Charisma~ Poe Dameron

The utter betrayal of a loved one

Aria threw her pilot's helmet on the ground as she jumped from her X-wing. Officers all around them clapped for their success, but Aria didn't want any of it as all of her attention was focused on one person: General Leia. 

"How dare you?" She spat as she stormed up to the General. The body of people broke away for Aria, creating a wave of moving bodies. "Who do you think you are to spend Poe out there alone with all that you knew?" Aria stopped just shy of entering Leia's personal bubble. "He could have died!" Her voice reverted out to the entire hangar. 

Poe and the rest of his squadron stood just behind Aria, but they didn't dare step up to her as she spoke. Leia looked back at them to see them all banged up and bloody, they had to lean on each other to keep themselves upright. 

"Maybe we can talk about this in my-"

"No-" Aria shook her head as a snarl pulled back on her lips. "You put me in Black Squadron to get me to be a team player and to help me understand the importance of trust and listening to orders- but you manipulated all of us!" Aria threw her hands back to her squad. "You kept vital information and created secret missions that put ALL OF OUR LIVES IN JEOPARDY!" Her throat throbbed under the immense pressure and her entire body shook in pain and exhaustion, but she was fueled by anger- and it was just enough to keep her going. "You are our leader, but what you did today was not the work of a General." Aria lowered her voice to a whisper. Every member of the Resistance leaned forward as they clung to her every word. "I guess I should have expected the betrayal... it runs in the family."

Leia's stoic face whitened at the accusation, but she pulled her shoulders back and raised her chin like a true, unwavering politician. Aria knew all the tricks, she had seen them her whole life, but the lack of emotion or response from her own mother figure knocked her off course- especially when it was her own life she had just toyed with. 

Aria let out a slow, painful breath as she pulled herself together. Unlike Leia's political poise, Aria lifted herself up like a warrior. She squared her footing and clenched her fists by her sides until her arms flexed under the weight. Her nostrils flared as she puffed her chest out and straightened herself to her full height. She wasn't a tall girl, but she had a few inches on the General, and it had never been more obvious than at that exact second. 

Both girls stared at one another as they toiled with their own insecurities. They were too proud to admit their downfalls, so they didn't say a word. 

Even as Aria stepped around her General and left the hangar Leia didn't turn to try and make her stay. 

Leia had no words. Her mind spun with Aria's comparison of her to her own son. It was heartwrenching, especially coming from the girl she was most fond of in the world. 

So Leia let her go and when she was gone, she slowly walked through the quiet crowd to make her own, less-than-elegant exit through the side doors. 

**

It took Aria far longer than she would have liked to shower afterward. Her clothes clung to her sweat-soaked body, and each time she tried to bend over to lower her capris, pain shot through her side and up her back. With a little finessing, she was able to shimmy them down and off her ankles, but it was a completely different story when she had to remove her wrap from around her torso. She tried to lift her arms, but they shook so much she could only raise them for a minute at a time, then she needed to take a break. 

Half naked, she looked herself over in her steamed-up mirror to see a dirty, bloody face staring back at her. Her left cheek was swollen around the small cut on the apple of her cheek. Already it had turned a gnarly purple hue, and she feared it would only get darker as the night wore on. Blood dried down her cheek and spilled over onto her neck, and she knew she would have to scrub at it in the shower to remove all of it. She had the fleeting thought that she would need stitches but didn't have the urge or motivation to go to the med bay.