Ouroboros

Twenty Six

Twenty Six.

Finn and Poe could see the white-armoured shapes advancing amid the twisted spiny vegetation, blasters raised and ready to fight. There were about a score, more than enough to overwhelm them and as he watched, Poe felt a miserable chill of deja vu. In fact, ever since Rey woke, the whole time he had this strong sensation that there was something important that he had forgotten.

"These guys never give up, do they?" he asked Finn as the former stormtrooper sighed.

"Always taught to carry on until the enemy is defeated or you are dead," he murmured. "No such thing as retirement or an old stormtrooper. Sometime, sooner or later, they all get killed. No wonder they have to kidnap all those kids. No chance a stormtrooper family-if such a thing could even exist-would suggest their own kids would go into the family profession." Poe stared at him and he began to chuckle.

"I have a feeling, buddy, that your kids aren't gonna be looking at stormtroopering as a career option," he grinned. Finn chuckled.

"No likelihood of kids," he murmured. Poe sighed.

"Plenty of orphaned children out there," he reminded his friend. "Including the latest ones stolen from their families by the First Order. We still gotta find them and bring them home." He rested a hand on Finn's shoulder. "And I'm with you every step of the way." Finn managed a wry smile.

"How do you feel about taking on about fifty stormtroopers with just three of us?" he said, hunkering down.

"Four," Poe reminded him. "We've got Rey." Finn raised his blaster.

"And she's busy fighting Ren," he murmured. "Who knows how long that will last?"

-o0o-

Rey stared in shock as she pulled back. the energy blade deactivating and leaving the seared hole in his body. Kylo Ren's eyes widened, his face taut with pain and eyes dark with...relief.

Appalled, ashamed, horrified, Rey backed away, her hand dropping and her lightsaber clattering to the ground. Her breath was freezing in her throat and she felt drained, the powerful surge of anger that had fuelled her assault leaving her drained and feeling...awful. But his eyes lingered on her with no recrimination. He clicked his lightsaber off and let the device fall to the rocky ground as his legs buckled and he collapsed back against the ruins of the altar. His head dropped to his chest and she could see the colour draining from his face and lips as his life ebbed.

Wet. His hair should be wet.

She dropped to a crouch by him as his dark eyes flicked up to meet her face.

"I'm sorry," she said stupidly. He was her enemy, the monster who had stalked her since she became embroiled in the Resistance after meeting BB-8, the monster who had tortured her and fought her in the snows of Starkiller, the monster who had tried to exterminate the Resistance on the salt flats of Crait...

...the monster who had killed the other, worse monster aboard the Supremacy...

...how had she gotten away again? All she came up with was...blackness...

He raised his hand and gently rested his palm on her cheek, his eyelids drooping.

Han, touching his cheek with a look of mingled shock, pain and forgiveness before falling away into the pit.

"There was only one way this would end," he breathed gruffly.

"It never needed to," she whispered. "You offered me your hand. Twice."