A Snippet from Ch 1 of “Bound”
((This is a bit from the first chapter of a new fanfic I am working on titled “Bound” - set a year after the end of ‘The Force Awakens’, and hopefully gives a decent preview of what the story is about! I hope y’all like it!
Also, HUGE shout out to @starrytreks, @gwendy85 and @valyriansteel1 for their advice and continued encouragement. Y’all are the best and each make me proud to be in this fandom! I hope I’ve done you proud :) ))
“Stars above – I have little grounding to tell you what to do in this situation…” the old Jedi Master sighed as he leaned forward and pressed his elbows on the stone table.
In the far corner the little blue R2 unit bleeped as though emphatically agreeing with his master. Luke turned and gave R2 a side glare out of the corner of his eye, but there was the faint trace of a smirk on the corner of his lips.
Rey kept her arms folded tight over her chest as she leaned back against the stone wall. The storms from the previous night had blown in once again, bringing with it a burst of frigid air. She would have been on edge even without this horrifying news. She chewed on her bottom lip as her fingers drummed against her elbow. “You went for them when they needed you,” Rey guessed.
A lesser man might not have met her gaze, but whatever else he was, Luke Skywalker was not a man to run from his choices – good or bad. And so his blue eyes met Rey’s with a quiet dignity that surprised Rey. The man was all the majesty of the tallest Jakku sand dunes wrapped up in human skin, and yet he looked at the rest of the world as though he were worth no more import than the rocks on which they stood.
“I did,” he said. “And I would never regret the decision to help my friends…but I went into it with the wrong attitude. I went in thinking I could control the situation. And I was…exceedingly wrong.”
“Finn is more than a friend,” Rey said, standing straight. “He…He came for me!”
The raw emotion in her own voice surprised even her, and almost as an aftershock she could feel her fingers curling into a fist so hard her nails were carving into her palm. Her lips were trembling, her breath stilled in her throat – which was feeling tighter by the second. Rey pursed her lips to let out that held in breath in a quivering sigh. For a moment she paused to compose herself and then she looked Luke straight in the eye.
“I can’t leave him to them. They’re going to make a ‘show of his trial and execution’?” she deliberately repeated the words that the voice on the report had employed. “No I-I can’t…I won’t leave him to that fate. I can’t even imagine… So I’m going.”
There was a finality in her words. Luke did not look surprised, his eyes closed for a moment and he sighed in a soft exhale of breath that made his shoulders relax. After a moment he stood up. “I cannot keep you here, Rey. I assume you have a way of finding him?”
“I assume you’re not going to tell me?”
“You wouldn’t like it,” Rey admitted.
Luke gave her a little nod and whispered the word ‘ah’. “In that case, I can only hope you will listen to the words I have spoken, and have learned from what I have taught you.”
The young woman felt her resolve take a hit from the sheer gentleness of Luke’s voice. He was not recriminating, he was not shaming her for her choice. All she heard was a soft concern in his tone, the peace that came with understanding if not agreeing. “And if…if we don’t see each other for awhile?”
“I spent time away from Master Yoda, and I turned out alright,” Luke gave a little smirk. “I will mediate upon you often, and should you need me, I will always be there, through the Force if nothing more. Now…I will see you off as soon as you are ready. If you’re going to leave, you haven’t much time.”
Rey gave him a firm nod and turned to rush out of the room. Luke was right, time was of the essence, and she didn’t have a moment to lose. Rey didn’t know where Finn was – but if what the report from the Resistance said was true, only four people in the whole Galaxy knew the right location. Rey may not have known where they were keeping her best friend, but she knew someone who would.
Someone she had been dreaming about every night in the year since they last saw one another.
Someone with whom she could barter for Finn.
Her last hope and perhaps her greatest downfall.
