Rebel

Chapter 14

The taste of salt was heavy in the air as the waves crashed against the cliff below. The wind blew gently as Rey and I stood before Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. The grass on the top of the rocky cliff was sparse, and the rocks were everywhere, gravel crunched under my feet as I shifted my weight. Rey held out the lightsaber to Skywalker, he reached up to take it with a slight tremor to his hands, the gears in his prosthetic hand turned as he held the saber gently. Rey took a step back, looking at Master Skywalker. He looked up at us for a long second, and threw the lightsaber behind him. I could see the confusion on Rey's face as Skywalker walked away from us. Rey looked at him, and then to where he threw the saber. She turned and walked quickly after him, I rolled my eyes and followed. I should have expected this, there was a reason he left. I caught up to Rey and steadied her as her foot slipped on a loose rock. "Master Skywalker?" Rey questioned, we quickly lost him as he went into a small stone village, the identical round huts making a maze in the village.  I noticed fish hanging to dry on one of the racks. Rey looked around and a door creaked, we turned to see a metal door close on one of the huts, Rey walked up to it, "Master Skywalker?" She asked hesitatingly, "I'm from the Resistance. Your sister Leia sent me. We need your help." When there was no response she looked up at the door and knocked on it with the tip of her staff, "Hello?" She called, it was silent. The wind blew through the village of stone, I heard a quiet screeching, turning towards the sound, it came from the cliffs. I looked at Rey and shrugged.
    "See what it is?" I said, she nodded, and we walked to where Skywalker had thrown the lightsaber. Small black, white, and orange creatures sat around it, they chirped and swacked at it courisly. One poked at the saber with a webbed orange foot. They quickly scattered when Rey reached down for it, I sat behind her on the grassy slope, small wildflowers dotting the green hill in patches, the birds chirped in the distance. I looked down to the ocean, the waves crashed against the rocks, I saw something glinting in the water, I looked at it closer. It was an X-wing, completely submerged. Corals and algae grew on it, parts were missing and much of it was corroded from the salt water. Skywalker wasn't here just for a few years. He meant to stay here, I realized. I turned to Rey to tell her, but saw that she had seen it too. An idea pops into my head and I look at Rey with a small smirk, "I know who can get him out." Rey looked back at me as realization dawned on her.
——
    We knocked on the door once more, and then again. "Go away." Skywalker's voice came out of the hut. I looked at Chewie and nodded, he promptly knocked the door off its hinges. It slammed against the wall of the hut, sending dust to rain down on the floor. Chewie walked in followed closely by Rey and I, Chewie roared at him, vocalizing strongly to the old Jedi. "Chewie, what are you doing here?" He exclaimed, shock showing clearly on his features. Chewie growled a response, scolding Luke heavily.
    "He said you're coming back with us." Rey interpreted. I looked at Skywalker, studying him, his face was worn from years on the island, and his eyes held secrets and pain that waited to be uncovered.
    "How did you find me?" Skywalker asked, Chewie roared again.
    "Long story. We'll tell you on the Falcon." Rey said, the old Jedi looked at her.
    "Falcon?" He murmured, Chewie looked down, growling softly. Rey looked towards me, I could see the tears in her eyes. "Wait." Skywalker said, "Where's Han?" I could see in his eyes he already knew. I stepped forward, the pain of grief flared in my chest, but I knew I couldn't break down. We didn't have the time.
    "You know." I said quietly, Skywalker looked at me with pain in his eyes. I saw the pain he felt, he had been in this war too early, and he had seen many things. To lose one of his closest friends was heartbreaking. I stepped out of the doorway, "Let's talk." I said, Skywalker followed me out with Rey and Chewie. We sat down on a circle on stone seats, I went to grab some of my hair, as I planned on braiding it, but was met with air, I reached up to run my hand through my now short hair. I remembered that I had asked Rey to cut it before we left Bakkura, it had been time for a change.
    "Tell me what happened." The Jedi said, looking at Rey and I. Rey explains as I let my thoughts drift back to Han. He was a good man, although he had done some questionable things. I thought fondly of the nights on the Falcon when I couldn't sleep and walked into the cockpit to find Han staring out at the stars.
    "What are you doing old man?" I would question, and he would turn to me with a smirk.
    "Who are you callin' old?" He would say. I would take a seat in the copilot's chair and watch the stars. He would tell me old stories of when he was with the Rebellion, and before. He taught me Sabbac, and Dejarik on the holotable. We would stay up into the hours of the morning where Chewie would come in and herd us off to bed like his cubs. I would have gotten a few more hours of sleep before the next morning would come. I came back to the present as Rey was finishing her talk with Skywalker
    "There's no light left in Kylo Ren." Rey told him, "He's only getting stronger.
I nodded, "The First Order will control all the major systems within weeks." Rey continued, "They already have the Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems. Kijimi hasn't been taken-"
    "Kijimi has been taken." I interrupted, "They occupied it a week ago, it was on the net." Rey gave me a sad smile. She knew how much I had been looking at the holo-net, trying to find a break in the First Order occupations. Something, anything, to help the Resistance.
    "Thanks." she turned back to Skywalker, "We need your help. We need the Jedi Order back." She leaned forward, "We need Luke Skywalker." The mentioned Jedi looked up at her.
    "You don't need Luke Skywalker." He said, shaking his head.
    "Did you hear a word we just said?" Rey said, eyebrows furrowing. I looked towards Skywalker. He thought he was doing something, stranding himself here.
    "You think what? I'm gonna walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order?" I mean, that was the point. I thought to myself sarcastically. Look how well that was going. Skywalker stood up, interrupting my thoughts, "What did you think was going to happen here? You think that I came to the most unfindable place in the galaxy for no reason at all?" He turned, "Go away."
    "Coward." Skywalker stopped and turned towards me, I stood up, defiant. The wind picked up around us, whipping my hair around my face, the clouds darkened, as we both looked at each other, neither giving up ground.
    "What?" He said, slight anger in his eyes.
    "You heard me." I said, stepping forward, "Coward."
    "Alex." Rey said softly. She looked at the rising storm around her warily.
    "No," I said, still looking at Luke, "He needs to understand." I stepped forward, almost toe to toe with Skywalker. "You abandoned them. Turned your back against your friends, and your family. The Hosnian System is gone. The First Order blew it up, millions- billions, of people dead. Because of you." I could see the pain flash through his eyes, "You ran. Maybe you thought you were protecting them by running, but you damned them instead!" The wind howled around us now, but I paid it no mind, Skywalker, he needed to know what he had done. How many people he killed because of his cowardice, "They trusted you to protect them, and you ran. When they needed you most. Like a coward!" I exclaimed, anger and pain flashing through me, the ground rumbled beneath me. Luke took a step back, shock flashing though his eyes.
    Alex. A voice whispered through my head. I realized a force flooding through me, angry and thrashing. I didn't want to hurt anyone. Skywalker just needed to understand, I thought with bitterness. The anger flared again and I closed my eyes, taking a breath, I calmed myself. Making rash decisions would get us nowhere. my breathing steadied and I relaxed. I opened my eyes again and saw small stones surrounding me, floating. I let out a breath and they fell to the ground. Luke eyed me warily, and then  turned and walked away from us.
    "I'm not leaving without you!" Rey called after him. She turned to me, "Alex, are you okay?" Concern was evident in her eyes. But she needed to focus on Skywalker. Convince the bastard to come back with us. I gave a small nod, what was happening? I questioned myself.
    "Yeah, I just need to clear my head." I said, "I'll meet you back at the Falcon. See if Chewie is set?" Rey nodded, I could tell she didn't fully believe me, but must have had some of the same thinking.
    "Okay." I gave a soft smile back at her and walked away, letting my feet take me on a path to where I did not know.
——
    I sat on a small grassy hill, overlooking the sea. The long grass blew in the wind, making a waving pattern. I looked at the water, taking in the beautiful blue waves, whitecaps topped the waves as they crashed against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. I flopped back against the ground, thinking, "What am I going to do?" I murmured to myself. I didn't understand, something was there, a force. It scared me. What it meant, or what it could do, I had no idea. Would Skywalker know? I shook my head. No. I would not ask him for help. Either way, he had more things to worry about. Mainly a beautiful young woman pestering him to go back to the Resistance. She was beautiful. I hummed to myself. Heat colored my cheeks as I realized what I thought, but was it a bad thing? She was amazing, smart, kind, she knew how to take care of herself. Chocolate eyes that melted in the sun, a lightly freckled face that lit up beautifully into a smile. She was perfect. I pushed those thoughts aside, I couldn't think of that now. There was a war going on, but maybe after... My thoughts drifted back to the unknown force that troubled me. It was uncontrollable, and could cause damage, I needed to control it but how? I wouldn't- couldn't- risk hurting Rey or anyone I cared about.
    "Troubled are you hmm?" A voice said to my right, I sat up quickly, and looked over, a small green creature with big ears sits beside me, it has a bluish haze to it and a soft blue glow surrounds it. I took a moment to answer as the blood had rushed to my head as I sat up.
    "What are you?" I asked, wary, but something, a feeling, said that the small creature meant me no harm. I still tensed as I didn't know this creature, or what it was capable of, no matter the small size.
    "Master Yoda I am." He said, realizations floods through me, the voices. I shuddered, remembering the dark voice and feeling that had come with them. I took a moment to recall all the voices, and his encouragement.
    "You're one of the voices!" I said, Master Yoda nodded. He tapped his cane against the ground. Making a hmpfing sound. He was an odd little creature, but something told me not to underestimate him or his size.
    "Smart girl you are." He said, confusion crossed over me again, how was he here? What were the voices?
    "But, how?" I questioned, voicing some of my thoughts.
    "The Force works in many ways." Master Yoda said, "Guide you though we will."
    "We?" I asked, so much was going on.
    "We." A voice echos. I turned, an orange skinned Tortuga with white markings stood behind me, her headtails are white and blue with a chevron pattern, she also has the blueish tint. "Ahsoka Tano." She introduced herself.
    "The blue breeze." I said, and she gave a small nod, "Why?" I questioned.
    "Why help you?" Ahsoka says, I nod.
    "Powerful Skywalker is, but help he cannot." Master Yoda says.
    "You have your own path that you must make." Ahsoka says, my eyebrows furrowed as I thought, a million things running through my mind. As I was about to ask more questions Master Yoda held up a finger.
    "Go back to the Falcon, looking for you Rey is. Answered the questions you have tomorrow on a rested mind they will be. " Master Yoda says. I nod, oddly trusting the little green creature. I stood up, and when I turned to look for Master Yoda and Ahsoka, they were gone. I walked back to the Falcon slowly, taking my time, organizing my thoughts. The time I took walking back helped clear my head again. The sky is dark when I finally get back, Rey is pacing by a fire. Chewie gives a soft roar from where he was sitting Rey looks up.
    "Alex!" She quickly comes over, enveloping me in a hug, "Don't do that again. I was worried." I hugged her back, relishing the warmth of her embrace. The island had gotten chilly as the sun had set.
    "Sorry, I had to clear my head. I didn't expect to be back so late." Rey let me go, "Sorry Chewie." I said, looking towards the Wookie, he gave me a firm talking to as Rey and I moved to sit by the fire. After he had finished I apologized again. Chewie was satisfied and offered us both food he was cooking. We gladly took some, I was starving, it had been a long day of hiking. Dinner was eaten with quiet chatting between the three of us, Chewie told us of what he did, fixing the Falcon as he finally got a chance, R2 came out of the Falcon and rolled over to us, adding his opinions to the conversation. Apparently the small bird-like creatures had infested the Falcon R2 was not very happy and had quite a few expletives to say about the little creatures. As we finished dinner and the air grew even colder I grabbed a few blankets from the Falcon, "I'm going to sleep out here, is that okay?" I asked Chewie he chuffed a yes, warning me to be careful, "Thanks," I said, and turned to Rey, "Would you like to join me?"
    "Sure." She said with a smile, I nodded and laid the blankets out on the grass by the Falcon. We say goodnight to Chewie as he goes in the Falcon for the night, Rey and I laid down on the blankets, I pulled another one over us as the air was cold. We looked up at the stars, I pointed out a few planets versus stars, and Rey pointed out a few constellations she knew from the map, "The stars are amazing." Rey commented softly, I looked over to her, a smile on my face.
    "Yeah, they are." I say, with a frown I realize Rey is shivering, even underneath the blanket, I frown, "Cold?" I asked.
    "A little." She said, I opened an arm towards her.
    "Come here." She looked over to me, "We wouldn't want you to catch a cold. It's not as warm as Jakku." She gave a small smile, and moved a little closer to me.
"Thanks." She said, I smiled, my chest filling with warmth.
"Of course."
The fire crackles softly, and the wildlife of the island quiets down, giving way to the night sounds. Waves crash distantly on the rocks, and the soft humming of the Falcon quiets as Chewie turns things off for the night. I hummed softly to myself looking up at the stars. Rey was beside me, her breath even.
    "What are you humming?" Rey said quietly, I jumped a little. I had thought she was asleep.
    "It's an old song, I learned it while on a mission." I said, the song was old, passed from generations, and was from a world in a galaxy far far away.
    "Would you sing it for me?" Rey asked quietly, "Please?" She said quietly after a moment. I haven't sung for someone in years, yet I took a breath.
    "Dear friend across the river,
My hands are cold and bare,
Dear friend across the river,
I'll take what you can spare,
I ask of you a penny,
My fortune it will be,
I ask you without envy,
We raise no mighty towers
Our hearts are built of stone
So come across the river
And find the world below." My voice faded as I looked over at Rey, she had fallen asleep, I smiled and let myself be pulled into the embrace of sleep.
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