We're fully in The Last Jedi territory now!

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XXXXXX

Poe lay on a bed in one of the bunk rooms, trying hard to not fidget. Three others were sleeping, or trying to sleep, in the same room, and while he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep, he didn't want to prevent them from doing so.

He lay on his back, hands under his head, fingers laced. For a while he had had one knee up and the ankle of his other leg braced on it, but it had been too hard to keep from bouncing the foot that was in the air, so both feet were on the bed now. His mind would not stay still, either, but at least that wasn't going to keep anyone awake.

If Rey was here, she would probably tell him to 'shut up' his brain, he thought. But if Rey was here, he probably wouldn't be in this position.

He felt a slight jolt as another bolt from the Supremacy hit its target, but the shields held.

His thoughts ran in circles. Leia, and the fact that she had somehow survived a short jaunt in space a few hours ago, but was now lying comatose in the med bay. Finn and Rose, who had somehow connected and come up with a plan to defeat the Supremacy, a plan that Poe had approved of and then had helped them escape the Raddus unnoticed so they could implement it. Holdo, who he wanted to respect due to her background and her association with Leia, but he just could not trust. And Rey.

Always his mind came back to Rey.

Had she reached this Jedi planet? Had she found Luke Skywalker? Had she convinced the man to come with her or were she and Han and Chewie still there? Had they run into trouble?

He pulled one of his arms out from under his head and looked at his wrist, where the cloaked binary beacon Leia had worn was now situated. Finn had found it on the floor after they had pulled Leia back onto the Raddus and had in turn given it to Poe before he and Rose left. Rey could find him wherever he was now, but did he really want her to come into this mess?

Sighing heavily, he rose from the bed and made his way to the door as quietly as he could, grabbing his boots off the floor by the bed as he went. Once outside in the corridor, he quickly pulled them on and headed to the med center to check on Leia. While he knew Holdo didn't want him on the bridge, she at least hadn't forbidden him from being with the General.

He entered the room, which was quiet except for the noise of the machines monitoring Leia. She was breathing on her own and her heart was strong, but there was no indication of brain activity. Kalonia and the medical droid assigned to the Raddus both had assured him that wasn't a bad thing; Kalonia believed that Leia was in a Force Trance, and that was why she was so still in both mind and body. The Force was healing her, and they needed to be patient and let it.

Poe didn't have much patience left.

He looked at the beacon on his wrist one more time, gave Leia's hand a squeeze, and then headed for the bridge. D'Acy was in the corridor just outside the door, heading somewhere on an errand for the Admiral no doubt. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

"Is she in there?" Poe asked the older woman, knowing she would know exactly who he was talking about.

"Yeah," D'Acy said, then stepped in front of him as if to block him. "She forbade you to be on the bridge! Let's not have a scene!"

"No. Let's." Poe easily brushed by D'Acy, his ire building as he got closer to his destination. He strode in, quickly eyeing who all was in the room. Who did he trust? Who didn't he trust? Connix made eye contact with him briefly from her position at one of the comms. He acknowledged her with a tiny nod, then turned to face the Admiral.

"Holdo?"

The tall woman turned toward him, grimacing. "Flyboy."

Force, he hated that nickname. "Can it, lady," he told her. In all his years with the military, he had never disrespected a fellow officer, but he was tired, angry, and scared. He noticed a couple security people move toward him, but Holdo waved them back. "We had a fleet," he continued. "Now we're down to one ship and you've told us nothing. Tell us we have a plan!" he demanded, his voice rising. "Tell us there's hope!"

Holdo looked at him for a moment, her expression almost contemplative. Then she spoke, her words soft. "When I served under Leia," she started, and Poe felt ready to snap. "She used to say that hope was like the sun."

Poe froze. He recognized those words.

Holdo continued. "If you only believe in it when you can see it-"

"You'll never make it through the night," Poe finished, his own voice softer now. He clenched his teeth willing his temper in check. Just hearing the words he had heard Leia say more than once calmed him, but they didn't ease his frustrations completely.

"Yes," Holdo said with a nod.

Poe took a deep breath, looking down as he tried to collect the strength to apologize. He heard a familiar tone in the suddenly silent room and he looked up, past Holdo. On the screen behind her, he could see figures that he knew represented the transport ships in the aft docking bay, the one that hadn't been destroyed in Kylo Ren's attack earlier. The sound he heard…

"Are you filling up the transports?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm. Any reassurance he had gotten from this woman quoting Leia was quickly dissolving. "You are." He moved past her to look more closely at the screen. "All of them?" He turned to face her, not unaware that timid Ensign Serrie, who he had worked so hard to befriend upon her arrival several months ago, was inching away from him, a fearful look in her eye. "We're abandoning ship? Is that… that's what you got?" His anger surged, spurred on by absolute, undiluted fear. "That's what you've brought us to?"

Every pent-up emotion from the last several days exploded. He kicked the equipment on the desk next to him on the floor, then grabbed the poor ensign's chair and swung it up and over. "Coward!" he shouted. He literally saw red, the rage pouring through him was so strong. He looked around the room. He saw a combination of fear, disbelief, and anger on the faces of the people around him. Holdo herself was standing with her arms folded, her face a mask.

"Those transports are unarmed, unshielded," he explained to any who didn't understand. "If we abandon this cruiser, we're done. We don't stand a chance." He faced Holdo again. "No, you are not just a coward," he said, his whole body quivering with rage. "You are a traitor."

Holdo's impassive expression changed to anger. "Get this man off my bridge."

Poe didn't resist as the security officers moved in to escort him away. No, he'd already let his temper get the best of him. He wasn't going to do anything that would make her have him locked up. He needed to see this through. For the Resistance. For Leia. For Rey.

He brought his hands up to his hair, clenching it in his fists and pulling just enough to feel pain. Kriff. Rey would be so pissed at him for losing his temper like that. What the hell was he thinking? He groaned. He needed to think of something. And fast. He was not going down without a fight.

Even if that fight was with his own people.

XXXXXX

"Stick with him. Follow him. Pester him."

Han's words played in Rey's head as she trudged up the hill, the wind whipping the light rain around wildly, trying to keep Luke Skywalker in sight. She had been following him all morning, as she had the day before; the man wasn't doing anything to warrant any Master Jedi title, that's for sure. But Han wanted her to keep Luke focused on her, while he and Chewie did another quick fix on the Falcon, then he said he would implement his 'plan.' In the meantime, Rey was learning patience, she supposed.

Yesterday evening she had found the dead Uneti tree, and the old books that were contained inside the shell. Luke had followed her then, and he had told her how it was time for the Jedi to die. She had argued with him, but he was as stubborn as his sister, and not in a good way.

Occasionally, on the rare moments he was still, Rey would find the old Jedi watching her with a focused look on his face. He would look away as soon as he realized she noticed him, pretending indifference once more, but Rey felt as if he was desperately trying to figure her out. Why he didn't just open himself up to the Force again, she didn't understand. Though she did not know the complete story, it was obvious that Luke blamed himself for Ben Solo's turn to the Dark Side. Rey knew for a fact that neither Leia nor Han blamed Luke, however the Jedi Master continued to beat himself up over it; knowing the pain and destruction Kylo Ren had caused and was currently creating was sobering, and Rey supposed just that knowledge was enough to keep his guilt, warranted or not, strong.

It was just before the noon hour on this blustery day when Rey followed Luke back into the village. She was hungry, cold, and tired. But as she moved to sit down and pull some rations from her pack, Han rushed into the small settlement.

"Rey!" he called, his voice panicked. "Is there any way you can," he waved his hand in the air around his head. "Communicate… with Leia?"

"What?" Rey asked, confused.

"Through the Force," Han explained. He took a deep breath. "We received a distress call, but it cut off before we could hear much. It sounded like Leia, but I can't get anyone on the comm." He glanced at Luke, who had stepped to the door to his hut and was watching them. "I need to know she's alright."

Rey felt panic of her own start to grow. Poe. She licked her lips and shook her head. "I don't think I can. We've never really trained on that kind of long-distance communication." She looked at Luke. "Maybe we should just head back. It's not like we're accomplishing anything here."

"The transfer manifold is off-line again," Han groused. "Chewie's working on it as fast as he can."

Rey felt her panic spike. She tried to focus, closing her eyes and imagining Leia's face in her head. She and Leia had 'spoken' a few times in the Force, but they had always been in each other's presence. To do so while thousands of light-years apart…

Nothing.

"It's not working," she whispered.

She heard a huff and opened her eyes to see Luke heading out of the village, taking the path up the mountain that led to the temple Rey had yet to really investigate. She looked at Han who was watching his brother-in-law and friend with intense focus.

"Han?" she whispered.

He held up a hand to silence her, waiting until they could see Luke half-way up the mountain.

Rey suddenly realized what was going on. "You didn't get a distress call, did you?"

Han shook his head and sighed, then moved to sit down on the bench. "Got anything to eat, kid? I don't feel like hiking all the way back down until I know if this worked or not."

Rey pulled two ration packs out of her bag, handing one to Han, and the two began to eat in comfortable silence. After a while, Rey spoke.

"I think I should take the books. Whether he comes with us or not, I feel like those books should come with us."

"Books?" Han had spent most of the time since arriving here with Chewie and R2 on the Falcon, and Rey had only been able to tell him bits and pieces of the things she had seen on this island.

"Luke called them the Sacred Jedi Texts."

"Actual books?"

Rey nodded.

"Wow. Yeah, maybe you should…" he stopped as there was an ever so slight tremor in the earth around them.

Rey felt a powerful surge in the Force and she gasped. She looked at Han. "It worked!"

"That was Luke?" Han asked, startled.

Rey nodded, awed by the power she was feeling. "Yeah." Suddenly, the tone of the energy around her changed, and she felt Luke's distress. "Something's wrong." She stood and turned. Luke was heading back down the mountain, his pace swift. Rey moved to the head of the path to wait for him, Han behind her.

As soon as he was close enough, he spoke to them both. "They are in trouble. Big trouble. They can't jump to hyperspace and are running out of fuel. Leia's been hurt bad, but she's awake now."

"Poe?" Rey gasped, once more reaching out with the Force, knowing there was no way she could sense her lover from this great a distance, but wishing anyway.

"I'll get the Falcon prepped," Han said as he turned to head back down. "And you're coming with us!" he called to Luke over his shoulder. "Even if Chewie has to drag you on the ship!"

Luke frowned, then glared at Rey. "You lied."

Rey shook her head. "I didn't lie. Han lied. I didn't know what he was doing until you left."

Luke suddenly started laughing, rubbing his hands over his face. "Oh, Kriff. What am I doing?"

"Saving your sister," Rey answered without hesitating. "You better grab whatever you want to bring. I'm going to get those books." Rey grabbed an old bag from the front of one of the huts that belonged to one of the Lanai, the native species that lived here. Rey had only seen a few of them since their arrival, as the little avians did their best to avoid her and her companions, but she decided they wouldn't miss one bag. She started making her way up to the old Uneti tree cave, but stopped when she realized Luke had gone very still and was watching her with a rather soft expression on his face. "What?"

He shook his head. "You remind me of someone. Someone I knew long ago." His expression became almost wistful, then he shook himself. "You mentioned Poe. Poe Dameron?"

Rey tensed. "Yes."

Luke nodded. "I knew his mother well. I imagine he's one hell of a pilot."

"The best," Rey said softly.

Luke bobbed his head again, then cocked it. "You love him." It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

He looked at her for a long moment. "And what are you going to do if he's dead?"

Rey felt her heart skip at his words. She wasn't going to even let herself imagine that nightmare. "He's not," she whispered. "I would know."

Luke stared at her for a long time, then he sighed heavily. "Go get those books… padawan."

XXXXXX