It was a beautiful day on Yavin 4 when Luke Skywalker landed on the planet, but the good weather only felt like salt to the wound. Luke could feel the turmoil in the Force. It was still reeling from the crimes Ben had committed and the sharp, painful memories that were seared in Luke's head scalded his mind once again, causing his muscles to tighten up and saliva to over flood his mouth. All those younglings . . . slaughtered. Luke felt the bile rise up in his throat, but he fought down the sickness. He had to tell Leia and Han what had happened on Lothal. What had happened to their son.
Exiting the ship he'd escaped on, Luke was suddenly overcome with gratefulness that Leia was also Force sensitive when he saw her running up to him, Han following closely behind. "Luke!" She called out, pulling his arm around her shoulder when she noticed how unsteady he was on his feet, "Luke, what happened?"
Luke merely shook his head, still too much in shock to speak. Han and Leia exchanged glances before Han grabbed Luke's other arm and the two of them towed him away from the landing paddock and towards their home. It took some time and much effort on Luke's part, but eventually they arrived at the Organa-Solo home and Luke wasted no time finding a chair to collapse in.
"Master Luke!" C-3PO exclaimed with as much delight as a droid could, "What a lovely surprise it is to see you again. I do hope all is well with the Academy. R2 was just mentioning the other day that we should visit Lothal and yourself. I'm afraid he's getting delusions of grandeur again. He keeps going on about how much you need him, but I keep trying to tell him that—"
"3PO," Han cut him off, "Shut up and get Luke something to drink, would ya?"
"Oh, of course! Where are my manners?" C-3PO hurried off into the kitchen, mumbling to himself about needing a tune up on proper etiquette as he went.
"Luke," Leia said softly, bending down in front of her brother to try and engage him in eye contact. "What's happened?"
"Yeah, kid," Han added, "Leia all but passed out last night. What gives?"
Luke swallowed thickly, unsure where to start. Tears clouded his eyes. This was worse than when he discovered the truth about Darth Vader. So, so much worse. "It's Ben," he choked out. Leia sucked in a gasp, but didn't say anything. She waited for Luke to continue.
"What happened?" Han asked solemnly, not sure what to expect.
"He—he, oh Force, he killed them all," tremors wracked Luke's body and he wrapped his arms around his slim frame. "I couldn't stop him," he continued, "he's fallen to the Dark Side. The First Order—Knights of Ren—or something—" a hysterical laugh escaped his lips before he could stop it. "There were so many of them. I couldn't—I couldn't—"
"Luke, kid . . ." Han began, but didn't know what to say. His mind was still processing the information. "I don't understand," he said simply.
"Luke," Leia said, placing her hand on Luke's shoulders, "I need you to calm down. I need you to tell me everything that happened."
Looking into his sister's eyes, Luke told her. He explained that the Knights came in the middle of the night and attacked the Academy. He told her how he tried to save as many Padawans as he could, but that, in the end, he couldn't save anyone. He told her how Ben had been the one leading the ambush. How he must have turned to the Dark Side without Luke even noticing it.
"I've failed," he sobbed. "I've failed you all."
"No, Luke," Leia consoled, brushing away some tears, "it's not you that's failed."
Han grimaced and looked away from the siblings, scratching the back of his neck. Then, suddenly, his head snapped back and he asked, "What about Rey?"
Leia stopped breathing for a moment and waited for her brother's response. Luke shook his head, "She's safe. She wasn't on Lothal when the attack happened."
Some tension in the room lessened and Luke noticed the drink on the table next to him. C-3PO must have returned when he was explaining earlier without him noticing. Luke scorned himself, some Jedi he was. He didn't even sense the droid.
"Well then where is she?" Han continued, but Luke just shook his head again. "Luke," he said sharply, "Where is she?"
"Where is she?" Ben's voice, so full of rage, echoed in Luke's mind and he recalled so clearly the desperation in his nephew's eyes.
"I can't," Luke whispered, broken.
"You can't what?" Leia asked, applying more pressure to her brother's shoulders. "Luke, tell me," she commanded again.
Unable to deny a direct command from the once Princess of Alderaan herself, Luke said, "I can't tell you. She's—she's safer where she is. Ben, he—he became obsessed with her," he explained, "I had to hide her away."
"Where, Luke?" Han asked again, taking a threatening step forward.
"Somewhere safe," he repeated, "somewhere Ben can't find her."
"She'll be safe with us," Han pressed, looking to Leia for help. "Leia, tell him."
Leia barely had a chance to open her mouth, though, before Luke shouted, "Don't you understand? Ben will stop at nothing to track her down! I barely got her away in time! If I hadn't left her out there when I did, she'd—she'd be," he made an unintelligible noise. "I can't protect her from him! I couldn't protect any of them from him! She's better off on a desert wasteland than with me right now!"
"So what?" Han asked, "You've just abandoned her? You really think that's what's best for her? Maybe—maybe, I don't know—maybe she can bring Ben back. Maybe we can fix this." Han's eyes, which were so full of hope and desperation, silently begged Luke to tell him where Rey was hidden.
"No," Leia said, surprising both men in the room. "Rey can't help Ben, not now."
"What? How can you say that?"
"I can just feel it," she told him simply, silently begging him to understand.
Han's nostrils flared, "So what?" he asked again, "You want to just give up on Ben, then? On Rey?"
"No!" Leia shook her head violently, "Of course not, but we can't rely on a little girl to—"
"We also can't just leave that little girl to rot on some planet all by herself!" Han sneered. "And if you won't help me find her, then I'll do it myself!" He didn't wait for a response. Han turned heel and stormed out of his home, towards the landing paddock once more. "Chewie!" He called over his shoulder, knowing his friend and co-pilot wasn't far. After hearing Chewbacca's responding growl, he continued, "Hurry up! We're going on a trip!"
Han knew that leaving right now, when he was angry, wasn't the smartest move in the galaxy, but he couldn't stay in that house for another second. He needed to move, needed to do something. He couldn't just sit around and mope like Luke seemed so willing to do. He knew Leia was right. They couldn't rely on Rey to bring their son back to the Light Side, but that didn't mean he could sit back and leave her on some 'desert waste planet' when it was fully within his power to find her and bring her home. If nothing else, Han could do that.
Soon enough, Chewie and he were in the Millennium Falcon and taking off from Yavin 4. There were only so many desert planets—most were in the outer rim—that Rey could be on. Han knew he could rule Tatooine out. If Luke really did want to hide Rey, his home planet would've been too obvious a choice. They started with Anoat, followed by Anoth, then Geonosis, Nkllon, N'zoth—though Han hoped that Luke hadn't been desperate enough to leave Rey there—before they finally reached Jakku.
"This place sure makes Tatooine look like an oasis, huh?" Han asked Chewie as they flew over what looked like a graveyard of ships from the days of the Empire. Chewie whined in response. "Yes, that's including the incident with Jabba," he rolled his eyes, "You ever gonna let me live that down?"
With a shake of his head, Chewie roared a negative.
"Great," Han said dryly, his lips twitching up with a hint of a smile. He had a good feeling about this place. If he didn't know any better, he'd say it was the Force making him feel that way. They landed the Millennium Falcon a few meters away from the city called Cratertown—if you could even call it a city—and walked towards the battered looking commune.
The two of them walked through the town, asking anyone and everyone about Rey. Most people didn't understand the language of the Wookiees, and seemed untrusting of Chewie's cries and size, but Han didn't let their suspicions deter him. He went to everyone asking about Rey, giving her physical description, age, and character. He didn't mention Luke or the Force though, just in case there were any First Order spies in the area.
By the time the sun began to set, Han was sure he'd seen and spoken to every villager in Cratertown—even the droids and younglings. Chewie moaned lowly, discouraged. "Hey," Han said stubbornly. "We're not done, yet. We still have a whole planet to scour for her. We've only just started." They started walking back to where they left the Falcon, "Maybe we should try that Outpost next? What was it called?"
Chewie roared.
"Niima, right. We'll check there next."
They walked a little father until they reached the spot they'd landed the Falcon and Han stepped dead in his tracks. "Chewie," he asked slowly "wasn't this where we left the Falcon?"
Looking left, then right, then spinning in a circle, Chewie nodded and roared with confusion as well. "Well I didn't move it!" Han responded. He walked a bit farther until he saw the divots in the sand that the Falcon had left. Violently kicking at the mound of sand, Han yelled, "Dammit, someone stole her!" He began to kick more and more sand in his anger, unable to stop himself until he kicked a mound so hard he lost his balance and fell onto his back side.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Han cried out, looking up at the sky as if it was to blame for his rotten luck. Chewie walked over and sat next to him, putting an arm around Han's shoulders with a soft purr. "It is my fault, buddy." Han said in a deprecating tone. "I should've been there for him more. I should've checked in on him. Instead I just . . . gave him up without as much as a fight, and now . . . now I can't save anyone."
Han's head fell back down, his chin pressing painfully into his chest. "Dammit," he whispered again softly. Chewie cried out softly, unsure how to comfort his friend. He felt just as powerless, if not more so. The two friends stayed like that for the rest of the night, too emotionally exhausted to move. When the sun finally began to rise over the horizon, Chewie softly prodded Han with his clawed hand.
"No, buddy," Han said sadly. "How are we gonna find Rey now? We don't even have a ship."
Chewie roared angrily, shoving his friend down into the sand. Han turned over so he was lying on his back and stared up at the sky again. He mulled over Chewie's words for a few moments. Chewie cried out again, growing impatient. A small spark glinted in Han's eyes, "Yeah, yeah okay," he said slowly. Standing up, he brushed the sand off his clothes, "That's what we'll do Chewie. We'll steal back the Falcon, then we'll find Rey."
Chewie roared with excitement and sprung up to his feet. The two friends walked back towards Cratertown with a renewed determination. They would take everything one step at a time. First find the Falcon, then Rey, then bring Ben back to their side. One step at a time. They could do that. Even if it was the last thing they did, they'd do it.
A/N: There's the next installment! Next will be a lovely angsty one in Kylo Ren's POV about his search for Rey. As always I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review!