The Daughter of Reylo

I Know (26)

Leia stood behind the screen, listening to the pilots check into the base.

"Flyin in."

"Locked and loaded."

"On your left, Wilson."

It continued like that. Hundreds of pilots confirmed takeoff. The admiral noted everyone that checked in, nodding when the voices died down.

"That's everyone."

"What about Dameron?" Leia continued looking at the lists. At the sound of his name, his file popped up in the corner of the hologram. It was colored black and white.

"Deceased. This morning; a suicide mission." She remained so... calm. How? How could she possibly be so calm after she forced him to kill himself? That sweet boy. Leia politely excused herself, practically choking on tears.

The boy that she'd practically adopted, brought into her heart when Ben had left, was dead. And she'd heard nothing of it. No goodbye, no forewarning. Just the post.

And it so very nearly broke her heart. The boy whose brothers died. The boy who held them as they faded; who watched his sister taken away by those slave traders. The boy who loved... the boy who is now dead.

And it was a suicide mission. A god d*mn suicide mission.

"Mother? Mother what's-" he looked so much like his father. With those eyes, that hair... so much like his late father. His hair, it curls like Poe's. She thought, helplessly.

Princesses don't cry. Generals don't cry. Not really, anyways, not in front of people. Instead she clutched his shirt- not daring to let go, for fear that he would soon be gone, too. Just like everyone else that mattered.

-

The girl though very little about consequence. For as long as she could remember, it was never an issue. Maybe it was the result of living in that sorry excuse for a home. Maybe it was because she never got in trouble, because she was always smarter than her accomplice.

She found herself on a familiar pathway. The one she'd been on when she needed to run, and be alone. The one that led her to the place where she met her best friend.

"Doe?"

"Over here!" They were in a clearing. The clearing.

"Glad to see you made it."

"Yeah. What did you need to grab?" Padme reached into her pocket. Doe nearly fainted when they saw the weapon she exposed.

"Where-?"

"I borrowed it. I mean, my mom just left it there on the shelf, it's not like I went snooping."

"No, you just stole."

"Borrowed! I'll give it back." They paused.

"I like the way you think."
-

"This is all going badly. All of it. Why do I even bother watching?"

"Everything is following the prophecy, Anakin, give it time."

"How much time? My granddaughter is about to confront the most powerful Sith in the history of... ever!"

"No, Anakin. You were."

"That was not me. Darth Vader was someone else... brought on by the death of Padme. Padme Amidala. Skywalker. Amidala-Skywalker. My Padme. Not the teenager on a suicide mission."

"You guys never figured out your name? You got married, and never bothered to figure that out?"

"I mean... Luke took my name."

"Leia didn't."

"You, Brother, are impossible. As soon as I say one thing, I'm the bad guy."

"Enough, I've had!" The little alien was tired of it. All of it. Ever since Anakin died, it had been like that. Bickering, picking at each other, with Yoda always there to witness. "More important things, there are."

They sat and watched the teenager sneak off into the forest. Her parents remained safe, inside, waiting for the time to be right. And everything might have just been ruined.

"What'd I miss?" Anakin nearly jumped out of his boots.

"You can't just do that! Didn't your mother ever treat you manners?"

"You killed her, Dad."

"Oh, yeah." An awkward pause followed.

"So... What did I miss?"

"The prophecy... it's time. It's happening."

"And here I was hoping it wouldn't. You know, I always did wonder what happened when Rey disappeared for all that time." He looked down to his former student. "It's a shame... what's to become of the child."

"Did you ever bother finding out the full story? Do you even know her name?" Luke shook his head. To be honest, he'd found it too hard to stick around and watch what happened when he died. Yoda had come around, for a moment, and filled him in.

"They called her Padme. After-"

"Mother..."

"Yeah."

-
"You see that?" Her finger pointed at the sky.

"You mean that little black bird? That's normal, Padme."

"Haven't you ever seen an airship?"

"Hardly had the time." They were laying back, legs in the water. If they turned their heads, they were practically nose-to-nose.

"That's unfortunate." And, despite the war bringing imminent death, they stopped to have a moment of teenage romance. Romance? Did I just say romance? No... definitely didn't mean that. Silly me, silly me, ha! Romance...

"I-" Padme nearly choked on her words. She wasn't really about to say what the narrator had just implied... was she? "I'm so happy you exist."

"And I You." Their face were so close, you probably couldn't fit a coin in the space between their noses. "Padme, I think I'm gonna die."

"I won't let you."

"Why?"

"You know why. You know why, Doe, and I know you wouldn't let me. For the same reasons."

"I suppose I do know." They got lost in each other's eyes. "Say it. Say it for me, please, just one time before we go. Before we go try to save the world."

"I can say it more than once."

"I'd like that."

"And you can say it back?"

"As many times as you'd like."

"I love you." Doe grinned, pressing their noses together.

"I know."