WILL POE STILL ACCEPT ME FOR ME AFTER I'VE LIED TO HIM ALL THESE YEARS? I sure hope so. He's my best friend... if anything, I'd hope he would still talk to me. But if not, I understand. You can't lie to someone for five years an expect everything to stay the same after you finally tell the truth...
— Elyse Organa-Solo
Poe raises one messy eyebrow, then approaches me. He places his large, warm hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes cautiously.
"What's wrong?" He asks.
I grab his hand, exhaling sharply. I ask him to sit on the bed, allowing me to pour my heart and soul out on a silver platter for him. I have to find a way to make this story easily palatable and easy to understand.
"Remember five years ago how you saved me?" I ask.
He laughs, nodding slowly.
"Of course I do, that's the reason we met." He says.
I look away for a moment, wringing my hands together.
"And do you remember how I was training to be a pilot? That's why I joined the academy?" I ask.
He nods. I cup my face with my hands, pacing back and forth through the bedroom. He stands, stopping me, cupping my face with his warm, tanned hands.
"Elyse, he says, take a breath. Tell me what's going on." He says.
My eyes sting with tears, a dam I've created to hide my past for this long is finally breaking within me. I exhale slowly, wiping the tears from my face.
"I've lied to you all this time," I whisper, looking up at him. "I was never training to be a pilot. I was never in aviation on Yavin IV. Instead, I was training for something else. I was training, with Ben and Luke, to be a Jedi. I wanted to pursue the last of my ancestors, prove that my name means something other than a Jedi who betrayed his people and later killed nearly every single one of them. I couldn't stand for that."
He raises an eyebrow, staring down at me. I groan, backing away from him, running my hands through my hair.
"I've hated myself everyday for lying to you for so long. I never wanted to hurt you. So, if you want to hate me too, that's fine. I just need you to hear me out." I say.
He opens his mouth, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Elyse, who said I would hate you?" He asks.
My heart stops for a second.
"I could never hate you, even after a lie like that. We all have secrets." He says.
I smile, healing sharply with relief.
"I just couldn't hold it on anymore," I say.
He nods.
"I know." He says.
I raise an eyebrow.
"What do you mean you know?" I ask.
He exhales now, placing his hands in his pockets.
"I've lied to you too..." He says.
I raise an eyebrow, looking up at him now.
"What?" I ask. "What do you mean?"
He exhales, crossing his arms now in front of his chest.
"I've known..." He says. "About the Jedi training. I've known about it since we met. I took you to my father and we found the lightsaber on your waistband when we were taking care of you. I didn't say anything because I could tell something bad happened and didn't know if you'd want to talk about it or not. So, I just allowed you to tell me when you were comfortable."
I exhale sharply, looking up at him again as I shake my head.
"So you just allowed me to waste what little time I have left until you leave telling you a story you already know?" I ask. "Poe, why didn't you just tell me? I've felt bad for keeping it from you all these years."
He shrugs, scoffing.
"I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. Your brother attacked you, then ran off to join the First Order. Then, almost immediately after that, your dad left too. I assumed that you didn't want to talk about any of it, so I didn't." He says.
I cover my face with my hands.
"God, this isn't why I wanted to talk to you!" I exclaim.
He narrows his eyes and stares at me. His watch beeps and he looks down at it.
"Looks like I've gotta go," He says. "This was fun. Let's do it again sometime."
He's angry, hurt that I've treated him this way. I open my eyes and lift my head out of my hands. He's gone, disappeared, already out of the apartment by the time I realize it. My heart throbs in my chest as the vision flashes in the back of my skull once again.
"Poe," I whisper.
I run from my bedroom, pulling on a pair of slip on shoes, running down the hall towards the hangar. I push the door open, pushing my way through a group of soldiers standing near Poe's X-Wing.
"Poe, wait!" I exclaim. "Please, don't leave yet. I need to talk to you!"
He stands before the ladder, talking to Snap, now completely silent.
"Didn't we do enough talking back in your apartment?" He asks.
I shake my head, tears starting to roll down my cheeks.
"The reason I called you to my apartment was to tell you the truth about my past... I wanted to tell you the truth about my original training." I say. "Poe, that's not something I tell to just anyone. That's something I tell the person I trust the most. The only people who knew I was training to be a Jedi were my parents, Ben, and Luke. And now you. Lieutenant Wexley figures it out all on his own a while ago but promised not to say anything. I wanted to admit the fact that I've lied to you about my practice and say I was sorry. But you left before I could tell you that there was more to the story."
He furrows his brows, looking at Snap. Snap shrugs, looking back over at me.
"I called you to my Apartment not just to tell you the truth about my past, but tell you the truth about your future. It's been five years since I stepped foot in that temple, five years since I've practiced any of my Jedi training, but somehow, visions have taken over my dreams. Visions of you... all with the same ending." I say. "Calling you to my apartment wasn't to talk casually. It was a warning."
He raises an eyebrow, spinning to face me completely now. The room is deadly silent, everyone staring at me now.
"A warning?" He asks, his lips pursed into a tight frown. "About what?"
I swallow, trying to regain my composure.
"A warning about your mission." I say. "If you don't follow my exact instructions, you die. And I can't have you dying. Not when I can stop it."
The room fills with murmurs.
"Kylo Ren... Ben Solo... kills you. He beheads you in the center of a village in front of every one of it's inhabitants." I say. "You have to promise to run. For me. If you sense anything about Ben, or see anything about Ben, you run and you run like Hell."
He approaches me, standing before me now.
"I'm not going to die, Elyse." He says.
I sniffle, shaking my head as I stare up at my best friend, the man I love more than anything else in this galaxy.
"You can't promise that," I say. "Ben is very strong. He won't hesitate to destroy anything linked to his past."
He takes my face in his hands, staring directly into my eyes.
"I'm going to be alright, Elyse, I promise." He says.
I exhale sharply, closing my eyes. He presses his lips to my hairline, kissing my forehead gently. My stomach fills with butterflies. I open my eyes and squeeze one of his hands.
"I've gotta go now if I'm gonna make it by nightfall." He says.
I nod. He backs away, approaching the ladder. He takes the helmet from Snap, nodding at him.
"Don't die," I whisper.
He smiles back at me, pulling the helmet on, a wink saying goodbye.
"I won't," He whispers back.
He climbs into the cockpit, closing the batch. BB-8 is loaded into the ship, beeping as he does so.
"BB-8, you keep him out of trouble, got it?" I ask. "I'm giving you direct orders to keep him safe."
He beeps in compliance and they're off. The X-Wing takes off, flying out of the Hangar and away into the dark sky, disappearing far beyond view.