Rika trudged back to the tent she and Rey shared slowly. Rey had told her that she was too tired and didn't take the stuff she had scavenged to the Outpost. Though they didn't end up starving--courtesy of Rika, who had gotten enough rations from one of the parts of an abandoned fighter to the Outpost in time to receive a larger amount.
Rika shook her head and looked back towards the sun. It would be insanely hot soon if Rey didn't wake up soon. The two of them had already agreed before Rey went off yesterday that they would wake up early today, but by the looks of it, Rey wasn't going to wake up any sooner.
"Rey!" She calls as she walked in. Only to see the younger girl carving two lines onto the wall they set their tent on. Ria sighed. It was no use convincing Rey that no one was coming back. The girl was stubbornly clinging to the hope that Rika had long since abandoned. "Come on!" She says to her instead.
BB-8 beeped enthusiastically. Happily rolling alongside Rika. She felt the tiniest bit of comfort that she had a piece of him around her but immediately scolded herself. Don't get used to it. He'll be gone and back to the Resistance before you know it. They need Master Luke more than you miss him.
Rika closed her eyes. There it was again. The battle that raged constantly inside her; to go back, to him, to Leia, to fighting the First Order and making a difference. Or stay here and hide out. Hoping to stay out of the danger and wait until the storm was over. Coward. Her mind mocked her. Coward, coward, coward.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Rika! Are you okay?" She found the concerned eyes of Rey.
So much like him. Her conscience whispers. She snorts mentally. He was anything but serious. Always so carefree, so full of life, and so full of the never ending fire that burned in his soul. He was. Her mind says. When it came to you. She fought the image of him stroking her arm while she lay on the bed with stitches - reprimanding her about moving around so much.
"Rika!" Rey snaps. Rika jolts back into reality.
"Yeah?" She asks, her voice shaky.
"I was talking to you for the last five minutes! Were you even listening?"
"Um..no?" Rika smiles sheepishly at the younger girl. Rey rolls her eyes.
"But, as I was saying. I found a pretty big fighter yesterday when I was scavenging. I thought we could check it out. Hmm?" Rey talks with her eyes bright. Most likely imagining the ship.
Rika grimaced at another memory assault. "Yeah," she rolls her eyes. "Even if I wasn't listening, you probably would've been blabbering about the design of the ship. Such, and such." She says as she took the net of the things that Rey had scavenged the previous day onto the counter. "How much?" She demands to the Crolute whose name she never bother to learn.
"Half ration." He grunts. Rika's eyes narrowed.
"You said these parts would be worth five the last time I was here."
The Crolute grunts again. "Not my problem. You would've gotten three if you got these parts in on time--" He abruptly cuts off, his eyes set on something. Rika followed his gaze to BB-8.
"What about that, eh? I give you sixty rations for that." He put a pile onto the counter. The others behind Rika and Rey gasped in bewilderment.
Rika opens her mouth. Then closed it. Should she sell the droid? For all that food? She and Rey wouldn't have to scavenge out in the sun for weeks to come if they received those rations, and it would take away all the problem BB-8 would bring. But did she have the heart to sell off the little ball to the Crolute? And what about the map to Master Luke? If the Crolute found it, he would surely take it to the First Order. And if Kylo Ren gets his hands onto it, he would surely kill Master Luke. Then the Resistance would have no chance at all. But just as she was going over all the possible outcomes, Rey had already decided.
"The droid is not for sale." Rey told the Crolute firmly and turned them around. BB-8 whistled his thanks almost sadly, as it was not Rika that had made the decision. But his sadness was forgotten when he suddenly started beeping frantically.
Jacket! He beeps. Jacket! Stolen jacket. Rika whipped around to see a man staring at them. She stared back. Not at the man. But at the jacket. Her eyes widened. It was his jacket. And he wouldn't give away that jacket even if his life depended on it.
Rika began to run towards the man, just as Rey was starting to decipher BB-8's frantic beeping. It wasn't long until that Rey caught to her and eventually to the man.
"Who are you?" Rey demands as she hits the man with her staff, as several other men came up behind them.
Rika narrowed her eyes, as the men looked greedily at the droid. Bastard. She cursed in her mind as the first man stuck. Ducking under the man's fist, she brought out her dagger, ignoring the smooth silver piece that sang to her inside her jacket. Bringing up the flat side of the blade, she slammed it into the man's skull and took care of the other men.
When she was finished she found Rey helping the man up.
"This is Finn," Rey tells her.
Rika raised an eyebrow. "Making lots of friends this week. First the droid. Then a thief." She cocked a head. Rey bristled.
"Listened. He's with the Resistance!" Rey exclaims while Rika fought a bout of panic.
Did they know she was here? Did he? Rika frowns. "Ask him where he got the jacket." She tells Rey.
"Where did you get that jacket?" Rey asks.
"Umm, I got it from my parents." He lies.
He's lying. BB-8 beeps. And then the little droid electrocuted Finn.
"Ow!" He hisses, "Yeah, yeah, it wasn't mine! It was Poe's!" Finn admits.
Rika stumbled. Trying to repress the memories that his name brought. It had been years since she dared to speak his name. But oh, the things she's heard about him; "Best pilot in the galaxy." "The Resistance is definitely going to win with him on their side!" "First Order doesn't stand a chance with his leading the squadron."
Now it danced around in her head. Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe...
Ask! Poe! BB-8 wails.
Rika frowned. "Where's Poe?" She asks.
"Our fighter crashed...when I woke up, he wasn't there." Rika couldn't stop the flinch. BB-8 slumped entirely. Rika could barely stand.
He's gone. Tears pooled in her eyes. Gone. The wavy brown hair. The hazel eyes that were so easy going and so carefree. Gone. The cheeky grin she that annoyed her yet loved at the same time. Gone. She choked, she wanted so badly to reach out with the force to feel if he was alive. But she didn't dare. Coward, coward, coward.
Rika was jolted so abruptly by the explosions. She stumbled.
"They've found us! They've found the droid!" Finn cries.
Way to state the obvious big guy.
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ReConstruction |SW | ✔️
Fanfiction"I am looking into the eyes of someone who's given up, Leriana Tillisk." She has long since given up. She has long since left. She has long since died. She has long since been defeated. She is hiding from a war that needs her. She is running from a...
