What's this?! This isn't Friday!
(Actually, by the time I get this posted, it'll be nearly one or two AM Friday my time zone)
BUT, what I'm trying to say...
It's the final stretch! It is the LAST FOUR CHAPTERS.
I made it, some how, without losing my mind.
Fabulous.
ANYWAY, to celebrate such a momentous occasion, I am posting the last four chapters THIS WEEKEND.
Starting with 20 today, Thursday (or very very early Friday), 21 sometime during Friday, 22 on Saturday and finally ending To The Stars and Back on Sunday!
ENJOY!
~TheObsessory
To The Stars and Back
Chapter 20; The Force
A Fanfiction written by TheObsessory
Cold metal was wrapped around my wrists. I struggled weakly but could not pull loose. The restraints were too tight. It was warm in this room, sweat had collected on the edge of my shirt. The drops of salty water beaded at my forehead, but I could do nothing to remove them.
Yet deep inside, I felt no panic. I was unbelievably calm for my predicament.
This isn't me.
And yet here I was, living it.
The room was dark. Soundless. Comforting in a way.
It's too quiet. It makes my heart race. Why aren't I screaming? Can someone help me?
I knew help would not come. Therefore I didn't waste was little energy I had.
That's when the pain came to me.
Freshly spilled blood mingled with the sweat on my forehead, thick and warm. My lip throbbed and the taste of copper was strong against my tongue. A couple of ribs ached- had they been broken? And still, I remained calm.
Why haven't you fought back?
I had resigned myself. I had known my job was dangerous. Rather me than her.
Who?
Sidra.
The sound of my name in my thoughts was delicate, like a blanket being placed over an infant. My own face flashed before my closed eyes. Smiling. Laughing. And there. My face the night Poe left. The tears.
"I had no idea we had best pilot in the Resistance on board."
A dark voice made the memories of Sidra- of me -disappear. I opened my eyes and was greeted with the mask. The one who had taken me. Who had killed everyone else.
Who was killed?
"Comfortable?"
"Not really." I mumbled back. This wasn't my voice, and I did not will any sounds to form, yet it escaped my lips.
"I'm impressed." The masked figure stepped forward from the shadows, "No one has been able to get out of you what you did with the map."
"You might want to rethink your technique." No, don't provoke him! A great force radiated from the figure who stood before me, but I couldn't care less.
The figure raised a hand, and a probing began. My memories were being tossed around in my head like sand in a sandstorm. Everyone of them scanned and tossed aside. I could feel fingers working through them like the growing tendrils of a vine, a great pain growing.
I was tossed backwards, my head slamming against the chair. My eyes crossed, blurred.
"Where is it?" I tried to resist him, to bat at the hands that worked so effortlessly through my deepest and most guarded thoughts.
"The Resistance," I strained to form words, "Will not be intimidated by you."
"Where… is it?" I slumped forward, wrists rubbing against the cuffs painfully. The hands multiplied, searching further. Searching carelessly through all.
I released a scream from the pit of my stomach, willing with all my might to combat this darkness.
I sat up with a jerk, the scream still ringing in my ears as I jumped to my feet, a cold sweat on my forehead, reminiscent of a few moments ago, as I stopped and listened. Had the First Order found us? After a few moments of waiting I took a deep breath, doing my best to calm my nerves.
It had just been a dream.
I sat on the edge of my bed, holding my head in my hands as a painful headache started once more, worse than the one that had happened before. The scream had been so real, like whoever did it was sitting right next to me. Like it had been me. My heart was still pounding in fear.
The headache grew quickly, growing unbearable as I whimpered, trying to massage it away. I began to sweat profusely, trying to fight whatever this was.
And just as quickly as it began, it was gone. I panted as I had been holding my breath during the whole ordeal, releasing my fingers from my forehead.
Even in the darkness of my room, I could see a glistening dark liquid dripping down my left fingers.
I gasped as I felt along my left temple and hairline, looking for whatever could have caused it, but when I drew my fingers back to inspect them, there was no blood.
Had it been me there, in that seat? Had I seen the future once again?
Poe.
I don't know why my mind immediately went to him. It had been a week since he left on his mission to find Tekka, and as far as I knew he'd sent a message every night recapping what he'd done so far.
I took a deep breath. To shoo away any fears I had, I would go read the message he sent tonight, proof that there was nothing wrong and I was just seeing things out of exhaustion.
"BB-5." The droid immediately bleeped awake, rolling toward me questioningly, "Come with me."
I slipped on my boots, but didn't bother to clean up my appearance too much. I didn't expect too many people to be crawling around at three in the morning.
It was quiet, walking through the halls, with the exception of BB-5's occasional blip or the sound of him rolling over a metal grate in the floor.
Surprisingly enough, the central compound was completely empty. What was usually always bustling and busy was reduced to the quiet hum of the machines that still worked without their owners.
I sat down on a chair, pulling up to a computer.
"BB-5, search for any messages from Poe." I instructed the droid.
I would have done it manually myself, but I wasn't nearly as savvy with a regular computer as other people were. Besides, I had no idea where to look in the first place.
"He didn't send one in last night."
I jumped in my chair, swivelling it around to see Leia standing there, her arms crossed and a tired look permanently drawn on her face. It looked like she never went to sleep.
"Oh." Was all I could muster, fear gripping me. What I had just witnessed… was real. Something was wrong, "You should have let me go with him."
"Why is that?" The General took a seat nearby, leaning against the back of it.
"There's something wrong with him. I don't know how I know, or why I know, but I can just… feel it." I was hesitant to tell her further what had happened in my room, fearing that she would think me absolutely daft, but I continued on,"I've been hearing things, General. And seeing them. I was there. And just a few moments ago I had this headache. It was like someone was in my mind, pushing things around, searching for something."
Leia sat up straight, her tired eyes suddenly looking bright.
"And this has happened before." It wasn't a question.
I probed my memories.
"I had a vision once and it came true. I also moved a carpet with just my thoughts. Poe thought I was force sensitive-"
"From what I'm hearing, it sounds like he was correct." Leia smiled at me, "Luke would know for sure, but everything you've told me sounds like force sensitivity. Visions of the future, being highly aware of those most precious to you, the ability to move things on a whim."
"I… don't know." I mumbled back, "This is the first time this has happened again for over twenty years."
"Let me guess. The first time it happened was when Shara Bey died?"
"Well, right before." I corrected.
"And you were living near Poe. Near the force sensitive tree?"
"How do you-?" I was confused as to how she knew all this information already.
"Poe questioned me about the force a couple years ago. He seemed interested in it and when I asked him why, he mentioned you. Because you weren't showing any other signs, and Poe knew nothing about any other visions you could have had, I just assumed it was the force sensitive tree heightening your abilities, as they're sometimes known to do, but it seems it never left you." Leia smiled sadly, "It seems your abilities arise whenever your closest friends are in danger."
"I'm worried about him." My heart pumped uneasily in my chest, "When he left… we fought. I'd never be able to forgive myself if that's the last memory he has of me and he-"
"Poe Dameron is not going to die, Sidra." Leia said forcefully, her face solemn
"How can you be sure?" I whispered.
"You think my father gave Luke all of his force sensitivity?" A small smile brightened her face, "Poe still has a story to tell Sidra. Something tells me it's a big one, as well. Whether you'll be apart of it or not is still… undetermined."
A few days after my late night talk with Leia, Poe was officially announced to be MIA. Not a single report had been put in since I went looking.
Although Kes was devastated he continued to work, albeit with fewer laughs. He was worried about Poe, but I think he felt he was still alive. I, on the other hand, was unsure.
I hadn't had a single dream or vision about Poe since that night, and every time I thought of that, I felt my anxiety climb. Could he really be dead?
"Are you alright?"
Cerys had come to visit me the night after the announcement had been made, her eyes still red and swollen from her own tears.
I shook my head, my fingers freezing as I clasped them together.
"I'm a horrible person, Cerys." I choked out, brushing the tears away with the shoulder of my shirt.
"No you are not." My little sister sat on the bed next to me, her arms wrapped around one of my own and her head leaning against my shoulder.
It was then I decided Cerys deserved to know the whole truth. So I quickly told her about my fifteenth Birthday and the small instances in between that had led up to Poe's leaving.
"Oh, those things." Cerys pulled away, a mildly annoyed face appearing, "I already knew about most of that."
"How?" I asked. She had either been a baby or not around when most of the things I told her happened, but perhaps she was more observant than I realized.
"Poe told me, of course. After I asked you about that chain around your neck, I went and asked him, and he told me everything. Including what the chain meant." I stared at her expectantly, awaiting a further explanation. I could see it in her eyes, that she knew something I didn't and it was eating me alive.
With a sigh, Cerys shifted positions, crossing her legs on the bed.
"Kes gave that chain to Shara when he asked her to marry him. And Shara gave it to Poe when he was born." She said simply.
My eyebrows scrunching in confusion. She had to be lying to me, which was extremely incensitive of her given the circumstances
"He was with another girl- Nusa -when he gave me this, Cerys. Why would he want to marry me when he loved someone else-?"
"He loves you, Sidra. I don't know how you could be so blind. We all saw it. I think Leia sees it too. But after what happened on your fifteenth birthday, he gave you the space you needed. And then when the whole Nusa-overhearing-Poe's-lie thing went down, he told her everything. About how he'd always wait for you and while he cared about her, he couldn't feel the same way about her. They stuck together for a bit after that, but once you guys both joined the Resistance, they lost contact." I was still confused, "What, you think just because you told him you wanted to be friends that would instantly make him not love you any more? That's not how it works, big sister. And I know you love him too, even if you don't think you do."
"I don't know what to think any more." I buried my face in my hands, my fingers shockingly cold against my bright red cheeks. It was far too much information to process at the moment.
"He said that you told him you were afraid he would stop loving you if you guys got together. That you would lose him." Cerys said quietly, her hand resting on my shoulder, "And that is… the stupidest thing I've heard ever."
I glanced up at the change of tone in her voice.
"You think a boy who would drag you half way across the universe to go to school would just up and stop caring for you?" She punched my shoulder lightly, "I thought you were smarter than that."
"Well it doesn't matter now." I shrugged her hand away, my own anger growing, "Because he's missing and who knows when he'll come back, or if he ever will. And now… I get to live with that guilt."
Cerys smiled sadly as she once again wrapped her arms around me, pulling me into a sideways hug, "He'll be back, Sid." My heart beat painfully when she called me 'Sid' as Poe so often did, "This is true love, you think this happens every day?"
I scoffed.
"Promise me you'll tell him how you feel when he comes back." Cerys whispered against my shoulder, "You've been together for as long as I've known, what harm could come out of spending the rest of your lives together?"
"I promise." I told her, although I was already calculating all the problems that stood between me and fulfilling that promise. He had to come back alive, first.
"Take care, okay?" She told me as she stood up, "I'll see you in a few days."
"Few days?" I questioned, "Where are you going?"
"Kes, a few of the others and I are heading to Hosnian Prime later tonight to get some parts. We'll be back before you even know we're gone." Cerys rolled her eyes as she backed toward the door. Clearly she was tired of being the ever watched baby, "Besides, I need to get off this base for a while."
"Be safe." I called after her as the door started to close, "I love you!"
So now we know what the necklace means.
A promise made.
And I wonder if anyone noticed a little something... that may end badly?
Coming Up in Chapter 21: It's about time!
~TheObsessory
