A Reylo Romance: "Don't be Afraid, I Feel it Too"

To Coruscant

"Could we not just go get a more reliable ship?" I yell down to Finn over the loud hissing sounds. He's fixing another gas leak on the Millennium Falcon and every second we're not in the air feels like an eternity.

The hissing stops and Finn climbs up, his face sweaty. "It's fixed."

"Alright," I sigh. "But there are better ships."

"We can't get to those," Finn says. "Chewie landed this away from the other planes. It's less likely anyone will notice us leave right away if we take this one. The other ships are all on the landing site and have too much security. And this is big enough to get us where we're going."

Finn heads to the cockpit and I follow. I take the pilot seat and Finn sits in the co-pilot chair.

"Ready?" I give him a reassuring smile.

Finn nods and we take off. We don't have a full amount of power and the deflection shields are on, draining even more power.

"Finn, we need to conserve power. Can you turn off the deflection shields?"

"Got it." Finn reaches up and I see the light saber on his belt. I jump out of the pilot's seat and the ship tilts. "Grab the controls."

"What?"

"You can fly this ship can't you?"

"I..."

I run off, needing to get as far away from the light saber as possible. I pass BB-8 in the hall.

"Are you okay?" she beeps, rolling after me.

I stop running and crouch down, wrapping my arms around my knees. "I don't know BB-8."

"You need more sleep."

"No!" I snap and BB-8 backs up. "Sorry." My shoulders slump. "You're right, I probably do need more sleep. But there's no way I'm going to sleep and see those visions again."

"Of Kylo with Snoke?"

"Yes." I get up and begin to pace the hall. "Can't this thing go any faster?" I yell to the front.

"I'll try," Finn yells back. I keep pacing.

Rey...

The voice in my mind is Kylo's. We're moving closer to where he is.

"Kylo?" I run full speed to the cockpit and grab the yoke away from Finn. He let's go in surprise.

"Forget Coruscant," I say. "We're going to go kill Snoke instead."

Finn leans back. "What about the light saber and your vision and the voice telling you to take it to Cor-"

"Forget that!" I snap.

Finn sets his hand over mind on the yoke. "I don't think we should."

"Red Leader to Millennium Falcon," the comm system blares, startling both of us.

"Cease and desist, I repeat, desist and return to Ahch-To."

I hit the comm button. "Poe? Is that you?"

"Yes. The General insists you return immediately."

"Negative Red Leader. We aren't prepared to do that," I reply.

"I've got direct orders-"

The communication gets interrupted by another message.

"This is your General. I don't know what you're up to but you need to head back immediately. That BB-unit has sensitive information we can't afford to let fall into enemy hands, where I'm assuming you're headed."

I blink, moving away from Finn and sinking into the co-pilot's seat. Finn sits up straighter, taking a firm grasp of the yoke with one hand and rerouting our course with the other.

"Stop!" I pull his hand away and he tenses. "General," I tap the comm button. "I need to take the light saber to Coruscant."

"Coruscant has been destroyed, by the First Order. I repeat, the planet no longer exists."

Finn glances at me and my jaw tenses.

"Should we go back?" he asks.

I blink back tears. Could I have been so wrong?

Finn takes a deep breath then turns off the comm unit. "Let's go see if it's still out there. Maybe they're wrong." He boosts the ship into warp speed and I fall back against the seat. The stars melt away around us.

"I thought we didn't have enough power for warp speed," I yell over the engine.

"Not if we want to come back," Finn yells back.

He's right. There's no heading back now. I look out at the spiraling vortex we're zooming through. It won't be long now. We drop out of warp speed a moment later and come to a slow stop in an empty stretch of space.

"Finn, why did you stop?"

His hands hover over the controls. Then he checks the co-ordinates.

"I'm sorry Rey. This is it."

"What?"

"Coruscant. It's..."

I slouch down in my seat. There are no nearby planets, only distant stars. The General was right. The planet is gone.

"What's that?" Finn says, pointing.

I look up. "An asteroid?"

"No. I think it's an escape pod."

I sit up in my seat. "Go closer."

Finn does and we see that it is, in fact, an old fashion escape pod.

* * *

My heart beats so fast I'm light headed as we wait for the shuttle pod to be safely set into the Millennium Falcon. Finally the doors to outer space close and the cargo bay area repressurizes.

"I'll go," Finn says, but I'm already pushing past him to the doors. They slide open with a hiss.

I step out into the open area. The walls of the escape pod crackle with the change in temperature. I can feel the cold of space radiating off its metal. Finn stops beside me and I hear BB-8 roll in as well. There's a window to the pod but I can't see inside.

"Should I open it?" Finn asks.

I nod. He goes over and pulls down on the emergency lever that unlocks the hatch from the outside. The pod opens.

I gasp.

A hooded figure sits hunched over in the seat inside, unmoving. Finn pulls out the red light saber and ignites it. My heart jumps to my throat.

"Put that away!" The man in the cloak says, raising his head slowly. He extends out his arm and the light saber goes flying out of Finn's hand. I try to lunge for it but I'm locked in a Force hold.

I look at the elderly man sitting in the pod. "I thought all the Jedi's were dead," I say to him.

"Perhaps. But I'm not a Jedi. I'm only a teacher." He lifts back his heavy hood to reveal a head of white hair and an aged face. The effort seems almost too much for him. Finn picks up the light saber and I resist the urge to call it to me. He tucks it into his belt.

"Who are you?" he asks the cloaked man.

"I'm the one who called you here. But first, before I answer any questions, I must have some water."