If I was crying / In the van, with my friend / It was for freedom / From myself and from the land

- "Chicago" by Sufjan Stevens

Luke was struck by how much Biggs cared about him, and he was barely keeping himself from crying. He replied, "Safe. Leaving town. Talk more soon." Send.

Luke tried to cheer himself up the only way that he knew how. "What's your dog's name?" he asked.

"His name's Chewie, and he's the best damn copilot the world's ever seen. He doesn't eat much, he rarely complains, and best of all, he knows when to shut up."

Luke got the hint.

An hour passed. Luke stared out the window, taking in the Arizona scenery and listening to the music Han was playing. It was extremely varied, and Luke was wondering if it was a radio station but with no ads when the music stopped and Han ejected and flipped over a cassette. Luke caught a glimpse of it - there was a hastily scribbled label on it, nothing professional. A mixtape.

Of course. Luke wondered why he didn't realize before: Han was a hipster. Thinking back, he realized that he couldn't name a single one of the artists that had played so far, and he doubted he would anytime soon. Luke still enjoyed it, but it wasn't his typical fare, which was 70's and 80's rock and pop. I guess it kind of counts as retro, he thought. Maybe Han has some of that too.

Luke knew better than to ask though. Han obviously appreciated silence, and over the last hour of it he had visibly relaxed, and, just for a moment, Luke looked in the rearview mirror at Han and thought he saw a glimmer of something in his eye, the true Han shining through the layers of irony and sarcasm. He looked again, though, and it was gone. Han had noticed him staring. He arched a single eyebrow but said nothing.

Luke looked away.

Another hour passed. They had passed through several small towns, and there seemed to be another on the horizon. As they drew closer, Luke saw a large lake on his right, surrounded by cliffs, rocks, and sparse greenery.

They reached the lakeside town and pulled into a gas station parking lot. "The Falcon needs gas. Go get us some food from inside while I'm pumping; that'll be your fare." Han let out Chewie, who was thankful for the room to run and the opportunity to pee.

"The Falcon?" Luke asked. "Why do you call it-" Han glared at him. "Sorry, why do you call her that?"

"She's the Millenium Falcon. She's a 1999 Volkswagen, hence the Millenium, and for the Falcon part, just look at the license plate." Luke looked and saw that it was a Florida vanity plate, reading the word FALCON. Its tabs were missing, and based on how it looked it was probably long expired.

Classy, Luke thought to himself. "I'll go get some food. What do you want?"

"I'll take a Dr. Pepper, Tropical Skittles, and some teriyaki beef jerky. Get one of the bigger bags."

That's pretty expensive, Luke thought. He had the credit card, though, which was in his name but was set up to auto-pay from Uncle Lars's bank account. It was only for emergencies, but in Luke's mind they had long since entered a state of emergency.

He went in, grabbed a Sprite and some Cheez-its for himself, then grabbed the Dr. Pepper and the beef jerky. They were out of Tropical Skittles though, so he got Han original.

Luke checked out and left the store just as Han was finishing filling up the Falcon. He got into the backseat again, Chewie got into the passenger seat, and Han sat back behind the wheel. After a couple tries, the Falcon finally started. They pulled out of the parking lot and started driving again, keeping the lake on their right side.

"There's a view up here you wouldn't believe, especially once the sun starts to set," Han said. "It will blow your mind."

Luke nodded, unsure how to respond to that. He hadn't pegged Han for the type to love beautiful views, but he supposed that as a perpetual traveler Han must have seen enough to adopt that into his personality.

They kept driving in silence, broken only by the music from Han's mixtape and the beeps from R2-D2.

Finally, after they had driven what must have been almost the entire circumference of the lake, Han pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. They couldn't see the lake from where they were, as a sharp hill rose from their right side, blocking their view. "Grab the food," Han said as he opened the trunk, grabbing a couple blankets, some dog food, and a jug of water. Luke put the food in his backpack and began to follow Han and Chewie up the hill.

They must have hiked for at least an hour, most of it uphill, before Han finally stopped. "Alright kid," he said, "close your eyes. I'll guide you the rest of the way, but I don't want you to peek at the view before it's absolutely perfect."

Luke was a bit annoyed how Han kept calling him kid when Han couldn't be more than a couple years older than him, but he complied. Han grabbed his hand and walked him forward, uphill a little more. The ground finally evened out; they must have reached the top. "Okay, open," Han said.

Luke opened his eyes, and he saw heaven.

The lake stretched out in front of him, long and thin, with various peninsulas and small, rocky islands sticking out of it. The brush looked greener than ever, and the cliffs rose higher than he thought possible. They had indeed gone mostly around the lake, as the sun was setting in front of them over the lake, casting everything in vibrant shades of red, orange, and purple. It was the most beautiful thing Luke had ever seen.

He finally pulled his eyes away from it and looked over at Han, who he was surprised to see was staring intently at his face. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

Luke, speechless, nodded.

"You're lucky I picked you up, kid - not many hitchhikers end up seeing views like this." Han turned to face the lake. "Say, could you pass me those Skittles?"

Luke paused, the words not registering in his brain for a moment, before he awkwardly took off his backpack and dug inside of it, pulling the Skittles out of the plastic gas station bag and handing them to Han.

Without looking, Han peeled off a corner, grabbed a Skittle, and popped it into his mouth.

"Green apple?!" he screamed, spitting it out. "This isn't fucking tropical!"

AN: Here we go! Finally, the journey is in full swing, and lots is happening! Please let me know what you think!