To The Stars and Back

Chapter 8; Time to Fly

A Fanfiction by TheObsessory

The wounds had been made, but they had not been so deep. I think the both of us were in similar boats: we were each other's best friends. Who else was there to confide in but each other? It was a shaky start, knowing that things had been said that could not be taken back. I could see the frustration he felt at the initial rejection grow into embarrassment, and for a few days, he tried to avoid me. But emotions had been hidden, packed away. Friendship remained and we grew in parallel.

Primary school was nearly over. It was time to make my decision. Poe knew where his life was leading- he had known since the moment he stepped into his mother's A-Wing at age six. My choice was not nearly as easy.

But Poe helped me with that.

Staying true to his word, Poe taught me all that he knew about the A-Wing he had practiced in for years. Had there been two, we would have enjoyed flying together through the jungles of Yavin 4, and possibly even ventured out of the atmosphere. But with only one, we took turns.

I was shaping up to be a decent pilot, but I was still leagues behind Poe. While I loved flying, Poe lived for it. He truly was his mother's son. And watching Poe learn and grow into the pilot he had told me he would be upon our first meeting inspired me more and more to follow in his footsteps.

"Do you think that's wise?" Cerys asked me one night as we talked. I had told her of my plan to go with Poe to pilot school.

"What, to do something I enjoy?" I mumbled back sarcastically. I leaned against the couch's armrest, watching my sister formulate her words. Cerys, now ten, was wise for her age, but we did not often see eye to eye.

"Following Poe around." She corrected, her foot prodding me in my side, "For as long as I can remember, it's always been you and Poe against the galaxy."

"And?" I questioned, not getting the jist of what she meant.

"Don't you want to be your own person?" She asked quietly.

"What's that supposed to mean? I am my own person. Does Poe draw? Does he read-"

"But you two are always together and you're not even a couple. What happens when either one of you gets someone like that? What happens when either of you get married? You two don't know what it's like to be apart."

I opened my mouth to retort, but found no answer coming forth, mildly uncomfortable at the mention of relationships.

Of course she was right. But neither of us had ever shown interest in being apart. We had had our spats in the past, but we were both forgiving people. Our anger did not last.

"It will happen when it happens." I reassured her, although I was not confident in my own words.

"I know you both have been through a lot." She continued, more confident in her own words than I was, that much I was sure, "What with moving here and his mother dying, and I know I can't understand the bond you two share because of all that, but this is going to end one of two ways: you guys are going to end up resenting one another for the rest of your lives when you're finally apart, or you're going to have to marry him."

I felt my jaw drop, a smug look on my sister's face.

"Both of those options are out of the question!" I snapped back, "You're ten, you don't know everything about-"

"Yeah, but I've read enough books." She chuckled.

"This is real life, Cer." I corrected her, "There aren't just two options. Besides... I don't think I can say goodbye just yet."

I'm sure Cerys had more to say, but she was interrupted by Poe, who jogged into the living room out of breath.

"Ah, we were just talking about you-"

"What's up Poe?" I spoke loudly over my sister, sending the most obvious glare I could in her direction.

Poe held up two letters, one in each hand, panting to regain his breath and completely oblivious to our conversation.

Sending letters was extremely old fashioned and rare nowadays, and was used mostly for-

"Our school letters!" I gasped, jumping to my feet and grabbing for the one with my name on it.

Poe held it out of my reach, now a whole head taller than me, but eventually allowed me to rip it from his grasp.

"Ladies first." He motioned to me. I didn't need a second invitation.

I ripped the completely sealed envelope open, my eyes skimming the entire page as I mumbled aloud, "Dear Ms. Van... inform you... in need of congratulations... start the next school year-" I glanced from Poe to Cerys, "I'm in!"

Cerys jumped up and hugged me with a few words of congratulations, but I looked to Poe, unable to celebrate just yet.

"Sid, if I didn't make it..." He started, holding the letter tightly in one hand, "You're still going. I don't care if I'm not going to be there, you're not passing this opportunity up."

"Idiot, if I made it in, so did you!" I told him, laughing my words out. All that was needed to apply was a general test about flying, star navigation, various models of ships and proof of passing primary school. We, of course, studied together.

"Promise me." He looked serious, so, rather reluctantly, I mumbled, "Promise."

Taking a deep breath, he carefully ripped open his own, his eyes meticulously reading every word. Once he had reached the end of the page, he looked at me slowly, folding the message up as he did so.

"What!" I screeched, stealing the note from his hands before he could stop me. And of course, he had an identical letter with the name "Mr. Dameron" instead, "You lying son of a-"

Poe took the letters from my hands and tossed them in the air, picking me up and spinning around, "We made it!"

We laughed together, my arms tight around his neck as to not fall from the spinning. I could hear Cerys cheering in the background, but the words were drowned out by Poe's chuckles in my ear. We made it. Hopefully Shara and my mother were watching and just as happy as we were.

"We have to go celebrate." Poe stated, setting me down.

"One more month until I'm eighteen and then I swear, we'll celebrate all night long." I laughed.

"Can we do the kind of celebrating that I can help in?" Cerys's hands were on her hips, an annoyed look painted on her face.

"Of course." Poe picked her up in a hug and planted a small kiss on her cheek, "What kind of celebration would it be without you?"

Once he had tossed a giggling Cerys onto the couch, he retrieved our letters from the floor and handed me mine.

"As much as I'd love to giggle with you two a little more, I think I should go tell my dad." Poe excused himself, dodging a pillow I chucked at him for the giggling comment.

"Well, looks like the decision's already been made." Cerys said after a moment, "But I'm proud of you."

Pretending to reach down to hug her, I toppled onto her instead, crushing her under me as I tickled her sides.

The decision had already been made, long before she had had any say in it. Friends didn't leave friends behind, and we were going to conquer the stars together.