Beating Heart ♔ Rey

twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-One

Hester breathed rapidly, her eyes staring at the place Han Solo had fallen. Her knees trembled and threatened to give way beneath her as her find study glee to comprehend what had just happened. Han Solo. Dead. Gone. Never to to be seen again. Killed by Kylo Ren. Killed by his own son.

Her heart ripped in two as she soundlessly screamed, sobs constricting her throat and her breaths coming in strangled gasps. There was a gaping emptiness in the Force where Han had once been before... before he'd been murdered.

Hester wiped at eyes, and her hand was wet with tears.

A heart-wrenching roar erupted from Chewbacca who fired at Kylo Ren in a rage (the shot hit, though Hester didn't pay much attention - she couldn't stomach the sight of him), Rey was rendered still in horror, and Finn was desperately repeating Han's name. Below them, Chewbacca stormed through the complex, firing recklessly and furiously at every Stormtrooper he lay eyes on before he was forced to retreat. As he did, Hester jumped as explosion rocked the structure; catwalks fell as the walls began to cave in, engulfed in huge tongues of fire.

Hester stared at the wreckage before she felt the cold eyes of someone else on her. She turned back to the walkway and saw Kylo Ren staring at the three of them.

At that moment, such revulsion and disgust flooded Hester that she thought she was going to be sick, but there was something else... a deep, distraught sadness and despair. Her fists clenched at her sides as she forced herself to meet the eyes of the man she had once called her best friend.

She couldn't. She tore her eyes away and fought the urge to vomit. Those were not Ben Solo's eyes. That was not her best friend. That was a heartless monster beyond salvation. Her mind reeled and she felt faint.

Han Solo was dead because of him.

His son had killed him.

Kylo Ren was a monster.

Hester gripped her head and swallowed back bile. Everything was shaking - whether that was because her body was trembling or an aftermath of the explosions or a combination of the two, Hester didn't know, but what she did know was that she couldn't stay there and she had to get her friends to safety.

The sudden fire of Stormtrooper blasts was the last straw to kick Hester into action. "Go!" she screamed, as, crazed, Rey started shooting at the Stormtroopers. Hester grabbed both Finn and Rey and dragged them outside, where they mechanically began to sprint away, still trying to digest what had just happened.

Once more they climbed down the ladder and ran through the snow; behind them, the oscillator was ablaze and fractured from the explosives. 

I hope that Poe and the others can use that explosion to their advantage... or Han died for nothing. All those brave men and women fighting would have died for nothing.

"The Falcon's this way," Finn gasped.

Rey nodded mutely, and they all sprinted through the snowy forest. The snow slowed them down and made it difficult to run, but Hester paid it no attention, instead focusing only on putting one foot in front of the other and running as fast as she could. Get away, she continued to think. We have to get away. I need to make sure Rey and Finn are safe.

Hester kept running, fuelled with the belief that they could get away - until, a new Force presence nearby made her inside turn cold. Her heart momentarily stilled as she slowed to a stop. Beside her, Rey and Finn also came to a halt; their eyes all met as they reached the same understanding: they couldn't run.