The vision had been vivid and just like all the last it has seized her and swallowed her until she was hopelessly entangled in the grip of the Force. A grip she knew she could not escape until it had shown her what it needed her to see.
In warped tones, parlor music lilted from the vents above as she stood in a hazy half there hallway. As she stumbled to get her bearings a trio of children tumbled past her almost knocking her over. She turned and saw a large hulking male barreling after them. Menace dripped from his reptilian eyes and his tusk lined jaw. She stood and leveled her staff to face him but he ripped through her like mist as he ran after the younglings. She gasped as the mirage of herself pulled itself back together before she took off after them down the hall.
The hulking figure shot around the corner and disappeared down somewhere in the maze of dusty dripping browns and musty molding greens. Rey could feel her heart hammering in her chest. She had to find the children.
"H-ello" a timid voice reached out in broken Basic. Rey turned towards the small sound. Tucked into a crevice in the wall was a small rail thin boy. Rey recognized the gaunt tight lines of starvation. She also recognized something else, something more startling. Rippling waves of the force flowed around the boy and through him. He was like her in more ways than one. A kindred spirit. She sat down and placed her back to the boy, covering the crevice with her own equally slight frame. She wasn't sure how much the ghost of herself would hide him but the boy apparently appreciated the gesture. He hiccuped and leaned into her back. Unlike the monster of a man he didn't phase through. To him she was solid and real.
"I called for Jedi to come. For days. You came." He sniffed a relieved sob.
Rey eyes widened. She sighed and shook her head. "I'm no Jedi...I'm not even really here."
The boy shook his head slightly as his tears stained her shirt. "You came. Please help."
Rey looked down at her hands at the constellations of calluses that covered them. How could she refuse? All those years on Jakku she had begged the stars for someone to scoop her up and take her away. She could do it for this boy. She could save him. Jedi or not. She could finally save someone.
"I will but I don't know where to find you."
The boy turned suddenly and gasped. Rey turned with him and standing there at the end of the hall was a dark familiar and bewildered form. The form turned and Rey stood transfixed by the blazing eyes of a man she could not save.
"You!"
"Rey..."
The boy gasped again and tugged Rey's attention away. The shadow of a more present danger lurked down the opposing hall. They were trapped. Rey gripped the little boy by the shoulders.
"Quickly! Tell where you are. I will come for you, I promise!"
The boy answered in a tongue Rey had never heard and pushed past her sprinting away and through the misting form of dark man down into the unknown safety of the maze of halls. Rey stood and turned to face the man left standing before her.
"Still living in the past?" He queried. Rey didn't answer. The dark figure gave a soft snort and an amused smirk twisted the corners of his mouth into something close to a smile.
"It'll be hard to be the parents you never had if you don't know where he is."
Rey bristled at the taunt. "I know where he is!" She huffed. "He just told me."
The eyes simmered down into a softness she missed. "Do you?"
Rey lifted her chin and tried to look unaffected. "I do."
He smiled then, a real smile and shook his head. "You don't."
He crossed the hall towards her until they were face to face. Close enough to touch. Rey flinched but held her ground.
He leaned in closing the distance and whispered in her ear.
"But you will."
And he was gone. The hall was gone and she was left standing in the familiarity of her little room tucked away on the Resistance base. She quickly rushed out of the room and down the hall, hurtling past pilots and mechanics until she found who she was looking for. The tall rickety looking droid was resting in the corner. The lights glinted off the dented gold of his antique covering. He turned at her footsteps and call.
"Threepio!"
"Ah Miss Rey, how was your meditation? I-"
She cut in before the protocol droid could start one of his well known ramblings. The droid was a delight just like all of her mechanical friends but apt to chatter.
"You know a lot of languages right?"
The droid stiffened proudly. "Over 3000 by now I should say."
Rey repeated the jumble of unfamiliar words the boy in the vision had told her. "What does it mean?"
"It's the name of the planet in the native language of the Cantonicans. It's a very distinct language. Quite interesting really."
"Where do they live?"
"From the world of the same name Cantonica. Judging from the dialect I'd say the speaker is from one of the larger oasis. Most likely Canto Bight. You might speak to Miss Tico, she has actually been to the area."
Rey nodded excitedly "Excellent Threepio! Where is she right now?"
The droid shuffled in thought "I believe she is currently with the General."
Rey gave the droid a happy thump on the side casing and dashed off down the hall.
"Thanks Threepio!" She called back behind her.
Canto Bight on Cantonica. She would go there and find the boy. She ran harder down the hall. She would show him. That dark broken man. She would show him that she could save someone even if she couldn't save him. That he wasn't the only one who needed her.