Let It Burn

Is Your Love Just a Drop of Rain?

The first thing Rey noticed was the sound of feet – someone was running. Then she was being picked up and every muscle in her body tightened, remembering an old fear. But soon she was set down again and could hear voices buzzing around her. They were meaningless for a while as her thoughts were swirling about like a sandstorm and couldn't seem to settle.

Finally, the overwhelming darkness that blanketed her was lifted and she could see that she was still in the Resistance base, and Finn was hovering over her.

"Finn!" she cried, both happy to see him and afraid of what might have happened.

"Rey!" he replied, taking her hand and looking at her intently. "We thought... We weren't sure..." He trailed off, watching her.

Things were coming back and she glanced around sharply. "Luke?" she asked hesitantly.

Finn's face darkened. "He's gone. That Knight took him and escaped somehow. No one remembers seeing anything until we found you."

She sat up abruptly and began to get to her feet before Finn gently pushed her back. "We have to go get him!" she protested.

"You'll be no use until you've recovered from whatever he did to you," Finn admonished, and she couldn't tell if he was being her commander or just a concerned friend. But then he smiled self-effacingly and she knew it was the latter.

"Finn, this is all my fault. I should have –"

"It's not, Rey. You did what you could. Luke should have taken better precautions after what happened on Coruscant."

She nodded slowly, unconvinced but unwilling to press the point. "Where's Leia?" she whispered, afraid to face the General after the loss of her brother. Again.

Finn pursed his lips, clearly considering whether or not to answer. "She was interrogating Byehtho last I knew. I think she's still there."

That made Rey spring to her feet despite his protests and she ran to see for herself. The two guards were standing outside, shifting their weight uncomfortably, which meant Leia was in there alone. She immediately pounded on the door, though the guards tried to stop her. Finn had caught up to her by then and was trying to defuse the situation when the door opened.

"Rey? Finn? What's the matter?" Leia asked, frowning in concern.

"They're gone!" Rey told her and felt tears welling up.

"Lyek Ren did something to knock us out and took Luke," Finn said more helpfully.

Leia's expression fell for a moment before returning to its normal mode. "I'm sure... I'm sure we can find him," she began. Glancing behind her, she pulled the door shut and turned to address Rey. "Can you stop him?"

"I... I could on Coruscant. I wasn't expecting – I wasn't prepared for anything here. I'm sorry!" she answered wretchedly. Leia pulled her close to calm her.

"Rey, you did a good thing on Coruscant – we got our prisoners and suffered no casualties. That is a big deal, my dear. Now we need to get Luke back before the First Order can do whatever they're planning to do with him. And we're going to need you to help us again. Can you do that, Rey?" Leia moved back slightly to look her in the eye.

Nodded resolutely, she took a deep, shuddering breath, and stepped away. "Can we track them?"

Leia looked at Finn, who shrugged. "We are searching out which ship they took, so it's possible. But it's unlikely that we'll catch up to them – we don't know where they're going," he answered unhappily, watching Rey.