Chapter Text
After one of the pilots, a man with tousled dark hair Rey saw crowding around Finn, says the map is incomplete, Leia is dead quiet. She stares at the projection, hands braced against the holotable, face inscrutable.
“General?” The pilot finally asks quietly.
“Begin evacuation procedures,” she answers distantly. “We need to move.”
“Yes, General.”
Tentatively, Rey stands next to Leia as the pilot starts directing people. Wordlessly, the two of them stare at the map.
“I’m sorry,” Rey murmurs after a moment.
“What are you sorry for?” Leia asks, still distant.
“That all of it-“ Rey’s voice cracks a little. “That all of it was for nothing.”
“I’m not willing to go that far yet.” Leia turns a speculative eye on Rey. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“Um. I had a little something at Maz’s.”
“You hungry?”
“Always.”
“Come on. Let’s get some food in you.”
“Don’t you-“ Rey flutters her hands a little anxiously. “Don’t you have better things to do?”
“No,” Leia answers simply. “Come on.”
Leia sits in the mess with Rey, a large room filled with long tables. She’s got a small cup of caf in front of her, but she’s not drinking it, looking off into the distance, clearly lost in thought. Rey tears chunks off the protein slab, trying not to inhale it. She’s not sure what proper manners are here. She feels like somebody taught her, once, but that’s long since lost to the sands.
“Finn says he found you on Jakku,” Leia says eventually, still not looking at her.
“Um.” She clears her throat. “Yes.”
“Do you have family there?”
Rey looks down at the protein slab. “My father left me on Jakku when I was a child. I…” she takes a deep breath. “I don’t think he’s coming back.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember if he told me.”
“How old were you?”
“I… I don’t know how old I am now. Five, maybe?”
“Mm.” Leia finally looks at her head on. “I’m sorry.”
Rey shrugs, looking down. “It’s fine.”
“It isn’t. And it’s alright for you to say that.”
“You’ve lost more.”
“My pain doesn’t negate yours.” Rey looks up at her to see compassion in her eyes. “Were you a scavenger?”
“I was. But… I’d prefer to think of myself as a pilot.”
Leia smiles slightly. “Han always said he was a pilot first and a general second.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. People used to salute him.” The smile widens a little. “He never knew what to do with it. He’d… give them this half hearted little salute and then flap his hand awkwardly.”
“He…” Rey doesn’t know what to say. “He was kinder than he let on.”
Leia’s smile turns slightly wistful. “Yes. He was.” She sighs softly. “Are you staying?”
“I’d… I’d like to be useful.”
“Mm.” Leia leans back a bit. “I’d like you to be useful, too.”
“I’ll do whatever.” Rey looks down. “What are you going to do? About Luke?”
Leia doesn’t answer for a moment. Then she sighs again.
“You should go see Finn,” she says. “Kalonia’s allowing visitors. We’re not going to be out of here for another few hours at least.”
“You’ll be alright?”
Leia gives her another smile, a little weary. “I’ll be fine. Go on.”
Rey nods awkwardly and stands, leaving the mess.
When Rey finally finds Finn, the dark haired pilot from before is sitting at his bedside. Finn’s in a pod of some kind, hooked up to tubes.
“Is he going to be alright?” She asks. The pilot looks up, blinking.
“They don’t know yet,” he answers. “But they’re hopeful. Are you Rey?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m Poe.”
“Oh.” Rey pulls up a chair and sits next to him. “BeeBee spoke well of you. Finn, too.”
“Yeah.” Poe looks at Finn. “He saved my life.”
“Mine, too.”
“He says you’re a pilot.”
“Mmhm.”
Poe smiles slightly. “Any good?”
“I’m great.”
Poe’s smile turns into a grin. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Me, too.”
Rey looks at Finn. “He was defending me.”
“I haven’t known him very long.” Poe stretches his legs a little. “But I know him well enough to know he’d think it was worth it.”
BB-8 rolls up and makes a contented whirring sound, settling next to Poe. He leans his head forwards and chirrups at Rey. Rey smiles. “Hi, BeeBee. Glad to see you’re alright.”
“He thinks you’re the best,” Poe tells her. “I think you’re supplanting me.”
“No.” Rey looks at BeeBee fondly. “I don’t think I could do that.”
“He’s not impressed with Finn.” Poe looks back at Finn. “But I am. So it’s okay.”
“There’s a lot to be impressed by with Finn.”
“Mm.” Poe doesn’t stop scrutinizing Finn. “Did he get in your head too?”
“…yeah.”
“Yeah.”
Rey looks over at him to see his eyes are tight.
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” she says sincerely.
Poe blinks, looking over at her, before he smiles ruefully. “You, too.” He clears his throat. “You fought him off, though. That’s… that’s good.”
“Cut his face up, too.”
“Wish I could have seen it.”
They lapse into silence, and Rey settles in her chair a little, comfortable to keep watching Finn in quiet.
“You two.”
Rey and Poe both look up, steered from a sedate and companionable silence by a stern looking woman.
“We’re implementing the evacuation procedures,” she says. “You need to get out of our way.”
“Right.” Poe gets to his feet. “Thanks, Kalonia.”
Rey rests a hand on Finn’s pod, Poe doing the same, before they step back, BB-8 whirring on their heels.
“I’ll see you around, Rey,” Poe says.
“Bye, Poe. It was nice to meet you.”
Poe heads off and, at a loss, Rey heads back to the war room, looking for Leia. She scans the room to see Leia head for a quiet corner, comlink in hand. Uncertainly, Rey hovers near her. Leia doesn’t seem to notice, waiting for the comlink to pick up.
“Hello, Mara,” she murmurs quietly. There’s a buzz of a voice Rey can’t hear properly. “I know. Long time.” Leia sighs softly. “I need… I need a favor.” There’s the buzz again. “Mara… Han’s gone.” There’s dead quiet before the voice again. “Ben.” Leia’s face twitches at the reply. “Thank you.”
They’re both quiet.
“I need you to find him,” Leia says finally. The voice hums. “I know. I know he did. But he’s got to come back for a reason, too. And you’re our best shot at finding him.” Leia looks down. “I tried not to call you in, Mara. I tried an alternate way. But you and me… you and me are the ones who know him best, now. And I have… responsibilities. I can’t just take off. And you were always good at this sort of thing, anyway. Especially when it came to Luke. Mara-“ Ever so slightly, Leia’s voice wavers. “Mara, it’s just me and Chewie. I don’t even know where Lando is. We’re the only ones left. I could… I could use your help.”
There’s dead silence before a rush of static that Rey thinks might be a sigh and the voice buzzes again.
“We’re going to Iven. Northern quadrant of the planet. The old Separatist base.” The voice crackles. “Thank you. I… I know it’s hard. And I know why. So… so thank you.” She clears her throat. “See you soon.”
Leia clicks off the comlink. She puts it down on the desk heavily.
“Um.” Rey shuffles as Leia looks over at her, blinking. “Sorry.”
“That’s alright.”
“I don’t know where to go.”
Leia gives her a soft look. “Go with Chewie in the Falcon. He’ll be happy to have you.”
“You don’t need any help?”
“No, I’ll be alright.”
Rey hesitates. “I think you’re lying.”
Leia looks a little thrown before her face softens again.
“Sometimes you lie often enough and it becomes true,” she says. “Go on.”