Fire and Gold ⚬ Poe Dameron [ON HOLD]

chapter two ⚬ leaving base

When Poe first found out about his mission to Jakku, his first thought was of Cass. She was stubborn as hell, and annoyed the goddamned stars out of him, but—damn, he would miss her.

They were a package deal. He'd walk across the halls to her room at two in the morning to comfort her after her frequent nightmares. There he'd hug her as she battled the bad dreams, and they'd fall asleep, together, legs intertwined and facing each other. She'd fall asleep first, and he'd stare at her for another five minutes before doing the same.

  He'd miss her bad jokes, too. Cass had the ability to be very witty when she wanted to, but her jokes—god, they were so corny. Either way, he laughed at them. It was her way of thanking him for being there for her. Even if it wasn't a very good way.

As Poe exited the General's office, fingers clasped tightly around the Manila folder marked as classified, his heart slowly sank at the thought of leaving his very best friend behind for a mission that could lose everything he had.

+

After talking to General Organa about her decision to join Poe on his mission to Jakku, Cass went back to her room to prepare for their departure that night. Each step she took back to the dormitory felt the weight of her words back in the office, but she shook her doubts off. Poe was the light at the end of her tunnel of spiralling grief and betrayal. If she lost him, she would be back in the state she was after what happened with Ben.

Closing the door and locking it behind her, Cass breathed a sigh of relief. As long as that door—as faulty as it was—was locked, Poe wouldn't be able to barge into her room and persuade her to ask General Organa for withdrawal from the mission. Which he was sure to do.

She was right.

"Cassie! Did you actually lock the door on me?"

The doorknob jiggled, and Cass grinned into her pillow at the incredulity laced into Poe's voice. Her silent chuckles soon became uncontrollable giggles that she tried to keep quiet, as Poe started kicking the rusty door repetitively in the hope of getting to her.

"Baby girl, I know you're in there. I can hear you laughing."

Cass blushed at the nickname, but tensed as one of the screws on the hinge gave way. Another one popped out, landing on the concrete ground of her room. She groaned, burying her face back into the starched sheets of her bed. Finally all the screws were out, and the door fell to the floor with a loud thud, revealing a slightly amused, but still infuriated, Poe in its place. Cass scowled at him. "Thanks, now I'm going to have to get that fixed."

  "About time, Cassie. Now," Poe said, unusually calm as he sat down on the bed next to her, "please tell me that what General Organa said about you going to Jakku with me isn't true."

  She lifted her face from the pillow, shooting him a mock apologetic look. Poe groaned as she sat up straight.

  "I told you it wasn't safe!"

  Cass's eyes flashed. "Exactly, Poe. It isn't safe. Not even for you. If you're going to get captured by Ren on Jakku, at least you won't be alone. At least I'll be with you." she tossed the pillow at him. "Dammit, Poe, you have to let me grow up. At this rate, I'm never going to go on a mission without you."

  "What if I survive and you don't? I'm going to have to live with that guilt for ever, Cassie. And I don't want to do that. Besides, Ren's looking for you. You're the last living Jedi in the Galaxy, apart from Luke Skywalker. If he finds you, you're not going to get out of this alive. Cassie, baby girl, I'm begging you, please withdraw from the mission. I don't think I could stand being at base without you. Living without you."

  Cass flinched. Poe was on the verge of getting on his knees. Fighting the urge to give into him, she replied in the firm voice that she struggled with.

  "Sorry, Poe, what's done is done. My name can't be taken out of those folders, and neither can yours, as General Organa explained to me when I tried to pull you out. I'm going to Jakku with you."

+

  Cass didn't remember X-Wings being so small.

  She was crammed uncomfortably in the seat next to Poe, who was still giving her the cold shoulder after she has told him her mind was made up on the whole Jakku matter. BB8 was whirring from the back of the X-Wing—they could hear him through the radio—letting out a series of rapid bleeps that was too fast for Cass to understand. Apparently Poe did, though, for he replied very shortly to the droid.

  They were still at the hangar, waiting for permission to take off as the mechanics performed their last-minute checks on the X-Wing. Poe hadn't spoken to Cass since that morning's argument, after which he had stormed out of her room without another word. Despite his abrupt departure, she had called Tollen in from his office to help her fix the door back on; because that was the way Cass worked. She got over things quickly—even though Poe ignoring her was starting to set a sting through her heart. She took in a deep breath, and turned to look at Poe, who was still staring daggers at the front of the X-Wing.

  "Poe."

  "Cass."

  She sighed. He never called her that, except when he was really angry with her.

  "Poe, you know this'll be good for me, right?" when he didn't answer, Cass continued. "I know you want to keep me safe, but me going on this mission will one, help save the Galaxy from the First Order, and two, make sure you don't do anything stupid while at Jakku."

  Cass saw that Poe was struggling to keep up his act of ignoring her. He was starting to relax, the ice in his eyes starting to melt.

  "We'll get out of there alive—both of us. I promise."

  One of the mechanics gave Poe the signal to start the engine, and he did. Soon enough, the X-Wing was making its way out of the Resistance base, and towards the unknown land of Jakku.

+

| author's note:
so this took longer than expected.

i hope you guys liked this chapter (it's short, i know) but bc of chinese new year and all, it's been really stressful lately.

im actually thinking of redoing to playlist—the songs will be the same, but done more like in battle cry. with the volumes and the stuff. i'll probably get that done tomorrow or the day after.

dedicated to boyegas bc maverick is seriously 11/10 and your comments are always so sweet :--) the next chapter'll be up by tuesday i think. i already have it planned out and all. so cross my fingers im disciplined and stay to the schedule.

happy valentines' in advance ;-)

peace out

emmy x

p.s. the dedication was added on the thirteenth of february bc i forgot all about it when i first posted this chapter

unedited