"It's just a stupid animal, Nara," exclaimed the dark haired boy, who was chasing after the small blonde who wouldn't stop running.
"So? You're stupid too, but people take care of you!" Yelled the little girl to the boy, who only rolled his eyes in annoyance.
Ben ripped a branch out of his way, and continued to follow her.
They were running towards Ben's home, which was surrounded by forests and animals, Ben couldn't stand it. Nature was unpredictable and it got everywhere. It was his mother who decided that Ben needed to be raised in an environment like this. Something simple, unchallenging. Han didn't like it either, he still preferred to be out in the galaxy, being free. He tried not to miss his freedom, but this is what he signed up for when he married Leia, and when they got pregnant.
Nara was the wild card in their lives. She was saved by Han when she was kidnapped by pesky outer-ring pirates. They had killed her family, and stole her to be sold on the black market. She was only 5 years old. Now, Nara lives with a family down the stream from the Solos. And Ben had always been her best friend, despite the strange things he was able to do. Some of the families were afraid of him.
He knew that too, despite his parents trying to save him from that knowledge. He wasn't stupid.
"I don't want to go back home yet, Nara. It's too early!" He yelled, trying to convince her to stop.
"Then wait here for me, I have to save this frog, or else I won't be able to forgive myself!" She yelled back, not even turning around to look at him.
"The frog is dead already, can't you feel that?" He said, sitting down and wiping his forehead.
Nara finally stopped and looked at the frog in the box she was holding. She couldn't see it breathing, nor was it darting its playful eyes like it had been before she dropped a rock on it by accident.
"Oh," was all she mumbled when she turned and started walking towards Ben.
She sat down beside him and stared at the frog. She felt tears spill out her eyes, but she stayed silent.
"Oh, stop that. Like I said, it's only an animal. You didn't mean to hurt him," said Ben, who took the box out of small hands and on to the ground beside him.
He looked at her and her bright yellow hair. She was 2 years younger than him, but he could barely tell the difference between their maturity: they both didn't have any.
"Why didn't you tell me the frog died! I wouldn't have wasted all that time!" She yelled, hitting him with both fists in the arm.
"Ow! I just didn't want you to be crying," he said, blocking his arm from her punches.
She grunted and wiped her face off with her sleeves. "I wasn't crying, jerk."
"Would you get up? You're wasting time again," said Ben, but it sounded distorted.
Nara looked at him, but she couldn't find his face anymore. Just his words echoed all around her and in the trees.
"What?"
"Get up."
"Get up!"
"GET UP, NARA!"
The voices screamed around her until she put her hands over her ears and started screaming with her eyes held shut tight.
With a whoosh, she opened her eyes and didn't see the green forest or Ben. She saw her disgusting owner, gook covering his aged reptile eyes and his mouth dripping with saliva. She could even smell his liquor and food on his hot breathe.
She groaned and said, "I'm awake, Gringat." She wiped her eyes and sat up.
The sun was spilling in through the cracks in the mud walls, making their hut like an oven. Her 'bed' was nothing more than a frame made out of palm tree, a sheet, and a pillow. The same thing she had been sleeping on for 3 years.
I hadn't dreamed about Ben in years, she thought to herself, making her chest ache a little.
Her best friend had been killed by one of his fellow padawan, who now calls himself Kylo Ren. His reputation was ruthless and powerful. He always seemed to get what he wants. At least, that's what Nara had heard from travelers. She hadn't been off Jakku in 3 years, she hardly knew anything about the rest of the galaxy anymore.
"Get started on your chores, girl. I'll have no more laziness from you!" Squawked Gringat at her.
She sighed in her head and went out the door. It was the same thing everyday. Do your morning chores, find food, do your afternoon chores, and then find food again. She was a slave to a metal dealer in a small village on Jakku, there wasn't much to do besides chores anyways.
Most of the villagers here hardly do anything besides work either, and they're all so selfish. None of them looked out for each other, so no one had friends. Not the slaves, anyway. It was kill or be killed, essentially. Nara especially preferred to keep to herself. She doesn't trust anyone at this point.
The Solos abandoned her as soon as Ben died, her 'friends' she met up with soon after sold her to black market dealers, and in turn, they sold her to Gringat. She considered herself at least a little lucky. She wasn't sold as a pleasure slave. Not that it hadn't been an issue prior to being bought.
As she was walking towards her next area, she looked into the sky and thought, At least you escaped this hell.
"Finally, night time!" Exclaimed Nara, who jumped down off the small broken ship, and grabbed all the scraps she happened to conjure up. It wasn't a bad picking, not the most she had ever found, but a good enough amount to earn herself some portions.
While turning a corner, she saw some carts flying towards her, painted with the colors blue and yellow. Oh crap, she cursed, Simions. A group of Melittos who are known for harassing and stealing from the helpless or weak.
She could already hear the hollering, they had noticed her and her findings.
"Look at this, boys!" Laughed out the worst of them, Cloves.
"Leave me alone, Cloves. I just want to eat tonight!" She yelled, grabbing something she could use as a weapon.
Cloves glanced at her 'weapon' which was only a metal bar, and said, "Don't make me laugh. Just make this easier and give us your findings. You won't have to get hurt." He jumped off his flyer and took a step towards her.
She stepped back but only into another Melitto that snuck behind her. She was surrounded.
"I'm not the only one that's going to get hurt here if you don't leave now," she threatened.
She was taught, vaguely, on how to defend herself by Han and Ben when she was younger, & the training had been useful a handful of times. But being outnumbered meant being out-strengthened.
The Melitto behind her grabbed her shoulders, causing her to instinctively hit him in the top of the head with the bar. He let go and made a sound that was similar to a scream. Blood was on her bar.
Cloves smirked and jumped forward, slapping her face with the back of his hand. She stumbled, but regained her footing. With no time lost, she swung the bar into his left side rib cage and turned around and hit another member in the temple.
"Useless wench!" Yelled another member, who uppercut her in the jaw. She screamed out in pain and felt the hot ground hit her spine and the back of her skull. Cloves, who recovered from the blow, ordered other men to hold her down while they gathered all her things.
When they were finished, they let her go. Cloves spat in her face and said, "Next time, you won't be able to walk when we're done with you."
Damn them! Screamed Nara to herself. Some tears left her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. Her upcoming punishment was what she had really feared, not her not eating. The Simions not only stole her findings, they stole her entire crate. Gringat wouldn't be happy that he needs to buy another, and he would punish her until he was tired.
He may be an aged reptile, but he still had a lot of strength that could be unleashed.
"You pathetic waste of space! You were hardly worth the money I spent on you!" Screamed Gringat.
He grabbed her bound wrists and dragged her to a wooden post near the outskirt of the village.
"Cloves has the crate, Master, he stole it!" She yelled again, ferocity spilling out with her words.
He didn't respond and only continued to tie her to the post.
A loud cracking interrupted his thoughts, causing him to look into the sky. A dark bird-like ship was coming into the atmosphere and headed towards the village. Gringat screamed, loud and feminine enough to cause Nara to giggle. And she would have, if not for the impending fear that comes with that ship. She knew it could only be Kylo Ren's, who else would have a ship so menacing looking?
Gringat, panicking and mumbling to himself, finished tying up Nara and said, "Better you die than I!" And retreated to his hut.
"Coward!" She screamed, while staring at the ship, that was finally landing.
When the doors opened, stormtroopers came pouring out, shooting blasters at everyone they saw. The commotion was nothing but screams and fires. She even saw little children being shot and killed.
"No! Stop it!" She screamed, tears were falling out of her eyes uncontrollably and she struggled against the binds keeping her at the post. She repeatedly screamed for someone to help her, but they were all running for their lives.
She looked at the ship and saw the black hooded figure, and she finally could have a face for her nightmares about Ben and it was a mask. She saw stormtroopers place an old man, one she didn't recognize, in front of Kylo Ren. They were too far away to hear anything they were saying.
Then the bright red bling of his saber rang out over her green eyes, and he struck down the old man. Nara's scream was drowned out by a man's and the firing of a blaster. She saw Kylo Ren react immediately and he stopped the blast in mid air. The sight sent a chill down Nara's spine and she couldn't breathe all of a sudden.
He's so powerful… thought Nara to herself, unable to look away from him.
They replaced the old man with a younger man, around Nara's age. They had exchanged words until the man was taken onto Kylo Ren's ship. Finally, Nara looked away from the black figure and looked around the village she had lived on and realized that she was going to be killed here.
Panic started rising, and she tugged and tugged on the rope that connected her to the pole. She got onto her knees and tugged even harder. She started screaming, which she thought no one could notice, since she wasn't the only one panicing. Whoever was still alive, was running as fast and erratically as they could.
Nara looked around, screaming for help, until she saw the black figure staring directly at her, closer than he had been before. She felt another chill run from her chest to the rest of her body.
He noticed me. I have to escape!
With another attempt of calling for help, she whipped her head around, and it collided with the knee of some villager. The force from the blow made Nara collapse into the sand, unconscious.
Kylo Ren, who recognized her immediately, couldn't stop his own curiosity. He walked, or glided, to her and knelt down next to the small blonde haired girl who had aged since last time he saw her.
She must know where Luke is. He thought to himself, waving a hand to control the force to release her binds. A far too simple maneuver that he didn't have to think about to perform. He lifted her and carried her onto the ship himself.
