star ▪︎ poe dameron

twenty-one

I hurriedly stood up and swayed on my feet, my head was spinning causing me to feel dizzy. Blood trickled down my arm from a deep cut and my knee was throbbing with pain from how I had fallen. I shivered in the chilly air as night had fallen over the boundless desert. 

I frantically searched around for any sign of the crash site, hoping that I would be able to find the others. I spotted flames in the not-too-far distance and ran over there as fast as my aching legs would take me. 

As soon as I got near, the heavy smell of smoke engulfed me and I started to cough and splutter. 

"Poe?!" I called out once. "Finn?! Anyone?" My voice started to break as my throat stung from the thick fumes of the ruined TIE Fighter. I didn't dare go any closer as the heat coming off of the ship was unbearable from where I was. The fire illuminated the surrounding area, allowing me to be able to look around for any sign of life nearby. 

I felt a tear fall down my sweaty, grimy face as I saw nothing but sand. Walking away from the almost painful heat I collapsed to the ground. I was tired, scared and alone, with no idea how to escape my inevitable death on Jakku. 

I started to cry, my chest shaking as I gasped for breath through my sobs. I sat like that on the coarse ground for a while until I heard someone groan from not too far away. I wiped my eyes, getting rid of the tears making my vision blurry and got up once again. 

From where I was I could make out the faint outline of someone lying on the rough sand, the far-away flames dimly lighting up the body. I jogged over, my legs shaking with exhaustion, as they moaned once again, clearly in a lot of pain. As I got closer I realised who it was. 

Poe. 

"Shit!" I yelled as I ran the last few metres to reach him, my whole body protesting in pain. He was waking up, just as I had been minutes earlier. I kneeled down next to him and squinted to try and see how bad his injuries were, though I could barely see. 

"Hey.. take it easy," I told him in a much calmer voice as he sat up. "You ok?" I asked him. 

"Oh yeah, never been better." He replied sarcastically. 

"Sorry, that was a stupid question." We both chuckled before turning serious once again. "Any idea how we're gonna get out of here?" 

"Do you think The TIE can be fixed to fly again?" He asked, clearly oblivious to the fact that the ship had practically burnt to a crisp just metres behind him. I looked over his shoulder at the wreckage and he followed my gaze, realising just how much trouble we were in. 

"I'm not an expert on TIE's, but I'm gonna say no." I attempted to joke and lighten the ever-darkening mood. It worked as he smiled once again, but not for long as his expression abruptly shifted to one of horror as he realised that there was someone missing. 

"Where's Finn?" 

"I-I don't know, I couldn't find him near the crash." I felt tears start to form in my eyes once again. Poe just sighed before looking up to see my upset self. It seemed that we both came to the realisation that he didn't make it in silence, not wanting to actually say the words aloud or acknowledge it. 

We both slowly started to get up from the sand, helping each other up. I grabbed Poe's hand and pulled him gently towards me, resting my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around my figure. My body was shaking from the cold and from fear as I willed myself to not to start crying. 

"We're gonna be ok." He reassured me as he stroked my hair,  although I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth. However, soon enough I realised that there was no use being upset when I could spend the time trying to escape. 

Sniffling ever-so-slightly to get rid of the last of my upset, I turned on my heels and began to walk away from the ruined Starfighter and towards the nearest sand dune. 

"You coming, Flyboy?" I called over my shoulder, confidence surging through me all of a sudden. 

"Uh, yeah." He quickly caught up to me and we headed off. The sun had just begun the rise, a thin glow of light peaking just above the horizon. "Where are we going?" Poe questioned. 

"No idea." I truthfully answered. 

"Right.. ok. Do we have a plan?" 

"Nope." 

"Fantastic." He muttered sarcastically. 

---

After what felt like hours of trudging through the desert I heard a rumble of an engine behind us. I flipped my head around and saw a speeder gliding nearby. 

"Poe, look!" I broke the silence we had been holding as I nudged his side and pointed towards what I had seen. Both of us grinning at our luck, we ran over to the now-stationary speeder, yelling towards what looked to be a scavenger. 

"Excuse me! Hey, wait!" I shouted as we came to a stop, gasping for breath. 

"Stars, what are you two doing out here?" The stranger enquired in a harsh tone. 

"We could ask you the same thing." Poe jokingly replied, which resulted in me hitting him on the arm. This could be our only chance to escape Jakku and I wasn't going to let him stuff it up by joking about. 

"We're sorry to bother you, but do you know of anyone who would be willing to help us? We crash-landed here and need a way of leaving, quickly." I asked in the kindest tone I could muster, although the heat from the sun that was now beaming down on us and the lack of food and water was starting to get the better of me, making me irritated at even the slightest of things. 

"We're with The Resistance." Poe added. 

"Resistance? That's likely." The scavenger scoffed. 

"No, it's true!" I was desperate at this point as he began to turn to walk away. "My name's y/n Solo, daughter of The General of The Resistance." 

"And the renowned smuggler Han Solo, I assume?" 

"Yeah, that's me." I looked down at my feet before looking up to Poe as he introduced himself. 

"I'm Commander Poe Dameron, and we really need to get back to our base, so any help would be much appreciated." He gave him one of his signature smiles that always seemed to win people over. But not this time. 

"Well, if you're needed so badly, then why are you in Jakku of all places?" 

"We stole a TIE Fighter from the First Order, but before we could escape we were shot down." I reluctantly tried to explain. 

The scavenger simply began to laugh, prompting Poe and me to share a look of infuriation. 

"What's so funny?" I could hear Poe becoming more and more agitated. 

"I find your little story so amusing, that's all." He said as he caught his breath. "Oh, come on then, hop on. You two are crazy enough, you'll keep me entertained on my trip." 

"Thank you!" I exclaimed as I jumped onto the small speeder. Poe and I stood squeezed together at the back. 

"Hey, I didn't catch your name." 

"Naka Lit."

---

A/N

I'm so sorry this took so long for me to write! I've had so much school work and I've been super ill the last few days, but I got there in the end

as always, thank you for reading! 

M xx