Rey Skywalker

The Falcon was silent this morning. Rey didn't know if she'd ever heard it this quiet, really. It was eerie, and broken only by the times Chewie would ask why it was so quiet.

And when she headed up to the cockpit and saw Finn sitting at the dejarik table in the lounge while Poe came out of the cockpit at the same time, things somehow got more quiet, with more than a tinge of awkwardness as no one really knew what to say, or where to look that wasn't directly into anyone's eyes.

"Okay," Finn said suddenly. "That never happened. Agreed?"

"Yes," Rey said immediately.

"Sure didn't," Poe agreed at the same time.

"Good," Finn said, and it got quiet again.

"So I know the coordinates of where I need to be to catch my portal back," Rey said quickly.

"Probably for the best!" Poe said.

Distance. Distance would make this not weird again.


[Like none of you have ever encouraged me to do it. Establishy!]

Weirdly, Rey felt more in shock today than she did yesterday. Yesterday had been so much, after straight days of constant so much, and things had still felt raw and surreal. She had to have a couple rough conversations that had taken it out of her. She, Poe and Finn had ended up sharing the same cabin on the Falcon overnight, with the door to Chewie's first mate quarters open, like they were all a little worried about not having a sense of where they all were for too long.

Today Rey felt better rested, but things were odd in a new way. People were packing up and leaving now. For about a year and a half her time, Rey had considered this place, these people, like a home, and so many of them were going back to real ones now. It was like losing more people on top of losing so many people already.

And the absence of Leia was striking. People looked to Poe for leadership, but they still usually defaulted to Leia. She knew how to do everything. She would know what to do next. She always had answers. But she wasn't here to tell them. Others would look like they were about to bring her up, or go looking for her, and then they remembered, and it hit them again. Rey wondered if she would be able to reach out, to talk to her, but she couldn't bring herself to do it yet.

She'd tried reaching out to Ben this morning. Had a little breakdown when she got nothing. All that time she spent shutting him out and…

Rey was determined not to have any more breakdowns today. Maybe tomorrow, but not today. There were things to do, and she was putting herself to work, finding people to help pack up or load things or take down equipment and tamping down the urge to beg them not to go. That was healthy.


[Open for calls, texts, and anyone who may have stayed overnight!]

When the Resistance returned to Ajan Kloss, they were diminished in numbers and yet so many more now. Most of their ally ships had returned to their own systems and planets after the battle, but a few had followed the surviving Resistance ships home. Their base was fuller and busier than ever.

It was the best kind of chaos. People were finding each other in the crowd, laughing and hugging upon being reunited. Medics tried to get to the injured, but some had decided they could ride this high a little longer before needing to be treated. At the same time, some people had realized their loved ones hadn't come back. People who'd only just met were saying hello just to congratulate each other.

They'd survived. Today was a lot, but they were still here.


[For those who helped the Resistance today!]

The ships exited hyperspace, and Poe's first thought upon seeing Exegol was that it looked dead. It was the the ugliest thing he'd seen in a long while, and he wondered if it had always been this way, or if building a colossal fleet of Star Destroyers here had killed the place.

And when the ships dived into the cloud cover, they nearly ran into the Sith fleet. It was massive. Their triangled hulls were enormous, but they grew even smaller as their numbers seemed to stretch into infinity.

"Great dark seas," Aftab Ackbar gasped across the comm. "Look at that!"

"No sign of the Falcon or allies," Tyce said from her ship.

"Help will get here," Poe assured them.

( there are more of us )

[NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Bits taken from The Rise of Skywalker novelization by Rae Carson. Preplayed with somethingwithturquoise, notagoose, sith_happened, grenadesandohana, imafuturist, weetuskenraider, unusual_sith, defenderofdesmoines, heroic_jawline, dishesonthetoprack, and stykera. Thank you all!!]

With Leia gone, it was up to Poe to lead the Resistance, and he guessed they were doing it with or without Rey at this point. He'd made up with Finn, made him a co-general so maybe he could keep Poe from doing stupid stuff, and started putting together an air strike on Exegol. Which they would get to somehow.

That question was answered when they got the transmission of a flight path from Rey. Guess she'd be there after all.

Lando and Chewie were trying to gather more forces to be able to amass a fleet that could actually do some damage to the First Order, and Poe decided that maybe he'd focus that elsewhere. Rey had friends in other universes or whatever, right? It was worth a try asking for help there too. So to anyone he could reach, through anything that could receive the signal, he sent…

"This is Poe Dameron of the Resistance. Anyone who's listening, we desperately need your help…"


[Transmission went out to anyone on island or off, if you want to have received it, you did, and if you want to have missed it, you did that instead! Plot is closed, post is open for any reactions you may want, preplay going up in a minute!]

( Rey didn't expect to feel anything about the ways that Pasaana made her think of Jakku. )

[The longest one of these you're gonna get, I'm sorry to anyone who actually reads these. It's better from here, I swear. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Taken from The Rise of Skywalker by Rae Carson.]