(Music box song: Stand By Me - Ben E. King)
Mae and Caleb had been travelling for a whole day in silence and only a few words between them. They were bored and tension grew between them. Mae just didn't know where to start. "Hey Caleb, thanks for letting me cry on you after completely ignoring you for a whole week, then trying to leave without saying thank you or goodbye, and then for tieing my shoelaces and deserting the Resistance with me." She knew she had to break the ice somehow.
"It never gets old for me," Mae says as they look out the window at the blue tunnel of light. They were now travelling through hyperspace. "It's beautiful."
"Me either."
They sit in silence again. Mae sighed, that didn't work. Caleb stands up from the co-pilot chair to look around. His eyes rest on a shelf with a little box on it. He picks it up and admires the outside of it. He opens it and realizes what it is – a music box. He winds it up and the song that played on it was as beautiful as the box itself.
"This song, I remember it from when I was young." Mae's eyes followed the sound and she turned her chair around. "I've never seen that music box before."
"Maybe she was going to give it to you for your birthday." Caleb shrugs.
"I think she forgot about it." Mae teases.
"I don't think anyone could forget something like this. It's special." Caleb looks at her intently. He winds up the box again and sets it down on the shelf.
Mae gets an idea. She stands up and walks toward Caleb moving her body slowly to the song. It hurt a little but it was worth it. He looked at her and he couldn't help but smile. She grabs his hands and pulls him towards the small open space.
"Come on, dance with me. We have time to kill."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can. It's just like using the Force. Just let the music move you."
He was stiff, and she was determined to get him to relax. "You know, I used to go dancing every night. It's one of my favourite things to do." She starts to sway to the music more and pulls his arms to make him move his body more. He slowly gets his rhyme and pulls her towards him with one arm, avoiding the scar on her side, and holding her other hand. She reaches an arm around his neck. She giggles as he spins her. This was the most fun she'd had in weeks. It felt natural to dance, to dance with him too.
The music goes silent and they stop swaying, but they stay there.
"You know I just left to get us some food and ask Leia when your mother would be back, but when I came back you weren't there. Only a note." The fun never seemed to last.
"I'm sorry." Mae looks down at the floor and tries to distance herself.
"Please, please don't push me away." He says very quickly and his hands hold her tightly. He looks up away from her, uncomfortable by his emotional outburst. Mae looks back at his face.
"I used to be scared of you, of your eyes." With a surge of confidence, she touches his cheek and moves it to face her. Their eyes lock for a few seconds."You are a good person. I just can't put anyone else in danger because of who I am."
She releases him, pats him on the chest and walks back to the pilot's seat facing the blue light.
"Who are you?" He stands there, waiting.
She takes a deep breath. Without looking back she answers. "I am the daughter of Luke Skywalker."
The ship goes silent and Mae continues, "It's been kept a secret since my entire life. The only people in the whole galaxy that know besides my parents are Leia, Han, Ahsoka, and Ben Solo. He doesn't go by Ben anymore. It's Kylo Ren now."
Caleb takes some time to process. Mae was a Skywalker, the child of the most powerful force wielder in the galaxy, and she was the grandchild of the Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka's master. Ben Solo, Leia's son was Kylo Ren. Everything kind of made sense, from the secret training to Mae's fight with Kylo on the post. It was all shocking, but he kind of always knew. He looks at her and smiles.
"At least now it isn't so embarrassing that I get my ass whooped every time in training." He jokes as he moves to the back.
"What?" Mae turns to him, confused by his reaction.
He grabs a muffin for himself and one for Mae from his bag. He passes it to her.
"Hungry?"
"I- what? I don't understand how you're taking in all the information so easily. I thought you would hate me for it." She shakes her head and takes the muffin.
"Hate you? Impossible."
Caleb continued, "You know, I had my theories since we talked about your family on your birthday and I heard the talking you do in your sleep. You have very strong feelings. Ahsoka said something on the listening post... I should've just asked."
Mae put her head in her hands and laughed.
"Oh, haha I think I notice those kinds of things more than I should because I'm Chiss. I'm not a creep."
"No, I'm laughing because I should've told you a long time ago."
"Oh. Good." He smiled.
Mae looked back at him, "You promise not to expose me to the galaxy?"
"I'll keep your secrets, Mae Skywalker." He laughs and smiles at her. "I'm much too scared of your wrath."
She shakes her head and laughs too. She liked his laugh. He didn't laugh a lot but today he genuinely seemed happy. He just believed her so easily. Most people would question her but he just trusted her. Mae thinks about all the other crazy things she could tell him about her family. Would he just accept them too? How would he react if he told her who Darth Vader really was? Who The Chosen One was? About her nightmares and dreams? She might have to tell him everything.
"Anyways, where are we even going? I've been too scared to ask," Caleb asks.
"Oh right, um I think you'll like it." She snapped out of her thoughts and smiled at him. "We're actually here now." At that perfect moment, the ship comes out of hyperspace. They look at the planet in front of them.
"Lothal?" Caleb looks at Mae. This was Caleb's home planet for many years.
"We're going to find Master Ezra." She says with hope in her voice.
He looks at her. "Ezra? Why? The last time I checked he didn't want anything to do with another rebellion. He was 'retired', and on a 'spiritual' mission." Caleb tells her, sass in his voice. He was bitter Ezra shipped him off to the Rebellion and just disappeared without any communication.
"I thought maybe he can help me find my father." She had so many questions, and maybe Ezra could help her considering he's seen the deepest parts of the Force. "I was advised to leave the Resistance to find answers."
"Advised by Leia?"
"No." She turns to look at him.
"The Jedi?"
She smiles. Caleb wasn't the strongest, or the most skillful, but he still knew more than he thought he did. He was quite observant. Maybe she didn't hide her Force abilities enough from him. "You sure are intuitive."
"How did you do it?"
"Well, I didn't. When I was 17 somehow my grandfather made a connection with me in a dream." She steered the ship into the atmosphere of Lothal. "Anakin told me to leave the temple, the night before the temple was destroyed. He has been there when I needed him."
"That's incredible. So you still have this... connection?"
"It hasn't been the same since I joined the Resistance. I feel like our connection has been cut off. And my dreams feel like something or someone is turning them into nightmares."
"Do you think it could be... Kylo?"
Mae shook her head. "Not many Jedi or Sith have had the power and ability to enter someone's mind like this. You saw what happened to me on the listening post."
"You went into his mind, how?"
"I'm not sure, it just kind of happened." She looked away from Caleb, ready to lie, "I don't remember anything."
"Then who has the power to do this successfully?" Caleb asked.
Mae had been thinking about this question since her fight with Kylo. In the entire galaxy, it could only have been her father, he was the only one powerful enough. There was something itching the back of her mind. The man in Kylo's mind. Darth Sidious. She had to believe it was Kylo's Master Snoke, trying to use him as a puppet to scare her because Sidious was dead.
"I don't know. But I would think they'd be Death Stars more trouble than Kylo." Mae smiles slightly shrugging at Caleb. She didn't want him to feel what she was feeling.
Mae and Caleb open the door to Ezra's old home. It's full of old Empire helmets, books and things he stole years ago before he joined the Ghost crew. This place hadn't been occupied for at least 10 years, but Lothal was the last place Ezra was reported seen on.
"What are we looking for?" Calebs asks.
"Anything that gives us a hint of where he is now."
Mae and Caleb looked around and saw a communication device. Mae clicked it on and it was a symbol that popped up. "Fulcrum," Ahsoka told Mae about the days after Order 66 and joining the Rebellion. Fulcrum was the frequency Anakin used in the Clone Wars. Ahsoka used it as a code name after Order 66 in case he ever reached out to her, but he never did. Fulcrum was used by rebel spies until the collapse of the Empire. It was a signal of loyalty to the rebellion and that's why Ahsoka and Mae decided to use it as their code name in the Resistance. Mae turned off the device and shoved it in Caleb's backpack.
"How long have you known Master Ezra?" Mae asks Caleb.
"Since I was 6. My grandfather was getting too sick to care for me so when Ezra sensed my force abilities he begged Ezra to teach me. I guess I reminded Ezra of someone, so he took me in and raised me like his own. I think it funny, considering he almost died taking down Empire Admiral Thrawn, a Chiss."
"No certain species is only evil or good. He saw the potential in you."
"I thought he was holding me back when he didn't let me attend the Jedi temple. But now I think it was because he didn't want to be alone on his journey. He wanted to pass on his knowledge. I'm grateful for it now though." He scratches the back of his neck, nervous his last point was insensitive.
"Me too, I think Ben would have liked you though." She wasn't offended, she was grateful. "Oh look over here Caleb!" Mae notices a mural on a large rock. It had a boy, a Mandalorian girl, a green Twi'lek woman who she recognized as General Syndulla, and her droid, a large Lasat, and a tall man with long hair and beard.
"Ezra showed me this once when I was young. That's him there. And that's Sabine Wren, that's General Hera Syndulla, Chopper, Zeb and Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus. He survived Order 66 and taught Ezra."
Mae wondered if Kanan was one of the voices that came to her.
"I've fought a few times with General Syndulla, her son, and Chopper. I kind of fangirled when I met her." She grazes her hand lightly over the art.
Caleb chuckles. "That's how I felt about General Organa."
Mae laughs and continues to look at the art. "Wow, It's amazing. Look at the little lothcats!" She has recognized Sabine Wren's name, she was an old friend of Ahsoka's. A Mandalorian warrior. She takes a good look at all the details as Caleb walks towards a desk.
"Hey, over here. It looks like Ezra was plotting points on this map." Caleb yelled to Mae.
Mae walked over and looked at the map. "Maybe he wrote down his next location?" She suggested.
"Doesn't look like it to me. Who even uses makes maps like these anymore. It's outdated." Says Caleb.
"Outdated?"
"Yeah, these planets were blown up by the Death Star." He points to Scariff and Alderaan. "And these moons aren't even real." He points to a few more.
"Try something for me? Please? Put your hand like this, and focus." Mae asks. Something made Caleb find that map. It was too out of place, and if he would leave his location for anyone, it would be for his son, Caleb.
"Why are you trying to get me to use the Force on the map?" He's annoyed.
"Don't be shy, give it a try." She insists. "Please, for me." She bats her eyelashes up at him a little and smiles sweetly. That'll do it, boys are too easy.
He rolls his eyes and does what Mae asks. On the map, silver lines start to appear pointing. Showing a pattern.
"How did you know that would work?" Ezra looks at her eyes wide.
"I didn't." She points to the map. "There! There's a line connection between these planets and moons. He must have gone to them for a reason."
"He must have gone to this one last. Let's stay here tonight, then head out in the morning." Caleb points to a little circle in the corner. He starts to roll up the map and put it in his bag.
"Sure, but wait, what planet is it?" She asks.
"It's no planet, It's the Endor moon." He says.
You've got to be kidding me.