Once the escape pod is intercepted by the Millenium Falcon, I bound after Rey towards the cockpit. I focus on the back of her head, her brown hair swaying with each footstep, so I won't think of everything I've walked away from. Of the burst of joy unlike anything I'd felt before at the moment those cinnamon eyes had opened, when I thought I'd lost them forever. It hadn't even been an hour.

Stars, the void in my mind where his heartbeat had always resided began to throb. It hadn't even been an hour.

    You and I, Lya.

    I squeeze my eyes shut. I do not regret what I did. There is not an ounce of regret in my heart. But that doesn't mean it hasn't shattered beyond repair. Just as I'm about to sink to my knees, crushed beneath the weight of it all, when I'm broken from my thoughts by the growl of my name called in Shyriiwook. I open my eyes, a faint smile gracing my lips.

    "Chewie," I sigh, feeling a little warmer at the sight of one of my longest friends. Someone I'd almost seen as an uncle due to his fun visits alongside Han at the Jedi Academy. I place my hand on his furry shoulder in greeting, because I'm unable to hug him while he's in the pilot seat, though more than anything, I could really use one of his hugs right now.

    I glance out the windshield to see us soaring towards a white planet, several screeching First Order ships hot on our heels. Chewie calls out to order the pair of us to decide who will take gunner and who will take co-pilot. I look to Rey and she quickly chooses gunner, then turns and surprises me by gently taking my hand.

    "We're glad to have you with us, you know," she mumbles kindly, before a smile like pure sunshine lights her face. I can't help but mirror the expression, despite the throbbing in my ribs and soul.

    "Thank you," I whisper. She nods once and squeezes my hand, then disappears from the cockpit to take up the gunner position below the ship. I sink into the seat beside Chewie and take a deep breath before I clutch the controls.

-

    We're over the surface of Crait, scanning for lifeforms and awaiting the First Order's inevitable attack on the remnants of the Resistance, whom Rey said would be landing here any moment now, when I spot a black mass disrupting the layers of white salt, the ground beneath it as red as if it had begun to bleed.

    "Circle back, Chewie. What's this mass?" I ask, squinting to decipher its origin.

"It definitely looks like a ship," Rey supplies over the intercom, and I mutter my agreement. Chewie obeys, and we circle the Falcon around, closing in on the space to get a better look. I gasp.

    "It's an escape pod. Probably from the First Order fleet," I voice, furrowing my eyebrows. I'd thought Rey and I had taken one of the last escape pod when we'd fleed The Supremacy, leaving B-...leaving...

    I shake my head. Now is absolutely not the time to dwell on it.

    Chewie growls that he's scanning for lifeforms, while I continue watching for movement. Just as he confirms sensing one lifeform, I see a head of umber hair poke out from the hatch.

    Stars. Stars.

    "We have to land, Chewie, right now!" I say excitedly. Chewie doesn't question the request, and we both begin to flip the switches and press the controls to trigger the landing sequence. As the Falcon thuds to the ground, spraying up a cloud of salt, I run from the cockpit and am down the door hatch just as it drops open.

    I can't believe I'd forgotten about him. And somehow, he had survived the obliteration of the fleet. Somehow, he is alive. Everything I'd done in the past weeks had actually paid off.

    "Marco!" I call, my grin splitting my face. By now, I've all but forgotten the glaring void at the back of my mind. He spins around, his eyes widening as they settle on me. Then, he's grinning too.

    Despite the salt powdering his black clothes, the countless tears bespeckling them, and the blood drying on the side of his face, bruises marring the tan skin of his face, I all but throw myself into his strong arms. He catches me easily, and I bite back a groan as he squeezes me, one of my splintered ribs throbbing. I'm too happy to see him, that stars, he's still alive. I could sink into his warmth, at the relief of it all.

    "What are you doing here?" he asks, pulling away.

    "I could ask the same of you," I reply, still staring into those tawny eyes in disbelief.

    "I hate to break this up, but the scanners just picked up on an approaching fleet," Rey interrupts, coming to a stop beside us.

    "The First Order," I fill in, and Marco nods. After a second's hesitation, I grab his hand. The void in my mind throbs. "Come with us," I say, searching his gaze. He smiles faintly.

    "Of course," he agrees. Then we're off, sprinting for the Falcon to protect our own and make the bad guys hurt.

-

    Rey and I whoop as she shoots true and another TIE Fighter spirals from the sky. We're in pursuit of another one almost instantly, when suddenly they all fall back into a line formation and disappear into terrestrial assault team's ranks.

    "Should we land?" Rey asks over the comm. "The Resistance is behind those doors, they'll let us in," she adds.

    "No, look, there's someone coming out. Who is that?" Marco questions from his seat behind me, pointing out the windshield. I squint, noticing that there is, indeed, a lone figure emerging from the place in which the Resistance is hidden. The feeling in the Force, the specific essence, seems to hit us all simultaneously.

    "Luke," I breathe, my pulse quickening at the realization that I am actually seeing my former master for the first time since that night. The night when everything took a horrible, horrible turn. The night whose marks I still bear, emotionally and physically. Marco leans forward, his face inches from mine as he tries to get a better look.

    "What's he doing?" Marco asks. As if in answer, every AT-AT and ship in the First Order's fleet opens fire. My stomach plummets, and I let out a strangled shriek. We watch, in stunned silence, as thousands of laser bolts obliterate the man who trained us, and made us into warriors of the heart and mind. The man who raised us.

    I have to force myself to keep watching, even as the shots cease and the salt begins to clear.

    Luke is still there. We erupt into relieved cheers.

    Then, too soon, there is another figure, and I feel the color drain from my face. In all my efforts to block him out, to eliminate his presence from my mind and soul, I hadn't been able to sense Kylo Ren in the Force. He had been here this whole time. Had he sensed me? Did he know that Rey and I were not behind the metal door that protected the Resistance and his mother from the onslaught he'd likely ordered?

    What would it even mean if he had thought I was behind that door?

    No, it doesn't matter. Not anymore. I am done with him. I told him as much, so I need to believe it too.

    I feel Marco rubbing at my hands, which had gone white-knuckled as I clutched the controls with all of my strength. I glance at him, and there's a concerned frown on his face.

    Kylo Ren's presence is so strong now, something looming in the dark, beckoning. I feel it begin to nudge me, to push me, to overwhelm my senses-

    I am lucky I have the good sense to grab the bucket near my feet, just in time to empty my guts inside. Marco is rubbing small circles on my back, and I can hear him conversing with Chewie and Rey on what to do but cannot make out words as an intense ringing has flared up in my ears. The void in my mind pounds relentlessly, the pain almost so great that I could black out.

    Then we're drifting away, out of the sight of the battle looming between the two.

    "He's a distraction, so they can escape. We need to find them," I hear Rey say, as the ringing fades, the pounding in my head reducing to a familiar throb. Chewie is controlling the Falcon on his own, weaving between craters while listening to Rey's instructions, as I sit, hunched over with my knees to my chest in my seat.

    "Are you okay? What happened back there?" Marco asks from my other side, his hand gently resting at my shoulder. I turn to look at him.

    "I left him, Marco," I admit, my eyes going a little glassy as I turn to him and note the surprise on his face. "But when I saw him there, when I felt him in the Force again, it was just..."

    "Too much," he fills in. I nod in agreement, then look away. The throbbing in my ears, the head-pounding, the blurry vision, it all made sense. But the vomiting had felt... somehow unrelated. I don't dare voice this concern- for my sake or theirs, I'm not sure.

-

    We're on our way to find a new base for the Resistance, after having found them behind a pile of rocks that Rey had miraculously lifted with the Force. Instead of going to Leia right away, I'd allowed a medic to fix bacta-bandages over my ribcage, a temporary solution until I could really soak in bacta and let it heal fully.

When I'm done, I go into the lounge area, looking for the weary general. Just as Rey leaves Leia to check on her unconscious friend, who she had called Finn, I take up the empty space beside her.

    "He's too far gone, isn't he?" she asks sadly, though it doesn't sound as if it's something she's entirely surprised by.

    "I think so," I agree, though something cracks inside of me. She gives me a knowing smile, as if she can sense my thoughts, and raises her arm to beckon me nearer. I instantly take the invitation, scooting close enough to lean my head on her shoulder. As she loops her arm over my back and hugs me closer, my eyes fall on Marco, sitting alone across the room. It's hard as I'm being held by the mother of my soulmate, the one I've probably lost for good, but I force out a comforting smile, which he returns.

    "Have hope, Lyra. No one's ever really gone," she mumbles. I say nothing, but I let the words settle in my heart for safe-keeping.

    We stay like that for what feels like forever, processing our losses, until we eventually come out of lightspeed.

Light Years away from Kylo Ren- too far to feel his heartbeat through the Force, even if I were to allow it back into my mind.

    It is then that I realize that the throbbing in my mind is also gone, but replaced by something that still remains.

    Another heartbeat. Fast, new, and small.

-

AHHHHHHHH

GUYS, THAT WAS THE LAST OFFICIAL CHAPTER OF BOOK TWO!! (there's still gonna be an epilogue, of course, so don't remove the story from your library too soon)

Can you believe it? WE MADE IT!!

Was it what you expected?

Either or, hopefully the epilogue will be up soon- I haven't written it yet, but I am done with classes for the summer so I should have plenty of time!

THEN ON TO BOOK 3, THE LAST BOOK OF THE SERIES

And thank you guys for being so awesome and supportive of my stories. I cannot stress this enough, but it means the world to me :)

I hope all is well and your quarantines are going okay! Don't forget to vote, comment, and share!

kait