╔════ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐈𝐗
'𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐰' ═══════╝
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
. . . RESISTANCE BASE, AJAN KLOSS
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 reminded Luke of Dagobah.
Ajan Kloss had been scouted years ago by a group of Aldeeranians, and the results of the expedition never quite reached the hands of the Imperial Senate. Leia was intent on keeping that way; she had kept the card close to her chest for years. It had been Luke's idea but Leia's ultimate decision that had brought them to where they were now. Old training grounds, a planet ripe with both plants and the influence of the Force.
And now, the whole planet seemed to shake with the landing of the Falcon.
Everyone outside stared. It had become a ritual each time it returned. Too many emotions attached to the ship to do anything but stop and stare. Just like it had been in the old Rebellion, it was a beacon of decrepit hope.
Han would have loved to see it.
"You expecting someone, Luke?" Lando asked from where he sat on a crate. There was an easy grin on his face, one usually reserved for gambling bets.
Mione leaned forward, pushing the holo pad in front of her to the side. The three of them had been sitting outside at her makeshift office going over repair orders and deciding how many pilots to send off-world for provisions. "We can continue this conversation later tonight. Go."
Luke raised an eyebrow. Mione was adamant that they get supplies before Wedge returned with more pilots. "Are you sure?"
Mione looked ready to hit him over the head. "Luke Skywalker, go see your daughter. Before the entire base beats you to it."
The whispers had already started, all originating from the general direction of the parked Falcon. Through the gap in the trees, Luke could see Poe Dameron standing and gesticulating with a technician, Chewie not far behind. For the first few months, Luke had called Poe the Dameron kid until Leia told him to knock it off. But that was how he saw him. Shara and Kes's son, a brilliant pilot that still had that streak of trouble.
And maybe Luke was painting everything with his own emotions, but he could sense the Commander's relief.
His eyes adjusted as he stepped into the cave, layers of darkness brought into sharp focus. Leia was facing him, and when she saw him coming, she put a hand on Lyra's shoulder to turn her around.
Everyone was waiting for the daughter of Luke Skywalker to return, but that wasn't who he saw.
He saw the daughter of Cora Grené.
Lyra's solemn expression split with a grin. It was a marvel to him that she was still in one piece.
Never would he be able to forget the feeling of watching her leave on Ahch-to. The pain of failing her again sat like a dead weight, another sin he might never atone for. He didn't deserve her forgiveness now and he never would, but seeing her standing in front of him now? This was more than he could have asked for.
Without a word, she let him pull her into his arms. He didn't realize how long it would be. The true toll of what it would take to find Wynn. And she had changed. A melancholy kind of wisdom in those gray eyes, one that no one so young deserved to hold so soon.
"Leia, you told me that the Falcon wasn't supposed to land for two hours." Luke said over Lyra's shoulder, raising a brow at Leia who stood with her arms folded. "Lies."
Lyra laughed, swiping the back of her hand under her eyes in a barely perceptible motion. "Two more hours would have been too long."
When he pulled away from her, his eyes darted to the necklace around her neck. Cora's necklace, once gold and glittering, was tarnished and covered in brown patina as if it had been oxidized for a century. He held it for a half second between his fingers, a poignant understanding passing through him. The clasp, which had shifted to the front, was welded permanently together into a small bead of metal. It was as if it had been done with the smallest of soldering irons, or perhaps melted between two pinched fingers of a girl on fire.
Lyra met his eyes. "Dad," she started to say, voice quiet. She didn't even need to finish; he had long feared that this would come to pass.
"Your debrief can wait, all of you," Leia said, referring mostly to Rey, who was leaning on her staff. The young girl was trailing Lyra like a shadow, and Luke knew she would be hard pressed to let her out of her sight now that she was back.
"I already heard them talking when I walked in. Ghost Jedi. Sound like anyone you know?" Luke said.
"No idea," Lyra told him, tilting her head. "Must be a Skywalker, though, I heard they have a habit of disappearing."
"That habit is ending right now," Leia said sternly. "Anyone else who wants to disappear is going to have to go through me first."
"Was that a threat?"
"Do you want it in writing? Yes, it was a threat," she told him pointedly.
"Noted, General," Lyra said with a mock salute. But Luke knew she meant every word. No one would be disappearing now.
"Rey," Luke cleared his throat to address her. "Thank you."
Rey beamed, looking between all of them with shining eyes. She was a believer, a practitioner of the rare gift of seeing the good in all things. A reminder that hope did indeed spring eternal if it was allowed to thrive. She was shaken by her heritage, but not to her core. There she remained steadfast, and Luke would not see her fall.
And he knew Lyra wouldn't either. Ardently loyal and protective to the point of fatal flaw, his daughter was not one to let a single person slip through the cracks. And maybe that was why things had felt so altered without her there. Even to him, a newcomer in the scheme of the Resistance, could see how impactful of a loss it had been.
There was a shrill beep of binary. At first, Luke thought it was Artoo making his presence known, but instead, the form of a bulky R-6 droid rolled into view. The green paint had begun to collect dust, but other than that, the droid rolled at pace, enlivened for the first time in ages.
"Elgie," Lyra laughed, squatting down to level herself with the droid.
Absolutely horrible, the droid began to explain, swiveling her head to sweep across each of them in turn. Do not leave me with them again.
Lyra reached out a hand, gingerly pressing her fingers to the top of the droid's head. Elgie had been out of commission since Lyra left. Even Chopper knew better than to mess with the deeply upset droid, and they allowed her to roll around and do as she pleased. But with Lyra back, Luke suspected that they could add Elgie to the list of droids that were quickly becoming hazardous to the well being of their ranks. BeeBee Eight and Chopper currently held the top spots.
Lyra turned to address the two of them now that Rey was gone. "I made it to Wynn. I–there's more to it than any of us knew."
Luke's heart broke to hear the admission, but Leia took it in stride. Always more level headed, always better able to set her own feelings aside. "I know you have things to tell us. It's the way of things, but for now, set it aside."
Lyra nodded, already looking past them and outside of the cavern. "I'll try."
"Good," Leia nodded with a sharp sigh. "Now go. Don't tell me you don't have better places to be than sitting in the dark with the old people."
Lyra knew better than to argue. She walked back out and into the sun, glancing back over her shoulder one more time. In the light, her eyes shone with slight disbelief.
Luke knew what that look was. It was one that he himself had worn before; Lyra hadn't thought she would return.
"This is going to change things. Dramatically," Leia said without missing a beat. Always strategy.
"Don't make it sound so dire," he chided.
Her expression softened. "I wasn't, and it isn't dire. The best thing about her leaving was that she came back. All that stuff in between?" She shook her head. "Of little to no importance right now. She's safe, that's all I've ever cared about."
Luke could afford to be a father first, but Leia was stuck in her role as General. For all the years she had borne the weight alone, and Luke still felt the guilt. "I know, Leia."
"It's what we needed. We weren't going to make it much further without her here to tell us the news from the otherside. As much as I hate it, she's the connection, the bridge over the uncrossable gap."
Luke frowned, leaning on the command module in front of him and trying to shake the feeling away. But the necklace, the way Lyra had melted the clasp shut. That was what worried him, perhaps the most. Lyra had made sure nothing was going to take it off from her until the day it split in two, and he hated to think about what that day would be.
A savior complex was something he never wanted to pass on to his own child.
"She's back, and that was the best thing we could have hoped for," Luke said, scratching at his cheek. They had had this conversation too many times.
"It is," Leia agreed, nodding solemnly. Her fingers tapped the command desk. "I have a feeling the problems in our ranks are going to be ironed out, which is good. I need sharp officers when Wedge gets back with those pilots. The Force knows who he's about to haul in."
Luke made a hm noise in response. Wedge Antilles was always a painful idealist. With Norra flying with him, it was safe to assume their prospects would be a bit more realistically handled. Still, it was Wedge.
"What happened to her, Luke?" Leia asked, finally allowing herself to break.
Luke could see his daughter stepping out into the sunlit world beyond, and he said the words he was most afraid to speak aloud.
"I don't know."
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 hadn't felt this big since D'Qar. This was nothing like the way she had left it, which was for the best. Still, there was a nagging in her chest at being an outsider. She existed beyond this world and within it. She found herself missing the person she had once been only briefly, the Lyra Endellion who knew every secret before anyone even spoke a word.
Anxiety twisted in her stomach. Somehow, she had managed to traverse a majority of the base without running into anyone who would have been looking for her. It was no lie that Lyra hadn't exactly left on good terms; running away in the dead of night was one way to sever friendships. There was a chance that they wouldn't even want to see her now.
"Is that the Tantive IV?" Lyra asked Rey, absolutely assaulting the poor girl with questions. "That thing is a legend."
"Actually, your squadron was sent out to recover it."
Hardly hers now, but Lyra didn't argue. "Under whose command?"
"Eden Feng, Aliyah stepped down. Covert operations have been in short supply, anyway. Most of your squadron's missions have been of a more generalized nature."
This surprised her. Aliyah stepped down?
Rey continued to explain. "That's where almost everyone is bunked. I'm sure we'll be able to find you a room that isn't being used."
"Or I'll sleep outside," Lyra said, sidestepping a technician as they shuffled past. "It's pretty out here."
"It gets cold at night. Other than that, it's as humid as Yavin IV if not more. The rainy season is over, lucky you," Rey swiped a hand across her forehead, too used to Jakku where the heat was bone dry.
Sunlight blurred through the trees, and the echoic sound of bird calls faded in and out above her. Lyra recognized this planet now from the old Rebellion logs she had sifted through aboard the Raddus. Ajan Kloss was placed in the same category as Yavin IV and Dantooine, hot and muggy just like its shortlisted counterparts.
Rey cleared her throat. "Incoming," she said, punching Lyra lightly in the shoulder to get her attention.
Lyra frowned, still trying to figure out what to look at first. "What's incoming?"
"Lyra fucking Skywalker!"
Reeve Tailor stalked towards them, fresh off of a shift of fixing up ships. An expression between livid and overjoyed danced on her face, but the excitement was winning. Every fear in her chest dissolved in seconds and Reeve wrapped her arms around Lyra in a tight embrace.
"Reeve," Lyra said, unable to believe this was quite real. "Reeve, I'm so sorry."
"Don't ever run away like that again," Reeve said in her ear, face pressed close. "Gods, I don't know if I should hit you or hug you."
Lyra gave a choked laugh.
Reeve understood. She always had.
"Jess was right behind me," Reeve said, glancing over her shoulder. "The General was keeping it under wraps what happened with Poe's mission, but my mom couldn't keep her mouth shut about the fact that they found you."
"Found is a loose term–" Lyra started to say, but her attention was drawn to Jess. Making her way through the jungle floor so fast, she almost knocked a technician to the ground. She muttered a quick apology, and then she was making a beeline for Lyra.
"Lyra you piece of shit!" Jess exclaimed lovingly, wrapping her arms around Lyra. "Why do you have to be such a hero all the time?"
"I missed you Jess," Lyra laughed.
"I bet I missed you more," Jess countered, stepping back with a wide smile. She grabbed a piece of Lyra's brown hair. "Your hair is so short! And is that a new tattoo?" she pointed at her arm. "I love it, very badass."
Lyra blinked, still slightly stunned at the onslaught of her old life. "Thanks."
Reeve looked at Lyra for a second, and then she pulled her into another tight hug. "I just can't tell you how good it is to see you standing here. You've been gone too long, Ly."
"I know," Lyra repeated. "I know I have." It was not lost on her how delicate things still were. But Leia was right about letting some of that fear go, and to feel the rest she had been given.
-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-
𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄, the sun was halfway through the treeline, already warming the terra bone dry. Dust kicked up under his boots. He had managed to make it all the way through the Tantive before he saw anyone that would be looking for him. Barely further than that, though. Rey was milling about near the mess, hair already coated with sweat. She must have been training.
"You look happy," she remarked. She looked on edge, but he wasn't going to say that while she had a lightsaber clipped to her belt.
"I always look happy."
Rey cocked her head to the side. "A year of sulking would say otherwise. General Organa wants to debrief with you, she already caught me before I went out to train with Finn. Oh, good," Rey said, looking over his shoulder at something he couldn't see. "You can both talk to her."
Poe already knew who was behind him.
Lyra walked with purpose, morning sun reflecting on her skin like gold. She hated not being in control, and being unaware of where everything was bothered her. Still, he couldn't hide the relief at seeing her. Half of him was afraid that he would fall asleep and wake up the next day to find her gone again.
As she approached, she made a point not to meet Poe's eyes. His heart sank a little deeper to think that this might be her answer to him. That kiss aboard the Falcon might have been the end of it.
"Where do you people eat around here?" she asked them. She was wearing a fresh set of clothes that looked like they had been pulled out of Reeve's closet, and her short hair was left loose with two small braids framing the sides of her face. "No one showed me where the mess hall is."
"Mess tent," Rey corrected. "We have too many fighters joining to dedicate a space that we can't easily add onto."
Lyra grinned, still blinking the sleep out of her eyes. It was a valiant effort, but anyone who knew her could see she was on the brink of exhaustion. "That's a good problem to have."
"Yeah, and Wedge Antilles should be back next week with even more pilots," Rey shielded her eyes from the sun with a lifted hand. "I'd better go, I'll catch up with you guys later."
"Where are you going?" Poe couldn't help himself. "To see Finn?"
Rey flushed a deep shade of red as she stepped away from them. "Yes, actually."
As soon as Rey had her back turned, Lyra said, "You're horrible."
"No, I'm helping," he told her. "And be nice to me, otherwise I won't show you where the food is."
The mess tent wasn't anything spectacular. Rows of tables and folding chairs that were moved and adjusted to accommodate for all the different sized groups that dined there. It was a community space and a testament to how far they had come.
Lyra paused, taking in the sight of it all. This had to be strange for her; the last time she had seen the Resistance, it was barely thirty people gathered in a living room on Yavin IV. Now, it was slowly aligning itself with the way it used to be on D'Qar: the community, the noise, the sheer amount of people that filtered in and out. He could hardly take credit for it, but it did make him proud.
After they had their food it didn't take long before someone spotted them. "Lyra!" Eden called, excitedly waving her over. "Sit with us!"
Though the look of disbelief never left her face, Lyra sat down in the space next to Eden. With her sat Ellis and Aliyah, and there was an empty seat in between the two of them like someone else was coming back.
"This food," Lyra said, chewing on a piece of toast with jam. "It's really good?"
"I know, it's ridiculous what we can come up with when we're on a planet with fresh fruits and vegetables," Aliyah smiled, brushing a stray red hair out of her face. "Best food I've eaten in years."
"–and we started doing breakfast for dinner once a week," Eden added with a wistful smile.
"Dameron!" Jacen Syndulla said, plunking his tray down in the spot between Aliyah and Ellis. Chopper rolled along behind him, taking up the spot at the end of the table. "I heard you guys just got back yesterday."
"We did," Poe nodded, waiting for Chopper to start spitting fire. The damn droid hated everyone.
"You must be the Skywalker that everyone says came back from the dead," Jacen said to Lyra. "Nice to meet you."
"Glad to be back from the dead," Lyra said, completely unphased. There weren't many people on base with green hair, and she drew the connections immediately. "You must be Jacen Syndulla. I heard that you're good friends with Ellis."
Jacen's teal eyes lit up. "I'd hate to know why you heard about that."
"All good things, I'd imagine," Ellis grinned through a mouth full of apple.
"Believe me, I've known Ellis for a long time," Lyra laughed. In that moment, it was like she had never left. "Nothing surprises me anymore."
"The droids have been causing more problems than anyone else, anyway," Poe said, glancing at Chopper. "How many incident reports are there?"
"Thirty-two," Jacen said proudly, giving the droid a loving pat on the head.
Chopper extended his grabbing arm, not in a gesture of malice, but to shake Lyra's hand. She laughed and humored the droid. Much to Poe's disbelief, the C10 unit let out a polite string of binary instead of a slew of curse words.
"I can't believe this," Poe muttered. "Why is he nice to you?"
Lyra frowned. "Are you saying that Chopper's usually mean?" Chopper swiveled his head, telling them that there was no way that statement was true. "He doesn't look very mean."
"He is usually mean! He attacked BeeBee on Ryloth, I still haven't forgotten that."
Jacen gave a deep laugh, chest shaking with laugher. "That was hilarious. No offense to your BB unit, but that was funny as hell."
Poe's expression soured, and Lyra just looked at him. "You hold grudges like no one else."
"When it's appropriate," Poe muttered.
They said nothing to each other after they ate; they walked down one of the maintenance trails that lead to the scout towers that rose up in the distance, protected by a cover of leafy tree branches. Then there was the wide landing area where mechanics were tuning up some of their newly-donated ships. Poe had believed that they were alone in the galaxy after no one helped them on Crait, but that single transmission had an echoic effect. They started receiving anonymous funding, old ships, crates of munitions, and intelligence connections to people on planets that needed their help. It felt good that the galaxy knew there was still a light in the darkness.
"Who's Jacen flying with?" Lyra broke the silence, looking at the freshly-landed ships. The dust kicked up by their engines swirled in the air, filtering the sunlight like a clouded lens.
"He's commanding officer of the Blue Squadron."
"Blue? That's one of yours."
"It still is," Poe agreed. Blue and Red were the base's largest squadrons. Red flew in support of the bombers and A-wings of the Blue Squadron, and they had been under Poe's command since he had been recruited by Leia. But with his responsibilities shifting to more missions on the Falcon, the General agreed that another person needed to be put in an officer's position of the Blue Squadron.
"They didn't like it at first, actually. Syndulla's a newcomer, and to them, it was a slight that he be put in charge. No matter who his parents were, seniority comes before anything. But once they saw him fly, they changed their minds. He's pretty good."
"Pretty good? Not as good as you?" Lyra grinned easily, accidentally brushing her arm against his as they walked. Her skin was as warm as the humid air and he almost hated how easily they fell back into this pattern of banter.
"Nah, no one is as good as me," he said, wasting a spare second while she was looking away to stare at her. "Anyway. I've been flying more missions on the Falcon with Rey so busy with her training." He carefully left out how many fights that had caused between them. "And Phoenix is under Eden's command after Aliyah stepped down. Although, that'll change now that you're back."
Her expression shifted. "I don't know if that needs to change."
"Why?"
"I didn't just come back so everything could stay the same," she sighed. He had to be imagining it again but it looked like her eyes were still reflecting gold, even now that they were in the shade.
Distracted, he had to ask. "What's up with your eyes?"
She frowned. "Excuse me?"
"They glow," he said stupidly. "I don't think they did that before."
"Oh, that. Party trick," she shrugged and looked him dead on. In an instant the golden glow rose and fell in the iris of her eyes. When it faded back to gray, they still had an eerie shine.
It was terrifying.
She tugged at her necklace, looking just beyond at the command room with anticipation. "Rey said Wedge was bringing in more pilots?"
"Yeah, they're supposedly an unruly bunch, but Wedge thinks they'll be an asset. Either way, I'm in charge of getting them into shape."
He hated this game. They were talking about everything other than the truth, and as much as he wanted to call her bluff, there was no point in it.
Up ahead, the path forked off. The path to the right was less used, only barely beaten down by shoes. It went around the cliff face that housed the cavern, right below where the Tantive jutted out from the rocks. The stone was carved volcanic rock, raised out of the Klossland jungles like a giant's fist. It reminded Poe of the stories his mom used to tell him before he went to sleep. By lamplight on the quilt of his bed, heroes rode giant banthas and mythological purrgil swam through oceans of starlight.
He had wanted to take Lyra out down that path, out to the ocean that was situated not far from their base. At night, the stars were brighter than any he had seen in his life.
Someday, he thought to himself.
━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━
a/n the long awaited reunion 🥺
lots of loose ends here and they're gonna get tied up in the next chapters. there's gonna be two-ish before I shift back into the plot of TROS, which I have to warn you is not very much like the film. a lot of the ideas are there, but we of course have miss wynnetka adairi waiting at the end of this thing for us : )
last chapter was taylor vibes, this chapter is 'home by now' by MUNA vibes 😿
--nat