You got off the smaller ship full of evacuated fighters and stepped onto the larger one. At the same time, X-WINGS were coming in at lightspeed, making the quick drop back down to the hangar. You noticed how few there were now; over half of the fleet were gone. 

You stumbled forward in search of Poe. This was the first huge mission you'd seen him go on since the destruction of Starkiller Base. You'd only been on the base for a few days before they had done this attack. 

You'd never been so scared as you were when you ran around the base, watching everyone tear things down and apart, pack them up, and hurry onto ships. You didn't get to say goodbye to Poe before he hurried off to distract the First Order. 

Now you were scared that you'd never see him again.

You stopped Connix, who was walking by. You grabbed her arm. "Have you seen Poe?" 

"I haven't," she said. "I'm sorry."

You nodded and let go of her arm. You inhaled nervously and walked in front of the X-WINGS, giving forced, nervous smiles to the pilots that were getting out of their ships. 

"___!" 

You turned. He took his helmet off and began slowly climbing out of the ship. His face dirty and tired, but you could feel the happiness radiating off of him. 

You sighed out in relief when you saw him. "Poe---" 

He looked at you and opened his arms. You ran right into them, closing your eyes as your face met his chest. You squeezed him close. 

"I was so worried," you said. 

"M'sorry," he said to you. His fingers brushed through your hair. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm okay," you said. "How'd you distract them from attacking us? I was sure I'd never make it out."

"I, uh, actually talked to the general," he said. He reached up and pushed a lock of your hair behind your ear, then kept his hand on the side of your face. 

"You what?"

"He's really easy to distract. It's like he takes me speaking to him personally or something."

You shook your head and tried not to smile. "You suck, Dameron." 

"I suck? Hey!" He raised up a hand and caught your fist when you threw a fake punch in his shoulder's direction. He moved his fingers so that they intertwined with yours. "I'm just defending your honor by ruining his entire career."

"You're impossible," you said, rolling your eyes. 

* * *

"General, Supreme Leader Snoke is making contact from his ship."

Hux forced his eyes away from pieces of what remained of the dreadnought. Anxiety filled him as these words registered in his brain. Snoke was already at his wits end with him. Surely, this would prove to only make things worse.

"Excellent," Hux said. He swallowed back bile. "I'll take it in my chambers." 

He turned and walked away, only to be stopped by the oversized holographic image of his leader right in front of him. He jumped back and started to shake. 

"General Hux..."

"Ah. Good," he said. "Supreme Leader---"

With a cry, his feet disappeared beneath him and he fell hard on his face. He felt his body spin and he breathed heavily. He was aware of the eyes of all his inferiors watching him. A swell of self-loathing filled him, which he turned quickly. 

If anyone deserved an ounce of loathing, it was you. Your disappearance was the cause of this current downfall.

"My disappoint in your performance cannot be overstated," he said. 

"They can't get away, Supreme Leader," he said. He sat up on his knees. He tasted blood on his lips. "We have them tied on the end of a string." 

* * *

You leaned against Poe's X-WING while he chatted about the damage done to his ship. You watched him with a somewhat dreamy look on your face. While you weren't sure if you were with him, you were just grateful that he was in your life.

BB-8 chirped, shattering your daydream as you stared at the back of Poe's head. You glanced up at him, eyebrow raised.

Poe was equally as confused. "What? Finn, naked... leaking bag? Did you fry a chip?" 

BB-8 chirped again and Poe looked over your shoulder and gasped. You turned and did the same. 

Finn was up and walking, looking dazed confused as he stumbled around. Poe broke out into a run towards him and you followed. 

"Finn! Finn, hey! Buddy!" Finn turned and Poe grabbed his arms. "It's so good to see you... what? Let's... we need to get you dressed. You must have a thousand questions."

But he didn't. All he said was, "Where's Rey?" 

* * *

Finally out of lightspeed, you and Poe walked around while Finn got dressed. You'd told him that Rey was currently with Luke Skywalker, that she had left a few days earlier to go find him and bring him back to the Resistance. In the meantime, you had to evacuate D'Qar and travel through lightspeed to get away from the First Order. 

While you were waiting for Finn, Leia found Poe. She grabbed him and pulled him to the corner of the room. "You're demoted," she said to him, after slapping him across the face.

"What? Wait! We took down a dreadnought." 

"At what cost?" she asked. 

"You start an attack, you follow it through."

She shook her head. "Poe, get your head out of your cockpit. There are things that you cannot solve by jumping in an X-WING and blowing something up!" 

Poe turned away from the General, hands on his hips. Exasperated, he shook his head. 

The General had never looked so disappointed. "I need you to learn that."

"There were heroes on that mission."

"Dead heroes," she clarified. "No leaders."

When she left, Poe turned and looked at you. His tongue poked at the inside of his cheek. "What? You ticked off at me, too?" 

You didn't speak, you just watched him. 

He sighed. "I know what you're going to say. How dare I cause all those casualties, right? Well, look at this, sweetheart: we are in the middle of a war. I didn't pull the trigger and kill them. I didn't do that, no. I lost friends today. We all did. Guess what? This is a war, so learn to live with the fact that people sacrifice themselves for the greater good because they know that it is the right thing to do."

You knew you hadn't known Poe very long, although it felt like a huge majority of your lifetime that you've been in his life. You furrowed your eyebrows and shook your head in disappointment and hurt --- not at what he had done today, but at what he had just said.

"Poe Dameron," you said, voice steady. "I said nothing to you about anything. And as for you thinking I am so clueless as to what a war calls us to do, I'll say this. I am new to the Resistance, but I am not new to war. I am not new to sacrifice. I think you were there when I made the biggest sacrifice I could and saved your life doing it. So if you think I am so petty to get ticked off at something out of your control, or a minor mistake, think again." 

You didn't want to look at him more, because you didn't want any rise of emotion cause you to lash out or cry. You clenched your hands into fists and walked away. 

As you walked down the hall, you thought of how annoyed you were. Whether Poe was under a lot of stress or not, he didn't need to speak to you like that. If this was how the real Poe Dameron acted, you weren't sure you wanted to be involved with him at all.

Suddenly, an alarm began to sound. You stopped walking and looked up. All at once, everyone broke out into a panic. You glanced around. 

"What's happening?" you asked, running back the way you came. 

"To your stations! Move, move, move!"

You ran back, running right into Poe. He grabbed your arms to steady you and gestured his hand towards the hangar. "This way!"

"What's happening?" you asked. "Are we being attacked?"

"They tracked us through lightspeed," he said.

"They what?" 

"Don't wait for me! Go fire her up!" he shouted at BB-8, who rolled by quickly, chirping loudly. 

"I know you don't always pilot, but today you're gonna," he said. 

"Okay," you breathed. 

You and Poe took a sharp turn into the hangar, towards the ships. As soon as you did, everything exploded. 

You lifted your hands above your face and screamed as the flames engulfed you. You felt your body fly with the violent burst of hot air. BB-8 screeched as he flew backwards with you and Poe. 

Your body collided with Poe's, and you both dropped to the ground. You were thankful to land on the soft cusion of his chest. Hurriedly, you sat up, gasping for breath. 

Everything was destroyed. 

"Are you okay?" he asked you, hand locking around your wrist.

Your eyes were wide and full of tears as you saw the flames licking up the charred metal ships. 

Finn ran over to Poe's aid. "Poe! ___! Are you all right?" 

Poe looked at him. "We need to get out of range of those Star Destroyers."

Suddenly, your breath caught in your throat. A feeling of dread overcame you. 

"___?" Poe's hand was squeezing your wrist. 

"Leia," you whispered.