Star Wars: A dyad in the Force 「A Reylo FanFiction」

Act 19: Distinguishing a friend from a foe

Warning: Be Aware: Concepts contained in this chapter include a semi-bleeding scene and some violence.

And you feel yourself suffocating?

Does the pain weigh out the pride?

And you look for a place to hide?

Did someone break your heart inside?

You're in ruins...

Jakku, 36 ABY

Mountains of metal, cliffs of plastic derivatives, and oceans of splayed ceramics were jumbled together in a phantasmagoric industrial badlands that none dared enter, for fear of being poisoned, cut, or lost forever. None except a very few, for whom daring was as much a sense as a sight or hearing. Those who were brave and durable enough to survive the badlands. And those who were forgotten and forsaken to spend the rest of their lives here.

One such individual clung insectlike to a dark metal wall pimpled with protruding sensors, manipulators, and other decaying mechanisms. Clad in a light protective cloak governing his face and body, gloves, and black desert clothing, the busy figure was burdened with a substantial backpack. Wielding an assortment of tools, the scavenger was excising an assortment of small devices from one metal wall.

Outside the metal caverns and at last clear of danger, the scavenger squinted at the blasted surroundings. He was thirty-one now with dark hair, darker eyes, and a hint of something deeper within. There was a burden about him that the surrounding harsh landscape had failed to eliminate. Anyone glancing at him would have thought him weak: a serious error of judgment.

It had been a respectable day's work, enough to ensure he would eat tonight. He wiped the sweat from his face and shook the remaining contents of the container into his upturned mouth. The last few drops sometimes clung stubbornly to the insulated interior. He overworked the day after, making sure to have enough spare parts to give to the Line Breakers gang and a few more for him to sell for food. Hard thing to accomplish in three days, but he always managed to reach the deadline.

Ben Solo had become one of the best scavengers that the Line Breakers had. He had won Noida's -the leader's- trust, and that offered him some comfort whenever he appeared with his gang to claim the mechanical parts. Solo was the best in his job, which soon made a few of Noida's men jealous and angry. Leaving Ben to receive their fury each time they showed up without their leader.

Solo had played their games and went to any torture or rough beating the Line Breakers had stored for him. For one year now, he never complained about his misfortunes, the rough treatment, the hunger and pain he was going through. He would always remind himself that he was worthy of it, after all his wrongdoings... what he had put through the entire galaxy. This was nothing in comparing his deeds.

After fastening his acquisitions to the transport, he climbed into the driver's seat. For an anxious moment, it seemed as if neither engine would ignite. Then one, and finally, the other roared to life. That was his life now; Ben reflected: a succession of anxious moments interrupted only by the novelty of occasional panic. All part and parcel of trying to survive in a backwater world as harsh and unforgiving as Jakku.

However, he has been alive in this world for a year now. He had been close to death too many times. But it seemed dying was not an option. 'Fair enough!' was his reply. 'After all the pain and trouble I had caused. This suits me well.' Solo lived now as a scavenger, ripped and beaten by outlaws now and then. His biggest issue to keeping away from the dyad.