FREE FALLING ━━ p. dameron ✓

sixty five

"What a dreadful situation!" C3PO remarks, walking into the cockpit. Everything is sparking. I sigh and glance over at Poe.

He has a wrench clutched between his teeth and he shakes out his bad arm.

"Is everyday like this for you people?" The golden droid asks. When nobody responds he says- "Madness."

"Did we ever find his volume control?" Poe asks me.

I laugh out loud. "Forces you hate this droid. Poor C3PO."

"How can he hate me when we've only just met ma'am?" 3PO asks. I roll my eyes.

"Can it 3PO. We were having a moment." I say.

"Oh deary me. I'm so sorry." The golden droid says politely. Poe must've pressed something because the power returns to the Falcon. I let out a whoop.

"Oh thank the maker!" 3PO says.

"Has anyone seen Rey?" I ask to nobody in particular. In response BB-8 and BB-12 roll up.

Poe kneels down. "What is it guys?"

BB-8 speaks up. He beeps for a second.

"Well no ones seen her on the Falcon. Is she on the hill?"

Pause. More beeping.

"She's not?" I ask worriedly.

I stand bolt up, as does Poe.

"Finn!" I call out. The former trooper drops to the ground from the vents. And Jannah's with him.

"Rey's not anywhere." Poe explains as we all rush out of the Falcon. Chewie lets out a growl and follows. We run up the hill. Poe pulls out his quadnoculars and hands them to Finn.

Finn holds them up to his eyes for a second before lowering them. Finn turns and hands the quadnoculars to me.

"She took the skimmer?" Jannah asks in surprise. I pull up the goggles and then lower them.

"Dammit." I spit out.

"What is she doing?" Poe asks. He turns and stalks back down the hill. I don't even think before following him.

"What the hell was she thinking?" Poe yells angrily.

"Poe we gotta go after her." Finn says nervously.

"We can get the Falcon fixed and get out there as fast as we can." I say, already pulling out a wrench and swinging it around my finger.

"No." Finn explains angrily. His usual calm demeanor is gone. "We'll lose her."

Poe stops and spins around. "Look she left us! What do you wanna do? Swim?" Then he turns and resume his walk back down to the Falcon.

"She's not herself! You have no idea what she's fighting!" Finn fires back.

At this, Poe just about loses. He points at Finn. "And you do?"

Finn pauses before nodding. "Yeah. I do. And so does Leia."

"Well I'm not Leia." Poe says through clenched teeth. Finn snatches the quadnoculars from my hands.

"That's for damn sure." Finn snarls back.

"He doesn't know, we don't know, because you treat us like we're just pilots! We're not just pilots! We're your friends!" I yell at Finn.

The former trooper looks taken aback for a second before he turns and storms off, back towards Jannah.

I clench my teeth, letting out a strangled scream. Poe turns away from Finn and crosses his arms.

I stalk away from the hill and back towards the ship. At this moment, I couldn't care less whether anyone is following me or not.

There's the sliding of feet a giant grass and as it turns out, Poe did follow me. I ignore him and get to work on the Falcon.

It's silent for a minute as both of us fiddle with panels and lighting.

"You know." I say to break the silence. "I thought I getting over my jealousy of Rey. I thought I was working through it. And yet, now as Finn goes to probably help her, I
realize that everything he does is for Rey."

Poe doesn't say anything. Which is good because I continue to talk.

"Is it so hard to tell us what's going on with her? And why couldn't she tell us? If we're gonna work as a team, we need to know things like this. I just-"

I let out an angry sigh and drop the tool in my hands. I sink down to the Falcon's floor and wrap my arms around my legs.

"It's just-...Ben?" I say, louder than I mean to. Poe's head snaps up.

"What is it Wren?"

I pause before answering. "Ben's here. On Kef Bir."

Before Poe can respond, I've scrambled up and out of the Falcon. I run up the hill, slipping on the wet grass.

I reach the top. I glance down at the Death Star ruins and see them. See a little flash of blue and red.

"Ben." I say. I turn to Poe. "Ben's here. He's on Kef Bir. Look!" I say. I point down at what is probably a lightsaber battle.

The wind off of the ocean blows my hair back and salty water dots my face.

The haze of blue is on the ground now with the red towering over it. Just before the red strikes the blue, it pauses.

I do to. I can feel her. My mother. I can feel her presence.

"Ben." She says. She exhales.

I fall to my knees. The whisper is over. And now, I cannot feel her presence. She's dead. My mother is dead.

I'm on all fours now and I let out a cry. It claws itself from my throat and out into the air. My mother is gone.

Tears are running down my face.

"Wren?" Poe asks. He falls to his knees beside me. "Wren what's wrong?" He asks.

I just shake my head. No. No she can't be dead. My mother is not dead.

"Leia-" I start. I shake my head again. "We need to get back to base." I say.

Just as Poe opens his mouth to say something, Chewie growls from the Falcon.

I stand up. "Is it fixed Chewie?" I ask.

Poe stands up as well. "Wren?" He asks.

I ignore him. "We need to go get Finn." I say.

Chewie growls. What about Rey?

I shake my head. "Rey's gone. She's not here."

"How do you know?" Poe asks.

I point to the sky. "Ben's ship took off. And Ben's still here." I say.

"So where'd she go?"

I close my eyes. "The only place that matters right now. Exegol."

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is wren in denial? yes. yes she is.

word count: 1064