Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter twenty-six: the resistance

It was impulse, which told you a fair amount about Mara when you learned her first instinct when being called an obnoxious nickname by a guy who saved her life two years that she thought was dead was to hit/push him. Yet, her palms forced the speaker back a few steps, to which then she turned to the other man next to her, in quite a state of utter bewilderment.

"He's alive." She looked at Finn, who shook his head as she dumbfoundedly tried to process the situation she was currently experiencing.

Her friend shrugged, a huge grin spreading on his face as he gestured back at the pilot across from him, "Apparently he is."

"Well 'he' is standing right here." Poe Dameron spoke again, causing Mara to spin back on her heel to face him.

She brought up her pointer finger, trying to articulate some quick quip and ultimately failing. For maybe the fifth time in her relatively short life, Mara was speechless. Staring at a man she hadn't seen in years whom she'd accepted to be dead, her mouth opened and closed, eyes wide as she pressed her lips together tightly. One second more, she let it sink in, blinking. Confusion was her most prominent emotion, the rest of her head filling with questions and doubts.

Finally, she did what she usually resorted to, said the first thing that came into her head, "You're supposed to be dead."

Poe appeared like he was going to say something, but was caught off guard by her brash words. Mara backtracked, clasping her hands together before rephrasing her previous statement, "I mean, we thought you were dead. But you're not and that's good. That's really good."

The wide grin that broke over the pilot's face made her expression soften from surprise to something warmer. He was in a similar state of marvel, mouth forming half-words never given voice. The man looked like he had walked straight out of the memories Mara had from Ratakka; same silly flight suit, wide eyes, and that nice smile. There were maybe a few scrapes and scratches that must have been newer, but here Dameron was, alive in front of her.

He tentatively reached out to touch her arm, neither knowing what reaction was appropriate after such a long time apart. He was enthusiastic, tone surprisingly lively despite the disbelief, "I'm the dead one? What happened to you? Two years ago, I saw you blown out of the sky above Ratakka by my people-"

"Is there anyone who doesn't think you're dead?" Finn arched up an eyebrow, the question friendly in a way that found amusement in the blonde's habit of surviving constantly.

Mara gave a careless shrug before continuing, her lips mirroring the smiles of the men around her, "Happens with everybody, one time or another. About the whole blow out of the sky thing, remember that whole bit about me being an astounding pilot? Though I did end up crashing over Jakku, terrible hellhole by the way-"

"You were on Jakku?" Poe cut in quick, "Were you in the village with Lor San Tekka where the battle took place? Were you there the whole time?"

"I was a few miles west of that settlement." She answered, before pointing down to BB-8, who was positioned in between them all to listen, "Found this guy the morning after the attack."

"You were on Jakku for two whole years?" Poe questioned, trying to picture the woman who'd sworn to hate deserts staying on a planet full of sand for an extended period of time. Yet when he looked at her longer, he saw how tanned her skin was by a scorching sun and threaded clothes meant for hotter climates. She had a few more freckles than he'd noticed the first time around. Her face had thinned, features sharped by age and the harsh environment.

At this Mara halted her thoughts as her friend's face materialized in her mind, "That's a longer story. But, me and Rey met Finn a few days ago."

The quieter of the trio now told his part of the story, elaborating where she left off, "I found them and BB-8, so naturally we decided to keep going and get the map to the Resistance-"