Poe wouldn't give into them. There was nothing the First Order could do to him to make him give up BB-8 and the Resistance. He could withstand torture, he had been for hours now. He could make it through with enough bravado, enough stubbornness.

He had not been prepared for Kylo Ren invading his mind. There was no amount of training that could have stopped the force user from sifting through his memories. The only thing he could think to do was to think about flying, the rush, the joy, the thrill of being in the air and in control of his life. Poe tried so hard to hold onto that feeling of flying.

His first flight in his mother's A-Wing.

Seeing his X-Wing for the first time.

Passing all of the Academy tests with the best scores anyone had ever seen.

Flying for the Resistance and knowing that he was doing good in the galaxy, like his parents before him.

He fought against Kylo Ren sifting through his memories. He felt the rush as if he were flying, and just for a moment, his mind slipped. In his memories, his X-Wing landed and Maia was waiting for him, hands on her hips and a big grin.

Kylo Ren seemed to latch onto these memories and he couldn't stop all his memories of her and BB-8 rising to the top of his mind. He yelled in defiance, this monster couldn't have his memories of her. He couldn't have her. Fighting back against Kylo Ren caused pain to shoot throughout his entire being.

Maia frowning at him the first time they met and insulting his flying skills.

The first time she hugged him when he got back from his mission.

Him catching her graffitiing the Black Squadron's X-wings and helping her write insults in her native language on Snap's T-75.

Maia stuffing an entire Beylan death pepper in her mouth, then crying and cursing because it was too hot.

Laying under the transport shuttle as she drew swirls in the dust and talked about birds that would never land.

Maia sitting on the floor of the astromech bay, cradling BB-8 and making fun of his name, the biggest smile on her face.

From there, there was no stopping Kylo Ren from seeing Poe give his droid the map and sending him into the sands of Jakku. Poe collapsed back, his breathing strained, pain still coursing through him. There was no way he could have stopped him. He needed to get back the Resistance and warn them.

Leia awoke to the sounds of Maia sobbing on her bed, wrapped in her blankets like a cocoon. She tried to calm the woman, but she was inconsolable. She was babbling about Poe and pain and the old King.

"Are you adding him to the list?" Leia asked quietly.

That seemed to sober her up a little, "No, not Jameron."

Leia smiled, she remembered a much younger Maia giving rhyming nicknames to her son at the Jedi temple within five minutes of Ben arriving. She remembered the relief she had felt when she saw there was someone at the Jedi Temple who wasn't uptight. In her heart of hearts, she wondered what her son had done to Maia.

Maia never spoke about Ben, didn't even seem to know his name, but Leia knew that her son was to blame for her state of mind. Luke had brought Maia too her immediately after his Jedi Temple had burned. Maia had still be covered in blood, but none of it was hers, her only physical injury had been a cut on her lip.

Luke and Maia had been devastated at the destruction that had been wrought upon their home, and they had both run away from it, in their own way. Luke had entrusted Maia to her care and left, disappeared to find the first Jedi Temple. Maia had retreated from reality as much as she could.

"The Force is moving through her like a breeze through an open window. She can't control it anymore, there's nothing I can do to help her." Luke had said, the night before he disappeared, "There is nothing I can do to help anyone."

Leia had been furious with Luke at first, he had run away and left her with this broken woman and a son who was trying to take over the galaxy. But over the years, Maia had grown on her. She regretted that she wasn't there for Maia in the years she had been on New Alderaan. She would just add it to the long list of regrets she already had.

She had failed Ben, and she was determined not to fail Maia.

A small droid rolled out from under Maia's bunk. It seemed to be a repurposed maintenance droid that had been painted blue and white. It beeped at her and nudged her leg insistently. Maia leaned over and picked up the small oval droid. A small attachment rubbed her cheek comfortingly.

"Who this?" Leia asked.

"MSE-3, Tel gave him to me."

Maia was known for scooping up smaller droids and singing to them so a small maintenance droid was perfect for her to leave the other droids alone. In her first week here she had managed to convince all the astromech droids that they needed soft music playing while they were charging. Leia had found her cradling BB-8 like a small child while Poe tried to convince her to give up his droid.

Leia ran a tentative hand through Maia's hair. She wondered if she should have tried to help Maia differently. She was whimsical and warm most of the time, but when she wasn't it was like living with a nightmare. Leia would never forget every communication that read 'Maia almost burned the house down today' or 'Maia stabbed herself, not sure if it was an accident or she thought she wasn't real again' from her time on New Alderaan. Recently, incidents like that had been getting few and far between. But there were days where Maia would break everything she could get her hands or, or not get out of bed, or hide in the vents for a week. But she couldn't find it in her heart to change the girl or make her face her demons.

"It's very. . . cute."

Maia put the droid down, "The old King is returning."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Terrible. And beautiful."

The old King was one of her many antagonists that lived in her mind. It had been awhile since Maia had mentioned him. She laid her head down on Leia shoulder and let out a long shuddering breath, "Terrible and beautiful." She repeated.

Kylo Ren ripped his mask from his head as soon as he entered his chambers.

Maia was alive.

She had survived, he had left her for dead on that planet and not given her another thought. He shouldn't be surprised, if Skywalker had survived then she would have too.

Maia had been his first failure in Snoke's eyes, he couldn't let Snoke know that she was alive now or he would face a punishment worse than death for this. The pilot knew she was alive, he was going to have to be disposed of quickly. His memories of her had been bathed in warm light that he had not felt in years. Her behavior in all his memories were baffling. . .

What had his mother done to her?

His fists clenched, no, he couldn't get angry now. Snoke would know he was angry and know why. He had to bury his knowledge of her deep within him so he would not arouse suspicions of his continued failure.

He was the Master of the Knights of Ren and failure was not an option.