Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars just my OC. Writing for fun as always.
Chapter 32: Bravery
Elle, Poe, Finn, and Janna ran out to the hillside where they spotted Rey charging the waters on a skimmer. She braved the high tides rolling at her before their eyes.
"She took the skimmer?" Janna asked in an alarmed voice.
Poe looked through the binoculars in search for her frantically before he finally found her, fighting another huge tidal wave with its snowcapped tips. He handed Finn the binoculars so he could see what his crazy best friend was doing.
"What the hell was she thinking?" Poe inquired with a slight edge to his voice and Elle grimaced.
"She's doing what she has to do," Elle said.
"Yeah, and since when has that ever been a good thing?" he threw back at her, reminding her of Elle's demise, getting stuck on Exegol.
"Well, this is Rey, maybe she's…I don't know," Elle shrugged her shoulders fighting for the right words to say. "Better than me."
"You trained with your father too, when you were younger, can't you, like, I don't know, mind control her to stop her?" Poe asked.
Elle laughed and then glowered at him, feeling her eyes darkening at how low he really stooped. "Wow. Mind control. That's a new low, even for you."
Poe growled out of frustration and started turning to walk the way of the Falcon.
"Wait! Poe!" Elle cried after him and she jogged right after him. He paused slightly, placing his hands over his hips.
"Poe. Come on. You know that's not how the Force works," Elle said.
"Not in my experience," he glared at her.
She looked down. "She'd ignore me anyway."
Finn glanced at Elle. "Yeah, she would," he handed Elle the binoculars and she frowned slightly at them.
"Poe, we gotta go after her!" Finn exclaimed finally and quickly jumped to his feet.
Elle could hear the worry in his emotional tone of voice and she chewed her bottom lip, staying put on the grassy hillside, watching Finn desperately plead for Poe's help.
"We'll get the Falcon fixed, we'll go out there as soon as we can," Poe said as he continued walking towards it.
Finn shared a look with Elle and he quickly followed after the pilot down the hill. "No, we're gonna loose her."
"She left us! What are we gonna do swim?" Poe demanded from him, turning to face him.
"She's not herself," Finn said calmly after a moment or two. "You have no idea what she's fighting."
"Oh, and you do?" Poe asked.
Elle grimaced.
"Yeah I do, and so does Leia," Finn said.
Poe's face tightened a bit. "Well, I'm not Leia."
Elle chewed her bottom lip worriedly. Damn it.
"That's for damn sure," Finn motioned a chin nod at him.
Poe looked over at Elle, and then back at Finn before he turned around to go back to the Falcon.
Elle was torn at what to do, that is until Janna came in with an offer.
"I have another skimmer."
Finn and Elle looked at her and he grinned gratefully.
"Okay, you go get Rey. I'll help Poe with the Falcon, all right?" Elle said, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze, and gave him the binoculars back.
Finn nodded. "Good luck," he said.
Elle nodded at him. "You too."
Elle ran back down the hillside trying to catch up to Poe. She climbed into the Falcon where she looked for him, back at work at the control panel.
"If you don't know how to work the Falcon, please refrain from touching anything," Poe said, seeing her enter and stand by his side while he was hard at work.
Elle nodded, biting her lip in chagrin. "I may not know how to fix my uncle's Falcon, but I do know how to work up a handsome resistance pilot," she said and then knelt down beside him to lightly touch his bicep.
Poe sighed, feeling her touch, and leaning into her just a tiny bit.
"You know I never not once used my Jedi mind tricks on you. Not once."
"No, but your cousin did," he said bitterly. "I've been trying to forget actually, trying to push that memory away. The pain is…"
Elle listened to him and nodded. "I know. I was tricked to go to Exegol if that makes you feel any better."
"Do you remember it?" he asked, glancing at her.
"Some of it. Mostly pain. And rawness. But I know that my parents wouldn't want me to remember those feelings. Instead, I try to remember them, and my family," she said, giving Poe a tight squeeze of reassurance to know that she still loved him and was by his side no matter what.
Poe looked into her eyes and listened to Elle's story, letting it sink in. "It's just hard for me to imagine what you and Rey go through," he said softly.
"I can teach you some of it if you want," Elle said, slightly smiling at him.
Poe scoffed a bit. "Eh, no thanks. I'm good. Real good. While the light saber is cool and all, I like my blaster right where it is." He patted his against his hip, making Elle smile.
"Don't be too hard on Rey, okay? Finn's right. She is going through a lot right now, and we just need to give her some space."
"Not too much. I don't want to loose her like I lost you," Poe said, looking up at Elle pleadingly.
"You didn't loose me," Elle said, shaking her head.
"Almost lost you."
"And yet you didn't. You kept me out of the dark again," Elle said thankfully. "I'm forever grateful. I love you for that."
Poe looked at her and then Elle stopped talking when she realized that she'd told him that she loved him. Of course she loved him, but she hadn't told him that in a very long time.
"I mean, I've always loved you, but you know what I mean. You're home to me. You, the Resistance, Kaylee, Luca. You're my home. And it doesn't matter where we are as long as I have you, so long as you'll have me because I still think you're a pretty great guy. You care Poe. That's one of your biggest traits. You care to see that others get justice in the way it's deserved. You care to see this war through. Look, you don't have to be Leia, Poe. You need to be Poe Dameron, the best pilot in the resistance because that's how this war is being won right now. I believe in you."
"But I look up to Leia…" Poe whispered.
"I know. Look. A long time ago, I was…loosing hope. And when I saw you again…I found hope once more. You're my other half. You're someone I want to be. I want to be brave and bold and so much more. And when I'm with you, you bring that out in me. You bring it out in others, Poe."
"I do?" Poe asked with a bit of shaky uncertainty tone in his voice.
Elle ran a few fingers through his curly hair. "You do. Now, let's get this thing fixed, and go find Rey."
~*SW*~
It didn't take long for Poe and Chewie to fix the Falcon. Elle just helped by handing them the tools that they needed to replace the broken parts of the ship. They were in the air, hightailing after Finn, Janna, Rey, and apparently…
"Ben," Elle said suddenly, gripping onto Poe's seat, leaning forward to look out the windshield.
There they were. She could see the red and blue light sabers clash with one another and then Rey suddenly stabbed Ben in the side almost as if in slow motion. Janna was holding Finn back from going out to her. Good. He'd only get caught in the crossfire and that wouldn't have helped anyone.
But then Elle felt a heavy wave of feelings wash over her. She leaned back in her seat.
"Aunt Leia…" she whispered softly, feeling yet another life form disappear. "No…"
"What? Elle? What is it?" Poe asked frantically, turning to face her while he helped pilot the Falcon with Chewie by his side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said. Elle shook her head, letting him know that she was okay, and that he needed to keep going.
Elle on the other hand, could not. She was stilled in her place. She didn't expect to loose her aunt so soon.
~*SW*~
A/n: So I know I haven't updated in awhile. Sorry you guys! It's just been kind of crazy hasn't it? Well, I hope everyone is safe and well, and hope this update lifted somewhat of your spirits. Thank you all so much for reading, the recent follows, favorites, and reviews! They are welcomed and loved! More updates soon!
