So just a little note, this is definitely an au story because the timelines don't exactly match up, it's a little after tfa because Han is dead and Rey is a part of the Resistance, but Rose is a character and Maz's castle wasn't destroyed either, so just bare with me because I assure you it'll all work in the end!
Aerolynns pov
I jerked awake, banging my head against the metal wall behind me. I groaned, my hand flying up to my head where I was sure a bump was already forming. I looked at my surroundings and found that I was in the Falcon's bathroom, sitting on the floor, my pant leg was ripped and a used syringe laid on the ground next to me. I must have fallen asleep. Then it all came flooding back...
I remembered the force bond with Kylo, and the sting, and then revealing our location to him by accident. My heart started to race and I could feel the sweat start to collect at the base of my neck. I quickly threw away the syringe, and cleaned up the vomit that was neck to the toilet that I must not have made into the bowl and then stood up.
I teetered on my feet for a minute, my leg ached and my head pounded but I couldn't rest, I had to go warn Rey. After running a comb through my hair and getting changed into a new pair of pants I met her in the cockpit, but much to my dismay we were already landing in a flat area rich with vegetation. Everywhere I looked there was green, green trees, green grass, I never knew there was this much green in the world, before. Back on Tatooine all I could see was sand, the brown stuff stretched on for what seemed like forever, miles upon miles of brown.
"Aerolynn!" She said, smiling sweetly up at me, "we just landed on Takodana, are you feeling any better, you still look a little pale." She said, her eyes scanning my face. I felt exposed, it didn't take much for her to just start probing my mind. The words: "Kylo Ren knows where we are," might as well have been written on my forehead in a large and colorful font.
"Er... yeah, I'm feeling much better, must have just been a few hours bug." I said, praying that she couldn't see the lie clear as day on my face. Guilt stirred in my stomach and I felt a million times worse then I did from that aliens sting. No, this was worse because Rey was my friend, she trusted me, and I had not only been chatting with her sworn enemy, but revealed our location to him!
"Really? I didn't think just a few hour bugs existed..." She said, getting lost in thought as she pressed a few buttons on the dashboard.
"Apparently they do!" I said, leaning against the wall and trying to act casual, not that it gave me much justice, my wavering voice told her anything but, "Rey....-" I started, at a loss of words. How could I tell my friend who acted like my sister, who had been nothing but nice to me regardless of my being associated with the First Order, that I had just gave Kylo Ren a free pass to come and find us.
"Yeah?" She asked, starting to stand and gather her things. She put her blaster on her hip, right next to her shiny lightsaber. She then adjusted the wraps on her arms, making them tighter. I wondered why she wore them, didn't they make her hot?
"I um... I have a bad feeling about this trip, I can feel it." I said, scratching at the back of my neck.
"Really, how so?" She said, looking at me through her short eyelashes. Her eyes were pretty, a light brown color mixed with gold, they stood out against her tan skin.
"In the...-" I hesitated, unsure of my wording, "in the electricity! I can feel it in the electric currents running through the air, yup, I feel it now, somethings definitely off." I said. Rey rolled her eyes, playfully, and nudged my arm.
"Come on, Aerolynn, your just being superstitious, if something was off I'd feel it too." She said, looking out the window of the cockpit, she must have been entranced by all the green too, I forgot that for most of her life she lived on Jakku, a desert planet just like Tatooine. She wasn't always the Resistance hero that she had grown to be.
"Maybe you're right, but I seriously think we shouldn't go, maybe we should just go back to the Resistance base." I said, fiddling with the material of my shirt.
"We can't just bail on our mission, I know you might be scared but this is what the Resistance does, and we need this pilot." She said. "If you want to stay here that's fine, but I really thought that you of all people would be able to do this." She said, it should have been a somewhat mean comment, but coming from her it gave me a sense of belonging, a flurry of confidence.
"I can, but, what if... I don't know, something happens." I said, twisting my fingers together and then letting them go, I did this over and over again, trying to distract myself from the guilt that threatened to consume me whole.
"Aerolynn, I get it, but you're just being skeptical because of what happened yesterday, but I assure you, if we go in there and get the pilot fast enough, we'll be alright, the First Order is not going to be there." She said, my insides twisted as if they were noodles on a fork.
"Okay." I squeaked out, and with that we left and descended into the forest.
We walked for about an hour before we came upon this large grey brick castle, the top part of it was covered in colorful fabric and tapestry, it was tall, so tall that I had to crane my neck up to see the top of the pillars.
"Don't stare." Rey said as we ascended the looming steps.
"Stare at what?" I asked, our footsteps echoing off of the stone.
"Any of it." She answered back before opening up the doors and stepping in. The outside of the castle would have anybody fooled by it's quite and almost serene demeanor, but inside it was a roaring canteen, larger and more diverse than the last one. Aliens were scattered all about, their conversations lapping over each other, so that it was hard to listen to without getting a headache.
The smell of alcohol and food wafted through the air, making me scrunch my nose. Rey and I slipped between people, and I was suddenly thankful for being so invisible.
"Rey of Jakku!" Someone yelled, I turned around, giving Rey a fearful glance but she wasn't paying attention to me and instead was smiling. I looked to see what she was smiling at and saw a little orange thing walking towards us. She was small, barely up to my waist, she had large glasses on that made her eyes pop out, wrinkles formed around her small mouth and cheeks, she had a friendly yet authoritative aura about her and I realized I would not want to get into a fight with her.
"Maz!" Rey said, bending down and giving the small childlike woman a hug.
"How are you my dear?" She asked, placing her hands on Rey's face and looking at her. She turned her head from side to side, observing her.
"I'm good, do you actually mind if we go downstairs, it's a bit too... crowded for what I need to talk to you about." She said, Maz nodded and started to walk off, Rey following closely behind, I stumbled after them, constantly looking behind my shoulder expecting Kylo Ren to jump out from the shadows brandishing his trademark red cross-like saber.
We followed Maz into a secluded corner of the canteen and down a set of winding stairs and too a dark cellar like thing, that was damp, the air was heavy and clung to my skin. On one wall artifacts were clustered, lining the wall each looked so old I doubted anyone that was still around was alive for.
"And who is this pretty girl?" Maz asked, turning to gesture at me. I swallowed, words seeming to fail me.
"This is Aerolynn Edina, we rescued her from the First Order around a month ago, she has electric powers. She grew up on Tatooine." Rey said, I gave her a grateful look to which she only nodded.
"You are overcome with worrisome thoughts, my dear." Maz said, eyeing her. "They toss and turn inside of you giving you a great sense of inner turmoil." She said. Rey glanced at her, asking her with her eyes if it were true, but I didn't answer, and instead stared down at Maz.
"How did you know that?" I asked, kneeling down so she could talk to me at eye level.
"When you live as long as I have, you start to see the same eyes in different people. And I am seeing the eyes of a scared girl, unsure of her decisions and where her place is in all of this." She said. Her words shook me to the core, causing a shiver to go down my spine and my mouth to go dry. She was right.
"Maz, were here on behalf of the Resistance, we're looking for a retired First Order pilot. Do you think you could help us?" Rey asked, Maz nodded, and turned away from me to look at Rey.
"The man you're looking for is sitting with a group of men playing poker. You should wait until the game is over, but don't worry he won't win, I've seen his cards." She said, smiling, Rey stood up and bounded up the stairs, I started to stand but Maz stopped me.
"Kylo Ren." She said, "he haunts you." She said, I looked down, fiddling with a piece of my hair.
"He does not." I said, the words nothing but a squeak.
"Through the ages, I've seen evil take many forms. The Sith. The Empire. Today, it is the First Order. Their shadow's spreading across the galaxy. We must face them. Fight them! All of us, buy you... you especially. You can get through to him like no one else, and you know in the end it will be you who has to change him." She said. I looked down at my shoes, my cheeks burning.
"I don't understand why." I said, my voice breaking, "why me?" I asked, looking down at her, tears swimming in my eyes making everything smear together.
"I think you'll have to answer that question yourself. Give it time, the longing you seek is inside of you already, you just have to find it." She said, placing her small hand on my shoulder.
I opened my mouth to say something but then Rey was thundering down the stairs, her breathing heavy and a sheen of sweat on her forehead.
"The First Order, they're here." She said, "Aerolynn, you were right, we have to go." She said, before grabbing my wrist and dragging me upstairs. I stole a glance at Maz who was staring up after us, nodding, but I ignored her and focused on running up the stairs.
The First Order's here, Kylo found me, I had let him straight to me. He was going to take me back to him, he was going to torture me, find out all about the Resistance and then kill me. I could only dream of what was going to happen to Rey once he found her.
We raced through the canteen, I could hear blaster shots and the engines of TIE fighters flying up above us. Suddenly an explosion went off at the far left of the canteen, sending bits off debris at us, I winced as glass cut at my cheekbone.
"We have to run to the Falcon, stay hidden, and try to stay invisible." She said, before running outside. My heart was slamming against my ribs as we hopped over bricks and pieces of the castle, which now was completely ruined. I ducked as a TIE fighter flew just above us, causing my hair to blow into my eyes, and out of it's ponytail so that it cascaded down my shoulders.
"We need to find Aerolynn Edina." A stormtrooper said, "she may be with another girl, if you find them were instructed not to shoot, but if their not them kill em'." A storm trooper said before shooting down a small worm like creature.
I bounded through the remains of the palace, Rey by my side, she had whipped out her blaster, shooting discreetly at anyone that even just looked in our direction. I let out a lightning bolt at a group of stormtroopers sweeping the forest, they all collapsed.
"You know that forcefield would be really nice right now." Rey said, using her blaster to shoot at an unsuspecting trooper.
"I don't know how I did it before." I said, I tried to summon it from within me, but nothing happened, not even a tiny spark.
"Rey, look out!" I yelled, but it was too late the blaster had already hit her in the arm, she fell to the ground, hitting her head against an uprooted branch. She remained on the floor, unmoving, her eyes closed. "Rey!" I yelled again, I heard more troopers running towards us, at lest fifty. I closed my eyes and let out the biggest burst of electricity I ever had before, letting it run from my veins and into the air, the burst spread for miles, killing anything in it's path. I didn't care if I killed them, it didn't matter, they had hurt Rey, I had hurt Rey, this was my doing.
I slumped forward from sheer exhaustion, I had never exerted that much energy before, my skin was still glowing blue, my veins standing out brightly underneath. Tears ran down my eyes and landed on Rey, they stained her wraps because they too were bright blue, like my skin.
"I'm sorry." I whispered, "I'm so, so, sorry." I contemplated what to do, I couldn't carry her, I wasn't strong enough and even if I was I was too exhausted to do so. All I could do was protect her, something I didn't do before.
Then, I heard a twig snap behind me, I turned, the forest spun dangerously before my eyes, but it didn't matter because then I saw him. Kylo Ren. I gasped and unhooked Rey's saber from her belt, igniting it.
He twirled his own blood red saber in his hands. He was wearing his mask but I wished he wasn't. I longed to see his eyes, but I doubted they'd be full of the warmth he had shown me yesterday. No, they'd be ice cold.
"Stop it Aerolynn." He said, his voice automated, "give in to me. I have you now, you lost. Now, deactivate the saber, and put your hands out so I can cuff you." He said. I only shook my head, my dark hair falling onto my face.
"Then so be it." He said, before coming at me with his saber. I was tired, my mind seemed to be in an unbreakable fog, and I almost let him hit me. I twirled away from him, slashing sloppily at him, he easily dodged it, and kicked at my leg, making me fall. I quickly stumbled onto my feet, using myself to block Rey.
"You're protecting the scavenger girl, really?" He asked, swinging at me again, I narrowly missed it, the heat from the saber made my skin burn and he even got to tear at my clothing, revealing a strip of skin at my abdomen.
"Shut up." I grumbled, the forest was spinning so badly that I teetered on my feet, staggering slightly. I wondered just how much voltage was in that blast, it had to be at least 30 megavolts.
"Aerolynn?" Kylo asked, but I couldn't answer him because hthen I was falling, unable to stop myself. He caught at me, pulling my into his arms and against his chest. I pushed my hands against his chest, trying to push me away from me, but it didn't matter, I was too weak from my little electricity episode.
"I have her." Kylo Ren said, "grab the other girl. Let's go." He said, before walking off, the gentle swaying from his walking lulled me to sleep, but I resisted it, trying to stay awake. Trying to fight. But then I felt a hand on my head, tucking the hair behind my ear.
"Sleep." He said, and then the darkness washed over me, drowning me, filling my lungs and blinding me.
Heyy peeps! Wassup, so thank you so much for reading. We hit 1500 today and that is so trucking exciting! But I have bad news, I can't update next week because I have cross country camp, so I wouldn't hold your breath for an update but I'll try as hard as I can. Again thank you for reading! Leave a comment or a vote! Until next time, friends:)