albinomilksnake | STAR WARS: possible spoiler warning

[And somehow they survived.

It shouldn't be as shocking as it is. It's not like he didn't go into every fight expecting to come out the other end, and it wasn't like he hadn't just survived two impossible situations, face to face with the hand of the First Order and then plummeting to an almost certain death on a planet at the ass-end of the Galaxy.

But here he was. Surprised. Glad, he'd lost some of his squad, but not all of them. He'd sent that shot right where he needed to. And Finn, his impossible friend, he'd succeeded.

Not exactly unscathed, though. Hell of a hole through his jacket. He'd managed to stop the med Droid from throwing it away, but making it useful again was in his admittedly less than capable hands. The callouses on his fingers for perfectly to the controls of an x-wing, but they provided very little defense against the sharp silvery needle that was currently stitching the long slit along the back of the leather closed.]

Ah- [He manages to choke off the pained noise, somehow harder to do than stand against torture.]

I'm starting to think I should have let someone else handle this.

[Spoken, cheerful enough, in the direction of the sickbed.]

Edited 2015-12-24 08:20 (UTC)

[There's been very little down time since the destruction of Starkiller Base, not that anyone expected any different. There were plenty of casualties, and still are plenty of fighters--both of the human and X-wing variety--out of commission.

Though BB-8's programming assigns him as a mechanic as one of his primary directives--the same for all astromech droids--he still manages to find brief moments to check in on Finn, twittering at him in concerned binary even when he's not conscious.

Sometimes, he might bring him things, like he does with Poe, though most of his gifts for Finn are vacuum-packed food squares. Humans need sustenance to repair themselves, so it's his way of helping, sort of.]

[With Starkiller Base little more than space dust and the First Order momentarily in shambles from the aftershock, the Resistance has a narrow window. It isn't much of one - everyone knows that, they must; it won't be long before they rally, before they retaliate - but hopefully its enough of an opportunity to do what's necessary. The map to Skywalker is complete; she knows what she has to do as much as everyone else seems to know she's exactly who has to do it--

--(How did she get to this point? How did she end up with Skywalker's saber at her side and the hope of the Resistance pinned beside it? does it matter? It's true now like lots of other things are true, no matter how wild and unbelievable. She tries not to think of Han Solo saying those words to her, but sometimes she does anyway. It's true. 'It's all true.')--

--But more significantly, everyone knows exactly what has to happen to get her to Skywalker and that's patching the countless holes and sheared off metal and busted pieces the Millennium Falcon had scraped by with while popping out of hyperspeed and all but crash landing on the surface of the base. It's work that needs to be finished as quickly as possible and it seems like every spare hand has been turned to the ship's repairs. Rey herself is elbow deep (literally) in one of the interior panels, stripping and rewiring fried components. It's simple, quick work, but rote in a way that helps her focus - helps her clear her mind. She isn't thinking about Skywalker or how to get to him. She isn't thinking about Finn unconscious, the scent of burned flesh and scorched leather. She isn't thinking about Kylo Ren or Han Solo or Jakku. All she's thinking about is where the end of wires fit.]

BB-8, pass me those wire cutters.

[The astromech droid's been rolling around near her for enough time now that she doesn't think twice to call after it - doesn't even look up when she does it. Besides, her hands are currently engaged with winding the wire around the conductor post.]

PILOTING THE FALCON

CAUGHT IN TRACTOR BEAM

GETTING SHOT AT

FUCK THAT HURT

[They're done. Shattered to the core, and he feels it as the earth under his heels splinters like bone, one hand pressed to his side like it'll help; he's been beating it bloody since he chased his prey out into the snowy tundra, and the chill soaking in along his spine carries with it a decent chance that the shot went clean through - beyond his grasp. Steam curls in rivulets behind him where the tip of his lightsaber catches snow, still crackling on the off chance Rey might come skittering back into view. Not that he can see much through the haze at the edges of his vision.

Success leading to failure, and it's hard not to draw some subconscious, seeping line between his own loss and the howls of a dead planet in its own death throes.

And yet, like a thread, he feels himself pulled onwards, step after weary step. Closer to nothing.]

[Sometimes once you start running, it becomes impossible to stop. Cold has overtaken her, and she fears that if she stops running, she may never find movement again.

He's there -- that creature in the mask, the one she had seen when she had found the lightsaber. She isn't certain how, but she can feel him there, hovering on the outskirts of her vision like a shadow. Frustration wars with fear and determination, but most importantly, a driving urge to get away to safety trumps everything. A need to escape whatever hell her mind is trapped in, a need to find Finn and get BB-8 back to the Resistance.

Lightning cracks too fast for her eyes to process the color of it -- blue or red, whatever it is practically tears the sky open violently enough that she has to skid to a stop. In sand, in snow, it all feels the same. Her breath comes rapid, and her ankles lock as she had predicted they would. Even as she closes her eyes to feel the blood drumming through her head and her heart, she can hear the crunch of footsteps behind her.

There is a lightsaber, heavy in her hand and deactivated when her eyes force themselves open again. She won't give him the satisfaction, not if she can help it.

There's no tremor in her voice when she speaks.]

You can't do this forever.

Edited (edits 5 million times) 2015-12-27 08:30 (UTC)

[Once, when he had been at the Jedi Academy with the other boys his age, another boy had told him that he would never live up to the legacy of his family. The words were said easily, spitefully, and Ben (for he had been Ben at the time, and he thinks of that person as someone separate from his current identity) had been unable to respond. His uncle had intervened. The callous boy who would later die at Kylo Ren's hand was sent to his room, and Ben received a lesson about how Jedi, even in the face of cruelty, cannot act on revenge. Revenge, he said, is the path to the dark side.

He recalls how frustrated Ben felt that day, sent to his own room soon after. Unsurprising now is the fact that even then, Ben would throw tantrums, would allow his knuckles to go white as he picked up one thing after another in his room. He remembers centering himself with his anger in his training, allowing himself to be blinded as he picked up his training sword and brought it down upon one of the other kids. He remembers the derision from his uncle, a man who never realized how much strength he could gain from this power, from this anger, from giving in to the emotions unfurling inside of him—

Or perhaps he was so tainted by the light that he could not see. Light blinds, but darkness shows the way. Ren has known this for some time.

Revenge is the last thing he denies himself now. When news of the girl's disappearance spreads throughout the First Order, Kylo Ren allows himself to give in to that desire. He's certain that when he finds FN-2187, he will be able to find the path to the girl—and perhaps Luke Skywalker himself. All signs point to that being likely, what with her absence. But more than that, it's necessary to find the traitor and put him down. Among the First Order, there should be no chaos. Among the First Order, there should be nothing like the Republic, like the Resistance, like the criminals that would continue to plunge the galaxy into disorder. There should be nothing like the roots that Kylo Ren himself had once upon a time, but he slowly cut away.

(With little satisfaction.

No, with no satisfaction, even if he had learned to suppress that feeling inside of him thanks to the Supreme Leader's assistance.)

The next most important step is reconnaissance—as well as a diversion. Kylo Ren knows that Leia Organa must be absent when the First Order strikes at the Resistance base, because he knows that he cannot challenge the darkness inside of himself so soon after Han Solo's death. He cannot chance the light showing its face to make him yield. He cannot risk it.

When it's all set in place, when most of the Resistance fighters have been forced to abandon their base to stop a First Order invasion elsewhere, that's when Ren strikes. His small cadre of soldiers lands, and he instructs the stormtroopers to keep the rebels busy while he finds FN-2187. It is difficult, especially given the weight of his armor, and he almost wishes he had considered going about this differently, had considered pretending that he was finally returning home—but he knows he cannot allow that temptation to hang above his head. Snoke can only be expected to be patient with the light in his heart for so long. No, he must pursue the traitor this way, to find the information, and bring an end to his life.

His fingers wrap tight around his lightsaber as he enters the base, the sound of chaos and blaster guns left in his wake. Inside, once the doors close, it's silent. He knows this base because he's been in some version of it, and though the rebels move, their plans rarely change. He recalls it from Ben's youth.

Kylo Ren's head tilts forward as he finds himself drawn to the traitor's room, where he proceeds to kill the nurse observing him, lightsaber cut through her midsection. As she falls to the ground, he looks at her face. Ben had played with her once as a child, he realizes. She should never have become a rebel.

His hand moves over Finn's resting face, and he breathes carefully, Force drawn upon.] Awaken, traitor, [he commands, doing what he can to bring the former stormtrooper to consciousness.]

Edited (fixing Force capitalization ) 2015-12-28 01:07 (UTC)

[She knew that they would see each other again. It was not foretold, but foregone; she was part of this war now, and he was one of its primary actors. The question was where, not if.

Rey had her answer on a forested planet, a magnificently green place covered almost entirely in tall, thin trees. But it was a dark, solemn place, interspersed with swamps and crumbling temples and other ruins of indeterminate design or origin. The thick canopy shrouded her walk in twilight, no matter the actual time of day. Occasionally, points of light broke through where the latticework of leaves thinned, scattering warm shards of the sun over the mossy forest floor.

When she comes to a particularly bright patch, Rey takes a moment. Not to rest, but just to stop and turn her face skyward, to catch the sun on her skin where she can. She breathes deeply, tasting the air: cool, wet, bitter and sharp with decaying leaves, with ancient bark, with roots that run deep beneath the earth and show only a hint of themselves above ground. She turns it into a training exercise, trying to feel the Force around her, picturing it as a series of glowing, entwined wires.

She's only just begun this ramshackle meditation when she hears dry branches snapping, angrily; the footsteps approaching do not stumble, but crush. She tightens her grip on her staff. Luke Skywalker's lightsaber, clipped to her sash, stays where it is--for the moment.

Rey calls, defiant.]

I'm right here.

[She doesn't mention him right away.

For weeks, her training with Luke is methodical. Rey wakes up every morning, runs up and down the stairs a few times, and then she and Luke work together on meditating and mastering the Force. Truthfully, it goes well. Her grounded nature means that she takes to the Force rather easily, and without any interruptions from the outside world, she's able to focus, to feel as if she has a new place to belong. Here, their food is simple and as are their living arrangements, but Rey acclimates almost too easily. Compared to the dry, hot climate of Jakku, the cool ocean air and green is refreshing and bright.

Every morning, she loves looking out over the ocean. There are times when she misses Jakku and its familiarity, and there are times where she wonders if Maz may have been wrong, if her parents are truly out there. These moments become rarer and rarer as time moves on.

It's only after a while that Luke finally asks after her friends. She says she doesn't have many. She speaks of BB-8 fondly first, as well as General Organa (somehow, she can't help but call her General Organa, even to her brother). Chewie comes next, and she mentions her time with Han, and how she had been glad to meet him. And finally—finally—she ends on Finn. Her voice swells with emotion, and she explains a few things, about how he's different, about how he had never been one to give in to his conditioning, about ...

And then she realizes: he may also be sensitive to the Force, but less inclined to access it as easily. For how grounded she is, Finn is the opposite. He is air to her earth in a sense, and that's never a bad thing. Luke takes her hand, and when they commune, they both realize that her revelation is true. But it's not one they can act upon, not yet.

More time passes, and even more, and then one day she's returning on an X-Wing. Luke lets her pilot while he sits in the gunner seat, and when they land, she climbs out carefully. After being gone for nearly fifteen years, it's time for Luke to return to his sister and offer his apologies. He's been gone too long, and he knows it's allowed the Dark Side to take advantage of the imbalance of the galaxy once more.

As for her, she has a pair of lightsabers clipped to her belt. She strides inside, allowing the Force to guide her, and when she finds him sitting and looking over a monitor, happy and well, she comes to stand alongside him. It's Finn, and seeing him fills her with relief. He should have been the first friend she mentioned, but ending on him seemed proper. It was the right thing to do.]

I have a gift for you, [she says, and she can barely hide the excitement in her voice. In fact, she's obviously holding it in.] I know last time it didn't go well for you, but I thought—well—[She rolls her shoulders forward amiably before she reaches down for the saber to carefully unhook it and then—naturally—extend it to him.]

[Mercy is a part of the Jedi code. Mercy allows someone to release themselves from their anger, from their resentment, from all of their bitterness. All of these things blind someone. It steers them down the path to the dark side, giving them vindication when they don't give mercy.

All of this is a truth, but as Rey stands over Kylo Ren with her lightsaber over his face, she doesn't care for mercy. She recalls seeing Finn weak and dying. She recalls the pain that she felt when he ran Han Solo through with his lightsaber, deceiving him one final time. She recalls all of this, and she knows he deserves this. He doesn't deserve mercy.

But she closes her eyes, drawing upon the Force. And in that moment, she realizes that she's not someone who can decide what someone else deserves. She closes her lightsaber and then crouches down. Soon after, she smacks the butt of the lightsaber into Ren's face, knocking him out.

*

When Kylo Ren—Ben Solo—awakens, he's in one of the Resistance's cells. Around his wrists are blue light cuffs, and he's hanging down from the ceiling. The position is meant to disorient them, though the cuffs themselves were designed during the Clone Wars to hold both Sith and Jedis when they were captured. Obtaining them hadn't been easy, but it had proved necessary when the Resistance learned more about the Knights of Ren. They hadn't thought it possible that the first they might capture is one of their Masters, but here they are.

No, here Rey is, with anxiousness running through her shoulders and arms. She sits down in a chair in front of Ben, hands planted on each of her knees. She's already set her lightsaber down on the floor, partly to show that she wants this to be peaceful, and partly to ensure that she has to make even more conscious movements to cause him harm. She doesn't trust herself entirely, and she does her best to stifle the rage inside of her.

She doesn't wake him. Instead, she sits, eyes focused on him.

And she waits.]

[the curtains open on hux, alumni and guest orator of the university. he gives an excellent speech and then connects with some of the staff and students at a meet-n-greet afterward to answer questions, discuss things, the list goes on. he winds up stuck in a conversation with a student who is trying way too hard to impress him, and keeps trying to disengage with no luck.

Eventually he decides that he just has to force his way out of this situation and so he sets his eyes on a student who has piqued his interest before on previous visits. Hux excuses himself and strides over to his target, excuses him from any company he's with ("We have an engagement to attend and must be leaving now, so sorry"), and whisks him away out the nearest door.]

I can only listen to someone backpedal about politics for so long. Have you had dinner?

I’ll send a storm to capture your heart and bring you home.
Oh, carried on the breeze, you’ll never find me gone.

[we promise not to tase you again]

you're one of us

[It can be strange, the Force.

Perhaps in meditation this began, a stray thought striking hard enough to open a crack in the Dark. Perhaps in dreams the crack was widened - or perhaps at some imperceptible moment even longer ago, watching with pursed lips and narrowed eyes all along. When the seed was planted is inconsequential, in the grand scheme of things.

What is less inconsequential is the figure that stands now against the wall of Ren's bedchamber, shoulders back and arms folded against his chest. As tangible as anything else in the room, he heaves a sigh, breaking the silence of a night that had been so still until this moment. An intruder. One much too familiar to be possible.

If a stray thought had started the metaphorical crack, here stands a man with a mallet in one hand and a chisel in the other.]

Don't you think you've ignored me for long enough?

[Ben smiles softly.]

Edited 2016-01-09 10:14 (UTC)

1. For Rey

Sure, he didn't know anything about her, beyond what Finn had said. But what Finn had said - what Finn had done - had been enough. He'd dragged the whole rebellion with him to save her, and had managed to save the rest of them in the meantime. And then she'd dragged him all the way back, half dead, but thankfully very much alive.

He didn't need to know her, to know that he already liked her. Or that he owed her one, despite the state of the jacket.

Because at least the jacket had come back.

When they'd landed, Poe had run over right away - all smiles and pumped up adrenaline - only to find them pulling Finn out on a stretcher, and Rey standing stone faced over him. They hadn't spoken then, but they'd shared a glance. A worried, fretful glance, all triumph sucked from him instantly. He'd run off after the stretcher even as the rest of the team celebrated. A lot of them had died. He was used to that, he expected that. And in some ways, death might have been easier for him to deal with. Wounded and dying but home? Way harder to face.

So he didn't go looking for Rey until Finn was stable. Until he had actual news to give her, though he was sure she'd already have been told. He still wanted to thank her in person.

When he found her, he jogged over, still in his flight suit that he'd forgotten to change out of, yet.

"Hey. Rey, right?"

2. For Finn, post recovery

"Yeah, there you go, you got it," Poe was saying, grinning as he leaned over Finn's shoulder in the cockpit of the X-Wing. Really, the ship was too small for both of them, but that's why the canopy was popped open as he pointed to the controls. "These are the in atmosphere controls. Works a little differently since you've got air and gravity to contend with. We'll start you on something with an actual co-pilot seat, but there's nothing quite like sitting in the cockpit of this baby, is there?"

3. Wildcard baby

Edited 2016-01-10 15:53 (UTC)

#priorities

[ twenty years have gone by in the blink of an eye and in an eternal poisonous crawl.

the decision of obi-wan and yoda had been absolute. the time for diplomacy, the time for peace…they were long past. the time for fighting too was over. it was a time to retreat, as much as the thought of it burned. a time to disappear, take stock of their immeasurable loss, and bide their time for a new opportunity. it was a time to be utterly selfless when her every fiber screamed to be selfish.

anakin skywalker's children could not exist. the risk to them was too great. as for anakin's secret wife, he would not stop searching as long as he knew her to live. the solution was impossibly simple. but oh, how she had raged against it until the reason she was famed for returned.

twenty years she has been waiting, aged by time and grief, but she still raises her head proud. this is a risk. this is fallacy. she is tossing away everything that had been done to protect her children in the name of sentiment, but she could no longer bear the silence. the stories passed to her by old friends came no more. all she has left are the rumors of exploits, the beginnings of legend, and though they thrill her and make her proud they are not enough.

a coded message had been sent, asking to meet on this planet on this day. she chose a plain with nothing around for miles. she landed her ship where it is plain to see. and she settled to wait, her fingers trembling.

when the white and orange x-wing descends, she releases a breath. in the time it takes her to gather the scraps left of her courage and lower the ramp, the fighter has already landed. when she steps outside, she catches sight of a familiar blue domed head. r2-d2 beeps in excitement, the black lens fixed on her. despite the tortuous ball of nerves settled heavily in her belly, she smiles at the sight of the loyal little droid. then her heart catches in her throat when the cockpit hood lifts, and the pilot climbs out.

the former queen of the naboo, the once senator whose opponents would have seen her dead to quiet her finds her mouth gone dry and her throat working nervously. her attention is on the young man walking toward her. even when r2 is released from his socket and wheels toward her, chirping a cheerful greeting, she does not look away from the young face at once strange and familiar. a small bump by r2 against her leg has her look down. smiling, she lays a hand on the domed head. ]

Hello, old friend, [ she greets the droid quietly. heartfelt gratitude laces her observation. ] You've looked after them.

[ she gets a bright beeped yes in response. steeling herself, she lifts her head again. the shine of tears marks her eyes. her voice is clear, still her greatest weapon, still her first line of defense, and carries easily to the young man she had last seen as a newborn in her arms. padmé does not need the force to know before her stands her son. ]

Do you know who I am?

I didn't know how to win
I had to invent new rules
I feel like broken glass that's been taped together to keep the blood in

[cont from: here

Ben keeps to his own space on the return trip. Aside from Han Solo's occasional (and often loud) trips to the cargo bay, he doesn't venture to the front of the ship, which is likely a relief for both Rey and Finn, having had no say in the matter of whether Kylo Ren fled Starkiller's destruction alongside them.

Still, there haven't been any violent confrontations (yet) and when neither Snoke's former apprentice or Han Solo raise voices or strike metal, the Falcon runs as quietly as she always has: rattling vents, humming thrusters-- and the ever-present hiss of old familial tension.]

4 the bae

no subject

FINN

steals avali's rp space and laughs - 4 poe and bb-8 - also idk bear with this timeline fuckery

the only other emo kid on the block

surprise me tbh