Chapter 2

The day that the trio is scheduled to depart brings the first true squall on Ahch-To since the Resistance's arrival. No one is amused, least of all Zeb. Even Poe is a little miffed.

"Jeez, how often do these storms whip up?" He hollers to Rey over the gale.

"It starts with the winds, almost every day. But the storms are merciless. Once a week, if not more frequent," Rey replies. She strides up the gangway of the Falcon with the men at her heels. She will be piloting to Illum, with Poe as her co-pilot. Finn will be the gunner, and BB8 will serve as technician. Chewbacca has given the group the Falcon with his blessing, and a condition that it be brought back quickly and in one piece.

As they journey through the skies at normal pace (at a time like this, she really wishes they could use lightspeed freely), Rey observes Poe piloting. He seems to know just as much as her, if not more. But he is always respectful and deferent to her status as the Captain. Since meeting him before take-off from Crait, Rey has always thought him to be brash and a little egotistical, based on the stories she has heard of his death-defying feats. But with her and in the flesh, he is humble and unusually soft-spoken. And it's clear she is not the only one to notice, as Finn's surprised and pleased glances Poe's way makes her wonder if the Resistance pilot was always like this.

It takes a whole day and the better part of traveling through the night before the trio reach Illum. The snow whips about the Falcon's thrusters as it takes down for a landing, and Poe looks like he actually misses the torrential squalls on Ahch-To. Pulling on parkas and gloves, the trio march off the gangway and into the snow, approaching the opening to a pretty impressive cave. From a few yards away, Rey turns to Finn and Poe.

"Only a Jedi or Force-sensitive can enter the caves of Illum," she explains. "I must go in alone. If anything happens, I will yell towards the entrance so it will echo and then try to exit and reach you."

Finn and Poe look concerned that neither of them will be able to go in after her should trouble befall her. Poe even looks like he wants to kiss her or something, so Rey busies herself by hugging Finn before Poe gets the chance. Only remembering it would look weird if she didn't acknowledge Poe too, so she settles for an awkward hug as means of goodbye. Then the Jedi-in-training rolls her shoulders back and, steeling a shuddering breath that is caught in puffs on the chilly air, strides into the Cave.

Darkness envelops her upon first arriving in its surroundings, and Rey almost instinctively reaches for a lightsaber that is not there. All she can do is let her eyes get used to the dark and reach out into the gloom through the Force.

Upon acclimation, Rey discovers that the Caves of Illum are covered on nearly all sides by ice as flawless as mirrors. Mirrors as flawless as the one she discovered in the depths below Ahch-To. Only these ice walls distort her features in subtle, yet startling ways. They show Rey not as she is, but as she might be in another lifetime, in another world, in another galaxy.

Reaching the base of a high rock wall, Rey climbs halfway up it until she tires and Force leaps the rest of the way. It is after this obstacle that she first hears the voice - a male's voice that she has only heard in dreams.

"Do you really think you are worth something now? You were never worth something to us - just a nuisance."

Rey spins about on the spot, eyes wide and her breath coming out in rough gasps. That voice... long ago, she had a name to go with it. But it was just a symbolic title.

"Daddy?"

But it is a female voice who answers. "You dare to speak that name to him? After showing us such little respect? An inconvenience?"

"Mother?" Rey practically squeaks.

And then, two figures appear in place of Rey's reflection. They are dirty and sand clings to their rumpled and torn clothing. Junkies. Every much the nobodies that Kylo Ren had described.

"We were better without you, happier without you," the male - Rey's father - hisses. "You did nothing but drag us down; we could never get the booze we needed to sell."

Ah, now she remembers. Her parents claimed to sell booze to the outposts on Jakku, along with various junk on occasion. But more often, the booze they needed to sell ended up serving as self-consumption.

"That Sith spoke the truth," Rey's mother hisses. "You are nobody, but it is not our doing. You did it to yourself." Her words are spat with the cruelty and fire of a lightsaber burn to the skin.

This careless dismissal of her identity and worth fills Rey with sorrow, only to be quickly followed by an all-encompassing rage. "No," Rey snarls. "You abandoned me. And I waited faithfully like a puppy, a mouse, a worm for you to come back. I wanted to know who you were, only to find out that you weren't worth knowing. You have never been, and you never will be, my mother!"

Her testament drives the reflection of her parents away faster than blaster fire. But it is only after they are gone that Rey bursts into tears - a mixture of despair at Ren's veracity and relief at closure.

And then, amidst the tears, purple light pierces through the hands Rey has pressed to her eyes. Blinking back the salt, she spies it - a crystal shaped stone, violet in color. Her kyber crystal - the color mix of red and blue. The Dark and the Light. How fitting. Picking them up, she inserts them into her staff. Waiting a few moments, she activates both ends, and stares in wonder at the pure purple blades that emanate from either side.

Satisfied, she turns the lightsaber staff off and is about to turn for safety and freedom from the cave, when an image makes her stop dead. Her blood runs as cold as the ice in the cave.

She should know by now that he is just an image, a trick of the Force Bond they share. Yet it feels like he is right here in the Cave with her.

"I told you they were nobodies. Now do you believe me?"

Rey's throat constricts. "Yes."

"Do you regret leaving me?"

Her eyes burn. "Never!"

"Where are you? I can't see your surroundings."

Rey smirks in satisfaction. "Good. I'm somewhere that will help me rebuild the Jedi!"

"A quest you will fail in!" Ren bellows, his rage popping to the surface like the retort of an engine. "And I will kill all who might help you, all you care about! Like I killed Han Solo! Like I killed Luke Skywalker!"

"You didn't kill Luke! He became one with the Force!" Rey shrieks.

"Maybe so, but I drove him to it! And I will drive away everyone you love!"

"NO!" Rey wails, banishing him from her mind, severing the Bond. In tears, she stumbles from the cave and out into the snow. Finn sees her first.

"Poe!"

Rey lets herself collapse into the men's arms, and they half-carry her to the Falcon.

Rey refuses to speak for the entire ride back to the island. It is only when they have reached the little hut she has fashioned for herself back on Ahch-To that she begins to open up. Her tale is met with some skepticism and protective denial.

"How can you say Kylo Ren spoke to you? He's halfway across the galaxy! He can do nothing to you!" Finn insists.

Rey's eyes flash, but not in anger. No, amazement at Finn's naïveté, even if part of it is no fault of his own. Finn is no Jedi, but as an ex-Stormtrooper, he should know damn well what Kylo Ren is capable of. "Nothing!" She rests her chin in her hand as she ponders how best to broach this most painful of subjects. Finally, voice breaking: "He showed me my parents."

Finn stares. "What?!"

"They sold me. They sold me for drinking money! They were nobody junk traders. I never even got to say goodbye. I never got to wonder what I did wrong..."

A chastened Finn approaches tentatively. "Rey... I didn't know. You're safe now. You have a home... the Force... two men who love you - everything you could want..."

Rey steps back, as it struck dumb, before Finn even realizes what he has admitted. Perhaps he shouldn't have even spoken for Poe (though Poe has made his infatuation pretty obvious), never mind himself. "You... you what? You... love me?"

Finn gulps at the realization of his confession. Gathering his courage, he swoops Rey into his arms and kisses her lips. She squeaks against him, stiffening, yet giving him the opening he needs and his tongue is in her mouth. Oh, Force... how could she have gone without this? And Rey is soon moaning, kissing Finn back, lowering both their forms to the meager bed. Neither notice Poe slink sadly away as they begin to make love...

It is only later that Rey slips outside, wrapped in nothing but a sheet despite the torrential rain. Poe is sitting vigil on the front stoop of the hut. Remembering Finn's claim, she boldly asks of the roguish pilot:

"Are you really in love with me?"

He turns to face her as she sits next to him. "Yes, Rey. You're strong and funny and an amazing pilot and beautiful..."

He's tripping over his own words; she can see it. Rey gives him a look between sympathy and amusement before leaning in and capturing his lips with hers. They hold the kiss for a moment before they break apart.

"Well, for what it's worth... maybe you'd better come back in," Rey prompts. Before they both catch their death from cold.

Inside, and in full view of Finn, Rey kisses Poe again, undressing him and straddling him on the bed as she begins to make love with the handsome Resistance leader.

Later, wrapped in the arms of both her lovers - her pilot and her Stormtrooper - Rey's voice pings into the darkness.

"Finn? Poe?"

"Yeah?" Both men chorus.

"... I'm pregnant."