The Prince's Scavenger

Return of the Prince

Ben's POV
I wake up and realize I'm back home in my room. I stretch and walk out casually to breakfast.

I sit down and greet Maz. "Good morning."

"Prince Ben, you're home." She looks stunned. "Welcome back." She pours me a glass of water.

"Thank you." I take a sip and look at how clear and pure the water is. "Where is my father?"

"His bedroom. He isn't doing to well. I would suggest seeing him right away after breakfast."

"Maz, you used to be a commoner right?"

"Yes sir."

"Did you ever drink water this clear?"

"Umm no sir. The royal family gets it all. I didn't even know it was that clear until I began working for you."

I nod to myself. Not once did I see clear, fresh water available for anyone. Something so simple, that I've taken for granted.

I look around at the food, crowding the table. We won't even eat half of it. "Tell me Maz, what happens to the left overs?"

"We throw them away."

"Have you ever gotten to eat any food we didn't eat that was on this table?"

"Honestly I snuck some one time to taste it, but I swear it was one time. Please forgive me." She begs.

"No need to apologize." I stand and pull out a seat near her. "Please, join me."

She sits hesitantly. "Okay."

"Please eat whatever and offer whatever is not eaten to the workers around here. This food should not be wasted."

Maz smiles. "I agree one hundred percent." She nervously picks up a piece of fruit. The kind that cost 4 silver coins in the market. I doubt Rey has ever tasted it. She takes a bite and I grab a piece of bread to eat.

We eat quietly for a moment. "Prince Ben?"

I finish my mouth full and wipe. "Yes?"

"If you don't mind me asking, where did you go?"

"Outside the gates." I smile. "I became a scavenger."

"You are growing up so fast." Maz smiles back.

Rey's POV
I awaken, but not where I remember being last.

"Hello sunshine." Unkar grumbles at me.

"What happened?" I ask rubbing my eyes.

"You fainted on your way back." He sets me down in the middle of the street. "I got worried when I had seen you go out so late and not return."

"Thanks Unkar."

"Thank you." He takes my bag off his shoulder. "Everything comes with a price deary."

I roll my eyes. "You get to keep my findings of the day, but I'm keeping my bag."

"I can live with that."

We approach his locked up, guarded cart. He unloads the clothes. "Well, well. What do we have here?" He examines the clothes.

"Stormtrooper under armour. I was going to give it to the less fortunate and sell some."

"Looks like I'll be selling it now." He holds a way too small shirt up to himself. "Can you get more?"

He wants to make his own marketing business off of this.

"No."

"What a shame. Could have gotten yourself new clothes, fruit, and maybe even a real home."

"Such a shame." I grab my now empty bag. "See you tomorrow."

"Hopefully conscious."

I stalk away from his cart and make my way home.

Ben's POV
"Ben." My father greets me with a smile. "You're home." I smile and walk to his bedside.

"Yes father. I heard you've grown ill."

"Yeah." He coughs. "I don't know what options I have anymore." I notice the blood on his clothes and some on his lip. He's dying. "Son, I know you don't want to marry Bazine, but I need to get you married off."

"Father, I need to discuss something with you."

"What is it?" He raises an eyebrow.

"I ran away and became a scavenger."

He chuckles. "Oh yeah, sure you did."

"No father, I did, and I learned about our people."

"What did you learn?"

"I learned about how badly they are treated. There's no fresh water, kids go through trash cans for food, you have to risk your life for food, the food prices are outrageous, we have tradable goods that have become currency for scavengers, and people aren't following the laws and our stormtroopers aren't enforcing it."

He looks shocked. "No, our stormtroopers are loyal, there's water for them, and if there was tradable goods I would know of it. You're just making this open to get out of trouble with your mom."

"Dad." I grab his hand and he looks me in the eyes. "The water is brown, the kids are skin and bones, there's a junkyard full of parts we could trade, and I almost got my hand cut off for stealing an apple."

"You stole an apple? You should have gone to jail. What happened?" I let go of his hand, now that he's finally listening.

"A scavenger, Rey, paid for it, then offered me to stay with her and helped me learn how to scavenge."

"Rey huh?"

"Yeah. She's wonderful. She's really beautiful, but under all the sand. She's intelligent and has these amazing ideas, like trading the old ship parts for more food to lessen the food cost and she's so kind. Whenever she gets extra coins, she finds kids going through the garbage and buys them fruit."

"Fruit isn't that nice."

"But all they ever have are portions."

"I had no idea. That's terrible." He stares at his lap. "Ben, I think you're going to be a great king." He looks at me.

"Thank you dad."

"Yes, he will be, once he marries Bazine." My mom walks in through the doorway. "You two will announce your engagement tomorrow at noon."

"Mom." I look at her. "That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair."

"Leia." Dad speaks up.

"No, don't you defend him. He ran away and now he needs to be home and take responsibility of this kingdom. His is not a child, so don't you dare baby him. Bazine is a mature woman-"

"Because she's old!"

"Benjamin Solo!" She shouts. "You are a prince and a child! I am your mother and queen. I overrule you and what I say is final!" She turns and walks out the room.

"I wish Rey was here." I mumble to myself and put a hand to my forehead.

"Me too son." I look at him. "I would love to meet her."

A/N: After getting asked on my Instagram a bunch if my video edits were on YouTube, my friend, Madison, convinced me too...  so I guess I'll share my video edits on here sometime or you can go look them up. username is reyloaddict (just like all my other accounts). No videos are up quite yet.

PS: Where you expecting Unkar to actually do something like that?