The starlight

I will be chasing a starlight

Until the end of my life

I don't know if it's worth it anymore

[-Muse-]

Galaxies

Sleeping on the ground never was comfortable.

Rey had been doing so for so many years, but every once and a while the pain in her back got to be too much. Tonight was one of those times.

She sat up and stretched, looking out the small, thin window to her right. It was still pitch black outside and many stars were still flickering brightly. She sighed. Waking up in the middle of the night was never fun. Whenever it happened, it usually meant either you were up until daybreak or that you would get on and off sleep the whole night. Rey finally rubbed her eyes, deciding that sleep would be impossible now. She wondered what had woken her up, and looked around the small make-shift room.

The small droid she had picked up earlier - BB-8 - was in the floor a few feet away, its orbital staring up at the window. More so, up at the billions of tiny white inklings poking holes through the blanket that was night. She stared at the small droid, her head cocked as she studied her. She was very still, and was completely fixated on the stars. Rey almost began to believe she was in sleep mode, until she noticed the way her small head was flitting about, not quite steady on her round body. After concentrating on the droid for a few moments, Rey picked up on a small, twittering noise that, if she hadn't known any better, she would have thought was a human sobbing. She was only half wrong; the high pitched, tiny and frantic beeps were uncontrollable by the small orb and were in fact very similar to human cries. Rey cleared her throat and apparently is was rather loud, because within moments BB-8's head has swirled around to the human, and she was making a noise similar to screeching. She had startled her, and the small makeshift sobs had ceased.

She backed up quickly before he realized what was happening, then relaxed slightly. She beeped.

"Don't humans sleep at this hour?"

That was rather sassy, Rey decided.

"Don't droids usually put themselves into sleep-mode at this hour?" The droid cut Rey a look, and if she had been capable of making expressions, she would look terribly offended at this moment. If Rey was completely comfortable with the droid already, she would have let out a chuckle. BB-8 rolled a little, still not completely steady on the ground, and turned her gaze back towards the sky.

"What are you looking at?" Rey said softly, now a small bit concerned. If BB-8 had seen the possibility of an attack, Rey wanted to know. BB remained silent.

"Do you see something?" Rey prompted again, her anxiousness beginning to show.

"Stars."

Rey followed BB's gaze once more, looking to the skies. Why, she had no idea, but the instant she did, she was overcome with a terrible feeling of dread. It was dread and fear and mourning mixed into one, and soon she realized that this terrible concoction of awful feelings was coming from the droid beside her.

"Are you alright?"

BB looked up, her head a bit wobbly on her round body.

"Of course. 8 is...incapable of sleep mode. Malfunction," This was a lie, and Rey knew it. Something was wrong with the droid beside her, whether it be a simple bent antennae or the impossible- emotional turmoil.

Everyone knew droids couldn't feel, right? No reason to think the latter was true. But still...

"I understand what waiting feels like." Rey mumbled for a second time that day. She missed her family terribly sometimes. She hadn't even been with them for long; five tiny years of her life. She had been alive for nearly twenty one years now; was five years of being with her family really enough to keep her going? It had to be, she thought. What else did she have to hold on to?

BB-8 nudged Rey's legs.

"Who is Lady-Rey waiting for? She has said that phrase a number of two times this day," Rey looked away from BB-8 sadly, brushing some loose hair from her eyes.

"My family.. They...They left me, BB-8. I wouldn't expect you to understand, and I don't need sympathy. It's just.. I feel like they'll come back, but.."

"Does Lady-Rey have doubts?"

Rey smiled a little. "Of course I have doubts, BB-8. Doesn't everyone?"

The little droid shook her head.

"8 knows that Da-," The droid paused, remembering which information she had chose to keep private. She restarted. "That her Master will return. 8 only wishes she knew if her Master was still alive..."

"Do you feel like your master is alive, BB-8?"

The droid paused a moment before nodding her unsteady head.

"Then he is. BB-8, you have to know when its alright to believe something. I can feel my parents, I can feel..." Rey took a breath. "They're out there. I can't give up. And you can't either."

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a few moments, staring placidly up at the beautiful stars and galaxies.

"8's Master showed her the stars," BB twittered sadly, rolling a little closer to Rey. "8 misses him. 8 is fond of his stars."

Rey chuckled softly at the fondness of the words. 'His stars.'

"Whoever you're waiting for," Rey said softly. She placed one of her tattered and worn hands on BB-8's cold shell, receiving a startled flutter in return, "Your master. You'll find him again."

"Is Lady-Rey sure?"

"I have a feeling." Rey stood and stretched a little, deciding to fetch herself a small amount of water from her limited supply in the kitchen. She moved slowly, still eyeing how the stars reflected brightly in BB-8's large orbital.

Rey entered the makeshift kitchen quietly and tried to find the recently refilled canister of water she kept around. Softly, in a tiny little robotic voice, she thought she could hear BB-8 humming. The thought of the little droid taking time to figure out pitches in a melodic form made Rey smile a little as she fumbled in the dark for her water. It was a sweet little melody, and Rey was almost sad when she located the can and had to go back into the other room. She was certain that the BB unit would silence her song if she knew Rey could hear her, and so she stayed, silent in the doorway, watching BB-8 harmonize with herself as she stared out the window. She supposed it was a comfort thing, humming to oneself, but she would have never thought a droid would pick up such a... Human habit.

She listened for a few more minutes before deciding to clear her throat, noting how the little droid hopped in surprise. If she could be blushing, Rey was sure her face would be scarlet at this point.

"It's alright, BB-8. You don't have to stop just because I'm here. I'm going to try and sleep," She yawned for emphasis, "and maybe you should try and go into sleep mode for a while, yeah? A long day tomorrow, if you plan on trying to find your master."

BB gave a small, bittersweet hum and hung her head. Rey knew exactly how she felt, and was almost stuck in the never ending cycle of thinking about her past. But there was no time for that now; it was time to sleep. She took a few sips of her water and set it beside the small cot before climbing under the thin sheets. She rolled over and closed her eyes, hoping to be able to fall back to sleep.

She had been attempting sleep for ten minutes to no avail when she felt something brush against her back. She waited for a minute before she decided the 'something' was BB-8, and, before she turned to see what was the matter, she felt the orb cuddle up beside her. She couldn't say the gesture didn't surprise her, but she tried to keep that to herself. She sleepily flopped her arm over the BB unit and was pleased to hear a contented purr from the droid before both tired loners drifted to sleep.