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Rey has never been on a holiday.
Or at least she can’t remember ever having been on one. But, as they say, there’s a first time for everything.
The planet of Mindor is a veritable jewel, even among the galaxy’s most favoured holiday destinations. Clean sandy beaches that go on for days. Flourishing wildlife frolicking among the lush green growth of jungle and prairie. Large sub-tropical zones that span the planet like two broad belts, one in the northern, the other in the southern hemisphere.
And, due to its seclusion in an almost inaccessible star system, not nearly as overrun by tourists as you’d be led to believe at first. In two hours of walking – one down the beach, one back up the way she’d come from – Rey has met scarcely half a dozen holiday makers. Of course, she doesn’t mind. On Jakku, that many people would have been a crowd.
By the time Rey returns to the base camp - which is what they've dubbed their habitual spot on the beach, a small cove not far from the cottage they've rented - the sun is already pretty low in the sky. Its rose-golden light flows over the waves and the sand and the greenery beyond, painting everything in a metallic sheen. In the shade of a canvas strung up between two large pieces of driftwood, Rose is napping, with Finn and Poe playing a quiet game of cards by her side. All other former members of the Rebellion seem to have already turned in for the day, probably to shower, do the wash, or cook dinner.
Rey doesn't really care what they might or might not be doing right now, though. All she has eyes for is her fiancée, lying there with her eyes closed, her black hair tied back with a handkerchief, wearing only a yellow tank suit and a small smile.
Finn looks up when Rey is but a few paces away and waves, smiling that wide happy smile of his. Rey grins and waves back. Finn smiles so much more often now, and every time he does, it sends a spark of joy through her gut.
Poe, a frown etched into his forehead, glances up to give Rey a quick nod of acknowledgement. His lips look bitten red, and there are a lot of cards in his hands whereas Finn is holding comparatively few, so Rey can guess the reason for his curtness. He’s always been a sore loser.
Rose still hasn't opened her eyes by the time Rey actually arrives at her beach towel, so Rey does the romantic thing - she kneels down, bends over, and drops a gentle kiss on her girlfriend's smooth forehead.
"You never wake me up like this," she hears Poe accuse his husband with a grumble. But she keeps her focus on Rose - Rose, who is now smiling just a tad bit wider, but still staunchly pretending to be asleep.
It leaves her no choice. Quietly, Rey scoops up a handful of sand, sifts it through her fingers a few times, then drizzles it generously over Rose's tummy and thighs.
Not even her Jedi reflexes prepare her for the infernal shriek that rings through the air not a second later, followed closely by Rose's upper body snapping upright like a spring. Still, she has the lucky presence of mind to draw back before she can get her nose bashed in by Rose's head.
"Do you want me to wake you up like this instead?" Finn asks Poe off to the side, a smirk in his voice.
But Poe isn't answering, and when Rey steals a glance over at him, he mouths only a single word at her: Run.
And Rey doesn't need to be told twice, because her girlfriend is now very awake indeed – and wearing a very vengeful expression. Scrambling to her feet, Rey doesn’t lose a second before she turns and sprints across the sand towards the waves. She hardly has time to undo the scarf she's been wearing to ward off the sun’s glare and drop it behind her before she’s splashing into the cool, dark water.
Hot on her heels comes the pounding of Rose's feet on the sand, and then another series of sloshing noises as Rose pursues her into the water.
"I'm going to get you, you demon!" Rose shrieks at the top of her lungs, her voice mixed with barely contained laughter.
Grinning widely, Rey ignores the cool of the water and how it has goose bumps spring up on her skin in a span of seconds, and makes for an outcropping of rock that rises from the water. At this time of day, the tide is high, and the waves are coming in with force. Soon, Rey loses the ground under her feet and begins to swim.
Her breathing evens out as she takes to the water with strong, bold breast strokes, and smiles. It feels like yesterday since Luke showed her how to swim in the freezing waters of Ahch-To. Two desert children struggling through the waves, letting the Force give them buoyancy and strength.
A growl sounds behind her, and Rey is reminded that her girlfriend is still in pursuit of her. But salvation is near – a few more strokes, and she’s at the cliff’s base. Reaching for the craggy rock, she digs her fingers and toes into small crevasses and starts climbing. Splashing and sloshing and then silence behind her informs her that Rose is doing the same.
When she reaches the top of the outcropping, she's panting despite the Force's help. The view from the rocks gives onto the beach and the greenery beyond - and onto Rose grabbing doggedly for the next handhold.
Grinning, Rey watches her. One time, Rose pauses and looks up. Her hair has come undone, and there's the dark flush of excitement high on her cheeks. When their eyes meet, she breathes, "Gonna get you."
"Oh yeah? I'm waiting." Rey settles into her meditation pose - legs crossed, hands resting lightly on her knees. The view is beautiful, and the Force is singing quietly into her ear.
The peace is disturbed when Rose loses her footing and slips, giving a startled yelp. Rey scrambles up onto her knees, but before she can act, Rose catches herself.
"I'm okay," she breathes and climbs the last bit with legs that look just a little shaky. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
But when she joins Rey on top of the outcropping, Rey can't help but gasp. "Ow. Are you sure you're alright?"
There's blood dropping from Rose's knee and splattering onto the black rock. Frowning, Rose looks down and starts to curse.
"Dank farrik," she groans, "I thought I felt something stinging me down there."
Rey is already searching her utilitarian belt pockets, but coming up empty. "I don't have any bacta on me. Just fresh water."
"That'll have to do," Rose breathes and looks up at her expectantly.
Rey takes the hint for what it is. She unstoppers the small flask of water and starts rinsing the wound with its clear contents. Rose's jaw tightens, but not a word of protest slips past her lips.
When she's finished, Rey leans up and presses a kiss to the corner of her girlfriend's mouth. "It's just a scrape," she whispers into Rose's ear.
The smile Rose gifts her is perfectly radiant and makes a cosy feeling blossom low in her gut. "If I don't put any bacta on it, it might leave a scar. Maybe I'll do that."
Rey can't help it - she laughs. "Why would you want it to leave a scar?"
But Rose doesn't laugh back, and the shadow that falls over her face is downright solemn. When she reaches out and takes Rey's hand, Rey lets her. Rose places Rey’s fingers on a spot on her hip and softly brushes them over it.
At first, Rey feels nothing. Then, a ridge of flesh.
"A scar."
Rose nods as her gaze turns distant. "One of the first I can remember. My sister and I were playing in the scrapyard, and a big piece of a refresher came off and half buried me. She stayed by my side and held my hand until our parents got there, but bacta was too expensive for us at the time, so I kept the scar." A slight smile tugs at her lips. "I don't ever want to forget that day. I don't ever want to forget her. It’s all I have left of my old life."
Rey would be lying if she said that she doesn’t understand Rose. Already, the memories of all the people she’s lost are starting to fade, to whiten. If she could, she would etch them onto the back of her eyelids.
"And..." Gently, she searches, and finds. "... This one?"
This time, her palm is brushing a large splotch of marred flesh on Rose's left upper arm. The skin is paler than in other places.
"One of my first battles in the Rebellion. A minor skirmish, really. But there were more of them than us, and suddenly they were behind our front line, and that First Order trooper was about to take a shot at me..." Rose sighs. Her hand is shaking when she takes Rey’s in hers again and squeezes tightly. “I was as good as dead, Rey. And then that Rebel soldier I’d never met before stumbled in front of me and told me that I couldn’t just die like that, that I was a mechanic and that the Rebellion needed mechanics more badly than soldiers. They shielded me with their body when that trooper shot at me and set our tech array on fire.”
“And you got burned, but you survived and helped the Alliance to yet another victory,” Rey murmurs. It’s not a question.
“Yes. We won that day. And I made the medics take off the bacta bandages sooner than they wanted to.” With a smile that’s almost tender, Rose moves her left upper arm to glance at the mottled scar. “All because a brave soldier decided that the lives of us techs were more precious than their own. This scar will never allow me to forget that. It gave me strength to go on when nothing else did.”
Rey nods and lets a few moments of comfortable silence settle between them. The sun, though low and red in the sky, warms her skin gently, and a timid breeze is making Rose’s undone hair dance in almost mesmerizing patterns. It’s as perfect an evening as you can get in the whole galaxy.
Then, when she senses that Rose is drifting off inside her thoughts, Rey speaks.
“But you don’t need new scars anymore, Rose.” She searches and catches her fiancée’s warm brown gaze. “I’m not going anywhere, you know that. We won. We’ve won forever.”
From the way alone that Rose tilts her head, Rey knows her girlfriend isn’t convinced. “Maybe,” Rose murmurs, “maybe not. Don’t you think that General Organa and Master Luke were saying much the same the day the Emperor died for the first time?”
Rey swallows down a sudden lump in her throat. She can’t say that Rose is wrong. The war is still carrying on, as it did back when Leia was trying to build the New Republic, and all the splinter groups of the First Order aren’t eliminated yet. They might be fighting for the galaxy’s freedom for the rest of their lives.
“Keep it, then,” she rasps at last, nodding at the scab that’s already forming on Rose’s knee. “So you have something to remember me by when I’m not with you.”
“Thank you.” Honest relief shines from Rose’s eyes as she lifts Rey’s hand to her lips and kisses each knuckle softly, one after the other. “Thank you for understanding, my love.”
“It’s what I’m here for.” Leaning in to steal a real kiss, Rey means every word she says.
Of what worth are Rose’s soft, sweet lips on hers if she doesn’t make an effort to understand the woman she loves? What good does it do them both to forget what was, to ignore what could still be?
For now, they are sitting atop a cliff in front of a breathtaking sunset and sharing a kiss that seems to last a blissful eternity. But beyond them, beyond the horizon, still wait so many challenges – challenges that might wound them, break them, leave them scarred forever.
The least they can do is remember the scars of the past, and anticipate those the future might still bring.