Watching the First Order ships blow up was both incredibly satisfying and saddening.

The bombs went off only seconds after their ship got out of range and it was quite the rocky journey while Rey and Nell flew their vessel to the outskirts of the battlefield. They turned the ship around to watch the explosions and all three of them watched in awed silence.

Rey felt an immense pressure in her chest, compressed by the force as thousands of lives ended all at once. Despite believing in her reasons for doing this, her eyes pricked with tears at the loss.

"Wow…" Nell breathed the word out quietly and Rey turned to see her transfixed on the explosion, the fire dancing across her eyes. "That was… that hurt a lot more than I thought it would… All those people… all dying at once."

Rey was silent until she realized Nell's hand was on her chest. It all clicked at once. Why Nell was so impressed by Rey's control of the force on Kal'Shebbol. Why the sight of her holding a lightsaber seemed so right. She had been too wrapped up in everything to notice the power radiating off her before. "You're force sensitive, aren't you?"

Nell tore her gaze from the explosion to meet Rey's eyes and nodded shyly. "Yeah… I've known… since I was little. Had to cut myself off from the force to hide from Snoke. I was… afraid that he would see me as a threat to Kylo Ren. Kill me. Or maybe take me on as an apprentice which is… not something I wanted.

Rey gave a soft chuckle. "I don't blame you. I met him once and he… didn't make for very pleasant company."

Nell laughed sadly with her and they fell silent again. Rey could see Resistance fighters whizzing about ahead of them, and transports moving towards their cruiser.

Poe's voice came through the comlink, but Rey turned it off and sighed. "Listen, Nell. I'm… not going back. My purpose lies far away from politics now. I won't… ask anyone to come with me. But, you remember what I said before we left Hoth? About a new Jedi order?" She tilted her head to the side curiously and nodded. "Well… I'm going to need members. People to help me maintain the balance."

Nell's eyes lit up immediately and she almost scared Rey when she suddenly turned in her seat and exclaimed excitedly, "Are you asking me to be a Jedi?"

"Well… yes." Rey was slightly taken aback by her enthusiasm. "If you want."

"Rey. I already told you that your side is the one I want to be on." Nell's smile widened. "That hasn't changed."

The admission brought a bit of weight off Rey's shoulders and she was formulating her response when SA-3957 entered the room. "She's asking for you."

And just like that, the weight was back on. Rey took a deep breath and stood with a nod. "Okay. Take the wheel, Nell."

SA-3957 grabbed her arm as she passed to stop her. "Rey… that's your name, right? She's… she's not gonna make it. Not with the materials I have."

Rey breathed in a shaky breath and nodded again. "I had a feeling you might say that."

She escorted her as far as the door that led to the tiny hangar, which was only a few feet away. Rey paused and glanced at the Stormtrooper, thinking for a moment before saying, "Sam."

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Rey smiled and shrugged. "S. A. Turn the 3 around. M. Sam. That's your name."

The corners of Sam's lips tilted upwards and she placed a hand on Rey's shoulder. "I like it. Thank you."

Leia looked even worse than before. Her skin was a sickly white colour and she was surrounded by bloody towels and rags as the gaping wound in her abdomen continued to bleed. Ben was kneeling by her side, clutching her hand tightly and Rey could feel his restraint against crying in front of her as she died, but could also see his shoulders shaking from the effort.

Rey felt her own eyes starting to sting as she walked over to her eyes side and met Leia's gaze.

"Are we safe?"

Those were the first words that left Leia's lips and the sound of her voice was heart wrenching. She was so quiet and wispy. If the blood or her skin was no indication of how hurt she was, then those strained words would easily give it away. Rey kneeled down and swallowed a lump in her throat, nodding instead of fighting with her own words.

Leia sighed in relief and glanced between them with glassy eyes. "I am glad. You two. You're amazing, you know? To be able to get us all out safely. I'm… I'm so proud."

From this angle, Rey could see tears beginning to stream down Ben's face as she stared down at his mother. She had seen him cry before, but had never seen him this heart broken. Sam had likely not told him what she told her, but he knew. Rey was sure he knew.

"The war is over." Leia continued with a weak smile on her lips. "Hopefully for good. And I have not only gotten my son back, but I've gained a wonderful daughter as well." She lifted a hand to Rey's cheek, and Rey bit back a sob. "I couldn't… be happier. You will make each other happy, I'm sure. I'm so unbelievably proud. Of both of you. This… I couldn't ask to die a better way. Surrounded by my family."

Ben's voice broke as he spoke. "Mom. Please. Don't go."

The hand he held left his grasp to touch his cheek and wipe a tear away. "Oh my son. I can't stay. You know that. I'm just… happy I lived long enough to see you again."

Rey reached across to grab his hand and clutched it tightly while Leia grasped their other hands.

Leia took a deep breath and her force contorted in pain for a second before she smiled again. "Ah, it's time to go see your father. And Luke. It will be good to see them again. The famous trio back together again." A wet cough wracked through her body and she turned her head to the side to expel the blood that left her throat. "Rey. Please. Tell Poe… I'm proud of him. Despite our arguments. I always… was fond of him."

She nodded and squeezed Leia's hand tightly. "I will."

The last few minutes of Leia's life were quiet. Stormtroopers stood in the room but didn't intervene on the three of them, letting the newly united family have their moment.

When Leia took her final breath, neither Rey nor Ben cried, but clutched each others hands tightly. It felt like the end of an era. So many stories had circled about the famous trio that defeated the Empire. Now, with Leia's death, all three had passed the torch onto a new generation. Onto Ben and Rey. Poe and Finn. They would all go their separate ways, but it was still up to them collectively to keep the peace.

Rey couldn't be sure how much time passed before Leia's hand started to feel cold in her own. When it did, she sighed and looked away from her peaceful face to glance up at Ben.

"Ben…"

"I'm going to stay. For a while." Ben took a deep breath and met her gaze with bloodshot eyes. He had been crying too silently for Rey to notice in her own grief. "You can go."

She sighed and stood, moving around to Leia's other side to sit next to Ben and lean into him. He shifted his position to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere."

Poe

The cruiser was a mass of chaos. Since losing contact with Rey and Ben, and watching the First Order ships explode into tiny pieces, anybody who was anybody on either side had joined together in the main hall to discuss what to do next.

It was, of course, not going well. Poe watched from the sidelines as both sides argued. The former First Order insisting on being heard and the former Resistance insisting that they had no say just yet.

The union between Light and Dark that Rey had wanted was not going smoothly at all.

Poe ran a hand down his face and groaned. "This is not going well."

"You got that right." Finn had positioned himself against the wall beside Poe, and was looking on with the same distaste as him. "If Rey was here, she'd be shouting at them to shut up and get along. Where do you think they went, anyway?"

He shrugged and pushed off from the wall he was leaning on. "No clue. But I guess that leaves the job to us."

Before Poe could even take a step, however, a former Resistance fighter spoke up from the centre of the room. "Excuse me? Excuse me!" The arguing was loud enough for the girl to have to shout to get anyones attention. "We have an incoming transmission from a nearby ship that's preparing to enter hyperspace."

Poe turned just in time to see the familiar shot of light that was someone going into hyperspace. Whoever it was, they were gone now.

Nobody answered at first, so Poe stepped forward. "Play it."

The blue hologram appeared in the centre of the room, and people moved aside to let everyone see. It was Rey.

Poe breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her alive and waited for her to speak, but she didn't at first. Rey took a minute to take a deep breath and stare at the ground before looking up. "I don't know where to start.

"We won. Not the Resistance. Not the First Order. Us. The Force and all who follow it. Which means, hopefully, there are now former Resistance and First Order members on the cruiser and you are negotiating peace between you." Rey paused for a moment to glance around accusingly as if she could see them all.

She may have only been in charge for a while, but Rey had already made sure that people were worried about upsetting her. Poe could see people visibly stiffen.

"Which means that the Light and the Dark has finally come together, and my job is complete. We should be celebrating but… somehow I find that difficult. This war has lasted decades, and too many have died, on both sides. With that being said… Well there is no way to say this that will make it easier and less of a shock."

Once again, Rey paused to take a deep breath. "General Organa… has passed away." There was a collective gasp and a few sobs after a second. Poe stood and stared in shock. Leia… was dead?"

"She lived long enough to see us succeed, and died in the arms of her son. Leia's last wish was to ensure everyone knew how proud of them she was. Even the ones she had words with sometimes." That made Poe's eyes sting. Leia had had words with him, that was for sure.

Rey allowed them a second to grieve, and then continued on. "I will not be returning to you, I'm afraid. My job was to balance the force and I have done so. Now I must maintain that balance by rebuilding the Jedi order as my own. Meanwhile, it falls to you to decide where to take the Galaxy from here. There is no longer a Republic and while the war is over, the galaxy has been left in disarray. It falls to you, all of you, to rebuild it. However you wish. I will not interfere, but I will be watching. Good luck. And to all my friends… I…" Rey bit her lip and glanced around again as if trying to find them in the crowd. "I will miss you. You gave me a home when I thought I would never have one… We will meet again, I'm sure."

With that, the image of Rey flickered and disappeared, leaving the room shocked and silent.

It took them several minutes to find their voices again, and it was the Admiral who spoke up first. "Well, we should…"

"Start by establishing a leader." Poe interrupted the man before he could finish his sentence. "You won't get anywhere without one. One from each side. That way you can avoid any favouritism. Maybe even a council."

There were murmurs of agreement, then the girl from before spoke up. "Well in that case, I nominate you as the Resistance Leader, Poe."

Again people muttered their agreement, but Poe smiled and shook his head. "I'm flattered, but I have to decline. Politics were never my strong suit. The Admiral would be a good choice."

He nearly snorted when the man's chest puffed up proudly before a former Stormtrooper stepped forward. "Nell represented us before we left Hoth. She should be the First Order leader."

"Well if you haven't noticed." An unnamed Stormtrooper spoke up, still partially in his armour but missing the helmet. "She's missing."

"Did she die?"

"No." Finn shook his head and stepped forward. "Our group got separated after we rescued the 100. She went with Ky… with Ben to find Rey. Most likely she's with them."

Poe breathed a small sigh of relief at that. He had only met Nell briefly, but had quickly decided he liked her. They shared a lot of similarities. "Well then you'll have to pick someone else."

"Who though?"

"How about…"

Poe let the rest of the conversation drown in this thoughts as he turned to leave the room. They could figure it out amongst themselves. He was having thoughts similar to Rey. He had no place here.

"Hey, where are you going?" Poe felt someone grab his arm and turned to see Finn staring at him with his eyebrows furrowed. Chewbacca, who had been leaning against the doorway he was headed to, pushed off from the wall to stand on his other side.

He breathed a sigh and smiled. "Leia often said that I was a soldier at heart. Meant to fight wars to protect people. I think she was right. Only issue is, now I don't have a war to fight anymore. Which is great and all but… well I guess it's time to go find a new purpose. Somewhere else. I don't belong here anymore."

Finn released his arm and moved to face him next to Chewbacca, frowning all the way. "So what, you're just going to leave? Where will you go?"

Poe answered his question by turning his attention to the Wookie and holding out his hand. "You're in need of a new co-pilot, right? I guess you had hoped it would be Rey but… seeing as she's gone, how about me? I'm a decent flyer."

"Decent." Finn scoffed and rubbed his nose, causing Poe to grin in spite of his grief.

It was hard to tell amongst all the fur, but he could swear Chewbacca smiled as he grabbed his hand.

"Wait wait, if you two are leaving then I'm coming with you. I'm sure as hell no politician. And I'm pretty sure they're about to nominate me for something." Finn placed his hands on theirs and glanced around for approval, which Chewbacca soon gave in his typical way.

Finn pursed his lips and glanced at Poe. "Can you…?"

Poe let go of Chewbacca's hand and slapped Finn's back with a grin. "He says you can come. Come on then. Let's leave before they start arguing again."

Finn pursed his lips and glanced at Poe. "Can you…?"

Poe let go of Chewbacca's hand and slapped Finn's back with a grin. "He says you can come. Come on then. Let's leave before they start arguing again."

The three of them left promptly, eager to return to the Falcon and leave before anyone noticed, much like Rey did just a few moments before. BB-8 whizzed along behind them, as always remaining by Poe's side.

Safe was not a lifestyle Poe was used to living, so it was time to find danger somewhere else.

"Hey can you teach me Wookie? I swear I'm the only one who can't understand him."

A/N - Oh my god! It's done!

I can't believe it. I am so proud of this! I've had so many story ideas before and tried so many times to write them. This one... to be honest when I started it, I thought it would end up like all of the others. Left unfinished. But of course. Star Wars in the one that prevailed!

I do have some ideas for a sort of sequel, but the story isn't very fleshed out yet. If I do end up deciding to do it, I will post a little teaser as a sort of epilogue to this one ;)

Thank you so much for your support! And for putting up with my sporadic uploads.

-Ash