Rosella held tightly onto Katrine as she stood by Leia's side. She knew what Poe wanted her to do. She knew what Leia wanted her to do. Yet, Rosella didn't know if she could do it. She didn't know what more she could do, but holding the little girl in her arms, she closed her eyes as she heard Leia sigh. Deep down, Rosella knew that they had no chance of survival. They had no chance to win this fight. It scared her more than she cared to admit. The door was still slightly open and roars from the trenches echoed around them. In the distance the AT M6 Walkers was in the distance. The ski speeders were rusty as they made their way towards the First Order and the ground forces that threatened to attack.

"Go, Rosella," Leia whispered.

"No, there is still hope," Rosella said, feeling the ring she wore of Poe's grow heavier with each passing thought she had of running. "They have only just set off."

"No one is answering our distress signal," Leia said to her in a whisper, looking up to her as Katrine wrapped her arms around Rosella's neck. Clinging tightly onto her, Rosella did her best not to feel a lump in her throat. "We are outnumbered. The battle rages on and now is your time to escape. Go and get to safety. Should we win then we will follow you."

"General-"

"-It is an order, Rosella," Leia interrupted her sternly, looking to her as Rosella bit down on her lip and looked to Leia, tears brimming in her eyes. "That child needs saving. She is a child…I couldn't save my son…but I can save her…you can save her…Poe will understand."

"And that is the maddening part," Rosella whispered.

"I wouldn't send you away if I thought there was a certain chance of safety, but I cannot guarantee that."

Nodding her head, Rosella took a deep breath and reached for a blaster. She moved with haste then, dropping Katrine so that she was down by her side as she looked to the door that was still slightly ajar. But then Rosella saw it. She had seen the designs for it in Armitage's study one day.

"Leia…they have a Superlaser siege cannon. You need to shut this door," she demanded from her. It's…the technology on that thing is like the Death Star. It will cut through the door in minutes."

"Go," Leia said to her. "Go and then we will-"

"-No," Rosella said quickly. "You don't understand. Those doors need to be shut now!"

"Get through them and run…turn left and run, Rosella," Leia said.

Rosella didn't know what possessed her, but she took hold of Katrine's hand and dragged her through the large metal doors before the canon could warm up. Turning left, she ran along the cliff wall of the mine as she heard the familiar noise of TIE fighters above her alongside the noise of the ski speeders. Running with the little girl in tow, Rosella suspected it would take her ten or more minutes to get to the escape pods. She ran with haste, her feet hitting the ground, yet Katrine lagged behind her.

Reaching behind her body, Rosella took hold of the little girl into her arms and ran with haste, knowing full well that the mine would be swarming with stormtroopers if nothing happened. Rosella didn't know if she could do it. She didn't know if she could run away. Poe would be forced to retreat. He would be trapped. He would be left in there.

Her pace slowed as she carried the little girl, turning her head over her shoulder to see the canon blasting towards the shut door. She said nothing as she saw the speeders retreat, knowing that they had no chance. She went still before she saw the canon blast through the door. Her body shook wildly as she saw the escape pods, grateful that they were closer than they had estimated.

Standing by them, she turned her head around again and saw Kylo Ren's ship land in front of the mine. But then she saw another figure leave as Kylo Ren stepped forwards, his lightsaber igniting as another figure stepped out from the mine. She wondered who it could be, but she didn't get that far in looking. Instead she saw Kylo Ren's ship begin to hover and move off. The only problem was that it was floating in her direction.

"We need to go, Katrine," Rosella said with haste, stepping into one of the ships and looking for the escape pod. She found it after a moment, her fingers playing on the control panel. She pressed all the buttons she needed to, but nothing seemed to be happening. She cried out in anger before she heard footsteps approaching. Pushing Katrine behind her body, she looked to the doorway, her breaths coming out in short and laboured pants.

She struggled to think coherently before she saw him. He came into her view, clad in his usual black uniform, his hair slicked back and his face paler than usual. Katrine gripped hold of Rosalie's arm, clinging tightly onto her as she peered around to the man stood in the doorway. Rosella looked around, but no one else came. He was alone.

"I sent them back to the fleet," his voice said and he sounded as stern as he usually did.

"Why?" Rosella asked from him.

"Because I did," was all that he offered her as she looked him in the eye and he tugged his gloves from his fingers, dropping them into his pocket as he watched his wife and the little girl. "I would have noticed you anywhere, Rosella. You should consider yourself lucky that Kylo Ren is too concerned with Luke Skywalker to notice you."

"Is it not Snoke I should be concerned of?"

"Ren killed Snoke," Armitage informed her. "He is our new Supreme Leader."

"What?"

"Yes," Armitage said and she suspected that he did not like that thought. She said nothing further, choosing to keep quiet as he moved further into the ship and looked around, his brow furrowing and crease line forming on his forehead as he then moved his gaze back to his wife. "What are you doing, Rosella? I assume you were trying to escape? What would the pilot say?"

"Poe told me to go," Rosella said in confident voice. "She is an innocent child, Armitage. She doesn't deserve this…no one in that mine deserves this."

"Yet they are rebel scum," Armitage hissed, but Rosella shook her head.

"They are just people," she said. "They just want peace."

"Then they should accept the First Order."

"Peace, not a dictatorship," Rosella counteracted. "Why are you here, Armitage? You know what you need to do so why not simply do it? We both know that is why you are here."

Armitage did look intrigued then as he took a step closer to his wife. She didn't flinch, nor did she move away. She stood her ground and watched her husband, her hands still holding onto Katrine behind her.

"You do not know why I am here, Rosella," Armitage said in a whisper. "You never really did understand me."

"Because you never let me in," Rosella said to him. "You never opened up to me."

"Is that what you are supposed to do when you are in love?" he enquired from her and she rolled her eyes at hearing him. Shaking her head back and forth, she continued to listen to him. "I let you in, Rosella. I told you things I never told anyone else. I thought that I could trust you…I thought that you wanted me…and then you left."

"You made me do things I never wanted to do!"

"Did you ever think that I maybe didn't have a choice?" he retorted, his voice harsh and demanding, taking her off guard as she looked to him with wide eyes, her breathing slightly heavier as she watched him chuckle darkly. "You didn't, did you? Snoke was the one in charge, Rosella. He didn't think that you did anything worthy for the First Order. I found the best job for you…a job that didn't have you come face to face with death…with things that you would have been traumatised to do. I protected you."

Rosella said nothing in response and Armitage let out a hollow laugh.

"Of course you didn't know."

"You never told me," Rosella said. "You never told me any of that."

"What good would it have done?" Armitage wondered from her. "You would have resented me anyway."

"No…maybe I wouldn't have…" she trailed off and he shrugged at hearing her.

"I doubt it," he responded to her.

"Armitage, just…"

"What?" he wondered and she shook her head at him.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she didn't exactly know what to say to him and so she chose to remain silent. She inhaled a sharp breath and let it out, closing her eyes for a moment before daring to look to him, knowing that she had to save Katrine despite everything. She couldn't let him hurt the little girl.

"I know that you have orders from Snoke-"

"-He is dead, but Ren wants me to enforce those orders still," Armitage said.

"Then do it," Rosella said, "but let Katrine go. Please. She has lost everyone, Armitage."

"No…please…" Katrine said quickly, pulling on Rosella's arm as she shivered and turned to look back to the little girl, bending down and pulling her into her arms as she crouched in front of her. "Don't leave me, please, Rosella. I need you."

"It's alright," Rosella promised her. "You can be safe, Katrine. You can go somewhere safe and someone will look after you."

"Go."

Rosella was unsure of what he had said as she turned her head over her shoulder to look to him. Armitage didn't look at her. Instead he remained silent and considered what he had just told her to do. But he took a deep breath and nodded his head, looking her in the eye.

"Go," he urged from her.

"But they know that you are here," Rosella said in a whisper. "If they find out I was here then what will they do?"

"Nothing," Hux said with a shake of his head. "No one saw you here. I said I would come and make sure they were empty. I sent the ship back."

"That seems reckless of you."

Hux smirked. "No one questions a General," he responded to her. "Just go, Rosella. Take her and leave this planet."

"But why?" she asked from her husband as she stepped towards him and Katrine remained weary. Hux reached out, his pale fingers running down her cheek as he looked her in the eye and let out a shaky breath, wondering when the last time he had touched her and she hadn't flinched was. It had been a long time. Instead he stepped towards her, his chest inches from hers.

"Because I remember what it was like, Rosella," he whispered to her. "And I do not have it in me to kill you…anyone else…but not you…"

"Thank you," Rosella said to him, her hand moving to his chest.

But Hux had other ideas. Moving with haste, he pulled her to him, kissing her chastely for a moment. She was too in shock to move away from him, instead she kept her eyes wide and her lips pursed. He held onto her for a moment before pulling back and looking her in the eye. He didn't know what had possessed him, but he suspected it was his wife and being so close to her without her looking at him as though she detested him.

Rosella was confused. Her emotions were scattered along with her thoughts as she looked to Armitage and wondered what they could have been. She moved a hand to sweep through his hair.

"Be careful, Armitage," she whispered to him.

"Go, Rose," he urged from her. "Just go."

He turned on his heel and swept away, leaving Rosella in the escape pod with Katrine, a strange feeling in her stomach as she saw Armitage duck out of the ship. She only wondered if that would be the last time she would see him.

…

A/N: Do let me know what you think!