SAVIOR [Kylo Ren]

Diminuendo

The treetops bustled around in the wind as the X-wing went down for landing. People's cheering could be heard outside of the cockpit. The hissing sound of the glass roof opening. The shift in weight as Rey stepped out of the ship, she offered Ree a hand but she practically had to drag her out of the seat.

Everyone was too busy hugging their loved ones who had gotten home safe to even notice the two Force-users returning to home base. Only the spherical droid had rushed up to the ship. While Rey was busy fixing BB-8's antenna, Ree limped away to the makeshift infirmary on Ajan Kloss. 

Keelor sat down on a crate, there was no medical staff around, probably busy celebrating the victory against the Final Order. She didn't want to ruin anyone else's mood by demanding care so she tended to her own wounds. Putting a more permanent and sanitary dressing around her knuckles than the torn sleeve she had wrapped around it. 

The scavenger made her way through the crowd, pushing past all the hugging people. Trying to find her own people to hug. And it didn't take long before her arms were wrapped around the pilot and the former stormtrooper. Finn's tear of relief landed on Rey's shoulder and she swore she heard a sniffle escape Poe.

As they finally let go of each other, Poe realized there was someone missing from the hug, "where's Ree?".

---

Ree hissed in pain as she cleaned her knuckles with rubbing alcohol. A necessary pain, unlike the one Ben had inflicted on her. "Ree," tending to her wounds was cut short by the sound of Poe's voice. She expected him to rush up to her, probably bring her into one of those Resistance suffocating hugs that they eagerly distributed. But as soon as the pilot met her gaze, he came to a halt. "W-what happened? Are you okay?"

"It's just a cut," Ree explained as she looked down at her hand, quite the overreaction from the pilot, Ree thought, her hand would probably heal in a couple of weeks.

"I'm not talking about your hand," his clear worry started to ring Ree's own warning bells. If he didn't mean the hand, what could he possibly be talking about? He crouched down in front of her, now looking up at her frightened blue eyes. "Your face."

"What are you talking about?" She started to feel if there was any abnormal pain, "it's been throbbing and kind of sensitive but that's just from the punches."

"That's not just a bruise," Poe stated as he started looking for something. His searching came to a stop as he picked up a first aid case. It was made of metal, as he held it up in front of Ree, she saw her own reflection.

Looking back at her wasn't the face she was used to seeing in the mirror every day. Instead, on the right side of her neck, running up over her jaw and cheek was a network of bright red scars. It looked like a tree top's branches, a fern's leaves or an intricate network of ant tunnels. She brought her hand up to touch the throbbing scars but immediately retracted it upon touching. As soon as she touched them, lightning flashed before her eyes, it was like she was brought back to Exegol when the Emperor had shot a thousand lightning bolts through her. "Ree!" Poe exclaimed as she saw the pain the blonde was in. He picked her up in a reassuring hug, trying to soothe her as she came down from the rush of pain. "Are you okay?"

"No," Ree breathed, still shaking from the internal electrocution, "but it's not because of the scars."