Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property and creation of Lucas Film and Disney. I own none of the characters and places mentioned in this story.
Special thanks to my beta-reader Chridder (from AO3) for helping me out with this.
Jakku. Once known as a verdant world with forests and water. Now a parched planet with marching dunes and golden sand.
The people who live here are impoverished with scanty ways of making ends meet, either as a scavenger or a mercenary/ thug.
But even on this nowhere planet, people still have dreams and hope for a better future despite their harsh life.
On the sun-blasted surface of Jakku, a lonely figure exits a Star Destroyer, hauling salvaged parts to her speeder. Her form is dainty, a clear sign she is still a child. A mask and googles cover her face, protecting her from the scorching heat.
Even though she is 15 years old, she's dangerous and aggressive when it comes to protecting her own.
A few days ago, she beat the shit out of some thugs who work for her employer, Unkar Plutt, when they tried to have their way with her. Some ended up with a broken nose, others with broken ribs.
Oddly enough, Unkar Plutt didn't do anything to retaliate to this affront. Maybe he's scared of her. Or maybe he's plotting something else...
Whatever it is, the young girl will get out of the situation the only way she knows how: with her quarterstaff.
Later, when she gets to Niima outpost to trade the salvaged parts for food, the sly smile Unkar Plutt offers her sends a shiver down her spine.
She takes only a few steps from his stall before being subdued by Unkar's thugs who push her down, immobilizing her arms and legs.
Out of nowhere, the form of Unkar Plutt appears in her peripheral vision. She spits at him.
"Rey... Rey..." , he scolds mockingly. "Did you really think you could get away after your little stunt?"
"Damn you, Plutt!" , Rey screams, enraged, struggling to get free.
"Hm, since you seem to be more of a hassle than it'sworth, I'll sell you to the First Order. Word on the back routes say that the First Order acquired a warrior who's doing all their dirty work. Maybe he'll teach respect since you will become his property ", Unkar adds, lifting Rey's chin to mock her. She bites hard into his hand.
"Why you...!", Unkar screeches, preparing to hit Rey , in the head, with a thick baton.
Rey closes her eyes in anticipation of the hit, but it never comes. When she dares to open her eyes, she sees a hooded figure who stopped Unkar's arm midair.
"Enough! I don't want my merchandise to be damaged!", a deep voice growl from under the hood.
"Your merchandise?", Unkar asks in disbelief.
"Yes, my merchandise. I'm pretty sure she does have some special talents that could be useful to me later on", the hooded figure adds slyly, peeking in Rey's direction.
She starts to struggle more than before, knowing full well what "special talents" imply.
"So how much do you want for her?" the hooded figure asks with emphasis.
"Two hundreds credits and she is yours", Unkar adds with a sense of finality.
And so the deal is made and Rey's life is thrust into the unknown at the hands of a cruel master.
After the mysterious hooded figure pays the required amount of credits, a set of binders adorns Rey's wrists, then the mysterious figure pushes her forward with his hand on her shoulder.
When they enter the stranger's shuttle, Rey sees in passing that her speeder is in the cargo bay. They walk to the cockpit where she's seated in the copilot chair.
"If I remove those binders, will you stay calm?" the stranger asks gently.
"So eager to see my "special talents" put to good use, aren't you?", Rey snarls at him , defiantly.
"What are you talking about?" the stranger asks dumbfounded.
"Oh, you mean, what I said back at Niima outpost? That was a charade, an act to make Unkar Plutt let his down his guard so I could free you".
Rey still watches him with suspicion.
"You still don't trust me?!", he asks, clearly exasperated.
"Why should I trust someone who won't show his face or whose name I don't even know", Rey throws back at him acidly.
The stranger stares at her in disbelief with an open mouth, Rey assumes, then he starts laughing.
After he's had a good chunk of laugh, he takes off his hood and Rey can see a mop of brown hair and grey, gentle eyes.
A little voice inside Rey makes her wish she could trust him.
"I should have revealed myself as soon as we got back to my shuttle, but in my eagerness of having finally met you, I forgot my manners," he adds sheepishly.
Now her interest was piqued. Who would be so enthusiastic to meet a girl from nowhere?
The young man noticed the glint of her eyes because he added:
"My name is Ken Palpatine and you're my cousin. You're a Palpatine, Rey."
After the shock of the revelation subsided, Ken asked her if there were things she wanted to collect from her home and how to get there.
En route to her home, he told her how his father kept track of hers, passing down the information that lead to her. Well, that and some digging, of course. Then, he revealed something else regarding her lineage. Her mother was the daughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi, thus making her half Kenobi, half Palpatine.
After the both of them retrieved her meager possessions, they left and the surface of Jakku, soon fell astern, giving way to the cold yet comforting blackness of space.
After a few days of travelling, the both of them got to Yavin 4.
The first thing Rey saw after exiting the shuttle was the greenery of the planet. She never imagined that any planet could have so much green. Then she noticed the big villa.
Her cousin noticed the awe on her face because he added jokingly:
"This will be your home from now on, so you better get used to it. I promise you that starting from today, you will never lack anything and you will never go to sleep with an empty stomach. Now come, I want you to meet the other members of the family."
As soon as they got inside, Rey hid behind Ken. There were too many people and she was the object of their scrutiny.
"Come on, Rey, don't be shy now. They won't bite you", Ken added in a tender voice.
But his voice didn't soothe her nerves and anxiety.
Then a young girl, that seemed to be around her age, got up from a couch, leaving behind a woman with a stern look on her face, and got closer to Ken and Rey, outstretching her right hand towards her.
"Hi! I'm Betl Pallopides. You're Rey, right? Ken spoke a lot about you before he went to Jakku. How old are you? What are your hobbies?", Betl asked with curiosity.
One stern look from Ken's eyes made Betl back off and stop asking anymore questions.
"Sorry, I didn't want to overwhelm you. Maybe, after you make yourself at home, we can get to know each other better?", she asked hopefully.
Rey would've liked that, of course. But her mentality made it hard to trust people easily.
Then the other people from the room introduced first one to do so was Kenta, Ken's wife, and then her one year old daughter, Mallie. They were soon followed by the stern looking woman from the couch who was Betl's mother, Ederlathh Pallopides. As for her father, he died before Ederlathh found out she was pregnant so she never knew her last relatives who introduced themselves were from her mother's side: Tao, Cera and their daughter, Kallie Kenobi. Cera was the younger sister of her mother and for a split moment, Rey had a flashback of her mother's face.
Later that night, after dinner and after Rey got a bath and new clothes, Kallie and Betl insisted that the three of them to have a sleepover so that they could get to know Rey better.
Rey was reluctant at first, but she decided in the end to listen to Ken's earlier advice.
After the both of them showed Rey some cool gadgets and pieces of equipment, Ken came by to see how Rey adjusted and tuck them into bed. After he did so, he kissed them goodnight on their forehead and left the room.
After his departure, Rey's emotions got the best of her, tears pricking in her eyes, soon escalating to quiet sobs in the silence.
Maybe her roommates heard her or maybe they felt her feelings in the Force because the next thing Rey saw were both of them getting up from their beds and slipping under the covers with her, hugging her tightly.
And so a new life started for Rey.
Just like Ken promised, she lacked nothing. She even started working for him, repairing pieces of equipment, speeders, etc. so that she could pay him back the credits with which he bought her from Jakku, even if Ken insisted it was alright and she didn't need to. He also kept looking for her parents. Ederlathh made sure to take care of her education by hiring good tutors for her. But her favourite past time was to sneak with Betl and Kallie to Tao's meditation room and listen up to his stories from his youth.
Tao also allowed her to stay during the Jedi training of himself, Ken, Kenta, Betl and Kallie.
All of them had the Force and sometimes, Rey wished she had it, too.
Her life was pretty good, though the "accidents" still happened.
When Rey was sixteen, she almost hit Ken's father, Triclops, with her quarterstaff, if it hadn't been for him using the Force to freeze her in her tracks.
Ken had tried to stop her before her launch, but his plea fell on deaf ears. After Triclops froze her, Ken put his face in his hands, mumbling while her uncle remarked how she reminded him of Ken's mother, Kendalina. He stayed over for his son's birthday, then he went on his way. From what Rey understood, Triclops never stayed too much in the same place and was always moving so that the First Order wouldn't find him. Hence the reason he visited his family rarely.
She always kept close to her heart his parting words: "Never sell yourself for another's happiness. Fight for your own" and his gift: a collar incorporated with a voice disguiser.
Another incident was her showdown against Ederlathh, all because Betl wanted to serve the Resistance.
It was the scream contest of the galactic year between her and Betl versus Ederlathh. At some point, Ederlathh screamed at Rey to get out of the room. She didn't know what happened between mother and daughter, but Ederlathh agreed to her daughter's request to serve the Resistance when she turns 17 years old on the condition that Rey promise to look out for her . And so a relationship of begrudging respect between Rey and Ederlathh began.
These were Rey's fondest memories.
Her family wasn't perfect, but then again, did the perfect family even exist?
Even for all their flaws, it was still hers.
And now... what did she do? She sold herself to protect Mallie and the rest of her family from the First Order. But she would do it all over again, gladly, so that she could repay them for giving her a better life.
Though, she still felt like puking, knowing that she will have to spend time with Kylo Ren before their wedding, to get to know each other.
All because his master demanded so. And he was the perfect lapdog of his master.
These were her thoughts as the rain starting pouring on her, while she stayed on the balcony watching the lights of Coruscant.
Then out of nowhere a shadow appeared next to her and a black cloak shielded her from the rain.
Author notes: reckless Rey is back.
Hope you all liked the small moments of comic relief.
Also for when Ken started laughing. He laughed because Rey remarked how he forgot to take off his hood. He kinda laughed at himself.
Also I hope you weren't bothered by another round of flashbacks. I did this to show the contrast between Kylo Ren and Ken.
The last flashbacks that will appear (in such length anyway) , in one of the future chapters, will be how Rey got to Starkiller Base and how the fight between her and Kylo went there. There are some differences from TFA.
Betl and Kallie are OC characters and the rest are EU characters (if you want more info you can find this story on my AO3 profile).