The Land Which Bears Your Footprints

Chapter 7 - If You Get To Me Too Late

Author's Note: One chapter left. ^-^

~ Amina Gila

She feels like a mess, which... is a ridiculously obvious statement. She's terrified to do this, and the guilt is smothering her, but she can't not do it either. That would be worse. At least she thinks so.

Rey stays in the hold of the ship the entire way to where Leia lives. The stormtrooper comes to sit next to her, but he doesn't seem anymore sure what to say, so they sit together in silence. She should probably do something other than brooding and panicking, but she doesn't have the energy to. She turns it down when Kix offers her food – probably, she wouldn't be able to keep any down right now, anyway.

And then, much too soon, they reach Chandrilla. The capital of the Republic she technically betrayed. She really has lost her mind.

But what's new about that?

Rey probably looks as shaken as she feels, but there's no point in hiding that, really. Leia's already back from the Senate. Getting it over with rather than sitting here waiting is probably better, but she's not ready. She has no idea what's going to happen now. All she can do is follow Kix, with the stormtrooper just as nervously following her, when Threepio ushers them into the apartment.

Leia looks worried, and Rey knows the moment she sees her that Ben already told her what happened. Of course, he did, though.

"What happened?" she asks surprisingly gently, approaching her, "Ben talked to me about that... incident." (Because he can go to his parents when something's wrong, unlike her. She can't talk to Sidious about things like that, and – She's not being fair to him, but it still hurts when she sees what something parental is supposed to be like.)

She doesn't even know where to start. "I – I was sent to Ossus on a mission. I was supposed to... infiltrate." She'll never say the details beyond that. It's not important, anyway.

"From the remnants of the Empire," Kix thankfully speaks up for her, "They're apparently stronger than we thought."

Leia looks like she expected it, even if Rey doubts she's very happy about it. "You were... raised by them?" she asks.

Rey nods mutely.

"We never knew what they were involved in. We thought it was for the best," the stormtrooper supplies.

"Many thought that once," Leia assures, "What can you tell me about the forces the Empire has? What are they planning?"

She already made the decision to come this far, but that doesn't stop the guilt twisting inside of her. She's – she's about to ruin everything that Sidious built. Even if it's the right choice. Is it, though? If not, she'll never know until it's too late. She'll destroy everything and this time, there won't be anything anyone can do to reverse it. But... What Kix was saying about it was true, too.

"They have many bases of operation. I don't know about all of them," the stormtrooper offers, "They take us young from our families. I don't remember mine, but we're raised to be stormtroopers."

"They have one main base of operation," Rey says, finally, before she can back down from saying this. "They have... massive forces and a shipyard in construction there. I don't know what all is there. I never... saw it. It's on Exegol."

"Exegol?" Leia echoes. The name obviously isn't familiar to her. "Is this on the charts or can you tell us how to get there?"

"I can point it out to you, but it's a Dark Side planet. You have to be careful there." She has to tell them about Sidious, warn them at least, but she doesn't know how. What will the New Republic do when they go there? It means – They're going to fight Sidious. She always knew that's what it meant, but she never truly thought about all the implications on turning against what she was raised to believe in, until now.