This is a story that I've been wanting to write ever since I first saw the Force Awakens. It's been rattling around in my head for so long that it's been making it hard for me to write anything else. Ever since I saw Rey I was drawn to her story and I wanted to add onto it-and yes embellish it a little bit. This is only a one-shot so don't expect more chapters after this but I hope you enjoy this. It's not perfect and some of my facts might be a little off!
Footprints in the Sand
"I think that's what we all want, in the end.
To know that we left footprints when we passed by, however briefly.
We want to be remembered.
So remember us.
Please.
Remember us."
― Mike A. Lancaster
"Rey darling, what is wrong?" The woman who smelled like fresh jasmine asked as she drew the little girl into her embrace. They were sitting in the cargo hold of a small spaceship, guards surrounded them but the woman paid them no mind.
Rey, at no more than five years old was chubby cheeked with soft wispy hair and big brown eyes that seemed so much older than her few years, frowned "Why did we have to leave so early? I left Mimi." She said referring to the stuffed bear that she always carried around with her, she'd been pulled out of bed and dressed in rough cotton clothes-which she was definitely not used to.
"Because my love, we were no longer safe at home." The woman firmly believed in telling her daughter the truth and letting her young mind process things, she believed that was what it took to build a strong relationship and also a strong adult.
Rey, who trusted her mother more than anything nodded seriously, processing the information carefully. She opened her little rosebud mouth to ask another question but was cut off by a deep rumble that shook the entire ship.
The little girl would have fallen had her mother not pulled her into her lap, "What is going on?" the woman demanded, finally acknowledging the guards around them.
One of them, his face covered by a yellow visor, stepped forwards "We've been hit milady, we're going to need to take you to one of the escape pods immediately."
Standing with her daughter in her arms the woman followed the guard until they were placed in a small round pod that held four people.
What happened next was a jumble of blaring sirens and harsh voices, Rey covered her ears as her mother gripped her tightly. Something bombarded the side of the pod as it fled away from the ship, sending it into a tail spin.
"Milady we are going to have to force a landing on a nearby planet, you need to strap the little girl in and put this on her and strap yourself in as well."
The woman's hands shook as she hooked her daughter into the seat and put a helmet on her, "Just close your eyes Rey and it will be over soon." She whispered before hooking herself into her seat. Rey held her mother's hand as the ship around them shook violently.
"We are entering the atmosphere of the planet, it's going to be rough but try to keep your head as stable as possible." A guard called back to them. Anything else that was said was drowned out by the sound of metal ripping and rapid beeping filling the space as they hurtled towards the planet's surface.
Rey squeezed her eyes shut until the blackness took her.
When she awoke she was laying in sand, her mother's bleeding face hovered over her own and she was saying something but Rey's ears were ringing viciously.
After a moment the ringing dissipated and her mother's frantic voice could be heard. "Rey my darling you have to get up now, they are coming for us."
Rey groggily stood with a lot of tugging from her mother, looking around her Rey saw sand as far as the eye could see. It was sunset on this planet and the sky was a fiery orange that was quickly turning into the black of night. On the horizon many black dots could be seen, those dots were what had drained all the color from her mother's face.
They were running next, the sand sucked at their feet slowing them down and soon the sound of people pursuing them filled Rey's ears. Her breathing became more and more ragged as her mother dragged her over the sand dunes without letting up the pace and soon Rey's little legs were giving out on her.
The woman looked down at the little girl whose face was already swelling from the impact of the crash, she would never be able to keep up with her. Quickly scanning the horizon she spotted something half-buried in the sand. Scooping up her child she trekked on, her eyes never leaving her goal.
It took ten minutes to get to the abandoned shuttle that looked as if it were growing out of the ground, and another four to find an opening that would barely be big enough for her daughter to squeeze through.
She pushed the little girl inside and looked at her tear streaked face. The woman reached out and caressed her cheeks, trying to commit the face to memory.
"My darling," she said with a voice full of tears, and lied to her daughter for the first time "Go to the back of the shuttle and hide, don't come out no matter what you hear and don't make any noise."
"But mama I want to go with you." The little girl reached out but the woman pushed her hands away "I will come back for you Rey."
Then she was gone, leaving only her footprints in the sand and soon the brisk wind took those away too.
Rey sat silently in the shuttle, her whole body shaking as she heard hurried footprints approach and then pass. A crablike animal scuttled past her, upset that it's home had been intruded upon, before deciding better than to mess with the little girl and scuttling out of the shuttle to find a new home.
What seemed like hours passed and the world around her became shrouded in darkness and Rey waited, confident that her mother would return and enshroud her in her jasmine-scented embrace. The sun came out again and disappeared but Rey waited, only moving to stretch out her cramped legs.
Soon her stomach began to growl and her tongue was so dry that it stuck to the inside of her mouth. Only when she could not stand it any longer did she finally crawl out of the hole and look at the desert wasteland around her.
The hot dry air took her breath away almost immediately and she stood in the blaring sun for a moment, blinking and trying to get her bearings. Never in her life had Rey ever been left alone, usually she went with mama everywhere she went and when she couldn't do that she was left with the plump nursemaid who always spoiled her rotten.
But now as the sun beat down onto her tiny shoulders the little girl was irrevocably alone. Tears pricked the back of her eyes, but no liquid fell from them-she didn't have any to spare.
Eventually she put one tiny foot in front of the other and began walking straight, hoping that she would be able to find her way back to the shuttle later on. She walked for what seemed like hours until in the distance a shanty town rose up.
The sounds of the shanty reached her ears before she had even gotten close, people talking over one another-a drum being steadily beat-and a whole plethora of other noises.
People filled the makeshift village, all shouting over one another in order to be heard and Rey slipped between them silently her eyes searching for food or water. When her eyes landed on a piece of bread about to fall off a stall stable she snatched it and stuffed it into her mouth.
"OI!" A voice snapped as a shadow fell over her. An alien man stood over her with clenched fists. "You didn't pay for that little girl." he grabbed her arm and dragged her from the stall causing her to shriek.
"Lamaan is that really necessary?" A voice from behind them cut through the alien's angry tirade and he whirled around, taking Rey with him, to face the voice.
"Leave off San Tekka." Lamaan growled "Stealing is stealing, no matter who done it."
The man had a pleasant face, well worn with laugh lights. A snow white beard grew from his face and behind a pair of white eyebrows were sparkling blue eyes. "Come now, the little girl was just hungry. I'll pay for the bread, will that ease your temper?" He dug around in his rucksack for a moment before procuring a green block and holding it out to the alien who swiped it and dumped the little girl unceremoniously onto the ground.
After Lamaan had left the man knelt down next to Rey and brushed sand out of her hair. "It's alright now, Lamaan's bark is worse than his bite. Now, where did you come from? I've never seen you at the Niima outpost before."
Rey shook her head a few times but when he held out the bread that she'd dropped upon being caught she quickly snatched it and began furiously gnawing on it. When she looked at the man again he was holding out an animal skin to her and she found that it was filled with water which she drank blissfully.
After a few moments she wiped her mouth "Thank you." she said in a tiny voice.
"Of course, I couldn't leave a lady like yourself all alone. Now that I've shown that you can trust me can you at least tell me your name?"
"... Rey. My mama and I landed here and she said she'd come back." Rey frowned "But she hasn't yet."
Lor San Tekka looked sharply at the little girl, he'd heard whisperings of a crash landing happening a few days ago but as far as he'd known there had been no survivors. He also remembered the presence of Storm Troopers over the past few days and shuddered. Whoever this little girl was, they'd been looking for her.
"My name is Lor San Tekka," He said holding out his hand which she stared at dubiously before placing her tiny dirty hand in his. "I'd like to help you."
An hour later she was sitting in a tiny little hut that was about a half a mile from the shanty village. A kindly older woman was clucking over her dirty state and began taking a cool wet washcloth to Rey's skin skin until it was clean again.
"You may call me Ma Beth." she informed Rey as she set a bowl of sand crab soup in front of her.
"Thank you," Rey said remembering the manners her mama had taught her, "But mama might be waiting for me back at the shuttle." now that she wasn't hungry or thirsty anymore she realized she shouldn't have left the shuttle at all , what if her mother came back and found that she was gone?
"Now don't you be silly. A little girl like you shouldn't be by yourself, I've sent Lor to post a note on the shuttle. Your mama will see that when she comes back and will know where to find you." And that was that. Rey stayed with Lor San Tekka and his wife from that point on and insisted on going to check everyday if her mother had come back for her-but she never did.
Weeks turned into months and those turned into years. At nine years old Rey-in an effort to contribute-confronted the Scavenger Master and asked to be allowed to scavenge in the Starship Graveyard. The master took one look at her tiny body and decided to give her a chance, pushing her into a tiny little hole in one of the starships with only some rope and a glow-light to guide her way.
She emerged two hours later with cuts all over and covered in oil but carrying a compressor coil-an impressive haul. This began her career as one of the best scavengers at the Niima Outpost.
As she grew older her stubbornness grew and at fifteen years old she insisted on moving back to the shuttle and setting up her home there. Tearfully Ma Beth let her go, knowing there was nothing she could do to stop the little girl who she'd begun to think of as her own.
Rey grew older yet, and as she began to count the days on the inside walls of her shuttle her memories of her mother began to face. Everyday she remembered less and less of her other life and her family until it disappeared entirely-just like her mother's footprints in the sand.
Author's Note:
Lor San Tekka is the man who Poe Dameron speaks with at the beginning of the movie and eventually is killed, I created Ma Beth and things like that.
-LittleMoonLover-