╔════ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘

'𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲' ═════════╝

 ━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━

...YAVIN IV, OUTER RIM

𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐒 on Yavin IV was beginning to feel like a lifetime.

In the early hours of the morning, Lyra thought she would be the only one who was up in Mione's house. However, when she entered the kitchen, there was someone else sitting awake. Rey was nestled on the floor by the sofa, a lamp illuminating her spread. Papers and books were scattered in front of her. She was dressed in standard-issue cotton pants and a t-shirt, looking a lot more like a Resistance fighter than a Jedi.

"Hey," Lyra said. The floorboards creaked under her bare feet.

Rey barely looked up, not too surprised to see her. "Hey. Can't sleep?"

"No," Lyra gave a hollow laugh, still chasing away the remains of the dream. The place in the dark, the world between worlds. A woman clothed in silver, white haired with a staff in her hand like a beam of light. "But that's nothing new."

Rey smiled, giving Lyra her full attention. "It's much more quiet than in Kes's garage, there's too much snoring in those bunks. Mione was nice enough to let me stay over here, but I can't sleep, either."

Lyra sat cross-legged on the floor, picking up one of the scattered papers. It wasn't in Basic, and she recognized the language. "Mione's good at making people feel at home, isn't she."

"Yeah," Rey said, brown eyes flickering in the yellow light. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"When did the Resistance start to feel like your home? I love it here, and I hated being away from it when I was on Ahch-to, but I still feel like I'm observing from the outside of it all. It isn't like I don't feel welcome, there's just so much I don't understand."

Lyra considered the question carefully. She had been trying to pin down what had happened to Rey without asking too many questions about Ahch-to. "That's a normal feeling to have, but let me ask you a question. Are you letting yourself make this your home?"

Rey stared blankly ahead of her. "No," she said honestly. "I see Finn, and he's adjusted so well to all of this. If I didn't know better, I would assume he was born into it. But I look at myself and I just see all of these memories. When I wake up, I start thinking about what I need to scavenge to get by for the day. It takes me a while to realize that isn't my life anymore. I still see those hatch marks on the wall, all counting up to some nonexistent end. I thought it would get better if I learned to understand the Force, but it only left me more confused."

Rey was hesitating, holding something back.

"Why?" Lyra asked. A simple question that came with a complicated answer.

"He told me that my parents were no one," Rey whispered. The sound of her voice seemed to make the light grow dim. "Ben did, and that's what makes it worse. There's some sort of strange connection between me and that arse. But it wasn't Kylo Ren that said it. When he told me that, he was Ben Solo."

"Does it matter if he was Ben or not?"

"Yes," Rey said without hesitation. "Kylo Ren is some creature. Ben Solo is descended from Darth Vadar himself."

Lyra cocked her head to the side. "We're not all that bad."

Rey realized her mistake and her brown eyes went wide. "Sorry, sometimes I forget that you two are--" she trailed off.

"Cousins," Lyra finished. She pulled at a loose thread on her cotton pants. "Listen, I can't say if he was telling the truth or not. Maybe they were no one, but that doesn't mean they thought you were no one. They loved you."

"How do you know that?" Rey asked. She spit the words out like poison.

"How could they not?" Lyra said in return. "And you know they loved you, too. That's why you stayed on Jakku for so long. The mind doesn't forget the feeling of love as easily as you might think. It's a residual feeling that sticks around, and you can't just let one false claim take that away from you."

"I think it's the hope that made it the worst," Rey said with a hollow sigh. "I held out for so long, and for what?"

"Hope doesn't ruin you," Lyra shook her head. "You start saying that now, and that lack of hope will ruin you."

Finally, Rey cracked a smile. Every time Lyra saw Rey, she was happy. Smiling with Finn, laughing at every dumb joke Poe made, working alongside Reeve and Rose, finding a new family better than anything she had ever imagined.

To think that they had met in the sands of the Jakku desert prepared to kill each other was almost unimaginable.

Rey's posture relaxed, and she settled back into what she was doing. The books in front of her were old, and even the paper in Lyra's hand felt thick with the weight of the Force. These were Jedi texts.

"Why didn't he come back with you?" Lyra asked, breaking the silence again. "I think I understand, but I want to hear it from you."

Rey sighed. "I tried. I really did try to bring Luke back, but he had a point. It was never about bringing back some deity, it was about bringing back hope. He knew that it wasn't time for him to return, but he knew it was time to do what he did."

Lyra nodded, the red salt of Crait flashing in her mind. "It was quite a show. Especially you and Chewie flying in on the Falcon. Han would be happy to see you flying it."

Rey grinned broadly, the happiness shining through the darkness. Even if Rey wasn't so certain of herself within the Resistance, Lyra could see it so clearly that it would become her home.

Give and take. That was the way of the Force. Always a balance. When one stays, another must leave.

"Any luck with this one?" Lyra asked, pointing to the leaflet of paper. The handwriting was cramped and hasty, almost like the author was going to lose their thoughts if they didn't write them down fast enough.

Rey leaned towards it. "Oh, that's the one I've been saving for last."

"That difficult, huh?" Lyra smiled.

"It's just in a language that wasn't very common, there were only a few Jedi who spoke it and there's hardly any resources to translate it," she tapped the side of her data pad, which was glowing green as she worked.

"I have a book, an Echani text that I've been translating. I can send you the holo files, they're pretty useful. Where did you get all of these texts, by the way?"

Rey bit her lip. "I might have stolen them from your dad."

Lyra laughed, careful to keep her voice down. It was too early to be responsible for accidentally waking up Mione.

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 are you going to do when Jess comes back?"

The two of them were walking across the dew-soaked lawn. Reeve had managed to escape the perpetual work in the garage, already stained with machine grease from the morning's work. Her excuse was needing a box of power converters that were stowed aboard the Falcon, a task that she was taking her sweet time in doing.

Reeve considered the question before bobbing her head with a new resolve. "I think I'm going to say something."

Lyra didn't hide her grin. "You should. It's reciprocated, and there's no way Jess isn't going to positively launch herself into your arms when she gets back."

Reeve pressed her mouth in a thin line. "We still don't know when they're coming back. Or if."

"They'll be back soon."

"You're acting weird," Reeve remarked.

Lyra played it off with a laugh. "I am not."

"You're being positive. That's weird for you."

"Very funny," Lyra groused. "But in all seriousness, you should tell Jess the truth about how you feel."

Her expression soured. "Jess and I have been friends for so long, it's gonna seriously screw up everything if it doesn't work out. I've missed her so much, I couldn't stand if we suddenly stopped talking to each other because I said too much."

Lyra smiled. "You'll never say too much, not with Jess. I have a good feeling about this. Besides," she gave a sly grin, "Poe and I have a bet going."

Reeve blinked, exasperated. "That was a cheap move, Ly."

They walked up the ramp of the Falcon, which was perpetually extended. "It's pronounced payback."

"Hey Chewie," Lyra greeted. The Wookie was bent over the computer system of the Falcon, trying to fix a cable that had come loose.

He barely picked up his head to acknowledge her.

It didn't seem like anything was wrong until Connix's footsteps echoed from the direction of the cockpit. The Lieutenant was running so fast, she didn't see Lyra until she had almost run into her.

"Oh shit," She yelped, startled. "I didn't see you guys."

Chewie stood up and grunted, What's wrong now?

Lyra gave an undignified snort at his demeanor. A few weeks back with the Resistance and he had already had enough of it. "Why do you have to say it like that?"

Chewie stuck out a furry elbow and nudged her gently in the side. Gently at that large of a scale almost knocked Lyra off her feet.

"I really don't know what he just said," Connix muttered. Then she blinked as she remembered what she was there for in the first place. "But I need to find Leia, she isn't answering her coms."

"I think she was in the big garage. My mom and Kes might be with her, you should try one of them," Reeve said before narrowing her eyes. "What exactly is going on?"

Finally, Connix's lips twitched into a fleeting smile. "Black Squadron just sent word to us."

Reeve almost choked on her own spit. "Jess?"

"No, not Jess this time," Connix told her. "It was a message from Snap."

Lyra breathed deep. Poe was going to be absolutely ecstatic. "Why are you saying it like it isn't good news?"

Connix looked crestfallen. Tiredly, she ran a hand through her once-neat blonde hair. "The signal they sent was a distress call. If we can't get to them soon, we might not see them again."

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

𝐀𝐋𝐋 it took were the words Snap and Karé and Poe was sprinting across the lawn.

Inside the house, the whole of the Resistance was gathered. Every single command module they had dragged inside was working in overdrive, and Threepio looked ready to have whatever the droid equivalent of the aneurysm was. It took Leia shouting and Mione threatening to stand up on the table and scream to get everyone to quiet down and listen to Connix.

"Black Squadron is on Ikkrukk near Grail City," Connix told them, brushing a piece of hair out of her eye. Dark circles rimmed her eyes, and she looked just as sleepless as they all did. "They've been trying to mount a defense, but one of the Green Squadron ships got shot down. They've got cover, but not for long."

"What about Inferno Squadron?" Lyra asked, leaning forward on the table. He watched her closely, captivated by the way she fell right into her old role. "Zay Versio has been in regular contact with us, is there any way they can get to the mid-rim fast enough?"

"No," Mione answered, mentally performing the calculations. "And we need to keep them in the Outer Rim. If we drag them out of hiding, they might not be able to get back."

"So we send a squadron of our own?" Reeve asked, gently placing her hands on her hips. She was the spitting image of her mom, and it was a little freaky how similar they were. "We only have three ships."

"One ship, actually," Eleni corrected her. "We have the A-Wing. I just tested the vertical stabilizers on both of them."

Lyra looked up, frowning. "What happened to the T-65s?"

Rose shook her head, sharing a sideways glance with Eleni. "You don't wanna know."

Poe could only guess that meant his sister had been conducting science experiments again.

"Anyway," Mione said hastily. "We have one ships. One. That's it. I hate to be the one to say this, but it's all too much of a risk. The cost is gonna outweigh any possible help we might be able to offer them. We'd expose ourselves for nothing."

There was a muttering of assent. The room was packed with everyone they had. Finn and Rey stood near Rose. Nien Nunb and their handful of pilots were in the corner, whispering quietly to each other. Connix was out the door and back at the Falcon with Chewie and Lando, but besides that, it was all of them.

Lyra's eyes were narrowed and she looked like she was ready to kill someone. She was thinking hard, taking everything into account and placing the facts next to the reality. He had watched her do it for years. There was a whole process to her decisions.

"No."

Everyone turned to look at Lyra. With the glint of a new scheme in her gray eyes, she easily held the attention of everyone in the room.

"No?" Mione echoed.

"We can't just leave them to fend for themselves. It's a big risk, a huge risk, but look at what they've done for us. We sent them off into the unknown to find a way to save us and we can't just pull out support because they've run into trouble like we knew they would. Our circumstances have changed dramatically, but the way we do things hasn't. If we have even the smallest chance of trying, it's worth it," Lyra spoke, her voice even and steady as ever.

There was silence for a few moments afterward. BeeBee, who had been rolling around, moved closer to Poe. The droid tilted his head up in expectation, and Poe knew what he was asking. When do we leave?

Poe's dad shifted where he stood. There was a holo-projector on one of the central modules, right where their sofa usually was, blinking blue with the Black Squadron's location. Poe knew they were thinking the same thing. That had been Shara's favorite spot to sit and watch the sunset.

"I've known Karé and Snap for years. If anyone can get out of this, it's them. But you're right, Lyra. If we can help them, we owe it to them to try," Kes nodded.

"So who's gonna fly the ship?" Eden piped up. She had her feet propped up on the table, and Poe had half a mind to smack her dirty boots off.

"Dameron is," Reeve said, furrowing her eyebrows as she looked around the room. "Didn't we all just decide that in our heads? I really don't think there's a better option."

Poe grinned. "Thanks for that vote of confidence, Reeve."

"Ah, anytime," she gave him a mock salute.

All that was left was Leia. She sat on a metal stool with her chin propped on her fist. Her word mattered over anyone else's. She was apprehensive. After losing everything, after watching the Resistance fall to pieces, there was a part of her that wouldn't let go of the fear of taking more risks.

Poe understood. That same fear lived in him, too. But that was the price of leading. To bear the weight and keep moving forward in order to preserve what they had left.

"General, this is how we have to do it. The First Order sure as hell wouldn't go rescue six pilots," Poe said. "That's everything the Resistance stands for. This is how we gain allies, not by preaching this stuff, but by showing them. Joining the Resistance means no one gets left behind."

Leia looked at Lyra, who just shrugged with a small smile on her face. Then Leia looked at Poe again. "Poe," she muttered. "Alright. I'm giving you my authorization to take one lightweight fighter in aid of the Black Squadron. There might be a way to reach more allies with this, and you're right. We don't leave people behind."

Everyone stayed silent, hanging on to every last word until Leia was done. Even then, it took a few seconds for people to get moving again. The living room cleared out, and soon it was only Kes, Mione, and Lyra.

"Those supplies we found will be enough to keep munitions stocked for the time being," Lyra said to Leia. "But it isn't going to last."

"And we can't stay here forever," Leia sighed. She stood and moved to the holo display, flicking her wrist and changing the image. "Your job is going to be two-fold, Poe. First priority is helping the Black Squadron, but once you get out of there, I need you to make a stop on Akiva."

"Akiva?" Kes echoed, looking into the glowing map that had appeared. "The only allies we have left out there are Wedge Antilles and Norra Wexley. Wedge is retired. Norra made it clear she doesn't want him coming back to the fight."

"I'm counting on that," Leia said conspiratorially. "I've already been in contact with Wedge. If he agrees to join us--"

"You think Norra will follow," Mione finished. "Sneaky, but it'll do the trick."

For a split second, Poe could imagine the three of them doing this back when they were his age. Kes had never been one for the air, which was why he had spent a considerable amount of time serving with Mione in the original Rebellion.

Wedge Antilles had been a flight instructor at the Hosnian Flight Academy before he decided to retire and settle down with Norra Wexley. Snap wouldn't be keen on having his mom back in the fight, but Poe knew it was at the point where they no longer had the luxury of choice.

"So, Commander Dameron," Leia said. "Are you up for it?"

"Yeah, I--wait," he stopped, holding out a hand and making sure he heard her correctly. "Commander?"

"Yes, Commander. This time, try not to blow it," Leia said sternly, but she was still smiling at him.

"I won't," Poe said soberly. He was being offered a chance to help right the course of the entire Resistance. "I definitely won't."

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

𝐓𝐇𝐄 ship was ready to go in no time at all. Rose, who looked like she had never even been injured, helped Rey and Reeve haul the A-Wing out of the garage with a hydraulic lift. Finn had tried to help, but the attempt ended with him chasing Elgie around for five minutes straight while he tried to get a wrench back.

Daylight caught on the edges of the ship's dents and the red paint was chipped from nose to tail. But the gunners worked, the hyperdrive was new, and most of all, it could fly.

He hadn't realized how much he had been waiting to get off the ground until he stood in front of the ship. His fingers twitched as if they were grasping at invisible controls, and even though he was flying out alone, a part of him was finally at rest. This was his purpose, to be in the sky.

Poe had already said goodbye to everyone. They had all been short, but none of them were careless. He had learned so well that no tomorrow was guaranteed. Still, he knew that as soon as he flew back from Akiva, all of those people would be wherever the Resistance ended up. It was predictable, at least.

It didn't make the goodbyes any less difficult. Letting go had never been an easy thing for him. Deep in the bottom of his heart, there were so many memories that he held close in a tight grip.

And now he was alone with Lyra. They were standing next to each other on the warm grass, leaning back against the tail panel of the A-Wing. Sunlight shone down on them, unhindered by the cloudless blue sky. Poe was wearing his flight suit, BeeBee was already waiting for him up in the ship.

All they were waiting for was a signal from the Falcon, and then Poe would leave.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Ikkrukk." Lyra said. She turned to meet his gaze. "Sometimes, I can't believe that was almost seven years ago."

Poe didn't have to think too hard to remember. "Yeah, I distinctly remember you saying that I was a disgrace to the word commander."

Lyra wrinkled her nose. "That wasn't very creative of me."

He laughed. It was funny how he had left a base a thousand times, but suddenly it felt like nothing he had ever done before.

"Poe," Lyra began, turning fully to face him.

"Don't," he said quietly. "What you're about to say, you don't have to say it. I'll be back soon."

She blinked and shook her head quickly, and he knew what the expression was. She was trying not to cry. "You don't understand, I need to."

He shifted closer, pressing his forehead against hers and grabbing her hand to hold against his chest. She took a deep, steadying breath.

"I'll be back soon," he repeated. If he said it enough, he hoped it would become true.

"Falcon to Black One, this is your signal. You've been cleared for takeoff. May the Force be with you, Commander Dameron."

They remained silent. The breeze tugged at her hair, and she wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Hey," he said softly, cupping his hand to her cheek. Her skin felt warm with sunlight, but he could have sworn there was heat from a flame burning there, too. "You know what that means? You're not my superior anymore."

She laughed, a sound so sweet and too short. Her voice was quiet, barely audible. If he hadn't been inches away, he wouldn't have heard her. "I love you, Poe."

"I love you too, Ly."

He pulled her face up to meet his. He would have stayed there forever, kissing her in the sunlight on Yavin IV and trying to pretend that this was the rest of his life. That he could have a future like his parents had. A small house on a beautiful planet that was made a home by the people inside of it. In this dream, there was no war that continued to tear them apart.

There was no one more night. No more falling into the safety of knowing that there were hours and minutes that spanned into the future. Time had run out like an hourglass of sand, and all that was left was standing there, looking at each other and knowing what neither of them was ready to say.

Somehow, even though he barely understood, he knew one thing: everything was going to change.

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 night, the T-65 X-Wing sat alone in the dim light of the garage.

Tears blurred her vision and anger fractured a cold heart. She didn't want to do this, and yet, it was all she had ever wanted. To find her father again, to rescue a man who didn't even want to be saved.

You're running away, the voice in her head nagged.

The second voice in her head overtook it. The one she heard in her dreams. You're ready, Lyra Jai.

Lyra thought of Poe again, like she would a hundred times over. Over and over, there was no word or death that would ever stop her idle thoughts from returning to him.

There would be no goodbyes for her. She had told no one her plans, downloading coordinates in small pieces over time. Asking Rey very specific questions about the journey. Sabotaging progress on one of the other ships so this X-Wing would be ready to go when it was time to leave.

The guilt of it rose in her stomach as she walked across the cement of the garage. Uniform on, communications disabled, Lyra took one last breath of Yavin air and hauled herself up and into the cockpit.

Her hand hovered over the ignition. Everything was going to change.

-ˋˏ★ˎˊ-

𝐋𝐄𝐈𝐀'𝐒 tea had gone cold.

The General stood near the kitchen table, mug just out of arm's reach. Even for the few short hours he had been gone, she already worried about Poe Dameron. She had never worried about his dedication or skill; it was what it would cost him that concerned her most.

A new worry appeared in the periphery of her mind. The dull sensation of another loss.

Before she could parse out its meaning, the door to the house slid open in a rush of humid air. A head of graying coily hair burst through first, followed by the gangly limbs of Mione Tailor.

"The ship!" Mione panted, eyes wide and afraid. "Eleni ran over shouting bloody murder. I didn't understand at first, but it's gone."

Leia understood immediately. Her body collapsed into the chair. Where had the years gone, truly? She should have anticipated this, prepared for it. And still, a part of her had not believed that Lyra was truly lost. Or, perhaps she hadn't wanted to accept that the realization had come too late.

A memory echoed. The first time she had held Lyra in her arms. The girl had come into the world screaming and crying, showing no mercy and giving no peace. But for the moment Leia held her, she had quieted. Curious, above all else, with eyes like twin oceans.

"You know," Leia had smiled softly in the quiet light. She stared adoringly at her niece, barely glancing up at Cora as she spoke. "Lyra sounds a lot like Leia."

Cora had laughed loudly. The tired, manic laugh that came with new motherhood. "That's what I was thinking, too."

Named for her grandmother, but not quite. Lyra Jai quickly became just LJ. A girl made from a mix of her mother's curiosity and none of her father's patience.

The memories came quicker now.

Lyra running around the lakeside at five years old, barefoot and showing her uncle Han a fish she had caught in a bucket.

Fourteen, dragged aboard the Millennium Falcon and staring at her own aunt like she was a stranger. The moment when lies began and Leia knew she would have to act as Lyra's General first, and an aunt second.

Lyra at sixteen, finally allowed to fly a ship, gray eyes blazing with teenage glory. No one trusted a First Order deserter. Leia vowed she would never allow Lyra's past to hinder her progress. Every day, Leia wanted to tell Lyra how much she was like her parents.

Nineteen, given a squadron and a new reason to turn herself into a different weapon. Long term missions, targeted kills. A woman bent towards vengeance.

Twenty-six and gone, disappeared into the night.

The guilt ripped straight through Leia's chest.

"There was nothing that would have stopped her," Leia muttered. "I should have known she would wait until tonight, she timed it perfectly."

Leia had seen the coordinates to Ahch-to on one of their meager excuses for computers, the coordinate path that Rey had taken on her long journey. The General hadn't thought anything of it; Leia Organa should have known better.

Mione gave a scoff of disbelief. "She jeopardized our cover!"

"She didn't," Leia shook her head. "Her talent for escapes has never failed, and she would never jeopardize more lives than her own."

Finally, Mione sat down. "If there is anything that will drag Luke away from that rock, it'll be his daughter." When Leia didn't speak, Mione turned to face her. "Leia?"

Composing herself, she managed to say, "We can only hope."

 ━━ -ˋˏ★ˎˊ- ━━

a/n it makes me cry a little (a lot) to think that Leia is really the only person who loved Lyra that has seen her through all these ages growing up in a war 🥺

So as you can probably tell, Lyra's decision is going to have some pretty drastic consequences. The timelines are going to diverge in a big way, but I'll still be having perspectives from both Poe and Lyra and their respective journeys. Luke & Lyra content is on its way!!

Let me know your thoughts!! This is where the act really takes off so I'm interested to hear what you guys think!!