The Art of Getting By | Poe Dameron [ 2 ]

three

03 | the choice

"THIS DECISION- IT ISN'T ONE THAT YOU CAN MAKE. IT'S MY DECISION AND MY DECISION ALONE."

RESISTANCE SHIP, NABOOIAN SYSTEM-

"Kyra!"

It was as if Poe knew the choice that Kyra was going to make before she even did.

"Kyra, whatever you're thinking-" Poe lightly grabbed Kyra's arm, the two of them stuck in the middle of an intense conversation with all of the Resistance's eyes on them. If that wasn't enough, the stakes were high. Poe could see it in Kyra's eyes- the way that they were flooded with a desperate plea to let her go, to do this for her friend.

But how was she going to ever explain what she felt? The pounding of her heart and the importance of the situation? The desperation of getting her best friend back? Kyra wasn't going to let another person die for her. She had experienced enough of that to last her over three lifetimes. It started with her mother, and it didn't seem to stop from there. She wasn't going to let Silas be the latest mark in her skin, the latest person to die for her.

"I'm not thinking it, Poe. I'm doing it." Kyra placed her hand on top of Poe's, trying to wrench it off of her forearm, not letting him stop her from what she was about to do. There was no stopping her, as much as Poe wanted to think otherwise.  This was her friend's life on the line. She wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of what she had to do.

"I'm not going to let you, Kyra. I can't."  Poe's face was one filled with fear- but a different kind than the one that was overwhelming Kyra. It was a fear to lose someone that he loved- someone that he had barely spent any time with. He wasn't going to let her say her goodbyes so quickly. Years of trying to find her and bring her to him wasn't going to end with her just giving herself back up.

He wasn't going to allow the haunted look Poe saw in her eyes when she was inside of the First Order be the thing that he would remember about her. Poe wasn't going to let all of the memories that they had made- and yet to be made- be ruined by the First Order. Not after they had ruined so much for him and Kyra.

"Poe, I don't have a choice." A heavy sigh escaped Kyra's lips, the woman's eyes still locked in confrontation with Poe's. But this confrontation- this decision- this wasn't going to be something that she backed down on. There was no other option left for her. Not in her mind. "They have Silas. My friend- and someone who's willing to die for me. Someone who isn't afraid to just give everything up. But I'm not going to let him die for me. I'm done with letting people sacrifice themselves and put themselves out on the line for me."

Her mind went to the way that Poe had so willingly almost killed himself (and Kyra though he died) only months before, the way that Han was willing to give it all up and let his son kill him for her escape. She thought about her mother. Stars, her mother. Alora had given up everything for her to live a life that was far away from all of the problems of the galaxy. That, of course, had gone up in flames, her mother's life burning with the ashes of the Sorganian village Kyra wasn't even sure existed today. Her expression turned hard as she next spoke, lines and creases forming in the mold of her face as she tried to stay strong, to hold herself together as she accepted what she had to do- even if Poe wouldn't accept it himself.