─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

fade: chapter thirty-one

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

THE FORBIDDEN VALLEY OF PASAANA is not as desolate as Florence had expected it to be with a name like that. Today, of all days, the desert is colorful and loud, a species of alien she has never seen before dancing in sync at a large festival. C3PO explains it is a once every 42 years happening, which is quite lucky. Or unlucky, depending on how this goes.

They walk in a crooked line down the rocky mountainside towards all the commotion. The Aki-Aki don't seem to care about their presence, too caught up in their beautiful dance they have waited, probably some of them an entire lifetime for.

Rey is awestruck at the sight, her face plastered with a large smile as they push through the crowd as discreetly as possible. "I've never seen anything like this!"

"I've never seen so few wayfinders," Finn counters, walking past her.

Poe ignores them both - he's on edge, looking around them carefully. "There's always random first order patrols in crowds like these, so keep your heads down. Chewie."

Chewie roars in response, walking all hunched so he won't stick out too much in the crowd. Florence lets out a small chuckle at the sight.

"Let's split up, see what the locals know."

Florence and the Wookiee head their own way while Poe and Finn head straight ahead — neither of them noticing Rey has become occupied talking with a young Aki-Aki.

They walk through the crowds, eyes peeled for anything that looks particularly out of the ordinary. Only, everything looks out of the ordinary here. Florence has never seen anything quite like this in all her life, something so vibrant and good-spirited. These people mean no harm and neither do they — but she has a sinking feeling in her chest that things won't go to plan. Things rarely do.

"Do you happen to speak this language?" She glances at Chewbacca who shakes his head in response, letting out a small growl. Florence cannot remember ever learning shyriiwook, but she understands him well.

"Yeah, figured. Me neither, so this seems kinda pointless," she frowns. "Maybe we should find the guys before we stray too far away," she looks around them, scanning the crowd for any human faces. They walk through a small area of food stands, the scents overwhelming her senses; she feels both hungry and sick at the same time. Swallowing down her anxieties, she says nothing of it.

Chewie, now standing up straight to get a better view, sees them straight away. He tells her to follow him and she gladly does. She does not know the Wookiee well — but she likes him enough. He was there that day, when Han died. They had battled against each other, hiding behind pillars and shooting at one another. She would not be surprised if he doesn't like her all that much. He must've figured she had her gun pointed at his very best friend. Now he's dead. They both blame themselves for it.

        Regrouping with Finn and Poe who also have not seen anything out of the ordinary, or anything that may indicate the presence of a wayfinder, Rey soon joins them. She looks pale, eyes wide as if she has just seen a ghost. "We have to go back to the falcon, now." She exclaims.

"Why?" Finn frowns, looking at Poe for a split second. He is just as confused.

She looks at Florence. "It's Ren," her tone is grave and serious. They are in deep trouble.

"What about him?" Florence asks, her heartbeat thumping loudly in her ears. She almost reaches for someone to hold, suddenly feeling all too hot — a flash of sweats washing over her. She should've worn something lighter; the heat of the desert is unforgiving and her dress if thick, covering her limbs fully.

Rey looks at the group apologetically. "He knows where we are, or he will know in minutes time. We have to go!"

"Okay," Poe nods, accepting that they do not have more time here even if he wished they did. They cannot be caught so soon, they cannot fail this mission either. The survival of the entire galaxy is in their hands. "Follow me!"

They quickly come into a run, the festival is large and they had come quite far into the forbidden valley, meaning the falcon is far away and some of them aren't as fast as others, namely a golden droid who slips behind quite quickly. Florence throws glances back at him often to make sure he is with them.

Coming to a halt, Florence looks up to find that a trooper is staring right at them. "Freeze! Hold it right there! I've located the resistance fugitives, all units report to-"

An arrow pierces right through his helmet and the trooper lets out a shriek before falling backwards with a splat. Confused, the group look to see the source of the attack; a masked man standing in the entrance of a tent, hand resting on a cane.

"Follow me," he orders. While the rest of them look at each other as if to decide wether they should trust this random guy or not, Florence is the first to push through them and follow him — so the rest follow suit. A man who helped them must be a man on their side.

They walk with quick steps over to a transport moving slowly through the festival. "Hurry!" The man urges, stepping inside. Florence follows closely behind and the rest of them after her. Soon, they're all inside. "Leia sent me a transmission," he explained approaching the front of the transport where he says something to the driver in a language unknown to the group.

"How'd you find us?" Finn asks.

Instead of replying with words, the man takes off his helmet, confirming Florence's suspicions. Lando Calrissian — she is so utterly relieved to see him. "Wookiees stand out in a crowd," he smiles. Chewie lets out a happy roar and hugs his old friend. Bb8 lets out a series of confused beeps.

"It's good to see you to old buddy!" He chuckles, genuinely overjoyed to be reuniting with an old friend even though the circumstances leave a lot to be desired.

"This is general Lando-"

"I am most aware," Florence looks at Threepio as to shut him up. "You will not believe how happy I am to see you," she looks to Lando. He smiles at her.

"It's good to see you too, Florence. Glad to see you found your way to the good guys," he looks toward the group as to scan them. It all all too familiar, just a bunch of kids fighting a war. Poe and Finn exchange a confused glance.

"It was only possible with your help," she replies, smiling like a fool.

Finn is reeling with excitement. "It is an honor, General."

"General calrissian, we're looking for exegol," Poe says.

He looks at Florence, she nods in confirmation. "Of course you are," he says, tone grave and expression worried. Holding up his arm so everyone can see, he presses a button on the band around his wrist and a hologram is displayed. "Only two remain."

Rey recognizes it immediately. "A sith wayfinder, Luke Skywalker came here to find one."

"I know. I was with him," he chuckles. Rey looks at Finn, eyes wide. "Luke and I were tailing an old jedi hunter," the hologram changes to a face. "Ochi of Bestoon. He was carrying a clue that could lead to a wayfinder. We followed his ship halfway across the galaxy here. When we got to his ship it was abandoned. No clue, no wayfinder."

"Is ochi's ship still here?" Florence asks, eyebrows drawn together.

Lando nods. "It's on the desert where he left it."

"We need to get to that ship, search it again," Rey says.

Before anyone can say anything else, the screeching of approaching TIE-fighters sounds loud in the valley, easily detectable even through the loud music and singing going on around them, they're quick to peek out the windows, finding several ships are coming their way right this second.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Lando mumbles before turning to the group. "Ochi's ship is out past Lurch Canyon, go."

"Thank you General," Poe is quick out of the ship. Chewie looks to his old friend, uttering a few kind words before he too leaves.

"You too Chewie!"

Rey glances at the man, a legend she has heard many stories of. "Leia needs pilots, General."

"My flying days are long gone," he smiles sadly. "But do me a favor, give Leia my love."

"You should give it to her yourself. Thank you," she jumps out of the ship. Florence is the only one left, with no intent to stay very long, just enough to say goodbye.

"For the record, I agree with her," she chuckles, arching a brow. They really could use his help. If people knew Lando Calrissian was fighting this war too — there is no doubt their forces would be larger.

He shakes his head. "Yeah, yeah, now hurry up!"

"Thank you for everything!" Florence shouts as she runs out of the transport and catches up with the group.

They run towards a pair of speeders sitting unguarded a bit away from where people can see them. Poe heroes over and opens a small hatch on the underside of the speeders, beginning to search through the wires. "How do you know how to do that?" Finn questions. Poe ignores him.

"No need to worry! I made it!" C3PO in all his golden glory joins them, steps slow and awkward. Truthfully, neither of them had even thought about him in all their hurry.

A few of the nearby Aki-Aki seem to spot them, shouting loud and angry-sounding words their way as they spot a group of humans trying to steal — borrow — their ships. "We gotta go!"

They jump aboard the ships and head out to the desert away from the angry Aki-Aki and the approaching first order troops. Stood at the back of the speeder, Florence keeps her eye out for any threats. Not far out from the festival, the sound of approaching treadspeeder echoes through the valley. That didn't take long.

From the back of the treadspeeders, the second stormtroopers blast off into the sky, jet packs on their backs. Not stormtroopers; jet-troopers. "Rey, blaster!" Florence realizes she should have taken her blaster with her after all, but Rey quickly hands her hers and Florence shoots the first one down with two fired shots. Even after so long, her aim is still as good. She smiles, pleased with herself.

The two speeders separate to round a large rock and lead the troopers away. They launch large blasts into the ground, creating puffs of smoke in the air in front of them but Rey is skilled and this is nothing for her, she easily navigates around every obstacle while Florence protects them.

          She fires several shots toward the speeder coming up quite closely behind them, missing ever so narrowly each time. She lets out a frustrated groan just as BB-8 lets out a string of beeps, asking if they should use the canisters laying on the speeder. "Not now BB8!" Rey replies, but the droid does not listen. He picks a hole in the canister and it flies off, releasing a thick cloud of colorful yellow smoke into the air.

          The stormtrooper struggles to navigate the treadspeeder and ends up flying into the air after driving up a large rock acting as a ramp. Rey steers the ship so Florence can fire at it — causing the speeder to explode in the air.

         "Never underestimate a droid!" Rey exclaims, quoting Leia from a few days ago.

         They come out to a large opening, seeing the ship they're looking for on the top of a rock right ahead of them. "Ochi's ship!" Rey smiles for half a second before her expression falls. "I've seen that ship before."

         Florence looks at her, eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

         "Florence!" Poe shouts from their ship, he gestures to a flying trooper above them that they didn't manage to take out, she aims at him but does not manage to shoot before he fires at them and both of their speeders are fired at and they're launched into the air.

        The trio scream as they go falling through the air towards a field of sand. They quickly recover, everyone with a blaster fires at the stormtrooper until he is hit and goes flying far off into the distance.

         Florence sighs with relief until she realizes she is sinking. She should be panicking but she remains rather calm, looking around her at the chaos that has ensued.

         "The hell is this?!" Poe asks, stealing the words from her. She stars trying to push herself up, to no avail. BB-8 gives out some panicked beeps, rolling frantically in the sand.

          "Sinking fields! Try to grab something!" Rey shouts, reaching for a piece of wreckage.

          "Will this agony ever end?" C3PO cries.

          Poe is almost entirely under now, Florence tries to grab him but she's stuck in her place, no amount of force will budge her way closer to him. "Oh come on!" He goes under. Florence looks around her, panicked. There is nothing for her to grab onto that is in her reach.

          "BB-8! no!" Rey watches the droid sink through as well, hands extended towards his way but just a few inches too short.

          Finn is steady in his place, head barely above ground but he manages. Panicked, yes, but he has a few seconds left so he looks to his friend, the scavenger he ran into on Jakku that turned out to be one of his closest friends. He owes her a lot. "Rey! Rey! I never told you!" He shouts, not getting the chance to finish before the sand swallows him.

          "What? Finn-" Rey, too, is cut off, leaving Florence alone for a mere second. She is not as panicked as she perhaps should be, for someone who is certain they are dying. She is at peace with herself and the worlds round her. She is surrounded by friends and fully aware that she is not as bad as she once was. She is, also, more than certain that this is not where things will end for either of them. The world has not seen the last of her just yet. That, she is confident about.

        She closes her eyes and allows the sand to devour her, inhaling a final breath.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

          THIS IS NOT THE END FOR ANY OF THEM. The sinking fields, apparently, cover a tunnel system in which they land after a minute of sinking. Florence comes though, legs flailing for something to stand on. Poe catches her as her entire body falls down.

         "Oh, hey," she looks at him, standing up and dusting herself off. Everyone else has already found their way down. Makes sense, she was the last to go down so she was the last to come through.

         Rey looks at her, concerned. "You okay?"

        "I'm good, yeah," Florence replies, stretching her limbs out and straightening her back. That was a most unpleasant experience, but she's just happy that she's alive and well.

        Finn looks around them, the tunnels that have been carved out lead a heap of different ways. "Which way out?"

        Rey ignites her lightsaber to light their way, eyes squinted to see ahead. Poe lights his flashlight which, compared to the lightsaber doesn't do a whole lot. Finn chuckles at his attempt as Rey turns around to go in the opposite direction. "We have to hurry," she says. "So what was it?" She looks to Finn.

"What?"

"What you were gonna tell me," Rey whispers, her voice echoing through the tunnels. It is eerily quiet, dark and rather chilly.

Finn apparently decides to play dumb, cringing at himself for deciding to say that. He had thought he was dying — it seemed right in the moment but now he wants to sink though this floor as well just to flee this awkwardness. "When?"

Rey rolls her eyes. "When you were sinking in the sand you said 'I never told you...'"

He lowers his voice. "I'll tell you later."

Florence and Poe exchange a look, they're walking side by side just a few paces behind the other two. "You mean when Poe's not here?" There's a teasing sense to his question, but also sincere annoyance — he's only trying to play it off as if he's joking. Part of him isn't actually joking.

"Yeah, Mhm," Finn replies mockingly, watching Poe walk past him.

"We're gonna die in sand burrows and we're all keeping secrets?" Poe says, annoyed.

"I'll tell you when you tell us about all that shifty stuff you do!"

Florence listens to all their talking but adds nothing to it. She does not have that same relationship to them as they have to one another. She is more focused on finding her way out, slightly panicked over the fact that they may or may not be stuck there.

Poe walks at the head of the line, shining his flashlight all around him to get a good look at the surroundings. "I do not wanna know what made these tunnels."

Threepio, being known to take things a little bit too literally speaks up. "Judging by the circumstances of the tunnel walls there are-"

"I said I do not want to know. Not." He cuts the droid off, suddenly stopping, his flashlight pointed at something that definitely looks out of the ordinary down here in the system of tunnels. "What's that?"

"Is it a speeder?" Finn asks.

"An old one," Rey comments.

"Perhaps we will find the driver," C3PO adds, hand on the hood of the age old speeder.

BB-8 beeps only response. "Yep, BB-8, I think dead too," Poe agrees with him, peering into one of the adjacent tunnels.

"Oh my, a hex charm!" C3PO exclaims, having taken a proper look at the speeder.

Florence stands beside him, looking at the old speeder with little interest. She just wants out of here. "A what?"

"A common emblem of south loyalists," the droid supplies.

   "Sith," Rey repeats under her breath as if realizing something.

Finn looks at the speeder closer. "This was Ochi's?"

"Luke sensed it. Ochi never left this place," Rey looks around them carefully, taking a few steps ahead to look down the tunnel.

Finn hums. "And he ended up down here."

"He was headed for his ship. Same thing happened to us happened to him!" Poe fills in.

"So how did ochi get out?"

Florence, having wandered a bit, can answer that question for them. "He never did. He still here."

They all run up to her, finding the perfectly placed bones. "Bones? Never a good sign." The golden droid says from behind them. Florence looks at him, rolling her eyes.

BB-8 rolls ahead having spotted something in the sand, he alerts them. "Yeah, I see it," Rey walls up to him and crouches down in to take out an object hidden by a thin layer of sand.

"Horrible things have happened with this," she says as she studies it closer.

"There's writing on it," Poe points out.

"Perhaps I can translate," Threepio offers and Rey hands him the knife. He takes a look at it, pleased. "Oh, the location of the wayfinder has been inscribed upon this dagger. It's the clue that master Luke was looking for."

"And?"

"Where's the wayfinder?"

"I am afraid I can not tell you!" Threepio lowers the arm holding the knife, looking at them all with the same expression as always.

Poe glares at him in disbelief. "20.3 fazillion languages, you can't read that?"

"Oh, I have read it, sir. I know exactly where the wayfinder is. Unfortunately it is written in the runic language of the sith."

"Okay, and?" Florence shakes her head.

"My programming forbids me from translating it," he explains simply. Had he been a human, he would probably have shrugged in that annoying way which makes you want to slap someone. They all groan in annoyance. This shouldn't be so hard with a droid who reads so many language — his pure function amongst them should be able to solve this very problem. Yet the idiot who programmed him has forbidden him from translating sith. It makes no damn sense.

Poe, utterly annoyed from earlier and rather irritated with their circumstances finds this to be the final straw. "So you're telling us that the one time we need you to talk, you can't?" He deadpans.

"Irony, sir. I am mechanically incapable of speaking translations from sith. I believe the rule was passed by the senate of the the old republic..."

They all take out their weapons as a creature, a serpent, rises tall and threateningly behind the droid — BB-8 beeps in panic as to warn the cyborg who turns around to see what the fuss is about and immediately shrieks. "Serpent! Serpent! Serpent!" He hurries to hide from it at the back of the group.

The serpent hisses as them, but he keeps his distance. Rey seems to relax slightly, gesturing for them to lower their weapons. Finn takes the saber from her, her breathing irregular as to prepare herself. "Rey," Finn warns her as she takes a step forward.

She ignores him, continuing to ever so slowly walk up to it, only stopping once it hisses so loudly she is frightened by it. The group stays readied in position to fight, must they need to. This doesn't seem like a good idea at all, Florence thinks. Neither does Poe, apparently, his hands are holding his blaster steadily. "Finn-"

"Shh!"

Rey keeps going, stepping over a part of it's long body with her hands held up as a sign of peace. Poe shakes his head. "I'm gonna blast it," he whispers. From beside him, Finn shakes his head.

"Don't blast it!" He orders.

Rey crouches down with her eyes locked on the serpent's face, reaching her hand out and placing it softly on it's body. It's a wound, Florence figures without being able to see much from where she's stood. The serpent hisses, but not in a threatening way this time but rather as if he is in pains Rey concentrates and heals him, breathing slow and focused.

The serpent hums softly before he seems to nod at her and slinks away into the depths of the system of burrows that are his home, revealing an opening that leads out into the desert. While the others look outside to see, Florence has spaced out, completely taken aback. She did not know such a thing was possible. Force healing? This changes everything.

Nevertheless, she follows them outside into the warm and dry desert, finding they are not too far from the ship they were originally headed to. They immediately, rather hurriedly, make their way up the large rock on which the ship is sat on top of. Intact, after all these years, but worn down.

"We can not possibly fly in that old wreck!" C3PO says as they climb. How the hell he manages so well in these situations, being a droid and all, keeping up with humans and climbing around like this, Florence may never know.

"We gotta keep moving, find someone who can translate that dagger. Like a helpful droid!"

Threepio decides to ignore the comment. Or perhaps he didn't quite catch it. "I suggest we return to the millennium falcon at once."

Poe shakes his head. "They'll be waiting for us at the falcon."

"Yeah they'll throw us in the Pits of Griq," Finn adds humorously.

"Yeah," Poe chuckles. "And use you as a target droid."

"You both make excellent points, at times." Threepio says, unbothered as he makes his way up the hill.

As Florence is about to step up with the help of Poe, Finn, behind her, looks to Rey who is stood at the edge of the cliff staring into nowhere. "What is it?" He asks, and Florence steps down, throwing a quick glance to Poe as to say she'll be back.

"I'll be right behind you," she hands him everything she's carrying. "It's okay."

Florence looks at her. "Rey?"

"I'll be back in a minute!" She is already headed down towards the sand again. No one will be able to stop her, so they don't.

Instead, Florence is hoisted up by Poe and they get inside the old and dusty ship, its door creaking loudly as it opens. Poe runs inside and turns the lights on, they struggle, flickering as they start up but they seem to work just fine. "Let's see what we got! Lets get those converters fired up," he pushes through cobweb.

Florence looks around at the mess of a ship, finding it awfully strange that it has not been touched for 30 years. Perhaps the Aki-Aki are not scavengers as other species are. "What a filthy ship!" C3PO comments from beside her.

For once, Florence wholeheartedly agrees with the droid. "I agree. Junk is what it is," she scrunches her nose in disgust. Chewie roars in agreement, looking through a pile of rubbish.

Finn looks out from the cockpit. "Chewie, tell Rey we gotta go!" Chewie does as gold and heads outside to fetch Rey.

"What is she up to?" Florence joins them at the front of the ship, looking out the windshield. She is just... walking. Slow steps, right ahead. "What is she..." she trails off, a feeling settling within her. He's here. He's here and he's approaching quickly. Tensing up, she digs her nails into her left arm, teeth clenched.

"You okay there?" Finn watches her sudden change in manners.

She looks to Poe, eyes wide with panic. She can feel her heartbeat accelerate, breathing starting to feel heavier. He doesn't take long to realize. "It's Ren," he says.

"What?" Finn looks at Rey again. "And where is Chewie?" Now he leaves too, running outside to get both of them back.

"Hey, hey, hey," Poe looks at Florence quickly as he fires up the ship. "Sit down, breathe. He won't know you're here."

Florence hadn't realized she was holding her breath. She sits down, letting go of her arm. "Trust me, he'll know," she replies lowly, looking out the window. He probably sensed her long ago — she was late to the game. He knows she is here but he is not out for her right now. And yet she doesn't feel entirely safe.

There, approaching through the canyons, his TIE Whisper. Rey comes to a run as it approaches her and does a backflip just as it is about to run into her, slicing one of the wings off of it. Now, Florence holds her breath intentionally, watching with wide eyes as the ball that holds Ben is sent rolling into the desert with high velocity, eventually exploding.

She leans closer to the window, eyes trained on the explosion. He's too far away for her to see, but he is alive, she is most certain of it. He must be. She would've felt it otherwise. She ignores all else and keeps her eyes locked on the smoke rising into the air until Poe's hand on her shoulder brings her out of it.

He's looking at something else — a transport in the sky struggling to get anywhere as Rey is pulling it to her. They watch with wide eyes. She looks like she has it, like she'll get it down, until Ben gets out of his ship and approaches her. What comes next can only be described as a tug-of-war. He's pushing the ship away and she's pulling it down, the transport ship stays still in it's place for a bit, twisting and turning in struggle from the two powerful forces. It is a brilliant demonstration of power, sure, but Florence can not fathom why in the world Ben would do this. Those are his men on that transport, and he's jeopardizing their life. Perhaps he does not care for nameless soldiers.

Force lighting projects out of Rey's hand suddenly, causing shock to everyone. Florence cannot believe what she's seeing, but it is truly happening. The lighting travels to the ship and it explodes into large chunks landing in the sand below. Rey almost stumbles over as she pulls her hand back to her, unable to believe what just happened — even Ben is caught off guard.

"Chewie!" Rey shrieks, staring at the wreckage falling slowly to the ground.

"Nooo!" Finn lets out a cry.

Florence hasn't even realized Poe had left her side, but he has run outside to warn them. "Rey! We gotta go they're coming!" Several TIE-fighters are headed toward them.

"Rey! Come on!"

"Rey we gotta hurry!"

She stands in her place for a few seconds, staring at her hand in utter disbelief before she runs back to the ship with tears in her eyes.

Florence keeps her eyes on Ben who is just as shocked as the rest of them. He watches the fire coming from the ship, black smoke rising into the sky. Then he notices her, and turns his head to look at her in the cockpit. He cannot see her from where he's stood. But she's there alright, watching him like she always has been.

He hasn't been this close to her in so long, it feels completely surreal and insanely frustrating that he can do nothing but look at her because duty calls. Love is the death of duty, snoke once told him. Ben thinks it goes the other way too. Love is the death of duty as well as duty is the death of love.

It is just a matter of prioritizing which one is more important. A month ago, Ben would've put Florence in front of any sort of duty. She was the most important thing to him. But now? Now he turns his head and joins his knights of Ren instead.

Florence had not expected him to do otherwise, but the heartbreak is utterly agonizing. She loved being his one and only. She loved being adored and cherished with him.

She loved being loved by him. And watching him walk away from her, choosing his role as supreme leader instead of her — it hurts.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
[ words 5090 ]

Could I have split this chapter in
two and we would've gotten two
long chapters out of it? Yes.
Could I bother? No.

Suuuper long chapter today!!
Hope you are all doing good and
you enjoyed this chapter.
Stay safe everyone<3