Rey

x

Jase told her as much as he knew.  He warned her that it might not be accurate, but that he would say as much as he could remember.

She settled down in front of the fire, working on her mask as the sun set.

Jase stood to turn on the lamp and sat down in front of her.  "It all starts off with a boy named Anakin Skywalker, and how he turned to the Dark Side.  He got his legs and arms chopped clean off with a lightsaber--"

"What's that?"

He shrugged.  "A saber made of light?"

Rey nodded in pretend understanding.

He continued.  "He was burned severely, and the Empire's scientists put him in this big weird black suit, and was called Darth Vader. He breathed like this," Jase imitated raspy breathing. "He didn't know that he had two children, twins, a boy and a girl. The boy grew up on a planet called Tatooine, which, from what I've heard, is a lot like here, but there are two suns. Anyway, the boy, who was named Luke, wanted to get off the planet more than anything. His uncle bought two droids, and one of them wanted to find someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi to deliver a message. Luke saw part of the message, and saw a beautiful girl.

"They somehow found Obi-Wan, who had been going by the name Ben Kenobi. He said that he knew Anakin, Luke's father. But see, he didn't let on that Anakin was Darth Vader. He just said that Darth Vader killed Anakin. He gave Luke Anakin's lightsaber, and they rescued the princess somehow with the help of a smuggler named Han Solo, which is where the Millennium Falcon comes in, and blew up this massive weapon the Empire had, which also blew up the princess' planet. This happened again later, and Luke also trained under Yoda, since the first time they were in the weapon, which looked like a moon and was actually a space station, Darth Vader killed Ben."

"That's disappointing," Rey said, referring to Ben Kenobi's death.

Jase shrugged. "Somehow though, his body disappeared. Like, into thin air. Anyway, Luke and Darth Vader fought, and Darth Vader revealed that he was Luke's father, and that Leia was his sister. Weirdly enough though, Luke kissed Leia multiple times prior to that."

Rey crinkled her nose. "That's weird."

He nodded and continued. "Then Luke told Leia, after he'd given their father a Jedi burial, even though he'd turned to the Dark Side."

"Is that all true?" Rey asked, intrigued.

Jase shrugged. "Obviously some is. But that all happened before I was born. I don't think the Jedi or the Force exist."

"What's the Force?"

"It's some ancient mystical power that apparently is in all of us, and those who are sensitive to it can use to to perform almost superhuman feats."

"Sounds like a myth," Rey said, adding another stitch to her mask.

"That's because it probably is," Jase heaved himself to his feet.

She finished the mask as he tidied up, and jumped onto her bed so that he would have to turn out the light.

Jase reached up and the lights went out.

Rey drifted off, her dreams dancing with visions of daring escapades and rescues and a man in all black.

The next morning, she used her new mask when they went out to scavenge.

Rey jumped off the speeder when they got to their destination. "Race you!"

Jase had longer legs, but she had a head start. She made it just inside the huge gap in the side of the Star Destroyer before Jase tackled her to the sand drifted against the opening.

She shrieked and shoved him off. "Get off, you huge lump!"

Jase stood, breathless. "You're almost as tall as I am."

"You're still bigger," Rey insisted.

He laughed. "Alright, but you'll probably be bigger than me soon. Then who'll be the huge lump?"

Rey stuck out her tongue.

She retrieved her bag and got to work. Light filtered through cracks in the walls, reflecting off of jagged pieces all around.

Hours later, they were trading in the parts for portions.

Rey cleaned the eyepieces of her mask and placed in on a box near her bed so she would have it within easy reach on the morning.

Jase turned out the light. "Goodnight."

"G'night."