For all my obsession with Star Wars as a child, this is my first fanfic. I hope you enjoy. There were some emotional nuances that I felt TFA lacked, that I hope were left out from fear of giving too much away and will show in the other films in the trilogy. But for now, I will tide myself over with fanfics of devoted fans. Also, the EU will always hold a special place in my heart. Mara Jade forever.
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He'd known who she was the moment he pulled her up from the bowels of the Falcon.
Living in relative isolation on Jakku, her aristocratic Core accent was undiluted. He'd teased the kid relentlessly when the little girl started sounding out her syllables with her mother's lilt. "The little princess isn't from Tatooine that's for sure."
But when she finally straightened and stood before him in those dusty robes, his heart fell a little. It's Luke. His brother in law had disappeared years ago, the last memory Han had of his dear friend marred in the shadows of the Coruscanti night while he stood in their home, shaking and grief-stricken. "They're gone," he'd whispered. "Everything. Everyone."
Han had known it was Ben. He'd seen his son transform from a happy little boy to a scowling youth. Leia and Han had been good parents, devoted even, though somewhat distracted in the New Republic's formative years. Never absent though. But the tumultuous relationship between his parents affected Ben greatly. At fifteen, even without the Force, Han knew that the darkness in Ben's eyes was not teenage sulkiness.
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Leia was the first to move, a shaking hand reaching out to her brother's arm, but Luke couldn't bare her touch, let alone meet her gaze. "I'm sorry," was all he said.
Trying to take stock of the situation and pull close everyone he had left at that point, Han asked, "Where's Mara?"
"She's gone."
Leia stiffened in shock as her brother turned to leave.
Han surveyed the room for the little figure that was her father's ever present shadow. "And…?"
Luke paused before pulling his hood up. "She's gone, too."
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Han pulled away from old memories and studied her as he approached her on Takodana. He had studied her in the cockpit as well, too afraid to ask her name. She raised her face to the sunlight, taking in all the flora. "I've never seen so much green," she'd said.
But she had. In another life, she'd reveled in the lush green of Yavin 4, running after Ben and the Dameron boy, who'd been tasked with keeping a watchful eye on her while their parents visited as friends and former comrades. She had splashed in the bountiful turquoise oceans of her mother's home world, Iyree, with her father, who would never grow tired of having enough bath water, let alone a vast ocean to swim in.
Swallowing, he finally gathered the nerve to ask, "You got a name?"
She smiled and nervously handled the blaster he'd given her. "Rey."
"Rey," he repeated. A faint smile crossed his face though her omission cut him. She had been Rey since ten year old Ben had crept up to her cradle and peered in at her and called her by it. Luke had named her with Han's permission after informing the smuggler of his and Mara's choice while the two were rewiring the mapping system on the Falcon.
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"Wh – why would you want to name her that?"
Luke tapped his wrench against the palm of his mechanical hand and leaned against the console. "We want the kids to have good, solid names, right?"
"But you could name her anything, kid." Han ducked back underneath the console. "Her grandmother was kind of a big deal."
Luke smiled. He and Leia had fit the final pieces of the parentage together recently when Lor San Tekka had approached them with holodocs and vids from the late Republican era that he thought they would find of interest. Leia had stopped on a Senate committee portrait and traced the outline of the young woman seated on her Bail Organa's right. "That's her," she'd whispered, pulling from her memory. "That's our mother."
"We never knew our mother," Luke said a little wistfully. "We want to honor those we knew, who were flesh and blood to us. Loved." He scratched his head, grinning. "She was going to be Owen, but Mara won that bet." He sobered. "Besides, she's probably going to be the only girl."
Han slid out from under the cramped work space. He and Leia had accepted in recent years that Ben would be their only child. He nodded. "Well, Freya is a good Corellian name." He fiddled with the greasy towel in his hands, remembering his younger sister whom he had lost so many years ago. "Thank you."
He'd meant it when he'd told Finn they wouldn't leave without her. Luke had lost a hand because he refused to leave them to his father's mercy. Han would be damned if he left Luke's daughter to his son's.