I wasn't quite sure just how long I'd been shut away in the cupboard, but after a while I decided to try and pull myself back together, telling myself to calm down and remember my Jedi training. I could barely concentrate on that though, my mind too set on the thought of the First Order and how badly I wanted my revenge. 

Losing Poe had reminded me just how painful life could be. I'd never forgotten my losses at the academy, but I'd eventually anage to shut off my feelings to it after many years of painful mourning. Losing Poe had brought all that back though, reminding me just how cruel life could be and how fleeting it all was. Realising that I would never see Poe again not only hurt because of I was losing my best friend and partner in crime, but it also drove home how many other people I would never see again, especially those I had lost at the academy, at the hands of my brother and Snoke. 

Going to the academy had been like finding a second family. Other than Ben and I, my Uncle had recruited several other children, most of them orphans or kids from the poorest planets in the galaxy, promising them with an education and a safe home. In total there were about a dozen, and though I bonded to them all, I trusted two girls in particular. On my frist day at the academy my Uncle showed me to a small hut outside the main temple building and introduced me to it as my new dormitory that I would be sharing with two other girls. It was the first time I would be sharing a room with any one other than Ben, but since he was sharing with two boys from Batuu, I was left with these strangers who soon became sisters to me. 

The two were twins, Erikanna and Isabeul Antilles, sent to the academy by their father, an old friend of my Uncle and parents from the war. I decided I liked them the moment my Uncle told me their father was a war hero, and though the two had an unbreakable bond, Izzy and Erika soon accepted me as if I was the third member of their sisterly gang. They were identical, same sandy blonde hair, same height and same freckles dusting their cheeks, and they both seemed to have the same fiery passion. They had their differences too, with Erika being the more gentle, the calmer of the two, the one who always stood between people during a disagreement, whilst Izzy was more wild. The two were both quick-witted, sarcastic, and cutting with their humour, but Izzy had a way of speaking that made everyone turn and listen to her, even if it was to insult someone, whilst Erika was quieter to the extent we often had to encourage her to give us her advice. The two could silently communicate, knowing what the other was thinking through a mere look or eyebrow twitch, and whilst Ben and I were similar to that, as we grew older their bond seemed to strengthen, whilst mine and my brother's grew apart.

I loved my family, and I loved my brother, but the way I felt about Erika and Izzy was different. It was almost like how I felt about Poe, but different. The fact that we were all force sensitive meant we all understood each other so well, knowing every feeling or fear we had, and that made us a formidable team. Of course, we were also three strong-willed teenagers forced into a confined space, which often led to disagreements and arguments, but they only seemed to join us closer together. The three of us seemed to encourage each other in our training in a way my Uncle couldn't. He was our Jedi Master and we respected him, but the thought of losing in a lightsaber duel to either of them, who would tease me endlessly for it, willed me on more than any word of encouragement from Luke. 

The two also knew my pride for my family, knowing the fact that my middle name was that of a Naboo Queen was a great point of comparison for me. They'd use the stories and reputation of my ancestors against me in an attempt to fuel the force inside me, taunting me to train and fight harder. They had no fear of using things against me, and whilst everyone else would call me Luci, or Organa (Ben was Solo, it was too confusing for us to both go by that nickname), Erika and Izzy took to calling me Amidala. It infuriated me to no end, the girls infuriated me, but I loved them all the same, and I loved how they made me feel when training.

"I thought you were Skywalker!" Izzy exclaimed triumphantly as she disarmed me, her blue saber pointed at me, laughing as I cursed in annoyance, reaching my hand out to call my lightsaber back to me. 

"That's two one now, how's it feel to lose to an Antilles?" Izzy called from where she was sat off to the side, polishing her own lightsabre, raising her eyebrow at me tauntingly.

"I'm an Organa actually!" I corrected them annoyedly, extending my purple blade again, pointing it at the two of them. "And a Solo,"

"No excuses for being a sloppy fighter," Izzy rolled her eyes, sighing dramatically as she got up, turning her saber on and meeting my purple blade with her blue one. "Up your game, Amidala,"
 

I'd not been called Amidala for so long. The three of us had been off travelling the galaxy upon Uncle Luke's instruction, when we came back to the Academy, everything was silent in the dead of the night, and I left them both to go and find my brother. I didn't find Ben though, Kylo Ren in his place, and I never found the girls again either. They'd disappeared, fleeing from the destruction, or at least that's what I forced myself to believe. I'd seen the bodies of all my other classmates, seen Kylo Ren kill one of them in front of me, but Izzy and Erika hadn't been there, not in the pile of fallen Padawans and not the victims of my brother's new red lightsaber. 

It had been five years though, and they had completely disappeared, and in the back of my mind I'd practically dropped the theory of them being alive. They were the best friends I could have ever wanted, and so was Poe, who had helped me through mourning everyone from the academy, constantly reassuring me that the girls were probably still out there somewhere. I wondered what the three of them would think to me, sat in a cupboard sobbing over them, and I realised how much Poe would hate to know he'd caused me so much pain, and the girls would bully me mercilessly for crying over them. The best thing I could do was remember them and try and avenge them. 

With that thought in my mind, I gently sat up, wiping the tears from my face before glancing over to BB-8 caringly, stroking his head the way I'd seen Poe do so many times. The droid was in so many of my memories of Poe, the two of them being together since the very start of the resistance. I suddenly realised that I had no idea why the two of them were on Jakku, and curiosity got the better of me as I frowned, cocking my head to one side as I looked at the droid, him mimicking my gesture.

"Hey Bee-bee, why were you on Jakku in the first place?" I couldn't help but wonder if the resistance had tracked me down to the planet and it had been a rescue mission gone wrong, but I knew that wouldn't be true. Instead I listened carefully to the droid as he whistled his answer, my eyes went going wide in shock and excitement at what he told me. "Are you serious? A map to Luke? My Uncle Luke Skywalker? Holy Kenobi, buddy, we need to get it to my Mum, we need to get it to the resistance!"

A mixture of excitement to find my uncle and determination to not let Poe's last mission be in vain hit me, and a gestured for the droid to follow me as I ran back to the living quarters. I'd almost forgotten about the two runaways, but I soon remembered them, hearing the girl's voice as she shouted at her friend, clearly frustrated at something, and as I rounded the corner I saw her squatted down in one of the pits where the internals of the ship were, trying to fix the mechanics. I'd been trying to restore the ship bit-by-bit during my exile but eventually gave up, knowing that the ship would always pull through, too many childhood stories of my father's successes had led me to that belief. This girl however, didn't share my hope, not with the siren of warning beeping out urgently.

"Look where I'm pointing! The wrench!" she shouted, her head appearing up out of the pit as she pointed to a wrench lying on the floor by her friend's foot. 

Her friend didn't see which wrench she was pointing at, and so before I could even think against it, I held my hand out, calling to the wrench. It flew through the air, landing in my palm as I crossed the room, going towards the pit, jumping down to join the girl. I handed her the wrench, ignoring her expression of amazement and shock, though I had to hold back a laugh as her friend cursed in shock. His look of fear towards me was also quite amusing, but I turned my focus onto what the girl was trying to fix, that being one of the gas pipes leading to the engine.

 "How'd you do that?" the girl asked urgently, and I felt her gaze drilling into me, as if she was trying to figure me out, like she'd never met anyone like me before. 

"Doesn't matter," I shrugged, examining the repair job she was doing. "I wouldn't worry too much, the old girl's always falling apart," 

With that, I pulled myself back out of the pit, sitting on the edge so my legs were dangling into the hole, and with a cautious look, the an came and joined me, sitting down next to me. I felt him look at me with sympathy, and I immediately regretted my emotional display I'd had in front of him. I looked back down to the pit, only to see the girl still looking up to me, smiling. 

"I'm Rey, this is Finn," she told me, and with a small smile I held my hand down to her. She took it, shaking, and once she'd shook, I turned my attention to the man next to me, reciprocating the gesture.

"Luci," I told them both, deciding against telling them my surname. Both Organa and Solo were pretty big red flags across the galaxy, and since I didn't know them at all well, it wouldn't have been wise to tell them who I really was. "Beebee-Ate's told me what he's carrying, but given the fact that his last master was very protective of him, just how did he end up with you two?"

"Finn's with the resistance," Rey told me, not looking up from her work and my gaze instantly shot to Finn beside me, who didn't meet my gaze, as if he was suddenly anxious. I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Beebee-Ate told me he was wearing your friend's jacket so we ran after him, and then the First Order came after us. I'm just a scavenger," 

"A pretty good one too to break onto this ship," I raised my eyebrow at her slightly before turning my attention to Finn once more. "You're with the resistance?" 

"Uh, yeah, I can't talk too much about it though, you know, its all confidential need to know stuff," he told me, trying to seem confident but I sensed his nerves instantly and the fact that he was hiding something. 

"Yeah, me too," I nodded, fighting off the smirk that appeared when I saw how he instantly flinched. I decided not to push it for the time being, turning my focus onto Rey. "You were a scavenger?" 

"Yeah," she nodded, glancing up at me once more, though I felt her looking at my weapons belt, spotting my lightsaber hilt hanging from it. I quickly pulled my shirt down over it, but that and my use of summoning clearly added up to something in Rey's mind as her eyes went wide. "Are you... A Jedi?" 

"A Jedi?" Finn exclaimed, quite dramatically, his expression the same as Rey's. 

I nodded calmly, not sure how I could get myself out of that one. I used the force, sensing their emotions in an attempt to figure out if I could trust them with this revelation, and the only thing that stood out to me was Finn, his reaction making me consider him closer. I was the only Jedi in the resistance, but even then it wasn't something shocking to come by. If he was part of the resistance, he should have known me instantly, known me as General Organa's daughter. 

"Did... Did you know Luke Skywalker?" Rey asked carefully and I nodded again. "So he is real?" 

"Of course he's real," I snorted out a laugh. "Though I'm sure he'd like a lot of people to think he wasn't,"

"What was he like? What's the big deal about him?" Finn asked, instantly setting off another alarm in my head. If he was part of the Resistance, he'd know Luke was the General's brother. 

"He's a good man... Or he was, I haven't seen him for a long time," I shrugged, not meeting either of their gaze as I remembered my Uncle. "He trained me, before he went missing, at least," 

The thought of him going missing brought back the memories. The night I lost Ben, the way I saw Uncle Luke knelt by R2-D2 crying at the sight of the burning temple. At the thought of it all, I felt the scar on my shoulder blade sting angrily, remembering how my brother nearly took my arm. I closed my eyes, remembering how Luke took hold of my hand and pulled me from the fight, pulling me to his ship to escape, leaving everything else behind. I heard his voice echoing around my mind, the way he whispered through his emotions, only fully breaking down when he thought I'd gone to sleep. 

'I'm sorry, Leia,' he'd cried. 'I'm sorry, Han,' 

They were words that haunted me, and I quickly opened my eyes, shaking my head to clear my mind. I knew both Finn and Rey were looking at me, so may more questions to ask, but as I glanced at both of them I saw them realise that whatever I knew of Luke was clearly painful. Even so, I forced a smile at the two of them, trying not to seem so haunted.

"He's the last fully trained Jedi," I sighed after a moment, knowing I was answering the questions they were desperate to ask. "The Supreme Leader of the First Order is desperate to find him, so no wonder the resistance want to find him too. If Snoke gets to him first... The war is as good as over, and the galaxy is as good as doomed,"

"Then we need to get Beebee-Ate to the Resistance," Rey nodded, sensing my emotions even if she didn't fully understand the extent of them.

"It's what Poe would've wanted," I sighed again, mentioning Poe feeling like a knife to the heart. I wanted so badly to hug him tight, to ruffle his hair, to joke about how sloppy his piloting is, to laugh with him so much I'd weep. I'd never get to do any of that with him again. "If he'd been given orders from the General to recover the map, I know how much he hated disappointing her. I'll be damned if I let that happen,"

"You really are part of the resistance?" Finn asked me, frowning. At the sight of me nodding, he seemed to tense up. "Well, uh, yeah, we've gotta get the droid back to them then if that's what the general would want," 

Finn was like an open book. I looked into the force and saw the confusion and fear within him. He was scared of the First Order, and his shock at my use of the force and being a Jedi suggested he'd seen something like it. Had my brother, the only other force user I knew, hurt Finn in the past? That would've made sense if he really was part of the resistance, but that was probably another lie. His history with the First Order was obvious, but I refused to push it. It was obviously something he didn't want to talk about, and the three of us and BB-8 were stuck with each other.

"I'll help you get to the Resistance," I promised, looking between the two of them. "I've been gone for three years, it's about time I go home,"

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Word count: 2898

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