You stitched up the back of Poe's head before you both left for his base. When he got there, he wasn't there but two seconds before he was whisked away on a mission to Takodana, where the First Order had just attacked after destroying the Republic. 

"So my job is to just sit here and wait for you to get back?" you asked him. 

Truthfully, you didn't want him to go. You were a stranger here, filled with people that were panicked about their own people. 

"They need air support. You aren't a pilot, are you?" he asked. He shoved his helmet on his head. 

"I'm not much of one," you said admittedly, "but you know I'm good with a blaster. I'd be a good help to you."

His upper lip twitched. "Unfortunately, my X-WING is only built for one." 

"So find a different ship then," you suggested, eyebrows raised. "Or get me a ship."

He shook his head slowly, his mouth a smirk now. "You are something else, princess." He jerked his chin. "Go get a helmet. Fast. I got a fleet to lead."

You got a helmet and a uniform, and then you were given an X-WING. You had no rank, no title, but you had never felt like you belonged more in the universe than when you took off into the sky, blasting off to the stars.

"Okay, Poe, teach me how to use this thing," you said. 

His voice was in your ear. "It's an easy concept," he said. "Just stick behind me, alright? I'll lead you where you need to go."

"Got it, Captain," you said. 

You couldn't see it, but Poe was grinning from ear to ear as he turned downwards towards Takodana. You followed suit, seeing the rush of blue sky and the rush of lush green trees and the shimmering, grey waters that came right before you got to the smoky remains of what had been the castle on the planet.

You could see the stormtroopers below you, as well as TIE Fighters zipping through the air, firing at homes and trees and survivors. 

"Go straight at them! Don't let these dogs scare you!" Poe said. 

"Copy that!" you said. 

"We're with you, Poe," a new voice said in your ear. 

Your X-WING was barely above the surface of the water. You're flying was a little shaky, but you managed to not crash and kill yourself as you zoomed upwards towards the fleet of TIE Fighters, so you considered it a win. 

You hit your first TIE Fighter three seconds in, and you flew threw the ball of orange flames. You gasped, convinced that this moment was it, but when you were heading nose first into the remains of the castle, you yanked the ship upward, zipping right past Poe's X-WING as he took out ship after ship. 

"Whoo-hoo!" Poe exclaimed. "Not bad, princess!" 

"Maybe this'll teach you to not call me princess, yeah?" you asked, taking out a crowd of stormtroopers that were firing at his X-WING.

"Eh, sorry, but I can't call you anything else," he said. "I'm kinda liking this nickname for you." 

You shook your head, smiling. 

"We're about down here. Look at that, they're packing up and leaving," Poe said. "Let's pack up and go ourselves, yeah?"

"Copy that, Captain," you said. 

* * *

Some time later, you arrived back on the green, rolling hills of the Resistance base. You hopped out of the X-WING. You couldn't stop smiling. You'd never felt so alive before. 

As you climbed out of the ship, Poe was there, his helmet tucked underneath his arm. He watched you jump down and then smiled at you. 

You smiled back at him.

Suddenly he turned as a chirping sound caught his attention. You furrowed your eyebrows and watched an orange and white droid, obviously BB-8, roll right up to him. He stopped in front of his legs and chirped happily. 

"BB-8, my buddy!" Poe cried, dropping to his knees. "Oh, it's so good to see you."

Your heart warmed watching the scene. Poe touched the droid affectionately, rubbing a smudge of grime off of his side. 

"Huh? Finn saved you? Where is he?" 

Your spirit lifted even more as you looked up to see Finn, no longer in his stormtrooper suit, running towards the pilot. Poe stood up and ran forward, saying, "Oh... oh no," in disbelief, as if he was seeing a ghost. 

"Poe?" Finn was saying. He ran right into Poe's arms and they embraced. "Poe Dameron, you're alive? What --- what happened to you?" 

"What happened to me?" Poe asked, pulling away. "I got thrown from the crash. ___ was there and she got me up."

"___ survived?" Finn asked. 

"Yeah, and she saved my life---"

"Finn!" You were running up to the two. 

"___, you're alive---" He took three steps towards you and wrapped his arms around you, too, picking you up in his arms and sighing loudly. 

You held him tight. "Hey, Finn. You okay?"

"I'm okay," he said, pulling back. "I can't believe you two..."

Poe came in and threw his arms around your shoulders and Finn's. For a brief moment, you all embraced one another, heads touching, eyes squeezed shut, just giving the three of you a moment. You'd made it. After all you had endured together and apart, you'd made it.

"You completed my mission, Finn," Poe said when the three of you broke apart. "You saved BB-8." 

"No, no, it wasn't just me," he said. 

Poe nodded, ready to say more, then--- 

"That's my jacket." 

You looked over and Finn was wearing Poe's brown leather jacket. He automatically began to shrug out of it. 

"No, no, no. Keep it. It suits you." He punched him lightly on the arm. "You're a good man, Finn."

Finn's eyebrows were pulled together in concern. "Poe, ___... I need your help."

* * *

Downstairs in a bunker, you followed Poe. The room was filled with green holographic screens and machines that you could've never imagined. Creatures of every different species worked urgently to prepare for their next attack. 

"General Organa," Poe said, "I'm sorry to interrupt. This is ___, and this is Finn."

You slowed to a stop in front of Leia Organa, the previous princess of Alderaan and the current General of the Resistance. You were in awe of her --- and completely terrified of what she would think of you. 

"They are the ones that saved me from the First Order," he said. "They abandoned their loyalty to them and risked their lives to get me back here."

"Yes, I know," she said, and she caught your eye and smiled. "Thank you for your sacrifice."

"It's my honor, General," you said, nodding. 

"General," Poe said, "Finn needs to talk to you." 

"And I need to talk to him," she said. "And ___. That was incredibly brave, what you did. Renouncing the First Order, saving this man's life---"

"Thank you, ma'am, but a friend of mine was taken prisoner," Finn said. 

"Han told me about the girl. I'm sorry." 

"Finn's familar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system. He worked on the base. And ___ has background information on it that we could've never known about because she traveled from base to base and got information from her entire family."

Leia's face lit up with hope. "We're desperate for anything that you can tell us."

"That's where my friend was taken," Finn said. "I've got to get there fast." 

"And I will do all that I can to help, but first you need to tell us all you know," she said. 

"General Organa, BB-8 has the map needed to locate your brother," you said. "And Finn and I can describe everything that we know. We are willing to help."

* * *

Finn was pacing the floor. He wanted help, and he wasn't getting it fast enough. You felt sorry for him as you imagined what'd it be like for you right now if Poe was captured by the First Order. There was something about meeting someone like that, someone that you share a huge piece of your life with in only a few scattered moments, that changes you forever.

"You holding up alright, princess?" Poe asked. 

"I am," you said, arms crossed over your chest. "I'm worried about Finn." 

"He'll be okay," he said. "And we'll get Rey back to him."

"Look at him," you whispered. "He's horrified. He's only known this girl a day and he's lost her. It's killing him." 

Poe was looking at you. "Yeah," he said softly.

"We have to do something." 

Poe grabbed your arm. "We are doing something. Come with me." 

* * *

Hux stood in front of the clear viewport, at the blue sky and fluffy clouds and the swell of light.

"Begin charging the weapon," he said. 

"Yes, sir. Weapon charging."

He turned and began to pace. He wished he could think of anything except for you, but it was you that he was imagining. He wondered if you were dead yet or alive. 

He wondered if he was supposed to even care.

* * *

"The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's and ___'s reports," Poe said. 

"They've somehow created a hyper-lightspeed weapon built within the planet itself."

"A lasor cannon?" 

"We're not sure how to describe a weapon of this scale." 

"It's another Death Star," someone piped in.

Poe shook his head. "I wish that were the case, Major," he said. He typed on the pad in front of him. "This was the Death Star. This is Starkiller Base." 

Everyone exclaimed and gasped in shock. Han sighed. "So, it's big?" 

"How is it possible to power a weapon of that size?" 

"It uses the power of the sun," you and Finn said at the same time. He looked at you through the green holographic image and nodded for you to continue. Poe look at you from where you stood at his right. 

"As the weapon is charged, the sun is drained until it disappears," you said. 

"The First Order..." Leia said. "They're charging their weapon again now. Our system is the next target."

Your head dropped and you shook your head. Fear crept up inside of you and you stiffened. Poe looked over at you and put his hand on your back; a gentle touch of support. 

"Oh, my," a golden droid said. "Without the Republic fleet, we're doomed."

"Okay," Han Solo said. "How do we blow it up? There's always a way to do that." 

"Han's right," General Organa said. 

"In order for that amount of power to be contained, that base has to have some kind of thermal oscillator."

"There is one!" Finn said, walking around the circle and standing on your other side. 

You looked up at him and gasped. "Precinct forty-seven."

Finn pointed to it on the map. "Here."

"If we can destroy that oscillator, it might destabilize the core and cripple the weapon!" 

"Maybe the planet---"

"We'll go in there, we'll hit that oscillator with everything we've got," Poe said. 

"They may have defensive shields that our ships cannot penetrate."

"They do," you said, and you looked at Poe. "There's no way you guys could break through them." 

"We'll disable the shields," Han said. "You two worked there. What do you got?" 

You looked at Finn, and he looked at you. You both nodded, seemingly reading one another's thoughts. "We can both do it," Finn said. 

"I like them," Han said to Leia. 

"I can disable the shields, but I have to be there," Finn said. "On the planet." 

"I can get us anywhere in that place, but we'll have to be fast. I betrayed many of them. Before they want Finn, they'll want me. I'll be a huge target." 

Poe swallowed hard, his eyes on you. 

"We'll get you two there, and we'll take care of you," Han said, glancing back at the giant Wookie that accompanied him.

"I'm saying that me being a target might be a good thing for you," you said, raising your eyebrows. "They'll be too busy shooting me to even notice you." 

"Han, how?" Leia asked. 

"If I told you, you wouldn't like it," he said. 

Poe nodded. "So we disable the shields, we take out the oscillator and we blow up their big gun." 

Chewie roared in agreement. 

"All right," Poe said. "Let's go." 

In fearful, yet hopeful spirit, everyone broke apart, going their separate ways to prepare for this huge battle.

Outside, you carried a few weapons to Chewie, who took them from you and loaded them onto their ship, a weird looking hunk of junk they called the Falcon. He turned to load up the stuff and you turned around, nodding at Han Solo, who was walking by you.

You saw Poe across the way. You walked up to him as he loaded BB-8 onto his X-WING and walked in front of the nose of his ship. When he saw you, he slowed. He had the face of a brave soldier; the kind of soldier with passion for what he was fighting for.

"I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye," you told him. 

He put his hands on his hips. "I didn't want to, either."

You nodded. "I'm not really good at saying goodbyes though."

He lowered his head and smiled. Then, pained, he stepped forward and grabbed you gently, pulling you against his chest. "C'mere." 

You closed your eyes and felt his chin in the dip of your shoulder. He held you there for a second when he said, "You know when you told me that it was killing Finn to lose that girl that he'd only known for a day?" 

"Yeah," you whispered. 

"I kinda get it." 

You smiled and tightened your hold on his shoulders for a brief moment. Then you pulled back, hands slipping down his arms. His eyes were locked on yours and you felt your stomach drop and then flutter.

"Soldiers aren't supposed to be scared," you said, shaking your head. 

"Did the First Order teach you that?" he asked. You nodded. "Yeah. Well they're wrong. Soldiers are terrified, and they're supposed to be, and that makes them brave. So they do what they know they gotta do and have faith that everything will happen the way it's mean to happen."

"Well, good," you said, nodding. "Because I am terrified of going back there."

He grabbed your shoulders. "Whatever happens, you make sure they know they don't own you. And you get back here, where you belong."

Your heart warmed and your eyes nearly grew teary. You smiled. "Thank you, Poe. For everything."

You hugged him one more time before you knew it was time to go.