#Poe Dameron x Original Female Character

[stargazer-liz]

Serendipity (Poe Dameron x Original Female Character) Chapter III: Jawas, sand and a worried pilot

Masterlist

The planet D'Qar, Outer Rim, 34 ABY

Poe hadn't seen her at breakfast. Most of his time in the cafeteria on D'Qar had been spent looking for the black haired young woman, expecting her to walk through the archway but that never happened. However, he had assumed she simply liked to sleep in or maybe she just hadn't been hungry. After all, they had shared a very late meal the night before. 

So he went on with his day and spent the morning doing some minor repairs on his X-Wing, trying to distract himself from his still missing droid. It worked well, even though he sometimes caught his thoughts drifting towards BeeBee-Ate, missing his distracting chirps. 

When he still hadn't seen her at noon, his feet automatically carried him to her room. Poe found no shame in admitting to himself that he missed her company. Sure, he had his squadron colleagues, yet Sora's presence felt incredibly calming and comfortable. He could feel there was a deep friendship blossoming between them and he wanted to water it.

He patiently knocked on her door, balancing his body on his heels. Surely she had to be awake by now. 

But there were no noises indicating anyone's presence behind the door. Drawing his brows together in confusion, Poe tried his luck again, only to be disappointed once more. Where had she gone to?

Of course, he could have just patiently waited for Sora to show herself somewhen during the day. Maybe she was just relaxing somewhere quiet on the base. D'Qar was safe, so there was nothing to worry about at all. 

Except he was Poe Dameron and patience was not his strong suit. Which is why minutes later, he was checking the hangars, scanning the small crowds for her face. He would recognize her soft, pale features and her strong, determined eyes even from a distant, especially if she kept her long, black waves open. Yeah, he would definitely notice her anywhere, he thought. Especially if she was wearing those tight trousers and leather jacket again. No need to dwell on that now though.

And he did see said dark blue leather jacket. Only not where he wanted to see it. 

The pilot found it draped on top of some crates in what they called the supply hangar. Picking it up, his gaze wandered through the space around him, searching for its new owner. But Sora was nowhere to be seen. He even called out to her and received no answer. And then he noticed the lack of spaceship in the hangar.

That's when worry began to seep into the pit of his stomach. What if she had left? Decided that she didn't like staying here, not even until her friend was back? 

But Poe knew that despite her past as a smuggler, she wouldn't have stolen one of their ships. Although they hadn't known each other for long, he was fully convinced that was not who she was. Distrustful. A thief. 

There was only one person who could provide him with an answer. Brain working on overdrive, he practically ran into the conference room, knowing that he would meet Leia there. Sure enough, the general locked eyes with him, pausing her talk with admiral Ackbar. Something on the pilot's face caused her to excuse herself from the admiral, ushering him and a few others out of the room until it was only the two of them left. 

"Poe, what can I do for you?" Her eyes briefly skipped towards the familiar jacket he carried in his hands and her lips pulled into a knowing smile. 

"Do you know where she is?" There was no need to mention the name. He knew Leia understood who he was talking about. 

The general knew in order to make Poe understand why Sora was off on a mission with her team, she had to tell him everything she knew about the smuggler. Turning on a hologram, Leia switched through a menu to open a file. The picture of a man and a woman he briefly remembered seeing a couple of times appeared before their eyes. He couldn't remember their names. They hadn't really spoken anything more than a couple of polite greetings with each other. And he didn't understand how they related to the matter at hand. 

"When Sora told me how she had ended up on Jakku, the story sounded very familiar," Leia admitted, skipping through the files until a report about an incident on Atrisia came up. "It took me a while till I remembered where I had heard it before. Two years ago, a former stormtrooper named Revan and his female companion Nyra Kess asked to join us. They were on the run from the First Order."

Poe still had no clue how the information was connected to the woman he was looking for, so he only nodded impatiently, motioning for Leia to continue. Where was this going?

"A few years after he had defected, Revan was caught in a small town on Atrisia. Thus, he became a prisoner waiting for his execution. Nyra had hired Sora to save him but the First Order arrived there at the same time as she did. She managed to free him but was badly wounded in the process. Revan and Sora's crewmate left thinking she was dead. Which, as you know, is not true, thanks to a brave unknown stormtrooper. Now, imagine their surprise when they saw each other again this morning."

Surprise and shock overcame Poe. Sora hadn't gone into detail when she had told him about herself. She had only mentioned that a mission had failed but not that the First Order had been involved and that they were the ones who had nearly killed her. How had things gotten so complicated so quickly?

However, she had willingly given up her life to save another. She was more suited for the Resistance than she likely thought. 

"Still, that doesn't explain why she is nowhere to be seen now," Poe found himself saying.

Leia turned off the hologram, clasping her hands behind her back. "Revan and Nyra have been working as smugglers for us ever since they joined, using her ship."

Suddenly, the pieces began to fit together, forming a completed puzzle inside his head. Of course. It made so much sense. And he was happy for her. Happy that she had found part of her old life again through the Resistance. 

And, most importantly, that she would stay.

Noticing the look of realization on his face, Leia smiled. "She will be a great leader to them and an even better addition for the Resistance as a whole. We need new repair parts for the X-Wings as soon as possible. We will need more supplies, weapons and other goods in the future as well. I don't think there is anyone more suited for the job than Team Phoenix."

Instinctively, he clutched her jacket a little tighter. Of course he agreed with Leia but not all of his worries had vanished. "And where exactly did you send them to?"

*****

The planet Tatooine, Outer Rim, 34 ABY

"We can still turn back, you know? Act like the Jawas went extinct and their stuff had already been scavenged. Or maybe we could come up with a story about how they tried to kill us but we bravely fought them off and-"

"Would you just shut up already, Revan?" Nyra gritted her teeth, rolling her eyes in annoyance. "They aren't even that bad. I'd rather deal with hundreds of Jawas than with you right now."

"Excuse me? I'm a joy to be around."

"Only on special occasions."

"I'll remember that the next time you feel lonely at night again."

"Okay, that's enough," Sora intervened, done with the bickering duo. Whatever their relationship status was, they needed to get it together. At least as long as they were on a mission. "Just let me do the talking and we'll be fine."

She could already feel the sweat on her back, caused by the two blazing suns on the horizon. Sand whirled around their feet at the trio crossed the small distance between the Phoenix and the sand crawler. It hadn't been hard to track one down from the sky, the big brown vehicle easily spotted with the ships sensors. Maybe they'd be lucky and wouldn't even have to visit Tatooine's bigger settlements. 

At the sight of the three humans, a horde of tiny Jawas wearing brown, hooded robes approached them eagerly, more than a dozen pairs of orange glowing eyes peering up at them. 

The Jawa trade talk was one of the few languages Sora understood. She had dealt with the species many times in the past, so the skill had naturally developed over time. 

Nodding her head in greeting, Sora stepped to the front of their crew. "We've heard you have some spare ship components. Power compensators, plasma phase coils, shilo pins. What do you want for them?"

Jawas spoke incredibly fast but she managed to catch every important word, translating it to Revan and Nyra. "They said we need to bring them two horns of a canyon krayt dragon. They won't accept anything else." 

"See, I told you this was a bad idea. They're just trying to get us killed," Revan insisted, ignoring the offended sounds coming from the Jawas and the shushing noises Nyra was making.

Sora didn't like the deal either. Three people against a canyon krayt dragon didn't sound like they had high chances of winning. But they really didn't have a choice. Those ship parts were hard to get without paying high sums of credits, something the Resistance didn't have.

"It's a deal."

"You can't be serious? Kriff, you're actually serious." Groaning, Revan ran a hand through his hair, glaring at her. It only took seconds for the look to soften. "For the Resistance, right?"

Thankful that he understood why she had accepted and why this was important, she nodded. "Exactly."

"Alright, let's catch a dragon then." Excitement was audible in Nyra's voice. Clearly, she was happy about their upcoming adventure. 

Sora couldn't deny she was craving the adrenaline as well. Scavenging had been anything but exciting. Moreover, she was quite confident in their skills.

Locating the dangerous animal hadn't been hard at all, thanks to the hints the Jawas had given them. All they had to do was fly to the next settlement.

Parking the spacecraft behind a dune a little further away from the small village, the trio emerged from the hull of the ship and crouched on top of the dune. They carefully peeked over the sand, immediately seeing the terrifying creature. Although the predatory reptile was smaller than other species of dragons, it was still significantly larger than humans. Its light brown skin camouflaged it well out here in the desert. Multiple horns of various sizes were on its head as well as down the length of the back. Rows of razor sharp teeth were only waiting to bite into their next prey.

There was a tail of destruction in the middle of the small village. Screams echoed through the air as humans and other species alike ran from the dragon, desperately trying to seek shelter inside their homes. Or what was left of them.

"How the heck are we gonna kill this beast?" Sora asked, worriedly watching the creature's every movement. The people down there were utterly defenseless, so they had to act fast. But the more she combed her brain for a reasonable answer, the more clueless she felt. No weapon on the Phoenix was big enough to do any serious damage. 

"We can't risk shooting it with the ship's laser cannons," Nyra voiced her observations. "Not with how fast and unpredictable it's moving. We could accidentally kill someone."

"Agreed. You don't happen to have stored some explosives whilst I was gone?"

"Unfortunately not," Revan replied. Slowly, his lips pulled into a knowing grin. "But I do have a trap strong enough to stun this thing."

Not daring to question where he had gotten the unusual and likely expensive weapon from, Sora hummed appreciatively. "That's a good start. Could have mentioned it sooner, actually."

As it turned out, the weapon cupboard of the Phoenix had been expanded considerably, all thanks to Revan. Staring at various types of weapons she had never seen before, Sora worried she might pick one up and accidentally cause the ship to explode. "Kriff, where did you find all of these?"

"I raided the First Order's weaponry and hid them somewhere safe before I deserted." He was undeniably proud of himself. For good reason, she supposed. Rummaging through the deadly items, he picked up four strange looking devices. They were small but heavy cubes made out of some kind of metal. Overall, they didn't look like weapons. "We place them in a square around the dragon, set it off remotely and watch the magic happen."

Sora was a bit sceptic about it. Even if these things did manage to trap the creature, they would still need to kill it afterwards. Oh well, better think about that when they had actually made it that far.

Taking two of the small devices, she quickly stuffed them in the newly tied holster around her waist. "We need to act quick. Take care of yourself but get this done. Let's spread out." 

Motivation speeches weren't really her strong suit but her team didn't look like they needed one anyways. As determined as her, they took one cube each, shared a nod and vanished somewhere into town. 

Sora felt her pulse race in anticipation. Taking a deep breath, she watched the dragon draw dangerously closer towards a small hut in which four children were hiding. No.

She sprinted through the sand as fast as possible. The menacing creature opened its large mouth wide to let out a deafening roar that vibrated through her bones. Her breath hitched as its teeth sunk into the roof, ripping it off easily. Terrified screams sounded from within and through the windows, she could see the scared kids holding onto each other tightly. Kriff, she had to distract the dragon. One more bite and the children would be gone.

She was right behind the beast now. Putting two fingers into her mouth, Sora whistled loudly. "Hey big guy! Over here!" At the sound of her voice, it turned its head towards her, large eyes narrowing at the small human who dared to interrupt it from getting its meal. 

"Leave them alone!" Sora took the chance and whipped out her blaster, firing a single expert shot into its right eye. The dragon flinched, turning around fully with a loud pained roar. She had to duck under its tail, the sharp horns whipping past her much too close to her liking. 

It jammed one foot onto the ground and she had just a millisecond to stumble back or she would have become one with the ground underneath them. "Revan, Nyra, you need to hurry and place those traps. I could use a little help here," she yelled into the com link. 

"Already done. Give us a second!"

Firing her blaster randomly at every part of its body, Sora dogged dozens of sharp teeth multiple times, dancing around the dragon. She had to keep it where it was or else the traps would be useless. Still inside the hut which entrance was being guarded by the smuggler, the children watched the scene with wide eyes, each of them holding their breaths. 

Claws wrapped around her faster than she had anticipated. Her blaster fell from her hands which were currently being painfully pressed against her body. Her lungs burned as her feet dangled in the air. Sora was sure she heard at least one of her ribs cracking. Pained moans left her lips but wiggling her body only made it worse, so she held still. 

"Drop her now, you ugly thing!" 

An explosion ripped through the dragon's side and it roared loudly. Sora could see Revan standing a good distance away, another tiny round bomb in his hand reflecting the suns. "Took you long enough," she uttered.

Now very angry at the man who had caused a small wound on its hard skin, the creature threw Sora's body against one of the huts carelessly. The impact was painfully hard, knocking the breath out of her. For a hot minute, the young woman felt like her back had been snapped in two but then her head hit the surface and she blinked in and out of unconsciousness. The noises from the fight around her faded into nothing as everything became a blurry, distorted version of reality. 

Dank ferrik, she really had to train again. Her body wasn't used to this type of exercise anymore. Groaning, Sora dragged her body upwards using the wall as a crutch. The noises around her become louder again, but everything felt and sounded like she was underwater. Every breath she took was a painful stab in her chest, her likely broken ribs aching. She pushed the pain away for now and held her head, stumbling forwards as her sight slowly returned. 

Nyra and Revan were keeping the dragon busy, using any type of weapon they carried on their bodies. Blaster shots rang through the air, doing next to no damage at all. Nyra's gaze locked with hers and the older woman grimaced at the sight of her. "Kriff Sora, stay back!"

But she couldn't. There were two traps waiting to be set. For their survival. For the survival of the villagers. And for the Resistance. It was an easy job if she would just snap out of it.

So she did. Sora gathered herself and straightened her back, ignoring the pain in every part of her upper body. The first few steps she took were still unsure but then she was running again. The adrenaline was doing its job again. 

Nyra saw her and pointed a finger to a spot a few meters ahead of Sora. "Place one there and the other in a direct line on your other side. That should form a square," she screamed, simultaneously making sure the dragon kept its attention on her and Revan. 

Sora listened without hesitation. She practically threw the devise to its place on the ground, instantly moving back into the other direction. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Revan getting hit by the dragon's tail, throwing his body several feet through the air. 

"Oh you'll pay for that," Nyra yelled angrily, detaching what looked like a pen from her holster. With a klick against a tiny button two long blades extended from both sides, turning the pen into a spear. With a snarl, she ran at the creature and watched it open its mouth in anticipation, expecting to catch her body between the two rows of teeth. But she stopped abruptly and threw the sharp weapon with all of her strength into its mouth. The dragon let out loud sounds of protest, whipping his head around in every direction to get rid of the weapon impaled into its throat. 

Sora placed the last trap down and looked towards Revan, who was being assisted back onto his feet by Nyra. She had run towards him straight after her vengeful attack. "Do it now!"

The pair stumbled back as much as they could before Revan finally pushed a button on his wristband. Just as the spear fell from the dragon's mouth, thick blue glowing strings shot out of the traps, forming a square around the dragon. They wrapped around the defenseless beast like a fishing net, shooting bolts of electricity against it. 

The trio watched it wither in pain for a good while, but neither of them felt guilty for the torture they were causing it. All around them, curious heads peeked out from behind doors, warily eyeing the scene. They were still too scared to leave their shelter but Sora was more than fine with it. Less eyes on them meant less gossip spreading around and the Resistance certainly didn't need that. 

With a final roar, the dragon crumbled to the ground. It wasn't dead yet, only unconscious judging by the slow rise and fall of its chest. 

"So, how do we kill it?" Revan's arm was still wrapped around Nyra's shoulder but Sora could see that he was fine now and didn't actually need her help anymore. Neither of the two seemed to care about it though, both pointedly ignoring the obvious. 

"Don't worry about that." Carefully wiggling out of Revan's grip, Nyra went to retrieve her spear. It looked almost weightless in her hands as she approached the unconscious creature. Having felt Sora's curious eyes on the weapon, she turned and winked at her. "Beskar. Don't ask how I've got my hands on it. But this will surely pierce right through thick dragon skin and bones."

Kriff, Sora was just a tiny bit jealous. Mandalorian steel was rare and usually almost impossible to obtain for non-Mandalorians. However Nyra had managed to get it, it had to have been hard. She was definitely impressed. And she would ask again in the future.

Nyra let her eyes wander over the dragon in front of her, one hand stemmed against her hip. "Now, do you guys know where the heart of this thing is or do we just take a wild guess?"

*****

"I'm gonna shower first!" Revan shouted, sprinting straight towards the refresher. 

Sora made sure to activate the autopilot once the Phoenix had entered hyperspace, the telltale bright blue colours surrounding them. The ship parts they had gotten in exchange for the dragons's horns were safely secured in the storage department.

"Ever heard the phrase 'Ladies first'?" Nyra yelled back from the seat beside the smuggler, rolling her eyes. "What a gentlemen." Huffing, she turned towards Sora, the annoyance visible on her face switching to concern. "Hey, you took quite a hit. Are you okay?"

"Just a few broken ribs. I'm fine." An obvious lie. Sora was sitting as straight and still as possible, trying not to move too much. Breathing alone put a strain on her ribs, pain radiating through her body with every inhale and exhale. It didn't help that her head felt like an AT-AT was trampling on it. But she'd been through worse and would make it through this just fine. The injuries were a natural byproduct of her job. 

Of course Nyra saw right through her. "You're not fooling anyone. The Resistance is a bit tight on medical supplies at the moment, so we don't have any bacta on board. Just hang in there Sora, okay?"

This was not an injury to waste bacta on anyways. Her ribs would heal on their own and with a bit of rest, her concussion would be gone in a couple of days anyways. "Really, I'm fine. Trust me, a blaster shot straight through your abdomen is way worse than this."

Nyra laughed. "True. Hey, you can shower next. You reek of dragon blood." Wrinkling her nose,  she sniffed the air and made a disgusted face.

"Like you smell any better."

"Yeah, but the longer I can annoy Revan with the stench, the better."

"You two are like kids when you're together," Sora chimed in, stating the obvious with a small smile. "Don't know how long I can stand sharing the same ship with you before I'll want to yeet myself into space."

"You'll get used to it, I promise."  

"Unlikely."

The cockpit was engulfed in silence, the two women processing what had happened during the last hours. Despite her injuries, Sora couldn't help but be happy. The thrill of fighting a dragon on a mission had been missed dearly. Finally,  excitement was present again in her life. However, killing any kind of creature never felt right, even such a deadly one. But they had saved lives, that was all that mattered.

"So, how does it feel to be back again? You know, up here," Nyra asked after a while, fingers picking at the dried blood on her arms with a disgusted expression. 

"Good." Sora nodded, lips pulled into a tender smile. "Awesome actually. This is basically all I've ever known. It's like living again."

The older woman next to her hummed, warm brown eyes locking with Sora's. "You know, I never had the chance to truly thank you for saving him. If I had known everything would escalate the way it did, I wouldn't have asked you to do it. But you did it nonetheless. So, thank you, Sora. For giving up everything and bringing him back to me. He's all I have left." Tears gathered in her eyes and a single one managed to escape, slowly traveling down her left cheek. Nyra gently laid her calloused hand on top Sora's. "I don't know what I would do without him. I...I..."

"You love him," Sora whispered, seeing past the hesitation. 

"I love him," Nyra admitted lowly. She took a deep breath, wiping the lone tear with the back of her free hand. "Kriff, I love that man. I do. But...It's...You know, it's..."

"It's complicated," Sora finished the sentence once again. The headstrong woman before her suddenly appeared tiny. Clearly, there was a deeper story behind the mystery that were Revan and Nyra. Between the former stormtrooper and the...Well, she wasn't actually sure who Nyra Kess really was. Back when her and Elijah had accepted the job offer, they hadn't shared any life stories. She had proved she had enough credits to pay and that was all that mattered. 

But it was different now and Sora wanted to get to know her new crewmates better. If they wanted to become a team, it was actually necessary. "That's what Revan told me as well. It's pretty obvious you like each other though. So why not make it official?"

Nyra sighed and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. "I still feel so guilty and I'm not sure that'll ever change."

Sora furrowed her brows, not quite understanding what she meant. "Guilty? For what?"

"Revan, he...he was part of the group raiding our Settlement on Corellia. The First Order was newly on the rise, so we had underestimated their danger. They vastly outnumbered us, so we surrendered to save ourselves. Each day, they wanted more and more resources. One day, my brother had enough. Him and some other villagers formed an elaborate plan against them. But they were betrayed by one of their own. The First Order slaughtered all of them except for my brother. They captured and tortured him for weeks. Injured him to the point of near death, only to heal him with bacta and start all over. It was a game for them. Entertainment."

Nyra stayed strong, refusing to shed any more tears. Sora was thankful for she wouldn't know how to console her anyways. It was a sad story but she had never been particularly good with reassuring words. So she simply let her talk.

"Revan couldn't keep on watching. So he tried to help my brother escape. It didn't work. He managed to give him enough time to write me one last letter. A goodbye. Then my brother begged him to end his life for good. He couldn't endure any more suffering. Revan ended his pain and then helped me leave Corellia. He's been on the run from the First Order ever since. We spent some time together on Pasaana but Revan couldn't stay on any planet for long. He left before the First Order could find him and therefore me as well. I put my hacking skills to use and became part of some underground group of criminals. We'd steal all sorts of valuable data from those associated with the First Order and travelled from planet to planet to avoid detection. It's what filled my pockets so well. And it's also how I got to know that Revan had been captured on Atrisia. I wanted to help him like he had helped my brother. It was just my luck you that you and I crossed paths. And well, you know the rest of the story."

Sora didn't know what to say. It was a lot to take in but some things were beginning to make sense. "And you'd feel guilty to be happy with him because he used to be part of the same people that tortured your brother, right?"

Nyra smiled sadly. "Right."

"But Revan proved he is nothing like them. In the end, your brother trusted him. I don't think he'd mind Revan to be your happiness." It was all Sora could offer. Nyra had to come to terms with it herself. She knew it would likely take some time but she had faith that the older woman would put her desires first in the end. 

"Maybe," Nyra mumbled, staring into the endless blue surrounding them. Sora could feel that she didn't want to talk about it anymore.

Loud screeching caught their attention and the two women turned their seats around at the noise. Revan entered the cockpit, sporting a pair of fresh clothes. He was rubbing his wet hair with a towel, singing a song Sora had never heard. His vocals were so off-key that she wanted to cover her ears to escape the horrible noises. 

"Please, stop it," she whined instead. "You sound like a screaming Jawa." Nyra laughed at that.

Revan gasped loudly, putting a hand on his chest. "I do not."

"Nah, Sora's right. Throw on a brown robe and you'd fit right in."

"Why do I feel like you two have already formed an alliance against me."

"Because we have." The two women answered at the same time.

Revan's gaze wandered between them. "You're going to be the death of me. I just know it."

Plopping down in a free seat, he put his hands behind his head, smirking at them. "By the way, I may or may not have used up the last warm water. Guess you have to wait for it to fill up again. Oops."

"The game's on, Revan," Nyra said and held up a hand, not having to wait long for Sora to give her a high five. "Better sleep with your eyes open all the time." 

Sora laughed, at ease with the situation. She almost forgot they were about to land at the base of the Resistance very soon. Where she was a part of a galactic war now. Where Rey and Elijah  were still gone somewhere. But also where more exciting missions were waiting for her. Where Poe was likely already waiting for her to tell him all about their mission on Tatooine. She was sure Leia had already filled the curious pilot in about her new job for the Resistance.

The ship rattled out of hyperspace softly and the green planet appeared behind the windows in front of them. 

"And we're back," Sora announced, readying their freighter for landing. "Activating communication. Team Phoenix approaching, permission to land."

The line stayed silent for a couple of seconds before an unfamiliar female voice responded. "Permission granted. Welcome back."

Sora landed the Phoenix gently, maneuvering it safely back into its hangar. Once the engine was shut down, Revan leaped out of his seat. To everyone's surprise, he went to her, offering her a hand. "You look like you need a crutch. Use me however you like." He smirked at her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

Sora eyed his hand with raised brows and a small smile. "However I like, huh? I think the Phoenix needs some cleaning. So much dried dragon blood in her storage. Grab a sponge and get to work then. Oh, and unload our goods before that."

Revan's smile fell instantly. Nyra chuckled and he glared at her. "Fine, captain. You two better clean up yourself before some of the Resistance members decide to flee because of the smell."

Sora got to her feet, swallowing a pained groan at the ache in her ribs. She had to grip the back of her seat for support until the stars in her vision vanished again. Nyra followed suit, keeping close to her as the two left the ship. Their arms were pressed together. It was her way of supporting Sora without making it too obvious. Nyra would be ready in case Sora did need a crutch after all.

Only a minute later, it turned out she needed someone to hold her hair instead. Emptying the contents of her stomach into a couple of bushes hadn't been on her agenda but she was thankful that the grounds seemed to be void of any people. They had arrived in the middle of the night and the planet of D'Qar was engulfed in darkness once again. 

Behind her, Nyra kept a tight hold on her hair, stroking her back gently with her free hand. "I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure you have a concussion as well."

Wiping her mouth with her already dirty shirt, Sora grimaced before she turned towards the other woman. "I agree," she admitted, her eyes moving past Nyra as she noticed something unusual. "All of the X-Wings are gone." Poe's X-Wing was gone.

"What?" Nyra asked, furrowing her eyebrows in question. She followed Sora's gaze. "You're right. Maybe they're on a mission. C'mon, let's ask someone on our way to the infirmary. Don't give me that look. You will get a check-up, maybe even some bacta. We need you healthy and with full strength."

There was no escaping Nyra's determination, so Sora had no choice but to be dragged along. It did worry her a bit that they didn't cross paths with anyone. This didn't feel like a normal mission. Something must have happened while their team had been on Tatooine.

Entering the infirmary, they were greeted by a friendly looking woman in her fifties. Her dark shoulder length hair was streaked with grey and there were wrinkles around her gentle smile. "I'm Doctor Harter Kalonia. You must be our newest member Sora Park. Please, sit down and let me take a look at you."

The smuggler offered her an appreciative smile in return and followed her demand. 

"Hey, do you mind if I go ahead and get cleaned up? I really need that shower," Nyra asked.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll be fine on my own. Goodnight, Nyra." Sora replied without hesitation and waved her off. 

"Thanks. And goodnight. Take care." Waving at her one last time, Nyra hurried back through the doors, leaving Sora alone with the female doctor.

She leaned back on the infirmary bed and let doctor Kalonia do her work. Cold fingers pressed against her ribcage, causing her to groan in pain.

"You've got three broken ribs. I can apply some bacta spray to help the process but it will still take a couple of days for them to heal completely."

Sora hummed. "Aren't you low on medical supplies? I don't want to waste anything on non-life threatening injuries."

Doctor Kalonia laughed softly. "Bacta is indeed an expensive resource for us but the Resistance needs all of its members working on full strength. Without bacta, you won't be able to move properly for weeks. We can't have that."

It made sense, Sora couldn't deny that. "Guess Team Phoenix will have to stock up our supply soon then."

"That would be indeed very helpful. You should propose that idea to Leia, although I doubt she'd allow you to steal it. Now, please follow the flashlight with your eyes."

Sora did as she was told, wincing at the brightness and the headache that flared up instantly. "Not if we steal it from the First Order."

"I suppose not," Doctor Kalonia said, turning off the tiny flashlight. "And a concussion as well. The bacta will heal that within a day or two."

Her heels clicked against the linoleum floor as she walked towards a cabinet filled with medical supplies. Sora waited patiently whilst the doctor applied the bacta spray, the cold liquid numbing most of the pain almost instantly. "Where is everyone?" She finally asked. 

"Takodana. Not long after your departure, we received word that a certain droid and his brave new friends were in need of our help. The pilots and general Leia left immediately."

Sora sat up quickly, wincing when the fast movement caused the pain to worsen again. "BeeBee-Ate and Rey have been found? Are they okay? What happened?"

"Easy now," Doctor Kalonia said, putting her hands on Sora's shoulders. "There was a fight against the First Order. We know that BeeBee-Ate and the other members are already on their way back. As far as we know, there have been no casualties."

So Rey was safe, right? She had to be. And Poe too. 

A weight fell off her shoulders. Albeit, she was a bit sad she had missed an opportunity to kick some stormtroopers asses. But she also remembered that it was better if they thought her to be dead. 

Sora thanked Doctor Kalonia before she made her way back to her room. The bacta made it easier to move. However, it had also made her incredibly sleepy. She all but stumbled into her tiny refresher and quickly scrubbed off the dried blood in the shower. The hot water further eased her pain, so putting on some shirt to sleep in was relatively easy. Once done, she made sure to brush her teeth thoroughly and fell right into bed afterwards. The smuggler was sleeping like a stone not even a second later.

*****

Poe was smiling from ear to ear. His day had been very eventful. The adrenaline from the fight against the First Order on Takodana was still running through his system. Nothing beat flying. Except for flying and eliminating the galaxy's enemies in the process. 

Next to him, Beebee-Ate was happily chirping. Poe was especially delighted to have his little droid by his side again. Flying without him hadn't been the same. And with him, they were now in possession of one half of a map that would lead them to Luke Skywalker. Unfortunately, that meant they had to look for the other half now, with no clue where to start. 

The pilot hadn't expected to see Finn again. Without a doubt, it had been the biggest surprise when the ex-stormtrooper had walked out of the Millennium Falcon. He was still very much thankful that Finn had saved his life and he saw much potential in him. 

Poe had left him with Leia who was eager to have a little chat with him. Which meant the pilot finally had time do what had been nagging him ever since he had landed. 

His feet had carried him towards Sora's room as if on autopilot, her leather jacket tightly clutched in his hands. He had made sure to take it from his room on the way. She'd need it back. She'd probably question we had taken it in the first place. And Poe was not sure he could provide an answer.

When no one had answered his knocking and the room behind the door stayed deathly silent, he opted to check the Phoenix next. Maybe her and her crew were still working on it. After all, the only information he had gotten from communication tower had been that Team Phoenix had arrived just before they had. It was likely that they were still unloading their cargo.

Poe stumbled, barely managing to not fall on his face. "Careful, buddy," he scolded his droid who had bumped into his calf and was now frantically rolling past him. "Hey, I'm just as excited to see her like you. Wait for me!"

BeeBee-Ate beeped happily. I bet she wants to see me more though.

"Now, don't get ahead of yourself. Sora and I are friends. She barely knows you."

I slept in her house. What did you do, huh?

With an offended scoff, Poe hurried after his droid. "I'll have you know that we were roomies as well. Wanna make a bet about who she missed more, buddy?

BeeBee-Ate agreed instantly, chirping determinedly. It sounded way too self-assured for Poe. If I win, I get to stay with her for a whole week. 

"A week?! C'mon, I need your help with my X-Wing. You'd let me do all the work alone?"

Yes.

Poe grumbled unhappily. "Okay. But if I win, which I will by the way, you'll clean my room."

Deal.

The pilot knew he didn't have to worry about losing anyways. Sora had barely spent time with his droid, why should she miss BeeBee-Ate more than him? Yeah, he'd win this bet easily. 

Once the Phoenix appeared before them, BeeBee-Ate didn't waste any time and barreled right up the open ramp, Poe following him at a slower pace. Voices echoed through the ship.

"I'm telling you, cold water alone won't get rid of dried blood. You need to scrub it with chemicals."

"And I'm telling you cold water and salt is all you need. Did you never have to clean up a murder scene?"

"No. No, I didn't."

"Well, then stay quiet and let the expert do it."

"Fine, I'll leave you to it then. Don't mind me watching though. I wanna see you fail."

"Can't wait to hear you admit you were wrong, sweetheart."

Poe was slightly worried now. Murder. Blood. That didn't sound good at all. Still, he followed the voices which lead him straight into the ship's storage department. Two heads turned towards him and the small droid by his side instantly. He'd seen them before in the cafeteria and then just this morning as holograms in Leia's office. But he had never actually talked to them. Nyra and Revan were their names, he thought, hoping he remembered correctly. 

The latter was crouched on the ground, a bloodied rag in his hands. He watched the pilot standing before him curiously, folding his arms across his chest. "And what might you be doing here?"

Poe's gaze wandered from him towards the woman sitting on a crate. She leaned casually against the wall behind her, swinging her legs back and forth. She only waved at him which he acknowledged with a simple nod. 

"Poe Dameron. I'm looking for Sora. Is she here?" He couldn't stop his eyes from searching the room. 

Something Revan noticed. And of course he knew who Poe Dameron was. A very handsome pilot, basically the Resistance's own superstar. Quite sure of his talents too, maybe a bit too much. There was a thin line between arrogance and confidence. 

But most importantly, the ex-stormtrooper knew he had been the one to accompany Sora to the base.

He shared a knowing look with Nyra, forming a silent plan with her. They were experts at communicating without words, probably better than with them actually- No, definitely. 

Quickly trying to look as solemn as possible, he gripped the rag tighter, fixing his gaze on the bloodied fabric. "Sora, she's...she's still in the infirmary. A dragon's grip is very tight, you know. They have sharp claws too. We hadn't seen it coming and the next thing we knew, she went flying."

Poe felt his heart sink all the way to the hard ground. No, it couldn't be. Numbly, he blinked at the dirty rag and all of the dried, deep red blood on the ground. A Dragon. Blood. So much blood. Hers? Claws. Infirmary. 

His thoughts were all over the place, his brain imagining a deeply hurt Sora laying in a bacta tank, various tubes connected to her fragile body. What the kriff had happened on Tatooine?

Poe didn't respond. He turned around and basically sprinted towards the infirmary, heart practically bursting out of his chest. BeeBee-Ate was hot on his trail, keeping up with his pace easily.  

He didn't hear the little giggle which left Revan's mouth. "Oh, he's whipped."

"Was this really necessary?" Nyra asked, raising her brows in question. 

"He needs a little push. Trust me, I know how a man's brain works." 

"You talk as if you actually have one."

The infirmary doors were nearly thrown out of their hinges as the pilot and his small companion entered the room. Doctor Kalonia flinched in surprise, dropping the supplies she was sorting into a cabinet. "Mister Dameron, what are you doing here? Do you require medical attention?"

Poe didn't even look at her, his eyes kept checking every corner around them. "Sora. Where is she?"

The female doctor was confused, watching him carefully. "I sent her to her room to rest. She'll be out of it for a while, I'm sure. Why do you..." But the pilot was already gone again. BeeBee-Ate beeped a small apology before he too vanished. 

Running through the empty corridors, Poe and the astromech arrived in front of Sora's room in the blink of an eye. At least they knew she was not laying in a bacta tank. It was something at least, but it didn't calm his anxiety in any way. 

BeeBee-Ate stuck out a tiny wired arm and knocked it against the door repeatedly. Ever the impatient man everyone knew he was, Poe rattled his knuckles against the steel door, not really caring about waking up the whole dorm. "Sora? Open up please." 

He needed to see her himself. Needed to make sure she wasn't half dead. It's what friends did, he told himself. 

The pilot had to wait a whole minute,  an actual kriffing minute, until a very groggy Sora finally opened the door. Indeed, it looked like she had just risen from the dead, her black hair still slightly damp but tangled everywhere. Her skin was even paler than usual and he could spot some bruises on her arms and her face. She wore nothing but a lilac oversized shirt that went to her mid thighs. The colour felt slightly unnatural to her but suited her incredibly well nonetheless. 

Poe didn't care about any of that at the moment. Gently pushing her back into the room, he invited himself inside, hearing the door close behind him and BeeBee-Ate who was beeping a full on rant continuously, like a mother-hen. Her leather jacket fell to the ground next to them.

"Poe? You're back," Sora whispered, eyes blinking against the dull pain in her head. 

"Tell me you're okay, princess." Very softly to avoid hurting her, he laid his hands on her shoulders, locking his desperate eyes with her sleepy ones.

"I..." She was confused, that much was obvious. His sudden appearance had likely overwhelmed her. Still, he wasn't sorry for his behavior, for his worry. "I'm fine, Poe. Just a couple broken ribs and a concussion. Nothing bacta can't heal." 

Her voice was a gentle whisper in his ears, toning down his concerns. Poe exhaled deeply, pulling Sora into his arms, careful not to crush her. One hand tangled in her hair, he rested her head above his heart, putting his chin atop of it. His other hand caressed her back slowly, using it as a method to calm himself down. 

Sora was stiff as a board at first, the affectionate gesture catching her off guard. Listening to his heartbeat seemed to loosen her and she relaxed against his warm body, wrapping her arms around his middle. 

Poe couldn't help but further lean into the hug. She felt so good in his arms, so warm and natural. His heart skipped a beat and in that moment, he knew he wanted this to be more than a friendship. Maybe this wasn't exactly the perfect timing but in this galaxy, the time would never be right. He just hoped that with time, she would feel the same. Maybe for once in his life, he would be patient. 

"Broken ribs and a concussion isn't what I'd call nothing. Your crew nearly sent me into cardiac arrest when they told me what happened."

"Revan is an idiot. Don't take him too serious next time," Sora mumbled against his shirt. Her eyes were closed again and her breath even. Poe could see she was already halfway asleep again. 

"Did everything work out on Takodana?"

Poe's hand lingered on her back, no longer caressing it. It came to him then that he still had to break the heartbreaking news to her. That her friend Rey had been captured by Kylo Ren. 

That could wait until tomorrow though, he decided. Sora needed to rest first. "I'll explain everything tomorrow. But, you can see for yourself." Loosening his hold just a bit, he nodded his head towards the still beeping droid who was knocking his round body into Poe's leg over and over again, desperately wanting to be acknowledged. "Ouch, buddy. Stop it."

BeeBee-Ate's presence finally registered in Sora's mind and she practically shoved Poe off her, now totally awake again. She crouched down as best as she could without disturbing her ribs. "BeeBee-Ate!" She exclaimed happily, caressing his little dome head. "It's so good to see you again. Are you alright?"

The droid chirped excitedly, spinning around in circles. He spoke so fast that Sora had a hard time catching everything. "Yes, I missed you too. Very much. You look good too, thank you."

It was as if the pilot didn't exist anymore. The two totally ignored him, so invested into their chat that they didn't feel the need to include him. "Of course I missed you more than this guy here. You're not even half as annoying as he is. Also, I could really use your help with the Phoenix. There are some things that need to be adjusted but my team and I can't do it alone. Thank you, you're so kind."

Poe couldn't help but glare at his droid. Especially as Sora gave him a quick hug and BeeBee-Ate dared to send him a smug thumbs up behind her back, using his expendable wired arm. I won the bet, it clearly said. The pilot rolled his eyes in annoyance, yet an affectionate smile threatened to appear on his lips. He liked that his droid and Sora got along so well.

When she released a tired yawn, guilt suddenly overcame him. He shouldn't have woken her up. Yet, he didn't regret it.

"You should get back to bed." He gently guided her towards her bed, giving her shoulder a little squeeze. She understood and laid back, grimacing at the pain surging through her upper body. Poe wanted to make it disappear but he knew the bacta would eventually do its job and she'd be back running around in a couple of days.

"Please tell me the dragon had it worse than you?" He whispered and sat down next to her, pulling the blanket up to her neck.

Sora chuckled lowly. "It's dead."

"Good." He watched her drift off, head lolling to the side. "Goodnight, Sora." Raising one hand, he let it travel through her hair, pulling it out of her face so it wouldn't bother her in her sleep. 

As quietly as possible him and BeeBee-Ate went to leave the room. He made sure to pick up her jacket and hung it on the small wardrobe, not forgetting to switch off the lights on their way out.

*****

Sora woke up to soft knocking against her door. Once again. This time, it was much easier to sit up. The pain in her head had dulled down to a very bearable headache and she was sure that by the end of the day, it would be gone completely. Her ribs still ached with every movement but breathing was much easier now. All in all, there was nothing binding her to the bed.

Stretching her limbs as best as she could, she opened the door and was surprised to be greeted by BeeBee-Ate. Ah, so her encounter with the droid and a certain pilot hadn't been a dream after all. Somehow, that thought caused her to blush and she wanted to slap it off her face instantly.

"Good morning BeeBee-Ate. What brings you to me?" 

The droid chirped excitedly and proudly told her about the bet he had won. Sora chuckled at the revelation, shaking her head in endearment. "I'm glad to have you all for myself for a whole week too, buddy. We're gonna have so much fun together. You don't mind me rubbing it in Poe's face, do you?"

Not at all.

"Great. Let me get dressed and then we can grab something to eat. I'm starving. Maybe we can meet Rey there. Maker knows she needs to try the buffet here. She'll love it." She left the droid waiting in her bedroom, brushing her teeth and putting on new clothes in the refresher. 

BeeBee-Ate beeped sadly and explained what had happened on Takodana, causing Sora to quickly throw on a loose, slightly cropped white sweatshirt and a pair of black cargo pants. She left her hair down, brushing through the black waves and deeming it just fine that way. "What do you mean Rey is not here?" She asked, walking back into the room to look at the droid. Worry was beginning to seep into her thoughts. 

More sad beeps followed. This time, they had Sora cursing in languages she didn't even know she was capable of speaking. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and pinched her forehead. "So Kylo Ren is gonna use his stupid mind tricks to torture the map out of her? Great. Just great. We can never get a break, can't we? Well, guess we just have to kidnap her back then, don't we?"

BeeBee-Ate was concerned now. "No, nothing can stop me from trying, not even Leia. We'll find her and we'll get her back. Hey, you better not tell Poe about this, okay? I have a feeling he would definitely find a way to stop me."

The droid was hesitant to agree but knew she was right. Given his reaction last night, he'd probably lock her into her room if she dared to suggest sneaking onto a First Order ship with her tiny crew of three. And she highly doubted Leia would green-light a big mission to save one person from the tight clutches of non other than Kylo Ren, a powerful Jedi under the protection of Snoke and thousands of stormtroopers. Besides, with the second half of the map to Luke Skywalker missing, the Resistance had other things to worry about.

But she wouldn't let Kylo Ren touch a single strand of hair on her friend's head. Under no circumstances.

"C'mon, we'll discuss this with Nyra and Revan after breakfast," she said, quickly tying the laces of her black boots. "I need a cup of caf first. Or maybe two or three. Hey, what's my jacket doing here?" She was sure she had left it in the hangar before they had taken off. 

BeeBee-Ate innocently declared he had no idea either. Which simultaneously told her everything she needed to know. That Poe had brought it to her room. In her head, she imagined him finding it in an empty hangar. And because she already knew how curious and impatient he was, he had likely gone straight to Leia to get answers. 

Really, Poe was quite predictable when it didn't concern flying.

Sora raised her eyebrows at the astromech. "You're a bad liar." And apologetic beeping was his answer.

The two of them made their way through the corridors, seeing lots of people she had never seen before. They greeted her with friendly smiles and she gave her best to return most of them. The cafeteria was just beginning to fill with people slowly as her and BeeBee-Ate made their way to the buffet. It was still early in the morning. Filling her tray with more delicacies than she could probably stomach, she grabbed a big mug of caf as well. 

"Sora! Over here!" Shouting caused her to turn around, eyes wandering all over the room until they landed on a frantically waving Revan. Him and Nyra were occupying a table in one of the corners, their own trays filled to the brim. 

"Good morning," she mumbled and plopped down on a free chair in front of them. 

"Morning," Nyra returned, stuffing some fruits into her mouth. "How are you feeling?"

Sora waved her off, taking a sip from the hot beverage in her mug. "Way better. Give me one or two more days and I can slay another dragon."

"That's the spirit." Revan leaned back, plopping grapes into his mouth. "The Phoenix is shining again. No blood left anywhere." He winked at her. "Tell me, did you have a visitor last night? Soft curly hair, abs to die for and the flirtiest smile of the Resistance?"

The smuggler narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you tell him? He seemed like he thought I was on the brink of death."

Revan shrugged his shoulders, grinning smugly. "I might have exaggerated the truth a tiny bit. Honestly, can't really remember though. It's been a while."

"Sure. Anyways, this little guy here will help us this week. BeeBee-Ate, those are Nyra and Revan." Pointing at BeeBee-Ate who chirped happily in return and quickly explained why he was with them, she drank more caf, already feeling the effects. This was exactly what she had needed to sharpen her senses. The perfect base to form a plan on how to get Rey back.

"An apprentice? Nice," Nyra said, smiling at the droid. "Don't worry, after this week, you'd never even want to go back to that pilot of yours." Gaze locking on something behind Sora, she perked up and wiggled her eyebrows teasingly. "Isn't that right?"

Sora felt a soft squeeze on her shoulder before the empty chair next to her was pulled back. She knew who it was without looking, yet she couldn't help but sneak a look at him. The smile sent her way was returned but when Poe kept his gaze locked on her, she caught herself angling her body towards his, so it was easier to look at him whilst filling her stomach. 

"I was wondering where my droid was when I woke up. Guess he was eager to see you." The pilot glared at BeeBee-Ate but it was obviously fake. "Tell you what buddy, I'm not gonna miss you one bit the next seven days. I promise you that. So no need to act so smug."

Liar. 

Sora chuckled, silently agreeing with the astromech. "I don't mind sharing custody. You can visit anytime you want." Kriff, did she really just say that? She wanted to cringe badly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Revan smirking at her, clearly enjoying where this was going. She just knew what kind of jokes where going through his head and she hoped he would keep them to himself. 

Unsurprisingly, he didn't.

"Talking about children already? Tell us, what did you do all alone in her room?"

She felt heat spreading across her cheeks and scolded herself for it. But the way Poe looked at her told her he thankfully wouldn't take Revan's bait. Instead, he spread his arm on the back of her chair, laying a calming hand against the top of her back. Now, a different kind of warmth tingled in her body. "What friends do is check up on each other. Which is all I did, mate." 

"Good. That means we can accept you as her 'friend', Poe Dameron." Revan had turned serious and that was all it took for Sora to understand what he was really hinting at. He was looking out for her. 

It was unusual, especially coming from him. She realized they had already grown much closer than she had anticipated. Normally, it would have been Elijah acting like a big brother. But things had turned out differently and now it seemed like Revan was trying to fill that role. Did he feel obligated to do it? Or had everything that had happened to them really caused a tight bond to form in such a short amount of time? 

She found herself leaning more towards the latter. It was nice to have close friends. Smart even. And rare. As a smuggler, she had always only had Elijah, and later only Rey. Never more than one friend at a time. This was definitely a good change.

"Hey Sora, not to alarm you or anything, but there is this guy staring at you," Nyra brought her back to the present. She was looking at someone behind Sora with narrowed eyes. "Like, really staring, I'm saying totally gobsmacked. It's like he's seeing a ghost."

Curious, Revan's gaze followed the direction Nyra's finger was pointing at. Both Poe and Sora turned around as well, wanting to see who she was talking about. 

Sure enough, as Sora locked eyes with a tall brown-skinned young man who was indeed staring at her like she was a ghost, the tray in his hands fell to the ground with a loud clatter. The noise instantly killed any conversation inside the cafeteria as all eyes went towards the scene. 

"You're alright, Finn?" Poe asked, looking at the tall handsome man he called his friend in concern. 

Ah, so that was the stormtrooper who had helped Poe escape from the First Order. The one the pilot had been shouting for when she found him in the desert on Jakku. Meaning he was also the man who had fled the planet with Rey and the Millennium Falcon. Sora was glad to see he was alive and well.  

Finn stayed as still as a statue, his eyes never leaving hers. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, he beat her to it, lips stretching into a relieved smile. And what he said did nothing but confuse her even more.

"You're alive. I can't believe it, you're alive."

[athenaderiva]

Stargazing

Poe Dameron x OFC

Word count: 600 ish

Fluff!

Aleta sighed as she removed her belt, tossing it onto her bed. Her blaster tumbled out of it and onto the floor and she groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. She muttered curses to herself as she knelt down to pick it up, completely unaware of the pilot entering her room until he spoke to her.

“You alright, Queenie?” Aleta turned her head to scowl at him as she stood, dropping the blaster on her bed. “Day was that bad, huh?” She sat down, nodding at him and he sat down next to her, his smile that he reserved for her written plain across his face.

“You heard the broadcast, Dameron. If any of my people think that the First Order are telling the truth, they’ll think I betrayed them, that I turned on them.” She paused, looking down at her hands. “I’m just so tired. I wish the war never came to my planet.” His fingers wrapped under her chin and turned her to look at him.

“Come with me. I wanna take you somewhere, get your mind off everything. I’ve got tomorrow off and I checked with the General, you do too.” Aleta raised her eyebrow and he just grinned at her, his eyes glinting.

“What are you up to, Dameron?” She asked, narrowing her eyes. He grabbed her hand and jumped up, dragging her from her room towards the hangar. She reluctantly boarded the waiting speeder and he tossed a bag into her lap.

“Keep hold of that,” he muttered as he began to fly the speeder away from the base. Aleta rolled her eyes but clutched the bag to her chest as the base disappeared from sight.

He stopped by a hot spring in a clearing. “I found this place right before I was sent to rescue you. I’ve wanted to show you it ever since.” He mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. Aleta stared at him, never having seen him so… shy before.

“It’s beautiful.” Aleta whispered. Trees coated in dark green leaves on a dusting of snow surrounded the clearing, the moon seemingly directly above them and making the spring glow. She smiled, letting him help her off the speeder before he took the bag from her, pulling out a blanket and laying it on the ground. He sat down and patted next to him. Aleta sat. The blanket was still cold underneath them, the moisture from the ground soaking through in minutes but she didn’t care. She almost felt relaxed for the first time since she joined the Resistance. She laid back, her hair tangling in the leaves and grass and dew. Her eyes were on the stars, but Poe’s gaze was on her as she rambled about each constellation she could see. She paused, turning to face him. “Thank you for bringing me here.” Poe smiled, and Aleta felt like she was seeing him for the first time. The cocky pilot was nowhere to be seen, instead in the moonlight all she could see was a man who cared for others. The silver glint in his eye wasn’t one of mischief but of something warmer, something kinder, something calmer. He raised his hand, his calloused thumb traversing her cheek.

“You’re beautiful.” Poe murmured. Aleta felt her cheeks heat up and he smiled, watching her eyes flutter closed as his thumb moved to her lips, tracing them gently. Before she could open her eyes, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. She sighed against him, letting his kiss sear his mark onto her, and she knew she would never get over him.

[galacticwildfire]

Early Mornings

Poe Dameron x Solo!oc

summary: poe dameron and hope solo have places to be, but the only place they want to be is in bed

tags/warnings: essentially a non-sexual situationship (they're disgustingly in love but in denial), cuddling, flirting, kissing that borders on smutty, references to sex and jealousy, some suggestive dialogue, a little angst and brief reference to trauma, but sickeningly sweet fluff overall

word count: 2.8k

a/n: this is a scene I've written for my series fire meet gasoline on ao3 but it's been sitting in my notes app for too long to not share it as a stand alone one shot. also gif for obvious reasons.

~

~

The feeling of Poe's arms unconsciously tightening around my body's what stirs me awake in the early hours of the morning. While I can vaguely remember falling asleep listening to the steady beat of his heart it seems that sometime in the night we ended up with my back flush to his chest and our limbs tangled. Any space we'd left between us in the late hours of last night long gone.

My lips brush the arm he has tucked beneath my head as I look back over my shoulder, finding his head buried in the crook of my neck and still sound asleep. The feeling of him nuzzling into me's a now familiar sensation I let myself bathe in for as long as I can before forcing myself to remember that we have places to be.

The only downside to these mornings is the tragic fact that they have to end, especially when physically removing myself from him is a feat in itself. I may as well be struggling against a Wookie with the amount of strength it takes to pull myself from Poe Dameron's arms. Although I'd never want it any other way.

BB-8 beeps good morning and after returning it I glance at the time, reluctantly and very carefully untangling myself from Poe before he can wake up, a learned skill. Knowing the amount of sleepless nights we've both had in the past weeks I decide to take the first shower to let him sleep that little bit longer. 

My spare flight suit’s folded in the drawer that had been empty until recently, along with the towel that’s made its way into Poe’s room along with other necessities. Despite having everything that I need when I sleep over I haven’t been able to give up the shirt he’d loaned me to sleep in, not that he seems to mind. 

Finding my hairpins on his bathroom counter drives home how routine this arrangement’s become to the point that I don’t know how I slept any other way, how mere months ago I was out there in the Outer Rims alone and now… now I can’t imagine doing any of this without him. 

He’s still asleep when I come out in my flight suit, finding him with the blanket bundled up in his arms in place of where I’d been. The sight has my heart clenching and BB-8 beeps quietly to ask if he should wake him up. 

“I’ve got it,” I say, leaning down to rub his head as I make my way over to Poe, reluctant to wake him up but people are going to start asking questions if we’re both late to our third meeting this week. My mother would start asking questions, and this is something I wouldn’t quite know how to explain to her. 

 “Poe,” I hum as I sit down on the edge of his bed, running my fingers through his messed curls until he begins to stir. “Morning.”

He blinks in confusion when he can’t feel me beside him, but the tension leaves his face when his eyes find mine.

“Hey,” he smiles tiredly and murmurs “What are you doing all the way over there?”

“We’ve got a meeting.”

“We do?”

“Come on, Commander,” I say, brushing back the dark curls that fall across his forehead. “I thought it was your job to know these things.”

His eyes are warm as he leans into my touch. “I’ve been a little preoccupied.”

“That can easily be fixed-” I begin, slowly withdrawing my hand until he stops me. 

“No, no,” he quickly says, and I’m smiling as he pulls my hand back and holds it to his cheek. His eyes fall shut as his lips brush my palm, his morning stubble a welcome feeling. “Don’t you dare.”

I can’t help but lean down to kiss his cheek, bumping his nose with mine as I insist “Come on or we’ll be late. I’ll grab our caf and see you there.”

“Hey, caf’s my job,” he protests as I reluctantly pull back but relents. “How late are we?”

“We’ve got about half an hour, so take a shower and I’ll meet you in the mess.”

“Yes, Captain,” he says, and rolls onto his back while still holding my hand in his, looking up at me with his brows drawn together as he questions “Since when are you up early?”

“Since I’m actually sleeping well,” I say and he gives me a tired smile that I’m helpless to adore. 

“Me too, sweetheart.”

“Yeah?” I say softly, knowing that hasn’t been the case for either of us these past weeks. 

He nods and brings my hand back to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “I mean, I sure as hell don’t wanna get out of bed.” 

I catch the glint of mischief in his eye the moment before he tugs me back into bed with him, somehow managing to roll me so I’m lying on my back in the small space and he’s hovering above me - not that I’m putting up much of a fight. 

“Which is why I got out of it before you woke up,” I whine as he nestles his head in the crook of my neck and slips an arm back around my waist, intentionally pinning me to the bed with his bodyweight to keep me from moving. “Since someone likes to cling to me like a sloth.”

He lifts his head up with a proud smile. “A handsome sloth.”

“That’s true,” I agree, helpless to deny that as he bumps my nose. “But that face won’t help you when you’re late.”

“It’s helped me so far,” he dismisses, his stubble grazing my skin as he kisses my forehead. “Might not be enough to get me out of trouble but it’s enough to keep you here.”

My jaw drops a little at the audacity but I can’t argue considering he knows damn well it’s the truth as I shake my head at him. “That damn face - my one weakness.”

“It’s alright sweetheart, yours is mine as well,” he assures me as he peppers kisses across my face. “Those eyes… you know I can’t say no to you so-” I whine again as he pulls back and moves his body off mine, settling between me and the wall. “I’ll let you get going and I’ll meet you in the mess.”

He knows he has me where he wants me and I couldn’t care less as I tug him back by the fabric of his shirt and he certainly doesn’t make any effort to resist as he gathers me back up in his arms, settling over me with his elbow propping him up this time. 

“No, you’re stuck with me now,” I decide and I’m holding his face as I pepper kisses from his cheek to the bridge of his nose, our bodies melding as our legs tangle together.

He kisses my jaw while he teases “Isn’t being clung to all night enough for you?” It’s then he turns his head to look at me and his lips incidentally brush mine, although it’s far from the first time. 

Still, his breath hitches and my voice trembles slightly as I ask “What do you think?”

He searches my eyes, seeking whatever it is he’s looking for before our lips meet. Again, far from the first time. Another in a long series of kisses we’ve sworn wouldn’t happen again and yet we always end up here. The softness of his lips has me trying to recall every reason we’ve used for why this can’t happen. 

The fact that we’re a disaster at the best of times. 

That we both have the tendency to let our emotions cloud our judgement until it ends in screaming fights in the middle of the hangar. 

The fact that he’s still my commanding officer and we’re on fragile enough footing with high command as it is, even if everyone knows we operate as partners. 

That all it would take is one bad call in the field and we’re both dead. 

The fact that he’s my best friend, my partner, the one damn person in this galaxy I trust whole heartedly. 

Knowing that I’d lose my mind if anything ever happened to him.

If I lost him-

My back arches off the bed as his tongue slips into my mouth and he swallows the sound that comes from the back of my throat as the hand that was under me moves to squeeze my waist. He gasps softly as my fingers slip into his hair in return, gently tugging at his curls to pull him closer - needing him closer. 

It’s when my legs hook around his hips that BB-8’s beeping reminds us that he’s still there and we both flush in embarrassment. R2’s been around long enough that he doesn’t linger past a certain time, even when Poe and I’s affection is innocent, but despite being a romantic sweet BB-8 isn’t prepared to see anything more than this.

And Poe and I certainly aren’t prepared to put on a show for him. 

Still, I can’t help but burst out laughing when Poe murmurs in my ear “We have an audience.” He kisses my forehead again before clearing his throat. “Hey buddy, why don’t you go see what R2’s up to?”

He gives an offended beep, both at his dismissal and us forgetting his presence, before finding his way out and we share a look of mortified guilt. I’m trying to hold back embarrassed laughter while Poe’s head dips to my shoulder to kiss where my collarbone's exposed by the partially zipped flightsuit before he again slips into the bed beside me, holding me close with a caressing hand over my hip. 

“I’m guessing you haven’t had to kick BB-8 out before?” I tread, knowing that I’m the only person Poe’s had sleeping over since he’s joined the Resistance, but I can’t help the pang of jealousy at the thought of him being with someone else like this.

“Like I’ve told you sweetheart, I’ve been living like a Jedi since before Leia recruited me,” he says, settling those thoughts with a kiss to my forehead. “I think he’s just mad I’ve been taking your attention away from him.”

“I still give him plenty of love,” I assure Poe and he tugs me closer, his lips lingering on my temple as I bury my face in his neck. “Five more minutes, then we’ll get up.”

“What happened to we’re gonna be late?” he teases and I just groan. “Hope…”

“I know, I know,” I pout, rolling back enough so that my face rests beside his on the pillow we’ve shared more often than not the past few weeks. “I just wanna stay here with you.”

I search his eyes, praying he hears what I really want to say. That I want it to be just you and me. No First Order. No protocol. Just us. Raw and mostly unfiltered.

He plays with my fingers, kissing each one individually before he meets my eye and I know that he does. “How about after the meeting I swap patrols with Karé so we can go out together?” he suggests. “It’s been a while since it’s been just the two of us and our x-wings.”

“Because command nearly has a nervous breakdown every time we go out there together,” I remind him, lacing our fingers together. “I believe the words ‘tie-fighter magnets’ were used.”

Neither of us can pretend we aren’t proud of that label. 

“Well, it’s a good thing that the two best pilots in the galaxy can take them out then,” he says but I don’t miss the way his face falls when he remembers what happened the only time we couldn’t. Even now I can't shake the sound of the pure fear in his voice when he pulled me from the crash. He kisses my hand again and tries to push it from his mind but the memory lingers. “It’s you and me, and the patrols Leia’s got scheduled shouldn’t be dangerous.”

“Famous last words,” I say and he can’t argue with that considering command’s right when it comes to our track record. “But I’d like that. You and me.” 

“Me too sweetheart,” he says, stretching as he lays back, both of us ignoring the fact that we’re definitely not making it to breakfast before the meeting. “But first I’ve gotta shower, get dressed-” he trails off, deciding to be a little shit as he grins “Unless you wanna join?”

I’m matching his grin with a playful slap to his chest. “Then we’d definitely be late.”

“I didn’t hear a no.”

He can see me blushing red and he still wears that same cocky smile that I’m more than tempted to kiss off his face. I don’t know how many times he and I have been on this ledge, teasing and tempted to go further, only to treat this with more caution than we’ve given to anything else in our lives.

“Are you trying to call my bluff? Because we both know how that ends.”

This is one thing, waking up together and sharing these kisses that we don’t acknowledge. This we can still fool ourselves into believing is the pinnacle of platonic love, a playful extension of the affection we share - an unconventional partnership.

Sex is another thing entirely. 

When we’d first met and things got heated I wanted it, and I wanted it with him, but we both know that this partnership is too delicate to handle those emotions on top of all the others we can scarcely deal with on our best days. 

“Oh I know,” he assures me. “Considering the last time I tried to call your bluff you took a shot at me.”

“You were the one who said I wouldn’t do it,” I remind him, blaming that one on a bout of temporary insanity on both our parts after a dogfight gone wrong. “What can I say? You drive me crazy.”

“I know,” he grins. “The good kind of crazy I hope.”

“Always,” I smile before correcting. “Well, most of the time.”

“Alright, we’d be lying if we didn’t say most,” he admits and we share a laugh knowing that everyone on base, even our own squadron, was at their wits end with us not that long ago but here… it’s just us and no one else.

Unfortunately that has to come to an end, but not before I press a chaste kiss to his lips. “Breakfast in fifteen.”

“Yes, Captain,” he smiles as I sit upright, but raises an eyebrow upon deciding to try his luck. “I can make it in ten if you give me another one.”

And so I do, only for us to end up right back where we started; in the bed with his hands on my waist and mine tangled in his hair. The gentle swipe of his tongue across my bottom lip has me planning to use the dwindling privileges that being the General's daughter brings to get away with being late by at least another half an hour, although Poe puts a stop to that as if he wasn’t the one who started this. 

“Poe,” I whine when he pulls away, sitting up properly and leaving me with my head on his pillow. "Why do you do this?"

He still has the audacity to play around and take his sick enjoyment in riling me up. “We have meetings, remember?”

My eyes narrow at him. “Bastard.”

“What was that?”

“Bastard,” I repeat and he grins. 

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Come on beautiful,” he murmurs as he pulls me upright and I just laugh. 

“Oh no, don’t ‘come on’ me when you’re the one that dragged me back into bed.”

He gives an unapologetic shrug but the warmth in his eyes makes up for it. “You missed the beautiful part.”

I shake my head and he kisses me again before I have to put my hands on his chest to keep enough distance between us that I can actually get out of the bed and away from it without him pulling me back into it. 

“We’re gonna be so late and you still need to get ready,” I lecture, knowing I’ll be the one getting the blame for it considering he’s the favourite. 

“Give me ten minutes to get ready and I’ll meet you in the mess,” he promises, extending a pinkie out to me but I’m not naive enough to get close enough for him to pull me back in. “Considering your track record Leia expects us to be about twenty minutes late anyways.”

I scrunch my face up at him but he only smiles. 

“You’re really cute when you’re pretending to be mad at me.”

The smile I can’t force back only proves his point. “Shut up.”

“Make me,” he challenges, having woken up intent to test me but I'm not falling into his trap again. 

“After the meeting,” I promise before heading out the door to find BB-8 waiting outside for us with R2. “Come on, you can keep me company while he drags himself out of bed.”

We're halfway to the mess when we come across Jess who's in a rush. "There you are, Threepio's been looking for you and Poe. Have you seen him?"

"Yeah he's just in the shower," I say as I continue on my way, only to freeze a little as she turns her head back incredulously.

"How do you know-"

"BB-8 told me," I quickly follow up and she blinks at me in disbelief before she shakes her head and keeps walking, but at this point Poe and I have accepted the fact that our squadron believes we're hiding some illicit affair from them.

Then again, it's always poor Jess who seems to catch us in compromising positions. Although as long as it's her and not my mother, or maker forbid Threepio, I can live in peace with that.

[ivystoryweaver]

The Only One

Episode 7

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Summary: The last time you saw Poe was right before he blew up Starkliller Base - a huge victory for the Resistance. Things go to hell after that and you are separated from Poe, needing to rely on your instincts...and the Force. A huge secret starts to be revealed.

a/n: This Episode glosses over the events in the film The Last Jedi. You don't have to be knowledgeable about the sequel films to continue the story - everything that relates to Elia is summarized here. She is a bit separate from Poe during film events, so this is not a re-telling.

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female original character. Fic is written in second person, but the female "you" has a name (It reads basically the same as any other xreader)

Word Count: 1.6k

Content: violence, action, little angst (no more than in the films), not beta'd

PREVIOUSLY on "The Only One"...

He turned around one more time, granting you another sweet smile. “Wait for me, Ells. I’ll be right back.”

Somehow his humor and good nature gave you hope. Poe always gave you hope.

“May the Force be with you,” you whispered to no one really. Or, to all of them.

The next week was hell.

Which was, perhaps, what a demon like yourself deserved.

At first, the Resistance buzzed with the thrill of victory. Poe and his team destroyed Starkiller Base after Rebel legends Han Solo and Chewbacca worked together with the stormtrooper who defected and a young woman named Rey.

But before you could celebrate or have much of a reunion with Poe, the stormtrooper, who you learned was named Finn, was sent to medical in critical condition, while Rey supposedly flew away to find Luke Skywlaker.

Kylo Ren had murdered Han Solo.

You thought taking out Starkiller Base would give the Resistance a huge advantage in the uphill battle against the First Order, but the New Republic had suffered tremendous losses, crippling, if not obliterating support for the Resistance.

Your assignment kept you apart from Poe for days, so you hadn’t seen him since that fateful moment directly before the Starkiller Base battle.

...where he kissed you and asked you to wait for him.

So many had been lost since then - the chaos, nonstop. After the most recent attack took out most of Resistance command, someone named Holdo took over.

You were dying to see Poe, desperate to see for yourself that he was okay. Every time something else exploded, you felt sure you’d receive a report of his death. The stress piled up as you worked separately from Poe, thinking he might die, or you might die.

To make a desperate situation worse, the attack on the ship's bridge left Leia seriously wounded. And directly before Holdo took command, Poe was demoted, which infuriated you.

And, aside from the fact that you were (thankfully) able to focus, or hyper focus, as it were, on computer programming and other computer tech needs, the news of Commander Dameron's demotion was all you could think about...

...or talk about.

Thankfully, Perrha was with you for the past few days and was a wonderful grounding force for you.

Now, the Resistance was trying to safely land transports on the planet Crait.

Everyone watched in horror as one after the other, the First Order blew them out of the sky. You kept yourself busy working, tears streaming down your face at the thought of Poe being on one of those obliterated ships.

Poe felt the same way.

After maybe the worst week of his life (aside from when his mom died), Poe woke up from the little nap Leia's stun gun gave him. He listened patiently as Leia explained Holdo's plan, then watched in horror as transport after transport was obliterated.

"Where's Elia?" He asked Leia, as if she might somehow know. He had lost too many today, not only on the bridge, but when some of his closest friends died in the hangar explosion.

Leia shook her head, unsure.

Poe stared out into space. "Which one is she on?" He murmured, thankful that his new friend Finn was at least safe for the moment. Hopefully.

The planet's surface was so close. You and Perrha might make it through this. But who could be sure what awaited you on Crait, with the First Order bearing down hard?

As you entered the planet's atmosphere, the transport closest to yours exploded - near enough to your own that the blast and debris wreaked havoc. You were taking serious damage - hit hard enough to crash, just not to explode instantly like the neighboring transport.

Everyone around you was astoundingly calm, focused and professional, but a crash landing would not be avoidable.

Perrha's eyes met yours frantically as fire, debris and smoke filled the transport.

"We're not gonna make it," they gasped, coughing from all the smoke.

Panic gripped your heart. You didn't want to die. For once in your life, you really wanted to live and not just in terms of survival. You wanted to help the Resistance. You wanted them to win. You needed to learn about the Force, and ascertain from Leia if you were truly doomed to be a servant of the darkness.

Perrha was your friend and so was Poe. Your very best friend. Your heart broke as you thought of never seeing him again. It couldn't end this way.

So instead of giving in to despair, you opened yourself up to the flow of energy - no. The Force. A wall of fire swept through the transport.

"No." Your voice could barely be heard over the commotion. It wasn't a plea but a command.

Perrha cried out your name as you stretched out your hands and literally pushed the fire backward.

Your breathing steadied, your countenance - a mask of serenity. Your eyes fluttered closed as the Force surrounded you, flowed through you.

The fire would not touch you. Nor Perrha.

The remaining Resistance fighters watched from their transports, in awe, as a transport-on-fire gently touched down on the planet's surface.

You heard nothing. You only felt.

Calm.

Finally, you heard Perrha screaming your name. "This thing is gonna blow, come on!" They quite literally jerked you away - your boots thumping on the planet's surface as you ran for your life.

The ship exploded, knocking the survivors to the ground with a concussive force - dangerous, but not fatal.

Your ears rang, dusty salt filled your lungs, but Perrha hauled you up. You ran again, as fast as you had ever in your life.

The First Order had entered the planet's atmosphere and took up position at the mine entrance - the old Rebel base. Unfortunately, your transport's crash left you quite far away on foot. But thankfully, the First Order would assume your exploded crash site would leave no survivors - giving you time to run.

A battle raged overhead and in the distance. Blaster and cannon fire, and boot prints turned the ashy, salty surface blood red.

Your group finally made it to the mine, but there was no getting in the front entrance. The huge blaster door was sealed, but under heavy attack.

"Is there another way in?" You wondered aloud.

"Is there another way out?" Perrha countered, panicked. "Are they trapped in there?"

Your ragtag team rallied, determined to find a way to either get in to the safety of the mine, or help the remaining Resistance fighters escape, if they were trapped.

Suddenly you saw an old rust bucket ship zoom overhead and land at the edge of a shallow cliff.

Your team arrived just in time to see a young woman...making dozens of piles of rocks...float. This action served to clear a blocked path, allowing the Resistance fighters to escape the mine.

You saw the stormtrooper, Finn. The young woman must be Rey. You were so distracted by her dazzling display of the Force, that you almost didn't notice that just beside Finn...

was Poe.

Finn raced into Rey's arms for a hug, but it was Poe who noticed your ash-covered, singed, rag-tag crew, confused, for a moment, as to why you would have appeared with Rey.

"Elia," he breathed, pushing his way past anyone and everything in his path, including the huge boulders Rey had lifted moments before.

You were an adorable mess, most of your hair had tumbled out of your twin buns. Soot tarnished your cheeks and clothes. By some miracle your unlaced boots stayed in place while you ran for your life.

As Poe clambered toward you, your hands anxiously grabbed for your backpack straps…only to come up empty.

“M-my backpack,” you gasped, frantically touching your arms and chest.

Okay, people were dead.

Your transport crashed and exploded.

You only survived because you wielded the Force and ran for your life.

The First Order was bearing down.

Poe was alive!

But your brain?

“My backpack,” you repeated, desperately, craving the familiar soothing touchstone of its frayed straps.

“Here, sweetheart,” Poe gently offered, reaching for the fallen strap, to pull it back onto your shoulder. “Looks like the other one got burned.”

Which meant…

You grabbed for the other strap urgently, realizing the little pack might have been destroyed, leaving your wings out in the open.

Poe, so relieved to see you alive, wishing with all his heart that the could throw his arms around you, tried to understand…

“No, no no …” You shook your head, eyes wide with horror.

“Ells?” He asked, confused, holding up his hands in a supplicating manner, trying to show you he wouldn’t touch you if you didn’t want him to. “Baby, are you hurt?”

“I can’t…my backpack,” you gasped, short of breath. “I can’t…” Shaking your head rapidly, you backed away, running into Perrha…who got a look at your exposed back.

“Oh, Elia. A-are you - w-what happened…” they trailed off, glancing at Poe, confused at the sight of your tightly furled, dark wings. Perrha wasn’t sure if you were burned, or what was going on.

“What is it?” He demanded. “Is she hurt?” He reached for your arm to turn you around, but before his hand made contact, you clenched your fists and cried out.

“No!”

…sending tiny bits of rock flying outward from you body in every direction.

This got Rey’s attention.

As far as the young Jedi trainee knew, she and Leia were the only ones capable of this sort of thing.

Poe backed away, stunned, brushing bits of gravel from his face and hair, exchanging worried glances with Perrha, but determined to make sure you were all right.

He thought to approach you, but stopped short at a miraculous sight.

Your hair had tumbled down, beautiful and wild, your eyes closed in concentration.

Hands clenched by your sides, you held yourself still as bits of rock and earth circled you slowly.

And behind you, dark, slick wings unfurled.

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[vibrantbirdy]

Asks for Character x Reader Fic Requests Now Open!

Hi Tumblr,

My Asks are currently open for Character x Reader Fic Requests.

IMPORTANT: Before requesting, please read the Guidelines below.

Thank you everyone who has given me amazing prompts so far and for your kind words and your interactions. Guidelines Characters I will write for: Star Wars - Kylo Ren or Ben Solo - Cal Kestis - Cassian Andor - Obi-Wan Kenobi (any era) - Anakin Skywalker (pre-Vader) - Luke Skywalker (any era) - Din Djarin - Poe Dameron - Finn Other Fandoms - Dr Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1) - Commander Mills (65) - Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) - Any character (Lord of the Rings Trilogy) - Main crew (Star Trek TNG)

More guidelines under the cut...

How to Request:

Please request through my Asks here (which can also can be found under my blog header)

Request descriptions will be posted with the fic

You may request anonymously

If you choose not to request anonymously, please let me know if you do not you want to be tagged in your fic request when it is posted

I will try to answer as many requests as possible but please understand that I probably won't feel an affinity with every single prompt that comes in. Please don't be offended if it looks like I haven't picked your request up and feel free to try again with something different in the future.

I will try to get to requests as soon as possible, but please remember I do, unfortunately, have real life to contend with too.

What do you want?:

Type of fic: Generally for requests I will write Character x Reader. However, if you want something that focuses on a Character x Canon/Implied/Potential Pairing or a Character x OC just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

Specify Reader Type: Default will be Character x Female Reader just because that's what I have most experience writing, but if you would prefer Character x Gender Neutral Reader or something different please let me know and if I pick up your request, I will try my best!

Length: Most of my fic will be between 1000 and 5000 words. If you have a length in mind please let me know, otherwise I will just go with the flow.

Prompt: Remember to give me information on what you would like the basic details of the story to be. These can be specific or general but I need something as a starting point.

Genres I will write for:

Action/Adventure

Romance

Gen

Fluff

Enemies to Lovers/Allies/Friends

Hurt/Comfort and mild Whump

Mild Angst

Smut (please, don't be shy to ask - ask anonymously if you want! - but bear in mind I may be a little more selective about smut than other types of requests. If you request adult content you must be 18+.)

What I won't write about (this is not an exhaustive list):

Sexual Violence/Non-con

Severe Trauma

Heavy Angst

Extreme Violence

Infidelity or Love Triangles

All my fic will be clearly labelled with warnings and anything 18+ will be clearly marked so please heed these indicators before reading.

Thank you all so much!

-Birdy

My original Character x Reader fics

Title: No Survivors Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi; Action/Adventure; Enemies to Allies; Whump; Hurt/Comfort and Romance if you squint. Setting: Pre The Force Awakens Characters: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: 3347 Warnings: Detailed descriptions of injury/aftermath of injury (non-fatal impalement); descriptions of emergency/makeshift medical treatment; mild descriptions of death from a crashed ship; mild sexuality; mild/canon typical swearing Pairings: Kylo Ren x Female Reader

Summary: You are Resistance fighter who has been captured. You are in transit aboard a First Order transport destined for an Imperial prison on the swamp moon of Delka 6. When a violent electromagnetic storm brings down the ship, you appear to be the only survivor. That is until you come across Supreme Leader Snoke's primary warlord, Kylo Ren, amid the wreckage. The volatile Ren is injured and you have to decide whether you can put your reservations aside to help him in the aftermath of the crash.

Completed Reader Requests Title: Crush Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi; Romance; Fluff Setting: Sometime later on in the Force Awakens Characters: Poe Dameron; Female Reader Pairings: Poe Dameron x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Warnings: None :) Perhaps extremely mild, fluffy, sexuality Summary: You working for the Resistance on D'Qar, and Wing Commander Poe Dameron has a crush on you - he's surprisingly awkward about it.

Title: Charade Fandom: Star Wars Setting: Between Andor and Rogue One Genres: Sci-fi; Romance; Enemies to lovers; Action/adventure; Fluff Warnings: in keeping with tone of Andor/Rogue One - moderate sexuality; moderate swearing; mild violence/peril; brief mentions of loss of family/friends by Reader. Pairing: Cassian Andor x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: approx 10k (oops) Summary: You and Captain Cassian Andor have to negotiate your personal differences and difficult history when you are both assigned to go on an undercover operation to the Galaxy's playground for the super-rich, Canto Bight, as a married couple.

Title: Relics Fandom: Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Setting: Pre the Phantom Menace to post the Kenobi Series. Genres: Sci-fi; Romance; Minor Angst Warnings: mild/moderate sexuality; mild references to Reader family losses due to old age; mild references to the Empire being baddies and doing baddie things Pairing: Obi-Wan Kenobi x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: c.5k Summary: You and Obi-Wan Kenobi have a connection that spans decades as your lives intersect throughout the years. Will you find each other again in the most unlikely of places?

Title: Proximity Fandom: Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor Games Setting: Prior to events of Jedi Survivor Genres: Sci-fi; Romance; Fluff - This is tooth-rotting fluff with a little added spice as requested ;) Warnings: This fic is 18+ so please heed and respect the adult rating. Descriptions of sexual longing/arousal; strong consensual sexual content - nothing too descriptive but probably on the borderline of (hopefully still sweet) smut. Pairing: Cal Kestis x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: approx 5.5k (Because I have no self control) Summary: You are an accomplished Coruscanti thief who has been recruited by the Rebel Jedi, Cal Kestis. As you join him and his crew on their adventures aboard the Mantis, you and Cal have to navigate your growing feelings for each other.

Title: Familiarity Fandom: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Survivor games Setting: Prior to the events of Survivor Genres: Sci-fi; Romance; Action/adventure; Fluff; Angst; Hurt/Comfort Warnings: Canon typical combat violence; canon typical death/angst/survivor's guilt relating to Order 66; mild sexuality; one claustrophobic scene due to ruined temple adventuring; SPOILERS for Jedi: Fallen Order and minor ones for the set up to Survivor. Pairing: Cal Kestis x Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Word Count: c.8k (this one got away from me!) Summary: Believing each other lost to the brutal purge of the Emperor's Order 66, ten years after you were separated from your childhood best friend during the systematic eradication of the Jedi Order, you and Cal Kestis are finally reunited amid the strange Temple ruins of an ancient civilisation.

Title: Frequency Fandom: Star Wars: Skywalker Saga Genres: Sci-Fi; Action/Adventure; Enemies to Allies; Hurt/Comfort Setting: Post The Last Jedi, Pre The Rise of Skywalker Main Characters: Kylo Ren x Female Reader Chapters: 1/1 (Complete) Warnings: Mild/canon typical battle violence; mild/canon typical swearing Summary: You are Rey's long lost sister - a powerful force wielder - and you encounter Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren, as you both search for something.

In Progress

Cassian Andor x Reader (Original)

[smut-wars-exchange]

hmmmmm i've been requesting maul x reader ships a couple times but they're always rejected... so do you accept reader fic or are you fucking liars 🤔

Masterpost | Rules | FAQ | Ask | Discord

Hi,

Mod C here—unless you nominated the same Maul/Reader-insert ships more than five times, I'm the mod who handled all your nominations. While I appreciate your dedication, the majority of said-noms unfortunately did not meet the requirements.

We currently have 680 nominations in the tag set. Out of these, 32 are reader-inserts—including Darth Maul/Reader, Darth Maul/Original Male Character(s)/Reader, and Darth Maul/Savage Opress/Reader.

If you are unsure why some nominations were edited, such as Darth Maul/Female Jedi Reader/Original Male Zabrak Character being added to the tag set as Darth Maul/Original Male Character(s)/Reader, I invite you to take a look at the Nomination Tutorial 🔗 (also available as a PDF 🔗), as well as the FAQ 🔗 (also available as a PDF 🔗), and this previously answered ask 🔗. They all have examples of accepted and rejected nominations.

Quote from the FAQ 🔗 and the Nomination Tutorial 🔗:

Examples of approved nominations:

✅ Leia Organa/Han Solo; ✅ Lando Calrissian/Leia Organa/Han Solo; ✅ Leia Organa/Revan; ✅ Leia Organa/Female Revan; ✅ CC-1010 | Fox/Leia Organa; ✅ Alpha-17/Leia Organa; ✅ Leia Organa/Reader; ✅ Leia Organa/Female Reader; ✅ Leia Organa/Nyota Uhura (Star Trek); ✅ John Boyega (RPF)/Poe Dameron; ✅ Leia Organa/Original Character; ✅ Leia Organa/Other(s).

Examples of rejected nominations:

❌ Leia Organa & Han Solo; ❌ Lando Calrissian/Leia Organa & Han Solo; ❌ Lando Calrissian & Leia Organa & Han Solo; ❌ Fox/Leia Organa; ❌ Alpha/Leia Organa; ❌ Leia Organa/You; ❌ Leia Organa/Shy!Reader; ❌ James T. Kirk/Spock; ❌ John Boyega/Oscar Isaac; ❌ Leia Organa/Original Jedi Character; ❌ Leia Organa/Tentacles.

[paper-n-ashes]

paper-n-ashes masterlist

Just a lil’ collection of the things I’ve written for the ACDU and Oscar Isaac fandom, all in one link filled spot. Everything is 18+. Individual tags and warnings are at the start of each post.

sparks and embers

Poe Dameron x Original Female Character, Kylo Ren Original Female Character

52/70 Chapters, 250k+ words, incomplete

Chapters - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (currently reposting to Tumblr)

(A love triangle saga I worked on for over a year, before I ever came to Tumblr land. It isn’t reader insert (I’M SORRY OKAY) and has an OC as the protagonist caught between the two space bbys.)

~

The First Move

Steven Grant x Female Reader

Part 1/2, 3.6k words

Just Once

Marc Spector x Female Reader/Steven Grant x Female Reader

Part 2/2, 2.7k words

~

Under the Radar

Poe Dameron x Female Reader

One shot, 2k words

~

Sharing

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia x Female Reader x Charlie Barber

Part 1/6, 2.6k words

Temptation

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia x Female Reader x Charlie Barber

Part 2/6, 2k words

Consequences

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia x Female Reader x Charlie Barber

Part 3/6, 3.6k words

Retribution

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia x Female Reader x Charlie Barber

Part 4/6, 2.7k

Incentive

Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia x Female Reader x Charlie Barber

Part 5/6, 4.5k

~

Here

Dan Jones x Female Reader

One shot, 2.1k words

Stress Relief

Dan Jones x Female Reader

One shot, 2k Words

~

New Endeavours

ModernAU!Kylo Ren x Female Reader

Part 1/4, 2k words

Negotiations

ModernAU!Kylo Ren x Female Reader

Part 2/4, 2.6k words

Proper Celebration

ModernAU!Kylo Ren x Female Reader x Female!Stripper

Part 3/4, 4.1k words

~

The Late Shift + Part 2 + Part 3

Paul Sevier x Female Reader

Short series, 2k + 2k + 3.9k

~

Impatience

Rick Smolan x Female Reader

One shot, 2.6k

~

[dailyreverie]

Aftermath [Poe Dameron fic] - Chapter 16

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Original Fem. Character

Summary: The war against the First Order left the galaxy broken and in desperate need of being helped. Poe Dameron was left like that too.

When the Resistance gets invited by the Princess of Veranda to join her council and help her re-build the galaxy, Poe realizes maybe the Princess was as broken as he is, and maybe they could patch each other up.

Read from the beginning: WATTPAD || AO3

The control room was packed when Addalah entered, her advisors and Saerah close to her back as she went inside. Eyes were all upon her, looking at her making the walk towards the middle of the room. "I know my father has spoken to you all, and I know there are rumors flying around," she started, looking around the staring faces. "The First Order has taken Veranda, they have taken our homes, our tranquility, and our safety."

Audible gasps reached her ears, voices of sorrow carrying them. "I wish I could tell you all that I'm going back there to get you your life back, but the truth is I don't know how Veranda looks like now, I don't know the extent of their invasion. Many of you still have families there, loved ones who couldn't escape their homes, which is why the Resistance and I have worked days and nights to provide them with as much safety as we can, but the truth is that there is not much we can do if we let them take over the galaxy again."

KEEP READING: Wattpad || AO3

[dameronology]

prompts that definitely aren't based on beck and jade from victorious

"i've missed you" "so what are you gonna do about it?"

"you're being ridiculous!" "why do you care? i'm not your boyfriend/girlfriend/s.o anymore!"

"you love me again" "who said i stopped?"

"date who you want. i don't care" "it sounds like you care"

"easy's boring"

"i'm tired of fighting"

"that's my girl"

"i'm gonna walk out that door and count to ten. if i get to ten and you're not out there, i'm going home and we're over"

"i'm hot happy in our relationship" (but it's mid-fight/conversation and out of the blue)

"we're done"

[grumpyeagleandfriends]

À Terre | Poe Dameron x OC/Reader

A/N: Reader is a Resistance pilot that manages to escape capture by hijacking a ship. Injured and disoriented, they rejoin the Resistance by crash landing just outside of the base. A certain distraught squadron leader runs out to help. 

Hurt/Comfort. Gratuitous, self-serving one shot. I don’t like using “y/n” so I give the reader a generic, 1 syllable Star Wars name in the middle of this bad boy.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’ve been daydreaming about this scene for months, so I finally decided to write it out.  There’s a little bit of a long set up, but I’m not sorry about it.

Rating: T

Warnings: Mentions blood. References torture. Shellshock. Cursing. Injection (so needles)

Word count: 5,445

Masterlist

Part II

You woke up on the floor of your tent sometime in the early evening. Your memory of exactly where you had been prior was unsurprisingly inaccessible. There were so many holes in your recollection of your time on Batuu. Certain details were lost much like when a computer fails to locate stored data. It was the only way you could describe the feeling, because you felt more like a malfunctioning machine these days than anything else. 

Nearly all of your senses seemed dull and warped.

Time, smell, touch, hearing…only your eyesight really remained proficient.

There was no way to judge how long you had been asleep. They made the sessions so unpredictable that you could no longer determine the exact time of day. You only knew that at some point they would begin, and after far too long they would eventually end.

The drugs they gave made you sleep for stretches of time that varied. Depending on the cocktail administered, you could be out for a couple of hours or multiple days.

Slowly, you began to stretch and test your limbs. The familiar stiff ache in your body was still ever present. As you forced yourself to move about, your arms quickly found the limit of your restraints. They remembered to double lock the chains this time, you noticed.

You could tell that sleep wouldn’t return for you anytime soon. You would be awake until well after the sunrise and following sunset.

That gave you plenty of time to think.

You were amongst the first to volunteer for the solo mission to Batuu. They needed someone who could pilot and who spoke decent Huttese. You were only supposed to spend five days max on planet before returning back to base. You needed to talk to some smuggler rings about intelligence on a possible First Order spy network. While remaining undercover you would help them intercept a supply shipment destined for a First Order post. It was a shipment supposedly full of inner territory riches that were hard to come by all the way out at Black Spire. In turn, they would give forth what information they knew.

As someone still relatively new to the Resistance and only ranking as high as lieutenant, you would pass conveniently under the radar. Leia didn’t want to send a more experienced member and risk having their cover being blown.

An easy and simple reconnaissance mission. In and out.

You saw it as the first opportunity where you could prove yourself as more than just a sky jockey, so you jumped.

But now the five days you were meant to be on Batuu had stretched into an undefinable amount of time. You no longer knew how long you had been gone. 

From the beginning, Poe was firmly against you signing up for this mission. He was furious that Leia had even agreed to let you leave by yourself. After you volunteered in front of everyone during the meeting, he pulled you into his quarters and began chewing you out like you were back in flight school.

“I’m your CO. Did you even think of running this idea by me before opening your mouth?”

“Poe, you heard what they needed! Pilot. Can speak to the Hutts. Low profile. Who else could that be?”

He shook his head while he watched you list the criteria on your fingers.

“Don’t you see that this mission is fucked? Do I need to spell it out for you?” He gritted this out through clenched teeth, his anger coming to a rapid simmer just under the surface. He patronizingly began to count on his own hands. “One. You aren’t experienced enough to go alone. Two. The risk is too great for very little reward. Three. Our resourc-”

“Too little reward?!” You spat, effectively interrupting his lecture. “Weeding out this First Order spy network is not reason enough for you?”

“We need every one of our pilots!” Poe bellowed back at you, shoving his desk chair as he stormed away. “Are you going to look me in the goddamn eyes and insist that you don’t hear what I’m saying? If there is one hiccup and the mission goes south, Batuu is too far out. Our resources are too strapped to scrounge up a rescue. You are entirely on your own.”

Coming from him, all of those reasons seemed painfully hypocritical.

“You don’t think I can do it.” You stated it as fact, not caring anymore if your voice displayed how hurt you felt. “Just fucking say that then! You’ve gone alone countless times for missions that were far more doomed than this one. But the second someone else tries-”

Poe made a sound of frustrated disgust.

“I didn’t say that I don’t think you’re capable. That’s not what this is about, so don’t pull that childish shit with me.”

There it was, you thought. The real word that revealed how he truly felt—childish. You would always be on some lower level for him, never his equal. Never due the same respect.

It shut you down immediately. There was no talking with someone who didn't respect you.

You watched him head for the door. He angrily hit the button for it to slide open.

“I’ve said enough.” He spoke, leaning back heavily against the doorframe. “Either you listen or you don’t, but just know one thing. You leave on this mission and you’re done. I need people on my squadron who can follow orders when it counts, who know when to swallow their pride and take advice.”

“You of all people can’t be saying this.”

Poe only nodded curtly towards the exit. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re done talking. You have your orders.”

Your heated conversation over the matter still rang sharply in your ears the next morning when you flew out from the hangar.

What was happening between you and Poe was fucked up. Sleeping with your commanding officer violated just about every damn oath you ever swore. It was chaotic and messy on multiple levels, but you both clung to it with desperation and recklessness. There was just too much commonality between you - natives to Yavin IV, children of parents who fought in the Battle of Endor. You were two Rebel brats who inherited this new war against the very boogeyman your parents’ generation gave everything to defeat. History hardly remembered them and it would certainly not be any kinder to either of you. The bleakness of that shared truth took its toll. Lying pressed together in the dark was the only temporary balm either of you had. 

Now here you were, battered and growing steadily weaker as you lay on the dirt floor of a canvas tent, somewhere in the jungles of Batuu. Soon you would be forced to confront the reality that Poe had been right. It was only a matter of time before infection or some disease took you.

The thought made you bitterly angry.

This mission started off relatively well, but times were more desperate than maybe you or the others had realized in the outer rim territories. You succeeded in working out a deal with the gang identified by Resistance intelligence, but things disintegrated when the heist fell through. The attempt to overtake the freighter destined for First Order systems quickly turned ugly. A rival gang had been hired to ensure its safe passage and you didn’t have the necessary fire power to respond. In a desperate moment to save your own life and the lives of your business partners, you made the difficult call to let the freighter escape.

Terrified to return back to their syndicate boss empty handed, the gang decided to take you as a payment. They didn’t know who you worked for, but they felt that the person they currently served would be curious to find out. At least, that’s what they seemed to desperately hope for. 

Ransom money was easy business in the outer rim, and even if you weren’t of any value to the First Order, offering a young, able-bodied prisoner wasn’t a total loss.

You were shackled and transported across-planet to a remote camp out in the jungle. A hood was shoved over your head for the entire journey, but just from listening you were able to judge that they were moving you somewhere pretty far out. Your ears only detected animals and the occasional passing vehicle, which probably meant farms and maybe the occasional trading post. The hood was finally yanked off your head sometime after arrival. As soon as your eyes adjusted to the light, you tried to memorize everything. The camp was fenced off with guard spires at all four corners. You did your best to commit to memory the location of the big tent where they dragged you before their boss.

Much to your surprise, the person they answered to wasn’t a Hutt, but a human named Mar Alem. He was tall and thin with no visible body hair. You remembered thinking that he resembled a muscular baby. His smile was unnerving and it never seemed to leave his face.

You soon found out that his business was the slave trade, and with that revelation your situation suddenly became much more dangerous.

He laughed when your captors suggested that they would draw information from you to see if you were potentially of value to the First Order. 

“Why would we ever do that? They have enough cheap labor from me.” He insisted, smiling behind his glass of fire wine. “No, no, I’ll be keeping this one for my personal collection. I’ll even see to her conditioning myself.”

He wished to keep you as one of his own, and you found out very quickly what he meant by “conditioning”.

Mar Alem was a former pharmaceuticals manufacturer who became big in the Outer Rim’s slave trade after the fall of the Empire. He prided himself on providing some of the healthiest and most obedient workers on the market. That obedience came from his unique style of “conditioning”, which was just his fucked up way to say torture. His slaves were some of the healthiest because his methods involved very little physical punishment, he sought to break them through administering psychoactive drugs.

Your sessions with Mar would begin with you being hauled out of your sleeping quarters to a separate tent. Inside there was a rusted imperial interrogation chair, one that you had only ever seen in those old holovids you watched during training. The chair was underneath two large surgical lights, which were used to blind you from your surroundings. They began each time by injecting you with different substances. Spice. Nerve-agents. Psychotropics.

While under the influence, you would be asked questions or forced to recite things. The goal was to distort your reality, make you forget your own identity. If you answered incorrectly too many times, you received another dose.

You didn’t respond as well as he would have liked to the sessions. After several days you were no more “broken in” than from the very beginning.

Frustrated, Mar decided to intensify his approach, to take a more traditional direction. You became his little project, and after all, you weren’t for sale.

The beatings never touched your face, a kindness in his eyes because were a woman and they wanted to give you a chance to “preserve your looks”. After two days, they progressed past beatings to holding your head under water. By the fifth day, they were frustrated enough to move on to electric shock. Sometime during the second week, they broke one of your arms. 

Fear set in and you realized that you were going to die on this fucking planet.

Too ashamed to let yourself die on a failed mission in some remote corner on the edge of the galaxy, you plotted your escape.

The pain in your arm and the lack of food made things difficult enough, but the drugs made you hallucinate and disrupted your sleep. You would have short, fitful dreams of home, of those who knew you agreeing to accept the loss and move on. When awake, all you could think about was the guilt you felt for failing the mission coupled with the infuriating fact that Poe had been right.

But your captors left you with far too much time to think.

Whenever alone, you let your mind run through everything- considering the best you could every detail and noticeable rhythm. You knew by voice who kept guard outside, who dropped rations off to your tent, who escorted you to the sessions with Mar. You began to listen to different sounds outside, those of ground transport vehicles and the occasional ship overhead. It was rare, but once in a while you would hear small aircraft landing and taking off. It sounded to be just to the south of camp.

It took time to see your opening, but after breaking your arm, your captors slowly grew careless. There were brief windows where you were left unsupervised. You managed to swipe a set of needles from the interrogation tent. At the end of one session you mustered your strength when Mar left you on the ground and reached up on the supplies table to grab the first thing you touched. It was a pack of hypodermic needles of different widths.

The change in guards in the middle of the night became sloppy over time, leaving you an opportunity of several minutes to use the needles to pick the lock and make an escape under the cover of darkness.

Slipping out of your cell that night was relatively easy, even with just one functioning arm. The real trouble started once you reached the hangar and saw that the selection of ships was less than desirable. They only had two scrap ships to choose from, and neither of the poorly constructed hunks of junk looked promising.

You eventually chose the ship that vaguely resembled an old A-wing, completely unsure if it would even start. 

Your captors were immediately alerted of your escape once the ship’s engine came to life. You took heavy fire as you closed the cockpit’s canopy and put the vessel into motion. The take off was far from smooth, but you managed to peel out of that hangar, only realizing once you were in the air and the adrenaline began to fade that you had been grazed by blaster fire.

Your side burned white hot as you fumbled with the ship’s controls one-handedly. The smell of your seared flesh filled the cockpit, making your stomach turn. The edges of your vision grew hazy, but you forced yourself to concentrate on navigating through the planet’s atmosphere. You could only thank the force when you discovered that there was a functioning hyper drive and just enough fuel to make the jump. 

Just as you pulled into the comfort of hyperspace, you only barely succeeded in tugging the life support mask over your face before you lost consciousness.

_________

You sprung awake as the shrill alarm signaling the end of the autopilot and the ship dropping out of hyperspace blared through the cockpit. Your fuel reserves were dangerously low as you approached the outer atmosphere of D’Qar. It demanded all of your strength just to pilot the ship. The thumping pain in your head and right side dominated your thoughts when the command center’s first contact message buzzed in over your comlink. 

“Unidentified aircraft, you are entering a secured zone. State your name and purpose.”

Your voice wasn’t strong enough to respond. You only managed to produce an airy moan, which was just muffled by the life support mask. 

“Unidentified aircraft, I repeat, you are entering a secured zone. State your name and purpose or you risk being fired upon.” 

You tried to wheeze out your call sign, but nothing comprehendible came out. You let go of the control stick just long enough to begin tapping a message in binary over the comlink, but you stopped when you noticed that they didn't hear you.

“Unidentified aircraft, you have twenty seconds to respond or your ship will be brought down.” 

The warning messages continued on, unaware that you had no ability to respond. Your head bobbed around as you tried to navigate through the planet’s atmosphere. The low fuel alarm buzzed loudly as your pathetic excuse for a ship violently rattled.  

You desperately tried to send out a distress signal, but your blurred view of the control panel only complicated things. Your one good arm struggled to keep control of the ship as you prepared to land. You were coming in much too fast and you knew it. 

Hoping to land somewhere just behind the base’s underground hangar, you guided the ship the best you could towards a small opening in the trees. Your safest bet at that point was to graze a few smaller objects on the way down in hopes that it would break up the force of impact. 

A screaming alarm alerted you of incoming laser fire. 

In a last ditch effort, you felt down underneath the pilot’s seat for an ejector switch. You closed your eyes as you gave one desperate tug to the metal tab, but your heart dropped into your stomach when you remained firmly seated inside the cockpit. 

Of course it’s fucking defective. 

The ship went nearly sideways as the right wing took the brunt of the hit. You quickly took hold of the control stick once more. It was all you could do to keep from going into a spin as you sailed downward toward the edge of the clearing. The first tree limbs grazed by the ship hardly made much noise at all. Things moved in slow motion as you desperately tried to balance out with the horizon line, wanting nothing more than to land on the belly of the ship.  

The real impact came quickly after, though. Everything began to move at a chaotic speed as a series of deafening and rapid cracks filled your ears. The scene through the glass canopy is a blur as you cut through what must have been dozens of trees. Your hand had no choice but to release the control stick.

You firmly closed your eyes as you rode out the crash. The straps of the harness were what graciously kept you from turning into a loose rock rattling around inside of a metal can. 

The light began to fade. Everything went black. 

________

The stillness was the first thing you noticed upon waking. The stillness was quickly followed by the painfully tight weight pressing against your chest, making it nearly impossible to breathe or move. 

You struggled to open your eyes. It was impossible to know how long you had been out, but you saw that there was still daylight as you stared at the mangled trees outside. The inside of your cockpit was surprisingly intact, though the ship was tilted at a slight angle. It was far from being a textbook emergency landing, but you would gladly take being alive. 

Your head throbbed as you slowly tried to take stock of your body. The only part of you that you were brave enough to try moving was your right arm. 

You startled slightly at the sound of distant shouting.

People were quickly approaching the crash site. It was impossible to count how many voices, though one in particular was louder than all of the others. 

You tried to make out the words, but your concentration was clouded by fear and the drilling pain in your chest and head. 

The voice was maybe familiar, you realized, even if you couldn’t quite understand. 

Some unintelligible command was shouted at you before a figure suddenly appeared. You immediately registered the blaster rifle they had trained in your direction. 

There were rushed footsteps before something knocked sharply against the body of the ship. You tried to smooth your shallow and ragged breathing as they came up along the side.

Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared. Fear slows the mind and won’t let you think. 

It was unsure who recognized who first, but Poe’s figure went stiff when he realized who was stuck inside the cockpit. 

You saw his lips move before he jumped into action. He left his blaster on the ground before he clambered up onto the wing of the ship. He was suddenly down on his knees working to get the hatch of the canopy open. You watched as he turned to scream over his shoulder for medtechs. 

Even though he was outside of the cockpit, the volume of his voice stung sharply in your ears and reverberated inside your head. You didn’t know how he managed to pop open the canopy from his side, but in the time it took for you to blink he was somehow down in the small space of the cockpit with you.

He began talking. Too much and too quickly.

It was the first set of words that you actually understood.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Why didn't you respond to the tower? They didn’t have a choice but to shoot you down!”

"Hol!"

You watched his lips move but it took you several moments to process that he was calling your name. Not your call sign, rank, or number, but your real name. For maybe the first time in your life, the sound was unfamiliar to you. It made you wonder for how long you had actually been gone.

His attention rapidly switched from his anger with you towards the gravity of your condition. The abruptness of the transition felt like having the rug pulled out from underneath your feet.

Your eyes finally managed to focus on his face. It was a surprise when you made out that he was in fact inches from you. Things were bad. That much you could see in his expression. He cursed under his breath as he looked you over, cataloging what he could of the damage.

“Fuck, baby…”

His hands began to gently check over your body, trying to get a feel for where the bleeding was coming from. All of his movements were rushed. His fingers went to press against the pulse point in your neck, but he continued to read your face as he took a moment to count the beats in his head. 

“Why didn’t you just eject?” He repeated, though no longer with the same bite. His voice was strained, you realized, struggling under the weight of the worry and grief that you caused him. 

“You didn’t follow a single procedure. You didn’t even-”

The lecture was suddenly abandoned as he turned awad to stand and pop his head out of the cockpit. He screamed for medtechs once more. You were someone who was very used to Poe shouting orders, but you had never quite heard him like this. There was normally a general sense of urgency in his voice, even when he was off duty, but this was so different. The intensity of the sound made your eyes screw shut. 

Just as he began to stoop down back into the cockpit, he paused when your trembling hand blindly reached for him, desperate to grab a hold of anything. You needed his attention. You needed to make him understand. 

“Poe…” 

Your voice had no real weight or power. It was a struggle to gather the necessary air just for that one word. The oxygen flow coming from the life support system had gone thin. You knew that most of the reserves were probably lost during the crash. 

His hand gripped yours as he squatted down once more in the cramped space. He must have been half-sitting on the control panel, you imagined. 

“Okay, it’s okay, I’m right here-” He started to reassure you, but his brow creased in confusion when you tugged your hand free and began pointing to just below your seat. 

“S’broken.” You managed to choke out through the respirator mask. The consequence of your effort was a painful cough that ripped through your chest and brought blood into your mouth. You were afraid that your voice was too faint to be decipherable. You began to worry that you would have to try and say it again, but his eyes finally followed to where your good hand was pointing. 

His mouth formed a tight line as he took in the faulty dead man’s switch. Understanding finally flashed across his features. He quickly turned away to look over his shoulder at the control panel. Soft curses left him as he took note of everything: the empty fuel tank, the error message for the comlink system, the low oxygen reserves, broken ejector switch. 

“Maker…”

He shook his head in disbelief as comprehension of your situation began to set in.. 

You began to wonder if you were imagining being there with him. Maybe you didn’t really survive that crash. Maybe this was some hallucination you were having while hovering between life and death. Tears pricked your eyes, a stinging sensation developed in the back of your throat.

“Need you to talk to me, Hol.” His voice went strangely soft as he regripped your hand, commanding your attention once more. “Can you tell me what hurts?”

You tried to say something through the mask, but it only came out as a rasp. You struggled to keep your head up. The safety harness fastened over your chest had gone crushingly tight, effectively knocking all of the air out of your lungs when you botched the landing. 

Poe instantly saw the problem.

 “All right, it’s okay, nevermind.” He was quick to tell you. His eyes fell to search for the release mechanism. “You know what, sunshine? New plan. You’re going to let me do all the talking while I get you out of this thing. How’s that? Just sit tight while I yap.” 

You nodded your head vaguely as you began to blindly search with one trembling hand for the release button along your lap belt. The tremors made your movements clumsy and uncoordinated, your fingers failed to wrap around anything. 

“Hey, hey, hey-Tarmin, stop!” 

The moment Poe found himself battling against you for access to the buckle he snatched your hand. His grip was firm, causing you to regain focus. 

 “Stay still. Let me take care of this.”

It’s the voice he used when issuing an order, you realized. There was no anger, but the tone was stern in a way that instantly snapped through your cloud of panic and unease.

You let him place your hand down at your side. A soft click came down by your waist as the straps cutting into your chest and hips finally went slack. Your body slumped forward in the seat as Poe slipped the harness down from your shoulders. You coughed at the release of pressure, your face twisting up as you realized the restraints did a number on your ribs during the crash. Poe was there to catch your weight, letting your head settle onto his collar bone.

“Easy, I’ve got you.” He murmured. His hand braced the back of your head, fingers tangling easily into your hair. Gently as he could, he eased you back against the pilot’s seat. “Listen, can you hear that?” He continued slowly, lips brushing against your temple as he spoke. “Med crew is here now. You stay with me, okay? We’re going to get you to the medbay.”

It was true what he said, you realized. Over the sound of your ragged breathing you could hear people shouting outside. Every inhalation hurt. You recognized that he continued to talk to you, but the words stopped registering in your mind. Inhaling and exhaling demanded all of your concentration. The cockpit’s life support wasn’t giving off much air anymore.

A young med tech appeared up on the wing, dropping his large bag down just outside the cockpit with a heavy thud.

“Really need a respirator here!” Poe yelled over his shoulder.

“It’s coming, Commander. Did you get a name?” A new voice entered into the confined space with you.

“Lieutenant Hol Tarmin. One of ours. Black Squadron.” Poe fired back. 

You didn’t miss the subtle message he passed  along through that last piece of information. One of mine. So do your fucking job. 

He was already going for the black mask around your face. You started coughing the second the device was pulled away. He grimaced when he noticed the blood coating the inside of your mouth. Panic began to creep in again as it suddenly became difficult to breathe. You sputtered slightly, your good hand nervously started to fidget, blindly reaching for anything to use as an anchor.

“Hey, I know, I know. Just need to get this off for a second.” Poe stilled you once more with a firm grip on your hand, quickly shaking his head. “Work with me, babe, c’mon.”

The medtech was now on his stomach, half hanging into the cockpit just so he could reach you. He handed over a small box with some tubes, which Poe promptly took from him. He fumbled with the respirator mask momentarily before bringing it to your face.  

“It’s okay, this is going to help.” Poe assured as he was tugging the elastic around your head. You immediately noticed a difference as pure oxygen began to steadily flow through.

“Breathe as deep and slow as you can, Lieutenant. Don’t force anything if it hurts.” The medtech advised as he slowly ran a bioscanner over your body.

You winced when the blinding blue light reached your eyes. The medtech shook his head while he read over the results on his data pad. He turned to some colleague nearby and gave some orders before turning back to look at Poe. “We need to move her out of here as quickly as possible. The medbay is already on standby. This stimpack is going to keep her vitals stable enough for transport.”

You noticed a pen shaped object in his hand. He easily flicked off the cap to reveal a thick syringe needle.

Before you knew what was happening, Poe’s hand went to your shoulder, bracing you against the back of the seat. 

“C’mon, Tarmin, eyes on me.” He ordered. 

You obeyed the command, slowly lifting your gaze enough to meet his stare. His other hand gripped your knee. A nervous, unspoken question rose in your throat when he pushed down with his weight to hold your leg in place. 

You prepared yourself for the pinch of the injection, but your body went rigid the moment a stabbing sensation tore through your thigh. Your teeth ground together as you tried to breathe through the pain. You faintly registered the medtech counting the seconds the needle was inside your muscle tissue. 

“Breathe, it’s almost over.” Poe whispered, his lips briefly brushed against your clammy forehead. You realized that he must have his own personal experience with stimpacks.

After what felt like the longest ten seconds of your life, the medtech pulled the syringe away. Poe immediately released his grip. You looked down to see his hands working to massage your thigh muscle, helping the substance spread through your body quicker. 

“Truck is here!” A new voice shouted from outside.

The two went back and forth about how they’re going to move you. Poe explained to the medtech that he found blaster wounds in your right side, that your arm was broken, and then something about your right leg. A vague numbness took over your body not long after. It became a little easier to focus on their words.

Poe gently took your good arm and wrapped it around his neck. “Need you to hang on to me.” He mumbled as he worked an arm around your back. “You let me do all the work, okay? Just don’t let go.”

He drew you up out of the pilot’s seat, holding you briefly against him as he maneuvered around the tight space. Your head felt like it was detached from your body and being tossed around in the sea, but you tried to focus on breathing through the dizziness.

“Good, Hol. Stay with me.” You heard him murmur as he shifted your weight.

Hands from above grabbed onto your flight suit. You were suddenly being jerked upward.

“Hey! Easy with her!” Poe barked from behind.

Light assaulted your eyes the moment you were extracted. Just as they maneuvered you down onto a gurney, you felt something split in your chest. Your body flinched as it felt like something gave way inside you. Your vision went cloudy white. The pain in your chest was sharply hot, like being stabbed with light. You couldn’t really inhale or exhale.

People were yelling. The gurney began to rapidly move. The sky passed in a blur overhead as someone shouted something about a punctured lung.

You slipped under.

[stargazer-liz]

Serendipity (Poe Dameron x Original Female Character) Masterlist

Masterlist

Introduction & Cast Prologue Chapter I: Stranded on Jakku Chapter II: The Resistance Chapter III: Jawas, sand and a worried pilot Chapter IV: A Reminder of the Past Chapter V: A rainy first Date (coming soon)

Sora's life was turned upside down when she stranded on Jakku. A scavenger saved her life and with no family left, her ship totally destroyed and enemies on her tail, all she can do everyday is survive.

But with a pilot crash-landing on the desert planet as well, hope is no longer just a dream.

Takes place before (only in flashbacks) and during the sequel trilogy.

Also available on my Wattpad profile voidxmaze

Warnings: strong language, violence, blood, no detailed smut but close, weapons, idiots in love, fluff, so much fluff

[galacticwildfire]

Fire Meet Gasoline | Poe Dameron

Six

Poe Dameron x Solo Original Character

Hope Solo’s haunted by the night the temple burned. Having gone rogue she hunts the First Order in search of answers until a fateful encounter with Poe Dameron brings her back to the Resistance and Leia puts her daughter under his command to find Luke Skywalker.

Word count: 8.4k

Tags/warnings: the beginnings of black squadron, snap being a big brother to hope and a simp for karé, jealous hope, mother-daughter issues, slightly jealous poe if you blink, snap being a wingman, hondo pointing out daddy issues, subsequent alcohol consumption, attempted assassination, violence, descriptions of blood and wounds, interrogation gone wrong, suicide to avoid capture, skywalker bullshit over authority, fighting and angst, poe realising leia warned him for a reason, moral dilemmas, mentions of anakin's crimes alongside padme's death

All my stories are written for adults with adult themes, I use tags but read at your discretion.

A/N: okay we're getting into it now, considering this story is going to be quite a long one I typically update on ao3 and wattpad before here.

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Hope

When morning comes I'm feeling decidedly more at ease about what comes next, the weight on my shoulder's having lifted slightly, but only slightly.

My relationship with Mom... that's one issue that I don't know how to fix, but this mission is something I know I can pull off. I take my time getting ready considering the Commander will likely be presenting the report to Mom before doing anything else and run my fingers along the white combat suit that's remained untouched in my wardrobe since I ran off without thinking to get it. My staple piece I'd worn since sixteen that I'd once intended to incorporate into my own style of Jedi robe, but they've remained as they've been since I'd been given them by Dormé, only to be traded for smugglers clothes that resemble my father's too much for comfort. 

The tight fitting fabric's familiar beneath my fingers, holding the force signature of my grandmother since it had belonged to her first after all, tailored to meet my measurements like the duplicates that hang behind it. I never knew her, and yet her memory is one I've taken upon myself to protect. Bail and Breha's memory is protected fiercely by Mom, but I'm the only descendant of Padmé's that knows her story in its entirety. Right until the very end as I'd seen during my trip to Polis Massa so long ago in a vision. An image that still haunts me to this day and breaks my heart just as horribly. 

The reminder of what Anakin Skywalker became, a chill that's remained in my bones ever since witnessing it. I can laugh about what he became and mock it to pretend I don't care whenever it comes up with Mom, but that's only because she hasn't seen what I have. She's not haunted by the visions of the slaughter he committed in the temple, the violence against his own wife. 

A reminder of everything I could become as I've so frequently been reminded. 

But despite the violence Darth Vader inflicted upon my mother, she's still ignorant to the violence Anakin Skywalker committed before he ever ended up behind that mask. Ever since I was twelve I'd been compared to him by those who'd known him on Naboo, even my own mother from what little she knows of Anakin Skywalker from Shmi's holo journals has found the similarities. And so I know she'd be horrified if she knew the extent of what Anakin Skywalker had committed before he ever turned. 

For a long time I suppose Padme's clothes served as a reminder of that. That because of the darkside she never lived long enough to raise her own children or to pass the clothes I wear down to me by her own hand. Instead her sister and handmaidens gladly telling me they'd saved them these many years knowing someday they'd find their way into the right hands. A reminder to do right by her instead of taking after him.

It feels like a violation against her own memory to tread that path, as easy as it may feel despite knowing what waits at the end. Which is why I trade my smugglers clothes for the white jumpsuit. Exchanging the worn leather thigh holster in favour of the white embroidered in royal Naboo red with the symbol of the Rebellion, and now the Resistance. 

I have a choice to make now that this Commander's extended to me an opportunity to step up and take charge in a way that isn't destructive. I have the choice of whether to continue on as I have or to try to make Mom proud. To follow by the example of the women in the family rather than the men. 

And so I braid my hair back in a crown around my head, stopping to apply my eyeliner the same as usual, but a darker brown instead of black, before lacing my white boots. The platforms are certainly not regulation with the amount of extra inches they give me in height but I'm yet to have anyone try to tell me off for what I wear since they're more concerned with actual insubordination. Besides, I'd learned well how to fight in more absurd clothing.  

For the first time in a long time I find myself thinking of the life I'd once had on Naboo. The life it seems everyone believes I've been living for the past year. The morning walks to the university by the side of Sola's grandaughter, a girl who was the closest I've ever had to a sister. How I hated sitting through each lesson until I could finally attend physical training. The small group of us girls who closely resembled one another, chosen and placed in the training program under the assumption we would either be elected as royalty or to serve as handmaidens. The flights with the starfighter corps even if I was suspended more often than not. The long days spent out in the lake country wearing summer dresses and floating in the water, the one place I truly felt at peace in the force. 

Looking back I shouldn't have had a care in the world living in such a paradise, but I never appreciated it. It should have felt like home, but it never did without Ben and my parents. All I ever wanted to do was escape it to run to them. Little did I know how soon I'd lose what little stability I had and find myself aching for it now I have no family that I can call home. Naboo seems to be the closest thing to it I still have considering this base has never felt like home.

When I walk through its halls to the mess I'm not sure of whether to go see Mom. We haven't had a civil conversation since I arrived, and my promise to Lando weighs on my mind. Anxiousness quickly overcomes me as I enter the mess hall only to find all eyes on me and whispers following. I don't know who knows what about where I've been or what I've done, especially since so many faces are unfamiliar. Snap and Korrie know more of the truth than most, but the rest must believe I've been living in paradise while they've been working their asses off, and I can feel the disdain as I hover near the entrance looking for a half friendly face. 

"Hey," a voice suddenly says and I look to see Poe come to my side, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. "I ran the plan by Leia and she liked your input."

"She did?" I repeat in surprise, caught off guard by him let alone the fact Mom's actually approved of something I've done. 

"Yeah," he says and feel his eyes quickly look me over, certainly noticing the difference in my appearance not I odn't look as if I've walked straight off Tatooine. He looks like he's about to make a comment, positive by the slightly flustered look he wears, ultimately deciding against it considering he should be trying to keep things half professional. But it's still enough to give me some satisfaction. "I was just going to get some breakfast and find you but since you're here want to grab some and take it to Leia's office so we can have her sign off on going to procure the ships you were talking about?"

"Yeah sure," I find myself saying, quite eager to get away from all the eyes on me and glance towards his face only to need to clear my throat. "I need caf."

"That makes two of us," he says with a pat on my shoulder that leaves me blinking in confusion as he goes to greet two other pilots. My eyes follow him until my heart stops momentarily at the sight of the girl only for me to shake my head with a wince. Upon second look the resemblance to Voe is less obvious, the contrast of their bronzed skin with the short blonde braids having been what made me panic, but it still leaves me feeling uneasy. It feels heartless to say I haven't thought about Voe in so long, but it's the truth. 

Of the friends I had at the temple, she wasn't one of them.

Upon a third look however I feel something else at the way she laughs with Poe. It's an utterly irrational feeling but still it's there and I wonder if I wasn't that appealing to him after all, rather just another potential conquest. After all, someone who looks like him would have no trouble with that.

"Well look who's still here," I hear Snap say as he comes to stand beside me, his eyes also on the blonde woman who looks to be in her late twenties. "Back in the battle armour I see."

I look at the silver arm bands and laugh lightly. "Well it feels as if I need it with everyone staring at me."

"You do realise it's because you have a lightsaber right?" he asks and I look down at my belt, having not even registered that fact. "And every single person who's new here has never seen a lightsaber let alone a Jedi."

"Huh," I say, taking another look around and rereading the room a little differently now, reluctantly admitting. "I hadn't thought of that."

Snap's probably one of the very few people on base that knows me well, who took me under his wing when the Resistance was formed, especially after Dad left. I've never really opened up to him or anyone, but he gets that and looks out for me which is something I appreciate, especially after being gone for so long. 

"Who are they?" I ask, nodding to the people Poe's speaking to as we head over to the caf machine, the one thing I'm glad for.

"Karé Kun," he says with a reverence that has me raising my eyebrows, the other man with them going utterly ignored in his eyes.

"Girlfriend?" I question and he just shakes his head to himself, his attention solely on her.

"I wish," he mumbles and I squint at him before snapping my fingers in front of his face, and he finally gets what I'm actually asking. "Oh, no, not his. Trust me, he seems to like the batshit crazy pilots and there's only two of those on base, and he's one of them."

I smile to myself a little now, realising Snap knows more than he's letting on I inquire "Is that so?"

"Oh yep," he says, shaking his head now as if something's funny. "He's an idiot, but he's a good one. He might look pretty but he's damn good at what he does, trusts the people he flies with and treats them with more respect than any commanding officer I had in the Navy that's for sure. I've done a couple missions with him over the past few months and there's no one I'd trust more to get me out of a tight spot. He's got the same ego as you that's for sure, but he's not an asshole."

I let out a short laugh. "And I am?"

"Sometimes," he admits and I can't really argue with that.

"Fair enough," I agree, almost a little bitter that my impression of him last night wasn't wrong, that he is a decent guy. But wanting to cover my ground I ask "So, does he try to ask every girl out he sees within five minutes of meeting them or am I the exception?"

Snap doesn't seem as surprised as he should be, meaning he definitely does know more than what he lets on. "Let's just say you left an impression on him in the field. I can't speak to what he was like in the Navy, but as far as his time here goes you're the exception. One thing I can say for certain is that I've never seen him like he was after he'd met you." 

Snap might be his wingman, but he's also known me longer so I can trust what he's telling me. Snap wouldn't stand up for a guy he thought had bad intentions, especially not when it comes to me. I find myself strangely warmed by his assurance as I glance over towards the Commander, chatting to his friends with a smile and speaking with his hands, utterly animated and as alive as I only manage to feel in a cockpit. 

Except for that moment we shared in the hangar.

"How old is he?" I ask and that's when Snap hesitates.

"Late twenties," he says and when I raise an eyebrow clarifies. "Twenty nine."

"Eh, what's that, nine years?" I dismiss, not overly caught up on that. "Not as bad as my parents."

But what does make me freeze is the realisation that I'm actually considering it, as if he hadn't blown me off right after figuring out who I was, and again I'm left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Speaking of which I saw Leia, she seemed like she was in a good mood," he mentions casually to reassure me as I survey the room with no sign of her. Not unusual since she spends most of her day in her office but maybe I'd hoped she'd seek me out as more than just a general. "There's a couple of younger people that have come to base while you've been gone." I take another look about the room and see a black haired girl who doesn't look much older than I am. "I helped Jess through her training, she's nice. Seem's like your type of person."

"My type of person?" I repeat as Poe comes over, more cheery than any person should be in the morning and immediately I put an extra shot of caf into my drink. After operating on my own schedule for so long it seems I'm in for a rude awakening and his presence is another unexpected variable to consider.

"Ready to go see Leia?"

"Not really but let's go," I answer reluctantly, knowing I'll probably be glad for a witness as I walk a little more slowly than necessary down the halls. He doesn't attempt small talk thankfully and gets to the mission.

"So, where are you planning on getting ships from?" he asks and I'm glad to at least have some control over things, especially since I can tell it's a conscious effort on his part to have me this involved.

"Batuu," I answer. "Worked for a guy who owns a shipping company there."

He nods slowly, clearly aware shipping company is a common cover for smuggling operation, but doesn't second guess me and gets to logistics. "We'll need to have them transferred to the Echo of Hope to run any maintenance and then we can hammer out the most important part which is how we're going to get on board."

I nod in agreement but my throat's tight and my mind anywhere but on what he's saying as we enter Mom's office after I'd stormed out yesterday. She invites us to sit and gets straight to business. 

"I was impressed with the plan Commander Dameron presented, he noted your contributions to the risk assessment and how to prepare for those risks," she starts and asks "He mentioned you would take care of procuring the ships you need for the mission?"

"Yeah," I say and don't give more information than I have to but she still inquires.

"Where from?"

"A shipping company who owes me a favour," I answer and because I don't want to elaborate she turns to Poe.

"Can you accompany her please to ensure everything goes smoothly?"

He briefly looks at me but finding I don't quite have it in me to argue he agrees. "I can do that."

Silence permeates the room before she asks "Commander could you give us a moment please?" 

He nods before leaving and closes the door, it's silent for a moment longer before she says "I have every faith you will pull off this mission."

"Well I'm dead if I don't," I remark, her having said in no uncertain terms how dangerous this is, and she grimaces at the tension between us.

"I know you aren't happy, but this is a step towards remedying some things," she explains gently. "To prove to command you aren't just capable in the field, but strategically competent enough to do these missions by the book with the reports and the rest. Something that is required to move up through the ranks. To show that your missions aren't pure improvisation and that you are mitigating the risks, which you have done."

Her praise should be welcome, but it feels hollow when the only interactions I've had with her have been from across a desk. I don't want praise from my general, I want my mom. Lando promised her, her warmth, her reassuring words that everything would be alright. Not a general's tactical words and praise mixed with criticisms and lessons.

"Yeah," I nod, my throat too tight to manage words, a stark contrast to yesterday. I'd been convinced I'd take off and not look back, that I wouldn't have to sit and deal with the aftermath of my words.

But here I am. 

Her expression is heavy as she continues "If you don't feel like speaking to me that's fine, as long as you act sensibly-"

"I can't remember the last time you talked to me as my mom instead of my general," I manage to force out, my voice weaker than I'd like it to be. "I thought from what Lando said I'd be coming home to the former but it seems I was wrong."

"Hope," she says sadly. "I- I know that what I'd said about learning the difference hurt you-"

"It did," I finally admit to her. "Because you're all I have left Mom, and if I don't have you then I don't have anyone except for R2."

There's a type of loneliness that comes from being separated from those you love, but it's a different hell sitting across from them and feeling as if there are galaxies between you. 

"For the last year I haven't had a child to parent," she says bluntly but there's remorse in her voice. "Forgive me for struggling to reconcile the two."

She sees it in my eyes, the flight, but before I can even move to leave my seat she reaches across the table for my hand and this time I let her take it. 

"I am your mother, but I have to be more than that. Hope, you know this isn't the life I wanted, if anything this is the life you jumped at before we even knew what we were fighting," she reminds me. "You know I wanted to retire before that last scandal but you and I both know neither of us are physically able to walk away from this threat-"

"You mean your son and the monster who groomed him?" I correct since it's just us and she struggles to keep her face neutral. "Mom, you don't have to separate yourself from being our parent to do your duty to the galaxy, you don't have to pretend your child isn't on the opposite side of this war."

"I have to," she says regretfully.

"Well I can't," I fire back and again there's that wall between us we can never truly break down. For her this fight is duty, but for me it's something else entirely, and we both know it. "Don't worry, I'll get whatever intelligence is on that ship."

But as I stand to leave she warns "And I want it returned to this base. If you take off with whatever is on that ship I will send Commander Dameron and Captain Wexley to drag you back to be court-martialled."

Her threat stuns me considering how gentle her voice was a moment ago, but when I meet her eye I realise she knows me too well. She's my mother, of course she should, but it feels as if I hardly know myself anymore. Except she was the one who forced me into a profession that taught me the importance of finding loopholes.

"It will be returned," I state before opening the door and Poe jumps at the haste in which I walk out into the hall and order him. "My ship. Now. We're leaving and heading straight to Batuu and then to the Echo of Hope. Get whatever you need because we won't be returning until the mission is complete."

He blinks in surprise at being given orders but it too taken aback to do anything but raise his hands in his defence as he follows me, but doesn't shy from a whistle. "Alright princess, do I have time to get my droid before we take off?"

"I like the droid," I say, knowing I'm not harsh enough to abandon the little BB unit without explanation. "Speaking of which have you seen mine?"

R2 better not even think about pulling another disappearing stunt now of all times.

"No," he says and after a moment of hesitation asks "You seen mine?"

We stop in the hallway, sharing a look of mutual confusion mixed with alarm at having lost out droids and he scratches his head before following me to the hanger.

"R2!" I call loudly, not wanting to have to search the entirety of the base twice over again only to walk past Threepio on his way from command. "Threepio, what have you done with my droid?"

"I beg your pardon!" he exclaims. "What have I said about manners?"

"Threepio," I warn. "If R2's decided to go rogue on me-"

"Well I do I wonder where he learned that from," Threepio chides and I actually scoff at the protocol droids audacity. "I wish you luck Commander Dameron, statistically speaking you're going to need it."

My mouth falls open as Threepio walks past us and Poe Dameron doesn't look sure whether to laugh or be offended on my behalf, a quick study of my face has him choosing the latter.

"I've never heard Threepio sound so..."

"Sarcastic."

"You know what they say, owners leave an impression on their droids," he tries to reason but quickly clears his throat. "Let's find ours."

In a much more urgent mood to leave base I march into the hanger only to stop when I find R2 and BB-8 chatting happily by my ship. The younger droid beeps excitedly at the sight of his owner and rolls over, trying to fill Poe in on one of the tales R2's regaled him with before chirping at me in an almost equal excitement. People may dislike me, but at least droids seem to take a liking to me. Aside from Threepio, although he has his reasons.

"Hey buddy, ready to go on a mission?" Poe asks his droid, squatting down to rub the droids stomach, or rather what could be classed as a stomach. 

R2 beeps at me in question at the company, considering in all the missions we've performed we've never done any with another pilot unless it's been running planetary defence drills. 

"Don't get too excited, we're going to Batuu to pick up some ships," I tell R2 and look at Poe. "Ready?"

He gives a nod and follows me onboard my transport along with his droid, and I honestly can't remember the last time I had another person inside this ship. Probably Mom at some point or another in the time before I left base, but other than that my mind's blank. 

"This is the Shiraya," I say as we step inside. "Fastest civilian transport in the galaxy and heavily armoured with laser cannons fitted at the back that you can access via the gunners seat along with automatic laser cannons and concussion missiles above the cockpit."

He's mildly alarmed I'm describing the armaments before anything else. "Expecting trouble?"

"No but it's best to be prepared for it," I say knowing it has a habit of finding me. "The First Order's identified my N-1 but this ship should be off the New Republic and the First Order's radars."

"Should be?"

"With the modified hyperdrive and sublight thrusters It's faster than most ships in the galaxy so I'm not exactly worried," I dismiss as we reach the cockpit. It was technically designed during manufacturing to seat a co-pilot but I've only ever flown it myself. "It's served me well that's for sure."

I find my way to my seat and he sits down beside me in the co-pilots seat, somehow the metre between us not being quite enough. "You know your stuff."

"I do," I state factually an this cockpit with a guy who's face I can't even look at without getting flustered. 

He nods along, looking like he has questions on his mind but keeps them in as he asks "So Batuu, it's Outer Rim's right?"

"Technically," I answer. "It's commonly known as the last stop before the Unknown Regions."

"Ah," he says as it comes to him. "You ever been out there?"

"Batuu?"

"The Unknown Regions," he clarifies and while I'm mildly annoyed this won't be a quiet trip the curiosity in his voice may override it. 

"Not as far as I'd like," I admit, I could leave it there but it is a long enough trip even with the hyperdrive. "I'd gone searching for Jedi temples not too long ago, found some ruins but little else."

"I thought the only temples were on Coruscant and Ossus," he says and I feel his hesitation at treading there which tells me enough about what he's heard. 

"The temple on Coruscant was in use for the last few millennia but before that Jedi were somewhat more scattered, living on planets that had a strong natural connection to the force rather than the core worlds," I explain before sighing "Then the Emperor turned the temple into his own personal palace. Scholars have done some work to restore it along with what survived of the archives but it's not like it will ever be the same."

He nods slowly and asks "So that-" he looks at my saber. "That's your lightsaber?"

"A torch," I answer reflexively, that being the answer I've given to just about anyone who's asked that question in the last four years. It started as a lie to get past security while still armed and out of concern for my own security, but it's turned into a little self satisfying joke since. He seems to miss it by the perplexed look on his face and I clarify. "It's a joke."

"Oh," he says and only then do I realise how purely nervous he seems to be, my presence is the only explanation for it but I'm almost hesitant to know what part of that has him like this. I'm especially hesitant to learn if it's a good or bad kind of anxiousness. "So, how does that work? I mean lightsabers, do you make them yourself?" He must see the confused look I wear from all the questions and he's quickly backtracks. "If it's alright asking?"

His jittery curiosity is almost endearing. It brings me back to when I'd begun school on Naboo and the girls in my classes began to learn about my other education. It's certainly a type of awestruck curiosity I haven't experienced since the galaxy learned truth about where those abilities came from. Back when I was the niece of the beloved Jedi Luke Skywalker and not the spawn of Darth Vader.

"Yeah um- I made it myself," I answer, while people like Snap have asked the odd questions no one's ever gotten technical with them. "It's a right of passage in a Jedi's training to construct your own saber. I suppose like it's a right of passage for a pilot to customise and modify their own ship to their specific requirements."

 "Huh," he says, visibly making the connection between those examples until his train of thought takes him elsewhere. "Speaking of ships, what sort of starfighters do you think you could pick up? I was thinking something along the lines of Z-95's."

"You're looking for starfighters without astromech pods?" I gather and he nods as both the droids immediately begin to voice their objections.

"The plan I've got in mind would mean ditching the ships and anything in it completely," he explains to them, although seems hesitant to elaborate as he looks at me. "It's a crazy plan, so if you have any alternatives feel free to interject."

"Sounds right up my ally then," I decide, wanting to see if his crazy is my sort of crazy. "Go on."

"We'll need EVA suits," he begins and I tilt my head to the side.

"EVA suits? We wouldn't need those unless-" I squint at him now as I begin to realise he might not be exaggerating. "Unless we're in the vacuum of space."

He leans forward with his elbows on his knees, a spark of excitement in his eyes, talking with his hands as he starts explaining. "We'll have to wait in the system for them to come out of hyperspace, and the moment they do we hit them with concussion missiles which is easy enough but it's what comes next that's gonna be crucial. We'll set the ships to autopilot as we get in range of the belly of the yacht since according to schematics our best chance at breaking in through the access port."

"I've got a lightsaber, I can cut through anything within a certain thickness," I add and he looks a bit too excited at that suggestion before dismissing it.

"I like your thinking but we'll need to reseal the access port so nothing goes wrong when we jump to hyperspace," he says as he goes on. "When we get to the right velocity and the right distance we'll eject, the momentum will hurl us towards the yacht so we can make direct contact. We'll have maneuvering jets on the spacesuits to help us get to where we need to be and to decelerate us enough that we aren't crushed by the impact when we collide with the yacht. When we get to the access port I'll use a fusion torch to break the seals, it might be tricky doing that in space while hanging off the side of the ship but between the two of us I'm sure we'll make it work. We break in and reseal the port as we make our way inside. As long as we can get onboard without getting ourselves killed then that's half the work done. After that it's just getting to the cockpit, putting them on the escape pods and rebooting everything to jump to hyperspace before the eight minutes is up."

I find myself slowly blinking at him at the realisation that Snap was actually understating things when he referred to us as the two batshit crazy pilots on base. Having the force I feel quite safe at the thought of pulling it off since I could logically slow myself down enough that a collision wouldn't kill me, but he has more guts than anyone I've ever met to try to pull that off midspace without it and my mouth curls into a grin.

"I'm in." His grin matches mine now and I'll assure him. "I'll take care of getting those starfighters."

"We'll also need disks with the pre-programmed hyperspace coordinates for the jump since we won't have the droids with us," he adds and only then do we pay attention to the beeps of pure alarm from each of them at our plan.

"R2 I know exactly what you were doing in the Clone Wars so don't try to pull that with me," I remind him and he quickly shuts up while Poe looks between us in alarm. "I'll be just fine."

While R2 tries to object to prioritise my safety he knows what to expect of me by now so that's that, but BB-8 is far more upset at the thought of Poe going without him despite his attempts of reassurance.

"Look buddy, I'm going to be alright I swear," he tries to assure his droid until I intervene.

"How about you take him into the main cabin and go over schematics so he feels better while I make a list of what I'll need to get on Batuu," I suggest, genuinely wanting to figure that out but also not wanting this conversation to get any more personal considering we still have a while left until we reach Batuu. "If you think of anything else we need to go over come and get me."

He gives a nod of approval as he stands up, checking off whatever items he's thinking of on his fingers. "EVA suits and timers we can get from the Echo of Hope, they'll have the concussion missiles we can fit to the starfighters along with the disks to preprogram the jumps to lightspeed. So it should just be the ships and whatever else you think you'll need."

I nod back and look up to inadvertently meet his eye, again not sure quite what I see in it, but for some reason the thought to not trust him hasn't once occurred to me. In the Outer Rims all I've done is be on my guard, and perhaps I still am with him, but not because I don't trust him to be my partner for this mission. No, for far less professional reasons. 

I'm clearing my throat more loudly than I'd anticipated before asking "Is that all Commander?"

"Yep, I'll um- I'll let you pilot," he says awkwardly before heading out into the main cabin. My eyes follow him out, finding only conflict when I search my feelings, blockages. He's all but a stranger, a handsome one but still, my instincts tell me to trust him despite experience telling me otherwise. An instinct that's very rare.

But I'm no stranger to ignoring my instincts. 

He might look at me like he does now, he might be curious to know me, but I know better than anyone how quickly wide eyed curiosity and warmth turns to something cold, hurtful. For a person you trusted, a person who'd held you through uncertain nights and laughed with you, to turn around and look at you like a monster, to call you as much while looking you in the eye.

That is something I have no intention of putting myself in a situation to relive. I can't control what people believe, but I can control if I let them close enough for it to hurt me. 

~

Poe Dameron returns to the cockpit as we approach Batuu, a hand on the back of my chair as he peers out at the planet. Murmuring to himself as he tries to piece something together.

"Batuu, Black Spire Outpost is located here isn't it?" he asks and I press my lips together, realising he might be slightly more in tune with the criminal operations in the Outer Rims than I'd gathered by the way he says its name. Being a Naval commander chances are he's run patrols nearby trying to intercept shipments. 

"Yep," I confirm and he tries to hide his mild alarm. "Don't worry, the guy who runs the place is a friend of mine."

I can't quite read the tone of his voice as he repeats "Friend?"

"Friend," I answer a little awkwardly, not knowing if I'd call Hondo that. "Or rather an old friend of the family."

I don't know if that relieves him or makes him more concerned as we enter the atmosphere and I pilot us down to the port at Blackspire Outpost, this time R2 doesn't even complain. I double check my weapons are secure as we step out into the small city that always seems to be growing. It takes its people a second to recognise me when I'm not dressed like a smuggler but they give a nod of respect as we make our way through the streets.

The sun shines down on us, reflecting off my metal armbands but also casting a glow upon his tan chest, exposed from the open collar of his shirt, there's a glint and I notice a silver chain around his neck. Quickly I turn my head before he can catch my eyes lingering and start talking to distract both of us.

"Along with smugglers and explorers passing through people have been coming here from the border regions seeking refuge from the First Order's expansion," I explain to Poe as our droids follow not far behind us. "I've heard their stories and it's nothing good, so they've come to the furthest place possible."

He shakes his head, expression one of disbelief. "I don't get why the Republic won't take in refugees from those regions. Politics isn't my thing, but I just can't understand why."

"Because for them to be classified as refugees the Republic would have the admit the First Order is something people should be running from, instead of continuing to pretend they can co-exist," I answer but upon feeling his barely repressed frustration try to assure him. "I've managed to set up a network for refugees to be able to settle on Naboo, it's off the Republic's radar."

He stills then a little as he turns his head in surprise, pleasant thankfully. "Does Leia know?"

"She hasn't asked what I've done, only criticised me for the things she knows about," I answer bluntly as we find our way to Ohnaka Trade Solutions. 

He tries to be the voice of reason. "If you talked to her-"

"I have, it doesn't end well," I say shortly and cut him off from trying to mediate. "This is it."

We head into Hondo's base and find him as usual, with his feet kicked up on the table, a cup of something in one hand and a cigar in the other.

"Solo!" he calls out, laughing gleefully. "Back already! Tell me, do you have the Falcon?"

"No, the Irving Boys beat me to it," I inform him as he gets to his feet. "Although if you had any tips on their whereabouts it would be welcome."

Poe lingers behind me now and I look back to see him blinking in disbelief as his eyes dart between me and Hondo, clearly aware of the infamous pirate. 

"Unfortunately I do not, but I will ask around so I can beat you to stealing it back," he says as I roll my eyes and he takes me in. "Look at that, you can dress like a lady after all. For a moment I thought the late Senator Amidala had walked in. She was quite the figure to watch, it's no wonder that Skywalker boy abandoned the code."

I make a face as I try to unpack the layers to that and he looks behind me in intrigue. 

"Oooh a friend?" Hondo says and I immediately sigh as he points out. "A male friend."

Poe steps forward then and I make the introduction, keeping details as vague as possible. "Poe this is Hondo Ohanaka, Hondo this is Poe. He's tagging along with me on a job."

I don't know precisely how much I trust Hondo. I've found he isn't as bad as what Dad and Lando would reminisce but I know he does treat me differently in memory of the Jedi that he had been fond of. Still, he doesn't need to know this job is a Resistance mission.

"Fair, fair," he says guiding us over to the table and leans in to whisper to me. "Although I must say I do have concerns about the fact the pretty boy dresses like your father."

Poe's enough out of earshot he looks confused by whatever expression must cross my face and I point a finger at Hondo. "You owe me a drink for that."

"Fine, fine," he agrees and I motion for Poe to sit down beside me. "So this is a business call I take it."

"Considering you run a perfectly legitimate transport company," I begin, getting straight to the point. "I need two Z-95's that can be fitted with concussion missiles and are reliable in a skirmish."

I reach across the table to pour myself a drink, skulling the cup before looking at Poe and finding him rather uncomfortable with this situation, but not as out of place as I would have assumed he would be. He meets my eyes for just a moment and mouths Hondo's name to me in disbelief and I give a shrug in return, smiling to myself behind my cup. 

"I can do that," Hondo finally says and moves to negotiating. "That will cost you-"

"Nothing, considering it a downpayment for those credits you still owe me."

"Oh no, no-" he says. "I am still waiting on a buyer and we settled on fifteen percent-"

"Twenty five remember?" I remind him as Poe shifts beside me. "So, I'll take the Z-95's at no cost and we can bring that number down to five percent." Hondo begins contemplating it. "Or I could just steal the ships and the crystal and find my own buyer?"

Hondo shakes his finger. "It is lucky I like you Solo, I will accept your offer on one term."

"Which is?" Poe asks, wanting to have some hand in the negotiation.

Hondo leans forward now and tells us "Local bartender says he's had officials sniffing around, smelling like Imperial scum."

"First Order?" Poe questions as I tilt my head in intrigue. 

"My guess is as good as yours," Hondo says and that's enough for me.

"Consider it done," I say immediately as I get to my feet and tell Poe. "Organise logistics, I'll be back."

But he follows me out of the building in a panic. "Solo, the General was clear that-"

"I don't care what the General said," I say blunty as R2 follows, knowing the drill by now. "You take care of the mission, let me handle the rest."

But he grabs my wrist and I look back at him with as he tries to order me "No, you are going to organise logistics while I see what I can find out."

"Excuse me?" I question with a laugh. "Are you seriously giving me orders?"

He pushes aside his frustration to try to reason with me. "I've let you handle that part of this mission but you're under my command and it's my responsibility to-"

"Let me?" I repeat back to him and pull me wrist free to point my forefinger at him as I make clear. "You do not let me do anything. The only reason I'm co-operating with you is because I want to. So either you do as I tell you to do or I go and get whatever data is on that ship myself."

He shakes his head now with a clenched jaw and I find myself holding his eyes with no difficulty as he challenges "You want to be difficult? Fine. You can be as difficult as you want princess but I'll be difficult as well."

"Oh really?" I laugh since he doesn't know the half of it.

"Really," he says but just as he takes a step towards me I'm dodging a blaster shot as Poe swears loudly and tries to pull me behind cover but in a split second I've pulled my blaster free and fired blindly at the attacker, hearing a body collide with the side of the cantina and look to find a uniformed man clutching his shoulder.

"Hope!" Poe yells as I storm over, pulling me saber free and igniting it as I pull the man to hit feet by his collar, ignoring his cry of pain as I bring my saber to his neck.

"I surrender!" he yells as if that has any meaning to me as I slam him back against the wall, his head hitting the stone surface as he throws his blaster away and raises his hands. "You cannot kill an unarmed man."

"Hasn't stopped me before," I state as his eyes widen, there's nothing to mark him as First Order but I know the tell-tale signs by now, clearly a newer agent who thought that taking a shot at me would work in his favour. Realise the opportunity I have I know I can't let it slip between my fingers, but there's only one question I want answers to. "So how about this? If you want to live you can tell me where Kylo Ren is stationed."

"Solo!" Poe warns, no doubt remembering the orders regarding interrogations but I ignore him. 

"I- I don't know," he stammers and in response I dig the blaster in my other hand right into the wound in his shoulder until he screams. "Finalizer- Finalizer!"

"Hope!" Poe yells harshly enough I'm almost stunned as he physically rips me off the agent and tosses me to the side, taking a gentler but firm approach as he grasps the man by his uninjured shoulder. He looks back at me with my ignited saber still in hand, shaking his head in disappointed disbelief before asking the man "Why did you shoot at us?"

"Her, I shot at her," he clarifies, looking straight at me as R2 stands in front of me to try to block me from attacking him while Poe looks between him and I in panic but I have the information I've spent years searching for. "If I killed the last Jedi I'd stand higher than Hux."

Ambition.

I use the force to bring his blaster to my hand and both him and Poe watch on in varying states of alarm as I step closer.

"Solo," Poe warns and raises a hand to keep me back while keeping the agent pinned to the wall. 

"So, you're stationed onboard General Hux's flagship, the Finaliser," I put together as he winces. "A low ranking ambitious agent but ultimately pretty damn stupid to take a shot at me and blow your cover."

"You were off guard-" he argues, trying to save his pride.

"People have been taking shots at me since I was sixteen, you should know better," I lecture, disappointed almost that this is what the First Order's putting in the field. "And Kylo Ren is stationed onboard the same ship as you are." He swallows then in fear. "Do you think he's more likely to praise you or kill you for taking a shot at me if we let you go?"

"I-" he stammers in confusion at the question, which means his true identity is still unknown to the First Order. "What?"

Poe wears a similar look of perlexion at my questioning but doesn't intervene as I continue "I can assure you that when you return to that base he will cut you down without mercy after torturing you to find out just what I've said now."

He squirms now with tears in his eyes, his fear only confirming my own theories about what my brother's become. 

"Or," I begin, very aware that Poe will most certainly report this incident. "You can tell me everything you know and I will ensure you are safe from them."

Poe finally begins to ease, but the man doesn't. "I've heard what they call you, Jedi Killer. There is no mercy."

He takes advantage of Poe's loosened grip to reach into his pocket and before either of us can react he's bitten down on a device that's too familiar and we jump back as he hits the ground, convulsing before going cold.

"Fuck," I breathe whilst Poe struggles to even look at the body, pale as he brings shaking hands up behind his head, murmuring similar curses under his breath. 

A crowd's gathered around now and I bend down to examine the body of the blonde haired man, searching his pockets for identification or anything else I could use to gather intelligence until Poe raps out "What are you doing?"

"Looking for anything of value," I state factually but he grabs my wrist to pull me upright and I stare at him in disbelief at the horrified look he wears. "What?"

"Are you serious?" he asks me, shaking his head. "The hell was that?"

Feeling like I'm about to hear my mother's words come out of his mouth I jump to my defence. "He killed himself-"

"Before that!" he yells as I pull my wrist free. "That was an unarmed soldier and you-" He can't even finish and just motions to the blaster wound, but I know the part he's specifically referring to.

"You need to grow a damn backbone if you think what I just did was unjustified," I spit back at him. "He took a shot at me and I had every right to kill him but I didn't!"

"Because you were interrogating him with a lightsaber and-" he looks at my blaster and I see the blood at it's nuzzle from pushing it into the wound, having broken through the cauterised flesh. "You know what, I see exactly what Leia meant now when she warned me against working with you."

I laugh now, a little dangerously. "Are you serious?"

"I am," he says as the droids try and fail to intervene. "You were specifically ordered not to-"

"I don't care what I was ordered to not do!" I yell, wondering when he's going to get that. "If you haven't noticed my mission is very different to yours and I am the only one trying to get the intel we need and actually act on it!"

"Your mission was to acquire ships, not interrogate a surrendering spy who killed himself before you could!"

"I was going to let him go! I was going to help him!" I yell right back. "And if you want to throw blame around then fine since you were the one who gave him the chance to do it because you were too busy trying to play the good guy!"

At that he turns his head, trying to compose himself before looking back at me and I finally see it. The look. Although sooner than I'd anticipated and his voice is hoarse "I'm not arguing while standing over a dead body. Get whatever the hell you need while I sort out those ships and then we're meeting back at the Echo of Hope. I'll find my own way there with the ships."

"Fine by me Commander," I say and he storms off without another word to me and I'm struggling to keep my own composure I look to one of Hondo's men. "Move the body to somewhere I can examine it privately and find the transport he arrived on."

"Yes Princess," he answers, calling me that far more respectfully than Poe did and with that I go to get what I need. The booster cables and a separate disk to make a copy of the intelligence from the yacht before giving the damn thing over to the Resistance. 

I am getting whatever is on that damn yacht with or without him. I know where Ben is stationed, and if I can find what system the Finalizer frequents then I'm one step closer to ending all of this. 

But as I look down at the blood staining the white fabric I wear, my blaster having brushed against it, a heaviness settles over me at the realisation I couldn't even make it one single day without giving into that anger. Even worse, my attempt at being better still ended the same as my last cursed mission.

In violence.

Jedi Killer that agent called me, maybe I haven't killed any Jedi, but I've sure as hell butchered their legacy. 

Tags: @arrthurpendragon

[ivystoryweaver]

The Only One - A Poe Dameron Story Masterlist

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

My Masterlist

Poe Dameron Masterlist

Overall Fic Summary: You are a computer technician and programmer, relatively new to the Resistance. Despite your sunny demeanor, the Resistance is your last hope. Orphaned and homeless, you hide a secret you hope no one will ever discover, because if they did, you would be truly alone, with no place even in a band of rebels.

Pairing: Poe Dameron x female original character. Fic is written in second person, but the female "you" has a name; OC is neurodivergent* (see disclaimer at the bottom of this post)

Overall fic content: Acquaintances to friends to lovers, slow-ish burn, fluff at first, angst later. The fic will get a little darker later, but won't go way off the rails from the tone of the first episode.

Overall fic warnings: ableism, bullying, mentions of death, some violence, though not pervasive throughout, past trauma, some cursing, there will be intimacy, but not explicit.

What Elia (OC) looks like in my mind Picrew

Extra Poe x Elia thots (spoilers)

Lmk if you want to be tagged

dividers by saradika

*I understand that the term "neurodivergent" or "neurodiverse" is incredibly broad, I am leaving it up to each reader to fill in whatever gaps they wish. I am speaking from experience here. In the case of this story, I think you'll see some of the OC's habits/traits pretty quickly: info-dumping, rambling, speaking bluntly, missing social cues, being literal/unable to discern sarcasm, or sometimes unable to tell if someone is joking. Fidgeting, having a slight aversion to touch and certain textures. Extremely intelligent. If this characterization is offensive to anyone, I apologize. I am happy to hear your thoughts on it.

[consulting-author]

Hello! I apologize for my absence, but I'm back with a new update! I was super excited to write this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it. As always, there's a sneak peek down below, and thank you so much for your support! Links for updates on quotev and wattpad can be found below the sneak peek. Happy reading!

“I abandoned the girl I loved.”

“Well, that is quite serious,” Eve said, returning his light-hearted smile. Poe laughed, shrugging as he dropped his head.

“Yeah…” he took a deep breath. “We worked together, but it was more than that, y’know? She was always on my mind. Then I got into some trouble and I somehow got the chance to escape Kijimi, and I took it without even hesitating. I still think about her sometimes. I just...really hope she got her chance.”

“I’m sorry, Poe,” Eve whispered. He looked at her, noticing the tears in her eyes.

“It’s alright. You just...you never really forget your first love, especially when it ends in a bad way.” Poe offered another smile, hoping it would stop her tears. Eve nodded quickly.

“I understand completely.”

“Really? It’s hard to imagine you being a romantic,” Poe teased. Eve laughed in mock offense.

“You’re really trying to ruin this progress we’ve made together, Dameron.”

“I’m just joking,” Poe said, grinning at her. He ran a hand through his hair. “Was it after or before?”

https://www.quotev.com/story/12583130/Stars-Apart-A-Poe-Dameron-fanfiction/13

https://www.wattpad.com/1086774593-stars-apart-a-poe-dameron-fanfiction-chapter-12

[writefightandflightclub]

Bounty and the beasts: CHAPTER SIX | Poe x reader

Author’s note: This is part 6/6 of a request. You and your kid sister are Mandalorian bounty hunters, who have a a run in with Poe. This is the concluding chapter of the story! If you’re just joining, read the others first!!!! I promise it’ll be worth it!

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Summary: Oh, fine, I’ll give away that there’s a tiny bit of Bb-8 in this one. But you’ll just have to read the rest to find out how it all ends.

Warnings: language, as per.

Taglist: @laurenoso @multi-madison @poe-damnnn-eron

Poe raises an arm to his face, shielding himself from the sandblast generated as he waves his rescuers towards a safe landing -tricky on the shifting dunes. The ship lands skew-whiff, but a damn sight better than his X-Wing had in the days prior. Shortly after, a ramp pops from the craft, the shush of hydraulics sounding as it lowers. Poe is already smiling, even before the astromech tootles his way down to the ramp and onto the sand, with surprising speed.

“Buddy! So good to see you!” He drops to his knees to give Bb-8 an affectionate rub on the head and pat on the belly, the droid beeping non-stop with so many questions. “We’ll get to all that later Beebs. Did you get my message?” Bb-8 sounds his response with an animated roll of his head, somehow managing to make boops sound indignant. “No?! I need to have words with Officer Rodin when we’re back at base.”

Poe stands and smiles again, Bb-8 at his heels as Pava and Snap emerge from the mouth of the ship. They beam at him, as he points a happy finger at each of them in turn, dragging both squadron members into a tight hug as soon as they’re close enough. Lots of neck grasping ensues; Poe’s reunion hug game is strong, as ever.

“Hey, nice work.” he congratulates, releasing them, “I hear the mission went well!”

“It did- and all without you, Commander. Clearly you’re expendable.” She’s jesting, of course. They need him more than he knows; even more than his (justifiably) buoyant ego would estimate.

“Yeah, well I’ve been tackling bigger foes.”

“I heard, yeah. 8-year-olds?” Snap chuckles in good-humour, pulling back slightly to inspect Poe’s condition as he does so. He looks surprisingly well, Snap notes, considering the circumstance of their rescue. Glowing, even. “Seriously though. I’m relieved to see you in one piece, Commander. What the hell happened to you out here?”

Poe provides the three of them with the abridged version, leaving out many of the details. Once caught up with the gist, Pava and Snap relay their plan to jump aboard a couple of landspeeders and see if they can tow what remains of Poe’s X-Wing out of its pit. The Resistance is running on air and need all the scrap they can get, if nothing else.

In the meantime, Poe has some business to attend to. “Bb-8, there’s someone I want you to meet.”

Bb-8’s curiosity is piqued, and the pair trundle together over the sand towards Poe’s temporary refuge.

~

Now, Poe stands in your doorway, his rescue ship over the next dune, his crew waiting for him.

Earlier, Cait had woken when the sun came up, and shuffled into the main living space. You and Poe had untangled yourselves, explaining your embrace away -saying that sometimes friends cuddle when they get cold. You had eaten breakfast together, Poe looking comely in your pyjamas and with his mussed-up bed hair. When Cait had skipped out to get changed into her day clothes, Poe had wound a hand around your waist and softly kissed your forehead. “About last night.” He had begun, but you had stopped him. “It’s not last night anymore.” You had pulled away, coolly. Unyielding.

Now, Poe stands in your doorway, preparing to leave.

Earlier, Poe had arrived back with the droid, announcing loudly through the open window that he had someone he wanted you to meet. You had nose-dived for your helmet (in the nick of time) before the door swung open, and you looked quite the sight when he found you, standing in only your undergarments and that blasted beskar dome. Your body was frozen in surprise, limbs askew as if caught in the act. He had laughed warmly at the comical sight and insisted you looked ridiculous. Then, he added adorable, already knowing it would be the second thing which would have you scowling under that helmet. He wasn’t wrong. Next, you had greeted Bb-8 in mutual confusion. Poe had told you to rub his belly to say hello and Bb-8 had wobbled amiably under your hand. You told him he was a cute little thing and the droid responded that he liked your shiny face- it reminded him of a friend.

Now, Poe stands in your doorway, Bb-8 innocently asking what’s taking his master so long, a confused string of boops sounding out. Poe tells the droid to head to the ship, he’ll catch him up.

Just a moment earlier, he’d said his goodbyes to Cait. She had jumped up and he lifted her, giving her a kiss on her hair as she buried her face into his chest. “Bye, Princess Warrior. I’ll tell everyone back at base how terrifying you are.” She had smiled as he plonked her back down, throwing him a casual “Bye, womp-rat”; her insult held a telling lack of conviction this time around. And then, Cait had proceeded to fight an imaginary quarry across the kitchen, her quest taking her through the house and out back, invisible chaos in her wake.

And now. Now.

Everything that happened earlier is all done.

Poe is standing in your doorway but he can’t go just yet. There is “one more thing...” At least one more thing. “Are you going to take that fucking helmet off?” It comes out more angry than he intended. But he’s running out of time and he can’t say goodbye to you like this.

You gesture over to the rebel crew in the near distance, still hovering, waiting for their Commander. Quite honestly, they are craning their necks trying to see what he’s up to, partially obeying his order to stay over there, at the same time creeping as far as they dare over the lip of the dune. Curiosity is getting the better of them, especially since Bb-8 had returned, beeping about the woman with the shiny silver face. Poe rolls his eyes and yells to them, requesting that they give you a minute.

You watch, until fully satisfied that they’re gone from line of sight. Then, you take your helmet off.

He’s struck by you all over again. He gets that look. That look that invites you in.

You stiffen. “Don’t you dare ask me to come with you, flyboy.”

“Why not?” He wants you to give him a reason. He damn sure can’t think of any right now. He weaves his fingers into yours.

You exhale through a smile, shaking your head. “Some pretty words and a pretty fuck and you think I’ll follow you to the stars? You’re good but you’re not that good, Poe Dameron.”

He kisses you then, slipping his tongue tenderly into your mouth. Maybe you could follow this man to the edges of the galaxy.

“The Resistance could use you.”

You don’t know about the Resistance, but Poe Dameron could use you any way he wanted.

“The Resistance can’t afford me.”

“It’s a good cause.”

“I know. But so is mine.”

Maybe if there wasn’t a war. But there is.

You know what you do has value here, for the villagers in surrounding settlements. You keep them safe. Your victories fund local insurgencies against the Order. Your bounty eases the burden for those who have lost people, had them disappeared or killed -or worse- because of this war. You can’t abandon that. Abandon them.

You both sense you’re at an impasse. Neither of you can give up on what you’re fighting for. Even if it is the same war fought on different fronts, in many ways.

Your eyes dare him to judge you, in the ways you judge yourself. Keeping Cait out here like this, giving her this life. You dare him. Because it’s not as if you’ve had a choice. Maybe it would be different if the Resistance had found you years ago. But they hadn’t. Everything earlier was already done.

“Don’t you get lonely?” His question catches you off-guard.

“Yes.” You state bleakly, suddenly feeling desolate. It dredges up unpleasant memories, prods at old wounds. And here’s someone leaving you all over again.

It’s stupid, you think, that his goodbye could hurt so much after such a short time. But it hurts all the same. Your lip trembles with emotion and you wish you had your helmet on so that he wouldn’t see any sign of your pain.

He palms your cheek, bringing you into another tender kiss. But he has no solution he can give you. No promises to lay at your feet.

“Bye, Poe.”

“Bye for now, Kava. I’m gonna see you again, I know it.”

“That’s a nice thought, Poe Dameron.” You smile thinly at him, but, in this moment, you don’t let yourself believe his pretty words.

“There’s something I want to tell you before I go.” he says, face suddenly pinched and serious. You unconsciously brace yourself and he leans forward as if he means to whisper. “I would have easily beaten that spice runner down if I hadn’t just been in a crash. I think it’s important for you to know that.”

You roll your eyes emphatically but he can already see a smile breaking at the corners of your lips. His reciprocal smile is cocky and playful- irritatingly charming.

“You struggled with the 8-year-old. Your reputation is in tatters, Dameron.” He pulls you into a hug, smiling into your hair, thankful as your laughter lilts in his ear. He squeezes you tightly. Sadness at the fringes.

Finally, he clasps you by the shoulders, looking meaningfully into your eyes. “Thank you, for everything. And, last night...” How can he find the words? He smiles, suddenly knowing just the thing. “It was nice.”

You raise an eyebrow, unamused. “Nice?”

“Ok. More than nice.” He echoes your words from last night and it takes you right back there. Suddenly you are swimming in the memory. There is nothing in the world except his lips and your need to have them on you.

An exasperated voice filters over from the dunes and rips you harshly away from that memory. “Dameron! Let’s haul ass!”

“I gotta go.”

“Uh-huh.”

You don’t get that final kiss. It is clumsy, the interruption. It leaves behind a longing.

He steps away from you. One small step, then two. Then many.

“Call me if you ever need a babysitter.” He shouts back, grinning at you. You’re smiling and you can’t help it, even though you’re sure you don’t feel happy.

You retreat immediately into the safety of your home, not particularly enthused with the prospect of watching his ship take off.

He looks back to see you one final time before he boards, swallowed by the mouth of the ship. But you’re already gone. That leaves behind a longing too.

Hollow, you call Cait in from outside. When she patters in, the apples of her cheeks shined from her outdoor exploits, you wrap her in a hug, entirely for your own comfort.

“Has he gone?” she asks.

“Yes.” you return, in a small brittle voice.

She jumps up and you lift her. She winds her arms around your neck. She examines your face, your eyeballs wet but not quite brimming over. You bounce her, pacing across the floor, like you used to when she was smaller. Cait knows you only do that nowadays when something is wrong.

“Are you sad?”

“Yes.” you fight back the tears, trying desperately to turn your heart back to stone.

“Because he’s gone?”

“Yes.”

She cups your face gently with her small hands, comforting you while she thinks. It stops you pacing at least. You hinge at your hips to sit down on the dining chair, and she shifts in order to comfortably straddle your lap. She screws her face-up, thinking, until her eyes suddenly flash with an idea. “It’s ok!” She exclaims. “He’s a bounty, right?”

“Uh-huh.” you nod. Hare-brained Cait logic is exactly what you need right now. Whatever it is you prepare to lap it up.

“Then we can catch him anytime we want to.” She makes a fist, her arm raised in the air like a true warrior. “We’re the best bounty hunters in the galaxy!”

“Cait. You’re a genius. I love you.” Yet another solid plan, with no thought of the ramifications. Still, it does provide an odd comfort to you. Poe won’t be entirely out of reach.

She smiles. “Happy now?”

“Happy now.”

You smooth her hair and she springs from your lap, grabbing your hand to drag you out front towards the training yard. “Good, cause I want to smash some skulls. Then maybe we can go to town later?” Bless her ferocious little heart. She gives you so much strength.

You gather up equipment and prepare to join her, putting your armour back on piece-by-piece. Feeling the wall go back up along with it. You tackle a lot of things face-on, which is not without its irony. But there is some comfort in hiding, you think, as you slip your helmet back on. No longer exposed.

It isn’t until later, when you visit the comms room to scope out your next quarry, that you see the note written on a piece of flimsi and pinned to the dashboard.

A comms frequency, and a message:

“I like your face.

You were worth the crash.

Poe x”

You smile and clutch the paper to your chest. Then, when the rush of butterflies subsides, you fold it and tuck it away in your bedside drawer.

Maybe, that night, you sleep in the shirt that smells of him, a drop of red wine staining the collar.

Maybe from that day forwards you look at his note every now and again, increasingly worn. Maybe while you lie in bed sometimes, alone, you dream about contacting him.

Maybe one day you actually do.

THE END

I’d be open to continuing this and I have some ideas. If anyone would like to read more of this storyline, please let me know in a comment or message! Hope the long read was worth it! Did it end like you expected? What do you wish happened?

Also, if you liked the story please reblog! Or, if you want to show me some belated Palentine’s love, consider buying me a cup of caf to keep me going? This writing business is hard work when you become obsessed with the characters 😅 TIA 😍 https://ko-fi.com/writefightandflightclub

[paper-n-ashes]

sparks and embers - 21

Characters: Kylo Ren x Original Female Character, Poe Dameron x Original Female Character

Story Tags: Explicit (18+), Canon Compliant/Divergent (Set after TLJ), First Person POV, Love Triangle, Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Porn with Plot, Hurt/Comfort, Kylo Ren hates Poe Dameron

Chapter 21 - Taste

Words: 4.4k

Chapter Tags/Warnings: Sexual content, hints of masturbation, hints of sadomasochism, fingering, oral sex (female receiving), orgasm denial/ownership

Author’s Note: Only this gif can really sum up my feelings about this chapter -

Read on AO3 or Start from the beginning

~

I endeavoured to keep my footsteps quiet, following Kylo down the twisting pathway of corridors he’d marched down. However, it was annoyingly hard with my stiletto heels making an echoing clack with each stride.

His frenzied energy was all I could utilise to guide me, tracking his form as it paced towards an almost empty portion of the Finalizer.

The War Rooms. Now currently out of commission without any enemy posing an immediate threat.

Eventually I felt his movement cease. Creeping down the hallway, I prepared for the usual flare of his emotion to be expressed physically, waiting for the unmistakable sound of metal being thrashed against with some type of weapon, maybe even his own limbs.

Yet nothing came, and it intrigued me to feel his aura begin to glow with a strained control.

Maybe this dress hadn’t worked as well as I thought.

Soon I was hiding beside the entry of the room his energy sizzled behind, the door left open in his rush to find a place to clear his mind. A few noiseless breaths left me, filling my body with as much tranquil confidence as I could collect, willing with every bit of strength to calm my sprinting heartbeat.

This was it. No going back now.

Straightening myself into a seemingly effortless poise, I moved to cross the threshold of the doorway. My eyes immediately fixated on Kylo’s hunched form, leaning over a control panel at the far edge of what seemed to be a higher-level meeting room, staring out through the transparisteel window to the darkened space before him.

A long, sleek table sat in the centre of the space, and my composure was briefly weakened when I discovered he had already removed his helmet. My gaze trailed over short waves of ebony hair, noting how the glossy strands were in stark contrast to how I’d seen them the night I spent in his quarters, remembering how unkempt it had appeared while he was in my care.

If he heard the subdued click of my shoes as I sneaked gently towards his shape, he didn’t show it. His form remained unnervingly motionless, continuing to study the vast galaxy spreading endlessly in front of us.

“You know, it’s rude for the host to leave before the end of an evening,” I murmured, breaking the stillness.

Kylo’s muscles tensed in response, the sound of my voice ripping him from whatever trance he’d placed himself into. “I would say it’s just as impolite as following someone who clearly wants to be alone,” he grumbled, palms pressing hard into the button heavy panel. “Why are you here?”

“Why did you leave?” I countered, taking one more step closer.

He exhaled hard, aggravated at my detour. “I hate these things. I’d had enough.”

“Then why allow the Gala to occur? I assumed you’d have some say in these matters.”

“Just because I don’t enjoy them, does not mean the people of my Order hold the same opinion.”

I was glad he hadn’t turned to face me when my expression crinkled into confusion, only to regain my taunting demeanour. “How gracious of you to even show up in the first place.”

“That was a decision made purely on the basis of appearing as dissimilar to the previous leader as possible,” he explained gruffly.

I made a questioning noise. “I was told it wasn’t your decision. Not really.” I’d made my way around the table, leaning gently against its edge, still a few steps away from Kylo’s immense frame.

The sound of leather creaked into the air as he balled his hands into fists, head rising slightly. “And how did you come to know this information?”

“Your Knights aren’t as guarded in their conversation as you are.”

Kylo huffed under his breath. “Of course.”

It amused me to think this wasn’t a shock to him. But I needed to focus. “So, what is it about these events you dislike so much?” I inquired, hoping to uncover more about what had caused him to avoid them in the past. “Or are you simply averse to anything slightly fun?”

Knuckles strained underneath the tight material of his gloves. “There’s a time and place for everything,” he uttered, his voice low. “I am simply not one for the superficial indulgence these nights bring.”

“There’s nothing you enjoy about them? The magnificent decorations? The dancing? The beautiful garments?”

“No. It’s meaningless, and fleeting, all of it. I don’t appreciate my Order’s credits being spent on such pointless endeavours. And I certainly don’t care about the outfits these people wear.”

There was something so bitter about his tone, an indication of how deeply embedded this sentiment appeared to be. I waited a few moments for his stinging aura to descend before voicing my provoking question.

“Not even mine?”

His face turned slightly, now able to see its outline against the black veil of star-filled space. Kylo didn’t answer, but the sudden buzzing of his electrified energy supplied enough hope I still had a delicate hold over him.

“That’s such a shame,” I sighed, assuming his denial. “To think I picked this dress for you, and you don’t even like it.”

His profile moved closer, tempted by the idea of looking back at the piece of clothing I was referring to. “This was a planned ensemble?”

“It was. Although, I guess all my effort was wasted.” I tried to sound as playfully sulking as I could, even if there was the very real worry of that being true.

No. I wouldn’t let it be.

“Can you tell me what you think is wrong with it?”

I watched as his face morphed into confusion at such a trivial source of conversation. “What?”

“I’d like to know. To make sure I get it right next time.”

Finally, I’d incited enough curiosity for Kylo to shift his stance, bringing himself to face me. Darkened eyes gradually scanned down my body, sensing the restraint he held over his invisible desire become as strong as netting, emotion leaking through the openings and into the atmosphere.

Without allowing the opportunity of a response, I lifted a hand to the red fabric sitting over my shoulder. “Is it the colour? Maybe you’d like me better in black?”

He didn’t move.

“Is it the neckline? Too low?” A lone finger trailed deliberately down my chest, tracing over the curve of my breast, all the way to where the exposure of skin ended, his stare following exactly where my touch brushed over.

Still, he was otherwise motionless.

I took a step forward, light material gliding to expose my thigh, the movement making the air around us grow even more charged. “What about the splits in my skirt? Too high?” My hand floated past the corset of my dress to the separated wisps of gossamer. “I mean, with one false move, you could see… everything.” Fingers pulled delicately at the light fabric to reveal the smallest view of laced black panties underneath.

I was subtly impressed at Kylo’s command of his body, barely a spasm in any single muscle. Meanwhile the air around his shape had ignited into explosions of wild craving, an obvious ache amongst the fervour he unknowingly exhibited. It was obvious why he was imposing all concentration in stifling any reaction, our last encounter of this kind leaving him so agonisingly unfulfilled.

Slowly, I edged my stance nearer to his rigid frame, closing the space between us until our bodies almost connected. Looking up to his face, I saw the smallest shake in his inhale.

He couldn’t hold back forever.

“I told you this dress was chosen with you in mind,” I whispered. “Don’t you want to know why?”

Kylo stared down, the amber edges to his irises appearing akin to smouldering embers, the heat of them almost tangible. Finally, after so much silence, he let a reply slip past his lips.

“Yes.”

“I thought so,” I breathed, the air of my words drifting over his face, the only reaction a faint flutter of his lids. That changed when I began to lift a leg to lean against the panel at his side, almost daring to touch our hips together. My following action was slow, patient, a hand grazing over the lower portion of my abdomen, sinking lower.  

His gaze grew wider, feeling the unmistakable twitch of his biceps as he smothered the urge to place his hands on my shape. It was the most guarded he had ever appeared, and there was a stab of concern within, wondering if I’d pushed him too far in our last meeting.

Yet, his defiance only made my resolve stronger.

I was the one with power here.

“It’s simple really.” Slithering my fingers down, I found the divide in my skirt, slinking them underneath the flimsy material, arriving at the edge of my underwear. “Access.”

Kylo swallowed hard, and it was difficult not to recoil as the glowing flames his unseen hunger felt as if they were burning my skin.

Ignoring the exquisite pain, I slipped under the delicate lace, directly to the line of my folds, a silky wetness waiting for me. Moving two fingers through it, coating them, a muted hum of enjoyment bristled out my throat, the sound making Kylo shudder ever so slightly. I relished in the feeling of my own touch for a few seconds, setting myself up for the next calculated action.

Removing the hand that wandered below, I brought it to the space in front of his mouth. His eyes became instantly transfixed to the two fingers now glistening with a slick moisture.

“Do you want to taste it?”

The last few minutes proved he had more self-discipline than I’d given him credit for, his intense stare unwavering, while the question sent his force signature into overdrive with quarrelling emotions.

I knew that restraint had withered to nothing when he gently leaned forward, lips parted, eager to have the taste of me on his tongue.

“Uh-uh.” I withdrew my hand, causing a ferocious expression to fill Kylo’s features. “You have to answer my question first.”

“Which one?” he enunciated harshly, palpable frustration crushing the air entering my lungs.

I took a purposeful delay with my next breath, his impatience becoming thicker with every second that passed. “My dress. You still haven’t told me why you dislike it.”

“There isn’t anything specifically wrong with it,” he admitted through gritted teeth, his glare still infatuated by the temptation I was holding back. “I would simply prefer you wear something else.”

“Oh? And that would be?”

“Nothing.”

A ripple of pleasure surged at the thought of his hands exploring my bared skin, nails scratching into my naked flesh. I allowed it to overtake almost all rational thought, certain I’d gotten him precisely where I wanted.

“An exceptional answer,” I purred, peering up at him through perfectly curled lashes. “I believe you’ve earned this.” I replaced my fingers at his lips, touching them this time, the smallest connection sending a wave of shimmering electricity down my arm.

He took them within his mouth, the movement gentle, tongue swirling delicately around the flesh. Kylo closed his eyes, evidently savouring the taste when a low moan hummed into the air. The reverberation around my fingers caused the sparks in my limb to turn violent, the current now extending into my chest.

His eyebrows creased when I began to pull my hand away, watching as the digits withdrew ever so slowly, every ounce of my juices sucked clean. Our stares found each other again, Kylo’s tortuous breathing the only noise I could perceive around me. We each became unmoving in the darkness, the world around us dense with an irrepressible tension.

He was waiting. To say the words that would fracture his restraint. To verbalise what I’d previously not allowed him to have.

My consent.

“You can have more, if you’d like.”

I felt the dwindling control he’d attempted to hold suddenly disappear, like an elastic band finally snapping under too much pressure.

Sooner than I could comprehend it fully, his lips were melting into mine, their movement both bold and luxurious, hands gripping roughly onto my shape, pressing me closer against his burly chest. I returned his fevered kiss with an unwavering intensity, nails scratching at his robes to grasp the thick fabric, an immense pulse of relief already beginning radiate from his exterior.

There was barely time for a breath in between each caress of our lips, Kylo's low, moaning exhale setting my skin alight as it echoed into my mouth. His tongue tangled with mine, no sign of hesitation in massaging the wet flesh and I was able to recognise, for the first time, what he truly tasted like.

An intoxicating mixture of salty and sweet, reminiscent of burnt caramel, the unique flavour already making me crave more with every kiss we exchanged in our shared frenzy.

Using a daring courage, my hands creeped upwards, the palms slipping over either side of his neck, drawing him even closer into our embrace. I couldn’t deny a small part of me was left reeling when he paid no mind to having such a large portion of my skin linked directly to his. It almost spurred him further into our spiral of passion, a delicious hum vibrating from his chest, my core clenching hard down below.

With no refusal of my advance, my fingers twisted up into his hair, feeling the softened locks brush past my fingertips, eventually snatching them into fists, pulling the strands with a mischievous tug. Either the surprise or discomfort of it made him wrench his face back, both of our chests heaving quick breaths.

“You like making me hurt, don’t you?” he gasped, his voice enchantingly low.

A sinful smirk appeared. “A little pain makes the pleasure so much better.” I leaned in before he could react, to bite his bottom lip, hard.

He hissed in response, quickly enveloping my mouth into another impassioned kiss, withdrawing again to rest his forehead on mine.

“I can take the pain. Just long as you’re the one to supply the pleasure.”

His longing for that feeling, to tip past the edge into satisfaction, was overwhelming, and it made my legs begin to tingle with excitement.

“I don’t know if you’ve earned that just yet,” I whispered, trying to hide the quiver in my voice. “But you could.”

“How?” he growled, a desperation in his tone I wasn’t prepared to hear. Gloved fingers dug brutally into the flesh of my hips, barely able to smother a squeal at the stinging pain he’d caused.

Hm, karma.

Eventually I grew accustomed enough to the ache for me to speak confidently, glaring at his honey-coloured irises with a challenging intensity.

“Surprise me.”

With that, there was nothing to hold him back anymore.

His hands slid swiftly down to the curve of my rear, dipping slightly to reach it due to our differing heights. Clutching each cheek within a brutal grasp, he lifted me up against his sturdy frame, making my knees hitch around his pelvis. It was with a graceful ease he swivelled around to place me onto the control panel, my feet dangling over the edge.

Again Kylo locked his lips with mine, his lust just as fierce as minutes ago, yet it felt more confident, uninhibited, as if he had clawed back some of the strength in our dynamic.

And that’s what I needed him to feel. For now.

One hand soon curled through my hair, the sensation of his touch causing an unescapable shiver to stream over my skin, my mind already beginning to blur. Through exceedingly ardent kisses, his broad chest pressed me towards the sloped computer station until my spine moulded into the cold metal, erratically positioned buttons now digging into my bare skin.

He steadied himself to keep his torso firmly against mine, hips now at the perfect angle to thrust his hardened length, still confined under his trousers, between my open legs.

As an indulgent sigh left me, I could feel his smirk within our following kiss, a triumphant edge already glowing brightly in his aura. I might have punished his arrogance, but remained too lost in the bliss of his erection grinding over my pleasure point, somehow knowing exactly where to move to create the most delectable friction.

Amid the other places his body connected to mine, I felt Kylo’s other palm stray to the curve between my neck and shoulder, but it didn’t remain there. Instead, gloved fingers slipped under the strap of my dress, gliding it down, his touch immediately drifting to paw at the flesh of my breast, able to grasp it wholly within his large hand, causing a delighted whimper to seep from my mouth.

Kylo’s lips started to trail away from mine, lingering over my jaw and down my neck, all the while he’d begun to play with my hardened nipple, twisting it in-between his fingertips, the sensation setting my insides alight with glittering electricity. Finally able to take a proper breath, my unbridled moan filtered into the air, giving in to the satisfaction that erupted from every second of his touch.

He repeated the action, removing the piece of fabric covering the rest of my bust, yet this time it was his teeth that snagged the material down. Before I knew it, his tongue was skimming across the sensitive skin of my other breast, taking the bud in his mouth, sucking and licking it in the most carnal way, a cascade of pleasured sighs surging past my throat.

It was a burning impatience that I sensed prior to his sudden adjustment, lids fluttering open to see his heated expression glaring back, bringing the tip of his leather-clad index finger to my lips.

“Bite,” he instructed sternly. I immediately followed the demand, teeth clamping down at the edge of his glove. Kylo pulled his hand free from its cover, grabbing the article of clothing out of my hold only to throw it to the side. Without a pause his bared hand made its way to the divide in my skirt, hauling away the tulle over the side of my thigh, snatching the laced panties hidden underneath and effortlessly ripping them away within a singular motion.

I didn’t have a chance to protest his brazen action when his fingers found my entrance, immediately sliding through my folds, filling me until there was no length left, the abruptness making me shriek in delighted surprise.

In synchronisation with his other movements, he began to glide his fingers in and out, the walls of my core feeling impossibly tight around them. It wasn’t long before the swells of spasming muscles begun to ripple outward, a distinct slickness becoming more pronounced with each smooth thrust.

Kylo obviously noticed it too, pulling away from where he’d continued playfully tonguing with my nipple to meet my face, as I struggled to open my eyes through the pleasure he was sparking.

“You’re so much wetter than before,” he rasped, crushing his lips to mine again. “You really want it this time, don’t you?”

“More than… anything in this galaxy,” I panted, and it worried me how that wasn’t a lie. Although I was far too distracted by the charged current running through my veins to give it any more thought.

Kylo shifted to place a delicate kiss at the base of my ear, his heated breath making me shudder. “We finally agree on something.”

I went to smirk at his teasing comment, but quickly frowned when he removed his fingers from the warmth inside me, watching as he wrapped his lips around the tips and sucked. His eyes rolled back in gratification, a husky groan echoing out. “You taste… maker… You taste incredible.”

My centre tensed in response to his words, impatient for him to resume his stimulating movements, words tumbling from my mouth before I could stop them. “More… Kylo please. I need more…”

He hastily sunk down onto his knees, his face now able to view me up close, and I scratched my nails on the metal underneath in sudden shyness. I’d never let anyone see me this openly before. Never allowed anyone to use their mouth on me like Kylo obviously planned to. It was difficult to smother the nervousness that rushed to the forefront of my mind, an instant urge to close my legs now nagging at me.

Kylo didn’t share the same hesitation, one hand placing itself at the end of my left thigh, spreading me open further, the other hooking under my right knee to place my leg over his shoulder, curling around the limb. Immediately he delved his tongue into my slit, lapping at the juices there, as a vulgar moan purred into the flesh, the vibration making my nerves sparkle with erratic energy. All anxiety was forgotten when he directed his attention to my swollen clitoris, swirling over it, and I jerked under him, flashes of ecstasy already igniting within my abdomen.

“Oh fuck,” I groaned.

Kylo drew his face back. “It isn’t dignified to cuss.”

I stared down at him, put off-balance for a moment at the vision of him between my legs, lips wet with moisture.

“None of this is particularly dignified,” I muttered.

“True,” he conceded, running his tongue over me once more while I watched with wide eyes. “But you could maintain at least one kind of decorum.”

Fuck your decorum, pompous ass.

“I’ll remember that when you lose the ability to maintain proper etiquette while I'm sucking your cock.”

Just the thought of it sent Kylo’s energy into erupting streaks of glowing flames, and his mouth was back on me, spiralling and sucking around the stimulated nub, the surges of my impending climax appearing every few seconds. My head rocked back, skull hitting the durasteel, yet I didn’t sense the slightest trace of pain.

Every exhale turned into a breathy moan, becoming more ragged as the minutes passed, Kylo swiftly learning which precise movement of his tongue would elicit the loudest ones to echo through the room. It was when one of my hands clutched onto his hair it became clear I was losing control, unable to stop my grip becoming viciously tight.

If he felt any discomfort, he didn’t react, all focus centred on me and my pleasure, his own indulgence growing fiercer as I proceeded even nearer to my peak, already knowing how much more potent my orgasm would be this time. My thighs began to twitch, abdominal muscles tightening as Kylo flicked his tongue over my clitoris again and again, urgently collecting the wetness that came after each of my helpless whimpers.

He began to tease me, drifting his attention just when I could see the edge I desperately wanted to dive into. It was pure retribution, a cruel form of revenge for my previous actions, prolonging the ache that came each time I descended from the growing high.

Returning to my clit once more, the flat portion stroking over the swollen point in the most delicious way, I felt my climax rise to be within my grasp, already arching my back at the extraordinary bliss that was mere seconds from breaking.

“I- I’m- Kylo I’m going to come!”

And he pulled away.

Falling bitterly from the peak I’d climbed, I opened my eyes to see Kylo shifting back to a standing position, swiping a thumb over his mouth and chin to remove the wetness I’d left, moving to drape himself over my body. A scream of frustration was ready to burst as he brought his face in front of mine, only allowing a barbed scowl to show in my expression. His own was serious, leaning in close, our lips almost touching, a hand replacing where his mouth had been. After dipping into my entrance, he began to circle his fingers over my clit, agonisingly slowly. I shut my eyes, wanting to relish his touch, when my jaw was seized in a vicious grip.

“Look at me,” he commanded, my lids bursting open to his darkened stare. “From now on, you have to ask my permission if you want to come. If you’re touching yourself, and you think you’re going to come, you find me first. Do you understand?”

Coherent thought was difficult to form with his fingers moving so skilfully, barely conscious enough to halt an immediate agreement to his demand. It was too much power for him to hold, to think he’d have authority over that part of me.

But I needed release. So much it was starting to burn.

“Do you understand Alexys?” he snarled, his circled movement becoming even more divine, my thoughts growing more clouded by pleasure. “I’m the only one who gets to make you come.”

He’d cornered me, much like I’d done to him in the supply closet, left fighting between logic and carnal desire.

It was obvious which one was winning.

I couldn’t defy it, my helpless need to feel him bring me past the point of no return. Right now, there was nothing I wouldn’t say or do to make that happen.

“Fine! Yes! I understand!” I cried out. “Please, please let me come!”

“As you wish,” he crooned eagerly, sinking back down between my legs to recommence the luscious swirl of his tongue, this time adding slow thrusts of his fingers. The synchronicity had me enraptured, the peak of my climax racing back so quickly I wasn’t prepared for the moment I finally tipped over the edge.

It was euphoria, lightning strikes of pure ecstasy streaking through my body. The world around melted into nothing but white, hardly able to discern the extraordinarily loud moan resonating from my own mouth.

Kylo held on to me tightly as my hips jolted through shockwaves of the deepest pleasure I had ever felt in my short life, sparks shooting through my limbs as my centre throbbed. His tongue didn’t relent, extending the time I could feel the intoxicating sensation pulse down below, walls continuing to spasm and clench around him.

As the afterglow settled over my skin, Kylo slipped his fingers away, remaining only to savour the essence of my release before scattering delicate kisses over the inside of my thighs, a satisfied hum leaving him as he rose to his feet.

I would have stayed unmoving, basked in the sweetened warmth that weaved through my blood, but enough awareness remained to push myself upwards to meet Kylo’s upright stance, arms shaking, barely able to hold myself up.

Time for phase two.

Kylo gazed down, hands cupping my face, dipping lower to gently touch his lips to mine.

“I don’t think I’ve tasted anything better than you,” he murmured, his energy shimmering with contentment.

Peering up with a tempting smile, I posed a single enticing question.

“Are you going to return the favour?”

~

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