14 | FREEDOM

Everyone followed Celestia out of the base, minus Babu Frik since that was his home. "How dare you! We've only just met!" Threepio tried to yank his arm away from Celestia, but she kept an iron grip on his metal, refusing to leave anyone behind.

"Celestia!" She heard Zorii, stopping her in her tracks.

The rest of the group continued on, Poe taking Threepio with him. She flicked out her captain's medallion and placed it in the palm of Cel's hand. "Might get you on a capital ship. To help your friend." Zorii nodded firmly at Cel.

She shook her head. "I can't, you need this." She tried to refuse.

"You need it more." She assured her, pushing Cel's hand away from her.

Cel gulped. She threw her arms around the woman and gave her a tight squeeze. "I like you."

"I like you, too." Zorii chuckled.

Celestia turned on her heel to take off, but she was stopped once again. "One more thing," Zorii shouted, "take care of him for me." Celestia smiled small at her a nodded, then finally took off sprinting after the group with the cold medallion in her palm.

* * *

Upon entering the ship, Poe was already seated and ready to go. Cel reached out and placed the medallion in the ship's dashboard to indicate to any other ship that they had free passage. "The medallion?" Poe looked up at Celestia.

Celestia looked down at him with her bright red nose from the cold. "Zorii." Was all she had to say for him to understand that Zorii had given her the medallion to safely escape.

"Clear for entrance into hangar 12," Poe spoke into the coms.

"Flying straight into a destroyer. Never thought we'd get this far." Cel admitted, palming her forehead at how insane they were for doing that.

Quickly, they landed into the hangar of the destroyer and opened up the ship to allow the inspecting stormtroopers to walk straight into their trap. Quietly and effectively, they took out the two troopers and ran inside the destroyer, leaving the droids behind on the ship. "Which way?" Rey asked Finn.

"Uh, no idea. Follow me!" Blindly, everyone followed Finn, since he was the only one with the slightest bit of knowledge of the First Order ships.

* * *

Their blasters drawn, they crept into the area where they kept prisoners. Two troopers jumped out in front of them, but Rey already began using her ability to compel the weak-minded. "It's okay that we're here." She waved her hand.

The troopers lowered their weapons and quietly accepted that they belonged there. "We're looking for a prisoner and his belongings," Rey spoke to the troopers.

Quietly, they led them straight to Chewie's cell block. But before they could proceed, Rey began sensing something else. "The dagger's on this ship we need it. I'll meet you back at the hangar." Her face was blank.

"Rey you can't just leave like that!" Finn shouted as he chased after her. Poe and Cel let it happen as they continued on to find Chewie.

* * *

Within minutes, Cel and Poe quickly found Chewie chained up to a wall. He looked like he was in pain and uncomfortable in his shackles. "Of course we came for you, Chewie," Poe responded to Chewie groans.

Chewie asked about Rey and they responded, "She's here, she's gonna get the dagger."

Poe and Cel lifted Chewie up and the three hurried back to the hangar. There must've been a signal alerting that Chewie had broken free since the halls were swarming with troopers now. "Wish I could do what Rey did earlier!" Cel grunted as she shot down the halls and took out a couple of troopers at a time.

Cel grabbed a blaster off one of the dead troopers and tossed it to Chewie so he could defend himself as Cel and Poe had.  He held off the troopers coming from their backside as Poe and Cel flanked the hangar. From afar, Cel saw Poe get shot right in the shoulder and fall to the ground.

"Poe!" She screamed, running toward him. She dropped to her knees beside him and applied pressure to his wound. Poe grunted in pain.

She heard footsteps approaching from behind her and she groaned, turning around to spot dozens of troopers running in to surround them. "Fuck." She cursed under her breath.

"Drop your weapons now!" One trooper shouted.

Cel analyzed every blaster pointed at their heads. There were too many. There was no way out. She could try to pull a miracle but it could get them killed.

* * *

Without hesitation, a general gave the order to shoot the three dead. They were lined up with three troopers behind them with a blaster in hand to slaughter them like pigs. Poe managed to squirm his hands out his bindings to lace his fingers with Celestia's. He looked over at her with desperate eyes, wondering if that'd be the last time he'd ever see her face. A single tear streamed down Cel's eyes, she didn't want this to be the end. This wasn't the way it was supposed to go, yet, there they were.

"Actually, I'd like to do this myself." A loud booming voice spoke from behind them.

The voice was unfamiliar to the three. "If this is our end," Poe began, "I just want to say I love you, Cel. I have always loved you, you are my one, true wild soulmate. And I was never planning on letting you go."

His words only caused more tears to fall down her eyes. This wasn't what she imagined her future would be like as a child. She had perfect adoptive parents who gave her a stable life. But something inside her burned for a risky life, a life with no security and no safety. The only aspect of that dream she had a child was to be with a man that loved her so much, he'd die happy if he were by her side. And that dream came true. He stood right before her at that very moment, looking at her with his beautiful eyes and shining white teeth. "This isn't our end, Poe," she smiled at him through watery eyes.

"We're gonna have a life together, after this is all over. We're gonna get married and live in a little house somewhere." Her voice was shaky and she squeezed his hands harder when she heard the click of the safety on the blaster unlock.

"And have a bunch of kids," Poe added with a sad smile.

Chewie spoke out that he wanted to be part of this life, too. "Of course, Chewie, you'll live with us and the kids will love to hear all your stories of adventures at bedtime." Cel nodded at him. She could see the tears welling up in Chewie's eyes, too. He felt guilty. They had come back to save him only to be murdered.

Celestia closed her eyes once she heard the first blast go off. One two more blasts went off, she opened one eye and noticed the trio wasn't dead. Confusedly, she looked behind her and spotted General Hux with the blaster in hand and three dead troopers laying at his feet. "I'm the spy." He nervously announced to the three.

Celestia let out a breath of relief and felt her knees buckle. She grabbed onto Poe for support and embraced him tightly. "I so thought we were dead." She took deep, calm breaths.

"What?!" Poe exclaimed excitedly to Hux.

"We don't have much time." Hux's face was still pale from his actions.

Poe, still clutching onto Celestia, pointed at Hux. "I knew it!"

Celestia pulled away from him and punched him lightly in the chest. "No, you did not!"

Poe smiled down at her. "Can I kiss you?" He squeezed her cheeks.

"If that means you'll let go of my face, yes." Cel's voice was muffled as her face was being squished tightly. Poe planted a loving kiss on her lips and pulled away to take absorb her face. "I love you." He spoke before he practically began skipping away after Hux. Cel chuckled and shook her head.

* * *

The hangar that they had landed in was filled with troopers, Rey and a single Kylo Ren, so they had to go with plan B. On the way to the second hangar, the trio ran into Finn and the droids. They were carrying a handful of weapons, including the dagger. They hurried into the other hangar. Their jaws dropped to the floor when they spotted what ship was left, alone, in that hangar. The Millenium Falcon. "It's like she was waiting for us." Cel rubbed her hands together and bolted inside. "I have an idea to save Rey," Cel spoke as she stole Poe's spot to be the main pilot of the ship.

Once everyone was all aboard, she flew out the ship right before the hangar where Rey was trapped in with Ochi's old ship. "Hold her steady!" Cel shouted at Poe as they balanced the ship before Rey so she could jump onto the ship. The troopers began shooting their little blasters at the beast of a ship. Before long, Rey jumped on and they took off as fast as they could. "Woohoo!!!" Poe clapped his hands together as they jumped into hyperspace to escape the destroyer.