Notes: Pretty much what the summary says. I started this fic as a no strings attached sort of project because I loved the concept and I just decided to share it as I go on. Luke is only going to appear later on; this fic is, for the most part, Rey-centric with a dash of the 'falling in love with someone through their journals' type of story. Title taken from Nightwish's The Islander, which honestly just feels perfect for Luke's situation in TLJ.
The island was deserted.
Rey wasn't sure what she'd expected. This was it – the place she'd dreamt of; all those images that had felt nothing short of real – but since she'd been informed that she was supposed to find someone here, the picture felt incomplete. It was full of life in nearly every way imaginable, but there was no one to welcome her; just old, empty building and a plethora of creatures beyond her wildest dreams.
Despite the disappointment – he's gone, of course he is, they'd waited too long – Rey couldn't help but love it. During her rather extensive search around every even remotely reachable spot on Ahch-To, she'd had the chance to explore too and feeling the texture of it all was much different from seeing it in her mind. There was so much left for her to see yet – the beach way down below being the first thing on her list – and Rey decided to take the chance. It wouldn't take long, it would mean putting off the unpleasant task of bringing the bad news back to the Resistance and maybe she would have the chance to find whatever it was that Luke Skywalker had tried to find here. It was irresistible.
"I don't think he's here," she told Chewbacca once she got back to the ship. She still struggled to understand him, but the dismay in his response was clear. You and me both. "But I'm going to look a little more. Just in case. It's a big island." The words sounded more and more like excuses the more she spoke, but Rey soldiered on. "If you want to guard the ship—"
She got an enthusiastic affirmative in response, just like she'd expected. She'd seen how devastated he had been after Han's death; it only made sense that he would want some solitude.
So Rey left on her own. She headed for the beach first, even more drawn to it than she'd expected despite the fact that there was clearly no one there, and took off her shoes the moment she reached the sand. Te majority of her clothes followed next – the breeze coming from the water was refreshing against her skin, inviting and so foreign that she picked up her pace, eager to be closer.
Everything was different. Things that Rey had thought would feel familiar – the sand and the heat and the sunlight – were softer here, gentler; a caress on her skin instead of the constant, merciless grip of the deserts of Jakku and so much more welcoming. The feeling only intensified when the waves started lapping at her feet and Rey knelt on the wet ground, letting the sea foam and the fine sand seep between her fingers.
Stories of the ocean were a rarity back home. There were the occasional travellers that came by, happy to share something about their experiences for a meal or even spare parts, but they almost never spoke of places like this one; just cities and royalty and the creatures that hid in the dunes in the wilder parts of Jakku. Rey had met someone willing to tell her what the sea was like only once, about two years ago. He had struggled to compare it to anything she'd ever seen. It's big, she remembered him saying, as if at a bit of a loss, vaster than anything you've ever seen. Cold, but friendly too. You would love it.
It hadn't made much sense as far as stories went – it was full of contradictions that she couldn't understand without the full picture and things that she had already been able to guess – but Rey had given him the promised meal anyway. Now, years later, she wished she had given him something more. He had been right; there were no other words that she could find for it either.
Before she could convince herself that this was a waste of time – a resource she was already short on – Rey took off whatever was left of her clothing and stepped in.
It was nothing like an oasis or even an artificial water basin. The sea got deeper gradually, the water that splashed against her skin reaching higher with each step she took and, in a moment of blind courage, she lunged forward, letting the ocean surround her from every side before opening her eyes again.
It was cold, although not unbearably so, but the shock of it was the last thing on Rey's mind. The world was fuzzy at the edges, bathed in a blue-green hue of sunlight, and all the shapes in front of her – rocks and small fish, mainly, but something that resembled plants too – were distorted in a way that she would have loved to explore if she hadn't been running out of air.
Rey pushed himself up, gasping for breath. It was a good thing that she hadn't gone in too deep – she suspected that it wouldn't have been quite as simple then. It was still relatively easy to wade through the water until she reached the beach again and Rey collapsed onto the sand, quickly turning away from the blinding blue of the sky. Her eyes stung with seawater and suddenly it hit her just how long she'd been awake. Without much thought, she closed her eyes again and this time, it was all too easy not to open them again.
In the afternoon, Rey went looking for food. There was still something left of the provisions on the Millennium Falcon, but they wouldn't last for long, especially the water. They wouldn't need anything more if they left in about two days but it was better to be honest with herself – she wanted to stay for at least a while longer than that.
Finding the river was a relief. The water Rey drank from it seemed to be perfectly safe and it was the first stable assurance of survival that she'd been able to find here, even if her worry soon moved on to the food. The environment was as different from what she was used to as it could get. She couldn't recognise any of the plants or animals here; how was she supposed to know what was edible?
It was better than the desert. Whatever she found here, it would be easier to locate than anything she could figure out back home and as it turned out, she wouldn't have to work too hard for it – by the time she got back to the ship, hours later and already starving, she realised that the matter had been dealt with already, at least for the time being. Chewbacca had skinned several specimens of the small birds that populated the island and wasn't opposed to sharing. It wasn't much, but it was actual, real food and Rey relished in how messy it was when compared to the dry, tasteless portions that she was used to. When she bid him goodnight and fell asleep again shortly after dinner – right there, under the stars with the grass tickling her hands – she felt more content than she ever had before.
~.~.~.~
It was summer on the island. Rey knew that as soon as she woke up – the greyish light of the early dawn was the only thing she needed to tip her off, if the warmth of yesterday hadn't been enough of a tell. She winced at how stiff her body was (sleeping outside had been a mistake, nice weather or not), but managed to get herself to sit up.
Only to come face to face with the strangest creature she'd seen on this planet so far.
As soon as it realised that it'd been noticed, it was gone; the fish-like face disappearing from her field of vision. Rey stared after it as it muttered something under its breath and, without a moment of hesitation, decided to follow in its footsteps. Whatever it was, there was purpose behind its actions and right now, that was all she needed.
It took a while, but eventually Rey found herself back at the old settlement. There were others here now; a whole tribe of the same beings coming in and out of all the small buildings, with one solitary exception. It was also the one she felt the most drawn to, her fingers closing around the handle of the lightsaber she'd meant to offer once she arrived. Maybe this was it. He wasn't here now, but he would be and when he came back—
She only discovered that she'd stepped closer when the creature from before stopped hear again, voice rising in volume. It didn't help much – Rey still couldn't understand a word of it – but it was clearly against her entering and she wasn't ready to let that stop her; not when she'd come this far.
"It's important," she said, as if it would have any effect at all. "You don't understand—" More chastising, this time followed by a gesture that couldn't be anything but dismissive, and Rey felt the last shreds of her patience running out. She fished the lightsaber out of her bag and brandished it in the creature's face, hoping that it would make her point understandable even if words could not. "I needed to bring this back, for when Skywalker returns. Luke Skywalker? He must have been here, you must have—"
Her voice died when the entrance was finally cleared – the name or the weapon or both had done the trick, she supposed – and Rey cut her explanation short when the door swung open in front of her. She narrowed her eyes as they tried to adjust from the vibrant colours of Ahch-To to the dark interior of the hut. The sight that welcomed her was both unexpected and the only thing that really made sense and Rey had to stop at the doorstep to take it all in.
Dust swirled in the air where the light poured through the tiny windows. It covered nearly every surface in a layer too thin to be more than a few weeks old. Unlike the rest of the buildings, this one had clearly been used in the recent past – there was a bed, a pile of clothes, several books and a large box full of all sorts of things; broken lightsabers, small bottles, a bunch of feathers, all of it looking strangely abandoned when grouped together with no purpose in sight.
Luke Skywalker hadn't meant to leave this place, or at least, not permanently. It wasn't a rest stop; in one way or another, it was a home. There was no way to tell where he'd gone or when he'd return, but she was ready to wait, and in the meantime— well, it wouldn't hurt to try to get done what she could do on her own, would it? Before Rey had had the time to think the new idea though, she gathered a handful of the books and put them in her bag along with the rest of the few possessions she still kept. Skywalker hadn't come back yet; he wouldn't miss them either way. She, on the other hand, could actually make use of her time here.
On her way back to the Falcon, what little guilt Rey had felt over her decision evaporated completely. She'd taken a different route this time around, one that led her along the very edge of the cliffs and Rey kept her eyes fixed on the ground with every cautious step, trying to keep her balance, only to almost fail at the sight that greeted her in between two of the largest indentations in the rocks.
The structure of the machine was masked by rust and decay and years and years of waves crashing into it, but it was still unmistakable – the X-Wing, likely the sole transport off of Ahch-To, lay completely submerged on the seabed.
He hadn't flown off the planet, then. It was only a small comfort, Rey supposed, but it still brought a smile to her face.
A small comfort, but not nothing. Not anymore.