The X-wing soared through the battle, dodging blasts and moving ships and flying debris from the Star Destroyers that the Resistance was pummeling into space trash. Explosions lit up like fireworks, soaring past the windshield like this was a victory celebration, not an almost galaxy-ending conflict. Rey certainly preferred to think of it as the former. The feeling of utter despair was not far from her, the voice of the emperor like a cold blade pressed against her throat. Threatening her friends. She had agreed to become empress, to accept his horrible inheritance, if it meant saving the people she loved. She had been willing to do it. She had been ready to do it.
The fact that she had not been met with that cruel fate still felt far too fragile to her, like her triumph might turn out to be a farce in the end. But Rey could not deny the truth of Ben Solo's body pressed against hers, even in such an ungraceful way as this. He was not a farce—he was alive, and he was real.
So was the voice that buzzed in on her comm unexpectedly.
"Rey! Come in, Rey! Is that you?"
"Poe!" Rey was so relieved she laughed out loud. "Poe, I—yes, it's me! I'm so happy to hear your voice."
"Right back at you," Poe said, and she could hear the smile in his tone too. "Damn, that was a close one, huh?"
"Real close," Rey said. "For both of us."
"Yeah, well—lucky for you I'm a difficult man."
"Lucky for me." Rey nosed the X-wing down to stay out of the trajectory of another Resistance fighter. She wasn't interested in joining the battle, not with what she was sitting on, literally and figuratively. "Where's Finn?"
"He's okay," Poe said, answering her real question, and Rey let out a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding. "He ran ground ops on the head Destroyer, and—"
"He what?"
"Don't yell at me, okay? I said the same thing. But he's a hero, Rey. He took down the signal. Changed the whole game."
"I'm glad he survived so I can murder him later."
"Ha—not if I get there first!"
"We'll see about that. I'm going to head back to base. Are you all right to finish up here without me?"
Poe made a very Poe-ish sound into his com; something along the lines of pssh, do you even need to ask?
"Perfect. And hey, Poe?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm, er, bringing something back with me."
The comm was silent for a minute. Then: "Okay."
"And I need you to stay calm when you see who—what it is. Can you do that?"
"Sur—" Rey heard the sound of blasters through their connection, and Poe grunting as he maneuvered his fighter. "Sure thing."
"I mean it. I need someone to have my back."
"I've got it, Rey. You know I've got it."
Rey smiled. "I know."
With that, she dipped the X-wing nose first and took her and Ben out of the battle.
