Poe spat a heavy glob of blood out of his mouth, and glared up at the Stormtrooper who had hit him with the butt of a gun.
"That was just unnecessary. Chewie, tell em." The wookie roared at them. The Troopers seemed too scared to hit out at him. Poe felt a little bit better knowing he had good people supporting him, even though they were in the tightest bind of the century. Poe glanced over at Kylo Ren, who was taking off his helmet. Poe had never seen what the thing looked like. He moved towards his sister, so Poe couldn't see his face, but he saw a fall of shoulder-length brown hair. For some bizarre reason he hadn't expected hair. Hair was just so… human. Poe's eyes slid past Kylo Ren to take in Dara. She was dressed in a white Resistance uniform, designed for the snow. Her hair was a wild mane, her skin was paler, probably from the cold. Her face was more gaunt, her cheeks and eyes sunken. He felt his heart skipping a beat. Maybe it was breaking. She stared blankly ahead of her, graceful and still as a statue. Blank as stone. Poe felt tears in his throat. He was too late to stop her. To save her from the terrible decision she'd made. She had looked right through Poe when she had first come out. Now her eyes rested on Kylo Ren.
"Brother." Her voice was blank. Poe struggled to rise, and was hit again, behind the knees this time.
"Stay down, Resistance Scum!"
"Alright!" Poe shouted. He felt a little bit of pressure around him for a second, but it was gone as quickly as it came on. "Rey, are you okay?" he called back over his shoulder.
"It wasn't me." she said quietly, worry in her voice.
"What wasn't you? What wasn't her? Dameron what's going on?"
"We're captured, Finn, that's what's going on." He didn't want to get his hopes up, but that sensation felt like the Force, surrounding him. It had to be her… But what if it was Kylo Ren?
"Sister… Have you joined me? Do you feel the power of the Dark Side?" Kylo Ren was just a short distance away from his sister. But Poe could still hear them. The stillness that surrounded the temple helped, he supposed. He compared the siblings. They were of a similar height. Kylo Ren was bulkier, more solid, perhaps. Dara was looking thinner than ever. If he was being honest, she looked unhealthy.
"There is no Light. There is no Dark. There is only the Force." Dara said in a calm, emotionless voice. Poe choked on something he was trying to say. Dara was always passionate, hot-blooded, in his opinion at least. She had a spark. She was mischievous. But now there was nothing. He felt like she had been extinguished. "I must bring balance to the Force." she said, her voice louder now, more firm. Poe could tell from Kylo Ren's stance that he was excited.
"Come with me, sister! We will bring balance to the Force together." He held out his hand. Poe had had enough.
"Fuck this…" he muttered to himself. "Get ready." he whispered to the others.
"For what?!" Finn whispered back, waspishly. Quick as lightning, Poe lumbered to his feet and made a run for Kylo Ren. Nobody seemed to see him for a second, or register what he was doing, for it took the Stormtroopers that split second too long to react. He hurled himself into Kylo Ren, and fished inside his heavy coat for the blaster. His hands closed around the handle. He began to pull when he heard that surge of energy and crackle of Ren's sabre. He felt a burning pain stabbing him through the shoulder. Poe's fingers slackened on the blaster, and he saw Kylo Ren's face for the first time. Pale and sallow skinned. He had his mother's eyes, but they were filled with cruelty and hatred. The face of a monster, with the same cheekbones and lip shape as his Dara. How could one child have been so cruel and the other so caring? His eyes slid over to Dara, in the moment in time, where he still stood on his feet as the blaster fell through air. Her eyes connected with his. Blank. Emotionless. They were like precious gems. Beautiful, but lifeless. There was nothing left of her there. He tried to hold himself together for a second, but he felt blood starting to ooze out of him. He fell to the ground at her feet, staring ahead of him, locked within his own agony. Ren must have nicked something important for that much blood to be pumping out of him.
Poe heard screaming and the wookie's roar. His friends. He heard the Stormtroopers shouting at them to get down, literally beating them into submission. He heard a particularly vicious crack and Rey squealed. "FINN!" That couldn't have been good. Poe's fingers curled in the snow that was blossoming into a bright scarlet. He stared at Dara's white snow boots, blood splattered on them. He wasn't a stranger to the sight of his own blood, but Kylo Ren's stupid badly-made lightsabre had done him in with a wound that should not have been this bad. By the colour and the way the blood pumped, he knew an artery had been ruptured. Of all the ways to die, it had to be at his own stupidity.
"No." Dara's voice. Quiet. Calm. He felt that brush of pressure once more. It had been her. Poe felt a boot connecting with his stomach. He heard his own voice calling out in pain. That damned asshole had literally kicked him when he was down.
"Fuck you Kylo Jerk!" he hissed out. That was rewarded with another kick to the stomach. He groaned in agony again.
"Shut your hole, pilot!" The pressure around Poe intensified, so much so that he was finding it a little bit difficult to breathe.
"NO." Dara said more firmly now. Poe gazed up at the brother and sister. Kylo Ren stared at her, his lightsabre still flickering in his hand. Dara's brows were drawn. Was that a display of emotion? "Do not kick him again, Ben." There was a waver in her voice.
"What do you care of him? You and I are royalty! We are the living Force! We are the grandchildren of the chosen one! The most powerful people in the galaxy! He's scum. He's nothing. He's short and old and he isn't like us! You could do so much better for yourself." Poe wanted to protest with a sassy comeback, but he was starting to feel drowsy. He saw Dara's fist clench above him. That pressure was building all around him. His ears popped like when he was flying away from a planet. It was atmospheric. Before either of the siblings could say anything, a number of things happened. He heard a quiet voice in the distance, authoritative and persuasive. Then he heard the crunch of boots in the snow, the sound of a lightsabre (properly made) surging into life. He saw Kylo Ren turn, sabre still in hand, a snarl etched into his features. Then a blaster sounded, but it didn't make contact.
Poe haltingly turned himself over, grunting in pain. Agony lanced his every movement, but the wellbeing of his friends was more important to him than how he felt. As he rolled over, he saw Dara's outstretched arm over him, her fingers splayed, an angry look on her face. He saw that Rey was in mid-run, lightsabre gripped tightly. A blaster bolt was frozen about a foot from her, crackling in mid-air. Finn lay unconscious on the ground, an angry Chewbacca standing over him. There were about five Stormtroopers who appeared to be mid-way through attempting to wrestle the wookie to the ground. And then there was Kylo Ren, stock still, unable to move. His eyes moving to Dara in horror. Poe saw about 50 Stormtroopers out in the snow beyond the temple, waiting to come in to Kylo Ren's aid, but they too were stock still. Poe stared up at Dara wide eyed. He had seen her do some incredible things before, but this amount of sheer power was terrifying to him. And she wasn't even her anymore. There was no way to tell what side she would be on.
"NO!" That single word left her lips in a terrifying shriek, amplified by power and fury. "You will not hurt him! You will not hurt them!" Poe's breathing was strangely laboured. It was a lot of effort to draw breath past his lips, to keep his eyes open.
"Dara…" He was shocked at how weak his voice was. Her eyes flickered down to meet his eyes after a time. They were filled with tears. She looked confused and wide-eyed.
"Feel, don't think. Use your intuition." The words came in a whisper. A man's voice. Behind Dara stood a host of people that Poe had not seen before. Men and women and different species. They stood behind her like a small army. The man who had spoken the words had a long tumble of hair and a cunning face.
"You see them, don't you?" She sounded like herself again.
"Is it you?" His words were slurring now, deathly weak. The world was spinning and Dara had an otherworldly glow about her.
"It was all a test. I don't need to sacrifice anything to have power. I am my own power. Just… Just stay with my Poe." Kylo Ren grunted in annoyance but he couldn't speak.
"Just be happy Dara. Just be happy. For me." She was kneeling beside him, his head hoisted up into her lap, her fingers stroking his hair, tears splashing down onto his face.
"I'm sorry. For everything." He raised a hand, touching her face. He left a trail of blood on her warm cheek. He was glad he got to feel some warmth before he left this life. A small laugh escaped his lips.
"Typical me. Have to die the second I find you again."
"Don't say that!" He felt overwhelmingly tired all of a sudden. It wasn't scary, it wasn't even painful anymore. Now was the time to sleep and never wake. He smiled at her one last time, feeling his eyes forcing themselves shut.
"I love you Dara Solo." he breathed. Then there was only the great black, and there was no more pain or worry. It was all over.