They had left Ach-To a few hours ago. Luke Skywalker was still exploring the Millenium Falcon, taking it all back in. Rey was in the cockpit, in the pilot seat that used to belong to Han Solo. Chewbacca was sitting beside her in his co-pilot seat, as always. She turned the auto pilot on and leaned back, sighing. She turned to Chewie.
"How are we going to tell him about Han?" Rey asked Chewbacca. "It's going to be quite a blow to him."
Chewbacca growled unknowingly. They weren't sure how Luke Skywalker would take the news of Han's death. It was a shock to everyone who knew Han, that he was killed at the hands of his own son.
Rey recalled the few seconds after he was impaled by Kylo Ren's light saber. He seemed to have gone down without a fight, as though he went willingly. He looked calm. He didn't try to get in any last words, and when he fell, he fell so silently. He didn't flail his arms or legs, he didn't yell. He fell in silence. In a way, he got the last laugh, doing something that no one expected Han Solo to do. He was incredibly predictable yet not predictable at all.
Thinking about that night made Rey tear up. She sniffled and blinked her tears away, holding her strong facade. She swallowed at the lump in her throat, which didn't seem to want to leave. She decided to clear her mind, instead.
"I'm going to talk to Master Luke," she told Chewbacca. He growled back in acceptance.
Rey walked down the hall and into the corridor that led to the maintenance panels, medical bay, crew quarters, and stowaway compartments, passing each one respectively. She thought of all of the accidents and memorable moments that would have taken place in all of them. And she couldn't help but feel bad for Luke, that he'll never see Han again. Atleast Rey got to know and appreciate him (and vice-versa) before he died.
When she found him, he was in the crew quarters, fast asleep. Rey sighed. Now how was she going to clear her mind without talking to someone? Just like how she did on Jakku. She would scavenge.
It wasn't exactly scavenging, but Rey decided to get to know the Millenium Falcon a bit more. She made her way to maintenance panels and opened them up, looking into the deep compartment that was criss-crossed by pipes and wires. The same compartment that she and Finn and BB-8 had to climb into when the Falcon was reclaimed by Chewbacca and Han.
Rey edged her way over to the side of the compartment, looking in, half expecting to see Finn and BB-8 inside, but of course she wouldn't. She sat on the edge and wiggled her foot around, feeling for a sturdy hold. It was difficult without her staff.
Slowly, Rey shimmied down into the maintenance hatch and started to explore the different parts. They were very different from the kind of stuff she was used to on Jakku.
She explored the different parts and mechanics, and every one in a while, dropped a tool. It hit the bottom of the hatch with a loud CLUNK. She winced and quickly climbed up to make sure she didn't wake up the Jedi Master. Rey didn't want to make a bad impression. Luckily, he never woke, and she always continued her explorations.
After a while, she got bored of the circuits and gears. She climbed up and out of the maintenance hatch.
"You were there for a while," she heard a voice say. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she turned around to see Luke Skywalker sitting on the floor, smiling.
"You scared me, sir," she said angrily.
"Sorry," Luke answered.
"So..." He began, "I want to know why Han's not here, and why you've suddenly taken his place."
"He's dead," Rey answered bluntly. She was a little mad at Luke for scaring her. "Killed by Kylo Ren. By his own son."
"What?" Luke questioned.
"You heard me," Rey snapped, "Dead with a hole through his chest."
Luke started to tear up. "How long ago?"
Rey sighed, realizing that she might have sounded rude. "About a week ago, on Starkiller Base. Which no longer exists. He walked out onto the catwalk, he was following Kylo Ren," Rey stopped. Now she was tearing up. So much for wanting to clear her mind. "Han confronted him, and they talked, and Han ended up with Kylo Ren's light saber through his chest." Rey wiped her eyes with her sleeve.
Luke closed his eyes and was quiet. He breathed deeply, as though meditating. Maybe some Jedi training reflex.
"I'm sorry," Rey said quietly, "That you'll never see him again."
Luke sighed. "I'm sorry too. For you. It must have been a great loss." He looked at her understandingly.
"I just seem to be losing everything all at once here, but you are getting it all back." Rey said. "First Jakku, then Han, now Finn."
Luke raised an eyebrow. "Who's Finn?"
"It's because of him that I am where I am, and that you're where you are," Rey began. "He was a storm trooper from the First Order. But he defected. He said that he wouldn't kill for them, and then he helped Poe escape, but they crashed on Jakku where he ran into me. We managed to escape the First Order somehow."
"Wait, how did you escape the First Order exactly?" Luke asked.
"We stole a ship that belonged to Unkar Plutt. That ship turned out to be the Millenium Falcon," Rey smiled, pounding her fist on the metal-grated floor. "It hadn't been flown in years."
"The Millenium Falcon was on Jakku?" Luke mused to himself. "I told Han he should have checked the western reaches."
Rey chuckled. She herself wondered how the Falcon wound up in the hands of the grossest being on Jakku.
"Who flew it?" Luke asked.
"I did," Rey replied. "It was sort of difficult, because it hasn't been flown in so long. Unkar made some 'modifications', which only made it harder to fly."
"Sounds like quite an adventure," Luke reminisced. "I used to do stuff like that on Tatooine." He remembered his speeder, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Old Ben, when he first met Han Solo and Chewbacca. He began to tear up again. He didn't try to stop them this time, letting them flow down his face. Rey looked at him and couldn't help but feel badly.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Do you want to be alone?"
"Yes, please. Only for a while. I need to think," Luke said. "You can come back later. I would still like to talk to you."
"Yes, sir." She replied as she had been told to when talking to a higher rank, and walked back towards the cockpit. Once she was out of sight and ear-shot, Luke started to pace nervously. Did Rey know who he was? Did she remember what happened?
He pulled out his green light saber and the old blue one. He walked over to the bed he had been sleeping in and set them down beside eachother. He sighed, thinking of Rey.
"My poor girl. I'm sorry."
Luke thought back to the Jedi Academy that he had started. He was training 24 students to be Jedi, at the time. Ben was the oldest, he was 16, and the youngest was 4- a little girl from Tatooine: Rey- who then went by a different name.
Luke remembered the night when Ben- who had then been turned into Kylo Ren- went on a massacre, killing all except Rey.
Luke had felt something that night. He knew something was wrong. And whatever it was, it was close to them. His mind took him back to the Academy. He could feel it, he was there in his room again, R2-D2 by his side.
It was a very stormy night. Luke thought maybe that was the cause of his weird feeling, because he did get cautious during nights like those. But this was a different feeling. He felt like something bad was going to happen. And soon.
R2-D2 beeped curiously.
"Nothing, Artoo. I just feel as though something isn't right."
He headed out of his room, he needed to wake up his students so he could warn them. But what he didn't know was that he was too late.
He was running out when he saw the flames. Then he heard the screams. Oh, the terrible, gut-wrenching screams.
He ran outside to find Kylo and the rest of the Knights of Ren surrounding a group of older trainees. It was pouring rain, not a very good time to be outside. Both groups were surrounded by dead or dying students. One of the students was standing in front of the group. Luke recognized the boy as one of his best students.
"Artoo, get to my ship! Start it up and be ready to leave as soon as I get there. And go quietly! I'm going to see who I can rescue!" Luke quietly ordered the droid. Beeping curtly, R2 turned and headed for Luke's ship.
"Why are you doing this, Ben?!" Laboh, the second oldest only to Ben, yelled. He was the student who stood defensively in front of his peers, light saber in hand but not on. He was a nice looking young man. He had short cut blond hair, and he was missing a finger on his left hand (light saber incident when he was younger). The quirky little boy whom Luke had found in an orphanage on Naboo was growing into a fine Jedi.
"I am no longer Ben Solo. I am Kylo Ren," Kylo Ren boasted.
"Come on Ben, don't do this. We're best friends, remember?" Laboh beckoned.
"We were best friends, but you no longer mean anything to me." Kylo Ren answered.
Laboh studied the new Kylo Ren. He didn't look or sound like his best friend, Ben Solo. This guy was wearing a big mask, and his voice was distorted with a voice synthesizer. Knowing something was about to go down, Laboh turned on his light saber- a green one, like Luke's.
Luke watched from the shadows as the two young men fought it out. He couldn't help but feel proud that he had trained them both so well. The light sabers clashed red on green amongst the orange flickering flames that seemed to surround them.
The fight didn't last very long. Kylo slid his light saber along Laboh's, cutting off his used-to-be-best friend's hands. Laboh shrieked into Kylo Ren's face. Without a single thought, Kylo thrust his light saber through Laboh's neck, severing his head.
The other Jedi trainees gasped. Some even screamed. Kylo Ren diverted his attention to them. With the help of the Knights of Ren, he proceeded to mercilessly kill them all. Luke was in awe of Kylo Ren's light saber. Luke had never seen something like that before. It was red and ragged, and had two extra arcs coming out of the hilt, like a cross guard.
They didn't see Luke luckily. He made a break for the building where the youngest students were housed. He hoped to maybe be able to save some of them. But the sight was horrific.
They, too, had been senselessly slaughtered.
His Jedi training told Luke not to lash out violently, but he was seething with anger. He was livid. These helpless young children, all dead. He knew there was nothing he could do now. He started for the exit.
"Master Luke?" A little voice whispered. Luke whipped around, only to find the youngest of his trainees crawling out from underneath the bodies of her dead friends. It was a provocative sight. Her tunic was covered in blood.
"Kira! Thank goodness you're alive!" Luke gasped. He ran over to her and hugged her tightly.
"What's going on?" The little girl asked worriedly. She began to cry.
"I don't know, child. But we have to get away," Luke replied.
"But how?" The girl questioned. "There are so many of them!"
"I know." Luke thought for a moment. "Kira, do you know where my ship is?"
She nodded.
"Can you run fast?"
She nodded again.
"Okay. So we need to get to my ship. But you need to go fast, alright?"
Kira nodded a third time. Luke grabbed her hand and they headed for the exit together. They saw Kylo Ren standing over the burning bodies of each dead student. Luke gasped and ran faster into the dark, heart pounding. Again, they went unnoticed.
Luke and Kira finally locked eyes on Luke's ship. It was a different model A-Wing, big enough for two people. R2 had it all ready to leave at a moments notice. Luke pulled Kira closer.
"Kira, you run ahead. Artoo Deetoo will let you in," Luke whispered. The little girl obeyed and ran full speed towards the aircraft. She climbed up the ladder easily- climbing came naturally to her. She was always climbing something. Trees, beds, ships, even other students. She climbed into the passengers seat, chatting with R2.
Luke turned around for a moment to make sure they weren't being followed. They needed to make a good getaway, and in order to do that, they needed to be unseen. Fortunately, no Knights of Ren were behind them.
Luke then followed Kira up the ladder, flipping switches as he went. Kira sat back in awe. Oh, how she wanted to fly.
Before she knew it, they were off the ground. She giggled in delight, peering out the window to the ground below. She waved solemnly as they flew away from the mass destruction. The burning bodies, burning buildings, she could even make out the little red lines that was Kylo Ren's light saber. It was moving towards the landing pad that they had just taken off from, followed by a few black-hooded figures.
Luke knew that they had been noticed now. And he knew that they were trackable, so long as they traveled this slowly.
"Artoo, make the jump to light speed. We need to get out of here as soon as possible!" Luke told the droid. He turned to Kira, who was still looking out the window.
"Kira," he said softly. She turned to face him, smiling brightly. She just loved to fly! "I need you to buckle up and sit back. We're about to go really fast and it could be dangerous if you're not sitting properly." He talked so gently to the child.
Kira did as he told her, and buckled up and sat back, looking at Luke as he pushed the throttle forward. Slowly, the stars started to blur and Kira could feel that pushing force, glueing her against her seat. She couldn't help but smile. It was exhilarating!
"Artoo, set a course for the Base. We need to see Leia."
Luke sat back with a sigh. He looked to Kira, who was fast asleep, just like that. She was awake only a second ago. A lot went on that night, only a few minutes ago even. It was all a blur now, like when he blew up the Death Star. The events of the night made Luke tired too. But he couldn't sleep, knowing what had just happened had just happened.
Luke put a hand on Kira's head. He stroked her short brown hair, looking contently at her. He knew what he had to do, but he didn't want to do it.
"Kira Kenobi," he began, "I am sorry."
With that, he used the Force and pushed her into a deep dream-like sleep- how calm she looked, so peaceful- and wiped her memory.