19 || the myths of the force

"THE FORCE, LUKE, ALL THE MYTHS YOU HEARD ABOUT WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE. IT'S ALL TRUE."

MILLENIUM FALCON-

"I got the Wookie!" Kyra yelled, helping Finn carry the huge Chewbacca over to a small cove in the main dwelling area of the ship, hearing him groan in pain as he was laid there. Looking over to Finn, she nodded towards the gunner position. "Go down there. You're better off shooting things than bandaging things up, I'd presume."

"Your presumption would be right, Kai." Finn agreed, scrambling to climb down the ladder that would lead him to the gunner spot. The last of Finn's head disappeared down into the spot, Kyra turning away from where he used to be to stare at the Wookie needed medical in front of her.

Giving a small sigh, Kyra turned to find the MedPack resting right where she had left it when she was bandaging herself up earlier, unzipping it with ease. "I'm going to have to have you work with me here, Chewbacca, because this isn't going to be pretty."

All Kyra got were some saddened but hard roars back, to which she couldn't understand. Muttering a couple of curses under her breath, she realized that if this was going to get anywhere she was going to need a translator with her. Luckily for her, she had a droid on board and was fluent in binary herself. "BB-8!" She yelled, hearing the whir of the droid rolling up next to her.

What do you need now, Kyra? The droid beeped in a curious yet scolding tone, tilting his small little head to the right on his ball shaped body. He watched as she ripped a piece of cloth off with her teeth, tying up her ragged hair into a ponytail, to make sure that no piece got in her way while she was helping the Wookie.

"I'm going to need you to translate Chewbacca here for me." She explained, starting to search through the bag in front of her for some other medical necessities. Blaster burns weren't the hardest thing in the world to care for, they just needed some bacta spread and a bandage over it. Luckily for her, there was a small jar of the salve and a ton of bandages in the Millennium Falcon's medkit.

What do you take me for? A protocol droid?

"Just do it!" Kyra exclaimed, turning to give a look that burned into BB-8, the droid deciding that it would be better to stay on her good side and translate for her. There were a few roars from Chewbacca at that moment, and Kyra turned her head to look at the BB unit. "What'd he say?"

He said that you're someone that he wouldn't want to double cross.

"Alright, Chewbacca." Kyra started, another roar coming from his mouth as she was about to start explaining what she was going to do to help him. She stopped, looking down at BB-8, ready to see what she had been interrupted for.

He said to call him Chewie. Being called by his first name is a little weird to him, especially after you saved his life with that blaster shot that killed the man who was aiming for him again. BB-8 translated to Kyra, poking her in her leg to let her know that what the droid said was Chewie had told him to say.

"Okay, Chewie. I'm going to put this bacta salve on you. It's going to sting like hell but-" The ship jolted sharply, some alarms blaring, indicating that they got hit. Kyra fell off of the crate she was situated on, giving a groan as she fell directly on her tailbone- the second time in a couple of hours that she did so. Sitting herself back up, she took a breath, feeling the engine rumble underneath them. They were moving again. Good. "Afterwards, all we have to do is bandage it and we'll be set. Okay?"

There was a pause as the Wookie stared at her, studying her eyes to see if she was telling the truth. There was no hint of malice inside of Kyra' eyes, a small bit of worry hiding in the glint of her expression. In that moment, the Wookie knew that Kyra had the situation under control, and he gave a small roar in response.

"I'm going to skip the translation on that and assume that it means a yes." She muttered, rubbing her hands together and taking a deep breath before she dipped her hand into the salve. Studying Chewbacca's left shoulder, she saw where the blaster had hit him, and knew exactly where to apply it. "Ready?" There was a small nod of confirmation as Kyra carefully placed her hand on his wound, rubbing it in carefully.

A loud and large moan followed Kyra's hand being placed on Chewie's injury, the roar loud and deafening to Kyra's one ear. His hand went to a tight grip around her arm, but Kyra didn't even flinch when his strength tried to force her hand away.

"You hurt Chewie and you deal with me!" Han Solo threatened from the cockpit, Kyra remaining unfazed through the roars of Chewie's pain and the alarms mixed in with his threat. Funnily enough, she was almost calm, the entire situation reminding her of a mission in which Silas had gotten injured, and she had to patch him up while Fox tried to escape the planet. That had ended almost as badly as this whole situation had, except by the end of it all of them were laughing , glad to be alive and together.

God, she missed them.

"That won't be a problem! Chewie's gonna be just fine." Kyra gritted out, her free hand wrapping around Chewbacca's carefully unwrapping it so that it could rest by his side again. Looking at the Wookie straight in the eyes, she flashed a small smile. "Good job. You made it through the hardest part. Stung like hell, huh?"

Turning away from Chewbacca, her right side of her face was fully on display, her burns obvious as she turned to get the bandages. There was a small roar from the Wookie, sounds of worry sprouting from his mouth as he stared at the place where her ear should have been.

He asked about what happened to your ear. BB-8 translated, Kyra hearing the droid's beeps through binary. She chose to ignore it for the moment, although the droid pressed on. You never did fully tell me what happened to you when you escaped from the First Order. Is that what happened?

"Alright, now we just have to wrap up your injury, okay?" Kyra continued to ignore BB-8 and the translations, which made him upset. There were a frustrated series of beeps being directed at Kyra as she grabbed the bandages and turned back around to face Chewbacca, who seemed a little bit worried and nervous at the prospect of his injury getting touched again. "This won't hurt as much. I've got a gentle touch, I promise. I just need you to sit up so I can reach behind your shoulder to wrap it securely."

It didn't take long for Kyra to carefully have Chewie sit up and have him bandaged. She was right about having a gentle touch, every wrap tender and carefully done. Whenever there was a small groan of pain from Chewbacca, she would let him have his hand on her shoulder and squeeze out the pain. The Wookie was surprised she could handle the strength of his squeezes. When he asked about it, the translation hastily being beeped out by the droid below him, Kyra just gave him a general response back.

"Being a part of the First Order and working for them creates a tolerance to things that you wouldn't expect someone to be tolerant to. Like Wookie squeezes, for example." Kyra joked it off, a small smile on her face as she continued to wrap his wound. As soon as she finished, there was a moment in which Chewbacca gave her the biggest Wookie hug ever in gratitude. It was a thank you not only for helping him, but also for not letting Finn operate on him, Kyra assumed. When she was released from the hug,she felt the vibrations of footsteps heading towards her, and when she turned around, she came face to face with Han Solo.

"Nice job bandaging up Chewie. It takes a lot for him to give a hug like that to someone." He noted, getting a small smile and a weary nod from the girl. There was a moment as Han looked over at Chewie, who was getting up to go into the co-pilot seat and help the young girl that was up there. "No, Chewie, you're not going up there. You need your rest. Just because the kid bandaged you up doesn't mean you're immediately off the hook."

Walking forward, Han saw that BB-8 was in the way of his path, and he stared down at the droid with annoyance. "Move, ball." He grunted, BB-8 wheeling out of his way so that the man could stand in the center of where Kyra and Chewie already were. There was another set of footsteps that followed after him, Rey coming into view.

"We're flying steady for now, so we should be fine." Rey told the two owners of the MIllenium Falcon, looking over to Kyra with a soft smile. "Hopefully we'll be out of the trackers of the First Order for a little while." Walking over to the gunner spot, she rattled on the ladder, trying to call Finn's attention. "Finn! We don't need a gunner anymore. Get up here."

Finn scrambled up the ladder, hearing Rey's call to him in an instant. Once he got up there, he saw that the whole crew of people he had begun to familiarize himself were up on that deck. There was a moment of silence as they all stared at each other before Han Solo broke the silence.

"So, fugitives, huh?"

"The First Order wants the map." Rey explained, looking between Kyra and Finn. "Finn is with the Resistance, and Ky-Kai is a spy for the Resistance that was inside of the First Order. Both of them said they needed to get this information back to their base."

"And what about you?" Solo questioned the young girl, curious to see how she was all a part of this grand Resistance mission. "How do you fit into all of this?"He gestured wildly around him, pointing to the droid, Finn, and Kyra.

"I'm just a scavenger." Rey whispered, giving a small smile and a shrug. "They found me on Jakku with BB-8 and then I got suckered into all of this." She simply stated, not offering too much information other than the essential parts.

"Well, if this droid has some important stuff, let's see whatcha got." The man looked down at the BB-8 unit, who was sitting by Kyra, who was still resting on the crate where she had tended to Chewie on. "It's better to know what we're dealing with if I can see it."

"Go ahead." Kyra muttered to the droid, nudging him to go to the center of the room. There was a small whir as he made his way to the center, stopping for a moment. Suddenly, a bright blue light filled the room, and most of it was washed in stars, except for a line that had a circle in the center of the map.

There was a moment as all of the unlikely heroes stared at it. This was what they all had risked so much for, this small piece of the galaxy and a trail through the stars that would lead them to Luke Skywalker. Kyra stared up at it with a glint in her eyes as if she was viewing treasure, and there was a small smile on her face as she viewed it.

"The map's not complete." Han muttered, his hand rubbing the stubble on his face in confusion as he continued to stare at it. "It's just a piece." He realized, getting looks from Finn and Rey that meant that he needed to explain himself further. "Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him."

"Why'd he leave?"

"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, and apprentice, turned against him, destroyed it all." He paused, seeing the light in Kyra's eyes fall, a darkness overcoming them as he spoke about his son. There was something more to the "Kai Dameron" girl than she had said, and it was becoming more and more obvious with every minute he had spent with her. From the way she was called Solani in the cargo ship to the way she fought, and now this- something wasn't adding up. Shaking his head to get himself out of whatever thought he was in the middle of, Han continued. "Luke felt responsible. He walked away from everything."

The blue light that separated Han from Rey and the rest of the crew seemed to light up Rey as her eyes lit up in shock and joy. "The Jedi were real?" She whispered in awe, the blue tones of the holographic map making her light up even more. The hologram only seemed to add onto the mystical effect that the Falcon gave the young scavenger, the blue light breathing life into all the worn down parts of the ship.

"I used to wonder that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo jumbo- magical power holding together good and evil, the dark side and the light." Han muttered, looking over at Chewie, almost as if the two of them recognized the fact that things had changed. "Crazy thing is, it's all true. The Force, the Jedi, it's all true."

Kyra had remained silent during the whole conversation, already knowing a lot about the things that Solo was discussing. She had felt the true impact of the Force before. Hell, she had even been granted a "gift" from the Force- an immunity from it. Although she had to admit, it was good getting the backstory on why Luke Skywalker had left, and a new perspective on what Ren had done.

Another alarm broke through the silence that had taken over the ship after Han had last spoken, Rey, Finn, and Kyra springing up to act upon whatever was going wrong in the ship. Rey and Finn immediately scrambled to the front of the ship, Kyra already hearing Rey start to yell things at Finn. She ran to help them, but her arm was grabbed by Han Solo, who gave her a serious stare.

"Those two can handle whatever it is. You and I need to talk." He muttered under his breath, pulling her back into the main lobby. She stumbled back to her crate where she sat next to Chewbacca, her nerves in her stomach starting to crawl with worry.

"Listen, if this is about what happened in your cargo ship with the Rathars-"

"You're the kid that my son turned into a living breathing weapon." Han Solo interrupted Kyra, seeing her eyes immediately drop when he spoke those words. However, his words stopped her from interrupting him again, and trying to deny his claims.

"I knew there was something off about you when you said your name was Kai Dameron. That only grew when we were inside the ship and one of the gang members called you Solani, and that's a name pretty recognized throughout the galaxy as one of the First Order's top assassins. On top of that, I saw your face fall when I was talking about Luke's apprentice that made him flee. Not too many people know who he actually was." There was a pause, Chewbacca behind the young woman sitting up to stare at her, curious as to where this conversation would go next. "Now spill the beans. What's your actual name? Who the hell are you?"

She paused for a moment, contemplating what she should actually do in this situation. Lying would be much easier than telling the truth, but at this point, what else did she have to lose? The man already knew her reputation, and she had proved to be trustworthy when she had bandaged up his Wookie friend. "My name's Kyra." She whispered softly, pulling out the piece of cloth that had held her hair back when she had been helping an injured Chewbacca get wrapped up. "Kyra Ceydea."

There was a pause, an almost falter in Han Solo when she said her last name, him and Chewie sharing a brief moment of eye contact as they both thought the same exact thing. Could this girl be related to the one person that Luke had-

No. That couldn't be. Because that woman died over 30 years ago. She had died with her entire planet, all of them being massacred in a cruel test of a half finished copy of the Death Star. All that was left of that planet was a shell of its outer crust, debris floating around in that system to this day.

Shaking his head, Han tried to get out of the headspace that he had been in. Her last name had to be a coincidence, because there was no way that she could be who he thought she was. Someone else in the galaxy must've had the same surname as they did. That was the only explanation possible.

Turning his attention back to Kyra, Solo got a glimpse at the fierce burn marks and missing ear on her right side. His face fell immediately when he saw it. The small roars of Chewbacca behind him only confirmed his fears, hearing the Wookie mention something about him noticing it earlier. The man knew exactly where it had come from. After all, only one sort of weapon could inflict that kind of damage. "Chewie just told me that he asked about that earlier." He saw her look up at him with confusion from her place where she was on the crate. "Your ear. He said that you didn't give him an answer."

"Oh." Kyra stopped for a minute, hastily trying to cover the injury that was still somewhat fresh in her mind. "It's a little bit of a sore subject. One of the many things I've lost since I started my escape from the First Order." Kyra muttered bitterly, tying the piece of cloth around her wrist, trying not to get upset as she looked down at the jacket of the dead man she knew for four years.

"And my son did it to you."

There was an awkward silence as Kyra turned away from him, cheeks turning beet red when she did so. What could she say to respond to that? It was the truth. She had heard the stories of the kind of father Han Solo had been to Kylo Ren whispered through the halls of the First Order bases she had been in while serving under him. Kyra didn't want to shatter what good thoughts he had left of his son.

But then again she had an obligation to tell him. To let him know what his son had been doing while Solo had been running around the galaxy creating a smuggling business. Kyra knew that it wasn't explicitly said, but in his words there was a small plea to her to tell him about Ren, and what he was doing.

"Yes." Kyra whispered, shame rising up in her when she started to speak. She knew that what she was going to say was going to hurt Solo, but she had an obligation. "Kylo Ren did this to me. I wasn't cooperating with what he desired from me, and so as a form of punishment, he sliced my ear off clean with-"

"Spare me the details of what my son did to you, please." Han whispered, a strange sort of sadness washing over him. This wasn't exactly what he expected to come out of this day- earning the Millenium Falcon back and meeting a young woman who was trained under his son- and hurt heavily by him, so it appeared.

"Sorry." Kyra muttered, looking down at the floor, studying her shoes and the floor of the Falcon intensely. She had royally screwed this up. What else was she supposed to say now? There was nothing really else to do.

"What the scavenger kid said earlier-"

"Rey." Kyra interrupted, correcting the man with a sharp tone. "Her name is Rey." If she was going to be stuck with the old Rebellion general and smuggler, he might as well learn all of their names. After all, names had some use on the ship, being able to use them instead of Han calling them "You," and "Girl."

"Right. Rey." Han corrected himself, shaking his hand with a gesture that almost signified that he didn't really care about what she was saying about names at the moment. "What she said earlier, about you being a part of the First Order but being a spy for the Resistance-"

"It's true." Kyra confirmed, keeping her answer as short as possible. "I gave up First Order information about their new Star Killer base and information on other new weapons that they were building during my time there. BB-8 has extra information on top of the map inside of him from the last time I saw him in Tatooine that the Resistance doesn't know about."

"What made you change sides?"

Kyra stared down at her jacket- formerly Poe's- with a sad look. Fidgeting with the ends of the sleeves, Kyra took in a deep breath, trying to keep her composure together. "A- a Resistance pilot taught me that there's always a chance in life for second chances and to redeem yourself. I guess he just inspired me to help him and the Resistance make change." Her voice cracked as she spoke, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill as she talked about a man who had died for her to escape. "Now? I'm doing it in his honor."

A look of recognition lit up Han's face as he saw that saddened look in her eyes. It was a look of loss, a loss of someone significant in her life, maybe someone she had even loved. He could tell that look right away- because he had once had that same look in his eyes too. "You loved him." He quietly noted, seeing the girl's eyes come up to meet his.

"I- I don't know if I did or not. Either way, it's too late for it now. Any chances of exploring that died in Jakku, along with the crashed ship and him." Kyra whispered fiercely, an angered sadness filling her, a couple of stray tears falling down her face. Hastily wiping them away, Kyra looked up at the ceiling of the ship, trying not to lose it in that moment.

"I'm sorry." Han whispered, wanting to walk over to the girl and envelop her into a hug. There was something that held him back from his desire, perhaps the fear that she would do something rash afterwards, or maybe the fear that she was a product of his son's anger and darkness, and that he didn't want to be involved with it. "I'm sorry for all of this. You don't deserve any of it."

There was a small roar from Chewie, the Wookie sitting up and placing a tender hand on the girl from where he stood inside of the little sitting area. It was almost a small pat of reassurance, as if he'd be there for her and was giving her reassurance for both him and Han.

"He said he likes you." Han remarked, seeing Kyra break her eyes away from the Wookie that was behind her to look back over at the smuggler. "He doesn't like a lot of people, so you must have done a good job with that bandage and medic work earlier."

"I guess so." Kyra chuckled, the comment cheering her up the slightest bit. She wiped the stray tears that still remained on her face, and Han knew in that moment that whatever his son had done to try and break the young woman in front of him had failed. Kyra was not the emotionless weapon that killed for the First Order like all the stories about Solani implied.

No, she was just a kid.

Clearing his throat, Han gave a small nod to Kyra before he spoke again, trying to maintain his composure and swagger in that moment. "I'm going to make sure the two idiots didn't mess up our course to the planet we're going to up there. You stay here with Chewie and the droid that's pretty attached to you, okay kid?"

Kyra nodded, watching as the man walked back up to the front where the cockpit lay. As she watched him settle back down with Finn and Rey, Kyra came to the stark realization that everything around her was changing rapidly before her eyes.

And even though Poe, the first man to show her what her potential could really be and her first true friend, was gone from the world, Kyra knew something important that she didn't truly believe in before.

Maybe she wasn't truly alone in this galaxy.

<~•~>

okay okay I know I said midnight and it's been a couple of days but I got talked off of the ledge of not having any self control so ,,, yeah

this chapter is 1/2 for the climax (ish ) of the book! this is the turning point from where it goes from wild to wilder y'all, and it's super fun from here.

I've already prewritten 20, but depending on how well this chapter does, I might publish it this weekend or next week, I don't know. I want to make sure everyone who is reading is enjoying it and people are catching up and everything!

if you have any questions that are reasonable how I write this mess of a book or anything feel free to ask me, y'all know by now I'm always one to reply to comments if I can. also if you ask me a question about plot I may or may not answer that because you know, I had that whole ordeal a week or so ago.

alright that's everything you guys, I hope you all enjoyed!!