Star Wars: Edge of Hope

Chapter Thirty Four: Reunions and Farewells

Back on Naboo...
Maz Kanata was trying to look past her own sorrows, and accept the change coming for all of them. It was a universal truth that no matter how we try...no matter how we hold on...no matter how we rage, fight, weep or rebel against it...nothing lasts forever. Time creeps up on us and before you know it...the last grains of the sands of change falls. No one is ever ready to say goodbye. There was never a plan for this, Finn was doing his best to keep Poe from crumbling under his pain, and Maz knew there wasn't a cure for the breaking of a heart. There have been many stories about Leia Organa. She had become so many different things to so many different people.
She was our Princess.
A Jedi in her own right, a warrior of peace and the Light.
The General and leader of peoples, the steady hand pulling us along the way, and the hand we reached for in the darkness.
She had become what we needed her to be.
But the loss of her couldn't be quantified in such simple terms, it was more, it was closer to the dimming of the brightest star in the universe. She was more than the figurehead of a movement. She was more than the guiding hand of nations looking for leadership. The strong hand taking the reins when the way became unclear.
She was...
Granddaughter.
Daughter.
Sister.
Wife.
Friend and Teacher.
Mother and Mentor.
But mostly, she was FAMILY.
Our only HOPE.
Maz looked out at the sea of people watching the light begin to dim in their eyes. Just then Rey and Ben walked out followed closely by Chewbacca.

Maz Kanata: Where do we go from here? What will we do now? Now that she's gone...

Rey looked at Ben and Chewie, then over to where Finn, Poe, and Rose stood consoling each other. Through her tears Rey could feel the light of the sun breaking through the clouds brushing against her cheek wipeing away the cold tears. Rey smiled remembering what Leia had told her when she had lost hope. Rey took her steps out of the shadow and into the light looking up at the brilliant sky overhead, she felt a hand take hold of hers. She looked beside her into Ben's face as she saw there looking back out at her, all the hope she needed, and she knew...
They weren't alone...

Rey: We already have everything we need. We finish what Leia started, we fight....until the end...we keep hope alive.

Out of the corner of the caves opening two figures walk up to where Maz stands holding onto Rey's other hand.

Lando Calrissian: I couldn't have said it better myself.

Chewie: hnnnhrrhhh aarrragghuuhw aaaaahnr ughghhhgh aguhwwgggghh aaaaahnr aarrragghuuhw uggguh

Lando rushed up wrapping his arms around Chewbacca in a welcoming familiar embrace. The Wookiee nearly crushed him in his hug and then they parted, and Chewie lowered his head and bumped it against Lando's. They held each other feeling the distant years and the memories moving in the white glow around them, somethings never change. That was when Lando saw Ben Solo standing next to Rey, his eyes looked calculatingly over Ben as Lando looked down to see his grip tighten on Rey's hand. Ben couldn't help but feel the indignation wafting off Lando Calrissian. The stern man walked straight up squaring himself up in front of Ben, it was a quiet moment between the two. Ben felt as if he were on trial for all his misdeeds. Lando's eyes, the eyes of his father's oldest friend next to Chewbacca, stood reading the long list of Ben's crimes in his son's eyes. Lando couldn't look anywhere but right down into Ben Solo. The longer they stood motionless, silently making their peace with the wasteland between them, Lando finally took a long ragged breath through gritted teeth, fighting back the pain.

Lando: Ben. It's been a long time, kid, to be honest I never thought I'd get the opportunity...being so close to the former Supreme Leader of the First Order. I didn't know...I wasn't sure what or who I'd see looking back at me. But now...I only see the two of them looking back out at me through your eyes. I never got the chance to tell your mother and father what they meant to me. They were...so much more than the best of us, but you already know that Ben. What you don't know, is just how much they truly loved you, they never gave up hope. I know that no one can take their place. But Han, Leia, and Chewie...they're my family too. Truthfully, I never really had much of what you'd consider family...at least until recently that is...The point I'm trying to make here... You've still got a family, kid. Don't ever forget that...we're still here, and so are your parents. They live on through us now...We have to carry them with us....so they're never forgotten.