Kyber Heart - Poe Dameron

Chapter 43

"So... brother?" Finn was nervous to ask, and Nova did not blame him for it.

"Yeah. Look, I'm sorry about – well, everything that comes with him, and that," she sighed. "I won't blame you if you don't trust me."

"I trust you." There was no hesitation in the statement. "That's not exactly something you'd want to broadcast, especially to ex-First Order."

"I trust you too."

Finn smiled, the tension between them easing, allowing the pair to walk on in silence. They split soon after; Finn returning to Rose's side, and Nova to her mother's.

Nova kept up her silence even with Leia, not wishing to make a wrong step on an already fragile path. She knew from years of experience that she had a very different outlook on things pertaining to their family. Some scars her mother could never understand – the ones that would never heal.

Leia was content to keep the silence; consumed by her own distracted thoughts. She reached for her daughter's hand, relieved when she did not retreat from the contact.

A commotion had broken out at the front, sparking Nova into action. Pushing through the group, it was not hard for her to determine the cause of the issue.

They had hit a dead end, faced with a wall of fallen rocks. Whether they had fallen over years of natural change or had been placed as a security measure in the old war, it did not matter. Daylight was on the other side, but with no way of reaching it.

In another life, maybe Nova could have given them a chance. But that hope had been shot for seven years.

And just as all hope was starting to fade, the barricade began to shift. The rocks were pulled back like a curtain, one by one and then several at a time. Each one dislodged set loose a sprinkling of dust and revealed a section of light. As an exit was created, it became clear the rocks were in fact floating, held to slowly rotate in place by some mystical power.

Nova knew that power. That force.

She and Finn emerged from the tunnel first to discover Rey. Arm outstretched with an open hand, face serene.

Her eyes opened and she smiled, the boulders crashing around her as she relinquished her hold.

Finn dashed to her, the friends falling into each other's arms while the Resistance regarded Rey with quiet astonishment.

Nova set about ushering them out into the valley, preparing for the steep climb that still lay between them and the Falcon. She glanced at Rey every now and then, sensing a change in the younger woman. She seemed older, in a way. Some of the innocence she had possessed when they met on Jakku had been stripped away, replaced by a new maturity.

The old Rey was by no means gone, but merely changed. Something darker seemed to rest behind her eyes, but not something bad.

Soon enough, the last dregs of the Resistance were safely aboard the Millennium Falcon, letting out a collective sigh of relief as they left Crait's atmosphere. Despite their losses, they could still revel in what they had been able to save. After everything, they were still standing, united against the enemy. Work would have to resume soon, but they could allow themselves a few hours.

Nova shared in the smiles, keeping to the outskirts of the celebrations. Chewbacca sought her out, and she was happy to share a hug with the Wookiee. An old familiarity.

A sombre shroud hung over mother and daughter as they too shared an embrace. A quiet moment of grief.

"He's gone," Leia said.

Luke, she meant. Nova knew it, deep down inside her. Her master, her uncle, had made his final stand trying to right his wrongs to the galaxy. To his family.