Hope for A Lost Soul

Smuggler Ben/Scavenger Rey AU

Story II

xXx

She kept the transponder with her at all times, even nearly two weeks later. She convinced herself it was just practical. It made sense that someone would have noticed her talking to Ben and it was only a matter of time before it got back to Plutt one way or another.

Having it, however, didn't really help her chances if Plutt did find out. She could push that button all she wanted, Ben wasn't going to come to her rescue. Sure he'd get the signal and maybe he would come back, but by the time he got there, she would be, most likely, beyond his help. Dead, rotting away in his dungeon out in the desert where he sent all of his enemies and dissidents to dry out in the sun.

She kept it on her anyway. She fashioned a chain to hang it around her neck, the weight of it a constant, almost bitter reminder of the hope he'd left her with. She knew better than anyone how disappointing hope could be. How painful it was to feel it slip away. With each line she carved into the wall a little part of her grew more and more sure that her waiting was for nothing, that her parents weren't coming back. Some days she even doubted her own memory of that day. Doubted whether or not she actually remembered her mother promising to come back for her, or if it was the desperate graspings of a child in crisis.

Rey sighed as she parked her speeder bike outside her walker. She hadn't found much today and she'd only gotten a half portion for it. She knew she was lucky to have even gotten that much. Gossip around the outpost was that Plutt was furious at having been cheated. Rey didn't know how Ben had duped Plutt but one way or another, Plutt's mood wasn't any better, some might say it was worse, than before.

Rey set about preparing her portion. She still had a few portions left from the stock that Ben had left for her- and she tried not to think about the fact that he had clearly brought them with him that evening with the intention of giving them to her whether she helped him or not-and she wanted to save them for an emergency.

She was just finishing when she noticed the sound of approaching crafts. Carefully she peaked out, ducking back in when she realized it was Plutt and his men.

"Kriffing hell." she muttered. She dove for her saddle bag and started stuffing everything into it she could. She finished just as the crafts stopped outside and she grabbed her quarterstaff and ducked through the curtain that covered a hole in the hull. She pressed herself against the hull, listening as his men entered. Plutt's voice rose up, cursing her absence and then all at once the sound of destruction resonated through the overturned walker.

"Find her!" he spit in his native language. "I want that little traitor found now!"

Any chance that they were after her for something else faded and Rey quietly crept away from the walker, doing her best to remain out of sight as she took off out into the desert. There was a small system of caves not far off and if she could make it there, she could hide out long enough to come up with a more permanent solution. Rey reached into her tunic and pulled out the transponder. So maybe he didn't get there in time, maybe he ignored it all together, but she'd be damned if she didn't at least try.

"She's getting away!" she heard the scream behind her and turned just enough to catch one of Plutt's men with his head through her escape door. She cursed and pushed harder, running as fast as she could even as the craft's repulsors fired up behind her. They would gain on her there was no doubt about that, but Rey would give them one hell of a chase along the way.

xXx

Rey had been hiding for two days now. She was right about the caves. They were too numerous and too complex for Plutt and his men to navigate quickly. When Rey had first settled in the desert after Plutt turned her out, she had lived here for a few month until the AT-AT walker had been uncovered by a dust storm. She knew these caves better than anyone and she had every intention of exploiting that fact.

Unfortunately, Plutt wasn't giving up on her, ordering his men to systematically search the caves and tunnels until they found her. There had been a few close calls, but years spent scavenging wrecks and squeezing through tight passages gave her a leg up on Plutt's goons who were too used to the open desert.

After two days on the run, she was growing tired. She could only stop to rest when she was sure she was safe and she could never be entirely sure. On top of that, she didn't want to waste water making rations. So once again she was running on very little food. She pushed through it though. She wasn't going to give Plutt the satisfaction of catching her, of punishing her for what he thought she had done. If she was going to die here, and she was fairly sure she was, it would be on her own terms, not his. He'd made her life miserable, she wasn't going to let him make her death miserable too.

Rey ducked through a narrow passage and curled herself up in the hollow of a wall. None of his men were small enough of get through here, so she felt safe enough to rest for a few moments.

As she lay curled up in the darkness, Rey let her thoughts drift to Ben. As many times as she told herself she wasn't holding out hope for him, one would think she'd believe it by now. She hated herself for it, but there was just something inside of her that said he was coming for her. That he was going to swoop in and take her off this miserable rock once and for all.

Not for the first time she found herself regretting not going with him when he had offered. She could have avoided all of this if she had just said yes, taken his hand and joined him on whatever adventure he was sure to find. But she had been stubborn, stuck on the idea that her parents were coming back for her, that she would be reunited with them again and they would be a family. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it probably wasn't going to happen. Assuming they had even wanted her in the first place, why would they leave her with someone like Unkar Plutt. Someone who didn't make any attempts to hide the kind of being he was.

She remembered that first night in his compound. She had fought him all the way there, reaching out for the ship that had disappeared on the horizon long before they'd reached his hut. He'd punished her for her resistance by chaining her by the ankle to a post in an empty room until she stopped struggling and trying to escape. She got no food, no water, no contact with anyone. And then one day she woke up and she couldn't get up. She couldn't get up and struggle against the chain, the cuff on her ankle-which had started to chafe against her skin to the point that she ripped up a piece of her robes and stuffed it between the cuff and the skin. She just couldn't do it anymore. He won, she was defeated.

He sent food and water in later that day and everyday after. She started keeping track of the days by the meals she was brought. Five meals later someone came in without food and water and she was released from the chain. She spent the next two years living in Plutt's compound, learning everything he had to teach her and learning to defend herself against the more vicious of Plutt's men.

Two years later he turned her out. He told her she was old enough to survive on her own, that she knew she would find him the best scrap. She knew deep down, though, that he was finally tired of her, probably bored and he wanted her out of his way. Despite now having to fend for herself even more than before, Rey was glad to be be away from him. She'd learned a lot from him, there was little doubt about that, but those lessons were learned in the cruelest of circumstances with bruises and scrapes and sometimes even blood. At least out on her own, her injuries weren't inflicted on her by ruthless men looking to her her place.

For the first time in two days, Rey let the tension drain from her body. There in that dark cavern, she closed her eyes and drifted off. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, but the echoing voices of her pursuers startled her awake. They were too loud not to be close by. All the tension from before rushed back in and she felt her adrenaline take hold.

The voices had stopped, but she still hear their footsteps moving around. It wasn't long before they were right outside her hiding spot.

"How much longer is he going to make us chase this bitch?" one of them spoke up. Another answered in a language she did not understand. "Should have never let her leave the compound in the first place."

"He;d going to kill you next if he hears you talking like that." That didn't seem to deter the first man.

"Should've known she'd be nothing by trouble. Why else would her parents sell her to the boss."

They laughed at that, but Rey could barely hear that through the blood rushing through her ears.

How could she not have known? How could she not have realized it? She'd played that day over and over in her mind. Why else would they leave her with Plutt of all people? Because they hadn't just left her there, they had sold her. They had sold her to Unkar Plutt.

"Gotcha."

Rey startled, turning just in time to dodge one of her pursuers' reach. She lashed out, scratching his arm. He hissed, retracting it and cursing at her. She backed up against the farthest wall, the rush of sudden movement compounding the adrenaline rush. She was angry. No, she was so much more than angry. There was no word for what she was feeling, at least not one she could name in her present state.

There were more of them at the opening now, reaching in for her, taunting her, jeering at her. Now that they'd found her, trapped her, they were in a much better mood. They would catch her, looking forward to witnessing whatever Plutt had in store for her.

The mere thought only made it all worse. Her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest, her pulse pounding in her ears. An intense power came over her suddenly, a voice in the back of her mind telling her exactly what this was and exactly how to use it.

As one of the men managed to jam himself through the narrow opening, Rey reacted, throwing her hands out and unleashing the power bubbling up inside her.

All around her the rock walls cracked ominously and the men were screaming outside, the ground shaking beneath them violently. With one final crack like and explosion, the outer cave burst outward exposing them all to the early morning sun. the men's screams cut short as the shock wave hit them, forcing them out with the rock debris.

When it was over, Rey didn't know how long she sat there, staring in shock at what she had done. Exhaustion was slowly creeping in worse than before and she knew she couldn't stay there any longer. So, she grabbed her pack and crawled out, resolutely ignoring the carnage all around her.

Rey was taking a minute to breath when she saw Plutt and two more of his goons round a bend. She turned to run only to stop short, screaming in agony at the intense pain that ripped through her body. She fell to her knees, doubled over with the pain as it throbbed and doubled until finally she could no longer take it. She collapsed, darkness flooding her vision until there was nothing left.

xXx

"I'll come back for you."

The words, a whispered promise that echoed through the darkest recess of her mind. It taunted her cruelly, bouncing around the inside of her head until she snapped into wakefulness.

"Good you're finally awake." Plutt's voice was an unwelcome intrusion through the fog that permeated her mind and she struggled to sit up, squinting against the harsh midday sun. "You've caused me trouble for the last time." he continued as she finally focused on him standing across from her. "I thought I had beat the disrespect out of you, but now I see more drastic measures must be taken. We will see what lessons you learn after this."

With each word, awareness crept back to her, her mind clearing. As he turned to walk away, his words gained clarity.

Rey cursed as her situation became clear. Plutt had a sense of Irony, she realized as her eyes followed the thick durasteel cuff around her ankle to the chain that secured it to a steal bean cemented into the ground.

He was going to leave her here to starve, to dehydrate and if she was lucky, he would remember to come back for her before she died.

Hope was a bitch. If gave you something to look forward to and then took it away just watch you squirm. Hope was evil, it made you think you had a fair chance at happiness just like everyone else, but you don't. You don't get a fair shot, not with parents like hers, not with people like Plutt always there to keep you down to make sure the game was rigged against you.

There was no hope in the desert.

"Rey."

There was no hope.

"Rey? Sweetheart, can you hear me?"

There was no hope in the desert.

"Rey? Princess?"

There was no…

"Ben?"

There was…

"You came back for me?"

There was hope.

"Of course, can't leave my copilot stranded."