Chapter Twenty-Five

Rey and Finn fall easily into conversation as they trek through the jungle terrain. Chewbacca and Artoo follow a few paces behind them, silent except for the steady thudding of Chewie's footfalls and Artoo's whirring wheels.

"Can't remember when it was just the two of us," Finn says, earning an indignant growl from Chewie. "Sorry. Sorry. You know what I mean."

Rey glances back at Chewie. "I don't think he does. Maybe you should walk behind him."

"No, Chewie and I are pals." Finn turns around, and his self-assured grin slips as Chewie warningly shifts his hold on his gun. "Chewie? Buddy? Don't be like that."

Chewbacca flashes his white pearls.

Finn turns forward again. He glances at Rey and gives a defeated shrug. "I might have overestimated our relationship."

Rey smirks. "Speaking about relationships, how long do you think it'll take for those two to blow up?"

"Longer than it would if Rose wasn't with them," Finn says. "I'm glad you picked me to come with you."

"Like you said, it's been a while since it was just the two of us."

When there's no complaint from Chewbacca, Finn throws his hands up in the air. "So you get it when she says it, but I insult you?"

Chewbacca warbles in Wookie.

"Basically," Rey translates.

A sudden cracking of a branch, calls all four to a halt. They turn as one towards the west and wait, poised to act. But seconds crawl by, transforming into minutes.

Finn and Rey breathed out the air they had been holding in. "It's strange," Finn says as they move on again. "There's something about this place... Can you hear it? Like a melody?"

Rey nods. "It's growing louder too."

"What do you think it is?"

"The Force. It's alive here." She furrows her brow, scrutinizing him with new wonder. "But you can hear it?"

Finn nods. "For a while now, I've felt like I can... sense things I never did before. I don't know how to describe it."

Rey did. "It's like you're experiencing the world beyond sight, touch, hearing, smelling, tasting. On a different realm entirely."

"Yeah."

"I think you might be sensitive with the Force. Like Leia."

"Really?" Finn's voice pitches higher with excitement. "Wow. That's... That's amazing! So I could be a Jedi?"

"With training. I think so. Or maybe something else."

"Something else?"

"Not of the Jedi or of the Sith. Something else," Rey says, and her mind wanders further off, thinking of Kylo.

#

He feels the prick of Rey's thoughts at the back of his head, hears her words echo in his mind. Not of the Jedi or of the Sith. Something else.

Out of context, he can't be sure what she means by it, but it sparks a small flame in him. Of possibility. Once this mission is done, once Hux is dealt with. He will build something with her. Something new.

"Pick up the pace, Threepio."

Poe's command grates his ears. Kylo pulls from his thoughts, focusing back to the present.

C-3PO, long-suffering servant of Leia's, has fallen far behind their quickened pace. The golden droid jerks his arms, aggrieved gestures. "I can only go so faster, Master Poe! I am as my Maker made me."

His Maker. Anakin Skywalker. Kylo's grandfather. But Kylo feels nothing for this droid. He feels even less for Poe. "If you don't want him to hold us back, maybe you should carry him."

"If we're throwing ideas out into the universe, maybe you should use the Force to hurry him up."

"I'm not the one complaining."

"I'm not complaining, you—"

"Oh, enough!" Rose interjects. She storms into view, between the two of them, a fierce expression on her face. "Arguing is not going to get us anywhere faster. Or safer. If anything, you're bound to draw something to us. So shut up. Both of you."

She storms ahead even as Kylo and Poe falter, staring after her. By the time they're ready to start again, Threepio has passed them by.

Kylo glances at Poe who's also glanced at him. The surprise of meeting eye to eye forces them to quickly stare away again before setting off.

The silence lasts as long until Rose's premonition comes to pass.

Kylo feels the shift in the energy, but it's Rose who cries out first. "Look at this!"

Poe is at her side before Kylo can reach them. But he doesn't need to see the great print in the ground to know that danger is upon them. He can feel it, eyes watching through the jungle. And then he can see the eyes and the creature they belong to. A great, scaly beast standing erect on two feet, a thin, long tail flicking out as if in eager anticipation of a feast. It's maw opens and reveals the threat of rows of fanged teeth.

Kylo has his blaster out, but before he can take a shot, it's ripped out of his hands.

He thinks it's Poe, but a glance assures him that Poe has suffered the same, as has Rose.

His eyes latch onto the beast's again. A Force Wielder. Of all the rotten luck.

The scaly creature roars as it surges from the trees. Kylo summons the Force to break the large branch of a tree. It falls, knocking against the creature's back, distracting it long enough for Kylo to dash over to where Rose and Poe are huddled together. With a thought, he summons their guns back to his hands and passes them over.

His own flies in next but before he can take a shot, it's wrenched from his hands again, and flung further off than before.

"Damn it all!" Kylo cries as he feels the next pull against him, slamming him against the ground, dragging him forward. He reaches out for the fallen branch and wields it like a bat, slamming it against the creature's head.

At once, the Force releases him. Leaping to his feet, he prepares to knock the creature out, but the falling branch is stopped, the creature now using the force to hold it up. It's a battle of strengths, but in this world, this creature is the one with a better grasp on the Force than he is. The branch is wrenched from his grasp and suddenly it's flying towards him.

He darts aside, but the branch catches him in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The sound of a blaster firing is followed by a pained roar. Then a very human shout.

Kylo flips over in time to see Poe whizzing through the air. He hits the ground beside him with a thud and a oomph!, dazed.

The beast looms over them, saliva dropping from its wide maw. Kylo reaches for the Force, but a greater power beats him to it, restrains him, holds his body frozen in time, his mind unable to move to protect him anymore than his hands.

Rey!

#

Rey stumbles. Finn's hands wrap around her, hold her before she can hit the ground. Fear pounds in her heart. If she listens closely, she can hear it in Finn's chest too. He feels it, the peril reigning over their friends.

Kylo!

#

It's a cry of desperation, too far away, helpless to save him.

So this is how I die, he thinks bitterly to himself. With Poe Dameron at my side.

Poe is stuck as he is, his eyes alone able to move, darting back and forth in confused terror.

Perhaps this is the irony of the universe. He hopes Han Solo will find it funny. He wonders whose death his mother will mourn more: his or Poe's. He wishes—

"Hey! Hey! Don't hurt them. Please."

Rose dashes into view, leaping atop the branch, her hands waving anxiously to draw the creature's attention.

You fool, he wants to scream. Get out of here. Save yourself. But his mouth is as bound as his body.

The creature hesitates, blinks curiously at Rose.

"Hi, there. I'm Rose. Rose Tico. And these are my friends. Please don't kill them."

The beast leans in closer to her, until its snout is a breath away from her face. It breathes in deep.

Rose trembles visibly but she doesn't run away, standing as tall as ever. Kylo feels her confidence swell, growing stronger.

"We aren't here to hurt you. We're looking for a way to defeat the Sith. We're the good guys."

Kylo can't imagine this beast has any sense of what those words mean. But it hasn't eaten Rose yet. That means something. Maybe it's because she isn't sensitive to the Force and hasn't tried to attack it yet. Maybe it only eats the male of the species. Maybe it's just considering how best to eat her. Head first, or feet. Maybe...

He gasps as the Force holding him down slips away. He's free to move. He sits up quickly as Poe does the same.

The beast's eyes lock with him, warn him against moving again.

Rose glances back at him, beaming. "She won't hurt us. I think we scared her, that's all."

"She?" Poe hisses. "How do you know—" His voice dies as the beast's eyes meet his.

"We'll leave you in peace," Rose speaks up, drawing the creature's attention back to her. "Thank you."

The beast straightens again, gives a tiny bob of its—her?—head, and tromps away.

Kylo rises shakily to his feet, the ground shaking beneath him with every step the beast takes.

Rose leaps down from the branch. She stands before them, hands perched happily on her hips. "Violence isn't always the answer," she says and with self-assurance twists on her heel and marches off.

Kylo steals a glance at Poe who's stolen a glance at him. "Well..." he says.

"Yeah," Poe says.

"I was certain you were both dead," Threepio's voice is cast between them. "How glad I am to be wrong."

They glance back at the droid.

"Next time we throw the droid at them," Poe suggests.

"Good plan," Kylo mutters.

Threepio stares between them. If his face could show expression, it would probably show trepidation.

Kylo?

He forgot about Rey.

It's okay. We're fine. Rose saved us.

That's good. Because we found it.

#

Rey pulls her attention back to the present, back to the land before her, to the drop in ground and the gape in the trees where a steepled tower rises above the ground, hovering below the canopy. It glows with the Force. And she knows without knowing that it holds the answers they're looking for.

AN: Sorry for the long wait, dear readers. It's been a crazy month. I hope this longer, action-y chapter will serve for the moment. The next chapter will 'hopefully' be up sooner than later.

Stay safe 3