And onwards we go!
Chapter 14
Jakku.
Rey had come full circle, it seemed. She stared out at the planet before her, the only home she had ever known before Finn had literally come crashing into her life, dragging her into the fight for the galaxy. Truly, she was surprised that she was seeing it again. It wasn't that she hated Jakku, she was just indifferent about returning. However, this time she had her own agenda and would not be alone. She would not be scavenging for portions, but rather scavenging for the truth, with plenty of food in tow. The scattered puzzle pieces of her life were finally coming together right where it had begun.
Chewie navigated the landing while Ben and Rey were getting desert-ready in their quarters. Rey pulled on a light grey tunic, made of an airy material that would keep her cool in Jakku's unforgiving climate. It was similar to what she had worn on the daily on this planet, and Rey was anything if not practical. Ben tugged a short-sleeved shirt over his head and looked over to Rey. He lightly probed the Bond, attempting to gage her feelings on the next step of their journey. Her face turned towards him and she gave a small smile, giving him a slight nod.
He clipped his mother's saber to his belt and watched Rey do the same with his uncle's. Besides that dark night in the village with Lor San Tekka, he had never really experienced Jakku, especially in the full sun and brutal heat. Ben looked out onto the sun-blasted sands of the wasteland planet and was glad he no longer wore his dark robes, for more than one reason.
The hiss and creak of the boarding ramp lowering brought with it a gust of oppressively hot air. He looked to Rey at his left side and noticed how she seemed nearly unaffected. He then looked over to Chewie, who sat in the lounge and shrugged before shaking his head. Chewie had already decided to stay with the Falcon. It had been stolen in places like this too many times before, he had explained. What he didn't mention was his pure hatred of sand getting in his fur.
Together, Ben and Rey descended the ramp, squinting in the bright light of the desert and both bringing an arm above their respective heads to shield their eyes. Niima Outpost was barely what anyone in the Core worlds would call civilization. It was more of a run-down marketplace with several huts and tents spread about. The last time Rey had seen it, she and Finn had been running for their lives as TIE fighters laid waste to the small settlement. Now, it had been somewhat rebuilt, with newer-looking tents and stands littered around a central area. In the center of the outpost was the largest stand, occupied by the junk boss himself: Unkar Plutt.
They walked from the ship's landing area, where it had once sat covered in tarps, to the shade of the nearest set of tents and stopped. Rey slowly looked around, noting a few familiar faces of other scavengers that she had scrubbed her salvages with. She could not describe the emotions she felt as she looked around. Mostly, she remembered the loneliness that had been her existence here and the isolation that came with the scavenger lifestyle.
Ben reached down and squeezed her hand, unsure of the depth of her feelings, but trying to reassure her nonetheless. She looked up at him, a small smile lighting her lips but not quite reaching her eyes.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a large figure stomping towards them, and Rey's hand tensed in his.
"You there! Girl!" A gelatinous-looking humanoid angrily shouted before reaching them. His grotesque hand shot out and grabbed the arm that Ben was not currently holding the hand of.
Unkar Plutt yanked Rey towards him, looking down into her face and narrowing his eyes before glancing towards the Millennium Falcon and pointing at it with a stubby finger, "You stole MY ship!"
Before Rey managed a reply, Ben was shouting back.
"Actually, it belongs to my family!" And with a flick of his fingers, he force-pushed the Crolute into the sand before them, causing the large, blob-like creature to sputter and curse in fury.
In three strides, Ben was standing over him, a menacing look etched on his face. Taking in the scene, Rey couldn't help but feel the presence of Kylo Ren in that moment. She felt the darkness within him boil over, a metallic taste hitting her tongue.
In an instant, Ben reached for his mother's saber at his hip, pointing it at Plutt and igniting it so that it hummed within inches of his face. Even in the bright sunlight of the desert, the bluish hue of the saber highlighted the fear in the downed humanoid's broad face. Without moving the saber, Ben's left hand shot out, fingers rigid, making a twisting, claw-like motion towards the head of his opponent.
For a moment, Rey watched the assault before her, frozen. She could feel Ben tearing through his mind, his anger rising as he saw memories that clearly fueled his fury. Part of her welcomed some of the pain that Ben was bringing to her former captor and overseer, enjoying the warm tingle of power that the darkness gave them both. The dark and light wrestled within her, the imbalance starting to create a churning feeling in her stomach. She watched Ben and Plutt for what seemed like hours, but in reality, had been two minutes.
Slowly, she approached them and reached out with her hand, lightly touching Ben's right shoulder from behind him. From within the Bond, she felt his chest heaving as if it were her own, his gritted teeth and wild eyes staring at the creature below him. It reminded her of the state he had been in after they had defeated Snoke and his guards in the throne room, his anger creating a storm around them. She moved past the rage within him and tried to infuse calm and restraint. She could not manage to conjure empathy for Plutt, but she had no wish for him to play the executioner.
Ben's saber deactivated instantly and his left hand fell to his side. His hairline was damp with sweat and a bead dripped down the side of his face as he turned to look at her, eyes still wild, but regaining composure.
Plutt began moaning and holding his head, still writhing in the sand before them. Ben turned fully to face Rey, taking both her hands in his own and closed his eyes. She followed suit, letting the images he had just violently captured flow into her own mind in a practiced way that they had perfected together.
The images coming at her were unlike those of Ben's memories, and each one felt like massive waves crashing into her, relentless in the assault and allowing no time to recover in between.
First, she saw a youthful Adix and Betina first arriving, stepping off a small, scrap-heap of a ship and wandering into Niima Outpost looking for work. Several scenes played before her of her parents, sunburnt and dusty, coming to trade their haul and being offered only half of what they should've been owed in portions. As time went on, they appeared stronger and more adapted to the lifestyle, and their bargaining improved, much to Plutt's chagrin.
She shuddered, eyes still closed, as she saw her mother, clearly heavily pregnant and looking gaunt. Plutt barely batted an eye when Adix lamented that another scavenger had stolen their plunder, and they were desperate for any portions he could give them. He had shrugged the couple off, nodding to his thugs to move them out of line so the next scavenger could present their goods.
Ben's hands gripped hers tighter at the onset of the next memory. Through the corrupt eyes of the junk boss, Rey felt him scoffing at the approaching couple, a tiny infant now swaddled and strapped to Betina, Adix protectively leading her away from Plutt after he had offered to buy the baby that was Rey. Outwardly, Rey grimaced as she saw what he thought of the situation. Black market infants were always a hot commodity, worth thousands of credits to wealthy couples from Core worlds. He had offered them 200 rations to take the trouble off of their hands and they had vehemently refused, storming off after Adix threw one of the aforementioned portion packets back through the barbed wired window of the stand.
The next memories came faster, more like flashing images and fragments than whole memories. Fleetingly, she wondered if Ben was shielding her from the worst of it. Rey saw the Emperor's hooded spies, their faces hidden in shadow, come to Jakku in the night, asking questions and showing images of Adix on holos. Ever the businessman, Plutt saw his opportunity and bargained with them, exchanging information for a new speeder and a customized blaster. He pointed his dirty finger in the direction that he knew the family lived, at the far edges of Niima Outpost towards the starship graveyard. It was no skin off his nose if two nameless scavengers were lost to him. There would always be an endless supply of those who would scavenge scrap for their next meal.
The last extracted memory, contrary to all the rest, seemed to pass in slow motion through her mind. A slightly older Adix, the beginnings of a beard and a solemn look on his face. She saw the tears falling from the man's face as he offered the young girl that held the hand of his partner several yards behind him. The girl was scrawny, with ash brown hair styled in the same way as her mother and barely looking like the five years she was. The girl squealed in delight as she pointed at two happabores being led through the center of the outpost.
That was her story. Her life had very literally flashed before her eyes. Red-hot anger flared within her, her own lightsaber in her hand and ignited before she realized it. Ben stumbled back, startled by her reaction and avoiding the searing flash of her saber.
This man, no, this creature had profited off of her for years, watching her starve and struggle to survive just to bring him junk treasures. He had not only stolen her parents, but her youth and innocence. Her whole being shook with rage, the darkness now welling up within her. Next to her, she felt Ben. His own light attempted to soothe her dark, but she ignored it until he placed a gentle but firm hand around her lightsaber-wielding arm. She wished now that she had let him run Plutt through at first sight.
She didn't hear so much as feel the words Ben was saying to her. Don't do it Rey. This isn't who you are.
And then; Don't be like me.
The sadness and regret surrounding these messages finally made Rey pause. Her breathing was ragged and she focused on the hum of the lightsaber, momentarily suspended in the darkness and how powerful it made her feel.
Her weapon deactivated and she turned to Ben, tears already spilling down her cheeks as he crushed her to his chest.
Behind her, Plutt began trying to crawl away, struggling with his size in the shifting sands. Ben lifted his gaze briefly to the pathetic creature and froze him in place with his left hand leaving Rey's back for only a moment. He continued to console her, her tears now soaking through his shirt that was already moist with his own sweat. Her body shook with whirling emotions and he could sense that a part of her still wanted to tear Plutt apart.
He couldn't believe it was him who had to hold her back in the end. Kylo Ren had been the judge, jury and executioner, but who was Ben Solo?
Ben still couldn't quite reconcile with the version of himself that was Kylo Ren. When he remembered that night on Starkiller Base, standing there on the bridge above an abyss, it was like he was looking down on a stranger facing his father. There he had been, throwing foolishness at his father as an insult, but it was he who had remained foolish enough to submit to Snoke's continued manipulation. His mind had been so clouded, like a dark storm that distorted his every thought and memory. In that moment he had stood across from his father, he hadn't been able to conjure up memories of the life that Ben Solo had lived, the life that his father was pleading with him to go back to. In his mind, a vice-like grip by Snoke and the dark side of the Force had only allowed him to remember every feeling of abandonment the times Han Solo flew off or the muffled fights he heard between his parents outside the door to his room.
Now, with the clarity their dyad and the balance it granted, the memories were free. The man who taught him how to fly or the woman who had laid with him in bed when he had been feverish and shaking - now they could be remembered with the love that had been locked away. Pain and regret came with them, along with a newfound fondness and hopefulness.
The woman in his arms here and now was a physical representation of that hope. He could never let Rey fully dive into the icy waters of rage and doubt, and he would protect her from it at all costs. Rey was not completely Jedi or Sith, but a combination of the best of their traits; passionate and powerful, yet peaceful and wise. Together they were the balance, but even on her own, her mastery of achieving balance with the Force was far superior to his own.
She found peace from finding the truth of her parents, but outrage at how she had finally come by this truth. After a moment, he could feel Rey's resolve grow as she reigned in her emotions and calmed her mind. He took a step back from her, releasing her from his embrace. She sniffled slightly but her eyes were now dry and focused.
Ben lowered his hand and Plutt's once frozen figure now squirmed and cursed as he scrambled to his knees. The ignition and hum of two blue and deadly lightsabers pointing down at either end of his head made him curl his fists in silent anger. They had drawn a small audience with their chaotic scene, and Rey noted that two of Plutt's loyal thugs exchanged mischievous glances, but made no move to help their boss.
Together, they bound his wrists and marched him the short distance back to the Falcon. When the ramp lowered, Chewbacca stood at the top, his bowcaster pointed at their captive. Rey gave him a brief explanation and Chewie roared in Plutt's face, making him cower more, if it were even possible. The massive wookie grabbed the back of the junk boss's shirt and pushed him in front of him, taking him where he would be securely restrained to the walls of the cargo hold.
They had barely been on planet for two hours and Rey felt the full weight of her history on Jakku as if she were buried under oceans of sand around her. Despite the short time they had been outside, sand had already made its way into her hair, irritating her scalp. She went to the 'fresher and turned it on, listening to the rattle of the pipes in the old freighter before a satisfying hiss of jets echoed within the compact room. Ben walked in from the main hold moments later, the sounds of the sonic fresher luring him in. In one fluid movement, he tore off his damp shirt and shook his dark hair, grains of sand falling from it.
Rey glanced at Ben and gave him a tired smile before sidling into the narrow stall. She closed her eyes before putting her face under the jet of water and was surprised but not alarmed at feeling Ben's body squeeze in with her, his front lightly pressing against her back.
She leaned back, letting her wet hair trail down his chest as he dipped his own head beneath the spray of the water. Grabbing some soap, Ben gently kneaded her neck and shoulders before gliding his hands down her arms and to her hips. In response, she leaned her full weight into him, wanting to be lost in sensation and drown out the looping anxieties of her mind. Within the tight space, she turned to face him, his hands now pulling her close and inching towards her rear. The warm water now beat against her back and her eyes still remained closed, but she tilted her head upwards knowing Ben's lips would meet hers without looking.
In one movement, he easily scooped her up, causing her to give a breathy laugh as she wrapped her legs around his naked waist. He carefully managed to escape the narrow confines of the fresher and step out onto the floor, immediately irritated by the gritty sand on the smooth floor. He remedied the situation by promptly making his way towards the bedroom. They fell to the bed, their wet bodies dampening the sheets, but neither seemed to care. Ben moved over her, leaving slow, languid kisses on her throat and down to her collarbone. They sought comfort and completeness with one another, and the physical pleasure that came with it was an added bonus. The Force practically demanded balance from them, and they were happy to fulfill that demand, their physical joining sating the needs of both the dark and the light.
Alright my friends, I hope that was a satisfying answer to Rey's parentage. I think we're approaching the end here! Thank you for reading, and please leave me a review to let me know what your thoughts are!