"To trust others, you must begin by trusting yourself."

                                   REY

"Kira!
Let's go, uncle Luke has summoned us." Ben grabbed my hand, tugging me forward like luggage but my heels dig into the mossy soil.

"Ben! Ben stop your hurting me!" As if I flipped a switch Ben released my, now, red wrist from his grasp and stared at me in shock.

"I'm sorry!" He says, his black hair-tussling and slapping his long eyelashes in the wind. He takes long strides over to me and holds my slightly bruised wrist in his gentle hands.

"It's ok," I mumbled looking up at him with my slightly watery brown eyes.

Ben is only four years older than me but he's two heads taller than I am. Every time I'm around him I feel like I've shrunk.

His concerned eyes narrowed and his mouth turned into a mischievous smile, "I guess I'll beat you in training today since, ya know, your wrist is all messed up now."

"Ha! As if!" I shove my good hand in his mess of black hair as a fit of giggles leaves my mouth. A rush of wind picks up and sends the ends of my robes flying forward and my chestnut hair into a frenzy.

"C'mon, let's go!" Ben happily says as he briskly sneaks behind me and dives under, grabbing my legs and throwing me onto his shoulders.

"Ah! Haha!" I let out a girlish scream as I ball my hands up into fists and toss up my arms in the fun of it all. But then I noticed how high I up I am.

"Ah! Ben don't drop me!" I scold him when his foot catches on a rock heading to the temple where I can see Luke and a couple of my friends.

"I've always got you, Kira."

His sweet voice, his words, his cheery tone all at once echo in my mind.

The vision fades away like a distant memory when R2 lets out a long irritated groan that snaps me back to reality.

"We're headed to..." I trail off, "somewhere, I don't really know where, so just stick with me here." I say as I flick a few switches overhead to reconfigure the Falcon's flight path.

Luke had told me to set off on my trip to find my crystal with no directions whatsoever, except for 'follow your feelings'.

"Aaaaauuuh, oahhhhgg uh." Chewie belches out a confused cry from where he's seated next to me as co-pilot. He misses Han, I can tell. There's a dark shadow cast across his eyes now when before, there was happiness. Thinking into this, I reach out my hand and tangle it with Chewie's arm fur for comfort. His giant sculptured head turns to me and lets out a small affectionate whimper.

"I know buddy, I miss him too." I swivel to look at R2 behind me, "R2! Speak to the Falcon for me huh?"

"Bwee wooooo." R2 whistles.

"I'm... sorry, the hyper what? I don't speak radar technician."

"Weeeep woooo eeiioooooo!"

"Wait, WHAT?" I scream and whip my head towards the viewing port ahead of me to suddenly see the long blue strands of hyperspace slick back like releasing an elastic band as The Falcon erupts to a stop directly in front of a green blotched planet. My head swings forward and hits the front panel leaving a red mark on my forehead.

"Oowwww, R2! HOLD THE IGNITION! CHEWIE RIP OUT THE HYPER EXECUTOR!" I start barking orders to them, quickly turning left and right flipping switches and pressing the buttons needed to make The Falcon stop in its tracks as my heart races.

"Good R2! CUT THE ENGINES!"

The Falcon lurches to a stop, the lights go out except for the emergency red ones that are now flashing warning signals above my head. Blaring sirens come in and out of hearing as they circle around ships interior.

The stars become visible when the viewing port clears. It's like a giant black quilt covers my vision with glitter drizzled over top.

"AUUGHHH!"

"Yeah, yeah I'm with you, Chewie. Artoo! We need to land! The Falcon needs to cool down." I say turning back to the control panel, honing in on the giant moon before us.

"Where are we?" I breathe out, my hot breaths fanning over the glass making it cloud over, due to the heat being turned off with the rest of the ship.

The planet in question pops up on the front radar screen above me with a name printed on it.

"Devaron? What's Devaron?" I ask, turning to Chewie with a curious expression on my face.

"Gbhuaaa ahhhh!"

"Dangerous? Well, we need to land, R2 get ready to camp on the moon. Prep the landing gear!" I yell over my shoulder to R2 as he whistles a retort and rolls to the backdrop controls.

Chewie lets out a careful whimper in my direction.

"Look Chewie, right now I don't care if Kylo Ren himself is down there. We. Need. To land!" I yowl back at him, my lips pulled back into a snarl and my brown hair around my ears flying into my face. Apparently, I'm quite a scary sight to see, because Chewbacca complies with my wishes and begins to prep the landing gear, but as he muffles small angry retorts grumbling in his throat.

The planets surface doubles it's size as we come closer and more into view. We pass by the atmosphere than drift past the gray clouds and the dull blue sky, slowly descending into a field skittered by bare rocks and outlooks.

My heart finally settles back in my chest instead of flopping around the deck like a fish.

"R2 stay with the ship!"

I run to my personal compartment down the corridor and grab my nap sack. Slinging it over my shoulder I bolt to the ramp, just to see it begin its gradual descent towards the green ground.

I hear a roar coming from the hull just down the hall.

"No Chewie! I'll be alright, stick with R2 I'm just checking around the ship!"

The smell of manure and damp, freshly chopped grass floods my nose when the ramp finally touched down. The back of my eyes sting from the sudden pressure of the dusk sky, but it looks like a storm is brewing.

I circle to the side of the ship, the mix of grays, blacks, wires, and buttons take up my vision as I took in the sight of The Falcon. A pillar of smoke is rushing out of a port near my head, I need to plug in an exterior model hyper-molecular drive to stop the smoke flow. It's kind of like someone sitting in front of me, bleeding out and you need a bandage to stop the blood. The Falcon is bleeding out and needs my help.

I bang my fist against the chunky metal to get someone's attention, a grunting roar erupts from the hull in response.

"Chewie! Get the overnight gear ready!"

I hear a muffled outcry come from the innards of the ship as I trudge back to the ramp.

The sun is going down quick, I'm going to need to hurry if we want to get outa here.

* * *

The sun bleeds through the light blue canvas of the sky and sends different pinks and purples crawling over gray clouds as they all sink into the jet blackness as they set, and tucked in the sun for the night. Bright stars speckle my view as they reflect off my eyes and bubbles a cheery feeling in my stomach. A smile slowly creeps on my lips.

"Aaaaarrrghhhhh!"

I turn my head towards the ramp where Chewie stands, feet apart and ready to fire his crossbow, scanning the land surrounding us with his squinted eyes.

"I'll be right in, Chew!" I yell back over my shoulder as I send my gaze back to the sky. So many days, living alone with no one to enjoy the sunset with. So many dry, sandy days that I had to travel alone and scavenge alone. This one sunset, knowing that I'm a part of something bigger than just myself and knowing that I have newfound friends even though they're not all with me, makes me feel good.

The sound of Chewie's heavy stomps back up the ramp tells me he's gone and I could continue my star gazing.

The air began to grow cold and it bites at my cheeks giving them a pink tint. In front of me, a dark green pasture, then a small hill range just below the moon. I squint my eyes to try to focus on something that rises up on the range and stands tall. It's so far off that it's just a black figure, I can make out a head and shoulders. I lean forward in my seat and blink away the tears from my dry eyes, I look back and it's gone.

"What..." I breathe out, my hot breaths clouding up in front of my face.

I can hear my heart beat begin to speed up again in my rib cage as it bangs itself against the bars. Suddenly, a long, ear-piercing howl slices through the air from the other direction like a thick blade. Grabbing my nap sack, I bolt fearfully back up the ramp. Once on the main deck, I use the computer to scan the surrounding areas.

"R2 did you pick up that howl?"

He whistles at me with his response.

"Alright, then what was it?"

He gingerly rolls up to the computer panel and hooks himself up using his external port. A second of loading, an image comes up of a four-legged animal, furry, pointy-eared and with fangs protruding from under its long snout. Text read underneath:

Devaronian Wolvines. . . Retrieving Data. . . Data Retrieved:

Height: 5 ft

Weight: 250-300, pounds.

Data: Day and night hunters... Extremely hostile. Avoid contact at all costs.

I breathe out an irritated sigh, "well that's just great, first mystery man and now feral dogs."

"Bweep oop?"

"I don't know, I saw a figure up on the ridge," I say, as I jerk my head back in the ramps direction. Eyes still on the panel.

A few more concerned beeps and whistles erupt from the clunky Astro mech, droning on to me about safety and what not. Honestly, he's like a mother.

Another howl slices through the air, this time sounding closer. This is gonna be a long night.

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FINALLY! Longer chapters!