Will of the Many~ Poe Dameron

What's the opposite of stuck? Yeah, that

Oh but that's the irony, broken people are not fragile...

-Clinton Sammy Jr.

It only took a few days for the cafeteria to be up and running just as the one on D'Qar. The mornings were when it was most lively, mainly because it was back to Poe, Kaydel and Serena sitting at a table. Except now it wasn't just them sitting as they enjoyed their morning caffeine. Rey, Finn and Rose joined them, filling their table in a way Serena never imagined before.

"I'm going to get more tea," Serena lifted her empty mug. The tea bag sat lifelessly at the bottom just begging her for more steaming water to bring it back from the brink of death. She pulled herself up from her chair and joined the long line that formed as cadets and officers rushed in before their morning rounds.

When she was outside of earshot, Kaydel leaned forward and pressed her elbows onto the tabletop as she looked at the others. Her gaze fell on Poe last and stuck with him. "Remember how Serena was always the first one in the cafeteria on D'Qar? Like it seemed that she had been there hours before us?" She dropped her voice to a whisper even though there was no way for Serena to hear her.

Poe leaned forward to mimic her as he nodded. "Yeah, she had already finished breakfast and was on her second cup of tea... why?" The bushy tips of his eyebrows pinched together as a quizzical look seeped into his dark eyes.

Kaydel took in a deep breath that pushed her chest out. As she released the breath, Poe noticed the exhaustion in her own eyes. "The last few nights Serena has done nothing but toss and turn in her sleep." Kaydel told him. "And she's out of the bedroom by the time I wake up in the morning. When I come here, it's the same thing- like she's been here for hours already."

"Maybe she's a light sleeper?" Finn offered up.

Kaydel gave a grave shake of her head. "No, I've tried to talk to her while she's tossing, but she doesn't respond. I think..." Kaydel paused as she stretched to make sure Serena wasn't on her way back. As she spotted her silver head of hair stuck in line, she crouched back down and looked around the table. "I think she gets night terrors. My dad use to get them really bad when I was young. I remember waking up to him screaming sometimes."

"I wouldn't be surprised by that." Rose shrugged as her fingers unconsciously tapped at the side of her coffee mug. "With everything she's been through... doesn't it make sense that her dreams would suffer for it?"

Poe's head ticked to the side at the thought. He knew she had troubles, he could still vividly remember the lively terror in her eyes after she Forced half the cafeteria back. Even as he tried to talk to her he could tell she was somewhere else. It seemed to him that in that exact moment, her dreams seeped over into reality. If her reality was that terrifying, how scary were her dreams?

Poe looked over at Finn who focused on stirring his coffee. "Hey, Finn," Poe nodded towards the man who saved his life. Finn dropped his spoon as he looked up at Poe. "You would know best out of all of us, what was it like? To... be part of that?"

Finn's eyebrows rose impressively at the question. His eyes lowered to the table just in front of Poe's hands. "Well, what I went through is nothing like what Serena went through-" He looked back up at Poe as he explained it. "I was a Storm Trooper, she was Kylo Ren's Right Hand-"

"Don't-" Rey cut him off with a firm shake of her head. "Don't call her that. You don't know anything about them."

Finn opened his mouth to challenge her, but there was a hint of confliction in her eyes that stopped him. He simply gave her a nod before he looked back at Poe. "I heard stories more than anything. The entire First Order knew better than to piss off either Serena or Kylo Ren. Whenever I saw Serena, she was with Ren- or vice versa."