Author's Note: Dec. 24, 2017: Here's the next chapter! Posted early, for @Taniamiraculous ^_^  Please note I won't be posting tomorrow since it is Christmas, but I'll get started again afterwards! Thanks for reading :D

REY

Black clouds roll in, overtaking the bright green sky on the horizon; the same green as Luke's lightsaber. I've never seen such menacing clouds on Jakku, or such a green sky. Lightning splits across the horizon and I throw my hand up to cover my eyes. I'm close to home. I recognize this hill and the small cliff side to my left. 

A gust of wind circles around me, throwing sand in my face. I run in the direction of the old AT-AT Walker, holding my arm up so I don't get dust in my eyes. I know my way back home, even with my eyes closed.

Once I reach the AT-AT I jump inside and shut the metal door. I grab for the barricade which I usually have to the right of the door, that I jam in the round door frame when there is a storm, but it's not where I last left it. I reach for my candle and igniter to make some light, but they're also not in their spot.

It's pitch dark in the AT-AT and I take a moment to orient myself. I take out my lightsaber and turn it on. Red light envelops the room. Why is my lightsaber red?

I search for the candle and igniter. Everything is misplaced. A lamp is on the shelf that usually holds my drink bottles. I don't remember ever having a lamp like it before. I push a button on the front and it lights up the room. I put my lightsaber away and glance around.

My bed is still in the same spot, but the cooking stove has been moved and a long table put in its place, with two low seats in front of it. I glace to the right. My handmade doll is missing.

"No..." I look around frantically. Where is it? Why is everything different? I step on something and look down. It is a toy replica of a TIE fighter. I pick it up and then notice all the other toy spaceships lined on the shelves in front of me. A lady's dress is laid out at the foot of my bed and above it, a metal stand hangs down from the ceiling, which looks like a miniature tree with branches covered in tiny lights. I flip a switch on the bottom and the tiny lights turn on.

Has someone moved into my home? By the looks of it, it's a mother and her young son. I set the TIE fighter toy down on the table and sit on the floor. At least they're civilized and have cleaned up the place, and will take care of it.

I untie my outer robe, the air hot and muggy in the small, confined space. How did I live here for so long and not feel like it was too crowded? Maybe all the traveling in space and large space crafts have spoiled me now.

I turn fast, remembering my markings on the wall. My shoulders relax when I see that they're still there. The scratches look endless, there are so many. Were there always so many? Each scratch in the metal feels like a scrap on my heart. Poe said I don't give up easily. Seeing the wall now, I know he's right. But was my hope all in vain?

A loud bang startles me and I get up off the floor, reaching for my lightsaber.

The door swings open, letting in a gust of wind which rattles the many model planes on the shelves. A woman in ragged clothing shoves a small, blonde boy into the AT-AT, not noticing me at first. I freeze, wanting to hide but unable to.

The boy sees me first and his eyes go wide. He says something in a language I don't recognize.

"I'm sorry." I hold my hands out in front of me, to show them that I'm not armed. My hands are covered in dirt and so are my clothes. I must look like a robber to them.

The mother says nothing, eyeing me suspiciously. She pulls her son close to her.

"I'm sorry," I say, again. "I didn't know anyone else was living here. I used to live here."

I can't tell if they can understand me, but suddenly the room feels too small and I have to get out. I grab my robe off the floor and glance around the room one last time for my doll.

My bed, my small stove, the markings on the wall. They're my home. I turn to see the small boy reaching for one of his planes and then holding it protectively against his chest. This is his home now and I'm the one who is invading. They've left the door open and I see that the sand storm outside has calmed down and the hills look peaceful. I step around the quiet pair and leave the AT-AT, stumbling out onto the cold sand on the other side.

The sky is red now, glowing between the cracks in the dark clouds; red like the color of Kylo Ren's lightsaber. The glow tints the sand a pale red. I turn in a circle. There is red sand, as far as the eye can see, in every direction. The AT-AT Walker is gone and I'm alone, in the middle of the Jakku dessert. I no longer recognize the valleys and peaks of the landscape.

"Master Luke," I call out, my heart beating wildly. Where am I? Where should I go?

I know Luke is gone, yet he's still the only one I want to cry out to.

Suddenly strong arms reach around me and I look down to see the dark wrappings of Kylo Ren's sleeves. He traps my arms on either side of me, crushing my back against his chest.

"Let go of the past, Rey," he says. His voice sounds mechanical, like it's coming from his mask, the way he sounded the first time I ever met him.

"No," I say between clenched teeth.

"Let the past die. It's the only way to become who you were meant to be."

"This is who I am." I struggle to break free of Kylo's hold but I can't shift, even an inch, in either direction. "This is who I've always been."

"Every stone, every piece of scrap metal of the world you made for yourself, will come undone," he says.

"This is my home!" Tears pinch my eyes. "I don't want to let go."

Why can't I let go? Why won't Kylo release me?

"I'm tired," I cry. "I want to go home."

"You no longer have a home." Kylo's words pierce my heart. "But you have one with me."

I wake, with a pounding heart, to the sound of Poe's voice over the communicator beacon on my night stand.

I look around the clean and spacious room. Where am I?

"Rey, are you there?"

I pick up the beacon, set at the end of a string as a pendant. The events of yesterday start to come back to me. Poe asked Finn for the small transmitter beacon he had, which connects with mine, and then he took it to an electronics dealer at the market to install a small comm device so we could have a way to communicate in the morning, before leaving.

"Are you still coming or did you change your mind?" Poe's voice crackles over the tiny speaker. I fumble with the ball, then press the new comm button on it.

"Still coming!" I say. "Give me a few minutes."

"Okay, you've got about ten. Meet you at the front of the restaurant."

"Understood."

I toss the pendant onto the bed and pull the sundress, which I fell asleep in, over my head. I'll need a quick shower after that feverish, nightmare-filled sleep.

"Oh no!" I run to the basket beside the front door, where the maids leave the snacks, soaps and other necessities for guests. I sigh in relief when I see my clothes are all there, cleaned and folded.

Good. I want to be in my own clothes, ones which I can fight in. I hurry to the washroom and turn on the shower water.

***

"You're late," Poe says. I open my mouth to defend myself but then notice the smile playing on his lips. He glances at the beacon pendant around my neck.

"I gave the other one back to Finn," he says.

"Finn and Rose aren't coming with us, then?"

"They're flying to another planet to round up new recruits, but they'll join us at Canto Bight. We're hoping to get a ship there, one that we can all fit in, and be safe in."

I smile. "Awesome. I'm sure we'll get a great ship."

Poe starts walking and I step into stride beside him. "That's what I like to hear," he says. "Optimism."

The restaurants and market place are empty and the entire underground city seems abandoned. I take in a deep breath and feel myself relax. There's something calming about the stillness of early hours. It doesn't make me feel lonely, the way the dessert in my dream did, but rather, refreshed for the new day.

Poe has a skip in his step as we walk. His eagerness to get going is contagious, filling me with the anticipation of the new journey ahead.

Another emotion rises in me, but I don't fight it this time. It's a childhood feeling which I'm very familiar with, like an old friend; the hope that maybe this time, on this trip, I'll finally find my parents. A false hope perhaps, but I don't want to kill it, anymore than I would want to crush the hopes of a child waiting for a miracle.

We pass by the market tables. The dim light of the morning fills the streets with early light from the opening high above. It glistens off the glass and jeweled trinkets on display. Useless things. I couldn't be more happy to be leaving this place behind.

"I hate vacation planets," I say under my breath. Poe hears me.

"Me too," he says.

"When I was a scavenger, I had a goal, a purpose to my day. It makes no sense to me how people can sit around and eat all day and enjoy it."

"I hear you," Poe says, popping some dried fruit or nuts into his mouth. "If I'm not flying a plane or shooting something out of the sky, I'm bored."

I laugh.

"This planet is a place to come at the end of your life," Poe continues. "When you've got no purpose left."

"I never intend to reach that stage of life," I say. "If anything, I want to go out with purpose."

Like Luke did. I smile. When I sensed Luke depart form this life, it felt like peace and purpose. There was no sadness or the feeling of wasted years. Everything about Luke's life was purposeful; even when he was in hiding, his legend provided a hope to those who believed he would return some day. And then he did return. He faced Kylo Ren and stopped his attempt at wiping out the Resistance. 

I suddenly realize that Luke is still mentoring me, even beyond the grave. His example at the end of his life filled me with hope.  It taught me that anyone, at any stage of their life, could rise up, even from years of hiding, to make a difference, even with their last breath.

"Now remember," Poe says. "This is just a negotiations mission." He glances at my staff, which I've somehow absentmindedly pulled out from its holder on my back and am now holding as though ready to fight. "We need to lay low."

"Of course." I nod, setting my staff onto my back again. "You don't have to worry about me. I know how to be overlooked."

Poe laughs and puts his arm around my shoulders, squeezing me tight for a moment then letting me go. "I highly doubt you'll be overlooked. You're going to stick out like a sore thumb on a casino planet."

I laugh too and Poe gives me a hearty pat on the back as we stop to wait at the elevators. "At least Canto Bight is the last place I can see Kylo Ren hanging out for fun," he says.

"Me too. He'd lose a bet or something and destroy the place," I say. "I'm surprised he hasn't tried to blow it up already."

Poe laughs again and I decide it is now my favorite sound in the universe.