Disclaimers: All right reserved of the originals "Star Wars" Characters, Names, Places, etc., to George Lucas / Disney. I pledge to return all characters after the story is complete.

Warning: Major Spoilers of TRoS.

Note: This is a Reylo FanFiction (slow-burn)

「Act 3: Prologue」

「The Scavenger of Jakku」

Jakku was a forsaken place almost ignored by the first order and the resistance. A desert place, no one would go without reason. It was mostly occupied by groups of thieves, criminals, and outlaws. Most of them would live as scavengers to survive. They could work for days only to be given a portion of a meal, if lucky.

Rey became one of the best scavengers of Jakku. Her need to survive made her a fighter and a mechanic. She was only 5 when her parents abandoned her - or better sold her out. She knew she was nobody. Not loved even by her own family. She grew up lonely, waiting for them. Every night she would fall asleep lonely and scared, but with the hope that they would eventually come for her. And every morning, she would be crushed down to her reality.

She was counting the days. It was her only way to fight against her inner voice. A voice that ensured they would never return, and they would be dead already. She ignored it.

At some point in her youth, Rey made her home in a downed Imperial All Terrain Armored Transport, Hellhound Two, leftover from the Battle of Jakku. The Goazon Badlands, where the AT-AT was located, was a barren wasteland where nothing seemed to grow. Once she settled into the walker, Rey salvaged working parts of the AT-AT for trade. She mostly just used one room in the walker for a variety of reasons. The walker also contained scratches she made to mark the passage of time, to remind her how far she had come, and to count down the days until her family returned for her.

Growing up on Jakku meant Rey not only learned how the ships that littered its wastelands worked but also about the dangers that lurked on Jakku itself. Rey saw firsthand the hardship it could inflict. Life on Jakku was lonely and busy. Time would pass very fast when she was scavenging. And so slowly when she was looking at the cloudless sky of Jakku. Some nights she even felt she wasn't alone. Like a present was there, and if she tried to reach out, she would find him. But the unknown scared her. She only trusted solid and clear things.

Rey reflected that that was her life: a succession of anxious moments interrupted only by the novelty of occasional panic. All part and parcel of trying to survive on a backwater world as harsh and unforgiving as Jakku. Deep down, she always believed she would die in Jakku without any family and friends.

But BB-8 changed her reality. He was to blame. The small Droid forced her to leave her safe zone. She found friends and family. She found a cause to fight for. People trusted her. She could not explain it. But she wasn't as alone as she thought she would be. Even the force had reached out to her. It troubled her. Rey knew where she stood. She was a nobody from Jakku that aided the Resistance now. She agreed that dying for a cause with her friends was better than leaving her last breath alone in Jakku. She met important people that taught her about the force. She studied and trained, slowly changing to someone more than she was.

She was fighting sight by sight, with Finn and Poe. Finn was always the one who could understand her. Rey could explain to him her worries, and he would listen and always grasp her point of view. Poe was more demanding. They would argue a lot. Poe couldn't easily be influenced, like Finn. But he cared about Rey. Poe knew when to step back and trust that Rey was capable of handling herself. Finn would rush after her like an older brother, scared that she might get hurt. Both were close friends of hers. Her family.

Her family was getting bigger every day. From Chewie, who would stand by her side and support her. To BB-8, who followed her into any danger. Han Solo, the father she never had. And her teachers General Organa and Luke Skywalker. They aided her to understand the force in ways she would not. She would be lost, not knowing what she would do without their guidance.

Yet, there were still times she felt lonely. Times that no one could understand how much trouble she really was. There was a part of her she didn't want to show to others. Luke had sensed her darkness. General Organa did too. 'Don't be afraid of who you are!' Leia told her and brought some hope to her worried heart. She was part of the Resistance. She was sure about the side she had chosen. And she was not willing to compromise it. She would keep fighting against the First Order. Against him.

Kylo Ren.

Their bond, the only thing in the universe that united them. That 'silly' thing that slowly made her enemy understand her better than even herself. She felt a strange peace when they touched. She had found balance. The scavenger from Jakku, who was nobody. She felt like she was so important when she was with him. Ren was provoking her to face her fears. He was the one to hint her in the right direction. Even If he wanted to turn her to the dark side, the lessons he offered her were only making her stronger. He was the perfect example of why she had to avoid the Dark Side. He was the only one inside her head who could see the whole image of her.

The most hated man in the Galaxy was the one who indicated how she could use the force. Every time she hit a dead end, he elucidated her a way out. Like when he prompted her towards embracing the power of the Force and Rey defeated Ren during the Battle of Starkiller Base. He even taught her how to shield her mind as she was trying for her own protection to hide her thoughts from him.

Though as time passed. She had given him her trust, her loneliness, her despair. And the saddest part was that he gave her some of his too. Snoke's trick to bridge their minds, soften the way she thought about him. Though she remained still confused, everything seemed black and white. He didn't kill her when he could. He even killed Snoke. She believed so strongly back then that his conflict inside him had ended. But it didn't not. There was no grey between them. Neither would compromise. Neither would yield to the other side. They would keep fighting as they were enemies.

Foes?

A slicing pain ripped through her heart at the thought of what the outcome could be if Ren followed her back after killing Snoke. Her gaze dropped against the rocky ground as she considered the results if she had accepted his hand back then. She tapped her head in denial. After Snoke's death, she had never felt it again. And honestly, she was so scared she never saught the connection. Because now she felt like Ben Solo had no chance to return. With Snoke gone, the conflict inside him should rise and turn Kylo Ren. Unfortunately, Snoke wasn't the one who was moving the pawns. And Kylo Ren wasn't the biggest threat. The Emperor was still behind the scenes. Forgotten for now.

She ran as if her life was depending on it. She kept running. Her feet were kissing the land. The warm humidity of the forest made her feel sticky and suffocated. But even then, she kept running. Perhaps, a little while ago, when she was still a scavenger from Jakku, she would know her limits. She would have balked at the idea of running so far and fast; now, she relished the prospect. The prospect of being trained by General Organa. It was supposed to be a typical training concocted by the General. The aim was to capture the colored ribbons tied to different trees around her that were defended by color-coded remotes.

She ignited the lightsaber and leaped through the rainforest, as BB-8 was following her. These training remotes tested Rey's evasion and deflection skills. Rey successfully fixed the Skywalker's lightsaber. However, the strange feeling remained that she had not yet earned the right to wield it as her own. Her clothes and hair, slick with perspiration, clung to her skin. She swang her saber aggressively, aiming, and striking one of those 'little-demons' down. The red remote was the most challenging. She knew she would never outrun it. She looked back as it was closing in again. She had to make a stand. Her heartbeat in her chest, pounding, banging, trying to get out. She ran forward, every second barley escaping a few hits.

Her mind slowly open to the force, and she sensed him. A shadow was striding through the trees, lightsaber still ignited. Darkness lay ahead, that had nothing to do with the surroundings. The male kept his weapon steady. And by only watching it, she knew who he was. He had sensed her as well. Watching him. Now his guard was up, and it would stay up until he got what he came for. And he shielded his mind, not letting her in. He tried to push her away.

Her temper rose. And with her tamper rose her actions. She destroyed the little annoying remote by smashing it against a tree. She was so deeply drawn in her anger that she didn't use the lightsaber at all. She was disconnected from everything around her, even from the force. The ground felt beneath her feet. And she felt like falling with it. Already the adrenaline coursing unchecked, urging to reach its zenith. Her muscles flinched, and she was now more awake than she has ever been. Her eyes opened widely as she was gazing at the chaos she had unleashed. Fallen trees that she had stroke through with the lightsaber. The forest is disturbed by her actions. Even the poor droid unit was trapped under a tree.

She put the saber away and strolled over, pulling BB-8 under the tree. The droid made a few beeping sounds as a complained and returned to base. Rey didn't follow. She leaned against a gigantic tree spacing out. Her own actions were troubling her. She should be more focused on her training. Yet the awaking she had just felt. The connection that she had almost forgotten was again there. Wasn't it suppose to be gone after Snoke's death? Why was the force still connecting them?

「Upcoming Chapter: Act Four」

More than anything, thank you for taking the time to read this!

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thereisaredeemer: Thank you for reading and reviewing. Indeed, after all that's done is done. Just hoping that the new trilogy will be better. Of course, opinions will always clash as it's impossible to satisfy all the viewers and fans.