She's a Rebel [Star Wars | Luke Skywalker] *EDITING*

Home

I come away from Leia, and she gives me a reassuring smile as Luke and I head over to my ship with Artoo trundling along behind us, Tom and Dex heading over to Zach's.

It's been a week since the failure at Skadi, and a week since I lost him. Or two. Or three.

It's been hard to keep track, everything has all melded together. I've lost sleep, lost weight, and have been uncomfortably numb for a number of days. One night Luke was holding me as I was crying over my best friend - an extremely common occurrence - and I could barely feel his arms around me, his hands on my back and waist. I couldn't even feel the mattress and pillows we were lying on, the sheet draped over our bodies. I couldn't feel anything.

Operation Wolffe and Mothma's calls for the plans of the second Death Star to be stolen have been halted too, all efforts being poured into searching for survivors and amassing the fleet. Quinn, Jasper and Mattin have all retreated from the main discussions in the briefing room, mourning the loss of Joanna, Moroff, Uma, Rhea, and as I'm sure many other fine troops who lost their lives.

Shara and Kes returned to Home One the same day as Luke, and immediately resumed taking care of Poe and doing as much as they can for the Rebellion, despite our losses of Zach, Cho and Ami.

"You okay?"

I'm pulled from my train of thought, and I look over to Luke, who's smiling softly at me.

"Yeah..." I say quietly, heading up into the cockpit and starting up the ship, ruffling my fringe as I increase the thrust. "Tom, Dex. You know where we're going."

"Of course," Dex replies over the cockpit radio as we ascend and hover forward, out into space. "Home."

***

The sky is a soft orange by the time we land on the outskirts of Tarie, the twin suns slowly making their way back down to the horizon, the remaining domed buildings of my old town black silhouettes as they cast long shadows onto the sand. I've forgotten, yet again, how beautiful Tatooine truly is despite its hostility and isolation from the rest of the galaxy.

Dex clears his throat softly from beside me, and I turn to see him biting his lip in worry, Zach's old burgundy Jedi robes folded in his arms. I found them on his ship, he'd kept them as I'd kept mine.

I've tried to dress accordingly to that of a funeral despite the lack of a body to bury, deciding my old Tatooine clothes were fitting enough. The old off-white beige tunic, the beige trousers, the short cape, the weathered brown boots, the tattered scarf, all scrubbed clean of the dirt and the blood that stained them from my first visit back here to search for Artoo and Threepio. Dex has done the same, Tom and Luke staying in their normal everyday fatigues.

"By his house?" I suggest. "That's where Luci..."

Dex just gives me an understanding nod so I don't have to finish my sentence, and I glance over his shoulder to see Tom and Luke talking quietly between the two TSR P.1127s.

"Do you reckon there's much left of anything?" he asks softly, and I shrug, looking down.

I take a deep breath, slowly trudging towards the now battered town. "I guess we'll see."

I remember when I first set foot here three years ago, when Evan was still my quiet and honourable brother and Zach was still alive, and I remember looking at the buildings. The way they remained clean and untarnished, as they were when I was taken, without a single mark of war, and I remember thinking that that was worse.