~ 𝚒𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 ~ A Ben Solo/Kylo Ren Story

1.

"What can I say?" Poe Dameron asked, stepping up to the podium where the somewhat informal funeral service was being held.

"What can I say about her that hasn't already been said? I would like to think I was close to her, but no one really ever knew what was happening in that woman's head, except for perhaps Luke Skywalker," He laughed humorlessly, swallowing painfully before continuing.

"She was always a fantastic leader. She knew how to make tough decisions, and I think all of us would have followed her to hell and back if she had asked us to. Full of surprises..." Poe seemed to lose his train of thought as he blinked furiously. He cleared his throat.

"She was arguably the most recognizable face of the resistance, and I don't-" His voice cracked, "-I don't know completely what this means for us or how we will recover from this loss."

Finn nodded silently and stepped up, taking Poe's place, patting him on the shoulder as he passed.

"I don't have much to say." He started, "But I will say, this loss will not stop us now. We have come so far. A thousand generations of rebels live in us, and now so does she." He pointed at the poster of the brown-haired woman with fierce eyes behind him.

"Granted, we have lost one of our most treasured leaders tonight. But we will go on, the resistance cannot -no, it will not- end with the death of this Skywalker."

The crowd of rebels murmured their agreement. Another member stepped up to the podium.

"May the force be with her forever. And may she be with us in spirit in our times of need." General Leia Organa said. "Rey's death will not be the end of the resistance."

Rey's death will not be the end of the resistance

~~~~~

"I'm not strong enough. Don't you see? You shouldn't have put me here. I'm not as strong as she was, I can't live up to her," The girl groaned, clutching her sides.

"Elle, don't talk like that..." Finn said softly and encouragingly. She couldn't have been more than 19, and here she was, holding nearly the entire resistance on her young shoulders in the wake of their great loss.

Rey had suddenly, inexplicably fallen ill. She was gone within a day of a persistent headache. It was so unlike her. Barely a fight. No lightsaber battle, no great final-face off, no important words of advice. Just mumbled gibberish from a sweating, feverish, and dying young scavenger. She could have died the exact same way back on Jakku. She passed after suffering intense hallucinations for some time. General Leia Organa held her hand as the force she held inside her frail frame let go, back into the universe.

Leia's next decision after the funeral was to "promote" young Celeste Vega. She was highly force-sensitive, especially in matters of the mind. She could work her way into someone's brain, hear their thoughts, see their dreams, and their past. She could manipulate someone's thoughts into what she wanted them to be, molding them to her liking. But she was young, very untrained, and unreliable.

Leia trained her personally, just as she and her brother had with Rey. Celeste felt it was unfair that she had so little time to prepare to take the role of the guiding light of the resistance. She had only been with the rebels for a few weeks. Now that the rebels' leader was gone, Vega was forced to step up and be the face of hope for the poor souls. How in the hell does someone even begin to try to live up to such a woman as Rey?

It was early in the morning on the forest planet that hid the rebel base. Celeste's patience was wearing thin, she was tired, emotionally as well as physically. Her eyes stung, her hair and skin were dirty, and she was dripping with sweat from the hours of training that had started early that morning.