When Light Meets Dark - A Reylo Romance

Smokescreen

"This was a new skill she'd acquired, the ability to look, to the outside world, utterly serene and even cheerful, while, in her skull, all was chaos."

~Dave Eggers, The Circle

Rey

I was walking down yet another hallway, unsure of what direction I was headed. I needed to find C-4PO, to apologise for my behaviour the other day. You'd think it would be easier to spot a shiny human sized droid in a military base, but the corridors had magically woven into some kind of labyrinth. As I turned a corner I almost crashed into Ertra, who seemed to have been speed walking down the hall.

"Oh sorry." I said, quickly stepping out of her way.  She stopped and gave me a friendly smile.

"Rey." she said with warmth. "I haven't seen you for a while."

I nodded. "Yeah, I've been around." I said smiling back awkwardly. "How are things going at command central?" I asked politely, since I'd often seen her working with Finn and the others.

"As well as anyone can expect." she answered, her eyes wandering. "But I think the talks with Korriban are going well. They seem eager to help."

"Oh really?" I asked, happy to hear that things were going well but at the same time not particularly interested. There were too many other things to keep my mind occupied.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Finn was acting odd this morning though." she added, frowning slightly. I tried to keep my expression as blank as possible. I hadn't seen Finn for a while and I'd used every means I could to stop myself from thinking about him. Oftentimes these methods did not work and I found myself momentarily washed over with a mixture of emotions. Guilt, confusion, relief, longing. Ertra had unknowingly caused all of these feelings to resurface but I hid them as best I could as I stared innocently into her green eyes.

"Really? In what way?" I asked.

"Oh, just not really paying attention, fiddling, dropping things. Anyway I suppose he's just nervous. I mean, who wouldn't be? He's gone from being a clone trooper to the leader of The Resistance. It's a big responsibility." 

I nodded slowly and swallowed. Erta was looking at me, waiting for me to say something, and I felt uncomfortable under her intense gaze. 

"It definitely is." I managed to stammer. She nodded and then quickly said. "Well I guess I better be on my way then, those recruits won't train themselves." I forced a smile and another brief nod as she stepped round me and hurried down the corridoor, her pin straight hair swishing from side to side. I continued staring long after she had gone, wrapped up in thought. I don't know how long I stood there but eventually someone interrupted me.

"Master Rey?"

C-4PO was standing there, I hadn't heard him approach. "Are you alright?" he asked. He had his head tilted to the side in concern and his eyes shifted slightly to focus on me.

"C-4PO." I answered, sounding surprised. "I've been looking for you."

"Well how may I be of assistance?" He answered.

Taking a deep breath I blurted out, "I'd like to apologise."

He said nothing, and I imagined him searching through the lines of code, trying to find where in his programming it explained how to accept apologies from people who had yelled at him because of the disappearance of a former Sith. Finally he responded, "I cannot hold a grudge against you Master Rey, after all you were only acting out of frustration."