. Her hair was back in a typical udo of a braid, she was wearing a midblue dress attire that was silk and looked beautiful on her. It reminded me of the night sky when she wore it to speak to the Queen.

"Young ones should not listen to such things, come on now," C3PO said to the both of us as he walked away over to our room to go down the wall, thinking we were following him. But Ben and I stayed behind, the curious children that we were wanting to hear what was going on, and thankfully C3PO did not check to see if we were following. We both looked around the corner, out of sight, and heard more of the conversation. Ben was higher up than me as I was on the bottom.

"But that's not the only thing on my plate right now," our mother said in a low tone, "My brother is convinced that the children should be trained with him, along with the others that he's found that are force-sensitive."

"But they are still young aren't they?" another voice asked my mother now, "What does Han think?"

"Han is still on the fence with it, and they are a bit older than they should be, but my brother is getting a strong sense that they both need to train now than later," my mother sounded more grave about it bringing up my father and then my Uncle.

"What's going on, Leia?" The second voice asked, a pause there hanging in the balance now as I was wondering what was making my mother sounded so sad and unsure of herself, something that was not normal for even my mother to experience,

"Luke was sensing a shift of The Force in the children," She said in a quiet manner now, having me hear Ben move a bit behind me since he was perched over me to hear what was going on, "He's more afraid of what is going on with Ben than Neyli. Ben's more….reckless according to Luke."

"He's a young boy, they have reckless tendencies," The other tried to reason with my mother.

"No, he sees…his grandfather in him," I didn't know what to think of that then, hearing nothing behind me and having me look to see Ben. But he wasn't there, I watched him as he was walking down the hallway with his head bowed and fists at his side.

Planet D'Qar

2 years ago

I snapped awake from my dream, gasping for air and hoping that I could find it somewhere as that image still flashing in my head. Naboo, the bright sunlight and the tall green grass under my fingers, those vivid and bright colors that made me think of dreams and happier times. Once again it was one of those dreams and memories that were both hazy, almost out of my reach, and vivid and chaotic. Why was it so vivid and yet so blurry? Why were these dreams haunting me like I was experiencing it for the first time?

It was dark in my room, dark and almost glowing from my monitor on my desk, having me sit up completely and place my feet over the side onto the floor so I can feel the tile on the ground beneath my toes. It was another night of relentless dreams and memories I thought I lost and never found again, or were too good to be true. When it came to something like this, I would go out to my X-Wing and try to rethink those dreams out again, finding a familiar place that I knew was my safety net for times like this.

The hanger was quiet, my own X-Wing was the third one on the left and sitting there like the others in that dark hanger as I walked over with a lantern and notebook in hand, pencil behind my hear and my clothed jacket wrapped around me. The size of te hanher itself ws large enough to fit at least 50 X-Wings and a few more vehicles and vessals, high enough to look like a dome that could open in the middle if necessary. The cooling temperature of the hanger was inviting to me as I sat on one of the wings of my vehicle, my feet dangling in the air and my pencil already at work in the notebook as I was writing down every part of my dreams.

Ever since I was a teenager and my brother's death, I wourl write in the journal that Ben gave me on our 12th birthday. I loved that journal, seeing the smaller entires that I would place there and forgot about later. But now they were filled with dreams, what happened and who was there. It was better to have it on paper and fresh for me to read back later than to forget. Some nights were better than others, but these dreams were becoming more frequently than any other time before when I was younger. Why now?

At first, there was silence there in the hanger since I was the only one in there, but I then heard another round of beeping that made me look up from my notebook and see a droid coming over to my direction. I didn't see who it was at first, but I realized that it was my own droid that I would work with on my plane: Q4-Q2, or as how I would like to call him, Q2.

"You need to be back in your own barracks, Q2," I reminded him, my own little droid who was silver all over with some green accents here and there. He was a good droid, having me remember when I was first given him for my first flight and since then we were good friends. Q2 was very much loyal to me, never leaving my side until I asked him to. Q2 hummed a bit at me, beeping more or twice and then having me eye him.

"No, I will come back soon." I reminded him, hearing another round of whirling, "It's not like that at all. It's just another dream is all. And I shouldn't be telling you this any who."

"No, you should be talking to me about it," The voice was broken into the quiet of the hanger again, having myself look over as well as Q2 to see who it was. I knew who it was, the familiar voice that could calm any storm or any situation, both soothing and determined. It was Poe, walking into the hanger with his combat training gear that was loose on him and his walk was calm and collective.

"What are you doing out here all by yourself?" he asked me in a surprising manner, seeing me up high on my X-Wing and placing my notebook on my side there.

"Can't sleep," I replied to him as he walked over a bit closer to me and I heard a couple more rounds of wheezing and beeping from Q2, "You, off to bed before you get in trouble. I'll be fine on my own," Q2 beeped once more before rolling off back over to the living quarters, Poe grinding as he watched the droid roll away. Poe grinned and looked at me, pointing to the droid as he was swallowed into the darkness

"He looks out for you I take it?" he asked me in curiosity now and in a grin there too as he was near the ladder that would lead him up and over to me.

"As does BB-8 does for you," I replied back to him, seeing him nod in agreement, "As I recall that little unit of your is more prone to electrocute the pilots that are not in your favor."

"Hey! That was once and it was for a pure accident," he tried to reason with me, having me chuckle and how he was trying to defend his own droid. It was peaceful again between us, our friendship was still solid and kind enough. Poe then pointed to the ladder that was against my X-Wing, "Mind if I join you?"

"You're not going to go back to sleep?" I asked him as he shrugged his shoulder.

"I'm already awake, I don't see the point of trying to sleep again," He replied, having me reluctantly against some of the better judgment I had in my head finally nod and he started to climb the ladder like he's been doing this for years and years on end. Of course, he made it look so easy, he was Poe Dameron. Hell, Poe made walking on water look like Poe's been doing it since he was two years old.

He plopped down next to me now, grinning at me as I moved my own hair to the side and he looked around at the desolated hanger and the quiet was over us again.

"I've never been here in the hanger when it's this quiet before," He said out of the blue, looking around and almost looking like he didn't know what to do then.

"I like it from time to time," I explained, seeing him look over at me from the corner of my eye as I looked up at the open hanger doors, slightly ajar to show the night sky and the plenty of stars that were there, "I like to think out here, with no one around."

"It's kind of nice actually," He commented too, "Still, a bit odd to be out here alone."

"I never mind it at all really, I tend to come out here every once in awhile when I can't sleep," I explained, seeing him give me a questioning look from what I said to him.

"What can't you sleep?" he asked, sounding less of the jokester that he was and more genuine and concerning. I had to think about it, what I was going to say to him and how I was going to say it in order to not sound like an idiot or crazy.

"I've been having these weird dreams," I explained, pausing before I went on to see if he was going to be put off by it. So far, he was still interested from where I was seated and he was running to the hills yet, "The dreams are of my brother and me when we were little children,"

"I didn't know you had a brother," Poe said to me in a surprised manner but it was still hushed.

"I don't really talk about it since it's kind of a sore spot," I admitted, feel a bit and about it within my own chest, "But It's been happening more recently, and I don't know why."

"What was his name?" Poe asked me, having me think about my brother again for a moment and almost want to cry from how out of the blue how much I missed him.

"Ben, his name was Ben," I replied softly.

"Was?" He asked again, having me now feel a bit of lead on my tongue from what I was about to say next.

"He died when I was young," I replied back to him, hearing nothing from Poe for a moment or two before I wanted to say something else to get the conversation either moving or out of the way.

"I'm sorry I asked," he replied to me in almost a hurtful manner, "It wasn't my place."

"It's fine, Poe. Trust me, I've had good days and bad days about it," I explained to him calmly now as I swung my legs a bit and shuffled my hair a bit now with my fingers, "I just miss him, we were close when we were little."

"I don't have a brother," Poe said to me, having me look over at him as he was thinking about it to himself, "I wish I did, but I was an only child."

"Sounds like a hard life for you," I said in a joking manner, seeing him crack a grin at me as I was somehow poking a jab at him, "The perfect Poe Dameron has a hard knock life for himself."

"I'm not that perfect," He said in defense.

"I'm sure."

"I'm really not!" He said in a chuckle, "I'm cockier than anything."

"No way you're not," I said back to him, "You're kind, not cocky. If anyone is cocky here, it is definitely not you." I didn't know why I would say that to him, no matter how good of a friendship that we had and now I literally just told him about my deceased brother and how I had weird dreams. But then again he was still there talking to me and sitting next to me like we were friends who had plenty of years under our belts. I had a deep appreciation for him and how he was willing to pour into friendship, like this one with me though I still had no idea why. I wasn't really anyone special for someone like Poe to look at.

"You know, don't take this the wrong way, but you are honestly nothing like your mother," he commented to me with suck kinds there laced in his face and in his voice that it almost made me blush.

Hell, hearing something like that would brighten my whole day, and it was almost like a way of flirting.

Planet D'Qar

Present Day

I walked through the hanger in almost a fast walk than anything. This was the last thing that I needed, to deal with this and try to contain what I was feeling on the inside. He was going off on another mission, thanks to my mother, and It had something to do with finding my Uncle.

Luke Skywalker.

We've been trying to find him for years and years on end, not being able to find any clues that could lead us to him. He's been away from my family ever since I was a young girl, left without a trace behind him and it made my mother beyond nervous for her to find her twin brother. Now it was a result of Poe being assigned to go to the planet Jakku with an old ally that lived there. The ally apparently had something valuable to use for us to have and find my Uncle. I should be happy about it, but I wasn't.

Because Poe was going out there.

He was at the very edge of the hanger, BB-8 already in the X-Wing and beeping at Poe who was on the side of his X-Wing and checking one more piece of equipment there along the side. Poe shot a look at BB-8 when he buzzed at him about something.

"Don't worry, buddy. You heard what General Organa said, this is important to find Skywalker, and she chose us to do it!" Always the hopeful one to think of the positive in any kind of situation. It made me smile to think he was such a person, but then again I was still worried about his upcoming mission, no matter how many he's been on and how seasoned a veteran is. I was about to say something when BB-8 once again buzzed and whirled, pointing his antenna in my direction and Poe looked too. Damn BB-8 for giving me away at him and Poe grinned, walking over to me in his attire that he wore that day, pants, combat boots, his flight leather jacket and his pistol on his hip.

"I heard you're going out to Jakku today," I explained to him as he placed his hands on his hip.

"Just a routine run to find an old ally of General Organa," He explained to me, having me nod at him and see him look at me in hesitance a bit, like a weight was on him then, "I know it's importance to find Luke Skywalker and to better help the Resistance."

"And who better to go out on this mission then you, of course," I voiced back to him, having him look a bit more hesitant about it since I said in that manner. I didn't want to admit to him that I was a bit worried about him and that I cared about him far too much. I could tell he was seeing it in my face and he then took a few steps over to me, reaching over to grab my hand within his own. I was about to say something to him when our hands touched, fingers lacing there and having me feel the sudden heat that was about to come for of me and hit him from what I was feeling.

"It's a simple mission, Neyli. I'll be back before you know it," he said with such reassurance there that it would make me feel better if it was any other mission that he would be in. But this one seems more intense, because of how big this mission was, the search for my Uncle and how important he would be to help with the Resistance. It felt like he was having a hardy heavy weight on his shoulders, and my mother trusted him.

"It's not a simple mission, Poe," I reminded him in a low tone now, "This is very dangerous if something could happen to you, or if The First Order finds you trying to get to my Uncle…" I trailed off in a now around manner. Poe shook his head seeing the now set of fear on my face from what I was saying and he was squeezing our joint hands tighter than ever.

"Nothing is going to happen to me, you know I can handle myself and one of the best pilots here, it's going to be okay," He said to me in a softer way, and even though I was still feeling uneasy about it, I had to realize that he could handle himself, even with a serious big mission such as this one. I really wished I could hug him there, let him know what I was really feeling within that moment, but a simple hand hold was going to have to do at this moment. Was he thinking that same thing? At this point in our relationship, was this the one thing he could only do?

"I'll be back soon, I promise you Neyli. Okay?" he asked me, having me slowly nod my head and he gave me one of those very rare smiles that he would give me every once in awhile when we would be alone. I was no longer thinking like a Captain, but I was thinking as something else, a title I was both appreciated of and not able to call myself out in public.

"Be safe, for my sake, Poe," I said to him in my own softer manner.

"Of course, Captain," He grinned at me, having me eye him now.

"Don't start," I advised him, not wanting him dress me like that when I was having my own moment with him. But there he was, seeing him just smile back at me.

"I know what you meant, Neyli. I'll be safe," He said in his bold manner, having me nod at him and we finally released our joined hands. He would be back, I knew that for certain since he was such a good pilot to not come back.

I had to let him go.

Several Hours Later

"What's the progress on Dameron?" I asked the officers as we were checking his locator that he had on for us to trace him. It was showing him on the planet Jakku, but it was something else that made my own blood turn cold and my heart almost break. We could see it there on the locator, the red lights coming on over and over all over the area and we knew what that meant, something I really didn't want to admit in front of the others.

"There appears to be an invasion of Storm Troopers from the First Order coming onto the planet, Captain," One of the officers explained to me now as she pulled up the map of the area to make it a little bigger. I could see all of the red dots moving around on the screen now and it was making em more grave.

"Captain, Poe just got captured by The First Order," I closed my eyes in defeat and I clutched the desk beneath me.

Poe was captured, and my heart was breaking.