Charisma~ Poe Dameron

Sometimes those who die stay dead

"Let's go." Aria nodded as she pulled her hand from his. 

She looked over towards the entrance which was nothing but a giant horizontal crack in the giant stone wall. From where she stood it looked barely tall enough to fit her- let alone Ben. 

But as they sprinted towards it, Aria realized just how tall it was. She lifted her head as she sprinted under the stone to look at the magnificent structure above. The second she crossed the barrier a chill spread over her. It was colder than any ice planet she had visited before. The temperature wasn't cold, the aura of the place was, and it chilled her insides. 

"There- we have to jump." Ben pointed ahead to a humongous hole in the ground. It was intentional, it had to be as it was surrounded by well-crafted stone. 

Aria nodded as she pumped her arms to propel herself forward. Ben had long legs that gave her a run for her money. She was use to being the fastest runner, but that only came from years of trying to run faster than Ben. 

As Aria neared the hole she blindly jumped and prayed to the heavens that Ben told her right. 

She looked down to see a far, far, far, drop below her. But as Ben rushed past her she realized they weren't falling down. He grabbed onto the link of an astronomically large metal chain. Aria followed his lead and wrapped her arms around the side of a link. 

She groaned as her chest threatened to cave in around the link. She quickly swung her legs up and wrapped her right leg around the top of the chain to pull herself up. The chain link was so large when she sat up and tried to wrap her legs around the link she could barely connect her ankles underneath it. 

She looked down as Ben pulled himself up. The chain extended all the way down to the bottom, but between them and the floor were hundreds of individual links. 

"Great.." Aria huffed as she pulled her feet onto the chain and slowly pushed to her feet. The links were each so heavy they didn't even sway in the air, or under her and Ben's weight, which eased some of her anxiety. 

She took the first, unsteady step onto the link that Ben stood on. She kept her eyes on the link under her as she took her next step. She held her hands out to keep her balance as she took careful, wide steps to scale the links as fast and safe as possible. 

The chains started to dip after a few links, and Aria found it harder to keep walking upright. 

"Ben, wait-" Aria lowered herself to a crouch and looked along the chain. "There has to be an easier way." 

"There's not." He turned back to her and lowered himself in front of her. "You'll be okay." He held out his hand for her. "Trust me." 

Those words stole the breath from her lungs. She looked from his hand to his face, then back to his hand. 

"Okay." She laid her wrapped hand in his. 

He stood up and brought her with him, then they walked side by side on either side of the chain link. Their arms stretched out so they could keep their hold on one another as they walked. 

By the time they reached the ground Aria's thighs shook with exhaustion. Her left thigh threatened to spasm so she kneaded her knuckles into it to keep it at bay. 

"I... never apologized." 

Aria looked at Ben to see is eyes on her thigh. 

"We were both trying to kill one another." Aria told him as a sort of comfort, but it didn't help in the way she wanted it to. "I'm okay." She dropped her hand from her thigh to prove her point. "See?"