From the moment the old ship showed up in Unkar Plutt's scrapyard she'd been drawn to it. She couldn't explain why, it was just an odd pull in the pit of her stomach, a warmth in the center of her chest. The ship was old as hell and battered beyond belief, a pile of garbage that hadn't flown in years. Sometimes when she would come to give her scrap to Unkar she would catch sight of the old ship and imagine what had caused all that damage, all the wear and tear that was so clearly evident on it, and for a moment she could almost picture the battles or races, the excitement it must have seen. As she and the Resistance fighter ran from the First Order, the old ship seemed to call out to her despite the fact that she was desperately trying to get to the quadjumper. When the jumper was destroyed however she had very little choice. The Resistance fighter, Finn, he said his name was Finn, didn't seem to believe her when she said she was a pilot. And to be honest she wasn't sure she could fly this old bucket of bolts, but as soon as she sat in the pilot's seat it felt as if she'd done it before. Her fingers worked quickly flipping switches and pulling levers, and soon they were in the air.

Escaping the Tie fighters had not been easy and Rey had taken some pretty big risks. But the natural instincts she seemed to have when flying, or weaving her speeder bike through canyons to get away from competing scrapers, seemed even more acute in this flying scrap heap. She honestly couldn't explain why she thought flying the ship through the inside of a wrecked star destroyer was a good idea, she just knows that in that moment something inside her said she could do it, and she did. She'd even managed to set up Finn's shot to take out the last Tie. With no one on their tails she'd been able to get them off Jakku and into space.

Everything happened so quickly and violently that Rey hadn't had time to think of anything but don't get killed. Now that there was a safe distance between her and the danger, she could actually think. Panic of a different kind set in as realization hit. She'd left Jakku! And now an almost physical pain in her very core was screaming at her that she wasn't supposed to leave Jakku. She had to get back there and as quickly as she could, but first she had to deal with Finn and the droid.

"Rey?" Finn said from the co-pilot's seat. "Hey, Rey, you ok?"

She growled softly in the back of her throat as if that would somehow push back the uncomfortable feeling in her head. Then she turned to look at the young man and said, "I'm fine." It came out a bit harsh, but she really didn't care. This stupid Resistance fighter had gotten her shot at, chased, and forced off her own damn planet! "What the bloody hell do we do now?"

"The droid…" Finn began.

The little droid beeped and whistled in announce.

Rey smiled at the droid before looking at Finn. "His name is BB-8, not the droid."

"Sorry?" Finn replied, his tone betraying his uncertainty. "Anyway, BB-8 has information that absolutely needs to get back to the Resistance. We…" His voice cracked a little and he cleared his throat before continuing. "We need to finish Poe's mission."

Rey could have maybe ignored the sadness coming from Finn, but the sad beep BB-8 made was just to much. She sighed heavily and said, "Fine. I will take you back to the Resistance, but then I have to get back to Jakku."

"Are you serious?" Finn squeaked, his eyes wide. "They'll kill you as soon as you set this flying trash can down!"

"I have to." Rey said simply and then reached for the ship's controls. "Now, where am I taking you?" There was a long pause and when Finn didn't respond she turned to look at him. "Finn?"

"Well, see, here's the thing." Finn stammered. "I'm, um, kind of new to the Resistance and I, well, I don't know where they are."

Rey groaned. She took her hands off the controls for a moment so she could press the heels of her hands to her temples. She had to get back to Jakku. She couldn't go traipsing through the galaxy looking for people she wasn't actually sure existed.

"Maybe BB-8 knows!" Finn said as he looked to the little droid. "You left with Poe, you should know how to get back right?"

BB-8 beeped and cherped and Rey nodded. "I guess that's a place to start."

"What did he say?" Finn asked.

Rey reached for the controls. "He knows where two of their ships use to be. We'll start there. BB-8, plug in and show me where to go."

The Raddus, Poe's base ship, was the first one they went looking for, but it was nowhere insight. Neither was the Ninka, the second ship BB-8 knew the last whereabouts of. Frustration and tension was settling over Rey. After each jump something in the ship seemed to break down and she was forced to act quickly to try and repair it. Each jump, each passing moment spent patching together this old pile of junk was keeping her from Jakku, and every time she thought about being away from Jakku, the pain in her head became worse and wrose. She'd just finished patching a gas line and pulling herself up out of the deck when she made the choice to head back.

"Look." She said as she and Finn placed the grating back. "I'll take you to a safe port and you can find your way back from there. I've been away from Jakku for to long."

"What is with you and Jakku?" Finn asked. "Why are you in such a hurry to get back there?"

Rey looked into Finn's eyes and could see genuine concern and a want to understand. She sighed softly and was about to explain when the ship suddenly went completely dead. The two shared a brief look of panic and then ran for the cockpit to see what was going on. "The ship's been shut down remotely!"

"How?" Finn asked. "By who?"

It was as if someone had been waiting for that very question to be asked. A large cargo ship dropped out of hyperspace just as Rey was about to say she didn't know. She and Finn watched, terrified, as the massive ship swallowed them up. "Quick! We have to hide!"

Finn's idea to unfix the gas line she'd just fixed might have worked if they'd had a chance to use it, but no sooner had they put on their masks the doors opened and they could hear feet on the plating above their heads.

"Chewie." A man's voice said. "We're home."

For a reason she couldn't explain Rey stopped, wrench in hand. The fear she'd felt just moments before seemed to ebb away, leaving behind an odd sense of knowing this man wasn't a threat to her. That didn't stop her from jumping when the grating was ripped open to reveal an old man and a Wookie standing over them.

"Who the hell are you two?" The man demanded. "Where's the pilot?"

"I'm the pilot." Rey answered. "And it's just the three of us."

The man eyed them septically. "Two swany kids and a ball droid?" Lowering his blaster he holstered it and then held out a hand to the girl. "Get out of there." Once the girl was standing in front of him he demanded, "Where did you get this ship?"

"I stole it." Rey answered with a soft huff.

"From where?" The man asked, still eyeing her suspiciously.

"Jakku." Rey replied. "From Unkar Plutt."

"Jakku?" The man sounded downright insulted. "That junkyard!"

Finn nudged Rey. "See, even he knows Jakku isn't a planet you go back too."

The man just shook his head. "Well, you can just tell Unkar that Han Solo has his ship back. For good this time!"

Rey's eyes went wide when the man said his name. Even on Jakku the stories of Han Solo were legendary.

"Han Solo?" Finn said as he gaped at the old man. "The rebel general?"

Rey looked at Finn like he was stupid. "No, the smuggler!"

Han eyed the two kids, shook his head, and then headed for the cockpit. "Chewie put them in life pod. We'll drop them at the next inhabited planet."

"No!" Rey said as she bolted after him. "You can't! We have to get this droid to the Resistance!"

Finn nodded. "He has a map to Luke Skywalker."

Han stopped dead in his tracks. "Luke."

"You are you him." Finn said softly. "You are the Han Solo that fought with the Rebellion."

Han sighed a deep, tired, sigh. "Yeah, I'm him, or I use to be anyway."

"So you know Luke Skywalker?" Rey said in amazement. Until Finn had told her what BB-8 was carrying and why she needed to help him to the Resistance, she had thought Luke Skywalker was a myth.

"Yeah, I know the kid." Han grumbled. If they could see his tired face they'd see the war raging inside his old, tired soul. "Married his sister, kinda makes him my brother-in-law. Well, ex-brother-in-law now I suppose."

Chewie growled and grunted something that made Han kick the wall. He said it more forcefully and it made Han turn around and face them. "Alright fine!" He glared at Chewie and then turned to look at the kids. "I will get you to the Resistance, but I swear, if I get hit by a tiny woman with bairds or a taller woman with wild colored hair, it's on the the four of you!"

Chewie spoke up again.

"She's only short to you because you're a freaking Wookie!" Han replied, turned on his heel, and headed for the cockpit. "Now go set the autopilot on that cargo ship to deliver out payload while I see what's been done to the Falcon."

Rey trusted no one. She knew that Finn wasn't being totally up front with her, but she could also tell that he wasn't a threat, that he was even more scared then he was letting on, and just wanted to be someplace safe. Han on the other hand, he gave her no reason to trust him whatsoever, and yet she felt almost drawn to him somehow.

He could feel her following him and it made him roll his eyes. He hated it when people did this, looked at him like he was someone worth looking at like that. He wasn't. He really wasn't. He tried to ignore her, to focus on checking out his Falcon, but as he muttered to himself about what had been done to the ship she finishes his sentences and offered up solutions to undo all the stupid adjustments people had made to his ship. She was smart, resourceful, and something about her just prickled at him in a weird way. "What's your name kid?"

"Rey." She answered.

"Rey." He repeated. "Well, Rey, how do you know so much about old ships?"

"I'm a scavenger on Jakku." She answered, her hands deep in an panel full of taped and retaped wiring. "I learned from taking old ships like this apart."

Jakku. Why had he and Chewie never checked Jakku for the Falcon? Come to think of it, when had he last been on Jakku? He use to get parts for the Falcon there all the time, but it had to have at least been a decade or more. Back before he'd lost everything but Chewie and his ship, then he lost his ship, and damn near lost Chewie. But no matter how stupid Han was, Chewie was loyal and remained his best friend and co-pilot, and now he had his Falcon back. To bad getting everything else he'd lost back was impossible.

Once Chewie was aboard and the cargo ship on its way to their client, Han looked at Rey and Finn and said, "Strap in you two. I'm taking you to someone who can help us find the Resistance." Chewie howled something and Han huffed. "Yes, and by Resisternace, I mean her. You know, I've never stopped you from seeing her."

Chewie responded verbally and backed up his sentiment by slamming his paw into Han's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Han huffed. "Right back at ya big guy."

As they broke the atmosphere of Takodana, Rey gasped softly and tried to get closer to the cockpit windows to see it all. All she had ever known were the desert browns and dead ship grays of Jakku. The sight laid out before her now took her breath away. "I've never seen so much green before."

Han wasn't sure why but hearing the kid say that hurt. Once he'd landed the ship he Rey practically ran for the door. He and Chewie lingered in the cockpit alone which allowed Chewie to finally say something he'd been waiting to tell Han. "What do you mean she smells familiar? She smells like a kid who hasn't seen a fresher in over a year." Chewie huffed and grunted. "Yeah," Han replied. "I kind of do too. And yeah, I know, Jakku is no place to send a kid back too. Maybe it wouldn't suck if we kept her around. I'll think about it."

Rey ran down the ramp and a few feet away from the ship, not bothering to wait on the others. She looked at all the green and took a deep breath of the cool, moist, sweetly scented air. Crouching down she ran her fingers through the blades of grass and when she stood and looked at her hand it was covered in dew. This place was like something out of her dreams. Why would she ever want to go back to Jakku when there were places like this out in the galaxy? The moment she thought it, her head began to pound, causing her to press the heels of her hands to her temples

"Rey?" Han called out as he approached her. "You ok, kid?"

"Yeah." Rey lied with a grunt. "I'm fine."

Han didn't believe that but he didn't push either. It wasn't his place, no matter how much of a liking he'd taken to this girl so quickly. Holding out one of his favorite blasters he asks, "You know how to use this?"

"Point and pull the trigger." Rey answers. "But I don't need one of those."

"It's a little more complicated than that." Han tells her. "And yes, you do."

She takes the blaster reluctantly and then holds it up and aims it at a tree, but she doesn't fire it. She just sticks it into her belt at the small of her back. She listens to Han tell Chewie to give the Falcon a once over, and then she and Finn follow him through the woods. She can't help but to reach out and let her fingers brush against the trunks of trees, and the petals of flowers, the leaves of the brush. She even picks a few flowers along the way and puts them in her rucksack to take back to Jakku with her. When they reached where they were going she was almost overwhelmed by all the colors fluttering over head in the form of flags and banners.

"What is this place?" Finn asked.

"Maz Kanata's castle." Han replied. "She's a friend, an ally, if anyone knows which base the Resistance is using at the moment, it'll be Maz. So just let me do the talking and don't stare."

"At what?" Rey asked as they climbed the stairs.

"Anything." Han answered before pushing open the doors.

The music washed over them first, then the smell of food and drink, followed by the cluttered catter of several dozen conversations going on all at once. It was unlike anything Rey or Finn had ever seen before. They followed close behind Han as he scanned the crowds until he suddenly stopped at the sound of his name as it was bellowed from somewhere deep in the massive room.

"Han Solo!" Maz Kanata called out without even having to turn and see him. She had sensed him come in and used that to make her way through the crowd to find him. "It's been a long time, Han Solo." She said, her tone almost scolding. Then she asked, "Where's my boyfriend?"

Han smiled warmly at his old friend. "He's working on the Falcon."

"What do you…" Maz started but then stopped when she saw Rey. She pushed past Han to get closer to the girl and blinked at her. Then she barked out a name and called for food and drink to be brought to her private table. "Come, sit, eat, drink. I see there is much to talk about."

Han filled her in on what he knew, while Finn and Rey offered up details as well. Finn seemed leery, cagy even, didn't touch a thing to eat or drink. Han helped himself, and Rey devoured what she could. Maz listened, watched, and finally and nodded. "I'll find where they are." She agreed and then looked at Han. "It's about time you stopped running. Leia needs you. The fight needs you."

"I'm not going back to fight, Maz." Han said with a shake of his head. "Leia needs the droid, not me."

Maz shook her head and then fixed her gaze on Finn. "What about you boy? Are you going to keep running or are you going to fight?"

Finn looked panicked.

"He isn't running." Rey said in Finn's defense. "He's with the Resistance. He is fighting against the First Order."

"Is he now?" Maz said as she got up on the table. She adjusted the lenses in her goggles and looked right into Finn's eyes. "I have looked into the eyes of many and seen what I see in you. You're going to have to make a choice, boy, and soon." Then she turned to Rey, adjusted her lenses again, and looked into Rey's eyes. She looked for several long moments before gasping softly and then laughing. "I have seen the same eyes in different people." She moved back to her chair and then continued. "In you boy, I see someone full of fear who wants to run. And in you, child." She looked at Rey and smiled a huge beaming smile. "I see hope."

Maz continued to push Finn until he left the table and Rey followed. Han shook his head. "That was mean."

"That was necessary." Maz said, waving him off. "He needs to find his true self and he will. But now that we are alone," She looked at him closely and said, "You don't see it yet do you?"

"See what yet?" Han huffed at her. "What are you talking about, Maz? You've been acting a little more screwy than normal since you saw the girl. Do you know her?"

"I do." Maz said. "And so do you, you just haven't been able to see it yet." She hopped out of her chair and patted Han's hand. "It's all in the eyes, Han. Stop being such a Bantha's rear end and open your eyes, and look, really look, at that child."

After Finn told her the truth about being a former Stormtrooper and not a Resistance fighter he took off, saying he needed to be alone and space to think. She would have followed, because up to this point they really had been ignoring personal boundaries, but then she heard something that made her look towards a dark back corner of the room. As she drew closer to what she realized where hidden steps she heard it again, a child's voice. It sounded like a little girl in distress so naturally she followed it. Rey followed it down the stairs, through a long hall, and finally to heavy steel door which opened as soon as she approached. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she crept into the room. Something about the place sent the hairs on her arms on end and made her want to shiver, but she was being drawn to a chest of some kind and before she could stop herself she was opening it. Inside was an odd looking cylinder of some kind and suddenly Rey was overwhelmed with the desire to pick it up.

As soon as she wrapped her hands around the cylinder the room in Maz's castle disappeared and Rey found herself in places she'd never seen before. A hallway first, cold steel and harsh light, outside a temple as it burned where she saw a hooded man and a droid, in the rain where a man was about to kill her before another man killed him. The masked man with the angry red sword loomed over her, she cried out, called out a name, then everything went dark. She's on Jakku, a small child, watching as a shuttle flies away, crying out, begging, not to be left behind. Then she's in a snow covered forest facing the man in the mask again. His sword in hand, he raises it, and then she's blow back by some kind of unseen force and her head is suddenly filled with voices.

"Her first steps."

"Time to go home."

"...to where she truly belongs."

When the images and voices stop Rey is panting hard, and she's in the hallway outside the room. The cylinder still in her hand, Rey just sits there and stares at the room where the vision, or nightmare, or whatever the hell that was just happened. She isn't quite sure how she ended up on her ass in the hallway outside but it's probably for the best. She doesn't feel well, her stomach is twisted up and her head feels both heavy upon her shoulders and fuzzy with air. She takes several quick, deep breaths to help the feeling pass, and then she feels the small alien standing nearby. She turns to look and sure enough there stands Maz. "What was that?" She asks as Maz approaches. "I shouldn't have gone in there."

"That lightsaber was Luke's, and his father's before him, and now it calls to you." Maz says as she looks up at Rey.

That's when Rey looks down and realizes that she is still holding the odd device she'd picked up in the room, the thing that caused her to do whatever it was she just did. She wanted to drop it but she couldn't seem to make her hand open. She looks back at Maz and before she can stop herself she's saying, "I have to get back to Jakku."

Maz reaches out her hand. Rey takes it and begins to kneel so they are eye to eye. She squeezes the girl's hand as she looks into her eyes. Such familiar eyes. "Dear child, the one who took you to Jakku is never coming back." Tears well in Rey's eyes and roll down her cheeks. Deep down she already knew this but was keeping the truth at bay. "What you seek is not on Jakku, you must push that thought away, banish it, and when you do, when you open yourself up to the truth of your belonging, you might just find that the ones you long for are closer than you think."

"I don't understand." Rey says, her voice thick and cracked from her tears.

"I am no Jedi, but I do know the Force." Maz tells her as she reaches out to cup Rey's face. "It moves through and surrounds every living thing. It connects us all, and that connection is strong with those we love, with those to whom we are bound." Maz closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Close your eyes, feel it, the light. It has always been there, it will always be there, and it will guild you." She pauses, and when she senses Rey has closed her eyes she smiles. "Reach out with your heart, not with your head, seek out the light, the warmth, and tell me what you see, child."

Rey tries, the pounding in her head, the drive to go back to Jakku is almost too overwhelming, but she does as Maz asks. She pushes Jakku from her mind, lets the ocean waves from her restless night dreams wash it away, when nothing is left she reaches out.

Maz smiles. "What do you see?"

"Lights, I think, figures maybe?" Rey answers as a fine sheen of sweat collects on her skin.

"How many?" Maz asks next. "Where are they?"

"Four? I think." Rey replies. "One is close, very close, I could almost touch it. It's bright, but not as bright as the other two, their further away, but so bright and beautiful."

"And the last?" Maz pushes.

"Dim and far away." Rey tells her and then shivers. "I don't like it. It frightens me."

"Push that one away, child. Block it off, quickly!" Maz says, helping as much as she can. "Now open your eyes, child." Maz says when she no longer feels the dark presence Rey is sensing. "Quickly now, good girl." Maz lets go of the girl and walks into the room where Rey found the lightsaber only to return a few moments later with a small ornate box. "The saber, take it, and take this as well."

Rey is feeling incredibly overwhelmed, dizzy, and yet warm in a way she can't explain. As she reaches out for the box with shaking hands so many feelings, so many thoughts, wash over her, she can't catch her breath. "What is it?"

Maz smiles, pats Rey's cheek, and says, "A key!"

Rey leaves Maz's castle and makes her way through the woods back to the Millennium Falcon. The old battered to hell ship made her feel safe, and right now what she wanted more than anything was a safe place to clear her head.

Opening the lid of the box Rey was startled by the sudden sound it produced. It was music, a soft, pretty song. Nothing like the loud banging and clanging that passed for music on Jakku. The melody washed over her and Rey slowly felt herself relaxing, her pounding heart calming, her breathes evening out. The song made her feel safe, peaceful, and oddly enough like she wasn't alone. She listened for a few more minutes, until she sensed the others returning, and then she gently closed the lid of the box and stashed it away. How was this a key? A key to what exactly? And what was it that Maz made her see? Those light figures, what were they? Or was the right question, who were they?

"You alright, kid?" Han asked as soon as he saw Rey.

Rey nodded and lied. "I'm fine, weird food is all."

Han looked at the girl, but not to closely, not yet, he wasn't ready for whatever he might see. "Well, while we wait on Maz you might as well help Chewie and me with repairs."

"Yeah, sure." Rey said as she pushed to her feet and followed Han down below.

Rey was exhausted by the time Han told her and Finn, who'd come back from his brooding, to get some sleep. She was leery of sleeping however, she didn't want to see those images again, didn't want to deal with whatever all of that was with Maz. But she was just to physically wiped out to fight it off, and as she slowly sank deeper and deeper into sleep a soft distant voice whispered in the back of her mind from the depths of her memories. The woman's voice was singing along to the melody from the music box. "Mirrorbright, shines the moon, its glow as soft as an ember. When the moon is mirrorbright, take this time to remember. Those you have loved but are gone, those who kept you so safe and warm the mirrorbright moon lets you see those who have ceased to be. Mirrorbright shines the moon, as fires die to their embers Those you loved are with you still. The moon will help you remember."