Chapter 1: Lost the Will to Live

"Poe... Poe, wake up!"

No response. Panicked, Finn's eyes darted about until he spotted a spare pillow. Raising it high, he thwacked it over the pilot's head. "Kriff it, Poe! WAKE UP!"

The pilot and General jerked awake, hand twitching for his blaster on the nightstand until his vision cleared enough to identify his attacker as a friend, not a true assailant.

"Finn! What the hell, buddy? What's wrong? What happened?"

Finn got out what he needed to say in a rush. "I just poked my head into Rey's room down the hall, to make sure she takes the medicine Dr. Kalonia prescribed. When I tried to rouse her, she wouldn't wake up!"

Poe snapped upright, tossing the covers aside. "What?! Did you check for a pulse?"

"Of course I did. There is one, but faint."

"Grab her," Poe ordered. "We have to take her to the medical center, quickly."

Ever since the Battle of Exogol, Poe and Finn had been on a suicide watch for their friend, at the behest of Dr. Kalonia. The Resistance's Surgeon General had stated that Rey was psychologically frail, traumatized - though by what, the doctor had failed to ascertain. What was clear was that Rey was in a profound state of grief, mourning the loss of something or someone, and Kalonia did not know if the Jedi would resort to self-harm or worse.

Poe and Finn burst into Rey's room. Their friend lay unconscious on her bed. Poe once again checked for a pulse, and to his relief, found one. What was even more encouraging was that Rey appeared to be mumbling something, as tears glistened in her eyes.

"B... Ben... Ben..." Her voice was very faint.

"What's she saying?" Finn demanded.

Poe bent his ear close to Rey's lips. "She's saying Ben... who do we know named Ben?"

Finn helplessly shrugged.

Poe gathered Rey up in his arms in a bridal carry. "We have to take her to Kalonia at the medical center - now!"

Poe and Finn stood on the other side of a windowed room, through which they could get a good view into the medical bay here on Polis Massa. A good chunk of the surviving Resistance split time between here and Ajan Kloss, as the asteroid field to which Polis Massa belonged here provided a good foundation for a colony. Inside the operating room, medical droids flitted about, trying their best to save the last Jedi's life. Kalonia, standing beside the men and supervising the operation via comlink, appeared grim.

Finally, a medical droid floated out to address the humans. "Medically, she is completely healthy. But, for reasons we cannot explain, we are losing her."

Poe stared, as beside him, Finn's throat seemed to cut off all air. "She's dying?!" No... No! They couldn't take another loss like this.

"We don't know why. She has lost the will to live. She has lost someone... someone has hurt her. Someone has just about broken her heart."

Tears began to stream down Finn's cheek. "Save her! Do something!" he screamed.

The medical droid only shook its head. "We have tried everything. There is nothing to be done. Would you gentlemen like to go in and see her? Say goodbye? She is conscious, lucid, but fading fast."

Wordlessly, Poe and Finn nodded. The medical droid led them to Rey's sickbed. Finn kneeled by her bedside, clasping Rey's clammy hand in his. Standing over the pair, sniffling, Poe brushed the sweaty bangs back from her forehead.

"Don't do this, Rey... please don't leave us... Hang on!"

Rey could only weakly shake her head, her eyes pained and sad. "I can't," she whispered weakly. Her free hand - the one not gripped by Finn - reached for the pilot. She was holding something... something golden. It looked like a pair of dice... "Poe... there was good in him... he came back for me... but he left. I can't live without him..."

"Who's him?" Poe demanded. "Ben?"

He figured his hunch was correct, by the way Rey's eyes seemed to brighten slightly at the sound of his name. "I have to see him again... I will see him again... I know I... will..." Her head turned, flopped back into the pillows. The last word that left her lips was, "Ben." At last, Rey's breathing ceased and she lay still.

Finn broke down into bitter, wracking sobs, staggering out of his kneeling position and gathering Rey into his arms, holding her close. He kissed her lips again and again, finding them cold, which only made him weep harder. He could not be comforted. Poe, meanwhile, bowed his head in mourning. He prayed to the Maker:

Take care of her. See that she gets to him. See that she reaches Ben.