scene with ~nolongerbensolo

[poeticforce]

There's something surreal about the moment.

Another battle in the never-ending series of fighting as the Resistance tried to stay a step ahead of the First Order. The base is old, from the war before, and Leia had been sure it wouldn't be discovered right away. And it hadn't been. It was safe until it wasn't, which sort of seemed like the story of every day. Poe had thrown together a plan to keep the First Order at bay long enough that most everyone could get to the escape tunnels and to safety. It meant possibly sacrificing a dozen or so but their numbers had slowly been creeping back up (he was certain the First Order was growing exponentially in the meantime) so losing a few wasn't as devastating as it once was. He sent Rey and Finn with Leia; protecting her was the most important thing, almost more than the Resistance itself. Besides, she was the one who knew the way out.

In his typical fashion, Poe was handling the riskiest part of the plan: closing the sets of blast doors that would block the First Order from getting to the inner sanctum of the base and discovering the tunnels. He knew it wouldn't keep them out for long but the delay should be enough to give everyone else the time they needed. When discussing the plan Rey had pointed out the doors could only be opened from the inside and it had taken more effort than it should for Poe not to roll his eyes at her. He wasn't locking himself out; all he had to do was make it to the hangar bay and grab a ship and he'd meet up with them at a pre-arranged location. There was a small shuttle around the backside of the base that wasn't likely to be noticed, but that was the escape plan for the Resistance fighters who would be holding the line to keep the First Order out. If all the rebel ships were destroyed he'd just steal a First Order shuttle or something. He'd figure something out. He always did.

The first two sets of doors were closed without issue and he was running to the final set, hearing the sounds of the fight getting louder. At least it seemed like their troops were entrenched well enough to hold their own. Poe hadn't been completely confident on that point.

Turning the corner, he mentally prepared for what he needed to do, adrenaline humming through his veins. But no sooner was the door in sight then he found himself staring at Kylo Ren standing on the other side and Poe practically skidded to a stop. His blaster aimed reflexively but that was all it did.

He hadn't encountered the other man since Crait, which felt like eons ago but really was only months. That wasn't to say he hadn't seen Kylo since then, however.

The torture, apparently, had done more than simply waken his Force abilities. And that was torture for Poe. At least in the beginning, after the fleeting brushes of emotions that weren't his turned into words and eventually images. Truthfully, there had been a brief period where Poe wished the torture killed him because the idea of having some sort of connection, being bonded to Kylo Ren for the rest of his life sounded like a crueler torture than the interrogation droids and the Force ripping through his mind. It was bad enough Poe couldn't get away from the other man in his nightmares, now he was in his waking mind as well?

Poe tried to ignore it. What was one more thing on the increasingly long list of things he was consciously choosing not to deal with? Somewhere along the line it couldn't be ignored. Hostile words and provocation eventually gave way to annoyance rather than anger, and flippant remarks rather than trying to cut to the heart. Flare-ups of outright hostility became confined to immediately after battles between the two sides but those flare-ups never seemed to last.

He didn't think too much about what it meant. What any of it meant. Even if he wanted to there wasn't the time. With Leia's health in a fragile state ever since her near-death brush with space, leading the Resistance had fallen solely on Poe's broad shoulders.

It was probably for the best then that no one knew his nights were occasionally occupied by conversations with the leader of the enemy.

"What are you doing here?"

The words came out before his brain could catch up and stop him from making such a pointless remark and Poe furrowed his brow at himself, shaking his head slightly in hopes they could just ignore that.

"Weird seeing you without the mask. Too stuffy?" That was... marginally better. It sounded more like himself, anyway. And sure, he'd seen Kylo across their bond but actually in person was different, at least to him it was. "You're not going to stop the Resistance today so you might as well call off your stormtroopers."