Stardust ━━ Star Wars

━ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘅𝗹𝘃𝗶

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chapter forty-six: a two-way street
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    IT TAKES A FEW moments for Poe to catch his bearings. Indira watches him wrestle with the truth, flickering through every stage of denial and disbelief before landing on something that appears to be close to acceptance. Even so, his face is still screwed up with confusion; lips pursed and nose scrunched as he squints at her. He opens and closes his mouth several times, searching for words that seem to escape him, until finally —

      "Why didn't you tell me?" Poe asks, not quite accusatory yet still somewhat wounded.

Indira stifles a sigh before hiding her face in her hands. "I don't know," she admits guiltily, the words muffled. "I kept telling myself that it was because my mother asked me not to tell anyone, but the more time that passed, the less convincing that excuse became. I guess I just didn't want it to change anything. My life was already complicated enough and I thought that if I pretended that nothing was different, it would feel a little more normal."

"Normal," he echoes incredulously. "Indira, you're practically intergalactic royalty."

She looks up sharply and glares at him. "I am nothing of the sort."

     "How long have you known?"

     Indira frowns. "Since Starkiller," she replies. "Ren told me first. The reason he took my mother —"

     "— was to try and get to Skywalker," Poe correctly assumes. "Kriff. And you've kept it a secret since then?"

She hangs her head in defeat. "Yes," she confirms, her voice small. "I wanted to tell you, so many times, but I was just —"

"Scared," he finishes with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. "I get it. I mean, I wish that you had told me a long time ago — I could tell that something was eating away at you for the past couple of months — but I get why you didn't."