Hello everybody! It's been some time since I've been on here...well writing wise. Have done plenty of reading though! I'm so excited to be back for the sequel to Girl with No Name. Just in the event you clicked on this story, I'd recommend going to my profile and reading that first before this one. I do have bits of a recap in here, but I think you'd get the full scale if you read the first story.
Now, I gotta apologize, cause I'm going back on my original plan. I had said in the last chapter of GWNN, that I was planning a one shot first and then post the sequel. Originally, I had planned on having that up way sooner by now. But I had held back on writing a lot of it due to the fact that The Last Jedi novel had a bunch of scenes that weren't included in the movie like Han's Funeral. I really wanted to include it in this story, but I wanted to see how it would have been done. I've pretty much stuck to what the book went by, but I did make some tweaks in terms of the story and timing. If you've read the book, you'll definitely understand.
Secondly, when I got the book and started writing and adding to what I had, I felt that what I was writing wasn't really going in the direction of what I felt would be a good oneshot. It felt very continuous and for the sake of flowing, I decided to just move forward with the sequel and include what would have been in the one shot as the first two chapters. So, while I had scrapped stuff, I think it's worked out for the best.
Anyway, I'll have more to add at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize.
The hologram of Jareth Elestren stared silently at his sister, Jania, on the control panel from inside her ship. She sat back in her seat as she waited for his response for everything she had just told him. To say he was in shock was a bit of an understatement. He was floored. Completely and utterly floored. He couldn't have imagined something like that. It was too fantastic for his own mind to even create.
"Wow" he finally spoke. He ran a hand through his hair. "That's...that's really something. To be honest, I don't even know how I'm supposed to respond to all of that. I'm sorry, I'm just really at a loss of words."
"It's fine" Jania replied. "I'm struggling with the same thing. It's a lot...and I'm not sure what to do with all of it."
"Have you told anyone that you've remembered?" he then asked.
She nodded her head and looked down. "Leia was with me when I woke up. She immediately knew. GG and QE know of course and now you. That's it."
Jareth frowned at her and titled his head. He was surprised that one name was missing from that list. "You've not told your hot shot pilot boyfriend yet?"
The redhead smirked slightly at the nickname her brother had for Poe Dameron. The Resistance pilot she had found in the middle of the deserts of Jakku. It set off a chain of events that completely changed her life. Jania Elestren had been on a mission to find and protect a map to Luke Skywalker, the last remaining Jedi and her own former Master and teacher. Under the guise of a mysterious person called the Woman in Gold, it had become her path to find the map and made sure it ended up in the right hands and not with the treacherous First Order. In the midst of it, she found the pilot after he had narrowly escaped from the First Order.
She brought him back to the Resistance and came face to face with Leia Organa, the mother of her best friend Ben Solo. Only Ben was no longer Ben. He had become Kylo Ren. He was gone forever. The redhead had spent so many years running from her past, but destiny had another path for her. Luke had been missing for years. No one had seen him, except for her. She was thought to have been dead as well. Killed at the hands of Kylo Ren. But she survived. However, she was unable to tell anyone what had become of him or where she had been before. Her mind was a blank slate...or at least had been until recently.
Her brother's mention of Poe was simple. When she had found him, she had kept her true self from him. But soon once she realized that she couldn't run anymore, she opened up to him. They became closer and grew to care about one another in a way she hadn't felt before. Her face fell, and she shook her head, "No, I haven't told Poe." Her brother looked at her in disbelief. She already had a feeling about his response. She knew she should have told Poe, but she wasn't able to bring herself to do it yet.
"Jania" he let out a deep sigh, running his hands through his hair. "Sis, that's not good. Why haven't you? Look I know that we have a long way to go with fixing our own relationship and I have really no business telling you how to live your life, but you can't keep something like this from him."
She looked down sadly and nodded her head. "I know" she replied quietly. "But where do I even begin with any of it? The whole thing is insane. I'm still not able to process everything. It's going to affect everyone. People are going to lose hope. How do I even begin to tell him something like that?
Jareth licked his lips and shook his head, sadly. "I don't know" he finally replied. "But Jania, you know none of this is your fault, right? You didn't cause any of this."
"Then why do I feel like it is" she sighed heavily.
"Because you have a conscience" he gave her a small smile. "You're a good person. You've always cared. You know and understand that this new development not only affects you, but other people." He paused for a beat. "But Jania, you didn't cause any of this. You can't blame yourself for someone else's choice."
"But maybe...just maybe I could have done more" she protested. "I should have come back earlier...I..."
Jareth shook his head and sighed. "Sis, you can't keep thinking about what you should have done. What's happened has happened. You can't live your life by hypotheticals at this point."
The redhead ran her hands through her head. Deep down, she knew her brother was right. But for the life of her, she couldn't get the pesky thoughts out of her head. There had to have been another way. She should have done more, but due to the circumstances, maybe she did everything she could.
"For what it's worth..." she suddenly heard Jareth say causing her head to snap up. "It sounds like by the end of it, you did do everything you could."
She gave him a sad smile. "Maybe one day I'll actually believe that and feel that way." She paused for a moment, shifting in her seat. "I just wanted to call and let you know about this. I didn't want us to keep anymore secrets from one another." She took another pause. "And I guess I needed to get it off my chest to someone else. But someone who's not involved too much in this."
"I'm glad you told me" Jareth nodded. "I'm not sure how much help I've been, but I'm always here to listen. I'm glad we can be like this again. I've missed having my sister around."
"I missed having you around too, you brat" she gave him a smirk causing him to roll his eyes at her. She shifted forward and her arms rested on the controls. "Look there was something else I called about that I thought you'd want to know about."
Jareth groaned and rubbed his face. "Please don't tell me you're engaged or pregnant...or even worse...both."
"Stop being a brat. You can't think that lowly of me" she raised an eyebrow in disapproval.
"No, but I just have this weird feeling that you and that pilot have barely been able to keep your hands off one another. It's something I really don't want to think about" he sighed dramatically.
"I don't understand why you're thinking about these things. I'm not thinking about what you and Val could be doing. That's gross to think about too you know. You're not above all this" she glared playfully.
"Well you like Val. I don't like that flappy flyboy" he made a face at her.
"I think you secretly do like Poe, I think you're just trying to pretend you don't" she rolled her eyes. "Come on admit it. You're happy for me."
Jareth cleared his throat and groaned. He had no intention of letting his sister win this round. "So, what else did you want to talk about?"
Jania smirked at him, knowing full well she was right. "Fine. I'll let you deflect." She reached out over the console and began to press a few buttons. "You're about to get a transmission from me."
Jareth licked his lips and nodded as he received a notification of the transmission. Jania watched as she saw him move his arms, pressing some buttons on his own console. Her brother's face soon fell, and a look of confusion appeared on his face. He stayed silent for a moment.
"What the hell" he finally breathed out looking back up at her. "Jania, am I really looking at what I think I am?"
She nodded her head immediately. "The entire Empire archives."
"How the hell did you manage to get a hold of this?" he asked sitting back in his chair.
"I was supposed to be a lore keeper for the new Jedi Order. At the time I thought it would be important for the new archives. So, I got ahold of it" she explained.
"And you've had it this whole time? Why haven't you given it to the Resistance or something" he asked in disbelief.
Jania's eyes flicked down and then back at her brother. That part of the story was one that was a familiar excuse up until recent events. "I didn't know I had brought it with me. I stored it in a compartment where I kept my lightsaber. It was a memory that was part of the ones that were wiped. I was smart before I left Ach-To. I knew it would be something important to hold on to. Only thing is, it's hard to use something when you don't even know you have it."
"Holy moly" Jareth breathed out, his eyes skimming all of the information. "This is literally everything sis. The First Order could be using some of the old Empire plans to create weapons, bases...this is vital."
"I hope" she sighed heavily. "I feel useless with the Resistance. Maybe this could help them."
"You're anything but useless" he shot a smirk at her. "Stop being modest. You basically were the last person to be with Luke Skywalker. You always knew where to be. You're vital to them." His lip curled, and he stayed silent for a moment. "Anything else you remembered having?"
"Yeah" the redhead nodded. "I'm about to send you something else too." She pressed a few buttons.
Another transmission came through and Jareth pressed a few buttons immediately. Once again, his face turned into confusion. He pressed on the transmission, but nothing opened. Instead, numbers and letters popped up across the screen, waiting for some sort of passcode.
"I think your file is corrupted. I can't open it" he commented.
"That's the point" Jania replied simply. "It's coded."
"Why?" her brother looked back up at her. "What is it?"
She shrugged in response. "Don't know. I don't even remember putting it with any of my things. It was with the Empire archives. I've tried breaking the code, but I can't seem to crack it. I was wondering if you could."
Jareth rubbed his chin and grimaced. "I can't make any promises. Thierry's decent with codebreaking. Not the best out there, but if he can't do it, we know some people. Well...Maz does specifically."
She smirked at hearing the mention of Maz Kanta. The infamous pirate queen, but also her brother's benefactor. The benefactor that had hired him and his squad of bounty hunters to find her and bring her to them. Unbeknownst to all of them, it had been a way to bring the siblings back to one another, especially since Jareth had believed she was dead. "She's not too heartbroken you didn't bring me back, is she?"
"Nah" Jareth let out a laugh. "In fact, when we got back and apologized, she smacked me on the head and told me that she would have fired us."
Jania let out a laugh. "I'm glad she's not too heartbroken then."
"Yeah well, in this job...you win some, you lose some" he shrugged. "But listen, I'll get Thierry to work on this transmission. I'll keep you updated, but I know you have a funeral to get to, so don't let me keep you any longer."
Jania's face fell at the mention of the word funeral. For a moment, she had forgotten that it was happening. Leia decided to hold a small memorial for Han Solo. The famous Rebellion general, smuggler, and most importantly, her husband. He had been killed by his own son in an attempt to turn him back to the light side. But the darkness in Ben was too dark to come back from.
She nodded her head and gave him a small smile. "Keep in touch, will you? Be careful. Give my best to Thierry and Val. I'll see you soon."
"I will" Jareth nodded. "Love you sis."
"Love you too little brother" she responded.
"Oh, and Jania?" he suddenly spoke. "Tell Poe the truth."
With that the communication between them ended. Jania sighed and sat back in her chair, running her hands through her hair. The thought of having to tell Poe the truth lingered through her mind. How the hell was she going to be able to do that?
Poe Dameron walked through the hanger of the Resistance base. He felt good. Still on the high of the victory over Starkiller Base, he felt for the first time in a long time that the Resistance was going to win the war they were fighting. Peace would be brought back to the Republic. He felt like he could take on anything.
He also had another reason for his good mood.
It was because of a certain redhead. He even smirked at the thought of Jania Elestren. She had captivated him from the moment she took off the mask she was wearing when she found him in the deserts of Jakku. He never would have thought she would be a major component to turn the tides in the war against the First Order. Nor did he think that the two of them would end up having a relationship. His life was full of surprises and never boring.
He looked around the hanger and frowned. He wondered where Jania was in this moment. His eyes flicked and saw three droids in a corner. One his own and the other two belonging to the woman he was in search of.
He smiled and walked over towards the group when his own orange and white BB unit, BB-8 greeted him with a beep. Jania's droids, QE-2 and GG-01 looked up.
"Hey buddy" the pilot smiled. "You having fun with your new friends?"BB-8 chirped a yes and its head rolled up and down in response.
"Well at least some of us are" GG commented glumly.
Poe forced himself not to roll his eyes. He hadn't really been able to get a read on GG. The droid was fickle and indifferent at times, especially when it came to him. But when it came to Jania, GG was very loyal and protective. "GG, anyone ever tell you that you know how to lighten up a room?"
The copper protocol droid titled its head. "I'm not sure what that means. Is it a good thing?"
"Don't worry about it" the pilot let out a breath with wide eyes. "Any of you seen Jania?"
"She was on her ship talking to her brother, but you just missed her" GG answered.
"Know where she went after?" he asked.
QE beeped at him in response and Poe nodded his head. "Thanks QE" he said before turning to leaving. BB-8 rolled over to him and beeped. He looked down and gave the droid a smile. "Yeah, I'll tell her you said hi, buddy." With that he turned to find Jania.
He made his way through the hallways of the Resistance and up a series of stairs that led to the roof of the facility. Opening the door, he stopped the moment he saw her. Her back was turned to him. She was looking out into the distance silently. She looked beautiful has the sun began to set.
She marveled him. Jania had been through so much. She had nearly been killed, barely surviving an attack by Kylo Ren. It was believed she had been in hiding for years with Luke Skywalker. But the truth was, she didn't know. She had yet to reclaim her memories. Yet, whatever happened to her after that time, she knew she needed to protect the map to his whereabouts. She did everything she needed to in order to ensure its safety. To protect Luke. Even going up against Kylo Ren once more. Being reunited with a brother, who believed she was dead. She fought hard. Her reluctance never beat her. She was stubborn and always knew what she was meant to do.
"It's rude to stare Commander Dameron" she suddenly spoke causing him to snap out of his thoughts. She turned around to face him and smiled.
Poe smirked in return. "Can't help that my eyes go straight to something beautiful." He walked closer to her and put and arm around her waist, pulling her close. He kissed the side of her head. His eyes flicked out to the horizon. "What are you doing up here? Funeral's about to start soon, you know?"
"I know" she nodded before looking back over at the horizon. "I just wanted to watch the sunset. I've always loved watching it. Just haven't gotten much of an opportunity to do it lately. Figured I'd take the chance now."
He kissed her head again and sighed in content. "Nothing wrong with taking a moment to enjoy the little things." He smirked again, leaned down, and planted a small kiss on her neck. He was going to take a page from her book and enjoy the moment he had with her in his arms. He continued to move up her neck with kisses and let his lips drag across her cheek. Jania let out a happy sigh and a smile formed on her lips.
"How's your brother? Did he ask about me?" he breathed out.
Jania nestled herself into Poe's arms more. "Jareth's fine" the redhead said before smirked before looking up at him. "He called you a flappy flyboy."
His face fell and he raised eyebrow. "Aww, how sweet. Bounty hunters can make jokes" he deadpanned. "Next time you talk to him, tell him he needs to come up with better insults."
"He also asked if we were engaged or that you got me pregnant" she added.
"Not yet" he grinned, before nipping at her neck. Jania's head snapped up to him and looked at him in disbelief. The pilot let out a chuckle and tightened his grip on her. "Kidding...well sort of."
She rolled her eyes at him and shook her own head. "You're going to be the death of him, I swear."
"He secretly loves me, I know it" Poe shrugged, smiling.
"Well next time he calls, I'll make sure you're around, so you can properly flirt with one another. I'll leave the room" she laughed.
Poe made a face at her. "Eh, he's not really my type."
"And what is your type" she raised her eyebrows up at him.
He let out a sigh and rested his head against her. "Oh...I'd say my type is beautiful redheads with a fiery personality to match who happened to find a very handsome, rugged, and talented pilot in the middle of a desert."
She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're ridiculous" she shook her head.
"You know you enjoy my antics" he smirked before leaning forward to kiss her deeply. She kissed him back immediately and the pair felt their grips tighten on one another. Every time they were like this, it felt like nothing else matter. It was a perfect moment. After a moment, they pulled away from one another. Poe's fingers danced on her hips and he looked at her.
"We should probably get going" he breathed out.
"I know" Jania nodded sadly, knowing full well what it was time for.
It was time to say goodbye to an old friend.
Jania could see how uneasy Leia was. She knew she was the only person who really knew how the general was feeling about standing in the middle of the jungle at this moment. She didn't want to be here at all. She didn't want to be doing this at all.
But could anyone blame her?
Standing in the middle of the jungles of D'Qar, she looked around to see various Resistance officers and members. Some she recognized–General Ematt, Admiral Ackbar, Nien Numb, Commander D'Arcy, C-3PO, and Lieutenant Connix. Others, she couldn't name. But it didn't matter who they were. What mattered was what they were all doing in the jungle.
Paying their respects to Han Solo.
The redhead still could barely process that she was at a funeral. His funeral. It should have never even had come to that. But it did. She had witnessed it first-hand. The image of Ben Solo's lightsaber going straight through the smuggler was an image she would never forget.
No, not Ben. Kylo Ren. Though did his name really matter? He still killed his father. Whoever he was killed his father.
Jania still hadn't been able to shake the feeling of fear when it came from him. Mainly due to the fact that they both shared a deep connection. They had been best friends for years. He had fallen in love with her. It only made sense that something in the Force connected them to the point where they were able to get in each other's heads. She thought that she could have used it to save him. But she was wrong. She hated how connected and emotionally attached she was.
But now that she thought about it, she hadn't felt anything from him recently. There was no familiar pull that she felt loomed over her. She wondered why that was. Had he even felt her? Were they unknowingly trying to block another's presence. She didn't feel like she had been in control of anything. It worried her. Even though she hadn't felt him recently, it didn't mean it was over. It scared her.
The feeling of someone gently taking her hand caused her to snap out of her thoughts. She looked over to see Poe giving her a sad smile as he rubbed his thumb against the top of her hand. She was glad Leia allowed him to attend. She needed the extra support. She leaned against him and put her hand on his forearm, gripping it gently.
She took a deep breath as Leia emerged from the crowd.
The time for goodbyes had come.
Leia walked to the base of one of the trees, placing a tiny wooden figure at its base. She kept its significance to herself. Han had carved it for her the night before the Battle of Endor. She kept it all of these years. It was really the only personal thing of his she had left. She took a deep breath and turned to face the group. Nearby stood C-3PO and a cam droid to broadcast the memorial to the rest of the Resistance. She gave the group a stoic look before her eyes flicked to Jania. The redhead swallowed dryly as she gave the general a knowing look of good luck. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak.
"Han would hate his ceremony" she said in a clear, unwavering voice. "He had no patience for speeches or memorials. Which was to be expected from a man who was allergic to politics and suspicious of causes."
Several members of the higher-ranking Resistance officers smirked. She was right. They had seen it first hand during the battles of the Empire. Han Solo was not a man of pomp and circumstance.
"I once told Han that it was tiresome watching him do the right thing only after he'd exhausted every alternative. But sooner or later, he'd get there" she continued. "Because Han hated bullies, and injustice, and cruelty–and when confronted with them, he could never stand down. Not in his youth on Corellia, not above Yavin, not on Endor, and not at Starkiller Base."
She took a moment to pause. Whether it was to gain composure or to take a breath, no one would ever know. "Han fancied himself a scoundrel" she spoke, smiling sadly at the last word. "But he wasn't. He loved freedom–for himself, certainly, but for everybody else in the galaxy, too. And time after time, he was willing to fight for that freedom. He didn't want to know the odds at that fight–because he'd already made up his mind that he'd prevail. And time after time, somehow he did."
C-3PO turned to face the general. She eyed the droid in a way that made her continue with her thoughts quickly. She was worried the droid would interject with a story about his many experiences with the Millennium Falcon's captain. "Han didn't want to know the odds when he and Chewbacca flew back to the Death Star in time to save my brother Luke–and the last hope for our Alliance" she said. "He didn't ask about them when he accepted a general's rank for the ground assault at Endor. He didn't want them calculated when he fought for freedom at Kashyyyk. And he refused to think about them when he saw a way to fly through the Frist Order's Shield and infiltrate Starkiller Base."
Jania let out a breath and gave a small smile, remember how Han was so determined to get the shields down to allow the Resistance fleet in to destroy the base. He had a crazy plan to land the Falcon at light speed. It was insane, but no one could stop him. He was determined...just like he was determined to help Ben. Her face fell. He had hope that Ben was still in there.
Unbeknownst to her, Leia was thinking the same exact thing.
"So many of you have offered me your sympathy, and I thank you for your kindness" Leia told the group. "But now I ask you to focus once again on the cause we all serve."
Many of the Resistance officers nodded their heads in understanding. Some had fear in their eyes. They knew what was coming next.
The general swallowed dryly. "We face long odds. The New Republic is leaderless, and the First Order is on the march. I can't tell you what those odds are–and I don't want to know. Because nothing could change my mind about what we have to do now."
She paused again for a moment, letting her words sink into the organization. "We must return to the fight. We do so because, like Han, we believe in justice and freedom. And because we will not accept a galaxy ruled by cruelty. We'll fight for those ideals. We'll fight for each other, and the sacred bonds we've forged serving side by side. And we'll fight for all the people in the galaxy who want to fight but can't–who need a champion. They're calling to us, in terror and grief. And it is our duty to answer that call."
Leia nodded at her officers and at the cam droid. "We all have our sorrows" she said. "And we will never forget them, or those we have lost. In time, we will honor them more fully and properly. But we must save our sorrow for after the fight. Because right now, we have work to do."
And there you have it! The very first chapter. I am so excited for this story. I've got a lot planned for it and I'm excited to see what you all think. What are you all looking forward to seeing most? What are your theories as to what will happen? Do you think Jania will tell Poe that her memories are back? How do you think he'll react if/when he finds out?
I have all but one scene of chapter 2 written out. I hope to have it out in the next few days.
Let me know your thoughts! Read and review.