- ghosts of the past.

viii

Ezran and Han sprinted towards the door as the ground beneath them started to tremble. Finn had left the castle aboard an alien freighter, and Rey had disappeared, neither Ezran or Han knew what had happened to her. As they made it outside, they met Chewie standing there, on his way to come get them. Ezran and Han came down the stairs that led to the archway inside, and a crowd followed them, everyone looking up at the growing beam of light coming towards them. 

"It was the Republic!" Ezran's head turned when he heard Finn's voice, "The First Order, they've done it!" Finn looked around,  "where's Rey?"

Ezran shook his head, "we don't know." He glanced at Han when his shoulder was nudged by the older man. 

"We have bigger issues." They all looked up at the sky once more to see the front of an attack, led by TIE Fighters coming in towards the castle. 

Han's name was called, and he, Ezran, and Chewie all turned to see Maz pushing through the crowd. "Come with me," she said urgently, and without a question, they followed her back into the castle. 

Maz led them down to the basement quickly, "I've had this for ages," she said, unlocking a chest at the end of the corridor, "kept it locked away." She reached in, then pulled out a lightsaber hilt and held it out to Han, who stood at the front of the group. 

Han stared down at it, not making any move to take it. "Where did you get that?"

Maz walked forward, "a good question for another time," she held it out to Finn, "take it!" She urged. "Find your friend." Finn took it, staring down at it. 

The castle began to rumble around them, loose dirt and sand falling above their heads. Han reached out an arm to steady Ezran as he stumbled, and Chewie shook his head, groaning. 

"Those beasts." Maz muttered, looking up. "They're here."

"Go, go!" Han yelled, shoving both Ezran and Finn towards the direction they came, "We're going to get killed down here if we don't leave now!"

As they began to run, the ceiling above them started to crumble. Finn held out the lightsaber to Ezran. 

"Take it!" He insisted, and Ezran shook his head, pushing it away again. 

"I don't want it!" Ezran yelled back over the noise around them, "you keep it!"

"Quit arguing!" Han called over them as they ran up the stairs and out of the castle. "Careful!" He pulled Ezran back by the collar of his jacket just as they reached the surface and a storm trooper shot directly through where Ezran's head had just been. Han lifted his blaster and shot the storm trooper, then two more directly afterwards. "Come on, Chewie, Ezran!"

The three took cover behind an already falling down pillar and took to shooting as many storm troopers as they could. Han finally turned to Chewie and held his hands out. 

"Can I try that?" He asked, gesturing to Chewie's bowcaster. Chewie made a small grunt of approval and set it in Han's grasp. Han turned, aimed, and shot the ground where two stormtroopers stood, blowing it up. "I like this thing." 

"Han!" Ezran ducked back next to Chewie, holding his blaster close to his chest, "Finn is out there fighting a stormtrooper, he's not doing too hot!"

Han shook his head, but moved to where Ezran had been, and shot the stormtrooper just as he stood above Finn with his mace in hand. Finn moved out of the way as the body fell down, and was pulled up by Han. 

"You okay, Big Deal?" Han asked as Finn got to his feet. 

Finn nodded, "thanks."

"Don't move!" Ten stormtroopers came over the rise, surrounding them, "TK-338, we have targets in custody."

One trooper took Chewie's bowcaster, while others took the lightsaber, and Han and Ezran's blasters. They were then escorted by blaster point across the debris, and towards the First Order's transports, until the troopers stopped. 

"We have incoming at two-eight-point-six!" A stormtrooper yelled, and the squad began to break apart, leaving Han, Chewie, Finn, and Ezran unattended. The stormtrooper continued to shout orders as they began to fire at the sky at incoming ships. 

They slowly removed their hands from their heads, staring at the ships coming across the lake. "It's the Resistance." Han muttered. 

The ground around them was upturned by explosions. The stormtroopers around them scattered, falling to the ground. 

"Quick!" Han instructed, and they all ran towards the troopers who had taken their weapons and took them back. Han turned, shooting down a stormtrooper that was coming near them, then tossed Ezran's blaster to him, "that's yours, right?" He called, pointing his own blaster briefly to the sky where the Ghost was flying among other X-Wings, shooting down TIE Fighters.

Ezran grinned, looking at Han, "that's mine." He affirmed, then pulled his comm link off his belt. "Nice of you guys to join us." He said, looking back up at the Ghost. 

"Nice of you to let us know you're alive." Niylah's voice crackled back through, causing Ezran's grin to widen. 

Around them, the stormtroopers began to fall back to their ships. Ezran and Han looked at each other in confusion, then towards the largest First Order ship, where a man clad in black was carrying Rey, followed by more stormtroopers. The ships then took off, jumping into hyperspace. 

Without the blaster fire and yelling, the scene around them seemed quiet, and the dust began to settle, only to be kicked back up as a Resistance transport came in for landing, along with the X-Wings and the Ghost soon after it. 

Finn came running up to Han, Chewie, and Ezran. "They took her! She's gone!"

Han brushed past him, waving it off with the hand that still had his blaster in it. Finn stared at him in shock and watched as Han made his way to the transport as it finished it's landing and opened the main door. Han came to a stop, letting people filter out around him, looking past them for someone, and as the group cleared, he saw Leia coming out, and someone standing beside her, both of them looking directly at him.