"Only in the darkness can you see stars."
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It has been six years since Ben Solo succumbed to his fate and betrayed the Jedi Order after being seduced by the Dark Side. With the aid of his immense power, the First Order has cast a shadow over the g...
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"I've earned it. His trust." I blurt, not two footsteps out of the elevator and into the little room. I'm too energized to mind that I'd given up any element of surprise by my immediate outburst, and so I am expectedly met by three blank stares.
"Are you sure you didn't already have it?" Marco responds after a beat of silence, eyebrows raised.
"I assure you I didn't." I cross my arms, thinking of the harsh words and insults Kylo and I had been throwing at each other only days ago.
But then I am thinking of him, and I can feel my face burning.
Marco doesn't quite answer me, instead typing at the holo in front of him rather vigorously. I scan over the room, catching Everett's polite smile and stopping on Avalon's scalding gaze.
In that moment, I am terrified that she can see right through me. Luckily enough, we are interrupted by a new voice which jolts me with surprise. I turn back to the holo, faintly grinning.
"Leia?" I step closer to the projection of the general of the Resistance, warmth filling my chest.
"I'm happy to see you, dear." She mirrors my elated face. Her eyes are tired, hair uncommonly loose, and I realize with a jolt just how miserable she must be at this trying time, suffering the loss of her husband- and at the hand of her only son.
She musters a sigh.
"While the eradication of StarKiller Base was a major victory for all of us, it doesn't erase what the First Order had come to know before the attack." She swallows, glancing down and back up again, determined. "They know our position, or system. And they are angry. It's only a matter of time before they strike." She continues.
It's been closer to three weeks since the night I'd stumbled through the snow to find Kylo's bleeding body, and heckled by Hux's sneers and eventual assault. So much had happened in that time that it felt as if it had occurred months ago, and I feel years older.
"We are preparing to abandon our base in the Illenium System. We are working as fast as we can, and we know that we're running out of time, but if any of the four of you could gather crucial intel as to when and what to be ready for, that would help us immensely." She finishes, glancing at all of our faces to register some kind of reaction, and I notice her thumbs fidgeting nervously over her clasped hands.
"We're on it, general." Marco affirms, nodding his head once.
"That's what I like to hear." She grins, winking at me. "Before we disconnect, could I have a word with Lyra? Alone?" She asks, and without saying anything the other three clear out of the room, squeezing into the elevator and shutting the door without pressing the 'up' button.
"I know it's been hard, but I can't tell you how overjoyed I am that you're still fighting, and on our side." There is real love in her tired eyes, and an uncommon feeling of belonging threatens to squeeze the breath out of me. I long to hug her, just for a moment, to feel the only motherly embrace I had ever come to know- but seeing her here, even as a flickering projection, is more than enough, I remind myself.
