The Broken Ones | REYLO [Complete]

14. The New Base

--Poe--

It's been a week since Rey's little encounter with Snoke. She hasn't said much about it, and it hasn't happened again, but I can tell it haunts her. The circles under her eyes keep getting darker, and her face seems to be losing color every day. As for Ren, no one has seen him since we arrived at the old base on Dalastine. It's the only one that came out of the Galactic Civil War virtually unscathed.

"The base was overrun and abandoned before the War ended," Leia had told us. "It was an insignificant base on a lesser-known planet. Few knew of its existence then: even fewer now. We should be safe here."

We've been here for five days now, and the 152 remaining Resistance fighters have been hard at work cleaning, repairing, and preparing the base for proper use again. No one has mentioned losing the majority of our closest friends and allies, along with all but three of our ships and most of our weapons. A few X-Wings survived on the main transport, but they need repairs before they can be used in combat again. We are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, but no one is giving up hope.

But maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet.

"Have you seen Rey today?" Finn asks, approaching the X-Wing I'm busy fixing.

"Nah, I haven't seen her since yesterday morning. She's probably in her room resting." I wipe the back of my hand across my forehead, trying to keep sweat from dripping in my eyes.

Finn looks at the ground and shuffles in place. "I don't think she's okay."

I scoff. "Really? You think?" Finn looks taken aback. "I'm sorry, man. I shouldn't have said that." With a final twist of my wrench, the last repair is done, and I hop off the wing with a grunt. "C'mon, let's go find her."

Finn shoots me an appreciative smile, and I throw my arm around his shoulders. "Do you think Ren has anything to do with it? Maybe he's still in her head, hurting her, and nobody knows."

"She told me it was Snoke, not Ren," I tell him. "Maybe she was wrong though. I wouldn't be surprised. He hates her more than he hates you, and that's really saying something."

Finn rolls his eyes. "I think he hates himself most, though. Have you seen his hair? Dude needs a trim."

I laugh out loud, causing several mechanics in the hangar to turn around. "You're probably right!"

"And his clothes, too!" Finn punches in the code for the door leading into the mess hall. "Have you ever seen someone wear so much black? I'd say something about him overheating outside but his skin is so pale I doubt he ever sees the light of day!" Finn is howling now, doubled over laughing at his own joke. I'm not laughing, though. And Finn stops when he sees what I'm looking at.

Kylo Ren is seated at a table a few paces away, hands cuffed, and flanked by two armed guards. And he's staring right at us.

Finn clears his throat awkwardly and takes a step back. "We weren't talking about you, we...we..."

"We? That was all you, buddy." I clap my friend on the shoulder and keep walking. He swears when he notices my absence, and runs to catch up with me.

"Not cool, Poe! Not cool!" He pants.

"Finn, what can he do to you? He's powerless and unarmed. Plus he's outnumbered. He'd be stupid to try anything."

"Whatever," he mutters. "Let's just find Rey."

We walk down the maze of dark and dusty hallways, trying to remember the way. Every door looks the same. Every corridor looks the same. It's pretty much a game of trial and error, opening every door until we find the right one, complete with awkward 'Hey, Rey- oh, sorry, you're not Rey' moments.