A/N: so this randomly came to me the other day. present tense, no underage, slowburn. rey is gonna be a kid for like five chapters then grow up fast. rey is half cinnamon bun, half biting weirdo; obviously she'll change as she grows. this is nothing like reylita.
Warnings: Sexual content, implied past child abuse, Snoke is a creep.
Pairings: Benrey, Han & Leia, Finnrose.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or anything affiliated with it.
-MalRev
A noiseless patient spider,
I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,
Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,
It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,
Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.
And you O my soul where you stand,
Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,
Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,
Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,
Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.
The sun is blistering. It always blisters—lights my skin on fire if I don't hide from it. I'm not like the other creatures of the desert with their thick skin and scales. I have thin, pink skin, but it's crispy and red and brown from living so long in the hot, hot, hot sun. I hide in the shadows and gnaw the scraps I pick from the others and warm, wet blood dribbles down my chin. Plants don't give me energy. Animals do.
I can't remember the day I came to this Hot Place and I can't remember why. I was with a mean man who would slap me down to the ground and touch me until I screamed. But I escaped—I bit him, tore out a chunk of his arm and left him there screaming like he made me scream and bleeding like he made me bleed. Now I'm alone in the Hot Place and it's been so long.
The sky opens up sometimes and gives Water. Most days I take it from fruits or prickly cacti and hiss when they bite me back. I'm drinking from one now, and the sweet juice is dripping down my chin and I'm slurping up as much as I can. I wear the same clothes that I had on when I escaped the Man—brown robes, now torn up and tattered from crawling around the Hot Place in search of food.
I don't care about anything except eating and drinking and sleeping. I'm surviving. That's all.
"Ooh, aren't these desert flowers beautiful, Ben?"
A voice… a girl? I perk up at the sound and hurriedly finish wolfing down my cactus, tossing it aside to crawl to the entrance of my cave. A scorpion skitters past my hand but it's big and black and I only need to be afraid of the little ones. I blink a few times and look around across the empty hot sand. Hm. Sometimes I hear things when I don't have Water for a few days…
"Ben, your mother's speaking to you."
I hiss and recoil at the sound of a Man and huddle in the back of my cave. Grr. Man. My teeth gnash together and I'll bite him if he comes too close.
The ground crunches outside my cave and a rock rolls past, startling the big scorpion so it runs back into the cave to hide. I shrink down and growl under my breath when I see brown boots wander to the front of my cave and tap the dirt. Stay back. I'm small and dangerous just like a scorpion.
"Great," says the stranger; another Man. "Definitely a flower."
I'm prickling with fear and aggression. I want to bite his ankles before he finds me. Another low hiss slips out of my mouth and the boots hesitate before turning towards my cave. Don't… move… Man…
He takes a step back and scuffs his boots in the dirt. "Hey, I think there's an animal—"
I uncoil like a rattlesnake and lash out at the Man's ankles in a flurry of snarls and shrieks. The Man jerks away but I wrap around his leg and dig my dirty, bloody fingernails in his leg and bite down as hard as I can. He yelps and falls over and I climb right over his long, bumpy body to go for his throat. He has dark eyes and black hair and he stares at me in frozen confusion.
"Christ—what the hell?!"
Big hands scoop me off the boy and I chomp down on empty air. I yowl and flail around in the hands and the stranger holds me tight. It's another Man; I can tell by how strong it is. I fly into a panic and scream, clawing at his hairy arms as the bad memories leak into my head.
The Man drops me and I land with an oomph next to a big cactus. I scramble in the sand and try to run away on all fours like the coyotes do, desperate to escape, and glance back at the strangers.
My eyes are drawn right to the girl and I stop. She's pretty, with a big floppy hat over brown hair and binoculars around her neck and socks up to her knees. Dumb. Tarantulas can still climb up and bite her legs. They bite me while I sleep sometimes—I've got lots of welts all over me.
The gray-haired Man has a square jaw and a hat on, too, and boots with a long shirt and pants. He's helping the one with the black hair, who has kind of a long face with a big nose. His eyes are dark. He's taller than the other Man and has big wide shoulders. They're dressed the same.
"Oh my god," the girl whispers, covering her mouth. "Oh my god. Han!" She turns a little to look at the boy with grey hair who's helping the tall one with black hair. "Han! What—how—?!" Her brown eyes turn back to me and she just stares.
I stare back. What, lady? What's your problem?
She steps closer and I growl and start to retreat again. She waves her tiny hands and kneels in the dirt without looking away from me. I narrow my eyes, suspicious, but hover near a big boulder to see what her deal is. What're they doing wandering around the Hot Place?
"Okay," she says in a soothing, sparkly girl voice, "okay… oh my god." She's looking all over my body at my different scratches. "Honey—why are you out here alone?"
Beats me, lady. I brush my calloused fingers on the rock and shrug.
The two Man-Beasts are standing next to each other and I glare past her at them. Grr. The one with the black hair is putting it in a ponytail and I wish I bit him in the jugular. He glares back at me. Stupid pants didn't protect his stupid ankles. Dumb Man.
The girl turns. "Han, for god's sakes, go call the police! Ben, go get a blanket." They don't move fast enough, and she raises her voice. "NOW!"
They both leave. I instantly relax and look at the girl again. She's reaching to her hip and unclips a bottle, offering it to me. Water. There's Water in bottles. The sun is so hot. I only find real Water once in a while and usually it tastes bad and makes me sick for a few days. But in a bottle… it will be safe. Maybe… maybe even cold.
I'm so thirsty. I swallow spit down my dry, cactus juice throat and tentatively crawl from my rock towards the girl. She has a nice voice and she controls the Men. She sits down in the sand and sets the bottle down, scooting back a few feet to give me some space. Thank you, lady.
"My name is Leia," the lady—uh, Leia—says. "Can you tell me your name?"
I snatch up the bottle and plop right there to greedily guzzle it down. It's so good. It's cold like the nights in the Hot Place as it slides down my throat and goes right into my belly. I hold the bottle with both hands, still drinking even when my gut stings and precious Water leaks down my chin.
Leia laughs. "Be careful, sweetie. You might get sick."
Hmph. I've been sick lots of times, lady.
I suck out every last drop and wipe my mouth. It's been a long time since I last talked but I mean, she gave me Water, so I guess I can try. I lick my lips and cradle the bottle.
"Rey," I say. My voice is all crackly and dry.
"What a pretty name!" Leia smiles. "How old are you, Rey?"
"I dunno." I hold out my hands to count on my fingers, squinting. "…Twenty."
She laughs. It's pretty like her face. "You think? You look about seven or eight to me. Does that maybe make a bit more sense?"
"Mmm… Yes."
The Man with the black hair pops up behind Leia and I hurtle the bottle at his head to protect her. He uses a gray blanket as a shield and shoots me another murderous look. Leia takes the blanket and I stick my tongue out at him when her back is turned. That's right. I'll get you.
The other Man comes back and looks annoyed. "No cell service, sweetheart. I can head back to the city to try to get a call through but…" He glances at me.
Leia fans out the blanket. "It's just as well—we don't need them scaring her. Oh, Rey—this is my husband, Han—" She points to the one who grabbed me. "And this is my son, Ben." Now she points to the one with the ponytail who has his arms crossed.
Ben. Bite. I'll bite you, Ponytail.
"How'd you get out here, kid?" asks Han. His voice is gruff.
"Ran away." I pick at my clothes, getting kinda bored. "Bit the Man who owned me." I bare my teeth at Ben and he glowers back at me.
Leia and Han look at each other. What's the big deal?
She smiles again and holds out the blanket. "Why don't you come home with us, hm? We have more water and I can make you something for lunch. Maybe get you some new clothes, too?"
Hmm. I don't like the Men, but I do like Leia. She reminds me of the girls who were always nice to me. And I do want more Water and maybe some food would be good… And the scorpions and tarantulas keep stinging me through the holes in my clothes. I could leave the Hot Place. Take a bath again, even use a toilet. That would be nice.
"Okay," I say.
Leia looks relieved. She stands up and holds out the blanket and I wobble to my feet. I trot over to let her wrap it around me. She rubs my arms and keeps one of her arms around me like she's afraid I'll run away again. Nope. I like her, even if she hangs around two dumb Men.
Han mutters to her. "The hell is this kid doing out in the middle of nowhere in California? It's only been a few months—she'd be dead if it was any longer."
"Let's just get her home and cleaned up," Leia replies.
It's not a long walk back to their car. It's a big SUV like—
My head buzzes and cuts off the memory. I blankly take in the black SUV with big wheels as Leia opens the backseat door to help me inside. It smells like perfume inside. The seats are gray cloth and I settle into mine when the door is shut. I haven't been in a car in a long time.
Ben gets in on the other side. I growl, shifting closer to the door, and he rolls his eyes and looks out the window. Good.
"I'll call the pediatrician," Leia says, then glances at Ben in the rearview mirror. "Ben, be a dear and call your doctor, please? I'd like to make an appointment for next week to have her evaluated. We'll need to bring in the dentist, too, and I have to find time to take her shopping…"
"We need to call the police." Han is the driver and the car starts. "We don't know who this kid is."
"After she's settled in," Leia says in a tone that means that discussion is over.
Ponytail doesn't look away from the window. "Doctor Snoke isn't taking new patients."
"Oh. Well I'm sure Luke can see her instead, then." Leia's fingers are darting across her cell phone in a blur. "He needs to keep himself active in retirement, anyway. Ben, get a water for Rey, please."
He heaves a sigh but turns to reach into the third row of seats with his long arms. The water bottle flies at my face but I catch it before it smacks me on the nose. Leia and Han aren't looking so I stick my tongue out at Ben again chomp my teeth. He does the same thing back to me.
The SUV bounces around as it rolls through the Hot Place, climbing rocks and sand with loud roars of the engine. I peer out the window, guzzling my Water, and watch the landscape flying past me as I rattle around in the backseat with my blanket. Goodbye, Hot Place. I won't miss you.