Chapter Text
For the first six years of Rey’s life, she was simply that, just Rey. No last name, no family to call her own, not even a definite birthday. Having no knowledge of where she came from did not dampen her spirits though as she truly believed that her family would come back. For a while, she would even act unruly in front of those that might adopt her simply in the hopes they wouldn’t. She had to stay because it was where her family knew she was.
However, at the age of six, Rey was brought to meet two men who had kind smiles and sweet voices. They asked important questions (at least important to a six year old) like what her favorite color was and what toys were great to play with. They believed in her imaginary friends and seemed fine with her dream job of being an astronaut princess. Rey met with them on seven different days and on the last day, they asked her if she wanted to join their family.
Rey had replied with only if her real family would be able to find her.
Instead of ridiculing her like most of the other adults would do, the two men had instead said of course and that they’d even help her look for them. It was with those words that Rey nodded and went from being just Rey to Rey Amidala.
Luke, who she quickly dubbed Dad, and Wedge, who she chose Father for, were wonderful parents and eventually, when Rey grew older and realized that her biological parents weren’t actually coming back, both stayed strong for her and she quickly realized that biological or not, they had become her parents. Still, for a while they did look but with nothing to lead them to her origins, Rey came to terms with the fact that she may never know and simply became content with what she had.
Over the years, Rey became more than just a simple name. She became a daughter and a granddaughter and a niece. She had two fathers, a wonderful aunt and uncle, a cousin, and two grandfathers and a beautiful grandmother. Rey went from being part of nothing to being part of a large, intricate family of beautiful people.
Now at the age of nineteen, Rey no longer had to worry about if she truly belonged or not. She was an Amidala and that was what was important. Besides, even being adopted she had somehow inherited the stubborn yet good-hearted nature of the Amidala family and it made it clear she might as well have been related by blood.
It was also that stubborn nature that had helped Rey to convince both parents to let her go to the school she wanted, off in California and on the other end of the US. It had taken time but eventually both had agreed. The main reason why they had said yes was because Ben, or Kylo as he liked to be called now, lived over in California, and Rey’s best friend Finn would be going to the same school as well.
That first year ended up being a good one but Rey couldn’t help but be thankful for the Summer Semester to begin. She had one online class but other than that she was free of school and had a million and one plans already set up. For the first two weeks, she went on a camping trip with Finn and his new boyfriend Poe Dameron. Though Poe was still a relatively new friend and practically ten years older, she could already tell that he would be a friend for life. She’d told her parents a lot about him and she knew that they would like him the moment they met.
After the camping trip, Rey had about a week to herself and then went to spend a week with her parents. Once that was done she made sure to visit her Aunt and Uncle for a few days (she sadly found it more pleasant without Ben there) and Rey headed back to California. She then did smaller events on and off with friends while getting through her single class and taking work when it was available for a while. However, with two weeks left before the Fall Semester, Rey finally took what would be her final trip before getting back into school.
Rey flew to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was where her Dad and Aunt had grown up and where Rey’s grandparents had settled down (Uncle Han’s parents had died when he was young and her Father’s parents had passed away early on as well leaving her three living grandparents from her Dad and Aunt).
As a child, Rey had loved visiting Grandma Padmé and Grandpa Obi-Wan and Anakin. Admittedly, she would sometimes fight the trips but ultimately she always had an amazing time. All three of them were excellent storytellers but in different ways so that by their voices alone, Rey knew she wouldn’t get bored.
Grandpa Ani’s stories were perfect when one wanted to get riled up and feel adrenaline coursing through their veins. Grandma Padmé’s stories always made Rey feel like she was floating on a river in a magical forest, the way she would weave words together creating a rich and vast canvas. Then there were Grandpa Obi-Wan’s stories which Rey could always fall asleep too. Not because they were boring of course, if anything she loved his the most, but simply because in her opinion, he had the best voice and the soft, lilting nature of it always could put her right to sleep.
However, Rey knew that those days were behind her. The almost fantasy like worlds that Padmé had once created and the bedtime stories that Obi-Wan had told were gone along with so much more. Rey knew that they would both live on in her heart and their children’s hearts, but somehow that didn’t make it any easier, particularly when she went back to that house.
And this would be Rey’s first trip alone. Just her and Grandpa Ani in a home that had once held so much life. It made Rey nervous and thankful that she was taking a taxi to the house. She couldn’t stop twitching.
Upon arrival, she paid the driver and then dragged her one small suitcase out of the car. As the taxi drove away, she looked at the two story home. Standing there, she suddenly remembered one party in particular when she’d been so very small. It had actually occurred not long after she’d been adopted and had been her first proper party. There had been noise everywhere and constant movement, so many relatives and friends that it seemed like its own small nation rather than a family.
Now the house looked a little worse for wear, Grandma Padmé no longer there for the constant upkeep. The little garden that had once been in front of the porch had become unruly long ago and it seemed it would never be tamed again.
With a deep breath, Rey finally forced herself to walk up the driveway and go to the front door. She knocked and after an almost worryingly long pause, C3P0 opened the door. Grandpa Ani had long ago succeeded in creating an intelligent robot of sorts that could be used in a variety of jobs both mundane and incredibly dangerous. C3P0 was not that robot but instead a prototype with a number of bugs that made decommissioning him look more reasonable than trying to fix him.
Anakin had done neither, instead taking an odd liking to the robot. For a long time, C3P0 had remained at Anakin’s work (unlike Padmé and Obi-Wan he hadn’t retired right away). However, after the house had become its empty abode, Anakin had finally left and had taken all of his work with him, including C3P0. Rey found the robot rather annoying at times and still didn’t understand why her grandfather didn’t want to fix the obscene anxiety levels that the robot could get at times, but she never complained knowing that it was better that Grandpa Ani wasn’t alone, even if it was only a robot keeping him company.
“Oh, Ms Rey. What a pleasure it is. May I—”
“Hello to you too C3P0,” sighed Rey as she pushed past, keeping a tight grip on her bag. “Grandpa in his workshop?”
“Yes he—”
“Thank you C3P0. I’ll call upon you if I need to,” Rey assured and hurried by the robot and the stairs.
She walked past what had once been Grandpa Obi-Wan’s study, a small bathroom, and went to the backroom that had acted as Grandpa Ani’s workshop for decades. Not bothering to knock, Rey entered into the organized chaos and walked over to her grandfather who sat on the floor, tinkering with some new design.
Rey had learned long ago that it was impossible to sneak up on Anakin Skywalker and even introductions seemed pointless as he always seemed to know who approached him. As always, Rey caught sight of his metal prosthetic first. Nowadays, it was practically child’s play making a prosthetic look like the real thing. However, Rey always knew that Anakin liked the almost silver-skeleton look that the prosthetic provided and had never been fitted with any kind of slip or cover.
For a while, Rey simply sat there, watching her grandfather work. He was in his mid-seventies but his fingers still worked with a grace and speed that some younger men could only ever dream of achieving. Even more lines appeared on his face as he frowned in silent concentration, the scar over his right eye bunching up. His long, wavy silvery grey hair slipped into his eyes and he tried to blow it out of his face, not wanting to take his fingers off the project in front of him.
Rey quickly pushed his hair back behind his ears and finally spoke the first words. “I think you need another haircut.”
“Perhaps,” murmured her grandfather. It took another five minutes before he finally drew his attention away from his project. “Hmm, your hair looks weird.”
“Yeah, I just wanted to try something different,” Rey said as she ran a hand over her three buns.
“Well it’s certainly different. So, when is school suppose to swallow up all your time?” he asked.
“In two weeks time.”
“Won’t be able to come back out for a while, hmm?”
“Probably not,” Rey admitted.
Grandpa Ani mulled this over in his head for a moment and then said, “Alright, I’ll get this over with nice and quick and then we can both have a pleasant visit.”
“What would make it unpleasant?” asked Rey with a frown.
“Kylo has decided to run away.”
“I don’t understand why you call him that,” muttered Rey, focusing on what was unimportant as her head tried to wrap around the rest.
“He wants to go by that, so be it. There’s no reason to pick pointless fights,” Anakin replied and Rey could just hear the rant about Han building up in Anakin’s throat but somehow he pushed past it and instead continued with, “He called yesterday. Wanted to tell me so that I’d know he was alright. Think he was heading off with that boyfriend of his as well.”
Rey resisted the urge to groan. If there was one thing she liked less than Ben going by Kylo then it was his weird relationship with Hux, his boyfriend slash mortal enemy it sometimes seemed. It didn’t help either that Brendol Hux Jr. was the son of Brendol Hux, the man who had worked with Sheev Palpatine in murdering many senators and other illegal activities that helped further Palpatine’s agenda. Brendol Hux had also been the one who attempted to murder her grandmother and Dad's and Aunt's godfather.
Needless to say, the family didn’t exactly like Hux. Or perhaps that wasn’t the right word. They didn't hate him for what his father had done but they certainly didn’t trust him.
And neither did Rey. Sometimes she wondered if Ben’s downward spiral was really all due to Hux’s influence. After all, her grandfather had just told her he had run away with the guy.
“So Ben eloped with Hux. Great,” Rey growled but her frown deepened as she watched her grandfather shake his head.
“I felt that there was more to this. That he was running from something.”
“Yeah, probably his dad,” sighed Rey.
“Partially, but I’m pretty sure there’s more to the story. But anyways, that’s what I wanted to tell you. Now we can move on,” he replied.
Rey raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? Now I won’t be able to think about anything but Ben running away!”
“True, but I’ve already gotten it off my chest so I’ll be fine,” Grandpa Ani said with a smirk. “So, let’s have a good visit.”
Rey rolled her eyes. “You’re awful, you know that?”
“Always.” Anakin slowly pushed himself up off the ground and Rey followed suit, resisting the urge to help as she knew how much he hated that. “So,” he continued, “how about pancakes?”
“It’s two in the afternoon,” snorted Rey.
“Perfect, come on.”
Rey continued to roll her eyes as she followed her grandfather out of his workspace. However, she didn’t argue because if there was one thing Anakin liked more than working on a robotics project, it was cooking, courtesy of his late husband and wife. Rey personally didn’t like cooking but she liked seeing her grandfather happy and knew that cooking brought forth a joy that other activities just couldn’t. She supposed that it had to do with the memories connected to it.
Once they had gotten most of the ingredients out, courtesy of C3P0 because the robot just had to help, Rey finally spoke again.
“But seriously? What did Ben tell you? Why the hell is he running away?” asked Rey.
“Well, Kylo told me that talking with his father was just to much and he had to leave it all. That doesn’t really make sense though seeing as he’s independent and not even living with Leia and Han.”
“Yes,” admitted Rey, "that is a bit odd.”
“Besides that, it was the tone of voice that suggested something deeper was going on. I think Kylo may have finally bitten off more than he can chew.”
“But why tell me?” asked Rey.
“Didn’t really feel like calling anyone. And you’re the first one here since it’s happened so…yeah.”
Rey let out a groan. “What? No explanation? No deeper meaning? You were just too lazy to tell anyone else first?”
“Basically, yeah. Besides, Obi-Wan was always the one for the deeper meanings.” A crack happened in his voice at that name but it was understandable. Relative to Padmé’s passing, Obi-Wan’s was still fairly recent. It still hurt Rey too.
“So, any idea on where he’s going?” Rey asked.
“Probably somewhere familiar.”
“In that case, don’t let Aunt Leia and Uncle Han know about this. No point in worrying them if it’s not needed.”
“True,” Anakin said. “So are you thinking of looking for him?”
“If only to make it easier on everyone else, yes,” muttered Rey. “But he’s an idiot for doing this either way.”
“Maybe. I think going after him would do you two good though.”
“What’s that suppose to mean?” Rey said defensively.
“You’ve been on his back as much as Han and Leia have been too. Yes, in different ways, but maybe some good will come out of this and you’ll finally realize how important family is,” Grandpa Ani replied.
It was with those words that Rey realized why her grandfather had told her this, not because of pure laziness for failing to inform someone else but because he didn’t want to inform others. The more people aware of what was going on then the larger the force would be slamming down on Ben once he was found. Even Rey could see that would only drive him farther away.
But if only one person went after him and perhaps with a clearer head…
“No matter what the reason, I’ll try to drag Ben back,” Rey replied.
Anakin shook his head though. “If you have to drag Kylo back at all, just don’t. He needs to come back on his own terms or not at all.”
Grandpa Ani was right but it didn’t mean Rey had to like it. She wanted to grab Ben by his long black hair, tie him to the back of her car, and drive him cross country to his parents and make them all reconcile for whatever they were feuding about (in truth Rey didn’t even fully know and she doubted the rest of the family did either). But her grandfather was right in saying that would only make things harder.
“Fine,” muttered Rey, “I won’t force him into anything but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“I never said you did.”
“Good. When I get back to California, I’ll hunt him down then.”
“Excellent. Now let’s shut up about Kylo and focus on pancakes.”
Rey snorted. “Only if you promise to make blueberry.”
“Chocolate chip is better.”
“I’ll just tell Han and Leia about Ben running off then. And I won’t do anything to help too,” Rey replied.
“Fine, blueberry it is.”
Rey let out a quick cheer. “Thank you grandpa.”
“No problem sweetheart,” Anakin said with a half smile. “Now, I know you visited your father not long ago. Getting into trouble is he?”
Rey rolled her eyes but quickly went into detail as to how her fathers were doing and from there it was easier to get her mind off of Ben. Nevertheless, that night her mind was filled with thoughts of her cousin as she battled between the logically mundane option; i.e. nothing was wrong but his sour ego and piss poor attitude; and the completely insane one; i.e. the equivalent of some ridiculous conspiracy theory that something could be putting his life in danger.
It was the second idea that kept Rey up that night but by the morning she had finally settled on the first choice. This would be simple. Ben was just now experiencing the "running away phase" or something. That was it.
Rey decided that there was no reason to continue worrying about all this now that she had figured it out in her head. Instead, she decided to take advantage of her time with her grandfather and they talked about mechanics and flying and fencing and avoided anything to do with Ben/Kylo Solo.