Across The Stars // Star Wars (Sequels)

✰Chapter 52✰

"It's too late. She's gone."

"Your mother's gone. But what she stood for, what she fought for, that's not gone. Raven isn't either. Ben..." 

"I know what I have to do but I don't know if I have the strength to do it." 

"You do. Go home to your sister." 

"Dad..." 

"I know." 

***

Listening to her heart monitor, Poe sits by Raven's bedside, gripping her hand in his. The gentle beeping of the monitor is the only thing keeping him from going mad or punching a wall. Raven's heartbeat is mostly consistent, but jolts every few minutes or so. Her forehead wrinkles when it does, but her honey-brown eyes remain shut. 

"Please come back to me, Rave. I can't do this without you. Please tell me what I have to do," he whispers, placing her hand against his forehead. 

Finn enters the medical bay, seeing Poe sitting by Raven's bedside. His heart breaks for his friends. With Rey gone, their group is falling apart at the seams and he wonders how long they can go without crumbling. 

"Poe?" Finn softly asks his friend. He rises from his seat and quickly wipes at his eyes before turning around. 

"What?" he asks. 

"D'Acy asked for you. Something about Kijimi. There's been an-" Finn says, but Poe's already running toward the base, where he quickly learns Kijimi has been obliterated. 

"How?" he asks, his voice trembling. 

"A blast from a Star Destroyer. A ship from the new Sith fleet. Out of the Unknowns," she explains, her heart aching for the man standing in front of her. She practically watched him grow up in the Resistance. To have to watch him go through so much in such a short time breaks her heart. 

"The Emperor sent a ship from Exegol," Beaumont, one of the Resistance workers, says. "Does that mean every ship in that fleet has-" 

"Has planet-killing weapons. Of course they do. All of 'em," Poe gloomily confirms. "This is how he finishes it." 

"Listen," Rose calls, turning up the volume of the broadcasting system. "It's on every frequency." 

A voice appears, speaking in a language Poe can't understand. Luckily, Beaumont can translate. "'The Resistance is dead. The Sith flame will burn. All worlds, surrender or die. The Final Order begins.'" 

Rose turns to Poe. "Leia made you acting general under Raven. What now?" 

He lets out a breath, feeling an all too familiar feeling rising in his chest. "I-I'm sorry," he musters out before fleeing to the cave where he knows Leia is. Her body is covered by a sheet and he is grateful for that. He wouldn't have known how to react actually seeing her. This way, it is as if she is just asleep and she could wake up at any given time to give him the advice he needs so desperately. 

He sinks into the seat by her bedside. He releases a breath. "I gotta tell you, I don't really know... how to do this," he says before inhaling shiveringly. Tears prick his eyes but he doesn't allow them to fall. "What you did... I'm not ready..." 

"Neither were we," a voice speaks up and Poe jolts upright. Lando Calrissian approaches him. "Luke, Han, Leia, me. Who's ever ready?" 

"How'd you do it?" Poe asks. "Defeat an empire with almost nothing?" 

Lando grins crookedly. "We had each other. That's how we won," he says. "Now, I believe you have a very strong, very beautiful young lady out there who's ready to fight by your side, don't you?"

"Raven? She uhm... She's injured. I don't know if you heard," Poe says carefully. "She's in the infirmary." 

"Last time I checked, which was just now, her bed was empty. I'm pretty sure she's waiting for you," Lando says. 

"What?" Poe barely gets the word past his lips as he sprints to the exit of the cave in which Leia is, seeing it pouring rain outside. He doesn't bother shielding himself as he rushes to the infirmary, finding Raven's bed indeed empty. He runs back outside, the rain hammering down on him and soaking him to the bone. "Rave?" he calls, but gets no response. Most Resistance workers and pilots have gone inside to shield themselves from the rain, but all Poe cares about is finding her. 

He aimlessly runs around before remembering the field where Raven used to train Rey. When he darts into the forest, his expectations are proven right. She sits on the ground, cross-legged, with her eyes shut. What scares him, however, is finding a thin stream of blood dripping from her nose. 

She is muttering under her breath, words he can't make out, and her eyebrows are scrunched in deep concentration. 

Inside Raven's head, the Dark Side keeps calling her, its voice growing louder and louder.

"I can make the pain stop." 

"Raven, honey, don't do this." 

"Mom," Poe clearly hears her whisper. 

"I can bring her back. Just give into it." 

"Raven, open your eyes." 

"I can bring them all back. All you have to do is give yourself to me." 

"You can't do this. Honey, please listen to me." 

"Mom!" 

"Give into it!" 

"Raven!" 

With a tormented gasp, Raven's eyes snap open and she drops out of the air after not having realised she started to hover a few dozen inches above the ground. She expects to hit the dirt, but instead, a pair of arms catches her. Poe. 

She bursts into tears as he holds her against him. She is shaking uncontrollably and he feels his throat shut, tears pooling his eyes. Her sobs sound heartbroken and he wonders how long he can go without breaking himself. 

After what feels like hours, she calms down and is left a shivering, sniffling mess.