The Art of Broken Pieces

A Crooning Porg

Rey's head felt like a star destroyer, crashed into the sand and buried for three decades. Her eyes, crusted shut. Her body somehow both empty and heavy. Her ear, vibrating with the sound of Anakin's voice.

No. That wasn't Anakin, it was a different sound. A crooning porg, and the more insistent buzz of an incoming comms call.

The comm link slid from her pillow as Rey clumsily dragged her hand up to take it. A ball of fluff moved in her periphery, but her eyes could only focus on one thing at a time. There was something in her arm, a fueling line? No, she was not a star destroyer and this looked...medical. A bag, with a label, dripping slowly into the tube in her arm.

Reality spilled back over her in a gooey slide. She was on the Falcon, in Ben's room. There was a medical bag suspended from the next bunk up, and a biotelemetry monitor projecting a hologram of her internal systems. Beside the projection of her own rotating figure flashed a set of indecipherable numbers, and a rash of terms she didn't understand.

A nudge at her hand. Rey glanced down to find Lunch, appearing as though he wasn't sure whether he should give her the comm link or eat it.

"Give it here," she said, pushing a bit with the Force. The porg pressed the buzzing comm into her hand. Rey pressed the answer button, but it seemed like a long time before she was able to lift it toward her face. Her movements were gluey and slow. "Hello?"

"Rey! Fuck, Rey, are you alright?" It was Poe's voice, rough and panicky. In the background other voices could be heard, a chorus of concern and unintelligible questions. Finn's voice separated from the crowd, begging to talk to her. "Hey, hey, stand back! Rose, get him under control! No, stop, I'll tell you what she says!" Poe sounded stressed, tense. "Rey? What happened?"

"I...what?" Rey said. "Poe? I'm...I'm on the Falcon."

It wasn't an answer to his question. The problem was, she didn't really know an answer to his question. "We blew up a First Order manufacturing facility..." That was closer. "I think."

"What?" Poe sounded confused. "No, that's not what I'm asking. We'll get back to that later. What happened to you? You shouldn't have left the facility so soon. It sounds like your injuries were really bad, Ace. My staff is really confused. What the hell happened? I'm getting crazy reports."

"Left..." Rey's mind churned. She wasn't sure quite what Poe was talking about. The last thing she remembered was... a hand on hers. Spilling through the hatch of that Lambda class ship, injecting herself with epinephrine. Ben, holding onto her. "I got...shot," she said. Then, glancing at the revolving display, she said. "In...the heart? The edge of it? There's a display...wait a minute, I can maybe read it..."

"In the heart." Poes voice was flat. "The reports coming in from my medical team were confused about a lot of things, but they did agree on one thing. You almost died. Rey, did he get you into this? Did he do this?"

He...Ben. Poe thought Ben did this? Rey heard herself laughing, a muted, drunken sort of giggle. "No," she said. "He's..." she swiveled her head, and looked at Lunch. Lunch looked at the floor. Rey followed his gaze.

Ben leaned against the dresser, head bowed to his chest, arms looking like they'd been crossed at one point, but gone slack in sleep. She became aware of the gentle snore.

"He's on the floor. He...saved me. I had to use the Force to stay alive, and I talked to Anakin. He told me I had to stay alive."

"He... You talked to..." Poe sounded confused. "Wait, what? Who did?" He sighed, tension evident in his tone. "Look, Ace, you've clearly been through a lot. And, from the sound of it, they put you on some pretty heavy drugs before you... disappeared. Will you promise to call in when you're feeling a little clearer? We need to talk."