Author's Note: Hello! So sorry I took an extended break! I wanted to take a bit of time to really know where this story is going without writing myself into a pickle. Bear with the darker Rey for now. She's headed for happier times. I wanted to lay a seed of what might happen in the next few chapters in this one. It's a reveal some may find out of nowhere for a certain character, but conflict has no discernable preference for Force users these days. I'll see you in the next update! It should be in the next few days!

Also, I'm totally unaware of the mechanics of ships and speeders, so I apologize in advance if those conversations are kept vague. And while I am using a map of Jakku for reference, I decided to take a few creative decisions with the landscape to fit into my story. Nothing major. Just letting you know!

Happy reading!

CHAPTER 15

Jakku

REY

Smoke rose from the tents at Niima Outpost: at least from the ones left standing. The only structure in moderate condition was Unkar's concession stand. As Ben piloted the Falcon down, Rey stood up, eyes wide as she surveyed the corpses littering about the outpost. Blood stained the sand, though the wind had done its job in trying to cover up the evidence by carrying the stained grains away.

"Jannah, stay with Desren on the ship. Don't let anything happen to it."

The scavenger raced around the curve of the hall until she stood at the ramp. Pressing the button, Rey leapt down even before the craft safely landed. Closely behind her, Finn shouted her name, though he was all but forgotten as she ran toward the outpost. Whipping her saber into her palm, she slowed her pursuit once she reached the fence line, more bodies hidden by rubble and fallen stalls were exposed from the ground.

"No…"

The world blotted behind a curtain of tears. A thick ball of shrapnel lodged in her throat as the pit of her stomach twisted like a knife stuck in her gut. Rey gasped, jerking back when her foot accidentally kicked someone's boot. Bending down, she tossed back a thick cloth cover for the trinket stall she'd always admired as a girl. The wares were melted or covered in bloody dirt. Unveiling the body, Rey shivered as she searched it for evidence of the story that had taken place here. She didn't recognize this person, but upon further examination, this woman was killed by a blaster: six blasts total on her torso alone.

When she pulled her hand back, this woman's blood stained it. Standing up, Rey felt the cold substance drip from her fingertips as she gripped her other hand tightly around her saber. Fisting her bloodied hand, she wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist and sniffled. Ben ignited his saber behind her, moving closer to her as other sets of footsteps followed soon after. She sensed him reaching for her, but she stepped away from him, keeping her back to the rest of them.

"Blasters. They were massacred by blasters."

"Rey…" Ben's voice tightened, breaking each time she slipped from his attempts to hold her.

Blinking more tears away, the scavenger walked carefully over the charred tents, bodies, and items, making her way to the concession stand. "Unkar!"

The closer she got to it, though, she saw Unkar's thugs lifeless around it. The wind whistled past her ears, and eventually, the only things she heard were her footsteps scratching against the sand, the sound of her thrashing heartbeat, and the quick breaths that made her head light. Rey stood still, but the stand switched from closer to farther as a tunnel sharpened her vision. Cold, quiet screams picked up as the wind delivered the secrets of what transpired here to her.

Voices trickled in, sliding over her sharpened senses attuning single sounds, but what her companions talked about remained a mystery. For so long, she'd suffered patiently under the harsh Jakku heat. Its elements were treacherous, but there was beauty buried beneath the pain. Back at her AT-AT, she'd found the plant barely flourishing. That plant had kept her from turning down the path that most on this waste of a planet traversed. She'd only hurt others when they'd attacked her. Everything she'd done had granted her to live another day while she fooled herself to waiting just one more day for a family she'd never know.

Rey's chest caved as the pain sank too deep. Looking down at the sand, the scavenger's body trembled, and the Dark whispered in her mind, though not even the Force could steal her focus. Nothing could distract her from her slow approach to the concession stand. It remained open, and when Rey approached the stand, she calmly set her deactivated saber flat against the inspection table.

"My Girl!" the Blobfish cheered. He'd never sounded more relieved to see her. Even when she found him all the perfect parts for his growing collection of ships and other assorted machinery. "You came back," he celebrated. Until his eyes fixed on her deactivated lightsaber.

"You know what this is, right?" Rey swallowed, and she didn't know how she was able to speak. Her voice was too thick and scratchy to be hers.

Plutt shifted his attention from her to the saber for at least a minute. In all her life, she had never possessed as much patience as she spared this man right now. He sank back, expunging air from his chest as he observed the others behind her. "Where did you get that?"

"Before the Force, I could hurt you only a few dozen ways. I didn't think about it too often, but when you ever cheated me of the correct portions for my stash, only when I thought my stomach was slowly eating my body from the inside out, did I desperately picture how I could end you."

"The F-Force?"

Rey's features flattened. "I think you know there are now thousands of possibilities, Unkar Plutt."

"My Girl…" The Blobfish laughed uncomfortably, raising his hands and his eyes darting to the others. " I didn't do this! They killed my men!"

"You run this whole operation. Each and every scavenger is at your mercy, Unkar. What happened?"

"Rey…"

"I can take whatever I want, Unkar."

Unkar's breaths came in short waves. The longer she stared at him, the more panicked he became. "Alright, My Girl. Months ago, the troopers came, and we arranged the standard agreement. Parts in exchange for portions. I thought, at first, it was just a handful of them. I... may have undercut their portions on rare occasions. But when they found my stash of portions, they stole everything and made my whole network theirs. They gave me little choice than to serve them."

"Why did they slaughter this outpost? Why are you still alive?"

"A man and his daughter got caught up in one of their ships in the graveyard. They took his girl and left him out to die, but he made it back here. He rallied a few dozen of my scavengers to try and pressure them to give him his girl back. That's when we found out there were a few thousand of them held up in the graveyard. They paid us a visit early yesterday and...things got a bit messy."

"Why...are you still alive?"

"The troopers need access to my suppliers for rations. More than a hundred of them came here and shot up the bulk of my remaining scavengers. The rest will slowly die in the desert...too afraid to come here now. I only have enough portions for me to sit here and wait for my guys to bring in more for their stash."

Wiping her eyes, Rey reached for her saber and slipped it on her belt. "Jakku is officially under the control and protection of the Gray Order. I will deal with the ex-stormtroopers, and you will live out the rest of your days here at the service of the scavengers, which you will fairly compensate."

"Another Order? First I've heard of it…" he grumbled.

Finn moved until his chest hit her back. Leaning down, he reached for her arm and whispered, "Gray Order? Rey what's going on?"

Hearing Ben sigh behind her, he dragged Finn away from the scavenger, who ignored her friend. "We'll fill you in later."

"Get your hands off of me!"

Turning, Rey watched as Finn looked up to Ben, eyes glistening with uncharacteristic anger. Hatred. Gently letting the Force brush against her mind, Rey sensed a dark conflict moving through him. The pit in her stomach engorged on all she felt, but she closed her eyes and prayed for the patience that had, at one point, come so easily to her.

"Careful, Finn," Ben hissed, eyes narrowing and teeth bared. "We'll talk about everything later."

"I'm the Co-General of the Resistance, Solo. You don't get to order me around."

The Force buzzed around Anakin. When the scavenger looked over to Skywalker, she took stock of the curious expression he sent to Finn: eyes narrow, mouth tight and flat, throat bobbing as lifted his head and shared a brief look with her. He saw something she could not. Rey watched him as he withdrew his saber and ignited it, doing nothing but standing close to Ben and Finn.

Ben coiled his hands into tight, shaking fists. A sardonic chuckle eased from his throat. "Don't threaten me."

Finn stepped toward her husband, chin shaking as his features twitched. "Or what, Ren? Are you gonna kill me?"

A grumble interrupted the tension, and Padme pulled Ben away from Finn. Tears poured down her face, and she covered her mouth, head shaking the longer she took in the horror surrounding them. "This is not the time nor the place. We're surrounded by a mass grave. Show some respect for them and Rey."

The need to focus cut the scavenger to her gut, so she shook her head, waiting to give them her back only when Ben and Finn stood apart. The scavenger removed her attention from them and instead focused on Unkar Plutt. "Do we have a deal?"

Sighing, the Blobfish stared at Rey's outstretched hand. Eventually, he took it. "Why are you doing this? I see it in your eyes, My Girl. You want me dead."

"You once took a girl at her parents' request. You gave that girl a means to survive, which she did. My debt is paid in full. I no longer owe you anything," Rey said. Looking around, she looked away from all the chaos around them. "You will bury each and every body properly. They deserve more respect and dignity in death."

"There's no one to help me, My Girl." Though he chose to press her patience, Rey sensed the fear that ran his blood cold.

The scavenger regarded him, her eyes and expression cold and venomous. "Help? You killed your help," Turning, Rey saw her old speeder underneath a dingy cloth across the way from two others. "Are those speeders fueled?"

Unkar grumbled. "Enough for at least a week within generous use."

"We'll be back in a few days."

The scavenger shoulder hit Finn's on her way toward the speeders. Emotions circulated in her mind, and something cold pressed against her heart, but Rey could not be swayed. Life out here was hard enough. It was time someone did something about it all. The more she let go of the fury swelling in her chest, the more of reality Rey became aware of.

"REY!"

Pausing, Rey stopped and threw her hues over her shoulder. Sweat drenched his skin, and his chest heaved like he'd been struck. The Finn before her looked exactly like the man desperate to flee Jakku those years ago. Eyes scanning the others, she saw that Padme sobbed against Anakin. Skywalker fought between opposing emotions, though the anger subsided slightly when Ben reached for his shoulder. Her husband surprised her by giving her some space to deal with Finn alone for the moment.

Finn invaded her personal space, blocking the others from view. "The Gray Order? What was that back there?"

"You wanted us to raise a new generation of Jedi, Finn, and I can't do that; however, I've seen what running does. Masters Yoda and Luke exiled and allowed the Force to cripple under an Empire and First Order. I'm no master, let alone a Jedi, but the four of us briefly discussed it. The Jedi Order, the Resistance. Let it be a part of something that course corrects the galaxy's future."

"Sounds like you're thinking like a dictator, Rey."

Rey stepped closer to her friend, eyes dark and temper dangerous. Pointing to the outpost, the scavenger's body trembled, and she moved closer to him until their noses almost touched. "Corpses stain the sand just paces from us! Some of them I knew...grew up with." Grabbing his face with her bloodied hand, she snarled, the anger intoxicating her. When he tried to move from her, she froze his body with the Force, her fingers smearing the nearly dried blood on his darker skin. "The Dark side swells within me, Finn. Of that you may have some hesitation to trust me, sure, but I would never persistently remind you of what frightens you the most."

Finn jittered under her control, struggling to speak but unable to do so. His eyes watered until the tears were too heavy to hold. A battle raged within him, but her own emotions threatened to best her for the moment. Maintaining what was left of her control was her top priority until she could put great distance between her and the outpost. However, with each time Finn and her were together, he'd always made her feel dangerous in one way or another. Much like he constantly reminded Ben of who he had once been, that Rey was a Palpatine in any way held a grand significance in the thin thread stitching their friendship.

Was he trying to make her lose control? The thought was as ridiculous as it was of a small betrayal on her part. Finn had always believed in her. In a very small but significant way, he'd helped her stay away from going to the Dark side with Kylo Ren. Her friend always made her feel loved and wanted: everything she imagined a brother should have been. They were family. No matter what he struggled with, she should not think him capable of intentionally hurting her.

Searching his eyes, her expression cracked, softening the more time the guilt had to nest in her heart. Tears distorted the world around her as they fell down her face. "I am a Palpatine, Finn, but I'm not Palpatine. I will never be Darth Sidious. I'm not here to slaughter the stormtroopers. We're here to save those who wish to see a peaceful galaxy. Of that you have my word."

When she let go of him, Finn shuddered back, looking away. The blood smeared on his face went ignored. Instead, he tried stepping toward her. She fell back a step. "Rey..." His voice cracked, and only then did her tears shed.

Rey shook her head and grabbed her stomach, the ache building until she stood breathless before her friend. Swallowing, she tried to steady her erratic breaths. "I-I'm going to need help with these speeders." Three of them that looked operable. "I would suggest us going back to my AT-AT, but it's open and rather vulnerable if these stormtroopers have any kind of ships. It'll take about four hours' ride on these speeders, but there is a cave system in one of the larger ships in the Graveyard of Giants. The Falcon fit when we were leaving Jakku those years ago. The ship will provide us enough cover, and the caves have an underground spring we can use. We'll have enough shade, so you won't be too exhausted from the constant heat."

Anakin moved toward her, holding Padme's hand. Even on a deserted, barren graveyard of a planet was this woman breathtaking. Her beauty had little to do with the unfortunate garb she wore, which would have been appropriate had they landed on Naboo. The scavenger hoped the ambassador had more suitable clothing once they arrived at their destination.

"Do you forget where I come from, Rey?" Skywalker said, approaching one of the speeders. Padme walked at his side, only letting go of his hand when he searched it. "Tatooine is not unlike this planet. I see sand, and I feel heat. This is just great." In their brief time together, she'd never heard him whine. Rey would have laughed had the circumstances been different.

Padme placed a hand on his back and rubbed up and down a few seconds. "It could always be much worse, Ani."

"Ben?" Rey turned over her shoulder, eyes searching for the other half of their dyad. She reached out for him, and he took her palm even though it was stained in the blood. "You'll beat us there on the Falcon, so wait for us inside the fallen starship. Don't go in the caves without me. Take Artoo, Padme, Jannah, and Desren. Finn, Anakin, and I will ride on these speeders. They won't attract as much attention like the Falcon would."

Ben cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead. "Reach out for me if you need anything." Squeezing her hand once, he reached for a canteen and poured water on their joined hands before letting go. Most of the blood was washed away.

The scavenger leaned her head against his chest, but a metal squeal made her jump. Anakin had torn a panel off one of the other two speeders and now tinkered with a few wires and parts. Rey softly chuckled. "Not up to your standard?"

"No, this model of speeder is quite old and was rather popular on Tatooine back when I was a boy. In its current condition, there's no way this will keep up with you two, so I'm overriding a few things to help give it a boost." Anakin knelt down and reached just on the inside with his mechanical arm, narrowing one eye as he worked on the speeder. After a few seconds, he ripped one of the parts out and threw it on the ground.

"You about done?" Finn asked, arms crossing as he leaned back against the last speeder. "I'd rather not stay here any longer."

Rey saw Ben roll his eyes, and Anakin stalked toward Padme, the two of them sharing a brief but touching kiss. He whispered something to her, and the scavenger moved toward her old speeder, shoving her print on the reader to start it. After all this time, Rey was shocked no one had bypassed her print scan. It was clear Unkar had claimed it for himself after she took off in the Falcon.

Finn got on his speeder, and Anakin soon followed. Rey pointed west, and Anakin took off. She'd be able to catch up to him with ease if she left in under ten seconds. Finn was the next to leave the outpost. Before she followed suit, she looked to Ben.

Don't hesitate to search my memories if you get turned around.

Ben walked to her speeder and reached up, his hand resting on her thigh. Thumb brushing her softly, his mouth lifted. "I'm not sure how much more we can push the Falcon. These speeders will help us stay mobile without killing her."

"Most of the parts we need may still be in the ship we're heading to," Rey answered, biting her lip as she watched Anakin and Finn get smaller on the horizon. "I'll see you." When Ben's hand slipped from her body, Rey sped off after Anakin and Finn.

Consider leaving your thoughts in the form of a review before you leave. :)