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'𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬' ════════════╝
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
...NIIMA OUTPOST, JAKKU
𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋 𝐇𝐈𝐌?
Poe's presence was calm. It was easy golden sunlight. It was swearing she could feel him through the walls, and then suddenly he was standing in front of her as a stone in a temple was lifted. It was a night of scattered stars, standing high above the terra below with only the cold, midnight wind and an incendiary warmth of something so careful, it would be a miracle if it survived the darkness. Then it was steadfast, it was laughing so hard her ribs ached and she had tears in the corners of her eyes.
But can you feel him now, when the memory is shattered and in pieces on the ground?
"Poe didn't make it."
Bee moaned, completely dejected in the face of such a loss. Lyra stumbled back in the sand. Her batons were in her hands, but the songsteel had lost its reassuring weight. Light-headed, she was reduced to nothing more than a particle of sand.
"That's not possible. Poe was--is the best pilot I've ever seen," she corrected herself. There would be no past tense in her words about a man who was still alive. "There's no way."
The man considered her for a moment, another realization washing over him. He glanced at the shoulder of her own jacket where the red starbird patch was. "You're the other pilot, the one he said he was coming back for," he said soberly. "I tried to help him, I'm sorry."
Lyra shook her head once, doing everything she could to keep herself from falling to the ground and never getting up again. Every muscle in her body was numb, but it was nothing compared to the ache that had started in her chest. It was all-consuming and it hurt like hell.
She couldn't believe him, even when she knew he was telling the truth.
Bee rolled off the way they had come. Rey reached out a hand and put it on Lyra's shoulder, trying to comfort her without even fully knowing why. The man was looking at her with such pity, she wanted to scream at him. But she held her tongue. It wasn't his fault.
"Don't let him go anywhere," Lyra muttered to Rey as she followed Bee. Letting Rey figure out what to do with this guy was the least of her concern. For all Lyra cared, she could take him out with a swipe of her staff and they would move on with the day.
