The Pull to the Light

Chapter XIII

As people recovered from the shock caused by the obliteration of an entire system of planets, ships began attacking the once peaceful planet of Takodana. Some of the ships landed on the ground so that the stormtroopers inside could fight on the hand to hand and Chiara quickly went back into the forest, concealing herself from the stormtroopers who had begun to march forward, destroying everything in their wake. At the same time, she kept her eyes open for Rey, knowing that she would need to be warned of this new threat.

Another ship landed in the distance, this one elegant and black. Chiara didn't have the time to see who it was carrying but instead delved deeper into the forest at the sound of gunshots. She followed the source of the sound and found two stormtroopers dead, assuring her that it had been Rey who fired the shots.

In an attempt to find her friend, Chiara began to trek through the forest, using the force to lead her to her friend. She lost the trail after a while as ice cold shivers ran down her body. Danger was lurking, she didn't know who or what, but it was worse than an average stormtrooper.

"I would say otherwise. But that is a small thing. Simple ignorances are easily remedied," a almost robotic voice reached Chiara's ears. Concealed by the woods, she approached the voice as it continued. "So afraid, yet I should be the one who should be scared. You shot first. You speak of the Order as if it were barbaric. And yet, it is I who was forced to defend myself against you."

Chiara gaped in shock at what she was seeing. A man dressed in all black and a mask stood before Rey, who appeared paralyzed. Chiara knew that she had seen that mask before, but she couldn't name where that was. Suddenly the man pulled out a weapon, a blood red, crossguard lightsaber that looked like it would spontaneously combust at any second.

"REY!" Chiara called out, her mind going completely blank as she ran out to save her friend. "Let her go! Kill me instead!"

The man moved the lightsaber so it was pointing at Chiara's neck as he asked in a threatening tone, "Who are you?"

Knowing exactly what this man wanted, Chiara cleared her mind, letting only the thought that she had seen the map to Luke be known. She gave a false name and backstory that he could read, but everything else she kept locked up inside.

"Amara Semir, at last we get a name for one of the two mysterious woman who joined the traitor," the man spoke, inching towards Chiara who froze, as though in fear. "Yes, I can read your thoughts. Your parents were killed by a forest fire on your home planet of Yavin. You enjoy reading and learning of planets you have yet to visit. You are a traveler, one who found their way to Jakku and thus your journey of being an opposer to the First Order began. And...and you've seen the map to Luke Skywalker."

At this last observation, he used the force to bind her there as he had done with Rey and stepped forward in curiosity, "how did you get the droid to show you the map?"

"Sir," the leader of an approaching group of stormtroopers called out to the man standing before Chiara. "Resistance fighters!"

"Pull our troops out, we have what we need," the man spoke, simultaneously knocking the two women out. He bent down and picked up the girl he had just been probing for information and had the stromtroopers take formation around him in case of anyone who was armed and wanted to see the First Order dead.

An X-Wing flew down, driving the tie fighter out of the area and destroying it with a single blast. Finn looked up, his attention drawn to a black shape in the distance, carrying a woman dressed in tattered robes.

"CHIARA!" He yelled, furtively running towards the cloaked figure that entered an elegant black ship. His lungs burned and his legs felt as though they were going to collapse with another step, but he kept going until witnessing the large ship take off into the atmosphere.

"He took her! He took her! Did you see that? She's gone, Chiara's gone!" Finn exclaimed, approaching Han after having jogged back.

"I know," he replied, shoving him aside and approaching a Resistance transport that had just landed. Without a word, he watched as the ship's ramp came down, revealing an older woman with graying hair tied up in a dutch braid.

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, before being interrupted by a gold droid, "Beebee-Ate! Come here. I'm here to assist you in translating what—" The droid broke off as he saw Han standing there, "Oh! Han Solo! It is I, See-Threepio! You probably don't recognize me because of the red arm." C-3PO then turned to Leia, as though she hadn't seen her husband standing there, "Look who it is! Han Solo! Isn't that— Excuse me, Prin— uh, General. Sorry. Come, Beebee-Ate. We need to settle on a procedure for debriefing."

The two droids began to move out of the way, BB-8 then said something to C-3PO, causing them both to head into the woods. Not paying attention to the droids' change of direction, Han and Leia's gaze on each other did not break.

Finally Han broke the awkward silence that had fallen upon us, "You changed your hair."

"Same jacket," she replied curtly.

"No. New jacket," Han spoke, adjusting the article of clothing in question. Unable to find anything to use as a reasonable distraction, Chewbacca came over and engulfed Leia in hug which she replied with a smile on her face.

After breaking the hug, Chewbacca growled a few words of greeting before boarding the Resistance transport. Chewbacca's presence had broken the tension between husband and wife and they too embraced.

Without pulling away, Han murmured painfully, "I saw him. He was here. Leia, I saw our son."

...

We are now officially breaking away from the movie a little! Do you think they will recognize each other in time? And will how far will Chiara be willing to go to try to get Ben back?

Favorite line from the Force Awakens?