I'd like to dedicate this chapter to NakedFury for leaving me the lovely review "uninspired shitfic" I doubt you read more than the summary since your profile page boasts about leaving shitty reviews on fics you either don't like or aren't interested in. You're a horrible person and your sense of entitlement on your profile is disgusting. Fanfiction is free and for people to enjoy. It's not created solely for you. Not that you'll ever read this author's note since you didn't make it past chapter 1. But on the off chance you do, fuck you and have a nice day.
With that being said, this chapter is really dedicated to reylobitch as always for being super supportive and awesome. And also 27vampryesinhermind because your reviews always make me smile! And to all my other readers because without you guys, I wouldn't actually keep writing this story.
"Maz!" Rey banged against the metal door with the butt of the shotgun. "Maz open up!"
"Do you want to alert the entire First Order to our location?" Kylo growled at her.
Ignoring him, Rey pounded on the door with more force. The deep night around them was silent, as if holding its breath, waiting to see what would unfold.
"This Maz person," the nameless man shuffled on his feet as he took in the surroundings. A single floodlight illuminated the front of the old building. "She's not a First Order sympathizer is she?"
"What does that even mean?" Rey shot him an annoyed glare. She was just about to knock on the door again when it swung inward, opening up to reveal a tiny figure.
"Get inside!" Maz ordered, motioning the three of them past her. Her large eyes darted around the empty desert before she closed the door behind them.
Inside the auto shop was dark. All around them, odd black shapes dotted their surroundings. There was a low humming sound coming from under their feet but what was generating it, Rey had no idea.
"You'll be safe here," Maz said in a low tone. "For now. Come," she motioned them to follow her.
With a glance at the other two, Rey stepped forward, following the small woman up the stairs to the loft above the garage.
It was better lit upstairs, though still dim. The loft acted as Maz's living quarters with a small kitchen and a bed. The kitchen was mainly a fridge and a few countertops. The table which had once acted as a place to eat, was covered with different car parts and cleaning supplies. On the other side of the room, a small twin bed was neatly made with stained blankets. Next to it, a pile of books acted as a nightstand. Between the two spaces, an old van's backseat and some stacked wooden pallets served as a couch and coffee table.
Other than her basic necessities, Maz didn't have many possessions. Most of her time was spent working on cars. The old woman kept to herself, causing rumors to spread throughout the small town. Rey had heard some of the gossip when she'd first rolled into town. She'd stopped at the gas station and asked if anyone could look at the old pick up truck she'd been driving. The man had directed her to Maz but not without warning her the old woman was a witch who fed on the hearts of men.
Even so, Maz had taken her in, helping her fix the bad exhaust pipe on the truck. Rey had spent a few days helping around the shop to work off her debt and then she'd ended up staying in Niima longer, eventually getting a job at Plutt's and living in the motel. Maz had been the one to help her throughout it all. And not once had she pressured Rey to tell her how or why she'd wound up in the desert town.
For that, Rey would always be grateful.
"Sit," Maz ordered the three of them.
Rey pulled out one of the dining room chairs and sat down, leaning the shotgun against the table next to her. Out of habit, she picked up an alternator bracket and rag from the table and began cleaning it as Maz set about making a pot of coffee.
"Bit of a mess you've landed yourself in, Rey," Maz threw over her shoulder. She busied herself with the coffee pot. Once she'd gotten the coffee going, she used a footstool to reach the upper cabinets and pulled out four mugs.
"Um," the nameless man looked at Kylo and then Rey, clearly confused. "Would you like some help?" he asked Maz.
"You keep quiet," Maz rounded on him.
The old woman may have looked frail but she had the bite of a rattlesnake. She didn't even reach Rey's shoulders but that had never stopped her from standing her ground. Whether it was against a biker trying to talk down the price or one of Snoke's men trying to buy up her land, Maz had never taken anyone's crap.
"Maz," Rey said in a warning tone. "We just need to lay low for the night."
Maz placed a mug in front of each of them and then leaned into Kylo where he sat next to Rey. "Who's this?" She looked him up and down from behind the goggles she was still wearing from working.
Kylo glared back at her, unphased by her frankness. "Nobody," he replied before Rey could come up with an answer.
Pushing the goggles back to rest on top of her head, Maz regarded him for a few more moments before moving on and turning her attention back to the nameless man.
"What are we going to do about you?" Maz looked the man up and down, taking in his rough appearance.
"I just want to get out of this town and as far away from the First Order as I can," he replied.
"The First Order?" Maz raised an eyebrow at this.
"Yes, they're-"
"I know who they are," Maz turned back to the coffee pot which was now mostly full.
The smell of the fresh brew spread throughout the room; it was a comfort to Rey, bringing back old memories of when Maz had let her crash on the couch until she could afford to work out a deal with Snoke's Motel.
"Then you know why we need to run," the man sat forward in his seat, leaning one arm on the table.
Pouring them each a cup of coffee, Maz didn't respond to him. Rey sat aside the bracket to take the coffee mug in her hands, the hot cup warming her cold fingers.
"Do you have any cream and sugar?" Kylo asked when she filled his mug.
"Seriously?" Rey caught his eye and he shrugged in response.
"In the fridge. Sugar's in that tin over there on the counter," Maz pointed it out as Kylo took his mug to dilute the perfectly good coffee.
"Am I the only one here concerned that the First Order is going to murder us?"
With a sigh, Maz sat down at the table on Rey's other side. Kylo took his seat and the three looked at the nameless man before them.
"The First Order can't get to you in here," Maz replied at last.
"A little tin building isn't enough to stop them," Kylo smirked into his mug as if the mere thought of Maz thinking anything otherwise was humorous.
"No, but my wards are."
Rey spun in her seat to face the older woman and Kylo choked on his coffee at her words.
"Your wards?" Rey couldn't even wrap her brain around the statement. Perhaps Maz was crazier than she thought.
"Yes, my wards," Maz shrugged and drank some of her own coffee. "They keep out the First Order's kind."
"Maz," Rey forced her voice to remain calm and even. "What are you talking about?"
"The First Order keeps humans on its payroll. They can get past your wards," the nameless man's voice was on edge, still full of fear. "Or did you miss the part where I walked through the front door?"
"What else would they keep on their payroll?" Rey's voice was a notch higher than before.
She was surrounded by crazy people. That was the only explanation for the turn this conversation had taken. She needed to get back to the bar, finish closing it up, and pretend like none of this had happened.
"You haven't told her?" Maz glared at the two men in turn. "You dragged my Rey into this shitshow and you haven't even told her what she's getting into?"
Kylo sat up straighter, glaring back at the older woman. "There wasn't exactly time," he replied through his teeth.
"And there isn't much time now," Maz nodded her head with a thoughtful look in her eyes. "You," she pointed to Kylo and tossed him a key she pulled from her pocket. "Go downstairs and go into my office. Behind the back bookshelf, there's a door. Take whatever weapons you need."
"Maz-"
"You," Maz turned to the other man, ignoring Rey's questioning tone. "Go downstairs and find something else to wear from one of the lockers."
Neither of them moved but just stared at Maz as if she'd grown another head.
"Move!" she barked, waving her hands at them.
Once the two men had made their way downstairs, Maz turned to Rey and sighed.
"I don't have much time. The boy is right, the First Order will send humans to get past my wards," Maz paused to take another drink of coffee. "You've landed yourself in a mess, Rey."
"Maz," Rey wrapped her fingers tighter around the warm mug in her hands; the heat a horrible reminder that she wasn't dreaming. "What is going on?"
"The First Order is a biker gang of demons," Maz said bluntly.
"D-demons?"
"Yes."
Rey shook her head though in denial or shock, she wasn't sure. She wasn't sure of anything.
"Demons? As in Satan's minions?"
"That's one way to describe them," Maz said into her mug, taking another drink.
"How?"
"Their kind has been around for some time, taking a different name throughout the decades. Now they call themselves the First Order," Maz paused to look at Rey as if gauging her sanity level. "They've been cursed to roam the Jakku desert until the day the one foreseen comes to face them."
"I don't understand," Rey shook her head again. She raised the mug to her lips but then sat it back down without taking a drink.
"It was foretold, an heir, someone of the Skywalker bloodline, would return to Jakku and destroy the demons once and for all. So far, two stepped forward. But each failed in their lifetimes for they were not the true Chosen One." Maz pushed back her chair and went to refill her mug, giving Rey a chance to take in the information. "One still lives, Luke. But he's gone into hiding, swore he would never return to Jakku after his failure."
"Why?"
"A story for another time," Maz replied as she sat back down.
"Then what now? How can they be stopped?"
Maz leaned over to pat Rey's arm. "Come, I have something for you."
Leaving her steaming cup of coffee, Maz left the kitchen and went to the other side of the loft. She leaned down and pulled out a lock box from underneath the bed. Rey joined her, still holding on to the now chilled mug.
"I've been saving these for a time such as this," Maz explained. She took off her necklace that had a small key hanging from the chain which she'd hidden beneath her shirt.
Inside the box where a number of papers and odd things Rey couldn't make sense of. From the box, Maz pulled out two crystals, each attached to a chain.
"This is the only protection I can offer you on such short notice," Maz held out the two necklaces to Rey.
Holding the cup in one hand, Rey reached out for the crystals. They seemed small and insignificant in her hand.
"What do they do?" Rey asked, tilting her hand back and forth, allowing the clear crystals to catch the light.
"They don't do anything. But I cast a protection spell on them," Maz explained. "It's better than nothing."
"Maz," Rey looked to the older woman, almost afraid to ask the question. "Are you a witch?"
Kylo pulled the chain on the light bulb, casting the small room in a dim yellow glow. It was just where Maz had said, behind the shelf in the back of the office, one of those safe rooms people built into their homes. Only Maz had turned it into an armory, stocked full with guns and knives and explosives. The closet size room held more weapons than Kylo had ever seen in one place before.
He made his selections carefully, not wanting to take too much but also knowing they needed all the weapons they could carry.
It had been some time since he'd last seen the First Order. But no amount of time could be long enough. He'd hoped to never see them again.
"Should've left when I had the chance," he grumbled to himself.
If Rey hadn't pointed that damn shotgun at him, Kylo and the Knights of Ren would already have been long gone.
And Rey would still have been in this mess.
Kylo sighed. It was a double edged sword. He would have been gone, far away from the ghosts of his past but Rey still would have helped the other man and been caught up in the clusterfuck.
"Anything good in here?" the nameless man asked as he joined Kylo. He'd changed out of his other clothes and into a simple black shirt and jeans. He looked much less intimidating without all the spikes and chains adorning his clothes.
"Grab that duffle bag," Kylo motioned back to where he'd seen it on the office desk.
The man followed his instructions and brought the bag to Kylo who began loading it with multiple guns and ammunition he'd already selected.
"You know bullets won't kill them."
"No," Kylo agreed. "But they'll slow them down."
Once he'd filled the bag, he grabbed a couple pistols, handing one to the other man and shoving the other into the back waistband of his jeans. He took some knives and hid them among his person until satisfied he had enough.
"Take the bag upstairs," Kylo shoved the old army bag into the man's arms. "I want to double check the doors."
He was just about to lock the room back up when something caught his eye. Along the top of the far wall, mounted on a plaque, an old sword gleamed in the dim light. The hilt was wrapped with black leather and the blade was made from some kind of black steel. It was simple in design but it radiated power.
Without thinking, Kylo reached out for it, wrapping his long fingers around the hilt. The moment he touched it, the air around him swirled and crackled as if some energy were enveloping him.
In an instant, the energy exploded, throwing him back as he struggled to keep his footing. The unseen force echoed around him and the room, knocking guns and boxes of ammo off the shelves.
"It's them!" The other man shouted, his voice carrying throughout the garage. "It's the First Order."
Kylo shook his head, knowing the man was wrong.
"No," he whispered to himself. "This is something else."
The strange force was felt across the Jakku desert, like an earthquake rippling through the land. To those unaware of the sinister world around them, they shrugged it off as nothing more than a natural quake; stranger things had happened in the desert.
But to the rest, they knew it for want it was.
To the First Order, it was the warning they had been preparing for, the incoming storm. It would be their downfall or their ticket to freedom. Throughout the trailer park where Hux and his men waited, a battle cry rang out filled with rage and excitement.
For the Jedi Alliance, it was the sign they'd been waiting for, a sign that not all hope had been lost.
As Poe drove along the highway, headed towards the small town of Niima, he radioed in to headquarters.
"General, did you feel that?"
Leia sighed into his ear piece. "Nothing has changed, Agent Dameron. You are to collect and report. Do not engage."
The line went dead before Poe had the chance to respond.
"Like hell I won't," Poe mumbled to himself.
General Leia was wrong; this changed everything.
The heir had returned.
Leave me your thoughts? I personally really like where this story is going! Lots of plot and smut to come!