Planet Anthan Prime

18 Years Ago

I watched the stars again, looking up at the midnight sky as I could hear my grandfather open the door behind me at the house we lived in, an old shack of a place that was on the outskirts of town. I couldn't sleep again, my thoughts were back on my parents and how I haven't seen them in years now. It was still haunting me, a bad dream that was a reality. I itched at my implant, feeling how heavy it was against my head and the constant thoughts of my parents looking at it in horror and disgust like they hated what I was.

"What are you doing out here, little one?" He asked me now in a huff as he walked over to the broken down land speeder that we would use on as practice for my mechanic trade. I was getting the hang of it, grime and dirt under my fingers and my mind focusing on tasks at hand. It was enough for me to get by, but not enough to stop thinking about my parents. I sighed, looking over at my grandfather now as he was watching me with sleep in his eyes. He was older in his years. already showing signs of aging and weariness, the wrinkles along his eyes and his calloused hands from years of being a mechanic himself.

"They're not going to come back for me, aren't they?" I asked him in a low tone and signing at the same time, seeing him watch me as I was waiting for an answer that I knew he was not going to give me. I knew the truth, but a part of me still wanted to hear it from him, hoping that I would. He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands and then eyeing me there with those eyes that were both cold and yet loving at the same time.

"You want the truth or a lie?" He asked me and signing as well, having me feel a tear come on my cheek then as I huddled my knees to my chest and rested my chin there on top of my knees, thinking of the worst and another round of rejection and disownment. I hated it, I really did, and it made no sense to me as to why. I tried to understand, I really wanted to understand, but it was still too blurry for me.

"Atta, you know why they gave you to me?" He asked me in his low tone of a gruff.

"Because they hated me and they didn't want a cripple," I muttered back to him, seeing a hint of a flicker of anger there on his face as I said that about myself. He then pointed his finger at me, automatically knowing that I was in on a world of hurt.

"Never call yourself that, ever! You understand me, child?" he signed to me with his hands, then pointing at me again, having me look at him now as the anger was flooding his face. He hated that word like it was its own kind of demon that he didn't want to wake up. I stayed quiet, seeing him lower his finger at me as he then stood next to the junked vessel, resting his arm there and looking at the stars too with the weathered eyes he harbored.

"Your parents were bred to think perfection is the way to go in this world. In my opinion, there's no such thing as being perfect, not at all. Hell, I grew up that place and I got sick of it, which was why I left after your father was old enough to make his own damn decisions. I didn't want to be part of a society that shames people who are different," He explained to me in a softer manner, having me look at watch him in observation. He looked sad when he talked about it, my father and how he left that very place where he came from. It shocked me since we never really talked about and he would avoid it like the plague.

"Broke my heart when your father brought you to me, because I knew then what kind of a parent he turned out to be: the kind I wished he wasn't. He knew I wasn't going to turn you away, and I didn't. You're still my granddaughter, my blood. I don't care if you're as stupid as a rock or if you can't hear out of both years, I ain't gonna let you lose in the world when I know I can good work in you." He recited to me then as he looked at me with a hint of love there. He then reached out for my hand, having em reluctantly take it and hop down from sitting on top of the vessel. Once I touched the ground, he then went down on his knees to be eye level with me, placing his hands on my shoulders to have my full attention.

"You are not a cripple," He signed to me in almost a vow, "You are a strong young woman who will not be moved by what you lack. Make your weakness your strength, don't make it something that will hold you back. I know you are very much your heritage, intelligent and beautiful and kind. Don't ever remember that."

Since that night, I never doubted myself again.

Space near Planet Kessel

3 Years ago

"Keep your eyes open! We need to keep them off the planet and not have any of them land!" I heard it within my earpiece as I was moving my own X-Wing over to the outer area of the planet, where another run of TIE fighters were about to go into the planet to fight the humans and Wookies that lived there. The First Order was trying to infiltrate the planet, at least, get more planets under their control that were not willing to come over to their side. It was getting more and more out of hand, but the Resistance was going to help in any way that we could, including fending off the First Order TIW Fighters that were harming other planets that had no real reason to be in the middle of our war.

"I spy two of them on the right," I said into my own communicator now as two TIE fighters were coming over in my direction, having em get the cannon ready with the flick of the wrist on the control pad. I shot at one, the other making a dive making it out of the way now as the other exploded with a busted wing, having me grin and then hearing the other one below me, trying to shoot at me from his spot. I moved to the right, trying to both confuse him as to where I was going and what I was doing. Mostly, I wasn't trying to stay still at that point.

BB-3 starting chirping at me in a mad kind of way, warning me about the one below as I barrel rolled out of the way from a shot that was coming our way. We barely skimmed it, having me hear the unit chip at me again in annoyance.

"I know what I'm doing, just hang on!" I said to the droid now as I saw one of the other pilots, Novak, being tailed by at least three other TIE fighters, making me feel a bit of panic rising up in my chest, "Novak, you have three on your tail."

"I'm trying to fend them off, nothing's working!" Novak said back to me in my helmet as I flew over to where he was, thinking that I would, at least, have to help him. But then right that was below me was right behind me again, getting too close for me comfort and having me think of a plan, execrating my X-Wing towards the two TIE fighters that were right on Novak.

"Atta, what are you doing?" Poe asked me now in worry as I was going faster and faster now, seeing the plan in my head and thinking that it was going to work. I knew it was going to work, didn't I?

"Hang tight, BB-3!" I said to my droid now as I was close enough to make my move, I barrel rolled again to the side. The TIE Fighter behind me crashed into one of the fighters about to hit Novak, the two of them exploding in the air and I whirled around to make it to the side where the last two TIE fighters were, hitting them a few times with the cannon before they knew what was going on. They took exploded, having four of them down and then sighing in relief.

"WOO!"

"That was intense!"

"What to fly that thing!"

I could hear the plenty of pilots that were there cheering for me as I kept flying, almost having my own heart feel warm and soothed at the same time. It was the first time that they have done that to me, praised me in a mission that we went on and sounding genuine about it. This made me smile widely, the sound of appreciation and praise from them all made me fell, for the first time in a long time, that true meaning of acceptance from others. Even after my grandfather told me not to worry about what others thought of me, this still felt pretty good,

Pretty damn good.

Planet D'Qar

"Great flying." They were all saying that to me when we landed back at the base, walking by me as I was sitting on my wing again and smiling at each of them. We were relieved that we got the First Order away from Kessel, and once we returned, we were going to celebrate that night for the victory that we brought. Novak was the last one to come around with the pilots, walking over to me now as I noticed out of the corner of my eye Poe talking to BB-8 about something, but his eyes were glancing at me every once in awhile.

"Thanks, for saving me back there," Novak said to me with his trademark stunning smile. He was another golden boy of a pilot around there, not as good as Poe, but he knew that. He was still good enough, a little rough around the edges, but I still smiled at him as we shook hands.

"You would have done the same for me, I figured," I replied back, seeing him nod in agreement as we released hands and walked away. At least, I hoped that he and the others would do the same for me as Poe walked over to me then, looking up at me with the twinkle in his eye. He then crawled up the ladder, coming to my eye level as he made his own seat there on the wing and he tilted his head at me in pure curiosity. The only time he would do that is when something was really on his mind.

"How did you learn how to do that anyhow?" Poe asked me in wonder, having me shrug my shoulders

"It was natural," I said to him, signing the word natural without thinking about it. He looked at me in confusion, having me look down at my hands and how they moved on their own accord without me realizing it. It was a habit for me, to sign while I spoke. I've done it since I was little, even with my grandfather because it was practice for me. But now it made me feel a bit embarrassed because I hardly did it in front of the pilots, I stopped my singing in order to get acceptance from them and no longer be seen as a freak.

"What was that?" He asked me, pointing to my hands there in my lap. I grinned, almost sheepishly as he was asking it like it was a genuine question.

"Sign. I learned when I was younger to help me communicate when my hearing was really bad," I explained to him, fiddling with my hands a bit now as he was looking more interested. I placed both of my hands up in front of me, "It's like talking with your hands," I signed and talked at the same time, seeing his face almost light up from what he was seeing in front of him.

"You're really good at it," he complimented me, having me shrug.

"I've done it forever, it's easy for me," I admitted to him, seeing him shift a bit there on the X-Wing.

"Can you teach me?" He asked, almost making me give him a shocked look. He wanted to learn Sign, a language that I felt like barely anyone knew. It felt like hew as trying to get to know me more and more, and this was one way he was trying to do it. I then grabbed his wrist of his dominated hand, and he looked a bit shocked now as I got his fingers in the right spot to fingerspell.

"P," I said aloud, then moving them again to make the circle, "O," and once more, resting his thumb horizontal under the tips of his fingers, "E. There, you just spelled your name." I watched him try and redo what I just did to him, stumbling with the P and I had to fix him. But after a few tries, he got it down and I watched with a small smile on my face as he did it over and over again, excitement was all over his smile and his face.

"Thanks," he said to me in a genuine manner, almost soft like the wind that was picking up that day. It made something shift in my stomach there, a good shift that I never felt before.

"You're welcome," I murmured back to him, the shift was sneaking up to my chest now and over to where my heart was. It was funny, how I never felt this when I was around him before, up until then when we were sitting in front of each other and how I taught him how to sign his name. I didn't know whether it was because I was letting him in, little by little, into the part of my life I wanted to forget and not ring up, or that he was still so kind to me and seeing me past my hearing disability, but I felt as though I was seeing him in a new light, a romantic kind of way.

"Okay, teach me a new one!"

Planet Jakku

Niimo Trading Post

Present Day

I walked back out into the open sun again, sighing in agitation now from what just happened and feeling like I was getting nowhere close to where I wanted to be. I was on a foreign planet, no real way to get a hold of the Resistance to find a way home, my leg was still injured and at this point it felt like it was on fire, and there was no one there that was going to help me out. I moved my hair from sticking to the back of my neck, thinking that if I was going to get out of there, I would have to find my own way now and think myself. I looked over to see the salvage yard that was behind that main structure, seeing from the vessels that were there and having an idea that she could find some of a way to contact someone through one of the communication consoles.

So I ran, or hobbled if I was going to be specific.

I bolted over, thinking that I had a little time to work with since someone would be seeing me running over and then they would try to fend me off of it. Every step was a huge sting down my leg, but it made me move faster now. I had little time to work, and the time was ticking as I got my hands on the first thing that I saw: a larger vessel that looked like it hasn't been used for years. It was Airspeeder, sitting in the corner there and I got there just in time to hop into the drivers seat, looking at the controls and seeing more of the dust and lack of maintenance on the thing. It was kind of sad really, but I had to find the communications part of the console. There, on the left where the controls were and I tapped it a few times, in hopes that it would work. It didn't, having me sigh and reach into my bag again to grab my tools to tweak it out and ready for use.

"She's in my speeder!" I shot my head up from hearing that same voice from before, seeing a couple of his goons running over to me from far off and I had to finally decided to fix it later, start it up now and get out of there. I turned it on, hearing it him to life as I wrapped my fingers around the controls and got it moving. It was jerky at first, but once I had the movements down after a few seconds I finally was able to mailer my way out of the salvage yard and through the opening, those goons were after me and trying to shoot at me to slow me down. But I was gunning it, thinking I had no other choice as I tried the communicator again. It was still on avail now as I was speeding out of the town.

This was not what I had planned, and I knew I couldn't get far in a vehicle like this, I had no idea what to do or where to head to next. I was still riding along the surface of the sand when my implant was going off again, it was catching something within the communication waves. I tapped it with my finger, thinking that I was just hearing something, and it was just my imagination. But I was right: Something or someone was talking on a communicator of some sort.

"We can't fend them off, not by ourselves!"

"We can sure as hell try!"

"Poe?" I asked aloud to myself, thinking that I just heard his voice on the communicator now, talking with another person. He was still here, on the planet? What in the hell happened? Was this another trick, that I was overthinking him too much once more now as I was speeding along in the middle of nowhere. But then again it sounded so clear in my head that he was there, and he needed help. I had no other option really, and whoever was in trouble might be able to help me get into a ship and back to the base.

What the hell.

I tapped another button on my implant, hearing the coordinates of where the message came from and I started to press it into the console there in the vehicle, the old one to be precise, and it popped up there. Finally, I had a heading as I moved over in the direction of where it was taking me. Sure, this seemed risky, but I had nothing else to really rely on. Plus it would be wrong for me to ignore the call that was coming in and just try to go on my own. I had no heart for ignoring those in need since I was once one who was in need and I had to be saved. Or last, I thought I had to be.

Time to be the savior.

After flying over there for a few minutes, I saw it in the horizon: a small black mass of a speeder itself and several tiny dots that must have been the beings there that were crying for help. One of them and to be Poe, I knew it in my gut that it was him that I heard in my communicator. I made me go a bit faster, thinking that I was going to see what I thought was true in my head.

When I was close enough, I took out my blaster to have it ready as the time small forms were getting bigger and looking more like beings, and I could now fully tell that there was a scuffle. There were, at least, four of one kind of being, all of the time looking scruffy and in black attire, hitting and trying to rob from my own point of view to others who were trying to defend themselves. Still felt obligated enough to help the two that were trying to fend them off, thinking that it was not right for me to leave and let them take care of it since they looked like they were in trouble on their end.

I shot at one of the men, apparently part of a clan as the others saw me, looking confused with the other others now getting the rest of them themselves. I stopped the speeder now, hoping out with a grunt as I landed on my bummed leg and aiming at the last one standing that was about to strike one of the men I was defending, hitting square in the back. When he fell to the ground, sighing in defeat, I finally saw who it was that I defended.

Poe.

"Atta?" he asked out of the blue, seeing me and having me feel like I was about to cry in relief. He wasn't dead, he was alive and well there on the planet. I thought the worst, that he was with the First Order since I saw him being dragged away and to his death. I thought my heart broke then, that my heart was a hollow shell. But he was there, looking right at me as I dropped the blaster from my hand onto the floor within a second. Tears were in my eyes as he walked over to me briskly, finally reaching me and wrapping his arms around me. I hugged him back, feeling him against me to make sure that this was a reality, not a dream. He cradled my neck with his hand as his other arm was around my waist, breathing me in as I did the same to him.

We were reunited again.

I pulled away from him, seeing his face in front of me and the dry blood there near his lip, upon the top of his head near his hair and the look of fatigue written in his eyes. He stared at me too, seeing the dirt there and my own dry blood near my head and some of the blaster mark on my face. before he could say anything to me, I finally smacked him across the arm, seeing him retreat back a bit and give me a look of shock.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" I said to him before he could even react to me, "I thought you were dead! I was scared, real scared." I felt like it was spilling over me, just seeing him there and knowing that he was alive. He then held me there again, having me calm down there in his embrace and try to find my own self again. I didn't know why I spilled it all on him at once like it was wave after wave of what I was feeling for the past few hours or so. I had to get it out somehow, and happened to be right there. He pulled away from me again and I saw him giving me a kind look, a sincere one that we would share together and I saw the pain there in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," He signed and said it to me at the same time, "It's okay now, it's alright now. Okay?" He asked me, having me nod in agreement as he pressed our forehead together, breathing it in one more time there in the desert and I did the same. There was nothing else to really fear since we both were going to get out of this place for good and not have to look back.

"Let's get out of here," I said to him in a low murmur, since we were so close to one another and I felt him move his head against my own in agreement.

"We're going home."