Chapter 3
Minutes Earlier….
R2, having just seen Ben wander away from the repair shop towards another small child, turned and wheeled back into the repair store to alert Anakin, Padme, Leia and Keely about Ben's disappearance. As R2 wheeled into the repair store, Anakin was standing with the stall owner alongside Padme as Leia and Keely stood behind them watching. R2 rolled up to Leia and Keely and quietly started whistling and beeping alerting them to his presence.
"R2, what's going on?" Keely asks as Leia looks around "Where's Ben?" She asks worryingly as R2 whistles even more before he turns and begins to exit the store. Leia hurries to follow him "Come on, mom and dad will be fine, I need to find Ben" she tells her before she and Keely hurried from the store
Present….
Ben saw Rey retreat further into her hiding place as the large figure emerged from his own store, his small eyes glaring angrily around the marketplace as Ben sensed that the more he angrily shouted, the more Rey hid. "Please don't let him find me" Rey quietly whispers as the figure's voice bellowed once more "Where is that girl!?" He snarls before he begins to move over towards where Ben was where he suddenly and angrily knocks the table Rey had been hiding under aside startling shoppers nearby
His eyes then spotted Rey, avoiding his gaze. "There you are girl!" He snaps leaning down to reach for her arm but not before Ben steps in front of her. "No, leave her alone!" He cries as the figure, who Ben was unaware was shop owner and trader Unkar Plutt, coldly stares down at him
"Out of the way brat!" He snaps "She's mine" he tells him attempting to move around the young boy but Ben stood his ground, standing protectively before Rey. "She's scared of you, leave her alone!" He warns as Unkar snarls "Her parents left her in my care, that means I'm in charge of her, now scam" he snaps.
Unkar is just about to raise a large, fat hand to shove Ben out of the way before he hears a firm, angry voice. "Don't touch my son!" They warned as Ben looked to see his mother, aunt Keely and R2 running towards them. Unkar snarls "He's stopping me from carrying out my business" he warns as Ben, refusing to move, looks over at his mother.
"I was protecting someone mom" he argues tilting his head behind him as Leia and Keely then saw Rey behind him. Keely then moved over and knelt down "Hello little one" she softly speaks holding out a hand "It's alright, I won't hurt you" she tells her seeing Rey's teary eyes look over at her. She shakes her head "He's angry" she sniffs as Leia moves over towards Unkar
"If she's yours as you claim why is she refusing to answer to you?' Leia asks as Unkar glares down at her "Because she's a runaway brat and refuses to learn her place" he replies right as another voice joins them "Who refuses to learn their place?' They asked as Leia, Keely, Ben and Unkar all turned to see Anakin and Padme, having been alerted to the angry outbursts and commotions, now moving over towards them
"It's my new friend grandpa, she needs our help" he tells him as Padme kneels beside Keely, looking at Rey. "Come on out sweetheart" she tells her. Rey is silent for a moment before she gently and slowly takes Padme's hand then takes Keely's hand in the other and steps out however it is in that moment Unkar suddenly decides to pull her from Keely's grasp
However Anakin is fast and grabs his hand "No, she's clearly afraid of you" he warns her as Leia looks over at her father. "He says her parents left the girl in his charge" she explains as Anakin, trying to ignore the memories of his early life as a slave, looks straight at Unkar. "Is she your slave?' He asks almost choking on the last word.
Unkar scoffs "Not my slave just in my care" he warns "And I'm keeping her in line" he explains as Anakin sensed that when he said in line he meant it with violence and abuse. Anakin looks around at Leia, Ben, Keely, Padme and Rey before he turns back over towards Unkar. "If she's not your slave, then you won't mind if we take her into our care" he informs him.
Unkar glares back at him as Anakin releases his grip on his hand. "Fine" he scoffs "She refuses to listen to me anyway" he snaps turning to head back into his store as Ben looks over at his grandpa before he runs over through his arms around him. "Really grandpa, she can stay with us?' He asks as Anakin looks over at Padme, who was holding Rey in her arms. "Yes, she's with us now" he informs them before Leia then spoke
"But Ben don't run off like that again" she warns as Ben nods "Sorry mom" he replies as Keely then spoke "So much for keeping a low profile" she confesses as Anakin gives a small smile. "Well, it was necessary" he admits "Come on, we're close to securing the deal with the hyperdrive engine" he tells them leading them back over towards the stall. Ben looks over at his grandmother who was holding Rey, her head resting against her shoulder, he saw her quietly looks back at him giving him a small smile back at him as they met up with the owner once again.
However, none of them had noticed the lowly disguised figure at the back of the marketplace, who had witnessed all the commotion and unfortunately for Anakin and his family, had recognised them through their disguises.
The figure activated their com link "I've our targets" they spoke "Excellent, keep them sight and send us your coordinates" they replied. The figure then pressed another button on his comm before he stealthy moved closer but out of the sight of his targets.
Henry watched his brother pace up and down for what seemed like the 50th time that morning. It was almost noon and the Millennium Falcon had still not arrived and what was worst, was that they were unable to contact any of their family.
"We would have sensed in the force if something had happened right?' Henry asked as Luke nods before he spoke "Yes, but no communication at all, not even to say they've stopped for additional supplies, something's wrong" he points out as Henry then had a thought.
"What if we were to use the force to help us find them?" Henry suggests as Luke looks over at his brother. He had not thought about that, of course after the first time he had done, was when he was training with Master Yoda on Dagobah and had a vision of his parents, Han, Leia and little sister Keely captured on Cloud City.
Luke started to move towards his quarters prompting his brother to follow them. "It's worth a shot. We just need to remain positive" he assures him. Luke entered his quarters as Henry took a seat in the empty seat as Luke sat down on his bed. He closed his eyes as Henry watched him. He may have been 16 but Henry still felt like he hadn't learnt everything about the force yet.
Luke took a deep breath as he concentrated on using the force to help find their family:
Sand, nothing but sand, but it wasn't Tatooine, there were crashed ships amongst the sands and scavengers searching through the ruins, then he saw the Millennium falcon, looking slightly more worst then he had last seen it.
"The falcon, it's still in tact" Luke informs his brother who breathes a sigh of relief "And?" He asks him
He then saw Han coming down the landing ramp with Chewbacca looking across the sands and then he saw a small marketplace filled with humans and aliens.
"I see them" Luke reveals
He then saw their father standing with their mother, with Leia, holding Ben's hand standing with Keely and R2, but then he noticed their mother holding a small child, a little girl. The force was strongly around them
"Looks like we'll have an additional visitor" he smirks before he opens his eyes as Henry looks back at him curiously. "Are they alright?" He asks "Where are they?" He asks as Luke sighs "I couldn't recognise the planet, it's not Tatooine but whatever happened, was an accident and hopefully the ship will be repaired and they'll be on their way here" he explained.
Henry then had to ask "What did you mean by an additional visitor?" As Luke gets to his feet "Mom was holding a small child in her arms so this will be interesting" he explains before they headed back out to the grounds. Luke could not shake this feeling that the small child in his mother's arms already seemed familiar.
Anakin sighs as he finished the deal with the vendor. He was determined to charge a high price for the hyperdrive parts but luckily Padme had helped swayed his decision but still Anakin felt like he was overpricing them. "Least we won't see him again" Anakin muttered as he finished securing the hyperdrive to the speeder. Padme stood beside him, still holding Rey in her arms. Ever since they had taken her in from Unkar Plutt, Rey had been quiet and hardly spoken instead clinging to Padme.
Leia and Keely both noticed how Ben had taken a curiosity and liking to his new friend and sat on the edge of the speeder beside his grandmother. "At least we got the hyperdrive parts we needed dad. Han's going to appreciate this" Leia told him as Padme then adds "Hopefully the comm will be working, I don't like Luke and Henry not knowing what's going on" she confesses as Keely then adds "Probably already worrying….." She paused as she suddenly sensed a disturbance in the force, and so did Anakin and Leia.
"Dad…." Keely begins to say as Anakin quickly spoke "I sense it too Keely, let's get back to the falcon before whatever it is comes after us" he tells them helping everyone into the speeder before getting behind the controls piloting the speeder away from the marketplace unfortunately it wouldn't be an easy escape:
"They must not be allowed to leave this planet" one figure said as they jumped onto their speeders "Remember, Skywalker must be taken alive and the child" he reminds them before the five speeders took off in the direction in which Anakin and his family had sped off in.
Anakin had piloted the speeder back the falcon in record him wasting no time in instructing Han and Chewie to begin placing the part into the hyperdrive. "Stay alert" Anakin told Leia and Keely as Padme moved past him carrying an almost sleeping Rey in her arms before Ben followed her with R2. 3PO had moved over to the control panel as Anakin turned back to his daughters.
"We may have not been seen but I sensed something back at the village and it's growing" he warns at the time Padme entered the small sleeping quarters with Rey, Ben and R2. Ben was curious as to why Rey had not spoken a word since coming with them. "Why is Rey so quiet grandma?" He asks as Padme gently places Rey in one of the bunks. "She's just getting use to her new surroundings and soon she'll realise she's safe here" she explains brushing a loose strand out of Rey's eyes. She then hears Ben speak once more "And what about her mom and dad?" He asks as Padme looks down at Rey, who's eyes were nearly closed.
"If her parents come for her, then we'll reunite them" she tells him right as they suddenly heard a loud commotion followed by Anakin's voice. "Looks like we've got company!" They hear him call out as Padme quickly got to her feet.
"R2, stay with Ben and Rey, lock the door to the quarters after I leave" she orders rushing out. She grabbed a blaster before she ran into Han who was rushing for the cockpit. "Han, what's going on?" She asks as Han continues on past her "Apparently you were followed and so Anakin, Keely and Leia are trying to hold them while Chewie and I finalise the repairs to the hyperdrive" he tells her as Padme watches him heading towards the cockpit
"How much time do you need!?" She asks as Han then yells back "Couple of minutes, I hope!" Padme shakes her head before she races towards the entrance hearing the sounds of blaster fire and lightsabers.
"Keely, behind you!" Anakin calls out before he throws his lighter in her direction, taking out the attacker who had been preparing to shoot his daughter in the back. Keely takes down another attacker with her orange blade as Padme looks over to find Leia, engaged in her own fight against two more attackers, her blue blade swinging viciously. Unlike her brothers and sister, Leia may have followed Padme into the political field but Anakin felt like it never hurt for her to learn how to use the force or handle a lightsaber and looking at her now, the minimum training sessions had paid off.
Padme then aimed her blaster at one of the attackers in between Anakin and Leia, neither of them hadn't seen him and fired taking him out. Anakin looks over at her smirking before she runs towards him. "Aggressive negations again?" Padme asks as Anakin laughs "Is anytime different?" He simply replies before they continued to fight side by side.
Leia then wielded her blue lightsaber, running her blade straight another attacker's chest. "Who are these attackers?" Leia called out to her parents as Anakin shook his head "I don't know but I hope Han gets that hyperdrive working!" He replies adding "Because I'm not sticking around to find out" hearing another speeder approaching.
"Whoever they are, they really want to stop us!" Keely calls out disarming another just as they heard the engines on the falcon switching on just as Leia noticed another attacker attempting to make his way towards the landing ramp. Leia's eyes glared as she ran towards him, and right as he was about to try and board the ramp, Leia ran her blade straight through his chest.
It was then Chewie let out a roar from the top of the landing platform, Leia then looked over at her sister and parents, who were fighting off the attackers. "Let's go!" Leia called out to them rushing up the ramp as Anakin looked over Keely, "Keely!" He called out "Get inside!" He orders her. Keely hesitates however the falcon's engines roared even louder before she raced towards the landing ramp before Anakin grabbed Padme's hand and together they raced towards the landing ramp into the ship as Keely closed the door behind her parents
"We're in, let's go!" She called out as the falcon lifted up off the ground blasting any more attackers backwards before Han flew the ship towards the skies. Anakin, Padme and Keely raced into the cockpit where Leia was with Han, Chewie and 3PO. "Good timing" Anakin tells them as Han shakes his head
"Do you want to tell what the hell happened just now?" He asks "Who did you annoy whilst obtaining the parts?" He asks as Anakin shook his head right as Keely looked over at her father. "Do you think Unkar sent them to take back Rey?" She asks as Han looks confused even more "Who's Rey?" He asks however his question went unanswered as Anakin answered her "There were too many of them and the way that he just gave her up, he was relieved" he reminded her adding "And don't forget the ship that attacked us which forced us to crash here" he says "Why don't know if they were able to alert someone else" he tells them
Leia then nods before she speaks "I'm going to go check on Ben" she tells them heading in the direction of the sleeping quarters as Padme then turned to Anakin "We should try and contact Luke and Henry now that the hyperdrive is fixed" she says as Anakin notices Keely's uneasiness
Anakin gives Padme a gentle kiss "Why don't you contact them, I'm going to talk to Keely for a moment" he says as Padme looks from her husband to her youngest daughter before she turns to leave, not before Han could follow her. "Can someone please tell me who is Rey?" He asks as Anakin moves over towards his daughter. "I sense you're uneasy, is everything alright?" He asks as Keely turns to look up at her father. "I have this bad feeling" she begins to admit.
Anakin places a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Of his four children, he should have expected Keely to 'feel' the most emotionally. Ever since she had started her training, Keely focused on her emotionally side as well as the healing force abilities, which came in handy at times but at times was dangerous.
Flashback - Battle of Scarif
A seven year old Keely, clung to her mother's side as she felt the tears falling down her face as they said goodbye to their father and nineteen year old brother Luke. The battle of Yavin had just received a transmission from Rogue One that they had landed on Scarif and required assistance that would allow them to gain the death plans to take down the Empire's new weapon.
For young Keely, who was only four years into her training, had recently picked up a new force ability which was force empathy and sensing her mother's fear for her husband and son was causing her distress.
"Daddy, please don't go!" Keely sobbed as troopers and pilots ran to their ships as Anakin knelt down before his little girl giving her a small smile as he takes her in his arms. "Keely, princess, I promise you we'll be back before you know it" he tells her "Luke and I are going to go help our new friends, you remember Jyn and Cassian?" He asks.
Keely looked up at her dad, tears in her eyes. It may have only been a few days but she remembered her family's new friends and it was them she was also worried for her. "You'll come back with them?" She asks as Anakin looked over at Padme who remained silence, neither of them wanted to admit the truth but remembered Jyn's words at the meeting about hope. "We will do all we can" he assures her giving her a gentle kiss on her forehead before handing her to Padme. Padme shared a romantic kiss with her husband and a hug with her son before Leia hugged her brother and father before they watched them all leave right as Keely, sensing fear through the force began to cry once more.
End of flashback
"Dad, there's something about this whole recent situation I don't like and it started since that ship attacked us and then Ben finds Rey all alone on that planet, she was so scared dad" she tells him as he then saw small tears form in her eyes before he pulls her closer towards him, to comfort her. He then hears her crying in his chest "I thought after Endor everything would be safe for us" she cried "I just can't shake this feeling dad" she looked up at him tearfully
Anakin looked down at his daughter "What feeling?" He asks confused "Palpatine's long dead, whoever attacked us is dead and those who tried to stop us from leaving the planet back there, were stupid to even try to take on us" he explains tilting her chin so she was looking up at him.
"I know your empathy senses are higher than your brothers and sister but I promise you Keely, whatever comes our way, we will defeat them all. I know there have been times where before that didn't happen but times are different now without the Empire" he reminds her. "We can only hope that was the last time we'll see any of them" he assures her just as Keely had another thought.
"And are we going to help find Rey's parents?" She asks as Anakin shrugs. He didn't want to tell his daughter, the strange feeling he had since meeting Rey but attempted to keep positive. If Rey asks us to help her find her parents, we will do our best to reunite them" he states as he held his daughter close, feeling her rest her head against his. "I love you dad" she whispers as Anakin feels a small smile cross his face, rubbing her back gently. "I'll always love you" he replies. It was these small moments he shared with his children, he enjoyed the most.
Meanwhile, Leia had reached the sleeping quarters, finding it still locked. "R2, you can open the door now" she called out before she hears R2's whistling before she sees the door open revealing R2, Ben and Rey. Rey was sleeping quietly on the bunk as Ben looked over at his mother.
"Mom!" He exclaims excitedly jumping off the bunk, he ran over towards her and threw his arms around her. "Did you stop the bad guys?" He asks as Leia kept her arms around him, gently patting the top of his head. "We're safe now sweetheart" she promises him. Ben then looked back at Rey. "She fell asleep shortly after grandma left. She must be really tired mom" he states as Leia moves over towards the sleeping girl.
Ben moved up alongside his mother, slipping one of his small hands into her hand. "She's been asleep the whole time mom" he states "I was hoping she would wake up and I can tell her all about uncle Luke's academy" he admits as Leia smiles over at her son. "And you will have time to do that Ben, Rey's just tired and getting use to us" she explains lifting her son onto her lap, "And when we get to the academy, she'll want someone to show her around and keep her company" she explains as Ben looks down at Rey
He tilts his head - his grandfather, his uncles and his aunt had been teaching him about the force and while he was still gradually learning about the force, there was something happening in the force as he looked down at Rey like how he found her in the marketplace. Leia looked down at her son, seeing him looking at Rey.
"Is everything alright sweetheart?' She asks as Ben looks up at his mother, his dark eyes staring up at her, the look he was giving her reminded her of Han when they were on Cloud City, their conversation before they had been captured by the Empire. "Mom, when I was in the marketplace, I felt something in the force" he reveals "I didn't mean to wander then I found Rey and felt like I had to help her" he confesses.
Leia wraps her arms around her son "Sweetheart, even though I was mad that you wandered off, you listened to the force and helped Rey. If it wasn't for you, Rey would still be back there" she reminds him. "Your grandfather, uncles would be proud, because it shows them you're listening to them about their training lessons" she explained as Ben snuggled closer to his mom
"Thanks mom" he replies however he still couldn't ignore the strange feeling in the force that was telling him to stay close to his new friend.
Padme smiled down at the two hologram figures of her sons Luke and Henry. Thankfully, Han had been able to repair communications to the ship before working on the the hyperdrive. Padme could see that both her sons were relived to know that they were safe and making their way to the Academy after their delay.
"And you don't know who attack you, either time?" Henry asks his mother as Luke looked behind his mother's shoulder seeing Han leaning against the door frame. "Who did you annoy now Han?" He teases as Han's eyes widen in shock as he moves closer towards the hologram "Now, wait a minute kid, if I've learnt anything over the years, it's your family that attracts trouble" he reminds him as Luke shrugs "Yes but when we first met you did have a bounty on your head" he reminds him as Henry looks at his brother in surprise
"What?" He asks "You did?' He adds, having not even been born when they first met Han in the cantina of Mos Eisley. Han glared at Luke with a look of now look what you did Padme softly smiled before she looked back at her sons. "It's just so good to see you two and I'm looking forward to giving you both a hug" she admits as Henry rolls his eyes as Luke gives her a smile. "It will be good to see you all" he tells her.
Luke wanted to ask if what he saw in his vision was true about a new companion, but from looking at his mother's teary face just relived to be looking at them even if it was just a hologram right now, perhaps their mother was saving that as a surprise.
"Is everything alright mom?' Luke asks as Padme smiles once more nodding. "It's just been too long between visits" she confesses. This was true, Anakin was the one who travelled to the Academy more times than Padme with Keely and Ben whilst Padme and Leia stayed to help stabilise the New Republic.
"The Academy is going well and I can't wait for you all to see it even if Han still prefers blasters" Luke admits as Han rolls his eyes shaking his head. "My blaster's never failed me kid" he replies. Luke lightly chuckles before Padme speaks.
"I better go check on everyone else, it was good to see you both" she tells them "It's good to see you all safe" Luke replies before both Padme and Han see the holograms disappear before Padme gets to her feet as Han then tried once more to find out about their new companion.
"So, this Rey kid?" He asks "No one's going to come looking for her where you found her?' He asks as Padme shrugs "Not sure. From what we saw, she's better off with us and Ben was insistence that we protect her" she explains as they headed through the ship as Han smirks. His son never ceased to surprise him and ever since he and Leia allowed him to be trained by Anakin and Luke, he was proving to be quite the learner for his age.
"Rey hasn't spoken much yet but if she tells her more about what happened to her parents, we'll go from there" she explains. Han nods, "Well it's nice that Ben has another kid to play with" he confesses before he stops "I'm going to check on Leia and Ben" he tells her as Padme headed off to find Anakin.
Padme found Anakin in the second set of sleeping quarters with Keely, both asleep and the sight made Padme smile, for it reminded of when she found Anakin asleep with Keely, when she was a little girl. They both looked so peaceful, Padme didn't want to wake them so instead moved around to the other side of Anakin, cuddling up beside him, before she too fell asleep:
Anakin's dream
The rain pelted down hard as Padme, Anakin, Keely, Henry and Ben all looked on in horror seeing Rey, with blue lightsaber aimed directly at Luke who was on the ground in front of her. Rain had soaked their clothes and dripping from their hair.
"Rey, don't!" Called Ben as Rey kept her lightsaber levelled at Luke's chest, she shook her head
"I know what I saw when our fingers touched Ben!" She screams "I won't let him kill you" she snaps as Keely and Henry both gasp as Anakin attempts to step forward. "Rey, you don't know what you saw, Luke wouldn't ever harm his nephew" he argues as Rey shook her head
She lifted her head, rain falling down her cheeks as she looked over at Anakin before back at Luke who was still on the ground. "But I know what I saw" she cries "I won't let anyone hurt Ben!" She exclaims raising her lightsaber, she brings it down towards Luke before they hear Keely's voice
"Rey….no!" She cries
End of dream
Anakin's eyes blinked open, noticing that Padme and Keely were still asleep on either side of him. He slowly slipped away from them as he tries to figure out his latest dream - the rain, his son on the ground with a lightsaber pointed straight at him and Rey aiming it at him. And talking about Luke trying to kill Ben. That couldn't be true and was Rey the same little girl they had rescued?
Anakin stood at the entrance looking into the second sleeping quarters, Rey was still asleep, with Ben sleeping at the opposite end of the bunk. The force was strong around his nephew but he didn't sense any darkness. He didn't want to think anything could go wrong and his family was in danger, but the force works in mysterious ways, he just hoped this dream would not come true.
With Ben asleep, Han and Leia headed to the cockpit, Chewie was off in the gallery getting something to eat leaving them alone together. Han sat down in his chair before he pulled Leia into his lap, his arms around her waist. "Alone at last" he smirks sharing a gentle tender kiss with Leia, who smirks wrapping her arms around his neck
"How much time do we have before we reach the Academy?" She asks as Han checks the navigator. "We're still a good amount of distance to go" he grins adding "And we know where Ben is which is close to where your parents are" he reminds her as Leia smiles before she feels his lips touch hers against in another romantic kiss. She always enjoyed when Han kissed her with such passion, it made her feel such like the first time they kissed, iconically it was in the falcon where she realised she was in love with him.
Han looks at Leia with a smirk "I love you" he smiles seeing her grin "I know" she whispers before they continued to kiss once more as the falcon flew through hyperspace towards the Academy.
Next time: Anakin and the family land at the Academy where they introduce Rey to Luke and Henry and Anakin struggles to wonder if his latest dream is real or fake, as Ben shows how far his training is coming and showing his new friend around, Keely struggles to concentrate on her empathy senses, they all soon discover who has been tracking them making them relive past memories they never wanted to relive.