Taking the Throne

My ship, your ship, or ours?

"Ben, if we arrive in your ship it will alert Hux. That is not an option." Rey was perplexed.

Ben growled under his breath." We are not taking the hunk of junk."

"Stop being so stubborn. You know this is the only way."

"And what would we have done if it wasn't here?"

Rey pondered for a moment."It doesn't matter, it IS here and it is the better option."

Staring at her sourly, he paced back and forth as she put the last of their belongings into their bags. Stopping, Rey held the robe with the purple flowers. Running her fingers against the embroidery, she set it down on the slab bed, perfectly folded.

"Let's just get our bags to the ship and then we can decide, can we agree on that?" She looked up at him.

"Fine." He conceded.

"So that is not a NO." She teased.

"Rey-"

"Ok ok. Sorry." She smiled a big toothy grin.

Rocking his head side to side, the pops and cracks of his neck uncomfortably broke the tense silence.

"What?" He looked at them, genuinely oblivious at the sound his body had just made or that they had been watching him as he settled into the captain's seat.

Chewie and Rey looked at back and forth, apprehensively.

Rey began to chew on her bottom lip, something she rarely did, biting down on any words that tried to slip out of her mouth. The last thing she needed was to say something that would trigger his anxiety or cause an explosive burst of anger. Amazed that he was even sitting in his father's seat, and that she didn't have to continue her argument to leave his shuttle behind, she sat back observing his every move. It felt like when she was crawling through one of the wrecked star destroyers on Jakku, holding her breath as she pulled at the metal hoping there wasn't a lone live wire or energy burst.

Running his hands over the surfaces, it was like watching a blind person using their sense of touch to see, reading the textures with his fingertips, deeply enthralled with the story it was telling him.

"I can feel your impression mixed with his, Rey." He said, not angry or sad, more reflective than anything.

Chewie whined softly.

"Ben, forward, not behind." Were the only words she could put together. Looking back at her, he gave a small shrug and smile. Taking a deep breath, he turned to Chewie.

"Ready?" He sounded scared.

Growling back at him sternly, Chewbacca refused to move.

"Ok....yes....I know, I know." He cleared his throat, "Ready." This time it was not a question, but a clear statement that he was ready to take the controls.

Chuckling, Chewbacca clicked away, firing up the"piece of junk" as he liked to call it.

Listening to the engines fire and surge with power, the force of it blew the water into what looked like a sheet of glass. Rey watched the sweat collect on his neck, and his shoulders tighten as he eased them off of their rock pad and in to the air, soaring over the rolling waves and kicking up the spray.

Feeling his rapid heartbeat, his crippling fear, his shaking hands, and quickened breathing, she understood what she was witnessing and that she could not help,or do it for him, even if she ached to do so. She had to sit behind him, to trust Chewie as his copilot, and watch him fall over the edge, either embracing the peace or fighting the pain.