'It is the same island', Rey notes as she carefully walks down the stone steps.
Gentle wind tickles her neck and cheeks, gently enveloping her with its salty smell while the sweet hum of the ocean's waves hitting the shore soothes her rapidly beating heart. She wonders how is it possible for her to know what the water looks, smells, and sounds like - how she is able to imagine such beautiful scenery without ever leaving Jakku. Is it her subconscious showing her these images, a place full of lush greenery and thriving with life, begging to be explored?
The young scavenger does not have a lot of time to ponder as the tumultuous black canvas above her gets illuminated sharply by a lightning flash. It seems Thor has decided to grace her with a glimpse of his journey across the sky in his chariot, leaving a deafening rumble behind.
Rey does not feel anxious, unlike many times before. On the contrary, she is relaxed, at ease. That threatening black character is nowhere in sight. It is strangely relieving, as if a lot of weight has been removed from her shoulders, allowing her to deeply breathe in the island's fresh air. There is something more though – a bizzare feeling of anticipation.
Her eyes scan her surroundings and they settle on a giant tree behind her enveloped in thick fog. Its wide trunk supports the barren crown and unnaturally twisted branches. The one in the middle is straight and long, and it is surrounded by shorter ones that are curled up. They resemble a strange ornament one would normally see sitting on a noble's head. It is where she has come from – the steps lead back to the tree.
A faint whisper reaches her ears. Whoever has chosen to speak to the girl, they want her attention badly. Her name is being spoken softly over and over again, its tone getting more and more desperate. She has no clue where the person is as the voice is seemingly coming from everywhere at once. Suddenly, dead silence falls upon her and the island. It feels as if her ears were clogged. Disoriented, the young girl presses her hands against her head.
There is a figure standing on the edge of a cliff, its back facing her. She sees it clearly once facing the beach. There it is again – that hopefulness. Rey's chest swells up, her heart skips a beat, and she finds herself taking a tentative step forward. The mysterious person vanishes without a trace under the heavy waves of the waters surrounding the island as if it was never there in the first place. The scavenger gasps, disappointed, but there is not much time for her to grieve because the ocean swallows her up just like the dark figure a few seconds ago.
When Rey opens her eyes, she is back in the cell that resembles a cage she was put in hours ago. There are metal bars all around save for the wall behind the girl, which she is leaning onto. With some difficulty, the girl shifts her sore body on the cold uncomfortable bunk. As soon as she properly sits up, Bebe lets out a whimper. The sound causes Finn to stop walking around in circles.
The couple exchange weak smiles. No words are really needed in the moment so Rey scoots over to her right and pats the space next to her. The young man accepts her invitation almost immidately. He lets the girl rest on his good arm and holds his breath when her head softly lands on his shoulder. They sit in silence for a while, ignoring the commotion in other cells and further in the police station.
"I thought you were mad at me," Finn decides to speak up.
"I am."
Technically, this is not true. Not anymore, at least. Rey needed something, someone to loathe for what had happened to her and not only her. In the beginning, it was easy to blame the young rebel. It was him who caused those thugs to attack her at Niima Outpost, he was the reason she had to abandon her home. Not to mention his involvement in the attack on Tuanul. Had he and his friend never arrived there to stir trouble in the name of establishing propaganda, the forces of the First Order would have never intervened. All those people wanted to do was to live a simple life worshipping their gods. They did not deserve to meet their demise in such a morbid manner.
Then it dawned on her that Finn had no clue the events would turn out the way they did. He was just obeying orders given by the Resistance, and whether those were right or wrong is not up to her to decide.
Rey starts to doze off again and her thoughts go in a different direction.
Apparently, there has been a giant collision near Arlington. Nobody knows how it happened, but a cargo train got derailed and rammed itself into a truck transporting fuel. The explosion was huge and the amount of civilian casualties and loss of goods were immense. The policemen, firemen, paramedics from Arlington and other towns nearby had joined forces to try and help straighten things out. It is a shame the chaos has not concealed Finn and Rey's arrival.
The couple is truly in trouble. They do not have any identification papers as far as she knows and given the fact that the First Order has branded them as fugitives, it will not be hard for these cops to put two and two together.
However, it has been a long time since they were arrested and brought here. Perhaps, through the efforts to restore the damage done by the accident earlier, the cops have simply forgotten about Finn and Rey.
When the young scavenger stirred awake, a jailbird stretched in his cell. A middle-aged male who had been through a lot by the look of him. His wrinkled face is obscured by a tangled grey beard, a few hair strands have escaped the woolen hat on his head. He is wearing a bantha leather jacket that is a size too big for him, dark pants, and a pair of dirty loafers.
Once the man yawns and rubs his lids, he slowly stands up to waddle towards the cell door. He simply pushes against it. The door hinges squeak obnoxiously, which peaks Finn and Bebe's interest.
"What the hell?" the young man mutters, confused.
The vagrant makes his way towards the exit. Finn jumps to his feet quite hastily, causing Rey to blink sleepily.
"Hey!" he calls out. "Where are you going?"
The man turns around. "Out," he says bluntly.
And just like that he leaves. Finn cannot believe his eyes. He has seen a lot of things, but this takes the cake. It seems his companions feel exactly the same. Rey stands by his side along with Bebe. She reaches out to gently push the door. It does the same thing the other one did. Not even a couple of seconds pass and these two are running down the corridor.
They come to a stop just as the main room of the police department comes into sight. It is sterile, all of the walls are either white or glass. There are some mementos reminding everyone of this place and people's successes, but not enough to fill in empty spaces up on the walls. The cubicles form a maze where various personnel run around busily. They are answering phones, conversing with their collegues, typing on their computer consoles. No one stays in one place for too long.
'This is total madness,' Finn thinks to himself, 'but it could work.'
It would definitely work considering the fact that nobody pays attention to anything other than their work. They could sneak out, one by one, and hope that the cop who picked them up does not notice them. The deserter looks around, trying to find the most convenient route. All of his planning goes to hell the second Bebe decides to run after the bum. The young man's eye widen in disbelief, but he does not have to worry because the officers do not care about the animal's presence. They do not notice it at all.
Much to Finn's dismay, Rey is the next one to go. He has no other choice but to follow her. There is a big crowd which enables him to squeeze through pretty quickly and catch up with his friend. He gets startled when a tall man bumps into him, but the guy does not even look at him and instantly disappears into the crowd.
"I'm going to kill that dog," the ex-trooper snarls once he is outside.
Rey smeems to be in a better mood. There is a bright smile on her tanned face and her green eyes are sparkling. She raises her hand to shield her vision from the sunrays.
"Look, Finn!" she exclaims.
What is she looking at? The young man squints to see what has gotten the scavenger so excited. The problem is, he does not notice anything unusual or out of place. There are red brick buildings, cars, a few food stands and pedestrains minding their business. A rather hefty woman is walking her pet, or rather attempting to. The animal yanks on the leash, which forces her to pull back. It looks quite comical, but not weird. Well, maybe her ugly scarf that does not match with the rest of her outfit is worth mentioning...
Rey's bony fingers clutch his jaw and turn it a little to the right. He sees it now – a lorry partially obscured by a building.
"We don't even know if that's actually-" the young man trails off because Rey grabs his hand and starts running.
Why is Solo here? He clearly told Finn and his friend to back off, that he would not help them.
Everything the ex-trooper knows is from stories swapped between other fellow soldiers. They have painted Han as a great, courageous man... quite the legend. He was one of many members of the Alliance to restore the Republic to destroy the Death Star and oppose the Empire. The actual man does not live up to the rumours. Finn saw a feeble old hoodlum who has rejected his titles, not a hero. Rey knows Han as a scoundrel, an infamous smuggler. To meet the man who made the Kessel run in 12 parsecs? It is like a dream come true! She even had a chance to drive the Millenium Falcon!
And now Han is back. He has returned for them! Rey sees the Falcon clearly now and her heart swells up with hope. She cannot help but smile widely at the sight of the man himself.
"You're back!" she calls out.
Han feels strangely relieved when he spots those two kids. They have come to him. That will certainly save him some time as he can spend doing something productive instead of asking around. In the beginning, he wanted them gone. The mere mention of the Resistance made him sick, bringing back unwanted memories. He had abandoned the life of a hero ages ago, it did not suit him. Deep down he has always been that cunning boy from Corellia running heists and lying his way out of trouble. What he had with Leia... it was great, but it could not last for long.
His mind was made up when he told those brats to get lost, but Chewie had doubts. So Han figures he will take those two wherever they want, vanishing before anyone notices he is there at all, giving him have a clear conscience. It would be nice not being forced to listen to his best friend's nagging, too.
Solo is not sure what to think of the couple yet. If he is lucky, he will not need to dwell on it too much.
"That thing you're doing for the rebels. How important is it?" The ex-trooper opens his mouth to answer, but Han waves his hand to silence him. "You know what? I don't wanna know. Just get in."
"Where are we going?" the girl asks, still grinning.
"We'll pay a visit to a friend of mine. She'll know what to do with you."