#yes yes I know Han and Chewie did most of the fixing

[newgreanii]

obsessed with the fact that 95% of the conflict in Empire Strikes Back was caused by the Millenium Falcon’s broken hyperdrive and the moment that R2D2 gets on board he literally fixes it with one push of a button

[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Star Wars Wednesday

(This is an excerpt from my unfinished but fully outlined Reign of Vader fic, in which Darth Vader assassinates Palpatine and then finds out that unfortunately this means he actually has to rule. After Luke is captured by the Empire, Vader reveals both his heritage and a desire to fix things in the galaxy. Luke is wary, but it's not like he has anywhere to go)

Darth Vader was not a man of infinite patience, and the Ruling Council was growing ever nearer to discovering the limits of his tolerance. 

"Day-to-day procedures are a delicate matter, Majesty," Greejatus was saying, "It would be an unprecedented disaster to force change upon all offices all at once. May I recommend a gradual shift as your reign takes root?"

"Yes yes," Sate Pesage agreed. His eyes glittered out of his gaunt face with ambition. "This proposal to outlaw slavery, for instance-"

"-Is non-negotiable," Vader interrupted. "It was an idiot's decision to legalize it in the first place. My empire will have no need of slave labor."

"Of course!" Pesage bowed. He was beginning to sweat under that ridiculous hat of his. "We are eager to begin this journey into the future your reign promises, Majesty. But the galaxy is vast. Perhaps it is best to...phase the law in slowly? It takes time to bring new ordinances all the way to the Outer Rim."

Vader had heard quite enough for one day. 

"Enough. The decree goes into effect tonight." 

He stood, and all five members of the Council jumped a little. 

"You have until then to review the revised legal codes I have provided for you."

[[MORE]]

With a sardonic lilt to his voice, he added, "The rule of the Grand Vizier through the Moffs has ended, gentlemen. If you do not feel that you are adequately prepared for the task ahead, I will accept your resignation and begin the process of finding your successor."

He waved a hand. "In the next week, we begin hearings for the Alderaanian Massacre. You are dismissed."

There was a certain satisfaction in watching Palpatine's five advisers bowing and trembling on their way out. After decades of putting up with their snide comments and inane commands, it was nice to see the shoe on the other foot for a change.

Of course, they hadn't covered much. Just an overview of what the Imperial Ruling Council actually did. Once Vader mentioned that he intended to sell his secondary residence in the district and distribute the funds as reparations, the meeting had devolved into excuses and protests for the next two hours. Luckily, he was far too stubborn to pay any attention to their complaints.

While he had no strong feelings about most of his actions in the last nineteen years, neither hatred nor regret, he was willing to acknowledge that not all of his targets had been legitimate in a military sense. For Padme's sake, he would make amends if possible. 

Naturally, it was uncomfortable to try putting a price on life. But the sale of that ridiculous "castle" Palpatine insisted on him staying in would provide a good starting place.

It took about fifteen minutes of calculating, but ultimately Vader decided there was more than enough in Palpatine's personal accounts to cover about 17,000 wrongful death settlements, with additional funds in the cases of recurring medical bills. 

Arranging reparations for Alderaan would take more work. Vader quickly decided he was going to delegate that to the department of finances.

(They...did have a department of finances, didn't they? Surely Sidious hadn't done his own bookkeeping.)

With that settled, Vader's itinerary consisted primarily of a meeting with the Hands to make sure they knew their boundaries. After that, a remote consultation with a newly-renowned surgeon living in one of the lower districts. It would, unfortunately, take up the majority of the day. But for now, at least, he had two hours to himself.

The emperor closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses. It took several seconds before he was able to pinpoint his son's location. Luke's presence was dimmed, slightly. Muffled.

The reason for this became apparent the moment Vader found him.

Inside the library, on the lower level, Luke was sprawled across one of the ridiculous armchairs the nobles had favored. A book lay open on his chest, rising and falling gently. A small stack of texts encompassing everything from speeder repair to adventure novels sat on the floor, just next to where one of Luke's hands dangled off the edge of the arm rest. Clearly, he had been in the library for several hours before falling asleep. 

Sleep had softened the boy's features, painting him in a far more vulnerable light. The fear and caution of the previous night had been wiped away, leaving someone who seemed far too young, and far too small. How could he be twenty? How could Padme's baby already be twenty? 

It was tempting to leave him there. To let him sleep. But the chair was not the most supportive frame, nor was the library the most secure chamber of the palace. Reluctantly, Vader bent to touch Luke's cheek. 

"Luke," he said quietly, "This is hardly an appropriate place to sleep."

Luke's eyelids fluttered, but he did not fully awaken at once. Carefully, ever so carefully, Vader took hold of Luke's shoulders and guided him back into an upright position. 

"Your spine will thank me later," he said. 

Luke shifted, then opened his eyes with a groan. He didn’t seem to register Vader’s presence at first. One arm stretched up over his head, and the other came up to rub at his eyes.

“What time is it?” he yawned.

“Nearly noon,” answered Vader. The meeting with the Council had taken far longer than he would’ve liked. “Are you hungry?”

With a garbled sound, Luke waved a hand from side to side. “Don’t know yet?” he said in a still sleep-slurred voice.

After a few more seconds, he finally noticed just who had woken him. Instinctively, he straightened his spine, and looked a little bit nervous.

“Oh,” he said, very quietly. “H-hello, Father.”

“Hello, son.” Vader sounded amused. “Was your choice of reading that dull?”

After a moment, Luke nodded. He made a face. "I know there's supposed to be a famous musical made from this or something. But a whole chapter on how the sewer system of Ryloth's capital city works doesn't seem like good song material."

He jumped when Vader laughed. It was a warm, rich sound, utterly at odds with his austere appearance. 

"Poor boy!" He gently took the book from his son. "That was required reading for our literature studies when I was a boy. I loathed it. Very few of my peers sought it out voluntarily."

"I guess I can see why," Luke admitted. "But it seemed like it was going to be a good story."

"Then you are better served finding an abridged copy, I think," Vader chuckled. "Come. You should eat something."

Luke pushed himself up out of the chair. “Do I...need to put the books back?”

Vader leaned back on his heels. He looked at the books, then at the shelves. “I...will leave that to your best judgement. I do not know where you got them from.”

It was such a normal sounding conversation! Why?! 

Why did you have to be like...like this?! Luke fought a surprising burst of frustration. I have no idea how to talk to you! 

Serious and formal one moment, then laughing the next? Vader? Laughing?! It was as if the man he’d met on Cymoon and the man idly examining his stack of books were two completely different people.

Luke set the books on the console with the Holonet terminal eventually. Vader had suggested that he learn the cataloguing system of the room at a later time. At least that seemed to mean that he would be allowed to go back to the library again. Luke thought about his conversation with Artoo. Perhaps his father was trying to be kind to him. Whether that kindness would extend to anyone else was a different matter.

“I thought you were still meeting with dignitaries or something,” Luke said.

He trailed along behind Vader up an ornate staircase with his hands in his pockets. He was still uncomfortable walking too closely to the man. For all that he acknowledged that the new emperor was, indeed, his father, he was still a force to be reckoned with. 

Luke took a moment to internally groan at his unintended pun. Han would probably have elbowed him in the ribs for saying something like that. Chewie would think it was hilarious. 

Luke’s attempt to stay safely out of range failed quite suddenly. Vader deliberately slowed his steps so that Luke couldn’t hang back without being extremely obvious about it. He didn’t want to offend the emperor, so he tried to ignore his fight or flight instincts shaking his insides and kept pace with his father.

“I have several more meetings to endure today,” Vader said casually. “But the most onerous of those has been dealt with.”

This was not quite true. The Ruling Council was too full of Palpatine loyalists. Just intimidating them into compliance would only work for so long. They had connections, and they had money, and that could prove to be a headache if not dealt with sooner. Vader needed to replace at least three of them.

He had almost considered appointing Luke as Vizier in Amedda’s place, but had quickly thought better of it. Such a position would almost guarantee that Luke would never have time to fly again. Cutting a Skywalker off from the stars for good seemed too cruel. 

His son had not had the childhood he could have had if his mother had lived. If Palpatine had died much sooner. Let him enjoy his youth while he could.

But the problem of finding a Ruling Council that Vader could trust would still be waiting.

“The stupid hat club, right?” Luke asked.

He was unsettled by Vader’s proximity. Vader could sense that. He understood: the armor had been made to terrify. Perhaps one day he would have the option of seeing his son with his own eyes, but for now the boy would have to acclimate himself to the sight.

It was not often that Vader found himself cursing the cold, impersonal nature of his mask. He would have liked to smile at his son.

“Yes. The...stupid hat club.” He settled for letting his amusement be clearly heard in his voice. “That is not an inaccurate description. They run the day-to-day matters of ruling an Empire. But as they were all close to the former ruler, I find that I’d rather not trust them in matters of delegating governance.”

Luke grimaced. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea,” he agreed.

[mightydragoon]

Luke and Leia vs the Galaxy

@silvereddaye 

.Our favourite Space Twins against the Empire with varying degrees of success. 

1. Legacy ---myrlendi (thehistorygeek)

Three months after the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker goes in search of a rumoured Jedi temple in a secluded part of the Mid Rim. He finds within the temple nothing but a strange artifact, which unexpectedly brings him much closer to the Jedi of old than he ever thought he would be.

When Luke fails to return from his mission, Leia goes after him, retracing his steps to the ancient temple — and to the past, to the time of the Clone Wars and the waning years of the Old Republic. Under suspicion by the Jedi Order, the twins struggle to find a way back to their own time while trying to keep their knowledge of the future from affecting the past.

This, however, turns out to not be as simple as it seems.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15221810/chapters/35304947

2.  Skywalker Family Values- Ariel_Sojourner

Camp Chippewa is proud to be the Empire’s foremost camp resort for privileged young adults. Located on the picturesque forest moon of Endor, your child will have the opportunity to participate in wholesome outdoor activities and socialize appropriately with their peers. We invite your offspring to join us for the experience of a lifetime and a bright future in service of the greater glory of the Empire.

On opposite sides of the galaxy, on opposite sides of a civil war, Darth Vader and Padme Amidala unwittingly send Luke and Leia to the same camp during school break. Chaos naturally ensues.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14258124/chapters/32883750

3. Back To The Future - PinkEasterEggs

Teenage Princess Leia, heir to Alderaan's throne and her twin, Luke Vader, heir to the Imperial throne, get thrown back in time with the chance to save their parents before it's too late. With the Force finally on their side, they decide to have a little fun whilst they try and save their father's soul.

What could go wrong?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217674/chapters/53048092

(Part of the Back To The Future series. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648657) 

4. No Time Like The Present - PinkEasterEggs

In a Galaxy where Princess Leia Organa and Imperial Prince Luke Vader didn't Time Travel to save their father's soul, a deadly discovery by their biggest enemy throws their entire lives upside down. Yet again.

Now on the run from the Empire, the Skywalker Twins find it their mission to bring peace back to the Galaxy once more. And with Darth Vader on their trail, that mission is far more complicated than they originally believed.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/24754825/chapters/59851300

(Part of the Back To The Future series. https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648657)

5. Great as the Sea-- Valkirin

Rescuing the last of Alderaan's survivors was an important duty, not an obsession, and Leia did not need to take a break. She did not have time to think about Darth Vader, the Force, or Luke Skywalker. It’s just her luck that the Force sends her with Luke Skywalker to a time where Darth Vader is about to rise.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11384253/chapters/25491066

6. turn my sorrow into treasured gold - cosmicocean:

“It might be better for you to die,” Obi-Wan muses as she holds her children in her arms. Padmé looks up at him and arches an eyebrow.

“I didn’t mean literally,” he clarifies.

“I know what you meant. I’m thinking about it.”

Padmé survives childbirth, dies as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned, takes her children with Obi-Wan, and runs.

Pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7435467

7. The Assassin's Blade - LadyVader23

Two years after Order 66, Padme is both an assassin for the Rebellion and a mother of twins. She will stop at nothing to bring democracy back to the Galaxy, even if it means killing Imperials to do it. But news of suspicious assassinations reaches Sidious, who dispatches Vader to hunt down this mysterious assassin. What Vader discovers will change the fate of the Galaxy.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20432867/chapters/48475367

8. anything is possible the second time around cloverblob

Leia Organa is sure that she died. She laid herself down, ready to become one with the Force. Except that she isn't dead--she hasn't even been born. So how did she end up on Tatooine? And why would fate bring her right here, right now?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21941050/chapters/52364929

9.  Influence of Time Cateyes1401 and  SkylaDoragon

A freak accident sends Luke, Leia, and Vader splitting off to different points of the galaxy, over twenty years in the past. While Vader is careful to correct any errors his sudden appearance may cause in the timeline, Luke and Leia are not so cautious.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20333248/chapters/48211621

10.  Laying Down the Sand - Knitzkampf

An AU set at the time of ESB. Han Solo abandons Luke, Leia and Chewie to settle some unfinished business and sparks a series of events that challenges each one's destiny and the fate of the galaxy. An epic tale of friendship, love, family and lightsabers.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9921947/chapters/22232960

11.  Binary Sunsets, Binary Siblings - Coffeesforcatchers

The projection was as blue as the Tatooinian sky, making it hard for Luke to discern its features. But as the audio began to play, Luke felt his heart seize in his chest.

"Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope."

Luke stared at the droid, his mouth open. "That's my sister!"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14111466/chapters/32514372

12.  Deja Vu - oncomingstorm42

Time travel AU fix-it wherein Luke and Leia are sent back in time to halfway through The Phantom Menace. They proceed to unscrew the timeline and save their parents while also kicking ass.

(note* Private story. To read you must have an AO3 account) 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10408782/chapters/22984893

13. Heralding Home -planningconquest

Family can be what we make of it. It can be lost and found and comes together in strange and amazing ways.

(Note* Modern Au but still same principal applies) 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17130767/chapters/40288283

14.  Like Fire in Our Bones --- acuteneurosis

With all of the most important things in the galaxy literally exploding around her, Leia is given the chance to go back and help keep a promise she never personally made.

But then, for Skywalkers, saving the galaxy was always a family matter.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19735813/chapters/46710241

15.  I am as Strong as the Seas are Stormy (And as Proud as an Eagle's Scream)- RhiannonOfTheRoses

Leia Skywalker is only hours old when the Empire rises.

Leia Organa is twenty-three when it finally falls.

OR: The one in which Leia Organa is explored, and her life is uncovered.

16.  Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns chancecraz

I went to sleep on the worst day of my life and woke to find myself in the past on the second worst day of my life. As experiences go, I don’t recommend it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8543680/chapters/19586203

(Part of the Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns series https://archiveofourown.org/series/825216)

17.  Runaway SilverDaye

Imperial Prince Luke runs away from home to escape his overprotective father Emperor Vader. Jumping from planet to planet he finds himself creditless on Tatooine. While working for more money to leave the planet, Luke meets an old man named Ben Kenobi. But Luke knows he can't stay in one place for long for surely his father is hunting him down.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14630196/chapters/33813027

18.  take the spade from my hands (and fill in the holes you've made) A_Different_Type_of_Flower

With her dying father's last request, eighteen-year-old Leia Organa sets out for the Outer Rim to find an exiled Jedi master and a brother she knew nothing about.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/9219026/chapters/20908517

19.  Sparks SpellCleaver

Vader had every intention of ignoring that petty—if notorious—burglar on Coruscant, until evidence suggested that this "Angel" had Rebel ties.

Meanwhile, Luke never expected his father to actively hunt him down, and he doesn't like it.

20.  the price of forgetting - surabayuh

 Vader always thought that epiphany would come in waves; in the middle of meditation, perhaps, or a dream while he was resting, giving him unimaginable glee and satisfaction at its revelation.

He’d never thought epiphany would sledgehammer him here, at cell room number 2187, in the middle of an interrogation session, with an unconscious Alderaanian Princess laying on the floor.

(Part of the  the bang the war-drums series) 

(Note* Read the rest of this series seriously its so good) 

21.  heirs of the desert -- surabayuh

There was something about her, something familiar beyond the hairstyle or the attire; It was like a hole in his chest mended back by her presence. They walked closer to one another, slowly, slowly—like a planet realigning to their axis.

Dreams of a different life, a different reality, haunting him for as long as he could remember. Dreams of lush greeneries, of clear blue waters, of a high castle, of a brunette with bright brown eyes crinkling with laughter.

Leia, her name was Leia and he felt like he had known her his whole life, as if he'd known her as old as he had known time.

Around them, the Force sang.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22226950/chapters/53070706

(Part of the  the bang the war-drums series)

22. taste the regret (it's bittersweet.) - surabayuh

Han Solo didn't want much, really; he only agreed to pilot his way away from the grips of Jabba the Hutt, and maybe have a little adventure along the way. That was why he said yes to that old man's offer, back in Tatooine, why he came back to aid the Rebellion, back in Yavin.

But then again, who knew that somewhere down the line, he would have to be the middle-man in a galactic family drama that could determine the very fate of the universe?

Well; certainly not him.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22452316/chapters/53646223

(Part of the  the bang the war-drums series)

23. Endings and Beginnings, and Everything in Between - ITookTheOneLessTravelled

Dad might be mad at them, but Leia doesn't regret it. Luke and Leia Skywalker might be only fifteen, but they'd never have left their Dad in an Imperial prison cell to rot.

OR: Anakin raises the twins. Everything changes, but also nothing does.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/6757639

24.  No Heroes on the High Seas - SpellCleaver

When Luke's aunt and uncle are executed by order of the Emperor's right hand, Lord Vader, he flees his home to search for his sister and the mother he never knew. But then Obi-Wan Kenobi stows away aboard the same ship, Vader gives chase, and Luke is dragged into a conflict that his family are at the very heart of.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17092340/chapters/40194893

25.  Ad Utrumque Paratus - obeyingthemuse

It's hard to bring balance to the Force when the only method you've seen is your black-cloaked psychic cyborg sorcerer dad with a severe breathing problem throwing an old man down the Death Star reactor shaft. As much as Luke would like to see the not-yet-Emperor dead, he doesn't want to be arrested by his unusually attractive(?) war-hero dad and spend the rest of his indeterminate time in the past dropping Ewok beats in a jail cell. Also Leia would probably kill him. But not before breaking him out of jail.

So when the twins wake up on Tatooine decades in the past, they play it safe. They take over a planet, reconnect with their adoptive and real parents without weirding them out (too much), and accidentally cause the Chancellor perpetual near-death experiences.

Nailed it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168628/chapters/16273712

Tags 

Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker 

[fictionwordcounts]

Stuck [Han x Solo]

Word Count: 3000+

Summary: You knew you were looking for trouble when you accepted Han’s request for a quick flight, but you couldn’t have imagined a worse scenario than being stuck in the middle of nowhere with him. Still, the time you spend with him, forced or not, just might lead to something.

You hurried with a search-and-rescue team toward Hangar Five after receiving an urgent message from Han Solo. Since Han had specifically requested for you, they allowed you to lead the team. When you reached the door to Hangar Five, you typed in the code, the door opened, and you ran inside to see Han cleaning the outside of his ship, the Millennium Falcon. He looked up from the spot he was shining and smiled.

"Chewie, come out here! Our help has arrived," he announced as he put his rag away. The search and rescue team shifted behind you and you heard murmurs of disapproval.

Lando, who had insisted that he come along, walked to the front. "What's this about? We don't have time for your shenanigans, Han," he said with overtones of disapproval.

Han walked up to the group and put his hands up defensively. "I wouldn't exactly call them shenanigans, Lando," he said. "More like creative ways to get the help I need."

From your spectator's position, you rolled your eyes. Han was always pulling stunts like this, and it annoyed you to death. However, occasionally, there was something about him made you want to laugh. Of course, you never did. You felt it was against your character. There was some unspoken promise to yourself that you would not encourage Han Solo.

"General Solo," you began.

Han rolled his eyes. "Please, none of that 'General' junk," he pleaded, shaking his head, and offering you a mischievous smile. He stopped and performed an exaggerated a bow. "The name's Han Solo... or just Han if you like."

You stared at him unimpressed. "Yes, we've met, Han," you reminded him through gritted teeth. "We're here because you sent us a message saying that you were in danger."

"Whoa, wait. Hold on. I never said I was in danger," he insisted, never losing his smile. You would've told him off right there in front of everyone, but Lando beat you to it.

"Han, what did you call us here for?" Lando repeated. By then, most of the rescue patrol had become fed up with Han. They'd all either left or stuck around to see who would hit him first.

"Look, I didn't ask for a whole search and rescue gig," Han replied. "I asked," He took the rag back out of his pocket and pointed it at you, "for Y/N." He walked back to his ship and started wiping down the same spot.

Lando and the rest of the team walked away, muttering under their breaths, and you were about to follow suit.

"Y/N!" You heard Han call you from behind. Nearly everything in you told you to just walk away; but, be it the tone in his voice or the desire for the satisfaction of slapping him across the face, something made you turn around.

You folded your arms over your chest. "Do you need something?" you asked, exasperated.

Han nodded as if it was obvious. "Come on," he instructed. You hesitantly walked up to the Falcon. You stood there for a while and watched Han shine the same spot over and over again.

"I'm pretty sure that spot is clean now," you pointed out in monotone.

He stared at you. "What are you doing standing there?" he questioned.

Your arms dropped to your sides. "You called me over here, Han," you would've laughed if you weren't so annoyed. "Did you call me here for anything at all? Or were you so busy drooling over the Falcon that you forgot?"

He laughed and your traitorous heart skipped a beat. You scolded yourself inwardly. You were supposed to hate him, but on rare occasions like these it seemed impossible. "Calm down," he instructed. He walked under the Falcon and started up the ramp. He stopped, turned around, and held out his hand. "I'll show you."

You sighed and pushed his hand away. "I know how to walk up a ramp." You walked ahead of Han and into the Falcon. He smiled and followed you in. You wandered around, Han following close behind. "You brought me in here to see this piece of junk?" you asked, only halfway joking.

"The Falcon is the fastest ship in the galaxy." Han bragged defensively. "That is if the hyperdrive is working... Chewie!" You heard a growling in the distance. "Waddya you mean it's not fixed yet?" Han repeated. He started to jog off to help Chewbacca but turned back to you. "Just don't touch anything," he ordered before going off to help Chewbacca.

You navigated the halls aimlessly until you found what looked like the control room. You ran a hand over the controls, disregarding Han's insisting that you not touch anything. Han irritated you endlessly, and there had to be a way to repay the favor. You knew how much Han loved the Falcon and it gave you an idea. You turned around and walked to Han, who was on his knees, bent over a bunch of wires.

"Hey, Han," you began, your plot fully formed in your mind.

He continued to stare down at the twisted wires with a vengeance, but he nodded in brief acknowledgement.

"I'm just going to try pushing a few buttons in the control room," you casually announced. "I hope that's ok."

"Yeah, uh-huh," he agreed absently.

You sucked in a breath to keep yourself from laughing. "Ok, thanks!" you managed.

"Gahhhhh!" Chewbacca warned Han. You put your finger to your lips to silence Chewie and ran off to the control room. The panicked Chewbacca remained by Han, trying to get his attention, eventually resorting to punching him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for? I'm working on it!" Han said angrily.

"Grahhhh!" Chewbacca explained.

Han dropped the wires and jumped to his feet. "She what?" he yelled and ran after you. He burst into the control room and looked around anxiously. You had your back to the side of the door and watched him turn the seats around hoping to find you in one of them.

"The Falcon didn't ask for a whole search-and-rescue gig, Han," you said smirking.

He spun around and pointed the bizarrely-shaped tool he had in his hand at you. "You can't go pushing buttons on my ship whenever you feel like it," he practically screamed, his face turning beet red.

"Never fear, darling, I didn't press a button on your precious ship," you promised. "Though even if I did, I happen to recall that you said I could."

"I never said anything like that!" he insisted.

You were barely refraining from doubling over laughing, and Han could tell. His face returned to its normal color. "Oh, you think this is funny, huh?" he questioned.

At that moment, Chewbacca walked into the control room, announcing that the hyperdrive was fixed. Han smiled. "Buckle up, sweetheart," he instructed.

It took you a moment to process what was going on, but once you understood, you were thrown into a confusing mix of emotions. On one hand, you had no intention of allowing Han Solo—a reckless pilot and a scoundrel—to fly you anywhere in the Millennium Falcon—the oldest and junkiest ship in the galaxy. But on the other hand, you were intrigued and excited at the prospect of an adventure with Han Solo—a reckless pilot and a scoundrel. You decided to let curiosity kill the cat and burn bridges when you came to them. You took a seat and strapped yourself in. "Where are we going?" you inquired.

Han looked at you, turned to Chewbacca, and smiled. The ship lurched and the main door to Hanger Five opened. The Falcon headed through the opening and started flying surprisingly steadily.

You had always liked flying but you were sort of on edge about riding in the run down piece of scrap metal Han called a ship. You watched Han push buttons and flick switches with a cocky smirk all the while. Chewbacca leaned over to Han and grumbled something inaudible. Han whispered back while you strained to hear what they were saying. All you got was a snippet about malfunctioning and Han undoubtedly lying about it being ok.

"When you're ready, Chewie," Han allowed. There was a flash of light and suddenly you were in hyperspace. In your experience, hyperspace usually meant kicking back for some smooth sailing; but on this particular piece of garbage, it felt shaky and uncontrolled. You wondered how long it would be before the ship came to a stop. Light speed, of course, was supposed to be quick as a wink, but this seemed a lot longer than a wink.

A red light started to flash on the control panel in front of Han. The Falcon was definitely shaking uncontrollably now, and presumably not just because it was an old ship. There was a loud crashing noise and the Falcon stopped dead. Everything in the Falcon turned off suddenly and thankfully flickered back on.

You sat there gripping the seat tightly mouth agape. "You're dead," you announced with conviction. Han turned around to look at you, and then hopped out of his seat.

"Not yet, I'm not!" He yelled behind him as he ran toward the hyperdrive he was fixing earlier. You turned to Chewbacca who was ready to follow him.

"I'll have something to say about that," you muttered to him.

"Arghhhhh," Chewbacca snapped angrily. He brushed past you nervously, and you followed him.

"Well I have a reason to be angry at him!" you insisted. "First, he drags me into his ship without even telling me where he's going, then goes into hyperspace knowing the hyperdrive was malfunctioning, and now we're stranded in the middle of nowhe---" Chewbacca stopped abruptly causing you to run into him.

"Alright, no need to get worked up," you heard Han say.

You scoffed. "No need to get worked up? You didn't do anything about that hyperdrive, and now I'm paying the price!" you lamented. Han handed the tools off to Chewbacca, stood up, and brushed himself off.

"You think I wanted this to happen?" he asked.

"Considering how much trouble you get into, I'm beginning to wonder!" you hollered at him.

Behind Han, Chewbacca grunted. Han spun on his heel to glare at the Wookiee. "Whose side are you on, Fuzzball?" he questioned.

"Han, where were you even planning on taking me?" you asked through your teeth.

"Well I was going to take you to Corellia, but now I'm thinking about taking you to Hoth and leaving you there!" He brushed past you and sulked back into the control room.

You threw a pleading look at Chewbacca, but he just shrugged and got back to work. You offered to help, but Chewie didn't seem to want any—not from you anyway.

Having nothing else to do, you began to wander back to the control room. You told yourself over and over again that you weren't going there to see Han. Though, every time you told yourself that, it seemed less true.

You leaned against the frame of the door, watching as Han flicked switches in frustration. You began to suggest, "Have you tried contacting—"

"Yes!" He interrupted. "For some wonderful reason the com is down, and it looks like it's gonna be for a while."

"How long is a while?" you asked.

He turned to you ready to snap again, but after a moment of looking straight into your eyes, his face softened. He took a deep breath and silently walked back to Chewbacca. He whispered something you didn't catch. The Wookie growled softly, though you weren't very good at Shyriiwook, the Wookiee language, anyway.

Han turned back to you. "It shouldn't be that long, but we need to get the hyperdrive working," he explained.

"What's wrong with it?" you asked. Chewbacca made a noise that seemed to be a laugh. You looked at Han. He fidgeted and looked everywhere but your eyes. You realized that not only did Han have no idea what was wrong with the Falcon, but he was unprepared to fix it if he did. You glared at him.

"Settle down this will be over before you know it." He said.

"And if it isn't, I'm making a magic carpet out of Wookiee fur, and flying off of this junkyard."

You sat there for hours occasionally getting up to test communications. You figured that this must happen a lot in a ship like the Falcon. But the more you looked over at Han, the more clueless he seemed. It was hard to read expression on Chewbacca's face, but you could tell it wasn't any better on his end.

You got up once more to try to make contact with anyone at all. There was nothing but static. You went back to report to Han. Going back and forth between the cockpit, and where Chewie and Han worked was all you could really do. You didn't have any mechanical skills, so helping Han was out of the question. Han slammed his hand against the hyperdrive, making you jump.

"I can't fix it!" He yelled at no one. "This piece is entirely ruined!" You gave up any small hope you had that Han could get you out of this. Chewbacca growled in agreement. You planted your face in your hands and didn't want to look up until you were out of this mess.

You and Chewbacca spent a good portion of time playing Dejarik. The Wookiee wasn't very good, but Han explained he didn't like losing. You would rather let him win anyway. The game wasn't very entertaining, and it got tedious when Chewbacca kept challenging you round after round.

"Agghhhhrrgh" Chewie challenged once more. You noticed Han trying not to laugh out of the corner of your eye. You stood up and gestured to the seat.

"Your turn," you told him. Han leaned back in his chair.

"You're doing just fine," he said. "Maybe next time, if you don't use the lowest ranked character, you just might win." You walked over to him, pulled him out of his seat, and set him down in front of Chewie.

"Show me," you commanded. He obviously regretted commenting and reluctantly played Chewbacca. Though the game was boring to play, it was even worse watching it. The only thing that kept you looking was Han struggling to beat Chewie. Chewbacca had actually gotten better since you started playing him. That, unfortunately, only told you that you've been playing for far too long. You started walking in circles to get the blood flowing in your legs again. Han had lost the game and turned it off.

"You'll hurt your brain playing for too long." He told Chewie, who was growling in frustration. Han held up his hand for everyone to be quiet. There was a faint beeping noise off in the distance. You, Han, and Chewbacca started running towards the noise.

"Harrrghhh" Chewie said. You knew that had mentioned "hyperdrive", but you didn't understand the rest.

"I know, Chewie, but it shouldn't be." He picked up a pile of wires and studied them. Out of nowhere they sparked and Han jumped back. He noticed that the sparks had caught on to the withered hyperdrive manual Han had been reading. Han tried to quickly grab the papers but they set fire.

"Garrghhhhh!" Chewbacca howled.

"You didn't fix that?" Han shouted back. The Wookie shook his head. You grabbed Han's shoulder and turned him toward you.

"What didn't you fix?" You asked him. Han turned back toward the fire, started stomping it out.

"It wasn't my job to fix it!" Before the flames died away completely there was a loud noise. You figured it was some sort of smoke detector. Then immediately after the sound, water started pouring everywhere around you, Han, and poor Chewbacca.

You stood still as the cold water ran down your hair and onto your back making you shiver. This is why you didn't "hang out" with Han. Whenever you were around him, something had to go wrong. Han took one look at your face and started laughing. You turned to look at Han. He was being as childish as ever, something about that made you want to laugh. You trudged over to him and give him a push. He slipped and fell on his back. You and Chewbacca laughed until Han came to his senses. He stood up with a hilarious look of shock on his face.

"I guess I deserved that." He predicted. You nodded, and Chewbacca growled his agreement. "I wasn't asking you, you overgrown hairball." Chewie smiled causing Han to smile. The water had stopped now and you realized how soaked you were. You shivered and leaned over to Chewbacca

"How to you deal with him?" You playfully asked him. He shrugged in response.

"Come one, I'm a nice guy." Han said defensively. You and Chewbacca exchanged a glance, and the Wookiee went to dry off. You looked over at Han. He looked just as cold as you were. "Let's go see what we can salvage." He said walking toward the Dejarik table. There were a few papers on the table that were past saving. You gathered them up in shreds and threw them away. When you came back, Han was fussing over a control board.

"It still works right?" You asked Han. He turned to you.

"It should still work, but if Chewie had just fixed the sprinklers then I wouldn't have to worry about it at all." He said grudgingly.

"I don't get what was wrong with it," you said. "There was smoke and the smoke detector found out."

Han walked toward you, and turned around to see the water everywhere. "It's supposed to know where the fire is exactly and only spray there, but it malfunctioned a while ago." He clarified. "Come on. Let's go check the other rooms." You nodded and turned to go right when Han turned to go left. You ran into each other and almost fell over. Han recovered first and grabbed your hand. When he pulled you up you weren't expecting it and you ran into him again. This time he held on to you. You stared at him for a while captivated by his brown eyes. You looked down and backed up.

"Sorry." You said fidgeting. You didn't want to look up because you knew that no matter how hard you tried not to, you were falling for Han. He was the galaxy's biggest pain in the neck but there was the way he went about it that you thought about. He was confident in his decisions- including the stupid ones-. No, that didn't make him any less annoying either, but it helped. You had misjudged him, and ignored him. He still was not great at the responsibility thing though.

"How about I go right?" he decided. You agreed and walked away smiling. You couldn't seem to get Han out of your mind. You cleaned up anything that was spoiled then met Han back in the cockpit. It was quiet except for the controls beeping every now and again. You were tired from all the stress so you sat down on the ground. Han chose to join you when he had dried most everything off.

"What a day," you sighed.

"No kidding," Han replied. "I'll never get this place dry again."

You looked at him and for once you didn't mind if you were there forever. He started leaning toward you. Your heart was beating out of your chest. Your noses were touching when you heard static from the controls. You both jerked away from each other to better focus on the incoming transmission. It cleared up and you recognized Lando's voice.

"It's about time!" Han said standing up, then helped you to your feet. Chewbacca walked in the room with matted, slightly dry, fur. You had forgotten that he was there on the Flacon with you.

"Are you ok? You tried to contact us," Lando said.

Han rolled his eyes. "Our communications were down. I think I got half a message through before it went out though," He guessed.

Lando confirmed that had happened and sent the search-and-rescue team for a real rescue this time. After Han was done telling Lando all the necessary details, Chewbacca gave us both towels to dry off on.

"That was perfect timing." You joked.

"Lando's good like that." He said. He bent down and kissed you ignoring the questioning growls from Chewie. His lips were still cold from the water but you didn't object. It seemed impossible that this would have happened. But then again, Han had never really understood impossible.

[laurenmm62017]

Jedi June: Day 5

5 Times Luke met Force Ghosts

Prompt: There is no death, there is the Force

This sort of ignores the whole “It takes years of study to learn to become a Force Ghost” thing but oh well.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32046055

@jedijune

~1~

The first time he spoke to someone who was not really there was back on Tattooine. Luke was working on one of the vaporators at the edge of the farm, near the end of the day. He had been working on the damn thing for the better part of the day. One part failed just as another was fixed, but it seemed that Luke finally figured out what was wrong.

He straightened up and wiped a bit of sweat off his brow with a satisfied huff. At that moment, his eyes strayed over to the fence that marked the edge of the farm. Leaning against the electric fence was a Kel Dor, long robes flowing around them. As if that wasn’t strange enough, they were completely blue and translucent. What the kriff?

“Hey!” He shouted over, lowering his hand to his holster to make sure his blaster was there. You could never be too careful with Sand People roaming around. “What are you doing out here? Tosche Station is a long way from here.”

The Kel Dor chuckled, and stood up straight. “So you’re the Luke Skywalker that Ben keeps going on about. A pleasure, young one.”

“Ben? Ben Kenobi? What about him?”

Then, the Kel Dor walked straight through the kriffing fence. Luke’s eyebrows nearly shot off his head at that. He fumbled with his blaster a bit before turning the muzzle towards the… ghost is the only word he could think of. “What the hell??”

“Do not be afraid, young Luke. I mean you no harm. I was simply curious.”

“Y...you’re see through. And blue? What are you?” Luke was so confused.

“Simply a memory from a time past. May the Force be with you, Luke Skywalker. You will do great things. Just like your father before you.”

And just like that, he disappeared, leaving Luke confused and intrigued.

~2~

Luke doesn’t see another ghost until the aftermath of the Death Star explosion (the first one, as he will find out later). Luke had just climbed down from his X-Wing, adrenaline still flowing through his veins. He yanked his helmet off his head and looked hastily around for where the Falcon landed.

As he scanned the landing field, he caught a glimpse of translucent blue, and his mind flashes back to that time on the farm.

Luke weaved through the crowd of Rebel pilots and engineers and mechanics to the edge of the airfield, almost out of sight of everyone.

This figure was tall, much taller than Luke, with hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a mask that covered his eyes with some interesting markings on it. While the last ghost wore Jedi robes, this one was wearing typical Rebel Alliance attire. He was leaning casually against the hanger wall, watching wistfully as a modified Corellian freighter slowly came in for a landing.

“You don’t look much like a Jedi, sir.” Luke called out casually.

The man turned to him and smirked. “Neither do you. You look like a hero of the Rebellion.”

“Ehh, all I did was pull the trigger.”

“And blew up the Empire’s biggest weapon. Come on, kid. Don’t be so modest.”

“Alright, alright, thank you, Master…?”

“My name is Kanan Jarrus, Jedi Knight. I fought in the early days of the Rebellion, with my crew over there. Maybe you’ve seen them around base.”

Luke and Kanan observed this crew disembarking the Corellian freighter. A Twi’lek woman walked down the ramp holding what looked like a very small baby with bright green hair. A Mandalorian with colorful armor was chatting with an older man with a beard and bright white armor, followed by a ginger-haired man in standard Rebellion clothes and a big purple alien of whom Luke did not know the species of.

“That’s your crew? They seem... formidable.” He looked over this eclectic, mismatched crew, who seemed to know exactly where each other were as they walked towards the rest of the rebels. Luke stared at the crazy amount of modifications on top of this ship. There was almost as much as the Falcon, but this ship actually looked in much better condition. Don’t tell Han he thought that.

“They’re my family. I watch over them through the Force when I am able to. When this war is finally over, then I will feel comfortable with becoming one with the Force.”

Luke’s gaze focused back on this crew and contemplated the last few days. He went from a simple farm boy on Tattooine to hero of the Rebellion in an insanely short period of time. He met a Princess, an old Jedi, and two smugglers that he had become very close to. He really hoped they could become as close as Kanan’s crew appeared to be.

He turned back to Kanan, only to find that he disappeared.

~3~

Luke was recovering from his encounter with Darth Vader- his father when he met the next ghost.

Well, ghosts.

The doctor just left after making sure the stump of his arm wasn’t infected. It wasn’t, and what a relief it was for that small miracle. He was lying down with his eyes closed in a room between two empty beds.

Slowly, as the sedative the doctor gave him worked through his body, he began to sense two? Force signatures, sitting on the bed to his left. They were so melded and tangled together, he almost thought that it was one person.

He turned his head, and there sat two men. The first was wearing robes that looked similar to Old Ben’s robes. He was slightly too thin and his eyes didn’t quite connect with his own. The other was more built, had shoulder length hair, and was wearing a simple shirt and pants.

But Luke could see the way that their bodies were angled towards each other, the way the larger man had his arm on the other’s back, the way they seemed to unconsciously lean against each other.

“And who are you two?” He muttered, his brain still a bit fuzzy.

“My name is Chirrut. And this big softy is Baze.” The one who wore robes said, and gestured with his hand to the other man, whose frown deepened slightly at his introduction.

“Hi. I’m Luke.”

“You’ve been through so much, young one. The Force feels heavy around you. You faced a horrible creature and paid the price for your mistakes.” Chirrut declared, a bit too loudly, in Luke's opinion.

“Yeah, guess that’s what happens when I don’t listen to Master Yoda.”

“No.” Baze rumbled. “This sort of thing happens when you go into a situation you think you are ready for, but horribly overestimated yourself.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I should have listened to Master Yoda. But if I had, Leia and Chewie…”

“There is no changing the past. All one can do is look to the future.” Chirrut smiled. “Besides, I don’t think you’re ready to give up yet. After all, the strongest stars have hearts of kyber.”

“What does that even mean?” Luke asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about.” Baze said, smiling very slightly.

“I’m disappointed, Baze. Do you not remember our time in the temple as Guardians?”

“I’m surprised you can remember something that happened so long ago, old man.”

“Such a shame. Baze Malbus was once the most devoted Guardian of us all!”

Luke smiled at them, letting their bickering to wash over him, then allowed the sedative to take hold of him.

~4~

The next time Luke saw a ghost was right before his turn in the plan to get Han back from Jabba's palace on Tattooine. He was at the outer edges of the Dune Sea, doing a bit of moving meditation to settle his nerves and center his focus. As his movements flowed smoother and smoother and he sank deeper into the Force, he could sense the Force coming together next to him in the form of a humanoid. Harsh, wild energy barely contained within, but already one with the Force. He could feel that this ghost was following the movements of his meditation with sharp precision and only a split second behind him.

He was winding down now, moving slower and slower, and finally settled in a kneeling position on the sand.

A beat of silence, then...

"You were trained by Obi-wan Kenobi, weren't you?" This ghost's voice was light, jovial, but his energy was dark, a shadow just out of sight.

"Yes. Him and Master Yoda. How could you tell?"

"I'd know Obi's style anywhere. We grew up together, after all."

Luke's eyes opened and looked across from him at this new ghost. He had dreadlocks that went slightly past his shoulders, a stripe of color across his nose and cheeks, and what looks like only the outside robe of standard Jedi robes? Interesting choice, Luke supposed.

"Obi-wan... I knew him as Old Ben, he lived out in the Jundland Wastes. Uncle Owen... he never trusted him, I guess. But I was always drawn to him, for some reason. Now I know it was because of the Force.” Luke smiled at the man. “You said you knew Ben?”

“Sure did, kid. But I knew him as Obi. We grew up in the Jedi Temple together. He was a cute little thing, always chasing after me and our group of friends. A lot happened to him at the start of his Padawan training, and it influenced him for the rest of his life, and therefore, the fate of the galaxy.” The man shook his head. “He was so full of anger when he was younger, but then he went to Naboo with his Master, that was the turning point for him. We could all feel it. Had the Jedi Order continued, I totally believed that he would have been the youngest Grand Master the galaxy had ever seen.”

“He was a bit distant, and I could tell there was a lot that he didn’t tell me before… he went to face Vader.”

“He was always like that. Never wanted to be a burden on others, so he kept everything close to his chest. He really only confided with Master Yoda. Or during the Clone Wars, he would spend a lot of time with his second in command.”

“A clone?”

“Yes, Commander Cody, highest ranking clone in the entire GAR. They were very close. Dunno what happened to him after the war.”

“May he be with the Force.”

“Yeah.”

There was a pause between the two.

“Hey, kid. Be careful, in there. Jabba is a lot smarter than his appearance would indicate.”

“Of course. How could he be the leader of an entire system if he wasn’t?”

“Heh, that’s true. Just don’t underestimate what he would do if he found you out.”

“He won’t.”

~5~

The last time he saw a ghost, or Force ghost, was during his exile on Ahch-To. He had lost track of time many cycles ago. The local population helped him acclimate to basically having nothing. They taught him how to fish, sterilize water, plant edible food, and build a shelter for himself. All of the books that he collected over the years were kept in an isolated part of the island that he rarely went to.

It was peaceful. But there was still a storm in his heart.

Luke stood on one of the higher cliffs on this small island, looking over the endless water. The waves roughly washed up the cliffs and he felt the sprays tickle his feet.

He wasn’t meditating; his head was too much of a mess for that.

Why didn’t he see it sooner? Why didn’t he sense it? If he were a better teacher, would he have been able to stop it?

“Luke, stop that train of thought this instant.”

He jumped and nearly fell from the cliff as a result. He turned around indignantly, ready to tell off whichever ghost had come unannounced to his exile, but paused when all he saw was blue and white lekku.

He slowly looked up to see a scowling and unimpressed face glaring down at him and they stepped back. Now he had a better view of this Force ghost.

A Torgruta, at least a head taller than him, wearing long flowing robes and patches of… stormtrooper armor? No, it was a little too angular for that. Clone trooper armor then. She had many decorative beads draped over her montrals and lekku and her face markings were very sharp and distinct.

“Well it’s true. What would you know of any of this?” He retorted back.

“Oh, you will find I know betrayal very well. After all, thousands of my children betrayed me.”

“…you’re talking about the clone troopers.”

“Indeed. My name is Jedi Master Shaak Ti, and during the war, I was stationed on Kamino, the home plant of the clones. I oversaw thousands of clones’ training, I gave them advice, I comforted them when their brothers were decommissioned. I fought with and for them all. But in the end, it was for naught. They executed almost all Jedi, even the youngest in the crèche and the eldest in the Halls of Healing.” He listened in awe.

“But I do not blame them. It was Palpatine who forced them to do this. Implanted a chip to control them with the right code words. They couldn’t control it, just as you could not control what happened with Ben Solo.”

“But I could have stopped this from happening, if only I had seen it!”

“What if’s and could have’s won’t change the past, Luke. All you can do now is look forward. What could you do in the future, if only you would forgive yourself.”

“I… I can’t go back. How can I face them? Leia, Han, Chewie? Their son Fell to the Dark side, because I wasn’t a good enough teacher.”

“Falling is a choice, Luke. Ben was manipulated by the Dark and Fell because of it. Not because you failed.”

“Heh. Sure, whatever you say.” He turned on his heel and began walking back down the hill to his hut.

He heard her sigh, and then felt her Force energy disperse.

[milfbailorgana]

I posted it 

The urge to nest had been bothering Han for almost a week now. He knew, in the back of his head, that the urge meant he was in preheat, but he really wasn’t going to let himself hide in the Falcon for a week, pretending like he didn’t have things to do.

But the urge was overwhelming now. Han could feel it gnawing at the pit of his stomach, along with the beginnings of his heat; the feeling was a restless anxiety and restless urge to do something.

Huffing and getting up from where he was meant to be relaxing in the captain’s chair after fixing some faulty wiring in the Falcon’s cooling system, he walked down the corridor and pulled up the cover to one of the smuggling compartments with a grunt. It was empty, not having seen much use since he joined the rebellion. A little dusty but otherwise clean. Hidden. Safe.

Han dropped his pillow and blanket into the hole. If this is where Han’s hindbrain wanted him to spend his heat, who was Han to deny it. He’d come a long way from Corellia and Qi’ra and their singular bunk where anyone could walk in on her helping him through his heat, but it seemed his mind still hadn’t adjusted to the fact he was safe here. Well, as safe as one could be, in the rebellion.

Chewie was somewhere else on the base, which meant Han could raid his room. He wasn’t sure if it was unusual for an omega to want the scents of many different people around them, even non-humans, but his nests always felt the best when he could smell his family all around him. He grabbed Chewie’s blanket and pillow, standing for a minute to debate taking the fitted sheet but deciding against it. It was too much of a hassle and he had two new scents to add to his nest this heat, he would be fine without it.

He pressed his face into the pillow to take a deep inhale of Chewie’s scent, reveling in the familiar smell. Chewie smelled like motor oil and fur and something else that was distinctly Wookiee. It was what home had smelled like for the last ten years. Sighing, Han dropped Chewie’s things into the compartment and contemplated when he had last taken his birth control. It wasn’t yesterday, and certainly not the day before, but if he took two today, he’d be fine, right? It almost made Han long for his days in the imperial navy, where he was kept on heat suppressants, but he shuddered remembering how bad the heat afterward had been. Without Qi’ra he’d had to go to Lando, cramping and feeling slick drip down his thighs, hoping the man wouldn’t take advantage of him.

Grabbing Lando’s things was easy. He had never cleaned out his closet after Han took his ship and even though those clothes were almost ten years old by now, Lando liked to leave Han a shirt or cape whenever they spent time together. Whether Lando knew he brought them into his nest during heats or just left them around to mark his territory was unimportant; Han was grateful. Not that he’d ever tell Lando that. He grabbed the lilac cape that had been hung up in the closet a few months ago and pressed it to his nose, breathing in the scent of linen and something smoky that always followed Lando around before tossing it into the smuggling compartment.

Now, getting Luke and Leia’s scents in his nest would be more tricky. Neither of them stayed on the Falcon, and Han didn’t exactly know where they were staying, let alone their room codes. Plus, walking around the rebellion base smelling like he did was not Han’s idea of a good time.

His scent suppressants had gone missing over a tenday ago. Well— missing was relative. Chewie could probably find them if Han bothered to ask him to look, but his pride and the assurances he’d made to his hairy friend that ‘yes, I am going off my scent suppressors willingly, I think being drug free would be good for my system’ with his fingers crossed behind his back meant that wasn’t possible. Curse past him and his procrastination problem.

Comming Luke wouldn’t be a problem. Han was sure the beta would lend him a jacket or blanket or something if it would help Han through his heat, but the princess was a different story. She’d started giving him looks ever since he’d come off his scent suppressants and she had finally noticed he was an omega. If Han really thought about it, the looks might be about the fact he was in preheat and ignoring it, but it could just as easily be that as her thinking him less capable than another alpha or beta. Han wasn't very inclined to believe that someone who called Chewie a walking carpet on first introduction wasn’t probably a bigot in another way.

He rumbled in frustration— a noise he’d picked up from Chewie— stomping back to his room. He pulled out the stack of blankets Chewie had gotten him when they had first gotten the Falcon, just in case Han wanted to nest like a good omega should, rather than shacking up with a rando he’d picked up at a bar. If Han was honest with himself, he’d always preferred the heats he had on the Falcon. The familiar setting calmed something inside of him and Lando— the only alpha Han had ever let fuck him on the Falcon— was, admittedly, a good alpha. Too bad he was playing by the rules now. Not to mention, the last time they’d talked was... not pretty.

Han threw the blankets into the smuggling compartment and lowered himself inside after them. The compartment wasn’t exactly tall— the walls only came up to his armpits when he stood— but whatever his hindbrain wanted, Han was going to have to provide. Setting up a nest was never something Han had been particularly good at. His nests never looked pretty or elegant or clean, but he made them work. Arranging the blankets and pillows around the compartment in whatever order would appease his omega brain, Han contemplated what lay ahead. Usually in this situation, Han would be flying to a seedy bar on a seedy planet to for a seedy alpha to fuck him. Unfortunately, a snowstorm had come in the night before and was forecast to last at least a week and there was no way anyone was granting Han clearance to take off.

And the alternative: fucking someone on base. He’d considered it, of course he had, but it was completely off the table. Han had a policy: there was no way in hell he was going to fuck anyone he might have to talk with again later. It just led to knothead alphas feeling entitled to his body and Han wasn’t doing that again.

So here he was. Sitting in one of the Falcon’s smuggling compartments, getting ready to ride his heat out with nothing but toys. It certainly wasn’t any omega’s favorite way to spend a heat but it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. With the way he never tracked his heats and Chewie doing his best to make sure Han didn’t sleep with any shady people, Han had weathered multiple heats with just a knotting dildo and his fingers.

Flopping down once his nest was as complete as it was going to get for now, he pressed his face into the closest blanket. It was one of his designated nesting blankets so he couldn’t smell anything but Han assumed it probably smelled like him. He’d been told during a heat once that he smelled like delicate jogan fruits and honey, and since Han wasn’t exactly going to ask someone what he smelled like— nor had he ever actually smelled a jogan fruit— he supposed that was the best he was going to get.

Han climbed out of his nest and traipsed into his bedroom, where his compad and birth control were.

The birth control was easy. Han took three from the bottle and dry swallowed them. That should make up for his missed days, right?

The compad was harder. How was he supposed to write this message to Luke? ‘Hi, I’m horny and needy and I just need your jacket so I can sit next to it and feel safe whilst I get myself off’? It was stupid.

Han flopped on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He’d never had to do anything like this before. He’s never had a group of people he could almost call a pack. As much as being in the rebellion made him nervous (one of Jabba’s goons could pop up any time to take back what the Hutt was owed) the people here were some of the best Han had ever met. It wasn’t exactly a high bar, as a street rat turned imperial soldier turned smuggler, but the kindness he had been shown in his few months in the rebellion was nice, even if Han didn’t think it was deserved most of the time.

Han could feel the beginnings of heat gnawing at the pit of his stomach. Soon he would be slick and open and wanting. He didn’t have time to put this off.

He groaned and opened the device, finding Luke’s contact

H.Solo: hey kid

H.Solo: you know that jacket I lent you for the ceremony?

H.Solo: the yellow one?

H.Solo: I need it back for something

H.Solo: pretty urgently

It was seconds before he got a reply from Luke

L.Skywalker: of course!

L.Skywalker: I'm glad you messaged me now, I’m about to start combat practice with my squadron

L.Skywalker: Leia should be free, I’ll ask her to bring it to you

Kriff.

H.Solo: Kid

H.Solo: You don’t need to do that

H.Solo: I’ve got it under control, actually

But it seemed Luke had already started his training.

He really didn’t need that temptation around. Leia, who smelled like leather and something earthy that was unidentifiable to Han. He wasn’t sure there was any scent better than it. In his weaker moments Han could admit to wanting to press his face into her neck and drown in her smell, and this was certainly one of his weaker moments.

But as much as he wanted her, Han couldn’t let himself. Whenever he let an alpha with any power over him into one of his heats it always ended up with he and Chewie being blackmailed and Han having to do things he didn’t want to. Han would stick to fucking strangers he picked in bars, thank you very much, even if it dissapointed Chewie.

Han whined in the back of his throat and got up to pace. There was no way he could let Leia see him in this state.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself down— Leia didn’t need to be smelling a distressed omega along with one going into heat— Han left his room and walked back to the smuggling compartments, tugging the metal cover back over his nest.

Moving to the ‘fresher, Han took a moment to stare at himself in the mirror. His face was flushed and his hair was messy. He looked exactly how he felt: hot and out of control. It was a look Han wore a lot whilst working on the Falcon, though, so Han hoped he wouldn’t look too bad.

There was no way to disguise his scent, but Han hoped if he looked out together enough, Leia would assume he had a plan for his heat beyond fucking himself on a toy.

Alphas love to butt their heads in where they don’t belong, especially if they think it’s good for an omega, and the princess was definitely one of those righteous types.

Han froze from where he was trying to tidy up his hair when he heard the entrance ramp to the Falcon being lowered. Kriff. Either Chewie was back or Luke had given Leia the code for his ship. Either way Han wasn’t particularly enthused.

Straightening his shirt to make himself look as presentable as possible, he walked to the ramp, clearing his throat loudly. “Entering someone’s ship without knocking is rude, you know? I could’ve been naked”

[stevenismyboy]

You Belong Among The Stars.

a/n: inspired by a post written by @jxnehxpper​ (check her work out because it’s incredible!!!) from a few weeks ago, I just couldn't resist not writing about Steve as Han Solo! I haven't been here long enough, but I hope you still enjoy my work. The day after tomorrow, or in two days' time I should publish the next part of To All The Boys I Loved Before au- who's excited? I certainly am! 

summary: This year, Steve is dressing up as a famous Star Wars smuggler for Halloween. But he didn't expect to meet a princess on his way. You can find my Masterlist here.

-

Steve loved Halloween. As soon as the leaves on the trees started to turn red, yellow and orange instead of green, he and Dustin just couldn't wait for it. Robin didn't share their admiration, although she was happy to join in with the costumes and go for a trick or treat in the evening. Steve wanted that night so badly. He wanted to be someone else for one night. Somebody special.

“Give me that” the guy sighed annoyed. Dustin reluctantly gave him a can of hairspray. Steve looked at himself in the mirror and put his lips in a beak, still dissatisfied with the effect. “You look good, Your Majesty. I've got to look, too. Don't be selfish!” Dustin sighed, trying to rip the can out of his hands. Steve just raised his hand up so his friend couldn't reach it. “Come on, that's not fair!”

“You, my little friend, are just going to ask the old ladies for candy. And I'm going hunting to a distant galaxy today, inhabited by the hottest girls on the planet Hawkins. You don't need a hairstyle from space” Steve snorted. 

“Just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean I have to look worse. Chewbacca had a great haircut. I'm not gonna let your tall ego ruin my image” the guy answered and finally ripped out his can. His costume looked fantastic. The kid worked on it so long, Steve was impressed. The fake fur was sewn by Claudia to his brown sweatshirt and even darker pants. Dustin worked almost all evening to attach his eyebrows and beard, but Robin and Steve assured him that what he had was enough.

It was Steve who came up with the idea for their costumes. He had to admit that he surprised himself year after year. His creativity was getting higher and higher. When he was recently moving cassettes with movies on the shelf with the most watched productions, he came across Star Wars and simply couldn't resist. He found and ironed a white shirt, bought a brown vest for a few dollars, and completed the whole thing with tall shoes, waving a plastic fake gun in his hands. Everyone will know who he is. A smuggler. Casanova of the Milky Way. Han Solo.

“First of all, you look terrible enough for a creature from outer space. And second, who do you want to impress today? You've already found your Suzie” Steve shrugged his shoulders. “Excuse me? Just because I have a girlfriend doesn't mean I'll go to Halloween unprepared. That would be unprofessional, and you, Steven Harrington, should know that of all the people you know, I am the least unprofessional. I could have been Luke, but you insisted I have to be Chewie, so bite your tongue and wait for me at the Millennium Falcon”.

“Yes, Captain” Steve saluted a friend and left the bathroom. His parents weren't home as usual. Why? To ruin his night?

Robin was already waiting downstairs. She was chewing the gum lazy looking at his childhood photos in frames, listening to the wind howling outside. She was wearing jeans, a white checked shirt and a red vest, much more spacious than the one Steve had. She looked at him surprised and made a gum balloon that broke with a loud crack.

“I have to admit that... I didn't expect you to look so good. And believe that it was supposed to be a compliment”she added quickly when Steve made a pirouette to present herself to her. “You really liked that movie so much?” Steve wrinkled his nose, pointing to her outfit. “Well, I don't remember much of it, given that I was completely high, but I had no other idea, and time was running out. Besides, I didn't spend millions on it. Marty Mcfly is fully satisfied with me” his friend shrugged her shoulders. True, she remembered little of "Back to the Future", but so what? She remembered that she liked it. Before she stared at the lights on the ceiling so long that she threw up in the bathroom.

“I gave you an idea. Then you disagreed” Steve squinted, pretending to be offended, though in a way it was. He's been dreaming about this day for months. He was supposed to be Han Solo, Dustin Chewbacca (though he would only spend two or three hours with him and Robin) and his friend was supposed to be Leia. But she didn't even want to hear about it. 

“I'll say again for the hundredth time, dingus. I don't want to and I will never dress up as a princess”. “Did you ever watch that movie? She's great! She's damn brave, sarcastic, and I guess I don't have to add that she's super hot. Don't you see the resemblance?” Steve raised one eyebrow. Robin sighined, threw herself on the couch, looking out the window. 

“You're only talking like that to convince me. My costume is ready, and Leia is absolutely not persuading me. Do you have any idea how many chicks can dress up like her today? A whole lot. You'll be able to dress up in them as much as you like. So leave me alone and accept that today you're playing a duo instead of a trio” she said with her hands behind her head. Steve refrained from commenting, hearing Dustin's feet rumble on the stairs. The boy ran to them with a perfectly laid out head, smiling from ear to ear.

“Ready for the most scary night of the year?” he asked, carrying his plastic gun and falling out before anyone could stop him.

-

After Steve and Robin made sure that Dustin would reach his friends safely and his sugar level would not exceed the norm, Steve took them both to the party he had been waiting for so long. Fortunately, Tina didn't organize it. He would have had the resistance to go to the bathroom to relive the same experience as last year. The host was some Nick (he didn't even know who hewas) but Robin made sure that he was a great guy and everyone who will be there would make sure that they don't forget that night for the rest of their lives.

They went through the crowd of sweaty teenagers, heading to the kitchen to find alcohol. Robin's blue eyes were wandering around the people, looking for a girl who has been visiting her at work quite often lately. Steve was looking around too. He was looking for smiling ladies, shiny eyes, long hair. He wanted to feel different today. He wanted to feel as if he could still please someone else. As a smuggler, he wanted to steal someone's heart today. Not for one night. Maybe for longer.

“Steve! Here!” Nancy waved at him, standing by the fireplace. Robin ran up to her first to say hi. The girl was wearing a short green dress and cardboard wings, painted with paint and glitter that was falling under her feet. She looked like a real forest fairy. Jonathan chose no costume, but was wearing a green shirt that matched his girlfriend's outfit. Steve smiled, nodding his head at him.

“You look incredible! Steve... I wouldn't expect you to be a smuggler today, Nancy smiled, drinking a sip of juice from her mug. Apparently after the last time she said she wouldn't touch alcohol on Halloween. “Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far, away...” Jonathan quoted the movie, giving Steve a hand. The boy shooked it, scratching his neck. A couple of people had already managed to hang their eyes on him and, frankly, he didn't expect it to embarrass him. He used to get used to the looks. Now, they made him feel warm.

All of a sudden, Robin's eyes were shining. She saw the blackness of a girl's hair, who had recently occupied her thoughts. She banged up and put her hand on Nancy's shoulder, apologizing to her. “You'll have to forgive me for a moment. I have to... move in time” she smiled at one corner of her mouth and rushed into the crowd so she wouldn't lose her chosen one. Steve smiled at her on the run and went into the crowd himself to dance. Wanting to dance like he hadn't danced in a long time, so that he could enjoy the music with all his heart and that he was among strangers for whom he was now only a smuggler.

At the same time, you too are stuck in a crowd of people. The pride in your costume began to splash like a soap bubble. The long, white dress got tangled under your feet, the long sleeves made you hot. It's good that the belt kept the fabric at the waist and didn't slip lower than it should. Instead of two princess's chignons on both sides of your head, you tied ordinary ponies, hoping that everyone would still know who you are today.

As you were fixing your make up on the couch, the mascara fell out of your hand, making your fingers black. All you wanted was to get into the bathroom to wash your fingers and accidentally not touch the dress. The princess is not allowed to walk in dirty clothes. But a party is always a party. A moment of inattention was enough for someone to step on a piece of your dress. You lost your balance by falling into a crowd of people, getting ready to meet the floor.

But that didn't happen. Someone's strong shoulders woven around your waist to protect you from falling. The ponies just swirled around your face, and when you took them aside, your heart stopped.

The universe has stopped for a moment. The planets stopped circulating, the stars surely glowed brighter. Steve couldn't believe his eyes. One moment he danced as if it was the last night of his life, and the next he held Princess Leia in his arms. You were speechless. The real, living Han Solo embraced you with no intention of taking his hands off you.

“I... um... my hands are dirty” you said the first thing that came to your mind, hitting yourself in your head for this stupid sentence. “My hands are dirty, too” Steve said immediately, and then he closed his eyes from embarrassment. “I mean... No, they're not, you don't have to worry about the dress, but it's a quote... That's what Han Solo said to Leia when... I just wanted...”. “I understand” you said it with a wide smile. Steve relaxed. He still didn't take his hands, but at least he stopped feeling the burning shame. “Well, if you know the movie so well, what did Han Solo say later?”

“I think... I think he asked 'what are you afraid of?’” Steve guessed, squinting his dark eyes a little. “Afraid?” you repeated amused again, not believing in your own happiness. Someone who knew Star Wars lines by heart, someone who was dressed up as Han Solo, someone who looked amazingly charming saved you from falling? No way. 

“You're trembling” Steve squinted, continuing to quote. Maybe he was even a little right. You got goosebumps out of your nerves, although just a moment ago, the long sleeves were keeping the heat. “I'm not trembling” your fingers went to his vest. You forgot they could leave ink streaks.

“You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life” Steve smiled even wider. “I happen to like nice men”. “I'm a nice man” he said it clearly. If he have to, he'll convince you to spend the evening with him. That he won't do anything to upset or disappoint you. He didn't even have to try. You already believed him.

“Well, let's see how well you're dancing” you're smiling, giving him a hand, completely forgetting the traces of the mascara. Steve didn't even care about that. He was led by the princess to the middle of the dance floor and when she held his hand he could swear that although he was in the middle of the house, he saw the stars in front of his eyes.

Taglist: @mochminnie​ @quen1054 @krazykatkay456​ @sydzygy​ @ghostineleven​ @the-almond-dinger​ @l0ve-0f-my-life​

[lajulie24]

D for hanleia pre esb!! ❤️

Thank you kindly for the prompt, and for your extreme patience with the long time I took to finally fulfill it! This idea ended up racing past drabble and well into fic rather than ficlet territory, so think of this as part 1 of a two-part fic. Also, this will be a long post since Tumblr seems to deal poorly with “read more” links in asks these days. Title is a reference to a line in Abra Moore’s “Four Leaf Clover.”

D. Subtle kindnesses.

Let go of all the big deals

Damn it. Leia really wished Evaan were still here.

I wish Mama were here, her thoughts continued, before she could stop them. Or Winter, or Aria. Papa. Memily. Even Aunt Rouge, Aunt Celly.

It was easier when she didn’t let herself go there at all, but apparently she’d opened the floodgates simply by thinking of Evaan—who was still alive, just elsewhere with the rest of her people, keeping them safe, leading them in the way Leia couldn’t right now.

Evaan would know what to do with this, this mess that had become of Leia’s hair. She would’ve laughed, wielded the comb, helped her work out the little bits of resin that lingered in the strands. A few washings with Chewie’s shampoo had actually done a brilliant job at getting out most of the sticky sap that had exploded all over them, but it couldn’t work miracles.

Leia worked the comb through her hair slowly, wincing as she hit another tangle.

“How’s the grooming goin’, Your Worship?” Han called from outside the door. Frankly, she was surprised he hadn’t sent out a search party for her, given how much time she’d been at this already, but perhaps he had enough experience with Chewie to understand that this was no simple job.

“Fine,” she called back. “Just great.” She took up another section and began working the comb through it, gradually, carefully. This was honestly the longest her hair had spent fully down in quite some time; normally she took it down, brushed it, and put it into her sleeping braid, or pulled it out of the sleeping braid long enough to put it back up in her familiar crown braids. Now that she had spent so much time with it, she noticed not only the tangles and remaining bits of sap, but the split ends.

She hadn’t cut it since Alderaan. She’d been neglecting it, frankly; it had been this length for years, but regular trims helped maintain its health and texture. When she was home, she and Winter would trim one another’s hair. Or she’d get Memily to do it. TooVee could do it in a pinch, but normally cutting hair wasn’t a task you would give to a droid. It was too personal, too intimate for that.

TooVee would’ve claimed it contrary to her programming, anyway. A stickler for protocol, that one.

“Need anything?” Han called. He was actually being surprisingly considerate about this whole thing; somehow he seemed to have caught on to hair = private and had made sure to keep everyone else out of the crew quarters while she tended to this.

There was one tangle that didn’t want to come out. A little nest of hair that defied her, no matter how carefully she worked to unwind it, her efforts achieving nothing but a sore scalp. Such a sad little knot, she thought. A little snarl of hair and resin twisted all within itself, about two inches from the bottom.

She tried again. Nope. It wasn’t coming out.

Surely Han had something she could use. What did Chewie trim his fur with, anyway?

“Han?” she called. “You still there?”

“Yeah, you need something?”

“Do you have a scissors? I’m going to have to cut this bit out.”

“Sure thing.” Footsteps left down the hall, and Leia busied herself trying the knot again. Just like her, continuing to work at something even while it was hopeless. Optimism? Stubbornness? A little of both?

The footsteps came back, and then the hatch opened enough for Han’s arm to slip in, a beard- and pelt-trimming scissors in his outstretched hand. Leia took it. “Perfect, thank you.”

The door closed again, and after a slight pause—

“Ah, you need any help with that?” Han’s voice sounded tentative.

Leia considered that for a moment. She’d figured she would probably have to just cut out the offending knot for now and figure out how to fix it later, because she definitely was not going to be able to even it out all the way around by herself. But she also knew from experience that having one bit of hair that didn’t match the others would be a real pain. And it did desperately need a trim—

You could ask Han to do it.

“Uh, maybe?” she answered, stalling for time while she thought this through.

She wasn’t sure why she felt so weird about asking Han to help trim her hair; she respected her culture’s hair traditions, but she’d never thought she was personally all that attached to them. Certainly she’d had it down in front of others before. She’d even had it down in front of a man before.

Yeah, a man you were involved with. And it was kind of a big deal when you did that. And that had been before, when her planet and her culture were not in danger of extinction.

But also, that had been before. She had been doing a lot of things lately that she hadn’t done in her life before.

Like asking random men to cut your hair for you?

Except Han wasn’t some random man, not at all, as much as some of her colleagues on High Command might think of him that way. As casual and as brash and as infuriating as he could be sometimes, he was her friend. And he had seen her at some of her worst already—narrowly escaping death by being crushed in a wet trash compactor could do a lot to help you bond, right?

Then she remembered the other thing he’d done that day, the thing that told Leia that there was more to the man than swagger and bravado and a frequently professed love of money. The thing he’d done quietly, and without ceremony.

It was after they’d escaped the TIEs, after he’d scoffed at her assertion that the Imperials were surely tracking the Falcon to Yavin IV, after she’d dismissed him as a mercenary and strode off, leaving him and Luke to gossip or whatever it was men did. They’d all stunk of garbage, so later Han had offered use of the real water showers and the autovalet.

After Han had gotten Luke set up in the ‘fresher (with Luke still both fascinated and terrified by the newness of cleaning with a continuous spray of water), Han had quietly approached Leia.

“Hey,” he’d said, “you’ve had a hell of a day.”

“Yes.” That was an understatement, one she was trying not to think too much about.

He’d beckoned toward the corridor. “We got a medbunk. I c’n help you get fixed up. Might not be much time for that once we land.”

“I’m all right,” she’d said.

“Yeah, I know,” he’d agreed. “But who knows what was in that garbage. Don’t want those wounds to get infected. Really drag down your revolution.”

She’d stared at him for a moment.

“If you want, I can get Chewie to, uh, chaperone or whatever,” he’d said, obviously misunderstanding her silence as mistrust of his intentions. Honestly, she’d just been surprised at his mention of the wounds hidden by her white dress—how did he even know they were there?

“No, that’s all right,” she’d said. “This way?”

It was unexpected, how gentle he’d been as he’d cleaned and applied bacta to her injuries, somehow knowing exactly which spots would have been hit by the droid and other devices. At the same time, she’d been relieved to find him casual and matter-of-fact about the whole thing. No pity or patronizing, just care, like they were comrades in battle. And when she’d asked him—how did you know? he’d answered simply. Used to be one of ‘em. Long time ago. Another life.

“Another life,” she’d repeated.

If she could trust him with the wounds from the worst day of her life, when they barely knew each other, she could certainly trust him with this.

“Uh, yeah, could you come help?” she called, and a moment later, the door slid open.

Thank you for the ask!

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Re-Write

(Inspired by the fantastic work of @dalekofchaos) 

“Fix it” fics are a thing, yeah? Well, here’s my shot at writing one for the ninth Star Wars film. Contrary to popular opinions, I’m only going to change one or two things about the two movies beforehand, because I unironically loved both of them. But I can admit that there were mistakes, and TLJ tied up most of the loose ends, leaving it difficult to follow-up with a sequel. So, regarding Episodes eight and nine, here’s what changes. 

I have exactly one change for TFA. That random ass stormtrooper who called out Finn as a traitor and inexplicably had a melee weapon that could fight lightsabers? Yeah, just make that Phasma and have done with it. I don’t understand why it wasn’t her in the first place. Also, Finn being able to wield a lightsaber isn’t “evidence” that he’s force-sensitive if you ask me. The films never confirm that non-force sensitives can’t use them. This will be important later.

Moving on to TLJ...replace that stupid milk scene with the deleted scene of Luke reacting to the news of Han’s death. I mean, come on, that’s a given. Another given, Luke uses his green lightsaber in the illusionary duel against Kylo Ren. That’s just common sense. 

After Kylo Ren asserts himself and force-chokes General Hux, and the two of them depart...the camera pans in on the pieces of Snoke’s corpse, onto his face...and his eyes suddenly open. Yes, this will be important later. Somehow, Snoke survived.

I genuinely liked Vice-Admiral Holdo, but they kind of fumbled her role in the story. She was never given a reason for why she did not share her plans with the rest of the Resistance. The most popular theory being that she assumed a mole was on board, but this was never stated in the movie. In my opinion, Poe had every reason to call for mutiny based on what he knew, so the whole message/character arc of him learning to be a leader rather than a hero didn’t quite stick the landing. So how will I fix it? Simple, replace Holdo with Leia. First things first, we don’t get the superman-flying, which is just an objective improvement. We also are more inclined to trust Leia over Poe, because of the legacy the character has. We’re also going with the plot-threat there is indeed a mole. What’s more, Leia is given the sendoff she deserves with the light-speed kamikaze scene. Sure, she may be force-sensitive, but it’s clear that she chose a different path in her life and I think she should go out as a warrior, not a Jedi, because that’s what she was. General Leia. Plus, you avoid the awkward interactions with CGI Leia from the canon episode 9. 

I think we can all agree that Finn deserved better, and he absolutely deserved to have the scene that was deleted, where he called out Phasma in front of her soldiers, telling them what happened in TFA, when Phasma caved so easily. This is the beginning of the Stormtrooper rebellion, and Finn is responsible for igniting the spark. He can definitely duel with Phasma, but he’s not going to win for one simple reason. The mole suddenly reveals herself and puts a blaster to his head. 

Spoiler alert, the mole is Rose. The reason why could vary - perhaps she blames the resistance for the death of her sister. Perhaps the First Order captured her sister alive and is threatening her. Either way, Rose’s efforts help turn the tide and allow her and Phasma to escape. The code-breaker can still be part of the movie, but he doesn’t really matter. The Canto Bight sequence is unchanged, because I honestly don’t dislike it at all. 

So who saves Finn from his attempt to follow General Leia’s example, and give his life for the cause that he now truly cares about? Poe does. This moment already causes their character arcs to intersect, with Poe being in the position Leia was in at the start of Last Jedi, Finn being in Poe’s position. Poe crashes their ships to save Finn, and because I’m #Stormpilot trash, and we deserved an onscreen LGBT relationship between leads, Poe does indeed kiss Finn. However, don’t worry about Rose. I have plans for her. 

That’s about all that changes. But in the grand scene of things, most of these aren’t really issues with the film itself. But they’re necessary to set up for my idea for a Rise of Skywalker re-write. Speaking of...

The Rise of Skywalker - let’s begin with the name. 

I hate this name and everything it represents. I’ve heard rumors of an alternate script where Ben Solo is not redeemed, called “Duel of Fates.” I’m not a fan of Ben not being redeemed, but I like the concept of that film name. So I’m thinking this movie will be called something like “One Last Bout” or “One Last Stand.” Something simple but effective, with the air of finality. I truly doubt Episode 9 is the end of Star Wars forever, but if we think of it as a conclusion to the first two trilogies, this can work. 

The film opens with the funeral of General Leia. With Rey, Finn, and Poe (who are holding hands for sure) all standing together with Chewie, who is in shambles as we can expect. Lando is also present and he gets re-introduced. Luke’s force spirit appears and looks on, but does not reveal himself to everyone else. Likewise, pan the camera over, and we see Kylo Ren observing the service as well, out of sight. Luke makes telepathic contact with Rey, to warn her of danger, at which point both Rey and Ben double over in pain, the sound design giving us an uncomfortable high pitched screech, or something similar. There’s a disturbance in the Force. Something is returning. Something terrible. Ben is spotted, and the main trio open fire with blasters, but Ben escapes. Lando stops Rey from pursuing him, suggesting that it would dishonor Leia’s memory to do it right then and there. 

Ben, on his ship, struggles with horrible pain, a serious headache. Until at last, he is telepathically contacted by a voice we do not hear. But it terrifies him, and he takes off in his ship in pursuit of it. 

A scene similar to the one where the Resistance analyzes Palpatine’s message, but there is no message and there is empathically no Palpatine in this movie, though I won’t get into why that was a horrible idea right now. Never mind, Rey is simply recounting to Finn, Poe, Chewie, and Lando that there’s a disturbance in the Force. Luke’s spirit appears and warns them that a great evil that long predates their time, is returning. He disappears, explaining that he needs to await Leia as she “crosses over” and becomes one with The Force. This is the last we see of Luke in the film, because his story is over. The torch has been passed.

Ben/Kylo Ren arrives at what we saw as Exegol. I don’t mind this planet being Exegol, it was about the only new location I actually remembered from the canon film. He confronts the voice in his head, proclaiming that he will kill any threat to The First Order and it’s Supreme Leader. A familiar voice in the dark chuckles. “You have yet to finish off your predecessor. By what right do you claim his job?” Snoke leans forward, and reveals himself. A similar scene to TROS plays out but with no mention of Rey. Despite Ben’s shock, Snoke is amused. “You are not the first apprentice to try and take my life. You probably won’t be the last. I have fashioned many into tools for the Dark Side, even the Emperor himself learned at my feet. Did you think you were special? So, yes. Snoke is the final Big Bad like he should have been (Andy Serkis was robbed) and he really is Darth Plagueis because he was totally supposed to be. By means of mental torture, Snoke reassumes control of Ben and tells him to gather the Knights of Ren “Wherever you’ve hidden them” and prepare to crush the rebellion once and for all. 

Instead of visiting a random planet for a lead, Lando and Chewie lead the gang back to Endor. Or it could also be Kashyyyk, I suppose. Like before, Lando and Luke were there. They spent years documenting the history of the Jedi and the Sith. This could be contained in “Holocrons” I realize they have meaning behind them in the lore, but I don’t know much, so just consider the “Holocron” to be a storage unit for information. Arriving there, we still have the scene of a local asking for Rey’s family name, but this time she’s going to stay no one like she should have. While researching, Finn expresses the theory, or more like the hope, that he might be Force-Sensitive. Rey tells him that everyone is, to an extent, but Finn clarifies that he means it the same way that Rey is. “Y’know, the way you can push stuff around and sense people’s feelings. Make stuff float.” An echo back to Rey’s line from TLJ. What I’m going for here is that Finn is not force-sensitive in the traditional way. His arc in this movie is going to be about accepting that, and realizing that he doesn’t need that to be a “hero.” He already is one, with everything he’s done. But as of right now, his insistence that he could be leads to bickering between him and Rey.

Things only get worse as Rey uncovers more about the Jedi. Sees some of the ways in which they were not the white knights that history remembers them as. Luke was right, they played no small part in creating Darth Vader. What’s more, she discovers the “Rule of Two” which has been hinted in the films but never discussed outright. The idea that there are only ever two people wielding the Dark Side, a master and an apprentice. And that the apprentice invariably kills the master to succeed them. A tradition dating back for millennia. The Sith, the practitioners of the Dark Side, always betray each other. She’s disheartened, thinking of Ben killing Snoke and how he offered her his hand. What it all would have led to in the end. 

They finally discover what could be the answer - the “great evil” that is returning. A Sith lord called Darth Plaguis, who, when they bring up the hologram of him, strongly resembles Snoke. They put two and two together, reading more about Plagueis’ file. How he vanished without a trace. How he was said to have performed an unspeakable ritual in the Dark Side to allow him to control life and death itself. He could revive those he loved from death, and could not truly he killed, having become an anomaly in the Force. Only another anomaly of equal power would be able to stop him. 

An ambush occurs, with assassins in masks attacking the heroes. They wield melee weapons that are not lightsabers, and they force the group to split up due to simply being outnumbered. The gang realizes that, apart from being here to kill them, they probably want that Holocron, but the Resistance must be the ones to get it. We get a similar scene to the canon film, with Chewie heading to the Millennium Falcon with the Holocron and trying to take off, to blast the assassins from the sky...but then the assassins reveal their ace card. They have force power. And they start to pull the Falcon back down. Rey struggles against them, but she’s outnumbered, still upset from everything that she’s learned, and easily angered when Finn rushes in to try and help, despite not being able to. Rey succumbs to her anger and unleashes Dark-Side lightning. Just like in the canon film. The differences? Number one, this doesn’t foreshadow any lineage for her...but importantly Chewie is actually dead, not just a fake-out. He’s dead, and the Falcon and Holocron are destroyed with him. Seriously, the emotional weight of that scene is completely drained by not having Chewie actually die there. The potential is lost, and I’m going to prove it. 

Rey is appropriately mortified, shocked, and despondent.  The assassins are too - they can’t believe their enemy killed one of their own just to win. Everyone is shocked, but Poe is the quickest to regain his head, dashing in and blasting at the assassins to help cover the heroes while they escape, Finn half-dragging a stunned Rey. So, everyone feels awkward about what just happened and though they believe Rey that it was an accident, it still happened and both Finn and Poe feel distant from her. Lando, understandably, is a lot less patient than them. He knew Chewie for years. His old feelings about losing Han might resurface, and he could say something about how Rey is no better than Kylo Ren, before catching himself and apologizing. At this point, Lando also departs. He needs to get back to the Resistance, because he has been named the Acting General, since Leia’s death. 

Meanwhile, Poe deduces that the assassins were the mythical “Knights of Ren” rumored to be the Supreme Leader’s private army. Rey is shaken from her stupor at this news - it doesn’t make sense, it completely violates the “Rule of Two.” Could Ben still be saved? Or is it too late for him? Is it too late for her, Rey, even? Cue Ben Solo/Kylo Ren opening up the force-bond once again. A similar conversation about how they’re both uncertain of their place in the galaxy, and a confirmation that Snoke is back, and is really Plagueis. Ben reveals that he’s been ordered to kill Rey, and he apologies - he truly doesn’t want to do this, but Snoke once again has control of him, and has proven that killing him won’t matter. Rey senses terrible pain, and gets a taste of what Ben has been put through - think, like, the Cruciatus Curse. Whatever “pain” move Kylo Ren used on Poe in TFA. He learned it from Snoke, of course. Ben closes the force-bond, telling Rey to run. Run as far and as fast as she can, because he’s no longer able to take it easy on her.

Finn and Poe overhear the conversation, or at least Rey’s side of it. They hear enough to deduce who she’s talking to, and this further plants the seeds of doubt in their heads. As we see in Last Jedi, Rey doesn’t really tell people about the force-bond, so we can assume she never told her friends. The family is fracturing more and more. Rey is slipping closer and closer to the Dark Side. And all without needing to give her a bloodline. See? I told you Chewbacca’s death had potential. 

They make a pit stop on Coruscant, because there’s no reason it couldn’t have been Coruscant, hiding from First Order ships. Here is where the character of Zorii originally showed up. As compelling as the performance was, she’s not going to show up here. Let’s be honest, she was only there to no-homo Finn and Poe, as well as give Poe a backstory that is apparently racist? (I’m not knowledgeable enough about this topic to comment, so let’s just throw out the whole idea.) Instead, the team is confronted by none other than Rose, the mole from TLJ. She reveals that more and more stormtroopers have been rebelling since Finn gave his speech. There’s only one faction that she is confident will never turn on the First Order - the Knights of Ren, who “seem to worship the Supreme Leader like a damn god...though, I guess he isn’t the Supreme Leader anymore, is he?” News is spreading of Snoke’s return, and Rose has the heroes cornered with a band of loyalist stormtroopers. 

Finn pleads with Rose, and the other Stormtroopers, to reconsider. Here is where we outline Rose’s character. She despises everything about war. She’s intentionally attacking both sides, seeking to see both the Resistance and The First Order collapse. She has a personal vendetta against Poe and actively tries to kill him, for his role in the battle that killed her sister. Poe likewise despises Rose for having betrayed Finn. Whether Rose’s actions are tactical doesn’t really matter - she’s responding from a place of emotion, not logic. Poe, showing his growth, apologies to Rose and talks her down. Explains the situation, how dire the circumstances are. Rey chimes in and identifies with Rose, having made plenty of mistakes of her own. There’s a moment of solidarity between the team once again. A moment, anyway. Poe makes peace with Rose, and she lets the heroes go. However, her stormtroopers turn on her, and attack everyone. The gang helps Rose escape with them, and after the escape, they realize that those stormtroopers were in fact the Knights of Ren, spying for Kylo Ren, which means Snoke as well. 

Rey, tortured by nightmares about Snoke, leaves in the middle of the night. Finn is awake, and tries to stop her, which leads to a major fight. Finn is having trouble trusting Rey, and it shows. Rey is likewise fed up with Finn trying to insert himself into the story, as it were. However, having been told by Rose the impact that he had on the galaxy, Finn no longer wishes to be a Jedi. He then redirects the question to Rey - does she want to be a Jedi? Like Luke? Honest answer - she doesn’t know. The Jedi of old would never have accepted her. She’d have been expelled and become another Darth Vader. Rey is impulsive, confrontational, she has a short temper. She gives in to the Dark Side too easily, and now it’s gotten someone killed. She feels diseased. Though Finn tries to dissuade such talk, it comes out that he and Poe overheard her conversation with Kylo Ren. Both sides are angry here, because Rey kept this secret, and because her friends spied on her. She cries out in anger, causing several nearby lights to blow out. Rey storms away, seeking to be alone.

This fight scene takes the place of the ESB rip-off with an evil Rey. That just wasn’t necessary. Instead, Rey leaves to confront Snoke, kill him once and for all, and rescue Ben if she can. After that, she isn’t sure what she’ll do. It is at this point that she is captured by the Knights of Ren. However, they don’t kill her, as instructed. They remove their masks - humanizing them as just being people. They reveal that they were the Jedi who followed Ben after he left Luke. When Starkiller Base was finished, Ben told them to go and evacuate their families from their home planets, just in case. The Knights stayed away for a long time, per Ben’s orders, but returned when he bid them too. They love him, seem to look up to him, and they can tell that he loves Rey. That he’s not his own man anymore. And that his best interests don’t align with Snoke’s. They know Snoke has to die, but also realize they aren’t powerful enough to stop him. The only one they can think of who might be - is Rey. They beg for her help, and she agrees.

The movie now offers a montage of Stormtroopers abandoning Phasma and Hux, and turning themselves in to the Resistance, explaining that they want to fight for the light. Meanwhile, Finn talks to Rose and Poe, and they all agree that they can’t just leave Rey, they have to go after her. They regret not trusting her, and conclude that even if she is tempted by the Dark Side, even if she falls...she’s still their friend. They don’t believe that she’s a spy - Rose offers useful tip in this sense. Observing that Rey offers none of the “tells.” Finally, we come to Rey training with the Knights of Ren. The transformation of her staff into a lightsaber pike. And it’s gold, baby. It’s gold. (Oh, since I forgot to mention this, Anakin’s lightsaber never gets repaired. Rey has been using a blaster up to this point.)

Bring us back to Snoke, torturing Ben once again as he can sense the betrayal of the Knights. Ben doesn’t realize that they’re still loyal to him, he thinks they just abandoned him, and his spirit is broken even further. Snoke talks more about his past, and here we can get a philosophical discussion. Perhaps Snoke discovered the midichlorians during his research, and exploited them for more power. He could analyze the Force as being, not a difference between light and darkness, but a shallow body of water that only gets deeper the further you venture. Snoke boasts that he was the first to risk “drowning” himself in it’s depths. Meanwhile, Ben hallucinates seeing Han, encouraging him to get up and fight back. We can also have Leia’s voice here, if we want. Ben fights back in a scene that echoes TFA, the way Rey resisted his own control. “You are no Master, Plagueis. Not of anyone or anything. You act so powerful, but your thoughts betray you. You’re afraid you will never get it right. Your desperation grows with every failure. But Today is not the day you finally succeed.”  snaps free of Snoke’s control and when Snoke attempts to dominate him with Force Lightning, Ben goes full Prince Zuko and redirects it, Yoda style. With that, he escapes, now on his own. 

Finn, Poe, and Rose show up to fight the Knights of Ren. Assuming Rey to be their prisoner. Rey, faced with her ultimate conflict, the symbol of her uncertainty, a literal metaphor between the two sides of her being at war...her loyalty to Ben, and her loyalty to her friends...her desire to be good, but her tendency toward darkness...finally completes her character arc and solves her identity issues. She creates a barrier between both sides, knocking them all down. She explains herself, telling her friends that the Knights want to stop Snoke. That she has joined them freely, for this reason. She apologizes for how distant she’s been. Admits that while she would never support the First Order, she does care for Ben Solo, despite all he’s done. This leads to Rey making up with her friends, and making peace with the Knights, who were already kind-of friends with Rose, once upon a time. This can lead into a bigger discussion about The Force, the concepts of good and evil as a whole. While Finn and Poe contact Lando, to tell him where Snoke is hiding, Rey reaches out to Ben through the force-bond. 

Meanwhile, Ben has returned to the planet where Luke’s old school of Jedi was. He visits the smoldering remains, and unearths Luke’s green lightsaber. He struggles, still feeling that call to the light, and now that he’s alone and able to meditate, he attempts to do what Snoke did, and “drown” himself in the Force, in the hope of stopping him. He doesn’t drown. Instead, he meets a spirit who he had unconsciously blocked out a long time ago. Anakin Skywalker, portrayed by Hayden “The lines were terrible but his acting was actually pretty good” Christensen.  The call to the light that Ben had always resisted had come from Anakin. These two finally talk, and Anakin urges Ben to choose the right side. They find solidarity in understanding that they were both drawn to the Dark Side, and both felt that this meant they “had” to be evil. Anakin doesn’t dissuade Ben from the Dark Side, but advises him to do what is right for the galaxy, defeating Snoke. Ben is helpless, he doesn’t know how. But Anakin tells him that an anomaly of equal power to Snoke could be enough to kill him forever. It’s definitely worth a try. Anakin fades, promising Ben that the answer is closer than he thinks. He can sense it right now...

After Anakin fades, Rey appears. She has succeeded in contacting Ben, and they catch up. Ben learning that The Knights still care about him, and that Rey has joined them. Rey expresses that Ben was right - it’s time to leave the Jedi and the Sith behind. To start something new. They can discuss the Force in greater detail, how being Dark doesn’t always mean one is evil, but the teachings of the Jedi suggest that it is a binary system. They express affection for each other. With everyone around Rey seeing her talk to someone invisible, Rey reaches out her hand...and Ben takes it. Suddenly appearing in the ship with everyone else. 

Rey and The Knights take turns embracing him, and he exchanges awkward nods with the others. With the help of the Knights, the group comes to the conclusion that Rey and Ben are some kind of Dyad in the Force, irrevocably connected. The two that are one. Such a thing has not been seen in millennia. It’s almost like a glitch in the universe. But this anomaly could be what it takes to stop Snoke for good. 

The main team makes their way back to Exegol as we see Lando giving a speech to the Resistance, now much stronger with the added former-Stormtroopers. As much as I love Jannah, she’s just as unnecessary as Zorii. That screen time could have and should have gone to Rose as she re-establishes herself back into the squad, same as Ben. Everyone arrives at Exegol at the same time, and Resistance soldiers move to open fire on Rose and Ben, understandably so, but here come Poe and Finn to talk them down and explain the situation. No one is happy about it, particularly having Ben Solo around, but Lando, with much consternation, accepts the situation and tells the Resistance not to fire on their new allies. However, he also instructs Finn to kill Ben if he steps out of line. We can get a callback when Finn gives the “I’m watching you” look to Ben, and have a line like “Don’t be a traitor.” Or something. 

Final battle time. Another montage. Finn leading the former storm-troopers in the battle against the last of Snoke’s loyalists, led by Phasma. Together with Rose, Finn defeats them and Phasma is left on her knees. She pleads for mercy, and Rose is prepared to kill her, but Finn intervenes. They take her prisoner instead, because killing people who are already defeated and defenseless is the “Stormtrooper” way. 

Rey, Ben, and the Knights are helping out with their Melee weapons. The Knights are also using the Force, because not using it offensively was a Jedi message, and they didn’t always follow it anyway. Though he’s definitively good now, Ben is still wearing his Kylo Ren armor, and wielding the cross-guard saber. I mean, imagine if he showed up to a warzone in day clothes with a blaster, just because his previous weapons were “evil?” How stupid would that be, right? However, at one point the cross-guard saber is destroyed in the right, and left empty-handed, Ben pulls out Luke’s lightsaber, stares at it...and then ignites it to rejoin the fray.

 We likewise get a battle of wits and strategy between Poe and Hux, as Poe commands a legion to take out the forces guarding Snoke’s throne room. In the end, Poe’s armada is saved by another that Lando commands. Hux manages to fatally shoot Lando, but Poe quickly repays him in kind. While everyone crowds around Lando, Hux dies alone, symbolizing the difference between the two causes. Lando expresses pride in how far Poe has come, tells him that Leia would be proud too, and with his dying words, he addresses Poe as “General Dameron.” It’s a truly emotional moment and afterward, Poe simply turns to the loyalist stormtroopers, carrying the poise and energy of a powerful leader. He tells them to drop their weapons. To surrender now, and they won’t be harmed. It’s badass. And the loyalists do as instructed. 

The path is clear for Rey and Ben to rush in to the Throne Room and kill Snoke, with the Resistance following them as backup. Only Snoke is nowhere to be seen. All of a sudden, we hear that high-pitched screech again. Rey and Ben collapse in terrible pain, hearing Snoke’s voice. His physical body no longer matters or plays by the same rules. He has essentially taken the practice of returning as a force-spirit and perverted it to become Dark. We now get Snoke’s final backstory, and the answer to why he’s able to do this. Snoke himself was part of a Dyad, centuries ago. Though exceptionally rare, Rey and Ben’s bond is not unique. However, Snoke murdered his counterpart for his own selfish reasons. A total violation of nature. This is what splintered him and turned him into the unnatural being that he is now. Rey and Ben vanish, to the alarm of Finn and Poe, as they disappear into the Force. 

The three of them - Rey, Ben, and Snoke, all appear to be in some kind of void. Snoke recounts having sensed the awakening of another Dyad (”The Force Awakens”) and that this is what prompted him to return to physical form in the first place. He reveals his final plan. Rey and Ben must now fight to the death - the winner becoming as powerful Snoke himself. He promises that the winner can rule beside him. This is probably a lie, and both of his opponents refuse. But Snoke also warns that without achieving that kind of power, they’ll be hopeless to stop him. He dual wields red lightsabers in the subsequent duel. Notice how Rey and Ben are using sabers of gold and green - the opposite of red and blue, which  have traditionally symbolized the Jedi and the Sith conflict. Snoke tells them that they have no future. They cannot become Jedi, not with the crimes they’ve committed. If they become Sith, well...he cites the “Rule of Two” insisting that Rey and Ben cannot coexist because one will inevitably slay the other. Rey and Ben respond that they are neither, that they simply fight for what they believe in. That they are...knights of Ren. 

Together, they strike back, plunging their sabers through Snoke’s chest. He vanishes, and the void world vanishes. Rey and Ben reappear in the throne room, and Snoke is there too, staggering to his feet. The Resistance takes aim at him, but he pays them no mind. He warns the two heroes that there is no telling what will happen if they choose this path, that the Galaxy needs structure when dealing with an entity as vague and infinite as The Force. Rey responds simply that “The Force is not some stranger or threat. It is not a vice for power. The Force...is us. All of us. The good and the bad, the light and the dark. So long as we stand together, you will never influence The Force again. You will never control us. You will never return again.” With a roar of defeat, Snoke’s body turns to dust, and a shadowy mass is left in it’s place. Finn and Poe fire at at it, to no avail, but Rey and Ben join hands, and as the shadowy mass surges toward them, The Dyad employs it’s full potential, causing Snoke’s bastardized force-spirit to vanish. Not sure how this would be filmed without looking silly, but I swear, it’s compelling. 

The battle is over. Everyone celebrates. When Finn and Poe kiss, it’s earned, not some nameless background characters. The team returns to the Resistance base. Poe has been unanimously voted to be the new General, which is the closest thing they have to an elected leader right now, so he is in charge of the trials for the loyalists, and the Knights of Ren. The people who committed treason or other crimes. But we only see three of these trials. Ben Solo, Rose Tico...and Rey. After all, she did kill Chewie, right? She conspired with the Knights, too. Rey is pardoned almost immediately, Rose not long after, but Ben Solo...after much consideration, Poe charges the Knights of Ren to a path of atonement. To go around, helping fix the Galaxy. Community service. 

Ben and the Knights prepare to leave on their trip, and Rey and Ben say goodbye. How ship-teasy this is, if there’s a final kiss...eh, interpret how you like. I’m a Reylo fan personally, but I know a lot of people aren’t. Ben promises to see Rey again, and they both acknowledge that thanks to the Dyad, they won’t have to go without seeing each other, not really. Likewise, Rey and Finn and Poe and Rose will be helping to fix up the galaxy, so it’s certainly not goodbye. 

I lied, Luke’s force-spirit appears one more time, this time with Leia, though she doesn’t speak much for obvious reasons. Luke is proud of her, and says something to the effect of “Not bad for a scavenger girl with no family from Jakku of all places. Well done, Rey from nowhere.” Rey looks around at everyone - at Finn, Poe, Rose. At Ben and the Knights. At C3PO, R2D2 and BB8 (Who were definitely involved the whole time I just didn’t have much to say about them) she looks back at Luke and replies that she does have a family. She and her friends go to wave goodbye as Ben’s ship takes off, flying into the sunset, and....ENDING CREDITS!

Let me know what y’all think! Hopefully this doesn’t throw out quite as much from Last Jedi, and does the characters justice! 

[anime-alyssa]

princess alderaan - pt 1

one | two | three | four

You are the daughter of Leia Organa and Han Solo, younger sister to Ben Solo. You are second in command of the Resistance alongside your mother, and have attracted attention from a certain Commander.

also on ao3.

welcome to my prompt series of poe x reader! the establishing story is already done, four parts and then the rest will be requests based on what you send. requests will not be open until all 4 parts are posted. enjoy!

tag-list: @ihavefailedyouanakin, @bitch-imma-head-out, @ravngers, @xxsirensong

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“I’m the best damn pilot in the galaxy” “I think you missed putting the word ‘second’ in there somewhere”

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Poe Dameron drove your mother absolutely nuts. And she put up with your father for a good portion of her life and dealt with you and Ben nearly killing each other as kids, so if Poe was driving her more nuts than all of that, he was either really talented in a way or just really stupid. You still lived with your mother on base (What can you say? You two were nearly attached at the hip now) and often she would come in after you, cursing him out as she walked through the door. You didn’t have as many interactions with Poe as she did, but from what she said you were thankful sometimes. He was a completely different person with you, still pushy and determined to do the right thing but less… annoying. You couldn’t understand it, but you just assumed it was because he probably was more comfortable with Leia.

You weren’t always with the Resistance. After your brother went off to the Jedi temple to train with your Uncle Luke formally, you went off with your father and Uncle Chewie for a very long time while your mother got things started with the New Republic and also the Resistance, since the First Order was now rising.

“Believe it or not, you’re probably better off with your father and Chewbacca right now. We can holo every night if you want to, sweetheart.” she told you as you clung to her before boarding the Millennium Falcon with your father. You were a teenager at the time, maybe about 16 or 17. You stayed with him until you were 23, a few years after the destruction of Uncle Luke’s Jedi Temple and your brothers turn to the Dark Side. You could have gone back to your mother at any time you wanted, but you enjoyed being around your dad and Chewbacca, and it actually helped you learn a great deal about the galaxy and surviving. It also made you a pretty decent pilot.

Once you were back with your mother, you began to climb the ranks. You wanted to do it properly - not just get to the top because you are the daughter of General Organa. When you got back to the Resistance, Poe Dameron was already a Commander with his own squadron of pilots and you were just a measly Lieutenant who stuck to the General’s side like glue, earning her place among the ranks.

Now, 5 or so years later, you were General Solo of the Resistance alongside your mother. You were respected almost as much as she was, having learned everything from her. At first, you sensed Poe was maybe a bit jealous that he wasn’t picked. He did work equally hard after all and was around longer. He avoided your gaze for a long time after that, but when he caught you quietly sobbing in the corner of the quiet Command Center after the death of Han, he came to comfort you in an instant. After that he was nicer to you. It was that moment where you started to develop some feelings for the man, despite him being how he was. Something changed for you that day, and you weren’t sure what, but you didn’t dislike it.

As much as you just thought he was being nice to you, your mother Leia saw right through him. He had been giving you heart eyes since he first laid eyes on you when you were 23, tangled hair, scruffy smuggler-looking clothes with Wookie hair attached and all. His eyes followed you when you walked into a room and everywhere else you went within it. Poe Dameron was absolutely smitten with you, but he didn’t have enough balls to tell you.

Either that, or he was scared of Leia. She assumed it was a bit of both.

Leia was determined one way or another to get Poe to admit his feelings, or have you both just fall for each other naturally. She knew that Poe would be good for you, because although stupid he was good at heart (and she knew you’d be able to put up with stupid, having Ben as an older brother and Han as your father). Leia also knew that you would be good for him, giving him something to come back to and something to live for. She just needed to figure out how.

“Mom? You okay?” you asked her upon seeing her dozing off, mind elsewhere. You saw her snap back to reality, smiling up at you.

“I’m fine, thank you honey. Just thinking.” she said to you, standing up slowly and looking around the make-shift Command Center that’s been made on the jungle planet of Ajan Kloss. “Have you seen Commander Dameron?”

“Not recently. Last I saw he was working on his X-Wing with the rest of the Black Squadron. I was just about to go help Uncle Chewie with some repairs on the Falcon, I can go find him for you first though if you want.” you replied to her, as she was walking out of the room and into the jungle.

“I swear, he needs to get his head out of his cockpit. He’s always working on that damn X-Wing.” she mumbled as she made way to the X-Wings. You laughed at her as you walked. “You can go help Chewie on the Falcon, I’ll go find Dameron. I have to speak with him on something.” she said to you, leaving you behind as she walked off. Narrowing your eyes at your mother walking away, you backed up and made way to the Falcon.

Meanwhile, Poe Dameron was elbows-deep in some wiring on his X-Wing, BB-8 on the ground trying to assist him. He felt as though his beloved fighter wasn’t flying as quick as it was supposed to be, and went on in to investigate. He was just about to finish some wiring when BB-8 beeped from below him, signaling the arrival of the General. He turned, seeing Leia giving a smile to the little BB unit and then looking back up at Poe.

“What can I do for you, General?” he asked, hopping down from the top of the X-Wing and landing in front of her.

“I swear, you love this thing more than you love yourself.” she said to him.

“Well, I’ve put a lot of work into it. Where’s General Solo?” he asked her. Leia smiled at him when he asked about her daughter. Oh, he had it bad.

“Helping Chewbacca with repairs on the Falcon. You know that was her home for a while, right? She loves that ship. Flies it nearly as good as her father, if not better, actually. Walks away with a whole lot less damage with her than it did with Han.” Leia said to him. His ears perked up. You flew? He didn’t know that about you - he had never seen you outside of the Command Center for the most part. He’d love to see you fly one day, especially the Falcon. Poe didn’t doubt that you were a great pilot, you were great at almost anything to him. “Oh you have it bad…” Leia chuckled. BB-8 chirped beside her as Poe’s face turned red.

“Ex-excuse me, General?” he stammered, at a loss for words.

“Tell me, how long have you liked my daughter?” Leia asked, a little more forcefully. If he wasn’t going to see where this was going, she would have to be forward.

“I have no—”

“Dameron, cut the shit. I can tell just by the way you light up when she’s around or when she’s brought up.” Leia cut him off, tired of beating around the bush. He liked her and she knew it. Poe sighed, accepting defeat and finally meeting her gaze honestly.

“The moment I saw her for the first time. I almost pushed it all away, but when I found her on the floor after Han died… it all came back. I can’t get her out of my mind.” Poe said to her. Leia smiled, taking his hand in hers.

“Oh, I knew it.” she said with a laugh.

“Of course you did.” Poe mumbled. Leia gave his hand a squeeze before letting go.

“Go after her. She’s good for you, and you’re good for her. You need something else in this war besides your X-Wing, Dameron. But if you ever hurt her, I’ll demote you without second thought.” Leia said to him, beginning to walk away.

“Y-y-yes General.” he stammered, watching her walk away from the area. Poe sighed, kneeling on the ground next to his droid. “Well, what the hell do I do now, buddy?” he asked his droid. All he got was a few beeps in response that strung together to be ‘Ask her out, idiot’. Poe scoffed as he climbed back up on his X-Wing, continuing his work. From on top of his ship though, he could see you all the way across the base working on the Falcon with Chewie.

“Try that one, Uncle Chewie!” you said to him, throwing up a wire to the Wookie on top of the ship. He growled back in response, getting to work on fixing the hyperdrive. The inside workings were all fine and dandy, but somehow the outside workings were all screwed up. “Who in the world was the one flying this to get this damaged anyway?” you asked him. Chewbacca looked up, seeing Leia in the distance throw a wink at him, signaling it was ‘go time’ for her little plan. The Wookie growled back a name to you, which was honest, at least, but also divisive to Leia’s plan.

“Poe?! You let him fly this?! I thought we agreed either you, me, or Rey only!” you shouted back to him. Chewbacca growled a rushed few sentences back to you. “No, I do like Poe! I like him a lot, he’s a great pilot it’s just - the Falcon means a lot to me and I only want people Dad trusted flying it.” Once more, you were met with some more growls. “You’re just as bad as mom, you! Don’t read more into that!” you said, face red. Chewbacca laughed as he hopped down from the top of the Falcon, taking you in for a hug. He looked over your shoulder, or actually he just looked up technically, and saw Poe and BB-8 coming over towards you. The Wookie bid her a quick farewell and went off to join Leia. "You two are up to something and I am going to figure out what it - oh.... hello, Poe." you said, threatening the Wookie but cutting yourself off when Poe appeared behind you.

"Is everything alright, General?" he asked you. You quickly glanced over at your mother and Chewbacca in the Command Center staring at the two of you and immediately had a feeling as to what they were up to.

Oh, those sneaky little nerfherders.

You were no kind-of-Jedi-whatever-he-was like your brother, or even just a half-way-there Jedi like your mother, and definitely not a full fledged Jedi like your Uncle Luke (you weren't actually Force sensitive at all, you were fully your father's daughter), but you knew exactly what your mother was up to. She was doing the same thing to you and Poe that she did to Kaydel Ko Connix and Jessika a year and a half ago.

She was setting you up.

Realizing that you hadn't answered him yet, you turned your attention back to the pilot.

"Oh, yeah... everything's good. How's your X-Wing?" you asked him, cleaning off your greasy hands with a towel before throwing it back on the ground.

"Gonna need to take it out later and make sure it doesn't blow up on me. How's the Falcon?" he asked you back, leaning against the leg of the ship. Maker, he was good looking.

"I need to get a droid in to run some diagnostics and we'll see. I heard that you were to blame for the malfunctioning hyperdrive." you said back to him pointedly. BB-8 chirped with laughter next to his master as he sped away, avoiding the confrontation.

"I - yeah... I have no excuse for this. I can help you with the repairs, if you want?" he said to you sweetly, clearly sorry for this. Poe was cursing himself out in his head, clearly trying not to blow any chances he had with you but feeling like he was. You sighed softly and shook your head.

"No, it's fine. I pretty much got her all fixed, anyway. I'm a little particular with who gets to fly her, you know? I'd prefer if it was just Chewie and I, and maybe Rey. But things happen." you said sadly across from him. Poe knew that list was short for "only people who my father actually trusted to fly her could touch" - and Han certainly didn't trust Poe, even though he hardly knew him.

"Hey, I get it. Won't touch her again without your permission. But I will have you know, I am the best damn pilot in the galaxy." He said, trying to lighten the mood. You gave a laugh at him.

"You forgot to put the word 'second' in there, Commander." you said shyly, walking up closer to him.

"Are you calling yourself the best pilot? I'll have to witness it myself, General." he said, his confidence boosting as he took one step closer to you. Your heart started beating faster in your chest as he was now nearly chest-to-chest with you. Poe wrapped an arm around your back and brought his lips to yours quickly, catching you off guard. You kissed him back, sinking into his embrace as your lips moved with each other. Sparks flew and you heard a muffled Wookie cry in the background, parting your lips from each other as you let out a giggle.

"That woman is unbearable, sometimes." you said to him, knowing that he would immediately know who you were talking about. Poe let out a laugh too, keeping you in his embrace to brush your hair out of your face gently.

"That she is, but we wouldn't survive without her." Poe commented. You smirked as he turned you two to face your smiling mother and an accomplished Wookie, along with an overly happy droid at her feet. "Still gonna need to see you fly though. Just to make sure you really are the best." he said. You laughed as you looked up to him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Consider it a date, hotshot."

[geo-winchester]

YOU’LL BE BACK (3)

A/N: Hi! So here’s part 3, sorry it took me time to write it, but this week I had a lot of exam but here it is! I hope you like it and if you want to be tag in this story just let me know!

Part 1 Part 2

Tag list: @heda-mikaelson

— ————————

Han keep going to every room of the millennial falcon, he want to know what does the thiefs change in his ship, he was on the third tour when he notice that someone put a compressor on the ignition line, Rey told him who put it in there and what she think about that action, Yn saw Han look at the three of them, after a quick thought, he finally speak.

-Chewie put them on a pod, we drop them on the nearest inhabited planet.

-What?- The three of them ask.

-this is so typical of you, you always want to run away from your responsibilities- Yn said.

-Hey, I didn’t said I’ll throw you with them, but if your going to give me that attitude, I might think about it- Han told her.

-We need your help- Rey interrupt them -This droid need to get to the resistance base as soon as possible.

-He’s carrying to Luke Skywalker- Finn finally said.

Han stop abruptly and look at them, it was a long time since he saw Luke, it was before his kids fall in to the darkness and he knew he disappeared after that. Before they could say anything else, some noise making him to run out of the room.

-Don’t tell me that a Rathtar got lose...- he said as he start to run out of the millenial, everyone else follow him.

-why the hell you have Rathtars in here?- Yn ask as they get to a screen cam of the ship.

-I’m holding Rathtars- he said calm as he keep looking in the screen -Oh, great it’s the Guavian death gang.

They start to walk through the ship, as they explain Rey what was a rathtar, Yn have seen one a while ago and the thought of having one start to worry her, but when her father said that he have three that just stress her more. He told them that he lost most of his crew trying to trap the rathtars. They stop and Chewie open a trap from the door.

-get below and stay there until I said so, and don’t even think about to take the falcon.

-What about BB-8?

-He stay with me until I get rid of the gang and then you can have it back and keep your way.

-What about the rathtars? Where do you keep it?- something kick the door behind them and scare them.

-There’s one- Han said.

-What about you?- Yn said a little worried, his father smirk.

-I’ll do what I always do, thought my way out of it- he said as the three of them start to hide, Chewie roar -Yes I do, every time.

-Be safe- she said before her father close the door, they stay silence for a moment.

-So you’re a solo?- Finn asked Yn.

-Really that’s what’s bother you right now?

-I need something to distract me- he said and they stay quiet for a moment.

-So are you?- Rey ask, she roll her eyes.

-Yes, I’m his daughter and my last name is Solo- she said as she start to crawl through the corridors.

-I thought your last name was Ren.

-That’s the last name that snoke gave us- she said, she look at them -is one of the small things that changes, just like our names...

-Wait, your name is not Yn?- Rey ask.

-Actually is my second name, My first Name is Breha, but I never like it... -she stop talking when the voice of her father got higher.

They hear how Han was trying to talk to the gang and convince them to give them more time, they look at the gang and saw the blasters the three of them share a worried look, they hear how another door open and Han greet another the gang of someone name Tasu Leech, they start to crawl to the other group as the men above them keep fighting about how Han trick them, they stop when they hear one of them notice BB-8.

-That BB unit, the first order is looking for one just like it... and three fugitives, they say, one of them is your beautiful daughter...

-Watch your mouth, if you don’t want me to kick your ass- Han said, In that moment Yn had an idea.

-Can you close the doors from here?- She ask Rey, she think for a moment and nod before she she guide them to the controls, she reset a few fuses, a few seconds later they hear a groan.

-Oh no...

-Oh no? what?- Finn ask.

-Wrong fuses- Rey say- When they hear the groans and the screams they start to crawl to the door, when they were finally outside, they start to run.

-You need to go millennial...

-What? What are you going to do?- Finn ask.

-I’m going to help my father- she said.

She start to run through the halls, she try to avoid the member of the gangs, but in one of the turns she saw a big guy facing her, when he recognized her he pull his blaster and point at her, she stay still getting prepare for stop it but suddenly some tentacles wrap him from behind, he start to scream, and in that moment Yn saw one of the rathtars, after the big creature eat the man, it start to make its way to Yn, she feel like she couldn’t move until Han took one of her arms and make her run behind him, they keep running until they reach the door to the hangar, Chewie keep shooting but one of the Tasu’s gang hurt him, Yn took his weapon and start to shoot at them, when she finish them she shoot at the door lock, in that moment Rey and Finn get to the ship.

-you- Han point to Rey -Close the door behind us, you two -he said pointing at Yn and Finn -take care of Chewie- they nod, Han went to the cockpit follow by Rey -what are you doing?

-Unkar Plutt put a fuel pump, if we don’t fix it, we’re not going anywhere.

-I hate that guy- Han said.

-beside, you can use a copilot.

-I got two, they’re back there.

Yn and Finn was trying to calm chewie, but the big Wookie was giving them a hard time. After a few minutes they feel how the millennial went in to hyper speed. When Yn found the first aid kit, she walk in to the room were chewie had Finn from the neck.

-Uncle chewie, drop him- chewie did what she said -Now stop been a baby and let me clean that wound.

-How you do that?- Finn said when he saw that the chewie do everything she said -wait... are you using the force?

-What? No, I’m his favorite niece, he never say no to me- she said.

Han get in to the main hold a few minutes after, he thanks finn and Yn for helping chewie. Han ask them why they calling them fugitives, and when they explain what happen on Jakku, BB-8 shows them the map, Yn notice that the map was incomplete.

-How do you know it- Han said.

-Because the first order has the other half... or at least that’s what Kylo said- at the mention of the name Han look down.

He start to tell the story of the disappearance of Luke, how one apprentice turn against him and took with him a few of the others apprentices and he told them how he never believe in that until he meet Luke, when he finish he turn to the group.

-You want my help? You got it, we’ll going to see an old friend, she’ll get your droid to go home, this is our stop.

This time Yn was the one to follow him to the cockpit, when she sit by his side, Han give him a weak smile. They landed a little far from the Cantina on Takodana, Yn was the first to step out of the ship, she look at the place trying to remember when was the last time she was there. She remember one time her father bring her with him without her mother acknowledge.

-Hey kid, your remember the amazing days with your old man?- Han ask her, she nod.

-It’s seem like a long time ago- she said.

-Listen honey... if you don’t want to stay with your mother... you can... you know... you can come with me and Chewie...

-Are you going to offer me a job?- she ask.

-Actually I’m going to teach you the family business- he said, making her smile -but seriously, it would be nice to have you back.

-What if he found us, I don’t want you to get hurt...

-Don’t worry about me, beside this ship has never seen a first order ship.

-Because it was on a junkyard- she said.

-Well it never see one, I promise you that.

-Ok, I’ll go with you- she said, the other members of the group start to get down from the ship -Go to the cantina, I’ll help uncle chewie to repair the millennial- she said, her father nod and the four of them start to walk to the cantina.

[pulpwriterx]

BEN SOLO ALL THESE YEARS

Rey decided to stay on Tattoine.

The desert, after all, was her home.

Poe went back into the spice business, and even branched out to include good booze and cigarillos.

Finn joined him in yo ho, you ho,  a pirate's life for me.

And in their business?

They needed a good scavenger.

A year or  so went by.

Finn and Poe bought themselves a posh bachelor pad in Anchorhead, but Rey preferred solitude.

She knew that that both of them would have been willing to give her a shoulder to cry on, and the benefit of a man's company.

But after the way Ben died in her arms, Rey wasn’t ready to hold a man, again.

The old Skywalker farm didn’t look like it, but it was a nice place to live.

It had been Ben’s home, after all. 

He had left the outside looking run down and desolate, like no one lived there, but past the blighted door in the dusty courtayrd, it was a different story.

Typical Ben.

When you took off his mask, he had another mask on beneath that, and beneath that was a big story, a tall tale, and a pack of ever-evolving half-truths and outright lies.

He had restored the old farm, on the inside, and underneath, where the farming equipment and tanks had been, he kept a smuggler’s treasure trove.

Tunnels filled with all kinds of swag, from booze and cigarillos to old Rebel Alliance and Imperial Uniforms, and less innocent cargo like crates of blasters and pallets of coaxium.

There was also five years of food and supplies, and one of the tanks had even been converted into a vault. It was full of credits, black molded chests of Imperial gold coins, money from all over the Galaxy.

Ben had left the farm, and all it’s contents to Rey Skywalker.

He had also left the Millenium Falcon to Rey, but she hadn’t the heart to fly the ship she loved so much.

With both Ben and Han Solo dead, neither with a final resting place?

The ship was like their tomb.

The Falcon, and Ben’s secret refuge, with it’s hidden treasures; they were all, in some strange way, his legacy.

When Rey wasn’t whizzing around the stars with her friends, she led a peaceful, solitary life as the guardian of the legacy of the family that gave all for the peace that finally broke out in the Galaxy.

Besides, she wasn’t wholly alone.

Poe always let BB8 go with her, to keep tabs on her, and Threepio and Artoo were glad to finally get to go home.

It was a special place for her.

In the two years between when she and Ben killed Snoke, and when they killed the Emperor?

They used to meet at the Skywalker Farm.

Their bonds remained unbroken, even after she had rejected his offer to join him,  and they had grown closer, not just through the talks, and the laughing, and the stories, most of which were lies.

Yelling.

Pointing fingers.

Sneering.

Cursing.

Stamping feet.

Breaking things.

Throwing shit about.

Lightsaber duels.

Even the bad times, even the shit times were precious to her, now.

Rey would sit, quietly, watching the twin suns, and think about the past.

Like the time they had a horrible fight through their bond, and called each other vicious names, and threw things at each other, and smashed up their own gear, in a rage.

But then Ben had said.

“I need to see you in person, Rey.”

“Why? What can we do in person that we can’t do through our little talks?”

“We can make love. Don’t you want to? I do.”

“There is nothing like love between us, Kylo Ren!”

Ben had given her the Solo shrug.

“Then we can fuck. I'd rather fuck. I was just trying to be chivalrous.”

And somewhere in their laughter, they had agreed to meet at the Skywalker farm, on Tattoine.

Rey had no idea that Ben had a home, and it became their refuge.

Rey would lie there, in Ben's big, brass bed, and close her eyes and think about when he was there, beside her.

Those stolen days and nights where they would laugh, and fight, and screw, and cuddle under the fur blanket in the cold desert night and plan for a future they both knew would never happen.

Sometimes, she could almost feel his big body, lying there beside her, and she could smell his scent.

Hear his voice.

Feel the way her little body had moved under his big, strong hands.

Of course she would also lie there and think about their lovemaking and take care of her business.

She could have had Finn, or Poe, but Ben was like an animal, like a man in the state of nature; he had been born without shame, and he had unchained a passion in her that Rey had never known she possessed.

Not that she had been a prude, but her interest in men, and her occasional dealings with them had been, well, ordinary.

Now who the hell would she find to satisfy the unchained, shameless desire that Kylo Ren Ben Solo had awakened in her?

Rey often cried, bitter tears.

But that was life.

Love is death, life is pain, and somehow you muddle through.

***

In the second year since Ben died, Rey was walking down a busy street in Anchorhead when she saw Chewie.

They hugged, and Rey was truly happy.

She took him to Poe and Finn's and they tried to get information out of him, but Chewie would only say he was working.

As he left, he asked Rey a very honest question.

“Are you happy?”

“I am content, Chewie. I have friends, work, a place to live, enough money, and I have peace.”

“But are you happy?”

“No. Happiness died with Ben. A lot of things died for me, with Ben. Love. Hope. Any interest I had in men, poor Poe, and poor Finn. But I still have life. And I can still enjoying being content with it.”

***

A few nights later, Rey had a dream about Ben.

It was a wild, sweaty, deeply pornographic wet dream that she woke up from in the throes of the kind of an orgasm women could only have in their dreams.

Or, if they were lucky, with bad men like Ben Solo.

She sat up, throwing the blanket off.

“Rey.”

Rey's heart sang an aria.

“Ben! You found your way back? When will I be able to see you?”

But there was no reply.

Leading her to believe, alas, it had only been a beautiful dream.

***

When he had come to Oneness with the Force, Ben Solo found trouble in Paradise.

Master Yoda thought he was ready for the next step.

Master Obi Wan argued that he was too young, and had resolved none of the conflict that had brought him to ruin.

Master Anakin was more direct.

“Though a man, he is still a child. And his life has been suffering and tragedy. He is young, he has found love, and we should not cheat him of the life he has fought so hard to win. Send him back. Let him be Ben Solo, and live his life. He has many years to find the New Path.”

Ben tried to speak, to say what he wanted,  but found he could not.

“Young though he is, yes, but what life for him? Redeemed from Kylo Ren in our eyes. But what of the material world? If return he does, atone he must. But a bullseye on his back there will be!” Yoda insisted.

“That is a problem, Anakin.” Obi –Wan agreed.

“Then we will send my grandson back without healing his body. It will be broken. He will atone with his suffering.  We will send him to a distant planet to make his recovery, alone. Dependant on the charity of strangers he once oppressed.  Then let him make his way to more familiar planets, back to his identity and his home.” Anakin suggested.

“That sounds reasonable. We will give my namesake a test. But, Kylo Ren is dead. Ben Solo should not have to pay for his crimes. Then we will make it so the memory of his mask is preserved in the minds of all. But not his face. “ Obi-Wan suggested.

The others agreed.

“Speak now you may, young Skywalker. Until you find your way back, Skywalker shall you be called. Well? Back do you wish to go?” Yoda asked.

“Yes, Master Yoda. Back I wish to go.”

“Humor you have. Need it, you will.”

“But will I have to endure doctors? Needles?”

“Fear in your face, I see? Tortured you were, young Skywalker? Then your fear you must overcome.  Back you still wish to go?”

“Yes, Master Yoda. I will face my fear.”

“And Ben? No cheating? If your women, strong in the Force as they are, happen to find you? Or your family? We won’t keep them away. But if you call to them? You forfeit this chance.” Anakin told him.

“Wrong that is! In his sleep, will young Skywalker’s soul cry for help! No. Also must we use the Force to interrupt his bond. Until his test is finished. Though he will call? No answer will we allow to come.” Yoda decided.

“I agree. Only by doing the evil that Kylo Ren might have done will you forfeit your chance. Good luck, Ben.” Obi-Wan said

“I have always been with you, my grandson. If you need my strength during your trial? I will answer your call.” Anakin assured Ben

Then, Ben  fell into something like sleep.

***

He had a horrible dream, of waking up bloody and bruised on collapsing Exegol, limping or crawling out of the cave he was in, and then escaping in the still flyable remains of a crashed X-Wing

He woke up in a bacta tank, and panic seized him.

He started banging on the glass walls, screaming through the breather in his mouth.

The noise brought a Rodian in a white coat.

“Hey! Hey Dan, the big guy is awake! By the Force, he looks terrified.”

A guy his age with a moustache rushed into the room.

“Then let’s get him out. It’s OK, big fella. You’re safe. You’re in a Resistance hospital. There’s no more First Order. Nobody’s going to hurt you, here. Hurry up, Needo, help me, before he cracks the tank!”

The machine Ben was suspended from pulled him out, and he ripped all the wires off of his body, and crashed to the ground.

“No! No doctors! Get away from me!” he shouted.

Reduced to crawling away.

But there was nowhere to go.

“Its OK. There’s no torture droids here. You don’t have to get any injections. We're not going to bring you to the point of death, then put you in a bacta tank to fix you up, and then do it again.”

“You know about that?”

“The Empire did it to me the first time. I have a scar like the one on your other leg. But mine is only a few inches long. You must have really suffered.” The grey haired man said.

“I did. Where am I? Who are you? How much longer will this plexi-cast be on?”

The Rodian came with a long orange smock with the Resistance symbol on it, folded on a wheelchair.

“I’m Dan Antilles. I’m your doctor. You crash landed here, on Hoth. And you need another three weeks with that cast. Let me help you up. Now you might want to put this smock on, big fella. This is the size we usually use for Wookies.”

The Rodian helped Ben put the smock on.

It had long sleeves and it was fleecy and soft on the inside.

“I know you want crutches, but the break in your femur was bad. So, if you like being in the shape you’re in, and you want that leg to hold you up, later? Wheelchair. Nobody has to push you if you’d rather wheel yourself.”

Ben sat in the wheelchair, lifting his leg onto the platform for it.

“I can wheel myself.” He said.

“Good. I’ll show you around the place, and back to your bed.”

“Do you have a name, Big Guy?’

“Ben. Ben Skywalker.”

“Are you a Skywalker from Tattoine or a Skywalker from Arkanis?”

“Both. My grandfather was from Arkanis. His father died, and his mother became an indentured servant on Tattoine. We’re free, now, though.”

“Yeah, my family are from Corellia, but most of by father’s war buddies were from the Outer Rim. Tattoine, mostly. OK, Ben. It’s good to have you back. You scared us a little; we thought you might leave.”

“Me too.”

 ***

Snow.

Watching it snow.

Lying propped up on pillows, leaning against the wall, last cot on the ward.

A cot with a big “W” on it.

For Wookiee.

Techanically, Ben was a Wookiee, when Chewie became his godfather, he was adopted into Chewie’s clan.

Ben was thinking about Kashyyyk, actually, while watching it snow.

Thinking about how he might still be welcome, with Uncle Chewie.

Trying to get his spoon under the cast, to scratch his leg.

Watching it snow.

Blanket up to his chin, one knee up.

“...so, what happened was, there was like, a reason why Ben Solo killed Kylo Ren. More than just, you know, the war. Ben Solo and Kylo Ren, they were at the Jedi Temple together. They were friends. But they had a lightsaber fight over either the Force or a girl. I hear different things. And that's’ why Kylo Ren wore the mask because Ben Solo cut his nose off and scarred up his face...”

“Zak, can you stop talking about men? Why do you think I have my blanket pulled up?”

“You thinking about your nurse?”

“Can you stop talking to me? Forget it.”

“Sorry, Ben.”

“It’s not your fault, Zak. It’s this place.”

He looked out the window again.

Snow.

Snow.

Snow.

“I think about your nurse, too. She’s a big girl. She has to be six feet tall. And, like 200. But it’s in all the right places. And she’s a Twi’lek.” Zak said

“I’d like to jump into that girl and drown. Why isn’t she your nurse?” Ben asked

Zak shrugged.

Ben heaved himself off his cot and into his wheelchair.

“Well, I think I’ll go try to take a piss without pissing all over myself.”

“Good luck, man.”

***

The days bled into each other.

Ben finally looked inside the chest, under his bed, on the ward.

In the chest was his lost lightsaber, the blaster Uncle Lando had given him, his blaster belt, his lucky Sabacc dice, a couple of pair of coveralls, his boots, an X-Wing helmet, a money belt for under your clothes that had 500 credits in it, and a mess kit.

The X-Wing helmet had a number on it.

His Uncle’s.

“Humor you have. Need it, you will.” Ben muttered.

The plexi cast on his left leg came all the way up to his balls, and his leg always itched like it was on fire.

Meanwhile, no one asked him if he was related to  the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

When two weeks, and then two more passed and no celebrated persons came to claim him, people assumed that he was some distant relation.

They didn’t release him until after the cast came off, in another week.

Nobody had come for him, and he didn’t call for anyone, so he just left on his own, on a transport with hundreds of other displaced men and women with nowhere special to go.

***

The tiniest hint of a fly in the Force Ghosts’ ointment came around the time that Ben was leaving the Resistance Hospital.

General Leia-Organa Solo, also Senator Leia Organa-Solo, returned to her office on Coruscant as Senate staffers were packing up her things.

One boy almost dropped a picture of her, and Han, and Ben, and Leia caught it.

“Don’t look so frightened. I’m not a ghost.”

“But you’re dead, Senator?”

“I’m a Skywalker. We don’t just die, like other people. We have many deaths and many births, and live many lives inbetween? Less philosophically? I have too much to do to die just now. Maybe in another forty years, or so.”

The next day, after her first appearance in the Second Republic Senate, to announce that she was running for Prime Minister, Leia had an unscheduled visit in her office from Wedge Antilles.

“This had better be really important, Wedge.”

“I think it is. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I was talking to my son, last night. He saw your broadcast and it made him think of a patient of his. A man his own age that hasn’t been far from his mind. A big guy, about two meters, nearly six and a half feet tall. Long dark hair. Dark eyes. Had lots of battle scars. This kid landed a burning X-Wing on Hoth, came out of it with his flight suit in shreds, dragging a broken leg, raving about Exegol, killing them all, and finally being a free man. Spent three weeks in a Bacta tank, recovering from a whole slew of injuries, and another three weeks in a cast up to his nuts. The patient said his name was Ben Skywalker, that his father was a Corellian starpilot and his grandfather was a Skywalker from Arkanis who grew up on Tattoine. As soon as the cast came off, Ben Skywalker got on a transport with a bunch of other kids with nowhere to go and no one to see, and left the planet. And it wasn’t until Dan saw your broadcast that he made the connection, and called me about it. Does that sound like anybody you know, Leia?”

“It does. I’ve been sitting here all day, full of blind, stupid hope. Thinking that if I’m alive, then Ben might be, too. Waiting for that call.”

“Who the hell else would it be?”

“I don’t know, Wedge. But it sounds like he’s running.”

“You need help chasing him?”

“All I can get. We need to find this Ben Skywalker. But if he is my Ben? What the hell do we do, then? Poe Dameron and Rey spread it all over the Galaxy that Ben Solo fought and killed Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren, and then he died and became One With the Force. And the smart little bastard wore a mask, most of the time.”

“Let it go, Leia. Any way you slice the pie? Kylo Ren is dead. If Ben Solo isn’t? Give him a chance. He killed Snoke. And the Knights of Ren.  He saved Rey. He saved you. And he helped Rey kill Palpatine. I think he deserves it.”

“Well, Chewie will be happy. I’ll talk to him, first.”

***

As soon as the transport landed, Ben began his wandering.

At first he figured it as a kind of  penance, for his many crimes.

He stopped wearing shoes, or cutting his hair and beard, and all he wore was a black hooded robe, closed with a belt from which hung a metal bowl and cup, a holstered knife, and his lightsaber.

At first Ben just begged, and wandered, changing his robes for coveralls and working on freighters for his passage from planet to planet.

But as time went on, he slipped into a lonely madness.

He took to standing on streetcorners and preaching about the evils of the old world.

“Stop and look at me! I am the mistakes of the past! My mother’s brother tried to murder me, and I murdered my father in turn! With these hands! These hands! This creature you see before you was once a man! Envied by Men, desired by Women! Who desires this creature, now? Who envies this wretch, now? Who?”

By this time a small crowd would have gathered around the very tall, very gaunt man, with wild eyes and a booming deep voice inside a nest of black hair and black beard.

“It was not the Force that did this to me! No, it was the order than we tried, for centuries to put on it. Dividing it, and ourselves into Dark and Light. Jedi and Sith. Empire and Republic. First Order and Resistance. It was this blasphemy against the balance and unity of the Force that brought our Galaxy into three generations of interplanetary war! And this Second New Republic is built on the truth! The truth there is no Dark, or Light. Jedi, or Sith. Only the Force, United. As it lives in all of us, and everything! As we find the balance, within ourselves, in accordance with our form and our nature. But I know there are those that preach the old heresies. When you hear them, think upon me!”

That’s when he would unbuckle his belt and take off his robe, showing them all his scarred, gaunt, filthy body.

Ben had even made the scar of the wound that Rey healed in the ruins iof the Death Star appear in his flesh.

“Stop and look at me! I am the mistakes of the past! My mother’s brother tried to murder me, and I murdered my father in turn! With these hands! These hands! This creature you see before you was once a man! Envied by men, desired by Women! Who desires this creature, now? Who envies this wretch, now? Who? Look on me and know it is time for old things to go. You must let the past die! Kill it, if you have to! Look upon me, and remember my words.”

Sometimes they would throw money in his bowl, sometimes throw things at him.

He hoped that a crowd would martyr him, but no one ever took him seriously enough to kill him.

He slept in alleys and doorways, stowed away on ships, and felt less than human.

Ben’s will to live left him as his madness spiralled out of control. He hardly ate and hardly slept, and his starving body devoured fifty pounds of his flesh, leaving him wiry, rawboned and gaunt.

He hardly felt human, or even humanoid, anymore, because  he was hairy, and smelly, and filthy, and he scavenged through garbage to eat,  like some wild animal.

At the end of a year, he ended up on Tattoine, intending to make a grand end to it.

He would give his sermon, throw off his robes and slit his wrists and his throat with a dirty piece of glass from the street.

But another vagrant warned him that the city fathers of Anchorhead had recently hired a former First Order officer as their chief of police, and although the new Chief understood smugglers were the lifeblood of Anchorhead, he was cracking down on street crime, con men, muggers, preachers, pushers, unregistered whores, and so on.

Ben quietly wished his former comrade well, and gave up the ghost.

But life clung, annoyingly to his skeletal frame.

He lay in the same doorway for three days, and three nights, and on the third night he knew that he was near death.

“Ben.”

He saw  a bluish light in the cold, dark desert night, and rolled his eyes upward.

The face he looked into was very much like his own.

If not for the fair hair and light eyes, it might have been his face.

Ben knew his rescuer, immediately.

“Grandfather. Have you come to take me home?”

“No, Ben. I have come to comfort you, in your suffering. I understand suffering. I understand the peace that comes from enduring suffering, and triumphing over it. But I want you to live. You have suffered enough. I release you from the restraints that we have put on your bond with Rey Skywalker. Call for help. I will wait with you, until she comes. Rey will take you home.”

***

“Rey. Rey, I need you.”

Rey sat up in the dark, and knew this was no dream.

She saw and heard Ben; she saw him through their bond.

But what she saw and heard was horrible.

His face was drawn and filthy, and the hand that reached to her looked skeletal.

He was swathed in a filthy robe, lying in a dirty doorway, in a back street of Anchorhead.

“I see you, Ben. I hear you.”

“Help me, Rey. I want to come home.”

Rey jumped out of bed and threw on her clothes.

“I’m coming, Ben. Wait for me. Don’t leave me, again!”

*** 

Rey stopped her speeder by the dirty doorway and was surprised to see the tall, broad-shouldered hulking Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker.

Gently, he picked up his broken, emaciated grandson, and carried him to the speeder.

“Master Anakin!” Rey gasped.

She watched him wrap Ben in the blanket she had brought, and gently lay him in the back seat of the speeder

“Take my grandson home. And don’t let him out of your sight until he’s well, again.”

“But I don’t know anything about healing! I don’t know who to call! I don’t know what to do! Someone has to help us!”

“There’s an old man living in my friend Ben Kenobi’s old shack. He claims to be a Jedi Healer. I will go there, now, and send him along to the Skywalker Farm. I am sure that he will be able to help you.”

Anakin Skywalker walked off towards the moonlit desert, and dissappeared into a little whirly of wind-driven sand..

***

Rey sped home, in a hurry.

Threepio helped her to carry what was left of Ben Solo into the house.

“Shouldn’t Master Ben have a doctor?”

“No, Threepio! No doctor! No medical droid! No bacta tank! No needle!”

Ben was terrified, but it was the first time he had spoken.

Rey was glad that he was alive enough to speak

“Alright, Master Ben. No doctor. Master Rey, what about the man in the kitchen.”

“He’s not a doctor. Master Ben hates doctors. Don’t talk about doctors! Help me get Master Ben into the bathroom, and tell that man to start doing...whatever it is he’s going to do. Have Artoo heat up some batha broth for Master Ben. Then you and Artoo go back to the shed. It’s too much for you.”

Rey slammed the door on the dithering droid, and went through the bedroom and back into the bathroom.

Ben had managed  to get his robe off and get into the bathtub.

He was covered in bruises and scratches, and you could see his ribs and his hipbones.

What was visible of his face out of the rat’s nest of tangled hair and beard was suffused with all the misery the human race had ever endured.

Rey turned the water on.

“Let me die, Rey. Now that I’m home. I don’t want to live.”

“I want you to live, Ben. This is my miracle, not yours.”

“Grandfather wants me to live. Do you? Really?”

“Yes, Ben, I do! I love you!”

“Then maybe I will live a little longer.”

He lay quietly in the warm water as she scrubbed the dirt off of him, and didn’t protest even though she had to wash his hair and comb the tangles and rats out with oil  several times, and then wash it, again.

It was either that or shave his head.

One of the Skywalkers had left his straight razor there, and Rey had polished it and sharpened it; why she wasn’t sure, but now she carefully shaved the filthy, matted beard away from Ben's gaunt face.

“Don’t shave it all. Kylo Ren didn’t wear a beard.” Ben told her.

It was the only thing he said, but his sad eyes watched her movements.

She helped him get out of the tub, and dried him.

“Thank you.” Ben said.

Ben leaned heavily on her as they made there way into the bedroom; he was still much larger and heavier than her.

But Rey didn’t complain.

She propped him up with pillows, and fed him sips of milk and sips of broth.

“Glass.” He said.

She handed him the glass of milk, and he gulped it down.

“Don’t, Ben, you'll get sick!”

He reached for the bowl, and sniffed it, like a dog, then put it back down.

“No. Meat.”

“You’ll get sick!”

Ben slammed his fist angrily on the nightstand.

“I’M DYING! MEAT, GODDAMN IT, GIVE ME MEAT!”

Bellowing  like an angry Wookiee.

A Wookiee.

Chewbacca was Ben's godfather; he had been adopted into Chewie’s tribe, and had a Wookie name.

Kallaurra.

Angry Wild Warrior.

But she didn’t know where Chewie was and Han and Leia were dead.

“Alright, Ben. Your Uncle Chewie taught me how to make a Wookiee stew. I’ll fix you some meat.”

Rey went out into the kitchen.

She felt helpless and alone.

I don’t know him. I don’t know him, at all.

Rey closed her eyes.

And she called to Master Leia.

As usual, there was no response.

Then she called to Master Luke.

“I’m right here. I told Ben Kenobi, and Master Yoda. Make sure Ben is with Rey. Father agreed with me. They didn’t listen.”

Rey opened her eyes.

Master Luke was sitting at the table.

“No matter where I go? I always seem to end up, right back here. On Tattoine. Now I’m here in the same house.”

“You’re the JedI Healer? When did you come back?”

“Right after I thought I died on Ahch-To. I got the same treatment Ben did. It wasn’t my time. I wasn’t ready. Next thing I knew, I was alive and well, and back on Tattoine. In Ben Kenobi’s hut.”

“I wish I would have known you were so close by.”

“I wish I would have told you.”

“Master Luke, did you ever take care of someone in Ben’s condition?”

“I don’t know what Ben’s condition is.”

Rey explained.

“I have seen men as sick as Ben, and I’ve tried to heal them. Some get better, Rey, and some don’t. They have to want to live. But I’ll do everything I can for Ben. Before I founded the new Jedi Temple,  I studied Jedi healing. I wanted to save lives to atone for the hundreds of thousands I had taken. And I have taken care of Ben when he’s sick.  And I also know how to get him to take medicine. You make something he likes and put it in his food.”

“But we don’t have any medicine.”

“I brought some.”

Master Luke reached into his pocket and got a white cylinder, which he put in Rey’s hands.

She opened it.

It was full of capsules.

“What are they?”

“No. The green capsules are vitamin pills. The orange ones are bacta. Just pop them open and put them in the stew I’m going to show you how to make. It’s a Wookiee recipe that Ben likes. Chewie showed me how to make it.”

Master Luke made a stew with bantha broth, vegetables, a whole nerf tenderloin, and potatoes.

He showed her also how much of the pills to put in.

“Don’t let him gobble it. Feed him a spoonful or two, and wait a half hour, to see if it makes Ben sick. If not. Let him eat the whole bowl. Don’t give him any more tonight. If he’s not sick, tonight, he can have three of these big serving bowls, tomorrow. It’s not too much. Ben’s almost the size of a Wookie, so he eats like one. If his stomach is still alright, tomorrow, then he had have some bread, too. And don’t give him anything to drink but blue milk. If his stomach gets upset, crack one of these purple capsules into some blue milk, and get him to drink it. Make some more of the stew after this pot runs out. After a week, Ben should be able to eat normally. Don’t expect him to gain weight all at once. And don’t overfeed him. The bacta and vitamins should make him well in about a week. But it might take a couple of months before he gains his weight back.”

“REY! WHERE THE HELL IS MY FOOD! MEAT! DYING!” Ben roared.

“Is that a good sign?” Rey asked.

“I think so.  Don’t tell Ben I was here. We’re still not on speaking terms.  I’ll come back to check on him, another day. Oh, and one more thing. As soon as he feels better, he’s going to want to make up for the time you two were apart. That’s not going to happen for him, with his body in the state it’s in. Tell him to be patient. When he’s healed and gained some weight? I’m sure everything will straighten right out.”

“I wish Ben had a Jedi healer to stay with him, tonight.”

“He has one. You are a Jedi. And you have healed him, before. But be careful, Rey. Ben’s life force is at a low ebb, and he’s very sick. You can try to ease his pain, but don’t try to heal him, entirely. It would drain too much life out of you.”

Master Luke got up.

“This is the no fun part, Rey. Ben needs you, now.”

“I don’t mind at all, Master Luke. Ben is alive. I still feel better than I have for a long time. I have hope.”

“That’s good, Rey.”

Luke stood up, as if to go

“Uncle Luke? I know you’re there. I feel your presence.” Ben called out

They both froze.

“I’m sick, Uncle Luke. Are you a Force Ghost, or are you the Jedi Healer that Grandfather was going to get to come here and help me?”

“I’m the old hermit down the road, Ben. Do you want me to come to your room? I know we didn’t part on good terms. But Rey’s nervous about being alone with you, tonight.”

“Would you mind staying with me, Uncle Luke? Everybody else is dead.”

“I don’t mind at all, Ben. I’ll stay here as long as you want me to. I remember where my room is.”

 ***

As Master Luke had suspected, Ben wanted to gobble the food.

His instinct to live and his hunger had overwhelmed his will to destroy himself.

“No, Ben.” Master Luke said.

More patiently than Rey would have, as he moved the bowl away.

Ben tried to grab at it.

“No means no. Don’t get grabby with me.”

“But I’m hungry!”

“You can’t gobble the food up, Ben. You’ll be sick, and that might kill you!” Rey told Ben.

It was a very long half hour.

Ben kept trying to get the bowl, and Master Luke gave it to her and she had to move away from the bed.

He cried.

“Don’t cry, Ben. If you feel alright, you can have the whole bowl, soon. And another glass of blue milk.” Rey assured him.

“I’m hungry! I’m fucking hungry, and I’m  too weak to get out of bed and take it! Where’s my mother, Uncle Luke? Why won’t she talk to me?” he sobbed.

“Your mother is...always with you, Ben. And you’ll get better. Rey and  I will make sure.”

The half-hour passed and Luke gave Ben the whole bowl of food, and a glass of blue milk.

“Eat slowly, kid. You start gobbling, and I’ll take the bowl away.”

As he ate, slowly, for once, Ben told them what he had done for the past year.

“Why?” Rey asked.

“Rey! Don’t ask why. Ben is suffering. He doesn’t need a reason.” Luke told her.

“I have one. I was asleep in a bunkhouse, with a bunch of other men on this freighter. And I realized that killing Snoke, and his troopers, and all his toadying fucking followers I killed on my way to slaughter the Emperor didn’t make up for killing my father. Sure, Snoke influenced me. Told me to do it. But I had a choice. And I chose to kill him. I killed my father. Whenever anyone would say that to me, that killed my father? I would just think, no, Snoke made me do it. But I did it. I did. I killed my father. I loved him more than anybody in the world, even though he was kind of a shitty father, and sometimes I hated him for it. And I killed him. In such a way that he doesn’t even have a grave. When I realized all of that? It broke my mind.”

Ben snapped the wooden spoon in half.

“Just like that.”

He handed Rey the bowl and the empty glass.

Luke took the spoon, and put both halves in his hand, and closed his palm.

When he opened it, the spoon wasn’t broken.

“Your mind will heal, Ben. Just like this And before this year is out? You will see Han and Leia again. I don’t know how. But I know you will.”

“I did see Dad. He forgave me. I just can’t forgive me.”

“Ben, you saved me. You saved the Galaxy. Without you I could never have defeated the Emperor. You’re a hero. Han is proud of you. So is Master Leia. Stop torturing yourself.” Rey begged.

“Ben, you said it was time to let old things go.You’re not taking your own advice.  This is how the Sith broke you. You don’t have to break yourself. You’re free. You won.” Luke told him.

“I’m tired. I think I need to go to sleep. I had better try to get to the bathroom, first. Rey already has to take care of me like I’m a baby. I don’t want to piss the bed like one.”

Ben managed to totter into the bathroom.

Rey wanted to hover over him, but she knew he was humiliated that she was seeing him like this, at all.

She waited.

He made his way slowly back to the bed and lay down.

“I’m going to go, now Ben.To my old room.  I’ll be back when you wake up  to see how you are.” Luke told him.

He put his hand on Ben’s forehead.

“Sleep, now. And have good dreams.”

Ben fell asleep.

Rey walked back to the door with her Master.

“Will he die in his sleep, Master Luke?”

“No. Sleep will heal him. We’ll let him sleep as long as he wants to. I think I’ll go say hello to my droids. Let them know that they’ll be coming with me, when I go home. I could use the company. And you have Ben, now.”

“They’re your droids, Master Luke.”

Master Luke opened the door and walked out into the courtyard, and beyond.

She watched him, retreating into the setting suns, heading for the old shed.

He wanted to help Ben, but also?

He was glad to be home, in spite of himself.

Rey understood.

***

She went back to the bedroom.

Rey got undressed and got into bed with Ben.

She pulled up all the covers, so he would be warm.

He woke up, for a moment.

“I haven’t slept in a bed since I left that freighter. And I haven’t slept in my bed, here, for what seems like an age. I think I might sleep for a long time.”

“As long as you need to, Ben. I’ll be here.”

Rey stayed awake until he was asleep, and for a hour afterward, making sure he was just asleep.

But then she fell asleep, too.

 ***

Ben slept all through the way through another day, until the morning after that day.

Rey kept checking on him, and so did Master Luke,  but he moved around in his sleep, and he snored, and once he got up and drank some water, so she knew he was just sleeping.

That morning he walked stiffly into the kitchen, dressed in a baggy cream tunic and brown trousers.

He had a cloth belt wrapped many times around the waist so that the clothes, although they were the right lengths for him, didn’t fall off him.

“Ben, those are my father’s clothes.”

“I know. They were still here, when I came here. I wear them, all the time. The desert preserves things.”

He had bathed, and dressed but he hadn’t shaved.

“I’m growing a goatee. To distinguish Ben Solo from Kylo Ren.”

“Everyone knows that Ben Solo killed Kylo Ren. Nobody’s going to come after you, Ben. You’re a free man. You earned it.” Master Luke told him.

There was a weird sense of calm, and dignity about Ben that she’d never seen in him, before.

He thanked her politely when she gave him the serving bowl of stew with the serving spoon.

Rey had gone out and bought the most fine, expensive loaf of rich, black, seeded bread that she could find, and put it on the table.

Ben snatched up the heel, and turned it over in his hands, and then he put it under his nose and sniffed it.

“I don’t remember the last time I had bread that wasn’t stale. Or mouldy.”

He ate the slice of bread, slowly.

Rey wanted to cry.

There were tears in Master Luke’s eyes.

But she didn’t want Ben to become hysterical.

So she carried on eating her cereal and blue milk.

“Have another piece. With your stew.” She encouraged him.

“Chewie used to make this for me. When I was a kid, and I’d get sick. It’s a Wookie recipe.”

“I know. He taught me how to make it.” Master Luke told Ben.

After he ate, Ben got up and walked out onto the hot sand, barefoot.

Rey supposed he was used to it, by now.

But he came back.

“I have to get used to boots again. I still have mine.”

 ***

Ben didn’t like to stay inside, too long.

He got restless.

And when he slept at night, it was like he was dead.

After a week, Luke was right, he was much better and he had gained some weight.

Before Master Luke went home, he brought Obi-Wan, to talk to Ben while Luke was giving him a final once-over.

Their Master returned and brought Obi-Wan with him.

He spoke with Ben while Luke was examining him.

“Were you seeking a vision, Ben? Or were you trying to be a vision?” Obi-Wan asked.

“I was trying to be a vision. I wanted to spread the word about the New Path. And the Force United. And to warn people not to go back to the old ways. I wanted to use my body to show them. So I made all the old wounds and scars reappear.”

“You’re on the right path, Ben. But you must not use suffering to make your point. Yours or that of others.” Obi-Wan told him.

Ben nodded.

Master Luke pronounced him much better.

He took Artoo and Threepio and went home.

After that, Rey and Ben were on their own.

Ben quickly started getting his body to do what he wanted, again.

He took long walks in the desert.

After two weeks, he was running, in nothing but a pair of shorts, running over the burning sand, barefoot and mostly naked.

But he stopped being antsy when he was in the house.

***

Rey had to go buy some food, and Ben wanted to drive her speeder to Anchorhead.

When they got to the store where she bought the bread, and the old baker saw Ben, he came out from behind the counter.

“I can’t believe it! Young man, what’s your name”

“Ben Skywalker.”

“Was your grandaddy Anakin Skywalker? Son of Shmi Skywalker and Kylo Skywalker, who died a warrior on Arkanis, and that started all the trouble his family got into?”

“That’s me.”

“I knew your granddaddy, then. We were both slaves, here. The Jedi took him away to become one of them. But he wanted to be a pilot. Me, I got sold to a baker. Now I’m a free man and this is my shop. But Ani used to come here to visit his mother. You look so much like him. Is he still living?”

“No. But he became a pilot. And a Jedi. He died a Jedi, at the end of Clone Wars and became one with the Force.”

“I suppose that’s what he wanted. But it still makes me glad I became a baker. Did you go to that Jedi Temple? Out on Yavin-4?”

“I did. But it wasn’t for me. Too may rules. So I left, and stuck with what I love. The stars.”

“So, you’re a starpilot too? Good for you, son. Ani would have liked that.”

“I’m sure he does.”

***

Time passed them by.

Ben continued to fight his way back from the brink of death.

He fought so hard, and regained his physique and his strength so quickly that Rey began to suspect he was healing himself, using the Force

Ben had always been strong in the Force, but he had become both more accomplished and more powerful than before. There was a new light in Ben's dark, ancient eyes, and a new kind of power animated him.

The Force was with Ben, but in a form Rey had never encountered.

But, neither she nor Ben were thinking on that, or the New Path of the Force United that they were, arguably supposed to be making a way for.

No, the weightiest problem at the Skywalker farm was much less cosmic.

Most people did not know that Rey and Kylo Ren had been star-crossed lovers.

And no one knew that it wasn’t just one last kiss that Ben Solo bestowed upon Rey before he died.

That was the elephant in the bedroom.

“Rey?’

She was asleep.

“What, Ben? Have you been awake all night?”

“I can’t sleep. What if I killed it?”

“Killed what?”

“My cock.”

“I’m sure you’d be fine with another woman.”

Ben hadn’t heard that.

“How could I just let it go, like that? Fuck, I haven’t even jerked off for six months! I don’t even remember the last time I got hard. I killed it. I lost my mind, destroyed my body, and killed my cock. And I’m ugly again, and I disgust you.”

“Ben, you are not ugly. You have never been ugly. That’s all in your mind. Go to sleep.”

“Then why are you so cold, all the sudden?”

“I didn’t want to hurt you. You were like a human skeleton.”

“I’m fine, now.”

“Go to sleep, Ben.”

Ben swore.

He got out of bed.

“Where are you going?”

He jerked the bathroom door open, angrily so that the knob smacked into the hole it had already made in the wall. 

“Fuck it! I'm going to go into the bathroom and try to get it up for somebody I know who cares about how upset I am, and wants to try to make me a man, again! Me!”

But then?

He had a better idea.

And he got back into bed with Rey.

“Wait! I know what this is about. You think the last time we fucked, it killed me. That you killed me. Now, you're afraid if you touch me again, I’ll just die. Right?”

“Ben, I…you did die.”

“I was going to die anyway. I figured I might as well die hard.”

Rey couldn’t help laughing.

A little.

“Besides, how many times have you tried to kill me? As many times as I told you I was going to fuck you whether you liked it, or not. Funny how it always seems to turn me on when you try to kill me. And when I act like I’m going to fuck you whether you like it or not? You always like it. The first fight we ever had? I wish I knew that you almost cutting my face off with a lightsaber was foreplay. If I had? Instead of offering to show you the ways of the force, I would have told you that if you came with me, I was going to tie you to a table, again, and slide my tongue up your sweet Rebel cunt.”

In several years of very dirty talk, and horrible arguments and insults, that was both the dirtiest and the most horribly insulting thing Ben ever said to her.

She slapped him in the face, and he laughed.

“Don’t you dare, Ben Solo!”

“What? Don’t try that high and mighty shit on me. I’m the guy who fucks you. I know what you like. And you know, you never asked me what truths I brought back from the other side.”

He pulled the covers off the bed, and grabbed Rey by the ankles and pushed her legs open.

“Never gave a minute's thought to the Force United. Or the new path. But I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. I’m not gonna ask you if you want me to teach it to you. Because I know what you want from me.”

Ben put Rey’s legs around his shoulders.

“I’m just going to slide my tongue up your sweet Rebel cunt. I know you like that.”

If Ben's intent was to inflame them both?

It worked.

He rose to the occasion, and Rey felt anything but cold.

She was still in the throes of the orgasm he gave her as he was sitting up at the bottom of the bed, saying:

“Hard as beaker fucking steel. It worked!”

Yes.

It had.

“Ben, you horrible bastard, I’ve wanted you so much for so long!” she told him.

“Yeah. I know.” he told her.

***

All around the Skywalker farm you could hear the sound of a woman, screaming

And a man’s savage, guttural voice.

“Do you feel it now? Do you feel the raw power of the Dark Side?”

The woman’s screams grew louder and the man uttered a deep, dark, Satanic laugh.

He pinned her to the bed with his big, powerful body, and she locked her arms and legs around him screaming every time he thrust into her.

Faster.

Deeper.

Harder.

“Can you feel my power? The power of the Force United? Is this the way you want to get fucked, little scavenger? Fast and dirty and hard?”

More screams ripped from the woman’s throat.

“Yes! Yes! I feel your power. Your power! More!” the woman sobbed.

“My power? Who’s power? Say it! Fucking say it!” the man ordered, snarling through gritted teeth.

“Ben Solo! Oh, gods, gods, Ben fucking Solo!”

The woman screamed for joy, the man gave voice to another guttural laugh, and it resolved into a roar like the sound an angry Wookie makes before he tears your arms out and beats you to death with them.

Then, it was quiet, again.

***

Rather prudishly, Rey pulled the covers up to her neck.

In contrast, Ben lay on top of them, naked, his arms behind his head, his eyes closed, a happy,  untroubled smile on his face.

“That was worth fucking waiting. You are one hot little piece of ass, Little Rebel Girl. You had better come out from under those covers. I’m not done with you.”

“Can’t I go back to sleep, now?”

“Why?’

“Ben, you don’t understand. You were born without shame. I’m embarrassed. People don’t…I…I mean, I enjoy making love as much as, well, any woman, but…you have no idea what I am on about, do you?”

He turned on the light.

“Rey, I understand your ‘Who? Poor little me?’ act is what’s kept you alive through all these years, and it keeps people out of your hair. But don’t play it on me. I know better. I’m also the guy who fights with you. At your side and as your opponent, remember? So you can mince around Tattoine, acting like you are the little scavenger, a little war widow, just getting by, spending her life in elegiac genteel exile. Living with the memory of her lost love. But we both know it’s bantha shit.”

“Oh, really? And how would you know, Ben?”

“Rey, you slapped my face in a room full of smoking corpses and pools of blood and told me to quit fucking talking and kiss you. Then you wanted me to fuck you, on Snoke’s throne. You hardly gave me time to get rid of the mess and drape the curtains over the throne!  I mean, there I was, on my knees, with one foot resting on a dead man, and you’re pulling my hair and calling me a Sith bastard and telling me you’re going to come in my mouth, so I had better lick it up. Then, when I got up? You would have thought I poured honey all over my cock the way you went after it. You broke the zipper on my pants, getting it out. I had to hold your nose so you’d open your mouth so I could pull my cock out, because I thought if I came in your mouth before I fucked you, you’d cut me in half. I mean, I could hardly believe my luck.  I felt like the luckiest man in the Galaxy. Who knew you were the kind of girl who loved to give head and liked it doggie style on the throne of the Supreme Leader? I thought I might have been in love with you before that day. After? I was done. You had me. For the first time in my life, I was crazy in love.”

Rey bit her lip, to keep in a laugh, a scream of outrage, or both.

“I was carried away in the moment.” she sniffed

“This went on for longer than a moment. Hell, the first time I told you I could take what I wanted, you looked at me like, oh, Daddy, let’s fight first, and I might kill you later, but take me now, I’m all yours.”

“So what if I was immediately attracted to you? A lot of women have been!”

“Not when they were strapped to a table, killer. Rey, I was your enemy. I was the bad guy you were fighting against. I gave the orders that almost wiped out the whole Rebel fleet! And even after that, you came here to meet me every chance you got! And we never talked, here.  We talked when we were light-years away from each other. When we were together all we did was fuck. I was the Supreme Leader, I could do what I wanted. Go where I wanted. Nobody questioned me. I killed three generals who asked me what my business was with the Rebel girl. Those bloodless Imperial fucks stopped asking me stupid questions about my Little Rebel Girl after that. You were training to be a Jedi. You were the big hero of the Resistance. And you risked all that to come to Tattoine and fuck me out in the desert. When you had two guys, right there, who would have dragged their balls over hot coals just to get a shot at you. How long did the moment last? Two or three years? That’s a long karking moment, isn’t it?”

“It’s because I love you, Ben.”

“I love you too, Rey. But you are not a poor, meek, winsome little scavenger. You are a hot-blooded Force warrior. A two-tone, blood-glutted, cock-hungry hellcat who likes fast ships, bad men, high adventure, a damn good fight, and a real hot fuck. Be who you are, Rebel Girl. Some other guys might get turned off by that, but I’m Kylo Ren, remember? I love it when you’re bad. Hell, I killed myself at Exegol, satisfying our mutual battle lust. But I figured, what a way to go!”

“That’s why I was never going to touch another man, ever again. I killed you, Ben.”

“I came, and then I went.”

Ben laughed.

“It’s not funny! You gave me life and I took it back from you!”

“You didn’t kill me, Rey. Sheev Palpatine killed me. I knew I was going to die in that cave. I knew it before I brought you back. But I thought, hell, if I have to die, I might as well do it after a great victory in battle and a great fuck with the Valkryie I love. My Little Rebel Girl. And it’s not going to happen again, because I am now the most powerful Force sensitive being in the galaxy. Well, next to you. So do me a favor, and drop the act. It turns me off, and you’re insulting yourself.”

“Ben Solo, you are such a bad man!”

“Through and through. Did you think Kylo was the bad guy and Ben was the good guy? The best you can say about me is that I’m the good bad guy. Rey, my father was a ruthless pirate.  My grandfather was Darth Vader. I’m bad right down to my bones.”

“You wont tell anyone else about me, will you, Ben?”

“They already know. They’re just too terrified to argue with you. Damn, I have to piss.”

He got up and went to the bathroom.

Rey shifted around a little.

Thinking about what he had said.

Ben came back to bed.

He got under the covers, kissed her, and rolled over on his back and shut out the light.

Rey was a little disappointed, until Ben hauled her on top of him.

“OK, Rebel Girl! Your turn to be on top!”

***

The one thing that people all the way to Anchorhead would tell you about Ben Skywalker was that he had to be related to Ani Skywalker, because he looked just like him.

His hair and beard were black, and hsi etse were dark, but other than that, he was Ani all over again.

He wore the same kind of desert pilot’s clothes; in fact, Ben and his wife were poor; he might have been wearing Anakin’s clothes that he found at the old Skywalker moisture farm.

Young Skywalker and his wife, who was a nameless scavenger from Jakku before he gave her his had come right from the wars.

Ben had lived out on the old place for years, but during the wars, he was always coming and going. 

When he came to the cantina in the village without his wife?

Once he had a few pitchers of beer, he'd show you all his scars.

Take his pants down and everything, and the foolish boy didn’t wear underwear.

He had moods, but those scars meant he came by those moods, honestly.

He said he was a pilot, but all he seemed to be doing was getting his old wreck of a ship fixed up.

You might see him, running through the desert, barefoot, bareheaded, and slathered with sun protection, wearing only a pair of regulation Imperial exercise undershorts.

When he got to the village, he’d stop by the cantina for lunch.

“Training. I eat too much, and I drink too much, so I have to train like a goddamn Sith just to keep from turning into a big day tub of guts. That, and the Little Rebel Girl I married? She’s horny as an Askajian whore with a Twi'lek mother. She was a real killer, in the wars. If I ever quit banging her two, three times a day? She’d burn down the planet. But she keeps me in shape. Best exercise there is. Doing push-ups with girls. Before I met Rey? Hell, I had two or three women a week, just to keep me happy. Hell of a woman, my Little Rebel Girl. Better run home before she thinks I’ve got a girl on the side.”

Then he’d drink another pitcher of blue milk, finish his four sandwiches, and run home.

But what Ben was most famous for in the village was fighting a full grown Wookiee, and winning.

He made a lot of money doing it, too.

Ben Skywalker was the local character before the war was over, but taht wa sto be expected.

He was a Skywalker, after all; they were all characters.

In short?

Nobody suspected a damn thing.

***

After having lived by her wits from the time she was 14, and then becoming a Jedi, a warrior and the savior of the Galaxy?

The last thing Rey thought would make her happy was being a wife and keeping a house.

But somehow, just now?

It did.

At first Ben's moods were a problem, but when she discovered there were four of them, it became manageable.

Brooding Mystic, Wild Man, Happy-Go-Lucky Pirate, and Sexual Death Star.

Sometimes all in the same day.

And she had to admit, the fact that Sexual Death Star was a regular daily mood made it easier.

Ben naturally had a lot of stamina, and he was well endowed, but Rey always thought he had made sure to become a good lover to make it up to a woman for his moodiness.

But Ben knew himself, he had stocked his home with all wooden plates, bowls, and cups, and a stoneware pitcher that she he said he had thrown at a stone wall before buying.

So he got mad, sometimes and threw things and yelled?

It didn’t bother her.

Ben was always hungry, so he was always cooking, and there was always enough to eat.

They stayed in bed for days, sometimes, making love, and being goofy and just being together.

And she had not just a room, but a whole farm.

She and Ben had cleaned it up, and fixed everything, and even the old rusting farm machinery looked like art.

Ben worked on the Falcon, his ship now and there was a lot of work to do, because Rey had let it sit for a year.

Ben talked about getting in touch with “Uncle Chewie” he was thinking about getting back to work, with Rey as his scavenger.

He had a scheme in his heart, and that was a good sign.

But neither of them were ready to leave.

They went to the market in the old speeder, and brought fresh bread, and sometimes, when the moon was bright they had lightsaber duels out in the desert, and then they’d make love like lions, under the stars.

The stars that still belonged to them.

It was a beautiful little life, with just the two of them, but one day, the west wind from out behind Tattoine’s twin suns blew Chewbacca in to Mos Eisley, and there was a radio message from him.

He was coming out to the Skywalker Farm, and when he got there, they should be on the Falcon and ready to go.

Rey knew, then that everything was about to change.

[im-a-ramblr]

Day Eight, Unwavering

As a pilot, Luke was often asked what ship he would pick that he could always rely on. Most people assumed it was his X-Wing, but it wasn’t. That honor went to the Millennium Falcon. Of course, he loved his X-Wing but truthfully, he had had many throughout the war. Between all the crashes, repairs, and shortage of supplies, ships got shuffled around a far bit. Oh, it had gotten better, and his X-Wing was now truly his own, but the last couple years couldn’t replace the years the Falcon had been a constant safe spot.  

Despite Han constant insistence that he wasn’t going to stay, he had and so the Falcon had stayed too. The cargo ship had gotten the pair of them out of a lot of sticky situations. Luke was pretty sure he’d spent more time helping Han and Chewie fix it than he had on his own ship. He’d spent his first several nights after destroying the Death Star sleeping there, too shaken and lost to feel comfortable sleeping the room the Command had tried to give him. He’d gotten drunk a few times, at Han’s side. Once or twice, when being Rebellion’s poster boy had gotten to be too much he’d come and hide in the old ship. 

That had become far more common after Bespin. 

Luke had done almost all his healing on the Millennium Falcon, curled up on one of the bunks or couches. It had been where he’d studied to be a Jedi. It had been the one thing holding him together until he’d gotten a grip of his life and been able to rescue Han. It was his home.

A home that had suddenly gone missing, much to his and his sister’s dismay. 

He sighed as he shouldered his bag and gave Leia a peck on the cheek. “I’ll find him and bring him back. He probably hasn’t gone far. Just enough to freak out in private.”

Leia nodded, hands resting on her stomach. “I know. I just wish he’d taken it better. Or did I break it to him the wrong way?”

Luke shook his head, “You know Han, he goes through the five stages of grief over a cup breaking or his favorite holo-show getting a new session. He was happy, I felt that much.” 

Leia smiled and nodded, giving her twin’s flesh hand a squeeze. “May the force be with you. And good luck.” Luke raised an eyebrow at the last part and Leia smirked. “You’ll need it. I love my husband, but I also know him.” 

Luke chuckled. “And may the force be with, and the little one.” He nodded to her stomach and she gave him a gentle shove. 

(*************Line Brake that tumblr was dumb and got rid of, I’m salty************) 

Luke found Han exactly where he thought he would. In the Millennium Falcon’s galley with several bottles. The ship itself was parked on the outskirts of a small town on a planet neighboring Coruscant. 

Luke cleared his throat and plopped down next to his brother in law. Han watched him out of the corner of his eye. “What?”

Luke said nothing, instead reading the labels on all the bottles. They all come from what Luke called 'The Good News Drink Set'. So, Han was happy about the baby, just overwhelmed. That was good. Luke hummed thoughtfully to himself before sitting back. “What’s worrying you?”

Han snorted and took a swing of his drink. “Take a guess.” 

“The baby?” 

Han shook his head. “Kid isn’t the problem. I am. Not parent material. I’m hardly even husband material. To flighty” 

Luke rested his gloves prosthetic on his brother-in-law's shoulder. “Han. Look at me. You are a good man, and you can take care of and raise this kid. You did it for me when I lost Ben. You kept me alive, healthy, and happy for the most part. And you did so while fighting a war. For all your flaws and claims of flightiness, you are a steady presence. You’re not unwavering perhaps, but I don’t think anyone is. I’m not saying this as the farm boy from Tatooine, or as you’re brother-in-law. I’m saying this as some who knows who can rely on you. 

Tears started to wheels in Han's eyes. “Okay. Thanks.” He took a deep breath. “I’m good.”

“Of course, you are. Now let’s get you back home to your lovely, lonely, pregnant wife.” Luke stood and helped the brunette up. “You don’t seem too drunk; can you fly?”

“Can I? Yes. Should I? No. Am I? Yes.” 

Luke laughed a little and shook his head. “Well, I suppose that’s what autopilot is for.” 

Han let out a bark of a laugh. “Never trust autopilot, Luke. You know this. Nasty, lying computer will try and run you into the ground. You remember that.”

Luke smiles as he helped Han into the co-pilot seat. “Don’t take off yet, I’m going to attach my ship to yours.”

Han frowned, trying to work through that sentence. Clearly, he was a little drunker than Luke had originally thought if he could remember how Luke had modified the ships to click together after having been stranded one too many times.

Luke shook his head and moved to leave. Han and the Millennium Falcon were steady pair. Most of the time that was a good thing. And sometimes, he thought as he quickest his steps at the sound of something crashing from the cockpit, it was not. 

But he loved his family, just as much as they did him. Their new addition would be no exception.

[twoidiotwriters1]

Home- Chapter 4 (Kylo Ren/Ben Solo x F!Oc)

Words: 2,957

Warnings: None

Chapter 3

All enemy ships flee leaving destruction in their wake.

"They took her, you saw that?" Finn says coming to our side.

A new ship lands near us. We all go to her. The exit ramp opens and several Resistance soldiers leave to verify the perimeter.

My heart jumps when I see a woman leave the same vehicle.

"Oh, oh-“ My instinct is to hide behind the Wookie. I’m surprised that Han is still in place, the couple recognizes each other.

“Goodness! Han Solo, I'm C-3PO,” Says the golden droid when he sees Han.“You may not recognize me by the red arm”

Maybe the most annoying droid of all. Sure, just interrupt a moment between them. After a moment he notices and leaves with BB-8.

"You changed your hair,” Idiot, that's what he is. I peek through Chewie's hairy arm.

"Same jacket," she replies, making me smile.

"No, it's new,” In that Chewie approaches the woman.

"Nowait- Chewie,” I whispered, but it's too late, he's already hugging her. I stay in my place waiting for a miracle. If I don't move, she may not see me.

"I saw him,” continues Han, "Leia, I saw your son, he was here"

She nods and doesn’t waste time, orders everyone to return to the ships and go to the Resistance base... totally ignoring my presence.

That's good right? It was what I wanted.

So why did it hurt?

_______________________________

Upon arriving at the base, all the memories of the first time I was in such a place return. All running, fixing their ships, shouting orders.

I follow the group and we all enter the strategy area, Chewie leaves to have his wound checked, Han follows Leia and the others always have something to do. And once again I... don’t.

I feel a knot in my stomach, everything is the same. The new, lost girl who doesn't know what to do among so many adults. I'm not a pilot, I don't have a position in command, I don't know anyone. I only get in the way.

My hands sweat and I move away a little from the command control where Leia argues with other people. I lean on a pillar and watch her.

Her brown and gray hair is collected in an elaborate hairstyle, some wrinkles and expression lines are most noticeable. When was the last time I saw her?

"General Organa,” Says a man coming to the panel with Finn behind him. “He’s Finn. He needs to talk to you ”

"And I need to talk to him," She replies. "That was incredibly brave, what you did.”

Bla blabla. I decide to get away from all that, I walk until I get to the part where there are many boxes and I sit on one of them. I play with my hands nervously.

How the hell did we get to this? A few hours ago we were about to deliver some monsters, then we found the falcon with two guys and a droid, then Han wants to replace me and now I'm back on a resistance base. And to top it all... I'm sure Kylo is seeing in Rey's memories and he’ll see me in them.

Anonymity is over, he will haunt me, destroy everything in his path and finish what it started when we were young.

"That's when I lost them both" I hear Leia approach. I hide among the boxes and just peek a little to realize that she is talking to Han.

“We both had to deal with that in our own way. I returned to the only thing I’m good at.”

"We both did it,” She says, "And you took a new crewman"

I hide more.

“We lost our son. Forever.”

"Do not. It was Snoke. He made our son go to the dark side,” How innocent she can be. "But we can still save him," I don't believe it. “You, me and Kiara”

My breath gets stuck and I leave my hiding place

"Wow, stop there,” They both turn to watch me, "How can you say that? Save him? You’re crazy” Some soldiers stop and watch us, surprised at my words towards their general. And now I regret it, my nerves return.

"I missed you too, Kiara," She says sweetly.

"Stop. Stop doing that.”

"What are you talking about?"

"Kiara, don't talk to her like that," Han adds behind her, I roll my eyes.

“Oh, now are you going to scold me? A few hours ago you wanted to replace me,” I remind him and he huffs.

“What- You what?" Leia reproaches Han, he’s now nervous.

"No, I wasn't going to do it, it's not what you think-“ Leia sighs. I cross my arms over my chest.

“Very well, you two need to talk, but first. You-” She points to me and I look at her scared, “Come with me”

She takes my arm and takes me to a secluded place.

"What was all that, young lady?"

"What are you talking about? The fact that I came back? That I yell at you Or that Han is going to leave me on the first uninhabited planet?”

“Leave the teenager act, I remind you that you’re no longer one. You’re a woman, act like it.”

"That's not funny," I grimace. I walk from one place to another, if I don't do it, I may go into crisis.

She laughs, "I never said it was"

Her laugh manages to calm me a little and I stop walking. She watches me.

"You have become a beautiful woman, Kiara" She approaches a little and caress my cheek. "Why are you afraid of me?"

I look at her in surprise, she laughs and puts her hand away.

“I know you very well. Besides, I saw you hiding behind Chewie”

My technique failed.

"I thought you would be angry to see me," I say in a whisper.

"Why would I be?" I bite my lip.

"Because I chose Han instead of you…”

“My girl, I’m not upset. You made a decision. I must admit that it was painful to see you leave the falcon without saying goodbye. But I knew you would be safe with him.”

"Sorry," I say in a fragile voice. She hugs me and I have to bend down a little to hug her back.

"It's okay. I'm glad to see you,” After a few moments we parted and smiled.

"Bad moment?" Says Han coming to our side.

"Not really, I have things to do." Leia winks and leaves.

"Are you calmer or should I bring Chewie?" I scoff. "Okay, I can explain it-“

“What was all that with Rey? I thought I was your second officer, I thought I was part of your family,” I say, lowering my voice.

"You are," He says quickly. “I offered the job to the girl, I liked her and she knows about ships, I thought it could be useful for us”

"But you were going to give her my place" He puts his hands on his waist.

"I've been thinking about what we talk about... having a home" I look surprised, "With Chewie, we've been seeing planets where you can be safe, the plan was to get you a ship and choose a planet together. I think we have been together for a long time. Don't get me wrong, it's been great having you, but it's time for you to have your life... without me ”

Don’t cry, whatever you do, do not cry. All I do is hit his shoulder, this time not to hard, he complains anyway.

"It would have been better if you had told me first, Solo,” He nods and we both laugh. I hug him and rest my head on his chest. "I appreciate everything you've done for me, but…” I walk away a bit. "I think that's my decision, Han. I have to get my things."

"I could help you.”

"We'll talk later" I frown, "We have more important things now. Like your psycho son”

____________________________

A bunch of people is around the panel and now me as well, obviously close to Leia.

I can see the man who entered with Finn.

Frowning, I hear Leia's laugh.

"Don't you recognize him?" I look at her.

"Should I?"

"I can remember you were friends when you were in my care"

No, the only friend I had was…

"It can't be," I say, looking back at the pilot and Leia laughs again. I make my way through the people and come to his side

"Poe Dameron?" He turns to see me.

"Yes?"

"I can’t believe it. Are you a pilot now? That’s what you always wanted!” I say excitedly and he still doesn't recognize me. Finn is by his side.

"They know each other?"

“Yes-"

“No," We say at the same time.

"What? I’m offended, Space boy.” When he hears the nickname, Poe's dark eyes widen and then smiles.

"Kiara?" I laugh when he doesn't hesitate to hug me, for a moment he lifts me up a bit. "I can't believe you're here!"

"I can't believe you're taller than me now!” I say, ruffling his wavy hair. We both laugh.

"It's been years, little Beast," I growl when I hear his not-so-original nickname.

We could not continue as the meeting had begun, Poe's smile is replaced by a serious and professional face, almost making me laugh, he notices and gives me a push, then continues.

Everyone explains the new First Order plan, Finn gives information about the new Death Star and its new weapons to destroy planets. Somehow everyone has something to say and upon receiving news that the new aim of the weapon is this system, everyone is looking for a way to destroy it.

Finn, being a former stormtrooper, knows how to do it. We must destroy an oscillator to destabilize the weapon. But first we must remove the shields, with Finn's help.

“I can deactivate the shields, but I must be there, on the planet”

“We can take you,” Says Han, looking at Chewie.

“How, Han?” Says Leia, worried.

“If I tell you, you wouldn’t like it”

“Then, we deactivate the shields, then we eliminate the oscillator and we burst their big weapon”

“I’ll go too,” I say, catching their attention. Han looks at me and nods with a smile, Chewie roars.

“Let’s go,” Says Poe, and everyone goes to prepare. I catch Poe’s arm.

"We're not done with that conversation, Space boy,” He smiles, I get on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

"Good luck, beast"

Han, Chewie, Finn and I prepare everything for the Falcon.

"You know? No matter how much we fight, I always hate to see you go,” Says Leia, approaching Han.

"That's why I did it," he says, making her laugh. “So you miss me"

"I'm going to throw up," I say as I help Finn load some things to the ship.

They glance at me and laugh.

"Some things don’t change,” Han adds.

"That's true, you still drive me crazy" Leia then looks at me. "You both do,” Han hugs her and I let them have their moment. After they break apart, I approach and hug her too.

"You must come back too, honey, I know you won't like this, but I know you can bring him back," My body tenses.

"All I can do is prevent him from killing me, Leia,” She raises her eyebrows and I huff, "I'll try"

She nods satisfied.

"But I’ll only do it for you, there’s no other reason," She laughs.

"We'll see that," She says, teasing me.

___________________________________

At the speed of light, the falcon is getting closer and closer to the target and I hope it won’t be destroyed along the way.

"Are we going to land at the speed of light?" Finn asks.

"Kiara, Chewie, get ready"

"This is going to be difficult," I say sitting in the cabin.

"Now!” Han indicates and we reach the snowy planet where the weapon is. With difficulty, Han evades the mountains that are on our way, but no one watched the trees. The born crashes into some until it lands heavily in the snow.

The four of us put on jackets for the icy weather and we go out, we don't waste time, we don't approach the base of the First Order. We arrive and lean on a metal wall, Finn gives us directions.

"What was your job when you were there?" asks Han.

“Sanitation."

"Wait what?" I say between angry and amused. We are following a former cleaning stormtrooper. Sounds like a joke.

Han and Finn argue when they know Finn's true intentions: to recover Rey.

“Solo, we’ll solve it. We’ll use force” And with that I laugh.

"That is not how the Force works.”

"I like this guy…”

Chewie complains and the four of us follow the path. We arrive at a door and Chewie shoots a Stormtrooper on guard.

“The more we are here, the less luck we’ll have. The shields,” Says Han when the door closes behind us.

"I have an idea…”

Finn gains control with a stormtrooper called Phasma and forces her to help us deactivate the shields when we enter a control room.

"Han, if this works, it won't give us time to go for Rey."

“Calm down, Kid. We won’t leave without her”

The whisper returns, distracting me from the plan.

But this time is different.

Kiara

This time I don't try to stop it. We all leave the control room and they decide to go down the halls in search of Rey, but I stop, Han notices.

"Kid, what are you doing?”

"I think you know it,” We share a look.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Of course not," He nods.

"What's going on?" Finn asks.

“Kiara knows what she’s doing, she must go somewhere else”

"But Rey-“

“You go for her. I have to solve some issues…”

_____________________________

I have no idea where I'm going, but on the way I get rid of some enemy soldiers and keep running through the halls until I see a whole team of Stormtroopers, they all raise their weapons and I can only point them with my blaster.

“Stop," says a robotic voice. Soldiers obey, standing aside to give way. A tall man with black mask and tunic arrives at the head of his army. "Leave us" orders and they all go their way.

Face to face I meet the person who has hurt me the most.

"Black makes you look thinner,” I joke to hide the imminent terror that runs through my body, I can hear his breathing.

"You should be dead," he says in a modulated voice.

"You should’ve gone to therapy, but none of those things happened.”

“You were with him. Han Solo,” He walks around me, I imitate it. We both walked in a circle to avoid being close.

"And now you feel stupid for not knowing,” I say, he growls. "I know you very well…” We stop moving, “Ben."

"You're wrong. He died that night”

"That's not true, just changed his name to a very stupid one”

"Enough!" He shouts, startling me. “Enough games!”

"Or what?" I feel a lump in my throat, “You'll crush me with thousands of rocks?"

“You think you’re brave. But I can feel your fear, I may not be able to see your mind, but your feelings open before me. As usual. You walked away from the Force, but you can't run from me,” I clench my teeth.

"I can't take you seriously if you wear that ridiculous mask," For a few seconds he does nothing, until his hands go to the mask, he presses some buttons and lifts it out of his head.

My breath is cut when I see it. His long black hair, his face full of freckles, his eyes... those brown eyes that one day drove me crazy, now they are darker.

Everything is full of darkness. We both watched each other for a few moments.

"How is it possible that you are alive?" It's weird to hear it without the machine. His voice is serious. No longer childish.

"If I told you, you wouldn't like it,” My eyes teared up. "Leia thinks I can help you.”

“She’s a fool”

“I also told her that" I laugh sarcastically, "I told her I would try, but I don't think someone so vile and cruel deserves my help" he tenses and pulls out his lightsaber, I step back and raise my blaster.

"I don't need your help, nor anyone else's" He notices the absence of my old weapon and mocks.

"You're still a dumb girl, Kiara,” I shudder at hearing my name.

He raises his saber and I start shooting, he dodges the shots and at some point we’re very close. I throw my gun and take his arm that holds his.

Because of the height, strength and training, he manages to push me easily making me fall. I dodge his attacks and hit his knee causing him to also fall near me. I try to run away, but he takes my arms immobilizing me.

“So weak and silly. Without force you are a nobody…

“So stupid and weak without your dear Snoke and without your mask, you're a nobody" I feel a pressure in my throat.

Kylo uses force to choke me. I search for air, but the pressure doesn't last long and I cough when I'm released. Kylo gets up, seems focused elsewhere, then returns.

"The Supreme Leader wants you alive,” He says, looking at me on the floor.

"How considerate" I groan, getting up with difficulty.

"I'll take you with him" I smile.

"First you'll have to catch me, little Ben.”

[shadow-assassin-blix]

It’s a Grey Area

CHAPTER 6

A/N: Getting further into last episode. Not gonna lie... I saw it like 2x... It wasn’t great either times. So. Trying to get through it. If some things are off between this and the next couple of chapters, it’s cause I’m going off my memory and basic summaries on the internet. It’s not going to end once we get through the plot of Ep 9 though. There’s still more to explore. So. I said, I was changing some things, but not everything. I am not a medical expert, when I talk about the brain scans, I’m going off what I remember of what certain brain disorders look like. Other than that: “talk” ‘thoughts’  “Force Talk” 

Gif is from @captain-flint of whom i wouldnt remember this entire scene without.

The next few weeks were hectic. There came word of a spy for the First Order, and they gave damn good information. However, no one knew who it was. They passed on their information through a network of rebel sympathizers.

That’s where Poe currently was, gathering the new intel. Blix was in the middle of training with Ben and Rey. Ben didn’t need too much training, but his skills were being refined. He was learning to use the Force for good. Rey was learning just how powerful she truly was. However, there were some… concentration issues, as Blix soon discovered.

Rey came forward after running the obstacle course, with BB-8 directly behind her looking… rough.

“Oh. No. Uhoh. Um. Maybe I can fix you before Poe comes back,” Blix fretted as she kneeled down and looked him over.

BB angrily beeped at her, saying a tree was dropped on him. “I know honey. I know. Uhh. Oh boy. Poe’s going to kill me.” He beeped. “True. He’ll kill Rey then me.”

There was commotion behind them near the flight deck, and as they turned their attention to it, they saw the Falcon… on fire.

Rey stared at it and Poe and Finn in disbelief as they made their way over to them.

“It’s on fire. The.. the whole thing is on fire,” She began looking at Poe with mild horror. “Han’s ship.”

“What did you do to the droid?” Poe asked staring down at BB with an expression mixed between concern and anger.

“What did you to the Falcon?” Rey threw back, glancing at the 2 annoyed.

“Falcon’s in a lot better shape than he is,” Poe argued gesturing toward BB.

“BB-8’s not on fire-“ Rey began before she was cut off.

“What’s left of him isn’t on fire!” Poe nearly shouted his own look of horror growing as he continued to examine the state of BB.

Finn and Blix glanced at each other; Finn shrugged not wanting to get involved, and Blix was trying to not laugh.

Their arguing continued, and when they thought it was over, BB-8 then felt the need to tell Poe what had happened. That stirred the arguing back up before Poe stormed off in a huff.

“BB. Was that really necessary honey?” Blix lightly admonished him. “C’mon. Let’s go get you fixed up and then go find your dad. Hopefully by then he’ll have settled.”

An hour later after a quick stop in the repair shop, BB-8 was bright and shiny again. “Alright. Let’s go find Poe yeah?”

They took off toward his room, and as they stepped in, they see Poe tiredly running a hand through his curls, exhaustion radiating from him.

BB rushed forward to show himself off. Poe quietly told him he looked great before turning his gaze toward Blix. He beckoned her over with a wave of his hand, and she strolled over to him, a look of concern on her face.

“What’s up honey? What happened?” She quietly asked as she stood between his knees.

“It.. we had to light speed skip.. to get outta there. Ya know… I’ve gone on many missions… but this is one of the rare few times… that I was scared that I wasn’t going to come back… It’s like… the closer we get to finally finishing this war… the more I worry. About… everything,” He quietly confessed as he leaned to rest his head against her stomach.

She gently brushed her fingers through his hair, trying to relax him. “That’s not all that strange honey. It just means, that you are finally seeing the end, and the closer you get to it, the scarier it is. Besides, you’re not allowed to die. Not until we’ve married, had many kids and grow old with each other,” She informed him, pressing a kiss to his unruly curls.

“Is that so? Well. I’ll make sure to not disappoint you,” Poe sadly promised.

“You could never disappoint me. I got to work the Medbay for a couple hours. I’ll come get you for dinner,” She whispered to him before urging him to lay down and rest.

He laid down with a nod and muttered something that sounded like he understood.

Blix made her way to Medbay and began working there. About 30 minutes before her shift was to end, she got a visit from someone she didn’t expect.

“General Leia. What brings you here?” Blix asked concerned.

“I have been having some headaches. Wondered if you could help me figure out what’s wrong?” Leia answered with a heavy sigh.

Blix nodded quickly and led her over to one of the beds, so she could sit or lay down.

“How long have you’ve been experiencing the headaches? Any confusion, lightheadedness, trouble remembering stuff?” She began as she grabbed a device to scan her head.

“Sometime after Crait and yes to all of the above,” She answered.

“You mean… sometime after you were tossed into space and nearly died? That long?” Blix asked alarmed.

Leia nodded once. Blix completed her scans and made her way over to computers to print them out. A few minutes later, she was examining them with a deep frown. She took a deep breath before mentally reaching out to Luke.

“Luke. Get Ben. The both of you need to come to Medbay. Now.”

A few minutes later they both walked in and began to ask her what was going on when they realized Leia was lying on the bed.

Blix led them over to her, and said, “I’m sorry, but… they need to know.”

She sets the scans onto the nearby board, grabbing a seat to begin explaining.

“This is your brain. See the large dark spot? That is inactivity. In most cases that’s not fairly abnormal, but when its almost the entire brain? There’s a problem. From… from the looks of it… your brain is dying. I don’t know if… its because of lack of oxygen from the attack, if you picked up something while exposed to space,” She began to explain.

“What… what do you mean? Can-can it be reversed?” Luke asked stuttering slightly.

“If we had known sooner? Maybe? At this point, it’s not a matter of if but when. I’m so sorry. I-… I don’t know of anything I can do except make you comfortable,” She hesitantly informed.

Ben turned and walked out at that. Luke began to follow after him, but Blix stopped him before he got out the door.

“Luke. Go after him. Do me a favor…. Talk to him like he’s your nephew, not your student. He doesn’t need Master Skywalker. He needs Uncle Luke,” Blix requested with a small frown.

Luke nodded and looked back over to his sister sadly, before exiting.

“I apologize for bringing them in without warning you, but they needed to hear that as well. What… What do you need me to do?” Blix appeased turning back to Leia.

“Honestly. They did need to know. You saved me the trouble of having to tell them later. Can you have Commander Dameron come in please?” Leia asked with a sad smile.

“Of course. Then I’ll give you something for the pain, something light, to at least take away the headache,” She promised before going over to her communicator.

She quickly got ahold of Poe and asked him to come see her. A minute later he walked in, looking slightly disheveled.

“What’s up baby?” He rasped rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

She nodded her head over to Leia, and he quickly made his way over to her. They talked quietly for a few minutes before Leia called Blix over.

“Dr. I wish for you to make a notice and note it my medical charts. I am currently unfit for duty, and as such has appointed Poe Dameron to acting General,” She commanded.

“Yes Ma’am. Lemme get you that medicine real quick too,” Blix noted, quickly giving her some medicine before doing as she requested.

Soon enough the entire base knew that the General Leia was unwell, and that Poe had taken her place. They both escorted Leia back to her room, before returning to Poe’s room. They both plopped down onto his bed with heavy hearts.

“You’re sure there’s… there’s nothing that can be done?” He sniffled.

“Jedi have the ability to heal, but… when the damage is that extreme… It would be giving up a life for a life,” Blix croaked.

She sees out of the corner of her eye, him nodding. His hand slowly reached out and held her own, fingers laced. They both slowly fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

“I… I don’t know how to be a general. I’m barely good at being a commander. What… what the hell am I supposed to do?” Poe questioned softly, shaking his head.

“Leia trusts you. She believes in you. You know the Resistance inside and out. I can’t think of anyone better suited to take over. You can do this baby. I know it,” She encouraged turning on her side to look at him.

“I’m going to make us some sandwiches, and then we should head to bed. We got a busy day tomorrow,” Blix announced as she sat up, and made her way over to the kitchen.

Tomorrow they would be heading to Pasaana, to figure out what happened to the Sith Wayfinder and the man who had it last. They ate dinner silently, and when they went to bed, Poe laid down, resting his head on her chest. They soon feel asleep with sadness in their hearts.

The next day, Poe, Rey, Finn, Chewie, C-3PO, BB-8 and herself were on their way to Pasaana. Ben stayed behind to watch over Leia with Luke.

As they landed and began making their way, following Luke’s steps, they realized that a festival was occurring. 3PO excitedly informed them it was a celebration of their ancestors and that it only occurred every 42 years. As they moved through the crowd, Blix looked over at Poe with a smile.

“What? What’s that look for?” Poe asked trying to squash his annoyance.

“Anyone ever tell you that you look very sexy with a scarf?” She flirted as she moved forward, her grin growing at the dumbfounded look that appeared on his face.

She came up to Rey as they were conversing with a local. She heard them talking about last names, and before Rey could say anything, Blix bounded forward.

“She’s a Kenobi. Adopted. But a Kenobi. C’mon lil sis, we got work to do,” Blix answered before dragging her away with a laugh.

As they made their way back over to the guys, another native walked up to her, and began to speak to her.

3PO began to translate, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is that man over there your significant other.” And she motioned at Poe.

“Yes. He’s mine,” She answered with a smile.

She then draped a crown of flowers on her head, and then gave her a necklace to give to Poe.

“Do these items have some sort of significance? Are they important?” She asked curiously as she gently held the necklace with both hands.

3PO informed her, “That it was to signify your union. In some ways, it is considered a marriage in their culture, if General Poe accepts the necklace.”

She silently mouthed an “Oh.”

She looked over at Poe and then back at the native and said, “Wish me luck.”

Blix made her way over to him, and Poe stared at her curiously, his eyes glancing up at the flower crown.

“So. Apparently… if you accept me giving this necklace to you, we are considered hitched in this culture. May I?” She offered holding the necklace up.

He smiled, shaking his head slightly, but leaned down to allow her to put it on him. While he was leaned down, he asked, “Do you really think I look sexy with this scarf?”

She gave him a kiss in response and a wink. He tensed as he looked over her shoulder. “We got stormtroopers.”

A few minutes of panicked running and they were safely hidden with Lando Calrissian. Rey grabbed her attention really quick and asked hesitantly, “Did… did you mean what you… what you said earlier?”

“That you’re a Kenobi? Yeah. Damn straight you are. Listen. If or when, we find out your lineage, it won’t change how everyone in this caravan or within the Rebellion sees you. You’ll still be my kid sister. May as well make it official,” She assured holding her hand.

Rey smiled at her, her eyes watering up.

“Don’t you dare cry. If you cry, I’ll cry, and that’s not a good look for either of us,” Blix fretted jokingly.

Rey laughed at that and as they pulled to a stop, they followed Lando’s instruction over where they last tracked Ochi’s presence.

They explored the area, walking onto a strange patch of blackened sand. They looked every which way trying to figure out what had happened, when suddenly they began to sink. Poe grabbed onto her, as Finn tried shouting something at Rey.

When they finally dropped, they were in a small tunnel. Blix pulled out her lightsaber and turned it on, prompting Rey to do the same. As they moved forward, they looked around cautiously. They soon ran into a large serpentine creature, who allowed them to move past, when Rey reached down to heal it.

When he had moved, they discovered a corpse lying there. Ochi. Amongst his remains was a dagger that had a strange language inscribed on it.

Blix gently picked it up and stared at it concentrating. “It’s the Sith language. It’s… old… Difficult to translate.”

“But can you translate it?” Poe asked looking at the dagger over her shoulder.

“It would take time. Time we don’t have. 3PO? You got any ideas?” She admitted before turning her attention to the droid.

“Why, yes, I can translate it, Doctor. However, it is against my programming to translate it,” 3PO stated.

“So, the one time we need you to speak, you can’t?” Poe and Blix asked at the same time.

“Cool. Great. So… who knows how to override said programming?” Blix asked the group.

Poe winces, his face scrunching up as he thought. “I do. But. It’s risky.”

“Risky? How?” Finn asked exasperated.

“I’ll explain later, let’s get out of here for now,” Poe dismissed moving forward, following the path the serpent took.

Blix, Rey, and Finn all squinted at him in suspicion and looked at each other, then back at him.

“That was sus, right?” Blix asked in a whisper.

“Extremely,” Finn replied squinting his eyes at Poe’s back as they began to follow him. “Blix. Ask him why he bein’ weird?”

“What? Why me?” She blinked in slight confusion.

“He’s your boyfriend.” Came two voices in response.

Blix sighed with a laugh and ran up to walk alongside Poe.

“So…Why you bein so secretive, babe?” She asked, after a moment, not looking at him.

“We have to go to Kimiji,” He quietly muttered.

“….the planet… where you were a spice…runner? The one where your partner stabbed you? That Kimiji?” She clarified her voice slowly becoming more and more panicked.

He quickly grabbed her hand with his, and shushed her gently, “Hey. Don’t panic. It’ll be fine. I promise.”

“I wish I had your undying hope, but past encounters throw doubt,” She angrily whispered back, making her way forward, toward the end of the tunnel, shaking her head.

“Are you… are you seriously mad at me?” He asked incredulous, running up to catch her.

“Yes. You want us to go to the one place, where you could potentially be KILLED. Just for existing. And what? I’m supposed to be okay with that? No. We can… we can find another way, another… something. I don’t know,” She ranted panic beginning to consume her.

“Honey. Honey. We will be fine. You just said, we don’t have the time. You want to spend however long trying to find someone else to reprogram a droid, or do you want to try and translate it yourself?” Poe reasoned, trying to get her to focus on him.

Blix breathed heavily through her nose, looking away, not thrilled with this plan at all.

“Let’s just… get back to the Falcon. Regroup there,” She said finally walking in its direction.

As they were walking, Blix slowly came to a halt. She felt a presence coming toward them, a dark one.

As everyone began stepping up onto the rock formation, to get into the Falcon, Blix turned her attention toward the energy she was feeling. Rey quietly walked over to her and tensed as she realized what was going on. In the distance they could see a TIE-fighter rushing toward them.

“Rey. Run. Now!” Blix commanded shoving her toward the Falcon.

She turned her lightsaber back on and prepared herself. She took a deep breath and twirled the lightsaber.

As the fighter approached, she tensed her legs, preparing to jump. As soon as it was close enough, she leapt into the air, flipping over the fighter and running her lightsaber down its left wing. She landed in a crouch as the fighter crashed a few feet away.

From the wreckage, a figure dressed in black, wearing a hood and a face mask appeared. As the figure came to face her, she could see a pair of eyes that glowed like amber.

“Darth Sidious didn’t mention another Force wielder. Who are you?” came a raspy, feminine voice.

“I’m complicated,” Blix said sarcastically, throwing her hand out to use Force push the Sith away.

The push threw her back a couple of steps, but otherwise didn’t deter her. The Sith began to walk toward her, when Rey intervened, slashing at her with her own saber.

Blix tried to intervene, but the Sith was now focused on Rey, taunting her; trying to provoke her for some reason. They kept moving away, so she couldn’t hear what was being said, she just knew that all of sudden, Rey screamed in anger, lightning shooting from her hands.

Blix’s eyes widen in surprise, she could vaguely hear Poe screaming about more enemies coming in. Rey looked at her with such terror at what she just did. Especially when bolt was directed at another enemy ship that may have had Chewie on it.

Blix looked at the Sith who stood quite smugly, staring at Rey. While she was distracted in her gloating, Blix decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. She felt the Force surge around her, and she directed as much energy as she could to both of her hands, throwing them out at her.

The Force blasted her off her feet and tossing her several feet away.

“REY! C’MON!” Blix yelled out.

Rey rushed over toward her, grasping Blix’s outreached hand, the both of them rushing to the Falcon

As they raced onboard, Poe taking off as soon as they had jumped onto the ramp. It took mere seconds for them to reach space and make the jump to hyperspace. The both of them collapsed against the wall, breathing heavy.

Blix looked at Rey and pulled her into her arms. Rey shook, soft sobs coursing through her. She could hear her thoughts running amok, one thought that stood out clearly: ‘I killed Chewie.’

“Honey. We don’t know that. There were two transporters. It’s quite possible he was on the other one, okay? If so, we will save him, alright?” Blix whispered to her, as Rey held onto her tightly.

“As for the other thing… even if… you are his grandchild… that doesn’t change how everyone here sees you. That doesn’t change our love for you. You’re still my adopted kid sister, got it? In my eyes, you are a Kenobi,” Blix affirmed turning Rey’s head to look her in the eyes.

Rey tearfully nodded her head, before burying it back into Blix’s chest, her tears continuing, but not as harshly. They sat like that until Rey calmed down, and slowly fell asleep in her arms. Blix pressed some kisses to her hair affectionately. Blix slowly gathered her in her arms, picking her up, and carrying her over to one of the beds. She laid Rey down, making sure she was comfortable before grabbing blanket to cover her.

Blix made her way to the cockpit where Poe and Finn sat.

“Finn. Can you… can you go watch over Rey? I don’t want her to be alone right now,” Blix quietly requested.

Finn nodded his head, standing up. “How… how is she doing?” He asked as he got next to her, pausing.

“Not good. She just now fell asleep. I don’t know how long she’ll sleep, but I don’t want her to wake up alone.,” She began. “She’s feeling lost. Don’t..uh. Don’t. bring up what happened unless she does first. She’s still processing it, okay?”

Finn mumbled he understood before continuing out to her.

Blix all but collapsed into the co-driver’s seat.

“If you didn’t join the Navy, or the Rebellion… what would you be doing?” Blix wondered, staring at the ceiling.

“Ooh. Tough question. Mechanic. Or smuggler. Think I could’ve given Han a run for his money,” Poe answered thinking on it for a second. “You?”

“Pod Racer. Politics are too boring. Maybe even train kids on it,” She noted with a tired sigh.

“When this war is finally over… I’m taking you to my home in Naboo, and we are not leaving my bed for a week,” She announced as she straightened up.

“Deal. But you have to also come home with me to Yavin and meet my dad. Need for him to meet the woman who’s going to become his daughter in law,” He countered leaning over to press a kiss to her lips.

“Sounds good,” She replied leaning forward, resting her elbows on her thighs, looking at her hands.

“My mom would’ve liked you,” She whispered staring at the ring he got her on their first date.

“My mom would’ve loved you. Would’ve thought it was hilarious that you kept rejecting me for a year. She always said, I would wind up with someone who would keep me on my toes,” Poe admired, his hand gently stroking her cheek.

“How long until we reach Kimiji?” She wondered looking at the controls. “And uhh… can the controls go on auto pilot?”

Poe flicked a couple of switched with a small smile. “It’ll be a couple of hours. Wanna go lay down for a bit?”

She nodded her head, and they both stood up, walking toward the nearby bed. Poe laid down first on his back and waved her over once he was situated. She grabbed a blanket, holding it over her shoulders like a cape, before crawling on top of him. She gently maneuvered the blanket to cover the both of them, before sinking onto his chest.

The gentle lull of his heartbeat coaxed her to sleep, as Poe watched over her for a few minutes before going to sleep as well.

C-3PO and BB-8 were charging after the hectic morning. Rey had at some point woke up, and persuaded Finn to curl up next to her. The moment his arm wrapped around her; she was out again.

“I want to tell you, that I love you,” Finn whispered into her hair. “Maybe one day, I’ll be brave enough to tell you when your awake.”

He eventually fell asleep as well.

The occupants of the Falcon were momentarily at peace. It had been a rough couple of hours, and they all knew, that it was probably going to get worse. But for now, they were going to take refuge in the peace. Once they dropped out of hyperspace, things would be hectic again. But the end was near. They were on their way to finally defeating the Empire, they just needed to continue fighting.

ELSEWHERE

Darth Sidious was angry.

"What do you mean "there was another Jedi" Maeve?" He seethed.

"Exactly that, my lord. She was powerful. She was able to toss me like I weighed nothing. She's protective of your granddaughter though. Maybe we can use her to convince Rey to join us?" Darth Maeve suggested.

"Hm. We shall see. I need to know what drives her. If she can be turned easily," Darth Sidious contemplated cackling. "If so, we can turn the tides on this ridiculous Rebellion, and the Dark side shall rule all. Continue with our plans for now."

"Yes, my lord," Maeve responded disconnecting her projection.

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

Am I the only one that gets a wee bit irked that the opening crawl of The Empire Strikes Back refers to “a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker”? 

Luke is NOT in command! He’s not even a general. Heck, Leia out ranks him and presumably not because of the princess bit, but that she has been a leader in the rebellion when he was just a hick farm boy! Do they mention her in the crawl? Nope. 

Poor Leia. 

In the first movie she gets tortured and watches her homeworld (with possibly the people she loves most) destroyed, but she has to do comforting duty for the kid upset about the dude he just met a day or so before dying.

In the third movie Luke info dumps on her that they are siblings and Darth Vader is their daddy, then scoots out. He gets to face Vader and do the whole forgiveness thing, but what about Leia? She just found out that the guy that personally tortured her, held her still while her homeworld was destroyed, and that froze her boyfriend in a chunk of carbonite before giving him to a bounty hunter is actually her goddamn father! She doesn’t get to confront him or process the horror of her long time enemy being her daddy!! 

Sure, Luke got his hand whacked off by Vader, but that was in battle and he got a look alike replacement, that is NOT the same level of wounding. This is as if a father was stern with one kid but abused the other: making good to the kid he didn’t hurt does NOTHING to fix things for the abused kid! Vader is not fucking redeemed because he doesn’t want his boy to die, but never even says sorry for fucking torturing you to his daughter!

Sorry, sorry!

Forty years of grumbling gets churned up easily on this subject. 

I adored the Star Wars trilogy (there was only one back then) when I was a child. As the only girl in a neighborhood of boys, I was always Leia in our games. I wanted to be Leia and saw the story through he side. 

As far as I was concerned  Leia was the hero and Luke was the whiny kid that went all weird in his black wearing Jedi phase. Seriously, 6 year old me seeing Star Wars for the first time thought the 3x older than me Luke was a child too, but that Leia was a grownup!

Anyway, point is, the damn crawl at the beginning of my favorite Star Wars film bugs me every single time!

Yes,  I know I’m watching Empire for the second time this month. Well, as a first gen fan I wanted to mark the anniversary of when little me first saw it. I will not, however, try to stay awake late (geez, for the days when 10pm was late) writing a “what happens next” in magic marker like I did in 1980....

Actually maybe I should! An alternate universe take based on a little girl’s imagined resolution. **Spoiler** Leia rescues Han, Yoda trains Leia, Han and Chewie a few tricks (with Han not taking it at all seriously to Yoda’s annoyance/amusement) then later Leia saves Luke from Vader when the kid lets his tangled emotions cloud his judgement. I could call it “Revenge of the Jedi”! LOL