Just Us

Chapter 8: The Horrible Truth

"Kylo Ren. Are you absolutely sure that's who she said?" Finn asked Poe as he sat on his bed back at base. Rose, Chewbacca, and Zori, accompanied by C3-PO, R2-D2, D-O, and BB-8 were also there, all listening intently.

"Yes, as sure as I can fly anything." Poe said, still shaking a little.

He had woken up a little over an hour ago but it was a relief to Finn that even in this state, Poe was still Poe.

"So according to some freaky cult lady, Kylo Ren is not dead and now has Rey under mind control on Ahch-To doing what exactly?" Zori asked.

"I don't know what he'd be doing but yes, that's pretty much the gist of the whole thing." Poe replied.

"That's ridiculous." Rose said, "Rey is much more powerful than Kylo Ren. I mean, I don't know much about the Force at all but I've seen her train, and I've heard the stories of how she beat him on Starkiller base and how she survived being on the Supremacy with him."

Finn agreed. He knew Rey, she was the strongest woman he'd ever known, perhaps the strongest person next to Poe.

But he also knew what Rey had told him, about her vision of her and Ren on the Throne of the Sith together. Could the vision have come true?

"Finn, you good?" Poe asked and Finn snapped back into reality.

"I was just thinking about something Rey told me, a...a vision she had had. She saw herself on the Throne of the Sith with Kylo Ren. You don't think that vision came true do you?"

Everyone was silent for a moment even the droids.

"Honestly, I don't know what to believe anymore." Poe said, "You told me you saw them fighting on the wreck of the Death Star. It seems that they weren't exactly buddy-buddy there."

"And I did see them fighting, but then they jumped to a place where I couldn't follow them. I didn't see how the battle ended. What if Ren used mind control on her during the battle so they could go and kill the Emperor and then-"

"And then what, slip away to Ahch-To to lay low? It doesn't make any sense. Kylo Ren doesn't lay low. Plus, we saw Rey before she left to go to Ahch-To, why would Kylo Ren let or make her do that?" Zori asked.

"She seemed off when we talked to her though. I know Rey and she would never turn down the chance to party with us. She seemed so anxious to leave as soon as she got back. Maybe that was Kylo Ren's attempt to put us at ease, if we didn't see her, we would have thought she was dead or would have gone looking for her."
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Poe sat on the bed listening to Finn and his friends. His mind was recounting all that had happened between him and the woman in the cell, everything she'd said. What Finn was saying fit into the narrative. He wished it didn't, but everything he said was making what the prisoner had said sound even more true.

"Think about it....Are you sure she was not just saying what she knew you'd want to here? What Kylo Ren knew you would want to here?"

"No, Finn's right. It could have been Kylo Ren telling her what to say. She didn't really seem herself to me either now that I think about it." Poe said.

Chewy roared something about Rey seeming off to him too.

"Plus." Rose added, "if she'd destroyed one of her greatest enemies, wouldn't she have told us?"

Everyone nodded.

"And," Finn continued, "didn't she say that she would contact us? Well she hasn't. The last message I got from her was a simple 'I made it and I'm ok' which Ren could have wrote to throw us off the trail."

"May I say something sir?" C3-PO asked, "How are you sure that Mistress Rey is really in danger?"

"That's exactly the point Threepio." Poe said, "We don't know for sure, that's what's bad."

"Why don't you just try to call her?" Rose asked.

"No, like we said before, the communicator is no good, anything we try to send her, Kylo Ren will see and can control Rey to respond exactly how we'd want her to." Finn replied, "That leaves us with one option, we fly Ahch-To and see for ourselves."

"Woah-woah, ok wait a minute." Zori said holding up her hands, "I think we're jumping into this a little too fast. What if everything that lady said was a lie and she was just doing that to get under your skin, to scare you? What if she's wrong?"

"And what if she's right?" Poe said, "If what she said is true and we do nothing, Ren could take over again with Rey and all our hard work would have been for nothing."

"But we destroyed their fleet, how could they ever come back?" Rose asked.

"That's what they said about the Empire," Poe responded quietly, "and look what happened."

"She could be fine." Zori said.

"How can you be sure?" Poe asked, "Kylo could be hurting her right now."

"I can't be, but I'm just saying it's highly unlikely."

"Exactly why we need to check it out." Finn said, "If he's hurting her right now... if he kills her... and we found out it was when we had the chance to act but instead did nothing, I would never forgive myself."

"Alright, alright." Zori said. "We can go check it out. But not today, Poe is still to weak. At first light tomorrow we will take dozen people, in a few ships and head out there to see what's up."

Poe nodded in agreement.

"Ok it's settled. Chewy and Finn will take the Falcon, I'll take my X-Wing and Zori, you lead a group of two or three small ships as backup. Remember he's really strong and if he has Rey turned against us then we're in double trouble."

Hopefully it'll just be a lie." Finn said, "Otherwise we'd have to face the horrible truth: That Kylo survived."

"I'm right there with you buddy." Poe said putting his hand on Finn's leg, "I hope she lied to me too."

After they came up with more details of the plan, everyone except Finn left Poe to get more rest. He'd need his strength for tomorrow especially if he would have to fight Kylo Ren himself.

He wished that Ren was dead and gone but if he was being completely honest, a small part of him wanted Kylo to be there,
Because he wouldn't mind the opportunity to take a few shots at the Supreme Leader.

And perhaps in a few hours, he'd get that chance.