AN: Still don't own Star Wars. I could repay my student loans if I did.
"What do you think, BB-8? Should I modify this into a double-bladed saber?" Rey wipes the sweat from her forehead as she walks down the corridor with the little droid rolling at her side. Her staff hangs from her back, its weight familiar but also alien after so long without it. To her surprise, Luke had suggested that she train with weapons other than a lightsaber. When she'd asked why, he had just smiled wryly and told her that he'd once had to fight a rancor with his bare hands and some rocks and that it was never a bad idea to be prepared in case you happened to lose your saber. Rey had then told him about the staff she'd carried on Jakku, which led to the surprising tidbit that double-bladed lightsabers had been quite common before the Empire and that having one might suit her a bit better.
"Is it all right if I modify it? I mean, this is yours," Rey says, looking down at the lgihtsaber that was once Anakin's and then her uncle's. "I don't want to….."
"I gave that lightsaber away." Luke's eyes soften with sadness. "It stopped being mine a while ago. I'm glad Maz stole it and kept it, and I'm also glad that you have it now. It's yours, so you can do whatever you see fit. Besides, making it a double-bladed weapon wouldn't require too much tinkering."
You can if you want to, BB-8 beeps. It's your saber.
"Thanks for the input." She gives them a fond nudge with the side of her foot. "I'll go ask Poe and Finn for their—"
"Keep your voice down!"
The exclamation makes her jump, and she spins around, searching for whoever had spoken. They're on base and nothing feels amiss, so Rey knows that whatever is going on, it's not bad news, but there's still a possibility that someone is sneaking around where they shouldn't be. BB-8 rolls to a stop beside her, head swiveling in the direction of the noise. A moment later, three pilots come into view at the end of the corridor, although it looks like they're in a heated discussion amongst themselves and don't seem to notice Rey and the droid.
"Why should I? We're not under the Empire, so I can say what I want to," retorts the one in the middle. He's short and burly with cropped black hair and dusky skin like Finn's. "Besides, you agree with me, right, Krim?"
"You shouldn't be saying stuff like that, Paxa." The redheaded woman to his left is frowning. "Just because we won't lose our heads doesn't mean I want to piss off the—"
"She can hardly argue, can she?" The third pilot, an Arkanian if the white eyes are any indicator, crosses his arms over his chest. "Paxa is right. The general may be what keeps the Resistance going, but it's her fault we even need it in the first place."
"All I'm saying is that I don't like the fact that our only hope against the Order happens to be the sister of its dog," Paxa says. "I mean, the general fucked up her son badly enough that he ran off and become a Sith. Can you imagine what will happen if she does the same to her daughter? We'd all be utterly screwed."
"There is something to be said for genetics," the redhead says slowly. "Although I'm still not sure it was more nature than nuture."
"You said it, Krim…."
Rey stands dumbly, staring at the three pilots. A deep, throbbing heat starts to build in her stomach, searing down to her toes and up to her head. This feels like when Kylo Ren killed Han; she'd never been so furious in her life, and at the time, it had seemed as though she were invincible and nothing could stop her if she decided the galaxy should bow at her feet. Now that feeling is back, only this time it's worse—much worse.
"How dare you!" Rey steps forward, unslinging her staff from her back. The pilots stop dead, color draining from their collective complexions. The Arkanian tries to bolt, but Rey closes her hand into a fist and pulls, and he flies through the air before slamming into the wall with a thud. The other two back away, terror etched on their faces, and Rey stalks forward, snarling. She can dimly hear BB-8 beeping in alarm, but it doesn't matter. The pilots have made an enormous mistake.
They'll pay for it dearly.
Leia sighs and massages her temples. I hate expense reports. Granted, they're necessary and (arguably) important, but paperwork makes her want to beat her head against the nearest available hard surface. Still, she supposes she should be grateful that there's nothing more pressing to occupy her attentions at the moment. Like an ambush by the Order, for instance.
Ten thousand units of rations ordered per week….she picks up her pen again to renew her assault, but almost before her fingers close around it, the world falls away. Rage, hot and blazing, sears through the Force, sending Leia's heart pounding as it floods her like an electric shock. Almost as soon as it had come, it's gone, but it takes Leia a moment to gather herself and disengage. There's only one person on base who could have broadcast their anger so clearly—well, two, technically, but Leia knows that it would take a hell of a lot to make Luke lose his temper in such a way—which means that something is very, very wrong with Rey.
Leia leaps up, chair falling to the floor in her haste as she races out of the office and down the corridors. Her heart is hammering against her ribs; she felt how deep and dark Rey's fury was, and it brings back memories she's tried to forget, memories of how the could feel the darkness growing and growing inside her little boy and how even though she tried, she couldn't save him, she couldn't—
Leia's legs move faster, and she doesn't care that people are staring as she races through the base like her life depends on it. Rey. I have to find Rey!
"Rey!"
Rey nearly drops her staff in shock at the sound of Leia's voice. She spins around, hoping in vain that her mother won't notice the three unconscious, bruised, slightly bloodied pilots on the ground, but of course that doesn't happen. Leia stares at the pilots and then at her, obviously awaiting some kind of explanation. "I—I—" the young Jedi stammers, but her brain is in full-on panic mode and it doesn't help that the rage-fueled adrenaline is still pounding through her veins.
What the hell? BB-8 beeps and whirrs, bumping into her leg. You didn't have to beat them up! Yeah, they were being jerks, but—
"Shut up!" Rey snaps, and they roll back a few feet with an alarmed noise. Sweat drips from her brow (how long was she here for?), and she scrubs at her face with her sleeve. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
"Rey, what the hell happened?" Leia looks utterly shocked. "This isn't like you."
"It doesn't matter." Her voice is rough. "They needed to be taught some manners. It won't happen again." Rey turns away, hoping beyond hope that Leia will just leave her be.
A warm, callused hand catches hers, and Rey can't resist as Leia gently but firmly grips her shoulder and turns her back around so that they're face-to-face. "I felt your anger from clear across the base. Whatever they did, it was more than just being rude. Tell me," Leia says firmly.
Oh hell. Rey knows she can tell Leia anything—knew it long before either of them realized who the other truly was—but not this. She can't break her mother's heart by telling her this. "Don't ask me," Rey begs softly, closing her eyes. "Please, don't ask me."
"It's either I hear it from you or hear it from them." Her voice is not unkind, but it also leaves no room for argument. "I'd rather hear it from you. I promise that whatever it is, I won't be upset. I know you'd never do something like this without good reason."
Rey braces herself, takes a breath and drops her gaze to the floor. She can't look her mother in the eye for this. "I….overheard them talking. They don't like that I'm your daughter because—because….." Say it. Just spit it out. "Because you're Kylo Ren's mother too." She can't bring herself to say it more explicitly than that, but Leia isn't stupid; surely she'll read between the lines.
For a split second, pain lances through Rey's heart, white-hot and agonizing. She staggers and nearly falls, but then it's gone and Leia's back is turned to her. "I've heard worse," she says, her voice eerily flat and empty. "I appreciate you getting angry in my defense, but this was uncalled for. Don't do it again."
"I—" Rey starts, but Leia is already gone and she's alone in the corridor. Well, almost.
Follow her, BB-8 whirrs softly. Dad says she is very sad. I do not want her to be sad. She takes care of Dad, even though he's reckless. And she takes good care of you too.
"Yeah. She does. All right, I'll go after her." Rey gives the top of BB-8's dome a pat before heading off after her mother. After all the times Leia has been there for her, she's not about to pass on returning the favor.