***authors note:
Stretching my star wars legs. I've never written in this fandom, or any fanfic to be honest. I've read plenty of twilight as well as recently lots of reylo. Forgive me if I don't get details right, I have only watched the movies in the last year.
I'm playing with their ages and age gap since this is before the destruction of the temple and the creation of kylo ren persona. (Ben 21, Rey 18)
On to the story!***
The desert sand was not forgiving. Rey wiped her brow squinting to see how far it is from the starship she's on to her speeder and decided to haul the parts in two trips. Even though she could do them at the same time, she was low on rations and desperately wanted a drink of water. Besides, there was not much of a hurry to get to Plutt and the outpost. She'd just be waiting in line for longer than it would take for her to make the two trips. Her parts weren't that desperate for cleaning, a few minutes and they should be perfect for trading.
Rey adjusted her staff on her back and hoped that she doesn't have to use it today. On good days, she doesn't. Rey had built up her reputation carefully so that the regulars in line with her knew her skill with the staff, and that she protected what she found. She worked alone.
Others sometimes paired up to get at hard to reach or particularly heavy pieces, but her advantage lies in her small build, flexibility, and bravery. She could slide into places that others wouldn't be able to and because of that Plutt didn't shortchange her too much. Well, most of the time anyways. But she couldn't very well raise her staff to him, so her options were limited when it came to exchanging portions for what she found.
When she finally got the second armful loaded on the back of her speeder, she gave it a dark look, muttering that it better cooperate. She just changed the fuel line-it had been sputtering too much for her liking-since she doesn't want to lose her transportation, no matter how old it may be, it helped Rey get further than the others. Few of them had the ability to fix up anything they may find, much less be able to pilot. She got lucky about four years ago to find a display panel from a Y wing, and it helped Rey to study schematics and they even had flight simulation programs. She studied whenever the weather didn't cooperate or else at night when it's not safe to be out. She loved to learn about how languages are different and the same across species and planets. It also gave Rey an advantage when off-worlders come to do business with Plutt.
The sun reached a low enough angle that at least she didn't have to squint on the way back but her stomach rumbled, her mouth was dry and Rey hoped that her calculations on the length of the line was correct because her bladder was uncomfortably full. But when she got into view, there were far more people crowded around the outpost than she would have expected and sped up a bit to see what the fuss was about. Maybe it was the trader who sometimes handed out those delicious treats that are called candy that fizz on your tongue. They were such a delight and the opposite from the bland portions that sustained Rey from day to day.
As she got closer, Rey saw that it wasn't a trader at all, but a woman dressed in white. Two men leaned against a post near her, one older and rugged, but it was the second that made her heart skip a beat. He met her eyes as she parked and grabbed her parts. His black hair reached past his ears and he had a haunted expression that softened when he winked at her. Then he turned back to face the woman. He had her nose and cheekbones so she figured it must be his mother.
She just wondered why they were there, because Rey hadn't seen them before and their refined clothes didn't fit in with the population of scavengers surrounding them.
**Author's note: I like happy endings, however I am all about some angst to get there. So welcome aboard the Reylo pain train. Final destination HEA with so many stops along the way.
Also, this story deals with self-harm, sexual situations, depression, bullying (in one chapter), and violence.