evelynwillows-blog1 - Tumblr blog

evelynwillows-blog1 · 7 years ago

Text

Heart of Kyber

So, I haven’t written fanfic in years, like, since high-school. But thanks to The Last Jedi, I have found a need to write it again. Damn it. Should I be focusing on my original works? Probably. Have I shipped Reylo since The Force Awakens? ...Yes.

So, here’s Chapter 1, we’ll see where it goes.

Rey shivered, even under the layers of thick clothing the freezing winds of Hoth cut right to the bone. It was strange to think how much she missed the burning sun of Jakku, the warm on her face seemed like a long distance memory despite the fact that she had not been away that long. Every gust of wind caused her to flinch and tighten the mask covering her face to the point it was almost choking her, and still the cold creeped along her skin.

“Rey?” Finn gave her a concerned look. She had confided in her friend what had happened on the Supremacy, for the most part anyway, she had left out the Force bond that she and Kylo, no, Ben seemed to share. As far as Finn and the rest of the Resistance knew, she had gone against Luke’s advice and tried to turn Kylo to the light, and had only been able to escape from Snoke’s throne room when Admiral Holdo had sacrificed herself and decimated the Supreme Leader’s ship and First Order fleet.

“I’m fine,” She replied with a half smile.

“We should get back,” Rose said, “We don’t want to miss seeing the General off.”

Rey nodded and signaled to the others. She had been put in charge of a savaging mission, hoping to locate parts to repair the small number of Rebel ships left behind after the Battle of Hoth, her skills growing up scouring the desert for anything helpful had been invaluable. Back on Jakku, it meant not going hungry, now every converter or gear was another ember to the growing flame of hope.

It had been a risky move to land at Echo Base, several, including Poe, had disagreed with Leia’s decision but trusted her leadership. The Resistance couldn’t operate out of the Millennium Falcon forever, they needed supplies and ships, and their choices in safe havens had been few. Their first order of business had been cleaning up the base and taking inventory of supplies. After the Battle of Hoth scavengers had established several base camps to scrap the remains, but the hostile landscape had made their stay short, and Leia knew the old Rebel base far better than any outsider.

Still, the Resistance knew that Hoth couldn’t be their permanent home, and it was Leia who decided to rally their allies and find a new base of operations. They had worked to repair a small cruiser left by the scrapers. Leia, C-3PO and a small handful of others were leaving before the sun set and the landscape went into a deep freeze cold enough to stop the blood in a person veins or the fuel in an engine.

“We’re headed back,” Finn held a comm-link in his gloved hand.

“Copy that pal,” Poe’s voice replied.

Over the icy horizon two snowspeeders appeared and circled the group once before flying ahead to make sure their way back to base was clear. There had been no sign of First Order reconnaissance, but they weren’t taking any chances with the Resistance so weakened. Poe’s flashy display caused a couple of their tauntauns to panic, but they were quickly settled down.

The trip back was slower, they had managed to find an untouched AT-AT buried under several feet of snow and covered in a thick layer of ice and spent the day stripping the walker down, the sleds pulled behind the tauntauns heavy with supplies. Rey had enjoyed the job, even though her fingers felt like they would never be warm, she had been able to go into a calming state of mind ripping wires and panels apart, it was a welcome distraction from what had happened on the Supremacy.

Finn and Rose flanked the group while Rey led the way back. Every so often Poe would circle back and ensure nothing was sneaking up from the rear. The Resistance had lost a few tauntauns to wampas, and while it was rare for the predators to attack such a large group they couldn’t afford to lose anything. Leia had stories of the white furred creatures sneaking into Echo Base before the Battle of Hoth and causing several passageways to closed off.

It wasn’t until they were deep inside the base that Rey felt comfortable taking off her outer layer of protective clothing. While the others had stripped down to less bulky clothing Rey still felt the chill on her skin, Finn had made fun of how many blankets she slept under but even the coldest nights in the desert felt like a sauna compared to the ice world.

Leia was waiting for them outside her ship. Rey noticed how tired she looked, how she leaned onto her cane more than ever before. The General still had that fire in her eyes, but her body had never fully recovered from the explosion on the bridge of the Raddus. Everyone was saying their good-byes to their commander, and when the crowd cleared Rey, Poe, Finn and Rose remained.

The General looked at her best pilot, “Poe-”

“I know I know, not everything can be solved with a X-wing,” He said.

Leia rested her hand on his shoulder and said with a smile, “I know you’ll do well.”

“Thank you General,” He said, stepping aside so Finn and Rose could embrace Leia.

Rey waited. She had wanted to tell Leia about the connection she shared with her son, but in the flurry of activity after landing on Hoth there had been little time. Rey wasn’t sure now was the right time, “General…”

“Rey please,” The old woman smiled.

“Leia,” Rey corrected herself. Even in their short time together Leia had become like the mother Rey never had. Rey had a feeling that many looked to the Princess in a similar manner, she always knew when a kind tone was needed but wasn’t afraid to be stern, as evidenced by the many times Poe had been on the receiving end of a smack on the back of the head.

“Luke would’ve-”

“Ben is-”

The two stopped, little more needed to be said between the two of them.

“May the Force be with you,” Leia said while bringing Rey into a tight embrace.

“May the Force be with you,” Rey repeated.

The General gave the small number of Resistance fighters another wave before boarding her ship to applause and well wishes. Together they watched the ship leave the hanger and disappear into the sky. Their distress call on Crait had been heard in the far reaches of the Outer Rim, the Resistance wasn’t alone in the fight against the First Order, and now Leia would spread the message of hope to other systems.

Rey felt her eyes begin to burn, but fought back the tears as best she could. She found digging through the supplies they had salvaged that day to be a good distraction, helping to sort everything and clean up the parts.

“Rey! Rey come see!” Finn called out.

Her head snapped up, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed, so lost in her cleaning and sorting, but the large hangar doors were closed to keep Hoth’s deadly cold nights at bay. Some of the fighters told tales of Hoth twilights, where lights formed from magnetic wavelengths danced in the sky, so beautiful that they were worth the risk of freezing to death to witness once.

Shaking the stories out of her head she followed Finn to an area deep within the base, following the ropes of wires hanging on ice-covered walls. A group was gathered around as two Resistance members finished their work, flipping switches and pulling a heavy lever. Sparks flew and for a moment the lights flickered under the strain before returning to normal. A new hum filled the area, quickly replaced by cheers.

“What happened?” Rey asked.

“The shields, they got the shields up!” Rose was beside herself with joy, almost lifting Finn from the ground as she hugged him.

Poe explained, “Now if the First Order finds us they can’t bombard us from space, they’ll have to send a ground force.”

“That’s great,” Rey exclaimed. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Any victory was worth celebrating at that point, and small band of Resistance fighters spent the long hours of the night talking and planning their next move. They had to give their allies time to mobilize and sent help to Hoth, they had to give Leia time to gather more support. With only the Falcon and half a dozen rusted A-wings as their fleet, they didn’t stand a chance if the First Order found them. They had to lie low, and be patient.

Rey passed by the Falcon on the way to her quarters, waving to Chewie who gave her a frustrated growl before going back to repairing the old freighter. While escaping from Crait they had taken some damage, and the Porgs nesting in the interior didn’t help the problem. Her room was small with no windows to the outside, it was little more than a bed and a small table. She sat the table and sighed.

For the first few days she hadn’t wanted to even look at the broken lightsaber in front of her, the events of the throne room a fresh wound that refused to heal. Now that time had passed, she was determined to fix Luke’s lightsaber and make it her own. He hadn’t taken it back on Ahch-To, and it felt right in her hand from the moment she had called it from the snow on Starkiller Base. Carefully she had pulled the weapon apart and separated each component, without any clue of how to put it back together. The Kyber crystal, while somehow whole, was covered in a spiderweb of hairline fractures, and she feared that even the lightest pressure would shatter it into a million pieces.

The ancient Jedi texts were of little help, the language was old. While Rey recognized a word here or there, putting them together was an entirely different problem, much like the lightsaber in front of her. Hoping to find answers in pages she had flipped through over and over without gaining any insight, Rey at least admired the delicate handwriting and detailed pictures.

The air around her stilled, like the silence following a pebble dropped into calm waters.

“Rey”

She looked up.

Ben.

#reylo #reylo trash #the last jedi #fanfic

0 notes