Rey Skywalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thatwaslucky) wrote2022-08-26 08:19 am
thatwaslucky) wrote2022-08-26 08:19 am
Ajan Kloss- Friday
Rey loved training on Ajan Kloss. Where in Fandom it would be a very bad idea to get too close to the island itself, here, connecting with the whole world around her was encouraged, and felt right. She could easily stretch her senses into everything around her, floating in midair while meditating, asking the Force for something very specific, repeating a mantra of, "Be with me… be with me…"
And after a while, something became very clear. "They're not with me," she said, opening her eyes. "Ugh."
She let herself float down with an easy flip, landing softly on the ground next to BB-8, who responded with a concerned whistle.
"Rey," Leia said, with a tone that suggested she was fully prepared to stave off some self-doubt. "Be patient."
Leia knew her well.
"I'm starting to think it's impossible," Rey said, "to hear the voices of the Jedi who came before."
"Nothing's impossible," Leia reminded her. It had become a different kind of mantra over the last few months, as her student tended to be difficult even as she got better.
Rey nodded, and smiled slowly. "Nothing's impossible," she said, willing herself to believe it. "I'm going to run the training course."
She needed to run. Maybe hit something.
The course had been created by Luke, back when Leia had been training. Leia had set up a series of flags around it, guarded by color-coded remotes. Rey captured two flags easily. Jumping gorges, traversing cliffsides, fighting her way over a ravine on a tightrope made of vines, she could do it all, and she did it with BB-8 rolling along after her, keeping up as much as possible.
The last remote was the worst. Encased in a red shell, it had multiple firing ports on all sides, and it was the bane of her existence. It was programmed to the protect the flag, but Rey swore this thing taunted her on purpose.
She ran ahead of it, rushing towards where she knew the flag would be hanging, and in her haste she didn't realize that it had snuck ahead of her at shin length, causing her to basically trip over it. She hit the ground hard and she ignited her lightsaber once she popped up to her feet again, but not before the remote fired off a blaster bolt directly into her shoulder in a cheap shot.
Well, now she was mad.
She swatted at it with her lightsaber futilely and it dodged every time, shooting into her back again for good measure.
Raw instinct took over. She threw her lightsaber, and the lightsaber arced through a tree bole. The remote dodged, but Rey was ready for it. She called a downed tree branch to her hand with the Force, spearing the remote against a tree trunk just in time for her lightsaber to return to her own hand.
And then she wasn't in the jungle anymore.
There, briefly, was the clawlike throne ahead of her.
Then, briefly, herself, six years old, yell-pleading at the retreating ship that left her behind on Jakku.
Then, briefly, a woman hugging a small child.
Screams of "no!" followed by a memory of Kylo Ren, gloved hand outstretched, asking her to join him. Flashes of that image of herself in a black hooded cloak, two red blades in front of her face. Luke on Ahch-To, with the sound of Vader's mechanical voice asking him to join him. Han, reaching out to touch Kylo's face on the catwalk at Starkiller Base, a moment before the lightsaber went through him-
It ended abruptly, more abruptly than usual. She could hear what almost sounded like a choked sob coming from her own throat, but she wasn't actually sure it was because of the feelings that had brought up in her, or the feelings it had brought up in him.
She didn't have to question that he'd been there right with her.
The insistent beeping shook her back to reality, and she blinked, trying to orient herself again. She was in the jungle, she could feel life all around her again, and she could hear the beeps coming from under a felled tree.
"BB-8," she realized, feeling absolutely horrible as she dashed over to pull the tree off of him. "I'm so sorry."
*****
It was hours later when Nimi let Rey know that the Falcon had finally come back. Finn, Poe and Chewie had taken it to meet with a supposed spy, and they'd been gone longer than anticipated. She'd thought she'd have been back in Fandom by now, but the longer this took, the more she worried. Rey hurried over to the landing area, a cleared space in the middle of the jungle.
She stopped short when she saw her ship, smoke curling up from the engines. The hull was scorched. What the hell had happened?
Poe strode down the ramp, irritation rolling off of him in waves. "It's on fire!" he said, as droids and mechanics rushed to hose the ship down. "Whole thing's on fire. All of it. Hey! Really could have used your help out there."
"How'd it go?" Rey asked, not sure how she should be feeling. She almost couldn't be angry because she was glad he was all right, but her heart clenched anytime she looked over at the ship.
"Really bad."
"Han's ship…"
And that was when Poe saw BB-8, his tool-bay rim dislodged thanks to the incident with the tree. "What did you do to the droid?"
"What did you do to the Falcon?"
"Falcon's in a lot better shape than he is."
Oh, so he was in that mood. "BB-8's not on fire," Rey retorted.
"What's left of him isn't on fire!"
It wasn't even that bad! For as terrible as Rey felt about hurting her friend, it was an easy fix! "Tell me what happened," she tried, frustration creeping into her voice.
"You tell me first!"
Rey pursed her lips, forming into a smile she really did not mean. "You know what you are?"
"What."
"You're difficult," she said, biting out the words. "You're really difficult. You're a difficult man."
"Well you're…" He stopped himself, probably ready to say something she'd make him regret.
"Rey!"
That was Finn, headed over from the Falcon, and Rey immediately went to him. "You made it back!"
"Barely," he said, enveloping her in a tight hug. They really did have the best hugs.
"Bad mood?" Rey asked when she pulled back, not letting go of him yet.
"Me?"
"No, him," she said, nodding towards Poe.
"Always."
"Do we have a spy?"
Chewie didn't answer that, but he answered one of Rey's earlier questions with an outraged, monosyllabic groan.
Rey looked over at Poe, stunned. "You lightspeed skipped?"
"Oh boy," Finn sighed.
"I got us back, didn't I?" Poe said.
"Poe! The compressor's down," Rey continued.
"I know. I was there."
"You can't lightspeed skip the Falcon!"
"Actually, turns out you can."
"Guys," Finn tried. "We just landed, okay?"
"What happened?" Rey asked again.
"Bad news is what happened," Poe said, unhelpfully.
She was going to kill him. "Did we make contact with a spy or not?"
"Yeah. We got a mole in the First Order," Finn confirmed. "They sent us a message."
Poe started to head off, but couldn't resist poking at Rey a little more. "You dropped a tree on him?"
"You blew both sub-alternators," Rey shot back.
"Guys," Finn said again.
"Maybe you should be out there with us," Poe said, rounding on her, good and angry now.
"You know I want to be!" Rey said.
"But you're not," he countered. "You're here training. For what?" He took a deep breath, and she could see the exact moment he decided to give it to her straight. "You're the best fighter we have. We need you out there. Not here."
Rey wanted to argue, but she couldn't. Poe stalked off, and Rey looked to Finn as if asking for help, but he just shrugged. "It's the truth."
She did want to be out there. Leia didn't think she should. And Rey hadn't figured out how to make everyone happy.
[From the The Rise of Skywalker novelization by Rae Carson. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. This movie takes place in a very short amount of time. I'm not gonna do that to you. We're gonna be reasonable here.]
And after a while, something became very clear. "They're not with me," she said, opening her eyes. "Ugh."
She let herself float down with an easy flip, landing softly on the ground next to BB-8, who responded with a concerned whistle.
"Rey," Leia said, with a tone that suggested she was fully prepared to stave off some self-doubt. "Be patient."
Leia knew her well.
"I'm starting to think it's impossible," Rey said, "to hear the voices of the Jedi who came before."
"Nothing's impossible," Leia reminded her. It had become a different kind of mantra over the last few months, as her student tended to be difficult even as she got better.
Rey nodded, and smiled slowly. "Nothing's impossible," she said, willing herself to believe it. "I'm going to run the training course."
She needed to run. Maybe hit something.
The course had been created by Luke, back when Leia had been training. Leia had set up a series of flags around it, guarded by color-coded remotes. Rey captured two flags easily. Jumping gorges, traversing cliffsides, fighting her way over a ravine on a tightrope made of vines, she could do it all, and she did it with BB-8 rolling along after her, keeping up as much as possible.
The last remote was the worst. Encased in a red shell, it had multiple firing ports on all sides, and it was the bane of her existence. It was programmed to the protect the flag, but Rey swore this thing taunted her on purpose.
She ran ahead of it, rushing towards where she knew the flag would be hanging, and in her haste she didn't realize that it had snuck ahead of her at shin length, causing her to basically trip over it. She hit the ground hard and she ignited her lightsaber once she popped up to her feet again, but not before the remote fired off a blaster bolt directly into her shoulder in a cheap shot.
Well, now she was mad.
She swatted at it with her lightsaber futilely and it dodged every time, shooting into her back again for good measure.
Raw instinct took over. She threw her lightsaber, and the lightsaber arced through a tree bole. The remote dodged, but Rey was ready for it. She called a downed tree branch to her hand with the Force, spearing the remote against a tree trunk just in time for her lightsaber to return to her own hand.
And then she wasn't in the jungle anymore.
There, briefly, was the clawlike throne ahead of her.
Then, briefly, herself, six years old, yell-pleading at the retreating ship that left her behind on Jakku.
Then, briefly, a woman hugging a small child.
Screams of "no!" followed by a memory of Kylo Ren, gloved hand outstretched, asking her to join him. Flashes of that image of herself in a black hooded cloak, two red blades in front of her face. Luke on Ahch-To, with the sound of Vader's mechanical voice asking him to join him. Han, reaching out to touch Kylo's face on the catwalk at Starkiller Base, a moment before the lightsaber went through him-
It ended abruptly, more abruptly than usual. She could hear what almost sounded like a choked sob coming from her own throat, but she wasn't actually sure it was because of the feelings that had brought up in her, or the feelings it had brought up in him.
She didn't have to question that he'd been there right with her.
The insistent beeping shook her back to reality, and she blinked, trying to orient herself again. She was in the jungle, she could feel life all around her again, and she could hear the beeps coming from under a felled tree.
"BB-8," she realized, feeling absolutely horrible as she dashed over to pull the tree off of him. "I'm so sorry."
*****
It was hours later when Nimi let Rey know that the Falcon had finally come back. Finn, Poe and Chewie had taken it to meet with a supposed spy, and they'd been gone longer than anticipated. She'd thought she'd have been back in Fandom by now, but the longer this took, the more she worried. Rey hurried over to the landing area, a cleared space in the middle of the jungle.
She stopped short when she saw her ship, smoke curling up from the engines. The hull was scorched. What the hell had happened?
Poe strode down the ramp, irritation rolling off of him in waves. "It's on fire!" he said, as droids and mechanics rushed to hose the ship down. "Whole thing's on fire. All of it. Hey! Really could have used your help out there."
"How'd it go?" Rey asked, not sure how she should be feeling. She almost couldn't be angry because she was glad he was all right, but her heart clenched anytime she looked over at the ship.
"Really bad."
"Han's ship…"
And that was when Poe saw BB-8, his tool-bay rim dislodged thanks to the incident with the tree. "What did you do to the droid?"
"What did you do to the Falcon?"
"Falcon's in a lot better shape than he is."
Oh, so he was in that mood. "BB-8's not on fire," Rey retorted.
"What's left of him isn't on fire!"
It wasn't even that bad! For as terrible as Rey felt about hurting her friend, it was an easy fix! "Tell me what happened," she tried, frustration creeping into her voice.
"You tell me first!"
Rey pursed her lips, forming into a smile she really did not mean. "You know what you are?"
"What."
"You're difficult," she said, biting out the words. "You're really difficult. You're a difficult man."
"Well you're…" He stopped himself, probably ready to say something she'd make him regret.
"Rey!"
That was Finn, headed over from the Falcon, and Rey immediately went to him. "You made it back!"
"Barely," he said, enveloping her in a tight hug. They really did have the best hugs.
"Bad mood?" Rey asked when she pulled back, not letting go of him yet.
"Me?"
"No, him," she said, nodding towards Poe.
"Always."
"Do we have a spy?"
Chewie didn't answer that, but he answered one of Rey's earlier questions with an outraged, monosyllabic groan.
Rey looked over at Poe, stunned. "You lightspeed skipped?"
"Oh boy," Finn sighed.
"I got us back, didn't I?" Poe said.
"Poe! The compressor's down," Rey continued.
"I know. I was there."
"You can't lightspeed skip the Falcon!"
"Actually, turns out you can."
"Guys," Finn tried. "We just landed, okay?"
"What happened?" Rey asked again.
"Bad news is what happened," Poe said, unhelpfully.
She was going to kill him. "Did we make contact with a spy or not?"
"Yeah. We got a mole in the First Order," Finn confirmed. "They sent us a message."
Poe started to head off, but couldn't resist poking at Rey a little more. "You dropped a tree on him?"
"You blew both sub-alternators," Rey shot back.
"Guys," Finn said again.
"Maybe you should be out there with us," Poe said, rounding on her, good and angry now.
"You know I want to be!" Rey said.
"But you're not," he countered. "You're here training. For what?" He took a deep breath, and she could see the exact moment he decided to give it to her straight. "You're the best fighter we have. We need you out there. Not here."
Rey wanted to argue, but she couldn't. Poe stalked off, and Rey looked to Finn as if asking for help, but he just shrugged. "It's the truth."
She did want to be out there. Leia didn't think she should. And Rey hadn't figured out how to make everyone happy.
[From the The Rise of Skywalker novelization by Rae Carson. NFB, NFI, OOC okay. This movie takes place in a very short amount of time. I'm not gonna do that to you. We're gonna be reasonable here.]