Darkness Within

Gone

In the bridge, there's a bustle of activity and Rey stands alone in front of the window looking out across the front of the destroyer at the expansive black in front of her. She hasn't cried yet, more like she won't allow herself to cry, but inside she feels completely torn apart, broken, and empty.

The tension within the family has been boiling up for quite some time, and Rey has been doing everything she can to quietly counteract it before anything bad can happen which makes it even harder for her to accept that she essentially failed in one of the worst ways possible.

Sure she could approach it with the mindset of at least both of her children are still alive, but if there's a chance she'll never see Kira again, what is even the difference. A mother's intuition assures her that Kira is alive, but she fears the possibility that she could feel Kira fade at any moment as she moves into uncharted and hostile territory.

A hush falls over the room in a synchronized fashion, starting near the entrance and moving out to the outer edge of the room until the only sound is that of boots and a consistent beeping from one of the panels.

Rey turns to look at him, her legs shaking under here but she keeps herself composed even though the sight of his worry lines nearly destroys her and brings her to her knees.

"How are you?" Ben asks as he joins her at the head of the bridge and they both turn back towards the window with their shoulders lined up and hands clasped behind their own backs.

"Search efforts have been amplified but they haven't turned up with anything. We're assuming she is running to the resistance, but we have no-"

"I asked how you are," Ben interrupts and Rey looks up at him, tears nearly bursting through in response.

"Maybe this is a conversation better entertained in private," Rey mumbles and turns. "Parnadee, I will return later and I expect a full report from you then about our hopeful advance acquiring intel."

"Yes ma'am," the general agrees simply and waits for Ben and Rey to leave before taking the spot at the head of the bridge.

Ben leads Rey slowly out of the bridge, neither of them rushing for any particular reason, but also trying to keep their composure put together. Up until now, the bereaving parents have kept their front up, not letting anyone in enough to see the intimate side of how they're really handling it.

To the First Order, Kira is a traitor who upon her potential, yet unlikely return could be charged with assisting a criminal. No amount of familial ties will clear her name completely in the eyes of the Generals, only slightly lessen the amount of retaliation she may encounter.

The door to the private conference room below the bridge wirs shut and immediately Ben spins Rey by her shoulders and pulls her to him, encasing her in his arms and caressing the back of her head which rests on his chest.

Neither of them says anything, but by the shaking of both of their bodies and the jaggedness of their breath, it's clear they've both released the floodgates. There's an empty hole left in their hearts right now from Kira's unannounced departure, both of them just wishing they could have held her one more time, told her they love her, and not have their last memory together be of them forcing her against her will away from the trooper.

They can't entirely understand the relationship between Kira and Temiri, having been either oblivious like Ben or just working to put an end to it like Rey. The relationship is clearly taboo, the daughter of the rulers of the galaxy and a lowly stormtrooper not making a normal socially acceptable pair. What Rey is well aware of though is that her own relationship with Ben was extremely taboo, considering his position of power at the time and her rise from being a lowly orphan on Jakku to a resistance rebel nearly overnight. The stars didn't seem like they were aligned for them when they clearly were in the end, and maybe that's the exact same situation for Kira and Temiri. Maybe their biggest parenting fail was believing that they could stop something just because it didn't seem correct.