Kylo Ren

XXIV

They landed on Endor an hour later.

Afren surveyed the scene with tears in her eyes, and spotted a girl she used to know.

"Gaia!"

The dark-haired girl turned toward her voice, her eyes milky.  She was blind.  "Who is it?"

"Gaia, it's me, don't you remember me?" Afren asked, kneeling beside her.

She shook her head again. "N-no."

"Afren Bendal. Don't you remember me? It hasn't been that long."

The girl's face hardened.  "You."

"Yes, me."

The blonde girl stumbled to her feet.  Or foot, rather.  She supported herself with a wooden crutch.   "This is all your fault," she hissed.

Afren took a step back.  "What do you mean?"

"They came for you."

She went silent.

"The First Order came and they wanted you.  You weren't here, so they slaughtered everyone.  All but a few.  And it's all your fault."

With that, Gaia spat at Afren's feet and hobbled away.  The pilot reached after her to help her, and thought better of it.

Instead, she sat down on a fallen tree. She'd expected Gaia to be excited to see her. They'd been the best of friends as children, before Afren left.

Maybe it was all her fault.  Her fault that her family died.  Her fault that Gaia was blind and had one leg. Her fault that the village she'd grown up in, the whole grove, was burned to the ground.

Jasper watched her, and came over to lay his hand on her shoulder. She didn't respond.

So he stood like that, until she got up and followed the pilots to the abandoned base.

Geo's voice echoed around the empty halls.

"This base used to be an Imperial Outpost, before it was captured.  The defeat of the Empire here; by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and General Organa are a few of the fighters; was the first nail in the Empire's proverbial coffin."

Afren knew all of this.  She merely nodded dully and followed.  Gaia hated her.  They probably all did.   It was a wonder Jasper did.

Jasper, on the other hand, was excited.  "Look!  There's a stormtrooper.  Dead, of course."

He stopped when he noticed she wasn't paying attention, clearing his throat awkwardly.

Geo began to commission the pilots to clean certain areas.

Afren was happy for the work.  It distracted her.

Her job was to clean the control room, and see which parts worked and which they would need to get from the base on D'Qar.

She worked diligently and silently.

Jasper was supposed to help Geo fix any broken ceilings that they could possibly, with their limited tools and hardware.

"What's wrong with Afren?" Geo asked, holding up a lightweight metal beam for Jasper to rivet into place.

"Some girl she used to know told her that it was all her fault." Jasper picked up another bolt.

"What was?"

"The village's destruction. She's so outgoing, it's hard for her to face any sort of rejection, in any way."

Geo nodded. "Well, I hope she cheers up soon."

"So do I," Jasper said distantly.

They moved on down the corridor.

Afren finished up her report and took it to Geo. Then she decided to walk around, go back to her old home.

Or where it had been.

The tree was burned black, and the remnants of her house hung haphazardly from the branches.

Not far away was where she'd found her parents' bodies, and little Anonra...

She leaned against the tree and wept.

For Mother.

For Father.

For Anonra.

For all of the inhabitants of her village.

For everyone who lost anyone.

For her own selfishness.

That she left.

That she abandoned them.

She didn't go in until the sun had set and the Ewoks in their tree villages started to call out to each other to go to bed.

The entire ten-person crew slept on bedrolls in the control room she'd cleaned.

Jasper reached for her hand in the dark, but she pulled it away.

He frowned into the darkness.

---

Oh look these are becoming more common.  Anywho, I need characters for an upcoming battle!

If you want to be in the story, comment a few things:

A. Name (of your character, or you if you want to be the character)

B. Description (or an actor's name if you have one in mind

C.  A brief little character summary (so I can get the jargon right)

Please be aware that it is highly probable that I will kill your character.  It is always probable.   They are mortal, after all, in the middle of a full out war.

So I hope I get some characters from you, the readers.

(P.S. This may still stand after the battle.  I'm not sure yet.  But there will definitely be more battles.)